Condolences to Kandaq

I am not the closest person to Kandaq, though we did share countless good moments together in our five years together back in school. We were classmates in all those five years, and for two years we worked together in the student council. For these reasons, pretty much I can say that I know him pretty well, and despite going separate ways after school we are still in close touch until now. So when I got the news of his father’s sudden demise a moment ago, my heart sank.

Here’s wishing for your father’s soul to be laid to rest in peace, and I pray that Allah bless his soul and place it amongst the righteous and pious. I also hope that you, Kandaq, remain strong as you always are and take this not as an excuse to give up in life but rather as another trying challenge from Him that you need to live with, for God only put to test those whom He loves. For the rest of us, this is another reminder that life is just a brief candle, that every second of it ought to be valued and lived to perfection.

Al-Fatihah..

On Little Things

A friend asked our lecturer during class last week about the marks breakdown for the course we are doing. In case any of you is not familiar with this, here is a quick guide; every course that we are doing in each session consists of different kind of assessments and exams, each of which offers different marks. These marks will eventually be totalled up to determine how we perform in the course. The problem is, we are not exactly sure how these marks are distributed for this course that we are doing since our lecturer just randomly handed us assignments without first making it clear how many of those assignments there would be for the duration of the course, and how much are they worth individually. The lecturer replied to the question by saying that he actually had not set it up yet, and he would try to come out with it this week.

So when class started this week, the first thing that my friend did was ask the lecturer again if he has sorted the problem out. You would notice the sense of urgency in my friend’s voice had you been in the class. In fact, everyone in the class was eager to get the response from our lecturer, hoping to clear things up before we all head to our final exam next week.

You see, I have nothing against everyone in the class for wanting so desperately to know this marks breakdown. I myself find it pleasing knowing what fraction will the final exam that I am going to sit for bring to my total marks. Nevertheless, I honestly do not see where the importance of this breakdown lies in, and I figure I would still be perfectly fine even if I am deprived of the knowledge of it. So you know that this short assignment is worth five percent, that lab report will give you 20 percent while your final exam will carry 40 percent. What does it tell you? Will you put in less effort in getting that short assignment done since it is worth a little? Will you then work harder on the lab report, and double that effort for the final exam? I do not know about you, but the way I see it, no matter how little the importance of a task is to you, you ought to strive hard and give your best shot at completing it. The fact that something is worth merely five percent out of the total hundred does not make it any less significant does it? When it is worth five percent, make every effort to grab that full five percent offered the same way you make the effort to get forty out of forty for the next task. Ignoring that little five percent would not get you to a total mark of a hundred no matter how hard you focus on the next ninety five. If you are not willing to work hard enough to earn a dollar, how then would you expect to get a thousand? Little things do count. The problem with our world today is too many of these little things are taken for granted. Many of them require little effort to do but have the potential to bring a great impact to life. If everyone starts to realize about this and strive to get that little five percent, what a different place we can turn our world into.

Going back to what I said earlier, of course some amongst us want to know about this breakdown simply because that allows them to work out early on the certain minimum marks they will need to get for the remaining assessments to ensure that they stay above a certain qualification level, or to avoid failure. In this case, I can accept that this breakdown plays an important role. Still, let us try not to underestimate the value of that short assignment, and give our best at getting that little five percent.

This Pain Ends Here

Love drives you crazy. One moment you get separated from each other, already your heart grows restless. Five months? Oh God, I could never I imagine I would survive such a period. And now the waiting is over, the pain ends here.

I jumped joyfully when we were finally reunited, smile carved on my face. I spent night after night with you, and I plan to do so for as long as you are here.

When we were first separated, I thought well that is alright, I will garner strength from here. But what I did not realize was that the longing was getting larger too, gaining pace to keep up with the strength I gathered. One day I reached a point where longing takes over, all I did every day was looking for any news from you, any updates that could at least take off some burden from this heart. I went through old videos, hoping to hear your voice again, and at night I could not sleep thinking of when could I ever meet you again. When I did fall asleep, I dreamt of you.

Sometimes when I missed you, I tried talking to few people about how great you are, how they should try to get to know you. What I got was never a keen response, but that has never let me down. It is perfectly fine that I am the sole admirer of you, even though at times I wondered if things would be better if I could find someone else to talk to about you.

I know we were not supposed to be separated for this long, I apologize for that. But I wish to let you know that I always worked hard to make a meeting between us a possibility. At times, we just need to admit that fate acts brutally towards human being. Anyway, now that we have met, I hope that you can stay here a bit longer and I also hope that the next chance meeting you will not be too far away.

Thank God for the cheap DVD box set of The West Wing Season 4. I have been looking for you everywhere, finally I found you.

Where Help Comes From

I was compiling the reference list for my group assignment when I had trouble finding the publication place of a book that we referenced from. We accessed the book online, and somehow they did not put up the page that bears all the publication details so I could not possibly get that information that I wanted. I tried to look up Amazon and some other online booksellers to no avail; they actually do have all the information I needed about the book except for the publication place. Then I refined my search on Google, and after a few tries I spotted an unfamiliar, strange-looking result high on the list. I decided to try my luck by clicking on that search result, and voila! Publication: Florida. Now I should be able to complete my reference list. But wait, guess what website was that?

Sultan Abdul Samad Library, Universiti Putra Malaysia.

Oh wow. I guess you can say that in times of adversity, help comes from someplace you least expected.

Crystal Mosque

Crystal Mosque, Terengganu's latest architectural hallmark. I seized the chance to visit this landmark on my recent visit to Kuala Terengganu. What was pleasing was the fact that it is located not far from the place where I grew up.

Taking aside the controversies and allegations surrounding the construction of this mosque, I would definitely say that it is an architectural marvel. Obviously not of the same rank of Taj Mahal and its like, but it still is a delightful sight to the eyes. Too bad I did not have the chance to also visit the Islamic Civilisation Park which was located in the same area. From a short glimpse from outside the gate, it seemed to be equally as impressive.

If you do happen to plan for a visit to Kuala Terengganu, make sure you mark this as one of your pit stops. On another note, I hope the mosque’s coming into being and the park surrounding it will only propel further development in the nearby area. Other than this new landmark, the city and its surrounding areas did not seem to change much compared to the time when my family and I lived there more than ten years ago.

An Act of Kindness

I was sitting on a bench right outside Terminal 2, Coolangatta Airport, Gold Coast on Sunday night while contemplating on what to do for the next eight hours or so before my flight to Sydney was scheduled to jet off, when suddenly a car stopped not far from me. A Chinese lady who sat in the front seat of the car lowered her car window and asked if I happened to need a lift to Brisbane. Stunned by the car’s sudden appearance and her friendliness, I spent the next two or three seconds weighing up my options before I responded, well, no thanks. It was certainly an attractive idea to call up a friend in Brisbane at that instance to tell that I was going to spend the night at his place rather than settling at that uncomfortable bench while enduring the chilly night by my own, but come to think that Brisbane is one hour’s away, and the fact that I still had to come back to that airport for my early morning’s flight the next day, I conceived that my decision was justifiable. But anyway, that was a side note; the main story here is certainly the act of kindness of that lady and yes, her partner in the car. Wherever you guys are, I would like to thank you for your kind offer. Too bad I could not honour your kindness by accepting it, and perhaps getting to know the two of you better. Thanks again.

Now, who says that our world today is extinct of good people?