Weeks and The Night of Nights

Welcome.

You’re about to see  a guy who’s lost his mind.

A sorrowful insanity.

Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim.

It’s a quiet night. 

I’m still wide awake.. silently typing on my laptop, under a dimly lit lamp. 
while others are sound asleep. I want to get this entry off my chest before dawn breaks.

Viewing back, this will be a recount of my activities these past two weeks.

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So, after the exams ended, comes the summer holidays.


you’d picture peacefulness and serenity of the mind.
The feeling of content like no other.

Like how yer freedom reaches its peak, like a bird soaring thru the limitless sky. 

Total "freedom".

Wrong. 

Who’d thought there was still more tasks left-over.

-----------------

Let’s get started.

I finished an impossible task. 
I was put in charge to handle the “transportation & musyrif” unit

 of a grand event of the first year cairo university students. 

Our X-nite, a cool abbreviation of gen X or gen 10.

Now, for me to handle such big responsibility in my lifetime.. I just couldn’t take it. 

It had caused me a great deal of stress. 

Long realizing that I’m not suited for the job, I tried my all. 

In the end, it wasn’t perfect, heck it was perfectly flawed, 

but hey anything to get the job done.

So I learned how to do some new stuff from that. 
Bling bling. 
Experience is gained not bought!

Getting the transport on track wasn’t exactly easy to do. It involved finding the right supplier, reasoning & negotiation to get the best deals for the right price, and dealing with the driver. (note that these guys don’t speak any language except arabic.) 
Alhamdulillah, I managed to do it all, but not without the help of my friends.

The event ; it went on in the most unplanned way it can get. But it finished without any casualty.

So then a post-mortem meeting was made. Hearing the comments from all committee members.. somehow, it made me feel relieved. To know that my unit wasn't the only one which went through many troubles. Everyone actually had their own problems. And while knowing that, we overcame these obstacles. It was the most satisfying feeling ever, like I’ve never felt before. 


An achievement. 


All in all, it was truly a remarkable, marvelous night.


A splendid memory worth to be cherished.




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Now that everything’s out of the way, no problems. 
No exams nearing, no class, with everything’s sorted out… 
Somehow I feel empty. 
Like the world was distant, and there’s this small agony boiling inside me. 
Well actually it just means I’m bored.

Finding the cure to this boredom’s pretty hardy. Tried cooking, it took some blood n grit. Tried inter-networking, ended up cursing relentlessly at TE Data for being such rip-off as they are.

Dear TE Data, you dissapoint me.

But soon, I found the cure. I went to H7 due to some invitation to liqa’ Mahabbah aka LiMah. It was exactly what I needed. It’s called- human interaction. Magical stuff it is. I met with companions, as they’re my friends & teachers who I haven’t seen in a long time..

-----------------

What’s newest.. I’m equipping myself to go on a journey, far far away, as a pilgrim, going to the holy land. That’s right, I’m going for umrah, not yet the hajj. I’ve always dreamed of going there.. to set foot on the place where the prophet Muhammad SAW once made home. The Holy Land of Makkah and Medina al-Munawwarah. Long I’ve learned the Sirah of the prophets.. I want to see with my eyes, the Masjidil Haram and Masjidil Nabawi. And performing the umrah.. it is an act of obedience to Allah the Almighty. I pray that my umrah will be a mabrur one.. that is, one blessed by Allah. InsyaAllah -Godwilling.

Oh and another story, I wouldn’t miss writing this down; I recently got a taste of an arab fist. A quick jab straight to my face. It kinda bruised my nose. Which was cool.

….And that’s that. 

See ye in 2 weeks or so. 

Assalamualaikum.








p/s: Enjoy these photos of "the night". Gen X Nite.

 

Dr Mona Sarkis & Dr Nabila Youssef

Committee

with friends

Jejaka Idaman

Soulful singing~

Rocking it

credit to these awsum photographers =)

Pewarisan takhta Ketua Batch

ITS OUR NIGHT!!

-End-

Reactive Hyperemia

Reactive hyperemia:
n. Hyperemia in a part resulting from the restoration of its temporarily blocked blood flow.

definition :  wikipedia - dictionary.reference.com,medical-dictionary - thefreedictionary.com

__________________________________________________________________________

March, April, May, June, and now July. 

It’s been that long ..

"Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim."

. . .

I haven’t posted in a while.

Why’s that?

I’ve no idea.

Post posts.

A post is created when there's something big going on.

And there's almost -nothing- going on around here.

Or you could say that there’s always something going on,

but I wasn't there when it happened.

There lies the problem.

5 months this time.

Oh, the lazinesss.

So… Unfortunately I found something to write about.

About something exciting.

Albeit a little boring.

Hint:Hint:Hint:

It can be summarized in 3 words.

One two three.

Finished. Exam. Woooh!

. . . .

The End

-----

… NOT quite.

Not quite, as in, I haven’t truly finished the exams. There’s a few more days lefty.

Then It’ll be the end of my end-year exams.

Though everyone’s in holiday mode already.

Not excluding me.

 (whoopsa)

One last paper, the most ‘challenging’ yet. 

English.

or Medical-English-Something.

Let’s make it sound harder with something advanced in front.

Advanced-medical-english-something.

..yeah.

Anyway, I’ve gotten around the first year of medic school.

Medic school introduced me to..

New people, friends. Teachers.

Some newer subjects in my life.

Anatomy, Biochemistry, Histology, Physiology.

It’s quite a tough first year.

Can’t say I tried very hard.

That which I regret.

I hadn’t prepared enough.

For the exams.

And my tendency to get distracted.

During study leave,

With Scrubs S1-S3, Guitar hero and all.

And Dragon Age–

--Ok enough.

And as the old proverbs say;

 “You reap what you sow.”

There’s gonna be some consequence.

I don’t expect high results.

I might even have to do the “second round”.

Bleagh.

But I’ll be better prepared for the second year.

It’s gonna happen.

InsyaAllah.

p/s:  lately, noticed everyone’s talking about going back to the homelaaand.

& pasal kawen.

 -.-“

The Going of a Revolution

Its been a while. I suddenly got the urge to write up about things that have happened these past few months. Since I actually have -something- to write about. Stuff you may've heard across the news. Seems like lots have changed since i've left my country. This is a recount of my journey through the land of egypt, after 4 months.

Some out of many memorable moments. To list all is almost impossible.

-jaulah sekitar Mesir

-kuliah days.

-Eidul Adha.

-pindah - H7 ke Abou Rish

-my birthday.

-dreaded mid-year exam.

-and a winter break gone wrong. Really, really wrong.

This was my experience watching egypt's rise to turmoil. It all started during the end of the month of january. I was still facing the first of challenges in university life, the mid-year exam. It was tuesday night, 25^th of Jan 2011 and I've just went through my 3^rd paper. People had posted news of muzaharat on facebook walls that night. My impression was like- cool, demonstration at Tahrir. But that was before vids of gunshot witnessings were posted.

Then an arab friend invited me to a group on facebook. Stated there was, friday would be the date when they'd hold another large muzoharat (demonstration). time ni awal2 lagi. Layaan je la walaupun tak phm sangat.

Walking to the university thursday morning, I didn't notice anything different. I sat for my last paper in peace then went to Hayyu 'asyir- H10 (10^th district) promptly that evening to settle some unfinished business, then straight to H7 - rumah selangor. Things still look as they would usually, no demonstation anywhere yet. Things were peaceful enough for me to hang out with friends over a late dinner at Pizza Master's – Awal 'Abbas. Catch up, tahu perkembangan2 semua. Cuz It's been at least a month last I've been to H7. And since midyear exam is over, it marks the start of winter break! Or so I thought.

27^th Jan after friday prayer, I witnessed by my own eyes, groups of people marching along the streets. These people were expressing their anger and sorrow by protesting, shouting words I don't really understand. Subhanallah. This at H7, and I didn't stay there long. I was ready to go home when I took a ride on a tramco to my next location.

Demerdash metro station. Not quite, the tramco was stopped by the police before even there at Jamek el-Nur. Large groups of people, or parades as I'd call it, can be seen heading towards the metro station. This demonstration was larger scaled, as it happened in the city area. Its said that people should be careful to take photos of stuffs in egypt, for fear that police will catch those doing so. I say what the hell, everyone there was holding up their phones in 'photoshoot mode' at the time. So I took out my phone then captured videos and photos as I came across things.

the scene : Demerdash Station.

Waves after waves. It seems like theres no end to these mobs. They shouted to the spectators on windows and jejantas who only sat by and watched, "entum misri walla eh?" Are you all egyptian or what? Then came the tanks. It struck me then, if theres any revolution happening in egypt, I was witnessing it then.

Sayeda Zeinab, Abou Rish a.k.a belakang umah.

Mobs, everywhere. People were shouting "inzil-inzil mobarak" 'down with mobarak'. I went as far down the road to Jamek Sayeda Zeinab and tasted the salty, wicked, sensation of smoke bombs & tear gas. Rasa macam pedih potong, darabkan tu dengan 27. Pedih gila kau.

Smoke grenades, tear gas shells. 

the scene : Abou Rish

Clearly the sound of gunfire could be heard. Though they were non-lethal, the pain was surreal; my friend got hit by one in the leg. Sakit sangat sampai takleh bangun, tapi kesannya tak lama. Syukur dia okey. Its the kind of gun that the bullet would spread, splits up into tiny fragments when fired.

Buildings, balai syurtoh, were burnt down. Vehicles destroyed. I saw people trying to topple a truck down. When it didn't work, they resorted to burning it instead. My home was on the 11^th floor, I lived with 6 other housemates. I went up riding the elevator only to find that the internet wasn't working no more. Fi internet? La'-ah.. musy syaghal. =(

Houses, buildings on fire.

Rumors-rumors. Malaysian's been robbed, raped, died etc. those are some of the rumours I've heard back then. Nauzubillah. How horrible if it was true. I've heard that way back, before the first muzaharat, searches for IM people had been going on, one of my contacts reported he was asked by an SB mabahis. These spies had been actively asking malaysians whether they'd joined with IM or not. Who knows what'd happen if one was caught. Because of the circumstances back then, we'd believe anything we hear. Whether true or not, who knows. 

On the 29^th though, me & friends went to Dream Park, a theme park in 6^th October (name tempat). Great fun. Four or five different thrilling rides, screamed & shouted as loud as I could, lol. We'd plan to go there even before the mid-year exam. Unfortunately the park got closed early that day, 2pm as supposed to the usual 5pm. That was the time we first knew about the restrict order-perintah berkurung. We weren't really that wary about the state Egypt was currently in then, so we were like- wth? The attendant informed us that we'd be caught if we're on the street during the restriction order. Visa pun dah mati mase ni. Mmg bagus. Zzz.. Everyone rushed home then. Looking back, wow, I can't believe we did all that with all the commotion going on then. Hilarious I'd say, and kinda dumb. But it was experience nonetheless, and that's what counts.

Dream Park roller coaster!!

Restriction order. Daily activities thwarted. Chaotic nights. Food's effected slightly. At a time supposedly to be our winter break. You couldn't be outside after 5pm. Robbers are out there, breaking in shops and premises. Great. We only went out during the day to buy food and supplies. I discovered how boring it can be to stay indoors all the time. But a new feature was available. Mob watching, that is watching the chaos below from our 11-storey tower. My area wasn't what you'd call safe during the nights. Street fights, more like mob wars on the street. It's scary how shiny their knives and machetes were when watched from way above. Every guy had a weapon, knives, stick+nails, bottles, chairs even guns.

Watching mobs throwing flaming bottles/molotov cocktails to each other. Though, much as exciting as that was, we weren't sure what we're watching. Whats going on? I mean why are the people fighting each other? hurting each other? Everything seems so messed up. We don't have TV nor do we have the internet. We lost the phone network for several days during the early phase. We were literally cut off from any news. Later it became known that these fights were between the pro-change & pro-muborak faction. These people were desperate for change. For 30 years they've been under the rule of dictatorship. Life is hard, for them. We should be grateful just knowing the fact that we live in a more peaceful country.

Then came the tanks.

Evacuating Egypt. Darn. Feel like the longest-boring period of my life. I don't even wanna mention it. Okay in short, patience was tested to the limits. Cairo-Jeddah transition took like 31 hours. We got the chance to ride the C-130 Charlie of the RMAF. 3 hours flight. Mcm sardin, heh. Alrite. Next, Markaz Tabung Haji, we're placed in the furthest, highest block one could find here, where theres lack of water. Flight token numbered by the 6 thousandth. Hmm... seems we get the short end of the stick everytime. (when compared to other ppl). Things could've gone better.

I was in Jeddah when I wrote this entry cuz I didn't have anything better to do. Patiently waiting till the end. My job is, makan & tido. Did I mention that the food here is great? I'm gonna have some weight issues after this. All in all, I was stranded there in Markaz Madinatul Hujjaj, for no less than a week.

11^th Feb, the focus suddenly shifted to something else. When it was announced that Murtabak actually stepped down from the governance dept, everyone was suprised.. or atleast I was. The days of rage were over. The people's demand for the regime to step down. Guess everyone's prayers finally got through. I'm very blessed indeed to have witnessed such a glorious phenomenon. A revolution that will change the history of a nation. Egyptians that had sacrificed their lives on the road of Jihad, Rabbina maakum. You've the right to be proud! Together we pray that this revolution would give rise to a new Islamic nation, and inspire other country to follow suit. InsyaAllah. Later on, it will be dubbed the famous 25th January Revolution, the date when it all started. This date will forever be inscribed as an epic historical event for Egypt and the story will be passed on to the next generation.

Finally hearing the announcement we'd been waiting for, our turns are up. The next day, flight MAS – B747 was ready. It was time to say goodbye to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A flight direct to KLIA was waiting for us.

Returning home ticket!!

Well that's all for now.

I advance my sincere apology if some find this post to be untrue or unjust. These are just the things that had occured through my untrained perspective, things I've chanced upon and experienced.

N.B : Murtabak / Muborak - bukan nama sebenar.

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Now, I've come home, kembali ke tanah air. A bit too early methinks. Will be staying here for about 1 month if not more. This has been a great journey for me. And this wont be the end, for sure. Jika tiada aral melintang, kita bertemu kembali wahai sang ardhu kinanah. InsyaAllah. Wallahua'lam.

Start of a venture.

                            

" بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم "

In the name of Allah the most Gracious, most Merciful.

Hello. Welcome to my blog. Blog so new, that I'd have to welcome myself to it too. 

This is the first post towards a whole other more posts.

 a Blog is something I've been thinking to do in a long time, but never quite got started. 

I figured, I gotta start soon. As they say, 

"A thousand miles journey starts with the first step."

so here goes, while I still have time. September 16th today. 

Just a couple of days, even hours! "It" won't be long now, 

before I'll start my own undertaking that'll have an outcome not yet certain.

 oh Merciful god.

Soon, VERY soon.

My hopes are that I'll be able to write some sort of a journal in this,

 a simple record of my future undertakings (for self-reference, and my family, friends).

And probably as a small secluded cave, a place to rant all i want. haha . 

Else, I dunno. I'm not sure what other people write in their blog... 

and write quite a long post at that. 

I sure don't expect to see meself write anything brilliant anytime ever soon. 

That's quite about it. I think its enough for start with. 

I'll update when I have time, occasionally if not frequently. 

daily updates most unlikely. 

to friends, futhering their studies.

 Those far and near, local or overseas.

 Fare you well.

 I pray the best for you all. 

Barakallahu lakum.

Until we meet again. 

-FZ