Tuesday 30 November 2010

Fancy a good read?

Hello reader, if you are bored and have no idea what to do with your time, have contemplated reading but don't know where to get cheap good novels because you are broke, this is the place for you.

I was blog hopping the other night and came across this website, from China if I'm not mistaken, http://www.en8848.com.cn/fiction/Fiction/Fantasy/ that had links to famous novels online, and by famous I'm talking Harry Potter, novels by John Grisham, NIcholas Sparks and many more. They're all sorted out by genre so just pick one that you feel like reading.

Go read a book today!

Roadside Crosses by Jeffery Deaver

I started reading this novel the last time I was back in September, and kicked myself for not bringing the book back with me to Kedah to finish the last chapter.

I have finished it.

I like this book because I thought it was going to be a silly American cop book, because of the way it started, with characters you can't see yourself liking. In other words, I liked it because it wasn't what I expected it to be. The genre would probably be thriller, because of the chase, between good guys and the bad guys throughout. There is also a much appreciated element of suspense due to the fact that something new and outrageous seems to crop up at every chapter. This I like.

And it's not your traditional murder motive, for money or revenge or any of that CSI rubbish, which makes it somewhat a psychological thriller. I was talking about the novels we read with my friend Jacinta, and I realised that I have come to like books that enlighten me on topics that are otherwise rarely thought about like gaming for instance. Online gaming is an issue in this novel and I found out some things that I really didn't know.

I mean, reading romantic novels by Nicholas Sparks is all well and good when you're on the toilet seat or waiting for the train, when you just want to see a happy ending and a match made in heaven, but for good thought provoking or informative reads, I enjoy Jodi Picoult, John Grisham, Keith Ablow and newest addition Mister Jeffery Deaver.

Having said that, it was not mind blowingly awesome. It was not that much of a page turner although some false alarms did make me flip like I've never flipped before.

Altogether a good read.

Wednesday 17 November 2010

Harry Potter 7?

Hello reader,
This is a summary of my days at home so far..

1. Chinese dinner with May, Jes, Brian, Darren and Joyee was damn refreshingly fun! Hee Hee. I came back at 1am though! But the food was so good! especially the prawns and the sticky doughy mee....

2. Harry Potter was good. Went with sister Laura Ann and her friend Elaine. It was unexpectedly good... but that maybe because I went in with ZERO expectations. haha.

3. Oh and I bought a novel called 'The Teacher Man'. *SMILE SMILE SMILE*

4. I discovered a website that allows us to read John Grisham and Nicholas Sparks novels online for FREE. *SMILE SMILE SMILE*

Oh and I never thought I was a cat loving kind of person.
But my SILLY KITTEN is so small and soft and *iwillnotsaycute*
black and soft and cuddly and soft and small and soft and okayyyy....
haihhhh ...*smile*

Saturday 13 November 2010

End of chapter 1 (2009-2010)

Okay, here's the thing. It's been one hell of a journey eh? The foundation is over at last, and the 19 of us will begin our journey next year as degree students. (with cool new ID cards and everything!)
I've always liked the fact that our class is small. everyone talks to everyone and there are kelompoks or cliques but we still know everyone.

When I was 12, for the school magazine, Year 6 students would have to come up with a rhyme about their class. I never got to be a part of that. Hehe. So allow me.

Syafwan, Ikhwan, Arifuddin nama diberi,
Pernah menjadi KK kami,
Syafwan poyo badannya tough
sebab dia x handsome enough
Ikhwan bajet muka cam Shahrukh khan
tetapi kurus cam lalang dan
Arifuddin besar dan gagah "nampak"
Tapi slalu ditegur "landak"

Awak baca ingat saya benci ka?
sebenarnya saya sayang depa
Ketiga tiga sangat sangat pro
dalam bidang lawak bodo...=D

tapi dari mana datang inner strength mereka?
dari penolong KK lah.. lagi siapa?
Mira, adilah dan Vinashini
slalu berlari ke sana sini,
buku register punya pasal
harap harap mereka tak menyesal

Mira dulu agak garang
tapi xboleh compare dengan skarang!
ceria sokmo senang ketawa
baju kurungnyer loni bertambah lawa
Adilah dan Vina slalu nampak busy
tapi mereka tahu take it easy,
Adliah pro bab actor korea
Vina pula suka actor Suria

okeh classmate lain dua line ja
yg atas tu VIP kena hormat depa
Kita mula dengan tertua

Shaleny eldest kelas kita
personality senyap tapi hati mulia
sedia membantu bila bila masa
eh macam lagu PBSM la pula

Sin ni, orang ingat dia senyap
Hey orang, awak silap!
di sebalik rambut rebonding nya
terdapat sebuah heroin....Korea =.=

Ifah, Mah, Mira, Niah
slalu rapat duduk bersama
ketiga tiga terror bab grammar
tapi sejak exam bermula
dah lame ak tak hang out dengan mereka
(will miss you)


okey budak dua ni baek punye
best buddies kat college la kiranye
yozie dgen panto both gile gile
tiggal ak yang waras ye
takde lah....diorang ni fun and ska ketawa
antara ciri2 tuk jadi member saya
jitra mall macam tempat yang fun gila
untuk membuang duit bersama
awal bulan bila jadi kaya...
mesti rindu korang punya!

joey dan hafiz duk kat blakang
supaya nak kluar rokok tu senang
dua dua otak blue cam HARAM
haha mesti rindu these two dum dum

ha ni lagi satu best buddy aku
yg peliknya gadoh setiap waktu
time exam study bersama2
menimbulkan gosip cilakaa
mark canales nama koyanya
gila messi sebab saiznyaa??.. ;)

Arief al baqri is a lelaki paling smart
tapi die SLALU dtg lewat
poyo dia nyanyi cam mariah
tapi tak, kari bajet tu tak yah!

last but not least is Encik zaini
tak cakap banyak apetah lg nyanyi
tapi i'll miss this guy sbb pendengar masalah
kadang kadang girls pun kalah..

hoho
demikian lah class TEsl five
tiga sem dah kita survive
harap harap semua pass exam
supaya jumpa lagi next sem!







Tuesday 9 November 2010

uncomfortable update

it is now exactly one hour to my final paper...Social studies

I regret to inform you that I'm suffering from mild burn out...

I've slept since early last night and woke up late today morning, ate...and now am feeling

Am feeling a bit like Macbeth before the final battle, when he knew he would lose, but would die trying...

yea like that.

haihhhhhh....

okay off I go~~~

ah phooey

Okay, no effing way I'm studying tonight.

After any literature paper, all you want to do is slip into a deep deep sleep and wake up magically surrounded by hot curry puffs samosas and regular tuna (the kind pat's mom makes with onions and chillies)

Today's study crap session was a flipping disaster just waiting to happen.
Sorry Baqri, it wasn't what you bargained for, that's just the way it is with us sometimes.


pluss point I will be out of your lives in about 2 days!..

Coz at home, this brain don't bloggg...

Sunday 7 November 2010

NATURE VS NURTURE

Okay, I struggled with this one, but if the question comes out in the exam, this is how I'm gonna do it..

Question
Which plays a bigger role in determining who and why we are?
Nature or Nurture?


(I'll start with the definitions of both)


1. Nature refers to our genetic disposition that we are born with. For example, our genes that determine our

  • hair colour, 
  • what disease we may suffer from
2. Nurture on the other hand refers to how we are raised after birth. Factors include
  • the environment
  • the society

Nature and nurture play very important roles in determining what kind of human beings we become.

the conflict arises when scientists cannot agree on which plays the bigger role.
(okay my stand and topic statement)
in my opinion, nurturing ultimately shapes who we become.

We may inherit characteristics like stubbornness or laziness from our parents, but I believe that if we are raised in an environment that does not give us the chance to be so, we will not have those behaviours.
(support with example)
Let us take the example of feral children or children raised in isolation from human society.
Genie, not her real name, was discovered at the age of 13 after being confined to potty chair in a tiny room her whole life. she could not talk, walk, smile, or laugh simply because she hadn't been exposed to a reason to. (get to the point, stop crapping)
my point here is, even though she was born with the ability to talk and laugh (nature) she could not because of the condition she was brought up in (nurture)

SO NURTURE WINS???

wait ah
(not enough)

Secondly, I believe nurturing rather than nature determines what skills we posses. although some may say, "your football skills come from your father" I believe, it is because the son plays football a lot, not because he got the skills from his father.

Lets take the hypothetical situation of parents who had three sons raised in different surroundings. (don't get too crazy)

Boy raised in jungle VS boy raised in desert VS boy raised at home

All 3 are monkeys! HAHA okay....just a joke

*jungle boy may have super climbing skills
*desert boy may be able to withstand long periods without water
*home boy knows how to fix a lightbulb

so you see how the environment affects the skills we develop? (don't ask questions in the essay)

In conclusion, although both nature and nurture are components that make up a man, I opine that it is the nurturing that we receive that plays a more dominant role in the question of who we are.


TADAA!!

other examples you can use.

1. There is no rape gene, rapists become rapists because of the environment they were raised in

2. No cleanliness gene. Singapore clean, Malaysia dirty not because, malaysians are cacat and don't have clean gene but because of values instilled into us.

Friday 5 November 2010

ISSUES IN MACBETH

1. DESIRE FOR POWER

*find your own quotes =D



Some people sympathise with Macbeth and some don't.

Those who sympathise with Macbetty say that

1.) He simply lacked human will power to resist temptation. How would YOU feel if someone said you were going to win a MILLION ringgit tomorrow??? 

therefore, he simply displayed human weakness by acting out to satisfy his desires; for power, for ultimate control, to be king!
his desire for power was so great that it overrode any qualms he had about betraying his King, a relative, as well as his own country. that must be A LOT of desire!

2) Besides he was struggling against supernatural powers who most likely had more control over him. the witches, and his wife who was filled with evil spirits. How could Macbeth go against these "instruments of darkness" so full of "direst cruelty" it is as if there is no way out.



 

3) But he struggles with his conscience. He knows what he is doing is treason, is morally wrong, and he feels remorse as soon as he has committed the crime and feels that knowing what he had done, it was better not to know himself. he feels disgusted with what he has done. In his desire and quest for power, Macbeth remains aware that his actions are shameful, and sacrilegious. So its okay lah! Poor macbeth.

 
CHEH!

okay for those who don't sympathise with macbeth
we've got a bit more isi

1. macbeth displayed immense weakness in controlling his desires from overpowering him. biasalah he is a man. 
The witches prophecies merely spoke of something that might take place in the future. kan? 

BUT greed drove Macbeth to take matters into his own hands and plot to kill the king. He only listened to advice that encouraged him to fulfil these desires.

listened to wife, but not to Banquo

2. Desire revealed Macbeth's true colours of being a hypocrite and a traitor.
he betrayed his king who is his own relative and guest in his house after earning the kings "double trust." 

3. macbeth knew what he was doing was a sin. He found that he could not even say "amen" after hearing Donalbain and Malcolm praying. His conscience troubles him often and causes hallucinations and ghostly apparitions, and voices.  
But Macbeth plunders on killing anybody in the way of his throne letting conscience take a back seat 

-when he murders the king
-when he has Banquo murdered
-when he has Macduff's family killed



4.  Lady Macbeth is another example of a gila who lets desire take control of her. 

because of her "deep and dark desires", she renounces her womanly nature, going against the natural order of things. she calls upon the spirits to turn her "milk" into "gall" and fill her from "crown to toe, top-full of direst cruelty"

the babi also challenges Macbeth's manhood and says that he is too "full o'the milk of human kindness" and says only when he kills duncan can he be called a man.
she fell prey to her own desires and was the final push that drove macbeth to commit the first murder. 

P.s this whole post is about one issue only. I believe we can choose to talk about Macbetty in a nice or not so nice way. =D

Thursday 4 November 2010

Flood or no flood, Life must go on

4 NOVEMBER, JITRA KEDAH 2010


This is day 3 of the flood here in Jitra. The water supply is out, food supplies everywhere are running low. There is garbage literally on every corner, and the rats come out at night.  


Do I sound like I'm under a staircase, dangerously floating on a piece of driftwood, in a darkened relief house while the raging waters tear up my town? 


Okay that's the atmosphere was going for.


Anyway, it's day 3 or four I'm not sure, but our water supply is being cut on and off. I don't know what the big idea is, or why the boys' supply isn't cut. 


Today, the cafeteria was open in the morning so I stocked up on buns and had a rice nice lunch. 


Studying is becoming soooo routine. Its killing me! Recently, all we do is sit in that hot place and open our books, talk crap and end up doing nothing. I go back feeling like I've learnt next to nothing. How now? the worst exams are coming up soon.
Now we've scrapped night sessions coz the cafe is closed at night...
We'll think of something la..


I have started sleeping late again! Wake up also late...haiyo f**k la!
Oh I stopped exercising a LOONGG time ago....
Arifuddin plays tennis everyday now...fuhh...gomo rich!


But I am becoming a fatty (cheeks) in my room, eating and sleeping and "studying wasting time"
booooo...
heres  what I'm gonna do.
going to jog tomorrow morning if it doesn't rain...=D
anyway


this flood-no water-no fun-no food situation only makes me feel sorry for myself.


BUT


just think about all the people who have had their houses flooded and have had to evacuate their homes, and are desperate for food supplies...electricity and clean water..


THANK YOU GOD...







Wednesday 3 November 2010

Themes in Macbeth

Hey reader, hope this helps!

THEME 1-  AMBITION


  1. In my opinion ambition is the strongest theme in the play 'Macbeth' because ambition is the root cause of the chain of events that leads Macbeth to his tyrannical reign as king and ultimate death.
  2. When he first heard the witches' prophecies, the "deep and dark desires" are awakened in him. Macbeth's quest for ultimate powers sees an opening and immediately his mind plots murder.
  3. It is the very same ambition that leads Macbeth to renounce his loyalty to his country and to his King by betraying them both. although he is aware of the immense sin he is committing by betraying a man who was "here in double trust" as his king and "kinsmen" as well as his guest, conscience takes a back seat for his goal in realising his dark and powerful ambitions.


THEME 2- CORRUPTION OF NATURE

  1. The corruption of nature and everything natural plays a significant role in the turnout of events in the play 'Macbeth' by Shakespeare.
  2. Characters turn to unnatural means to accomplish or fulfil their deep desires. They are tempted and in the end fall prey to forces of darkness
  3. Macbeth, upon hearing the witches' prophecies begins plotting King Duncan's murder. although warned by Banquo that the "instruments of darkness" often won them "with honest trifles" were not to be "trusted home", macbeth finds himself intrigued by their words and is ever more determined to see them come true.
  4. by murdering the king, Macbeth cuts of the source of nurture, severing the root that feeds him, perverting nature (from source)
  5. the witches too insult nature and its natural course by speaking of the future
  6. lady Macbeth rejects her natural womanhood to be filled up from "crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty" she calls on spirits to aid her in this sacrilegious quest to achieve pure ruthlessness of a man.

Monday 1 November 2010

Breathing Space

Hey reader, its been a while huh. I hope your day has been warm but not excruciatingly so, and cold but not so cold that you debate on whether to bathe in the morning.

Hmm... Lets start with the weather report.

I don't know what the sky was so depressed about but it cried for 3 whole days non stop.
I know this because my clothes have been soaking in the bucket for three whole days. HAHA. Raining wattt..

  BUT it has been super cold and I hate that it's during or exams, but at the same time luckily our area is not hit by floods or anything EXtremely leceh like that lah...
here are some guidelines if you are sitting for exams during rainy periods...


NOT ADVISABLE
HEAT TRAPPING METHODS
HEHE JOKING!

In other news, 

the exams are upon us. Usually I cry before any exam. Just to get the frustration out. Before UPSR, PMR, before SPM...Undang test, Driving test, 
But I didn't this time. 

I really think my study sessions in the cafe have proven very highly effective. It also has instilled a sense of discipline in me because I have been studying everyday at 
9am to 12pm at 
3pm to 6pm and 
at 9pm to 11pm. 

I'd rather not talk about the exams here. I hate talking about any paper after the thing is over because... 

1. My teacher in primary school told us NEVER to do it


but sometimes I can't do anything about it
for example

After the LDV paper...

Syafwan        : liza! i didn't 200 words! ahhh shitt!!!
Liza               : huh what???
Syafwan        : 200 words saja..ak da lebih!! shitt
Liza               : .......
Liza               : .......
Liza               : owhhh farkkkkkk....

you see..

Haih
so I always tell my kawan-kawan not to talk about the papers we've already sat for
or if they want to 
then don't talk to me about it lah
SAYA JADI STRESS LA..