5*

This came a while ago.Tak sempat nak flaunt.Hard work to reclaim our 5*

Hantu

I woke up with mata merah menyala in the morning. My gusi semua merah.I thought maybe the effect of the homeopathy medicine I took on Saturday but 24 hours effect? Scary.

But the night before I woke up when surah albaqarah ended (around 2 am and again around 4 am).Langsung tak leh tidur.I pasang balik albaqarah and my back against my phone where the verses flowed.My whole body rasa meremang then I felt suffocated.I baca sekuat2nya a'zubillahiminassyaitonnirrojeem.Takda suara keluar except owrg argh macam kena cekik dan tindih. I baca juga dlm kepala dan hati.Albaqarah terus berkumandang.Akhirnya I slept.When I woke up and washed my face in the morning...tengok cermin mata merah.I thought dah kena sakit mata ke.Cuci byk kali with air sejuk.The redness went away.

I told the USM driver what happened to me when he picked me for the viva.He said ada dengaq juga org kena kacau kat situ.My room was really berhadapan dgn bukit berhutan.The energy could be too strong.Mungkin laluan jin pun (hiway mrk).

Nasib satu malam sahaja.Next time I will avoid that rooom.309.Bad feng shui.
Bumped into Harry Aveling while I was going in to the viva room.He had a talk somewhere but he asked if we could catch up after my viva.So after an interesting session at the viva, I pi attended his talk on translation.Interesting juga then he nak tompang I pi airport.His flight was later. Dia tunggu le kat lobby tu sambil I berkemas2 kat bilik hantu tu.

We had time to catch up with news of mutual friends - Nancy is still teaching at West Virginia.I nak email add dia balik. One friend you will not forget.The whole family seronok berkawan dgn Nancy.
Dr Haslinda took us all to lunch at Bumblebees'.Jumpa a new friend who's married to a Spaniard and will be going to Chile to live there for good.Dia tak miss pun Msian food.Haha.Nice people at USM.

Nadia and I pi ronda2 at Georgetown.Ingat nak catch up with the literary festival.Semua dah habis.Ended up lunching at Black Kettle.Mlm tu I dined sorang and managed to chat with Sharifah's mom. Dr Aldila pun nmpk better (visited her at the hospital).Rezeki I jumpa dia dlm keadaan dia sihat.Semoga Allah mudahkan urusan penyembuhan dia.

Hujung minggu bersama para Professor

I'm here in Langkawi menggantikan Dato Wira for IIUM's Council of Professors. The meeting is held at a beautiful place by the beach (I'm practically on the water and it's such a joy to be surrounded by water)

Semalam media wanted to know pendapat para ilmuan ni tentang demo Bersih kuning dan merah ni. Big Boss mengajak semua wakil menyatakan pendirian menolak demo tu.Alamak..I was not warned that this would be done so I refused to join the group (I cannot speak on behalf of all Profs at IIUM..tak dapat mandat pun). Sometimes antara sebab why many Profs distance themselves from Majlis Professor Negara is this - bercakap mcm kita ahli politik.

However, there are really fantastic works done and I hope these will continue.Met some really awesome Profs (but looks like the good ones always get cold storaged or transferred or contracts not renewed). But benih baik campak ke laut jadi pulau, campak ke darat jadi gunung. Begitulah.And I'm glad I bump into them at this meeting.Truly inspiring.

Dato Hamdan (former FOMCA guy) is one funny guy.He was telling us about comments made by one of his friends asking if he takut isteri.He said tunggu..nanti kau jumpa isteri aku kau tau.And the friend saw her catching a huge biawak with her bare hands and according to the proud husband, she tangkap ular macam tu juga.Ular tedung tu she spray dgn Ridsect je sebelum she cut off its head dengan parang. Wough...I want to meet her! Prof Azni and I gelak macam nak rak but we were full of admiration of Datin. He must have loved her so much sebab dia cerita pasal dia in her absence with such pride.

Then there's Prof of Aqua-Culture.I like him sebab dia buat kerja nampak hasil sekelip mata.Impak tinggi not only to the uni he serves but the state he's in.Terasa jauh api dari panggang.I must share the stories with my IIUM friends.

We got our MyRA 5* alhamdulillah. And we got our 4 TRGS. Syukur alhamdulillah, everyone had worked hard. But I'm leaving RMC soonest my tenure ends.It's a stressful job.I need some breathing space from admin work.Research menimbun nak buat ni.

Literary event at Sin Sze Si Ya Temple

This was last week - tak sempat nak update but I want to document the visit to the second oldest Chinese temple in Malaysia. Sin Sze Si Ya Temple near Chinatown. Berpusing juga mencarinya but from Central Market, dekat je.

The event was organised by Goethe Institute on Literature and Spirituality.The temple was donated by Yap Ah Loy and the Board of Trustees is applying to get it listed as part of UNESCO World Heritage and one of the members said maybe I could help.I pun kasi nama Prof Ghulam who had the experience of getting Mak Yong listed as World Heritage.Temple tu memang cantik seni pembinaannya.Orang-orang dia pun baik.I was introduced to the Chairman (also Chair of Tung Shin Hospital).

The readings itself takda la spectacular sangat but I enjoyed listening to Guat's take on what spirituality meant for her.I think her journey is guided and she is a good listener to her inner voice.

Nasi kah! kah!

I hear the girls laughing and giggling in the pantry over nasi toncet which I bought at the Arabic Dept's food festival ke hapa.

It's green and rasa macam nasi lemak.The word toncet reminds you of hantu toncet. Whatever. :D
I rode with my neighbour to work today and we spoke of dead cats in the neighbourhood (7 died over the period of 10 days). I suspect someone poisoned them. Too many around the neighbourhood with bad toilet habits (my pasu dah dua pecah that I had to buy plastic ones over the weekend but I didn't poison them, OK?)

So we theorised over who did and damages done to our cars (scratches, pasu pecah...busuk kencing berak etc). For pet lovers:keep your pets but tolong jaga hati jiran OK? Cleanliness is iman. My Chinese friend pakaikan diapers kat anjing dia.Boleh tak?Ketidak, tak payah berkucing-kucing, beranjing-anjing.

The sem is coming to an end. I badly need a break.