So.. What's been happ'ning?

Another busy week as a student has passed.. something I feel amazed at how fast things seems to pass.. one moment it's Monday morning and a blink later.. it's Friday night.. This week has been extra strenous somehow and the state of my room is taking its toll..
Today is going to be my unwind day, the day that I'll put my feet up, sit back and watch the world roll by..

Today, the Malaysian Student Association (persisma) is finally having our combined Raya Haji & Chinese New Year celebration.. can't make it though.. there's somewhere else I have to be, something else I have to do.. wish I could be there though, but what the heck! I've been trying to find out when this event will be since last week so that I could make plans but they changed the timing 48 hours ago.. which is too late for me to change my plans.. . apparently due to the recent university budget cut, any events after noon will have to pay $125 to book the room during the weekend.. so to save a little 'buck or two', they made changes to the original plan.. so that's it.. a bit disappointed, but can't do much about it.. the world doesn't revolve around me, I know..

So let's start with a summary of this drastic week..
Monday.
Just as having my ex-Malay-roommate bringing home her boyfriend til the break of dawn day-in-day-out was not a comfortable ordeal for me as a Malay.. I found that it's also not a 'happy" situation for some Americans too.. On Monday Timber moved out into a different room cause she couldn't stand Angie bringing in guys home at night. They share a room together but Timber doesn't get to sleep in her room until 3 in the morning.. that and other personal issues was just too much for her to bear.. Timber and I would talk about it at breakfast and I agree with her decision cause with the way things are going, Angie is not getting any better.. so she made the choice to move.. I helped her move with the help of our CA. Angie finally came home late that night, probably from the pub or something and was shocked that half of the house is empty.. I don't know how she got into my room cause I remember locking the door when I sleep but she woke me up and ask where Timber is.. I was so groggy, I don't even know what I said to her, but she finally left the room.. I think she asked me if Timber moved out because of her, and I just said yes! ..

Adam also returned back to Minnesota safely on Monday. At first he got stranded in the snow storm in Nebraska, but he finally made it. I haven't seen him in the last 6 months, he's changed a bit. He'll be travelling again in March, so the visit to Minnesota is really a short one.

Got an email from the IT Global Studies that there's a summer program in Germany, sounds like a good opportunity and it fits quite well with my German capability.. thought of applying..


Tuesday
I finally went to visit Diaz.. It wasn't really planned so I wasn't prepared with a get well gift..I was at Coffman Union when I decided to visit her in between my classes, so I went to Starbucks and bought a tin of chocolate covered buscuits and went to her room..I stayed there talking to her mum and her.. she showed me the scar and a polaroid picture during the operation.. she looked so pale, I hope she's getting better.

I got home that evening and found Angie trying to eat spagetti with a barbeque fork cause we didn't have any silverware, it turns out that all the silverware we had before was Timber's.. we also don't have a toaster and a bunch of other stuff.. I had given away so much of my stuff when I moved that it would be bad to ask for it back... so, guess what's in our shopping list?

Got an email from the Malaysian Embassy which is an advisory note to all Malaysian students in USA which gives us a list of things we need to do as an emergency preparation in case of a war. They told us to keep an escape bag containing personal documents, money, 3-day supply of food, emergency kit and clothes & sanitation as well as a mean of communication and a list of post-emergency contact numbers in case of an emergency.. last Saturday we got an email from George Aylward, Interim Assistant Vice President for Public Safety at the University which announces that the federal law enforcement officials issued an "orange" alert for the nation and encouraged heightened security. They want to reassure us that the safety and security of the University community is among their top priorities.. and that together we need to help each other to keep our campus safe and ensure a speedy, effective response in the event of a safety threat. On the same day I also got an email from a company selling emergency gas masks to the public.. I saw it on TV too a few days before in the news where there's some people out there who are really getting ready for war by stocking up on canned food and fueling up and buying protective gears including gas masks for their family..well if reading the emergency evacuation plan does make you think about the 'proposed' war I don't know what would.. but there's still no cause for panic.. COMMON SENSE MUST PREVAIL AT ALL TIMES.. that's the message from our embassy..

Wednesday!
Pay day.. also known as the day for grocery shopping.
My scanner arrived in the mail today, but I was so busy with class stuff that I've just put it aside.. will probably hook it up this weekend.

A weird thing happened today while I was studying at Coffman during my break.. I was reading my textbook first, after finishing off one chapter, I decided to take a stroll before starting the next chapter.. five minutes later, I returned and sat at the same spot as before.. I noticed a girl sitting across from me, smiling.. I smiled back cause I had noticed her looking at me an hour before.. as I was taking my books out of my bag, she came to sit next to me..
then she said "I'm sorry if I'm disturbing but I feel like I need to ask you a few questions.."
I looked at her quizzically, wandering what this stranger wanted from me.. " Yeah.. it's ok. What do you wanna know?"
She looked at me and moved her fingers around her face as she said "Why are you wearing this? Is it a religious thing or something else completely?"
So I started explaining that I'm a Muslim and why I'm wearing it.. she also asked me why a man doesn't have to wear it, so I answered
with what I know.. explained about aurat, and this and that.. Then she started asking about Islam and Muslims.. I told her briefly what we believe in, all the while I noticed her big brass cross pendant on the necklace around her neck.. she asked about what I think of Jesus and 'Taurat' (the original old testiment Bible), so I had to explain the Islamic civilization and how it differs with Christianity.. we got really into the discussion when she started asking about the after life; things like Doomsday, Heaven and Hell.. when another girls who was following on our discussion in the next table came to join us...they were both Christians, she came and just kind of asks us if its ok that she joins the conversation cause it's very interesting listening to it from across the table.. I felt like I was put in the center... I said that I done mean to look like I'm preaching or anything cause there's really so many more knowledgeable people that they could consult about this but since we were already in the discussion, they wanted me to continue..
"You have to tell us cause we're really ignorant about all this, you're opening our eyes to the world out there.. you're doing all the muslims out there a favor!"
For a moment, I was really speechless.. but soon we started the discussion again and the ball was rolling.. I've never been put on a spot light like this before, defending what I've been believing all my life.. the second girl started sitting on the floor after an hour.. then I had to leave for lunch when Adam came to find me.. he joined the conversation for a while too.. I had to go so we introduced ourselves and left.. interesting..

Thursday
Sleepless in the twin cities...

Friday!
Someone pulled the emergency fire alarm at Moos Tower, and there was 4 fire truck along Washington Ave at around 10 am.
Had my last presentation for unit Ops. lab and led the discussion in my ES class on limiting population growth.. it was really fun being the head of the discussion with Laurel and Jenna.. went home, completely knackered..
Went to the Mall of America with Nad, WeiLin and Adam.. watched Dare Devil..




Today's front page headline : Tentera AS kini sedia tawan Iraq -- Hanya tunggu `lampu hijau' Bush untuk lancar serangan - Rumsfeld