i get your point,tengku

My interview was OK at best. PR-wise, I thought it went really well. But they lingered forever with the question; "your degree is in computer science, mannn! Watcha doin theachin physics?" I said, among other things; "Pak Lah has a degree in Syariah (betul ke? Aku main cakaap je tadi). He's the PM now (not that he's good at it or anything, but if I said something good about Tun M I might be inviting trouble). I acknowledge that qualification is one thing, but I am of the opinion that you also have to look at desire, attitude and discipline, among others."

They asked about ambition (of course); "are you using this center as a stepping stone before going someplace else?" In which I replied; "the center is not known for supporting its staff to further their studies (as-in, they don't say "don't further your studies." Just "if you wanna do, do. If you don't wanna, we don't mind." Not literally). If I continue here while doing research, the center won't be credited for whatever I published because it's not in its policy to do research and publish. I'd like to go as far as I can in my pursuit of knowledge. If I can do that here, then I'll stay. If I can't, then I think by staying here, I'm actually just looking for the money for my expenses while doing research. In my opinion, that is worse than using the center as a stepping stone before going someplace else."

To this, the dean actually said "we also want that (people to go further in their pursuit of knowledge)".

And still they question my elligibility. They just want one solid answer I guess. The HR guy (with a blazer and all, and who was quiet most of the time) went; "we acknowledge your ability. It's just that when the audit people come and enquire about your qualification that we might be in trouble."

@#*&$+*

I guess I do need that good luck wish, Meme. So thank you. And Jasem too.

Alas, after everything was over, Azi my colleague said that I was interviewed longest. And after my session was over, they took the longest time before calling someone else in (I was the first candidate. Azi was second). Sweat it, dudes! I so got a case! Felt like Atticus in 'To Kill A Mockingbird'. For a while at least.

Later on, I received another pleasant suprise when Madam Jannah told me "I really hope you'll get this. You got highest for micro-teaching (mock teaching, for those not in the know)." I am so the man. Da Man, geddit? :p

The dean of MCIIUM looked a little bit like Tengku Mahaleel by the way. I went, like, "eh, dah keje sini pulak ke?" hehe. OK I lied (about the question I asked, not him looking very much like Tengku Mahaleel).

Kalau dah rezeki tu tak kemana Tengku oi!!

and then there's the poem

You have been raped and raped again
And been taken advantage of
But I shall be by your side still
All in the name of love

All that have happened remained in my heart
All that have happened remained in my head
Leaving me miserable
Unable to forget
..Because I love you
I really do

Oh, how I love you!

I would say that I am sad
But be halted I shall not
I’ve been really, really mad
But clouded I am not
Hope is not lost, hope is not lost
And I shall be by your side still
To nurture and to build

I love you, Malaysia
I love you
I always have
And I always will

I suddenly had the idea to write this right after last night’s (early this morning) Man United-Chelsea game. Let’s just say it came out of the blue.

raisins,anyone?

I think lots of people have come across these 'kismis tahfiz' thingy (or maybe it's kismis hafiz, I'm not sure); loosely, 'spiritual' raisins; prepared with prayers and such, and supposedly will help in gaining better memory retention, among others. Well, I have. And my experience was rather, well, revealing. You see, I bought these raisins (not really out of belief or anything. It was an impulsive purchase) and after eating some, left the box on my desk. Now I have to tell you that from experience, foodstuffs left on my desk will attract lots of fans in the form of ants (hey, that rhymed!). But the raisins. Which surprised me because I don't think rumpled plastic in a box can be considered 'airtight' by any standards. Being the weird, twisted one (according to Meme), I experimented; I took out one and left it in the open, on my desk. The number of ants coming to hog this very sweet food: 0. I left it for like, three days.

Later on, still in the spirit of experimenting, I bought 'regular' raisins from 7e and put one in the open, alongside the kismis tahfiz. A while later, both got surrounded by ants.

I guess ants have off days too.

Anyhow, spent my weekend preparing notes for next semester. Managed to prepare notes for 2 weeks ahead. Alhamdulillah. This is an amazing feat, really, given that I've never even photocopied notes for myself when I was studying (we're talking undergrad here). I guess greater sense of responsibility comes with great responsibilities.

I'll do better this semester, insyaAllah.

Wednesday I'll have an interview for the post of full time lecturer. Am just a little bit nervous. Mainly because I went to see the other candidates this morning and they were nervous and asked me lots of questions, which made me nervous. Ah, biarlah. Kalau dah rezeki tu tak kemana..

Am in religious mode. Must be those kismis tahfiz I ate.

what to do?

I was somewhat baffled when a friend said; 'ko ni taste tinggi doh!' To be completely honest, as far as I can remember, I've never hung out with someone (or have the intention to get to know someone better, while we're at that) because she's hot (I might be hung though, if she's really hot). It's always either she's cool, or none of my cool friends are available to hang out ;p The other day when Ira asked me 'taste ko camna weh?' I answered the way I always answered, as far as I can remember; 'takde sifat2 yang khusus pun. Asalkan boleh click. Tapi biarla akalnya tinggi, pandangnya jauh dan luas.' I forgot to metion one more thing to Ira; 'hatinya banyak ruang' (hati besar and hati banyak ruang are two completely different things, mind you!). But anyhow, people are entitled to their own thoughts and opinions. As long as nobody's harmed it's OK I guess. Thanks for the feedback, Kecik :)

OK, enough with the personal ad. I was mildly surprised when the MCIIUM (matriculation centre, IIUM) called me to say they want me to teach there again next semester. I thought I did poorly last semester. I suck. Not literally. I was mighty surprised that none of the other part timers were recalled. Must we do badly to get called again? Hmmm..

Anyhow, the surprises did not end there. The MCIIUM people also urged me, in a take-it-or-leave-it, this-is-an-ultimatum tone to apply for the full time lecturer post. I can honestly say it's flattering that they urged me to apply, letting lots of things pass, like for example; the post was Physics Lecturer when my degree is in Computer Science. Apparently, the interview will be held next week. Without boasting (OK that's a lie. this is boasting. Let me rephrase that to 'without sounding too boastful') I could say that I'm pretty confident that if I get to an interview, it's almost a done deal. But I've never been a full time anything, aside from full time student (if what I'm doing can be termed full time lah). And I'm actually rather reluctant to work full time.

Which puts me in a dilemma.

If I get the full time post I'm pretty sure I'll have to get myself the MOMOS Boxer, so I can be ready to leave at a moment's notice (hmmm, hmmm. Temptations, temptations)..

MOMOS manufactures bikes, not underwears, by the way.

foosball for dummies

Had a blast at Nikkid’s. In general I’d say I enjoyed myself going to hari raya open houses, but hers had a rocker brother-in-law in the form of Abang Bad; the drummer of Headwind, and foosball. Abang Bad (‘Bad’ as-in tart. Or dart. Or maybe it’s really ‘Abang Bard’, for all I care) claimed himself as being one of the first ever in this country to have had the experience of hair re-bonding. And he said it with a hint of pride. We talked lots. Later Rauhan told me about how this long-haired guy wooed Nikkid’s sister. It was the stuff of legends. When he left, I made a gesture to him which Nikkid found really funny, I think, judging by the way she laughed.

Anyway, foosball. This I played and was reluctant to stop. Lawan ngan pompuan, semua aku kalah (do these people have foosball at home or something? Oh. Nikkid does. Duhhh!). Being a gentleman, I didn’t go against Ina who’s pregnant (kalau main dan kalah jugak, malu beb :p). Rauhan, showing no interest whatsoever in foosball which is baffling, later reminded that we need to leave for another open house. Not fancying walking from Ampang to Pantai Dalam, I stopped playing. Spoilsport :p Nikkid invited us to come over later; “pas ni datang a balik, sampai malam pun boleh lepak. Sampai 2 pagi pun takpe (to this, Rauhan smiled, for whatever reasons)..”

But there was the Man U - Shef United game. So we passed.

I need a foosball table. Presto

the optimist

Saw this while at Mid Valley;

Due to the current economic climate, the light at the end of the tunnel has
been turned off until further notice

I guess there comes a time when we should stop hoping and start doing

the mirror image

While at my graduation ceremony, my mother met a nice woman who's very much like herself, in the weird sense that this woman is the complete opposite of my mother. This might sound a little bit creepy, but it did happen. The woman was attending her daughter's graduation, the third of her eight children; six of which are daughters, at the time of the meeting with my mother; who happened to have eight children, six of which are sons. I am the third of eight children.

It did not stop there. If it did, it wouldn't be interesting.

The woman, at the time of the meeting was residing in Kelantan (I think she still does). She's Johorean, but followed her late Kelantanese husband back to his hometown after they married. She had stayed and adopted Kelantan as her new home after her husband passed away. My mother was born and brought up in Kelantan, married and followed my late father back to his hometown, and when my father passed away, had stayed put at the place she dubbed home; Johor.

The both of them; the woman and my mother agreed that; home is where they now reside.

--------------------------------------------

I'm well aware that it has been quite some time since my graduation ceremony. I chose to write about this now after doing some blog-hopping and chanced upon this interesting piece by a friend of Boro's (I don't know how to specifically point to the post, but it's the post on the 30th of October 2006), or rather, what really caught my attention was the comments regarding that particular post.

I am fortunate to have a (Johor) Javanese (late) father and Kelantanese mother. If nothing else, it gives me a different and fresh point of view, this, well, bloodline (macam Naruto la pulak). I've heard from people words like; never marry a Javanese (they were talking about Malaysian citizens I believe). And I've heard countless times of all the do-not-be-friends-and-God-forbid-marry-these-people things about the people from Kelantan. Believe me, there's nothing wrong with the Javanese or Kelantanese, really (I'm annoyingly -but in a joking manner- cocky at times because that's just the way I am, not because I'm half Javanese and/or half Kelantanese. Honestly ;p). And there's nothing wrong with being half or full anything (I strictly mean in human terms here. If someone is half hyena then something might have gone terribly wrong). The problem is when one is half or full of hatred and/or prejudice.

People are different. And because of that, the world is a much more interesting place to live in.

something for the travel channel

Outside of Thailand -where I believe tom yam originated- I think Vicchuda has the best tom yam I've tasted to date. Simply to die for. Berpeluh aku makan beb. Yesterday was my fourth time there and the magic -or whatever it is they put in their tom yam- is still there. I'd say that not unlike in Thailand, the good people who does the cooking at Vicchuda are very generous with the ingredients. They put extra everything in, which resulted in a brilliant concoction of very, very good tom yam. Very.

Jasim said there's a place called Sri Siam which serves better tom yam -slightly better, I'd like to think. Ada sapa-sapa penah pegi Sri Siam? Review? Please?

Berpeluh itu sehat.

from Miss Izlina

Pusat Asasi Sains akan mengadakan Makan Mlm Sambutan 30 Thn PASUM pd 20/4/07.Melibatkan semua ex-asasian dr 1977-2005.Jika berminat pls contact sy..tlg war-warkan pada ex-asasian yg lain!!Tq

Sender:
C.Izlina
+6019219****

---------------------------------------

Sasa read this sms, dropped my handphone because she was surprised of a certain something I did not quite notice and/or comprehend, said a certain obscene word and then asked; “Cik lagi ke dia ni..?”

Anyhow, all ex-asasians!! Those interested can contact me to get the phone number of the good woman (Miss Izlina, that is) and speak to her to let your intention be known. And do tell friends ya?

..and to this day, what surprised Sasa still remained a mystery...

plastic money

Laptop for enhancing the multimedia experience: RM 4800
Unpaid salaries in the form of extra classes: RM250
Smss, calls and travel expenses, whenever needed for consultation: RM25

Seeing the nods of enlightement along with the familiar 'oh!' every once in a while, and receiving smss after the exams are over, saying; 'tq sir, we appreciate ur help': priceless

There are some things money can't buy. Ever.

how i come to know spss

Today, I made the effort to get to know more about statistics. Today, I learnt a bit about SPSS. For those of you not in the know, SPSS, if I'm not mistaken, stands for 'Statistical Package for the Social Sciences' (betul ke Meme? Betul kot..?). Here's my story;

On my way to my sister's...

I was, like, 10m away from her house when three motorcycle-riding policemen stopped me.

Prebet 1 (herewith shall be known as 'P1'):mintak lesen ngan roadtax
lkpl (herewith shall be known as, well, lkpl):turun dari motor. Turun, turun
P1:nak pegi mana ni?
me:balik umah akak
P1:kat mana umah akak?
me:tu ha..dekat je
P1:jalan ni nama apa?(here, I think the good private's trying to verify if I really do have a sister living nearby because, well, I was wearing a black sweater and having with me a big black bag, which equates to very suspicious)
me:5/8 A

Oh, I forgot to mention. I don't have a motorcycle licence. And the roadtax has expired. And managed to keep a straight face throughout.

Anyway

lkpl:ko keja apa ni?
me:belaja lagi bang
lkpl:belaja kat mana?
me:UM
lkpl:ko bawak moto dari UUM sampai sini takde lesen? (the bike has a Penang registration number)
me:UM. Universiti Malaya.
lkpl:ko bawak moto dari UM sampai sini takde lesen? (deja vu, anyone?)
me:...

Anyway, they asked lots of questions. Gave advices even. I mentioned three policemen earlier right? The other one, Prebet 2, said; takde roadtax patut kena bawak gi balai ni..

.....

Anyhow, we got to the point where the lkpl asked me (which totally baffled me at the time); 'kau tau guna Adobe tak?'
me: Acrobat ke? Tau
lkpl: Power point semua tau?
me: tau
lkpl: kalau komputer rosak semua ko boleh repair?
me: tengok la apa yang rosak. Tapi kalau dari barang2 saja tu saya penah la pasang jadi komputer

OK. This is the good part. Trust me

lkpl: ko tolong tesis aku boleh? SPSS. Data semua dah ada dah, tinggal nak interpret ngan buat dalam bentuk ayat je (!!!!)
me: boleh kot (I have this habit of saying 'boleh kot' when people ask me whether or not I can help them with a certain software, even if I haven't used it before)
lkpl: .... ko ada kat sini bila?
me: selalu ujung minggu a. Oh tapi Syawal ni takde kot. Ujung minggu banyak open house (I honestly said this)
lkpl: ek elehh (he honestly said this)
P1:hehehe
P2:.... ;p
lkpl: ok, mintak no telefon ko

gave phone no, got a missed call.

me: abang nama apa bang?
lkpl: *******
me: Jawa ke bang? (seronok beb, jumpa kaum)
lkpl: takde ah. Ada ke cakap aku Jawa
P1:hehehe
P2:....
me: eh OK a Jawa. Saya separuh Jawa bang, cool je..

That was my story. What's yours? ;p

And did I get a ticket? Of course not.

the one

one squared equals 1
oneone squared equals 121
oneoneone squared equals 12321
oneoneoneone squared equals 1234321
oneoneoneoneone squared equals 123454321
oneoneoneoneoneone squared equals 12345654321
oneoneoneoneoneoneone squared equals 1234567654321
oneoneoneoneoneoneoneone squared equals 123456787654321
oneoneoneoneoneoneoneoneone squared equals 12345678987654321

When I started I never thought I'd get to one hundred posts. This is it. senangcarik just turned triple digits! I'm actually trying to find something meaningful to write as my one hundredth post here but only came up with this lame excuse of an entry. But just out of curiosity; did anyone punched their calculators? ;p

Now, how many ones did I use in this entry?

Monday morning

"semua pihak diminta berhenti membuat pendedahan dan kritikan yang boleh memalukan bangsa Melayu.."

hmmm. I thought it should be

"semua orang diminta berhenti melakukan sebarang kesalahan yang boleh memalukan dirinya dan kaumnya.."

Maybe there was some misinterpretation on my behalf. I hope so.