And Here Comes Raya/Eid.

Allaahu akbar, Allaahu akbar, Allaahu akbar	الله أكبر الله أكبر الله أكبر
laa ilaaha illAllaah	لا إله إلا الله
Allaahu akbar, Allaahu akbar	الله أكبر الله أكبر
wa li-illaahil-hamd	ولله الحمد

Selamat Hari Raya Abah, Umi!

Tomorrow morning, Muslim around the world gather and, together, we're all going to Takbir as a signal for the end of the month of Ramadhan and the start of the month of Shawwal, to thank Allah for giving us the Blessed Month and all of its benefits.

To celebrate even further, everyone is going to pick out their best clothes, be it a Baju Melayu-customary for Malaysians- or an Abaya and don it on for the day and visit friends and family to enjoy their company AND the marvelous arrays of foods that are available at each house. To go one step further, we can also receive Eidiah or Duit Raya (note the 'we' and the 'receive').

Spending a lot of Eids in Dubai, I can only vaguely remember what it feels like to Raya in Malaysia. (thinks for a second) Really vaguely. And I just want to say sincerely to Jadah, Opah, Abah Ri, Mak, Mama, Bapak, Kholati, Ami Khairi, Ayah, Ibu, Ayah Cik, Cik Lin, Abang Yong, Muhaimin, Kak Durra, Abang Azmi, Kak Nun, Abang Mizi, Kak Teh, Abang Cik, Kak Uya, Kak Ada, Abang Che, Abang Rid, Kak Ida, Kak Ita, Kak Ruiyya, Wajdi, Abang Yun, Ubai, Khaliq, Haiy, Hafi, Saadullah, Hannah, Hamdah, Kak Yong, Danial, Iffah, Ishraf, Shamil, Auni, Rayan, Adam, Izni, Aimee, Batrisya, Ayisha, Alya dan Amsyar: Selamat Hari Raya Eidulfittri Dan Maaf Zahir Dan Batin. Eid Mubarak likul kum. (Selamat Hari Raya Semua)

You know, the Eids I've had with Jalil, Najwa, Ali and all.. seems so distant. Like right at the back of my head where its clearly there but I just can't get a proper grip on it. I just really want those memories back... Times were, to say the least, simpler. Even now, I'm still in a bit of shock that a lot of close friends moved away and that even more are moving away! I will miss all of you. Stay in touch.

Owh and I don't have a Baju Raya planned out yet...

Selamat Hari Raya. Saya mintak maaf zahir dan batin daripada semua.

Oh anyone noticed that tomorrow is 20/09/2009???!! That's 20092009!! heh thanks Anum =P

Here It Comes!

Yep, school's about to begin! Heaps of changes this year starting with: My older brother, Saif, is now no longer living with us in Dubai, which would lead to the next major change: me being the eldest child in the house(more responsibilities).
Actually, I don't think Saif and I have ever lived separately for more than a couple of weeks, tops. And you know, the stuff that makes it all more... noticeable, are the smallest of things. For example: the Internets faster, I get to sit at the front seat without someone fuming at the back, and there's more food than usual. Of course, this is me speculating, not yet living far away from Saif for more than a few hours. But I know for a definite fact that I am going to miss him. Maybe more than I expect to.
Another twist this year: I'm going to be a senior in my school! FINALLY is the word here. Honestly though, I can't imagine myself being a senior. Our predecessors at least LOOKED the part of seniorhood. With the beards, mustaches, super heights... I mean, they appeared as adults.
I don't know why, but none of my classmates seems to have that quality, maybe because I grew up with them for the last few years, I don't know. But it's just weird thinking we're going to be the oldest students in the school! And yeah, Kinza, if you're reading this, can you please comment on whether this is true for you as well?
This also brings up the question of life after high school... Which I don't want to think about yet. So I bid you adieu.

Amazingly, Life Can Be Boring.

No School.

No transport.

No place to go.

The holidays huh?

Lotsa free, unused time.

Brothers in the other house.

Parents have gone back to Dubai.

Umi will come back soon though.

Holidays are nearing an end.

Cousins have school.

Boredom strikes.

As you can see.

Laptop left.

Byebye.

Imh.


Sorry... ranting. In a stylish manner.

Do the Dino Dance

The makers of Ice Age really did outdo themselves with the last of the trilogy: Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.
The plot of the movie is simple: Save Sid, who stole 3 dino-eggs and hatched them, thinking that he is now the 3 dino-babies mommy. Of course, the real dino-mom doesn't like that.
The story has a new character who's whackiness is unparalleled: Buck, short for Buckminster and long for Ba. Just with this one new addition to the cast, the story becomes unimaginably hilarious. He leads the team through the underground world of the dinosaurs and has tons of adventure which ranges from almost being eaten by a dinosaur to inhaling laughing gas.
But of course, the greatest applauses go to the acorn-loving squirrel, who has his own adventure throughout the trilogy, all to do with his beloved acorn. In the last movie he has a nemesis: another squirrel. A she-squirrel. This new nemesis tries to steal his acorn from him and together, they have unbelievable fights which did make me choke on my popcorn.
To top it all off, the movie was in 3D, making the whole experience just that much more enjoyable.
Seriously, watch it.

'Half Blood' Magic

Yes, I haven't posted in a month. I noticed, thank you.
For the past month, this is what happened: I came back to Malaysia. I met Amsyar and Aimee, my two newest and youngest members of my family. I saw Transformers 3 which was awesome and Ice Age 3 which made me laugh until I choked on popcorn. I saw Harry Potter 6, and that movie is going to be the main topic today.

The movie differs in many ways to the book. The main difference is of course that the movie has moving pictures and the book doesn't. But the movie has it's own unique captivating 'magic' which enthralled even my limited-English-Vocabulary younger brother, Muhaimin.
'Half Blood Prince' is the 6th movie in the Harry Potter series and the fact that the series has such a high recommendation rate after all these years surely points to the powerful charm that the talented J. K. Rowling has conjured with her spellbinding words and her virtuoso writing skills. The marvellous cast, espescially the main trio - Danial Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson - has the applause of the whole cinema.
The most interesting performance for me, however, was by Tom Felton a.k.a. Draco Malfoy. He brilliantly showed a mix of remorse, anger and fear, though hiding it under a mask of certainty. The scenes with him and Danial Radcliffe was unequivalently epic acting on his part. Now that the Harry Potter series is about to end, I can't help but wonder what this talented young actor is up to next.
Just like any number of movies, Harry Potter 6 has been greeted with all kinds of replies: the good, the bad, and the exceptional. An example of the exceptional: ''Dumbledore looks like he's wearing Olay!'' Yes, this is a real comment from a real person that I really know. You know who you are. ;P
As for me, this movie has both my thumbs up.
I'll soon post on what the Ice Age finale experience is like.

Experience Week

Ooops! Sorry, completely forgot to update on how the week went!

Well, from Saturday to Wednesday, the days went by very, very, VERY slowly, major emphasis on the VERY. Everyday I had to sit there, waiting for someone to get hurt. No, wait... it was more of HOPING someone would get hurt.
When someone did get hurt, it was more or less all of "I fell down" or "My stomach is 'paining me' ". The "I fell down" patients had cuts or bruises that we put ice on or bandaged it. Or, we had the more frequent "I fell down" and yet has no cuts or bruises but still want's the ice pack. I think they're falling down on purpose to escape the scorching Dubai heat. I don't really blame them. Actually, I thanked them for faking; at least I'd have someone to "heal".
The last day(Thursday) I asked to be placed as a teacher instead. Most of my friends had chosen(or were chosen) to be teachers and they often bragged and complained about their classes to me. From all the complaints and brags, I gathered that KG students were the best to teach since the classes are the most eventful classes in the Primary section. So I headed to the KGs where I met Jake, Karen A and Karen K-seriously hilarious kids! Karen A(or was it K) has a ''thing'' for Michael Spriggs, another student-teacher who was my predecessor. She actually told him: I will marry you! I don't know how Michael reacted buut.. I'm going to guess he was quite happy.
They told me I had come at a good day: it was one of their birthdays! I GOT CAKE! It was a Power Rangers Cake too!! Man, am I lucky or what?!
Afterwards, they allowed me to come and watch a show that they made. It was about animals in the jungle, all of them with the ability to dance-Lions did Tango, Hippos did rock and roll, Monkeys did Salsa- except the Giraffes. It was their first rehearsal ad it went quite well! The hippos LOVED their part. Maybe a little bit too much.
So, the things I learnt from this week was: how to do medical check-ups, basics of First-Aid, how to paint and draw a monkey, and that Lions can dance reaalllyy well!

Work, work, work, Snooze....

As most other schools, the students in my school have a tendency to injure themselves by completely random casualties. That fact helped me decide what I wanted to do for my work experience week: I applied for a job as an trainee in our school's medical department. Basically: a murse(man-nurse).

The first day on the job. All I had to do was learn the basics of a medical check-up when a patient comes in. The first thing I should do when a patient comes in: ask them their name. The injury can wait, the name comes first! Then allow the patient to complain. If its a stomach injury, always ask: would like to go to the toilet first? After they have done their business, check their temperature. This is one of the main symptoms of a disease: change in temperature.

Then I studied basic first-aid. You know: CPR, what to do wit a fracture, not to attempt to suck snake poison out of a victim. The usual. They handed me a handbook on this too! However, I left that in the office.

The Patients! The first patient I had was a little girl who had ringing in her ear. When asked how did it happen she replies: my team-mates shouted at me for letting a goal in. And the girl who had shouted was the one who accompanied her to the clinic!

The most memorable patient award, however, would go to a 4/5th grader boy who had grazed his ankle while playing indoor-hockey. He came in all calm, smiling and everything, but as soon as I told him we have to clean the wound his face went: O.O! He suddenly said he was fine, no problems, stood up, fell back down -.-'. We managed to clean the wound in the end, and bandaged the small graze.

The main timings when patients came in was right before break and lunch time. Other times.. its so quite I was able to catch some shut eye until the end of the day!

Tomorrow, the doctor's coming in. This should be interesting...