Deserted...

Wow.. Aimi was right in her blog Kindly Unspoken.. It does feel a bit lonely here....

Hello!!!...

*cricket.. cricket.. cricket..*

It's so quiet. Whatever it is, I'd like to wish everyone a Selamat Hari Raya!! I hope everyone has a great holiday. That's what I've been trying to do since I got back. *While reading Sons and Lovers*

One More Day To Go...

This has been a very tiring week like many other weeks. This week is a bit special because of the tests the I had to prepare for. This week I've taken the research test and Arabic test. Tomorrow will be the hardest of all, methodology of teaching reading.

My lecturer gave such superficial hints of what topics would be tested. There is just so much to read.

I sure can't way wait until I get to go home to Kuantan and meet my family. I haven't seen them since the mid-term and that was only for a day.

So many unfortunate events had taken place in the last 24 hours. After the bad news from my brother, I heard that a Hana Dielle's car was stolen and Ikram's house was broken into. After that, I heard Syahirah was robbed and later that night, my housemate was robbed too.

Shah Alam is a very dark and dangerous place. We have criminals wherever we go. Even the faculty isn't safe. What are the police doing? Well I don't know. I can't say that they're not doing their jobs. Maybe they're not doing their jobs good enough.

Hafriz, it's time to put on your Batsuit once again. Only you can save the people of Shah Alam from the criminals out there.

Freaking Hell!

*This isn't what I originally typed.. I just don't think I could express such anger here.. So I'll give you this instead.. No relation with the title..*

This afternoon, I received a phone call that left me feeling like I had a boulder on my head. My brother called, told me some rather disturbing news.

"Along, we were robbed *at kg in Melaka*" He said. "They tied us up, held a knife to us."

That's when I felt the boulder. Crushing down my spine. "Is everone ok?" I asked.

"Yeah. They dragged me by the hair when I was sleeping, all the way to the living room. They dragged atok and wan *she's already unable to walk by the way* too."

As he said that, I felt the boulder turning into ice, shivers went down my spine.

"Was Kakak *my lil sis* there??" i rushed in.

"Luckily no. She's still at campus"

"Allah. That's good." Gasping for air. "If she was there.."

"I know. They wouldn't have left her alone. It's a good thing she wasn't there. They took everything though. My phones, my laptop, the tv, all electronics."

I listened feeling helpless.

"All my assignments, gone. Final projects gone too. I'm gonna fail many courses this sem along."

...

No one was harmed. There is no exaggeration to this story. This was exactly what he said, how he said it, and how I felt.

Prof.!!

You've got to love the Prof. He really makes my day warm and sunny. He gives the best of news so that people would smile all day long.

Thank you Prof., for making the world a much happier place to live in.

Peaking Frustration..

Yesterday was the closing ceremony for EIF (English is Fun). Hafriz, Firhan and I were involved as the facilitators. Everything started off ok. The bus took of at around 8.30 in the morning and the program started at around 11.

Before the ceremony started, there were a few things that need to be done. I forgot to mention, Firhan and I were the MCs for that ceremony. Even though our job was only to host the program, we helped out with a lot of other stuff too.

What frustrates me is that there some of the Jrs who had nothing to do and yet did nothing. Everyone knew that to get certificates, you must come for the closing ceremony. It seems like these dim witted nuts just came for the sake of showing up.

Another thing that upsets me is that these Jrs, both boys and girls, were very kureng ajo. The EIF program was made for children from preschool and primary schools. The faci's were to set an example. I guess to them it means hanging loitering around, mixing freely with boys and girls. I guess it's the best example to set for the kids, to be dating, sitting together like there's no tomorrow, during Ramadhan.

Mdm Shiha had already told them not to do it last week. They need to suppress their hormones while around the kids. But I guess they have more raging homones then a elephant. Even dogs are more decent. And that's not all, at the end of the ceremony, the kid were to 'salam' the faci's. The boys with the abangs and the girls with the kakaks. But why do the abangs go after the girls like packs of drooling wolves and asking them to salam? We have a bunch of pidos for Jrs.

If they didn't split that early yesterday, I'd give them a taste of my famous homemade shoe-in-the-mouth.

Majlis Berbuka Puasa With The PMM..

This evening, Firhan, Niza, Hafriz and I went to seksyen 13 to attend a Majlis Berbuke Puasa by the Pertubuhan Mawaddah Malaysia. It was a whole new experience.

Have you had your eyes opened? *No.. Not literally, figuratively speaking.. Freaks..*. After Terawih, the Ustaz gave a tazkirah about being Model Remaja Sejati. He elaborated 3 points which I no longer remember exactly.

The Ustaz stressed on the Quran. Let the Quran be the core of one's self. Allah SWT has blessed the human race with the Quran as a guideline in their lives. We must keep our hearts close to the Quran. We must not only read the Quran, but we must also understand and practice it.

As Muslims, we must know Islam. We must have enough knowledge of Islam so that we are able to speak of Islam with flaring confidence.

He stressed that remaja are the only hope of preserving Islam in the future because the future leaders are the remaja today. If we do not have a strong foundation of Islam now, Islam will fall in the future.

The responsibility of acquiring the knowledge of Islam should not only rest on the shoulders of our Ustazs' but on the shoulders of Professional Architects, Engineers, Teachers, Scientists and so on. We should not just be a normal teacher, but an extraordinary teacher who knows Islam from A to Z.

The Ustaz says that the Quran is the main source of The Muslim's strength. The Jews know it. They're currently trying to manipulate it. If not for it being a Mukjizat, the Quran would have been lost to us forever.

I've learned a lot. Sometimes I fear that I'm wasting to much time in this world on this that would be of no use to me in the day of judgment.

I'm Confused..

I come from a world where people encourage the good and discourage the bad. Here, it seems that the people have a different perception about what's right and what's wrong. I see people here encouraging the bad things.

This just confuses me. Why do the people here encourage things that are clearly wrong?

Is it just me? Or are the people here confused? Maybe I'm the one who's confused? Should I be encouraging these things too?

I Know That You Know..

I know
that you know
what they know
because they know
what he knows,
because you told him
what I know
about what you told me you know about me.

Moral of the story here, if you're asked to keep secrets, keep it well. Eventually the person will find out that you told someone else.

Guilty Pleasure..

I feel like floating,
floating in the clouds,
i feel so calm and happy,
but at the same time,
covered in mud,
dirty and sinned.

Away From Home, At Home..

(I came across this picture on Flickr)

As soon as I saw this picture, I got so excited. It's the neighborhood that my family and I used to live in the USA.

Initially, I was looking for pictures of State College, Pennsylvania. I wanted to see the familiar streets there. Then I had this idea of looking for picture of the house and this is the closest I could get. We used to live in 1 of the houses on the hill there, the 1 furthest away. You could barely see it though.

I really miss that house and America for that matter. If any of you get a chance to further your studies overseas, don't hesitate. It's a whole new experience. I had the most exciting experience of my life there. I hope one day I'll be able to go back.

Dragonball, In Good Hands?

These are some pictures I've found on the internet. Some of you may have already seen it, but to DBZ fans out there who haven't, prepare yourselves for this.

URLs For Creative Writing Blog..

To everyone who's in Creative Writing Group U5C,
Please leave a comment with your full names and URLs as soon as possible.

There were some complications that lead to the loss of all your URLs given before.

Thanks!

Little City..

So far, Niza is the only true Honda fan that I know. It's his favorite make of cars. This picture is the new Honda City. It was just released in Thailand and will soon be seen on the roads of Malaysia.

I'm not writing a thorough review on the new City. I'm just going to highlight some of the exterior design features. This hasn't yet been review by any mags, so we'll have to wait for that.

Let's start from the front grill; the front grill looks like it was inspired by the front grill of the bigger New Honda Accord which was released earlier in the year. The fog lights at the bottom of the bumper is also taken from the Accord.

(The American Accord and Civic are a bit different from ours if you look closely)

Now look at the front head lamps, it's very similar to the US Honda Civics front head lamps. Another part of the car that was inspired by the Civic is the back doors.

For the rear design, the shape closely resembles the Civic's. The rear lamps reminds me of the previous Vios. Doesn't it?

Well that's it for now. When cars of the same make have similar designs, it's not right to say that they're copying each other. Every car company has a design concept that each model of the make takes on. It's most obvious in more prestigious brands like the Beamer or the Merc.

Boxed Lamb..

I love lamb chop. I prefer lamb chop over chicken chop and steak any day. I love the scent and aroma that lambs have. It taste totally different from beef or chicken meat.

This morning for sahor, I had this very hot crispy juicy thick lamb burger. It tasted so natural. Not like those Ramly burgers that taste nothing like real chicken and beef.

*Dang.. My phone can't connect to the pc.. No pics yet..*

Occupied Free Time.. (No relation to post)

Alhamdulillah, the first week of Ramadhan went by ever so smoothly and almost unnoticed. For those who aren't fully utilizing their time with amal, each day might feel like a life time. But for those who occupied themselves with amal ibadah, it feels like a second.

Let's all reflect on ourselves.. Let this month be a point of change for each of us..

SUVs For The Royal Oinkiness..

I'm currently under a lot of pressure and the only thing that relieves me of my tension are cars. The Royal Oinkiness told me that he was in love with a certain car. So I thought I'd write a review on that car.

The BMW X6

At first glance, one might have difficulty classifying the type of car the X6 actually is because of it's slick sharp and sporty design. The X6 is in fact an SUV, a sporty one at that. Autocar UK classified it as a coupe SUV. Usually only 2 door sports cars are categorized as coupes. That means this is no ordinary SUV, it a sport SUV. BMW calls it a sports activity coupe.

(The front is based on the current X5, the rear is gorgeous, notice the exhaust pipes embedded in the bumper)

In terms of design, it's obvious that the X6 was made to look sporty and be sporty. The shape of the body was design for speed. All of the curves you see has its function in fighting through wind. The roof is designed to slope downward towards the end for better airflow. The wheel arches are massive and it's especially designed to fit chunkier wheels for better grip and handling.

The interior is much similar to the X5. You get the same dashboard and a similar steering wheel with all the typical functional BMW gadgets. Being a BMW, it's built quality is top notch. I've never been in one, but that's what you'll get from a BMW. The space however is not so practical. It's definitely no a family car since there are only 4 seats unlike the 7 seater X5. If Tajul were to sit in the rear seats, he wouldn't last long because of the low roof. I on the other hand wouldn't have any problem. *Feels good to be portable.. HEHE*

In terms of practicality, like I've mentioned earlier, its not so much of a passenger car. There is definite not enough head room at the back for people like the Royal Oinkiness. Despite that, it's still large on the rode. You might find yourself living in a 'yo mama' joke. *Yo mama's so fat, when she bends over, we miss 2 days of sunlight..*. Another downside is that, despite it's 4-whee-drive, it's no Hummer. Off the tarmack, it's as good as dead.

Performance-wise, it comes in a variety of specs *Very the BMW..*. You can get one with up to 407Bhp. That's quite a lot. Some Feraris only have 400Bhp. It's a really fast SUV. In terms of driving capabilities, this SUV can really drive. It's 4-wheel-drive lets you tackle sharp corners easily and neatly with few understeer or oversteer.

I'm sure everyone is familiar with the much earlier BMW X5 and it's little brother the X3. These models have been around for quite some time and had gone through some face-lifts. I'm sure Tajul would be interested in these as well.

(The one on the left is the older model, the new face-lifted X5 is on the right)



(The X3 to me is one of the ugliest SUVs ever)

BMW is a very prestigious brand. Prices are way beyond what most of us could afford. Here are some alternatives.

(The Nissan X-trail: Not the prettiest, but one of the best off-roader here)
(The Honda CRV: For looks, this may be the one for you)
(Toyota: Another good looker with some off-road capabilities)

Temporarily Forever..

This week has been a nonstop catching up week for me. I'm am so relieved that the weekend has finally arrived. The weekend is like my final destination and the whole week has been like a long drive through the dangerous rural rodes of Malaysia.

I think the same can be said about everyone else this week. I see some of my housemates struggling to catch up with all the deadlines for submissions and covering all the chapters for tests. Even the carefree-game-addict buffalo was showing some tension. But the games still went on. *I'm amazed!*

I'm pretty sure everyone misses the mid-semester break. One whole week to catch up with all the assignments and reading. One week was enough to finish up everything and get ourselves up-to-date.

Doing assignments last minute for me really sucks the quality out of assignments. The same goes to studying for tests. Even though some may say that studying can only be done under pressure *This doesn't apply to everyone..*. The amount of information that we manage to cram into our jelly little brains is limited.

It has been a very bumpy ride this week in a really crammed up car, possibly a Kancil. No matter how hard you accelerate, you'll always be left behind.

Fast At Ease..

The 1st day of Ramadhan passed very quickly. It almost went by unnoticed. It was a merry sahor at our house this morning with all the animals awake. It's a good thing there's no full moon or Scruffy would be howling at it and miss sahor.

We all ate the simplest food and cooking possible like burgers, hot franks, rolls and oats. Even the Horny Goat turned omnivore for sahor.

After sahor and subuh prayer, everyone went to bed except for the tech-attached Buffalo who got his face stuck on the LCD screen and myself who was doing something else.

I didn't stay home today. This morning I had a meeting with Pipah Ipen and Firhan and En. Faiez to discuss about tomorrow Tadarus Al-Quran.

Later, Firhan and I, joined by Tajul, met up with Moja and Chip to buy the Qurans, 20 of them. We also needed to by Al-Mathurat and Rehals, also 20 each.

That was settled with nicely and we all went home. Firhan had to got back to Klang to finish up moving.

Later at home, I had to finish up translating a friends thesis, which I needed to redo because the almost-completed-one was corrupted *same thing that happened to Duang.. just my luck!*, which also needs to be submitted this Thursday.

Drifting off a bit there. Buke was merrier than sahor. Some of us cooked and some paid a visit to the bazar. We formed a nice enough circle and buke together. We even shared food and cooking. This was a nice first day of Ramadhan.

Whoever prays Tarawih on the 2nd night of Ramadhan will be cleansed of their sins and their parents *yang beriman..* will also be cleansed of sin as well.