Eid Mubarak

Hey ya..

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI

MAAF ZAHIR BATIN!!!

Weekend Roundup

Well....

Saturday is finally here. I am already exhausted though my class hasn't started yet. Must be all the walking that I did over the last few days. Let's start with thursday. My day started late, around noon, if I'm not mistaken. Bumming around, a few of my juniors came knocking my door. 3 of them actually -Saper, Nazleen, and Aina- and they lepaked at the house until around buka puasa. Since they didn't know where to find a good restaurant and me being the ever-so-nice senior, I brought them to Ambala, the only place close enough to a mamak stall. We did a lot of talking, mostly getting to know them and they called me abang until I told them that I am as old as they are. It's quite funny when you think about it. Then I gave Aina a portable heater since she's been complaining that her room is too cold and the centralised heater seems like not working at all.

Friday is another tiring day. I had to skip my Friday prayers because my personal tutor insisted that between 1pm and 2pm was the only time available for me should I wish to see him and he won't be free on the weekends and the next week. I asked him mostly on fees and that sort of stuff. I went to the city right away to blow off steam and only reached 16 Coburn around 3pm. Barely an hour after that, Azri gave me a call and asked if I wanted to go to IKEA to buy some stuff and since I badly need that £100 chair, so I said yeah. He said we would meet up at the station in 15 minutes, and so I did. But he, Aliana and Amal only reached there around 40minutes after the scheduled time because they went to the poster sale at the Student Union Building. So we reached IKEA around 5.30pm and we went shopping and we break our fast there with fish and chips and free refilled coffee. We only finished our shopping around 10pm -the closing time of IKEA and we took a taxi back to our house and I had to layan a guest in the house -Farah Nabila who was doing 2nd year in Civil. She did her 1st year in UiTM. I couldn't afford to go to sleep yet at the time because that is just my principle -no sleeping or personal errands if there's a guest in the house, except when answering the call of nature. So I slept at 2am and yeah, I missed my sahur but yeah, life can be pretty shitty. Toodles.

A Day of Misery

Wow, what a day.

Barely 16 hours of arriving at Cardiff, I had to go out to settle a lot of things. I woke up at 10am after sahur at 3am, then after shower, went to Crwys Road to pay my outstanding rent which was £460 for the 3 months I wasn't here. The misery started there as I left the money in my other jacket, so I had to go back to get the money. And so before I decided to go back and pay for my house rent, I went to the bank to deposit some money into my account and changed a few things about my bank details. The bank was efficient, as always, and it was done with ease.

Then I went to O2 to get a new contract which would enable me to get my hands on the new iPhone 3G. However, after checking my credit, my application was rejected at least 5 times (twice at the centre, and another 3 at another shop, Carphone Warehouse). Around 2pm, after my 4th attempt to apply for the phone went to no avail, the guy working there told me to come back in 1 hour, probably thinking there was something wrong with O2 website or something. So in that 1 hour, I went back to Crwys Road to settle my payment, which was a 20-minute walk from the city and went back to the shop and got rejected yet again. So I decided to get myself a prepaid SIM card for now as I sorted out the problems.

Later that night, I went to Fadhli's house because he wanted to buy my iPod. I went there in the blistering cold and found that I left a bag full of clothes over there and then I had to drag the bag all the way to Coburn Street. My God, it has been a long day for me. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better one. Till then, cheers!

Half-way Through

Ahoy me hearties,

I'm writing in Dubai International Airport. I'm surprised that they provide free WiFi here. In most airports that I've been, this is among the first few that actually provide free Internet service without the needs of paying any sorts of fees. Well, let me update you of my journey so far. I reached KLIA around 10pm, and when I was in the process of checking-in, it turned out that I have an excess weight in both of my check-in luggage and my hand luggage. And, as expected I had to pay for the excess weight. I said "Yeah, sure. How much will it cost me?" and the answer that I got from the employee made my eyeballs popped out. I had to pay RM2,488 for the excess of 10kg. But credits to my dad who is a master in negotiations, and he managed to cut the fines to RM1,788 which is still a lot of money.

Then me and my family went to have coffee at a nearby coffee shop and I made a few phone calls to my friends telling then that I'm leaving Malaysia. If I recalled properly, I made phone calls to Hana Z, Sarah, Wanie, Razif, Izzah, Danny and Loo. I tried to call Hana Hussein but she must must have fallen asleep by then. But I had a mixed feelings on going back to Cardiff. A part of me said it's good to be back in Cardiff and another part of me said "I wish I had more time". And again, it occurs to me that no matter how horrible most of my holidays were, it ended on a high note. And I have been smiling ever since. =)

To Sarah and Hana, my bestfriends, I just want to wish you all the best in your exams and my thoughts are always with you. Till we meet again. Cheerio.

Before I Leave

Hey ya,

I'm writing this post with just under 9 hours left for me to savour the air of Malaysia. I'm having mixed feelings of going back to Cardiff tonight. What a weekend it has been for me, and when I said "Let's have a blast", my God it was the biggest blast I've ever had. And I dedicate this post to all the following people:

Sarah: You are my bestfriend for eternity, you gave me laughter when I needed one, you gave me ears when I thought no one would listen and you kept pushing me to succeed in my life. And yes, I will keep my promise to you. I swear.

Hana: You, too, are my bestfriend. One of my longest friend, 10 years of tears and laughter, no matter where I am, no matter how far I go, you will always be in my heart as the the one who gave me strength when I feel like giving up. And as time goes on, we will always be the best of friends.

Loo: You are like a brother to me, you made me realise that there are more things in life that you can learn. You taught me how to respect other people and be around people. You taught me everything that no books can ever teach. I wish you all the best in your course and I shall be waiting for you in Cardiff come September 2009.

Wanie: Though I have met you only once, you made my weekend as the best I've had in a very long long time. The opportunity that you gave me made me even more determined to catch my dreams. I hope that this is a start of a wonderful friendship between us and I look forward to seeing you more often when I come back.

Hana Hussein: What can I say. I had a great time with you on Friday, and with you being very busy and still could make some time for a casual dinner made me feel touched. I'll keep in touch with you when I'm in UK and I hope this won't fade with time. And I know you've worked hard for your internship and remember, keep working hard and you will earn your respect. You certainly have my respect. I really look forward to see you again and have dinner when I come back. =)

Bad relationship

Hey ya,

I am actually feeling a bit weird when it comes to this whole "couple" thing. Instead being free to loved and be loved, it seems that certain people become forced to love and have cut out everything else in her life. If the boyfriend says "I don't you want to be friend with him" or "I don't want you to befriend with any other guy except me", she'll just accept it because, well, she's the girlfriend. To me, if this is the situation that couples face these days, then it's not worth it to be in a relationship at all. A healthy relationship should be open and free. He/she can mingle around because that's the essential part. The significant other must be able to mingle around your friends because that's the way for her to know who you are.

You can't tell your girlfriend to just sit home and weaving baskets, what year it is?1920? So what if your girlfriend has guy friends. If you say that she's not allowed to have a single guy friend in her life, you should be the same as well. You should be ashamed of yourself. And to my friend whom I have treated like my own little sister, stand up for yourself!!!

John Bing
Procrastinator for Saiful Amri

Smile for a hope

The day looms large...I'm leaving in a few days...let's make it a blast, shall we?
And if everything goes the way we plan, it'll bring the widest smile on my face for years (seriously!!)

Hoping-and-wishing me...

Rights Stripped??

I don't know if the ISA will come and arrest me for posting this blog but I sure hell don't give a damn about it. I'm pretty sure that all are aware about the recent arrest of Tan Hoon Cheng -a reporter for Sin Chew Daily- Selangor executive councillor Teresa Kok and Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin (RPK) by the ISA grabbed the headlines all over the nation. They were arrested under Section 73(1) of the Internal Security Act 1960. What struck me with a headshot is that Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said, according to The Star Sept 14th 2008, Miss Tan was ARRESTED because her safety was under threat. Why would anyone be arrested under such reason? And why would the police issue an arrest warrant for Miss Tan so that she be protected? An arrest warrant?? Surely there are other alternatives.

RPK was arrested for being a threat to security, peace and public order. I'm thinking, all this while, all he has done is condemning our "beloved" Kerajaan by means of blogging through his blog. If what he has done is wrong in the eyes of Kerajaan, it certainly contradicts with the statement made by Prime Minister Pak Lah who, a few weeks ago, said that "the media should write the truth and there should be no fear in writing the truth". And that is basically what he and Miss Tan did. She is a reporter and it is her duty to report on events that happened not long ago when UMNO Division Chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail made racist remarks about the Chinese being pendatang (squatters) and do not deserve equal rights. If I look at it properly, it is Datuk Ahmad who should be arrested for being a threat to public safety as his remarks have caused a furore among the non-Malays -and he refuses to apologise for it. All he got is a 3-year suspension from UMNO and no arrest warrant was issued to him. And yet, he decided to put fire to the flame by saying that the Malays should unite as one. To me, as far as the allegations made about RPK disrupting the peace and security of the public, Datuk Ahmad certainly fulfill the requirements for the same allegation. I am a Malay yet I am ashamed that he made these sorts of remarks. These sorts of remarks is one of the many reasons that hinder the objective of the Government of producing a Malaysia free of racism. A man like Datuk Ahmad doesn't deserve to get a 3-year suspension. He should be expelled completely and be banned from entering any political party for the rest of his life.

It may be or may not be true that the arrest of the 3 of them has to do with the Government's plan to foil the Sept 16 takeover by PKR, I don't know. I have no interest politics and their little games. I am merely saying what is in my heart and if this post got me arrested, it means that we as Malaysian, have lost our right for freedom of speech. And if we lose our rights for freedom of speech, we can't call Malaysia a country practising democratic system, but instead we will call it a country that is ruled under a dictatorship-style ruling where all rights have been stripped and abandoned.

What A Wonderful World

First and foremost, I would like to say how proud I am to have such good friends in this world. From Hana, Sarah, and Shafiq as my bestfriends to Nadia, Aina, Jip and Loo as my good friends, they are all there when I need them the most. Especially with a particular incident occurred a few days ago.

I was in an unstable mood after weeks of hell passed by. Now that it is all over, I wanted to go out and smell the fresh air (well, polluted air mostly) in KL. So I asked Aina to accompany me for the day. It was fun but bloody tiring day. First, we went to Jalan Masjid India to take my baju raya. My mom went crazy when I said I bought a black one. She said that it is like mourning death. And I simply replied "every year is always yellow lah, red lah, green lah, blue lah, all the kids' colors" and both of us laughed as my mom agreed to that. Right after that, we went to KLCC as I needed some clothes for me to bring to UK.

We stopped by at Topman at Ground Floor and my eyes were glued to this one jacket which looks so nice. I tried it on and it was so comfy inside. I looked at the price tag. RM335!!!??? And me and Aina decided to take our time before finally decided not to buy it. We also wanted to watch a movie but time was against us so I sent her all the way back to Shah Alam. I was really sleepy during the whole journey and I decided (with Aina's consent) to sleep in the car outside her house for a good 20 mins. Funnily though, I managed to dream twice in that short space of time, though I can't remember the dreams.

I reached home around 5 pm when I told my sister about my jacket. My sister just said "Mom nearly bought a 300-buck wok." And I was like "WTF??". It's non-sticky, according to her. I just laughed my head off until buka puasa. And no, I did go for tarawih prayers as I was too tired and I fell asleep until midnight. This day is certainly a moral-booster for me. I was down just a few days ago with a tough decision to make and I am very grateful and thankful to have such good friends and loving family around me when I need them the most.

"Ku panjatkan kesyukuranku padamu Illahi, mengucapkan Alhamdulillah diatas segala nikmat yang telah Kau berikan. Sesunnguhnya Kaulah Yang Maha Pemurah lagi Maha Penyayang"

-Amin Ya Rab-al-Alamin-

Gambatte kudasai

I am feeling guilty after what I did. I finally called it a day with Lydia. However, it is for the best for the both of us. Though, through her blog, that she'll pretend that nothing that has ever happened between us, I'll always remember her as a girl who actually changed my mind about a lot of things in life.

I wish you all the best and hope to see you in class soon. And I'll always try and better myself in the future and this is a quote that I got from a Japanese drama that I watched the other day "Through pain and bitterness, can you only find the happiness in love". Till then, gambatte ne.

Confusion

This usually happens to me whenever I'm alone or watching some emo movie or listening to emo music and stuff like that. However, over the past 2 weeks I've been thinking about it everyday, day and night and most of the time, I ended up sleepless for days.

Recently, I had a fight with my girlfriend around a month ago. It was my honesty that triggered that argument, really. I openly said that I was yet to get over my ex-girlfriend. It triggered a massive fight, well emotionally that is, between us. And it has left our relationship battered and bruised ever since, and it is still not repaired. Everytime I do something, whether be it in Friendster or Facebook or in my blog (the previous URL), we'll always end up in an argument.

Now I am not going to defend myself in anyway, nor am I blaming her. It was, after all, my fault in the beginnning. Some say I shouldn't have said those things to keep my relationship just the way it is and some say I should have. If it's the former that I choose, wouldn't that be living in lies? We would be lying to the both of ourselves. I, in this case, would be the culprit for being a Two-Face. Some say I should've kept it until the time is right to tell her but when is the right time? How can we know? We can never know when are we going to get over our first love. Everyone knows that first love cuts the deepest, and I am close to a full recovery and yes, me and my ex-girlfriend are friends and nothing more. However, it is a different story between me and my current gilfriend.

Now, I chose the latter, because I believe that in a relationship, there should be no secret. However, this is only a small proportion compared to the real me, the one without secrets. I decided to tell her about it (it being the getting-over part) as a 'teaser', a some sort of indication that I want to share my secret with her and so this would be the first of many to come. Though she is my girlfriend, she doesn't know me as my bestfriends know me. They know me inside out. But now, since that little 'teaser' turned out to be the button for a catasthropic nuclear explosion, I wondered if I should tell her any secrets.

About a week ago, she called me and went totally berserk when she found out that I changed my blog URL. I did it because I do not want to share all of my secrets with her. If that little 'teaser' proved to be a calamity, how can I share my bigger secrets? In that phone call, she asked if I wanted to continue my relationship, and I decided to take my time and think before doing anything.

So, the options left are yes to break-up or no to break-up. I have to really think about it. If I say yes, it would break her heart completely and mine as well. If I say no, I'll end up hurting her even more. I'll be living a lie and if she finds out, which she will one day if we continue, it's like feeding myself with uranium -just like the rare polonium-210 fed to ex-Russian egent Alexander Litvinenko. But after thinking through this for a long long time, I now have reached my decision, however, it is not final. Whatever it is, I can only wait to answer her questions....

Lala Chong

The second day of fasting, I decided to join my friends for breaking fast in Lala Chong Restaurant in Subang. I had a wonderful time there along with my Taylor's friends -Shin Wei, Jiat, Yin Hui, Lih Huoy, Selphie, Yi Ning and Wendy. All are going to oversea soon and this might be our last dinner together before we go apart for another year. We had kangkung, lala (of course), chicken, some weird-looking soup, and crabs. And owh, satay was there as well =P.

It was all a small happy gathering between friends and though they might not be the best of friends like Hana, Sarah and me, deep down I know, these are the people that I'll be looking for in case of professional trouble i.e. studies, career, etc. The reason why I went there is to ensure that no one loses touch with each other and so we can help each other out in case somebody hits a tumbling block. We are there for each other though we might not be close personally.

All in all, it was a good outing for me as I haven't been going out because of the fasting month. I now can relax and look forward to the rest of the month happily. And to Sarah, chill k babe? U know I love u right? =)