Been there, done that..

This entry encompasses my childhood. I identify with literally every single thing on this list. See if you're familiar with any of them, ne?

By the way, credit goes to VioletEyed-Demon of FF.net ^^

Do you remember the 90's? You're a 90s kid if:

You remember watching Doug, Ren & Stimpy, Pinky and the Brain, Aaaaaah Real Monsters, Rocko's Modern Life, Animaniacs and Gargoyles.. You've ever ended a sentence with the word PSYCHE!".. You just can't resist finishing this: "In west Philadelphia born and raised...".. You remember Step by Step, Family Matters, Dinosours, Boy Meets World.. You remember when it was actually worth getting up early on Saturday to watch cartoons..

You remember reading "Goosebumps".. You still get the urge to say "NOT!" after (almost) every sentence.. everything was settled by rock-paper-scissors, bubble-gum-bubble-gum-in-a-dish, or Miss-Mary-Mack.. Kickball was a daily activity.. you used to obey your parents.. you used to listen to the radio all day long just to record your FAVORITE song of ALL time on a tape.. you remember when Super Nintendos and Sega Genesis became popular.. You remember the original Gameboy.. you always wanted to send in a tape to America's Funniest Home Videos, but never taped anything funny..

You remember watching The Magic Schoolbus, Wishbone, Reading Rainbow and Ghostwriter on PBS.. You remember when Yo-Yos were cool.. you remember those Where's Waldo books.. You remember eating Warheads and Splashers gum.. you remember watching the 1st Batman, Alladin, Ninja Turtles, Ghost Busters.. you remember Ring Pops! If you remember when everything was "Da Bomb!" then you'd remember boom boxes vs. CD players. Making those little paper fortune things, and then predicting your life with them..

You played and/or collected "Pogs".. you had at least one Tamagochi, Gigapet or Nano and brought it everywhere.. One word...... trolls.. Windows 95 was the best.. you watched the original cartoons of Rugrats, Wild Thornberry's, Power Rangers and Rocket Power.. All your school supplies were the "Lisa Frank" brand.. You collected Beanie Babies.. Carebears and Lambchop's song never ends.. Silver dollars were cool to have.. everyone watched WB.. You even know what an original walkman is..

You know the Macarena by heart.. "Talk to the hand".. you went to McDonalds just to play in the Playplace.. you remember playing on merry go rounds at the playground.

Before the MySpace frenzy.. before the internet and text messaging.. before Sidekicks and iPods.. before Playstation 3 or X-Box 360.. Before Spongebob.. before Tupac was shot.. when light up sneakers were cool.. when you rented VHS tapes, not DVDs.. when gas was $0.95 a gallon.. when we recorded stuff on VCRs.. you had slap bracelets!

You actually played outside until it was dark! Way back. Before we realized all these wonderful things would eventually disappear...

These were my younger days exactly. Reading this made me wonder at the little things we've experienced to shape the person we are today..

Having babies...

Example of this week's routine:

5:45 am
- Boil water, prepare feeding bottle

5:50 am
- Prepare kitten's milk (2 tsp fomula + hot water), let cool

6:00 am
- Feeding (minimum 5 ml/kitten), clean cage (fresh towel & hot water bottle), clean kittens (wet wipes), short play time.

6:30 am
- Subuh prayer, shower

7:30 am
- Check on kittens, leave for work

8:30 am
- Gel elution process/Sequencing

10:30 am
- Call home to check on kittens, breakfast

11:00 am
- Touchdown PCR, labwork continued

12:30 pm
- Leave for home

1:00 pm
- Kitten feeding/cleaning/cage change/ play

1:45 pm
- Zuhur prayer, leave for office

2:00 pm
-Resume labwork

5:00 pm
-Asar prayer, pick Safura up from practical training

6:00 pm
- Grocery shopping

6:30 pm
- Pick mum up from office, leave for home

7:00 pm
- Kitten feeding/ cleaning/ cage change/ play

7:30 pm
- Maghrib prayer

8:30 pm
- Dinner, work/ internet surfing/ TV

11:00 pm
- Kitten Feeding/ cleaning/ cage change/ play

~12:00 am
- Isya prayer, Check on kittens, bedtime.

Four orphaned kittens and my entire day is occupied! Haish, ni baru anak-anak kucing... (-_-)

Bear, Ayie, Chuum and Leis; Mummy luvs you! ^^

A matter of happiness

Semalam, tepat pukul 9 pagi, aku dan Joann mengambil tempat duduk di Auditorium FRIM untuk menghadiri mesyuarat pertama bahagian Perhutanan dan Alam Sekitar bagi tahun 2010.

15 minit selepas mesyuarat bermula, minda aku hanya ada satu soalan: What in the world am I doing here?

Kamu pernah rasa lemas? Itu saja yang dapat aku rasakan sedang tuan pengerusi sibuk menelaah slide powerpoint di podium. Mulutnya terkumat-kamit tapi satu pun aku tak dengar. Aku faham apa yang sedang dibentangkan; bajet dan target kerja untuk setiap unit bahagian bagi tahun ini.

Yang aku tak faham: What's this got to do with me?

Kamu percaya tak? kadang-kadang, kita tak kenal diri kita sendiri. Dalam kekecohan kita nak buat benda baik, nak contribute, nak make the world a better place, kita turuti jalan yang mungkin tak begitu sesuai dengan jiwa kita.

Aku tersedar, aku pilih FRIM kerana aku mangsa idealisme. Sedari kecil tempat ini membentuk aku menjadi seorang yang cintakan alam; menyebabkan aku mengiblatkan seluruh hidup ke jalan itu. Dari zaman sekolah sampailah ke menara gading, fokus aku hanya satu; aku mahu jadi seorang environmentalist.

Nah, secara logik, ke mana lagi aku mahu pergi selepas semua itu, kalau tak pulang ke akar umbi?

Aku lihat di sekeliling, kepada pejawat-pejawat yang sudah dekat separuh abad bersama FRIM. Di dalam mata mereka sudah hilang bayang semangat. Seperti aku mereka semua mendengar bentangan acuh tak acuh; mungkin membayangkan bihun dan kueytiau goreng yang sudah tersedia di ruang legar.

Cuma tuan pengerusi dan rakan-rakan setugasnya - boss-boss kami - di barisan hadapan yang galak membincangkan isu-isu semasa:

"Projek you dapat funding banyak mana?"

"You publish kat jurnal Borneo Science? ada impact factor ke tu?"

"FRIM dah mansuhkan tabung Tea Club. Takde la jamuan makan besar-besaran lepas ni ek.."

Aku tahu kenapa aku rimas. This is not what I'm looking for..

Bukan aku kata tugas di FRIM tak mencabar. Aku suka penyelidikan. Aku juga suka makmal. Kelawar lagi la aku suka! Tapi.. there's something missing. Aku suka, tapi aku tak cinta. Sekarang ini aku kurang pasti bagaimana tugas aku di FRIM akan dapat menyumbang kepada konservasi alam sekitar, which is what I want to happen.

Aku kucing advokasi. Aku suka belajar dan mengajar, terutamanya bidang biodiversity. Aku teringat betapa aku enjoy bawa student Dr. Jalal masuk hutan dan paya bakau time aku kerja sebagai demonstrator/RA di UIA dulu. Ya, memang banyak kerja. Lesson plan aku sendiri yang kena lakar. Berminggu-minggu aku buat research; tulis manual.

But you know what? I did it with love. Lots of love!

Terlewat, tapi aku realize sekarang yang aku sangat suka jadi guru. Aku suka tengok students belajar. Bila mereka tanya soalan, aku suka carikan jawapannya. Aku suka cara muka mereka berubah menjadi kagum dengan ciptaan Tuhan; bila mereka faham dan ambil tindakan.

Dah lama aku tak lihat semua tu. Aku rindu.

Yang lagi sedihnya:

Mum, what do you think if I became a lecturer?

I was thinking the same thing! Leave FRIM and go to USM, or UNIMAS.. you'll be great at it!

Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence, Ma.. (-_-)