4. Vacation

End-of-semester examinations ended about two weeks ago. At the moment, all students went back to their hometown - well, so were some of the staff. The campus was very quiet and looked deserted. Now was the time for the teaching staff to pack their bag and go for holiday (if they want to) since they were usually not allowed to take leave during the semester.

As for myself, I've already went back to my hometown. In fact, I went back 3 times within a short span of 1 month, twice of which to visit my relatives who lost their beloved ones (both were my great aunt and uncle). May Allah bless their souls and may they rest in peace. Al-Fatihah to their souls and to the soul of all muslims all over the world.

3. General Election 2008

In every 4 to 5 years, all Malaysia would be able to exercise their right to vote in order to choose their representatives either at the state level or the national level.

On March 8, about 82% of the people voted for their next MP's and assemblymen. The results shocked the nations (let alone the governing party). They lost 5 states to the opposition parties.

Kelantan is forever under PAS, Penang goes to DAP, Kedah is led by a PAS leader in coalition with PKR and DAP. Meanwhile Perak and Selangor are yet to get their nominated Mentri Besars approved by the Istana.

However, the BN coalition was still given the mandate by the rakyat to lead the country with simple majority.

As rakyat, we only hope that the elected MPs and statesmen would carry out their duties (and fulfil their promises) for the sake of rakyat and not for personal gain.

p/s: congratulations to my uncle that now he is an elected assemblyman.

2. ILC 2008

For 3 days, I participated in the International Language Conference 2008 which was held at the Legend, Kuala Lumpur. It was also attended by a number of scholars, local and overseas, either as paper presenters or participants.

It was such a very exciting experience for you got to meet and speak to prominent figures in the field (whose names you only saw on the cover of the books before). But seeing them in flesh and being able to listen to them live were totally different from just reading their books. They were more aspiring, more enlightening.

I also got to meet some old friends apart from getting to know new ones.

1. NEW PHASE

I have been meaning to create my own blog ever since I first heard about it. Alas, nobody wanted to tell me how do I start one (or may be I just didn't ask around enough or the right person for that matter).

Soon, I forgot all about it when works got piled up around me. I've to rush here and there, up and down that left me without energy at the end of the day.

However, my passion rekindled when I read one good book and I feel like sharing the experience with others. So, in this blog, I will mainly write about books that I read. Other than that, I will also write about places that I've been to, about my observations of things and people around me and many other things that interest me.

I have this passion about art and craft. However, I don't have much time to really sit down and practise it. So, may be once in a while I might write something about them.

Happy blogging!