My Adventure of Tracking Down a Hit-and-Run

If  my(failing) memory serves me well, FHM or Cosmpolitan or GQ,  (I’m not too sure which one but it was one of those publication which always had those hot hootchie mamas as their cover), once did a survey on what would a person do if they dented someone else’s car by accident, and with no witnesses. Unfortunately, Malaysians ranked as one of many who will bugger off, and do a Wile-E-Coyote without having the decency to leave a note or admit to their wrongdoing.

Last Saturday, Lawyer friend parked her car in PJ as she was rushing for her duty as bridesmaid. When she came back, she found her driver’s door smashed in. Culprit had ran off thinking he/she could get away with it. However, culprit made a very big mistake. They were witnesses.

Therefore,  Silver Waja WKB7973, run if you can. We have your address. JPJ was more than helpful to furnish us with the information.  It would be wise for you to owe up to your deceit. Come clean. We promise not to hurt you… too badly.

Silver Waja, WKB7973, be rest assured many eyes will be looking and searching a car depicting my description. There is nowhere for you to run or hide my friend.    

My Adventure of Finding A Name For Our Yahoo Group

Trusty assistant wants to create a yahoo group for Herpetofauna SIG. There, reptile enthusiasts are able to share information, swap pictures of herplife as well as be informed of future activitiesof the group.

I had thought that it was initially a good idea. An over-crowded mailbox nonetheless but I was tired of receiving mails containing subjects of, "College girl candy wants to be your friend", or "Are you feeling horny yet?".The thing is, I wouldn't mind getting to know 'Candy' or her other misbehaving college dorm-mates. Unfortunately, I have this weird feeling that 'Candy' in RL is in actual fact a bearded, cross-dressing, 37 year old man with a 40-inch beer gut. The ones you find in abundance near the Taiping lake.

Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, the yahoo group thingy. Well, trusty assistant wanted a cool name for it and had requested for feedback from other MNS members. As I said earlier, a good idea at the time, until I saw the actual feedback:-

Froggiewoggie
Kermit& Gang
Frogaholics
Rrribbit
OngOngGedekGedekGedek
Kermit d' Fwog
KatakLompat
KakiKatak

I think I'll have a bit of rest under my table right now.              

My Adventure of Nearly Missing a Deadline

Phew, I had nearly missed the MNS newsletter deadline yesterday. I sent the announcements a few days late after the deadline last month, and angry editor chick who runs the publication wasn't too pleased. I chase frogs, snakes and lizards as a hobby and the more dangerous the animal, the more excited I am to fool around with them (women included).

However, somehow or some way, angry editor chick has the ability to turn me into a scared little boy. Thus, with the help of trusty assistant as proof reader, and several agonising drafts, I was able to send out the announcements, just in time for publication.

Frogging trips to Bukit Gasing and FRIM on the 10th & 14th September respectively, as well as a trip to Malacca to visit the WWF turtle sanctuary makes my schedule, your friendly neighborhood Scouser, very full  indeed for the month of September.          

My Adventure in the City of Liverpool

38 Bentley Road. That was the address of our residence during our stay in the city of Liverpool. I was 8 years old. It was the autumn of 1985 and it was a one year hiatus that I would never forget.

Mum had decided to pursue her Masters Degree and dad (who, ironically is a Spurs fan) persuaded her that the University of Liverpool was the best place to do her Masters. He forgot to mention one important fact about Liverpool to my mum though… it was the home of the best football team in the bloody world, Liverpool FC.

In preparation of the trip to a foreign country, mum had sent me on a crash-course in English, in the hope that I won’t embarrass myself too much in trying to communicate with the local habitat. Much good those lessons did for me as ‘Scouse’ is another language altogether.

Tiber Street School. This is where the constant interaction with the local under-12 population went under way. Interestingly enough, my friends were not only ethnic white, they were Sikhs, Indians, Pakistanis, Chinese. If I wasn’t any wiser, I could’ve swore I was back in Malaysia. Well, the majority of white kids there constantly reminded me that I was far from home.

It was bleeding cold most of the time anyway. Regardless of the color of your skin, we all spoke in one common voice. We spoke in Scouse.

Now, this is a footie-mad people, from the dinner ladies to the teachers. If u didn’t play football or had no interest in it, then u were frowned upon. Even the girls played. When it came to football teams, there were only two worth mentioning. Liverpool and Everton. The city itself was split between the red-half and blue-half. They supported no other.

Tiber Street School was no different. We had school hours of 9am to 3pm. We had school dinners and cool uniforms. We had ‘rehat’ 3 times a day. Yup! 3 bloody times a day and what do you think we played during rehat? That’s right, Football. There was a point where I could’ve been an Evertonian. God forbid. Even My best mate was a Blue.

I never knew exactly what swayed my decision but I chose Liverpool. I was in the CITY of Liverpool and RED was a cool color. Everton was leading the pack at the head of the league then, Liverpool was second. I had always a soft spot for underdogs. I had known nothing about football or Liverpool F.C.’s domestic and european dominance. I just chose.

In a way, you could say that Liverpool F.C. chose me. That is the reason why my allegiance runs deeps as I was a part of that community. This loyalty had taken me through some of the club’s most turbulent times and had allowed me to savour with greatest pleasure, their victories.

My Nocturnal Excursion Up To Genting

We returned to our old frogging haunts of Gohtong Jaya on Saturday evening. I had decided that Lillian, my very own protégé and herpetologist-in-training, needed a more challenging spot for frogging. I chose Gohtong Jaya.

Fiza, being my other-half, as always tagged along.

We left Damansara at around 7pm and was able top reach Gohtong Jaya a few minutes past 8pm. It is a wonder I was able to find the usual trail we normally used, considering that the jungle had reclaimed much of it. The chill in the air didn't help, although It would've been even colder if it had rained. The stream water was damn-near freezing. Although the soil beneath our feet were damp, the forest litter was bone dry. A very unfavorable condition to find frogs.

After 2 hours of searching, the only species that we sighted were the Torrent Frogs, which is a very common species along rapids or waterfalls. We were getting frustrated at this as there was no sign of the infamous Flying tree frog, which is a main attraction for us at every visit. No sign of the Poisonous Rock Frog too, although at one point I did hear one of their call, but it was barely audible.

A severe disappointment to Lillian was the absence of the Agamid lizards, close kin the South American Chameleon. She had this thing about lizards and was hoping to catch sight of one. I had promised her there were loads of them there.

Therefore, it was a relief to our small group that during our walk back to our car, I had stopped to have a poke under an overhanging branch situated right over a small water conduit. Lo and behold, a Sumatran Pit Viper was eyeballing me from one of the branches.

Startled by my light, (you would too if someone had shoved a large shiny yellow orb into your face) the feisty little bugger had taken continuous strikes at me. No worries though, he was too high up to be a danger. We took about a million pictures of it and I just hope we didn’t blind it to death with out flashes.

As I sit here, writing this piece, I couldn’t help but notice that the rain has come back and its absolutely pouring outside. Hopefully, there would be more stuff to see when we head up back up there this weekend.

My Adventure of Seeing Liverpool Clinching the European Champions League Cup

The ancients believed that the heavenly bodies were set in crystalline spheres that made music as they moved, and that if we hear the sound, it would be the most celestial experience of all. But the sound which was heard in the Atartuk Stadium on Wednesday evening was even sweeter. More moving than the songs David sang for Solomon, or deeply affecting than all the galaxies singing in concert.

It was the sound of 20,000 Scousers singing 'You'll Never Walk Alone' in joyous merriment.

The odds had stood against them and none gave them a decent chance in emerging victorious from Istanbul. Some had even voiced out their disgust of the idea of having them in the final in the first place. They were a team living in the shadows of greatness, clinging to their once-illustrious history. The glory days of Liverpool was no more.

"Milan were to technically superior in quality," they had said. "and Ancelloti is a master tactician".

Typical stubborn Scousers.

Never was one to conform to what was expected of them. ...and how they responded in the second half and proving why Football is called the beautiful game. What the lads inRred did that night shall be remembered as one of the best comebacks in the annals of football history.

People forget.. and all shall be forgotten but for the fans who were there, they will strongly remember for many years to come, what feats were achieved that day.. and shall their names be familiar in our minds, freshly remembered.

The Captain, Steven Gerrard. The tenacious Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyppia and the insipiring Dietmar Hamman, amongst others. But for many, they will also remember that the final climatic moment of that day, did not rest upon the shoulders of the captain or any of the others.

It had rested upon a tall, lanky lad from the town of Rybnik in Poland. This impudent son of a miner, had the cheek to deny the reigning European Player of the Year from the penalty spot.

And thus, the trophy returns home to Anfield after a long wait. 5 times European cup champions means that they get to keep 'old big ears'.

Welcome home. We had missed you.

My Adventure of Supporting Liverpool Through the Champions League Final

Istanbul

Straddling the Bosphorus, its skyline studded with domes and minarets, Istanbul is one of the truly great romantic cities. Its history tracks back from Byzantium to Constantinople to its place at the head of the Ottoman Empire. Today it hums as Turkey's cultural heart and good-time capital.

In this sprawling, continent-spanning city you can tramp the streets where crusaders and janissaries once marched; admire mosques that are the most sublime architectural expressions of Islamic piety; peer into the sultan's harem; and hunt for bargains in the Kapalý Çarþý (Grand Bazaar). Side by side with Old Istanbul you'll find hip bars and clubs, flashy executives, malls and haute cuisine. And then there is a rich arts culture - opera, music, cinema - which nods its head to the Ottoman and Byzantine ways while taking cues from Europe.

All this history, hustle and bustle coexists around the spine of the Bosphorus, a constantly busy, heaving mass, dotted with ships and ferries, which provides the link between Europe and Asia. Whatever your interest - architecture, art, nightlife, cuisine, history, religion, shopping - Istanbul has more than enough of it, at prices which are among the lowest in Europe.

Whatever...On 25 May 2005, Liverpool, deemed to be lacking in quality, guile and overall strength-in-depth of Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Real Madrid, and the technical brilliance of Barcelona, will be travelling to the plush Ataturk Olympic Stadium for the European Champions League Final.

The others look on, green with envy.      

My Adventure During Raptor Watch

This coming sunday serves another nature escapade as the Malaysian NatureSociety's Raptor Watch returns to Tanjung Tuan, PD. This nature freak will of course be taking the annual sojourn once again to PD and hopes that there'll be at least more raptors flying overhead as compared to last year. W

What the hell is Raptor Watch i here u ask? and why is it so special that every birdwatcher this side of the continent takes the trouble to congregate to Port Dickson, of all places.

Well, every bloody year millions of birds make a dangerous journey to escape the cold of the northern winters. Some of these birds are called Raptors: eagles and related families such as buzzards, sparrowhawks and a crazy-quilt black and white bird with feathers in his cap called a black baza. Some reach as far as indonesia, if they can find their way through the haze first that is.

In january, these birds start to fly back north, gradually building up in numbers until in early march there are sometimes thousands per day passing over the Straits of Malacca from Indonesia to Malaysia. they won't stop long in the peninsular: they have a long journey ahead, back to Siberia, perhaps, or Japan, or to the remote areas of eastern China.yours truly, being the pleasent opportunist that he is, has abstained himself from volunteering during the event due to several reasons:

1. Taking about a million schoolchildren (about 60 exactly) on nature hikes under the blazing hot sun is entirely not his cup of tea

2. Running around like a headless chicken doing errands such as 'getting the v.i.p.'s their drinks' is certainly not what he calls 'bonding with nature'.

3. Running around again putting up posters, searching for lost children and picking up rubbish is equivalent to the many usages of a red-hot poker on a particular human appendageas such, i will refrain from volunteering my services for any donkey work and will instead practice the following;

1. Taking a nice quiet walk up to the lighthouse as green sea turtles are known to swim around the sea below the cliffs of this partciular area;

2. Having a nice rest under a shady tree, armed and ready with my binoculars to do exactly what the event organisers had in mind in the first place, watch the incoming raptors.entry is free for this event, so to those of you who can sacrifice a day from your blogging are most welcomed to come down to PD this sunday. (ceh! tengah promote MNS event ni). at least, you'll have something to blog about for monday morning.