Walid in Amsterdam

Intellectualism, and what not.

2009-03-04T19:15:00.002+08:00

First of all, Shaza is safe and sound (and happy) in Germany; for more about her, visit www.shaz-souriez.blogspot.com!

Just a short entry to show that this blog is still alive (albeit barely so!).

It is pretty humorous to say people talk about Muslim intellectuals bla bla bla: and the funny thing is, most Muslims do no know who these are! These people are pretty much in obscurity, preferring to write "fanstastic" theses; but the works are confined to the libraries. No one reads them other than their ardent fans and the Malay Studies majors. So, for these intellectuals and their self-proclaimed fans, I strongly urge you all to expand the means for you all to spread whatever message you intend to: and not blame the people for not "reading enough" and what not; coz that would be just plain dumb! When you know majority of the people don't even know abt your writings, and you blame them for not being aware, I really can't think of a word other than dumb.

And it's amazing really; recently someone has commented that he doesn't understand why there's a "trend" of helping the madrasahs. Even wanting to help the madrasahs can be an issue now! Haha! It is so ludicrous, that I shouldn' talk about it further. As my ustadz says, "Anjing kalau menyalak, gunung takkan runtuh." And people will always talk about anything; especially those self-proclaimed intellectuals, who want to problematize everything.

And next, I hope MS people, you're reading this, the yahoo group is going to be a joke really soon, if it isn't already. Whenever Surya posts something, there will be a few people (the same old people) who will embark on personal and cynical attacks on him. Yet, those scathing emails are approved. I wonder why. And my email to the yahoo group publicizing AAM wasn't aprroved initially (though it was later on)! I really wonder how this yahoo group works: maybe you guys can clarify for me.

Many many other issues that can and should be talked about: though time is a constraint. I'm looking forward to Yaacob Ibrahim's dialogue session, fro now. Hopefully, after that, there'll be an entry.

Hamas VS Israel: Who is the terrorist?

2009-01-03T14:17:00.002+08:00

Well, I'm sure if you ask different people you'll get a variety of answers to that question. But I feel, that question is totally inadequate in explaining what's happening. Is the real situation "Palestinians VS Israel; who is the guilty one?", or perhaps "400 innocent people have died: how long more will the world watch?", or maybe even "Gaza: the only place in the world where mass murders can take place?".

I just want to highlight some stuff. Firstly, as intelligent people, do realize that things does not always seem as they are: the power of the media is relevant to this issue. So, please do no take as given, fro example, when the media from our side of the world says that a group is, maybe, a terrorist organization. Go read up from different sources, go watch RTM 1 news, go do whatever it takes to learn more, do not just believe what you hear instantly.

Israel's PM said that they will help the Palestinian civilians in any way possible and they will provide humanitarian aid as far as possible. HA-HA.

CNN reported the other day, that Israel's "Coast Guard" rammed a vessel carrying 3000 tonnes of medical aid to Gaza tp prevent it from reaching. The vessel almost capsized according to one of its passengers (all the passengers were Western volunteers by the way). Israel says it was accidental. The said passenger told CNN that the Israeli "Coast Guard" surrounded the vessel for half an hour before ramming it, so how could it be accidental. Who's telling the truth? Is it the volunteer who has no selfish motivations, who isn't even Muslim, or is it the state that has been responsible for many many brutal killings? I don't know, you guys decide.

From Dr Asri's blog: "DRMAZA menyeru umat Islam zahirkan bantahan terhadap Israel dalam apa bentuk sekalipun." Dr Asri was in London, and he joined the protests outside the Israeli embassy there. I know that it's not practical to do so in Singapore (or is it?),so let's just do whatever we can for the people who are constantly living in fear, who are waiting for their turns to die, who are being hated/killed/brutalized just because of their skin colour or religious beliefs. Let's pray for them, at the very least. Better still, show our disgust (legally might I add) towards what is happening; either via writing in to the newspapers, facebook, blogs, whatever it is: just to make our feelings known, and hopefully, insya Allah, over time, we're heard.

Rasul s.a.w said in his hadith: "Whoever does not bother about his brother (in Islam), then he is NOT ONE OF US." (aukama qal) I think those are very very strong words from the Prophet. NOT ONE OF US.

So ladies and gentlemen, it's time to start bothering.

Terrorism: after Singapore's First Victim.

2008-12-05T00:01:00.003+08:00

Now,I'm sure all of you would have heard about Singaporeans' reactions to the Mumbai attacks, which claimed a Singaporean life. I'm not going to sing the usual rhetoric; and condemn terrorism because Islam is a religion of peace bla bla bla; after all Habib Hassan has already done that. Rather, why don't we take this discussion 1 step forward?

Condemning terrorism, as our scholars always do, perhaps have to do, will not solve anything. I'm not saying they shouldn't come up with statements condemning terrorism, no, what I'm saying is they shouldn't JUST come up with statements condemning terrorism. Like it or not, those statements will not reduce terrorism one bit.

Let's try to understand why these terrorists act as they do. WHAT? UNDERSTAND THE TERRORISTS? Well, we always hear people saying we should understand the homosexuals, not just condemn them, then we can get them back to the right path. So why do we take a different approach when it comes to terrorists?

Look here. Why do these terrorists do what they do? Before 1948 (Formation of Israel) there were no suicide bombings around the world. Now, a suicide bombing is as common as Robbie Keane missing a sitter in front of goal. Before US invaded Afghanistan, there were no suicide bombings in Pakistan. Now, there is one every week. Before the US invaded Iraw, there were no suicide bombings in Iraq, now on average, terrorism kills at least 1 person a day there. Don't all these mean something to the intelligent people?

These terrorists are just doing what they do, because they want to defend the Muslims who are being oppressed every single damn day; in Palestine, in Iraq, in Afghanistan and many other places. They just want to defend Islam.

I'm not for one moment suggesting that they are right: no, what they do is wrong. But we must understand that they THINK they are doing this in the name of ISlam, and their intentions are to defend Islam.

It's very sad when I hear Singapore ustads coming out and say these terrorists' motivations are all political. Definitely, there will be some whose motivations are political, but for the most part, they are motivated by religion; only that they channel their anger in the wrong way. What we need to do is understand this psychology, and try to divert their angst in a manner allowed in Islam. It is very very uninformed, and ignorant for people to just come out and say that all terrorists' motivations are political.

If we could solve Muslim oppression, we could get rid of terrorism, or at least reduce it drastically. For example, I'm absolutely convinced if we can solve the Israeli-Palestinian issue (not an easy task by any means), we can cut down terrorism by half.

Just one Singaporean died, and Singaporeans reacted angrily, and rightly so. For the past 50 years, Palestinians die every single damn day: imagine how Muslims around the world feel. Unfortunately, some of us express our anger in the wrong manner.

This entry is not to exonerate the terrorists, no. I just want to say that our approach in dealing with terrorism, isn't getting anywhere. Sure, you can invade Afgahnistan and kill terrorists, but you cannot kill terrorism that way. In fact, you'll just breed more terrorists. Condemning terrorism as an anti-Islamic act too will not bring us closer to solving his problem. It's high-time we take this campaign terrorism forward by nipping the issue in the bud.

To Canada, with Love.

2008-11-05T00:07:00.004+08:00

Haikal, this is specially for you from myself, Bad, Mas, Jen and Nor. Nor wasn't able to be in this video because he had lecture. So as to not spoil the surprise, I will put Nor's birthday message in the comments later.

Enjoy this birthday present, our dear brother. Happy birthday from us in Singapore. This is for you to know, just how badly missed you are.

Horoscopes.

2008-10-26T00:43:00.003+08:00

I just cannot fathom, people, in this day and age, at university level, Muslims, could actually believe in horoscopes. Even if it were not for religious concerns, I think it would be plai dumb to believe that the alignment of stars can affect your life, character etc.

Well, of course why I'm writing this is because I've just had enough of people who even mention zodiac signs to me, let alone believe in them. When will these people realize, it is all a scam!

What is Islam's take on this? Well amongst my readers there are some experts, and I'm definitely not one, but allow me to share a hadith I came across.

Rasulullaah s.a.w said: The purpose of stars are 3: 1) To decorate the heavens (i.e skies). 2)To be used as missiles to strike devils. 3) As a source of direction for travellers. Anyone who tries to find a purpose other than these 3, is doing something in vain. -aukama Qal. (Do correct me if the last line of the hadith isn't accurate)

When I told someone this hadith recently, that person still had the cheek to tell me,"Ah, Nabi saw only said it would be in vain, he didn't say it's wrong!" Haiz.

Some people say they don't believe in horoscopes whole-heartedly: so do they believe in it half heartedly? Or 20%? Or even 5%? Does that mean you attribute 5% of your fate to the alignment of the stars?

People, our lifestyles are already so damn un-Islamic. At the very least, DON'T let our beliefs, our Aqidah, become un-Islamic.

Countdown to 9 months from now.

2008-10-09T20:26:00.001+08:00

The Sheikh has left. Somehow, it feels so much different this time. Maybe it's because of Ramadhan, which got us ever so close, much closer than before. Some people say that they have a sheikh, a "guru mursyid"; well i have one too i suppose, but he's more than just a sheikh; he's a friend, a companion, a brother, a teacher, someone who shares most if not all of my ideals, and someone, whom, if push comes to shove, I know i can bring to war with! Yup2, most of the adjectives I just used can be used to descirbe my other friends as well, no doubt; which is what makes our group so special in my eyes.

At the airport, when I hugged him, i just didn't want to let go. I didn't know if that was going to be our last hug, though I pray that there will be many more to come.

I'm really looking forward to next Ramadhan, where insya Allah Rizhan will be back here, Haikal will be here, and hopefully so will the other 'long-lost-during-Ramadhan-people'. I'm waiting for next Ramadhan, anxiously.

McDonalds.

2008-10-06T02:19:00.002+08:00

Sometimes, the going can get very tough. When you abide by a certain set of beliefs, or, err, principles, and it seems like the whole world is against you, trying to impose their beliefs on you, ridiculing your beliefs even, it can truly be a test of character.

Then the best thing to do would be touch your heart, hold on firmly to what you believe is right. Let the world mock, let theworld criticise, let the world make fun, let the world ridicule, you hold on to your beliefs. Do not bother about what they say, just do what you have to do.

A reminder to myself,when the going gets tough.

Madinah=Wahabbism?

2008-09-29T23:55:00.004+08:00

Wahabbism. What does it mean actually? To be honest, i'm not quite sure myself, because the so-called "Wahabbis" don't call themselves that. Well I'm not here to give the history of the origin of that word, because I didn't take the 'History of Saudi Arabia' module. And, despite my title, that isn't what I want to discuss.

What is more pertinent here is the issue of Madinah students: why are they really hated/condemned by certain parts of our community? Well the easy answer would be ignorance, or sometimes, just blatant disrespect.

Usually, these people would (as always) justify their hatred of Madinah/Saudi people by quoting the authentic hadith, whereby Nabi s.a.w refused to recite doa for the people of Najd despite being asked by his companions, adding that Najd will be the place where the "2 horns of syaitan will appear." But is Najd really Saudi Arabia, as the anti-"wahabbis" claim?

Well, if we do not know, we should ask the experts in that particular field, and in the field of hadith, there are not many more expert than Ibnu Hajar Asqolani, a prominent scholar of hadith in the Syafii madzhab. According to him, in his book Fathul Bahri, Nabi saw was in Madinah while saying that line, and he pointed to the East while saying that; Ibnu Hajar came to the conclusion that Najd is actually Iraq. In fact, he quoted numerous scholars in that book, and none of them said that Najd is Saudi.

How then did the Najd=Saudi theory came up? Wallahu a'lam. I don't know whether it was done in spite or it was a genuine mistake or whether that is indeed the case.

Since there's so much ambiguity in that interpretation, let's turn to other sources of evidence that are less ambiguous.

Firstly, in kitab sohih Bukhari, there is a whole chapter on the superiority of Madinah: there is not 1 on Mecca, Yemen, Syria, Jordan: nope, there's none. Only Madinah. Surely, to the intelligent person, that means something.

Allow me to quote just 1 hadith from that chapter: Nabi saw said:

"Yemen will be conquered and some people will migrate (from Medina) and will urge their families, and those who will obey them to migrate (to Yemen)although Medina will be better for them; if they but knew.

Sham (Syria, Palestine etc) will be conquered and some people will migrate (from Medina) and will urge their families, and those who will obey them to migrate (to Yemen)although Medina will be better for them; if they but knew.

Iraq will be conquered and some people will migrate (from Medina) and will urge their families, and those who will obey them to migrate (to Yemen)although Medina will be better for them; if they but knew".-(aukama qal)

This hadith cannot get any clearer, yet people like to condemn Madinah and its people. Its one of the 2: either they did not come across this hadith, or they do NOT want to find it.

Well for those who's seen this hadith, please, don't hide the truth. And even if you haven't seen this hadith before, or you have some other interpretation to it, there is absolutely no reason for us to slander other people, just because our opinions differ from them, or just because they are from Madinah. Ultimately,our differences in opinion should not stand in our way of our unity.

After all, we're are but 1 ummah, not 2 ummahs.

Back, with a purpose.

2008-09-29T23:21:00.002+08:00

Oh well. I know I did say I would not blog anymore after some team won the Champions League, but seeing all the nonsense that people write on their blogs, I feel compelled to come up with some nonsense of my own, and what better way to do that than via my blog.

Of course, entries will be at a much lesser frequency than when I was in Amsterdam. Hope to express my opinions freely over here, and, if I ruffle a few feathers along the way, then that's just a bonus. Hehe. Jokeng jokeng. But (bad) seriously. Damn! That felt good!

So look out for my next entry: Madinah=Wahabbism? Cheers people.

All good things must come to an end.

2008-07-05T08:08:00.005+08:00

As cliche as it might be, i don't think i could describe my stay more aptly. I'm returning home tomorrow, insya Allah, and should be reaching Singapore on sunday. I know there a few entries that i should have written i.e top 10 wrse quotes on blogs, more epsiodes of chronicles of the impostor etc, but due to time constraints, and the fact that I have to end this blog before i get back (because of that bloody team from Manchester), I apologise for my inability to do so.

My dad, brother and mum (again) came here and we went to London; actually my dad and i met them straight at London, which explains my recent disappearance from the blog.

I hope you guys have enjoyed reading my blog as much as I've enjoyed writing on it. My blog may not hvae been the best, may not have even been the most popular, but no one can doubt it is the most controversial one around, in NUS circles i mean. Haha. Wait, rather than calling it controversial, i should say it has been the most electrifying blog in NUS. I mean, it has to be, since it's the people's blog. What? I said it's the people's blog. Okay2, enough of the wrestling stuff, before Jen make noise again.

If i have in any way offended anyone, please take note that it has been unintentional (except towrads the impostor, whoever you are,:p), thus i humbly and sincerely apologise for it.

This blog has definitely broght me closer to some people whom previously i did not even talk to, and even those who were already close enough; therefore it's only right that i thank each and every one who has visited/commented on this blog (this time, including the impostor).

For those who do wanna catch up with me and all, do give me a msg/call, i will be more than willing to do so. For those who don't want to, err, you can still give me a msg/call lah.

I guess i hafta end with: All that was good was from Allah, and all that wasn't, was from my own ignorance and stupidity, which i hope you guys will overlook.

Let us all turn our attention to www.muhdhaikal.wordpress.com then.

Chronicles Of The Impostor: Ep 3 ~ A week in the life of the impostor.

2008-07-05T07:29:00.004+08:00

Here's my third and final episode (final, due to time constraints) of the chronicles of the impostor. Bear in mind that in this entry, a day refers to a period of time, rather than a day as in 24 hours. And of course, this is what I think what the impostor's thoughts are, after taking into consideration his actions via my blog, i'm not referring to any specific person; unless of course any person wants to step up and claim responsibility. In that case of course, that particular individual will 'terasa pedas'. If not, then just enjoy this as some piece of stroy-telling.=)

Day 1:

Dear diary,

I'm a walking piece of junk. But how do i get people to know this? Oh i know! I'll beat up a gal right in NUS! People will surely know that i'm a piece of trash then!

*moments after beating up the gal*

Ahh, now i feel good. Now i shall go home, and to cap a good day, i shall listen to some backstreet boys.

Day 2:

Dear diary,

People still think that I'm a nice guy. Hmm, what shall i do??? Ah, i know! I'll insult someone's mum! Right in his face!

*after getting his ass whooped by the guy whose mum he insulted*

Shit! Now people will know that i'm just a useless fat guy who claims to be an ex-gangster but cannot fight for nuts. What shall i do? I'll sleep over it.

Day 3:

Dear diary,

Yes! I've got an idea! I'll make a police report, pretending as if i was the victim! This will get me out of embarassment! And after that, i'll tell people that i felt good after making the report, because it was the right thing to do! What a genius i am! Now my mind is at ease. Hence, i'll take 3 viagra before going to sleep.

Day 4:

Dear diary,

Hmm, writing entries on my blog about the malay community and pretending to be a 'pejuang bangsa' doesn't seem to generate enough publicity for me. Maybe it's just becuase it's not that hard to see right through my pathetic carcass. I know! I shall infiltrate the people's blog (Walid's blog that is, :p)! This will make me famous faster than doing a striptease (which i do in the mirror sometimes) at the Forum will! Yay!

Day 5:

Dear diary,

I've done so much evil on the people's blog (hehe), that i fear many people are after my ass. What shall i do now? Oh, why don't i do what i do best? Make a police report! I shall tell the police false stuff about Walid! Phew! Now i won't be in trouble! thank God for the men in blue!

Day 6:

Dear diary,

Now, i think it's best for me to rot in some jungle, coz everyone already knows what kind of a person i am.

Day 7:

Dear diary,
I'm a walking piece of junk. Period.

Surprises.

2008-06-24T17:20:00.003+08:00

On the 16th, last week, i received a call at about 6am from Haikal (Sekapur Sireh, MS pres, Wak, where's the bus-stop), telling me to wake up. All the vulgarities i knew were at the tip of my tongue, waiting to be unleashed as it was after all 6am! But before I could do that, he told me he was at the airport in Amsterdam! I was pretty shocked, and in disbelief, it took me a while to comprehend what was going on. I quickly rushed to the airport, though throughout the journey I was a bit sceptical that he was really here. But indeed, he was. I was so damn happy, you cannot imagine. I asked why he didn't tell me he was coming, he said he wanted it to be a surprise. Well, it was a pleasant surprise indeed.

After that, we went back to my place, and after some hasty planning, we managed to book a few flights and bus rides around Europe. We eventually went to Brussels, Porto and Madrid. It was pretty awesome. Pictures, when i get back. We planned the trip such that we were in Porto for the Portugal game, and in Madird for the Spain game. And i can tell you, what we experienced in Madrid after Spain won, was just amazing, In all likelihood, we won't get to experience it ever again.

Speaking of surprises, it was a bit of a surprise that Holland didn't make it through, but at the same time, it wasn't too great a surprise. Holland always promises so much, but deliver so so little. Enough said.

I still have to bring Haikal around Amsterdam, so I cannot write too much. That's all for now. Have a nice day!

Tribute to a friend.

2008-06-14T07:37:00.004+08:00

14th June, the most important date in one of my best friends' life. Ashraf (VJ, NTU, SIA scholar, tohari-someone-get-me-a-new-job-Paijan, aku makan dua)is getting married. Yup, that's right, getting married. I really admire him; honestly, if I had the money, I would get married too now! Anyway, i really admire him because he's sure of what he wants, and is bold enough to take this step.

Flashback to the last night of 'lepak-ing' for Sekapur Sireh before I left for Amsterdam. On a night where some Sireh members fell asleep in their jeans, some couldn't stay out too late, some brought their girlfriends along and thus had to return home early, some returned early to talk to their girlfriends, Ashraf was one the 3 (apart from me) that stayed on for the whole night; and thus became known as one of the trueblue2 (notice that even though there were 3 other people, the term trueblue2 instead of trueblue3 is used, all thanks to another inside joke courtesy of, who else, Mas'uud). So yup. This entry is for my trueblue2 friend.

If you're reading this, just say a little prayer in your heart, that insya Allah his wedding, and more importantly his marriage, will go smoothly. Let's wish him all the best for the new beginning in his life.

Apart from being a trueblue2 friend, Ashraf (or more affectionately known as Asrap) is also a fellow Holland supporter. Thus it's only right that I mention Holland's victory over France in this entry as well. (Haha.) Superb. Simply magnificent. The Dutch played oh-so-beautiful football, the way it should be played. 2 3-goal-margin victories over the 2 World Cup finalists, enough said.

I know I shouldn't count my chicks before they are hatched, but being a Newcastle supporter has taught me that if you don't count them when you can, you might never be able to! So yup. Campione, campione, ole ole ole. Haha. I was watching the match in a bar near my place, and i tell you, believe me when i say the atmosphere was magnificent. Amazing. The Dutch were singing that song too at half time, and of course after the final whistle. And I'm so damn glad that I'm in Holland right now, really. This is the best time to be in Holland since 1988.

A Dutch victory over the French (an emphatic one at that) and Ashraf's wedding (nikah today actually). A great day indeed.

Unexpected visitors.

2008-06-11T23:45:00.003+08:00

Yesterday was quite a sad day; Jerome went back home. It was really a sombre occasion; me sending him off. It was all the more sad beacuse of the simple reason that I don't know if i would ever get to see him again. You know how it goes in uni, you make many new acquaintances, but very few new friends. He has been a real friend, one of, if not the closest one I've had here. I just pray that I get to see him again in the near future.

Shortly after the depressing moment, Haikal called me. He said Sarah (Noor, student council, and for sekapur sireh, Sarah kita, is in Holland and that she was trying to contact me. I immediately called her up and she told me she was on a Euro tour with her 3 friends (Izyean, Diana and Yanti), and that she was coming to Amsterdam in a couple of hours! I was pleasantly surprised, and I went to meet them. Was really happy i got to meet them. They did ask me to bring them to the red light district, though Sarah was very reluctant to go there. Haha.

Here's a pic, as "evidence" that they actually did go there. Haha. I'm in the midst of studying for my exams, so this is just a very short entry, to tell you guys about these 2 significant incidents.

Finally, Euro has come back......

2008-06-09T19:45:00.004+08:00

Wrestling fans (WWE, not TNA/WCW and whatever) will remember that that is The Great One's catchphrase. I've been you-tubing his videos, and I feel so damn nostalgic. Wrestling just isn't the same without The Rock. I'm sure the wrestling fans among my readers (probably only Badrul!) can emphatise with me.

In any case this entry is supposed to be about the Euro. Portugal and Germany kicked off with wins, with the latter being more impressive. There are 2 theories on the Germans: 1) The Gary Lineker theory- "The World Cup (euro) is a long tournament, with many controversial refereeing decisions, missed penalties, injuries.........In the end. the Germans win. 2) The cockroach theory. The Germans are like the cockroach,whenever you have invented a pesticide strong enough to wipe them out, they come back immuned to the pesticide. The Germans always go in tournaments silently, without any fuss, and then they do their business. Which is why it will not be wise to bet against them. As for the Portugese, they do have the best player in the world, though I think he will not perform in this tournament. But, they still have the best coach in the world (after Kevin Keegan of course), which is why they cannot be counted out as well.

Well tonight, it's Holland V Italy. I'm a supporter of the Dutch national team, even before I came here, and my fellow supporters will remember that Holland V Italy is a match that is responsible for our most heartbreaking moment in football.

Flashback to Euro 2000. Holland V Italy in the semis. Holland got 2 penalties in the match, missed both. They hit the woodwork twice. They attacked Italy from start to finish.Italy hardly got out of their own box. But the match ended up 0-0 (even after extra time, "Golden Goal" as it was then), so it came to the penalty shootout. Well the Dutch are as good at penalty shootouts as the opposition parties in Singapore are good at winning elections. So we lost again. Truly, just ask any fan of the Dutch side. Unfortunately for us, that is the match that we will all remember most, for a long long time.

Group of death, who will make it? My guess is as good as yours, though i'm thinking France and Holland, though Romania shouldn't be brushed aside as well. Whatever it is, I cannot wait.

As for the other contender, Spain, they look good. I know people say this before every tournament, despite the fact that they NEVER do well in major tournaments, "oh, this might be their time," but hey, they do have a point this time (as always!). Nevertheless I cannot imagine Spain would win the tournament, despite Torres' form.

Considering that my predictions have turned out to, err, for a lack of a better word, suck, i shall refrain from making any this time. Let's just enjoy the carnival atmosphere, and some wonderful football.

Recent Pictures.

2008-06-02T23:34:00.005+08:00

Just thought i should share some of the pics i have in my phone. The pics from my trip are mostly on my sis' facebook, http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=524146692. Here are some of the rest.

My hot Italian lecturer and tutor.

The Grand Mosque in Paris. It's become sort of a tourist attraction too.

And, pics that you can get, i assure you, only in Amsterdam. :p

Back from the dead.

2008-06-01T21:22:00.006+08:00

First and foremost, sorry for the long absence. I have so much to blog about, i do not know where to begin.

Well let's just start with how i felt throughout the time my family was here. It was truly wonderful. I loved every moment of it, and i tried to spend as much time with them as possible; rushing to their hotel right after classes and going back to my dorm as late as possible. When they left the on Friday. i felt a void inside myself. Almost like the time when i just got here, though not nearly as difficult as that period. Thankfully, i have so much studying to do that i have litle time to feel depressed etc; my exmas begin this coming Friday and my project deadline is 30th June, though i intend to finish everything by the 27th-for the simple reason that i won't have a room anymore after that!

About our trip: we went to Paris by bus, we stopped at Brussels (Belgium) on our way. Brussels looked like Amsterdam, only a bit older and uglier. Haha. Paris was fun, very fun. Our days were so packed coz there was so much to do; we went to basically all the tourist attractions in Paris, including the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre museum, and, my personal favourite, Disneyland. Haha. I know it sounds stupid, i thought i wouldn't like it too, but it turned out great. I think Disneyland brings out the kid in everyone.

Back in Amsterdam, again, we visited practically all tourist attractions here, except one: the Red-Light District (they call it RDA btw, Red Light District Area). My mum didn't want to go there, probably because my younger bro was around. Probably; i don't know the reason for her refusal. And my family did meet up woth some of my friends; some were unavailable while 1, for reasons only known to himself, refused to meet up with my family, which i find quite ridiculous. Oh well. My family was invited for "tea" and "juice" by some of my friends, i think they enjoyed Raluca's (the Romanian gal) company the most: she didn't have school on one of the days but came down just to meet my family.

We made so many more new friends, from all over. This Greek gal we met, some French Muslims we exchaged contacts with, and the people at our hotel (which was Muslim owned and thet speak Arabic, so my brother was especially close to them). I intend to go to their hotel (they have a restaurant at the ground floor) and just 'lepak' there at least once a week.

I can't possible sum up some of the best days of my life in this short entry, just hope you guys have the main idea, of what's been going on in my life. Take care.

The End?

2008-05-26T16:34:00.002+08:00

My family is here! Alhamdulillaah! Wohoo! I can't remember being as excited as i was at the airport last week, waiting for my family. It was a good feeling. Hehe. It's just so damn nice to see them again. For the pictures, it will be uploaded on Facebook; i shall inform you guys when it's available.

Pardon me for my few (and short) entries these few days; it's family time.=)

I do still go for classes, so i meet up with my fam after school. I've brought them to my place and introduced them to my friends too.

Oh we spent the weekend in Paris. It was brilliant. The Eifel Tower looks a bit ugly in the day, but redeemed itself at night! Haha. This is due to the lighting and all. It was truly magnificent (at night), and a romantic place (at night). One guy in Paris was so damn impressed by my brother's command of the language. I must say i felt immensely proud, silently of course. I won't tell him that because he will gloat non-stop! Haha. And i can afford to put this inside my entry only because he doesn't read my blog!

And, my brother's ability to speak Arabic had never been more useful. In Paris, the Muslims mostly spoke French and Arabic only, hence to find halal food places, we mostly relied on my brother. Even in Amsterdam, he put this ability of his to good use, though most people here do speak English.

As for Man U winning the Champs League, it signals the end of my blog. However, i have a request directed to the Man U fans who patronise my blog; 2 in particular, my trueblu2 friends, Ashraf and Badrul. If you all were to be kind enough to let me have this blog until i get back to Singapore, i would appreciate it. If not, then this would be my second last entry, before i wrap up with a final one.

I hate John Terry.

As-Salaam, Qoblal Kalaam.

2008-05-18T08:17:00.010+08:00

*Firstly let me just say this entry is inspired by an entry from Rizhan's blog (one of the few meaningful blogs around),and even the title is copied from the said entry*

Assalaam, qoblal kalaam = Give the salaam before you speak.

Allow me to share with you guys a very beautiful hadith (hadith sohih narrated by Imam Muslim by the way), in which I think Islam is implicitly summarized.

Rasulullaah s.a.w said:
"All of you will not enter paradise, until you have faith. And all of you will not have faith, until you love one another. Do you want me to show you a way, by which you can love one another? Give the salaam."-aukama qal.

I think this hadith clearly shows what Islam is all about.
1) Love.
2) Peace (salaam).
Beautiful.

So people, let us make it a habit to greet one another with the salaam before beginning any conversation. There's nothing wrong in answering our phones with the salaam, there's nothing wrong in beginning and ending our msn conversations with the salaam, and there is definitely nothing wrong in greeting a fellow Muslim with the salaam when you see him/her, regardless of whether you know that person.

Also, apart from viewing it as an ibadat, we should also view the salaam as a trademark of us Muslims. We all do so many things that are unislamic, so let us try to do the simple things that characterize a Muslim; giving the salaam is as simple as it gets.

Just to share, I taught my Romanian friend the salaam, and she proactively ended our conversation with the salaam. Haha.

Another thing mentioned in the hadith,"And all of you will not have faith, until you love one another." So people, please. The Prophet s.a.w could not have put it any more clearer, you HAVE to love your fellow Muslims to enter paradise. Period.

So if before this we have segregated among Muslims due to differing ideologies, if before this we have slammed others' ideologies because they are "wrong" and we are "right", if before this we have behaved irresponsbly and spread hatred among our fellow brothers and sisters, if before this we hated other Muslims just because they do not zikir in a group, if before this we condemned other Muslims because they celebrate the Maulud, if before this we have used terminologies to describe others which they find offensive, it's time to mend our ways. Love your fellow Muslims. Not your fellow sufis, salafis, shiites, Syafiites and whatever other ideologies there are. But love your fellow Muslims. Because last i checked, Rasulullaah s.a.w came to spread Islam; not Sufism, not Salafism, not Shiism. Islam. This is provided you want to enter paradise, of course.

So people, let us all start together, by beginning/ending our conversations with the salaam; be it with our parents, siblings, friends, girlfriends/boyfriends (or even our non-Muslim friends if possible), be it on msn, on the phone or in person.

And i guess it will be appropriate to end with, Wassalaamualaikum. =)

Chronicles Of The Impostor: Ep 2 ~ Read between the lines.

2008-05-15T03:08:00.005+08:00

My sincere apologies to everyone, that i haven't been updating my blog as often as i should.

You all would know by now, I'm doing 4 mods this block, thus been really busy with school.

Furthermore, my family is coming next week insya Allah, so i have to slog now, before enjoying later!

And, i might be missing a few classes, so yar, now have to study hard first.

Considering that, i realized i had to put up this entry asap since I honestly do not know when i have the time to blog again.

Intelligent, is a word i often use to describe my audience; hence i have no doubts whatsoever that you all can decipher this message. =)

Pesta Pantun.

2008-05-09T21:17:00.004+08:00

*Today's my 100th day here, and in light of the recent developments on this blog,I shall try to summarise my time here in poems, or rather, 'pantun-s'. And, I shall also reply to the unreplied comments from the previous entry.*

Sebelum apply prgramme SEP,
Costs yang diperlu, beribu-ribu.
Aku pun wonder, "Mane nak dapat duit macam gini?"
Nasib baik, kakak aku sayang sama aku!

1oo hari sudah di sini,
Alangkah bahagia kehidupan ini.
Sungguh tenang, sungguh gembira.
Kawan-kawan pula, dari pelbagai negara.

Terlalu bahagia, berada di sini.
Separuh hati, tidak mahu pulang kembali.
Jikalau tidak, kerana mereka yang dikasihi,
Sudah tentu akan stay di sini.

Ibu bapa, yang dicintai.
Adik-beradik, yang amat dikasihi.
Saudara-mara, uncles dan auntie (s).
Sangat sangat, sangat dirindui.

Furqan dan Maryam, dekat di hati.
Sekapur Sireh, selalu diingati.
Shaza juga tidak dilupai,
Dan juga, sesiapa yang ke blog ini!

(My Replies)

To Mas'uud:

Wahai Mas'uud, mengapa cakap begitu?
Janganlah bohong, janganlah tipu.
Kita semua, memanglah tahu.
Dalam semua, kau yang paling rindu aku!

To Badrul:

Bergerak ge giri, ge giri pusing.
Ge giri pusing, sambil membuka topi.
Wahai Cik Badrul, janganlah bising.
Lebih baik diam, sebelum kau kena maki.

(jokeng jokeng, but seriously)

To Jen:

Goyang goyang, kepala goyang.
Salah goyang, masuk longkang.
Performance dikir, sudahla tentu.
Ape lagi,kat wedding Ayu!

To Ayu:

Wedding dalam, 2 bulan lagi.
Insya Allah, kalau takde ape-ape hal.
Eh kau ni, dah hampir jadi isteri.
Jadi sudah, jangan nak menggatal!

To Kak Nana:

Jerome memang belum berpunya,
Tetapi nampak gaya, semua inginkannya.
Memanglah die, idaman dara.
Sayangnya bukan, dari darah kita! (I'm sure you know what i mean!:p)

To Takcakapbesar:

Wahai saudari, nantilah dulu.
Jangan kelam-kabut, jangan terburu-buru.
Jerome belum, berminat kat sesiapa.
Nanti kat Amsterdam, silalah cuba! :P

To HR:

Makan maggi dengan biskut.
Yang penting kenyang, tak sakit perut.
Wahai HR, kau perasan asal?
Takpelah aku percaya kau, KaWan-Nye pasal!

Come on people! I'm waiting for yours!

A day at the carnival.

2008-05-05T04:58:00.008+08:00

As promised, here are some of the pictures of last Monday, when I went to the carnival with Jerome.

Jerome.

I guess this guy needs no introduction. Hehe.

The first ride we took, the one that made me vomit.

And yes, he took a pic of me vomitting. Bloody hell. Haha.

The ride that got me higher than ever. Did i mention i have a fear of heights?

Other pics...

A very nice church.

Oh by the way, they have these sort of urinals in public. Sometimes, it's just a covered booth and you just pee on the floor. So the next time you come to Amsterdam, be careful what you step on...

Dedicated to my Dear Cousin.=)

2008-05-03T09:52:00.004+08:00

I did check out the Indon restaurant in the link my cousin, Kak Nana, gave me. And we did go there earlier today! So yar, the least I could do is write 1 entry for her. :p So here it is.

The pics of the place.

It was at the other side of the city lah! Near the countryside! Haha. But worth the trip. And yar, along the way, managed to catch a couple of nice pics. Hehe.

And oh, a pic of the mosque I went to.

That's about it for now. Thanks again, dearest cousin. =)

Queen's Day.

2008-05-01T09:25:00.015+08:00

Wednesday was Queen's Day here, so it was a holiday. It is to commemorate the Queen's birthday; joke is, 30the April is not her birthday! It is the previous queen's bday, the current one's is in winter, so she doesn't want to have the celebrations then, so yar, she chose to keep the old one. My Dutch friend said it would be interesting to see what happens after she retires next year and her son takes over; whether Queen's day will be 'King's day' then and whether the date will be changed. Oh well.

Anyway, the Dutch have massive celebrations on this day. They paint the city orange! All major roads are closed as people take to the streets, and set up flea markets almost everywhere. People sell everything and anything. Everyone was partying all along the streets too. So yup, here is my day, expressed in pictures (since my hp is up and running!).

Everyone was feeling patriotic,I was no different.

I decided to blend in soon after.

Oh, on Monday, i went to a carnival with my American neighbour, Jerome. My handphone was still spoilt then, so couldn't take photos. Jerome did though, and as soon as he passes me the pics I'll upload it here. In the meantime, these are the rides that we took.

I still feel dizzy, just by looking at this.

And other pics...

With a random guy on the street.

On the street.

I'm sure many wish we had this 'sign' in Singapore.

After a day in the busy are of the city, we decided to go somewhere nice to wind down.

Yup. Very very nice few days for me. Superb actually. These are some of the best days of my life.

On another note, Pool fans, where art thou? All 6 of you, please show up. I was gentleman enough the last time; time for you guys to return the favour. I'm waiting. Tick tock.

"Halal Halal".

2008-04-28T05:36:00.003+08:00

I'm getting pretty pissed off right now with regards to the food situation here. Firstly, my cooking is terrible. So yar. Most meals I have are pretty bad. Secondly, almost all the halal places we know here are Middle Eastern food (shoarma, kebab etc) and each shop sells the same things; only the quantities and tastes differ, that too only slightly. And I would like to share some other instances with regards to "halal" food myself and Fadhil encountered.

Firstly, the Indonesian restaurant I blogged about some time back. That one is halal, like, really halal. HOWEVER, the food is 'basi' (stale) all the time! 3 times we went there, all 3 times the food was stale. So we decided, enough is enough is enough is enough. That was the last Kak Rina (the shopowner) saw of us.

Few weeks ago, we were cycling around town and we saw this Moroccan restaurant. It had the shape of a mosque on its signboard, so we naturally thought it was halal. We entered, and asked the Arab owner whether it was halal. He gave us the what-was-to-be-standard answer,"Halal halal." He then lit a candle on the table and asked us to sit. That was when we say numerous bottles of wine on a shelf inside the shop. We then politely took our leave.

Last week, we went to this Malaysian restaurant. We looked at the menu placed outside the shop, and no wine or pork was sold. All the dishes were Malay food on top of that! We were so damn excited. When we entered, we saw a waitress, who was Chinese. We asked her, and got the usual reply, "Halal halal." But, all the workers were Chinese. I doubt they even knew what halal means. So we were "was-was", and didn't eat there.

Yesterday was the worse. The incident that really pissed me off. We googled for Malaysian restaurants, and found the address of one. It was located on this cosmopolitan street, whereby there were all kinds of restaurants from all over the world: Italian, Chinese, Vietnamese etc. We went to the Malaysian one since it claimed on its website that it was halal, but again wine and beer was sold. 2 shops away, there was an Indon restaurant. And from outside, I saw the names "Allah" and "Muhammad" being put on the counter, just like the ones we put at our homes. We went in happily, thinking to ourselves, "Finally"! To our dismay and disgust, beer was sold. Which didn't really piss me, coz even in Indonesia that is rather common. What pissed me off was when i asked the owner, whether the food was halal, she shrugged her shoulders! I felt like slapping her there and then, and asking her to remove the "Allah" and "Muhammad" from her shop. What? You don't even know if your food is halal? Bloody nonsense. And if it's not (which obviously is the case), then don't freaking put symbols of Islam in your shop lah! And i don't get these people: if you really are selling halal food, why sell alcohol? You're Muslims some more! I don't get it man, i just don't. I think drinking alcohol is 1 thing, selling it is another. I just don't understand them.

For now, I just have to make do with my crap cooking and the shoarma. It's not that bad lah, I'm more pissed off at these people than at the fact that i have to eat the same thing everyday. But we won't stop our search for non-basi halal food. And i'm sure along the way, there will be a few more times yet that we'll hear the words, "Halal halal" being repeated to us.

Proper updates, finally.

2008-04-23T21:55:00.006+08:00

I realized I haven't been updating too much about myself, so here are some updates for the few people that really want to know. =)

My block has been pretty busy thus far; a lot of presentations and essays coming up. 2 of my mods, Experimental Economics and Public Economics, are graded solely on presentations and essays. For the former, I'm teaming up with a Swede, who did his previous semester at NTU by the way. He seems intelligent and reliable. For the latter, my group consists of an American, a Spaniard, a Turk, and a Brazilian. I'm a bit wary of the American, coz I don't have too good an impression of them when it comes to school work, but maybe it's unfair to judge him by what I see of the Americans in my block. The Spanish girl cannot even speak proper English, so my group is as good as consisting of 4 people.

As I said, my schedule this block means that I don't really have time to go sightseeing as much as the previous block, thus less ineresting things to blog about. Hehe. I have to slog first, then enjoy when my family comes here, and when my block ends. Those are the times when, insya Allah, i'll be hoping to do some travelling.

I already got my results for the previous block, and Alhamdulillaah, i passed both. Hehe. I just found out, that for the Dutch bachelor's programme (as in, done in Dutch) here, only 10 percent of the students graduate in 3 years, while for the English programme, the rate is about 60 percent. That means an average of 40 percent failure for each of the mods that I'm doing. Haha. Before you all go,"Wah, susah nah pe nak pass?", let me just tell you the students here are really lazy, and are more interested in partying than studying.

And a piece of good news: Alhamdulillaah, Haikal got accepted for SEP next semester. He will be going tp McGill (Canada) insya Allah. Fyi, McGill is ranked 12the in the world. To put things in perspective, NUS is 33th while the University of Amsterdam is 48th (which I'm sure is due to the research done by the lecturers; coz if the rankings were based solely on students' performances, UvA wouldn't be in the top 200). So yes. Haikal is one smart and lucky guy. Let's all wish him the best.
(For reference: http://www.topuniversities.com/worlduniversityrankings/results/2007/overall_rankings/top_400_universities/)

I must say, Liverpool were thoroughly unlucky yesterday. They dominated from start to finish and should have won, but were desperately unlucky. But hey, they got lucky too in the first leg with Arsenal, when they were absolutely battered yet got away with a 1-1 draw. The tie is far from over still, and there might be a few twists and turns yet in the second leg. I cannot wait. Barca V Man U, haiz. I'm preparing for the premature closure of my blog already, though I'm still hoping against that.

That's all for now people. I hope you guys are enjoying life as much as I am now, and all the best for your exams. =)

1 More Performance.

2008-04-19T22:22:00.009+08:00

Those who have witnessed our Dikir performances back then have to admit; those were some pretty good performances indeed.:p No doubt, we were not professional, our moves were not spectacular (though Suhairi, Akmal and Khidir desperately tried to change this during Manifest 2003) but we were always entertaining. We always enjoyed our performances, which I think is the key to letting your audience enjoy it as well. So yup. To all the Dikir Guys, I appeal to you, 1 more performance. We can find a date and place, just depends on whether you all want it. 1 last one.

Just to evoke some memories, here is 1 song (which of course I would say 1 of the best songs we've ever done). I urge you to read (and sing) it to its original tune; for those who do not know the tune please ask someone who does. It will be so much more enjoyable to read/sing it to its tune.

(Btw, this is reflective of the conditions at that time, during jc 1/2, I know things have pretty much changed since then, but just to keep the "pureness" of the song, I shall use the lyrics as they were then. No offence to anyone, really.)

(The 1st one is the chorus btw, after every verse we sing this)

Seruan, Satria Kirana.
Majulah seni, budaya bangsa. Oi!

Didi boleh gelek.
Mas'uud ada, gerek.
Akmal suka bedek.
Haikal boleh balik! Oi!

KY dengan Atikah,
Miri dengan Zahrah,
Saiful dengan Haida,
Buat dosa saja! Oi!

Suhairi Presiden Kami.
Nor Hafiz Buat Lagu Ni.
Fahmi captain hockey,
Tanpa Khairul dikir mati! Oi!

Syahrom dari Temasek.
Hafiz Jap ketua logistik.
Wan banyak merepek.
Wei Zhong macam Apek! Oi!

Salihin dari Victoria.
Azhar main anak rebana.
Mus main gila.
Hafiz Razak karut istimewa! Oi!

Terima Kasih Jannah.
Terima Kasih Dayah.
Terima Kasih semua,
Atas kehadiran anda! Oi!

Wahai kawan-kawan,
Jangan keterlaluan.
Aku angkat tangan,
Korang Pun Habiskan! Oi!

Seruan. Satria Kirana.
Majulah seni. Buuuuuuu....daaaa...yaaaaaa Bang saaaaa...a aa aaa aa aa aa, Oi!

Chronicles Of The Impostor: Ep 1 ~ Sepandai-pandai tupai melompat.....

2008-04-16T21:15:00.003+08:00

...akhirnya kene bantai juga, err, I mean, akhirnya jatuh ke tanah juga. The problem with uni students is sometime they think they are so damn smart and can get away with anything, but they forget that no one is infallible. I apologize to my dear impostor friend, that you had to wait so long for this entry. So here is episode 1 of my series; I'll just make some deductions from the evidence that has put forth, some very obvious, some less so (and btw, these deductions are based on some assumptions as you'll see later on). And bear in mind people, I already know who the person is, so these deductions are pretty accurate. =)

Let's start off with the most obvious. You're a porn addict, so you must be a guy.

You described Hassan as an "MS champion", thus you are definitely from NUS, and on top of that you're in the MS yahoo groups.

You visited my blog about 80 times a day back when I let you do your nonsense, so you obviously are lonely and have no friends (and thus my blog is your salvation), so you cannot be one of the year 1s (since the year 1 guys are a tight group).

You couldn't cover your tracks properly, so it's safe to say you were not from the police during NS. (of course, I think of those who served in the SPF highly. :p)

You do this when I'm not in Singapore, so you must be in your graduating year; reason being you know that by the time I come back to Singapore you're no longer in school thus I cannot kick your ass.

You don't have enough guts (hence you didn't dare reveal your name), thus you're not from Silat.

You have a problem with MS, thus I'm ruling out all MS members, past and present.

You have no respect for our religion, therefore I'm excluding all those that go the musollas around school.

You have no respect for women whatsoever (obvious from the words you used), thus you probably have laid hands on a girl before.

You have no qualms using vulgarities and insulting others (including your own!) parents, so you must obviously believe in FREE SPEECH (however you define it).

You spelt my name as Wahlid (when it's Walid in Amsterdam!), and there's only 1 person EVER who has spelt my name that way, so you must be.........

Haha. I won't reveal his name in my very first episode lah! If not series end already. :p So let's recap:

Guy, NUS, MS yahoo grps, not yr 1, not from police, graduating year, not from Silat, not from MS, doesn't go to musollas, hit women before, believe in FREE SPEECH. Hmm....Who could it be???

And the plot thickens....

Apologies.

2008-04-12T21:20:00.003+08:00

(I'm posting this entry with a heavy heart, coz I dun want the comments for the previous one to stop coming in. But yar, I can't possibly not post an entry for the next few months! Haha. So keep the comments coming, rest assured, myself and other TPJCians will keep checking that entry)

I guess I have to be a gentleman about this, have to swallow some pride. You see. I was talking to Luqman the day after Pool beat Arsenal, and I said," Gloat all you want,I'll listen". He said: "No no no, I want entry on how a seasoned analyst got it wrong". Haha. So yup,this entry is an apology to all Pool fans, 5 in particular who patronise my blog; my brother, Nor Hafiz, Luqman, Aizat and Gadisti. Yes, Pool won. Yes, I got it wrong. Yes, Pool didn't play anti-football.

BUT, Chelsea will turn them over in the semis, better believe me. There are only so many predictions I can get wrong. Haha. Third time's a charm, as they say. And Avram Grant will do what Jose never managed to, reach the final of the Champs League; thus dispelling all the crap about how Mourinho is the sole factor for Chelsea's rise etc. People always forget Ranieri reached the semis of the Champs League, the season before Jose replaced him. Anyway, I don't trust Pool to beat Man U in the final, which is why I'm rooting for The Blues.

Premier League issues, I know I might sound as crazy and delusional as a Man U fan,
but Arsenal can still win it, though it looks likelier that Chelsea will. Man U will face Arsenal, Blackburn (away) and Chelsea (away) in their next 3 games. I expect them to pick up only 2 points, and by the end of these 3 games, they will be second in the table already. Well, being a Newcastle fan, I'm an eternal optimist.

General updates. Been pretty busy with school as expected. 2 of my mods are non-examinable, we have to formulate economics models for these mods. Here, more so than Singapore, the emphasis is more on learning, though I don't think NUS is that bad in terms of this.

The good thing about a new block is, you make so much more new friends. This block I've got to know people form Lithuania, Turkey, Greece, Indonesia and so much more. It's great to make so many new friends, from all over the world. It really allows you to formulate more racial stereotypes. Hahahaha. But seriously. Haha.

And people, I'm feeling very very nostalgic, with regards to my JC days. So if any other entry on TPJC comes up, faham-faham je lah eh, it's a phase.=)

TPJC-02/03.

2008-04-09T22:27:00.007+08:00

Without a doubt, and I’m sure I’m speaking for my counterparts as well, the 2 years (or 3 for some!) we spent at TPJC was truly maginificent, possibly the best times of our life, or at the very least, close to it. So here’s a trip down memory lane, a very light-hearted entry dedicated to the TPJCians of my batch, particularly the Student Lounge Gang. For the rest who do not get this entry, I really apologise. Allow us to engage in some acts of self-indulgence.
(I will divide these “memories” into sub-parts; since there are too many inevitably some will be left out, so please add in the comments for those who remember)

First three months:
Mas’uud: Kau belum tengok abang dia bodoh.
Mas’uud and Suhairi, to each other: Hmm, which one of us is she looking at?
Mas’uud: (amidst dramatic scenes after posting results) Nangis mangis, lapar tetap makan.
Haikal: Siapa nak solat 2nd round?
Glory Bernabas: (while holding her flabby stomach) 4.9 percent of TPJCians are overweight.
Akmal: 4 percent of those fats are hers.

Sports (general):
Aspiring Soccer Player: Soccer is the place to be!
Soccer-reject: There’s always hockey.
Hockey-reject: There’s always HNF.

Soccer:
Samad: DON’T CALL ME COACH!
Abu Dzar: I’m the Arts Fac top scorer.
Nordin to Walid: I think u’re the answer to our right-back problems.
Nordin to Walid: (1 month later) Err, Walid, u’re a bad influence to the team, I don’t need you here anymore.
Nordin to Suhairi: Thanks for the warm-up.

Hockey:
Taufiq: (while 2-0 down, yes u read correctly, down, at half-time) Guys, the opponents are breaking down. I can sense it.
Rizhan to Samad: (every training) Sir, I have to go home early.
Centre bench-ers: When will we ever start a game?
Hockey gals: Let’s celebrate like we won the world cup, coz we scored a goal. Doesn’t matter if we’re 8-1 down!
Hafiz Razak to hockey team: (after every game) Eh, berape kosong?

Dikir:
Nor Hafiz: Eh kita buat lagu ni ah!
Nor Hafiz: Kite kene pakai baju kurung, tu melambangkan orang Melayu.
Saiful: Kite pakai selipar ah, tu pun melambangkan org Melayu.
Hafiz Jap: Kawan-kawan, aku ade belikan baju dikir utk korang, Lawa gile punye.
Saiful to Miri: Mane CD aku?
Miri to Saiful: (while throwing the CD) Nah, amek ni!
Miri: (20 secs later) Eh, asal hidung aku berdarah?
Suhairi to Dikir Guys: Guys, I need you all to embarrass yourselves like never before, coz I wanna apologize to Ayu.
Dikir Guys: (during performance) Wahai Cik Adik, jangan marah sangat......
Fazli: Eh boleh serious tak korang, besok ni, next week tu.
Mas’uud to Ayu: Ayu, siape karut?
Ayu to Mas’uud: Aku ah.
Mas’uud to Ayu: Aku tau kau karut, tapi siape karut?

Mohsin:
Mohsin to Akmal: Eh, pak yap ah, 5 minit je.
Mohsin to Didi: Eh, pak yap ah, 5 minit je.
Mohsin to Hafiz Razak: Eh, pak yap ah, 5 minit je.
Mohsin to everyone: Eh, pak yap ah, 5 minit je.
Moshin to Sekapur Sireh: Aku ade advice utk korang, jangan makan sotong....

Student Lounge:
Fazli: Jennah, oh jennah.....
Fazli: MATI! MATI!
Everybody when they waiting for their turn for Super Mario: Hang ah! Hang ah!
Walid: (from outside lounge) Lepas ni aku ah.
Mohsin: ISH, AKU ADE GP!
Mohsin: YES! AKU DAPAT NOMBOR!
Ayu: Jom, kite makan each other!
Sekapur Sireh to Shikin: Weeeellllllllllllllllllllllllllllll......
Nadia to KY: (lifts shirt) KYYYYYY.......
Luqman: (during his visit to TPJC) Hmm, no wonder these guys always win at taitee.

Eve of National Day during year 2:
Haikal: (Lies on floor, shaking vigorously)
Didi and Akmal: (crowds around Haikal, laughing and smiling)
Jen: (runs towards Haikal)
Walid to Jen: Jangan layan Jen, die tengah bedek.
Jen to Walid: Ni kalau betul-betul baru kau tau.
(And the rest, as they say, was history.)

General:
Step Hero: Ape-ape jadi, JANGAN LARI.
Step Hero: (10 secs later) Eh semue lari!
Didi, Hafiz Razak, Mas’uud: (while falling down from and getting back up the slope) Eh ni slope pergi mane ah?
Mak Faidah to Sekapur Sireh: Eh korang tak tau nak balik ke????
Mak Mohsin to Sekapur Sireh: Eh korang buat ilmu eh?
Bapak Mas’uud: (while walking along the corridors) Mane kasut Suhairi ni?
Ashraf: Eh ni perahu Sang Nia utama ke ape? (Eh sorry2, this is an NUS Reperio joke, just couldn’t resist)
Akmal, Mohsin and Mas'uud: (whispers in their hearts) Eh, dah 1 jam kat BK ni, satu game pun Walid tak kalah?

So that’s all from me, looking forward to your input!

And the new block begins...

2008-04-09T21:23:00.004+08:00

My new block started this Monday. and sad to say, my 'holiday' is over. Haha. Last block was practically a 'holiday' because I took only 2 mods, and so was free most of the days. This time, I have a 5-day week, and I'm doing 4 mods. So, you do the Maths.

Erm, my handphone is down now, so I cannot take pictures. Such a pity, I have to get it fixed soon. This block has 8 weeks by the way, compared to last block's 7 (excluding the 1-week holidays), because there will be quite a few public hols during ths period, thus they have to make up for it.

It really is a sad day for football, Arsenal getting knocked out. It is so sad to see people who stay true to the principles of the game, people who play soccer with so much joy, not winning anything, for the 2nd consecutive season. Such a pity.

Okay, this short one is just for some updates about myself, I have to concentrate on my next entry.=) TPJC-ians, watch out for it.

Daylight Savings Time and Comments Moderation

2008-04-06T06:08:00.003+08:00

Its daylights savings time here now, meaning that they pushed the clock forward by 1 hour, hence the time here is now 6, instead of 7 hrs earlier than in Singapore. This happens each year at the start of spring, and when it’s nearing winter, they will push the clock back by 1 hour again.

Exams are over for this block; honestly I do not know how well I will do, so I’ll only talk about it when I get my results, which is in 3 weeks time. School starts on Monday though, there is no break in between the blocks. Next block I’m doing 4 mods, so it’s gonna be be much heavier than what I’m doing now. But oh well, I need only a pass for every subject, since all mods done during SEP will be S/U(pass/fail option)-ed.

I’m really loving my time in Amsterdam, Alhamdulillaah.=) Fadhil and I were just talking about it just now, about how Amsterdam is such a peaceful, beautiful place. It’s so serene here; it’s almost like a modern village rather than a city. This, despite it being the capital of Holland. It is so lovely, really. But, I just wished I had applied for SEP together with 1 of my friends. This was a mistake on my part, not co-ordinating with my friends. It would be so much more fun than it already is now with them here. But, I believe things always happen for a reason.=)

And with regards to the impostor; I’m admitting defeat, and finally going to moderate my comments and lock my tagboard. Earlier, when advised by my friends and family to do so, I said I shall resist until religious or racial boundaries are transgressed, because I thought that would never happen (calling my sis a b**** wasn’t a smart move either). Well, I thought too highly of him I guess. If a Muslim can talk about God and Islam in the way he did, then I’m lost for words. Anyway I urge you all not to be worried about this guy: a wise man once told me,”Anjing kalau menyalak macam mana pun, gunung takkan runtuh (No matter how much a dog barks, a mountain will not crumble). Even more so, this is a toothless dog, who’s been barking a lot, but cannot bite. He asked for Latiff’s address on his blog with so much gusto, then backed off when Latiff asked him to call him. So don’t worry about him, he’s hiding his identity precisely because he knows he’s toothless. Well my bro, in case you rediscover your manhood, I’m scheduled to return to Singapore on 6th July at 4pm.

And this is specifically directed to my dear impostor friend; did you for one moment think that you’re gonna come to my blog, insult my family, my friends and their girlfriends, my (and yours I might add) religion, make me admit defeat and I will let you get away with it just like that? If you thought that you were having fun my friend, well, you’re in for a ride now.

For all my dear viewers, I had known who the impostor is long ago, about 5 days after he came to my blog I had matched the impostor’s IP address with this guy whom I suspected (with the help of my team of experts, chey!), and yes, my hunch was right. I just didn’t wanna reveal yet because I thought he deserved another chance, or 2 more, or 10 more. Well, his luck just ran out. Thus, for marketing purposes, hehe, I shall a mini-series on my blog via my entries,dubbed the IS (impostor series). I shall provide background stories as to why all these happened and gonna give new clues each time as to who it is (at my own time of course). I promise all shall be revealed, before I get back to Singapore! Just to get you guys to read my blog! Hahahaha.

Soccer stuff, Arsenal are out of the league title race. I never thought I would say this, but I hope Chelsea will pip Man U to the title. I still believe Arsenal will make it to the semis of the Champs League. Expect Pool to play anti-football on Tuesday, and by the way, I still feel Arsenal was robbed last week. Hleb was clearly fouled, and the ref had no reason not to give it, he was just 3 metres away!

Ladies and Gentlemen, now the fun really begins. =)

Fitna.

2008-04-04T05:19:00.005+08:00

Everyone has been asking, "How's the situation now in Amsterdam, after the release of 'Fitna'?" Well, this entry serves to answer that question, among other more important purposes of course.

If you all have been following the developments in MS yahoo grp mails, you would know that Ibnur suggested not watching the film, as a response. Actually, I agree with him, but I figured being here and all, it wouldn't be smart of me not to watch the movie, in case I got quizzed. So yar. I did have a look at it. And, like most of you, I was appalled and enraged.

In fact, I would go as far as to say; after watching the film, if you did not feel any anger, if you did not feel upset, if you did not feel hurt, then there is no iman in you.

How then do we show/channel our anger, our hurt? Do we burn effigies of Geert Wilders? Do we burn flags of the Netherlands? What should we do?

Allow me to give a little background regarding the director of the movie, Geert Wilders. He is a Dutch Member of Parliament, he is a prominent critic of Islam, and has very very strong relations with Israel (I'm not trying to imply anything). He has said many degrading things about Islam, amongst which, and I quote: "(Muslims should)tear out half of the Koran if they wished to stay in the Netherlands” because it contained "terrible things" and that Muhammad would “in these days be hunted down as a terrorist”. Now, some of you will remember the assassination of Theo Van Gogh, a Dutch playwright, for his works regarding Islam. You may now question this Geerst Wilde guy's intelligence for releasing this movie, considering what happened to Van Gogh. So why did he release it in the end?

Maybe I could give a little insight here. You see, the Dutch have a very very tolerant culture (be it regarding religion, personal beliefs or anything else), embedded in their society for donkey years. No doubt, as in other places in the world, Islamophobia has creeped in. But, it's not that easy to change this culture of tolerance, it's not easy to suddenly make every Dutch citizen hate Islam.

Thus, anti-Islamists like Theo van gogh and Geerst Wilde resort to such means. Freedom of speech? Bullshit. They don't give two hoots about that. What they want, is to spread propaganda about Islam. Paint a negative image of Islam. Why? Because they want to provoke the Muslims, specifically in Holland, to react. They want Muslims to show violent reactions, so that the process of disseminating Islamophobia can be sped up. Once they get reactions from the Muslims, they will have justifications to rid the Netherlands of Muslims, for good.

Of course, alongside them, they have an ally in the media. You see, the media just wants to sensationalise everything, simply because sensationalism sells. I do not know if you have seen these footage(which was shown in the local media), whereby young Muslims were interviewed and gave comments like "Geerst should be killed" etc. They try to paint pictures of unrest in Amsterdam. When in fact, there really is none (yet!). It's been very calm here. As for those footage, the media has a tendency (my 'bro' told me this) to go this part of Amsterdam, the suburbs, where some of the Muslims are school dropouts and do nothing everyday, and interview these people, just so that they would get non-intelligent responses to broadcast to the world. Unfortunately, it works.

So that's his main motive (to eventually drive Muslims out) and we know his modus operandi (via mass media). So again, what should we do?

Well firstly, we shouldn't give him what he wants. Don't give him a reaction. But I'm sure you all have heard that rhetoric before from MUIS, the government etc so I need not elaborate further.=)

Secondly, it's time for us all, as ambassadors of our religion, to get acquainted with the Quran, particularly those verses used in the movie. Go and check them up, please. After my exam earlier in the day, my Romanian friend (who's a staunch Christian btw) came to me to talk about this. She asked me regarding one of the verses, verse 60 of Surah Al-Anfal, whereby God mentioned to us to get ready weapons against our enemies. She asked if that was true. I said yes, I took out the Quran (with English translation) and showed her verse 61 of the same surah: "But if they incline to peace, you also incline to it, and trust Allah....." She immediately went, "Oh my God. Now i question his ( Wilde) motives. What is he trying to do???"
Point is, equip ourselves with knowledge about our own holy book, so that we will not get red-faced if asked by non-Muslims. Do not just race to 'khatam' the Quran, and not understand it at all; read it and read its translation, it would be much more worthwhile.

May I also praise Mr Wong Kan Seng, for his comments regarding the release of this film. I think the Singapore government should be lauded for the way it deals with these issues. Also, Christian societies in Singapore have come out to condemn this movie. I really respect that. It only goes to prove what Allah said surah Al-Maidah verse 82, to be true.

As for Wilde himself, we don't have to worry about him. Allah will recompense him. And Allah is the best of recompensers.=)

Tagboard Replies.

2008-04-04T04:32:00.004+08:00

As you all know, to avoid 'fitna' (hehe), I have vowed not to tag on my tagboard anymore. Thus I'll use this entry to reply to some of the comments directed towards me, even those long ago ones!

Guardian Angle, I wished I could bring the imam back home too! I'm sure many gals are thinking the same.

Aizat, haha, points noted. However let me remind you, Kevin Keegan made his name as a player at Liverpool, but as a manager, he reached legendary status only for his work at Tyneside.

Meraa nam Joker and S.M, yes, that's the S'pore government for you. Did you for 1 second think that they were going to give more than they take? Haha. And yes, I can't argue with you about the barakah part.=)

Freeq, well done, pretty accurate predictions, though 1-0 and 2-1 have totally different implications considering the away goals rule.

Rhafizon, haha, Torres will score at Anfield next week, but Arsenal will stil turn Liverpool over (inside out and upside down might i add) in the return leg. Believe me. :p

Heeerrrrbody, things do not look good for us. Barca's playing like crap, seems like Man U might get to the final. This blog might just be reaching the end of its lifespan.

Golden Satellite, you're such a joker. You make me laugh, in a good way of course.

Karut Istimewa, nice of you to reappear.=)

Now for the real and long-awaited entry....

Den Haag.

2008-03-30T07:11:00.006+08:00

Today was the best day I've had in Holland. Really. =) I cannot say the best day I've had in Amsterdam, because I spent the day outside of Amsterdam, for the first time, at The Hague.

For those who are unfamiliar, The Hague is the political capital of Holland. While Amsterdam is its capital, The Hague is home to the Netherlands' parliament house and is where most of the politicians reside. Why this is the case, I really do not know. I can only think that the only feasible reason is because Amsterdam has too many immigrants, rendering it unsafe for important political figures to stay here. Oh well. Den Haag is the Dutch name for The Hague by the way, in case you haven't figured it out. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is also located there. If the name sounds familiar, it's because you probably heard it on Channel News Asia before; that's where Singapore's dispute with Malaysia regarding Pedra Branca is being settled!

Why I went there is this; Fadhil received an invitation from the Malaysian Embassy, located there also, for the celebration of Maulidur Rasul s.a.w , so he asked me along. Now, i know some of you are going, "Ape ni sambut Maulud semue?"! I'm not gonna discuss that in this entry, insya Allah in future entries we'll have a debate about that. =)

Anyway, we went to Amsterdam Central to take a train to that city and we bought the tickets. Train was supposed to leave at 1411, subsequent one was at 1441. So we ran over to the platform, saw the train, but missed it by a matter of seconds. We were quite frustrated, but Allah knows best. It was for the best that we missed that train. Why???

Looking at train timings.

Saw this at Centraal Station. Sold both medicine and drugs. Hehe.

Because we took the 1441 train, and when we arrived at The Hague's station, we saw a Malay-looking couple with their daughter! So i approached them, and asked if they were Malaysians, and if they knew the way to the embassy. They said they were going there too, so we could go with them! So lucky! If not we wouldn't be able to find sey, coz it's so 'hulu'! Alhamdulillaah! And that 'Abang', as we called him, gave me his name card after we talked a bit. It read: University Malaya: Associate Professor Wan Suhaimi- Bachelors from Al-Azhar, Masters from Uni of Cairo, PHD from University Malaya. OMG!!!! He was that good! But you could never tell from his looks! He dressed normally! No way you could tell that he was an ulama'! He is in Holland (city of Leiden, not Amsterdam), because he's a research fellow at Uni of Leiden momentarily, while his wife does her PHD here. His wife is doing PHD in space law! As in outer space law! I didn't even know there was such a discipline! But they were so freaking humble! Masya Allah. I'm really impressed by them. If we had taken the 1411 train, we wouldn't have met them, and chances are, we wouldn't even find the embassy!

The time spent at the Embassy was fantastic. The food was great, the maulud I liked, the syarahan was good (though I didn't understand the need for a tahlil, felt like it didn't blend with the occasion). And guess who gave the syarahan? Mr Wan Suhaimi himself! They all called him Ustad over there! Me and Fadhil, after the event, started calling him Ustad too, instead of Abang! Haha. But it was nice. Really. I had fun. The people there were soo nice, despite me being Singaporean! One guy from the embassy asked whether I was a student there. I said yes, but I'm a Singaporean. Then he said,"Then what are you doing here???" Haha! But he was kidding, thankfully! Haha. He even said, anytime I feel like eating Malay food or just spending some time, I'm welcomed at the Embassy. They were really really wonderful hosts.

Everything about the trip was awesome. From the train ride (seeing all the sights including the countryside of Holland) to the company, and not least, the food! Alhamdulillaah!

I have so much more to blog about, about the 'Fitna' movie etc, but I'll wait till I finish my exams for this block on Thursday. So pardon the lack of inactivity on my blog, though in light of what's been happening, I don't think there will be inactivity at all on my tagboard.:p

Meanwhile, enjoy some pics of my trip.

In the train

Now you know how a Dutch police car look like.=)

The ICJ.

Photos for the Week.

2008-03-30T06:34:00.004+08:00

Just some photos.=)

Central Station

Inside the tram

The Pakistani mosque I went to this week.

As you all know, Amsterdam is full of canals. Sometimes, when ships want to pass by, roads, bridges are lifted,as in this case.

I found an Indon Halal Restaurant! Malay food! Alhamdulillaah!

Multi-storey carpark, only that it's for bicycles!

One last pic.=)

Hope I've improved!

Kosovo.

2008-03-27T06:33:00.004+08:00

Some time ago, I was speaking to 2 undergrads about random stuff, and somehow the Palestinian issue came up. I asked them their opinions with regards to it. Their response saddened me: they were both nonchalant about it, and didn't really took an interest in it.

Which begs the question: what happened to the 'ukhwa' (brotherhood) of the Muslims? I'm sure those 2 are not the only ones; in fact they be more of the majority than the exceptions. While there could be a thousand different reasons for such a phenomenon, the purpose of this entry is not to discuss those reasons: rather just to shed some light on the issue of our fellow Muslim brothers and sisters in Kosovo.

Some background: Kosovo is a region in the Balkans, near to Serbia and Albania. It has a population of about 2 million, most of whom are Muslims, while their ethnicity is mostly Albanian.

Kosovo was previously a self-governing region, under Serbia's rule. However last month, its parliament had a vote, and they have unilaterally declared independence from Serbia. The older ones among us might remember the genocide case that took place in Kosovo: "courtesy" of then Yugoslav PM Slobodan Milosevic, who died while in UN custody (he was convicted by the international court for his crimes).

Anyway, Europe and the US have moved swiftly to recognize Kosovo's independence. Few weeks ago, I read an article in the Wall Street Journal, which stated, and I quote: "The US have yet again ushered the path for the independence of a Muslim nation, not that the Muslim world is going to give them any credit for it." (By the way I cannot remember of any Muslim nation being "ushered" to independence by the US, maybe you guys can enlighten me) While the sarcasm is scarcely appreciated, I
have to concede that this time the US have indeed helped Kosovo aplenty (though deep down I question their motives; whether they really believe in right to self-determination or as always, they have a hidden agenda). However, if the US wants credit from the Muslim world for helping 2 million Muslims gain independence (and they have a right to demand so), then the US must also admit responsibility for destroying the lives of 27 million Iraqis, 31 million Afghans and 3.5 million Palestinians, among others, for its their policies which have caused utter chaos and destruction in these countries.

Back to Kosovo, it is unlikely that they will get UN recognition soon, since Russia, a permanent member of the UN security council and thus have veto power, is a close ally of Serbia, and both of them have strongly objected to Kosovo's declaration of independence, labelling it as 'illegal'.

What is interesting is that barring Turkey, Albania and Malaysia, most Islamic nations have not recognised Kosovo's independence. Most of them have given their official reply as,"Waiting for the UN's verdict." Now I don't know whether these nations actually respect international law and thus refuse to recognise Kosovo's independence without UN approval, or they are just spineless countries, who do not dare make decisions even if it was for the betterment of their Muslim brothers and sisters. Then again, if Muslim countries were not spineless, Palestinians would have had a country of their own long, long ago.

I hope that enlightened some of you about this issue. My take-home message is; Please bother about events around the world, when they involve fellow Muslims. Because if we don't, then who will?

Snowy pics.

2008-03-26T08:49:00.007+08:00

Just some pics with regards to the 'snowy' condition. Haha. Makes me excited like a little boy whenever it snows.

Snowing lightly. Notice the playground in the background.

The view after the 7th time it snowed!

Close up view of the playground

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Global Warming.

2008-03-24T21:51:00.001+08:00

Had a chat with someone recently, and I got be a little disturbed. Just wanted to share my thoughts on this.

It is supposed to be spring now in Europe, but it's still snowing. Heavily in fact in Amsterdam. The forecasted weather over the next week doesn't look too good either, it will only get colder. My point? Global Warming is indeed taking place!

So maybe I would like to suggest a few measures that we, the laymen, can perhaps take.

1) Minimize the use of plastic bags. Seriously. Bring your own if you wanna go shopping.

2) For those who have your own transport, let's try to use public transport to sch at least once a week. Serious!

3) And for those who have bikes, especially RXZ bikes, please do something about your smoke emissions! Especially if yours is an old, ugly, red RXZ!

4)When going to very near places, avoid taking your bikes/cars. Go out earlier, and go public.

5) This I heard from the guy who won the Nobel Peace Prize this year together with Al Gore, the head of the IPCC(the group of scientists working on climate change), eat less meat! I don't know the mechanisms working behind it though!

6)Please try to use as little air-con at home as possible! And please, switch off ur lights when u're not using it!

7) Make it a point to recycle paper! Especially the junk notes from previous sem, don't just throw it away anyhow. Put it in the recycling bin.

I haven't become an environmentalist yet, haha, just sharing my worries/thoughts.

Super Sunday.

2008-03-24T03:35:00.005+08:00

Well Super Sunday wasn't that super after all. Arsenal lost, and so did Liverpool damn it, despite promises by someone that they will dedicate this victory to all the "strugglers" in the Premier League! All that means is that the title should be Man U's. To borrow a quote from my former soccer coach; soccer has hurt me more than love has! But hey, at least Newcastle won! Phew! Rome is being built finally! King Kev has regained his throne! Now that Newcastle do not look as if they are going to be relegated, I don't have to migrate to Amsterdam!

Some updates. Was busy for most of the weekdays, finishing up on my assignment. The mods I'm doing are pretty heavy. The coming week is my break week, and after that, it's my exams week, for the first block. Time really flies ey. Oh well.

On Friday, me and Fadhil found yet another mosque. This time, we didn't have any plans on which mosque to go to exactly: we met at Central Station, and our plan was to follow anyone who wore a Jubah! Haha. And it worked, thank God! Haha. And oh, the mosque was the best I've been to. Not the mosque actually, more of the Imam. He was a young guy, probably only 2 or 3 years older than me, but he was so assured, so confident in his delivery. He had no script: totally impromptu, 100 percent eye contact with the audience. I couldn't understand a word, yet my eyes were fixed on him. He was that good! I really wished Singapore had more such good, confident Imams . And he wasn't bad-looking either! Haha. After the khutbah I went over to him, i shok his hand and wanted to kiss it but he didn't let me, and he straightaway hugged me. I asked him if he could speak English, he said a little bit. I told him that as a great khutbah, i really loved it. He was so humble, he felt so paisey and he sheepishly said thanks. I wanted to take a pic with him, but my handphone batt died on me!

And it was a bad time for my batt to die as well. Coz after the solat, it was snowing! And it was snowing heavily! And this time, the snow was really thick; the kind that took a good 2-3 minutes to melt once it touched your shirt. It was a magnificent sight to behold. I kept going out of the food place, while having lunch, to 'play' in the snow. Even the shopowner asked; "You like to play in the snow?" Haha. Fadhil was pretty nonchalant about it, having spent 3 years in the States for his bachelors'. The downside to it: when will spring come???? The locals are getting worried, telling me it's pretty unusual for it to be snowing right now. Plus, someone just told me spring officially starts on 21st march! :p Oh well. I sure am not complaining about the snow (not the cold though, it was 0.5 degrees just now at night!).

And it was snowing over the weekend as well. Just now itself, i was caught in the snow, both when cycling to Fadhil's place and while cycling home. But it wasn't really thick, and not as nice as Friday's. But was still good. Cheered me up a little after my Second Love had hurt me. Haha.

Can't wait for Champs League. To get today out of the system.

You Live By The Sword, You'll Die By The Blade.

2008-03-21T22:39:00.005+08:00

The question everyone has been asking me, "Walid, what happened to your blog?" some comments include, "Dude, yours used to be a family-friendly blog," and "Ni orang yang takde adab dgn didikan agama je yang buat gini," among many others of course. Well, firstly, my blog is still a family-friendly blog, at least the comments by the non-impostor of course. Haha. And secondly, as I said: You live by the sword, you'll die by the blade. The way I started this blog off (for those who remember my first entry), it was a question of when, rather than if, this will happen. Haha.

Many of my close mates and family members have suggested to me to remove the tagboard and to screen for comments, so that the impostor cannot put up such irresponsible comments defaming others, and even MS for that matter. At the moment, I shall resist doing so. For a few reasons.

Firstly, the impostor generates ratings for me! Since he started doing his thing, my blog has averaged 400 views a day! Yesterday it was 406! Haha. Granted, 86 were by that impostor himself (more on this later) but even if u take that away, its about 300 a day. At this rate, it will be about 9000 a month, and over 100 000 in a year! Wohoo! That will definitely make my blog among the top 3 in NUS! Haha. And it's all due to him.=)

Secondly, I believe in being able to stand up to scrutiny regarding whatever i say, and i do not wanna prevent (responsible) people from commenting on my blog anonymously. Occasionally of course there will be the odd twisted person who will use vulgarities and impersonate others, but I definitely know how to tell who is who. So no worries on that one. =)

Thirdly, and most importantly, instead of condemning the impostor, we should embrace him. I know at this point in time it's difficult for you guys to do that, but hear me out first. This guy visits my blog an average of 85 times a day. Assuming that he sleeps 6 hrs a day, he visits my blog once in about 12.8 minutes! This can mean a few things. It might be that he came from a broken childhood, such that his upbringing is twisted and he believes in accusing innocent people, causing fights etc, or it can mean that he is a person who is greatly deprived of attention. Having been shut out from Latiff's blog (and rightly so I might add), my blog is the only place he can turn to. So if I myself do not give him that chance, I fear that without an avenue to express his disappointment and frustration at his depressing life, he might do something foolish to himself. So at the moment, I will not screen my comments yet. In the near future, who knows.

Anyway, I urge all of you not to get upset by his comments. Understand that he needs our help to change, and condemning him is not the way to do it. I am pretty sure also, my audience can tell which comments are the impostor's, and which are not. So there is absolutely no need to get worked up.

To those who have been at his receiving end, I humbly apologise on his behalf. Also an apology to NUSMS, for your name being dragged into this. But I am pretty sure MS members are gracious enough not to take his comments to heart, and are willing to help him change.

By the way, I urge all my family members and friends not to comment anything on this entry. Let's let the impostor and his different versions release their 22, 23, 24 years of deprived attention translated into hurt and vent his angst out.

At the same time, let us all pray for him. I think it's really sad that an undergraduate can stoop down to these levels, so let us all pray Allah puts hidayah in his heart, and let us all pray that Allah keeps his identity concealed, coz i fear the backlash he might receive by the people he has offended if his identity is revealed. Insya Allah. Amin.

History, culture and tradition.

2008-03-18T07:19:00.002+08:00

Sunday night, at about 8.30pm, someone knocked on my door. It was the Iranian guy who lives at the 6th floor, and he said his wife and himself (his wife stays with him) wanted me to join them for dinner. I told him I already had dinner, but really appreciated the thought. 5 minutes later he came back knocking on my door, telling me that his wife insisted I join them, at least for tea. You see, the guy is a very mild and nice guy, and from the looks of it he's affected by the TB and QC "diseases" that plague some guys in relationships. Something like Ashraf and Hafiza probably? Hehe, no no, that's highly inaccurate, maybe more of Cassim and Farz? Haha, relax relax, just joking. Perhaps the more accurate representation would be Akmal and Rai? Hehe. Jokeng jokeng. But seriously. Haha. No, I'm just joking. Don't take it to heart. But.... Oh well. At least their girlfriends don't hate me! Hahahaha.

To the uninitiated, sorry for those 'inside jokes galore'. I just couldn't resist. Yang faham faham lah eh, yang tak faham, buat-buat faham!

Anyway, back to my story. I went over to their place, and another Turkish guy was there was well. I didn't know that there was another Muslim in my block apart from the Iranian couple. Dinner with them was awesome. Really. Well, I'm not referring to the food, coz I haven't had good food since I stepped in Europe, most of the food here are spiceless, but the company was great. You see, both the Iranians already have Masters' degrees in computer science, and was pursuing Masters in logic now, while the Turk is doing his post-doctorate studies: he already has a PHD from Turkey. So the conversations we had were wonderful. I felt in awe of such company at times. Really. They are really intellectual people, yet they are so humble.

And oh, they were talking a lot about Turkish and Persian history, tradition and culture. It was fascinating stuff. The Turks and Persians do have a bit of common history and culture. It was so embarassing since I didn't have any of those to talk about Singapore! Haha. But it was still fun. I spent about 2 hours there, we talked about politics, religion and anything and everything under the sun. It was truly splendid. =)

The night before, Jerome (the American guy next door) came to my room and said,"Dude, the guys in this level are having a beer in my room. I know you don't drink, but I feel it's only polite that I ask you along!" Haha. He stayed for a bit and we chatted for quite a while. He's really a nice bloke.

I feel so blessed that since I've been here, I've been surrounded by really really nice people, and I cannot thank God enough for that.

Freedom of Speech.

2008-03-16T04:54:00.004+08:00

As an Economics student, I tend to look at every issue via the cost-benefit analysis: which is really simple, if the costs are more than the benefits, abandon it. Which is why I am highy sceptical of this Western-idea of freedom of speech; sometimes the costs it generates are far greater than the benefits.

A simple example: the Danish caricatures controversy a couple of years back. Is that sort of freedom of speech supposed to be supported, encouraged and promoted? Is that even freedom of speech, or is it just blatant disrespect? Is there a hidden agenda on the part of the self-proclaimed proponents of "freedom of speech"?

And the caricatures contoversy isn't the only example: many a time, people have distorted and misused the idea of freedom of speech, both knowingly or not. Some people use this idea to justify personal attacks, to justify describing other people as dogs even: maybe they really do believe in freedom of speech, and if that freedom itself is going to cause resentment, is going to promote hatred, I question the wisdom in pursuing with that "fight" or "quest" for "freedom". In fact, the meaning of the word 'freedom' itself is a highly contentious issue, up for debate.

I'm not gonna say which definition of freedom is right or wrong, I'm not gonna say that freedom of speech should not be pursued when it's detrimental, nor am I gonna answer the questions I posted in the 2nd paragraph. I leave it to you, the educated audience,to make your own judgments after analysing the issues at hand.

Some updates for the week. Was a busy week, as in busy with school. Haha. Only 2 modules I'm doing for this block, yet it feels so heavy. Really. And the thing is, in NUS, you feel pressured/motivated/encouraged to study when you see people around you, people at Forum, people at Central Library all mugging. Here, haha, you don't see anyone studying! Haha. I remember a saying from my "bro"'s cousin last week: "In Holland, in high school, everyday is a holiday!" And apparently, that's how the Dutch students treat their university education as well!

Ohh, I did finally settle my module mapping, Alhamdulillaah. Initially, the Economics Department people at NUS specifically told me that 5ECTS here(which the value of credits for each module that I'm doing btw) is equivalent to 4MCs. But when they found out that I wanted to do only 4 mods, hence 20 ECTS, they only allowed me to map them to 12MCs. Ridiculous. They don't want me to slack. Haha. So i'm doing 4 next block insya Allah, a total of 6. Next block is gonna be a very very busy one.

Abt the weather,in the early part of the week, it was terrible. There were wind storms for a few days. 1 time, I was cycling to school, the wind was so bad I my bike swerved and almost fell. I had to stop for a while, before proceeding when the winds cleared. But these past 2 days, the weather has been magnificent. Really. About 13 degrees in the day, about 9 at night. It's really wonderful. I just hope it stays this way, though the likelihood of such a happening is close to nought.

And here are some pics, as always. But not too many this time.

Finally, sunlight in Amsterdam!

Food place in the city centre

Interior view

A gathering at my faculty for Masters students

And oh, been thinking a lot abt someone lately (Shaza jangan perasan eh!:p)

By the way, abt the Champs league draw, as expected, Chelsea and Man U got easy draws: that's how they always make it so far. Arsenal and Pool are really unlucky, coz by my estimation, they are the 2 strongest teams left in the competition. I hope Barca will knock Man U out in the semis, though I don not foresee that happening. Dream final for me- Arsenal V Barca. Henry against his old club. Master VS protege. A saliva-dropping prospect.

2005: Liverpool VS AC Milan (Liverpool)
2006: Arsenal VS Barcelona (Barca)
2007: Liverpool VS AC Milan (Milan)
2008??? Arsenal VS Barcelona (Arsenal)

It's written in the stars.

Making Judgments.

2008-03-13T03:47:00.002+08:00

After having a conversation with someone recently, I feel a burning rage inside me that compels me to write an entry about making judgments.

Firstly, this isn't my main point but since we're on the topic, this is for people who don't like to be judged, who thinks others have no right to judge them , who thinks nobody else should give a damn about what they do, here;s a message: if you don't want to be judged, don't do something that will make people judge you!!! Now, I'm not in any way saying that people have a right to judge others, all I'm saying is you must always be prepared for the inevitability of that. A simple, probably controversial example; some people who previously wore the tudung and have now taken it off. You know that people are gonna talk, so don't give that crap about how people shouldn't me judging you. Again, don't get me mistaken: I have no problems with people who do decide to take off their tudung, that's none of my business, but I do have problems with people who complain and whine about others judging them after they've taken off their tudung. You gave the dogs some meat, then you want to be angry at the dogs for eating it. This tudung issue is just an example, not directed at anyone in particular, I swear.

Now for the more significant issue. A problem that is widespread amongst all peoples, but especially the Malays. Judging others, when you have no idea what's going on. I mean, with regards to the tudung issue, there's not much to decipher: one moment the gal is with tudung, the next she's without. But this, I'm referring to instances whereby a person suddenly judges, then hates, then backbites regarding another, when he or she heard about the issue only from a 3rd party! This clearly indicates a shallowness in the intellect level, lack of values and simply put, a dumb-ass mind. I just cannot understand nor accept why educated people, university grads, undergrads, can behave like such fool.

Now I urge myself firstly, and all you educated people out there reading this: please, display some integrity, show that you have proper values and etiquette, and do not be like one of those typical 'Malays'. Please. If you believe everything you hear, then clearly you're an ignorant foolish soul. So take everything, no matter who it comes from, with a pinch of salt.

And yar, before anyone starts getting 'tersinggung' or 'terasa' and stop talking to me, I assure everyone in no way am I directing this entry towards anyone in prticular. It's just a show of frustation at how seemingly intelligent people can behave in a Flintstones-like manner.

Delusional.

2008-03-10T05:37:00.003+08:00

I really cannot fathom, to the point that it actually irks me, why Man United fans are so delusional. Ever since they won the treble in 99 , which admittedly was deservedly so, they seem to think that they can and should win the treble every single season. What a joke! 1 clown even had his MSN nick as "United for the treble" before the Portsmouth game, and we all know what happened in that match.

You wanna know what United really is? They are bullies, big bullies. They are good when against the lesser teams, the small clubs (or clubs in transition for that matter), but when the going gets tough, when up against the big boys, they choke. They wobble. They are not up to it. Which is why they can win the league, coz they always gain points against the small clubs, but the Champions League is beyond them.

Really. Just look to last season. No doubt they got to the semis of the Champs League, but it was bacuse they faced Lille and Roma en-route to it. The first big team they faced, AC Milan, they got their butts kicked. Convincingly. And this year, they struggled to beat even Lyon. They better pray they meet Schalke or Fenerbahce in the quarters, if they wanna progress any further.

United fans, wake up. Please realize your team is not as good as you think they are. No doubt, United is a good team, undoubtedly one of the top 8 in Europe. But the best? You have got to be kidding me.

Now, I'm gonna make a bold statement; and an even bolder promise. I say United will not win the Champions League this season, and if they do, I will shut down this blog the very next day itself.

That is my promise.

Tourist-like.

2008-03-08T19:44:00.006+08:00

I really feel like a tourist this past week; been seeing the sights of Amsterdam.
Started off with the history museum; Amsterdam, not unlike other big cities in Europe, have a really rich history. It really makes you feel so jealous, especially when our most significant piece of history is the sight of LKY crying on national TV.
Anyway, before London was the financial centre of the world (eventually replaced by New York though), Amsterdam was. Holland was the most powerful country in the world at that time apparently.

Here are some pics.

And ohh, perhaps the most famous piece in Amsterdam's jigsaw.

I did go ice-skating on thursday, and as expected, it was a joke. Haha. Enough.

On Friday, Myself and Fadhil did meet my 'bro' from 1 of my previous entries (Ahmed): he got his cousin to drive us arond town after prayers, and showed us the city basically. He's really a great guy, and I feel so blessed to have been around nice people since I've gotten here.

The bro

View of the new mosque I went to

And ohh, I'll end with this pic, just to remind you guys that I'm in Amsterdam.=)

A coffeeshop near the city centre

Snow in Amsterdam.

2008-03-05T19:33:00.003+08:00

I know I might sound like someone who's really 'jakun', but that's just because I really am! I don't really belong to the higher-end of society, whereby you get private jet rides on your birthday(not!), and I'm sure most of my audience have the same socio-economic background as myself, which is why I'm confident of putting up this entry without getting ridiculed too much!

It snowed here yesterday, 3 times in fact, twice in the day, once at night. Really, it was a sight to behold. It was by far the most beautiful sight I've witnessed my enitire life. Too bad, the pictures I captured do not really show that how beautiful it was: in fact from most of the pictures you cannot even see it was snowing! Haha. But I'm uploading 2 pics, the ones that displayed any semblance of snow.

The view from my window. This picture doesn't do justice to just how nice it was, I assure you.

The aftermath

I wished you all could have witnessed what I saw. And, it's only right that I end this entry with a special mention of my beloved sister: thanks for giving me such an opportunity. =)

Ice-Skating....Not!

2008-03-02T04:33:00.008+08:00

Here is my weekly update, plus some photos as usual.

On Friday, myself and Fadhil were supposed to go ice-skating gal with this Vietnamese gal, Traang. She is our classmate (she's from NTU by the way), and she's sort of been bugging us to go ice-skating with her. Now, I hate ice-skating, simply coz I suck at it. For those of you who wants to see how bad I am (or wants to have a good laugh for that matter) you can ask Shaza for the video clip. Erm, but since Traang is quite a nice person, we agreed anyway (Fadhil wasn't too keen either). We arrived at the place at 3, only to find out that it closes at 4. Haha. Myself and Fadhil were extremely elated in our hearts, but Traang was so disappointed I thought she was gonna cry. So we decided to go 1 of the days next week instead, just to appease her. But ni last eh. Seriously. And the place was also very near the Ajax training ground, so it wasn't that wasted a trip.

Outside the skating ring

Very nice pitch

Before that, me and Fadhil went to a new mosque. We wanted to go to a different one, but couldn't find it and ended up at another one. It was a Turkish mosque, and of the 3 mosques we've been to here, this is by far the most beautiful. But, the Friday prayers here are real fast. And I mean REAL fast. Khutbah was less than 10 minutes, and for the prayers itself, the Imam recited 'Inna a'toina...' and Qul huwalllah...'. Haha. It's just like the 'Mari Belajar Solat' book.

View of mosque from outside

It was a good week thus far, and on Saturday, I saw my entire family on via webcam. It was very nice to see them, and I really miss my family gatherings.

Other than that, Fadhil and myself were making plans to travel, but since it has not been materialised yet, I won't comment further on it. Hehe. But yar, if we do go abroad, this will be our ride.

Oh,I also saw something that reminded me of someone recently.=)

These few days there have been storms here; the winds are so damn strong. Really. Just now, I could not even cycle momentarily, due to the winds. Wonder when the weather will get better.

Thankfully, everything else is getting better. =) And, my corridor has started to smell of weed again after a few days' absence, so this means the Americans have started to party again!

And oh, people, please don't start rumours about saying how Mas Selamat disappeared because he has "ilmu" etc. Can't anything happen in the Muslim community without it being attributed to supernatural forces?

Finally, I am still in the process of research for my "Top 10 worst quotes on blogs anywhere", so you guys hafta wait a little more for that entry. =)

Feeling Good.=)

2008-02-26T21:20:00.006+08:00

I can safely say, this is the happiest I've felt since I've been in Amsterdam. It's due to a synthesis of factors, some of which are too personal to discuss publicly, others, will be explained below.

Feeling good, because of my beloved sister-in-law.=) You see, she has been so sweet to post me some foodstuffs, most of which are ingredients for me to cook my food, those of the instant kind. She said she was sad when she heard that I only bolied chicken in my first week, thus she went to this length. Now to you guys, this would be ordinary and wouldn't make you elated, but to someone who has been eating curry chicken of his own half-past-six cooking for the past 20 days (which doesn't even taste like curry!), this is like manna from heaven. Only difference is, it's from my heavenly sister-in-law. =)

All the stuff she sent.

Feeling good, is apparently, NOT how my family feel about my hair. They must be so concerned about the state that it is in (after webcamming with me), that they decided to send a remedy for it.

Feeling good, was also how I was not after receiving some letters from the university. Why? Because they are all in freaking Dutch! The uni, which knows I'm an exchange student, sends me letters in Dutch! How smart is that!!! Thankfully, this German girl I know who stays at the 3rd floor (i'm on the 5th), knows how to speak and read dutch. She is really a nice person, the nicest in my block I think. I hardly see her around, but I know I'll see her the next time I get a letter.

Feeling good, coz I saw my kids at the weekend on webcam. After a long time.

Feeling good, must be how my my room mate feels about himself. You see, he was telling me yesterday that so far every module he has taken, at least 50 percent of the students fail (there's no bell curve system here). Hmm. This is partly due to the possibility of the Europeans not being so smart, but mostly due to the fact that the Europeans, especially the exchange students here, are not really interested in studying: they wanna party all the way! Haha. Oh, my room mate has been scoring an average of 8 points (it's a 10-point grading system here), so that explains why he should be feeling good.

Feeling good, MUST be how the American students feel all the time! Every day, or every other day, they will have a party at night on the 3rd floor; drinking, taking weed (I've learnt how to tell its smell) and consequently, making a fool of themselves. Haha. They will be dancing around, or at the very least, laughing 10 times louder than me and irritating all their neighbours. Haha. The German gal, Kristina, was telling me how annoying it is that they party almost every night, coz it's right in front of her door! Haha. Surprisingly, they haven't had any for the past 3 nights. Hmm. Something is wrong somewhere. Oh well.

Feeling good. coz every sunday, my friends and I will have a lepak session online. That will be the time of the week when I laugh the loudest and hardest. When 7 years worth of inside jokes come out, you can bet your last dollar that it will surely feel good.

Feeling good. Period.

Rome wasn't built in a day.

2008-02-24T05:05:00.002+08:00

Newcastle is a side in transition. Give King Kevin some time, you can't judge him yet. He'll turn things around. That's my final word on this issue anywhere in this blog.

Wahabbism VS Sunnism

2008-02-23T04:34:00.004+08:00

This might just be the most controversial entry of mine so far, so I urge everyone who reads this, to be as open-minded and as accepting as possible. Of course, as always, differences in opinion are highly encouraged.

Wahabbism (a term those following this school of thought actually do not use to describe themselves, rather has been imposed on them by others; they prefer to call themselves salafis, therefore out of respect, I shall refer to them as salafis/salafism from here on). A school of thought, mostly prevalent in Saudi Arabia, in Islam that has been mocked and opposed widely by great sections of the "mainstream" Sunni world; Salafism is seen as the ideology that breeds terrorism due to its "rigidity" and "harshness". But is this the reality, or is it fiction conjured up by ignorant/deceiving people?

Salafis, in actual fact, are people who adhere to the teachings of the Quran and Hadith. Contrary to popular belief, they do not reject madzhabs; they only reject fanaticism towards a particular madzhab. Let's understand this first: madzhabs in the first place are a construct of the scholars of Islam; it's no where to be found in the Quran or hadith. Now don't get me wrong: I'm NOT saying madzhabs are wrong, I'm just trying to relate the historical background of the madzhabs, as we know them.

The Sunnis (maybe some sufis) say the Salafis are rigid; from what I've observed, the Sunnis are more rigid actually. They do not allow switching between madzhabs, and they are strong proponents of stciking to 1 madhzab in its entirety. A simple example: During tarawih prayers in our country, people from madzhab Hanafi will not pray together with those from madzhab Syafii- we're creating divisions in our own mosques! And we do so in the name of Imam Hanafi, in the name of Imam Syafii, when in actual fact, if those 2 imams were still alive, I'm supremely, and i say supremely, confident they will not allow such divisions in the mosque.

If you want to know about Manchester United, don't just ask an Arsenal fan coz he'll downplay their quality. But don't just ask a Man U fan either, coz he'll exaggerate! The best thing, ask both of them, then make your own judgments.

Similarly, you wanna know about Salafism, ask from both someone who studied in Madinah and someone from Yemen; then you'll get both sides of the story.

I just wanna express my utmost disppointment in our scholars today; from both sides. They are fast to criticise the other's practises and opinions, wanting to assert themselves. When in actual fact, it's not always that someone must be right and the other, wrong. Both can be right at the same time, despite differing opinions!

Also, we the Muslim generation of today, have inherited lots of divisive terms: Wahabbism, Sunnism, Salafism, Sufism (when we should just refer to each other as Muslims), so let us not create more divisive terms such as "moderate", "extremist", "orthodox", "mainstream", "conservative" etc. I don't understand why we need to label others as such, really, I just can't fathom why.

Now, people, don't get me wrong. 3 weeks in Amsterdam hasn't led to me denouncing madzhabs; I still practise madzhab Syafii, I still consider myself a Sunni, I'm just trying to put things into perspective here.

Now, I urge everyone, scholar or student, Sunni or Salafi, to ask yourselves: what do you intend to achieve by pointing fingers as to who's right or wrong? Did Rasulullaah come to us for us to point fingers at our fellow brothers and sisters? Was Rasulullah sent down to us for us to create divisions? Since both sides claim they are following the hadith and Quran, is this what the hadith and Quran taught us? Let us start respecting each other's opinions, as long as it's backed with knowledge, even if we may differ regarding it.

Let me end with a gentle reminder, firstly for myself, then for all those concerned: if you're really passionate regarding our religion, dissing others is not the way to show that passion. As both Allah and His Messenger s.a.w have said:

Allah says in the Quran: "And hold fast to the ropes of Allah, all of you TOGETHER, and be not DIVIDED among yourselves..."

The Messenger s.a.w said (though the authenticity of this hadith has been questioned, I think its message is highly relevant): "The difference in opinions among scholars is a blessing," - so let us, ignorant people, not turn it into a curse.

Wassalaam.

Isyak-2322, Subuh-0400.

2008-02-23T03:42:00.004+08:00

PEOPLE at the city centre (This is for someone!)

At the mosque after friday prayers

My favourite makan place in Amsterdam: I come here at least twice a week.

A sight you only get in Amsterdam

The bus-stop near my place

My best friend here: Fadhil.

At the mosque, I saw the prayer timings for August 2006 (summer time) and it read as in this entry's title. Hmm...It will definitely be around there or thereabouts this summer too, so I'm thinking of ways to get around this problem. Anybody with any input please, your suggestions are warmly welcomed!

Just a few updates. My bicycle is currently unavailable. You see, I have two locks, 1 for the tyres and the other is the normal one. Usually, I do not lock the one at the tyres, and i just leave the key there. Few days ago, I found that my key wasn't there, and the lock was secured. Haha. Case of sabotage. Now, to get a new key, I need to make a police report first and show the report as proof. Ridiculous bureaucracies.

One of my classes, Institutional Economics, I really love. You see, the lecturer is a controversial character. He challenges old economic thought, and says that he is not an armchair economist who formulates theories; he prefers to go on the ground and work on empirical evidence (he used to work in Eastern Europe, studying the transition of centrally-planned to capitalist economies after the fall of communism by the way). What I really love is, the students in the class always challenges his opinions, in particular this British guy and another French dude, to the point whereby they border on being confrontational. What I love even more, is that the lecturer encourages such challenges, as he says it makes him sharper in thought. Now, I'm not a big fan of the West and their values and ideals, but if there's 1 thing we(especially the Muslim world) can learn from them is this: the freedom of discussion, and the ability to respect differences in opinion.

Other than that, the weather has been unpredictable. Maybe global warming is really taking place. It was terrible in particular today; the winds were so strong that at times it's difficult to walk even- and I'm not exaggerating.

Here are some pictures. Hopefully you'll enjoy them. Cheers.

MS 12-3 PBM

2008-02-21T01:11:00.002+08:00

I know this entry is a little overdue, but I just felt a burning need to immortalize MS' victory into writing; so tht future generations will not forget what happened and so that people cannot give false accounts, in terms of scoreline, of the match anymore, which is what has been happening.

For those not in the know, recently in December, NUS' Muslim Society (MS) and Persatuan Bahasa Melayu (Malay Language Society-PBM), had their inaugural annual soccer match. PBM, being a larger society with arguably more mass appeal, were many an observer's favourite to have secured a victory, draw first blood as they say in footballing terms, in this yearly thing, and perhaps, rightly so.

But apparently, no one told the MS boys that was how the script was supposed to turn out. Football, as they say, isn't played on paper. MS dominated the game from start to finish, and for all of their endeavours and unwavering team spirit, were rewarded with 12 goals. Final score; 12-3. 9-1 in the first half, 3-2 in the second. MS won both halves, so no one could possibly say it was a tale of 2 halves.

The date of the game was chosen by the PBM people, so MS cannot be blamed for some of their players not being able to turn up. Both teams didn't have proper goalkeepers, so again, that cannot be an excuse. The joke is, PBM actually asked for a rematch after that; since I still want to be friends with the PBM people, I'll just leave it at that and will decline to comment further!

To my PBM friends, I hope you take this entry as light-heartedly (despite its serious message) as I feel writing it. No offence, fellows. =)

To those who partcipated in the MS victory, be grateful and proud; you have set a benchmark for successive MS generations. A tough act to follow indeed.

Till December then; for the 2nd edition of the MS-PBM challenge.

Kings of Europe: Arsenal?

2008-02-20T17:52:00.002+08:00

I would just like to shed some light on what I think will happen in this year's Champions' League (for the girls I'm sorry if it's not be of interest to you).

Before the start of the group stages, I had predicted Arsenal to eventually win this year's competition, but Mohsin had mocked my prediction. Erm, I'm still sticking to it though, despite Man U's 4-0 thrashing of them in the Cup that nobody wants. Arsenal play great football, pleases the eye, and,erm, it pains me to say this, in Adebayor, they have a clinical goalscorer. In AC Milan though, they have as formidable an opponent as anyone could have on the European stage. No doubt, domestically, AC is struggling to make ends meet now, but in Europe, they are a different proposition altogether. So if Arsenal get through this, they will have as good a chance as anyone. I'm predicting they will, with a victory at home tonight and a draw in the reverse fixture at San Siro. We''l find out tonight.

For the others, Man U, Chelsea and Real Madrid look good to reach the semis. Erm, Barcelona, I don't think they will. Surprisingly, Liverpool beat Inter yesterday, reminding me just how good a Euopean side they are. And, they might just creep into the final, again. Erm, so my bet for the sems would be 4 of those 5. But, it all depends on the quarter finals draw, so we'll see what happens.

Arsenal; Kings of England, Kings of Europe. Hmm...Sounds good enough to me.

You can please some people...

2008-02-19T21:56:00.002+08:00

People have been asking for photos of different poses lah, different angles of buildings, photos of people...I'll upload whatever what I can lah, but, if I know my audience well enough, it's still not enough. As the saying goes...

You can please some people all the time, you can please all people some of the time, but you can't please all people all the time.

Racial Stereotypes.

2008-02-19T21:12:00.002+08:00

Been wanting to blog about the different types of nationalities that I've seen and been around here, so here goes.

For obvious reasons, let's start off with the Dutch. Firstly, the Ducth are extremely tall, doesn't really work in my favour. The Dutch are also very very straightforward people; they don't like it, they'll tell you right in the face. They think you dress like crap, they'll tell you, you dress like crap. And the Dutch have a, erm, subtle (actually i prefer to use weird) sense of humour. You have to see the irony in their jokes, then it has a semblance of 'funni-ness'. Only a bit.

Not that they crack jokes too often though. In fact, the same can be said of the Europeans in general. From my observation (thus might contain some inaccuracies), the Europeans don't really have a sense of humour. not a good one at least. And they also do not laugh too much (again, doesn't work in my favour). In class whenver the lecturers crack a joke, I will have to control myself such that I don't go into my normal outburst of laughter, because no one else will be laughing. I just don't get them!

I've heard some people telling me before I came that Some Europeans (Dutch, Italians in particular) a bit racist. Erm, personally, thankfully, I haven't encountered too much of that. There has been cases though, whereby some of my block mates, the way they talk to me, indicates clearly they believe in White Man's superiority. I don't layan these people too much. In particular, there's this Belgian gal and another Italian gal(not the one that I told some of you about)are a bit stuck-up, there's this (negative) air about them when they talk to non-caucasians. But that's only the minority. Generally, it's fine.

I have to say, I hate to say this, and I never thougt I actually would, among all the Westerners, the Americans seem the nicest. They are really friendly, bubbly and thank-God, they do have a sense of humour! They are really sociable people; the guy next door to mine is American, he makes it a point to mention my name in every sentence of his because he probably feels bad for initially forgetting my name! Haha. But he's a really nice guy, and so are most of the other Americans.

I actually know a Slovakian guy! Haha. He was talking to me the other day and the impression he has of SIngapore is that it is a police-state: No chewing gum, nobody's allowed to have long hair etc! Well, he's not too far-off. Haha. But the long hair part was funny. Wonder where all these funny ideas originate from. We were having an intense debate too about the idea of 'freedom' and 'democracy'; since he was questioning the freedom that Singaporeans have. I won't bore you with the details of our discussion, basically my flow of argument was along the lines of one of my earlier entries,"By whose definition."

As for the Muslims here (the locals i mean), they are mostly of Turkish and Moroccan descent. Again, from what I've observed, they are quite practising Muslims. The Muslim community here isn't too integrated with the native Dutch though. The good thing about that; they can maintain their customs and traditions, and their Islam isn't diluted by westernisation forces. The bad thing; it makes them prone to discrimination. As the "bro" in my earlier entry told me,"Amsterdam isn't a good place to be a Muslim." It's a very delicte balance to achieve: integrating into a society without losing your values etc; usually there's a trade-off. In this sense, I believe we in Singapore have, erm, achieved successfully this balance??? Or at least we are almost there lah! Haha.

Yup. That's all thus far. I need not mention about the Chinamen here coz you see them more often than i do. Haha. So that's it for now.

KaWan nye pasal.

2008-02-15T04:10:00.007+08:00

Erm, I was waiting to type my next entry this Saturday right after Newcastle beat Man U, but since I was requested to post one I'll just do so; I don't have a habit of disappointing my audience. I don't really have much to blog about right now, so I'll just put some random stuff, and answer to the comments directed at myself on my tagboard. I wanted to post an entry, 'Top 10 worse quotes from blogs anywhere', but this is friendship's day, so I don't want any hostilities. Soon there'll be such an entry though. Haha.

Have been busy with school this week, and the mods seem damn tough. I'm considering not to register for one of the mod's exams; this is possible here as you can register for as many mods as possible, yet choose not to register for its exams. Erm, classes here are a bit free-for-all; students will just interrupt lecturers with their comments or questions, without raising their hands first or what, regardless whether it is lecture or tutorial. Too bad Econs is rather technical and there isn't too much room for debate; I'm sure the humanities modules' tutorials are really really fun.

And regarding my tagboard; to my sis, I might not be meeting the 'bro' soon, so you just hafta wait first! If your future is in Amsterdam, then hmm, I guess it's your good luck. =) To Badrul, kau jgn mcm2 eh. To Sulaiman Akhlaken and Razif and trueblu2hu, I have a strong hunch that you're actually the same person. Haha. And to Gad, these pics are due to your request.

I've been to a blog whereby the blogger was expressing sadness that she didn't celebrate Valentine's Day. I'm sure there are many people out there who feel the same. Well, all I can say is, for those without anyone at the moment, don't fret; the right person will come along, good things come to those who wait. But there must be effort of course! Haha. And for those whose partners don't celebrate Valentine's day, please respect their choice, because their reasons are valid. And anyway it's only 1 day, there's nothing really special in a day. It's the person that makes a day special. =) And for these partners, remember that V-day is also Friendship's day, I don't think there's anything wrong in celebrating friendship's day right? Haha. My way to get around this situation. Oh well. And for those couples who are fighting even on this very day, don't bother yourself with the relationship anymore; don't waste your time.

Anyway, I had forgotten it was V-day today while I was at school; there was nothing whatsoever that suggested it was V-day. Quite amazing; in NUS it's a great deal, in Singapore in general actually. Funny how we are more westernised than the Westerners themselves. Well, I'll leave that to the sociology people to further discuss.

Some of you would already know of 'matchmaking agency' that I've set up; too bad it will be slightly inactive for the next 5 months. But you could still use this blog as a channel to hook up; I'll more than welcome such actions.

And oh, for those who are hell-bent on pursuing a political or religious cause, you can use this blog as well, as a channel to express your views. People at this blog are people who 'hormati perbezaan pendapat.'

Till Saturday then, when Newcastle kicks Man U's ass.

Amsterdam sights, and a pic of my kitchen (utk kau lah Fiz!)

2008-02-10T20:18:00.000+08:00

School Starts, and some other stuff. =)

2008-02-09T05:20:00.000+08:00

I've been bugged to put up an entry, haha, so here it is. By the way people, my room's Internet connection has been really bad, so if you see me online then I suddenly disappear, or if you hardly see me at all, understand understood lah ah.

First week of school was ok, though the subjects are a bit heavy. You see, in UvA (Universiteit Van Amsterdam), for my faculty at least, each semester comprises of 2 blocks, each block of 7 school weeks. You take different modules for each block. So basically, what we learn in NUS for 13 weeks they try to do it in 7. Haha. Oh well. I guess I have to study much harder than I did in NUS.

I met a Malaysian guy (thank God!) at school, who's doing 1 module with me. He's a masters student here. I never imagined I would actually speak Malay to anyone in Amsterdam, but hey, I sure am not complaining.=) Been hanging out with him, a couple of times noow, and will continue to do so. Safe to say, he'll be my best friend for the next 5 months.

And oh, just wanted to mention about the friday prayers here. The guys would relate better to this. Here, the sermon/khutbah is very different. Haha. The imam is very fiery, spirited; I assure you, nobody, I mean nobody, sleeps during the khutbah. I think imams in Singapore should be more lke this; but you can't really blame them too when the khutbahs are about "masyarakat majmuk" every other week. Haha.

And here, there is no problem of getting people to 'rapatkan saf'. It's shoulder to shoulder, feet to feet, something that sadly, I hardly encounter in Singapore. Another good practice here is that for the sloat jenazah after the friday prayers, no one leaves the mosque, everybody participates in the solat jenazah. The safs for the solat jenazah are also in order, people do not move in front to cover the spaces that are used for rukuk and sujud in our normal prayers. Acttually, I'm not sure why we do that in Singapore, it only leads to distorted safs. Perhaps Rizhan would like to enlighten us whether that's just a cultural practice or it really has Islamic roots.

But what I am most impressed by in the mosques here, is that everytime The Prophet's name is mentioned, during or outside of the khutbah, the whole mosque will go 'sallallahu alaihi wasalam'. It really is a good practice, which we all should try to incorporate in our conversations.

Anyway I've gotten a bicycle, which makes life much easier. Now I'm on the way to feeling like I'm an Amsterdammer. Haha.

Just a note, thanks to Mas'uud and Shaza; you know for what. It is impossible that Allah will not repay kindness with kindness, so just await for some (more) good things in your lives.

50 euros only.

2008-02-05T00:37:00.000+08:00

I've not written an entry about Amsterdam, because a person doesn't really know Amsterdam until he or she has been to the red light district, so now I can say I know Amsterdam.=)

Amsterdam is a very peaceful, serene place (well if you come from Singapore everywhere else is serene), and is also a very beautiful place. The BUILDINGS are very nice, and there are canals everywhere, it really pleases the eye. The people here seem nice enough, but since I've hardly had any real interaction with the Amsterdammers, I'll reserve my judgment for future entries.

Everybody cycles here, there are specific lanes allocated on the roads for cyclists. It seems to me as though there are more bicycles than vehicles. When I asked the Arab guy whether he had a bicycle, he said, "Dude, this is Amsterdam."

Liberal. A word highly correlated with Holland as a whole, and Amsterdam in particular. Drugs here, are not legal as widely believed, but marijuana and hash use is 'tolerated'9terms people come up with too justify their actions), which means you can buy up till 5 grams of these drugs at the coffeeshops. Coffeshops are the places selling drugs, while cafes just sell coffee (and other stuff except drugs!).

Prostitution is also legal. Yesterday night, I asked my room-mate to take me to the red light are. Wait, before you people get worried (especially Kak Siti and Shaza), it was just to see, get acquainted with the city, nothing more. Haha. My room-mate took his bicycle, while I took the tram. On the tram, an American guy sat in front of me and started talking to me, asking me where I was from. He told me he just arrived there earlier that day, and he straightaway asked me," Have you been to the red light area? You should go man, it's only 50 Euros." Bear in mind, he just arrived in Amsterdam a few hours before.

Anyway, the red light area itself was quite an eye-opener. Each of of the prostitutes were in their respective "compartments", fish tank-like, most of them dancing in their bikinis. The catch is, most of them were women who definitely survive on social welfare because there is no chance even the most desperate of guys would pay 5, never mind 50, Euros for them. Maybe it was on a Sunday night, thus the hot chicks had been taken, which explains why curtains covered a lot of the "compartments", which is what is done when they have customers.

Anyway, I've started cooking myself. Haha. Pretty tasteless food, but at least I'm no longer hungry. School starts tomorrow, so I might not be online as often anymore, though I'll definitely try. And the following people, please come online more often coz I havent seen you guys on MSN at all since I got here.

Kak Nana, Akmal, Ashraf, Mohsin, Nor, Jend, Bella, Yati, Hakeem, Haida, Yasmine, Suli, Abu and whoever else that I've left out. Don't play punk ah you all.

Some pics

2008-02-02T20:35:00.000+08:00

Anything for a Brother

2008-02-02T03:32:00.000+08:00

Hmm, one of my concerns before coming here was whether I would find a mosque. Oh well. This entry answers that.

I was looking for a mosque, and the only way I could do so is to ask around. Problem is, I wouldn't know whether a person is Muslim or not, unless she wears a tudung of course. So I approached the tudung ladies at Amsterdam Central (the equivalent of Orcahrd Road), but somehow, none of them paid any attention to me. 1 of them even turned and gave me a cold hard stare, indicating to me to back off.

Wow. So I had no choice but to take a gamble, and approached some guy whom I believed was Muslim. And the gamble couldn't have turned out better. The guy offered to take me to the mosque himself, even though it was way before zuhur. And when I said thanks, he said, "No problem, anything for a brother."

Now, if one of my 3 brothers said that I would understand, but a total stranger? Now that was cool.

And not only did he bring me to the mosque, he also showed the area where Muslims live, where I can find Halal food rather easily.

So 1 problem solved. Its getting better.=)

Walid.... in Amsterdam

2008-02-01T15:52:00.000+08:00

So here it is. After a 14 hour flight I'm here in Amsterdam. So let's narrate the happenings a little.

I arrived and received a message from Steph, a fellow student from NUS doing her exchange here, that she and the other students will not be fetching me from the airport, instead they would wait for me at Amterdam Central. I took a train there, and waited for about 1 and a half hours before they finally reached. We were to go collect our hostel keys tgether, but we got really lost and walked non-stop for quite some time, with me carrying about 40kilos of stuff. Getting lost, as I found out, was to be a feature of the day. And oh, one of the first things Steph said to me was, "I hope you are not a staunch Muslim, coz It'll be hard to find food here." Haha.

My hostel is pretty far from the other 3 Singaporeans, so it's safe to say I won't see them much this semester. Anyway I got to my room, not before getting lost, and settled down and stuff before leaving for orientation. Looking for the place, again losing my way, was a bitch. I don't understand why they can't have the bloody uni in 1 place. The concept is pretty much like SMU, only difference is it's much worse and the buildings are much more scattered. Oh, the other difference is at SMU, I have my bike! And even still I get lost!

I arrived pretty late for the orientation, and after a series of boring talks, they brought us to a club. Yup, a club. Everybody was drinking and was getting ready to party. After 10 minutes insideI kindly excused myself and went off. I'm really not into these things (anymore) so I wouldn't have enjoyed it anyway. And looking at the orientation schedule of events, looks like I'm not joining it anymore, I'd rather learn my way around Amsterdam.

Which reminds me, on the way back from the club, I spent about 3 hours taking buses and trams all around Asmterdam, before I finally got back. Even the locals didn't seem to know where Funenpark, the place where I stay, is. I desperately wanted to avoid taking a cab because from what I've heard, it's too damn expensive.

Anyway it's going to be a difficult few months for me. Loneliness, food, finding my way (literally), away from my loved ones, it's really gonna be difficult. But that was what I came here, to go out of my comfort zone, and challenge myself. Of course at the same time, I need some encouragement from you guys, dropping the occasional (or regular!) email or so, which I'm sure I'll get. =) When I arrived itself my sis and Mas'uud had emailed me to give me some motivational words, knowing fully that I need them.

The good thing about a bad start is, it can only get better from here. =)

Final Goodbye....for now.

2008-02-01T15:46:00.001+08:00

It was pretty amazing at the airport, to see so many people coming. I'm sorry I couldn't talk to all of you, but I will email everyone that was there soon, bt you have to wait a bit, since I'm settling in and stuff.

As expected, the scenes were pretty ugly, not for the faint-hearted. And, as expected also though to a lesser extent, Amirah was the first person to cry, which sort of created a chain reaction. Haha.

Thanks to everyone that was there.And to those that called or messaged me before I went. And to those who keep me in their prayers. I know that when I return, the people I love will be there. These people. You people.

The Sweetest Thing

2008-01-23T16:25:00.000+08:00

I don't want to gush like a little girl, but I kind of can't help it. So just bear with this entry my friends.

The sweetest thing someone had ever done for me, by the sweetest person I've ever known. I've never had party my entire life, and for her to surprise me like that was, well, erm, incredible. I was really lost for words.

So many people came down, from NTU and SMU even, it was just overwhelming. I am hardly lost for words, but yesterday, I really didn't know what to say in my speech.

And, as I said yesterday, one of the greatest blessings I have in my life is to be surrounded by people who really love me; Shaza, my friends, my siblings, my parents, my Vortex mates, the NUS people, and my sister- I don't even want to start on my sister, I have to dedicate 1 entire entry, perhaps 1 entire blog just to show my appreciation for her.

To everyone who was there, or who wanted to be there but couldn't, thanks a lot. (And for those who could have been there but didn't, you shouldn't be at this blog) Only God can repay your kindness. And to someone especially, may He be with you every moment, every single day.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man.

2008-01-17T18:20:00.000+08:00

When you are wallowing in the depths of mediocrity, bordering on annihilation, you need someone, a larger-than-life character, a great motivator of men, a born leader to save you from destruction. The Arabs had Prophet Muhammad, the Jews had Jesus, the South Africans had Nelson Mandela, the Blacks had Martin Luther King, and now, the Geordies have Kevin Keegan.

The only Englishman ever to be crowned European Player of the Year twice, one of, if not the greatest English footballer of all time, is back. Remember, this is the man who took Newcastle from the bottom of Division 1 to within touching distance of Man United's Premiership's crown in his first spell as Newcastle boss. In a masterstroke, a move that exudes ingenuity, the people running Newcastle have managed to bring back the Messiah for his second coming. Just when Newcastle needs someone to step up. Cometh the hour, cometh the man.

I can't promise you trophies, I can't promise you success. But I can promise you one thing; Newcastle will play football how it's supposed to be played, we will be out to entertain the masses, we will become everyone's 2nd favourite team and the players will give every damn thing they got. And, that is all you could ask for as a fan.

Premiership beware; King Kevin is back.

By whose definition?

2008-01-16T20:27:00.000+08:00

I came across this blog, where the writer said some things that I feel obliged to challenge. (I am not going to put the blog site up as it is the type that shouldn't be promoted) And before I proceed, this is not a theological blog, nor do I intend or have the knowledge/ability to preach, this is just something that I wish to share.

The blogger(or bugger), was making a few not-so-flattering comments about Islam. About how marrying 4 wives is an obsolete law, etc. But the most striking comment was about how he described certain Islamic punishments (eg execution) as BARBARIC. The writer is a Muslim by the way.

Now, if I go to England's stadiums and an ex-footballer had just died, I would observe a minute of silence. If I went to Rome and the same thing happened, they would observe a minute of applause. So is the applause or silence a better indicator or respect? It just depends on whose definition you go by; the English or the Romans.

If I were from the States, it would be perfectly okay for me to call my mum by name, but if I were from Malaysia and I did that, chances are I would get smacked right in the face. So, by the Malaysian's definition, not by the American's, calling your parent by his or her name is totally unacceptable.

So if I kill someone in Italy, I get imprisoned for life. That's "humanitarian". But I kill someone in Saudi, and I get executed, and it's "barbaric"? My question is; whose definition of "barbaric " are you using? Why are we judging by Western standards, standards that are alien to us and have been imposed on us, either by the Westerners or by ourselves?

So I remind myself, so as to share with you guys, please, let us not talk like fools. Sometimes beacuse we are in university, because we are well-educated, we tend to think we are great, we are smart. Let us not show our stupidity either through our words, or as is the case nowadays, through our blogs.

And, in life we must always remember we are bound by certain things. As children, we cannot talk badly of our parents. As Singapore citizens, we cannot, as much as we want to, slam our government. And as Muslims, we most definitely cannot blast about our religion (Islam, not Muslims). No doubts, we are entitled to pass comments about our religion, but there is a proper way. Choose our words carefully, be constructive, not destructive, make sure we have 'adab', etiquette. And the funny thing is, these people who write about these stuff on their blogs probably can't even name the 13 rukun solat!

So I ask you again: by whose definition?

Fear, not a factor.

2008-01-14T02:32:00.000+08:00

Recently I've been on a few adventures, in search of the supernatural. Kubur Kassim, Pusara Aman are among the places that I've been to in the past 2 weeks. But, Friday's trip to Matilda's House, topped the lot.

Matilda's house is an abandoned, old house in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of nowhere (i.e Punggol). It was right in the middle of a huge field, or rather in the middle of a swamp. That's right, a swamp. Lalang was up to chest level, while the muddy waters were up to mid-shin level. There were 6 of us, and since it was an expedition that really took some balls, I feel obliged to name the other 5 brave souls; Mas'uud, Akmal, Mohsin, Ashraf, Nor Hafiz.

Naturally, initially some of us were reluctant to go in. This was more due to a fear of snakes and wild dogs than of ghosts itself, but after some discussion, we decided to go for the jugular itself.

Truly, it was 1 hell of an experience, something that I can't accurately describe in words. For those of you who are thinking, "Alah, it musn't have been that great a deal", I urge you, go and see the place for yourself at night. Then you'll know what having balls is all about. The pictures are unfortunately not with me currently but I promise you, as soon as I have them, they'll be up. I've had the good fortune to have been to some of the scariest places in Singapore, OCH, Bidadari, slept alone at Echo Coy at Tracom on a Saturday night, but I have to say, nothing was quite like what I experienced on this adventure last Friday. You have to say, guts isn't something that the 6 of us lack.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same of Newcastle. A 6-0 mauling by the old enemy. Unacceptable. No guts shown at all during the match. My worse day in my 11 years as a Newcastle fan. I didn't even dare to pick up calls from Suhairi today.

Just 2 more weeks to Amsterdam. Extremely excited at the prospect of Europe, at the same time, a little petrified. 2 main worries linger on my mind: Will Furqan and Maryam remember me? And will she still be there when I come back?

Only 1 way to find out. Keep reading my blog till I come back.=)

Here we go

2008-01-10T01:28:00.000+08:00

Firstly, let me just say having this blog doesnt mean I believe in blogging, nor do I think it's okay. I'm having this for practical purposes, practical being Amsterdam.

Anyway, since I'm now over to the dark side, I just wanna assure you people that my blog is gonna be a little different from the mainstream blogs out there. For one, I won't be writing nonsense (by my definition) here. No blog, save 1, that I've been to my entire life have I found to be meaningful. Even that 1 which I did find meaningful was because that person didn't blog about his everyday life, he blogged about his on-the-job experience. Sadly, the government didn't find it as meaningful as I did.

Now, some blogs I've been to, tho not meaningful, are quite tolerable. But some, are nothing short of pathetic. I've been to a blog where a gal was actually venting her anger on her dad, who was cheating on her mum! Come on lah, don't wash your dirty linen in public. If u mati-mati need to blog about it, at least privatise it lah. Another blog that i just can't stand is one that i was introduced to by Akmal. It irked me so much that was the first and last time i visited it. To save me the trouble; http://sherrlock.livejournal.com/. My personal favourite is the burberry's entry. Haha.

Some of you might be going, "What the hell, it's their blog, they can write whatever they want. Who the hell are you to judge?" Well, you are right. Which is why I can write anything on my blog.=)

Anyway, I promise to excite you, to ignite you, to delight you with this blog. Hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I would enjoy writing it. See you soon then.