this is asterix.

“Another summer day, Has come and gone away, In Paris and London, But I want to go home.” This would effectively be my last entry written while I am still in the UK. And by the time you read this, hopefully I would be onboard MH0001 to Kuala Lumpur. For the next thirteen hours, I will be thinking about my new life – life after university. “May be surrounded by a million people, I still feel all alone, I just want to go home, I miss you, you know.” I still in a state of disbelief thinking that I have finally finished my formal education years. I mean, I can still continue to study Masters in the future, but as for now, I’m going to stop here and get a taste of working life. My friends who have started working warned me that working life sucks, so, I guess I’ll get to see how sucks it is in the next few months. “Another aeroplane, Another sunny place, I’m lucky I know, But I want to go home.” But to be honest, I am actually looking forward to work. Probably because it would be a new thin...

“And so we talked all night about the rest of our lives, Where we're gonna be when we turn 25, I keep thinking times will never change, Keep on thinking things will always be the same.” It feels as if it was yesterday, I arrived in Wye beginning another chapter of my life. And after three years, this day has finally come. Today, I will be leaving Wye for good. I’ll leave Wye to start another new chapter of my life. It is not like I had never expected that this day would finally come but I just cannot believe how fast time passes by. “But when we leave this year we won't be coming back, No more hanging out cause we're on a different track, And if you got something that you need to say, You better say it right now cause you don't have another day.” I have to admit that, when I first came to Wye, I hated this place. I was alone, I had no friends and everything seems so different and I felt like I was thrown onto another planet – if not another universe. But then, I began t...

All my bags are packed and I am ready to go. My hall rental agreement expires tomorrow and I’ll leave Wye and stay in London for two nights. On Monday night, I will leave the United Kingdom for Malaysia. It feels a bit weird looking at your half empty room, as if, you just arrived. This room had been my home for the final two years of my university life. And I love every bit of it. It is going to be emotional for me when I finally say goodbye to K15 tomorrow. But, just to make you and me happy, let us hear this song by Jason Mraz called, I’m Yours.

When I came to Wye on the 30th September 2005, I had only one goal, that is to redeem myself after screwing up my A-level. I was broken and I felt like the world almost collapsed on me at that time. And throughout these three years, the nightmare of A-level keeps on haunting me like a ghost that just will not go away. And today, I woke up knowing that the day that I have been waiting for has finally come. Today is the moment of truth and I could only pray and hope for the best. I think I can safely say that I have tried my best in all the things that I can do. And the rest is up to God. I went to the teaching office just before lunch, after my friend told me that the result is ready to be collected. I went there, told them my name and an envelope was handed over to me. I opened it and there it was, every letter on that piece of paper was screaming ecstatically at me. All I can say is, all praise be to Allah for giving me this day. I have finally redeemed myself. Alhamdulillah.

Three years of working your degree, now, it all boils down to Wednesday. If the US Presidential Election had a Super Tuesday, I would call this Wednesday the Super Wednesday. I am praying and hoping for the best. Amen. P.S. Apparently the motion of vote-of-no-confidence against the PM was just a gimmick by SAPP.

I am currently in Newcastle and will only be back in Wye on Saturday. Why am I here? Well…I’m trying to spend some time with a few of my friends and actually waiting for my exam result to come out. It is hard actually, trying to enjoy your holiday while at the same time trying not to think about the results. But, just like one of my friends said, thinking about it will not change the results, so, I hope I will enjoy my two days in Newcastle. I guess, I’ll see you again on Saturday or Sunday.

UPDATE : Yeah two people already told me that this is an old video and was withdrawn due to complaints from the Malaysian government. If I am not mistaken, the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, on Tuesday, described the UK-Malaysia relationship as a very good one. Now, please watch the video below and think about it. Thank you to a friend of mine for giving me the link. On another note, it is one good recruitment advertisement indeed. I wonder when can Malaysian army come up with an advertisement as good as this.

"Stop writing." In most exams, once you hear that phrase, you would be wishing for more time so that you could finish your last sentence. Yesterday, that phrase was like a ringing bell, reminding me of the fact that I am no longer a student. Sure, I might do Masters in the future, but for now, I am actually out of the formal education system. No more assignments to write, no more lectures to go. Just me. So, as the popular question goes, "How was it?" The exam was OK I guess. I want to say that I am happy with the effort that I've put in, but I know that if only I have more than three hours to do each paper, I'd be able to write better answers. But hey, I only had three hours, so, let us just say I'm happy with the effort that I had given during the allocated three hours. Hmm...actually happy would be too strong, the actual word that I'd choose instead is, content. But then again, I cannot speculate on the sort of marks that I would get because, at t...

In less than 48 hours, I will be out of Wye and eventually, the UK. So, how was my second year here in Wye? GREAT!!! I met more great people that made me wonder why didn’t I meet them earlier in the first year. It’s not like I didn’t know them at all because I knew that they exist, just didn’t have the chance to get to know them. And I just want to thank them for making this year a great year. I did a lot of things that I never thought I’d do and I actually hung out with people that I never thought I would hang out with. I never thought I’d say this, but I felt like I was at home whenever I was around those people. Well, not exactly like home, but you know what I mean. And because of this, I actually feel sad of leaving this place. I am excited to go home because it HAS been almost 9 months since I went home, but still, I feel sad that I don’t get to see some of my friends here over the next 4 months. Of course, this year was not perfect either, but nothing is perfect in this world. Bu...

Summer Exam Timetable 18 May 2007 – Accounting & Finance 22 May 2007 – Environmental Politics, Policy and Law 24 May 2007 – Business Planning 29 May 2007 – Business Law 31 May 2007 – Marketing Research Techniques 1 June 2007 – Applied Economics Due to the upcoming final exam, I will not be updating this blog until further notice. Not that I will be studying a lot more than I am now, but it’s nice to prioritise my work at the moment. And between blogging and my study, I think it is wise for me to focus more on the later. Besides, between next week and the finals, I will have five more tests to take, so I’d better do get cracking on my revision from now. To all my friends, good luck for your final exam too! Hope to see most you back in Malaysia in June! And wish me luck! “A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers.” – Henry Louis Mencken.

So, in the end, President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad decides to – in his words – pardon the British soldiers allegedly trespassing into Iranian waters. While we will never know who was right in the first place, this news is certainly a very good news to everyone especially to the families of the captured soldiers. Put it in one of the soldier’s uncle, “whoever has been in the right or wrong, the whole thing has been a political mess, so let’s just get them home.” Some might say that his move is more of a face-saving gesture, but the fact that the President used statements like ‘in spirit of the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday and Easter Holiday’ and ‘the release of the soldiers as a present to the British people’ had certainly made the Iranian President the bigger man in this conflict. “Whenever you’re in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.” – William James. SOURCE: BBC

If I can have one superpower, I will chose to have the power of being able to by in any part of the world with just a blink of my eye. Once I have that kind of power, I can go home anytime I like, and go on holiday anytime I want. But since we live in a real world – where life is cruel, unkind, and unfair – I cannot really have that kind of superpower. Having said that, is there is a way to be happy in life? Of course there is, and what makes life happy is being able to love and be loved. For as long as we can love other people and let other people love us, for that long we shall be happy in this cruel, unkind, and unfair world. I watched Babel yesterday and I like the message in Babel especially the story about the two American couple having a holiday in Morocco. One interesting bit about that particular event is how government always acts like they know everything – which, sometimes they don’t – and almost risk someone’s life. When the wife was shot, she needs immediate medical atten...

I spent half hour today watching the debate on Trident nuclear plan in the House of Commons today. I found it interesting to see how any MPs can voice out their opinion about Trident regardless of what party they came from. In principle, Tony Blair’s government is insisting on the renewal of Trident nuclear plan and although they won the debate, they won because of the votes from the oppositions (Conservative and Liberal Democrats). Why is that interesting? It is interesting because all MPs in the House of Commons actually have their own mind. It is interesting because the MPs actually say what their constituents want them to say, even if it means having to go against their own party. Even if it means having to lose their job in the cabinet, they will always stand by their beliefs and principles. And that’s what politicians who understand the people should do. They should put people’s interest before their personal interests. As I watched the debate this evening, I began to wonder when...

Spring is here baby! "In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours." - Mark Twain.

If you ask me how was the Imperial College Malaysian Night last Saturday, I will only give one word – superb! I really enjoyed myself throughout the entire performance and I have to say ‘Great Job’ to everyone involved in the production of ‘A Silent Cacophony’. Hats off to the production team, the cast, the ensemble for putting up a very commendable show. Another Malaysian Night hosted by the Nottingham University will be held this Saturday but sadly, I will not be able to attend the event because of the PNB meeting the following day in London. I think I’ll leave you with one of my favourite parts of the last Saturday’s performance – the remake of ‘Stomp’. (Sorry Ijah for not making the Dikir Barat as my favourite performance Ha-ha). “Malaysian Night is a show that filled with the passion and spirit of the unique Malaysian culture. It is a show that is usually done by a Malaysia-related society within many tertiary-education institutions outside of Malaysia, to promote and introduce th...

Or Beginning July 2007, Imperial College London will formally pull itself out of University of London. And since I am graduating in 2008, I will have until 31st May 2007 to choose whether to have my degree awarded by the University of London or Imperial College London. This should be an easy decision to make because the right choice is very obvious – Imperial College London – but apparently not so easy because it also make sense to choose University of London degree. I am now consulting your opinion as to what choice should I make. So, - put it in Hillary Clinton’s words – let the conversation begins! Ha-Ha. “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” – Confucius.

Waktu terasa semakin berlalu, Tinggalkan cerita tentang kita, Akan tiada lagi kini tawamu, Tuk hapuskan semua sepi di hati, Teringat di saat kita tertawa bersama, Ceritakan semua tentang kita, Ada cerita tentang aku dan dia, Dan kita bersama saat dulu kala, Ada cerita tentang masa yang indah, Saat kita berduka saat kita tertawa. When I came back from London yesterday, I couldn’t help to feel how I miss the good old days and when I listened to ‘Semua Tentang Kita’ by Peter Pan this morning, all those memories kept coming back to me. Sometimes, it is worth it for us to just take a break and just have a good time with our friends. After spending most of my time in front of my laptop writing the longest essay that I have ever written in my life, the short trip to London last weekend was really worth it. It is nice to see all of my friends again after not seeing them for such a long time. And the highlight of my trip was when I met my former form three classmate after not seeing him for s...

I am not sure whether many of you know about this, but, I am pretty sure those in the UK will know. There is this show called Celebrity Big Brother, and honestly, I had never watched the show, hence, I know nothing about it except that I know that it exists. Anyway, since last week, I think, the show was hit with a controversy when a couple of people in the show were caught for being racists. They had been referring to Shilpa Shetty as ‘the Indian’. And making remarks on the fact that she used her hands to eat. Basically, everyone in the UK seems upset about this and the issue is now being debated in the House of Parliament. Some call for the show to be cancelled while some want a harsh warning is given to everyone in the show to avoid giving any kinds of racist comments. I had never watch it, so, I don’t really know about what was said in the show, other than what I read on the news. But I do think that although the comments made on the show sounded racists, those comments were not re...

Somehow or rather, my business law lecturer seems to have a great affection for Lord Denning. There was never a lecture where she didn’t say Lord Denning’s name. According to her, Lord Denning was very popular wit his wit and commanding prose in his judgement. I’ve tried a few times reading some of Lord Denning’s judgement and seriously I found nothing fascinating about it. Perhaps I am not a law enthusiast, hence, my limited understanding about this man called Lord Denning. Apparently, according to Wikipedia, Lord Denning took a mathematics degree at Magdalen College, Oxford. He graduated with a first class degree before became a teacher at Winchester College (KYUEM was inspired by Winchester College). After that, he came back to Magdalen College to study law and again graduated with a first class degree. This man must be genius. I don’t want to go down on his legal career because I think Faisal should know than anyone else about Lord Denning. It is enough for me to know that this man...

I guess some people in Imperial College are not as civilised as they are supposed to be. Why did I say so? Well, here it goes. Last two weeks, a guy told me that he finds that eating with hand is disgusting. He came out with arguments about bacteria and germs on our hands and the fact that how messy and disgusting it is. I didn’t say anything to him because I have other better things to do than to argue with him about something that is so trivial. And when this guy saw the Malaysian flag in the dining hall, he pointed out to me about the striking similarity between Malaysian flag and American flag. I told him I don’t know about the history about the flag but I acknowledged the similarity that both flag shared, end of conversation. But then he went on to say, “I think Malaysians just love to suck up to the Americans and Malaysians just can’t create their own flag.” I explained to him that having the same flag designs with other countries are not uncommon because it reflects the history ...