The Year That Was - 2010

In keeping up with the tradition of this blog - which is to write a post to recap the stuffs that made the year memorable, as the final post of the year - I am now fending off my unnatural urge to sleep in spite of not being in the mood to blog at all.

**For future reference Zaid of the future, your sleeping pattern was disturbed and you should've been sleeping while you were posting this stuff at 9.15pm :| **

Since I'm kinda sleepy and there's not much time left until 2010 passes by under our pretty noses, I have elected to write a gung ho style post, highlighting my (somewhat deviated) journey to becoming a proper adult in 2010 into one single post. Unlike the previous years, I believe this one will be rather short. But who cares. Here goes :

January :

Malaysian politics is very colourful, it's blinding. And one of the reason was the hullabaloo surrounding the dispute whether the word Allah can be used in a Christian publication in Malaysia. I was engaged in a cyber war with a senior from my uni regarding the issue, and I was surprised as to how smart I can be in my reasoning skills. Refer to my January 8th post and marvel at my smarty-panty-ness in the dialog attached if you have a lot of time to kill.

I was also in the middle of a cross road back then, when I was contemplating to either continue

my studies in the UK, or continue my degree locally and grad one semester ear

lier. I chose the later, and I'm not regretting the decision. Though the only way now if I am to want to continue abroad is to study my ass off (again), get a stellar CGPA and do my masters there (and getting a scholarship). Masters? Yea rite...

February :

World peace is hard to achieve when there's a feeling of dislike towards one another, mutually or otherwise. And I have my own list of people I don't like in my life (aka enemies), and one of them made a return to the place he was not meant to be, where I thought I had seen the last of him a couple of months before. Need a clue? He's the closest resemblance to a swine in the whole batch physically and such an attention whore.

I had a very cool lecturer who taught me presentation skills that semester, Mr Azahari. He looks like Ramli Sarip and has a good sense of humour. I like him, I wanna be like him.

February was also the month where I genuinely fell in love with a girl while taking the train

home. She's from Kemunting.

And I discovered the joy of wintermelon juice :B

March :

I was planning to celebrate my 22nd birthday at The Curve, enjoying the tunes from Kings of Convenience as they toured to our country during my birthday. It was not to be as I had to join a "Personal Development" trip (it's a course work at the same time), and Encik Roslan Ariff will forever be remembered for taking KOC away from me.

I also discovered that Nasi Putih Daging Merah tastes like feet.

April :

Miss Syikin who taught me Corporate Finance sent me a facebook PM telling me to actually start studying during the final weeks leading up to the final exams. Kinda disturbing.

May :

I was experimenting whether discipline is part of my trait or I'm a complete asshole by dragging myself into a mess called a to-do list, which is inspired by Mike Gayle's book of the same title. Which I haven't finished reading yet. Until now. And about the list itself, it has 79 items in it, created to keep me occupied with stuffs that supposedly make me a functioning adult and to spend time better during the May/June semester break. And in spite of bringing the list forward to the Nov/Dec holiday plan, I still haven't gotten half of them settled with yet. Aih~

June :

The World Cup was boring. The Vuvuzela single handedly destroyed the World Cup with the nonsensical monotonous din coming out from the stuff for the entire 90 minutes of each game (barring the Diego Forlan goal, Uruguay vs South Africa), and the entirety of the tournament. I wasn't even bothered to watch it on TV because of the noise. The worst World Cup I've ever seen in my 22 years of living. And Italy sucked.

Then there was this problem where the UiTM server went nuts and I (and thousands

other)had to wait till the next day after the supposed date where the final exam results should came out cos of technical problems.

July :

Discovered that Nazrullah from Marketing is a super hero as he single handedly drove the legendary white Nissan (or was it a Ford?) van around Kedah/parts of Penang (air panas, air terjun, shopping mall) from Friday noon to morning the next day. The van had 15 passengers (I think) and popular belief suggests that Naz stayed up for 22 hours straight!

August :

Not much that I can remember.

September :

Got a car. Hyundai i10. Baby Milmo arrived! :D

October :

Baby Milmo's first scratch.

Second solo trip to Langkawi. And if not for Wan, the trip would've been a one day retreat to paradise. Instead, I had to spend a night there as we missed the ferry, and a few hundred ringgit more.

November :

Got a first hand experience of being a flood victim. No clean water supply forced me into taking drastic actions such as skipping baths and being stinky. And trying not to poo took it's toll too. And it all hapened during the final exams.

Wikileaks has become a diplomatic land mine as sensitive issues such as security and Anwar Ibrahim being gay are leaked.

ISP Liability Act suddenly ruffles my ass feathers and many others as the parliament might discuss it and pass the act, and rob us of internet freedom we've been enjoying for the past 10 years.

December :

Got into a fight with some Indon people on Twitter after the 3-0 drubbing of Indon by Malaysia in the first leg of the AFF Suzuki Cup and at the same time, discovered the joy of using twitter. It was fun when the most the Indon die hards could do was sitting in front of their PCs threatening to kill me with their self-consoling retorts.

Malaysia won the cup and Khairul Fahmi is now the craze of a few thousand shameless Malaysian females.

Alright now, gotta sleep. :B

Yes Guys, I Listen to Japanese Music.

It seems that Football Manager 2011, like it's predecessor, Football Manager 2010 is not made for my laptop. The same problem persists, even after I installed the original Windows 7, which led me to think that I either have to bring it to the shops and ask for what exactly is the matter (and costs me money to get it fixed) or give up hopes altogether and save money; simply play the first season and delete the file and imagine what could've been if I can get a few more seasons going which the laptop isn't giving, which is of course, depressing.

And so I decided to take a break from being a football manager and have a serious online session. It has been a long time now since my last serious internet session. Ever since I got home for the semester break, the longest I went online was 4 hours, and that was an odd one out since I only got online like an average less than an hour/day, everyday since I got home cos of my Football Manager addiction :B

That's when I opened up the WMP, set it at random and suddenly it played a "Brilliant Green" song. It was bliss.

Introducing The Brilliant Green (pix from http://columbiajpmusic.blogspot.com/2009/02/blog-post_23.html)

For those who are alien to Japanese pop culture and music, or even if you are a fan (cos there's a good chance you have no idea of who they are, they're like a Jpop/Jrock best kept secret, I think), the band consists of 3 members. 2 guys and a girl. I can't remember the name of the guys but the female lead's name is Tomoko Kawase, one of those serious celebrity crushes I had when I was still an innocent school going kid. She's like the ultimate cute rock chick out there. Every aspiring rock chick out there should shun away from Avril Lavigne or Miley Sirus(sp?) cos Tommy (Tomoko Kawase) sets the standard right. Like seriously.

Moar Buriguri goodness!!! (Pix from http://ca.c.yimg.jp/music/20080808_191306/img.music.yahoo.co.jp/images/magazine/spt/20070815_001/spt_gall_art_004.jpg)

Tomoko Kawase is love... (from http://pv-downloads.blogspot.com/2010/11/brilliant-green-blue-daisy.html)

And since I just rediscovered the band after a long while, she has now returned to my personal list of babes I seriously consider wanting to get married with (which is a top 5 list that changes periodically according to time and taste, and Megan McCormick of Glob Trekker fame and Lisa Surihani are currently battling out for top spot :B ) after a long hiatus.

Anyways, it has been a long time now since I last seriously listen to Japanese songs. And I welcome this return to "Japanese-ness". The band was my favourite during my high school days. That and Radiohead. And with that it brings nostalgia. It seems that I have gone a long way now, music-taste wise, in that the laptop and the CDs in my car have been playing post-rock, alternative, down tempo electronics, alt folk, experimental pop, prog, blues, classical and jazz (how musically eclectic I am surprisingly, though there's still no room for hip hop(barring Asher Roth. Hey look, a bracket in a bracket!) and trashy MTV fodders) over the years since then.

I remember that this is one of the earliest bands which music I downloaded online (remember 2003/04, the days when Streamyx was awesome? And the now defunct Kazaa?). I used to have all of their albums in my music library and I used to scour the music stores to see whether they sell The Brilliant Green CDs, which if they did I would've already owned legal physical copies of them, which is of course not the case. Some of their songs are in my lifetime favourites. I remember listening to them, enjoying good honest rock n' roll before I got myself exposed to complex experimental music of Radiohead, Sigur Ros and the others over the years which is not entirely a bad thing. I remember listening to them every time I went online after school back then. I remember listening to some of their songs over and over again for weeks and never got tired of it.

I miss 2003, it was all perfect back then.

P/s : Apparently, I had missed out on Buriguri when they released an album in 2007. And they had just released another one this year! This is one of the new songs from Buriguri (The Brilliant Green). Enjoy ;D

The To Do List 2

*This is the post from the last sem break.

**The crossed out ones are either the ones that I actually managed to get it done with or it's too late already to do it.

***Apparently I failed to finish even half of the list.

****Therefore, I'll be continuing with this list.

*****Wish me luck.

"Realise that you've got a problem"

- Mike Gayle, The To-Do List

Dear all,

After four-and-a-half months of studying, lepaking, ogling at chicks, sleeping, facebooking till 3am, and went crazy trying to meet assignment deadlines and topping it all with a miserable run of final exams, I, Zaid Mohamad feels that I richly deserve a good 2 months break from anything related to studying the balance sheet, analyzing corporate finance and understanding research methodology. I'm planning to laze around the house and be completely useless.

At least, that was the plan.

But as I grow older and being 22, somehow I feel that I need to make myself more productive. In a sense that I should be doing stuffs that matters to myself. That can make my life better, even a tad bit. And that, by doing so I can actually pave my way through to becoming a proper adult, hopefully by 30. In a nutshell, I'm doing this so that I won't be putting my holidays to waste.

So now I have come to a conclusion that it's about time I joined the world of fully functioning adults - on a temporary basis at least - as of today I will be undertaking a 79-item To-Do List which I plan to have completed by July 5th (or so, till my semester break ends). So that I can in the future look back at this semester break as being the more/most productive than the past few semester breaks before it and make my transition to being a proper adult without suffering from much shocks and difficulties.

And the reason I tagged you lot to this blog post is to give me the inspiration and motivation to succeed, knowing full well that should I fail in completing a minimum of 50 tasks, I will look like a complete and utter buffoon in front of you all and will afford you the right to mock me to within an inch of my life.

See you all soon.

Zaid Mohamad.

The Semester Break Holiday To-Do List!



1. Clear the desk so that you can actually put your laptop on it.
2. Arrange my bags, books and stuffs on my desks and shelves in my room into something resembling an order.
3. Restring both guitars...
4. And relearn how to play them (and break the 'tone-deaf' ceiling).
5. Talk to those people you haven't spoken to in YM/Facebook.
6. Clear my music library from broken-files songs/ songs that I accidently downloaded twice.
7. Learn basic Italian.
8. Download Google Earth...
9. And Windows Live Messenger.
10. Get rid of useless files and downloads from the hard drive.
11. Expand vocabulary (one word per day).
12. Arrange my academic/co-curricular certificates into chronological order and put it in a file.
13. Work out how to make function the laptop camera and mic with Windows 7.
14. Do something with Winamp music library artist organisation.
15. Learn to cook proper food.
16. Keep hair as long as possible.
17. Come up with a 5 year plan.
18. Learn to identify plants/vegetables/shrubs.
19. Go jogging.
20. Find more news on scholarships.
21. Learn how to use Adobe Photoshop.
22. Plan a final meet up with the DIIA kids before or after convo.
23. Remove my name from all emails newsletters subsription services that I unwisely signed up for.
24. Keep up with current affairs.
25. Create a new email with a proper name for official use.
26. Establish yourself at the last.fm forums.
27. Brush up your fardhu-ain knowledge.
28. Delete useless emails/junkmails and keep them organised.
29. Make it a habit to check your email everyday.
30. Learn to appreciate Metallica.
31. Go to mosque for regular daily prayer (that is, barring the Friday prayer).
32. Get a proper IQ test...
33. And personality test...
34. And career test.
35. Try to appreciate Pulp Fiction.
36. Give Harry Potter a chance.
37. Watch American Beauty...
38. And Juno...
39. And In Bruges...
40. And Leon...
41. And Pineapple Express...
42. And Rec...
43. And 500 Days of Summer...
44. And This is England...
45. And Role Models.
46. Learn to curb my tendencies in using "..." in writing messages...
47. And learn how to write a proper sentence.
48. Give PJ Harvey a second chance...
49. And Tori Amos' Boys for Pele...
50. And Pizicatto 5.
51. Try to understand George Carlin's jokes.
52. Learn a dance move just in case I might need them in the future.
53. Find out how the capital market responds to different economic indicators.
54. Try to like reading BNM/Bursa Malaysia/Economic sites.
55. Decide if you're really ever going to watch Bangkok Dangerous...
56. And Initial-D...
57. And Inkheart...
58. And Fight Club.
59. Know about the solar system.
60. Know who's who in the government.
61. Find missing CDS like Oasis' What's the Story [Morning Glory?]...
62. And Audioslave...
63. And The Darkness' Permission to Land.
64. Catch up with Bonana...
65. And Tun Syakirin...
66. And Hafiz...
67. And Syarku+Mimi+Anas.
68. Ask Faiq to save me a pair of Arau Open T-Shirt+goody bag.
69. Investigate what exactly does a remisier/dealer/broker do.
70. Play chess more.
71. Relearn chess moves and strategies.
72. Stop eating McDonald's. Or have once/month max.
73. Get a girlfriend so that she can give your life purpose and make you more organised.
    
74. Learn how to impress girls.
75. Have a indie-music moment.
76. Join the library.
77. Sample every nasi kandar restaurants in town.
78. Register myself with the Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya so that I'll be eligible to cast some undi-rosak in the next election.
79. Watch every World Cup game without fail.

I Am A Flood Victim

No clean water, and I can't bathe and shyte in peace, and I can't cook maggie mee.
I am running out of food stocks and almost every shops are closed. I'm starving.
I am running out of phone credit and I can't call my mama.My car is running out of petrol so it's hard to go places without fear of the car stopping midway, and I can't even get out of Arau cos the flood is blocking all the roads to Kangar/other places with a petrol station.
That, and I need to stretch my RM7 until tomorrow evening at the very least cos I'm running out of cash :B
And I have an exam (Malaysian Derivatives) tomorrow morning.

I am now officially (and for the first time) a flood victim. Damn!

This is what I intend to put in my Facebook status. But Facebook said the maximum I can put in a status is 420 characters. This is 600++ characters.

I just bought 2 rolls of tissue paper so that I can wipe my arse tomorrow if need be, cos there is no clean water coming out of the taps. Or any other taps in Arau. And oh, I have 3 weeks worth of laundry to settle, and I can bet my car that the laundry shops are closed. I have a feeling I will not bathe today and even tomorrow.

I'm gonna stink.

P/s : Pictures taken without permission from Kopi O Ais.

Terkandas Di Pulau Langkawi dan Lesen Kereta Mati.

After checking my old blog posts, I realised I didn't blog anything about my last year's trip to Langkawi. But at least that time I still had the camera phone with me, so I just posted some pictures from that trip into my facebook.

This time though, thanks to the penchuri henfon lakhanat itu, I have no pictures as evidence to claim I was there. Yeap, I was in Langkawi again after almost exactly one year! You guys believe me right? :B

So I went there for what was initially a one day trip. It went wrong later on though cos a friend, Wan a.k.a. Matburn went beach happy at the Cenang Beach. So I wasn't there solo, though I took the ferry to and fro alone (Matburn took the earlier ferry and supposed to return today evening).

Wan was kind enough to offer me a ride to the jetty in Langkawi and we arranged for him to pick me up at 6pm. As I mentioned earlier, the Cenang Beach was sucking him away from the car as he went beach happy and I was left waiting for him for 40 minutes. To his eternal credit, he did came - 40 minutes late - and we were rushing like mad cows to the jetty trying to catch the 7pm ferry (a.k.a. the last ferry) though it was pretty obvious by the time we reached Pekan Kuah that the last ferry had just left. Indeed, we were 15 minutes late and I was left with no other choice other than to spend the night there, and extra RM100. This time, Langkawi has sucked my wallet dry :B

Oh yes, while waiting for Wan to pick me up to the jetty, I was contemplating whether or not to flash this stuff up. I didn't have enough cash for the cab to begin with, so that's why Wan offered me a ride to the jetty in the first place.

I prepared this earlier before the trip cos I know I'll be short on cash later on.

And that cool dye-shirt thing, yeah, it took away a lot from the wallet.

Some things I learnt from the trip to Langkawi.

1. Get to know the people around your seat while on the ferry, or while waiting for the ferry at the waiting terminal. The chances are, that person might be a local, or have links with the locals and they have people waiting for them at the other jetty. They might offer you a ride anywhere on the island, and will happily decline any money you offer them as a sign of gratitude. Even if they're not locals (ie; tourists), they might tag you along to join them to wherever they're going, cos the more people there are, the cheaper the cab fare per head is!This is the Rasta shop at Pantai Cenang where I got my super cool dye-top.
2. Getting a full body massage is awesome. Though last Saturday I learnt that my right side is more ticklish than the left while I was doing my session. But in the end I feel light like the angels on their way to the heavens like wahlahweyyy, so I don't really bother bout that. Just don't try and tickle my right side.
3. Don't trust the shop that says that they're "OPEN (for) 24 HOURS". I got a first hand experience of being a victim. You see, I was hungry and I was looking for a shop that sells snacks and drinks given that the cafes are all closed during then. So I saw a shop that has the "OPEN 24 HOURS" put up outside and bought a pack of cashew nuts and a can of fruit juice around 4.30am at a said convenient store before I head back to my room and sleep. I woke up around 8.30am and I headed out to buy a toothbrush and her partner in crime, the tooth paste only to find that the said shop was closed. And so I walked almost the entire stretch of Pantai Chenang (80% or so) only to give up later on cos I was hungry and felt that the chewing gums in my pocket was enough to get me out of murder at least for that day. I headed back to my room later to watch TV.
4. Chewing gum is the almost perfect substitute for toothbrush and toothpaste. Almost.
5. You don't have to bring too many shirts on your holiday. I think 1 shirt for a 1 day trip is good enough. That said, 2 shirts for 2 days. Cos most people I met didn't notice the stinkiness anyway. But remember to bring that thing you wear while bathing at the beach. Cos going to a beach holiday without bringing any of those is weird. You're not going to, in any way, not dip your toes into the the water right? Cos if you do, the other parts of your body will naturally follow suit. Trust me on that one.
6. Those people who walked on the beach around 2am are mostly friendly people. Usually these bunch are the nice bunch who you can talk to almost anything. You can drink hot tea with them, play guitars and sing in a circle with other nice strangers. You can even flirt like the hell out with them sexy ladies (:P) and talk them to your place. These people are usually foreign and local students from local unis (Lim Kok Weng(sp?), Taylors, UKM, etc.) or "SH" (I'm not gonna explain the term) foreigners, especially those Mat Sallehs at the bar. Again, these nice people are easy to find at the beach around 2-4am...
7. Around the same time, you can find scantily clad bohsias too, without the Mat Rempits. And come to think of it, Langkawi seems to be a Mat Rempit free island. Langkawi rocks!
8. There's something about people from Bangladesh or India (not the Malaysian Indian ones) whom I met/saw during my last trip and the trip before the last one to Langkawi. You see, there's a certain uneasy feeling about whenever you are walking at the beach, there's a fat chance you'll see a pair/group of Indian/Bangladeshi guys walking side by side like gay buddies or something. You know, they'll like giggle or smile in a gaylord kinda way, not the natural I'm straight kinda way. It's hard to say it when you're not there, but that's just the way it is! I'm not saying that a guy can't walk with another guy holding hands under the moonlight at the breezy beach without actually staring at the hot chicks around them at 2,3am. Oh wait, I beg to differ on that one...
9. I'm not the best person in the world to talk about laksa, and I don't even know the difference between laksa Penang and laksa Kedah. Though I might have a vague idea of how laksa Sarawak looks like. But one thing I know is that there's a restaurant in Kuala Perlis that serves one hell of a laksa, and I'm saying this in a positive light, and it's called Laksa Kak Su. Apparently their laksa is so good, they even have a facebook fan page here! It's hard to describe the laksa using words, but the kuah is rich in texture and taste. And add that with a tinge of lemon juice and cili padi. It's the closest to laksa heaven you'll ever get in Perlis. Simply put, it's the laksa of champions.
10. Bangladeshis or where ever the people at the car wash are from are very nice and polite people. I was at a car wash in Kangar yesterday while on my way back to Arau from Kuala Perlis and instead of feeling uncomfortable having a pep talk with them while having my car cleaned, I felt kinda... well, okay! Though I sensed a pattern after having the first two of them started off by asking whether I have an amoy or not in two separate conversations. Like seriously, both of them used the word amoy!!! And yeah, I'm single bebeh! xD
11. I just realised I've been driving illegally on the road for the past 8 days. :B

This is Pantai Cenang.

Now that I'm back in Arau, gotta get myself ready for the finals. Aih~

Pak Din and Andrey Arshavin Once Said That the Bad Drivers Are the...

Due to the (admittedly) insensitive nature of the post under the same title, and the fact that my blog has become surprisingly popular and reaches far and wide, including the intended target of my post, the original post has been removed after 12 hours in cyberspace, to avoid further conflict and as a demonstration of peace.

To the person concerned, thank you very much for the ice-cream, I love Cornetto, and if possible, I would love to make it up to you by asking you out to dinner. No, I do not want the money for the car scratch, because my dad said it was ok. The only reason I went high and mighty in my ranting was that I was in the mood for angry upsetness towards a kampung midget I am currently having issues with. And that person is not you.

Gambar raya. Maaf zahir dan batin.

Again, I'm sorry. I don't think words are enough to express how I feel, so I dedicate this video to express how sorry I am.

Btw, I still think Pak Din and Andrey Arshavin were right. (To avoid controversy, not all) female drivers are bad drivers. Cheers! :D

*The original post is now being kept as a draft for future reference. Probably when I am old and only have memories left to resort to keep me smiling. The post is retrievable upon request, though to avoid further conflict, only those I trust will be granted permission.

**Apparently, 1/3 of people are excited about the fact that today is 10/10/10. Our national space tourist weds today. I didn't know being a space tourist can give you celebrity status.

Aku Pun Boleh Tulis Lagu Jiwang Jugak!

Tajuk lagu : Mengertilah Sayang (Omg I Can't Give You Up Sayang, Like Gimme a Chance Plzzz...)

Genre : Pop Jazz (ala2 Estrella, or Nouvelle Vague meets Hujan)

Intro : [Dmaj7 A] x2

Dmaj7 A Dmaj7

Aku tak mengerti

Dmaj7 A Dmaj7

maksudmu ini

Dmaj7 A Em

Aku takkan pergi

Em G A

walau kau pergi dulu

Kucinta padamu

Kau sudah pun tahu

Tapiku tak mahu tahu

Bila kau kata di sinilah saja

*Chorus*

Dmaj7 A

Tuhan yakinkanlah aku

Dmaj7 A

Yang dirimu bukan untuk diriku

Dmaj7 A

Supayaku dapat keluar mencari

Em G A

Pengganti lain sepertimu

(Insert whatever jazz themed acoustic/semi electric guitar solo, then repeat chorus)

Dmaj7 A

Aku tak mengerti

Dmaj7 A

maksudmu ini

Dmaj7 A

Aku takkan pergi

Em G A

walau kau pergi dulu

*I took the whole morning coming up with the hook and the simple chords for the song. Though the chorus is an obvious mess. Could've uploaded a video for this so that it can go viral and I can become the next Malaysian music sensation, but the laptop cam screwed up.

**Btw, I might wanna change the name of my blog url to wtfisthis.blogspot.com. People who subscribe to my feed in their blogs openly or secretly, please make the necessary adjustment once I really change the name of the blog into the one stated above.

Sekian, terima kasih.

This is the Period Where People Will Go Crazy.

"Dear friends, I might not be able to see off the week after this for I am now a target of a kill fest extravaganza. I might be murdered anytime next week by tests and assignments. I have nothing to giveaway for inheritance except for a bloody load of money in my ASB and in several other bank accounts. And a car :B"

23 September at 6.02pm

"Zaid Bin Mohamad is trying to convince himself that assignments and tests are beneficial to his future, and the tree logging industry :B "

26 September at 10.32am

"Tens and thousands of forest trees are being logged down everyday worldwide and for what? To torture the young fragile innocent minds of students everywhere?? Oh c'mon! Fuck you ISLM! Fuck you in the name of environment!! "

Thursday at 11.45am (30/10/2010)

" I studied like hell, sat for the paper, and I left feeling screwed up. Could've got the same result if I didn't study anyway. fml... "

Thursday at 10.21pm (30/10/2010)

The stuff up here are some of the most recent facebook rantings I have posted over the past week. Basically, these statuses tells a story of my university-life cycle. And this is the part nearing the end of the cycle. I call it the crunch time period, where people basically go crazy. Or at least I do :B

The reason why is because this is the part during every semester where tests and assignments pile up and work in tandem to kill off whatever that have left of me after the tedious mid sem exams. Test after test, over complicated assignments and overall horror makes up the theme of this period I am suffering in at the moment.

Now, I have just screwed up 2 papers, another one test coming up on Monday night and I have yet to start prepping up for that one, I have managed to get rid off a few assignments though one super big one is yet to be completed due next Thursday, and I still haven't been given the needed input from group members for Monetary Economics presentation. There's a trip I need to be part of come next next week and another 2 tests coming up around that time as well!

In short, I hate this period of over-activity. I hate tests and assignments. How about you?

"Wildlife habitat is rapidly being destroyed worldwide due to tree logging for paper and construction industry, and for development. Cute mammals like these baby orang utans are at the brink of extinction. I think. Boycott exams, save trees!"

Moving on to the other news, I'm single again, ladies! :B

Cholesterol Kills You Know.

As Malaysians all over the world are celebrating the joyous festival of Eid Mubarak, it is hard for them not to control the urge to pig themselves out the various Malaysia Raya-themed cholesterol rich delicacies.

Popular dishes such as the classic 'ketupat', 'lemang', 'pulut kuning' and the spicy santan-rich 'rendang ayam' to the modern day favourites like 'nasi daging with dalca', 'chocolate cake with Betty Crocker Super Fucking Sweet Choco-frostings' and 'kuih tunjuk pelbagai' are taking valuable spaces off the dining tables, coffee tables, study tables and even the stools of homes across the country. And the spaces of the country's populations' tummies aren't spared either.

This comes as no surprise as to the fact that an

outdated statistics dating back April 7th 2006 by the NST reported that a whopping 3 million Malaysians are affected with high cholesterol, with 2.1 million of them suffering from diabetes. Obese people counted for more than 25% of the country's populace. It's like saying 1 out 4 people we know are fat arse!

Therefore, in the spirit of Hari Raya, we have asked the people around on how to behave ourselves in front of the super high cholesterol yummies while doing the visits to friends' and families' open house and keep our waist size sexy.

Puan Azizah Rasool

KTM Operator

"Over the years I've seen those uni kids queuing for train tickets for 'balik kampong' grow 2 inches bigger when they return from

their Raya break. Their tummies bloated out of their skimpy jeans, and the cheeks look as though they're mouth are stuffed with tennis balls even though they aren't! It has been the same for 20 years now. It is high time they serve vegies and fruits instead for Hari Raya."

Zaid Mohamad

Indie Rock Star

"I can't stand watching fat people looking so haplessly tired on the mosh pit jumping like tired cows during my Raya gigs. The scene of fat women in tight jeans is as suffocating as being blank while sitting for a test in a fucking cold exam hall and you completely forgot to bring the calculator cos it has math problems in it. The food served during Raya open house should be less fattening. Moms' everywhere should look over what their children, and husbands eat. Slap their faces when they eat too much Rose Almond London."

Vengkejenkades s/o Applenaidoo

Unemployed

"Before you eat, you sing and dance. After you eat, you sing and dance again. It can burn down the calories and make you tired. Bollywood songs and dance-moves have been around for hundred of years not for nothing you know!"

p/s : Zaid of the future, during this time you have suffered from 2 super pain heart burns and even envisaged the cause of your death to be because of cholesterol.

And as usual, Raya tv is boring like hell as mak cik Siti Nurhaliza and stupid movies with tasteless jokes are conquering every tv channel there is on Astro. But this year's Raya, "Laskar Pelangi" showed that quality Raya tv is not dead, yet. A meaningful, inspirational and highly moving. I almost cried if not for my relatives being around. Lintang deserves better. And I should be grateful for what I have. Alhamdulillah...

Minal aidin wal faidzin everyone!

Of Satires, Sarcasm and "Luahan Hati Golongan Sarkies"

"Sarcasm is a pleasure but it should never be embraced by those who can't control their emotion..."

- Some cute boy I've known for 10 years now

Zaid of the future, if you're reading this you will notice that it was a pretty sad period for satire at the moment.

Hayibo.com announced 4 days ago that they're closing down shop due to funding problems thus depriving you, Zaid of your weekly shot of satire grande' (yeah, they're your number 1 satire site since the unforgettable vuvuzela ranting masterpiece).

And just as recently and within our own shores, Hassan Skodeng of the Nose4news fame is being dragged into and out of court for a rather nonsensical accusation of spreading lies and flaming (to put it simply, for I'm no law/journo student) for a satire-standard entitled "TNB to sue WWF Over Earth Hour". Which was funny as hell the first time I read it through a few months ago. And of course, knowing it was (to quote it from the site itself), true lies.

Though it seems that some overseas-educated GLC big wigs happen to fail to grasp what's what. Talking about lacking sense of humour, I wonder how their kids cope up with them.

Anyway, just had a chatter with an old friend from my days in KK (the chatter is put in chronological order below). Amazingly, we shared something in common. The only reason I'm posting this up is because Zaid, it has been a looong time since you had any discussion with anyone resembling anything of intelligence (this one is pretty much 35%, perhaps less, but I'm getting there!) and the fact that that old friend of yours is cute. Haha!

If there happen to be anyone else reading this, hopefully you will learn a little something about us the sarkies. Yeah, we have bad personality alright, but we're not endangered species so we'll be hanging around your neighbourhood a little lot longer than you think :P

Btw, I think I got the "you and me" tangled up up there, but you get the point right? Righttt??? :B

Thank you.

ps : Though it might be a month too late, but I think I have to give a mention about the movie "The Expendables" for being the awesomest ultra-badass movie ever. Like everrrr!!! And I thought I almost grow some chest hair after watching the movie! A testosterone overload, don't let your girlfriends watch it, they might grow some mustache after watching Sylvester Stallone et al. shoot the hell out of peoples' head with their bazookas! :B

pss : My silver baby arrived yesterday. Her name is Baby Milmo. Pardon the cheesy-ness, but the i-10 is sooo cute I can't help but keep calling her Bebeyyy!!! Though obviously at 1.10, she is not meant for racing on the motorway :B

psss : My target amount of duit raya collection this year is RM50. Saham jatuh cos dah tua, but getting RM50 even when I'm 22 is like equating myself to an overvalued stock, no?? Haha!

To Ikha.

The first time I saw you this semester I knew that I love you.

I remember the time when I was walking past you countless times at Mushroom, and the time when I saw you and your friends going to class while I was hanging out with my friends at the foyer at HEP.

And also that time when I was waiting for a friend at Bank Islam during some carnival I fail to recall, only to tell her that I wanna wait there longer at the bank just to catch a further glimpse of your face (you were behind her at the ATM queue), and of course at Oren while I was having lunch with my friends. And I remember that whenever I looked into your eyes during those times, you would offer me a smile that melts me deep inside. And I'd happily smile back in return, grateful to have you acknowledging my existence. That few seconds of contact for me was magic.

That's when I realised that this is it, you're the one for me.

Without doubt, because of your smile, I had a huge crush on you babe. THAT huge! Which every time I saw you, I felt the urge to go straight to you and ask for your number, and your name, so that I can text you and later tell you of my feeling towards you which I can't help concealing anymore. But somehow, each and every time that chance of seeing you arose, cowardice failed me. But really, I was desperate to at least know your name, which had been a question lingering over my head for over a month.

That was about to change. The day I saw you with your friend Riri that Wednesday evening at the Ramadan bazaar at Mushroom gave me the drive to go that extra mile. You wore a pink top that day babe, and your smile was as sweet as the jagung madu :P

I decided to make contact with you no matter what, and so I searched for you on facebook. I remember Riri and so I was scouring through her friends list from A to Z, searching for that smile that captivated me, that lovely face that has been etching deep in my mind for over a month. They say perseverance is key to success, perhaps that is indeed the case. And finally that Wednesday evening, I knew the name of the person I have fallen for.

Zulaikha Zainal Abidin, this is my story...

My Aboh Said, "Alright Now, Go Scour the Net for a Car"

... "and it has got to cost less than RM45k ok?"

And so I did, scouring through Toyota and Citroen sites - Citroen website is potentially the most unhelpful site ever cos it keeps leading me to this interactive world map thing just to showcase their decent flash skills and even more perplexing is that when I clicked "View all products", it lead me nowhere other than redirecting me to "the world map". Totally pointless to even go there. There, don't say I didn't warn you.

And with my dad being kind enough to actually walk a decent few hundred metres to the Toyota/Hyundai showrooms just right in front of my house to talk to the dealer and got back with a few brochures, I got a better picture of which car costs how much here in Malaysia.

So, the hot saucy twins from management math whom I have quite a crush at the moment drive a pricy RM88k Toyota Rush which effectively confirms my view that they're (not that I initially thought they're not) stinking rich chicks.

Antara dua darjat sungguh...

A Hyundai Getz is just about RM10k over the budget and an i30 is a whopping RM90k++, which really belies the look and feel that I got from the brochure. A Honda Jazz is a superb car, scoring a stellar 15/20 based on the reliable source from the guys at Top Gear. Though the price is yet again is out of my range. Unless if it's a second hand (Ady told me a second hand C3 is RM28k).

Two cars would easily top the list of my ideal car - money-wise, and of course the style and purpose - a Toyota AYGO (14/20) and a Citroen C1. Unfortunately Toyota received a massive blow after having to recall all of it's AYGOs earlier this year, due to a single complain coming from a faulty accelerator pedal, which should've been a very very remote case at best. By the way, for those uninformed, the Toyota AYGO, Citroen C1 and the Peugeot 107 are basically the same car, only difference is the interior, the "backside" and the badge. Perhaps the electronics too, but overall they're about the same. And all three scored well in Top Gear's car reviews.

The Toyota AYGO is my definite choice, but... (pix from topspeed.com)

But the most unfortunate thing of all, neither one of the three are available in Malaysia. A Toyota AYGO would make a perfect choice; stylish, cheap (8.5k British Pounds, around RM45k), good after-sale service, and it's a Toyota, the same badge with the super hot twin sisters! A Citroen C1 would've been a capable backup choice due to it being another stylish and cheap car. A C3 though only scored a meagre 11/20, despite it's cool looking exterior. But unless it's a second hand, the price is out of the budget, and I might opt for it! A Peugeot 107 costs more than the earlier two mentioned in the UK.

The Citroen C1. The backup choice is not even available in Malaysia. (Pix from http://citroen-cars-gallery.blogspot.com/2009/03/citroen-c1.html)

So I am now left with the dilemma of having to either make do with a Proton Saga (no Top Gear review on the car, but it's my mom's favoured choice), a Perodua MYVI, which scored a decent 10/20 though the "backside" looks like a real human one (Viva would be better, no?), or the tiny, cheap, pensioner-like-exterior but amazingly highly rated by most sites - Hyundai i10 (13/20, 14/20 at last review from Top Gear, which is not bad at all!).

Might be going to the showroom for a better look at the i10. Hope that it's not too small. But even if it is...

Currently number 1 in my personal choice, due to it's super fuel-economics feature. And Top Gear's convincing reviews. (Pix from connect.in.com)

World Cup Winners Spain, Imam Muda, Gang-Trip, Naz the Hero and other Assorted Ramblings.

I seem to have a problem of keeping my blog active.

You see, those bloggers with 200++ followers I believe tend to have an unhealthy tendencies of blogging every day - posting useless stuffs such as uploading sexually suggestive pictures of themselves licking a sundae at one of the few hundred McD's in the country to writing friendship/romantic poems that rival the great Shakespeare in the sense that they are hard to understand - and of course, "blogwalking", which is a new word I picked up earlier this year for people with no life or those who are close to commit suicide out of boredom, stalking other people's blog and leaving comments on your blog while making shameless plugs for others to visit, which I can shamelessly admit of doing so sometimes at those blogs owned by some *coughs* hot chicks. :B

But at least I didn't do it everyday...

Anyways, back to the mission of trying to prolong the longetivity of this blog, I have decided to go gung-ho in this post by "updating" you Zaid of the future, and of course to his 18++ followers (and those who I will shamelessly tag on facebook), on whatever things I'll be posting in right about now...

1. Spain won the World Cup 5 days ago and the entire event saw several stars announcing their presence in the world stage. Mesut Ozil and Kaisuke Honda are just 2 of the names that might be in hot pursuit of a few hundred thousand "Football Managers" worldwide when the next edition of FM comes out. But one star in particular is nontransferable - at least not in the celebrated football management simulation - which is Paul the Psychic seafood, which as of yesterday or so just transferred to a Madrid zoo in an exchange of another animal and a few cash. The octopus endured a lot in this year's World Cup; it managed to predict 8 games straight correctly and survived countless death threats along the way; from being "properly" beaten and cooked by an Argentinian celebrity chef in his cooking show to being publicly barbecued by angry Germans and to being transferred into a tank of sharks.
2. For 2 weeks, I still have yet to get my class and course registration problem sorted. I, Zaid Mohamad would like to blame the bloody UiTM computer system for responding like a battered snail on stout cos it took me forever to access whatever server they offer us to get our registration settled. I would also like to blame the (20k++ thousand) new students who I assume have caused the "traffic-jams" in the system. And not to forget, the new KP for causing confusions of perilous proportion, causing irreversible damage to my morale for the new semester by separating me with my "gang" and having me to make do with Pingu for yet presumably another miserable semester.
3. "Hello! I think I like you still. Any chance this time around? I love your specs". - What do you look for in a woman? Do you look for someone who is motherly or someone who wears nice specs? Or someone who can bake cheesecakes?
4. Had a gang-trip to a waterfall in Lata Mengkuang (sp?) last Friday. I was wearing the kopiah my mom bought me from Uzbekistan and together with Topek, we managed to scare the shit out of this pair of love birds whom we assumed were making underwater sexual act. They immediately left the water upon seeing my colourful kopiah head and even offered us a senyum kambing, filled with guilt. I still feel good about it, Imam Muda will be proud of me.
5. Watched Despicable Me in SP and I give it a 3.5/5. An excellent movie for the family. But some Indian parents left their noisy Indian children to roam around the place as if it's a nursery or sorts. Or were they making sex at the back? Imam Muda should be alert about this!
6. Right after that, mighty Naz drove all 14 of us to a hot spring which Ain and Wawa told me is a place very near to Kulim. We arrived there around 2.30am and the place was awesome. Though the sights of the much sought after steamy moments of couples engaging in steamy sexual acts are few and mild at best, the steamy water and good company pretty much made up for the disappointment. Mighty Naz then went on to drive again the legendary white Ford (or was it a Nissan?) van despite the obvious lack of sleep (popular belief suggests he stayed up for 22 hours) and all 15 of us arrived safely in Araustralia around 9am. We were lost along the way before we reached "home", though.
7. I've been living on potato and corn chips for the past 3 days. The addiction returns... And oh! Twisties' Bolognese&Cheese Onion is A.W.E.S.O.M.E.!!!!
8. Underwear is for losers who pretend that they fight for freedom without actually practicing it.
9. As of 12am today, the price of petrol has gone up by 5 cents per litre and the IMF projection for inflation in ACP (average consumer price) for this year of 2% might be an understatement. I expect more when the IMF staff revised their projection come September. This year might be the highest since Pak Lah went nuts by increasing the petrol price and affected the price of goods to a whooping 5.4% inflation rate in 2008. (Average inflation rate since the 1997 crisis was 2-3% based on IMF and the CIA World Factbook). We need subsidies still lar Najib. We produce oil maaa...

The closest resemblance of the van that took us around Kedah.

Imam Muda is 3rd from left. And mighty Naz is avoiding the B.O. from Topek's stinky armpits.

4 Years Ago.

Almost exactly 4 years ago, I was in KMK.
I was lost in the midst of a grueling 8-hour lectures, labs and tutorials, the alienating feeling of Kelantanism, the amazing combo of ikan jeket and air paip for lunch and dinner, and the miserable lab reports that seemed to be a never ending horror. And as of July 5th that year, mid sem exam did not even fear half of my butt chic.
And I was lamenting the need for the library to block Friendster (remember that thing?).
There was a chick from life science, she's cute but she had a small line of mustache on her lips. Or something like that.

Almost exactly 4 years ago, it was a World Cup year.
Kaka was still an AC Milan player, and Dida was the undisputed number 1. Made-in-Inter Calciopoli was being investigated by the court, and clubs fear of being penalized.
Italy started their World Cup campaign in the usual slow manner, and gathered momentum as the the tournament progressed. They played extremely well, and defensively Italian - Buffon only conceded 2 goals; an own-goal and a penalty - and Canavarro was Baresi and Gattuso was a beast.

4 years on, I'm about to return to my Arau campus.
Lectures, lab and tutorials won't steal away 8 hours of my life every weekdays there, the number of Kelantanese people I have to deal with is enough to make them feel that THEY are the aliens, ikan jaket and air paip is now consigned to the far-away history of my personal dark age, and I have no lab reports to deal with whatsoever. Hell, I don't even have lab in the first place. Though finance assignments might affect my frail health again come next semester.
Friendster is now ancient history as Facebook and last.fm make headways, and I have my own personal broadband that blocks nothing on the web whatsoever.
There's a girl, she was in a different class last semester. She looks decent and seamlessly stole my heart. I still can't get her out of my system.

4 years on, it's another World Cup year.
Kaka is now a Real Madrid player, and Dida returns to Brazil. Inter the cheater capitalized on the Calciopoli that wrongfully affected her other rivals, and has now built a strong team. Indeed, because of Calciopoli.
Italy started their World Cup campaign slowly, only to fail to gather momentum and stumbled at the first hurdle. Defensively Italy were not being Italian, Buffon was injured - Machetti conceded 4 of the 5 goals mostly from set pieces - Canavarro played like a retired star on an exhibition match, and Gattuso only had his facial hair to show that he is still a beast. Inter Milan failed to provide a single Italian of note who can contribute greatly for the national team. Apart from Calciopoli, Inter's lack of Italian players in the first team did Italy a disservice.


Posts from 4 years ago...

http://nosurprises2.blogspot.com/2006/06/world-cup.html
http://nosurprises2.blogspot.com/2006/07/5-minutes.html
http://nosurprises2.blogspot.com/2006/07/shoot-me.html
http://nosurprises2.blogspot.com/2006/07/untitled-1.html