It Ended Well (",)

Waking up with a tummy ache and a tapette feeling is not an ideal way to begin a whole new day. Yet, that was my experience this morning.

I thought it was just nervousness. I almost blamed it to the effect of a teaspoon of nigella sativa (habbatussauda') that I consumed before going to bed last night. When I arrived at the HS canteen at 7am, my face was in its whole sourness and bitterness being. The pain was unbearable. I just ate a small plate of meehoon (+- 5 spoons) and drank my mineral water. Wow! It truly felt bad. I thought to myself, I've never felt this way before, it should be just like any ordinary presentations that I had delivered. Before reaching the class, I decided to weigh whether it was out of nervousness or just a biological reaction. Yup! A wise decision. Ultimately, it was that disastrous toxic gasses. I flushed them out well. Yup! I was totally ready to deliver my piece of thought.

My presentation on "Knowledge and Islamization" went well, I guess. I was terribly nervous with cold hands and cold feet. Why? Just because of Kak Tim's and Angah's existence in the class. I always feel a bit inferior when doing a public speaking activity infront of Kak Tim. Now, Angah added to the nervousness because it was the first time I presented in English infront of my own blood and flesh sister... huhuhuu...

I was given 30 minutes but the whole event (plus the Q&A session) took almost one and a half hour. Was that a good sign or not? My audience were attentive and I didn't get any 'killer' questions from the floor. Relief. I was confused myself. Did they really understand my thoughts on the topic. At the end of the class, after Prof added his points and comments, my classmates told Kak Tim (my co-presenter who answered most of the questions) that they really had understood my piece. The ideas were clear and they even asked for the softcopy of my powerpoint notes. I smiled. Alhamdulillah. The topic was not an easy one as I compared the difference between Western vs. Islamic epistemology and also explained the concept of Islamization of knowledge as proposed my Prof. Al-Attas. The ideas were quite complex for me to simplify as they dealt with the right choice of words and also the metaphysics aspects. I am truly grateful that my Arab classmates were able to follow the progression of my discussion. I hope I have done justice.

After completing my resposibility as the presenter of the day, Kak Tim, Angah and I went for Kyros Kebab. Terribly hungry [read: my tummy ache had finally disappeared!], I ate one huge lamb kebab wrap plus cucumber lime ice blended. Sinful. If only my traditional doctor (not the future-going-to-be-doctor one) knew about this. By the way, he smsed me to get the day's sugar reading. Yet, I didn't reply. Not because I wanted to dampen his curiousity but my Maxis line was eventually being put into coma for awhile. Yelp! Yelp! Anybody out there is kind enough to donate to this poor student and give life to her communication line?

Anyway, after lunch (on Angah... hehehe), we went to the bank for me to "pau" Angah. She gave me RM50 and treated me with a flask-full of Kopie Satu Calipso. Another sin. Muah muah... sayang Angah (",) May Allah give her good health and a balanced state of hormones to finishing her dissertation on a comparative study between Al-'Arabi's and Hamzah Fansuri's poems. We loitered at the members' counter and got to know that there would be a demonstration in front of the bank. Wahhh... it was very exciting indeed. The martial arts demo went well and they got a good number of audience including a group of golden age Japanese visitors who were collecting signatures to go against wars and also some foreign students. It was a merry event and Adil was a good spokesman. Promoting something that is dearly related to our culture and heart is a noble act indeed. Well done demo squad and the rest (including the cake sellers too)! Oh, by the way, Kak Tim was also teruja as this was the first time she witnessed the martial arts that her daughter joined and yet to complete the syllabus.

After gallavanting at the central and meeting Arif with his "friend", we went back to the mothership for me to wait for my 3.30 class at the RC and for Angah to go back home and enjoy her sustenance, the supply of sour young mangoes. Personally, I think that 6610 is mostly repetition of what we have learnt before in 6620 and 6640. Only this time when being tested by Pak Aziz, I would be dumbfounded most of the time. I am experiencing memory failure. This really worries me. Oh ya! I submitted my assignment! Alas!

Adila fetched me at 7pm. Traffic jam infront of her school gate she said. It was due to the pasar malam nearby her school. Hmmm... Luckily I was entertained and amused by the image of a green+yellow coloured car that belongs to one of the lecturers. A cute car owned by a cute lecturer... hahaha...

Now, here I am, at home, getting terribly angry at the stu*** ADSL. Broadband is not that reliable in this area as I reside on a hilly place. I was thinking of getting some extra materials for my students.

Owh dear, I guess let me just retire to bed. I have indeed had an extraordinary academic venture today. Alhamdulillah. My days of being tapet the whole last weekend had paid off.

May tomorrow be another adventurous day!