Part 3- The Day

My convocation day. Dr. Noreen’s birthday.
The night before my convocation day, we slept at Rumah Tumpangan Ah Chong at Puchong. (actually, it is not the real Rumah Tumpangan Ah Chong, but I like to call it that way)

We checkout at 6.30 a.m. Reached Jas Café for breakfast. Even the guy who is in charge to make the drinks haven’t turned up. In this case, early birds do not get the best worm. Ihiks!
Along the way from Puchong to UPM seem to be the longest journey for me. Reflecting for what I have gone through for the past six years. Until ‘juling-juling’ reading Shakespeare and Austen’s texts.

My final year degree was the hardest of all. Until I felt that I want to gave up, and extend for a semester or a year. Although I know it is impossible. All the loss that I and my course mates had gone through. All these, do actually makes us a better person, or at least have done a great job at ‘damaging’ our brains. Just like Dr. Fauziah said, “short circuited”.

Pictures speaks thousands words

Jemputlah..

Membega peranggu

Hasil kerja dua hari

My bodyguards?

Apa yang penting, kerjasama..

Menuju ke dewan utama

Miss Koh and Miss Ain

Graduasi berlima (Elly’s pregnant!)

Black, white, grey and red

Purdue University?

Prof M ~ graduated from 5 institutions
[MRSM Muar, UiTM (twice), ACCA (at PWTC), UPM]

Chronology of My Convocation-Part 2

9.00 a.m.
Ocean of people queuing up to take the robe. I was a little bit lost, so I called Faiz. She told me that she’s still on her way, and asked me to call Sam since she’s already there.
“Sammy, ko kat ne? Kena beratur katne?”
(Although I’m an English teacher, we do still speak Bahasa most of the time. I’m sure Dr. Ed will kill us if he knows about this)
“Ko cari line yang paling pendek skali kat Kaunter 1”
“Wokeh. Thanks”
Where is Kauter 1?
I walk all around DKAP before I finally see Kaunter 1. It takes almost 30 minutes at that counter before we move on to Kaunter 2.

Kaunter 2
As we worked together to make sure everybody can do their job quicker and faster, it took almost 30 minutes too at this counter.

Kaunter 3
This, is the MOST TERRIBLE COUNTER. We took ALMOST TWO AND A HALF HOURS ONLY AT THIS COUNTER. What a terrible thing!!! This is not the first time UPM held convocation. I expect that at this counter everything will be like the previous two counters. To make things worse, as usual, Malaysian are very ‘good’ at queuing up. Everybody was just like goat, pushing each other to the counter. After waiting almost an hour, one of the officers suddenly announced,

“Beratur, beratur, kalau tak saya tutup kaunter”
What the …
This can be avoided if the put a tape or anything to segregate from one counter to another, just like the past three counters. We were push to the back and all the blisters on my feet start to ache again. To make things worse, the guy on front or me stepped on my feet a few times. Pergh!
Bad, bad experience.

Kaunter 4
Finally, we reached this counter after ‘fighting’ at Kaunter 3.

Kaunter tidak bernama
“Jual, jual. Beg konvo. Satu 6 ringgit, dua 10 ringgit”
Faiz: Jom kita share. Save 2 ringgit.
Ain: Wokeh. (Hihihihi)

End of Part 2, although it is not the end of that day, as we (me, Faiz, my sister and her Encik-Tunang) go round to shopping (Yay, for me and Faiz)

Chronology of My Convocation

1.00 p.m.
My bags are partially packed. When I reach the door, my hand phone rang.
“Ain, Ayu kata da lagi satu survey kena jawap la.”
“Ye ke? Alamak mana nak sempat ni. Bas aku pukul 3 nanti. Anyway, thanks.”
My watch said it’s already 1.00 p.m. My bus will be on 3.00 p.m. Sempat ke?
Quickly I took out my laptop and printer. Connect to the internet. Unfortunately, unable to go to the Net. Urgh!!!

1.25 p.m.
Still sitting in font of the laptop. I can’t wait. I switched off everything. Took my bath and pray. Switch off everything except the fridge. Packed my laptop and printer. I must be ready before 2.30 p.m.

2.30 p.m.
Hungry hungry hippo. I locked up everything and started walking to B.K. On the ticket says, my bus will arrive at 3.15 p.m. The first place that I must go is the TAILOR!
“Auntie, I nak tempah baju la.”
“Aiya, you punya beg banyak besar la. Kasi turun.”
“Auntie, I nak tempah Baju Kurung Pahang, tapi leher I nak buat cekak musang.”
“Cekak musang. Itu yang macam mana?”
“Ala, yang macam Baju Melayu lelaki tu. I nak 5 butang tau auntie.”
“Ok, ok. Kasi angkat ukuran dulu.”
“Auntie, kasi ikut macam ini baju boleh ka?” (I brought along a sample)
“Boleh, boleh. Tapi kasi angkat ukuran leher dulu a…”
“Auntie, ini baju contoh kasi tinggal sini boleh ka? Beg I sangat berat la…”
“Mau tinggal ka? Boleh, boleh. Tak da masalah. You mau angkat ini baju bila?
“Emmm… 17 haribulan boleh ka auntie? Saya mau angkat kasi jahit manik la. Boleh auntie?”
“O…you mau letak manik ka? Macam kat baju ni ka? (referring to the sample that I brought)
“Haah la auntie”
“Boleh, boleh. You banyak pandaila kasi letak ini manik a…”
“Sikit-sikit boleh la auntie.”
“Boleh, boleh. You angkat ini baju 17 haribulan. Ini baju (the sample) kasi tinggal. Betul?”
“Betul la tu auntie. Ok la auntie, I nak pergi KL ni. Bas I pukul tiga suku ni auntie. Thanks a auntie.”
“Ok, ok.”

3.05 p.m.
I stopped at Shell. Bought a mineral water, two buns and a mag. Then, I waited for the bus

3.15 p.m.
Sharp. The bus reached as promised. All that I know after that is darkness. I fell asleep.

[Unknown]
“Turun, turun. Semua naik bas yang depan ni.”
Stesen Bas Pulau Sebang.
Unwillingly I woke up and walked to the bus. I can’t sleep. Then I message my sister, asking her to do the survey for me. That’s it. I’m not cheating, but up till at that moment, I still have not got the letter from UPM.

6.50 p.m.
I reached Pudu. Quickly I got down from the bus and buy another ticket, to go back to my hometown on Sunday. Then I went to find the surau, Asar prayer. Finished. It’s raining quite heavily, but told myself, if I do not continue now, I might stuck at Pudu forever. It’s raining heavily until I have to buy an umbrella (sing, Rihanna song, “ella, ella, ella… ")

7.50 p.m.
After walking through the rain all the way from Pudu to Pasar Seni LRT Station, from Pasar Seni LRT Station to Universiti LRT Station, I finally managed to reach my sister’s house. Maghrib prayer. Then I told my sister that I want to go to Mid Valley. With all the blisters on my feet, I still want to go to MV. She said that she will go with me, although her Encik-Tunang is supposed to come and see her. I don’t care. Even if she doesn’t want to go with me, I will still go to MV.

8.15 p.m.
We reached MV. Of course, the first place that I went is… LAKSA SHACK!!! I’m a big fan of Laksa Sarawak, although actually I hate laksa. After that, we went to MPH. And of course, I must buy new novel from FT.

10.45 p.m.
“Kepada semua pelanggan MPH, kami akan menamatkan operasi kami dalam masa 15 minit lagi. Sila selesaikan transaksi anda yang terakhir. I brought everything to the counter and paid. The total is almost RM 100. Wo!

11.05 p.m.
My sister’s Encik-Tunang came and fetches us. We went to I don’t know where, but I my sister bought a clothes for her company’s dinner and the theme is retro. Hehe..

11.50 p.m.
Reach home safely. Brush my teeth and sleep. What a day!