Salam Aidilfitri

I'd like to begin the post by wishing Happy Eid-ul-Fitr to all Muslims. Eid-ul-Fitr, or Aidilfitri may not have a very significant celebration in other countries, but in Malaysia and Indonesia, it is one of the most important event throughout the year.

In a country like Malaysia, everybody, Muslims or non-Muslims can all enjoy the festive mood, albeit in a different way. The most important thing is, everyone gets holidays to return to meet their families and friends. For those who cannot go back, like me, we more or less still get to feel the festive mood, but slightly lonelier.

Yesterday after the announcement by the Keeper of the Royal Seal on the date of Aidilfitri, people began playing fireworks everywhere (in KL). It is heartening to see fireworks; they bring out festive mood from almost everyone. It is good to feel that although it is a Muslim celebration, we all enjoyed it, or felt happy about it at the end of the day.

I'm currently stranded in KL because of my research tests. This is the second time I have spent Aidilfitri in KL. I could remember the first time I did so was in 2006. Back then I used to take a bus home but somehow I could only go back a day after Aidilfitri because all tickets were sold out. I spent the whole day sleeping, watching TV (live from Seri Perdana I think, I forgot), doing some work, accompanied by prayers from nearby mosques.

Today, I did almost everything minus the TV (there's no TV here), but of course, yesterday night was much better because there weren't fireworks back in 2006.

Recently, many things happened to my project. It may not be as serious as some other people's, but it is still something. I was especially upset at how my cells could have been "accidentally taken away". Although I have successfully recovered one of the two lost flasks, cell count in the flask was low already. I definitely hope it won't affect my test outcome tomorrow.

There are also certain things which have tested my patience. I guess I have chosen to just take a laugh in the end as usual. After all these years, these events are not much of a surprise to me anymore. I also believe that others will begin to have a deeper understanding of these events, sooner or later.

Salam Aidilfitri again. Maaf zahir dan batin.