Woah!! I'm surprise that I'm still alive after 4 days in this desolated campus after the finals ended. I suppose that I should be thankful that my last paper is on the last day of exams; if not I would have needed more mind-numbing series to watch online to fill my time. I would not be surprised if I need a new contact lenses prescription after this past week. But then again, I have always spent the first few days of holidays in front of the tv. Call it catching up time after not enjoying the tube for so long during school term. Then again, the same logic cannot be applied for this semester because I have been watching a lot of tv!! Oh well, what else can you do when no one is around and a blizzard is blowing outside.
Alone time is over!!! This year end would be a productive period for me, travelling on the eastern seaboard. Christmas in DC, daytrip in Philly and New Year in NYC! Bring on all the bus rides, long queues and freezing temperature... it would be a good change from Bleach (whose 199 episodes I have finished in the aforementioned 4 days... actually 7 days if you count the days I procrastinated doing my English paper)
Adios online tv. See you next semester.
P/S: The infamous KOPETRO bag would be making a reappearance during my holidays - minus the broken zipper.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
Happy Aidil Adha
There goes another Raya without me going to the mosque for the eid prayer. I missed the last one because I didn't wake up. This one, well, I didn't even bother to try to wake up. The mosque is too far away to walk and everyone was busy with work or finals so nobody can drive me. Not a large pool of people to draw from the beginning considering that the Friday congregation at our surau-converted-from-apartment has a grand total of around 20. If I had not made it obvious yet, it is damn hard being a practicing Muslim here. Emphasis on the 'practicing' because apparently here having a religion doesn't mean that you have to practice it. Countless times I've received the remarks, "Oh you're a muslim...emmm are you a practicing Muslim?"
I suppose that I should have applied to a university in a more urban setting where they have halal restaurants and sizable 'practicing' muslims that would have my life a lot more easier. To tell the truth, I am not regretting it as much. The environment is totally different: I'm living on a vegan-cum-seafood diet because of my insistence of not katok-ing, small prayer congregation etc. I guess it's times like these that you know whether your religion is just for show or you truly believe in it. Ahh, enough with the sentiments.
I want daging korban panggang. These weeks (or maybe months) without meat is making me miss the fresh meat from korban that we the cousins cut, skewer and grill on Aidil Adha. Let's just hope I won't miss the next Raya prayers... oh wait the next Syawal 1 falls while I'm back in the US...
I suppose that I should have applied to a university in a more urban setting where they have halal restaurants and sizable 'practicing' muslims that would have my life a lot more easier. To tell the truth, I am not regretting it as much. The environment is totally different: I'm living on a vegan-cum-seafood diet because of my insistence of not katok-ing, small prayer congregation etc. I guess it's times like these that you know whether your religion is just for show or you truly believe in it. Ahh, enough with the sentiments.
I want daging korban panggang. These weeks (or maybe months) without meat is making me miss the fresh meat from korban that we the cousins cut, skewer and grill on Aidil Adha. Let's just hope I won't miss the next Raya prayers... oh wait the next Syawal 1 falls while I'm back in the US...
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Procrastination is the Thief of Time
Procrastinating steals my time. Literally.
I have a problem with deadlines. I tend to follow them to closely. TOO CLOSELY. I would only finish up homework if they are due the next day, not a day more, not a day less. Take my English long paper for example. My teacher gave a one-week extension for the paper but I still saw it fit to burn the midnight (and morning) oil a few hours before it is supposed to be handed in.
Now here is my main problem. I am getting away in doing work at the last minute. I have never missed a single deadline during my time here. Call it time management. Hell, I have been able to rack up hours of online TV and still keep up with the studies. I wonder what would happen if I actually made full use of my free time. Imagine the world with me at top speed....
I have a problem with deadlines. I tend to follow them to closely. TOO CLOSELY. I would only finish up homework if they are due the next day, not a day more, not a day less. Take my English long paper for example. My teacher gave a one-week extension for the paper but I still saw it fit to burn the midnight (and morning) oil a few hours before it is supposed to be handed in.
Now here is my main problem. I am getting away in doing work at the last minute. I have never missed a single deadline during my time here. Call it time management. Hell, I have been able to rack up hours of online TV and still keep up with the studies. I wonder what would happen if I actually made full use of my free time. Imagine the world with me at top speed....
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Post-Election fever
Big news!! Obama won the presidency. Being my usual apathetic self, I couldn't care less who won, especially since I am not voting. But being here in the United States, you cannot help feeling involved in this business of selecting the occupant the 'highest office in the land.' We talk about it in Econs where the prof alludes to the importance of the economic package the candidates are bringing. We talk about it in IR when learning about some of US foreign policy. I had a whole unit of it in English class where the topic of stereotypes that we are discussing have a lot of connection with the election with the first black (race), oldest (age), and woman running-mate (gender). And definitely, since the people can vote at 18 here, the election was bound to come up in a conversation. The election fever was definitely in the air: celebrity voting drives, posters, flyers, commercials (which can be very overt) and programs to inform voters are everywhere.
I'm glad that Obama won, but not for some of the reasons that I hear are bandied about. Sure he's the first black president, but what has that got anything to do with why he was elected. I mean, he did get 97% of the black vote, but blacks aren't the majority here in the States. From my point of view, and the majority of the 52% voters that leaned his way, Obama was the better leader. He had the more organized campaign, better advisors, better policies, and better grasp of the economic crisis that everyone is going through. I have to keep in mind though that the newspapers I read might be influencing this judgment. But from what I see, McCain can't beat Obama, especially with the weight of the Bush unpopularity going against him.
That said, I feel that some people cannot see Obama beyond the color of his skin. I've heard some people contemplating that there'll be another election next year or so, alluding that Obama is either going to get assasinated or impeached. Some even compared Obama to Hitler because of his oratory skills. On the other side, I feel that some minority groups are simply supporting him because of his skin color. Thoroughout the campaign, Obama downplayed the significance of his race, and I respect him tremendously because of that. The bipartisan politics that he wants to play is a welcome relief because squabbling about policies along party lines wouldn't really be beneficial to the people.
Now to the post election part. Apparently, racism hasn't died in the land of the free. Some verbal abuse cases has been brought up and because of that, a can of worms have been opened. At a town hall meeting I went just now, it was obvious that there were some pent-up frustration among the minorities and the discussion went of the tangent a few times. For the most part, it was intense, but it was an interesting experience to see the openness of the American culture.
Mid semester fatigue. Can't wait for the holidays.
I'm glad that Obama won, but not for some of the reasons that I hear are bandied about. Sure he's the first black president, but what has that got anything to do with why he was elected. I mean, he did get 97% of the black vote, but blacks aren't the majority here in the States. From my point of view, and the majority of the 52% voters that leaned his way, Obama was the better leader. He had the more organized campaign, better advisors, better policies, and better grasp of the economic crisis that everyone is going through. I have to keep in mind though that the newspapers I read might be influencing this judgment. But from what I see, McCain can't beat Obama, especially with the weight of the Bush unpopularity going against him.
That said, I feel that some people cannot see Obama beyond the color of his skin. I've heard some people contemplating that there'll be another election next year or so, alluding that Obama is either going to get assasinated or impeached. Some even compared Obama to Hitler because of his oratory skills. On the other side, I feel that some minority groups are simply supporting him because of his skin color. Thoroughout the campaign, Obama downplayed the significance of his race, and I respect him tremendously because of that. The bipartisan politics that he wants to play is a welcome relief because squabbling about policies along party lines wouldn't really be beneficial to the people.
Now to the post election part. Apparently, racism hasn't died in the land of the free. Some verbal abuse cases has been brought up and because of that, a can of worms have been opened. At a town hall meeting I went just now, it was obvious that there were some pent-up frustration among the minorities and the discussion went of the tangent a few times. For the most part, it was intense, but it was an interesting experience to see the openness of the American culture.
Mid semester fatigue. Can't wait for the holidays.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Minority Report
I really need to be more consistent in doing this.
Well, more on life in the States. I'm now entering my 4th week here. Whoever said university life is easy must be joking or they totally blew off their first semester. Right from the start, time management is at the forefront of life here. All these independent readings and studying would be unbearable once it snowballs so I really need to be on my feet here.
Being in the minority. It is not something that I have ever given much thought about. What do you expect, I am used to being part of the largest ethnic group, have people speaking the same Manglish language and surrounded by like-minded Muslims. In the States, I have no problem with the first two situation being different here. The US is made up of multiple ethnicity and have huge number of second and third-generations here to the point that I feel awkward in asking someone not Caucasian about which country he/she is from. Because most often the answer that I'd get is that they're American.
Conversing is also weird for me at first. Americans speak English and before I came I thought I had a decent command of the language already. But no, I can't speak shit. My pronunciation is totally off because I'm used to practicing British English. Most people here can't get my message when I talk so most of the time I would be repeating myself. My worst experience in this case is telling the registrar officer that I took A-Levels. For some reason 'A-levels' and 'economics' sounded like gibberish to her that I was almost spelling out the phrases to her. What hurt my pride more was that after that she was talking to me in a slow manner carefully pronouncing every syllable as if I would not be able to understand her.
But, by far, the most shocking revelation is being part of the Muslim minority. In Malaysia, you wouldn't have to worry about halal meat and going to prayers is like second nature because the facilities are accessible. Here, we would be lucky to be able to fill our musolla which is a rented room above a Chinese restaurant. The nearest mosque is quite a distance and because university life doesn't actually give you more than an hour's off on Friday afternoon, we will have to make do with our 20-odd congregation. Ramadan is upon us and it truly is a different experience fasting in another country. The length of the day varies through the season and I would hate to think how long I would have to fast if Ramadan falls during summer next year. We have weekly iftars at the musolla with someone sponsoring the fast-breaking. It's not much but every morsel of halal chicken or meat is always a welcome sight.
Being the minority is truly enlightening. Now I have a grasp of how it feels to be on the other side.
Well, more on life in the States. I'm now entering my 4th week here. Whoever said university life is easy must be joking or they totally blew off their first semester. Right from the start, time management is at the forefront of life here. All these independent readings and studying would be unbearable once it snowballs so I really need to be on my feet here.
Being in the minority. It is not something that I have ever given much thought about. What do you expect, I am used to being part of the largest ethnic group, have people speaking the same Manglish language and surrounded by like-minded Muslims. In the States, I have no problem with the first two situation being different here. The US is made up of multiple ethnicity and have huge number of second and third-generations here to the point that I feel awkward in asking someone not Caucasian about which country he/she is from. Because most often the answer that I'd get is that they're American.
Conversing is also weird for me at first. Americans speak English and before I came I thought I had a decent command of the language already. But no, I can't speak shit. My pronunciation is totally off because I'm used to practicing British English. Most people here can't get my message when I talk so most of the time I would be repeating myself. My worst experience in this case is telling the registrar officer that I took A-Levels. For some reason 'A-levels' and 'economics' sounded like gibberish to her that I was almost spelling out the phrases to her. What hurt my pride more was that after that she was talking to me in a slow manner carefully pronouncing every syllable as if I would not be able to understand her.
But, by far, the most shocking revelation is being part of the Muslim minority. In Malaysia, you wouldn't have to worry about halal meat and going to prayers is like second nature because the facilities are accessible. Here, we would be lucky to be able to fill our musolla which is a rented room above a Chinese restaurant. The nearest mosque is quite a distance and because university life doesn't actually give you more than an hour's off on Friday afternoon, we will have to make do with our 20-odd congregation. Ramadan is upon us and it truly is a different experience fasting in another country. The length of the day varies through the season and I would hate to think how long I would have to fast if Ramadan falls during summer next year. We have weekly iftars at the musolla with someone sponsoring the fast-breaking. It's not much but every morsel of halal chicken or meat is always a welcome sight.
Being the minority is truly enlightening. Now I have a grasp of how it feels to be on the other side.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
A Series of Unfortunate Events
Hey people,
The eagle has landed. My second post for this blog is written on my bed in my room at Lehigh University, USA. For those who don't know where or what Lehigh is, don't worry, your in the majority. Google it if your that curious. The irony is that I had second thoughts about the university just because I had a hard time telling people which university I was going. But now that I'm finally here, I'm glad I didn't change my mind.
Referring to the topic of my post, my ride to the university wasn't easy. In a nutshell, my camera broke just a week before the trip, I got sick and puked on the airplane (I managed to rush to the toilet of course), left waiting at the head of the line by an immigration officer, had trouble opening my KOPETRO bag at the customs, arrived too late in Bethlehem for check-in and missed the international students orientation.
Top it with the reluctance to leave my family and friends behind, I wonder why am I doing this. But every cloud has a silver lining, and I certainly saw good things coming out of my predicament. Firstly, my camera overexpose the pics that it takes. I had already sent the camera for fixing 6 months ago but the problem repeated itself. It was too late to get a new camera so I resigned myself to not having any medium to record my new adventure. Lo and behold, at the airport, my dad said I can take the family's DSLR!!! Definitely a silver lining.
I have never puked on an airplane before nor have I ever been seasick. I pride myself in being able to weather any conditions without any trouble so it was disconcerting to feel dizzy in the middle of a 20-hour flight and throw up in the lavatory. It did however gave me a first hand experience of how it feels to go through unbearable pain and be powerless to do anything about it. I used to think that migrains are just excuses to skip classes and felt that the migrain does not affect our ability to conduct our daily affairs. My perception was very wrong.
At the immigration at Newark Liberty International Airport, I was next in line to the booth. before me was an Indian couple with their baby. When they were done, the officer got up and left his booth. I thought that he was just giving directions for the couple so I waited for him to come back. Twenty minutes passed and he still hadn't come back. I was cursing under my breath. He could have just told me that he was leaving his post so that I can move to another line. But no, he just left. Myra pointed to a poster in front of the immigration booths: something about them being the frontline image of America. Well, the officer definitely did not give me a good impression. Here, we saw Eno who was way behind us in the original line waving at us from the other side. Cis!
I declared that I was bringing food from Malaysia. Naturally, the customs would want to inspect them. I put all of the processed food into the bag provided by KOPETRO. When I tried to open the combination lock at the carousel, the lock wouldn't budge. I thought I had the wrong bag but but I had confirmed it using thebaggage tag. Not wanting to try picking the combination one by one at the airport after a 20-hour flight, I told the officer to just break the lock. Oh how I wished I didn't bring any food at all. But then again, now that the lock is broken, I wouldn't have to struggle all night turning the dials one by one to find the correct combination. I still am not sure whether I had set the lock wrongly or that I had just received an inferior product. The only way to find out is to pick the lock, using time that I don't have right now.
At Newark, Mr Aznan and his family was there to greet us. I originally thought that Myra and I were going to have to take the bus to Lehigh in the middle of the night but Mr Aznan was there to save the day. We had our first meal on US soil consisting of chinese shrimp fried rice. I was missing my nasi goreng kampung already. When we arrived in Bethlehem after an almost two-hour drive on the 78, registration was already closed so we stayed in a motel. We shared a room with Mr Aznan, his wife and two little kids so we did not have to spend a penny to get a bed for the night (Petronas was going to reimburse him anyway).
In the morning, Myra and I checked into Lehigh. So the adventure begins.
The eagle has landed. My second post for this blog is written on my bed in my room at Lehigh University, USA. For those who don't know where or what Lehigh is, don't worry, your in the majority. Google it if your that curious. The irony is that I had second thoughts about the university just because I had a hard time telling people which university I was going. But now that I'm finally here, I'm glad I didn't change my mind.
Referring to the topic of my post, my ride to the university wasn't easy. In a nutshell, my camera broke just a week before the trip, I got sick and puked on the airplane (I managed to rush to the toilet of course), left waiting at the head of the line by an immigration officer, had trouble opening my KOPETRO bag at the customs, arrived too late in Bethlehem for check-in and missed the international students orientation.
Top it with the reluctance to leave my family and friends behind, I wonder why am I doing this. But every cloud has a silver lining, and I certainly saw good things coming out of my predicament. Firstly, my camera overexpose the pics that it takes. I had already sent the camera for fixing 6 months ago but the problem repeated itself. It was too late to get a new camera so I resigned myself to not having any medium to record my new adventure. Lo and behold, at the airport, my dad said I can take the family's DSLR!!! Definitely a silver lining.
I have never puked on an airplane before nor have I ever been seasick. I pride myself in being able to weather any conditions without any trouble so it was disconcerting to feel dizzy in the middle of a 20-hour flight and throw up in the lavatory. It did however gave me a first hand experience of how it feels to go through unbearable pain and be powerless to do anything about it. I used to think that migrains are just excuses to skip classes and felt that the migrain does not affect our ability to conduct our daily affairs. My perception was very wrong.
At the immigration at Newark Liberty International Airport, I was next in line to the booth. before me was an Indian couple with their baby. When they were done, the officer got up and left his booth. I thought that he was just giving directions for the couple so I waited for him to come back. Twenty minutes passed and he still hadn't come back. I was cursing under my breath. He could have just told me that he was leaving his post so that I can move to another line. But no, he just left. Myra pointed to a poster in front of the immigration booths: something about them being the frontline image of America. Well, the officer definitely did not give me a good impression. Here, we saw Eno who was way behind us in the original line waving at us from the other side. Cis!
I declared that I was bringing food from Malaysia. Naturally, the customs would want to inspect them. I put all of the processed food into the bag provided by KOPETRO. When I tried to open the combination lock at the carousel, the lock wouldn't budge. I thought I had the wrong bag but but I had confirmed it using thebaggage tag. Not wanting to try picking the combination one by one at the airport after a 20-hour flight, I told the officer to just break the lock. Oh how I wished I didn't bring any food at all. But then again, now that the lock is broken, I wouldn't have to struggle all night turning the dials one by one to find the correct combination. I still am not sure whether I had set the lock wrongly or that I had just received an inferior product. The only way to find out is to pick the lock, using time that I don't have right now.
At Newark, Mr Aznan and his family was there to greet us. I originally thought that Myra and I were going to have to take the bus to Lehigh in the middle of the night but Mr Aznan was there to save the day. We had our first meal on US soil consisting of chinese shrimp fried rice. I was missing my nasi goreng kampung already. When we arrived in Bethlehem after an almost two-hour drive on the 78, registration was already closed so we stayed in a motel. We shared a room with Mr Aznan, his wife and two little kids so we did not have to spend a penny to get a bed for the night (Petronas was going to reimburse him anyway).
In the morning, Myra and I checked into Lehigh. So the adventure begins.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Foreword
Hey people!
Looks like I have finally joined the blogging bandwagon. I must say that I am a little bit nervous in doing this because by nature, I am an intensely private person. I don't indulge in sharing thoughts or views with others so blogging is actually a big step for me (forwards or backwards, you be the judge). However, I would like to make it clear that I am not a very opinionated person nor that I have grouses with every other things. So don't expect any revolutionary content from this web page.
I am starting this blog for purely selfish reasons. You see, I think my memory only works for short-term periods, meaning that I usually forget things that had happened a long time ago. And this happenings could be really, really big moments of my life but I would still struggle to recall the details. So whenever old tales are brought up into conversations, I would usually be the one nodding and adding 'hmm' and 'ahh' sounds at the appropriate moments ( I seem to have made an art out of this). But I am not complaining, as I would not be able to remember bitter or sad moments of my life, which would be very few and far in between if memory serves right. Also, short-term memory comes in handy for those last-minute study sessions!
So technically, this web page would serve more as a personal journal with a smattering of opinions on random issues. To all curious stalkers out there, don't expect a field day reading my posts. I would like to thank all the people that had my dour life eventful thus far and had managed to remind me time and time again about the happenings of my life. It's time for me to take up some slack and record my life myself. (To my personal autobiographer, you are not fired yet!)
Enjoy reading and feel free to comment!
Looks like I have finally joined the blogging bandwagon. I must say that I am a little bit nervous in doing this because by nature, I am an intensely private person. I don't indulge in sharing thoughts or views with others so blogging is actually a big step for me (forwards or backwards, you be the judge). However, I would like to make it clear that I am not a very opinionated person nor that I have grouses with every other things. So don't expect any revolutionary content from this web page.
I am starting this blog for purely selfish reasons. You see, I think my memory only works for short-term periods, meaning that I usually forget things that had happened a long time ago. And this happenings could be really, really big moments of my life but I would still struggle to recall the details. So whenever old tales are brought up into conversations, I would usually be the one nodding and adding 'hmm' and 'ahh' sounds at the appropriate moments ( I seem to have made an art out of this). But I am not complaining, as I would not be able to remember bitter or sad moments of my life, which would be very few and far in between if memory serves right. Also, short-term memory comes in handy for those last-minute study sessions!
So technically, this web page would serve more as a personal journal with a smattering of opinions on random issues. To all curious stalkers out there, don't expect a field day reading my posts. I would like to thank all the people that had my dour life eventful thus far and had managed to remind me time and time again about the happenings of my life. It's time for me to take up some slack and record my life myself. (To my personal autobiographer, you are not fired yet!)
Enjoy reading and feel free to comment!
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