Journey of My Life

Assalamualaikum,

This will not be a typical post that you would find on my blog. This semester I'm taking Computer Aided Drug Design and for some reason our lecturer asked us to create a blog. I'm sure she has her own reasons, and since I already have a blog its not much of a burden. So this entry will be for the CADD subject, and as the title suggests, its about the journey of my life (a brief version) and in the end a little description of my final year project (FYP).

So lets begin at the beginning. I wasn't born in Malaysia, most of my close friends already know this. I was born in Australia, and moved here when I was 3 years old. My parents are both Malay, not Aussies, so I was always going to be a Malaysian. I was just born in Australia. Stayed in Kelana Jaya in my early years, and spent the later part, the majority of my youth in Bangsar, before moving to Kota Kemuning when I was in Form 5. Did 1.5 years in the IIUM Matriculation Centre studying Biological Science, and now in my final year in IIUM Kuantan studying Biomedical Science. Thus ends the journey of my life. I told you it would be brief ;)

Now my FYP. The working title is "Dynamics of Antibody Production". I say working title because I might change it eventually. Basically, I am trying to understand how vaccination affects the dynamics of our body's antibody production, producing changes that are not seen in unvaccinated individuals. In the end I'll try to propose a model which illustrates this change in dynamics insyaAllah.

That's all for now, I'll update my blog again soon with the new "1 Bulan 1 Adab" poster insyaAllah.

Potato Love v2!!

Assalamualaikum,

First, there was "Potato Love?". Now, I give you, "Potato Love v2"!!



Another message from our Creator??

Raya Haji in Malaysia

Assalamualaikum,

Yesterday was the 1st day of Eidul Adha here in Malaysia, and I wouldn't be surprised if most of you upon realising that Eidul Adha was yesterday would think "Eh dah raya dah ke?"

We can't really help it the way Eidul Adha is celebrated here in Malaysia. There's hardly any anticipation for the celebration, nobody builds up any hype leading to the celebration. In Islam, there are really only 2 celebrations that are actually recognised, Eidul Fitri and Eidul Adha. But it seems like in Malaysia we only care about Eidul Fitri.

Before Eidul Fitri, we get all the crazy sales (which shows how commercial the celebration has become), grand decorations in shopping malls, lagu raya being heard almost everywhere you go, even on TV and radio. But what do we see before Eidul Adha? There is almost no hype that the celebration can be 2 days away and we will only just realise it.

If you ask me, the two holidays represent different things in our religion. Eidul Fitri is more like a personal celebration after successfully completing the month of fasting, a victory that is celebrated with friends and family on a grand scale (grand being subjective of course). Eidul Adha on the other hand, is a celebration where the theme is sacrifice. Every year we are reminded of the tale of Nabi Ibrahim and his son Nabi Ismail, how both made huge sacrifices for Allah, and up until this day their story is told as the ultimate case of sacrifice for Allah. What's more, during the ibadah of korban what is it that we do with the daging korban? We feed the poor.

So don't you think looking at both holidays, that Eidul Adha is quite important to the ummah in terms of making us better Muslims? Despite the lack in anticipation and hype, Eidul Adha I think is a very meaningful celebration, one that is greatly undervalued by we Muslims here in Malaysia.

Thank You, Terima Kasih, Syukran.

Assalamualaikum,

BioMalaysia 2009 just concluded a few days ago. I like to think of these exhibitions and conferences as "The Gathering of the Minds", where fellow researchers and aspiring researchers gather and share their new findings and discoveries with each other. A part of the event is the presentation of awards to researchers for their works. I like the fact that researchers are acknowledged and recognised for their work. I mean, research isn't easy, it takes a lot of dedication, hard work, money, and years to complete. In a world where celebrities and famous people are idolised and worshipped, not many people care for the advancements in the field of biomedical and biotechnological research, or research in any field for that matter.

Getting recognition for your work as a researcher to me, is like the scientific community collectively saying "Thank you" to the researcher.

In light of the "1 Bulan 1 Adab" campaign, this months chosen adab is the act of giving thanks, to just about anyone, friends, family, Allah. As humans, we take many things for granted. Things that we should be thankful for yet we aren't. Most times its not that we aren't grateful, just that we forget or overlook the blessings that we are given.

It's said in the Quran that if we were to count our blessings, surely we could not. Yet Allah is All-Forgiving, All-Merciful. He doesn't need our thanks, yet He still blesses us from day to day. Humans on the other hand are emotionally driven, and can be hurt, so the next time someone helps you or offers to help you, don't forget to say thank you.



P.S: I was supposed to tag 3 people, but I think I'll skip this part. If you want to join this effort to promote good manners among our society, you are welcome to do so =)

The Young and The Stylish

Assalamualaikum,

Went to Sunway Pyramid earlier today with my siblings. Watched a movie, did some shopping, looked around at the people. Quite interesting the people we saw.

A few groups of young kids, a lot of families, some couples and a whole lot of tourists. But what was really interesting was looking at what they were wearing.

I understand the need for people to dress nicely when going out in public. I know that people feel good about themselves when they look nice and presentable. Nobody wants to go out looking like a mess who just got out of bed. People dress to impress, and there's nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with wanting to be trendy and stylish, but some people, particularly the younger generation, seem to be a wee bit lebey-lebey you know? A little OTT (over the top) when it comes to their attire.

It seems like everybody is trying to look like celebrities. The glamorous Hollywood kind you know? Like, everybody wants people to see them and go "WOW!" . I don't know, dressing to impress is one thing, but some people take it too far. Wearing sunglasses indoors, wrapping scarves around their necks, fedora's seem to be the in thing now with the young ones. Oh I'm talking about the boys by the way. Just kinda seems, a little like overkill you know.

It's hard you know, keeping your gaze down when people are dressing as ostentatiously as they do today. My brother even saw someone with blue hair. Haih, some people will do anything to get attention.