Shoot!

Sheesh.. the internet here today isn't quite mint I guess. Nak bukak blogger pun susah! Anyway, I'm in the library now.. Hectic la, I can feel my heart racing and my concentration is really bad. Come on pressure! Break me if you can!

Anyway, I'm now a proud owner of a Nikon D40 DSLR which I bought last weekend. Well, I've to admit that it was by far the most difficult purchasing decision I had to make. I never spend a week researching on a product before you know, and now that I've tried to do it that way I guess I like the result. The satisfaction of knowing the product thoroughly. I don't think I have any major regret.

I'm still scrouging through the camera actually, and everytime I was rewarded with a new feature and ways of doing things I never knew before. The Nikon is definitely a camera for newbies and it is utterly user friendly. Even Dzul was shocked to see that the menus and interface provide you with contextual messege descibing what did what as well as tips, something his camera is shy to do. For anyone who has interest in photography and looking for a DSLR to start learning, go for the D40. You can't really go wrong especially if you have mastered the Point and Shoot camera. For the price I paid, RM 2300 it is definately a bargain. You can't get a better camera at this price, together with a decent kit lens, 2GB SD Card, tripod and bag. And yes, make sure they include this stuff when you buy since some retailer won't if you don't ask.

So there you have it. I'm a happy shooter!

MCOBA Futsal

MCOBA Futsal 2007 started today with a bang. I was at Sunway Sports Planet as early as 8.30 am to help set up everything for the event.. nothing much really other than sorting out them goodie bags and setting up a few buntings and banners. Simple stuffs.

It turned out that my batch was the youngest among the 27 teams that participated in the tournament since class of 2006 somehow failed to make themselves available eventhough their names were on the list. I wonder.. Anyway, after sorting out the stuffs I was the marshal for Pitch 1 and sat there throughout 2 hours and 7 matches, keeping the scores as well as giving the Okay for matches to start. It's simple job actually albeit a little tiring but it was all fun. Nevertheless, some senior batches did give me some hard time.. I'm pretty much expecting it since I'm a very junior member of the organizer, it's natural for them to push me around a little bit. No grudges people.

Anyway, I'm very happy at the progress of my batch's team which includes Erare, Ayee, Pali, Ijal, Salam, Khalil, Teeno, Pijie and Zameer as the manager. We were the underdog of the tournament and people even hardly knew us not to mention we went to the pitch supporterless. You could really see the difference folks, for example when Class of 2003 play they have their friends to cheer, not to mention their girlfriends who aren't shy to shout for their man. Us, it was pretty much silent. Well, what more could you expect, people don't een knew who we were.

Eh, tu batch 96 lawan team mana tuh? 95 ker?

You see what I mean? Anyway, this underdog team is certainly a team that people overlooked. Guess how far we went today? Grouping? Aced. Second round? Aced. Quarter final? Aced. Heck, we made it into the Semi Fianls folks! God, I'm very proud to be in this batch!

Anyway, we lost a match against the Class of 96 and instead of the finals we fought for the third and fourth place where we yet again lost against another team from the Class of 96. Hard luck boys.. Well, I guess everyone was at the point of exertion by then so it's understandable why we lost. Nevertheless, we managed to trounced the Class of 2001 4-1 which is something to be proud of since their team consisted of really good players and all of them used to be the first eleven in 2001.

So that's basically what happened during MCOBA Futsal this year. To my batch, I'm very proud of you guys.

We are proud to be Collegian
How can we ever make you see?
Deep inside we are all somebody
The game is ours and you will see..

Treading on dangerous grounds

I just came back from MCOBA Building after some work at the Penthouse. It turned out Ja'e and Syahid as well as the rest of their batch is having a dinner at Mines so I was the only one there that's from my era while the rest was from Class of '97. Un was nice enough to pick me up at the Seputeh KTM station and I rode with his to MCOBA Building on his scooter. Man, I haven't been on a bike for a long long time.

Well, I'm officially a Fulkrum. Huh.. Fulkrum? Yup, it supposed to stand for Futsal Committee Under MCOBA or something but yeah, that what the Committee decides to call itself so I can do nothing but cool with it la. Afterall, I'm like the most junior person in the committee.

Well, it turned out that while we were working, there's also an usrah at the Penthouse attended by some very senior as well as my super seniors.. Un decided to use the penthouse's TV room to do our work and sort out the goodie bags and all as not to disturb the people outside. So there we are putting t-shirt after t-shirt in the goodie bag while one after another committee members came to lend their hand. Nothing sinister here folks, even the TV was not turned on. Hand in hand, the work was done quite fast considering the workload so I decided that it was about time for me to leave..

As I step out the TV room and walked towards the Penthouse door, I met this one Old Boy who happen to know me and vice versa. I politely walk towards him and shook his hand, very traditional.. but then he ushered me outside of the penthouse and we had a little conversation:

Old Boy: How many of you guys are in there?
Me: Six, Seven people.. buat kerja futsal.
Old Boy: Tadi kitorang sembahyang Isya' kenapa tak join?
Me: (Completely clueless) Er.. Owh, tak perasan la. Sorry.
Old Boy: Ai, enam tujuh orang semua tak perasan? Bukan main korang borak tadi. You better be careful bro.

So then I straight went down the elevator, speechless and utterly devastated. What was I to do? Dah betul tak perasan, tak kesah la even if there's one whole batch in that small room, we didn't notice. We were all doing work, none were playing. Yes of course we chat, but that's is normal isn't it, to chat while working? It's not like we were watching TV or whatever. It's not like we didn't respect you all while you were having the usrah, we went into the TV room is alI'm personally disappointed.. honestly, thinking about how hard it was for me to get to MCOBA Building that day, on how Neet was mad at me because I choose to go to MCOBA instead of meeting her and how many people I did menyusahkan so that I can go there to do some work, pro bono work for a school I so much love. Seriously.. I was the one who talk the least but I was the one who went under the hammer. Bang! Those guys in there, none are from my batch, not to mention my era. I came there for work but in the middle of it I got stuck in this political game..

Honestly, I like mingling with Old Boys since there's a lot of stories to listen to and though they often belittle you and your College life I find it acceptable since we all seems to agree that the past is always better. We even sing it in our anthem, Dengan Sejarah Yang Cemerlang.. I even eagerly wait for the Old Boys Weekend so that I can once again get a chance to mingle with these folks. But as I know them more, the more obvious it is to me that some of them have really huge egos. They tend to see themselves as infallible and whatever came out from their mouth is the truth and you ought to do what they are doing, if not you're eally treading on a dangerous ground.

I guess we all really missed our College days..

Practice makes perfect

I'm posting from this Cybercafe in Sungei Wang Plaza. Haha.. Well, I came to KL for the meeting tonight at the MCOBA Building and since transportation is quite a problem to me now, I tumpang my dad.

Anyway, I noticed that my page renders poorly under Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 where there are no space visible between my paragraphs. Nevertheless, other up to date browsers which I tested displayed it correctly so to all those Internet Explorer users, upgrade to version 7 ya? Or migrate to another browser. Mozilla Firefox is a good bet.

I woke up today feeling happy as I read the headline of The Star newspaper where our beloved PM was quoted as being against the whole Mat Skodeng hullaballo. Well, at least theres somebody in the government who have brains. I did initailly have an intent to write something on that matter but I found it too utter stupid and decided that it is not worth my while to write about it.

Then, I flipped the page to this very bombastic advertisement of a Nusajaya. What is Nusajaya? Well, it is a new township the government is starting in Johor near Gelang Patah under the Iskandar development project. Heck, they even have a Wikipedia entry on Nusajaya!

Nusajaya holds tremendous promise to become a natural hub through which Malaysian and multinational businesses can effortlessly and efficiently connect with all four corners of the globe. Strategically positioned in Johor, Malaysia's second largest domestic market, Nusajaya offers full connectivity to the world, via comprehensive air, road, rail and sea networks as well as digitally, via its fibre optic telecommunications infrastructure.

Sounds familliar? Try replacing Nusajaya with Cyberjaya and Johor with Selangor. It should remind you of a promise made a decade ago that turned out to be a dead town near Dengkil inhabited by students.

Yeeha! Another Cyberjaya in Johor. Sheesh. Come on la people, be rational here. What the heck are you doing in Johor when your ambitious 21st century project in Cyberjaya lay redundant like that? You want to make people forget is it?

Hey, lets build another smart city in Johor, maybe by then people will forget everything about Cyberjaya.

Yeah, why not make another Proton too? Try one without gearbox problem and dead power window. If that fails, do another one.

Practice makes perfect right?

Labels: Malaysia

Deja vu?

I don't know what I did to Murphy, but he really like to get between me and the things I want to do. Who's Murphy? It's Murphy's Law, which I blogged about last month. You know, the one about bad things will always happen at the worst possible time.. yes, that one. I know you would remember.

So, what is it about this time? Well, as I mentioned on my last post I was going to go to Low Yatt Plaza today to do the survey on them dSLRs right? Guess what? My dad's car kene langgar. He's okay since it wasn't him in the car at that time, it was my mum but she too was okay. See, she was driving me dad's car to the service center while my dad took the Chevy to work. It was supposed to be just a routine service but then came this Kelisa and banged the Perdana. Shit.. Now the Perdana is in the workshop and since it's Chinese New Year, work wouldn't start on the car 'till next week. So for the meanwhile, dad'll be driving the Chevy to work while me and mum kene duduk rumah. Owh no.. I want to see Neet..

That's one thing. The other thing is this weekend I'm helping the folks at MCOBA with this year's MCOBA futsal at Sunway.. I haven't been doing this kind of volunteering work for a long time though. Yes yes.. I know Hadi and futsal doesn't quite cut in, oxymoron even but hey, I didn't say that I'm playing, I'm working folks, and that's a very different thing from playing. Contribution.. if you can't help something in one way, there's always the other way right? Anyway, I now faces problem getting myself to the MCOBA Building tomorrow night for the meeting there as well as to Sunway Sport Planet due to the accident. Oh Murphy you nasty you.. You really want me to improvise ya?

It's kindof a deja vu kan? Just yesterday I blogged about Dzul's car kene langgar. Now, it happened to me also. Hurm.. Mr. Deja Vu, meet Mr. Murphy. You both sure work great together don't you?

Choices choices..

I guess most people would probably know that I'm quite a photography buff. Yes, buff as in a person who is enthusiastically interested in and very knowledgeable about a particular subject, not freak. Who ever started the term photo freak anyway? Sheesh. I even changed my phone just so that I can curi-curi snap photos of the ignorant brats on the LRT and blog about them anyway. Well, right now I'm in a really tight spot and in dire need to make decision: I'm getting a dSLR.

Well, dSLR stands for digital Single Lens Reflex camera which is the types of camera you see those journalist and photographers at your aunty's wedding use and not the one you keep in your handbag and snap pictures of your friends. It is big, bulky and usually black in colour. Now, of all the brands out there, two managed to get my attention; Nikon and Canon.

Nikon is perhaps the first thing that pops up my head everytime someone mention SLR. I'm quite familiar with the operation and yes, I am confortable with the quality of this breed. Anyway, they just came out with the new D40 models that replaced the very popular D50. Now, the D40 is somewhat similar to the D50 in terms of specifications and even outperforms it in several fields which is no suprise since the D40 is only a few months old. It is also the smallest dSLR across brands and with a RM 2500 pricetag, it is among the cheapest. The downside to it is that it lacks support to older lenses which means that though you can use it, you need to focus it manually since the autofocus won't work and it is only 6.2 megapixels (though I don't really give a damm anyway).

Canon on the other hand is tempting me with its new 10.2 megapixels EOS 400D dubbed the Digital Rebel XTi. This particular model is the successor of the very successful EOS 350D and it inherits all that is good about the older model and buck it all up with newer technologies. I've had experience holding this particualr model once, which belongs to my friend Hamed. Sizewise, it is somewhat the same as the Nikon D40 though the pricetag is somewhere around the 3 grand mark.

Now, I did mention that I don't really care about pixels count right? You want to know why? Well, the common person generally have this impression that the higher the pixel count of a camera, the better it is. That is somewaht true to some extend but you need also consider the density of the pixels. A 5 megapixel camera with 300DPI is better that a 6 megapixel with 72DPI (DPI = Dots per inch), so you see what I mean right? Still, I just can't get it right between both cameras. I want the Nikon but I just don't want to be disappointed later that I didn't take the Canon. Heck, even Sue Anna Joe uses the Canon! Hurm.. choices choices..

Well, maybe I need to stop thinking about the Sue Anna Joe.. she's a pro and I'm just a newbie. See, there's another element to consider: the photographer. Sheesh.. Anyway, tomorrow I might be going to Low Yatt Plaza to meet both camera face to face and compare both hands on. I hope by then, I will resolve this problem of mine..

Selamat Jalan Kancil Merah

I was just enjoying my afternoon nap just now when I got this message from Dzul:

Tgk dh kete aku eksiden?

I was like "Huh? Biar betul mamat ni eksiden", and grab the phone and called him. After a few tries, I decided to call Waled instead, he should know about it too by now. Well, Dzul is now back in T'rengganu with his family and his red Kancil is totally wrecked. Ho humm.. Lucky he survived the crash though and it happenned just after he sent me off to the Bangsar LRT station on Friday.

Ahh.. Dzul's red Kancil, the fastest Kancil in Cyberjaya, Putrajaya and perhaps Sri Kembangan. My first introduction of this car was around a year ago when I enrolled in this college. I met Dzul and the guys at an orientation thing back then and he offered to ferry me back to Vista Prima in Puchong as he, Eddy and the others were staying in Vista Millennium further up the road. I remember back then when Radiohead's Creep was constantly played whenever I was in the car it almost felt like it's the theme song of the car..

Anyway, this car had been in the workshop several times; a few months ago because of the accident with Eddy's Satria while recently, Dzul converted the engine to that of a Mira's L2 if I'm not mistaken complete with turbochargers et al. You should see this car accelerate.. and most of the time you see it, you are probably seeing it from behind unless you yourself is in a Supra or Skyline. It's wicked!

Well, It's true that good things don't last forever right? So there goes the red Kancil. I think it is quite about time for Dzul to get a new car. Nevertheless, I really am going to miss that red Kancil.

What a weekend!

I hate this feeling. Numbness here and there, the dizzyness, the funny nose, the sore throat.. not to mention this friggin' big ulcer on my lips. I sure have seen better days. Saya demam..

Anyway, yesterday Alepadha, Munggay and I had a little gettogether at One Utama which was suprisingly empty due to the Chinese New Year holidays. Thank God! I hate going there on weekends. So we jalan-jalan inside there for quite sometime with Munggay busy browsing for stuffs af Gap before we venture out looking for the Benetton shop which was nowhere to be found. That's strange.. I know there's one at One Utama.

Later we drove to the Curve and met Nik at his house and went for a little refreshment at the restaurant there, I think it's called Idaman. The food there's nice and the service was good and as for the price, Nik was paying. Haha.. Thanks Nik!

We later went to Cineleasure to catch the Ghost Rider movie but to our dismay, the tickets were sold out so we settled for Norbit. Thank God for that! Haha.. Norbit was a good comedy movie and it really was fun to watch especially when you have you friends with you.. though I wouldn't recommend it for families, unless you guys are liberals that is. After the movie I stumbled upon Afiq, a friend of mine back from college. He did catched the Ghost Rider movie and his reaction was really bad. Well, if Afiq says that the movie was bad, then it must really be so. Phew.. Lucky we didn't burn our bucks on that.

Anyway, we met Hariri there who just came back from KL. We had dinner at Rasta in TTDI which was my first time there. The food was nice, the atmosphere was quite okay and the place is not as overrated like Hartamas and such which is somewhere I don't usually put myself since I'm not cool like those people that lepak there.

In a nutshell, the weekends was really great. We all went back to my house and the boys played with my cat and we all stayed up till 4 and laughed at the same old jokes.. It was really meaningful. Thanks guys. You've made my week, and while I'm writing these, I almost forgot that I tengah demam...

Labels: friends

As seen at..

...a Caltex near the Sunway toll plaza. We are all accustomed to go to public toilets such as these just to findout that it was dry right? But the fellas at this petrol station did some PR work to clear their name and blame Syabas instead.

I also noticed how the icon of the female seems like she's closing her ears with her outstreached arms as if she doesn't want to hear any comments. And did you notice the colour red? Red usually mean something important right? I guess this lady must be serious.. or even mad. If she can talk, I figure this is what she would say:

Look, read down there.. No water, Syabas's fault. If you want to complain, complain to Syabas, I'm not listening

People look at me with funny faces whenever I tell this kind of story to them. To them, it's just a notice on the door of a loo. Me, I'm a student from the Communication school and I think being in that school teaches me to look at these sort of messeges in various ways because sometimes media doesn't give a straight to the point view of a matter, you got to analyze what is given to you. Try it, and you'll see what I mean.

Anyway, maybe this people didn't pay their bills.. no wonder they got a ganguan bekalan from Syabas. What's your take?

Labels: as seen at

The Balik Kampung Rush

Wow.. you should see the north bound traffic today on the PLUS highway. Insane! I was on my way to KL this morning and all the way from Rawang to Jalan Duta, there's nothing but a massive jam on my right while the road on my side was very much quiet. Thank God my family isn't going anywhere this holidays.

I went to pickup Neet in KL and on the way back her sister who lives in Seksyen 14 PJ asked for a ride. Well, why not? We took the Taman Templer road back to Rawang since Neet's dad told us that it took him 2 hours just to get to Rawang from Sungai Buloh. Well, the Templer road was of course quite busy and there's a few jams here and there but we still managed to get to Rawang in around an hour. Imagine if we take the highway! Dah la kena bayar..

I don't know why but I must say that I'm suprised to see this. Even Raya was not like this was it? Well, maybe then I was joining the crowd and this time I was avoiding it. Hurm.. perhaps. Anyway, to all readers, do have a happy holidays ya?

Happy Chinese New Year to all!

Perfect Prefects?

Arif just came back from Kuala Kangsar for the Chinese New Year holidays and me, I've just walked from Cyberjaya back home to Rawang.. damn I'm tired. Anyway, as always he would feed me with the latest Malay College news, no matter if I ask or not so I just layan la.

Well, it turned out that Aleng is the current Head Prefect while curiously, Rhue is the Head Boy. It is acustomed to me to refer the KPKM President as the Head Boy though some consider the Head Prefect to be the Head Boy. Whatever.. It is great to hear that KPKM still survived till this day eventhough it went into a serious beating when Rauhi first came to the College. Nevertheless, the fact of Rhue as its president is somewhat of a shock actually since he is a Rauhi supporter of sort.. Hurm, College politics..

Anyway, the reason I write this post is actually because of the answer I got from Arif when I asked his who's the House Captain for Sulaiman House this year. Though I was expecting sport powerhouses like Sudin et al, the answer I got was a peculiar one; it is in fact a Prefect named Kimal. Why? Well, the administration decided that a Prefect should lead the house in accordance to another silly SBP decree. Shit.

I have nothing against prefect; some of my best friends are prefects in fact. But I for one believe that a Prefect's portfolio should remain as what is stated in the dictionary.

in some schools, a senior student authorized to enforce discipline

Nevertheless, the way I see it now it seems that the administration is trying to make this group sort of rolemodels for other students and give them other posts of power for them to reign. Why is that so? Isn't it their duty is to enforce the law? It's like telling a policeman to go and teach students at schools and lead an NGO. It is absurd.

To me, they are taking meritocracy a wee bit too high nowadays. When I was in Form 1, the prefects are elected based on their charisma and leadership in which they are both respected and feared by most people. Nevertheless, the trend now is to elect prefects based on academic results more than the charisma and leadership elements. As long as you can score in your exam, you can be a prefect. That ain't right..

The other thing that come to my mind is what about the others? The people who is a great leader on the field and in the dorm, just because he is not a prefect you guys think it's okay robbing him the opportunity to prove his mettle? How do you expect other people to shine when you seal all the path of opportunities by having a prefect there? That fella already have his place as a prefect, do give the other seats to someone else please.. Someone who doesn't have the priviledge to have a room on his own, wear a white nametag, a special badge and tie, a maroon blazer as well as one who walk, not ride his way to class.

They are after all, the cream of the Malays as well are they not?

Labels: aka

My door is knobless..

Happy Valentine's Day people, I love you all.. platonicly i mean. Haha.. Well, there's nothing much going on around me today as well as here in college. The only thing that has any relation to this day is the counter selling flowers at the Plaza, other than that, it's a perfectly hot day. Thank god for this Sigur Rós tunes playing in my ears. I close my eyes, and listen.. the air-cond makes me feel like I am in Iceland..

Anyway, last night I did a very stupid thing: I locked myself out of my room. Haha.. We were going for dinner, me, Dzul and Waled. I went into the room to change, took my wallet and phone, straped on my watch, went out and slam the door. as the door clicked, so does my conscience. Damn!

Though I have had experience picking locks back in MCKK, this door is next to impossible to be picked by an amatuer. Well, at least I know my room can't be picked easily.. that's a relief. So after Dzul and Waled helped, using various tricks from every book there is, we decided to call it a day and had dinner. Only later shall we continue.

Anyway, after recharging ourselves with Nasi Kandaq from Hassan, Waled managed to wedge the doorknob out and with a little tinkering the door was open. Yeeha! Now, how do I make it close again? Oops.. Well, it seems that I need to get myself a new doorknob today. There goes some more of my money..

Buying a doorknob isn't really what bothers me though, it is the thought that while I am here now my room is wide open and vulnerable to theft. It's not that I have anything expensive in there, but still I value my privacy..

Damn.. writer's block. I'll get back to you guys later.

Please wait while this page loads

Damn la this free wi-fi service.. I'm at the library now and what was yesterday a super-duper broadband lifestyle is today slower than my Jaring dial-up back in Rawang.. and I got research to do. Well, I guess the sudden influx of laptops here and elsewhere in college could possibly contribute to this bandwidth hogging. I guess Murphy's Law is busy at work again today.. Goddamm you Murphy!

Well, it seems that since I managed to lessen my laptop usage, other people are just starting to get that craze. You should come here and see the myriad of laptop brands we Limkokwingers are using. Viao? HP? Fujitsu? Mac? We got them all. We even have some of the earliest Windows Vista adopters here who seems strugling to get that piece of software working as I sat next to him wondering what its all about.

Guy: Can you help me? I can't get online.
Me: Sorry, I'm not familiar with Windows (while gleefully pointing at my Mac.. and continue to surf the wide web).

I didn't mean to be mean actually and yes, I'm very familiar with Windows even if I haven't used Vista before. It's just that I don't feel familiar rummaging through someone else's laptop just as much as I hate people tinkering with mine. It's my little pet peeve perhaps..

Anyway, let me just try back again later and I'll post something more intereting than this geekish things ya? Bear with me folks..

Take that hate mongerers!

This post is dedicated to those who think Limkokwing University is just a party college that you can pay yourself out of any situation. Quit the prejudice and answer this question: When did the last time Nik Aziz was at your college?

I myself was quite suprised to see this banner this morning. "What is Nik Aziz doing here of all places?".. Well, I think that Lim Kok Wing guy must be bidding to do some project for the Kelantan government I guess just like their previous partnership with the state of Trengganu where they helped in the branding of the state. We used to have a Trengganu food stall here in college due to that partnership, that sells a very commercialized keropok lekor under the brand 'T'lekor'. Well, it closed down last semester together with the Malay food corner. Anyway, if it really is true that there will be a partnership with Kelantan, I guess I'd be having Nasik Dagé for lunch lah after this!

Well, Cyberjaya is frigggin' hot today and even Nik Aziz's presence here didn't seem to help to cool this place down! Haha.. Thank God for the library! I used to dread their frigid airconditioning but days like this could turn any pessimist optimistic.. Now that I think about it, I guess the news on Buletin Utama about the draught that's about to hit Selangor must be true. Damn, better start conserving water from now I guess. Sediakan payung sebelum hujan folks! Wait, that sounds wrong.. Sediakan baldi, isi air banyak-banyak dan berdoa agar kemarau tidak berlaku. Yes, that's more accurate.

That reminds me.. I haven't paid my water bills yet..

UPDATE: I stumbled upon a news article about the visit in The Star a few days back. It turned out that there's a university in the process of being set up in Kelantan and the state official is using Limkokwing University's expertise to do the branding et al.

What kind of blogger am i?

You Are a Life Blogger!

Your blog is the story of your life - a living diary. If it happens, you blog it. And make it as entertaining as possible.

I've seen this type of quizes all over the web with some people's blog full of it, so I figure it wouldn't hurt if I join in. It seems that I'm a life blogger.. do you agree?

I wonder...

Who are these people behind thecicak and how old are they really is? They don't sound 16 to me.. Now that I think about it, do I write like a 19 year old?

Let's go shopping.. where?

Well, last night was hectic! After KLIA, I drove the boys back to Cyberjaya for a lil' while before heading off to KL to had a very late dinner in Setiawangsa where Dobeng, Nik, Amar, Teeno and Ikrom had been waiting. Alepadha went back with his friend, Iqbal since he had a party to attend today. So since I was too tired to drive back to Rawang I head to Syarel's room in Millennium Court between UIA and UM with Geto to get some rest and perhaps a good night sleep.

So this morning we woke up at 9.00 am and had lunch at Kolej Kediaman 12 Universiti Malaya with Syafiq Marzuki who was kind enough to treat us with some cocktails. I then send both Syarel and Geto back to their respective colleges before heading home to Rawang.

Well, I stopped at the Restoren Jejantas Sungai Buloh for some refreshments when I stumbled upon this: Al-Ikhsan just opened an outlet here. I was like, "What are you guys doing here? This is a R&R area..", and it got me thinking all the way back until I got home. Why do you set up a sports apparel outlet at an R&R? More specifically a R&R aptly named Restoren Jejantas.

Well, I guess they must've been targeting people from Sungai Buloh, Rawang and further up who might be on their way for futsal at Sunway or Ampang and was like, "Oh shit! I didn't bring my shorts.. better stop at Restoren Jejantas and grab one at Al-Ikhsan" or maybe for those Le Tour de Langkawi guys, maybe they need a replacement shoe while they're cycling nearby.. That could make sense..

Well, I still think it's an unwise decision to put up a fullfledged sporting house in the middle of the highway here in Malaysia; it's just doesn't make sense. People don't go to an R&R to get shoes just like they don't go to mamak to get a chicken chop; they do have it there, but it just doesn't feel right. And most people don't just go shopping to get just one thing, they still want to browse for other things as well and that's why we go to shopping complexes right?

Or am I missing something here?

And he flew..

So last night I drove Geto, Alepadha and Syarel to KLIA to send Cepe off to Sydney, Australia (sebut betul-betul.. bukan Ostrolia) to pursue his studies in Petroleum Engineering under Petronas at the University of New South Wales. Wow.. I'm impressed Cepe.

Well, I guest he must be enjoying his time there Down Under, walking around Sydney and all.. maybe go to the beach and see some chicks. Haha.. That's what I would probably do la, I don't know if Cepe had the same idea too. Anyway, I'm here in the hot and humid Malaysia is wishing you the very best of luck in whatever you do over there. Just don't forget to come back here ya? The nation need people like you, direly.

So Cepe, I'm waiting for you to start your blog so do inform me when that happen. You got an eager reader here waiting to hear about how's life over there. Anyway, I remember this quote you SMS to me when I was starting out my 1st semester in Limkokwing. It did help me well through the first few days there, so I hope it'll also do good for you.

A winner never forgets where he's going,
A champion never forgets where he came from.

Best of luck bro, and God bless!

Of a Minister and Old Mansions

I was suprised to see this news article in The Star yestersay: New hope for old bungalow. Well, I guess there's also quite a number of other people that would be suprised as well by the fact that this house that used to belong to a 'welthy Muslim jeweller' some hundred years ago is deemed to be of value by Rais Yatim.

Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said the building could “tell” the story of the inhabitants of the island during the period.

Mr. Rais, can you justify how one rich man's house in Penang could give people a glimpse of the past while another rich man's house in KL was torn down a few months ago? Why couldn't Bok House tell as much story as this Wahab House can? Man, you can compare the architecture of both houses and you can see that there's nothing like Bok House elsewhere in Malaysia. This Wahab House? Go to Kuala Kangsar, there's a lot of houses just like that.

I really believe that Mr. Rais is going through all this to hush away all the criticism about the way he handled Bok House. It's that old formula again.. you do one good deed and people will forget the previous one. We aren't blind Rais, we can see what you're doing.. Anyway, Datuk Seri Mohd Yussof Latiff of the Penang Malay Association who mentioned that it will be turned into a Jawi Peranakan Museum also gave this statement to the press:

“The building needs to be protected so that it won’t be demolished to make way for any high-rise project,”

Yeah, sure.. tell that to the rubble near Zouk, I'm sure it'll appreciate to hear his fellow old mansion up there in Penang will be saved and turned into another white elephant project..

Labels: opinion

Beyond expectation..

I'm back in Rawang. I hitched a ride from Keisha who dropped me somewhere near here house in Bukit Damansara right after our thought provoking class, MCI 111 Information Age ended today. Well, we learned today on the issues of reporting a conflicts and wars. We discussed on how journalist can be biased depending on various reasons and how photo-journalism can play an important role on determining the audience reaction. I made myself look smart by being the only one who knew what the heck a Stockholm Syndrome was which is not really something bizzare to know if you happen to listen to Muse and Blink 182 as well as watch James Bond movies. Anyway, I believe I've gained some respect from my lecturer, Faizal Nafis by being quite participative in his lectures and class. I really like his class. I really do.

Well, anyway Keisha dropped me at a bus stand near the Ayuthaya Restaurant and Victoria Station there and I waited for the RapidKL bus to KL Sentral. I was impressed by the T68 (I think) bus which unlike the Cyberjaya RapidKLs, this one is huge.. and it cost RM 1 more. Haha.. no wonder la. Anyway, the whole trip was quite educational since I finally figured out where HELP University College. I also eavesdropped the Caucasian chick next to me's conversation with her Malaysian Chinese friend. She apparently love Malaysia! How great to hear that as the pride of Malaysian transportation cruised along the road.. and then disaster strucked.

Well, Murphy's Law people.. the hundred thousand Ringgit bus I was so impressed with stalled as it chugged up a flyover towards Lebuhraya Mahameru. Stopped, dead, tak jalan.. even the aircond was dead. How great was that? Well, what can I say.. malu sial, to be in a dead bus in the middle of the evening rush with all those Mercedes peering into the bus' huge windows and looking at us, sweating while the driver tried to reignite the engine. After the 8th try it was clear that we're fucked so we all get out of the bus onto the busy highway, causing more jams and louder horns from people lucky enough to be in a car.

So while other people waited by the roadside, I decided to walk back to Pusat Bandar Damansara and get a cab from there. From the picture you can see another bus came in as our saviour bus it is also quite full and wouldn't be able to accomodate us all. I wasn't in a mood to fight my way on that bus anyway.. Walking is more fun.. I've always wanted to walk here and now that I've got my chance, why not? I'm not in a hurry anyway.

Well, again RapidKL managed to worsen their image in my eyes.. I thought their service outside of the city was bad, but today's incident makes me think again. Yes, I know.. it's beyond their control whatsoever, but hey.. those are the new busses. I've been riding the old busses for almost everyday for a year now and never did once it broken down. How could a new one? What did you guys buy your busses?

Tsk.. Beyond expectation? Yeah, sure.. and I weigh 60KG.

February changes a lot of things..

Three weeks into my 3rd semester here in Limkokwing. Hey, today's the 6th of February.. Guess what? Today's my first anniversary of being in this College! Yeeha! One year baby! Haha.. anyway, I don't know if any of my friends remember this date since none of us mentioned anything about it. Oh well, nevermind that, as long as we are all happy and together I guess that's even better than celebrating once a year since our lives here hasn't been quite a bed of roses as I reminsce the events of last semester. Well, forget the bad times right?

Anyway, yesterday while walking around the StreetMall with Keisha stumbled upon an old friend from primary school, Najmi. He used to be in Bijak class with Keisha but I was in Arif. Both me and Najmi were prefects though he's more by the book than me I guess. Haha! I was young and you guys gave me power. What was I to do more than abuse it?. Anyway, he's studying at Cyberjaya University College of Medical Science (CUCMS) with the likes of some Budak Koleqs like TJ, Aroi, Che' Nab and a few others. This small town sure have a lot of suprises in store for me I guess.

So today me and Keisha went for brunch with Najmi at the bakery at the StreetMall and did a lot of catching up with each other. It's funny how both he and Keish looks the same throughout the years while I went changed. Well, Kuala Kangsar can do mysterious things to a person not to mention Aya's Sirap 20¢.

I'll be missing a few friends this month, four of them will be off to Australia; Lemi, Mikel, Eddy and Cepe so I guess it's great to rediscover an old friend to make up for what I lost. Well guys, make the best of your opportunity there and don't forget to come back. We got a messed up country that need fixing. I'll be missing you guys.

Make new friends, keep the old
One is silver the other is gold

Labels: personal

Morning rush

Morning rush.. no one likes it but we all face it sometime or another. Well, today was quite unusual since there's suddenly a surge of people at the bus stop that is far more than there usually is. I wonder why.. Is it because Limkokwing's students are increasing or is it plainly coincident that most of us had classes at the same time this morning?

Well, whatever it is it really got me thinking of the Malaysian transportation system. RapidKL could possibly be the best transport service provider in Malaysia. I haven't seen better. Anyway, it bothers me that their top notch service is only prevails within the City limits, while their service here could be said to be quite mediocre.

Mediocrity.. Why? Well, yeah. It stated on the bus that during rush hours the intervals would be at every 15 minutes. 15 minutes.. that's what on the paper. Reality? half an hour and sometimes even reacing 45 minutes (depending on your luck, karma and horoscope reading of the day). I don't know why that happens, but from what I read on the paper someone did mentioned the lack of busses. Well, if that's the case I hope the management will do something fast la to fix this problem. Don't tell me RapidKL doesn't make money.

Sometimes I just think that the drivers themselves are lazy.. well, you guys are humans after all right? If that's the case I hope you drivers clean up your attitude fast, we are students here, we want to go to our college and study. We are not a bunch of pelumba motor haram (this day onwards I refuse using the term Mat Rempit on my blog) who wants to go to Sungei Wang to kacau some girls, we are students from all over the world, eager to gain knowledge. Give us some respect please.

Malaysia is eager to promote itself in the eye of the world by building huge this and that, but to me we better look into these small things, these details instead. Small things can have a huge effect on the human mind..

Labels: opinion

I miss those days..

Burp.. good morning Kuala Kangsar! Damn, I miss Kuala Kangsar morning.. Sundays particularly. We would sleep late chattering with each other as well as doing 'crazy' things and woke up late. Then we ran to the shower and do whatever we should do there and ran back again to the dorm and get ourself dressed for the prep. Some would dress as if their going for futsal while others put on their best clothes that would pass for a prom. Then as we walked in front of the Overfloor again chatting as we do it, Cikgu Shamsuddin will start his countdown from the Pondok Guard (or Pandak Guord as Dodot calls it) and we will be running again. If we get lucky we could pass the gate before the countdown ends, if not our butts will be disfigured yet again. Then there's the assembly. We sing the College Anthem and listen as the A Song is played as well as the many announcement they have. We would begin to ask around for the news whenever the "Nama-nama berikut sila ke Bilik Cikgu Fairuz selepas perhimpunan" announcement was made. Then we all go our seperate ways: some to class, some to the canteen some to the Junior's blog while some others are still at the Dorm, running away from the guards..

Damn, we sure did a lot of running those days and we chat alot too..

Today is a bad day to drive

Today is indeed a bad day to drive, so bad that I couldn't find the right words to describe it here on my blog. Well, it kindof reminds me of the article on Murphy's Law I read sometimes ago on Wikipedia.

..The Murphy Law broadly states that things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance. "If there's more than one way to do a job, and one of those ways will result in disaster, then somebody will do it that way." It is most often cited as "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong" (or, alternately, "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time," or, "Anything that can go wrong, will")..

All of us are the same

It's another sunny Friday afternoon in Cyberjaya and it herald another day of being cramped at the MMU Surau (I think it's called Madrasah Al-Farabi). Well, as you can see from the picture on the left, I am siting well away from the Surau building as well as the folks to my left and right not to mention those behind me. Yes folks.. there's still more.

Well, though I'm sitting under a pokok kelapa (or pokok tamar as Fahmi call it) I feel greatful that I'm a Muslim in Cyberjaya. Why? Well, there's so many different people from all types of countries here yet all can sit on the grass under the harsh Cyberjaya sun once a week to pray to God. Alhamdulillah.. It feels all warm and fuzzy inside thinking about it especially since most of the people came from rich families and high social status. All of us are the same in God's house I guess (as well as His lawn).

Well, I guess those people from Bandar Country Homes mosque could be here to see this and experience it for themselves. Maybe it would knock some sense into their mind and make them scrap that "Parking VIP" sign at the mosque. I hate that sign.

All of us are the same in God's house. What makes you think you're a Very Important Person?

Labels: opinion

You donated 3 cents how?..

Well, I get those stuffs again in my mailbox.. those chain emails. It's sad actually to know that there's still someone out there think they're doing a noble job donating 3 cents to a Fatima girl who met an accident. Are you one of them? Don't be fooled folks. There's no way to track those kind of stuffs unless it's coded and the email was not coded in anyway. Be enlighted!

Now that I think about it, you guys should probably heve heard about the Lunar Landing Hoax by now right? Well, I actually heard this story from that particular friend of mine some years ago who totally agree that the whole landing was a hoax by the American government.. you know why? He read it from Gempak. Well, I'm not saying that I disagree with the theory nor did I say that I agree with it since both sceptics and believers have a strong arguement on their side, what I'm trying to say is the source from which my friend get this story.. a comic book. Well, university life taught me that no matter how good an essay, thesis or whatever form of inforation there is, it is worthless if the sources are not credible enough. I don't have anything against Gempak mind you, it's okay for them to tell this stuffs to people since everyone have a heart for conspiracy but for us readers, don't la percaya bulat-bulat..

That's probably one of the most important things media school taught me: don't just consume the media, analyze it, comprehend it and try to see it from a different angle. There's more to it than what you first thought it to be.

Labels: media, opinion

Two weeks already?

Writer's block.. we all face it once in a while don't we? Well, at least I do.. or should I say I am facing a writer's block. Whatever..

Anyway, today I'll be driving to Cyberjaya yet again for my FTV lecture at the college. Damn I wish this class was on Thursday so I can have a three day weekend. But as sweet as it sound, I do have a problem with that if it happens; I can't work at hope. I honestly can't. I don't know la but there's this strange aura of laziness lingering all around me everytime I want t do my works here. Spooky.. Well, that's probably why I do most of my works in the library which really is a productive place as long as you bring in a sweater with you. The aircond can kill yer brains.

Well, it had been two weeks since college reopens and the works have started to pile up. I have an arguementative essay to do, and another comparison essay as well as a research assay with 50% marks not to mention having to stage a play for Malaysian Studies. Wow.. that's quite a lot for a week. I guess I should start something by tonight, I should try getting a 4.00 CGPA once in a while. Heh..

I wish I could smile honestly.. can you teach me how? I terlupa.

Flocking around...

Can somebody please kick me? Damn.. I have a headache! Arghh.. Headache pon headache la, the blogging must go on.


Well, talk about blogging I stumbled upon a new web browser a few weeks ago called Flock. Technicalities aside, this browser is based on the oh-so-popular Mozilla Firefox browser. So why the hell should you go and try this Flock thing? Well, you don't have to since I'm not forcing you or anything other than merely telling you about it. Okay, Flock is basically a browser with those who usually entertain themselves with all this Web 2.0 stuffs such as blogging (Blogger, Xanga et al), photosharing (Flickr and Photobucket) as well as social bookmarking (del.ici.ous) and RSS by integrating all those stuffs into the browser.

How? Well.. For example you're someone who have a Flickr account right, and you like to post pictures together with comments to your Myspace buddy. So instead of having to copy the address of your Flickr photo, you'll have thics Flickr bar thing on the browser so all your Flick photos will be available there. Want to add photos to you comment? Drag and Drop. Dead easy.

The same goes with blogging. Say for example you read an article you feel like commenting on your blog, select the text, right click and click 'Blog This' and you'll get a new window where you can add your stuffs and post it to your respective blog. Cool eh?

So, folks.. be brave and try all this new technological advancement before they became obselete! Oh yeah, Flock is multi-platform so I guess it'll run fine under your shiny new Windows Vista laptop as it does on my aging Macintosh.