of food, ketupat-making and knowledge sharing...

What a great way to start a day - a hefty brunch with friends who you'd some time take for granted when you have too many things to do. The semester break is almost over. Many have gone for a long leave. Some are still in the office to clear things up before classes start.

In order to make things not to gloomy especially on the level where my room is (most of my "negihbours" are on leave. So it's been very quiet up here), a few of us decided to have a "brunch party". It's been a long time since we had such makan-makan session. Although food is of course an important element of such gathering (mana ada sesi makan yang takde makanan!), but the best part is always the "ketupat-making" session. From one perspective, I would see this as a "knowledge-sharing" session. I strongly think so because most of the time you are relating something that others might not know yet, or something that need further discussion and something that one can learn more about and ambil iktibar darinya. Topics included academics, politics and of course, kalau dalam newspaper term, "human interests" which was a hit. Tak payahle mention kat sini apa-apa dia. Suffice to say, memang interesting.

The food is still a lot left. Maybe we might have a second helping later. No they will not go to waste. Everything is getting expensive these days. So tokleh buang makanan... berdosa! Lagipun kat Afrika tu ramai yang tak makan. Kat Mesia pun ada gamaknya...

1 down, many to go....

Just got back from KL yesterday after a 3-day conference. No, I'm not a presenter but the organiser. If you've been involved in organising such event, you should know how tiring it can be. I'm aching all over. Sat gi nak kena pi dengar talk by one of the keynote speakers, James McCroskey, yang attended the conference tu kat sini pulak. Since we are the host, kenale entertain dia. Cuti dibekukan to make sure that everybody are there to listen to his talk. As for me,I don't know if I'll be able to open my eyes and ears to listen to whatever he wants to say. At the moment, what I want is a good sleep and a massage. Kalau pi massage, mesti akan terbelahak sepanjang masa...

Talk about the conference, I didn't even get the opportunity to listen to most of the presentation sebab sibuk doing other things. From the titles listed in the programme book, there were quite a number of interesting topics presented. A friend who attended the conference complained that she did not get to have a conversation with me because I was always "having things to do". Bukan tak mau nak sit down dengan friends especially yang susah nak jumpa but I was not able to get away from my duty. We did not bring any support staff to help out b'coz it will incur big budget. So yang buat kerja-kerja tu semuanya tutors and lecturers. So it won't be fair to impose a lot on them especially those yang memang already bombarded with lots of things to do from the very beginning.

Aynway the good side is I got to meet some old friends who I have not met for quite a while, and made some new friends. New knowledge? Well, there are a few. The good thing is some of the presentation materials are stored in my laptop! The conference is over and of course not without headaches and heartaches. But the best part of it all is that I got to see the true colours of the people I worked with...

That's that. One task is completed. A few more to do. I have to straigthen my ISO files (which I find is so unnecessary and money-wasting especially when you are working in a university that claims to be a "management university". You should be able to manage well and come out with a more feasible and workable system in order to make sure that the standard of your organisation systems are superb!) I see this ISO thing as an opportunity for consultants to make money. I mean, why do we need to have these ISO people coming in to tell us what is best for us when they are not even in the system? Besides we already have an internal auditor (kat sini ada unit kualiti) and the auditors from the ministry. Banyak sangat ke duit kita yang nak dihabiskan when budget for all other important and necessary things is being slashed?...

Next weekend will be another weekend in KL... Penat but it's something that I have to do. I'm teaching a PJJ class on saturday. Then back to Kedah on sunday and before I realise it, I am already in the lecture hall giving a lecture to 200 students. And my classes are on sundays and Tuesdays....

Two more days to "doomsday". BZ,BZ,BZ... so much work, too little time. Most of my working hours are spent on the conference thingy that I almost forgot about the proposals that I had to read, and write. By the time I recover from all the stress, the students are already back in campus and the cycle continues. Shouldn't complain as I already had my fair share of fun in the sun - literally. Can hardly wait for this conference to be over.

Baru nak terbit mimpi yang tak include conferences, some very "enthusiastic" academic friends had already proposed the theme for the next conference. Haiiya, boleh tak jangan pikiaq pasai tu yet. Baru nak lega sikit kepala otak dah nak pikiaq sapa nak kena buat apa pulak!!

Miss the days where I can lepak-lepak with my beloved gang badak. Read my dear friend's blog just now. Thanks Intang for the nice words about me. My badak friends are the bestest of friends that I ever have. We did so many undescribable but fun and exciting things together. Nothing outrageous but great enough to stay and linger in your mind forever. Intang, cikwang, chor, shil, shaida, love u all.

Oklah, that's all my graffito for now. Nak paste gambaq belum ada time nak browse cari yang cun. later le...

first words

Assalamualaikum and greetings.

These are my first words. I'm just getting started. Never thought of having my own blog. But after reading some friends' blogs, it looks interesting to have one. Anyway, I don't have much to write this time. After all it's sunday, and my weekend was not that interesting to write about. After being away for 10 days, the weekend was spent cleaning up the house. Tiring.

Looks like for next few fortnights I'll be away again. Now that the price of petroleum has gone up, I have to think more than three times before deciding to drive whenever I have to travel out station. No doubt I'm able to claim for mileage, but the rate is still the same. Maknanya takda untung ooo....

Okaylah for now. To those who happen to come across this page, welcome. Do drop a comment or two. Till next time....