Beneath Us

its a never ending learning journey. since young we're taught about manners, discipline, etiquettes, etc etc by our parents. as we grow older, we lose them.

stuff we're taught as kids, slowly become beneath us for some. as we age, we gain a sense of self, believing we're better than others, slowly infused with a thin wisp of ego that eventually boils to a thick belief of me-myself-and-i.

the other day, i helped an instructor invigilate a mock exam. yerppp, me. (oooo-wow-weeeee!)

so the charts are laminated. and some of us highlight over it to ease our problem solving. what irks me, is the not erasing part.

along the way, we loose what we've learnt. most often than not, we need an outsider to remind us of it, say our teachers, lecturers, instructors or mentors. at an age of defiance, we need someone who towers over us, not physically, to reinstall those lost parts.

back in the exam hall, i just gently reminded them, "please clean the charts".

the obvious reply, "wasn't me that drew. before this already had".

after many attempts, i decided it wasn't gonna work. so i gave up, and went with, "if you've marked the charts, please erase your markings", hoping some self-realization will set in. it fell on deaf ears, but there were a few who obliged. i thanked those who did, sincerely. what i do not get, is why others couldn't. you've pooped, shouldn't you clean it up? i don't think infants are qualified for this course. but behaving like that, does spoil the market, ya know? then it won't look so glamorous either.

what's sickening, is those who mark it, and deny it was their doing, believing that "no one's gonna clean it, why should i?". i think we all can play a tiny part somewhere in this gigantic world. step by step and make a difference? even by lets say, sliding the chairs back under the table?

i'm being too optimistic aren't i? and i'm begining to sound holier-than-thou.

well maybe i am.

then maybe i should not exist as well :P

*******

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i've got this uber cool new mouse since my old one decided to dysfunction after many great dota battles. it's rather tiny. but it's filled with coloured lights.

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it changes, shining from white-green-yellow-red-purple-blue-green-and lotsa in betweens.

.

its like a mini disco ball. i can turn off the lights, and have my own clubbing scene.

.

now everyone can club :)

Goreng Your Pocket

my cuz married an english. recently they were down for deepavali. what's really nice about him, he's very open to the malaysian culture and food. ok, maybe he loves the food to be precise. he'd tell his wife to just stay at home, and he'll take the car out to the mamak near their house in kl.

the other day, he went to the mamak and ordered mee goreng and roti canai. the guy's been in and out of malaysia many times. he's been to mamak a gazilion times.

so when he went to pay for his food, he had a jolly good time with the cashier that tried to cheat him.

him: how much is the food?

cashier: six dollar for one roti canai.

him: no. it says 80cents on the board, why are you charging me six dollars? (he points to the board with a smile)

well if the cashier had any sense at all, he would have blushed to stupidity, but i think he was so low on the stupid-scale, he didn't even know the meaning of tak malu!

even with the recent economy rollercoaster, roti canai isn't gonna shoot up to six dollars a piece. well unless of course you're, lets say 30,000feet in the air? :P

*******

its been raining. hence IMC conditions.



and IMC = no flying



rain is only good for sleep.

Uprooted

spotted: an aircraft jerking forward on start up. was that an indication, or just too much power set? was it a sign to worry? did it really jerk? or was it just rumours spouted to make a bonfire out of matchsticks?

today an aircraft didn't land so safely, as its nose made its way into the green pastures outside of the runway. what exactly happened, i'm not too sure. all i heard was:

"wooo... woo......... WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

and as i directed my attention to the runway outside, i saw the aircraft nose first into the dirt. one would definitely resent the aircraft. one who never wanted to fly that particular aircraft, but is forced to.

slow down. things like this are unavoidable truth be told. like driving school, rolling backwards during the balancing hill test? or even the sudden dead engine when the traffic light turns green? and i mean manual cars btw.

whether it happens to you or not, that's a different story. to begin with, the eagle 150B isn't exactly the idealist's aircraft. categorized as extra light weight, the aircraft is certified to be a trainer aircraft only in malaysia. i think because it is malaysian. usually trainer aircrafts are light aircrafts, get the picture?

landing is the most important part, and its a lot harder when you're flying these types of small aircrafts because speed, height, and power setting is based on your own judgement, especially on solo flights. you can't be scaning to check speed and height when you're nearing threshold, and as you reduce power to prepare for touchdown, your controls become sloppy and inefficient. there is a lag when you turn the controls till when the aircraft actually banks. its not easy.

touching down can be considerate(?) in the sense the runway is more than sufficient in length. the hard part is touching down safely and smoothly. landings can be heavy with a loud "THUMP", leaving you with a sore ass, which i've proven before.

and of course breaking is a big slice of the pie too. though you may have touched down safely on the runway, its not over till you bring the aircraft to a safe slower speed. breaking as well needs careful application. break too fast or unequally, you can safely end up skidding off the runway. i get really nervous when i press on the breaks, sometimes taking too long, sometimes just feeling like i'm gonna lose control of the aircraft.

so like i said, landings are difficult. it all takes a lot of time and practice. worse thing is, losing the feel of the aircraft and judgement, resulting in bad actions. but maybe today wasn't his fault. maybe the aircraft had problems. maybe the throttle faulted during landing. we'll have to wait and see.

i'm sure he's quite shaken up by this incident. its scary even just for me as a passerby. the possibilities and what ever not, runs a chill down my spine. though the ironic thing is, this is particularly what makes it so goddamn interesting for me as well. leaving the aircraft with heart thumping on rage, in one piece.


damages?

well the grass will grow back ;P

Randoms

"i heard there was a local airline had to do emergency landing. you know about it?", he said.

"no. what's it about? where?", i asked.

"heard the captain couldn't use his controls. the ailerons failed and he couldn't turn. he couldn't bank the aircraft. i'm not sure about it, but heard he had to do emergency landing in Kuching."

"emergency landing???", i raised an eyebrow, but i wasn't the only one.

"ya emergency landing. he was taxying, then couldn't control the aircraft, couldn't turn. then not sure but heard ailerons, or maybe RUDDER wasn't working..."

"how to do emergency landing if he's taxying the aircraft?! he's on the ground!", all of us asked in unison. or close to it.


i remember getting an obnoxious statement similar to this before. contradicting from topic to content, bewildering to say the least. fortunately this time, i had a pretty sound mind to actually stomach the words, unlike before, and get the wrongs fished out from the truth.

its quite fantastic how people can make no sense at all, professionally even. i guess they were just trying to take advantage of the situation, and mask their stupidity with mambo jambo jargons. i don't think its fair to drop professional jargons to the unaccustomed, even though its gonna make you look cool (and professional) although you're actually dim-witted. something stinks, maybe its coming from all the crap in your storage head? hmphhh...



this is the very reason stories twist and turn, flip 180 degrees and slaps you with a backhand.



well anyways, a lot of mushrooms have started sprouting wildly over the skies. its become carpeted with mushrooms overhead here in kb. some even as black as shitake mushrooms. yipes! its unpleasant.

i meant clouds by the way. things are getting misunderstood. better be clear.





last but not least, "everyone wants to fly for the national carrier. at the end of the day, i wanna fly for the BA (british airways)", my dear cousin once said. much to be pondered about. tell me that 2years ago (not the BA part of course), it could've hit homerun. now, it doesn't matter. maybe when the perks are unsatisfactory it'll all make sense. maybe.

food for thought:
everyone of us have an independent way of thought. defensive mechanisms, literacy assault, emotion marathons. i'm still questioning myself. i feel i need to know me first, before i question others, or even let others question me. till now, i can't say i know me. do you know yourself?