Merdeka Day

Happy 52nd Merdeka Day to all Malaysians!

31st August! Also the last day of Malaysia Mega Sale! I'm going shopping! woo-hoo!

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes! What a week! I had my last Japanese test, I finally stepped foot in Terengganu and ate roast lamb at two hotel buffets.

Let's start on Monday. Monday night was the last Japanese class I had. Was a disaster xD but what is life without disasters? xD On Tuesday daddyo and my bro came from Kuching and I tagged along to Terengganu. I thought I could study during the trip, but man was I wrong. But, pretty beaches though. Crystal clear water and pure white sandy beaches are not a myth there. And the public beaches are surprisingly very clean. It probably had a lot to do with the 'no swimming' signs. Seriously. The waves are not dangerous, the sands are not sharp, so it must be a social thing.

Anyway, the beach at our hotel was open for swimming but I didn't go. Fasting month. Who would wanna do anything else than sleep anyway? Terengganu. Right. The moment we arrived in Kemaman, my dad rendezvous at his current project site. He kept dropping words like "project manager" on me. Showed me the site. The details of the construction and why things are...as they are. I think it's a great project...but I can't imagine myself driving up there every two weeks troubleshoot the project. And besides. I don't think I like Terengganu food very much.

Terregganu food is typical northern fishermen food. Abuse of fish is rampant. The food is either sweet or spicy. The keropok lekor is awesome though. The best thing that came out of the state: food-wise :P. Sorry, I'm Sarawakian. I think it's fairly established that East Malaysians don't have the same pallete. Even if it was the EAST coast. Nice beaches, still.

We break fasts at my dad's friend's house for both days. His house is quite nice. He bought a big piece of land with its own natural lake with natural water corrugation and bred fishes in there. His rooms are all over the place. Thus the whole property is basically one big house. I appreciate the hospitality, though I really didn't like having to eat outdoor. The bugs...they stick to the food, drowned in your drinks and sucked the blood out of you! Not an ideal condition to be when you're hungry.

...I don't like kampong life. It's not for me. Stop pushing it to my face.

Anyway! I had roast lamb for two consecutive days after we got back. I sat for a disasterous Japanese test and went straight to it. Rooooaaaaast laaaaaaambbbb. *drooldrooldrool*

Ta'ra!

FFXII Ramblings

It's really been a while since I use the word 'rambling' in a post topic. But oh well. I'm gonna talk about FFXII that I've been indulging in lately. So if you have no interest in the game whatsoever, you can just skip this post and go to Tazkirah Time xD. Okay just kidding. But it's the fasting month and I should encourage people to do stuff like that heheh. Either way, there will be NO SPOILER in this post if you are playing the game because I am too far removed from the storyline to appreciate it at the moment.

I just wanna talk about my experience so far, which has been fun, fun, fun! If you recall, I have been playing with two stupid 5-ringgit discs which I alternate because they were stuck at different places. It's unfair that nobody I know had the same problem. The guy at the shop even said that it may be because of my PS2. Poking faults at my Kujong was unforgivable, so I decided not to patron his shop anymore and scoured for an original disk. Watashiwa-san finally solved that problem for me when she gave me FFXII as a...gift, I think. Thank you again ^_^.

Right. When I stopped last I was on my way to Archades, the capital of the Archadian empire, the empire colonizing the hero's country. I only got to the first part of the underground palace (Sochen Cave Palace) where you fight the Mandragoras and won - and STUCK! rawr! The last save point was TWO SCREENS away! Two screens are a lot of space seeing as those two screens are vast plains with lots of encounters and I had a few level ups on the way - all gone! I actually fought the mandragoras twice and got stuck at the same place. I used the other disk and that one was EVEN WORSE.

So...I stopped. I could not deal with the frustration so I just stopped playing to cool my head lest I commit suicide. When I got the original disk, it didn't recognize my previous saves so I had to restart from scratch, which was not exactly a bad thing, since I had the chance to obtain the Zodiac Spear - the strongest weapon in the game. Not even half as painful to obtain compared to the Tournesol. The spear required that you refrain from opening several treasure chests in four unique areas. AND have you run through a necrohol of vicious monsters if you want to acquire it early. I actually acquired it slightly later than the first available opportunity thus had better armor and stats, and even then, I barely survived *shivers*. I am NOT going back anytime soon. Not before I level up to 99 which is possible it seems O.o.

ANYWAY! What's up with those elementals anyway? Really? they are just flashing blobs of magic that attack you on a whim and you can't even counterattack with weapons! You'd like to cast magic back to it but it casts reflect on itself, and if you reflect back what it casted upon you, they absorb the damage! rawr! I know that it's possible to win against one but it will be very tough, and is just not worth it seeing as it is considered a normal encounter. One thing I like to do is...have the party leader wait at the border line between screens, send someone with Thief's Cuffs out to steal from the elemental, and wait. It's funny to see the assigned thief run towards the elemental, steal, and when the elemental starts chasing you - run for you life! Hahahahahaha! I like borderlines. It's convenient how enemies just stay in their own areas and won't chase you into the next.

And those mandragoras! Five vegetables - running around in such a vast space! I bet the people at Square Enix are having a laugh at gamers as we go around chasing them one by one! I haven't gotten the Zodiac spear when I beat them, but they had pretty high evade and weapon attacks will miss at a 40-50% rate which is annoying, except for guns, which ignore evade, but is pretty slow. The last one I killed out of the five was Onion King. When he was critical he ran off to the other side of the room, either to cure itself or just to be a pain, so I hit him with Fira - and BAM! Death! Satisfaction. This was done with original disk, so I was near tears when I was finally given access to the rest of Sochen Cave Palace. sniff. I was just eager to get to Archades and get upgrades on equipments and magicks so I can start doing some level V marks hunting.

Unlike previous FF games I played (VII, VIII, IX) you cannot abuse GFs (guardian forces in FFVIII) or creature summons in VII and IX. I admit, I abuse GFs for every boss battles in FFVIII simply because...why not? But not in FFXII I think they realized that these creature summons are making the game way too easy, thus with its new fighting method, FFXII required more strategizing. What's great is that, whatever status spells you have in your inventory, it can work on both you and the enemy. Bad status effects like blind, silence, poison, sap, immobilize, disable etc can be used against enemies and even bosses! There's this great accessory that reverses the affects of healing items, so if you use Remedy againsts an enemy it is similar to giving them a cocktail of bad ailments! It made battles so much easier when enemies are blinded and silenced. I'm usually the type to just "charge right up with the strongest weapon and heal as I go" but this strategy is getting old. These statuses do not go away unless healed - and enemies RARELY heal - unlike positive buffs like protect and shell. At the same time you can know what status effects an enemy is immune against. Give them the whole load - and see what sticks XD. And as intimidating the bosses are, they are normally vulnerable to at least one ailment, be it just blind or silence. Only one boss so far is immune to everything in remedy...but he's the master of bad ailments and an opitonal boss at that.

One of my favorite status ailments to use against an enemy is 'disease'. With the reverse acessory you throw a vaccine at an enemy. Items are great compared to magic when it comes to inflicting ailments because the success rate is 90-100%. With disease, HP will always appear as full even as you inflict damage on them. While it doesn't look like the enemy is losing HP, they actually is - disease conceals their own HP status. Why this is awesome is because, when enemies are at a critical, or when their HP drops to about 30% or so, they start having all these annoying attack/defence. Either they have high defence, become immune to magic/weapon, or attack you really, REALLY hard. It's automatically triggered by low HP. Disease cancels this COMPLETELY so the enemy will get on as if it has full HP and sticks to their normal attacks - which is usually far more tolerable - and BAM! Sudden death! <

I use remedy before every boss fight now.

I think it should go without saying that I referred to online FAQs during this playthrough. Not the walkthrough. I like to be surprised. But the specific ones like Marks Hunting and Weapons guide. Like all FF games, FFXII have much to entertain apart from its own storyline; secret dungeons, secret areas in the dungeons, rare game monsters, optional espers etc etc. Why, just the quest to gather the materials for Tournesol (strongest one-handed sword, 10 points less than Zodiac spear)alone should keep you occupied for a good part of the game, really, and take you to all these different places. Though I think I won't even bother with Tournesol in this playthrough. I already have Zodiac Spear and Fomalhaut (strongest gun) both acquired through chests - next I may concern myself with the Masamune or some ninja swords for their swiftness and elements. After all, you really only need to outfit 3 characters and having different weapons help. Those annoying flying creatures can only be brought down by ranged weapons unfortunately.

I want to attempt the jelly auto-levelling next and bring everyone to level 99. It should be doable now. I want to see how far their HPs will go.

And oh, the ever so sexy Balthier! My favorite character. Not only is he sexy (in demeanor and appearance) he also speaks with an accent! Hahahaha.

I guess slippers are in for Sky Pirate fashions eh? xD

Ta'ra!

First Day of Puasa

I had an accident involving a very, very bad egg in the kitchen just now. I wanted to make omellete, but after that...McD delivery sounded pretty good. Happy Fasting to everyone.

Ta'ra.

Of Branded Stuff and Ugly Flats.

During the week off uitm had due to a H1N1 flu scare, Bukit Bintang had a general increase in Malay students out shopping. This scares me a bit as people start thinking I'm one of them too. This in turn made me more determined to drasticaly change my clothing style. Seriously. I did small modifications here and there, but there's still that scarf issue that needs to be tackled.

I do try to differentiate myself from these people. I wear shoes. Expensive shoes. D: Just to make a little point! I mean, you see those girls going around in their little group with at least one shoe shopping bag in hand. It's no secret that these kids spend a lot of money on shoes and hanbags, but you would think that after buying so many pair of shoes they wouldn't keep wearing those ugly flats out to shop would they!?? I find flats more comfortable than heels, but I would never be caught dead in those cheap ugly flats that's so popular with IPTA students!

I like branded stuff. I wear Skechers shoes and Esprit socks. They are more expensive, thus I can buy only a few pairs at once. But they last longer, and do not take up much space. You'd think people don't notice, but they do. They look at you a certain way, than say something like how unnecessary expensive branded stuff are when you can get a nice pair for cheap. Even though secretly they wish they could own branded stuff too :P. Oooh yes, they will say this to you today, but tomorrow you'll see them drooling at a RM300 Guess bag - thinking that it's affordable! (It's worth the price, but not unless it's a one-time thing).

In fact, I made it a point not to wear unbranded stuff. It makes me feel insecure, as if I've blown my money on something that's not worth it, no matter how cheap because I don't feel proud wearing them. Vain, I know. But that's just me :P. I don't like having too much clothes at once. I like to have a few nice clothes at once, and phase them out, and then get new ones. That's why it's important that I get the nice branded ones for these few clothes. I've learned to shop like a guy. Guys they hoard their money just to buy that one expensive item that they truly love and felt contented after just that one purchase. For example, my cousin's only purchase in Singapore was a $150 Bape cap, and my brother spent 2k on a pair of Versace shoes. It may seem like a waste to most girls, but I like spending a huge amount of money on just one thing you truly love than the same amount of money on a lot of things you like. I do both of course. If there's nothing I truly love, and I need to upgrade my wardrobe, then I buy a lot. Anyway.

I watched an episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservation in Saudi Arabia. His host was a female film producer. She is the only woman in Saudi Arabia granted permission to have a production company without a single man present. In Jeddah the women all wear those black robes called an Abaya. They wear whatever underneath. I suddenly thought how nice it would be to go there. I could wear a long sleeve shirt and pajama pants inside those abayas and nobody would know! I have worn abayas before during my last umrah trip. The locals don't care if you're not local. Baju kurung and other robes are fine, but those abayas are just so convenient!

I need to get myself more pajama pants! Wheee!

Ta'ra!

Tazkirah Time xD

Last week I had a 'Kisah Nabi-Nabi' phase and went to search for the chronicles of the 25 main prophets. Yes, very pious of me. But I was bored, and I wanted the true version for once. I was tired of reading Christian depictions of our prophets, (especially the last one). I really do try to see them from their point of view, but oftentimes I was left wanting at how obscure and incomplete their descriptions were. So, tired of being the understanding open-minded Muslim I am, I went and search for the Qur'anic version, which is what I should have done in the first place, really.

The first prophet that piqued my interest was a certain King Solomon, which turned out to be a descendent of King David of Israel. I made the mistake of reading the Christian version which spelled out King David (of David and Goliath's fame) as very devoted to his God, had three sons, one of whom was Solomon, but was denied the privilege of building a temple for his God, a privilege reserved for his heir Solomon. His two sons fued for the throne, knowing Solomon would be heir. A lot of stuff happened, King David died in sadness, Solomon succeeded him and his two other sons were either sentenced to death or died in the fighting.

Of course, King Solomon is none other than the Prophet Sulaiman who went on to rule the greatest kingdom on Earth, commanded d'jinns, understood birds and had his armies rode wind instead of horses. And yes, he also 'conquered' the Queen of Saba' (Sheba) with his palace of mirror. Either way, his gift was that he was a very wise man and ruled a kingdom that was unprecedented, and no other would exist after his. The Christian version is the same so far, except for the part of his latter years. They said he died a corrupted man who had over 700 wives and 300 concubines from his diplomatic marriages. Because he loved his wives, he gave in and let them build their temples of worship for their deities and even partake in their worship, thus turning his back on his own God. Therefore he died a pagan.

I was unhappy with this, so I searched for the Qur'anic version. Prophet Sulaiman AS had been blessed with a 'miraculous life, thus a miraculous death'. On the day of his death, he was praying in a small mosque on top of a hill, overseeing a construction work done by the djinns and humans. He leaned forward on his cane and died in the middle of prayer, but the djinns and humans didn't know he died, and thought he was still watching, so they continued working. It was only 40 days later when termites had eaten through his cane that he fell forward and they found out that he had died for some time. If you ask me, it is a fitting death for someone so revered.

And while I was at it, I checked up on his dad King David too. And 'lo and behold - it's the Prophet Daud AS! I was shocked for not realizing the Arabic equivalent. Needless to say I was appaled at myself! Furthermore, the story of 'David and Goliath' was in fact, true. Different name, but true nonetheless. David was 9 years old at the time, and 'Goliath' was a big war general. He was not born royalty. At that time he was serving the army of the King of Israel. After his deed in battle against 'Goliath' the King married him to his daughter, thus making him future king. Interesting eh? They should have included such interesting stories during our various Friday tazkirahs at school. But nooo scolding people who don't wear scarves outside of school seemed more important! :P

Another interesting history bit that intrigued me was that of Mary Magdalene. After The Da Vinci Code, I did a lot of research on her, but in vain. It was only last week that I bothered to re-check Prophet Isa AS's full background, or as full as it can go. The Qur'an only says as much about the lives of the prophets because it stresses its role a religious text, not a historical one - fair enough. Anyway. Other than his mother, there are no prominent females mentioned around him. But it was itneresting how they mentioned that Mary Magdalene could have been a former prostitute. There is an incident with him and a prostitute.

The priests of Moses' teachings in Prophet Isa's time tried to make him admit that he was turning his back from Moses' teachings. The sentence for prostitution was stoning, and they had a prostitute to sentence. They asked him if he would sentence her himself if he was truly a believer in Moses' teachings. They were expecting him to refuse, thus admitting his heresy, but Isa already knew their intentions. So, instead he said, "If this woman is sinful, than only those among us who have not sinned shall sentence her". The priests were unhappy (admitting they had not sinned would be heresy), and Isa walked away. The prostitute, grateful to him, threw herself at his feet, and washed his feet with her tears. At this, Isa turned to his followers and said, in a way "and you said you loved me." Previously they were saying how much they loved and adored him, you see. But then this woman came and washed his feet with her tears.

Could that woman be the so-called Mary Magdalene? The Qur'an or hadith didn't mention her name, and if she became a disciple later on. I think it's safe to assume she became a believer and nothing more. The Christian version on the other hand, said nothing of her washing his feet. Whatever it is, Prophet Isa was unmarried and chaste up till his ascension. The disciple who volunteered to take his place for the execution was promised to be his companion in the afterlife, and nothing more was said either in the Qur'an or hadith, about what happened after the Roman soldiers took him away to be crucified. It is a tad unnecessary to go into details, but still, I like details. The point is that you get the message across. Frustrating, but that's life.

Another interesting bit I found out was the Prophet Muhammad SAW's treatment of the Nasrani and Yahudi (Jews and Christians) when they came to Makkah during his time. He gladly shared half the mosque with them to let them perform their prayer their own way and even warned his followers (if you're a Muslim, that's you by the way) "if you intentionally harm the (Jews and Christians), then, during Judgement Day, I will not count you as among my followers". So everyone, play nice!

I know Muslims in general hold grudges against Jews and thus, Israel in general. But unless you're out there in the battlefield, there is nothing you can do but pray for your Muslim bretheren. Going all suicide bombing at public places will earn you a direct flight to Hell. And thus, condoning such behaviors, if the targets are civilians not involved in the war, makes you an accomplice. I am not an expert in such things, but remember your Prophet's words!

And in case you've forgotten, out of the 25 main prophets, only about 4 of them are Arabs. The others were all Jews. ...Well, looking at the Jews today, it made sense why so many Prophets had been sent their way.

Digging is fun. I go dig more! Ta'ra!

So Anyway

I went back to shady workshop last week (and as expected, I still dont like the shopkeepers who are only friendly on the phone. Weird though that may be) and got myself a whole bunch of clay. Four white ones, just to be safe, plus ten others, including a couple of black. I even bought a weird color called nightglow, which was supposed to be glow in the dark, but doesnt seem to be glowing. But it is still a very nice slightly creamy white color anyway.

Last night I managed to finish the charm bracelet my aunt ordered from me xD. So happy! The pink thing is actually a broken plate bead with chopsticks, a dollop of wasabi and a splotch of soy sauce. It broke as I was forcing a craft wire through it...>_>. But I made just a chopsticks bead at the end, though I think maybe just one more bead would make the whole thing more complete. We'll see. xD

Ta'ra!

p/s hi5 just sent me a birthday reminder of my classmate who passed away two years ago. Creepy.

Amusing Day

Today started out pretty nicely, with me waking up early to pray, and then proceeded to the gym. I saw an ang moh, though it wasn't goat. Sighs. But I had a good workout, which was long overdue.

Then I had breakfast, washed up, did laundry, dressed up and ready for a long day. That is until I sat in the car and turned on the ignition.

Kurohime wouldn't start on me. Sighs. So what to do but call daddyo. I informed him of my plight and he said he'll drop by next Wednesday. I hope he's quick because I am in desperate need of white clay. So, all dressed up with my initial destinations impossible, I went online and bought those silver headpins and jump rings, then proceeded to Times Square to get them, and to have lunch.

The Arab food stall at the food court really do have good food, but more likely so when the boss is around. The staff treated me like I was one of them because I'm a young Malay girl and we treat each other like we're old friends, not as paying customers. I had grilled prawn fried rice. I should have been warned by the cheap price:RM5. All I got was a plate full of fried rice (which was actually quite nice) and four pieces of probably grilled, not so regular-sized prawns. I was too hungry to bother giving them dirty looks for it.

Next I spent an aimless half an hour sitting down and roaming the mall, trying to think of what to take away for dinner, since I was sleepy and is planning to head home to resume my sleep. I walked slowly in front of the shops, so I could scrutinize the clothes on sale without having to go in and check them out. Suddenly, I heard a guy going "shopping alone?", and something along the same cheesy line quite persistently. My head was glued to my side and when I turned back slightly I saw that a short old man was grinning at me! Okay he's not old, maybe 30 something. But that is still OLD!

I gave him an annoyed look with a raised eyebrow and resumed walking. But he must have thought that I have acknowledged his existence or something, because as I approached the escalator, I heard him again and when I was about to get on, I found out that he has been following me! WTF! This time I gave him a look that says "Are you mentally retarded or something?!" and went down the escalator. I made sure my gaze stayed so he got the message. But him, being man, and perverted, probably thought he "scored" or something. Seriously. Get a brain!

Gosh! There were so many young Malay chicks around today! UITM is on a week holiday, so there are a lot of them girls hanging around the malls, alone and in groups! RAWR! I need to change my appearance to look more expensive so these losers know I am not in their league. Shit. I hope he went and fuck himself.

As annoyed as I was after that, it actually lifted me up a little. I was feeling extremely depressed just moments before, because of a lot of things. His action boosted my ego, and really, what else do you need other than that?

I went back after getting takeaway from subway, prayed and shot two smses to my friends in two different universities asking about their convocation festivals. Just as I was falling asleep, one of them called me and brought me good news. It was such good news I almost couldn't go back to sleep afterwards! I immediately sent an sms to the person in charge. I would call, but I dont think it's good manners to just call up strangers when it's nothing urgent. I received a call back when I woke up xD. I'm as good as in!

Now I need to sleep. After I hang my socks, that is. Tomorrow, err today, I need to clean the house! Ta'ra!