My Unscripted Life

Convocation is just around the corner. About time too…UiTM are among the last of the Universities to have their convocation. And it isn’t just a ceremony. It counts when apply for jobs, and the kind of salary you are asking.

Graduation is a big deal. Especially when you are the first one to be doing so in the family. My parents had to cancel their holiday plans to Korea when they realized that it would clash with my Convocation. I do feel a smidgen of guilt that their plans for the vacation is ruined. But mostly glad that my parents would be around for my graduation.

I was browsing through the books on our shelf, and came across my parents’ thesis’. I’ve seen them many times before, but have never had the urge to open and read any of them. “Boring adult books” I used to say to myself. But it doesn’t seem so much like that now that I have written my own thesis. Curious to see my parents’ thesis, I took them down.

My dad's and mom's degree thesis.

The thing that struckme most when I opened them was that it was typewritten!

My mom said she went through countless drafts before the final one, coz one mistake meant you had to write the page again!

And the maps were all traced carefully with black felt tip pens. Come to think of it…I recollect seeing lots of tracing paper around my dad’s office. I often wondered what they were for. Now I realize that it was to draw maps!

And the maps had to be traced over carefully. My dad the geographer, helped my mom alot for this.

But perhaps the most poignant part was my mom’s simple acknowledgement. This thesis is about 25 years old. And yet it endured time, and here I am, 25 years later, blogging about it. A thesis is so much more than something you do to pass a semester. Its a testament to just how much you worked in University to get your degree. I realized too, that I don’t have my thesis in hard cover binding. In fact, I didn’t print one for myself, in my haste to chase the deadline. Now I am resolved to print mine, bind it, hot stamp it with my name in gold across its spine, and get my mentor to sign it during my graduation.

Maybe one day, a son or daughter would come to appreciate the labour I have gone through.

Love in simplicity

Next to the garden, the thing that illicits the loudest *gasps* of surprise from any of our guests as they enter our home is our bookshelf. The sheer size of it is enough to make jaws drop. The bookshelves are really an important extension of our family.

Our six tier bookshelf. Plus six huge drawers for the other books that may have silverfish

Growing up to parents who are both teachers, they can never stress it enough to all of us on the importance of books and reading. In fact, my dad who still teaches at IIUM can never understand the students’ internet researching “culture”. It’s no use telling him about how international journals are now all online, or how useful wikipedia is, he just simply cannot be convinced. “Why can’t you go to the library and do some proper research?” he would always argue.

And to a certain degree, I do agree with him. University students nowadays are so dependent on the net that they cannot even comprehend the thought of some good old library research. When I did my thesis in my fifth semester, I automatically sought out the journal section in our library. I spent half of the day searching thorugh dusty and some never before used journals, and photostating every journal that was relevant to my research topic. Later, some students found out that lecturers has made it compulsory to get journals from the library, they were all faced with a serious dilemma. They turned to look at me, “Err…so where is the journal section?”

Being the nerd that I am, I have been to a few libraries myself. In fact, we used to take weekly trips to the local library in Kajang. (For the uninitiated, it used to be at Bangunan Da to’ Nazir, or now more popularly known as Kajang Satay Haji Samuri) We spent hours looking for that perfect book to borrow. (Children below twelve were only allowed to borrow two books) And we had a lot of fun. So much fun that some books never got returned. But one of the best libraries I have been to is without a doubt the one in UiTM. They have such a massive collection of books. References, Fiction, non-fiction, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and magazines. Sadly, the books are only borrowed when an urgent assignment needs to get done, or when a lecturer insists on the class to get a particular book. The books are sullied and torn, when  irresponsible souls are too lazy to photocopy the page. And it was truly painful to see books being treated that way.

The other thing that got to me during my university days was also how quickly the students were able to dispose of their textbooks. Immediately after the final exams, you would be able to see notices everywhere, selling textbooks to the juniors that will be taking the same subjects the following semester. I took great care to especially purchase the original textbooks, (some costing more than RM100) and only photostated the ones that I could not seem to find in the bookstores. And I still have them today, adding them to my growing collection of books. The retort I get when I chide people for selling their textbooks were, “I’m not going to use them anymore after the exams, why should I keep them?”

My bookshelf in my room. The ones that didn't fit in the living area

I don’t believe for a second that any book is indispensable. They each carry with them its own wisdom and purpose. Amongst out massive collection of books is my dad’s basic economics textbook from when he was in secondary school. It’s thin, and in paperback, and heavily dog-eared. And yet, as I flip through the book, I am amazed at how I remembered seeing the same graph in a recent class, and how much more easily it was explained in my dad’s old and humble textbook.

Basic Economics by G.L. Thirkettle, printed at 8 John Street, London in 1965

Our old Americana encyclopedia set, although somewhat obselete in some of it’s content, still manages to entertain me to this day. Look up under ‘comics’, and you’ll find out just how old the comic strip “Blondie” is.

A favourite book I read when I was in preschool was Shirley Temple's autobiography. Sadly, I don't get to see many of her movies.

In a nutshell, treasure your books, and open up your horizons. Don’t be too caught up with the latest bestseller list. There is a whole world out there, with many many books waiting to be read. Indulge them…get away from the internet once in awhile.

Another Hari Raya has come and gone. How has yours been? Mine was rather uneventful. Maybe because I’m a working adult now, and no longer have the luxury to have a long extended holiday. In fact, I only asked for two days leave for Hari Raya. A small part of me actually wished that we were going to “balik kampung” to Terengganu like we did some years ago when Tuk Wan was still alive, she’d be there to make the ketupat from scratch.

On a brighter note, the aunties from JB and Singapore visited us for Hari Raya, and stayed for the night. A sharp contrast compared to the days when all the cousins would be around and we’d be off doing our own thing, and leave the “adults” to their own card game or gossip session. This year was rather gloomy, with everyone either abroad, or expecting babies!

Kas and Rubern came on the first day though, which was a lot of fun! We took a long walk around the lake, and concluded that we should definitely have a bbq party there someday. (after all my events are over la huh?)

At the Jetty

Rubern, my rural buddy.

Rubern actually lives pretty nearby. In fact, actually lives near Baby

My colleagues came on the second day, which was a lot of fun as well!

Everyone was gushing over the cupcakes that I ordered at Cakes and Such. And it was delicious! I’m planning to get a custom made cake for my mom’s birthday in November.

Blueberry and Moist Chocolate Cupcake

I guess holidays changes not only with the times, but with the stages of each person’s life. Hopefully my Hari Raya in many years to come will only continue to improve, with additions to the family. Hopefully…

I used a floppy disk for the first time yesterday in like almost 4 years! It is so weird, cause it was super slow. And after I was done with it, it took me awhile to figure out that I don’t have to “virtually unplug” the thing like you have to with a pendrive or removable disk. All you are supposed to do is to press the eject button.

Remember those things that you used to use, but never really see them around anymore? Guys, if you grew up in the 90s, you know what I am talking about.

Rollerball Mouse
Mouse Pads
The Frogger Game
Home Telephones!
VCDs
Windows 95
Dot matrix printer
External Zip Drive
Pen Eraser!

Haha…wat else? Add to the list people!

Why caveWOMAN? Cause I can be really politically correct something. Heh..

I’m not sure how many of you out there are Harry Potter fans, and still are. I am saddened everytime I glance at my bookshelf and see the row of Harry Potter books there. I wish I can go back to the time when I first read it, and feel that excitement and rush again. Maybe after a decase or so, when I am old, or have amnesia, I shall return to those books and read it all again with the same sense of wonderment.

I regularly visit J.K Rowling’s website, not only because it’s entertaining (search for clues to get a reward) but there are little anecdotes there about Harry Potter and his world, that is not included in the books J.K wrote. Among the stuff that is inside her website is the geneology of the main characters of Harry Potter. We know Harry and Ginny has 3 children, if you read Deathly Hallows, and also some about Ron and Hermione’s children. Also included in the geneology are a glimpse into the lives of Draco who married Asteria Greengrass, and has a son named Scorpius Hyperion, George, who I suspected was going to marry Angelina, having two children, with a son named after his dead brother, Luna and Rolf, with two children, and of course, Bill and Fluer, with three children. If you remember, it was Bill and Fluer’s daughter Victorie who was caught making out with Teddy, Lupin and Tonk’s son. Oo…and Percy has a child named after his mother, probably trying to makeup for those couple of years when he abandoned the family.

Sigh…I’ve said it, and I’ll say it again, I miss Harry Potter. But the thing about J.K Rowling is that she has a wonderful sense of nobility and dignity in her, that she isn’t going to continue reaping profits from Harry Potter, knowing that a send-off like this is much better than to see the character continue, and maybe flop after some years. At least in our minds, we’ll always remember Harry for what he was in those seven books.

I’m not sure how many of you out there are Harry Potter fans, and still are. I am saddened everytime I glance at my bookshelf and see the row of Harry Potter books there. I wish I can go back to the time when I first read it, and feel that excitement and rush again. Maybe after a decase or so, when I am old, or have amnesia, I shall return to those books and read it all again with the same sense of wonderment.

I regularly visit J.K Rowling’s website, not only because it’s entertaining (search for clues to get a reward) but there are little anecdotes there about Harry Potter and his world, that is not included in the books J.K wrote. Among the stuff that is inside her website is the geneology of the main characters of Harry Potter. We know Harry and Ginny has 3 children, if you read Deathly Hallows, and also some about Ron and Hermione’s children. Also included in the geneology are a glimpse into the lives of Draco who married Asteria Greengrass, and has a son named Scorpius Hyperion, George, who I suspected was going to marry Angelina, having two children, with a son named after his dead brother, Luna and Rolf, with two children, and of course, Bill and Fluer, with three children. If you remember, it was Bill and Fluer’s daughter Victorie who was caught making out with Teddy, Lupin and Tonk’s son. Oo…and Percy has a child named after his mother, probably trying to makeup for those couple of years when he abandoned the family.

Sigh…I’ve said it, and I’ll say it again, I miss Harry Potter. But the thing about J.K Rowling is that she has a wonderful sense of nobility and dignity in her, that she isn’t going to continue reaping profits from Harry Potter, knowing that a send-off like this is much better than to see the character continue, and maybe flop after some years. At least in our minds, we’ll always remember Harry for what he was in those seven books.

You’ll never see the opposition’s advertisement on television for the elections. BN’s advertisement meanwhile, is all that you’re going to see. Here’s a contrast between the two. You decide.

You’ll never see the opposition’s advertisement on television for the elections. BN’s advertisement meanwhile, is all that you’re going to see. Here’s a contrast between the two. You decide.