Hmm...

The greatest man I never knew
Lived just down the hall
And everyday we said hello
But never touched at all
He was in his paper
I was in my room
How was I to know he thought I hung the moon

The greatest man I never knew
Came home late every night
He never had too much to say
Too much was on his mind
I never really knew him
And now it seems so sad
Everything he gave to us took all he had

Then the days turned into years
And the memories to black and white
He grew cold like an old winter wind
Blowing across my life

The greatest words I never heard
I guess Ill never hear
The man I thought could never die
Sbeen dead almost a year
He was good at business
But there was business left to do
He never said he loved me
Guess he thought I knew

P/S - It may be a little too late now for Pycno, but Happy Father's Day, Ayah........and, to ALL Fathers of the world, "Happy Father's Day to YOU"

At no charge...

And I will ALWAYS love you Ayah...

Sanggup kah kita?

Berkorban apa saja.....
Harta atau pun nyawa
Itulah kasih mesra
Sejati dan mulia.....

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDIL ADHA.
Maaf kiranaya ada salah dan silap.

3 Hari 2 Malam With a Budu Twist

For the past several years, it has been very hard for me to get everyone in the family to be available for a vacation together. And even though I grumble at this, I suppose it cannot be helped due to the different schedules everybody has. So nowadays, I have to be content with whoever happens to be having their holidays at the same time as I plan a getaway.

The most recent getaway would be, of course, the one we had throughout this week. It was a two-part 3 Hari 2 Malam vacation in firstly, Penang, and then in Kelantan. I seem to be going to these two places a lot these days. Maybe I should go to somewhere else instead, say oh, Sarawak? ;)))

Anyway, the ice-kacang seller whom I frequently pay a visit whenever I'm in Penang was so happy to see me being accompanied by Bea and my three available sons. "Wah, you have your family with you this time, Encik!" he said in the manner of a person who had just laid his eyes upon a business opportunity.

But this entry is not going to be on food. At least, not the gist of it, no. It's about how bad things happen to good people and then other people laugh at it because they think it's funny.

From Penang, we went back to my mother's place in Kelantan to deal with some urgent family matters. After spending another 3 Hari 2 Malam over there, we came back yesterday i.e. on Friday. On our way back, I decided to pop a visit to our little orchard somewhere in Jeli. It isn't a really big orchard, mind you, but still big enough for elephants and Orang Asli to come and help themselves to our fruits. I never knew there were that many Orang Asli people living in the depths of Jeli until I bought this orchard. And the same goes for elephants too.

Anyway, since we didn't take a satisfactory breakfast, we decided to have a very late lunch at the only eatery to be found in the vicinity of the 'fruit farm'. They served us rice, Soup and Gulai Ayam Kampung and glorious ulam with a big bowl of budu. Yes, budu. Since this was the real authentic Anchovy Sauce, Bea was already licking her lips at the mere sight of the budu bowl.

Mind you, we were eating in what was literally the middle of a jungle, thus it shouldn't have come as a surprise when one by one, we were attacked by pesky mosquitoes. Every minute or so, one of us would be making hand gestures as if we were shoo-ing away flies whereas in fact, it was mosquitoes.

Then, it happened.

A really big, vicious-looking mosquito with a proboscis so big I could have sworn it was the size of a baby's finger, came and landed on Bea's right arm. Bea, who was blissfully scooping budu onto her ulam which she creatively folded to form a miniature shovel, let out a small scream and asked for my assistance in getting rid of the blood-sucking menace.

Being the knight in shining armour, how could I ignore the sobbing pleas of my damsel in distress? So I got out my shining sword - hand, actually - and proceeded to what youngsters nowadays refer to as 'lay the smackdown' on that monstrosity of a creature.

Oh how cruel fate deals its blows to unsuspecting victims.

The moment my hand whacked that mosquito and sent him to meet his Maker, out of nowhere did a bowl of budu come leaping out right at me. And as if in slow-motion, I saw clearly how the dull grey, pungent liquid shot out of the bowl to come straight at my brand new, white-with-a-hint-of peach linen shirt; and how Bea's face distorted into one that of warning about imminent danger but funnily enough, with no sounds; and how my children gaped at the entire scene, just as I was.

When I finally came back to my senses, my white-with-a-hint-of-peach linen shirt had magically turned into a grey colour; Bea was crying from laughing too hard (and my God, can that woman laugh); and the rest of the diners seemed to be amazed at how we had managed to finish our bowl of budu so fast.

Now, you go picture the sight of Peachy-linen-wearing Pycno all drenched in BUDU!!

Of course after that, I had to go and change shirts by the roadside. To the motorists who happen to pass by me at that time, I'm sorry for the unsightly scene; it couldn't be helped.

P/S - I was just wondering what if, just what if, it was the other way around.......can I even dare to twinge my facial muscle to laugh at Budu-drenched Bea???

Ah, life is so unfair.

It's Raining Cats And Dogs

Hooray! My internet connection is up and about again. Previously, I would be waiting for hours at end for a single page to finish downloading. Out of all the blogs I frequent, Mynn's was the worst (no offense taken, I hope). I suppose it's because Mynn has been eagerly touring Malaysia of late and snapping pictures even more so and uploading them onto his site. Beautiful pictures, no doubt - especially those of the udang galah. I would have tagged along just for those giant prawns. Perhaps next time Mynn?

Anyway, all those promises of Streamyx of it being so cheap and affordable and opening the windows to the world, and their promise of fast internet connection...what happened to them when the connection at my house come to a grinding halt?

Well first of all, those promises went out the window. Windows which were opened by themselves in the first place, I suppose. Me being the 'computer wizard' that I am, amazingly got Bea to do all the work in trying to solve our Streamyx woes. Unfortunately, Bea happens to be an incompetent apprentice and she, in turn, tried to get Customer Care to figure out the problem. And just like so many automated telephone responses you get nowadays, that was practically useless and expensive and got Bea nowhere. One of the suggestions they gave was to unplug the telephone from the socket. After doing so, Bea had to call them using her handphone just to tell them that there was no improvement in the speed (which was around 128kbps at that time)

I then waved my magic wand and got my second son to solve the problem, thinking that since he belongs to the IT generation, he should know a thing or two about kilobytes. Mind you, I belong to the BSJ (batu sejam) generation. I'm still struggling to adapt to kmph and now they are forcing me to understand kbps. It's too much I tell you.

My children don't go out that often so the computer is somewhat their 'gateway' to the outside world. And since my second son is the one who makes full use of the internet to socialise with his equally IT-literate friends, he tackled the job rather enthusiastically, I must say. Sadly, enthusiasm alone does not get you around much when it comes to slow internet speed. He failed miserably to have the problem sorted out over the phone.

I was beginning to run out magic. But wait! I still had one last trick up my sleeve - my eldest son. So I conveniently pulled him out of a black top hat, pretty much the way magicians pull out rabbits out of theirs, and sent him to do battle with those evil trolls at TMnet.

And my, did they have some ugly looking trolls.

On Saturday morning, my eldest and I went to the nearest TMnet shop (or TMPoint, as my son pointed out) to complain in person. Stepping into the spanking clean building, we were greeted by the cheerful receptionist who cheerfully asked "Nak bayar bil ke pakcik?" to which I quipped back "Bil saya tak pernah tertunggak. Sentiasa berbayar. Saya datang ni nak complain pasal perkhidmatan". She then dully handed me a number.

To be fair to them, I was attended to promptly. The unfortunate thing was that I was attended to by an ugly male troll who's smile resembled something like this.


Yes, I am being mean but I'm just refering to his smile and it really looked like that.

Anyway, I said politely that I wanted to put in a complaint concerning the slow speed of our internet which has persisted for the past few months. Before I could even elaborate, he quickly replied "Saya tak boleh buat apa-apa" and asked whether I had contacted Customer Care. My son answered back saying that we had already tried that numerous times to no avail and that a technician should be employed instead to solve the problem. Again, the troll gave another number. I was starting to get annoyed and told him that his numbers did not help at all.

It was at this point that two lady co-workers sensed imminent danger and come to the troll's rescue. One of them asked how slow our connection was while the other suggested a complaint form be given for us to filled in. The troll got up and disappeared into the back.

While waiting, I couldn't help but to blurt out rather loudly "Yang cekap hanya dalam iklan sahajalah". One of the female co-workers might have overheard my comment and shifted around uneasily in her seat. The troll came back, a form was filled and a promise was made that action would be taken latest on Tuesday.

Despite all that, Tuesday came and still there was no improvement. Since my eldest was back in class, the next best person who could keep pycno blog-happy i.e Bea, called them up and asked about the promised service. The operator then asked Bea for a complaint reference number. How were we supposed to know about a reference number when we had already given our address and telephone number? So, like it or not, another complaint had to be made and this time Bea insisted for a 'nombor rujukan'.

At long last, the next morning a technician was sent while we were in office. Guess what? The matter was attended to in just a few short minutes. When I told my eldest about the incident, his simple reply was that this is what happens when ducks and chickens try to talk to each other.

What I suspect is that those people at Streamyx do not have enough manpower to attend the problems of the customers every single time. So they try to get the users to solve their own woes over the phone, guided by some operator who might as well be digging his nose as he reads out the troubleshooting guide from his computer. And most of the time, they know that customers like me will not understand and thus put the blame on themselves or the computer.

My advice is to personally go there, fill in a complaint form and most importantly remember to take the blessed nombor rujukan aduan. Equally important would be to keep calling them, reminding them about the complaint which has been made and to read out loud the NOMBOR RUJUKAN ADUAN. Maybe it's also worth threatening to terminate your subscription and ask them for other alternative ISPs. (That's Internet Service Provider for those of you who don't know what it means)

And a final note to Mr Troll: Do try to smile. Even limping Mayo knows how to make someone feel warm and fuzzy inside by smiling.

Okay Me Love?

I should be back blogging in a couple of weeks time. For now, l leave you with Sean Kingston with this feel-good song!

Ah I"m just SO HAPPY listening to this song!! ;)

6 Adab Puasa.

PERTAMA
Elakkan diri daripada segala perbuatan perosak pahala puasa, menjauhkan diri daripada mengumpat, mencela dan memfitnah. Diriwayatkan oleh Al-Thabrani dari Rasulullah SAW bersabda: "Puasa itu Junnah (perisai) selama ia tidak dirosakkan dengan dusta dan umpat."

KEDUA
Kurangkan makan dan minum sewaktu berbuka dan bersahur. Orang yang berpuasa tidak akan dapat faedah berpuasa apabila gelojoh sewaktu berbuka dan sewaktu bersahur. Kesannya: kegagalan fungsi puasa sebagai pemotong hawa nafsu atau mematahkan syahwat yang berlebihan.

KETIGA
Kurangkan tidur terutama di siang hari. Kebanyakan antara kita mencari-cari jalan untuk tidur agar tidak keletihan berpuasa. Ini boleh menghilangkan rahsia dan hikmah puasa yang sebenarnya. Sepatutnya, keletihan dan kesusahan yang harus kita harungi dan kita hayati.

KEEMPAT
Menahan hati daripada memikirkan keinginan-keinginan yang remeh dan urusan-urusan yang tidak baik. Kita juga kerap memikirkan persediaan-persediaan menyambut hari raya yang kadangkala lebih banyak diselaputi kemewahan. Sepatutnya puasa mendorong kita menghindari sikap itu.

KELIMA
Sentiasa memikirkan azab akhirat dan memikirkan seksa neraka. Hendaklah kelaparan dan kehausan itu mengingatkan kita tentang kelaparan ahlul mahsyar pada hari akhirat yang sangat dahsyat.

KEENAM
Mencambahkan rasa berharap kepada keampunan dan kasih sayang Allah Taala. Kita tidak mengetahui, apakah puasa kita diterima oleh Allah atau tidak. Puasa tanpa adab samalah ertinya kita makan tanpa zat dan khasiat.


Pycno telah memetik 6 Adab Puasa dari Risalah Ramadhan yang Pycno terbaca dua hari yang lalu. Ingin pula rasanya untuk berkongsi dengan sahabat-sahabat di sini. Apakata kita muhasabah diri dan menilai sejauh mana kita patuh dengan 6 adab tersebut.

Bagi diri Pycno sendiri, yang PERTAMA - mungkin yang paling sukar. Saya bukan lah seorang yang suka berdusta atau mengumpat, terutama sekali di bulan Ramadhan. Tetapi apabila ada orang yang datang bersembang dan membuka cerita di hadapan saya dan mula masuk ke daerah terlarang diatas, saya terpaksa mengakui bahawa saya agak keberatan untuk memberitahu dia supaya menghentikan nya. Penyudahnya, saya turut sama mendengar, walaupun dalam hati ada rasa bersalah dan merasa bahawa kurus lah puasa saya pada hari tersebut.

KEDUA - Pada masa berbuka atau bersahur, saya rasa saya sendiri tidak pernah gelojoh. Makan pun tidak lah memilih. Apa yang ada tu, cukup lah. Namun, apabila berpuasa di kampung, saya terpaksa mengaku agak terlebih makan. Mungkin ini disebabkan pilihan juadah yang banyak, murah serta bersesuaian pula dengan selera. Ini ditambahkan lagi dengan suasana riang bila dapat bersama keluarga.

KETIGA - Saya memang kurang tidur, apa lagi pada bulan puasa. Pernah saya beritahu dulu bahawa saya lah orang nya yang jadi tukang kejut semua ahli keluarga pada bulan puasa ini. Kalau tidur di siang hari pada bulan puasa pun, biasa nya dengan satu niat sahaja - untuk lebih sihat dan cergas waktu sembahyang Tarawih pada malam nya. Itu pun, kira tak boleh juga ke?

KEEMPAT - Memikirkan persediaan menyambut hari raya tu, tak ada lah sangat. Mungkin ini disebabkan saya memang sudah lama membeli baju-baju Raya untuk anak, isteri dan juga diri sendiri. Kuih-kuih memang tidak pernah buat sendiri pun. Beli yang sudah siap dan tidak lah menghabiskan masa.

KELIMA - Ini mungkin kurang di buat. Bukan kerana tidak mahu memikir. Rasa nya lebih kerana tidak terfikir untuk memikir tentang itu....mungkin kerana sibuk. InsyaAllah sekarang dah tahu, akan saya mencari masa untuk berfikir.

KEENAM - Ini memanglah saya mengharap sangat. Satu-satu nya sebab mengapa Pycno gembira dan seronok sekali tiap kali menyambut Ramadhan, ialah kerana rasa lebih hampir, lebih ikhlas serta lebih insaf setiap kali memohon rahmat serta keampunan dari Allah taala.

Anda bagaimana? Sudi berkongsi?