Izzy's Back: Move Forward!!

Not sure how long it has been exactly; 6 months perhaps?? But to be honest, time passed by so fast, I couldn't even hardly notice. Yes, a new job of course, a new look, a new car, a new figure (yep, i gained 7 kilos approx,...thanks to Chilli's and lack of exerc..wait, make it "no" exercise), a new set of friends (more of acquaintances actually), a new girlfriend(s)? well that one is a tricky bit of me that I'd rather put on hold a little while, at least until things are more "clear"..... but yeah, apart from that, i am a totally different person now. I've changed... A lot!

Which is good really. Changes in your life are good. Never fear to seize the day and to fly
high towards the unknown horizon. The more you go, the more you get. Yes its difficult i
know. Nobody likes to change. But as a Chinese saying goes "In the midst of a difficulty,
there lies opportunities".

Never be afraid. Comb your hair and set your head up high. Be brave, be optimistic. Never be ashamed to be overly ambitious. Never quit daydreaming. After all, those are the things that will keep your feet moving. Nope, your frens will only be there for the happy hours and lepak2. Nope, your colleagues couldn't care less about you, aside from that routine plot to stab you in the back, or at least spit on your face behind your back (what??).......

The point is- MOVE FORWARD!!!!!!

Dont be left behind, coz if you do, you'll never catch up with that 2nd gear stucked.....

Ok. So that's me speaking like as if my life is so great. Not to say that it is not and that
i'm not thankful for the position i'm in right now, but i just want to aim for sumthing
better, regardless of what i have now. That's the right attitude i think. Never be ashamed
to admit that you love your job. Never. Regardless of what you do for a living. I mean,
c'mon,.. you HAVE to love you job to be able to progress in your career, otherwise, baik berenti keje main golf ajer everyday mat!!!!

So frens, when we lepak2,.. please, its not cool to brag about how horrible your job is. No.
Not for us in this era we're in. We talk about promotions, we talk about sports, we talk
about family and good relationship values. We talk about sciences and technological advances
and of course we need to talk more about HOT CHICKSS!!! baru lah boleh relax and release
tension kerja kan??????

What the hell am i bragging right ay? Aren't i'm suppose to be working right now??? Of
course lah i am! i am teaching you to be a better person. Mmg lah i cikgu sekarang..so agak kena tempat lah juga, and i am happy with my job. This is my 5th month at UKM and i am
loving every single minute of being here and doing this. The name's En Iskandar Yahya,
Lecturer in the Dept. Electrical, Electronics, and Systems Engineering, Faculty of
Engineering. The picture above is me 7 months back. That's the pic on my ID tag and on the
website.....

Later then.....

Moving: Kite: Dino

Today is officially my last day at my parents' house. Tomorrow morning i'll be putting all my stuff in the boot of the car (my mum's car btw), turn on the ignition key and off to the end of the horizon, to where ever the wheels are taking me. ....Well, actually i will be heading to Bangi, to my new house, and a new job. I'm supposed to take my newly-purchased-used car, but sumthing went wrong with the radiator, so i am forced to borrow my mum's car till next week.

So much for starting a new life of independence. What can i say, changing cold turkey have never worked for me anyway; I always need to go through some sort of conditioning-transition phase...so that the overall changing process appears seamless. Not so adventurous ay?? I guess so...

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A kite is not only meant for kids, and the colourful ones are definitely not only restricted to girls. Sometimes a dude has the right to chill at a park and fly a cute and colourful kite with the aid of the afternoon autumn breeze......... Ahh, blissful and peaceful. Only second to fishing.
Picture taken at Bute Park, Cardiff, Wales. Sept 2005.

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A life size dinosour's skeleton is a must see for any London tourist. The London Natural History Museum holds hundreds (maybe thousands?) of authentic and replica fossils of long gone animals of the prehistoric age to modern day extinct organisms. Most of them are in the complete form.

Located within a walking distance to the famous Harrod's store and with no admission fee, one has no excuse to miss this tourist hot spot. Totally worth it. I spent half a day there, and yet only managed to cover half of the galleries. This place is huge.

Picture above was taken with my late canon ixus using the photo-stitch function with wide-angle-lense effect.

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Will It Blend? - A blender addict...

I browsed thru YouTube the other day and found this video of a guy blending golf balls with a blender. At first i thought that it was just an attempt to break his mother's blender by putting in sumthing stupid as some golf balls. So i just watched the video till the end, and to my astonishment, he really did manage to blend the golf balls. The balls were blended to the form of rubber dust!

Amazing!

I viewed the directors page, and saw some thirty over other similar videos of him trying to blend other things, i mean anything that he can ever think of. Things that you've never seen your mother put inside a blender. And the amazing thing is that more often than not, the blender he used managed to blend virtually everything that he shoved into it.

He blends everything: Football, coke cans, glass, metals, magnets, cassette, barbie dolls, and even an iPod!! But my favourite is the golf club. Yup, he actually made a nice blend of golf tees, golf balls and a Driver. Seriously.

In all his videos, he'll begin by saying "Will it blend?? that is the question...." and go about shoving all those ridiculous things into the blender before turning on the switch.

I later found out that the guy is actually trying to promote a blender from a company called "BlendTec". The videos are actually the company's promotional drive to introduce their rugged blender called "Total Blender" that can virtually blend anything, anything but itself. The blender is supposed to be very reliable and also indestructible.

Below is my fav video where he tries to blend a golf club.

Sometimes i wish i can be like Terra Naomi...

Not all singers are musicians, and the same goes in reverse. To be able to have a good sense of music, being able to play instruments and at the same time sing with good tone and in tune, that is priceless. Terra Naomi has that exact talent, which i am laking of.

Sometimes i just wish i can be like Terra Naomi.

She can play both the piano and guitar exceptionally well. And you can tell by the way she performs, that she does it by heart. She is good in every department: her songs, her piano and guitar playing, and of course her voice. All add up to produce some very radio friendly songs.

I believe that not every body is born with such talent. But at the same time, everybody can be as good as her. All it takes is the right amount of practice and the heart of an artist.

Terra is going to take the big stage soon. What started out as a past time hobby of writing and playing songs in Youtube has now become the next big thing in her life. She just signed a contract with a major american recording label, and my bet is you'll be listening to her finest tunes in Fly.Fm anytime soon. At the mean time, you can check out her videos on YouTube and tell me what do you think of her works.

Sometimes i just know i can be like Terra Naomi, yes i need to try.

Below is one of her videos. A song called "Say It's Possible". Check out also "Smile" and "Close to your head".

Life's so simple when you're just a kid....

Indeed. Once I have moved on from living as a student to making my own ends meet, reality hit me hard on my forehead. I don't have the time to hang around frens as much, no time to record new songs, and of course no time to blog. I hate this.

Making your own living is a dead serious matter. Make sure you're ready for it.

Worked in STMicroelectronics in Muar for a few months before i resigned last week. Yes, I know, what a waste. Being a Product Engineer in that company is a good thing, but i have other plans for my future, and this time i need to be certain, and i know i am.

I just dont see myself as someone who can slave around from 8am to 7pm daily for a fixed pay that is barely enough to feed my own belly plus jimbo's (jimbo is my new pet fish btw). I need something more. No, not just more money. But i want to do something that can really reflect every bit of effort that i put in, be it little or a lot.

This is the problem with most Malay graduates here. Kerja mau senang, Kaya mau cepat. But i am not like that i promise you. I know i should hold on to the previous job and suffer for a few years before making a leap into a better position and pay. As engineers, we need the technical know-how and experience, which can only be obtained through hard work from bottom up. And for us, the first 3 years of "working" is more of a learning period than it is working. Only after that will we be more "valuable" in the industry, which grants us the right to demand high pays.

Now only i realised that i've been learning jumbled up rubbish of undistilled knowlegde during my varsity years. The things i learnt were useless. Useless in the sense that it will not do you any good unless you know how to use the knowledge and how to apply it. That is the most common problem amongst fresh graduates nowadays. Just because they have strong theoratical knowledge, they expect to do ace when started working. Bull-crap!

As for me, i am up for sumthing else. I think i want to have a different career path. Thinking of going for further studies and become a full time researcher. Hey, the pay is crap but atleast i can really see my own progress and see my own achievements and above all, it will be sumthing that i enjoy doing. Well, you'll have your own say, but this is my choice. And i am up for it. Come February, i'll be pursuing a new life-cycle. Wish me luck.

Pic: Raya Haji. Most recent family picture.

Home: Malaysia

Been a few weeks now i've been at home. Yeah, back in Malaysia at last. Pretty hot and humid as usual, but i really cannot stand the haze. Its unhealthy that's one thing for sure, but what's worse, it can be such a fatal road hazard, especially when you're driving. The other day i was driving when the haze were at its thickest, boy, my visibility was limited to 30 yards the most. Had no choice but to slow down and drive at the speed of a cow (afterall that is the actual cruising speed of my mom's car). The condition worsen during night time, and putting on your high-light would totally blind you off from what lies ahead.

Well enough about that now. Not that complaining about it will make the situation any better. (Just wanna give a friendly yet firm reminder to all Malaysian: Stop open burning!!!! Its bad enough that the Indonesians are doing it....)

I've been doing nothing since i last landed to be honest. I went here and there, and meet up with old friends and peers of course. Just the same old thing. Other than that, i've been busy sorting out my future, which, till now unsuprisingly, remains uncertain.

Went to my class reunion during merdeka day at Port Dickson. It was awesome. Most of my friends look and act differently: they've changed a lot. Makes me wonder why haven't i changed at all since the last time we all sat together for our last dinner at the dining hall back then in our boarding school. Ouh well, atleast i know i'll look young for a long time. hehe.

Will be boarding a flight to Miri at the end of this week. Looking foward for that trip. Planning to go to Niah cave and visit some frens there. I'll update on that on my next post.

And regarding Nevermind The Hazatsu, and my plans to go back to the UK to further my studies and everything, well, i guess i'll have to write yet another post on that later on, when i have the time and mood. For now, it's time for me to zzzzZZ.....

A boy needs 15 hours of sleep daily,........now that's scientific fact.