12 days to SPM.. and counting.

Bloody hell. The first words that come into my mind.

That 12 days leave me with less than 1 day to revise 11 subjects. What shall I do? The sky is falling! Doomsday! Doom upon us! Pigs can fly! I saw one with pink tutu whizzed past! Right. As if I'll drop dead on the floor and panic. Me? The great One whose face appeared in Borneo Post today (hell yeah) drop dead and panic because of SPM? You wish, bloody hell it'll happen. I've got a dream and nothing alive nor dead will take it away. JPA / Bank Negara Scholarship, here I come.

*laughs shrilly*

Anyway, life has returned to normal (finally). I learnt something new after that whole ordeal ( let's not go back there shall we? )

1. I get controlled by emotions.
2. When I do, nothing seems to matter.
3. It sucks, actually.
4. I think it has a lot to do with star signs.
5. Now I'm free from all the silly 'life' and emotional problems.
6. No more, no thank you.
7. Not for a long while.
8. I won't get controlled by emotions anymore. My biggest weakness.
9. Now I focus on studies. Hooray!
10. Okay, this is getting lame.

I learnt to be more matured. I look up to those people who can study even though there's a battle around them with grenades and hot bullets whizzing past. I admire Sam Sii. She's got this amazing brain, ya know? I lost to her by 2 marks in the recent trial exam. Oh and I got third. Reclaimed my territory.

*evil laugh*

I learnt not to let emotions control me. Looking back, it was so stupid. I actually relish my new found freedom from it all. Silly me. Fine, anybody out there who reads this can say " HAH! I told you " right in my face. I admit it.

What a waste of 2 years.

Right, let's not dwell on the past. George Santayana puts it - " Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it ". I'll remember this.

It's time to reaffirm my goals. Let's see.

1. Get a kick-ass result in SPM.
2. Get scholarship or whatever.
3. Get good grades and be the genius in varsity. Whatever it takes.
4. Go out, get a job, get a life, earn. Seriously print money.
5. Start a company and be a millionaire. Heck, no, billionaire. Build an empire, bring glory and create legacy for my family.

Or, I could replace number 4 and 5 with this:

4. Learn everything I could about medicine and human anatomy.
5. Be a great surgeon, save lives, go to Heaven. Period.

Oh dilemma.. I blame Grey's Anatomy for even suggesting to my conscience that maybe, just MAYBE, I have this innate passion for Biology. AND I have cold hands. AND I enjoy cutting things open.

Who knows? Dilemma. Let time tell and God decide.

I love this show.

Soyuz docks with space station

MOSCOW: “I feel good” – those were the first words from Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor in Russian to those back on Earth a few minutes after he entered the International Space Station (ISS).

Malaysia's first Angkasawan entered the ISS at 12.33am Malaysian time after the Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft, which brought him into space successfully, docked exactly an hour and 43 minutes earlier.

Connected: Docked to the ISS is the Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft (left) in this image from Nasa TV yesterday. Docked alongside the Soyuz TMA-11 is Progress resupply ship (right). — Reuters

The spacecraft has been orbiting for almost 47 hours after lifting off from Baikonur, Kazakhstan at 9.22pm Malaysian time on Wednesday.

Dr Sheikh Muszaphar was the second of the three in the spacecraft to enter the ISS, after the Expedition 16 commander, American Peggy Whitson.

Russian flight engineer Yuri Malechencko was the last person to emerge from the hatch between spacecraft capsule and the ISS.

The three were joined by the crew from the ISS – Feodor Yuchikin (commander and engineer), Oleg Kotov (medical doctor) and American Clay Anderson (mission specialist) – for the customary group photograph and conference with the Mission Control Centre here.

Dr Sheikh Muszaphar was the second to speak, after Malechencko.

He took a question from Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis, who was also at the Mission Control Centre.

Dr Jamaluddin started off by wishing him and asking how it felt to put the map of Malaysia in space and Dr Sheikh Muszaphar replied:

“Walaikumsalam. I am having a very good time with my friends from America and Russia up here. My love to all Malaysians out there.”

Dr Sheikh Muszaphar's father Datuk Sheikh Mustapha Shukor was then given the microphone and he said in Russian, “This is your pa talking. I love you very much. Your brother and mother are here.”

His son replied: “I love you. I hope to see you in 10 days' time. I hope to share my experience with you and all Malaysians.”

Sheikh Mustapha had followed his son and started learning Russian after his son was picked as one of two Angkasawan candidates.

When both father and son conversed in Russian, they received a round of applause from everyone at the Mission Control Centre and also those aboard the ISS.

Dr Sheikh Muszaphar then wished his parents and all Malaysians “Selamat Hari Raya.”

The docking of the spacecraft was jointly monitored by Nasa in Houston and the Mission Control Centre.

Space talk

Trial exam is finally over. Most of the papers are given back already. I must say that my result this time is better off than the last one. Two A2's though, so it was a bit flawed. Gotta do better. Oh, and my essay got really high marks. Maybe I should type it out. Why? Well 1. because I can, and 2. because I'm vain enough to show off. Yeah, whatever. XP

What happened lately in my life? Nothing much. Come to think of it, time flies just like that. People come and go in your life. My classmates are busy writing autographs and compiling pieces of colourful papers to be made into a diary (or autograph. or memo. or whatever.) I don't want to make those. It drives home the point and confirms as if you'll never see each other again. Pfft. After form 5, there'll still be chances and friends could always reunite. Hypothetically. It's not like you won't get to see each other again, right? The Internet is the one single most useful thing ever invented. So, yeah, whether you're in Barbados or Timbuktoo, you're literally just minutes away from catching up with each other. So why all the tedious tasks of compiling a book that only serves to remind all the good times, yet leaving an empty gaping hole in your heart? Might as well NOT do it and have this mindset that friends are always gonna see each other again. Heh. Again, hypothetically, that might work. But who knows?

Speaking of which, on October 10th, Malaysia saw her first astronaut lifted into space. Cosmonaut, if you like it. Astronaut for the US, cosmonaut for the Russians, taikonaut for the Chinese (pun intended) and what do we have? Can-or-not. (pun intended very heavily) I understand the criticisms all around for this space mission. I support the Government's good intentions of starting a wave of revolution in science and innovation by sparking the students' interest in technology, like what the US did in the 1960's during the Cold War space race. Yet, we have to put this into our Malaysian context. The US succeeded in sparking a massive revolution in the way their people think and now they're the world's most powerful country. I'm not so sure about Malaysians. Personally, I think it'd be another hot hot chicken shit (BM proverb) project and after 5 years, people would forget all about it. Judging from the way the, err, MALAYsian government runs things, I wouldn't be surprised if after 5 years, nothing, absolutely nothing has come off the supposed 'innovation' and 'spark' in our science field.

Why? We do not have the political will to do so. The Americans succeed because they walk the talk. Singaporeans still survive until now because they're uber-kiasu, which worked. But our ever relaxed government does not have the iron will to use anything possible to knock some sense into the, erm, bumiputera races to stand up and work hard. They expect everything from the country, then start accusing other races of robbing them off wealth that's supposed to belong to them. There are two types of Malay - the proto-Malay and the... whatever you call them Malay. The proto-Malay are the new generation group that lives in cities and urban places and work hard to face the reality that nothing comes free in this life. I respect those kind, and luckily most of the nation's government-linked companies have these type of Malays running them. St Theresa and St Joseph have lots of these type. The other type? Those super-hypocrite, downright lazy and ultra conservative group. These are the ones that stoke racial sentiments by saying unjust things and spread lies. Kelantan is ruled by these people and just see where that got them. 30% of Malaysia's hardcore poor live in that state. Hah! Rub salt in your wounds.

Anyway, just as a sidenote, I'm not racist. I say things as they are. I love my country and so I weep when I see the way it's run. People call for greater harmony and truthfully, nothing is done to ensure racial harmony.

Okay, back to the rocket launch. I watched it live. It was fantastic. I had tuition before the launch so I got back just in time to watch it. It was like, turn on TV and " T-minus one minute " with the screen showing a big bad rocket waiting to spew out few hundred tonnes of force. And then, the moment came. I read the newspaper article and the whole nation came to a standstill as everyone, EVERYONE ran to the nearest TV in coffee shops, the traffic stopped and people stopped walking when the rocket started. The bottom part flamed up, dust was everywhere and with a great firestorm, it inched slowly upwards. Then it sped. Then up. Up, up, up, up, UP, UP and UPPPPP it goes. It cruised SMOOTHLY and flawlessly upwards, and watching it live was.. awesome. Whole nation clapped. I cheered.

The rocket in all its glory

With all due respect, I'm still a Malaysian in essence. So this is a special entry with respect to the first cosmonaut of the country, Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor. May God bless him have a safe trip home.