My Plastic and I

What’s the credit card for you?

I was checking my credit card record online the other day when I saw a RM95 charge I couldn’t remember what for. Yup, it wasn’t a big amount, but it would be such a hassle if somebody were to be going around with a copy of my credit card.

I use the credit card a lot because I don’t like to carry a lot of cash, and I use a front-pocket wallet, which cannot hold a lot of stuff. “You must collect a lot of reward points” commented my sister. I sure do. I even remember my credit card number, expiration date and CCV number, for all the online shopping I do; mostly buying cinema tickets every week. Actually there are a lot of advantages for not carrying cash around. First, there is security – you won’t lose much if you got mugged or pow-ed on the street. Secondly, you have a convenient excuse when people bug you to lend or donate them money – “I don’t have money, see!” Okay, those are only two advantages I can think of at the moment, but they are huge advantages.

Earlier, my mother was concerned that I would just be collecting credit card debt. There was even a relatively huge deal about Malaysian credit card indebtedness in the newspapers recently. PFFT! I use the credit card solely as a mode of payment, rather than a source of borrowing; so I never charge any amount larger than what I actually have in my bank account, and usually pay up even before the charges appear on the monthly statements.

And I have only one credit card. Why would I need more than one when they'll only stuff my wallet?

Okay, not the same kind of cards... Gambit by JPRart at deviantART

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PS: The RM95 was for a digital watch I was wearing at that very moment.

The New Wall

It’s almost Friday already. Last week I slept through much of the sermon because it was in Arabic. Then, after the congregation they announced a special prayer for the election. I was quite surprised by it – what could we possibly pray for, and perhaps more importantly which election? It turned out that it was for the election in Nigeria, not Ijok. The International Students Society requested for a special prayer for the safe conduct of the election. You read the news – the election didn’t go very well after all.

On Saturday, apart from watching TMNT, I also sent the A75 to be repaired, and bought a new camera – a PowerShot A710 IS. Since I had been thinking about it for a while, I guess I cannot say that it was an impulse buy. However, it sure feels like it, since even now I’m not sure why I bought the camera. Perhaps I should have known better not to get near, let alone enter, a shopping mall when I’m pissed off over something.

New wall, new camera

Monday and Tuesday, I was at a conference, off campus, which almost made it like a day (or two) off. Wearing a suit and tie for two full days was depressing – a reminder of another reason why I didn’t want to work in the corporate sector – while my mother bugged me about my light orange tie not matching my dark blue/black suit. I also received a call from the office – a failed former student of mine was terrorizing the department staff for my whereabout.

Wednesday, the student found me. He couldn’t believe that he failed. He failed two courses last semester: a course from his major and my course. The weird part is that he had no problem believing and accepting that he failed the other course, but refused to accept that he failed mine. WTF? I would imagine the typical student to have more problems failing a major course rather than some general broaden-your-mind course like Introduction to Economics. By the end of the meeting my voice was already up a few notches, and I was seriously seriously resisting a growing urge to give him a wallop, or at least a punch in the face. I suppose he got the vibe, and left saying something I’m not entirely sure what they mean.

After work I went to watch Wild Hogs. I love road-trip comedies.

Today was a day off for all government servants (which we sometimes are and sometimes aren't) in conjunction with the installation of the King, I woke up with the electricity out. My father was pissed off over the whole thing, somehow. I pretended in my head to be just as pissed off for not being able to watch the installation ceremony on television, knowing fully well that if the electricity were on, I would have slept through the whole thing anyway.

I am taking Friday and Monday off.

Square.I.Am

Fantasies aside, I have a very practical regard for cars, which means that I am so doomed to liking cars other people generally condemn as ugly tissue boxes on wheels. I love driving the Kenari for its excellent visibility, space, economy and maneuverability; so much so that when my parents ask me about buying a new car I tell them I’d buy another Kenari. It annoys them so much that I say it again and again, every chance I get, LOL.

RG-31 – The ideal family car if you live in downtown Baghdad

Really, why would I want to buy a new car? Firstly, I am, as it stands, contractually bound to go get myself a Ph.D., unless I want to consider an alternative career path, which I do not. So it makes no sense for me to buy a car only to go off somewhere for three to five years. Secondly, there is the sorry fact that cars in this country are obscenely overpriced, no thanks to our ambition of being a car-making nation. Malaysia Boleh!

Anyway, getting back to auto-boxes, another car that has my attention lately (as in the past few years since I saw it) is the Renault Kangoo – ugly as hell, but I find kinda exciting, somehow. The car has personality, just like the Kenari.

The Tumbler (Chicks Love The Car/OutNow.CH photo)

BTW, if I were to have a dream car, now, it would be the Tumbler from Batman Begins. But then, you can ask me about it again tomorrow.

Stardust Memories

I went to watch Sunshine firstly because I have a totally irrational idea that I have to go watch a movie at least once a week, and it was the only movie I haven’t watched and would even consider watching. In retrospect though, there really is no reason why I wouldn’t pick Sunshine: it is a science fiction (or science fantasy, take your pick) movie set in space, doesn’t have any actor on my don’t-watch list, and has a Malaysian in it. Well, okay, the last part didn’t really matter, but I was mildly excited (which is about as excited as I can be) that the director was Danny Boyle. His previous works Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, and Millions are some of my top favorites.

The theater was basically empty when I saw the movie. What can I say; you can either like SF or hate it. I’m just glad that people still make SF movies.

Looking forward for 28 Weeks Later to come out!

I went to watch TMNT today because I needed an excuse to get out of the house, and turtles were just about as good as any.

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QUICKIE: The worst movie I ever watched in a cinema was Power Rangers: The Movie in 1995. It was SPM week, and we sneaked out to catch the midnight show before the final Biology paper the next day.

PS: I got A1 in Biology.

Walking with Alice

I have one disturbed mind – . Save us ALICE . by amihedgehog at deviantART

We have a briefing session with new students tomorrow and I'm supposed to say something as student advisor. We had a similar briefing with first year students last semester when I also had to give a little speech, basically to promote the department. Tomorrow is different, as they are fresh new intakes who just came in for registration today. Most will be from the matriculation centre, or Centre for Foundation Studies (CFS), as they call it now, while some will be direct-intake students. Unlike the previous audience, these students won’t have to decide whether they want to join the Accounting, Business or Economics departments for another year.

What do I tell them?

Welcome to the Garden of Knowledge and Virtue. You are about to begin what could be the most amazing four years of your life, when you will discover yourselves, good and bad; build relationships that may last your entire lifetime, and prepare yourselves to take on the world.

PFFT! Like that will work.

What is the value of university education anyway? What is university education?

An ustaz who taught me to read the Quran told a story about a man who traveled to another village to see a famous teacher to learn the religion. The teacher accepted the man as his student, but instead of actually teaching him religion, the teacher had the man doing menial work around his house. The man was puzzled, but wouldn’t dare confronting the teacher about his education. So he stayed with the teacher for several years doing all sorts of work, everything the teacher told him to do, without even once sitting down for a real lesson. One day the teacher simply told the man that his lesson was complete and he should return to his village. You can guess the rest: the man returned to his village, somehow discovered that he was *educated* after all, and went on to become a famous teacher himself.

Where I’m going with this? (No idea myself)

A student came to see me a few months back because he had to. He was one of the students whose file I have, supposedly for monitoring, for having poor grades. Interestingly he came from a very good school, so I asked why he was performing so poorly. “Motivation” he said. All he could think of was money, and how to get rich, and he only stayed in school because of his parents.

Where am I going with this? (Again) (No idea, really)

Perhaps I should tell the students that they are not in school anymore, and learning in university is (or at least it’s supposed to be) different from school. They should figure out why they are here, and what they expect to get after four years. University education is not the be all and end all, and the most important lessons they can learn is often not found in the classrooms and textbooks.

But then again, most likely I’ll just tell them a little bit about the program, who I am, who the head of the department is, and that they should come see a staff member for information instead of asking their seniors.

Post-Traumatic Stress

The timing was perfect: I finished marking the final exam scripts – finally – and uploaded the results into the system on Monday morning, looking forward to cool my head down a bit with some light browsing only to find the university internet connection was down.

PFFT!

I failed quite a handful of students this time. Now, that last sentence can be read in different ways, huh? But I’ll leave it at that. Every time students screw up you just can’t help thinking that somehow it has something to do with you. Maybe I am not a very good instructor, yet, but at the same time I strongly feel that our students are too pampered for their own good.

One thing that really drove me nuts was the English. While I definitely don’t expect perfect grammar, which I don’t have myself, the level of English is appalling, especially considering that we are an English (and Arabic) language-based institution, and the average Malaysian student is supposed to have at least twelve years of English in school and matriculation. Instead of variables increasing or decreasing, I was reading “demand will up”. Half of the time I had such a difficult time trying to understand what was being written – the handwriting didn’t help – that I wanted to just tear the answer books into tiny little pieces and burn them.

Seems to be a recurring theme – +Mr. Pain+ by Jack666rulez at deviantART

The ‘bullet-point generation’, that’s what I’m calling the students we have now. They can’t be bothered to read textbooks, which they find confusing and suffocating, depending instead on bullet-point notes. Since they didn’t read the textbooks in the first place, most of the students didn’t even prepare their own notes. Frighteningly, many are relying solely on PowerPoint handouts, wherever they get them from – all facts but no context.

On the lighter side, chances are students will avoid taking my classes in the coming semester. Fewer students mean fewer scripts to mark, YAY! Bad news for the HS/RK students though, as I’ll still be the only instructor for ECON1500.

:-P

Indecent Proposal

‘Love letter’

By the time you were in Form 5 in an all-boys boarding school, there was almost nothing left in your closet, nothing you could possibly do, that could be so embarrassing or humiliating in front of your classmates. However, a classmate was once humiliated by our Physics teacher for requesting for some extra marks after test. I doubt the humiliation lasted more than a few seconds, but Mr. Pang did left me some lasting points about the whole ‘begging for marks’ practice.

A student came to see me today asking for a pass. I was reading the newspaper at the department lounge when he came in and ‘summoned’ me to the counter. He said that his standing marks are very low, and he thought that he did poorly in the final examination as well. So he came to ask me for a pass, perhaps by giving him some additional assignments.

What nerve!

There was no way that I was going to help him; not this late. Very low standing marks obviously point to an attitude problem and he had the whole semester to sort whatever problems he had, academically or otherwise, and get help. He certainly never came to see me even once. And now he came, dengan muka tak mandi, without so much of even a polite greeting, asking basically for a free pass.

It would be grossly unfair to the rest of the class if I were to give him the opportunity to earn some extra marks, though only to pass, as others can also use them to promote their grades.

It maybe a bit naïve on my part to be feeling shocked at the attempt; another student already came to see me with the same thing last semester. What troubles me is whatever gives these students the idea that they could even ask for such a thing.

Superficial Distractions

I only started marking the final examination scripts today, and so far it has been surprisingly “smooth”, if you get what I mean. I’ll write more about it when I finish.

I can’t believe that I’m missing the camera, of all things. Well, I’m not particularly missing the broken PowerShot A75, but a camera in general. There were times when I wanted to just grab the camera and snap something, only to realize that I don’t have it anymore. Yes, so much for a mere toy!

The camera is still with my sister. When my sister first told and showed me that the camera was broken, I told her to replace it. Of course, I wasn’t serious about it, but I suppose she took it that I was. She talked about having it repaired, and has made some enquiries about it.

Anyway, I’m already thinking about buying a new one, perhaps an A640 or A710 IS. But it’s the same story as before: do I really want a new phone, oops, camera?

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DISCLAIMER: Bored in-the-middle-of-marking sanity check entry.

Cracked Rear View

Best question during last week’s examinations:

“How much do I need to pass?”

How do you react to such a question? A quick smack in the head would be great, but I don’t think the university will let me get away with it. So I just gave a puzzled look, and imagined giving the student a smack in the head.

I’m having Hootie & the Blowfish on my playlist this week, thanks to last week’s episode 3 of October Road. I went to my very first live concert when they came here a decade ago. Somehow, Ahmad managed to sell it to the school that they were a folk band! So off we went to Kuala Lumpur on a school-sanctioned trip to a rock concert. It was a simple concert with no fireworks or special effects, but the band was awesome and we were up jumping most of the time. It was hilarious that Anan was always jumping out of sync with the rest of the crowd. Finally, to complete the whole ‘school trip’ experience, Miss Jess smelled our fingers at the end of the night to make sure that none of us smoked any cigarettes.

One thing I like about Hootie & the Blowfish is their simple, narrative songs. Honestly though, I don’t really listen to the lyrics of the songs I listen to; it has always been about the tune. The lyrics may finally register after a while, sometimes, but the melody and the singer’s vocal expression are often enough to convey the emotion and the mood. And that’s all that matters, I think, the emotion that a song is supposed to convey.

A weird thing is I tend to visualize a massive aerial combat whenever I listen to a classical symphony or a heavy metal song. If I can create an animated piece on it I’d call it symphony of destruction, or stillness in chaos – finding peace in your own self amidst surrounding chaos and destruction.

Maybe I should get myself psychoanalyzed one day.

Sad Caper
by Hootie & the Blowfish, from the album Fairwheather Johnson (1996)

I know she said
Before you left me you were free
So I’ll just lay me down

Control has left me
And I can’t feel another thing
So let me turn around

Do you really want to play these games
Just to keep things going
Or are you ready now to let it be
It’s like sometimes you want to see the rain
But the sun gets in your eyes
And you want to die now

Control has left me
And I can’t feel another thing
So let me turn around
I see I see
But things just couldn’t be the same
So let me hold you down

Never let me down I swore to you
But now I lied
I’m here to make it all seem worth while

You want I know
But I’ll have to try
To find a way to make me quiet now

Control has left me
And I can’t feel another thing, so let me turn around
I see I see
But things just couldn’t be the same
So won’t you hunt her down

I know she said
Before you left me you were free
So Ill just lay me down

Speed

I'm gong nuts! (Dreamworks/Yahoo! Movies photo)

What am I doing up at 3.30 in the morning?

Every once in a while – maybe like once in a year or something – I'll find myself lying in bed with a drowning feeling like the three-dimensional space/world is collapsing, and everything is spinning and moving in high speed. So I was just going to sleep earlier – there's an exam to invigilate tomorrow – when “Oh, @#$%, there it goes!” The @!#$-ing world is spinning. It's like I'm on speed or something – not that I've tried any – but it really feels like everything is moving in a flash and I’m on sensory overload!

The thing is once the @#$% starts, it won't stop. Telling myself that it's all in my head (I guess) and to get it done with won't work. So here I am, trying to exorcise the damn *thing* off my mind.

I wonder what it's all about. Hopefully it's not like I'm going crazy or anything; I've been having it since I was a kid, and back then when getting off bed after hours was not an option, it actually did drove me nuts.

I @!#$-ing need to get back to sleep.