Finding Layla

I don't usually use curse words, then again it depends on who I am talking to. However the situation yesterday made it perfectly fine to curse all day.
Audrey's dog, a Siberian husky called Layla went missing! When I got the SMS from her brother, my heart just sank and I wanted to just drop whatever I was doing and just go out to find her. This was the second time it happen, I thought we were lucky that someone found her and actually called us up right after seeing the missing posters we put up. This time I am not so sure we could find her again, due to the fact that we don't know how long she has been missing. It is important to have these details because from that we can tell the estimated search range. Unfortunately, no one seems to know the time she when missing and the maid was either too ignorant or too dumb to answer simple question like who when out or came back between 5pm to 8pm.
Prior to the drama, I was out hiking at Bukit Apeh hills which is tiring but not satisfying at all, I got back home to rest a while and waited for Aurelius to pick me up so that we could go buy some stuff from the digital mall and grab dinner at the same time. It was when we were right in front of the mall when I got the bad news.
I told Aurelius about Layla and that I lost the mood to go to the mall, yet he insisted that we continue on with the plan if we could find a parking. And we did find one, quickly run in and get what we needed and rush over to find Layla. It was actually a good thing that we did go on with the plan, not only I get to save time and got the thing I needed, it helps me with the search as I didn't need to worry about shopping again.
We drove around the area, with our windows down shouting out for Layla as loud as we could. Drive by every street and every park near by but we don't see her anywhere.
We then saw a lady walking her dog so we decided to ask if she seen Layla, "Ya, I saw her by the park just now, she was digging and eating rubbish." I immediately knew it was her, that greedy fella! I gave the lady my number and told her to give me a call if she sees her again. We continue our search for another hour and decided to head back to Audrey's place to get something to drink and at the same time get more details from the maid. It was about 10pm at that point, we were getting drinks and was about to continue the search when someone call up my phone.

"Hello Dennis?"
I didn't know who it was, but in my mind I was hoping that his is not some sales person trying to sell something or someone calling up to ask about tarantulas.
"I heard that your dog missing, I saw her in the rain by the park and bring her back home."
I was so relieve at that point, but where did he got my number? The one thing we didn't do after we found Layla the last time was to give her a dog tag with our phone numbers on it.
Apparently, the lady who I gave my number to earlier was a friend of a friend with the person on the phone and he actually called her asking if she knows anyone lose a dog in the area. It was a complete coincidence that the only person I saw and gave my number to while looking for Layla is an acquaintance of the person who found her.
"You are very lucky." he said after telling me where his place is.

Layla is now safely back at home, sleeping soundly in the living room wearing her make shift dog tag with my number on it, lying right next to the couch I am on while typing this.

Have a great weekend
Dennis

Hammer time

Just got myself an 8 pound sledgehammer and a used 4x4 tire recently, I decided to try that instead of going to the gym not only because it's much cheaper than joining a gym. It is also a much interesting method to build up strength and muscles.
I only spend about one hour beating the crap out of the tire switching to different swinging methods after completing every set. Boy can I feel the burn on my back!
Haven't had this sensation for years now!

I do still workout at home or whenever i can after I stopped going to the gym, but it's mostly simply exercises. Nothing as serious as my gym rat days. At my peak, I was pushing 30+kg bench press. Ask me to do it now, I think I'll just become pancake.

I do feel sad looking at old pictures of myself being buffed up, those muscles really shrink if you don't use them and I kept asking myself why didn't I go all the way and keep training. I most likely be able to reach my targeted body weight of 60kg if I did, but as for now my body weight had fell to below the 55kg mark. And yes, I know most people have trouble reducing their body weight yet I am doing the opposite, I don't know if it is a blessing or a curse, but my body weight is always the same, no matter how much or how little I eat. The only time I manage to increase it was by working out with really heavy weights, that only gave me a extra 5kg to my weight.

Hopefully I can gain back the missing 2kg without going to the gym.


Have s great day
Dennis

Forsaken

I've not written or posted a new post in my blog for so long that some of my friends wonder if I've already forsaken my blog. For myself, I'm not sure of the answer either, let me explain. Sometimes in life, people get lost, either distracted or not sure of their direction, where to go and what to do. To find their way they often look back at the past, comparing now with then, who died? What changed? What made them laugh? What made them cry? I'm actually not in that situation, but the drama helps make this post a little longer.

I think I spend more time reading my older post than writing new ones, not really sure what's the reason but I find that more enjoyable to do but in a way I am trying to find out who I was. It's not like I've got in to an accident and lost my memory but my memory is starting to get bad as I grow older.

Simple things like forgetting my keys or trying to find my wallet in my messy room often fill me with frustration that always make people around me upset. I never have any intention of hurting anyone but sometimes things just happen subconsciously, but I'm really sorry for that.

I remember I used to be very patience in many things I do, well at least much more patience then I am now at least. I cannot stand people telling me what to do when I'm already doing it, like just when I was about to take out the trash, somebody just jumps in and tell me to take out the trash, I know people cannot read my mind but it's just so very annoying. With all that ranting aside, I think the whole point of writing this post is just to write a post and to clearify that this blog is not forsaken, I'm just too damn lazy to write.

Have a Great Day
Dennis

Aku Orang India

While entering my car today, I saw an Indian man stopping his motorcycle and waving at me. He was waving as he limps towards my direction as I turn my ignition, I'm not sure if he was waving at me the first time I saw him but having him standing by the window of the car clears my doubts.
Since he's limping, I guess he might have fell off his motorcycle or something and is looking for help. I wind down my window to see what help does he need and he started putting his hands together and say.
"Jangan takut, aku orang india juga." he said with a sad tone.
I know I have dark skin but am I really that dark that I could be pass off as an Indian?
"Aku nak minta tolong sikit, saya ada anak tapi tak ada duit nak beli susu bagi dia, lagi tadi saya kena hantam kat kepala" He said it with tears of sorrow flowing from his eyes, I usually don't give money to people who begs because it usually looks like that they make it look like that they have done it a thousand times before, it just doesn't feel authentic at all.
However, this guy is different. In his voice I could feel his sorrow, his expression tells me that this man could use some help, but am I really that dark?
I pulled out 10 Ringgit from my wallet and hand it to the man.
"Thank you bang, saya akan balas balik jika kita jumpa lagi."
I told him not to worry about it, hope that the money does help him.
He then thank me in Cantonese as he walks away, leaving myself confused about my image.

Have a Great Day
Dennis

Murphy's law

There are no problems, only situations

Just when I need to edit my short film, write scripts, ect my PC monitor decides to make things intresting by having dead pixels and magically turn off for no reason. When I try to turn it back on, it turn off again in 5 seconds. OH! All the fun!
This started after I return from Vietnam, at the time I was waiting to see if I get selected by the organisers of Panasonic Digital Film Fiesta to shoot a short film. They called me on the 26th of May and told me that I am selected and I have to pick up the camera on the 31st May.
Planned the shoot on the 5th of June trying to take advantage of the public holiday (King's Birthday) but was later told to pick up camera on the 7th May because they want to provide me with lighting equipment. I told them that I couldn't delay further and don't need the lighting equipment.
Anyway I'm now busy editing and writing another script, been so busy these days that I didn't even have the time to watch Iron Man 2. Sent the monitor in to Samsung service center, it wasn't comforting to see about 5 monitors show up in the center for service during my one hour wait there.
Hope that my monitor comes back from the service center soon, without any issues or I'll be practicing my rage in a certain service senter.

Have a Great Day
Dennis

Logorama

Logorama
Uploaded by siglo3000. - Full seasons and entire episodes online.

The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement

Whenever i get caught in a traffic jam or got stuck in a crowded place, the one thing that's is in my mind is "Where did all these people come from?"
The members of the website I'm about to share have a different idea.

www.vhemt.org - The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement

No, they are not out bombing or killing people, however these guys seems to have a different idea, That is to convince people to stop breeding. Interesting idea but don't see how it will work without killing people.

“May we live long and die out” - vhemt motto

Have a Great Day,
Dennis

MCA vs KMT

A note to remember

James Khor Wan Kai is a 20 year old student from Penang, who wants to be someone extraordinary in the near future.
On the 1st of November James and 4 of his friends traveled to Batu Berangkai Waterfall for to enjoy the great outdoors.
Unfortunately, James life was cut short as he and 2 of his friends, Yew Shy Gin and Yew Ghim Chnieh, drown after they were swept away by strong current at the Batu Berangkai Waterfall located at Kampar. Their bodies were found one kilometer away from the spot where they were swimming and enjoying the waterfall. The only surviving person from the group was lucky that a villager manage to pull him out of the water, he suffered cuts, bruises and most likely is now still in disbelieve that he had lost his friends.

This is the kinda of thing I'm sure most people want to avoid for any outdoor activities, when hiking make sure that the group move in one group so that everyone can look out for each other. Make sure that there are a few people who are experienced for the event, having someone with knowledge of first aid is important too.

wanted to travel all travel point in Malaysia before i finish my bachelor degree program..
but always feel not motivated and didn't move my ass on it..
well..
something happened make me decided to move now..
life is short..
life is unpredictable..
we just dunno what will happen next and what will things become next..

James Khor's blog entry on the 13th of October 2009
http://jameskhor.blogspot.com

R.I.P to the victims of the November 1st 2009 Batu Berangkai Waterfall Incident

And to the rest
Enjoy mother nature, but don't be reckless and always watch out for each other.


Have A Great Day.
Dennis

Let's Forgive

With this video I beg for forgiveness from my friends and family who used to read my blog. forgive me for I've forsaken this blog. :P

More importantly, do learn to forgive simply because a relationship/friendship is worth more than an apology.

Have A Great Weekend
Dennis

The Strange Peaceful Feeling

Lost my cellphone ...

Lepok Fall

It's been a while since my group of friends make our last waterfall trip, everyone's been busy with all sort of things. So a few of us decided to make a trip to one in Hulu Langat, to a waterfall call Lepok falls.
Lepok Falls is located near Kampung Pangsun, or rather very near Gunung Nuang's entry point. this waterfall is frequently visited, it may be because of it's easy accessibility, an hour hike was all thet require if you know the way.
There was 6 of us in this trip and of the 6 only Aurelius had been to the waterfall, still I was appointed to lead the group.

Opening a Durian

The trail can be quite confusing if you are not careful exspecially at the part where a uphill climb is require. There are plenty of side tracks here and there which the durian collectors used, make sure you come across a abandon pipeline at about 30 minutes of the trail.

Lepok Falls

Lepok Fall is a nice place to hang out, the water is clear and clean. However traces of human destruction can be found at the waterfall surroundings.

Have A Great Day
Dennis

Biarkan kenangan berbunga di ranting usia...

I Survived!!!

My weekend preparations started a week ago, it was phone calls after phone calls in getting things ready, in between that I keep getting annoying ones which keeps coming and asking me irrelevant questions or giving me weird suggestions. It's a waste of time some of these phone calls, a little less talk and more action is what I need.
Woke up early and arrive at Mid Valley at 9AM to setup the MTS booth, I didn't want anything fancy for it because there is no budget in the society and so far I am the one who's paying the price. Plus it's much easier to manage if things are kept simple.


Ron and Ryo arrived at the booth just as I was done planning the booth setup, the booth actually comes with a table, 2 chairs and a waste basket. There is nothing to really secure our precious tarantulas from getting stolen so I forked out some cash from my own pocket to rent a lockable cabinet which I knew was not worth the money but it was much convenient for me to just rent it even with the ridiculous price I paid.

The exhibition was really quiet on the 1st day, even before I can manage myself for lunch, the mind keeps wandering off thinking about work and the "Let's go mamak" concert I'm attending that night.
I left the booth early, leaving Ryo in charge of the booth while I'm away. Gave him some instructions and ground rules of my own which includes "Strictly No Handling of any Tarantula" This is the first time that the Malaysian Tarantula Society is in a event of this size, I cannot afford a screw up by some mindless eager keeper, thinking of the scenarios it is hard to imagine how to settle if someone gets bitten by one of the tarantula. Not only that I have to explain to the organisers which is a small issue. But if the victim is a visitor, he or she will have even bigger fear of tarantulas and MTS would become infamous for sure.
I left Mid valley to attend to some work, sending a copy of the company's latest work to FINAS for a Film Award and attended "Lets go mamak" with Audrey and her friends.


Saturday: Shoot Day For SSDD
Kin Yew's short film which he had ask for my assistance, it's not easy to work on one of the scene which involves a lot of people, it's like an ant controlling a mob. The worst thing is working with the people who don't believe in the project actually frustrates me. It was so bad that it became a pain which I just wanted to just do it quick and get it over it.
Yet there are some good out of it, most of us there learn something and gain some experience in making a film and I got myself a new motto.

Sunday: Spent the whole day at Mid Valley Exhibition Center for the tarantulas, nothing interesting there but it was all right.

Have A Great Day
Dennis

A Maniac's Weekend

For 2 weeks I've been cracking my head in planning my 1st weekend for the month of July. The list of thing I have this weekend was:

1. Malaysian Tarantula Society booth at Pets World Exhibition Mid Valley Exhibition Center (3rd, 4th, 5th July)
2. Lets Go MAMAK Concert (Friday Night)
3. Art Direct and Shooting the making of Linus' New Short Film (Saturday or Sunday)
4. Assist Kin Yew in his short film titled "Same Shit Different Day" (Saturday or Sunday)

Before I talk more about this seemingly impossible weekend, I'm gonna talk about my previous week highlights.

Had some issues and wasn't quite happy about certain things in my life, at the same time Audrey had to attend a seminar in Penang so took the chance to retreat and re-think.

As soon as I return, I was told to assist Aaron in a short film called "Life" directed by Parkash. Aaron, as Linus describes, is very serious about his work and have very high expectations from his crew, so due to my limited experience on set getting the chance of working with Aaron was unlikely for me. The opportunity came at a very unlikely time, still a little unsure at first but it make more sense to give it a try and do whatever I can.


Now, how do I split myself and be in 4 locations at once? The Concert is not an issue since it's only held at night I can just pardon myself and leave the exhibition slightly early. Shooting the short film will take a day each, fortunately one of it is postponed to next week so that things can be better organised. For the exhibition, I got enough people to manage the booth for the 3 days, but it is crucial that I be in on the 1st and the last day, the days that I have to setup and pack up. All this can be done.

Have A Great Day
Dennis

Delayed May Updates

10th May: Did a recce trip to Kendondong Falls with Aurelius, Seng Keong and Chris.



17th May: Guide a bunch of friends to Kendondong Falls myself, crash car on the way back, got conned feel like crap after that.


24th May: Paint Ball with friends and strangers at Mud Trekkers, had fun but still feeling shitty about the crash.



30th May: Did the Skytrex Extreme Challenge at Taman Pertanian, Shah Alam, it's extremely challenging and tiring for me since I do have a fear of heights but it was fun.
Someone forgotten their locker key so I cycled from entrance to the SkyTrex place and back. Shot some arrows with Chris for practice and act for the Interns short film with Audrey on the same day.
The shoot planning was horrible and the wait was painful, did't get a scene even after 3 hours after the starting time, shoot continue on the next night with some improvement.


Have A Great Day
Dennis

Conquering Strata Falls: Part 2

Aurelius called me up on Saturday, telling me about his plans to explore Strata falls area on the following day, he asked if I was interested to join him and Chris for this trip. He is limiting the number this time to 4 heads so that the group could explore the whole trail efficiently. At that time I couldn't find any reason not to go, so I agreed to come along.
We left for Tanjung Malim town at 6.30am to have our breakfast and stock up on food supplies, we had the best fried chicken of our lives and packed half a roast duck up for lunch at the waterfall later.

Do you see a trail?

It's 9.10am, we were at the starting point hiking and chatting to a local there. Chris kept asking about the wildlife that can be found there for some reason while Aurelius asked about the trail to Strata Falls. As usual the native gave us a very vague answer "Terus jalan saja", that means we are better off finding the way on our own.
Eventually we found ourselves on the path heading towards Strata Falls, I cannot be sure if this is the right path or is it the wrong path but the GPS indicates that we were getting closer and closer to our objective.
It didn't take us long to realized that we got to clear the trail to move on, the trail was so overgrown that my machete was out of it's sheath most of the time. at one point we stopped and check the maps and our coordinates and realized that we are actually using an old trail that leads all the way to the top of Strata falls. To me it was fine, we could always find our way down from the top.

A small waterfall at a tributary

Cleaning up on the top of Strata Falls

at 11.50am we finally arrived at the end of the trail, where we found ourselves standing gloriously on the top of Strata Falls, we took a break to check our body for leeches, at that point I already had a few coming that got really close to "Private John". A quick check, some rest and a dozen of photographs later, we moved on to our next destination - the bottom pool.

Strata Falls

It was a long way down from the top, and there isn't any proper trail that leads down. At some point it was really dangerous, the cliff that we were walking on was like maybe 4 or 5 stories high, one slip could send a person down and most likely to end one's life. We had to make our own trail and sometimes follow the wild boars' path. It wasn't easy but I was confident with my partners and myself, still it was important to keep checking on each other as this is a way to boost morale and provide the necessary support to each other.
By 1pm, we arrived at the bottom of the falls, feeling the gusting wind produced by the falling water, awe at the beautiful and majestic Strata Falls.
To attempt this waterfall 3 times failing on the first 2 attempts and finally getting here, It was all worth it.

Last picture as we head back using the new trail

Have A Great Day
Dennis

Swine Flu Song

Conquering Strata Falls: Part 1

On 17th May 2008, a group consists of Seng Keong, Aurelius, Josen, Henry, Eu Jin, Linus and I made an attempt on Strata Falls. It is an elusive waterfall that is located near Tanjung Malim, and if you read my post a year ago you will know that I did not make it up to the falls and I had an accident which caused me to faint, reason why I didn't continue on to the falls while most of the group was because a friend of mine was too tired to move on, I didn't want to leave him there on his own. If you've actually experienced being left alone in the wild before you'll understand what I mean, that feeling of being left absolutely sucks.


We left from our meeting point at almost 7am, and had our breakfast at Tanjung Malim, not far away from our starting point. We arrive at our starting point at 9am, took us a while to prepare and start trekking. Aurelius was our Navigator this trip, he already put on the effort to understand the map and hook up the coordinates on his GPS for this trip. Aurelius had me in as Group Lead and Scout, giving me the duty of finding possible trail when none can be found and to make sure the group is motivated and sticks together. Ah Ping was our Trail Sweeper who makes sure no one is left behind and Aaron was our group photographer, one who is responsible for snapping the nice pictures.


We hiked on in the oil palm estate, till we reach the open field where we made on crucial mistake, we took the wrong trail that leads us to a river where we started water trekking too soon. We spent 1 and a half hours trekking in the water, sometimes got out to dry land seeking for possible trail; we were indeed getting nearer to Strata Falls however our progress was very slow.



Aurelius and I think that it’ll be wise to head back as it will be too late and too risky to continue on to the falls, so we decided to stop where we were and enjoy the water right there. It wasn’t a tough choice to make at that point; we had too many people at the time and bringing everyone up will consume time and energy, even if we could make it up there I’m sure it’ll be really late when we get back, it was not worth risking it since most of us do not carry a flash light.


As we head back, the voice in my head keeps on nagging to me, telling me that I had to come back again and finish this off once and for all.


Have A Great Day,
Dennis

Morning Blood Bath

"Dennis! Wake up quick! " my mom yelled while banging at my door and it sounds urgent.
I got out of bed pushing my blanket and pillows to the floor and dash out wondering what's the emergency.
I got downstairs to the garden and found my dogs Eddie and Sandy covered in blood and stuck on to each other, somehow Sandy got her hind leg caught in Eddie's choke chain, Sandy gets panic easily, while I was there she kept on struggling and attacking Eddie and anyone that comes close. At that moment Eddie was struggling to breath and was defending himself from the attacks from Sandy. Eddie was calm the whole time except when Sandy decided to go crazy, knowing that it is clear to me that I had to pin Sandy down in order to get them loose and the only way to do this was to press her head down with my leg so that I could work on the chain with my hands.
It was a very difficult thing to do, they are both wet because my mom thinks that if she spray enough water at the dogs they will eventually be free, I guess she had no idea how Sandy actually reacts to water, giving her a bath is like a wrestling death match.
When I managed to keep the situation under control, mom ran in to fetch something to cut the chain. First she bring a small wire cutter, it was useless because it is made to cut wires. Then she bring a metal sheet cutter which is reasonable in size but equally useless in when it comes to cutting chain. Again Sandy struggled and managed to get herself free from me, right away she attack Eddie and got him hard on his tail. I thought that I could pry her mouth open with my hands but as I was trying to do that she bite down even harder and got one of my finger trapped in her jaws I watch as she put a puncture wound on my fingers, when I manage to free myself I ran in to the house to get a Lineman's pliers and a slip joint pliers. I needed these 2 because the Lineman could actually do the cutting and I could use both to bend the steel ring. At last I got them both loose, Sandy ran right straight under the car with a limping while Eddie being himself was running around the garden playing on the grass... both seems to be doing OK.
Mom convinced me and bring me to the clinic to get a doctor to have a look at my injuries, for me it's just something minor, no need for a doctor but I just do as she says or else there will be no end to it.

Have a Great Day
Dennis