Eid Mubarak 1430H

Here’s wishing all of you:

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri

Mohon maaf, lahir dan batin

Have a blessed Eid Mubarak.

Enjoy your festive holiday wherever you are, and come back safely.

greeting graphics taken from Institut Memandu Bunga Raya pamphlet

Aussie T-Shirt

My friend Noraidalin went Down Under and bought me a t-shirt.
Okay, I asked for the t-shirt. For free.
:)

And sure enough, she gave me a piece. Quite nice. Very comfortable. Unlike the usual thin, low quality type. I like the color too.

The thing that makes it special is what printed on the t-shirt.

I'm a bit of a collector, and so it's nice to have a collection of Australian slangs in one piece of cloth.

Here's the list:

• wally
• gone walkabout
• chock a wobly
• stone the crows
• no worries
• bloody oath
• stunned mullet
• crikey!
• hows that!
• sheilla
• you beauty
• bonza!!
• down under
• fair crack of the whip
• turn it up
• mug lair
• too right
• amberfluid
• footy
• flatout like a lizard drinkin
• strewth!!
• onya
• yobbo
• she'll be right
• g'day mate!
• fair dinkum
• spot on
• tinnie
• flamin heck

I've heard a few, like the familiar "Down Under", "G'Day Mate!","spot on", "no worries" and "fair dinkum".
Totally no idea what the rest means.
Go and figure them out:
http://www.aussieslang.org/
google 'aussie slang' or 'strine' and you'll get quite a handful of hits.

Thanks for the t-shirt, Lin!
Where'll you be going after this?
;)

*updated 21 Feb 2014. thanks to Robbie and Michelle for informing me the correct link above :)

tagged!

Tagged by Lydia, and this has been long overdue.

1. Senaraikan 5 perkara tentang org yang tag kamu:

1. Her name is Lydia
2. She works in MMHE, attached with PMDP
   
3. Hard on the outside, but actually mellow inside. She said so.
   
4. She likes to bloop
5. She always melalut in her blog
   

2. Tuliskan novel kegemaran kamu:
Michael Crichton's 'The Great Train Robbery'.
Was written in the year I was born!


3. Listkan 5 benda yang kamu sayang:

1. my Titus watch - a wedding gift from my wife. later will pass on to my kids. an heirloom, sort of.
   
2. my wallet - a storage for my family portrait, ID, driving licence, bankcard, and cash (yup, no credit cards). also a wedding gift, but replaced with a similar one. the old one still nicely kept.
   
3. my ultra sophisticated handphone - Nokia 1200. actually, the data in it. and the emergency flashlight. my PDA as well also lah, like that...
   
4. books
5. bicycles

Now, these people are tagged by me:
Huar huar huar...

• panjang
• kelolo
• dino
• noraidalin
• hurul
• aiyahh... too many to list la...
  
• you, the reader of this blog entry
  

www.alwiz.com.my

this is a special entry to promote a merchant website owned by a friend of mine

My friend Arnizah helped me deliver chocolates (and a bonus 3 stalks of roses) to Naza on our anniversary recently.

I forgot to order from her much earlier, and so I gave her a quick call during lunch time that day asking if she could help me for the special occasion. Not really knowing what to send Naza as a surprise delivery, I asked Arnizah for her suggestions, within my budget. She came out with a few options, and we agreed on chocolates. And, she delivered it herself a few hours later.

An sms from the happy missus confirmed the delivery.

In return of Arnizah's big help, I'm doing this free advertisement for her as my sincere gratitude.

Browse through her catalog at www.alwiz.com.my.
Bookmark it, just so you know where to go to for gift deliveries online.

note: the Sarawak layer cakes are from Sarawak.

4 coleby avenue

L to R: Akmal Hisham, Akmal Hizam, Azman, Zaiman, Zulhilmi.

Me and housemates in front of our rental house in Old Trafford.
4 Coleby Avenue, off Lindum Avenue, Old Trafford, Manchester.

It's a semi-D house with a separate garage (keys kept by the owner - Mr. Shabir Bangi) and a small backyard (never bothered about it, but once we had a barbecue session with friends over there). Located in a cul-de-sac in a quiet neighbourhood.


View Larger Map

I don't quite remember this photo existed, until my mate Akmal Hisham (aka Imam) scanned it and posted in his facebook page. What I remembered is that we snapped several photos to be sent to newspapers in Malaysia for Hari Raya greetings from overseas. Not sure whether this was the one being published.
Date stamp: 17 January 1997. More than 10 years. Seemed like it was only a short time ago.

Aah... and look at the colour tone of our Baju Melayu - by pure chance.

credits:
don't know who snapped this photo.
scanned by Akmal Hisham

virtual meeting place

A few years ago I tried to have my own website, to share things digitally - thoughts, photos (videos are a bit rare back then - slow connection).
Then I discovered blogspot. And so I signed up and started writing.

I used to write long emails to friends, conveying my thoughts in discussions.
I thought, rather than sharing it with a person (or a few people in a group), I'd share it with the world. Hence, 'typed thoughts'.

I have a few photos that I use as my wallpaper on the PC desktop. These too I housed in a dedicated wallpaper blog (Faizi, if you're reading this, my 'Faizi's photos' folder in my PC is still empty).

I kept my hajj journal in a blog. Events and photos.

My family on my mother's side have been updating our big family tree in Geni, and I posted a few news and photos. Regularly visiting the tree.

Yesterday, I discovered My Site in my company's e-portal. It's a personal space for employees, but for internal viewing only.

Today I received a Facebook 'friend request' from Alina.
I signed up Facebook because it's a place where all your friends and their pets are loitering. Furthermore, you can't view other's Facebook pages if you're not a member. Have not updated or posted anything or sending requests or anything. Except for this morning. And it's quite a hassle. Learning the rope is one thing, updating and maintaining it is another big one.

I put links to my blogs in Geni, MySite, Facebook and other virtual meeting places that I signed up so far. What I'm doing now is that I keep on writing in here and my other blogs as and when I have the time.
Friends, families, strangers and their pets can always view them and leave a comment or two.

Oh, and if you feel like sending me personal messages, email me at akmalhamid[at]gmail.com.
Or send me texts. I'll give you my mobile number through email.

don't judge a book by its cover

It's a cliché, i know.
However, it is very true.
Especially when it comes to relationship and interaction between human beings (and other living things).

I experienced this many times throughout my life so far.
I learnt how not to judge another person based solely on his appearances, especially upon the first impression.
It is rather unfair for that person, you judging him only by the first display of his personality towards you.
Perhaps during that particular time a normally cheerful lad was going through a bad time, thus him being a bit grouchy.
It takes some time for us to know other people, their (actual) behavior and personality.
This involves in doing some work together, being in a team in a particular project, usrah, homeroom, etc., etc.

If we give enough time for others to portray themselves as what they really are, while we're being open about it, chances are that our first impression on them would be totally flawed. Most of the times we would be ashamed of ourselves to think negatively about others. Some actually say that it takes one to know one. So, if you tend to have negative adjectives to describe strangers, be careful. You may be looking in a mirror, and see the bad part of yourself.
Heck, that actually is a great way to know about ourselves, then.

There were many pleasant people I get to know with - after I forced myself to give them that chance, permitting them to show me their true colours and who they really are.
These people, interestingly, are the kinds that others would label as 'self-centered', 'proud', 'unfriendly', 'geeky', and other negative adjectives others freely stamp upon them.
Of course, there are those weird people around us. They have their own stories. Find out about it and you'll be amazed how they look at the world in a whole different point of view - but that's another story.

A friend told me that I looked solemn and pious, 'nak dekat pon takut...'.
Well, what can I say. The adjectives that we have about ourselves usually are very different from what others may have.
Their judgment. Anyway, I tend to portray myself differently to certain people.

See also: http://akmalhizam.blogspot.com/2006/12/lesson-learnt-dont-judge-departmental.html

12 H - down the memory lane

L to R (standing):Hamidi, Hanafi, Akmal, Saufi, Syed Mahadzir, Herwandi, Hazami, Amsur
L to R (seating): Hanizah, Melissa, Rosdiana, Ms. Kiranjeet Kaur, Faizal, Hisham, T Roslan, Izham

this post is especially for Tengku Roslan.
bro, reminisce...

Class 12 H (12 Hantu)
PPP/ITM A-Level batch 12
1992-95
Shah Alam

People studying A-Level in 12 H are divided into 3 different degree courses:
Architecture, Quantity Surveying and Industrial Design.
Partly arts and partly science in nature, we took 3 papers for A-Level exams - Maths, Physics and Economics (hmmpphhhh...).

Architecture:

• Herwandi
• Amsur
• Faizal
• Hisham

Quantity Surveying:

• Hanafi
• Akmal
• Saufi
• Syed Mahadzir
• Melissa
• Rosdiana
• Izham

Industrial Design:

• Hamidi
• Hazami
• Hanizah
• T Roslan
  

More than 10 years later now, we parted our own ways.
Many I don't know what they're doing right now, most of them I get in touch every now and then.
What I know is that Faizal and Rosdiana are married to each other.
I changed my course from QS to Mechanical Engineering during the first year of university in NCUK. I guess the rest pretty much stick to the original plan, except for T and Izham. They're doing IT related work now.
Oh, and Hazami is a singer now - doing the thing he loved best.

So, guys: a reunion some time this year?