One Month

It's been ages since I update anything here, pardon me for being so busy with mathematics and studies (like that is something bad to do, sigh). My entrance exam will be one month from now. And I already prepared my research plan presentation slide and receive a good feedback from fellow labmates and my supervisor. I really hope everything will turn out well (of course with the math too :p)

So what I am going to confront in this entrance exam? Starting on 25th August, until the following four days, I will face TOEFL in the first day, written examination (comprises of 300 words environmental essay and two questions that can be chosen from math, physics, chemistry, biology and geoscience-time duration 2.5 hours) on the second day, five minutes presentation on research plan and undergraduate thesis on the third day, and the last day for interview and results!

So wish me luck people!

There are so many things I want to update, but I just don't have energy to write to tell you the truth. My life everyday is full of numbers and math formula cheat sheets, that utterly complete my lost of words. During my hiatus I have been to Kansai (Osaka region, which includes Kyoto, Hyogo, Kobe, Wakayama and the surrounding area), been to Universal Studios in Osaka, watched my first Kabuki performance in National Theatre in Hanzomon, Tokyo and many more things. My elaborate updates will only begin after the exam ended people, so just hang in there.

On another matter, I received an sms about Yasmin Ahmad passed away and was totally shocked. Thank God the rumor was not true, and apparently she stopped breathing after a stroke attack during her presentation in TV3 and now stabilizes to coma. My prayer for her, ya Allah. I really love the endless creative idea that comes from her movie and commercial.

My favourite Yasmin Ahmad movie is still Gubra. I remember I watched it four times in cinema (yes, I was that pathetic) and I still remember the ending part dearly.



Beautiful.

And from the same movie, comes my favourite line from Malaysian movie, the script when the people from different faith prays and that time you realize that no matter what God do you pray for, we all still pray for the happiness in life and forgiveness of all the sin we had done.

"Have mercy on me, oh God...
Maka ampunilah bagi kami segala dosa kami
According to your unfailing love
According to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions, wash away all my iniquity,
dan hapuskanlah dari kami segala kejahatan kami
and cleanse me from my sin
Wahai Tuhan kami,
berikanlah pada kami apa yang telah Engkau janjikan melalui Rasul Mu
dan janganlah hinakan kami pada Hari Kiamat
Sesungguhnya Engkau tidak menyalahi janji"

-Gubra, Yasmin Ahmad 2006 (the English lines come from Psalm 51, and the Malay part comes from Ali-Imran 192-194).

Life Consists of Cycle

Short rants, short rants...

I just could not figure out the right title to fill the empty space in the title field, so let it be. I am super busy with maths, Panasonic Summer Seminar (going for 8 hours bus ride to Kyoto tomorrow's night!) in Awaji Island in Hyogo prefecture, Tanabata Party in Kashiwanoha Future Village (I am sooo looking forward to 花火/hanabi/fireworks tonight, but the 梅雨/tsuyu/rainy season makes me worried)

It's already July and there will be only one month and few weeks left before the 入学試験/nyuugaku shiken/university entrance exam in August. Wish me all the best in the world people! I really have to pass this, so that I feel totally belong here!

...and to make all my other plan works out.

I saw Natsuo Kirino's new novel, In in Kinokuniya Nagareyama last few days and contemplating to buy it. It is in Japanese of course ;p. The Summer sale craze already started here, and I manage to do some quick bargain. Love my new silver snickers from Zara!

Away to Kansai region peeps! Will be back next Sunday, and the entrance exam mode will be switch on to full blast after that!

Later.

Rest in Peace, Michael Joseph Jackson 1958-2009

I woke up yesterday and did my usual routine, breakfast and coffee, reading news Utusan Malaysia, Yomiuri Shimbun and Reuters online. But before I managed to type the URL and press enter, Najib buzzed me through IM.

'Michael Jackson has gone'

I was numb as usual. No feeling. I know he is like the King of Pop and the most phenomenal thing this music industry can offer. But I just woke up from sleep and didn't have the mood to feel lost.

But, it would be a lie if I don't feel moved at all. Being 80's baby, I grew up listening to his songs. I agree I ain't really a die hard fan, but some of his songs somehow blends in me.

I personally love him back in The Jackson 5 days. The era where he is still young, naive kids who hasn't done any weird changes to his face yet. It reminds me much about my childhood years. Listening to 'I'll be There' brings a lot of glowing memories inside me.

It was very unfortunate for him to not able to make the comeback before he passed away. The bankruptcy issue and many other lawsuit against him did make me sad. And when he said he wants to embrace Islam and live in Middle East, I can feel the joy felt by his Muslim fan.

So long MJ. Rest in peace.

"Even though the pain and heartache
Seems to follow me wherever I go
Though I try and try to hide my feelings
They always seem to show
Then you try to say you're leaving me
And I always have to say no..."
-Never Can Say Goodbye, The Jackson 5, 1971.

The Sunao MInd

I had read 'The Art and Wisdom of Management: His Life and Management Philosophy' by Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of Panasonic and Matsushita Corporation. And it is not just my other normal reading, which I do just to fill my empty pastimes and to kill the time, this one is more like a homework. I need to submit a report, sort of a blurb and comment regarding the management style of Matsushita-san and a bit about the history of his life.

One of the Matsushita management style is 'Sunao' mind. Sunao, as described by Matsushita-san himself that there is no direct translation for the word in English, is actually the level of human mind where it becomes free, transparent and able to decide and think without any prejudice. The sunao mind, he said, is the main factor for Matsushita successful business and management style all this while. He claimed that by having sunao mind, it had give him the opportunity to decide the best decision for his company and business, no matter how hard the economic and political situation that affect the business.

I found Matsushita-san philosophy has many similarities with the Islamic philosophy of life. By having unbiased and no prejudice mentality and state of mind. By having the attitude that everyone has their own responsibilities to the society. And to know that everyone has their own limitation and thus, don't go overboard.

It saddened me to realize that some Muslim doesn't even practice this philosophy in their life, let alone in their business. It frightened me even more to realize that some Muslim do the total opposite things than one's should follow in Islamic way, but then claimed their wrong act to be Islamic. What a shame.

I was at first thought that this one will just end up as other normal assignments and normal report writings. Man, was I wrong. I finished the last page with new perspective of life, a fresh thoughts on my mission, and of course, seed of a sunao mind just started growing inside of me.

p/s-
1. On a more personal note, I'm still busy revising my math for the entrance exam this August. がんばれ，がんばれ，もっとがんばれ！
2. Done with Murakami Haruki's Kafka on The Shore. Awesome, my big applause. Really wanna read his latest 1Q84. Really.

I Come With The Rain

It is almost impossible for me to skip this. I am a big fan of Takuya Kimura, Josh Hartnett and Shawn Yue and all of them is in this movie. Finally something to anticipate to drag my lazy bones to Japan's cinema.