DecemberFlight's Blog

Selamat Hari Raya

decemberflight — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 04:10:54 +0000

To anyone reading this, Hari Raya Eid ul-Fitr(festivity and charity) is drawing nearer as the mark of the end of Ramadhan. May all that has passed be forgiven and forgotten. Let this be a new beginning for a new path leading to the same destination.

A road that begins and ends well.

Ramadhan is a holy month where Muslims around the world fast for about 30 days. The night before Eid is with the takbir which is held in the mosques. In many parts of Indonesia as well as Malaysia, especially in rural areas, pelita(oil lamps) are lit up in house compounds. Eid also witnesses a huge migratory pattern of Muslims and Non-Muslims, from around the country to their home town. This is known as balik kampung.

Muslims also greet one another with”maaf zahir dan batin” in Malaysian, which means “Forgive my physical and emotional (wrongdoings)”, because Eid ul-Fitr is not only for celebrations but also the time to cleanse their sins and strengthen their ties with relatives and friends.

It is customary for Indonesians and Malaysians to wear traditional cultural outfits on the Eid. The outfit for men is called baju melayu or baju koko in Indonesia which is worn together with kain samping (made out of songket) and songkok (a dark coloured headgear); in Indonesia the men will usually wear pants with similar color to the shirt or (normal black pants) and a (black head cover called) [Peci]. The women in Indonesia and Malaysia wear what is known as baju kurung and baju kebaya. It is also common to see non-Malay Muslims wear costumes of their culture.

Once the prayer is completed, it is also common for Muslims in Indonesia and Malaysia to visit the graves of loved ones. During this visit, they clean the grave, recite Ya-Seen, a chapter (surah) from the Qur’an and also perform the tahlil ceremony. All these are done to ask for God to forgive the dead and also those who are living.

The rest of the day is spent visiting relatives or serving visitors. Eid ul-Fitr is a very joyous day for children for on this day adults are especially generous. Children will be given token sums of money, also known as “duit raya,” from their parents or elders.

Non-Muslims have also in the past put themselves in the picture, joining in the festivities and bringing Malaysia an Eid ul-Fitr unlike any other. This major occasion is amongst the busiest in Malaysia with participation from all races, strengthening the unity that has held this country together for so long. A selfless feeling that makes everyone smile together and let go of the past.

A sense of a big home. A truly Muhibbah feeling.

SELAMAT HARI RAYA!!!

IM BACK WOO

decemberflight — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:21:24 +0000

My targets this time around:
-New Zealand Natural Milkshake 1xday just cant do it
-Batting Cage 1xday same here
-Buy new headsets check
-Roaming the new mall in damansara. I don’t even know the name yet. check
-Look for people
-Buy stuff for Langkawi
-Check out central park

-Watch a movie for the first time in 6 months

The targets laid out above are restricted to a 10-day time frame =] Guess I have a lot ahead of me eyh?

Updated: well I have 2 more days to do the rest. But whatever happens is alright.

Drops of thoughts

decemberflight — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:37:55 +0000

Has it occurred to you that as mankind strolls towards the future, the footprints and the impressions left behind are bringing us closer to a nightmare beyond our power to resolve?

The total coverage of water on the surface of the Earth is approximately 70%. This may seem a lot if left at that but it may trigger a sense of caution when elaborated, the percentage of water within quality limits for drinking are around 3%.

The earth’s total amount of water has a volume of about 344 million cubic miles.
· 315 million cubic miles is seawater.
· 9 million cubic miles is groundwater in aquifers.
· 7 million cubic miles is frozen in polar ice caps.
· 53,000 cubic miles of water pass through the planet’s lakes and streams.
· 4,000 cubic miles of water is atmospheric moisture.
· 3,400 cubic miles of water are locked within the bodies of living things.

From this it is pretty apparent that our water supply is very limited. Adding to that, our habits of overlooking the wasteage we cause in our daily lives. For instance, a small drip from a faucet can waste as much as 75 litres of water a day. This figure may seem startling and uneasing but I hope it would be a strong message, remembered and acted upon everyone. I was in my campus as usual today and was greeted in the wee hours of the morning by the loud gushing noises a leak in one of the pipes were making. That pipe was around 4 centimeters in diameter and was evacuating a proportional amount per second. This situation had been going on for several days and it has been bugging me since.

More statistics on wasteage would include the fact that the world consumed 49 billion litres of bottled water in 2007, using 273 billion litres to make the empty bottles in the first place. Simply put, it takes 2.5 litres of water to make 1 bottle of mineral water(500ml). Based on this, it would take little rationale to know how much we can save by starting a conservative habit from our homes.

Vote Earth

decemberflight — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 12:27:31 +0000

On the 28th of March, Malaysia will be participating in Earth Hour. An activity organised by WWF Malaysia but involving the rest of the world. Be part of this experience and gesture for our environment and future to let others know that we can amend for the mistakes from mankind’s past. One World, for one hour.

Don’t miss out.

decemberflight — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 11:07:00 +0000

Day number one is coming to an end as dusk slowly overpowers the skies >=D
As the sun seeks refuge from the darkness in the lee of the mountains away, a sense of panic envelopes the frantic townsfolk of Pennsylvania. For them only one name can ruin the lives of many, and that is of COUNT DRACULA!!

Okays =D I was gonna say something fancy about time and all and that’s the only thing that popped up. My main topic today is that concerning my new stuff bought today. For one, I had to wave goodbye to a great timepiece; my dad’s watch and greet a new one I bought today.

The watch my dad gave me before this was 30 years old. Shocking yea but I know if I didn’t tell anyone, they wouldn’t realise the age of the thing. Honestly I think that’s a damn good quality.
It was pretty reliable for about 2 years(how long I;ve used it so far lol).
Sadly after a while it just….. couldn’t keep up. I lost 6 minutes a day some times wearing the watch and one day when I was on a flight my instructor said I NEEDED a better watch. And so, I bring you this!

Got this beauty today =D Well HELL I’m happy with it. Made with a titanium strap this thing is as light if not lighter than the old one but as durable as the mascot in the energizer commercials. Crazy thing can sustain 10bars of pressure under water and the finish just bloody pleases me.

And here is the predecessor, another seiko which was 3 decades ahead of it’s time, returned today after quite a lot of memorable times using it. Those times were read off it’s aging face and newer times need for a new beginning.
That beginning is day 2. See you tomorrow =]

Back again

decemberflight — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 15:07:00 +0000

hoorah ! will report soon ^.^

Pour.

decemberflight — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:46:00 +0000

It’s been 4 months since the last time it rained here and we simply can’t hide the relief on our faces and raindrops in our hair. It goes without saying that it’s a great feeling after having fields of trees, grass and crops mercilessly dried to fragile decaying landscapes. I was aware of a heat wave coming by word from the locals but never expected something like this.

Before i forget:-

I’m back home =D

decemberflight — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 15:25:00 +0000

As the title states, I’m back for a few days. I’ve been here since last night and would be returning to Langkawi on the 30th after dinner most probably at the airport. Well, nothing much to say really. However, a lot to do.

Boredom Post

decemberflight — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 03:01:00 +0000

HELLO

Good morning everyone, it’s a cloudy saturday morning at the hangar and I am in the middle of standing by for my next flight. Reason? All the aircraft are taken. The ways that I can have a chance of flying today would be bad weather at the training area or any students taking any medical certificates.

After realising that the chances of that happening today are slim, I decided to retreat to my room and grab my laptop =D The results of these actions are simply pictures from the hangar to show you how this place looks.

This is how my breakfast looks like mostly everyday. I usually go for noodles but i was in the mood for some rice.

We usually eat under a hut made of bamboo and coconut leaves. It’s very calming and it helps with getting out of that early morning blur.

Finally, this is the aircraft we will be flying this next few weeks. There are 5 of them but usually a maximum of 4 are capable of being used daily. For some reason or other there will always be a problem with one of them. I just flew in the one in the picture yesterday XD

The aircraft registrations(names) are
9M-HMD-out for maintenance
9M-HME
9M-HMF
9M-HMG-did my first solo in this =D
9M-HMH

That’s all for now. I just saw my instructor walk past the window =x better go cya

P.S. one last pic taken from webcam. On left is my friend Vernicaster.

Temurun update

decemberflight — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:28:00 +0000

Okay, I decided to add more words to this post since I was sloppy with just pictures at first. Granted with more time right now, I will do exactly that.

We got bored one day because we weren’t scheduled for anything much the next few days so we decided to take a tour of this island. The herd consisted of Dev, Pai, Fariez, Aaron and myself; all out with the idea of looking for something to do.

First stop was Telaga Tujuh(7 wells).
We arrived there and climed up 400 steps to reach the waters and when we finally did, we found out we were at the wrong place. Dev and Pai were at the other waterfall, Temurun.

Back down 400 damned steps and I replenished myself with a bottle of water, which reminds me that Aaron owes me RM2.50 .

As you could see in the picture above, it was quite steep XD picture taken to look like we’re on flat ground. You can simply get the real slope by tilting your head and having another look ^^

This picture is taken at Pantai Tengkorak =D Known for it’s white and soft sands, this beach is a great for a quiet relaxing getaway.

L to R: Dev, Aaron, me
The one in the middle here would be Pai.

The trip ended for us at sunset and we drove back towards the campus with the night slowly creeping the skies. There is more to the story with even a video too but the connection being slow here is not permitting an upload now T_T next time i’m sure.