Thursday, July 28, 2011

Closure

All that I can think of right now is a closure. 

Why do I need a closure? I don’t know. So my life could be much easier? Maybe. So my life could be less complicated? Definitely. 

A closure means I’m going to cut all the connections with all the people involved. Family is the only exception.

Let’s talk about the phases of my life.  

So far I have gone through 5 phases.

Up until I turn 12, it’s a phase of my lonely childhood. I have few friends but no close friends. I could barely remember their names right now but I had one crush, whose initial is S. I went through kindergarten, primary school and secondary school with him i.e being his classmate for 12 years.



When I was 13, it was a one year of hell. Literally. 2 words to describe, boarding school. I was about to go crazy but I did managed to pull myself out from the misery when I finally decided to change school. Even until now, I still think it was a wise decision. 



The third phase is the 4 years I spent in my secondary school. The first 3 years mostly revolved around a person whose initial is F. The final year in secondary school was a blast. It’s a senior year! What else I can say about it? A person whose initial is E involved heavily and I still carry the memory of this person until the 5th phase of my life. E is no one special but always going to be the highlight of my senior year. 



The fourth phase is the 2 years I spent doing my Foundation. It was real crazy as mostly it was full of distractions other than studying. Involved in so many things I don’t want to be involved in but they just happened. I believe there are reasons behind all those things. I was lost... I was stuck somewhere... I couldn't find myself... I was on the verge of giving up... Trying to stop chasing something that isn't destined to be mine to begin with.



The fifth phase is the 2 years I spent in Kuantan Campus. Lots of things happened back there. I found another person worth to be called as Mr. Right but it is just the fact that he’s just not right for me. But something else happened. A person whose initial is S happened. A great friend. A great companion. I vowed I would never turn my back on S. 



The thing is, I was hoping to say goodbye to all these memories so I could finally restart my life. I have done few things like setting up new blog, new Facebook account and etc for this to happen but it seems impossible to erase some things... some persons... and of course some places... from my life...

Therefore, I think it’s wise to keep these things within me... I’ll live with the traces of memories I have about them... 

Wait! What about the closure I was talking about?
I guess, the closure is just something that I want but will never get.

...and now, after those journey I went through, I finally find a new path to walk on. A journey to finally reveal my true capability. Whether I’m strong enough to depend on no one but myself, whether this journey is worth fighting for, whether this journey is the one that I’m going to take until the end of my life...

It is a journey to make my dream come true..



p.s.: Happy birthday!

xoxo,
V
Saturday, July 23, 2011

Should I?



Looking at my MacBook, iPod Classic 120 GB, and iPhone 3GS…

I was thinking to buy the latest version of them but since they’re still working properly (except my 3rd Generation iPod Touch – the screen was broken), I think I’m going to wait until next year…

Or maybe I’ll just get myself the white iPad 2 and the latest iMac… But then the iMac won’t do as I still have 2 years to live in the campus…

What should I do?

I’m not gonna spend money just on bags, shoes, dresses, and etc. on my birthday…
Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Of Tablet and Desktop PC

First of all, let me rewrite the title... As I'm going to write about the Desktop part in next entry...

Of Apple's iPad and Asus' Eee Pad

I saw this article by Vijay Ravindran, the current senior vice president and chief digital officer for The Washington Post, on how Asus triumphed over Apple with Android tablet, the then hard-to-find Android-based Asus Transformer, known as the Asus Eee Pad. (So much for the name...) in a local newspaper this morning and I'm gonna summarize on what I get from this easy to digest article and if I may, let me add up things a bit... 

In the article he mentioned about lots of things regarding the said tablet PC.  As a passionate user of Apple techs, I'm eager to learn about this iPad-like gadget. 

First, he compared the price of the Asus Eee Pad with its closest relatives, the Acer Iconia Tab A500 that costs around RM1300 (according to here), the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and iPad 2 that cost around RM1499 and the Motorola Xoom that costs around RM1750 (according to here), while its 16 GB version only costs around RM1200 and the 32GB version costs around RM1500. Quite cheaper, I guess. 

As I'm also agree with the fact that making a direct pricing comparison is quite tricky, because different tablets with different features and of course with different prices. Plus, this Asus Eee Pad doesn't offer a carrier contract (unlike iPad) as it's a Wi-Fi-only device. Not for me then, as I need to online all the time and in my hometown, there aren't many of Wi-Fi hotspots and Starbucks cafes aren't open until 3 in the morning. 

Now, let's talk about the Asus Eee Pad best selling point which is its unique keyboard dock. While other tablets have Bluetooth keyboard options, he finds it lacking the option for a mouse. In addition to being Android keyboard with home, menu and back buttons, the dock supplies roughly 6 additional hours if battery life, 2 USB ports, and a full-size memory card slot. Actually, it's quite surprising for me to see the tablet when it's docked as the entire unit folds like a traditional netbook. 

Alright, peeps! Now we go to the part I enjoy talking about at any time of day; softwares i.e the applications. 

First, the DoubleTwist, it's an Android apps that allows you to sync photos, music and playlists on your iTunes with the Asus Eee Pad over a Wi-Fi network. This can't be done with first-generation iPad but with the new Apple's iCloud app that launched together with MacOs X Lion and iOS 5 on June this year, its feature now allows for iTunes purchases to sync on account holder's authorized Apple devices wirelessly. 

Next, he mentioned about browsing experience. Asus' stock browser beats Safari because it supports Flash. Take note of this, Apple-crews! 

As for e-mailing, Touchdown is a powerful e-mail app that is only available on Android-based gadgets. He said it can be directly compared to Outlook or Entourage and yes, I know how significant this is as it works quite the same as iPad's native e-mail client. 

So, I guess he's happy with his Transformer. 

Alright, so basically it boils down to your needs when it comes to gadgets, right?

The guy's MacBook Air had a meeting with his baby bottles so he was looking for a replacement and the Transformer has allowed him to replace both his iPad and his broken MacBook Air. 

As for myself, I'm still thinking of getting the iPad 2. Well, mostly because a DSLR camera has climbed up to the top of my 2011 wish-list so yes... I guess I'm going to wait some more. 

Same goes with iPhone. I was planning to get the white iPhone 4 myself but when Dad got it for himself early this month and landed me his 3GS while Mom is still using the white 2G, I learned that the 4th generation features are still not up to my satisfaction. 

So, again... Like I said, I'm going to wait some more. 

Anyway, the purpose of this entry is to warn you guys to buy your gadgets wisely (I learn it hard way though) and be sure to make thorough surveys especially when you guys are buying the expensive ones. Some will say that you still can upgrade it if you're not satisfied with it, right? True. But then, it's unlikely to upgrade to a better screen and a sharper even a HD camera, compare to what you already have in your hands, right?


P.S: Apple has developed wireless keyboards and of course the magic mouse, I guess it's not going to be much longer before iPad can be docked on a keyboard too. Who knows it also can be folded into half of its size and slipped into your back pocket?

Signing out!
V
Thursday, July 14, 2011

No Connections!

Went dark for the past week!

Anyway, just got back from Educational Hearten Camp '11 with fellow MISI Club members....


I'll update later!

xoxo,
V
Sunday, July 10, 2011

EHC '11 Last Day

When I woke up this morning, I was so excited like the first day I got into this school. After packing up my things, I left the room and headed down towards the school assembly area. We had our final Break Bone session and it was fun!

After that, we all went to the Operation Room for our final module with the kids which is Sharing Moment. We talked about lots of things regarding the future, of where we’re going after this, of which paths we want to take after this, and so on. There were also the presentations of the arcs that they made earlier and some requests were made for the facilitators to come in front and talk about themselves. 

To be honest, I am kind of surprised to see Bugis people over here are so... How do I put it? Comfortable? Among other people in here. Being majority certainly cause them to act like that I’m sure. Because in my place, when I was in primary school, Bugis people don’t really mingle with us and vice versa. I don’t really have much to say on this matter as I’m 1/8 Bajau, 1/8 Kadazan, 1/8 Brunei, 1/8 Dayak, 1/8 Suluk, 1/8 Indian, 1/8 Sungai and 1/8 Bugis. But then, since I went to SMK. Benoni for 4 years, I kind of fluent in Brunei dialect. 

Anyway, we’re finished around 10 a.m., and headed down back to Assembly area and lined up according to groups. It’s time for Explorace!

For the explorace, the facilitators joined their kids and went around the school, stopping by at every checkpoint and they need to solve every problem or do any task given by the assigned committees at the checkpoints. 

I managed to join my kids like half of the checkpoints as I have to leave early. At Bro. Airul’s checkpoint, the kids were required to find a coin and after that they were given a situation where one of the member of the group met with an accident (God Forbid!) and imagine his or her injuries and wrapped the injured part with given toilet papers. It’s quite funny to see the girl when the kids finally done wrapping her! 

Next checkpoint was Bro. Pok Cik’s checkpoint, where they were given a task of going around a circle with and egg was put in the middle of ropes that were stretched and held by every member of the group. They had to do it with their backs on it and Darman lead them all to the end of the circle. They were given next hint that brought them to the next checkpoint, where  Sr. Imah and Sr. Tiqah were waiting.

At this checkpoint, we have to play charades. Fahmi is quite a champ in it! But before that, the kids were required to give out their best yell they have.  After that, the kids were given next tas to find a guy with his looks being described on a piece of paper to give them the next hint of the next checkpoint. 

The guy is our Bro. Syafiq. He’s a fun person and the kids were having some crazy moments while chasing over him. Even while we were on our way to other checkpoints, I could see other kids who were running from many directions, trying to catch him as he literally ran up and down the school buildings. Nice play, Syafiq! You’re so awesome for being able to do that! If I were you, I probably died somewhere before all the kids can get their clues. LOL

Around 11 a.m., Lala came to pick me up to the bus station. I was so sad as I can’t accompany my kids to their finishing lines and join them this evening for the closing ceremony. But what can I do? Dad won’t allow me to arrive in KK more than 6 p.m. 

Lucky me, while I was literally dragging my luggages  to the cafeteria where Lala parked her car, the kids bent their paths to the next checkpoint slightly to give me hugs and said their goodbyes. All I did was just wishing them good luck for their exams and hope I could see them once again in future.

As Lala drove me to the bus terminal, we had some conversation of what had happened in the main hall yesterday, (you guys know what I’m talking about, right?) and among other things are the reasons why I left GAPS back in matric during my second year. We reached the terminal around 12 p.m., and my lil’ (well, not so little anymore as he towered at near 6 feet tall!) cousin was waiting for me to give me Dad’s favourite spicy shrimp sambal. Thank God we reached there on time as  found out the bus actually depart at 12 not 12.30 p.m.! I quickly hopped into Lala’s car and she drove me to other side of the road and caught up with the bus. Thanks a lot sweetie!

After I settled down in my seat, I just realize I was still in my sport attire with my name tag around my neck. Oh, well... I decided to wear them along the journey. Weird, huh? A guy with dirt all over him was sitting at the back of the bus was much weirder. 

I had a stop by at the usual spot and the grabbed my usual - 100 plus and some chips and climbed back onto the bus right after that. 

I arrived at the bus terminal around 6 p.m. and I saw Dad’s Prado parked in front of it. I called Mum and she said they were having some drinks at the opposite cafe. I went there and ordered another 100 Plus. I was so exhausted as I couldn’t stand and talked straight anymore. Everything was a blur and when we’re ready to go back, I almost took the cafe’s cup with me.

When we got home, I took a shower and though it’s just 8 p.m., I fell asleep in my brother’s air-conditioned room. Mine’s not, so... 
Saturday, July 09, 2011

EHC '11 Day 4

It’s the fourth day and as usual, we had the morning routine and had breakfast a quarter before 7. I sat with few girls at the table and they were friendly enough to let me take their pictures.

After self-preparation, I went to the Main Hall together with some of the committees and while waiting for the kids to come, I hang out with Sr. Aziah, our Assistant Head of Facilitator. She showed me the prepared votes for the performances done by the kids for the culture night tonight. 

Around 7.30 a.m., after all the kids had arrived, we had few games to be played for the next half an hour, just to warm them up before we go the the next session with us, the facilitators. I could see all of them seemed to have a lot of fun!

At 8 o’clock, we gathered in our respective groups. This session took almost an hour. But before we start our modules, group leaders were summoned by the Head of Facilitator to take the vote on performances tonight. As for our group, the kids are going to perform rhymes on ‘Escape’. After brief discussions on that, we moved on to our modules right away. 

First, I gave them a piece of paper, one for the girls cluster and another one for the boys cluster. They need to find a way to turn the paper into one stripe that’s long enough to circulate each cluster. To make this game bit more challengeable, most other groups only made one stripe and circulate the whole group members with it but I didn’t do so as I could see that they don’t want to. Why force them, right?

Anyway, for the next 45 minutes, we delved ourselves into discussions about our SWOTs. What is SWOT? It’s like going back to Management... S = Strength, W= Weakness, O = Opportunity, and T = Threats. Some said Maths are so difficult to follow (damn true! Pre-Calculus almost killed me last semester!), English is like a language spoken on other planet, and all of them have one thing in common. Lazy to study. Welcome to the club, kids. Everyone in this world has those moments I think. There’re always some days that you think you don’t want to do anything and just lay on bed all day. Of course, as a human being myself, I do have those moments too. Especially a week before the final examinations. So, we discussed on how to study Maths better, (thanks to my roommate Imah, for giving some tips few days before my Pre-Calc paper!), how to improve their English lessons and lots of other things being discussed. 

We finished 5 minutes to 9 and then it’s time for the kids to have sessions with our MISI Club Advisor, Dr. Dolhadi. 

Throughout the sessions with Dr. Dol, I managed to get some rest and it was during that time it was decided that I’m going to be the host for tonight. After I’m done with the script for the slot with help from Sr. Hilda, I went to sit with the kids on the floor and help them to understand few advanced terms scattered throughout Dr. Dol’s PowerPoint presentations. During the sessions also, we had some in group activities and all groups need to choose a rep and present their ideas on stage. During the presentations, there were lots of funny moments and I started to take in what are the kids are having in their minds these days. 

After we had our lunch, we went back to our rooms to prepare for Zuhur prayer and went back into the hall around 1. As the sessions with Dr. Dol continued, I focused on thinking about the performance tonight. 

As they finished around 3 p.m., we had free times to discussed about our performance tonight and the rhyming sessions begin. I kinda helped them a bit with the some starting rhymes and let them went wild with their choices of words after that. 

The kids also decided to integrate some acting while performing tonight and I think I’m just going to go with it. After few rehearsals, I decided to call it a day and around 5.30 p.m., we went to Dining Hall to take our dinner. Meats were served and I thought I was going to die. Kidding! I haven’t had any meat except chicken since 2005 so yep! I only had some tofu and vermicelli. Yum!

Tonight, around 8 o’ clock, as everyone’s gathered inside Operation Room (it was decided last minute as the main hall is being prepared for the closing ceremony tomorrow), Bro. Fadzil announced that we’ll be given like half an hour to prepare ourselves for the night. Then, around 8.30 we started the night with prayer recitation by Ajie. All groups were given 10 minutes to perform and we started with group 1. 

Most of the performances were in fully Bahasa, some mixed with English. Lots of funny scenes and I could see the crowd’s having fun. We took a break for the supper and continued until all the performances were finished around 11.30 p.m.

Then, we had the final slot for today which is the Momentous Night. Basically, the slot is all about to remind the kids of their parents’ sacrifices and love. At first, it sounds a little bit harsh but the tone of the slot slowly softened down. As me and all other facilitators and committees were sitting at the back area, we had some chitchat and some of us were catching up some sleep. It’s our final evening in the school so everyone’s seemed a little bit worn out already but as for me, I was still excited after hosting the slot before that so I kinda managed to channel down my thoughts and focused on the presentations in front. 

For a moment there, I kind of merged with the feeling of regret, disappointment, frustration, and so on. All those sorry feelings I ever had in my life. It made me thinking back of the things I’ve done, things I don’t deserve, things that I didn’t appreciate enough and so much more. It’s like when I go back to the moment when I have to decide to change course to Architecture. 

Being the only daughter in my family and the oldest granddaughter in my entire family isn’t easy for me. So many eyes are watching over me and I clearly know that I kinda letting them down on certain aspects. 

Before the slot ended, I felt some drips of water on my face. Did I cry? I did. (This sucks!) I quickly shed them away as I don’t want anyone to see me like that. 

Everything ended around 1 and before we went back to our respective rooms, we were given our official T-shirts that we’ll be wearing tomorrow and though it came to my surprise, the colour is the same as my kitchen wall. Well, if you soften down the tone a bit, yes. But then, I got the colour that meant for the committees not facilitators. But I still preferred that colour though. Sorry, navy blues...

When we got back into the room, I was so exhausted but I still managed to pack my things and left the pieces that I need to wear tomorrow. It’s been a long day and the moment my head touched my pillow, I fell asleep. 
Friday, July 08, 2011

EHC '11 Day 3

First of all, Happy 46th Birthday, Mom!

Woke up quit early today as I’m so excited to get on with the programme. Can’t wait to meet the kids, too!

As planned yesterday, we all gathered at the Operation Room around 7.30 in the morning. Some of the committees went above to the mini hall, preparing for the launching of the programme which is scheduled at 9.00 a.m. 

Around  8 a.m., we all gathered at the the mini hall, hanging out while waiting for launching. I took some pictures using my MacBook webcam just to kill some time. We all love cameras, don’t we? 

During the launching, one of the main board of the school I think were invited as the school’s principal had to leave for Kota Kinabalu to attend seminars. Bro. Aziz also give us his speech, telling us in brief about the programme, its objectives while Bro. Usman Suardi a.k.a Cecep also came out gave his speech as the President of MISI Club. After that, we had video show taken from the Public Relation Office, regarding our university; the students and the campuses, and video montages of MISI Club’s previous programmes. After that, to officiate the programme, we prepared the gong to be knocked as it symbolise the beginning of our journey here in SMK. (A) Sandakan. 

Around 10 a.m., as we’re done, we had another mini photo shoot session but this time the pictures were taken from quite a unique angle. Shouting ‘Terbaik’ while putting up our hands in the air was kind of lifting up our sprits. Then, we’re given 10 minutes to change into sport attires and went to the school’s main hall to clean and prepare the whole area for our programme later. 

We’re done cleaning and arranging the chairs and everything around 11 and we quickly went to the Dining Hall to have our lunch. 

The last time I had my lunch in a school’s Dining Hall was 6 years ago. The moment the food went into my mouth, all the memories when I was with my friends back in high school rose up to the surface of my mind. Yep! Food definitely have the power to stimulates our brain. 

We all went back to our room and make final preparation before the programme starts later. I had mix feelings of excited, nervous, happy and grateful. I literally jumped before I went out of the room! Just kidding. I did actually. lol

Anyway, after the Friday prayer, around 2.00 p.m., all the committees and the facilitators were already in the school’s main hall and while the committees were doing their tasks at the registration table, arranging the students inside the hall, stage preparation and etc., we; the facilitators were standing in front of the entrance, ready to greet the students. 

Students who were coming from their hostels can be seen in 4 colours of uniforms. The greens are the students on school representative board, the blues are the librarian, the purple are the Pembimbing Rakan Sebaya and the normal secondary school’s uniform. This kind of remind me of my alma mater’s uniforms. All together we have 6 types including our respective uniform societies, the reds with blazers are the prefects, the blues are for the librarian, the yellows are the Pembimbing Rakan Sebaya, the greens with vests are the Form Six students, and  the normal secondary’s school uniform. As the Assistant Head Prefect once myself, I have to wear my reds uniforms together with my blazers like most of the time while it’s an option for other prefects in my school. But on rare occasions, I wear the normal uniform as it only says one thing. I’m not in the mood to get into anything. Kidding! (It’s true though). 

While looking at the school kids, I could see all kinds of characters. There are the ‘control macho’ ones, the shy ones, the sweet ones, but of course all of them are still kids. I remember when I was in their age, with hormones sky-rocketed like crazy, I did a lot of crazy things with my friends, hanging out at the school i.e. clubs activities, enjoying school festivals and so much more. 

When all the kids had arrived, we started the programme with the briefings and everything else needed to be informed to the kids. Then, all the facilitators were called out on the stage to introduce ourselves. When we’re done, we were required to go off stage with the kids waiting for us to be taken somewhere around the hall and sit together with them for the first time. 

*MODULE 1 and MODULE 2*

Around 3.00 p.m., we all gathered in our respective groups and as for me, I decided just to stay in the hall. First thing first, was the ice-breaking session. I have 6 boys and 8 girls. 3 of them are taking SPM this year while the rest are PMR candidates. Being a facilitator to secondary school students isn’t something that I never did before. When I was in Form 4 and 5, I did lots of orientation programmes, workshops for PRSs junior members, and of course handling the trainings for new prefects. 

For the first 10 minutes, most of the kids in my group were in silent mode as I was speaking in fully English. I tried to lower down the usage of vocabulary and after I explained things slowly, clearly, and repeatedly, most of them understand what I was trying to say. But the good thing is, they were still paying attentions. It’s a good sign I guess. I really hope we could break this wall of awkwardness as soon as possible and all of us can gain something out of this whole programme. 

The first game was choosing something to represent themselves. For the girls it was quite challenging for them to remember the boys’ choices as all of them chose sports except Darman, who chose computer. As for the girls, they chose bugs, high heels, flowers, etc. more on what they love actually. Yep! One girl actually loves bugs. 

Next assignment was more on expressing everyone’s thoughts and they were required to write them in two pieces of A5 papers. The topics were Hopes, Dreams, Fears and Nightmares. I gave them around 10 minutes to write them and collected them for later use. 

One boy seemed having difficulty to express his thoughts on the topics given during our previous game but I could see he’s kind of good in his writing assignments.

When I got back to my room later at night, I read all of the papers and all I did was laughing and rolling on the ground. Well, not entirely though. Some were very serious but most of them are just funny. Like REAL funny. Especially on the Fear part. 

Anyway, we proceed to the third part of this session, where the kids need to come up with something for their group name, the group motto, and the group flag. We were given a piece of A2 paper, and 2 markers to complete the task. Well, you guys know I’m doing architecture, right? So, I kind of brought some of my weapons with me. 5 highlighter pens. That definitely lighted up the flag a bit. 

We’re done for the first session around a quarter passed 4 and all of us went to Dining Hall and sat down together for a cup of tea. Since, we just met for the first time, I haven’t seen any facilitator sat down with the kids while enjoying their tea time though it was highly recommended by our D&I Head of Bureau, Bro. Syau.

After the tea time, all of us went back to our rooms and rested for a bit, waiting for the time to have dinner. Since we’re adjusting the whole programme with the kids’ time schedule thus breakfast, lunch, tea time, and dinner in the Dining are all done together with the kids. I kind of felt a little of ‘going back to the future’ there. 

That night, around 8 p.m., after we’re done with Magrib and Isya’ prayers, all of went back to the Main Hall to continue with the second session that included the 3rd module. But just to warm up the kids, we played the modified ‘paper, rock, scissors’ game. Why I called it modified? Because the losers will have to be the winner’s followers and since we’re playing in mass number, it turned out to be so much fun. 

For the third module, it was more like a continuation of the first session of Self Enhancement with D&I in the musolla where the kids got to express their thoughts in debates. The topic was choosing the right 4 out of 9 candidates to be taken aboard to the small boat. It’s like in ‘2012’ movie but this one was in smaller crowds. The candidates are a doctor, lawyer, police officer, historian, architect, linguist, soldier and last but not a teacher. One of the boy came up with a good reason on why we do need a historian in continuation of the next generation. 

Almost 30 minutes before we ended our session, Bro. Fadzil came to our group to give us some newspapers, straws, glue, and tapes, for us to come up with some sort of arcs that can be used to represent the group. After so little discussion among themselves, they agreed to make a heart. They divided and rolled some of the newspapers into balls and glued them onto a pre-cut heart-shaped piece of a newspaper. After the balls stuck quite nicely on it, they glued another pre-cut piece of a newspaper so it’ll look more neat. 

The explanation was the balls are representing them, the members of the group. The 2 pieces of newspapers that are holding the balls together are among things that they believe in and have hopes in, holding them together as one. Simple and symbolic, I say. 

Around 10.30 p.m., all students are gathered in the hall and all the designs are placed in the middle of it. I think I’m going to give you guys the freedom to judge the creations by the kids by yourselves, okay?

I think some of the kids were already sleepy (and maybe some were boring) so Bro. Fadzil and some of the facilitators and committees gave them something to lightened up the kids (and us, too!). They did a modified version of one of the routine done by the awesome stompers in ‘Stomp the Yard’ movie. (This totally makes me want to re-watch that movie again!) They even did an encore! (and I managed to record them using my iPhone... =D

After the briefing and some reminders to the students, all the kids went back to their respective dormitories while us, literally dragged our feet towards the Operation Room for the daily reports. 

One of the big issues is the flow of the programme. When the schedules changed, means the slots need to be changed, hence the flow of the programme is interrupted and thus the desired effects of the modules are not as high as we expect them to be. All I want is for the kids to gain something out of the sessions we had with them. More times hence more opportunities we can get to be closed enough to them so we can help them in ways that they want us to help them. At the same time, we integrate their needs with our goals of coming here. 

Dr. Dolhadi joined us and said few things to improve on how to overcome the issues we’re facing and since he’s going to handle 4 hours sessions with the students tomorrow, I hope we can get some time to prepare everything that we’re lacking. 

After we’re done with the discussions and some sharing moments by our Programme Manager, Bro. Aziz on SMAS students’ usual habits and other stuffs going on in this school, we headed back to our rooms and got ourselves enough rest as tomorrow’s schedule will start at 3.30 in the morning. 
Thursday, July 07, 2011

EHC '11 Day 2

It’s a great morning and I woke up around 6.30 a.m., took a shower and started to pack my things. Went down to cafeteria for breakfast around 7.30 a.m. We had fried noodles and fried eggs.

It’s been a real while since I joined programmes and this feeling, the warmth and friendly atmosphere was just nice. 

Then, after the breakfast, I joined a table of conversation between Bro. Airul, Jijah, Bro. Aziz, and Bro. Fadzil, the four aces of this programme. It’s a must to discuss the flow of the programme every now and then just to make sure everything’s going smooth and everyone’s synched with the same things that have been scheduled earlier and confirmed any changes. Any adjustments made to the whole schedule of the day was being made after all of them agreed to accommodate to each other’s roles and tasks given. 

I could see a little chemistry among them and hopefully this chemistry will lasts until the end of the programme. 

At 7.50 a.m., all of us were locked and loaded and after making sure nothing was left in the room, we went down to the lounge area and waited for other people to gather together for a mini photo shoot session. 

While waiting, we’re required to sign our name at the visitor record at the reception and after that Jijah, acting as the Assistant Programme Manager, called everyone and gave us a little briefing before heading towards the school. 












After the photo shoot session, we hopped into the bus and as usual, a brother came out and recite a prayer for our safety throughout this journey of merely less than 15 minutes. 

When we got there, some students were waiting for us together with the school’s counsellor.



We waited at in front of the Dining Hall as our rooms being prepared by the dormitories staffs. 

After we’re done settling ourselves in the room, we headed towards the school’s cafeteria before gathering in the school’s workshop area that is going to be our Operation Room throughout this programme. I managed to grab some drinks. Oh, heaven!
When we’re already gathered in the Operation Room, the counsellor was invited to give some welcoming speech and then Bro. Aziz, our Programme Manager came out and gave us some information about the school itself. He revealed that he’s actually the alumni of the school. 

After that, we proceeded with the induction course where all the committees gathered with the Programme Manager and all of us, the facilitators gathered with out Head Facilitator, Bro. Fadzil. 

About the induction course, it was when we’re all briefed thoroughly about the modules we’re going to use throughout this programme. 

Basically, we’re going to have various educational games, all in English just to show the kids that English can be fun. (A lot for me when I was in their age! I actually joined the school debate team, the drama club, the public speaking, and I even joined English club society as an underground member as I’m also the Assistant Head of SETIA Club.)

I’ll explain the modules in details when I got to use them later with kids, okay! But before we continue the briefing, all the facilitators were assigned into partners except me. I preferred to handle my group alone. 

We stopped around 1.30 p.m. for a lunch. The catering committees haven’t arrive yet so we have to finance our dining needs in the school cafeteria by ourselves. I don’t mind though as the dishes served are at least edible. Just kidding. They were fine. The nice orange juice just topped everything. 

After lunch, some of us went back to the Operation Room while some of us went back to our room for Zuhur prayer. 

At the Operation Room, me and some girls were having a little conversation about me changing from a quite a Windows enthusiast to a passionate Mac user. MacBook versus Windows OS-based laptops and notebook, iPhone versus BlackBerry, and not forgetting the latest iPad. 

Around 2 p.m., all of us were invited to the school’s meeting room for a lunch with some of the school’s staffs. What? We just had our lunch! Thus, just to show some courtesy, we went there and hang out with other committees who’re helping themselves with food served. Meanwhile, I went out and took some pictures of the school’s building. 

Managed to catch some architectural perspectives. 

After that, all of us went back to the Operation Room and had a briefing from Bureau of Dakwah and Information, lead by Bro. Syau. 

Then, we continued with a little bit on the modules and around 5 p.m., we’re done and went back to our rooms respectively. 

In the room, my friend Sofy had arrived from Tawau, still fresh from previous programme. We chatted and caught up with each other’s stories while unpacking our stuffs. Feeling all sweaty and exhausted, I decided to take a shower even before I’m done with packing. 

Around 8 p.m., we gathered at the Operation Room again to finish up the modules’ briefing.





We also discussed the kinds of performances that will be performed by the kids on the Islamic Night. I actually don’t really get it why some people favour making rhymes rather than performing a choral speaking. It is much easier but for me choral speaking is so much fun especially when involving school kids. Well, what can I say. With the time constraint and everything, maybe rhymes are better. 

After we’re done, all facilitator met up with their partners and as for me, I just picked a ‘cool’ spot and sit down with my MacBook and started to synched all the modules into my iPhone. Planning for some games out of modules just to  hype up the kids later. 

We went back to our rooms around 11 p.m. and after preparing the stuffs tomorrow, I climbed up to bed and prayed for everything’s going to be fine tomorrow. 
Wednesday, July 06, 2011

EHC '11 Day 1

July 6th, 2011 (Wednesday)

2 weeks before, I asked Dad if he can drive me to Sandakan himself on July 6th and he’s okay with it as going to the city is a monthly ritual for our family as my Mom is from there and half of her family members are still residing around my old Grandma’s house at 7 miles from the downtown area. 

Unfortunately, something came up thus he, Mom, and Arif had to go on June 26th, leaving me with no reason for him to drive me to Sandakan anymore.
 
It’s been more than 10 years I think, since I last took the bus and flight isn’t an option because I’m saving money for the program itself. 

Therefore, today I took the 8 o’clock morning bus together with two of the programme committees, Ajie and Jijah to Sandakan this morning. I departed from my house about 15 minutes to 7 and reached the bus terminal exactly at 8. I gave my mom a big hug and bid them goodbye as I climbed up towards my seat. 

The whole journey was about 6 hours and throughout the first one and half hour, me and Jijah had a little chitchat as we exchanged stories to each other about what happened in our lives for the past 2 years since I last met her while I was doing my foundation. 

We stopped at a small cafe around 12 afternoon and since we weren’t given so much time, I just grabbed some drinks, chips and local snacks after a very excruciating visit to the loo. I drank 2 cans of 100 plus while accompanying Ajie finishing up his lunch.  We hopped back into the bus 10 minutes to 12:30 p.m. and only then I took out my iPhone to text Mom that I was already less than 2 hours before reaching the destination. 

‘A Nightmare on the Elm Street’ was playing on the flat screen but I barely can see it as half of the screen was blocked by Ajie’s ‘spiked’ hair though we were actually sitting 3 rows from the the front seats. 

I guess I better off listening to my iPod instead. Unfortunately, I only synced my 2 out of 11 playlists as I used up the other 100 GB space to store my American TV series. Whatever. 

We stopped at the 4th Mile in front of the Tyng Garden Hotel and less than minutes, my friend Lala came to pick us up. She drove us with her dad’s Toyota Prado and we reached the Kompleks Sukan Sibuga as we were going to stay there for the night before departing to SMK. (A) Sandakan where our programme is going to take place. 

3 rooms were given to us girls and I got the largest room with 12 other girls. When I got there, the 1st group of the programme’s committees who were flying from Peninsular Malaysia were already there. 

I quickly unpacked my stuffs and only I realize that I hadn’t packed any toiletries! So, I went to find Belle and asked her to buy me the stuffs I needed. 

Around 7, all the committees and facilitators were instructed to go down to the cafeteria to have dinner all together and before we went down, I took few minutes to snap few pictures. 

After Isya’ around 8, all of us were gathered at the middle of the hostel area, and our Head Facilitator, Bro. Fadzil, instructed us to form a big circle and sit on the grass. Thank God I was wearing my usual khaki trousers instead of my Nike track suit cause that’s the only track suit I brought with me. 



Then, Bro. Fadzil gave each one of us a piece of A4 paper with a pen. We were required to wrote our most beloved person, the best memory with that person and  the most hurtful memory with that person. After that, we gathered all the papers and put them in the middle of the field. Then, Aziah called us one by one to get one piece out of the piles of papers. 

The next instruction was to find the owner of the paper and when we found the right person, we have to think of one thinking that can represent the very person. But if we got our own paper, we were required to return in to Aziah for re-shuffling. But then, after asking like half of the people, suddenly someone said he or she didn’t get a paper. What? 

At that moment, I noticed one small piece of paper was tossed in the middle of the field. Probably Aziah or Bro. Fadzil didn’t notice, but just to be fair, all the papers were re-collected and re-distributed once again. 

The weird... well, more like awesome, thing is... I was holding Sr. Mashi’s paper, while she was holding Jijah’s paper, and Jijah was holding mine. A perfect triangle! So my job is to interview Sr. Mashi. The thing is, Sr. Mashi is actually my senior by one year when I was in Form 1 in SMK.(A) KK. So, I kind of know her a little bit more on who she was when she was 14. What a coincidence as she wrote those memories when I was there witnessing them. Therefore, all I have to do is just to ask her few more on details. SMK. (A) KK is a boarding school. Yep! I was there merely for one year and when I was in Form 2, I asked my parents to transfer me to other school. My uncle who was also my Geography teacher went against my decision but he knew that nothing he can do about it. What actually happened back there? I don’t want to write them in here. But even until now, every time I think about boarding school, only one word comes to my mind. I won’t say it in here though. 

As for between me and Jijah, I already told her most of the things she needed to know while we were on the way to here. So, we considered it as done.

Anyway, as we’re kind of sitting together, Jijah told us about the accidents she had  around the Main Campus and I came in with my story too. Yep! So far, I fell off my bike like so many times already, and I had 2 accidents on road but no severe injuries so far. Well, Jeremy - my scooter, has a lot of scars on his body though. As we also required to tell the other party about the most embarrassing moments we ever had,  all that I can remember is the moment when I was talking to Farid about half an hour only to realize he’s actually not Farid but he’s Faiz the identical twin brother. These two are now doing Medical in Kuantan Campus. 

When all of us already done finding the right person, we were once again being ordered to go back in circle and one person was called in front to talk about the person he or she interviewed just now. We got to witnessed lot of sweet things, especially when we get to see some bromance among us. 

When it was our turn, Sr. Mashi was called out first and she called out for Jijah as she was going to tell us about the story we shared earlier. She told us that her impression on Jijah is that she’s a very fierce person. But for me, Jijah being fierce is the first time I ever heard about it. Everybody seems to agree about that though. Well, maybe I’m just kind of person who isn’t easily affected. lol

When it’s Jijah’s turn, she called out for me and told all of us her first impression of me that she think that I’m more like a tree. Not the figure of course (though I was kind of almost jump into that assumption) but she said, I’m someone who have a very strong principal and beliefs that rooted down deeply into the eart that no matter what happens, I’ll always be strong. To be honest, I was flattered when she said that. She mentioned earlier that I’m a unique person when I was waiting for the name of the composer of the movie score of ‘A Nightmare on the Elm Street’ in the bus earlier. Well, most people don’t know about that. I love movie scores. Among my favourite is Transformers score albums by Steve Jablonsky. The latest album which is the Transformer: Dark of the Moon (The Score) is just crazy. Tron: Legacy’s movie score by Daft Punk too is just off the charts, people!

Okay, back to our story here. I mentioned in the paper that my beloved person is Shasha. Yep! She’s my best friend! She’s from Singapore, she speak weird Malay sometimes, but I do still get her and she’s the craziest and wackiest person I ever met! She’s going to be in her final year in Biomedical Science starting next semester. She was there through all my ups and downs and I owe her so many things. The best memory is definitely the very first programme we worked together as partner, which is ’09 SCIENCESS career week. We were appointed as the Program Coordinator of one of the sub-programme and things went really crazy. We got to meet students from 6 other universities and colleges and it was a really awesome experience! We fought here and there but there are times we just looked in each other eyes and convinced ourselves that we can do it all. Bottom line is, we learned so many things about each other while working together in that programme. The most unforgettable and hurtful memory I shared with her is of course it goes without saying, is when I was decided to leave Kuantan Campus to pursue Architecture in the main Campus. It was so sad that day and the moment i finally said to all my friends that I was going to leave them, everybody just broke down and me too. I love them so much but their favourite teddy bear gotta go. lol

Anyway, when it was my turn, I called out for Sr. Mashi and told all of the people about the first impression I had when I first learnt about her is dated when I was just a Form One student. I saw her going to Taekwondo practices like 3 to 4 times a week and though she was just 14 during that time, she already holding a black-brown belt. Therefore, my impression on her is that she’s an awesome person. She told us the story when we went to Johor (also when she was in Form 2) for Girl Guide Jamboree involving multi-countries. She said it was nice to see other people from different countries. She also told us the story when she got so embarrassed when a ball came to her while she was passing a group of boys who was playing football, she tried to kick the ball but her shoes also flew with it. 

I think this is a very nice way to get to know to each other quickly. Plus the sharing moments and the extra gimmick at the end of the session - we were celebrating Jasmine’s birthday, I felt a little but light-hearted compared to when I just got here. I learned few names that I can remember and hopefully I’ll get along at least 80% of the people by the end of this programme. 

That night, after taking a nice and long shower, me and Belle pulled out our mattresses and placed them under the fan in the middle of the room. I was so exhausted after traveling 6 hours on the bus and after chatted with Belle while putting aloe vera mask on my face (it felt so good!) for a bit, I fell asleep with only one thing on my mind: to get up early tomorrow and prepare myself before heading to the school. 
Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Transformer 3

TRANSFORMER 3: DARK OF THE MOON



ONE WORD: AWESOME!

Alright! Maybe some of you are wondering why in the world this post is dated on 5th of July though it premiered in Malaysia on 30th of June? Because I promised my lil bro to save it until I flew home and watch it together in 3D at the latest 3D hall in town.

Anyway, as you guys already know, the movie is 2 and a half hour. Though it's freaking long but for me, every single scene is breath-taking and heart-pumping. We're the big fans of Jerry Bruckheimer's Transformer movies so we can't really find the flaws in it. Yep! I heard some of the negative critics about the movie, but I guess I'm a little bit bias, so...

The CGIs are amazing and the new girl, Rosie Huntington-Whitely...Though I do have a thing about British, well... can't say I didn't miss Megan Fox.

Move on to the music, well... As usual, I expect my all-time favourite band - Linkin Park gonna give more sparks to the film and they did. The music video is directed by Joe Hahn and I would like to say, Mr. Hahn, you're awesome! ...and of course, the score! Like the previous 2 movies, Steve Jablonsky did the score very well!

"Iridescent" was heavily used throughout the movie and it was used for the end credit together with "Monster" and "Many of Horror". "All That You Are" was played while Sam at work.

Here are the track list for the album:


  1. "Iridescent" by Linkin Park
  2. "Monster" by Paramore
  3. "The Only Hope For Me Is You" by My Chemical Romance
  4. "Faith (When I Let You Down)" by Taking Back Sunday
  5. "The Bottom" by Staind
  6. "Get Thru This" by Art of Dying
  7. "All That You Are" by Goo Goo Dolls
  8. "Head Above Water" by Theory Of A Deadman
  9. "Set The World On Fire" by Black Veil Brides
  10. "Awake and Alive (The Quickening - Rock Radio Remix)" by Skillet
  11. "Just Got Paid" by Mastodon
  12. "Many Of Horror" by Biffy Clyro (iTunes deluxe edition)
  13. "The Pessimist" by Stone Sour (iTunes deluxe edition)
  14. "Goodbye - Gate 21 (Rock Remix)" by Serj Tankian Feat. Tom Morello (iTunes deluxe edition)
  15. "Lifelong Dayshift" by Middle Class Rut (GameStop edition)
  16. "Graveyard Dancing" D.R.U.G.S. (GameStop edition)
and the score, composed by Steve Jablonsky and some by Matthew Margeson:


  1. "Dark Side of the Moon"
  2. "Sentinel Prime"
  3. "Lost Signal"
  4. "In Time You'll See"
  5. "Impress Me"
  6. "We Were Gods Once"
  7. "Battle"
  8. "There Is No Plan"
  9. "We All Work for the Decepticons"
  10. "The Fight Will Be Your Own"
  11. "Shockwave's Revenge"
  12. "No Prisoners, Only Trophies"
  13. "The World Needs You Now"
  14. "It's Our Fight"
  15. "I'm Just the Messenger"
  16. "I Promise"
  17. "Our Final Hope"
Overall, though Mr. Bruckheimer said this is gonna be the final installment of Transformers from him, I'm still going to look forward for the next Transformer movie.

It's an awesome experience and hell yes I'm gonna do full Transformer marathon when the Blu-Ray disc gonna come out around October later.

Alright, peeps! Now I can go and pack the things I'm gonna take to my first program with MISI Club starting tomorrow.

P.S: heard that at the the end of October last year, while on the set, the Camaro was severely damaged. As if talking to Bumblebee, "Bee, are you okay?"

Signing out!
V

Closing Ceremony

10TH JULY 2011 (Sunday)

01.30pm Asma’ Al-Husna
01.35pm Welcoming Remarks By Master Ceremony
01.45pm Quranic Recitation
02.00pm Speech By Programme Manager
02.15pm Speech By SM Agama Sandakan Principle (Encik Roslan Bin Diming)
02.25pm Multimedia Presentation
02.45pm Prize Giving
03.00pm Token Of Appreciation
03.05pm Bai’ah Session
03.15pm Refreshment (VIPs)
03.30pm Heart To Heart Committees
04.00pm Photography Session
Disperse

Opening Ceremony

OPENING CEREMONY
8TH JULY 2011 (Friday)

08.25am Arrival of Committees and SMKA Sandakan Staff
08.30am Arrival of SMKA Sandakan Principal and MISI Advisor Dr. Dolhadi Bin Zainuddin
08.35am Welcoming Remarks by Master Ceremony
08.40am Quranic Recitation
08.50am Official Opening Programme Launched by Dr.Dolhadi Bin Zainuddin MISI Advisor witnessed by SMKA Sandakan Principal
09.00am Multimedia Presentation : Introduction to MISI Club
09.30am Photography Session
09.40am Refreshment for VIP and SMKA Sandakan Stuff
09.50am Disperse

Tentative Program

6TH JULY 2011 (WEDNESDAY)

1st GROUP

10.00am Arrival of the 1st group at Sandakan Airport from Kuala Lumpur
11.00am Depart to Kompleks Sukan Sibuga Sandakan
12.00pm Lunch at KSS Cafeteria
12.30pm Zuhr Prayer

2nd GROUP
02.00pm Arrival of the 2nd group from at Sandakan Airport from Kota Kinabalu
02.45pm Depart to Kompleks Sukan Sibuga Sandakan
03.30pm Arrive at Kompleks Sukan Sibuga Sandakan

3rd GROUP
03.00pm Arrival of the 3rd Group at Sandakan Bus Terminal from Kota Kinabalu and Tawau
04.00pm Depart to Kompleks Sukan Sibuga Sandakan
04.30pm Arrive at Kompleks Sukan Sibuga Sandakan
05.00pm Self-Managing
07.00pm Welcoming Dinner at KSS Cafeteria with YB Tan Sri Panglima Hj Ampong Bin Hj Puyon-Pengerusi Angkatan Hebat SABAH
08.30pm FACILITATORS SESSION


7TH JULY 2011 (THURSDAY)

07.00am Breakfast at KSS Cafeteria
07.45am Depart from Kompleks Sukan Sibuga
08.15am Arrive At Sekolah Menengah Agama Sandakan
08.30am Briefing Of The Program
09.00am Induction Course
Group Binding
Committees With Program Manager
Facilitators With Head Facilitator
11.00am Refreshment
12.30pm Zuhur Prayer
01.00pm Lunch
01.30pm Presentation From Each Bureaus
03.30pm Asar Prayer
04.00pm Self-Managing and Hi-Tea
05.00pm Disperse


8TH JULY 2011 (FRIDAY)

04.50am Subuh Prayer (Tazkirah)
06.00am Break Bone
06.30am Breakfast
07.00am Self-Preparation (Committees And Facilitators)
08.30am OPENING CEREMONY launch by Dr. Dolhadi (MISI Club Advisor)
10.00am Final Check-Up
11.00am Self Managing
12.00pm Jumaat Prayer
01.15pm Lunch
01.30pm Registration For Participants
02.30pm Module 1
03.15pm Hi Tea and Asar Prayer
03.45pm Module 2
05.00pm Self-Preparation
05.30pm Dinner
06.15pm Maghrib Prayer (Self-Enhancement 1)
07.15pm Isya’ Prayer
07.45pm Module 3
10.30pm Supper
11.00pm Light Off

9TH JULY 2011 (SATURDAY)

04.15am Qiyammullail
04.40am Subuh Prayer (Self-Enhancement 2)
05.30am Break Bone 2
06.00am Breakfast
06.30am Self-Preparation
07.15am Module 4
09.00am Session 1 by Dr. Dolhadi Bin Zainuddin “The Purpose of Studying English”
12.00pm Lunch
12.30pm Zuhur Prayer
01.00pm Session 2 by Dr. Dolhadi Bin Zainuddin “The Purpose of Studying English”
02.00pm Module 5
03.15pm Refreshment
03.30pm Module 6
05.15pm Self-Preparation
05.45pm Dinner
06.15pm Maghrib Prayer (Self-Enhancement 3)
07.15pm Isya’ Prayer
08.15pm Module 7
10.45pm Supper
11.00pm Momentous Night
12.00pm Light Off

10TH July 2011 (SUNDAY)

04.30am Subuh Prayer
05.00am Self-Enhancement 4
05.30am Break Bone 3
06.00am Breakfast
06.30am Self-Preparation
07.15am Module 8
08.30am Session with COMMITTEES and STUDENTS “The Student Path: WHERE YOU GO”
09.30am Refreshment
09.45am Explorace
12.15pm Zuhur Prayer
12.45pm Lunch
02.00pm CLOSING CEREMONY by Encik Roslan Bin Diming
(Sekolah Menengah Agama Sandakan Principal)

02:30pm Disperse

Dress Code

IN GENERAL

Male

Male committees and facilitators are required to wear shirts or collar T-shirts throughout the program.

During sport or other outdoor activities, male committees and facilitators are allowed to wear collarless T-shirts with long pants (other than jeans and track suit pants).

Female

Female committees and facilitators are required to wear Baju Kurung or Jubah throughout the program.

During sport or other outdoor activities, Muslimah T-shirt and long sleeved T-shirts are allowed.

It is compulsory for all female committees and facilitators to wear stockings throughout the program.

OPENING AND CLOSING CEREMONY

Male

Male committees and facilitators are required to wear the Official Program T-shirt, black slack, and shoes.

Female

Female committees and facilitators are required to wear the Official T-shirt, black scarf, and shoes.

Slippers are not allowed.

ORDERS OF ATTIRE FOR FEMALE COMMITTEES AND FACILITATORS

For female Committees and Facilitators,

It is COMPULSORY for all to wear Baju Kurung or Jubah throughout the EHC program (outdoor activities are excluded). To be straight, pants and long sleeved t-shirts are INAPPROPRIATE to be worn in a religious school.

Attires must cover the aurah (as provided under the Shariah). Save for the face and palm the attire should cover the whole body.

Attires should not be tight fitting.

Attires should be made from such material such that the colur of the skin and shape of the body would not be visible. Dress materials should not be transparent or reveal the contour of the body.

Excessive accessories, strong perfumes and facial make-ups are not allowed.

The head-cover MUST properly cover the head and should not reveal the hair, neck and chest. (therefore, shawl can be worn, but must follow this instruction)

STOCKINGS ARE MANDATORY.



Rules and Regs

These are the rules and regulations in general.

All committees and facilitators are required to be at selected venues at least 15 minutes before any program begins.

All committees and facilitators are required to put their hand phones in silent mode.

Mu’amalat among male and female committees and facilitators must be observed.

Jeans are highly prohibited for both male and female committees and facilitators throughout the program.

All committees and facilitators are required to observe their aurah.

Giving salam and smile among committees and facilitators as well as to the participants is highly recommended.

Smoking is strictly prohibited.

During Qiyamullail : all committees and facilitators are required to wake up earlier than the participants.

EHC '11

EHC '11 stands for Educational Hearten Camp 2011.




After decided to join the programme, I attended the early meetings and here I'm going to post the details about the program.

First of all, an introduction of the programme. Frankly, as this program is a continuation of English and Da'wah Camp, the main objectives of the programme is to promote English among secondary school students and at the same time to expose these kids to campus life of university students. As this programme is targeted to Form 3 and 5 students, we are encouraged to show them some sense of directions of where they want to go after the big exams.

Here are some of the things discussed in the meetings:

Rules and Regulations

Dress Code
In General
Opening and Closing Ceremony
Female Committees and Facilitators

Tentative Program
Opening Ceremony
Closing Ceremony

As one of the invited facilitators, I was provided with modules of activities prepared by the Head of Facilitator, Bro. Fadzil, for the kids throughout the programmes.

Therefore, tomorrow by 8 in the morning, me and 2 other friends who are committees for the programme will be departing from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan.

Wish me luck, guys!

xoxo,
V

Wan Wan

Introducing our latest member of the family, Wan Wan!



The story behind the name of Wan Wan is quite funny actually. My lil bro said, after he bought the cat from Gaya Street (it's street market held every Sunday at downtown KK where you can see a LOT of foreigners from different countries - a must go if you guys ever going to come to KK, Sabah), my parents brought him to pet shop to buy the cat house (which around 7 times the cost of the cat!) and went to Wan Wan Fish restaurant located quite far from the city. Of course, it goes without saying the restaurant is famous for its fish menus and among my favourite is the steamed fish cutlets. My lil bro secretly brought some of the cutlets home and then fed the cat for the first time. Lots of names came out during the naming session e.g. Jack Sparrow, etc. but Wan Wan is the one that picked by my lil bro... Well, since he's the one who bought it and I'm the one who named our previous cat, hence he named it as Wan Wan.

The thing is, it's been more than one year and there's only one simple reason why we didn't get another cat after our last cat is gone. Because we love Oli (yep! in honoring my favourite TV Host - Sony Style TV Mag and Epad's host, Oli Pettigrew) so much....

This is Oli... This pic was taken using my old '09 Sony Ericsson's W395...



R.I.P, Oli...

Anyway, hopefully this one gonna turn out great as my brother is really (really, really, really) picky when it comes to finding the right cat... =)


P.S.: I don't know why, both cats have the same likeness towards the same sofa... Weird, right? Well...

xoxo,
V
Monday, July 04, 2011

Flying Home

Here I am, sitting in the boarding area, looking at the people I'm going to board with in about 45 minutes.

Before that, look at 2 awesome figures that greeted me in front of the entrance just now! I'm sorry for the low quality pics as I'm just using my Sony Ericsson W995 that happened to be at the back pocket of my jeans that time as my hands are occupied with a LOT of things so I only managed to get few snaps of pics as I was also in a hurry to go to the check-in counter.



The awesome Bumblebee!

...and the great Optimus Prime!

As I arrived at the airport around 3, after checking-in all the luggages, I went to Starbucks to get my favourite:


Vanilla Cream Frappucino

.... and head to the boarding area right after. Oh! I forgot to mention that I went to Sembonia just to get a huge shopping bag to put extra stuffs i.e. extra kilograms that I couldn't get them into my luggages.

Now that I think of it, while tracing back when I first enrolled to IIUM, I actually never think that airport will be the one place I'll be going to every 3 to 4 months at least. I witnessed the changes, renovations, improvement in term of services, annoying new rules and etc. but one thing about airport that I notice is, it's a place that full with stories. As people travel from all around the world to this country via airplanes, airport is definitely a place to stop by.

As I'm the type of person that can never sit somewhere alone and not talking with someone, I always hang out in Starbucks for a cup of coffee or McDonald for the hot french fries before the boarding time. Sitting with some friendly travelers and exchanging stories is one of the great ways to kill some time, right?

Other than gaining some experiences on how to talk properly and drawing the lines of conversation, having new acquaintances outside of the campus and family connections is more than welcome...

Anyway, I'm still thinking of the things I wanna do for the upcoming 2 months vacation. Other than updating the company profiles, arranging the papers in the office and completing projects reports, I was thinking of making a 'make-over' to my little garden surrounding the garage in front of my house... The theme is Japanese tea garden... I'm gonna work on the sketch first then make some sort of proposal to my dad before handing them to my mom for approval...

Alright, then... I need to pick up my things and start to line up to board on the plane...

Happy flying, everyone!

xoxo,
V


What a Nice Day It Is!

There are plenty of reasons why it is a nice day but the main reason is I'm flying home for the first time since I enrolled into this university - I mean this campus!

Even hearing the sound of the lawn mower first thing in the morning didn't pissed me off anymore!

I slept around 4 this morning and since I usually have a 8.30 morning Computer class, I did woke up around 7.

Basically I'm done with packing the things I'm going to leave in the room... Right! The thing about this whole packing my stuffs is, there's a story behind it. Around 4 o'clock yesterday, I was already done packing my clothes, books, all the files and stationeries into the boxes, preparing for them to be located inside the storage room. At that point, all that was left to pack are my bed stuffs and some boxes filled with DVDs. Then, a friend of mine, a 4th year Law student, R came to my window (my room is on the ground floor before you guys making weird faces) just to say hi and asked me if I can give her soft copies of movies from my external hard drive. When she saw all the 5 sealed-boxes that I put in front of my room, she asked me what are the contents. When I told her those are my stuffs that I'm going to put in the storage room, she laughed and then asked me why didn't I just arranged them properly in my locker?

Of course, I went speechless. I thought we weren't allowed to use the lockers in the room as I'm afraid the stuffs will be long gone before I finally come back for the next semester. Then I thought, since I'm going to use the same room for the next semester, why bother to pack all the stuffs and put them in the storage?

Good news is, though a bit unfortunate for my roommate as she already packed everything in boxes and sent them upstairs, I can use her locker to put my things in it.

Phew! Thanks to my bestie, I got an extra padlock for the 'extra' locker... =)

Owh! Look what I found among the stuffs under my study table! Got this the day the movie premiere! Very useful (to cover our eyes) while I was watching Insidious with my bestie.

Kung Fu Panda 2 Giant Tumbler! The top part is for the popcorn =)

Anyway, all I could think about right now (and yesterday too!) is the list of things I want to do in the next 2 months! Is it gonna be a summer holiday? Where I'll just go out and have fun like all the time - except during August (Ramadhan) or is it going to be a fall holiday? Where I just stay at the house most of the time reading Dan Brown's and Nicholas Sparks? Or maybe a spring holiday where I'm gonna go crazy finding new flowers for my mini garden?

As Malaysian, we're not a 4-season country and that's a fact but for me, I use those terms to define my holiday. But the bottom line is, holiday for me is all about spending quality (and quantity) times with my parents and brothers. Of course with my other kids cousins, too!

whatever. whatever! I'm going to finish packing, get ready and do a little (yeah, right!) shopping before hitting the airport around 2...


xoxo,
V
Saturday, July 02, 2011

Alone At Last

After finishing my final paper yesterday, even after waking up from a straight 10 hours of sleep, I still feel exhausted. Boy, I wonder if I can handle all those sleepless nights in future...

Anyway, from morning to evening, I have done nothing other than laying on bed watching How I Met Your Mother and Chuck. After watching like 6 hours straight, then I felt hungry. I went to the cafe but nothing seems interesting so I just grabbed some chips and more junk foods from the kiosk.

Around 8 o'clock, I went to KL Sentral to send my roommate, K who'll be flying 2 a.m. later. We took a cab straight to KL Sentral and I think I kinda regret for sitting at the front seat as I have to listen to some perverts talking to the taxi driver.

When we arrived at KL Sentral, K bought the KLIA express train ticket which will be going straight to KLIA. We were so grateful for being able to check in her huge luggages at the emirates counter at the opposite of the ticket counter.After checking in, the guy gave K luggage tags and attach them at her luggages. I asked if I can get those too and he gave me one right away! Aww! He's so nice!

Then, we head down to the Coffee Bean cafe to get some cakes and sat down at the sitting area in front of the ticket counter... While eating our cakes from the sane box, some guys were looking at us and K said something that almost made me choked myself.

"Feels like old married couple, don't you think?"

When we're done, I walked with K towards the boarding area and after promising each other to stay update on Facebook, we hugged and I waved a huge goodbye.

Felt a slightly heavy heart on my chest, I walked towards the LRT station and took a train home after grabbing some French fries from McDonald.

I reached the campus around 11 and when I got myself in the room, I noticed no one else in the room.

Alone at last. It didn't surprise me to be the last one to leave the room but I was kinda... How do I put this...

Sad? Maybe. Lonely. Definitely.

Whatever. Whatever. I think I'm going to bed now. I'll start packing maybe tomorrow.

Can't wait to be home.

xoxo,
V
Friday, July 01, 2011

OMG!

In contrast with Pre-Calc's level of difficulty, the paper was extremely easy....

It's Basic Computing Skills! You can't blame me for excelling in something that I'm born to champ in, right? But, if you're saying the course was real drag, indeed.

The paper was 2 hours but I'm done in less in an hour... There were single choices questions and 'True or False' and the famous essay questions with sub-questions tagged along with it...

Overall marks are 75 and let's hope for the best (and the lecturer's mercy) so all of us can score this subject... (and balance my final CGPA)....

Anyway, after the examinations, I went to the Heritage Studies' Annual Exhibition at my faculty's main gallery.

Basically, Heritage Studies is a subject for 3rd year Architecture students...

Therefore, it's like an expose to what I'm gonna do in near future...

whatever. whatever.

I took some (fine, a LOT) of pictures and will post it on IvoryandBrown ....


xoxo,
V