Afiq's

To the Editorial Board of AUSMAT 17

Since I'm in the mood for blogging, what the heck. "Alang-alang seluk pekasam, biar sampai ke pangkal lengan" or something like that (never was good at remembering proverbs).

Anyway, this was an overdue tribute dedicated to the AUSMAT Editorial Board of 2006. The magazine's finished, hurray! Even if a problem occurs in the process in the future, I dont' care because as far as I know, at this point in time in my mind, the magazine's finished, hurray again! And all this was due to the hardwork of the Editorial Board. I know it may be too early to sing praises for them as some critics out there might just lambast the magazine as soon as they get it but I know the Board is satisfied (I hope). Therefore, I'm going to mention a few names here for two reasons; to allow people to sing even more praises to them and for people to know who to blame if the magazine sucks (kidding, just kidding. maybe not, hehe). The first award would be to the great team of designers that helped finish the magazine's utmost important part, the looks of it. People are shallow and thus, the appearance of the mag is very important. Ergo, I would like to applaud the designers (in no particular order) namely Paku, Saira, Amir and Ara (also part chef) for a job well done. These people put up with my demands and lunacy to finally construct the basic forms of the magazine. The next award would obviously go to my great editors, Mr. Belwael and Ms. Nazneen. These two helped made sure that, as much as AUSMAT students believe their English is good, the reports made sense. (Safety clause: If it still doesn't make sense after this, I'm sorry but we tried our best. The report may have been beyond help). The two of them put up with my taunts and constant disturbance in the force to finally get the end results. The subsequent award goes to the miscellaneous workers; the reporters, Azreen and Syafinaz. These people had to go through hell by listening to my often crazy requests which they dutifully did in the end. The special task guy should also not be forgotten namely Stuart/Stewart/Syafiq (I never did get your spelling correct). Now, this guy was not supposed to be under my jurisdiction at all but due to my twisting of arms, I got myself a worker who performed the impossible tasks I asked of him. Without him, there won't be a picture that I keep in my wallet and the speeches of a few important people. He might just be called the ambassador for his task of wooing the bigger powers that be to produce touching and tender words of wisdom for us all to read and learn from. Hats off to you. But of course, there's also the paparazzis; Chuah, Mango and Calvin. In the end, they didn't really do the paparazzi stuff much but they actually contributed in very subtle ways. Chuah made sure there was a publisher. Mango did photography while Calvin went out of his way to get me a speech. Thank you to the trio of you. I've also not forgotten the other side of this project namely the management team. Thank you to Liana and Izy for finding sponsors. Also thanks Liana for the email list. Izy, you made sure my reporters didn't go insane and that helped a lot, thanks. At this point, I would also like to thank Afiqa for helping out as well. The others would also be Ezmah, Sean and Ellina for getting funding for the magazine which I may also include Wong, Yeam and Thuaibah at this juncture for doing the basic groundwork making sure the magazine is lawfully allowed to exist. Without you guys, there would never have been a magazine. At this juncture, I would like to pay special tribute to the Chief Editor who spearheaded the project and bravely took on the role to make the magazine (I'm not trying to butter him up but it never hurts to praise). Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, the Chief Editor, Mr. Fauzul. With that last award, this glitzy affair has come to an end. Hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as I did. Before I forget, (it's always required to say this) thank you to all who directly or indirectly helped to make this magazine a success. Love you and until we meet again, (I can never get out of this publishing business) Avviderci.

The Internet

The internet. It's a tool for a myriad of stuff. It's brought about the best and the worst in humans. I've realized just how much vice happens on the internet and have wondered, are there not useful reasons to use the internet other than for activities that are sinful? There's the obvious few like checking emails, your friendster, doing some research, blogging, reading comics, downloading stuff, chatting but what else can be done on the net. This will make me seem dull but after checking my emails and doing some stuff at friendster, i really can't think of anything else to do which is also fun at the same time (that's why that list above hasn't really helped) which was why i resorted to writing this blog. Any ideas?