Year 1.2 Week 2 Evaluation

It's been a couple of weeks of school, and this time, the stress really does not rise in frequency any further compared to last week, where a nightmare precipitated right before my eyes, in which I was briefed on a whole lot of assignments and projects here, there and everywhere. I really have no idea why and how this happened, really. Maybe it's that I kept myself occupied by doing stuff in a relaxed way. Maybe it's the fluctuation of the pressures of school life. Maybe it's just the way that I'm keeping calm over such things. Well, I just simply don't know. All I know is that all of a sudden, I feel more relaxed and cool as a cucumber. Well, the good thing about this week is, I get a day off from school on Monday as it was Deepavali which is a public holiday. That, at least I think so to a certain extent, was what sparked a sudden lift of relief in me. Anyway, this was a rough evaluation of what was happening with me during the week:


Monday: As it was a public holiday, there was no school for me, and thus, I received a day off from school. I went for breakfast at Delifrance at Parkway Parade with my family, followed by which we went to walk around and shop for stuff here and there. It was rather a short day there as we just went home after purchasing necessary home supplies. Other than that, there's nothing else interesting for the day which I can explain.


Tuesday: As usual, we had OOPG lecture from 9am to 10am, IDES lab lesson from 10am to 1pm and CMaths2 lecture from 3pm to 4pm. Once again, we had no APEL2 class due to our care person being overseas. OOPG lecture was quite alright, we learnt a new topic called Classes, where we went through the basic stuff here and there. For IDES lab lesson, we had to continue with our Design Exercise 1 and we were briefed on our Design Exercise 2, and we could consult our lecturer for more tips on how to improve our work quality. For CMaths2 lecture, we continued our learning of Functions & Graphs.


Wednesday: We had OOPG lecture from 9am to 10am, CMSK3 tutorial from 11am to 1pm, CMaths2 tutorial from 2pm to 3pm and OOPG lab lesson from 3pm to 5pm. As the day before, we continued learning Classes for OOPG lecture. It really was quite crappy that we could not hold our CMSK3 class in the library as stated in OLE, but at least we had a back-up by holding the lesson in our old PRSP lab. In this CMSK3 lesson, we learnt how to do research for our project through the school's library system. I think it was quite interesting that we learn this as we get our research from other sources other than Google and Yahoo. Well, CMaths tutorial was, what more can I say, quite alright. I realised that our CMaths2 lecturer is still Mrs Kwong-Tang Iman, our CMaths1 lecturer in Semester 1. But she's quite alright, I can give her that. Anyway, for OOPG lesson, we started tutorials on programming using classes, which was what we learnt during our lectures. The pace of the lesson really was quite basic to me and I could learn better due to the pace being much slower than PRSP the previous semester.


Thursday: The shortest day of lessons which I had this week. I came to school just only for a briefing on DTAT assignments, which was like only for half and hour. Following that, I followed a few of my classmates to Pasir Ris Park to take some photographs for our DTAT assignment, which took us about 3 hours to get as much photographs as we can. Thereafter, we separated and while my classmates went home, I made a trip back to school for my French CDS lecture from 6pm to about 6.45pm. The lecture was awesome, we learn more about the language which would be encompassed in our tutorial the following week.


Friday: Another fun day has come for the week. I attended my French CDS tutorial this morning, and what more can I say, another day of fun has arrived. In this tutorial, we tried to recall what we did for last week's tutorial,such as greetings and thank yous etc., but this week, we were taken to the next level where we learnt how to say various nationalities in French as well as how to count numbers in French. This was quite exciting, as the lesson was made interesting where we played a game of hangman in French. :) French classes really just lifts my mood over stress whenever I experience it during school weeks.


Following that, I went home for a while and proceeded for my Friday prayers. After my Friday prayers, I went to the Asian Civilisations Museum at Raffles Place to take some pictures for my MMP1 field trip, which are to be reviewed on next week. The crappy thing about the trip is, while I was navigating through the galleries at one point, my digital camera's battery went flat, and as a result, I had to wait in between taking photos by letting the battery rest so that the battery can charge up again. But good thing is, I managed to take quite a lot of pictures, as well as collect brochures, pamphlets and my entry ticket which are essential to our field trip necessities. Following that, I went home to get ready for dinner out with my family at Shenton Way.


So far, this week was not such a very tough week for me compared to last week where I was scared almost to death over the whole barrage of assignments I was given to do.

Year 1.2 Week 1 Evaluation

It's been a whole new week of school, and I have to admit, life now in school is not getting any easier. The workload for this semester is a completely heavy burden and seeing the whole load of assigments and projects I have to commit to just simply bulges my cheeks out, shoots my eyes out of their sockets and makes me just want to really regurgitate my guts out. I really can't imagine my class and I having to commit to this much workload compared to the previous semester and I am so completely under surreal stress. The following is the evaluation of the 5 school days I went through:

Monday: I had an hour of Computing Mathematics 2(CMaths2) lecture and 2 hours of Multimedia Project 1(MMP1) lab lesson . For CMaths2 lecture, we were introduced to the fundamentals of functions and graphs, while for MMP1 lab lesson, we were introduced to Zoho, a system in the form of an online journal of sorts where we had to record in our Zoho notebooks over what is design all about, and we had to select a topic out of 6 for our research proposal and project. This was the least stressful day of the week I had.

Tuesday: I had an hour of Object-Oriented Programming(OOPG) lecture, 3 hours of Interface Design(IDES) lab lesson and an hour of CMaths2 lecture. There was no Applied Principles for Effective Learning 2(APEL2) class for today this week. For OOPG lecture, we underwent revision for what we have learnt in Problem Solving and Programming(PRSP) the previous semester. For IDES lab lesson, we were introduced to our first sketching-based lesson, where we went to the library to borrow a book that relates to IDES and we have to read through it and in the following lesson we are to explain what the book is all about. Additionally, we are also given our first design exercise. For CMaths2 lecture, we continued on the fundamentals of functions & graphs. This day is when the stress level starts to rise.



Wednesday: I had an hour of OOPG lecture, 2 hours of Information Literacy for Effective Communication(CMSK3) tutorial and 2 hours of OOPG lab lesson. For OOPG lecture, we continued PRSP revision and were introduced to a new programming topic called classes. For CMSK3 tutorial, we were given a few handouts about information sources and we were also briefed on a report writing assignment we are to submit in around the 14th week. For OOPG lab lesson, we once again did revision on PRSP and we were given some lab tutorial questions to attempt. This is when my stress level rises to the upper middle range.



Thursday: The most stressful of this week's school days. I had 2 hours of MMP1 lab lesson, 3 hours of Digital Tools and Techniques(DTAT) lab lesson and an hour of Introduction to French language and culture(French) lecture. For MMP1 lab lesson, we watched a small video clip called Better by Design, about a group of aviation engineers and professionals conjuring several suitable designs for the seat of aeroplanes, followed by which we were to record another entry in our Zoho notebooks which encompasses what we have learnt from the video. Our first DTAT lesson was the lesson of the week which gave us quite a scare. We were imposed with so many strict rules such as the prohibition of using MSN and playing games during the lab lesson, which made me dislike our DTAT lecturer. The worst part is, we are to do a couple of painfully arduous assignments, which makes my guts really spill out and not want to elaborate what they are about. Since it was our first lesson, we were dismissed early at around 1.30pm, following which I had to wait for 4 and half hours for my French lecture to start. In that meantime, I just sit around in the PC lab surfing the Internet for a while just to reduce my boredom, and talk to friends just before heading for French lecture, which ended at around 6.45pm. The French lecture was awesome, it seemed like an interesting language to learn and the lecturer was really very willing to help us. The interesting pace of the French lecture really caused a decline in my stress.



Friday: The most fun day of the week. I had only 2 hours of French tutorial in the morning, where we learnt the basics of French such as greetings and informal conversation aspects. I really find this CDS a very interesting one as I get to learn another foreign language and its culture. I even had the opportunity to make new friends from other courses and get to know them better. Having this lesson just really boosts my morale as laughter and happiness filled up the tutorial room with the students enjoying practising the language and how to pronounce certain French words. This was by far, the best day of the week.



Following my CDS class and after my prayers, I went to Orchard Cineleisure to watch the based-on-video-game movie Max Payne. It was quite an awesomely action-packed movie, with a lot of gunfights and violence but lacked in terms of storyline significance. Other than that, the movie was quite alright. Following which, I went to walk around Orchard just to try to erase my boredom for a little bit.



So far, all in all, this week has been stressful for a first week though Friday was the best day I had of the week, as I have only lessons for my CDS, a fun and extremely interesting one. I am really looking forward to the class next Friday. :)

2008 Formula One Season:Chinese GP Report

The expression on Lewis Hamilton's face seemed like nothing more than a "jump-the couch" one as he has done it again. In a race that had the drivers speed their cars circuit-round, the 23-year-old Briton clinched his fifth Grand Prix victory of the season, tying with rival Ferrari driver Felipe Massa in terms of the number of this season's victories. The Brazilian came in second in this race while his fellow Finnish Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen clinched third place. Both Ferrari drivers rejoiced as they have pulled up their constructors' points up to 156 points, 11 more than that of McClaren's. Hamilton's team-mate Heikki Kovalainen suffered a misfortune which had his brakes malfunction and himself out of the remainder of the race. Spanish Renault driver Fernando Alonso finished the race in fourth, with the two BMWs finishing behind him, with Nick Heidfeld in fifth and Robert Kubica in sixth. Toyota driver Timo Glock finished seventh and Toro Rosso driver Sebastien Vettel finished eighth.

What was quite ironic about the race was that towards its end, when Raikkonen was just right in front of Massa, he slowed down, giving Massa the opportunity to overtake him and earn an extra two championship points, thus making Massa finish in second place. Another irony to be pointed out is that early in the race, Toro Rosso driver Sebastien Bourdais and Toyota driver Jarno Trulli collided and Trulli's car was damaged beyond repair, whereas Bourdais was able to continue the race.

With just one more circuit to go in Brazil, and with Hamilton and Massa just 7 points apart from each other, the final Grand Prix of the season is going to be an all-out race in a bid for the driver's championship title as well as constructor's championship title.

To end this, I wish for all the best for the drivers in the final Grand Prix race of the season and may the best driver and constructor win. God bless. :)

IMI End-Of-Semester Briefing

I had to attend school today for the sole purpose of attending the IMI end-of-semester briefing, where we had a recap of what we had done in the previous semester as well as what we will be doing for the current semester. This semester is going to be a really packed semester as we will be taking on a new set of subjects, including our cross-disciplinary subjects or CDSes. We have to bag a total of 23 credit units for this semester, 3 out of which comprises our cross-disciplinary subjects. If this happens, we will rack up a total of 44 credit units, including those we earned from the previous semester. The good thing about our CDS is if we excel in it, our GPA would be pulled up. The bad thing about our CDS is if we flunk in it, we would have to either retake it or switch to another CDS, which really sucks :( . I would not like to see that happen to myself or anyone else. Another good thing about a CDS is, we get to befriend students from other courses, which I would very much like to do so that I would get to know more about them.

Following the briefing, we were introduced to this guy named Shaun, a Year 3 IMI student who had garnered himself an internship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) in the US. He presented to us some photographs which were taken of him during his trip there, in American cities like Boston, Harlem, Chicago and among others, as well as universities like Harvard University and MIT as well. His experience there appeared to be really quite an exciting one as we see Shaun enjoying himself there. It was pretty amazing to see him actually achieving an internship there, and though it seems he may be having a tough time there, its good to hear him actually enjoying himself there. It would be really fun to be gaining an internship in an overseas country as we would get to know the system there as well as increase our social awareness.

The core modules that we will be taking for the current semester are:

APEL2(Applied Principles for Effective Learning 2)
CMSK3(Information Literacy For Effective Communication)
CMATHS2(Computing Mathematics 2)
OOPG(Object-Oriented Programming)
DTAT(Digital Tools And Techniques)
IDES(Interface Design)
MMP1(Multimedia Project 1)

The cross-disciplinary subject(CDS) I will be taking is:

French(Introduction to French Language & Culture)

What I really can't believe about my new timetable is that from Tuesday to Friday my classes would begin at 9am, with the exception of Monday where my classes start at 3pm. Seems like I am going to have to sleep late and wake up early again like I did during the school days. It seems that I am going to need all the help I can get as well as hard work that I can put in, as this is going to be a wee bit of a challenging semester for me. So I hope for all the best that I can do for this semester and pray hard that I can do better for it.

And one more thing, by the way, today's IT concourse was really packed with a lot of October intake freshies appearing to be having fun with some of the OLs from not just IMI, but the rest of IT school. It's a good sight to see them having fun together and getting to know each other, I really appreciate that. I was actually offered to be an OL for the October intake camp, but I turned it down for undisclosed reasons. But it was a good experience to see the OLs and October intake freshies really having fun with each other :) .

Other than that, this is where my story ends for today, wish for all the best for myself for the current semester.

Outing with my cousin Sufri

Whoo! This was my brilliant outing with Sufri on Sunday. Guess what we did? We went to Pasir Ris White Sands to play King of Jurassic!

I know what some of you visitors may be thinking; it's just an average, ordinary childish game of scissors, paper, stone right? Well, we do this not for our entertainment, but for collecting the cards. Yea man, we both are so IN to collecting these dino cards, and we are hoping to get some of the new ones, LOL.

--> These pics above are of my cousin Sufri. He's thinking, thinking deeply on how to play the game. LOL, okay, probably a bit out of point. Nah just kidding, LMAO, he's just enjoying the spectacle of the gameplay.

See this guy in both pictures? Yeap, it's me, enjoying the game while I can! LOL, can't believe this game is really fun for the both of us!

--> See these pictures? These pics show some of the power moves which we made in the game. Cool huh? This way we get to bust our opponents up like hell! Hahaha!

--> These two pictures on the left are our T-Rex and Triceratops defeats :( . Ironic they get defeated sometimes even though they each have a HP of 1000, but sometimes things happen that we just can't change. Besides, we still have fun playing this game :) .

Well, both my cousin and I have rejoiced over victories but calm ourselves over defeats, but still, the main thing in playing this game is, we both had FUN! I really hope that we can play this game again sometime soon, but for now, my cousin has to complete his NITEC and it would be a hard time for him. So in the meantime, I should let him focus on his studies.

Interestingly, he has found a way to get the game's Version 4 cards we want. We could order them from Yahoo auctions, but at a very high cost. Just hope that we both would get the cards we want soon and that we both would not be scammed or something.

That time was a brilliant outing for both of us and we hope there would be more to come soon.

2008 Formula One Season:Japanese Grand Prix report

"We are the champions, my friends

And we'll keep on fighting 'till the end

We are the champions, we are the champions

No time for losers, because we are the champions

Of the world"

-"We are the Champions" by Queen

The look on F1 Renault driver and two-times world champion Fernando Alonso's face seemed like nothing more than a merely glorious and cheerful one as he has done it again. The handsome, witty Spaniard has scored a triumphant victory in a Grand Prix for the current season for a second time in a row, the previous one being the most recent Singapore Grand Prix Night Race two weeks ago. The 27-year-old Spaniard admitted to have been completely surprised upon claiming his second consecutive Grand Prix victory in such an incident-packed race. He loved the experience of being able to score back-to-back victories for the team and it really gave him the chance to rise into prominence once again after having clinched the driver's championship title in 2005 and 2006.

While the rest of the championship protagonists were cleaning their wounds all throughout a day of pitstops, collisions and penalties, the Spaniard sped his Renault home through the circuit, just merely two weeks after clinching Singapore for his 21st career prize. Alonso took advantage of rivals British McClaren driver Lewis Hamilton's and Brazilian Ferrari driver Felipe Massa's bad day by finishing just approximately 5 seconds ahead of Polish BMW driver Robert Kubica, with defending driver's champion, the Finnish Kimi Raikkonen finishing third for Ferrari.

Completing the race in fourth was Brazilian Nelson Piquet Jr. of Renault, fifth was Italian Jarno Trulli of Toyota and sixth was German Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull. Vettel's French team-mate Sebastien Bourdais technically finished sixth, but was demoted to tenth place after receiving a drive-through penalty for the incident with Massa, who technically finished eighth but promoted to seventh by virtue of Bourdais' drive-through penalty. Bourdais' drive-through penalty was due to him accidentally colliding with Massa while making a pit-stop exit, whereas Hamilton's was due to him outbraking, causing Raikkonen and fellow McClaren team-mate Hekki Kovalainen to spiral into spins. These drive-through penalty incidents marked another consecutive disastrous race after the Singapore GP Night Race held a couple of weeks ago.

Despite Massa's claims that the incident involving him and Hamilton which earned Massa a drive-through penalty was Massa's innocence, the situation which involved both drivers is still being investigated at the moment. Despite the race being a hellish one for Hamilton, he still leads in the drivers' championship with 84 points, just 5 points ahead of Massa. With two more races left to go, in Japan and Brazil, there would still be enough time for Massa to catch up with Hamilton. The results are as shown below:

Results

1. Fernando Alonso(Renault) 11. Nico Rosberg(Williams-Toyota)

2. Robert Kubica(BMW Sauber) 12. Lewis Hamilton(McClaren-Mercedes)

3. Kimi Raikkonen(Ferrari) 13. Rubens Barrichello(Honda)

4. Nelson Piquet Jr.(Renault) 14. Jenson Button(Honda)

5. Jarno Trulli(Toyota) 15. Kazuki Nakajima(Williams-Toyota)

6. Sebastian Vettel(Toro-Rosso Ferrari)

7. Felipe Massa(Ferrari)

8. Mark Webber(Red-Bull Renault)

9. Nick Heidfeld(BMW Sauber)

10. Sebastien Bourdais(Toro-Rosso Ferrari)

Drivers Who Did Not Finish

Giancarlo Fisichella(Force-India Ferrari)

Heikki Kovalainen(McClaren Mercedes)

Adrian Sutil(Force-India Ferrari)

Timo Glock(Toyota)

David Coulthard(Red-Bull Renault)

For more information on the full report of the Japanese Grand Prix, feel free to look up on any search engine for information on the race. Other than that, this is where my report ends. :)

P.S.: Best of luck for all the drivers on the remaining two circuits in China and Brazil. :) Hope that Massa catches up with Hamilton.

Happy Birthday to cousin Sufri!

"I know it's kind of late,

But Happy Birthday"

-"Happy birthday" by the Click Five

First of all, I would like to say,


HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU SUFRI, DEAR COUSIN!!!


Hey, what's up and what's going on, dude? I understand that it is not really much of any fun that we can't hold a celebration because you maybe are busy with some stuff as you are starting school again just next week, but it's alright, it's ok. I understand why you said you can't hold any celebration to coincide with your birthday, but I think I have thought of a way to help you settle this to reduce our nervousness over our upcoming new school terms. How about having an outing or something during this week to compensate so that we can have some quality time together? Like that time we discussed last week while we went out to the arcade at Pasir Ris White Sands mall? We played the game King of Jurassic to try get the cards we want? Or during the time during primary school how much we loved Zoids and Digimon?Yea man, I'm pretty sure you remember all the good times right? Since childhood years, primary and secondary school years, stuff like that etc. But that's all in the past. The past is in the past. Right now, let's get straight to business.


Anyway, what I have been thinking for our outing this week is that this time, I suggest we go out to Orchard or someplace better with more interesting stuff. I think it would be better than Tampines Mall, so damn dull and boring with very little places of interest. I think Orchard is definitely much better, more places of interest like Takashimaya, where we can go to Kinokunya to find magazines, books, comics, manga etc., as well as the toy shop where we can have a look at Zoids. Other places that come to mind include Borders, where we also can find more books obviously, and not to mention Orchard Cineleisure, where we can go to the arcade, watch movies, visit that Japanese stuff shop we went to that time, remember? Yea man, it's been quite a while since we went to Orchard Cineleisure. The typical place of entertainment for kids like us. That is the reason why I really like us to go there. Hope you will accept it and appreciate it.


So for more details on this outing that I am planning for us, feel free to call me or ask me for more details anytime you are online, so that, insha Allah, we would have a fruitful occasion to enjoy just sometime before our new school terms start. And oh yes, one more thing, ask Surhan or anybody else we know of if they can join us for my planned outing this week, as Surhan finishes his PSLE this week, and I'm sure he would want to rejoice by joining us. If any queries you wish to ask, then I say, by all means, do so. :) If you can join in the outing for a valid reason, then I think I'll have to call it off and tell me why.:)


So yea, tune in to this blog of mine anytime you are free for not just these juicy outing details, but also for your personal entertainment or something. Several of my friends found it cool. Hear your opinion soon.

One more thing, I know it's not much, but just for your birthday gift, I present you with these:

So, other than that, I think I'll hope see you around again sometime soon. Cheers, dude. :)


-Rashid, your best cousin 'till the very end :)


P.S: Best of luck for your remaining weeks in ITE. Get out of that Mat school and achieve your NITEC asap, lol, nah just kidding. Study hard and best of luck for your NITEC. Once again, cheers :)

EPL 2008/2009 weekend report

Weekend Results

Sunderland 1-1 Arsenal

West Ham United 1-3 Bolton Wanderers

West Bromwich 1-0 Fulham

Portsmouth 2-1 Stoke City
Wigan 0-1 Middlesborough

Chelsea 2-0 Aston Villa

Blackburn 0-2 Manchester United

Manchester City 2-3 Liverpool


Black Cats with bad luck can befall the Gunners?
Red Devils, pushovers for the Rovers?
Blue vs Villan, who deserves defeat?
Reds vs Citizens, who's the one to beat?

These are among the questions I have asked myself for the EPL Big Four's chances for the weekend. Arsenal played against Sunderland, Chelsea played against Aston Villa, Manchester United played against Blackburn and Liverpool played against Manchester City. Upon seeing these fixtures, I was like, wondering if these matches are going to be tough. As seen from the scores above, Liverpool's have a very good start for the season, the same going for Chelsea. What surprised me the most was, the second goal scored by Chelsea against Aston Villa, was by Anelka, the most crappy nutcase player in Chelsea. As for Liverpool, what surprised me was, two out of the three goals they scored were by none other than Fernando Torres, the Spanish star of Liverpool F.C. Because of his playing style, and goal-scoring tactics, I think Torres has the potential to become this season's top scorer, whereas Anelka needs to, in my opinion, GET A LIFE, and he would have been better had he stayed in Bolton. My apologies, but yes, that in my opinion, is what he seriously needs to do, GET A DAMN LIFE. As for Manchester United, I really can't believe Wes Brown scored the first goal in the first half about 30 minutes into the game. I'm sure every Manchester United fan remembered the foolish move he made earlier this season during the match the Red Devils went against Liverpool, where he accidentally scored an own goal for Liverpool, which made Manchester United lose to Liverpool 1-2. This make Wes Brown, in my opinion, one of the crappy players in Manchester United. As for Arsenal, they battled against Sunderland which ended in a stalemate, with the final score being 1-1. Thanks to a save by Arsenal central midfielder Cesc Fabregas in the second half, the Gunners eventually managed to clinch a draw with the Black Cats. Seems like the Black Cats' bad luck did not affect the Gunners at all, with Fabregas having managed to resist it. No, I was just totally kidding. I am sure it was just out of luck. Anyway though the Reds scored 3 goals in their game against the Citizens, Chelsea is still at the TOP of the table with 17 points, just one position higher than Liverpool. For more updates on fixtures and scores as well as the current Premier League table, click on the link below.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/index?cc=4716

Well, this is about as far as I can elaborate on this weekend's results. Stay tuned to my blog for more soccer news coming soon.

Hari Raya Aidilfitri:What It's Suppose To Mean

As all Muslims know, Hari Raya Aidilfitri marks the beginning of the month of Syawal and the end of the month of Ramadhan, or the month of fast. Well, this is completely true, to a great extent, but I think that there is so much more to the issue over Hari Raya than just that. Some are just so completely ignorant over this and just don't agree to this point of view.

From what I have noticed from the common point of view of many non-Muslims, they simply view Hari Raya as some average, ordinary public holiday for Muslims to celebrate. But by figuring merely just this point of view, they are, in an certain, ignorant kind of way, and to a particularly certain extent, both wrong and right. The aforementioned opinion which non-Muslims commonly voice out over this special occasion is just only a tiny piece of the puzzle. The real definition is what I'll be explaining right here and now.

Hari Raya in the Malay language literally means "Day of Celebration", and it is the time for Muslims and non-Muslims to reconcile and renew relationships with each other. On the eve of Hari Raya, Muslims will recite the takbir, which is held in mosques and surau (smaller place of worship). In some communities, there will be congregations reciting the takbir from house to house. In big cities and towns, shopping malls and commercial centres will hold big promotions and price discounts for festive shoppers as people purchase clothes and supplies. Decorations are hung in public areas and Hari Raya songs will be played in shopping complexes. The media, such as the television will host various programs in conjunction with the celebrations.
Many people also traditionally return to their hometown generally from big metropolitan cities to rural areas. This is known as "balik kampung"— literally going back to one's home town to celebrate Hari Raya with family and friends.

Usually on the eve of the celebrations, family members, especially mothers and housewives, will be busy preparing food, cakes, sweets, biscuits and various delicacies to be served on the day of Hari Raya. Delicacies such as ketupat or rice cake and a meat cuisine called rendang are among the most famous cuisines that are served during this day. Other family members will help in other chores such as decorating and cleaning up the house. It is customary for Malays to wear traditional Malay costumes. The dress for men is called baju Melayu while the women's are known as baju kurung and baju kebaya. The beginning of the day of Hari Raya Aidilfitri will be marked by children using fireworks in a display of celebration.

While it is in the wee hours of the morning where Muslim attend mosques to perform the Eid prayer while taking chances to exchange greetings with each other, the rest of the day is simply spent for them to visit relatives or serve visitors. It is during this period of the day where the joyous part for children and teenagers begin. They would receive money known as Duit Raya from their parents and elders as a generous offer.

Thus, this all ends over the real definition of Hari Raya Aidilfitri. From what I think, there may be more to this festive season, but I think this is where I should leave it, for now.

Hari Raya Aidilfitri:What It Means To Me

Bring it back, bring it back

Don't take it away from me

Because you don't know

What it means to me

-"Love of my Life" by Queen

Well, its been a day having passed since the Muslim festival of Hari Raya Aidilfitri, and come to think about it, I have been wondering if any Muslims have really any idea about my reputation of it. Every Muslim knows that Hari Raya Aidilfitri marks the beginning of the Islamic month of Syawal as well as the end of Ramadhan, or the month of fast.