The pictures speak for themselves.

May patience be with you always, Palestine….

..Found the pics here:  http://fuaizgeneration.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html

~*`*~ Subtle_Fortitude~*`*~

Ehem:  No long entries till my exam and bundle of assigments are settled!  can’t wait!!

Ehemx2: ish… dah la paper esok..study2! :-p

Friendster?…

Facebook..?

Myspace..?

Tagged..?

ala, tak maen la network2 tu..!

It’s much too common…

A good friend of mine – being the IT savvy person he is – created this cool lagi awesome network.  Really neat discussions, features and stuff…

It’s new, but not all that new. (erk? :-p)…there are a lot of members already.

So what are you waiting for???  Come on down and join..!

click here people–> DK PROJECT

Imagine being awaken at 3.30 am with the most queerest feeling that something’s wrong.  You find things missing in your home.  then you think to yourself, ah, I probably just misplaced it. You look all over the place for them.  Unfortunately you can’t find them.  Then your housemate says that she saw the front sliding door and grill ajar just before you woke up.  And the lock is gone.

Your body gets a great chill when you notice that the window next to your study desk that you never opened is slightly opened!  You run back outside to the living room and you realize that all the windows are slightly opened..!

….

Yup, some guy (or gal) got their way in my home Monday morning.  AlhamduliLLAH, the only things that were gone were my two cell phones, and one of housemate’s purse and cell phone (yeah, just those two things..the intro sounded dramatic huh, but it was only those items stolen. hehe…).

The ironic thing is that my housemate which was awake, working on her assignment at the time, didn’t hear anyone come in.  My room was the only room with the lights off so I guess that was why my room was targeted.  Another ironic thing is that there was a laptop opened in the room, car keys, and a bunch of other things…YET, that person chose my two worn out, out-dated cell phones to grab..!  a big wonder…hm there goes all my contact numbers…

SO ANYONE WHO KNOWS ME OUT THERE, PLEASE TEXT MESSAGE ME AND HELP GIVE ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO KEEP IN TOUCH WITH YOU BY GIVING YOUR CELL PHONE NO….would appreciate it.

…ok, the cell phone thing is not the point I’d like to make out here.

after all my housemates were awaken by the event of the morning, we all sat together.  It was like 4.30 am at the time.  We countered back who was the last one who came in the house…and pointing out the dog next door was barking really loud like at 3.00..all these signals of what was going to happen.

We all thought… subhanALLAH… our lives and wellness were spared… It was lucky for us that whoever came in just wanted “stuff”.  He (or she) could have done anything to us when he entered the house without being heard.  But ALLAH didn’t allow it.

cell phone or no cell phone… my life was spared…

MORAL OF THE STORY:

Keep your house keys in the right spot.  People can be observing you and just waiting for the right moment to enter your home.  I learned my BIG LESSON. uwa.

TIME FLIES FAAAST…!

…This makes it my 10th Hari Raya in Malaysia…

(a decade already ma)

Grateful that I’m here… that ALLAH has decided my being in Malaysia with my lovely relatives…

I’d like to catch this chance to ask forgiveness from:

- my family and all relatives

- close companions (sahabat2) and friends…

]]> http://subtlefortitude.wordpress.com/2009/09/18/celebration/feed/ 4 subtlefortitude RAYA http://subtlefortitude.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/whats-all-the-commotion-about-090909/ http://subtlefortitude.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/whats-all-the-commotion-about-090909/#comments Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:23:08 +0000 subtlefortitude http://subtlefortitude.wordpress.com/?p=687 ]]>

Today, 19 Ramadhan 1430 is the 9 September 2009…ala, it’s not fun writing it that way…change!… 09/09/09

The last time there as a gigantic commotion was the Y2K deal.  Then there was the 09/09/99 day (I remember my teacher in my 6th grade class telling us the possibilities that could have happened that day) where there was going to be a like a major problem with the world’s computer system and all.  Tough luck, didn’t get to witness anything. hm.

09/09/09 represents the last set of repeating, single-digit dates that we’ll see for almost a century (until January 1, 2101), or a millennium (mark your calendars for January 1, 3001), depending on how you want to count it.

Read more: Why 09/09/09 is so special

You know what’s even more special?  07/09/09 – 2 days ago – 17 Ramadhan 1430.

You know why?

… The Noble and Holy Al-Qur’an was sent down on this date.. subhanALLAH…

“Ramadhan is the (month) in which was sent down the Qur’an, as a gude to mankind, also clear (Signs) for guidance and judgement (between right and wrong)….”

[Surah Al-Baqarah: 185]

Let’s spend the remaining days of this month of Ramadhan to appreciate the Holy al-Qur’an, read it as much as we can, and not only read, but feel the meaning of the Words of ALLAH.  Be thankful before our time runs up on this temporary phase of life of ours.  RAMADHAN KAREEM everyone..!

“Terrorist!  Terrorist!”

…you called her a terrorist just because of her modesty in wearing the hijab?

Stabbed 18 times in court!!!!!

…you stabbed her just because she wanted to defend her hijab in court?

3 months pregnant with one little child watching

… what happened to your humanist values???  What if someone stabbed your wife, for heaven’s sake??!!!

… WHO’S THE REAL TERRORIST????!!

This occurred about a month and a half ago… But I figured I wouldn’t be able to stay calm till I get this up on this page.

To give a gist of the climax of this occurrence, an Anti-Islam individual (Alex) had harrassed and insulted Dr. Marwa El Sherbiny, an Egyptian women in German, in public.  She sued Alex for the uncalled-for insult.  Yes!  That was not only an insult for Marwa, but an insult for ISLAM.  Who would stay still??? Alex appealed in court.  During the process of trial in court, Alex ran and stabbed Marwa 18 TIMES to death… reminder: IN COURT.   A policeman then shot Marwa’s husband, who went to defend her, with the excuse saying that he was aiming for Alex but missed his shot.

My goodness, has this world like flopped over all of a sudden??

How on earth was Alex allowed to bring in a knife into court?  Then there’s the stabbing.  It was mentioned, 18 TIMES.  couldn’t anyone have stopped Alex at the 2nd or 3rd stab at least?  Did the judge like just sit there and watch or what?

This event, ladies and gentlemen, is pure proof of PREJUDICE OPPRESSION OF ISLAM!!

Moral of the story:

-  Don’t visit Germany.  Their courts aren’t secured.

- German policemen suck at shooting.  They might, on another day, aim for someone else, but unintentionally shoot another Muslim.

Yesterday, my classmates and I were discussing about modules to conduct for a development program we’ll be organizing for our superdy duper juniors.  It’s a pity because they’re not exposed to much yet by the university (PreTESL students, can’t offer much I guess…konon2nya kena sampai taraf diploma baru layak).

So we planned to screen a short video that would get these guys’ minds rolling, then carry out a discussion.

One of the suggestions was to screen a video from 15 Malaysia.  Have you people heard of the 15 Malaysi seriesa?  Probably have.  I’m just a little jakun and just heard about it! haha Anywho…it’s been out in the newspapers and all, and the quality of the short videos are seriously alright (like those petronas short vids, yeah something like that).

Why these vids don’t reach the NATIONAL TV channels is a ‘wonder’.  Well, after you watch the one below you’ll probably understand.

The video below is titled ‘One Future’.  There is a deep meaning on how it portrays Malaysia today.  Watch it!…

21 years old on the 21st of August…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY little sis…

 …a special cake (from far), for a special sis….

[sorry for all the torture I've 'gifted' you for the past 21 yrs of your life.  Great ain't it? huahua..

bit you (when little), teased you, tattled tailed on you, lectured you, and all the works..FORGIVE ME.]

 ”May ALLAH bless you in all you do. 

May HE help you in finding HIM. 

May ALLAH reward you true contenment in this life and the hereafter… AMEEN.”

The mood of  WELCOME BACK TO CAMPUS is still fresh among all university/college students all over Malaysia…

One of the courses I’m taking this semester is SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION.  I feel real pumped..!  One reason being it is related to linguistics, the other is because one of my all-time favourite lecturers is the instructor for the course!   She gets my classmates and my mind rolling in class..she knows how to trigger our curiousity, and is humourous in her downright sarcastic way.  I certainly look forward to her lecture classes every week..!

Yesterday, we went over tons and tons (not literally, seemed like a lot though. hoho) of SLA (Second Language Acquisition) theories.  They ranged from Naom Chomsky’s Universal Hypothesis to Stephen Krashen’s Monitor Model.

Among the discussions we had in class was about the status of English in Malaysia whether as a SL (Second Language) or a FL (Foreign Language).  For as long as I could remember, during school of course, English is referred to as a second language in Malaysian schools.

Why? …because for decades English was actually the second language widely exposed to students in and outside of school.

Now can we say that looking at Malaysian students today?…

SLA or FLA?

Are we dealing with SLA (Second Language Acquisition) or FLA (Foreign Language Acquisition) in teaching English in Malaysian schools? In certain areas of Malaysia, especially in deep rural areas, students come face to face with English ONLY once they enter schools.  So would we still call English these students’ second language in their mentioned situation??

again..SLA or FLA?

one more thing to ponder… Can ‘learning’ become ‘acquisition’ in attaining language?

~*`*~ Subtle_Fortitude~*`*~

Ehem:  Yup, this is what you could call over excitement of starting a new sem to the extent that you write about your own course in your blog entries haha

]]> http://subtlefortitude.wordpress.com/2009/07/18/esl-or-is-it-efl/feed/ 0 subtlefortitude http://subtlefortitude.wordpress.com/2009/07/17/rejuvenate-campus-culture/ http://subtlefortitude.wordpress.com/2009/07/17/rejuvenate-campus-culture/#comments Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:34:35 +0000 subtlefortitude http://subtlefortitude.wordpress.com/?p=647 ]]>

Last week, I was discussing about certain matters with a very vibrant friend of mine. Although we do abide to different beliefs  – him being Christian, me being Muslim – nevertheless, it seemed we shared common ground about university students’ weak grasp of their surroundings.

I recall him expressing his disappointment towards the average Malaysian graduate.

I don’t know about you, but I see that graduates usually leave campus life as people who are gullible and do not have a stand of their own.

These graduates are not a katak bawah tempurung, but worse; like a frog under a glass – they think they know what’s going on around them, nevertheless they don’t realize they’re being samely manipulated.

…quite an odd analogy, I would say, but after much thought, I had to admit…this friend of mine does have his point.

It is real obvious lately that campus students mostly deprive themselves with the ‘Whybother approach’ (thanks farril ).  Students couldn’t care less about what is going on beyond a mile from them, unless there is a movie cinema 2 miles away.

For example, early this year the world was erupted by the unfortunate fate of Gaza.  A moderate percentage of students took the effort of showing some care and read about what was going over in Gaza, for they actually believed that the whole Palestinian Holocaust is downright wrong.  A small percentage of students even expressed their grief through their personal blogs (read: What could  occur in Gaza within 10 minutes ).

What happened to the 50% rest of the university students (my own statistics based on observation)?? … nope, don’t have a firm stand.  They couldn’t care less.  Some just mentioned ‘Gaza’ at their lips as a passing joke.  Real sad if you ask me.  Lack of sensitivity.

Now, what happens to these kinds of students once they have trained their heads to not be sensitive towards anything but their next test paper?

… they become gullible working people who easily ‘go with the flow’ – meaning that they easily enjoin the majority without any basis of enjoining them in the first place.  The only reason they want to be a part of this majority is because, well.. it’s the majority.  It seems easy.  Well, graduates… majority or no majority, a firm stand comes with firm principles.  So develop your principles as firm as possible while still on campus for its on campus where you are opened to various world perspectives.  Be a graduate with a strong stand so won’t easily be fooled!

Campus Culture as a Catalyst in Developing Graduates with Firm Identity

I truly believe that campus culture plays a large role in developing graduates with a firm identity: firm stand with firm principles…!

So, what to do???….

REJUVENATE CAMPUS CULTURE! –> rejuvenate = UPLIFT

…Campus students need to feel the importance of being self-informed of what is happening beyond their forehead.  How do you get students to do this?.. well, the mood of ‘Curiousity brings prosperity’, instead of ‘Curiousity kills the cat’ (why does that suddenly sound weird) needs to somehow be of existence on campus.

Walking around on campus should give that magical effect.  To the extent that, masuk je pagar kampus, terasa nak baca paper!…haha :-p (well, something like that)

Bring a new campus image through Induction Week

The Induction Week for new students at any university is basically a ‘first impression’ of the campus for new students.  One batch of students might hold a different perspective of the university then its former, based on the impact of their induction week.

Hence, this should be seen as an opportunity in REJUVENATING the campus culture within this week.

Just to share, I took part in my campus’s induction week as among the orientation committee.  It amazed me how certainly opened and easily influenced these new students were.  Well, mostly only those from matriculation colleges and STPM holders, because it was their first time stepping into a university.  Now, don’t get me wrong…’easily influenced’ meaning they easily depend on any senior campus.

From this observation, I feel that rejuvenation of any campus culture could be started during this first week.  The attitude of the importance of being a KNOWLEDGE-THIRSTY student could be  inculcated upon these students.  …let’s effort towards it in the future…!

Information here and there!

My friend I mentioned above suggested we gather all the potential writers on campus and start on a new culture of arising curiousity through reading of critical writings.  A really great idea…! Quite exciting if you ask me.  Goodness, wouldn’t it be awesome to bring change to a campus???… Let’s!

~*`*~ Subtle_Fortitude~*`*~

Ehem: ok, i planned on only talking about my experience being an orientation committee… however it ended up averting to sumthing else… aiya

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