Confusion

Bunyi alarm clock kejutkan aku. Aku check jam. Pukul 6 pagi. Malasnya rasa nak pegi keja. Kemudian aku terus check phone tengok kalau-kalau ada miss call. Aku tido awal semalam, lepas maghrib aku dah tido. Boyfriend aku mintak putus semalam, dan aku menangis-nangis smpai tertidur. Sebab tu aku harap akan ada miss call dari si dia, mana tahu dia nak rujuk balik. Memang ada missed calls. Ada empat, tapi keempat-empatnya dari no yang tidak dikenali. Kawan ofis aku la nih..mesti nak buli aku suruh buat apa-apa.

Tu yang buat lagi malas nak pegi keja. Break dgn bf, mata lebam sampai tak boleh cover dah dengan make up, pastu ada pulak colleague yang nak buli aku suruh buat itu buat ini. Mentang-mentang la aku baru keja 3 bulan. Dan kalau fikir balik, sebab ex bf aku jugak la aku accept kerja nih. Dia complain sebab kami long distance, dan dia suruh aku keja dekat sikit dengan dia. Celaka dog punya jantan. Tapi... aku sayang dia. Separuh jiwa aku hilang bila aku hilang dia. Ishh lagi teringat kat dia, lagi aku sedih. Tak boleh jadi ni, aku kena gak gi keja. I need distractions.

On the way pegi keja, ada orang call aku. Nombor yang sama yang miss call aku semalam. Aku biarkan. Aku tengah serabut dan aku tak rasa aku emotionally prepared untuk jawab. Aku tekan butang reject, and let it go to voicemail. Tiba-tiba aku terfikir, eh boleh jadi tu ex-boyfriend aku. Phone dia bukannya salu ada credit. And selalu jugak dia pinjam phone housemate dia untuk call aku. Lagipun dia yang salu antar aku gi keja. Sapa lagi nak call aku time-time nih. Aku cuba yakinkan diri aku. Hati aku dah berbunga sedikit. Aku terus check voicemail.

Yang call tu bukan ex aku, tapi florist. Sedih kembali menyelubungi.Tapi aku senyum balik bila aku habis dengar voicemail tu. Florist tu cakap dia nak deliver bunga kat aku on behalf of ex-boyfriend aku, tapi dia confuse dengan alamat rumah aku and since aku tak jawab phone, dia tak dapat deliver bunga tu. Hati aku berbunga kembali. Sweet jugak laki aku nih. Siap bunga bagai. Nak pujuk balik lettew. Aku kemudian call florist tu suruh deliver bunga tu kat office aku instead. Officemate aku mesti jealous. Tehee. Aku dah mula berangan macam-macam. Aku siap dah plan berapa lama aku nak buat jual mahal dengan dia sebab lukakan hati aku. Alaa biasa la kan. Takkan kita nak terima terus. hihi.

Tepat pukul 10 pagi, delivery dari florist tu sampai. Semua office mate aku goes "Aww, so sweet!". Hehe easy there people. Jangan jelly okeyh. Wahh sedozen tulips. Bukan senang nak dapat tulip kat Malaysia, must be imported. Paling koman pun dari Tulip Farm Maxwell Hill, Taiping. Mana ada dah tulip farm lain kat Mesia nih. Siap ada kad lagi. Romantic sungguh boyfriend aku nih. Okay aku kurangkan jual mahal aku 12 jam. hihi. Aku pun bukak kad tu. Kad tu tulis:

   "Dear Izreen, the past 6 months has been the greatest moment of my life. Happy birthday sayang!"

Kecelakaan apakah ini. Nama aku bukan Izreen dan hari ni bukan birthday aku! Turns out my ex mistaken my number with his new girlfriend. New gf apa, enam bulan dah! Jantan tak guna, dah pasang yang baru, enam bulan lepas tu baru kau nak break dengan aku?! FUUUUUUUUUU

Taik Hidung Masin

It sickened me to the core to see the astronomical price of movie tickets during the weekend. I mean come on, I can barely tolerate weekday's price to begin with. That's why I resorted to torrenting and pirating most of the time. No Im not cheap, Im just thrifty like that. lulz. But then again if we were to go back to economics theory, if there's demand there's supply. And the illusion and perception we have over something certainly reflected the value we are willing to pay. Kalau orang perceive service tu RM 13 dan orang sanggup bayar, memang provider akan terima la. After all what they seek is to maximize their profit.

So let's talk about price. Price have two component in them. Implicit and explicit. I just want to talk about the implicit element of the price here. Implicit element is pretty much intangible, subjective to our perception and very hard to measure. For example, brand value. If you're given a choice between Darlie or Colgate, you are likely to pay more for Colgate. Because we have been predisposed in the back of our mind that Colgate is of  better quality and good toothpaste. Just like that. 

And more often than not, we are willing to pay a certain product at a premium. For example, Panadol. We are willing to pay more for Panadol at a premium instead of buying an unbranded generic paracetamol. Putting the Panadol label simply makes it more expensive. Sama la dengan cinema ni. You paid ridiculous amount of money for the popcorn and soft drinks, sedangkan berapa ringgit sangat ja cost of production dia. That's why I prefer to seludup my own food into the cinema. I'm not cool with this act of highway robbery.

This is also another reason why I only ordered sky juice when Im out dining at a lifestyle cafe. Aku pernah tengok dengan mata aku sendiri, this waiter kat Secret Recipe pour a 500ml bottled Coke into a glass, and charged them at a premium of what 5, 6 ringgit? Sedangkan if we were to go buy our own 500ml bottled Coke kat grocery store, Im sure we can get them at most 2.5 ringgit. But anyway, like I said, it's a matter of perception and the question of whether or not should we go along with this system relies on your evaluation and personal opinion. 

But for me, nah I'd passed. I'm not paying a premium for things that I can get elsewhere at a cheaper price. Tu tak masuk lagi government and service tax. Aku lagi rela seludup maruku ikan dalam wayang. Sedap pun sedap. Thrill pun thrill, since you're like, breaking the law. Yes I'm a bad boi liddat.

Universiti Sedara Mara

I'm back. Finished my exam yesterday. I think I finished considerably early la jugak daripada sem2 sebelum ni, since exams are not over at least until  the 28th. Dunno how am I going to fare this time, but I did everything I could, so no regrets there. Lepas ni nak kena start cardio and start cari fitness balik, because the week before puasa we'll be having this masum centralized training. And the part I hate the most is the fitness test. They'll make us do all sorts of things to evaluate our lung capacity. Make it an exception for the futsal team please, Puan Mei. Futsal's got unlimited substitution so stamina and fitness are not necessary traits. Haha. Macam boling la. Ceyy marah budak boling baca ni. Haha.

Anyway, the other day I was caught smoking by JK near the library. Mungkin mood dia baik haritu so this security officer datang la kat aku nak saman aku. Time tu aku dahla tgh tension nak exam corporate finance, and here he come, preaching at nagging at me. He was about to take out his summon and booked me, but then I remember something. I quickly say "Abg, sorry bang saya anak buah Cik X, tak buat lagi dah bla bla,". So instead of a summon, I managed to walk away with just a telling off. Cik X is also a security officer from Jabatan Keselamatan, and he happened to be my futsal coach. You see, the power of connection. 

And then I remember dekat usm ni aku ada banyak kenal orang yang selain daripada student, yang boleh tolong dan memudahkan hidup aku. Aku ada uncle yang kerja dekat Pusat Sukan (free facilities charges), ada kawan yang meniaga ayaq dekat kafe Bakti Permai (free drinks) and ouh ex coach aku punya wife kerja dekat SOM, so kalau ada apa2 problem dengan school boleh pi mintak tolong dengan dia. Heck even my derivative lecturer happened to be my parent's friend, so semua benda yang aku buat (dan jugak benda yang aku tak buat) abeh dia report kat parents aku.

 It feels like high school all over again. 'Azmil tak buat homework', 'Azmil tak datang kelas', 'Azmil tak buat folio'. Yep both my parents are teachers, so thats why its so easy for my teachers to report to them. 

So samala macam dekat USM. The rule of thumb is actually simple. If you're a penangite and a usm student, chances are, you will know a lot of people there that are related to you, by blood or by relationship. Or at least knew someone that knew someone you know. My ex tekun roommate Wan, mak dia kerja dekat kampus kejut. My friend masyitah had a cousin there. My friend ayu, her dad's working there. Also, another friend, Sue has an auntie who taught in SOM. You see the pattern here. 

I also saw Najah in my social psychology class. Small world. This one, I could at least knew there are four other of her siblings that studied here, kot atas bapak depa used to teach here. Sebab tu kadang-kadang kita dengar orang cakap USM, Universiti Sedara Mara. Pusing kot mana pun, kita mesti akan jumpa someone that is related to someone. I think this is because of the Apex status. Since USM handle it's own student intake and staff recruitment, depa mestila nak perbetui anak-anak, sedara mara depa dulu. For example kalau ada vacancy, depa nanti cari la sedara depa dulu, pastu baru la depa open kat public. 

In all honesty, I got nothing against it. To me, that is one unique thing about usm that contributed to our unique culture. Cuma satu ja la. Unless if you deserve and want to be here, don't come here. Just disebabkan orang respect auntie hang and ambik hang kerja kat sini, tak bermaksud hang boleh ambik mudah dengan semua benda. Ni kerja nak ngelat. Punch in lambat, punch out nak awal ja. Orang dok beratuq kat lobby tunggu service, ang dok bagui punya dok sembang kat belakang. Tak best la camtu. Same goes to the students. Because there are thousands others who would kill to be given a spot here. A simple fact that sometime even I used to forget and took granted for. 

Come fly with me

The end is near. Last paper esok. Lepas tu nak melingkup pun takpa. Last push.