Simple Soul

Resolutions, Kings and Countdowns

2012-01-10T04:04:00.000-08:00

To Shah

Blogging or writing seems very distant to you these days. Last year there were probably only 2 posts. I know that you have been feeling locked out from your mind these past few months. Hopefully this post helps you realize your minds potential (cheh) , and maybe work, conversations and general train of thought will flow like it used to.

It is already 2012 my man. Remember those memories that feel so recent in your mind?, but actually is one, two even three years ago. You felt so sure that the KB family day was a couple of months ago, but in all actuality it was a year. Time flies by so fast, so very fast.

Its been three years, three whole years that you decided to open your heart for a girl, that girl who will be your wife in approximately 5 months from now. Your wife weh! Its surreal but at the same time exciting to think that in these times of time flying by so quickly, in 5 short months, you will be her husband. To be partners in life, to forever cement our initial friendship. Its almost time to build a life with a million and one possibilities, and Alhamdulillah , Allah has given you the clarity that you have made the right choice. I for one think you picked a winner bruv. Good on ya !.

Now, this year Shah, I want you to set goals, and work harder to achieve them. Yeah I know you are an "entrepreneur" but that does not mean you want be one of those that goes to the office at 12 noon and leave at 6 do ya. You're entitled to maybe one day, maybe Friday's, but not half the week. Buck up my man, you need to buck up !

Oh and for the love of god, please don't give up over setbacks. You're strong, and determined. I know. Rediscover your determination of yesteryear. You are the most determined person I know, you were famous for it, you would get what you want if you set your mind on it.

Be more adventurous in life in all aspects. Try new things, meet more people, networking is key to building up Flow. Don't be afraid to ask for help. You can do so much yourself.

In fact, that should be your mantra, Live life ,be adventurous, stay grounded, and keep the faith!

January isn't going so well yeah? Unfortunate events etc. Stay strong, believe in the power of Allah, and what is being dealt to you is always followed with a blessing one day down the road, Keep the faith.

SO

I'll write to you from time to time, just to keep you in check. I got your back, always.

Ps:

I know you watched the game last night. The king of Arsenal was back to show glimpses of the good ol days. His celebration brought me the certain kind of joy and overwhelming emotion that has been lacking these days. It was written for him, almost fixed. But I don;t care, he showed em, even if its was just Leeds.

From:

Shah

Blogging : 101

2010-10-05T08:20:00.000-07:00

It seems ages since I had typed anything worth reading in this blog. I myself still don't believe that I wrote what I wrote when I read my posts after a while. It seems that I myself don't think I write well. A big sign of low self esteem I wonder? ...

Where was I?

"posts worth reading"...right.

I remember when I first blogged, it was really gibberish, those daily logs of what I did everyday and so on and so forth. I felt that it wasn't me at all. Then I dabbled in short stories, well paragraphs really, because I don't consider them in the category of stories. I was amazed, again, at what I wrote, constantly prompting self reality checks. I admit, it was no masterpiece and who am I to judge a great literary piece?, but on the other hand, I thought it had flow, which is the most important thing in a story if I do say so myself. But somehow, after a year of excitement in wanting to write more "stories", the spark...the spark that goes off when you want to write that important scene,...it was gone. Just like that.

But then..

I was in New Zealand. I had things to write about, and people actually started reading my posts. It was a great feeling.

Being able to write about anything, feeling the flow of continuous thumps on the keyboard and not resorting to saving a post as a draft for later editing, is one of the most satisfying accomplishments I would say on a daily level. Its like getting your tasks done on schedule. Makes you feel you can sit back at the end of a tiring day, and fall asleep without knowing when you fell asleep because you have no worries in the world....

She was the reason I logged in to my dashboard, thinking its worthy to share.

She always thinks that she's the lucky one, but without sounding to much of a cliche', she has no idea that I am the one who is lucky. I see her constantly making the effort, everyday surprising me until I sometimes sit still, and thank god for the opportunity to have her in my life everyday. I count the days when we have that clarity and calm to build a life together. I pray to Allah that day will come soon.

Amin.

Settled

2010-06-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

All of us, god's creations have milestones that we reach either planned or unplanned. Recently I have reached another milestone, which was receiving my bachelors degree from Massey University in New Zealand. Although I have officially passed my papers almost 6 months ago, I think for me and I think for a lot of other people, the ceremony makes it really really official.

I was reluctant to go for the ceremony at first, but seeing Mak light up when she knew she would be attending her final and last child's graduation ceremony made me change my mind. For me, it was a pretty unplanned trip, as the tickets and the overall planning of the trip was last minute. The tickets were quite a bargain, far cheaper than the tickets I bought going back home for the holidays when I was there. So on the 7th of May, we were on a plane to New Zealand.

Arrived in Palmy after taking a flight from Auckland as usual, and were greeted by familiar faces of Hadi and Iylia. They took us to the motel of Fitzherbert. I was expecting to feel a bit lost, like a tourist, but I guess 6 months is not enough to make you feel like a stranger in your own home of 3 years.

The days leading up to the ceremony on the 10th were filled with hangouts at coffee where Mak and Kak Yang loved the cappuccino's at various coffee shops around Palmy. Visited the new wing of Plaza, and brought them to the campus. It was a shame that it was nearing winter, as the flowers were already getting ready to wither away in the cold. Mak would have appreciated the greenery and the vibrant colors. Also had the opportunity to hang out with the boys.

Graduation day started early for me as I had to collect the robe from the hokowhitu campus. Went along with Safwan, and got back to the hotel. It was still early so caught a couple more hours sleep. Got ready at around 11, and proceeded to town for coffee and waited a bit more until it was time to enter the theater where it was going to be held.

I made my way to my seat, and being the first time being in the regent, I was impressed and regretted not catching the theater or plays that were on offer when I was in Palmy. Was seated next to Marveys, which was cool as I had someone to talk to while the ceremony took place.

Waited for half hour or so till it was my turn. Alhamdulillah, it went smoothly, did not make a fool of myself on stage, and was capped by the chancellor of Massey, shook his hand and proceeded off the stage and back to my seat. 3 years and thousands upon thousands of dollars spent, and the climax was those 20 seconds on stage of the chancellor. But having said that, I am proud of my degree.

I am proud of myself that I held out to go to New Zealand, and wanting to live and experience. I am proud that I did not give up when I failed those papers that set me back a half year. I am honored to meet the people I met when I was there and left still calling them friends. I am especially proud that I proved that going away means you have to compromise or let go of your morals, principals and your iman. I am not perfect but I know now that I am who I am regardless.

I know that not all if any who I thank here will know or read this, but thanks to all that have supported and believed and have guided me throughout that stage. I know now I have a whole new phase, chapter to learn and make mistakes, and hope that all will be there for that too.

Unexpected

2010-04-20T20:48:00.000-07:00

As the saying goes, we only have the ability to plan, but whether or not those plans get executed and realized is all Allah's will.

Went to Redang 3 weeks ago, for a break cum business trip. We went there, (we being me, Rahmat, Ag, and Ikie) practically unplanned. Just packed our bags and drove up to Terengganu. Won't bore you with the details, but I would like to point out that never in a million years I would ever expect going on trips with the guys mentioned. It is not normal, because they are not from the same ol' gang I am so used to going trips with. It isn't a bad thing, these guys are great, but that just shows how life evolves into unexpected scenarios such as these. Rahmat I only met in New Zealand,....Ikie, although a schoolmate, but never was close (like now)...and AG I only met once through Aizat, and then got closer when I started work. It didn't hit me at first, but chilling at the resort dining area, and around me was no Hafiz, the one constant road trip member...then I realized, life is changing.

The trip went well, and I can honestly say, getting away from things to talk about things is good for the mind and soul. Being on an Island makes thinking of other things and wanting to do so many things at once impossible. Discussions were good, and productive, and made things clearer, which pumped us up for things to come. But we can only plan...Half way back to KL, god tests us. Things happen, and it is up to us to get through these trying times, and accept the tests god has given us. After 2 weeks of riding through a dilemma, we have found a solution, and hopefully, it will work out.

Now, on a lighter subject, as you might have read, I have bought my first car, a Honda City. Browsing through the net, I have found this

Pretty garang isn't it. Haha. Angan2 jer ni....will take a few years before I add anything to my car which is pretty much complete inside out. But I have to say, this bodykit looks fierce, bodykit jer la, Still not sure bout those headlights.

I am leaving for NZ in less than 3 weeks. And yikes, I have much to do before then...better get on it.

Little Boy

2010-04-05T01:00:00.000-07:00

For those reading that know me personally (which is probably the case as I doubt those who read my posts are strangers, if there are people who still read these posts), I am someone who rarely shows his emotions in public. Countless friends of Meqsu have asked her how she copes with my inability to show emotions, but she knows and I know I am a different creature around her..heh. The point is, I am known for my quiet nature.If I meet you, yes you meaning any of you, and I seem uninterested, thats just me, don't take offence, I do listen, trust me.

I have continued being emotionless despite getting my car, my second car after the legendary Toyota Celica that served me so well in New Zealand. Although I have not shown it through my facial expression, inside, I am feeling like a little boy who just got an expensive new toy. Alhamdulillah, as stated, I got my car last Wednesday and it is more relief rather than joy, but I am very happy. The car drives great (Its new, sure la great kan...but I remain optimistic nonetheless), thank god, as I didn't even test drive the car before I paid the booking fee. It was quite a spontaneous decision on my part, caused by differing opinions from friends and family. I really was set on buying a second hand car, first choice being an old school BMW, and then a used Vios, but when Mak repeatedly says to me "jangan degil, jangan beli second hand...", I conceded. I am a believer that when Mak says the same thing a few times, I better listen.

Its a good feeling having that freedom of saying yes to any invitations and not having to ask permission from others. I am so thankful for Mak lending her car to me, which helped a lot with work. But yeah, now I feel like road tripping, haha...It was always my buddies that drove long distance, and now, I can do that.

Everyone is taking their clothes off

2010-03-04T20:53:00.000-08:00

There has been a heat wave in an already warm country. I can safely say, if laws allowed them to go out in public in their underwear, people would.

Even in the center of Malaysia it has been hot waves of hot air, not necessarily caused by direct sunlight, but the air around us is definitely hot. I am sitting here in the office, a non-air conditioned office, wiping sweat off my forehead every 15 seconds. I may or not be in my boxers shirtless, but I will just leave that to your imagination if that's the case, (imagine me couple of years back eh, if imagine me now maybe you'll start vomitting on top of the headache caused by the heat..haha)

Anyhoo, if there are still anyone else but my self indulgent self reading this post, my confirmation letter to graduate arrived a couple of weeks ago to my relief. I have always been paranoid that I counted my credits wrong, and actually I didn't graduate, and have to be a student again...oh the horror!!. On that note, I will be flying back to New Zealand for my graduation ceremony on the 7th of May. Will have to plan a road trip route soon to take Mak ans Kak Yang around NZ.

I am enjoying my life post-study, even with the impossible clients, the unresponsive printers, and increasing weight. My life has definitely shifted mentally, and alhamdulillah, it has been a good transition so far. Again, FLOW is up and running, and pray that I don't lose my determination in pursuing my dreams, that I do my best, and will never neglect my responsibilities as a muslim. Amin.

I am waiting anxiously for my car to arrive, without seeming too anxious to my friends and family, but I am!. Just want to give mak her car back, so she's not bored at home all the time. Insyallah, soon...please Michelle (salesperson of the showroom), within the next 2 weeks...

This has been good. I will write more.

Things we wish we could do

2010-02-18T05:04:00.000-08:00

There are times that you play a scene in your head, things that we wish would happen but would never ever want it to really happen to them because its a bad consequence. I wonder if that warrants a sin. I think it does, but sometimes you just can't help it.

This always happens when some smart hamba Allah double parked but does not have the decency to stay nearby. I double park but I always make sure i'm at a honks distance so that I can move immediately. When that happens, I always have the urge to take out my imaginary sledgehammer from my car boot, and smashing the car that double parked. Then, I would release the handbreak and move it slightly. Finally I would leave a note saying:

"I moved your car for you, no need to thank me..."

In other news, I am now on my own employment wise, "self employed", leaving the previous company after just 3 months. Haha. We just decided to part ways, and Alhamdulillah, everything was smooth, and no hard feelings. Wish Louco Media all the best. Enter FLOW MEDIA.

FLOW MEDIA is up and running and our 3 main services are Brand Consulting, Creative Solutions, and Exhibitions and Events. We are a new company, but not at all inexperienced. We are eager to work and give it our all, pulun habis-habisan. Success or failure, we will see, but we will be giving our best, insyAllah. For any further inquiries, contact me, as our website is still under construction. Pray for me and my company's success people.

And lastly, I would like to turn you attention to 2 blogshops, of my sisters, Kak Linda withe Ar-Raiyan, which sells selendang, scarves, and accessories such as bracelets, and rantai semi-precious stones. And the other is Sugarjude, by sisters in Subang Jaya (dunno if they want to remain anonymous, so to avoid being scolded no need la to mention names..haha) Links are provided on the panel to the right.

Till next time.

post results

2009-12-26T02:50:00.000-08:00

I have officially passed all my papers which means that I have graduated from Massey University with a degree in business studies majoring in International Business. Alhamdulillah, I could not have done it with all the prayers from my family and friends. Graduating means I am back for good, won't have to be away from my family, my friends, my Malaysia, my Aslina. It has been a blessed year 2009, tough but rewarding in the end.

I was thinking of changing the blog name and layout and stuff...but I think I'll keep everything for now. I feel the title still serves its purpose for now, (meaning I am too lazy to change everything..heh).

Life, as I said has been good. Back home for good, after 3 years abroad. Despite most people asking, if I would be bored re-entering working life, I am enjoying it more now after realizing being a student is working hard without getting paid. Its easier I guess, in terms of you have fun most of the time, and work hard for exams and assignments, but at the end of the day, I feel that I have reached a point where I wanna earn my keep another way, through working, and trying my very best not to bother Mak about financials. Its time to grow up.

I have started working already, continuing for now with Louco Media, a multimedia design company in Ara Damansara. Actually have been working commission based for the past year, but now its full time, full on with Louco. Anyone needs our services please feel free to contact me ya? design, photography, corporate videos, events and consulting.

Insyallah, me and the family will travel to New Zealand in May for my graduation ceremony, so have to save up for the airfare and the accommodation. Need to plan the trip carefully so everything will flow accordingly...will get on it soon.

Just thought I would update a bit since the last post was left hanging for some, but most readers of this blog would already know the outcome.

Later people

The Uncertainty

2009-11-19T23:04:00.000-08:00

To date, it has been 2 weeks since I have been back in Malaysia, and as amazing it has been, there still is that uncertainty that has been playing around in my mind. I came back before my results are out, results that will determine my plans. I have checked MyMassey twice now, in anticipation of maybe at least one grade pooping up to ease my worries, but nada...

and its the final month...

2009-09-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

Its October. Finally, its my last month insyAllah as a student of Academics, because as they say, you never stop being a student after you leave school. I am excited to go back to Malaysia to be honest. I know most of you would say "apa bender lah kau Shah...Malaysia jugak kau nak..". Yes, I want Malaysia, because I am Malaysia. Many would say its bad now, with the politics and the crime and bad economy, the weather, the inconsiderate people. But, hey, if we Malaysians don't wanna live in our own country, who would? If we aren't willing to do something about it...who would?. Anyways, pardon my few sentences of ranting, but too many have said the same things, which are undeniably true, but why run away when we should stay and make things better. hehe

I have 2 assignments more to go, and a test, then its just counting the days to the end of October for my exams. I have started to pack a couple of bags, and hope to send them back ahead of my flight soon. Apart from that, I need to sell a few of my possessions, some unwanted, some required to help me last this final month. I am trying to sell them to friends, but it is hard at this stage, as not only myself are low on finances, especially in the closing months of the semester. I just hope everything falls into place, and get my stuff sorted before we have to move out of Marne St.

Someone asked me, "tak sedih ker bulan-bulan terakhir kau?". I actually at this moment have no straight answer for that, but leaning towards a "No". I have had friends that have left for good, who try their hardest not to go back to Malaysia. They love it here. I just like it here. Malaysia has so much more meaning to me. I know most of you would say, "eleh, ader awek skarang mesti lah Malaysia ader more meaning". I agree, she has given more meaning, but Malaysia just fits me better, the air I breathe is more sweeter in Malaysia, smog and smoke and heat and humidity runs through my veins. Clean air, cold winds just makes me ill too many times, haha. I can safely say cold weather..I had enough. Only vacations after this, no more living through it.

I can say that, I will miss this country. How can I not. I have grown so much over the past 3 years. The laughter and tears and evolving mentally will always be remembered. Friends I have made, Malaysians and from other countries, I will cherish. I know this post is somewhat pre mature. There would be every chance that I would not pass one paper, and have to eat my words, hehe..but i'm pretty confident that would not happen, insyAllah.

I will try and post something before I really leave.

In other news, my nephew will be a month old in a couple of days. So here are pictures of him....

The bottom right picture is probably the only picture I have seen him actually opening his eyes. Heh. Comel gak ah budak nih.

Later People

Untuk Raiyan Azzim

2009-09-03T18:42:00.000-07:00

After months of eagerly waiting, finally my first ever nephew was born on the 3rd of September 2009. He is named by his parents, my abang and kak linda, Raiyan Azzim. Syukur Alhamdulillah, he is healthy, the mother is healthy, our family is truly blessed.

Meet Raiyan Azzim bin Ozidin...

He is very the fair, like his mother. At present time, i think he looks very much like Kak Linda, putih dan bulat. hehe. I for one was actually worried for the two, as complication after complications came, due dates were pushed forward and back. So for my nephew, my first of many acts of affection for you, and since I am not there to greet you in person, this is my present.. Nazarku untuk kamu...

(to readers, sorry for the ugly bald headed me, look away...look away)

now our hair the same length..hehe

To Mak, Kak Yang and Abang..It has always been the four of us for the longest time, we are truly blessed that in a year, our family has grown by two. Caya-lah Kak Wati !...hehe. May god continue to bless our family.

Raiyan, i'll be back soon to teach you football, because your Abah is kakibangku for real. hehe. Kidding abang,...

Hasta Luego

yes, this is technology

2009-08-26T02:15:00.001-07:00

If i remember correctly, the first piece of gaming tech that i marveled at was the atari. At the time, i thought it was the greatest thing in the world. I was 4.

It really is mind blowing when you think what can be accomplished with technology these days. Everything is getting smaller and smaller. I just read that there is a 128 gb pen drive. Its massive when just maybe 10 years ago we were only dealing in mega bytes.

Only recently, i downloaded final fantasy 7 on my psp. To those who doesn't know, it was played on a PSone. It used to be that it could only be played on that PSone console, connected to a tv obviously. But now i can play it on the go, anywhere whenever on the PSP, which is something that still till now, makes me think about how technology has evolved.

Even now, phones are not just meant to be used for calling. Over the years, it has been a camera, a radio, a cd player, and now, it is becoming more common that a phone can do all that and more. Internet can be accessed from virtually anywhere, even this post is updated from a mobile phone.

Makes me wonder, what's next??

So...

2009-08-05T12:47:00.000-07:00

Before anyone says "update please"...and other comments seangkatan dengan-nya..

But I actually feel like writing something anyways. heh

It's been 4 weeks into the new semester, and Alhamdulillah everything has been going smoothly. I have only 2 days of classes for this semester, having a long weekend, as I have no class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I actually hate having too much time, because I tend to not do anything on those free days, not even have fun. Those weekdays I usually wake up and get stuck between having fun and doing work and end up doing nothing except clean. Clean my room,. do laundry, do the dishes...haha...anything to pass the time.

I have officially sold my car that has been a good servant for 3 years. This means I have to take the bus to uni on tuesdays and thursdays. I really don't mind, I kind of like it because I know I won't be getting on a bus back home in Malaysia, i'd rather walk to be honest, and I did and have done so a few times when I couldn't borrow mak or kak yang's car. The buses here are free for students, and add to that the money I save from renewing the registration and warrant of fitness, I could probably get a treat for myself before I go back home.

I went in to RedEx again, you know the place that I have been doing one off jobs at. Jobs at RedEx are normally really easy, but tedious and annoying to do because the boss is somewhat IT "blind" and he asks me to come in and fix the same problems, most of which he creates and re creates himself. Sometimes I feel guilty..sometimes, charging him for the same things, but I have justified that with me walking to work from home, which is 20 minutes away from RedEx. Also, I am working towards a new phone, so any extra income is welcome.

Besides that...

I have been thinking a lot about human behavior lately. How great god is that god is able to create so many different personalities and weaknesses in each life form. I have been wondering about evil people. I think that everyone has evil thoughts somewhere in thier mind, and I think the real psychos let those thoughts out and act on them. Murderers, rapists...I really wonder what goes through their minds when they do such evil things...or they themselves don't even know what they're thinking and doing?

Sorry for those dark thoughts...

So...

people i know but have never talked to..

2009-07-21T03:28:00.000-07:00

My pre-college years are the years that people have seen me as sombong or pendiam. Somehow or rather, they know me, my name, and I know their name but I have never had conversations with them. This does not only apply to my peers, it also applies to family members.

Through the wonderful social networking tool that is facebook, my niece from my half sister added me up. She is the same age as me (actually she's a whole month older than me to be exact). Its not one of those jejak kasih situations, where I have not met her ever, I have, and I do meet her almost every year since I could remember during Hari Raya. Haven't seen her or that side of the family for a while since It has been 2 Hari Raya's and another coming since I celebrated Raya here in New Zealand. Well the point is that, I have never spoken to her ever in a full conversation, probably an occasional Hari Raya greet, but never a full on conversation. Its probably me, being very shy during those occasions that I do meet them once a year, my nephews and nieces from my half siblings, which I told her should change next time we meet.

There are also ex high school peeps that I haven't spoken to but somehow know who they are. Well probably thats normal, a loser in high school knowing who the cool kids are. But anyways, one of them, Jeng, who I remember Iylia always repeating her name Jeng NurAzrina, (I found that he has that habit of repeating names yang sedap sedap...macam Meqsu Aslina, even before I met her and became me novia hehe..) said hey on facebook chat. She started with hello, and asked immediately "kenal tak?", and I replied, kenal, tapi tak pernah borak. haha. She said it was probably because I was sombong, which is not uncommon, as many of my friends, including my close ones today, says that had a sombong face in high school. I just never gave my face any thought really, never knew people were paying attention to my face. haha

These two situations made me realize that it really was silly of me not conversing with mutual friends, or distant family members, and I know I would never shy away now. I think being away definitely helped me develop that part of me that has always been lacking, the confidence to meet new people and converse with them and hope for further conversations in the future.

Later amigos..

Yes, It happened in Palmy

2009-07-10T23:12:00.000-07:00

Bersatu Games 2009 was held in Palmerston North from the 6th to 9th of July. Yes, It happened in Palmy. Due to the efforts of Iylia and Rahmat, Bersatu Games 2009 was a success in the eyes of not only us, MUMSA, but also got heaps of praise from the other contingents. I give a standing ovation to the those two, who I am proud to call my friends. I sincerely say that the games success were due to mostly thier efforts however modest they would be and give credit to the whole association. I am one who feel that I could have done so much more to aid my friends in thier time of need, but thank god, the event went well. I cannot say yes when people come up to me and ask me, "wahh, lega la kau lepas ni, boleh tido..". I don't deserve to say yes to that, because frankly, I did sleep. Only Iylia and Rahmat and a handful of others deserve to answer those questions with a "yes".

Bersatu Games 2009, a fairly smaller event compared to the previous years I have been to in terms of contingent participation. This year, we see a collaboaration with UMNO and Petunia, as well as CMSA and Petsoc, which reduces the number of participating contingents by 2. Also, we did not get any representatives from WUMA as well as Lincoln University, which again reduces the number by 2. Bersatu Games 2009 only got 6 contingents.

Alhamdulillah, the weather was good despite a few brief moments of showers, in general, it was good. The only sport that was effected by the rain was basketball, which was promptly dealt with, when smooth running of the Sepak Takraw event finished early, which left an opening for basketball to be played inside.

This year, it is not only the year that Bersatu Games is hosted in Palmy, but MUMSA has made history by coming in second overall for the first time ever. Last year, we were estatic when we won our first gold, but this year, it has been really unbelievable, when MUMSA's name got called for almost all the sports, meaning winning a medal for that event. Even for handball, when we got first place, It was unreal, coz we only trained once. (I apologize to all that got pushed around by me during handball, thats the way i've played with the handball club in Massey, I sincerely do apologize)

Anyways, all of MUMSA are now down with coughs and colds, I guess due to all the cheering and the sleepless nights. I'm gonna make this post on Bersatu Games 2009 short and sweet because the event was short and sweet.

Yes, It really happened

random thoughts to fill the void

2009-06-29T02:20:00.000-07:00

As my sayang would say..."Oh my goodness!"

I have been the most inactive in my short period that I have blogged. I realized that I have only posted 6 entries this year. At the rate I am going, I will definitely not surpass the previous year's statistic of 17 posts. I haven't had writers block per say, I have loads to write about, but I have had people say I have overstepped the line of jiwangness as of late, and although I am not forcing anyone to read my posts, I would understand why, and I myself would comment the same thing if I was reading my own posts. As a result, I found that I over think what I write, and becomes something pretty unreadable, and most of my posts are left as drafts, and unposted, and probably rightly so.

So, I have been again been bombarded (takder ah bombarded pun) by close friends and family, with questions of why aren't there any updates. "Biler nak update?"..."Update lah blog yg bersawang kamu itu..."..."takder post baru ker?". Looking back at my older posts, I have wrote mostly about my activities with MUMSA, maybe thats why I have less un-jiwang things to write about. I feel really bad not helping Iylia out more when I could have.

So its winter here in the southern hemisphere, and I am not liking the cold weather. I know, practically everyone says that "i rather be cold than hot,"...but i seriously do not like freezing. Its better to sweat, at least I lose some weight...haha. With this dislike of the cold weather, also makes me think of home, of the people...and the food. Again "Oh my goodness!", i've been wanting pisang goreng for the longest time, and keropok lekor, and eating late supper at one of the mamak's or ayaq bu.

I have also been dreaming of futsal....ahh that cage like haven for football players that are pretty talentless when it comes to a full 11 a side field match. Within those cages, dreams of emulating your favourite players are actually reachable...

I called Hafiz couple of days ago. Its good to talk to him after 2 months or so, so updates were aplenty. Alhamdulillah, all updates are happy updates, some of em even downright funny. HAHA. Wedding bells, or maybe more appropriately kompang beats, have hit the kakibangku crew. I am trying and hoping that I would get back in time for one of my close friends wedding. He's probably the first really close friend that is gonna get married, and I really wouldn't want to miss that day and share the joy.

For the past two months I got 2 one off jobs at a real estate company. First job was to create a short introductory video, which was great, because I like creating videos, which got me 150 NZD, not bad, should have charged more....and the second job was just to reformat the boss's laptop, which I charged 150 NZD, which is kind of high considering it was an easy job, even easier than the video job. Those jobs helped a bit with the groceries. The boss is a nice guy, and InsyAllah, more jobs will come from that company.

Bersatu games is literally 5 days away from the posting of this entry. This year, it hasn't been something that is greatly anticipated like the previous years. First year, Iylia had already briefed me on BERSATU, and I was excited at the prospect of the games. Last year, It was more exciting, because the team/ contingent grew, and for me hopes were higher. There was a real spirit within the club. This year, we're hosting it, and we should be proud of that. I think its the thought of organizing, that makes us less focused on winning and worrying wether or not the games will run smoothly...well thats what i think.

Well, I hope after BERSATU, i'll have something more interesting to write...and in more frequency. Till then i bid you adios,

hasta luego amigos

Terjun

2009-04-18T21:08:00.000-07:00

! Hola,

So last Tuesday, me, Saf, Ezim, Haizat and Harris drove up to Lake Taupo for a road trip. We left Palmy at around 11 AM, yes, quite late for a road/day trip, but hey...kata bujang-bujang semua, kind of..hehe. Anyways, most of you, by you I mean my friends who read this blog, would already know the main reason for the trip was that me and Saffy could go skydiving. Yes, skydiving. 15000 Ft, of pure expensive fun..haha.

When we arrived, me and Saf went to the counter to register, and opted for the silver package, which included the DVD, pictures, a t-shirt and a jump from 15000 Ft. One of the variables that you had to fill in was your weight, which I confidently thought was 85, so I put down 85. Hahaha. Didn't know that we had to really weigh ourselves....and it turned out to be more than 85. Mader Ef tul..

We waited for another 20 minutes before they called us to suit up in those skydiving suits that you usually see people who skydive wear. I honestly at this point was really calm, and really didn't know what to expect. When I did the bungee jump in my first year, this moment, the calm before the storm, was the time I got really nervous. But honestly, I did not feel that buzz.

After suiting up, I met the instructor who was going to jump with me. Owh, we're doing a tandem skydive, not solo ok. If I was doing a solo dive, I would literally pull that parachute string immediately after jumping out the plane. haha. Anyways, I felt confident of the instuctor, whose name is Brad Rock by the way, because he looked large and strong enough to cope with my more than 85 Kgs of weight.

Another 10 minutes passed, and we were asked to line up at the loading area. We waited for the plane to park, and one by one, we enter the plane. I was the first to enter, which means that I was the last to jump. Shit..I'd rather be the first. After all 18 of us were on board, (6 jumpers, 6 instructors and 6 cameramen), the plane took off and gradually went up and up towards the sky.

At this point, I was pretty quiet, and Brad, who was attached to me using harnesses and ropes and other safety gear, kept asking me if I was ok. I was ok, really I was, It was just the thought of me jumping out of a plane finally caught up to me. It was the thought of accomplishing another one of my all-time to do list. The fear factor has not kicked in yet. Only when they opened the door, and the cold air came in and went up my suit, did the fear really kick in. One by one I saw them jump, and finally Brad eased me up the seats, and positioned us at the exit door. A quick exit photo, and 3, 2, 1...and I was falling from the sky.

I felt like grabbing something, that reflex when a person is falling down, our body automatically reaches for something. So I grabbed my safety harness. 2 seconds after, Brad grabbed my hands and I let go, and we were free falling. I couldn't really think, I know I'm falling from the sky, and I see the cameraman in front of me. I wanted to scream, but no chance of that, the wind was blowing up at my face, and the goggles were kind of loose that made it a bit uncomfartable. But being a true poser, when the camera was in front of me, I tried my best to give a thumbs up, trying to give a smile. hahah. It was the greatest rush i've ever experienced so far in my life. Several seconds passed, then I felt a jolt upwards, and suddenly the air was calm, and I could hear myself again. He had pulled the cord and we were now parachuting down.

While we were parachuting,

Brad: "Welcome to my office"
Me: "Not a bad office to go to everyday, if I say so myself"
Brad: "Beats wearing a shirt and tie everyday"

After 2 minutes of parachuting, we landed in the landing zone. Awesome! Awesome!

Skydiving was not as scary as bungee jumping in my opinion, but skydiving is waayy more exciting. I recommend everyone to try it once in your life. Hehe.

I leave you with a video I put together to further let you enjoy my joy.

Hasta Luego Amigos

Football..yes football

2009-04-12T23:40:00.001-07:00

"Owh no..not another football post by another football fan talking about what else...football..."

People who sees the title might think that, and hey, they're not wrong. As the title suggests, it is about football.

However, I am not going to comment on last weekends game, where Arsenal won 4-1 at JJB Stadium, or how out of nowhere Macheda saves the game for Man United yet again, or how Aston Villa fought hard to get a point at home. No, I won't, because there are countless football news sites that are dedicated to bringing you those reports.

I am however going to address the issue that in that last paragraph, I mentioned English Premier League teams, and not M-League (Liga Malaysia) teams. Football enthusiasts, especially Malaysians out there would say.. "Buat aper nak cerita pasal M-League, buang masa jer". I admit, I would be one of those people saying those exact words.

Yesterday, I watched a documentary solely directed to get views on this issue. It was made by a senior of mine is Subang Utama. It was his final year, or mid year project, i'm not sure, but project la..where he had to produce a video of some sort. His video was called Bolatendang, a documentary on why Malaysian football is not at par with the other Asian countries.

Links to the videos are the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZXndWGKLIw&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYQrVpcgNlU&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZa1SAzZ-_I&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etjjHtH5Ua4&feature=channel_page

(All links are from youtube user MohdZyD's collection)

After watching the video, I wanted to give my own comments on what I thought, and felt that I was also one of those people mentioned, as far as selective support goes. He mentioned that it was a fact that you would rarely see any Malaysians actually wearing the national team jersey in public, instead, countless would wear Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool...etc. I think in a way, by making it more stylish (I think the current and last Malaysian National team jerseys were quite stylish), so that more rakyat would want to wear them. Which brings us to another question, people wearing them for pride or just because its wearable in public?

Anyway, without drifting away from the main issue here, is there a question of national pride amongst the rakyat when it comes to football?

The main issues that were discussed when you watch the video are national pride, bad FAM management, not the best players selected, money and fear of failure. In my opinion, an issue that was not really addressed in the video was the fact that the parents of today do not want to let their sons play football professionally because frankly, they do not think that there is a future in football. It is different from UK, where there are more chances for youth to flourish, and if not, they would still have a decent career as a footballer in the lower leagues. Incentives are there, a promise of a livelihood is there. In Malaysia, parents would want their kids to be a professional something, other than a professional footballer.

Now it is more apparent that the excuse of Malaysians are too small physically to compete and be a force internationally is just that...an excuse. We see the best players in the world today are on average our size or smaller. Messi, Aguero, Arshavin, Walcott, Modric, all small compared to their opponents and team mates but still light up the field. There was a mention of science and football, where players can now be built made to order basically, with diet and training. Malaysia can do this starting an early age. But we go back to the same question, would parents want their children to dedicate their lives to football. Will there be a future?

I was almost in tears (cheh...sajer nak drama lebih)...when I saw clips of Arwah Mokhtar Dahari, as he split defences left right center. Thats another problem, our footballing heroes are not being put up on a pedestal as they should be. I only hear of their greatness, through my uncles and older cousins, but I have never seen them play. It is a problem because, they should be idolised the same amount or even more than Cryuff, Platini, Pele and Maradona, because they were OUR heroes. Our kids should say " I wanna grow up to be like Mokhtar Dahari".

Tell me after seeing how he plays, that its not similar to the other greats of yesteryear. Where was youtube when i was growing up? I would definitely aspire to want to play football like him.

Seeing that this post is looking a wee bit on the long side, I better say my last few thoughts on the matter. Whats the matter with our Malaysian football? It's not that we lack the quality because we're as good as any other Asian country and can compete. Its not the physical side, because games can be tailored according to the team. It really is our pride that gets the best of us. Its an abundance or in short supply, its never just enough. We get to a period of good patches where we play great football, and we start to forget. When we are down and out, we struggle to pick our heads up.

We are a country that celebrates successes, but does not support enough when we failed. Media bashes the team when they lose, and yes it happens everywhere, but everywhere, support is still there, and the team has the mental toughness to pick themselves up. I for one will try to change my attitude towards football, because no offense to bowling and shooting, I want Malaysia to succeed in Football too.

ZyD bro, if you're reading this, great video and hope its ok if I link the videos here.

Give Malaysian Football a chance, there's proof that its possible.

What it does to people..

2009-03-29T04:59:00.000-07:00

Firstly, I'd just like to say that I just drank a mixture of hot chilli powder, cayenne pepper, black pepper, lime juice, mustard, mayonaisse, bbq sauce, chilli sauce and taco sauce after losing at UNO. WTF? UNO of all games to lose at. I am proud to say i did not puke, but currently perut and anus berasa pedas. Heh.

Rindu. A feeling that a person gets when he or she longs for another person, persons, place, or thing. That was a definition by me, and not by any dictionary. Like love or hate, it must be a very popular feeling, because there are a shit load of songs that have the theme of missing someone, or have the word "rindu" in the title. "I don't wanna MISS a thing", "I MISS you", "Bila RINDU", "Benci tapi RINDU"..hehe...you get the picture.

Anyway..missing someone for me has much more significant meaning these days because of my novia. I mean, i've missed many people before, my family, especially my mak and opah, my malaysia, my kakibangkus, but having that feeling after getting together with my novia, I find that there are different degrees of RINDU.

RiINDU make you sad sometimes, but also sometimes make you work harder to be with whomever or whatever you are missing. It makes you daydream, and stare out into nothingness, leaving your world behind and flying off in your mind towards the object of that you are missing. For the most cases, RINDU makes you appreciate that person or persons or place or location so much more..heh

Estoy pensando siempre en tu mi bohemoth...

I leave you of an image of a typical person staring out into nothingness, mind somewhere else...when missing someone...

Hasta Luego

Kakibangku goes RED

2009-03-29T04:10:00.000-07:00

As much as I will be saddened by writing this, and i will show you later why......I feel its my duty as a member of Kakibangku to report this...and also because I want to write something, hehe

Kakibangku FC has gone through its third evolution in its long history, and has now evolved to total REDness. This third installment of defining Kakibangku identity features an Adidas jersey instead of the previous two Nike jerseys. I can safely say, that with that change, there is also an evolution in terms of member demographics...(hehe...mentang-mentang baru buat assignment guna word demographics, nak gak letak kat sini...haha). Not less than 50 people ordered the jersey this time around, which shows how much Kakibangku have grown over the years. What started as the word to define a "sense of belonging" for a group of high school friends, later became THE word to define them. New friends that join in lepakking with us, actually refer us to Kakibangkus, and many have stayed on with us to call themselves Kakibangkus as well.

As stated above, the new jersey is an red Adidas jersey with white trim. The unique design prompts simplicity on our part, and our in house designer Syadzwan duly delivered. The Kakibangku emblem is situated on the left of the Adidas logo, slighty magnified to bring balance to the jersey. At the back, there is the name and player number printed using the current Adidas font and number used by international teams sponsored by Adidas. The new feature this time around is the gold KAKIBANGKU situated just below the collar. This jersey encompasses modern design with classic simplicity.

I logged on to facebook a few hours back, and I see this photo posted....

I found out that they had their first match with the new jersey. Its bad enough that i'm not in that picture, but they won the match 12-0!! WTF? that would have been a good match to be part of. Adehh..sedih, sedih. But anyways, i'm happy for the boys..great show, and hope the streak continues with this new jersey.

Oh well, I guess the number 4 will have to wait and be patient...

Hasta Luego Amigos

Fuyoo...only 5 days and a new post..

2009-03-21T23:05:00.000-07:00

I've been reading a few other blogs of mostly friends but some strangers and been wanting to write something intelligent and profound as their posts are. Sadly, I have nothing of that calibre at this moment, and will instead write about something else.

The something else is Saturday, where MUMSA joined the festival of cultures selling Malaysian food. I was assigned (let's say assigned and not ordered), to help by transporting the food from the halls where it was cooked by the tireless women of MUMSA, to the square where it was to be sold. I asked Ezim to help out, and at 9.15 AM we started doing the job.

When we arrived with the food, there were already a number of people there at the square, mostly delivery guys like us, unloading their food or merchandise. MUMSA's booth was located between the Bengalee and Pakistani societies booths. Upon arriving, the booth was already set to go, and was just awaiting for the food to be presented. (As I am writing this, I just realised my novia won't read this, coz this is kin\d of a report..haha). Other MUMSA volunteers were already there most donning the white MUMSA t-shirt as shown below. The top guys had planned the day well, deploying almost 10 promoters armed with flyers to promote the booth, and help raise money fotr the Bersatu games coming up.Everything went well. with the weather and sales, and the top people tell me that the outcome was good, which is all good.

The day was topped off with a great meal prepared by Saffy's mom, who came and visted him for the week. Nasi Dagang was great, and the achar, which was probably the most perfect achar I ever tasted, was a great way to top off the days event.

Ok, now to finish up the last part of my assignment...

Hasta Luego mi amigos

I know, I know its been a while...

2009-03-17T18:17:00.000-07:00

There have been many (many is actually just 2 people by the way) who follow or check this humble blog of mine that has been asking me why isn't there any new posts. Okay, that sums up my rustiness in writing, because I think that first sentence seems wrong somehow.

Anyhoo..despite telling myself I don't have anything interesting to write about, well nothing that would interest my readers (eleeh...readers...macam la got people read this blog other than myself mostly..haha)...there are actually a few things to write about. Firstly, Abang got married, alhamdulillah, and I couldn't ask for a better sister in law...and they're already pregnant! I'm so very happy for them, and looking forward to my first nephew or niece to pop out, and influence that baby to grow up and support Arsenal. hehe

Secondly, If you've read the previous two post before this one, you might have sensed that there was something fishy going on with me, well not fishy, but wierd?? Let's just say, that everything went well, feelings were expressed and now I'm happy as a hamper...or is it camper?...or is that the wrong expression used?

These past few months back here in ol' Palmy North has been different in the sense that I am kind of anti social and more doing school work than MUMSA work, which I feel people within are taking it like I'm turning my back on the club, and putting a masam face, which is really just a facade to throw them off actually, because i'm the kind that will be obligated to help my friends, so i'm just doing that masam face so they don't ask, so I don't have to do it.....pelik kan? I know.

The only shining light these days are my new flatmates, who keep me company, and my "novia" who keeps me calm everyday. My "novia" knows the whole story, and keeps me sane and happy, and It sucks that she's not here, but thankful that I have her to count on and to talk to. Miss her loads and loads and loads. I used to think...those people in relationships exaggerate their "rindu" but I know now i'm admittedly wrong. Oh and thats the reason why i'm a bit reluctant to add new posts, coz I know i'll talk about my "novia" a lot...and don't want to bore people with obvious things. haha. I will try to write other stuff as usual.

So I feel better now that this blog has been updated at last....hehe...it won't be another 3 month gap, I promise.

On another note, I've been reading this blog who calls himself penyagak...who I actually know in person, and I think his posts are damn funny.

anf oh...I finally realised one of my dreams, which is to learn the spanish language. Doing it as my elective this semester. So Hasta Luego mi amigos

triggers

2008-12-07T03:09:00.000-08:00

It was a combination of smells that trigger your senses. It was the chestnuts, the cigarette smoke, the smell of the trash, the smell of the streets. Being away, you take those smells for granted. To come across those smells again, would be finding home again. Those were smells of Kuala Lumpur, my birthplace, my home.

These thoughts came to mind when I was out the whole day with Kak Yang. I could never come across those smells if I was not walking on the streets of KL. The smells are far from pleasant, the diverse range of people also gives you a diverse range of attitudes, but these things make me further realize that I could never live anywhere else for the rest of my life. Kuala Lumpur has been tuned into my frequency, because this is where I have lived for most of my life. I'm sure there are many who would agree, and disagree, many articles written about KL that further emphasizes the notion that its not a perfect place by far, but it is still home now and forever.

The smell of the streets are just one trait that triggers KL in my mind, the way people live their lives, the way people drive on highways, the way everyone would know how to communicate, the way every Malaysian strives everyday to survive, and never gives up in our own way.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

i am an enigma, someone solve me !

Yeah, its been a while...

2008-12-03T05:50:00.000-08:00

If this blog were a closet, it would be filled with dust, and smell of things that have not been out of the closet for a long time. If this blog were a baby, it would already have learned to walk since the last time you saw the baby. All i'm trying to say, sorry if there are any who read this blog, and were wondering when the next post is, well this is it.

Laziness, or maybe thinking that there is nothing significant to write about was what kept me from adding to my collection of posts. I've been feeling weird these past months, and have yet found the cause or the defining moment that triggered me feeling that way.

To start off with, I am back in Malaysia, safe and sound and eating like there is no tomorrow. Malaysia is truly a hub for food, from cheap to expensive, but always there when you want it, at the time you want it. After almost 3 weeks back home, I still have places to eat that I have not crossed out on my list. I have still not gone all out though, out of fear of not being able to fit into my tailored pants.

Tailored pants, tailored suit, the main reason i'm back in Malaysia, my abang is getting married in less than 2 weeks time. The time has finally come for him to tie the knot. I have grown up idolizing my abang, my hero during my adolscent years, as many little brothers would do. I've watched him become the best man for his friends, as well as our cousins countless times, which makes "always the bridesmaid never the bride" befit him perfectly. But Alhamdulillah, its his time now, and I wish him and my new kakak to be, all the best and may god bless them always.

Two of my friends have commented that I have not changed one bit since the last time they saw me. I react only with a smirk, a grin, because I know myself better. Physically, yeah, they would be spot on, despite my efforts at the gym but then swindled when I stopped during ramadhan, which made me unchanged physically. Inside however, I would say that I have matured, in many ways than one. This year has been a discovery for me, a shift in paradigm, however slight shift it was, but definitely a shift.

My friends are unchanged, in essence, but most of them are now graduated and started jobs in thier respective professions. With that, comes more matured mentality, and all of us are now thinking of the next stage of life. Personality wise, they are the same old crew I grew to love and cry with, which I am thankful for.

I've been thinking of 2 specific days that made me feel calm, happy, appreciated and wanting to be there again and again. I'm thinking of the company I had on those two days, and wondering if the feeling was mutual. I sleep at night (or to be specific, the wee hours of the morning because thats when I get back from hanging out with the crew) always hoping I would end up dreaming of those 2 days.

Anyways, I will try to post more interesting stuff on a more frequent basis. Thanks to those that have told me to write more often because they like reading my posts (however boring and like a report it is..hehe), which gives me the confidence and will to keep writing. Till the next post.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Sometimes a sincere smile is all a man needs to feel appreciated when things don't go his way and an act of selflessness as basic as offering tea in the morning makes a man feel loved.

Feelings were felt when things were done but not said. Hope is hopefully not yet shattered.

They had the right idea

2008-09-15T17:33:00.000-07:00

I saw this link on facebook one day, and I would think that its not just me that has tried it, but its called yearbookyourself. The results were ok, probably because I didn't have the right picture to slot in the template, but with what I had to work with, one picture caught my eye, and made me think of my Atok for the first time in a long time..

I now know why my family said I looked like my arwah tok. Aside from the hair (which he never had much of), the combination of the glasses and face shape, yeap, quite sebijik la. I need a second opinion, but i'm pretty sure of it.

I don't know if my grandparents did or did not plan to have a big family like they have today, but If they did, they had the right idea. Sometimes, if you think of it, it's impossible, with the age gap that they had, they would be able to last through the years. But again, "orang-orang" lama did what was needed, worked things out, and eventually, everything would be ok.

Opah had her 82nd birthday on Merdeka Day, and even without me and ayeng, the house looked full as always, courtesy of the "right idea" of raising a big family. She looked healthy enough, managing to smile depsite her impending illness, but again, I think seeing her son, daughters, her cucu's and cicit's around her, that would give anyone a morale/mood boost if you ask me.

Why this sudden out of place post? I don't know, something triggered it, and it has been written, so might as well publish it.....

P.S,

With an err of smugness Venus cast its spell,
which made the knght aim his arrow towards the ground,.........

gotta get outta here, making me weak, making me spew out rhymes and shit...

As promised

2008-09-09T07:29:00.000-07:00

As promised...the dance performance for Unity in Diversity. I only danced the first and third part. Enjoy people..

Merdeka?

2008-09-08T22:37:00.000-07:00

This is an overdue Merdeka post. I really did want to write something on Merdeka day, but due to technical problems with the video I wanted to attach to this post, It comes almost 10 days overdue.

Honestly, I wasn't feeling very patriotic on the day itself, when I normally would in previous years. I guess I was thinking about a situation in Malaysia about a friend that made me sad. But i'm not at liberty to discuss that here. The day was spent, firstly sending Imran and Nana to the bus stop, sending Harris back home, to the rec center for "Merdeka Volleyball", bit of badminton, lunch with Qi Su and Meqsu in town and Merdeka cake made by Hani at Rotary court. Not very exciting.

So, Merdeka? I myself truly believe that Malaysia is a special place. If we really try to see everyone as the color grey, and think of ourselves as Malaysians, Merdeka would truly have lived up to its true meaning. I remember in primary school, my best friends were Amritpall Singh and Nicholas Tan. It was never about race then, and I think I'm not the only one that feels that way. Somewhere down the line, people change, people grow up, and more variables come into play. I love the idea that Malaysia is a country with racial harmony, and I want to be able to be friends with people that have different religious beliefs and are from different races. I want to be free to be happy for them when they celebrate their festivals, and I want to have the freedom to share my joy with them when I celebrate my festivals.

I am guilty of the occasional racial name calling, and I know its just not me who does it, but honestly, its more out of habit than malice. I mean, If I hate someone, its because I hate someone, and not because of the race that person belongs to. Maybe that's just me. But even in the this name calling context, it would be better if people say "bloody Malaysians !" rather than specify to any particular race. Hahaha. At least there would be unity even in our negatives.

51 years? My god, time flies. Still, after all those years, we're still struggling, and the sad part is, its amongst ourselves. I guess the world doesn't really see Malaysia that way, and I guess one thing that all Malaysians do best, is not showing the world our true colors.

Happy belated birthday Malaysia. I hope that the drama that is unfolding is for the best. I still love you Malaysia, and believe in the idea of you.

I leave you with a video me and Lutfi made for Malaysian Night 2008, with help from Worm and Haizat. Its called,

"How far has Malaysia really come in the eyes of the World"

Reality Check

2008-08-31T03:32:00.000-07:00

It was a busy weekend for MUMSA last week, as we had 2 events in succession. The first was the Unity & Diversity show, where MUMSA is again participating with a dance performance, and also the next day, we had our Annual Malaysian Night dinner.

UNITY & DIVERISTY PERFORMANCE

I know I said somewhere that it would be a long time before I danced on stage again, but that was then, when I was what people called a noob, unaware of the joy of performing especially something that you would never think you were capable of doing ever in your life. It falls under the same category as bungy jumping, you never thought you would do such a thing, but you did, and you would do it again.

Dance practices started about a month before the show, and ideas of what we would be performing came pouring in. At first we wanted to do a five piece performance, malay dance, chinese dance, indian, kadazan, and a modern dance which involved hip-hop and break dancing. Yes it sounds scary, thats what I thought anyways. We ended up doing just the malay, chinese and indian dance. This year, it wasn't just 6 dancers, but we had 19, and that made practices fun. Once again, Caroline correographed most of the show, while Hani and Laili took care of the Malay dance. I have to honestly say, that after watching last years show, Hani and Laili made this years Malay dance simple, compared to Elun's piece. But, it was for the best, as Caroline's correography for the Chinese and Indian dances were intense, and the simple start at the start was needed, especially for the dancers who had to dance all 3 dances.

At the end of the show, we won best unique performance, which I think we deserved because of the different elements we showed in our dance.Video of the performance will be posted as soon as I get a better copy of it, as my copy was shot at an awkward angle, so not everyone is seen, including me..hehe.

MALAYSIAN NIGHT 2008

Due to last years success, organisers Lutfi and Jace decided to stick with the costume theme. This year, it was Hollywood, Bollywood & Mallywood.

Once again a video was needed for the night, so me and Lutfi got to work starting on Friday. We shot more footage on saturday, did the editing saturday night till the night of the dinner. I came up with the idea and so it wasn't that great of a video. It was meant to be more, but I think I did not execute it as well as I wanted.

I went to Malaysian night dressed as a gangster, Al Capone style, American gangster style. It wasn't much dressing up really, believe me when I say others dressed up, with make up and props, but me, a pinstripe suit, and put on my normal face, and I'm a gangster (coz people always say I have a unfriendly face).

People who have known me since high school will probably know that I was supposed to sing at my prom, but that never happened, so at Malaysian night, I made up for that, and performed. Hahahhah. It's funny how this year, Haizat transferred from Albany and he asked if I wanted to join him in performing for Malaysian night. What the heck, bila lagi kan. Good thing the performance were watched by friends, and our mistakes while singing were forgiven. It was good, bit nervous at first but by the time the second song came, we were comfortable.

Video me and Lutfi made will be posted up soon as well, and video of the singing will not be posted.

The night was fun, and of course the photo sessions, with all the different costumes. I even got the best dressed, just because Iylia won already for most photogenic. Look at the pictures here
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=150568&l=a21ff&id=673915175 , and you'll know why he should have a clean sweep for the awards.

The night ended smoothly, and kudos to Jace and Lutfi for organizing a great event.

REALITY CHECK

P.S : I am officially tired of it. My efforts have brought me nowhere near, instead has made me bitter. I am switching off. I am officially crawling back into my sanctuary where its safe.

BERSATU 08 : Style over Substance

2008-07-07T21:45:00.000-07:00

The long awaited BERSATU games in Wellington ended with mixed emotions for me and my team. MUMSA obtained its first gold medal in the history of the games, but really, we were unlucky not to add to the tally. Takder rezeki.

Preparations for the games, besides the obvious deed of training, consists of fund raising, rallying supporters and keeping everyone on their toes. We did a pretty good job for fund raising, sausage sizzles, and also the selling of Nasi Lemak and other Malaysian goodies, which contributed greatly to the final amount. Kudos goes to everyone involved in making those two fund raising activities a success.

As for the games itself, we left for Wellington on the 28th of June, on the bus, and arrived a few hours short of the opening ceremony. This years opening ceremony was simple and I guess its how it should be. Our contingent arrived in our brand spanking new MUMSA t-shirts, which I thought was the paling semart out of the others. As head contingent, had to go through the baca ikrar, and some introductions on stage, which was all good. No speeches.

The night went on with introduction videos and performances from WMSO, a dance number, as well as the Haka. Ceremony ended earlier than expected, and all went back to the backpackers, to get ready for the first day of games.

Everyone was pumped up for the first day of games. All were on time. Only thing was the weather made the organizers have a headache. Football was canceled, and moved to the last day, while Touch was now to be played indoor. Netball went ahead despite the roaring winds and pouring rain. Badminton was on schedule as planned. First day was a bit of a bore, as the team split up into 2 as venues were different. Full support couldn't be given and to me that made us suffer. We bowed out of Touch in the group stages, but definitely with a fight. We were unlucky with netball and badminton, but didn't make the semis due to goal or points difference. Bad first day for MUMSA.

It was the same story for the second and third day, where we challenged but not making the semis again. Even lost my cool, my temper during handball, and I apologize to all that were hurt if any. The girls made a valiant effort in Futsal, and I felt had a great chance to make the semis if not get a medal. But due to a tactical error, we bowed out in the group stages as well. Despite the losses, I am proud to say, that our supporters were the best during the games. Our cheers and chants made a difference, and I could safely say, we all lost our voices supporting each other. Even WMSO who had the biggest number of supporters did not come close to our supporting power. MUMSA supporters ruled the whole of BERSATU. I say thanks to those who led the cheers, who till today still have not recovered from all that screaming.

It was the last day, and there were 2 sports left for MUMSA to get a medal. Football, which was now to be played indoor, went on first. We were up against the defending champs, and expectations were high. We won 2-0. We broke the curse, we won our first football game at BERSATU ever. Morale was high. Too high, as we switched off against CMSA, which left us vulnerable to get kicked out of the tourney yet again. We won our 3rd game against Otago, but then had to depend on the match between CMSA and WMSO. Everything was going smooth, until CMSA scored with 12 seconds to go. The group was now tied 3 ways and due to some technicality, we were out, WMSO and CMSA were in. Potential out the window yet again.

All of us went up to support Takraw, the last game. I got a text on the way there saying we made the semis. I was overjoyed, at least points for MUMSA. When we got there, another fight with WMSO, although it went to rubber set, the experience of MUMSA shone through, and carried forward to the finals. The abang-abang post grads showed us experience, as well as moves no one at the BERSATU level has seen. MUMSA got our first gold. We were ecstatic.

That night we had our closing dinner. The venue was great, some hiccups, but overall an enjoyable night, even more so when MUMSA won the video competition with this video

The audience responded positively, reacting how we expected them to react, many of them asking us for the video to keep. Credits to Imran for showing us the video, Matt Harding for the inspiration, and Lutfi for making the video a reality.

We left the games this year with a new and improved reputation, that MUMSA were contenders, not just another team making up the preliminary stages, but challengers, tough challengers that other contingents should be looking out for in years to come.

8 eight

2008-06-06T22:07:00.000-07:00

Okay people. I was tagged by la poupres, saper entah dier. Since I am always looking for excuses to put off studying, I will layan. Anyways, 8 things, facts about myself. Oh before that, the rules? Here they are

Okay. Laying down the rules of the tagging game:
----------------------------------------------------------

1) Semua blogger harus menyatakan peraturan-peraturan ini dahulu.

2) Setiap blogger harus mula dengan 8 fakta/amalan tentang diri mereka.

3) Blogger yang di tag hendaklah menulis tentang 8 fakta/amalan mereka itu dan menyenaraikan peraturan-peraturan ini. Seterusnya tag pula 8 orang lain.

4) Tinggalkan komen kepada mereka yang di tag memberitahu bahawa mereka di tag dan suruh mereka datang baca blog kamu.

(La Poupres, 2008)

I think the rules were in English, then she changed it to Malay, and so I just copy paste, cited, maybe not correctly but still cited ok..

So here are the eight:

Uno:

I have a thing about letting people down, I don't like it. I think its because I don't handle guilt very well. So people that are pleased = no guilt for me

Dos:

I still think i'm overweight even though i'm borderline not overweight. If by all randomness someone were to ask "Who's the fattest here?" I would raise my hand, even though I'm not the fattest there. This is not a joke. Haha

Tres:

I am more alive in my imagination than I am in real life, which i'm trying to minimize this year. Keeping it real in the year 2008.

Cuatro:

4. Thats my jersey number, for football, futsal. Started because of Patrick Vieira. Arsenal great, midfield general. From those few statements, I love football, the greatest sport in the world, watching, playing, being passionate because of it. www.espfootie.blogspot.com

Cinco:

Family and friends are my lifeblood. If I call you a friend, I would literally go to the end of the world for you.

Seis:

From the numbers, uno, dos, tres, you might figure I like the spanish language. Hope to learn it soon, and also hope to visit the country in the near future.

Siete:

I like cooking, and flatting this year lets me do that. It doesn't work everytime, but it also means it does work sometime, which I am proud of.

Ocho:

I would like to think I am creative, with my writing, pictures and videos. Hopefully I am really creative at one of those things and not be a poser, and just say I am creative but not.

So, there they are, 8 facts off the top of my head, not much time because i'm not using my own laptop which is still not functioning. Sorry if the facts are useless. Haha

I am tagging:

LSG : Because he's the only one I think will do this thing..

thank you. good night

24...eh 23 la...

2008-05-24T09:03:00.000-07:00

Another year, and another birthday away from home.

Just before midnight, text came in and wished me a happy 24th birthday. I read it, and then locked the keypad on the phone. Only after 15 minutes, did I unlock the keypad and re read the text, and realised that 24 is wrong. I'm only 23. Haha.

"to the beat of tradition we danced, eyes meeting, arms swaying, cheeks blushing, feet uncoordinated"

It was yet another simple birthday, as always really throughout my life. Have I ever had a real birthday party? surely, but I can't remember my baby years ( I still believe one of them, brother sister or cousins dropped me on the head when I was a baby, but they deny it profusely). Its always dinner with the family, and drinks with the Kakibangkus.

"in the dark, sparks flew, oh how the sparks flew..."

This year, its sad and happy. Sad because no family and kakibangkus, but happy because brothers cooked and baked for me. Appreciate it guys.

"light? say it isn't so, waking up is not an option now"

Remember those videos last year? we're making fresh new ones this year. One is already on my youtube, silly test video, but fun nonetheless. Another 2 definitely coming, because its required for BERSATU, with potentially more video fun after that.

"what good is a name, if it's not for reference"

With exams getting closer, and one more assignment to hand in, its officially nearing the end of semester one. Like my age, time flies.

"teardrops of water triggered by time"

A month disconnected

2008-05-09T02:42:00.000-07:00

Looking at the date stamp of my last post, it has been exactly a month since I updated. Why? The answer to that would be my laptop is not functional, and still not functional. I haven't been totally disconnected though, thanks to the Massey computer lab, and the 24 hour access card.

A lot happened in the last month, a bad luck month really for me and my flatmates. The car was acting up again, and took 2 weeks to get well again. Safwan's car blew up...well the engine did, which meant its not functional and meant there is one less car at the house. Iylia can't drive anymore, because he got pulled over by the police, and he's still presenting a Malaysian license, which goes invalid after a year. Well he can drive, but if he gets caught, he'd be imprisoned, and the car he drives would get impounded. Sam's power supply blew up, which was the most minor of all our bad luck. And of course my laptop is unusable, which i'm predicting to be the motherboard, and if it is the problem, I won't bother and continue being a bonafide student in the computer labs.

So enough of the tales of bad luck.

I cut up my first whole chicken this month. It's good cutting steaks into small pieces, but tearing up a whole chicken with a meat cleaver is wayy better. I have pictures of the event, but due to the laptop not functioning, I have limited access to the pictures, which are in Safwan's cam. I promise you the grit and determination of dismantling that piece of poultry was caught on camera.

BERSATU games down the block and around the corner. MUMSA has been appointed co-hosts, with Wellington Students Organisation, with the event being held in Wellington this June. The top committe of MUMSA will be involved with the actual games, so they have appointed a few select people including me, to handle the contingent in their place. The top committee say they're busy with BERSATU, but I think they're just dumping their load on to us "choice" slaves, haha.

There was a leadership meeting/seminar in conjunction with BERSATU games down in Wellington at the Malaysian Students Department. I was not even supposed to go but due to transport and Razif unable to get an extension, I replaced him, and along with Iylia, Sheng and Eugene drove down to Wellington for the ANZAC day weekend. Left Palmy early and reached Welly around 10 ish. It was quite empty, mostly because people were still in Church for ANZAC day appreciation.

We were all seperated accomodation wise, with the reason of mingling with other leaders of other contingents being thrown at us. I didn't mind that, pretty valid reason. I did mind however mind that MY accomodation looked like a whorehouse from the outside, and Iylia's looked like a modern motel, and even had Sky TV . Woo-saaah. I started to dread the trip, After settling in (if that was ever possible in that building), we were told to be at MSD, and so we were. It was my first time being at the MSD, and I was quite impressed. Went up to the dewan for a briefing with Aunty Rose, the student attache here in NZ. Aunty kept repeating "Expect the Unexpected" and after all was done, it was exactly that.

After the briefing, we played frisbee. Fun? not when you play it in the dark. Aunty said all events on the schedule must be performed, and because we were late with the previous item on the schedule, it was already dark by the time we were done. Everyone was still up for it, some groaning of course, but generally looked lively. It all went well and we actually caught the darn thing while in the dark, except for Iylia, who tried to catch a pass, and bumped into a team mate, and fell down spraining his ankle. What most of us were annoyed about at that point, was that aunty refused to call the driver to pick Iylia up and back to MSD. Instead, we as a group, took turns carrying him from the park we played, which was down a hill bout 10 minutes from MSD. It was good that we came together, but in a way dangerous, for Iylia, and for us as well. That invariably left him useless when it came to activities over the weekend as he was on crutches. Alas, all was justified by aunty at the end of the seminar. The night ended late, even more for me as I went for coffee after.

I didn't get much sleep in Wellington, because its damned noisy at night, and it was early starts each day. The second day was mainly for BERSATU, where the committee presented their presentation to the contingents. It got quite heated and it will be a different BERSATU next year if proposed changes are approved.

The third day was the best, and all the stress of no sleep and high levels of annoyance with aunty's mental tests were gone as we participated in an "Amazing Race" kind of activity called senses. Kudos to the organisers of that, coz it was really a great experience. It helped me bond with new comrades as we sang, laughed, guided and made fools of ourselves together as a team. My team would have won too, if I hadn't broken an egg. I would have never seen Wellington if not for that activity, and again that made the whole weekend worth it. That night, tired bodies sat down for a final talk with aunty, where she explained herself to us. She was testing us with , in her own words "putting you out of your comfort zone", which was spot on. She justified her actions, and I personally think its a loss to MSD in NZ if she was not there working with us students. She refused to take credit for the success of the weekend, but she got us there, and that deserves credit.

So that was my month disconnected. Sorry there are no thousand words worth of pictures.

somehow, somewhere...it all went wrong

2008-04-08T13:48:00.000-07:00

When did it happen? when did it all turn sour for Arsenal and Arsenal fans? We were glowing at the prospect of winning 2 trophies a month ago. As of this morning the two became one, and highly likely to be zero.

Arsenal were clear leaders of the premiership a little over a month ago, and successive draws and a loss to Chelsea put us down to third. Where did Chelsea come from. It was dubbed a "two horse race" by the media. I guess we never learned from the story of the trojan horse. So when did the bad form start. From my own recollection, it started with the game Eduardo got his leg broken at the game at Birmingham City. A last minute goal from Birmingham (McFadden I think..) gave us our first of five successive draws. We were top, and the teams we drew, we should have won, and if we did, it kind of didn't matter if we had bad results with the top teams. Add to the fact the son of a gun Portuguese cow dung called Ronaldo is on fire this season. Comparisons to Henry when he was unstoppable in Arsenal's unbeaten season. Seriously though, even though he is an arrogant man, I still would prefer his French arrogance (because they are known for it) over C.Ronaldo's any day. Arsenal are now 6 points behind leaders Man U with five games to go, All good mathematically, but in the event god blesses us with amazing form for the last five games, it would probably favor Chelsea, as they are only three points behind the leaders.

Champions league. I honestly didn't even care if we won. I just wanted the premiership since it has been so long since we won it. Although it would have been sweet to win it once. That thought came to an end, when an undoubtedly great second leg at Anfield ended with a loss. Had one foot in the door when Adebayor equalised late in the second half, but then a minute later, we conceded a penalty, and Gerrard does not miss from the penalty spot. Another Liverpool - Chelsea semi on the card, and looking at things, a Barcelona-Manchester United for the other semi.

So when did it go wrong? Every true superstitious Arsenal fan would blame themselves. What did I do different? Did I forget to do that or this? For me, it started when I went back to Malaysia, and got worse when I get back to New Zealand? Maybe good luck disappears during traveling.....nonsense probably, maybe. In reality, loss of Eduardo didn;t really weaken our team, in my opinion anyway, because he was never a first eleven player, although, admittedly, he was coming to form at that period and unluckily broke his leg oh so devastatingly.

I am still heartbroken. Started off with low expectations, but made the fans believe it was a special season. I guess it doesn't work that way.

ps: another letting off steam post...ignore coz nothing interesting bout me in New Zealand except the fact I'm in New Zealand...

this is getting ridiculous

2008-03-23T03:44:00.000-07:00

What is New Zealand known for? Its a tie between dairy products, rugby, the place they shot Lord Of The Rings, and undoubtedly sheep. Sheep outnumber humans here in New Zealand seven times which basically means there are seven times more sheep than there are humans. Thats a whole lotta sheep.

I was out with Rahmat to get some stuff for the car (which we didn't get because it was easter, and nothing was open), when Iylia texted me, the text read "we have a new pet". I replied asking what pet?, but he never answered. When we got back to our house, we found out what the pet was....

It was a sheep or a ram to be exact. I certainly did not expect this. I was seriously thinking we had a rat in the house, or a cat suddenly decided to call our flat its home, but a ram in our backyard? never. Sam actually discovered it and ran in to get Iylia, who went out and petted the ram, and when he tried to tie the leash (it had a leash, sort of, which led to us concluding that it was someones pet) to our clothes drying thing, the ram got mad and chased Iylia all over. Luckily, Adzhar happened to drop by, and took control of the situation and proceeded to tying the animal to the clothes drying thung....all of this happened before me and Rahmat came back, which was a shame, because Iylia getting chased by a Ram should be an amusing sight.

Iylia called animal control, and we just hung out there waiting for them to come. The ram was actually very friendly, but it did leave presents on our lawn, and a bit on the pathway leading to the clothes drying thing. While waiting for animal control to come, we did what anyone would do in this situation...took pictures and videos of it, as I don't think it would be happening again anytime soon. Check my youtube for the actually aimless video of the ram. Haha

After 20 minutes of wholesome sheep fun, someone came and asked "you guys didn't happen to see a sheep running around did you?" which would have been a really weird question on any other day, Turns out it was the neighbor across the street from our house who was the owner. Iylia immediately called off animal control and our excitement for the day was over. Only in New Zealand.

On another note....my cousin Kak Intan got married yesterday, without any complications and was told Fahmy lafaz skalik jer...bravo. I am really happy for her and her husband, but yet a bit sad because I couldn't be there with my family to celebrate the occasion. So to Nor Intan and Fahmy, Selamat Pengantin Baru, semoga ke anak cucu.

Explain to me

2008-03-11T04:28:00.000-07:00

Alright, here goes. I am a Malaysian, and I consider myself a pretty patriotic one. However I never really indulged myself in the politics of Malaysia. One could say, i'm pretty buta politic. As all Malaysians have undoubtedly have already known, we just got through our 12th election last weekend. The results have spoken. BN suffered a big loss, losing their 2/3 majority vote in Parliament. I checked on Subang, and saw that BN lost that as well, to DAP, I was like wooah. Pembankang menang siut. I was actually worried....

Then I stopped, and thought to myself,..."ok...BN lost to DAP, so now what?.what was the significance?"

Someone explain to me what's gonna change?. I know. using Subang as an example, the overall feel of Subang won't change much. I can understand if PAS was to take over Subang, there would probably be no more Asia Cafe, and yes like I told makcik in Dublin, women probably won't be able to shoot pool anymore at Asia Cafe anymore, because there would be no Asia cafe, and because its not proper for women to play pool? Ok maybe I'm being overly harsh on the what ifs when PAS is concerned.

But seriously, to someone who actually had no big problems with BN, someone explain to me what will change. I asked Sheng and Eugene today, and probably shouldn't have done that, because if you know Sheng, he'll have a long factual explanation, talking bout economies and such, while if you knew Eugene, he'll just talk bout the subject aimlessly. Which left me basically where I started, I need terms I can understand.

Theres probably an issue with corruption, and the fact that prices of everything are rising. I know the opposition are promising changes in the NOW, but after watching an news clip of Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, where he explained, in order to implement the changes promised by DAP in particular, taxes are going to be raised, and that consequently effects the future generation. With corruption, hey, I'm gonna be a pessimist bout this and say it won't go away. Reduced yes, vanish? no way.

I read LSG's blog and he mentioned the election as well, and he was writing specifically bout Nurul Izzah, who in all my blurness in the arena of politics and general homeland knowledge, is the daughter of none other than Wan Azizah leader of PKR. She won her battle with Dato' Sharizat, and after googling Nurul Izzah's name, and then saw her picture...I wondered, in a totally comical thought (kena state, maner tau kena saman ker)....did the voters vote for her because she has the caliber, or because she looks more attractive, in my opinion on a poster than Dato' Sharizat. I mean if I was like a neutral voter, and a normal joe, I would pick Nurul Izzah hands down just because. I can safely say guys work that way.

Often at family gatherings, when I sit amongst my family members, and listen to their stories, complaining bout this and that about the government, I guess its kind of interesting and maybe a bit refreshing to see Malaysians do want change and it actually happened this time. We'll see I guess, how well the opposition delivers, and also interesting to see how BN reacts. Will the loss trigger the change in them? I hope that BN or oppostion, in all their battles, don't forget about Malaysia and Malaysians.

The story so far

2008-03-11T03:49:00.000-07:00

Reporting after the last out of place "emo-ish" post.

New Zealand the second time round for me was exactly that, revisited, no thrill of the guy who left home the first time, but someone coming back home to his current home base. Everything was pretty much where it should be when I came back to Palmy. The flat was kinda hectic, with most of the guys holding up here to avoid starting paying for the halls too early. That meant stuff were lying everywhere, living room packed, mine and iylia's room had visitors, and I lived out of the suitcase for another week. After most of the guys moved into the halls, I cleaned up my room, unpacked my stuff, rearranged my furniture in my room, started making it my own again.

Anyways, house matters aside, MUMSA had its clubs day booth up, and boy oh boy, we had loads of new members signing up. To date, there are, if not mistaken, 12 new scholarship students from the respective sponsors. Thats an increase from last year. Either Massey is becoming a popular destination now, or we (the "old" students) did a good job of marketing Palmerston North, and Massey, either by word of mouth to respective juniors, or we just made this place "happening" because we are that cool. haha. Not counting the scholarship students, we have a handful of new private students as well, making this year, undoubtedly the largest number of members for MUMSA.

The kickoff event held by MUMSA was the bbq, held at the ICC (again),which would turn out to be a bit on the small side, as almost all that registered on clubs day turned up plus Mr.Prez decided to include the post graduates and their families to join as well. The event was really organized from start till finish, which led to Eugene commenting, "Malaysians ker nih? semua dah prepared before hand, and on time pulak tuh", which I thought was funny and honestly a very sensible question to ask. Food was prepared almost a day before, and chicken was pre-cooked (so that people won't have to wait long for their chicken to bbq) with 3 hours to spare. People turned up on time, and as I said before, the place was packed. But all in all, MUMSA collectively did a great job in my opinion.

The haunted maize maze was revisited again. The event this time was joined by some members from WMSO. The venue was different from the last time MUMSA went. It was in a place called Marton before, 40 minutes away, but now its a brand new maze, in Sanson. 25 minutes away. I have to say, it was nowhere near as scary as the one in Marton, and half the time to complete it. But to look at the glass half full, we had a good time, hanging out with the newbies, and our friends from WMSO, which is all good.

Oh yeah, classes. Started, 3 I like, 1 don't like mainly because of the lecturer, and out of the 3 classes that interest me, only two I actually pay attention to everyday because of the excellent lecturer who makes you participate, so you don't really have time to let your mind wander off.

My Summer

2008-02-22T03:46:00.000-08:00

I shouldn't have gone back to Malaysia for as long as 3 months. 1 month would have been enough. I wouldn't know that for sure of course, but at this present moment thats what I think anyway.

Summer in Malaysia started out as probably all of you already know, with a surprise for my family and friends. That was was something planned in advance and actually seeing the plan become a success was actually quite gratifying. The months that followed the return were pretty varied in activities, with only one common factor...foood. I fulfilled my cravings for whatever I craved for over the summer, and the cravings would undoubtedly be refreshed this year.

First couple of weeks back, it was just hangout sessions with the boys. Futsal (ahh, good to be back in those caged pitches), and of course lepakking at MyTomYam or Air Buah or now more affectionately referred as Ayaq Bu by us Kakibangku-ians. Then the activities started. Go-kart sessions with cousins, trip up to Genting Highlands (haven't been there since probably standard 4.....it got bigger huh?) with KB family, which was fun, mainly seeing who actually had guts in the family, haha. My cousin Kak Intan also got engaged that December, but I will not be attending her wedding because its in March (apa salahnya nikah terus daripada tunang? boleh aku attend) which is a bummer, because its Kak Intan, one of my closest cousins. We said good bye to Faizal, as he got a job in Dubai, which I think is great, experience over there will do him good, career wise. Closed off December, as well as the year 2007 with a barbecue at my house, again. Was reluctant to host at first, but in the end it was great, and any time with my closest friends is good time in my book.

In January, the Borois (me, Mann and Hafiz) took a trip to Langkawi. Although we didn't do much in activities, the journey to get to the island and the conversations with the borois, made the trip worthwhile a thousand times over. January also had karaoke sessions with Hildi, Laili, Syana, Alel, Zerol and Jepp (new way to kill yourself, get a real hard rock song, and try to sing exactly like the artist..haha), a field football match with some students with UM, (which we won triumphantly 6-3), and celebrated Hafiz Botak's 23rd with another surprise, but a different Naili's Place.

Celebrated another 3 birthdays early February (Fazee's, Amoi's and Laili's), but not before beating another team at football, winning 1-0. Hung out with the just the sistaz, pretty much for the whole afternoon at the curve, which was something new and a very welcome addition to my routine when i'm back home in Malaysia next. The last outing with the KB family was again at the curve. Late lunch at Litlle Penang, and drinks at Nasi Kandar Spring. It really turned out to be the last outing, because even though I still had 3 days left till my flight I had food poisoning, and had to spend the last days recovering in time to be travel ready.

The day of my flight, I went to Opah's for lunch. Met my aunts and of course Opah. Second time round doesn't make saying goodbye to them any easier. I guess I always see my cousin Azril, and wonder how he handles it so well. It might be he gets to come back at the very least 3 times a year. So the level of kerinduan won't be as bad. Anyways, Mak, Abang and Kak Yang sent me off at the airport, as well as the brothaz and a couple of sistaz. I did cry the first time, but not this time. The flight was not smooth sailing, with numerous cases of turbulence, with one occasion felt like I was sitting in a roller coaster and dipped too much for my liking, which made me almost curse too loudly.

I shouldn't have gone back to Malaysia for 3 months because I was starting to feel too much at home (which is normally how a person should feel when a person is at home) but that made me not be in the mindset of being a student overseas. I would miss being a son at home. I would miss the late night lepakking at ayaq bu with the closest of friends, talking bout anything and everything and laughing till you can't laugh anymore. Sometimes it doesn't get any better than that. But, I am a student overseas, and that is what I chose to do.

I apologise for this entry. Sappy,boring and out of place in this blog, but needed to be written. Normal service will resume after this entry.

official MUMSA jersey.....ni tak tipu...serious

2008-02-08T12:53:00.000-08:00

The jerseys are finally ready to be unveiled. This is serious talk. I was afraid it turned out like shit, thankfully it turned out fine, well thats my opinion. I might be biased seeing that I worked on this all by myself. So without any further delays, and so that finally you guys would get off my back, I give you the official MUMSA football jersey as modeled by yours truly , hope you guys like it.

Firstly, here are the features of the jersey

Its a Climalite Adidas, same concept as the Nike Dri-Fit ,(sorry dude, had to go with a company employing cheap labor, and I distinctly remember you said no Nike, so you see, I try to make everyone happy). As you can see from the first picture, we have the Adidas logo on the right side of the jersey white on black. On our left, placed right on our hearts, we have the official MUMSA logo, the excellent Bunga Raya/Silver Fern combination, which symbolizes the Malaysians in New Zealand. On the left sleeve, we have MUMSA proudly written on it, to tell the world we play for MUMSA. There is also the players jersey number printed front and center.

In the second picture, We have the players name and jersey number. The font used for the player name is the same as the one used on our MUMSA t-shirts, Eurostile. I thought it would be wise to keep that consistent. Not shown are that the sleeves sport the traditional Adidas three stripes.

The following are pictures of everyones jersey from the back and the front, so semua orang can see and not bug me to show them (sorry if I seem grumpy, but its stressful work you know...haha)

I'm quite happy with the result actually, was worried bout the logo turning out bad, but kudos to Hoops Station for another job well done. The numbering was another concern as I literally blindly picked it out of a list, because I had a headache at the time. So my job is done, and now it is your turn to pay 30 NZD as discussed. Nak bagi lebih for the the sweat and tears pun also welcome,(hint hint). See you guys back in Palmy in 2 weeks time.

Official MUMSA Football Jersey

2008-01-27T11:01:00.000-08:00

At one of the many potlucks we had last year, just before the Massey Indoor Soccer World Cup, Razif, our esteemed football captain suggested MUMSA have their own football jerseys. Everyone agreed. The only thing was he wanted the jerseys made there in Palmy, which I disagreed, as even our simple MUMSA t-shirts cost 35-40 NZD if i'm not mistaken la, so jerseys would cost more given the jersey material. So I suggested I would buy and print the jerseys when i went back to Malaysia, where it would be way cheaper, and more freedom to design.

I admit, I procrastinated with my task of searching for suitable jerseys in the first month I got back to Malaysia. With various MUMSA members bugging me about the jerseys, which I guess they were duly entitled to as it was their money as well, I got serious about the jerseys at the start of January. I went to the usual places to find jerseys, being somewhat of a pro as the last Kakibangku jersey, we had to do the same thing. Pertama complex, Sg Wang Plaza, Summit, the usual. After 3 weeks, I have found a design I liked and have bought them. Sending them for printing and hoping it will be ready before Gong Xi Fa Chai. I actually hoped that I could get help from Aizat to design the jersey with me, but I didn't have the heart to bother him with his busy schedule these days. So i'm gonna wing it.

I'm doing this own my own, so I fully accept the responsibility if the jersey turns out looking like manure. If it turns out smelling sweet as, a little credit on my part won't hurt, haha.

Anyways, here are the pictures of the unprinted jerseys.

I know, I know..at first glance it looks like my kain pelikat. Well it is my kain pelikat, but if you look closely, its my kain pelikat covering the two bags that contain the jerseys. Sorry guys, this project is in progress, and I will unveil the finished product on this blog within the coming 2 weeks.

Until next time people...

The mission

2007-11-27T19:55:00.000-08:00

So it turns out that I might have told a little white lie to pretty much everyone I know in Malaysia. I said to them I would be back in December. Dates vary as I myself lost track of what date I fed them. It was 12th of December at first, then 8th, then 4th. These dates are lies, because, I am already back in Malaysia people. Came back 2 nights ago on the 26th of November. I apologize to the ones I lied to but it was too tempting not to attempt a surprise.

On the 26th, my domestic flight from Palmy to Auckland was at 8.20, and to my slight horror my alarm did not go off, and I only got up at 7.25. My plan to wake up, have breakfast, take a shower, snap a few pictures of the flat went out the window. After realizing the time, I jumped up, and went straight for Iylia's room to wake him up. Brushed my teeth, washed my face, and got dressed. No shower. Said goodbye to Imran, but not to Safwan and Wen Li as they were still sleeping and I was late. Got into the car and made our way to the airport. Immediately checked in. The lady at the check in counter told me the flight was delayed. If only I knew, could have taken a shower first. So waited for an extra half hour and finally they called to board. Said goodbye to Iylia, and made my way on to the plane. This is officially the first time I have traveled alone.

Arrived at Auckland domestic terminal at 10 AM, and made my way to the International terminal. Went straight to McD to get breakfast, then went to ask the info counter where I could get a shower as I did not shower yet. The lady said that I had to to go to the florist to get the key to the shower and to rent a towel. Thats what I did, and which meant it was the first time showering at an airport. After showering, went to the departure lounge as I still had an hour till check-in time. Went around buying souvenirs and then sat down and played the PSP for an hour. Made my way down to the check-in counters and found that there were already people lining up to check-in. I saw quite a few Malaysians and even saw Abang Harmi and family queuing up a couple of rows behind me. Check-in was fine, no hiccups and that made me happy because there is one less bag to worry about and I am officially one step closer to Malaysia. Went back up to the departure hall, and got a pizza and a lift plus, which was gonna be my last lift plus in 3 months. I am gonna miss that drink. Filled in my departure card, and after 20 minutes, it was time to board the plane. Made my way through the security check fine, walked at a leisurely pace towards the gate and sat down with Abang Harmi and family for a quick chat. 15 minutes later, the gate was open, and they announced that families get to go in first. So Abang Harmi and family went first, and I waited for 10 minutes, and proceeded to the gate myself. Handed my boarding pass to the lady, and that was it, on the plane, ready to leave Auckland and back to Malaysia.

The flight was good, got a window seat which was good, and the man sitting beside me was really nice. He was a kiwi named Lindsay Baker, heading for Miri to drill oil. He was friendly and talkative, which made the flight comfortable for me. The only downside to the flight was that I could not get any sleep, as it was an afternoon flight. That made the flight feel that much longer, as you tend to check how much longer the flight would be when you are awake. Finally, after lunch, tea, and dinner, we reached KLIA. The co-pilot announced that we would be landing in 15 minutes. I thanked god for giving me a safe and smooth journey from start till finish. 15 minutes later, the plane landed. While the plane was taxiing towards the gate, the co-pilot again made an announcement "Selamat Datang to Malaysia to those who are visiting and to the Malaysians, Selamat Pulang ke tanah air". That made me feel good inside. After 9 months away, I was back.

When we got off the plane, the terminal was pretty empty, I guess it was a weekday, and it was only 8 PM, but I think it was the emptiest I have ever seen it. Made our way to the main terminal via the shuttle, and to the immigration check. Said goodbye to Lindsay as he had to go through customs, when us Malaysians just had to go through the machine where you put your passport and have a thumb print check. I love that thing.

Quickly headed for the KLIA express counter and bought a ticket as I am planning to surprise my family, so no one waiting for me outside. The lady at the counter told me the next train was at 8.45, which was 15 minutes from that time, so I was hoping to get my bag and dash for the train. Thankfully that was what happened. Just caught the train with a minute to spare. The ride on the KLIA express was relaxing, with my mind wandering off, contemplating how I would surprise my family, and thinking of the what ifs. What if my family was not at home? They think i'm coming back next week, where would I go? Looking out the window, I knew I was home, as traffic jams in progress, and constructions of new developments apparent along the way. A familiar smell hit my nose along the way, a smell only a Malaysian would recognize, and a Malaysian would appreciate as a smell of home. Half hour later, the train arrived at KL Sentral.

Went up the steps, and straight for the taxi counter. Told the girl at the counter my adress and paid. Went outside and got a taxi. The taxi driver didn't know where Sunway Damansara was at first, but as usual, the curve would be the landmark. We had a brief conversation. At first he thought I was coming back from Sabah or Sarawak, but I explained the situation to him, about New Zealand, about surprising the family. Nice guy that uncle, and I was sorry that I did not have any small change for the penchala link toll. I asked him to stop at the mamak near my house, Nasi Kandar Spring. The plan was, to go online, and chat with my sister or brother for 20 minutes, and at the end of the conversation, ask them to pick me up at the mamak. The first hurdle was getting a seat where a wall plug point was available. The reason for that was that my battery for my laptop was misplaced, or in other words lost so I have to use my adapter. Finally found one after 20 minutes after the guys in the table ahead unplugged theirs. During that 20 minute wait, I got myself a Nasi Lemak Ayam Goreng and a teh o ais, which I can safely say tastes the same after 9 months, which is always a good thing. Anyways, got the plug point, connected to the wireless network, but to my frustration I could not go into any website. This went on for another 20 minutes. Finally, I got into meebo, and noticing it was already late to play around, I immediately messaged my brother

me : bro, buat per?
abang: nothing much ah bro, just got back from picking up workers..whats up? (coz I almost never tegur him on YM)
me: oooo...takder, pick me up from spring...
abang: huh??? biar benar bro..
me: yeap..serious, i'm back..haha
abang: ya allah...ok2 I come now..
me: ok..I wait kat tepi spring

4 minutes later he came in his new car. Put my bags in the back seat, and went in the car. Abang was laughing, still in disbelief that i'm home, also commenting on my hair. Asked if Mak was still up, and he said maybe not. I hope I don't give Mak a heart attack or something when I wake her up. Reached home, and put my bags upstairs in my room, which looked the same. Went back downstairs to my moms room, and as my brother knocked, waited for her to open the door. As she opened the door, a definite shock came to her face, and I immediately embraced her, expecting tears, but thankfully did not come. But the expected "anak bertuah" comment definitely came out. Only my sister left, but I would leave that to the next day as she was not at home and I was sleepy.

Surprised my sister the next morning when I was the one waking her up from breakfast, went to see Mama and Opah, Mama also directing an "anak bertuah" comment towards me. Opah did not recognize me, which worried the rest, but did not worry me, because I do look different, and add to that being away for 9 months, and with her condition, its only understandable. Its all good. Went for lunch with Mak Yang and surprised my brothers that night.

I actually tried to surprise Hafiz that evening, me driving to his house, and calling him from outside his house, but he didn't pick up as it was a new number I just bought. So I tried again that night, this time getting a response, and I definitely surprised him. So that night, got to surprise most of my friends, and all wanting to beat me up for pulling this stunt. It was good to be back home.

Mission was definitely a success, and again I apologize to anyone that I lied to on many occasions regarding my arrival in Malaysia. It was really too tempting not to attempt.

So to anyone reading, I am back in Malaysia poeple!!..... for real

and on a side note, my Indoor Soccer World Cup Video is up on youtube.. the link is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-Bfqjdzj4I

At last, time to update..

2007-11-19T02:10:00.000-08:00

There was supposed to be an update of the Massey Uni Indoor Soccer World Cup, that MUMSA and Merlion (Singaporean Students Association of Massey) organized. I even promised a few people of this update, but since it was almost a month ago, I think it outlived its lifespan but still, its worth mentioning. The video of that event however will be posted soon.

The main reason that it took me this long to update,is because of exams that came right after the World Cup, which made me unable to update on that event immediately. After exams, I started on the video, thinking I would update only after I have completed the video. Also, I have moved out of Wally D room 1.11, and into my new flat in town. That pushed back my updating another week.

The location of my new flat is actually superb, as its in the middle of uni, and town, petrol station 2 streets down, halal meat/grocery shop literally just 3 doors down and generally a very good street to live on. The house does not look like much from outside but is much more appealing inside, which is good for us, as it will not attract much attention. Its a 4 room flat with a double garage and more than enough storage space, which immediately made me come up with a business opportunity for the flat. I suggested to the others to use the garage as storage space...and charge em for it. The storage business was good. I got almost all the Malaysians that were going home for summer vacation to store their stuff at our new flat.

The storage business and the activity of moving our own stuff to the new flat and sending the Malaysians to the airport made the week hectic and sleepless. Our new flat became storage and sort of a rest area because if anyone was to leave the next day, they would sleep over at our flat first and we would send them the next day. The combination of the still messy and disorganized state of the flat, and extra people staying over made for an interesting week. It was all good though, always happy to be with good company.

Everything settled down 2 days ago, as the last of the "orang menumpang" was sent to the airport. Now its just the flatmates plus Imran the adopted flatmate. I am also considered menumpang because I rented the room to Wen Li for the summer, not for profit lah...but just so that Iylia and Safwan does not have to pay too much over the summer as me and Sammy boy are leaving. That means i'm sleeping in the living room which is all good tho, coz all the entertainment is in the living room.

One by one they leave Palmy, and in 2 weeks time so will I. Nasi Kandar Spring here i come.

Flat pictures on the next post

Suasana Hari Raya

2007-10-14T01:52:00.000-07:00

As the song goes, "Berlalulah sudah Ramadhan, sebulan berpuasa". The time came for us muslims to celebrate our victory. We did it. We got through the fasting month, and fulfilled our obligations, and we are rewarded with Hari Raya, or Eid Mubarak to everyone else.

Raya eve was celebrated by hanging out with friends eating kuih raya that Safwan's mom sent over from Malaysia, and playing video games till it was 3 in the morning. Eating those homemade kuih felt good, and fueled the Raya spirit. Can't wait for the day ahead, where good food awaits....I hoped.

Woke up, showered and got ready for the day ahead, I donned my baju melayu only semi-complete, because I had the sampin on, but not a songkok, which I regretted not bringing. Got Iylia, and we made our way to RSO, where all of us decided to meet up so that everyone had a ride to the town Masjid for Solat Raya.

I told everyone to be at the RSO at 7, but even I arrived at 7.15, and the rest at 7.35. This was expected, kata Malaysians. So, around 7.40, all of us convoyed to the Masjid in town. When we arrived, we saw the other muslims, all dressed up in either traditional costumes, or suits. Dressing up your best for Hari Raya, is one of the components in the guidelines of what to do on Hari Raya....something I read on LSG's blog. After parking the car, we headed towards the masjid, and was relieved that we were not late, as they were still reciting the takbeer Raya.

The takbeer raya for me was one of the things that made me miss Raya back in Malaysia, as the way it sounds here is different. Yes its the same words, but the way they recite it, its very flat, monotonous compared to the takbeer in Malaysia where we do it with flair and with a certain amount of "lenggok" if I may. After the takbeer was over, and the Imam gave his final announcement, it was time for the Solat Raya.

The Imam proceeded with the Khutbah Raya, which was good, and not too long. After he recited the final doa, everyone got up and embraced each other wishing each other "Eid Mubarak brother". We even had photo sessions with the Omanis whom we have grown closer throughout Ramadhan, smiles and laughter everywhere. All in the spirit of Raya.
After 15 more minutes of photo sessions, we got back to our cars and proceeded to Kak Hafsah's house. She is a Singaporean lady that has lived in New Zealand for 16 years if i'm not mistaken, and has invited us to makan at her house. Yaay..my first open house of my first raya away from my family, but most importantly, good raya food. And the food did not dissapoint. All the essential hari raya food was there for us to pick and enjoy. We were there for about an hour, which was equivalent to 3 rounds for me. I wanted more, but the tummy did not permit, as it was the first time in a month that it is consuming midday. Besides, we had another open house after that. After everyone had their share of the good food and hospitality of Kak Hafsah, we said our raya greetings, goodbyes and appreciation to her, and made our way to the next open house.

The next open house was actually a joint open house by the Malaysian Post-Graduates from Massey, but was held at Abang Zabidi's house. When we arrived, it was more of a Malaysian open house feel as there were little kids running around, lagu raya in the background and people laughing and enjoying the food. The best thing about this open house was they satay, as I had not had satay since Malaysia. Everyone was mingling around, and the spirit of raya was definitely there. True, it is not the same without our families, but its raya nonetheless when good people, and good food is around you.

After an hour or so, people started leaving, and so did we. We were one of the last groups to leave, and after saying our raya greetings, and goodbyes we went home and I think pretty much everyone slept off the good food we consumed that afternoon. I waited till 3 PM and called Mak to wish Hari Raya, and talked to Abang as well. Thought they were already at Opah's but no, Kak Yang was only just getting ready. So I asked Mak to tell Kak Yang to call me later. I then called my Opah's house, and wished my aunty, who then put the phone to Opah's ears and so I wished my Opah as well. She responded with a laugh which was good enough for me. She looked well in the pictures Abang Izad posted on Facebook, so I was happy.

Kak Yang finally called later when I was sleeping, and also got to talk to Kak Intan , Abang Izad and Kak Nani, who asked me "Shah, do you miss us?" which I replied, "No, I miss Mamak's more"....

That night it was another open house, which was actually like any other potlucks that the Malaysians have at Rotary Court, but now we had lagu raya in the background. Good food again, good company and more pictures. This was a good first day of raya, especially for my tummy.

Next day, another open house, this time at Kak Ida's place, a Sarawakian who is a lecturer at IPC. Her house is in Kelvin Grove which is like 10 minutes outside Palmy, and we actually got lost for a 20 minutes searching for her house. I don't wanna repeat myself, but good food again.

So, that was raya in New Zealand for me basically. The following is a video I made in an hour. Nothing special, but just wanted to do one because in youtube all the other students that study overseas in other countries have one, so I also wanted one.

So, every year, I look forward to this day of joy and forgiveness, for various reasons, which includes the Hari Raya food, but mainly because it brings people together. I love Hari Raya because it gives my family a reason to gather together and forget everything for one day and forgive and forget while eating good food. I probably mentioned good food too many times in this post, and I apologize for that. Lucky for me, it is Raya, So Selamat Hari Raya, mintak maaf, mintak ampun, zahir & batin, for any mistakes that I have intentionally or accidentally made.

Again, Salam Aidilfitri, from me in New Zealand, to anyone who is reading.

Month of Ramadhan, di bumi Kiwi

2007-10-12T19:25:00.000-07:00

When students study overseas, people back home always think they will neglect their obligations, obligations like fasting. I however don't get why that is, because I find it hell of a lot easier to fast here than in Malaysia. True, when you are overseas, there are no Islamic departments who are gonna catch you when you don't fast, there are basically no other muslims that will look at you funny when you don't fast, but of course like everything else we do, god knows, god always knows...

I admit, I am not the most pious of men, but I always try my best to make Ramadhan meaningful. It is such a special month, and a chance for all muslims to become better muslims. As I have said, fasting here in the land of sheep is really not hard, easier than in Malaysia. Here, the weather is cold, and we don't sweat, and therefore thirst is less. I even go on with my weekly football match, not at full force of course, but I wouldn't try that feat in Malaysia, Also, I played in a handball tourney while fasting. So really, no excuse not to fast, really other than that student herself or himself that want to or not.

As for the understanding of what fasting is amongst the kiwi's and my other non-muslim friends, they're pretty cool about it. They ask questions about it, and ask how we can function without food and stuff. After I explained, they understand better, and eventually fell that its not that bad. They think that its no food or drink for the whole day.

Probably the most challenging thing fasting here is the people here won't cover if they want to eat, because they don't have to. People in Malaysia, the tolerant ones that is usually try their best to not to eat in front of their muslim friends, but here, you cannot blame them really. Its not their culture to do so, and so we have to accept it as a test during Ramadhan, part and parcel of fasting.

As for buka puasa, I am thankful that the surau here at Massey holds break fasts every Monday till Thursday, where the Omani Students Associations donates food for iftar, and bloody good food if I may add. We eat "talam" style, where they put rice and meat on a single tray, and a group of 5-6 eats off it simultaneously. I can safely say, Malaysians are the champions when it comes to food, as we are always the last to finish, due to us having second servings all the time. "Masyallah Malaysians" one of the Omani brothers said as he saw how spirited we are when it comes to eating, smaller sized than them, but eat 3 times as much.

As for the weekends when there are no iftar available at the surau, there are always friends that invite me over to their place to eat. First week it was the Rotary Peoples, second week Imran's crib, 3rd week the MUMSA buka puasa event, and 4th week it was Safwan's crib. Alhamdulillah, all my ramadhan cravings were met, including teh tarik which I made myself, but not as "KAW" as the mamaks do, but ok lah.

So after 4 weeks of fasting, which went pretty fast, my first Hari Raya away from home comes along.

The night I became P.Ramlee.

2007-09-08T19:18:00.000-07:00

This past week was a fun week for me and definitely or my friends as well, as we were all working towards making Malaysian Night 2007 a success.

It all started when a committee was formed for the MUMSA Malaysian Night 2007 event that happened on September 8th. Everyone had their tasks to do, and mine was to help Razif with the slide show that Imran requested be made, showing all the events/activities that took place this year. Also, Imran decided that there would be a theme for the night, and the theme is the 60's. Straight away, images of P.Ramlee, and sounds of "Getaran Jiwa" came to mind.

Started working on the slide show with Razif down in Kairanga 5 days before the event. We kind of started at a leisurely pace and not until 4 days before the event that we felt the pressure. At that point, Iylia and Lutfi decided to join in and help. The room felt like a hackers hub, with 4 laptops running. We pulled all nighter after all nighter and took turns to nap at certain points in the wee hours of the morning.

3 days before the event however, Iylia decided to make a video for the committee, and asked Lutfi to direct the video coz he's fab behind the camera. I joined in the creative process, and suddenly the ideas were flowing. We finally decided on a plot, and the next day made it happen.

We filmed half of the plot that day, and proceeded by editing that half the same night till early hours again, also helping Razif with the slideshow. We were a fully functional multimedia team. Now I know how my Kak Yang feels when she has to work on production sets, and we're only an amateur team.

1 day to the event and we had to wake up early next morning to get some stuff with Audrey for decorations, and also get to the costume shop. I admit, I had an idea of what to wear, but thanks to Iylia, Audrey and Eugene for persuading me to go to that place. There were a number of choices of costumes and suits to choose from, but I only had eyes for a white dinner jacket. Sean Ghazi in his video "Ku Impikan Bintang" was inspiration for my outfit, and I must say, I don't look half bad wearing it.

After the costume shop and getting decorations, we decided to shoot the final scene and the rest of the movie. We managed to finish shooting pretty much all the footage we needed and would do the editing that night. We finished at round 5.30 and went straight for dinner because amidst all the preparation for Malaysian Night, we had an indoor soceer mini tournament held by the Singaporean club which was called the SEA cup, which consisted of 2 Malaysian Teams, 2 Singaporean teams, and 1 Indonesian team. At the end of that, Malaysia A came second to Indonesia, and Singapore B came third. It was good 3 hours of footy.

We still had the videos and slide shows to finish so, me and Iylia went back, cleaned up and got coffee, coz it was gonna be a long night. On the day of the event, at 4 PM, we finished all videos and slide shows, the main ones at least. So me and Iylia went back up, showered and got our suits and went to the venue to set up.

Wharerata (pronounced farerata) is the venue. It is a function center on campus. Its really a beautiful place, and as people say when the go in, it sure doesn't look like the rest of Massey. Its an old house, something like the old english houses in the small quaint villages in england. Its a real hotspot for small conferences, meetings, parties, and even weddings, so you get the idea when I say its beautiful. I hope.

After we finished setting up the audio stuff, and the visual stuff, me, Iylia and Eugene went to change. 5 minutes later, we were 60's baby!. Iylia and Eugene were transformed with the afro and the rest of their outfit, while I donned the white suit and became the Cabaret ish loung singer type person? Anyways, we got good feedback for our outfits and that made the night more fun.

At 7 PM, the VIP arrived, Pn.Satinah, our Director of the Malaysian Students Department in New Zealand, and that meant all of us had to be seated. 15 minutes later the event officially starts with Lutfi reciting the doa. Imran was next to give his opening speech which was short and sweet and even got stick from us guys when he mentioned Nana too many times in the speech..haha...all good bro. This was followed by a speech from Pn.Satinah. I have to say, she has a way with words, and knows how to include everyone in her speeches. A very good diplomat indeed.

After her speech, the next item on the agenda was the lucky draw. Cmon lucky number 7 !! because it was my ticket number. As usual, my luck on these kind of things never came through. Shortly after everyone settled down, the first slide show made by the multimedia team is next on the agenda. Me and Razif, who had the most input on the first 3 parts of the slide show, went up front, anxious if everyone would enjoy our hard work.

The lights dimmed till the room became dark, and the only light source was the light from the projector projecting our slide show. Lutfi's intro video came on, and everyone was impressed, and laughed at the ending "no budget" crack. Then it was part 1 of the slide show. It went great. Everyone laughed at the parts we thought they would laugh and clapped at the parts that we thought they would clap. Good start. Very satisfying.

Dinner was served next. It was good food. Worth the money we paid, most definitely. Most notable item on the buffet spread was the roast beef. So multiple servings of roast beef. Delicious. Everyone mingled around during dinner time, which lasted round 30 minutes.

After dinner, it was time for John the magician, once again performing to save our asses in these kind of events. As usual, he impressed us and the VIP's with his card tricks and illusions. Everyone was happy and impressed, and that means his tricks were successful once again. Lucky draw time once again. This time I actually won. Haha. Even though I already knew what the prize was, it was still a good feeling to actually win these things once in a while.

The next item on the agenda was fun. It was time to pick the Best Dressed Male and Female of the night. Everyone nominated had to do a short catwalk and I was one of the nominees. After all the nominees did their thang on the catwalk, it was down to Pn. Satinah to pick the winners, and she picked Audrey and Lutfi as the winners, who in my opinion deserved it.

Dessert was served shortly after, and after everyone got their piece of cake and coffee or tea, they settled down for the rest of our videos. The second part of the slide show got good response, but maybe we shouldn't have put in the soccer edition in haha...the girls really didn't get into it. Then it was time for the highlight of the multimedia team, the video we took 2 days to shoot and edit. A video called "Through Imran's Eyes". Enjoy....

Cracks me everytime I watch it. To Kak Yang if you're reading, I can understand a bit of how you feel on shoots. The crowd loved it. Even after the event, people were asking for copies of the videos, especially "Through Imran's Eyes" and Razif even got a request from Wen Li to make a video for the badminton club if i'm not mistaken.

Shortly after, the committee members of 2007 got presented with certificates by Pn. Satinah. and after that, the AGM commenced for the search for the new committee members. First position up for grabs was the Presidency, and right off the bat, I raised my hand to nominate Iylia. He accepted, and left the room. Next, Amy raised her hand, and nominated Eugene , who was in the toilet anyways. Then maybe to my surprise, maybe not, someone at the back nominated me. I went along with the process, and went out as well. They called us back in, and asked us to sell ourselves on why we deserve to be president. Iylia's was short and sweet, he said "I will continue what i'm doing all along, and have fun doing it". I was next, and said "I'm actually a first year student so I don't deserve to be president, there are more deserving people than me" which was true. Eugene had some beauty pageant answer, which i don't remember. So, went out again, and when we went back in, presto poof, Iylia is the new president of MUMSA and deservedly so.

It went on with the vice president position which went to Razif, the Secretary which Eugene retains winning unopposed, and the new treasurer is Sheng, which was my nomintation, and who I feel would do a great job. I got nominated for treasurer too, but again gave a depressing "i don't deserve it speech", because honestly, I like money, but not keeping track of it.

So that's pretty much the end. We stayed back for around 40 minutes to clean up and have photo sessions. The night I became , or was called P.Ramlee had ended on a good note. My bro got the presidency as he should, and our hard work with videos got great response. Maybe I should charge for every copy I make.

For Opah

2007-08-27T22:56:00.000-07:00

When the date 31st of August is mentioned among Malaysians, we automatically know people are talking about our independence day. This year we are celebrating our 50th year of independence from the British. Despite the various discrepancies throughout the years, I am still proud of this achievement and proud to call myself a Malaysian, a fact that is sadly lacking in our youth these days. Anyway, every year, I celebrate 2 occasions on that date, m country's independence, as well as the birth of my grandmother or Opah as I call her.

Puteh binti Abdul Rahman, my Opah will be celebrating her birthday this 31st of August, and being abroad, this is actually the first time I won't be joining her on her birthday. So, I thought to myself, what would be something special that I could do for my Opah, with me being away, and on a tight student budget? Well, an opportunity presented itself 2 weeks ago when one of the committee members of MUMSA sent a mass text to everyone, asking for volunteers. They were looking for 3 guys and 3 girls that were willing to participate in a performance, a dance to be exact for the Unity in Diversity Week held by Massey in 2 weeks time. I was reluctant to join at first, but then it came to me, how special would this be if I dedicated this to Opah. Anyone who knows me personally would know, how unlikely it would be for mr to do these kinds of public performances. So, I volunteered, and the fact that Iylia joined as well cemented the decision. 2 fools on stage would be better than 1 fool on stage I thought.

The day came for our first practice, and after 15 minutes learning the first step of the whole routine, I started having doubts about my dancing career. That relatively simple first move took me a whole practice to get right, added to that people telling me that my body was too stiff.....of course lah stiff...i'm too macho you know.

Few more practices came after that, and I have to tell you, when you get the moves right, a feeling of accomplishment comes over you, and that leads to the whole performance being fun. Each practice, the choreographers add new moves, which seemed impossible to me at first but, as the saying goes, "practice makes perfect".

On the 22nd, we had our full dress rehearsal, and the last practice before the real rehearsal at the venue, which is at the Globe Theater. So all of us dressed, and I have to say, we don't look half bad. Me in "Hang Tuah" red, Iylia in "Hang Lekiu" blue, and Hadi in "Hang Jebat" Yellow all of us with matching "tanjak". The girls looked the part as well, with gold "sanggul" on thier heads, we definitely looked the part. We went through the routine with full costume on, and everything went well. Nothing dropped, and everything was flowing when all the moves were in motion. Feeling satisfied, we waited till the next day for the rehearsal at the Globe Theater.

We were one of the first groups to arrive and that meant we could rehearse early and go back early. The stage was just the right size, and coincided with how we practiced before. Although there were only maybe less than 20 people in the crowd that night at rehearsal, my familiar feeling of nervousness in front of public places came about as usual. Our song came on and we proceeded with the routine. Everything went well I guess, with a couple of mistakes from each of us, all down to nervousness again I suppose. Clare the coordinator asked if we wanted another run, and we said yes. Second run went better, with me being able to give some facial expression, something i did not do in the first run. Second went better, and all of were satisfied but also decided to go back to Massey to have another practice.

The day of the performance came. All of us reached the theater at round 6.30 and again we were the early ones there. We chilled out in the dressing room, they had those mirrors with the light bulbs all round like you see in the movies. At around 7, the coordinator informed us that we were the 12th group to perform. We all moaned, the tension was killing us, and having to sit backstage and wait would be absolute murder for our nerves. So we chilled backstage, watching performance after performance start and end. We only got fully dressed 3 performances before us. We recapped our routine once again in the crammed space of the dressing room. It was getting closer to showtime.

It was now 2 performances before ours and the coordinators signaled us to get into formation at our entry point. Butterflies fluttering in the tummy like it was going to explode. The last performance before us was about to finish. Everyone restless all muttering under their breath all manner of praises to god, praying that nothing too massive gets screwed up. And at last, the last performance before us was over, and the stage was dark once again, the crowd hushed, anticipating the next performance. It was showtime.

"Diciptakan seorang insan...." Siti Nurhaliza's voice came on. That was our song, that was our cue to enter. And we did. The crowd applauded, the loudest coming from the Malaysian's who came to support the team, as well as friends of our dancers. I think a visual representation is needed at this point....

So that was the nights performance. Feedback from the crowd was good, and also the coordinators loved it, maybe they tell all the performers that night the same thing, but it was good to hear nonetheless. We did have one thing that the other performers didn't get that night. The Omani Students Association, who had an opening event for thier Indoor Soccer Tournament the next day, invited us to perform and pay for our services. So we must have done something right that night.

That night was definitely a night to remember, because its probably going to be a long time before I do that again, and also, I achieved my goal to do something special for my Opah this year.

BERSATU 07 : Day 4

2007-07-11T03:25:00.000-07:00

Started the day off later than usual, simply because I am not participating in the day's event, athletics. Still, had to wake up early to take Razif to the medical center again, for another checkup. If you read day 2, he got injured after being tackled by PETUNIA. So, me, Razif, and Iylia were off to the medical center while the others were at the rec center for athletics. We were actually late because of Iylia, and Razif had to reschedule the appointment to 40 minutes later. When we got back to the car, got a phone call from Imran, asking for help. He wanted us to get his football boots from the backapackers, because his running spikes aren't working on the grass track (another organiser doo doo,...grass athletics track? hari sukan skolah rendah ker aper?). So hustled back to the backpackers, got the boots, hustled to the medical center to drop off Razif and Iyllia so that Razif didn't miss another appointment, and to the rec center to send the boots to Imran.

When I got to the rec center, two athletics events were over and we lost both of them. I firmly believe that if we had the proper track, we would have done better. Anyways, 20 minutes later, Razif texted me, and said they were done at the medical center. Went to pick them up, and as soon as Razif got into the car, he said "Haram jadah nyer doctor, pegi second time just nak bagi surat suruh x-ray, bukan nak x-ray kan. Aku bayar 40 dollar untuk tuh jer?". Well, it's to be expected I guess.

Made for the athletics field, in time for the 4 X 200 event. It was probably our weakest line up, but our runners were up for it, and that was what we wanted, the fighting spirit. We actually did not come last in the event, which was good enough for us. The important thing no one gave up, and finished the race.

Next event was the 4 X 400 race. Runners were Imran, Amy, Jace, and Safwan as anchor. We started off great with Imran leaving the opposition behind. and when he got to the turning where MUMSA and of course Nana were sitting, he blew flying kisses and spread his arms out a'la Beckham celebrating a goal....then he turned around to see the opposition closing in, but he still smoked them, and was first to pass off the baton to Amy. Amy, who saw that what a big lead Imran made, probably was over excited, and didn't pace herself. She sprinted from the start, and by the second turning, was down to jogging pace. That dropped us back to 3rd from bottom. By the time the baton was passed to Jace, we were second from bottom. She maintained the position, but when the baton was in Safwan's hands, the leaders were too far ahead. We finished 3rd from bottom, but in front of PETUNIA.

The last event of the day came, and it was the 4 X 100 race. Runners were Jace, Is, Laili, and Imran as anchor. Jace started off the race, and was looking good despite running against mostly men on the first leg. When the baton was passed to Is, he made great ground, and took us to 3rd or fourth, This could be the first medal for MUMSA. Then it was confirmed, it was not our year. When Laili got the baton, started sprinting, but then tripped and fell, and with that trip also went our chance for a medal this year. But kudos to her, she got up, kept running, passed the baton to Imran, who finished the race off dead last. No luck at all.

So that was that for the events. Gathered our stuff and headed home and rested for the closing dinner that night.

Continued BERSATU 07 : Closing Dinner

BERSATU 07 : Day 3

2007-07-09T17:46:00.000-07:00

The third day I was purely a spectator. Events for today were the continuation of Badminton, Volleyball, and the stress free bowling later that night.

Badminton was first, and we cheered the players on. We got a couple of wins, but were not enough to progress to the next level.

For some reason, I have no pictures of the team playing volleyball. We started off well with a win against UMNO. Then made a good effort with eventual finalist UMSA. Lost against PETUNIA, which still had the tension from the football incident, and lost against Otago in the last match. It was a good effort tho, despite our team not having a single spiker, which made the difference. We stayed until the final of volleyball, which Otago ended up winning, in an exciting match that went to sudden death.

Went back to the backpackers, relaxed and went walking around town with the Subang Saint's, Iylia, Ezim and Safwan taking pictures along the way.

At 7.30 PM, got ready for bowling. Convoyed to the bowling alley, and relaxed and watch the bowling team bowl a couple of frames. We didn't too bad, but never expected anything much from bowling. All the contingents were having fun and that is what it is all supposed to be about really.

After bowling all of MUMSA went to a 24 hour place called Denny's, a diner type restaurant for supper. We took pictures at the waiting room while waiting for our table to be ready. Good fun, and good way to end a day, having a meal as a family.

Got back to the backpackers at around 2 AM. Everyone got to bed, to rest up for the last event, Athletics.

Continued BERSATU 07 : Day 4 & Closing

BERSATU 07 : Day 2

2007-07-05T19:21:00.000-07:00

Day 2 events were Football, Badminton, and Squash. Got up, got ready. Made our way to Ilam field laced up our boots and started warming up. Football was actually our best hope for a medal.

Our first test was the home team, CMSA. Their team had Tengkuk, the guy whose name I have heard since I came to New Zealand. He was their star player, and was said to be fast, quick, pacy. He was tall, and was the one to watch. So everyone was ready, and the game started. Right off the bat, I could feel we were controlling the game, with a sturdy defence, and a pacy attack. Tengkuk had a chance down the right, and was coming with pace towards the ball, but I slid and got to the ball before him, with him tumbling down to the ground, hard. I guess, he wasn't all that after all. They say the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

The half ended with no goals scored, and MUMSA controlling the game. In the second half, we had a problem, when Iylia had to go to the rec center for badminton. That left our defence weakened. It showed immediately, when we were the one being attacked. Still we held on, for the draw, and left the home team starting off their football tourney with a draw. We were happy with the result and optimistic for the next match.

PETUNIA was up next. They were a team that we expected to beat, and after the draw in the first match against the home team, we had high hopes for a win. That didn't turn out to be the case though. A minute after the kickoff, Razif had the ball to the right of the field, with his back to the opposition goal. Then a PETUNIA player came running and tackled Razif from behind, caught his ankle, without getting the ball at all. To make matters worst, the PETUNIA player just walked away without a sorry or a hand up. That fueled Imran to confront the player when he ran from the other side of the field. Tension was now high. Razif went off for the half. A few minutes later, the PETUNIA player had the ball just outside my keeper box, and Is came in and tackled him from behind...all I could do was applaud Is for that, couldn't have done it better myself. Anyway, the player got up, and went to confront Imran, and a semi-fight broke out. Another PETUNIA player of a kells nature came running from behind and shouted at Imran "You don't touch my boy ah!" with the accent and everything. When everything cooled down, the free kick that started it all resulted in a goal. 1-0 PETUNIA. It stayed like that until the end of the half.

Despite being injured, Razif came in for the start of the second half, but after another cynical tackle by the same player, he couldn't continue. He was taken to the medical center near the Uni.The match continued, and due to the high tension created, my mind was only set on slide tackling any of the players. PETUNIA had the ball on my right, and was homing in on goal. Wanting to slide tackle him, I went out of position, but the player had a cool head, and passed across to his team mate, who had an open goal waiting for him. All that and I didn't get to slide tackle anybody. The game ended with a 2-0 loss, and also we had two players injured. Jahatnyer PETUNIA.

When Razif got back from the medical center, he was not the Razif we knew. He's the kind of guy that very rarely swears. But after that incident, it was swearing 24/7. It was "Anak Haram Jadah punyer PETUNIA", "PETUNIA memang shit","Jahatnyer PETUNIA". I know it doesn't seem like very harsh swearing, but coming from Razif, it was.

Morale was down, our star player, and probably the only player capable of scoring for us is now injured. We went through the two remaining matches with a loss and a draw. The last match was fun though, because both teams had already no chance of qualifying. So we ended the day, with 2 draws and 2 losses with no goals scored. It was a shame because, we were ranked top to challenge for a medal by the home team. They even joked, why didn't Razif get injured for the match against them. Oh well, we'll get em next year.

We made for the rec center after, and picked up the badminton players. We came up short on badminton and squash as well.

Continued BERSATU 07: Day 3

BERSATU 07 : Day 1

2007-07-05T18:10:00.000-07:00

The day began early for me and Razif. as we were appointed drivers for the morning, and had to send the girls to thier netball venue Villa Maria College an hour earlier than the game time, because Elun wanted to warm up before thier match started. So at 8 AM, sent the girls to Villa Maria, wished them luck, and returned to X-Base to pick up the rest for our Takraw and Basketball at the University Rec Center. Reached the rec center, parked, got out...and just when I wanted to lock the car, Hafezz came running, "Shah ! Jom, drive aku balik X-Base, aku tertinggal tag". I obliged, and rushed back to the backpackers, he ran up, then came back down cursing himself. Turned out it was in his jacket pocket all along. I didn't know if I wanted to laugh or smack him. Haha. So, back to the rec center, parked, and went to the takraw court (which was the badminton court, with a circle in the middle made with tape).

I got ready, and kicked around the takraw ball with the boys. A few minutes later. the match started. Ezim, Hafezz and Is played first, with me and Razif as subs. I have never played takraw before, and registered because no one else wanted to. I ended up not playing takraw at all that day because we actually had a chance to win and I wasn't ready to botch that up. So first match was against PETUNIA. Cute name huh? but they ended up being one of the most trash talking, annoying contingent of all throughout the games. Anyway, MUMSA ended up winning the match in a rubber set, which was actually the first team event win for MUMSA ever. Meanwhile, our were next in line for Basketball next door in the basketball court. We were going to have clashes between the two sports starting next game.

First basketball match was against PETSOC, who were favourites coming into the games, as they had a star player from last years game, and a new star player who Hafezz says was the MVP in MCKK for basketball. So our chances was thin to none, and PETSOC didn't dissapoint. They murdered us 37-0, and later it was known that was a record score. It didn't help that Hafezz, our only hope had to leave for the takraw match. Next takraw match was against WMSO, which we lost 2-0. Then came the next basketball game, against WMSO as well. We did a wee bit better, at least scoring, and we celebrated like we won when Ezim, shot a three pointer. Hhahahah....the crowd went wild, we went wild, we lost, but at least we lost with style. Then back to takraw, for the match against Otago. It was a good match. Went into a rubber set, but lost in the end. Then back to basketball against UMSA, the team from Auckland. They meant business. We put in Elun in, because apart from Hafezz, she was our best shooter. So we were on our way to getting trashed again, when just before the half time buzzer, Safwan had the ball at half court. and Hafezz said to him "shoot jer", and he did...the ball went up, went down, and into the basket, swish.....the crowd went wiiilllldd!!.. including me. Celebrated like we won the tounament. Hahahah. MUMSA oh MUMSA, gaya mesti ader. Nearing the end of the second half, Elun scored as well, resulting in the crowd going wild as well, as the only girl to score a basket in the tournament. The match ended in a landslide win again. But we certainly will be the team people remember.

So that was the end of day 1. We lost all events, but made a record by winning our first team match, and providing entertainment on the basketball court.

Continued BERSATU 07 : Day 2

BERSATU 07 : Opening Day

2007-07-05T03:25:00.000-07:00

"Hello, Kia Ora and Salam Sejahtera", that was what the chairman of the 2007 BERSATU Games started off with when he gave his speech during the opening ceremony held at the University of Canterbury events center.

The BERSATU Games is an annual sporting event organised by the Malaysian Students Department in New Zealand. This year, the event was held in Christchurch, and organised by the collaborating team of Canterbury Malaysian Students Association (CMSA), Petronas Students Organisation of Canterbury (PETSOC), Lincoln Malaysian Students Society (LMSS), and UMNO Christchurch. Having prepared for the games for over a month, I was definitely looking forward to the trip, and the games.

The journey to the Bersatu Games held in Christchurch began with a 2 hour bus trip down to Wellington. The bus which was an hour late, meant we had to wait under the drizzling rain for an hour, finally came and we boarded a little annoyed for the delay despite the bus driver expressing his deepeest apologies. Arrived in Wellington at around 12 AM. Walked for 20 minutes to Nana's apartment which was where we were docking ourselves until our flight which departs at 6.50 AM. All were hungry so after storing our stuff, we set out through the streets of Wellington in search of food. Wellington is most definitely more alive than Palmy at 1 o'clock in the morning, with the streets still lit up, cafe's still operating, and clubs still alive and kicking.

We walked 10 minutes in one direction, towards a restaurant called Satay Kajang, but was dissapointed when we found it closed. Walked back in the other direction and settled for a kebab place callled " Abra-KEBAB-ra". We ordered, ate, and set out for coffee. Walked in another direction for 10 minutes, and stopped at a place called "Coffee's & Tea's" or was it the other way round?. So, ordered, drank and went back to the apartment. Got maybe 2 hours of rest, when Imran turned on the light, and told us to get ready. Took a shuttle to the airport. checked in, boarded, and off we went to Christchurch.

Flight lasted 40 minutes, which meant the only refreshment the flight crew gave us were fruit flavoured sweets. Touched down in Christchurch expecting it to be cold, colder than Palmy. Got our bags and had to wait at the airport fo around an hour for Imran to collect the rental car in town, and also to wait for Safwan, whose fight arrived 30 minutes after ours. Headed out of the airport and into town and towards X-Base Backpackers, which was where we would be staying for the games. Staring out the car window, I felt a sense of coziness in that city that I did not feel when I was in Wellington or Auckland. It had a certain historical feel to it. Anyways, reached X-Base round 9 AM, which meant we were early. Registration was at 10 AM, so having an hour to kill, parked the car and went into the cafe across the backpackers to get breakfast.

Registered with the organisers and got our room keys. I was in a six to a room room, and had bunk beds. I stashed my stuff on the top bunk and settled in. At round 2 PM, went out and got the other 2 rental cars. Driving in Christchurch was pleasant, unlike Wellington or Auckland. The parks in Christchurch were huge, there were even multiple netball courts on the park which I have not seen before. Usually you see multiple basketball courts, but being New Zealand, they would have to accomodate I guess. Got back to the backpackers at round 3.30 PM, and a bunch of us decided to walk round town before the opening ceremony.

After a quick stop at Starbucks, went back to the backpackers, and waited for everyone to get ready. At round 5.30 we were off to the University of Canterbury events hall. The trip took 15 minutes from the backpackers, and the venues of the games would also be around the university area. Upon arriving, we all waited in front of the hall, and went in together. We were greeted by the organizers and were allocated seats to the right of the stage. There were probably over 200 people in the hall, consisted of athletes, supporters and the organisers. Waited for 20 minutes for everyone to settle down, when the MC's started off the ceremony.

The event started with bacaan doa, then the singing of our national anthem, "Negaraku". Singing Negaraku overseas was a good feeling, and having 200 over people doing the same was even better. The chairperson of the event was next, and he started off with "Hello, Kia Ora and Salam Sejahtera". His speech was brief, and included the welcomes and thank yous and good lucks. Next was the VIP speech which was unsurprisingly boring but ended with "I now declare the BERSATU Games 2007, open". Then came the time for the "Roll Call". They put on a video, and when the contingent name came up on the screen, we were supposed to chant or have a war cry. Being the unprepared contigent that we were, we jumbled up a chant right there and then. We thought of a "300" style war cry, but then changed it to.."MUMSA !!!....FUIYOOO!!!" and Hadi was supposed to shout "Celah maneee". So the video was played, and the first contingent name came up, and a 300 style war cry was heard, then the next contingent....another 300 style war cry. Good thing we changed it. Then our name came up, "The White Masses" and we did our thing. After all the roll calls were done, The MC's announced that the ceremony had come to an end, which was a welcome thing for everyone, as it would be an early day the next day. Waited for El Presidente and our sports officer Razif to have thier meeting and while waiting, had our supper provided by the organizers. Went back to the backpackers, and went to sleep.

Continued BERSATU 07: Day 1

Update

2007-04-24T20:11:00.000-07:00

Have not updated this blog as much as I would like. It all comes down to laziness I suppose, and the fact that not much relevant stuff to write about....until now that is.

So, since the last post

1. Dato' Seri Ong Ka ting visited Palmy. Our Housing and Development minister is in Pamy for a conference, and has taken time to meet with the Malaysian students. Held the meeting at his hotel Rydges, and talked about his visit, and other stuff in an informal fashion. Very nice guy.

2. I am now the member of Massey Masochists Social Soccer team. I have no idea what Masochists meant, and after I searched the dictionary, the meaning made me laugh. It kind of means "like to dish out pain and punishment" which is okay, if we actually do that to the other team. Instead the other team always trashes us. But, am glad to have the weekly training and match.

3. Classes have started and ended for Easter Break + Mid Semester break. Classes are fine I suppose, with my Business Law subject being the least favourite, not because of the subject itself but more to the draggy nature of the lectures. Two assignments have been submitted and have been marked an collected, and both I must say, I got better marks than expected. Hurrah for me. One test done, and that as well went well despite the late, late revision.

4. We have 2 weeks of Easter Break holidays. The first week was spent by playing football in the hallways of Walter Dyer Hall. As only a handful of people staying in the halls during easter, no one to complain.

5. The monday of the second week of Easter Holidays, Me, Iylia, Imran and Nana headed off on a road trip to Rotorua. We departed from Palmy at around 9 AM and spent three and half hours on the road to reach Taupo. The bread and butter of this country, thier scenic views, did not dissapoint. Rolling hills, snow topped mountains, farmlands, huge lakes that look like the sea but is not. Yeah, definitely beautiful. So reached Taupo for a Loo stop. They had a public restroom called Super Loo. They had a reception area, and to enter the toilet, you need to put in coins and go through a turnstyle thing, the one they have at the entrance of amusement park rides. And yes, the toilet was clean.

Continued one and a half hours on the road to reach Rotorua. Upon arrival, we headed for Rotorua's i-Site. Each town/city in New Zealand has an i-Site. An i-site is the place where people go to find info on the town/city, the attractions and accomodation options. You can book, and pay for accomodation at the i-site, which I think is very effecient. We booked the accomodation, and paid for the Sky Gondola ride up as well as the luge which I will explain in a bit.

Left the i-site, and headed for our accomodation. We chose a backpackers called Treks Backpackers. Here, there are backpackers, motor lodges, motels, and hotels. So yes, backpackers are usually the cheapest. Its like a dorm like accomodation where there are common rooms, and communal bathrooms. It sounds dodgy, but the one we picked was really nice. We settled payment, and dumped our stuff and off to the sky gondola.

The Sky Gondola Station was 15 minutes from our backpackers. Reached there and proceeded to line up to board the gondola. Usually, upon stepping inside the gondola, a photographer would snap a group photo and you will have an option to purchase the pictures when you get back down. In our case, and only us, when we stepped in the gondola, a member of thier staff hitched a ride, and because of that, we did not get our picture taken which was quite frustrating. Therefore, we also did not snap pictures on the way up due the awkwardness of us + the staff.

We reached the top and made our way towards the luge. A luge is a go kart sized contraption, where it uses the downhill slope to move.

So as you can see, to luge, we have to control the handle bars so that you don't pull it all the way back, or let go. Pulling it all the way back will cause it to stop, and letting go of the handle bars would cause it to stop. Basically its maintaining the handle bars in a middle position. I'm not actually one to explain, as I got trashed by them when we raced down, 3rd twice and dead last three times. When we get to the bottom, we ride the chairlift back up to the starting position..

Towards the end of the 4th luge, It rained so, the last race was a wet race, which was fun but also made the luge faster and control of it less. I crashed on the barrier near the end but it was all good. No injuries.

We headed back down with the gondola, this time it was just us and snapped pictures

Reached the bottom, and headed straight for the car. We went looking for the Agrodome, which was a place with more attractions. One of them was the Zorb, which if you don't know is the big plastic ball rolling down the hill. Nana wanted to zorb, so we rushed to find the place as it was already 5 and there was a possibility it was already closed. And it was. When we arrived, the guy said the current ball rolling down was the last ride. So, we headed back towards town.

On the way back, about 5 minutes before reaching our backpackers, we stopped at the thermal park. Thermal pools are all over Rotorua. We learned this in geography, Datin Josephine pernah ajar. The thermal pools smells like fart. Its the sulfur. Anyone in Pn.Rogayah's chem class would know the smell. If i'm wrong and its not sulfur, I actually barely passed chem in school, so forgive me...

Headed back to the backpackers to relax and get ready for dinner. Showered and put jeans in dryer as each of us brought only one pair of pants. Waited for pants to dry, and headed off into town to get food. All of us agreed on Pizza. After Pizza, we cruised around town, stopped at Pak n Save for ice cream, and headed back to Treks. Settled in and relaxed. The best thing about backpackers is that there are usually hot women around, and they're foriegners who actually backpack through New Zealand. Slept to recuperate for tommorows activities.

Had to check out at 10.30 so everyone got ready. After checking out, headed straight to the Zorb place. Imran and Nana zorbed. It looks fun, but I was saving my money for something else that day. After they Zorbed, we headed back to town and snapped our last picture in Rotorua

On the road again, for 1 and a half hours, back to Taupo. I think it was me who suggested it, Imran obliged, and Iylia was threatened when Nana said who did not go through with it was a chicken and a girl. What is this feat we are doing. Bungy people. Yes bungy. Jumping off the edge and free falling 154 ft down the face of a cliff, dipped half way into the Wanganui river below. After parking, we went near the edge to see how far was the drop. I must admit, I had second thoughts about this despite being the hero who wanted to do this in the first place. The three of us looked at each other faces unsure, and heard another guy jump, scream echoing all around. Then I psyched myself and the guys up and proceeded to the office. Paid the guy, and braced ourselves.

The three of us walked towards the jumping platform, and I went through the barrier first. Then the guy closed the barrier. Told me to sit down and he proceeded by setting up the bungy cords. I think what happens next should be interpreted with a video

Wohoooo!...yes that was liberating stuff people. I highly recommend bungy jumping. Makes you feel alive. Hahha...

After the jump, settled down, and on the road again. Stopped at a Subway for dinner, and drove non-stop back to Palmy. Great Trip.

6. Classes started, and assignments are due within these 2 weeks. 2 tests coming up.

And thats it for now. Will update when anything exciting happens.

Tremors from Sumatra

2007-03-06T23:35:00.000-08:00

This update comes after 2 weeks after the last. Over the weeks, the events worth mentioning are

1. The day I played senior and greeted the new Malaysian students to Massey University as if i've been here more than 3 days. Macam bagus jer...hehe

2. The trip to Wellington, which took one and a half hours from Palmerston North. Went to the Student attache's house first to meet her, and other new students this year. Proceeded to the city which I have to say, is more happening than Palmerston North. Beautiful waterfronts, high rises, and San Francisco type streets. Memang bandar habesh ah...

3. The trip back from Wellington, I had to drive. The trip to Wellington we had three cars, but the trip back, the car of the ambassador was not making the trip back. So we had to rent an extra car. On the 4th day in New Zealand, I drove long distance.

4. The Hall meeting was held in Monroe Dining Hall, which is approximately 50 steps from my hall. Had some activities including a general knnowledge quiz. Yeah, general knowledge my ass. To answer the questions, you had to be

a kiwi
rugby fan
an american

You guessed it, the questions were about new zealand, rugby and American football. I contributed towards one question I thought I knew. It was "what was the longest and biggest reptile in the world?" I can bet that most of us would say The Anaconda Snake right? I've seen those fuckers on TV, not referring to the movie of course, but the real thing, and they big. But I was wrong, it wasn't the Anaconda. Try Googling the answer people.

5. The clubs and socs day. Lots of tables set up on the main concourse, where all the Uni clubs promote thier clubs and activities. I first went straight for MUMSA, the Massey University Malaysian Students Association. Met up with familiar faces, and even helped them sign up a couple of newbies. Non-Malaysians signed up as well, which was funny to me, coz I knew the main agenda of the club, which was to recognise the Malaysian contingent at Massey. Also signed up for the Massey Soccer Club. Thinking of trying out for the team, but gotta go to town and find some cheap boots first.

6. Signing up for the gym. The recreation centre offers gym services. It's 70 NZD for the whole year, which was really a bargain, because I paid that amount monthly when I went to Fitness First.

7. Crazy Sports day. The battle of the Halls. Despite having the biggest hall this year, only a handful of the "Walter Dyer Warriors" went down to the Oval that day. We came down that hill, and saw that we were really unprepared. Other halls had face paint, whistles , hats etc...and they had already thought up thier cool chants before hand, while we the Warriors, just had our banner. We won the first game, and lost the second, and drew the third. The fourth was the most fun. The slippery slide. They layed plastic covering on the side of the hill, watered and soaped it, and presto, they had a slippery slide. The objective was, that one team had to run up the hill with a cup, fill it with water, and slide down to fill the water in the bucket...while the opposing team, had to throw sponges at the runner to make him fall, or make him drop the cup. We won beacuse the other team cheated. But the best part was when everybody jumped on the slide, 20-30 people sliding round. Mucho Fun...

Then we had the chant and danceoff which was fun. Ours wasn't the worst, but the eventual winners were really good.

And the latest event worth mentioning, I experienced my first earthquake ever. The day before, my sister and brother had infomed me that they felt a eatrhquake back home. Nothing major, but they still felt it. They said sumatera suffered a new eartquake. Anyways, I was sitting in my room watching a movie, with my headphones on. Suddenly I felt my chair move. I immediately turned round to expect Iylia shaking my chair. But no one was there, and I remembered the eartquake in Sumatera, and concluded it was an eartquake I was experiencing. I verified it when I immediately buzzed a friend here in the Uni, and he said he felt the tremors too. Good thing, because, I thought I was getting a major headache or something.

So yeah, A brief summary of the last 2 weeks here in Palmy.

Oh yeah, classes have started too...hehe

The Arrival

2007-02-22T02:26:00.000-08:00

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, on the 15th of February 2007, Shah Baharuddin has officially touched down at Auckland International Airport. The captain of the flight, gives us the standard info, local time and temperature, which was 21 degrees celcius. In my head, that was quite hot, but then again, it was still summer in New Zealand.

When we got off the plane, we went straight towards immigration, for which already had a long queue. Standing in line, I looked around, and saw a handful of Malaysians queuing up as well. I shared this info with Iylia, who told me, none of them are going to Palmy (short for Palmerston North), which is kind of a good thing as it gives me more reason to mix with students other than Malaysians. So we got pass the immigration officer, who I have to tell you, would not cut it if he was working in another country as an immigration officer, because, he was too polite and nice, all the officers were. I can definitely say, that friendliness really comes naturally to them. Waited at the baggage claim to obviously claim our bags. We needed to be quick, and get to the Domestic terminal, as our flight was only 2 hours away. Got our bags, and went through the "nothing to declare" lane. So far so good.

Got to the domestic flight in time, and checked in our bags again for the trip to palmy. Our aircraft this time was a small airplane, of maybe 25 passengers, but nonetheless, the flight was smooth. The stewerdess didn't look have bad as well.

Arrived in Palmerston North Airport at 5.00 PM. When we entered the airport, our transport was already there. They were Ezim (Iylia's cousin) and Caroline, (Iylia's friend). We got our bags, and got into the car. When we left the airport, I had my own perceptions of what Palmerston North would look like. The three of them, sarcastically implied how boring the place is. To me, Palmy surpassed my expectations. I honestly thought that Palmy was a "pekan Koboi" and there were only 2 places to shop for everything. When they drove me around (yes it was a short drive round) I saw supermarkets, loads of different restaurants, shopping complexes, McDonalds, Burger King.....in short I honestly didn't expect much.

So we arrived in Massey University, which was 5 minutes drive from town. First impression was that I liked it. It felt right to me, the trees and buildings. Alhamdullillah, finally I get to experience a real university campus. We drove on, to the hall I would be staying in. Its called Walter Dyer Hall, which was just up the hill from the main campus. I used the electronic device for releasing the lock on the main door of the Hall for the first time, my thoughts at that point were "Giler Cool Sial !!". I climed the the stairs to the first floor, and searched for my room number. 1.11 was the second last room at the end of the hall. I put the keys in, and unlocked the door. Went in, and there it was. My room for the next year. It was an alright room. It's almost like my room at home, except without attaching toilet, so I was comfortable enough. Dumped the bags, and left for town to get Dinner. After Dinner, went walking a bit, into Downtown, which was what Ezim says the "OU" of Palmy. Hahah. The cinema was there, so definitely a future hangout place. Went to pack n save after that, which was one of the lowest priced supermarkets. Bought bread and nutellla for breakfast. Off to the hall again, and settled in for the night.

The almost standard Test post

2006-08-22T20:46:00.000-07:00

This is a test post, the post that almost every new blog created has. Well, this is my studying overseas blog. Its for the friends and cousins who bother to read. haha. But yeah its just like a daily or weekly post of whats happening with me in the land of Sheep. Not yet though, coz its only going to be active in February, coz thats when i'll be going, Insyallah. So , thanks in advance for future reading.