University, but mostly about Chemistry.

Phew, it's been quite a while since I last posted huh? Yup, it sure has. Okay, let's cut down to the chase. What is it that I'm going to talk about? University. Hell yeah. All right, first thing's first. Roommates.



As the picture above boldly demonstrates, that's a plan of my room. Okay, to clarify a bit, in case you were wondering, the little squares with L's on them represent the lockers, and the white line to the right represents the door. I've circled the D compartment simply to show that that's where I've been spending my nights in university so far. That's my compartment. So, back to roommates. To make things easier, I'll explain my roommates in the following form.

Compartment A: Faiz
From?: Terengganu
Course: Nursing
Talkativeness: Quiet
Comments: This dude is nice, but rarely strikes up a conversation.


Compartment B: Amnan
From?: Penang
Course: Dentistry
Talkativeness: Quiet, but at times can be talkative.
Comments: This dude is a year older than me, but in his first year because he
went for Darul Quran after SPM. Exempted from both Arabic and English.
Comes into my compartment sometimes when I'm playing Plants vs Zombies
(He plays the game too) Watched Ninja Assassin in his compartment with
all of my roommates, talked a lot then, quiet again after. ._.


Compartment C: Hakim
From?: Johor
Course: Dentistry
Talkativeness: Same as Compartment B
Comments: This dude also went for Darul Quran, therefore he's a year older than me too. Exempted from taking Arabic. I recently started reading Quran with him. Quite friendly, and probably the one I get along most with. Sleeps in different positions, sometimes this way, sometimes the other, and sometimes on his study desk.

Generally, all of my roommates are nice people. However, they all lack the liveliness of the crowd that I'm used to hanging out with. Precisely the reason why I always go to other rooms when I'm bored. Ashraaf's room being the room I go to everyday. xD

Lecturers? Let's see, I have 3 subjects, 4 if you include Tilawah. For Biology, Bro Azyril is my lecturer. He rocks! Then for Chemistry, Miss Kamilah. She's......ugh. When she's nice, she's really nice, but she can be a serious ass at other times. I'll tell a story in a bit. Then there's Arabic, which for every Arabic class in a week, I have a different lecturer. I think my class is the only one like that. xD So on Monday it's Ustad Fairuz. He's pretty cool. On Thursday it's Ustazah Dr. Fatimah. She's a Chinese Muslim. Then on Friday it's Ustazah Syakirah, the youngest of the lot. Same age as my Chemistry teacher! They're both 24. And finally for Tilawah, it's Ustad Ahmad Nazri.

Okay, so about my Chemistry teacher. Last Wednesday, we had to go to the lab to do an experiment. As usual, the boys sat in front, and the girls behind. This experiment required a computer to collect data, and since there were only 2 computers in the front, the boys divided into 2 groups of about 5-6 people each. Halfway through the experiment, the teacher suddenly said "Eh, kenapa ramai sangat dalam satu group ni?!" We told her that there were only two computers in front, then she said "Awak tak boleh jalan pergi belakang ke? Kat belakang tu computer punya lah banyak." Of course, we never thought of that. I mean, we're always in front. We didn't do it on purpose.

However, just because we had too many members in one group, she asked all of the boys to stay after class. Class was from 4pm-6pm, but the experiment finished a little bit earlier, so by 5.45, all of the girls, the teacher excluded, had already left. She didn't look happy, but she kept putting on this face with a sinister smile. Honestly, I felt like punching her in the mouth. Sitting down with her arms folded, she asked us to stand with our "assigned" partners. So that's what we did, and we all stood in pairs. Then she asked why we weren't paired like this when we were doing the experiment. Why else? There were only two freaking computers to work with in front, and we didn't notice there were more at the back. BEHIND the girls. Of course, when one of my friends told her we didn't because the boys are always in front, she just said in an extremely annoying tone, arms still folded, and staring as if she was trying to pierce through you with her eyes, "Awak tak boleh suruh perempuan anjak ke belakang ke? Nak jugak group ramai macam tu? Padahal experiment senang je."

Everyone went quiet for a while, then the teacher said that if we could come up with one reasonable reason, she'd let us all go. So I gave it a shot. I asked her "Miss perasan kan dari awal kita dah memang group ramai macam ni?" She said "Perasan, tu sebab saya tegur." Then I said "Tapi kenapa Miss biar je kita sambung buat experiment? Padahal masa banyak lagi. Sempat je kalau nak buat balik kat belakang. Kitaorg igt kita buat benda yg betul sebab Miss tak suruh pergi belakang. So kita sambung je la buat." Then she said "Awak semua dah besar, tak perlu cikgu nak marah2. Sama la mcm Aiman slalu datang lewat, cikgu tak cakap apa2 pun kan? Tadi ada kawan kamu mintak cikgu nk buat balik kt blakang, tp cikgu ckp tak payah, sbb kesian." I don't see how her answer relates much to my point, and I also don't see how asking us to stay after class is "kesian". I'd rather much have just done the experiment again. Finally, one of my friends said we didn't go use the other computers at the back because we didn't think of it. It was OUR fault. The teacher seemed happy with the answer and said. "Okay, boleh diterima. Awak tak terfikir untuk ke belakang, sama jugak macam saya tak TERFIKIR saya nak lab report awak esok. By hook or by crook, esok pagi awak smua kna hantar lab report masa kelas." Then she smiled and left.

It was already 6pm. We all had class at 9pm-10.30pm that night. There wasn't much time to finish the report. Class was at 9am the next morning, and we usually get ONE WEEK to complete and submit a report. So we all went back, commenting on the absurd punishment of our "wrongdoing" as we walked. I was determined to finish the report. We all were. So I went back to my room, took a look at the report, and realised that the teacher hadn't even taught us the topic yet. How the heck was I supposed to write a proper report? I didn't really care how my report turned out at that point, I just wanted to get it done. Needless to say, I didn't go for tarawih that night. Neither did my friends. We did as much as we could before Biology class, went for class, came back, and got back to it. By 11.45pm, I was already done with my report. And this, was what I wrote in the final paragraph of my discussion.

"I found it hard to complete this report because I have not learned the theory of it yet. Having to complete it in such a short time span did not help either. Hopefully, next time I will be taught the contents of the experiment before having to submit a report. InsyaAllah."

And as they say, the rest is history.


-Sh4by1-

STUFF

I've been meaning to post this for the past couple of days, but I've just been too tired. =.= Okay, first of all, I'm now back in Malaysia! =D Arrived last Thursday at around 5.30pm. Let me just cut to the chase. Basically, the next day I was supposed to register at the Centre for Foundation Studies, IIUM Petaling Jaya. No problem. Just go register, go home, prepare, and come back sometime the following week, right? WRONG. Here's what happened. I arrived at the place with my parents the next day at about 8.40am. The lady in charge gave me a bunch of forms to fill out, so I took a seat with my mom and got going. After about 10 minutes,the lady comes up to me and tells me that I have to take a test at 9.00am. I'm like WTH?! I thought I'd just fill the forms then go back home! Noticing my surprised reaction, the lady says that it's a simple test that won't take long to complete. Then I thought fine. No problem. It'll just be like completing a survey. So she led the way to the place, I wrote my name on a piece of paper on the door, then walked in. Holy crap. Everyone was properly dressed. xD There were about 10 people in the room with a pretty equal distribution of boys and girls. The boys all wore a long sleeve white shirt, a tie, long black pants (maybe some were dark blue), and had neat short hair. I on the other hand, was wearing a long sleeve checkered shirt (blue and white), long brown pants (the one with pockets on the side. xD), and I haven't had time to get my haircut yet, so yeah. LONG HAIR. So I walked towards my seat, then realised I only had a pen. Part of the test was multiple choice, so I needed a pencil to shade in the answers. So I walked back to the front of the room, and asked one of the invigilators(there were two) for a pencil. So he left the room to get me a pencil, and I walked back to my seat. People stared at me, but I just smiled at them. xD After I sat down, I saw what was written on the whiteboard and raised my eyebrows. It said "English Placement Test, 9.00am-12.00pm. What the heck? The lady earlier told me it wouldn't take long! My parents were waiting for me thinking it'd only take a short while, so I decided to call my mom and tell her. I raised my hand, and the invigilator came to my desk. I told him of the situation, and he offered his phone for me to make the call. So while everyone was doing their test, I was on the phone with my mom. xD Probably disturbed them a bit too. =P I thanked the invigilator after I was done, he nodded then said "See me on Monday with your haircut." I just smiled and said "Okay." Then he said "My name is Rashid. I'm in the *somethingsomething* department" I didn't really hear what he said, but I just said "My name is Shabyl." xD After about a minute, the other invigilator walked in and handed me a pencil and eraser. I said thanks, and began my paper. There were 2 papers. One with 40 objective questions, all comprehension, and the other paper was writing. One section was 150 words, the other was 250 words. I probably wrote a little more, but I was too tired to care. It wasn't my best, but it was alright. I left the room half an hour early and the invigilator told me to be back there by 3.00pm for an arabic test. I just said okay, and left. After that, I just walked around, then went for Friday prayers, went to eat then back to the room for the test. Actually, at 3.00pm, I had to take a Fundamental Knowledge test. It wasn't hard, even the time allocated for the paper is only 30 mins. So by 3.30 it was time for the Arabic Placement Test. I wrote my name on the front of the paper, my matric number, and whatever else was listed. Then there were 2 boxes to be ticked. The first one said "Do you have any background in arabic?" I ticked No. The second one said "If you have not answered any questions at all, please tick the box." So I ticked, then I left.xD So did most of the class. Then I had to find a room to stay in. Long story short, it took an annoying amount of time to get the one I wanted, but I got it. That's what counts. xD I'm in Mahallah Umar Al-Khattab! Same as one of my friends. We're on the same floor too! =D Oh, and guess what? I have to go back there TODAY. I got back on Thursday evening, did a lot of crap on Friday, bought some stuff for university and met some of my friends yesterday, and today, I have to buy the remaining stuff that I don't have, and get back there by 10pm. Zzzzz...Well, that's all for now. Wish me luck! See you guys sometime! =D

I'm comin' home, I've done my time

Just as the title states, I'm coming home soon! Wheeeee! xD Flight is in a couple of days, and I'll hopefully reach Malaysia by the evening of the 23rd of June. =D Well, it's been pretty fun here in Massachusetts. Saw new places, met new people, made a few friends, and most importantly, got to experience the atmosphere itself. Oh, and there's a little story I'd like to tell. Okay, so basically, people here are crazy about basketball, baseball and ice hockey. For ice hockey, there's an extremely prestigious cup called the Stanley Cup. So in the final, it was the Vancouver Canucks against the Boston Bruins. Best of 7 games, or in other words, the team to win 4 games first wins. Of course, I was rooting for the Bruins. xD So, the Bruins lost the first game 1-0, won the second game 8-1, lost the third 3-2, won the fourth 4-0, lost the fifth 2-1, won the sixth 5-2, and won the seventh and deciding game 4-0! The Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 39 years! xD So yesterday, I wore my Boston Bruins T-Shirt when we (my mom, brother and I) went out. Some of the strangers I passed said stuff like "Yeah! Go Bruins!" and "Stanley Cup Champions!" Lol. In fact, there was this one guy with some kind of horn. He blew his horn at me then said "Go Bruins!" xD Yeah, that was fun. Well, as much fun as I'm having here, you can't beat the comfort of home! =D Pdot, Zue, Mea, Zad, Puteri, Syanaz. See you soon! Bye for now.

-Sh4by1-

Cambridge, Massachusetts. That's where I'm at.

Yep. I've been staying in this apartment with my brother and mother for the past two and a half weeks or so. My dad should be here as well, unfortunately there were some issues at the American Embassy when he wanted to get his visa. Apparently they have no problems giving him the visa, but they have to PROCESS it first....whatever that means. Anyway, I'll be staying in the States for approximately another month, so I thought I should at least update my blog once in the time span of my stay. xD Okay, first of all, I'm sorry that this post won't have any pictures in it, unlike my previous post. Lol. Well, I haven't really done much so far. Went to the Boston Museum of Science last week and I gotta say, it was really fun! I even got to see the lightning show! =D It's a dark room where they generate sparks using really big Van De Graaff generators. Hmm...what else.....other than that, I guess I just walk around Harvard Square and play chess with the people there. Oh, and that day I got to play against the Harvard Square Chessmaster and guess what? I beat him! Twice in a row! =D Then lost the next two games against him. xD Anyway, it's 2 dollars to the winner, (yes, you have to pay if you lose) so I didn't have to pay anything since I won twice and lost twice. Oh, and halal meat is kind of a rarity around here, so I usually eat seafood or vegetarian stuff. Practically lived on vegetarian burritos and pizza for the first week. Then found a halal kebab store which is pretty good, and today my mom, brother and I took a bus to this place where there's a halal store! So bought some meat, then went home. Then just now my mom's friend took us out to dinner at a halal Indian place. That wasn't bad either, but it's about a half hour drive from our apartment. Yeah, I guess that's it. xD Oh, and the weather for the first 2 weeks was pretty cold. I think the average was around 10 degrees celsius. But now it's starting to warm up, so I don't need to wear a sweater anymore! Lol. Anyway, that's all for now. Bye! =D

-Sh4by1-

My picture filled post. xD

Okay, so last Saturday, Firdaus, Afiq, Zue, Busyra, Diyana, Ain, Fieza and I went to the book fair at PWTC. We did go to PWTC because of the book fair, but I didn't buy any books. xD Neither did Firdaus. There were just too many people there. I wonder how Zue and the others managed to get any books at all. O__O I mean, just look.


This is just the entrance to one of the many doors. Imagine this many people throughout the whole building. =.=

After walking aimlessly for about an hour, Afiq, Firdaus and I decided to sit down somewhere while waiting for the girls to finish. And well......we got bored....so......it was time for a short photo session. Lol.







So we sat in that same spot for about 15 minutes, then Afiq's dad called and invited us all to lunch. We haven't even met his dad before, so we asked him to go without us and to tell his dad that we appreciated his offer. After Afiq left, Firdaus and I went to buy hot dogs at a stall we saw earlier. RM5 each. =.= What a rip off. We bought them nevertheless. Oh, and a funny thing happened while we were queuing. There were these two Indian girls in front of us, and Firdaus thought that one of them looked familiar. I couldn't make head or tail of either of them, so I just said the first Indian girl name that came to my mind out loud. "Pavitra." Then one of the girls turned around and looked scared shit. HAHAHAHA. So I asked her "You're Pavitra?" and she said "No, she is." and gestured to her friend. Then I said "Oh, I knew you looked familiar. You know me right?" Then the one named Pavitra stared at me with an extremely confused face, and that was when Firdaus and I just said nevermind and walked away. xD Okay, so then we began to make our way out, with a hot dog each in our right hands. We planned on meeting the girls at Starbucks, which was located at The Mall, very nearby. It took us about 20 minutes just to walk out of PWTC, moving at what seemed to be the rate of 10 inches a minute. After we finally got out, we had no intention of going back in.xD So we sat at Starbucks, and finally got to eat our now soggy hot dogs. After we ate, it was time for more pictures. Lol.













Okay, so since the book fair was impossible to get back to, we all decided to go to Mid Valley. So we all walked to the KTM station. Not surprisingly, it was FULL of people. Afiq got in line anyway, and when it finally came to his turn, the machine wouldn't accept anymore cash. It was probably already full of money. =.= So I suggested that we walk to the LRT station, take the LRT to Bandar Tasek Selatan, then take the KTM to Mid Valley from there. So that's what we did. The line at the LRT station was also really long, but surprisingly, the LRT was pretty much empty! We all got to sit. =D Long story short, we got to Bandar Tasek Selatan, got our tickets, and before we knew it, we were at Mid Valley.

So first, we went to eat, prayed, then walked around. Firdaus and I pretty much just followed the girls wherever they went. First Zue wanted a new pair of shoes, so we all walked into a shoe shop and kind of helped her pick out a pair. xD It was a pair of black and white sneakers with pink laces. It looked pretty cool. Then we walked around some more, and this time Zue and Ain went to.......




xD


After that, we kind of broke into two groups. I walked with Firdaus, and the girls walked among themselves. Oh, I forgot to mention that Afiq had to go back early, so he couldn't join us at Mid Valley. Okay, so Firdaus and I went to about 3 sports stores, and 2 music stores, and it was soon time to pray. So we prayed Asar, then waited in the surau for Maghrib. When it was time to pray Maghrib, the people there asked me to lead the prayer since I was sitting in front of everyone else. So I did. After we were done praying, we all got back together and went to the arcade to play some games. Let's see, I played a basketball game, but didn't manage to get the high score. Next time I go, I wanna play that again. Lol. Then there was a racing game with terrible graphics, and a game that required us to pretty much just whack the screen with a mallet. xD Oh, and there was also a percussion game. Right, so after we were done playing it was about 8pm, and we all decided to go home. But before that, once again, we took some pictures. =D


Busyra, Ain and Zue.


Er....not sure why this was taken. xD



Pdot rock! Haha.


Zue and me.

Okay, so THEN it was time for all of us to wait for the KTM. Our tickets were purchased much earlier which was really convenient. So we walked to the KTM, and waited. Fieza gave Firdaus and I a cream puff each! xD Then later I found out that Diyana bought them for us. Haha, thanks Diyana! =D Eventually, the train arrived, and we all boarded. About 15 minutes later, we reached our destination, the UKM KTM station, and got off. Once again, yup, you guessed it. We took some more pictures. Hahaha.


I like this picture a lot.


Starting from this picture, the camera took 5 pictures in a row. =D








Hahahaha.

After that final photo session, I was presented with gifts from Zue and Ain. They got me gifts since I'll be going to the US for a couple of months, and by the time I come back, they'll all probably be in university already. So I thanked them, and gave a short "farewell speech", then everyone went home. Well, everyone except for Firdaus, Zue and myself. Me and Firdaus were both waiting for his dad to pick us up, while Zue was waiting for her mom. We accompanied her until her mom came, and her mom actually offered to send us home! But we explained that Firdaus' dad would be picking us up soon. So we waved goodbye to Zue, her mom, and not to forget Zue's younger brother, Eirfan. Haha. After a few minutes, Firdaus' dad arrived and it was our turn to go home. Well, I guess that's that. Oh, I mentioned earlier that Ain and Zue gave me gifts. Here are......some more pictures. xD


This is the bag that the gifts came in.


These are the gifts out of the bag.


These are the gifts out of their casings. xD


This is what this is supposed to be used for. Lol.


A closer look reveals....... =P


Last but not least, the wrapper of the cream puff! xD

That's all for now! Till next time! =D

PS: Thanks again for the gifts!

-Sh4by1-

Pessimistic optimism

Picture this. You're a 17 year old kid who just got his drivers license. You're waiting for offers from universities, hoping that some university somewhere is interested in enrolling you. Better yet, maybe you'll get a local scholarship with your average-poor results. You're leaving for a foreign country in less than two weeks, and you'll be staying there for about a couple of months. Hence, you'd have to turn down any offers that require you to start within the time span of your absence. Fine. That's all well and good. However, not making the cut for something that you actually applied for is different. Especially since all of your good friends did. It doesn't matter if the course starts while your away, it's having the choice to accept or decline that counts. The feeling of actually receiving an offer. It doesn't help that your Facebook news feed is full of people you know revealing where they've all been accepted to either. So you try to convince yourself that it's alright. That even if you got the offer in the first place, you wouldn't be able to accept it anyway. It makes no difference. Sadly, that's not the truth. There's a big difference. It's not about seeing your glass as half full or half empty. It's not being pessimistic. It's just the truth. Getting an offer and declining it, and not getting an offer at all are worlds apart. Unfortunately in your case, you relate to the latter. Have a nice day.

-Sh4by1-

Driving Test

I sat in the passengers seat of my mom's car coolly listening to some Daughtry. It was the 8th of April, and I was on the way to the driving academy where I would soon take the driving test for my license. I tried to shake off my nerves by listening to music, however that plan failed terribly. As soon as my mom parked her car to drop me off, I couldn't help but to notice the crowd of people.

Wow. I imagined that the test would take about ten minutes, twenty tops, then I could go home. But with this many people, I reckoned it'd take at least an hour. Sadly, I was right. I sat there waiting for my turn for the first test. Basically, the first test consists of the hill start, parallel parking, and the three point turn. I was especially afraid of failing the hill start. I ALWAYS messed that up during practice.

After about one and a half hours since I arrived, my turn finally came. I casually walked over to the crappy Kancil, got in, started the engine, and waited for the car in front of me to finish the hill start. Before long, he was on the other side of the hill, and I found myself on the way up. This was it. Right, so first step, stop car with front tyres in yellow line. I looked out my window to check. Cool. Just nice. I thought to myself that was as far as I'd get. My car was bound to stall.

Miraculously, I made it over the hill! Rather enthralled by what I thought to be an amazing achievement, I proceeded extremely coolly as if I had already passed. I completed the parallel parking without any problems, then went on to the three point turn. Long story short, I somehow failed that, which meant that I'd have to repeat all three of those things all over again. Not to mention the rather handsome fee of RM100 to retake the test. Feeling somewhat angry with myself for failing, I waited for about half an hour before it was time to take the second test, which was the road test.

Surprisingly, it didn't go at all bad. The evaluator was rather friendly, and I finished the test with a score of 17/20, 16/20 being the passing mark. So I went home after filling the form to repeat the test which would be in two weeks. That brings us to today. Two weeks later. Since I passed the road test, I only had to repeat the first part. This time, there weren't as many people, which came to me as a relief. So as usual, I waited for my turn to come, feeling like there's no way I'd pass the test. EVER. So when it was my turn, I kind of floated through the whole thing. It felt pretty good.

I completed the hill start and parallel parking without any problems, and now it was time for the dreaded three point turn. I couldn't understand. The hill start was always the problem during practice. Anyway, I made sure I went in REAAAALLY SLOOWLY. Made the first turn, the second turn, then out I went! I passed! xD Wheeeee! Can't wait to get my license! Haha, that's all for now. Till next time!

-Sh4by1-