ihsankhairir's Xanga

Weekly Photo Challenge - My guilty pleasure(s)

Fri, 16 May 2008 03:23:45 GMT

This weeks subject is suggested by Ruth_from_Ohio

Your guilty pleasure

I have more than one, really.

1) I love Disney animation classics and can watch them over and over again up to the point where I can almost memorize the entire script. That's why I can quote Disney animation classics from memory.

2) Back when I was doing Math in college, I loved to arrange m&m's on the table and take photos of them while doing Math homework. I did this everytime I was doing Math homework.

3) I like to have random sushi lunches and/or dinners. Most of my sushi eat-outs are unplanned. The sushi craving comes just like that.

I have at least one more guilty pleasure but I have no photos for it... so that's it for this time.

I want to be truly quadrilingual

Thu, 15 May 2008 14:02:51 GMT

I am bilingual. I can safely say that I am purely bilingual since I was a kid. My mother tongue is Malay and I have been taught English since I can remember. I was born in an English-speaking environment (a hospital in Melbourne) but was brought to Malaysia before I could speak. Thus my first language came from the language of the community I was brought up in - Malay.

English comes easy to me because of all the exposure we get here in Malaysia. I've been watching English cartoons like Thundercats, He-Man, Care Bears, Chip n Dale, Talespin, etc. from the days I only had two younger sisters. Though I never picked up the speech, I could always understand it. I was able to get what people said in English, but speaking it was a different thing altogether.

I was given quite a number of Enid Blyton books by my aunt when I was really young, and I grew up reading some of hers and some of the adapted (for young readers) classics like those of Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Allen Poe, Alexandre Dumas, Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, etc. Going to primary school I never bothered about the grammar taught in class, because everything came naturally to me. I did not know why verbs end in 's'es when the doer is the singular third person; it just sounds better that way to me. Until I really paid attention and actually learnt grammar a couple years after that, all my full marks for English classes came from me answering the exams correctly because I thought my answer choices made the sentence 'sound right' (instead of being grammatically correct).

Secondary school I joined the English debate team and the English Language Society (ELS) much to the delight of my English teachers. But in later years I was kicked out of the debate team and as a consolation they offered me the position of Vice President of ELS. I heavy-heartedly accepted the position, even though I was not one for office, I was more of a service person than an office person. I focused myself entirely on the ELS instead of dividing between ELS and debate team, and so in my year of office the club ended its financial year the richest (financially) it had ever been in its 30-something-year history.

After finishing high school I went to a prep school for American Top Universities and after 2 years I got into the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Here is where my speech significantly improved, especially when I took the job as 'security' for a student union building. The job forced me to communicate in English with all sorts of people and my confidence in English speaking rose effectively. Plus I mingled with everyone and so I did not just pick up English, I took interest in other languages as well.

Second year of college I took some Arabic classes and did well in all of them. The rest of my college years, apart from Math and Engineering classes, I took Arabic and Japanese simultaneously, since I find learning those two languages a welcome break from all the greek letters and numbers that kept invading my sanity when I did too much Math. I welcomed all the new stuff I had to memorize - the vocabularies, the grammar rules, the characters (about 30 for Arabic and thousands for Japanese) as if those did not add to the misery of taking 18 credits per semester minimum (and working two part time jobs just to stay alive). Nope, they became pleasant distractions for me and I enjoyed all the classes and homeworks given. It helped a lot too that the teachers were extremely nice and they were more than glad to accomodate me in their classes even though I was not registered to take them. Yes, I went to some Arabic and Japanese classes without registering, just because I wanted to.

But life in America was too short for me. I had a deadline and it was June 27 2007 when my student visa would expire. And so on that day I left America and my learning of the Arabic and Japanese languages ended there.

Here in Malaysia it is very very hard for me to even notice any existence of Japanese or Japanese-speaking people. Therefore my Japanese is dying a slow death --- I think with every day that pass I would forget one or two words and 5 or six kanji characters. Which makes me sad because I love the language and I love the culture --- some of my best friends back in America were Japanese and they helped me a lot with the language and I don't want to let their efforts go to waste.

As for Arabic, it's been decaying but not by as much, since I can never forget how to read Arabic. But speaking it never came as easy to me as English or Japanese do. So I thought I need a speaking partner --- one who not only knows the language well but speaks it well too. And so I went and made a new friend today: an Arabic man from Iraq who is learning English. It was destined to be. We made a mutual pact to help each other in the respective languages. Praises, I have found a way at last.

But I still need someone for Japanese, and I would rather be able to listen, understand and speak more than read and write, so practically I need a Japanese speech partner; a rare find in Malaysia. Apparently the ideal person for this is much closer to me than I previously thought. However it involves me waiting one year or more before she becomes available to me. My sister. Who is studying in Japan and speaks it rather well. Who is going to finish her bachelors in March '09. Yes, I am going to make her my Japanese speech partner when she gets back. Unless she decides to stay in Japan and do masters, then I would resort to marrying a Japanese girl. Or go work in Japan. Or something like that.

So I am working on it. So far I've got two out of four ticked, another two to go before I can really be quadrilingual. Once I get done with that, I can go on to my next target... being sextilingual (like Mae?). But until then, two languages will do just fine for me to get by.

Audio Accent Challenge

Thu, 15 May 2008 01:08:30 GMT

I don't get to speak English much at work here in Malaysia so my English has probably deteriorated with time, but anyways I stumbled upon Southernlass's accent challenge and decided to have a go...

A copy-paste of the list of words:

Syrup
Cement
Route
Rural
Town
Oil
Juror
Lafayette
Havana

Tournament
Oregon
Water
Drawer
Idea
Wash
Terrible

Nine

Five

Park

Caramel

Car

Now

Tire

Thing

MOOOOOO!

This is the accent challenge for my blog of d00000000000m

And my boring voice:

Alright there you go. I should probably do a Rojak / Manglish / Singlish version since I speak that too, ~~but I'll stop at two accents.~~

...

EDIT: Suddenly I am thinking of doing it in a couple of other different voices/accents. Please tell me if you really want me to do so and I'll do it!

EDIT2: Firda and my sister requested some more so here goes. Two other voices I did included below.

This one is an attempt at a movie trailer narrator voice

This one is some kind of American accent I used once or twice for my puppet performances in the past

Shameless plug: Please star and/or recommend if you like the audios, I might do more audio stuff in the future if people like it!

Tagged

Mon, 12 May 2008 23:33:38 GMT

7 RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME:

I change my hairstyle on a daily basis
I have a flexible left shoulder
I love coffee
I have a habit of talking to myself in English with a multitude of real and made-up accents
I was instantly and unanimously chosen as the lead actor in a stage drama performance when I was 16. The lead character was that of a big loser.
I am easily pleased
I enjoy learning languages

7 THINGS THAT SCARE ME:

Losing a friend
Losing a family member
High speed rollercoasters
Corporal mutilation and blood (including intrusive surgical operations)
Falling from a high altitude
Rejection and failure
Drowning or being buried alive

7 RANDOM MUSIC AT THE MOMENT:

Paige O'hara et al - Belle
Julie Andrews et al - Sound of Music
Westlife - Moments
Jerry Orbach and Angela Lansbury - Be Our Guest
Shania Twain - From This Moment On
Robin Williams - Prince Ali
Gita Gutawa - Sempurna

7 THINGS I SAY THE MOST:

"Oops" / "Alamak"
"Darnit"
"Sorry"
"What?"
'Apa khabar'
"Ah/Oh ok"
"Sedapnya, siapa masak ni?"

7 THINGS I TREASURE THE MOST:

Family
Friendship
Life
My basketball shoes
My Wacom Intuos3
My iMac
My Michigan stuff

7 “FIRST TIME” THINGS I EVER DID:

December 26 2002 - First time in Taiwan, first time in the United States, first time flying over the Pacific
Winter 2004 - First time snowboarding in the Rockies
Ash Wednesday 1983 - First time breathing air
April 26 2007 - First time graduating from college
Summer 2004 - First time snorkeling
September 1999 - First time winning national championship
February 2003 - First Midwestern road trip

Now you're tagged!

Once a year, so far... maybe more if I have a better camera

Mon, 12 May 2008 01:24:55 GMT

Mother's Day

Sat, 10 May 2008 11:01:00 GMT

She bore me all through her 3rd year undergraduate in Monash University in Australia.

She took care of me all through her final undergraduate year.

She gave birth to another seven children, all of whom are wonderful brothers and sisters that I would never trade for any other people in this world.

She raises all eight of us and nobody else in the world can do a more wonderful job than she does.

...

I'm not at all good with words, nor am I with presents, gifts and surprises... so here's to you, Emak.

Thank you for all the wonderful things you've done for me this past 26 years.

Sorry for not being as good a son as I should be.

Happy Mother's Day.

-your firstborn,

IHSAN

Some tips on how to jump from a rooftop to a tree

Fri, 09 May 2008 00:57:54 GMT

From observing a monkey.

1. Keep your hands together flat like a rudder to guide yourself to your arboreal destination.

2. Always overestimate your jump --- aim higher and further.

3. Keep both eyes open. Helps with the depth perception.

4. It helps a lot when you are actually in shape and have hand-like feet.

5. Ignore the pesky photographer with his lousy camera. Especially when he does not have food in his hands.

...

For Weekly Photo Challenge --- Magazine Covers, I'd name the magazine Arboreal Three-Weekly or something like that.

...

EDIT:

Timages' last comment gave me my 1234 credits. I've been hovering around this number for quite a while, giving Minis whever I got over. Now that I got it I can finally move on now.

In what ways are you similar to your mother?

Fri, 09 May 2008 00:15:28 GMT

I am similar in many ways with my mother.

1. We both have wide feet, which makes it a bit hard to find shoes that fit, because those that fit lengthwise are too small widthwise, and those that fit widthwise are too big lengthwise. As a result I almost always look like Ron McD wearing shoes several sizes too big. Oh, except when I wear my basketball shoes, then I look cool. Hence my collection of basketball shoes.

2. We both enjoy teaching and/or instructing. Maybe because we both are loudmouths and like to speak rather than listen. Nah, not really. But we do enjoy explaining stuff to other people. My mom has been a teacher for almost twenty years and have refused several promotions to administrative positions just because she wants to keep teaching underprivileged students. I, on the other hand, have been called names like 'the walking encyclopedia' (or more recently, 'Mr. Wikipedia') due to my sometimes annoying habit of spitting out random facts and explaining them to my friends without them even asking. As for what we do on a day-to-day basis, my mother is a teacher so she is doing what she loves doing, and I am doing a master's degree, at which time I get to give consultations and advice to other students who are preparing their master's theses and/or undergraduate final year projects. Made me seriously consider a teaching / instructing profession. Like a lecturer or a teacher.

3. We both studied abroad for our undergraduate degrees. And we both majored in Mathematics too. My mom went to Monash University, Australia and I went to University of Michigan, Ann Arbor USA. Oh and my dad went to University of Melbourne, and two of my sisters go to University of Miyazaki and University of Malaya respectively. We are an 'M-University' family. Too bad another one of my sisters chose to go to University of Bath instead of Manchester. Otherwise, it'd be perfect. Oh, a potential in-law actually goes to Manchester. Nice.

4. We both have lots of siblings. My mother is eighth of nine and I am first of eight (oooh I think I almost made it sound Borg-like). And we both get along with all our siblings rather well. I love our family.

5. We both have similar political inclination. Hmm maybe I should not elaborate on this too much?

... and probably many more... maybe my sisters can add more to this list!

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

Weekly Photo Challenge - How Was Your Holiday?

Mon, 05 May 2008 02:14:37 GMT

Here is my entry for "How was your Holiday?"

All the following photos were not taken by me, as I am in all of them. They are of me and my friends during my last vacation in the States. We went to Chicago for Spring Break 2007 (against the normal college trend), and I spent all my time there affirming and reaffirming the statement "Boys are silly".

Chicago Field Museum

Presenting statues of African elephants

Comparing dental awesomeness with a scaled-down T. rex.

Bite me!

Me and Ivan, extinction of the dinosaurs. I had my tongue out, but it's hard to see I guess.

Me and Ivan, arm wrestling. This goes to show that Ivan's stronger than a T rex when it comes to arm wrestling.

Imitating a dead gorilla

Me and Cassie, molting cicadas.

Egyptian slave pulling stone blocks with 'Ivan the Terrible' enjoying the ride. Too bad there's no whip around.

Other places around Chicago

In front of Adler Planetarium, against part of the Chicago skyline

I was trying to climb on top of the lion but failed. This photo made it look like I was violating the statue.

Rio de Chicago (Chinatown).

...

I have lots more photos of the Chicago Trip, but I'll leave it hanging here. Tell me if you actually want to see other photos of the Chicago trip.

Visitor Stats for this past year

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:30:41 GMT

Interesting trend, isn't it. You get featured and lo, the floodgate opens and visitors come rushing in. A month or so after that, they come in trickling and soon after, drop out entirely.

After looking at March 2008 stats I realized that I need to move the location of the counter script, and so I did and after the move, the stats climbed back up, as it should.