Si Tenggang’s Homecoming

[Sila baca macam tengok citer Desperate Housewives. Bila time narrator, guna suara Mary Alice Young. Baru feel skit. Sesapa yang tak tengok, baca jelah camner pun. Er... ala2 obses skit sbb duk tengok Season 2 skang ni. Baru abih download.]

Voice of Mary Alice Young:
There’s something Amri always do since he was a little kid. He followed what his mom told him.

[Flashback in kindergarden years when he got caught following his friend went back home using a might-be-dangerous shortcut road]
‘So you think you can follow them because it seems fine. What if they want you to eat ***t?’, his mom said.

He followed what his teacher asked him
[Flashback in high school; Amri's wearing white uniform and green trousers]
‘Do you want to participate in this competition’, his English teacher, Pn Oslina asked him.
‘You need to participate in this so that we can send a representative’, Ustaz Asri came to see him outside of the class.

And he followed what the dean asked him
[Flashback in Kak Shimah, her sister's friend's house, a day before she getting married]
‘I want you to checked out on Brunel University and try to apply for those university. They don’t have online application form so you need to send them letters,’ the dean talked in the telephone.

Currently Amri is in UK. On the way to the cafeteria, with his best friend Tahir, he talked about the allowance that he got.
‘Well, it’s totally enough for me to live here. Yeah, surely I can’t spend without thinking. But yeah, it’s good enough for food and for me to go around.’
‘That’s good,’ Tahir sometimes reply shortly.
‘You know what, under this scholarship, if you get married, you will get some extra allowance and also rent allowance which I currently don’t get it because I am single’, Amri added.
‘Then you should get married then’.

And Amri always listen to the advice from people around him.

["Teng teng teng teng, teng teng, teng teng" montage being played]

SCENE 1

[Scene change to Karl]

Karl Rupp, known as Karli was an Austrian studying the same course as Amri. He loves to help people.

‘There’s going to be a student for student seminar this Monday’, Karl already started giving his helping hand since the beginning of the semester.

‘Can you please take the marker back from the lecturer’, another lecturer just asked him to get back the marker mistook by Dr. Igor.

‘Can you help me with my program’, Amri plucked in his USB drive into Karl’s laptop. Karl gave some check with the program but it cannot be run as the file created on MATLAB 7 while Karl was using MATLAB 6.5

‘I can go check it in the lab if you want’. Thinking that it’s going to burden him, Amri decided to disagree with the plan.

‘Well, the lab is currently full. That’s one of the reason we come here,’ Tahir seems to think the same way. It was not lying but surely it was the best excuse. Karli started to edit some of the code, try to make it run on his laptop.

‘It’s okay, I can show you tomorrow’, Amri said, as they are going to have an hour lab session on the next morning. He intentionally forgot to mention that he is half starving as he only ate sandwich for his lunch and a 99p of Oreo biscuits which he could get nearly 7 of the same thing if he buys it in Malaysia.

‘I guess I’m leaving now’. Amri was trying to leave when Karl’s friend knocked on his door and drag into 3 minutes light talk.

‘So I guess I’m going’, Amri said again, seconds before Karli started to inspect again his program. ‘It seems right’, Karl had a few looks to the formulation.

‘Okay, I’ll show you tomorrow, and we’ll see what happen. Because Karla got different answer. That’s why I’m worried if I made a total mistake’. And Karl didn’t just stop there. He started to explain the reason of that.

Karl loves to help people

SCENE 2

Last Friday, Amri was having an emotional breakdown. He was sitting in the library for an hour but he cannot absorb what he read. He felt hopeless and annoyed with everything around him. He looked pathetic. So he started to voice up his feeling on the internet. And at the end of his blog entitled Feeling stupid and restless, after paragraphs of frustration, he wrote,

‘I guess I am too emotional today. I should just be calm, I guess. You
know what, recently I was thinking, it would be good if I am married
these days. At least I don’t have to worry much about food, and the
dirty laundry. Kak, get me someone so that I can get married as soon as
I go back to Malaysia (that’s a shout of frustration!)’

And like woman having her period, Amri’s depression goes away as time moves on. But he never know that people who were reading his blog didn’t take it for granted.

SCENE 3

[In Amri's room. Around 11 o'clock in the morning. The sun shine brightly outside, but it's always cold as it is early winter]
Amri was so excited showing the video to his parent. He just sang in one of the concert organised by the student. To have such opportunity was great. Because he thought that he had some other activity, other than hanging in the library or computer lab. And he could wrote about it in his blog.

He also happy because he was used to be in the bathroom singing back in home that he never thought people want to hear it.

But his excitement was truncated a little bit when his mom said, ‘…with this kind of attitude, he’s looking for someone?…’. His mom was referring to his act of singing as something quite immature as it was a sign of having fun on his age. The tone was just fine as his mom was enjoying watching the video. No tense mood at all, but Amri surely not used to hear that from his parent.

Later in their webcam session, his mom said, ‘your sister told me what happened. So you wanted to get married?’. It was good that Amri does not have face that blush because surely it will if he has. To have such discussion freak him a little bit. Maybe a lot. ‘It is just a year and you are busy with your study now’, as she try to explain that it should be fine for this moment. And she seems to agree if it is going to happen next year.
‘Make sure you have the money first,’ his mom gave some kind of lighter permission. Trying to say something right, Amri covered up his face couple of times as he felt so ashamed talking to his mom about this matter. It is something he never talk neither face to face nor cam to cam. He tried to ended up the conversation saying he got class at 1p.m. Again, it was not a lie. It was the best excuse on the right time.

SCENE 4

Amri got an email from his brother. His brother’s mother in law was willing to find the so called right one if Amri wanted to. So it seems that the story was not finish there. It was brought up into the air of his brother’s in-law family.

SCENE 5

It was 2 o’clock in the morning. Down in Albert Road, Amri heard the sound of car door being closed. Amri already turn off the light ready to sleep. Sneaking out the small windows from his room in the attic, he saw some girls going into their house. But his mind was thinking of something else.

The idea of getting married so soon were never part of his plan. Maybe because he had not feel the same sparks he felt for the girl he fell for back in high school, towards any other girls. Maybe because he was too afraid to tell his family the idea of getting married.

And as single as he is, Amri doesn’t give much effort to get someone. When suddenly out of the blue the image of his so-called first love appearing on his mind, together with some girls he knew back in his previous university, he noticed that he might up to something.

Getting married was not a bad idea as he may continue his PhD later on in UK. And as it is basically about research, most of mathematics students doing PhD spend their time in front of computer, which can be done at home. It might be good to be accompanied by someone.

At least, that is the logical aspect of the idea. He started to initiate the concept of married for life and not necessarily for love.But he also think whether he will have the chance of pursuing PhD when his master courses seems blurry until at certain point he was not sure he is capable of continuing until doctorate level which later relate to the necessity of tying a knot to someone.

And at this moment Amri wonders, is he following what people said this time around? And as the room getting colder, under the duvet, Amri floated away after few minutes. He fell asleep…

THE END

//Amacam, ada mirip2 citer DH tak??? He he….

‘Tension, tension pun, nyanyi lagi…’ mak aku separa mengusik selepas melihat video yang didownload ke komputer di rumah.
Ceritanya bermula begini. Selepas 3-4 minggu aku di UK, aku ternampak satu poster ujibakat Vocal Essence. Katanya ada concert awal bulan Disember. Aku pun aper lagi, sedangkan Malaysian Idol pun aku try, inikan plak peringkat U, ye x?

Walaupun kata-kata Roslan Aziz tentang ‘pronounciation yang tak tepat’ masih lagi segar dalam ingatan, aku peduli aper. Maka aku pun meninggalkan la Tahir dalam library, cakap nak turun bawah, tapi sebenarnya gi try ujibakat.
Dipendekkan cerita, aku pun dapat. Ha ha.
Dan semalam, aku perform la (diorang awalkan sikit), lagu Daniel Bedingfield - If you’re not the one. Yang bestnya, the so called consert tu berbayar. Maksudnya kalo orang nak tengok, kena bayar. 4 pound. Walopun kitorang yg perform tak dapat duit tu, sebab goes to charity tapi still la satu penghargaan, ye x?

Dan pronounciation aku, memang hampeh laa. Tak dapat nak lari lagi dari pelat English Melayu tu. Sori ek. Tapi kira tak memalukan diri sendiri, itu dah cukup baik laa.
So, kalo korang nak tengok, bleh la ke YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7wNgnvJHf0

Video tak brapa clear sebab gelap. Ada kesan backlight.
Bertempat di Newton Room, Brunel University, konsert selama 2 jam setengah menampilkan live band, opera singer, pianist etc. Kira macam talent show la. Ader la lebih 100 orang.

Heh, bagus gak sebab dapat lari sekejap dari tension study. Sambil mak aku dan ayah aku tengok (aku kawal komputer dari UK, download dan open file sebab parent aku tak brapa tahu. Guna Symantec PC Anywhere). Tengah-tengah mak dan ayah aku duk tengok, mak aku cakap (aku dengar sebab mic masih on), lebih kurang macam ni la bunyinya, ‘ nak cari orang, tapi perangai macam tu lagi’.

Ergh.

To be continued…..

{P.S: Tak pernah lagi buat to be continued, ye x? He he…}

Next time on my blog:
What did my parent talk about, that made me felt so ashamed later?? And what was my response about it? Coming soon on Jurnal dari pinggir London. Stay tuned

Baru nak start study, terjumpa satu homepage yang menarik- http://www.myheritage.com

Ader part yang bleh kita upload gambar dan dia matchkan dengan celebrity. So aku pun try la.
Aku masukkan gambar ni . Dan ini hasilnya.


Josh Groban. Ala.. yang nyanyi lagu You Raise Me Up tu. Ala.. muka nerd ar. Ahaks.

.

Lagu You Raise Me Up tu power. Ari tu memula aku cadang nak nyanyi lagu tu la waktu Malaysian Idol. Tapi tak jadi. Ahaks. Versi Westlife dalam album Face to Face agak mengecewakan sebab ending dia tak meriah macam aku expect. Dia macam nyanyi seperti Josh Groban nyanyi jer.

.

Kedua, Dalai Lama, juga dengan peratusan kesamaan sebanyak 70%. Macam selalu dengar ni, tapi sapa tah Dalai Lama nih. Jap aku check kat Wikipedia.

.

[Selepas baca kat wikipedia]

.

Aiseh, ader konsep2 reincarnation la plak. Rupa-rupanya Dalai Lama ni cam title yang ada untuk orang alim Buddha. So sebenarnya gambar kat sebelah ni gambar Tenzin Gyatso. Erk…

No further comment.

.

Beralih kepada gambar seterusnya
.
.
.
.

.

.

.
Shintaro Ishihara. Ni orang Jepun nih. Err. Sapa ni yek. Skali lagi check.

[Selepas dibaca]

Oh… gabenor Tokyo. Salah seorang ahli politik yang popular kat Jepun. Dan sebelum ni dia adalah seorang penulis jugak. Sure la tak tulis blog ye tak…

Ah, ader part yang best dalam NCIS episod terbaru. Bila team leader diorang (sepangkat dengan Grissom CSI la kiranya) tak tahu apa dia blog dan tersalah mention cloak kat anak buah dia.

Perlu mengikut kursus BLOG318 seperti yang diambil oleh Muazam (Rujuk http://muzem.blogdrive.com/archive/158.html)

.

.

Keempat, Val Kilmer. Err. Nama dia popular tapi aku rasa cam tak pernah tengok lagi movie dia. Let’s check it out.

[Selepas di checked it out]
Oh… pelakon Batman Forever rupanya. Padan la aku macam tak berapa kenal memandangkan aku memang tak suka citer Batman yang ala-ala berlatar belakangkan kawasan yang gelap. Tema gelap. Citer gelap. Bosan la. Tu sebabnya aku selalunya memilih citer-citer remaja sebab berlatar belakangkan cerah. Ala-ala tak la rasa jiwa kacau bila tengok citer-citer camtu.
Harry Potter pun dah mula gelap. Aku baca 100 pages lebih dah Order of Phoenix, tak habis-habis lagi gelapnya. Asyik dalam rumah dan baru kuar ke Ministry Of Magic. Tu pun masuk bawah tanah. So, cerah sikit jer disebabkan ader cermin yang dicerah dengan magic. Ntah ape ntah namanya. Tanya Naz sure dia tahu.

.

.

Seterusnya…
Larry King. Ni lagi satu yang aku tak kenal. Ntah sapa ntah. Nama macam biasa dengar. Tapi tak kenal. Kalo aku terjumpa kat public. Mesti dia kecewa giler bila aku sebut, ‘Larry who??’

[Baca kat wikipedia dan...]

Award winning American broadcaster. Oooh. Padan la tak kenal. Walaupun dia ader talkshow sendiri iaitu Larry King Live, for sure la tak kan masuk dalam list download aku melainkan kalo tetiba ader boh Reality TV stars, itu mungkin aku akan download. But still, ‘Larry who???’

.

Seterusnya…

.

Peter Sellers dengan peratusan kesamaan sebanyak 61%. Aper la suma muka tua-tua je ni? Walaupun aku terasa macam semakin tua sejak kebelakangan ni (iaitu perasaan : eh, kecik lagi bebudak first year ni ek; walopun aku hanya beza 2-3 tahun jer dengan diorang), tapi aku takler rasa tua sampai camtu.

Selepas dibaca info, ala… dah mati dah pun  Peter Sellers ni. Tahun 1980 lagi. Dia comedian Amerika. Tapi birthday dia dekat-dekat dengan birthday aku. Dia lahir 8 September 1925.
.
NEXT!!!
.
Ni lagi satu aku tak kenal.

Chen Yi???

Argh. Komander komunis rupanya. (1901-1972).
.
.
.
.
NEXT!!!
.
.
.
.

.

Hal Sparks. Sapa ek??

.

Ergh. Pelakon Queer As Folk rupanya.
Tapi ni antara lakonan minor dia yang menarik perhatian aku.

"Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman"
    - Witness (1994)  TV Episode     ….
Dia jadi Skateboarder

dan Elevator Passenger dalam Spider-Man 2 (2004). Ala… yang part selalu kuar iklan cakap fasal, ‘mesti tak selesa pakai kostum spiderman ek..’ (diterjemahkan maksud)

.

.

.

.

NEXT!

Vin Diesel. Akhirnya ader gak muka ganas yang ada persamaan dengan aku.60%. Dah ala2 C dah tapi okey la.

Aku tak tengok XXX. Biasa la citer gelap. Nak tengok The Pacifier tapi ntah kenapa ntah tak sempat. Tak sempat jugak nak cari DVD sesapa yang ada.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

.

Dan last sekali… Jared Leto. Sapa ni ek?

Berlakon sebagai Hephaistion dalam Alexander (2004)

Movie tema lama yang sure terasa panas jer kalo tengok memandangkan berlakon kat padang pasir… One of the reason why I avoid watching that kind of movie.

So, no wonder I don’t know who he is. Maybe next time he should act with Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff or Anne Hathaway. Then I’ll know him.

Peace out!!!

‘Aper la Am… baru sikit dah nak give up. It’s not too little too late (currently listening to the song by Jojo),’ aku menempelak diri sendiri. Emotional breakdown dua hari lepas mungkin disebabkan aku terlalu banyak berfikir. Aku kan, paranoid skit, so camtu la bila ada masalah. Selalunya I’ve somebody to put my head on his/her shoulder. Takpun banyak bebenda yang distract aku. Debat ker. Jalan2 BJ ker. Bila takde banyak aktiviti, and most of the time I spend either study, eating or watch downloaded tv show, so I had questioned myself, ‘I gave lot enough, but what’s wrong?’ I still remember Awin (x-JPP KMPP, UMS, kat USM skang) told me, on the issue of failed student, the fact that some people fail not because they do not study, it’s just out of their luck (rezeki). It’s not a statement of saying that I ‘want’ to fail or what, but it’s just me to realise that you can’t have everything you wish for.

Jumaat malam ari tu, sekali lagi kitorang iaitu aku, Tahir dan Udy gi makan kat luar. Aku order ayam seekor, 3.50 pound. Masak tandoori. Puas, dan lega la sikit otak aku. Hari ni plak, aku pergi U. Tanya fasal assignment kat Karli (budak Austria). Kebetulan, Imke (budak pompuan German) pun ada kat situ. Belajar Matlab (salah satu program komputer untuk mathematician). Aku tersedar, dalam susah2 aku pun, ader lagi orang yg lagi susah. Sebab dia tak pernah belajar Matlab sebelum ni. ‘Aper la Am… tengok, ader orang lain yang ada banyak lagi masalah.’

Tahir pun cakap macam tu hari tu. Tapi aku bagitau dia, walaupun aku agak terkedepan berbanding dia ngan Udy, tapi aku tak rasa lega memandangkan aku amik Math dulu waktu first degree, manakala dia dan Udy dari line engineering. I guess the spirit of fighting is good, but in this kinda of unstable emotion caused by the surrounding, I shouldn’t put myself too hard.

‘Aper la Am…,’ aku mengeluh sekali lagi.

[Songs I'm really into right now: Jesse McCartney - Right Here Where You Want Me, and, Carrie Underwood - Before He Cheats]
[Gambar - on the way nak gi bilik Karli. Daun gugur, musim sejuk dah nak mula]

[This entry contains frustration and unstable emotion. Comments part are closed coz I don't wanna hear neither advice nor motivation. Parental guidance needed]

Crap. Life is crap. And it’s no fun.

Yeah, that’s what I’m feeling right now. For the last couple of weeks, I keep busting my ass and it seems like nothing happen. The load keep flowing and I just couldn’t catch up with the study. Yeah, right. Seems like everything is fine. And I just felt like crying, literally, this morning.

I got this stupid assignment. We’re supposed to do it in MatLab and hey, programming is my thing. But because I didn’t learn the topic in my undergraduate years, and the fact that it’s not just a method you can simply take and apply, which need some vivid imagination inside my flawed brain is driving me crazy. Due date is next two week, but I stressed out. That is ‘feeling stupid no 1′.

Then we learn some Green function for my Mathematical Modelling paper which the question goes like, ‘find the green function for this function’, and where’s the example from the lecture notes?? None, or maybe I’m too stupid and I couldn’t find it; I don’t know. And he’s gonna give us a test next week. Or maybe next two weeks. It doesn’t matter which weeks, 10 questions in the recent problem sets won’t be worked out in few minutes. I might take a day for a question. And what does he expect? We’re just taking his paper?

This life is currently craps! Been here from the morning. Going back late at night and just have few hours left before going to bed which is just enough to lay down and have some food. I feel like crying. Err… I am crying now.

I dunno. Maybe because I haven’t been tested this way before. I didn’t mind feeling stupid in history or geography back in school, coz I knew I am not into that subject. But feeling stupid in mathematics is really hard. Especially when seeing some other students keep interrupting the lecture and saying that they are understanding the things on the board, while I was just sitting on my chair, writing down those notes, pretending like understanding, in order to keep me strong, and so-called motivated, but it was so annoying when the truth is I feel so stupid.

I keep telling myself, that it is a fair game, coz those students had taken the introduction paper back in their undergrad years, but the fact that we’re not going to be marked based on that is driving me depressed and feeling restless.

I tried to convince myself, things will get better. But I don’t see it’s happening.

Yeah, I was so lucky in maths since I was a lil boy that I never face any challenge that is making me cry like a lil girl. This should be some character building to learn how does it feel to be in the bottom when I was in the top for quite a long time. I cried again. Sorry.

This is rough. I know that keep whining is not a good thing, but I just feel like throwing out.

I guess I am too emotional today. I should just be calm, I guess. You know what, recently I was thinking, it would be good if I am married these days. At least I don’t have to worry much about food, and the dirty laundry. Kak, get me someone so that I can get married as soon as I go back to Malaysia (that’s a shout of frustration!)

This is a total rambling again. I wrote this on Monday morning (1.17 am) but plan to post it later so that everyday you check your mailbox, email saying that I’ve updated my blog will appear on the top of the screen, in case if it doesn’t go to Junk Folder

Aku masuk Survivor Satire, salah satu homepage komentar fasal Survivor musim terbaru yg sedang ditayangkan di US dan program2 P2P yg berhampiran. Aku suka style komentar mamat nih sbb dia suka merapu dan masuk benda2 tak berkenaan sementara komen fasal game. Dalam homepage tu, ader la bahagian2 yang x kena mengena dgn survivor. Page bertajuk Things I will never do, baru je aku masuk. Tertarik dengan ayat dia:

‘…I will never like soccer.  It is BORING!  Defense isn’t exciting,
scoring is exciting.  Other problems include: not enough shots on goal,
the field is too big, nobody knows how much time is left, players
constantly fake injuries, overtime isn’t sudden death, and there are
many more reasons.  If any fanatical European soccer lunatics are
reading this, please don’t kill me.  I’m sure I could grow to like it’

Salah satu topik yang membuatkan Maharuddin(x-Sc Com, USM) pun turut berdebat waktu ikut Debat Royal kat UKM dulu. Kak Khalidah (Master USM) keluarkan kenyataan fasal dia x minat bola, disokong oleh aku, dan Maharuddin pun defense la.

Waktu kat bilik Seimon ari tu, aku duk tunjuk video yg aku edit dulu2 - video yang aku hilang ala2 Charmed,  video anak2 menakan aku lip-sync lagu Westlife, dan video aku lawan.

Pastu dia balas balik dengan tunjuk video wrestling. Ergh. Seimon nih join kelab judo. Dia cam minat la lawan2 nih. Dia suruh aku join bebenda camni. Aku cakap, ‘I don’t even have time to watch my ‘crap’ tv program, I can’t spend my time for sports. Beside 15 minutes cycling is good enough for me’.
Pergi balik dah 30 minit tu. Okey la compare tak bersenam langsung waktu kat USM dulu. Kalau dulu menyanyi waktu naik motor, skarang aku duk menyanyi waktu kayuh basikal lak.

Tapi aku bukan la tak minat langsung aktiviti2 lasak nih. Aku enjoy jer memanjat bukit waktu kat kem BTN itu hari sebelum fly sini. Dan aku bersemangat jer join Explorace USM ngan Maharuddin. Training ler sehari sebelum nak lawan. Pastu lebih seminggu satu badan lenguh. Ahaks.

Amazing Race Asia, diorang x terima lak. Takpe2, Season 5 nanti aku try apply lagi. Takpun bleh cuba Amazing Race Europe:)

Bercakap fasal Amazing Race dan Explorace, teringat projek Pumpkin Race yang aku buat kat sekolah kak aku.(Dinamakan Pumpkin sebab buat kat SMK Labu Besar) Tetiba minggu lepas time kuliah, otak aku teringat fasal Pumpkin Race. Siap dah fikir konsep asas penyingkiran untuk game yang akan datang. Dah jadi acara tahunan sejak tahun 2004.

Aku call kak aku, rupa2nya dah masuk pada hari yang sama, diorang duk sibuk2 bincang dalam meeting panitia kat sekolah kak aku fasal benda ni. So, InsyaAllah dalam bulan 10 tahun depan la buat.

Tak bagitau lagi kat korang yang School dah decide untuk awalkan hantar disertasi. Sepatutnya dalam akhir bulan 9, tapi diawalkan dalam 2 minggu ke awal bulan 9 sebab dalam pertengahan bulan 9, semua pelajar dipaksa keluar dari hostel (ala2 USM la jugak) termasuk bebudak Master. So, diorang takut cam ader problem la kat kitorang memandangkan kebanyakan kitorang International Students. So, susah la nak cari tempat menginap. Aku x kisah sbb aku dah memang duk kat luar. Kalo x, memula cadang nak bayar sewa sampai September. Tapi memandangkan seminggu jer waktu bulan Sept, aku cadang nak kuar akhir bulan Ogos la dari rumah ni. Tahir plak dah kasi lampu hijau untuk squatting (er.. menumpang sebenarnya) kat rumah dia. Dia yang pelawa ek. Aku amik kesempatan jer. Bleh jimat dah sebulan rumah sewa dan kalo x bagitau kat USM, bleh balik akhir bulan 9, dan pergi jalan2 dulu (dengan anggapan takde sesapa yang merajinkan diri gi bagitau kat USM la).

2-3 minggu lepas aku bagitau mak aku fasal plan nak jalan2, mak aku cakap, ‘ingat sama, pergi tu nak belajar ke nak melancong?’, dan mulut aku secara automatik tanpa berfikir panjang menjawab, ‘melancong!!’ dengan nada yang penuh ceria,’…aah, study la, tapi nak la jalan2 sama’. Ahaks, terkantoi ;>

[P.S: Gambar diamik kat bilik Seimon, disebabkan aku nak boh gambar ni, tu sbb citer fasal sports tu. Memula memang niat nak citer fasal sukan, tapi entah melalut camner ntah...]

Karli, budak Austria, tiba2 datang sebelum ujian. Tanya samaada aku nak join diorang tengok Casino Royale malam ni kat Odeon. Aku fikir2 gak selepas tanya berapa harga tiket. Ish, kalo convert duit Malaysia, boleh tengok dekat 7 kali tu, waktu weekday kat Gurney. Emm… aku akhirnya decide untuk pergi. Dan lepas tu, Karli la yang jadi tukang menanya bebudak course aku sama ada diorang nak gi ke x. Sorang budak Jerman dan Tahir je yang x pergi. Tahir, sebab dia kerja ari Sabtu. Prof Mathias pun kitorang ajak skali pergi.

So malam smalam, aku singgah jap bilik Seimon sebelum jumpa kat bus stop. Pastu jalan ramai2 gi Uxbridge Town Center. Tak le lama mana. Dalam 15-20 minit. Tapi sebab sambil berjalan, sambil sembang, so x la terasa sangat. Pensyarah yang ajar Computational Maths, Prof Mathias pergi tapi Prof Norbert Hueuer tak pergi. Ader kerja katanya. Dulu Prof Norbert mengajar kat Chile, tapi kedua2 pensyarah tu dari University of Hannover, Germany. Prof Mathias ler cerita kat aku sementara tunggu nak masuk. Saja sembang2. [Gambar: Prof Mathias, Seimon, Germany girl dan Ian dari German gak]

Casino Royale?? Aku rasa okey la. Aku bagi 3.2 bintang dari 5. Waktu tayangan kul 10.30, tapi dekat kul 11, baru mula. Iklan bukan main lama. Tapi sepanjang cerita tu, aku asyik terfikir paper stochastic aku jer. Mana taknya, bila ada scene gambling, dengan bagitau wang pertaruhan, bila kalah etc, aku terus terfikir fasal Gambler’s Ruin yang kitorang belajar dalam statistik. Istilah2 absorbing boundary dan non-absorbing boundary berlegar2 dekat kepala aku. Pastu ader watak mathematician, dan salah satu karakter yang bernama Mathews (tapi dipronounce Mathias sbb dari Europe), satu set cukup lengkap untuk mengingatkan kitorang fasal study. Dah ler pagi sebelum tu baru je sit for stochastic exam (stochastic tu lebih kurang sama dengan statistik laa). [Gambar, kat depan bus stop. Dari kiri: Udy,Claudia,Philip dan sorang budak Austria)

Kuar dari panggung, aku berseloroh dengan salah sorang budak dari German, 'Did you calculate the probability of winning the game.' Ha ha, lawak sesama bebudak math, memang la pelik sikit, ye x.

Aku sempat bersembang dengan Claudia, salah sorang budak yg menyerlah kepintarannya dalam kelas, yang turut bawak kamera digital dan mengambil gambar malam tu. [Gambar: dengan Claudia, tapi pose tu cam boleh disalah ertikan je, err... ]. Dia tanya aku, ‘how many pictures do you take a day?’ Ha ha, nampak sangat yg hobi mengambil gambar aku dah mula obvious dalam kalangan coursemates aku. Aku bgtau la, yg bila ada occassion2 macam ni, aku suka la amik gambar sbb lepas tu aku compile buat vclip.

On the way balik, diorang duk sembang fasal filem tu. Seimon kata tak best, sbb banyak part tak logik. Aku tak fikir sangat fasal logik bila tengok citer action nih, sbb kalo nak make sure logik, tak sampai 10 minit filem tu, hero patut dah mati dah. Cuma aku suka la sbb banyak elemen fresh dalam 007. Fresh dalam erti kata, tak sama dengan action movie yg aku tengok sebelum ni la. Contoh fresh: macam Spiderman stop kereta api dan kereta api tu nyaris terhumban, as seen on real life back in Kuala Lumpur.

Seimon mempertikaikan adegan James Bond brek dan kereta tu terhumban. Emm, betul jugak, sepatutnya berpusing je atas tanah kalo ikut logik. Ahh, kalo ikut logik, JK Rowling takleh cari makan la ye x.

Balik dah kul 1.30 pg, dan bas dah xder. Ala, rugi plak aku x mengayuh basikal ke U. Sbb malam tu tak la sejuk sangat. So, disebabkan aku x nak menapak 5-6 km ke rumah aku, aku decide untuk lepak semalam kat bilik Seimon. Esok paginya baru la balik umah.

[Gambar: dalam bilik Seimon]

Tambahan: Sorry ar sbb gambar, belakang ader botol arak. Aku pun x prasan sbb aku resize dan terus publish jer. BTW, just for information, ader gak air2 bukan arak yg dijual dalam botol sedemikian rupa. Aku gi restoran kat East London ari tu, atas meja ada botol camtu. Ingatkan arak, tapi air mineral yg berperisa apebenda tah, harga 2-3 pound. Housemates aku mengatur ‘elok’* botol2 arak kat atas piano. Err…

‘Dah tengok dah final episode Mystic Force?’
‘Takdak lagi.’
‘Apa pulak. Pak Tam download dah. Ada dah dalam bittorrent. Suruh abah download.’
‘Pak Tam download kat rumah opah ke?’
‘Kat rumah opah apa? Pak Tam kat UK laa.. Lupa ke?’ Aku membalas soalan anak menakan aku, Najmi selepas aku suruh dia download final episode Power Rangers Mystic Force. 7 minggu dah kat sini. Tapi kadang2 lama tu jugak aku tak jumpa anak menakan aku. So, terlupa la tu yang aku kat sini. Aku call kak aku semalam. Cakap 10 minit lebih. Guna skpe.com punya servis. Beli kredit guna debit card. Dia caj telefon ke talian rumah dalam 1.5 p (0.015pound) jer per minit. Saja telefon. Banyak sangat distraction kalo cakap kot MSN Messenger.

Aku baru sampai dari U. Melepak lama kat library sbb esok ader test. Penat gak sbb subjek kat sini x brapa sama dengan kat USM. So, ader gak part2 yang aku xder basic. So, kena la study lebih skit. Aku plak memang style study lambat. Buat satu soalan pun amik masa lebih setengah jam. So, banyak la masa guna. Aku telefon Dani (MSc Math USM) ari tu. Saja sembang2. Dia cakap, ‘dengar macam ko okey je kat sana’. He he. Hari tu teruk sebenarnya. Lost giler. Sekarang lost gak, tapi ala2 citer Lost la. Tiap2 episod sikit2 perkara tu direveal. Semalam, aku enjoy skit dengar lecture sbb for the first time dalam kelas MA5502(Mathematical Modelling), baru aku dapat ikut sambil lecture tu menerangkan kat slide. Ari ni dah lost balik. Selalunya otak aku duk melayang entah ke mana. [Gambar - kat dalam muzium]

Dani peringatkan aku, ‘ala.. bukan dulu pun kita macam tu gak ke’, merujuk kepada masuk kuliah, x faham apa. Emm, baru aku ingat. Selalunya dalam kuliah, aku selalu jer menconteng2 atas kertas. Bersembang ngan wak rin. Dan ntah berapa sajak pendek aku tulis dalam nota kuliah MAT101 dan MAT102 bila tetiba jer aku teringat benda lain. Tapi sini ter’psycho’ sikit. Sebab ader beberapa budak yg cam faham dalam kelas (Amaran: ayat ini mengandungi sedikit unsur dengki yang tidak keterlaluan). Tetiba japgi, bebudak Eropah tu interrupt, untuk tambah ke, tanya soalan2 yang menunjukkan diorang faham. Aku tak la kisah sangat sbb kengkadang (jarang2 sebenarnya) pun aku buat camtu gak dalam kelas. Lagipun diorang pun bayar yuran, ye x? Lagipun elok gak dijadikan motivasi untuk bersaing. Err.. teringat lagu dari High School Musical - ‘Bob to the Top’

I believe in dreamin’
Shootin’ for the stars
Baby to be number one
You’ve got to raise the bar
Kickin’ and a scratchin’
Grindin’ out my best
Anything it takes
To climb the ladder of success
Work our tails off every day
Gotta bump the competition
Blow them all away

Semalam aku melepak kat U, study dari kul 7 sampai kul 10. Tahan skit sebab aku dah melantak nan, kepak ayam 8 ketul, fries, sayur skit kat kedai mamak, 1.5 batu (3 km) dari universiti. Penat gak kayuh panjat bukit. Tahir x nak pergi sbb dia nak study. Aku plak - dah terasa nak makan, tak kisahla start study lewat skit.

On the way ke kuliah tadi, Tahir cakap, ‘Why we should have test’, merujuk pada ujian esok. Aku jawab, ‘well, that is life (all about)’.

Test Stochastic Modelling aku hari Jumaat ni. Hari tu dah start study sampai Problem Set 3, tak masuk lagi problem set 4. Tapi aku paksa diri aku untuk kuar jalan2 ari ni. Tak dapat dinafikan, duduk lepak2 kat rumah, tido, memang best. Ditambah dengan cuaca sejuk menjadikan bilik rasa cam pasang aircond jer, ala2 tido kat hotel, lagi la best mengerekot bawah selimut tebal yang dipanggil duvet yang orang sebelum ni tinggalkan (jimat dah kat situ). Walau bagaimanapun, aku terasa macam dalam keadaan menyedihkan la plak bila spend whole 2 weeks sejak raya ari tu, hanya di universiti dan di rumah. Maka aku pun kuar la ari ni. Memula cadang nak kuar semalam, ari Sabtu. Tapi Udy cakap dia nak gi church kat Central London pagi Ahad, so aku cadang turun Ahad jugak. Pergi asing2, dan janji nak jumpa somewhere kul 12. Aku tak kisah pergi sorang, sbb senang nak pusing ikut suka hati, tapi kebaikan pergi bersama seseorang ialah orang tu bleh tolong tangkap gambar aku

10 pagi aku pergi kedai2 kat Mornington Crescent Station. Cari dalam maps.google.com, nampak
ada sederet charity shop kat situ. Kedai2 2nd hand la. Tapi dah sampai baru aku teringat, hari Ahad, diorang tutup. Tapi nasib aku baik sebab terjumpa kedai 99p (Nawal, ala2 kedai 100 yen la). So, dapat la aku beli satu sarung tangan, dan ubat gigi Colgate Total. Kira okey la. Kalo beli kat Tesco atau kedai kat U, dah 2-3 pound dah.

Dipendekkan citer, aku jumpa Udy kat Russel Square Station selepas aku sempat tengok2 Book Fest yang jual buku2 lama. Buku Nursery Rhyme dari tahun 1930an pun harga £13. Kitorang jalan pergi British Museum. Aku x la expect benda best sangat kat muzium, tapi at least aku excited gak la sbb bangunan muzium yang unik dan besar tu. Muzium ni menempatkan barang2 dari serata dunia. Dia ada bahagian Asia, Africa, Eropah, Amerika etc. Tapi kitorang pergi bahagian Afrika (sbb aku saja nak tgk) dan Eropah jer. Banyak benda2 hasil dari kutipan penjajahan dulu la.

Pastu kitorang pergi kat Trafalgar Square. Takde la apa pun. Cuma memang ramai orang lepak kat sana. Dalam Yahoo Travel rate tinggi gak, so aku x nak la ketinggalan tempat2 yg di rate best dan free. Kali ni aku x cari langsung tempat yg kena bayar. Nak jimat.

Kat Trafalgar Square ternampak The National Gallery. Aku cam malas jer nak masuk tapi sbb Udy ajak try, masuk je la. Dah nama pun galeri, maka gambar je la yg ada dalam tu. Aku tak peduli pun benda2 tu sbb aku tak berminat sgt artistic material nih. Tapi kalo part2 bergambar, ha.. tu aku suka. So, ade jugak la gambar
kat depan National Gallery nih. (Baru aku terperasan yg rekabentuk National Gallery dengan muzium ada persamaan)

Lepas tu dah kul 4. Matahari dah terbenam. Disebabkan aku dan Udy guna tiket satu hari, so aku x lepas la peluang naik bas 2 tingkat kat Central London. Kat Uxbridge, pekan dekat tempat aku duduk, pun ada sebenarnya. Tapi takde la bestnya kalo naik saja, ye x.

Aku telefon Tahir, tanya kat mana ada kedai makan yang murah skit. Tahir suruh gi Aldgate. Belah2 timur. Banyak kedai makan halal kat situ. Kalo korang nak datang London, atau bercadang nak duk sini, East London adalah pilihan terbaik. Selain dari
komuniti Islam yang ramai, nak dapatkan makanan halal pun senang kat kedai2 makan. So kalo malas masak, bleh la makan ayam goreng ke, burger ke. Walopun aku dan Udy dah makan kat satu restoran yang ala2 mewah jugak la (harga pun mewah gak la. Roti nan - £1.75 dan ayam tandoori £2.25). Kalo ikut aku, mau je aku makan kat kedai ayam goreng. Kepak ayam 4 ketul baru £1. Aku dah bleh makan 16 ketul kepak ayam dengan harga yang sama. Tapi dah Udy nak try bebenda yg dia x leh slalu makan, maka restoran India/Pakistan la menjadi pilihan.

Tapi aku still sempat la beli cheese burger £1.20 kat kedai tu.
Sampai rumah dah kul 8. Penat giler. Esok, walopun takde kelas, aku still nak turun U. Join
discussion bebudak Eropah tu. Bukan apa. Sekurang2nya mesti sama level ngan diorang. Kalo ter’lebih’, Alhamdulillah. Ala, korang bukan tak tahu style U ni. Takkannya ada satu course yg semua orang dapat A. So, competition tu ada.
[Gambar - sebelum nak gi ke Muzium. Gambar selepas ni dah tak ikut order dah]

Study

Tapi, aku rasa best gak sbb tak jadi target cam kat USM. Memang sbb aku hampeh pun sebenarnya. Aku cakap kat Udy dan Tahir waktu kitorang lepak kat library Jumaat malam ari tu (orang2 sini, Friday night is party night la..), ‘Well, at least we must get equal to everyone else. If they know, we have to know(merujuk pd study). If they don’t then we ask Philip whether he knows or not (Philip - budak Eropah yg menonjol dalam kelas). If he doesn’t know, it’s fine if we don’t. Who cares!’ Ahaks. Tak
sangka aku guna konsep tu kat sini.

Tapi ari Jumaat ari tu tetiba Prof Norbert Hueuer buat ujian. Dia x kira la dalam pemarkahan, tapi still ala2 ujian gak la. Open book. Lecturer cakap, kalo dah siap, boleh kuar awal. Dalam tak sampai 5 minit, sorang budak pompuan eropah (ade 3 orang budak pompuan eropah semuanya) bangun jumpa lecturer tu dan cakap dia x leh buat ujian tu sbb x tahu nak buat, so dia nak kuar awal, dalam bahasa jerman. Erk, aku x la faham, tapi takkan la dia hantar awal sbb nak balik bilik masak dinner plak kot. Ayoo, rasa cam dalam rancangan realiti tv jer. Sapa yg tak tahan minda terkeluar awal. Aku sure yg suma orang xkan hantar awal walaupun x leh buat.

Paper tu pening gak. Tapi pagi tadi, dalam train ke London, aku dah melengkapkan pembacaan  sampai page 19 dari 30 page yg lecturer dah cover. Rugi gak sbb aku x amik Kalkulus Vektor dulu. Kalo x, dah ada basic, x la pening sangat.

Harry Potter dan Phoenix Bangkit Dari Abu

Aku pusing2 kat charity shop dekat rumah aku semalam, terjumpak la buku Harry Potter & Order of Phoenix. Memandangkan aku dah tengok sampai Goblet of Fire, aku rasa okey gak kalo nak sambung baca Order of Phoenix memandangkan movie dia akan kuar nanti (Entah, tak tahu bila dan tak amik peduli). Lagipun £1.20 jer, buku 2nd hand. So, tak rugi pun kalo cerita dia tak menarik (aku sure pada ketika ni kalo Naz(x-bio USM) atau Najah(x-bio USM) atau maybe Shahrill(Shahrill, ko kira still-bio-USM ke, atau x-bio gak?) baca part ni, for sure diorang akan melenting sikit sbb aku cakap ‘maybe citer dia x menarik’. Ala .. saja provoke jer tu..) [Gambar - dalam muzium. Aiseh, ala2 kena dengan citer Order of Phoenix walopun sebenarnya gambar phoenix depan buku HP tu deceiving je lebih memandangkan takde pun phoenix dalam buku tu. Menurut kata Naz la]

Aku baru baca 20 page semalam. Dan aku terfikir fasal komen2 penonton yang membaca buku tu cakap fasal banyak part dalam HP ditinggalkan. Mana taknya, buku Order of Phoenix pun dah 700 page lebih. Dalam 20 page aku baca, Chapter 1, part Harry Porter bersembunyi dalam bush (betul ke ntah) pun dah bleh amik masa 3 minit kalo aku jadi pengarah disebabkan aku akan boh lagu Fall Out Boys - Sugar We’re Going Down waktu dia teringat balik fasal Cedric mati. Kira satu chapter dah bleh abih 20 minit dah kalo nak bagi detail. Habis, kalo 700 page. Ala… peminat2 HP, toksah bimbang la, aku rasa lepas abih movie ke 7 nanti, diorang buat lak versi tv-series. Yang tu, korang bleh tengok detail, dan maybe ada plak part2 extra. Well, a pure prediction. We’ll see.

[Spoiler ahead]

So, the first season of Amazing Race Asia had begun. I didn’t realize about it until I saw the title on mIRC download list. So, I watched the first 10 minutes and have a quick judgement. It’s not as a good as the original one. When the teams were going to start their own amazing race, it’s like nothing special about it. Not like watching Phil Keoghan in The (Real) Amazing Race, saying the same thing. Surely the crews of TAR Asia doesn’t put much effort to make the starting looks real good. Don’t they know that for the real TAR, they made a fake start for 3-5 times (means that the host say ‘Go’, the team run, but then, they stop, because it’s just for the camera purpose) so that the cameraman can capture the best angle.

And what’s the first ‘Route Info’? Go to Berjaya Time Square. Ouch, I was hoping that the first clue will ask them to fly somewhere. Not just playing around KL and make it looks like Explorace KL. At least, fly to Penang is good enough.

Casting? Fine enough. Quite a lot of personality although could be improved (yeah, surely I’m kinda frustrated not to be pick, but hey, I’m having my own Amazing Race r8?).

But it goes pretty well for the first episode. But I surely hate of the style of editing. There’s no numbering who’s leading and who’s left behind. And the ending is very anticlimax. The host said, ‘you are team no … (he will take a second break which I was wondering why he did that coz it’s so uncool)… ten,’ and then he continue, ‘ I’m sorry to tell you that you are the last team to arrive’. What the heck? Don’t have to tell ppl that you felt sorry because they arrive at the 10th place. Yeah, yeah, I knew I was too obsess with the original TAR, but then Phil Keoghan just say the script - ‘I’m sorry to tell you..’ phrase just when he will eliminate a team from the race. But hey, saying that one team reach the 10th place while knowing there’s only 10 team in the race and later on rephrase it by saying that they are the last team to arrive is such a redundancy. I can’t help myself but to hate it. Not finish yet, the worst part is when the last team arrived wasn’t eliminated. That’s not a real TAR. It shouldnt be that way on the first episode. And what about the excuse of the first episode as ‘predetermined leg’?? What? Ergh. Crap