28/07/05

nothing much happened today. it was just i didn't get to have enough sleep. since the past 48hours i just had 2 hours of sleeep. and that was not good.

today, is the last day for us ( malaysian interns ) to work in our attached oraganizations. i forced myself to wake up and walk alone under the heat to the healing quilt house for my last duty. it was the job to glue the letters cut last week ( i did that ) to its background. easy job, but still need somebody to do it. paid a visit to feroz and icky at the kwik pantry on the way back, and opened smal-mart for business for the last time. i have to say that it seems like it was yesterday travis gave us guide and instructions to run this small but meaningful place. time passed by so fast, today is already the last day for me to get the opportunity to unlock the door, switched on all the lamps, light up the chiller and freezer, turn on the p.c..log into the system, key in the password, open the blinds, switch on the 'open' sign...and later lying on the couch watching cartoons..pokemon. jackie chan adventure, xiaolin showdown...then followed by other programs...every thursday night, dragon ball at 9.30. i know i am goin to miss all these. calling up people to be on duty, having all the stupid and funny crap to talk about while waiting for customers, made new friends, the intellectual discussion with ray about international politics..sigh*

evening, it was time for tennis..robert from SIFE h.q joined us today. he could play very...very well. heard that he used to be a champion in his younger days.

for the first time ever, i was directy, and literally tebar roti canai. you know, many of us was so teringin to have roti canai. mildred printed out the recepie from the internet. best wo.. terbang sana, terbang sini....agak2 tak jadi, convert dia jadi roti boom..hehehe...in fact, we some sort of organizing a chicken and curry festival toninght. every dishes was chicken based,and teh curry was so..so...so..hot. saje je fea buat pedas2. biar padan muka org malaysia kat bumi springfeild ni merah2 muka, peluh2, siap ada yg keluar hingus lagi ( eee...) it was great.. an a+ to all.. i was almost all uf us, minus those went out and go clubbing..let me try to recall..mildred, rakin, shikin, ustaz, feroz, zulia, iskandar, fea, syahz, and myself..

continued the glory of the nite, ( i consider the success to do what we just did as some sort of 'glory' ) by playing 'life'..it was a board game like monopoly,,and our very own 'dam aji', just the game was based on daily living activities. you know, to go to college, to work, to get married to get children, etc. the goal was to collect as much money using cash and 'life' cards. i was not in the luck,became the most poor person.. i lost..even after woking so hard to gain 150million dollars..syahz was the one who won after making more than 215 million dollars...night was still early, some of us decided to play monopoly insted of scrabble-that was the initial plan. me myselaf sat down with syahz, bob , fea, and ustaz to play flux. i just dont know howt o explain the game here but it was really fun. i personally feel that it was a cardgame with most complicated, challenging and promote 'healthy' competition among its players...this time it was my turn to shine..won 2 games straight. it was just a record. i've never heard about the game, learned the hard way..and won 2 times in the row!!hehehe.. not satisfed with that, fea and icky started to do acts, and asked us to guess what message she was tryin to send. maybe its a movie, song, sitcom, t.v show, etc. i forgot the name of the game. i'll tell you ppl later abou t that. promise. we did not stop until it was 5am. instead of walking back and sleep. i decided to come here, the computer lab and type this thing up for you people. it was a beautiful night to be remembered...i love all of you, my malaysian intern friends...

i need to go home now. really sleepy, tho..

imran

27/07/05

the good day about today is, there are various first time things happened. let me go thru it one by one. actually, today is also the due date for us, the Malaysian interns to send our article to our beloved budak kecik ms.editor..fea. being the leader of the group, i should have noexcuse but to send it by today. the not so good part was, i haven't start writing anything yet. thank god i brilliantly completed my research on the topic lat night..and i PRINTED al of them. having that condition, i was just in a situation to find the right mood, spot and feel to write. i've tried last night, syahz was suppose to be there to keep me up the whole nite but dia pulak yang tido awal..leaving me no other option except to also sleep..(hahaha...such an escapism statement..aku yg malas, nak salahkan orang la pulak). before i went to sleep,i set a goal to myself to wake up early tomorrow and finish the thing.. unfotunately...hehehe... i bet you know what happened. it was 2.30pm, i set my mind..i will walk myself to dillons to get the telephone card, and later walk back to drury and finish my job at the computer lab. stopped at k.p on the way to visit those who are working here for the last day(syahz and fea)..the journey continues, dropped by at the tindle mills to gaher some information for my writing. the moment i went out of dillons, a new idea popped out...why the hell should i walk back to drury when i could go to the mudhouse coffe house, get myself a drink and sit there the whole day doing my writing. so i go with the plan. guess what? i spent 6 HOURS sitting there with 3 different drinks a) mudpuddle-taste so great!, nothing from starbucks could challange it. b) water..-i need to neutralize my tounge and throat from the taste of the thick mudpuddle.. c) vanilla blacktea.. how frequent do you encounter tea with vanilla flaour?.. at 10, i was ready to go..with 10 pages of my own handwriting(itu yg jadi, yg tak jadi tu tak payah cerita lah) about our visit to the tindle mills plant-a manufacturer of livestock nutrition food. today, i made 4 new friends..1) karpal singh (i know you are familiar with this name, an icon from malaysian political scene) - a sikh guy (this is my first time to encounter a sikh guy overhere) and his wife- a physician working at cox north ( man, that's just several yarda away from my apartment) he was happy ( i guess) to meet me too..he ended offering me a treat at 'gem of india' - the only indian restaurant in town. heard they have good selection of foods from prata to tandoori to capati to dhal to curry...thank god, i was about to go to the restaurant next week somewhere between tuesday and thursday. god heard my pray, he gave me a much better deal. monday..all paid for..2) a sms studnet -grown up in india. let me try to recall his name.. feesh..or something like that. i first say this guy at the patron alley pub last saturday while watching the live band. 3) a korean guy working at the mudhouse itself..kalau lin tengok budak ni mesti dia pengsan..aku jamin.

thats the end of one beautiful episode..now lets begin the second one..

as i walked out of the mudhouse, it was around 10.15pm. yes, it was already dark..and cold. it was around 50 degreed ferenheit. it is not a commmon thing to happpen as the previous night could go as night could go as high as 70 degrees ferenheit. i believe that i never want to waste this opportunity to sit and relax at the square, enjoying myself. it was a hapening night. i could say because it was still early so there was still many people around. some skates, some doing bmx stunts, there was a group of people doing swordfight sparring(using the wodden samurai sword), there was a guy sittin at one conrner with his guitar, playin country songs, some girls doing the walk..me? i decided to sit with an old man on the bench. he was just chillin around. had some chat and i later walked away. it was 10.45 and i wanted to walk around to see the town. made my way to the meryl's..actually i was hungry and would like to look for some food. not so lucky, it was already closed. maybe jeryl and sara( thats the name of the couple running the place) decided to go back early and spend more time with their kids, i guess. thats the good thing to run your own business, you got to choose your own schedule..but if it is too much, costumers are going to run away and ... there goes your business.

lets talk a bit about this matter..
doing business, especially when it is your own business...has not always be about yourself, in fact...it should not all about yourself. the only part where you could incorporate your personal interest was when you want to motivate yourself to work harder and earn more money. the rest of it..is all about other people. the people you serve, the costumers you want to please, those people walkin in and out the store giving you business and free words by mouth promotion..the most effective promotional method of all..it was a funny moment to see the culture of local retailers in some part in our country in my experience..in kangar, perlis. some of these people(mostly malay retailers), amazingly decide to close their shop on sundays with the reason to enjoy the weekend holiday. while sundays has always been the only day beside saturdays for the town to be crowded by people ( and that could be assume to bring lots of business) , these brilliants decide to sit at home and watch t.v...how amazing the world could be...finish.

so later i walked back to the square, and later to the bus transfer facility ( we call it terminal or transit point in transportation term) for the sake of using the bathroom. i was cold, man..i cannot resist myself from peeing. a guy .. a gay guy asked me direction in spanish..how do i know he is a gay? simply because he asked the way to martha vinyard. thats the well known gay and lesbian club in town. i sat in front of the concrete statue, near the guitar guy, i can hear him from my spot..wondering around. actually, there are several things that bothers my mind. i sat down, took out my all-time best friend, mr pen and paper..and started writing. i was so carried away with it, the moment i realize it was already 11.40pm , i know i have to stop. eventho i still have lots of stuffs to write, but i cannot sacrifice the main purpose i went out today..to do and finish the writing so i can send it, the least by 11.59pm. started walking..got home and sent the masterpeice.. a bit later from on time: 00.00(thats according to my watch).

i was hungry, baked pizza, 2am, walked out and here i am..computer lab. i felt so happy the moment i log on to my yM and msn messanger today. non-stop chatting. at least there was

25/07/2005

life passed so fast today...it happened to be that way just because i decided to spend the whole of last night in the computer lab ( and i am back here..on the same char, facing the same monitor). i got hell lot of stuff to be settled last nite and thank god everything went well..the best part, for the first time i got to chat with my mother via msn messanger...(imuran_san@hotmail.com).. that is something that i had never..ever...ever think, or even dream to happen in my entire life. my mom is not a computer person, she only uses it in the office. i had never see her use the pc at home .. put the blame to my sister.. she has been conquering the pc since forever. can you see .. how great the benefit, technology could bring to its users..? but it comes with one condition..that is we got to use it for good intentions. as i was walking out of the lab, a guy(he was the only one in there anyway..) stopped me and asked me where did i get my bag..FYI, it was an adidas all blacks .. first, i was a could not get why did he asked the question, he later thought that i was just an ass using that bag without knowing what the heck 'all blacks' was all about. so i told him that i am from malaysia and soon after that he suddenly looks happy, his was an australian guy, and plays rugby. he told me that there are people that plays rugby overhere..hell i was shocked...i checked up about them on the net..they have a pretty good record, man..you may do so too.. http://www.springfieldrugby.com/ .7am, i walked my way out of the building..out of sudden i decided to go to Kwik Pantry..a convenience store ran by a pakistani coulpe..some of our intern friends works here too... syahz, fea, feroz, iskandar, icky, lin, salwa.. thought to grab bread, the moment i look at the price, i had a shock of my life, it cost me 2dollars plus..plan b came in..turned to a spanish rice..that cost me at least half of the bread price. 7.30, walked back to the apartment .. again, i was diverted. this time, it was the water fountain near at cox health's parking lot. i have been looking at this fountain from far since the first day i was here. this morning..finally i got here. it was only a 3 minutes walk.i could even see it from my window. mission accomplished.as i walked back, i bumped into zora zohri..an afghani girl working at the SIFE H.Q..she was there to fetch our intern girls that works at there. she was..beautiful..(actually she always be...hehe..) waved them bye bye, i finally got home. still, i cant sleep until 9am. i was amazed with the number of phone calls i received today. its like nobody want to allow me to sleep..one after another... anyway i am a kind of person that always love to receive and give phone calls..so i was good..4.32pm , woke up.. get ready to go out. i am following feroz and zulia to enterprise, a car rental company. we are surveying the rates for our st.louis trip..that should happen some where between 8th to 11th august..got the rate, went around..shoe carnival, rue21, best buy, circuit city and wal mart..reach home hungry..we cooked dinner..it was awesome..white rice+solomon+sambal ikan bilis+chap chai...nyum..nyum..

whatever happens today, another thing that made my day was today's Oprah show. it was..Lance Armstrong in the house!!!! one of the person that i REALLY..REALLY..respect..

imran

Armstrong Bids Farewell to Tour De France

By JEROME PUGMIRE, AP Sports WriterMon Jul 25,10:16 AM ET

Lance Armstrong will never ride in the Tour de France again. After seven years of dominance, he is trading in rough rides through the mountains for leisurely days on the beach.
Having stepped onto the podium for the last time on Sunday to celebrate his seventh straight Tour victory, Armstrong will spend a few days "with a beer, having a blast."
It's time for him to play with his kids, chill out with rocker girlfriend Sheryl Crow, and toast his success as the undisputed champion of cycling's most demanding event.
"I'm finished," Armstrong said.
He is moving far away from the awe-struck crowds that crossed countries for the merest glimpse, the six-hour training rides in pouring rain that gave him the edge over others, the stress of worrying whether his rivals could ever catch up.
Armstrong is now retired at the ripe old age of 33.
"We're just going to hang out in the south of France for a little while and do nothing," Crow said.
Armstrong loved the mystique that surrounds the 102-year-old Tour, and is proud to see his name listed above five-time champions Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.
He hated the accusations that his success was based on anything other than a desire to push himself further than any other cyclist. He had an intense dedication to training and meticulous planning, and an ability to bring the best out of teammates.
"This is the most difficult event there is," Armstrong told French television. "I won it once, twice, three, four, five, six, and seven times, so of course they ask those questions. When you don't answer it as they like, they make up the answer for you."
Armstrong planned to escape to a resort near the French city of Nice on Monday.
After his final win, Armstrong set his sights on a Sunday night with friends, his mother, his three children, numerous sponsors, and teammates at a big bash at Paris' Ritz Hotel. He even invited longtime rival Jan Ullrich, the 1997 Tour winner and five-time runner-up — three to Armstrong.
Ullrich finished third this year, right behind Italy's Ivan Basso.
Armstrong will be back on the Tour next year, as adviser to close friend Johan Bruyneel, the Discovery Channel team director.
"I have a special place in my heart for this race," he said. "I dream about coming back to France, telling stories to my children. I really care about it."
Armstrong won the 23-day race comfortably, again.
He finished 4 minutes and 40 seconds ahead of Basso and 6:21 clear of Ullrich, who has finished off the podium only once since placing second during his debut in 1996. Ullrich struggled into a fourth-place finish last year.
Armstrong praised the two riders, who could fight to succeed him as champion next year.
"To end a career with this podium is really a dream," Armstrong said.
He hugged Ullrich, the powerful German rider who pushed him so close to defeat two years ago. Armstrong's winning margin in 2003 was 61 seconds, his smallest ever.
"What he did was sensational," Ullrich said. "It is his seventh victory. He deserved it."
Emotion flowed when Armstrong took the podium one last time, hand over heart, "The Star-Spangled Banner" ringing out over the Champs-Elysees.
"You have to cherish that moment because it won't ever happen again," Armstrong said Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America."
Behind her dark glasses, Crow fought back tears — as Armstrong had done Saturday when he won the Saint-Etienne time trial to clinch the final stage win of his illustrious career.
"It's a great story and to see it coming to a close for me, and I'm sure for a lot of other people, it's a very emotional experience," Crow said.
He led his three children up the podium steps. His 3-year-old twin daughters, Grace and Isabelle, wore yellow dresses and stood by their 5-year-old brother Luke.
"Vive le Tour, forever," Armstrong said in his parting speech, arms raised in the air one final time.
He also delivered a final shot at "the people who don't believe in cycling, the cynics and the skeptics" who suspect that doping is rife in the grueling sport and fueled his dominance.
"I'm sorry for you. I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. But this is a hell of a race," he said. "You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets — this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it."
Armstrong's all-encompassing approach to cycling modernized a sport steeped in tradition. Rivals fell behind as they failed to match his preparation.
"We did come along and revolutionize the cycling part, the training part, the equipment part. We're fanatics," Armstrong said.
The Tour's 21st and final leg, an 89.8-mile ride into Paris from Corbeil-Essonnes south of the capital, started as it has done the past six years — with Armstrong in the yellow jersey.
Holding a flute of champagne, he toasted teammates as he pedaled into Paris, held up seven fingers, and smiled for the cameras.
He almost had a mishap when three of his teammates slipped and crashed while negotiating a bend shortly before they crossed the River Seine. Riding behind, Armstrong skidded but stayed in his saddle.
Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan won the stage, beating Australia's Bradley McGee and Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland. Armstrong cruised in safely in the pack, in 118th place.
Having ended his stellar career, Armstrong now wants to drift away from the spotlight.
"I need a period of quiet and peace and privacy," he said. "I've had an unbelievable career. There's no reason to continue. I don't need more."


-imran-

24/07/2005

seriously boring sunday....spent the day doing house sprint cleaning..cooking..sleeping...

9pm - rakin, zulia, feroz, aza, shikin, camme, bynie, stef, salwa, myself..walked to dillons - buy groceries - got back..chit chatting...4.30am..went sleep..(after the fajr prayer)..

i just got to know a brizillian was shot dead in london after being suspected with 'suspicious act'..damn..5 shots..and the guy was just on his way to so some electrician job in the other building...when are this going to stop...paranoid people just keep messin this planet earth..FUCK!!!!

- source from msn -

Menezes shot eight times

Prime Minister Tony Blair apologized for Friday's police killing of Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, but defended the actions of police.
"We are all desperately sorry for the death of an innocent person and I understand entirely the feelings of the young man's family, but we also have to understand the police are doing their job in very, very difficult circumstances," he said.
"Had the circumstances been different and, for example, this had turned out to be a terrorist, and they had failed to take that action, they would have been criticized the other way."
An inquiry found Monday that officers shot Menezes in the head eight times -- not five, as some witnesses had suggested.
Menezes was killed at Stockwell subway station by police officers who mistook him for a suicide bomber.
His family is threatening to take legal action.
"They have to pay for that in many ways, because if they do not, they are going to kill many people," his cousin, Alex Pereira, told the BBC.
In Brazil, Menezes' family was devastated. "It's the suffering of life. I never imaging such a thing," his mother said in Portuguese.
As to official apologies, she said: "I lost my son. Nothing can pay for that."
It's still unclear why Menezes ran from police. A report on the BBC website suggests Menezes was in Britain with an out-of-date visa -- a report his relatives deny.
Plainclothes officers followed Menezes to Stockwell station from his apartment in the neighbourhood of Tulse Hill. That apartment was in a building which had been under surveillance.
According to witness accounts, Menezes entered the station dressed in a padded coat and ignored a police demand to halt. Police chased him through the station, wrestled him to the floor of a train carriage and shot him to death.
Speaking on Britain's Sky News television Sunday, Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair warned that "somebody else could be shot."
"But everything is done to make it right," he said. "This is a terrifying set of circumstances for individuals to make decisions."
Daud Abdullah of the Muslim Council of Britain said Britain's shoot-to-kill policy, and the death of Menezes, could alienate the Muslim community.
"The community is looking inwards and fearful that it will happen again and many more innocents will pay with their lives because of this policy," Abdullah told CTV.

With a report from CTV's Tom Kennedy

-imran-

23/07/2005

what are going to do when you are in a foreign land and have not much money yo spend on..actually it is not i don't have money but as need to save up much of them to be used during our 1 week xtended stay here..we are going to New York and Los Angeles...knowing the fact that N.Y is one of the most expensive city in the world, I say its better save than sorry...there'll be no joy ( or not s much joy..) when you are already there..at one of the place you wanna go most..but you cannot do much thing because you just cannot afford it...its like you are already in the sky, but you didn't get to touch it..frustating..

so i resorted to stay at home and do not much thing...

3.30pm, just cannot stand it anymore..dragged rakin and feroz for walk to downtown...FYI..its the 'girls day out' today..downtown organized some sort of 1-day event where shops are giving discounts to girls' items..its a wat to promote the town..to make it more alive during the day...

6pm, i was at founders' park..its my turn to work for the movie night today..syahz, mag, and fea..chyene should be there..but i just wonder why she was not..i seriously pissed....anyway, it was 'shall we dance' on the screen...i have never watch it..and i realy want to watch it..unfortunately, the other girls also want to watch it..what choice else do i have..better sacrifice myself to take care of the booth where we sell snacks and drinks..no worry, i will go to the library this monday, look for the dvd..borrow it....and watch it peacefully in the house..

the thing happen after the movie nite was the one that made my day...ken, the person incharge of the movie nite took me and rakin to a bar..and i like the place so much..there were pool table, bar, LIVE BAND, and most impotant of all....'real' people that we met..(not people that try so hard..like those who dress to impress in the clubs)..anybody wear anything they feel like wearing..hangign around, a group of girls had a bachelor party for one of them..(she was wearing crown all the time..looks cute,hehe..)..drinks were cheap..i just don't know how else to describe it. it was so..cool.the place, the people, the atmosphere..like it so much.

lets talk about ken..my first impression..he is just a small event organizer doing business in springfeild and had to work out to earn a living. he prefers to wear t-shirts, shorts, and sandals most of the time..sometimes he will bring his children around to work, knows many people in town and well known by people. Looks like just a normal layman that have nothing much to be proud about...i was TOTALLY wrong...the real ken is...he owns a company that runs entertainment and advertising business...mainly radio station, t.v station, billboard ads, radio and t.v ads..etc...fine with that..the surprise part was..his company...has one of the biggest chain in the WORLD..he owns 1300 radio station in U.S alone..and owns radio and t.v stations in other 75 different countries..damn! i could never belive my ears the moment i hear that..a person, that drove me in his van all the way to the club, get us in, bought our drinks, and currently sitting with me at the same table, enjoying ourself watchin the live band performing (the singer was his friend after all)..is the owner of at least 1375 stations around the world?..no wonder he got a private jet waited for him at the airport for vegas, and he just can turn that offer down..

shows end, we all make our way back home...and i was still amazed...


imran

22/07/25

in malaysia, have you ever thought that you ( as a muslim), a normal layman would be given chance to give the 'khutbah' for the friday prayer?even when you request for it? especially when you are just a young man, around 20's, and there were many other older guys and obviously they are much more knowledgable than you..would these people, willing to give you that chance? would these people allow you to play your role in saying what you want to say for the betterment of your community? the answer wold be as simple as NO!! there are thousands of excuses given to these people, and most of them were extremely unacceptable. plus, even if you are allowed to do so, you HAVE to follow the text that is prepared by the AUTHORITY...that does not happen here..at least in springfeild, i was proud to see on eof our intern friend, anuar a.k.a edward to stand up..on the mimbar, where today, out of sudden we have an outstanding amount of jamaah..he was there, speaking to the people from heart, and touched every single soul in the room. he was good, i have to say.

my point is very simple, why cant we have that in our country? where people would be given chance to speak their mind up, and being heard.. regardless who he is, where he came from, without being prejudice towards their backgrond. as long as he wants to use the proper channel, and willing to also hear from other people, why deny this right from each and every single man? later, let those who litsen to them be the judge...

reson why we need this is very simple...we need to never stop the people from using their brain to think. how this could be done? very simple..let them speak their mind..let them express what they feel, let them send messages they wanted to send to the community. nobody want to do all these if they don't feel its worthy to think a lot, as whatever outcome came thru by cracking their head, will later sank down at the back of their brain. everybody wants to be credited and reearded with whatever they did..especially when it may have such a big impact for the betterment of the community. i am a debater ( or maybe some people would be more happy if i say that i used to be one).. and as i debates, i sometimes wonder, what kind of change would i be able to make, just by talking like this? as i also have a friend from IIUM that just hates debates ( and debaters ) as much as he hates Arsenal, he kept asking me the same question..i just don't know if i answered him good enough, but i belive that for me to be able to bring change( and i am just a person that loves to create one ), first i have to prepare myself enough. and being in the debating scene has REALLY helped me very very much...learned, and still learning..lots of stuff...skills, technics, awareness, knowledge, and the most important of all....the friendship bonded between us..precious...

enough about that..

little quick on what happened today:1232-woke up,1310-friday prayer,1400-cook4lunch(for rakin, syahz,myself), 1630-businessforum:jim b. anderson:sprinfeildchamberofcommerce, 1730-helpjeffclearsummerscapestuff,1845-skateboard, 2100-movienight@founders'park:sharktale,2300-downtownwalk/mudhouse, 0115-bob'splace:nasiputih+sardin+telodadar, 0330-pclab...

imran

21/7/2005

when it comes to life, lots of things were uncertain...in fact, life is all about uncertainity...the moment i am writing this, i have no idea why am i feeling so down. i feel like i am loosing things that i know i will lose someday but actually i am not sure that either i shall lose the thing or its the other way around, meaning to say that i will get it. it is all about the situation where i want something so much because it is not easy for me to find any of it. in the same time i found that for me to get 'it', is going to be harder than to find it. some people say that i shold let it all the thinking go away and start to go for 'it'. but it is not as simple as that, there is a wall that i need to look for the key so i can open the door and go thru it carefully, and safely... becaue the wall is old, it needs extra carebecause if not, the wall is going to fall. Most important of all, it has been there for long and it means a lot to me . . but still, even if i got thru it, there are fairies and guardians, guarding and securing 'it', so only the right and worthy person may get to it and have it. anyway, bottomline is, even i may pass all the earlier obstacles, it is still up to 'it' to make i proof yourself so 'it' got to decide if it wants to be my 'it'... lucky and happy me if i made it..if not...i guess, another 'it' next time...


He who has faith has... an inward reservoir of courage, hope, confidence, calmness, and assuring trust that all will come out well - even though to the world it may appear to come out most badly.
-B. C. Forbes-

That's What Friends Are For

And I never thought I'd feel this way
And as far as I'm concerned
I'm glad I got the chance to say
That I do believe I love youAnd if I should ever go away
Well then close your eyes and try
To feel the way we do today
And then if you can't remember ...Keep smiling keep shining
Knowing you can always count on me for sure
That's what friends are for
For good times and bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for
Well you came and opened me
And now there's so much more I see
And so by the way I thank you
And then for the times when we're apart
Well then close your eyes and know
The words are coming from my heart
And then if you can't remember ...Keep smiling keep shining
Knowing you can always count on me for sure
That's what friends are for
In good times and bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for
Keep smiling keep shining
Knowing you can always count on me for sure
That's what friends are for
For good times and bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for
Keep smiling keep shining
Knowing you can always count on me for sure
That's what friends are for
For good times and for bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for(Thats what friends are for)

20/07/2005

the day passed, most likely like the day before ( that means yesterday) .. but it s a little better. as usual i woke up at 9, found out that there was nothing for me to do, and continued sleeping until 12pm. woke up, cook lunch, and watch t.v (while muchin any food i could find in the kitchen)... program after program..form the stupid stupin mury's show....to sabrina the teenage witch, to pokemon (yes people, i watch pokemon here), to jackie chan's adventure. to xiaolin showdown..fortunately, anuar, rakin, feroz and myself was invited to play soccer for SIFE team. they joined a local soccer league. the goal of the game was...not to lose. as the team has not been performing well in provious games(thats why they ended at the bottom of the chart)..so our presence was some sort like 'messiah' to the team.. we played well..anuar scored the first goal..it was a beautiful 15 yards shot..the opponent(lets just call them the bad guy, and we are teh good guys)..shot 2 goals after that, but i was the hero on the 1st half(cheh..poyo je..) a beautiful run mengelirukan pihak lawan to allow anuar to pass me the ball..i was covered by 2 top players of the bad guys team..(tries to make it sounds as dramatic aas i can..), but still, i managed to find some very small and limited space to release one beautiful shot, passed the 2 defenders and..the best part..between the legs of the goalie... the first half ended with 2-2..second half, was a tougher game..we got a lot of chance to score, but it was just the luck teared the goal apart. the bad guy managed to find another goal after one technical mistake by our defence. it was not the end of the story. we worked very hard. anuar' s try was denied several times, so does mine..but god was with us...selepas beberapa percubaan mengenai palang...charlie managed to have his solo, he saw me, i was in a good position to score..the pass went thru, as i got the ball, i turned and gave one strong, but not so strong shot..the goalie managed to reach the ball..but as the ball was so strong...it flipped thru his/or hers fingers.....and .....GOALLLLLLLL!!!!!! i scored again.... the bad guy team was in a great shock to see that brilliant move and wonderful shot..(hahaha..dream on, imran)..tried so hard to score, but feroz was so great at being a goal keeper..the game ended 3-3..so..GOAL Accomplished!!!

night, went to the summerscape kids' performance. the thing i like about it was....the level of confidence these kids have and the amount of courage they posses in making things great!!! there was singing, drama, piano, soprano, karate, dancing, etc. these little kids have no problem at all to do them. the spirit was like...'i just dont care what are you gonna say, whati am going to do is...i am going to give my very best, and i am going to feel good and feel proud about it'. they reminds me to my younger days when i joined a lot of stage shows..as early as when i was in kindergaden..still remeber the moment when i was on the stage in front of a hall full of parents.. and told story about prophet Noah and a whale...

the main juice of night was .. a ceremony where the summerscape seniors to say 'goodbye' because they are no more eligible to join it next summer...it was a candle light ceremony. the seniors are going to light their candles, followed by the juniors..the stage was dark, only lighted with those candles...music was so...so...smooth and touchy...'time after time', 'will you remember me', and some other songs about friendship. my tears nearly came out to see each o f them, one by one to say their last words before they blew their candle up.. i saw bob at the other end of the hall..i know he was recalling memories with his MCKK people.. and i know i should let him be.. the ceremony continues..i watched the whole thing.. frankly ...it really reminds me to days when i got to say goodbye to my beloved friends i met thru this short life. those friends with swear and promises for a lifetime friendship, those friends who mean a lot to me..those friends who watched my ups and downs, those friends that gave me their hand when i was falling, when i was down, when i have no strength to go thru anymore, when i gave up to life and hope that i never ever be i this world...i remember you, my friends..always.. not to forget .. those friends that i am currently have..my beloved friends that have been with me, worked hard to make our dreams come true...no matter what happens..i am talking to you, my SIFE friends, i am talking to you , my debate fellas...it also reminds me that one day, not too long to arrive, i shall need to say goodbye to the people i currently see everyday..my intern friends...i know, as usual, i shall not cry in the eyes but deep in me...its gonna be a never ending tears...god...

i have no guts to write anymore....

imran

19/07/2005

my beloved freinds, i have to say, this is a day that i never want to ever undergoe in my whole life, yup... from one point, its a great thing when u got to wake up as late as 12 pm, cook some food, sit on the couch,and watch t.v for hours. when u got no money to sepend out...man, i dont even have a single buck in my wallet. no problem, money is actually not a big thing for me...until the time whn i need to use it..

the night comes, i ( or shall i say 'we'-rakin, shikin, and myself) got some sort of meeting with the guy we met at the hotdog's place...he sent me an e-mail..sounds like this..

Hey guys. This is Michael Halpin, I spoke with you at Merl's Hotdog Resturant the other day. I spoke with one of my senior partners and we are going to be doing some expanding in the near future. He said that I can sit down with you and show you what we are doing but to not make any promises. I would like to meet with you at Church Hills on Republic Road (1604 E Republic Rd) this Tuesday at 8:30pm if that is possible. Please call me at 864-8819 or email me back to confirm this appointment.Thanks,Michael Halpin

As i am here for the Business Internship Initiative, i agreed to go to the meeting. you know, it has been about 2 months for me being here, the next 1 month i hae, i wish to use it to the max in getting as much knowledge about U.S.A business environment.

Michael came to fetch us, brought us to Starbucks..there, we met a guy, aged around middle 20's and his wife. we had some chit chat..and here the story begins..

this guy, took out a booklet, and said that he wanted to 'share' something..i started not to feel good. i felt that something is not right..and i took out my notebook, and started to write..rakin tought i was taking notes, but here is what i really wrote..(by the way, i got to write em in malay, so michael that was sitting beside me cannot undersand what i was writing about)

aku rasa lain macam aje..macam dia ni nak jual barang aje..kan betul, dia ni nak jual benda. ni yg tak deronok ni. macam nak kena tipu aje kat kedai mamak kat malaysiaaje. ni yg buat marah ni..amenda la dia ni, skrg dia dah masuk dah point dia..QUIXSTAR...nanti aku nak kena cari kat internet. Ye la tu..cakap benda macam aku tak pernah dengar..Aku tau la semua benda tu..maaf rakin shikin, kalu aku tau jadi macam ni. kalau tak aku pun tak datang. AMPUN..shikin, aku tau ko dah bosan..rakin dah naik boring dah. Ni semua tak bole percaya ni..maksud aku akutau benda ni bole buat kaya tapi bukan benda ni yg aku cari.itu dia...success story. aku dah dengar bend amacam ni..BANYAK kali...randy roberts..

when we was abou to enter the car to go back, a stranger came to us and offer himself to tell us stories about the company..he mean quixtar and its scheme...michael looks really not happy with the guy's presence. we denied the offer, he insisted..he told us that his friend lost a lot of money in the scheme..it was a one liner, but with a lot of meaning..at last we denied the guy, and left home..michael, after what happened, still have the guts to sweet talk us and gave us the company's website add www.qiuxtar.com..

nasib baiklah balik je rumah aza offer makan ayam roasted..hehe..sedap..sejuk hati..

yes, people..i felt cheated with what has happened.. but then again, it is always an experience to be remembered for me. i felt like a fool the moment we board off the car, and laugh to the max..i wasn't thinking right that time. i didn't realize that..what just happen was a proof that, this kind of activites, happen everywhere..it is just a part of the system.it is a way where some people put in their dream, put the whole of them into it, and imagine a wide bright future for themself. this incident also told me that...... in a free enterprise environment, anything that may make money for you, is the way to go. no matter if it shall hurt anybody or not.. your friends, your family, somebody you don't know, etc. ( in this case, my friends and i felt cheated totally)...

guys, remember...no matter what you are going for in life, make sure you have your trust in it. make sure you have your soul in it. if not..you shall be swept away with some bastards that is standing on your way..on the path of success...

i pretty shitty day, huh..?

damn..

imran

18/07/2005
lets do this quick...what happened in my life today?
i was late to class..and decided to use my very-very brilliant plan..no need to shower..!!! but make sure to brush teeth and .. wet your hair...hehehe...it was one ot sife advisor-john taylor- global features..it was good..today's class was about marxism..the whole notion of individualism vs collectivism...i was amazed, how was karl marx in his era, wa able to point out lots and lots of loop holes in liberalism..and i was made known that the problem of communism was not the whole concept socialism, but it was the flaw in the implementation...i shall talk about this more, after i got to read the book..dont want to get the facts wrong, tho..

spent the rest of the day, cooking fried spaghetti(thanks shama for the recepie)..evening, had a discussion with so called 'gifted studnets'-high skool students. so we had them to ask us questions, and the best question was...'how do you like president bush?'..that was the question that fea and me felt that we had such a gooooood time answering it.

later..shit happened..i was on rakin' skateboard...did some tricks and guess what, the moment i landed..the deck BROKE!!!. i was at a point where i can't sorry myself for that. he just bught it yesterday..i decided, by hook or by crook, i shall get the new one by TONIGHT!!! no excuse...god loves me..elliot was free, and he gave us a ride. and there it was..successfull crisis management!!...hehehe...

nite, we had the maghrib and isya..in jamaah form..later, cook dinner..eat dinner...and i was here since 12.03am..now is 5.12 am..thank god, azuan was on-line so i wasn't too bored since my friend i told you earlier, the south african guy..chaim left at 3am..ok lah(thats the way to say it back in Malaysia)...got to go..good morning ppl..

LOve Peace, and HarMOnY...

imran

18/07/2005

It has been so long since tha last time I have this feeling. The feel of, being so strong and wanna fight...i dedicate this song to all people who are fighting for their freedom for good and for those who are being oppressed by some bullshit crappy bastard that lied to every hungry man on the street to get that bloody seat...this is..

WAKE UP

Come on!Uggh!Come on, although ya try to discredit
Ya still never edit
The needle, I'll thread itRadically poetic
Standin' with the fury that they had in '66
And like E-Double I'm mad
Still knee-deep in the system's shit
Hoover, he was a body remover
I'll give ya a dose
But it'll never come close
To the rage built up inside of me
Fist in the air, in the land of hypocrisy

Movements come and movements go
Leaders speak, movements cease
When their heads are flown
'Cause all these punks
Got bullets in their heads
Departments of police, the judges, the feds
Networks at work, keepin' people calm
You know they went after King
When he spoke out on Vietnam
He turned the power to the have-nots
And then came the shot

Yeah!Yeah, back in this...
Wit' poetry, my mind I flex
Flip like Wilson, vocals never lackin' dat finesse
Whadda I got to, whadda I got to do to wake ya up
To shake ya up, to break the structure up
'Cause blood still flows in the gutter
I'm like takin' photos
Mad boy kicks open the shutter
Set the groove
Then stick and move like I was Cassius
Rep the stutter stepThen bomb a left upon the fascists
Yea, the several federal men
Who pulled schemes on the dream
And put it to an end
Ya better beware
Of retribution with mind war
20/20 visions and murals with metaphors
Networks at work, keepin' people calm
Ya know they murdered X
And tried to blame it on Islam
He turned the power to the have-nots
And then came the shot

Uggh!
What was the price on his head?
What was the price on his head!

I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard, I think I heard a shot

'He may be a real contender for this position should he
abandon his supposed obediance to white liberal doctrine
of non-violence...and embrace black nationalism
''Through counter-intelligence it should be possible to
pinpoint potential trouble-makers...And neutralize them,
neutralize them, neutralize them

'Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!

How long? Not long, cause what you reap is what you sow

18/07/2005

i was still dizzy when i decided to accompany rakin to buy his skateboard. he was so in to playing skateboard..until it gets into his dream last nite...went to MC sports for it, walked around battlefeild mall..i do my normal thing..you know what..

got back, UTM ppl was doing their promo video for their SIFE team..the video will be used as a tool in attracting new people into the club. hmmm...let me see, i thought it was a good idea..but if our SIFE UiTM team to do the same i afraid ppl shall be mispresented and maybe they shall just join the club for the sake of free intrnational trips..thats what happen in UiTM..hopefull it is not the same in UTM..

Rakin seronok main skateboard baru dia...jalan sana sini..lompat sana sini...good to see he is happy..

nite, i guess spent most of the time doing nothing, i was a kind of sleepy..i fall asleep once for about 10minutes in stef's house..then joined rakin, stef, and salwa's tour around campus for plum...late before i sleep, i had my hair 'done' yup..stef..buat kerinting rambut aku..tak jadi lawa pun..kena gelak lagi adalah..hehhe..anyway it was not for permanent..and it even went away with just a wave..

nothing else to do .. as i got to wake up early for class today(its already monday, man..)..zzzzz..

imran

16/7/2005

beautiful morning..theres nothing much to do today, and there was nothing much happened tpday..it wa s normal weekend routine..went to battlefeild, i got some new tie, and t-shirts and some oter stuff..later made our way to wal-mart, get ourself groceries fot the whole coming weel. earlier some girls, that was camme, bynie, fea, and shikin left earlier from battlefeild mall to watch '\charlie and the chocolate factory'. impliedly saying those left were just rakin, bob, syaz and myself. bob got himself the latest harry porter- just for 15 dollars!! good deal. orang lain sampai kena pegi reserve buku, and pay more,..dia rilek je pegi wal-mart pastu pegi beli with cheaper price. rezeki dia...

got back, we filled the nite wit another walk to downtown. the same crowd, and we met some people we met last nite. teh nic e par twas, we bumped into a guy with guitar and beautiful dog...his name was tim. what made tim different from many people was..he got brain!!! this is a first time for me to meet a person among our age that posses a lot of information and willing to discuss matters openly. but i guess he later a kind of freaked out after having tough times answering questionds from fea and me about U.S's unileteral military action over afghanistan and iraq.

for back, i can tsleep the whole nite. spent quite a long time on the phone with my long - time good friend..shamaredza sharoff omar bakhi...this is one guy, that was so 'liat' to answer my phone calls. have been tryig to get him for more than 1 month. finally got it.

i finally manage to sleep around 7am. after some morning walk...there comes a new day. gotta stop \here...

imran

15/7/2005

its friday..another friday on the way. a dau that many people in the U.S.A loves most..in fact, majority of them do. why so? simply because...its the last day to work in the week, and 2 freedays are coming..in fact, some organization operates only half day on fridays..and that includes the facility department, drury university...what a pity..and people keep saying that Americans are so good and we got to follow their style...no doubt, at some point, they are better than what we have back in Malaysia and many other 3rd world countries, but come to think of it, they are just blessed with the place they were in. just because they are in the U.S.A, they are closer to many things that people call.. a lifetime dream job of a lifetime. so, most of the time ended up looking high on them, wondering how could a person in early 30's manage to become top business figures.it is just they were blessed with their surroundings...free enterprise, and the size of the country itself, so big until by just making within the country is enough to get you ranked amonng the richest in Forbes. i somehow belive that if we were at the same shoes, many of our people could do so much better than majority of them...anyway, its life..and life does not always be the way we want it to be..its us..to make it the way we want it to be.. based on this argument/principal..i belive, that i have always become a strong supporter to collegues that want to work hard and migrate.A question you might wanna ask me would be.. if i supports them and their idea so much, why don't i want to do it for myself? i shall leave that answered to myself and those who knows it...yeah, i am talkin got you folks..shama, aizati nisa, and some others. some people take this as a matter to laugh about..they always say, why bother to go far for something that you may get easily in your own country, my mom once said that if god loves somebody, he shall give that man his 'rezeki' or sourceof income around the area that he lives. maybe she is right, and i belive at some stage, she is right. it is just the matter to reach your personal goal and satisfaction. sounds selfish? my autie once said, our parents are not becoming younger day by day, they are getting older..so it is more 'polite' to stay and always be with them...mana tau sakit ka, mati ka..sapa nak jaga? and belive me, i do belive that she is right too..and basically, that happens to many of my friends. they excell in their studies, the made great for their grades..got offers here and there to work. most of the time in big cities like Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor Bharu, Singapore, etc. But they got to sacrifice all that, get a small job in town where they are from to stay close with the parents. i understand, responsibilities as children. but isn't it is a loss? a loss to himself, a loss to the society(because we cannot make benefit from good resources) and also, a loss to the industry itself..and this lead to greater loss to the country itself..another way to go against the 'go and run away idea would also be...if everybody goes to major cities, then who will be the idea of 'if one to stay and help the small town grow?' *sigh*..what the hack crack am i talkin about? .. anyway, the bottomline is ..the answers are always there in you to answer. Look for it, search for it, people. And make the best choice out of it. Out of whatever options you have, out of whatever dimension you may see it..good luck!!

lets get back to the story, what happened to me today? i woke around 10am. by 11, was already hungry. i mean i was hungry for lunch. i did not get myself anything for breakfast. joined forces with the uitm girls - baini,syahz, camme..we prepare lunch. ( eventho technically i was the one who cooks).. it was white rice, sambal tumis udang+ sliced hotdog, and chap-chai. 1pm, went for the friday prayer.

evening, as promised we had a business forum - Mr. Gil Trout, Chairman & CEO, UMB Bank-Southwest Region was the speaker. it was a good thing to see a person, around >40 years old to hold such position as a CEO..with 17 years of experience in the industry. Literally..17 years with the company..look, how loyalty pays. and i always belive in loyalty. in cerrier, i belive loyalty is one of the most important key to success...its not hard to see people to stay in a company for more that 10 years..and in most cases, that company is the first and maybe the last company they ever work for. its a total opposite aroma back in Malaysia. Each time people get in to a company, most of the time they have this mindset..only to to be with it for the most..lets say 5 years? and then they want to jump to other company, and 5 years more, another leap to some other company..maybe its a way to go for some people, and maybe for myself too..i won't know what might happen in my near future..but i always hope that i get into an organization with reputation, be a part of the team to continue the excellence..and stay long with them, grow with them..ups and downs..amen..

evening..tennis..lawan dengan rakin..menang 6-5..hehehe...it was close...

nite, went to a ceramah agama in the masjid. we went for maghrib prayer, and the kullyah filled the gap to isya'. tabligh brothers from tulsa, oklahoma was the one who gave the kulliyah...i am sorry, brother.i accidentally fall asleep...but it was better than i leave the session and sleep somewhere else..at least i was still under the wings of the angels..hehehe..

late nite, around 11, rakin, fea, syahz and myself started our nite downtown exploration. damn, it was TOTALLY different to see the place at nite. it was so....happening, crazy, and....ALIVE!!! i was personally amazed with the number of people in the area. where does all this people suddenly popped from? my theory would be, people here go for hibernation on the day, to save energy to use at night. you can see people all around the places, clubbing, loitering, skateboarding(made more skaters friends tonite..!!) ..all around the square. we did also encounter one about-to-happen fist fight and one rumble/riot..no worry, police was there and i belive they are more than happy to grab some people for their entertainment tonight..hahahaa..


i guess thats all for now..tired, man...got to get some sleep..i don't know what s gonna happen tomorrow..nite..love to all..

Imran

14/7/2005

i have to say, today is the day where i finally manage to do one thing that i have been wanting to for sooooo..long...what is it? it may sound as stupid as you can think, but the matter of fact is, i enjoyed what i did, and i may..do it again..

guys, everybody in the house, what did i do? ok..ok...i'll tell you. i decided to fast today. and fasting here, in the summer, can go as long as 14 hours..and i made it..in fact, instead of loosing so much energy for not eating the whole day(in fact, i didn't even went for sahur supper...) i went thru my routine as smooth as i normally do. walked to the quilt healing center for the voluntary work, took care of smal-mart, played basketball..no problem...hahaha...the best part was, when i got less than 35 minutes to cook for my break fast..i ended up having shrimp fried rice, fried vegetables, and orange juice..

basically, there is one thing i would like to talk about today..it is about a spirit that i belive all of us should have..and in fact, this is the spirit that has been able to change peoples' destiny...thousands, millions, and maybe billions of human beings throughout the human history. its the spirit where you never feel you had enough of knowledge. i know, it my sound boring, but staying here, observing the people made me realize that knowledge is something yous should never abstain yourself from. i got a story here..as i have been spending most of my nights in the pc lab, i made several new friends...on of them were a south african guy named chaim..he is a black man, age around 45 to 50, currently lectures at Ozark Technological College, another higher-learning institution located in springfeild. in the same time, he is also, concurrently doing a post-grad program on computer technology. the thing is, the moment he arrived in the U.S about a decade ago, he don't even know how to operate a pc on anything like it. if we are looking back to our parents, as they were at that age, not many of them would want to crack their heads, bring themself low and LEARN!!! its a totally different case overhere. as i am typing this, he is sitting, using another pc behind and learning how to use html codes..in fact, he didn't even mind to ask me questions each time he encountered any problem, and i am like half of his age. i personally amazed with his spirit to learn and never give up to do things. i dont think he has his own p.c, and thats how i can see him..all the time in this lab, sitting down and doing his things. no kidding, he was here since last morning at 3am, and was here at 3pm ,and now, 12.36 am the next day, he is still here...only one word to describe this, and that is..WOW!!!..another case, a husband and wife..jeryl and susan..they ran a hot dog house in downtown springfeild..loves to talk so much and ask so much questions about malaysia and other parts of the world, his reason was as simple as "i can't afford to travel, tho, so one of the best way to get to know all these was by asking from a direct source". ray, a cleaner in the maintainance department, drury university, can sit down and talk to me for the whole hour and, until missed my workout session at the gymnasium, just to talk about politics, economy, and social standard of people in the U.S, Malaysia, Europe, Asia,and many other parts of the world..and he can give arguments and facts, as if he is a person..specialize in that area..wide..very wide general knowledge..he read, he watch, he observe... and the most important of all...HE THINK!!!

the question is, what has happened to our people? what has happened to the each and every single person we see around us? can they answer their children, when they been asked on why is it bad to have unileteral power to run the world? can a university student, answer on how china can grow their econonmy..very fast like nobody's business, and how does it effect the world? can they? can they?

reason why i am asking this, is very simple. we used to have that in our past generations. there was a moment, where each time any professor around the world found out there was a really hardworking asian guy or lady in their class, they know that these people were from Malaysia. we used to have an era where our people was so hungry for information, and they would do anything for it. there was a time, where our student have all the rights to express their thoughts and opinions in the public, there was a situation where our academician was at the top in the social hierarchy, there was a time, where teachers, no matter what they teach, were the people being respected most by the community..there was a moment,where parents put the total trust to the teachers to punish their children for not working hard.

why did we have this in the old days..some would call it the good old days, but not today? we are no more living in situations where most parents have to force their children to work on paddy feild eveyday after school, we don't see conditions where students being sent out of the class for not bringing their textbooks, simply because their family can't afford to buy one?(this happened to my father-love him always..)..we are living in an era where information were EVERYWHERE...ANYWHERE...and all of them were so cheap, so easy to catch, so..accessible...but WHY??? does this happen. why is it, statistics had shown that average Malaysian reads only 1 book a YEAR ?...

i guess the answer is as simple as this...people were being pampered so much..MANJA...thats the word...don't let this tradition/culture DESTROY our future..come on people, stand up..for your own good..

i think i wrote too much..

bye..

imran
-tuntulah ilmu biar sampai ke liang lahad-

13/07/2005

helllo again..it's a beautiful day..hhehe..as i slep around 4 last nite, i had i little problem to wake up this morning..hehe..as i told you , the bus was suppose to be at 7.15, i woke up at 6.35, with the feeling not wanting to join the visit, so i my blanket on..and ..zzzz.....7.00 somehow i woke up , with a different feeling. fired up to go...there's no much time left..apa lagi..gosok gigi, basuh muka, basahkan rambut...chow terus..tak mandi la we..tak sempat...

there was 7 of us..anuar, ai bao, shikin, meg, fea, syahz and myself. it was a business presentation by a sticker manufacturing company about their variety of products and how they customize themself to changes to remain competitive in the business, and in the same time increase their sales. it was really intersting to get info right from the source. i personally asked lots and lots of questions. and those guys was happy to answer all of them happily...seronok gile aku ..

on the way back..that was about 9.50am, ai bao, anuar and myself dropped by the north wal-mart. went into payleshoesource...nampak pulak kasut 10 dollar..pretty nice shoe, tho. tanpa ragu dan segan aku angkat terus..

wal-mart..sam walton's great gamble..i got myself..besides those groceries...a brand new cd-man...!!! it was sony..can play cd, mp3, attrac3plus,fm/am radio..we'll see how this one works. if it is good, i'll keep it. if not, bye-bye darling .. consumers's right..use it well..RETURN POLICY is the way to go..hehehe..

lunch..there was a joint force - ai bao, anuar, aza, and myself. we cook for 8 ppl..it was really fun to have anuar taking charge of ikan talapia sweet sour, ai bou handling rice, aza with her famous ayam pedas, and myself on vegetables and fried rice(we have some leftover rice, so we cook it)...makan ramai2..berjemaah..it was a real fun to see people eating stuffs you cooked and start being in their own world..nyum!!

after lunch, it was a combined feeling..i was tired, i was full, and i was SLEEPY..what does this combintion means? it sleeping time, people...only until 7.30pm , i was back to the real world.

nothing much happened later than that. i did some sprint cleaning program for the house and my room, vacumed them, re-arrange those unwanted t.vs, and some normal stuffs you do to make your house doesn't look like a waste collection center..

o.k people, i will see you later...i got to go back now. got to go to quilt, and take care of the smal-mart today(its already 4am, 14th)..bye


imran

Don't get fooled...the story was..i thave been trying to find this lyric for 2 days on the net but it seems that i couldn't find one. Even for those i found, the lyric seemed to be inaccurate.So I ended writing the lyrics on my own while hearing to the song. Hell I have no idea why, but i'm in my Ramli Sarip mood..actually i could never get enough of his songs..

Nyanyian Serambi – Ramli Sarip

Keluar pagi balik petang
Ada kala sampai malam
Cari rezeki bawa pulang
Buat orang yang tersayang

Oh…bersabarlah…

Wajahmu di mana-mana
Senyum kasih mesra kasih
Cinta murni kan bersemi
Bersama ketulusan budi

Oh…bersemilah…

Lama kucari rahsia ka(seh)
Rindu kasih untuk berkasih
Senang-senang dduk di serambi
Senandung lagu puisi

Zikir zaman nyanyian zaman

Andai kasturi hilang harum
Mawar tak berkuntum
Cinta tak bersambung

Biar emas setinggi gunung
Kan kupeluk, rimbul ampun
Rahmat yang Maha Agung

Andai kasturi hilang harum
Mawar tak berkuntum
Cinta tak bersambung

Biar emas setinggi gunung
Kan kupeluk, rimbul ampun
Rahmat yang Maha Agung

Andai kasturi hilang harum
Mawar tak berkuntum
Cinta tak bersambung

Biar emas setinggi gunung
Kan kupeluk, rimbul ampun
Rahmat yang Maha Agung

Istilah Bercinta - Ramli Sarip

Kau kata kau cinta
Kau kata kau sayang
Kini entah di mana
Tiada lagi kemesraan

Kau kata setia
Hanya aku saja
Tapi hilang ke mana
Tiada lagi keriangan

Ku tabahkan hati
Ku genggam azimat
Untuk ku balut luka
Semakin mendalam

Biarku hadapi
Walaupun tergugat
Akan ku benamkan
Biar jadi debu

Ku tabahkan hati
Ku genggam azimat
Untuk ku balut luka
Semakin mendalam

Biarku hadapi
Walaupun tergugat
Akan ku benamkan
Biar jadi debu

Kini ku mengerti
Istilah sebenar
Di dalam bercinta
Tiada kepastian
Tiada penentuan
Akan kebahagiaan

Semua percintaan
Haruslah berkorban
Tiada batasan

12/07/2005

ho..ho..ho..its santa in the house..people, here i am, sitting down in front of a boring pc in the computer lab..why it is boring? simply because...i cannot use it to download a lots of stuffs, in fact, it is so boring until i cant even check my banking account on-line. all this firewall stuffs..damn it!!

do not get me wrong, i have to admit, today is another beautiful day for me. after spending the whole nite/morning in this fairy lab this morning, i went to sleep at around 7am. i suppose to wake up by 10, get ready to go out. i got a very important misson today..that is to have a lone-walk day. i want to spend today, with stuffs that i have been wanting to do..and i am going to do all of them..all by myself. its not i dont like to go out with friends and all, but this is my nature..and i guess many of you too..at certain point of time, you just want to do stuffs on your own , at your own pace, and get your personal satisfaction.

happened to be( and actually i know this is goin to happen)..i managed to wake up..but at 12pm..hehehe...had shower, do some stuffs, and i was ready to go..it was 1.55, and i was already at the bus station. and that was the time when the bus was suppose to arrive. waited until 1.10, still, there was no glance of the bus. i decided to walk back to the apartment, and take some stuffs that i forgot to bring(i was in rush, so its normal to miss one or two stuffs, tho..)..got them on, and i headed my way to stef's place. as i planned to take the 2.25 bus, it still hae time for some chit-chat..that shall be more intersting than sitting down on the floor, not knowing what to do. god bless me..stef and rakin were just about to coock lunch. today's menu..fried rice. knowing that i hadn't had lunch, they invited me to join them. and there was no reason for me to reject that offer. i took charge in frying the rice(thats what i love to do most)...sedapnyer..masakan aku..!!! kenapa, tak percaya ker? impliedly, i shall miss the 2.25 bus and need to resort to 2.55 bus. this time, again i missed the bus..why? i was having converstion with jeff regarding some matters about the internship program.we are going to have a business forum every friday evening...speakers? they were as below:

July 15th: Mr. Gil Trout, Chairman & CEO, UMB Bank-Southwest Region
July 22nd: Mr. Jim Anderson, President, Springfield Chamber of Commerce
July 29th: Dr. Alvin Rohrs, President & CEO, Students In Free Enterprise World Headquarters (SIFE)
August 5th: Mr. Kurt Hellwig, President, American Dehydrated Foods

The following speakers have also been invited and may be confirmed for August 5th as well:

Mr. Bob Noble, CEO/Founder, Noble World Communications
Mr. John Gentry, CEO, Positronics Industries www.positronics.com


Jeff, later took the liberty to send me to the bus terminal, and there my journey begins..

for your info, there is a guy...one of the bus driver that has been successfully notice that there are a group of asians that will always go to wal-mart and do shoppintg like nobody's business. he is a black man that i could label as the most happening guy i ever meet.(in bus drivers' category)..he will..without fail, warning us to not to shop too much, so there will still be some leftover stuffs for other people to buy. as i was in the bus, i took out my notebook and skethed something about this guy..here it is..
guys, i have been trying to scan the page i wrote but something wrong with the scanner, so i guess i shall just copy what i had on paper for you guys...

12/7/2005
i'm back, currently in the bus, on my way out ............. it has been a beautiful day, i 'll tell you why..
-pakcik bas - dia ni happy go lucky aje, tegur je semua orang. aku sangat seronok dapat jumpa dengan orang macam ni. even dalam bas ada tulis 'do not talk to driver when the bus is moving', dia ni rock giler ..slmbe je. orang macam ni, kehidupan dia best pasal tak terlalu rigid & terikat dengan peraturan2 dan undang2 manusia. memang seronok tengok pakcik bas ni.sembang dgn semua orang, gelak-gelak. orang pun ikut gelak dgn dia. aku ingat lagi time fathers' day, dia bawak bas, kitorang kelua, dia, sambil bawak bas, used the mic (explaination untuk korang-microphone ni tujuan dia was for the driver to inform passangers the current location of the bus the moment it arrived in destinations) to give so-called fathers' day wishes...'to all fathers in the house, happy fathers' day, and to those who are thinkin to be one, you better think again....hahahahahaa....

the bus driver, seemed to be knowing where am i going...i got battlefeild mall, barns and noble, target, shoe carnival, and south wal mart in my list. the moment i was to board off the bus in battlefeild..he stopped me and said..'make sure you have your list,and stick to it'..hehe..macam tau2 je aku nak shopping...

went to express, i could not belive my eyes..the pants that i was abou to buy last 3 days...went to 9.90 from 14.99 earlier..hehhe..this is a good thing.. instead of getting a khaki, i got myself a jeans .. and the khaki..hhehehe(gelak jahat). later, went around the place...bought a birthday present for my friend, get a congratz card for my brother..as i dont feel any need to go to barnes and nobles today, i scrapped it off my list.

got back on the bus, the same driver again, as the bus moved we started to have conversation - a normal one, the country i am from, what am i doing here, etc. he, managed to give me some advise..never get married early if you want to excel in life, girlfriend is o.k, but not a wife..you'll tend to be dragged away..' sigh, i, at some point, bought that idea..but i never want to jump into any decision yet..menyemak otak je pikir benda2 ni...

went to target, got myself a mosimmo's athletic tee..at 9.90. later walked to shoe carnival. there wasn't much choice..some good shoes, were too expensive for me to afford..so, cuci mate je la..thats the goal of going out today,anyway...got a foot-long sandwich at subway, and my journey continues...

south wal-mart..the next destination to go...let me try to recall what did ovethere...yup, nothing much..bought rakin's call card, stef's solution ..and some junks for tonight's syahz's birthday surprise...what did i get for myself...?i guess nothing...hehhe..

got back home, yup, again ... met the same bus driver...i was really hungry..bought pizza from smal mart..11.45 pm, everybody was set at syahz's place..12.00am..wait no more..surprise, surprise syahz...happy 23rd birthday..bob, camme, and baini bought that delicious oreo cheese cake, all the junks that i brought..finished in less than 30 minutes..

after that..here i come..i am here in the pc lab..got to finish everything fast..need to wake up early tomorrow. visit to peregrine corp...bus at 7.15..bye people..see ya later...


imran

11/7/2005

huargh...it was not a hectic day today. it was more on easy and lazy i would say...woke up at 10, get prepared, as i got meeting with jeff at 11am. 11.30, he got here(who says americans were always punctual?) we had the meeting - or should i say, it was more a discussion..on the way to south campbell, a service center for mercedes-benz. jeffs car need to be fixed-when he just took it from the same place after leaving it for 4 days for service purposes...i dont know..you be the judge..anyway, its an old merce anyway...got back by 12.30, i guess. lepak umah stef, suddenly feroz came back with mona's car-actualy it was a van.thats it, they are borrowing her car again.5 of them..feroz,zulia,shikin,camme, and salwa went to wal mart to buy some groceries..honestly, i was not so much for driving in this state as there was no clearity on the law that we may drive(actually we don't know and nobody was care to find out-but jeff and sylvester were with me too-we were just worry about their safetey...frankly speaking..) but as long as they didn't get into trouble i am happy.

about 3pm. i was suppose to be in the smal mart. unfortunately, the keys were with bob and he went out with syahz and baini to target.impliedly saying that i haveno capacity to open the mart. rakin , shikin and myself decided to take a downtown walk and explore the place.we found pretty good things, people, and places. had a sip in the mudhouse(its a famous coffe house in the town) and for the first time ever, i ever bought myself an ice blended...paid it with my own pennies, and spend nice time in a coffe house on my own will.i am not a coffe person, coffe house?never in my list. unless i got reason to be there, then i shall be there.i prefer to have nasi lemak or roti canai at mapleys back in my hometown. maybe i sound like a caveman, but .. if you want to label me as a caveman just because i dont got to coffe houses...i shall say..then be it!!..while walking,we found an art gallery, where the shits in there were.....excellent!!! they worth thousands of dollars but guess what? there was no t even a single person in the store. but 1 security camera....i guess thats the way they do it...kept walking, went into some boutiques(remember, we had shikin with us,rite?) anyway, it was a good atmosphere being in those places..encountered some very nice items but...its a boutique..everything were too much for my newly-bought dockers leather wallet to bare.without realizing that we are doing it, we went to almost every single eating place in the area and took all their take home menus(here, they purposely provide you the take home menus as a part of their promotion effort). we ended up at a hot dog place where we had a nice long chat with the shopowner and one of the customer...in the other shop across the street, rakin got himself a led zepplin album from a used records shop...we got back around 7, after spending some time at the concrete park(the locals call it 'square')..harmonious and relaxing wind.

night, had chat with azuan via YM...had chicken curry, rakin and stef masak.sedap giler, aku sampai masak nasih baru nak tambah pasal sedap sangat. and now i am here at 5.39 am in the computer lab typing out this thing you are reading on....take care people, i got a big mission to be accomplished today..wish me luck..

imran

10/7/2005

my mom always said...we got to wake up and start the day early. never sleep after subuh..it shall bring lots of 'rezki'. the concept of rezki does not only limited in form of monetary, but also..gods blessing in our life and so our daily routine. the level of smoothness in performing our duties as HIS servant, and in realtionship within mankind. 'hablu minallah, hablu minannas'. i don't know why i tell you all this, but i got to say, i was blessed with stuffs i do today.

woke up, i just hate it to wake up with no goal on what to do on that day. so i called my housemate, rakin to plan our activities of the day.called syahz, invited her and the whole uitm girls to join but she refused, we later decided to go to 'Target'-something that was suppose to compete with Wal Mart, but their target market was the people in the higher end.. and later the shoe carnival(i insited this, i was really up for a new shoe). we missed the 11.57 bus by just several yards away from the bus stop the moment the bus came by and pass it. first, we wanted to go back to the apartment and wait for syahz, camme, baini, and bob to get ready so we can go out together. in the middle of the way, we changed the plan, we stayed at the computer lab, the place where i am writing this right now..and stayed for another hour. got on bus, and the st.louis bus was there right waiting for us. we was suppose to go to target straight away( we are too tired of battlefeild mall) and later walk to the shoe carnival. the moment we was somewhere near battlefeild, suddenly rakin wanted to go to there, and we agreed to spend and hour overthere and catch the next bus(on sundays, the interval beteween a bus is 1 hour). so we thought of doing some shopping at expressman(they got an outlet in 5th avenue, NY..). i was aboutot borong habis from belt, to necktie, to pants, and sleeveless crewneck basic. but some insticnt told me that i should not do that...so i just took the belt, and planned to come back and get the pants before we leave the mall(malas seh, nak bawak banyak)..as we were walkin out of that shop, we saw a lot of shops, took out their items and sell it very cheap on the path we were walking on.we i made an assumption that because express' sale was a big boom, so these people decided to do this in order to stay in the competiton...TOOOOOTTTT!!!! i was wrong!! it was the SUMMER SIDEWALK SALE!!! wait no more, people...its guys goes shopping time!!started with $8Lucky brand round neck, i went to $4 long sleeve knit, and $7 nike tee..not to forget ot mention, $5 airwalk shoe with nice dragon motives from payleshoestore in the mall[no need to to g to shoe carnival, tho..=) ] ..got some souvenirs for my people back in malaysia..and for my lovely sister fatin...a roaring triceretops (its the dinasour with 3 horns..look like a rhino-in case you don't know) is waiting for you.. rakin..got himself one nice classic tee with germany characters as its motives..only at $13..a nike jacket at $7, and i guess, some other stufffs..both rakin and me know that if syahz, and those other girls..are going to be so mad ( i think, actually frustrated and sad) if they got to know they had just missed such an awesome and ideal moment of shopping...i'm sorry, people..not our fault.we didn't even know this thing is happening, or ever exists!!

on the way to south wal mart(we scrapped off Target and Shoe Carnival)..i took a chance on an indian girl(i assume so) that was also waiting for the bus...and yes, i was right..ritta from delhi..student of SMSu...quite good looking, man..look like a hindi actress..hahahahaha...had nice chat until we get to wal mart. spent 1 hour there, and later met a korean guy that works at a shushi restaurant overhere in the bus on the way back to transfer facility...and again, the bus was there, waiting for us to go...the moment we got back syahz was there in front of us...and so the news started to spread...haiyoh, baru je ingat nak cover line..taknak la diorang rasa tak best pasal tak kelua hari ni(FYI, none of them went out today)

nite...let me recall...yup..we celebrated anuar/ustaz/edward's birthday at his place.ai bao/suzie/siti baked a chocolate cake for him..ehhehe..ada apa2 ker..most of us was there, and we had such a GREAT time singing the birthday songs, crack stupid jokes, and taking pictures..hehehe....

what a beautiful day today..thaks to YOU, the Almighty GOD.

imran

9/7/2005

as i told earlier..today is going to be such a great day!!! we are sitting in the WAL-MART SATURDAY MORNING MEETING!!! this is the platform where the top noch of the organization, sit down together with lower level managers such as regional diredtors, area directors, etc...sounds common, rite..the beautiful thing is, beside these people..they also allow ANYBODY..i mean..ANYBODY...yes, i repeat..ANYBODY to enter the meeting as observers. we can have buyers, blue collar workers, guests, family members, friends, etc to come and sit in the meeting. on top of that, these peoples' presence may also be announced at the end of the meeting and they shall receive round of applause from everybody in the hall. yup, as to accomodate the amount of people(maybe around 300ppl of more), its being held in a hall, arranged in such a way, made it looks like the united nation's hall that we always see on t.v. there are flags of various countries(those countries that wal mart has entered), charts, pictures, and many more informations about the company. opps, not to forget ot mention, as the company runs on retailing, they also decoerate the hall in line with the spirit of their outlets...we can see shelves with clotehes to sell, complete with price boards, as if they are for sale ( aku terkena tipu siot!!) but they are not. everybody wears very informal, as simple as flip-flops, shorts and t-shirts..made me look weird at myself as i was wearing long-sleeve shirt, slacks and shining black leather shoes. the only thing that made me looked not so formal was the liveSTRONG and tsunami relief effort wristband i wore on my right hand, and of course, my charming and energetic attitude(eventhough i fell asleep several times during the presentation). the proof? i manged to give such an energeric and full power looks when i was called to go in front of the crowd to do the sife cheer- yes, i forgot to tell you..another reason why we were here was because SIFE is doing its promotion, where 2 of my friends from drury-frank bannet and another girl are goin to present some of Drury SIFE projects to show to people how SIFE may work to change the world...i found that there was a similarity between Wal - Mart and SIFE cheer..actually they were same, just change the latterings, and the captions...the rhyme, the gesture, and the strength..were all same...shall i accuse SIFE on copycating Wal - Mart? maybe it was just a strategy..as Wal Mart is one of the biggest supporter of SIFE..who knows..its a part of the politics...

the meeting started with the wal mart cheer..this cheer, idealized by sam walton himself,inspired by the working culture of the koreans that i belive the late sam, at some level, admire so much. then, it went to all the reports by various people...again, the beauty of the meeting, those who took responsibilty to present the reports, may not only prone to receive questions from the top directors, but also from anybody on the floor!!!amazing..amazing...we later been brought into one of the meeting room, another weird room, inspired from a corporate culture of a company from the U.K - ASDA..they are..something like wal mart, but operates in the u.k..actually, this company has been taken over by wal mart, since back on several years ago. the room, is a meeting room where everybody shall need to..STAND..yup, no fluffy chairs, no sexy short skirt secretaries, and no exception to anybody not to attend the meeting. if the person is away, there are system to allow the person to still be joining the meeting via phone or any sort of audio conferencing.hahaha...i wish i could have this system back in my SIFE meeting room(eventho we actually have NO meeting room, so anybody that try to avoid comin got the meeting shall have no excuse words anymore.got to admit it,it is such a sad thing to see people simply not to turn on the meeting due to some bombastic reasons they created over a ciggerate-but i am not that mean, i still give chances to those who give concrete reasons, supported with proofs)..then had some tour around the building. we was shown the seats of the people who posses big positions in the company..yup, from the first glance, you might think the company is cool because they don't provide nice and cozy places for these people..but come to think about it again...don't a person that worked damn hard, burn their ass off, deserve a better treatment as an asset to the company's success?at what level, is the level of job satisfactionof their workers? i know that wal mart is famous with some issues relating to the their treatment to their workers(besides the issue where they bought too much from china to reduce cost)...now i see it myself, with my own bare eyes...i dont know, i havent got chance to read any research linked to the job satisfaction or anything related to the working environment in the company.maybe the workers like it that way, maybe not, maybe they are o.k but might want some sort of upgradetion..i dont know..

went for lunch, on roger st. on this road, situated the first ever, the kick-starter, the stepping stone of Wal Mart supercenter that we see today...i guess you are right..its the first sam walton's store, where his wife and him spent 95% of their money, their biggest gamble ever, and it was worth the risk to bare...it expands...and still expanding...

jack schewmaker..this is a guy, i met in the previous SIFE world cup in spain..this guy, is a man with heart..a man that belives that us, SIFE student may acheive things he has acheived in his life...i still remember the time we shake hand, he held my hand tight, and looked right into my eyes. as if he was saying ' i put my trust to change the world to you, young man'..and i took it...i stay with SIFE until today, regardless what it takes..in fact i would want to stay forever..all my life.. we got chance to go to his house...one interesting fact to be shared...HE GOT 200 CARS!!!, including one dodge viper, 2 911 turbo, the whole row of at least 10 mustangs..and...a BUS!!!you know, the bus where people decorate the interor to be home look like...he need 7 barns to keep all these cars, complete with 3 people to take care of them.his house...i have to say, not in the size where you will go 'oh my god, i cant even see the other side'..but the architecture,the interior, and the technology being used to build and suppot the house made it so....adorable. the structure of the house itself..came from 32 different countries, not including USA where jack and his wife travelled 3 years around the world for them.. as it consumes such a lot of energy(namely electric)- i has a nuclear submarine technology to generate power in emergency cases...that can last for 2 days. the home teather..jack admits himself that he went to cinemas very..very..very..frequantly...the system was marvellous, awesome..and most important of all...it was custom made!!! the highlight of the meeting was where jack joined us and shared lots of his experience, opinions, ideas, and advise to us. i was really sad to feel so sleepy, in fact i fall asleep again...and he saw it..haiyoh..malu besar siot..!!!! the moment we was about to go back, i went to see him ..he was in his office..there was 2 reasons for me to see him:..1st..to give him my business card,and 2nd, to apologize...tak sempat apa2..he came out from his office, saw me, with a cap on his hand, and said...'i give this to you, please take it as my appreciation for your visit, i wish i could have more and give them to eveybody'....i was at the top of the world..its not easy to get a cap with 'jac's rench' on it...i was too happy until i only remember to pass him my biz.card and said lots of thanks...when i got to sign the visitors' book..i wrote ' thank you,sir. i shall remember every single words you said, and make them REAL...'...

and that closes our tour in arkansas. we went back the same crowd in the van, just this time i don't have much courage to stay awake and discuss about issues..i decided to SLEEP!!! got back in Drury by around 7pm..what i did later? one of the thing that not many of us can enjoy back in malaysia....it was.....a movie night ..outdoor at founders' park!!! watched 'meet the fokers' , had nice laugh.it was mildred, camme, fea, ai bao, rakin, syahz, and myself..as the program was a collaboration between the some organization( i guess its the city hall) and drury sife, we, as interns in the program was obligated to help in setting up the movie and also to clear things up(like to roll the screen, etc). it was prestty fun, tho. we walked back to drury, but as some of us wantedtoto fo conoco and get something to drink, munch, etc..so we went there. on the wau back..this is the good part..we encountered 2 skateboarders doing their thing in ifn front of the school..2 of them. being ali imran, i guess its not a hard thing for me to go, say hi, and made friend with them. they can skate quite well, man. though i felt some of our skaters were way better than them( i mean, looking at their age and how long has they been skating)..these kids, have their own music band..playing things on punk to melodic thingy. one of them does not go to school, he was taken out from the school by his mom before the school kicked him out after he got involved in a fist fight. oh, i was about to forget to mention their name...the school dropout kid..named david..and the other..dave. rakin and me spent quite a long time chatting with them. we talked about a lot of things, music, police, girl fans(their groupe-as they sai, is a popular ban in the area and they do have their own fan) , schools, and some other stuffs...we go nothing much to do the moment we get back in the apartment, but starving tummy came with a great idea..maggi!!hahaha..yup, we had maggi at 3 am.i just dont know what to do tomorrow, but i know that i am ... yawning to the max...right now see you again beautiful people of the world...


imran