out of ordinary

do you know the plastic/metal tip of your shoelace is called 'aglet'? i first knew it from Terry Pratchett's 'Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents'.

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for tomorrow, we have a day off, thanks to the Sultan of Selangor whose bitrthday happens to be tomorrow. so, today, we still had school and a thing out of ordinary happened to me on this day.

i had a very short sleep the night before due to my chronic procrastination habit which required me to complete the Nihongo's homework that was supposed to be handed in the day before. no choice but to complete it anyway. however, as i was doing it in company of my notebook pc, it was kinda delayed and was slowed for various obvious reasons. i ended up sleeping in front of the notebook pc and finally get on the bed when it was 5 a.m. nonentheless, i woke up at half past 5, and snooze again, finally got into the toilet by 6. in short, i had a normal morning as usual, with addition, i got on the first bus.

class started at 7:50, nihongo class for the whole morning. my guess, inevitably i would be sleeping throughout the classes, what more we had Kanji for the 1st one-the vulnerable class.

surprisingly, from the beginning until the last nihongo class, my eyes were wide open-exception for a few minutes, they were thinning but still open. on top of that, i was quite active in class, making noises instead of sitting still with no movement nor sound as i usually do. so, proudly, i survived the morning.

in the afternoon, it was 'creative objects' class where i started working on the manufacturing of my robot. delightfully i was in my new pair of sneakers, it was sparkling white, so funny. entered the workshop but didn't get the chance to use the machine long enough. probably, we made a slight mistake in planning, shouldn't be all 3 of my group entering the workshop, we were yet to finish on fixing the engine. so, better to plan ahead next time-this friday.

another funny thing for the day: u don't only get hazy glasses while eating hot noodle, wearing goggles in the workshop too would result the same even without the hot noodle.

then again, i didn't sleep during that class-how can i? and also for the following english class where we were testing our listening ability-exactly my weakness lies here. i didn't sleep.

school finished, somehow, we had a dialog session with the CEO of our sponsor who is also the manager of our program and another person who is the Dean of our program. it was a productive session where all of the students in the program from the 3 whole batches confront with these big figures. again, i managed to get through without any sleep at all.

finally i returned, it was Maghrib. carefully removed my white sneakers, untie the white shoelaces with white aglet on it, put them properly in the rack, went straight to my room. i prayed. i lay down and slept....

until Kinta woke me to go for dinner with her. i barely just slept not even for an hour. from there till the moment i'm typing this, i haven't slept yet. so for 10th of december 2008, my entire sleep was less than 2 hours for the whole day.

glad tomorrow is actually a holiday.

a friend i hate

do you know that the metal band used to mate the eraser with pencil is called a ferrule? i just knew minutes ago.

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okay, according to dictionary.com, here's the definition of friend;

noun
1. a person you know well and regard with affection and trust; "he was my best friend at the university"
2. an associate who provides cooperation or assistance; "he's a good ally in fight" [syn: ally] [ant: enemy]
3. a person with whom you are acquainted; "I have trouble remembering the names of all my acquaintances"; "we are friends of the family" [syn: acquaintance] [ant: alien, stranger]
4. a person who backs a politician or a team etc.; "all their supporters came out for the game"; "they are friends of the library" [syn: supporter] 5.
a member of the Religious Society of Friends founded by George Fox (the Friends have never called themselves Quakers)

i prefer to refer to this particular friend of mine to be in group three, the other meanings just don't apply to it. in fact, i dun have any shred of fondness towards this friend, only a huge disdain and a dire need to get away, as far as i could, to make this friend of mine disappear from sight as long as possible.

alas, this friend is always by my side-the only thing he does as a friend. oh my, does that make satan my friend too? they are forever by my side, aren't they? okay, forget about satan, this friend of mine insist of being attached to me, it makes me uncomfortable with him around, i can't hardly breathe, but in a way, instead of making me losing my space, in doing that, i got space. just that it is only for a very short while, followed by a feeling where i want to really kill him. usually, i would be the one to be left devastated in the end. i would be in despair, a bottomless penitence whenever this friend is around. nonetheless, he's ALWAYS around.

every once in a while, i would plan how to get rid of this friend of mine, i think of the route i should take to avoid him getting attached to me, i plan all the actions i should do, working out all the plausible tactics, drawing out strategies, almost a complete scheme. but then, when he has already embraced me tightly, all those plans crumble into pieces, left abandoned just like that. again, i would hate myself for that. and eventually, i am the one who gonna pay a heavy price for it.

so, i wonder just when i could get myself straight and totally get rid of this friend forever for good? oh, procrastination, please, please, dun make urself here by me ever again, i hate you, as much i hate those satans who would drag me to the fiery hell. you are never a good friend to me, yet u always cling by me. please, please, go away!

procrastination is a student's best friend

-said my actual friend

anyone with a cure? aid? remedy? antidote? placebo??

p/s: currently working on a homework, regarding pencil, and am procrastinating it

cow?

ever heard of Rocky chocolate? the chocolate bicuit stick? do you know its actual name is Pocky, produced by the Ezaki Glico Company of Japan, but was it renamed as Rocky in Malaysia? don't worry i juz knew that too.

okay, this year's eidul adha might not be the best i've had, but certainly i'm happy for some particular reasons....

the day before i had my jlpt, i actually got the chance to shop at alamanda-specifically parkson. strange enough, my dad just let me bought that pair of pants that i like without any objection and some other stationeries. he was in good mood i guess.

• happiness metre : 30%-i like the pants, it's maroon

when i've finished my JLPT-wearing the new pair of pants, returned home and i slept. oh yeah, JLPT was okay i guess. i just said it based on my sleep to awake ratio which was so high. can't believe i would actually sleep despite having promised to my teachers "寝ないようにがんばっています". but then, i still slept for most part of the test.

• happiness metre : 5%-sleeping is just so good when u're tired

it was only after 6 we actually departed from our house. balik kampung lah. firstly, we were heading to Segamat, my mom's side. i just followed, also looked forward to it, meeting my beloved cousin there and all. before that, my dad bought lemang at bangi, unfortunately, only lemang was available, not the rendang. and also a container of baulu-strawberry? okay. so, we went on.

• happiness metre : -3%-the strawberry baulu just so weird and i dun particularly like riding the car, nauseatic..

to have our prayers (jama' of coz), my dad stopped at Restoran Jejantas Ayer Keroh. supposedly we were gonna eat here too. BUT the shop there only had nasi campur which i dun have a liking into it, so i thought of just buying a burger from A&W. guess what, it was so crowded, the queue was so damn long. i walked ahead. and i saw something else..

actually, the day before at parkson, i was actually looking for a pair of new shoes but ended up with a pair of pants. so, when i saw shoes on display, i was quickyly attracted. never thought there was gonna be al-ikhsan store on the highway though. didn't realize it but my hunger just disappeared when i was looking at the shoes. there was actually a pair of sneakers less than RM100. okay, that one was RM99. but still, it was discounted. i love the word sale (gosh, the women's disease). so, i ended up taking my parents there too, wanting to buy a pair, pointed to them the cheap one. of coz they won't buy it for me if i say i want the expensive one, immediate rejection that would be. so, while they were in, i wandered to other sneakers too, pondering which one was good, compared them in front of my parents and so on. i guess we sort of spent about nearly half an hour just being there.

lastly, a white pair of sneakers in my possession. forget the price.

• happiness metre : 79%-in was so in an instant, never thought it would suddenly come at me, i'm grinning wide

at segamat, met my cousins, chatted and at nearly 12, i watched Hanakimi SP with one of them, she wanted to watch it so that she won;t have to transfer the 1.5gig into her bro's comp

• happiness metre : 19% watching it again still gave me a good laugh. it was so funny and notorious in the same time.

10zulhijjah- ate ketupat, a quick shower, ate ketupat, had my raya prayer, slept, in the car to my other kampung (slept), arrived and ate ketupat, laze around in front of tv, helped trasfer song my cousins wanted, watched an episode of 1 pound gospel, ate ketupat, snacking, and finally had our journey home after it was 6-slept again.

• happiness meter: 25%-ketupat and kuah lodeh is just so delicious!!

i had Rocky and shared it with my parents. that's so nostalgic, when was the last time i ate those kind of things

• happiness metre : 21% so funny when us 3 sharing a box of Rocky chocolate.

今日は能力試験 +today's JLPT +hari ini JLPT

今、うちにいる
今日は能力試験なのに私は今まであまり勉強しない。にほんごはじょうずだわけじゃない、ただなまけかなあ。。後、何分後、家から出発です～。何をしているの？？

today is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. but until now, i haven't been studying that much for that. in a matter of minutes, i'll be departing from my house, gosh, what am i doing???

hari ini JLPT (x perlu saya terangkan lagi, perlukah?). tetapi, saya hampir tidak mengulangkaji untuk sebab itu. mengapalah saya bersusah-payah membawa pulang kertas tahun2 lepas ke rumah jika hasilnya saya langsung tidak membukanya. astaghfirullah'azim.

bismillahirrahmanirrahim (dengan nama Allah yang maha pemurah lagi maha mengasihani)
"ya Allah, mudahkanlah urusan hambamu ini. terangkanlah hatinya, teguhkanlah imannya, tajamkanlah pemikirannya, kuatkanlah ingatannya, hanya padaMu boleh kuberharap, ya Allah yang Maha Besar"

[genting episode] story about the socks

well, the after-effect of going to genting is still faintly here.



the first part of my trip to genting began the moment i left my house. the plan was to meet the others at kl sentral. the information i got was that we would be departing by bus to genting from kl sentral. so, considering the distance between my house and kl sentral that was not too far apart, i decided to leave after 7 - the other left tbp by 6:45 a.m.

i slept quite late the previous night, my relatives came for a simple occasion, a bit like family gathering, so the last departed from our house was nearly at 12. even after that, i continued to lounge around, for some reason, i watched the james bond movie that was already aired on the tv, and only after i felt like getting up, went into bed.

as expected, it was hard to wake up in the morning, only after several attempts by my father to wake me up, i finally got the body moving and hastily took a shower and also to pray. it was already 7. i remembered about the food i had promised huda, so i had to go to the kitchen and heat the karipap i had reserved beforehand. in that morning also, i finally made the decision on what to wear. however, when i was ready to exit the house, my dad insisted for a sweater. i went up flight of stairs again, entered my sis's room, got one of the sweaters she left behind. ok, what was left was the scarf.

it was quarter after 7 when i was in the car, my dad had waited since it was 7 but of course, it took time to wear the scarf properly. ok, to run for the bus whose departing time was at 8:30, i guess, i got time to spare-or not. i had to consider the traffic or any other possibilities as well. the car had moved for a couple of minutes, i was already out of my housing area when i realized something. i was to wear the socks i was carrying in the car to save time. however, what i could took out from my pocket was a piece of it. not the whole pair! i could not imagine wearing the shoes without socks-it was just inappropriate. and what's more was that, my destinantion was genting. i probably don't want to have chilled fingertoes upon arriving there. yeah, my dad made a u-turn.

i tried to follow the track i used from inside the house to the car. again, i have to unlock oh how many keys we had from the gate to the wooden door at the entrance to our house. there was no trace or the sock i'm trying to find in sight. i was in panic. i looked in the room downstairs, none. went to my bedroom upstairs, none. ok, i resort to new one. i went to my parents' room. opened the drawer, gosh, so many socks, but barely there were mine. i pushed aside my dad's and my mom's, thank god, my socks during high school was. but which one should i take. so lazy to think, i brought all 3 pairs i had in sight. imagine, holding all those in these clumsy pair of hands of mine, running back to the car. oh, forgot to lock the keys, went out from the car, locking the door, tend to the gate that needed to be locked, fortunately the chain was locked using the matching code instead of key. my hands staggered too due to the dire need to rush. okay, that's done. then, i was about to head back to the car when my sweater got stuck by the metal net on the gate. such a hassle! but then, it was not only my sweater that got stuck. i saw something else. it was my other pair of the sock.

when i returned inside the car, now 4 pairs of socks at hand, it was 7:28.


later, how we all were running, gasping, trying to catch the bus was another interesting story.

won't it be nice if i have these kind of socks. so cute...

green with envy?

[genting episode]the man who could speak german

well, i usually do not talk to stranger. i mean, total stranger you meet on the road. however, that day was surprisingly interesting. back from genting, we had to catch the monorail from Jalan Imbi station to KL Sentral before getting on the commuter until Batu 3-the place we live in. we were extremely tired and exhausted from the whole day at genting. everyone has already had red eyes, fatigue from enjoying too much in a day.

we were waiting at the station when an utterly unexpected turn of event took place. i was creating a conversation with the TA as usual, asking how was the day and so on. suddenly, a man, out of nowhere, jumped in the scene and asked us, "are you guys speaking japanese?". i was stunned for a short moment before jauntily replied, "HAIT!" of course i giggled followed by translating it to "yes" to the man. he was kind strucked too i guess, for suddenly having a japanese language for an answer. He was a typical malay man, with straight not so short, not so long hair, wearing old school spectacles and of average height. then, he looked towards us, and smiled. there was a light of astonishment i guess, reflected from his eyes, perhaps, it was so weird to see us the typical malays to speak so cosily with the japanese-not that fluently though in my case who struggle to find the right sentence eveytime i speak to these japanese. but then, for people to instantly recognize japanese was not that much too, so i had this thought, "oh, does this guy know japanese too?", instantly i inquired him that. too much to my surprise, okay, he doesn't know japanese aside from the normal greetings such as arigatou, sumimasen, gomennasai but this person actually speaks german!

he was so 'ramah', asking us a lot of questions with the soft voice of his. he did know a lot, asking whether we are currently at UM which apparently we not and also he ask about our course and so on. when the monorail arrived, we entered and continued chatting with him. i was quite far, so for the earlier part of the journey when the train was so packed (it was half past 10 for god sake), i could not join their conversation. when people had gradually decreased, i got a seat and again we talked. without being reserved, i asked for his name, exchanging it with ours and like old friends reunited, we talked a lot. i'm not sure whether he is a student or already working, i guess it's the latter but he sure was interested in languages. we talked about differences in these languages, the letters used and how i mentioned to him i'm so troubled with numerous kanji existed to trouble me. on his side, i loved the way he made the analogy for german language that it's like add math when english is modern math. well, the letters are quite the same with common alphabets only with some additonals-did he said 'some'? but i'm sure he mentioned that german is actually like old english while french being a whole different language. italian too, he referred as quite rough, the same way the people always behave. the interesting part here is when we partially became translator for both this malay man and the japanese beside us. kudou-san however made the effort of practising english with this man. he pronounced it quite good i would say, at least i understood, and so the man. well, he had heard us enough speaking in japanese all the while, so we made him speaking in german. fairly interesting! now how i wish to learn another language too. his soft voice attracted me.

so, we parted ways at the kl sentral. happily greeting each other goodbyes. it would be a pure chance if i were to be able to run into this interesting man again. of course, i could hardly forget his name-the same as my friend i got here.

一日中GENTING!（写真お話）

２００８年１１月２９日は必ずいつまでも忘れられない。友達とTAさんの井倉さんと工藤と井上さんとGENTINGへ行くことはとてもとても楽しかった。朝家を出たから夜中SYASYAでMinum2のときまで本当に面白かった。たくさん写真を撮って、いい記憶になった。

まず、バスでKLから出発。ｂｙｅｂｙｅKL!


1時間でGentingskywayに着いた。GENTINGにCableCarにのった。

分からないけどこのゴンドラの中の写真が一番好きだ

上には靄がとても厚くて何も見えなかった、ちょっと怖い。

着いたら、GENTINGを見て、興奮した。とても面白そう、たくさん織物が合ったよ。でお、その前に、朝ごはんを食べてプリクラをとった。

プリクラの所で

本当に、乗り物がたくさんあった、でも多くの人がいて、全部にやれなかった。それで、私たちは面白いのだけにした。

これは一番怖い!!

ちゃんとＰｌａｎしなきゃ

前の二つより、この二つはとても楽しかった。怖くなかったから

実は、ほかの人はもう一つの乗り物をやったけど、私は場かなり湯でできなかった。とても残念、ちょっと苦しくて、これを２回乗った。楽しかったよ!

私はたくさん写真をとった。

工藤さんと

ＨＵＤＡと電池

みんなと一緒にいて、とても楽しかった。

やっぱり、工藤さんは人気物だ。
！ＨＯＴＣＯＵＰＬＥ！

でも、ちょっとびっくりのは。靄が昼とてもあつくなった。

へえ。もう終わり?

井上さん(帰るときのＣＡＢＬＥＣＡＲの中)

いいえ、もちろんそれだけじゃないよ。その跡で、実はほかの面白いこともあるけど、写真がないだけから、ここで見せられない。それで、次のpostではっきり書こうと思う、英語でのはず。

okay, this post is intentionally done in japanese, but i know pictures worth a thousand words, so u already know what i am trying to say here, i guess. for the detailed description of the trip, well, the photos don't cover all what had happened, i would do it in the next post when i have time, insyaAllah. but surely, these are the memories i would cherish for a long long time, at least, i would remember it clearly for as long as i am in this JAD program. it was such a sweet, sweet memory to be forgotten.