Alhamdulilah, done with exams last Thursday, performed at a company's annual dinner on Saturday and basically just lazing around and catching up on sleep. I got myself these books when MPH Online had the Black Friday sale and they arrived via Poslaju earlier today (Roaming Beyond the Fence is on it's way). This will keep me occupied for the next month or so. I am about to finish the I Am Muslim book and shall decide what to read next. Will be busy entertaining family members from JB as they will be in town for my cousin's engagement this weekend, then I'll be away for a week and another cousin is getting married in JB at the end of the month. Hope you guys have an eventful December! Can't believe 2014 is coming to an end so quickly. If I don't have the time to blog, here's an advance Happy New Year to all of you! Wishing 2015 will bring you lots of happiness as it is the key to us being successful in all other areas.
Yesterday was the first day of exams for ACCA students worldwide. For us in Malaysia, exams started at 3pm (it follows the time in UK and is standardised throughout the world). All the future accountants sitting for the same exams in so many different countries at the same time sounds quite cool.
I sat for paper F5 (Performance Management) at SEGi College in Subang. The questions were quite straight forward but I felt like banging my head to the wall when I couldn't remember how to calculate throughput accounting ratio (ini memang nak kena tampar! my mind went blank and the ratio turned out to be some weird number), wasn't sure about the mix and yield variance and a few things on the balanced scorecard. That was when I wished I had repeated more PYQs during revision month. The balanced scorecard question was about a low cost airline company so I was quite happy because it was an industry that I could relate to, having watched the Global Malaysia Series focusing on Airasia a few weeks ago.
The invigilators we had in the F5 exam centre, which was a small room on the 8th floor of SEGi College Subang were the nicest ones I have ever had. They were fluent in English, well mannered, smiled to us and said 'Welcome' whenever someone said 'Thank you'. Makes one feel so good especially when we're already so nervous to sit for exams. I remember an exam experience 2 years back when the smell of cigarette lingered in the whole room as this particular invigilator came back from his smoking break. We were too busy focusing on exams to lodge a complaint. It was very inconsiderate of him to do so and I think it was against the regulations too. Thank God we never saw him at any other exam session anymore.
30th November 2014, ACCA turns 110 ! Arthur Priddle was the first President of ACCA who helped form ACCA's unique core values : opportunity, diversity, innovation, integrity and accountability.
I still am not sure if I will end up being an accountant or venture into other fields but I'm a proud ACCA (repeat) student. All the best fellow ACCA students ! May we all pass these exams!
This little one is 10 months old now and boy, she's such a poser! I used to have a hard time trying to get a photo of her because she'd be gone before I can snap a decent photo. Nowadays, she'd stay still for a few minutes and wait for me to be done taking pictures before she goes off to play with her favourite ping pong ball.
I was watching the Global Malaysia Series on Youtube one night and she came up on the bed and sat in that position for a few minutes. Kemi oh Kemi, who taught you how to pose macam ni?
"She's the girl that believes that what comes around goes around. The one that hopes for a better day. The one that won't give up on you. She's the girl that's unlike the rest. The one that spent her days smiling, and her nights crying. She's the girl that would love to be loved. The one that looks so damn strong, but feels so weak. She's the girl that picks herself up every time she falls."
Saw this quote on Instagram and the first thing that came to mind was 'that sounds so much like me'. This is when I am reminded that I am not the only one having a hard time or fighting a tough battle. There are others out there who are probably going through something similar. I thank Allah for these small little reminders that come my way once in awhile. D-14 to final exams.
In the middle of revision classes for Audit right now. Taking a short break and looking at photographs taken during our trip to Sydney in Winter. Yet to blog about it cos so many things happened after we got back from the trip : my uncle passed away suddenly, fasting month, Raya and the start of the new semester. Time flies so quickly!
It's raining heavily and I think it's time to make myself a cup of coffee cos I feel like dozing off anytime soon. Have a good weekend!
Revision month is when I find myself doing weird things to de-stress and this time round I started rapping and learning different Malay dialect songs. Not that I'm good at it but I guess the thrill of jumbling words up, not being able to keep up with the beat, mispronouncing words and wondering 'Eh what does this word mean?' is kinda fun. These 'loghat' songs aren't that bad after all, you know. I used to get so annoyed by the Rembau Most Wanted song whenever I hear it but here I am attempting to perfect my pronunciation and get the beat right. I even went through the trouble of finding out the meaning of the lyrics because I didn't really understand the Loghat Nogori at first. Then I proceeded to attempt the Botingkek song and I found myself being able to understand the N9 accent better.
I love how W.A.R.I.S writes about his 'state of nine', it's unique adat, the different suku (Did you know there's 12 suku in N9? I found out through his song), the issues about 'ughang kito' and of course the mention of makanan sodap. After listening to Botingkek, baru tahu kewujudan tempat bernama Senaling, where Juzzthin is from.
The thing about rap is that the lyrics is more like a conversation so one can actually write about more informal stuff or maybe I just haven't mastered the art of lyric writing. I'm halfway writing a song about my hometown, Johor Bahru and I'm stuck with the flow of the lyrics. Will have to work on that when final exams are over.
Here's an acoustic version of the Rembau Most Wanted song and my favourite part of the lyrics...
A great reminder for all of us :
Kojo tak kuek tapi berangan nak hidup sonang
Baik poie mampuih dari susah'an semuo ughang
which roughly translates to...
Not willing to work hard, but dream of having an easy life
Don't make it hard for others, You better go to h*ll
Botingkek
'Ado ghoto kalau dibelanjo
Ke jalan boto tak salah tu do
Masalah ughang kito
Takdo duit boghobut ghoto
Duit abih ontah komano
Monyosal kemudian takdo guno
Rumah tergadai nak tinggal kekno
Molopong yolah nak wek camno'
It's okay if property/money is spent on the right things,
The problem with our people is that
They don't have money, they fight for property (I assume inheritance?)
No more money, what was it spent on?
There's no point to regret later on
House is auctioned off, where will you stay?
I'm not sure of the meaning of the last sentence whether it's the standard BM word melopong or it's a loghat. Do drop a comment if you happen to know. Thanks!
This one by Zee Avi in the Sarawakian Malay language entitled Siboh Kitak Nangis meaning Don't You Cry.
Other classic loghat songs that I like would include .....
Found out about this song from Akademi Fantasia 4 champion, Faizal who used to sing many lagu loghat Ganu like Watimang Landok, Itik Gembo Gembo, Anak Udang and many others
Jambatan Tamparuli, a popular Kadazan-Dusun song
Na na na na na Ganu Kiterrrrr
One of my dad's favourite song, Apo Nak Dikato. I remember singing this at a karaoke session with uncles, aunties and cousins during Raya, so much fun!
On the topic of loghat, I still remember back in secondary school I would ask my friends to teach me their loghat because Johor's loghat is quite simple, nothing really fancy (unless you're talking about Bahasa Jowo spoken by Johoreans of Javanese ancestry, susah nak faham, I only know 'wes mangan?'). I picked up a few words here and there from...
Airina (her mum is from Peghok) like teman (saya), kome (similar to korang/kamu orang), ayor(air), deghoyan (durian), nakei (nakal) etc. Time marah or excited memang loghat Peghok keluar hehehe
Nuwaira (both her parents are from Nogori) Her mum cooks the best masak lemak cili api and rendang daging! When speaking to Nuwaira, most of the time I'd refer to myself as Den rather than the standard 'Aku'. We'll say things like 'Nak poie mano tu?' 'Den dah sampai dopan ghumah ni ha'...
Nadia (her dad is from Kedaq and they stayed there for a number of years) like ayer nyok (air kelapa), hangpa (korang/kamu orang), awat (apa hal?), lapaq (lapar), habaq mai (bagitau lah aku) and all the other Utara phrases.
Fatin (who's from Kelate) : kecek (cakap), abe (abang), ambo (saya), guano (macam mana), hite legea (hitam legam) etc. This has got to be the hardest loghat there is coz I couldn't string a sentence together, it took me years to understand them speaking in the first place.
We'd throw in words from the whole of Malaysia in our conversations because for most of us who grew up in KL, we get bored of the standard BM we use day to day so why not add in some words and create a whole new rojak language altogether.
When you put us on stage together, slang KL lah of course. This was a musical we put together during our graduation year in 2009 entitled Madu Tiga the Musical.
I really think these dialects are very precious to each and every state there is in Malaysia. With the migration of the orang kampung to bigger cities in search for better jobs, I hope they retain this important bit of them and teach their children how to speak in these loghats. I do know of some people who have moved to KL for many years and they slowly lose their accents because it's "not cool" to have a so called kampung accent but seriously that's what makes you unique.
It really is a nice scene whenever people from the same state meet in a big city like KL and they start talking away in their own distinctive language.
It would have been your birthday today, Mummy. I miss walking into the room early in the morning to wish you Happy Birthday and give you a birthday kiss. Losing you is definitely the hardest thing I have gone through thus far but it taught me many things too. Thank you for being a wonderful mother during the 20 years that He lent you to me. Words cannot express how much I miss you. Happy Birthday, Mum!
