Growing Up and Being a Grown Up...

Assalamu'alaikum...Peace be upon y'all...

Being grown up, isn't half as fun as growing up
These are the best days of our lives
The only thing that matters is just following your heart
and eventually you'll finally get it right...

That's what The Ataris sang in their song In This Diary, taken of the album So long Astoria (2003)

Growing up could be fun...
I mean, for kids who live in peace, harmony...
Not for kids who are haunted by terror etc...

For me, and most of us, probably, growing up is a wonderful time of my life...
I got to do what i love to do...
Play, play, play, play, play, play, and play...
Well, though I did have to study, I was carefree...
In fact I still am...
Maybe I'm not much of a grown up yet...
22 on the outside, teenager on the inside...

When I went for my Industrial Training in Sungai Buloh Hospital,
I came to realize that working is extremely exhausting...
I didn't have to do much back then...
Just sit and watch most of the time...
But still, I'm exhausted...Tired of repeating the same thing over and over again...

We're living in repetition.
Content in the same old shtick again.
Now the routine's turning to contention,
Like a production line going a over and a over and a over, roller coaster

Choreographed and lack of passion
Prototypes of what we were
Went full circle 'til I'm nauseous
Taken for granted now
I waste it, faked it, ate it, now i hate it

These are the lines from Redundant by Green Day

After the industrial training, I came to realize how tough it is for my mom and dad to go to work...
I mean, it's not for 1 day or 1 week, or 1 year, but it's for 10, 20, or 30 years of your life!
There's not much time for holidays...
Just pure work, and work, and work...

I hope that if I ever going to stuck forever at a job, please let it be the thing that I enjoy doing...

Apart from job, there are other responsibilities of an adult...
It's your turn to take care of parents after all of their BIG sacrifices for you...
Sometimes I wonder, mom and dad can raise 10 children,
but out of those 10 children, it's not guaranteed that 1 of them can take care of their parents...

Na'uzubillah...

Then, when you get married, your responsibilities become BIGGER...
Financially, time-wise, and many others...
You can't just continue behaving like you're still single...
You know, wake up at 3.45 am to watch Man United beat Chelsea in the Champions' League Final etc...
You have to think of your other half....and soon, your juniors!
Haha...Responsibilities....

You know, I think marriage isn't that easy...
Apart from the financial aspect, you're stuck with your partner for the rest of your life!
It's not like a year or two...
If you live long, maybe it's gonna be up to 30-40 years...
Who knows?
Good luck with that!
I'm not trying to scare you...
Marriage is a good thing...if you marry for all the right reasons...
such as to get the Ridha of Allah...
If you get married for all those right reasons, insyaAllah everything will turn out fine...

What you can do right now is...
Live your life to the fullest!
I'm not saying you should do drugs, drink alcohol, be a playboy etc...
Just make use of your youth time wisely...

Life is only as good as the memories we make...
(So Long Astoria by The Ataris.)

We live in this temporary life only to prepare ourselves for the next life which is endless,
so make the most of it...
Don't let you regret your fate in the next life...
Your life, your choice!

Dreams...

Assalamu'alaikum...

Dreams...

There are loads of dream "genre":
Happy, Sad, Scary (Nightmare), Suspense, Thriller, RPG? FPS?

You can have a beautiful dream...
So beautiful that you end up waking up smiling...
You know...THAT smile...

You can also have the most scariest nightmare and end up waking up at 3 a.m. early in the morning terrified...Sweaty...Heart pounding...heavily...

Some may continue sleeping just to continue that wonderful dream...

Some can control their dreams while some cannot...

When I say "control their dreams", it means that the person can initiate the dream he/she wanted...But once the dream started, he/she cannot control it anymore...

I used to be 1 of those...
But not anymore...
I lost my ability...

But dreams...Only possible in our sleep...
Or in our own fantasy world...

Reality is not that beautiful...
It's not that scary as our nightmares either...

There's nothing wrong with dreaming...
As long as you stay in touch with reality...
You can get the most out of your dream by working hard to accomplish it...

Impossible is nothing
Just do it
Shift the future
like.no.other
Unlike any other


Dreams can get your feet off the ground
Until you won't notice what's around
Even the world's turned upside down
It's your dreams that really count

Dream on...

Humans...

Assalamu'alaikum...

I woke up this morning only to realize that it's already 2010...

Just before I sleep, I remember it's still 2009...
Man, time really flies by!

Humans...
We love to condemn others...
and at the same time, approving our not-so-good actions...

We love to give green light to the things that we do, and red light to the things that we never engage in...or not engage in anymore...

Simple example, if we have a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, we tend to say
"it's okay...as long as you don't cross the borderline..."

Even though we know the fact is, it isn't allowed in Islam, we tend to close 1 eye simply because we're doing it...

We tend to give some "reasoning"

On the other hand, if we do not engage in boyfriend-girlfriend relationship or we already stop doing it, it's much easier to give the red light to others...

It's simply because of the nature of human;

we are selfish in a way

Boyfriend-girlfriend relationship is just an example...
There are a lot of other issues being treated the same way...
Just because we're humans...

P/S: I'm a human too

Life's Like That...

Assalamu'alaikum...

Son:
I can't believe I'm already in my final year...I'm too young to grad...

Dad:
Your life is just about to begin
For me, I'm already nearing the end, but you still have a long way to go...

Just a conversation I had with my dad in the car during the recent end semester break.

I wonder how's he doing when he was at my age...
He married Ummi at my current age by the way...

The fact that he's married at that time, we're in totally different worldview.
Of course...
A married man, who was an Islamic students leader back in his University (in Tasmania)
VS
a carefree, single student who is still finding his way in this world...

Like I said, 2 completely different worldviews...

No wonder both of them (Ummi and Bab) desperately want me to study or work abroad....
It's the exposure that's important...
They want me to look at this world from a different perspective...
and Alhamdulillah, despite not being able to live abroad yet, I still got a bit of exposure by being in UIA and making friends with local and international students from all around the world...

I learnt to accept differences...
To respect others' worldviews...
and many more...

Like my classmate, the cute Miss Shahnaz always said, we're all wanderers, learners in this life...
I agree with that as life is a continuous learning process...
Even our biological system is continuously learning...
Take our immune system for example...
Exposure of foreign organism initiates sequence of pathways that eventually help and educate our body to overcome the disease.

In life, we'll make mistakes, blunders.
Sometimes, the things that we did affect others' lives also...
in a terrible way, I mean...
we just wish that we could turn back time...
but we couldn't...
unless someone invent a time-travelling machine...

but we shouldn't give up hope...
there's always light at the end of the tunnel...
Make sure we learn something valuable and try to not repeat the same mistakes...

Life's like that.

For Your Pleasure

Assalamu'alaikum

DIY = Do It Yourself
FYI = For Your Information
FYP = ?
For Your Pleasure?

Wrong.

FYP or F.Y.P. means Final Year Project (in IIUM at least).

Nowadays, people are always 'on the go'.
'On the go' means you are too busy that you don't have the time to catch your breath.
Alright, that was too exaggerated.
It means, you cannot afford to lose the precious time for all those tiny, unimportant things such as proper word.

There are loads of SMS (Short Message Service) language, internet language and so on.
For some people, it's all about convenience, for some it's destroying the beauty of the language.

However, that's not what I'll discuss in here.
This post is supposed to be about my F.Y.P.

As mentioned in my previous post,
my F.Y.P. is entitled
Prevalence and Risk Factors of Blood Parasite Infection in a rural area in Kuantan.
But the venue may be changed to Pekan.
So the word "Kuantan" in the title may be changed to Pahang or Pekan.

As I explained in my previous post

Basically, I'll join the mobile blood donation campaign of Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan
in a rural area.
Then I'll take blood sample from the donor,
give the donor a questionnaire,
bring the blood sample to the lab
and detect the presence of blood parasite (such as Plasmodium sp.)

Using the results of the labwork and data from the questionnaire,
analysis using SPSS software will be made.
That's it.

The main parasites that I expect to find (or not) are Plasmodium sp., Wuchereria bancrofti, and Brugia malayi.

If you noticed, the name Brugia malayi was coined because it can be found in the Malaya region. There's also Brugia pahangi, which as the name suggest, can be found in Pahang.
I'm proud to be Malaysian!

Plasmodium sp., as all of us know (or not), is the culprit behind the notorious disease, Malaria.
Wuchereria bancrofti and Brugia malayi are the culprit behind Lymphatic Filariasis/Elephantiasis/Untut
The interesting part is all three of them are transmitted by mosquito.
So, what are you waiting for?
Go and buy a bottle of Ridsect.

I have no affiliation whatsoever with the company, though.

Since mosquito is intimately involved in the diseases transmission, most questions in my questionnaire aim to identify the risk factors connected to the mosquito such as the presence of ideal breeding ground for the mosquitoes and so on.

Right now I'm finalising my questionnaire while waiting for the blood sucking day next week.
It has nothing to do with fake vampires in the Twilight movie, by the way.

To wrap this up, I'd like to remind you F.Y.P, like other acronyms, can give different meanings, subject to people's own interpretation.

The Journey of My Life?

Assalamu'alaikum.

What's with the title?
I'm still 21.
There's nothing much to tell.
But I don't have a choice. Or do I?

Where do we begin?

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away (in Malacca General Hospital to be exact),
a miracle happened.
Travelling through the endless tunnel of darkness, a young boy (baby to be exact) lost his way.
No signboards, no G.P.S., nothing.
But the boy kept moving.
It's not what his heart desires,
but the wall around him kept on pressing and pressing.
Hard, harder, hardest.

3, 2, 1
Take off!

Strange!
Where am I?
Who are you?
What are you?
Where am I?

"It's a boy!"

Alright.
Let's stop this story-telling competition and get straight to the point.
"Did you just say story-telling competition?"

That was sarcasm.

I used to live in many places especially before I was in standard 2.
I used to live in Batu Pahat (Johore),
Sungai Petani (Kedah),
Sungai Dua (Penang),
Taman Markisah (Somewhere near Bukit Minyak in Penang, I guess),
Tg. Keling (my hometown, Malacca),
Batu Caves (Selangor. From second half of standard 2 until end of standard 6),
Semenyih (Selangor. From form 1 until now. During holidays)
and Kuantan (Pahang. My current location)

I spent most of my time in Selangor.
But I don't really know all the street names and whereabouts.

Being a 'nomad', I think I'm used to meet new people and losing some people in my life.
I've been living in hostel since I was 12, so I'm used to be away from my family.
"Did you say 12? That was standard 6, right?"

Yes and no.
I was 12 but I wasn't in standard 6 at that time.
Why?
Go figure by yourself.

I entered 2 secondary schools.
From form 1 until form 3, I was in a boarding school in Rawang.
From form 4 until form 5, I was in a boarding school in USJ.
USJ?
United State of?
I don't know.

Those 2 schools were set up in a totally different environment.
The school in Rawang (during my time) was surrounded by few housing areas with little development.
There's no such thing as a shopping mall.
The most extravagant hangout at Pekan Rawang at that time was only Bintang supermarket (or hypermarket, I don't really remember).
7 Eleven was like heaven at that time.
Really, there was nothing much in those days.

Growing up there for approximately 3 years taught me the hardships in life.

On the other hand, 2 years I spent in USJ was totally the opposite of the years in Rawang.
The Summit can be reached by 20 minutes walking, Sunway Pyramid isn't that far, and there were so many facilities in that school.

No offence, but I do think the students who entered that school in USJ since form 1 didn't really feel the hardships that I felt in Rawang.

After that school in USJ, I went to UIA Matriculation Centre in PJ.
I spent 1 1/2 years there.
At 1st I was an Engineering student, but then, in the 1st week, I changed to Biological Science.

And now, here I am. Already in my final year.
Writing this post for SBM 4021: Computer-aided Drug Design.

I don't see any connection of drug designing and blog.
But there is connection between computer and blog.
At the end of the day, what the lecturer wants matter the most.

To be honest, I didn't make it to the 1st class.

I'm sorry, it wasn't on purpose.
I was in the lab with my Final Year Project (F.Y.P.) supervisor.
I've an alibi.
My F.Y.P is entitled
Prevalence and Risk Factors of Blood Parasite Infection in a Rural Area in Kuantan.

Basically, I'll join the mobile blood donation campaign of Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan
in a rural area.
Then I'll take blood sample from the donor,
give the donor a questionnaire,
bring the blood sample to the lab
and detect the presence of blood parasite (such as Plasmodium sp.)

Using the results of the labwork and data from the questionnaire,
analysis using SPSS software will be made.
That's it.
It's not as easy as it sounds, though.

Anyway, that's the journey of my life (so far).

Semakin Hari Semakin Tua...

Assalamu'alaikum...

Dah lama dah tak menulis...

Blogger yang pemalas...

Saja2 ikut kawan...

Tapi malas nak delete blog..

Seperti tajuk yang tertulis di atas,

saya hanyalah akan membuang masa saudara/i

selama beberapa minit untuk membaca luahan hati berkenaan proses penuaan...

INI BUKAN IKLAN PRODUK KECANTIKAN

Tahun 2010 hampir tiba...

diri yang sentiasa muda ini terasa makin tua...

walau tak kelihatan seperti orang 20an,

tapi umur tetap berjalan...

dah final year...

unbelievable...

Lepas graduasi, kena kerja...

Atau sambung belajar...

Lepas tu?

haisy...

Bertambah2 tanggungjawab...

Mula2 kena support diri sendiri,

Lepas tu support parents,

Then support orang rumah and anak2...

TANGGUNGJAWAB2...

Kena kerja...

Buat benda yang sama...

hari-hari....

selama?

10-20 years?

30?

TIDAAAAKKK!

Lepas tu proses penuaan yang berterusan semakin hampir ke penghujung...

Nak jadi muda balik ke?

Tidak...

Tapi nak melangkah ke alam baru...

dunia baru...

Itupun kalau semua ini sempat dikecapi...

Jika dah expired sebelum sempat semua ini,

luahan ini bakal menjadi angan2 semata2...

Kenapa cakap macam ni?

Awak dah nak kena accident ke?

Manalah saya tahu...

Tapi janganlah dikaitkan penulisan artikel ini dengan maut...

Itu semua kan dah ditetapkan...

Baiklah,

setakat ini sahaja...

MARI BERSOLAT!