Ate Ngape weh...(Wazzap)

Ate Ngape weh...(Wazzap): A year later....

2011-09-03T01:15:00.000+08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzqTPxNcghs

A year later....

2011-08-31T19:21:00.006+08:00

It's over a year now since my last post in this blog... regarding my car...huhuhu... it was like nothing, no movement, no improvement what so ever to it...

Since the overheating incident, me & my friend broke off with another friend of ours to form a new entity... a new workshop to cater our existing customers... it's that jealously thing that made us form the new workshop... it's about me & my friend (later as biz partner& chief mechanic) bringing more & more customer... a lot more than the other friend's customers... every time our customer came, he just refuse to let the car go in the workshop or lend us the tools... why the ****** is he doing like that...

So we've made a decision to rent a place from the city council DBKL... a place that was always close to our heart... a place called Industri Kecil Taman Salak Jaya... a place that made our name rise... a place where everyone in automotive biz knew what they r dealing with if they heard the place...

That was a few years back... now it's comeback kid time...

Since we form the workshop with very minimal amount of capital...with what ever cash & fund that we have in our pockets... we manage to survive a full one year operation...

We've made some engine conversions /transplant... from front wheel drive (fwd) natural aspirated (NA) to Turbo charged 4 cylinders, and to V6 engines...and the rear wheel drive (rwd), which is my favourite setup since i was growing up with this type of rwd setup right at the beginning of my child hood days in the 70s... From normal overhauls to performance overhauls, until to the installment of stand alone electronic computer unit (ECU) such as Microtech & Haltech ecu... we've done them all... But this upgrades is still not quite as popular as engine transplant..

We've done some racings at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) in the Sepang Drag Battle (SDB) event, the biggest drag racing event so far in Malaysia... and also the minor events such as the street drag race of MUSC... the scooter community organizer... we've competed in NA & turbo class event in which our customer voluntarily give their car to be tested in the event... we never forced them to do so, only if they want to... So, it's only a participation in the event... not a serious contender... but then a few guys already opened up their eyes to rebuild their engines up to competition standards.. So far, me & my partner concentrated on Mazda & Ford cars...Now that's where the Microtech & Haltech fall into places...hehehehe

Have a look at my racing activities thru these links... I drove them cars in those races bro...hahaha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnNiGg9Aovc

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5390773/cyberjaya_musc_drag_challenge_16_october_2010/

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5708697/final_round_musc_drag_challenge_2010/

Why i love automotive & its engineering stuff so much... i also really really don't know why... I guess it's a passion to me since my childhood days.... just like Chris Rea's song "La Patione".. or more like when I was a child, I saw movies consist of beautiful young ladies driving sport car... similar also like Chris Rea's song "Girl In A Sport Car".

When I hear those songs, i felt very-very happy deep inside my heart... it rekindle the memories of my childhood days with my late father i guess... He always said "No no no no" to me...hahahaha.....hmm ahh those good old memories...

I'M BACK

2010-03-28T13:58:00.004+08:00

This couple of weeks before, I was in a terrible mood, furious with my car...

The 2.0 litre V6 engine had so many overheating issues... headache man... I was driving last Thursday morning when all the sudden, the temperature just won't go down... it just went up and up and up... in the morning KL traffic jam at Jalan Tun Razak!

I stopped by the Multimedia College Jalan Semarak & searched for tap water coz no more water inside the radiator! After stabilizing the temperature & what ever necessary, I drove to my trusty ol friend's workshop at Lorong Shahbandar just opposite SK Cochrane... I settled what ever logistic I could before the car got inside the workshop... then the argument whether wanna repair the engine or just change it...

It Has Been Very Long Absent

2009-11-11T10:09:00.005+08:00

Yea... the title said it all... Now is November 2009 & my last update was on May 2009. 7 months absent... aiyoooo..

Now I'm an official Unit Trust Consultant for Public Mutual Berhad, the No. 1 mutual fund company in Malaysia. I'm glad & proud to be in the team. Every Tuesday nite starting as early as 7.30pm, my Group Agency Manager (GAM) will conduct some basic & advance training plus sharing of experiences in the latest market share movement & techniques in Malaysia. My GAM is one of a few pioneers in Malay market, who is already very successful in the business & he's very famous in the company. Lucky for me I was registered or enrole as a consultant personally by him.. & that is a big mountain of task to catch up to his standard of achievement brooooo....

To tell u the truth... I have no idea wat so ever wats coming to me in this line of biz. I was in the market shares back in 1992-93 as a small time investor.. that time the market was booming like nobody's biz & I got my fair share & benefited from that booming situation.. That's when I was teaching... then I was transferred to a different department in the govt sector that do training courses.. this made me travelled from places to places every week... where got time to invest mah... Then somemore transferring jobs from Perak to KL & until now it has been 17 years since I last entered the market share...

But now it's a different ball game as I've became the "player" that manages clients' share accounts. This it won't be easier, coz I'll be the "punching bag" if I can't get higher profit for them...

Other than that, the usual stuff lah...

Oh by the way, I did enter the DRAG RACE series in Sepang International Circuit last May.. wanna see me loosing the race many times? Go to the video link below...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyH9sKFRaK4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpY92DfzHvM

Aill be BACHK....

AHHH... LEGAA>>>

2009-05-02T17:10:00.002+08:00

Fuh... Lega rasenye dah LULUS exam FMUTMC unit trust aku... kul 12-2pm tadi.

Kena tunggu official appointment from unit trust management company..

Then baru bleh cari customer & jadi unit trust consultant...

FERRARI..>!!!! here i come...!!! err... may be more...???

EXAM>>>>>

2009-05-01T12:50:00.002+08:00

I'm taking an exam tomorrow... A Unit Trust examination coz baru enroll as a Unit Trust Consultant... So if nak get my licence to deal, first of all I must take the exam. If i pass ok lah...i can chase my dreams, if not pass i kena repeat lar...

Hopefully i pass la... Nak study le today ..hopefully no interferances

AT LAST.... CONTINUED AGAIN

2009-04-26T13:17:00.002+08:00

Finally, i have the time to update my blog.

It was hectic schedules these few months for me...

For now i have no idea what so ever to write... Next time lah...

But I've updated my photo...

GONG XI FA CHAI

2009-01-26T22:50:00.003+08:00

Assalamualaikum.

Well, well, well... It has been more than 3 months since i've posted my last update. BZZ la kut... Butta more to solving other people's car problem.

Many of my frenz have cars from the basic kancil to the advanced german cars... My on-off workshop partner (off when i'm involved with other things,on when got customer that have problems with their cars), currently he caters malaysian & japanese cars, & sometimes korean cars & german cars (bmw, merc & audi). But Italian cars???

Some of the spareparts shop that're regular to us would say...Aiya! Wah! U all "terer" (can do easily) repair the Italian cars ah... Wah! Italian cars the hardest to repair mah...

Most of the mechnics in KL are experts when dealing with popular Japanese cars such as the VTEC of Honda, the VVT & supercharger of Toyota, the turbos of Nissan & Evo converted Protons, & the simple turbo of kancils. More workshops are also beginning to mastered the german cars. But not many has the interest to deal with cars from France & Italy.

The truth is, I love Italy & France. They are rich in culture & their people are sporting. They have good soccer players & clubs. Many of the clubs have & still produces superstars that worth millions of dollar. When it comes to cars, Italians produced the most beautiful car & super-hypercar on the planet with multiple world championship credits in motorsport. The French also has rough & robust car that won multiple rally races around the world. And Italians too produced the best superbikes in the world..namely Ducati, Aprillia, Benelli, Agusta, Moto Guzzi, Bimota & many more.

But why we have the impression that they produced lousy cars & bikes? Want to know why?

For me the answer is very simple. The people who brought the Italians & French vehicle to Malaysia has the ability to sell them here...but they sell them without the strong spareparts package. If they have the package, still people will scratch their heads upon hearing the sky-rocket price tag. The silly questions of why the spareparts are expensive, will be answered by even sillier answers... oh because it's Italians/French..hard to find spares one... oh euro expensive one... oh govt tax mah.. and so and so... on with the possible answers imaginable.

Why a new OEM (original equipment mfr) parts such as master brake pump of a proton (perdana) cost from RM100+, the japs car around RM300+ & the european (continental) cars starts from RM800? Why the oem spareparts maker didn't have the interest to produce continental car parts but preferred producing local & japs car? Simple, they have more market & saleable too compared to conti cars. But why it has to be like this?

Again the simple answer is the japs are cheaper than the conti and too much protection from the government on the local made cars. But is it worth the protection? I do not think so. If the protection is there, the local car will definitely be the 1st choice of consumer becoz it's the cheapest car. The more it were sold the richer the car manufacture and the more R&D with advancement technology implemented on to their product. If we look at Volkswagen (pronounce as Volks-va-gen), they started as the people's car (the exact translation of its name). They sell the beetle very cheap, over & over again till they become the largest automaker in europe. Then they bought the Audi & uses their technologies to produce even higher quality cars. Porsche also is in the volks family as the main shareholder. And now they even owned the Lamborghini & Bugati car that produced the most expensive & the fastest super-hypercar in the world. That's the german...

Fiat also started with small car, the Fiat 500 (Malaysian called it Katak or Frog). Over time they bought over lancia & produced even better cars & then owned the cream of supercar, the Ferrari. That's how the autoworld works. Does it work with proton? Noep, not at all..still the same after more than 25years...they never learn but still excellent in hiding their under-quality products behind political protection...and they r best in power struggle of the top company post. All they brag about is their cars are tuned by lotus engineering... As far as I know, the lotus guys replaced the old anti-roll bar with tick & stiffer ones. We can get the after market bars that performs greater than the "lotus' touch".

I'm not against malaysian cars as i've once owned & driven them b4. The majority of my customers owned proton cars. But why they produced under-quality car that was hard to be accepted by other european countries. Some of my frenz prefer buying a used 5-years old japs car than a brand new proton car. They should have listen to public complaint & act quickly like the japs to improved their products... noep, never happens. The japs carmaker produces superb cars to their local market, much-much better than their export models. Why? They rely on the reactions of their local market first than the foreign market, and the local market is still their biggest market.

Proton has to grow up & focus on ways to become at least like the koreans that begun their automotive industries about 10-years earlier. They got to work 120% harder & catch-up the koreans quickly or being left behind by the chinese & indian car maker.

GONG XI FA CHAI

Wiring My Car & Installing The Hydrogen Generator

2008-10-06T02:20:00.002+08:00

I have just finished assembling & installing my H2 generator, a tedious work that needed effort to locate the best place to install the thing inside the engine bay. I have done some wiring too, to connect the EFIE (electronic fuel injection enhancer) but the wiring is still not perfected yet as my car is using a V6 engine that requires using of Dual EFIE. A single EFIE is for a single oxygen (O2) sensor mounted in front of an exhaust pipe, but for V6 engine it has double O2 sensor. The EFIE itself too did not finished yet, due to countless interuptions by the kids & guesses that came visiting us during Eid.

My Own Open Source Creation

2008-10-02T14:53:00.004+08:00

I've just finished my very own hydrogen generator. It's a simple device that splits the water into two chemical atoms in form of gases, the hydrogen (H2) & the oxygen (O2). With these two gases, they're then trapped & channeled through a high pressure hose directly to the intake pipe of the engine's throttle body. With the help of my brother (electrical engineer), we're making the electronic fuel injection enhancer or EFIE, (which fooled the reading of an onboard ECU) & pulse width modulator or PWM (which control the voltage volume that we need.

Many would wonder whether it's safe to use H2 for fuel as there is history linked to H2 bomb & tragedy. H2 bomb was made by scientist to help the army of the west in winning the wars. H2 tragedy occurred as the airship "Hindenburg" blows to dust as an accidental sparks ignite the whole airship that was filled with pure H2.

Well bros... the H2 bomb was invented for destruction of mankind, which I think is inhuman thing to do. The H2 tragedy happened coz the lightest gas available is helium & back then the producing of it was controlled by the American government. So the German who invented the airship had resorted to other light gas alternative, in which H2. It caught fire in eye blinking speed due to the very highly flammable materials that the Germans used to built the airship at that time.

In my case, the H2 will burn inside the engine, specifically the Internal Combustion Engine or ICE. When the H2 is burnt, every eruptions or fires happens inside the engine & will never erupted outside the combustion chamber. The moment the ignition sparks hit the H2 gas it will burnt, emits only water steam deposits through the exhaust pipe. Overtime this action will eventually cleans the carbon buildup produced by petrol fuel. Is this spontaneous combustion creates H2 bomb or H2 tragedy.....???

Petrol that is burned inside the combustion chamber wont blows up the engine because of the combustion, but it petrol will certainly blows up if we use it as "Molotov cocktail" or petrol bomb. Why must we narrow or mind by thinking the H2 would blow the engine? H2 cools the engine as its water base character, unlike the fossil fuel petrol.

Only people with the utmost desire to "blocked" whatever green alternative fuel will make such statement. You readers tell me..

I'll prevail my creation when it is completed.

SELAMAT HARI RAYA (HAPPY EID MUBARAK)

2008-10-02T12:05:00.006+08:00

Today is the 2nd day for Muslims in Malaysia celebrating Hari Raya (Eid Mubarak). The reasoning of Eid Mubarak is to celebrate the victory in conquering the fasting month of Ramadan. As a Muslim I celebrated Eid with full of praise to my God Allah for His kindness to let me live until now & to have the chance for me to look back what I've done for the past 38 years of my life.

Today I'm at my mom's house in Taman Pengkalan Jaya (SPPK), Ipoh, Perak. My siblings are here accept for Meen the 3rd son of Abasouff family. He's with his family in Taiping attending his wife side in celebrating Eid. Here at mom's place hectic occassion occured as all the grandchild of Abasouff gathered to make "chaotic" sounds of yelling voices of the little ones. It's not that loud though but pleasantly choreographs by JC da daughter & her cousins... Mimi, Nana & Tisya. Plus non-speaking shows by Tisya's new sister Zara.

My sis Jie is in Central Hospital Ipoh due to her newly born daughter Farah Shafiqah had jaundice & the doctor put her in the ultra violet theraphy.. By today we'll have a full cast of the family as Jameel will arrive & Jie will be discharge with her daughter.

The cast of Abasouff family is as follows:-

TAGGING : The Making of My Very First - Act 3

2008-09-29T10:32:00.002+08:00

So Manan left me & my brother at Idris' workshop coz he had unfinished bike repair to attend. Manan did mentioned to me that Idris is like a "loose-canon" type of person... (that's even advance than living dangerous life).

Idris asked me questions about speed...how's my riding? Do I ever had accidents? What's my fastest speed that I've experince & on what bike? What's my fastest speed when taking corners at highway flyover entry & exit, and with what bike?
I replied... Ok I guess but not so great as you. Never had accident in my life. Fastest speed was 200km/h on a Kawasaki Serpico 150R. Fastest entry corner was 90km/h (Serpico), exit corner 90km/h (Serpico too). Then he replied... Not bad...not bad for an amateur...

He asked again, "What do you want me to do with this RG bike?" I wanted it to reached whatever maximum speed that shows on the speedometer (160km/h) or maybe a little more speed, just by using this standard RG exhaust sound. He replied that RG engine is the most advance small engine 2-stroke at that time. He pointed to a black RG & asked me, "Wanna know how fast is that RG? It can go up to 230km/h. Wanna know how much is the cost? RM10,000 only for a basic series production spec racing bike. Why that much price? Coz I've to import the parts from overseas".

"Err.. Yeop.. I don't want that sort or price, just standard modified but powerful enuf to sometimes 'pinch' other bigger bikes".

continued...

My Buddy, My Brother, My Biz Partner

2008-09-28T14:18:00.005+08:00

I have a friend that's a person with good, humble & very hardworking attitude with will & guts as steel. His name is Yeop NIzam & he's from Bagan Datoh, Perak & "yeop" means Big Bro, Eldest Bro, Taiko, Abang Long, Along, Abe & so on. He's an ex-government staff & resigned optionally in the early 90s to pursue his dream as an entrepreneur.

Back in the middle to the end of 90s, he managed to secured social awareness projects that involved "shaping-up" family ties, good values, & high civic minded society among Malaysian. The project was named "Rumahku, Syurgaku" & "Bersih dan Indah". Both projects was officiated & launched by the former PM Tun Mahathir Mohamed & to be carried out until 2020. He was doing road tours to every states in Malaysia & met with all of the Mentris Besar & Chief Ministers. They gave him great support towards the projects. However things were not according to what we normally planned.

In 1997 economic crisis hit Malaysia & other countries, plus the internal political turmoil in Malaysia. Those scenarios had halted his entire operations permanently. It was all because the No. 1 man approved the projects but the No. 2 man didn't approved the fundings. Those "big boys" power tussled had made everybody worried. Yeop Nizam was put out of his job.

He had ventured into multiple biz from development/construction to multi level marketing. Some ok but half the way due to contract not renewed, & some due to partners swindle the company's money & sacking him after he successfully secured projects. It's like "war" if you enter the biz world. What he saw after one failure to another failure has made his relatives look down to him. Now I'm doing biz occationaly with him in property development, construction & services.

Yeah, relatives are very-very good in making assumptions & calling names to other relatives. If one is highly successful & becomes a millionaire, positive remarks like, "Good for him, he deserved his hardwork" is very little heard. But negative remarks like, "Hah, eksyen le tu dah kaya", "Nak menunjuk-nunjuk le tu", "Berlagak le tu", "Duit haram le tu", are the top af the chart list of negative envied simptoms. Just imagined if your biz is constantly halfway or halted or failed... What would you think these "commentators" & "critics" would say... DEVASTATING WORDS!

One scholar once said, "If the work that we do repeatly with consistency & accepting the pros & cons of what the outcome will & he never gives up, so this person eventually in the end will harvest the fruit of whatever he started in the beginning". This scenario happened to many great names in entrepreneurship. Donald Trump for example, was bankcrupt but he bounced back & became one of the world's most successful property developer with billionaire status.

I'm not saying that Yeop Nizam will become a billionaire like Donnie Trump but he's starting to make his move in property biz & what a positive move he'd made. If all things falls into places, next 2009 he'll becomes a millionare at the age of 57 y.o. A late age to become a millionaire but at least he deserved it. He's made good progress as at 12pm to 1.30pm today, I've just test driven his newly bought Toyota Estima T-Spec V6 3000cc! Before this, he was using a shared car that is owned by his son... a Satria 1.3...

To Yeop Nizam, ALL THE BEST TO YOU THE REST OF YOUR FUTURE UNDERTAKINGS!!

P/S: Well Yeop Nizam, if you really becomes one (millionaire), I would like to quote A.R. Tompel dialogue in his Laxmana Do Re Mi film, "Jangan Tinggal Dakuuuuu!!"

TAGGING : The Making of My Very First - Act 2

2008-09-27T06:16:00.010+08:00

3rd bike
I was captivated by the beauty of a bike called Suzuki RG Sports 110cc. It's the first kapcai in Malaysia that has a mono shock rear swing arm. So I went to Kedai Motor Anda at Jalan Pasir Putih, Ipoh & gave the downpayment to its owner Mr Pang. I wanted a red bike coz it looks "garang" (fierce). But no stock available & have to wait for another month or so, so I just grab a metallic sky blue & owned it. Yeah, in 1993 I became the proud owner of that bike. To make it remarkable, I'm the first few owner that owned that bike in Ipoh. I called that bike "Acila" due to its reg. no. ACL2083. I've used Maxoil (the best lubricant at that time) & as an agent I got the price cheaper than market price.

I rode it everyday for work to SK Pasir Kubu, Teluk Sena, Kg Gajah from opah's house in Parit (+/- 80km 2-way journey). What a bike! It took me 30min only to reach half that journey, with max. speed reaching 150km/h & maintained it all the way. Then I got bored, no more fun coz everyday with that speed it had become normal to me...

Then I when to my trusty old buddy Manan the Mechanic in Pengkalan Pegoh, Ipoh (we've been friends since 1985 when I was still in secondary school). He's the one who was responsible in transforming my previous Honda C70 AN843 to Anak Naga. I asked him whether he can upgrade my bike to a new level. He said he has never got a friend or customer that sends this type of bike for servicing, coz this bike is very new in the market. He then recommended me to his senior mentor Idris the Brutal (Yeop Deris) in Kampung Melayu, near Medan Gopeng, Ipoh as he's at that moment into Suzuki RG Malaysian Cub Prix racing. I've seen him before & he's the motocross guy that trained many clubs & organisation that ride dirt bike. But how come into cub prix?

So we went there with my brother (he's riding Anak Naga) coz thinking we had to leave the bike there. When we arrived, there are many bikes already rebuilt... motocross, superbikes & racing cubprix bikes... in a wooden workshop just infront of the man's also wooden house! Manan told Yeop Deris that I had enuff with standard spec RG & wanted to do 1st stage upgrading. I asked them how much will it cost,

Manan just replied, "Hang pi bubuh je mutu hang, lain biaq Derih buat. Aku dah habaq mai kat dia hang sedara aku bukannya nak race, tapi dok ngajaq budak skolah dok ngulang jauh hari-hari". Manan is a Penangite & never let go of his distinctive accent...
(Translation) "You just put your bike there & Idris will do the rest. I've mention him that you are my relative & not planning on racing, but riding long distance to work everyday".

I asked Manan whether Yeop Deris could do it & he replied, "Hangpa kalu nak tau, dia ni hang bagi superbike Ducati ka, BMW ka, Motoguzzi ka, apa benda mutu yg hang tak penah dengaq brand dari mana pun selamba ja bikin. Hang penah dengaq brand KTM? Husqvarna? Dia besa buat... Ni kan pulak Moto Jepun, tambah lagi kapcai. Senyum ja dia..."
(Translation) "If you wanna know, give him superbikes such as Ducati, BMW, Motoguzzi or any brand-type from what ever manufacturer, he'll do it with ease. Have you heard the brand KTM or Husqvarna? He's done it... Japanese superbike is like peace of cake to him, moreover an underbone bike. He'll do it while smiling..."

continued..

TAGGING : The Making of My Very First - Act 1

2008-09-26T01:06:00.005+08:00

I was tagged by my youngest brother Ma (Jamal) from Malas Corporation blog. Actually I dunno anything about tagging but me partner in life explained a bit to me how it works. So this is what I have to say...

1) Nickname
My parent called me my full name Johary which is not that long in spelling, only one word. But friends call me JOE, JO, HARY, ARY and even RY. There was a girl (when I was is school days) called me Jay. My name is like a coconut tree, you can use every part of it...

2) Knocked
I had the experienced being knocked over by a Volvo 240. It happened soon after I finished my scouts activities on a Saturday morning at my school SRK Raja Di-Hilir Ekram, Ipoh. It was in 1982 when I was in Std 6. I was standing beside the road with my friends & waiting for the traffic to clear & to cross the road. From there we'll take the public bus to go home.

Well, boys will always be boys. Pushing & calling names is a norm. This time we tried out scouts marching style. In the accidental event, I was the one who were the last in the line & it was like a domino effect that makes me off balace due to everyone was pushing one & another harder & harder. So the very minute a Volvo 240 arrived & passed us, I was somewhat jolted a bit to the front until entering the main road & the car side-bumped me on my right hand. I was knocked & spin-thrown back for about 10ft & lucky me another group managed to cushion-caught me (like a goalkeeper catches a swinging top).

The driver then sped away & disappeared... and the marching boys ran away too, accept for few that helped me.

3) Driving License
I took my JPJ writing exam for "L" license after I finished SPM when I was 17 y.o. But I've been riding "kapcai" bike since I was 10 y.o. & at 13 y.o I mastered the hand clutch lever bike (better known as "motor clutch"). At 14 y.o. I started learning driving car & my first car that I drove (sneeking) was atuk (granpa) car. Before I get "L" licence, sneekingly for years I've rode bikes to various parts of the Perak State, whether using abah (dad) Honda C70 (round headlight, 1st gear back, 2nd & 3rd front) or friends bike (their dad's bike, normally). I did this "living dangerous" style just because I love riding bike a lot! I still do enjoy riding until now.

Sneekingly also, I've done sideways driving & been practising it ever since I was14 y.o. at my kampung in the bushes of rubber estates & padi fields (atuk's Mazda 1000) & at the old mining routes scattered across the Kinta Valley (abah's Mazda 323 GLC). Both cars are rear wheel driven (RWD) & it's like addiction to this type of driving. Much of it was influenced by Hollywood TV shows with cars & bike chasing such as CHIPs, Knight Rider, BJ & the Bear, Sheriff Lobo & off course rally drivers. Nowadays nearly 99.9% cars r using Front Wheel Drive (FWD) system... no more fun with sideway driving...

Right until November 1990 I got my full driver's license, passing with one shot both car & bike test. The driving instructor had a very-very easy task when training me, he even slept once awhile.

4) Motorcycle & Car
1st bike
My first bike was my late atuk's 1973/74 Honda C70. It's a beautiful bike with original parts still intact. Since he passed away, from 1985 upto 1987 the bike never got out from atuk's house. So a month b4 Ramadan (1988), I asked permission from opah (granny) to get the bike "alive" again. With the help from Alang (abah's youngest bro), we pushed the bike to a mechanics shop. There I learned how to overhaul the engine, gearbox, changing the clutch plates etc... At the same time a "notorious hell rider" at Parit town named Amir Cat was also sending his kapcai to be overhauled. Amir Cat & his younger brother Anas used to be my childhood friend.

Then he showed me the tips of modifiying bike engines & getting as much horsepower as we can from a tiny 70cc bike engine... from that moment onwards I was hooked to it...modifying engines! Just Imagine his 70cc bike can reach speed up to 140km/h! At that time, you'll be a "king" if u could reach that speed with that kind of bike. I asked him where did he knew this stuff? He said from friends in Pengkalan & Kampung Melayu Ipoh... I thought, I must learn this stuff from those guys in Ipoh. I asked him again, who are they & he just asked me to find it myself... oh, he wanted to kept to himself eh... I'll find my way.. So, that year was my first Hari Raya visits using bike to relatives houses in Perak Tengah.

My late abah has 3 sibling brothers. The eldest is him, 2nd is Angah (Aziz) & 3rd is Alang (Helmi). Because abah's 2nd brother insisted to have the bike (he's the only one that didn't have any bike), sadly I have to surrendered it to him. I could only enjoyed it for 3-4 months. So bye-bye bike.

2nd bike
I have no other choice than taking abah's 1971 Honda C70. It's an ugly bike with rusted steel front mudguard taken from a Yamaha RX100 bike, a triple layers of seat cover, worn out rusty rear mudguard, a broken front body white cover (lots & lots of cartoon stickers on it), rusted carrying basket, big rear passenger bracket (very big!) & 100% worn out front tire. The answer to solve this bike's problem is to do restoration or "reconstruction" work. Before I took over the bike, it had no front brakes at all. And better still NO roadtax & insrns since the last 5 or 6 years!!!

I've used my savings & salary to rebuilt the kapcai. Slowly but consistently I changed each parts while using it at the residential area around my house. Lastly after the bike was up to a kapcai's minimum standard, I asked abah to do JPJ inspections to renew the insurance & roadtax. This has to be done due to the "Agong" title (NO rdtx, NO insrns) for almost 6 years.

I used the bike from 1988 & had been going major restorations, upgrading the engines to a super-duper powerful kapcai, re-paint to Volvo metallic green, up to chroming specific parts with shinning glowing appearance that made heads turned every time I passed by. The bike was called "Anak Naga" due to its reg. no AN843. It powered thru Seberang Perak-Teluk Anson-Parit-Ipoh-Manjung. The bike was so powerful that it only joined the bigger engine category like SS110, RX-S, RX-Z & Panther. Until 1993, abah uses his veto power to take his bike back from me... just becoz it was a beautiful speciment that got praised by people. So Bye-bye bike, again.

Continued...

Life as the Eldest Child in the House of Abasouff - Part 4

2008-09-25T06:48:00.005+08:00

When I was up in the sky with the other passengers, doubt is like trying to overthrown my courage & bravery... As the plane hit the clouds my mind was at a blank knowing nothing or what soever will happen to me during flight.

This reminded me of my childhood memories...

My first school was SK Layang Kanan, Parit (1976) where my late grandpa was teaching there. It's really a kampung school where all the agriculture activities where the main economy. I was 6 y.o then & registered as pre-school child although I was in std one. I remembered my English teacher was Mr Zahuri, a great man coz he never uses bahasa Melayu when speaking with the students even after class. The basic islam subject was taught by my late grandpa Ustaz Yusoff... people in that district called him as Tuan Yusoff, I dunno why...

And I remembered this one girl trying to be close to me so badly, she's the daughter of a teacher that teaches at nearby school. I was like blurred all the way by her behaviour. Where ever I go she always followed me, even when i wanna go back home... I was puzzled why she treated my grandpa like her own... that made me more blurred... ah... i remember her name... Nurul Fitri...

The funny thing was in 1994 I taught in SK Pasir Kubu, Teluk Sena, Kg Gajah... and the Headmaster was her father... what a coincidence... Better still the girl married to one of my best friend near my parents home in Ipoh. Both of their father are teachers & so are they... And I'm one of the best man & she still recognised me after all these years at their wedding....hahahahaha...

After a year as 'pre-school' boy, then it's the end for me as I was registered again in standard one, this time in SRK Iskandar Shah, Parit (1977). I've made new friends with multi-racial faces in my class. All I could remember was this one boy Aminuddin (Amin) who was my good friend & neighbour at that time. His dad was a teacher. I'm in a different league compared to him, coz he's the youngest in his family but I'm the eldest. I'm still learning to become big brother while he already got one whom worked at the naval base.

And I remembered during Ramadan there was a donation campaign to give to the unfortunate. Conducted by my class teacher Puan Johara, the campaign aimed to give out school shoes. So she knew who were the less fortunate. My friend Amin was looking at his shoes while sitting right infront of me & suddenly I heard a loud voice infront of me saying, "Kasut aku lagi cantik la dari tu!" (My shoes are better than that!). That very instant Puan Johara yelled at Amin & scolded him coz she thought Amin was the culprit who spoke that proud words....

Back home at night I played the fireworks infront of the house, Amin was living next door. I want to ask him why he spoke like that & I was again shocked when he touched the flaming firework right at my chest, then he screamed, "Bukan aku! Amat buat!" (It's not me! Amat did it!). He ran away to his home crying & slamed the door.

Now I know that it was Amat (Ahmad Husaini @ Man) who spoke that loud words. Amin was blindly accused for a crime he did not commit & he felt sad coz could not do anything to make it right. Amat at that time was the most notorious kid in class because he missused his dad's influence as the Asst. Head Master of SRK Iskandar Shah. People called his dad Ce'gu Halim Panjang & he's very nice & a humble man. I dunno why they call him that... but when I grew up I understood coz he is a tall & extra slim man.

The moral of Standard One story... It's happening in Malaysia right now... the son missused the power of his dad...

Presentation to A Friend of Mine

2008-09-24T19:45:00.008+08:00

On the 23rd Sept I did a presentation to a friend of mine. It's about my long time research but never been execute project of mine.

To tell ya the truth, as an entrepreneur I need some capital injection for my processed chicken & MLM biz. Yeah... agriculture is a huge business worldwide. Butta should i tell my friend that I need it for those kind of biz??? Maybe it won't budge in with him.

I called him last Thursday & we met in his office. I showed him a few of my not yet proper arranged proposal of mine. It's about reducing harmful polluting emmissions of vehicles. As a scientist my friend was well verse with what I'm trying to say, but he wanted me to do some proper presentation for the next meet.

So yesterday I did the presentation about alternative fuel other than petrol or diesel. The venue was at a lecture hall using the digital projector inside the forensics faculty of a well known university hospital in Cheras, K.L.

It took me an hour explaining him the alternative fuel concept until he really-really understood them. For that process he asked me buckets & buckets of questions that is normal for a scientist to ask. Flawlesly I answered all of his questions without hesitation thanks to the long term research that I've done. Overall, the presentation was a success & he's very impressed with the knowledge & info that I fed to him.

Because of this, he's willing to order a full set of the system & installed it on board his daughter's Perodua Kelisa. If the result showed remarkable fuel efficiency, he will then installed it on board his newly bought RM200k+ Volvo S40 Turbo, PLUS the fundings that I needed. Jokingly he said this thing gotta be in the R&D Engineering dept. where the fund is (he's not a joker).

As I walked away from his office & into my car, I paused & think for a while.... Wait a minute......

That friend of mine is actually a Professor. He's the top forensic scientist in my country & his work is acknowledge & referred by other academician worldwide.... How do I get to know him? It went back in 2000 when I was involved with constructions & development.

He use to be a MD for a construction company that have backings in fund & technology by partners from Germany, Korea, China, Japan, Australia, UK & the USA. After years of trying to find jobs from the government, no project was awarded to them although they have strong backing in technology & funding. Well, if don't know 'people' in the government u might as well forget about finding jobs or projects there. So he quit becoming a contractor. Other than a professor, he's involved in financial biz.

Thought job huh...???

Life as the Eldest Child in the House of Abasouff - Part 3

2008-09-23T21:54:00.006+08:00

Well after 2 years in BTN, one day, one of the directors asked me whether i could type things in the computer. Why because some party needed someone to do some "data entry" jobs.

I asked him, didn't he got people with that sort of basic skills? He replied nobody wanted it as the place of work will be in KL. Why in KL? He replied "adalah keje sikik", in Kelantanese dialect. "Bekaite denge pulitik... Mende mu ndok make (meals), minum (drinks) ol teken care oredi". What about my work here & my perks or salary? Must I do it for free? He said, "never mind work here, the big boss understooded the situasi", sometimes he spoke English. There, I'll be doing the "data entry" thing for a month or so depending with the type of data that I'll be working with.

He told me to packed up my things & wait for him at the Ipoh Airport the next morning b4 6.30am coz he wants to give me something b4 he leaves for KL at 7.15am. Usually he'll briefed me & asked me to chartered the AVIS rental cars b4 going to training camps. This time the journey won't be at the training camps but to KL.

KL..??? I didn't remember or familiarised the roads there.... Normally we just passed there & our inhouse driver will drove us all to KL. How come now I have to drive myself to KL? The whole nite I couldn't slept coz thinking how am I going to arrived in KL alone in one piece.

I arrived the next morning at 6.15am sent by my younger brother, but the man aint there yet. He arrived at 6.45am, he asked me whether I've taken my breakfast, but didn't. He said we'll have breakfast in KL... What is he saying...??? 3 hours journey & having breakfast in KL... he's crazy or what...????

Aaaahhhh??? I'm aboarding the 737 flight to KL??? My mouth open wide coz I feared of altitude!! This is not 13 or 25 storey high, it's thousand of feet high on the sky maaaannnnn!!! Can't we just go there on land??? "Mende muh ni?? Kawe doh bellah-bellah kali naik tade mende gapo eih..."

So I thought, this is history for me... my first flight ever in 1996...

Life as the Eldest Child in the House of Abasouff - Part 2

2008-09-23T21:46:00.002+08:00

But it's not the end of the world for me...

Quickly i found my way working in a hotel... Syuen Hotel in Ipoh. It's a nice hotel & they offered me as In-house Artist due to my experience in multiple art skills when I was teaching plus my computing skills. I worked there to gain experiences & not for salary purposes. They gave me RM650/months only.

Then I went to become a supervisor in a small plastic manufacturing company or "kerja kilang" in Silibin, Ipoh. My buddy Yeop persuade me to try working in manufacturing industry. Working as a supervisor i earned RM850/month. Than boredom came to me... Aaahh... I can't stand the monotonous work that felt like robots with no feelings.

Then I returned back to the governmental work again, this time in Biro Tatanegara, Ipoh. I was a P.A to the Directors there. Immediately I felt like home, relaxed environment but... hectic schedule as a training department that specialised in civics improvement among public, govt. & private sectors. I travelled the whole of peninsula Malaysia to every available BTN training camps.

My parents once asked me, "How come only 3 days at home & the rest of the month outstation?" "What kinda work r u up to now?" I told my mom that the salary is better than b4, which is RM1700+. Most of it i gained from allowances as my salary was only RM600...

With the knowledges i gain in BTN, I'm pretty sure that I could contribute more in the future.

Life as the Eldest Child in the House of Abasouff - Part 1

2008-09-23T21:43:00.002+08:00

The House of Abasouff.... even my late dad quizzled with question in his head...What is Abasouff? And i told him, "aiseimen abah... that's a combined name of u & yr late dad (Abas+yusouff=Abasouff)". Right....then he understood & smiled.

That was couple of years back b4 he passed away in 2003 due to massive heart attack... i missed him alot although we never get along when i was in school... but it's a different kinda relationship when i grew adulthood & became independent with my salaried work. He became friendlier & like a best friend to me. Always he adviced me about work (as a teacher) & how he asked me to considered looking for another job or continuing my studies.

How he helped me alot with my ambition becoming a school teacher, accompanying me for interviews at teacher's college & activities related to schools & teachings. Within my tenure as a teacher, I studied nite classes for computer studies & managed to get a diploma.

After 5 years as a temporary teacher I still failed to enter teacher's college. Luck was never with me coz they the Edu Ministry prefered "fresh" candidates (school leavers)... so i got fed-up with the birocracy & tried my luck with the private sector. My first salary when teaching was RM315.00 (in 1989 & after 6 months waiting!!) & after 5 years the last salary was RM500 (including allowances).

This incident reminded me to P.Ramlee's movie when the late actor M. Zain in "Labu-Labi" said, "ooooh what a pittey... no road & no jalan... I dono whether I'm going to the hell or to heaven".

My Secondary School Days

2008-09-19T13:21:00.007+08:00

Again i continue.

As the king of the house, i thought my late dad was an army like dictator although he's a school teacher. What ever he wish or said resembles "I'm always right!" or "I always know what's right or wrong!" Yeah, he's a teacher...what else can i say.

As his eldest child, i was told to set examples to my siblings... the good examples off course. Neeeooooo... that's not me... I seldom set good example to them. Up to Form 3 in Pasir Puteh Secondary School, Ipoh i was a good samaritan due to religious studiest & scouts practices. Like one Malay saying, "Step on the ant, but it didn't die".

But then come Form 4 after SRP exam, i got transfered to ACS Ipoh due to the availability of Science Stream classes there...yeah i'm a science guy. ACS Ipoh the boys only school. aaaahhh... watta memory.... Full of "barbaric" memories.... hahaha.

I took the school bus at 6.00 am, but it's not an ordinary school bus... It's the dark red MGS Ipoh school bus. What is MGS? Methodist Girl School.. What? A school bus for girls? And its a 60s Bedford bus with gorilla face like front grill. "This has to be a joke", i thought... I'm going to a boys school but boarding on a bus for girls?

Well, aboard this bus the boys sat far behind & the girls filling in front... it's been like this & always be like this. At 6.30am then the worst part happened. The chinese bus driver took us to the girls school & asked the boys to get off the bus too... Whaaaattttt?? Aren't i be going to ACS? Why here? Luckily my good buddy Yeop (nickname) explained why it has to be like this. Aaaahhh, it's a transit point which we have to wait for the blue ACS bus... another gorilla face like front grill bus.

Yeop told me he's been using these buses since Form 1. At that time i was in Form 4 & Yeop was in Form 5. "My goodness", i said to myself. "What a splendit view around here....girls and girls everywhere...", again i was astonished. Then Yeop point at one girl & told me that girl is half Mat Saleh (half Caucasian) & she's his girlfriend. Then the girl smilled at Yeop... Wow! He really nailed it... a half Mat Saleh girlfriend!! Then he started pointing to other girls.. most of them r sweet & beautiful.. and he started saying that, that, that, that, that and that, and also that r his girlfriends...

Wait a minute... How come so many girlfriends? Even i don't have any (back then). Well, that's Yeop that i know... He's like a magnet among friends... So easy to be friend with him & hard to dislike him. What ever words comes out from his mouth, brought laughter to who ever communicate with him.. I thought that's the key to tackle people, especially girls... Make them laugh till they get stomach ache... hehahe haha

Why I made this blog

2008-09-13T11:57:00.010+08:00

Greetings friends...

Old friends
new friends
friends to be
long time no see friends
former friends
friends that r no longer friends

and many-many more friends that i couldn't categorized what group that i should name them.

As an average man living in an average life, many times i felt why must i do the same chores or routines everyday for the pass 10 years here in Kay El (Kuala Lumpur). The sentence that i've wrote in this paragraph meant i'm trying to be as honest as possible by telling the story of my life back since from Kampung life to City life.

When i moved here from my home town Ipoh Perak, i carried also my dreams to be successful one day & becoming someone that can achieved great undertakings in the future. Actually Ipoh is not exactly a kampung as i might say butta, that's where my parent live. Ipoh is also a city just like KL, but smaller category, size & population than KL.

After finished high school, as the eldest child quickly i tried to find my own pocket money by finding odd jobs. I didn't even think to continue studying in college or university. I want to ease the cost burdent that my father has to bare as i've 7 siblings & a housewife mom. Back then i thought, if i could get a job surely i could ease my family's expenditures.

Well, it did but not for long.... With my salary as a baker i only could survived myself & can't even help my family. I felt ashame at first but my parent said, it doesn't matter whether you helped us or not, the most important thing is you don't get involved with those goons (refer to as "budak tembok" or "kaki lepak"). At that time (mid 80s) the Malay Rock music was a phenomenon that create a unique new socio-culture that is so influential with youngsters. Back then if a boy who doesn't owned a guitar (aqustic), he is not a cool guy...

Fearing so with that title label, i quietly bought myself one... a made in China branded Kapok guitar & cost about RM60 (it's expensive that time). I sneek it & hide it inside my closet fearing my father... as he's a fierce person with me & my other 3 siblings. Even the neighbour thought we all get "child abused" by him... yeah right... yealling abuses...

Each time remembering my late dad i kept smilling... even his cats missed him, in the end sulking & lastly lost to "no mans" land. Maybe they missed his yelling... sort of sweet music to them...

Lastly my dad knew about the guitar (thanks to my "evil" reporting sister)... He asked me about the guitar & confiscated it.
I was so sad coz he just gave it to the trash lorry man... that man smiled for the gift... Well, there goes my RM60...

He lectured me for 3 hours & continued the next day for another 1 hour & the next day until he get bored of lecturing me about the guitar. The volume of his voice could panic anyone who passes by my house...