my friday night : nasi kandar pelita bangsar

I told Mega this evening, "I tak nak keluar la malam ni. Tonight I wanna stay at home and just watch TV". I have been wanting to catch Alexander Bukan Zulkarnain on Astro OASIS. But my plans changed when I received an SMS from Adina at 8.07 pm when I was in my PJs on my bed;

"Bz? Aku nk kuar minum ngan azra. Jom?"

And just like that I changed to my jeans and wore like a 19 year old (I like wearing like teens nowadays), with my sling bag and black veil yang tak perlu digosok and went out.

This time we went out of KJ area and hit the city, Bangsar's Nasi Kandar Pelita. While waiting for Azra I shared with Adina what's been up with my life and she updated me with hers. It's been awhile since we hung out for drinks. Azra arrived the same time as our cheese naan did.

As usual, we talked about stuff and laughed like mad as though nobody's watching (feels good to be able to do that). I realize this time our talks have more substance and perhaps.. this may sound scary.. but i felt like 19 and 2+ at the same time.. we covered almost everything.. politics, economy, social, movies, traffic jams, policeman, internet, health, school days, university days, gossips, nescafe, type of coffee, babies, cars, motorcycles, storm rides, filing system, compatibility, fraud cases, travelling, age, aging, birthdays, work, engagements, marriage, divorce, religion, life, death, life after death, objectives in life, what we want in life, the best way to live life.. and what's interesting is that deep down inside our crazy little minds, we do know the best way to live life..

And after sharing with Din my orchestral event, I had one of those crystalizing moments and it all became clearer to me.. As I sat there, sturring my cup of warm teh-o-panas-kurang-manis, the words coming out of Din's and Azra's mouth were actually written for me to be heard at that exact time and at that exact moment and it's somehow Allah's way of reminding me those facts that we all know so well about but perhaps the substance has lived inside of us for so long that we might take it for granted.

Maybe, just maybe, inside our 2+ year old body and 19 year old minds, we have grown wiser than we may think.. The best part is, we still get to laugh at mamak stalls like nobody's business..

Another episode of Alexander Bukan Zulkarnain missed.. If this continues, I may need a new label call "friday nights" or "mamaks". wat say u people?

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my dreams and my hope

i've been having nice dreams lately.
it guess it balances with the nightmare i had a few days back.
weird indeed.

Conversation over dinner :

Ma: Amek la kangkung ni
Me: em.. (alamak sayur kangkung).. ok Ma.
Ma: tau tak mcmne datangnya nama sayur kangkung?
Me: Mcmne?
Ma: Orang dulu2 citer.. dulu masak sayur kangkung, bunyi kat kuali.. kang.. kung.. kang.. kung.. hehehe (joking)
Me: Hehehehe

Conversation after dinner :

Pa: Nama dia Barack Hussein Obama.
Ma: His father was a Muslim.
Me: Oh! bama! (melatah sambil basuh pinggan)

The Change We Need

Today at class, I felt like Coach Carter in the first half of the movie Coach Carter. Hope all ends well (like Coach Carter).. Wish me luck as I need loads of patience.....

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my students : Dec08/09

I have been assigned 8 mentees in our Mentor - Mentee Program. I told MSO that I'm gonna be like Dr.Cox in Scrubs being all cold and sarcastic and giving them nicknames like newbie, Gizmo etc. Blowing whistles and asking them to follow me around. Unfortunately, I do not work in a hospital and I don't get to do rounds (oh, darn it). And fortunate for them, I just cannot be like that.

The first meeting with 3 out of 8 of them was okay. We got to know each other and chatted for about 20 minutes since I didn't have much time. This semester I decided to take it down a notch and not put on that garang face. Turned out, students start to reach out to me or some sort. And I managed to gather some information about what sort of problems that face in their studies. I just hope that they don't take advantage of the situation. Previous semester, a colleague of mine heard this at the corridor;


"Siapa ajar ko Stat?"
"Ms. D---"
"Uish.. wei, aku dengar dia garang wei"

Am I garang? Perhaps at times I can be very serious la kot (I know it must be hard imagining me like that kan ShazZain.. cikyah.. Sheri.. Atika.. and others who know me from schooldays onwards.. hehe ).

I am right now facing with several challenges that perhaps academicians (mainly Mathematicians and Statisticians) can relate to. I am teaching a group of students who have very weak basic in Mathematics. And patience is an essential ingredient in teaching. The thing is, I am more than happy to guide them from zero if they are willing to learn but what makes me upset is the attitude that they have towards learning. Cutting class and making immature jokes during lectures is very frustrating (kecik hati cikgu).

Another challenge is that I have a class of almost 60 students and it gets really cramped inside the classroom. So there is a high chance of cheating during quizes and tests. I might have to resolve this quickly so that I can give more attention if they are in smaller groups.

The utmost challenge would be teaching the international students together with the local students. Yesterday, a new international student came in saying that he just flew in from S-----a. I have no problems in terms of language and communicating with them. They can speak English well and I too sometimes try to speak very basic Arabic with them. According to one of them, they can understand my lectures. Only that I must have empathy towards them. I must always remind myself that they have learned everything in Arabic and writing in Jawi for at least 17 years and for them to comprehend all this new knowledge in English must take quite some time. I wonder how it is like studying in a foreign land with a foreign language. But it's good that I had a good talk with one of them and he told me how different it was studying in his country and how he and the rest of them is adapting to the environment here.

I hope to learn more about my students. And I hope that I can at least try not to put on that garang face. I know I can be very garang when I mean serious business.

It's an interesting journey I guess. Being a lecturer is not just teaching but learning too.

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my memo

I received a memo today calling for a meeting in Shah Alam this Friday.
Suddenly, I felt that I'd rather be in Batang Berjuntai.

Why? God knows why...

So many updates. So many things happening. Alot of thinking to do (sampai terkeluar jerawat satu kat dahi). So little time.

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my friday night : syed

I make it a point to hang out for drinks on Friday nights at least once a month, if possible with friends around PJ area. Since there have been emails on OTWC not being halal and with the Israelis inhuman acts towards our fellow Muslims, I decided to go to Syed instead.

Mich : Ko nak gi mane?
Do : Stabak dah xleh dah, old town pun xhalal. Gi Syed je la
Mich : Orait.
Do : Jap, Syed mane ni?
Mich : Syed KJ.
Do : KJ ada bnyk Syed la wei.. Syed Bistro, Syed SS5, Syed SS6, Syed tepi Giant..
Mich : Syed yg tepi Giant tu..
Do : Ada 2 Syed tepi Giant
Mich : Alamak.. Syed biasa lah..
Do : Oo.. Syed tepi Giant la
Mich : (muka tensyen)
Do : Hahaha

It has been awhile since I met my friend, Mich. We go way back in 2000 when she saw me holding a Butterfingers folder and I saw her wearing Butterfingers T-shirt. We talked alot about life, then and now and the future.

Mich will be tieing the knot in April and was expressing to me her feelings about it.

Mich : Takut hok.. Rase macam nak masuk asrama.. Masuk asrama baru. Kena beli baldi baru sume.. Nak kena kenal orang tu lagi.. Share share barang

And she did this act that made me laugh hysterically tanpa segan silu (the usual)

Mich : (hulur tangan kanan nak salam)
Hi, saya Mich. Awak Nerol ke? Room mate baru saya?
Em, awak tidur belah kiri ye. Saya belah kanan.
Tuala gantung kat mana?

I haven't had such a great laugh for so long. Hehe.. Syed does it all the time..

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my nightmare

I had a nightmare lastnite. It was like this... (note: this is rated PG13 ya)

I was rehearsing for our varsity play, Puteri Gunung Ledang and when we were having our take 5, i went out of the hall to get some drinks. I saw an old nenek on a wheelchair waving at me from our front gate and asking me to help her out from her wheelchair. I held out my hand signalling "kejap" and ran to the pak guard's house. Suddenly I heard a loud bang and someone screaming. I ran to the old lady and couldn't see any sign of her. Petrified, I was shaking and trying to search for her. To my surprise I saw her laying by the longkang with her wheelchair by the side. I screamed for help and there were a couple of guys who helped the old lady. One of them looked at me and shaking his head and the old lady was dead. I cried so hard and screamed "Nooooo!!" till I fell on the floor.

G (bukan nama sebenar tapi orang ni wujud) ran towards me and hugged me so tight I almost choked. I was crying because I thought I had killed the old lady. G tried to calm me down but I thought he was taking advantage of the situation. (Ape ni peluk2 orang?)
I cried and cried and G was saying "it's ok.. it's ok.. ". When I wanted to break off from his hug he didn't wanna let go. That's when I realized that he wasn't sincere.
"Oi ! Lepas la. Ape ni!" I repeatedly said that to him but he ignored and instead hugging me tighter and didn't wanna let go. I was scared and what made things worse was when the old lady suddenly stood up and stared at me. I watch her mouth movements saying "Aku akan kacau kau". I gasped and she laughed while walking towards an old house (boleh pulak jalan? tadi tak boleh bangun kat wheelchair and dah jatuh longkang lak tu). G followed the old lady while dragging me to the old house. They opened the door and nampak keadaannya macam nak tie me on a chair. It was so scary ok. But somehow, after a lot of struggling, I managed to run away from G and he chased me around the house. I went upstairs and hid in a room, behind the langsir. G entered the room with a big parang in his hand. I felt like Jennifer Love Hewit in I know what you did last summer. As G walked closer to me, I picked up a vase (ntah dari mana datangnya) and hit him in the head. He fell down and I saw blood coming out frm his head. Scary. I ran out of the house as fast as I could and suddenly arriving in a forest somesort and felt really tired from the chasing and the struggling. I sat for awhile while panting and sweating. I needed water. That's when I stood up and realized I was safely in my room on my bed. I was sweating and felt really tired and thirsty.

It was a real nightmare. And I don't think I can look at G the same way again. sheeish!

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my ol skool ol time Malay fave rock song

Maman sang this song to Eda Nerina in one of the scenes in Layar Lara. I thought it was marvelous.





I too sing to this song whenever I listen to it. It kinda takes me back to the 80s when I used to stay back at school and while doing my homework and the abang kantin will put on this song and sing his heart out imagining the mop as the microphone.

Yup. Old skool rock chic I am.

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my sunday dishes

While I was washing the dishes, my mom said this

Ma : Sayur macam ni semut suka
Me : Kenapa ma?
Ma : Sebab ada udang semua..
Me : (thinking) mungkin sbb ada udang di sebalik batu
Ma : Haha. Orang2 dulu pandai buat peribahasa.. Ada udang sebalik batu, sudah jatuh ditimpa tangga..
Me : Ha'ah kan.. dah la dah jatuh.. kena timpa tangga lak tu.. Kesian eh.. Agaknya sebab mula mula di melepaskan batuh kat tangga, lps tu jatuh and kena timpa tangga tuh.. bole gak kan ?
Ma : Orang dulu mmg mcm2..
Me : Terlajak perahu bole undur, terlajak kata ?

The perahu bit peribahasa got me thinking, why did the person who came up with the peribahasa relatekan perahu dengan kata kata ? Ada banyak bende yang bole terlajak and bole undur.. telajak kereta bole reverse.. terlajak jalan boleh patah balik.. why perahu ?

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my instant instinct

Memo to a prolific political scientist and an Islamic activist

Dr. Farish Noor, will you help me? The article I pasted on my board in my office with a picture of you on it is disturbing. (Not in a bad way, I might say).

oh dear.. evil eyes are lurking..

I'm putting my Phantom of the Opera mask again and I'm off till things are cool again.. or should I consider moving to another domain ? Haris, I might need your help on this.

I really hate saying this, but as some people say toodles~

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my random chats

DJ : did u just check out my blog ?
MSO : no i didnt..
MSO : i havent
MSO: why
DJ: ooo okay tnya jer
DJ: sbb ada from europe
DJ: eh germany is also under europe kan ?
MSO: europe.. how big is that
DJ: hehehehe

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