Autism

Just finished marking for one subject... Will continue to the next one.. In the mean time, I took a break before starting on the next paper. It is almost 2.15 am. I went to the kitchen. Treat myself with mee segera and a cup of coffee. Hope it can make the sleepy head away for another couple of hours. I switched on the tv. It was CSI Las Vegas, which I already watched. So, I decide to watch Oprah instead. It is about the Autism.

When come to kids, I am very sensitive. My eyes start to masuk abuk when I saw the parents sharing their stories about how to raise their autism kids. The discussion of parents talking about the heartbreak at their special children and the devastation this disorder has caused for these families. But not only that, they also talked on how it changed their life, become more patient and see things in a different perspective.

Autism is said to be mystery. 1 out of 150 baby is prescribed with autism in US. I am not sure the statistic in Malaysia. It is a difficult challenge that seems to just go on and on. It is scary to think that how would you deal with the fact when you have autism kid, and even scarier when you see their development is very slow, can't take care of themself. The worst case is
the isolation parents feel from other parents who are raising neurotypical children. Raising awareness can help lessen that feeling of being alone. If we can't help to lift the burden of these parents, it is really helpful if only we can try to understand their situation.



How to know the kid is autism? According to the physician (cant remember the name) in the Oprah's show, there are three things that we need to be aware of:

1. The language development - by 12 months, baby should start mumbling
   
2. Social interaction - show interest when you call out his name, pointing at something to attract ur attention
   
3. Physical behaviour - do they have some repetative behaviour? Eg. always bang his hand on the wall without any reason.

This website is good for more info on the sign of Autism .

In Malaysia, there is not enough effort to increase the awareness of Autism. It is important to create the awareness so that we know how to handle and face it if one has been diagnosed to have Autism. It also a great help if we can understand the kid when dia buat perangai at public. So we will not stare at them or marah2 bila dia buat bising di supermarket kaa..

I remember last semester my Entrepernuer student chose to sell book mark and put some words about Autism and share their keuntungan with the Persatuan Autism KK.

Ok, I need to continue marking..

FamilyVacation - Kudat 2008

Just came back from Kudat, yesterday. Last weekend, the marking activity was postponed. Need to take some fresh air. My brain need some rest. No red pen this weekend.

My parents arrived in KK since last week. Nowadays, my parents prefer to come down to KK during holidays. Almost all my siblings are here, except Ani. So, we plan to have a visit to our own lands end, Simpang Mengayau, Kudat.

**Update**

special pose from Nurul

tuu naaaa....

Danial and me

before sunset... too cloudy though

ayah.. kepenatan

Now, I really need to finish the marking. The progress is very slow. I am not happy to myself. Need to have a big motivation to fix my speed of marking. And Fid SMSed me, must submit the marks before this Friday. I guess that was a big motivation for me to finish the job. Ayoyo.. mcm mana lah mo kasi abis marking ni..

Red Pen Time

It is the 'red pen time' again. Time really flew very fast ooh.. It's 'the' time again where I would buy numbers of nice red pens. I like the round tips, with really nice red ink color, flow smoothly. Yeah, the pen also play a role to me while marking. I want to make sure it is 'fun' enough for me to mark the students' exam papers. It can effect my mood, u know.

This time around, I need to pull all my strength to mark almost 250++ papers. That is for three different subject, all together. Not so much? Yeah, but all 8 - 10 subjective questions? It's easily to feel sleepy and lost focus. Imagine with their artistic handwritting, jawapan yg merapu-rapu. So, I follow Az's advice.. play good music, think of happy thought.

I dont have radio in my room.. just play the music from dear laptop

Well, I hope I can remain my kewarasan, be professional and enjoying the fun of marking their papers. Ya, Allah ya Tuhanku, berilah aku kekuatan untuk mengharungi 'cabaran' yg satu ini. Amiin...

I dont like the color of the ans booklet's cover.. it's grey.. make me feel grey.. :(

Let's Exercise... our hands!

Ok, when is the last time you exercise your hand? Yes, your hand.. So, now I would like to share with you the correct way to exercise.. this one is a routine for our precious.... hands!First, stretch your right hand like this.. up and down

Tarik..tarik..

Then, dont forget your left hand..

Why need to do exercise for your hand? To avoid this..

It is known as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (nothing to do with Karpal Singh though). Last year, my dad has been prescribed to this syndrome and went to QE for Carpal surgery. The doctor said, most of the patient who has this syndrome are those who are working with the computer (of course also the keyboard lah). At first he felt numbness at his middle and index finger. Thought it is normal, he bear with it. Lama2 selalu pulak tu kebas2. He went to the doctor at SDK, the was told it was Carpal Syndrome.

I googled and found this website. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. The worrying part is it said, women are more likely to have this syndrome. It can affect people of all ages. If you have this condition you will experience pain or aching, and tingling or numbness. The symptoms are usually worse in the thumb, index and middle fingers. Occasionally they are so severe that your whole hand feels affected and the aching may sometimes extend up into the forearm. You may find one or both hands are affected. If you are right-handed the right hand tends to be worse, similarly the left hand if you are left-handed.

So you girls, babe, hot mamas, bloggers out there, dont forget to do some hand exercise, ok? Some other important info:

cv

Missing?

I am one of the supervisor of the O*M student for their final year project. Last month I sent a bunch of their thesis to the O*M office. Just know they called me that one of the book is missing. They need me to send it to their office ASAP. I checked in my office, but no, I did not find the said book. I am really, really sure that the book has been submitted to their office, and they simply said, they cannot find it.

I am very pissed off right now. Nothing more to say...

Seminar on Broadband Opportunities

Student, do not try to find me in my room at this date; 11 - 13 Nov 2008. I am at the Le Meridien hotel attending the seminar on broadband opportunities. Later lah baru saya p elaborate ya.. Need to concentrate listening to the lecture (zzzzz...)

By the way, are you the next millionaire? I am now listening to a talk by the SKMM, regarding the Networked Content Opportunities. Networked content is the next major thing in the industry. They are having this competition namely Mobile Content Challenge for IHL. Last year's winner was a group from Unimas. They received RM30K seed money to elaborate the idea and then work hand-in-hand with Maxis to further develop and put their product into market.

Potential users and customer?
We have 25 million of mobile phone subscriber in Malaysia, do u know that? And 1.5 million for broadband subscriber in 2008. Can you imagine if you are selling the In the Ayer ringtone for RM4, and if u only tap on the 1% possible customer over that 25 mil mobile phone user? Wow.. u r on your way to become the next millionaire.. u see..

The objectives of the Mobile Content Challenge are:-

1. To inspire students’ development in the area of mobility content, applications and services;
2. To encourage and inculcate an innovative and creative mindset amongst students, bridging the divide between theory & industry; and
3. To nurture a community of young entrepreneurs that are ready to embark on bold new ventures and who will develop and provide Malaysian made mobility content, application and services.

This year, the grand price is RM100K. And an opportunity working with the Maxis and Samsung to further develop your product. Next year mesti hadiah nya lagi besar, kan.

If you have the unique idea, the motivation, definitely you should take this into consideration.

The concept must be :

• Creative & appealing
• unique values proposition
• demonstrate export potential/universality

You can read more through this website, and get yourself prepared before u can join for the next year challenge. Did I mention next year? Yeah, too bad.. this year punya round sudah tutup. So, see u in next year's round ya!

I've Done It!

Surprisingly, it turns out to be ok. I started with a simple 'good morning' in different languages and in Kadazan (Kotobian Doungosuvab). As Bee suggested, confidence and feeling comfortable is very important. Therefore, I tried to calm myself, telling to myself that everything will be ok, just imagine the audience were my students. And it works!

Night before, I googled "How to introduce speaker" and found various helpful links. I learn that introducing the speakers in the right way is essential to make sure the audience know what to expect. Not only that, the chairperson need to highlight the creadibility of the speaker so that the audience will be motivated to follow and listen to his presentation. Based on the examples and do-and-don'ts from the net, I wrote my own script, practice and recite it over and over again.

As most of the advices suggested that I found on the Internet, I arrived early at the venue. Search for the protocol people and talked to the emcee, found out that he is one of my friend. I asked for the list of guest of honour, plan the flow of the activities, when to summarize the presentation, open the Q&A session, etc.

After I gain my confidence, slowly I added some jokes that I had in mind. Even I borrow the Obama's joke, and they liked it! (Later I'll share the jokes)

At the end, I think I enjoyed the whole process. Although, I really feel the nervousness rush to my body.

But if you ask me another time to do it again, I will try my best to ......avoid it! Hehehe...

Fear Buster - Stage Fright

This month, as always, is the IT Month for Sabah State. There will be numbers of IT seminar that are organized by the gov agency including UMS. Last week I received a buzz from my friend asking me to chair one of the seminar. Oh, no!

Public speaking is my forever nightmare. I don't know why. It's always ok if I were to stand infront of the students, as a teacher. To lecture an academic topics to the students..no problem! But when it comes to be an emcee, speaker for a talk, doing presentation to public or whatever related, thousands even millions of butterflies starts growing and flattering in my stomach. I used to be at a point where i’ve lost of words and i just don’t know how to continue my speech. This feeling is really terrifying. Do you have any suggestion on this? How do i make my thoughts flow?

Compering means :-"A person who acts as host at formal occations"

According to this guy, some symptoms like; tired of standing on stage, gripped by fear and paralysed by nervousness, are the signs that you have a stage fright.

He listed 10 tips to overcome the stage fright.

• F - Focus on your most powerful Experience
• E - Energize Yourself
• A - Acknowledge Your Fears
• R - Relax… BREATHE!
• B - Believe in Your Value!
• U - Understand the Audience
• S - Smile! ..Yes.. I can do this..
• T - Talk to Yourself ..I always do this, to make myself more comfortable..
• E - Enjoy Yourself! ..Gulp, How?..
• R - Rejoice!

Friends, anybody.. just wish me luck for tomorrow. I hope I won't pitam or paralyse. If somebody out there have any suggestion on the lines or script for a chairperson, you're most welcome to lend it for me.. pleeaaseee..

Discourse on The Truth Faith, Science and Common Sense: Islamic Perspective

Sheikh Yusuf Estes Malaysian Tour: 23-29 Nov 2008

Let's attend an informative talk on science and how they are explained from the view of Islam. It has been some time since I last attend this kind of talk or seminar. Maybe we can spare some of our busy schedule to slot in this event.

The speaker will be flewn from the US, Sheikh Yusuf Estes.

Yusuf Estes PhD. (born 1944), is an American convert to Islam and Chairman of "the Muslim Foundation International", an Islamic Promotional and Missionary Organization dedicated to spreading the message of al-Islam according to the Quraan, Sunnah.

When? Where?

Date:19 November 2008
Time: 7.30-10.30pm
Vanue: Auditorium Yayasan Sabah
ALL ARE WELCOMES
Organised by: CONCERN, USIA, JAKIM, JHEINS

C u there!

Part time student

Last Saturday was the last class for PLUMS student. That means I won't have the opportunity to meet the "Megamall bergerak" anymore. It was a nice and interesting experience teaching this batch of students. They are from different background, most of them are teachers and some from the hospital. I respect those who are able to give their time to study and work at the same time. It's not easy u know. Just imagine, they need to go to work during weekdays and go to class during weekends. Especially for the mums, leaving their kids at home for 7 days a week! What a sacrifice... demi menimba ilmu pengetahuan, banyak perkara yang perlu diketepikan. Semoga segala usaha dan pengorbanan anda sekalian akan mendapat manfaat yang sewajarnya.

However, we forgot to take picture, kan.. maybe somebody from the class can send me your class pics and I can post it here.

Lastly, wish u all the best!

Lost

Yesterday, Sal and I went to a food court near library to have our breakfast, when we bump into Leyana. We asked her whether Farah has delivered her baby, it was almost some time since we talked to Farah.

Ley : Oh, kesian dia.. baby nya meninggal dalam perut.
Me n Sal : Apa??! Meninggal? Aduuh.. kesiannya.. Bila?
Ley: Kamu tidak tau? 2 hari before due date dia bersalin. Itu baby tidak bergerak2 dlm perut, bila p hospital, dr kata tu baby sudah tiada.

I almost cried hearing the news. Farah is one of our colleague in the IT service department. I really feel the hurt. That was her second pregnancy. Her first pregnancy was a twin. However they were having this kind of disease - one baby is taking all the nutrition from another baby. (is that TTS). She and her hubby went to Australia to get some treatment. At the 6th month of her pregnancy, she lost the babies. Yes, both babies.

I still remember, Farah was so happy when she found out she was pregnant for the second time.

Farah: Kak, aku pregnant lagi!
Me : Iya? Wah, bestnya. Tahniah, berapa bulan sudah?

My heart is with her. Kuatkan semangat, Farah. Tentu ada hikmah disebaliknya. Moga damai mereka di sana.
Three stillborn babies..? I want to cry...