In my spell

Korea Trip - Day 5 (Part 2)

2011-11-12T19:14:00.001+08:00

It has been a while since I last updated my posts about the Korea Trip. I really do need to finish this.. at least until I go to Korea again

The last post was on the part one of the fifth day. Here comes part two.

The shuttle bus from Nami Island brought us back to Tapgol Park. Here our group were split into three; Nadia and her parents went to look for fabric near Jongno 5-ga, Rahah, Kaifa and Azie went to Gwanghamun Square while me and Anis went to Namsan Tower again. We hailed a cab to Namsan cable car and went up~

Namsan Tower sighted

View from the cable car. Our hostel is around here.

This time around the weather was really clear and we bought the tickets to go to the observation decks. We were also discounted 10% using the coupons we got when we bought the Seoul City Tour Bus one-day pass. Inside the lift to go up there were cool lights and visual shows, showing as if we were taking an extremely fast lift ride to the outer space and back to Seoul. The lift were fast, my ears popped, not actually gravity defying though.

Then we were in the observation decks! Almost the whole of Seoul can be seen clearly from here. We took some time to take it all in..

Thousand kilometers away from home.. (A bit miffed Malaysia were not listed here though)

Love seems to be the concept of Namsan Tower, maybe because the many love locks and love messages people left here.

The new part of Seoul is at the right side of Han River. The tower, Myeongdong where we stayed, the many palaces are all at the old part of Seoul.

Besides looking through the sights, there were not many things to do at the observation deck. You can actually skip going (and skip paying the fee) to the decks and just look at the view from the love locks decks if you want.

Compared to the first time we came, the weather was really clear. We can see the top!

Walking down to the cable car station...

We took the cable car down, and I wanted to buy a bottled water at the store next to the cable car station when a big white dog with wagging tail came to me. I. was. freaked. out. Probably amusing the heck out of the shop keeper. Even when I went to another place the dog still persisted to come near me. While I was freaking out, an ahjumma who was probably the shop owner came in, asking:

"Wae? Wae?"

Pointing to the big dog I could only say;

"Gae.."

(I learned gae = dog from Running Man. LOL). She then told me;

"Gwaenchana, gwaenchana." (its okay, its okay)

Its okay for you, but I'm scared of dogs :S. The dog probably only wanted to play with me, but sorry buddy, you need to find another (though I must say you were one beautiful dog! Pity I'm scared of you). I managed to buy the bottled water when the shopkeeper took pity on me and picked up the bottle I left when the dog came in and gave it to me. Phew.

We then had to go to Nambu Bus Terminal for a meet with a Korean Super Junior fan that Anis bought some lightsticks with. Seeing as it was quite a far walk to the nearest Myeongdong Station, and we would need to change train at Chungmuro if we board the train from there, we decided to hail a cab and went straight to Chungmuro Station. It was a long journey from Chungmuro to Nambu Bus Terminal but the station was also far from our friend's house. It was a halfway meeting point for both of us.

We arrived earlier than the promised meeting time and by this time I was starving. There were a few convenience stores at the Nambu Bus Terminal station but the breads didn't look appetizing to me. So I finally just bought Banana Milk and Halal Pringles. Haha..

Then we met Da Young! She was the most precious person ever and it was a pity we didn't talk for long because she had to go back home for dinner. And silly silly me, I forgot to take pictures with her too. Before she left, she told us the directions to the place we went next...

The place where we met Da Young. Picture screen-capped from Naver Map.

KBS! The train station near KBS was National Assembly. From this station we had to ask for directions from several people on the street. It was very near though and we finally saw the KBS Building. Still we were unsure where exactly is the radio place so I went and asked a security guard..

"Syupa Junieo radio odi issoyo?"

He was really helpful (and cute!), using body language he (cutely!) showed me the way to the main entrance and told me to find anyone wearing the uniform he was wearing at the front entrance and asked the same question I asked him so that that person can also show me the way.

Why so cuteee (ahem.) and helpful?? I was so thankful, Anis observed my bow-of-gratitude was almost 90 degrees. After that we found the place easily enough. And there were already a small crowd there. There were some places on benches in front of the glass screen that were empty but almost all of it had papers stuck on it claiming ownership of the space.

We were there early, around 9.30pm while the radio was scheduled to start at 10pm. So we lingered around taking pictures and met with three school girls who traveled all the way from Incheon to watch the live radio.

We chatted with their limited English and our limited Korean, but when you really want to get to know each other, and share the same love (our Super Junior opparssss), language barriers meant nothing. Soon we saw people running to the front entrance and I asked the girls what were happening. Apparently a Super Junior member has arrived. I observed from where we were sitting and I saw Yesung walking into the KBS building. He was accompanied only by his manager and looked mightily accessible to the fans. The fans around him were also very well behaved and didn't try to grab/touch him, just calling out his name hoping he would look at them. It was only Yesung, and Leeteuk didn't arrive yet so I devised a plan..

When another black car arrived, I followed the crowd to the main entrance. Leeteuk came out from the car, walked to the entrance.. nearing me.. in front of me!.. and I said:

"Oppa! Apa Khabar!"

Hearing the foreign "Apa Khabar" (which is probably the only Malay words Super Junior know, they kept repeating that during their concert in Kuala Lumpur), he turned around and upon seeing this girl wearing headscarf with a wide grin on her face he said..

"Ne, Annyeonghaseyo"

THAT. Totally counts as a conversation. Hahaha. Ahh.. I was really happy. I actually got to meet (and talk!) to a Super Junior member in Korea.

When the radio broadcast finally started, the crowds all stood up and some people even brought small step stairs and the representatives from fan clubs had paparazzi-grade cameras and lenses to take pictures with. Standing way at the back I almost couldn't see anything!

That guy wearing a silver blazer is Leeteuk :D

I guess one of the girls from Incheon also got bored with not being able to watch, so she went to the next radio screen. The DJ here was Yoo Youngsuk, who is probably familiar to Super Junior fans as the original singer to the song "7 Years of Love" that Kyuhyun covered. That girl, Kyoung Min was a big fan so she kept on showing "Love" sign to the DJ. I then joined her to the huge amusement of Yoo Youngsuk's manager.

Yoo Yongsuk's biggest fan. ♥

The ~cool~ Yoo Youngsuk.

They typed a message to Yoo Youngsuk on the phone screen. The manager agreed to relay it to him. Bawww.

The girls then had to say goodbye, it was a long way back to Incheon and they have school the next day. We said goodbye.

Super Junior Kyuhyun - 7 Years of Love

There was still a crowd in front of Super Junior's radio. Being short, I thought I should take my chances to just try to slip to the front. I did. But still the view from where I stood was not very good. I soon gave up.

The view to the good looking Super Junior's manager was very good though. He is famous too. Super Junior's fans call him "Prince Manager". LOL.

The best shot of Leeteuk I got. That door should be fully made of glass!

Anis still wanted to stay for a while so I wandered around again. This time I met a Japanese Super Junior fan. Again with my limited Japanese, and her limited English we struck a conversation. She told me she is Heechul's fan, so I enthusiastically told her me too! Then she said she went to SPAO at Myeongdong to buy Heechul's cap but they ran out so I told her I got that last one! LOL.

Not wanting to miss the last train, me and Anis made our way back to the train station. It was late, the station was even almost empty. It was not goodbye though, we happened to came again the next day. Haha..

Empty.

Dalam Kereta

2011-09-06T12:48:00.003+08:00

the boy who smiles

2011-07-25T18:41:00.002+08:00

Oh! There's a camera pointing at me!

Let's give it a smile. ^_^

Korea Trip - Day 5 (Part 1)

2011-07-05T16:33:00.031+08:00

There are many tourist attractions in Seoul that are closed on Mondays, so we planned our trip to Nami Island on Monday.

From Myeongdong Station we took the subway to Jongno 3-ga, and walked to Tapgol Park. Here, waiting for us was the shuttle bus to Nami Island. Handing the driver the payment receipt from the Nami Shuttle Bus Office, he gave us a set of tickets that include return bus tickets, ferry tickets and admission tickets. He also showed us a paper informing that we should be on the bus from Nami Island before 4pm.

Journey took about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Some of us took the chance to continue sleeping, while me and Rahah chit-chatted the whole way through, and took random pictures from the bus' window.

I sat next to Aha Mok Mok!

Clear road, clean road.

We arrived around 10.45, and after showing the officers our tickets we were ready to board a ferry that would take us to the island.

Banner welcoming us. There are two "Selamat Datang".

There were limited seats in the ferry and almost everyone had to stand. But the ferry trip was only less than 10 minutes so no one minded.

Inside the ferry.

Reached Nami Island! Lets take a commemorative picture with the ferry first.

Ah Nami Island. What can I say? It is really beyond beautiful. It would be almost a crime to visit Seoul/South Korea without visiting this place. I'll just let the pictures tell the story.

Of course, of course that ahjumma would walk into the frame in that particular moment.

Even our shoes looked beautiful on Nami. Haha.

Tak dapat peluk orang, peluk papan pun jadila...

Romantic couple. ♥

And then come one of my most favourite about this trip, bicycling in Nami Island. The bicycle rental hut is around 15 minutes walk from the dock, and it costs 5,000 KRW for one hour. Me, Rahah, Kaifa and Azie rented normal bicycles while Anis and Nadia rented a two seaters bicycle. Almost an expert now with the amount of cycling I did before the Korea trip, off I went far, far ahead of everyone. Wheee~

.. But then it wasn't fun cycling alone, so I stopped and waited for them.

The bicyle was different from those I'm used to in Malaysia, it was longer (a challenge for my short legs) and heavier but with only a small push on the pedals it went quite far.

While the rest of us had bicycle similiar to mine, Kaifa's was a bit.. unique.

We cycled fast, and because it was cold and we didn't sweat we cycled faster. We cycled like we were students late for school prompting Rahah to say: "Lets cut school then."

Students who ditched school. The leader is the one with horns.

Our original plan was to cycle around the island one time and then we'll go around again, while slowly enjoying everything. However we couldn't resist stopping and taking pictures.

We stumbled into Nadia's parents and their family bicycle.

We thought we had time for another trip around the island, but then it was already nearing the one hour mark, so we had to go back and return the bicycles. One hour is really not enough! Next time it would have to be 2 hours minimum. Everyone who come to Nami Island must experience this, the feel of the wind on your face, the freshness of the air, the beautiful scene around you.. So if anyone is planning to go to Nami, make sure you know how to bike :D

We ate our packed lunch, and once finished, we walked around again.

The Winter Sonata gallery.

Soon it was time to leave Nami Island. We made our way to the dock in order to not miss the ferry before 4pm. We really feel that time passed too quickly, and we didn't get to explore everything on the island..

I miss you o beautiful Nami.

Bye bye Nami. Till we meet again.

Korea Trip - Day 4

2011-06-14T11:19:00.021+08:00

It was Sunday, and because we didn't get the chance to really enjoy Namdaemun the previous day, we decided to visit it again, this time early in the morning. So off we went to Namdaemun.

We arrived around 8.45 am. Most of the stalls and shops were in the middle of opening up. We decided to walk around and see if there were any shops already opened.

Standing in the middle of the road, surrounded by not-yet-opened shops.

This shop is already opened, selling the latest ahjumma fashions.

As we walked around, the shops started to be ready for business one by one. Being early, there were no crowd in the market and we can browse easily. The ahjummas (aunties) here were especially friendly, almost all asking where we are from. They were also mighty impressed by the little Koreans we know (asking for the price, asking for discounts) and our correct pronounciation, one ahjumma even pinched my cheek. Because we were one of their first customers, we also got additional discounts on top of the already reduced prices.

I must say, Namdaemun is one of the very best place to shop for clothes in Seoul. I love, love the blouses and hoodies they sell here. The blouses were really beautiful, pricing around 15,000 KRW (if it is priced higher, try to haggle until you get around that price) and the sellers all insisted that they were all made in Korea and not in China. I guess clothes made in Korea are supposed to be of better quality (but oh so soft, I'm afraid of washing it by machine). Needless to say, I bought a few blouses and hoodies.

Hoodies. Not really a practical wear for Malaysian weather, but being so pretty I still bought them. That white Chopper hoodie? Mine.

Look at the pretteh! If I have all the money in the world I would've bought them all.

How did we shop? We used a mix of Korean, English, Japanese and sign languages. The sellers here mostly speak fluent Japanese, and there was this one time we wanted a new piece and not the displayed one. I impulsively said "atarashi" (I was actually getting my languages mixed up and only when I spoke it I realized that was Japanese and not Korean). The ahjusshi understood however, and went inside to get us a new one. Whee! There was also this one ahjusshi that said "Tiga sepuluh ribu!" when we walked pass his stall. I think they are already getting used to seeing Malay faces.

From Namdaemun, we went to Myeongdong. It was 10.30 am and Myeongdong was also relatively empty. We wanted to check out SPAO again, but the store apparently is closed on Sundays. So we just mostly walked around, taking silly pictures with Korean idols endorsement boards. Anis and Nadia also bought a serious amount of Converse sneakers. Korean Converse stores have a lot of colours not available in KL.

Myeongdong street is rarely this empty. Especially on a Sunday.

Yep. That's Hyun Bin.

G Dragon from the group Big Bang.

Flower boy Song Joong Ki. Oh why, why did you leave Running Man?

We went back to our room, but not before putting a big dent on our wallet by buying photo albums and CDs of our favourite Korean groups from a shop inside Myeongdong subway station. Carrying so many plastics, plus the albums were heavy I didn't take any pictures at all.

Damages. We had to put our purchases down to look for the room's key.

At our room, we cooked the chicken drummets we brought from Malaysia, heated up a can of sardine and also the instant rice bought in GS25. It was one of the very best meals we had in Korea. Mostly because we were hungry.

Done with our lunch and prayers, we moved again. This time our destination was COEX Mall located in Gangnam, at the opposite site of Han River. COEX Mall was big, but we really didn't explore it because our feet were really hurting. My calves especially were really painful because I was running the other night in order not to miss the Seoul City Tour Bus. I actually do feel our trip here was a bit wasted because Gangnam was very far from where we stayed. It is worth going however if you want to experience COEX Aquarium.

COEX Mall's entrance from the subway station.

COEX Aquarium was big, it was divided into sections and of the most interesting sections was the one intended for children. Here it has many aquariums and tanks in almost every shapes imaginable. The kids loved it, squealing and saying "Annyeong!" to the fishes.

Fishes! : Inside a PC, vending machine, kitchen sink, cracked tank, traffic light, washing machine...

The deep-sea tank was also very, very big. With big sharks, turtles, other fishes. When one of the big sharks swam very close to where I was standing, it felt like I was swimming next to it. Those with phobias of sharks (like Rahah and Kaifa) will probably not appreciate it though. Hehehe.

Big, fat, shark swimming through!

After the aquarium, we went to Bandi and Luni's in COEX Mall, but just to find a book by Tablo (Epik High) that Anis wanted to buy. Once she got the book, we started heading back to the subway station.

We also bought iced-chocolate in Dunkin Donuts. This device lights up when drinks are ready but because we didn't know we waited near the counter.

We took the subway to Myeongdong station again, this time to watch NANTA, a non-verbal musical. The plot was simple, but very well executed and so funny. It also involved a lot of viewers' participation. One time the actor asked us to stomp our feet, I did so and then only I remembered my legs hurt. Ouch. We laughed so much throughout the show, it was really entertaining.

We bought the cheapest tickets sold, but still got a clear view of the stage.

The actors for that day's performance.

Picture with the staff at reception hall. So short compared to her. Woe is me.

NANTA done, we were finished with our fourth day at Seoul. We were tired, but also excited because the next day, Nami Island!

Korea Trip - Day 3 (Part 2)

2011-06-02T13:02:00.014+08:00

From Dongdaemun, me and Anis took the subway to Anguk Station. I was following the map provided by Nami Island Shuttle Bus which said that the nearest way to go to the office was by exiting through Anguk Station, so to Anguk Station we went.

Dongdaemun gate in front of Dongdaemun Station.

Anguk Station is located in Insadong, a place full with antique and craft stores. We also saw a lot of older citizens in their smartest clothes here, I think there is a community center for them located near. From Anguk Station's exit 6, we honestly tried to follow the map but we got lost. We've walked very far from where we were supposed to head and finally I couldn't recognize any landmark around us.

This map was not helpful at all!

Knowing that we were lost, I stopped to ask a Korean how to get to Tapgol Park. He had a hard time understanding what I said so I typed "Tapgol" on my iPod, and he said "Ahhh! Tapgol!". He pondered for a while how to tell us the way and then he said "Follow me!". So me and Anis followed him. He guided us through the most bizarre path; behind restaurants, small lanes, back alleys, to the extend I was a bit scared and tried to remember what was the Korean words for "Help me!". However after walking for quite some time we finally stopped, and he pointed that Tapgol Park was just right upfront. I said many many thanks to him, it must be really out of his way but he still brought us to the place. This would be one of the many instances during our trip where we would be amazed by the generosity and helpfulness of Koreans.

From Tapgol Park, we found the Nami Shuttle Bus Office easily, and paid the price for our integrated tickets (including return bus trips, ferry and admission) to Nami Island. From Tapgol Park, we took the subway from Jongno 3-ga (THIS is the closest subway station, not Anguk) to Hoehyeon Station, which is the subway station for Namdaemun.

The other members were already there and they have asked the information booth in Namdaemun how to get to the halal kebab stall. I know that there is a halal kebab stall in Namdaemun from my reading on the internet, but all the sites/forum posts on the internet don't exactly specify the location of the stall. So in case anyone else is wondering where the stall is, I've pinpointed it on a map below:

It is right in front of the road between exit 5 and exit 6, just a few steps away from Namdaemun Market's Gate 5.

The stall is next to NH Bank, right behind that newspaper stall.

The stall is very small, and there was no place to sit except for a few chairs the owner puts inside the stall itself. We let Nadia's parents, Rahah and Azie inside while the rest of us sat on the stairs for some upstairs offices next to the stall; one person sitting on one step, going higher. What a view we must have made eating our kebabs, some Koreans even took a second glance at us, smiling and waving.

Halal kebab in Namdaemun. I took this from Daum Map because I didn't remember to take any picture at all. Too hungry.

Once we finished eating, we browsed Namdaemun market for a while, bought some stuffs and finally because we were too tired of walking we decided to take taxis back to our rooms. There were some misunderstandings when the door on Kaifa's side was not closed properly and we thought the taxi ahjusshi was telling us to lean back or wear our seat belts. And then he couldn't find the address based on the business card Mr. Ko gave us. Finally by butchering the Korean language (I kept pointing and saying "Igo, Igo" (this) when I should've said "Yeogi, yeogi" (here). No wonder that ahjusshi was grumpy), we managed to arrive at our rooms safely. It was actually cheaper to take taxi because we shared the taxi with 4 people, than taking the subway. After dividing the fare, each of us only had to pay less than 800 won.

After resting for a few hours, we made our way to Gwanghamun again. This time to take the Seoul City Tour Night Bus. This bus took us across most of the bridges crossing Han River with explanations about each bridge. However, I would suggest skipping from taking this bus and take the Han River Ferry Cruise instead. We couldn't see much from the bus, and the bus didn't stop at all.

My pathetic attempt to take a picture of the lights show on Banpo Bridge.

After one and a half hour, the bus took us back to Gwanghamun and this time we managed to see how Cheonggyecheon stream look at night.

Still too beautiful.

The temperature around Cheonggyecheon however was too cold for us, so we took refuge in a 7-Eleven store nearby. We scalded our tongue drinking hot chocolate, and discovered these:

Yep. Pringles in Korea are 'HALAL JAKIM'.

We wanted to take a look at Kyobo, which is the largest book store in South Korea. The bookstore is also located in Gwanghamun so we walked there, but not before taking these pictures of Gwanghamun Square:

The statue is of King Sejong the Great, considered the greatest king of Korea. He was the one that created the Hangul alphabets, replacing the much more difficult Chinese characters (Koreans call them 'Hanja') that was used previously.

Another statue in the square is of Admiral Yi Sun Sin, who is revered for his many victories against the Japanese.

Kyobo Bookstore is connected through exit #3 of Gwanghamun Station. There are many books, and the store is humongous. Most of the books are in Korean though, so I mainly looked at the cards and postcards (I bought Nadiah's birthday card here). Kyobo have a lot of workers, making me think that the store was still crowded until a worker suddenly approached me and said

"Miss, this store closes at 10."

I looked at my watch and it was already 10.05. Oh! I apologized and immediately made my payment. Then me and Anis (again) had to be escorted to the one remaining door still open, which was not the door we used previously. We walked to the door we used before and the rest of them were already waiting there.

The view on the way from Myeongdong station to our rooms. Namsan Tower can be seen.

All agreeing that we have had a long day, we made our way back to our rooms.

Korea Trip - Day 3 (Part 1)

2011-06-01T13:12:00.022+08:00

Day 3 must be the day we walked the most. We started the day by following 'Cheonggyecheon Stream Walking Tour'. I booked this tour online and it was provided free by Seoul Walking Tour Office. We arrived at 10 am and our guide, Mrs Kim Jung Mee was already waiting for us, but another group (Malaysians too) were late so we had to wait. We took the opportunity to take pictures around the beginning area of the stream.

Beautiful flowers everywhere. After I took this picture, the ahjusshi inside that bus waved at me.

It was on a Saturday morning so the were many people, including groups of school kids probably on a trip. While I was busy taking pictures of flowers, I saw a school boy kept looking at me. After a while he approached me and asked "Are you a Muslim?". I said yes, and we made small talks. Apparently he is interested in religion, he said he knows about Prophet Muhammad, has even read Qur'an, and even knows that the headscarf I'm wearing is called "hijab". But then he said, even though he read about religions, in the end he thinks that religion is pointless. I had nothing to say about that. While we were talking, his friends kept looking at us, apparently interested in chatting with me too, but were shy/can't speak English. We took pictures together and suddenly one of them wasn't shy anymore and tried putting his arm around me. I pushed it away. LOL.

I never got the boy's name. He was the one wearing green shirt.

Then I had to go because the other group had arrived. Before I left a lady which I think was their teacher said "Syukran" to me. Hmm.. she must think that every Muslim is an Arab. I smiled and nodded at her.

We started the walking tour, the tour guide provided us with a lot of information but I was mostly distracted with watching people, and just enjoying the beautiful scenery around me. The water of the stream was crystal clear, there were many fishes, ducks (and their ducks were different from Malaysian ducks) and we even saw a stork (cue me singing "Bangau oh Bangau").

The grand fountain at the beginning of Cheonggyecheon Stream.

Seoul's residents love hanging around the stream, I can understand why. The temperature down the stream is noticeably colder, and the stream is just too beautiful.

Playing guitar.

Painting pictures.

Annyeong!

Listening to a volunteer wearing Korean's traditional clothes.

Along the wall of the stream, there were many significant art pieces. This one was a replica of a painting depicting the royal procession of King Jeongjo and his mother Queen Hgyeonggung when they visited his late father's tomb. The mural is 2.4 meters height and is 186 meters long. What is interesting about this painting is the king didn't sit inside the palanquin, he gave it for his mother to sit in. He was a few steps at the back on a horse.

Very long mural.

Found! Royal palanquin and the king.

Me taking picture of Nadia taking picture of Anis taking picture.

Cheonggyecheon stream wasn't always this beautiful. It was at one time heavily polluted, home to trash, sand and waste (sounds familiar?) until it was covered by concrete and finally an elevated highway was built on top of it. However in 2003 the Seoul Metropolitan Government decided to restore the stream which included removing the elevated highway and pumping water from Han River to the stream. The result: extraordinary.

Ducks swimming happily.

Finally it was the end of our 2.7 km walk. Our feet were screaming, but we were thankful that the weather was nice to us. It was predicted to rain that day, but thankfully it didn't rain in the morning.

When we took this picture, Mrs Kim Jung Mee said that I look like one of her children. I told her that I am already 27, but she said her oldest child is 25. WHOA. She further said that she is already 50 plus. We couldn't believe our ears. But having a job conducting walking tours must be one of the factors of her youthful look.

The end of our tour was near Dongdaemun, one of the three shopping destinations in Seoul. We went to the clothing market, and I bought a shirt for me and a shirt for my brother. Then we went to the opposite building to look at fabrics. Having no interest in fabrics, me and Anis decided to go pick up our tickets to Nami Island at the shuttle bus office near Tapgol Park. And this, was when we got lost.

Korea Trip - Day 2

2011-05-30T15:04:00.033+08:00

We woke up early, partly because Seoul's 6.30 am is like Malaysia's 8.00 am; it was so bright. Nadia's parents cooked a lot of rendang and nasi impit and brought them from Malaysia so for our breakfast we heated them on the microwave.

Excited in the morning, before our feet started aching. Me and my iPod which was really useful for the subway navigation and common Korean phrases apps.

We walked to Myeongdong subway station and took the train to Anguk station for our very first destination, Changdeokgung Palace. From the subway's exit 3, it was a very short walk to the palace. There are 5 Grand Palaces in Seoul, but we chose Changdeokgung because it is home to the 'Huwon' or Secret Garden. The secret garden and the palace dated back since the Joseon Dynasty in Korea.

Inside the subway, Anis looking at the list of stations.

Walking from Anguk station to Changdeokgung.

In front of Changdeokgung's entrance with everyone's tickets.

Visitors are not allowed to tour the secret garden by our own, and the English guided tour starts only at 11.30 so we took our time touring the palace. It then started raining...

'Selca' with Korean schoolgirls. 'Selca' or 'Self Camera' is Korean term for photo of own picture taken by oneself.

In front of the gate to Huwon.

Although it was raining, can I say that their rain is different from Malaysia's? It wasn't as heavy, some of us that followed the guided tour didn't even use umbrella. I had mine brought from Malaysia because I checked the weather prediction and it was predicted to rain that day. One thing, the weather predictions were accurate too. Malaysians don't usually take notice of weather forecasts but Koreans very much do. I was told that it was going to rain that day by our airport taxi driver the previous night too, he said the radio said so.

Raining inside the Huwon.

The trip across Huwon took about one and a half hour. I must say that the Huwon is really beautiful, and our guide did a very good job explaining all the interesting parts of the garden. He pointed the places where the previous Great Kings of Korea used to sit and ponder about and just generally enjoying the nature. He pointed the different quarters for men and women, the low doors (Koreans height average were not more than 160cm back in Joseon dynasty. HOW DID THEY GET SO TALL NOW?) and also the ondol or Korean traditional heating system. Our guide informed us that winter in Korea used to be very cold, minus 20+ degrees. He said ondol ensured the survival of Korean people.

Part of ondol. This is where fire is lit. Heat and smoke will then be distributed throughout the connected floor and smoke will come out from a chimney at the end of the floor.

Like many other eastern gardens, Huwon is made up of elements of trees and water. This is a big pond inside Huwon.

Part of the same pond.

Just.. greens everywhere. The freshness of air here is really indescribable. Only slightly defeated by Nami Island.

I didn't manage to take a lot of pictures because I was holding my umbrella. Although I feel that the Huwon was already very beautiful then, the guide said that it is absolutely breathtaking during autumn. I think will go again in autumn and take more pictures then.

We waited for the Seoul City Tour Bus at its bus stop in front of the palace's entrance and took the bus to Itaewon. The price was 9500 KRW paid by T-Money for a one day pass. In the bus, every seat is provided with a headphone with multiple languages option including English and each time the bus pass through significant landmarks, we were provided with descriptions through the headphone. There were many landmarks and stops, including National Museum of Korea, War Memorial, the Blue House (official residence of the President of South Korea) but because it was past 2pm and we were starving we skipped all the other places and went straight to Itaewon.

In front of War Memorial of Korea. When I lowered my camera I saw the soldier guard was actually giving me "no picture" sign using his hands. Ooops.

Itaewon is a district in Seoul with the highest population of foreigners. The US Army base is located near here and so we saw many US Army personnel too. Itaewon is also home to Seoul Grand Mosque. The mosque is located up a hill, and the walking there was really tiring. Not only that, the women's prayer section is located on 3rd Floor. I was ready to cry.

Main prayer hall of Seoul Grand Mosque taken from women's prayer section. Two Koreans briefed (about the Mosque?) by a Muslim.

After our Jama' Zuhr + Asr prayers, it was finally time to eat! There are many halal restaurants in Itaewon and we had a hard time choosing a place to eat. We finally chose a restaurant named 'Little India Seoul'. Me, Anis and Nadia shared the 2 persons meal set but the meal was actually more than enough for 3 persons. And it was gooooooood. The tandoori chicken, the curry, the naan but especially the samosa. The samosa's pastry was really nice.

Tandoori chicken. It was served before the main dishes and Northern Indians eat it before main dishes but we wanted to wait for the rice until the server asked us if there's anything wrong with it. Sorry miss, we didn't know.

We found out that the restaurant actually just opened on that day and we were their second customers. We wished them the best of luck, especially when they didn't charge us the 10% Value Added Tax (VAT), and also served us free cinnamon teas.

Seoul City Tour Bus Stop at Itaewon.

Itaewon is also the subject of this homage to 80's pop songs, a song titled 'Itaewon Freedom'. If you don't find this awesome, there is something wrong with you.

From Itaewon, we boarded the Seoul City Tour Bus again to Namsan Mountain. I think everyone have to experience going up Namsan Mountain by bus. They have already restricted the vehicles allowed to be driven up the mountain to preserve the environment and personal vehicles and taxis are absolutely not allowed. Most of the other buses going up to Namsan Mountain have also been replaced to electric buses. Why I say it is a must have experience? The road up the Namsan Mountain crossing Namsan Park was really beautiful, and the way the bus driver drove the bus through all the slopes and curves was really 'beautiful' too, to the extend I wanted to shout "AHJUSSHI SLOW DOWN". It was a thrilling experience.

Bus stop for Namsan Tower. Electric buses!

From the Namsan stop, it was another journey uphill to the Namsan Tower. All things considered taking the cable car is maybe the less painful option.

Climbing up, up, up.

Because of the rain, it was foggy that day and very cold. When we wanted to buy tickets to observatory deck, we were advised not to because there was literally nothing to see.

Can't see the top!

I, however, have another mission in mind for this trip to Namsan Tower. It is a custom for couples to place a lock here (and throw the key away) as a symbol of their love. I have prepared something for my favourite cousin in the whole world!

Happy birthday Nad! SARANGHAE! ♥

We took the cable car down from Namsan Tower, and from the station we walked to Myeongdong and visited SPAO. I'm glad we visited SPAO at this time even though we already had a full day. For the other remaining days of our trip SPAO was closed.

The road from Namsan Cable Car to Myeongdong.

Shirts modeled by Super Junior.

Cardboard of Girls' Generation.

SPAO is a clothing line partly owned by SM Entertainment. It is mainly endorsed by Super Junior and Girls' Generation. I bought a cap. Hehe. Once the excitement of finally getting my cap was over, I realized that I am really exhausted. We then climbed back up to our rooms, tired but really satisfied with our day.

Korea Trip - Day 1

2011-05-28T08:56:00.017+08:00

It took 10 months since the day I bought the ticket, but the day I went to Korea finally came and pass. I can't believe 6 days pass just like that, it feels like a dream now.

Day 1
Mama sent me to the airport, and after eating a home-packed nuggets at the airport and waiting for fellow members of the trip to come we were finally ready to go to the boarding hall. Hugging Mama for the last time I had tears in my eyes. Next time it will be the two of us to Korea.

Once in the boarding hall, we did our Zuhr + Asr prayers and by the time we finished it was already the last call for the flight to Incheon. Our plane departed on time, and the journey from LCCT to Incheon took around 6 hours.

Inside the plane. I had the window seat.

Our lunch, which surprisingly was very good.

Killing time by playing Scrabble.

Leaving something of us on the plane's window.

That first exciting glimpse of lights, and Korea.

Train from our exit to the main arrival hall.

There is free WIFI here, so while waiting for Rahah, Kaifa and Azie to reach the train station I called Mama using my iPod informing that I've arrived safely. And though I can receive sms and calls to my phone, I am barred from sending sms/calling out. Apparently because I use prepaid. Huh.

Our taxi driver with my name!

I was assigned the strictest immigration officer in the whole Incheon Airport so I was the last one to get out. The other members were already there and excitedly telling me "Leen, look at this!" Hahaha I already knew the taxi driver will be holding a sign with my name, but the sight still filled me with so much glee.

Outside the airport building. We are finally here!

Once we exited the airport building, we were greeted by the most wonderful weather ever, pleasantly cold and comfortable and finally it sank: We are in Korea.

The taxi driver speaks passable English, but some words are still lost on him. I sat at the front and we chatted the whole journey through. He pointed some of the most significant buildings to us, chatted about Muslims, chatted about family, (he didn't believe me when I said I am 27 years old, 28 Korean age), insisted on us calling him oppa instead of ahjusshi/uncle, said that his son looks like Hyun Bin and he will give his son to me. Ahahaha.

Hyun Bin. :D

The journey from Incheon Airport to downtown Seoul where we stayed was 70km, around one and a half hours. There was a bit of confusion because the GPS pointed our taxi driver to a location that was below the correct location (our guesthouse was on a bit of a high terrain), but we arrived safely.

The owner of the guesthouse Mr Ko speaks simple English and showed us our room. We fell in love with the room and how clean it is. We had to pay the accommodation fee for the whole six days we book upfront (30,000 KRW /day = 180,000 KRW) and then Mr Ko said we can use everything in the room without additional charge except for the phone. I shared the room with Rahah, Anis and Nadia. We each got our own bed, and the room is equipped with heater, washing machine, kitchen, TV, WIFI, etc.

The living room. Unfortunately this is the only picture I took of our room. Rahah is already testing the internet connection.

Once everything was settled, we went down to the nearest GS25 which is a chain of 24hours convenience stores and bought T-Money for everyone in the group, and load the card with 40,000 KRW. T-Money is similiar to our Touch N' Go and it costs 2,500 KRW without any value stored inside. We also had our first taste of the famous 'Banana Uyu' and I would grow to LOVE this milk.

Girls' Generation's Seohyun endorsing the Banana Milk.

Back from the stores (we also took a sneak peek of Myeongdong at 1 AM), we were faced with the excruciating task of climbing up the upward path, and the steep stairs back to our guesthouse. I will really recommend Seoul Tower Ville for everyone because of its reasonable price, room's condition and equipments but the high stairs are really difficult to climb and not suitable for legs not suited to it.

We then took a shower in deliciously hot water, and winded down, preparing to sleep for our day tomorrow.

Printing Memories

2011-04-13T11:29:00.012+08:00

My old PC crashed, and taking with it most of my memories in the form of never processed digital pictures. What I mourn the most is the lost of the pictures of my trip to Singapore back in 2009, and Raya pictures dating back to 2005.

Yesterday while I was browsing through the Photography thread in LYN forum, I saw someone mentioned EOE online as a cheap printing site. Always wanting to try new things that can be done online, (I even 'cook' online. Order Pizza Hut through its site -> Pay -> Wait 20 minutes -> Pizza arrives!) I took a look.

The site is having an extended promotion where the price to print 4R pictures is only 30 cents per piece, and provides free delivery for orders worth more than 35 ringgit. I thought this is a very reasonable price and it wouldn't hurt to try with last Raya pictures. So I downloaded the software "EOE Photo Express" from the site. Registration and all can be done through the software once installed so I proceeded with registration and it brought me to this screen:

I clicked on 'Prints' and because I've already put the photos to be printed on Desktop, the folder is immediately listed on the left. I highlighted the folder and the software loaded all the pictures inside the folder on the right.

I clicked 'Select All', pressed 'Next', and it brought me to this page where I have to choose the size and quantity for each print. I put '1' in 4R selection for whole set and clicked 'Apply' and 'Next'.

It automatically calculated how much you have to pay, and displayed the shipping and billing address that you specified when registering.

And then come the boring part, the uploading. But I just left the process on the background and went to do other stuffs. The site assures me that even if my internet is suddenly disconnected (with the lousy router provided by TM it always does), the uploading process can be resumed.

Once the uploading is done, it brought us to the payment options page. There are three options, paying by card, Maybank2U and bank transfer. I think through card and Maybank2U the order would be immediately processed while using bank transfer you would have to email them the payment details manually. I paid by card, and the payment went through successfully without any hiccup.

I submitted the photos for printing on Monday evening which was definitely after office hours, and this morning (Wednesday) I received them! It certainly is fast, photos are printed on glossy paper similar to other photo studios and definitely with comparable quality. I am a happy customer! Will definitely use this service again later.

Ugly camera is ugly. This picture doesn't do justice to the real things. Also when I looked at the pictures, I saw that there are more pictures of Sofiya than our family. Haha..

Damien Rice - The Blower's Daughter

2011-03-03T21:53:00.001+08:00

Dan beginilah
Seperti yang kau katakan akan berlaku
Hidup adalah mudah bagiku
Lebih selalu dari tidak

Dan beginilah
Cerita lebih pendek
Tiada cinta, tiada kemegahan
Tiada wira di langit

Mataku tak henti melihatmu
Mataku tak henti melihatmu
Mataku tak henti melihatmu
Mataku tak henti melihatmu
Mataku tak henti...

Dan beginilah
Seperti yang kau katakan akan berlaku
Kita berdua akan lupakan hembusan itu
Lebih selalu dari tidak

Dan beginilah
Air lebih sejuk
Anak gadis peniup
Murid yang menafikan

Mataku tak henti melihatmu
Mataku tak henti melihatmu
Mataku tak henti melihatmu
Mataku tak henti melihatmu
Mataku tak henti...

Benarkah ku kata aku bencikan kau?
Benarkah ku kata aku mahu
Meninggalkan ini semua dibelakang?

Fikiranku tak henti memikirkanmu
Fikiranku tak henti memikirkanmu
Fikiranku tak henti memikirkanmu
Fikiranku tak henti memikirkanmu
Fikiranku tak henti...
Fikiran ku.. fikiran ku...
Hingga ku jumpa seorang yang baru

A Tale of Two Eras (of being a fan)

2011-01-25T17:26:00.006+08:00

Having a ... more than normal interest in the Korean boy band Super Junior makes me feel like I have regressed a little bit. But there is more than a little feeling of nostalgia that comes with it.

The last time I was this involved over boy bands it was more than 10 years ago, when I was in high school in Melaka. I remember the peak moments of my obsession was during the pre-PMR years of 1997-1999. Like any other teenage girls, I was into the usual pop groups; Backstreet Boys, Boyzone, Spice Girls and other random one-hit-wonders gracing the current MTV scenes back then. You could say I was a committed fan. I would save my school allowance so I could buy their cassettes (cassettes!) and numerous imported magazines like Smash Hits and Top of the Pops (which didn't come cheap). Together with my close friend, Rahah, we would make frequent visits to Mahkota Parade or Jaya Jusco to buy these goodies and then pore over every pages together and shrieked in delight if the issue came with the poster of our favourite groups.

I remember always having to buy batteries for my Walkman because I listen to my cassettes almost every day. With time I learned a few tricks, some are practical ones, like using Atuk's radio to rewind the cassettes so I can re-listen to the Side A all over again because rewinding drains the battery too much (one time Atuk saw me doing it and said I have to pay the electricity bill for this frequent activity of mine), others are not really grounded scientifically like placing my batteries under the sun in the hope that it'll last a little longer. I can't say the method really worked. When I put the batteries back into my Walkman and pressed 'Play', the previously melodious voice of my idol is now turning ... slow... and... sounding... like... an... old... man... singing.......

I bet the current generation have never heard that kind of sound out of their songs. If it wasn't for my frustration that I need to buy another set of batteries soon, I would find it almost funny.

When I went to a boarding school, the previous fangirling activities stopped. I still listened to music, but I wasn't really invested in the groups and singers anymore. I may know who sings which song but I wasn't interested in knowing more about them. My music taste had also evolves, with me graduating from mainly listening to pop songs to other genre of musics, liking indie songs and rock bands; being blown away by live performances of MUSE.

Fast forward to 2010. My friend, who I have always share everything with get caught in the K-Pop phenomenon that is Super Junior. She was roped into chaperoning her cousins to their first concert in Malaysia and since then has fallen to their charms. She kept giving me links to songs and music videos and I thought their songs are nice, but can't seem to understand the hype surrounding these boys. Until she gave me a link to one of the numerous variety shows that they were featured in. (Korean Variety Shows deserve an entry of its own, it is remarkably different from the format of reality shows of our local TV or from the Hollywood. Suffice to say it is not variety show if you don't end up holding your stomach out of laughter)

Intimate Note - the show that clinched it for me.

After I watched that show, the rest were history. I was caught, hook, line and sinker to their hilarious personalities, their mission to always try to destroy each others' image on television, and I grew to love their music too. They have three genuinely talented vocalists who sang haunting songs like this:

OST for Cinderella's Sister - It Has to be You. The song is one of the reason the drama was a top hit.

I tentatively forayed into the Super Junior fandom and my mind was blown with the amount of dedication and hard work the fans put through. The group, being based in South Korea but amassing a large amount of support outside of it must be credited to the non-exhaustive work of their fans. They translated lyrics, interviews, articles and even provide subtitles to the shows that the group were in. When they are performing in music shows there will always be kind souls that stream these shows LIVE from Korea. Three of the group members are also Radio DJs and almost every day there would be streaming of their radio shows, complete with the video of them in the radio studio. Last year, when they started their third concert series and was having their first performance in Seoul, a group of fans from China did a live streaming of the concert... by calling the cellphone of their friend who is attending that concert. Of course mostly we can only hear the screaming of fans, but I was really impressed nevertheless.

Super Junior's Sorry Sorry, the song that has taken Kesang Tua by storm. This was during their 'come back', the first time the song was shown on the music show. They then clinched number 1 spot three times in a row, received the Mutizen Award and couldn't compete anymore.

Internet has really changed how fans relate to their favourite musicians. The experience is much more richer, and there are so many things to immerse oneself in. Back in 1997, there were barriers, I never really feel close to any of the personalities I admired. This time around these idols feel like only an internet server away. There was this one time I was watching Heechul, one of the Super Junior members DJ-ing his radio show. During the playing of songs I saw him typing something with his phone and then suddenly my Tweetdeck popped up a notification of a tweet from him. I literally saw him doing that posting. And a few minutes later a translation of his tweet was posted. It all feel really surreal to me, being new in this kind of things.

Feeling very much connected makes it all much more difficult to disconnect. Fans get really emotionally invested, 'wars' between fans of different groups are commons. It is important to know their latest doings and activities, look at all their latest pictures, and stalk for every bit of news and information about them on the internet.

I could easily see my 13 years old self drowning in all this. It is a blessing then I only had cassettes, magazines, and Hitz's Rick Dees in the Weekly Top 40.

Selamat Hari Lahir Mak Chah!

2010-10-24T12:53:00.004+08:00

Semalam, ada kenduri doa selamat di rumah Pak Long. Ketika doa baru saja mahu dimulakan kami semua digembirakan dengan kedatangan Mak Chah sekeluarga dari Melaka. Kebetulan keesokan hari (hari ini) ialah hari lahir Mak Chah yang ke-48, Mak Ina dan Lina telah diam-diam keluar membeli kek untuk kami sekeluarga menyambutnya.

Semoga dipanjangkan umur, dan dimurahkan rezeki.

Mengaji

2010-08-15T20:57:00.004+08:00

Saya mula-mula belajar mengaji ketika tinggal di Kampung Pinang, Sungai Besi. Sewaktu itu saya mengikut kawan yang sudah dahulu belajar mengaji di Surau Kampung Pinang. Setiap pagi, berbekalkan Muqaddam dan rehal serta tudung yang diikat belakang saya akan berjalan ke surau bersama-sama rakan karib saya ketika itu, Faishah.

Pengajian mengaji di surau setiap pagi dipimpin seorang ustazah. Sudah tidak ingat pula saya apakah nama ustazah itu. Atau mungkin saya tidak pernah mengetahuipun namanya apa. Kami semua anak murid hanya memanggil beliau 'ustazah'.

Mula-mula saya belajar 'Alif, Ba, Ta' yang memang saya sudah hafal. Kemudian belajar mengeja sedikit-sedikit berpandukan Muqaddam. Tetapi pelajaran mengeja saya baru sahaja beberapa kali sudah ustazah hentikan untuk memandu saya menghafal ayat-ayat lazim. Saya sangat cemerlang dalam menghafal ayat-ayat lazim. Malah dapat 'memotong' rakan-rakan yang sudah dahulu mula menghafal dari saya. Untuk menggalakkan kami menghafal surah-surah ini, ustazah sering kali mengadakan pertandingan, dan menyediakan hadiah bagi para pemenang. Saya beberapa kali memenangi pertandingan, dan ustazah juga memuji prestasi saya. Saya berasa bangga.

Mama dan Pakcik Yahaya ketika itu berasa ianya sangat kelakar yang saya banyak menghafal surah-surah lazim tetapi tidak pandai mengeja.

Sebagai seorang kanak-kanak, ada surah yang saya 'tidak suka' kerana sukar dihafal. Surah yang saya rasakan sukar ialah Surah Al-Falaq. Ada pula surah yang saya sangat suka, yang saya rasakan senang dihafal dan membawa perasaan istimewa kepada saya ketika itu. Saya masih sangat menyukai surah ini, Surah An-Nas.

Dengan nama Allah, Yang Maha Pemurah, lagi Maha Mengasihani.

Katakanlah (wahai Muhammad): Aku berlindung kepada (Allah) Pemelihara sekalian manusia.
Yang Menguasai sekalian manusia.
Tuhan yang berhak disembah oleh sekalian manusia.
Dari kejahatan pembisik penghasut yang timbul tenggelam.
Yang melemparkan bisikan dan hasutannya ke dalam hati manusia.
(Iaitu pembisik dan penghasut) dari kalangan jin dan manusia.

Rahah

2010-08-02T10:36:00.004+08:00

Semalam, 1 Ogos 2010 adalah ulangtahun kelahiran sahabat karib saya Rahah Mokhtar yang ke 26. Happy Birthday, Rahah mok mok.

Saya mula-mula kenal dengan Rahah ketika bertukar ke Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Datok Bendahara Jasin di Tingkatan 1. Waktu itu saya ditempatkan di kelas 1B, dan Rahah pula di kelas 1A. Kami sekelas apabila tiba subjek Ekonomi Rumah Tangga dan Pendidikan Agama Islam. Sewaktu kelas pertama ERT, guru subjek ERT pada waktu itu iaitu Puan Muawanah menasihatkan saya untuk membuat salinan fotostat nota-nota minggu sebelumnya daripada kawan sekelas. Dia mencadangkan nota Rahah kerana menurutnya, tulisan Rahah kemas, dan dia rajin menyalin nota. Saya memandang Rahah, dan sudah tentunya ketika saya memandang dia tengah tekun menyalin nota kelas hari itu. Pandangan saya sewaktu itu, tentunya budak ini pendiam, budak rajin yang baik. Saya juga mendengar dari rakan-rakan yang Rahah ini sangat pandai, antara pelajar terbaik kelas 1A. Saya fikirkan ketika itu mungkin saya akan kekok dengannya.

Ketika mula-mula berkenalan, kami menggelarkan masing-masing "saya" dan "awak". Kami agak kekok, tetapi saya sangat senang berkawan dengan dia kerana dia senang menerima saya. Kawan-kawan saya di kelas 1B ketika itu seperti tidak sukakan saya, mereka tidak suka dengan "budak KL" (saya dengar sendiri dari Zaleha, rakan sekelas 1B) dan tidak sukakan saya berbaik dengan guru-guru yang mengajar. Walaupun saya seharusnya lebih bersedih dengan perkara ini, saya ketika itu sangat tidak kisah, kerana saya semakin rapat dengan Rahah. Kami mendapati kami mempunyai banyak persamaan, dan perkara yang meyakinkan saya bahawa dia ini memang 'satu kepala' adalah ketika saya bertanya kepada dia : "Awak baca komik tak?" dan dia menjawab... "Baca! Dragon Ball, Yuyu Hakusho, SlamDunk, Dragon Quest..."

"Saya/awak" bertukar kepada "aku/kau" dengan cepat. Kami kemudiannya seperti tidak dapat dipisahkan. Setiap kali rehat, siapa yang dilepaskan guru terlebih dahulu akan tunggu di luar kelas untuk ke kantin bersama-sama. Tiap kali kelas ERT dan PAI kami akan duduk bersebelahan dan apabila naik ke Tingkatan 2, kami sekelas, duduk bersebelahan, bergayut di telefon, keluar ke Melaka dan bersama-sama sehinggalah ke Tingkatan 4 apabila saya bertukar sekolah. Selepas itu saya sudah jarang bertemu dengannya, tetapi disebabkan ikatan persahabatan yang amat erat, setiap kali kami berjumpa/berbual di telefon ianya seolah-olah kami baru dipisahkan loceng akhir sekolah sebentar tadi.

Tingkatan 2 di SMDB. Kereta merah Mak Chah ada di dalam gambar ini.

Saya rasa sepanjang hayat saya ini, tidak akan ada lagi sahabat yang lebih rapat dengan saya selain Rahah. Kami sangat rapat, sehinggakan ketika di sekolah beberapa kali orang memanggil Rahah sebagai "anak saudara Cikgu Hafsah", terkelirukan Rahah dengan saya. Kami sangat rapat dan seluruh keluarga kami mengetahuinya. Nenek Rahah memanggil saya 'Pablin' dan Atuk saya memberitahu Rahah kalau saya mengusik apa-apa barang dirumahnya: "report terus dekat Polis". Kami kemudiannya mendapati 'betapa kecilnya dunia' apabila mengetahui Busu Zai dan Nek Busu Rahah adalah kawan baik kerana berjiran di Johor Bharu, dan Uncle Roji dan Auntie Shila Rahah adalah pensyarah yang rapat dengan Pak Busu di UTM Skudai. Perkara yang masing-masing merapatkan lagi hubungan saya dan keluarga dengan Rahah dan keluarganya.

Kaifa dan Rahah di Melbourne. Berjalan tak ajak!

Terlalu banyak yang telah saya lalui bersama Rahah. Saya sudah mengenalinya separuh dari hayat saya. Rahah, atas persahabatan yang kau hulurkan aku ucapkan terima kasih. Lets be best friends forever.

Campeones Del Mundo!

2010-07-12T12:01:00.005+08:00

Back to back winnings : Euro 2008 and now World Cup 2010. These boys are legends. World Cup 2010 will always be remembered as the one with noisy vuvuzelas, psychic octopus and Spain as the champion.

I love him.

Lawak Minggu Ini

2010-07-06T00:50:00.003+08:00

Discovered totally by accident. I was telling my friend in Dubai that our internet is more a 'berukband' than broadband. So I googled 'beruk', and I discovered.. jeng jeng jeng.

Try it yourself. Search for beruk in Google and look at the first result that it returns. Typing in beruk and clicking the 'I'm Feeling Lucky' button would make the experience even better.

How is this possible? Because of Google Bombing. I wonder who diligently did this.

Sharing : Book Depository Online Bookstore

2010-06-25T21:48:00.007+08:00

Edited to Add : I've received the book today (15th July 2010). It took about 20 days, and I don't know whether this is standard/early/late because I've never ordered anything from England before. I noticed one thing though, it took quite some time for the order to change from 'Processing' to 'Dispatched'. Around 3-4 days. I've since ordered another book, and this time it was dispatched within 24 hours. So maybe the first time Visa took a while to process the transaction?

Anyway, here's the picture! Taken by phone's camera so sorry for the poor quality.

So, if you don't mind waiting for the book to be delivered, this online bookstore is really a good alternative to buy imported books, especially those hard-to-find/out-of-print titles. Coincidentally Book Depository is also giving out 10% off vouchers at the moment so now is a good time to try the store out.

----

First, let it be said I receive no commission whatsoever from writing this. :)

I would like to share a site that I just recently discovered, Book Depository. This online bookstore is most famous for its free worldwide shipping. Yes! Free worldwide shipping! Intrigued, I made a visit to this site.

Prices can be shown in 5 currencies : USD, GBP, EUR, AUD, CAD. I chose EUR because after comparisons of each currencies using the website XE.com, price in EUR is actually cheapest when converted to MYR.

I checked the price of a title I've been wanting to buy, but previously there was only hardcover version in Malaysia and the price was MYR99.90. The site list a paperback version, costing 9.55 EUR after a 9% discount. (9.55 EUR = 37.9084 MYR).

To make a comparison, I head to MPHOnline to see the price listed for the same title:

The same title, the same publisher (Harper UK) but at MPH Online it costs RM 44.90. A 7 ringgit difference.

And this is where MPH as a local bookstore loses SO MUCH against Book Depository:

MPH can't even provide a next day delivery when it costs that much for shipment. FAIL.

I checked with Kinokuniya Online Store KL, and the price for the book is same as MPH Online. However the shipping fee is RM 8 for West Malaysia and a whopping RM 40 for East Malaysia. Free shipping will only be given when one's total order is more than RM 300 for East Malaysia and RM 500 for West Malaysia. Either way, those living in Sabah & Sarawak lose. They are better off getting their books from Book Depository.

p/s: I've succesfully placed my order from the site. Will update this entry when the book is delivered!

Penyokong Menyokong

2010-06-16T17:03:00.010+08:00

Malam ini. Pasukan pilihan saya akan bermain, menentang Switzerland pada jam 10.00 waktu tempatan : SEPANYOL!

Penyandang Kejuaraan Eropah

Berkata tentang Piala Dunia, ingin saya bercerita bagaimana saya mula-mula berminat dengan bola. Pada tahun 1998, ketika itu Piala Dunia diadakan di Perancis. Saya berasa kagum apabila mengetahui 'Zinedine Zidane' yang sangat hebat itu ialah seorang Muslim, dan 'Zinedine' adalah salah satu cara mengeja nama 'Zainuddin'. Menurut Pak Busu, selepas Zizou menolong Perancis memenangi Piala Dunia tahun itu, toleransi terhadap penduduk Muslim di Perancis semakin meningkat. Semenjak itu saya rajin menonton perlawanan bola sepak, kagum dengan impak bola sepak dan pada masa yang sama saya selalu mengambil tahu siapakah pemain-pemain Muslim terkemuka dunia.

Menjulang Piala Dunia 1998

Izinkan saya menyimpang sebentar. Dalam perbincangan mengenai Qur'an, Falsafah dan Sains, ada satu 'trend'/fahaman yang agak popular. Ia dipanggil Bucaillism. Dinamakan sempena Maurice Bucaille, pengarang buku The Bible, The Qur'an and Science, penyokong trend ini cuba mencari bagaimana penemuan sains semasa boleh dikaitkan dengan ayat-ayat di dalam Al-Qur'an. Teori-teori dan fenomena seperti pasang surut air laut, Big Bang serta pelbagai telah terlebih dahulu disebut di dalam Al-Qur'an mengikut penyokong fahaman ini. Antara pengarang yang 'masuk' dalam kategori ini ialah Harun Yahya.

Namun terdapat kritikan terhadap trend Bucaillism ini. Kritikan paling vokal terhadap bahaya menghubungkan ayat-ayat suci Al-Qur'an dengan teori-teori sains ialah bagaimana bila teori sains yang dihubungkan ini terbukti salah? Adakah ia juga membuktikan bahawa ayat-ayat Al-Qur'an itu salah?

Di internet terdapat banyak perbalahan antara golongan penyokong Bucaillism dan mereka yang 'anti-Bucaillism'. Pembacaan menarik.

Apa pula kaitannya dengan bola? Sebelum ini saya mengagumi pemain-pemain bola Muslim. Namun.. Muslim sayangnya tidaklah bermakna mereka ini mempunyai sifat terpuji. Contohnya apabila Franck Ribery dan Karim Benzema sama-sama ditahan kerana skandal pelacur bawah umur. Aduh!

Jadi, saya kini tidak lagi selektif dalam memilih pemain untuk disokong. Semua mereka sama di mata saya. Kriteria 'saudara seIslam' sudah tidak ada, sebaliknya saya melebihkan cara dan skil permainan. Jika pemain itu juga 'cute', ianya bonus.

Budak Katolik

Sofiya, Koko dan Abdullah

2010-05-29T20:52:00.007+08:00

(bukan tajuk sebuah novel cinta).

The Quran and I by Anas Zubedy

2010-05-27T10:03:00.006+08:00

Yesterday I finished reading The Quran and I by Anas Zubedy. The title caught my attention and I finished it in one sitting at Sunway Pyramid's Popular. Oops.

The description of the book (taken from Anas Zubedy's blog)

The Quran and I by Anas Zubedy is a collection of reflections and childhood memoirs featuring among others, inter-faith and inter-racial friendships and depictions of how the multi-cultural Malaysian setting is fertile ground for personal growth. The book highlights universal values found in the Quran through daily life experiences and serves as a simple introduction to the Quran.

credit : Anas Zubedy's blog

I was expecting a story of how Qur'an helps him in making choices in everyday life or something close to that, I was expecting Qur'an as a central topic but this book is not exactly that.

He told his story, from a childhood submerged in poverty until he is now a successful adult. He had a very interesting story to tell, I especially love the stories of his remarkable mother, and his friendship with his Christian best friend. Throughout this book there are numerous Qur'an passages that fits with the story he was telling.

But I can't help feeling the Qur'an quotes are just that. Quotes. That fit with the theme. I remember reading on how the writers of Glee decided what songs to be featured in an episode. First, they will write the storyline, and then scour the music catalogues to decide what songs suit that episode. Sometimes the songs fit perfectly, sometimes we viewers are left wondering how the heck that even relate?? In many ways this book feels this way.

credit : Fox

Plus some of his interpretations of Qur'anic verses sound like a personal interpretation, interpretations that suit his values. This could be dangerous.

BUT. The book is quite interesting. I absolutely agree with the writer's sentiments on the importance of unity, and how diversity is God's creation so we must love/embrace it. I may not agree with all the ways he interpreted the holy verses, but I appreciate the story he was telling.

Another Birthday

2010-05-19T15:16:00.005+08:00

It is going to be World Cup again soon. This blog was first created on a World Cup year. In a way it is celebrating its birthday I guess. Like someone who was born on 29th February, aging every year, but older only once every four years.

(There was also something here about how after all these years and everything that happened I still remember the boy that broke my heart four years ago but I deleted it.)

Saya, Mama dan Doraemon

2010-05-08T19:34:00.006+08:00

Saya punya banyak memori tentang zaman kanak-kanak, antara yang paling saya ingat ialah betapa gemarnya saya terhadap komik Doraemon.

Doraemon mula-mula saya kenali dengan menonton anime (kartun) nya yang ditayangkan di TV. (Kartun Doraemon ini nampaknya begitu evergreen. Saya baru saja selesai menonton satu episod di NTV7 sebentar tadi). Kemudian pada sekitar tahun 1992 (jika tidak silap) Syarikat Penerbitan Tora Aman mula menerbitkan komik Doraemon secara bersiri.

Saya masih ingat, Mama mula membelikan komik Doraemon untuk saya semenjak keluarannya yang pertama. Sewaktu itu cuti sekolah, dan seperti selalu saya berada di kampung. Mama membawa komik itu ke kampung untuk bacaan saya. Sewaktu Mama sampai, saya tidak berada di rumah Nenek, sebaliknya di rumah Tok Ali. Apabila saya sampai di rumah Nenek, Mama memberitahu dia ada membeli komik Doraemon untuk saya. Wah! Saya sangat seronok. Tetapi kemudiannya saya mendapati komik itu sedang dibaca Nadiah. Mak Lang menyuruh Nadiah memberikan komik itu kepada saya, tetapi Mak Chah (dan keadilan sosialnya) memberi arahan kepada saya untuk menunggu giliran. Saya menunggu dengan tidak sabar-sabar.

Doraemon Volume 1

Maka bermulalah kisah cinta saya dengan komik-komik Doraemon. Komik-komik ini menjadi peneman zaman kanak-kanak saya. Saya berasa amat kagum dengan imaginasi pengarang Fujio F. Fujiko. Komik ini menceritakan tentang pelbagai perkara, daripada apa yang menyebabkan kepupusan Dinosaur, kepentingan menjaga alam sekitar, dan pelbagai lagi konsep-konsep sains dan sosial.

Namun melebihi kekaguman saya dengan jalan cerita yang pelbagai, saya merasa dekat dengan watak di dalam komik itu. Seperti Nobita saya (ketika itu) adalah seorang anak tunggal, dan saya juga seorang pelajar sekolah rendah. Saya juga teringat membandingkan Mama saya dan Mama Nobita. Kedua-duanya memakai cermin mata tetapi di situ persamaan berakhir. Di mana Mama Nobita ialah seorang yang sangat garang, saya teringat memikirkan bahawa Mama saya tidak garang (sekurang-kurangnya tidak segarang Mak Chah dan keadilan sosialnya).

Terdapat satu ketika, dua keluaran Doraemon telah keluar tanpa kami sedari. Sewaktu kami ke kedai Titian Emas yang berdekatan dengan sekolah, Mama membelikan saya kedua-dua keluaran Doraemon itu untuk saya. Seorang budak Cina yang juga berada di kedai itu pada ketika itu seperti kagum dan berkatakannya kepada kami. Mama membalas;

"Ialah budak ini, emak dia sayang dia."

... Doraemon akan sentiasa mengingatkan saya tentang zaman kanak-kanak saya. Namun yang penting sekali, Doraemon akan sentiasa mengingatkan saya tentang kasih Mama kepada saya.

Terima kasih Mama. Selamat Hari Ibu.

Saturday Night Song Recommendation!

2010-05-01T21:59:00.005+08:00

This song never fails to make me be in a fun! mood. Plus the group name is "fun.". Hahaha.

fun. - All The Pretty Girls

So I call your name, cross my fingers
uncross the others, hesitate.
Oh,I don't think straight with nothing to prove.

I don't wanna say I'm leaving
I will stay until the weekend.
And you can take all your things;
the boxes and rings
and get going.

'Cause I've been waiting for...

All the pretty girls on a Saturday night.
Let it be, and come to me with the look in your eyes.
Well you break and take all the words from my mouth.
I wish all the pretty girls were shaking me down.

So I call(I call) you out(out baby)
Just to feel a little bit better about myself(he does)
And I do(you do), baby I do
'Til their lips start to move,
and their friends talk music
I say "I've never heard the tune!"
But I have, I just hate the band
'cause they remind me of you.

Every single night ends up the same,
I don't say much at all, but I bring up your name.
(Over and over and over)
I think it's striking me out.

All the pretty girls on a Saturday night
Let it be, and come to me with the look in your eyes.
Well you break and take all the words from my mouth.
I wish all the pretty girls were shaking me down.
But not you,
you still wear boots and your hair is too long
and then this one doesn't want to admit she's fallen in love
Oh c'mon, oh c'mon, what's a boy to do
When all the pretty girls can't measure to you?

I don't understand your reasons
Please just stay over the weekend
You can't take all those things
They define you and me
everything we've become,
You're all that I need
Please don't make me face my generation alone.

All the pretty girls on a Saturday night.
Let it be, oh come to me with the look in your eyes.
And you break and take all the words from my mouth?
I wish all the pretty girls were shaking me down.
But not you,
I feel your faith is destroying the world
and then this one never really understood
the 80s is over and done
Oh c'mon, what's a boy to do,
when all the pretty girls can't measure to you?

p/s: I don't condone violence, but to piñatas oh yeah!

Museum Hunt @ Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia

2010-04-17T20:26:00.009+08:00

This morning me, Nadiah, Anis and Arina competed in Museum Hunt, arranged by Young Muslims Project. I found out about this event from Young Muslims Project's Facebook event, where a whopping 80 people 'confirmed' their attendance and another 400 said they 'might attend'.

I was expecting a big crowd, but there were less than 20 of us this morning. Heh. But we had a great time nevertheless.

Me and Anis were paired together, and we actually finished all our tasks first. But we were placed second because we counted the number of domes of major mosques' replicas wrong. Being replicas and small it's hard to distinguish whether some of them are domes or just random circlish things. We counted more than 1000, when it is probably around 900. We never found out how many domes there were in the end.

Pictures : (to say a thousand words)

Drawing task. The only art I can do is where a mouse is used and an undo button is available.

'Tasbih' we made for one of the tasks. It is now together with other tasbihs hanging at Anis car's rear-view mirror.

One thing I really like about this museum is how big and bright it is. I remember the National Museum being dark and very gloomy. Arina took a wrong turn into the National Museum this morning and we saw that the museum is hosting a ... Pameran Keranda.

@--}----

2010-04-01T01:38:00.006+08:00

I think I am too sarcastic/cynic now for chat room chatting. I can say I had my fill back in 1997/1998, when this house first subscribed to the internet. Back then I remember spending hours in front of the PC, chatting to strangers at channel #kampung in mIRC. Those were the days.

I think back then people were more sincere to get to know others on the net. The ability to communicate with someone only through a medium of PC and modem was so noble that people just be themselves. And they were a lot funnier back then too.

I went into a chat room today, and seconds after I logged in, I was bombarded with messages, mostly from perverts (ewww) asking for 'bicara romantik' (double, triple, major EWWWW). And the a/s/l question immediately after saying 'hi' now just annoy me. And most of them seems to be 25/male/kl too. Yeah right.

Where have all the decent guys in chat rooms went? Achik, I think you got the last one.

The Crisis of Modern Consciousness

2010-03-29T15:45:00.015+08:00

Semalam, 28 Mac 2010 saya dan Nadiah telah menghadiri Workshop 'The Crisis of Modern Consciousness' anjuran bersama HAKIM, ABIM dan Fajr Symphony. Alhamdulillah, niat saya yang begitu beria-ia hendak pergi mendengar syarahan Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad tercapai, malah dapat juga ditemani Nadiah. Thank you dear. Kami pergi ke sana dihantar pagi-pagi lagi oleh Mama. Terima kasih Mama.

Antara isi-isi syarahan beliau yang dapat saya catatkan:

According to BBC, humans are less happy now than 50 years ago.
Women were happier then than now
Values such as self-esteem, security, optimism, sense of hope have been down in UK since 1950's
These are the values that secularism can't really supply
Humans are exposed to many kind of technological advancements
But they are not more happy because of it : technology are just distractions and modern world is a world of distractions
A story by Maulana Rumi - about a baby that can't stop crying, and not satisfied with every food offered
We are all holding a crying baby in our arm, human soul that is crying out for authentic nourishment
The soul is not satisfied with bits and pieces e.g : technology
Zikrullah - milk the crying baby needs

What is a moderate muslim? - If u believe in materialism and Darwinism but at the same time believe in Qur'an & Sunnah, there will be a crisis in spirituality
Technology - are just toys and tools, we should pay no heed to them
Intelligent muslim sense an estrangement with duniya
Grip with akhirat - there's enough for everybody
Grip with duniya - envy, because resources are finite
State of joy comes from intimacy with akhirat

History of human is cyclical
Believers must always be in a state of optimism; pessimism -> despair -> kufur
Certain shafts of lights are visible
Study of quantum mechanics - future already exist (I wish I know more about this subject. Fascinating stuffs!)
Time is no longer what it seems to be
Reaffirm the concept of qada' and qadar
Our view of reality now : far more dynamic, slippery

On 'self', modern world view : self is glorious, can do extraordinary things. e.g : be yourself, challenge yourself
But no single entity of self : consciousness -> collection of memories? (a bit lost here)
We are not really what we thought we are, no linear continuity of thoughts
What is self?

There's a collapse of ethics, rise of communism, totalitarianism
Modern world, inharmonious, paradox, focus on materialism but also try to fight for universal human rights
Religion have more to offer now than what it did previous years ago

Imam Ghazali, when confronted with hedonism : e.g - modern world, we must see what we can use
But a spiritual soul must be inside in order for us to see what is usable, what is forgery (like a money changer)
How do we get the wisdom? It is right of believers
Someone with wisdom, firasat, intuition can know and differentiate belongingness to term of Allah's rule
But human consciousness can be polluted with envy, ego, nafs
Ugliest manifestation of religion comes when driven by ego, frustration, trauma, envy, rage rather than spiritual
Example, distortion of Jihad, ends in destruction
To be in the middle - hardest path to be
Sirratul Mustaqim - hardest place to be

Quality of believer is having awareness that we are just passing through
Human's soul is not from this world, but from a divine world
Our true home is the heaven
We must set a boundary from free-fleeting wandererness, pray for hikmah
People with wisdom restrain themselves

Pada sesi petangnya, Shaykh Seraj Hendricks pula memperkatakan tentang identiti Muslim, tetapi ketika ini saya sedang 'gila-gila' menahan mengantuk maka hanya beberapa perkara saja dapat saya fahami.

Usai workshop, kami berjalan ke Stesen Keretapi Kuala Lumpur, sambil menangkap gambar-gambar seperti pelancong. Kami menaiki komuter ke Subang Jaya, makan malam di Subang Parade dan pulang diambil Mama (terima kasih lagi Mama).

InsyaAllah saya akan berusaha untuk ke majlis-majlis ilmu sebegini lagi di masa akan datang. Ucapan tahniah kepada pihak penganjur yang berjaya menganjurkan program syarahan yang sangat bermanfaat.

Lecture & Workshop by Sheikh Dr. Abdal Hakim Murad

2010-03-22T20:44:00.005+08:00

The Program

6.00 p.m. :	Registration
7.30 p.m. :	Maghrib prayers Arrival of guests / buffet dinner
8.45 p.m. :	Opening Doa
8.55 p.m. :	Welcoming Speech by En. Azril Mohd. Amin Chairman, Islamic Outreach ABIM Introduction by Dr. Mohd. Farid Mohd. Shahran Chairman, The Assembly of Young Intellectuals (HAKIM)
9.15 p.m. :	Public Lecture by Shaykh Dr. Abdal Hakim Murad
10.15 p.m. :	The Launch of "The Travelling Light Series" & Cambridge Mosque Project
10.30 p.m. :	END

Workshop Title:
THE CRISIS OF MODERN CONSCIOUSNESS

Date & Venue:
12 Rabi'ulakhir 1431H / 28 March 2010
Masjid Negara, Kuala Lumpur.

Fees:
Professional RM50
Students RM25

Program:

8.30 a.m.	:	Registration
9.00-9.30 a.m.	:	Opening remark by Dr. Mohd. Farid Mohd. Shahran, Chairman of HAKIM
9.30-10.45 a.m.	:	Workshop 1 - Shaykh Dr. Abdal Hakim Murad
10.45-11.15 a.m.	:	Tea Break
11.15-1.00 p.m.	:	Workshop 2 - Shaykh Dr. Abdal Hakim Murad
1.00-2.30 p.m.	:	Lunch / Zuhr prayer
2.30-4.30 p.m.	:	Workshop 3 - Shaykh Seraj Hendricks
4.30 p.m.	:	Disperse

I'm very interested.

Source 1 : www.abim.org.my
Source 2 : www.hakim.org.my

Pertandingan Hafazan Peringkat Negeri Selangor 2010

2010-03-10T13:27:00.003+08:00

Wakil Keluarga Othman kali ini :

1. Muhamad Zul Aiman Bin Zahidi - Kategori 1-10 juzuk
2. Khairul Amir Bin Zahidi - Kategori 1-20 juzuk
3. Muhamad Izzul Bin Zahidi - Kategori 1-30 juzuk

Aiman telah pun memperdengarkan bacaan pada pagi ini (10 Mac 2010). Izzul dan Amir pula pada malam ini. Doakan mereka mendapat kejayaan cemerlang dalam pertandingan ini, Insya Allah.

kredit gambar : jais.gov.my

We Shall Overcome

2010-02-25T12:52:00.002+08:00

Our family is yet again tested, this time with the news that my Achik is diagnosed with a tumour in one of her ovaries.

Its a very devastating news, but somehow.. I have this very big instinct that she's gonna get over this. This is just another test that she's going to excel through. Achik is very good with big hurdles. She once told me when she was doing her master, that she feels like the world is going to end before she ever get her doctorate. And yet she performed beautifully with her postgraduate study. Even in the subject of looking for that ever elusive significant other, she made it look so easy. (I know this is not so, there were some losers thrown in the mix but she sailed through the challenge too).

This, is another big challenge God give her because He know she is gonna ace this test too. Just another bump in the road, hole in the path, in the epic life story of one Dr. Azizah Othman. She'll pass through this. We are willing it so, and God's willing so will it be.

Meeting Pertama AJK Hari Keluarga Othman

2010-02-18T14:14:00.004+08:00

Malam Ahad lepas, selesai kenduri tahlil di kampung, saya dan Nadiah telah memanggil sepupu-sepupu untuk mengadakan mesyuarat mengenai perancangan kami untuk mengadakan Hari Keluarga yang telah lama tidak diadakan. Alhamdulillah, mesyuarat berjalan lancar dan kami berdua sangat berbangga dengan penyertaan semua pihak.

Mesyuarat telah dihadiri oleh :
1. Nadiah
2. Fadzlin
3. Muhammad
4. Ahmad Sobri
5. Muhd Hafiez
6. Abd Muiz
7. Aminah
8. Muhammad Firdaus
9. Nafisah
10. Naziha
11. Haslina - Mak Ina sebagai pemerhati/penasihat/wakil adik beradik keluarga Othman

Mesyuarat telah memutuskan beberapa perkara :

1) Pelantikan AJK Hari Keluarga.
Terdapat 7 Jawatankuasa yang telah dikenal pasti, dan ahli-ahlinya adalah seperti berikut :

AJK Kewangan
-Firdaus
-Nadiah

AJK Makanan
-Muhammad
-Ahmad Sobri

AJK Malam Keluarga
- Abd Muiz
- Aminah
- Abd Rahman *

AJK Riadah
- Nafisah
- Naziha
- Ahmad Afiq *

AJK Kerohanian
- Khairul Amir *
- Muhd Izzul *
- Muhd Hanif *

AJK Dokumentasi
- Muhd Hafiez
- Ahmad Aizat *

AJK Logistik
- Nurlina *

* menandakan ahli tiada sewaktu mesyuarat, jawatan diberi berdasarkan cadangan ahli-ahli mesyuarat.
** AJK boleh meminta pertolongan ahli keluarga lain yang masih belum diberikan portfolio untuk diserap masuk ke jawatankuasa masing-masing

2) Tentatif Hari Keluarga
Boleh dilihat di sini.

3) Cadangan Tempat Hari Keluarga
Pusat Latihan LKIM @ Camar Laut Bagan Lalang, Sepang
Penerangan mengenai tempat boleh dilihat di sini.

4) Budget Hari Keluarga
Tidak disebut disini atas sebab-sebab tertentu.

5) Mesyuarat Kali Kedua
Akan diadakan pada 14 Mac 2010 di rumah Mak Ngah di Subang Jaya.

Perkara yang tidak dapat diputuskan di mesyuarat adalah tarikh sebenar hari keluarga akan diadakan. Ini kerana cadangan tarikh pada 12, 13 Jun 2010 mendapat beberapa tentangan. Penentuan tarikh memerlukan perbincangan dengan adik-beradik keluarga Othman yang lain dan akan diumumkan di mesyuarat kali kedua pada 14 Mac 2010.

Semua ahli jawatankuasa yang menawarkan diri masing-masing nampak begitu bersemangat untuk menjayakan Hari Keluarga Othman. Sobri dan Muhammad sudah terfikir-fikir menu untuk dihidangkan, Aminah dan Muiz mengadakan mesyuarat mereka sendiri selesai mesyuarat rasmi, Kak Chik dan Nafisah pula bertanyakan bajet tambahan yang mereka boleh dapatkan. Kita doakan Hari Keluarga Othman 2010 akan dapat dijayakan dengan cemerlang, InsyaAllah.

Music

2010-01-27T21:15:00.003+08:00

Its official. My (pirated) music collections have officially exceeded 20GB in size. My old trusted mp3 player can only store up to 1GB amount of music and deleting songs is becoming a very sad routine. I want a bigger storage mp3 player. I want the iPod Classic. Why is it so freaking expensive???

Demon of a different kind

2010-01-01T16:41:00.005+08:00

The new semester starts this coming Monday, and I'm trying to put my mind and focus into the course I registered.

I have been feeling very jitterish and nervous about this latest undertaking. While I am excited and interested in doing research, I suffer from every student's disease : procrastination and inconsistent motivation.

There were times when I was an undergrad where I thought I worked best under pressure. And what better way to add pressure in your life than postponing your work to the very last? Pulling all-nighters, typing and exhausting my brain so that I can come out with an acceptable (at least to me) research. During the time when I had to submit my Final Year Project, I actually did not sleep for more than 36 hours. Crazy I know, but miraculously that project was awarded best FYP. If only the awarding committee knew how much of a lazy bum I was during the earlier part of the semester I think they wouldn't have given me that award.

I know that if I had started doing my writing earlier, I won't need to go through that hellish last week before submission. And this is the most scary part : I know that the same tactic ABSOLUTELY won't work now that I'm a graduate student. It would be like comitting suicide.

I can't ever remember me finishing an assignment not before the day/night it was due. That is how chronic my procrastination problem is. I guess that's how I always work. I need that extra push, that extra adrenaline rush, that fear of impending due date before I can focus and actually finish what I started.

I need to change. I need to find a different sort of rush/motivation for doing work. And I still don't know if I can find it. That is a bit scary.

Dijemput Tuhan

2009-12-30T11:03:00.003+08:00

When I was in Standard One back in Sungei Besi, I remember there was this one time a girl from my class was called by a teacher to the office. She received the devastating news that her father has passed away. Being so very young, I remember thinking this is such an uncomputable news. How do you face with the lost of one's parent?

Also when I was young whenever I read or heard of those around me losing their parents or grandparents, I keep thinking that I am so lucky that it wasn't my mother, or my grandparents. Back then I thought God have a score running, and because Alin had lost her father very early, lets not take any of her loved ones just yet. Of course God do not work that way. Now that I'm wiser I know that.

My cousins lost their mother yesterday.

This is very devastating, and its gonna be really hard for them. I don't know if I can do very much but I know I will be praying that they'll be strong and can face this great test God bestowed upon them.

Al-Fatihah for Cik Yati.

Cooking need an undo button

2009-12-28T20:03:00.003+08:00

The thing is, if it was only me I would've happily spend the whole day surfing the net and only think of cooking something for myself when I'm hungry. But I have my two brothers with me and I actually feel responsible that their routine is not disturbed very much.

So today I cooked, washed, cleaned, and took them to play bowling with our cousins. Overall a tiring but productive day.

And I'm still a lousy cook.

The Workplace of My Heart

2009-12-22T12:18:00.001+08:00

Today I'm saying goodbye yet again to Mesiniaga, and this time I'm feeling even more devastated.

Mesiniaga.. is like a beloved and cherished first boyfriend. The one that knows you the most, and the one that you always come back to for guidance, and perpetual comfortable presence.

I was in Mesiniaga for four times. Back in 2004 I did my practical training for my Diploma program. Then in 2008 I came back again, this time interning for the Degree program. After I finished the practical duration, I took a few weeks break and then was employed again, this time as a casual worker. Finally when I had to leave for the third time, I left with an instruction to contact them again the minute I graduate.

The rest is history, I graduated and contacted the HR Manager who immediately arranged an interview for me. I thought I flunked the interview (I certainly did flunk the technical test) but apparently because they already know me, they are confident that I should be employed.

During this eleven months, I've learned a lot. I was attached to many projects, I had the chance to go to many offices. (PNB is charming in the way they preserve their building, it reminds me of 70s, 80s malay movies where they have scenes in the office. MATRADE is sparkling new, the building with a hole in the middle, and constant traffic jams whenever a high profile case is being heard in the nearby Palace of Justice. BNM is like a 5 stars hotel, the lobby, the toilet, the executive cafe, and the experience of getting to meet the Governor. BURSA, I regret to inform I never get to see a live trading, but the foodcourt in nearby Menara Maybank serve the best Nasi Goreng Ikan Masin in town. UiTM is.. UiTM. Hee.)

But most of all, I appreciate all the relationships I made during this time. I am blessed that I am surrounded with wonderful colleagues. Especially during the first few months when almost everything seems alien and a problem could take forever to solve. They helped me, guided me, understood my limitations and above all became my friends.

Beyond missing the building, ladies days at the swimming pool, various ceramahs from all-too-funny ustazs, delicious breakfasts and lunches at twelfth floor, taking a break by raiding the well-stocked locker in the unoccupied workstation for mamees, and sitting (sometimes twirling) at my beloved workstation, I will miss my friends' company and support the most.

When I told my manager my intention to resign to further my study, he said that he wishes that our path is gonna cross again. With all my heart I sincerely hope so.

Of Gifts and Thoughts

2009-12-20T18:27:00.002+08:00

I guess I am flattered that when people think of my football club, they think about me. But I cringe that when people think about me, all they can think about is the football club.

Its like all my existence can only be defined by my love of Liverpool FC ( I want to think I am so much more than that). There's the female me, muslimah me, twenty-something me, bookaholic me, software engineer me, future grad student me, travel-loving me, music maniac me, movie buff me, and all the quirky, stupid things I say and I do that define me.

I appreciate all the gifts that I received very very much, but when I receive so many LFC related gifts I can't help but think that its such a kop out. Pun fully intended. Hehe.

Dressed

2009-12-09T20:43:00.003+08:00

I was trawling through the internet today when I stumbled upon this picture. This dress was designed especially for Audrey Hepburn to be worn on her wedding day.

What especially amuses me, it could easily be worn today by our modern Muslim brides. Of course the middle/waist is a bit tight (but so does our usual kebayas and what nots - the keyword here is 'modern', or well, some definition of it.).

The point is, the dress, she was dressing modestly. For her wedding day she wanted to look elegant, beautiful, virtuous.. showing a lot of skin would be disrespectful, vulgar even.

THIS. Where the beauty lays in not what is perceived, but what is portrayed. Where a person wears the dress, and not the opposite (ever heard of celebrities needing industrial strength tapes to avoid 'wardrobe malfunction'? um, yeah.)

A bit of a nonsense update really.

Fact : Hari ini dan besok orang dah tak buat kerja

2009-09-17T10:02:00.003+08:00

Selamat Hari Raya! Maafkan segala kekasaran bahasa dalam blog ini.

Bas Metro vs Bas Rapid

2009-07-21T21:41:00.004+08:00

Sudah lama sebenarnya saya hendak menulis entri ini. Tetapi selalunya tergendala (aka malas).

Sebagai seorang yang pergi ke Kay Ell naik bas, saya dah selalu sangat naik kedua-dua bas ini. Biar saya nyatakan awal-awal pemenangnya ialah Bas Metro. Mengapa?

Bas Rapid

Selalu sangat rosak. Pernah sewaktu saya naik Bas Metro No. 13, sebuah bas Rapid rosak di Bus Stand Klang, menghalang semua bas lain yang nak lalu. Siapa lagi yang tolong menolak bas Rapid ni? Pemandu dan konduktor Bas Metro juga.

Bas Metro

Bukanlah tak pernah rosak, tetapi apabila rosak, bas gantian tidak perlu tunggu dengan lama. Sempit/sesak belakang kira.

Bas Rapid

Pakcik Bas Rapid suka marah-marah. Tidak diketahuilah pula kenapa mereka begitu moody. Mungkin sebab tak ada geng/konduktor yang boleh dibawa borak. Orang naik pintu belakang : marah. Orang tekan loceng bukan pada perhentian : marah. Orang tiada duit kecil : marah. Orang tak bergerak ke belakang : marah.

Bas Metro

Pemandu-pemandu Bas Metro kebanyakannya periang belaka. Ada sekali, bertalu-talu loceng bas ditekan oleh beberapa orang yang berlainan. Kalaulah Bas Rapid, alamat dah kena marahlah semua. Pemandu Bas Metro ini pula; "Ha, turunlah kambing-kambing sekalian.."
Konduktor Bas Metro kebanyakannya telephatic. Kalau kita bagi RM 5, bakinya mesti RM 3. Tahu-tahu sahaja kita hendak ke USJ.

Bas Rapid

Enjin auto. Tak pick-up. Tak laju. Tak best.

Bas Metro

Enjin manual. Pick-up bila lampu hijau. Bila jammed, pemandu akan ikut jalan mana-mana yang tak pernah lalu dan tiba-tiba ajaib keluar balik dekat federal highway.

Bas Metro

Tidak nampak beza menaiki Bas Metro di tahun 90-an, dan tahun 2000-an ini. Lagu-lagu yang dipasang selalunya lagu-lagu Slam, Ukays, Spring, Terra Rossa, Wings, Gersang.. Agaknya lagu-lagu ini yang sedap didengar sambil membawa bas. Saya tidak kisah, malahan sangat suka.

Bas Rapid

Kononnya zaman serba canggih, hampir setiap bas ada dua biji televisyen. Namun yang ditayangkan iklan-iklan dan rancangan-rancangan tv yang diulang-ulang. Kadang-kadang siri Puteri episod dua kurun lepas, dan kadang-kadang siri Bella lakonan paling tak hebat Elly Mazlein. Eee yucks.

Pengumuman

2009-07-21T21:36:00.002+08:00

Blog ini kini bertukar alamat. Posmen sila hantar ke :

http://fadzlin14.blogspot.com

(sebenarnya nak pakai fadzlin sahaja, tapi dah diambil satu blog yang 5 tahun tak update. tak aci.)

You hear that? That's my heart breaking.

2009-07-04T16:37:00.002+08:00

Cuti Sekolah

2009-06-07T21:15:00.002+08:00

Adik siapalah ni...

Lagi lagi Bola

2009-06-01T22:36:00.002+08:00

Selesai sudah musim bola sepak Inggeris, dan bermulanya summer transfer window; "silly season".

Perasaan saya berbelah bagi apabila musim ini bermula. Saya tahu saya pasti bosan tanpa siaran lazim bola sepak di hujung minggu, tapi pada masa yang sama musim ini juga selalunya kejohanan-kejohanan besar seperti Piala Dunia dan EURO dimainkan. Saya pengikut bola sepak kelab, tetapi saya juga sangat teruja menonton bola sepak kebangsaan. Tahun ini tiada kejohanan besar, cuma "Confederation Cup" untuk direbut juara-juara setiap kontinen. (Saya masih menyokong Sepanyol, tetapi saya pasti juga sangat gembira jika Iraq memenanginya.)

Tetapi, paling saya tidak suka mengenai musim ini: apabila membaca bermacam-macam spekulasi mengenai pemain-pemain kegemaran saya, terutamanya Xabi Alonso. Dia nampaknya pemain "in" musim ini. Kelab-kelab seperti Juventus, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Manchester City berebut-rebut mahu menandatanganinya. Dan tajuk berita terkini : "Saya mahukan Xabi di Arsenal - Fabregas".

Grrr nyah kamu semua dari sini.

Panas

2009-05-12T08:41:00.001+08:00

Cuaca sekarang ini, panas panas panas.

(Tapi pasti tak sepanas api neraka.)

life is but a dream

2009-05-08T18:40:00.001+08:00

it can be one day,
it is revealed that this has been a very realistic dream
that she wished for in one heartfelt prayer
as guide
and when she finally wakes up,
she will say no.

Bayar balik Pinjaman PTPTN Secepat Mungkin!

2009-02-23T13:15:00.004+08:00

Saya adalah diantara mereka yang pada mulanya mengambil pendirian "out of sight, out of mind" apabila tiba mengenai perkara PTPTN.

Ketika saya mula menyambungkan pelajaran di peringkat Sarjana Muda, saya membuat permohonan penangguhan bayaran balik pinjaman. Apabila mendapat pengesahan bahawa permohonan saya berjaya, sedikit pun saya tidak fikirkan mengenai PTPTN lagi. Malah selepas itu, sepanjang ingatan saya tiada lagi sebarang surat yang saya terima dari pihak PTPTN. Ya, out of sight, out of mind.

Kini setelah tamat pengajian, saya hendak mula membayar pinjaman saya. Pada mulanya saya fikirkan bolehlah saya membayar amaun yang sedikit setiap bulan. Ini kerana saya hanya membuat pinjaman di tahun akhir pengajian diploma, jumlah pinjaman juga hanyalah RM5000.

Saya pergi ke laman web PTPTN. Pada lawatan yang pertama saya tidak dapat jumpa bahagian untuk menyemak penyata saya. (Ini menjadi alasan untuk saya menghapuskan niat membayar pinjaman pada bulan lepas).

Hari ini, saya kunjungi lagi sekali laman PTPTN. Saya pergi ke bahagian "Semakan Peminjam Yang Belum Membuat Bayaran Balik Pinjaman". Saya masukkan No. Kad Pengenalan, dan kemudiannya saya diberitahu :

Tiada maklumat yang berkaitan dengan kad pengenalan ini. Jika anda peminjam PTPTN sila hubungi 03-2092 7788 atau email penyata@ptptn.gov.my

Oh?

Saya kemudiannya menghantar email kepada alamat email berikut. Beberapa saat setelah saya menekan butang 'hantar', saya menerima email ini:

Delivery has failed to these recipients or distribution lists:

siti_aishah@ptptn.gov.my
The recipient's mailbox is full and can't accept messages now. Microsoft Exchange will not try to redeliver this message for you. Please try resending this message later, or contact the recipient directly.

Hmmmmm.

Saya kembali ke Laman Utama PTPTN, dan menyemak bahagian 'Soalan-soalan Lazim'nya. Di situ saya mendapat tahu PTPTPN mempunyai aplikasi untuk menyemak penyata, E-FES.

Ohhh.. awat tak habaq awai-awai.

Dari situ saya mengetahui terlebih dahulu nombor pin perlu didapatkan, dengan:
Sila taip PTPTN NOPIN[JARAK]NOKP dan hantar ke 33199. Caj yang dikenakan bagi setiap SMS ialah sebanyak RM0.50. Perkhidmatan ini beroperasi 24 jam sehari.

Tidak sampai 5 minit menghantar sms, saya menerima nombor pin. Dengan menggunakan No. Kad Pengenalan dan nombor pin, saya masuk ke dalam sistem.

HAHHH??!!!!

Dalam masa 3 tahun, jumlah pinjaman saya telah meningkat daripada RM 5000 kepada RM 6000++. Ini disebabkan dalam masa 3 tahun penangguhan saya, PTPTN mengenakan bayaran sebanyak 3% jumlah baki pinjaman SETIAP BULAN sebagai 'kos pentadbiran'. Sudah tentu disebabkan kos ini baki pinjaman menjadi MAKIN BERTAMBAH dan kos pentadbiran seterusnya menjadi MAKIN TINGGI.

(Pada pendapat saya adalah tidak adil kos pentadbiran tetap dikenakan kepada mereka yang membuat penangguhan disebabkan menyambung pelajaran. Ini kerana permohonan penangguhan telahpun diluluskan pihak PTPTN sendiri. Lagi satu, apakah justifikasi caj 3% itu? Saya pasti semua pengiraan dilakukan menerusi sistem, secara automatik. Lainlah keadaan 20-25 tahun dahulu yang memerlukan pengiraan manual bagi setiap kes. Tapi, siapakah yang mendengar rungutan kita ya? Anak-anak menteri kita pastinya tidak memerlukan PTPTN. Pasti pemegang biasiswa FAMA semuanya.)

Saya bertekad untuk mula membayar pinjaman. Saya cari-cari kiraan untuk bayaran balik setiap bulan. Di bawah bahagian 'Soalan-soalan Lazim' saya terjumpa ini :

!!??? Huhhhh????!!

Siapa saja yang boleh mengira sebegitu??

Argghhh. Saya kembali ke laman utama dan terjumpa 'PTPTN Loan Calculator'. Di sini anda boleh melihat berapakah jumlah yang perlu anda bayar setiap bulan bergantung kepada baki pinjaman, dan tempoh bayaran balik.

Oh, ada rupanya. Mengapalah laman web PTPTN tidak menyediakan satu 'workflow' terutama sekali untuk tatapan mereka yang baru pertama kali hendak melayari laman webnya (seperti saya).

Dipendekkan cerita, akhirnya saya berjaya membayar untuk bulan ini, menggunakan FPX PTPTN. Kiranya, misi berjaya lah.

Sebagai kesimpulan, sekiranya anda ingin mula membayar pinjaman PTPTN anda, apa yang perlu anda buat ialah:

Dapatkan pin PTPTPN anda dengan : menaip PTPTN NOPIN[JARAK]NOKP dan hantar ke 33199.
Pergi ke laman E-FES, masukkan No. Kad Pengenalan dan no pin yang anda telah dapati di(1) untuk memaparkan baki pinjaman.
Pergi ke PTPTN Loan Calculator dan masukkan jumlah pinjaman dan tempoh bayaran balik. Pilih antara salah satu kadar : progresif atau purata. Kadar progresif membenarkan anda membayar amaun yang minima pada mula dan ianya akan meningkat beransur-ansur. Kadar purata memaparkan amaun yang sama sehingga habis pembayaran. Masukkan juga bulan anda ingin mula membayar, contoh : Februari 2009. Tekan 'Bina Jadual' dan lihat berapa yang perlu anda bayar untuk bulan pertama (Februari 2009).
Sekiranya anda ingin mula membayar, pergi semula ke perisian E-FES (anda mungkin perlu memasukkan No. Kad Pengenalan dan No. Pin semula).
Pilih 'Pinjaman 1' - dalam kes saya, saya hanya membuat pinjaman untuk diploma, jadi hanya satu jenis pinjaman sahaja. Kemudian masukkan amaun yang anda dapat di dalam langkah (3).
Tekan bayar, dan sistem akan membawa anda ke proses pembayaran menggunakan FPX. Anda hendaklah mempunyai akaun online dengan salah satu bank-bank berkenaan :
Bank Islam, CIMB, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Hong Leong Bank, HSBC, Maybank, OCBC, Public Bank, RHB Bank, Standard Chartered Bank.
Pastikan anda mematikan fungsi 'pop-up blocker' internet browser dan ikut arahan yang diberikan sepanjang transaksi sehinggalah urusniaga pembayaran selesai.
Cetak penyata urusniaga untuk rujukan.

Nah! Kini anda bukan lagi salah seorang peminjam ingkar (loan defaulter) PTPTN. Tahukah anda sekiranya nama anda telah disenarai-hitamkan, anda tidak boleh :

Membuat sebarang pinjaman bank,
Memohon passport; sekaligus
Dihalang keluar dari negara.

Oleh itu pesan saya, usahlah ditangguh lagi pembayaran PTPTN. Pihak PTPTN pun sudah menyediakan kemudahan yang (walaupun agak mengelirukan dan berselerak) amat memudahkan. Jika anda tidak membayar atas alasan tidak mendapat penyata, bukanlah bermakna pihak PTPTN sudah terlupakan anda. Baki bilangan semakin lama semakin meninggi dan kita mungkin pula menyebabkan bakal peminjam akan datang tidak dapat menerima pinjaman akibat kekurangan dana.

"KATAKAN YA KEPADA PEMBAYARAN AWAL"

(hujan-hujan ni buat public announcement sikit)

Overcoming Fear

2009-02-20T20:47:00.002+08:00

If you're my mum, well, you're not, (unless you are Mama reading Alin's blog). Back to the point, if you're my mum you will know how I've always complained, whenever we listened to that announcement on donating blood on the radio, that I do want to donate, if they device a not painful way of doing it.

I do. I want to. And I have the blood type that is actually very useful, THE O.

My office yesterday held a blood donation drive. I was aware of the event two days prior, but nahh, at that time, Blenophobia? Check. Yet, at 3pm, yesterday, I somehow thought, how bad could it be? Sure it would be painful, but do I miss doing this for the rest of my life?

So I did. I donated, and it wasn't that bad after all. And I now have a cool looks-like-it-won't-be-permanent scar on the inside of my arm.

In the space of less than a year, I've actually overcome a few phobias of mine. I am afraid of height, but when I visited Langkawi last year I went on the cable car ride and it reallllyyy was scary, with the gondola swaying here and there but hey, I survived! And I am really squeamish with snakes but on the same Langkawi trip I actually had one phyton draped over my shoulder. (Of course I was soon shouting "take it off! take it off!" but it still counts). I actually think I can face height better after this. Though I still will not voluntarily have any unnecessary kind of contact with any snake.

These may seem trivial, but I am actually very proud of myself. That I am able to face my fears that before seem so unconquerable and did it. Conquered it. If I just put my mind to it.

It never takes too long

2009-02-20T13:47:00.001+08:00

~~I am reading in a bit of !horror!, cringing here and there.~~ ETA : It wasn't all that bad. I did learn a lot. Its like, that Sarah Bareilles song? Gravity? Something always brings me back to you? Not that dire, but in a moment of masochistic? suicidal? sadistic? tendency I will always, always go back and read.

Meeeeep. Forgive me, for I was young. And stupid. And emotional. ~~And believed I was in love.~~

I am hoping, now, that I am older that I know better. ( I hate it, that that person was right all along.)

Vile women are for vile men, and vile men for vile women. Good women are for good men, and good men for good women. (An-Nur: 26)

Good read!

Pantas betul ulama' di Russia

2009-01-29T11:52:00.001+08:00

Dua hari lepas, saya ada menerima sms daripada nombor yang tidak saya kenali. Sms-nya berbunyi begini :

"Salam, kpd smua yg brglr muslim, hri ini pkr meteorologi bhgn bunyi dr Rusia mndpti ssuatu bnyi gnjil sprti ngauman rksasa dr bwh mantel bumi. Menurut pra ulama, kmgkinn bsr itu ialah suara Dajal yg brusaha utk naik ke mka bmi. Oleh itu, kta disruh sntiasa x brhnti azan n solat, sbrkn kpd umat ISLAM."

Dan perkara pertama yang terlintas di fikiran saya ketika itu ialah ingin membalas : "Apa yang kau merepek ni, Dajjal..."

Terima Kasih Arif

2009-01-28T14:29:00.000+08:00

Sepanjang Arif berada di Malaysia, terlalu banyak sumbangan yang telah dia berikan. Hari ini kita akan berpisah dengan dia buat setahun lagi. Arif, segala sumbangan dan jasamu begitu kami hargai. Semoga perjalanan tahun-tahun yang akan datang dimudahkan dan diberkati Tuhan. InsyaAllah.

EEEEEE

2009-01-21T13:26:00.004+08:00

Perkhidmatan awam Malaysia bodoh macam @$#%@$#^@%Q^#%@Q

Benci benci benci benci benci benci Komuter dan LAGI TERAMAT BENCI pakcik pemandu bas T618 yang tak nak pandu hingga ke MATRADE sebab nak elak jam dan suruh penumpang jalan kaki sejauh-jauhnya. Bodohhh. Kecik-kecik tak nak mampos. Dah besar menyusahkan orang.

/lepas geram

Langit tersenyum

2008-12-02T08:56:00.002+08:00

From The Star

MUAR: Villagers in several areas in Muar were pleasantly surprised to see a Smiley in the night sky comprising a crescent moon, which looked like a smile, and two stars, which looked like eyes.

Teacher Yaakob Jamain said he spotted the “smiling moon” when he was leaving his house to meet with some friends in town. The Star office in Petaling Jaya also received several calls from readers who saw the Smiley.

A check on the Internet revealed that the stellar phenomenon was caused by Venus, Jupiter and a three-day-old crescent moon aligning at the right spots to form the Smiley.

If you missed it last night, you will have to wait another five years before Smiley appears in the night sky again.

Pic from same phenomenon in Australia:

Picture caption: Australians are getting a big hello from the heavens as Venus, Jupiter and a waxing crescent moon combine to create a celestial smiley face.

What? What? Why no one told me??? Nak tengokkkk.

Sedu di Mumbai

2008-11-28T09:00:00.002+08:00

Ketika ini kawan-kawan dan saudara-saudara kita di Mumbai sedang berdepan dengan serangan di tanah air mereka. Perdana Menteri India memberi kenyataan bahawa kumpulan pengganas yang bertanggungjawab mempunyai kaitan dengan Pakistan. Sebuah kumpulan militia Islam juga sudah mengaku mendalangi serangan.

Saya sangat-sangat terkesan dengan kejadian terbaru ini. Kawan baik saya sekarang berada di India, dihantar syarikatnya bekerja selama 6 bulan. Saya juga turut mempunyai kawan-kawan dari India, salah seorang hampir-hampir terlibat dengan salah satu serangan apabila stesen keretapi yang baru sahaja dia tinggalkan dibom tidak lama selepas itu. Dia kini berada di rumah, dalam perintah berkurung dan menurutnya bandaraya Mumbai kini sunyi sepi. Menurut dia lagi, kebanyakan kawan-kawannya sangat marah, kepada pihak militan, kepada pihak kerajaan yang tidak mampu menangani kejadian ini dengan sebaiknya namun dia sendiri berasa kosong. Dia berkata dirinya merasakan seperti tidak mampu, tidak berdaya dan segala-gala yang dikerjakan seperti usaha kuat dalam kerjaya seolah-olah sia-sia. Tidak ada sebarang jaminan yang boleh memujuk apabila berdepan dengan kejadian seperti ini, perkosaan keamanan yang tidak memilih mangsa.

Malam semalam saya berbual dengan seorang sahabat dari Jerman. Kami sama-sama mengikuti perkembangan terbaru dari Mumbai melalui blog-blog, beberapa forum dan laman-laman berita. Sebuah forum di Jerman menurut Sarah begitu marah dan meletakkan kesalahan terhadap Islam, mengejek gelaran 'Religion of Peace' pegangan Islam. Saya hampir-hampir menangis membaca tulisan-tulisan Sarah, begitu sedih, kecewa dan pada masa yang sama amat risaukan kawan-kawan saya namun Sarah memujuk, mengatakan yang dia tahu agama Islam bukan begitu dan ianya manusia yang memutar-belitkan ajaran untuk kepentingan mereka sendiri. Sarah turut menambah yang: "Ahli-ahli forum itu cumalah mereka yang rendah inteleknya. Kau tidak perlu sedih, Lin. Aku sayangkan kau." Saya hampir menangis sekali lagi, kali ini terharu atas kefahaman yang ikhlas diberikan.

Cara Tidak Wajar Untuk Memulakan Perbualan

2008-11-15T21:17:00.002+08:00

hasrul nizam: slm

Alin: waalaikumsalam

hasrul nizam: sihat?aku sihat je

Alin: alhamdulillah.. sihat

hasrul nizam: ko dah kawin kan?

Alin: hoy bila masa

Lawak Hari Ini

2008-11-09T10:41:00.006+08:00

From The Star, today :

KOTA BARU: Kelantan Umno liaison chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa has urged Malaysians not to get carried away with Barack Obama, as “we have our own leaders to admire and our issues to resolve”.

“I see people wearing Obama T-shirts. While it is good, let us not get carried away with what happened in other nations.

“I also prefer if people could wear T-shirts bearing Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, soon to be our next Prime Minister and Umno president,”

ROFLMAO (Ketawa terbahak-bahak sambil terguling-guling di atas lantai)

Oh my. It seems like Annuar Musa couldn't see the significance from the election of Obama. And how it couldn't be more different with the impending leadership of Najib. Oh the extend of how people would go to ingratiate. EPIC FAIL.

Kami dan Muzik - Bahagian 3

2008-09-22T21:43:00.004+08:00

Pak Amjah gemar menyanyi. Suaranya antara yang paling merdu dalam keluarga kami. Sewaktu kami kecil dan dia membawa kami berjalan-jalan di dalam vannya, Pak Amjah suka mendorong kami menyanyi beramai-ramai. Dia amat gemarkan muzik.

Pak Amjah juga memperkenalkan kami kepada muzik genre lain. Dia selalu membawa pulang kaset-kaset Nadamurni dan kumpulan-kumpulan nasyid yang lain seperti The Zikr, atau kumpulan nasyid kanak-kanak. Kami mengenali Munif dan Asri sebelum Hijjaz dan Rabbani lagi. Di satu tahun itu, kami lebih banyak mendengar lagu-lagu raya Nadamurni daripada lagu-lagu raya yang biasa.

Tahun itu juga Pak Busu menunjukkan kemahirannya menyanyikan "Hari..ini..hari..raya.." tanpa menggerakkan mulutnya. (Pak busu tidak boleh terima baca perenggan ini)

Bercerita tentang Hari Raya, sewaktu kecil dahulu saya gemar mengikut keluarga Pak Long keluar beraya. (Tidak tahu malu). Ini kerana Pak Long akan keluar beraya sejurus selepas sarapan raya. Mama hanya akan keluar beraya 'petang-petang sedikit'. Its the early bird that catches the worm. Terjemahan : "Budak-budak yang keluar beraya waktu pagi boleh dapat duit raya dua kali bila dia keluar di waktu petang sekali lagi bersama emaknya". Heh. Sebenarnya itu bukanlah tujuan utama saya 'mengekor' keluarga Pak Long. Duit raya x2 cumalah bonus tambahan. Saya sememangnya memang suka mengekor.

Apapun, di dalam kereta Pak Long sewaktu itu, dia akan memainkan kaset lagu-lagu raya nyanyian pelawak kontemporari (sewaktu itu) seperti Ahmad Busu, Salih Yaacob, dan lain-lain. Antara lagu yang saya masih ingati liriknya :
"Walaupun kau tersenyum, namun orang pun tahu, apa isi begmu itu, dah tentu baju baru, songkok songket pun baru, kasut pun kasut baru, pendek kata semua baru, tak ada yang tak baru..."

(Dah nak dekat raya ni kenangan-kenangan raya pun datang baliklah)

Bahagian 1 di sini
Bahagian 2 di sini

Majlis Menghafaz Al-Quran Peringkat Kebangsaan Kali Ke-29

2008-04-24T12:41:00.003+08:00

Peserta dari Selangor untuk kategori juzuk 1-15 kali ini ialah :

Khairul Amir Bin Zahidi

Betapa bangganya kami. Betapa bangganya Kak Lin. Tahniah Amir. Tahniah kerana tiba hingga ke peringkat ini. Bacaan Amir indah sekali dalam pendengaran Kak Lin. Walaupun Amir, menurut Izzul "buat lagu sendiri". Hehe.

Semoga Allah memberikan kejayaan yang lebih lagi di masa-masa akan datang untuk Amir, Izzul, Aiman dan Insan.

Seriousnya muka pakcik

Terima kasih Mak Ina kerana hadir

Insan tak ada pose lain

Hidup Selangor!

Malaysian General Election

2008-03-09T10:37:00.001+08:00

Yesterday has been a day of many highs for me.

For the first time in Malaysia history, the National Front party has been denied 2/3 majority. They still win with a simple majority, but any amendment to the constitution would have to go through the many newly-elected opposition representations in the parliament first.

Five (five!) states are now opposition states. They are Kelantan, Penang, Kedah, Perak and Selangor. Selangor! My state! Which has never been an opposition state! I think I am still trembling and in shock of the extend of the oppositions' win.

The analysts are saying one of the factor is the young and first time voters. They are more aware of current issues, and have their own mind and are not swayed with the multiple propagandas showed on government controlled mainstream medias. These new generation know how to search for their own truth, preferring independent medias and numerous blogs, especially blogs.

I am certainly that. I am a first time voter. And both my chosen representatives for both the state and parliament seats won. Giving me license to brag to my mom. The first time I ever vote and.. :D

We're gonna have a new Menteri Besar for Selangor. And I can't tell you how glad I am that we're gonna kick that Botox-using-but-denying-it-and-saying-that-he eats-a-lot-of-tempe-instead out of the office.

AND. Oh My God football. To quote Anis, '080308 - the day politics and football decided to coincidentally topple the big guns '.

AND AND. Liverpool won. Torres. You're a gem. ♥

Happy Birthday Achik!

2008-01-19T17:17:00.000+08:00

Kami dan Muzik - Bahagian 2

2008-01-02T18:15:00.000+08:00

Mama juga sangat sukakan muzik. Dia ada banyak koleksi kaset-kaset lagu Indonesia. (Mama sudah dahulu meminati penyanyi Indonesia sebelum generasi Sheila On 7, Peter Pan dan Radja). Penyanyi yang paling Mama gemari ialah Ebiet G. Ade. Selain itu ada juga kaset-kaset Endang S.Taurina dan Hetty Koes Endang. Namun, saya jarang (atau boleh dikatakan tidak pernah) mendengar Mama menyanyi walaupun menurut beliau dia suka menyanyi lagu "Ku Pakai Kaca Mata" di hadapan kelas waktu bersekolah rendah di Singapura dulu. Malah siap dengan gaya-gayanya sekali!

Kami dan Muzik - Bahagian 1

2008-01-01T11:55:00.000+08:00

Keluarga kami menggemari muzik. Tidaklah saya tahu jika ianya dipupuk oleh atuk dan nenek kerana tidak pula pernah saya mendengar atuk menyanyi. Oh sebentar, atuk pernah menyanyi, malah sambil memainkan gitar. Saya masih ingat ini:

Arwah ayah saya mempunyai sebuah gitar yang saya selalu saya turunkan dari atas almari sewaktu saya kecil untuk memetik-metik talinya. Suatu hari, atuk mengambil gitar itu dan mula bermain gitar sambil menyanyikan lagu 'Rasa Sayang'. Kami cucu-cucunya sangat gembira sambil menyanyi bersama-sama dengan penuh semangat. Lagu ini kami ulangi dua kali dan akhiri dengan gelak ketawa yang penuh gembira.

Saya sebenarnya sewaktu itu merasakan atuk begitu pandai bermain gitar. Tidak kedengaran sumbang permainannya. Tetapi, menurut Pak Busu, atuk sebenarnya 'main hentam sahaja'.

Ayat Ayat Cinta -The Movie

2007-12-30T15:08:00.000+08:00

Trailer pertama

Trailer kedua

Daripada novel ini

Semua orang ingin mem'blog'kan perkara ini. Saya turut terlibat. Begitu hebat lagu ciptaan Melly, dan betapa indahnya trailer-trailer ini? Sehingga meremang bulu roma menontonnya.

Liverpool 1 - 1 Chelsea

2007-08-20T09:12:00.000+08:00

It should have been a perfect night. Manchester United lose its derby, Arsenal drawn with Blackburn Rovers, and Liverpool was leading with a Torres debut goal.

But then, Florent Malouda the Chelsea player thrown himself into Finnan and fell down in the penalty box. The referee was so impressed with the acrobatic show that he awarded a penalty. Fat Frank took it and after it was in did a stupid goal celebration. (stupid Fat Frank. Even my grandma can score a penalty, what's with the smug celebration?)

I'm upset. But then, I think our squad is improving. We held possession, there were many chances but in typical Liverpool style, they failed to find the back of the net. Still, I was impressed with the performance by our team.

I don't know if this lose of two points will come back to haunt us later. I'm hoping now that Chelsea will lose their next match with a mysteriously awarded penalty against them. It's only fair after all.

Torres!

2007-07-04T17:21:00.000+08:00

Kita ganggu siaran untuk memberi ruang kepada pengumuman penting ini :

Liverpool sign Torres

[EDITED] to include this picture. Ayam too excited.

See? Exactly like I predicted. And this is way before all the newspapers went crazy with Torres to Anfield speculations. And he got the number 9 too. Again like I said.

And I said Xabi was going to stay too. And he is. He resisted the temptation that is Barcelona. Unlike a certain French striker that I know (hint : ahh.. tak payah hint lah. semua pun tahu)

Now, there is only one conclusion. Rafael Benitez reads my blog. Yeah, that must be it. The Liverpool manager reads my blog.
.......

Rafa, this makes me sad. Really sad.

But Lil' Luis wants to go back to Spain. So, I understand the decision. But, now we no longer have a midfielder that will haunt Chelsea with phantom goals. So, here is my suggestion:

Buy Carlos Tevez. He is a striker. Yes I know. But you can play him as a winger/attacking midfielder. He'll score more goals than Cristina Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. We need more goals from midfield. And we can't depend on Gerrard alone. Tevez is best friend with Mascherano right? They are both on duty at Copa America right now. Ask Masch to convince him. If he proves to be too expensive, get him on a loan.

Okay Rafa? Cheers.

[EDITED] again to say: MU is after Tevez now?? Alex Ferguson reads my blog too! He's copying me!

SCMA : Lailatul Qadar

2007-06-25T10:48:00.000+08:00

Sewaktu saya di Tingkatan 1, saya bersekolah di kampung. Saya bersekolah di sana sehinggalah awal Tingkatan 4. Sewaktu itu di rumah hanyalah Atuk, Nenek, saya dan Koreng si kucing. Maka jika saya takut tidur keseorangan saya akan mencari Koreng untuk tidur bersama saya. Jika saya tidak dapat cari Koreng, walaupun ada semut di bilik itu cukuplah saya berasa selamat. Sekurang-kurangnya ada makhluk hidup yang menemani saya tidur.

Sewaktu bulan Ramadhan dan terutama sekali 10 malam terakhir, Atuk memang tidak pernah gagal untuk bangun di tengah malam untuk solat. Saya tahu dia menunggu Malam Lailatul Qadar. Kadang-kadang jika saya terbangun, saya berani turun ke bilik air kerana saya tahu Atuk ada di bilik sembahyang di sebelah.

Saya seolah-olah dapat merasakan yang Atuk pasti pernah terjumpa Lailatul Qadar. Suatu hari saya bertanya pada Atuk, “Atuk, kalau Lailatul Qadar ada nampak apa?” Atuk dengan senyum penuh rahsia menjawab “Nampak harimau.”

SCMA : Dalam Kereta

2007-06-21T13:24:00.000+08:00

Saya teringat ketika kecil, jika jalan-jalan Mama akan memandu, Atuk duduk di sebelah, Mak Ina, Achik, Nenek dan Pak Busu duduk di belakang dan saya akan duduk di atas pangku Atuk.

Ketika perjalanan saya akan melihat pemandangan dan Achik serta Mak Ina akan berborak. Sepanjang perjalanan. Tanpa henti. Sampai Atuk berkata : “Mak Ina dengan Achik baca berita kan?”. Hehe.

Jika terserempak dengan polis, Atuk akan menyuruh saya menyorok ,(saya percaya pada waktu itu polis akan menangkap orang yang duduk dua orang di hadapan dan Atuk membiarkan saya mempercayainya.). Maka saya cepat-cepat tunduk dan mencangkung di tempat letak kaki. Ketika kereta sudah melepasi polis barulah saya bangun dan duduk di atas pangku semula.

SCMA : Konvokesyen Tadika Kemas

2007-06-20T16:32:00.000+08:00

Saya ingin memulakan koleksi kisah-kisah pendek mengenai Arwah Atuk saya, Haji Othman bin Abdul Ghani. Sebenarnya idea untuk menulis kisah mengenai Atuk ini sudah lama saya fikirkan. Sebelum Arwah meninggal dunia lagi saya sudah berkira-kira mahu menulis. Namun, tidak jadi jadi. Setelah saya membaca e-mel yang panjang mengenai Arwah Atuk karangan Pak Long, saya seolah-olah mendapat rangsangan baru untuk mula menulis.

Saya rasanya tidak mampu untuk menulis sebuah kisah hidup yang panjang. Mungkin itu diserahkan kepada Mama, Pak Busu, atau Pak Long, atau mereka yang berminat atas projek itu. Apa yang ingin saya mulakan adalah kisah-kisah pendek mengenai Atuk dari ingatan dan pandangan orang lain. Saya harap saya dapat 'meminta cerita' daripada orang-orang lain kelak. Namun, saya akan mulakan dengan cerita-cerita dari ingatan saya sendiri.

SCMA : Siri Cerita Mengenai Atuk

Konvokesyen Tadika Kemas

Kisah ini bak kata Mak Ina, sudah diceritakan beribu kali. Itulah sebabnya cerita ini perlu membuka tirai siri cerita ini.

Tahun 1990 saya tinggal di kampung. Ini kerana ibu saya bekerja sendirian di Kuala Lumpur dan tidak dapat menjaga saya. Waktu ini, saya bertadika di Tadika Kemas Simpang Kesang. Namun, perangai saya ketika ini adalah saya tidak suka pergi ke sekolah. Walaupun Atuk tidak pernah gagal membayar yuran RM 10 setiap bulan. Saya masih tidak mahu ke sekolah. Dan tiada siapa yang dapat memujuk saya untuk pergi semula. Saya masih ingat ketika Mama bertanya "Alin tak nak pergi sekolah ni dah besar nak jadi apa?" Saya dengan selambanya menjawab: "Penoreh getah."

Kenapa saya tidak suka ke sekolah? Jawapannya mudah. Saya lebih suka duduk di rumah. Bukannya saya takutkan guru. Bukannya saya tidak tahu membuat latihan sekolah. Bukannya saya tiada kawan. Saya tidak suka bangun pagi. Dan jika saya bangun pagi pun, saya lebih suka mengikut Atuk ke Jasin, ke Pejabat Pos bergerak daripada ke sekolah dan disuruh mewarna tapi tidak boleh terkeluar garisan.

Diikutkan cerita, suatu hari Tadika saya mengadakan majlis hari jadi. Waktu itu saya di dalam bakul motor Atuk saya dan sedang dalam perjalanan balik dari pasar bergerak. Saya dengan tidak tahu malunya berkata pada Atuk yang saya nak pergi. Walaupun ketika itu saya sudah tidak pergi ke sekolah berbulan-bulan. Saya merasakan seronok berada di sekolah ketika itu dan saya mula rajin ke sekolah semula. Dan masa saya kembali ke sekolah itu rupa-rupanya sangat tepat. Ini kerana tidak lama kemudian akan diadakan majlis tamat sekolah atau lebih dikenali sebagai Majlis Konvokesyen Tadika Kemas yang sangat popular itu.

Saya masih ingat, jubah konvokesyen bewarna merah itu hanya ada beberapa pasang. Setiap kali selepas pelajar menerima 'skrol'nya cikgu cepat-cepat membuka jubah dari badannya untuk diberikan kepada pelajar lain yang sedang beratur. Ketika giliran saya, saya teringat pesan Atuk yang suruh saya selepas menerima skrol mengucapkan "Terima Kasih!!" dengan nada Alleycats. Tetapi saya tidak buat. Dan di rumah Atuk sambil senyum besar bertanya kenapa saya tidak melakukannya. Sudah tentu tidak. Saya perlu menjaga reputasi (pelajar hebat yang tidak hadir melebihi 80% tetapi masih boleh graduate).

It's the Annual 'Kuiz yang Banyak' Entry Again!

2007-06-10T21:53:00.000+08:00

I'd like to blog more about football but Achik said she's boycotting my blog until I write about something else. So, here goes! The Annual 'Kuiz yang Banyak' entry. Technically it should be posted around September like last year. Tapi, suka hati sayalah.

Your Birthdate: December 14

You work well with others. That is, you're good at getting them to do work for you.

It's true that you get by on your charm. But so what? You make people happy!

You're dynamic, clever, and funny. And people like to have you around.

But you're so restless, they better not expect you to stay around for long.

Your strength: Your superstar charisma

Your weakness: Commitment means nothing to you

Your power color: Fuchsia

Your power symbol: Diamond

Your power month: May

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Hmm.. Nadiah said I totally can persuade others on/for something. Pandai merengek. I'm charming alright!
My power month is May?? If it is so why my channeling of power to Liverpool on CL Final failed? Huh? Huh?

You Are 60% Bipolar

You're a bit moody, and at times, your moods can be a bit extreme.

It's up to you to decide if you're simply dramatic... or slightly bipolar.

Are You Bipolar?

Yup. slightly bipolar. Of course. Short attention span, ADD and all that.

You Are 15% Left Brained, 85% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning.

Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others.

If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic.

Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet.

The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility.

Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way.

If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art.

Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Are You Right or Left Brained?

Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports. 2 1/2 out of 3. Not bad. Half for day dreaming. Eceh..

You Are a Lazy Cook

Technically, you're a cook... in that you do cook the occasional frozen burrito in the microwave.

Get a little adventurous. Sprinkle some fresh cheese on that frozen pizza next time!

Are You A Good Cook?

Heh. heh. No. comment.

You Are 20% Abnormal

You are at medium risk for being a psychopath. It is somewhat likely that you have no soul.

You are at low risk for having a borderline personality. It is unlikely that you are a chaotic mess.

You are at low risk for having a narcissistic personality. It is unlikely that you are in love with your own reflection.

You are at low risk for having a social phobia. It is unlikely that you feel most comfortable in your mom's basement.

You are at low risk for obsessive compulsive disorder. It is unlikely that you are addicted to hand sanitizer.

How Abnormal Are You?

Of course I don't have OCD. I'm mildly opposite OCD.

Hmmm. This is me being lazy again. I want to blog about the kenduri in my house, about the absolutely delightful occasion of nenek and MakChah and family's visit to my house. I want to blog in Malay. Yet I'm being lazy. But apparently I'm going to Pn Ainon Mohd's seminar this Saturday with my mom. Perhaps I'll be motivated to write anything other than nonsense then.

I love International Football

2007-06-05T15:36:00.000+08:00

The international actions.. Watched it and collapsed the next day.

First it was Germany vs San Marino Live at 0050

First half, fine fine display by the San Marino's defense. But nearing half time Kevin Kuranyi managed to nudge one goal. The second half, I figure those San Marinoans (am I correct here?) were exhausted. Playing with only 10 men did not help. They conceded 5 more. The highlight of the match must be the second goal by Mario Gomez. So impressive! I love how he casually flicked the ball into goal by the back foot action. It was only his second cap for the NT and he already scored 3 goals.

The match result was predicted anyway. Though maybe we all thought the Germans could've won it with a larger margin. And, what happened to Miroslav Klose?? Not even one goal. I almost felt sorry for that guy.

Germany 6 - 0 San Marino

And then it was France vs Ukraine Live at 0300

If England managed not to qualify for Euro 2008 (with the stooopid McClaren at the manager's helm I'm afraid if this could be the case), I'm sooo rooting for the French.

I love the France National Team. I must admit that my Pak Busu was the one who introduced me to the team. I remembered being astonished when he told me that the famous Zinedine Zidane is a Muslim, and Zinedine is the French way of spelling Zainuddin. Pak Busu also told me how after France won the World Cup the French publics are more accepting towards Muslims. That was back in 1998. Zidane is retired now. But not before the head butting incident. (And that is why Italy is one of the NTs that I don't like. Ee.. tali..)

And, the sight of two Muslim France players performing the du'a on the pitch before the match started on Sunday makes me very ---!!. The feeling was indescribable. Especially the sight of Samir Nasri with both his palms facing upwards, head bents, mouth reciting. Now, if following the tone of my previous posts about footballers I could be typing this:

Samir Nasri!
He's French, He's young!
He's brilliant!
He's so cute!!

But it seems inappropriate with the mood that he brought with his performance. He is very young for a senior NT player. He is only 19, but played with such confidence, always staying on his feet even when being pushed and tackled by a number of defenders. He is (in my humble opinion) a gifted playmaker. It was also only his second call up for the France NT. I also smiled hearing his name being shouted by other players. Samir! here, and Samir! there, directing him to be where they want him to be. So cute! (uncontrollable inappropriateness, please forgive).

The two goals of the match were scored by two Muslim French. First it was by Franck Ribery. The second goal was by a brilliant performance from Nicholas Anelka, the other player who cited du'a before the match. It seems like his prayer was answered. :)

If not for any other reasons, this is why I'm going to definitely wish France will win Euro 2008. We're used to seeing the sight of players crossing themselves before entering the pitch. I don't think it is a propaganda or anything. It just happens that so many of professional footballers are Christians and the gesture is part of their ritual for asking assistance from the Higher Force, but it feels so refreshing to finally see a Muslim player doing the same ritual but of Islamic nature on the international stage. I feel very proud. Especially after feeling disgusted of the blatant advert ism of the "I Belong to Jesus" shirt worn by Kaka' during the CL Final. He's a Brazillian who plays for an Italian club. Why is the message in English? Why not in Portugese or Italian?

So... go France!

Wow.. so many thoughts and emotions from a single match.

France 2-0 Ukraine

Next match I watched was the Latvia vs Spain Delayed at 0650

Hmm.. I don't know what to comment. It was kind of boring. The goals should have come sooner. But maybe the feeling comes from me being dead tired and sleepy and having to listen to a lousy commentator. Always saying the wrong player's name. Announcing the first goal was a David Villa's goal when in fact it was a Latvia's own goal and confusing between Xavi Hernandez and Xabi Alonso. Aiyya.. I'm a Liverpool fan who watch Xabi plays every week. I know his running style, his passing style. That is soo not Xabi Alonso!

But, seeing Xabi's smile after watching him cried at CL Final makes the sleepiness and tiredness worth it.. in a way. So, don't you dare sign for Barca Xabi!

Latvia 0-2 Spain

I did not watch the rest of the matches. But the Denmark vs Sweden? Has it really been decided that it's 0-3? What happened to Denmark's 3 goals? I know the red card and penalty is deserved. It was Poulsen's fault for punching Rosenberg at the first place. But abolishing all the Danish goals because of one stupid fan? It's a little bit unfair, I think. But it's the same referee from the CL Final. No wonder. The same ref who ended the match a full 30 seconds earlier. Allow me to be gleeful of his attack then.

Ahhh.. tomorrow is the same cycle again. Expect me to be nonexistent on Thursday.

Ole!

2007-06-02T15:43:00.000+08:00

England 1 - 1 Brazil

Heh heh heh..

I thought it was a great match. England almost had a clean sheet if not for the very last minute equaliser by Diego.

I've said it countless times. Steve McClaren should've called Beckham back months ago. I think he's stooopid for dropping Becks on the first place. He's brilliant at dead balls. Look at the England's goal last night. He kicked the ball and bent it right at JT's head. He's brilliant. Plays unlike any other English players.

Owen has to work a little harder. There's the promise of his form, his header nearly went in, alas it was a little too high. But I believe in my first football crush, Michael James Owen. He'll regain his form back. He's the original Boy Wonder. He was the European Footballer of the Year.

Alas, the Man of the Match is my captain, Steven Gerrard. He is the screamer player last night. He played in an unnatural position, defensing deep. It shows his great flexibility and adaptability as a player. Crunching into tackles here and there, he kept Kaka' in his pocket. Heh heh heh. In your face, Kaka'!

Frank Lampard was okay, but not impressive. When Owen Hargreaves returns from injury he should be benched. Give Gerrard his original position back. That is where we can see a lot of his genius performances.

Go Inggerlanndd!!

England NT the way it should be

Tonight it's Germany, Spain and France matches. I'm officially dead.

Now Showing

2007-05-29T22:31:00.000+08:00

Di Pawagam Sekarang:

Watak Utama : Nafisah

Pelakon Tambahan (in chronological order) :

Achik
Pak Busu
Mak Usu
Mama
Mak Ina
Nadiah
??

(Tak Nak! Alin Tak Nak!)

Good News

2007-05-27T23:43:00.000+08:00

Owen and Beckham are back in the England squad!

*Run in the streets and scream*

Very looking forward to that friendly against Brazil now. But I have bad feelings about it. Against Kaka again? I don't dare speculate.

On the other hand, Xabi is staying. I don't care what others said. He Is Staying. And we are going to bring Fernando Torres to replace Fowler. He can have Fowler's squad number 9. He already has the number 9 tattooed on his wrist and the other 2 English clubs linked with him (Chelsea and MU) , already have players assigned with that number.

And, he wants to come to Liverpool. See?

You'll Never Walk Alone Nando.

This Devastation is Hard Earned

2007-05-24T08:30:00.000+08:00

AC Milan 2 - 1 Liverpool

That was just so frustrating. It's heartbreaking. I'm so sad and gutted for all the Liverpool players.

To be fair, I thought we played really really well. We were attacking, had very good defending, especially on the first half. Kaka was reduced insignificant. I felt that we were more aggressive than the Milan players.

We were labeled the underdogs, but we fought really hard. There were chances, but no finishing touches. It just wasn't meant to be. Even though performance wise Liverpool were better. That's the nature of football.

I really really wanted them to win. I prayed hard for them. I was devastated when the full time whistle was blown.

Alas, I never lost hope on them. That's one thing that all Liverpool fans are known for. We never lost hope. It's in our song, it's in our heart. I was convinced that they could drag the game to extra time and then maybe penalty. But 3 minutes has never come too soon, and then, it's all over.

But, to be able to feel this devastation, it was because the team had made it possible. It's because we were so close to repeating the glory that we are known for, so close to lifting the trophy. It's because we've beaten many incredible teams on our road to Athens, we fought for it the hard way, we lost the title today on the 93th minute and not a moment sooner, that this devastation is acute, intense, pronounced.

And I'm proud to be this devastated. I'm proud that we lost only through fighting. Real hard. I'm proud that we never gave up.

I shall cry, and I shall suffer.
I will cry, and I will suffer.
But my belief is with them.

We are Liverpool. We are destined for greatness. Number six is only delayed.

I'm proud that I am a Liverpool fan and I shall be a Red for a very very long time to come.

You'll Never Walk Alone.

Ulang Tahun

2007-05-22T19:10:00.000+08:00

Dalam leka-leka dan gusar-gusar memikir dan menantikan perlawanan akhir nanti, saya sudah terlupa yang blog ini sudah pun setahun.

Blog ini menyambut ulang tahun pertamanya 16 Mei lepas. Syabas Alin! Tahniah! Blog ini masih belum mati dan terkubur walaupun saya mempunyai ADD.

Dan setahun kemudian, saya masih lagi mati yang bermaruah. Tidak lama lagi akan jadi zombi.

Final

2007-05-22T18:08:00.000+08:00

Sabtu lepas, Final FA Cup.
Agak teruja jugaklah nak menontonnya, sebab tiada lagi aksi EPL yang boleh ditonton. Lagipun, kunun-kununnya perlawanan antara 2 kelab terbaik Inggeris, Manchester United dan Chelsea. Pengulas-pengulas sukan pula mengatakannya perlawanan penentuan tempat ketiga Champions League. :D

Masa yang sama pula ada Konsert Akhir Akademi Fantasia 5. Saya sudah siap mengatakan pada emak yang "Hari ni nak tengok bola tau. Tak nak tengok konsert AF."

Tapi, lagi baik tengok konsert AF. Sebab FA Cup kali ini sangat bosan! Langsung tidak menghampiri kualiti Final musim lepas, "The Gerrard Final" di mana ada 1 gol sendiri yang Carra hadiahkan untuk West Ham, 5 gol lain yang 2 daripadanya hasil rembatan jarak jauh Kapten Steven Gerrard.

Ceh. Dan penyokong Manchester United boleh kata Liverpool punya gaya permainan yang membosankan.

Tapi, sekurang-kurangnya Chelsea menang. Dan saya memang menyokong Chelsea pun pada malam tu. Sebab sakit hati mendengar Alex Ferguson kata dia akan meraikan kemenangan AC Milan di Final CL nanti. Ceh. Sore loser.

Ya, sekurang-kurangnya Chelsea menang. Dan saya dapat melihat Prince William menghadiahkan piala. Dan Mila menang. Yeah.

Kemudian... esok pula Final Champions League. Saya memang tidak sabar menantikan hari esok. Tapi, gemuruhnya Tuhan saja yang tahu. Ada rama-rama (bukan lagu Ella) dalam perut. Tangan sudah mula sejuk aja.

Tapi, Liverpool pasti menang. Liverpool mesti menang. Kerana Liverpool rules Europe, dan saya sudah banyak sakitkan hati rakan-rakan penyokong Chelsea dan Manchester United dan mereka sudah berjanji akan 'bom' saya jika Liverpool kalah. Eleh.. jeles katalah jeles.

Tujuan lagu buat yang tercinta

2007-05-14T18:55:00.000+08:00

Kepada Liverpool, yang akan berjumpa AC Milan pada 23 Mei 2007 di Athens untuk perlawanan akhir UEFA Champions League

Fikirkan Boleh

Jika kau fikirkan kau boleh
Kau pasti boleh melakukan
Jika kau fikirkan ragu-ragu
Usahamu tidak menentu

Jika kau fikirkan kekalahan
Kau hampiri kegagalan
Jika kau fikirkan kemenangan
Kau hampiri kejayaan

Engkaulah apa kau fikirkan
Terkandung dalam pemikiran
Berfikir boleh melakukan
Fikirkan boleh!

Percaya apa kau lakukan
Tabah apa kau usahakan
Bertindak atas kemampuan
Kau boleh!

Kau Boleh!
Fikirkan Boleh!

Saya

2007-05-14T18:48:00.000+08:00

dah cuti!

Saya sudah habis periksa
Periksa saya sudah habis
Habis sudah periksa saya

Sudah periksa... habis saya?

That just feels so good!

2007-04-01T00:01:00.000+08:00

I love it when Liverpool wins. This particular winning is so very sweet because it's the first Liverpool winning with me watching in my own living room, in front of my own TV, my own Astro. No more cursing the lousy streaming of TVUPlayer.

My voice is all hoarse from screaming. I fidgeted during the 90+ minutes. If I'm the kind of person who bites nails, they will all be gone by now.

But it's all worth it.

Yeah.. yeah.. I love you too, Crouchy

Hahaha Arsenal! We're taking 3rd place now!

Takda Kerja

2007-03-30T17:24:00.000+08:00

Setiap hari saya kagum dengan lagu-lagu yang ada di dalam komputer ini. Bila-bila saya malas untuk menekan hanya lagu-lagu yang saya mahu dengar, saya biarkan saja Windows Media Player memainkan lagu-lagu secara rawak. Dan hari ini, saya terjumpa lagu ini.

Aku bukan sinambungan kasihmu
Untuk engkau memenuhi rasa
Atau untuk melindungi kecewa
Setelah gagal bercinta

Aku bukan sinambungan rindumu
Menemani kesepianmu itu
Dan sebagaimana aku tahu
Kau tulis dalam buku harianmu

Sanggup kau memperdayakanku
Sanggup kau membohongi dirimu
Kau anggap cinta satu cerpen

Dengan pena engkau bermain
Kau pandai berpura
Hingga akhirnya aku terpedaya
Menjadi mangsa

Jangan ku dijadikan bahan sinambunganmu
Hanya untuk mengisi ruang hidupmu
Sebagai watak babak cintamu
Janganlah semuanya kau jadikan cerita
hingga akhirnya

Disuatu hari nanti pasti sinambunganmu
Akan terputus jua buat selamanya

Siapa pandai boleh menyanyi bersama. Siapa lagi pandai boleh teka nama lagu dan artis.

This one is dated 19th March actually

2007-03-30T16:48:00.000+08:00

Just came back from home. Can you believe that? On Monday. On a class day. My roommate slept at my cousin's room last night. She said : "Kak Lin mesti tengah tengok Astro." My cousin's roommate added : "Mesti ada bola malam ni." "Uh huh." My cousin. She's the greatest ever. She picked me up this morning at the commuter station. My family has been very indulging with my obsession of Football (read Liverpool).

I just recently installed astro at my house. I've been begging my mom to install it for quite some time. I guess she finally relented when I dragged her to the mamak restaurant to watch the Liverpool vs Man U match. Which we lost, by the way. Bummer..

Back to last night's match. It was my first Liverpool match watching from my own living room. I was free to shout, throw cushions, doing all the necessary stress relievers when watching a lousy match. And that's what it was. A draw. We really need the 3 points to top Arsenal for the 3rd spot. Thank God Arsenal managed to lose their match with Everton. Although as a Liverpool fan I shouldn't say this, but here it goes : Thank you, Everton.

Yesterday, my two fabulous aunts took me and brothers out. Went to Sunway Pyramid. Went bowling. It's official that Siti Khadijah's off springs all have 'pengkau' hands. Except maybe Izzul who managed to get decent scores. But as average, we're pathetic lot. Our combined scores did not even reach 200. As my achik said, "Kalau Shalin tengok ni, tak boleh terima."

I think there is just no continuation whatsoever with my blog posts. Sometimes it's like a journal entry, sometimes specific thoughts, sometimes events in my life. Sometimes in Malay. Sometimes in English. What consistent is they both are in broken languages. Broken English and Malay.

Talking about events, two big events just happened in my life. The first, and most shattering was the lost of my grandfather. I think that needs another entry later. My grief runs too deep to be completely healed. I think I'll write a long entry to discuss what I'm feeling about it and that will also serve as my own therapy. I still occasionally burst into tears remembering my grandfather. When it happened I surprise even myself.

The other event is a good one. My favourite uncle is married now. I have a Mak Usu now. Haven't got the chance to bond with her yet. But I know I will soon. Although I may have lost someone who I can talk into watching Star Wars (or any other sci-fi films that I can't persuade others to go watch with) with me, I'm so happy for him. Just looking at his face I can know how happy he is. Just a pity that Mak Usu haven't managed to transfer school to Klang/Selangor from Tangkak yet. But, I believe she'll try to ask for transfer when the next transfer window is open (using inappropriate footie term because I don't know the right one) and Pak Busu and Mak Usu can be together sharpish (Stevie G's word from his autobiography that means 'immediately').

Oh.. stop my obsession now. I have tons of projects due in a meager 3 weeks.

Super Ring

2007-02-06T14:00:00.000+08:00

There are so many reasons why I should have updated this blog when:

I was at home - with a very reliable internet connection
In the early semester - Not that much class, more important no assignments, projects, discussions, replacement classes.. arghh!

But I didn't.

Now, I'm at college. A new college. Bye bye Teratai, Welcome sparkling Melati. A two person room. I also registered with the paid Wireless Service. BUT, the service is soooooooooooooo argghhhhh!!! It's very moody, very slow, I seldom can connect, will always be disconnected in the middle of doing work. Yesterday, I can't load any page at all, but I can log in to YM. How stupid is that? I'd rather not be able to chat. I tried all the 4 or 5 numbers listed as 'support' but 3 out of them turned out to be 'Nombor yang anda dail tiada dalam perkhidmatan' and the others don't pick up the phone at all. Great. Nowadays my mood depends on whether I'm able to connect or not. So, I'm always very moody. Dangerous...

It's already one month since this semester started. Seems tougher than last sem. There are two subjects that I think is kinda tough : Object Oriented Programming using Java and Database Engineering.

In OOP we are now learning Inheritance. Sub class can inherit methods from super class. One way is by using the keyword 'super'. Example : return super.toString() + ", hours worked = " + hour;

My problem is, every time I read or I heard the lecturer said the word 'super', the commercial song from 'Super Ring' kept playing in my mind:

"Super Ring lazat, Super Ring ria,
Super Ring marilah bergembira.."

or something like that.

I'm sick.

Cuak

2006-12-21T12:39:00.000+08:00

Keputusan peperiksaan semester lepas diuarkan keluar hari ini...

[UPDATE]

Alhamdulillah.. keputusan di dalam lingkungan target awal semester (di akhir semester semua target dah terbang).

I got A for Chess. Eventhough I'm probably the worst chess player ever.

I'm very happy with the result. The best birthday gift ever this year. Now, if only JPA will complete this whole round of perfect gifts by finally installing my money...

Ucapan Terima Kasih

2006-12-18T09:56:00.000+08:00

Terima kasih kepada semua yang mengingati Hari Lahir saya yang ke 17... + 5.

Berikut adalah senarai yang memberi hadiah (Macam senarai penerima Anugerah sempena Keputeraan Sultan. Hmm, Sultan punya Hari Jadi, tapi dia yang kena bagi hadiah pada orang? Tak bestnya. Saya lagi best.)

1. Mama - Hehehe.. Kek Keju, dgn duit...
2. Encik ANuar! - Ijho yang comel! Besar banget teddy bearnya!
3. Achik - Beg duit dan Teddy bear yang menyanyikan lagu Krismas. Haha..
4. Mak Ina - Album gambar kaler pink dan ucapan "Selamat Berbahagia". Mahal tu.
5. Nadiah - Key chain Kakashi sensei. (Tak kira.. kau dah dapat loan.. nak hadiah lagi best lagi)
6. Kak Long Aishah - Album gambar dan kad "For you on your wedding". Hui.. Priceless..
7. Mamat - Strawberry yogurt drink. Comelnya mamat!

Special mention untuk nenek, yang masakkan 'kek' Pulut kuning. Kek Kak Yin bak kata Baem. Kek Kak Yin sedap banyak, tak sedap sikit. Yelah, yelah, kek Baem lah yang paling sedap.

Dan terima kasih tidak terhingga juga kepada ramai lagi yang wish di hari itu.

I'm touched.

Kemalangan!

2006-12-05T12:39:00.000+08:00

Ha.. tidaklah sedashyat (betul ke ejaan ni?) exclamation mark dalam tajuk tu.

Kisahnya begini..

Saya, Mama, Aiman dan Insan mencari tiket ke Puduraya kelmarin (3 Disember) di Melaka Sentral. Jam pukul 4.00 petang. Hari Ahad. Melaka Sentral dipenuhi warga.. warga-warga Malaysia dan hampir 70% warga Indonesia.

Kaunter-kaunter tiket banyak yang mempamerkan papan tanda "Tiket ke Kuala Lumpur hari ini habis". Sudah.. Kalau adapun tiket, pukul 7 ke atas. Risau bila sampai di Puduraya nanti bas ke USJ sudah habis beroperasi.

Penat berpusing ke semua kaunter bas Melaka Sentral, terjumpa kaunter Metrobas Ekspress. Tiket-tiket petangnya semua habis. Ada bas VIP ke KL pukul 5, tapi satu tiket RM45. Mengarut! Bila ditanya, rupa-rupanya masih ada tiket biasa untuk perjalanan pukul 7.30 malam ke KL dan Subang Jaya. Hmm, jika bas terus ke Subang, tak payah risau tertinggal bas di Pudu. Itupun, pada mulanya jurujualnya enggan menjual tiket kanak-kanak.

"Tempat duduk dewasa aja hari ini." Geram saya. Betul-betul geram.

"Kalau macam tu, saya pangku budak-budak ini boleh?"

Dia diam. Kemudian dengan menarik muka dia meminta 2 tiket kanak-kanak dan 2 tiket dewasa kepada seorang lagi jurujual di belakang kaunter. Hah! Adapun. Jumlah kesemua tiket RM30.

Hampir 4 jam kami menunggu di Melaka Sentral ini. Sempat makan di Kedai Nasi Ayam Malaysia dan Solat jama' Maghrib dan Isya' di Surau. Betul-betul pukul 7.30 kami bergegas ke Pintu H. Bas itu sudahpun penuh. Tempat duduk kami 4 kerusi sebelum barisan terakhir. Insan duduk betul-betul di sebelah Pintu Kecemasan. Sempat saya berlawak,

"Eh? Insan duduk sebelah Pintu Kecemasan? Nanti kalau ada kecemasan Insan bukak tau." Insan hanya tersengih.

Ada penumpang berkopiah hijau naik bersama seorang anak lelakinya yang berumur kira-kira 4 tahun. Tiada tempat duduk lebih lagi rasanya ketika dia membeli tiketnya kerana dia memangku budak kecil itu di tempat duduk paling belakang. Anaknya merengek-rengek kerana tidak selesa. Dia memujuk anaknya dengan mengatakan dengan duduk di tempat itu dia dapat lihat semua orang di hadapan. Kasihan amat saya padanya.

Sebelum bas mula berjalan, pemandu bas memberi arahan sebegini

"Saya mintaklah kepada semua yang membawa makanan dan minuman, tolong jaga kebersihan bas ini." Oh, okay.. Saya menyuruh Aiman dan Insan membaca doa. Sebenarnya saya tak hafal doa naik kenderaan. Jadi, saya mengaminkan saja doa mereka.

Bas mula bergerak. Aiman mengeluarkan Gameboy Advance SP dan mula bermain Pokemon Ruby. Cartridge yang baru kami beli hari Jumaat yang lepas di Summit. Dengan seorang Jurujual Cina kelakar, loyar buruk bernama Leon Lai. Supaya senang orang ingat katanya. Kak Lin Aiman mula menjalankan aktiviti biasa bila menaiki bas ekspres. Saya tidur.

Apabila terjaga, bas sudah tersekat di kesesakan "Sumpahan Senawang-Seremban". Jam digital di hadapan bas menunjukkan jam 8.45 malam. Wah, laju betul bas ini.

Agaknya bosan dengan jalan utama yang penuh sesak, pemandu menghalakan bas ke laluan kecemasan. Bas meluncur laju. Dalam hati menyumpah pemandu ini. Saya memang anti mereka yang menggunakan laluan kecemasan. Pentingkan diri sendiri, tidak mengikut peraturan. Saya amati tiada penghalang di antara laluan kecemasan ini dengan parit besar di sebelah kirinya. Di hati terlintas kalau bas ini tergelincir, tiada yang menjadi pendinding antara bas dan parit.

Aiman pergi ke tempat duduk Mama dan Insan. Dia sudah bosan agaknya dengan Pokemon dan Kak Linnya yang senyap aja selepas bangun dari tidur. Dia perasan bas ini lalu di laluan kecemasan.

"Mama, bas ni lalu kat sini, ma."

Kurang beberapa saat selepas dia menuturkan kata-kata itu, pemandu hilang kawalan dan bas tergelincir masuk ke dalam parit. Bas menyenget!

Penumpang-penumpang menjerit ketakutan. Mama sudah beristighfar. Saya panik, tidak terkata apa-apa. Dalam hati memikirkan adakah bas ini akan berhenti menyenget sebentar lagi, atau dia akan terbalik? Saya paling risaukan Aiman, Insan dan Mama sewaktu itu. Syukur, bas itu berhenti bergerak. Aiman dan Insan saya tolak ke bahagian kanan bas. Saya suruh mereka duduk di situ, tak bergerak. Ianya agak sukar, kerana bas itu kini cerun ke arah kiri. Saya bimbang jika kami sekalian penumpang memberikan beban yang cukup untuk ia akhirnya terbalik.

Pakcik berkopiah hijau bangun, anaknya berjalan ke depan, melulu. Agaknya, kacau dengan segala apa yang berlaku. Saya memanggil adik itu. Dia menangis. Ayahnya memujuk dia. Dia kemudiannya ke tempat duduk Insan, dan membuka Pintu Kecemasan. Dia melompat turun dan kemudian mengangkat anaknya turun.

Dalam kegelapan itu, saya membongkok mencari selipar Mama. Aiman dan Insan turun dahulu dengan bantuan pakcik. Setelah diketemui, saya turun menggunakan Pintu Kecemasan. Sangat tinggi! Pakcik itu pada mulanya seperti mahu menghulurkan bantuan. Tidak apa, saya memakai seluar jeans. Saya melompat. Adui. Sakit. Kemudian membantu Mama, dan seorang lagi Makcik turun.

Kesemua penumpang turun. Kemudian masing-masing menelefon memberitahu kejadian yang berlaku. Saya teringat yang Pak Long juga balik ke KL pada malam itu. Mama menelefon Pak Long. Dia masih di Pedas. Katanya, jika dia nampak bas di dalam parit nanti dia akan berhenti.

Dalam ramai-ramai penumpang, ada seorang makcik ini yang paling marah. Dia kata abang angkatnya pemilik Metrobas ini dan dia mahu buat aduan. Saya menambah bara dengan menyokong; "Report! Report!" Haha..

Atas usaha pemandu bas itu yang kini dibenci sekalian penumpang, bas dapat keluar dari parit. Penumpang kesemuanya naik semula. Bunyi telefon masih tidak berhenti. Penumpan-penumpang juga masih tidak berhenti membincangkan kejadian sebentar tadi. Bas berjalan kembali. Tiba-tiba makcik yang marah-marah tadi bangun.

"Encik pemandu, tadi encik minta kami jaga kebersihan bas ini. Sekarang, saya mintaklah tolong jaga keselamatan penumpang."

Pemandu itu menjawab. "Iya.."

Saya gelak di belakang. Terkena sebijik pakcik bas ni.

Mama kemudiannya cakap;

"Ha, tadi Alin kata Insan kena buka Pintu Kecemasan ini kan. Kan dah jadi. Lain kali jangan cakap yang bukan-bukan lagi."

Ha.. terkena saya sebijik.

Reflection on Examination Weeks

2006-11-29T11:31:00.000+08:00

Kertas pertama hari itu, 30hb Oktober. Hubungan Etnik. Kertas terakhir Data Communication and Networking 23hb November. Hampir sebulan peperiksaan! Refleksi sepanjang sebulan ini..

Waktu peperiksaan inilah pemadam dan lead pensil yang tak pernah-pernah habis akan habis. Jadi, kenalah bersedia..
Jika besok ada periksa, malamnya janganlah dihabiskan dengan membincangkan cerita-cerita Hindi seperti Dil Hai Tumharaa, pergi Jaya Jusco Klang atau yang sewaktu dengannya. Jiwa kacau tahap maksima tu.
Waktu inilah jugak UiTM nak buat fun fair dekat padang kawat. Ada kuda la, rumah hantu la, ferris wheel la, carousel la.. Nasib baik takde Badut Sarkas Kepala Dongga.
Kemudian waktu ini jugaklah nak tutup jalan sebab nak rasmi air terjun depan Canselori. Kan bas dah tak boleh lalu situ. Patah balik Teratai. Kena jalan kaki ambik paper! Arghh.. pulangkan masa menunggu bas ku!
Waktu 'gap' yang panjang antara paper boleh digunakan untuk melihat wayang. Kali ini cerita 'Don'. Kaki wayang betul Alin dan Nadiah. Kad matriks boleh digunakan waktu ini untuk mendapat 'student price'. Eleh, murah 2 ringgit je pun kalau TGV tu. Siap salin nama dengan kad matriks lagi tu. Agaknya akhir tahun boleh buat statistik pelajar IPT mana paling ramai tengok wayang. Kitorang berdua dah calonkan UiTM.
Dekat rumah berminat pula bercucuk tanam, membela lembu.. dalam game Harvest Moon PS2. Game Insan. Tiba yang lari terrer main Kak Lin dia.. kah kah kah.. Samalah dengan Pokemon Red pun. Alakazam ke, Drowzee ke, Bulbasaur ke tak masuk pekse la Kak Lin ooi..
Adalah bahaya mengulangkaji hanya bahagian-bahagian 'spot' final. Apabila lecturer membuat gila dengan menukar set A kepada set B, kita juga akan ternganga. So, study la semua... Yapada lecturer.. dia juga yang bagi spot tu.

Kesimpulannya.. tak tahulah apa keputusan dari banyak kekacauan minggu-minggu exam ni. Study tu, study jugak. Complete lunatics je tak study untuk final. Rasa gabra plak nak tengok result nanti. If I can still get good result, then I'm a certified genius. But it seems very unlikely...

Okay..okay.. saya dah insaf. Final sem depan tak buat macam ni lagi. Dengan syarat VC UiTM jangan buat fun fair lagi waktu exam. Saya dah teruja dengan mood 'fun' tu.

My Girl

2006-11-14T12:22:00.000+08:00

Sekali sekala adalah dibenarkan untuk obses dengan sesuatu drama bersiri.

Seperti Faisal Tehrani dengan Bawang Merah Bawang Putihnya,

dan Pak Lang yang teruja dengan Sarah "Kiamat Sudah Dekat"nya.

maka saya sudah gila dengan cerita ini:

WaH! (Jerit nyaring seperti gadis2 terjumpa pop star di tengah jalan)

Ada banyak review dan sinopsis mengenai cerita ini, dan saya pasti tidak boleh mengatasi yang ini.

So, I won't bother.

Sudah pasti 30% dari kegilaan saya datang dari dia:

Nampaknya saya masih belum outgrew this obsession on shallowness. Haha. But, he truly can act. Betul. Tak tipu.

Saya terlambat sikit berbanding penonton lain di Malaysia. Cerita ini sudah selamat habis ditayangkan di Malaysia sebelum saya mula melihatnya.

But, thanks to the internet technology and the communities of Korean HDTV-rippers and fansubbers, serta kehebatan mereka yang memuat-turun dan mengedarnya seantero IPT Malaysia, saya dapat melihatnya tanpa alih bahasa mandarin (yang kadang menjengkelkan.. biar drama korea dengan bahasanya sendiri!), format HDTV (yang menyerupai DVD) dan sarikata bahasa inggeris.

Ahh.. long live the fansubbers... and the portable hard disk owners..

Ayat-ayat Cinta

2006-10-27T12:09:00.000+08:00

Saya sudah ada copy sendiri! Tak perlu tunggu achik balik dari Adelaide untuk mengulang baca.

Berita baik untuk pembaca Malaysia. Buku ini boleh didapati di kedai-kedai buku utama. Salinan saya pun diperolehi dari MPH, hadiah Aidilfitri untuk diri sendiri, dibeli menggunakan duit raya.

Ahh.. saya tidak tahu bagaimana mahu membuat review buku ini. Terlalu banyak review yang bagus-bagus di luar sana. Saya cuma tahu menceritakan perasaan saya semasa dan selepas membaca buku ini.

Kali pertama saya membaca novel ini adalah tahun lepas, selepas Encik Anuar dan geng-geng YPU membawanya pulang dari Jakarta. Mereka balik dari melawat Pesta Buku di sana.

Saya digesa membaca buku ini oleh semua orang. Lebih-lebih lagi Mak Ina. dan Pak Busu. dan Encik Anuar. dan Nadiah. dan semua orang.

Okay.. saya baca. Mula membaca dengan satu perasaan yang agak skeptikal. Benar sangat baguskah buku ini?

Di awal membaca, saya terbang ke Mesir. Membaca novel ini seolah-olah membaca jurnal seseorang. Dan seseorang itu Fahri, watak utama novel ini. Ia mencatat perjalanan biasanya sehari-harian, menaiki metro, menempuh panas terik untuk pergi mengaji, balik dan kehausan, nikmatnya minum air sejuk ketika itu..

Tapi ianya tidak biasa. Di dalam kebiasaan catatan hari-hariannya itu, saya dapat merasa betapa luar biasanya manusia Fahri ini. Dia begitu merendah diri, sopan, sederhana, kehidupannya tenang, membuatkan saya tenang membacanya. Membuatkan saya begitu kepingin menjadi seperti dia, yakin dengan diri dan ketentuan Allah untuknya, dan kehebatan peribadinya dalam mencari ilmu. Malu saya yang menggelar diri ini pelajar sepenuh masa.

Novel ini saya rasa jauh lebih banyak mengenalkan kita kepada Fahri ini, yang begitu menawan adab dan sifatnya daripada menceritakan jalan cerita bombastik dan suspen. (Mungkin tidak sehingga 3/4 novel ini).

Novel ini terlalu mengusik perasaan, bukan dari segi plot-plot yang mengejutkan ataupun tragis. Tapi, saya merasakan pengarang membina perasaan itu sedikit demi sedikit sehingga klimaks cerita ini, yang..

Ai, takkanlah saya mahu merosakkan pengalaman ini untuk anda. Anda perlu membina sendiri perasaan itu sedikit demi sedikit, dan bersedia menghadapi pengakhiran cerita karangan Habiburrahman El Shirazy ini.

Selamat Membaca!

(cemburu saya kepada mereka yang belum membaca buku ini, tapi hanya pada mereka yang mahu membacanya)

Cursed

2006-10-20T02:23:00.000+08:00

Yesterday someone whom I haven't contacted for a long time messaged me. I was surprised. He was once someone close to me. He was always making me laugh. I liked him very much. He gave me a bouquet of roses for my convocation. It was the first time ever that I received flower from a guy.

But I guess our friendship just wasn't meant to be. He wanted something more. But I can't give it. I don't want to give it. I guess he was hurt by my decision. We stopped contacting each other.

It has been almost one and a half year. I was pleasantly surprised yesterday. Well, raya is coming and maybe this is my chance to say sorry if I've hurt his feelings before.

I didn't get the chance. Almost immediately he told me he now has a girlfriend that he met this Ramadhan month and started telling me how wonderful she is. Then he said it's my loss that I rejected him. His exact words were "Itulah, dulu M*** ajak bercinta tak nak, Lin jual mahal sangat."

What the?? I was really irritated. And I guess my reply to him wasn't exactly delicate. I was very sarcastic with it. My intent was to hurt.

But looking back now after 24 hours, I think should've arranged my words with more care. This is a person, who almost immediately after he got "someone" messaged me to taunt me with it.

I was not jealous. I was just really confused. Why? Why this "revenge"?

I think.. back then I must've hurt him very much. For him to make this kind of action. To prove that there is nothing wrong with him. To prove that the blame is with me.

I'm sorry. Very sorry. Thing of the heart is really delicate.. I think... I never meant to promote his feeling back then, and as far as I know I never did. I don't even remember how I rejected him. I guess I'm the worst.

*****************************************************************
I am really bad when it comes to matters regarding the heart. I'm not rational (as always). My heart always refuse to follow what my head is saying. I'm cursed.

I'm afraid.. that one day.. I too...

Arghh! Let's pray that it won't come to that.

Manga

2006-10-01T13:53:00.000+08:00

Saya memang suka membaca. Minat, suka, ketagih. Saya membaca di mana-mana. Rasa tidak lengkap ritual tidur kalau tak membaca sebelum terlena. Membaca dalam gelap sampai mata dah jadi empat. Suka membaca.

Tapi, yang tragisnya saya sekarang di dalam period lebih banyak membaca bahan bacaan lagho dari yang akademik, berguna, ilmiah, islami dan sebagainya. Dalang utamanya ialah manga (disebut "mangga"). Bukan!! bukan majalah Mangga meloya keluaran Utusan itu, tapi manga, komik-komik Jepun.

Seingat-ingat, manga pertama yang saya baca ialah ini :

Komik-komik Doraemon saya semuanya dibelikan oleh ibu. Ini adalah masa dari darjah 2,3 hingga 6 kalau tidak silap. Pada masa yang sama, ada juga saya beli Kisah Panjang Doraemon. Tajuk-tajuknya seperti Nobita dan Dinosaur, Nobita dan Penunggang Dinosaur, Nobita dan Dunia Robot... macam-macam lah. Saya banyak berterima kasih kepada Doraemon yang banyak memperkenalkan saya tentang perkara baru. Saya pertama kali mengetahui mengenai Nostradamus, Komet Halley, Evolusi, Ilusi titik buta, Raksasa Loch Ness, konsep dunia berlainan dimensi semuanya melalui Doraemon.

Kemudian, satu hari, kerana bosan menunggu di bahagian pediatrik SJMC, saya beli manga ini di kedai SJMC:

Wah.. siapa yang tidak teruja dengan pengembaraan Goku dan kawan-kawannya? Dan budak darjah 5 itu pun kalah dengan kisah advencer budak berekor ini. Pengembaraan Goku darilah dia kecil, sampai dewasa, berkahwin, mempunyai anak, mati, hidup semula, mati, hidup semula, mati, hidup semula saya ikuti dengan setia, hinggalah buku episod terakhirnya, apabila dia terbang meninggalkan Pertandingan Kungfu Antarabangsa bersama Uub.

Bila saya di darjah 6, saya ditawan dengan satu genre manga, shoujo manga (komik gadis). Ia bermula dengan manga ini:

Ahh.. Sailormoon.. Saya seperti tidak percaya wujudnya manga seperti ini. Ia ada hampir segala-galanya yang saya suka. Gadis-gadis jelita yang kuat dan mengalahkan musuh, mitos mengenai peradaban di bulan yang telah hilang, planet-planet, Puteri Bulan, kristal, dan Tuxedo Mask.. tidak ada manusia setampan, sekacak, sehebat dia di bumi ini. (Ya.. saya hanyalah 12 tahun pada waktu itu.. sila maafkan kenaifan). Saya sudah menyukai bulan dari kecil, apabila muncul satu manga yang menceritakan tentang bulan dan legendanya, tidak boleh tidak saya pasti jatuh cinta.

Terima kasih kepada Pak Busu (yang memberi arahan buka buku dalam sudut 90 darjah), saya terbaca manga ini sewaktu Tingkatan 1.

Hahaha! Sakit perut saya baca manga ini.. Sakuragi.. adui.. kau memang lawak.. Manga ini tiada unsur fantasi, magis atau futuristik. Tapi, ia memang sangatlah menarik, dan yang paling penting sangat kelakar! Bukanlah saya tidak dapat menghargai semangat kesukanan yang ditunjulkan, saya gembira bila Shohoku memenangi perlawanan! Tapi saya lebih tertarik dengan komedinya! (Nadiah, kau 10 tahun terlewat membaca manga ni).

Habis era Slamdunk, Sailormoon, Dragonball, Doraemon dan zaman kegemilangan Comic House serta Tora Aman, saya membaca Kreko. Tapi, apabila hanya satu dua siri yang saya betul-betul ikut, saya berhenti membelinya. Lama juga saya berhenti membaca manga. Hanya terkadang 'menelaah' manga-manga edisi lama.

Awal tahun 2004 saya mula tahu mengenai 'scanlation'. Ia adalah kegiatan mengimbas manga dalam format asal bahasa Jepun, mengalih bahasa selalunya ke bahasa Inggeris, memadam tulisan Jepun dan meng'edit' imbasan-imbasan itu menjadi lebih bersih. Ia kemudian diedarkan untuk bacaan umum. Lebih info di sini.

Wah! Benarkah ini? Saya di awang-awangan.. Awan menjadi lebih tinggi apabila rumah saya melanggan Streamyx. Kegiatan memuat turun menjadi lebih giat. Sehingga hard disk saya terlalu penuh. Saya kini sudah membaca berpuluh-puluh manga, ada yang sangat menarik, ada yang sangat bermain dengan emosi (sehingga saya menangis-nangis), ada yang sangat kelakar, lebih kelakar dari Slamdunk (cuba baca School Rumble), dan sudah tentu, berpuluh-puluh shoujo manga juga. Saya pakar dalam memberi rekomendasi shoujo manga apa yang perlu dibaca.

Tapi, itulah, seperti dikatakan di awal entri tadi, saya ini sudah terlalu banyak membaca manga akhir-akhir ini. Rasanya saya perlu mengimbanginya dengan membaca lebih banyak buku. Siapa boleh rekomen buku apa yang menarik dibaca?

Cedera

2006-10-01T10:21:00.000+08:00

"Jatuh yang paling sakit, adalah jatuh dari tempat yang tinggi."

Salam Ramadhan

2006-09-23T22:59:00.000+08:00

Selamat berpuasa, pada yang di Australia, di England, di Jogja..

dan terutama di Malaysia.

Ayah

2006-09-23T21:26:00.000+08:00

Saya tiada ingatan mengenai ayah kandung saya. Saya tidak mengenalinya.

Bukan, ini bukan entri jejak kasih. Saya bukanlah anak angkat yang dibesarkan tanpa mengetahui status diri dan kembali mencari asal dan keturunan. Ini bukan satu ulangan drama "Mencari Abdullah" seperti yang pernah ditayangkan di TV3 dulu. Saya tahu siapa ibu, siapa ayah saya.

Saya tidak mengenali ayah saya kerana dia meninggal dunia sewaktu saya berumur satu tahun, satu bulan.

Serasa dan seingat saya, sejak saya pandai bercakap, saya telah diajar oleh ibu untuk menjawab "ayah saya sudah meninggal dunia" apabila ditanya mengenai ayah. Saya masih ingat menuturkan kata-kata seperti ini sewaktu saya kecil, sejak berumur 4,5 tahun. Saya juga cukup fasih doa "Ya Allah Ya Tuhanku cucurilah rahmat ke atas roh ayahku, Amin." Doa itu sudah dulu sebati dengan kata-kata saya sewaktu saya masih perlu mengingat F,A,D,Z,L,I,N untuk menulis nama sendiri.

Waktu itu, dunia saya lengkap. Saya tidak merasakan kekurangan berbanding kanak-kanak lain. Saya tidak tahu apa signifikannya ayah, apa perlunya ayah. Bukanlah berlagak sombong, tapi semenjak boleh mengingat, kehidupan saya penuh, disayangi oleh ibu, keluarga. Bagaimana kita hendak merasa kehilangan sesuatu yang tidak pernah kita ada?

Kemudian, bila naik ke sekolah rendah, saya menerima 'ayah baru'. Namun, sehingga sekarang saya tidak pernah pula rapat dengannya. Dia banyak komitmen yang lain, dan saya tidak pula perasan sewaktu itu jika dia tidak menjadi seorang ayah bagi saya. Seperti saya katakan, bagaimana mahu mengukur dengan perbandingan yang kita tidak tahu?

Kesimpulannya waktu itu (dan hingga sekarang) , saya masih menganggap diri anak yatim. Tapi, dengan bonus baru, saya bukan lagi anak tunggal dan hidup menjadi ceria dengan kehadiran adik-adik.

Meningkat sekolah menengah, saya tidak juga pernah bersedih kerana tidak mempunyai ayah kandung. Tidak ada alasan waktu itu untuk bersedih.

Sehinggalah satu hari, sewaktu saya Tingkatan 2 atau 3 (tidak dapat diingat pula), sepupu saya kehilangan pakcik di sebelah ayahnya. Kami sekampung, dan saya datang menziarah. Sewaktu saya tiba, anak perempuan sulung Allahyarham sedang menangis teresak-esak. Saya sayu, diam. Di dalam hati, saya terfikir "Aku anak yatim juga, aku tiada ayah juga". Tapi, saya juga tahu, adalah mustahil untuk saya membandingkan diri saya dengannya. Dia kehilangan ayah, yang cukup disayangi sehingga dia remaja ini. Ayah ini bersama-sama dia, mungkin sewaktu dia jatuh basikal buat kali pertama, sewaktu dia mula-mula belajar berpuasa dan merengek minta dibenarkan berbuka, dan... lain-lain perkara yang dilakukan bersama ayah. Saya tidak tahu.

Tidak, tidak mungkin saya dibandingkan dengan dia. Kehilangan dia jauh lagi besar. Jauh lagi besar...

Malam itu, saya tidak boleh tenang. Dalam hati terasa amat sedih, pedih. Seolah-olah, perasaan kehilangan yang selama ini tidak pernah saya rasakan datang menyerang sekaligus, membalas dendam. Saya telefon ibu di Subang. Dan, ibu membuka cerita mengenai saat-saat akhir ayah.

Menurut ibu, ayah jatuh sakit di KL. Dia pengsan. Ketika diperiksa, doktor memberitahu bahawa kedua-dua ginjal ayah sudah rosak. Ibu dan ayah pulang ke kampung, Jasin. Bermacam-macam cara dicuba untuk mengubati ayah sewaktu itu. Segala ceruk Melaka didatangi untuk berubat. Tapi, ayah tidak sembuh-sembuh. Waktu itu bukanlah waktu terbaik untuk kegagalan ginjal. Rawatan dialisis hanya boleh dijalani sekiranya mesin itu dibeli sendiri. Alternatif lain adalah pemindahan ginjal dan waris terdekat ayah ialah adiknya, Pakcik Johari. Tetapi ayah tidak mahu, dia tidak mahu menyusahkan sesiapa.

Ayah akhirnya makin tenat. Dia dimasukkan ke Hospital Jasin dan ibu menemaninya setiap hari. Tiba suatu ketika, menurut ibu ayah menjadi lebih baik, dia ada bercakap hendak berbuat apa setelah keluar dari hospital nanti. Namun, ketika ibu solat di surau hospital, dia dapat merasakan yang ayah akan pergi meninggalkan kami. Dan betul, ayah nazak hari itu. Dia meninggal dunia, tetapi selepas dapat mengucapkan kalimah agung Lailahaillah, Muhammad dur Rasulullah. Ibu tenang dengan pemergian ayah yang secara baik. Dia tidak menitiskan air mata. Ibu hanya menangis apabila atuk saya menangis.

Menurut ibu lagi, pada hari pengebumian jenazah ayah, hujan turun rintik-rintik. Saya, yang ketika itu masih bayi menangis kuat-kuat di tanah perkuburan. Tiada seorang dapat memujuk. Sehingga orang sekeliling sayu. Saya seolah-olah faham apa yang berlaku. Dan mungkin, waktu itu, saya faham...

Sepanjang perbualan telefon dengan ibu, saya menangis. Menangis teresak-esak. Menangis tidak tertahan-tahan. Alangkah sedihnya saya rasa ketika itu. Saya tertidur ketika menangis, dan bangun dengan mata yang teramat bengkak. Nenek tidak pula bertanyakan kenapa. Pasti naluri dia tahu apa yang berlaku.

Selepas kejadian itu, saya mula mahu lebih mengenali ayah saya. Saya bertanyakan cerita mengenai ayah pada orang-orang sekeliling. Ingin meminjam ingatan mereka supaya menjadi ingatan saya. Mak Ina, Achik dan Pak Busu bercerita macammana ayah menyayangi kanak-kanak, buku cerita bergambar yang dibelikan, Achik makan tembikai besar, Pesta Pulau Pinang, dihantar ke sekolah menaiki kereta dan diberikan seringgit. Tapi, saya paling suka cerita Nenek. Ayah ada menanam sepohon pokok betik di belakang rumah (setiap kali betik itu berbuah dan nenek memberi pada saya nenek akan mengatakannya), dan yang paling nenek suka (dia tersenyum sewaktu menceritakan ini) ayah memanggilnya emak di waktu atuk membiasakan anak-anaknya memanggil nenek 'makcik'.

Menurut Mak Ina, walaupun ayah bersama kami hanya sekejap, kerana keikhlasan hatinya hendak menggembirakan orang, kegembiraan itu dirasakan sehinggalah sekarang.

Sekarang, saya amat berbangga mempunyai ayah seperti Ahmadon bin Kamil. Iya, saya mempunyai dia sebagai ayah. Walaupun dia sudah tiada, hakikat bahawa saya ialah anaknya tidak terpadam. Dan yang paling saya bangga dan seronok ialah, Mak Ina ada berkata yang saya mewarisi sifat-sifat ayah saya. Saya pernah juga terfikir begini, kerana ibu saya agak lain sifatnya dari saya. Wajah kami seiras, tapi perangai saya cukup lain darinya. Syukur, selain hidung penyek ini, ada juga perkara lain yang saya warisi dari ayah.

Ayah, akan sentiasa Alin ingati sebagai pembawa kegembiraan dan seorang yang penyayang. Tiada lagi kesedihan apabila teringat tentang ayah. Tapi, doa agar ayah sentiasa gembira di sana, seperti mana ayah menggembirakan kami semua. Al-Fatihah...

Kematian Crocodile Hunter

2006-09-05T17:59:00.000+08:00

Rasa-rasanya hampir satu dunia terkejut dengan kematian si 'Pemburu Buaya' Encik Steve Irwin. Saya terkejut, dan agak sedih. Hari ini berita kematiannya terpampang di dada-dada akhbar. Banyak juga blog yang bercerita tentangnya. Blog ini sebagai blog kontemporari (eceh..) pun tak nak ketinggalan. Kali ini dari perspektif saya, dan kawan baik. Klik pada gambar untuk paparan lebih besar.

Kuiz yang Banyak

2006-09-04T22:13:00.000+08:00

You Are From Jupiter

You are exuberantly curious - and you love to explore newness.
Enthusiastic and optimistic, you get a kick out of stimulating intellectual discussions.
Foreign cultures and languages fascinate you. You love the outdoors, animals, and freedom.
Chances are you tend to exaggerate, so try to keep a lid on that.
If you do, you'll continue to be known for your confidence, generosity, and sense of justice.

What Planet Are You From?

You Should Rule Venus

Venus is a mysterious, stormy planet - shrouded in a thick layer of clouds.

You are perfect to rule Venus, because you are quite emotional and volatile yourself.
Your emotions change as rapidly as the weather on Venus, and both you and the planet are incomprehensible to others.

While you are not a logical thinker, you are quite empathetic.
You can care for and understand others, but your emotions swirl too quickly to truly understand yourself.

What Planet Should You Rule?

You Are 7: The Enthusiast

You are outgoing and playful - always seeing the happy side to life.
You're enthusiastic and excitable. You love anything new.
Multi-talented, you do many things well... and find success easy.
You prefer to keep things light with others. Opening up is hard for you.

What Number Are You?

You are Ocean Blue

You're both warm and practical. You're very driven, but you're also very well rounded.
You tend to see both sides to every issue, and people consider you a natural diplomat.

What Color Blue Are You?

Your Theme Song is Beautiful Day by U2

"Sky falls, you feel like
It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away"

You see the beauty in life, especially in ordinary everyday moments.
And if you're feeling down, even that seems a little beautiful too.

What's Your Theme Song?

Your Birth Month is December

You love life and exude an outgoing, cheerful vibe.
Blessed with a great sense of humor, you can laugh at adversity.

Your soul reflects: Celebration, success, and wealth

Your gemstone: Blue Topaz

Your flower: Narcissus

Your colors: Indigo, green, and blue-green

What Does Your Birth Month Mean?

Saya..banyak kerja tapi takde mood nak buat. Jadi saya buat ini. Baguskan saya.

So, komenlah atas result kuiz-kuiz ni.. Betul kah saya seperti keputusan kuiz-kuiz ni? Achik? Mak Ina?

Entri Merdeka yang Terlambat

2006-09-03T18:42:00.000+08:00

Sekitar Malam Aneka Budaya, Festival Kemerdekaan UiTM, 28 Ogos 2006.

Malam itu, ada banyak persembahan dari kolej-kolej kediaman. Segala jenis tarian rakyat dipersembahkan, dari Inang, Zapin, Ulik Mayang, Joget 106, Sumazau, Ngajat, Dikir Barat hinggalah Boria.

Di tengah-tengah persembahan tiba-tiba ada persembahan khas dari pelajar-pelajar antarabangsa. Pelajar-pelajar Timur Tengah, Somalia. Menyanyikan nasyid dalam Bahasa Arab. Aik.. muka lead singer ni macam familiar..

"Eh, tu Osama budak kelas aku."

"Ye ke? Mana? Mana?" Nadiah. "Wah.. " (sambil menyinggung pinggang orang)

"Hissy..apa ni?"

Usai persembahan, Osama memberi ucapan;

"Selamat Menyambut Hari Kemerdekaan ke-49. Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!"

"Hah?! Haha.. adui..sakit gelak.."

UiTM menyambut kemerdekaan dengan pelbagai acara, FesKem antara yang paling meriah. Ada pelbagai gerai, pameran..pameran kitar semula, Lebanon, MPP.. Ini bagus..memang bagus..

Kemudian UiTM sambut lagi merdeka dengan Konsert KRU dan tayangan Gubra. Ha.. merdeka sangatlah tu.

Apa erti merdeka tahun ini bagi saya?

-> Cuti Merdeka yang disambungkan dengan cuti semester.

Pluto

2006-08-27T15:34:00.000+08:00

Wah? Pluto tidak lagi dikira sebagai planet? Maklumat di sini.

Kalau macam tu.. apa akan jadi pada Sailor Pluto?

(Haha.. ini pula yang difikirkan..)

Kalian, Selamat Bertunang!

2006-08-27T11:05:00.000+08:00

Masih tergambar lagi, masih terasa kegembiraan majlis kenduri tempoh hari. Tahniah pada Pak Busu, dan Kak Rajiha (yang bakal ber'title' Mak Busu insyaAllah tahun depan). Kegembiraan ini berjangkit ye Pak Busu? Dan untuk merasa juga kegembiraan ini, (terutama selepas melihat barang hantaran yang cantik-cantik itu!) terasa seperti nak bertunang juga!

Gambar ini, ditengok menggunakan komputer fakulti. Tiba-tiba, kawan sebelah berkata,

"Wah.. hensemnya Pak Busu kau Lin.."

"..... hensem ke?"

Haha.. sorrylah atas jawapan tak convincing.

Kemudian, kawan tu yang agaknya teruja selepas melihat kegembiraan majlis pertunangan tu, buat dialog macam ni pulak.

"Lin, kalau kau suka pada Si O ke, Si A ke, cakaplah pada Abang R. Dia boleh tolong 'adjust'kan."

"......."

"Aku, tak bolehlah nak suka diorang. Aku bukan solo."

"Aku Han Solo."

"Hah?"

"......."

Terima kasih atas keprihatinan kalian dengan status 'Single' saya. Terima kasih pada En Anuar yang menyokong dan nak memberi Angah pada saya. Biarlah dia dengan buah hatinya. Budak MCKK memang ditakdirkan dengan budak TKC. Alin hanya anak singkong...

Minggu depan, 30 hb malam nak berlepas ke Alor Star pula. Kali ini, abang kesayangan tanpa pilihan pula nak bertunang. Terima kasih atas tiket bas sponsor! Dan terima kasih pada Mak Ina yang sponsor kasut nak pergi bertunang (abang, bukan saya). Sayaaanng.. Mak Ina!

Frame of mind tengah gembira dengan kebahagiaan orang sekeliling. Kemudian tertanya-tanya bila kegembiraan ini di pihak sendiri. Tiba-tiba..

Di majlis penyerahan Agreement dan penerangan syarat2 tawaran JPA..

"Bla..bla... Anda tidak dibenarkan berkahwin tanpa kelulusan JPA ... blabla.. bla.."

"Hah?!"

Boycott Israel

2006-08-19T01:48:00.000+08:00

Doing my part..

Kenduri

2006-08-18T22:55:00.000+08:00

Esok.

Selepas Subuh nak balik kampung. Dengan emak, dan 4 hero. 2 hero rumah, 2 hero cuti sekolah. Di kampung, ada kenduri. Nak terima orang baru.. Pakcik yang bongsu, nak bertunang.

Keluarga besar ini nak terima satu lagi orang baru! (yang bukan baru dilahirkan). Kali terakhir dulu sedekad yang lepas. Hampir tiada memori mengenai kenduri waktu tu.. ingatan samar-samar.. Yang masih lekat :

Tengok nenek buat agar-agar dalam bekas bentuk bunga, selapis demi selapis dengan bermacam-macam warna supaya daunnya warna hijau, bunganya warna merah, latarnya warna putih. Agar-agar hantaran.
Masukkan gula-gula dalam bekas telur. Banyaknya gula-gula.. banyaknya bekas.. letih tangan.
Kad jemputan kahwin yang ada 2 versi, dan salah satu ada typo pulak tu. Nama sapa disalah eja pun tak ingat.
2 balai dinaikkan depan rumah. Bila main badminton bulu tangkis asyik jatuh atas bumbung dia. Bila orang turunkan balai baru dapat balik banyak-banyak bulu tangkis.
Jadi kendarat.. ala.. bukan kendarat sangat pun.. takat bagi gula-gula je pun..
Waktu tu Achik dan Pak Busu khatam Quran.. depan Arwah Wan Haji.. Waddhuha..

Besok kenduri pertunangan.. belum lagi kenduri perkahwinan... tapi, akan ada ciri-ciri umum setiap kenduri la, kaum-kaum ibu di dapur potong-potong cili, kaum-kaum bapa potong ayam.. masak bersama-sama.. susun hidangan dalam dulang, dulang untuk lelaki, orang lelaki angkat ke atas, dulang untuk perempuan makan di depan.. nenek-nenek yang datang menolong suka makan di dapur.. kita yang diajak-ajak oleh makcik-makcik yang sedang makan di depan, join seround jugak.. curi tulang.. habis kenduri, gadis-gadis kemas-kemas, dan yang utama basuh pinggan yang menggunung.. Seronok sebenarnya basuh pinggan ni bila berjemaah.. Dah rancak mencuci pinggan, rancak jugak mulut berjalan. Segala macam cerita nenek kebayan la keluar nanti. Tapi, tak best kalau jumpa katak.. Aiya.. janganlah katak keluar besok dekat bilik air belakang tu..

Waktu si gadis-gadis dan anak dara ni tengah sibuk mengemas, mana pergi anak-anak bujang? Main bola.. tengok Naruto..

Kenduri itu memenatkan, tapi seronok. Kali ini lebih menyeronokkan sebab kita meraikan Pak Busu dan beri alu-aluan kepada bakal Mak Busu. Lepas selesai kenduri ni, boleh buat persiapan untuk kenduri pernikahan pulak.

Eh, bila baca balik, teringat pula 2 tahun lepas ada terima orang baru juga.. kenapa tak ingat tadi ya.. Oh.. tiada kenduri...