A visit to the alma mater…
I went back to IIUM yesterday. Even stayed there for a night to give my support to my friends who were participating in the ongoing English Theatre Week (ETW).
It was fun to go back to my alma mater as a GRADUATE. Wow. That feels good to say! Haha. It was great to meet up friends and dear juniors but it left me wishing I’d have the chance to go back to those good old days… I won’t even mind all the classes and assignments and meetings and thingssss to do. That’s why I keep telling my juniors and friends who have yet to graduate to take their time doing their degree. The hype of leaving school is really over-rated. What fun is there in desperately trying hard to figure out what to do with your lives?? Haha.
Anyway, both Syima and I went to see Atih who was supposed to be sick in her new Mahallah. In turned out, Atih wasn’t really sick at all! Haha. Sorry Tih! Well, she was but by the time we came, she was already getting better. Perhaps, she got better because she hung out with us! Rindu ek, Atih?? Hehe. We chatted for three hours over a large Domino’s pepperoni pizza. We used to do that a lot while both Syima and I were still there. Chatting, I mean, not the pizza. Pizzas only came when we had extra money to spare. Hehe. We used to spend hours talking and talking and never ran out of things to say. Sometimes, Atih and I stood in front of my block in Mahallah Shafiyyah in the middle of the night after our many, many meetings or practices or whatever we had back then just to chat. Best gile. Huhu.
I even miss my old room. I stayed at Tasya’s room last night, which happened to be the room I stayed in during my third year there. Shafiyyah D 4.3. Alhamdulillah, throughout my years in IIUM, I never had a problem with my roommates. Of course there were some of them who didn’t ‘click’ with me and some didn’t even talk to me unless they saw the need to but mostly, my roommates were the best. And the members of D 4.3 were among the very best! Syima, Huda, Fida and I amazingly fit with each other. Well, Syima and I had been friends for almost two years at that time so we didn’t have to go through the ‘getting-to-know-you’ period, but both Fida and Huda are now beyond our former roommates. They are our friends. Back then, we used to spend time fooling around in the room, laughing over Syima’s latest jokes and crushes (jangan marah ek, Syim?? =p), Huda’s latest ‘theories’ and Fida’s latest gossips. Fida tu nampak aje senyap dan bersopan tapi sebenarnye, tidak sama sekali! Haha. We were equally crazy, equally silly, equally nuts. If the room had ears, it would be disgusted with all the stories and facts we shared in the room. Haha.
Well… getting on to the ETW. I personally think they did quite well with the programme even though they faced so many challenges from the very unorganized and bias STADD. They plays last night were ‘Harrison’s Flipdoor’ by CG Crew and ‘Going Home’ by Producing Production. Both were great although I actually like the latter better. It had more depth and character development. Plus the people working in the play were more experienced than those in CG Crew so in some technical aspects including lights, props, costumes and make-up, they were so much better. However, CG Crew’s storyline was better; it resembles an absurd play but the story should have been developed more to fully reach the audience. In ‘Going Home’, the storyline was good but it got a bit too much towards the end. The ending was draggy and as a result, the focus was lost there. But my congratulations go out to both of them!
Someone mentioned that the plays should have been better but I’ve seen this person’s work and this person should not think too highly of those ‘work of art’. In fact, this person should take a microscope and study this person’s own work because they are definitely not as good as this person thinks they are. I’ve seen so many other much better plays presented in IIUM but of course, this person remains very delusional. Not surprising at all. Haha. I am defending the participants of ETW because I really think they deserve to be commended for their effort and creativity. Of course there are flaws and mistakes here and there but hey, aren’t we all learning?? Nobody is better than the other. More experienced, perhaps, but not better.
All is normal in IIUM it seems… =)
