Whatever You Say I Am

Picture Post: December & January 2012

2012-02-02T20:11:00.001+08:00

"Pejamkan matamu untukku," Sungai Lui by Aizat Amdan.

So this is the picture post I promised. CHECK IT!!

***

So on the 26th of December it was my first and possibly only Boxing Day in Sydney, Australia. Google it if you don't know what that is.

Shot bajet stai.

The line outside Louis Vuitton. Pretty much sums it up.

***

It was also my first and possibly only new year's celebration here.

Some have waited at their spot overnight just to get a good sight of the firework display.

Le watermark.

Le me and le friends. (Pic courtesy of Bagan)

(Courtesy of Bagan)

***

Boy came over for a 3-week visit, so I took him to a few places.

He got me a present. Awww.

He wanted to go to a skatepark, but didn't have a helmet, so picture only.

Boy being better looking than me in front of the Opera House.

Me floating for no apparent reason.

Le Bondi Beach.

Le La Perouse blowing me away.

Le pose.

***

So I guess that's all for now. Don't want to get draggy now, do we?

May peace be upon you.

Cheers!

Hey, There's a Blogger App!

2012-02-02T18:40:00.001+08:00

"You're not the only one," That's Where You're Wrong by Arctic Monkeys.

So I'm just trying it out.

And I can post pictures too! Woots!

Last week was a disappointing month here on the blog. Just one post. Sorry readers (if you're out there), been busy. Really disappointed with myself.

Hopefully with this app, that'll change.

Honestly, I thought that the summer break would be filled with boredom, but it has proven me wrong, and with less than a month still to go, I hope time will be available to me to read recreationally and blog more often. We'll see, inshaAllah.

I still have a picture post to do here, so that's number one on the list. I might even do it tonight, but we'll see.

Till then, may peace be upon you.

Cheers!

P/s- I find myself using cheers in real life more often now. Don't know if it's a good thing or not. Peace!

Boy Mai & Kerja

2012-01-27T00:02:00.001+08:00

"Centottantamille, trecento quaranta cinque sogni,"Di Vino by Marta Sui Tubi.

MashaAllah, I find myself awake again in the wee hours of the morning. And so with no notifications coming up on Fussbook and lacking the motivation to think of something witty to tweet about, I decide to venture into writing my first blogpost of 2012.

So many things have happened within the last month, almost all of them interesting. But for the sake of keeping this post short and sweet, I'll just update some things that are going on right now.

I've been working as a filler at Franklin's for approximately two months now. In my latest video (#19 Salam) I wore my work uniform. Just the name-tag is missing. Oh, and proper pants. But that scene didn't require any. So kain pelekat sudeh. Muehehe

I usually wear kain pelekat when making videos. I'm more relaxed that way. Only when it is absolutely necessary do I wear pants around the house. But I digress.

My brother, Boy arrived here two weeks ago. Most of my free time has been filled by taking him around Sydney. Up until now, I've taken him everywhere that I have been to in Sydney and also to some places that I have never been, like Bondi beach and La Perouse. He'll be staying here until the second of February, inshaAllah, so we have another week to spend. But now I have no idea where I should take him to next. Suggestions, good people of Sydney blogspot?

So yeah, those two are the major things that are happening right now. InshaAllah, when I muster the will to upload pictures of the happenings within this month up in here, it will be done promptly.

And I have also downloaded the blogspot app in the phone, so I expect myself to update more with the help of that app. Basically anything that is above 140 characters (untweetable content) will be uploaded using the app, inshaAllah.

So may peace be upon you.

Cheers!

KL and Melaka-ing Around

2011-12-22T10:32:00.000+08:00

"Detik itu lalu meninggalkanku," Oh My Love by Awan Band.

So I just got back from Malaysia a couple of days back, so instead of wasting my time looking for stuff to write stupid comments on Facebook, I will update this blog with some of the stuffs that I did the whole 5 days that I was there. So if you guys actually wanted to read something interesting, go read Cinta SMS instead. Here goes..

Day 1 - 16 December

Touched down in KLIA at about 9.30pm (if I remember correctly). Took the ERL to Sentral to meet up with my family. Had dinner with them near Pudu and at about 11.30pm, AG (Hujan) picked us (my little brother, Boi and me) up to go play a weekly futsal league called Liga Ulama' (The Ulama League) at Subang.

Ai is not in dis pikcher.

We played until 2.30am, with me scoring 3 goals in 5 games (two of them against AG's team). My teammates were Boi, another Boy, Zul and Alif (all three I just met there). They were great. Then AG sent us back to our hotel and we slept like logs.

Day 2 - 17 December

Alhamdulillah, I got up that day and went down for breakfast at about 9am. Mat Luthfi and his father came and joined us for breakfast as well as a little chat.

ZOMG! MATLUTHFI!

After breakfast, we chilled in our hotel room for a bit before proceeding to have lunch. My father organized a little feast for friends and family at the Chicken Hut at The Mall. There I got to meet up with some cousins, aunts, uncles, friends as well as make some new friends.

Some of the sights at Chicken Hut.

The little kenduri ended at about 6.30pm. Then my entourage of friends and cousins took off to Morning Rocket which was situated in Cheras, KL for a little shopping as well as a visit to Kamar Seni (AG's recording studio) which was situated just above Morning Rocket. Got myself a pair of shoes as well as a shirt (woots!). Unfortunately, no pictures were taken there.

Then I went to meet up with the family back at Midvalley Megamall. Then, off to rehearsals for tomorrow's event at Dewan Tun Razak 2, PWTC. Got to shake hands with Dato' Affendy (the creator of 1MalaysiaTV), Ahmad Idham and Cat Farish. Again, no pictures. The rehearsals ended at 2am.

Day 3 - 18 December

The day of the launch of 1 Malaysia TV. After breakfast, we went down to the hall and shook hands with a few people. Took some pictures and signed a few autographs.

Then I went up on stage to fail at speaking for 30 seconds in front of a few hundred people, not to mention the Prime Minister of Malaysia. *facepalm

Me (sort of) speaking.

Yeah, he was there.

Then we continued taking pictures and signing autographs until Mat had to leave at about 5pm. Had a good time with him as company. Crazy, he is.

Mat & me.

Ully, Awan Band's guitarist.

Najwa Latif performing.

Me with Awan Band and Awi Rafael.

After dinner, we set off for Melaka. Checked into a hotel there and slept in anticipation for the next day.

Day 4 - 19th December

After breakfast, we went to my aunt's house for a visit and stayed for lunch. Then we headed to Dataran Pahlawan to join Cat Farish and crew for some 1 Malaysia TV promotional efforts.

Me wearing my new Morning Rocket shirt with Aunts, Uncle and cousins.

Me with Cat merapu apa taktaw.

The turnout wasn't that high. The people that came were mostly people who happened to be shopping nearby. But some did come up to me and ask for a picture, so that was nice.

Alang-alang you guys are reading this, if you have a mobile device (Blackberry, iPhone, iPad, Galaxy tab, etc.), try browsing "www.1malaysiaiptv.com" and download the application. If that's too much of a hassle, go straight to your app store and search "1 Malaysia TV". It's free (hooray!). It's an app that allows you to stream Malaysian TV channels like RTM1, TV3, TV al-Hijrah, etc. wherever you are in the world for no extra charge. It'll only use up internet, so watching using wifi is highly recommended. Support the Malaysian mobile TV industry!

Okay, iklan habis.

After wrapping that up, we went for dinner and then went back to the hotel to sleep. Early day tomorrow.

Day 5 - 20 December

On the road by 5.30am for KLIA. Nothing to highlight on this day. Just getting on a plane back to Sydney.

------------------------------------------------

So that wraps it up for the whole 5 days. It was exhausting, but definitely a lot of fun getting to make so many new friends as well as meeting up with old friends. Experiencing something totally new. All in the process of growing up. I ask Allah for guidance towards the straight path.

I wasn't kidding about asking you guys to support the Malaysian mobile TV industry. Please do. Plus, it's free, so it's not as if you lose anything from supporting. Orang Melayu kata, bukan rugi apa pun. It's really convenient, especially for an overseas student like myself who wants to catch up on what's happening back home. Paihni bleh la layan Tentang Dhia sniri daripada dok baca tweet ja. Eh? Dah habih dah ka? Alaa..

A big thank you goes out to everyone that made all that you have read possible. My family (especially Bapak), Cat Farish and crew, AG, Mat, friends that came to meet me and hang out, the people at erama, and everyone else that I may have left out. THANK YOU! May Allah bless you all.

May peace and blessings be upon you.

Cheers!

1 Malaysia Youth TV

2011-12-14T16:56:00.002+08:00

"I've never done this before," Promises, Promises by Incubus.

Everyone is invited to attend:

All kinds of cool stuff will be there. Oh, but I'll be there too, on both days. So inshaAllah, just one uncool thing on schedule. It would be awesome if you guys could come.

Oh yeah, and a secret: Mat Luthfi is also scheduled to make a special appearance. So a BIG BIG reason to go right there. But you didn't hear that from me, yeah?

But I wouldn't mind if you want to tell all your friends on Facebook or Twitter or even at your local kedai mamak. I wouldn't mind at all.

May peace and blessings be upon you.

p/s- Free food might just be given out, if you come early enough. Again, this stays between you and me, kay? :P

Cheers!

Goodbye Cohort 1

2011-12-08T09:49:00.000+08:00

"I wish nothing but the best for you," Someone Like You by Adele.

With the end of the exams also comes the end of the semester, marking the end of a schooling term. We say goodbye (for a while) to lectures, classes, assignments, weekly readings and all the things that makes university what it is.

However, the end of this semester in particular is of exceptional significance to me because it also marks the end of my seniors' (Cohort 1) 2-year stint here in Macquarie University, meaning that they have to go back to Malaysia and complete their remaining 1 year of teacher training, and that makes me very sad.

You see, they were not just my seniors. They were also my friends, football teammates, guiders, and some of them my housemates. They were a big part of my life here in Australia, as I imagine they were for most (if not all) of the people in my cohort (Cohort 2).

Sending Amir off. (From left: Azlan, Amir, Shariman & me.)

It's very saddening to have the people who have taught you how to cook, people who you watch movies with, people who guide you in your studies, people who have taken you around a foreign land, people who have invited you into their family as if you were part of theirs, people who you joke around with, people who you share stories with, people who you go out for a late night snack with go far away from you without the prospect of you ever seeing them again after this. When we get back to Malaysia, they would have already finished their studies and should be waiting to be placed in schools already, so seeing them again as students, not looking very likely.

Goodbye Faiz, Farid, Pidi. (The rest are the sendoff team)

Last meal with Hilmi in Sydney.

Our friendships have come to teach me a deeper understanding of brotherhood in Islam. They have taught me to always respect others and that I am not alone in this world. I will always have people who I can turn to for help and advice. Always willing to help, they are. They will always have a special place in my heart.

Razeen.

Yus.

I praise Allah for bringing them into my life. I honestly would not know how I would have survived without them. And I can only hope that the almost-one-year experience with them was as sweet to them as it was to me. I pray them the best in this world and the next. May they bring goodness to wherever they may go.

May peace and blessings be upon you.

Done Did Dud

2011-11-28T16:15:00.001+08:00

"Been gone a long time, I kinda lost my way," Wishing Well by Blink 182.

So much for one post a week. Sigh.

That was more than two months ago. Of all the things listed on the to-do list, only three were really done, the weekly reading, daily assignment-doing and one edited video.

Since then, I have turned in all my assignments, moved house, said goodbye to two of my housemates/seniors and finished my exams. Two months? MashaAllah, how time flies.

So I guess this post will be a semester wrap-up. Oh yeah, I haven't mentioned that the semester is over. Last paper was a few hours ago. Here's a brief summary of the subjects I took this second semester in 2011:

EDUC267 - Introduction to Curriculum and Pedagogy
Awesome, funny lecturer, made the lectures and tutorials enjoyable. Learned extensively about approaches to teaching and learning, theories and all that good stuff. Learned quite a lot about Australian education too, how they do things around here. Lecturer was a fellow amateur video-maker too, so that was cool.

EDUC265 - Educational Assessment
Again, great fun in lectures and tutorials thanks to the lecturer. Learned about the importance of alignment in education and its importance (so important that redundancy may be interpreted as stress). Made me feel like wanting to change the system in Malaysia (wow, bold statement there). Learned that Australia does not have a National Curriculum, making me feel proud that they're following Malaysia's footsteps (since Malaysia does, just in case you didn't know).

LING219 - Introduction to Sociolinguistics
Even though I'm a big fan of linguistics (especially of the socio-kind), I was not as satisfied as I thought I would be being in this course. I know I have to reflect on myself to find why exactly this course didn't match up to my expectations, and I'm doing that, trust me. But externally, the course was just too wide in my humble opinion. We were asked to learn too many things in too short a time. It would have been fantastic if the content was lessened so that deep knowledge could have been conveyed. That would have been brilliant. But overall, it was an okay course.

ANTH205 - Anthropology of Islam
I didn't expect to take this elective at the beginning of the semester. I had already enrolled in Dance, particularly because the classes of ANTH205 went on until night time, and the beginning of the semester coincided with the beginning of Ramadhan, so I thought it would be tough to buka puasa in class, and prayers would be tougher to execute due to the time constraints. But then, as the start of the semester drew nearer, I decided to enroll into it anyway, since Ramadhan was only a month-long and I am really into these kinds of things. The course was taught by a non-Muslim lecturer and I was the only Malaysian enrolled into it, with more than half the class being non-Muslims too. But the lecturer was awesome, really critical of the biases of Western scholars and media who put Islam in a bad light, as well as the scholars of the Orient who were bias as well. The classmates were cool too, and they seemed to be very interested in Islam, asking questions and being attentive the whole semester. I got to present my first presentation in Macquarie University in this course, and it was on Islamophobia. It was the course which I read the most in (I credit my inability to make videos to this subject), spending most if not all of my spare hours berkurung in the library reading the weekly articles and writing up responses. It was exhausting lemmetellya, but at the end of the day, very much worth it. I gained an insight into the practices of Muslims around the world, gained new friends, got to talk about Islam in the Malaysian context and learned about Islam outside it, just a whole lot of good stuff. I'm very happy that I made that switch before the start of the semester. Alhamdulillah.

And so concludes my first year of studies here in Macquarie University. My second semester here has made me feel like an out and out university student, spending most of my time in the library and overnight reading rooms, stressing over the possibility of not submitting assignments on time and all that jazz.

And now with the exams over, I may be able to catch up on my non-academic reading. For the holidays, I have Ustaz Pahrol, Ms Armstrong, Ms Piccoult, Mr Stossel and Ustaz Syaari to keep me company, at least for a little while. And inshaAllah I'll get back to making weekly videos, whenever time and space allows it.

That's all for now, I think. Until next time, inshaAllah.

May peace be upon you.

Cheers!

Steve Jobs' 2005 Speech

2011-10-08T05:16:00.000+08:00

"I'm not the kind of fool who's gonna sit and sing to you about stars," Stuck on The Puzzle by Alex Turner.

So while watching the Phillip De Franco show, he recommended a video of Steve Jobs. It's his commencement address for Stamford University's graduation ceremony of 2005. It's truly inspiring, and I recommend you to spend 15 minutes listening to it. I just wanted to share some quotes and a few thoughts of mine about the three stories that he shared:

1. Connecting the dots.
"You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something ... because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well-worn path. And that will make all the difference."

To me, he just said "believe in Qadha and Qadr", you know, the sixth pillar of Iman? That's why Islam is the only religion to turn to, because Islam encompasses everything. A Muslim should never feel despair, because we trust in Allah. We trust that things will work out for us in the end, that as long as we're holding on to the rope of Allah [3:103], we'll never lose. It also serves as a reminder to me that I should remain steadfast on the road that I believe that will bring the most benefit to the most people. I hope this feeling remains within myself, as well as in everyone out there.

2. Love and loss.
"You've got to find what you love... The only way to do great work is to love what you do."

True love is based on the love towards Allah, and if you're doing something that, in the end, you know will bring you closer to Him, you know you've hit the jackpot. Steve also added "as with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it". So don't settle for something you're not in (true) love with. Keep on looking for that something that will ultimately bring you closer to your Creator, because ultimately, that's where you're headed.

3. Death.
"..I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, 'if today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' and whenever the answer has been 'no' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something... because almost everything... just falls away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking (that) you have something to lose."

I think this quote is true for all world-changers. They do what they ultimately want to do, make the world a better place. To have this world-changer-mentality, death needs to be in your thoughts, because it is definitely, without a question, thinking about you. What are you going to do in your life that's going to make you special? Don't tell me you don't want to be special. You need to.

Rasulullah (may peace be upon him) was many things, but he was nothing if not a world-changer. He brought light to a world filled with darkness. That was his ultimate mission. So we as Muslims should carry on that mission. Sure we won't be able to shine as bright as he (may peace be upon him) did, but we still need to shine in some capacity, and that is to our fullest. All of us have potential. We just need to realise it, unleash it. Bring light to the world in our own way, the way that most suits us.

Of course, these are just my own thoughts on his words. As the Malay saying goes, lain padang, lain belalang. Lain orang, lain fikirang. (Okay, that second part was made up. But it's true, ain't it?)

It's not wrong to acknowledge wisdom. We may learn from anyone and everyone, even a crazy person, apatah lagi a person by the name of Steve Jobs.

May peace and blessings be upon you (the reader).

Cheers!

Rendang Tak Jadi

2011-09-20T23:58:00.001+08:00

"Terkenang daku kepada si dia," Dendang Perantau by P. Ramlee.

Because this video wasn't posted on my channel, I thought I might as well post it on my blog, for keepsake. And here it is:

So we shot this about a week ago, at a friend's apartment (which friend, I'm not entitled to disclose). This video was a tough one to make. For starters, we had to push back shooting it for a couple of weeks because of the tightness of everyone's schedule. And did I mention that we drafted a different idea first, only to come to the conclusion that it was very impractical 5 days later, thus coming up with this one? And I wasn't one of the ones responsible for thinking up this video. The producers are the ones who deserve that praise. Me, I just edited. And directed. A little bit. The less-than-five-minute video took hours to shoot (5, maybe? I don't remember). That's the thing when you're an amateur video-maker. You aren't very efficient. At least, I wasn't. I didn't know how to shoot the shots, what to include, what to exclude, at which angles I should approach the shots, what was good, what wasn't, what to shoot first and last.

Even though it was a tough video to make, it was a fun one to make too. Making videos on your own and with friends is just different. You get to bounce ideas off of each other, ask for help and have a good laugh. The hours passed by swiftly. That you can be sure of. Great, great fun. Plus, it was an awesome learning experience for me, and I'm sure it was for all of my friends too. Any upcoming videos from us will definitely reflect all the things that we've learned. (Now that I've thought about it, a post-mortem session wouldn't be a bad idea at all)

So it was hard, but fun. Time-consuming, but laughter-filled. Tough, but memorable. We hope that viewers of the video gained as much of a lesson as we learned through making it.

May peace and blessings be upon you.

Cheers!

Me Schedule-ing

2011-09-19T00:49:00.000+08:00

"Oh, it seems that you know me better than I know myself," Animal by The Answering Machine.

So this semester has been as busy as ever. I have found myself behind on my studies constantly throughout this semester, and we're already halfway. Explains why I haven't been able to make any videos or update my blog. But I'm not feeling too bad about that. My studies have and should always come before my hobbies. Especially when you're sponsored by your nation to do exactly that (study), ay?

Right now it's spring break, so I have 2 weeks to get back up to speed on everything. And maybe some rest, deserved or nay.

Thinking about future videos, I don't think they'll be as elaborate as some of my recent ones. There'll be more just-me-talking-in-front-of-the-camera-about-current-stuff-type videos, me thinks. A more Phillip De Franco approach, if you will. Having said that, I still have two videos that have been on my "to-edit" list since a long time, so they'll be given priority. Then after that, I think it'll be a more laid back IniAnwarHadi. More speaking exercises (the initial reason for me talking in front of the camera) than PSAs.

Regarding the blog, I think I really should be writing more often. I don't want to forget all these things that are happening in my life in this foreign land right now, and a way for me to remind myself of all the stuff that are happening in my life in this foreign land right now is by writing it all down. I think I should make a bigger deal of that from now on. I'll put "update blog" in the schedule that I'll be drawing up soon to avoid me from going astray.

Living over here, we experience a new kind of freedom. No one tells us what to do. The general attitude of the lecturers over here is "I recommend that you do that mate, but if you don't want to, then no worries mate." Our friends lagila, they can't force us to do anything. And they don't. So self-discipline is of the utmost importance. In an effort to manage myself, I will draw up a schedule. I should try to be as hard on myself as I can, so that I don't waste any time, but we'll just have to see how I balance between work and play.

So the very next things that are in my "to-do" list are:
- edit/publish those videos.
- draw up a schedule that will include, but are not limited to:
- updating blog (weekly)
- reading all the weekly readings
- 15-minute guitar-ing (daily)
- specific times to address assignments (almost daily)
- half an hour to read the online newspapers (daily)
- I've run out of things to say.

So hopefully these won't be just omong kosong. I really want to put all these things in action. See y'all at a later day.

May peace and blessings be upon you.

Cheers!

p/s- there's something about this post that is unique/peculiar/interesting/not really. Let's see who can spot it. The first comment-er to provide the right answer will get a shout-out in Twitter (some reward, huh? So lame..)

Raya 2011 (A Pictures-with-some-uninspired-captions Post)

2011-09-07T22:46:00.002+08:00

"Even though I'm on my own, I know I'm not alone," Someone, Somewhere by Asking Alexandria.

So my first Eid overseas. Hooray? Hooray.

The Food.
Raya and food are synonymous. Fo shizzle.

So food was a non-issue.

We got to eat good food.

We got to eat Malaysian food.

We got to eat not-so-Malaysian food too. Yum-yum. Alhamdulillah.

The Company.

Raya is also about the people you spend it with. At least it is for me.

I spent it with plenty of good company.

Some Malaysian families were kind enough to invite us to their houses for Raya.

The atmosphere was great. Everyone knew (almost) everyone else.

Hanging out while enjoying good food.

Here's one at the Sydney Malaysian Hall with cohort-mates.

With the Patricianz (house-mates) after Eid prayers.

And going to class straight after.

A very late Selamat Hari Raya to everyone. Maaf zahir dan batin. May all of your Rayas be blessed and filled with happiness. Remember all the lessons learned from Ramadhan and may the good habits fostered during the previous month carry on to the rest of your days.

May peace be upon all of you.

Cheers!

Bagaimana Menerbitkan Video? Entah.

2011-08-22T07:54:00.004+08:00

"Fill in a circular hole with a peg that's square," Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair by Arctic Monkeys.

Saya diberitahu oleh bapak saya tentang

Pertandingan Mencipta Video Merdeka bagi Pelajar-pelajar Sekolah Seluruh Malaysia

anjuran Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia.

( http://www.skmm.gov.my/index.php?c=public&v=art_view&art_id=887 )

Pertandingan ini terbuka untuk semua pelajar SEKOLAH MENENGAH seluruh Malaysia. Walaupun saya bukanlah orang yang paling layak untuk bercakap tentang ini, saya tetap ingin berkongsi idea, pengalaman dan pendapat tentang

“Bagaimana Menerbitkan Video”

kerana saya percaya ramai yang mampu mencipta sesuatu yang berkualiti tinggi dengan hanya sedikit galakan dan panduan. Saya tahu apa yang saya kongsi ini bukanlah seratus peratus tepat dan boleh diterima untuk semua keadaan, namun saya harap perkongsian ini dapat membantu rakan-rakan disekolah sekurang-kurangnya buat permulaan. Tentunya adik-adik terperasan yang artikel ini ditulis dalam Bahasa Malaysia. Ini dibuat agar dapat membantu menarik minat lebih ramai pelajar untuk mengambil bahagian.

Seperti menulis resipi memasak, mula-mula kita senaraikan ramuannya dahulu. Keperluan-keperluan asas bagi penerbitan sebuah video ialah kamera video dan komputer. Kamera ini boleh saja samada jenis HD atau SD, SLR atau automatic. Yang penting memory card yang besar (atau cukup besar bagi jumlah rakaman yang di rancang). Komputer yang digunakan juga boleh saja samada desktop atau laptop asalkan ada program mengedit seperti MovieMaker, Dreamweaver, iMovie atau Sony Vegas (yang saya gunakan). Kemudian kita perlukan model atau pelakon (kalau hampa nak buat sketsa) atau gambar/dokumen dan suara latar dan/atau muzik sekiranya ia jenis kolaj dokumentari. Dan ramuan yang paling penting dalam penerbitan video (pada pendapat saya) ialah skrip yang baik.

Langkah-langkah mudah:

1. Bincang nak buat apa. Bincang elok-elok. Lantik seorang untuk catat apa yang penting, atau semua pakat catat apa yang di rasa penting. Boleh saja kalau nak buat video ‘narative’ (bercerita) atau sketsa. Atau boleh jugak kalau nak buat montage atau kolaj beberapa ratus gambar yang membawa makna diselang seli dengan ‘naration’. Kalau berbentuk sketsa pendek, boleh dibuat secara komedi, slapstick, sarcasm, polemic, dramatic, sedih, surprise ending, misteri atau spoof. Fikirkan tentang video-video atau movie yang hampa suka. Lepas tu, fikirkan “apa yang saya suka tentangnya?” baik dari sudut dialog, penceritaan, camera angle, directing, tempo dan sebagainya. Berusaha untuk buat apa yang kamu suka tu. Fikirkan juga tentang video-video atau movie yang hampa tak suka dan fikirkan juga “apa yang saya tak suka tentangnya?” dan berusaha untuk tidak membuat apa yang kamu tak suka tu. Simple pimple tak?

2. Membuat story board untuk video. Story board ialah rangka kasar tentang cerita beserta kaedah penceritaan mengikut rangka masa dan sumber yang ada. Story board biar tak cantik asalkan senang di fahami dan menyeluruh. Kalau dalam penceritaan itu perlukan skrip maka hendaklah dibuat skrip. Tak perlu dibuat terlalu detail. Berikan ruang untuk improvisasi (dialog spontan). Contoh storyboard yang saya cari dari laman web ialah seperti di bawah:

Diambil dari sini.

Kalau dah diisi ia akan kelihatan seperti ini:

Diambil dari sini.

3. Kemudian sampailah ke peringkat pengambaran. Ambil beberapa “take” atau “shot” bagi setiap adegan kerana kadang-kadang kita akan sukai apa yang kita ingat rosak (bloopers) sebelum ini. Sekiranya tidak mempunyai memory card yang besar, pindahkan ke hard disk setiap sesi pengambaran dan di label dengan baik dan mudah diingat dan disusun. Semasa pengambaran, ingatlah supaya buat di masa cahaya semulajadi sedang baik (kalau nak guna cahaya semulajadi). Kalau tidak, perlu difikirkan macam mana menggunakan artificial lighting. Cari la torchlight ka table lamp ka apa ka supaya terang “shot” hampa tu. Begitu juga dengan latar bunyi. Elakkan juga gangguan dari segi suara, adegan dan kadang-kadang tetamu yang tidak diundang masuk ke dalam scene. Contohnya semasa berlakun adegan tahu 1957 kelihatan iPhone4 di atas meja Tunku Abdul Rahman (unless hampa memang nak buat lawak had stai camtu la kan?)

4. Kemudian masuklah ke peringkat editing. Berbagai program video editor yang berada di pasaran. Pilihlah yang bersesuaian. Antara teknik teknik editing yang boleh digunakan ialah menggunakan efek hitam-putih, filem klasik, cloning dan lain-lain. Jangan masukkan teknik teknik ini semata mata untuk menambah efek, tetapi mestilah kerana penggunaannya membantu kaedah penceritaan. Kemudian, masukkan teks dan credit di mana bersesuaian dan bila diperlukan.

5. Langkah terakhir sebelum menghantar video itu untuk pertandingan ialah membuat pra-tonton kepada rakan-rakan atau anggota keluarga untuk pendapat dan pandangan yang jujur. Sesudah itu buat perbincangan terakhir samada masih perlu membuat apa apa pertukaran atau suntingan kepada video tersebut. Sesudah itu, bolehlah dihantar ke alamat yang diberikan di sini dengan format yang telah ditetapkan.

6. Isi borang ini http://skmm.gov.my/attachment/pdf/Borang_Penyertaan.pdf

7. Semak sekali lagi samada kumpulan anda mengikut setiap peraturan yang dinyatakan di sini: http://skmm.gov.my/attachment/pdf/Syarat%20Penyertaan.pdf

8. Menang atau kalah penyertaan anda tidaklah sepenting mengambil bahagian. Pengalaman ini akan menjadi kenangan anda sepanjang hayat.

SELAMAT MENCUBA DAN SELAMAT BERJAYA!!!

May peace be upon all of you!

Cheers!

Relationships

2011-08-14T11:11:00.004+08:00

"Terkubur hasrat ibu ke sorga," Jerayawara Orang Berjaur by The Venopian Solitude.

I've been meaning to share this with you guys sooner, but you know how it goes with procrastination and other work. They're always there. But alhamdulillah, I'm writing this now.

Taken from here.

In this life, we have all sorts of relationships. For instance, our relationship with God, with His Messenger SAW, with our parents, with our siblings, our relatives, our friends, even our girlfriends/boyfriends (ai, plural nampak? hehe), etc. Some we care about more than others. Some we spend more time with compared to others. Some we are reminded of while we visit certain places.

Those are some examples of the usual names that we have when we hear the word relationship.

But most (if not all) of us also have relationships with objects too. We have relationships with our phone(s), laptop, mp3 player, wallet, bed, camera, the list goes on. Each of these objects receive our attention in one way or another. Some we give more attention to, some less. Some we care about more than others. Each person has their own list, and the hierarchy in that list also differs from one person to another. Some spend more time with their phones than with their laptops. Some spend more time on their bed than on their books.

But let me ask you this. In that hierarchy of valuable objects, where do we put the Quran in our lives?

Miracles (mukjizat, as we call it) were given to all of Allah's Prophets (may Allah be pleased with them), but all of them could only be witnessed by the people who were around the Prophet at the time. Only people who attended that magic duel against Musa a.s. and the Pharoah's wizards were able to witness his staff turn into a huge snake (through Allah's will). Only those who were around Isa a.s. were able to see him make food appear out of nowhere (through Allah's will).

Taken from here.

But one miracle stands out from all of them, and that is the Quran. It is the only miracle that is still with us today, even after more than a thousand years after the passing of our Prophet Muhammad SAW. It is the only miracle that the people of a Prophet may be able to witness so that they may feel the magic no matter where they're from or when they were born (as long as it's after the time of the Prophet SAW). Such is the privilege given to Muhammad's SAW people by Allah SWT.

So it's a miracle. So it's the only miracle still in existence. So yeah, it's a big deal.

Going back to my question earlier. Where in that hierarchy of worldly objects do we put the Quran? How's our relationship with it? Do we spend any time trying to develop our relationship with it? If we do, how much? Is that enough? Is our relationship with it just superficial? Or do we make the effort to have a deep relationship with it, where we don't just read it, we understand it? Where we don't just understand it, we apply it in our daily lives?

I ask myself these questions before I ask anyone else. Let us take this opportunity while we have the syaitan in chains during this month of Ramadhan to develop that relationship with the Quran. If we don't have one yet, go buy one, preferably one with translations and read those translations too.

It's too much of a loss to miss out on this miracle. Just too much.

May peace be upon all of you.

Cheers!

Ramadhan A Period of Reassessment?

2011-08-01T00:48:00.004+08:00

"O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous," al-Baqarah [2:183]

Alhamdulillah, we are again blessed with the Holy month of Ramadhan.

As suggested in my previous video with brother Aiman Azlan, I am pretty stoked about getting another crack at Ramadhan. It's my favourite time of the year, really.

Imagine, a month every year that is reserved for us to reassess ourselves as Muslims, gauge our sincerity and demands us to be honest to ourselves more than any other month.

Why is this month of self-reassessment? I'm guessing that if 10 people answered this questions, we'd have 10 different answers, so I'll give mine.

In the month of Ramadhan, besides the "not being able to eat and drink during the daytime" part, we're urged to (among other things) do charity (monetary or otherwise), hold our anger and read the Quran.

But then, as Muslims, shouldn't we already be doing charity regularly? Shouldn't we be the most charitable people in the world all the time and not just during that one month of the year?

"Indeed, the men who practice charity and the women who practice charity and [they who] have loaned Allah a goodly loan - it will be multiplied for them, and they will have a noble reward." al-Hadid [57:18]

Isn't the promise of a "noble reward" (Paradise) a good enough motivator for us to do charity whenever the chance presents itself? "

But I DO give charity often!" I hear you cry. Well, that's great! Just super! Just make sure to keep it up (and maybe increase in your giving ways) during this holy month, yeah?

Holding our anger is another thing that we're urged to do. But again, Muslims should be the calmest people on the Earth, in my humble opinion. Why? Because we believe in Allah SWT. We believe in Qada' and Qadr. And also because Allah SWT loves those who control their anger, as said in the al-Quran:

“…those who control their anger and are forgiving toward mankind; Allah loves those who do good.” ali-'Imran [3:134]

Even our Prophet Muhammad SAW told us not to get angry, as recorded by Bukhari in his Sahih as saying:

"Don't get angry," and he repeated this several times. [Bukhari]

That's some advice from the very best of mankind, so we should probably heed it. But then I hear you shout the inquiry "But how can we jihad if we're not angry?" And to that I say, go ahead. Be angry. But only if it's for the sake of Allah SWT. If not, don't.

Next, we're urged to read the Quran during this holy month. A lot of people blow the dust off their household Qurans and read it during Ramadhan. Some would start tadarrus groups and strive to complete reading the Quran from cover to cover in 30 days or less.

But then, aren't we supposed to read it as regularly as possible?

"And recite what has been revealed to you of the Book of your Lord. There is no changer of His words, and never will you find in other than Him a refuge." al-Kahf [18:27]

After all, isn't it the ultimate truth?

Ah, but you pout and mumble to the floor "But I already read it every single day!" If so, that's great! Awesome! Keep it up!

As I said earlier, to me, the month of Ramadhan is a month of self-reassessment. Are we really the best Muslims we can be? Or can some parts be improved? I know I definitely can do with a bit of self-fixing. How about you?

May this Ramadhan bring us plenty of rewards and make us better Muslims in the future, insyaAllah.

May peace be upon you.

Cheers!

Picture Post: Digi WWWOW Awards

2011-07-16T23:20:00.006+08:00

"Gantikan hasrat untuk berhenti dengan cuba bersyukur keatas semua yang engkau ada," Dihatiku by Boy.

The Gang before entering the theatre.

Me not doing the best of jobs not looking nervous.

Our host for the night: Baki Zainal.

Hope I can speak as fluently and be as calm on stage as he is someday. Bi ithnillah.

Aizat and his band being awesome performing Sungai Lui.

Me not knowing what to say in front of Juliana Evans (not to mention 400 other people).

Bo Amir Iqram and his guitar, putting us all in a trance-like state.

One of the most under-rated singer-songwriters in Malaysia, to me.

Me shaking hands with said under-rated artiste.

Me speaking into a spotlight. A very expensive one, I might add. *smug

Some awesome planking action, for all to see. Even Nemesis joined in the action.

Some reluctant posers.

Everyone with a glass thumbs-up.

With the Gang again.

With Mak & Bapak.

My favourite picture of the bunch. (Yeah, I is a vain dude. Boohoo)

All the pictures were stolen from my cousin, Abang Iqwan. Thanks Abang Iqwan!!

Thanks again to everyone who voted. I love all of you, and if you see me anywhere, please don't hesitate to say "Hi!".

May peace be upon all of you.

Cheers!

Alhamdulillah: Digi WWWOW Awards

2011-07-13T01:58:00.003+08:00

"...And be grateful for the favour of Allah, if it is (indeed) Him that you worship," an-Nahl, ayat 114.

A good friend of mine recently reminded me of that ayat above. I love him to bits for it.

Alhamdulillah, I have just come back from Studio 1, KL Performing Arts Centre, where the Digi WWWOW Awards ceremony was held. I was voted "Must Follow Personality", "Video of the Year", and "Blogger of the Year". Alhamdulillah.

A BIG THANKS to everyone who voted for me. I got a chance to meet a few of those voters, which was great. Hoping to meet more in the future. Seriously, without you guys, it wouldn't have been possible, so thank you very much, from the bottom of my heart.

I would like to ask for one small favour of all you though, if I may. Boleh tak?

Help pray that I will not turn into a snob. Help pray that these "wins" will only work to make me more humble, in line with the Malay saying, biar ikut resmi padi; makin berisi, makin tunduk (be like the paddy; the more rice there is, the lower it bows ). Forgive the less-than-concise translation.

I hope these awards will help turn me into a better video-maker, a better followed-personality, a better blogger, a better son, a better friend, a better teacher-trainee, and above all, a better Muslim, insyaAllah.

No pictures yet. It's in the blind of morning (pagi buta) and I should really be turning in before the drive back home tomorrow. InsyaAllah, there will be a picture-post soon, as well as a video of my experience on the night.

Thank you once again for voting, if you voted. Thank you for reading. And thank you for the prayers.

May peace be upon all of you.

Cheers!

Vlog: Moving by Fan

2011-07-03T11:25:00.003+08:00

"I hope you're happy with yourself," NJ Legion Iced Tea by A Day To Remember.

Moving by Fan from IniAnwarHadi on Vimeo.

I've moved.

Something I made that I thought wasn't very Youtube-worthy, thus I tried to upload on the blog, but turned out it couldn't be done, so I uploaded it to Vimeo and THEN put it on the blog..

Warning! A Very Rugby Post (Communication)

2011-06-29T23:23:00.003+08:00

"Got nothing against you," Afterlife by Avenged Sevenfold.

So over here I haven't completely neglected rugby (thankfully). I'm currently training with the New South Wales Malaysian students rugby team, and we've got THE tournament of the year coming up, which is the National Conference Games (NCG) 2011 that'll be held in Melbourne. It's basically a sports carnival type event where Malaysian students from all over Australia come as representatives of their states and compete against other states. The rugby games will be on the 6th of July.

The current NSW rugby team is pretty good in my humble opinion.We've got some good players who have had substantial experience in rugby. It's good fun playing with them. Plus, they're cool guys, so that's always great.

However, I do feel that the team does need to work on its communication. This has been an issue in any team I've played. Since rugby is very much a team sport, communication plays a huge role in the game. But when I say communication here, I'm not saying that we need to talk about what we had lunch yesterday on the field. I mean meaningful, in the moment, specific communication like "I'll take the scrum-half!", "That's your man!" and "Ruck it out!"

Here, I'll list down a few reasons why meaningful communication is THAT big a deal to me while playing rugby (or any team sport, for that matter):

1. It helps the team get organized. Especially when defending, when we let our team mates know who we've marked, they can mark another guy instead of having two guys marking the same person, increasing the chances of the opponent of getting an extra man on the wing. When attacking, we can know exactly how much support we have and the options that are available to us in order to make an informed decision of how to play the ball.

2. It helps the team focus. When we're voicing out what we're doing and what we're going to do, we're actually reminding our team mates and also ourselves about what we're going to do, so we'll focus more on the task at hand. If we were to stay silent, it would be very easy for us to stray in our thoughts and lose focus in a game. We don't think about how we're going to perform then and there, we'll start thinking about the result, about a cute girl standing on the sidelines rooting for his boyfriend, wondering why she even bothered to come because they're not even married yet. (No I don't think about these things. Because I communicate in games.)

3. It intimidates the opposition (why does a certain de-facto leader spring to mind? Oh well, never mind.) When you're up against a team that are frequently communicating with each other, you can't help but feel a little unsettled. You just get drowned by their meaningful noise, as they sound confident and fit. Yes, when you communicate a lot, your opponent will think that you're fit, even though inside you're panting more than a dog on heat. So communicate, it'll make you fitter (in your opponent's eyes, at least).

So those are some of the reasons why I think communication is integral in rugby or any other team sport. Of course, there are several other reasons, but those are more situational (is that even a word?) and can only be said on the field with the ball in hand.

I'm praying that all will be fine in Melbourne and that our team will do great. Think about your performance first, and the result will come. Think about your results too much, and your performance shall suffer. Wise words from a wise man (my Bapak).

May peace be upon all of you.

Cheers!

I Haven't Really Blogged Much / Winter Plans

2011-06-23T23:39:00.003+08:00

"Called up to listen to the voice of reason, and got the answering machine," Reckless Serenade by Arctic Monkeys.

I've noticed this about a year ago, but I've never really done anything about it. I've either been too busy or too lazy. I'm referring to the fact that I don't really blog anymore.

This not so recent re-realization has made me re-question why I blog in the first place. Then I remember that my initial reason for blogging was to record significant events and thoughts in my life so that I wouldn't just forget it all as time passes me by. Besides practicing my writing, of course.

I haven't been doing that lately. A whole semester in Australia has passed with only 7 blog posts to show for it. And then I wonder what I've done this whole semester. Brilliant. Sigh.

So, from this post on, I vow to myself to blog more frequently (at least once a week) no matter how busy I am or uneventful my week was, I HAVE to think about something to write about. I find that I work harder (and sometimes better) when pushed, so I hope that this push from myself will be a catalyst for some change upon myself.

...

Now that that's off my chest, I will now list down a few things that I hope to get done during this winter break. And here we go:

1. Continue making videos every weekend (and possibly on non-weekends too if I have the time and will power).

2. Play for New South Wales Malaysian students' Rugby Club in the National Conference Games in Melbourne.

3. Read some books (starting with Kuntum Cinta di Taman Syurga)

4. Attend Winter Gathering 2011 [sorry, no link found]

5. Look for a job, maybe after Winter Gathering.

6. Blog about all of it (except no. 1, of course).

I'm hoping that all that will be accomplished. But I always need to remember that we can plan, but Allah determines. And in anything I do, I need to remember that I'm doing it for Allah, to seek His pleasure.

So here's to an eventful Winter Break!

May peace be upon all of you!

Cheers!

Semester Wrap-Up

2011-06-21T16:01:00.005+08:00

"You're acting like a stranger, coz you thought it looked like fun," Hellcat Spangled Shalalala by Arctic Monkeys.

Hello there blogosphere. It's been a while, huh?

I have just finished my final exams for this semester. Four subjects, loads of knowledge, lots of hope that all of it'll stick with me forever and ever.

But it won't. *kueng kueng kueng* #WTFmoments

(Noob gila mamat ni guna hashtag dalam blog)

Digressor at heart, me.

So this post is going to summarize the subjects succinctly (let's hope).

Courtesy of spanish-only.com

Aaaaaaaand GO!

EDUC260 (Language, Literacy & Learning)

This subject taught us how to teach and be awesome at it. The lectures and tutorials were unique and great to experience. Yes, they were experiences, rather than just "lessons". We did a lot of work in pairs and were engaged throughout with well-thought-of activities. Overall, the subject made us think seriously about how we were going to make a difference in the world, class by class, student by student.

EDUC258 (Mathematics in School)

What? TESOL students learning to teach maths? But why? But then again, why not? We got to learn a lot of theories and approaches to teaching in this course, because, let's face it, this IS still basically an EDUCATION course. It also re-opened my eyes to mathematics, and shed mathematics in a more kind, less threatening light. The kind of maths that was taught in this course was fun and cool, emphasising on relational understanding. Very different to the maths that was taught to me in school, which was very instrumental and transmissionist in their approach. Any teacher would have benefited from taking this course. If the maths in our schools were taught the way this course taught us to teach it, then there would be a lot more math-lovers out there, and for all the right reasons. If it could transform a math-hater like myself say all these things, you know this course was good.

LING218 (Grammar & Meaning)

This was basically a functional grammar course, where grammar is not seen as just "a set of rules in a language", but the system of shaping reality. I know that's a bit heavy for some people, but that's exactly what it is. To non-language lovers out there, this course is dead boring. But to a person like me who is really into the English language and words in general, it really opens your eyes and makes you say "aaaahhh!" (not like an "aaah! Scary!" but more of an "aaah! Interesting!") It shows how us humans use language to construe the world around us and also how the world construes you. Interesting stuff, I kid you not. The down side was the readings, which were horribly technical, so it got my head jammed several times.

LING109 (Language, Culture & Communication) (Elective)

An interesting (understatement alert!) introduction to linguistics course. In the first lecture, the lecturer said something along the lines of "If you think this course is like rocket science, you're wrong. It's much harder." I imagine that he said those things to weed out the people who were just looking for a kacang course (easy-easy one). Some of my friends decided to switch electives after that first lecture, leaving me to be the only Malaysian in the course. And I'm glad that was the case. Besides learning loads of awesome things about just how humongous an impact language has on significant world events as well as everyday things in life that we take for granted, it also allowed me to talk to Aussies on a weekly basis and be "that Malaysian dude" rather than "one of those Malaysians". Really, fantastic course to learn, and I wish I could learn it all over again. But a big negative on the course were the assignments. They were TOUGH. Finished them on the verge of tears, I did. (Nah, I'm kidding. Or am I?)

So that was all of 'em. Overall, it was a good first semester as a university student. A very busy one, yes, but I learned a lot. Alhamdulillah, praise be to Allah for this wonderful opportunity to learn. I hope I'll be able to make good use of all this new knowledge in future. As Abu Huraira (Allah be pleased with him) reported, Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying:

When a man dies, his acts come to an end, but three, recurring charity, or knowledge (by which people) benefit, or a pious son, who prays for him (for the deceased). [Sahih Muslim]

So if it won't be of benefit to me in this world, I hope it'll bring me some good in the hereafter. Bi ithnillah.

May peace be upon all of you!

Cheers!

Birthdays

2011-05-07T20:40:00.003+08:00

"I'll be on your side forevermore," That's What Friends Are For by Stevie Wonder, Dione Warwick and Elton John.

Yup. Birthdays. The anniversary of you coming into the world.

Typically, on this joyous and special day, most of us would expect people to flood our Facebook walls with happy birthday wishes, some birthday wish text messages, cake, presents, food and some more cake. The day would be all about the person who was born on that day.

http://partyshop.co.nz/zen/birthday-supplies-34/

That's what most of us would expect. Admit it, if not one person wished you "happy birthday" on your birthday, you would get pretty pissed (or really sad, depending on what kind of person you are). If your boyfriend didn't remember your birthday, it would be a good enough reason for you to break up with him. If not one person posted a "HB :D" on your wall (because you decided to test your friends by not revealing your birth date on your profile), in the middle of the night, you would post a status along the lines of "Thanks A LOT guys. Now I know how much I'm appreciated. Don't bother saying sorry to me tomorrow. You're all dead to me." Or something like that.

But let's take a step back and think about this for a second people. Shouldn't anniversary celebrations be about our victories or past achievements? Don't we celebrate Merdeka Day to remember the past struggles of our forefathers in gaining our independence? When we were born, what did we achieve? What did we do that was SO important that it had to be remembered year after year? What did we do on that day that deserved , even demanded annual congratulatory wishes from others?

http://www.nadine30stm.blog.com /

Isn't the most deserved person to be celebrated during our birthday is the "heroine" herself? The one who struggled for 9 months and 10 days with the extra 'luggage' in her tummy, yeah, her. The person who cheated death while delivering the baby. The one who suffered bruises and cuts just to make sure that her labour of love see the light 'at the end of the tunnel'. Even if the doctor delivering the baby asks her "Ma'am, the situation is critical. We can only either save the baby or save the mother. Whom might we choose, Ma'am?" and without even a pause to think she would answer "SAVE MY BABY PLEASE!!". Isn't this is the real "heroine"? Don't you think that we should remember her the most each time our birthday comes a calling? Doesn't SHE deserves our accolades the most?

So, if our next birthday comes by, (note that it's an "if", not a "when") instead of asking her for gifts or treats at the nearest Resipi Rahsia or Market Ikan Manhattan, stop to think about it. Who is the most deserving person to receive a gift? Who should be given a cake and treated to their favourite meal instead?

Let's think about it.

May peace be upon you.

Cheers!

Can We Trust?

2011-04-23T17:31:00.003+08:00

"A smile could change a life," Healing by Sami Yusuf.

A conversation with Puan S after lunch at her house somewhere in Sydney, Australia inspired this post.

A pretty obvious thing about Australia and Australians in Sydney is that people here have very high levels of trust. Not only do they trust their friends (because you're supposed to be able to trust your friends), they trust their customers and even complete strangers.

Again, let's look at the obvious first. Most of their houses don't have actual fences around their property. Even those that do have fences make it just way too easy for any burglar to climb over them. So they are obviously not worried about any burglar-ing going on. Even their doors and windows aren't fitted with any grilles. Compare this to the houses in our country. Different, no?

Now on to my experiences. At a local park (there are a lot of parks here in Sydney), friends come to have a game of soccer. They leave everything on the park bench and go play. No need for a friend to stay back and look after their bags. Phones can even be left on the park benches for all to see, but at the end of the game, they'll still be there. Now I ask you, how often does that happen in Malaysia?

How about their customers? Here are two examples. One of the buttons on one of my friends' (Afifi) phone was defective. He did not do anything to cause this (at least, not that he knew of). It just didn't work, for some reason. At this point, he had had this phone for about one and a half months. And it was an i-phone. So he took the phone to the local Apple Centre in hopes of it getting fixed. When he showed the phone to one of the staff members there, the phone was replaced with a new one right away, no questions asked, no fee paid. Needless to say, he left the store all smiles.

Second example, given by Puan S. Her daughter's phone (Blackberry, if I'm not mistaken) fell out of her pocket while at the beach. The phone fell into the water. So they brought the phone to the local centre and explained what had happened. The phone was replaced with a new one, free of charge.

Can I get a "wow" for both of the situations above? Imagine them happening in Malaysia. Imagine.

We're an Islamic country. This is a Westernized country. Why does it seem the other way round in this aspect?

I refrain from condemning the situation in our country. I just need you, the readers, to stop and think for a while. Is this the situation in our country? If not, then can this be the situation in our country?

Happy thinking! May peace be upon you.

Cheers!

Scouting Canberra

2011-04-02T18:16:00.011+08:00

"Give me truth to my conviction," There's No Solution by Sum 41.

Mission: Scout the capital city of Australia, Canberra and report back to home base.

So the team, cleverly disguised as 60 international university students on a visit-while-learn trip to the country's capital city, embarked on the journey at 0700 hours. The two buses that they used further strengthened their facade.

The trip from "their university" took 3-and-a-half hours. Most of the that time was spent by the team to meditate on the mission at hand.

Those who took some time to rest from their meditations took the opportunity to observe the landscape and terrain of the land throughout the journey.

The agents noticed that the land was bare with very few natural resources. Not knowing if this was positive or negative, they kept their feelings about this situation to themselves.

Their first stop in Canberra was the National Museum of Australia. The objective of visiting this particular location was to carry out an extensive research on the history and legacy of the people of the country and to dig up any information about any weaknesses they had that would be useful in future missions.

We had to work very hard in acting like tourists.

The data collected are as follows (click on the pictures to enlarge):

They have a laughing floor on which they like to roll on, and which acts as a leader to them

----

Their surveillance system is far more advanced than ours. They have satellite dishes and everything.

----

They came up with the Pokemon character, Sharpedo:

----

They recruit lizards instead of eating them.

----

Their Toyotas are very much still primitive and look like they contribute a lot to the worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.

----

They are gravely ignorant about their fauna. Take the platypus above for example. They seem to think that it lays eggs.

----

.End of museum data.

The agents then proceeded to scout the Australian House of Parliament, the most key of venues in the whole country. They show their lack of concern towards the safety of their leaders by allowing "tourists" like us to go in and out of the building as we please.

The scene outside the house.

----

I had to do my share of being a "tourist".

----

The House of Parliament data is as follows:

A picture of the House of Representatives in a sitting. We went on a non-sitting day. Unfortunately.

----

We sat, however. The seats were comfortable enough.

----

A big golden stick. Probably their main weapon against assassins. *giggles

----

Portraits of past speakers. Our mission was made easier.

----

Pinkish area. Apparently the Senate area too.

----

.End of Parliament data.

We left Canberra with a lot of useful data that will be sent to home base. May they be pleased with the data that we have collected.

-------------

This post was meant to be funny. Please laugh.

Love from Australia,

May peace be upon you.

Cheers!

Perlukah? Kenapakah?

2011-03-15T17:33:00.003+08:00

"You're looking like you're low on energy," It's Hard To Get Around The Wind by Alex Turner.

Alamak, Anak Pak Man tulis bahasa sekali lagi. Awatnya ceq? Saja, suka-suka. Buruk-buruk pun saya punya penulisan bahasa ni, saya tetap nak tulis. Kalau anda dan anda tak faham, saya minta maaf lah awal-awal. I'm sorry.

Pertama sekali, saya nak mungucapkan terima kasih kepada semua orang yang sokong saya dan pertahan saya selama ini. Saya sangat menghargai semuanya, serius.

Now on to the beef.

Saya dok perhati lah kan, bila ada orang Melayu ni buat benda yang tak berapa nak elok (macam video haters yang dok femes tapi kena remove dah lani tu), orang Melayu lain macam cepat ja nak tegur (terutamanya dalam alam maya). Itu saya puji. Betul, teguran-teguran itu sangat perlu untuk mengingatkan orang yang mungkin terlupa akan apa itu kebaikan atau nilai-nilai murni seperti yang diajar oleh cikgu-cikgu kita di sekolah dulu. Bagus betul orang-orang yang berani menegur ni. Lebih baik ialah orang yang menegur secara berhikmah. Sangat saya hormat.

Akan tetapi, akan ada banyak lah jugak ayat-ayat yang macam ni diperkatakan:

"Macam ni lah Melayu! Orang sendiri nak naik ja kira nak dengki!"

"Melayu kira nak dengki ja! Tak leh ka nak hepi atas kejayaan orang lain?"

"Sampai bila Melayu nak maju kalau macam ni perangai?"

Dan semua ayat ni akan dikeluarkan oleh orang-orang Melayu sendiri.

Kenapa?

Saya tengok ras-ras lain, ramai ja yang buat benda yang menunjukkan yang mereka kurang terpelajar, tapi tadak pulak depa nak komen "Ni la orang puteh! Budak baru nak naik pun terus kondem!" Kalau ada pun, akan dicop racist oleh orang mereka sendiri.

They don't like using race in their criticism. Why do we do it?

Sebelum ada sesiapa yang kata saya membuat kenyataan yang berunsur membenci kaum saya sendiri dan dilabel pembelot bangsa, saya cuma ingin menerangkan yang apa yang saya luahkan di sini ialah soalan. Bukan pendapat. Saya tak kata teruk, saya tak kata bodoh, saya tak kata apa. Saya cuma menanyakan soalan.

Perlukah melibatkan kaum dalam teguran-teguran kita? Jika ya, kenapa? Jika tidak, kenapa orang guna?

Kenapa orang selalu associate "Melayu" dengan nilai yang negatif seperti selalu lambat, malas, dengki dan riak? Kenapa ada kenyataan-kenyataan yang seperti berikut:

"A: Kata nak jumpak pukoi 2.30, lani dah pukoi 3.30 dah, takdak sapa pun lagi ni..

B: Biasalaa, janji Melayu.."

"A: Kalau ada orang baru nak jadi femes ja, truih ramai yang dok ngata macam-macam..

B: Biasalaa, Melayu.."

"A: Dulu dia ok ja ngan aku, tapi sejak dapat kawen ngan artis tu, dah tak tegoq dah member lama macam kita neh..

B: Melayu kan? Biasalaa.."

What you need to understand here is that selalunya, both A dan B adalah sesama Melayu jugak.

Perlukah? Kenapakah?

I would love to hear your comments on this. And please good people, jangan dok komen "Biasalaa, Melayu.." Please, I don't need that.

May peace be upon you.

Cheers!

You&metube

2011-03-02T20:28:00.003+08:00

"If only you could see.." A Lunatic's Lament by Alesana.

Looks like it's an update, after so long. I don't know why, but I've been avoiding my blog a lot lately. I haven't felt like writing for a very long time. I kind of miss it, the will to write. I want to want to write again. Sooner rather than later.

But this will just be a modified re-post of a message/rant I sent through Facebook to one of my friends regarding a topic that's been on my mind recently.

About Luthfi, it's not a competition. Never was, and never will be..

I bet THAT caught your attention, right? *winks

Ehem. But that's not what I'll be discussing here. If I discussed that, i'd sound like a whiny little sissy replying to all the Youtube commenters. I'll leave that in the world of Youtube. But I will still talk about a Youtube-related topic, and that is the sudden increase in the number of Malaysians doing vlogs.

Bear with me people. If you don't want to, then please close this tab. Pretty please with a cherry on top?

Courtesy of fastcompany.com

This "trend" has brought a smile to my face. My dream of seeing the group AYAM (Angkatan Youtubers Anak Malaysia) come to fruition wasn't too far-fetched after all. Of course, it's still just in my head, but if it somehow comes true one day, I'd definitely join.

But of course, as with anything I consume through my eyes and ears, I expect quality. What use is a group with an awesome name if the content in it was just bleagh. (Sorry, no word popped in my head there, just bleagh) We need quality stuff being done in order to be taken seriously (by ourselves more than anyone else). If all we did was just lip-sync in front of the camera to our favourite tunes, then all we'd get is a group of people who are super-talented at not singing. And you tell me if that's productive. You tell me.

And the content that anyone wants to bring forward shouldn't be restricted to only blabbing in front of the camera (like my feeble attempts at being funny). Malaysia could have our very own MysteryGuitarMan (JejakaGitarMisteri maybe?) with cool video effects, or Julian Smith with funny-as-hell skits and stuff, or DaveDays who makes kick-butt song covers using his own instruments and stuff. Just out and out video-makers who make videos about anything. That would definitely be awesome. And hey, if the community is strong enough, Malaysia could even be a country eligible for Partnering. That would definitely be the day. *sigh

"Why do you sigh anakpakman?"

I ish shorta shad.

"Why anakpakman?"

Because I have a feeling that all this hype will turn out to be just that. Hype. And hype has a short lifespan. Like the hype/trend of Goth that swept the nation a few years back. Do you remember? Everyone wearing bundle pasar malam blazers and black make-up carrying umbrellas with holes in them. That lasted what? 3 months maybe? That deserved to die. This deserves to be propagated.

For that to happen, Malaysians need to be open to this new wave of Youtubers. People who have uploaded their first videos should not receive any hate mail. It's their first outing, so of course there are going to be flaws. Nobody gets off to a perfect start. And nobody ever gets perfect either. So dissin' should be strictly prohibited to the first 5 videos (at least).

And please, stay away from comments like "mencapap giler kawan nie!" or "nampak sangat nak cuba jadi mcm matluthfi, tapi sucks!" People please! They have a right to express themselves and not be compared to better-established video-makers! I definitely dislike it (and disagree) when a person says I'm like Nigahiga or RayWilliamJohnson or Shane Dawson or whatever. I'm not them, nor am I trying to be like them. I love their videos, I subscribe to 'em, but I'd feel better if people didn't say those things. Mostly because I think they're too awesome to be compared to little old young me. And also because i feel like I'm nothing like them in my videos. So compliment, but don't compare. (But I have to admit, I was very much like MysteryGuitarMan talking to the camera in my first video. Hands. Everywhere. Just needed glasses.)

In the world of expressive art (speaking in a very sophisticated artsy-schmartsy tone of voice here) everyone needs time to find their identity. You can't be your own kind of artist just after you've composed only one song, or painted only one painting, or written only one poem. That's the rule. And although there are exceptions, the rule still applies. I am looking for myself too through practice and more videos. I'm not saying I'm the best of examples, but I can only refer to my own situation at present.

As for exposure, we need to give people time. Not everyone can be an overnight sensation and gain a thousand subscribers just from one video. I know I am one of the very lucky ones chosen by Allah to be presented to a very wide audience. Alhamdulillah. Most people will gain that exposure through perseverance and good networking. And that takes time. We need to give people that time to be recognised, to gain recognition. And to do that, we simply cannot shoot a person down as soon as that person makes their first video.

"That was a long explanation anakpakman."

Yeah, I know, sorry if you felt bored reading all that. But I think I made my point clear. Did I?

May peace be upon you.

Cheers!

Salam Australia (Mana blagak pon tajuk entry)

2011-02-22T23:43:00.002+08:00

"Dalam kepekatan malam," Sentiasa Ada by Hujan.

Hello again to all of you. Yes you. And you too. And who could forget, you.

Just an update post. Nothing much.

This is very late, but I have arrived safely in Sydney, Australia. My seniors over here have been treating my cohort like family. They've been very thorough in orientating us over here. No significant problems have risen because of their awesomeness in taking care of us these first few weeks.

It is currently the first week of lectures and I have had a little taste of what the lectures over here are going to be like, and I'm liking it so far. The lecturers have been great, and they have succeeded in making me eager to learn.

There are some pictures of my exploits around here in my phone, but I haven't come round to uploading them yet. Once I do, I think I'll make a little "picture post" just for funsies.

I have also registered myself in the university rugby team and have gone for my first training session. It was okay, but after a whole semester of not playing any rugby, I'm a definitely more than a little rusty.

And now I even read in my head in an Australian accent. I don't know if this is good or bad.

Thanks to all of you who have been wishing me well. May Allah bless all of you.

InsyaAllah, I will be picking up where I left off on "By The Water" soon, so watch out for updates on that.

I guess that's all for now. My eyes keep closing and my head keeps nodding, signalling something I'm not quite sure what.

May peace be upon you.

Cheers!

Last Blog Post From Malaysia For 2 Years

2011-02-09T10:57:00.002+08:00

"I'll pretend that I'm a man for now," Faith by Seven Collar T-shirt.

Dangit! I soo knew what I wanted to write before I clicked "new post"! The second I clicked it, I spaz out!

*Five minutes pass.

Now I remember!

Ehem.

Looks like I won't be able to finish my mini-project before going off after all. And I was so determined to finish it in time at the beginning of it too! Haiz. -_-"

But seriously, distraction could hardly come in a better form. Thank you to everyone who has been reading my blog, watching my videos, asking me questions in Formspring, liking my facebook fan page, commenting nice things about me, spreading my videos/articles over the internet, and subscribing to/following my vlog/blog! I really appreciate it all, really, and that's and understatement. I can't thanks all of you enough! Just love all of you! ^-^

May peace be upon all of you.

Cheers!

By The Water #6

2011-02-06T23:27:00.005+08:00

"When you finally get to love somebody," It's Gonna Be Me by N'Sync.

Click here for previous episode

***

Credits to iproperty.com.my

"Tilt it a little to the right. No, I mean the other right," and with that, Aliff gave a "what?" face to his wife, to which Nur laughed to. "Come on, you get what I mean," Aliff couldn't help laughing along with his wife, albeit while shaking his head. That laugh is just too amazing. That face is just too cute. Never thought hanging up a picture could bring out a laugh. "Okay, just nice."

They moved into a new house together after four days of being married. The house wasn't too small, but nothing luxurious either. Just an average one-storey semi-detached house near the city. The rent was reasonable and it wasn't too far away from the city. And the area's surau was in walking distance. They were content.

They spent most of the day unloading their things from the moving lorry, and it was now nearing sunset. There were still several boxes left to unpack, left stacked in the corner of the living room. Nur decided to call it a day and went to hit the shower. Aliff smiled back and told her to go on ahead. He still had some things to fish out of his boxes, mainly clean clothes.

He went to the box stacks and started looking for a box labelled "Clothes". He removed a small box on the top of a stack and read the label, "Nur's". His curiosity got the better of him and he opened the box after checking that his wife wasn't in the room.

In the box, he found among other things, a picture of a small Nur. She didn't seem like she was even old enough to walk yet, and holding her was a smiling woman who looked very much like Nur, not her mother that he met during the wedding. In another picture, Nur was wearing her school uniform and it looked as if it was her first day of school. Nur wasn't smiling, but she was cute nonetheless. Sandwiching her in the picture were her late father and the same smiling woman who held her in the picture of her as a baby. Her late father wasn't smiling though.

Another picture showed a teenage Nur, still wearing a school uniform, still alongside her late father, but this time with her mother that Aliff met at the wedding. Everyone except Nur was smiling. Aliff was confused now. He stared at the three pictures.

"What are you looking at?" Nur came into the room fresh out of the shower to find her husband staring at some pictures.

"Who's this?" Aliff asked, his face asking a thousand more questions.

Nur covered her mouth. Oh no. "You looked into my box?" said Nur on the verge of tears.

Upon seeing his wife's reaction, Aliff went straight to her and put his arms around her. "Why? What's the matter?"

Nur's arms acted as a barrier between her husband's body and hers, but she didn't push away. She couldn't push her tears away either.

They stood there like that for a few minutes with Aliff stroking his wife's hair gently with one hand and holding the pictures with the other hand whose arm was around Nur.

***

May peace be upon you.

Cheers!

By The Water #5

2011-02-02T22:01:00.005+08:00

"It wonders me, how soon will it be?" Sunny Cloudy by Delude.

Click here for previous episode

***

Credits to slatestoneart.ca

They sat on the bench by the city park's lake, side by side. The view of the sunset there was stunning. They both mouthed "Subhanallah," almost in sync, but they didn't notice. Nur had been coming here to witness this majestic show of God for quite a while now, but it was Aliff's first time.

They wed just a day ago, and their fingers were still red with inai (henna), and they still couldn't bring themselves to hold eye contact for more than 5 seconds straight at any one time. This was fantastic. Perfect, almost, thought Nur.

Aliff thought back to the incident when they first exchanged words, him stuttering like and idiot just to order a glass of milk. He was glad he remembered to reply her Salaam, or else none of this would have happened. This. Ah, it still makes him smile from ear to ear just by thinking about it.

Nur noticed her husband's sudden smile and gave a puzzled look in his direction. Aliff broke out of his meditation when he noticed his wife's curiosity. He just let out a breathe of a laugh and put his arm around her. Quite awkwardly he did this, but he didn't care anymore. This is my wife, and I love her.

Nur was a little taken aback with this new ground broken by her husband. But in a few moments she got comfortable in his arms and felt safe and secure. She redirected her gaze towards the lake and the sunset. Now it's perfect.

***

Click for next episode

Please take some time to make a prayer for all the Malaysian citizens in Egypt. May they get back to Malaysia safely and soundly.

May peace be upon you.

Cheers!

By The Water #4

2011-01-31T22:00:00.004+08:00

"Count to seventeen and close your eyes," S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W by My Chemical Romance.

Click here for previous episode

***

Credits to jiwaadi.blogspot.com/

"Not everyday. And from a guy too," Nur walked away still concealing her smile.

She has been waiting tables here at her father's shop ever since she finished her diploma in Business Management, and that was about five or six months ago. Her father didn't think too much about her only daughter getting a degree. Her older brother already did that. She can do what a woman is supposed to do, take orders from other people, was what her father always said. She never said anything back.

The thing about Permaipura is that it's filled with everyday middle-to-upper-class people who share one philosophy in common, "all play and no work makes Jack a dumb boy". Actually, it's more like "any play at all will make you dumb, so work, work, work!" They are all work-driven and they are never satisfied with their lives, at least that's what Nur could observe. Even during weekend breakfast sessions like these, most of them would be on their phones talking about buying or selling something to somebody, usually overseas.

And their thoughts are so concentrated on achieving comfort in this life, it makes her wonder if they've made any preparations for the afterlife. After all, a lot of these people are her people, and share her religion. But whenever she gives the salam, it's very rare that anyone replies. That's what made the guy remain in her thoughts for a while. Not everyday.

***

Click here for next episode

My prayers go out to all the Muslims in Egypt and Tunisia. Malaysians, please be thankful for the peace that we have here. Please.

And sorry for not posting for two days in a row. Been busy. Yeah.

May peace be upon you.

Cheers!

By The Water #3

2011-01-28T14:37:00.007+08:00

"I'm being chased by my imagination," The Thespian by Alesana.

Click here for previous episode

***

Credits to makanmalaya.com

He smacked his forehead a little too hard, but he felt he deserved it. "Man, why did I turn into such a retard?" He honestly didn't know. It was just a waitress. Plain-old-nothing-too-special-waitress.

But of course, she was wearing a headscarf. It's been a while since he last saw one of those. Or maybe he's seen them, but never really cared to look. He never really looked at any girls, really. Not that he swung the other way or anything; he just didn't want to look that much. There was never really much to look at. And even if he did, what would he be hoping for? The girl to suddenly look back and come up to him and say "Let's go out?" Dream on brother.

He now raised his hand again, but thought better of smacking his head again and brought the slap down to his lap. "I knew I forgot something!" He turned his head to look into the shophouse and saw that she was serving some teh tarik to a table of guys about his age. He pursed his lips and looked back at his book and nasi lemak which he had abandoned for his thoughts. Almost forgot they were there.

He proceeded to dig into his nasi lemak while his eyes scanned the lines of the book. His eyes were on the book, his mouth was filled with rice, but he wasn't digesting any of that. He only had one thing on his mind.

The glass of warm milk finally appeared on the corner of his eye.

"Wa'alaikumsalam," he said looking up to the waitress.

A puzzled looked materialised on the girl's face.

"Sorry I didn't reply your salam earlier," he said with a smile, feeling that he needed to explain himself.

The girl half-smiled and left without another word.

He watched her walk away until a person walking by disturbed his gaze. He didn't even realise that he was looking at her. He continued to shove rice into his mouth, which was now smiling for what reason he did not know, but he liked it. Looks like he's going into class with a good mood today. And possibly, thought he, every other day too.

***

Click here for next episode

May peace be upon you.

Cheers!

Oops, I Got Carried Away

2011-01-28T00:40:00.004+08:00

"Is it about time?," The Murderer by Alesana.

Sorry peepz. I got carried away watching Wheezy Waiter on Youtube into the wee hours of the morning until I forgot to write #3 of By The Water.

You're probably wondering, "Why not write THAT instead of THIS??" Well, I don't feel very motivated right now, and I reckon the quality that I will produce at this hour will be even lower than usual, so I decided there won't be a new episode tonight.

InsyaAllah, tomorrow night I'll post #3. For now, I'll leave you with two things I'm obsessing over at the moment. The first would be Wheezy Waiter that I mentioned above. I just can't stop watching his videos. He's definitely one of the funniest guys on Youtube. You guys should check him out.

The second thing that has got me buzzin' is a Japanese band, "Cinema Staff". Besides having an awesome band name, they play awesome music too. I've only been listening to them for slightly over 24 hours, but I'm already in love.

Big thanks to Shaheir for introducing them to me. Funny story about that too. He actually posted a video of "Cinema Staff" on a mutual friend's wall, not mine. But being the busybody that I am, I checked the video out and immediately wanted more. What? That wasn't funny? Right, it wasn't. Boo.

But seriously, you guys should check 'em out.

That's all for this post. Sorry once more, if you've been waiting (BIG IF there). May peace be upon you.

Cheers!

By The Water #2

2011-01-26T23:59:00.005+08:00

"My brush can't seem to start again from scratch," The Artist by Alesana.

Click here for previous episode

***

Credits to sakina08.wordpress.com

"Assalamualaikum. What would you like to drink?" she asked a table in which sat 4 men in their late twenties. It was only on noisy mornings like these where she felt safe giving the salam, because her father couldn't hear her. If he did, she knew that she was in for another ear-full with a lecture about not scaring away customers with kampung-ness and what not. As much as she loved him, she didn't agree with her father on several things, salam-giving being just one.

It was another busy Saturday morning at the restaurant. Nur corrected her headscarf as she was waiting for the people at the table to make up their minds on what to drink. They were in some sort of discussion among them and Nur didn't feel like she had any right eavesdropping on whatever they were talking about.

She glanced over to her father at the counter just in time to catch a glimpse of him pocketing a RM50 note into his breast pocket. She heaved a disappointed sigh and looked down on her notepad-cum-order taking pad. Minnie Mouse smiled back at her as if without a trouble in the world. Lucky Minnie.

"4 teh tariks," the head of the table disrupted her staring contest with Mrs. Mouse herself. She quickly jot that down.

"Anything else?" she asked with a half-smile.

"That's all," and with that response, she walked away from the table, ripped that page and clipped it on the "order clothesline" at the back of the shop, where a square hole was the only channel in which drinks would go out of. She took the hot Milo and two teh tariks to the table that ordered them near the front of the shop, and noticed a new customer arriving at an uncleared table. "Where's Ara when you need her?" she said to herself while making her way down to the table.

"Assalamualaikum. What would you like to drink?" she asked with that half-smile of hers while proceeding to clear the table from all the used nasi lemak wrappers. These things sure are popular. And rightly so. There were really good, and the restaurant was lucky to have such a talented nasi lemak maker as their supplier.

She asked again, "Excuse me sir, what would you like to drink?" since no answer came after she had collected all the rubbish and put it in one spot on the opposite side of the table from where the customer was sitting.

He seemed to be snapping out of a daydream. "Err, umh, I'll have one glass of warm milk please," came the order finally.

She duly jot that down and asked "Is that all?"

He seemed to hesitate for a while, but finally answered, "That's all."

That's one awkward person, she thought as she took the rubbish in one hand and threw it into the nearby dustbin near the foot of the counter. She stole another glance at her father while managing a half-smile. Her father looked up from his newspaper and gave a look that can only be interpreted as "Why aren't you working?" and she went about her way to the back of the restaurant to place the order and find the 4 teh tariks waiting for her.

***

Click here for next episode

May peace be upon you.

Cheers!

By The Water #1

2011-01-25T22:40:00.006+08:00

"I hope you're ready for a firefight," Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back by My Chemical Romance.

Credits to TotalPhysicalResponse.

Fresh out of college with his English Literature degree, he came to Permaipura not really knowing what to expect. He got a job offer teaching English in a tuition class in this town last week, and the pay was good enough for starters, so he decided, why not? It was either this or back to college for his Masters, and he had had enough of school.

That morning he woke up extra early, as new endeavours tend to make the mind restless, and left his rented apartment early. He knew that the tuition centre was just 8 kilometres away, and with the second-hand Kancil that his parents gave him upon graduation, he could make it there in less than ten minutes when it was off peak hours. And he was sure to avoid peak hours, which would have made it a 30-minute-or-more drive. He wanted to get this job off on a good start.

His friend had told him that there was a restaurant not far from his tuition centre, so he headed there for breakfast. "You absolutely MUST try the nasi lemak there, I tell you," that friend had said. When he arrived, he was impressed by the number of people who were already there. "It must be pretty good then, since it could wake people up this early on a Saturday", he thought as he stepped out of his car.

It was a typical Malay low-budget shop-house restaurant, with the counter at the entrance and a balding man of medium height wearing a button plaid shirt with the three top buttons undone counting some money and pocketing some as well. There were a few tables on the parking space immediately in front of the premise, and he spotted an, be it uncleared, empty table so he went ahead and sat there. He didn't feel like going inside, since it looked stuffy, what with all the people and food jammed in one place. Plus, a few packets of the "killer nasi lemak" were conveniently placed on the table, so he would just eat those.

He pushed the used newspaper/banana leaf nasi lemak wrappers to the other end of the table. As he unwrapped his nasi lemak, he looked around and didn't notice anyone going about taking orders, so he took out the textbook from which he was going to teach later. "Form 3 English, shouldn't be that hard", he reassured himself and opened the book to the place he bookmarked it. He placed the book beside his breakfast and took a spoon from the plastic cup half-filled with water and started on the "must-tries".

"Assalaamualaikum. What would you like to drink?"

***

Click here for next episode

This is the first episode of my first mini-project on this blog, entitled "By The Water". It's a short-story (sort of) and there will be several episodes to come, insyaAllah. The next episode will be posted tomorrow, insyaAllah, and I'll try my hardest to post a new episode everyday until the series is done.

Just in case you wanted to know, it's a romantic short story, inspired by (you'll find out in the final episode). And you're probably wondering "Anak Pak Man?? Doing romance??" then proceeding to ROFL and smack your keyboard so hard you break it (I hope [but only if you were ROFLing]).

This is just something I want to do and I think will be fun and give me less free time on my hands (I have too much free time on my hands now), so if you're not really interested in this kind of stuff, then you should probably just ignore my updates until I post something with the title "It's Done. You Can Read This One (If you want to)". I'll label this whole series "By The Water" just in case (and if you're following me, you probably know that I don't really label my posts, so yeah, this is sort of a big deal to me).

That's all for now. May peace be upon y'all.

Cheers!

2010 Pictures

2011-01-04T18:34:00.007+08:00

"Maybe I am crazy, and my mind is trying to deceive me," The Artist by Alesana.

Sorry for being absent here for quite some time. Internet connection was disturbed when fibre-optic cables from the nearest town were stolen, and subsequently affected the Internet connection around my area.

Here are pictures of most of the things that have occupied me throughout 2010. But before that, a short speech.

Ehem.

It was a great year for me, a year of change (and no, Mr. Obama had nothing to do with it).

Hoping for a great 2011, insyaAllah.

Please do try to check out my Youtube channel, where I'll be posting weekly on Sundays (I hope). If you like my stuff, please Subscribe.

Don't worry, I won't neglect this blog entirely. It will be updated "from time to time". It's just that I have a brand new shiny toy, so naturally, the older toy will get less face-time. But I promise you, it will be updated with stuff that I can't (or don't want to) talk about in video-form.

Okay, it wasn't much a speech as it was an act of shameless self-promotion and "clarifications". But it had Obama in it, so close enough, ay?

The pictures are in no particular order.

Tun Mahathir the Musical.

We (some of the Institute Culture Club) were lucky enough to be able to attend and enjoy the Musical rendition of the life of a national hero (no matter who you are, you con't deny that he did some good stuff for Malaysia), the 4th Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir.

Personally, I felt that the musical touched more than it should have on the "romantic episodes" between Tun and his wife-to-be. Those scenes went on for too long for my liking, and the time that they wasted there could have gone to delving more into the history behind this great man.

Alas, it had to cater to the masses, as it was a performance for the masses, so I guess I'm a person of less mass because of my critique above. Despite my comment, I have to admit, it was indeed entertaining, and if you were there to be entertained while sprinkled with a little bit of history, then you would have been pleased. I was pleased, for the most part.

Getting to know the good people of Cohort 4.

Even though they were our seniors of 3 years, the gap was (most of the times) barely there, since they were a fun bunch of people and were very warm and friendly.

I gained a few close friends from this Cohort, and I am confident that our friendship will last even after we go our separate ways in work. That's because even though we only got to know each other for one semester, the friendships that were built were strong and won't sink anytime soon. Plus, we have Facebook to act as a medium for us to throw taunts and insults at each other.

Raya Feast 2010 at Paradise Sandy Beach Resort.

I wasn't in charge of this Raya dinner, but I had my hands full nonetheless, being the PA guy, an actor in a pantomime, as well as one of the (last minute) MCs, I barely had time to eat. Seriously. And I like eating (just in case you didn't already know).

School Experience at SK Sri Aman.

My first (official) gig being a teacher, and it lasted 2 weeks. The kids were awesome and very supportive. Some even developed crushes on me, and that was cute (no kidding). However, the kid that I got a crush on didn't care about me very much, and that broke my heart. :(

On a serious note, it really did open my eyes to the reality of the teaching scene in Malaysia (or at least at SK Sri Aman). Some of the teachers' treatment towards the children were unacceptable (to me), and the level of respect they had for the kids were minimal. It saddened me to no end watching these kids getting verbally abused and shouted at.

It made me wonder what sort of teacher I would end up being. I really didn't want to become like these teachers who don't consider the students' feelings when interacting with them, and that feeling still lingers. I hope it stays with me for the rest of my life. I wish to become the teacher who is, while firm, is also open to talking and listening to what the students have to say, what the students feel. I want respect to be mutual, and not just me demanding for theirs while I don't reciprocate and do the same to them.

I still have a long way to go, so we'll see where this road takes me.

I would also like to take this opportunity to mention my teacher-trainee partners who went to this school with me, Amala, Piravina and Chrisnarita. I am indeed grateful to have had you guys as partners. You guys helped a lot, and sorry for being late every morning for picking you up. Thanks again.

Project Indigenous to Cameron Highlands.

It was an awesome trip, being able to get a glimpse of the life of an Malaysian orang asli (aborigine) in Cameron Highlands. They treated us like royalty, but we tried our hardest to accommodate ourselves with their ways of doing things. We cooked and ate communally, we slept in their houses, we prayed at their surau, we interviewed their elders and played with their kids.

My favourite part about the trip to Kampung Kuala Boh the children there. They were by far the best bunch of kids I have ever met. All they wanted to do was play with us, ALL THE TIME. I fell for their "abang abang abang" calls for me far too easily and got tugged away from work way too often, and this was really heart-warming. I loved them, even though I no longer remember their names.

I also found out that they were really big fans of Wali Band's song "Cari Jodoh". They were all able to sing that song from start to finish, and they proved that over and over and over again throughout our stay. I have come to memorise that song as well, just because they sang it for us so many times.

Big ups to the Project Managers, Aminah and Najihah, as well as all the other committee members who played an integral part in making it all happen.

Camping at Pulau Pangkor with Cohort 3.

Now this was one of the first things I did in 2010. We got there on the 31st of December (I think) and spent new year's day there with Cohort 3. I went there one of the facilitators to Mr Sam and his team of lecturers for their Outdoor Education Programme. The other facilitators were Pak Din (Science Education), Naqib (Social Studies Education) and Akmal (Mathematics Education). The facilitators were from the same batch, i.e. first year degree students.

We had a whale of a time with the Cohort 3 folks. They were really a fun and awesome bunch of people. I could never forget the night when we stayed up and made crude jokes around a bonfire together. I also won't forget my first experience being a "safety" in repelling, being the honorary "parang holder" while jungle trekking and exchanges of "Happy New Year" with Esther, the spunky Cohort 3 girl. We still continued to greet each other as such even after we returned to the Institute, and I'm sure if we were destined to cross paths again, there would be no change in our greeting.

I had an awesome time, and Madam Malar treated us facilitators very good, taking us out for laksa and other foods. I still love her and the way she calls each of us "Abaaaang~".

I also got to bond with my fellow facilitators throughout the camp, for which I am very grateful. They were great to me, and friendships like that cannot be bought.

Assignments and presentations.

As we were in our degree years already, the learning shifted from sharpening our language skills (during the foundation course) to sharpening our teaching skills. No more were the days of merely learning language was on the agenda, since emphasis was put on being able to teach. Here, we were forced to switch modes from "carefree English student" to "professional English teacher", because if we weren't professional enough in our teaching, our grades would suffer, as mine did in one particular subject. :(

My favourite subjects of my first year are Children's Literature and Classroom Management, and it showed in my grades. Please don't misunderstand. I don't like these subjects merely because I could score in them. I genuinely loved them because:

-the lecturers that taught these subjects were awesome.

-both subjects were 100% assessed on assignments and presentations (no written exams).

-both showed how I could interact with students better.

-the lecturers were awesummmmm~

The subjects that weren't close to my heart, I won't mention. Why they were not close to my heart, please find the opposites of the above reasons I gave.

Ultimately, I am now faced with a humongous task of pulling up my pointers to where they should be, because right now, they are waaaaaaaay below par. And I can't stress the "way" enough here. Wish me luck. I'll need it.

Trip to Jerejak Island.

You may watch the video I made of this trip by clicking here. It was truly an awesome trip. Loads of fun. I recommend it to anybody looking for a change from going to Queesbay Mall. It's a healthy and much more fun alternative. And seriously, you haven't been to Penang until you try it, even if you're studying in Penang.

I took that opportunity to record my first video since it was an interesting enough programme, and I wanted to see if I had it in me to make a video. But I realised that when you make a video, you don't really get to be in the video much. Heck, in this Jerejak video, I'm not in it at all. So those glamour-chasers shouldn't take up video-making. (What Youtube channel? What IniAnwarHadi?)

First Time Donating Blood.
It was a good experience, but as you can find out by clicking here, it didn't go all too well for me. I'm definitely going to donate again in the near future. Just want to find that opportunity to present itself.

Selling Burnt Catfish at the Institute Ramadhan Bazaar.

Okay, they weren't burnt. From the feedback we got, they were pretty good. Not bad for first time catfish mongers. We sold 20 of the 20 fish we had to offer, and there were still demands for more. However, it was one-day-only event, and we had to close shop. Now that I think of it, we still haven't done anything with the money. Bagan! Mana duit tu?!

---------------------------------------------------

Obviously, a lot more went on in 2010, but these are the only pictures I've got. I need to go and scavenge pictures of the other activities I did in 2010.

So with this 2010 comes to a close. What will 2011 have in store for us? We'll just have to wait and find out.

I pray you all the best, and take care.

Cheers!

Iklan Youtube (A Vlog Is Born)

2010-12-22T21:28:00.003+08:00

"If you are what you say you are," Superstar by Lupe Fiasco feat. Matthew Santos.

My Youtube debut:

Don't be hatin' on me, please?

I've finally decided to get a vlog going on Youtube. I already have several topics lined up, so look out for them.

And I think I'll be more consistent with the vlog than this blog. Don't ask me why, it's just how I roll. I'll be updating weekly, although I haven't come up with a specific day to upload a video. I'm thinking Saturday, but we'll see.

Hope you guys like it!

And if you have a profile, be an awesome person and rate, comment and subscribe to my channel. I'll try my level best keep you happy.

Cheers!

You Will Be Missed

2010-12-19T00:47:00.002+08:00

"Kesat air mata. Ku mahu kau senyum seperti bunga menguntum," Kasihan by Hujan.

Earlier today, while I was out with my family at Padang Besar and trying to have the most fun a guy with no money and a camera could have at a place like that, I received a text message from a friend.

"Sahabat kita, A, telah meninggal dunia pagi tadi kerana asma.. Al-Fatihah buat Allahyarham.."

My first reaction was, "A? Innalillaahi wainnaailaihi raaji'uun (From Allah we came and to Allah we will go back to)", and proceeded to recite the al-Fatihah, while having A's face in mind. But that was left at that and then I went on minding my own business.

Then I received the same text from another friend of mine. Then another. Then another. I read them and did nothing but put my phone back into my pocket. The place was really crowded, so I could hardly hear myself think. Thus, I just went with the current of people minding their own business, looking for stuff to buy.

Taken from http://images.businessweek.com

Several moments after the last text message, another friend called me. A was from Terengganu. This friend, S, is from Terengganu. He asked if I knew, and I said I did. He said he was visiting the family of the deceased person in question, I just nodded and asked him a few questions about some details, then ended our conversation.

After hanging up, I imagined S going to see A's body, and how he would react. My eyes immediately welled up and I had to stop in my tracks to wipe away the sudden tears. They came uninvited, unexpected, but, at the end of the day, totally welcome. I'm sure the people who were walking right behind me were thankful that they didn't run into me, and while passing me gave me the stink eye, but at that moment, the whole world didn't matter to me. What mattered was the realisation that A, a senior, a College-mate, a block-mate, a Student Council-mate, a FRIEND, was no longer with us. I couldn't smile for the rest of the day.

Taken from evonseah.blogspot.com

You see, what finally got to me was the suddenness of it all. He started his day, I imagine, not much differently from all of us. We woke up, as he must have, had our breakfast, like he would have, and went on with our day without ever thinking that anything would happen to us, until they happen to us. And when they happen to us, we might not fully realise that, hey, that thing that happened to us, THAT'S FATE. And that was was what happened to my friend, A. Fate.

You can't run away from fate. If fate says that you'll bite your lip today, you WILL bit your lip today. Even if that's the last thing on your mind, even if that's the least favourite thing that could happen to you and you would do anything in your power to stop it from happening, you WILL bite your lip. And I have. Same goes with death. You die when you die. No questions asked. No age limit required. It doesn't matter if you're 71 or 17, you'll die when you die.

Taken from http://cdn.92q.com

The question is, will you be ready when it's your time to go?

My friends,

A was 22 years old. Twenty-two. Pretty young in anybody's book. He hadn't even started working yet. He hadn't even finished his studies. He had just finished his 6th semester in the Teacher's Training Institute for crying out loud, and 2010 was a very good year for him. He had just finished a whole term as the Student Council Treasurer, part of the Student Council team dubbed "the best we've had in years" by a lot of people. Nobody in their right mind would say that it would be the end of the road for our dear A. Alas, he was to go, and nothing could stop it from happening.

Taken from grumblingdwarf.com

The question is, will you be ready when it's your time to go?

In my memory, A was one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. He always greeted you with a smile, even if you didn't always smile back. He was a smart-looking, soft-spoken, dedicated and overall good guy. I don't think anyone would have anything bad to say about this friend of ours. Even yours truly, who didn't get the chance to really get close to him, knew enough about him to be able to trust him with anything. I was able to observe him from Student Council meetings and jobs, from trips to the Surau (he frequented it way more than I did), from the field (he always had these cool Adidas shirts on), from the Amra block (he was always smiling and getting other people to join him smiling), from passing through the Student Hall (that was his study spot for the exam period), and others. And earlier today, he was to be no more.

The question is, will you be ready when it's your time to go?

Will I be ready when it's MY time to go?

Out for A Jog

2010-12-17T08:10:00.002+08:00

"The chase ain't worth the prize," Break Your Little Heart by All Time Low.

Watch. Video. Laugh. At. Me.

It was extremely awkward running around a golf resort with a tripod and camera in hand. And all the "who's that weirdo?" glances that I've had to endure.

But it was all worth it, for all of you, my loyal readers/viewers.

Also, I'm thinking of setting up my own Youtube channel. What do you think? Would you subscribe to me? Give me your answers in the "expressions" link below.

Cheers!

Couple? Not For Me, Thanks! (in Manglish)

2010-12-12T08:45:00.006+08:00

"Mungkin dia perlukan perhatian," Kasihan by Hujan.

Since this seems like THE topic right now, I have been drawn to share my views/ reasons/ arguments/ whatevers for not couple-ing (that's having a girlfriend, for all you non-Manglish speakers).

Disclaimer: I have had the experience of having a girlfriend before this (two experiences, to be exact), so I know why people do it too (ecewaaaaah, expert abes ayat beliau!). Oh, and this post will be in Manglish too. (Sorry non-Manglish speakers!)

Reason #1: Berdossaaa..

The reasons that I have been reading all along. All I agree with. There are several blogposts about this that say it better than I ever could, but the most concise (i guess) would be this one --> Click here. Check it out.

Reason #2: Loss of Freedom

Sure, memang bes bila ada orang tanya pasai kita tiap-tiap hari. Sikit-sikit, "Dah makan belum?" Sikit-sikit, "Dah mandi belum?" Sikit-sikit, "Dah berak belum?"

taken from smallbiztrends.com

Tapi lama-lama naik rimas gak woh. Bila dah siap buat satu benda ja kena bagi report, kalau tak kena merajuk sedas. Bila tak reti nak pujuk awek, tambah-merajuk beliau pasai kita tak pandai nak pujuk. Last-last skali kena label "tak reti nak pujuk orang".

Jadi hidup akan jadi soo dependent on our phones. Kena text them, like, 24/7 kot. Nak buat kerja pun payah. Kalau lambat reply, kena lagi merajuk. Mau tak letih? Bila busy sikit, kena merajuk lagi. Nak bersembang rancak ngan member-member pun jadi payah. Pasaipa? Pasai time dok sembang-sembang, nak kena stop sat, reply message dulu. Kawan kita dok cakap, kita tak pay attention kat dia, then kata "hah?" Kawan kita pun naik bengkek ngan kita.

Tapi, on the other hand, kalau ignore the phone, then akan dapat lagi message daripada "si dia", yang akan berbaur "hello?", "U there?", ataupun miscall trus. Then, this happens:

Si dia: pasaipa lambat reply?

Kita: sembang ngan kawan.

Si dia: Oh, kawan... (which of course means "So kawan hang lagi important dari aku la?? Kononnya special la aku?? Kawan boleh dicari, tapi aku mana hang nak jumpak???")

Kita: Sorry.

Si dia: *merajuk, tak reply.

And the whole sha-bang lah after that. The fight scene that ensues I'll leave to your colourful imaginations jalah.

So, memang tak free man. Kena menjawab ALL THE TIME. Baik clash and stay single. Tak payah risau nak report kat siapa-siapa.

Reason #3: Habis duit.

Seriously, if you have a girlfriend, your wallet is not safe. Or rather, the money inside it. It's not that the girl will ask for the money or presents or whatever. It's usually our own innate desire to be so-called "romantic" to get them stuff. Pantang nampak bear cute atau cincin stai skit, kita terbayang-bayang si dia, so kita pun beli la, bagi kat dia bila jumpak.

taken from t0.gstatic.com

Ha, bila jumpak tu pun satu lagi hal. Kita ni kena la jadi gentleman konon kan? Kena la spend duit nak belanja dia ini itu. Mana boleh split the bill beb. Tak gentle ah. Kita kena belanja. Memang at the time kita tak perasan pun duit kita habis. Kita terlalu taksub nak make that person happy and make it seem like we're the perfect boyfriend, that everything that we spend is considered small change compared to what we get in return, and that's "true love". Bleagh~ I can't believe I was that kind of person. Astaghfirullahal'aziim.

Then not to mention the incessant amount of money that needs to be spent on prepaid. You have to text this person every 3 minutes, for the whole time that you're awake (let's just put it at 15 hours). After doing the math, (what?? Anak Pak Man does math??) I have discovered that if you send a text message every 3 minutes for 15 hours, you would have sent 500 texts to just ONE PERSON in a day. That's like RM5 (if one text was one sen). So an RM10 prepaid card would only last you 2 days! Gosh, even I'm astonished with this piece of information.

What do you get in return for your heavy investments? So-called "pure love" from someone who is not even your wife and you can't do stuff to her that you can do to your wife, and nothing else. Now tell me, is that rational?

Reason #4: You Lose Friends

Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit. Just because you have a girlfriend doesn't mean you lose friends automatically. But you do lose the time you can spend with your friends. Think about it.

taken from ih3.redbubble.net

Friend: Jom p tengok movie?

Kita: Oh, taleh ah bro, aku nak keluaq ngan awek satgi.

Friend: Oh, okay then.

Friend: Jom p mandi sungai?

Kita: Oh, taleh ah bro, aku janji nak breakfast ngan awek aku.

Friend: Hmm.

Friend: Jom mandi hujan?

Kita: Oh, taleh ah bro, awek aku kata bahaya, dia tamaw aku demam nanti.

Friend: What the foo??

Seriously, when your life revolves around your awek, everything else just drifts away. Family, friends, you bet.

So I have my reasons. I can spend my feelings, time and money on things that really matter, that are friends and family. Plus, I don't need to have a girlfriend to be in love. I'm already in love right now, and that love has brought and will bring me closer to Allah. And that's the only love I need.

Akhir kata, takkan kau rasai indahnya cinta; andai tiada cinta buat Yang Esa. (You won't feel the beauty of love if you don't feel love towards the One)

Cheers!

Stop & Stare/Radio

2010-12-11T00:30:00.002+08:00

"Waking up next to nothing," Radio by Alkaline Trio.

This is my first attempt at making a music video.

It was a long process. Took more time than I actually had to, because of several mistakes I made along the way. But I've learned, definitely. Hope you guys like it.

Cheers!

Namewee & 1Malaysia

2010-12-08T23:22:00.002+08:00

"Alangkah indahnya dunia," Muda by Hujan.

Hey peoples! Check this video from our very own infamous namewee out. Some of you might have seen it already, some might have not, so I advise you to watch it. It's pretty interesting, I assure you:

I came across this video about a week ago on my facebook home wall when a friend of mine posted it. I'm all for homemade videos, so I checked it out. He definitely knows how to make videos, but that's not what I'm going to be talking about here.

-Courtesy of Google-

As you might have noticed in the video, FINAS didn't want to sponsor his film since most of the dialogue (50%, according to namewee himself) was in Mandarin, and their requirement was that at least 70% of the film had to be in Malay to get approval. So he got disappointed. But then again, who wouldn't right?

I'm not going to attack namewee here. I think what he wants to do is great, and more power to him. However, I do have a bone to pick with FINAS here.

-Courtesy of Google-

Did you notice how they responded to his request for the 1Malaysia sponsorship? As soon as they found out that 50% of the dialogue was in Mandarin, they said "Itu bukan 1Malaysia." and namewee abruptly got up and left.

FINAS's epic fail here was their failure to explain to this young filmmaker what they meant by "That's not 1Malaysia," and I will give a suggestion to how FINAS could have modified their answer to sound more respectful and respectable.

They should have explained to Mr. namewee there that for a movie to be "1Malaysia", then the majority in our country should be able to understand the majority of the content in the movie without having to rely on subtitles, and how a majority of the folks in our little Malaysia speak the Malay language, which happens to be the Malay language, just in case you didn't know. You can't be a Malaysian without knowing the national language, thus by having most of the language in a film in the national language, then the whole of Malaysia could enjoy it, not just the minority which understand Mandarin.

-Thanks again to Google-

Seriously, a 1Malaysia movie should attract all Malaysians to watch it, not just one single race. And I imagine that a movie that only one race would be able to understand, can't achieve that.

I'm sorry FINAS, you guys failed to have the decent courtesy to have decent courtesy. The rakyat need to understand what is meant by 1Malaysia, and you guys didn't help at all. If anything, you made it worse.

Conclusion #1:

I would like to take this opportunity to advise all government servants (even aspiring ones) to have more courtesy in your dealings with clients. If you're a teacher, treat your students with respect and without prejudice. If you're a FINAS clerk (or whatever), please smile and use courteous language, respect your client, try your best to help him/her to understand what the problem is and explain solutions or whatever you need them to do in a non-condescending and respectful way. (I used respect 3 times here, so yeah, it's pretty important)

Conclusion #2:

Please people, try to get to a firm understanding of what is meant by 1Malaysia. Don't just interpret it to satisfy your own narrow understanding. Please try to understand that we want the WHOLE country to prosper, not just one type of people getting what they want in the name of "1Malaysia". It is what you make of it, and if you turn it into a racial sentiment, it will indeed turn into one. If you take it as a stupid idea conjured up by some prick who thinks he's all that when he's not, then it's exactly that. If you take it as a way forward, I'm sure it will be just that.

Comments are welcome in the expressions link below.

Cheers!

Teacher-to-be's Dilemma (Posting)

2010-12-03T15:45:00.008+08:00

"Ku tetap akan teruskan apa yang dijuangkan," Lonely Soldier Boy by Hujan.

As a teacher-to-be, you can’t avoid thinking about your future teaching career. The biggest question that would appear in future-teachers’ minds would be “Aku kena posting kat mana ah nanti?” Yes, all of us have thought about where we’ll be posted at least once, even before getting into the Institute. Where we’re going to get posted is a popular question among us, and as the years of teacher training pass, the question appears more and more frequently. There’s even a quiz application in Facebook telling people where they’ll be posted based on the answers that you give (I got someplace in Sarawak, by the by).

Some would dread getting posted in rural and faraway places, like the interior parts of Sabah or Sarawak, or even Pahang’s own Jengka areas, mostly because they’ll face a lot of hardships there. But on the other hand, there are some who prefer to get posted to places like that. It’ll give them experience, they say. Plus, there will be added incentives for teachers in the rural areas. Money can be a motivation, definitely.

Now, let’s look at one aspect that I’ve been giving some thought to. And please bear in mind that I’ll be teaching primary school English. Let’s get this party started.

Since urban folks are more exposed to English than the rural folks, then it can be safely assumed that teaching English in urban areas would be easier compared to rural areas. This is because the rural children, given their low exposure to the language, would have a harder time understanding the language. The teacher would be forced to speak the native language more frequently, decreasing the English immersion time the children get. A good teacher would of course do his/her best in trying to help the children understand the language better, and she/he would succeed, but at the end of the day, emphasis will be given towards vocabulary and proficiency rather than other skills.

A teacher teaching in areas where English exposure is high would have a very different situation. Say that the proficiency of the students is not a problem, since they are already able to use the language well. This opens a lot of doors for the teacher to teach the children other things, such as critical thinking skills, learning to learn skills, and the whole bag of chips. To me, these skills are very important and should be taught to the kids who already know how to use language. The teacher can now teach them how to express themselves, teach them to have an opinion and write it down or speak it out, teach them to question ideas while using the appropriate language. Of course, the teacher will have to set some healthy boundaries as to what they could question and how far to take the discussions, teach them learning to learn skills, encourage them to look for the answers by themselves. In the end, the teachers will be a facilitator of the children's learning.

Of course it would be fantastic to help less fortunate children gain an understanding of the country’s second language, but I think changing students’ mentality from swallowing everything given to them and puking it all out in exams to a more inquisitive and critical mentality is also equally important.

From these arguments, you can probably see that I aim to change the thinking of Malaysian students. I want to get Malaysian students to think more critically about things, to appreciate knowledge more, to question more, and not just regurgitate everything that has been said by the teacher or a text book.

And yes, this all starts at primary school, with the teachers playing the leading role. I need to study up if I want to be able to do all that.

Discussions in the comment box are welcome.

Cheers!

Conversation with Hystrix (Islamophobia)

2010-12-01T23:25:00.004+08:00

"Muda memberontak, etika yang kononnya akan dipegang sampai ke hari tuanya," Inspektor Remos by Hujan.

Here's a very interesting texting session I had with Hystrix the other day. I was roaming Youtube as always, and the theme of that session was "Islamophobia in America". I was too lazy to write anything, but Hystrix wasn't, so she put it down in her blog.

CLICK HERE

for part 1 of the conversation.

OPEN THIS IN A NEW TAB

for part 2 of the conversation.

THIS

is part one of the town hall debate I was watching.

Big THANK YOU to Hystrix for typing it down.

Cheers!

Holiday Pitchers

2010-11-25T22:35:00.013+08:00

"I try so hard, I try so hard," Where Did You Go by A Rocket To The Moon.

Ten days of chillin' and fun around Malaysia. The pictures will do the talking (helped along by the captions).

A little side note: all pictures were snapped by me, unless I'm actually in the picture. And I don't know how to edit pictures, so they're all unedited.

Raya Korban in Kuala Krai, Kelantan.

I had nothing else to do, so I snapped as many pictures as I could. Two-hundred plus in total (too much?), but here are some of my favourites.

Somethin' be smellin' funky up in here..

Ginie ambo wak..

Dead cow in the scenery.

Flyin' meat.

Ayah Su's house in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan.

Just to see Iris Kyra (I hope I got the spelling right). Cedits to Aiman for this one.

Malacca Visit.

We stayed at Cik Mah's, but Bapak brought us out to town one fine day, and I was holding the camera, again.

Taming Sari Tower, in all its majesty. SubhanAllah~

The "handle" of the keris up close.

The view of the river from the top. Looks very clean, no?

After the seven-minute keris-ride, we headed to Mahkota Parade, which was a short distance away.

Archery? In a mall? Super-cool.

Kuala Lumpur Stopover.

We went to take Boy out for dinner at Midvalley.

Bapak: We're gonna eat HERE. (At Midvalley Megamall)

Mak: Interesting~ Interested?

Boy: Hmm, lemme think about it..

Aiman: That rice looks nice. (See? Rhyme! Aiman, FTW!)

Just to prove that we were there. Paramore-esque pitcher, doncha think?

After Midvalley, we decided to hop on to the Digital Mall in Petaling Jaya.

Wanna get info bout alienware, son? Here's the place to ask. He's readin' their newsletter as we speak!

Aiman decided (and the decision was made by Boy) to treat us all to ice-creams! Woot! Woot!

Chillin' in Ipoh, Perak.

Bapak had a golf tourney in Ipoh, so we stayed there for the night.

Our hotel's foyer.

It used to be "Casuarina".

As you can see, that is no longer the case.

A cool welcome. Upon our arrival at the lobby, they served us with some lychee tea and cool face-towels as well as a really big scentless flower for us to marvel at, but not to take home.

To the mall!

Rajinnyer bebudak nie..

Ceh, komik rupanya.. >_<"

The next day we headed back home and arrived safely. Alhamdulillah~

Hope your holidays went fine.

Cheers!

Netbook Notebook

2010-11-24T14:27:00.003+08:00

“You’re standing up just to dance alone,” Annabelle by A Rocket to the Moon.

The significance of the above song line, you ask? Well, this post is basically a syok sendiri post. Just to tell you all that I got myself a netbook! Woohoo!

Say hello to my lil' friend!

Why a netbook, you ask? Well, first and foremost, it’s because of the size and the practicality of a netbook, small and light so that I can bring it wherever I go without worrying too much about ruining my backbone. I can get on the Net or type more freely now, and since I’m going to be a traveler soon, this is very the practical, you know?

Plus, it’s a big upgrade in terms of RAM size from my laptop (512MB to 2GB). It should be a lot faster to do stuffs on this thing. And it can store up to 320 gigs of stuff, as big as my external hard drive. Big upgrade from my 60GB laptop. So it has bigger capacity with less weight. Awesome.

Another plus would be the battery life. As long as I have been using it, the longest it can go is about 6 hours, given that I watch videos regularly. Monumental improvement from my 50 minute laptop battery.

However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. This thing does have its down sides too. First of all, the screen resolution. Small. Too small for me to use the Ulead video editor, or any video editor at that. So if I still want to work on videos on this thing, I’ll have to get a new monitor. The laptop’s screen resolution is large enough, so no problems with it there.

Another con (as in pros and cons. Get it? No? Boo you.) about this netbook is that there’s no CD drive, so I can’t install anything from a CD, unless of course I get an external DVD drive. I won’t be able to install Sony Vegas Studio HD on this thing without it. An alternative would be to actually buy the software from their website, but that would cost me. Big time. And I don’t think I’m that comfortable financially for that just yet. The laptop wins in this one.

Both my laptop and netbook have Windows 7, although the netbook has the 7 Starter, which falls short of the real thing. I can’t even change the theme. Moreover, the Chrome isn’t as good. No bookmarks on the tab place up there. Not even a home button. The laptop has the full 7, even if it isn’t genuine. But the functionality still favors the unoriginal full 7. So the laptop gets the better of the netbook here, but only just.

Both don’t have proper anti-viruses, so that’s on the top of my shopping list for now. Too bad I’m very very short on my dough right now. Sigh.

So to bring to Macquarie, at the moment I think I’ll bring both. Some things I can do on the laptop, some things on the netbook. I think I’ll treat the laptop as my desktop, which won’t leave the room and will be used for video-editing purposes as well as other multimedia-related things. The netbook will be brought by me like Paris Hilton carries her pet Chihuahua (does she still do that?) for practicality, and for typing on the go. What do you guys think?

Cheers!

What I Learned at BTN

2010-11-22T00:34:00.002+08:00

"I just know that facial make," She's Killing Me by A Rocket To The Moon.

So this is the part 2 (if you will) of the last post. Let's dive right in shall we?

1. Don't kick too hard when repelling.

Or else it's over WAY too soon. A kick-and-a-half and you're on the ground. Not even ten seconds. And I was so looking forward to it. >_<"

2. A game can get WAY out of hand.

If the players take the game WAY too seriously. I mean, really folks, it's just a game. No reason to shout, no reason cry, no reason to lose friends over. Sigh.

3. Persistence pays.

Sometimes. Of course, I received encouragement from all the right people. And being easily influenced, I kept trying to change one mind until I succeeded. That's why I love the facilitators. Seriously, they made the difference.

4. Not having your phone can be a BIG inconvenience.

With our current dependence on staying connected, I wonder how we ever survived when having a monophonic phone was a luxury. Not remembering your lecturers' numbers, not being able to get a hold of the bus drivers, not being able to update your facebook status. Say Alhamdulillah~

5. The Constitution.

Perkara 181 - Kedaulatan Raja

Perkara 152 - Bahasa Melayu sebagai bahasa rasmi Persekutuan.

Perkara 153 - Hak istimewa orang Melayu & hak-hak rakyat umum.

Perkara 3 - Islam sebagai agama Persekutuan.

Who said I slept through the talks?

Well, I guess that's all I want to share for now. Thanks for reading.

Cheers!

Kursus Kenegaraan

2010-11-16T12:07:00.003+08:00

"Even more than words can say," I Miss You Like Crazy by The Moffats.

From the 8th to the 12th of November, it was BTN time at Meru, Klang, Selangor. IF you want an almost complete report of what happened there, please click here. Credits to Miss Najwaa.

I won't be reporting, because let's face it, I'm not much of a reporter. But I'll try my best to write something about this camp.

Throughout the course, I actually got several ideas/topics to discuss here on my blog. I'll get to them when I muster the desire to write. For now, I'll just tell you guys what I [liked/ disliked/learned] [from/about] the 5 day 4 night course. Here goes.

Likes:

-Facilitators!

Especially mine, whose name is Ustaz Rujhan. He lived in Egypt for 11 years, and returned to Malaysia only twice throughout those years. Once because of earthquakes, and the other time because of war in a neighbouring country. So as you might be able to imagine, he had a lot to share about that during our small group (11 people) sessions. Unfortunately, our time together was too short. We only had one ice-breaking session and one discussion session, where he explained to us key things that we needed to know for the benefit of ourselves and the country. I really wanted to the discussion session to be prolonged, but the schedule didn't allow it. I wish to learn a lot more from him. The other facilitators were also a very fun and informative lot. They knew their stuff, and they knew it well. (The stuff I'm referring to is the Federal Constitution or Perlembagaan Persekutuan). And the Head Facilitator, Abang Yap was a great guy. He opened a few eyes when he said "Kerajaan dan parti politik adalah benda yang sangat berlainan," meaning that the Government and political parties are two very different things. Truth.

-Coaches!

Well, tough love would be apt in describing these guys. Really, they are military to the core. But we could still feel that they cared from their actions. A very good example would be when the boys' dorm blacked out. Sazali (the Naib Penghulu) and me (orang ulu) went to the coach's place to report it, and the only one still awake was Pak Ibrahim. He went to the trouble of going all the way to our dorm (which was on the other side of the camp from the coach's place) to fix the problem. Even though he scolded us for the most part, the effort he took in walking all the way to our dorm and solve the problem showed he cared. He could have taken the easy way out and say to us "Solve it yourselves!" and go on about how he had to survive in the jungle for a whole month without electricity, but he didn't. Thanks Pak Ibrahim. A big thanks to all the coaches!

-Meals!

Which were abundant. 6 meals a day makes for a pretty full stomach. More often than not, I went to the dining hall with a still-filled stomach. Alhamdulillah~

Dislikes:

-Being late!

For a majority of the activities throughout the course, I was late. A majority of the guys were late for a majority of the activities. Sure, most of the time we were only late not more than 5 minutes. And even that was because I was afraid of the implications of the head dude being late, thus I rushed myself. I need to improve on that.

What I learned will have to wait, since I'm off to Kelantan now. Take care yaw!

Cheers!

SK Ladang Harvard Speech Day

2010-11-05T19:50:00.004+08:00

"Sebelum putus tali Tuhan yang Esa," Jangan Kau Berputus Asa by Spider.

So I'm in a Spider-y mood right now.

A few days ago, upon returning to the land of Harvard (Bedong), I went straight to SK Ladang Harvard to attend the school's Speech Day (Hari Anugerah Cemerlang, not Hari Ucapan). My youngest brother (now in Standard 6) was getting a prize, and my mother who is a teacher there was the MC. I acted as the unofficial photographer. Equipped with my father's 550D alongside my baseball cap worn backwards, I certainly looked the part. All I needed was a speedlight and some gloves to complete the look of a stereotypical event photographer.

Moving on, Ainul (the youngest brother of mine) got 2nd place in his class, and got a few books for his efforts. Congratulations to him, and I hope he gets great results for his UPSR (which will come out on the 11th yaw!).

Besides speeches and prize-giving, there were also performances by the students to keep the audience entertained. There were nasyid performances, story-tellings and the like. But one particular performance stuck out from the rest. It was a sajak recitation by a Standard 5 girl.

She recited a poem entitled "Ibu dan Ayah". It was a short one, just about a minute long. She started the sajak like any primary school student would. You know, how they ALWAYS recite a sajak? Too bad this blog doesn't have audio, or else I could have demonstrated it to you who still don't get it. I'll have to settle with assuming you know.

It seemed like there was no feeling at all in the recitation. Like she was merely reading out the words of a poem that her teacher gave to her yesterday. Honestly, that was what I was thinking.

But then, after about 3 quarters of the way through the sajak, she hesitated. When she restarted, her voice started to get shaky. A few lines later, a tear appeared out of nowhere, quickly wiped away nonetheless. She promptly ended her sajak and ran off the stage, crying.

I smiled. Wow, I said to myself. How I was mistaken. That kid really knew what she was talking about. It was a thank you note to her parents, their hard work, their determination in giving their child everything she needed within their means. She realised her parents' sacrifice and could only express her gratitude through words, which she realised, was very little. But that was all she could do. She wasn't big enough to do any more. That was all she could do, write it and recite it. She wished she could do more, but she couldn't. That was all she could do.

It made me realise that there's no one way of expressing love and appreciation. I thought I knew this already, but this kid showed me that I was wrong. Even if we don't see the love, even when it is being said out loud, it doesn't mean it isn't there. I was wrong in initially assuming that the poem that the kid was reciting was given to her by her teacher and she was forced to recite it on Speech Day. Even though it seemed that way to a neutral spectator such as myself, there was much more to it. It had more love than some could even manage to muster in a lifetime. It was the realisation of the efforts of loved ones and saying "thanks for everything". It was emotion, expressed unemotionally (initially).

I salute that girl for being able to get up on stage and recite the sajak in front of her parents. I wish I could do the same.

Cheers!

Last Malaysian Exam (for two years)

2010-11-03T21:22:00.002+08:00

"Rinduku masih kau tak peka," Bila Nak Saksi by Spider.

Yes, hopefully the exams that have just passed will be my last time sitting for Malaysian exams for another two years. I don't feel like recapping the exams. I would rather reflect.

Boy, were they hard, I tells ya. But then again, the two subjects (Learning & the Learner and English Language teaching Methodology) were two subjects that I didn't like very much. It wasn't because of the subjects themselves. I think it's more because of the way they were taught.

Sure, I'm not a certified teacher yet, so what I think carries very little weight now, but don't you think that before you produce good teachers, you have to be a good teacher first? Sure, you can say "a good teacher does this, this, and this" but if you don't portray it in your teaching, then we feel like you're being some sort of a hypocrite, not practicing what you preach. And you expect us to pay attention to you and take what you say seriously? I'm sorry, but that's just hard for me to do.

And I'm weak. I know I should be saying "What does that have to do with your progress as a good teacher? If you want to learn, then learn. You don't need to depend on the teacher to give you everything," and I do say it to myself, sometimes. I know I should be intrinsically motivated, and there are even a lot of extrinsic motivation coming from incentives, other lecturers and such. But as I admitted, I have come to realise that I'm weak. I depend way too highly on the teacher teaching the subject for me to be interested in the subject.

Take Classroom Management, for example. I love CM. And I think that Madam M is highly responsible for making me feel this way. Same goes with English Studies and Social Studies (during foundations). I loved those subjects mostly because I loved the way the lecturers taught them. They were definitely inspiring, and I've grown to love literature and social issues because of them.

I remember saying to Hystrix in class,

"Throughout this subject, we've never had even a single meaningful discussion session in ELT. Thus, ELT is meaningless to me."

It surely is a bad thing to say, but it's the truth. I go through each ELT class counting the minutes for it to end, and sadly enough, the teacher has done nothing to rectify this lack of interest problem.

Thus, I feel that as a teacher, I am highly responsible for making my students interested in what I'm teaching. I have to be interesting. I have to grab attention. I have to give meaning to what I teach. I need to instill a sense of love towards me for them to love what I teach, what I say and what I do. Only then will they love learning. Only then will they be intrinsically motivated to learn. Only then will they love knowledge. I hold a lot of power, as a teacher. And with that power comes great responsibility.

Who says teaching is an easy job?

Oh man, this has turned out to be a reflection fit to send in as an assignment. Ugh, how I dislike the formality.

But this is from my heart. It may sound cliche, but at this moment, it is what I truly feel about education and teachers.

Ya Allah, give me the strength to be a better man. A better teacher. Amiin~

Cheers!

Advice from Ustaz Rushaidi

2010-10-25T16:08:00.004+08:00

"Hello, hello.. Ola!," Vertigo by U2.

"It has all been arranged!" said one of the performers during TESL night. And yeah, you can't help but sigh over that fact, but you learn to accept it and be thankful towards Allah for arranging everything. As the Yang Di-pertua of our Student Council once said, "Sebaik-baik perancang adalah Allah SWT." SubhanAllah..

I woke up early the other day, and got the opportunity to increase my 'amal that morning. However, while doing all that, I fell asleep again, totally unintentional. After a few minutes, les neighboure came and woke me up, and I half-heard him say that Ustaz was coming in that day. Cool, I thought to myself as my eyes closed again.

When I finally finished my very long blink, I was already half-an-hour late for class. Hastily put on my batik and ran to the Surau to face the music. And I got the music alright. No need for details there. All that needs to be said is that I don't like going late to class. I don't like it at all.

Then after some more lecturing, Ustaz gave us some advice for preserving our Iman whilst at a non-Islam country, as well as other things. Here are some of those words of wisdom that I managed to jot down:

1. Always be in a crowd, or to use his word, jama'.
And that crowd should be Muslims who can keep us on the Siraatul Mustaqiim. When we're alone among non-Muslims, we will have a bigger tendency to follow their way and be influenced by their norms and beliefs. This makes sense since not a lot of people like to feel like an outsider. Then the tendency to let go of our beliefs and values will be augmented as the desire to "fit in" and be accepted would also increase. We need to be frequently reminded of where we're from and why we're there, and that is to learn.

2. Give 200% in everything.
We'll be foreigners there. We'll be representing our country there. The whole ra'yat of almost 29 million Malaysians' image will rest on the frail shoulders of 62 Chalkies of Cohort 2. So we need to be excellent in everything. Don't give anyone any reason to look down upon Malaysia. Let them see Malaysians as a productive, hard-working, friendly nation. Plus, we have our scholarships to think about. We will be fully supported by the Government. We shouldn't let that money go to waste. Learn as much as possible, mingle with anyone and everyone, and work like your life depends on it.

3. Read the al-Quran regularly.
Regularly means everyday. If you can't do it after every Solat, then at least once a day, after Maghrib ka, Subuh ka. Remind yourself of your faith. Don't leave the Quran. Ever. Istiqamah, very important. If you haven't started, then start here and perpetuate there. Get a tafsir and read the Quran while knowing the meanings. As long as the message is read and understood and applied, you're going to be just fine. InsyaAllah.

Thank you Ustaz for the advice. I'm definitely going to miss him. I have really come to respect him as a knowledgeable and fair person. To me, he's one of several true teachers I have come to know while studying here in this Institute. Praise be to Allah for letting me meet such people.

May we be under His protection always, Amiin.

Cheers!

First Official Legitimate Video

2010-10-20T12:45:00.003+08:00

"I had ants in my pants and did the boogie dance," First Dance by Never Shout Never.

Alhamdulillah! Yeay! If you have added me on Facebook, then you would know that last month, a bunch of the Cohort 2 Chalkies went to Jerejak Island here in Penang. I saw that as the perfect opportunity for me to make a video. I elected myself as the unofficial director of videography for the trip, and brought along my trusty W380 to capture all the action in beautiful VGA (I didn't know how to edit stuffs in HD yet, boohoo!)

After the trip, the procrastinator in me postponed editing the raw footage for a little more than a month afterwards. One fine weekend, I decided to finally complete the editing, and it's finally finished! So all'a'yall, check it out! My first video!

Thanks to all involved in making the event and the video a success! None of it would be possible if it not were for your cooperation!

May more videos follow! InsyaAllah~

Cheers!

Malaysian Artistes (Early Morning Rant)

2010-10-16T02:39:00.002+08:00

"I wanna be laughed at, laughed with, just because.." Weightless by All Time Low.

First of all, I'm hungry.

Now that that's out of the way, on to the rant!

What comes to mind when you hear "artis Malaysia"? What would usually come to mind are the people on the cover of Remaja or Mangga etc. Put those pictures aside. We'll come back to them in a few.

Now, what is an artist? Well, according to http://dictionary.cambridge.org, an artist is

1. someone who paints, draws, or makes sculptures.

2. someone who creates things with great skill or imagination.

I would like to emphasize the second definition. The key words I want to stress here are "create" and "with .. imagination". So an artist must make something out of nothing and that something has to be cool.

Now let's go back to our Malaysian "artists". Do all of them create anything? Do all of them do it with great imagination?

I have to admit, a lot do create some pretty fabulous stuff, but then again, there are also a lot who don't. A lot of singers get songs from so-called composers with lyrics from so-called lyricists. A lot just ride off their fame from the various "reality" shows that are on air to get recording deals, and most of them don't even know how to play a single instrument. Heck, they wouldn't even know what a "crochet" was if it beat up their pet cat and fed it to piranhas. A lot of so-called "actors" get to be on the big screen just because "they know a guy", when evidence of any sort of talent is lacking. Heck, even somebody's spouse can somehow become an "artist", if they play their cards right and get themselves in controversial-enough situations. And what you get is a typical Malaysian (Malay too, I might add with a little racism) "artist".

I would like to stress that there be a distinction between "singers" (whose only function is to sing others' creations), "actors" (who really don't create anything, really), and actual artists (refer to the definitions given above). Malaysians like to label anyone who is famous an "artist", regardless of their contribution towards the art scene. Please people, artists are artists. Please do not mistake "stars" for "artists", because being an artist means actually contributing something.

Any disagreements are welcome. =)

And yeah, stupid ada-kerja-tapi-tak-maw-buat-kerja-lantas-update-blog-post.

Cheers!

Me Is No Good Friend

2010-10-07T14:30:00.004+08:00

"I'm sort of lacking certainty," Another City, Another Sorry by The Answering Machine.

"Yes. Me is no good friend. Me stupid dumb-dumb. I is know that me have the best friends anyone could ask for, but me is no good. I is shad. Wuuu~"

Have you ever felt like above persona is portraying? I feel it all the time. And that saddens me. Makes me feel guilty, more than any healthy person should be feeling in "the best years of his life".

First of all, let me just say that I have fantastic friends. They keep me company, listen to whatever I have to say, laugh at my lame jokes, are able to discuss whatever issues that I come across, are very smart, helpful, respectful and funny, provide a shoulder for me to cry on, etc. Suffice to say, they're the best.

However, my treatment of them leaves much to be desired. I forget to say thank you sometimes. I don't say sorry enough. I make mean jokes (which I later regret), I don't invite them to have meals with me whenever I feel like eating, I make a mess and don't clean it up, I can be cruelly inconsiderate sometimes, and the list goes on.

Of course, I don't do these things on purpose. Rather, I usually forget these social dos and don'ts or even fail to notice. This reflects badly on my EQ rating. I really should treat my friends better, and I promise to try very hard to change all these bad habits in myself towards my TRUE friends to become a better friend to them.

If any of you guys are readling this, I'm sorry for all the things that I've done which you guys didn't like so much. Really sorry from the bottom of my heart. Please forgive this ungrateful douche for not treating you like I should.

*no particular event happened. Just something I came to notice.

Cheers!

Eid 2010 (could the title be less original?)

2010-09-14T00:40:00.007+08:00

"I know that I won't be the first one giving you all this attention," Somebody To Love (Remix) by Justin Bieber feat. Usher.

Yeah, I know. But me likes the intro of the song, like, for serious.

________________________________________________

Once upon a time, a pre-adult sat in front of his brother's laptop because his crashed updating his blog. He is well reminded (by himself) that he has not written a single Ramadhan-or-Syawal-related post in his blog, and he decided that he will not even bother, since he doesn't want to get on the bandwagon (pats self on the back).

But then he decided that it was too hard to resist the temptation. Plus, he was out of other things to write about.

So his story went like this.

_______________________________________________

The dude initially set out to put in a buncha pictures up in here so that they could replace all them confusing words and bad sentence structures that he's known 'fer. However, the dude's brother's laptop wouldn't allow any pictures to be uploaded. Error 404 (or whatever it is) keeps occurring. So he's sad that he couldn't share his Raya experience in picture form. (and because he actually has to type something)

And here it is..

I'm going to begin by giving you my conclusion. Raya 2010 wuz ah-suummm~ (That's "awesome" for any of you who might not understand gibberish)

And now the boring details.

Spent 6 days (4 of fasting, 2 of Raya-ing) at Kuala Krai, Kelantan, getting reconnected with relatives and the whole shingadabing. The usual. Picked Dokongs from the orchard out back, went to bazaars and night markets, vacuumed, and watched movies during Ramadhan. Visited houses, answered questions of where I'm studying (one even asked me where I was working. I don't look THAT old, do I?) during Syawal.

Went back to Kedah on the 2nd day of Raya, endured 7 hours of sleeping in the car due to a magnanimous amount of traffic (that's a whole lot of cars lining up yo. The trip usually takes up 4 or 5 hours tops. Kesian Bapak.) and headed to the sacred halls of Sultan Abdul Hamid College for the annual Raya get-together of all the SAHOCA lads (Sultan Abdul Hamid Old Collegians Association). Met up with some old friends, chatted, exchanged phone numbers, answered questions of when I was gonna go off to Aussie. Man, they're eager to see me go away, huh? Just joking boys. And girls. Kidding too. There were no girls.

Slept at Mama's house for the night in Alor Star and went to some relatives' at Alor Star. Pleasant, truly.

Got back home in the evening, unpacked, did some curtain hanging, slept.

The next morning, got up early to prepare for people visiting the house. Cut up some vegetables, cleaned some dishes, served some food. Mak served bihun sup (the highlight), spaghetti, and some rice with chicken and vegetables. The bihun sup was superb, I tell you! I tell you, the bihun sup was superb! I need to learn how to make that dish. However, the turnout wasn't as much as we expected, so we were left with some leftovers, which means more for me. *insert evil laugh here*

On the 5th day of Raya, I decided to go off to some friends' houses in Alor Star. I went to Amar's house where I got to catch up with Amar (duh), Faridzul and Barin. Then I went to Azie's house to discuss our class's BBQ matters. You don't need to know the details, just that it was a very LONG discussion. Next, Boy (my lil' bro), Aye (my lil' cuz) and me went off to Jitra to go to Thoriq's house. By the time we got there, it was already around a quarter to 9pm. We stuck around until 10pm, then dropped Aye at his place before speeding off into the night (back home).

And now, on the 6th day of Raya, I'm layin' it all out for all'a'yall to read. Hope that didn't bore you too much. If it did, then I doubt that you'll be reading this part. Or are you?

I know it's a little late, but I would like to wish you, the reader, Selamat Hari Raya Eidul Fitr. God bless, and take care of yourselves. To those not celebrating, happy holidays and have a good one.

Assalamualaikum.

Cheers!