Archive for April 2011

Ya Allah!

I still can’t believe I won the tickets and yes, I’m blogging it like right now!

I didn’t know that HURTS is coming to KL until yesterday someone in my Twitter timeline mentioned about it.

I googled it and yes they are coming to KL this 6th May 2011 which is JUST AFTER MY HELLISH OPM530 FINAL EXAM!

The ticket is priced at RM130 which is kinda expensive for me and my friend suggested an alternative: win the ticket on KLue’s Twitter.

So I’ve waited for it today; right after Friday prayer until they tweeted:

#hurtskl ticket giveaway coming up at 3.30pm!

At 3.30PM sharp, they tweeted again:

#hurtskl question: What's the name of their debut album?

THAT WAS LIKE THE EASIEST QUESTION ON EARTH THAT I COULD ANSWER!

I replied with the answer, ‘Happiness’ which is their debut album.

AND I DIDN’T GET THE REPLY STRAIGHT AWAY FROM @KLue themselves but I got these:

To hell I care. Dah kau lambat siapa suruh.

Then again, the tickets really made my day!

That’s all for today! *playing HURTS songs repeatedly*

Bye!

Hi.

I know I should be doing my revision for final examination that will kick-off this Saturday. Haha.

Anyway, I’m kinda enticed to write this post because I stumbled upon this interesting online privacy related stuff on the UK’s Guardian website.

I’m an iPhone user and I’m as well as intrigued by the article.

Who really needs privacy online? I mean, considering how generous we are on sharing everything on the net; sharing our every whereabouts on Foursquare, what we are doing on Twitter, what you have been doing all day on Facebook and so forth, you still think that what you need is privacy?

Picture by Linda Nylind © 2011 for the Guardian

I must say, I’m really confused with some sort of people who need ‘privacy’ yet they still have their Twitter account unprotected, adding strangers on Facebook.

Didn’t you know that if you were to share your phone number on Facebook, forget to set to whom you can disclose the number can expose it to number of strangers added on your Facebook account? Hence, don’t be surprised if a stranger call you or pull prank on you because you yourself don’t even care on what you share with others.

This is really, hmm… what you may say, alarming since social networks nowadays aroused interest from all generation and the most important here are the squishy youngsters from primary school & high school who are gung ho in social networks and don’t give a hoot of sexual predators, impersonators and what not.

They are really giving me the creeps. Imagine, what if they are kidnapped because of disclosing private information that could be used to track them?

Thus, I think we must be as sharp as tack and we must buckle down in order to take this under control.

Sounds easy but actually it’s easier said than done; especially to person who take things for granted or don’t care at all about neither security nor privacy.

Just scrutinize every functions on your social network; see how it works and from there, see how you can save some information from leaking to others.

So, the moral of the story is, don’t be so generous online. Be stingy on what you want to share. Skeptical is what you need when you go online.

Hope this helps, people.

Guten nacht!

Hi.

I must say that me, myself isn’t an avid book reader. The last time I read a book was this one interesting book, ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ by J.D Salinger. The main reason why I read that book was it’s a part of English Literature course when I was doing TESL.

But now, I changed my mind; I should read a lot to as I’m getting rustier in writing. I lost few words in mind, couldn’t figure out what were the words. That alone epitomizes how I don’t use English in my daily lives now.

I’m not like Hanis Zalikha (http://inibelogsaya.blogspot.com) whose English both grammar & vocabulary wise is impeccable.

So, I took an initiative to improvise or polish my English by…

Visiting Amazon’s website (http://www.amazon.com)

AND…

Guess what?

I BOUGHT A KINDLE!

My first Kindle 3.

Actually I had to make a tough decision on whether to buy the iPad 2 or Kindle. So I laid down a couple of reasons, pros & cons and I was indecisive too. At last, I chose to buy the Kindle rather than the insipid iPad 2 for some reasons.

kin·dle/ˈkindl/Verb 1. Light or set on fire. 2. Arouse or inspire (an emotion or feeling)

I didn’t regret this decision and loving this Kindle now. I felt like it’s the best thing to do. I put some of E-books in it and I started reading it right away. There are several formats that the Kindle supports; .MOBI, .PDF, .EPUB and so forth but the official one from one is Amazon’s .MOBI.

If you have a .PDF E-book, convert it using Calibre (http://www.calibre-ebook.com) and sync with your Kindle.

Kindle start-up screen

The Kindle uses electronic ink for its display and it can lasts up to 1 month on a single charge with the Wi-Fi switched off.

YES.

It’s equipped with Wi-Fi and YES, it has a browser that uses same (or close to) rendering engine as Apple Safari with it I can still tweet and browse Facebook even the color is totally washed out.

The Kindle if it’s not used, it will automatically go on standby and what is good about it, it displays random beautiful pictures and most of them are legendary writers like this one:

John Steinback, he’s one good looking guy, isn’t he?

For those who don’t know or forgot who John Steinback is, he’s the writer of The Pearl. The novel that we used for English Literature in SPM.

I guess that’s all for today, hahaha

BYE!

Hi everyone,

Thanks for reading my blog once again.

How’s your weekend going on so far? Good, mediocre or bad?

For me, it has all started since Thursday and when friends and food come together hitherto it’s an awesome weekend.

This is Aida and YES, those were her food on the table.

Aida (http://mazzatulaida.blogspot.com) came back here from Sarawak last Wednesday as she had something to do with her travel documents and I promised her that we would go to Seoul Garden together since we couldn’t find a proper Korean food last time when I was in Sarawak.

We went to Seoul Garden at One Utama, eventually. Aida drove all the way from Meru, picked Bem (http://syedazwan.blogspot.com) up at Section 7, next; me myself and we went straight to One Utama via North Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE) and YES, AIDA DROVE ALL THE WAY TO ONE UTAMA TOO and of course, she’s a girl and you must be wondering what happened to the gentlemen in the car? Haha. –____–”

Had a really good time in the car, since the radio was malfunction, songs from my iPhone really embellished the moments. At first, I thought NKVE wouldn’t be affected by the traffic jam but it was really inevitable or maybe it was raining cats and dogs. Stuck in the traffic jam for almost an hour at the Shah Alam exit and another half an hour after the Damansara exit. That was totally a waste of time.

Friends and good food. Loves.

At the Seoul Garden, the food was good as I always liked the idea of buffet or pay and eat as many as you like because I’m quite an eater but fortunately, my body doesn’t reflect it at all; still tall & skinny :P Dinner at Seoul Garden is much pricey compared to their Lunch price so if you were to come to dine at Seoul Garden, make sure you come at the right time or else you’re going to spend a little fortune to them.

Free flow of ice creams too :)

Enough about Korean food and now I’m gonna talk about Arabic food. Too much food makes me hungry while typing/writing this post.

Arabic food is everywhere now, right? The restaurant names are preposterous or I’d rather say, hilarious. Zam Zam, D’Arab Café, Arabian Kitchen, and so forth lah.

So yesterday, me & my family went to our favorite place for Arabic food, D’Arab Café (I swear, it wasn’t a café at all.) in Section 7, Shah Alam. Among many Arabic food restaurants that I went so far, the most scrumptious ones are at D’Arab’s (at least for me, it is.).

There were too many delish looking foods on the menu and we were so rambang mata (I couldn’t find this word’s equivalent in English :P) and the waiter suggested to us to order this one menu in which he described we were going to eat that in a large tray. At first I couldn’t figure out how’s the food gonna look like until the actual thing came to us.

I swear it was a really big tray!

Mandey Lahm for 3 person.

The whole chicken in the tray with the rice. I’m not surprised.

THE WHOLE LAMB IN THE TRAY COOKED WITH THE RICE. I’M SUPER SURPRISED!

So my mandey lahm was almost the real style of how Arabs serve their food. The taste was good and the lamb also was tender and really good! I love lamb, who doesn’t? And why people always say that lamb isn’t good for your health eh? Enlighten me please.

The dinner was on my brother. It was a farewell dinner for him as he’s leaving for Zurich, Switzerland this Monday for couple of weeks. Hmm… I’m so envy of his job now. When is it my turn?

Again, God have laid down good plans for His slaves and what we got to do is just pray to Him.

Korean food, checked!

Arabic food, checked!

Hungriness, checked!

Okay,

That’s all folks,

Have a nice weekend!

Hi.

Have you read I Won’t Forget You Pt.1? Haha. I’m sorry for some inappropriate words down below but you know things like that really get your nerve kan?

Anyway, this is the continuation from the post below.

#5 – Pusat Islam, UiTM Shah Alam

Pusat Islam UiTM Shah Alam is undoubtedly has the best prayer hall that I ever found in a university. Just completed its refurbishment last semester and if I’m not mistaken, the minaret also just erected last semester too.

#6 – Hot & Cold Lecturers

That’s all folks, for now.

I will write a post if I have anything in mind soon, and about this move to Puncak Alam, I actually didn’t notice or hear anything official by the faculty that we’re moving. Then how we are suppose to know IF we’re really relocating to Puncak Alam?

*confused*

The semester has come to an end.

I will always miss you UiTM Malaysia

The end of this semester means a lot to us, since we the Transportation students are being ‘transported’ to UiTM Puncak Alam starting next semester.

What’s there in Puncak Alam? Is it able to accommodate us, the awesome students from UiTM Shah Alam who can’t afford to walk even 10 meters?

Is it a haven of delish unhealthy foods like the café at Menara SAAS?

The archaic Menara SAAS. So nostalgic!

Will it house thousands of bimbos and morons who can’t even properly their cars?

Whatever the reason is, these are the 10 things why I can’t forget UiTM Shah Alam.

#1 – Green campus with lush scenery, cooling trees

I must say, this is the best reason why I don’t want to move from UiTM Shah Alam to Puncak Alam campus besides it’s close to my house.

This is the million dollar view from Kolej Kenanga 4.

As Puncak Alam campus is spanking new and I was told that the landscape isn’t developed yet hence the less trees. Then what? How we are supposed to cool down ourselves? Just depend to the air conditioners? Oh my. Those dry our skin fast.

Walking down the memory lane at Faculty of Hotel & Tourism

I don’t care how new the Puncak Alam campus is, and I don’t care how advance the technology there is, because for me, preserved old buildings are majestic and make me feel even proud to study at one of the oldest university in Malaysia.

So, basically, I want the same trees at UiTM Shah Alam to be there at Puncak Alam. Geddit?

#2 – The land of mackerels & sardines rush to buses

The sardines & mackerels are all female. Haha.

UiTM Shah Alam experiences bad traffic both inside and out of the campus. Students are allowed to bring their cars but must park at the designated area for students only; which is, the enormous Padang Kawad.

But that still hasn’t resolve the main problem: CONGESTION. Once they park there, they still have to catch the bus to get to their faculties. What a bummer.

Me myself don’t park there at Padang Kawad and I don’t have to catch the bus, I always park at a place where the summon by the Pak Guard is low and walk a little bit to my faculty.

Talking about Pak Gad, that brings us to number:

#3 – Pak Gad, The Clampers.

I wouldn’t let any of my family members to be Pak Gad at any university or at any other places that I know people will hate them.

Why they are bombarded with so much hatred by the students? This is why:

They have this Clamping Fiesta every semester I guess, these pictures are from Clamping Fiesta Jul-Dec 2010.

The students parked at a non-parking area hence the clamp. So, who to be blamed? Haha. Still Pak Gad? :P

#4 – Congregation of Idiots Who Can’t Park Their Cars Properly

This one really got my nerves.

I got this so many times already at the parking area that I always parked my car. And mind you, this area isn’t designated for either staffs only or students only hence I take anyone can park here.

BUT one day, I got a summon ticket by the university police aka Pak Gad and I was like ‘WHAT THE HELL?’ Don’t you know how to read mister or do you have any sixth sense that tells you that this parking area for staffs who don’t even fucking know how to park their cars? God bless you Pak Gad.

Picture above happened recently and this picture below happened in 2010.

MACAM SETIAP TAHUN ADA ORANG BODOH PARK KERETA MACAM NI KAN?

And, even if the parking area is for staffs only, yang staffs ni memang tak reti parking elok-elok eh? Memang park kereta macam ni? Menyusahkan staff lain jugak. GRR…

Don’t you see the effing yellow lines ha? DON’T YOU SEE THEM? Okay even if you couldn’t see them when you were parking your car but DON’T YOU HAVE YOUR COMMON SENSE TO READJUST YOUR CAR TO FIT INSIDE THE YELLOW BOX or WITHIN THE YELLOW LINES?

Mana tah belajar parking kereta macam tu. Parallel parking mesti retake like 99999 times.  

Hee… Please, I’m done with this. I hope that UiTM Puncak Alam isn’t another home for this kind of pathetic people.

Moral of the story: Park kereta betul-betul, jangan menyusahkan orang, pentingkan diri macam ni. Masuk kotak parking tu betul-betul.

That’s all. Okbai.

The end of Part 1.

I like kids period. Seriously, I like kids, that’s why I didn’t bother to babysit Faiz when he was small even until now.

Nonetheless, I do act like a kid too. Not in a giddy way, of course.

So I must say that I was pretty intrigued by McDonald’s current promotion for Rio on their Happy Meal. Right after my swimming session this evening, I went straight to the McDonald’s and bought the Happy Meal right away.

I played Angry Birds Rio on my iPhone and the graphic was just nice, the birds are colorful and the marmosets just can’t stop making cute sound. Cute sound? Okay tak cute. Annoying kot.

Bought the Happy Meal, what did I get?

The toy of course.

AND

One complimentary ticket to watch Rio at TGV Cinema!

Since it has been a real long time I haven’t watched a movie at cinema, I think I want to take this opportunity to bring my little cousin, Faiz to watch the movie. Oh wait, can we actually bring a 3 years old children to the cinema hall?

He’s a grown up boy now, I think he’s going to sit well while watching the movie. Hmm… Let’s do it.

Phewww…

Finished my MUET speaking test this afternoon at my alma mater, SMK Seksyen 18 Shah Alam. All I can say, it was awesome.

What’s the gist of the awesomeness?

I’ve never been to any examination that extremely prohibits the use of mobile phone like MUET. Even when I sat for SPM (Malaysian Certificate of Education) at the same school, they told the same old thing, PLEASE DO NOT BRING THE MOBILE PHONE blahblahblah even though I brought it and kept it silent inside my pocket.

When I first arrived at the center, we were required to wrap our phones (in case of mine, two), seal it with mask tape and put it in a box where it sat idly, without touch of love from its owners. Heh. Exaggerated too much.

One of the examiners/invigilators (or whatever you call it, I lost the word for it) then came and asked for two person to witness that the question paper is truly virgin neither opened nor peeked so that there will be no leaked questions. She cut the wrapping plastic and the examination starts.

My group was the second one to be called into the test hall. Was quite nervous to flip the question paper and once I saw it, I phew-ed silently because of the topic given wasn’t that hard. Okay bukan nak berlagak. Tapi that was okay, it wasn’t an economic topic ke, world issues ke. It was about fast food outlets, the advantage of the comfortable environment.

I’m pretty sure that I was eloquent enough delivering my relevant points but unfortunately, it was disastrous and I don’t know how much catastrophe would the other candidates bring to their marks. They weren’t participating enough in the conversation and were dependent to the other candidates to start. After all, it was me who initiates the conversation and it was me TOO who ended and summarized all up and err, came with the consensus of our group.

I know to some people they might say it is good when you’re dominating the whole conversation and they would say I could get more marks but what makes me worry is, dominating the conversation means I didn’t give others the chance to speak, didn’t i? Haha. Eventhough apparently it was not even my fault to let me to be the one speaking or else the room’s gonna be a completely silent room!

But to conclude, the test was okay and I’m really looking forward for other tests and hmm… really looking forward for the result too I guess! HAHAHA

That’s all folks for today!

Hope you enjoyed your day as much as I did.

Oh is it too much to say that I was the moderator?

Tak kan?

Hi guys.

Thanks for reading my blog, once again.

I’m so in the mood to write English as I’m sitting for MUET this month. Just printed my MUET slip with examination dates on it and I must say that I’m scared.

Why am I supposed to be scared when I got reasonably good grades for my BEL subjects? Well, BEL isn’t any like MUET I guess.

I don’t know whether I was bluffed by my friends but they told me that MUET is much harder and rigid. And since I’m the only Mat Poyo Speaking English amongst my friends, that means I have to attain higher band for the sake of my reputation. Pretty hard huh?

Anyway, those weren’t the reasons why I put the title “Slowpoke”. Earlier last month, there was an e-mail containing blank application form, sent to me regarding the Asia Social Venture Academy which is to be held in Hong Kong in May 2011. Since the application form requires team-like response, then me and my other SIFE team mates Shah & Azri brainstormed on what to be put in the form. Once the everything was finalized, Azri sent it to only-God-knows-who.

But yesterday, I asked Azri on how’s the progress, is there any feedback from the organizer but he said unfortunately to no avail. A curious person that I was, I sent them an e-mail across asking what’s the status of our application.

One of their committee, Andrea Krause replied to the e-mail and said, our names aren’t in their database and apologized the application is now closed. The ASVA isn’t the thing that I hard up to but these things left me to ponder, who has to be held accountable. Does the e-mail sent to the right person or it’s just another “I-forgot-to-send-so-I-blame-on-others” case?

Whatever it is, I must say that I have no regret that I couldn’t go to Hong Kong. Maybe it’s the right time for me to get the iPad 2 since my all my available resources can be channeled to it because I don’t have to worry about spending money in Hong Kong anymore. That’s just a really good thing to do. Every cloud has its silver lining right?

Plus, I can concentrate more on my SIFE project just after the final examination in May. I’m having real fun with the SIFErs at the moment. Meetings, hang outs, conferences and they are awesome too.

For all the things that God had lay out for us, there must be something that you can benefit from. That’s only if we are patient enough.

That’s all folks.

Have a nice weekend