2008..... 2009.....

Today is December 24, 2008. Just seven more days to go for 2009 to come. It really shows how time flies really-really fast. And still I am not sure what I have done in 2008. Hmmmm……

But I think I am pretty sure that there are a lot of things happened to me this year. Seriously I say, A LOT!! Sampai satu tahap penin kepala aku….

Study & Academic Matters

Study oklah. Not that bad. Finished my courseworks last April. My current cgpa pun oklah. Slightly better than my undergraduate. Harap-harap my thesis nanti dapat naikkan sikit my cgpa so that I can achieve my target (“,). Alhamdulillah. I feel thankful to Allah for that. And I feel grateful to Him too cause I am done with my data collection process at Kampung Baru and Kuala Lumpur City Hall. Honestly it was so tiring during that time. I have to run here and there to meet the relevant officers from both institutions in order for me to gather sufficient information for my dissertation. Otherwise susah lah.

Tapi faham-faham lah with our government’s agencies nie – so damn busy!! Sometimes I got fed up with these people. Every time asyik meeting ajer. Perubahannya tak nampak apa pun sangat. So what I did to low down my anger was just reminding myself that these are the things that I have to face since I am doing qualitative fieldwork study. Otherwise if I want to make things easy, I just can do quantitative study. Prepare the survey questionnaire, distribute it to the expected respondents, analyse the data from the questionnaire, applying statistical tests for the purpose of testing the hypothesis, writing up the dissertation and finally the end. Senang kan? But it will not serve my purpose because anthropological study is most of the time a qualitative one. If we want to look back at its history, Malinowski, Radcliffe-Brown, Evans-Pritchard, Leach, Mitchell, Bruner, Geertz, Sodoski, and many other prominent anthropologists, either cultural or social anthropologists, were qualitative researchers, or in our own terms ethnographers. They spent years in the field, staying and living together with the informants, speak in their native languages, eat their traditional foods, just only to serve one purpose that is to collect an accurate, or almost accurate, data. So if I want to become like them, I have to face benda-benda yang macam nie. And frankly speaking it is worth doing it, especially when I conducted my participant observation in Kampung Baru. Goshh… Masa tue barulah aku betul-betul faham kenapa diaorang giler babi defend tanah Kampung Baru tue. It is their life, their blood, their pride, their dignity. You can take whatever they have, their money, their clothes, their food, even their offspring, but not their land. Like many of them said “langkah mayat aku dulu!!!” So currently busy finalizing my dissertation and I hope I can settle everything by next year, I mean next month ler ;p

I am also a bit busy at the moment writing my paper in which I am going to present it next year, insya Allah. Where? Hehehehehehe… Ader ler. Somewhere on earth. But for sure it is an international conference. And I feel extremely obliged to my supervisor, dengan izin, Professor Dr. Mohamed Aris Haji Othman, for his endless advice and support. Or else I am not able to finish my data collection process, still terhegeh-hegeh cari topic for my dissertation and many more lah. Frankly, he is more than a supervisor to me – he is like my own father!!! I do thank Allah for knowing him in my life.

Friends

Last August, one of my bestest friends, brothers, budaksetan, Ken, got married with his lovely couple, Evelyn – congratz!! Now Eve dah pregnant dah pun – double congratz!! So who’s next in the line?? Hehehehehehe… Vincent?? Or Simon?? Or Alyssa?? Well someone is tremendously excited now to convert to Islam kan. I think he will be the next one kot. Hehehehehehe… Certainly it is not me lah kan. Don’t get me wrong. It is not that I don’t want to get married; it is merely because I still have unsettled things to do. Insya Allah, the time will come. Yarlah kan. Ader orang tue asyik duk kenakan aku ajer ;p

Tapi kawan tak semestinya dalam keadaan baik ajer kan. Ada pasang surutnya. How I wish I can freeze the time and let the friendship remains as it is. Regrettably I cannot. There are friends who used to say “hey I am here for you and I really mean it.” But in the end….. Don’t even bother to ask “how you doing” after the things happened. As if it does not affect me at all. It does affect me, emotionally. Well that is life for you…..

I still have a tough moment to convince my pet sister to resume our Singapore’s plan. Sincerely I do want to accompany her. Ya lar. She never been to Singapore. So just bring her jalan-jalan maa. Maybe it is a matter of time. And then next time we can plan for another trip. Hmmm… How about Hong Kong? ;p [Nanti mesti ader orang komen aku – gigih!!!].

Well that’s what I had in 2008. I hope things will be much better in 2009, insya Allah. Owhh yar… One thing for sure, I have to make sure that I join Malaysian Aids Council as their volunteer in 2009. That’s my dream… To mingle with the “pencucuk jarum professional” (“,).