Sweet 16...a letter to my younger self

Today quite a few of my friends tweeted things to their 16 year old self using the hashtag "#tweetyour16yroldself," and I found this to be incredibly interesting and also pretty thought provoking. Hindsight always seems to be 20/20, and the older I get the more "if I knew then what I know now" seems to apply to everything I've been through.

I was quite the wild-child in high school, so any advice I'd extend to my 16-year old self would have to include something along the lines of "you are not invincible," and "slow down, you're still a baby!" I love all of the experiences I've had in my life, but in my later teen years I do feel like I made some "interesting" decisions...luckily they never affected me in a negative way, and for this I consider myself lucky. I occasionally used to look back with regret, thinking about this or that, but when it comes down to it, every single thing I went through or experienced absolutely made me into the person I am today, as overdone as that line is. But I really believe it.

So, to my 16-year old self, I say this:

You are a wonderful, beautiful person just the way you are. You don't need to feel like you have to prove yourself to anyone, you don't need to feel like you have to live up to anyone's expectations. Like any teenager, you will spend the next few years trying to figure out who you are, and I promise you, at 16 you are not that person yet. Be kind to your parents, they are only trying to protect you and worry about you because they love you. Your Mom will be your best friend in the upcoming years, as hard as that is to picture when you're a temperamental teenager. Remember that you are the company you keep, and although you never get mixed up in the wrong crowd, you will dabble here and there unnecessarily. Stick to the friends you've had forever. The boyfriend you will have at 16 isn't love, so think about that before you convince yourself he's perfect for you. Remember that no one else can define your worth but yourself. You were right to trust your instinct those times that seem so important (they were), so keep doing that. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. Time will go by so quickly and these years will be a distant memory before you know it. Cherish the time you spend with your father, as he teaches you to drive stick shift in the blue Passat, up and down McDowell Road. Later on you'll think back fondly on those seemingly stressful lessons. And speaking of the Passat, remember to take the emergency brake OFF. This will be an issue numerous times, including the evening you and your girlfriends decide to drive it to a desert party, leaving it on all evening. Trust me. Don't forget to tell your sister you love her; it's so easy to get wrapped up in your own life and during these years she needs you now more than ever. Be there for her. Don't ditch Math class so much- bad grades in trigonometry will come back to haunt you in college and you will have to take remedial Math courses to make up for the deficiency. Save yourself the pain! Oh, and if you "happen" to hit a gas pump while driving out of the station, don't just leave! Be a good person and go in and talk to the attendant. This will avoid a huge headache later. Try to work on loving yourself, and pay attention to this one: you are not fat! Looking back now it's laughable to think that you, my little 115 pound 16-year old self ever thought she could lose some weight. Don't let Mom get rid of her vintage Frye boots, and don't throw away your collection of Sassy magazines. Don't pierce your belly button. Twelve years later the hole will still be there, and it will be itchy and annoying when you are pregnant with your first child. And on the topic of your first child: you WILL find love some day. I know it's hard being so young and feeling like you want to feel wanted and loved and part of something...but nothing you find at this age will be worth anything. Wait. Go slow. You are smart to not want to get tied down to anyone so young, and you will meet your other half in due time. He will be better than anything you could ever dream up. I promise. Life will be good to you, you just need to trust in that and try and slow down. And finally, this: believe in yourself. If I can impart any bit of wisdom that I've learned over the past decade, it is that. Give yourself more credit, because you are so fabulously wonderful in all of your teenage naivety. It's a beautiful thing to not know what's next, to not understand this wide, wide world, and that's exactly where you are. Everything will turn out okay. You will cry, you will laugh, you will lose friends and feel like you want to die. You will be depressed. You will be happy. You will have your heart broken, and you will break hearts. You are going to go to college, join a sorority, travel with your best girlfriends, and find adventure. You'll go to grad school. You will meet the love of your life, become a teacher, get married, and have a baby. I know it sounds like a distant fable at this point, but trust me, it only gets better. You think that 16 is great? Try 28. Just hang on, go slow, and breathe. You only get to do it once, and looking back on everything, that ride seems way too short. Above all else, stay positive, stay happy. And have fun!

So yes, that's what I would say to my 16-year old self. How about you? If you decide to write yourself a letter, link back here in the comments if you'd like to share; I'd love to read it! Have the best night, and happy letter-writing if you decide to do it! xoxo

Happy Friday!

Isn't this a good reminder? Sometimes I feel that the older I get, the more I lose a bit of my sweetness, my niceness towards others. It's easy to get jaded and start to distrust people- it's simple to become bitter after disappointments come and go, after things don't go as planned. But the world is beautiful. I really believe this. And I think it's so important to remember this, and to hold onto your goodness, and any bit of kindness you have. It's worth a reminder for myself, and maybe for you too. If you look around, and remove yourself from the everyday noise, the daily routines and to-dos, the heres and theres, if you step back and just look at the world and take a deep breath, I think we could all find a lot more beauty in our everyday lives.

I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful day!

*I also received an anonymous comment on this post that I deleted. Anonymous person, I don't need to have my readers "defend" me, or even deal with someone who gets so worked up. If you'd like to talk EMAIL me instead of leaving an annoying comment. If you think my life and happiness are so fake, that I talk too much about the things I have, etc. etc. stop coming back here to read what I write. It's my blog and you are coming here by choice. And hello, who asks me for money advice except the repeated questions via formspring (hence me deleting that site)? That's all I'll say. There's no need for me to leave up such a negative comment and have this post turn into ridiculousness- me trying to justify myself (I've already said too much) and comments from people doing the same. I'll just leave it at this: go away.

Thoughts...on thinking.

I think a lot. I know that's a weird statement to make, but sometimes I think I think too much (see, there I go thinking again...about thinking). But really, my mind is always going, and I'm always pondering this or that, here or there. I have not only a wild imagination but in the past I've also tended to worry more than necessary, which is not always the best combination. I'm incredibly introspective and I often think about strange, morbid things. Why I don't know, but I've been this way my entire life.

Sometimes I find myself thinking about how happy I am. I feel very, very blessed in my life. More than anything, I'm grateful for this love I have with my husband. I couldn't imagine anything better in my life, and as silly as it sounds, Hank is really and honestly my dream come true. I think we have a very special kind of love, and I feel so fortunate to experience it. With that said, if I think too much about being happy, I start to think about what a precarious perch happiness is. There's a Death Cab song that says "And it came to me then that every plan is a tiny prayer to Father Time." This couldn't be more true. It's crazy to think that every single day is a silent little hope that we make it to the end. It makes me think about one of my closest friends, my "little brother," who passed away a few years ago unexpectedly right around this time. I had seen him earlier that day, and I was able to give him a hug and tell him I loved him. I didn't know it would be the last time I'd ever see him, and that our plans for the next evening would never happen.

This kind of thing terrifies me. After Kendall died I became obsessed with thinking that every time I saw someone I loved it might be the last time I ever saw them. There couldn't be a more true statement though, because that is really a true possibility. It's scary and upsetting and I hate thinking about it. I don't know. I get into these emotional moods where I just start thinking and thinking about loss and how quickly everything good in my life could be gone. Does anyone else do this? It's a weird, weird thing that I don't do often but when I'm feeling emotional it's thoughts like these that make me feel so sad.

I think though, that with happiness this fear comes hand in hand. Of course when things are wonderful, there is the chance it could disappear. But what does this mean?

To me, when I feel this way, and I get over feeling down for those moments, I am reminded to love so hard, and live as much as I can. It is indeed true that everything we love can be gone in a moment, but isn't that just the way it goes? Life has a tragic frailty to it, and if we live our lives in a bubble of fear, if we go about our business with this in the back of our minds at all times, how can we enjoy the beautiful moments? If we fill our head with worry, how will there be any room for joy? Over the past couple of years I've taught myself to take the fears and negative thoughts I have and spin them into positive ones. It's not easy, but when I start to feel upset, or start to get those familiar doomsday thoughts, I remind myself that I feel that way because I am in fact happy. To have good, there must be bad. Happiness does not exist without the other side of the coin existing as well.

I tell myself to enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. Life makes no promises, whether we worry or not, and the sooner we can accept this, the sooner we can go through life with a light heart. I'm sure once my little one is born I will be filled with a new kind of fear. Life will soon be about Henry, and with that deep love that I can't even fathom at this point, comes that familiar reminder that life is fragile. And that moments are fleeting. And I know I am going to be so, so scared of all of the unknown for him. I'm scared now. I'm frightened about this huge responsibility of raising a life, protecting my son, and all of the things that will or won't happen. But dwelling in the what-ifs and the oh-nos will only take me away from the happy moments. So I remind myself: enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. Life is short, and we don't know what will happen tomorrow. But by focusing on the happiness I have today, and loving and living, and trying my best to make sense of this crazy world, I can regain some sense of balance.

Reminding myself to let go of the negativity isn't always easy, and some days it is downright impossible. But like anything it takes practice. You fall, you get up, you try again. I'm getting to a place where falls are rare, but I still have my skinned knees and bruised shins to prove where I've been. They fade with time, but luckily they are always there to remind me to keep going. Nowadays I allow sad times to push me back into happy ones, the down thoughts to remind me that up does, in fact, exist.

Above all else, life is beautiful. If we could predict every little thing about it, most of that beauty would be dulled. So I keep on going, keep on loving, keep on...keeping on. Reminding myself that all I can do is continue to strive for positivity, a light heart, and days full of love and laughter and peace...and I hope you'll join me. :)

New handphone..

Late again, as usual. Was busy with my school Graduation Day I've organized. It's an event ala university graduation style, with robes and certificate but was done in high school style. I was one of the committee members for Graduation Day and was in charge for video production together with my friend Haziq, Yusof and Syafiq. But leave that aside for now. The reason I'm posting this is because I wanted to share how much grateful I am because I have gotten a new handphone this year! Finally!

My old handphone is Sony Ericsson W800i. One of the first batch of Walkman series handphone. I liked it because it has all the features I wanted. As a music lover myself this by that time, was a perfect phone for me. After using Nokia for quite sometime and I lose my mp3 player, its time for me to buy a phone which has all-in-one features. I checked and checked and tadaa, Sony released its Walkman series phone in the year 2005. By that time Nokia doesn't have such phone line collection (Fact: Nokia released its Xpressmusic phone line in 2007, two years after), and it hugely take my interest in W800i phone.

It took me one year after the phone was release before I finally get my hands on it. It was the year 2006 when I first bought for RM1.1k. I didn't think much back then. It was hugely expensive for me because I'm still a student but at somepoint it was all worth it because I never all my use all my Nokia handphone longer then one year. Why? Because all those Nokia phones that I bought doesn't have all what W800i has (except Nokia N-Series smartphone, which they first released it the same year as Sony launch its Walkman phone series). It serves me well from the year 2006 until the year 2009. I've been using it for 4 years until the phone was busted on 27th September 2009.

Oh well, enough description already. See what happened to my ol' W800i.

Told ya, it was busted!

And here's my new handphone. The Sony Ericsson C510.

It looks the same like this and the same colour. I wanted to opt for black but it the handphone shop has only this colour unit, but IMO it looks more funky compared to the classic black or silver colour.

Oh well, here is my (maybe) last post. I might not blog until I've done my SPM anymore. See ya soon!

Zamil

Evolution Evaluation!

PDRM has bought 25 Mitsubishi Evo X to add into their line up.The Evos will be used in high-speed car chases, particularly in cases of carjacking, kidnapping and highjacking.

But this particular video here, is different (Video borrowed from Denesh Dmaniac, founded on The Clipping Point blog).



From my point of view (and evaluation, of course), it seems the Evo is damn fast! But well, that is an Integra and by the looks of it, its NA. The Evo is turbo with AWD, that shouldn't be a problem. You should read the comments posted at The Clipping Point blog.

I wonder if a Nissan GTR or a highly tune Supra can catch this beast. Time will tell. But kudos to the Integra driver for trying. You got a titanium ball dude by doing this.

Oh by the way, I wish you all Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir Batin to everyone. Please forgive me if I have done any wrong doing (lie, steal mad, angry or whatever) and please, be careful when driving. Remember the love one's and God. Plan your trip well. Tune your car too. Don't follow the above act.

Zamil

Finally..

I managed to transfer all the files from my Sony W800i handphone! Phew! This is another reason why I am lazy to blog...because I can't transfer pictures and stuff that I want to upload to this blog! My USB cable is busted, but then I found a Sony MemoryProDuo card reader and I can transfer the files I want by inserting the Magicgate memory card inside the reader (which I in thought it wasn't useful, how useless I am).

Now, its time for me to rant some stuff!

All of you should know, that Hari Raya is coming soon. This years preparation are simple unlike few years back. But once a year when Raya comes, my mum would ask me to buy some clothing or outfit stuffs to wear for Raya. It's a good opportunity for me to buy some stuff in my 2009 Wishlist (refer to them)...and I come; One Utama! Went there around 6.45pm and since its fasting month, I decided to go to BBQ Chicken Korean Restaurant at Oval. I've been craving for the food since I last visited Amar's blog and found myself drooling at the BBQ Burger pic he posted.

Instead of the burger, I ate this:

Jerk BBQ. RM15 bucks. That is a very reasonable price and the taste is wonderful. I would love to eat there any chance I get again!

After berbuka, its time for me to do some Raya shopping. Mind you, I rarely shop for clothes that much since I prefer to buy with my parents. Yes, I'm not a shopaholic like many girls do (sorry girls, had to say the truth). Fortunately, Tropicana Life shop has a sale going on that day, so I search and search...and...

Bought a new wallet from Tropicana Life...they are having a grand sale...my old wallet is like 5-6 years old, rotten, and smells...hahaha..

I also bought 2 pairs of jean from Tropicana Life and a KicKers flip flops. The reason why I bought 2 pair is because my bro wears mine sometimes! Sigh.

Oh yeah, the McDonald food down there is for sahur. Don't think otherwise. Haha.

Then I went back home, put my wallet nicely in my place and put all the plastic at the sofas. What a day to end a shopping trip..

Zamil

Selamat Berpuasa..

Hello guys...sorry for the long absence in blogging. Been busy and lazy for the past few weeks ago...I have lots of story to share but I am freaking lazy these days to update my blog. Been busy with my loved one's and school stuff. Just wanted to say Selamat Berpuasa to all the Muslims all over the world. Stay calm and cool for this month yeah.

If you ask my preparation for Ramadhan, well I hate to say this; absolutely nothing! Why? Because I think I can cope with it after few days of fasting. Besides, this is the best time for me to kill all my sins and hope for the best rewards that Allah offers us; His forgiveness. I know that all this time I am not the good one (in ibadat, not that I am a bad person or what lol), so why not I try to work hard for myself to become a better Muslim? Insya-Allah I can...if I manage to.

Anyway, I'll be online on my MSN (zamil_AE86@hotmail.com) every Sahur if possible, since I won't be sleeping like others that much and I don't want to waste all the food inside my stomach to turn into...fat hahaha. I just hope I can blog more, since I miss blogging so much but yet I am a lazy one to write.

Zamil

Busy and Lazy!

Hence why you see I rarely post my blog here that much. Simple as that. Anyway I am glad to say that finally I've finished all my Computer Graphics works in my school! Huargh, finally. It's been a stressful day to finish up all the work plus with all those exhibition I've done few months ago.

I am currently doing all my Arts (Seni) works. I had to take the subject in order to backup with my Computer Graphics subject since both involves something creative...but honestly speaking, I lost interest in doing arts..

Anyway, enjoy this 2 superbs run by Tengku Djan Ley!





Zamil

King Of Pop: Michael Jackson is dead?!

Indeed. It's true. What a shocking and devastating news for me as one of his all-time fan.

I woke up this morning which looks like a peaceful early morning bliss, but as soon as I entered my bro's room I was quite weird why he is suddenly downloading all Michael's song. Then he told me that "Michael Jackson is dead man," and suddenly I was like "WTF? Serious?". I try to search up at Google and the news all around the world, and well...the answer is there. He is gone forever.

Currently, I am watching this superb LIVE coverage from BBC News about Michael's death. Check it out:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8119993.stm

Other news (more by searching at Google):
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/25/michael.jackson/index.html

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/06/michael-jackson-tribute-arnold-schwarzenegger.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090626/en_nm/us_jackson_17;_ylt=AjE6pPQTm2xqM9yhTe_2G_KuR5Z4

Anyway, I just wanted to say goodbye and rest well to King Of Pop: Michael Jackson. He is one of my favorite artists of all time, and your song never grew tired of me listening to it. May Allah bless him.

I'll be missing his amazing falsetto voice, creative music videos and of course: his superb dance moves.

Here is my favorite music clip for all time:


Al-Fatihah, Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

Zamil

Mia's 17th Birthday Celebration!

Last Wednesday, my friend Mia invited me to her 17th Birthday which is on June 10 2009. To be honest, I am quite excited but feels a little bit overrated since I haven't go to any of my friend's birthday party for like...2 years? LOL yeah I know, what lousy friend am I...but blame you guys for not inviting me!

Oh if you're asking what kind of gift that I gave to her, its a rare carebear and a pink pashmina. Anyway..

...lets checkout some of the pictures below, taken by Miss Deeb HAHAHA.

The Birthday Cake, with a ice-cream toppings on it. Honestly I think the cake looks a little bit messed up but you can't argue with the taste...just that I prefer a chocolate chip cake with chocolate toppings and filled with chocolate inside. Very sweet and full with carbohydrates, but well...anyway the first thing we ate is this cake and the cupcakes above for the opening. Odd does it? Sounds like it is.

Mia with her happy family, and it sparks quite a reunion for me to see...its good to see them together.

From left: Deeb, Ijam, Mia, Myself and Haziq...all of us are in the 5 Cyber class. The theme was High-Fashion on that particular night, so I decided to go with ala Miami Vice, Tony Montana Scarface style. The only thing missing is a gold chain or some sort of neck chain, a bigger silver watch, UZI machine-gun and a Ferarri Testarossa. I know...I am dreaming and its lame LOL.

It's been quite a reunion to meet with them again! Actually before this two weeks school holiday started, I have started my own school holiday...why? Because literally I felt sick 2 weeks before the holiday (plus the swine flu outbreak is quite hot in that time), and when the time comes for me to fully recover I got sick again, thus it brings the total holiday to a full 3-4 weeks holiday! So it's been like 1 month I haven't meet them. Of course, I miss them and besides, you can't live without friends do ya?

You can see Mia, Munirah, Mahirah, Sahira and Mia's cousin/nephew. This is picture is taken during a musical pillow game (I forgot the name, but its like passing the pillow to your friend side by side, in a round position) which if a person receive the pillow, they will have to take a dare inside a cup filled with "dare papers". I got one, but its a super lousy dare in my own opinion LOL; spin around until you're dizzy and points your finger out and say to the person "I hate you!". Can it be any better or worse?

Ijam got a little bit crazy right after the camera is pointed at him.

This is Mia's nephew or cousin (sorry, I forgot...haven't eaten my breakfast yet LOL) and they are the one who provided the entertainment for the house.

What's up Firdaus!

The poor cake just got harassed LOL.

From left: Mia, Deeb and Hanie...which one do you choose hahaha.

Harassed cake model!

Assistant Monitor and Monitor posing, cool wei...not.

Overall, I think this birthday party is very very havoc, full with joys and laughter nevertheless. In fact I stayed at Mia's house until its almost 1am in the morning! Talk about fun, yeah. The food and beverages (which I don't have a picture of it, sorry) on that particular night is all very salivating and mouth watering...you got lamb, satay, kebab, chicken shank, a bottled sarsi drink, lemonade, cupcakes, chocolate and others which I forgot. I ate almost all of them, since I haven't had my lunch yet on that day since I'm keeping my stomach empty just for the night. The food was great, and surprisingly I like the bottled sarsi that much that I managed to drink 3 or 4 bottles of em. Hahaha. Anyway..till the next blog posting!

Zamil

Officially Uncle Zam! What?!

Meet my newborn nephew, Adam Ilhan Bin Muhammad Zayyani Syazwan. Isn't he so adorable? He was born on 5th of Jun 2009, 3:06pm at Prince Court Hospital KL. He weights 3.26kg with a length of 50cm.

Seeing this baby was like magical. I've seen many babies in my life but seeing Adam which is my 2nd bro's own baby feels different. I couldn't believe that he is a proud daddy now. Well that is what I felt, its just amazing.

Zamil

Is Sunday doomed to be the most boring day?

For me, yes.

I don't know why, every time when it reaches Sunday I will feel boring and had nothing else to do. Even if there's an outdoor activity, I demand an extreme kind of activity rather then the usual boring normal activity such as shopping, hanging out, watching movies and so on in the list. You wake up and think "What the hell I'm gonna do today?", well that is usually what Sundays are all about. Sundays are made for rest I guess. If you have a restless spirit then no day is good for resting. I know that for a fact that every Sunday in has been boring because there is not that much to.

Honestly, Sunday is the most turn-off days for me. It does not give me any inspiration nor ideas to do something. My friend did call me and asked me if I wanted to watch a movie at One Utama but I simply rejected it nicely because I don't feel like to. Even though it seems like a good idea, but I simply don't have the grooves or mood to watch a movie. Like I said, I prefer to do something extreme today. The other normal kind of activity such as hanging out, shopping, watching movies or whatever it is surprisingly normal for me on the any other ordinary day but NOT Sunday.

If you are talking about drift events, that is what I would like to go/do on this boring Sunday! Pack my camera gears up, some medicine, mineral water and off I go. Taking pictures of car sideways, meeting drifters and friends, knowing or learning something new on the process, experience a drift ride again, watching the drifters to their thing and those tsuiso battle is what pumps my adrenaline up and bring excitement to my life and day. How I wish I can get the stuff I want in my 2009 Wishlist especially a DSLR, Playstation 3 or even work for a part time job for today!

Sigh. Right now I'm just chilling my a*s off while playing games at Bored.com. Yeah its quite fun for now. If you say go and study, hell no. Seriously. With this kind of mood you would not even want to touch the book for God's sake.

I am wondering, what do you guys do especially on Sunday? Care to share anything interesting?

Zamil

Domokun!

If you notice lately, I've been posting on the weekend the most. Why? Because currently I am trying not to be a 'computer and internet' addict, which I am for the past 2 years. If you think I'm trying to change my daily routine right now, yes. Well I'm growing up, hence I think its time for me to prepare for the real world 100 percent. Yeah I can still go out, hang out, or whatever but its time to face the music; this is my last year in school and next year you won't be wearing the same boring white uniform with green pants anymore. Wake up dude!

Anyway, I just got this special gift from my friend.

The infamous Domokun! If you don't know what it is, check here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domo-kun. To be honest, I don't really know much about the cartoon or whatsoever. It's just that it looked sooooooooo Japanese, and it represent Japan well. It says JDM!

A horrible attempt of me to mimic this fella face..bleh..

Well Kazu, I think you got this too right? Muahehe.

Zamil

2009 Pameran Grafik Berkomputer - Part 2

CAUTION: IT WILL BE A LONG READ AND STORY AHEAD. PLEASE, TAKE YOUR TIME.

Okay, its weekend and I got all the time for this now.Time to settle this once and for all. Last posting was all about my product display. This time I'm gonna post all about whats what on my exhibition. From rehearsal day to the real exhibition day.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE FOR BIGGER SIZES.

6 May 2009 - Rehearsal Day

For now lets check out the first day at the hall, which is the rehearsal day.

As you can see, this is what it looks like before. The Form 4 and Form 5 are busy setting up the tables and the green board so that we can display our work nicely and beautifully.

Meanwhile this is the scene at the stage. Some are completing their last minute work, some are busy decorating and modifying their product or design, some are busy decorating the stage, some are printing some stuff while some just decided to hang around and goofing out lol.

See, I told you. This is Deeb, adjusting some of her work and she is helping Ilman with his business card..which needed to be cut manually. After the tables has been set on, then its time for us to put on our mounting board with our design work on it. It's quite a pain in the a*s as the board is quite...hard! We're using nails or thumbtacks to put our mounting board to the board..but the board is not the soft type of board. It's hard and you need to use all of your energy to push the thumbtacks or nails in!

This is Syuhada, she's my "neighbour" in this exhibition as her booth is only next to mine. And yes we had to share the board too. One side is for my work, and one side for hers.

Luckily two of my best buddy Yusof and Haziq came and help me to mount the freaking mounting board and hold it up at the board! And oh yeah, you can also check out what I've designed with my bare hand...which is placed on the board. There's the Radiator Cap, Letterhead, T-Shirt, Bunting, Brake Kit, Poster and Envelope.

This is what it looks like shortly afterward. Everybody is busy placing their mounting board, decorating the tables or "booth", while some is trying to sort out other things. Speaking about decorating, I have one thing that most other student don't have which is..

..a banner! It's quite big, and how much these babies cost me? A reasonable RM26 for TWO, thank you. Yes, two.

The initial stage of my booth...which originally covered by a red batik and a black batik on top before I made my mind to change it to a normal black table cloth. Why? Car parts don't go well with Batik, and I even received a comment from my graphic teacher's husband (yeah..) which he told me to change it or it will look weird. Thank you very much. Anyway, this is how my booth looks like after its been finished:

Tadaa! This was before all those crazy Toyo Tires, RB25 turbine and Skyline intercooler were putted because on that particular day I don't yet to receive the item.

Another surprise...there you can see the poster/flyer and my business card been laid on the table. As for the mounting board you can now spot the big bad Exhaust, Bunting Advertisement Style and the Flyer/Poster.

Yes, my Logitech G25 is present as well. But due to some circumstances, I decided not to bring it on on the real day. Why? I don't like the idea of a crazy madman toying with my shifter too much as it can break anytime because they simply just play it. Then I don't want them to queue up too long until my booth is super over crowded and I had to get another buddy of mine to look after it while I look after the booth. I've been considerate yeah, so sorry to others for taking one of the "fun" factors out. But thankfully I replaced my gaming to a showcase of D1GP, D1SL and even the D1GP All-Star Irwindale 2008 (where Tengku Djan participated in) videos, where they got to see the true pro doing it in style instead of watching em' on movies!

After all of our booth were set up, the exhibition rehearsal started...the emcee are getting warmed up, the dancers and the silat performer are pumped up and the teacher are getting prepared. I got to say the dance and the silat show was super interesting, not quite a new concept but a great and innovative idea done by them. Who is them you ask? They are Form 4 Cyber student, and they are our junior! Cool job guys.

On that particular day too, I almost got heart attack. Why? I left my laptop and my videocam at the school! It was around 4 to 5pm when I reached home after I accompanied my friend Mia to MyT, a shop specialist in making custom made T-Shirt, Logos, Tag Button and so on. Then I realised something; where is my laptop bag? I thought its already inside the car when I tried to search for it, but then the bag is nowhere to be seen! My dad was getting panicked which makes me panicked aswell. But then my insticnt (or 6th sense, whatever) tells me that the laptop is at school. Without further ado I rushed back to school and yeah to my surprise its there, been taken care off by my friend Jaja and Ummu. Apparently I left it at the canteen, and one of the canteen worker saw it and gave it to my friend which fortunately they are eating at the canteen at that time! My videocam too was there inside the hall too. Fuh..what a day that Allah wanted to test me.

Anyway, when nightfall comes and the sun sets away, Nazrul (Along) from Team Toyo Drift Malaysia rang up my phone and say he will deliver all the goodies tonight! I already knew what he will deliver, just that I don't know how it looks like, whats the size of it and how many they were. When he arrived (around 9-10pm), I was in state of shock when I see all those goodies. They were simply mindblowing. The Toyo Tires are darn big and awesome..its nice to see them in a fresh state. The intercooler and the turbine are extraordinary, they were big and heavy! Wanbra was there too, and he even offered me to become an Admin at the Feinto.D website after he saw my graphic work. Along too did ask me to design a new vinyl for his new drift car, because he said "bored of seeing the Toyo Japan drift car vinyl design for our cars, I want something new". I'll see what I can do for both of these amazing guys.

After that, I decided to place my company sticker into each and one of the products, just to show that they are "produced" by my company. At least I don't have to spend thousands to buy all those high performance parts and tires. Besides that, I am giving Toyo Tires a free publicity and I think that is a good way to promote them even though it is just a small display.

The stickers before I put some of them to those car parts.

Because the intercooler was huge, and the thickness is around 4' inches, I decided to goof around for a while and took this picture. I look small compared to the intercooler!

After that, I decided to pack up and compile everything nicely and neatly for the next day as shown in the above pic. Those two exhaust pipes sticking out looks like some bōsōzoku one's isn't it?

Later on I'm off to bed for a nice goodnight sleep while thinking about the big day tomorrow..

7 May 2009 - The Exhibition Day

The day has come. There is not time to play and its time for me to face the music. Time to make it short; I woke up around 6am, getting all prepared and ready, puts all my stuff inside my dad's MPV, and on 7.10am off we go to school. Arrived there 6 minutes later, and I call up two of my best buddy Syafiq and Amal to help me unload the goodies up to my booth. The heaviest has got to be the intercooler, and the oddest thing was the Toyo's. When I carry all these stuff (with my friend help, of course) most of the students and some prefects were looking at em with a "What the f**k is that? Why that fella bring this?", look at me. Quite funny though LOL!

The exhibition starts at 8am in the morning, but the guess comes around 8.20 so I have few more more minutes to sort out my booth before it started. Yeah everything is nicely done, with help from my friend Syafiq. Thanks a bunch dude. By this time I was sweating a lot, to be honest I was afraid I will smell like a durian on that particular day while laying my ass off at my booth LOL! But thank god I don't. By the way, this is what my booth looks like:

Ignore me, I look weird. But somehow I look like a businessman on work hahaha. Anyway you can see I've relocated some of the parts on my table, put the Toyo Tires below with a sticker on top of it, the big Infinite Skyline GTR Intercooler with the Turbo Timer and Apexi AVCD, and lastly a laptop located far left in that picture which replaced my Logitech G25 for the day.

See those BIG exhaust pipes and the extractor? Roar.

"Toyo Tires - Driven to Perform are now available at Hypersports Performance!", that is what it says.

Because of all the hard work, I accidently touch or hit something earlier which I don't even know what which makes my finger skin tore a little bit and bleed. Luckilly, Mia has a plaster and she graciousfully offered me not one but two. Thanks..ehem.

This is how it looks like after 8pm++. Teachers, students and parents, who ever they are. It was crowded and I can feel the tension and pressure. After all those gracious dance and silat show, it was time for the PK Hem to give a little bit of speech and to officially launch the exhibition. Nothing much really, basicly all those common routine you done on a exhibition. Don't believe me? See below.

Now get what I mean?

Okay before I move further ahead, lets take a look of some of my friends booth..pictures courtesy of my Dad and Deeb.

Mia (thats not her anyway) - Maxiimiini Sdn Bhd

Ilman - ILL Clothing Sdn Bhd

Wan Haziq - Clothes 4 Life (C4L) Sdn Bhd

Amal - Super Art Style (S.A.S.) Design Sdn Bhd

Deeb (sorry can't see your face) - Newfaces Modelling/Photography Agency Sdn Bhd

Nizam (our class monitor) - Line Fox Communication Sdn Bhd

Zulsyazwan - Izgraphy Sdn Bhd

Back to posting. Right after the speech, montage video display and also the exhibit launching, the emcee would announce the winner of Booth Terbaik (The Best Booth at the Exhibit) on the exhibition it self. To be honest, I don't have high hopes or I don't think that I have the chance of winning compared to others. But this is what my tought has been putted into this exhibition and what I've been thinking:

1) my booth is simple, nothing much.

2) I am showcasing what my passion and likes has brought me up today, from the days I've been toying with Hotwheel cars to the present day I've been involved in drifting and real cars.

3) I'm just having fun out there literally, without fun everything won't become interesting.

4) To display and done something which nobody had done before to the extreme by showing and bringing out all those high performance parts such as intercooler, turbo and so on.

5) By trying to promote the sports of drifting, the man involved behind, the parts needed, and share my experiences and try to give information and advices as lot as possible to those who doesn't understand much about the automotive related industry.

This is what kept my spirit alive in doing this. Those 5 important and helpful things. And please don't think I am been cocky, because this is what I worked hard for. Anyway, to my surprise,I won 1st place for Booth Terbaik (The Best Booth at the Exhibit) on that particular day! I was shocked but was smiling and laughing too! I mean, my friend had other better booth design then me, but I was choosen among the rest. Alhamdulillah I am so thankful to Allah for the everything I done. This just proves that "even if you're praying hard for what you want, without a hardwork it won't just happen."

The 1st price hamper sitting down nicely...I still can't believe that I actually won..Oh and one more thing, I've also been interviewed by eduwebtv.com, a government education website which showcase all about education but I've yet to check it out at the website.

This is what I call: WIN WIN WIN! LOL!

Okay, enough of that. I would like to express my greatest token of gratitude and thank you to Yasin, Amer, Nazrul (Along), my Parents, Bormas, Syafiq, Amal, Yusof, Haziq, Cikgu Samsuriani, Deeb, Deborah, Kak Yan and others who been involved or helping me with my project for this 2009 Graphic Exhibition. This will be one of my greatest memories when I leave this school at the end of the year. Also thank you for all the readers who's been supporting and reading my blog from its humble beginning to what it has become right now. Thank you so much.

Till then.

Zamil