Lobo's Lessons

Image credit here . I used to always think it was strange that Dad was never able to sit through a whole movie with us when we were growing up. He would perhaps start watching one with us, and leave after about 30 minutes, to do whatever it was that he would rather be doing. That is, until I found myself challenged trying to finish a whole movie myself, without feeling the urge to hit the fast-forward button, at times, or even getting up and going to my study to do something else that was more productive. I can't remember exactly when I started behaving this way, but I think it could have started sometime during my PhD. Unless it was a movie that I really wanted to watch (and not my children), then I found that it was almost impossible to sit through the whole thing. Things that I normally found more engaging/pressing/interesting than watching through a whole movie: The Internet. Yes. That's right. Even though it was little more than scrolling through my Facebook ...

Although moving in with my parents takes more than a little adjustment, there is one thing that you can't beat here. It's the ability to take your work literally outdoors. Right now, it's 10.30am on a Monday morning. I've attended the monthly address by the UTM Vice-Chancellor, made a few important phone calls, and had breakfast. Only thing is I realise I made a boo-boo. The key to my room/office is attached to the keyring that holds my car-keys. My car-keys are used for my car. My car is being used by my wife. This would mean: 1.0 I have no keys to my office   1.1 I cannot enter my office   1.2 I cannot do the work that I have to do   1.3 Feeling sheepish, and a little annoyed. Perfect for a palm-to-forehead moment. 2.0 I am using my bike   2.1 I look frickin'cool wearing an all black suit, black half-cut gloves and a deep-red full-face racing helmet, racing along on what appears to be a superbike.   2.2 I do not f...

It has been three agonising months just doing what NZ Immigration has asked me to do, and waiting for the damn results from the medical assessors to be returned. Call up NZ Immigration this morning. Answer from NZ Immigration "Sorry, the medical examiner needs more information. They need a liver function test, and a hepatitis test. Sorry you're going to have to call up the university and ask them to postpone the starting date for a while". I am crushed. Not as bad as a full out rejection, but still bad. This means a few more hundred/thousand ringgit on useless tests, with still no guarantee of anything by the end of it. This means waiting another month after I do the tests to see if I need to do more tests, or if I am through, or if I am rejected. This means another whole month of worrying. This means another whole month of answering the onslaught of the usual friendly question - "So when are you going?". I think I'm almost burnt out and ja...

It's a dream come true for many people to have the ability to make money out of thin air.  Heck it's even my dream too... But, unlike some of my respected friends and colleagues, I believe that a money-making system has to be verifiable and sustainable.  Reason? I've been burned before. By whom? This ratty thieving company called IPC that market this ratty scheme called Em-Pay. How do you do it? May sound familiar to many of you. Buy in at so and so amount. Get people to buy in at so and so amount. Wait for the money to roll in. As long you keep on rolling in the suckers, you get their share of money. When you stop reeling in suckers, your money stops too. Except with this ratty company, I didn't even get what I invested in back. Bastards. Anyhow, any of this sound familiar? I'm sure it does. Right now, there's a very successful one going round in a popular Social Networking Site (SNS). It sort of goes like this: Make RM*** a day logging on to *******....

Image credit here I love Facebook. I really do. It's cool. It's got all you need to tell people about you - your photos, your likes, your dislikes, what you did for the weekend, what your grandmother had for breakfast etc. One thing I like about Facebook is that it gives the opportunity for people to tell the truth about their relationship status, whether they were single, married, in a relationship and so on. As a social scientist who is somewhat versed in discourse analysis, allow me to analyse a few of them. 1) SINGLE - a lot of lovelorn teens and young adults post this as their relationship status. Mostly, when they say they are single on Facebook you can generally believe it. Reason - they're going to get a whacking/tongue lashing from their significant other, who is also on Facebook. 2) (Not Stated) - This equivocation is one usually used by people who are in a relationship but are not comfortable in admitting it yet, or are in a relationship but their significant ot...

Got my new Dell Inspiron 1464 about 2 weeks back. Paid about RM2600 for it. That was after paying about RM2300 getting a second Macbook to replace the one that got stolen from my car 4 months back. Ouch... Anyhoo, back to my new Dell Inspiron. Loved the whole thing. Looked awesome. Performed good on graphics and video editing. In short, all that I was looking for for that price range in a laptop. Except for one... The batteries absolutely SUCKED! I only managed to get about 2 hours doing the most basic tasks. Then I read up on them, and found that they should last about 2.5 to 3 hours. Felt I was being shortchanged. Looked up on the website. Registered for this and that. Filled in the forms. Sent the complaints, Felt confident as they said they would respond within next working day. Waited 2 days... Nothing. Got agitated, and spent 30 minutes on the website, trying to figure out who to call. Finally got a number. Was asked to key in my Express Service number or something. Keyed that in...

Image credit here It's funny how during the semester there's never enough time. It's classes, then consultations, then meetings, then vetting, then preparations for the upcoming LSP Conference in KL, then preparations for NZ... The list just goes on and on... Throughout this whole time you're thinking to yourself I'm just so busy, and I can't take this anymore, and I wish it would stop. And then it does. Suddenly before you know it, you're saying your farewell speech, and wishing the students good luck for their final examinations. The students hug you and with tears in their eyes, telling you how much they have enjoyed studying under you... They give you cards and presents, and stuff you with food... And then it hits you that you are going to miss them... A lot... No more joking with them... No more ordering them to sing when they come late for class... No more slagging them when they slack off... Even though it happens every semester, the cycle rarely chan...

SCENE 1: CAMERA VIEW: POV Me at Woodlands Checkpoint. Singapore customs clearance. Filling in disembarkation form. I finish writing everything and hand over my form, along with my Passport and IC to the rather stern-looking female Indian Customs officer. She takes my documents. She looks at the documents. She looks up at me. She looks at the documents again, and says "Abdullah Mohd Nawi... Ooooo... Melayu kaa? Saya ingat Cina...." (Translation: Abdullah Mohd Nawi... Ohhhh... You're a Malay? I thought you were Chinese...) CAMERA VIEW: My face (Closeup) ...wtf?... FADE

I came across this beautiful quote today: "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened" - Dr Seuss

Somehow, there's a magical draw to this place... When I want work done I sit here. Pay RM6 extra for coffee than I would in any other place. Pay RM5 extra for pastry than I would in any other place. Sit in plush chairs which are would make an office ergonomist cringe while hunched over, doing work that I could as easily do at the office. Listen to bad jazz music that should have died 50 years ago blaring out of the loudspeakers. And yet, here I am... hunched over, doing my work, while drinking overpriced coffee... eating an overpriced, overcooked croissant...with butter and jam... I must be daft...

Picture credit here A lot of my readers may be wondering why the past two months have been extremely quiet here in Lobo's Lessons. Well folks, truth is so much has gone down the past two months I can barely recall anything. It's all one big blur. Next thing I know, the semester has just started again, and I'm left with the question: ..."Where'd my holidays go?"... Let me fill you in on some of what I can remember from these past two months: 1) End of term - marking frenzy to submit marks on time. 2) Once marking was done, got 2 SPACE UTM classes for part-time students - 1 in Kuching and 1 in JB (thank God...last year it was Kuching and KL). 3) Fly off to Kuching every other weekend, and go straight back to work the following Monday. 4) Teach weekend classes in JB every other weekend, and go straight to work on Monday. 5) Attend MELTA conference while still actively doing what needs to be done back at the faculty. 6) Was awarded post of Head of Committee for le...

Every journey has a beginning, and an ending... And thus, my wonderful journey that I embarked on as a lecturer to my first Drama in Education cohort is almost coming to an end... I remember seeing them all, one by one, their faces eager to learn, but shying away in the beginning, all reserved in the small cocoons of their own little worlds... And when they opened up, one by one, I saw in them different, beautiful personalities, each unique in their own way... each finding a place in my affections...and eventually each finding a place in my heart. Yesterday night was a special night that marked the ending of this journey with them, on the one hand a sense of overwhelming pride that I had directly played a part in their journeys as teachers, building the very foundation of our nation, and even more so, as human beings, being the very essence of who they were and what they became... To commemorate this night, I sang for them... A tune that they all knew and loved... A tune that we shared...

It used to be that I couldn't drink coffee... I've always loved coffee, but somewhere starting along my mid-20s I developed a condition that would cause me to bloat whenever I indulged in this glorious beverage. As a result, it would be a case of 'eat now, pay later', where all the enjoyment of the present would be counterweighed by the unpleasant consequences of the near future. A painful acid-reflux reaction often does that to people. So the question that I would have to ask myself would be - "How badly do I need that cup of coffee?" But strangely enough, over the past few weeks, I found that coffee didn't have this averse effect on me anymore...temporary relief or permanent healing? I don't know... Perhaps it's the mangosteen juice that I've been drinking... Anyhow, from the frying pan into the fire... Now I can't get enough of that dark delicious aroma... Tantalising my taste buds all through the working day, enticing me into its hot an...

Today in the Star, my friend (at least I hope he is) Anas Zubedy made a brave stand against the entire embicility that is our government, and all the involved players called politicians. For those who did not read the full-page advert/plea, I paste its contents below. My hat off to you bro. Dear Malaysian Politicians , Please stop the power chase, call for a truce and focus on the economy. I do not claim to speak on behalf of all Malaysians, but I have strong convictions that many share my sentiments.  Our concern today is not who rules the country or heads the state governments but the looming bad economy. Whether Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat leads, it is meaningless if Malaysians have no job to go to, no money to pay rent and no means to put food on the table. I am a business owner, like other business owners and managers of corporations I have a responsibility to ensure people under my care and payroll continue to have jobs and a decent income to take home. We work hard and wi...

It's been a hectic 2 days for me here in Putrajaya..Shacked up and slumming in the majestic open vistas of the Putrajaya landscape, as seen from the balcony of the Shangri-La...   These hotel stays are detrimental to my waistline as I am a bit of a gourmand... (enough said). Buuut I try to compensate with trips to the hotel gym and swimming pool. It was just last weekend I was in KL, and now just under a week later here I am again.. But this time in the capacity as MC for the establishment of the Meiji University Alumni Association of Malaysia, of which university our present PM Pak Lah and our previous PM Tun Dr Mahathir had received honorary doctorates... A rather daunting task for the uninitiated. But for me I'm happy to say it was a breeze! Another feather in the cap of this MC! So, after a looooooooooooooooong session of speeches, food, and incessant bowing (of which I am actually very accustomed), it is now finally over. Overall, a good haul of networking contacts I would...

I write this entry in a beautiful hotel room in the hotel Flamingo by the Lake.. Tomorrow, I face all the bigshots of the local universities who have anything to do with student films in a meeting at FINAS...And I'm wondering what the heck am I doing here? I scan through the name list of the attendees - Dato this, and Tan Sri that, and I see their positions - Deputy Vice Chancellor, Director, Dean... And who am I? Encik ( Mr ) Abdullah Bin Mohd Nawi. What is my post? - lecturer, department of modern languages. What is my relevance to the local film scene? - I teach drama in education, I supervise theatre performances, I act in the occasional short film... but that's about it... Honestly... What am I doing here?

It's just so hard trying to find time to do everything I need to do.  First, I've got to take care of matters at work, which include lectures and tutorials, consultations, research, and a billion other things so minute that it wouldn't be worth the time to mention them. Second, I've got my personal life to take care of - seeing that I have time for myself as to not burn out, spending time with the wife and kid, spending time with the parents, parents-in-law, family and extended family, and some friends. Third, I've got to take care my self-development - Seeing to my role as the Vice President of Education in Toastmasters, working my way up up to Competent Communicator and hopefully Competent Leader within the organisation, constantly upgrading my knowledge on my subject matter, and of course, chase that ever elusive PhD proposal that I was supposed to have finished last semester. Fourth, I've got to take care of the other things as well, Emceeing jobs, giving ta...

Ahhh, it's that time of the year again, where bloggers delightfully indulge in the activity called 'tagging', and this time round I have been tagged by Fauziah Ismail . And so, to kill multiple birds with one stone (by answering this tag I also answer previous tags made by some blogger friends), here are 25 random facts about me: 1)I used to be a gaming addict during my student years, playing games from dawn to dusk on my computer and console when I had the time. Not so much anymore, though I do enjoy the occasional game. 2) I first met my wife at the bowling alley. We were both teachers, bringing our bowling teams for the district tournament. 3) I used to think that my name was ‘Ambulat’ when I was about 4, but got to know otherwise a year later. This was probably because my parents always called me by my full name, and that was how it sounded to a small child... Kinda aptly describes my shape now though. 4) To date, I have written 5 songs, most of them during my col...

Can Christians and Muslims co-exist on God's Earth?  By right we should be able to, as among all the religions in the world, we are most closely bound together by blood and faith. We are sibling religions, and yet we have waged war amongst ourselves since the time of the Crusades, and still do until today, spilling precious blood for the glory of what we perceive our religions to be. Yes, there is a time for war. However, there is a time for peace. I was going through this blog that I recently discovered, and found a diamond in the rough. It would seem that I am not alone in my views. I repost the entry taken from here : I congratulate the Perak Mufti Datuk Seri Dr Harussani Zakaria as 2008’s recipient of the Tokoh Maal Hijrah. I would also like to thank him in making clear that Islam is tolerant towards the other faiths.  As he quoted, “We do not condemn Jesus because he, too, is a prophet in Islam. Neither do we destroy the many temples and places of worship because our religion ...

Photo credit here There is something almost irresistable when a motorcyclist is faced with a red light. He stops (if he loves life). Soon, one by one, his brethren start forming a line on both sides, each stopping as if held by the invisible shield of the red traffic lights.  Each biker a stranger, on different bikes, from different walks of life.  Each trying not to be seen looking at one another, though one does catch discreet glimpses at individual bikes, marveling at bigger and tougher bikes, and triumphing over the smaller, cheaper bikes. Each pair of eyes fixed to the traffic lights ahead of them, not daring to miss a beat for fear that they would be left behind in the oncoming onslaught of heavy traffic behind them. Brothers in arms, for sixty seconds, until the changing of the light. Soon there is an elecric quality of excitement buzzing in the air. VROOM! VROOM! engines are revved mere seconds before the lights change to the all-powerful colour of the US currency. 5... 4.. 3.....