Life Of A Strange Guy

school

2009-01-07T07:39:00.004+08:00

Today is my brother's first day going to ugama school. I went to send him this morning and took some pictures. It is a ritual for my family that my parents send each of us to school on our first days. Each of us have at least a pic taken on our first days of school. For me, i even have pictures taken on my first day in uni. Each of us have our different ways in experiencing our first days of school. When i was young, i was a bit too attached to my mom because i was the first kid and i was the only kid for more than 2 years. I was also a crier. On my first day, i spent few hours crying and spent the first hour holding on to my mom. According to my parents, im the worst among all my siblings. I might be the only one who cried on my first day. If i think about it now, i think it would be a nightmare for any parents to have a kid like me. The way i hold on to my mom, even the teacher couldn't handle it. I pulled anything that would stop my mom from leaving like baju kurung and even tudong. Owh. I just remembered something. If im nt wrong, my mom stayed with me on my first day of school. I guess i was a bit too dramatic when i was young. My siblings unlike me didnt cry on their first days. My brother was just quiet on his first day. My parents didnt have any problem sending all my sisters to school. Im posting with my fon now. If i could find old pictures, i woul put it up.

Personality (Fatin Remix)

2009-01-05T12:34:00.006+08:00

I've always wondered how do i get my own personality? Does it come naturally or is it affected by the things around you since you were born. I still remember that i discussed this with fatin. If im not wrong, Fatin believed strongly that the things around you determines your personality while i was the one who believed both. Both sayings are arguable.

I do believe that things around you affects your personality. These things can be almost anything. From yr parents, cousins, school environment, home environment, type of movies you watch and many other things. Everyone grew up in different ways, and this would affect their perosnality. Althougfh i believe in this, i dont cross out the other side.

Another side; does it come naturally? I also believe that you are born with your own personality. For example, one of my sister is very obedient and hardworking. She's been that way since she was young until now. For most cases in my family, my parents would encourage us to study hard but in her case, my parents encourage her to take more leisure time.

-----

Fatin here, As requested by Hanis to add on. I do believe in both but trust that its less on innate ability and more on home background and school factors. Yes, Somethings are natural, but i believe its more of developed from young based on principles and values taught by parents. Bringing this cultural background to school, where it is further shaped by the influence of fellow peers and the interaction between teacher and student, along with other determining factors which would take too long too write.

Whichever you believe is practically based on how much you know of the subject and your perspective of things. Im pretty Marxist, and i do believe everything starts from home, your social upbringing, the class differences (although thats pretty old-fashioned)and all that jazz. I mean, i do believe that averagely smart children with ultra rich parents have all the advantages over an average kid with poor parents, who has to develop a fixed mindset from young to ensure success. Im sure you can put two and two together for the rich kids.

Although i did sociology, i dont pretend to know everything. There are still alot of unexplainable cases like whats-his-name who was raised in a middle-class background with loving parents, and grew up to kill so many women. and of course, from my own experience. growing up and seeing smartass kids drift away from promising futures, some bouncing back, while others never recover. Likewise seeing kids from less fortunate backgrounds achieving amazing results. Everyone knows the school in K.Ayer holds some of the best students in Brunei.

Out.

Just Random

2009-01-04T21:22:00.002+08:00

Doubts come with reasons even when you don't know it. It could just be instinct or intuition. You can have doubts even when its something that has not happened. Sometimes people try to deny and ignore it, but they usually get hurt in the end.

just being bored

2008-12-04T17:42:00.003+08:00

busy not having fun

2008-11-10T23:31:00.003+08:00

I haven't been blogging lately not because i've been having too much fun but i've been doing my work. I've been trying to extract resources from the internet, building sites, museums, uni library and things around me. I seem to have problem finding this exact topic for my assignment. It's housing condition in sheffield in the 19th and 21st century. For 21st century its easier but for 19th century, its quite hard as the books i can find from the libraray only dates back until 1900s. I went to the industrial museum but what i can find in the museum is not relevant to what i was looking for.

Aside from that, i've got other assignments such for law and property referencing and phase tests for almost all modules. It stresses me a bit but i'm coping with it.

Although there are a lot of work that stresses me, there are also activities that i do which i classify as stress reliever which balance things out. I have football, friends and fatin.

I can always be found hanging out at my friend's apartment playing games or just to hang out. The small circle of friends that i usually hang out with consist of my friend zyden, gdin and hadi. We live between 2km from each other, so i guess that's the reason why. Just by having a month to spend with them, we already have this chemistry that we get along and have our own inside jokes. Its fun to hang out with them that i don't feel so bad being away from home.

I've got football as a stress reliever too as i enjoy playing it. I have football almost twice a week now. One for fun and one for competition. I have a new group of people to play with and this group of people i realy look upto as they have high mentality to win. I hope that i will acquire this mentality fully as keep on playing with them.

You can say save the last for the best which is my girlfriend. Whatever and whenever i go through something i have my gf as she is only one call away. I know its just voice but sometimes you can feel someone's presence just by hearing their voice. Not only she's once call away but i can call her anytime as long as i want unlimited cause i've got unlimited minutes and texts to 02 numbers. So a simple headache can be cured in minutes by dialing her number.

I've got pictures to show and stories to tell but as for now, im not able to. I just wish that everyone in my family, friends and even people i just know by face are rich in health and wealth.

-hanis

Stupid but fun

2008-11-04T18:20:00.005+08:00

Look at this picture carefully. you can see how tall the building at the back is..

Now, look at this picture. The building next to the ride is the same building as the one i showed you earlier and we went on that ride.

The ride was boring at first as it swung slowly but after about 15secs, we sort of knew what we were asking for. It swung up until we were upside down. It was terrifying but after a while it was ok. I think we were the first customers so we didnt know how it would be until we went on it. Overall it was fun but i would think twice to go on it again.

Dorchester event (pictures)

2008-10-29T16:13:00.006+08:00

On the way to Dorchester

In the ballroom

When we were about to leave

My modules

2008-10-16T17:09:00.002+08:00

For my course this year, i've been given 6 modules. They are property referencing, property law, building studies, Economics context of property, sustainable planning and environment, and business strategy planning and communication.

Among all of the modules, im mostly interested in sustainable planning and environment. This module really emphasizes on the term 'sustainable' and 'development'. I would say if you could put in in other words, this module is about sustainable development. Sustainable development means 'development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the abiity of future generations to meet their own needs'(defined by Brundtland commision).

Not only that the module is interesting, the lecturer who teaches this area is very humorous and transparent. I don't remember how much he mentioned the word f**k, bastards and bullocks. I remember he said sumtin like 'Just because i dont appear serious, you think i wouldn't fail you. I would fu**kin fail you'. He even sarcasticly said that he was sorry for swearing and 2 secs later he would say 'nah, im not. i would seriously fucking fail you, you bastards'. So i assume that those people who doesn't turn up would really get it from him. So, i guess he wants us to be serious when he seems to want us not to be serious because of his approach. Its kinda of confusing. Just by looking at him, you can tell he's a funny guy. He's about 5'9, tremendously cute and with heavy beard. Lets just say he could be a santa during christmas.

Although he's humorous, he's really serious about turning the world to be a greener place. How the world is revolving right now is not sustainable. The hole for antartic ozone layer reported in 2005 was about 30 million sq kms. The changes in the world right now are to suppose to be taken seriously. Unless, you just want to have like 2-4 future generations living in this world and you think like 'i'm going to die before that day anyways.' Changes include climate change, food production, quality of soil, natural disaster, depletion of living species and many more.

I find my course quite interesting. At this point, im trying to find out how sheffield, the used to be centre of steel production of the world become one of the most if not the most green city in the uk. From this i would know about how the city is planned ,and the reason it was made that way.

After shower

2008-10-15T05:38:00.003+08:00

This is wat happens when you get bored and you don't know what to do. Here are just two pictures of me after shower and my wax is off. Its been a rough day due to the rain. What is suppose to be fun almost turn out to be pain. Playing football in the rain with plentyof wind can be painful. The best way to recover from the weather is a hot shower.

Doa

2008-10-14T19:20:00.006+08:00

As the eldest brother of my 5 siblings, i pray for my siblings for thier well-weing and for their future.

It is almost the end of the year, the time when students all over brunei taking either their big exams to get to university/college, or just simply to qualify to get to the next level in their education. One of my siblings, my sister, tamiimah, is going to take her PMB exam in the coming days. Although i know that she will do amazingly well, i still pray for her.

A brief detail about my sister tamiimah. She's the eldest among my three youngest siblings and the fourth child of my parents. Since she was young, she excelled in her studies. She's always the one who would go on stage with my parents to get trophies every year. Just recently in her last year in pds as a primary 6 graduate. She was given at least 5 awards which means, one of my parents had to company her on stage at least 5 imes. Even when we were in the states(usa), she was the best student in her level. I still remember when we were in the states, everymonth or week my sister had this test and the best student of the class would be given a gift. We would always plan ahead on what to get confidently knowing that she would get it. We would always get frisbee as we liked playing it infront of our huge frontyard. Aside from that, my sister is also obedient. She's good in listening to my dad and listening to advices. She's fair to everyone and she would always make her decision wisely weighting everything that needs to be considered. I hope that she'll get to where she wants to be which is to follow my dad's footstep to be an economist either as an officer or a lecturer.

Recent pic of my three sisters. from left; tamiimah, mustaqiimah and umaimah

My journey

2008-10-12T17:38:00.010+08:00

Yamin, his dad and my dad. Just past the security

The MOE Scholarship officers.

Sleeping in the plane

Me and yamin eating in dubai airport

Me and my dad

me and yamin

Me and my dad

Back in the plane

Sharing movies?

HEHEHEHE, he left me awake, so this is what i did.

Reading while sleeping?

mwahaha

us, when we arrived.

Hhakiim and his guardian

2008-10-12T16:11:00.006+08:00

HHAKIIM AND UMAIMAH

Here's the story of my smallest brother and sister.

Hhakiim is the youngest among all of us. He's by far the most talented among all of us in my perspective. Not only that he's smart, he's a fast a learner too in almost everything. At this age, he can play football better than average kids, he can shoot a 10 ft basketball hoop and make it in the basket, hes already exposed to the computer and the internet, he plays online games for the adults like runescape, he easily catch up with dancing moves, he plays good badminton and maybe some others but i cant think of it right now. Despite how active he is, he's a good boy. Another thing about my brother is that he's smart. Although he's always absent to play runescape or that he's lazy to go to school, he was able to get number 3 in his class. He got like 100 for most of his papers except for few. I just assume if he did go to school more often, he could've gotten number 1. As i said earlier, my brother is a good boy. For this reason, sometimes he's an object of bully especially by kids in higher grades. He's always complaining to me how his friend in class sometimes try to pick fight with him. I just told him to fight back or tell the teacher if it happens. So what he did was that, he would fight back if the teacher is not looking but he would just tell the teacher if the teacher is looking. About the kids in higher grades, he's got someone to handle them. This leads to another member of my family, my youngest sister.

The name of my youngest sister is umaiimah. You can just say she's hhakiim's guardian because of the things she does. She's the one who looks after my brother when he's in school and in the house. Despite how young she is, she would cook, teach, preapare his books and guard him just like an adult. Some of my brother's accomplishments are contributed by my sister. As i mentioned earlier, my brother seldom goes to school. The reason he can acquire good result is the effort my sister put in to teach my brother. She's also the reason why he would'nt get bullied in school. When they arrive school, she would escort him to class. When its time to go home, she would search for him. Aside of being my brother's guardian, she's very talented in baking. She would bake almost everyday when the ingredients are available. She would make cookies, brownies, chocolate cake, banana cake, tuna in bread crumbs and many others. She also supplies drinks for the whole family such as the fruit juices that she makes as it is always requested. Its amazing that she can do all that but still able to have her own time for her studies and leisure. She's epitome of a woman due to her characteristics especially for being able to multi-task. She sort of fulfill the meaning of her name 'umaiimah' which means small mom.

I feel at lost that im not able to see them grow at this age. i truly miss them and i hope theyre doing fine back at home.

Pictures (Airport)

2008-10-10T01:57:00.010+08:00

The guys

My ngangah and driver in white

About to salam my ngangah

The guys waiting for sungkai

Family table

The guys breaking their fast

My brother, Hhakiim.

The guys.

My Family

Fatin's new footprints in sheffield.

2008-10-07T00:18:00.014+08:00

My girlfriend visited her boyfriend, me =), in sheffield. She started her day in sheffield by walking around my uni sightseeing and to eat breakfast. She was suppose to skype with her family back home at my uni but for some reason the internet didnt work. So we went to starbucks (a place where she needs to go to everywhere she goes to get her favourite hot chocolate) to go online. We could actually go online in starbucks but with a price to pay which is quite expensive.It was 5 pounds for an hour. Since she was in desperate need because she really wanted to communicate with her family back at home in brunei who were celebrating raya, she was left with no choice but to pay the price. When she actually got on and started to skype, she had this bangang face on but she was talking. I guess that is just the way she feels. She had mixed feelings about it. Her sharp look tells me that she's trying to anlalyze the changes back at home from her smallest brother to her grandfather who was in tears. She even noticed how gorgeous her nana looked with her new hair do despite the not so clear image. While talking in her low tone voice to every single member of her family, she kept on turning my way as if she wanted to cry. I guess by looking at me, it kept her sadness to a minimum as she know that i was with her. She skyped with the family for about 45mins. When it ended, we just finished the hot chcolate drink that we shared and went sightseeing around sheffield. The pictures im posting would let you imagine how it was like.

After visiting my apartment.

She likes her outfit cause its colorful

Part of the city

Us, in the city

Some musical place

They play good music so she gave some money.

We liked the classic car

Another picture of it.

Owh, theres another one.

I fogot what the place is called. Nice place to hang out.

Another one

The fountain and nice old building in the background

The fountain.

And again..

It symbolizes the old female in sheffield. I forgot their job.

It symbolizes the males in sheffield in the old times. If u don't know, sheffield was the world centre of steel for a long time. so this picture shows a man doing his job.

A bus in the middle of the city. how cool is that?

The city

Nice candid picture

Adieu... adieu

2008-09-18T06:11:00.007+08:00

Today is my last day in brunei. i'll be leaving later at abwt 7 from brunei to the uk. At the moment, i don't know what im feeling. I feel kind of confused on what to feel now. The past few days have been so hectic. I've been spending most of my time in the car. Even today, I've got so many things to do.

Despite my hectic schedule, I was able to use some of my time with my friends last night. I made this 'farewell sungkai' at the pantai restaurant, The empire hotel. The group of friends that i invited was my 'am gunners junior' team mates who I've been playing soccer with since last year. It was a last minute thing but they made it work.

From left; izzat(my brother), haziq, bakhtiar, udin, isa, abhar, me, jj, hafiz, malik, awit.

hehe. just a random pic, the island behind me.

very nice atmosphere to be in, dont you think? look at the view.

candid

isa being vain while waiting to sign my shirt.

my shirt

The guys at the poolside

inside, us

us and ....

him

Veterans

2008-09-16T05:19:00.007+08:00

Having so much time to myself lately, i've been trying to make good use of my time while i can. Recently, i spent half of my day with my grandparents.

It was a sunday morning. I woke up early at about 6 and i was already on the road at about 7. When i got there my grandfather was already awake carrying trash plastic to be placed at the trash disposal area. I quickly steped out of the car to offer my help. I just thought that it wasn't a safe thing to do for an aged man who has blurry sight and walks slow, and also the fact that he has to cross the road. After i got rid of the trash, i went to salam my grandmother who was inside the house doing housechores.

My intention of going to my g.parents house was to help them do those things that they're not able to do like clean the house area. I just wanted to at least contribute something and spend sometime with them before i go overseas to study. As they are aged, even the simple things that people my age can do is difficult for them such as going up and down the stairs and lifting things.

My grandmother list out the things she had to do that morning verbally to me. The first thing we did was to stop by at a grocery shop. At the shop, i was told to choose the drinks for raya while my grandmother bought some things such as raya biscuit, daily necessities and things to make 'kueh'. While i was there, i noticed that sometimes when she ask questions, the workers can't understand her so i always try to interupt to rephrase her sentence and change her words.

We left to go to the nearby fish market after grocery shopping. My grandmother bought this 1 handlength fish. i dont kno wat it's called. Then, we left to go to a tailor shop as our last trip. I just stayed in the car because i wouldn't be any help to her in that case. When we got back, i was just following my grandparents orders to clean the house. i was accompanied by my driver doing the chores.

When everything was done i was relieved. Not because it was over, i was relieved that i actually did all the things that they wanted me to do and the fact that i helped out my grandparents. The smiles on their faces are priceless. These kind of things are the precious things in life that can't be bought.

My experience helping my grandparents opened up my eyes. It made me realize these small things in life that are valuable. It also reminds me of how people can be ungrateful, unappreciative and disrecpectful to the elderly.It made me think of the things and we must do and not do for them.

The elderly could be your parents or grandparents. As you know, they are old, weak and weary so this gives us the reason to be patience to them. They tend to be slow in eating and dressing up. you should remember the time that they spend feeding you and dressing you up when you were young. When they speak to you the same things over and over again, dont interupt, and listen. Remember when you were young they read you the same story countless times until you sleep. When they dont take shower, dont shame them and scold. Remember they used to chase you with your thousand excuses to get you to the shower.

There are also things we should do for them. Help them navigate their way through these new technoligies as they've have taught you so many things. Lend a helping hand the same way they did when we tried our first faltering steps. Help to translate their words and sentences as our language has changed over the years. Remember when we mumbled we were babies, they were the ones who could understand us.

We should realize, despite thier mistakes, the have always wanted the best for us and tried to prepare the way for us. They're not to be ashamed of. Instead, undertsand and help them the way they did when we were young. We should help them to walk and live the rest of their life with love and dignity. So that they could pay us with a smile that means a thousand words and immense love they have always had for us in their hearts.

The Woman

2008-09-12T07:47:00.007+08:00

There are a lot of tings that women are capable of and it is important that we realize these things. Why do any man spend so much time with a woman? I would say its because of her capabilities.

Women are born to multi-task which means they tend to do a lot of things at once and still finish the job. They're able to embrace several kids at the same time, gives a hug that can heal anything from a bruised knee to a broken heart and she does all this with just two hands.

Women can also cure themselves, look after her kids all night without sleep and work 18 hours a day. Women are soft and strong at the same time. A woman may appear soft but you cant imagine what she can endure and overcome. Her tears is her way of expressing grief, her doubts, her love, her loneliness, her suffering and her pride.

Woman has strengths that amazes a man. She can handle trouble and carry heavy burdens. She holds happiness, love and opinions. She smiles when feeling like screaming. She sings when she feels like crying, cries when she is happy and laughs when she is afraid. She fights for what she believes in. Stand up for injustice. She doesn't say no when she can see a better solution. She gives herself so her family can thrive. She cries when her kids are victorious. She supports you when you're down and happy when you're doing well. She is happy when her friends do well. She is glad when she hears of a birth or a wedding. Her heart is broken when a next of kin or friend dies. But she finds the strength to get on with life. She knows that a kiss and a hug can heal a broken heart. And her love is unconditional.

There is only one thing wrong with women. She forgets what she is worth. It is important for us to remind them how fantastic they are. This is for women out there and also men cause sometimes they need to be reminded.

Moment of Silence

2008-09-07T05:31:00.002+08:00

Everyday, recently, I can always be found doing some meditating-kind of act on my bed with sad-ish indonesian song in the background. I just happen to realize that things will change, and im somewhat trying to prepare myself for that. Say bye to highschool-life, welcome uni-life. Everyones seems to be pouring their hearts out to their kids, parents, family and friends nowadays.

I just happen to be one of those people who doesn't express themselves much verbally. Probably this is the reason why i spend a lot of my time lying on the bed with my eyes closed thinking for hours. This is me when my gf is not around because she's my mind. I express myself with actions. When i listen to my parents, i don't try to prove it by saying things but i show it by doing it. When i miss someone or thought of someone while i was away i would buy them at least something just to show it. In a way, i do express myself verbally in the way that when i care for someone, i ask how he/she is, and when i know someone is not okay, i try to make them to talk it out with my ears widely open.

I'm only different to my gf. She's the one i open up to, who took me out of my shell and tell me its safe outside.She practically said "hey, this is my world, show me your world and lets make our own world". Now that we'll be flying off to uk, we wont be seeing each other as much and that is a big change for someone who spends most of his days with his gf. If life was a road, this is part of the road that is a bit crooked where you just need to slow down and be careful to go through it.

another video of my brother

2008-08-29T08:39:00.001+08:00

My little brother, Hhakim.

2008-08-19T20:13:00.002+08:00

Just quotes...

2008-08-18T07:32:00.004+08:00

“Time is very slow for those who wait,
very fast for those who are scared,
very long for those who lament,
very short for those who celebrate.
But, for those who love, time is eternity."
(William Shakespeare)

“Why repeat the old errors,
if there are so many new errors to commit."
(Bertrand Russel)

“Love me when I less deserves it,
because it’s then when I need it most."
(Chinese Proverb)

"You never fail until you stop trying."
(i don't know ;p)

"Partners are suppose to help and encourage each other for now and future"
(auntie fau said something like this but way longer dated like 3 years ago to me and fatin;p)

Brunei Talent...

2008-08-17T07:07:00.005+08:00

They're called "A Band Once." I knew them when they performed for my school prom back in 2006. They're one of the best band I've ever heard in Brunei. Not only that the vocalist can sing malay songs really well, he's also good in singing english songs. I would say that he's versatile. Support our local talent =)

Economics

2008-08-13T06:59:00.006+08:00

Economics is the branch of social science that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, or the material welfare of humankind.

The subject economics has helped me understand things that are going on in this world and even help me improve my decision making in my daily life. After studying economics, i have new and better perspective on practically everything.

I've always wanted to be an asset to my country, Brunei, as a whole. I say as a whole, because i can generally say Brunei standard living improves but it doesn't mean that all level of social community gain from it. In the real world, there are different groups of people. There are rich, medium-income and poor people. When a country gains such as the country's GNP per capita improves, this could just mean that the richer gets richer and the poor gets poorer. So the other social community other than the rich may not gain. This also means that the standard of living of the country as a whole may not improve.

My country, Brunei, is lucky because our government provides more public goods than most country. Public goods such as roads, hospital, defense and schools are provided. This way it is fair to the whole social community. eg.All are given equal opportunity to go to school and the poor sick people can get treated. My country even subsidized a lot of things like petroleum, electricity, education and necessities like rice and bread. Although it sounds good, this can't be continued for so long. This things provided by the government should only be part of the governments plan to stimulate its economic growth by making more highly educated labour to run the country in the future. And some policies are made just to make the economy stable so that the standard of living of the people wouldn't worsen. I assume that Brunei has a vision that the population wouldn't depend so much on the government in the future, I want to take part of it to help Brunei realize it.

In economics, you learn that in doing things you have to weigh your options. You have to weigh your options because you can't do everything with limited resources. In life, you have limited time and money. Usually you make your decisions based on its importance to you. When a decision between two options has been made, the option not chosen is the opportunity cost. In real life, i make my decisions this way. For an example, i can just take a break and enjoy my time after a'levels or i could go to school again and retake my a'levels. If i choose to go back to school, i have the chance to improve my a'levels which would be good for my future. If i take a break, i could just enjoy my free time doing anything as i don't have any commitment and i can even take a part-time job to earn some cash. I chose to go back to school as i think it is lasting and good for my future where as if i take a break i could only enjoy my free time temporarily and it doesn't do good for my future. So my opportunity cost was that the enjoyment i would get when i take a break.

Learning economics also makes me more caring about the things around me. In economics, you learn that when a decision is made, private benefit, private cost, social benefit and social cost will be weighed. This is where externalities comes in. Externalities is said to occur where there are significant social costs or benefits from production or consumption that are not reflected in market prices. Example; Smoking which causes air pollution may generate a negative externality, and education may generate a positive externality (less crime and future labour). From this I learn that decisions i make can effect others in a good way and in a bad way. I may enjoy from listening to music loudly but i would most likely have my neighbors cursing at me.

I'm just typing as i think. hmm..

News on paper or on tv can be easily understood. Like what people start to notice about the increasing price of daily necessities in Brunei. This increase in general price level is called inflation. Prices of the daily basket of goods most Bruneian spend on rose such as drinks, detergent, food ingredients, vegetables and cooking oil. I used to spend like B$1.30-1.40 on a big bottle of 100plus but now it cost like B$1.60-2.00 =(. I'm just guessing the cause of this as i don't really keep up with the news. Cost of producing goods mostly all around the world has increased. Due to this, producers acted to save their profit margin by increasing the price as how much the cost has increased. The cause of increase production cost could be the increase price in oil and gas as it is used by vehicles for transportation of goods. As Brunei imports most of its goods, Brunei also imported inflation from other countries. There are more causes of inflation and what I've mentioned is just one of them. Another news is that cooking oil has increased. A simple explaination is that there is an update in technology that cooking oil can be adjusted to be used for cars, so oil is highly demanded for not only cooking but for running vehicles as well. When too many people chasing a fixed amount of goods, prices rises.

I guess that is all for now cause i 'm out of ideas.

random pics

2008-08-09T09:10:00.004+08:00

Fatin and Sofie(way back). lolLooks like wer wearing braces

from anakbrunei.org. we were actually just looking at a phone.(prom night)

recent picture. fatin: angry. hanis:proud.

proof no.1 that she doesn't like to wear tudung.

Fatin. Proof no.2. This is what happens when you forget your pin and still forced to wear tudung.

Proof no.2. nothing much to say here.

Just before i got called by a discipline master for having long hair.

When its suitable for school?

Reminisce

2008-08-09T05:24:00.005+08:00

Little that i realized that it has been four years since i came back to Brunei. The fresh feeling that i felt before has been erased fully from my mind. I cant imagine what im going to feel when im leaving for uk and living there. When i just came back from the states, i remember myself complaining about even the littlest thing that Brunei is lacking as i didn't remember the way of life here. Now that four years had pass, i feel that Brunei is more than home to me. I had great experiences for the last four years living in Brunei especially with my girlfriend.

Just when i started back in july 2004, i was single and pretty much 'blank'. Blank because i was still figuring out how things are in school and in Brunei. And also that i had to catch up with my friends in form 4 as i started in july when they've already started way far in january. It was pretty easy to suit myself here as all i had to do was to accept the fact that brunei has only one small mall called "the mall" (now two, does it make a big difference? ';p). My school time wasn't so great though because i was pretty much blank all the time. Can u imagine transferring from form 2 level maths to form 4 maths, to start accounting without any basics and to start science middle of the syllabus. That year i just pretty much walk blindfolded until the finish line. owh yeah, just one thing that i did good at... Malay surprisingly, where fatin and her whole classmates got lower grades and got scolded because it was an insult to the teacher. hehehe. In the same year, Fatin asked me out for prom and i asked her out later after that.

The year 2005 was a tougher year as i had to plan my year properly to prepare myself for o'levels. It is even more of a big deal as it was my first big exam after pce, the exam i took in primary 6. I had to ask myself if i was ready or not countless times just to remind myself to be prepared for the exam. I had many dates with fatin that are actually planned and unplanned ones. Planned ones are the ones when i asked her out usually on weekends to go out and unplanned ones are the ones when she goes out to the mall alone and i came only after realizing because i didn't want her to be alone. Fatin liked to go out often then because she didn't like staying home which got us in trouble with the parents a few times. lets not talk about that =p. Fatin took her june o'levels that year and got 3 out of 4 o'levels. Remember when i made fun of her back in form 4 about her Malay, she shove it back right on my face because she got b3 in malay. I still wonder how she got it =s. Our exams went ok, at least in my perspective. One of the days when we were taking the exam, fatin leaked on the floor when she just stood up right after the exam ended. i remember running to get a tissue and feeling that i wanted to pass out cause i have hemaphobia (phobia of blood). That was pretty much it.

In 2006, we felt more mature than ever *not*. Just a bit =p. Fatin went to a law firm for an attachment while i go to HSBC for the same thing. We ended the attachment just before we applied for MD and both of us got good results in our o'levels. Fatin got 8 o'levels while i got slightly lower 7 o'levels =p. We started going to MD around February. It was a whole new experience for us because it was our first time going to a public school where the rules are more strict. On our first day, i looked ok in the uniform which looked like working cloths than uniform but unfortunately for fatin she had to wear baju kurung thing, white top, purple skirt and the best part, tudung. lol. Fatin hates wearing tudung although she looks good wearing it. First time i saw her on our first day of school, she came to me with her baby face, pouting, saying that she couldn't stand wearing uniform. lol. Obviously she could. In MD, she took sociology, business and english literature and i took economics, mathematics and accounting. School days were ok besides the fact that fatin tends to get pissy when she starts sweating in school. Fatin joined basketball club that year. She and a group of friends even participated in a national basketball tournament. For me, like always i joined basketball and soccer. It was quite smooth sailing for the rest of the year.

The year of our a'levels exam, 2007. Well i don't remember much about this year. I only remember about going to school and taking my exams. Well, at this point i go out less than usual. For one reason, i have exam. Another reason is that i don't have to go out just to see fatin cause i see her at school everyday. We only go out when theres a must watch movie. We just did our exams in the end of the year and that's about it.

This year, 2008. This year determines whether we can realize our dreams. We were scared because i and fatin have goals to be achieved. Fatin and i got mediocre result for our a'levels which i got BDD and she got CDD. We both applied for a scholarship in hnd level as we werent qualified for degree level. We felt sad and remorse the day we got the a'level result. Despite what happened, we didn't give up and continued studying in MD to resit for a'levels in june.

Now, we got through June a'levels just waiting for our results and fatin got her confirmation for her scholarship while I'm still waiting for my official letter. Its been a great experience. I know both i and fatin have matured. I learn to decide things like an adult and take things like an adult. Fatin who used to be stubborn and always get into trouble with her parents is now actually helping the parents and probably help to solve their problems =p. These changes in life is wonderful and sentimental. To experience theses changes in life with someone special is beyond wonderful and sentimental.(i cant even imagine =p).

Jogging with my girlfriend

2008-07-31T20:57:00.003+08:00

I started my day by going to tasek with fatin.

I knew it wouldn't be an easy thing to do because fatin and exercise don't really get along well. She always tell me that i must push her and complain that i don't push her enough. Its not really the case, believe me. She complains a lot and she easily gives up. Well, to prove her wrong i planned to jog with her where she wouldn't be able to turn back, tasek

When we just started she was actually fine, still talking to me at least. Just probably 30 mins after, her symptoms of giving up started to show. She got cranky and started complaining. When she realized how long it was going to be, she started saying that she hates me. And a while after, hitting me when i wanted to help her. There was even a time when she sort of cried because she couldn't take it. It was like that until we almost reached the end. i endured it for about 1 hr and 20 mins.

It was a different story when we were just few meters away from the pondok where we started the jungle trekking. she actually ran all the way to the pondok just so that she looks like she jog the whole thing. lol. We took about 1hr 30 mins to finish it. Fatin said that she was pretty happy and proud that she went trough it although she said the exact opposite thing before we finished. On the way home to her place, we just laughed about it.

I'm quite happy for what i did today. I got my girlfriend to jog the longest track at Tasek. I got to experience my girlfriend acting like a small girl. I proved to her that she could finish the long jungle trek. Despite how many times she told me that she hates me when we were on track and the times when she pushed and punched me, i still had an amazing time. The experience was priceless and sentimental. i wouldn't trade it for the world.

just an update

2008-07-31T20:35:00.004+08:00

Good news, I just heard from reliable sources that i got the scholarship. The bad news is that i haven't gotten my letter yet nor I've been called. I hope when i get the official call and letter, everything would go smooth. I know there are things to be done such as medical and visa. I'm also hoping that it would be soon so i could go trough it early as i only have about a month before I'm going to fly off.

Before i heard about the scholarship, i was actually weighing my options. If i don't get the scholarship or don't go for scholarship, i could still go on to do degree in uk. The problem with that is that i have to get another offer as i have declined all my offers except for the course i applied for scholarship. This would take time and i have the risk of being rejected and its not an ideal option considering how much time i have now. This option is only possible with the support of my parents that they are prepared to finance my education.

I dunnoe where I'm going at this. haha.. In short things to be done are mostly pending as i'm still waiting for my official letter. thats it about my progress. ciao

Speaking My Mind

2008-07-15T09:12:00.002+08:00

Well, I haven't blogged for quite a long time.. Since I'll be going to uk around this September, I just thought that i should start soon. I have no interest in making my blog famous or something. It'll just be something i could probably look back in the future.

Living overseas wouldn't be a new experience for me as I've lived in the united states for 2 years and not to forget recently, i had a month stint living in Birmingham, uk, when my dad was doing his masters. Although the experience this time would be different as my parents wouldn't be around, i think I'm up for it.

As i grew up, I've been taught a lot of things and I've also learned a lot of thing by myself. This things that I've learned are in the form of knowledge and skills. i acquired them in so many ways such as experiencing it, observing, listening and even making mistakes. To me, home is where you acquire the most skills and knowledge. It is where i spend most of my time, and it is where u can find people who unconditionally loves you, parents and family. I'm very lucky to have dedicated parents and its needless for me to list the things that they've done for me because it would go on forever. Just in summary, i wouldn't exist in this world without them.

I haven't officially gotten the scholarship to go to uk but I'll be going no matter what. There was a mistake in filling my course and that's the reason why the decision is still pending. As for now, i could be going to uk either under government scholarship or my parent's scholarship. Whatever the result of the government scholarship is going to be, I'll find my way to get what i want.

I admit, i feel somewhat scared about the scholarship decision but at the same time tougher as I'm experiencing it. I'm just guessing that you naturally learn to be stronger when you go trough rough times. There are also people who help me to be emotionally stable such as my parents and my girlfriend. i hope when i read back this post in the future, i would be laughing my ass because what I'm experiencing now is f**cking scary. ooops.. i didn't mean to swear. Life goes on... i'll blog more soon.

First post

2008-02-23T12:24:00.000+08:00

I would like to thank abai for practically making this blog from scratch for me. Hmm.. i dont have much to say now.. I'll be playing later for the AM Gunners Jr team against MD United. MD United consists of the star players of Maktab Duli. Im just hoping that we're going to win today. Thats all for now. I'll post something soon..