friends forever

I've always believed in ghosts and spirits. Perhaps it was because it amused me, or perhaps it was because I've been stuffed with ghost stories ever since I was old enough to comprehend them. I've been around a lot of people who grew up in remote areas of the world. You know, the place where electricity doesn't exist, and running house water is just a myth. Well, anyway, I've heard many ghost stories from them, mostly drawn from their actual encounters and experiences. These stories were pass on to me on many different occasions. Like say… around a campfire, a mid-night drive across towns, or just under the dim candlelight of my friends' basements. One of my friends' stories was about his dad. You see, back in those days when my friend's father was just teenager, water was a rare commodity. At every dawn, he had to leave his home with two vases on either side of a stick on his shoulders to get drinkable water from the village's well. The walk was about two miles. People did not live close to each other in those days, they lived on their farm, and every house was quite far from each other. There wasn't any pavement, or cement street, roads were simply made out of rocks, and mud, and dirt. And the only mean of transportation was cows. Nevertheless, my friend's dad always stopped by his neighbour's house, the two boys grew up together and they've always walked alongside each other to get water. When Mr. Shoe, my friend's dad, was fifteen, his friend died of malaria, so from then on; he had to walk to the well by himself. One day, while coming back from the well, Mr. Shoe heard running footsteps coming from behind him. So he stopped and turned around, no one was there. The footsteps then slowed down to a jog, and then to a walk, then it stopped next to him. He was puzzled, but he wasn't scared, so he kept walking. The footstep started again, but this time it was next to him. The footstep's pace matched Mr. Shoe pace evenly as he walked down the street. Somehow he sense something familiar in the presence that he is having so he kept on walking, but somehow he can’t stop thinking about what is happening though he tried to ignore it. As he walking pass by an old woman’s shop, who was recognize by everyone to be a medium, stops him at his step. The old woman told Mr Shoe that there was a young man who is walking side by side with him and she also told him that he should tell the spirit to go back where he belongs if not he would be possessed. Mr Shoe bitterly agreed. The old woman volunteered to help Mr Shoe with his problem and acted as a medium. The conversation took place for about an hour or so and after awhile according to the medium, the spirit just wanted to say hi to his old friend and sorry for not being able to accompany him anymore, then he left in peace. Although this story is not what entitle to be a horror story but this story sends a message that friendship last even in the afterlife, Mr Shoe still occasionally dreamt about him especially during festive season maybe because he was all alone but Mr Shoe kept convincing him to move on and lately Mr Shoe could not feel his presence anymore, most probably he had moved on.

a tale of three sisters

Once upon a time, in a land far away, where the land was prosperous and peaceful, live a farmer and his three beautiful daughters in a small cottage at the end of a kingdom and they lead a very happy modest life, each looking after one another. The eldest daughter was Alaina, a quick witted young lady, with charcoal black hair that often sweeps many young man’s hearts and ambitious determining in life, the second daughter was Abigail an outspoken young lady, with a gregarious and extrovert attitude she gains a lot of friends everywhere she goes, and her heart already belongs to a handsome young lad who felt deeply in love with her but she always thought that she was not beautiful enough to be by his side and the youngest daughter, Adriannna, a wise and gentle in nature young girl with eyes shines like the moon, who always looks after her father and elder siblings. Their father have been ill for so many years drew are at his end of line, he call his daughter to gather beside him at his death bed to give his will. He gave them his emerald necklace to his three grieving daughters and said” go to the Forbidden Forest after you have buried me walk together to the edge of the forest, until you have reached a White Wizard’s hut named Gandalf, give him this necklace and he will know what to do.:” and after that he drew his last breath and died. The three grieving sisters buried their father with a heavy heart and flowing tears to company their father’s burial as they loved their father dearly. That night the three of them sat together at their small wooden dining table and have trout and potatoes for dinner while suddenly the middle sister spoke” are we going to the Forbidden Forest as father told us to?”. Alaina and Adrianna froze. After a few moments of silence Alaina said” Of course we are! It is as father’s wish.” Abigail quickly replies “But it is too dangerous! Who knows what kind of danger lies in the forest!” And the argument continues until Adrianna interrupt the conversation with a stern and firm tone” We are going to the Forbidden Forest to fulfil father’s wish it is our duty as daughters.” With that being said, the decision has been made and they set off to the forest the next morning. Well equipped with weapon like bows and arrows, and swords they enter the forest with a nervous heart. Although it was morning and the sun has rose, nothing seems to change in the forest as the forest stayed buried deep in the dark and it seems as though light was forbidden to enter the forest. The forest was a pin drop silent as they could not hear the sound of anything alive besides them, nothing could be heard but the crunch of dried leaves and twigs as they walked on it. The branches seemed like scary long black arms that were trying to catch you as the strong wind blows and sometimes they would also hears the soft whispers of the wind. They carefully took one step at a time while holding tightly at each other’s arms, shivering, the thought of obeying their father’s wish might have been a very bad idea. However, it was, as Adrianna said, their duty and besides it is too late to turn back now as they almost reached their destination. As they were walking ahead and nearing the edge of the forest, they saw a shabby looking hut with broken windows, a worn curtain as a substitute to a door and the stench of dead rotten animals filled their nostrils as they went nearer to the hut.” Is this the White Wizard’s hut?” whispered Alaina to her sisters. “I think so, because no normal person in their right mind would be living in here.” said Abigail.” Ssshh…be quite.” Whispered Adrianna, whispering to each other is not a very good way to search for people, she thought. The night will soon fall, they have to get it done, fast. “Hello? Is anyone here? I am …we are looking for Gandalf, The White Wizard.” yelled Adrianna but there were no response. The three sisters began to shiver as the nights are getting darker and darker and there not even a speck of light shining in the woods, how are they going to survive a night in the forest? Even if they don’t make it out from the forest, no one will be able to find their bodies. Suddenly they heard a horrifying growl. They turn and kept eyes open for everything and searching for the growl but the growl sounded so close. “Let’s get out of here! Now! ” said Abigail to her sisters half yelling and Alaina and Adrianna nodded as sign off agreement. Afraid for their dear lives, they started walking in the dark, just then a deep hoarse voice spoke” Are you looking for someone?”,the sisters froze in the steps, and slowly turned around with faces pale towards the voice that just spoke, to their surprise instead of blood-thirsty monster in front of them, stood an old man with silver beard touching the ground, wearing white worn out robe and holding a cane on his left hand. The old man repeat the question, this time with a louder voice,” Are you looking for someone?” “Ye..yes! Are you Gandalf?” ask Alaina, “Yes indeed I am, May I ask, what business do the three of you have here? Adrianna showed him the emerald necklace” Our father told us to give this to you as his last request” she said. “My..My…condolences my dear, hm…so let’s get to it shall we?” the sisters were puzzled. The wizard smile “Few years ago your father saved me, to repay him I offered him three wishes but he told me that he did not need any because he already have what he wanted, so I gave him this emerald necklace so that if one day he changes his mind he bring this necklace to me to redeem his three wishes, so now the three wishes is yours.” The wizard explained. “So each of us have three wishes?” ask Alaina excitedly, “ No, each of you have one wish, however, I must warn you, make the right wish you will lead a happy life, if you make the wrong wish you and you alone will have to face the consequences.” Thus, after thinking long and hard , they have made their wishes. The first daughter , Alaina wishes to be the most influence and powerful women in the whole kingdom, the second daughter, Abigail wishes to be the fairest maiden in the land, when it comes to Adrianna’s turn she simply said” I wish to keep my wish for another time.” So the wizard agrees and gave her the emerald necklace. The wizard sent the three sisters home later that night. Few months goes by and Alaina and Abigail’s wishes came true, sadly the three of them have to go their separate ways. Alaina became the most influenced in the entire kingdom and she work beside the King himself and became the most powerful women in the whole kingdom and the King also wanted her to marry his prince. Abigail became the fairest maiden in the land and married to the young lad she’s madly in love with and lived happily by his side. Adrianna on the other hand still lives in the cottage at the edge of the kingdom and she is working hard by herself to manage her farm and not long after that she too got happily married to a farmer. Weeks became days, days became months and months became years, as time went by everything changes and so was the three sisters. After married to the prince, Alaina became so powerful that she had abuse the power that was given to her, later she was caught by the King’s men and were hung to death in front of the villagers. Abigail is still the fairest maiden in the land and there are a lot of young men who was crazy about her and willing to do anything for her but in the same time they were plotting to get rid of her husband so they could reach her, so thus, the husband was found slaughtered in her rose garden. Abigail was devastated, after her husband burial she cried and cried grieving for her husband’s death, days went by and she just could not live without him so she took her own life by drinking a bottle of poison. As for Adrianna, she became a proud mother of five children and she spent her happy days living beside her husband and teaching her children on how to make good choices in life. She still hold on to the emerald necklace and the wish that she still kept and same as her father she passed on the necklace to her children on her death bed and told them only to use the wish only if it necessary and after she died it was handed down from generations to generation as a family air loom.

wardrobe

People say you can tell a lot by a person’s wardrobe especially girls which most probably have spent most of the time shopping and collecting something nice to wear especially someone who is a public figure. Usually ladies would have a large closet just for their own collection of clothes, accessories, shoes and make up because it is in their nature to have the desire to be beautiful but men also sometimes would be have few collections of their own. I have a closet which I have owed for more than five years, three foot high and one and a half meter width, cream coloured and have five compartments or drawers. I am the kind of person who literally enjoys folding my clothes instead of hanging them except the clothes I have iron, to me folded clothes are neat. I don’t like on owning too many clothes, so I would give away the clothes to anyone who wants it or throw it away. I have about ten T-shirts, three pairs of jeans, five blouses, six pairs of pants and eleven scarf or ‘tudung’. How to describe my wardrobe: Simple. Most of the women or ladies would just drop dead if they have a wardrobe like mine but I am personally a bit proud of it because it is base on my choice of clothing and as I said earlier you can tell a lot by a person’s wardrobe. Ever since I was little, I seldom wear dresses or gown, or what people might call girls attire, because I use to wear a pair of T-shirt and shorts either to play or to sleep at night and it has been a habit ever since and up till now. I usually help my father at his camping site mostly to assist him in handling the camper’s activities which most of the time requires me to wear casual attire to allow me to move around comfortably. My T-shirts came in variety of designs and colours such as a worn down, faded black colour, a bit loose or baggy so my skin could breath, and a design shapes like an eagle at the front. This T-shirt is by far my favourite because it is made from cotton which means it absorbs sweat unlike some type of stretchable nylon T-shirt which is very uncomfortable. All of my t-shirts have the same quality except some of it are long- sleeved and some are short –sleeved, and also comes in blue, green, brown and black. I would go anywhere with just T-shirt, a pair of jeans and slippers, however constant nagging from my mother force me to turn a new leaf, dress more to my feminine side such as wearing blouse instead of T-shirts, heels instead of my converse shoes or slippers. It is not like I hated to wear feminine attire, it is just I have to take time to adjust. My pants are another story. I owned a pair of black Mont Blanc jeans which is my favourite, a worn out blue Levi’s jeans, a pair of blue new jeans which I recently purchase in a bundle shop, two pairs of Diadora track suit, and a pair of shorts. For my closet or more like drawers, I would place each drawer with different types of clothes such as the first drawer would be a place for T-shirts only, second drawer is for trousers, third is for blouse and accessories box, the fourth drawer is for my scarfs or ‘tudung’ and the fifth drawer is for my undergarments. To me it is important for my belongings to be organized not to say that I am an organized person, believe me I create mess all the time but I would always clean up afterwards, which teaches me to have discipline in everything I do in my life. Finally, it has been a habit for me to put in a bit of jell fragrance in my drawers so that my clothes would not always smelt like wood every time I wore them.

Math and science in English

A few years back, our previous Prime Minister, Datuk Sri Dr Mahathir Mohd has establish a new law that is to teach science and Mathematics in English. After he stepped down from his position as the Prime Minister of Malaysia, a few protests were organized by the Bahasa Melayu scholars community, trying to force the government to demolish the law. After awhile, the government gave in and restore the original law. However, little that they know Datuk Sri Dr Mahathir Mohd strategy did work because the student’s English subject percentages blooms after a year, students suddenly improve dramatically in English vocabulary. Math and Science are important subjects that would help develop Malaysia towards achieving its goal to become a developed country. Both subjects are crucial subjects and having it taught in a language which the students and the teachers could not fully understand would hamper the learning process of the subjects. It is true that English is a widely spoken language internationally but to have a good command in English does not necessarily means that we have to learn Math and Science in English. Teaching science and mathematics in English would solve two problems simultaneously. One, considering the critical shortage of textbooks, journals, and other literature in Malay, teaching the two subjects in English would facilitate the acquisition of new knowledge by our students. With the exponential growth of new knowledge, it would be impossible to keep up solely through translations, even if we were to devote our entire intellectual resources towards that endeavour. In schools where the background English literacy level of the pupils is low as in the villages, I would have the pupils take English immersion classes for a full term or even a year. We had earlier successful experiences with this with our Special Malay Classes and Remove classes. This strategy has also been tried successfully in America for children of non-English-speaking immigrants. At the secondary level, our residential schools get the best students and teachers. Consequently the program could be more easily implemented there as the learning curve would be steep, and mistakes more readily recognized and corrected. Once the kinks have been worked out, expand the program. Another is the issue of teachers. Fortunately Malaysia has two large untapped reservoirs of talent: recently retired teachers trained under the old English-based system, and native English speakers who are either spouses of Malaysians or residents of this country. Given adequate compensation and minimal of hassles, they could be readily recruited. My point is when the government decided to do what is best for the future generation of the nation, they should not do it half way through because research and statistic of English language in schools blossom magnificently and if they firmly stands with their opinion and effort and ignore completely the thought of those who are selfish enough to only think about themselves, our nation would be a better nation. Moreover, the government should not have been alone in this situation, where are the parents, teacher and scholars who support this idea? From my point of view together we stand, divided we fall applies well in this condition.

quote of the day

sometime on you way to find your dream you might get lost but you'll find a new dream.

Ghost

a.       Ghost. It’s a very sensitive topic because many among us does not believe in ghost or the unseen and I have been wondering why? Because if we can believe in God and Devil, Heaven and Hell, why not ghost? This story came from a personal experience of mine, although it happen a long time ago but this teach me to always be aware of my surroundings. This event occurred to me when I was in form 3 around the year 2004 and the most bizarre about this story is I am not experiencing it alone.

It was morning and I still remember that I delayed my classroom chores to skip my class along with my partner, cleaning my class while my friends all on their way to the laboratory. It was just a normal day to me, after finish cleaning, me and my friend took the dustbin and carry it to a hole that were dug to throw the rubbish. We were having fun and chit-chatting when suddenly I look behind my shoulder. I saw one of my friend walking on the pavement behind our classroom, without thinking I shouted to classmate, asking what is she doing? Is she alright? My partner looked at her too. She only responded by just a glance and nod. I did not thought about her since I feared that we would get caught for skipping class so we quickly rush to the laboratory to attend the class. When it is over, my partner elbowed me and ask ‘where is she?’ Is she skipping class? I looked around and just notice she is nowhere to be seen, I was beginning to worried, so we went to see our class teacher to inform him about the incident, fearing something might happen to her. He responded to our report with a surprise look on his face and told us that our friend did not come to school that day because she has been in Penang since last week to care for her grandfather. My partner and I was flabbergasted, lost in words. How could this happen? We both saw her or whatever it is with our own eyes. There was questions began with ‘if’ and ‘maybe’ but none of them make sense and moreover I was so curious about the truth and kept asking myself is the event real? Does it really happen? What if my eyes were playing tricks on me? What if my imagination gets the best of me? I don’t want to be bothered by the event but my curiosity overcame me so ask my classmate who my friend and I saw last time. After listening to my story her expression was priceless. It was funny and scary at the same time because her facial reaction shows that she was as puzzled as I was, so in the end of our conversation I told that most probably the event was my imagination ( where I know it was not) so that she would not be bothered by it and I laugh it off. Up till this day she still has no idea that what had happened that day was real and most probably she would not find out about it since I made my friends promise not to tell her anything.

quote of the day

You have enemies? Good. That means you stood up for something. 

how I celerate Eid

    As a Muslim, Hari Raya Aidilfitri or Eid will be celebrated by the Muslims after one month of fasting from foods and drinks from Subuh until Maghrib , fasting is to teach Muslims on how to be modest and understand those who are in poverty. This festival will be celebrated proximately a month. In Malaysia and other countries, the Muslims will have early preparation for the festive season such as to decorate their house, make cookies, buying new clothes and so on. Similar to all festive season, everyone is enjoying the celebration of Eid especially children and plus family members can gather to take a trip down memory lane together. The night before the Eid, families will be busy preparing everything for the celebration the next morning, usually, everyone in the family would be up late including the children who would definitely enjoy playing crackers and lighting up the ‘pelita’ which is lamp oil with cousins, nephew and nieces. On the morning of Eid, everyone would wake up early in the morning to go to the mosque for an Eid prayer. Then they would come home and enjoy delicious traditional food such as ‘ketupat’, ‘rendang’, and lemang. On a table in the living room they would prepare cookies inside colourful jars for the guests that would come to their house and it is also a tradition for guest to receive what we call ‘duit raya’ from the host. Family members would ask for each other forgiveness and the elder would give money to the younger family member in decorative envelope.

The Eid also is a season where family member got close together by visiting each other, even though they live very far away,  it is also an obligation for family members to visit their relatives in order to strengthen their family bond.

Quote of the day

Nerdy and Geeks are the new found word for Awesomeness!

my day at the shopping mall

     I arrived at the AEON Jaya Jusco Shopping Mall proximately at 12.30 noon, which by this time this shopping mall were already swarming with people who were here for various purposes, some to shop for necessity, some are window shopping, some are here to spend time with their friends and family and some are there to earn money while some of them are trying to simply waste their money on useless things such as adding another pair of shoes to their 100^th collection. I was there to watch a new movie, Hansel and Gretel staring Jeremy Renner with my friend. While I was waiting for the theatre seating, I noticed the girl who just sat on a bench beside me. From  her looks, I’m guessing that she is in her early 20’s , her attitude and up to date fashion style tells me that she is still a student, she also kept checking her cell phone and kept looking behind her shoulder , obviously waiting for someone and they are definitely late because her face tells me she’s ready to kill someone. About ten minutes later a boy, appears to be same age as she is, came half running towards her with a guilty as charge smile across his face. As I got up and walking towards the theatre I glance back and saw the boy was almost on his knees, apologizing to his girlfriend for being late . I just giggle and continue my walk to the theatre.

After the movie has ended, my friend and I went to have lunch at a nearby restaurant, right after we settle down, a commotion broke. A Chinese woman, in her early 50s, wearing something I would definitely say not her style, with tight black legging, red skirt and a blue jeans blouse, and also she has this sort of bird’s nest hair style , the only thing lacking in that style are a couple of eggs. She suddenly started laughing non-stop about something and just then I realised she was laughing at one of the waitress who accidently messed up her order, which in my opinion is very rude indeed. I am just trying to ignore her throughout my lunch because someone that rude is not even worth to be talked about.

Finally, I was on the way to the car with my friend when suddenly an Indian man, in his early 30s came running towards me. I was freaked out. My first thought was to bash his head with my handbag and ran away but then suddenly he hands over a bag which I immediately recognize to be my friend’s bag.  I was very grateful that I spotted what he was actually doing before bashing his head with my handbag and that is how I end my day at the shopping mall. Every people are different in their own way which makes us unique.

 quote of the day

Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
Mark Twain 

This is wonderland but YOU'R NOT ALICE!

welcome my fellow readers to the realm of fantasy wonderland  and exciting adventures(Alice is not the only person who can go to Wonderland!), try to express yourself through writing and who knew maybe serendipity will take over....let yourself be free in writing, go fly with Peter pan, take a dive with Ariel the mermaid, take a nap with the Sleeping beauty, sing and create your own zoo like Snow white, or even do your chores with Cinderella and with that being said..HAVE A NICE TRIP!

I welcome and seek your ideas, but do not bring me small ideas; bring me big ideas to match our future.


Arnold Schwarzenegger