Remembering Wan Mohd Nor Wan Jusoh

It has been 18 years since Arwah Wan Mohd Noor left us for good. Recently, I was flipping through some old pictures and his images came strongly across my mind that I couldn't help but to write something about him.

Wan Mohd Nor was my roommate at #3, 727 E 800 N , Logan, Utah for about 9 months in 1986 before he graduated a quarter earlier than me. He was an engineering student in Utah State University and 2 years my senior by age but his graduation got delayed due to issues with his credits transfer from his former Canadian University.

Roommates at 727E 800N Logan,UT

He was known and remembered not because of his academic superiority, but he was the symbol of perseverance and "can do" attitude despite his hardship in college. In his final year in college, he had major financial difficulties because of  the delay of his scholarship's allowance payment. This was due to his transfer from Canada University a year earlier and the delay was causing him hardship to sustain his expenses there. I remember him making repeated calls to the Malaysia Student Department's office in North America asking for early release of his scholarship money but it was drowned into the bureaucracy and red tape process.

Wan Mohd Nor or Wan Jus as he was fondly called, came from a poor family in Dungun, his father was bedridden and the mom was doing odd jobs cleaning other people's houses to support the family. He was the eldest son in the family then. I was even told by someone close to his family that he used his scholarship money to put electricity and running water to his family home in Dungun. That was in the early 80's.

Nothing much we could do to help him during his difficulty period except to share with him whatever little scholarship money that we had. He had no where to ask for help except the friends around him.. And it was not easy to get a part time job in Logan then because almost all available jobs in campus were grabbed by the local students.

Despite all his difficulties, Wan Jus never gave up and always joined us in all our activities. He would tag along with us where ever we go and we also enjoyed to have him as company. He would join us for skiing trip but opted to wait for us at the foothill, not wanting to burden us with the ski pass fee or he would join us to shopping mall but pretended nothing interests  him instead of borrowing money to buy things for himself.

week end outing - spring 1986

Sport was his passion and i would say that in theory, he knew all kind of sports, mainly as a commentator and "strategist". When i played in the local tennis tournament, he formed a strong side court supports among the Malaysians to cheer for me. One day, we decided to host sporting games event among malaysian students from the universities in Utah and other neighboring state, Idaho and he started hitting the library to find out the rules and regulation about tennis, volleyball and other related games to be hosted for the event. Come to think about it, he would make a superb sports administrator and regulator if he were to choose that career path,

Golf- Summer 1986

With all his enthusiasm in sports, he was never a sportsman. He was a tall guy, about 6 foot in height but someone much shorter and smaller than him could outjumped him in a basketball game. I used to call him "Jus the Dunker" as a joke for his inability to use his height for his advantage in basketball games.

Ice skating Dec 1985

Another game that he loved to play was American football ( touch flag) game. We normally used him as a receiver but  most of the time he would be outrun by the defender and the ball got intercepted in the air. Vice versa, when he was defending, the opposing receiver would have field days catching and running the ball  right under his nose. For whatever shortcomings, he was a team player, never took offence on people mocking him on the field and best of all, he always tried his best.

After finishing his degree in Civil Engineering, he left Utah and came back to Malaysia during the height of Malaysia financial crisis in 1986. This definitely did not help him financially and emotionally. He failed to land decent job with his Engineering qualification and end up doing jobs under the pretext of graduate trainee program. He later signed up for the graduate Tax & Company Secretary Training Program and managed to open up tax  and secretarial practice in Dungun Terengganu catering for SME industries there. It was not a profitable business but enough to pay his bills. He also started to diversify in promoting local artists paintings in order to earn extra money. One day he told us that he bought a used fishing boat and the joke around us was that "Wan Jus bought a Yatch !" Once again, he just smile at our unwarranted remarks.

wooden boat

He later got married and had 2 young boys ( if i am not mistaken)  and never left Dungun to work somewhere elses. He led normal life until he started having bad coughs which lasted for a month. After frequent visits to Dungun Hospital, he was referred  to Kuala Lumpur hospital for suspected Tuberculosis (TB). He was held at Pusat TB Negara in which he was diagnosed later as having Malign Heart Cancer, a shocking news for everyone of us. He was never a smoker and never being diagnosed for any cancer related disease before.

From Pusat TB Negara, he was transferred back to HKL to start his chemotherapy treatment. Less than a week in HKL and right after his first chemo treatment, he passed away quietly in the hospital. Even his wife was not prepared to join him in KL yet during his chemo treatment. She was to join him later and opted to be with the kids in Terengganu for the time being.

To back tracked, 3 days before his death, he slipped out of the hospital to join me for a teh tarik session in Kampung Baru. There was still a tube inserted into his wrist for drips preparation and it did not stop him from joining me. I remember giving him a book titled " What they don't teach you at Harvard" for his reading pleasure while in the hospital ward.  Three days after that encounter we received the shocking news of his demise.. He was alone, not even his family or friends by his side when he passed away. He died at the age of 34 years old in 1996, relatively a very young age for a man to die for natural causes. But, Allah loves him more, Alfatihah to Brother Wan Mohd Nor Wan Jusoh.

Ole Ole 50's....( Part 1) .

In less than a month, i will be 50 years old. A golden age for a mankind and a half century of  life on this earth as the the recipient of  Allah's benevolence. At 50, we can either look back reminiscing on our good old days and pretending nothing seriously happened to us or we can start preparing to growing old gracefully and peacefully. One way or another, our existence in this world has been part of the "Qada & Qadar" or the grand design by Allah S.A.W. Our destiny in life is what we plan for but the outcome is beyond us to determine.

my self@KB  1965

Homer Simpson

At this age, it dawns upon me that everything seems to be in a slow motion cycle. My daily chores and tasks are very routine and mundane. Even my social life had seen better days before. Now it's becoming very dull and predictable. One thing Homer Simpson and i  have in common is the rush back home to slouch on the couch watching TV. Now, my previous busy social life calendar seems to be a page from a history book, it disappears into oblivion and  i am not in hurry to fix it.




A 50 years old man is not an old fart, he is just a matured boy with a balding head and a slightly bulging tummy for years of indulgence in good food with no serious exercise. This is the right time to handover our tight jeans to the teenage sons and unfortunately for ladies, ( i am a bit male chauvinist here) please get used to being called Makcik or Auntie every time you step out of your home. And for my friends out there who still have appetite for young girlfriends,  it's a time to slow down because you could be staring at your own daughter's friends.

It's also the right time to invest in a better medical plan because you will never know

ARA Damansara Hospital  - 2014

what would becoming of you ie; having blocked arteries, blood reading as high as KLCC , brittle bones or weak bladder/colon  that requires 24/7 protection. Otherwise, men at the age of 50 can be as good as the men at the age of 30 because they have better judgement, better temperament, more caring and not to mention thicker pockets, except me of course....  

2013

Approaching the golden age of 50, we should have developed our own unique identity and carry certain image that reflect our characters. For whomever you might be in the past, you should now completely overhauled your appearance to reflect your maturity that comes with the age. I am for one, chose to be a decent man with down to earth attitude and very flexible in nature.

Over the years I have been able to evolutionize myself in keeping up with the contemporary lifestyles of the particular period. From the 70's, 80's to the 90's and to the present millennium,  i have seen changes in fashion styles, political, businesses and more importantly, the environment we're  living in. I tried over the years to blend into the environment that that i am living in without being so eccentric or deviate from the norms of the time.

1) In the 20's 

1991

1985-86

When i was in the 20's and living in the 80's decade, the fashion of the day was the smart casual style popularized by Don Johnson of Miami Vice series.  We also grew up with the influence of  21st Jump Street's Johnny Depp's style and Madonna's for the ladies. This was the decade of  discos and clubbings with the likes of Wham, Duran Duran, Foreigners, Air Supply, Run D&C, Billy Joels, Madonnas, Cindy Laupers and many more. During this decade of  mix culture arts and musics, in KL alone, we had great hangout joints like the Phase 2, Betel Nuts, Rumours, Scandals, LA11, Piccadily  and many more that were mushrooming during the period. For me, this was the "experimental period", the period when i was mixing pleasure with responsibility in life, the fight between good and evil and at the same time trying to keep myself afloat in the corporate world.   

2) In the 30 's

1994

Going into 30 years of age and living in the mid  90's, my style and appearance changed in line with the new responsibility in life and career. This was the crucial time in building my working career, getting married and making the "right connections" in the corporate world. This was the time when i decided to make a career move from working in a large multinational companies to be in a small business advisory and ICT company with few friends. This was the defining moment in my working career that catapulted me further into a corporate world beyond my wildest imagination. This was also the decade for growth and venturing into new things to keep up with the fast phase of the corporate world.

1995

2002

1995

2001

         

3) In the 40's                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

When i reached 40 years old and living in the new millennium, it's time to change gear again.
The first half of the decade was spent on business development that requires plenty of travellings outside the country and obviously away from my home.

This was the hardest moment in my life because of the time spent outside and being away from the families most of the time. I didn't put detail attention to my kids and they were growing right in front of my eyes. One day i woke up to this realization that they have been growing up without me to give them the moral support they needed.  Alhamdulillah, thanks to my wife, she managed everything for the family during my absence from home.

4) Now what???

Now going into 50 years old, one thing that i have not changed is my aggressive driving style.  My son once commented, " Dad, looking at the way you drive, no wonder Allah didn't give you the wealth at the early age to buy Ferraris or Lamborghini, you might crash them left, right and center with your fast and aggressive driving" Since i can't still afford Lamborghini or Ferraris, and as long i can enjoy my long distance driving back to Kelantan every month,  i am not in hurry to change my aggressive driving style.

Lately, i keep on asking myself what am going to do moving forward? I have many things in my mind such as, "I want to relax, i want to play golf every week, i want to travel the world, i want to do charity every where i go, i want to help the poors, i want to be more Taqwa person, i want to be happy" , and the lists go on... One thing obvious that i don't want to do is to be a politician because i know i will never be a good one. I still have a long way to perfect myself and to help the people around me. But to be where i am now, i am thankful for all the support that i receive from the families, friends and those who have been keeping faith with me all these years. And most of all, the Blessing  from Allah Almighty, for allowing me to live until today and to write this piece as a momento for my existence in this world.

If i were to leave the corporate world, i might consider the followings:-

1) Going into agriculture

Goat Farming 

2) Be more adventurous and start looking into treasures underneath the earth

Iron ore Mining - Padang

or  3) Just enjoy life as it may come....

Fishing.

Pulau Ketam

    Golfing

2014 - the Mines


or TRavelling the world??

Wallahuallam!