fauwaz

It has been 3 years now. Had it not happened, you would be studying for your SPM now, or maybe still relaxing. I'm sure you would have performed well anyway. And you would have already aced your PMR too.

Sorry I wasn't there for you. It really pained me not to be able to visit you when you were ill. I couldn't afford to then.

Anyway, here's to you, Fauwaz. Rest in peace, little bro, rest in peace...

the rescue

We had located where the bad guys took my brother. My two friends created a diversion while I went to save him. He looked tired so I carried him away. Even though I had the ability to run at superspeed, I didn't want to show it to the bad guys so that they won't bother my family anymore. I just ran, not too fast so that they don't know my ability, but not too slow either.

The diversion only distracted them for a while. They saw us running away and immediately chased us. We ran into the woods. I went a different path from those two friends of mine in the hope that I can bring my brother to safety. When we got out of the woods, I thought we had lost them, so I went home. My family was very happy to see us and very glad that my brother was rescued.

Suddenly there were noises outside. Damn it, those bad guys followed us! I was very very angry. I told them to get the hell out of our lives. They wouldn't listen. I could've just used my superstrength to beat them all up, but that would just blow my cover. Instead, I just pushed them back into their car and shouted at them.

Since they wouldn't listen, I had to use my powers. I pushed their car away, pretending that I was exerting all my strength to do so. Another friend came by and he lit a fire and threw it onto the car. I used my heat vision to make the fire spread faster.

The bad guys were now very scared. They promised to never bother my family again and drove their burning car away, out of sight. I thanked my friend and went home to see my brother.

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What drove me mad was that the brother that they kidnapped was the one who died nearly three years ago. Rest in peace, bro! Anyway, it was really cool to have superspeed and superstrength, plus the heat vision. Hmm.. I should've tried flying too. Oh well.

happy january

I haven't updated this blog for ages now. It's not that I have been very busy with work, but it seems that my life has been full of activities these past few weeks, which is of course good because it shows that I have a life after all. Woohoo! Oops, I wouldn't want to celebrate too soon lest I become very occupied with challenging projects at work.

So the last couple of weeks of 2008 were spent with my family. My parents and 3 smallest brothers were here on holiday. Well I guess I can't call one of them small anymore. Fauzan has grown much much taller since I last saw him and his voice has gone a bit deeper. It won't be long before he outgrows his Abang Long. Faizuddin is his usual cheeky self and Faiq is becoming a very cute 3-year old. Yeah, I had a good time with them.

Faiq became easily tired after a walk outside (of course he did, he's just 3 years old!). So while we were sightseeing in Southend, which was where my parents did their A-Levels, they bought a stroller from a second-hand shop. He really liked the stroller and liked to sleep in it too, and Faizuddin also had fun pushing the stroller. My parents didn't bring the stroller back to Malaysia, so now I have a stroller in my flat. Whoever wants to borrow it, just let me know ok.

Then came the hanging out with friends who are still in uni. It was a very pleasant coincidence that I had the day off when they suddenly felt like going bowling and skating. So I joined them. In just one day, we bowled, ate waffles and went skating. During bowling we were separated into 2 lanes and the team who lost had to belanja the winning team. Even though we had a poor start and were conspired against by the pins machine thingy, we (Ahmad, Bone, Nina and I) eventually won. Terima kasih ye belanja, Baya, Aida, Yaa and Belle. Skating was fun too albeit the sakit2 kaki due to the very hard skates. And we also had dinner at Tinseltown the next day.

At New Year's Eve, I thought I wanted to go see the fireworks but it was freezing cold outside, so I invited some friends over for makan2 and maybe you could call it a house-warming session. In theory, the view from my flat which is on the tenth floor faces London Eye directly so we should be able to see the fireworks. However, there's this one building which obstructs the nice view so we could only see the skies being lit up slightly and some few sparks which managed to avoid that fireworks-view-spoiler building. I do apologize to my guests for this. By next year, I will make sure that building won't be there anymore. Muahaha. Well, at least the TV was on that night.

And then I turned 24. Yeayeah. Thanks for the surprise party, girls and guys! I really appreciate the effort. The spaghetti carbonera and karipap were delicious, not forgetting the Chicken Cottage and profi'telos'. And thank you very much for the cards and presents. I like them all. I was actually thinking of writing some wise words because, you know, I am a bit older. Nah... malas la. Hehehe. Anyway, it was a great birthday for me. Plus, playing Cranium at the weekend was very enjoyable too. Like the game said, you'll never believe what your friends are capable of doing. Great fun!

On another note, the strikes by Israel on Gaza are really really saddening. They say that they are reacting due to the attacks by Hamas, but to take it out on such a huge scale without any mercy is inhumane. For goodness sake, those children and innocent people are helpless! Nothing good will come out of this. They'll just incite hatred towards them especially from the Muslim community. How despicable! I do pray that the days to come will bring peace to the victims in Gaza and to all those facing injustice in this world...

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...

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.

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(?).