34

Dedicated to my dearest wife, Izanin Sofya, and our (as of now) three children Waliyya, Yahya, and Dehya.

It's November 14th, 2019. My 34th birthday - the last one for this decade. When I was a child, 2020 seemed like a far future. Now it's just a month from now. So should this space exists in the far flung future when you, my children, are all grown up, and I may even have left this world, I hope you will find this time capsule.

Waliyya, our first born. Your mom and I weren't blessed with children for the first 4 years of our marriage. You had a little bit of speech problem growing up - you started speaking properly quite late. But at 6 now, you're an absolute chatterbox! Sometimes to a point which annoys me - but I love you all the same girl. You'll be attending your first year of school next year. I wonder what kind of girl you'll turn up to be.

Yahya. You're 4 this year. You have your mom's skin tone and eyes. And you love to play video games. Maybe a little too much. But hey, apple doesn't fall far from the tree yeah? Just so you know, I only started playing at 7 or 8 years old so chances are, if you're still playing as of the time you're reading this, you'd probably be a killer player. lol. Oh, you're also the hardest to take care out of your 3 siblings. I hope you'll grow up to be a fine young man.

 Dehya, you're 2 years old this year. Surprisingly, you're the most independent of the bunch, and causing the least amount of trouble and worry. Or maybe it's too soon to say? We'll see.

And least but not least (cliché, I know) my wife of 10 years, and best friend well before that. I know the last couple of years of our marriage has been rocky, but we persevered, you and I, where some others might have not. And we came out stronger from it. You're my source of light and love. I could not imagine what live would be without you by my side (literally and figuratively). Thank you. Thank you. Thank you

The Road to Divine Speech Seminar

Wow, it sure has been a long time since I've updated anything on this blog here that I feel like I've lost my blogging touch completely. Anyways, here goes nothing. 

Those who know me know how much I have been influenced by ustadh Nouman Ali Khan (refer to this post as to why) so when it was announced that he would be holding his signature Divine Speech seminar here in Malaysia, I was set to go.

I have a few students (seriously love them to death) who are a part of my tadabbur halaqah ; the contents of which are mostly from ustadh Nouman's lectures as well - so if I was to attend the Divine Speech seminar, why not try taking some of them along, I thought.

Of course, the execution of said plan was easier said - or thought - than done. For this very purpose, I had gone to lengths that, for the 5 years of my service, I had never ever gone to. I had to discuss repeatedly with the administration,  made paperworks, find a good yet somehow still affordable accomodation (thanks to my beloved wife for this!), arranged for transport and the list goes on, but when all is said and done, I feel that it was well worth it.

Originally, 10 students wanted to and were supposed to be going with me one just told me today that she had other obligations. Shikata ga nai wa ne... (note to self: need to polish up my rusty Nihongo!)

Now all that's left is to wait for the event itself. 20th of June can't come any sooner. Hopefully everything will turn out as planned. Allahumma yassir wa laa tu'assir :)

Will try to write more on the event itself then. InshaAllah.

If I had only known you sooner...

I was brought up reciting the Quran since my early years. I can still remember how I loathed that moment when my Quran teacher would come to my house at 6, because that was the time that cartoons would air on TV (namely, Garfield). The Quran to me then was just words to be recited.

And then years later, I went to an Islamic school. I was taught some tafsir of the Quran (among other Islamic knowledge). Then, everything was about memorisation. I memorised a lot and have also forgotten a lot. The Quran to me then was just another subject that I needed to pass.

Then I went to college. I had so much time to do so much things but very, very little was spent on the Quran. Occasionally, seemingly out of whim, I would read its translation (which at the time I thought was tafsir) and then put it back where it was. The Quran to me then was just another book in the locker.

It wasn't until years later that I started to get really acquainted with the Quran. I started to listen to lectures about it, memorised it and read various tafasir books. The Quran to me now, is becoming the dearest thing to me. It lifts me when I'm down, guides me when I'm lost and gives me counsel whenever I'm in need. It shows me how to live my life.

Alhamdullilah - All thanks and praises be to Allah for guiding me to His path. Were it not for His mercy, I would have deviated from Him for sure.

Looking back now, I can't help but to feel regret that I hadn't developed this relationship with the Quran earlier in my life. Alas, what's past is past. However, I will try my best to impart the appreciation of the Quran that I've developed to the future generations so that they will not share the same regret I feel.

This is a responsibility that every muslim carries.

Wallahua'lam.

The three individuals that changed my life

Up until the last Ramadhan, I was probably your average Muslim of the 21th century. I pray 5 times a day, fast for a month every year, try my best not to lie, yet as I came to find out just recently, I was probably not even at the rank of average - I was a weak believer.

Alhamdulillah, Allah has guided on the path towards him once again. And here I would like to share with you my story.

Now, Allah's Mercy and Hidayah may manifest in different ways. For me, it was 3 individuals who have changed my life forever.

To be perfectly honest with you, I wasn't at all one to open up youtube in search of religious lectures. However during the last Ramadhan, I was somehow compelled to view this video on the sidebar entitled 'How the bible led me to Islam' by a brother Joshua Evans. The gist of it is, brother Joshua was a devout Methodist, a youth minister even, who, after a series of events found Islam at the age of 17. Not only did he just learn the basics of Islam, he even went as far as becoming a Da'ie (one who calls towards Islam).

Brother Joshua and said video

After I watched the video, I was absolutely ashamed of myself. There I was, a Muslim for 24 years - since birth! Yet I had nowhere near the level of conviction that brother Joshua had. This propelled me into doing a lot of study about Islam and I did a lot of comparative religion study by myself.

I also watched more videos from brother Joshua when I eventually stumbled onto a Da'wah show from the States - the Deen Show (now available on ch al-hijrah, at 11 every Saturday). The host of the show, brother Eddie is a very interesting person. He has never said much about his own past, but he himself wasn't a Muslim to begin with. This man of Romanian descent used to live a shady past until he became a Muslim and left it all behind. Brother Eddie has been described by a person (who I will later reveal) as a 'Da'wah machine'. Literally, he would approach just anybody on the street and inform them about Islam. Subhanallah, that is the extent of change in character Islam bring out of a person.

Brother Eddie, Da'wah machine and MMA instructor

Brother Eddie's show features a guest speaker every week giving talks about Islam. Through the show, I learnt not only much about Islam but also of great speakers. I came to know of Sheikh Kamal Al-Mekki, Professor Jerald Dirks, Abdur Rahim Green, Imam Suhaib Webb, just to name a few. But of all the speakers, one of them got me truly captivated. Nouman Ali Khan.

Brother Nouman's speeches are almost always about the Quran. MashaAllah (what Allah wills), the way he explains the Quran is like none other I have been exposed to and it really touched my heart at its core. I began searching more videos of brother Nouman and later found Bayyinah.com, the website of his own Institute for Quranic studies. I must have listened to his lectures on the Quran's contents for hundreds of hours - repeatedly! - and still I couldn't get enough of it! The Quran is truly magnificent. It is through his lectures that I came to the realization that I must memorize the Quran for myself.

Brother Nouman in another one of his amazing lectures

May Allah reward these brothers for all their effort in spreading and explaining to the world and especially to me about Islam. However, I acknowledge that it is only through the Mercy of Allah that I was given the opportunity to find these brothers. If not for Him, I would not have been where I stand today - more convinced of Islam as the ultimate truth than I ever was in all my 24 years of life combined. For that, I have no words to express my appreciation other than Alhamdulillah.

Najibu the video game journalist?

All my life, I've had little choice in determining my own future. Almost everything was set by my parents. I wanted to be an artist. But NO, said my parents, and here I am today a teacher. I don't begrudge them for that. I'm sure all they want is a better life for me, and as a matter of fact, I'm doing pretty well. But ultimately, this isn't what I REALLY wanted for myself.

Having almost completely giving up on arts, my only interest now is video games. Saying that I'm 'interested' in video games, however, is a gross understatement. It's passion. Naturally, I'd want a work that I can channel my passion into. So when I heard GameAxis, the only real video game magazine in the country was looking for a writer, I knew I had to give it a shot.

I haven't heard anything back since I sent my resume for about a month, so I figured I must have not made the cut. Yet on one inconspicuous Friday, after a less than thrilling day at school, an unknown number rang up my phone, told me he was the editor of GAX, and that had been shortlisted to be interviewed for the job. I had to restrain myself from jumping in joy lest I bring down the shaky wooden house I live in.

Flash forward a week later, on the morning before the interview, one Brian Ekberg, an editor from Gamespot whom I used to admire just notified on twitter that he had resigned for another job. This post he left on his blog, which seemed just perfect to amp up my motivation for the interview, seemed to me to either be a really good coincidence, or that God was telling me that I am on the right path.

Later that day, I was there at the WriteOn Media office where I was to be interviewed. My wife, all the way with me has been very supportive and patient enough to wait at the lounge for the duration of the 2.5 hour interview. I can't thank her enough for that. Inside the interview room, that much time passed without me even realising it. I was talking to Terence Stephen, the editor-in-chief of GAX, a man who, like myself is deeply passionate about the industry. He was quite surprised to find out I am a teacher, but then again, he had had interviewees who are even lawyers and architects. There I was, in an interview for a job, and the interviewer was asking me questions like, "what's your favourite game?" It was surreal.

As part of the interview, I was tasked to write an article about a game, any game, between 500 to 800 words in about an hour. As much as I like writing about games, juggling between work and play had not left me much time to be writing a lot of game related stuff lately, so pulling off a well written article in an allotted amount of time was actually harder that it sounds. After giving it some thought, I decided to write a review of Blur, a game which I had intended to write a review for but never had the time and commitment to actually sat down and write.

Now all that's left is for me to wait. As much as I want this job, I don't think I'll be devastated if I were to be rejected. I'm a greenhorn with zero experience in journalism after all. However, Mr. Terence was kind enough to inform me that they're still looking for freelancers aside from the one full-time writer they will choose from the interview and the fact that I got shortlisted from god knows how many applicants was already pleasing enough for me. Regardless of wether I get the job, the interview was an experience that I won't likely forget... but man, it sure would be nice if I do get the job =)

Two Odd Nine

It was exactly 1 year ago today that I stepped foot on the island and really began my career as a teacher. A lot has happened since. Some of the them, among the best things that ever happened in my life. And then there were other, not very good things as well. As a commemoration (and also because I failed to do this at the turn of the new year :p), here's a list of the 5 most memorable and 5 most detestable events of the year that was.

5 Things I wish never happened in 2009

1. My job
2. Being myself, occasionally
   
3. Teaching them half-wits
4. My students' PMR result
5. My job.
   

5 most memorable event of 2009

1. Definitely the best thing that ever happened to me was getting married to my long time girlfriend. I mean, I'm married! To the girl I've been going out with for 4 years. I couldn't ask for anything more
2. Meeting my friends in Malacca. What a way to end the year! They are the best friends I've ever had. To spend time with them, even if it wasn't very long was easily among the moments that I cherished most in 2009.
   
3. In spite of me not totally appreciating the fact that I'm posted in this here island, it was a free opportunity given to me to do activities I've never thought I wanted to do before. Najibu goes jungle trekking? Swimming??? It's almost sounds preposterous!
   
4. The trip to Aishah's wedding. I disliked traveling, but then, I knew that going on a trip with a bunch of friends could be so much fun. It's a shame that things will never be the same again since.
5. Attending my cousin's wedding in Sarawak. It's the first time in many, many years since I got to stay together with my once-upon-a-time close cousins. It was a lot of fun, even if we just spent most of the time watching HBO. Actually, it was boring, but it was fun anyways. So weird.
   

Najibu turns 24

image obtained from some random flickr

And so another year came to pass. I am now 24. That's not big a figure at all. I'm still plenty young with plenty of youth and vigor to go around. And especially young for a married man.

For better or for worse, the one thing that I have never experienced for the life of me was to celebrate my birthday with my dearest friends. Not that birthdays are such a big deal to me, but I've attended them, hosted them, and even organized one yet never had the honour as the centerpiece of the occasion as my birthday always fall during semester breaks. That might have also saved me from being enveloped with expired milk powder or getting drenched by... something. Like I said, for better or for worse....

The birthday that was the most memorable to me thus far was probably my 22nd, on the 14th November of 2007. It was an especially cold day for that time of year in Wellington. I felt so aimless and hopelessly bored that day, and everybody had clearly forgotten - or really, had never even known in the first place - that it was my birthday. Yep, nobody cares for a small fry like me, but I'm fine with that. I kept a low profile afterall.

All my aimless wandering that day (which includes a visit to at least a couple of video game stores) ended up at the doorsteps of a friend's house, who then graciously invited me in to have a cake that she had just baked! No, she had no idea it was my birthday, though, she did eventually found out a few days later, but it might as well be a birthday cake for me.

Well, that's enough of looking back. As for today, I would really love to etch my greatest appreciation to those of you who wished me birthday today. To follow a tradition I started last year, here are the beautiful souls who made my day:

Via Phone (Spoken)
Mien
Nodi

Via Phone (text)
Ah Seng
Sue Fin

Facebook
Indra - 2 days in advance!
Mass
Nicky
Nas
Guna
Jarod
Faa
Kak Jaja
Syukur
Eqbal
Alex
Anne
Fifi
Hilmi
Nina
Vimal
Pa
Tam
Apis
Aini

Compared to last year, the number of text messages dropped down a notch while Facebook comments increased exponentially. Truly, a showpiece of how the virtual space is where things roll these days.

Again, my heartiest thanks to everyone of you. I only pray that god bless each and everyone of you

One name is intentionally absent from the above list. One person, to whom my greatest appreciation goes to, is to my dearly beloved wife Sofya. Thank You, most of all =)

[Edit : 15/11] Special mention: Hilmy Yakap

My time stopped at 1

This is the story of my ever so trusty wrist watch. A watch that was given as a gift to me from Her Royal Highness the Sultanah. A very special watch that I have been wearing almost exclusively for the last 5 years. The watch has been a taking a rough amount of beating through those 5 years - getting knocked at metal bars, grinded against walls, fallen off tables - but it never ceased to fail me. That is, until yesterday. A single quick fall from the table in the meeting room. A single quick thud. And just like that, it stopped, right at 1.

Alright, now it's finally time to use my hantaran watch.

Moving over!

picture snatched from www.thechefinstead.ca

Yup, that's right. The wife and I have finally successfully moved out from our previous, miniature box into yet another box, only a much more spacious box. Compared to the old box, our current abode is a Goliath! Whereas our previous box was merely David's baby brother. Honestly, I'd put a comparison shot instead, but I can't find the transfer cable amidst those heaps of bags and boxes.

So, how fares our newly acquired abode? It is, as I've mentioned earlier, bigger, to be sure. However, the size, and the 4 star hotel-quality bed and pillows are the only true redeeming qualities. There are cracks all over the wall, the toilet needs serious repair, and there's only a thin wall of two pieces of plywood between our room and the next one. There's hundreds of giant bats making the trees in front of our house their habitat (it's around the place where this happened). The building looks a 12 years long rundown building which was only recently repaired to a bare minimum. Oh right, it's exactly that.

There's a substantially long list of negative qualities about the place but in the end, size does matter.

On the flip side, the place has a pretty nice view. Situated right in front of the beach, you can see the boats and yachts sail gracefully on the open seas. The only thing that stands between the building and the clear blue water is....a recently constructed public toilet. I know, GREAT view, right?

It isn't exactly ideal, but so was out old place, and I suspect that I will warm up to this place in due time just as I had with the last one. Afterall, teachers can't be choosers.


P/S: saw a kitten which looks almost identical to Eton sleeping at my doorsteps this morning! =D

Mata Aimashou

Graduation day passed. It was rather fun. The celebration was magnificent for something prepared by the Institute. The speeches (some of them, really) were inspiring, the choir was the best the I'd ever seen in the Institute ever since I set foot there, and the company, well, they were everything that mattered to me for those 2 short days.

I sure was fun, but more than that, it was sad. I met everybody I wanted to meet, though, with so little time and what with everybody having their own agenda, I didn't get to spend time with them as much as I'd hoped. And just thinking that that might be the last time we could all be together like that... it breaks my heart.

I want to watch a movie with them again

I want to have breakfast/lunch/dinner with them again

I want play hours and hours of video games with them again

I want to walk around aimlessly at the shopping mall with them again

I want to have long sessions of non-stop chatter with them again

I want to be able to meet them on a single sms notice again...

But I know that from here on out, nothing will ever be as it were again and the truth just kills me. I pray that we never erase those moment from our hearts, never forget one another, and at any given time, また会いましょう

*Title isnpired my SEAMO's また会いましょう. A song so good and wonderfully sad it makes we want to cry

Welcome Home

As I'd mentioned in the previous post, I managed to get myself a place to stay in Tioman. It isn't much of a house. Well, it isnt't even a house to begin with; getting a house in Tioman is borderline impossible. The place I'm renting in now is a small chalet. When I say small, I really mean small. I left the cables for my camera in the room (silly me) so I couldn't put the pictures here, but here's a schematic of the room.
It's about as big as 6-tatami room, probably even smaller. The small space beside the bed is just enough one person to perform the prayers. By the way, the bed takes up about 60% of the space. There's no kitchen so I have to eat out every day. Good thing there are restaurants nearby. Grocery stores, and most importantly, the school where I'm working at are also within walking distance.

The room is equipped with air-con and water heater, but I agreed not to use it, unless I want to be paying more than RM250/month. I'm not exactly thrilled with my new home, but I am thankful to have one. At least I won't be obliged to stay in the warden's room anymore, so at this point, I really can't afford to be picky.

Welcome Home, performed by Metallica. Also known as sanitarium. This is metallica in their prime.

I Get By

I have a lot to write about the 5 day experience living on that patch of land called Tioman, but instead of writing a lengthy wall of texts, which could be unpleasant for both me and you, I present you with a very concise summary of the experience, in the form of the following chart :

Click chart for a larger version

Note: my normal psyche level is at 75

(1) The boat got stranded because the sea level wasn't high enough. Stuck on the boat for approximately 2 hours, 55 minutes and 22.66 seconds. Boring.

(2) Tioman was definitely a beautiful place. First impression: impressed!

(3) The warden's room I was given to live in looks like a dilapidated room that has been left unattended for 2 whole decades.

(4) The toilet. Look at the scale. I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

(5) Started work immediately. The working environment is relaxing and the colleagues are a real nice bunch. I figure I could get along well.

(6) First staff meeting. TOV, ETR, WTH?? Was also given the position of panitia and a handful of paperwork to do. I was so totally lost there...

(7) Learning the ways, thanks to the guide from the senior teachers.

(8) I got a place to stay! Well, a room to be exact. It's a small chalet not too far from the ocean. Rent: RM250/month

(9) Started moving in most of my stuff from school. It was then when I realized how truly small the room is.

(10) Made friends with a few people who were also pretty new to town. We went fishing. I decided to pick up fishing as well soon.

(11) Went around town. Got to know various individuals. Many people already knew me as 'the new teacher'. They really made me feel welcomed.

(12) A colleague showed me around town on a bike. Free tour is always appreciated.

(13) The marine reserve has got to be some of the nicest waters I've seen in my lifetime.

(14) The plan was to go swimming, but I caught a terrible fever. Really bad fever.

And I returned home the following morning. It wasn't a terrible experience, but it was by no means a truly great one either. Oh well, I can get by...

* I Get By, by Honest Bob and the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives, is song with a nice tune but really weird lyrics. 3 out of 5 stars.

Should I Stay or Should I Go: part deux

The real answer for the question is I should have just stayed. Upon arriving at Mersing yesterday, the Jabatan Laut announced that the sea was way to dangerous for them to allow boats to set sail. They've put out a notice that boats will officially start operating again on the 19th. Emphasis on 'officially'. If boat companies think they can go to Tioman no problem, they're free to go but the passengers won't be covered by insurance if anything were to happen.

There were quite a few teachers who were stranded as I am, including my Pengetua...haha. So he told me to call him back on Thursday, and if everything's A-OK, we'll finally be leaving for Tioman on Friday. So yeah, not even a day into the job and I already got a few days of paid holiday (hopefully).

And while I'm at it, here are a few things thats been going around my head:

• met a few teachers from the school yesterday and it would seem I'm the only one from my age group.
  
• the other teachers are adult adults and they talk adult-ish stuff. The only thing I can talk objectively, without disagreeing with other people, is video games.
• I'll be the only English teacher in school, which means it's automatically confirmed that I'll become the panitia too.
• the closest person from IPBA to me, location-wise, would be The Seng in Johor, and I'm supposed to be in Pahang!
• the island is only 12km wide! I wanna try walking along the shores until I circle the whole island one day.
• the people there looks not too different from the dudes you see in Hawaii !(from movies, never been there meself)
  
• there were more things i thought about yesterday which I'd forgotten today
• and then some.
• OK, that's probably it.
• I really hate it when you know that you know something, but you just can't recall it.
• probably should just hit publish and be done with it...
  

word

[edit] holiday continues for a few more days. If all goes well, I'll be leaving on Sunday morning.

Green Grass and High Tides

We were in Kuantan to send my fiancee to her posting briefing earlier today. I was kinda happy that she got Pahang, even though I really don't know which part of Pahang it may be. And then there's another thing; I don't know where I might be sent to, and I really hoped it won't be anywhere far from here. [please let it be Pahang...please let it be Pahang...]

There certainly were a lot of them JPNP (Jabatan Pendidikan Negeri Pahang) dudes around there, and my dad knew most of them. One of those dudes happened to be the state's Deputy Director of Education.

*A rather long conversation between him and my dad ensues*

Dude took out his cellphone, talked some.

*More conversation follow*

After a while dad came to me, telling that Mr Deputy Director had inquired JPN directly and that my name is listed in Pahang. Hey, great! Afterall, Soya's gonna be posted somewhere in Pahang too!

"...in Tioman", he added. Owh-kaaay... well, it could've been worse, really, so I'm grateful the way it is.

Right then I was thinking : If Soya were to be posted to Tioman as well I'd bet they'd just let us marry~ ha ha

Dad also said that Mr Deputy Director said the guy at the office said that only 3 people from IPBA applied for Pahang, 2 girls and 1 me. So, they decided the best person to be cast away to an island would better off be a guy. Where's gender equality when you need 'em? As a side news, one of the girls (one being Mass, I think) will be posted to Chini (of Tasik Chini's fame), about an hour from my home town =)

And not too long later, I found out that Soya will be posted in Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands.I think I heard glasses shattered somewhere....

So she'll be at the green grass of the highlands, while I'll be living with the high tides of the island. Not to point the obvious, but situation will be like this -

That's from one end of Pahang to the other! And separated by the sea, no less! Sigh...

Oh well, in situations such as this, I guess it's best to just play the card in hand. Make the most of what we got. To quote from someone, "situation and place dun change but our attitude can".


*Green Grass and High Tides, performed by The Outlaws, arguably one of the best southern rock band in rock history. And this song has some of the most awesome guitar solos ever. Give it a shot. A highly recommended listen!

Freebird

Within a matter of weeks, my 5 over years of tertiary education will be coming to a close. I'll be a free bird (at least before getting posted). Way back when, the very thought of this would've made me happy. Now, however, there's that part of me that wishes for it to not end now. Honestly, I haven't had a lot friends up till I came to IPBA. Well, I probably still don't have as much friends as however-you-are do, but the ones I have now is plenty by my standards.

I understand that once this is all over, everybody, me included, will have our own lives to attend to. Everything that I am in IPBA, all the friends I've gained, the things I've done during the 5 and a half year course will be nothing but distant memories within a couple of years. I had similar feelings when leaving Wellington last year, but knowing that I will be seeing my old friends again in IPBA made it not quite as painful.

The situation is a bit different now. The thought of not being able to see most of the people I care about again, scares me. I've made some good friends here, and I don't want to lose them. Fortunately, there is a little something called the internet and hopefully that could at least keep us from being totally cut apart. We humans always take things for granted - it isn't until we nearly lose the things we have that we realize how much we should cherish them while we still can.

To all my friends I've met these past 5 years - thank you



Freebird, performed by Lynird Skynird

Driver's High

Two days ago...

Manan (a.k.a Hadi) : Wei, ho nak gi rumah Guna x esok?
Me : Wokay, why not?

So the following day (which was yesterday), Manan, Star and myself went to Seremban by bus. The rest of us, Ah Seng, Shim and Syahir, went by car instead. Long story short, we got to Guna's house and were treated with lovely food, courtesy of Guna's mom's home cooking. Then somebody came up with the idea : hey, lets go to Vilo's house next! And so we did, and more food we had, though I could barely eat anymore since I was totally unprepared for this.

Once we were done there, somebody came up with another idea : hey, lets go down to Malacca. Zaini's place! And so we did. Yet another unexpected turn of events. We did pretty much nothing there by the way. Oh well, at least we got to eat some pretty good food before eventually going back to KL. And so that trip to Seremban turned out to be longer than I expected. Much longer really thanks to all the 'detours' we had. It would have been better if I wasn't very ill-informed of the plan. Still, its totally not bad at all.. aside from frequently running into raving lunatics on the road.

Please, please, drive safe people. Remember, the road has traffic lights and lanes for a reez.




Driver's high, performed by L'arc~en~ciel

Blitzkrieg Bob

First week of practicum felt like a blitzkreg attack from out of nowhere with sledgehammer to the face. An XXL sledgehammer at that, too. Let me explain the process step-by-step to make it easier for you to understand:

• The part where the sledgehammer was swung was that Sunday before prac started. I knew it was coming straight at me but I was powerless to dodge it. The only thing I could do was wait for the impending slam and hope it won’t hurt too much.
• The next moment, the hammer hits and on that moment, the pain was unbearable. That was practically how the 5 first days felt. There’s a truck-load of things to be done. The lesson plans, organizing the portfolio and of course, dealing with the kids at school were just a few things that I had to bear with. And let’s not forget the icing on the cake. It’s chock-full of artificial sweeteners that its diabetic inducing; afternoon school sealed my fate of staying at hostel every Monday to Friday. Bye-bye McD, be-bye movies…
• And of finally, the last stage - the after effect of the hit. Everything went dark. Maybe a few stars were visible. And then everything just stopped there and then. The pain was gone. So are all the other senses. The next thing I realize is that I was laying down on the floor. Hey, the first week is over and done with and it felt all to short. Not that I hoped it would felt any longer, mind you.
  

And that’s the whole process. Here I am, waiting for the next 11 blows and hoping that by the end of it, my brain would still be functioning with all the screws still intact.

* Blitzkrieg Bob, by the American punk Rock band, The Ramones

welcome home

After the previous holiday (sometime in March, maybe), I had never went home once... for certain reasons. Reason 1) Most of the time, theres nobody at home. Reason 2) I can't spend too much time playing video games. Finally, reason 3) I don't like watering the plants. Something that I must do almost everyday at home. Now I don't mind cleaning the house, sweeping, vacuuming, whatever, you name it. But watering the plants, that is the one thing that I can't bear with. Well, I guess I could if theres only three or four pots to water, but when theres a garden full of them, it get tedious real quick. It also doesn't help that the water pressure has been really low around these parts these days. Heres hoping that it rains occasionally to help me get through the holidays while keeping my sanity intact.

welcome home is a song by Coheed & Cambria

life*

Yesterday, I had arrived home from a very exhausting trip. The trip to my friend Wani's wedding took me and some other boys up north to Gurun, Kedah from KL (and some of us from Seremban). We stayed there for only a couple of hours or so before heading back home. As much as I'd like to write about it, I haven't transferred the pics taken from the wedding so that will have to wait for another time.

I'll have to admit tho, there is a little envy in seeing a friend at your age already married. It makes me question : why can't I?? Of course, I kinda know what kind of answers I'll get bombarded with if I were to voice out that question. Something along the lines of:

1. you're still too young... look at x, he married at abt your age and see where he is now

2. sure, if you least 20k then go ahead...
3. you?? marriage?? wahahahaha
4. nice try, come back and ask again after 3 years..

or better still...

5. *ignores and continues to read paper*

ah...such is the cold harsh realities of life. Unfair!!


[UPDATE]

I did ask my parents the question and the answer I got was none of the above. Instead, it was :

"Wait till you graduate, then we talk..."

Thats it, I'm going to courts mammoth!!



*life is a song made famous YUI

double oh seven

2007 has ended, so here's a quick recap of the year that was for me :

Academic life

I think I've improved a bit in this area. Before, I would've waited last minute to do my assignments and usually just borrow research materials from someone else. Not the case in 2007, and for that I'm glad. Overall grade still haven't change much tho..still the average person I am (can't escape that curse). Perhaps the most significant academic improvement of 2007 was Japanese language. Yeah, I'm so in love with kanji.

Hobbies & interests

Manga/anime used to be on top of my interests, gaming second and music a distant second but 2007 saw some change of priorities. Currently, video game reigns supreme on top, music goes up a notch to second place and manga/anime after that. I've also seemingly gave up on my ideas to one day draw my own manga. Its sad but I had to let it go. Also, 2007 was also the best gaming year since, like, ever. Some noteworthy games includes C&C3, Bioshock, CoD4, Forza Motorsport, Mass Effect, Okami. Thats just a few, and considering theres lots others that I haven't played yet, 2007 will forever be remembered as the year of the game...at least for me.

Social life

OK, maybe not so much improvement here. Notice the words 'not so much' there...so at least there is some. For starters, its the only year that I attend gatherings, open houses and sports days regularly. I even picked up a new sport that I'm liking now. Ultimate frisbee rocks! Hope to be able to play with the ppl in IPBA soon.

Thats pretty much the gist of 2007. Oh, I might be a couple of days too late but happy 2008 people. May we have another great year ahead of us