Dear Mrs. H Part II

I sent her SMS asking to read my blog. Then she replied to me:

Hi Zaki. Read your blog, and appreciate how you feel. Obviously nothing made sense to you and that's fine. Anyway, just to clarify I have no intention to force you into anything nor to change your mind as it's not going to benefit anyone. Can I send you my address to return the CDs? Don't know whether you managed to go through them as that would have clarified a few things as well. Anyway, it's OK if you mention the program or the business anywhere because it's operating in many countries legally and we are all operating legally with registered businesses so there is nothing to hide. Don't worry. And by the way, I did not get your number from a stranger but you advertised on a freelance website. Anyway, I apologize if you felt that way. Thanks anyway. -H.

Well, a lot of things there, but I'd like to comment on this particular thing: What's legal to the country doesn't necessarily mean it's legal to the syariah.

Let me list these down:

1. She didn't tell me earlier that it's actually **w** program. She just said there's going to be a special project and Powerpoint presentation.
2. When my wife asked her if it's an MLM program before the presentation started, she didn't admit but through our knowledge and research, it's MLM! Why didn't she say "Yes" in the first hand? Doesn't that mean she is hiding something?
3. Again, I'd like to stress that the type of business wasn't clear and we need to pay to go to the seminar without actually knowing what we are paying for. In fact, I was not told that I need to pay!
4. Through our conversation after the presentation, she gave us no way to say NO to her offer. A good business deal is to give the customer choice whether to take it or not. But, obviously, she gave us no way to reject her offer and that's what made us felt like being forced. It's our perspective that matters more since we are to be the payees. Fortunately, we've been through many experiences that have made us strong with our decision.

Lastly Mrs. H, you asked us to do research on the program, and this is our conclusion - we don't like your type of MLM.

Please take all these in an inoffensive way because we don't mean to offend you.

Thanks.

Article in Bernama and On Air Again

Career wise, currently, I'm not so busy although I thought I'll be busy this month with so much things. That's why I can allocate my time and energy for other things including my Szakif's Pie business, tuition class, and the freelance editing and translating services.

I have got my second translation job with the Institut Terjemahan Negara Malaysia (ITNM) and this time it's a creative writing. So, the challenge to translate the material is different from the first job I did, which was a physics book. Anyway, I'm done with the translation. It just needs a little more time on editing then I'll submit it to ITNM hoping that the book will be published for Malaysians' benefit.

Back to the topic, last week I did a translation job for a campaign and it was submitted to and published by Bernama. The original article was written by my officemate and it was about the Organ Donation Awareness Campaign. Yayasan Ilmuwan is one of the organisations involved in the campaign.

Other than that, for the sixth time (I think. Lost the counting already) I was on air in IKIM.fm and again it's about Organ Donation Awareness Campaign. It was the first time I went on air live!

I planned not to make it too ordinary where the speaker talks about the benefits of donating organ and so on so forth. But what I planned was to share with the listeners about the anatomy and physiology of the organs that can be donated so that they would appreciate their organs and would like to donate once they pass away.

However, there were some problems that caused me to be on air for about 12 minutes only rather than the scheduled 30 minutes. I thus had to talk fast and cut the points short than what I had in my script. That's the problem when it's a live show. Never mind. I hope to get a chance again to talk about it since I have prepared the materials properly.

A bit of my personal married life, after 5 months being a husband, I think I appreciate the weekends more since life is no more the same like when I was single where I basically didn't really appreciate the weekends as I do now. During the weekends I can spend the time with my family including my parents and my wife and do some other personal stuffs. During the weekdays, only Allah knows how tired I'll be when I reached home until I feel like I have sinned for not sparing a quality time with my wife. When it's weekend, it's time for my parents and that's why I say weekends are more meaningful for more now.

Freelance Translator

Recently, I did translation jobs for a few juniors of mine from IIUM Kuantan. They were asked to translate the abstract of their FYP thesis into Bahasa Melayu. For some students, especially those who are not competent in the national language of Malaysia, they found it difficult as the filed of the writing was in science and health fields that have specific terms when it comes to translating them into other language.

Being academically exposed in English for more of less 4 years degree study, that wasn't something they expected to do in their final year (during my time we did not have to translate anything for the project). Alhamdulillah, they came to me through Facebook and e-mail to transfer the burden.

One of the translation jobs was related to acne. It was interesting to do the translation for that particular one because the main word was acne, which I translated into akne, instead of jerawat.

As expected, the student asked me why I did so.

This is where the advantage of dealing with the freelance translator comes - you can ask directly to the translator if you do not understand or have some questions to ask to the translator. Most importantly, the translator can answer considerably in immediate manner.

As in my case, the student contacted me through the Facebook and asked the question. Since I subscribe notifications through my mobile phone, I could answer to her immediately. She understood what I explained to her and she was, as far as I concerned, satisfied with the quality of my job.

In other case, since I also provide editing service, I had no choice but to edit some of the abstracts. There was one case where I failed to translate a sentence in the abstract because it was nowhere to meet my understanding. To deal with that, I highlighted that particular sentence and then asked the student to rewrite the sentence and I provided few possible options for the translation.

All of the above cases are in the case of translating from English to Bahasa Melayu.

I also got a translation job from Bahasa Melayu to English! More interestingly, the area of the content in the writing was in Literature. Since it was different from my academic background, I took the job as a challenge. I did some research before I did the translation. In fact, that's a crucial need for translators - we have to do research to translate. We do not simply translate without actually trying to get more understanding about what is being translated. Alhamdulillah, the client accepted my translation.

I think after the experience in finishing the translation jobs, I am in the right direction that suits my personal interest.

And now I have found my new love - translating!

(Don't worry my soon-to-be-wife fiancée. She's not that beautiful like you! :P)

Translation and Editing Services

Since working with Yayasan Ilmuwan, I've been exposed with how publication of books is done. One of the stages in publication is editing.

So far, with the help by my officemate, I have edited 2 theses to be transformed into academic book. The first one was not so much related to my biomedical science background, while the second one was much more related to the field. The great thing is, when I have manuscript to be edited that is not related to my academic background, I learnt new things, while when I have to edit manuscript that is more or less related to science, that is exactly the time to refresh everything.

Not only that, my academic exposure was in English language whereas my career now deals a lot with Bahasa Melayu. But thanks to Intensive Translation Course that I attended last December (a week before I flew to UK) from which I learnt a lot of new things in translation. Alhamdulillah, I scored 82% in the examination of the course, which boosted me to do translation more seriously.

Currently, I am attending Editing Workshop subsequent to the earlier course. Out of 4 days of the workshop, I have attended 2 days, and yet another 2 days to go on this coming Friday and Saturday. For your information, both courses/workshops are conducted at Institut Terjemahan Negara Malaysia (ITNM) of Wangsa Maju, not far from Yayasan Ilmuwan.

To quote from the speaker in the workshop, she said that,

"You come here (to the workshop) is not just to learn to be a good editor, but (also) to learn what it takes to be an editor!"

After completing the workshop, I am looking forward to promoting my services. In fact, I have already started the promotion through Facebook and I've got few replies saying that they are interested to use my services.

For readers who are interested to use my services, you may contact me through Facebook or my email az_zakingompol@yahoo.com. Insya Allah I will provide the best translation and editing with affordable prices.

KOS Starz - View from the Jury's Seat

Although I was just sitting with other judges observing their performances, it was indescribably tiring.

Here are some general comments about the event:

1. Bringing lyrics in singing competition is highly not recommended. That shows you are not really prepared for your performance. Worse, you bring lyrics but you still forget the lyrics. Duh~
2. No discussion or talking with other members in the group during performance. That would deduct the mark as it shows your performance is not well planned.
3. If you cannot sing, that means you cannot sing. Don't humiliate yourselves in front of the people with your bad singing. Ok, I mean really bad singing. Enough said.
4. Know your limit. Not all people have the pitch as high as Shah from Inteam. So if you cannot reach his pitch, pick other song.
   
5. No jeans in nasyid competition people. A big NO.
6. Making jokes during your performance might help, or might not help. But I see in most of the time especially for nasyid competition in which they sing songs that praise the God and the Prophet for example, it is not necessary. Save that for other time. Be professional.
7. Do not interpret your nervousness into something that is annoying. Just behave and sing naturally. Look at the audience in front of you. Jangan pandang bawah je dik oi!
   

Some interesting facts about KOS Starz last night:

1. Most of the songs that they sang were familiar to my ears especially Inteam's songs. That helped a lot for me to enjoy their performance besides the fact that most of them couldn't carry the songs well.
2. The acting by the SCIENCESS Exco members was worth a standing ovation but not just yet when they said to be continued. Alaaaa.... Potong a~! Dah best kot!
3. MC, dia. First performance, dia gak. Second performance, dia lagi.
   
4. I got a souvenir. Hehe... Interesting, for me at least. :P

KOS Starz - Advice from a Head of Juries

Yes, I am the head for the juries for tonight's KOS Starz.

Basically, I don't expect too much from the contestants. I don't expect perfection as this is not a singing academy or what not and the contestants are not professional singers. As long as they can perform well with at least an impact to the audience after the performance, that is more than enough.

However, these are the things that they must observe:

1. Perform professionally. Whatever happens on the stage during their performance, they must have full control of themselves and the ambience in the auditorium right at the time their name is called and once they leave the stage.
2. They have to portray a performance which is in accordance to the lyrics that they are singing.
3. Self-confidence!

That's basically it. Easy right? But it's surely not as easy. Let see how they perform tonight.

Szakif is a Jury for KOS Starz

KOS Starz is a nasyid competition organized by SCIENCESS in conjunction with the Islamic Culture Festival (ICF) during past few days which I enjoyed so much. I was invited to be the jury for the competition, as in American Idol. You know what I mean? I have to give comments and critics right after each performance! That's a huge job to do!

I'll write what I expect from the contestants after Jumaat prayer. Till then, students and all from IIUM Kuantan Campus are invited to come to the event. 8pm at KOS Main Auditorium today (Friday). See you!

Am I Really a Fourth Year Student?

Keting keting keting... (SMS ringtone)

Salam Bro Zaki. Saya syarifah. Nak minta tolong bro jadi **** dalam Islamic Fest march depan. Leh tak?

I replied the SMS.

Keteng keteng keteng again...

Zaki, ko jadik moderator untuk forum biomed nanti eh? Please...

I replied the SMS.

Keteng keteng keteng, again and again....

Too roo toot... *battery kong*

Vodafone E172 USB Modem

Now I'm doing a business selling USB Modem as I am the dealer for Kuantan area.

I've given out the handbills and posters around IIUM Kuantan Campus. One most popular question asked is: how much need to pay monthly?

To answer that question, it's simple. It's like you're first time using the mobile phone. You buy the mobile phone and the simcard. I only sell the mobile phone, not the simcard. You need to go to, for example, Celcom Center (next to Kamdar in Kuantan city) for registration and getting the simcard. For IIUM Kuantan Campus, I recommend people to use Celcom Broadband with package RM68/month which is most suitable for university students.

Next, I recommend people to buy the latest version of Vodafone USB Modem which is E172 (read review) with the price RM490 only. Yesterday I went to Celcom Center and they sell it for RM599! That's a huge price difference!

Other models that are available are as follow:

Vodafone E270 – RM405
Vodafone E272 – RM425
Vodafone K3520 – RM450
Option Icon 225 – RM430
Huawei E220 – RM400
Huawei E160 – RM410
O2 MC930D – RM470

Those who are interested may contact me to the number 013-9991703 or 012-3106189.

Scenes in a Coffee House

Scene 1

My mum owns a coffee house.

Owh, there’s a customer just came in. As a temporary worker in the coffee house during the break, I took my responsibility to take the order.

Minum bang?

No answer. Maybe he needs me to repeat.

Minum apa ye bang?

Teh ais!

Owh, I thought you’re deaf or mute? Heh.

Owh teh ais. Siap!
Mbak! Teh ais satu!

Then, the Indonesian worker laughed. Why? Is anything wrong? What’s so funny?

I went approaching her.

Kenape ketawa, mbak? Saya orderkan untuk orang tu la.

Iya. Tapi ya orang itu ngak betul! Orang gila! Selalu aja dia duduk situ.


Scene 2

My fingers are skillful to make curry puff (read: karipap).

Like the other days, it was my duty to prepare it. Suddenly, a customer came to me.

Wah! Pandainya anak bujang ni buat karipap. Tengok tu, cantik! Kalah anak dara buat. Kalau macam ni tukar nama la. Zakiah.

Adoi... Not another STBB, is it?


Scene 3

There were 4 men around the table. They were like everybody else; talk, smoke, eat a little bit, drink and that’s basically the rotation.

But, I noticed something, something really wrong but only experienced people would know.

Mak, yang empat orang tu, mat pit kan?

A’ah.

Related entry: Fenomena Orang Gila di Kedai Mak Aku

Mari Berdoa II

Welcome to the next stage!

I pray to Allah for the thieves to be punished not only in the hereafter but here in this temporary world. Gagaga...

I pray also for me to get the best result for Drug Abuse paper. Amin~

Related entry: Mari Berdoa

For This Last Paper

For this last paper,
for what it takes to excel,
for what it would result,
I'm off...

The Pressure is On

Rupa-rupanya minggu ni aku exam final eh?


Awi, tolong pegangkan modem ni. Nanti aku tak study kalo mende ni ade kat aku.
Ko kalau nak guna internet, cucuk je kat USB port. Nanti dia automatically install.

Not long after that...

Wi, nak guna komputer ko jab.

Mari Berdoa

This is the third notice pasted after the second one.

May Allah guide them...

Update:

I pasted the notice at two stations of the bun sale. Few hours after that, when I came back to collect the money, they were not there anymore.

One was unpasted without any trace of where it had gone.

Another one was replaced by another notice, which to me was hilarious. Haha~


I salute the effort executed by the doer. One: for writing down the notice. Two: for pasting the new notice onto the old one. Three: for making the notice sounded more catchy but harsher.

Fail exam tak tentu lagi mati, tapi kalau kena langgar bas boleh mati beb!

Should I Temporarily Close This Blog?

The exam period is just around the corner, so academic first right?

Or maybe shouldn't I?

About the picture: I have an extra-muscular abdomen left upper lip. Don't try this at home.

Jom pi Beijing!

With only RM2669, you can make it to Beijing! Yey! It covers everything you need to travel but unfortunately we cannot afford to include shopping fee. Huhu...

Name it: Visa, Accommodation, Visits, Transportation and of course two-way Flight. Mind you, it's Malaysia Airline System (MAS)!

Most importantly, it's a Muslim Tour package, so you don't have to worry about the foods and the prays.

Contact me Zaki 013 9991703 for further information.

Biskut Raya Intan's Oven

Pernah tak korang beli biskut di gerai Famous Amos? Tak tahu? Klik sini.

Bagi yang pernah beli tu, mesti korang tahu betapa sedapnya biskut diorang kan? Tapi mahal. Maklum la, produk daripada luar negara kan~

Jadi, korang ada pilihan lain untuk mendapatkan biskut dengan kualiti dan rasa yang sama tetapi buatan tempatan. Semuanya boleh didapatkan di Intan's Oven, perniagaan milik penuh bumiputera yang menghasilkan pelbagai jenis kek, biskut dan sebagainya.

Sempena Syawal yang akan menjelang, apa kata kalau korang serikan meja tetamu di rumah dengan biskut-biskut cip coklat yang lazat. Serius, sedap. Aku tak jual produk-produk picisan, tapi biskut raya yang ini pastinya membuat tetamu di rumah korang teringat nak beraya kat rumah korang sampai 5-6 kali pasal kat rumah korang ada biskut Intan's Oven nih. Huhu...

Bukan tu je, murah tau. Cuma RM16 untuk 250gm. Lebih kurang dalam 50 keping biskut la. Ada 5 pilihan rasa (rujuk gambar, mengikut arah jam):

• Oat
• Classics
• Double (Coklat)
• Nutless classics
• Nutless double (Coklat)
  

Siapa-siapa nak tempah, sila hubungi 013999****. Terbuka kepada pelajar-pelajar, pensyarah-pensyarah dan kakitangan UIA sahaja buat masa ni. :-)

I-QUEST 2008 - The End

Aku puas.
Aku gembira.
Aku suka.

KAMI BERJAYA!!!

Additional pictures and thoughts:

With HM Tuah. I love his unique signature which looks like a bird. Apart from that, although the programme named Special Session with HM Tuah was a successful one, but I think it was not as successful as I hope because the initial idea for inviting a speaker and conducting a special slot with an attracting personnel or celebrity was to attract people from outside i.e. with Sheikh Muszaphar, the national astronaut. But since he couldn't make it, so the one to substitute him was HM Tuah, which apparently could not attract that much people as wished. However, it was good enough to call students from outside to come to the event. Ok la tu~ Nabil, nak proceed ke dengan idea jahat ko tu (pasal SMS? :P)

Ok. Let's guess. The guy in the middle, is it Bad or Puden? Clue: see the other guys.
By the way, this is in front of the stalls under this tiny guy's supervision. He was the Head Committee for that division. I could see he worked so hard, especially during the last night. His face looked obviously tired. However, congratulations Si Kurus for making your job successful. Take note that his division was the last to finish.

A performance by the International Students. The idea to feature tomoi show was great since it was never being done in this campus. It was something freshly new to the students. And the idea to let the international students to speak in their mother tongue was also great!

The Remote Control Show was under this guy-with-distended-stomach's supervision. It was out of my expectation in the sense that it was not really successful to attract crowd. But this is not to blame you Jaed. You were successful in managing the programme. Don't worry. Let's think of something else that would attract the crowd from outside for next year's I-QUEST. Pertandingan Ratu Cantik maybe? :))

Sometimes ad hoc ideas work better than the planned ones. The idea to do a Coloring Contest was great that it filled the live stage with something that children love. Memang hidup la stage tuh! I think, for next I-QUEST, this contest must be considered to be done. Sometimes, parents go to festivals not really for their own good only, but for their children's also. This is what TV3's Jom Heboh has successfully done. They have varieties of activities and events for all stage of age.

During Akil Hayy's show. The good thing about his performance was that, he was not only singing, but also giving tazkirah and reminders, and not only in his singing. Unlike other nasyid singers and groups who only entertain the audience, Akil Hayy was one of a kind in his way of spreading da'wah.

Eheh.. this is the good thing when you become the mainboard member of a programme. You can spend some time with the VIP after the programme. I don't talk about the meeting, but the eating. Hehe...

The futsal game. Erm... No comment la, but I wonder: I think I want to learn how to play this game la. Interesting! Maklum la, aku kaki bangku. :P

To summarize, the I-QUEST 2008 has put a higher benchmark for next year's as this year we've made it better than the previous. In my opinion, for SRC Kuantan Chapter, I-QUEST is something to look forward to just right after they are endorsed since this is the biggest event for this campus which is organized by the council.

The question is: Who'll be our representatives in the next tenure of the Student's Representative Council?

This is Crazy!

This weekend must be a weekend for me. Give me time to get enough sleep. Let me go to the spa. Let me go for a massage. Never mind the price. I just want some time to treat my body and mind. It has been used aggressively last week, this week and of course next week because of I-QUEST 2008.

BUT NOT YET ZAKI!

Trrrooooot tttroooooottt....

Hello Zaki. Nak minta tolong jadi MC. Program Hajj Course. Tolong la.. dah takde orang lagi da ni. Program Sabtu ni, pagi sampai tengah hari je. Pastu petang dah takde pape dah...

Erm... Ok la...

Saturday morning filled with activity. Fine~ In the afternoon, I'd go somewhere, far from any programme...

BUT NOT YET ZAKI!

Trrrooooot tttroooooottt.... *mind you. It was almost 12 am already.

Hello Abang Zaki. Nak minta tolong jadi moderator. Program Konvensyen Bahasa. Ala... bila lagi nak jadi moderator kan.. Da fourth year ni. Tak lama lagi nak grad dah. Please...

Duh... Ok then. As long as I got a certificate. Huhu...

Hm... Fine~ I still got tomorrow, Sunday! May be I'll do some cooking.

Popia?
Pizza?
Fried Vemichelli?
Spaghetti?

Anyone?

Academic is Number One

"Ko ni bagus. Banyak dak fourth year yang aku tanye, sume kate busy." Amin said

Eh? I thought I have been propagating that I am busy here and there? Well, I got a lot of works to do, but they are still within my range of capability of management. In other way of explaining it, I still can manage them and make things done la...

Let me list them all:

• Full time IIUM student (of course)
• Secretary of I-QUEST 2008 (in my no. 2 priority for the time being)
• Secretary of SCIENCESS
• Member of Research and Education (R&D) of WacKOS
• Call for being MC for programmes (I am sick sucks at being MC but still people call me to be MC. Hm… Ni sume salah Master J. :p)
• Some other small jobs that doesn’t need my urgent attention but need my actions.

But one thing for sure, blog must be updated. Hehe...

And another thing for sure, I will reject jobs and tasks that would disturb my academic matters. For example, if I got lab report to finish, anything that would cause me to delay the preparation and submission of it, I would say thanks but bye-bye, huhu... But still I’ll be considerable to entertain other things by finishing the academic matters as soon as I could. This is where time management is highly crucial.

Don’t talk about sleep with me. When I sleep, don’t ever attempt to disturb. Nak kena pelangkung? :p Like this morning, I woke up with 3 missed calls and 3 messages in my phone inbox (not so exaggerated right?). Once I replied them, more and more came through the SMS.

My biology clock is currently completely unorganized. But considering the benefits that I will get from the sacrifices, I don’t really mind.

Computer game? Movie? Ape tu?
Exercise? Gimnasium? Jogging? Ape semua tu?
Megamall? East Coast Mall? Ape mende alah tu?
Makan? Ha... itu aku tahu.