a stranger in a strange land. un inconnu dans un pays méconnu

2008-05-30T15:30:00.002+02:00

envie d'une crêpe?
have a break. have a crêpe.

au revoir

2008-05-22T05:07:00.004+02:00

‘I hate to have to leave you’ I said

‘Then stay!’ she replied

‘You know I can’t do that Marianne’ I told her as I looked into her teary eyes, ‘You and I both knew that this day would come’.

‘Well, this it. Goodbye then. See you again someday’ I said to Marianne as I wiped her tears.

‘Promise that you’ll never forget me’

‘You will always be a part of me’

The door closed with both of us on either side. When the train moved, I tried to look at her for as long as I could. As the scenery changed from platforms and empty rail tracks to the countryside, I realized that I might never see her again. Marianne, the stranger that I’ve met when I came to this strangeland

Goodbye Marianne.

Excuse-me for my sad attempt to drama writing.

Mes chers compatriotes, françaises, français

Quand vous lisez ce message, il y a une forte chance que je sois déjà à l’aéroport en attendant mon vol de midi à destination de Kuala Lumpur. Ainsi se termine l’aventure d’un inconnu dans un pays assez méconnu qu’est la France.

Et quelle belle aventure cela a été. Jamais je ne pouvais imaginer que je serais parti à l’étranger à l’âge de 16 ans, étant très loin de ma famille. Mais après près de 4 ans de séjour dans ce pays, je trouve que cela valait la peine. Comme disait Jacques (Chirac bien sûr) « c’est loin mais c’est beau ».

Vive la république, vive la France.

la vie n'est qu'un voyage

2008-05-21T07:59:00.002+02:00

« Dans quelques instants nous arrivons au terminus de ce train. Veuillez vous assurer de n’avoir rien oublié dans le train. Nous espérons que vous avez eu un agréable voyage. Nous vous souhaitons une très bonne journée. »

Quand un voyage se termine, un autre commence...

« Le départ du train est imminent. Les personnes accompagnantes les voyageurs sont priées de descendre. Attention à la fermeture automatique des portes. Attention au départ. »

Sounds that I will miss the most:

1. "Le train TER numéro 9832 en provenance de Bâle, à destination de Strasbourg, départ 10h32, va entrer en gare voie A. Eloignez-vous de la borde de quai s'il vous plaît"

2. "Bong bong bong bong bong bong" the old church's clock tower's bell next to my house.

3. TF1's 8 o'clock news jingle

4. "Ding!" my oven's ding signaling that my pizza is done

2008-05-20T10:30:00.002+02:00

I just realise France's lack of commercialism, the most interesting branch of capitalism for us mere consumers (this from someone who calls himself a socialist?). Everything has to be boring. A shopping complex in Malaysia is 10 times more exciting than one in France. Name me one centre commercial that can compete with say.... Subang Parade. None.

je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais

2008-05-19T21:27:00.002+02:00

Penatnya menghangkut barang. Rasa pelik gila, lagi banyak aku angkut barang, lagi banyak aku rasa barang yang belum diangkut. Di manakah logika fenomena ini? Hari Rabu dah nak pulangkan kunci. Esoklah nak menghabiskan angkut barang, esoklah nak basuh rumah, esoklah nak packing, esoklah nak uruskan hantar barang balik Malaysia. Kalaulah ada mesin cahaya masa. Rasa nak je aku bukak laci kat meja Ajib pastu try masuk dalam tu.

Now the sad part has come. I need to call people up and say au revoir.

Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais
Et tes larmes n'y pourront rien changer
Comme dit si bien Verlaine au vent mauvais
Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais

Tu te souviens des jours anciens et tu pleures
Tu suffoques, tu blèmis à prèsent qu'à sonnè l'heure
Des adieux à jamais
Et, je suis au regret de te dire que je m'en vais
Je t'aimais, oui, mais...

I just came to tell you that I'm going
And all your tears won't change a thing
As Verlaine said to the blowing wind
I just came to tell you that I'm going

You cry when you remember the good old days
You suffocate and turn pale, now that the time has come
To say goodbye forever
And I'm sorry to tell you that I'm going
I loved you, yes, but...
Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais - Serge Gainsbourg

Fin!

2008-05-18T20:16:00.002+02:00

I am now officially a graduate-in-waiting*. In waiting because I still need to do my internship. Speaking of internship, when I got the email from Petronas about the details of my internship, I was quite surprised to see that I'll be working 40 hours per week with only an hour to eat, rest and pray in the afternoon. It would be quite hard since I'm already accustomed to the French 35 hours working week with 2 hours break for lunch. Errk.

Anyways, back to the graduate-in-waiting thingy.... weeeeeeeeeeee. It's all over! I'm no longer a student! I'm no longer a student! I'm no longer a student! (sing to the tune of conga). Well, at least for now, because I'll need to do my ACCA after the intership. But for now, I'm feeling out of this world. The only thing that can ruin this moment is if the following conversation takes place:

Me: Yay, I've finished my degree
Someone: Big deal, I've finished mine last December
Me: (Pretending not to hear that) And now I'll sit for my ACCA papers. I'm exempted for 4 of with my degree
Someone: Well, I'm exempted for 8 with mine
Me: (Sheesh, what a party pooper) Oh yeah (getting annoyed), well, at least I can speak French!
Someone: Huh, moi aussi!

Now the closest that I've got to such a conversation was with Zeti last year. She graduated last winter and has more exemptions that I do. I really, really do hope that she doesn't speak French.

*Subject to any exam resit.

Final paper

2008-05-14T13:14:00.000+02:00

1 je lagi kertas.

Waa pastu habiss!!!!!!!!!!!

to err is human, to forgive divine

2008-05-12T09:54:00.002+02:00

Man was created forgetful. I remember my principal said to us to be thankful for that forgetfulness beacause without it we will never be able to go to sleep. So it's normal for people to forget. It's normal when people forget where they put their glasses before they went to bed, when they forget to pay their bills, when they forget other people's birthdays, when they forget to take their medecines, or even when they forget to put a graduate's name on the graduating list for a graduation dinner.

So, I guess it's also normal that I forgot where did I have 2 delicious samosas last night. In fact, I can't remember a thing after having dinner with Awad and Jep in an Indian restaurant. The next thing I remember was Jep waking me up for Subuh while he was watching Survivor. It's odd how a lot of people said that they had a memorable time last night because I most certainly did not.

But I certainly had a memorable time on Saturday at Disneyland with Topek, Awad, Dinie, Fifi and Ustat.

Smile though your heart is aching
Smile even though it's breaking
When there are clouds in the sky
You'll get by
If you smile through your fears and sorrows
Smile and maybe tomorrow
The sun will come shining through
For you
Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
If ever a tear
Happens to be so near
Then that's when you must keep on trying
Smile what's the use of crying
You'll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile
Smile

10 more days...

Bosannya menelaah pelajaran

2008-04-30T21:50:00.000+02:00

The thing that gets me whenever I listen to a French singer singing an English song, especially when it’s a live performance, is that, I can’t really decide in which language he actually sings it. You’d thought you’ve heard it in English for a line and the next one sounds very much like French. That’s why I don’t really layan Star Academy or Nouvelle Star (even the Malaysian and American versions come to think of it). And tonight, when asked to say his final few words, the eliminated candidate said ‘Well, right now, I just want to take a dump’. How anti-climax was that?

A friend of mine invited me to his house this afternoon to drink coffee before going back to the library to do our revision. Huh, jeles tak terkata. Dishwasher, washing machine, balcony tengok taman, a living room as huge as whole studio, oh and dapur dia siap ada counter lagi! Everything I had wanted for my own apartment. Tapi aku rasa kalau aku ada dapur macam tu pun, botol sos tomato tetap akan end up on my study desk somehow. He said it was his parents’. Waa kan best kalau bapak aku ada rumah kat sini. Takyah sibuk fikir macam mana nak lari dari tuan rumah bila dia bawak orang visit rumah untuk sewa lepas aku. Alamak, besok cuti, library tutup kena la lari rumah Ajib plak.

Menghitung hari
Membilang jari
Ternanti-nanti
Tiga minggu lagi

Ugh

2008-04-22T21:33:00.002+02:00

Seksanya takde Internet. It has been only 3 days and I'm out of movies to watch from my external hard disk. Sekarang ni terpaksa aku gi library untuk online. Kalau penuh aku buat-buat baca magazine depan komputer tu, nampak je orang bangun terus aku slam magazine aku tepi komputer tu. Nasib baik ada Ajib, boleh la gak aku online kat umah dia.

Hari ni kelas last. Kelas last aku sebagai seorang student (ye la kan menuntut ilmu dari buaian sampai liang lahad). Sebenarnya Jumaat ni ada je kelas tapi semua orang pakat tanak pegi. Dah la kelas yang takde kaitan dengan exam final. So kira aku ni tengah dilema la gak. Kalau tak gi, kesianla kat cikgu, takut dia kecik ati, tak pun lagi teruk dia balas dendam kata 'saya nak buat exam surprise tapi dah takde orang semua dapat kosong'. Tapi kalau aku datang, and aku sorang ada dua possibilities
1. 'Awak je datang? Tak kuasa saya nak buat kelas. Awak boleh balik'
2. 'Awak je datang? Saya tanak bazirkan masa awak. Saya sanggup buat kelas face to face

Seriously, I want the second one.

Off the radar

2008-04-19T08:24:00.002+02:00

I will be almost incommunicado from today onwards. My handphone line has been cut off today after I asked for the contract termination a few days ago and I'll be returning my modem to my ISP today.

Tensionnya, time ni la nak putus dengan dunia luar, time ada assignment and time aku kena check email every 5 minutes nak tau pasal internship aku.

Hai orang muda

2008-04-14T22:00:00.002+02:00

I'm 20 going on 21 and I'm feeling old.

Last weekend I went to Nice to attend the 2nd MASAF games (more on that later this week). The reason I went there was not really to participate in any games, let alone win (although a win would be nice), but really to meet people for the last time before I get back to Malaysia this May. Of course I will always have the chance to meet some of them again (especially Luk, kat sekolah muka dia, kat France muka dia, balik keje nanti pun muka dia, tak habis-habis nak stalk aku), tapi yelah, lepas ni takde la nak suka-suki lagi macam sekarang ni kan?

Since none of the students from my batch was there (kecuali Ustat la, balik-balik muka dia, takde orang lain ke?) I spent a lot of my time with my juniors from the 3rd and 4th batch (2nd batch nasib baik jumpa Amir, yang lain tak jumpa pun). And spending time with this young bloods made me realize - They still have the time in their hands. I really envy them and I wish I could turn back time and do everything all over again. But I guess one should never dwell in the past, 'While it’s true that life must be understood backward, it must be lived forward' someone said.

So kepada adik-adik di luar sana, belajarlah rajin-rajin. Enjoy la jadi student puas-puas, nanti tak sempat. Janganlah nak jadi macam abang Kimi (uwekk), jadilah diri anda sendiri (mcm ada je org nk jadi aku hahaha).

Agak-agaknyalah
Bilakah lagi
Dapat kita duduk
Berkongsi cerita
Sedutan Bilakah Lagi-Mus

Menhitung hari, menggigit jari.

2008-04-06T22:50:00.003+02:00

Waaa, 45 hari je lagi.

The other day I bought my flight ticket on the Internet. At first I wanted to buy it on Govoyages like I always do. Somehow, I was influenced by a friend to get my ticket from the MAS website since it's somewhat cheaper (40€ je pun). After they've approved my payment, I got panicked instantly when they said that I could then print out my e-ticket.

Hah? Kalau naik AirAsia ke Ryanair ke logik la jugak, pasal regional flight tapi ni dah la intercontinental, MAS pulak tu. I mean, kalau beli last minute tu boleh terima la lagi. Ke aku yang ketinggalan zaman? Sedangkan handphone pun takde camera, inikan pulak nak pakai e-ticket. What's even weirder dah dekat seminggu duit still dia tak tolak-tolak lagi dalam akaun. Anehnya.

But the sad thing was when I had to choose between a return and a single journey ticket. Rasa sebak la jugak. Tapi taklah sesebak bila aku try tengok harga return ticket. Mak ai, dah naik sampai 1200€. padahal first year aku balik tahun 2006 baru 600 lebih. Sekarang 600 tu dapat one way je.

Since I bought my ticket, I've been having the same dream almost every night. I was at the terminal, and I boarded my plane, and I looked outside the window, and when the plane sped up along the runaway rasa sebak pulak. It's a real feeling, because I can feel the sebakness as I was dreaming.

Currently I'm on my last mid-term break ever in my life. The other day I just sat for my last ever continuous assessment (aka contrôle continue, aka kuiz kalau kat MRSM). Tinggal one final assignment and 2 whole weeks of final exams in May. Clearly the end is near. Everything I do starts to seem as if I was doing it for the last time (last box of detergent bought in France, last trip to Paris in February, last trip to London in March, last tub of Ben and Jerry's... make that the second last one eaten while watching a few movies back to back). Sangat sedih.

You help me, and in turn, I am helped by you!
Homer Simpson

Missing London already

2008-03-30T20:30:00.002+02:00

Waaa belum apa-apa dah rindu London. Padahal baru je 3 jam sampai rumah.

So last Thursday I took the Eurostar straight away after my Strategie class and went to London. On the way to the station I stopped by at a pharmacy to get some prescribed medication. I was served by the weirdest chemist ever. He always repeat the end of my sentences and added 'Yes, yes, yes' each time. When I was talking he would nod vigorously and say 'uhuh, uhuh'. It was very annoying. And he spoke with a very low tone, almost whisper-like. I was like, 'apahal mamat ni'?He was just like the inn keeper in old horror movies.

Then as I waited for my Eurostar, I heard an announcement 'l'enregistrement pour l'Eurostar est maintenant fermé, the check in for Eurostar IS NOW CLOSED'. It was a recorded message, but why did she has to yell at the end of the recording, bunyi macam nak marah je.

Turun kat St Pancras, the new Eurostar station, yang dalam dia macam muzium tak cukup benda nak exhibit. Met Ammar in King's Cross, to take me to his place. Even though boleh je nak claim £30 a night for accomodation, rasanya lagi best duk ramai-ramai, boleh networking, bersosial dan sebagainya.

Jealousnya aku dengan Ammar, rumah best, dekat dengan semua benda (tube, kedai halal, restaurant halal, masjid, taman, jangan kata Nando's, Pando's pun dekat), sekolah 6 bulan setaun, belajar 5 subjek je, periksa sekali setaun, kelas empat jam sehari, pastu tiga hari je seminggu. Seb baik tak teringat nak komplen kat Kak Rash hahaha.

The interview was on Friday at the Petronas office in Malaysia Hall. La kechil je office Petronas. Ingatkan besar. I was given a topic for the discussion during the interview which was on 'Hygiene and food preparation' or something like that. As I read the article to the end, I asked 'mana soalannya?' Seb baik tanya time preparation and belum masuk bilik interview lagi. So buatla benda sama macam kat Educamp dulu.

I was interviewed by Datuk Ainun and Puan Wan Noor Aini, the highest ranking panelists amongst all the other panelists. Wah, seram la jugak masa jenguk dalam bila dia suruh masuk. I had no idea before hand who would interview me. Okla kot, even though rasanya kadang-kadang tu ada jawapan yang tidak menjawab soalan, ye la BM penulisan UPSR pun boleh lari tajuk, ni pulak jawab interview.

Then I had to sit the verbal and numerical test. Ok la numerical tu susah gak aa sebab 20 questions in 20 minutes without calculator tapi yang tak adilnya, orang lain, duduk dulu dia kasi kertas soalan and jawapan, isi nama, baru dia kata start, aku pulak dia kasi kertas, soalan terus dia suruh start. Mana yang nak ngisi namanya, mana yang nak pergi duduknya. Lepas tu kena buat karangan pulak. Adoii. Seb baik ada idea. Yang sorang ni pulak, orang duk bising-bising nak balik sebab dah pukul 7 malam, dia boleh pulak loyar buruk masa nak hand in karangan. Hahaha, memang patut kena gossip dengan akak tu.

The next day ada some sort of seminar. Macam biasalah, budak France kena duduk depan. Tradition ke, sebab Puan Faridah terperasan pastu panggil duduk depan ke, pasal sorang kena pegi baca doa ke, tak taulah. Dah duduk depan kenala buat cara duduk depankan? focus kat speaker, hangguk sedikit sebanyak, kerut-kerut dahi skit, bila orang lain kat belakang gelak terbahak-bahak sebab ada speaker buat lawak, orang depan kena jaga cool, gelak tak lebih 2 harakah, senyum je, muka pulak kena bagi panelist nampak barula dia boleh take note siapa duk depan (saya! saya!).

Wah lunch tak ingat dunia. Buffet yang sangatlah best. Tapi silap strategi. Tak perasan pulak ada counter-counter yang lagi best kat tempat lain. Dua kali la aku makan benda yang sama. Dessert plak stok yang kami student Petronas biasanya hanya boleh tengok dan lihat student sponsor lain makan (unless dia ajak makan sekali la kan?)

Petang tu ada games. Biasalah Petronas, kalau ada nak kasi motivational talk, mesti ada game. Kadang-kadang terpikir pulak agak-agak Shell or Exxon ada tak buat benda sama kat Belanda dengan US? Lepas tu semua orang duk lepak dekat tempat Tea, yang nak balik tak balik-balik, yang belum nak balik pun tak balik-balik. Time ni la nak networking dengan orang besar-besar. Sembang-sembang dengan Puan Faridah, Datuk Rusti, Datuk Ainun, Puan Wan Noor Aini, Kak Rash. Tapi sayangnya Kak Yam takde time tu. Busy kot.

Pastu Ammar, Ustat, Ghani dengan Rizal teman aku cari kasut. Dah tengok 2 3 kedai still takde yang aku berkenan. Rasa bersalah pulak time tu dengan budak-budak ni sebab semua nampak penat je, tu yang aku ajak balik. Malam tu makan kebab ramai-ramai (berlima je sebenarnya), pastu sembang-sembang sampai masuk tido.

Finally one quote from the Petronas Talk, Saturday morning:
"Jauhi diri dari orang-orang yang bergossip"

i'll be leaving on a jet plane

2008-03-24T22:26:00.002+01:00

Ch'est le nord

2008-03-21T19:08:00.002+01:00

Today is the first day of winter.

I'm not kidding. It's 1°C outside and it snowed this morning while I was waiting for the bus. Around the world people are celebrating the first day of spring, while here in the Nord, it's just another day in winter.

The temperature began to cool down since late October and it peaked around Christmas. I remembered waiting for my bus at -5°C. Although now the temperature is around 5 to 10, it feels much colder than in December because of the rain and the strong wind.

What's worse is the fact that my radiator is no longer working. I have to resort to using my oven as a heat source.

This being said, I can still enjoy the rainy weather, provided I'm somewhere dry. (Almost) nothing beats the ecstasy of sipping a cup of coffee, by the window, while it pours, while looking at people running for shelter.

Ca, c'est fait!

2008-03-09T15:40:00.002+01:00

Wow.

The word kept coming back in my head as I watched the elections results programme on TV3 through out Saturday. Everyone was stuck in front of their computer screens. I spent the first few hours at home and then I joined Jep and Manau in Jep's room.

I am not involved in politics. I am not affiliated to any political parties nor am I a registered voter. But I have a huge interest in Malaysian politics even though people always said that the status quo would remain until forever. And these people are proven wrong when the elections results were announced one by one on Saturday.

Not only the current coalition has failed to secure a 2/3 majority, 5 states has fallen to a new administration as well.

It was funny to see how the panelist on TV3 changed their tones towards the end of the programme as compared to when the programme started at 2pm (EST). They started with saying pembangkang emphasizing on the P and the B to give in a negative connotation, then they changed it to yang lagi satu when they announced Penang has fallen to DAP while PAS strengthen its grip on Kelantan, and ultimately they used terms like pentadbiran baru when it was learned that Kedah, Perak and my beloved home-state Selangor is now under a new administration.

They also changed their discussion topics from racial sentiments played by the then-opposition (although ironically it was the coalition who has been threatening people with racial sentiments), to what contributed to the coalition huge losses, to who among the then-opposition would form the governments in the 5 states controlled by them.

It was also important to note how the keep on holding back results where the then-oppositions have won. The news that the 5 states have fallen to a new administration have been circulating on the internet by around 0100 hours (GMT+8). The kept on repeating the coalition wins on the news-ticker at the bottom of the screen until there were no more wins to be shown but those of the then-oppositions.

And, the panelists have also dared to criticized high-profilers who have lost towards the middle of the programme. They said that it was high time that Samy Vellu retired from the political arena, that Kayveas defeat was a not a surprise, that it was Koh Tsu Kun's fault of not announcing the next Penang's CM that the coalition has lost the state. This is something that they wouldn't even dare to speak about had these people won.

And I do admire Shahrizat's and Tsu Kun's courage to face the public admitting their defeat and congratulating their opponents.

Here are my own analysis of what happened according to states.

Sarawak
No surprises. This state has contributed a lot to the coalition's simple majority in the Dewan Rakyat.

Sabah
Although PKR claimed that it would gain control of the state, the results proved otherwise. Most of the seats, state and parliament, went to the coalition. The state was also one of the major contributors to the coalition's simple majority.

Perlis
I thought PAS had a good chance of gaining this state as there was an internal conflicts in the main coalition party. Not only all parliamentary seats went to the coalition (which is 3 by the way), PAS has not been able to get an influential presence in the state assembly.

Kedah
This was a shocker. I thought PAS could only make huge in roads in this state but not to the point of gaining it. I was happy to hear that it will form a coalition with PKR to form the state government but I was quite disappointed when they somewhat refused to accept the sole DAP assemblyman into the new government.

Kelantan
Not a surprise. I always thought that PAS would either get a huge majority in terms of seats or sweep clean the state seats. But Awang Adek's lost in both state and parliamentary seats that he contested was quite a shocker. I expected Annuar Musa to win and Mustapha Mohamed not to, but the results proved exactly the opposite.

Terengganu
I was quite pessimist about PAS's chance to gain back the state. Terengganu has always been the coalition's state except in 1999 but even that was due to an exceptional circumstance. I thought that PAS would at least deny the coalition of a 2/3 majority in the state, but I was wrong. Apart from that 89 years old Maimun Yusuf have splitted the votes in Kuala Terengganu. If all the votes that she gained went to Mohamad Sabu, the latter could have won even with a slim majority.

Penang
I've always thought that this time the state would fall to DAP. At the same time I didn't expect Koh Tsu Kun to lose his maiden parliamentary bid for Batu Kawan. I was also disappointed when the new government announced that PAS's assemblyman won't be included it the new administration. I hope that the 2nd bridge project would continue but with a few adjustments (like not having a rest-stop in the middle of the bridge) and that the monorail project would be reopen to a more transparent tender as the previous one was done in a suspicious manner.

Pahang
No surprises except for Najib's increased majority in Pekan, and PKR's win in Kuantan.

Malacca
I thougt PAS would have performed better in some parts, and DAP to sweep away seats on the state's shoreline but not to the extent of denying the coalition from forming the sate government. In the end PAS won no seats, and DAP managed quite well.

Johor
The coalition fortress is no longer impenetrable. The only time in recent memory (ie when I started to get interested in local politics) that the opposition managed to secure a state seat was in 2004 which was in fact due to some technical glitch. Now, 4 seats went to DAP and 2 to PAS, with 1 parliamentary seat went to DAP as well. It seems that the leak in the coalition's fortress is situated around Muar area.

Negri Sembilan
Well, Khairy won Rembau. But I have to point out that Chegubard, his opponent managed to get 20000 votes compared to KJ's 25000. In other constituencies this might not seem much but when you're in a David vs Goliath (or in this case Chegubard vs KJ) battle in a coalition fortress losing by 5000 votes is something to be proud of. Other than that, denying the coalition of the 2/3 majority was also unexpected (by me).

Perak
Well, a friend of mine who is a staunch coalition supporter, has indeed wished for the state to fall to a new administration due to the fact that his family has been affected by the reshuffling of the candidates in the state. Kayveas' defeat was not unexpected, however Samy's was. He said before the elections that even the army can't stop him, but apparently he has forgotten that the people can.

KL
If only KL was a state.

Selangor
Wow
I never expected that. Although I was quite happy that my constituency is no longer under the coalition, be it at the parliamentary or state level. I heard 2 jokes from my friends about the fall of Selangor. One is that all the voters who should've voted for the coalition were all ferried to Terengganu to vote as phantom voters. The other said that the fall of Selangor was Khir Toyo's fault for having langgar pantang larang pakai susuk tempe. I really do hope that the new administration will reinstate the local council elections.

The coalition has been denied its 2/3 majority in parliament. From only 1 seat, PKR is now the opposition leader with 31 seats behind DAP's 28 and PAS's 23. Those political analysts who said that the PKR is en route to oblivion should now find a new job.

As for Perak, I don't see why the new MB should be from PAS seeing that it has scored the lowest among the new administration. It would only be fair if it's someone from DAP since it have bagged the most among them. Plus it would be a fair and a balance share of power amongst the new administration, DAP 2 states, PAS 2 states, PKR 1 state plus heading the parliament's opposition.

I hope that they would prove that they are a viable alternative to the coalition or otherwise, it would be unfortunate for Malaysia and Malaysians in the future.

Torn

2008-02-29T19:20:00.002+01:00

Yay, pekse dah habis. The least prepared exams I've ever experienced. I hope everything will go well. We'll see.

Untuk mereleasekan tensyen, as soon as I got back, I went Youtubing. I came across this video. I've seen his performance before but this was the full length version. Since I didn't know what else to do, I've been spending the rest of the afternoon practicing his interpretative mime-dance of Natalie Imbruglia's Torn. I think I've mastered almost the entire dance. Hahaha.

Revision

2008-02-25T21:07:00.003+01:00

My lips began to dry up a few days ago. It must've been the change of weather. So I bought a lip balm stick from the pharmacy near my house. I asked for the cheapest one that they have. They gave me one without a brand.

So today as I did my revision for the upcoming mid-semester exams, I placed my lip balm on my table since my lips keep drying up every half an hour or so. When you do your revision or homework, you'll always have this pause where you stare at something without any reason and your thoughts start to drift away. It goes from 'how do I solve question number 3' to 'what is the VAT rate again?' to 'isn't it a bit cold today?' and finally you realise something interesting about the thing that you were staring at while you were drifted in your thoughts. Which was when I realised the brand of my lip balm. It was the cheapest in the store so it's not something like Neutrogena or Nivea. It was 'Le Stick De Mon Pharmacien'. When I realised this I couldn't help letting out a huge laugh. Thank God I was at home and not in the library. I mean, how can you not laugh at the thought of putting 'my pharmacist's stick' on your lips every half an hour?

Spring is in the air. I know this might sound crazy, but I wish winter could be just a little bit longer.

Ini semua kerja orang gila punyalah - Samy Velu

2008-02-25T20:15:00.000+01:00

Did you watch Buletin Utama today? Is this what they call free and fair elections with equal access to media? 30 minutes was spent on presenting and explaining the ruling party's manifesto, while 6 minutes was spent condemning two opposition parties' manifestos.

I just realise that it really is a David and Goliath battle. It is and it has always been. It's a wonder how the oppositions can get away with seats all these while. With the propaganda machine attacking the people's mind from every corner, getting just one vote is already a miracle.

Not only we're being psychologically attacked from newspapers and TV, they have also started using the Internet as a weapon. I'm not talking about blogs. I'm talking about the roll-over ads on Hotmail. The banner spans on top of the page, and as your mouse rolls over the banner, the ruling party's video is automatically launched. It's really annoying and it's very hard to avoid rolling over the ad. Do you know if we can like ask Hotmail for a different ad?

I'm feeling whelmed. Just whelmed.

2008-02-21T21:26:00.002+01:00

Last Monday we had a meeting with our student adviser in Paris. Glad to see that Brian is still very much alive. Almost everyone was there. Each of us had an individual session with her and I didn't really mind that since I had nothing to hide or worry about. Plus, it was a paid trip to Paris.

I didn't ask much during the session. I was told that we'll be getting a balik-rumah-for-good allowance, and that my allowances would stop in July. I asked if I could start working as early as June and substitute my internship or at least do my internship with Petronas. She said that working might be a difficult option since to start working I'll need my last results transcript when I report for duty. As for the internship thingy, I would have to follow the usual procedures. I've actually thought of following the usual procedures and I have actually found the forms that I need to fill in (and I must tell you that they are very well hidden on the Petronas website), but the problem is, I am required to enclose a certification or a testimonial with my university stamp. Petronas said they would not accept any certificate that has not been stamped. My university said, all certificates must be stamped by the company before getting the university's stamp. So it all ends up with the chicken and egg question.

As for the work interview, it will be held from 26 to 29 March. It sounded like Educamp. I'll have to pass an IQ test, a group/teamwork assessment, and finally the individual interview; very much like Educamp. This means that I will not be in class for the whole week. Monday 24 is a holiday, I'll need to get to London on the 25, 26 is the IQ test, 27 or 28 is the interview, and 29 is the annual briefing a.k.a makan besar. So unless I go back on either 27 or 28 (the day I won't be interviewed), I will miss all of my classes that week. But I don't think my will power is that strong to actually go back.

Apa-apa pun I am too young to start working.

Joe Dassin, l'été indien, the first french song that we learned in class. Aihh, memories.

This video reminds me the time when my classmates asked me words in Malay.

How do you say a break in Malay?

Rehat

Hewa

Rehat

Heha

Re-Hat

He-Hat

Rrrrreeee

Lé

Hat

At

Rrrehat

Hehat

R-E-H-A-T Rehat

Ghe'at

Close enough.

To be read before going to vote

2008-02-16T14:22:00.001+01:00

When Kelantan fell to PAS for the first time in 1990 I thought that's it, we're screwed. There goes our free text books, scholarships and no more development for this state.

By Afif Rais

Although I was born in Kuala Lumpur, I spent most my childhood growing up in Pasir Mas and Machang in Kelantan. My mom and my grandma especially, was a staunch supporter of UMNO and BN themselves. Naturally I was brought up to believe that UMNO/BN is good and the opposition PAS/Semangat 46/PKR or whatever is bad. Not to mention the fact that the government controlled media had been brainwashing us young ones with BN propaganda ever since I can remember.

When Kelantan fell to PAS for the first time in 1990 I thought that's it, we're screwed. There goes our free text books, scholarships and no more development for this state. Funnily enough, nothing of the sort happened though. We still get our free text books. I still get my scholarship when I got into boarding school and the state did progress over the years although not as much as other states especially on the west coast.

As I grow up and crossover from adolescent into adulthood, I didn't care much about politics. I didn't bother to register myself as a voter cause I thought BN was going to win and continue to rule the country anyway. Nevertheless I still see myself as pro-government and pro-UMNO and view the opposition with much suspicion. That of course thanks to the pro-government mass media.

But it all changed last year at around the time the PM announced his marriage to his current wife. I was curious to know about Jean Danker so I googled up her name and I stumbled upon this revealing article on Malaysia Today.net written buy a man named RPK. Now I RPK didn't actually paint a rosy picture about the PM or his future wife and I was curious why he doesn't like our PM so much and what the PM did to deserve such treatment. So I went to the Malaysia Today.net website and started reading every article posted there from the beginning to the end. On that fateful day my political believes changed almost overnight.

Unlike other politically aligned media, Malaysia Today provides a fair and impartial views to both sides, the government and the opposition. Although I must admit they did a lot more government bashing these days, the opposition is also not spared. True to it's tag line, Malaysia Today is the undisputed, credible source of independent news for the country.

If you're a foreigner and you'd like to know the real deal about Malaysia, don't go to the popular news website like The Star or NST, come to Malaysia Today.net instead. There you'll be fed with a censored,pro-government and toned down version of all events and happenings in the country. Malaysia Today.net meanwhile provides uncensored, no holds barred and the real news of what's happening in Malaysia today.

Take the recent rally held by Bersih (Coalition for Clean and Fair Election) for example. I read with disgust what the mainstream media wrote (or lack of) about the event. They played down the event like almost nothing happened. Only 1000 people came out to the streets? Who're they kidding? If you just do a little bit of googling on the Internet you can see the numbers should easily surpass the 40000-45000 marks from the pictures shown by the alternative media or the foreign press.

It's no secret that these papers are controlled by BN component parties like UMNO and MCA but they have just destroyed any tract of credibility and professionalism left by choosing not to publish what really happened on that historic day. I used to be a regular NST reader and I read The Star from time to time but since the Bersih fiasco, I stopped buying or reading those papers altogether. Let's not kid ourselves. There's no such thing as press freedom in this country.

Why I won't vote for BN.

Politics is a very dirty world. Be it the government or the opposition you must get your hands dirty the moment you stepped into politics. It is just from my point of view, the BN-led government is much more corrupt and dirty than the opposition because they holds the power. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Now I didn't make that up, I read it from somewhere. That's why we need the opposition for the sake of democracy.

If we don't have any opposition than the ruling party can do whatever they want. They can bulldoze a bill through parliament, appoint any judge in their favor, arrest and lock up anybody who speaks out they mind or dare to let out the truth. Heck even if they wish to sell off the country to Singapore they also can because who's going to stop them? We need the opposition to provide some checks and balance in the running of the country.

Another reason why I wont vote for BN is because of their extremely arrogant leaders. Take Nazri Aziz for example. During the beginning of the Lingam video clip controversy he casually boasted that you don't need to go to the streets to protest against the government. If you don't like the present government, vote them out in the next general election. Trust me Mr. Minister guy, that's exactly what I and like-minded people will do in this upcoming election.

I can name a few other equally arrogant and foul-mouthed ministers and BN leaders like ZAM, Tengku Adnan, Ali Rustam, Mohamad Taib, Samy Vellu, and KJ for example. KJ even has a special name for us bloggers, monkeys. Well I've got news for you dude, us monkeys are the ones who will take over the country's leadership in the future. We hold the power to decide who runs the country next and unlike our ignorant, brainwashed forefathers and people in rural areas, we got our news from the Internet. Unlike them, we're immune from the BN government propaganda that have been etched in our forefathers head for generations.

I believe in the some not too distant future from now, when the Internet reaches out every corner of the country and every facet of society, people will stop reading, watching and listening to BN controlled mass media. Then, people will know the corrupt practices of their beloved BN leaders, scandals, lies, cover-ups, mass accumulation of wealth from the tax-payers money, everything the rakyat is blissfully ignorant about now would surface and then the truth would prevail.

If only my folks in Gua Musang, Lipis, Chemor, Mukah or Beaufort, in short everybody in rural areas of the country has access to Malaysia Today.net, I won't be surprised if the BN government is toppled in the next general election.

Time to change

All my life I have been a BN/UMNO supporter and deep inside I still do.

It's just that for now I have absolutely no faith on the current administration. I greatly admire what Tun Dr. Mahathir did for the country and although his not a saint, you have to admit that he's a visionary and he knows which direction to guide the country to in the best interest of the people.

At least he doesn't flip-flop with his decisions or let his son in law runs the country for him.

I still can't recall what the current PM did for the country for the past 4 years. Turn Malaysia into an economic powerhouse in the region? Nah, Mahathir did that. Lead the OIC and NAM? That's Mahathir's legacy too. Envisioned Malaysia as a developed country in 2020? Wait, that's Mahathir's doing too.

What I can recall is the PM wasting billions of ringgit of the people's money on some obscure boat-race, hike up the fuel's price and toll rates, bow down to the Singaporeans, go for holidays in his private jet bought with people's money, send one damn lucky tourist into space on some more people's money and introduce his very own brand of Islam which nobody understands. Let's not go into the part where he sleeps during meetings and functions, I mean whoever does that? He's the butt of jokes of other countries for goodness' sake!

So guys if you think the country is in good and capable hands, the economy is burgeoning and well and you can walk on the streets without fear for your safety, think again. Take a moment to see what's really happening in this country at Malaysia-Today.net. It is not as rosy as what the BN-controlled mass-media painted in their newspapers, radio and TV stations.

I don't exactly follow what RPK wrote like a gospel but this guy don't just go posting any bullshit on his site, he's got pages and pages of rock-solid proof to boot. If only half of what he wrote is true than the country is going to the dogs. Imagine the country's top policeman is a crook, in cahoots with underworld crime lords. I shudder to think if all of them are true.

This coming election I'll be voting for the first time ever and I assure I won't be voting for any party with a scale as their symbol.

Now is the time to show those arrogant BN leaders that we the people who holds the power to decide who runs the country. They say the opposition is not capable of running the country but we'll never know until we tried right? Although I think it's almost impossible to have a new non-BN government this time, at least we can give BN the beating of their life.

I'm calling all my friends, fellow Kelantanese working outside the state, KL, Selangor, Johore, Penang, wherever, let us go home and vote BN out. Mari kita pakat kelik dan ngundi PAS! If some BN or UMNO people approach you offering means of transportation to go home, just take them! Just remember on polling day let us vote for any party other than BN. Let's give them a taste of their own medicine. They think we're stupid or something?

In 2004 we have BN members doing door to door visits giving folks clothes, kain pelikat and stuff sometimes with money folded up nicely inside, sometimes not. You know what my folks back home did? They don't mind receiving the clothes and the money, after all they're just donations right? But on election day they'll still vote for PAS and have a nice big laugh at those BN losers.

We people of Kelantan don't care so much about your so-called development and progress. We're content with what we already have and are more concerned with the life hereafter.

I don't want my beloved Pasir Mas to turn into some faceless bustling urban setting like PJ or JB. I want my beloved Pasir Mas to retain it's charming idyllic ambiance, no skyscrapers, no traffic jam, very little crime, everything is laid back and relaxed where people and neighbors still cares and look after each other.

Pade doh AAB, KJ, Najib and their cronies hijacking the country's wealth and lying to the people.

Let's give the opposition a chance. We have nothing to loose and so much to gain. They say the PAS government didn't create enough jobs for it's people that's why thousands move to big cities like KL, JB and Penang to make a living. I say have you counted the number of people who hail from Kedah, Perak, Pahang, Melaka and Sabah who did the same? It's quite normal for people to flock to urban areas like KL, JB and Penang to look for better job opportunities. Just like in Indonesia where people flock to Jakarta, New Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta in India and Hong Kong and Shang Hai in China.

We bloggers are not all anti-government or pro-opposition. We represent the new generation of open-minded and learned young Malaysian who speaks out our mind because we care for the country and would like to correct what's wrong it. Gone were the days where they can spoon-fed us with propaganda through the print or electronic media. Today's youth have unrestricted access to free and independent news and information from all over the world. We are not opposed to progress and development but we are against any form of oppressive government who thinks they can control and shape our minds with brute force or threats. We're against corrupt and dishonest leaders and we certainly have a very low tolerant for bullshit.

I think ZAM and KJ have really underestimated the power and roles played by bloggers like you and me. They've certainly messed up big time by stereo-typing and name-calling bloggers. If you scour around the Malaysian blog scene today you'll find more anti-establishment bloggers than pro-government ones. Yesterday the pen is still mightier than the sword, today the keyboard can do much more damage than the sharpest razor blade. The future lies in our hand and let's us say exactly what we had in mind by going out in forces to vote for a change in this coming election.

A well written article.

Bienvenue chez les ch'tis

2008-02-15T21:23:00.000+01:00

Il a l'air bien celui-là

iThink therefore iVote

2008-02-13T20:56:00.003+01:00

"...you have to make a choice between what's right and what's easy..."
Albus Dumbledore

The parliament was dissolved today which means soon enough, Malaysians will be called out to cast their votes. I really wished that the dissolution would be made much much later, say in the 4th quarter of this year, so that I'll have the time to register, and have my name gazetted in the electoral roll, and finally participate in my first ever elections. I really do hope that all my friends who are of the voting age, have all registered themselves as voters and that they'll perform their rights as a citizen when the time comes.

Today, I will not write on where I stand on the political ground, but rather on the election process itself. Having followed passionately the 2007 presidential and legislative elections in France, I believe that the Malaysian elections need to be touched up here and there to ensure fairness in the process.

1. Electoral campaign posters.
In Malaysia, there would be no elections without the war of posters. Every single inch of space especially in towns is infested with posters from all camps. The placement of the posters is not only a sore to the eye but sometimes they prove to be hazardous. They are also a waste of money as most of the posters and flags will all be disposed after the elections. The elections are not about whom put up the most posters or flag, but it's about the candidates and what they believe in. The point of putting up posters is to tell people who is running for the election. You don't need to have one in every corner.

In France, the town hall determines places where the candidates are allowed to put up their posters. And in these places, the town hall will erect removable billboards, one for each candidate. Not only this will limit the amount of rubbish at the end of the elections, it'll also make cleaning up after the election easier. It's fair for everyone, not wasting money, and eco-friendly.

2. Access to media.
Give the chance to all parties to explain what are their projects. Yes you may have good ideas about how you want to run the country, but what if someone else has a better idea? I mean, at the end of the day, we're talking about the country and its future. A true gentleman will fight his opponent with justice. If you have a gun, and your opponent does not, either throw away yours and fight with your fists, or get him one, and challenge him to a duel. A good decision can only be made if all the necessary informations are given. Without the access to media, most people will be misinformed and will not be able to make the right decision. Sure the Internet is available as a free medium, but not everyone has access to it.

Come election season, each party's airtime is regulated by the French Election Commission. The airtime is determined based on the party's previous elections results. The more votes they got in the previous elections, the more airtime they'll get. In addition to that, every night before the prime time news, each political party is given between 2 to 5 minutes to present their manifestos. Same goes with the print media, the number of articles on each party is regulated by the EC. This is what fair elections is about.

3. Debates
Have you seen a Malaysian politician in a debate with their opponents before? My point exactly

Debates are important to make sure that the manifestos are not mere rhetorical statements. It's wonderful to hear that you'll fight corruption, you'll clean up the judiciary, you'll increase the purchasing power of every household, but what we want to know is HOW are you going to do all that? If you have a debate, you are obliged to know every detail of your manifesto in order to answer your opponent's questions and challenges. And it's also your chance to ridicule your opponent if he has a weak manifesto. In 2007, the day before the presidential debate, Sarkozy and Royal were both tied at 50% in the public survey. But when Royal appeared somewhat clueless on some points of her manifesto, her popularity dropped to 48% the next day and finally lost the elections with 47% of the votes.

There are other points which I think Malaysia still needs improvements. For example, election results as early as 8pm, citizens overseas can cast their votes (currently only embassy workers and army personnels are allowed to do so), and ultimately, non race-based politics.

Whatever it is, if you're registered, go to vote.

'A single grain of rice can tip the scale, one man can be the difference between victory and defeat.'
The emperor from Mulan

Les pièces jaunes, c'est pour Bernadette

2008-02-12T21:54:00.001+01:00

I can actually feel that the end is near. Every moment of the day, not a single one passed without me thinking about something that has to do with the end; my final exams, my final end of studies internship, when to buy a ticket to go back, what to bring back, what to throw away, what to leave to others, where can I find boxes to put my stuff in, why do I have so many sweaters that I don't even knew that I had them. All these are juggling inside my head every second.

The real thing that's driving me nuts now is my internship. Once I've found one, I believe everything will fall into place. I'll know when to buy my tickets, when to start packing, etc. But until then, my mind is like a tangled slinky; you don't know where it ends neither where it begins.

Good news, winter break is coming up next week. Bad news, the exam week comes right after that. Good news, they've decided to cramp all the subjects towards the end of the week which makes the holidays a week and a half long. Bad news, the exam will be on everything including the first semester's syllabus. Good news, the pair of shoes that I want to buy is on sale and the state of my actual shoes gives me a good excuse to buy new ones. Bad news, wa talak luit.

Every time I hear this song, I'll always remember the memories I had in Colmar.

Selamat tinggal bungaku...

2008-02-05T21:52:00.000+01:00

The decision has been made, the final word has been said, Petronas will not allow us to continue our studies in France. So I have about 3 to 5 months left to enjoy this escargot-crazy, wine-addict, cheese-maniac, baguette-loving, country where striking is the national sport. It all depends on whether I'll do my internship here or back home.

To continue or not to continue, that has always been the question I asked myself. I finally have the answer. When I first came here, I didn't even bother to think about furthering my studies in France or not. When I entered IUT, I began to think that entering a Grande Ecole or an Ecole de Commerce might be a good idea. When I was in my second year of IUT, I really wanted to enter an Ecole. When I began my Licence, somehow I have this burning desire to go home as soon as possible. A few months later I began to hesitate between the two options since I feel so comfortable at la Catho. And the question has been tormenting me for a few weeks, especially during the Christmas break.

Now that I know the verdict, am I glad? Yes, at least it cleared my head up. Not only I can now stop worrying whether to continue or not, I can also stop worrying which Ecole or Masters to choose should I continue and how am I going to prepare for the entrance exams. Am I more at rest right now? No, because I still have no idea of what lies ahead for me. Will I be employed? When will I start working? Where will I be working? How about my professional qualification? Who's going to pay for my professional qualification? When the heck would I study for my professional qualification? I'm afraid one of Murphy's Law is right: when you find the answer for one question, ten more will appear.

On the bright side, I'll be home for Raya.

At that age, people tend to do crazy things. Like going to France.

this country belongs to the people

2008-02-05T20:07:00.000+01:00

I like this ad. Nice, simple, effective. But the end is a little bit corny.

English version

la déception de quatorze soixante-neuf: état de deuil

2008-01-31T21:41:00.000+01:00

Finally after more than a month the final exam results are out. I was very disappointed with my average and my ranking. I thought that I could do better. Although I did much better than when I was in IUT, I was really hoping that this semester would be the first where I would get an average beyond 15. And what made me more disappointed is the fact that there's only a 0,12 gap between me and the person ahead of me.

What's done is done. Today is the beginning of the rest of my life. I need to look at what lies ahead. And I'm not quite sure what I'm looking at. I mean, I still haven't found an internship yet, and I still don't have a clue what's going to happen after I've graduated. My heart says that I've spent too much time away and it's time to go back home, yet, my medula oblongata says that I should stay and further my studies in France until Masters, and Petronas says.... well, as always, they haven't said anything yet.

This week was hell for me as far as time management is concerned. And I blame it all on the local transport authority for taking the liberty of erasing my bus line off the map. I couldn't take the new bus line they proposed since it no longer stops in front of my university. Although the new stop is within a walking distance, the line is not as direct as it was before; it goes through some abandoned industrial area for no apparent reasons and that made my bus ride longer by fifteen minutes. Plus with the new bus schedule, it's either I arrive 30 minutes earlier for every class or 10 minutes late. The first solution that I had was to take the métro and then take a bus. But, it turns out that the bus that I was supposed to be taking is never on time. Which is why I have been missing a few classes this week. And finally I decided to walk from the métro station to my faculty which turns out to be much quicker than the bus ride. So I guess I have to thank the local transport authority for giving me the chance to get some exercise (of which I'm in dire need).

I want my Line 14B bus back!

2008-01-25T22:05:00.000+01:00

I am so bloody pissed off with the local transport authority. Ho can they simply decide to scrap the bus line that I use everyday? Now I have to get out of the house 15 minutes earlier to take the métro and then take a bus to get to class. Better bus connections my foot.

I was quite proud of myself yesterday. I had to make a presentation for my Stratégie class. The lecturer is not someone who can be pleased very easily. He criticized every presentations before this. But all he said yesterday was 'Bravo, a very good presentation'. And he asked me for my Powerpoint slides! He even asked the class to write down their own thoughts on my presentation subject.

The only thing I hate about giving presentation in my class is that whenever I had to say something in English like 'Apple Computer Incorporated', I had to pronounce it with the French accent and go 'Appil Computegh Encoghpoghatid'. I just had to. Had I pronounce it the right way, they'll go like 'show off' or something like 'uuuuuuuu'. And another thing that I dislike is when someone asks me a question at the end, especially when it requires a certain degree of thinking before answering. For example yesterday someone asked 'In your opinion, how would Apple do in the future, knowing that by the looks of the electronics market today, the trend tends to be stagnant'. No way in hell I was prepared for such question. I tried my best by imitating politicians (by sounding like I'm answering the question, when I actually do not). To that question I answered 'Well, bla bla bla 2007 fourth semester revenue bla bla bla profits bla bla bla new product line ups bla bla innovation bla bla bla iPhone sales bla bla, so I think they will do well'. And I didn't have the slightest clue what I was talking about.

Good luck with the Sudoku

2008-01-22T07:01:00.000+01:00

Bagai pelita kehabisan minyak, jatuh dilanggar nyamuk, ditindih lalat tidak dapat bangkit semula.

That was a peribahasa by Karam Singh Walia, and a few of my friends and I always made jokes about it. But today, it is exactly how I'm feeling. How ironic.

It seems that I've been chasing rainbows all this while.

At the end of the rainbow there's happiness,
And to find it often I've tried,
But my life is a race, just a wild goose chase,
And my dreams have all been denied.
Why have I always been a failure?
What can the reason be?
I wonder if the world's to blame,
I wonder if it could be me.
I'm always chasing rainbows,
Watching clouds drifting by,
My schemes are just like all my dreams,
Ending in the sky.
Some fellows look and find the sunshine,
I always look and find the rain.
Some fellows make a winning sometime,
But I never even make a gain, believe me,
I'm always chasing rainbows,
Waiting to find a little bluebird in vain.
I'm always chasing rainbows - Judy Garland

Listening to the rythm of the pouring rain

2008-01-17T21:10:00.000+01:00

It's January and it's raining. I guess in the Nord that's the nearest thing to snow. I think they should change the tune to 'I dream of a wet Christmas' (as opposed to white Christmas, although wet sounds a little wee bit inappropriate. Well we're way beyond new year now anyways) to adapt to the local market here.

The second (or sixth, depends on how you see it, it's the final one anyways) semester has begun. For now, I would say that it's not too bad. I have longer breaks for lunch, that's a good thing. That means more will power is needed to get back to class after having lunch at home, and that may not be a good thing, but I believe it builds character, so that's good. I have less subjects, another good thing. Which means the subjects will have higher coefficients in order to meet the total of 30, which is not necessarily a good thing.

However, I still haven't got my exam results for the first semester,which really P me O. I mean, after working arduously(wow, no red underline for that word? so that is actually a word? I mean, I've heard it before and I just thought of dropping it in the middle of the sentence for fun, never to expect that it actually exists and it to be correctly spelled) for the finals, I should have the rights to know how I did. But the university said that the results will only be announced in February to avoid misunderstandings when the juries decide who passes and who doesn't. Bloody bureaucracy.

Anyways, when I said I'm next, I meant I'm next. So it's not now. It's somewhere between now and whenever it may be.

The thousand dreams I dreamed, the splendid things I planned
I always built alas on weak and shifting sand.
I lived by night and shunned the naked light of the day
and only now I see how the years ran away.
Yesterday when I was young - Charles Aznavour

2 down.

2008-01-06T19:45:00.000+01:00

I got an SMS from my mom today.
It was a breaking news.
At first I was surprised.
Then, I laughed because I thought it was funny.
After that I got curious and felt like I needed to know more about it.
Then it came to me:

Oh shit. I'm next!

They'd say they'll love you with all the rest of their lies

2008-01-02T11:21:00.001+01:00

If only...

Buat seorang penunggu
Penantian hanyalah waktu
Ceritera Cinta

It was the year 2007

2007-12-31T10:01:00.001+01:00

Three and a half years ago, today seems a long way to go. I have 6 months (more or less) left before leaving this strangeland for good. It's funny how suddenly I'm beginning to see things differently, everything seems to be done for the last time. I'm currently on my last school break before I start working (although there are 2 semester breaks in February and April, they don't count as school holidays, because exams are just after each break), I just came back from Colmar and Strasbourg, what if that was the last time I'm going there? I just went to Münich with Dinie and Fifi, what if that was my last (euro)trip? And during this final semester, I shall be sitting for my exams for the last time, I'll get my last scholarship in March, and finally the saddest thing would be buying a one way ticket to Malaysia in the middle of 2008.

Perpisahan itu,
Walau sudah lama kuduga,
Pasti tetap mengundang air mata
Musfariza Mansor 2003

Anyways, a new year will begin tomorrow. New year, new day, new hopes, same old me. 2007 has been an important year to me. I turned 20 this year for crying out loud. I feel really, really, really, really, really old. I had my first taste of working life during my stage in April. I'm now an uncle, which makes me feel much much much older. But I guess, I'm looking forward (or not) to 2008. I shall be able to register to vote, I'll start working, I'll have to start thinking about paying bills, paying tolls, paying for parking, paying for food, paying my car and/or house loans, and all that without any financial aid from my father (I hope). Gosh, I'm still not done enjoying my childhood.

If 2007 were a song it would be:
The way we were, the way I was...

Mem’ries,
Light the corners of my mind
Misty water-colored memories
Of the way we were
Scattered pictures,
Of the smiles we left behind
Smiles we gave to one another
For the way we were
Can it be that it was all so simple then?
Or has time re-written every line?
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me, would we? Could we?
Mem’ries, may be beautiful and yet
What’s too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget
So it's the laughter
We will remember
Whenever we remember...
The way we were...
The way we were - Barbra Streisand

Münich

2007-12-29T20:39:00.000+01:00

Alang-alang cuti kat Colmar hari tu, aku Fifi dengan Dinie pegi Munich. Ntah macam mana budak dua tu boleh tersetuju nak pegi pun tak tau la. Biasanya deranglah yang paling liat kalau bab ajak berjalan ni (jangan marah, nanti cepat tua). Tiga malam je pergi, tapi sempat gak aa pergi Neuschwanstein Castle yang Disneyland tiru tu. Baloi gak aa kot nak kira. Malas pulak nak elaborate cerita pasal cuti ni. Letak gambar je lah.

Kat umah Pat. Dia ajak makan cake kat umah dia. Time nak jalan pergi rumah dia terserempak dengan anak bongsu dia. Kitorang duduk lebih kurang 3 4 jam gak aa kat umah dia. Time nak balik tu anak bongsu dia pun sampai. Since dia buat-buat macam tanak layan je, kitorang pun berspekulasi bahawa dia saja lari dari rumah tanak jumpa kitorang. Hahaha. Sebab dua taun lepas kitorang lepas gila lama dari pukul 12 sampai pukul 6. Kalau aku pun aku kata dalam hati 'tak reti-reti nak balik ke?'

Macam biasalah posing aku bila jumpa pokok.

Kurang-kurang aku tak posing macam pak cik nih.

Beberapa detik sebelum berposing gedik di Münich. Sori gambar gedik tu takleh publish. Gedik sangat. Hahaha.

Aku saja je amik posing yang paling senang. Kesian cik Fifi yang kena duduk kat atas lantai yang tentunya sejuk yang amat.

Fifi, fifi. Ko cuba macam mana pun, posing ko tetap skema.

Tak perasan pulak aku terposing terbalik. Ingat nak tiru gambar orang main bola tu. Nampak sangat tak reti main bola. Aku rasa ni gambar paling best.

Gambar ni best sebab muka Dinie separuh je. Hahaha. Jangan arah Dinie, makin tua kau kang.

Gambar penuh sopan-santun

Sayang betul, kalau putih sikit lagi sebijik macam Salem Cool Planet.

Cumelnya.

2 makhluk jakun dengan BMW dan seorang jurugambar.

Mana moto Mak Nimang?

2007-12-28T17:43:00.000+01:00

Hahahaha. Pecah perut aku gelak.

Video-video lain oleh orang yang sama:

Nurul Iji tumbuk jangung
Cagu cap Cik Mah

To my future (house)wife

2007-12-19T18:53:00.000+01:00

(A must read for sons, daughters, husbands, and especially all human beings considering themselves as males)

Lim Ka Ea - Malaysiakini (article titled Desperate Housewives, although I personally think that she should've come up with something much more touchy-feely, like her article)

When I was much younger, I remember feeling disturbed whenever I was asked in school what my mother’s occupation was. For me to label her a housewife on paper was embarrassing. Even at that age and our considerably traditionalist culture, I had the notion that being a housewife meant that my mother was uneducated, unsophisticated and of course boring. I didn’t want anybody to think lesser of my mother just because she is a housewife.

Of course, now that I am grown up, married and recently a temporary housewife, I could see how wrong I was. Now, I could only look back and ask myself in a bewildered look, “How did my mother do it?” For a start, I think that there is a huge misconception by many people particularly men and children that being a housewife means you have it easy. What is there to complain, right? You don’t have to deal with nasty bosses, office politics or hard labour and really, how hard it is to stay at home, do the housework and not having to think at all?

Now to me, the title “housewife” is completely unjustified and undignified. It’s too narrow and ambiguous. Really, it doesn’t tell you anything if you compare what housewives actually do. Let me give you a gist of some of the tasks a housewife does. She is a cook, caterer, dishwasher, waitress, launderette, maid, nanny, garbage disposer, party planner, decorator, gardener, teacher, public relations officer, stock taker, stylist, nutritionist, health care provider, counsellor, economist, chauffeur, concierge and often also a cheerleader.

Why a cheerleader? Ah, because she cheers her husband and children on when they are in a crisis at work or school. Sound easy enough? Think again.

Working husbands get weekends and holidays. Housewives? Think again but yes, how they wish to get a day off occasionally just to be pampered and taken care of for a change. What they get is two crummy Women’s and Mother’s Day but even then does the house work stop? How many husbands or children actually take a step back and think about how their lives would be if housewives don’t exist. Sure, you can hire a maid but really, how many maids are willing to go the whole nine yards without demanding for more salary?

Unrecognised, unappreciated

Housewives don’t receive their well-deserved recognition and appreciation. When they have slogged all day, thinking up menus for the whole day (just imagine, as soon as breakfast is done, there is lunch to think of and then dinner after), the husbands and children come home and complain about everything. “Are we having chicken again?” “Why is my clothes not ironed yet?” “You always complain you’re too tired!”

While some women may be lucky enough to have husbands who are willing to take come-backs for those remarks, many don’t. For them, deep inside their hearts, they acknowledge the fact that their husbands have worked hard to provide income for the family, so the right thing to do is to take it all in. But let’s face it, husbands expect their wives to be sympathetic and caring when they have a problem at work. Wives are pretty much the same. They would like their husbands to acknowledge that they have worked hard all day, so please try to cut them some slacks. Even better, try to help out a little bit. Working men get demoralised and disappointed when their bosses criticise their work, especially when they have put a lot of time and effort on the work. Housewives are the same.

I always thought that American TV teaches us nothing but violence, competition and melodrama but when I watch the series Desperate Housewives, I think there is a lesson for everyone. No doubt, it is filled with drama and a bunch of gossipy, vindictive and competitive women who contrive malicious schemes to get what they want, but when I look at Lynette Scavo and Bree Van De Camp’s lives, I see all the women around me who have given up their lives to focus on only one thing, their families.

To put it simply, housewives are women with only one simple ambition, to keep their families happy without any ulterior motives. They are not aiming to get a promotion, an award or a raise. They often beat themselves up for not being good mothers or wives. Women would always support their husbands in their career or their children in their school. But very rarely do they get enough support from their husbands and children to be a better wife or mother.

I know a woman who works hard to educate her children to be polite and better behaved. When her husband comes home from work, all he wants is to play with his children and showers them with love and generosity. He would allow his children to do whatever they want and hence “undone” what she has worked so hard for. This is frustrating to the woman who has to deal with her children all day and yet doesn’t want to deprive her husband from interacting with the children. What the husband doesn’t see is that he is spoiling the children. All he sees is his unkind and mean wife who is being tough on the children.

I also know another woman who doesn’t want to go out at night because all she looks forward to is a quiet night with her husband after a long day of slaving around. All her husband sees is her anti-social behaviour, that she is no longer fun. Then when her husband suggests to having a dinner party to entertain some work friends, she doesn’t look too enthusiastic and he accuses her of being lazy. Little does he realize that she will be the one doing all the work while he happily dines with his buddies.

Misunderstood creatures

Housewives are misunderstood creatures. Husbands and children often think that they sit at home, gossip with the neighbours and watch the television.

A scene from Desperate Housewives where Tom Scavo tells his wife to enjoy her vacation while he takes the kids to the park and she replies, “A vacation? While you’re gone, I’ll be paying the bills, doing the laundry and cooking dinner” really hits the core. Everyday when my husband comes home from work and he asks me, “What did you do today?” expecting me to tell him that I have a good day pampering myself by doing the things I like. To be fair, he does want me to have a good time but who else will stock the refrigerator and have lunch and dinner on the table? The truth is, my day is not exciting and I don’t have to worry about deadlines or managing difficult staffs but it doesn’t mean I am doing nothing.

One of my friends asked me recently, “What is the hardest part of being a housewife?” You see, I used to work for a humanitarian organization in post-conflict countries and my life was pretty much working for vulnerable people. So my answer to her was, “It is waking up every morning knowing that my whole life is about serving only one person and that scares the hell out of me.”

The worse thing is, even then when I was taking up a difficult and challenging tasks, I always found satisfaction, self-worth and confidence in what I did. But now that I am a housewife, I find it hard to have self-confidence because I question my ability to cook, to host dinner parties, to interact with working people, etc. So, unless what I am doing gives a meaning to someone I care for, it doesn’t do any good to my self-esteem.

Housewives are human beings too, psychologically they are affected by things people say or do, especially people they are working for. Whenever my husband says something discouraging, I am crushed and it makes me question why I have diligently woke up every morning to get his coffee and breakfast done. But he will make it all worthwhile whenever he says a simple thank you and a hug after I have served him his meal, which he does without fail.

Emotional support

Such simple act of acknowledgment goes a long way and that is what keeps every housewife going. As much as a criticism can deflate one’s good intention, appreciation can inflate one’s self-worth. Trust me because as I have said before, housewives have no ulterior motives. All they want is for their husbands and children to be happy and if the latter can express their happiness towards what their wives and mothers have done for them, that is the greatest satisfaction anyone can have. That is the meaning of it all.

If husbands want their wives to be fun again just like they used to be, then be more supportive and understanding. Extending small help and a lot of emotional support are just the trick because a happy and well-supported staff performs better, not just as a worker but also as a person. If every working man knows this, why don’t they apply the same for their unpaid “staff” at home?

To end this, I also remember that while labeling my mother as a housewife, I often wished that she was a nurse, a teacher or even a nanny. But now, I realize that she is all those and even more. Raising children and taking good care of your life partner are one of the hardest jobs anyone can have. So, I would like to suggest that instead of calling these hardworking and multi-tasking women housewives, they should be referred to as lifetime volunteers. After all, they work hard with their hearts, not paid and often not given the recognition they deserve.

Eternal Moonshine of a Simpson's Mind

2007-12-17T18:16:00.000+01:00

Mr Zamali, I have nine words for you

"Intérêts du salarié, intérêts de l'organisation; conflit ou intégration"

You have two hours.

Here's a part of the latest Simpson's episode.

Here's the original video

I wish I had done something like that too. But then again I know what my father would say; "Dah takde keje lain sangat ke?"

Liberté, liberté chérie

2007-12-14T22:55:00.000+01:00

Someone posted this on Friendster's bulletin board

Tersebutlah kisah di satu tempat yang
indah permai, aman damai tumbuhan nan
menghijau tinggallah seorang majikan
bersama 3 orang pekerjanya A , B , dan C..
pekerja A ni sebenarnya anak majikan
tersebut.. pekerja B dan C ni asalnya
tiada pekerjaan dan tempat tinggal..
atas rasa kasihan dan perikemanusiaan
majikan tersebut memberi pekerjaan dan
tempat tinggal untuk B dan C..

A ni jenis tak kisah dan baik hati..
segala apa kemahuan B dan C disokong
atas dasar sesama insan.. A B dan C
masing masing mempunyai tukul gergaji
dan ketam kayu.. Pekerja B terkenal
dengan kebijaksanaan berniaga dan C pula
terkenal dengan kebijaksanaan berkata
kata.. A pula terkenal dengan sikap baik
hati dan "tak kisah". Mereka bekerja
sebagai satu pasukan yang terkenal
dengan kebijaksanaan, pandai berkata
kata dan berhujah dan baik hati..

Tetapi.. Pada satu hari si B meminta
pada majikan nya supaya memberi sama
dengan apa yang diperolehi oleh A.. tapi
oleh kerana si A ni anak majikan dan
satu satunya yang akan mewarisi
perniaagaan tersebut maka permintaan B
ditolak mentah mentah oleh si majikan..

Pekerja B memang lebih rajin dari A dan
C. Dan pekerja C pula merasa terpinggir
kerana mendapat gaji yang lebih sedikit
dari A dan B walaupun basic B dan C
sama.. dan pada satu hari.. C tiba tiba
meluahkan rasa tidak puas hatinya.. die
mengadu kepada majikannya bahawa dier
sangat miskin dan minta majikannya buat
sesuatu.. si A pula tak pasal pasal
bengang ngan majikan dier sebab mendakwa
majikan nya tidak bersikap adil... si
majikan pening kepala...

APAKAH YANG AKAN ANDA LAKUKAN SEKIRANYA
ANDALAH MAJIKAN TERSEBUT???

Huhu... tadi aku dengar berita kat
radio.. so aku tergerak nak luahkan apa
yang aku rasa.. Dulu aku sebenarnya
menyokong perjuangan seorang tokoh yang
agak aku kagumi.. tapi kenyataanya yang
jelas menyokong perhimpunan demonstrasi
yang jelas mengganggu gugat ketenteraman
negara betul betul buat aku ilang
respek.. tindakannya seolah olah ingin
mengembalikan tindakan revolusi
perancis.. yang jelas nyata merupakan
satu kesilapan dalam lipatan sejarah..
yang menimbulkan perang dunia pertama
dan kedua.. sesuatu yang patut kita
takuti.. berfikirlah atas dasar
realistik dan rasional..

Now, if there's something that I can not stand, it's when someone thinks he knows history when he obviously does not. Saying the French Revolution is the root to all political conflicts is like saying "I have a high blood pressure and it's all because of the person who found out adding salt to food makes it taste better".

And further more he got his lamentable analogy all wrong. First, the land does not belong to the employer but instead he took it from the people who lived there before he came. Secondly, it was the employer himself who invited B and C to come and work on his land by asking some foreigners to bring them in because he has inheritance problems with his brothers. Thirdly, it was only with B and C's help that they all manage to live a good life. Fourthly, the employer has been helping A too much that he now lazes around and enjoys a hedonistic lifestyle (and ironically it's how I see the person who posted this bulletin lives his life).

Once upon a time there was a country. The leader was very wealthy and the people were poor. The leader lived an extravagant life, while the people struggled just to survive. People who were close to the leader enjoyed a wealthy life. The leader lives in a palace, in a capital isolated from his people. One day, realising that there was not much left in the Treasury, the leader decided to raise taxes (or some said reduce subsidies) to finance his extravagant life.

Sounds familiar? Guess which country was I referring to?

The French decided that enough was enough. They started a revolution. They banished the old regime (and chopped off the head of their leader). Sure there was chaos at first, because the liberty and freedom were too overwhelming. But bit by bit they got organised and look at where they are now. Look at where WE are now.

2007-12-14T21:19:00.000+01:00

It's cold.
I'm sick.
I'm tired.
Exam's coming.

Can it get any worse?

Missing Imran.

Proud holder of a DUT

2007-12-13T21:21:00.000+01:00

Well, here it is!

It's funny how you've always waited for something to happen and wondering how good it'll feel when it happens, and when it finally does, it doesn't feel as good as you thought it might be.

According to my career coach (paid by my faculty), I'm very much like Mr Sarkozy, the French President. I feel proud, and yet at the same time, worried.

Final exams are next week! Wish me luck. I'm going to need every single one of it.

Sunday is gloomy,
My hours are slumberless
Dearest the shadows
I live with are numberless
Little white flowers
Will never awaken you
Not where the black coaches
Sorrow has taken you
Angels have no thoughts
Of ever returning you
Wouldnt they be angry
If I thought of joining you?
Gloomy Sunday - Elvis Castello (Billie Holiday)

M for Malaysia

2007-12-12T08:27:00.000+01:00

This is the Parliament. It is supposed, or in Malay, the word would be kononnya like the one that Utusan always use whenever they lie in their news report, which is really anything but, to be the symbol of democracy, the symbol of the Vox Populi "People's Voice". Isn't it ironic that the people who wanted to do just that, to voice out what they have to say, are arrested in the precinct of the Parlimen building itself?

Parlimen or Parliament comes from the French word Parlement, which literally means "speakly" or the word speak in the form of adjective. However the joke goes that it's actually a combination of 2 separate words Parle and Ment, which means "speak" and "lie". Et ainsi comment je vois celui de ma patrie.

Allons enfants de la patrie
Le jour de gloire est arrivé
Contre nous de la tyrannie
L'étandard sanglant est levé
L'étandard sanglant est levé
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras
Egorger nos fils nos compagnes

Amour sacré de la patrie
Conduis, soutiens nos bras vengeurs
Liberté liberté chérie
Combats avec tes défenseurs
Combats avec tes défenseurs
Sous nos drapeux que la victoire
Accoure à tes mâles accents
Que tes ennemis expirants
Voient ton triomphe et notre gloire

Aux aurmes citoyens
Formons nos bataillons
Marchons, marchons
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons
La Marseillaise

A visit to Mr Scissorshand

2007-12-11T21:34:00.000+01:00

I really dread going for a haircut, especially in France. They don't have those mamak style hair saloon. All they have is the fancy schmancy type. To me the haircut ritual should be going into the saloon, sit, say that I want it short, pay, and get the hell out of there.

But here, as soon as you come in you'll be greeted by the person behind the reception desk who looks, no wait, stares at you for a few seconds before asking the stupid question "May I help you?". Well I guess you can start by cutting my hair! And then when you're finally sitting in front of the mirror, they'll ask "How would you like me to cut your hair". I know that if I simply answer "short", the person will take this as an insult and he'll have his revenge while cutting my hair. Luckily they always have a catalog of hairstyles with different parts of your head like top, sideburns, side, and back. All you have to do is choose a style for each part; like ordering a Happy Meal (I'll have the double cheeseburger, extra pickle, extra large fries, with a chocolate sunday - and a small diet coke). And I have this feeling that as you're flipping through the catalog and telling the person that you want a part to look like the picture in the catalog, the person is having a huge laugh in his mind and say 'Yeah, like that's going to happen'.

And I walk out of that saloon 15€ poorer, but my head feels 3kg lighter.

There's this person in my class whom I respect a lot. I know that he would be someone someday (aren't we all?). I mean really be someone. But he is so annoying in class. He talks a lot. He plays with his hand phone indiscreetly, he behaves like a 12 year old, and he has this annoying tendency to know everything and when the lecturer asks something he would be the first to answer, in a quick pace, followed by the annoying 'oooooooooh' sound he always make. I mean, if you answer something quickly and SOMEONE ELSE says 'ooooooooh', then yes, it's not annoying. But if YOU do it yourself, you deserve to be sula.

Today we had a quiz during our Company Law lecture. I manage to get to the final 7 I think (out of 36 mind you). And that guy was eliminated before me (well to be honest, his answer was very precise and detailed, but he mistakenly said dividend instead of interest. While I was eliminated because I gave a stab in the dark answer). Although I very much pitied him when everyone else booed him when he was eliminated, I couldn't help but let out a quite-loud laughter of satisfaction (berjaya jugak aku kalahkan dia. haha rasakan).

Now what is a wedding? Well, Webster's dictionary describes a wedding as the process of removing weeds from one's garden.
Homer Jay Simpson

So you're pregnant. Boo hoo

2007-12-10T21:45:00.000+01:00

I live in the outskirts of Lille. I believe it's the part of the city where the population is the oldest. Banyak sungguh orang-orang tua berkeliaran in my area. I'm not an agist (obviously that word does not exist since when I'm writing this the word was underlined in red). I don't mind having to walk slowly behind an elderly person when the pavement is too narrow to overtake him/her. I wouldn't mind to let them go before me when I queue up at the post office or while boarding a bus. What I can't stand is the fact that they seem to be in a conspiracy against younger people when it comes to grocery shopping.

I mean, they are in their retirement. Retired people have all day to do everything they want to do. But why do they have to go to the supermarket all at once during the only hours where the young people are not busy to go for grocery shopping (ie. lunch breaks and between 6 and 8 in the evening).

Good luck if you're buying you groceries during those hours. The whole place is packed with old people. Dah la tu, you know how old people like to spend "wisely" and "not to waste anything". So instead of paying by card which takes a minute at most or by cash which takes 2, they have to pay by cheque (why people still use them in the supermarket - I have no idea) or even worse by coins - 1, 2 and 5 cents (Once a lady paid the 82 cents with 1 and 2 cents coins). And knowing how they don't trust younger people, THEY have to count the coins themselves. Oyy.

Now, I was not angry because of an old person when I went to the supermarket just now (maybe because it was raining they were all happily sitting in front of the fire having soup), but by a pregnant woman.

I am not inhumane. It's just that, I had a tiring day and it had been raining all day. The queue at the cashier was long and only after about 30 minutes, I arrived at the conveyor belt (oyy I took 3 minutes to find that word. I kept translating it as the 'rolling carpet' from the French word tapis roulant). Then, a woman had the nerves to ask me if I could let her go first. I had a basket with 3 items (coffee, Koko Krunch, and Lay's) while she had a trolley full of stuff (as if there was a war coming). She made it look obvious that she was pregnant. But her belly was too small for me to have a sympathy. Not after queuing for 30 minutes after having a bad rainy day. If I had it my way I'd say to her 'Yeah so you have a big belly. At least you're going to lose it after 9 months. I'm stuck with mine until God knows when'. Alas, I turned to her and smiled and said 'I don't mean to be unthoughtful, but I think you'd better ask the person behind me. It wouldn't be fair to her.' And she did just that.

Too bad we're not having this conversation in the garden. The plants would have loved the fertilizer.
Fran Fine - The Nanny

If you wish upon a star

2007-12-09T20:24:00.000+01:00

My current wish list:

1. Someone to come home to
2. A dishwasher
3. A miracle diet
4. A new computer
5. A paid for trip to Québec
6. A car
7. 8th Book of the Harry Potter series
8. A filing system
9. A haircut

Oh I'm beginning to think that man has never found
The words that could make you want me
That have the right amount of letters, just the right sound
That could make you hear, make you see
That you are drivin' me out of my mind

Oh I could say I need you but then you'd realize
That I want you just like a thousand other guys
Who'd say they loved you With all the rest of their lies
When all they wanted was to touch your face, your hands
And gaze into your eyes
Cherish - The Association

I think I'm experiencing Quarter-Life crisis

2007-12-08T20:13:00.001+01:00

How low do you have to feel to come up with a song titled "Things can only get better?"

I have been listening to the Way We Were in loop for quite a while now. It has never failed me and I never get tired of it.

Exams are around the corner (call me schizophrenic but they seem to be around every corner nowadays if you ask me). The faculty gave us 3 days off next week to revise. That's really nice of them, but then again, for students such as myself, give us a month, and we'll still start to revise the day before.

Have you ever questioned the choices you made in your life? Sometimes when I take a step back and look around at other people I know, I ask myself why am I like this and why are they like that? I know I shouldn't be looking through other people's window because you never know what someone else's life is truly like. But still sometimes I wished I had lived my life differently and I wished I had not done something or even worse I should have done something. I know I have a lot to be grateful of, but the thing is what if it could have been better?

Some say that one should see the glass as half full. Some say that it's always full only that the other half is made up of air. Some even say that one should have chosen a smaller glass to make it look full. OK, now I have no idea where am I going with this train of thoughts but to make it simple, right now, if you ask me if I see the glass is half empty or half full, I would tell you that I couldn't care less, because I know I shouldn't have drank it.

Oyyyyy

If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me would we?
Could we?
The way we were - Barbra Streisand

You know you're desperate when...

2007-11-27T19:51:00.000+01:00

Today i got this message in my friendster inbox from an unknown girl

nk kwn blh?

When I read this, I thought, what the heck is wrong with this girl. Tak kenal apa-apa nak ajak kahwin pulak. Then it came to me.... oooo kawan. Hahahaha.

Aihh, the eyes only see what they want to see.

Yes, I am feeling THAT desperate right now.

Anyways, I can't believe that it's almost Christmas once again. Rasa baru je hari tu naik Lille Eye (teringat pulak rasa gayat masa naik bendalah tu). How time flies. Sikit lagi nak balik Mesia for good. Rasa sayang la pulak nak tinggalkan France ni.

Aihh...

The story of your great-great grandparents and you

2007-11-23T22:14:00.000+01:00

Sebulan dah tak update ghopenye. Mari kita mulakan dengan lagu yang melekat kat dalam kepala aku ni dek budak² kelas aku yang suka pasang lagu ni time rehat. Siap ada subtitle lagi tu

Tetiba rasa malaslah pulak nak update. Sebelum ni sibuk sangat dengan assingment, parents datang pastu exam pulak, sampai takde masa nak update. Sekarang pulak final dah dekat, ada satu lagi assignment nak anta, pastu nak kena start lagi skali cari internship. Aaaaaaa ngeri aku nak mencari internship lagi skali. Taun lepas pun sipi-sipi je, seb baik ada member tolong. Taun ni tak tau la macam mana.

I remember you
You're the one who made
my dreams come true
a few kisses ago.

I remember too
a distant bell
and stars that fell
like rain out of the blue

When my life is through
and the angels
ask me to recall
the thrill of it all
Then I shall tell them
I remember you
Aunt Frida - The Nanny

I thee divorce

2007-10-18T22:45:00.000+02:00

If the Malaysian PM remarried a few moths ago, today, the French President just divorced his wife while in office. And they say you live long enough to see them all.

I just realised that in my class Mr I-have-an-opinion-for-everything is also Mr I-am-confused-and-I-ask-questions-to-make-everyone-else-confuse-as-well. Oh and there's Mr I-think-I-am-hot-therefore-I-believe-everything-I-do-is-adorable.

I hate them both.

I need a holiday. I need to be able to afford the luxury of lying on my bed looking at the ceiling while entertaining every thought that comes to mind. I want to wake up because I want to wake up and not because of my alarm clock. Aihh.

Sekeping kad ucapan

2007-10-12T22:06:00.000+02:00

Ayah dan ibu
Itulah permulaan kami
Dapatlah melihat bulan dan
Matahari
Ahai...

Yang dikurniakan dari Ilahi
Ahai...
Ayah dan ibu lah
Mesti dihormati

Ayah dan ibu
Wali dan juga keramat
Pada mereka kita beri hormat
Ahai...
Bagilah tunjuk ajar dan
Nasihat
Supaya hidup
Supaya hidup kita akan selamat
Ayah dan Ibu - Sudirman

The thing that I miss most about Raya is the ever so meaningful ritual that we do in the morning just after coming back from the mosque. It's the moment where you kneel before your parents, hold their hands, with your head bowed, asking for forgiveness. At the simple utterance of those words, everything you've done that might have hurt your parents flashes through your mind, and you know that those are only the ones that you're aware of whereas there might be much more that you've never realised, that your parents just kept them inside. I miss that a lot and it has been 4 years I have not been able to do it. I know I have loads on my back that I need to get off, but doing it on the phone is just not the same. I miss my mom's hand caressing my head, and her kiss on my forehead at the end.

It's the moment where even the most masculine of men is forgiven to shed his tears.

Anyways,

Saya ingin mengucapkan Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri kepada semua. Maaf Zahir dan Batin dari hujung rambut sampai ke hujung kaki serta halalkan makan dan minum. Jangan lupa mereka yang berada jauh di perantauan ketika mengunyah kerepek dan biskut serta meneguk air sirap mahupun oren sunkist.

Kepada rakan-rakan seperjuangan di perantauan: Tak balik kampung ke tahun ni?

All I want for raya is you

2007-10-10T20:42:00.000+02:00

My favourite.

I just can't believe that Raya is around the corner. Seriously, if it hasn't been for all the Raya shout outs in Friendster and YM or MSN statuses, I'm quite sure I would've missed it.

This year, I'm celebrating it in Lille with the others and some friends from Grenoble. A 'Kunjungan Balas' I might say since last year we had a wonderful celebration in Grenoble. Though I have to say ours won't be as grandiose as theirs was. Unfortunately, I have 2 classes on Saturday morning so I think I'll be ditching one for the sake of Raya.

This will be my 4th Raya away from home and I certainly hope that it will be the last. It's just not the same. Yes, you can have all the ketupats, rendangs, kuah kacang you want, but the hype is just not the same. I miss the Raya-shopping madness, helping out in the kitchen making cookies (and helping myself up with the leftovers), filling duit raya envelopes, finishing up cookies served for the guests even before the first ones arrive, and finally of course the duit raya hunt (yes I know I'm getting quite old for that).

I don't know why but this year I long to celebrate Raya at home. I really, really miss home. I don't know why. I mean it has only been a month since I came back to France, and my parents are coming to visit me soon, but somehow I want to go home. Is this how homesick feels? If it is, then it's both good news and bad news. The good news is had I felt it when I first came, it would've been much more difficult for me to adapt and to settle down, and who knows how it would've affected me. The bad news is, it shows how heartless I am for taking more than 3 years to finally actually miss home. So if this is homesick, then, I shall admit it without shame that I am homesick. Maybe the ride is just not fun anymore.

Pulang abang, pulang saudaraku,
Masih hijau di desamu ini,
Bayu masih seperti dahulu,
Hujan masih dihias pelangi
Zapin yang hilang - Ramlah Ram

Fac: a month after

2007-10-03T20:02:00.000+02:00

It has been a month since I entered the Catholic University. It's a surprise how I've managed to go through that period and yet still keeping my sanity (well, at least I think I am).

They say à la fac (short for faculté, might sound offensive to English-speakers) I would only have at most 30 hours of classes per week, but now I'm currently at 45 (Saturdays included). They say lectures are given to an audience of 300 students at a time, but mine is only 38. They say lecturers wouldn't even bother to make sure if you're absent, but I have to sign my attendance for every class. And they say that à la fac you work on your own, but I'm facing tonnes and tonnes of homework and assignments.

Usually, I see myself as an above average student if not average, but certainly not an excellent one. The fact that I've been in the IUT for two years, surrounded by average and below average students (and some excellent ones of course), somewhat made me forget that. Now that I'm in la Catho it really hurts to actually accept the reality that there are a lot of excellent students out there. In a nutshell, I've realised now that not all French are stupid.

The first two weeks was for revision. I was scandalised (yes, to that extent) to see that everyone recalled everything from the previous two years. Heck, I couldn't even remember what are the account numbers for VAT. I was equally shocked to see the amount of concentration given during a class. In IUT we hid (apart from me of course, we means the students generally speaking) other students bags and pencil cases, or poked someone just to annoy him or her, or did crossword puzzles while the lecturers talked.

Although I see most of them as spoilt brats, I do admire some of them. There's a girl who works very hard, is excellent in most subjects, and actually managed to complete the crossword puzzles in 20 minutes (a free daily newspaper) almost everyday. There's a guy whom I know would make a great Expert-Comptable (chartered accountant), but he annoys the lecturers a lot since he likes to talk in class. Another guy is so knowledgeable in anything that has to do with finance and law, and he likes to ask brilliant questions. These are the people who made me realise that I should be learning not for the sake of passing the exams, but for the fact that I want to be an accountant, a chartered one for that matter.

Of course there are a few jerks in my class as well. There's Mr I-have-an-opinion-for-everything who also happens to be Mr I-ask-questions-just-to-show-how-much-I-know. Of course theres the Interrupter* who also happens to be Mr Buttsucker. And finally there's Mr I-always-have-funny-comments-to-say-under-my-breath-about-everything who may not be a jerk, but could be a pain in the ass sometimes, and somehow I always end up sitting a row in front of him so I could actually hear what he says.

And I'm - the weird-looking-quiet-Asian guy.

If previously I can't wait for 30/6/2008, now I'm dying to get to that date.

*For those who do not know who the Interrupter is

2007-09-30T21:56:00.001+02:00

If only it's THAT easy.

Raindrops keep falling on my head

2007-09-29T20:36:00.000+02:00

If I am allowed to choose one day to run amok, it would definitely be today.

It's Saturday and I have two lectures from 8 to 12. While everyone enjoys the luxury of not having to wake up early on Saturdays, I had to brave myself through the downpour to my un-sheltered bus stop. Ah yes the bus. No wonder most of the Murphy's Laws are about waiting for a bus. One of them is "When you're late the bus will be on time, and when you're on time the bus will be late". So there I was standing for 10 bloody minutes soaking myself under the unforgiving skies of the Nord.

The classes were not that bad. The only good news for the day came at 11.30 when the lecturer decided to let us go earlier.

After that I went to the bank to check on my account. I was furious to see that my bloody convertible-loan (need to get the terms right) money is yet to be credited into my account. Not increasing the amount of the convertible-loan when everybody else is getting up to 80% hike is one thing, but not sending it on time when students are living on a stretched-razor-thin funds is just too much.

So, OK my money hasn't come in, but I still need to pay the upcoming rent. I decided to transfer some funds from my other accounts (which I was thinking of saving it for matrimonial purposes - Yes, thee-hee-hee yourself). So I withdrew some cash and put in it the cash deposit envelope, and when I got to the cash deposit machine, a message appeared which said 'We're in deep regret that this machine is temporarily out of order'. Aw, how nice. Such well-mannered language. Self-service banking my foot. But since it was not yet noon, I thought I'd run to the main entrance where the counters were, and where the other cash deposit machine was. I ran once again in the rain, to found that it's already close, even though it was only 11.58. So, I had a few hundred Euros in my pocket, which I could not deposit until Monday, which I could not spend on anything, with the possibility of getting mugged or misplacing the money. Talk about a stress free weekend.

Then I went to the butcher. Even though I took the métro, I still had to walk from the métro station to the shop, and it was raining heavier than ever. Normally people would go to the butcher on Sundays since it's market's day and the prices are lower. With that and the fact that it was raining like mad, I thought it would be a breeze, popping into the shop, buy whatever I want, and pop out. What a surprise. The butcher was full - no, packed, with people, even worse than Sundays. I spent about an hour waiting for my turn. Finally getting what I came for, I had to go through the rain again. A car nearly splashed me at a pedestrian cross. Had he done that, I wouldn't hesitate to throw the 2kg chicken breast that I just bought at his car. I could have lost 13€ worth of chicken, but it would be worth the satisfaction.

So after all that, when I got home, I took a shower, screamed into my pillow and went to sleep.

After all, you need to get behind someone first before stabbing him in the back - Sir Humphrey Appleby

2007-09-25T13:50:00.000+02:00

Your Inner European is French!

Smart and sophisticated.
You have the best of everything - at least, *you* think so.

Who's Your Inner European?

Go Figure!

2007-09-20T21:31:00.000+02:00

Oh what the heck

2007-02-25T21:31:00.000+01:00

I have decided to grow up.

Antara amarah dan kekecewaan

2007-02-08T22:04:00.000+01:00

ke.ce.wa
1. (berasa) dukacita kerana tidak tercapai cita-cita (harapan, kehendak, dsb), hampa:
hatiku ~ kerana masih gagal mendapatkan stage;
2. tidak berjaya (mencapai sesuatu), gagal (dlm ujian, usaha, dll), tidak berhasil (sesuatu usaha dsb):
beberapa permohonan stage telah ~;
me.nge.ce.wa.kan
1. menyebabkan kecewa (berasa hampa), menimbulkan rasa kecewa (hampa, dukacita):
surat reject oleh KPMG Blois yang diterima tengah hari tadi amat ~ saya;
2. menyebabkan tidak berjaya atau tidak tercapai (cita-cita, usaha, dsb), menggagalkan;
banyak syarikat telah berjaya ~ hasratku untuk mencari stage
ter.ke.ce.wa
berasa kecewa;
ke.ke.ce.wa.an perihal kecewa, perasaan kecewa (dukacita, hampa):
~ yang kurasakan ini sangat berat.

ma.rah
hahaha, nak tau kenapa? Tungguuuuuuuu.

Mengenai sesuatu yang tidak berkaitan langsung dengan perkara di atas, jangan lupa untuk mendaftar dalam daftar pemilih bagi membolehkan anda mengundi 15 februari ini.

Kalau padi katakan padi
Tidaklah aku tertampi-tampi
Terima kasih tidak terperi
Kepada yang berkempen, menyokong kami

Ular lidi asyik ketawa
Melihat kambing mencuci kaki
15 februari janganlah lupa
Undi Kimi untuk bendahari

Dua tiga tupai terbang
Mana nak sama kambing biri-biri
Undilah dengan hati yang tenang
Undi Semy untuk secretary

Pasir putih tepi pantai
Ombak saling berkejaran
Kalau anda bijak dan pandai
Undilah Syazwan dan juga Lukman

Pulau Corsica jauh ke tengah
Gunung Mont Blanc bercabang tiga
Hendak berpantun penatlah sudah
Undi Jepp jangan dilupa

Tamparan wanita

2007-02-06T12:09:00.000+01:00

Seorang wanita umpama
Sekuntum bunga di taman
Segar mewangi di pelosok dunia
Setulus kasih sesuci embun
Lembut wanita kerana tutur katanya
Mesra wanita kerana senyumannya
Cekal wanita kerana beraninya
Patuh wanita kerana setianya
Sabar wanita kerana imannya
Kasih wanita kerana belaiannya
Lemah wanita kerana air matanya
Ikhlas wanita kerana simpatinya
Dendam wanita kerana cemburunya
Sayang wanita kerana sifat keibuannya
Tanpa wanita lelaki lemah
Kerana wanita lelaki kalah

Two words: Female Chauvinism Hahaha

Pam pam pam pam pam pam pam pam pam pam pam pam pam

2007-02-01T21:33:00.000+01:00

Pam pam pam pam pam pam pam pam pam pam pam pam pam
Pam pam pam pam pam pam pam pam pam pam pam pam pam

KPMG, bring me a dream,
Send me a letter that I've never seen
Give me a place to do my internship
You're my last hope or else I'm in a deep *beep*.

KPMG, I feel so lost
Don't have nobody to call him my boss
Please turn on your magic beams
KPMG bring me a dream

KPMG bring me a dream
It doesn't matter even if it's in Lille
Or in Strasbourg or Lyon or Colmar
I'm so desperate I'll even accept Blois

KPMG, I'm so alone
Everyone else has found a place more or less on their own
So please turn on your magic beams
KPMG bring me a dream.

*Sing to the tune of Mr Sandman. Or else sing it to the tune of Auchan's background song.

the neverending story

2007-01-28T22:57:00.000+01:00

For those of you who've seen the movie or have read the book, don't you think that it's a marketing scam? I mean it says "Neverending", but yet you find yourself turning the last page of the book or watching the end credits of the movie.

My fourth semester has begun for a couple of weeks but this week is when most classes will begin. This has got to be the worst planned semester of all. They're trying to cram in 20 weeks of classes into 10 to make way for the internship, which,I am yet to find a place to do it (I have just received a reject letter from Canal+). I guess if I couldn't find any in France by the end of February, I'll begin to seek actively in Malaysia.

The meeting with Sylvie Lerond last Thursday went quite well. Unlike last year, she was in a good mood. She told us to choose where we want to go next year. I have decided to either stay in Lille, or move to Strasbourg or Mulhouse (what can I say?I'm a true blue alsacien). Most people would want to go to Paris, but not me. Paris is a nice place to visit but not to live.

I am now officially running for the treasurer's post in MASAF. Anyone who wishes to see my manifesto, can do so starting tomorrow by going to http://www.masaf-online.org/. Wish me luck! And vote for me.

2007-01-24T14:10:00.000+01:00

Aux Lillois,

Mem Besar va nous rendre visite demain. Préparons nous pour tout ce qu'il peut arriver. Rendez-vous à 12h30!

masAFUNDI Kimi!

2007-01-20T19:18:00.000+01:00

Kalau ada yang susah nak tidur dah dua tiga malam tu, ubat dia senang je. Pergi makan kat KFC. Gerenti balik tu mengantuk. Macam aku tadi aa. Siap terlajak stesen métro tu. Hahahaha. Nasib baik masa tersedar tu tak gabra. Buat-buat cool, turun kat Pont Supérieur, buat-buat keluar, masuk kedai magazine, and then masuk balik stesen métro. Gila punya cover lah.

Secara rasminya hari ini, aku tersenarai dalam calon orang yang bertanding untuk jawatan bendahari Masaf (Malaysian Students Association in France). Silalah undi saya ek. Bukannya apa, at least adalah wakil Pekom dalam tu. Kalau ada apa-apa senang sikit. Lagipun aku boleh aa apply ilmu akaun aku kalau aku jadi bendahari. So sekarang nak kena fikir strategi kempen aku. Ahahaha. Takkan nak pakai taktik masa bertanding BWP MRSM dulu kan? (Adib sure still bengang dengan aku pasal kalah 2 undi je). Di zaman Youtube ni kena lah kempen dengan lebih agresif lagi. Tak main aa poster burger aku dulu tu ahahah.

Haihh. Teringat zaman jadi BWP dulu.

Atau alam mulai enggan bersahabat dengan kita

2007-01-18T21:50:00.000+01:00

Spring has begun in New York in January, strong wind is blowing in the north of France, it's snowless in the Alps while it's snowing in California, and of course the great flood in Malaysia.

It's home. No matter what, we can not leave it. So, please take good care of it.

Barangkali di sana jawabnya
mengapa di tanahku terjadi bencana
mungkin Tuhan mulai bosan
melihat tingkah kita
yang selalu salah dan bangga
dengan dosa dosa
atau alam mulai enggan
bersahabat dengan kita
coba kita bertanya
pada rumput yang bergoyang
Ebit G Ade - Berita kepada kawan

Aaaaargh!!!

2007-01-17T22:05:00.000+01:00

I just can't stand that guy. Aaaaarghhh. This morning, we were supposed to do a financial report on yesterday's result. The lecturer told us to do something simple on what was our strategy, how did we perform, and what are we planning to do next. Knowing how clueless and slow he was, I've decided to let him do the first part while I did the other two parts, just to be nice to him since we were both in charge of all the financial tasks. We only had 3 hours, and apart from that report, we needed to hand in the decision form and a simple paper work on a loan that we were going to make. The thing is, he used all three hours to write out his part. I had to rush to complete the form and the paper work and it was no surprise that I've made the decisions at random without even making any detailed calculations. And when I've sent the form and the paper work, he was still writing his part, which by then there was even a layer of dust on the other 2 parts that I did. And when he had finally done his part, I gave my part to him, and asked him to pass it up. And he just sat there. Urghh. I'm telling you, if I had a knife at that time I wouldn't be able to write this right now as I would be spending the night in jail. And to top it all, when the results came in, we made a loss and we were overdrawn, he said that I must've made a wrong decision. At that moment I wanted to take his handphone and stuff it in his throat.

Annoyed

2007-01-15T21:42:00.000+01:00

Hah. I've received all my marks except for Economics and Labour Law. No matter what my marks are for those two papers, I have reached the average 10 points requirement to move on to the 4th semester. I have to say that I didn't get as many 16s or 20s like last year, but at least my marks are all homogenic; no more getting 20 for a paper and 3 for another like I did in the first semester. And I am happy to tell you that I have the highest average in English. I had 20 for the oral comprehension test and 16,25 for the written test. But the lecturer has decided to add another 2 points to everyones score for the oral test, so I got 22 over 20. Furthermore, from what I've heard, she's adding another point to everyone's average. When it comes to giving marks, she is the best, though sadly, the same can not be said for her way of teaching.

This week I'm having my third jeu d'entreprise. I'm really getting tired of this company simulation game. Plus, this year I'm in a group of boring people (dont moi, je sais). One of them must've been 40, and he's weird. You know in some TV shows or some movies, where there's always a guy who tries to make a joke, but the joke doesn't make anyone laugh, which is very annoying? That's him. He uses a handphone from the year 1995 that looks like my TV remote control, which I think was in use even before SIM cards were invented. And he is so annoying. He tries to take control of everything, and thinks he's always right (I know what you're going to say "Is he describing about that guy or about himself?"). Unfortunately enough for me, we're both doing the financial and accounting parts. He doesn't understand what needs to be done and when it's time to decide on something he'll say "What do you think?", followed by "You think that's a good idea?", and after that comes "What makes you think it's a good idea?", and then he'll say "I think you're wrong/I don't think it's a good idea" and finally, and it really pisses me off when he asked me this "So what do you suggest then?". HELLO! This is my third jeu d'entreprise, and let me tell you something Mister, in the last two games, the companies that I was in have never ever made any losses. Not even once. Oh well, no matter what I write here, you can never imagine how weird and annoying he is until you meet him in person.

Anyone interested in doing the dishes? I'll pay 10€

Oy

2007-01-11T20:03:00.000+01:00

I get pissed off everytime I took the métro if:

1) A person bumps me from behind or steps on my foot and not turning back to excuse him/herself, hurrying to catch the train that has just arrived in the station.
2) When the train is approaching a station where most people get off, a person force people to move out of his/her way just so that he/she can stand right in front of the door so that he/she can be the first one to get down (especially if I'm standing next to the door)

These people should be arrested.

Meanwhile, oyy, I'm getting hooked to the Nanny. I've been watching Seasons 1 to 4 since I came back from the roadtrip. I guess I have this "thing" for TV series. They tend to influence me. For instance, when I was hooked to Monk, I would count and touch every pole that I walk by. When I was hooked to Desperate Housewives, my house was neat and tidy like the Van de Kamps'. And now, I find myself laughing through my nose and using the word oy to let out a sigh. Luckily for me that classes won't really start in 2 weeks. I'll have the time to finish up Seasons 5 and 6.

Oyy

The year where I'd turn 20

2007-01-07T10:08:00.000+01:00

I hope it's not too late to wish everyone a happy new year. Since it's the Christmas break, and since I'm tired of writing due to the infernal week prior to the break, I've decided not to update. But tomorrow everything will go back to normal, and this week might be worse than the exam week since we'll be getting our marks. Aihhhh. There goes my first sigh for the year.

It's the time of year where people make new resolutions. For once, my resolution this year is not to have any resolution. It sounds paradoxal, I know. And let's see, if there's a song for 2006 what would it be? It was hard for me to choose. At first I wanted to go with Mr Sandman, but I'd sound too desperate (Ha Ha Ha). So I guess I'll settle down with Yesterday by the Beatles

Yesterday
All my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they're here to stay
Oh, I believe
In yesterday

Suddenly
I'm not half the man I used to be
There's a shadow hanging over me
Oh, yesterday
Came suddenly

Why she
Had to go
I don't know
She wouldn't say
I said
Something wrong now I long
For yesterday

Yesterday
Love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
Oh, I believe
In yesterday

Although I must say that only the first half of the song is true. Love was never an easy game to play. Never even played it. Aihhh.

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling "If"

Si tu peux voir détruit l'ouvrage de ta vie
Et sans dire un seul mot te mettre à rebâtir,
Ou perdre en un seul coup le gain de cent parties
Sans un geste et sans un soupir ;

Si tu peux être amant sans être fou d'amour,
Si tu peux être fort sans cesser d'être tendre,
Et, te sentant haï, sans haïr à ton tour,
Pourtant lutter et te défendre ;

Si tu peux supporter d'entendre tes paroles
Travesties par des gueux pour exciter des sots,
Et d'entendre mentir sur toi leurs bouches folles
Sans mentir toi-même d'un mot ;

Si tu peux rester digne en étant populaire,
Si tu peux rester peuple en conseillant les rois,
Et si tu peux aimer tous tes amis en frère,
Sans qu'aucun d'eux soit tout pour toi ;

Si tu sais méditer, observer et connaître,
Sans jamais devenir sceptique ou destructeur,
Rêver, mais sans laisser ton rêve être ton maître,
Penser sans n'être qu'un penseur ;

Si tu peux être dur sans jamais être en rage,
Si tu peux être brave et jamais imprudent,
Si tu sais être bon, si tu sais être sage,
Sans être moral ni pédant ;

Si tu peux rencontrer Triomphe après Défaite
Et recevoir ces deux menteurs d'un même front,
Si tu peux conserver ton courage et ta tête
Quand tous les autres les perdront,

Alors les Rois, les Dieux, la Chance et la Victoire
Seront à tous jamais tes esclaves soumis,
Et, ce qui vaut mieux que les Rois et la Gloire
Tu seras un homme, mon fils.

Rudyard Kipling "Si"

Pergi pantai musim sejuk. Bijak sungguh

Panggilan cuti, telah tiba lagi

2006-12-22T21:41:00.000+01:00

Ich bin in Urlaub!

It's the holidays season once again. And what would I do whenever there's a school break? Travelling of course. This Wednesday I shall be leaving Lille for Château de Chambord, Blois, Poitiers, Bordeaux, Île de Ré, La Rochelle, Carnac (France's equivalent to the English Stonehenge), Quimper, Pointe de Corsen (Westernmost point in France), Brest, Paimpont (King Arthur's Forest), St Malo, le Mont St Michel and Le Havre.

I guess I've earned this break, after this one infernal week. As I said, the first thing I'll do is to recover all those sleeping hours that I've missed within the last couple of weeks. The next thing I'll do is to cut my hair which was due way long ago. A movie marathon is next on the list, although currently there aren't many interesting movies shown in the cinéma, so I guess it wouldn't be a marathon but a short morning walk. After that maybe I'll add a bowling game or a laser gun game onmy list. Then it's off to the Atlantic coast. On the 3rd I'm planning to see the Tintin exhibition at the Centre de Georges Pompidou. After flying high in cloud nine until the 4th of January, I guess I'll have to come back down to earth, to start revising another Law paper which was scheduled on the day the school starts. In that same week I'll be having another German test as well. Not something to look forward to eh?

If given the chance to continue my studies, would I? To continue, or not to continue? That is the question. I have friends who plan to continue after their DUT, so I asked their opinion whether I should continue or not. They say that I should because with what I can do, I should not limit myself to a bachelor's degree. Last year, a professor told me that it would be waste if I do not continue in an Ecole de Commerce. Furthermore, that magazine test I took the other day said the same thing as well. And everyone talks about how easy it is to be recognised and to be offered jobs by huge companies. It's "Finger in ze noze" (from the french doigt dans le nez). These are some of the things that motivate me to continue. On the other hand however is another set of fingers (hahaha, a lame joke that I found on the internet). Okay seriously, on the other hand, when I think of weeks like this one, I'll get discouraged. Of course it's never too old to learn, but I just feel that I'm too old to be going to classes. I need to learn from those people who are doing Medcine. I need to know how do they keep themselves motivated. Please, if any of you are reading this, please send me a message. Help!

In the mean time, I'll just enjoy my two weeks rest.

This shows how stress can make you go nuts.

Siji, Loro, Telu

2006-12-21T22:29:00.000+01:00

Siot je ko tag aku Zarf. Aku rendam iPod ko dalam air kang

THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:
• hakimi
• kimi
• kimbee (untuk orang-orang yang tersumbat hidung seperti Mayamin di suatu ketika dahulu)
THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD:
•kimmyinthemiddle
•mrmckimmy
•kimbee
THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU DON'T LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
• I am what I am
• They were not given without reason
• Changing any part of it means your not grateful to what He has given you
THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
• Jowo
• Minang
• At the end of the day, we're all Rumpun Melayu
THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
• Bad marks
• heights
• the fact that I can die any minute
THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
• A cup of coffee
• glasses
• a book to read
THREE OF YOUR MOST TREASURED POSSESSIONS:
• life
• faith
• my five senses
THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
• a tshirt
• a track bottom
• glasses
THREE OF YOUR FAVOURITE BANDS OR MUSICAL ARTISTS:
• Celine Dion
• BeeGees
• M Nasir
THREE OF YOUR FAVOURITE SONGS:
• My Way
• Ce n'était qu'un rêve
• Warisan (Anak Kecil Main Api)
THREE OF YOUR FAVOURITE HOBBIES:
• Reading
• Travelling
• Thinking
THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
• Get a place for an internship this April
• Cut my locks
• Finish up that last accountings excercise
THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:
• South Pole
• Pompeii et Vesuvius
• Andalucia
THREE KIDS' NAMES YOU LIKE: (what the hell?)
• All in
• good
• time
THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
• be a better Muslim
• have a family
• balik telur kat muka satu orang ni yang aku tak suka (gila paradoks dengan pointyang first tu)
THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A BOY:
• I prefer physics to chemistry
• I think no matter what is done or said, women will never be equal to men. Not that we are superior than them it's just that we're not the same. If we were, why did He created 2 sexes?
• I'm attracted to women with motherly traits (not a guy's stereotype is it?)
THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A GIRL:
• I think too much
• I can be a little too emetional sometimes
• I prefer coulours to black and white
THREE CELEB CRUSHES:
• Lindsay Lohan
• Emma Watson
• Laura Hall (not a crush actually, more like I find she has a sweet face)
THREE PEOPLE WHO HAVE TO TAKE THIS SURVEY NOW:
• Azza
• Syazwan
• Fadhil

iThink

2006-12-21T18:16:00.000+01:00

Education is what remains when everything else is forgotten.

Si et seulement si...

2006-12-20T19:30:00.000+01:00

According to a test that I did in a magazine (like the ones you people always do in magazines like Women's Weekly, Vogue, or whatever, except that the one that I did was in a magazine on postgraduate programmes), I should go to an Ecole after all. Well if it says that I should, than maybe I would. These things have got to be true, they're published in magazines!

Anyway since last week, I became insomniac. I just couldn't sleep. Maybe I was thinking too much, maybe I was stressed with the exams, or maybe I had too much coffee. So I thought, I might as well make the best of it. So instead of sleeping at 2330 hours, I would stay awake until around 0130 hours to study for the exams. The timing couldn't be any more perfect. But I knew it was too good to be true. Starting from last Monday, I began to feel sleepy as soon as 2000 hours. But I restrained myself from having a cup of coffee to stay awake. Instead I would take 2 capsules of miraculous Virgin Coconut Oil which gave me enough energy to revise until 2330 hours. So now, I'm not having much trouble falling asleep. Unfortunately, the same thing can not be said with waking up. Not only my body has decided to catch up with all those sleeping hours that was lost last week, the morning temperature has dropped to around -1°C, which is the ideal temperature to stay under those warm covers. I can't wait for the holidays. The first thing I'll do Saturday is to sleep all day long.

I guess I should stop showing the answer letters for my internship applications since I've been getting a lot lately. 8 to be exact. So far, I've sent around 50 applications all over France including places I have never thought I would even think about like Blois and Annecy (Luk, Irfan jangan marah nanti lekas tua). Of course, those 8 letters rejected my application. I've even received a phone call from Deloitte to inform me that they've rejected me (How nice of them). Trust me I'm used to being rejected if you know what I mean. Hahaha. Seriously, I'm getting used to it by now. Unlike when the first two letters arrived when I'd feel depressed, nowadays, getting a rejecting letter is like digging your nose when no one else is looking ;who cares? At least I've got 2 ambiguous emails. One was from Unilever, which said, "We're interested in your CV, we will try our best to find a place for you". Either they're really trying their best or it's just an euphamism to say "Tough luck kiddo". The other was from Thales Malaysia that said "Well, we've received you résumé, but it's in French, would you mind sending us an English one?". I don't know why but that email made me laugh. I guess I'll just have to write up a new CV, this time in English this week end.

"Hey, if you're still looking for love and you're still looking for the right place to find it, maybe we'll bump into each other"

Et si cela arrivait en Malaisie?

2006-12-16T16:16:00.000+01:00

BRUSSELS, Belgium: Suddenly, and shockingly, Belgium came to an end late Wednesday.
State television broke into regular programming with an urgent bulletin: The Dutch-speaking, half of the country had declared independence and the king and queen had fled. Grainy pictures from the military airport showed the dark silhouettes of a royal entourage boarding a plane.

Only after a half hour did the station flash the message: "This is fiction." It was too late. Many Belgians had already fallen for the hoax.

Frantic viewers flooded the call center of the RTBF broadcaster that aired the stunt. Embassies called Belgian authorities to find out what was going on, while foreign journalists scrambled to get confirmation.

"Ambassadors who were worried asked what they had to tell their capitals," said Senate Chair Anne-Marie Lizin. "This fiction was seen as a reality and it created a catastrophic image of the country."

The broadcaster RTBF defended the program, saying it showed the importance of debate on the future of Belgium. But the network won few friends.

Even the Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister from neigboring Luxembourg, was angry and let it be know at the opening of the European Union summit. "This is not the kind of issue you play around with," he said.

The RTBF's phony newscast reported that the "Flemish parliament has unilaterally declared the independence of Flanders" and that King Albert and Queen Paola had left on the first air force plane available.

The broadcast showed jubilant demonstrators waving the yellow-and-black flag with the Flemish Lion outside the legislature. A small crowd of monarchists rallied outside the royal palace waving the Belgian flag.

Sending the royal family fleeing in record time also did not go down well at the palace, which said in a statement the hoax was in "bad taste."

"It is totally unacceptable," said Vice Premier Didier Reynders.

The linguistic demons pitting Dutch-speaking Flemings in the North against the Francophones from Brussels and Wallonia in the South have been mostly quiet for the past two decades, ever since far-reaching autonomy was granted in the 1980s.

Yet the economic disparity between rich Flanders' wealth and struggling Wallonia has recently intensified the political debate. The North is demanding more autonomy while the South clings to a unity that better spreads the economic spoils. The royal family is often portrayed as the glue that holds the nation together.

Independence is not an aim of any of the major parties in power, whatever their linguistic preference.

It explains why the program was so widely condemned on Thursday.

"It is abhorrent. It defies belief. It is a caricature of Flanders," said Yves Leterme, the Minister-President of the Flemish region.

His Walloon counterpart Elio di Rupo was just as negative. "Never in my long political life have I seen such worry. Anguish came from around the world," he said.

The Francophone minister who oversees the RTBF network called the top management of the company in for consultation, with rumors swirling some would be fired.

About the only people who enjoyed the program were the separatist far-right Flemish Interest party. It wants to get rid of king and country and thought it could see a flash of its future.
"I want to congratulate the RTBF for this daring show," said Flemish Interest leader Filip Dewinter.

"It caused a shock in Wallonia where they come to the conclusion that the scenario of Flemish independence is no longer utopia," said the politician generally consider the biggest foe of Francophone Belgium.
The International Herald Tribune

When I'm stressed, I write.

2006-12-15T21:13:00.000+01:00

Il y a une fille que j'adore
Mon âme, mon coeur et mon trésor
Elle si belle et si jolie
Je suis sous son charme quand elle sourit

Ce n'est pas sa beauté qui me rend amoureux
Mais c'est son coeur, charmant et chaleureux
Je l'adore c'est sûr, mais est-ce qu'elle m'adore?
Je l'attends toujours, encore et encore

C'est inexpliquable, c'est de la magie
Je veux la garder pour toute ma vie
Elle est mon soleil quand le ciel est nuageux
Je veux être le même pour elle, seulement si je peux
A yet-to-be-named poem
-hakimizamali-

This is why I'm not a comedian

2006-12-15T12:49:00.000+01:00

Beyond this point is a work of fiction and has nothing to do with insciting people to go against the government or promoting any disloyalty to the King.

Imagine this:

You are watching a programme on TV3. Suddenly, the programme's interrupted for a breaking news. Kamaruddin Mape says "Ladies and gentlement, we're sorry to interrupt the programme to bring you a breaking news. The King has abdicated and left the country, Malaysia is now officially a Republic. For more details let's join Karam Singh Walia in front of the National Palace." Then you have Karam Singh Walia giving details about the news and everything. In the background you can see people waving the royal flag and the malaysian flag. Then the news continues with a report from Pang Chin Fei in front of the Prime Minister's Department building.

Again, this is a work of fiction.

A telephone number appeared on the screen so that people can contact the television network for further details. When you call the number, they actually give you details about the news. The news continued for 40 minutes. People began to panic. After 40 minutes, the newsticker appears below the screen (like to one's in CNN and other news networks). It says 'this is a work of fiction'. How would you react to this?

The fictionous part ends here.

I know that will never happen in Malaysia, the televised joke NOR the real thing. And I hope that won't happen. But it's exactly what happened in Belgium last Tuesday. Imagine the Belgian people's, the government's, the Prime Minister's, and even the King's reaction when they saw this news on TV. It was purely a joke made by the TV network. And the TV network is the Belgian equivalent to RTM (I used TV3 as an example instead since I do not know any news anchors from RTM, and to imagine yourself watching RTM is hard enough, let alone imagining the whole joke thing).

En fin bref.

This morning, on a morning TV talk show they were talking about the personal life of Marie Antoinette. I didn't pay much attention to it until one of the panelist said this:

"Queen Marie Antoinette was an Austrian princess, therefore she was brought up with Austrian traditions. When she moved to France, she tried to follow the way she was brought up whenever and wherever she could. So she took care of her personal hygiene, including taking a bath everyday. Since the French didn't wash themselves as often as she did, she was simply the best smelling person in the court. But that didn't stop her from using perfumes like the others...."

Wow. I've waited for so long for a French to say that. Finally, someone admits, on national TV, that the French did not (and still don't) take a bath regularly. That is why the world capital of perfume is in France. That is why the safest place to hide something is under a Frenchman's soap. That is why no matter how big a house is, there will be only one bath room (one day of the week for each family member). And it gets worse when they just had a ham and cheese sandwich and some wine for lunch.

listening to the sound of silence

2006-12-12T21:36:00.000+01:00

Sometimes I wonder, when people look at me, do they see the same person that I see when look into a mirror?

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is that person I see?

I'm having a very light week. I don't have any classes tomorrow, and on other days, I have no more than 2 hours of class. I guess this is what they call the silence/calm before the storm. And what a storm next week will be. More like a hurricane to me. 10 papers in a row. 2 papers per day for 5 days with 2 Laws and an Economics papers in three consecutive days. The thing is, at least in a storm, you have the eye of the storm where everything calms down for a while, there is no eye in this storm.

NEWSFLASH!
We might be able to continue our studies until Masters/Ecole de Commerce/BAC+ 5. Sylvie emailed everyone telling that PETRONAS is apparently not against the idea of letting us continue our studies after our bachelor programme. That is so predictable of them.

I guess it's a good thing that now we have a choice between continuing our studies or stopping at BAC+ 3 and pack our bags. But at the end of the day, we have to ask ourselves, do we want to do it, do we need to do it, and is it worth doing?

The good thing about stopping at BAC+ 3 is that, you'll get a degree equivalent to a bachelor's degree, you go back home to Malaysia, and start working with Petronas at the age of 20 (in my case of course. I'll graduate two months before my 21st birthday). From there, you can do part-time studies, doing ACCA or CPA or whatever. The bad thing is, some of us have the potential of continuing our studies in a Grande Ecole or doing Masters, which is not easy, even for the French. It's sad to see it go to waste.

The good thing about continuing until BAC+ 5 is that, you'll get a degree equivalent to a Master's degree, you'd have already begun building your network of contacts with the people in the French business sphere, and your degree is widely recognized in France. BUT (a very big but), in Malaysia, you still wouldn't know if your Masters is recognised as it is, or simply as an equivalent to a Bachelor's degree (which is still the case with other Malaysian engineering students in France ). Then, to become a certified accountant, you'd still need to complete your ACCA or CPA, which may be quite hard since you're too used to the French system that the English system might look Greek to you (it's an expression; it's all Greek to me!).

But hey! I'm not the expert. I'll need to ask my Accountings teachers and my accountant brother, to see what they have to say about this.

TIDAK! NO! NON! NEIN! ENGGAK! LA! NYET! ORA!

2006-12-10T00:15:00.000+01:00

Hari ini bermula dengan sungguh baik sekali. Aihhh. Lepas Subuh, menyelubungkan badan semula dan tidur dibuai kesejukan nyaman pagi Sabtu. Bangun pukul 10 selepas mata enggan lagi berehat. Secangkir kopi panas dihirup sebelum menonton cerita kegemaran "Whose Line Is It Anyway". Bergelak ketawa selama beberapa sambil mencicahkan roti ke dalam secawan susu coklat yang lemak manis. Matahari bersinar di luar tanpa dibayangi mega-mega mendung. Selepas menyegarkan diri dengan siraman air panas selama 15 minit, baju serba hijau disarungkan hari ini bagi memberikan rasa ceria. Melangkah keluar ke bandar sambil memerhatikan sekeliling. Sesampai di bandar, berjumpa dengan seorang sahabat yang sudi menemankan. Meronda-ronda di kedai buku mencari sesuatu naskhah untuk membina ilmu. Kemudian melangkah ke sebuah café untuk menenangkan fikiran. Segelas kopi ais dihirup sambil memerhatikan umat manusia berlalu lalang di hadapan. Setelah selesai, menuju pula ke taman berjiranan dengan stesen keretapi, mengembara dan mengambil gambar. Kemudian menjamu selera pula dan seterusnya menghirup sup tomato panas bersama yang lain sambil membincangkan percutian yang mendatang. Pulang ke rumah, dengan hati yang tenang dan senyum ceria.

Alangkah indahnya hari ni....

...seandainya perkara yang satu ni tidak berlaku.

MACAM MANA PULAK BOLEH TERSILAP HANTAR EMAIL UNTUK CARI STAGE? 10 COMPANY PULAK TU. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH.

And behind enveloppe number Two is...

2006-12-05T11:39:00.000+01:00

Nein. If you're not taking me, the least you can do is resend me my CV. At least I know how to put it in good use rather than ending up in your shredder.

18 to go.

Tanya sama pokok...

2006-12-03T17:16:00.000+01:00

Tanya sama pokok
apa sebab goyang,
Nanti jawab pokok
angin yang goncang
Tanya sama angin
apa sebab goncang
Nanti jawab angin
tanyalah awan

Awan nanti kata
aku takung air,
Sampai tempat sejuk
aku pun cair,
Tengok dalam air
ada bayang-bayang
Campak satu batu
bayang pun hilang

Tanya sama hati
Apa asal sayang
Adakah tandanya
nampak dipandang?
Kumbang rayu bunga
Bulan dan bintangnya
Punya tanda-tanda
hubungan mesra

Tanya sama hati
Pernahkah merindu
Ingat masa lena
apa mimpimu
Masa berjauhan
Apa nan dikenang
Bila difahamkan
itulah sayang

Mereka dah jumpa stage, saya bila lagi?

2006-12-01T23:21:00.000+01:00

Lina @ Peon left for Lyon today to do her internship. I guess we won't be seeing her for a while (not that we meet everyday anyways). Zeff will be leaving for Paris next week. So last night we had a small feast to celebrate them (either the fact that they're leaving or the fact that they've found places for their internship; take your pick).

Before we ate we talked about our Diplômes. She said that, as compared to her friends who are also doing about the same thiing (masters in telecomunication networking or signal or something something like that), she's doing a little bit more than they are. And that made curious to know what are my friends in Accounting and Finance doing? Do I have more subjects than they do? Are the topics that I am learning the same? And why not add; In a week, how many hours or classes are there?

Let's have a look.

A friend of mine in Cardiff University, is doing these subjects
Year One
Applied Statistics and Mathematics in Economic and Business
Legal Studies
Professional Accounting and Information Management I
Introduction to Economics
Principles of Business Management
Introduction to Finance
Professional Accounting and Information Management II
Principles of Marketing and Strategy

Year Two
Business Finance
Financial Accounting
Management Accounting
Inferential Statistics, Statistical Modelling and Survey Methods
Financial Markets and Institutions
Auditing OR Taxation

Year Three
Business Finance
Financial Accounting
Management Accounting
International Corporate Finance
Financial Derivatives
Security Analysis and Portfolio Management
Empirical Finance and Accounting Literature OR Financial Statement Analysis
Case Studies in Finance OR Finance Investigation OR Corporate Governance and Accountability

In LSE they're doing these
Year One
Elements of Accounting and Finance
Economics B
Mathematics and Statistics
Mathematical Methods

Year Two
Managerial Accounting
Principles of Finance
Microeconomic Principles OR Macroeconomic Principles
Econometrics OR in Management OR in Business Statistics

Year Three
Financial Accounting and Analysis
Accounting and Finance
Econometrics OR Management OR Business Statistics OR Commercial Law

I didn't manage to get any details from any Australian or NZ universities.

Me, in IUT A de Lille, and next year in an IUT somewhere else in France
Year One
Communication
Computer
English
German
Social Psychology
Economics
Basic Law
Consumers' Rights
Public, French and European Institutions (Law)
Economics
Introduction to Marketing
Introduction to Human Resources
Accountings
Individual Taxation
Financial Mathematics
Statistics
Introduction to Surveys
Administrative Law
General Knowledge
Law on Commerce and Credits
Sociology
Group Psychology
Costing
Analysing Documents
Probability

Year Two
Communication
English
German
Economics
Computer
Company Law
Labour Law
Company Taxation
Accountings
Financial Diagnostic
Investments
Costing
Estimations (Mathematics)
Strategy
Management
+ 10 weeks Internship

Year Three
Property Law
Taxation Law
Accounting
Audit
Financial Analysis
Management Accounting
Company Law
Communication
English
Computer
+16 weeks Internship

Now, I'm not saying that I'm learning more than my friends who are doing degrees equivalent to mine. For some of my friends, a few of my subjects are chapters in another subject for them. It's just that somehow, I have a feeling that what I'm learning is too general. I'm not learning enough of Accounting and Finance but too much of other crap (why the heck do we need 3 subjects of Psychology?). What's more, I have 38 hours of classes each week, while my friends are having only 18 hours per week.

Oh what the heck, I'm going to bed.

My sentences might be incomprehensible tonight. Hey, what do you expect? I'm out of coffee.

And behind enveloppe number One is......

2006-11-29T21:31:00.000+01:00

I got my first reply from one of the companies that I've written to. It was a no. It was a manufacturing company anyways. I don't blame them for not taking an accountancy student as an intern. Let's just hope among the other 19, at least one would reply differently.

catch a falling star and put it in your pocket
never let it fade away
catch a falling star and put it in your pocket
save it for a rainy day

I'm out of falling stars.

It's yesterday once more

2006-11-27T21:30:00.000+01:00

I am not a big fan of remade and reprised songs, but I have to say that this one is not that bad at all. However if you want to hear how French people speak English, listening to this song might give you a wrong impression. The duo pronounce the words way better than the average French. Still, had I not known the singers were French, I could still guess that they are.

I'm having a huge headache right now. They say that life is a roller-coaster. Well, this roller-coaster is definitely having a huge plunge, a plunge so long that you got tired of it, and instead of screaming, you wonder when the heck will it go up again. This ride keeps on going down, that I don't find it fun anymore.

*This morning, when I entered the amphitheaterette for the accountancy test, I was really optimistic that I could get at least 16, but when I got out, the idea of getting 10 didn't seem to be pessimistic at all.
*Almost all of my friends have found their internship/practical places, even those who don't give the slightest damn about their studies, and I am yet to recieve a call to fix an appointment to be interviewed.
*My plan to stay in Lille next year , by doing a Licence Générale at the Catholic University, which may I add, looks like Harvard from far (one small part of it), doesn't seem to be a good choice according to my Accountancy professor, thus I have to start looking other possibilities, which will probably require me to move. Again (4 houses in 4 years).
*Cikgu English aku tak tau apa yang dia ajar. Teks isi tempat kosong yang dia kasi takde makna langsung. Lepas tu masa awal tahun, since aku bilingual, dia kata kalau aku tak datang pun takpa, so aku datang la selang satu kelas. Tiba-tiba dia bagi tau yang dia letak aku absent and bukannya excused. Apa pulak, dia yang offer benda tu, tiba-tiba cakap lain pulak. Aku tak kisah sangatlah, pasal dia kata, kalau ada problem apa-apa pasal benda tu, panggil dia. Abis, takkan aku nak panggil dia masa meeting dengan Cik Lerond January ni? Minah tu sure mengamuk punyalah.

*The exam week is approaching. 2 papers for each of the five days. We're having Labour Law, Economics, and Corporate Law, three days in a row.

*I'm tired of being second.
*It rains almost everyday. If it doesn't, the sun goes into hiding.
*I have not travelled in such a long time. Time is running out.

Those were such happy times
And not so long ago
How I wondered where they’d gone

Lookin’ back on how it was
In years gone by
And the good times that I had
Makes today seem rather sad
So much has changed
Carpenters ~ Yesterday Once More

The road I took

2006-11-25T15:45:00.000+01:00

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
Robert Frost

Sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing by taking the same road as he did.

Scheiße

2006-11-23T20:51:00.000+01:00

Heute, haben wir eine Deutsche test. Es war sehr difficult. Gestern abend, ich habe die Texte memorised for zwei bloody hours. Es war useless. Das professor hat uns gefragt auf die bloody der, die, das, dem, den. Ich habe nie das vergesteht. Müssen wir zwischen Datif, Nominatif, und Accusatif wählen. Bis heute, ich habe keine Idee. After that, er hat uns gefragt to change the sentences to preterite and past participle. Ich wiße nicht the difference zwischen die zwei. So, für die zwei questions, ich habe alles changed into past participle. At least, eine von sie ist stimmt. Dann, er hat uns gefragt to change the sentences nach Deutsche. Ich habe keine Problem mit das. Als er hat uns gefragt zwischen sein und haben wählen für the past participle, ich habe gedackt, dass ich alle stimmt habe. Die letzte question war sehr sehr sehr difficult. Müssen wir eine klein Texte schreiben, mit ein Gespräche, dass das professor uns geboten hat. Wir haben nie das gemacht. Es war unseren erste Mal. Ich bin tot.

(any germanophones out there, please excuse myself if I've not respected your very- complicated- and- incomprehensible- to- anyone- but- you grammar)

Île aux fleurs

2006-11-22T21:03:00.000+01:00

Beware. Certain image in the following film might disturb certain audience. Please do not watch it while you're eating to avoid any reversal esophagus movements.

Today in Communication, the lecturer showed us this movie. At first I thought it was funny, but when it reached the ending part, it was obviously not a comedy. Personally I think (and so do many more according to IMDB), this is one of the best short movie ever made. It was made in Brazilian Portugese and this is the French version. I think everyone needs to see this movie because it shows the dark side or capitalisme (the world we live in). For those who are not francophonic, you can click here to watch it in Portugese with English subtitles.

Keluh Kesah bersama Kak Esah

2006-11-20T21:25:00.000+01:00

Sebentar tadi, ketika hampir selesai memasak:

Mulut: Aihhhhhhhhhhhhh
Otak: Hai, panjang mengeluh cik Kimi?
Hati: Mana taknya, tak jumpa stage lagi
Nafsu: Alah, relaxlah. Orang lain pun ada yang tak jumpa lagi. Relax je.
Persekitaran: Betul tu. Dah hantar 13 surat tu dah cukup dah. Sekarang kau tunggu je jawapan. Sambil tu pergilah tidur ke, tengok TV ke, main komputer ke.
Akal: Persetankan je 2 ekor tu cik Kimi oii. Hantar je lagi banyak mana yang larat. Apalah sangat harga dakwat, kertas, stem, dengan sampul surat tu kalau nak bandingkan dengan kegembiraan bila jumpa stage?
Wallet: Ehem. Aku ni makin hari makin menipis. Janganlah optimis sangat.
Pengalaman: Betul tu. Sebelum ni pun kau pernah ada problem. Tapi dengan selambanya kau dapat lawan.
Harapan: Jangan risau, ada banyak lagi syarikat kat luar tu yang cari orang macam kau
Perut: Hoii! Diamlah korang. Janganlah kacau si tangan tu nak memasak. Kang hangus makan malam ni kang.
Mulut: Aihhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Fenin, fenin. Second year ni memang fenin. Kenapalah dia paksa orang buat stage (practical/internship)? Kan dah menyusahkan orang. Dah la coef 6. Kira kalau fail stage memang fail la tahun ni. Dah tu, suruh orang cari stage sendiri. Mana nak study lagi, mana nak menulis surat lagi. Aihhhh. Fenin, fenin.

Stage aku start tengah bulan April sampai tengah bulan Jun. Stakat ni aku dah hantar 13 surat permohonan; 7 dua minggu lepas, 6 hari ni. Memanglah aku tak expect diorang reply dalam masa 2 minggu, tapi aku dah risau dah ni. Aku tanya orang lain, macam ramai je yang dah jumpa stage. Yang sakit hatinya bila tanya: 'Oooo, aku jumpa kat company ayah / mak / makcik / pakcik / jiran aku (pangkah mana yang tak berkaitan)' tak pun 'Ooooo, ayah/ mak/ makcik/ pakcik/ jiran aku ada kenal orang kat company ni. So aku mintak je lah, terus dapat'. Hisy. Macam pernah dengar je ayat-ayat ni masa sibuk-sibuk cari biasiswa dulu. Tak sangka orang sini pun main kabel. Abis, aku ni? jangan kata kabel, jangan kata wayar, benang pun takde kat sini (eh, ada jugak la sebenarnya, tapi halus sangat, hehehe).

Aku ingat nak lah jugak try usha-usha kat Malaysia, tapi masalahnya, benda tu sampai Jun. Habis stage, kena balik buat presentation. Takkanlah aku nak balik sini lepas tu? Abis, cuti summer nak buat apa plak? Pastu aku rasa dekat Lille ni susah sikit nak cari pasal dah la ada department aku, ada pulak Ecole de Commerce. Maka secara tidak langsung, ramailah calon-calon yang nak rebut tempat untuk stage finance/accountings. So aku pun trylah tengok-tengok bandar-bandar kecik kot-kotlah ada rezeki kat situ. Daripada 13 surat tu, 6 tu aku hantar kat bandar kecik. Harap-harap adalah orang yang sudi mengambil diriku ini.

Kirim stage sekeping boleh?

Chanel N° 5? No thanks

2006-11-18T22:11:00.000+01:00

Like I've told you before, I like taking the métro. Not that I enjoy taking it, it's just that I won't grumble if I have to take it, unlike certain people who'd say 'Aw, not the métro again'. I have a list of things to do when I take the métro. It goes like this:

1)Read a book
2)Do crosswords
3)Listen to songs on my handphone
4)Sleep
and if I don't feel like doing these things
5)Imagining what sort of interesting stories can I create about the person whom I'm looking at

Which is what I did yesterday. I was taking the métro as usual after classes. I didn't feel like reading the book that I had in my book (which was not a good book bythe way, no matter how hard I tried to make myself interested), because I was sleepy. I've finished my crosswords while waiting for the 2 o'clock law lecture. I couldn't listen to my handphone since I've left my earphones at Syazwan's house. And after much persuasion, I couldn't sleep. So I've decided to do my N° 5.

As I was making up stories about the people around me, there was this lady who got in at Fives (read:Feev). I didn't notice anything interesting about her,not until she turned her back to me. She had a toothbrush stuck in her hair. You can only imagine how hilarious it was. I tried my best to strain myself from laughing.

When I said stuck, it's like when a person puts a stick that resembles a chopstick to tie up her hair. I've seen other things being used to replace that stick. I've seen real chopsticks being used (I know it because on the stick, it said in English: dispose after use) and a pencil. But never would I imagine someone uses a toothbrush! So I began to make up possible reasons for that toothbrush being where it was.

1) It was not a toothbrush. It was a stick that was meant to look like a toothbrush.
2) She intended to use a toothbrush as a stick, to be as the French would say (très fashion)
3) Or:

She woke up this morning and felt uncomfortable with her messy long hair. So she went to the toilet and took a toothbrush to make whatever that people make to their hair with that stick, and went doing other things (toilet, preparing breakfast). She had forgotten all bout it, that she left it there. And I thought to myself, she must've had a hard time looking for the toothbrush to brush her teeth this morning. Hehehe. And then I thought that the story was too improbable. She should've noticed it when she took a shower this morning. And then it came to me; Ah, she's a French. That explains everything. Hehehe

If you don't understand why, please read the following joke:
Q: In France, where's the safest place to keep your valuables?
A: Under a French bar of soap.

Hehehe. Still don't understand? Read this

An explorer was walking around in Africa when he came across a cannibal restaurant. Curious, he went in and looked at the menu:
America 10€
English 10€
German 10€
Spanish 10€
Local 10€
French 20€
He then asked the owner why is the French more expensive than the others. The owner replied 'If only you knew how hard I had to clean them before cooking'

Hehehe. What? It's true. If it's not, then why the heck did they became so good at creating perfumes? (which, may I remind you, was created to 'cover' one's BO)

?

2006-11-18T11:11:00.000+01:00

What Happened?

Siapakah?

2006-11-12T20:30:00.000+01:00

Hawa dicipta dari rusuknya Adam
Bukan dari kepala untuk dipandang tinggi
Bukan dari kaki untuk dipijak
Tetapi dari sisi sebagai teman
Dekat di tangan untuk dibelai
Dekat di hati untuk disayangi

This is the one of the best malay quotes I've ever heard. Unfortunately I do not know the author. He/She has got to be one of the rare malay philosophers.

Tadaaaa!

2006-11-09T20:37:00.000+01:00

Ha, ini dia roti canai yang ku idam-idamkan sejak beli lempeng marocain yang berharga singgit. Mahal tak hengat dunia. Dah la nipis, jangan kata kenyang, nak gantikan angin dalam perut kosong pun tak mampu. Buat sendiri lagi best. Murah je. Modal tak sampai 8 hengget, tapi dapat dalam lebih kurang 15 keping. Sebenarnya nak buat murtabak, tapi bila dah keletihan menenyeh doh roti canai tu, takde keje aku nak buat inti murtabak. So last-last buat roti canai je la. So Zarf, kau betullah teka semalam. Sedap tak terkata. Rupa-rupanya buat roti canai bulat lagi senang dari buat yang empat segi (atau kalau kat Shaaz TTDI Jaya tu dikenali sebagai roti canai amba zigi).

Sebenarnya semalam masa first time buat doh tu terlebih air. So ingat dah nak give up dah, tak pun tambah air banyak-banyak buat roti jala je. Ahahaha. Tapi bila fikir balik abang-abang aku yang dua orang tu masa duduk oversea semua pernah masak roti canai, siap ada sorang tu keje kat restoran buat roti canai lagi. So takkan aku nak memecahkan tradisi ni kan? So dengan semangat yang cekal, aku sanggup keluar balik gi kedai walaupun sejuk kat luar untuk membeli 2 kilo lagi tepung (satu untuk buat, satu untuk backup, ye la kalau tak jadi jugak takkan nak keluar balik, kedai pun tutup pukul 8). Seb baik jadik.

Nilah rupanya doh roti canai setelah dilanyak dan ditenyeh selama 20 minit.

Setelah doh dibiarkan rehat selama 2 jam, kita gentel pulak doh tu jadi bulat-bulat. Siapa yang masa kecik dulu suka main plastesin tu mesti terer menggentel. Ahahaha

Setelah semalaman, barulah boleh menebarkan doh kemudian dipintalkan untuk dijadikan bentuk seperti roti bom. Sejurus sebelum masak, canai kandohtadi untuk dijadikan roti canai dengan menenyeh dan memenyekkannya. Kalau nak buat roti bom terus masukkan je. Kalau mengada nak buat roti sardinke, roti telur ke, roti pisang ke, roti kaya ke, roti keju ke, roti apricot ke, roti anggur ke, bolehlah letak inti selepas tebar, and terus masuk kuali, tak payah pintal. (Gambar menebar ada, tapi tak boleh tunjuk atas sebab-sebab peribadi)

Tadaaaa! Roti canai yang memang best. Kalau rasa nak tepuk-tepuk roti canai tu dulu, silakanlah.

Setelah membuat roti canai ni sendiri,barulah aku tahu kenapa orang kata roti canai ni makanan yang tak sehat. Memang tak pun. Buatlah sendiri kalau nak tahu kenapa. Ahahaha.

Sebelum berundur, hayati kata-kata hikmah ni:

Roti Canai sedap
Roti Canai buat sendiri lagi sedap
Roti Canai buat sendiri lepas tu makan sorang-sorang lepas tu letak gambar kat blog hingga menyebabkan orang lain terliur, tu memang super-duper sedap

Apa ye?

2006-11-08T22:28:00.000+01:00

Setelah 2 kali cubaan, dan 2kg tepung dibazirkan, dan semalaman berada di dapur, inilah hasilnya sebelum dibentukkan dan dimasak. Apa yang aku cuba masak ye?

Clue: Benda ni biasanya takde dijual di Malaysia antara pukul 11 dengan pukul 3

Memori tahun 90an

2006-11-07T21:37:00.000+01:00

Ingat lagi tak lagu ni?

Stress

2006-11-06T18:09:00.000+01:00

Kami semua sepakat
Di Kampung hai Pening Lalat
Lalalala lalala
Lalala lala~~

Waaaargh esok Law. Tidaaaaaaaak

Hari ni, masa kelas English, tiba-tiba aku didatangi suatu ilham. Semua orang kenal pantun ni:

Dua tiga kucing berlari
Mana sama si kucing belang

Kalau kita fikirkan balik, orang yang cipta pantun ni takda hak mengatakan bahawa kucing belang tu tak sama dengan dua atau tiga kucing yang berlari tersebut. Mana boleh kita membandingkan 2 perkara yang tak sebanding? Cuba kalau kita ubah pantun tu sikit:

Dua tiga aiskrim cair
Mana sama si aiskrim kacang merah

Secara matematiknya memang tak logik kan? So apa motif sebenarnya 2 kerat pertama dalam pantung 4 kerat tersebut? Adakah semata-mata untuk membolehkan 2 kerat berikutnya berirama untuk dijadikan pantun?

Inilah yang terjadi kepada mereka-mereka yang stress sebelum periksa, benda yang takde faedah untuk difikirkan pun boleh difikirkan

Coffee is the best medicine

2006-11-05T18:37:00.000+01:00

It's here again. Exam period is here. This time it's three weeks long. This is when I need my dear old good friend who has been there whenever I need him, through good and bad times. His full name is Carte Noir Arabica Intense, or commonly known simply as coffee.

Wish me luck. I'll be needing every single one that I can get.

Selamat Hari Toussaint

2006-11-02T11:41:00.000+01:00

This year's raya has got to be the best. At least the best yet. Everything was complete; the prayers, the dishes, the tidbits, the open houses, the balik kampung trip, everything was there.

The raya announcement was made Sunday evening on the Grande Mosquée de Paris site. It was quite a shock to everyone since no one expected it to be Monday since most of our prayer calenders stated that, hisably, it'll be Tuesday. And so far the hisab method has never been wrong (at least not eversince my first Raya).

That Monday morning, I headed to Lille Grand Palais, where the prayer was held. This year, like last year, the Muslim community was given the green light to use the convention center to perform the prayer so that everyone can get together on Eid. The green light however, didn't come free. After the takbir, and before the prayer, the mayors of Lille, Villeneuve d'Ascq and Mons en Baroeul, gave their congratulatory speeches, and of course, since we're only 6 months away from the presidential elections, a small-subtle-yet-there political speeches.

Thursday, we had an open house. Well, more like an open room since it was held in Syazwan's room, and it wasn't really an open house since everyone has to bring something to eat (or to drink). There were 20 of us; 17 Lillois, 2 Valenciennois, et 1 Malaisien qui est perdu (gurau je Teoh). The food was great. We had turkey satay, lontong, rendang, nasi impit, kuah kacang, kek Syazana yang sangat sedap, and my air bandung. (This might sound surprising to some people who really know me, but I ate some of each dishes stated above except for Jepp's lontong because I was too full. Sori eh Jepp)

That Friday, after lunch, a friend of mine asked me if I have had my driving licence, and of course I said yes. He said that I should drive my car, just to see how good is my driving since I told him that I obtained my licence in just one month (which is completely unthinkable in France where normally it takes 6 months to get it). I thought he drives a car like the Kancil that we have back home (which is, in my brothers' words : a metal box with four wheels). Instead he drives a cabriolet. A red 1992 Mazda, but I forgot which model it was. He told me to drive it from a car park to another one about 300m away. That was my second time behind the wheels in France.

Friday night - Balik Kampung! 14 of us; Me, Wan, Zarf, Ajib, Mat Nor (@Johan), Jepp, Peon, Zeff, Ann, Teoh, Ajak, Anep, Eijas and Bapak, hopped into two Opel Zafiras and headed for Grenoble for the Hari Raya Celebration that Saturday. We departed from Gare Lille Europe at around 8. The journey was 7 1/2 hours long, and as the co driver I didn't sleep a bit eventhough we changed drivers twice. We arrived in Grenoble at 3 in the morning, at Moled and Hakim's, where the meeting point was. After about 10 minutes there, Zarf, Wan, Eijas and I went to our hotel: Awad's room. And again, I drove for the third time. Ahahaha. Kantoi aa bawak manual. Mati 2 kali kat tengah jalan. Seb baik malam tak banyak kete.

That night we slept at 5 (except for Awad, menunggu rendang sampai Subuh). Kesian Awad. Normally he sleeps alone in his room, but that night, and the night after, there were 7 of us. So we slept wherever there's space. The next morning, I made my Roti Jala. Tu pun Ajib la yang gatal pi bitau semua orang yang aku nak masak Roti Jala. Ntah bila ntah aku cakap. Tak pasal-pasal aku kena menjala (gurau jek ye Ajib, aku masak dengan penuh sukarela). After a little crisis of finding the right kuali, I finally managed to make 70 Roti Jalas with 1,75 kg of flour.

The Raya celebration began after Zuhur. There was a red carpet session just like at the Oscars where everyone took pictures outside the banquet hall while waiting for others to arrive. I have to say the Grenoblois really know how to welcome and entertain the guests. They thought of everything, from the food to the decoration. Everything was perfect that day. There were soto, beef satay, rendang, nasi impit, kuah kacang, kek Asma' yang sedap, lontong, nasi beriani and of course MY roti jala. I didn't manage to have a go at all of the dishes since I had too mush nasi impit and kuah kacang, but the soto was great, so was the satay, the cake, but the best was of course the roti jala. Hehehe. Jepp, sori aa roti jala aku lagi laku dari satay kau.

When everyone was full, pictures were taken, stories were told, gossips were wispered, songs were sung, and everyone was happy. Thank You to all Greneblois for such a great gathering and for being the coolest hosts I've ever seen so far in France. Dommage takde mesen Karaoke. Ahahaha.

Pictures from top to bottom:

The Eid's congregation at Lille Grand Palais
The second time I was behind the wheels in France
850 km to go!
My Roti Jala
Orang-orang Grenoble yang sangat cool
Orang-orang Grenoble menunjukkan bakat mereka yang terpendam (kepada orang Grenoble: Aku tak letak video korang, so jangan aa letak video aku, heheh)
Siap ada banner tu tak tahan. Lama tak buat banner.
Gambar Persatuan Orang-Orang Muda (nak masuk kena kurang 20 tahun)
Jepp, next time raya, kita tukar samping OK?
Kontinjen Lille yang ramainya mengalahkan kontinjen tuan rumah. Dari Atas ke bawah, dari kiri ke kanan; Bapak, Kimi, Anep, Ajak, Jepp, Wan, Ann, Peon, Zeff, MatNor, Ajib Teoh, Zarf
Selamat Hari Raya semua!

Kalau ada ayat-ayat yang tak paham dalam entry ni, harap maaf. Maklumlah baru bangun tidur lepas Asar.

Schadenfreude

2006-10-24T22:08:00.000+02:00

schadenfreude
scha·den·freu·de
noun
satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune

I have to admit that upto some point I do get schadenfreude sometimes. But usually, I wouldn't actually do things unto others to actually get the schadenfreude (you may notice that I have no idea how do one should actually use the word in a sentence). But if you actually do it just to get the satisfaction, you really are a bad person. And I think I have a prof who really takes this schadenfreude thing seriously.

How can I not say that when out of the 6 groups, 4 of them need not sit for a test but have to do a short assignments instead, 1 need to sit for the test with a week's notice, and the unfortunate 1 who has to sit for the test, without any notice nor warnings, on the same day as another big test. And how unfortunate is my group to be that last group? The least he could do is explain himself why is he being injust, and not make some stupid jokes or give a sinister smile when we complain about how we were being mistreated. If that's not what you call a schadenfreude situation, I don't know what is.

Butterflies are free to fly, and so they fly away
If butterflies are free to fly, why do they fly away?
Sheryl Crow

Pulang Desa: Sinonim Balik Kampung yang tak diendahkan

2006-10-22T22:00:00.000+02:00

Siapa kata duduk oversea tak boleh balik kampung. Buktinya baru hari tu aku balik kampung. Kampung Colmar la. Bertolak Khamis malam, balik Sabtu pagi. Hari Jumaat tu patutnya ada 2 kelas tapi satu kelas tu cikgu tak datang, so cikgu lagi satu kata, kalau kelas dia aja hari tu, mestitakde orang datang, so dia pun tak buat kelas. So tercutilah aku secara automatiknya. Tujuan sebenar balik Colmar cuma nak tolong Zarf, Eijas dengan Ann pindah. Walaupun tugas aku sangat kecil: Amik kunci dengan Martine, at least dapatlah aku jumpa junior-junior, and dapatlah melayan blues mengenangkan memori-memori silam kat Colmar.

Aku pergi Colmar tak bagitau cikgu pun. Bila aku visit IUT dengan CEL semua terkejut. Rasa menyesal pulak tak amik gambar muka diorang masa tu, mesti kelakar. First-first semua suka, tapi last-last semua macam agak terkilan aku tak bagi tau awal-awal, pasal kalau tak diorang nak jemput makan rumah diorang. So aku kata takpe, nanti kalau aku buat Stage kat Colmar, diorang ada 2 bulan nak jemput aku. Hari-hari pun boleh.

Junior tahun ni OK aaa. Lagi OK dari tahun lepas (ahaha jangan marah haaa PEKOM 2, nanti lekas tua). Kalau macam bebudak tahun lepas aku click dengan 2 3 orang je, yang lain semua biasa-biasa je, tahun ni aku rasa boleh click dengan hampir semua la kot. Ntah, baru kenal sehari je kan? Mana tau lepas ni sorang-sorang keluar tanduk, tak pun taring (Bad jangan terasa pulak).

Kereta first aku bawak kat France. Ahahaha. Bawak dari parkingtepi RU sampai depan bangunan. Adela 150m kot. Tu pun mati 2 kali. Hehehe. Lupa nak free gear sebelum mati enjenNaik Merc tu!

Hari Sabtu balik naik van yang Ajib tempah hari Khamis tu. Naik bertiga dengan Zarf. Nasib baik sewa van, kalau sewa kereta memang konpem tak lepas. Masa Martine tunjuk bilik tempat diorang simpang barang, terkejut aku tengok. Kerusi ada, beskal ada, gitar ada. Seb baiklah IUT tu tak buat jualan lelong. Martine pun siap boleh kata, kalau ikut undang-undang, kalau tak amik balik dalam masa setaun, bebenda tu jadi hak milik IUT. So yang mana-mana tak amik lagi tu, silalah ye.

Barang Ann

Barang Ann+Eijas Barang Ann+Eijas+Zarf

Anyway besok raya. Tidaaaaakkkk. Bukannya tak bersyukur esok raya, tapi, selama ni semua orang dah bajet Selasa raya. Aku pun sama. Aku dah happy gila pasal hari Selasa aku start kelas pukul 10. Tup-tup esok raya. Dah la start pukul 8, gelap lagi, nak sembahyang pun matahari belum habis terbit, so dah takleh semahyang raya.

Seperti biasa, aku menghantar SMS dekat bebudak lain "Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Maaf Zahir Batin. Raya ni tak balik kampung ke?". Antara jawapan-jawapan yang diterima ialah
-Balik. Balik kampung mentua
-Ha'ah balik Blois.
-Balik Kg Grenoble Sabtu ni
-Balik. Naik bas Trace. Nak ikut?
-Tak balik, teket bas dah habis
-Gila apa?
-Pale hotak kau balik kampung

Khamis ni, bebudak Lille nak buat gathering raya peringkat bandar. Kalau ikutkan plan, menu memang sedap la. Tapi bak kata SM Salim dengan Sheila Majid Entahkan Jadi Entahkan Tidak (eh, mesti jadik punyalah. matilah aku tak makan kalau aku cakap macam tu kan?). Aku punya partadalah yang paling penting: buat air bandung soda. Ahahaha. Penting apa air. Kalau tak kang tercekik makan satay tu.

Sabtu pulak raya peringkat nasional kat Grenoble. Mulanya bebudak Grenoble buat gathering raya untuk bebudak Grenoble dengan bebudak lain yang nak gi Itali Ahad tu. Since ada gathering yang ramai macam tu, tertimbullah idea nak buat gahtering bebetul (Fadhil, betulke versi aku ni?). But since ada gathering kat Angouleme dengan Paris Ahad tu, takdelah semua orang gi Grenoble. And bebudak Lille pada asalnya 5 orang je nak gi. Pastu, Jepp punya pasal, pergi hasut aku, suruh ikut gi Grenoble, aku pun ikut (huh, termakan jugak pujuk rayu budak tu). Bila aku ikut, Syazwan pun nak ikut, pastu Zarf pun nak ikut. Bila Zarf ikut Eijas pun ikut. Since dah kena amik 2 kete (10 orang), jemputlah Ann sekali. Dah 10 kan? Pastu Mat Nor (bukan nama sebenar, nama sebenar dia Johan) plak nak ikut, so dah kena aa amik satu kereta , satu MPV. Since ada satu kosong lagi, Anep pulak ikut. Pastu hari ni Ali pulak kata nak ikut. So terpaksa aa amik 2 MPV. Semua sekali 13 yang pergi. Dekat 3 kali ganda tu. Aku rasa kontinjen Lille lah yang paling besar. Kalah kontinjen Grenoble sebagai tuan rumah.

Minggu ni ramai nak masak kan? ni ha teknik memoting bawang yang betul

Jadi, kesudahannya esok raya.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri diucapkan kepada semua yang mengenali diri saya. Kalau ada yang terguris hati dek kata-kata harap ampun, kalau ada yang tersedak-sedak akibat tersebut nama ketika mengumpat, 10 jari disusun memohon maaf. Harap dapatlah dihalalkan makan dan minum, dan kalau-kalaulah ada, hutang pun harap dihalalkan. Hehehe. Pendek kata minta maaf zahir dan batin. Kepada yang begitu bertuah menyambut raya di Malaysia, ingat-ingatlah kepada orang di sini ketika menikmati juadah di pagi raya, ketika meratah kuih-muih hingga habis sebalang, danketika mengocekkan duit raya setelah bersalam-salaman. Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri sekali lagi diucapkan.

Pakcik ni kerja 3 kali setahun, and tiap kali, tak sampai 5 minit pun keluar TV, tapi boleh dikatakan semua orang Melayu kat Malaysia kenal dia. Tabik aaa.

Oh ye. Tahun ni berjaya hantar gambar kat Salam Perantauan Utusan. Pergilah cari.

This strangeland is getting stranger

2006-10-11T22:32:00.000+02:00

It's not unusual to have a professor who's a bit loose in the head. The only thing that would make it unusual if the professor is the most important person in your faculty. And what if you have 2 of them, and they're both No. 1 and 2 of your faculty? Is it work pressure?

Example1.

I have a professor who teaches me 3 subjects this semester. And those 3 subjects are the core subjects. So, I'm having him for 10 hours a week, out of the 38 hours. That's more than a quarter of my classes. And he's also incharged of arranging our timetables, our classes and our presences. So if you're absent a lot, he's the one who'll penalise you. He's more or less the Cikgu Disiplin of our faculty, although that, discipline, we're lack of.

Imagine. One day we had a class with him at 8. At 7.59, we decided to get to class. As soon as we entered the elevator, someone yelled from the back "Oyy, you're late". It was him. A friend of mine answered "Oh no sir. We're taking the elevator, we'll arrive just before you". And could you believe that when the elevetor door opened on the second floor, we saw him standing in front of the elevator, gasping for air, smiling sarcastically and said "What did I tell you, you're late". He actually made the effort of running up the stairs just to prove his point. When he said that, he was,of course, joking, and everyone there had a big laugh, and I'll never see him as the same person again.

Example 2.
The head of our faculty happens to teach us law. Although I hate her lectures in the lecture hall (because her two hour lecture doesn't have any break in between like other lecturers, and she'll always start on the dot and release us on the dot, unlike our economics lecturer who arrives 15 minutes late, then spends the next 15 minutes complaining, and releases us 15 minutes earlier), I do like her classes because she explains everything thouroughly.

Although she's not as quirky as the professor stated above, she always like to give her comments under her breath (indescreetly enough to be heard) after saying some things. For example "The law was renewed and reformed because of so and so reason" and the she'll continue under her breath something like "and it's a ridiculous reason", or "yeah right". And today she actually melatah. She was explaining somethings, while walking between tables and she tripped on a student's bag, and she blurted out "Oh my god, are you plotting to kill me today?". Ahaha. Although that might not seem funny to you here, it was when it happened

I woke up with a smile on my face today

2006-10-10T21:59:00.000+02:00

I woke up this morning with a big smile. I just couldn't help it. Last night I had the best dream of my life. A dream that I wish would actually come true. Eventhough I know one can not believe in dreams, but one can not deny that a dream is a wish that the heart makes. And even if, god forbid, it will not come true, at least it made my day. I can't help but to smile through out the day, eventhough Tuesday is the worst day of the week. It made my day.

If only I can tell you...

A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you're fast asleep
In dreams you lose your heartaches
Whatever you wish for, you keep
Have faith in your dreams and someday
Your rainbow will come smiling thru
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing
The dream that you wish will come true

2006-10-08T11:00:00.000+02:00