The MQA Panels have come and done a complete evaluation of our Programme - Bachelor of Animal Production and Health. All the members of the panel of evaluation are my dear friends from UPM.

So the two-day programme went on in a very friendly atmosphere.

Days before the evaluation were hectic. Imagine having to print all the lecture notes, test and exam question papers, answer scripts, etc

The sweetest thing was to hear The Chairman of the panel saying that we have to be proud that our programme is unique in the sense that it covers almost equal portion of animal production and health.

A small concern is that there is too big a gap in the age of lecturers. There are no 30+ - 40+ age group! We all realize this.

It is over and I hope we will get a good report.

Again I was called to mumble and nag about the standard English among us, students and adults alike.

No, I am not flagging-up English just because it is the language of our colonial masters.

It is because, like it or not, most of the present scientific presentations, be it oral or written, are in English.

Even tests and exams are also in English.

We just have to accept that English is important. I know, some of you will say what about the Japanese? The French? The Germans?

I know, they still speak and write in their mother tongue lingo.

No, I don't care about them. What I am interested now is us.

We have to be good in English, that's all.

Please, be serious and listen. We can do it. 

Look at me, a kampung boy, wandering barefoot in the beris soil of Kampung Tuan, far from English-speaking comunity and English books, still have the motivation to improve my English.

I am not bragging or blowing my own trumpet, but you may say that it was the system, we, I mean those of us born in the fifties, are good in English.

Why not look back at how we did it those years. There is no harm and nothing to be ashamed of, to shift into the reverse gear, if that will bring back the standard of English to us.

AGING GRACEFULLY

Friends, old and new, questioned me for doing what I have been doing since my retirement - still working and living alone.

 I told them repeatedly that despite of my retirement, I still have to work and earn a living.

 I just retired from DVS and never from LIFE.

There are still mouths to feed, minds to educate, bodies to cloth, necessities to meet, life to continue and knowledge and skills to pass on.

An FB friend said that it is bad for a man of my age to stay alone 5 days in a week. He proudly told me that he enjoyed life with his family besides him after retirement.

I told him that I am proud of what I am doing now. I know, life can be a bit miserable with the distant-marriage thing and doing many things alone.

I just have to work to continue living. The one and half month leave prior to retirement had taught me that not-doing-anything-for-most-of-the-day was not a good and healthy way of life!

Too much relaxation and a life void of stress kill, or at least make you lose your mind! I don't want to be like that.

My daughter gave me another two years, after that she wanted me to call it a day and she will look after me for the rest of my life. Well, that was what she said. Reality is another thing.

I told her that I will continue working until they found me no more useful. I will work till 65, that is my goal.

I know, some of us also know and may be not many of you know that life as a weekend husband is full of trial and tribulations for marriage.

Feelings of both husband and wife can easily be disturbed by sense of insecurity, loneliness and of course, that dreaded green monster.

Delays in answering an sms or picking up calls have been misunderstood as I was doing something else. Sounds of womanly giggles from the next table during dinner as overheard during mobile conversation could easily be misunderstood as I was enjoying my dinner with the opposite sex!

I know I have gone through some difficult times a few times, but patience, maturity and my great love to my family have made me sailed through the choppy sea, quite smoothly.

To Allah I pray that I will continue be useful to my fellow human beings and age gracefully till my last breath.

Eye-lashed Palm Pit Viper

The ever-changing colour eye-lashed palm pit viper coiled as a spring ever ready to pounce on unsuspected passing-by prey. Don't let its colourful appearance deceives you. It is indeed a very poisonous snake.

It's venom is both hemotoxic and myotoxic, meaning it destrys red blood cells and your muscles. Its extra long slender sharp and curving fangs are scary, to say the least.

It usually lives up trees looking for preys such as birds, rodents and bats.

SEARCHING FOR ENGLISH NOVEL PUBLISHER

My love for writing is forever bubbling, getting stronger all the time. I have finished one and am working hard on the other two.

The first is about my life. I wonder whether my life is worth publishing and will people buy and read the book if it ever gets published.

For me and a few friends who have peeped into parts of it, they all think that it is worth buying.

It is about my life, come to think about it as if have been arranged since very small, as a veterinarian.

It spans from the period when I was four to recently. It covers moments of my life, the times when I was with animals, different species at different time.

It covers games we, children of yesteryears used to play..you know the fighting fish and fighting spiders hunting...


The fruits and berries we used to gather..the fallen sentul, the mushrooms, the bivalves, the shrimps, etc..


The puppy love...the first love...the school and varsity lives...and the marriage..the kids...the accidents...the success..

Losing a son...so on and so forth...

To all publishers out there, please contact me...for I am searching for one to publish my novels...
 

PAPPARDELI, WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO RE-OPEN?

Many, my friends and my children's friends, ask me when Pappardeli restaurant is to be re-opened. Why are they asking? Don't tell me there are no other restaurants in Kemaman that they want to go.

Actually they all, me including, are missing the good food served at Pappardelli.

I always make it a point to go there almost every Thursday night after arriving from Kuala Terengganu. A bowl of shark-fin soup (don't worry, it is not that kind of shark-fin that costs hundreds of ringgit a bowl) and a plate of fried rice are a must for me.

The soup gives me the heat that soothes away muscle aches and pains of the drive.

Many just fall in love with Pappardelli. Pappardeli is unique, there is no other restaurant in Chukai that serves that kind of food - niche market and the service, well better than most.

Suddenly, the owner of the building, I have met him once during the opening free meal, gave a month's notice for the owner to close down.

I don't know for what reason he did that. Rumours have it that he was uneasy to see and heard that it was successful

I know he has all the rights to do whatever he thinks best, but to close something that is thriving, and mind you not many of our people have been successful in this line of business, just because he wanted to close was no reason at all.

I don't mind if he wants to start something there, but to let it go just like that is a sin.

Months have passed and I see the shop lot is still close The last time I drove through was last Saturday night. It was still close. Well, I saw signs that there was some works on the floor - there were rubbles there.

Meanwhile the owner, so I was told, is still waiting for the key to a shop lot next door whose owner has promised to let it to him. This time around I hope he will sign a renting agreement with the owner, just to ensure history does not repeat itself.

Meanwhile, to all Pappardelli food lovers out there, you all can still go to their outlet in KSB...but it is only open during office hours.

It looks like I have to continue missing the food...

A Crying Tree Stump

Everybody heard something crying aloud as soon as Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)left the tree stump that he had been using to convey his messages to his followers for a new mimbar. Initially no one knew who was crying. Then they realized that it was that tree stump. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) approached the stump and stroked it. It stopped crying as soon as the Prophet pacified it by saying that it would be with him in the Heaven.
 The message: Even a tree stump missed the prophet, what about us?