INDEPENDENCE DAY!

HAPPY 50TH INDEPENDENCE DAY MALAYSIA!!! :)

Anyway as it is our independence day, I remember of an article I wrote for a competition when I was thirteen. So I'd like to share it with you guys. Bear in mind I wrote this FIVE years ago! Enjoy!



" When I found out about the competition, I was thrilled. I know I can write good story/composition. But when I thought about it more, I asked myself “What am I going to write about that have something to do with Independence Day?” Then, it hit me. I am one of those pathetic people that have no idea how to celebrate National Day. Will I stay at home and watch the television? ; Will I pray to show how thankful I am to be independent? ; Or will I have a party?

So, I checked out the dictionary the other day to find out what patriotism means. It said that patriotism is the feeling of loving your own country. In my case that’s Malaysia. That is when I figured out what I’m going to write about. PATRIOTISM.

Loving Malaysia. Does every citizen of Malaysia have that same feeling? Does everyone really love this country? In my opinion, no. Maybe senior citizens like my grandparents would know the joy of being independent because they went through those difficult days. But what about my parents, uncles, aunties, cousins, brother, niece and even myself? We never care to appreciate what is already in front of us. We look past that and see Independence Day as just another holiday on the calendar. Does independence really means that little to us?

Let see it this way. Kids would love this day because there will be a parade. Teenagers love this day because they can rest their brains that are working constantly. Adults love this holiday because (obviously) they don’t need to go to work. How sad that is.

Why don’t people just sit down a moment and think what Malaysia will look like if we aren’t independent from the colonist. Maybe we will never have enough food. Maybe we will never really found the freedom of doing things the way we want to do. Maybe we will have to look right and left before doing anything. There will be no peace. Basically, our life will be on the line. Do we want that to happen again after all these years?

Have we ever thought, if it weren’t for all those people such as Tunku Abdul Rahman, the British will never leave us alone? He was an example of the people who made everything today the way it should be. Now, Malaysia’s name can be seen around the world. Why? Because we have the freedom and courage to put our name out there on the same level as any other famously known people in the world. But teenagers today will only remember Tunku Abdul Rahman’s name when a history exam comes nearer. Is this really what we are about? To only see the ‘Father’ of Malaysia’s name on some piece of paper. Shouldn’t we be pouring all of our loves on him now? If you are someone who helped your country in any way, don’t you want to be appreciated?

I admit I am a teenager too. That is why I know how we teenagers feel when it comes to something like this. Actually, it is fun to scribble something mean on the late Prime Minister’s picture. I mean, he is dead. What can we do to show how grateful we are to him? Well, that was my feelings before this competition. Now, I know there’s a lot of way. You don’t need to prove your love only to him. You need to prove it to this country. If someone really cares, they can find lots of interesting ways to celebrate this up-coming National Day. For example, go to an exhibition, be in a marching band, enter any kind of competition or just simply be a spectator at the Dataran Merdeka. Yeah, it won’t have pop/rock/r ‘n’ b/hip hop music on the road. But there will be the song of the place where you were born in. Isn’t that just beautiful?

There have been some problems in the country for the past couple of years… okay, political problems. So, let just make the holiday as a get-together for everyone. It is bad that everybody has different (and bad) opinions on some stuff. He says he is bad. She says she is bad. It will never end if we asked for an ending. But what we can really ask is a day of peace.

Now, even if we want to watch the (long and boring) march, or be at some party which is full with dancers, or if we just want to lay back and think about this beautiful country for a minute, the decision is in everyone’s hand. We just need to open it and look deeper. Patriotism does not only about love for your country; it is also about appreciating everything about your country. I don’t and won’t ask everyone to truly love this country, but what I do ask is for everyone to change their focus for just one day. On the 31st of August, why don’t we have some fun… the right way. HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!"

-C-

Huhu

"Enough already, WOMAN!" (Quoting Elly.)

See, if u guys remember my earlier entry, I was complaining bout how I'm going to survive this break since i have LOTS of work to do, right? Yeaaaarrrriggghhht! What work??? I haven't done nothing! I haven't even stay long at home during the break! Bad Syaza... Bad Syaza!

Hmh, let's see, I arrived home from INTI last last Friday (No, that's not a typo). And then the next day which was Saturday my family and I went back to Ipoh. That's a blast, I love seeing my cousins and then exchange gossips like, EVERYTIME. And then we came back on Sunday. On Monday my mum took a day off and we went...around, doing errands :p Tuesday I watched Ratatouille. Wednesday was the ONLY day I had time off. I woke up at 1pm and then went straight to lunch which was McD :p On Thursday I went lepak2ing with Zai and Hud. Oh, and by the way my breakfast was McD's breakfast. Friday, I went to see my baby in Shah Alam. Then on Saturday I was at home but then during the night when I 'supposedly' wanted to study, my cousin and I had our own little karaoke session. Yeah, before I forget, we had McD at 2.30 that night too, delivery. On Sunday we went to visit my aunt.

Then today, on Monday, Me, Elly, Sofiya and Diana went to OU. We planned to watch Evan Almighty but decided not to since Elly and Sofiya have to rush back home early. So we just chilled, ate some crazy large burgers at Carl's Jr. Can u guys believe it that some of the guys that work there actually gave us their numbers. As if we're going to call! Then we just walked around as we wait for Haniff, Shahrin, and Imran to join us, even though Imran was already there earlier! Later Elly and I had some crazy picture-taking-time! 





Then...we went to Baskin Robbins and lastly to Mynewscafe before heading home. Huh! What a day :)



NOW! SYAZA! GET! YOUR! BUTT! TO! THE! BOOKS!!!

-C-

P/S: By the way Elly smelly, now I get your shocked look when I told u before that my family reads my blog. Nowadays, I no longer really write about stuffs bothering me, and I'm missing those days when I had a blog that NO ONE knows about...until my friend Adilah discovered it, that is.

Shah Alam

Well, let me start by saying that today is one of my best yet one of the worst days for me. I guess I'll start from the beginning...

My friend, Asilah, has been bugging me for quite some time already to visit her in UiTM... The thing is, although I came home every weekend, I always bring with me PILES of work so I never get the chance to see her. She on the other hand is always busy with her debates during the weekends, so our time clashes. Since she knows that I'm on my break she asked me to visit her. OF COURSE I WANT TO!!! I miss my baby! My darling! My honey! But...I don’t know the way there! So, fortunately for me, someone I know always goes to UiTM to visit his girlfriend (I can no longer say his name because I know his girlfriend saw my Friendster profile and I have my blog url posted there and I dun want to get into more trouble.) So we planned to go together from his place after the Jumaat prayers, and we planned to come back home by ten. Anyway, of course I dun mind since I don’t have any idea how to get there pun. I followed behind his car, but then I lost him halfway. Knowing me, I'm a cool chick when it comes to getting lost in KL (Right Sil? :)). I relaxed, and just followed the sign board all the way to Shah Alam and then to UiTM. Once I got there I couldn’t do anything because Sil was in a meeting so I drove around the campus until four pm. Then Asilah called me asking me to meet her at the Dewan Makan. After a few minutes I saw her n she saw me and we started shouting like HELL in the middle of Kolej Mawar!!! I miss her so much!!!

Then she took me to her room and introduced me to her roommates Aina and Atiq. They're really cool I got to admit. Funny too. It's nice to know she's in good company (I don’t know why, but although I know Asilah is a big girl and sometimes more matured than me, and she can totally take care of her own, I still feel like she's my baby and I have to look after her like when we were in school.) And then we just hang out in their room until 6. After that we made our way to KUTPM to meet my other friend, Ima. Although we're neighbors like I said I'm always busy during the weekends... Huhu... Ima pierced her nose and there's LOTS to tell! I miss my babes!!! We had dinner at a tomyam place and it was nice. After that we went back to UiTM as Asilah had booked the karaoke room especially for the occasion :') She booked for 8-9 but since we arrived ad 8.30 we only had a mere 30 minutes session of 'singing' :(

Then...my bad luck started. I dun want to mention it here except that I'm very disappointed with someone now. Long story short, we send Ima back to Seksyen 13 and then I drove back again to UiTM (I feel like I already know Shah Alam pretty well :p) just for the girls to pack their stuffs as they're so nice to accompany me back home to KL.... I owe them a HUGE one...! Huhu.... And then there we met they're ex-roommate, Aqi, and she's cool too! Talkative and warm. When on the way back (the six of us girls) we chatted and 'discussed' about this girl we know that's been causing problem for my friends. We came to the conclusion that she is who she is, which is b*tchy, because she has low self-esteem... That's the ONLY reason why someone would be such a hypocrite in front of one's parents and then be different in front of the boyfriend. The boyfriend is so in love with a fake.

Anyway, I arrived home at 11.30... Which was an hour ago. Tomorrow 'Asilah and the girls' will b going back to Shah Alam in the morning... I feel so bad guys... :( Thx a lot tau... All in all, I think I'll DEFINITELY go back to UiTM to hang around with them. Especially since I didn’t get the chance to meet any of the guys! And I am very happy to know that my baby is having a blast in UiTM. GOOD FOR YOU DARLING! :))

-C-

GET READY FOR THE SHOCK OF UR LIFE!

Ok... At first I was a bit reluctant to write about this but... I'm supposed to write on my beings and this is the most SURPRISING part of my break...so far... I was reluctant because...it's a bit embarrassing to admit but...as my friends put it..."Syaza tidak pernah malu" :p So... I guess I should not be ashamed to admit that... After eighteen years of living on this planet.....last Monday was the FIRST TIME EVER in my life that I COOKED a whole MEAL on my own without any help!!! *lifting right hand anticipating a high-five* I know, agak memalukan, sudah lapan belas tahun hidup baru... But so what! There must b a first to everything, right? ;-) To say it was good... cannot la... what can u expect from a girl who before this only knows how to put the maggi mee into the microwave oven... But like I told everyone, none of my family members die yet or throw up or complain of a stomach ache after eating food that I cooked, so it must b ok :p Anyway my family was my 'appetite with an ego' (got it Nik? ;-)) So...here's the critique :p

On Monday I whipped up (cewah! cam dh terer jer bunyik! bunyi je la... haha.) ikan asam pedas and ayam masak kicap... urm... I told my mum I HAVE to learn ikan asam pedas as I remember Sofiya mentioned it and I agreed with her that it's one of the most important dishes and the one I'm going to miss most in US! (yes pia, I mentioned your name again... :p) Plus, ikan asam pedas will always reminds me of Asilah's late mother... Al-Fatihah to both of her parents... But, err, my asam pedas was a bit too greasy (don’t ask me how) and my ayam masak kicap was a bit too salty... But my brother said it was ok. I guess it’s because of his love for kicap he couldn’t even detecting the saltiness.

On Tuesday, I cooked ikan tauco and tomyam... Okay so I admit the tomyam was mostly my mum's work, but I was in a rush. I just got home and opened the recipe book and freak out as I have no idea what the hell the book is talking bout on daun ketumbar and such... I know the name, don’t know the look, so how to cook?! But the taucu is all my work la... Ok what...

Today I cooked ikan masak kari and ayam halia... Urm... the curry my aunt help (I didn’t ask for her help ah! But 90% still I'm the one who cooked it... :p) and the ayam masak halia also mostly I cooked it. My mum just help put everything in as there was a call for me suddenly... pulak dh kan?

BUT. The point is, after the first day, there's nothing too salty or too whatever anymore afterwards! Yes! *Pats my back* AND when on the first day it took me almost an hour and a half to get everything ready, after day two it was all settled in ONE HOUR. So...any rombongan meminang interested? (I'm joking ibu papa!)

-C-

MY GUY FRIENDS

Well, first of I thought of writing a very HAPPY entry today. This morning started off lovely, doesn’t it Sofiya? And then during Chemistry we started on a new topic which is my favorite of all the topics in Chemistry... the calculation! Then during ENL Ms Judy played a Richard Marx song... (If Sil is here I know both of us would go "awww"...) After that psychology is starting to look better today, Dr. Fulton has finally come to realization that it's give and take.

BUT

Something happened just now that made me think of Sofiya's blog, of her talking and praising her guy friends. And after what happen, I want to do the same thing. See, although admittedly my guy friends don't open doors for me, or blanja me drinks, or whatever, but one thing for sure is, they are never RUDE to me. Never. They may not b the best gentlemen there are out there, but they still treat me with much respect. They would never turn their voice up, they would never use harsh words, and if either party makes a mistake, they would apologize n forgive me as asap. I was wondering while in the toilet and I realized that my friends n I have been saying this a lot here in INTI, "x gentleman ah!" For me, a gentleman is not someone that pulls a chair for me to sit or treat me drinks, but someone who actually treats me like a lady. Simple isn’t it? I'm not saying I haven’t meet any guys here that r gentlemen cause I have, but I'm shocked to meet those who r not. I know I may not b the pretty little thing you have a crush on, but even as friends can’t u respect me enough? For me, the only people who have the right to b rude with me are those who probably won’t know my name in the next 20 minutes.

I'm just currently in a state of shock. How can a guy say something like "blah ah ko" in a rude way? If it's in a playful manner I won’t mind at all. And people, if there's a "haha" at the end of my sentence that means I'm joking, got it? And I thought girls are supposed to be the sensitive ones, eh, my fellow ENL classmates?

I'm just disappointed and now I just want to write about MY guy friends. (I'm doing this in alphabetical orders) First I got Afiq who is my best friend since we were seven. He is like one of the most caring and most gentleman person I have ever met. He treats me right and sincerely care for me and if I'm in a bad situation he would not judge nor say something like "It's that time of month la tu...". And then there's Mu aka Dzul aka Ganu. Although his biggest attribute being that he is DAYM funny, he also cares about me. If I'm sad he would try to make his stupid jokes and if I do hurt him he would still make jokes as a way to say he accepts my apologies! Then there's Faiz, the guy who totally get us girls! He is another guy I know that would never, ever, ever, raise his voice in front of me. Next is Haziq! My other funny friend! He would TOTALLY talk s*** with me but from his tone I can get that they're only jokes. And we do have misunderstandings but a few days later we would get on each other's nerves again. I also got Khaidir, someone whom I can lepak2 with his parents and have a blast. Even in the presence of his parents or without them, he would always treat me right. Nazim would be another guy who I’ve never heard his voice above normal decibel level. The last guy would be my 'boyfriend' for two years. I said that because I was stuck as his assistant for two years! Syawal. Although some of my friends think he's rude, he's actually not. He's just a bit rough but I can see through the way he treats me and his girlfriends is full of respect. He understands the concept of a girl. I totally love Syawal as he understands me and was never rude or ever say hurtful things to me. I don’t remember but if he ever did so, it's forgettable as we forgave each other.

Again, I'm not saying I haven’t met any INTIANs that are nice, but an experience today taught me that not every guy understands how to treat a lady. Some of these guys think it is macho to act rudely and I have no idea where they get this schema.

-C-

August 13 2007 (well it's already 14, whatever :p)

Anyway, today was a Monday and I am so sad! I want to go to my brother's convocation! Like how Sofiya put it, my one and only SIBLING. Not only cannot go to his convocation, cannot meet him at all because i got classes from 10 to 6! Pa, nk gambor, nk post kat sini...


(I can’t believe I miss it!!!)

My first class was SAT (V). USUALLY I would be so sleepy in this class as it's three hours! But today however sleepy or not I was, I tried my best to stay awake as I want to get ANYTHING Mr. Pal was saying in preparation for the mock test we're going to take this Thursday. I don’t know to say if I'm hype for it, but I just want to go into that well-prepared and just get it over with!

Later in the afternoon was our ENL class. That was another fun class, again! Ms Judy is so great! She's so creative in coming up ways to teach this...not la to say dull, but another English subject... Today we had a little debate among the guys and the girls. Open talk on what confusion we have concerning the other gender. It's nice to hear what they're really thinking of, although it's only Gerard speaking!

Then tonight, as Diana and Elly had another night out, I decided to stay in with Sofiya because I really want to study as much as I can because...From Friday onwards I'm not going to hold a book as it's the term break!!! "Yiiieeeehhhhhhhhhhhh!" (Betul ke that Elly? :p)

-C-

Bad Luck/s

Hmh.... Today is quite an interesting day. Okay i just realize that whenever i wrote an entry on how my life has been a routine, something unexpected is sure to happen! Am i suppose to learn from it and keeps my mouth shut next time? Hmh...

Today's first class was chemistry...God I’ve never felt that sleepy for a long time! The weird thing was that Sofiya and I slept around 12 the night before and basically I got 6 hours of sleep but I still felt sleepy! The day before when I just slept for 3 hours, I felt so fresh waking up! But to tell the truth, I’ve realized that about myself (how I'm fresher if I have less sleep hour...) since three years ago, that's why I always sleep late...

After Chem, is ENL. I guess ENL is slowly growing unto me and turning into my favorite subject, because Ms Judy is so creative in teaching us, kind of like my favorite teacher, Mrs Maninder. First we had to fill in lyrics to the song Longer by some Dan... It was kind of cute. After that we had to draw a picture and our 'piece of art' was put on the wall for the whole class to see! Kind of like kindergarten. But my favorite part of the day was during the break... KAPAL TERBANG KERTAS! OMG! I totally miss that feeling! I thought once I went to college that habit will die but I guess it doesn't! Whenever I see sheets of paper I'll instinctively picked it up and make a rocket out of it. And at my previous school, if there's paper plane scattered around the corridor, there's only two people involved. Either my abang man or me! I miss being crazy like in the old days...

After that was the worst class so far. I so hate psychology right now. Not the 'thing' per se, but my course... I still don't get it WHY we have to waste TWO hours of our time scrutinizing over something that is so...petty. But I didn't complain because I’ve learned of all this. When I was younger, I used to rebel and get pretty totally angry towards my teachers if I don't agree with something. But slowly, they told/taught me that my way of getting the message across was wrong. Of course at first I'm very egoistic and did not accept it but slowly I do see that of myself (I can't judge my own self) and I’ve learn to shut up not because I'm willing to conform to what I am against, but out of respect since they ARE the teachers. And elderly. If I have something to say these days, I'll make sure it's something intellectual first not because I'm afraid of being ridiculed, but I believe that you do more thinking when you're not talking (I’ve done an experiment on it. Ask my friends.) People can totally speak out if they want but maybe I'm too eastern that I believe in social harmony...

Anyway, I mean, fine, even if Dr Fulton honestly feel that he's way is way better than ours, the best he can do is guide us but then respect whichever way we choose to take. As if he kept on 'preaching' how it's OK to be in different school of thoughts in psychology, but he just doesn't practice what he preached. As in, RESPECT DIVERSITY IF IT WORKS FOR EACH OF US. Guidance is necessary, but not force.

After that was more bad news. JPA just suddenly decided that we have to take a mock SAT 1 test by NEXT THURSDAY. Don't they get it? SAT is a totally new thing for us, how do they expect us to master it in time? The outcome is, if we DON'T meet JPA's cut-off point, we'll get cut out from applying to IVY LEAGUES... Which is OK to some who never want to go to the US in the first place nor dream of the ivy but I have dreamed of it since I decided to do psychology... Like years ago... I'm really devastated but I don't show it. I'll just have to try my best and trust in God, he'll lay the RIGHT path for me...

All in all, what a day...

-C-