Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Last Day of the Year



Hmm, I'm not going to write about this year in review today. Instead, I want to share with you all a true story that happened earlier this year - True Story of a Rumor




True Story of a Rumor

It all started during the first Editorial Board session 2003 meeting. We were discussing about changes and improvements that we need to do for that year. We used the year 2001 edition of the school magazine as our reference. We ran through it cover to cover to find any weaknesses that we need to fix and anything good that we can carry over to this year. We stopped at the Police Cadet page as their picture was one of the best picture in the Co-Curriculum section.

Referring to the picture Pn. Liza, our Advisor said that one of our ex-student that had moved to MRSM Jasin died of a motorcycle accident with a lorry last year. She said it was Ashraf, my close friend since Standard Six. I was shocked to hear it and expressed my condolence, but deep in my heart I feel that something was not right. I asked her for more information and put a note in my mind. After gathering enough information we just continue our meeting.

On my way home my mind start boggling, all the information from Pn. Liza contradicts what I know about Ashraf. I don't blame her because she got the news from someone else. But I'm still not sure whether he's alive or not as anyone can live one minute and leave this world another minute. As with the case of my junior who died in a car accident.

Once I reached home I told the news to my younger sister. She is a friend to one of Ashraf's younger sister, Nadiah. So I hope to get some hints from her. She's also shocked to hear the news but then she said that Nadiah never talked about it and she sounds cheerful every time she called Nadiah. So how come Ashraf can be dead?

The next day I went on to gather information from my classmates. I talked to Husna and Azlyn but once again the information contradicts and have some added twist to it. They said that he died of a motorcycle accident with a lorry last year in Shah Alam while on his way to his girlfriend's house to study Mathematics. The word Shah Alam caught my mind, it is now became clearer to me that this news about Ashraf is just a rumor. How come he can ride a motorcycle all the way to Shah Alam since his house is in Banting and it is not a short distance between the two town.

But still, I'm not confident enough that this is just a joke. I'm yet to talk to him personally so on Saturday I asked my sister to call Nadiah to ask for Ashrafs mobile phone number. My sister called Nadiah’s house but she have gone out. I'm getting worried. "This is not good," I said to myself. At last his mother herself called me.

She asked why I'm asking for his phone number, are there any important thing to tell him? Trying to hide my anxiety I said no, nothing important to tell him just I want to ask him the phone numbers of my other classmates in MRSM Jasin. She satisfied with my answer and went on asking how's my study and family. Finally I gained my strength to ask the question I wanted to know the most, is Ashraf still alive?

She was surprised to hear me to ask such question and asked me why I said so. I told her all about the rumors I heard. Then calmly she said... Yes, Ashraf is still alive and all the news I heard is a fake. Then we bursted into a big laugh. What a joke! Alhamdulillah, at last I find out the truth.

"O you who believe, if a sinner comes to you with news, VERIFY IT, lest you harm people in ignorance, and afterwards you become regretful to what you have done." [Al-Hujuraat, 49:6]

Wassalam, may this be a lesson for us not to believe in rumors.

Tuesday, December 30, 2003

Good News Galore!



As most Malaysians is aware, the PMR result is just released yesterday with some 19,000 students got straight As. Alhamdulillah, my younger sister and cousin is one of them. I SMSed Datin Ezizah, how's SMART doing. We managed to get 57 straight As scorers - 21 9As, 21 8As, and the rest is 7As. Sound a little low than last year but don't forget, a few classes of this batch had been transferred to Sri Kuantan.

My younger sister who got 5As in UPSR managed to get a place in SMART. The Orientation will start this Sunday.

The wedding of Uncle Fadzlu is confirmed also. The 'Akad Nikah' ceremony will be held on the night of 1st May 2004, the reception at Desa Bakti, Mentakab, Pahang will be held the next day. While the reception at our side at Pagoh, Muar, Johor will be held on 3rd May 2004.

Meanwhile, Uncle Azwan had officially propsed his girlfriend last Wednesday and gave her a 'cincin tanda'. The engagement will be around March next year. Well, looks like next year would be quite busy.

By the way, a fellow blogger Kak CNMA (Tech support for eNovel:JAD) is now officially engaged to Shuth. Congratulations!

Visit their website below.



Wish you all a Happy and Posperous New Year!

Wednesday, December 24, 2003

An Unexpected Twist



The eNovel: Jangan Ada Dendam is quite popular among Malaysian blogger community nowadays with thousands of readers. Initially there's only Sri Diah and MBA as Mak and Abah. Then came Rudy as Along before Eyes filling in as Souraya. Now came Angah, actually the original writer is Azra but somehow I became the writer. How come? That's the secret between the writer team, can't tell the reader all about it.

The base idea is provided by Azra, but to write Angah character is a very challenging task. Angah is an exact opposite of me, she's a girl while I'm a boy (or I should use man from now on?), she's active in school while I'm not, she's the second child while I'm first, she don't know to cook but I do (What do you want? Fried rice? Grilled Salmon?). The most difficult part is that she had special relationship before, while I'm not. So that's why I had to rely on Azra for the materials, alone Angah character wouldn't be lifelike. Pretending to be Angah is really challenging, even more challenging than SPM Penulisan questions.

Come to think of it, sometimes I asked myself. "I'm an unexperienced writer writing a series together with a renowned novelist like Sri Diah?" It sounds crazy right? But this all made possible because of my blog, the internet and a little bit of luck and talent. Without Internet the eNovel is not even possible! What more of knowing Sri Diah, MBA and Rudy? Surely the Internet has changed how we communicate.

Talking about communication this few days I've been an unofficial Technical helpdesk. First Doc Burhan asks about Bluetooth, apparently in UK there's a new law that requires everyone to use handsfree kit in cars. If not, 30 pounds fine on the spot. So he wants to a dangle free handsfree solution. Then came Kak Mysanc asking about PDA Phone. Today, somebody suddenly messaged me thru Yahoo Messenger asking about installing Pocket Quran in new XDA II. He only wanted to be known as Raie. Who is this guy? Must be rich enough to buy an XDA II.

OK, I'll be out of town until Monday. Maybe I wouldn't blog. See you all around!

Tuesday, December 23, 2003

Hard to Get a Job?



Well, that's a major problem now, especially for Malaysian graduates. I'm no graduate but Insya'allah will be one day. Watched this TV program, titled 'Ritma Menara' or something like that hosted by Fazlee. It talked about this problem, and graduates and university students give their feedbacks. Some says too choosy, some say lack of right attitude, and lack of skills needed by the industry.

For the last one is true especially in IT industry in Malaysia. I've read in The Star In.Tech Raya Edition that our local IT graduates doesn't even know relatively basic programming languages such as Visual Basic. Heck, even I learned that for SPM and have made a simple program. Even Shahril took one step furher to learn C++.

Back to the TV program, it was Ok. Fazlee is quite a good host. But at the end of the show, they feature university students singing complete with a band. (Apparently it's a band club of one university in KL) Is that the kind of gradutes we want to potray? So many time to waste to practice singing while I've seen my relatives busy finishing assignments each semester break. Heck, do having featured singing in TV have any value in your CV? Unless you apply to be background singer, that's it.

My dad as a lecturer pointed out that's why Malays in universities is still backward. So fond of wasting time, 'gila glamour' and too busy coupling while students from other race are busy studying and meet their lecturers to learn more. May my friends and I will not behave like that in university. Ameen.

Sunday, December 21, 2003

First Malay Novel in Palm Reader eBook Format



Maybe some you have read the eNovel Jangan Ada Dendam (JAD) written by well-known novelist Sri Diah together with MBA and Rudy. Not forgetting Eyes too for some of the recent series. Conversion to Palm Reader format is done by me but actually it can be read on PPC, PC and even Mac too! So looks like I actually helped make a new Malaysian record! ;-) Download the eNovel here and the readers for Palm, PPC, PC and Mac here.

Here's a screenshot of JAD in Palm Reader for Windows:



Enjoy the novel!

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

Vacation Blog - KL & Langkawi





For the benefit of my blog readers who don't have adequate Internet bandwith, my whole one-week-worth vacation blog is moved to here.

Happy Reading and Happy Five Months Holidays To All SPM Result Waiters!

- Sound of Seloka Cak Kun Cak by Tan Sri S.M Salim & M. Nasir -

Tuesday, December 16, 2003

I'm Back!!!



After a week in KL and Langkawi I'm back in Kuantan. So many things to share, wait for my super long posting in a few days. I've not been selected for National Service so here I am blgging all the way.

Friday, December 05, 2003

A New Moblog





Plese visit my new moblog titled Flower Shots. It features flower pictures taken by myself.

Wednesday, December 03, 2003

Wargh, the journey from KL to Kuantan is tiring so I didn't blog yesterday. The bus was OK but why must it stop at Restoran Delima in Temerloh? The price is exorbitantly high - a packet of Mister Potato costs RM3.50 while a can of 100 Plus costs RM1.80! The place is in bad condition and the staffs is not friendly at all. The bus drivers must have been bribed to stop at such an awful place. Grrr, I really hate it.

Monday, December 01, 2003

I'm supposed to go back to Kuantan today but Auntie Hamisah made me postpone my journey home to tomorrow. So I picked up mum's medicine at Uncle Zafar's house. He already left for work so I just took it in the mailbox. His wife and kids is still in Johore. After buying the ticket to Kuantan at Kajang Bus Station I followed Uncle Azman to his new branch office at Section 8, Bangi before going to his main office at Kompleks Diamond in Bangi too.

For dinner we went to Famosa House which serves Malay, Chinese, Nyonya and Western food. The owner is a Muslim Chinese and is staffed mostly by Malays. True to it's name, it had the Portugese theme with authentic artifacts displayed at the premise such as antique bowls and guns. So I decided to try Nyonya cuisine which I never tried before. Just as we want to walk out from Famosa House we saw this one guy egoistically brandishing his new Jabra BT Headset. He must be thinking he's the only one in Bangi to have it before Uncle Azman took his own Jabra BT Headset from his pocket and wear it. Uncle Azman purposely don't want to wear it during dinner because his XDA is set to auto answer and he don't want his caller to hear him chewing food and sipping drink.

Then we went to Uncle Azman's branch office which is the same row as the Famosa House to bring some souvenir stock for his new clients for days to come. Drop by at Warta to buy some stuffs before going back to Uncle Azman's house.