My Life..My Story..

Better than '99

Assalamualaikum and salutations to all,

Well we might have won one less trophy than in '99, but dare I say that this season was better than the treble winning season of '99. The drama was emotionally exhausting in '99, and this season was nothing less. If 2 goals in stoppage time was nail biting in '99, a shoot-out this season had to be toe-nail biting. Entertainment, drama, record breaking, passion, and fate all had a part to do with this season's double success.

The league was decided on the last day of the season, after United had apparently blown away their lead that they had established a few months earlier. Draws away to Middlesbrough and Blackburn and a loss at Chelsea paved the way for Chelsea to get level on points with United. But with United's season-long emphasis on attacking football, as well as a stubborn defence, the superior goal-difference enjoyed by United meant that all United had to do on the last day of the season, was equal Chelsea's result, and United would be crowned champions. And wouldn't you know it, United won 2-0, thus retaining the crown, and winning the EPL for the 10th season, as well as their 17th domestic title. It was I guess written in the stars that it had to be Giggs, coming on off the bench to equal Sir Bobby Charlton's all time appearance record who scored the decisive 2nd goal to all but seal United's success in the league. And in a real symbolic moment, it was Giggs and Ronaldo, United's goal scorers on the day, celebrating together, symbolising the past and the future of United, which had blended so perfectly together to first overhaul Arsenal, and then hold off Chelsea all throughout the season.

The European stage didn't lack in terms of entertainment or passion either. While the final may have been decided on penalties, few would argue that the better team did indeed win. While Chelsea reached the finals going past lesser opponents in Olympiakos and Fenerbache (all due respect to them) and 5-time European winners Liverpool being the only realistic challengers to Chelsea's march towards Moscow, United had to take on some of the best in the continent. Representing England, United took on France and defeated Lyon, Italy and defeated Roma, and Spain defeating possibly the once most feared team in Europe, Barcelona. Undoubtedly, Chelsea had the easier run-in towards the finals, so if anyone deserved to lift the trophy, it was United. And just like fate would have written it, it was again the blend on youth and experience that won the trophy for United. After Lampard had cancelled off Ronaldo's gloriously headed goal, and after a goalless 2nd half and extra time, penalties would decide the fate of the trophy. And ironically enough, it was United's player of the season and penalty-taker extraordinaire who missed his kick. But luckily for United, it was not to be rued. Rightfully so, it was Van Der Sar who saved Anelka's penalty, clinching the title for United, after Giggs had scored what was to be, the winning penalty.

Many would say that the success this season is thanks to Ronaldo, and who could blame them? 42 goals this season, top scorer in the league and in Europe, winner of every individual accolade up for grabs, and possibly the best player of the year. But United is more than a 1-man team. While Ronaldo collects accolade after accolade, he does well to give credit where it's due. "My team-mates give me good passes and I score." While everyone is falling head over heels for the Portuguese prodigy, he does well to thank his team-mates for their support. And rightfully so. Man Utd this season have been simply breathtaking in almost every department. Defensively, they are the meanest domestically, conceding the fewest goals all season. The partnership of Rio and Vida contributing chiefly to that success. But not forgetting Brown and Evra who have excelled on the flanks defensively as well as offensively. In midfield, Carrick and Hargreaves  were magnificent all season, but it was Scholes who shone the most. Scoring the first goal of the season for United against Pompey, and scoring possibly the goal of the tournament against Barca which brought United to Moscow, the "Ginger Ninja" proves that "Old is Gold". On the flanks, Ronaldo, well, you know what he's done. But Giggs has come good late in the season, after many fans called for Sir Alex to drop him after a string of terrible performances. After well over 700 appearances for the club, he has proven that he still has what it takes to make it on the footballing stage. And lets not forget the likes of Fletcher, O'Shea, Anderson, Nani and Park, who have all done well to fill in when called upon. Sir Alex wasn't lying when he said this was his best squad ever. And up front, the tireless running, constant pressuring and everlasting supply of energy from Tevez and Rooney ensured that no defence would have an easy time against United. Yes indeed, this United side are beginning to show the world that they are the next great Sir Alex Ferguson generation to dominate the world of football.

Great entertainment, great script, great football. What better way to end the season? Domestic and European double, Man Utd are definitely back on top of the footballing world. And with approximately 115million pounds won from the European success, plus the rewards for winning the EPL, the side will only get stronger. One can only imagine how Man Utd can improve on such a thrilling season, but this is football, and anything is possible. Like Sir Alex rightly said after beating Barcelona, "Football. Bloody hell."

The hottest fire....

Assalamualaikum and good night y'all,

Some of you might remember last semester I wrote this post after the disappointment of not getting on the Dean's List for the first time in my "career" as an IIUM student. Well, I said I'll get the job done this semester, and I have delivered. I didn't get a great result by my liking, but I did get on the DL, which was my goal anyway. So I'm happy with myself. More so because I considered my previous semester to be tougher than the one prior to it, where I didn't get on the DL.

People say that everything happens for a reason, and over the years, I've come to realise that this saying is true. I've had a few experiences where I felt like life wasn't treating me fairly, where I felt like things just weren't going my way. But to my surprise, all the bad actually happened for good reasons. Like my disappointment 2 semesters ago, had it not happened, who knows, I might have been slacking off up to now. I guess failure was the kick in the rear I needed to remind me that my work is no way close to done. Failure can be depressing, and at times can kick you down so hard that you just don't feel like you can get up again. But failure can also bring out the best in you. Failure is actually a very good motivator. It keeps you going, keeps you sharp, and pushes you to your limits so you can achieve the most that you are capable of.

Diamonds come from coal if I'm not mistaken. And people say the hardest diamonds come from the hottest fires. So for us to be the best at what we do, I believe we gotta go through the toughest tests.

A 3 month hiatus..

Assalamualaikum and salutations to all!!!

3 months off!!!!For the first time since I joined IIUM, even from my matriculation years, this will be the FIRST time I get a 3-month vacation!! =D I just hope I don't get bored to quick. Normal lah I guess. When we're on campus, we can't wait to get home. But when we're at home, we get bored quick and can't wait to get back to campus. Typical human behaviour I guess. We always want what we don't have =p

So, how am I gonna spend my holidays? Well, first up, a trip to Singapore!Hehe..yup, I'm goin to Singapore. Not with family, but under my Kulliyyah of Science. You see, there was a lecturer who wanted to go to Singapore to visit places such as the University of Singapore, which happens to be one of the best in the world I'm told, stem cell research institute or centre whatever, genome institute, and BioAsia, which is like, the largest biomedical exhibit in Asia. Long story short, he wanted to visit places relevant to our field of study. So he had a brainstorm, and decided to bring my class along. Unfortunately, due to logistical and financial difficulties in bringing about 50 odd students to Singapore for about 3-4 days, the KOS decided to only bring the top 10 students from my class instead. A little extra incentive to do well in exams =p So alhamdulillah, I was one of the few lucky students who were selected. And I leave for Singapore this Sunday morning! hehehe..the places we're going to visit, man, interesting would be the understatement of the century!

After Singapore, well, nothing much planned. Don't plan to touch any notes or books, don't even wanna look at any slides for 3 months! hehehe...after all the suffering throughout the finals, you know with the 3 papers in 3 days to finish it off, studying is probably the last thing I wanna do these holidays. Only if I'm desperately and totally bored might I even consider to study. Just a lil' bit =p

Take care all. To all IIUMians, see you in 3!!!

It's THAT time again...

Assalamualaikum and good evening comrades,

It sure has been awhile since I've written in here. Usual excuses, quizzes, assignments, term papers, all in a day's work for a university student I guess. So I apologise to my loyal readers (if I have any =p). I have some time to spare now, so be free to indulge yourself in the latest complaint I am about to make =p 

Finals are around the corner, as most of you IIUM students should already know. And as some of you might remember, last semester I wrote a somewhat "controversial"  post about some student behaviour which I strongly disagreed with. During that time, I vented out my frustrations onto the junior batch. My apologies for that. It seems like the seniors are no different. Once again, a lecturer was kind enough to give us some hints and tips for the finals, but being the greedy human beings most of us are, some students wanted more. Under pressure, the lecturer caved and gave out more hints. Now just like before, I want to make it perfectly clear where I stand on this issue. Hints, tips, any kind of help lecturers willingly give for exams are fine by me. We can all use a little help for exams. But when a lecturer says "there will be 3 essay questions" and the students then ask "which 3 topics will the essays come from?", that's when I start to see red.

I start to question the intentions of some students. Why do they attend class? Is it just for the sake of attendance? Do they actually want to learn for the sake of knowledge? Or do they just want to be able to score in the exams?

Are students so concerned about their grades, more so than their integrity, that they are willing to cheat for quizzes? Just yesterday, I got an answer for this question. A simple quiz, anyone who had studied properly should have been able to answer it. Our lecturer was perhaps, a little bit unaware, but almost everyone in the class, boys and girls alike, when a window of opportunity opened, stole a quick look at their notes for the answers to the quiz questions. A quick glance around the hall, and I was quite surprised to see even some of the "good students", who usually score for quizzes and exams also indulging in what I believe is a self-damaging practice. Just think, if we as students, are willing to sacrifice our integrity and dignity by cheating for things as small as a quiz, what does that say about our character? As students, we might cheat on quizzes, whose to say in the future, we wont cheat potential customers and clients once we are working? If we are willing to steal a few points from quizzes, whose to say we wont steal company money in the future, that we wont be caught up in an embezzlement scheme?

You might be laughing now, saying no one of us would be stupid enough to do something like that. But I thought that as young adults, seeking higher education from the International ISLAMIC University of Malaysia, that cheating on quizzes wouldn't even be in our arsenal when it comes to taking exams.

Long story short, I'm quite disappointed with what I saw in the hall yesterday. And it's no surprise that our lecturer called for a make up quiz this coming Wednesday. The reasons that I've heard this make up quiz was decided include "all answer scripts were unreasonable" and "everyone failed", which I personally don't believe. There's no way that every student in my class can fail a quiz, cause there are a lot of bright and intelligent students in my class. The only way we could have all failed, is if our lecturer deliberately failed us all, for cheating.

People say what goes around comes around. Some believe in karma. I don't know what this situation falls under, but in my honest opinion, a make up quiz was the easy way out for all of us.

Change is good..sometimes...

Assalamualaikum and Good night citizens..

No matter what, change is inevitable. Regardless of our actions, regardless of the time of day, regardless of what people think, change cannot be stopped. As I am writing this now, something somewhere is changing. Man cannot stop change. But in some situations, man can manipulate change, to either be beneficial, or harmful.

Just this morning, while I was waiting for my bus at the terminal in Kuantan, I was observing a lady sweeping the floor of the main area in the terminal, where people buy tickets and such. So as I was watching her, something crossed my mind; the rubbish she was sweeping up, it shouldn't be there in the first place. I mean apart from the dust which can't really be helped, she was sweeping up bottles, plastic wrappers, cigarette butts, tissues, things that should be put into a bin, not onto the floor. A quick glance around the terminal, and from where I was sitting, I could spot a number of trash bins around the terminal. So I have to ask, is it so difficult to throw rubbish away in it's proper place? Is it so hard to just toss a bottle into the bin? If people can spend money on cigarettes, if they are willing to spend money on a slow suicide, why aren't they willing to toss the butts into a bin? Or onto the ash tray that's normally on the bin? And to top it all off, after the cleaner was almost dome sweeping up, this guy walks by and kicks the rubbish and dust aside. No apologies, no pardons, just walks on by. Malaysians (Malays in particular) are quite considerate don't you think?

Another example, the other day I went to Megamall in Kuantan. As I was lining up to withdraw some cash from the ATM, I saw this woman a few spaces in front of me do something quite unbelievable. The person before her had left his receipt in the slot, and this woman I'm talking about, pulled it out and dumped it on the floor. What's unbelievable, is that there was a trash can right next to the ATM!

This is where we should manipulate change for the good. Humans are always changing. Society is always changing. Why is it though, that we seem to be changing and moving towards the downfall of society, rather than changing to improve it? Why is it that man seem to willingly, and sometimes prefer a society where bad is good? Why does society accept bad to be good, and good to be bad? If you were to randomly walk up to a man and offer him RM100, just like that, he'll take it with no questions asked. But if you walk up to a man who had just littered onto the street and asked him to pick it up again and to throw it into a bin, what do you think his reaction will be? 9/10 people might just walk off if you ask me.

So as change is inevitable, it is our responsibility to manipulate it for the betterment of society. I know it's a seemingly impossible task, but impossible is nothing. If our Prophet (PBUH) could bring peace and harmony to the Arabs, why can't we change for the better?

Think about it.

Happy New Years??

Assalamualaikum and good night..

1st January, new year on the Gregorian calendar. 10th January, new year on the Hijrah calendar. 7th February, Chinese new year. Which makes it 3 new years in about 6 weeks. How often does that happen huh?

I never really understood what the big deal was about the new year. Everyone, well, nearly everyone celebrates it like it's such a grand event. I mean, what is the big deal? How different is it at 11.59pm on the 31st of December compared to 12.01am on the 1st of January? What happens in those 2mins that necessitates such grand celebrations? And everyone always goes on and on and on about how they want to make the new year better than last, talk about new year resolutions start becoming  the norm in society, only to be forgotten a week later. I mean seriously, would you remember your new years resolution in June? I doubt many people would.

As for the Hijrah new year, well there's a lot of meaning and history behind it. The Prophet's (PBUH) journey from Mekah to Madinah is one of the most, if not the most important event in Muslim history. Although I'm against huge celebrations by the hypocritical majority of Muslims in Malaysia, who only show their "Islamness" on Awal Muharram, Maulidur Rasul, and in Ramadhan, I do believe that we need to acknowledge the day and the event that happened on the day, and take it's lessons for the betterment of ourselves and the Ummah as a whole. I hate it when people "celebrate" these important religious milestones, and yet don't practice Islam in their everyday lives. What's the point in celebrating Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) journey from Mekah to Madinah if you don't follow his teachings every other day of your life? It's hypocrisy clear as crystal.

I don't wanna say anything about Chinese new year. I don't know much about it. So best I leave it alone. Sides, I ain't got no problem with it. In fact, I like all the little orange's =p

So Happy New Years to all. Stay young =p

Short Raya Break..

Assalamualaikum and Good Night,

I'm back for Eidul Adha. Just for a week. Then I'm back off to Kuantan on Xmas day. Holidays won't be much of a holiday. Got 4 assignments to complete and part of a group lab report as well. The lecturers sure know how to ruin your holidays huh?

It's been quite eventful in Kuantan. We've had rain, rain and more rain. Luckily though campus wasn't flooded. Neither was town. But for a while we were flooded in. All roads leading out were closed due to the flood. Alhamdulillah they were reopened in time for raya. Apart from that, I got 3 new family members. No, not siblings or cousins. Kittens! There's this cat which we (my room mates and I) knew since she was a little kitten, and has now given birth to 2 generations. This latest batch have made our room their little playground. The kittens aren't the least bit shy. They'll go up to anyone and start scratching and biting their feet. And they seem to have a strange fetish for pants. They can't seem to get enough of em =p There was also a two-part programme, "The Ultimate Triumph", which was organised by Sciencess for two Mondays, were reverts Brother Shah Kirit and Brother Lim Joi Soon came to Kuantan and gave talks. I may have heard them before, but there's always something new to learn from them everytime they drop by. There was also an incident involving one of the sisters, a brother's car, in the brother's parking lot, in the middle of the night. What that incident was, I'll leave up to your imagination =p

Well I can't write for too long. Like I said, got assignments to do. I'll try to update my blogspot tomorrow, so check it out when you have the time.

Nitez...

A Week Back...

Assalamualaikum and Good Morning,

In the library now. Not studying =p Haven't been online much in the past week, so I thought a Sunday morning would be a good time for a surf. Classes have started already. And staying true to my new hope and goal of improving my CGPA, I've already begun revising some of my notes, albeit it being a little revising, it's better than nothing =p

Classes are quite interesting this semester. Clinical biochem and medical microbiology are quite interesting. We start to learn more about the medical aspect of our field of study, and along the line we'll start studying case reports, trying to diagnose certain diseases from signs and symptoms. All theory of course =p

Kuantan itself? Well, similar to this time last year, it's been raining non-stop with little spells of sunshine. Makes laundry a drag you know. And the flies aren't helping much either. Cafe, class, dorm, you name it, we got flies there. It's like an invasion or something. One thing that's good though about this weather, is a trip to the beach. Last night after me and my pals went to the pasar malam, we stopped by TC (Teluk Chempedak for the uninitiated) and the breeze was just unbelievable. I was lucky not to be blown away! =p The waves were furiously crashing against the beach. And on a few occassions we got a little too close to the edge of the beach, I guess you know what happened =p

So I got about a week+ left before Raya Haji break. Hope it'll be a good week or so. Now, I wanna go eat. I'm hungry =p

Kuantan I'm Back!

Assalamualaikum and Good Morning,

I'm writing from the computer lab in the KoM library at the moment. No classes yet today. Typical lah first day back. Time tables are a mess, lecturers and students busy organising themselves. So I though I'd stop by the library for a while and surf around the net.

Well Kuantan is as cold as ever. The nights and even the days I'm assuming will be as cold as today. It's funny, on the bus trip back I couldn't wait to get back to Kuantan. I dunno why. It wasn't because of the food for sure. Wasn't for the "fun" and all. I dunno. Guess I've developed a soft spot for Kuantan in the year that I've spent here. Man, I've been here for a year! Time sure flies dunnit?

I watched Enchanted the other day at Sunway Pyramid. Great movie. One of the best by Disney if you ask me. A typical Disney fairy tale, but with a modern twist. Disney really did a good job in maintaining the fairy tale values and story while adding a touch of modern and conventional real-life problems to the movie. Highly entertaining. It may be a Disney movie, but I'm sure any grown adult will enjoy it just as well.

Speaking of Sunway Pyramid, it's really a great place. After the expansion, they've got almost everything. The typical stores and outlets are there, but they've also got a whole lot of new places I've never seen before. I kinda enjoy a stroll in the Pyramid more than in Midvalley. Oh, you know how there are specialty shops that sell only a certain product? Shops that sell shoes, shops that sell luggage, shops that sell leather, neck ties as well, even socks. Well I thought to myself while I was strolling along, "one day I bet we'll have a shop that sells underwear". And guess what? There is was, The Under Shop. Specializes in boxers and briefs. Hehe..the things people sell to run a business. BTW, I never understood why a shop called "NOSE" sells shoes. It just doesn't make sense.

A New Year, A New Hope

Assalamualaikum and Good Morning,

Well, results from my previous semester have been released, and I'm not happy with myself. First time since I joined  IIUM that I didn't get on the Dean's List =( and that dates back all the way to my matriculation years. Quite disappointed with myself, but I kinda expected as much. It was a tough semester. Six, count em' SIX core subjects really gave me a problem. There was just too much to study. I guess it's kinda my own fault in a way, I left my revision too late. Should have started revising way earlier.

So my first year is done. 1st semester was a joy. Got a pretty high GPA, thus a high CGPA. But my 2nd semester brought it down. I still got 3 years to improve my CGPA, but this next semester won't be any easier. With Medical Microbiology, Clinical Biochemistry and Biochemistry 2 among my 6 core subjects this semester, if anything it'll be tougher than my previous semester.

So comes the new hope, along with a new challenge. The hope is to improve my CGPA, but the challenge will be to cope with the heavy load all throughout the semester. That means less playing around and goofing off, less games and movies, but of course all of that is easier said than done ;)

In two days I'll be heading back to Kuantan, it's gonna take a while to get the rust off my brain, but once it's all said and done, you can put your money on it, that I'll get the job done.