I have to admit, there’s really nothing much to blog for the last few days! No big events, no funny happenings, no exciting activities – Nothing! >.<

At least nothing that might interest other people, people other than myself; unless you’re uniquely interested in my assignment deadlines and mid-term exams!

But since this is an online diary, let me recount the small matters that happened in the past 4 days, but don’t expect exceptionally great stories! Haha! =p

SUNDAY – I was in Ipoh.

My last trip back to Ipoh was quite brief, and I (finally) got my driving license renewed! After 2 months of holding an expired probationary driving license, I can finally drive again, I mean, legally!

Hmm … I noticed that driving licenses are called driver’s licenses in the United States. It’s kinda strange how common words like these can be different between American and British English!

But somehow, I kinda like the word “driver’s license” more than “driving license”… Haha … But since we Malaysians follow U.K. English words and spellings, so “driving license” it is …

There was a great Chinese event held in Ipoh during my brief visit – 8TV Sumer Live Concert – happening at Padang Ipoh!

I think there were, like, 50,000 people there! Holy shit!

But I guess it’s no wonder, with incredibly huge stars from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Korea performing, including the popular Taiwanese group F.I.R., George Lam, and even our own Malaysian Idol Daniel Lee, 50,000 people might actually be considered a modest amount!

I really wonder, what happens if some guy at the very centre of the crowd wants to, perhaps, go to the restroom, how in the world is he going to get out of the mob? Hmm …

I didn’t actually attend the concert, but merely stopped by to take a look. I’m not that big a fan of Chinese music, but anyone can tell that this is one helluva Chinese concert!

MONDAY – I was back in my house in Cyberjaya. Jon’s rabbit had missed me =) .

Our university had its annual convocation on that day! Graduating students in square cap and gown were walking around everywhere, taking photos with their families, wishing good luck to their fellow graduates… Damn, I still have at least three years before I graduate… That’s so long time away!

Anyway, there was a pet exhibition in MMU!

A couple of photos:

There was a cat that looks like a tiger!

This cat has charming maroon eyes! But somehow they look so sad…

Me and a fluffy little kitten!

TUESDAY - Busy day!

Nothing much interesting happened this day. I was busy preparing my Moral subject presentation and writing invitation letters for the Tourism Club Appreciation Dinner that’s going to be held on Thursday night, that’s tomorrow!

TODAY - Moral subject presentation day.

Having slept extremely late last night, preparing the slides for my presentation, I skipped the rest of my classes today to prepare and rehearse the speech. Oh, now I REALLY fear for my attendance!

The topic of the presentation is “Terrorism“. I did this presentation with Glen, and, with David’s help, obtained loads of supporting material for the topic!

Obviously, we are standing against terrorism, but instead of presenting with the typical definitions-followed-by-cause-and-effect presentation style, we did a very interesting show showing how terrorists became terrorists, comprising video clips of terrorism propaganda and their leaders recruiting and motivating the terrorists!

Most of the clips were taken from the FOX News 2006 special - Obsession: The Treat of Radical Islam – an extremely interesting programme!

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OMG, I’m having exams both tomorrow and on Friday! Huhu…

Tomorrow’s the Tourism Club Appreciation Dinner! Yay, absolutely looking forward to it! I’ll try to write about it tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. =)

SPOILER WARNING: The following entry contains information on the plot of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, information that you DO NOT want to know if you’ve not finished reading the book.

This entry was written in the very hour that I finished reading the book, which happened a few days ago. I wanted to preserve every – single – orginal feeling that I had when I laid down the final book.

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“All was well.”

Those are the last three words in the epilogue of Book 7 – an extremely accurate phrase to echo the magnificent ending as the final curtain falls on the legendary Harry Potter adventure.

It’s over, a happy ending, but not before a long, hot sequence of breathtaking suspense and knife-sharp twists, was poetic justice finally served.

It was impossible to tell, until the absolute end, that who was going to die and who survive. Although I sort of predicted (almost precisely) such an ending, along with most of the details – the horcruxes, the survivors, the pairings, R.A.B. and Snape’s identity… – But still, the plot was presented in a way that never, not even once, made me say: “Hah! I knew it!”.

Throughout the course of reading this book, I was bombarded with so much information and long-sought-after answers, all in tremendously shocking contexts, that my brain was in constant overload – blurring my vision, stunning my thoughts, and screaming for me to stop taking in all those unbelievable story plots.

However, the crushing sense of curiosity and burning craving for answers that J.K. Rowling has so ingeniously planted in our minds for the past 7 books, absolutely demanded that I keep reading on and not stopping to digest the paralyzing facts – Ministry of Magic fallen, the way Snape died, Dumbledore’s shocking history, confirmation of Harry being a horcrux, the scene when Voldemort supposedly killed off Harry with the so-well-known green jet of light…

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RM109.90 unbeatably well spent. All the sleepless nights well repaid.

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It is surprising, however, how J.K. Rowling mercilessly demolished many of the solid characters and things that we were so accustomed and familiar to in the story.

Voldemort and Snape’s deaths were, after all, rather expected. But characters like Moody, Fred Weasley, Rufus Scrimgeour, Tonks and Lupin, Dobby the house elf, and even Hedwig, were absolutely NOT anticipated to die! Each one’s demise was as violently shocking as the next!

*Sobs* But why, Dear JK, why did you have to kill off poor Dobby? That’s like the saddest part of the entire book… He doesn’t necessarily have to die, does he….? Does he….? =( =(

I think I stole a quiet sniff when I read this:

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The elf’s eyes found him, and his lips trembled with the effort to form words.

“Harry … Potter …”

And then with a little shudder the elf became quite still, and his eyes were nothing more than great, glassy orbs sprinkled with light from the stars they could not see.

(Book 7, Pg. 385, UK Edition)

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Sad … Absolutely sad …

We are so used to having to endure just one or two major characters’ deaths in the previous books that each death becomes a huge blow to our minds.

Sirius’s death in Book Five’s got fans all over the world crying for days, Dumbledore’s death’s in Book Six caused outrage and mourning throughout the entire Harry Potter community. And in this last book, we were totally blown off the face of the Earth, to Venus, perhaps.

Not one … not two … but MORE THAN 10 significant deaths in one book!!

I literally yelled when I came to this page:

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“Voldemort had raised his wand. … Harry looked back into the red eyes, and wanted it to happen now, quickly, while he could still stand, … He saw the mouth [Voldemort's] move and a flash of green light, and everything was gone.“

(Book 7, Pg. 564, UK Edition)

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WHAT?! Harry was not supposed to die, was he? At least not according to the stupid spoilers…

Surprise after surprise, revelation after revelation; and before we could generate any feelings of sadness or anger towards any particular incident, we’ve had another thrown at us. The roller-coaster ride was plunging down at an incredible speed, taking nauseating turns and dives… And all of a sudden, the ride came to an end, it was over:

“Voldemort was dead, …, and Harry stood with two wands in his hand, staring down at his enemy’s shell.” ( Book 7, Pg. 596, UK Edition)

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And the battle was over. Harry was victorious. Hermione and Ron survived. The prophecy was fulfilled, in a way that we all hoped to be, Hogwarts was reopened, the Ministry was re-established; and in the epilogue, we were told that Harry and Ginny, and, Ron and Hermione ended up with each others. It can’t get better than that, can it? =) =)

A couple of things that makes me feel awkward is the depiction of Harry, Hermione, and the rest as fathers and mothers at the end. I guess we’re too used to them as being children and teenagers that when the book mentioned: “Harry’s daughter”, or “Ron’s son…”, it just feels totally wierd… :/

Also, the choice for Harry and Ron’s children - Albus, Severus, Lily, James … Uhh … Kinda feels like the previous generation’s back all over again …

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I’m very glad that Snape turned out to be a decent guy. He’s one of my favourite characters and I’ve never believed him to have gone over to the dark side. I knew he was a brave and noble person all along.

It’s kinda sad that the Harry Potter series has ended. For many years, all those experiences eagerly rushing to bed to get to the books and continue the adventure was exceptionally pleasant and memorable. It’s over now, but I guess all good things eventually come to an end, and there’s no reason for us to grief over it. =)

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Yay! Now that I have finished the book, I can safely visit HP sites without the fear of accidentally reading spoilers!

Conclusion for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Consistent with expected ending, but not at all disappointing. ‘All was well’, indeed!

Hey, if you’ve read it, tell me what you think!

I’m back from Kukup Island! If you’ve never heard of this place before, read on! =)

This is an ice-breaking trip organized by the Tourism Club of our university for its senior and newly-recruited committee members to better know each other and get along!

Kukup Island is located in the state of Johor. It’s not the luxurious, resort-island type, like what you’d expect from Redang Island. In fact, the place where we stayed at is not even an island!

Kukup (without the ‘Island’) is a small, traditional, Chinese fishing village.

Requiring a journey of almost six hours from Cyberjaya, Kukup’s remote location, with wooden village houses and bicycle-riding villagers, really gives visitors a warm feeling of peace and relaxation.

The ‘real‘ Kukup Island has to be reached by boat. You’ll be able to visit it’s mangrove swamp, which is quite famous, and also the Kelongs – aquaculture farms on the water where people breed fishes and crabs.

One of the extraordinary things about this village is that their houses, wooden and concrete alike, are built on stilts – over the seawater!

And since it is built on the water, you can imagine one of the conveniences that only they can enjoy is, naturally – the quick disposal of human waste!

They don’t even need to have pipes, sewers or sewage treatment plants! All the waste from your body goes straight down to the water below!

Don’t believe me? Check out the toilets!

Just for the pleasure of my few precious readers, I took the liberty of getting down and zooming into the hole, into which you can clearly see seawater and one of the stilts of the house!

Oh… Gross!! Don’t worry, I assure you this is a zoomed-in picture, I absolutely did not lower my head into it.

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Of course, I’m not complaining about the place. =) These are experiences that we can hardly get staying near KL.

The accommodation where we stayed is called Kukup Resort – Name sounds nice, doesn’t it? – Makes you think of a high-class hotel with huge swimming pools and beach chairs under the shades of tall coconut trees, friendly waiters serving cocktail … Right?

Wrong! Out resort is actually a house! Yes! An individual one-storey house renovated to accommodate tourists!

Nevertheless, it’s air-conditioned rooms are pretty comfortable and the house generally spacious. We were also provided with Mahjong sets and tables for our entertainment! Mahjong is a traditional Chinese table game that I am not exceptionally good at.

My friends were kind enough to teach and let me practise the game. I played for the entire night (until 7.30am the next morning) but won just a single round. =(

Apparently, a lot of people are really good in the game! Whenever there was free time, they’d sit down in tables and play indefinitely – Stopping only during meal or activity times. Wow!

I took a huge amount of photos during this trip, BUT, very unfortunately, all of them are of extremely low quality. That’s due to my own mistake of using the wrong setting on the new camera that I’m still very unfamiliar with. Huhu…

I accidentally used a scene mode that automatically sets the shots to ISO 1600 or higher, with no flash. A film speed this high has caused all my photos to be littered with noise … Result? Extremely crude photos. =(=(

You can check out the pictures after I’ve sorted them out and uploaded to my photo album. That might take a couple of days. Meanwhile, here’s a video clip of us yelling a traditional Chinese celebration toast, called ‘Yuuuuum……. Seng!’ Translated as “drink for victory!”, something like that. =)

P.S. I’ve finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!! Will post my review in the next entry!