Free Agent

After a semester of absence, Sukad is now back. Sukan Antara Desasiswa. They are going to cramp all the four phases in just one semester, because they postpones phase 1 and 2 which were supposed to be held last semester. I'm not sure why they postponed it, but I think it has something to do with many sports officers being involved with sukipt last sem. Nonetheless I'm pretty excited with the upcoming phase 1 which will be held in Kampus Induk, as the sacramental sport, football will be contested. I also have one eye on the latter phase 4, where futsal is being contested.

Nama pun sukan antara desasiswa, so every participation are in the form of desas. Including desa-desa dari kampus kejut dan kampus kesih. Every desa is hunting for glory, and as for the individual participants, this is their chance to gain as many mycsd points as possible. Well, of course on paper you have to be affiliated to a desa to play for them, but in the spirit of sportsmanship, you can play for any desas, so long as there are mutual interest in both parties. Desa tu nak hang, and ang hang pun nak main untuk desa tu. For instance, if you stay in Bakti Permai, you can play futsal for Restu if you want to.

As for me, I'm pretty much a free agent. I'm technically a PETAS (pelajar tanpa asrama), and I should've played for petas this coming sukad. However, I've never even once represented them. Last year, I played futsal for Tekun, and this upcoming football tournament, Im playing for Indah Kembara. Being a free agent is convenient for me. Orang ni panggil, aku pegi. Orang tu panggil pun aku pegi. Yeah call me a lalang, but my affiliation and commitment is towards the sports itself, not the team that plays it. People wonder, how I can play futsal three or four nights per week, but it's nothing short of ordinary to me, as I have a few mutually exclusive active groups of futsal friends.

Being as it is, I have never considered myself indispensable in any team that I played with. Kata la team A panggil aku untuk main tournament A. Tapi kemudian team A tak panggil aku untuk main tournament B, aku sikit pun tak kecik hati. At my age, playing competitively is not my primary concern anymore. To me, it's all about making friends and networking. Dan Alhamdulillah, ada ja orang nanti ajak main tiap minggu. But I do hope that I can play futsal for fajar nanti. Lots of my friends are playing there, but of course it's up to the mpd and their excos. Like a mercenary, I'll accept anybody that comes knocking. Takkan aku pulak yang nak do the knocking. Hidung tak mancung pipi tersorong-sorong.

Memberontak

Dari kecik smpai besaq aku suka sangat melawan. Melawan bukan in the context nak pi bertumbuk dengan orang, tapi melawan as in tak suka dengar cakap orang. Tak suka dengar cakap orang, tak suka ikut sistem,  and tak suka menerima a generally accepted opinion. Somehow deep down inside me, I am always looking to rebel against something, to defy the odds. Anti-establishment, much? mungkin.

Aku tak suka dengar cakap orang. Kalau orang suruh buat A, aku akan buat B and vice versa. I hate it to be told of what I can do and what I can't do. Yeah, I'm a parent's every nightmare. Sorry abah, mama. Tehee. Kalau orang cakap jangan buat, lagi la aku nak buat. "She's way out of your league, bro". Ding, challenge accepted. "Make sure you do all your tutorials by the end of the week". Ding, free weekend! Tapi heran, kalau orang tak cakap, aku takdak la plak these urges nak defy the odds. For example, if my friend didn't say that she's way out of my league at the first place, that girl would probably still look like Nicky Minaj to me. 

Aku tak suka ikut sistem. Not to the extend that Im against the perlembagaan or the civil law, but I don't like excessive and over the top rules. Macam time aku kat sekolah asrama dulu. Pasaipa kena rigid sangat. Waktu prep, kena study. Waktu lights off kena tido. Waktu riadah kena keluar main. In my days, I always mixed things up. Time orang study, aku tidoq. Time orang tgh tidoq plak, aku study. As a results, I always got into troubles with the wardens. That's if I got caught la. "Apa, USM kampus bebas tembakau?" Ding, Challenge accepted. "Apa, dilarang pijak rumput?" Challenge accepted. 

Aku juga tak suka terima a generally accepted opinion. Especially in the matter of tastes and appreciation. Ingat lagi dulu time My Chemical Romance was still an underground scene, I was in awe with them. And then tiba-tiba semua orang pun minat MCR. Habes, tak minat dah MCR. Also, in sports and competitions, I always root for the underdogs. Time Mick Doohan tengah top dulu, aku sokong Max Biaggi. It was never a fixed thing. Always changing. Remember there was a time when Nadal was always no 2 and Federer was always no 1? Time tu aku sokong Nadal habis-habisan. But when the Nadal era came, I always supported anyone he came up against, whether it's Federer, Djokovic, even Tsongga.

Of course I changed a lot now. Change bukan bermaksud sekarang aku tak melawan and dengar cakap dah. I am still that brat. But I no longer dwells with mere issues and conflicts, as I now rebel on bigger things. Macam memberontak terhadap syarikat korporat gergasi yang tidak bertanggungjawab, parti pemerintah/pembangkang yang tak walk the walk talk the talk, unethical pharmaceutical and animal testing, refugee conflicts and many more. Cewah. So you see, the world needs people like me. haha 

Kera Sumbang

I don't have many friends in USM during my first year here. Really, when I first enrolled here, I pretty much flew solo. I didn't really mingle with people. Maybe it was down to my 'pergi kelas, balik kelas' mentality. I didn't stay in my Tekun room and I didn't join any extracurricular activities. Which makes it harder to meet and make new friends. Plus, being a Penangite, all of my childhood and college friends are here . So yeah, why find a new friend if all my existing friends are just a motorbike ride away? 

The only people in USM I'm closed with during my first year was my futsal teammates. Ada la dalam 15 orang. But unfortunately none of them are from school of management. Eh, silap ada sorang. Tapi Din budak accounting, bukan management. So you see, during my first year I missed a lot of important dates especially the ones that are academic or school related.  I missed out doing a few quizzes because I was away and nobody informed me. I missed out on applying my major during my second semester while other diploma holders from my batch  already took their majors, which put a small dent on my mission to complete my studies in three years. 

And I missed out on a a few more things, of which I regretted missing. Back then, I have lots of friends from school of communication too. They're from my college, so yeah, they're my existing friends. There's a bunch of them who got into usm, while there were only three management students from my college who got in. So I always got things mixed up between how things are done in school of management and school of communication. For example, management students have to take 20 units of minor paper while communication students only have to take 16. Another big mixed up I did was, I thought that my internship will be done during the three months holiday but unlike communication students, our internship is done during the semester, almost four months long.

These kind of mixed up really put me at a disadvantage. Because with these misassumptions, I thought I was on track to complete my studies in three years. Tapi Alhamdulillah, nasib baik sedar awal.  But it goes without saying if I were to say that I don't have any friends from the management school at all. Ayu and Masyitah were my knights in shining armor and my confidante. They always looked out for me and always point me at the right directions. Sekali sekala tu aku kena buli, kena berleteq dengan depa. But I know deep down they are just trying to help me out. I can't thank them enough. At times when I was a little bit uninvolved in assignments and reports, they are always on my back, pushing me. But at the same time they were patience and cool about it because they knew how exactly I operate.

But things are different now. I got to meet new friends from my finance major. Dapat kenal dengan kawan-kawan diploma dari ipt lain yg satu batch. Not to forget there's plenty of my juniors who got into usm as well.    Yesterday during course registration I had to stop by at every turn, catching up with friends and waving at them. It's a nice feeling too to have a friend or two when you had to que up in a long line to get your registration done. You can catch up stories with them to pass the time. Okay I made it sounds like a big deal but yeah, in a nutshell, if it wasn't for them to reenlight my waning motivation, I wouldn't have made it out of every sem alive. 

Satu sem lagi

School's starting next week. And our results are coming out this friday. Not sure how I'll fare, but hope it isn't so bad. My primary concern would be the three major finance subjects. Financial Analysis Statement, Security and Portfolio Management and International Finance. My first two semesters were relatively easy compared to last semester. By miles away. Macam langit dengan bumi. Until now, I could still feel the weight of last semester's hardship pinning on my back. Probably because I registered the maximum 21 units allowed by the school. And probably it was down to me taking on three major subjects simulataneously.

This coming new semester will be no stranger. Again, I'll be taking three major papers. And perhaps one or two core papers. I haven't decided yet what the other three subjects are going to be, since I am presented with a few combinations of subjects to minimize the workload. I'm lazy like that. Okay,bukan la sbb malas, tp sbb risau tak terkampui. Last semester I took 6 subjects, of which one of them I consider a 'light' subject that I don't even have to study to get a decent marks. It was as if I only needed to study five subjects ja la. Tu pun tak terkampul. I even took a sabbatical from the varsity futsal team.

Bila dah naik buat degree, my priority changes. I'm only thinking of graduating. And by graduating I mean completing my studies in the shortest easiest way at the expense of losing something else. Of course, when you put much effort into it, something got to give right? Even if it means that I am jeopardizing my CGPA performance. Even if it means that I never get to play futsal for the varsity team. Even if it means that I have to sacrifice my social life. The only thing that's holding me back is my scholarship sponsor. I entered into a covenant with them saying that I'd at least will maintain a certain level of cgpa, and I am planning to honour the contract. 

Kadang-kadang tu menyesal jugak sebab tak sign up dengan JPA dulu. Haha. Tak payah nak susah-susah hati and susah2 payah. Tgk kawan2 yg scholar jpa relax ja. Bagi pi lah pointer berapa pun, jpa sayang depa serupa tu jugak. Okay enough rambling and complaining. Remind me to deactivate this blog when Im doing my internship with Sime. Kalau Sime tau aku cakap aku menyesal sign contract dgn depa, memang kena getah la aku nanti. Tak tak. Saya sayang Sime Darby. Tak tak. Tangan tak ke dada. Mata tak ke atas. Betul-betul. I will be away for a few days. Will be back by the end of the weekend. Cheers.

Kenduri

In movies and in real life, preparations for wedding receptions are always heavily conducted by the bride to be. The groom? Excuse me, sila dok tepi sat. Ampa taktau apa-apa. You see, for girls, their dreams of having that perfect wedding was imprinted in their DNA long before they could even understand the concept of marriage. It started when they were a little kid where they watched all these princesses movies from disney's and started playing with barbies. Ok I might overblown stuff and exaggerated a little bit, but you get the idea. The point is they already have a clear idea on how their wedding is going to be.

They knew what kind of flowers they want, they knew what are the concepts and themes for the wedding, what type of band or dj they wanted, what kind of meals and foods are to be served and many more. Heck, there are some who kept a scrap book collecting every little details for their wedding. Kinda like a wedding planner. Of course, the groom also has a say in the decision making, but it'll look more or less like this:

But if that is something the bride wants, who are the grooms we to say no? biaq ja la. Let them have it their way. Tu impian depa. Tu maruah depa. Not in the sense that depa takut orang kampung nanti mengata kalau kenduri depa tak grand/best (though it's partly true >.<), but maruah in the sense that the flawlessness of their wedding compensates and align with their childhood princess dreams. Nama pun raja sehari. Biarlah perfect di mata depa. So bakal2 grooms, tahan ja la sat dengan karenah depa. Kalau depa nak lampu lip lap kat pelamin, ikut ja. Kalau depa nak pre wedding photo session, ikut ja. Kalau depa nak pasukan kompang yang boleh main lagu Brian McKnight 'Back at One' pun ikut ja. Kalau depa nak orang pakai costume storm trooper from star wars jadi guard of honour...well good for you!

There are no right or wrong way of doing it, but still, these topics are always up for a debate. Yang lelaki akan cakap perempuan suka membazir and yang perempuan akan cakap lelaki kedekut or tak tunjuk kesungguhan dalam marriage. Kemudian yang laki cakap life after the wedding yg lagi important, and perempuan akan cakap yang kawen ni sekali ja seumur hidup why not spend a lil bit more. Yang laki akan cakap buat yang wajib and ikut sunnah dahlah, dan prempuan plak nnt cakap kakak adik depa depa suma buat kenduri sempoi-sempoi and adat pun penting jugak. And the list goes on and on.

But I think there are always room for negotiation. I think both sides can meet in the middle in finding the equilibrium between having a nice wedding and saving cost. Semuanya atas kemampuan dan citarasa masing-masing. Ingat, nak mendirikan masjid, nak menyatukan dua keluarga dan bina keluarga sendiri. EnshaAllah semua dispute akan hilang. haha okay, i might get bashed and i might get some stick, i know. Some of my remarks about women are a little blown out of proportion. Tak semua perempuan macam tu and nowadays, ramai ja yang memahami. Haha dan2 cover. >.<

Great Eastern Umrah/Hajj Takaful

Sudahkah anda bersedia menunaikan haji/umrah? haha tiru ayat pamphlet di tangan. I've been meaning to post about this Great Eastern Takaful plan for the past two weeks and now here I am, writing about some financial asset that will bore your weekend out. Okay takla boring sangat considering that sooner or later, we might start pondering about doing hajj/umrah in the future. The sooner the better. I mean, unlike Indonesian, orang kita selalu pegi buat hajj/umrah lambat-lambat. Sedangkan time muda and kita time sihat walafiat la kita sepatutnya pergi.

Before I begin discussing about this i-GreatAmal takaful, I should make it clear that I don't have any affiliations or relations with Great Eastern nor any of it's associates. I am not an insurance agent and I didn't receive any kind of payment or commission from GE. I am just promoting this product as a goodwill. With that being cleared up, let me tell you what this takaful plan is all about. The mechanism of this takaful is similar to the usual conventional insurance, but unlike the latter, it is a shariah compliance scheme. So you don't have to worry about having your premiums invested in channels that goes against the Islamic law.

There are two things you have to decide during the initial subscription of the takaful. You have to decide the amount of your monthly payment and your period of subscription. For example, you pay 50 bucks a month for 20 years. As soon as you sign up and made your payment, (you're required to pay two months payment in advance, then continue paying on the third month) you are entitled to up to eight benefits and perks from this takaful plan. There's life and total permanent disability coverage. I am not going to discuss the amount as it depends on your monthly payment and premium.

So kalau jadi apa-apa yang tidak diingini, our benefactor akan dapat la duit compensation tu. And there's double coverage if you past away or suffer TPD while doing umrah/hajj. As long as you're in KLIA and Mekah during your pilgrimage, you're entitled to a double multiplier compensation. For example, if your life coverage amounted to RM 40 000, should anything happen to you during pilgrimage, your benefactor will receive RM 80 000. Incidents during the Hajj is quite common, goggle it. I mean, it won't hurt if we're extra prepared right? And ouh, ada jugak manfaat badal. Kalau pemegang polisi tu meninggal dan tak sempat pergi tunai haji, automatically GE akan arrange upah haji untuk pemegang polisi yang meninggal tu.

And there are other cash benefits. Macam manfaat qurban, after the 10th year they will give the holder a sum of money to do qurban. Preparation cash, where you will be given a a certain amount of cash untuk persediaan pergi buat hajj/umrah but only up to two times maximum. And lastly manfaat ihsan, where a quick cash is given to your family should you past away for janazah management. And upon maturity of your takaful, the payment that you had made throughout the years would be given back you, plus a little return. Though Im not sure what was the % return, but when we did the calculation a friend told me it's less than ASB's.

I think this should be a good investment to make. Kalau kita dah ada life insurance pun, still it won't hurt to be covered considering that we only have to pay from as low as RM 50 per month. And kalau kita tak sempat pergi tunaikan haji pun during our holding period, think of it as a free-risk investment. Duit yang kita dapat upon maturity tu dah cukup untuk ambil pakej haji baiduri-nilam. Or even pakej zamrud kalau simpan monthly banyak. Tak perlu sign up untuk muasasah, sebab yg tu ada waiting list. Lambat. Tapi kalau ambil pun apa salahnya. Ikut preference dan kemampuan masing-masing. EnshaAllah. 

*kalau ada salah mana2, tolong betulkan. 

** I heard tabung haji pun offer similar saving plans. tp tak sure la mcm mana. 

The Enforcer

I have to admit. I ain't got much of a talent playing football. I'm not very good at dribbling, my first touch is erratic and my passing is not crispy and clear cut enough. But there's one thing I'm good at, and love doing. Physical battles. I love tackling, winning an aerial battle and go shoulder to shoulder with the opponents. I would like to think that I am the enforcer of team, the role that we often hear in ice hockey. The first person to get the team out of trouble and the first person to get the team into trouble.

Many people played down the importance of an enforcer in a team. To them this type of players lacked skills  and simply just complete the namelist. But I beg to differ. An enforcer is crucial for the team because he is the one that brought in physical presence to them. He is the back bone of the team and provides a safety net for the team. He anticipates movements, steal the balls and always be available when his team mates need attacking reinforcement. An enforcer also may as well dictates the tempo of the game. When he steals the ball, he can either launch a quick counter attack, or simply hold up the ball and pass it around so that his team mates can recover.

Players like Gattuso, Vieira, Tiote and Pepe are some of the most underrated enforcers in the modern era. When the team wins, their contributions were always deemphasize let alone recognised. I have always enjoyed watching them play and try to emulate their style on the field and futsal court. I love watching every challenges and tackles they made, getting the team out of trouble. Of course, these type of players might also get the team into troubles. On too many occasions, an enforcer might committed too many fouls resulting in cards and dismissals. But of course, committing a foul without getting railed from the referee is now a necessary arts or skills in the modern game.

Me included. I enjoyed lunging aggressively to an opponent, making him eat the grass without receiving a telling off from the referee. It's a way of telling your opponent "I'm untouchable and you're in my pocket. So steps off before you eat more grass". But of course, when emotions run high and momentum is snowballing I can't help myself getting into troubles. Throughout my footballing moments, I had started several fights and brawls but luckily, I had never received a red card. I love winding up the opponent to get his head off the game, and when I see a moment of vulnerability, and voila. The brawl started. That's why I never get red carded. Because in the end, referee will assume that I'm the victim, instead of the culprit.

This gives a lot of psychological advantage for the team. But tread carefully, as this strategy might backfire. Silap haribulan, kita yang kena kad merah. And silap haribulan, the opponent dengan suma gangster kampung dusun nanti tunggu kita kat kereta kita. lulz. 

Post Rawak

1. For a long time I've been wanting to re-play Skyrim: The Elders Scroll. I already finished the game but I reckon it would be a great game with high re-play value. Last time I used a warrior so this time I was thinking to start off as a magician. Since I was kind of busy with assignments and tests, I put all my gaming activity on hold. Until at least final exams are over. Now that I had finished the exams, I am reluctant to play. Padahal dulu punya dok simpan niat and punya dok tahan temptation untuk main. I don't know why, maybe my gaming preferences had change. I don't like these hack and slash, beat'em all adventure games any more. Even the latest Devil May Cry that's recently out doesn't tempt me at the slightest. These kind of games consume lots of time, and with me being busy and all, I think that's why I migrated to play more short-duration but repetitive games like PES and dota.

2. Recently a few friends have been asking me why I like to use the name 'mellyzul' in virtual life. Some said that it sounded like a girl's name. And some even go the distance throwing banters at me saying how gay I am. I already lost count on how many times I tried to explain this. So, Im writing this up so in case if there are people asking me in the future, I can simply link them this post. Okay here goes. You know how in Anglos countries, they would call people's name in short form. Macam Robert jadi Bob, William jadi Bill, Frank jadi franky, michael jadi micky. So that's kind of how it works. Although my name's is spelled with an 'i', my friends pronounced it Azmel, or mel. Hence, deriving into Melly. Another simple example is Rio Ferdinand's twitter name. RioFerdy. 

3. I went to Great Eastern recently, where they were trying to promote their takaful products. One of the saving plan they were trying to promote was this i-GreatAmal fund. Untuk buat haji or umrah. I dont know about other states, but in Penang, the Malay community still shy away from the insurance industry, even the takaful ones. So majority of their agents are non-malay. And there's this Chinese agent who tried to pitch her sales to me, asking me to sign up. In her closing pitch, she said something like ' Tak apa maa, you sign up, you jangan anggap ini sebagai expenditure maa. You bayar lagi ini investment, Allah kasi you rezeki'. I smiled at her because she really did her homework, and she worked her angles well. It also made me ponders about the recently 'penggunaan kalimah Allah among non Muslim' issue. Tapi betul jugak, takkan dia nak cakap 'Takpa tokong to'pek kong nanti bagi lu rezeki". In certain context and in certain aspects, I think the usage of Allah should be tolerated by us Muslim. Wallahua'lam.

One messed up boy

I finally got the chance to watch this forum just recently. I added the video months ago to my 'watch later' list but I didn't have the time to watch it as I was pretty much occupied with rl stuff. Plus this video's like three hours long. The only way I could watch it is if I were to divide it into separate session. But then I'll forget about each panelist poi, making me unable to weigh in their opinion fairly. It's titled PRU13: Masa Depan Islam, and was discussed by four bright and intelligent panelists in the form of Dr. Ridhuan Tee, Dr. MAZA, Dr Fadzli and Ustaz Fathul Bari.

I won't jump into the political bandwagon here, as I always hope that this blog never delve into those kind of things. Let's just say that after listening carefully to these panelist, and after aligning their points of view with my perception of the world and my ideals, I had came up with my own judgement and opinion. I have great deal of respects towards each panelist, no matter their affiliation or political party and I listened to them with an open mind. Cuma kesian jugak la dekat Ridhuan Tee, sbb asyik kena bash, provoke and boo dengan penonton. He did fine actually, his only mistake was that he didn't know his audience.

But I'm intrigued with what he said in the forum. He mentioned an old maxim. I was aware of this so called maxim for quite some time but I didn't really think much about it. It sounded something like this:

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. 

Regardless of the context he said it, whether he wanted to simply share the quotes or wanted to take a swipe at the audience, it really got me thinking. I looked back at my recent sns posts and realized that lots of them were post regarding current events. Mostly sporting events like the elclasico, Australian open and my footie tournament. Boy, I do have an average mind. lol. Unlike some of my friends who constantly share quotes, philosophies, ideas and information, I tend to shy away from posting any of those things in the web.

I am slightly annoyed with those kind of posts too. For example there's this friend of mine who constantly post about how to invest and make money; and shared links of articles from his financial gurus etc. It annoys me in the sense that aku selalu bersangka buruk dgn orang.

'Look at this clown, post pasal macam mana nak buat duit, tapi dia tak kaya-kaya pun.'

'Look at this poser, post pasal munakahat, tapi awek keliling pinggang.

So the thought of that I will come off with a bad impression as I did to other people hinders me from discussing any ideas. Aku bersangka buruk yang orang akan bersangka buruk terhadap aku. 

Astaghfirullahala'zim. Forgive me ya Allah. 

Another reason I tend to shy away from posting post regarding ideas was because that I'm afraid that people would take me seriously. As in I would strike them as someone who's serious all the time. Being as it is, people already thought of me as a no-nonsense kind of guy. Probably because of the age, or probably because they thought that budak finance suma pandai-pandai blaka, so better dont mess with them because they're uptight. But I want people to mess with me, and I want to be treated like I'm younger an equal. I am really one messed up boy.