I am on the way out of town again.
Had lunch with Zahadin and Allen yesterday, was expecting Auzir, Wong etc. to join but somehow the initial plan just fizzled out. Wong made the not-so-good-bargain to me that since I had not graced their weekly futsal, maybe it's time for him to stop gracing my weekly eating (see the contrast - they organise sporty stuff, I organise the unhealthy stuff).
Anyway to cut the story short, by the time we reach the mosque (which was quite late because we spent more time waiting for the food, though the fact that we brought our own sajadah may suggest that we had planned to camp under the trees all along), the rain started. In the end, Allen, Zahadin and I ended up praying by the side of an NGV pump, on a pavement that was 5 minutes before a parking space for a KL cab!
After work, Izrin treated Allen, Shahrol and I for dinner from his first pay. I swear to God they (not moi) gobbled the whole table of food within half an hour, leaving me eating alone after a while (I treasure the pleasure of eating, whether you are starving or not).
On the way back, I dropped by at the mosque again for Maghrib (this is as if to melepaskan geram from praying by the NGV pump earlier), only to meet with Ajaque. I had not met Ajaque from 1994 and he had not attended the reunion and 100-Year Celebration, so it's been a while. Physically Ajaque did not change at all, although from the way he laughed the first instance he realised it was me - he found my current state amusing (he would have laughed a while longer but I did cut him off rather unceremoniously).
Ajaque is running his own business now (like many others in our batch, only idiots like moi rot myself slaving till the wee hours working for others) - not a surprise, coming from a family like his.
After a brief chat, we parted again - and Ajaque did give an informal commitment that at the next gathering he will make it, provided it's in KL. But the next gathering will be in KL he he.....
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Mo Mowlam In Critical Condition
(as you can guess, this has got nothing to do with MCKK)
Dr Marjorie Mowlam, or more popularly known as Mo Mowlam, a former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, is in "critical but stable" condition. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor in the months leading to Labour's (oo well it's New Labour) landslide in 1997 (the day when I stayed up throughout the night with British friends watching the general election coverage and the rude awakening that followed of the kind of scam we hold every 5 years). She had to quit politics in 2001 before another landslide due to her deteriorating health (she was almost bald by then).
Mo was one of the architects who put together the New Labour Project that eventually propelled King Tony to power. The New Labour that she worked tirelessly to sell to the voters in 1997 was not the New Labour that Tony Blair presided today, somehow I feel even if she is not in her current predicament, she would have quit together with Clare Short when Blair illegally declared war in 2003. Mo wouldn't have been able to stomach King Tony this long.
The world needs more people like Mo, especially at the time the British nation is at a junction post the bombing incidents last month. But with Charles Clarke, Peter Reid etc. at the helm (thank God Mandelsen is out for good) instead of Mo Mowlam, Clare Short or Robin Cook - the Britain that I cherished so much from my 8+ years there, is going to be a different country when I visit it next.
* ps - Karam Singh Walia can really be annoying
Dr Marjorie Mowlam, or more popularly known as Mo Mowlam, a former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, is in "critical but stable" condition. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor in the months leading to Labour's (oo well it's New Labour) landslide in 1997 (the day when I stayed up throughout the night with British friends watching the general election coverage and the rude awakening that followed of the kind of scam we hold every 5 years). She had to quit politics in 2001 before another landslide due to her deteriorating health (she was almost bald by then).
Mo was one of the architects who put together the New Labour Project that eventually propelled King Tony to power. The New Labour that she worked tirelessly to sell to the voters in 1997 was not the New Labour that Tony Blair presided today, somehow I feel even if she is not in her current predicament, she would have quit together with Clare Short when Blair illegally declared war in 2003. Mo wouldn't have been able to stomach King Tony this long.
The world needs more people like Mo, especially at the time the British nation is at a junction post the bombing incidents last month. But with Charles Clarke, Peter Reid etc. at the helm (thank God Mandelsen is out for good) instead of Mo Mowlam, Clare Short or Robin Cook - the Britain that I cherished so much from my 8+ years there, is going to be a different country when I visit it next.
* ps - Karam Singh Walia can really be annoying
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Uniform For Bed Time
There was a serious discussion among the old boys about the state of the school now (ha ha nothing new there). It started from commentaries about the last OBW (which apparently left a lot of room for improvements, especially since we were hosting the Siamese - oooh I'd love to be there, just to tell these kids to hate Thaksin!), and digressed to the standard at MCKK now, then went on and on about the ridiculous changes happening and finally to the part that interests me most - the uniform for bed time!
A big ha ha - college boys now can only wear track bottom to go to sleep. No more shorts, no more "three quarters", no more kain sarung, a big NO NO to boxers.
There were many theories as to why this rule was enacted, ranging from the creepy crawlers thing at night (as if everyone wore boxers back then), to the maxim that "...
* I hate it when you are caught blogging by your boss!
... to the maxim that "a leader does not want to share the sin of youngsters not covering their aurat, hence the ruling".
I don't want to make comments about the ruling, but I do want to reflect how it was back then.
I sat very highly in Badan Revolusi Ugama (BRU), which by its name, suggests the uncompromising stand it takes as far as Islam was concerned. It was indeed uncompromising in many ways, but during our time - choice and tolerance were the catch phrase of the day that those who sat very highly in BRU were the ones exposing aurat left right and centre.
If my memory serves me right, throughout 1994, I had never once worn anything but a short. I had various shorts for the sleeping purpose - from the very short one, to a bermuda type, to a sporty type, to a "three quarter".
Every night during lights off, if the warden on duty were to be an ustaz, he would frown and expressed his displeasure as politely as possible that a president of BRU had the audacity to stand before him uncovered. But that was it - he wouldn't do more than just that, never was I beaten or punished because of my fancy shorts. Sometimes the next morning I may end up becoming an imam for Subuh prayers (if I woke up in time that is).
Personally speaking, it was not out of rebelliousness or trend or for stature that I wore shorts throughout my F5 days - it was purely the most comfortable attire to wear at night. The dorm was blazing hot and the silly fan just did not reach my bed. On top of that, I knew for a fact that shorts or pants were not a factor when it came to the creepy crawler bit.
And I wish koleq's administrators would just see it as that. It's for practical reasons that most boys wear shorts to sleep.
But college is a changed place. It is no longer the cradle for liberalism and openness that it was during my time. Some of us still retain the liberalism and openness that we discovered and exercised back in college, it is sad that the same liberalism and openness is perhaps no longer in existence there.
Perhaps the days when we could organise ourselves to counter HM's proposals, or to be given the freedom to run college ourselves, or to operate as an independent minded body of students, are long gone.
For when you are told what you have to wear for lights off has become an acceptable culture in MCKK, that tells a lot about the kind of freedom allowed for the boys.
Footnote: I no longer own most of the shorts - they were taken by juniors who did not mind sharing my shorts.
A big ha ha - college boys now can only wear track bottom to go to sleep. No more shorts, no more "three quarters", no more kain sarung, a big NO NO to boxers.
There were many theories as to why this rule was enacted, ranging from the creepy crawlers thing at night (as if everyone wore boxers back then), to the maxim that "...
* I hate it when you are caught blogging by your boss!
... to the maxim that "a leader does not want to share the sin of youngsters not covering their aurat, hence the ruling".
I don't want to make comments about the ruling, but I do want to reflect how it was back then.
I sat very highly in Badan Revolusi Ugama (BRU), which by its name, suggests the uncompromising stand it takes as far as Islam was concerned. It was indeed uncompromising in many ways, but during our time - choice and tolerance were the catch phrase of the day that those who sat very highly in BRU were the ones exposing aurat left right and centre.
If my memory serves me right, throughout 1994, I had never once worn anything but a short. I had various shorts for the sleeping purpose - from the very short one, to a bermuda type, to a sporty type, to a "three quarter".
Every night during lights off, if the warden on duty were to be an ustaz, he would frown and expressed his displeasure as politely as possible that a president of BRU had the audacity to stand before him uncovered. But that was it - he wouldn't do more than just that, never was I beaten or punished because of my fancy shorts. Sometimes the next morning I may end up becoming an imam for Subuh prayers (if I woke up in time that is).
Personally speaking, it was not out of rebelliousness or trend or for stature that I wore shorts throughout my F5 days - it was purely the most comfortable attire to wear at night. The dorm was blazing hot and the silly fan just did not reach my bed. On top of that, I knew for a fact that shorts or pants were not a factor when it came to the creepy crawler bit.
And I wish koleq's administrators would just see it as that. It's for practical reasons that most boys wear shorts to sleep.
But college is a changed place. It is no longer the cradle for liberalism and openness that it was during my time. Some of us still retain the liberalism and openness that we discovered and exercised back in college, it is sad that the same liberalism and openness is perhaps no longer in existence there.
Perhaps the days when we could organise ourselves to counter HM's proposals, or to be given the freedom to run college ourselves, or to operate as an independent minded body of students, are long gone.
For when you are told what you have to wear for lights off has become an acceptable culture in MCKK, that tells a lot about the kind of freedom allowed for the boys.
Footnote: I no longer own most of the shorts - they were taken by juniors who did not mind sharing my shorts.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Scientific Name Part II
I was quite flabbergasted to find out that I was one of the few who could not remember Vincent's surname, I felt rather "que" (for the lack of a better word). Even Radin, who I know would have very little in common with Vincent (West Wing vs. Pavilion, Sc 5 vs. Sc 3, rugger vs.swimmer etc. etc.) blurted out the long surname as if it was his middle name.
It turned out that it wasn't Russian or Latin after all - more like semi-Scottish to me!
Memorise this friends:
Vincent ABSTIQUE McDUCKENBEAST
* somehow McDuckenbeast reminds me too much of Mr Scrooge McDuck, or Magica McDuck...
It turned out that it wasn't Russian or Latin after all - more like semi-Scottish to me!
Memorise this friends:
Vincent ABSTIQUE McDUCKENBEAST
* somehow McDuckenbeast reminds me too much of Mr Scrooge McDuck, or Magica McDuck...
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Misc.
It's been a while, in fact I have officially received complaints because it's been nearly 2 weeks.
I still want to write about PPM and Amoeba's wedding/trip to Lipis, but still cannot find time to do it. Am waiting for Fazurin to send me to airport for yet another trip, so a quickie will do.
A few updates:
1) Met Ucop (Class of 93) for a dinner last night, we were joined by Allen and Canoe. The dinner was to celebrate Izrin's first day at work (I wished my first shitty day at work was celebrated too...) and Aleq (Class of 99) was supposed to join, until someone sprang a bloody surprise and delivered a baby tengah-tengah malam.
2) Had lunch with Bullet (Class of 97), in fact met him in my office's gents and had a long chat, until we realised it's very dodgy for 2 guys to appear very chummy chummy in the toilet....
Opps Fazurin is here, I thought these e-mails between Wawa (Class of 97) and some of my batchmates are quite nostalgic:
Wawa:
"Sembahyang Jumaat lah kamu sebelum kamu disembahyang Arwahkan"
Aminnn.
Noni:
since when pulak kau jadi bru/bani ni?
Allen:
Tanda2 kiamat kah?????
Wawa:
Tulah dia...
Somehow hari tu aku tergerak nak join the department's archery team for the inter-d games. Teringat pulak aku hadith, "Ajarlah anak kamu berenang, memanah dan menunggang kuda".
Aku ingat lagi masa form one, hadith ni dok direcycle dekat blackboard for the prefek's viewing pleasure during night prep, along with
"Senyum itu sedekah"
"Isteri-isterimu adalah umpama tanah tempat kamu bercocok tanam, maka datangilah tanah tempat bercocok-tanammu itu bagaimana saja kamu kehendaki."
I still want to write about PPM and Amoeba's wedding/trip to Lipis, but still cannot find time to do it. Am waiting for Fazurin to send me to airport for yet another trip, so a quickie will do.
A few updates:
1) Met Ucop (Class of 93) for a dinner last night, we were joined by Allen and Canoe. The dinner was to celebrate Izrin's first day at work (I wished my first shitty day at work was celebrated too...) and Aleq (Class of 99) was supposed to join, until someone sprang a bloody surprise and delivered a baby tengah-tengah malam.
2) Had lunch with Bullet (Class of 97), in fact met him in my office's gents and had a long chat, until we realised it's very dodgy for 2 guys to appear very chummy chummy in the toilet....
Opps Fazurin is here, I thought these e-mails between Wawa (Class of 97) and some of my batchmates are quite nostalgic:
Wawa:
"Sembahyang Jumaat lah kamu sebelum kamu disembahyang Arwahkan"
Aminnn.
Noni:
since when pulak kau jadi bru/bani ni?
Allen:
Tanda2 kiamat kah?????
Wawa:
Tulah dia...
Somehow hari tu aku tergerak nak join the department's archery team for the inter-d games. Teringat pulak aku hadith, "Ajarlah anak kamu berenang, memanah dan menunggang kuda".
Aku ingat lagi masa form one, hadith ni dok direcycle dekat blackboard for the prefek's viewing pleasure during night prep, along with
"Senyum itu sedekah"
"Isteri-isterimu adalah umpama tanah tempat kamu bercocok tanam, maka datangilah tanah tempat bercocok-tanammu itu bagaimana saja kamu kehendaki."
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