Of Lectures and Knives

Yesterday had to give a lecture on "Accessing the Database with Servlets", and "Using Advanced Techniques in Servlets". The latter of which I did with a colleague of mine. I was quite nervous, actually. But once I started talking, it wasn't as bad as I expected. The people I was lecturing to was my colleagues, so that helped a bit. Will have to give another lecture this Friday on "Managing Persistent Data in the Business Tier". I know the titles sounds weird. But there you go. The thing I try to do when giving a lecture, or a presentation for that matter, is to keep it as short as possible, while giving the audience the important facts. The lectures I gave yesterday took me around 15-20 minutes each. After which there was a question and answer session, and immediately after that, was the practice session. I hope they understood what it was I wanted to convey to them. Hmmm....

This morning learned something I didn't know. Well, till now! Not learned as in knowledge-wise, but am starting to get a clear picture about some of my so-called friends. It all started with a simple status written on YM. For those who knows what YM is, then good on you, mate. But for those who doesn't, then too bad. Just try to follow the story, kay. Anyway, a close friend of mine wrote something about back-stabbing friends, and so I asked him whether he meant anyone in particular. And as I have guessed, he was. Then he asked me to write a status pertaining his status. (am I making sense here?) Anyway, so I did. And lo and behold, that person vanished from the small world of YM. But that wasn't the only suprise I got. Because shortly after that, an old colleague of mine asked me what my status meant. The colleague thought that I might offend someone by writing that. So I went back to my close friend and asked for his opinion. And he told me that that colleague of mine was in cahoots with the other person. (I really do hope you people can understand what I'm on about). Anyway, as I was saying, they had formed their own little group, which my close friend wasn't a part of.

Let me start from the beginning. We had this aquaintance from uni. And this person had a knack for stabbing you in the back. I kid you not. At first, I wasn't aware of it. But after being stabbed in the back quite often, I soon realised the errors of my way by being friends with this person. So, I started to avoid this person. And it became obvious by my colleagues that I didn't want to befriend this person. At first, they couldn't understand the reason, but after a while, some of them realised that person's traits. But as with most back-stabbers, they have a way with words, and so the rest of the world are still deceived by this stabber-in-the-back person. The back-stabber's friend said to forgive and forget. And that we shouldn't just hear one side of the story. But the thing is, I have first-hand experience with this person, so I know what I'm doing. But sooner or later, I will beg forgiveness from this person for being like this. Because, I will not feel comfortable having this little angry thought in my head. I don't like to hate people, even though I feel they deserve it.

Oh well, on with lighter things... can't think of anything right now. Hehehe...

Of Snakes and Friends

Saw Anacondas the other day. Used the free movie passes I got from my sister-in-law. Thanks sis-in-law! Anyway, the movie was mediocre to me. I mean, I didn't see the first one, so I can't actually compare the two of them together. But like my buddy said, it's simply an action-packed movie. You don't have to think about the plot or whatnot. You can leave your brains at home to watch this movie. Seriously.

I've been thinking about something lately. And I've discussed it with a close buddy of mine. You never know who's hating you. And at the same time, you never know who's loving you. But I wanna talk about the hating part, ok. Anyway, just found out that a friend of mine, well, I thought he was a friend of mine, doesn't like me. I don't mean to say, everyone loves me. But the thing is, I never had any problems with this guy. Well, not that I know of. But unfortunately, I did do something that he disapproves. Although I can't, for the life of me, figure out what it is!

The moral of the story is, no matter what you do to make people feel good, to try to be civil, to be pleasant, there will always be someone who hates your guts, for whatever reason. Oh, well. Too bad, huh. I'm not going to apologize to that person until I know what my wrongdoing to him was. I'm not even going to ask him. I'm going to keep on doing what I do, and ignore the fact that he wants to karate-chop my head off. Hehehe...

Recently, got a message from my friend, who I thought was in Ireland. She was doing medicine there. She was my bus-mate back when I was in Form 1. Dang, that's like 12 years ago! Anyway, she was wondering whether I was still working here. Because, suprise, suprise, she's going to work here as well!! So, we had lunch the other day. It was good to see her again. We haven't seen each other for quite some time now. So, most probably she'll be starting work at the end of this month. But I doubt we'll get to see each other often, since she'll be up to her neck with patients. On another note, another friend of mine, who is working here as well, will be moving to another hospital.

"Freedom!" shouted Mel Gibson in Braveheart

Anwar Ibrahim is free. I heard that from my colleagues the other day. I was like, "What?". Then I heard it at home. And finally, I saw it in the news. I'm happy for his family. I mean, no one wants their husbands and fathers to go to jail now, do they. But Anwar Ibrahim as a politician, I'm not happy. I read in a friend's blog, somebody commented about Anwar's "Perjuangan yang bermakna". Now, what's that suppose to mean? I mean, at that time, they were fighting for his freedom, and for Tun Dr. Mahathir to step down. Now that Pak Lah is the PM, and Anwar is free, what are they going to fight for now? I have no doubt that Anwar will find some excuse to go on fighting. For what? I don't know. I don't doubt the political scene will be much more interesting now that Anwar is free. But I don't see the relevant of his party. At least, UMNO fights for Malay rights, PAS fights for Islam, DAP fights for equal rights, and so on and so forth. But what does KeADILan fight for? Justice? Justice for only one man? But now he's free! So what next? We'll just have to wait and see.

I know many of my friends and colleagues are Anwar's supporters. But this is what I feel. I seldom blog about politics, but this time I'm making an exception. I'm asking Anwar's supporters, what else do you want from Malaysia? Wait! Don't answer that. One of the things you guys want is to make Anwar, the PM, right? Let's see. What else is lacking in our country? Justice? Well, he's free ain't he. You guys have food to eat, clothes to wear, money if you work for it, the freedom of speech, other countries the world over knows where Malaysia is, and lots more I can't even begin to write. Alhamdulillah for all that. So what is it you guys want? Speak to me, people!!

Independence

31st August 2004. Our independence day. My plan for that night was to watch the celebration on tv in the comforts of my own home, while sipping hot Nescafe and eating junk food. But it was not to be! Earlier that night, had dinner with Sagaff around KLCC. Just wanted to see the crowd. It was packed with people. I've forgotten how pack it can get in KLCC. Well, anyway, before we decided to have dinner in KL, the plan was to meet up with Sagaff's girlfriend and her friends around Bintang Walk, but she called earlier to cancel the date. Now, while we were in the midst of finding food for the night, Sagaff was busy talking on the phone with his girlfriend. It turns out, she was in Uptown, with two other people. And the guy with them was planning on leaving them at an LRT station around 2-3 in the morning. Sagaff was furious, naturally. So, while having dinner, we decided to go back to my house, get my car, and drive to Kelana Jaya LRT station to pick them up, minus the guy.

So there we were, on the Federal Highway, driving towards Kelana Jaya. It was almost 10pm by then. Suddenly, I was informed by Sagaff, who was on the phone, that they were headed towards KLCC, and that we should pick them up there. But we were from there! I was quite suprised. But for the sake of my friend, I relented. And so we turned back towards KL. By the time we were approaching KL, it was already jam-packed. It took us over an hour to reach a place where it normally just took us 10 minutes. Finally, we arrived at KLCC at exactly 12 midnight. As we were walking towards them, they were somewhere in the crowd, the fireworks started. It was lovely! Fantastic! Magnificent!

By the time we reached them, Sagaff was quite angry. But he managed to subdue his emotions. I mean, in front of the one he loves, naturally he cooled down. So, we took the both of them to her friend's house. After that, went back home. It was around 1am by that time. What a way to spend Merdeka, eh. Hehehe.