History of Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses was officially formed in 1985 when members of two bands decided to form a new group. The name comes from these 2 bands: Hollywood Rose was a band Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin' were in. In 1985 Tracii Guns from L.A. Guns joined them and that's when GNR was born. Shortly after that, Tracii Guns was out, Duff joined Guns N' Roses, and soon after that, Slash and Steven Adler also joined. The Appetite for Destruction version of the band started to exist in the middle of 1985. Early picture of Guns N' Roses At the beginning, things were not easy for Guns N' Roses, their first tour to Seattle was not a success and in Los Angeles they were all sharing a very small apartment that they called the "hell house". The money was not there but the creativity was. They quickly composed a lot of their big hits around that time, including Don't Cry and Welcome to the Jungle. They started to gain popularity and played clubs such as the Troubadour and the Roxy in late 1985 and early 1986.After a while they caught the attention of the record companies but these people were a bit scared to sign the band because of their tendency to party and consume large amounts of drugs and alcohol. But in Spring 1986 Geffen Records takes the chance and offer them a contract. Axl, Slash, Izzy, Duff and Steven started recording material for their first album. At the end of the year they released 10,000 copies of an EP called "Live like a suicide" featuring 4 songs: Reckless life, Nice Boys, Move to the city, and Mama Kin. This album was not live though, they simply added crowd sounds to make it sound like it was live. This release is very popular with collectors and you will need to spend a lot of money if you want to own one of these. You can find them from time to time on eBay.com.

who am i without them.....

 mydad and my mom

i love you.......

                           who are we ???

“But in Friendship – in that luminous, tranquil, rational world of relationships freely chosen – you got away from all that.  This alone, of all the loves, seemed to raise you to the level of gods or angels.”     

Hello new friends!!  My name is fieqah, and I am the other side to Kelsey’s story from the past two weeks.  I’m excited Heather and Kelly asked Kels and I to share a bit of the craziness happening in our lives right now and some of the things we are learning through it!  I’m sure you know this after reading Kelsey’s posts, but our friendship has been quite unconventional and our views on relationships are relatively unpopular.  I want to dive into that a little more, but first I think I need to briefly share my side of this crazy story!

The quote above is from a book by C.S. Lewis called, “The Four Loves.”  In it, Lewis explores the nature of the four loves that were all very well known to cultures throughout history.  One of these loves is friendship, and Lewis is even bold enough to say that this love is the happiest of the loves but isn’t experienced by most in today’s culture.

I felt this disconnect in our culture very strongly most of my life.  I always wanted deep friendships – David/Jonathan friendships – but it seemed like everyone else in my life was running from those type of friendships because of what people could think.  I ended up having several friendships that would be considered deep if you asked them, and a bit less deep if you asked me.  Nonetheless, I had great friends in my life.  I didn’t confuse friendship with romance.  My dad is a marriage/family counselor, and I grew up getting marital counseling from the age of 6.  I was the only 6 year old in my class who knew basic strategy for opening up communication in a marriage.  This helped me in many ways growing up, but I got weird looks whenever I would give my teachers relationship advice…  Anyway, I dove into deep friendships but was very comfortable staying out of the dating scene.  I figured that if God knit me together, knew every day of my life before one came to pass, and wants to bring fullness and abundance to me… He probably knows the details around my love life too.  Single or married and the timeline surrounding both was His concern, not mine.

Now, we all know the passage in scripture where Paul says, “If you can stay single, by all means be single” (1 Cor. 7:8).  Lets be honest friends, most of us love to breeze on by that passage without dedicating any thought to it.  Don’t do it!!  I think that the first inference we need to make here is the simple fact that being single is an option.  It doesn’t make us unclean or uncool, nor does it place us single folk beneath the oh-so-desirable married.  I have honestly believed my whole life that the “single” season in life is equally as beautiful as the “married” season.  Living with that perspective, I dove into every adventure I could.  I pursued dreams that were destined to fail without divine intervention.  I took risks, and failed more times than I can count.  I just kept running.  The destination I was running toward was the Lord and His plans, whereas most of my friends were running toward a girl or a boy.  The girl or boy would change frequently, but the goal was the same.  I rarely saw these friends fulfilled, and I never saw a passion for who God created them to be as individuals.

Because of my decisive and potentially stubborn drive to go against the norm, I had countless concerned friends praying for me to find a girl, a never ending supply of advice on how to change my life to make that happen, and even a large group of people, (friends, family, teachers, pastors), questioning every piece of my identity down to the core.  This rocked my faith and challenged me to hold even tighter to the Truth claims of God and to know conclusively what the truth was about me.  Through this journey, I became very content being single for life.  I decided that friendship was a hill I was willing to die on, and even if God brought a teammate into my life, I wanted our marriage to stand on the “friendship team.”  I wanted to have a deep, unwavering, foundational friendship that won’t be shaken by the rollercoaster of emotions or the altering of circumstances in our lives.

…

Once upon a time, a matchmaking effort that was destined to fail brought two like-minded individuals together.  A friendship ensued.  An unexpected weekend with the girl’s best friend marked the beginning of a tangible friendship going beyond the reach of most.  Dozens of adventures in several states with family and friends added to this story.  A tour bus here, a plane ride there, a private jet to the next stop… this became the framework of two friends that could potentially live life together.  Precious new friends imparting wisdom and standing with us as “friends with a future” provided encouragement and accountability.  Down time to talk about the really hard issues, without the pressure of being anything but friends defined a new type of relationship.  Clear direction from the Lord and confirmation from those He has placed in our lives to provide counsel propelled us to begin moving forward.  Overwhelming provision and unavoidable circumstances brought reigning peace as we began walking down this road.  Even the most advanced mathematician couldn’t have drawn up the timing from start to present.  Here we are.  Friends with a future.  Friends with countless adventures still left to live.  Friends planning on opening a new chapter and a new depth to our friendship when we explore another type of love together.  Friends who could have lived in the current chapter as simply “friends” if God had not moved our hearts, and we would have still found beauty and contentment in that relationship.

              who are we ???

SEJARAH PENUBUHAN INSTITUT KEMAHIRAN MARA (IKM) & KOLEJ KEMAHIRAN TINGGI MARA (KKTM)

IKM / KKTM diwujudkan dengan tujuan untuk melahirkan belia Bumiputera yang berkemahiran dalam pelbagai bidang teknikal dan kemahiran bagi melayakkan mereka berkhidmat dalam sektor perdagangan, perusahaan dan perindustrian disamping mewujudkan bakal-bakal usahawan. Perlaksanaan latihan dijalankan dengan cara mengadakan berbagai kursus di dalam berbagai bidang yang dijalankan di IKM / KKTM di seluruh negara. IKM yang pertama ditubuhkan adalah pada tahun 1968 iaitu IKM Melaka yang pada masa itu ditempatkan di Jalan Hang Tuah, Melaka. Pada awalnya IKM diwujudkan dengan objektif berorientasikan sosial iaitu untuk membanteras masalah keciciran di dalam bidang pendidikan di kalangan remaja dan belia Bumiputera terutamanya di kawasan luar bandar. Apabila negara mula mempelbagaikan sistem ekonominya dari bidang pertanian ke bidang perusahaan dan perindustrian, keperluan pekerja separuh mahir untuk bekerja di kilang-kilang yang ditubuhkan mula ketara. Mulai tahun 70an, bidang-bidang kemahiran telah diperbanyakkan dan jumlah IKM telah ditambah. IKM memberi peluang kepada remaja dan belia yang tidak berpeluang melanjutkan pendidikan, mendapatkan kelulusan dan kemahiran untuk melayakkan mereka untuk berkhidmat dengan syarikat-syarikat swasta. Daripada asalnya dikenali sebagai "sekolah tukang" iaitu pusat latihan yang melahirkan tukang yang mahir dalam sesuatu bidang, kini IKM telah berkembang mengikut peredaran zaman. Selaras dengan perkembangan di dalam dunia pendidikan yang diterajui oleh perkembangan ekonomi berasaskan teknologi, negara memerlukan lebih ramai pekerja berpengetahuan atau "knowledge workers". Di samping itu perkembangan teknologi juga menyebabkan syarikat-syarikat pembuatan dan perindustrian yang memberi sumbangan besar terhadap mengadakan peluang-peluang pekerjaan, mengubah keperluan sumber manusia mereka daripada "tukang pasang" atau "assembly workers" kepada pekerja berkemahiran tinggi atau highly-skilled workers. Sehubungan dengan itu, aliran kemahiran menjadi penting di dalam program pembangunan sumber manusia dan secara langsung merupakan satu laluan yang selari dengan aliran akademik dan ini membolehkan lepasan sekolah menengah membuat pilihan tentang haluan dan bidang kerjaya yang hendak mereka ceburi. Hakikat inilah yang menjadi asas utama di dalam pembangunan IKM. Sehingga awal tahun 90an, kesemua kursus latihan kemahiran dijalankan di peringkat Sijil bagi Belia Bumiputera dalam peringkat umur 16-40 tahun. Antara latihan kemahiran yang diadakan adalah dalam bidang seperti Kejuruteraan Automotif, Kejuruteraan Awam, Kejuruteraan Elektrik, Kejuruteraan Elektronik, Kejuruteraan Mekanikal, Senibina dan juga Seni dan Rekabentuk. Kursus di tahap Diploma pula mula dijalankan pada tahun 1995 apabila IKM Petaling Jaya menjalankan sepenuhnya program Higher National Diploma dalam bidang Elektronik dan diploma ini ditauliahkan oleh Edexcel International of United Kingdom. Ini kemudiannya diikuti oleh program diploma di dalam bidang Teknologi Kejuruteraan Automotif, Bangunan, Elektrik, Elektronik dan Mekanikal secara usahasama dengan Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Manakala program diploma dalam bidang Teknologi Pembuatan dan Membuat Acuan dilaksanakan dengan kerjasama German Malaysia Institute (GMI). Peningkatan tahap kursus memerlukan tenaga pengajar dan pengurusan yang mempunyai kelulusan dan kelayakkan yang lebih tinggi disamping kemudahan dan alatan latihan yang lebih canggih yang mencerminkan teknologi yang sebenarnya digunakan dalam pasaran serta industri. Ini mencetuskan IKM dinaiktaraf menjadi Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi MARA (KKTM) bagi pusat-pusat yang menjalankan program diploma iaitu di KKTM Pasir Mas, KKTM Petaling Jaya dan KKTM Balik Pulau. Dengan ini, KKTM bukan sahaja merupakan salah satu aliran pilihan secara langsung bagi pelajar-pelajar yang tamat SPM atau SPM(V) tetapi juga memberi peluang pelatih lepasan IKM melanjutkan pelajaran mereka di peringkat diploma.