Kesan migrain untuk hari ini

Soalan untuk hari ini:

Ada tak orang mati kerana terlalu rindukan seseorang?

Harap takde, oleh itu saya tahu saya tak akan mati.
Tapi kalau benda ini boleh berlaku, harap ada, oleh itu saya tidak menjadi yang pertama.

Ps: Apa yang cuba saya merepekkan ini? Pergi sambung balik baca buku teks undang-undang intelektual yang masih ada 70 mukasurat yang belum terbaca untuk esok punya peperiksaan.

Pps: Nasib baik saya bukan peguam atau pelajar undang-undang.

Ppps: Sekarang baru saya sedar bahawa belajar di meja belajar tidak menyakitkan belakang seperti belajar di atas katil. Tapi apakan daya, bilik terlalu sejuk untuk tidak duduk dalam selimut sepanjang masa. Nasib baik bila peperiksaan menjelma, cuaca menjadi panas sedikit.

Pppps (rasa macam tengah buat pembezaan pula): Oh, peperiksaan saya tinggal kurang sebulan. Nasib baik saya ada 2 matapelajaran sahaja yang ada peperiksaan. Namun, matapelajaran undang-undang ada peperiksaan tiap-tiap minggu di mana setiap minggu saya perlu baca 100++ mukasurat dan semua markah itu akan dijadikan markah akhir. Malang, ye saya tahu. Lebih malang lagi, saya tidak ada minggu pembacaan, maknanya selepas minggu terakhir kelas, minggu depannya minggu peperiksaan.

Ppppps: Sila sedih untuk saya kerana saya tidak mahu sedih. (Ceh, cakap selepas seharian bersedih-sedihan sehingga tidak pergi ke kelas kerana kena migrain pula).

Ok, patut tamat sekarang.

Torture

Torture no 1

Deciding whether to buy iPod Touch or new camera. Finally Mr Kodak has stopped working and solved the torture no 1. Decided to buy new camera.

Torture no 2

Deciding which camera to buy. Going through different brand & model. Finally narrowed down to 2 models. Finally decided on Panasonic Lumix LX3 after consulting few peoples, review various sites and analyzing what I really need.

Torture no 3

Suddenly has a thought of buying something cheaper. Scared that not enough budget at least until arrive Malaysia safely. Trying to figure out future budget (Fall semester). The torture still going on.

Torture no 4

Smelling delicious food since the room is in front of the kitchen and knew that food couldn't be eaten. This torture is happening every night. Nak pindah rumah cepat-cepat boleh tak. Tak tahan la macam ni.

Torture no 5

Frequent needs to pee recently. Why? Do I need to see doctor for this? Sigh.

Torture no 6

Couldn't install Photoshop CS4. No idea what else to do to make it work.

Torture no 7

2 months without his touch, kiss and hug. 2 months without even meeting him. Another month of torturing will be occurred.



7 tortures is more than enough.

Oh, I felt like shit now.

Open letter to iPoT

Dear Mr iPod Touch,

I have a bad news that I need to deliver to you. As you know I have promised you to bring you into my life maybe end of April or early May right. Unfortunately, I can't fulfill my promise at that time frame.

The reason is my friend, Mr Kodak was not well. His condition is getting worse day after day. Before this he still can help me capturing moments every now and then if not consistently. But now he has gone to coma mood. The only way to save him is to send him to hospital. But as you know, health insurance in US is very expensive. Furthermore, he still has insurance coverage in Malaysia. So I think I have to let him be in coma and when I go back to Malaysia, I will take him to hospital. I just hope he would not be healthy in Malaysia especially during doctor consultation which would piss me off if that happen ok.

While waiting for that, I have to consider buying new camera I guess. I mean as much as I think you as something I really need, but after much consideration, I need camera more than you right now. Please don't take it to your heart. On brighter note, if I don't have camera, how am I going to capture those beautiful spring scenery that I can transfer into you? See, without camera, you might not become as useful as I want to be.

I know life it's not fair, iPod. If life is fair, I'll be living in one room apartment with free cable and free heat, having your brother, iPhone as my phone and flying first class. But you have to understand life is just not like that. We have to compromise some thing for another. Like I have to postpone having you when I really want you to live with me.

You might ask why I need to buy new camera when I can just wait for Mr Kodak to be operated by doctor. Well, you see, it's spring here and the flowers are too gorgeous to be ignored. I have spring formal coming up and I want to capture that too. Furthermore, I don't know the chances of Mr Kodak to be like normal again. The operation might be fatal and expensive. If additional expenses need for his surgery, I might not allow it. I love him but it's time to move on right. And Mr Hubby and I plan to go to Dayang Island so we need a camera for that too (how I wish you can follow me).

Don't worry iPoT (can I call you this? coz it sounds cuter). I know someday we'll be together. Only time and money will determine it.

xoxo,
Mun

Ps: in case you are wondering, your competitor would be either Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 or Canon Powershot G10. I'm still considering which one is worth buying over you of course. It's such a hard task to find something as fun as you. =)

How do you live today?

During my tenure in previous office, the company offered share options to all the employees. I exercised the right when the economy was flourishing in the end of 2007. I gained quite a lot of returns I might said. Having some financial knowledge, I decided to invest the money I got from that stock options. Well, stock exchange required a consistent market watch and studies, so I decided to invest in not so risk investment which is unit trust.

Deciding to put that certain amount of money was a tough decision when my other colleague used that money to beautify her car and other personal stuffs. But I made my decision soon before I changed my mind. Now the economy has plummeted, my unit trust price has also drop. Well, this is long term investment so it's something that I anticipated too.

But then, last week, I have this thought about living-your-life-at-this-moment thing. I mean, I might not seems like one but I always thought about the future and plan for that rather than living the moment right now. Of course you must plan for your future but sometimes you miss all the fun of being spontaneous. So I made this decision.

I want to go scuba diving this summer and get that long overdue license.

Now this is the time for me for not thinking about future for once and do something that I really really wanted even though financially we should not be so spendthrift at this moment coz I have so much plan in the future. But at this era we live in where there are so many medical advancement but at the same time the incurable disease sprung out like deadolin in spring. Cancer is no longer old man disease. At this moment of life, how do you know you will live to 70s? Your appendic removal might turn fatal. The small lump in your armpit might turn cancerous. You eat this to avoid that but at the same time doesn't prevent another thing.

Therefore, live your life now!

You can be a multi-millionaire too

Yesterday I went to a workshop organized by my department in order to obtain a credit for my program. Never I thought that this workshop could be an eye opener for me and I've learned a lot from it.

The workshop was called "The Millionaire in the Mirror: How to Find Your Passion and Make a Fortune Doing It-- Without Quitting Your Day Job" based on the book written by Gene Bedell. The workshop was given by the author himself of course, who does it better then the writer himself.

We were given a copy of that book to read before the workshop but I didn't read it as I have another book to read for another class. This is what I like about this workshop series, we get free books and the author himself will come and give the talk.

I want to share some new knowledge I obtained when attending this workshop. It's so interesting that I think it's would be good to share with my (not-so-many) readers.

Like it or not, the reality is we are spending 40 years of our life working. 40 years is a long time so we must be happy with what we do and since we work our butt of, we might as well get a lot of money doing it. And he pointed out that we must be happy all the way of 40 years, not just the first 10 years of our career. Oh, he did mention that if you are working with goverment body, you might not get much money but you must seeks influence to replace money.

A study has been done and showed that by the time we at the age of 35 and above, level of happiness has gone down and so as our salary from year to year. If before this we enjoy more than 6% increment every year, by this time the increment might not more than 3% each year. So how to avoid this? We must be the top 1% in earnings.

Some people might said that to be 1%, you need to be like Bill Gates or Warren Buffet. No, they are not 1%, but 0.01% ok. Look at the graph below to show you where is 1%. The idea is to retire with comfortable. What comfortable by Bedell definition is by the time you retire you are worth $20 million and above.
The question is, how do we do it? It's not about having special talent, looks of luck (ok, we need this in life right) or having super-rich parents. It's all about you behavior. Yes, you read it right: BEHAVIOR. It is possible for almost everyone to have outstanding success in your career. This is for the people like you and me, normal working people.

The are 7 outstanding success behavior.

#1: Become a heat-seeking missile
You must know where are you going and follow whatever path to get there. He asked few of us this question: When you are retired, where do you want to be? (not at the beach please). You must know what do you want to be. An entrepreneur perhaps? Or CEO of a big company? It's depends on you but the main point it you must know. It's ok if you don't know now coz at our age (my age bracket), you might changes job few time before you know what you want to be. But if until 40 years you still changing and finding, you in the big trouble, mate.

#2: Always work in your outstanding zone
For example you goal is to become a CFO (chief financial officer) of a company. So if you work as a acountant for some time and never given a chance to become a manager, it's time to move to another place that give you that opportunity even though you really like the work now. The point is you must work that in line with your goal.

#3: Miximize your value
This is determine by: where you work (IT people in investment bank has more value than IT people in supermarket), what you do (the closer your job to money, the more you are worth) and personal characteristics (personal packaging, relevent experience, significant personal accomplishment). Remember to increase your career value by spending most of your time and energy accumulating significant accomplishment that targeted at your goal.

#4: Swing for the bleachers
It's unlikely you work with a boss that you respected and better than you. A major career no-no is whining about your boss (OMG, I did this already). You should be happy you get a boss that is incompetent coz this is the time for you to shine and be free to do whatever you want to do to achieve your goal. To achieve outstanding performance he mentioned that we need to manage our boss and set our own objectives.

#5: Deliver the goods
It's simple: do what you say you're going to do.

#6: Take ownership
Act as if you owned the company 100%. When you think that way, you won't do things that can jeopardize that company.

#7: Don't self-destruct
5 most personally destructive organizational behaviors:
-arrogance
-burning bridges
-discrimination
-dishonesty & self-dealing
-inappropriate romantic affairs

In my opinion, all this are something that we can follow. It's not rocket science. However, if you want to know more (you should), please read his book (I know I'm going to). Most of the people can relate to this book.Sayang, awak mesti suka buku ni...

March Madness just not for basketball

Salary Madness - 2009 NCAA Tournament Predictions By the Dollars

Which school's grads are the salary champs? See who would come out on top for the 2009 NCAA tournament if the median salaries of each school's graduates determined the winner. In the opening round, Morehead St. ($45,400) beats Alabama St. ($41,800).

Taken from: PayScale
Click the picture for bigger view
& Read full article here

If this chart is true, I guess I made the right decision to come to Duke. Haha...

Hope Duke wins NCAA tournament after already won ACC Championship.

When you finish thinking, tell me the answers

This post is dedicated to my hubby.

List of things that under "nanti saya fikir dulu" clause.

1. To change our new official anniversary date which is 19th January to the old one which is 7th May.
   
2. To get our open water scuba diving license with MMU club this year.
3. To see if you can celebrate Raya with me in Durham.
4. What you want for your birthday this year.
5. To investigate if Choki trying to escape using Prison Break method.

Sekian. Terima kasih.

Ps: Do you realize that I suddenly update my blog everyday? This is due to the syndrome I-have-no-mood-to-study-so-let's-update-blog.

My wedding singer thought this song was for me but actually it was for him

I watched the new Akademi Fantasi season 7 first concert just now (yes, I'm still a Malaysian at heart but don't worry, I watched American Idol too... Conclusion: I like to watch reality TV show). Anyway, one of the 'student' sang Sempurna, originally sang by Andra & the Backbones.

That's our wedding song. I like to call it our song even Zainal has another opinion about it. And the AF 'student' sang really sucks. I don't like it at all. Please don't spoilt my favourite song.

Let's together enjoy the original version.

I'm 4 kg lighter but why I'm not happy?

I want to share something with you my reader(s). I lost 4 kg within 1.5 months without intended to do so. Good news or bad news?

Zainal thinks it's a bad news coz he knew I'm not eating right and losing the kgs the unhealthy way.

I wonder if it's ok to lose 4 kg in 1.5 months? Is that too drastic or normal. I don't know.

How do I do it? I think these are the reasons:

• I hardly eat any rice now. Maybe 3-4 times a week instead of twice a day.
• I eat less now. I even can't finish a 6" Subway sub in one go.
• I always skip my meal.
• I have no mood to eat.

Please don't follow this. It's not healthy, I know. But we human like the unhealthy way don't we? That's why fast food is a profitable business.

Well, for now, I'm happy I loss some weight. At least I achieved one thing when I came here. =)

Ps: I have a stupid question to ask: Do women breasts become smaller when she loss weight?

Of waiting and waiting

After 12 hours of waiting, I only got 6 minutes and 45 seconds.

Apparently, sleeping is more important.

Spring break trip: episode 0

Tomorrow is the last day of my spring break. From next week until the end of semester life will be hectic again. But I looking forward to May. Beside my birthday on that month, I'll be heading home on Zainal's birthday. But of course I only arrive 2 days after that.

Spring break was not wasted, in fact it's on of the best holiday I had. What's so good about this trip was I didn't do any research where to go or what to do. You know what good about doing it? You don't get frustrated if things didn't go your way and you enjoy your holiday more by just followed the flow. Furthermore, I get to meet my friends that I have not seen for 2 years and 8 years.

I would like to thank Nida for such a wonderful trip. Thank you for letting me sleep in your bed, being my photographer (since my camera officially unused), being my tour guide, being co-driver, rent a car for this purpose only and plan everything. Thank you too for taking me to meet the wonderful Malaysians there and fulfill my desire to eat halal KFC. Hehe. I love you gal!

I would like to thank my high school friend, Sudesh, who letting us to stay in his apartment and took us out hanging out with other cool Malaysians. They were nice and friendly bunch of people.

On this trip, I learned how to drive the Michigan way: If you are slow, the trucks will overtake you. Hehe. I'm glad NC doesn't has this many crazy trucks on the road. At one time Nida asked me why didn't I overtake the truck? I simply said I'm scared of the big trucks. She just laughed and said I can't drive in MI.

Well, having said that, I drove 3 hours from Chicago to Ypsilanti but just 1 hour before we arrived, I was sleepy like mad and I think Nida could see that by on how I drove. (Seriously if I was Nida, I would be scared to death). One thing about US highways is that it's easy to drive over speed limit as it's long and straight (at one time I drove to almost 90 miles/hr (145 km/hr) before I realized it). When the road is straight, you tend to get bored easily and start to feel sleepy.

Maybe I shall write about the trip soon.

If kisses can be Fedex'ed, you receive Fedex package everyday

Baby you know that I miss you
I wanna get with you tonight but I cannot, sayang
And that's the issue
Sayang you know I miss you
I just wanna kiss you
But I can't right now so baby kiss me thru the phone
I'll see you later on..
Kiss me thru the phone
See you when I get home*

*Kiss Me Thru The Phone by Soulja Boy Tell Em

All I know about him is that I love him very much

Nobody tag me on this but my hubby dares me to do this. He claimed that he knew me better than I knew him. We'll see

Rules:
Here’s a chance to see how well you really know your husband/boyfriend/lover. Cut, paste and fill in the answers, then shoot, you know what to do. The real challenge is to send it to your husband/boyfriend/lover to see how right you really are. Him @ M&M's heaven

1. He’s sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen?
Discovery Channel - Man vs Wild, How do they do it? and Chelsea games.

2. You’re out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad?
Salad? apakah itu? He's allergic to vegetables (according to him. & he's probably not eating any vege now since I'm not there to force him...hmmm)

3. What’s one food he doesn’t like?
Vegetables & internal organs & oats & tauge & onions... oh you mean only one food? My bad..

4. You go out to eat and have a drink. What does he order?
Ice lemon tea & teh 'o' ice

5. Where did he go to high school?
Form 1-3: SMK Subang Jaya, Form 4-5: SM Teknik Setapak KL

6. What size shoes does he wear?
8

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be?
Magazines... or broken sunglasses.. haha

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich?
Smoked chicken slice that can be bought at the Carrefour or Giant...

9. What would this person eat every day if he could?
Satay ayam

10. What is his favorite cereal?
Corn flakes

11. What would he never wear?
Speedo.. haha

12. What is his favorite sports team?
Chelsea

13. Who did he vote for?
I thought who you vote is a secret. I know who he voted. Hint: that party lost at Subang Jaya

14. Who is his best friend?
Kicap, Chot (betul tak?)

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn’t do?
Come to US...maybe

16. What is his heritage?
Malay, Arab

17. What is his favourite colour?
Used to be black but now he leads a happy life so it's not black anymore.

18. What is his habit?
Blame Choki for everything... and sleep a lot

19. What is he proud of?
Choki, I guess.... hehe.. & his computer skill of course.

20. Lastly, do you think he will read this?
Of course and he has to put a comment if the answers are correct or not.

I want this and that

When I came to States, my intention was pure and simple. To gain knowledge as much as I can and to travel around. And of course buying 3 stuff - a laptop, iPhone and a Couch handbag. See how pure my intentions were.

But now all that hopes and dreams getting diluted with materialistic emotions and needs. Like I want a pair of boots too. I want all the cool kitchen appliances too. The Nine West, XOXO, Liz Claiborne shoes and handbags that ridiculously cheap compare to Malaysia (it's a cheap brand here). I want new camera. Wah... where's my simple and pure dreams has gone?

The best thing over here is the return back policy. Balik rumah, tak puas hati, hantar balik. Like I send back an antenna and few other things. (Coming soon to be returned back: An antenna (no, I don't have antenna fetish, a TV digital converter and a pair of shoes).

By the way, from the 3 stuffs I want,
1) I got a laptop (need one to survive),

2) I might not buy iPhone but instead iPod Touch (coz it will settle the unlocked/locked/incompatible 3G/whatever the problem is). iPod Touch has almost the same function and design with iPhone except iPod Touch can't make calls, no camera, no bluetooth, no GPS (but has google maps) but it has Nike+ready (whatever that thing is). In conclusion, it still have all the functions, software & Wi-fi & it's cheaper.

The left one is iPhone & the right one is iPod Touch (similar right?). Taken from iphoneoverdose.com

3) Couch handbag still in dilemma. Maybe I'll save money for travelling.

Or... maybe I should find on -campus job. Hehe

Something to look forward at year end

I have a dream. I want to have a road trip across US. I know it's not impossible. A lot of people had done it even my parents had done it in early 80s. I know I can do this.

I told my traveling partner and he agreed. Yes! Just the two of us driving and venturing into the unknown world. Wow this will be the best honeymoon ever. I love traveling but the budget doesn't permit us to do it often. I know my traveling partner loves traveling too but he knows all the hard work always fall upon him. This time sayang, I'll work on my stamina and we will do the dirty work together, ok.

My plan would be at the end of this year. When I finish my master and before we go home. But it's in winter so we probably go in the southern part first. That would be just nice as I'm at the southern part of States.

Ah, can't wait for this. I need to start saving for this trip.

Ps: I do have good time here too you know. I know the posts have been very gloomy and always at the gray side of my personality but I tend to forgot to write happy stuff happening here. I promised I will write happy stuff too.

My heart freeze when it's snowing again

Then

Date: 20 January 2009 (one day after our first anniversary)
Time: 7.30 am

M: Sayang, bangun cepat snow turun la.
Z: *Wake up immediately*

Few minutes later after wearing whatever clothes that won't make us cold.


Time: 4.30 pm

M: Sayang, tak nak pergi kelas boleh tak?
Z: Nape?
M: Sakit perut.

Few minutes later after coming out of the toilet.I think this was the best anniversary I ever had. We never played with snow before so Allah let it snowing a day after our anniversary and let us enjoyed each other to create a long lasting memory. Thank you Allah.

Today

The snow fell down again in Durham. I was at Aira's this morning.

I wasn't excited anymore. The memory of having 1 day snow reminded me the fun time I have with my hubby. It was very painful thinking that if he is here right now, we will be enjoying ourselves like before. The beautiful scenery was too painful to be enjoyed. My heart felt cold and eerily quiet like today.

I hope I can still holding on until we meet each other again and not lost my mind like this snowman (or head).