少年不识愁滋味，为赋新词强说愁...

The title, literally translated, would be 'young people who don't know the real meaning of sorrow and pain, but they force themselves to be sorrowful and melancholy for the sake of creating new poetry'. In simpler words, it's phrase aimed to mock people, especially young ones who like to act sorrowful and depressed just because they think it's cool.

Being the normally happy-go-lucky person I am, sometimes with a serious 'I-don't-give-a-flying-****' attitude, I really can't bring myself to act depressed, melancholic and sad when I am not. No, not even if I want to create lyrics for a song.

For one, I believe that there are countless people who are suffering out there, with or without our knowledge. Think of people who are living in war-ridden areas, who don't know when they are going to die in cross-fire. Think of people who are so poor that they don't know when they are going to get their next bowl of rice. Think of children with no parents to care for them, or the elderly left lonely and abandoned in an old folks' home. Think of people who have lost their loved ones to natural disasters, diseases and other reasons.

Then, think of yourself. If you are young, healthy and alive, with a roof over your head and your friends and family are around you, what gives you the right to act as though tomorrow's the day you are dying. Even for optimistic people, if they know that they will die the next day, they will spend today doing everything they want to instead of moping around like a sick person.

What if you lost your mobile phone? What if you caught your boyfriend cheating on you? What if you can't afford the dress you have eyed for three months, and somebody else bought it? What if today, you confessed to your crush and got rejected? Things like these are just minor losses or disappointments in your life compared to what other people in this world might have to suffer. So, stop feeding yourself and other people that nonsense that you want to commit suicide just because you broke up with your girlfriend/boyfriend, or because he did not message you for three days, or something equally ridiculous.

People who do that either have a serious mental problem, or they are pure attention-seekers. Anyhow, they are useless morons.

Instead of whining and complaining and getting on the nerves of people around you, do something more beneficial with your time. Or, if you are really desperate to have someone listen to your 'sad stories', write it in lyrics and put it in a song, like Simple Plan, Greenday and a whole load of artists out there. A word of warning though - if it's not meaningful enough, people won't want to listen.

Happy Valentine's Day~~

What We Are Capable Of...

Sometimes, it's in the face of obstacles, duties and adversity that you can see people's different capabilities. And when these different capabilities are utilised to their maximum, the outcome is just brilliant.

Yes, I'm talking about the monthly assembly/Madam Satinah's farewell ceremony in IPG KBA, hosted by B.Ed TESL Foundation Year 2, Cohort 2, Cycle 3.

Now, I won't kid everyone that the 52 members of C2C3 can get along or work together seamlessly all the time, but at least we took on jobs that we specialise in, like alip and I and our music, the fluent speakers (Ajesz and Alicia) for the poetry, another three speakers (Aliaa, Banu and Jia Ni) as the emcees, computer expert (Khalid) for the slide shows and multimedia, the techies (Hazwan) for the lights and more~

The best thing was, all of us were only notified last Thursday that we had to combine our assembly with a farewell ceremony for Madam Satinah, who is going to leave IPG KBA for her new position at the Ministry of Education as the Private Education Director. Then, we had to change all our preconceived plans to suit the occasion. So, somehow I was given the task to handle part of the performance.

At first, they wanted me to be the accompaniment to the poetry recital, which I denied straight because I've already done it in my first semester. Furthermore, Ustaz Zaradi had already told me to dedicate a song specially to Madam Satinah on the violin, and since that sounds more fun, I went for the latter =p

Oh yea, and there were some rude words and gestures exchanged on Saturday, when the lecturers insisted on repeating the rehearsal over and over just because they want everything to be perfect, not thinking that that's kinda impossible as we only had two days until then.

But today, it was really touching to see such a big crowd in the hall, both lecturers and students (although there were quite a number who did not attend), and that served to add to my nervousness. Indeed, I was rarely nervous when performing in IPG KBA, partly because this is not a music college, and even if I play mediocre, people usually pat me on the back and congratulate me. Maybe it's because I had to combine with the choir and Alif, not doing a solo performance that added to my worries? Still, I'm not saying that having a group performance is not good - if executed well, it is very awesome (borrowed trademark from Khalid)

The most satisfying part of the whole thing (and no, I'm not a sadist) was when Madam Satinah actually dropped a few tears when we went into the first few lines of 'You Raise Me Up'. I wonder if it was Alif's deep, serious voice or my violin that moved her to tears though.

And when the song 'You Raise Me Up' ended, the star of the day actually stood up and applauded us. As a performer, I feel that that is already the greatest appreciation I've ever had, not just because of her actions, but also the expression on her face, and later after the ceremony, she came over to the emcee and musician side and did the cheek-to-cheek thing...what's it called again? And also she said that the music was just so beautiful, and she loved it so much.

If you guys wanna see what we've achieved in 4 days of preparation (at least for my section of the performance), take a look at this video =)

Of Taxi Drivers...

Ever heard of a saying that 'you can learn anything from anyone'. I believe that there's a Chinese proverb which has a slightly similar meaning to it - 三人行必有我师 which if loosely translated, means that in a group of three people, you will surely learn something from one of them.

Back to the topic on taxi drivers - when I travel on the routes of Penang-KL-Penang during long weekends, I usually will take the taxi to the bus station near the old KTM station. Normally, the taxi drivers on Fridays do not talk much, they are too occupied with traffic jams and stuff to pay attention to anything else. However, the same cannot be said for the journey from the bus station back to IPBA. Somehow, the taxi drivers are more communicative and share a lot of what they know, or it might be simply because they like to talk.

Among the conversations I still keep in mind:

Sometime last year...
Taxi driver 1: Awak nak jadi cikgu ke? Mana boleh...awak pandai senyum macam tu, nanti murid-murid semua tak takut pada you...(Are you going to become a teacher? How can you become one...you smile too much - the students will not be afraid of you.)
Me: Aiya, tak apa ma...I keluar nanti ajar sekolah menengah, bukan sekolah rendah...(Aiya, it's okay. I will teach in a secondary school when I come out, not a primary school)
TD 1: Aa..bukan macam tu. Tengok, even anak saya kecil, tahun satu saja, da tahu buli cikgu. Lagi tua lagi teruk budak-budak zaman ini. Nanti you masuk sekolah, senyum senyum lagi, mesti kena buli mia...(Aa...it's not like that. See, even my standard one kid already knows how to bully a teacher *LOL* the older they get, the worse they are. If you go smiling in schools, you will surely be bullied by your students...
Me:...

Maybe I should tape my facial muscles in the future when I'm teaching in schools...just to keep from smiling? =x

Sometime last year too...
Me: Saya nak pergi Stadium Hoki UM. (I want to go to the UM Hockey Stadium *the landmark for IPBA's hostel location)
TD2: Mana you nak pergi? (Where do you want to go?)
Me: Stadium Hoki UM...
TD2: (Impatiently) Nak pergi UM ke maktab? (Do you want to go to UM or the teachers training institute?)
Me: (intimidated) Maktab... >_<>(Next time, just say that 'I want to go to the Lembah Pantai Teachers Training Institute)
Me: Tapi selalu I cakap macam tu, taxi driver tak tahu kat mana...(But everytime I say that, the taxi drivers do not know where to go)
TD2: Diorang saja kot, tak nak ambil, cakaplah tak tahu kat mana...
Me: Owh...ye ke?
TD2: You nak jadi cikgu kan? Kalau orang tak tahu, you tak bagi tahu, macam mana orang nak tahu kelak? Kalau you cakap terus, Maktab Perguruan Lembah Pantai ini dekat dengan UM...macam salesman nak promote produk, pun kena bagi tahu orang lain, kebaikan produk ini, kena buat advertise semua itu kan? (he started talking about promoting and advertising...though I can't really see the connection)
Me: *Nods*
TD2: Satu lagi. Jadi cikgu ini, tak boleh cakap bohong...nanti anak-anak murid semua ikut. Betul tak? (One more thing, if you are going to become a teacher, you cannot tell lies, if not your students might follow your example. Am I right?)
Me: *Nods again, speechless* (What did I do???)

The conversation continued in this vein for the rest of the journey. Turns out that he's just giving a lecture, feeling that it's his duty as a citizen to talk some sense into future teachers. According to him, one of his best friends is also a teacher, and that's where he learned all these lecturing stuff xD

Earlier this year, I met a Sikh taxi driver that tried to persuade me to go to church =.="

Just now, I met another Indian taxi driver, who says that he's a vegetarian, and has to take care of his thinking, words and actions as a result. He commented on other taxi drivers that will not hesitate to charge exorbitant fees to get you to your destination, just because the economy is not faring so well currently. According to him, they are too selfish, as everyone has their own financial problems, and forcing someone else to share your burden is just...o_O

Ah, and he says that the world will become a better place if everyone is a vegetarian - 'we are supposed to protect the animals, not kill them for food.' At this rate, the world will end in ten years...

What happened to 2012?