A tribute to ibanguy

Rentap or Ibanguy left us on the 2nd of May 2007 suddenly. This was one guy who never failed to leave a mark on the lives of the people he touched. Never without a smile on his face, Frankie J. Demang, his real name, was everyone's best friend. At least everyone hoped their best friend was more like him. Frankie reintroduced me to blogging and for that reason alone, I will go on blogging and keep his blog on my blogroll.

I was introduced to him on a weekend and realised I could relate to Frankie on almost all levels. An afficionado of good movies and a great musician, Frankie was passionate in the arts. At this moment, I am actually listening to a song he wrote called 'Twisted Fate'. How apt.

I AM NOT WITH YOU NOW
SOMEHOW FATE IS TWISTED
OUR LIFE IS NOT FATED
I AM NOT WITH YOU NOW
SOMEONE ELSE IS TAKING MY PLACE … TODAY
- Frankie

Leaving us at a young age, he will be missed greatly.
May his blog live on forever, may his compassion in others make us better people, may his music play on in our lives, may memories of him never leave us for there are many.

VW Family

Wife has joined the VW family when she bought the New Beetle. I'll post the pictures once she picks the car up next week. Next will be the old flower power VW van for us. I'd love to restore that and put in all the AV necessary to make it our mobile cinema. Hehehee....

Josh at Sepang F1

This year, I brought my son to his first F1 race. Wife insisted that I made sure he wears earplugs so I went a step further by putting on my iPod at low volume underneath the F1 headphones to muffle out the noise.


Needless to say, he was not too comfortable but at least he enjoyed himself.

The first few corners determined the outcome of the race. Here, I missed Alonso but you can see Hamilton was already alongside Massa.









By the second, Hamilton was already ahead and stayed that way even after Massa's failed attempt to overtake at corner 4. By this time, Alonso used this buffer between the 2 Ferraris to build a gap. Massa was attacking Hamilton at every chance he had.

This was as close as Massa got to Hamilton before unceremoniously going off the road on turn 4 to be overtaken by Kimi and Heidfeld.

Then we thought Kimi had a chance to go for it but Hamilton made himself wide enough to not let the Flying Finn pass him.
The crowd was good but still the seats around us were quite empty. Probably those who got free tickets never bothered turning up. Sad!

It was a tiring day out for father and son but worth the experience. The seats we got were quite good since we could see the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th corners. The event could have been better if there were more action. We were praying for rain but it never came. Also SIC could actually do better with traffic control. We didn't even have time to shop around as it took us nearly 3 hours just to get to the stands. All in all, Josh and me had a good day out thanks to our benevolent friend, Uncle JK.

Gina from the shop...

Didn't know that Gina was put in a beauty contest until I went to pick her up. The shop, NextLevelCustomz had a launch (a relaunch) where they paraded the cars they've pimped up thus far. Amazing line-up, including a DB9 (apparently it was about to be pimped up to 'double 0' status). Was quite anxious at the show especially when they started drifting a Nissan Sylvia and doing a donut with it.

In my head, is Gina going to be put through this? Can they drift a front-wheel powered car? Do a donut? Thankfully the guys at NextLevelCustomz just made her do a catwalk. Phew!!

Enjoy the pictures while I enjoy Gina...

Introducing Gina...

This is what you get when you are experiencing a mid-life crisis at 31.
I'll call this my Mid-life Crisis Ver1.0 because I am sure there will be more to come. These pictures are 'before' pictures of my car. Before the upgrades! Hehehee!!! Muahahahaaa!!!! I will post the 'after' pictures, hopefully with better clarity once it comes out of the shop.

Johnny Tiptra, a Phenomenon

This post is a tribute to Johnny.

It is difficult to find a cool geek. I am sure Johnny will be upset if anyone were to call him a geek but a first class honours student, an accountant with an affection for the arts? You can talk to him about anything and be sure of an intellectual response, even if the subject matter is on the mating habits of red ants. Ok, maybe not.

His current job combines his skills with his passion. It is not always that you get a job that you can be passionate about. In this I envy him. If only I was making a living as a golfer. It's like getting paid for indulging in your own hobby.

The life of all parties, and this may sound like a cliche but with Johnny, it is a gross understatement. You are never going to be disappointed with an outing with Johnny. A born entertainer, he lives off the crowd around him.

Johnny, hope this post will keep me in your top 5 list!

Keris

Family heirloom got a new meaning for us recently. This keris was handed to the family after much research has led us back to our roots in Sumatera. Apparently it belonged to our forefathers who made the journey across the Malacca Straits nearly 300 years ago.

The casing is new but the blade and the 'ulu' (handle) is original and purportedly made 900 years ago.
I have half a mind to send it for carbon dating but why destroy the magic? Apparently our ancestor left it behind and the keris was kept by another family. Once it was ascertained that we were the rightful heirs, my dad received the keris during a handover ceremony in Padang.

Unfortunately I couldn't go along. It was a whole village affair and I could just imagine the fanfare. Lo and behold, I am the 7th generation since Dato' Jannaton decided to set sail for Penang.

Bandung Beautiful

This was my first overseas golf holiday. It turns out to be more of a shopping holiday than golfing. Nevertheless, the golf courses we played were breathtaking to say the least. Many thanks to Pak Budi (our faithful guide and friend) for enduring the adhoc schedule we came up with. Mind you, our itinerary changed every 7 minutes! Here are some photos of Bandung and her people...