My Early Readings

What word is this? How do I pronounce it? Maybe I should try spelling it first, just like mom taught me. K-E “ke”, R-E “re”, T-A “ta”, “kereta”. Oh, it’s a car. So that’s how it is spelled. She’s a good teacher, my mom. Not only because she’s a BM teacher but also because she’s a very patient teacher. She never gets angry or raised her voice whenever I say a word wrongly or ask stupid questions. I love you, mom. Thanks for everything. I have to prove to her that I can do this. I can read the newspaper on my own. How difficult can it be? All my friends can do it. Why can’t I? In fact I should do better than them. But I can’t challenge Zuhri. He’s way better than me. He just came back from Canada. After 3 years living there, he sounds like a real Canadian whenever he speaks English. He reads a lot of story books just like my sister. Enid Blyton and Christopher Pike were some of the collections that she has stored neatly on the shelf. How can I ever beat that? How can a newspaper spelling beginner like me stand up against a fairy-tale book reader like him? I never liked reading that much to be honest. I’m more into the visual and audio stimulated material like the television. I pick up anything I see or hear and try to mimic it. Transformers and Captain Power were some of my favourites. Autobots, transform – my favourite day dream quote. I also like Lat’s work. Thanks to my dad, Kampung Boy was my favourite. It reminds me of the days I had in my grandmother’s house in Kota Bharu. I could really relate to what Lat is trying to portray in his comic books. He uses simple words and really funny characters. Anyone could enjoy reading Lat’s comic books. Whether you are a 50 year old man that has his own big company or a little 7 year old boy who just started reading, you could instantly enjoy reading Lat’s work. 

The New Semester

I felt used, angry, betrayed and manipulated. I felt like a pawn in their selfish game. There's nothing I can do about it. I had no choice but to sit and watch helplessly as they toy us around like a little monopoly set. Those inconsiderate, white collar, corporate politician have no idea what they have done. Things have turned for the worst since they decided to change things. Don’t try to fix something that isn’t broken! It was all well in the land of the blue until they became greedy. They were not satisfied. They wanted more. I could have never imagined things would turn out to be like this when I stepped into this institution. I was hoping for a new beginning. A fresh start. A clean slate. But the signs were there from the beginning. It tried to warn me about the challenges that lie ahead. It tried to tell me that I was going to embark on a journey to a world of unknown where I would face my demons.