These past few days Kuching has been plagued with hazy atmosphere and smoke-scented air. The heavy, obnoxious blanket descended upon the city, making life difficult and even breathing in the toxic fumes leeches the very life from people.

Not to mention rising temperature. It hit 34 degrees Celcius at one point. El Nino, inevitably, is upon us again. For the uninitiated, El Nino is a phenomena that typically occurs once in 7 or 8 years. The last time it happened, as I remembered it, I was still young and thought El Nino was a mean, bad monster somewhere in the Pacific ocean. Now when I am 18, El Nino is STILL the mean, bad monster that lived in the Pacific ocean. The only thing that has changed, albeit in my mind, is how I perceive the meaning behind the word ‘monster’.

Drought, heat, haze. Water is beginning to become a problem as dwindling levels in dams worry the state government. Already people in the interiors are feeling the heat, pun intended, with no clean water supply since a week ago. Rumours have been circulating in Kuching that there is going to be a full-blown crisis and water rationing frenzy is starting the grip everyone.

I wonder how life is in Semenanjung. I guess it is still the same there, just a bit hazy. They should come here and see for themselves how bad it is. Visibility was reduced to just 100m in some places along the Pan Borneo Highway.

And we Sarawakians, in our typical Sarawakian spirit, just shrugs it off and says “Just another day in Sarawak.”

Just another day indeed.

I finally completed editing all of the photos I have painstakingly uploaded to Flickr. Now happy though I am with the services and features offered, I am dissatisfied with the Uploadr. Crashing every other minute, duplicate uploads, slow speed.. I could go on and on and rant about it all day.

Anyway, adding titles to each and every one of the pictures did evoke some forgotten feelings in me. I forgot how fun it was back then when we went to KK and did all those stuff together. I relish the thought, yet with a sense of sadness and longing that could not be quenched. Those memories are priceless.  I updated an older post and added a more detailed account of what we did. I hope it does justice to the priceless memories.

Included here are some photosets of the trip, updated with titles and captions to better express what we did back then. I hope you enjoy it. I had fun while thinking up various captions for all of them. Some are downright cheeky, whether you could find it is up to you. If you want the full gallery of the trip, go the KK Trip 2009 post here. Enjoy!

Note: Mouseover each photo, you will see an arrow. Click on that to eject your PC’s CD-ROM drive and there will be a grande iced latte with extra cream for you. If you fail to catch the sarcasm, never mind. Click on the arrow to go to the next picture.

Manukan Island

Sapi Island

These few days I have been quite busy trying to find some monetisation ideas for my blog. Sponsored blog posting was the rave back then but the popularity is starting to decrease with the advent of micro-blogging platforms such as Twitter.

I found some search engine marketing platforms and applied as publishers for those so now I am still waiting for the application approval. Once they approve (I hope they do), then it should be plain sailing from there on.

Plus there are so many other methods to monetise a website, so I shall not attempt to list or describe them all. Perhaps I should write a simple eBook and distribute it free for anyone who is interested to learn how to make some income from their blogs or website. *evil grin*

Anyway, back to reality. Nothing much happened these past few days, life goes on. The A2 results should be out soon. I am feeling pretty nervous about it. Heck, I doubt there is anyone who is not feeling at least some sort of apprehension or dread thinking about it.

When I realised how time flies, it makes me cringe even more since we only have less than 2 months to relax and rest. Even though part of me looks forward to a whole new life at Czech Republic, I still have some lingering sadness about leaving this place which I call home.

No time to despair. Let’s get back to work.

I never knew Japanese kids could be so.. vile.

Go here to read more and let me know what you think.

I mean, boob grab? Gosh. That is totally wrong, dude.

I went to Maybank today with mum to buy some 1Malaysia fund units. What really makes me wonder is just how much money Kuching people have. Since 8.00a.m. people have been queuing  up! When we reached there, there were already more than 50 people in front of us, patiently waiting for the bank to open.

Some even brought small stools to sit and read newspapers while waiting. Talk about time management.

When the doors opened, people rushed in like they were going after some free cash inside the bank. Heck, Maybank people should have yelled “Free money! Free money!” to make it even crazier.

Anyway, to cut the story short, I stood and waited for two and a half hours before everything is done.

Today I received a letter from KTT and it says I have to attend some sort of convocation ceremony on 18th August.

My first reaction was of utter horror and disbelief. I just bought AirAsia tickets for 18th August. The ceremony is scheduled to be in the morning, my flight is at 10 something in the morning. By the time I get there people would be already leaving.

Okay, that is point number 1. Point number 2: ceremony is for mainly Diploma students but it says A-Levels people for 2008 July intake also has to attend. For what reason, no idea.

Point number 3. All male have to wear “Baju kot/lounge suit warna gelap, kasut warna gelap.” I have to shell out another 300 bucks for this?

Point number 4. Kehadiran diwajibkan. Heck yeah, sponsor my air tickets and I would certainly go.

I really feel like going on and on and pouring out scores of rude, obscene words but let us just leave it at that.

Hmm. I have to ask whether the others are going or not.

UPDATE: I sent an SMS to Pn. Salina, she said A-Levels people are invited but it is up to us to decide. I called Pn. Azian who is in charge, and she said the same thing. What a great relief, best news I have heard in days.