Here, Again

a touch from being together
a tear for being apart
although you're not by my side
you're always in my heart

missing you.

.MISSING YOU. by evol1314 on deviantART

And so we're coming to the end of yet another trip around the sun, the year 2006CE.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha, and Happy New Year 2007.

Conclusions

A student who failed my class last semester was in her final semester and applied for a resit. As a student, I knew nothing about resit exams except that graduating students can opt for a resit exam in lieu of repeating a subject for a whole semester. This particular student did okay in her coursework, but failed because she did very poorly in the final exam. I honestly thought that she would get a pass with the resit. However, it turns out that resit exams are evaluated on a pass or fail basis, based solely on the resit paper. Without her coursework, she fails the resit as well.

Tentang Bulan may well be my last movie for 2006. It is the first Malaysian (Malay) movie I that watch in years. Will the next take another decade?

The huge flood in Johor could be the worst in a century. People always like to have someone to blame, but how can you prepare for (supposedly) the worst flood in a century? Just remember New Orleans and Katrina in 2005. I bet Abuya had nothing to do with that one.

By the way, does Ashaari Muhammad has any relation with Shoko Asahara?

New Year's Day
by U2, from the album War (1983)

All is quiet on New Year's Day
A world in white gets underway
I want to be with you, be with you night and day
Nothing changes on New Year's Day
On New Year's Day

I... will be with you again
I... will be with you again

Under a blood-red sky
A crowd has gathered in black and white
Arms entwined, the chosen few
The newspaper says, says
Say it's true, it's true...
And we can break through
Though torn in two
We can be one

I... I will begin again
I... I will begin again

And so we are told this is the golden age
And gold is the reason for the wars we wage
Though I want to be with you
Be with you night and day
Nothing changes
On New Year's Day.

Adam Clayton plays awesome bass!

Bono receives an honorary knighthood – is there a different, un-honorary or dis-honorary kind of knighthood? They say that since he’s Irish, he won’t be able to use the title “Sir”.

Yeah, whatever. Students call me “sir”.

Great Wonders

Alleged "Kilt shortage" among Scottish army units

There are no problems whatsoever with Army kilts in Scotland. We have plenty of kilts for ceremonial duties, and the Scottish battalions are happy with the situation. At the request of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, the kilts are being trialled to ensure soldiers get the most comfortable material for a variety of weather, with the best clarity of colour and pattern. Nor is there any delay to the buying of kilts. As a Government department we must adhere to international procurement law, to ensure there is open and fair competition for all businesses that want to bid for the contract. This process does not happen overnight, and it is important that we get the right quality product at the right price.

UK Ministry of Defence; December 18, 2006

I suppose not many people read or care about defence-related news, except for Alpha, but the above press statement by the UK Ministry of Defence is really funny. It was released in response to press reports that a shortage of kilts was forcing five thousand troops of the Royal Regiment of Scotland to share one pleated skirt between fifteen men. There are two things here that we can learn: First, the British care about equipping their troops well, even ceremonial skirts. Secondly, the UK Ministry of Defence has a strong enough sense of maintaining a good public image to response to the news reports directly and quickly. In fact, I think that the UK Ministry of Defence maintains among the most people-friendly website compared to those of other countries.

* * * * *

I was waiting for the elevator at a local mall during the weekend to go four floors up when I was joined by three teenagers. For a building with only six levels, including a basement level, the elevators were painfully slow. One of the teens pressed the button to go down. We were at the ground floor and they had to take the elevator to go one floor down to the basement level! The elevator shafts are just next to a stairwell, and there are two escalators serving the floors.

An elevator opened, going down, and they went in. One of them even managed to get herself colliding with the door on the way in.

Then, a woman joined me. The same elevator returned, opened its doors, and we stepped in. I pressed for the fourth floor, and she pressed for the first floor.

I really had to laugh.

It reminded me about people who would rather drive around looking and waiting for an empty parking space, even parking illegally, so that they can walk no further than five meters from the car to the door, when there plenty of empty spaces elsewhere.

Then, when I got to the fourth floor parking area, I saw a man squeezing to park his car, yes, illegally, right in front of the elevator when there were thirty to forty empty spaces everywhere.

I couldn't make myself laugh at this one.

Read, Watch, and Learn

This new semester has got me busier than usual, so far. I’m teaching five classes this time around, one class beyond the standard workload of four classes per semester, because of a huge demand for one of the courses. They are paying me extra for that, of course, but it will definitely bite me later with the extra assignments, quizzes, and exam papers to mark. Seniors are already coming to see me about the practical training program in the coming April – June, apart from the occasional students looking for the student advisor’s signature to drop a course.

The funny thing is I actually feel good about the whole thing. I can imagine, though, that my idea of a busy day or a busy week is nothing compared to what my friends at BNM or the private sector have.

In the meantime, if any of you people even take notice of the far right column, I’ve just finished reading two consecutive military SF novels by Steven L Kent. The Clone Republic and Rogue Clone, both published in this very year, tell the story of Wayson Harris, a clone Marine. The story is set in the 26th century, when humanity has spread across the Milky Way, with no aliens, at the brink of a galactic civil war. I’m definitely looking forward for the follow-up, Clone Alliance.

Eragon, the movie, was a let down for me. Of course, I can’t help comparing it to The Lord of the Rings trilogy (again the movies, not the books). Perhaps they should have taken a cue from Peter Jackson and made the movie two and a half hours long as well. Even The Chronicles of Narnia was over two hours. Reading the book, the Angela that I imagined looks nothing like Joss Stone; and weren’t they supposed to meet in a city?

Nessie sounds like Rachel Weisz (20th Century Fox/Yahoo! Movies photo)

(By the way, when is Book 3 of the Inheritance trilogy coming out?)

Before that on Monday the 11th, Olan at first suggested that we watch Cicak-Man. But I was the one buying the tickets, and how I was glad that I bought tickets for The Host instead! That gekko-man thing can wait till it gets out on TV next Raya. That's if I even want to watch it then.

Bakar asked me today whether I've decided to make teaching my career. He came for the National Career Carnival. To be honest I've never thought about doing anything else since I joined the university. It's a great feeling to teach – my own small contribution to the world.

The Blind Leading The Blind

Strange as it seems, no amount of learning can cure stupidity, and higher education positively fortifies it.

Stephen Vizinczey (1933 - ), An Innocent Millionaire

A student dropped by my office earlier this week to ask about her course load. She is a new, direct-intake student with a pre-sessional status. New students joining the university are tested for Arabic and English placement tests. If they fail to meet certain standards, they are required to take remedial courses and classified as pre-sessional with limited course load. When I joined IIUM I had to take remedial courses in Arabic. This particular student is taking a class in English listening skills.

She came to see me because she was worried that she had not registered for enough courses. Other students, university officials and lecturers were giving her different answers, and she was confused. So, she finally came to see me, the stand-in student advisor. It turns out that she has registered for more courses than she needs to. Full-time students need to register for twelve to fifteen credit hours per semester. Pre-sessional students need only register for six credit hours. She already has eleven and a half.

She was smart to come to see me. Most students, especially those coming from the matriculation program, rely on their friends and seniors for information. Direct intake students do not have friends or seniors they know from matriculation to turn to. They usually arrive at the university only a few days before the beginning of the semester, sometimes even on the first day of the semester itself. The university does not have an arrangement in place to help them specifically, so they typically spend the first week, with class registration and adjustments, running around feeling lost and abandoned. Last week one of them actually got around to submitting a complaint over the system that “discriminates against direct intake students in favor of students from the matriculation program”.

I know exactly how they feel, as I experienced the exact same thing when I first joined the university eight years ago. Obviously something has to be done about it. Eventually, however, these students will find their way to a student advisor. Here comes the irony: since ex-matriculation students have friends and seniors to refer to, they almost never see a student advisor. So later on in the program we tend to see them having all sorts of problems with their studies as a result of receiving the wrong advices and information from their fellow friends and seniors. The direct intake students, having received the correct information through consulting a student advisor, do not have the same problems.

I remember classmates coming from the matriculation program taking more language courses than they had too simply because the seniors told them so. Even after showing them the program curriculum structure, they chose to believe the equally clueless seniors instead!

The Fox Ate It

For a long time Opera was my favorite browser, until Firefox came along. The best thing about Firefox, apart from the tabbed browsing feature MS made such a deal when they released IE7, is the extensions. And two extensions I now almost cannot imagine having without are Adblock Plus (ABP) and NoScript. ABP blocks ads and banners, while NoScript blocks pesky JavaScripts and other executables. Both are highly customizable.

So now I don't have to wait for all the banners and scripts to load when I browse the Internet. Of course, some websites cannot work without the scripts, but now I can choose which scripts I want to allow to run. Cool, though it also means that I tend to miss most of the fancy functionalities people like to put on their blogs. But hey, the idea here is about control; seeing only what you want to see. I'd say that it's way better than TiVo, or that rip-off they're calling Astro MAX.

Totally unrelated song (lyrics) follows:

Free Bird
by Lynyrd Skynyrd, from the album Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd (1973)

If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be travelling on, now
'Cause there's too many places I've gotta see
But if I stayed here with you, girl
Things just couldn't be the same
'Cause I'm as free as a bird now
And this bird you cannot change
The Lord knows, I can't change

Bye, bye, baby it's been sweet love
Though this feeling I can't change
But please don't take it so badly
'Cause the Lord knows I'm to blame
But if I stayed here with you girl
Things just couldn't be the same
Cause I'm as free as a bird now
And this bird you cannot change
And this bird you cannot change
The Lord knows, I can't change
Lord help me, I can't change.

Hide and Seek

The first day of a semester is rarely a good day. In fact, the first week of any semester is typically described as a long, chaotic, exhausting, and trying week. Today is the first day of Semester 2 of the 2006/2007 session.

I arrived this morning to find that I have four overloaded classes. Registration beyond the upper maximum number of forty-five (the nominal maximum class size is forty) is supposed to require approval from the course instructor. I was definitely surprised, but decided not to spoil my day by getting annoyed. Then, I found out that I was made course coordinator for one of the courses, and had to prepare the course outline like, yesterday. To top them all, I went to my first class to find the lecture room occupied by another class.

But I was in a good mood today, and I didn’t want to spoil that good mood. So I got everything straightened up – found myself another lecture room a few doors down, completed and distributed the course outline, and go hide.

The first week of the semester is commonly known as the add-and-drop period, or officially the adjustment period. This is when students are given the opportunity to register and deregister courses, quite literally, as they wish. While most of the activities are concentrated around the many computer labs, serving as online registration centers, many students will also go around hunting for lecturers to sign manual registration forms. Manual registration is meant for students who are not able to register online on their own for various reasons like having failed the course previously or failing a prerequisite course and messing up their study plan by running out of courses they could take. Others, however, are just too lazy to wait for a free terminal at the labs.

My classes are full already, so, instead of having to endure the endless knocking on my door, I took refuge at the department office.

Still, I signed three forms today. One was a former student, who failed the last time and wanted to take another shot with me, while the other two waited outside my office till the end of the workday – got to give them credit for the effort.

Crop Circles

We now have a wireless network at home!

I had the silliest dream this morning – the Super Hornet was a car that looked a lot like a Mustang, and some Air Force guys took it for a spin and clocked just under 4 seconds going 0-100kph. “Not bad,” they said, and I was thinking what a stupid dream it was. Believe me, it’s no fun to be thinking that you’re having a stupid meaningless dream – while you're dreaming it – and couldn’t do a thing about it. What a waste of dream time!

Then my mother woke me up.

The 2005 Ford Mustang GT – 4th and Western by `dangeruss on deviantART

My brother had car trouble on his way to work, and was stranded at the Sungai Buloh overhead bridge. Since it was supposed to be some kind of an emergency, showering first was out of the question. I figured it shouldn’t take long, so I just put on yesterday’s clothes and drove to meet him.

The windshield was cracked to a billion pieces. He said that it just happened in a sudden while he was driving. One second everything was fine, and the next, “BOF!” the windshield sort of imploded. He didn’t think that it would be safe for him to drive all the way to a workshop, so we called up PLUS and had a chat for one whole hour until the service truck showed up. In the end, they weren’t very helpful at all – I suspect they just didn’t want to spoil their morning by actually doing some work – so we ended up driving to Kota Damansara ourselves to find a repair shop.

The Boeing Super Hornet – Landing in Motion by *Lesabre1974 on deviantART

And the damn truck drivers kept honking at us along the way even as we had our hazard lights on!

It was a busy repair shop and they said that the car will only be ready at 1 p.m. My brother asked if I could drive him to his office as he needed to drop some documents. He had already decided to take the day off. By the time we got to KL, all that sticky feeling all over from not having had a morning shower was already gone, thanks to full blast air conditioning. So when my brother got back down I asked him, “Where do we want to go next?”

We ended up going to Pertama to pick up my magazine, before going to KLCC to visit the ongoing PC Fair. That’s when my brother decided that he wanted to buy a wireless router and adapter card. I bought a LightScribe DVD writer and a flash drive myself.

Electrical Storm

Everybody knows that it is rainy(-er) season now in Malaysia with the northeast monsoon in full strength. Here in the Klang Valley it rains practically everyday in the late afternoon to evening. We had quite an electrical storm on Wednesday night that the circuit breaker tripped a few times, and I found out later that my PC network adapter connector was fried.

Mother asked if she/I should call Dell to send a technician to take a look at the computer. Father asked me a whole bunch of questions about the problem. He still thinks that he knows a lot about computers just because he had a course on computers twenty years ago – which also introduced me to the PC when he brought one home – and got an A. I tried to explain to him the best I could about what (I think) is the problem and what (I think) needs to be done to fix the PC, but it's just that – he knows cars, I know computers. I know nothing about cars. On another day, he would be the one all irritated because I didn't get a thing he was saying about the car.

LOL.

So my home PC has a new network card installed.

Totally unrelated, apart from the title, obviously, song follows:

Electrical Strom
by U2, from the album The Best of 1990-2000 (2002)

The sea it swells like a sore head
And the night it is aching
Two lovers lie with no sheets on their bed
And the day it is breaking

On rainy days we'd go swimming out
On rainy days swimming in the sound
On rainy days we'd go swimming out

You're in my mind all of the time
I know that's not enough
If the sky can crack there must be someway back
For love and only love

Electrical storm
Electrical storm
Baby don't cry

Car alarm won't let you back to sleep
You're kept awake dreaming someone else's dream
Coffee is cold but it'll get you through
Compromise that's nothing new to you

Let's see colours that have never been seen
Let's go to places no one else has been

It's hot as hell, honey, in this room
Sure hope the weather will break soon
The air is heavy, heavy as a truck
We need the rain to wash away our bad luck

How much of our mother/father is in us, I mean, beyond the fact that they each gave us half our genes?