sale?

There's no doubt that everyone has heard of that word before. While some people don't take notice of them, there are also those who worship sales anywhere. I'm more towards the ignoring sales group. One, I'm not a shopaholic, and two, I'm a bit cautious with my money (usually). I guess this is due to me not having a lot of money when I was small, and hence the act of saving became a habit to me.

I'm not saying I don't buy anything. Gila ke apa. However, I do think we should always live within our means. So if you're not rich, don't act like one. And if you are rich, then, urm, I guess you can act like one. Just don't forget to pay zakat. And maybe belanja unrich people like me once in a while. Just kidding of course. Well, maybe not.

Currently, there are sales everywhere. And it's not even Boxing Day yet. It's probably due to the credit crunch. The retails want to boost their sales up and hence are forced to cut the down the prices. Even the VAT has been decreased to 15% until the end of 2009. I suppose the 2.5% reduction isn't a huge drop but it's still significant. Every penny counts.

I guess the government reduced the VAT so that people and companies don't suffer so much. Maybe they think that the cut will encourage people to spend and hence 'stimulate' the economy. But it may bring a false sense of reality where people don't feel like the economy is down and merrily spend their money like nothing's wrong. Or maybe they are aware of the current economical situation but want to drown their sorrows by shopping. Oh if you're looking for shoes, go to Clarks at Oxford Street, near Oxford Circus (I tolong promote ni, Kat, hehe).

Many people seem to go shopping online nowadays, and who wouldn't. The discounts are sometimes ridiculous. I've already bought a Prince of Persia game plus some other goodies at a good price. Hehe.

I've been eyeing the Xbox 360 for a long time now and currently the best on offer is from Amazon. If you buy a 60GB one, you can get a free HDMI cable, a selected game for £10, plus an Xbox 360 Wireless Entertainment Pack which contains an Xbox 360 wireless controller and 2 games for only £20. So in total, it would be less than £200! Oh did I mention the free delivery? There's a very high possibility that I'll be buying one anytime soon and I'm gonna choose Star Wars: The Force Unleashed from the list of discounted games. Actually, I would prefer to buy Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 or Gears of War 2, but they're still a bit expensive. I'll just have to be patient.

Arin's Xbox 360 is already here in my flat, but my brothers keep playing with it, so maybe I should buy my own one. Karang rosak pulak Arin punya tu. Hehe, thanks Arin! Ah yes, my parents and 3 smallest brothers are here in the UK. So to those who want me to belanja them, I'm sorry but this month my gaji is for my family (and myself!), unless you're going to give me a birthday present of course. Hmm, just a few more weeks to buy one. And I've already hinted what I want. Haha perasan nya aku, dah la nak benda2 mahal je, ish ish ish.

Well, anyway, it's time for bed. But maybe I should go 'boost the economy' before I go to sleep...

salam aidiladha!

Assalamualaikum. Eid mubarak everyone! May the day be full of barakah for all of us.

I thought Raya Haji will be on Sunday so I didn't take any leave. Turns out that it's on Monday. Oh well, what to do. Woke up a bit earlier than usual to perform the Eid prayers (all alone huhu). Okay, I admit, I didn't wake up that early. I should go to Ustaz Erfino's blog later today to read his khutbah raya.

Oh and don't forget to invite me if there's any makan2. Haha.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha!

Allahuakbar Allahuakbar Allahuakbar.
Laailahailallahu wallahuakbar.
Allahuakbar walillahilhamd.

lunch with housemaster

In Kolej Tuanku Ja'afar (KTJ), we stayed in 'houses' and each house had a housemaster and/or housemistress, usually British. I was in the Nadzimuddin house and we had David and Karen Hitchman.

They are currently in the UK and we had lunch with them at Khan's today, which was organised by Chia Wei. Last year they came as well at around this time of the year and Chia Wei also organised the lunch then. Mr and Mrs Hitchman must be really proud of Chia Wei, the boy they've seen growing up has become a man! Hehe.

Anyway, it was nice meeting them again and also seeing my juniors, who have grown taller. Man, when I left KTJ, Ashari was damn small, and now he's freakin' tall, but still as thin as a lidi. Hehe.

The Hitchmans will teach in KTJ for another year and then they'll retire peacefully in Cyprus. And Mrs Hitchman was proudly saying she has a Facebook account, so I'll just wait for her to post the photos there then, and hopefully someone would tag me (or I could just tag myself). Hmm, I should probably search for her account soon then...

nikki acquires symbiosis

I'm too lazy to write, so I've just copied and pasted the news:


Nikki Have Closed The Deal To Buy Symbiosis - The Foundation is Go!

Announced by Nikki CEO at Nikki World this morning was the news that the acquisition of Symbiosis Ltd has been completed, and therefore the plans for the Symbiosis Foundation move away from the theoretical discussions that happened at the Symbiosis Smartphone Show and into reality.

There's no official press release on this process as we write this up, but the announcement has been expected for some time, and indeed Williams was due in post 'from January 1st or such time as the Symbiosis Foundation is ready.' Looks like Williams will be starting 2009 with one of the biggest corporate open source projects of all time as his New Year's resolution.


Nikki Acquires Symbiosis Limited

Nikki today announced that it has completed its offer to acquire Symbiosis Limited. All conditions to Nikki's offer to acquire Symbiosis Limited have been satisfied and it has received valid acceptance of greater than 99.9% of the total Symbiosis shares that Nikki did not already own. Symbiosis is the software company that develops and licenses Symbiosis OS.

The closing of the offer is a fundamental step in the establishment of the Symbiosis Foundation, announced on June 24, 2008 by Nikki, together with AB&C, LP Electrics, Kokorola, NTG Dacima, Sammysong, Sonia Erika, ST-MYZ Wireless, Texco Instruments and Voodefun. More information about the planned foundation can be found at www.symbiosisfoundation.org.

All Symbiosis employees are planned to become Nikki employees on February 1, 2009.

information overload

It's been 3 weeks of training now and 2 more weeks to go before I start doing 'real work', whatever that means. These 5 weeks of training are called the 'bootcamp', and there are 12 of us in the programme. Most of them are like me, fresh from university. Some have finished post-graduate studies and there's one who had just submitted his PhD thesis.

The first day was okay and relaxing. We were given talks about safety, security and the overall structure of the company. The next 4 days were quite full. Seven and a half hours of technical stuff each day. That's a bit too much for me. Even in uni my schedule wasn't as packed as that. Yes, I know, some of you guys have classes all day, so I shouldn't be complaining right? Well I don't care, and I'm not actually complaining, I'm just saying, you know. Heh.

The thing is, I'm a bit slow in understanding stuff (some people would call it blur). I usually need to read it as well to really understand what I'm being taught. So when I'm bombarded with too much information, I can get a bit lost. Sometimes, to my surprise, I really did understand all that technical stuff, but then the next day, I'd forget what I understood. (Please forgive my overuse of the word understand. I've checked the thesaurus, and although apprehend and fathom sound much cooler and intelligent, I can't seem to make good proper sentences to describe the same meaning with those words. That's because I'm not cool and intelligent enough.)

And like Nina, I also have trouble remembering words, especially uncommon ones. Well, I forget normal words as well. So when I'm sitting there listening to the guy teaching us, and he's using words that he just talked about the previous day, which I've forgotten what they mean, it does get a bit confusing. It's a good thing we have a computer on our table, so I can just google the word or use answers.com. Not only do I have trouble remembering words, I also have trouble saying them. However, I can pronounce Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious with no trouble whatsoever. Hmm.. I wonder why.

During the second and third weeks, there were more talks, but less technical stuff. Plus we had to do a lot of practical exercises, which I struggled to do. It was really frustrating seeing other people complete some exercises with ease while I was trying my utmost best to apply what I've learned to the codes in front of me. The instructions were sometimes confusing as well. But alhamdulillah, I got through the first 5 exercises, and there are 5 more to go.

So it has been a full 3 weeks for me, and unlike Hyree, I don't have the liberty to be bored at work, because there's a lot to be done. But there is this game that's quite interesting if you're feeling bored during lunchtime. Try the Antbuster game. I've reached level 70. Go and beat that!

What I do like about the company is its respect towards other religions and races. I wanted to know where the nearest mosque is so that I can pray solat Jumaat, and the Human Resources kindly found a fellow Muslim working there to bring me to the mosque. So if any of you are in the SE1 area, the mosque is at marker A in the map below. Here's its address:

Bait-ul-Aziz Mosque
1 Dickens Square
London SE1 4JL

The mosque is not as big as the Regent's Park Mosque, but it is a standalone building. It has 2 storeys and fits quite a lot of people during the Jumaah prayers. However, the khutbah is given in Arabic, so I don't understand it. I'm not pretending to be religious, but there's this 'emptiness' in me if there's no spiritual/religious reminders every week. Yes, I do feel sleepy sometimes during khutbahs but it's no fun listening when I don't understand a clue of any of the khutbah content. They should at least say some sentences in English so that everyone can understand. I mean, not all Muslims are Arabs you know.

What I don't usually enjoy is the daily commute to work. I use the Jubilee line, which is repaired nearly every weekend. However, despite all the 'repairs' done, it still breaks down at least twice during the weekdays, which had made me arrive late a couple of times. And some people are seriously smelly, even in the morning. X sempat mandi la tu. I just pray that I don't become one of those smelly people some day. The thing with smelly people is sometimes they don't realise that they smell because everyone's kutuk-ing them behind their back and not telling them face to face. So if suddenly I do smell, please let me know!

Anyway, on Thursday, we had a team building day. There was a treasure hunt in the afternoon where we needed to solve some clues and take photos of certain landmarks around London. It was fun because we had the opportunity to go sightseeing while 'socialising/bonding' with our teammates. And in the evening, we went to Chinatown and had dinner there, which was paid by the company of course.

There are 2 more weeks to go and I hope I understand and complete all the exercises on time. There'll be more technical stuff next week (oh no, more jargon!), and at the end of the final week, we need to take the Accredited Symbiosis Developer exam. Maka dengan itu, saya perlu belajar. Wish me luck!

will obama bring change?

Of course he will. But let's just hope that these changes are for the benefit of all. To be honest, I feel glad that Obama was chosen, and I'm sure many people feel the same way. Everyone's tired of the needless wars and attacks by the arrogant Bush administration.

However, 8 years ago, with my young mind being influenced by the local Malaysian media saying that Al Gore is ntahpape because he supported Anwar's reformasi, I was hoping Bush would win. Well, not exactly Bush, but the guy who was running against Al Gore, whoever he was. Look at how that turned out. And during those 8 years, Al Gore has made a reputation of being someone who truly cares about the environment while Bush, well, you know what he's done.

I'm just saying that in reality, after a candidate is elected, he/she doesn't always do what they say in the campaigns. Maybe it's because they are blatant liars, but usually it's due to the constraints of the real world, like bureaucracy etc. They can't just do whatever they like. Well, maybe that Texan cowboy was a special case, selamba badak je attack Iraq without the UN's approval. Heh.

In America, they have proved that race is not the issue. I wonder, when will that kind of mentality be the norm in Malaysia? There was a comic that I read showing some Malaysians cheering when the news on TV showed Obama the black candidate winning the US election, but the same people were then angry when a Chinese was elected a head of a certain body instead of a Malay. The sad thing is, many people behave the same way. When will Malaysia be mature enough to accept all Malaysians no matter what religion or race they are? When will all of us accept that jobs should be based on merit, not on race? I truly hope that there will come a day when these types of questions are no longer equired to be asked.

Anyway, I hope Obama really does bring great changes not only to the US, but also to the world. Yes he can!

withdrawn in new york?

I got a call from my bank on Saturday asking me if I had just withdrawn money from New York. New York? I don't even have a US Visa and very much doubt I'll get one anytime soon. Apparently, someone had twice withdrawn $80+ from New York using my card details. $160+ is about £100+! And my card is still with me. It wasn't stolen or anything, so it must have been ATM fraud somewhere.

But I must admit, I was surprised that the bank detected it so fast. Maybe it was because I has also withdrawn money here on the same day. So maybe they were thinking, 'Hang on, two ATM withdrawals in one day, across the Atlantic. Something must be wrong.' I don't know. That's just a guess.

Well, now my card has been canceled and will be replaced soon. And my money will be refunded as well insyaAllah. Haih, dah la duit x banyak sekarang, kena pow la pulak.

On another note, Mr. Bank, why are you so late in sending me my bank statements? I need them for my Leave to Remain application!

finally graduated!

Alhamdulillah, I have now officially graduated from Imperial College London with a Master of Engineering in Electrical and Electronic Engineering degree. We actually received our results about mid-July, so I don't know why our Commemoration Day was held a few months later (22 October to be exact). Nevertheless, I'm happy to have attended the ceremony and it's now time for the next chapter of my life: Work!

My mum and sister attended the ceremony as well. And it was nice to meet my friends again. It was a bit expensive because it was held in Royal Albert Hall. But maybe it was worth it. Big maybe. Anyway, thanks to everyone who came and congratulations to fellow graduates!

Oh and thank you very much for the tie and card! =)

I'm now a graduate. Yeayeah!

Tips for next year's graduates: Wave to the camera when you're on stage, like I did. Well, I just angkat my tangan, but best la jugak. Hehe.

eid in london (again!)

Salam Aidil Fitri everyone. So it was the fifth time that I celebrated Eid in the UK, away from my family at home. How fast time flies. The sad thing is I thought I won't get duit raya for 4 years only because of my 4-year course, but by the time I get to beraya at home (whenever that is), I wont be eligible to get duit raya any more. In fact, I have to give the angpow by then. Oh man. (Please bear with my immature thoughts for now since I'm not in the golongan bekerja just yet.)

At open houses here in London, I realised that I knew less and less people each year. And now, most of my friends are already back home. But raya was still fun though. Sometimes you'll meet your old friends and most of the time you'll make new ones. So it was nice to celebrate Eid with old and new friends while current friends aren't around. But now these old and new friends have become my current friends and hence the current friends which I mentioned before aren't so current anymore, but have become old friends but can still be current friends in the future. Haha pening x baca?

Eid mubarak!

kuih raya

Hoorah, I have succeeded in making some kuih raya. I assisted Nina to make these kuih corn flakes yesterday. Leceh jugak nak buat banyak2. Hehe.

Looks like corn flakes cookies. Yum. Takde la sehebat jam tarts or kuih almond london (which I don't think originated from London, but 'London' is used nevertheless as a marketing ploy), but I don't care. Still yum.

food

Since I'm feeling a little bit hungry now, I just thought that I should put up some photos of food.

Top left: Potato cakes with smoked salmon
The potato cake is a little bit like begedil. The cakes are topped with salmon plus a feather of dill.

Top right: Spaghetti pesto
Chicken and prawns are fried and mixed with pesto and some double cream, then eaten with spaghetti.

Bottom left: Blueberry cheesecake
Using crushed digestive biscuits as the base, soft cheese and double cream as the cake plus blueberry jam and blueberries as the topping, you'll get the blueberry cheesecake above.

Bottom right: Doughnut french toast
French toast with some vanilla extract added to it, coated with caster sugar.

Simple recipes for amateurs like yours truly. Oh I made these before Ramadhan. Hmm.. should I try making kuih raya now?

england produced stunning display

Croatia 1 - 4 England

ENG Goal Theo Walcott (26')
CRO Yellow Card Josip Simunic (40')
CRO Yellow Card Darijo Srna (47')
CRO Red Card Robert Covac (53')
ENG Goal Theo Walcott (59')
ENG Yellow Card Emile Heskey (61')
ENG Goal Wayne Rooney (63')
CRO Goal Mario Mandzukic (78')
ENG Goal Theo Walcott (82')

time to celebrate

Wow, what a surprise. England actually won convincingly against Croatia, the team who kicked England out of the Euro 2008. Yes, I know that Croatia was a man down after nearly an hour into the game, but congrats to Capello and his men for playing well and winning the game.

I think most people are surprised as well. Here's a comment at BBC Sport Football from Mike T (via text on 81111):

It's the Hadron Collider - we actually have entered a parallel universe where England are good at football. Its the only possible explanation.

I have to agree with this guy. Hehe. Anyway, congratulations especially to Walcott for scoring a hat-trick. There's a light for England after all.

merdeka carnival 2008

Perpaduan teras kejayaan. A new Merdeka theme for Malaysia's 51st year of independence. And there's a new logo too. Well, I hope that there's still a large amount of perpaduan among the people of Malaysia, especially with all those racist remarks that has been flying around in the country. Okay, let's not talk about that shall we. Too boring (plus menyampah). It's time for something more fun and interesting.

Okay then. A Merdeka Carnival was held on 30 August at the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre in Hertford, UK. It was organized by the Malaysian community in the UK and also the Malaysian High Commission. Yes, I know that Merdeka falls on the 31st and the organizers know that too, but I'm sure they had their reasons for choosing that date. Anyway, I'm sure glad they chose Saturday instead of Sunday because it was a very nice and sunny day, which is rare here since it's nearly the end of summer. FYI, it was rainy and gloomy on Sunday, so well done, good choice of day!

The initial plan was Nina, Wan Aimran and I were to go to the carnival together. So we went to King's Cross train station at about noon. We were just about to buy our tickets when Aimran saw his cousins, Lia and Wawa somewhere in the queue behind us, and they were also heading to the carnival. The more, the merrier, and cheaper. You can buy group train tickets for 3 or 4 people which are even cheaper than tickets with a youth railcard.

Anyway, the train journey to Hertford North Station took about 40 minutes. There we met Noraini who was all alone crying and sobbing, waiting for the shuttle service to come. Okay, she wasn't crying and sobbing, I just wanted to add a little drama. Hehe, sorry. And then there were six. According to the Merdeka Carnival leaflet, there was a free shuttle service. We thought that the service was a shuttle bus, but apparently there were shuttle cars instead.

When we arrived, there were many people already there. What did you expect? It was already past midday. A lot of Malaysian families were there. And the weather was lovely. There were many stalls selling **drum roll** Malaysian food! What got me excited weren't the ABCs or the nasi lemak, you can get those in many places in the UK, but the roti canai. No, not the frozen ones, but the ones you buy at the mamak's. It's been a long time since I've eaten one of those. The roti canai were expensive, but worth it. I also ate some murtabak and aiskrim Malaysia (I'm not sure what its real name is, but it's the frozen asam ice cream which I ate).

Towards the end, there were some activities held: musical chairs for the kids and tarik tali for the women and another for the men. I must say that there was some intense rivalry during the musical chairs. Those kids were very competitive. Very very competitive. The men's tug of war was tight as well. There was a third round to determine the winner but sad to say that the eventual winners cheated. There was supposed to be 13 men in each team, but during the last round, one team had 14. Haih, tarik tali for fun pun nak main tipu ke?

Cheating aside, it was a very nice day to eat Malaysian food while lepaking on the grass with friends, old and new. Jeff and Hana also came to the event. And we also met friends of our new friends who were also friends of other friends who were friends with some of us and/or some of our friends. Or to put it short (and less confusing), it's a small world.

Happy Merdeka and also happy fasting!

notting hill carnival

The annual Notting Hill Carnival took place from Sunday 24 to Monday 25 August this year. I just heard of it a couple of days before it took place. I didn't know that there was such a carnival even though it's my fourth year here. Well, this is the first time that I'm staying in the UK during the summer, so I forgive myself. Heh.

Wan Aimran was the one who told me about the event and I planned to meet him there on Monday. I also called a couple of friends from high school, Arin (@ Aghain) and Kat, who I haven't seen for a while to meet up there. Adzmel, who was also staying at Ammir's for a while, went with me to the carnival.

Since I'm not bothered to write about the history of the carnival, here's an excerpt from Wikipedia (click the link to read more):

Notting Hill Carnival is an annual event which takes place on the streets of Notting Hill, London, UK each August, over two days (Sunday and the following bank holiday), since 1965. It is led by members of the Caribbean population, many of whom have lived in the area since the 1950s. The carnival has attracted up to 2 million people in the past, making it the second largest street festival in the world, after Rio. It is also often compared to Karneval der Kulturen in Berlin.

The event was heavily policed. There were a lot of people and so we didn't get to meet Wan Aimran there. Sorry ye! But we did find Arin and Kat, who were there with Afif, also a friend of mine. The carnival was quite good and the parades were very colourful. They really enjoyed themselves parading down the streets wearing their costumes. It was fun.

I do pity the residents there though. They have to put up with all the noise the whole day outside their homes. And most of the shops were boarded up. There must have been some riots of some sorts during the previous years to make the shopkeepers be extra careful. Or maybe the council was providing them with the boards for safety reasons. I don't know.

Anyway, it was a good day to go out and see the colourful parades. Maybe I'll go again next year.

assassin's creed

Assassin's Creed is a third-person stealth game by Ubisoft, released near the end of 2007. I didn't buy it then of course. Too expensive. I bought the game second-hand from eBay last month and have already finished it a few weeks ago.

altaïr the assassin

The setting at the start of the game is in a building belonging to Abstergo Industries in September 2012, where scientists Warren Vidic and Lucy Stillman are working on a project. By the way, Lucy was modelled after and voiced by Kristen Bell. You'll play Desmond Miles, whose ancestor was Altaïr ibn La-Ahad, a member of the Hashshashin, an Assassin Brotherhood, during the Third Crusade of the Holy Land.

altaïr in action

According to the game, the memories of one's ancestors are hidden inside one's DNA and that's why Desmond, also called Subject 17 to Abstergo, is being held there. The company, which is actually run by the Knights Templar, wants to extract information from Desmond involving his ancestor Altaïr. They can do this using a machine called the Animus, which enables the user to replay the memories of his/her ancestor(s) if (s)he was there him/herself.

So that is actually the premise of the game. You're Desmond who's being held in the machine called the Animus, replaying the memories of his ancestor, Altaïr. Altaïr's objective in the game is to assassinate nine historical figures in the year 1191. According to the game's developers, these assassination targets did die in 1191 but not necessarily murdered. In the game, some historical changes were justified by Warren saying that the historical records were altered by the Knights Templar to deceive anyone studying the past.

hmm.. where's the shopping centre?

Now Altaïr needs to kill these men because according to his leader, Al Mualim, the men are taking advantage of the crusade for their own benefits. Before assassinating them, he needs to gather information of their whereabouts and activities to plan the kill. To do this, you'll need to find informers who'll ask you to help them for information. You'll either have to kill some guards or collect flags within a period of time. Besides that, you'll also need to eavesdrop on some conversations, interrogate some preachers and pickpocket letters or maps. After you collect enough information, you're ready to perform the assassination.

You can also save citizens being harassed by soldiers. After saving them, there'll either be vigilantes in that area who will help you if you are being chased by soldiers or a group of scholars where you can blend yourself into to go past guards. You also need to map the cities that you go to by climbing up tall view points. You can then perform the leap of faith, which is jumping from a very high place and landing in a bunch of hay.

proving he's not afraid (of heights) by performing the leap of faith

Although it gets a bit repetitive, I still enjoyed the game. Its uniqueness is that you can climb up walls and towers and run on rooftops. The movements are quite smooth when you get used to it. If you've played Prince of Persia, then you'll be familiar with some of the moves in Assassin's Creed, since they're produced by the same company and also developed by the same people if I'm not mistaken. Oh and there'll be a new Prince of Persia game which is coming out soon and I'll be looking forward to that.

Okay back to Assassin's Creed. The graphics are beautiful. Of course, most games have really cool and more realistic graphics now that there are the Xbox 360 and PS3. You can really enjoy the view of the cities at the tall tower. Even Dini and Wan Aimran praised the graphics when they saw me play. What a bad host I am, playing video games when there are guests in the house!

take that you scum

The fight moves are okay, but there isn't much variety. You can use a hidden retractable blade to perform assassinations and also a sword or knife in fights. There are combo moves when fighting, which are cool, but sometimes Altaïr and/or his enemies go through walls or a nearby tree or rock when doing these combo moves. But I do like the counter attack moves. They're really neat.

There is something that I quite don't like about the game. Altaïr is a trained assassin, who can climb walls easily and clever at blending in the crowd to get unnoticed, but he can't swim. If he falls into a river or the sea, he'll just drown. Come on la, a well-trained assassin should know how to swim. I can't swim of course but I'm not an assassin am I? Heh.

All in all, it's a good game. The ending is a bit mysterious and I really hope that there'll be a sequence to the game to explain the mystery. And if there is one, I hope that there'll be more combo fight moves and Altaïr/Desmond has learned to swim.

a reflection

Four years had certainly gone by a bit too fast. One minute I'm stepping into the grounds of Imperial College to start my MEng Electrical and Electronics Engineering degree and the next minute I'm done. Finished. Completed. Another stage has ended in my life and it's time to move on to the next.

Over the years, I have really learned a lot, not just academically. I'm not exactly the same person I was then. I grew up. Matured? Maybe, maybe not. That depends on my mood I suppose. Now I have different perspectives on things. I like to think that my mind is not as narrow as it used to be.

You meet different kinds of people, see different kinds of behaviour, hear different kinds of things that people say regarding the same thing. Everyone has their own opinion, and like Hyree always say (well, maybe not always), there's two sides to a story. Sometimes both sides think they're doing the right thing and it's good if we try to understand both sides' views to solve the problem (if there is one).

I've made many mistakes throughout my life and I do apologize to anyone that I've hurt or offended. These mistakes can make us a better person if we learn from them. We should also learn from other people's mistakes as well. The tricky thing about mistakes is that the person doing them usually doesn't realise that they're doing something wrong. It's so much easier to see the wrong in others and not yourselves. That includes yours truly, and I really hope that if I ever do get out of line, my friends will smack me on the head to bring me back to my senses (not literally of course).

Okay enough blabbering. Alhamdulillah, four years of hard work paid off. Well, maybe not exactly four years. There are lots of chill time as well. Ehe. Anyway, I'm quite happy with what I obtained and I'd like to thank everyone for everything you guys have done; be it the lecturers who taught me, the postgraduate students who shared their knowledge with me, the friends that I studied with, the girlfriend who gave moral support from afar, and lots more. All of you deserve a very big thank you from me.

In October, I'll have a programming refresher course (sponsored by my bakal company), I'm having my graduation ceremony and I'll also be starting work. So until then I have a lot of free time and here are what I'm planning to do:

Work Permit/Visa Application

Since I'm not a UK citizen, I'll need a work permit to work at Symbiosis. The application hasn't yet started because an official document stating that I've finished my degree is needed. This document had just been completed and is on its way to Symbiosis (or maybe has already arrived there). I'll need to wait for further instructions on how to proceed with the application. I hope that all will go well, or else I'll be going back after the convocation and maybe sell ABCs at gerai Seksyen 2, Shah Alam. Heh.

Programming

My job title will be Graduate Software Engineer. What do software engineers do? Programming. Can I do programming? Of course I can. If I can't, I couldn't have got the job, now could I. Am I good at programming? Erm... erm... hmmm. I'll be programming in C/C++. The last time I programmed in that language was in second year, and that's like a million years ago. So even though I'll be going to the refresher course, I still need to revise and remember all the codes, techniques, etc. Berkarat gila ni.

Read Magazines

I've been subscribing to the Time magazine since late last year. A magazine arrives at my house every week and usually I can't finish one before the next one comes. But I normally finish them sooner or later. Well, since my exam period (which was in May), I put the reading on hold. Now I have some catching up to do. I'm currently nearly finishing the July 7 issue. So there's 7 more to go before the next one arrives next week! Oh there are also Reader's Digest magazines lying around the house. Talk about pressure, dude.

Games

Since Pear brought his Xbox 360 home, I can only play games on my laptop, which is still ok. I recently sent my laptop for repairs and they've replaced my LCD cover, so the screen looks new. Best la nak main game. Oh there's still Ammir's Xbox so I can play that as well.

Read Books

Besides the magazines, I have some books that I've bought but just didn't have time to read. Now that I have ample of time, I should be reading these books. Yes, I should.

Watch TV/Series/Movies

Well, no explanations needed here I guess, unless you don't know what a television is. (Hint: It's that black rectangular thing in the picture on the left.)

Football

The new EPL season is finally starting. I can watch Match of the Day every week for the day's highlights. Hurrah! Well I suppose this should be included in the above section since I'll be watching football on TV and not actually playing, but who cares. Anyway, there's no one to play with now.

Part-time Job

Me? Work? Nah, maybe not. Not until the end of October that is. Well, maybe yes. This will depend on my financial situation. Hmm...

Exercise

This is another hard one. Of course you can say that I can obviously do it if I want to. Well, that's what Wan Aimran will say anyway. I can't go to the gym because I'm no longer an Imperial College student. I borrowed a junior's student card but I can't use that because I don't look like him. I can jog around Hyde Park, I can skip, I can workout at home, I can shoot some hoops. Yes, I can do all that, but the question is will I actually do them? And sorry but I won't tell you the answers. Heh.

Cook

It's time to try out new recipes bebeh.

Oh and I also have to repair some damages that I've done. Something I've broken and I'm the only one who can fix it. What am I talking about? Well, that's for me to know and for you to erm... not find out. Heh. Looks like I'll be busy being free then. So, that's all folks. Thanks for reading.

peak district

It seems that this blog of mine has sort of become a games review blog. What can I say, I've a lot of free time to play them. Well, when I first started this blog, there were many entries about food, so maybe you could say that I used to like eating but now I like playing games. Hehe. So now I'm not going to write about any video games but I will mention some food. I'm writing about something that I haven't done much this year: traveling.

I'm currently staying at Ammir's apartment in London (thanks Ammir!). Ammir's not here. He's already back in Malaysia after a month traveling around South Africa, Australia and New Zealand with Faizal. Sometimes Pear, Colin and Alvin will stay here as well.

Pear's currently in Leicester and since I haven't been there before, I decided to go there last week for the weekend (that's the weekend before last weekend). It's a small town and the guys there were asking me why I went since there was nothing much to see or do there. But I don't mind, plus I've made some new friends who are either medic students or recently graduated doctors. Boleh la mintak tolong (for free) kalau sakit nanti.

Last weekend, I went there again because I was joining their roadtrip to Peak District. I arrived on Saturday and how lucky I was that they were having a BBQ that night. Delicious. Okay, that's the end of the food part.

wow, i can('t) see klcc from here

Now the traveling part. The next day, Pear, Fidod, Fathi, Fifi, Nazimah, Farah, Sara, Fiza and I went to the Peak District National Park in two cars; one for the guys and the other for the girls. The weather was nice and sunny when we arrived. Everyone were wearing clothes suitable for hiking except for me and Pear. We were wearing baju nak pegi town, but the hike was still enjoyable. The area we were hiking to was Stanage Edge. It's a long line of cliffs made of gritstone.

Once we got to higher ground, the scenery was beautiful. And lots and lots of photos were taken of course. We noticed that in spots where it's nice to take photos (with beautiful scenery plus cool rocks/cliff), there were lots of tahi kambing. Maybe it's their toilet? It must be nice for the sheep, enjoying the view while doing their business. Very strategic locations. Heh.

9 of us hiking and posing all day

We even had a small barbeque up in the hills and played Uno as well. It became hotter during the afternoon and I was slightly sunburned. Padan muka, sapa suruh belagak xnak pakai sunblock. Anyway, we had a nice walk at the hills and cliffs. I didn't feel tired during the hike, but once we were back in our cars and were heading back to Leicester, all the tiredness suddenly came to me. I couldn't keep my eyes open and went straight back to sleep. Kesian gila Fathi because all us other guys were sleeping while he drove the car. Ehe.

Thanks for the trip guys. I had fun. So what's next, the 'Great Backpacking Trip' eh Nazimah and Fiza?

grand theft auto iv

GTA IV is an action-adventure game which was released this year by Rockstar Games. It's a sandbox-style game, meaning that the missions can be completed in a number of different sequences. Of course, any guy out there surely would have either already played the game or want to play it or at least heard of it before, since it's a very male-centric game.

Anyway, I got to play GTA IV after Pear bought a new Xbox 360 which included 2 games: GTA IV and Bad Company. Thanks to Fairuz for his Xbox 360 which I used to play with before Pear's. Oh and thanks to Pear as well for buying the console. Ehe.

i need your car

In the game, Niko Bellic is an Eastern European guy who comes to Liberty City after being persuaded by his cousin Roman who claims he was living a very good life in America. Of course, when Niko gets there, he finds that his cousin was just talking big. Roman's apartment was small and his business wasn't that big either.

So initially, Niko helps Roman with the troubles he had with some contacts, and the game expands from there; Niko is introduced to other characters which he helps to earn money and from these characters, he meets other people and so on.

kaboom

I've finished the storyline missions and I must say that it's very good. Even Colin who doesn't play these games was attracted to the story. In some missions, you need to make a choice and there will be consequences. The ending will depend on what path you choose. I've already played both endings but I won't spoil it to those of you who haven't played it yet.

There are also side missions that you can do in the game. Some of them can help you play the main storyline missions. To complete 100% of the game, you need to finish most of these missions as well because the storyline is only 60% of the game. I'm only on 75% and there's plenty more things to do, such as meeting random people who have little missions of their own, performing stunt jumps, shooting pigeons and plenty more. Oh and there are also the Xbox 360 achievements that I can do. These challenges are spread out all over the islands in Liberty City, so I guess I'll be finishing the game with a laptop nearby showing me where these places are, because it'd take a very long time to try to find them all on my own.

time to put this weapon to good use

The Rockstar team has done a really good job in creating the game. I can't help but be mesmerised by its beautiful graphic, especially when flying over the city in a helicopter. The attention to detail both in the graphics as well as the behaviour of all the elements in the game have made the game truly astounding. Yes, the picture is a bit cartoony but I think they intended to make it that way.

When shooting, the cover system is quite good and the automatic lock on the enemy is cool as well. But you also need to try manual targeting if you want to do plenty of headshots. Muahahaha (gelak jahat). Niko's mobile phone is used to call people (duh!) to initiate some missions, to invite people to go out and so on. You can also restart failed missions by replying messages. This will save you the hassle to go to back to the mission starting point.

catch me if you can

There are a lot more things that can be written about the game, but it's getting long now. I suggest you go read the game reviews (which I suppose most of you would have already done by now). I really like the game but I'm not very happy with the movement of Niko when on foot, which I feel is not very smooth. Other than that, the game's brilliant. So, that's all folks. Now, to finish the game... or maybe not yet because I've already started another game, Assassin's Creed. Heh.

congrats sisso!

Congratulations to Liyana for successfully graduating from the University of Essex! We now have a qualified accountant in the family.

So she graduated a few months earlier than her big bro. Lambat betul IC punya konvo. Even the results aren't out yet. Hopefully it's good...

Anyway, congrats again sisso!

sightseeing with adik2

Three weeks ago, I presented my final year project which meant that I had completed my degree (yeay!). A few days later, my two sisters and one of my brother came to London. Liyana had just finished her degree at Essex while Musfirah and Faqihuddin were on holiday from their studies at UiTM.

anti-clockwise from top left: piccadilly circus, strawberry picking at esher, clacton, funfair at colchester, university of essex

So the next whole week was spent sightseeing with my adik2. And we even got a new adik called Hyree who claims he's 17 years old, which made him elligible to become my youngest adik to be in the UK at that time.

We only went sightseeing in the UK (London, Colchester and Manchester). Places that we visited in London were the usual: London Eye, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Greenwich, etc. Oh and of course, shopping at Oxford Street and Piccadilly Circus. We went fruit (and vegetable) picking at Esher as well.

anti-clockwise from top left: london eye, champions league and EPL trophies, old trafford, royal greenwich observatory, imperial college

Liyana brought Musfirah and Faqihuddin around Colchester for a couple of days. The four of us then went to Manchester to see Old Trafford and we took pictures with the two trophies. Yeay, we've held the Champions League and English Premier League trophies! While we were in Manchester, we visited our old flat and primary school in Salford. We were there for 3-4 years when we were kids and it was good to know that the teachers there still remember us.

The jalan2 with adik2 was fun. Dah lama tu x dapat nak kacau diorang. Hehe. And the other way round too of course. We had a great time. Thanks to those that went along with us for taking the photos. Pandai pose jugak my sisters and brother ni. Just like their Abang Long(?).

viva espana - euro 2008

Congratulations to Spain for winning the Euro 2008 yesterday! They were considered a team with the potential to win but who always flopped at the big stage. Well, they've fulfilled their potential and proven their critics wrong. And did they deserve to win? Of course they did! They were the only team that played well throughout the tournament, and they also played wonderful with very neat passing. They're not as fast and exciting as the Dutch and Portuguese at times, but overall, they are the worthy champions.

For me, this is the best Euro that I've watched. It's much better than Euro 2004 where a team who played defensively (read: boring) won the tournament. Most of the group matches were very thrilling, especially Group C (Holland, Italy, France, Romania). A lot have changed in 2 years. The previous World Cup finalists, Italy and France, both lost to Holland and drew with Romania. Holland played really well and most of their goals were just fantastic, especially Sneijder's and Robben's. And Boulahrouz played really well at right back. It was hard to believe that this was the same person who played central defence at Chelsea a few years ago.

All the champions of the groups won their first two games and rested most of their first team players during the third one. And all of them, except for Portugal, won their third group match. Now of course it's understandable that the coach would want to rest his first team so that in theory, they'll be less tired in the next games. Also, those on the bench want to play as well. It's great if one is included in a team in the Euros but it'd be better if one could play as well instead of just warming the bench. However, in the quarter-finals, out of all the group champions, only Spain progressed to the semis. Maybe it's because the others lost their momentum? Portugal and Holland didn't play as well as they did in the group stage. There wasn't much flair and the chances that they had were wasted. Croatia played okay, but were beaten by a very determined Turkish team.

Turkey. Wow. I think they're the most hardworking team in the tournament. Their mental strength is damn high. With players injured and suspended, they still played the same way. Be it the first or second team (or the third team if they had one), you can see that they weren't afraid of their opponents and never gave up even though they were behind. The important thing was that they played to win, which means they played attacking football, unlike Italy in the game against Spain, and Germany in all of their games except the one against Portugal. I really think the Turks deserved to win the semi-final match against Germany because of the way they played throughout the game. The Germans rode their luck all the way to the final and hurrah to Spain for beating them.

Now that this Euro is finished, I hope that the next one will be as entertaining, or even better. It's very nice to see a team who play very good football winning the cup, and I hope there's a lot more exciting football matches with plenty of drama in the World Cup in 2010 and Euro 2012.

army of two

Like its name suggests, Army of Two is a game focusing on a team of two people who are private military contractors or mercenaries, Elliot Salem and Tyson Rios. They were in the US 75th Ranger Regiment before joining the Security and Strategy Corporation (SSC), a private military company. Army of Two is a third person shooter game, which for me is much much better than a first person shooter (less pening) and it's especially made to be played by two people. Well, you can play alone because your AI partner is quite ok, as in he won't die easily and he'll follow your commands, but it's a lot more fun playing with a real buddy.

Okay, let me talk about its graphics first. Awesome! It's as nice as Gears of War (and much better than Kane and Lynch). The water texture is beautiful. But of course, you can't just admire the well-designed graphics and drop your gamepad when playing the game, because then you'll get killed by the enemy. Now about the controls, they're a bit slow when aiming but quite okay overall (again, better than Kane and Lynch).

What makes this game very unique is its Aggro. What's Aggro? Basically, it means attention, as in if you're shooting the enemy, then their attention will focus on you, so your Aggro will be higher than your partner. If you have a bigger and more powerful weapon, then your Aggro will be higher as well. There's an Aggro-meter in the screen where you can see how much Aggro you have. Well, what's the fuss about this Aggro thingy? If a player's Aggro is very high, then all the attention will be on him, and his partner will then be 'invisible'. The 'invisible' partner can then sneak up behind the enemy, or snipe them from long range or do any other strategical manoeuvres to defeat them.

help, i need somebody, help, not just anybody, help

If you get shot, you can regenerate your health by staying away from the line of fire. But if you keep getting shot, your screen will turn red and it's very difficult to see your surroundings. Then, you'll 'die' temporarily and you won't be able to move around anymore and your partner needs to come help heal you. He can drag you to a safe place to heal you and while he's doing that, you can still shoot enemies so that your partner doesn't get shot while healing you. If you're dying and you don't have enough time to find cover to regenerate your health, you can feign your death so that the enemy won't shoot you anymore, but if you do it again, they won't be fooled twice and they'll definitely make sure you die.

There are many instances in the game that require two people to do. There's the step jump, where a player helps his partner get up a wall and once his partner is up, he is then pulled up. There's also the co-op snipe, where the 2 players snipe one or two targets at the same time. This move is cool if you want to take out two guards at once, or if you want to blow up a gas barrel or tank. When parachuting and driving, one player controls the parachute/hovercraft while the other shoots or mans the turret respectively. If you're controlling the parachute, you'll need to stabilize it so that your partner can aim and shoot properly. But sometimes it's still difficult to shoot even though the parachute is very very stable (and somebody learned it the hard way *cough* Marwan [bukan nama sebenar] *cough*).

back to back

The back to back manoeuvre is really cool. It's like that ending scene in Mr. & Mrs. Smith where they're surrounded and they just shoot all their enemies while they're back to back. Well, in the movie they didn't get killed, but in the game, you can get killed if they keep on shooting you. What? You haven't watched Mr. & Mrs. Smith? Then, too bad for you, you now know the ending. Heh.

Another unique thing about the game is its weapons system. You can't pick up weapons as you go along, you can only pick up ammunitions. The weapons need to be bought. There's a wide range of weapons to choose from and they can be upgraded once you buy them. And if you have a lot of money, you can even 'pimp' your gun, which means that your weapon will have a gold/silver coating. Cool. You can also waste your money by buying masks, which doesn't make any difference to your stats. Hyree and I have already pimped many of our weapons and we've also bought masks for our characters. Money wasters!

For me, the bad thing about the game is that most of the enemies are Muslim terrorists. There are even suicide bombers in a mission in Afghanistan. They come barging at you before exploding literally in your face. These terrorists really give Islam a bad name. So sad.

Anyway, we (Hyree, Ammir, Pear and me) have all finished the whole campaign each. Once you've finished, you automatically own all the primary weapons available. Hyree and I have already started playing the game again using the hardest level, Professional. We've finished the third mission and there's three more to go. Oh we've also finished playing Halo 3 last week, or was it the week before. It's a first person shooter game, so I wasn't pretty much interested to play, but main je. The game was quite okay though. Marwan's currently playing Army of Two with Ammir now. He still hasn't finished it yet, but he's nearly there. Hmm, I'd better plug my ears while he's finishing the game. Heh.

let's download firefox 3!

The hugely anticipated Firefox 3 is finally going to be launched on Tuesday 17 June 2008. Let's join the 1.2 million people (so far) that has pledged to download it on its launching day to set a Guinness World Record for the most software downloads in 24 hours. That's right, a world record.

After downloading, you'll be able to tell your mates that you were part of a Guinness World Record. Now ain't that cool. Well, it'll be a little bit less cool if your mates were also part of it. No bragging rights there I'm afraid. Nevertheless, let's download and be a part of it! Just click on the link above or the picture below.

And if you don't understand what the fuss is all about, go read the field guide to Firefox 3. And if you're not already using Firefox, what are you thinking, are you out of your mind??!? Hehe.

*Updated (4 July)* - Congrats to those who downloaded Firefox 3 on Download Day! A Guinness World Record for the most software downloads in 24 hours was successfully made, with 8,002,530 downloads. And don't forget to download your very own certificate for helping set a Guinness World Record.

oil boil coil foil

So the price of petrol in Malaysia has just gone up by RM0.78 per litre. That's an increase of nearly 40%! I've been monitoring the price of crude oil this past few weeks and it wasn't much of a surprise that the government will reduce the subsidy. Just a couple of weeks ago, the price of crude oil reached an all-time high of $137 per barrel. Currently it's decreased a bit to about $120. This is very high if you consider that just 3-4 years ago, it was just $20-$30 per barrel. All sorts of factors contribute to the price of oil, and I don't really understand much about it. Heck I don't understand much about my course either sometimes but that's another story.

Everywhere in the world people are affected by the increase in oil, so it was inevitable that the price in Malaysia would also increase. However, I believe that the manner that the government handled it was very poor. Very very poor. They keep saying contradicting things. One moment they say that the foreigners will be charged extra for petrol and only in August will there be any changes to the structure of the subsidies, and then *poof* out of nowhere came the news that the price will be increased that very night. But then again, they've done this before. One minute the parliament won't be dissolved tomorrow, and the next minute *drumroll* it will be dissolved tomorrow. Such lies are what we don't need especially now, when there are many economic problems throughout the world. Even the UK and US are feeling a slight pinch.

Somehow these people haven't learned from their past mistakes. How do you expect people to trust you if you keep lying to them? Do we need an indecisive leader or a determined one? Yes, of course humans make mistakes, but if you make too many mistakes in your job, maybe it means you're really not capable of handling it.

Like I said before, the price increase is unavoidable, but 78 sen is just too much and too sudden. No steps have been taken to let the rakyat prepare for what was going to hit them. Is this a ‘padan muka sapa suruh x undi kitorg majoriti time pilihanraya dulu’ gesture? If they do want to increase it by that much, they should've done so gradually, little by little. This abrupt news caused massive traffic jams at the petrol stations. And people even got angry with the petrol pumps that were closed due to them being out of oil, accusing them of hiding petrol so that they could sell them at a higher price. How chaotic.

The government should also ensure that our public transport system is quite efficient and covers the routes conveniently. If people complain about the Underground trains in London, then I couldn't imagine how they'd react to the KTM Komuter in Malaysia. Now don't even mention the buses.

It's very frustrating when the government tell us not to waste our money, to spend wisely etc, but at the same time, they're not doing what they preach. Having private jets to take them anywhere they want, spending a lot of money and sending a lot of people to unnecessary ‘study’ trips abroad and other absurd expenditures. I'm not saying we shouldn't learn from others, but do it wisely and remember that you're using the people's money.

In saying all this, I do not agree with people who think that Petronas has a right to subsidise petrol, that most of their profit should be spent on the people. Yes, Petronas is drilling oil in Malaysia, and yes, Petronas is a Malaysian company. However, they do need to pay those who work their socks off for them as well. Even Petronas's employees are affected by the price hike, well not the very high-ranked ones of course. Now let's not talk about the money getting into some politicians' pockets because that would just drag this entry. It's Petronas's profit and they have the right to use them as they please. To put it in a rude way, ingat Petronas ni syarikat bapak kau ke? Well, maybe there's an act somewhere that says Petronas is the company of everyone's fathers or something along that line. If that's the case, then I humbly apologize.

There's no doubt that this price increase will have a domino effect on all the price of goods since everyone is dependant on the fuel to power their means of transportation. I just hope that those in power know what they're doing and help those that will really be affected by all this. On the positive side, at least there'll be a little bit less pollution if many people don't use their vehicles if it's really not necessary to do so. But hey, I'm just hoping.

poynt wezt

Ammir and I bought Marvel: Ultimate Alliance about a couple of weeks ago. It's an action role-playing game (RPG). If you don't know what RPG is, don't worry. Xde masuk exam pun. If you don't know and still wanna know, there's always Answers.com. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is a game where you control Marvel Comics superheroes to perform missions in order to defeat the evil Dr Doom's team of supervillains, the Masters of Evil.

The good news for us (me, Ammir, Hyree and Pear) is up to four players can play the game at the same time. It's played on one full screen, which means the TV screen isn't split into how many people are playing. But the bad news was we only had three controllers, so there was usually one observer.

mari kita belasah orang jahat ni beramai2

In the game, you can have your own team of superheroes, where you can increase your team's performance based on the points that you collect. After experimenting with different characters, we chose Wolverine, Human Torch, Deadpool and Captain America as our team members. It was time to pick the team name...

Ammir: “Chamberlain United dah ada. Point West la pulak.”
Hyree: “I tukar la jadi Y dalam Point.”
Ammir: “Gedik nya.”
Fadhli: “Alang2 nak gedik, tukar S jadik Z dalam West tu.”
Pear: (Hanya mampu pandang slack dan ketawa.)

So there it was, Poynt Wezt. Make sure you pronounce it properly: “Poynt Wezzzzzzzzzzt”.

poynt wezt (from left): wolverine, ghost rider, the human torch, deadpool. captain america and thor were busy fighting bad guys while this photo was taken.

As we progressed, we added Ghost Rider and Thor to our gedik squad. You have to make sure that your team has a good balance of different powers to ensure that the whole team don't die easily. I usually used Wolverine because he heals quickly and his melee attacks using his claws are cool, and the Human Torch because he could fly and has a controllable fire projectile. Pear liked Deadpool, Hyree used Captain America and Ghost Rider, while Ammir preferred Thor.

We had already finished the game last week. It's kind of open-ended, meaning certain choices that you make during the game have their own consequences. Pear has just bought a new blue controller, so boleh la main 4 orang skrg, try characters lain pulak, and main the 'hard' level.

On another note, we've finished playing Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, but the game's not worth an entry on its own. Game tu x best. Nak control x best, cerita x best, even the different endings weren't satisfactory. The only good thing about it was its sniper zoom. Memang sedap la guna sniper. But overall, Hyree couldn't wait to finish it so that he could sell it. Heh.

thorpe park

Since our exams were all done and over with, we went to Thorpe Park to chill and have fun. I know, I know, we still have our projects, but rilek dulu, chill dulu. It was a good thing we went on Saturday since it was a good sunny day sandwiched by rainy days. Special thanks to the organizer Siti Sofia. Say thank you everyone! Thanks to Hyree, Pear, both Hanafi's, Syafa, Lai, Sofia, Baya and Ijah for the wonderful time we had (tiru ayat Hyree, but I really do mean it).

logger's leap, basah sikit naik ni

Here are the rides that we went on that day:

1. Quantum
2. Zodiac
3. Vortex
4. Logger's Leap
5. Colossus
6. Chief Rangers Caroussel
7. Nemesis Inferno
8. Rumba Rapids
9. Flying Fish
10. Tidal Wave
11. Stealth
12. X:\No Way Out

If my memory serves me correctly, this is the order that we went on them. The rides in red are the Extreme Thrills, the yellowish brown ones are the Thrilling and Fun rides, while the blue one is, well, ermm, the scariest one of all, the Young Thrill Seekers.

nemesis inferno, adik kepada nemesis at alton towers

The first couple of rides were 'warming up' ones. You can't just go on the 'heavy' ones straight away. Kalau tidak, nanti cramp. Compared to Alton Towers, Thorpe Park is smaller. That's better because it made it quite easy for us to get to the rides that we want to go to. We didn't need to rush.

If you go there, there's this one ride that you shouldn't miss. It makes you dizzy, you'll feel pressure in your stomach and the wind blowing at your face. Which ride am I talking about? The one and only Chief Rangers Caroussel. Heh.

this is the scariest ride ever

There was also a basketball throwing game that I played. I had three shots to get the ball in the basket. Unfortunately, all my throws didn't go in. Dah la Hyree rakam, and he's probably gonna upload it at YouTube (noooooooooo!!!). Haih, how embarrassing! In my defence, the hoop was a bit tall and small (excuses, excuses).

As you all probably can see, we were prepared to pose at the camera at each ride since we knew where they were. Since there were ten of us, we couldn't fit everyone in one picture. The most that you could fit in a ride was 8, and that's on the Rumba Rapids. We had 10 people, so the logical way to split us up into 2 groups is to have a ratio of 5 and 5 right? But somehow it turned out to be 6 and 4. Hmm.. I wonder why.

“(yang kiri) ni boat bdk2 3rd yr. (yang kanan) ni sume bdk2 4th year. hampeh discriminate siot.” - hanafi tony

We prepared our own lunch to eat that day. (All of us except one, that is. Mana burger special?) Thanks to Syafa, Lai and Sofia for the popia, Baya for the pasta and Ijah for the muffins. All were delicious. Sori la our sandwiches takde la sedap mana ye.

The Flying Fish was the only ride that I tanpa segan silu nya seated at the front seats. It was a 'mild' roller coaster. Hyree and I even did sleeping poses in front of the camera, but we didn't buy that photo. Menyesal la pulak. Since we didn't buy it, I've recreated it and now I present to you the Sleeping-on-the-Flying-Fish photo:

oops, wrong photo

Oh sorry, my bad, wrong one. That's the Sleeping-on-the-Train-because-we-were-Tired-after-a-Whole-Day-at-Thorpe-Park photo. Here's the recreated one:

flying fish zzzzz

The Tidal Wave was the wettest ride of all. We knew what we were in for, but we still went for it. Beratur panjang2, lama2, lepas tu naik ride, basah kuyup, siapa punya idea nih? Heh. After getting all our clothes wet, it was really cold waiting to get off the ride. Time tu jugak angin nak tiup kuat2. Freezing.

Some of the high-demand rides had really long queues. Special thanks to our timekeeper Ijah for informing us how long we were in the queues. They usually took 30 to 45 minutes. We even played Old Maid while waiting to get on the rides. Apologies for the gossiping during queueing, especially on the Nemesis Inferno and Stealth lines. Selamba je buat scandal. But what else were we supposed to do. Hehe.

All in all, it was a really fun day. Thanks again everyone! Oh and I'm sorry that the not-speaking-to-Fadhli thing didn't go so well. Better luck next time! Hehe. And here's Hyree's brief post on that day. When's the longer version coming out?

*Update (2 June)* - Hyree's slightly longer version is already out, including some comments regarding what I've written here (oh I agree it's Lai's fault too), and a 10-minute video. How I wish a few minutes of that video would be erased. Heh.