The biggest shock of this year

I want to remember this moment.

They say you learn about a person's character during moments of stress.

My brother Aswad turns out to be an abusive and emotionally unstable character.

When in argument, he doesn't know how to handle himself.

Talk to him in private and you can be sure he'll bring it out online in no time.

You cannot be safe with this guy.

It all started two weeks ago when we had a chat over teh tarik. He shared with me his recent 'adventure'.

He wanted to put it on his blog. I said not to. He would be embarrassing himself.

I said certain things should remain private. It's just common sense. He agreed.

I thought that was it but the very next day, he did exactly the thing we both had agreed he shouldn't do. He blogged.

As a friend, I was furious! This fu***r is 36 years old and he cannot even protect himself from himself!

I decided I had had enough of this guy's antics. I knew it was going to be unpleasant but I had to tell him off.

I acted swiftly. Gave him a phone number belonging to a shrink. Told him in no uncertain term to deal with his problem "like a man".

And what did he do? He responded by writing a nasty, hit-below-the-belt note about me on FB. Dragged my kids and parents into it. Saying things about me on FB which I can’t defend myself to because he blocked me.

The fact that I had been a loyal friend didn't matter at all to him. That I listened to him when he was sad with his munchkin problems, defended him when people said bad things about him.

Bila dia sakit, aku hantar pegi hospital, bawak pegi beli tongkat.

Introduced him to my friends as my buddy.

All these things didn't matter at all.

So I tried to help. All I did was told him to deal with his problem. But he bit my hand. Big time.

Now he's completely out of control, out of his mind, and hell bent on shaming me online.

This has been the biggest shock of this year. Dia nie rupanya orang gila, cuma aku je yang tak tau.

So this is it for our friendship. Cukuplah. I do not befriend crazy people. If he needs help, he knows where to go.

What's nice about this year's birthday?

Answer: I'm on my way to obliterate my fear of water.

The day before yesterday, I had my first official swimming lesson at the Panasonic sports complex.

Swimming lesson? But you're a diver, you say.

Well, that may be so but really, swimming and diving are two different animals. There are plenty of divers out there who can't swim. They feel secure in their diving gear, but without it, well, they can swim a little but not very well.

I thought that wasn't right.

Which was what Tuesday's lesson was all about.

Coach Dolphin Lee made us swim breaststroke, a bit of freestyle swimming and corrected our kicks and strokes.

But the highlight of the evening was when he took us to the deep end of the pool -- and told us to jump!

"Get onto the numbered platform and jump," he said.

You mean, jump as in... JUMP? Into the water?

Yes lah.

My girlfriend, who was taking the lesson with me, and I hesitated.

"You go first," she said.

Fuck!

I got onto the platform. Mulled over it.

Coach was already waiting in the water.

"Ok, one, two, three -- jump!" said Lee.

Nothing happened. I was staring at the clear water through my goggles, still mulling over it.

I will come back right up, right? I asked Lee for some assurance.

Some kids sitting nearby started laughing at me.

Fuck, kids laughing at a grown up man. I have no way out of this!

So. Secured my arms over my chest, looked straight ahead and took one step forward like in diving's giant stride. Splash!!!

Bubbles everywhere. Reached the bottom of the pool in an instant. Kicked a little. Got back to the surface in no time, with a smile on me face.

Yes! I did it!

And for some reasons, water treading feels a lot easier after you have overcome that fear of jumping.

After a few more jumps, I had pretty much overcame my fear for the deep end of the pool. Can't wait to jump again next week. Hee.

Happy Birthday to me.

We could be together

My girlfriend sent me this Debbie Gibson video recently.



Debbie Gibson is a late-80s, early-90s teen pop icon who wrote, produced and performed her own songs.

I haven't heard that song for a long time, and only remember the chorus.

If you said "Jump", I'd say "How high?"
If you said "Run" I'd run and fly
Just for the chance
Just for the moment should moment pass us by
And if you ask once I'll tell you twice
I'll ignore the world's advise
If we could be together for a while

That video just made my day. Girlfriend and I are both in our thirties, and this just made us feel all teeny and carefree all over again. ^_^

Never mind all those photos I saw on the Net.