2016 - Looking Back

In a few minutes what we commonly define as a year will end, and give way to a new one. After a string of more upbeat years prior, 2016 began under grey clouds.

Volcanic clouds of Mt. Merapi, Indonesia

It wasn't long before the sun began to eke its way past the clouds, and shower us with glimpses of light.

Batu Caves on Thaipusam. A monkey sits perched upon a street lamp as it watches the sunset. 

As the dire days continued, it was perhaps a good idea to spare a thought for the less fortunate and remind ourselves that we truly are blessed, and things could be far worse.

My first street-feeding experience with Street Feeders KL

Slowly the year began to build a rhythm of its own, as it March-ed past condensed moments of joy.

My home-made birthday cake courtesy of my cousin Yamuna

Some of my own simple resolutions made at the beginning of the year began to come to fruition, as I picked myself up and set about getting a better grasp of my own fate.

Blast from the past: Meetup with Joe & Michelle after long.

Blast from the past part deux: Caught up with the elusive Guruparan. Also managed to schedule a meetup with Khairun (who I hadn't seen since 2004.. that's VI days!) 

There was also the effort to not lose sight of all that is green. The trails we traversed this year were wetter than before, yet less strenuous on our ailing knees.

Hike with Ison's church mates to a waterfall at Hulu Langat

Spotted a swarm of Rajah Brooke's birdswings by the river at Selangor State Park

The main goal though was to move on to different pastures, and pray that they'll be greener (for I lost all hope that there would ever be any semblance of grass where I was). As the country celebrated the anniversary of its independence (albeit rather muted in nature), I scored a little triumph of my own as I managed to exonerate myself of the painful chores at Aker Solutions..

My new second home

While the joys of the year began to grow, so did the bottled spirits in my collection, and their subsequent potation. This year I finally managed to build on my collection to the point where I'm comfortable hosting cocktail nights - and host I did, some of those wonderful people I met during my time at Aker Solutions a week after Deepavali.

Drink cards for the cocktails I prepared that evening

The PSV (Pimms, Sugar, Vodka)

A few other events worth mentioning: Ran a half-marathon at the KL Marathon this year; Attended Cheng Khang's wedding in October, Samantha & Jason's wedding in December; Took a trip with Alvin to Singapore to meet Kwong Hann in during my short break between the jobs. There weren't much, but I truly cherished those little moments of joy in 2016. 2017 does sound a lot more exciting though, and I guess it's nice to start on that upbeat note. :)

Goodbye 2016. Hello 2017!

Ashan

A good three months have now gone by. Yet I still struggle to come to terms with your passing.

You brought much happiness to those around you; you gave so much of yourself to bring warmth to us all. Perhaps you gave too much. As you shuffled off this mortal coil, I lied against the wall - half in contempt, half in contemplation. "Why you?" "Why now?"

Many a friend I have come to meet and know over the course of my life.. but none were like you; none will be. You truly were a gem of a friend.. Looking back, I can only see how blessed I have been to have crossed paths with you, let alone be a close friend of yours. Perhaps it is selfish of me to want your wonderful friendship for the rest of my life.

Above everything.. to me; you were the epitome of a selfless man. There have been times when I have questioned my own sacrifices in life, few as they may be; but each time I only had to think of you, and those questions disappeared.

Thank you. For putting a smile on our faces on the rainiest of days. For being the wonderful listener who does not judge. For being there for me no matter what. For showing me what true friendship really means. For.. everything.

You will live on, Ashan Ratnapala - in our musings and memories.

2012: Resolutions Reviewed

So last year I did actually end up making a list of resolutions. So for formality sake, bear with me as I attempt to cross-off those I managed to achieve over the last year. GREEN for those met, RED for those I didn't manage to.

- Jog at the park/go to the gym twice every week

I certainly jogged a LOT more than the previous years, although I wasn't able to maintain the 'twice-a-week' routine past March. By the month of October there were already about 5 weeks when I made NO jogs or trips to the gym. Anyhow, I feel I've gotten myself into the rhythm and habit of jogging periodically and I'm just gonna try to maintain the same attitude this year.

- Get back in touch with 5 friends I haven't met for more than 2 years

At first this one seemed a little difficult, but come the year's end many of those studying/working abroad returned home so I easily beat the '5-person' mark. Credits of course goes to Ying Bing and Ren Chung.

- Complete 5 poems

Managed 3 new ones, plus one inspired adaptation of Taylor Mali's "What Teachers Make." I'm gonna make my own leeway here and say I managed this one - on the count I got a couple of articles published in my company magazine. :)

- Finally watch Lord of the Rings trilogy

I ran this one close, but I DID IT! Just before I watched The Hobbit at the theaters I ran through the extended version of the trilogy (thanks in no small part to Ho Sui-Jon) within 5 days. Bliss!

- Complete the Haruhi Suzumiya light novel series

I managed to finish 8 of the novels. Frankly by the end of March I figured this would be the most easily attainable, but I somehow never managed to start on the 9th book (DIssociation of Haruhi Suzumiya).

- Join Institute of Engineers Malaysia (IEM)

Decided against it somewhere in the middle of the year, since I realised I didn't need to join it to attend the courses. However after completing 2 of the 3 mandatory courses required prior to a PE application I began to seriously consider it.. and after much thought I think I should just join this year. Anyhow, I guess this counts as a 'fail.'

- Attend 3 job interviews (Not implying I'm leaving my current job, but I think it is essential that I keep my options open and have a good gauge of my own value in the market for engineers)

Went for 2. Half-hearted attempts as usual. In retrospect this resolution wasn't something I thought through proper. I'll leave it there.

- Play ping-pong (believe me.. tougher than it sounds)

Tough it was, but come the middle of the year we managed to find a place next to Viva Home Mall where we could play, and voila - the resolution was achieved! Credits to the awesome Amy Lim.

Ok.. so I managed half of them fully, and had some considerable progress on the others. So it's all good, right? Ah heck. I'm pleased with myself, and that's all that counts! *denial mode*

Perhaps I don't need to resort to such lame excuses come next year. Right! Onto the 2013 list then!

Experiments

After talking about it for a good half a year - Jon, Ben and I finally got down to combining two of our favourite pastimes in a rather unique way. A friendship that was forged over Scrabble back in high school was fortified over our more recent obsession with cocktails. So it was only going to be a matter of time before we put them together on a weekend meetup. We simply called it - Scraboozling.

The discussion prior to the event was focused on the experimental nature of it, as we concocted hypotheses, control strategy for the variables and even data-acquisition and recording methods. Despite all the planning on controlling the passage of events through the night much like you would in a proper scientific experiment, what we ended up doing was quite different indeed. Random conversations over a string of cocktails. A couple of Scrabble games in between reminiscent of those good ol' days. On my way back home the next morning, I was thinking how the night had turned out as opposed to how we'd planned it - and how I wouldn't have had it any other way. And then it hit me.

I've been meaning to venture into a few things for quite some time now. Very experimental stuff, yet I wanted to do it proper and kept making plans. Plan after plan; some recorded, some forgotten. I even had a number of them listed on my list of resolutions, but despite all the plans I made the fact is I still haven't taken the first step. What deterred me was my fear that my current preoccupations like work and family could get in the way..

So what if my pre-occupations get in the way from time to time? I finally figured I should just start, and let things unfold as time goes by. What comes out of it all may not be what I had expected it to be; but it could very well turn out to be more beautiful than anything I have imagined. Like our Scraboozling night.

So I've taken a step.. not a leap by any stretch of the imagination; a simple step.. and hopefully a few more to follow. It doesn't matter where these steps eventually lead me to.. only that I HAVE taken those steps. I'd have performed.. an experiment. An experience.

February - Of Acquaintance & Reacquaintance

A beautiful month it was. I woke up every morning eagerly looking forward to the rest of the day. There was much to do, yet there never is enough days in February despite this being a leap year. Now that the dust has finally settled, I am left with the lingering sense of nostalgia.. Happiness encapsulated within the memories, of the days of February.

There was the trip to Penang with Julian, Kwong Hann and Alvin - my immediate reminiscence of which kick-started the month for me. The first weekend of the month had me tripping to the south of the peninsular on a rather unorthodox trip with a primarily-Mensan group. I experienced Singapore in a way like never before, before we spent a night at Tanjong Piai - continental Asia's southern-most tip. There really is no way to properly describe this amazing trip in words, let alone photos so I shall not even bother trying. If you really want to know more about this trip I suggest you simply ask me in person anytime because I doubt I'll forget the experience down the years. There is however a niche collection of photos from the first day courtesy of Patrick Khoo: https://plus.google.com/photos/107212895984411636275/albums/5705301294624697313?banner=pwa

After returning to KL for a short celebration of Thaipusam and a few more hours at work, I revisited Singapore the following weekend with Julian. This time I took the opportunity to pay a few friends and relatives a quick visit. I put up at Kishan's place on both the nights I was there, as I spent the days traveling the island on foot and the MRT.

After returning back to KL via the Aeroline bus with Julian, the next couple of weeks were full of plans with Julian, Kwong Hann, Alvin and Ziyu as we looked to make the most of Julian's time in Malaysia before we finally saw him off at the airport on the 19th. In between there was the Mensa Heritage post-trip reunion at The Curve. The next weekend I caught the Great Baritone Arias by the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra with my colleagues at KLCC. If that wasn't enough, the last night of this February was brought to a close with a night at Alexis where I was serenaded by the wonderful vocals of the a capella group from Down Under, The Idea of North.

I really cannot say enough about each and every experience I've listed above.. and then there are those that I haven't even mentioned. To top it all off - I didn't even need a special Valentine's experience to make this month a special and memorable one. What an incredible month it was.. and I have my 25th birthday to look forward to in a few days. Bliss!

Trippin' Back To Victorian Times

In truth, there is usually a unique combination of factors that shapes each an every individual. This is no different for me, though I will still contend that a major influence on who I am today originates from my teenage days in Victoria Institution. I've been back from the US for over a year now, but it was not until last Saturday that I finally paid my alma mater a visit with the VI Scouts' Campfire as an excuse.

I was surprised by the noticeable changes in the school, but at the same time also by the lack of them. I did hear some time back that the scout den caught fire and burned to the ground, but it was only when I visited that I saw the new Bengkel KH that had been built over the ground. As for the scouts - well like most other extra-curricular bodies in the VI today, they've been pushed to the brink with limited allocation of the school's resources; they now share a small room that used to be the Red Crescent Society's sick bay once. It was certainly saddening to listen to the current students' accounts on the state of matters in VI today.

Regardless, I was there to witness the Campfire - a traditionally annual event that has thankfully survived all this madness. It began with the usual lighting of the campfire by the Guest of Honour, and interestingly enough it was a familiar old face who did the honours - Mr. Othman a.k.a Semang.

The performances were very typical (frankly, hasn't changed since my days.. haha) - the sketch was cheesy, the dances were cool and the Rescue Act was as thrilling as ever. What was disappointing though was the turnout, which was poor to say the least. Perhaps part of the reason was Malaysia's football match against Liverpool going on at the same time in Bukit Jalil. Despite the poor crowd, I still managed to bump into some old faces like Miss Shanti, Miss Nirmal and surprisingly two of my APD seniors - Darren Lo and Low Jun Fay. We spent the night catching up on old times, and it was nice to learn that the two of them are doing well, yet they've managed to keep their characters pure and unchanged. Staying true to the old times, we headed for supper after the campfire before calling it a night.

If all that wasn't enough, I bumped into Sui-Jon on my way to lunch on Monday. The best part.. he tells me he's just started working in the SAME building as me. Now what were the odds? Anyway.. as one would easily predict, it was a few more trips down memory lane over a couple of lunch sessions that followed over the week. Frankly it seems we could organize a pretty big Victorian meetup sometime soon, with Naqiuddin working in the same department as me and a few others from our batch working around the area. We are after all in the middle of KL, aren't we?

Incepting Inception

It began as a normal Thursday. After spending the preceding weekdays completing the interim claim for my current (temporary) company, I figured I could take the day off and catch a movie with Ben and Sui Jon - no other than the crazily-hyped Christopher Nolan film, Inception. It was set to be a cracking day.. to make sure things stayed smooth I even planned to reach Mid Valley almost 2 hours earlier to grab the tickets, and the best seats.

Just then my phone rang.. my boss had some last minute work for me. Of course, it took precedence and I figured I still wouldn't have trouble making it to Mid Valley in time. Once I finished up, I got dressed and headed out under overcast skies. About a hundred meters later, the clouds let loose. "No biggie," I figured. A short trip back to grab an umbrella and I was on my way again. Now as some of you may know, I do not drive yet since my probationary license expired when I was in the States. Hence, the KTM Komuter was to be my best option. Then again, I had forgotten how badly the KTM could screw my plans over. Upon tons of waiting (both inside and outside the train) I only managed to reach KL Sentral at 1.35pm, and the movie was to start at 1.45pm! The only positive was the price of the ride - 1 Ringgit (which should in fact give you an idea of how short the trip should have been). At this point I figured waiting for the connecting KTM train would most definitely end my hopes of making it for the movie in time, so I decided to exit in KL Sentral and switch to the Putra LRT.

I took the LRT to Bangsar, which was still quite a distance from Mid Valley. The time was 1.45pm. Not to mention I hadn't had my lunch yet. I glanced once at the station's exit - no buses or taxis in sight. I really didn't want to miss the movie. No.. not Inception. I wasn't going to depend on things out of my control anymore. It was time to take matters into my own hands. So.. I simply reverted to the infallible way of getting there - on foot! With the clock ticking on, I practically sprinted from the Bangsar LRT all the way to the Golden Screen Cinemas in Mid Valley. There was no hunger nor lethargy in my thoughts. In fact there was nothing in my mind, apart from the prayers for the pre-movie trailers and advertisements to be extra long. I managed to reach the theatres at 1.55pm - panting, yet somewhat proud of what I had just accomplished.

As we entered the theatre - myself still trying to catch my breath - we realized the movie had begun 5-10 minutes earlier. A minor setback though, for I was still able to follow the storyline, and truly enjoy it. What a movie it was.. A really simple idea when you think about it, yet the way Nolan brings it all together and presents it is truly wonderful. A masterpiece. Finally, a movie that is generous on food for thought.

There have been a few movies I stop watching halfway through (e.g: A Bee Movie).

There have been a few movies I watch to the end and repress the fact that I watched them (e.g: Monster House).

At the end of most movies I tell myself it was a movie.

At the end of some movies I tell myself it was definitely worth watching (e.g: The Prestige).

At the end of a select few movies, I tell myself it is one for the ages, forever remembered for what it was..

Of all the movies I have managed to catch at the theatres to date - Inception easily tops the list. As for my adventure that preceded the movie - I can say it made the whole thing all the more memorable..

Starting Anew

The days away from home are over.. for now at least. Perhaps I'll change those words that has underlined my blog's name for almost 3 years now. Perhaps not.. if my career is to begin away from home, that is. Either way, I have been starved of that perfect job to kickstart my career, so much so I'm even contemplating some wild compromises in my dreams.. Ahhh.. how I wish it wouldn't have to go to that. I must say that pride and ego of mine (or whatever's left of it) has taken quite a beating over the past half a year.. I tend to wonder if I am even good enough..

Tough days these, and such thoughts don't make things any easier. I'll never forget these days though.. and I hope that somewhere in the near future, they serve but to keep my feet firmly on the ground. I will not wilt though.. no, not now. Not ever.

On another note, I owe quite a few friends a round of apologies.. I have been back for quite some time yet I haven't contacted any of you, let alone met up with. Well, partly my pride deems that I get that all-important job first before coming face-to-face with ya'll.. On the other hand, I don't want to deepen this hole I've been digging each passing jobless day through my family's coffers. Heh. How bout' that for some resolve? Call it stupid.. call it a manifestation of my repressed ego.. doesn't change a thing.

Whatever it is the future may hold..
I will not fade, I will not fold..

Perhaps a little on the somber side, but these slow days call for such notes. I promise you a much, much happier post, sooner or later.

Threading a Fine Line

It's been a while.. since I could blog my heart out here..

As some of you may already be aware of, I've been pretty preoccupied the past couple of weeks. My internship (so to speak.. it really doesn't seem very related to my major, but it's very, very interesting stuff) began a fortnight ago, and I've had really long hours at work... not to mention my long trip to and fro on the KTM (just like the good ol' days back in INTI). Here's a little update on what working at Freescale really has been like for me. Firstly.. there's a sizable group of Indians working at the line where my job is based. These guys really are gems, and my only regret is that I would only be working with them for 2 months. Each of them are unique in their own way.. yet all of them are in unison when it comes to advising me on what I should do once I complete my studies in the US....... DON'T COME BACK TO MALAYSIA!! At first, it really was sad to hear that. However, the countless arguments they made on why I shouldn't come home were all valid.. Now the only thing that still binds me to a future in Malaysia is (quite obviously) my friends and family.

Future talks aside, my workload at the company really wasn't much, until last Friday when I was finally entrusted with more arduous and important tasks. And when I figured it couldn't get any more tiring, today's work was a killer! I was practically in the line for really long hours, even foregoing my breakfast and tea break hours (lunch break is compulsory). I performed measurements to test the repeatability and reliability of a couple of new high-power microscopes in the line. Towards the latter part of the day, I was repeatedly attempting to overcome my greatest obstacle to date... threading an amazingly fine gold wire (that's 99.9% pure gold for you.. lol) through a couple of small holes and a capillary tip. I managed to get all the steps right in due time except the last one... threading through the capillary tip. Being the determined one (yea right! lol), I'm gonna give it another go tomorrow. Oh and did I mention I screwed up the bonding pad measurements slightly and I'll need to redo tomorrow?? Guess not.

So yea.. I've been pretty tired on the weekdays. However, despite the crazy hours, I managed to meet up with Henry Yeo at Mid Valley last Tuesday. He basically had free tickets and we decided on Kung Fu Panda. I must say, I was kinda fearing a repeat of my HORRENDOUS Monster House experience (I think those couple of hours still torments the other few who watched it with me.. haha), but the movie turned out to be really funny. Yes, some of the jokes seemed stale at times, but the animated expressions and sound effects made it truly enjoyable.

And what about the weekends? Well I'm pretty busy on the weekends too.. busy having FUN! Lol. For instance, this last Saturday, I met up with Fang Hai and Samuel (once again.. Mid Valley) as we ended up eating at chatting for hours - catching up on old times and discussing the current situation in my alma mater.. Victoria Institution. From there, I made my way to Edmund Siew's barbecue party. He had basically invited a horde of Victorians from my batch... some of whom I had already met up with at the surprise party. Any event with this bunch of guys is always great fun, as we chatted and cracked jokes for hours. I was very happy to meet a lot of them, and for the opportunity I thank Edmund. Now, it didn't just end there.. I was also out for the entire Sunday at the Bukit Bintang area with Ashan and Alex. Once again, lotsa chit-chatting.. and a couple of bowling games and we really had a relaxing evening.

Alright.. that's it for now. Here's me signing off, and for once very uncertain as to when the next update would be.. Cheers!