About Me

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I'm pretty much not much.

Tuesday 30 December 2008

Finding Me...

Hahahahaha! I was looking through my friends blogs and I noticed that two of them has started to try and find the meanings behind their names and birthrights. Aida is some sort of Ethiopian Princess and Haziq is an Original Type A Enigma! Woah...my friends really are weird! d= 
So! I tried to find out the meaning of my name first on one of the largest names/meanings websites and this is what I got: We're sorry, there were no results for the information you entered.
Not very satisfying is it? Hahaha. But I never really thought my name had a real meaning: Everytime I ask, there's always a different answer! From being a flood to a natural winner(Fa'iz)! But I remembered that Haziq had given me a website to find The Hidden Meaning Behind My Name...Too bad, though, I never really believed any of it. It had something to do with me being Organised and Tightly Wounded. Hah! Like that's ever going to be true! 
I gave up finding my name meaning so I focused on my birthdate. So I once again went onto the internet. This is what I ended up with: 

You have the mind of an artist, even if you haven't developed the talent yet.
Expressive and aware, you enjoy finding new ways to share your feelings.
You often feel like you don't fit in - especially in traditional environments.
You have big dreams. The problem is putting those dreams into action.

Your strength: Your vivid imagination

Your weakness: Fear of failure

Your power color: Coral

Your power symbol: Oval

Your power month: November


I seriously actually believed in what it said because I really do feel out of place in traditional environments. I was never in sync with any Malaysian traditions! But my weakness being a fear of failure is something I really doubt: I've failed so many times that China can't hold enough fingers to count it! So if anyone wants to agree or disagree on this thing...please feel free to comment c=

Monday 29 December 2008

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Every year, someone always says: well, this year was just the same as last year: the same school, the same people, the same boring old routines. These people are oblivious to the fact that everything has changed from 365 days ago! The same faces have grown up, the same school has become better, and there are no such things as a routine! I myself can tell that a lot of things have changed. The most obvious change is the global crisis which the whole world is trying to solve. Money is and has always been a huge factor in the world, no matter what other people say.
Now, I'm 15. Next year I'll be 16. And soon I'll be taking a step towards the direction of adulthood, something I've been personally loathing and always tried to avoid. There are a fewf disadvantages of growing up. But since this is New Year's I always try to look on the brighter side. For example: I'll be going to a University soon! That's a MAJOR period of a dude's life! 
My parents always said that our childhood always seems like its going on forever, never having to worry about anything, blissfully unaware of what the future has in store. Then, after we have gone through University, we look back...and notice all that we've done...all the memories...all in the past. Everything seems to have happened all in a quiet blur, sometimes leaping out in a roar of excitement, but always blurring out again. Even now, my trip to Egypt seems so close. I could still remember the Milky Tea that they served us for breakfast, lunch and dinner!
My friends have also changed. They all seem more grown up. Their minds are getting harder and harder to understand. In school and outside of school, I usually keep my lives apart. One way or the other...my lives are getting knitted together...2 worlds that usually ignore each other now are heading for collision. But I'm grateful that they are my friends even if they get super annoying sometimes! =P I love you people! 
My family has also changed a lot. Muhaimin especially. Even though it might seem like he's still the big baby he always had been, he is undeniably growing up. Although he will always be the same annoying budak to me. Abang has also changed. Ever since the start of 2008, he seems to have gotten a lot more responsible and he has also started to become an easier person to talk to. Unlike before, when we just ignore each other the whole day. Now, we are friends.
I don't know if I have changed...people keep telling me that I have always been this way, never changing. I know for a fact that my physique has changed...I grew taller, sturdier even...but in attitude, it seems like I will never change. And I'd really like it to be that way. I like my life the way it is, going to school to study and learn things with all my friends, then occasionally hang out with my best friends, coming back home to my caring family. I know that things will change. I know that soon, I won't even meet most of my friends anymore. I know that I won't always have this house to call a home. I also know that I will make new friends, learn new stuff and have a new home. Looking into the future is scary business! 
As for a New Year's Resolution...WWEELLLL...... I guess I can try harder in school, try harder to be a better son and try harder to be the best friend possible to everyone. Sounds hard...well at least I'll try! Happy New Year! 2009- the Year of Technology.

Monday 8 December 2008

Selamat Hari Raya!

Puuh...Eid in a Malaysian-Egyptian style is so cool. They bought like 50+ animals including camels,goats and cows to sembelih:D. We woke up really early for the Eid Prayer. The Malaysians prepared an outside mosque which was the whole footsal field and they even put up a sort of camp above. We were one of the 1st to Takbir. The Salat was nice and afterwards the Imam gave a few words about the Eid and why we sacrifice the animals. All this in super-cold weather.

There was a program set for us: first the sacrifice, then the cleaning and cooking of the sacrifices, then we eat! During the sacrificial part, I was in charge of taking the pictures, since my brother, who usually takes the pictures was afraid of blood and so's my dad. The 1st sacrifice was a cow, and ALOT of people were there to watch!

The cow's feet were tied up and then they tripped him so that his neck was showing. Then the man with the knife came. I had to stand on tiptoes just to see the cow above the heads of 20 people infront of me. Then people started to back away, because they were tryin to tip the cow over, to reveal its throat. They put a rope underneath the cow then one the count of three they dragged it back to make it fall...it wasn't enough; the cow was sturdy, it didn't want to fall at all, kinda reminds me of the pyramids abit. Eventually it fell, but it took more than ropes to do the job; all the surrounding people started to come forward and push it down sideways. Anyways, after that whole deal, people started reciting Allah hu Akbar. It was time. We could all see that the cow was scared, it was still trying to fight, but as most people know...its really hard for a cow to get back up after its tipped over. Then, a splash of blood, a blur of people's back, and i saw the cow's dieing moments...

The cow was a huge deal. Many people came to watch, which was contrasted by the goats; a lot less people came to watch and the people who were sacrificing them didn't take long. I think when I got at the scene, 2 were already sacrificed and after close to 5 mins another 4 or so was. All that was done was that the man took the goat by the legs, said Allah hu Akbar, and cut its throat. After that he went to fetch another...then another...then another. It was all really quick.

The goats and cows sacrificial moments were intriguing and a real slap in the face to wake you up, but the main event was camel. There were about 6 of them, all seemingly peaceful on their corner of their complex. Even before the cows were sacrificed, people had started to gather around the camel so i worried that i wouldn't make it in time. But it seemed that the people were just playing around with the camels, riding them, giving them food and taking pictures wit them. So I was relieved when i got the 1st class spot to watch the 1st of the camels to be sacrificed. It was utterly unprecedented(new). 1st, the camel's head was tied up to a pole that was stuck between 2 trees to expose its neck joint that was connected to its head. Then the owner of the camel was told to help out by keeping the camel in place. Finally, the man with the knife came, already covered in blood. By this time, not only was the small corner crowded, but nearly every space there was left on the complex that was available to see the camel! People even bothered to go back up their rooms and look out the window. Allah hu Akbar was recited, and the man placed the knife underneath the head, and started cutting. At first, it appeared to have no effect on the neck, then suddenly, a fountain of blood spurted out, an angry howl from the camel was heard and soon enough, the camel started a blind rage. Somehow or rather, I escaped with only my shoes getting specks of blood on them.Other people ran away as fast as they could when the nearly headless camel spurt blood in their direction. Not long after, the camel's body fell, and the sacrifice was complete.
When it was time for the second camel, another one of the camels tried to run away. It's front feet were tied up so it would be more accurate to say crawling away. It ended up still tied to the tree and facing the camel in-wait to be sacrificed. A nearby man told me that it wanted to "sokong member dia".
This camel wasn't tied up. There were loads more peope by now, and the neck-cutting part was swift. It was the aftermath that took a dreadfully long time. The camel started to furiously kick out with it's tied up legs and swayed from position to position in a hysteric attempt to escape. This was all with it's head nearly chopped off. 5 men rushed forward and pushed it down to its side, not a simple task. It was, for me, a completely new and thrilling experience to see a camel being sacrificed for eid, rather than a cow or goat, and I greatly appreciate the fact i got the chance to see it in the 1st place. Of course, the experience was shared with hundreds of other people including the curious Egyptians who came to watch.
After all that, I went back to my room, to relax a bit. I thought that was enough sacrifices for me to watch happen for a day. So I slowly uploaded all the pictures, the videos, and took my time watching all of it. When my mom asked me to go out again, it was time for the cleaning of the carcasses.
The 1st carcass I noticed were the sheeps and goats, as they were hung onto a metal pole for the skinning. By now, all of them were headless. I watched as they cut through the muscles tissues, the skin, and bones of the bodies, then they pulled out all of the organs, and for the 1st time ever, I saw a goats insides: the round, large stomach; the long, thin intestines; the small, strange liver. All of it. After the cleaning of the goats, I went to watch the cleaning of the cows.
This was a lot more time consuming, as the cow had a larger body and so more fur, more muscles and more fat to get through. When I arrived, they had already took out the fun and were waiting for a big enough knife to slice through the skin. The knife came after 3 minutes of waiting and if the cow had seen the knife, he would have ran all the way to the pyramids. It was a titanic knife! The knife went through the body as easily as it would have done silk. Now, for the pulling out of the insides. The contrasts of goat's insides and cow's inside were very pronounced. These were huge. The stomach itself would have fit half of Muhaimin! The intestines were boundless! It seemed like if i stretched it (which hopefully one day i will) it would be able to reach across my whole room and out the door! But the insides were stuck to the body, so they had to shop off the link. However, due to the massive bones of the cow, and the position it was in, it was obvious they would be able to. So, they hacked the bones. Simple answer. Bone in the way, take it out. Afterwards, I saw the muscles of the cow still moving...
The camel's cleaning apparently took a lot of people and time. Just the skinning itself took 3 people per camel. I didn't stick around for the gutting... I just didn't feel like watching. However, I did notice a camel head lying around on the floor. I have a picture of it...I will upload the pictures at a later time.
After all that frenzy, my dad decided to call Malaysia, and the cheapest way to that apparently was the internet cafe! I don't know if that is true or not but the internet does cost ONE Jenih per hour! So we went there for the next 3 hours. Me playing a game and chatting to friends, Saif trying to figure out how to use the tele-pc, Muhaimin just playing a game and my parents were just surfing the net and looking for people to call. After the connection to Malaysia was made, we called my grandmas and wished them a happy eid. The annoying thing was that it delayed 5 seconds. If I said something in my end, the person on d other end will hear it 5 seconds late. So it was a rather confused conversation.
Selamat Hari Raya Maaf Zahir Batin kepada semua orang, kawan-kawan dan keluarga tercampur.

Sunday 7 December 2008

Ancient Wonders

The internet here costs 1 Egyptian Pound per hour...I have all the time i need!
Pyramids are HUUUGGEEE!!! When I heard we were going to see the pyramids and mummies, I was ecstatic, but i didn't anticipate the wondrous sight that was the Great Pyramid of Giza.
After Luxor, we went on a 12-hour long train trip to Cairo. It was meant to be 9-hours but for some reason, the train stopped in the middle of no where for ages. Luckily, I was sleeping through all of it:D.
When we reached Cairo, we definately saw the difference between Cairo and Luxor: Cairo is as crowded as DCC on a weekend times 8000! It doesn't seem as crowded as Luxor however; the city's bulk is huge enough to fit the 8 million people occupying it. We rode a taxi driven by a man so huge he can put the pyramids to shame! When he drives, he apparently curses all the other drivers except himself, which is quite understandable as the driving here is AWESOME! There are no road lines, the traffic lights don't work, and there are roads as high as the buildings themselves! The roads, in the morning, is almost completely empty, but give it until night time and you'll hear horns everywhere!
We stayed in a Malaysian Complex for University Students in the Pahang sector. It's almots like living in Malaysia itself: the burger stands, speaking malay, the friendly atmosphere all reminds of home.
NOW to the important part!
The pyramids! I had this image of a yellow traingular thingy in my head the morning we were told we were going. But when we actually got there...its un-imaginably amazingly beautifully BIG! There is no way anyone could prepare themselves for it! And btw, I am the 1st Fudzail, 1st of my generation to step into the Great Pyramid:D such a huge honor *smiles proudly*. lol
They let us in the pyramids to see a tomb which was hidden in it, but the WAY to the tomb is so dangerous that Muhaimin wasn't able to go. The steps were steep, the ceilings were low, and the air in there is so hot that it makes you wish you hadn't stepped in in the 1st place. BUT i was too excited to care about any of these. All I cared about was going into the Great Wonder! The amazing thing is that the Ancient Egyptians didn't have any equipments to drag the HUGE rocks all the way there, and that the building still stands today in a near perfect from.
After the pyramids we went to see the Sphinx, the cat wit the pharoahs head. But after seeing the Pyramids, the Sphinx in comparison is NOTHING. Shoulda seen it first and then the Pyramids...
In the same day, we went to Cairo Museum, where the mummies sleeps...*scary music*
The museum is great in itself, the size of it and the mysteries inside is mind-boggling. But again, I didn't even care... I looked straight ahead for the mummies! But we had to pay 100 each to see it...costly, but worth it! The thousands of years old bodies were tiny, like they shrunk. The skins were as black as coal, the teeth were rotten, and some even still had hair! There was this King who died in a war, with a wound that pierced his skull on display...really cool! They say that you can tell whether a mummy was of royalty or not by looking at the positions of their hands: if by the sides, not royalty, if crossed over their chess, royalty.
Unfortunately, the Mummy I was hoping to see wasn't on display: Tut Ankh Amun, the younest of the Pharoahs. He died at the age of 18 of mysterious causes. Some say that his uncle killed him for the title of Pharoah. Even if HE himself wasn't there, his belongings were! They were all made of solid GOLD! They found his body inside a Golden Sarcophagus, inside a golden box which was inside a bigger golden box inside an even bigger golden box inside an even bigger golden box INSIDE ANOTHER ONE! Around the box were his golden belongings: a golden carriage, 2 golden beds, lots of golden jewellery and so much more. The thing that caught my eye was the golden knife which was buried next to him. The tilt and blade were made of gold and there was still that gleaming light that came out of it. There were also other weapons that were found in his chamber at the Valley of Kings, like the bows and arrows of his faithful army. These were made of wood but there were arrow heads which was made of gold as well. The thing that is really confusing is that all the other Pharoahs were buried inside a wooden sarcophagus with nothing else but hieroglyphs on the surrounding walls. They must have felt really guilty in letting such a young Pharoah die that they blessed him with tons of gold!
I will finish up here as I can't remember what else we've seen while on the roads, but i can tell you that we saw LOADS of things, like graveyards that are much more beautiful than the actual living places of the people, the most ancient of universities the Azhar University, and mosques whose minarets climbs up to the skies.

Wednesday 3 December 2008

huhuhu...in Egypt today;D too bad though...no mummies as of yet!
Egypt is really different from Dubai or Malaysia but I am only basing this on Luxor, where i am now, and not the whole of Egypt. The people here would do ANYTHING it takes to get money! In Dubai, people have to chase taxis to get a 30 minute ride. Here, taxis chase you for whatever lenght you want! Thing is : it costs like 100 Dirhams PER RIDE!!! Warning: Profesional con-men at work.
This place has a very interesting history and great sites to visit such as the Valley Of Kings, where the mummies were found; the Carnac Temple, where the Pharoahs lived; then theres Banana Island, NOT the best place in the world, but it shows us how different the lives of the people here are compared to ours.
The food here is...interesting. The McDonalds have a restaurant here-really small- but the food there is DOUBLE everything! Double BigMac, Double Filet o Fish, but they don't sell 20 pieces McNuggets. A major Bummer for me! The price? Double everything as well! The Apple pie costs 7.27 Egyptian Pound, so that's like 5-6 dirhams!
The McDonalds might be bad, but the food in the hotel is AMAAAZZZIIINNNGGG!!!!! Cheap price for double the size of an Uno's Steak! The mashed potato in the morning is enough to wake you up and get you going for the rest of the day! Oh, the hotel's name is Emilio Hotel btw.
But even if the food is amazing, the number one downside through all of this is (and I'm pretty sure most GUYS would agree on this) THERE ARE NO FOOTBALLS!!! They don't seem to play it much here. Most of the kids are busy conning people for money: their training for life. There was this girl who wouldn't leave us alone, even when we got into a sort-of mini train and rode off untill we gave her our only water bottle! The water costs 15 Egyptian Pounds! And it doesn't even taste too good; in Dubai, the Avian is 100% pure drinking water, here the water bottle says: Pure 100% NATURAL water...god knows where they get the water from...
Okay, my hour on the computer is almost up, so I'll just say: I MISS ALL OF MY FRIENDS!!! Although seeing the mummies soon will cure that :P

Monday 1 December 2008

Dance With The Egyptians

Today's I'm flying to Egypt! I'm hoping its gonna be hell loads of fun! I mean there's pyramids, threes dead Pharaohs and hopefully some not so dead mummys! =D I guess I'm just hoping for an adventure. 
The trip will last 10 days. That's long enough for me to take on an enraged mummy and slay him! *evil laugh*. That's also a very long time for me to hang out with my family, something that really doesn't happen much often. 
Now, i know it wont be all fun and mummy killing, there are real dangers there too; my friends from Egypt says that even if i walk around with only one Egyptian dollar on me, I WILL get mugged! That's why I'm taking one UAE dirham instead:D
Everything has a downside. The downside of this is that i wont be able to see my friends for 10 days. There's one friends who I will really miss, since shes not going to be in Dubai when I come back. The next time I'll see her is in 6 freaking months time! Aida, IMY!
Ill update as soon as I can. Laters!
 
 
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