How it feel living in -22 degree Celsius?

Coming from a tropical country where we only have sunshine and rain throughout the year with average temperature of 28-32° Celsius, I always wonder how it feel to be in frigid temperature. I have experience with -1 to -3 °Celsius but more than -10 °C? That will be something extreme.

What a better place to experience it than in Boston, right. Temperature in Boston changes everyday or even every hour drastically like a fickle-minded person choosing an ice cream flavor. Last year the coldest day we had experience was -17 °C with windchill temperature -35°C. But I managed to avoid going out and didn't really experience it. This year was during this weekend. Instead of 1 day, we got 2 days of extreme cold. The temperature was -22 °C with windchill temperature of -33°C.

You see, during winter, you don't believe what the temperature tell you about your current temperature. You need to focus on the RealFeel. The weather can be 2°C but the RealFeel is -5°C. RealFeel is the actual temperature that you will feel outside as it takes the account of wind, humidity, cloud cover, sun intensity, and others. That is how to plan what to where before you go out. Therefore, when I said the temperature for this weekend was -22°C, the RealFeel was -33°C.

Let me share the experience. Last night, we went out to see Trevor Noah show in Downtown Boston. We parked the car just 5 minutes walking from Wilbur Theater. The moment I stepped out from the car, the wind attacked my bare skin aka my face. My nose hurt so much that I need to cup it using my gloved hand. While at average winter temperature, I just can't feel my nose, but this time, it's like my nose was being crushed and prick with thousand needles at the same time. At the front door, the security forcing people to come in quickly so that no one will stand outside. The wind was so cold even my feet was freezing though I was wearing wool socks with my wool lined boots. Double wool and still freezing.

Wow, now I know what it feel to be in this extreme temperature. Tonight I going to try throwing boil water and see if it turn to ice immediately.

 

The bird and the duck fly away

I told the bird it's ok if you are busy migrating. I know it's winter and even though you might not need to migrate, but it's great if you decided to.

But my heart said why do you need to migrate? Do you want to leave me? Do you find me boring that you need to migrate to other places? Am I so bad that you don't want me be around you?

I told the bird that I understand you are busy. Give me a call when you back here in spring. We can hang up. I like your song and you always have fun stories to share when you fly away.

But I told the duck that the bird is noisy. Always sing the song that I don't like. So it's good that bird is migrating said the duck. I nodded.

But in my heart I actually like the bird's song. Though the bird's songs in not what I usually listen but I can deal with that. I miss hanging with the bird. I didn't know that before but over time I need to hear songs from the bird.

Well, I guess the bird has flied away. So does the duck. I can't blame them. Winter is coming. But I can still have spring in my heart. I just need to grow my own flowers and sing my own song.

Shouldn't be that hard.

Right?

Goodbye 2015

Here we are welcoming the new year and leaving the old year with many memories. 2015 is the worst year for my blog as I only updated 9 times! A single digit posts in one year. What happened to my new year resolution to write as much as I can.

Anyway, as a whole, 2015 wasn't as bad as my blog. Hehe. 2015 marked one full year I left full-time employment and dedicated myself to the family, my company and charity works. I started volunteering at Cradle to Crayons and Gifford Cat Shelter. I also organized the fundraising for Kelantan flood victims. I enjoyed it so much, and I will continue to do it InsyaAllah.

In terms of traveling, we went to Midwest during spring break covering Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Wisconsin. It was fun and a good week to escape Boston endless snow storm. We also drove down with few others to Washington DC for Job Fair organized by Education Malaysia during spring and enjoyed Singing Beach at Manchester-by-the-sea, MA.

In summer, we went back to Malaysia coz Zainal got an internship in Microsoft KL. So we got to fast and Raya in Malaysia. Weehooo.. And I managed to have a 1 night trip back to Kelantan with my parents after almost 15 years hasn't gone back to my hometown. I managed to put on 3kgs within than 3 months -_-

Once we were back in Boston, we moved to a different apartment (cheaper but smaller) and got a very good deal second-hand car. Alhamdulillah, now we can move easily and not depending on buses and trains to go everywhere. That also means I'm Zainal's official driver :) Since we have a car, we took this opportunity to explore Massachusetts. We went eating cheap lobster at Rockport and awed the grand Castle Hill mansion at Ipswich. We also went to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. We should go to Vermont and Maine after this.

Other than that, I experienced the worst winter that Boston ever experiences and for the first time I saw that amount of snow. I do hope that we will not experience that again this year.

Last but not least, I took this opportunity to study and to get ready for another opportunity for 2016, InsyaAllah if there's rezeki. Looking forward to more productive and unpredictable 2016.

Waist-to-hip ratio

In my post 3 years ago here, I was worried about the extra fat in my tummy. At that time I was more worried about my appearance rather than the health issue of the problem. Of course I took some action, and managed to reduce at least 10cm of my waistline. It was quite an achievement for me. Then  moved to Miri and lacked of my favourite food further helped my mission. Last year I moved to Boston and the scarcity of Halal food has helped me to shred 5kg of my excessive fat. However we went back to Malaysia for 2 months which coincidentally fell during Raya which has contributed to my weight gain.

However, these few days I was feeling sluggish and lethargic and wondering what is wrong with me. Don't get me wrong, I only skipped the gym for few days but I have been walking around few days in this week so I was not dormant. While reading articles in the internet (the abundant wealth of knowledge!), there's an article about the how the distribution of fat can be risky even if someone is in normal weight. The risk of cardiovascular disease of people with normal weight but high percentage of visceral fat - the fat accumulate around the internal organ which can be measured by the waistline - is higher than people with normal weight and normal waistline. In fact they have higher mortality risk with those who is obese based on BMI. 

So I took the measuring tape and started measuring the waist-to-hip ratio and looked at the table for the waist-to-hip ratio. Lo and behold, I was at the 'risk' group. MasyaAllah. Now that was the wake up call. 

Ok, I really need to cut down my snacks consumption that full of sugar. Tonight I will start my daily ginger-lemongrass-honey drink to regulate my blood circulation and people say can burn fat too. 

Wish me luck!

Morning excercise

I'm not a person who is discipline enough for regular exercise. I always think being in gym is so boring unless I join the group exercise. Until last year. Until I realized how regular exercise has improved my well-being (obviously) and the best of all, it actually almost cure my ankle pain that I have been suffering for 2 years and my back pain. Then I realized how weak my body is and how the muscles are not strong enough to help each other.

I have been using Boston University's huge gym at least once a week. They have one of the best gym, in my opinion. I really like that they combine both swimming pool and gym at one building. With this membership I also can use the Walter Brown Ice Skating area for free. How cool is that?

I am not a morning person, so I decided going to gym in the afternoon. I have been doing that since last year but this month I decided to work out in the morning after I send Zainal to class. I remembered once in Kevin Zahri's class when he was giving lecture during our Be Well program, exercise in the morning is good coz your body still sleeping and you are not aware. How true is that statement. I guess my body is still sleeping today coz I'm been doing more exercise than I usually did. As a result, my hands are still sore, and my legs still feel like jelly. Man, that was good exercise isn't it.

This is so random posting but I need to get this writing momentum start.

Pray for MH370

The first thing I heard when I woke up Saturday morning was the missing flight MH370 news from my husband. I was shocked. Missing airplane is not a normal news in Malaysia, in fact not a normal news globally as commercial airline is one of the safest transportation mode. I know from the countless episodes of Air Crash Investigation documentary that I also saw with my husband, this is a bad news.

Now, after 44 hours of last contact with the air control, nothing is yet to be found by the search and rescue squad. What sadden me most is that the pilot, Captain Zaharie is my friend's father and there are 4 passengers on that flight are my parents' good friends.

Let's pray that MH370 will come back and everyone is safe.

(Pictures from Facebook)

I hope when I wake up tomorrow, there will be good news. Amin.

Resepi maggi kari ayam (dengan ketulan ayam) untuk pengembara

Selamat datang tuan-tuan dan puan-puan sekalian ke laman sesawang saya pada hari ini. Jika tuan-tuan dan puan-puan mencari resepi yang sedap dan senang, tuan-tuan dan puan-puan datang ke laman sesawang yang betul. Jangan tekan tab dan sesawang lain, teruskan membaca artikel ini yang mungkin akan mengubah hidup tuan-tuan dan puan-puan. Hari ini adalah hari bertuah tuan-tuan dan puan-puan kerana mungkin ini adalah resepi pertama dan terakhir di laman sesawang ini TETAPI antara resepi yang akan mengubah hidup tuan-tuan dan puan-puan.

Baiklah, mari kita mulakan...

Saya yakin tuan-tuan dan puan-puan pernah pergi melancong dan mengembara di negara-negara lain. Salah satu masalah yang sering kali dihadapi ialah susah mencari makanan yang halal dan jugak memenuhi citarasa. Oleh itu tidak hairan la kalau ramai yang di antara kita membawa Maggi untuk dimakan dalam bilik hotel apabila letih berjalan sepanjang hari. Tetapi tidak lah kekadang kita rasa muak dan jemu bila asyik makan Maggi atau Mi Sedap atau apa-apa seangkatan dengannya. Asyik-asyik mi dengan kuah yang langsung tidak memenuhi keperluan protein kita. Hanya ada mi dan kuah sahaja. Tidak kah kita terasa nak makan mi kari ayam pada masa tu? Tidak semestinya apabila kita melancong, kita perlu berkorban citarasa lidah.

Maka..... ini lah penyelesaian yang paling senang.

Mula-mula mari kita lihat apakah bahan-bahan yang diperlukan. Dah nama pun mengembara, oleh itu bahan-bahan mesti la senang. Bahan-bahan yang diperlukan adalah seperti di bawah:

Boleh pilih nak buat kari atau rendang ayam.. sangat fleksibel

Mee Maggi mesti la nak kan. Kalau tak bukan nama maggi kari ayam dah. Kemudian beli la kari ayam dalam tin seperti Yeo's atau Ayamas atau dalam kotak seperti Brahim's. Hanya 2 bahan sahaja. 

Dah siapkan bahan-bahan yang diperlukan, sekarang kita mulakan acara memasak. Tiada bawang nak potong, minyak masak atau ayam disembelih. Senang kan? Tengok, saya tak tipu tuan-tuan dan puan-puan.

Langkah pertama, masukkan mi maggi dalam air mendidih atau air panas sehingga lembut. Buang air rebusan dan biarkan mi maggi dalam bekas.

Mi maggi yang sudah lembut

Langkah kedua, buka tin atau paket kari ayam tadi dah curahkan ke atas mi maggi yang dah lembut tadi. Kacau sehingga rata.

Yummssss....

Tadaaaaa... sudah siap! Masa untuk menjamu selera.

Tuan-tuan dan puan-puan boleh menjadi kreatif dengan menggunakan pelbagai lagi citarasa dengan pelbagaikan kuah. Contohnya mi maggi ayam masak merah, mi maggi kurma, mi maggi rendang ayam... bak kata pepatah mat salleh, sky is the limit. Cuma hadnya ialah apa yang Ayamas/Yeo's/Brahim's jual di kedai runcit berdekatan dengan rumah tuan-tuan dan puan-puan.

Gambar dari sini. Boleh pilih nak mi maggi + apa-apa walaupun saya tak berapa cadangkan mi maggi dengan sambal ikan bilis. Agak pelik bunyinya. Tapi ini negara demokrasi, tuan-tuan dan puan-puan boleh mencuba jika mahu

Maka tidak perlu kita makan maggi dengan perencah maggi dalam kuah yang sungguh tidak menyelerakan itu.

Selamat mencuba!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eh, tuan-tuan dan puan-puan masih membaca lagi artikel ini? Terima kasih la banyak-banyak. Sangat terharu saya dengan kecekalan tuan-tuan dan puan-puan meneruskan pencarian ilmu di laman sesawang saya ini. 

Saya nak memperkenalkan satu peralatan yang sangat berguna jika tuan-tuan dan puan-puan sering mengembara dan suka makan di dalam bilik hotel. Ia dipanggil travel cooker. Mempunyai 2 voltage untuk keperluan di seluruh dunia, ia didatangi dengan 1 alat pemanas elektrik, 1 periuk stainless steel untuk memasak, 1 bekas plastik dan 1 sudu. Lengkap untuk keperluan memasak.

Saiz hanya 60% tinggi botol air mineral 600ml

Gambar di atas (yang paling besar) membandingkan saiz travel cooker dengan saiz tisu tandas.

Saya pernah menggunakan untuk memasak resepi saya di atas semasa saya terpaksa tinggal di hotel selama 30 hari dan tidak mempunyai wang untuk order room service. Saiz dia adalah kecil seperti di bawah dan sangat padat untuk dimasukkan dalam beg.

Masak-masal dalam hotel

Ada kawan saya yang memasak nasi, telur goreng dan macam-macam lagi mengunakan ini. Ia adalah seperti periuk masak biasa cuma kecil comel je.

Jika berminat nak beli, sila tinggalkan komen dan email, saya boleh tolong dapatkan dengan harga yang berpatutan.   
Periuk ni last sekali saya order ada masalah dengan stok. Maaf, saya dah tak dapat membeli dari supplier saya dah.

Baju Raya Purple

Dear Adik Durratus,

I hope you like the whole set of baju raya we bought for you. Enjoy your Raya!

 

 Ps: Yeah.. sorry about the long letter. It seems kakak is the one that needs all the advices inside that letter more than you. Oh well, please pardon her.

xoxo,

Kakak Comel & Abang Handsome

Race to Jannah

As a kid, one of favourite things to do while waiting for iftar was watching the iftar time announcement around  Malaysia that always shown on TV. I will be like haha, north is so late.. wahh, Sabah and Sarawak can break their fast 1 hour early. I even suggested to my mom we should sahur here and go to Sabah and Sarawak for iftar. In a way, our fasting time will be shorter. That's how my naive mine works previously.

Now, if I can go back to my past, I will tell my 10 years old me, hold on kiddo, you will experience it someday. Haha. 

Fasting in Miri is the same like fasting in West Malaysia. Exept we iftar and sahur early. The best part of early iftar is our tarawih finish early too. By 9.15pm, we are done our 8 rakaat. That plus 15 minutes tazkirah between Isyak and Tarawih. There's one night, the imam skipped the Tazkirah, we were on our way home at 8.45pm. I told my husband, if this in Subang, we are just going to start Isyak. Hehe.

Anyway, the downside is there will no waiting for azan on TV. Every year if you stick to one TV channel you can guess that after this commercial, azan is next. But not in Miri, we are constantly looking at the clock waiting for iftar. One more thing, the bazaar Ramadhan also not as much of variety as in West Malaysia. So, I'm kinda miss that too. 

Well, wherever we are, the most important is the whole Ramadhan ibaadah itself. For myself and all of you, let's make this Ramadhan better than the year before. Ramadhan Mubarak to all and let's race to Jannah!

My favourite month is here

Yeay! May is here...

Can't wait!

Let's make me a winner

This is a sticky post...... newer post below...

Dear my valuable readers (not so many but you are valuable to  me), please help me winning this competition by voting for my post.

All you need to do is click this link -->  Let's Make Munm a Winner!

Then scroll down the list and look out for no 30.

Click 'like' and hurrah! you make me the happiest people in cyberspace.

Quick, do it now coz the closing date is 30 January 2011.....

I know you guys would do it for me coz you are the most amazing people EVER! 

Thank you so much! =)

Marvelous May

CST Production and Lyndarahim Kuala Lumpur is having a contest. Bloggers and Facebookers just need to describe their dream weddings and the most creative one will be chosen a winner. I actually have been waiting for CST contest coz I missed the last one. I mistakenly misread their closing date. Haih. However, this contest is a bit tricky coz I already have my dream wedding! I would not changed anything about my wedding if I given a chance... umm... ok, maybe 1 or 2 things I might change. But the wonderful people at CST soothed my worry when they said I can describe any other event.

I have this one event that I really want to organize since I got married. It's the combination of our birthday and anniversary. You see, both my husband and I were born in May and our anniversary fall in May too. This year we will turn to *ahem* years old and if you divide the *ahem* number into 2, you'll get the total number of years we have known each other. And.... this year is our 9th anniversary! (Note: it's not our wedding anniversary ya).

If I were to organize this event, how do I do it? These are the summary:

• Where? In the park (coz I love nature yo!)
• When? May 2011, after sunset (preferably after Maghrib)
• Who? 10-15 of our closest friends and their partner (so around 20-30 people)
• Theme? Chill, relax and forget about all your resolution (yea, I'm still on New Year mood)
• Food? 3 course meal with free flowing dessert and candies (birthday party should have a lot of candies)

Let's get into the details.

First, the venue

I would choose this place if we are in New York. We were there last spring and it was awesome in May!

We were fooling around at Central Park, NY

But, nevertheless, we are in Malaysia now so any park with big, strong and canopy-like trees will do. Preferably in Petaling Jaya & Subang Jaya vicinity coz I know my friends are lazy to drive further than this (ok, I'm the one who are lazy, not them actually... hehe). I will decorate the tree with lots, when I said lots, I really mean abundant of christmas lights hanging from the tree until it will light up the place. The long table that can sit 30 people will be placed in the middle of those trees. When the guests are sitting down, they will feel like they are dining under a huge fireworks. Awesome right.

(this picture is actually the night version of the earlier picture but I think it's in fall/early winter from the lack of leaves on the tree branch. Source)

Disclaimer: that are not worms hanging on the trees. That are the christmas lights

Secondly, the food

Good food is the way to your friend's heart. Because I love my friends so much, I would like to order 3 course meal from Tony Roma's for everybody.....

KIDDING!

Unless everybody agreed to pay for their meal. Haha. I will choose equally delicious restaurant to cater our food. So everybody that RSVP'ed that they are coming will need to choose their food choice before the event. So on that day, everybody will get their own choice of food.

Next, the decorations

Forget flowers as the table centerpiece. The theme is to break our resolution, remember? So I would put desserts, chocolate and candies in the middle of the table using beautiful jar and container. Brownies, cupcakes, M&Ms, Hershey's, Ferrero Rocher and fruit tart are being nicely placed in the middle of the table along side candles to swell the mood. My girlfriends will kill me for ruining their diet but that's what friends are for, right - presenting good things in life ;-)

Original pic source

Source

Each guest will have a personalized cupcake with their name at their respected seat. At each chair, a huge flower pouch that contains more candies will be hanged and this is the goodies bag for each guest.

Original pic source

Next, entertainment

Ahhh... what is a party without entertainment? I would have a live band playing softly (I have no idea how they will do that - maybe just instrumental) in the background during the dinner coz I hate going to some place that are very loud that you need to shout to talk to people. But when the dinner is over, the band will take over and dance floor will be open.

Remember when you are a kid, birthday party make you sugar high and you end up running around endlessly? So I want to bring back that fun memory except we are not going to run endlessly at the end of the night. That's where the dance floor comes in. We need to burn back all the excessive sugar intake by moving our body. Since this party is only open to close friends, I'm sure my friends will be more opened and get their body moving with the music. Most of them are already married, so enjoy yourself! When is the last time you dance with your partner?

Last but not least, video booth!

I would love to have a picture booth, but since CST Production is going to sponsor, let's take it a step above and make a video booth. Every guest need to get into that booth, wear the magic hat (or singing hat) and start to sing or act or both or do whatever you want to do (but no 18SX please!) That would be awesome.


Another details...

Guest can wear whatever they want as long as they wear something and comfortable in it. Ladies, I suggest you to keep your stilettos at home and wear your wedges instead. You don't want to your heels poke through the grass at each of your step. That would be annoying. But for me, I would like a white flowing dress that look casual yet elegant. Nothing too sparkly or fancy.

For the cake, I really want those beautiful fondant cake with fireworks cake candle. Nice right...

Original pic source

But most important, all I want is that everybody is having fun, enjoying themselves while celebrating our important days of the year.


By the way, check out these talented people:

Raya kan sebulan...

Just want to wish...

Jika ada salah dan silap, terkasar bahasa dalam penulisan dan perhubungan, termakan dan terminum, kami ingin menyusun sepuluh jari memohan maaf keampunan dengan penuh keikhlasan...

Post World Cup 2010

I can't say that I have a post World Cup Withdrawal Syndrome but I sure missed all the excitement of watching the games. No more highlights to watch and anticipating the next game. Anyhow, I'm glad Spain won the title. I picked them between them and Holland but my heart still goes to Argentina. However, Spain deserved to win coz they played so well. And they have one of the best goalkeeper in the tournament which is Iker Casillas. Casillas is my favourite goalkeeper after Oliver Kahn of Germany (remember him? I'm sorry but I have a thing of this goalkeeper who also a team captain.. hehe).

I am so glad that I am in Malaysia for this World Cup 2010. The atmosphere might not be the same if I was in States. The 'fever' is not catching up at that side of the world. I realized it the moment I stepped out of the plane 2 days before World Cup started. And the excitement watching the games with the people who I usually watch football with which is including my dad and Naqib with new addition, my dearest hubby is priceless. Everybody has their own favourites and you can hear different reaction when a team made stupid move. Haha.

The best part was watching Germany vs England at Redang Island. One side of the resort was having a ball of time dancing and drinking while the other side was concentrating on the game. Haih, I don't even hear what the commentator was talking as the music was so loud. Then there's one Ah Beng who got so emotional when England lost and nobody actually care about him coz all of us support Germany. Hehe.

To tell the truth I think football is the most beautiful sports. In addition, all the decisions was made by the hand of the 3 referees only which adds the drama to the field. Plus, I love the fact that the game is continuous for 90 with only 15 minutes break and without so many timeout like some sports e.g. basketball, American football and baseball.

Well, I hope Argentina improves for the next World Cup. Come on.. I've been supporting you for the past 3 World Cups and yet you still haven't won anything yet.

Oh, I think the video that showed Casillas kissed the reporter aka his girlfriend is so cute. Check this out:



Translation from my friend's Facebook...

"Casillas -..And I just want to thanks to the people who had always supported me, my parents, my brother ... TT_TT
Sara -It's OK , lets talk a bit about the game, and then we come back to the thank... No? :-O
Casillas - No, you are first! *kiss ♥ ^_^ * I'm leaving...!...
Sara- Oh my God! (Literally: my mother..!) well.. we can do this later, right J ?
J- Sara, what kind of man is this captain..! (Literally: So big this captain! so big..!) "

Skip the first 4 paragraphs, and this post is actually useful

Zainal has started working this week and if you looked at the ticker at the side bar that counting his arrival, he actually has arrived 8 months and 1 week. Actually that is how long we have been spent which each other 24/7 after we have separated on roughly 2.5 months before that.

The only time that we were not together when I went to classes which is roughly 3.5 hours every day. The longest separation we had was when we flew home using different flight but same route which was 20 hours. Yes, only 20 hours of separation in 8 months!

Now, starting yesterday, we will be away with each other 10 hours every day except weekends (at least for this few weeks, then the schedule will be changed).

This is really a useless post but wth, I'm bored and I wanted to update this blog. Haha.

Anyway, if you bored, check out TIME Best Blogs of 2010. These are my favorite:

1. Cake Wrecks : Simply hilarious! Seriously. It has been 2 days I've been reading this stuff. Clearly US needs to improve their education system. The most misspelled word: Congratulations. Haha.
2. Shit my Kids Ruined: THE STRONGEST VISUAL BIRTH CONTROL ON THE MARKET TODAY. Agreed! What I learned, never left a marker pen unattended if you have kids.
   
3. PostSecret: Have been following this site since 2008. Last year he came to Duke and I couldn't get the ticket! I was so disappointed. But Zainal was more disappointed even he was in Malaysia at that time.
4. The Oatmeal: Visually funny.
   

I haven't checked the rest yet as I'm still addicted to Cake Wrecks. Check it out guys!

Here's to 2010

I'll have to make way to new year post before continue posting about my trip to Florida. It's this blog tradition on reminiscing the year before to welcome the new year. Hehe. I only realized that this year when I started to read back what I wrote on new year eves or new year days. Hmmm..

What happened in 2009? If I can give a theme for 2009, I would called it 'the learning year'. It's not only I started my graduate study but I've learned a lot from living alone in foreign land. Anyway, these were events that made impact on my 2009:

1. Celebrated the new year 2009 by sleeping all the way coz of jet lag with my mom.
2. Started my graduate study in Duke University.
3. Made a lot of new friends and reconnect old friends here in States and Malaysia.
   
4. Away from my husband for 184 days. I only spend 50% of the year with him.
5. Finally certified as Advanced PADI SCUBA diver.
   
6. Experience my first snow in Durham and finally experience all seasons.
7. Watched Duke Football and Basketball, and now I'm a true Blue Devil fan.
8. Visited many places this year - New York, Detroit, Chicago, Charleston, Washington DC, Miami, Orlando and Key West.
9. Visited 2nd Disney Land. 3 more parks to go?

In 2010, I hope to achieve more success especially in career and personal growth. Hope we can expand our lovely little family in 2010 too. Not forgetting to travel a lot, learn and experience new things and enjoy life more.

Happy New Year 2010 everybody!

My own laptop sleeve

I've been neglecting this blog of mine for quite some time now. Not because trying to finish my summer reading but starting a new project.

The itch to sew started again when I saw my mom brought out her Singer sewing machine. My mind started thinking what can I sew. Finally I got an idea. How about my own laptop sleeve. With laptop sleeve, I don't have to bring my bulky laptop backpack but still protecting my dear laptop.

So the project began. I found this wonderful site, Sew Mama Sew and it has a tutorial on laptop sleeve. The next night I dragged my mom to the nearest fabric store and got myself 1 metre of fabric for the outside part, 1 metre of lining fabric and some Velcro. But they didn't have fleece fabric. My mom bought a thin sponge fabric but being a perfectionist, I wanted fleece fabric too. Funnily my mother-in-law also involved in the search of fleece fabric. Lastly I found it at sewing item shop at SS14, Subang Jaya. That shop was the shop which supplied all the stuff I need during Kemahiran Hidup project in secondary school. I never thought I can rely to that shop until now.

Then the cutting and sewing session began. Since I already started my internship, I can only saw at night on weekdays. Coz weekends were reserved for dating. The whole process of sewing actually was pretty easy. But being me, I always wanted something extra and add the sponge fabric between the fleece fabric to make it thicker and softer. So the extra effort was needed as it's harder to sew thick layers of fabric. Then on the second last step I broke the needle. I couldn't believe it. I never broke a sewing machine needle before! My mom was cool about it and calmly said, biasa la tu patah jarum. Ok, I'm not that bad anyway. Hehe.

So after 1 week and a half (my plan was to finish it within 1 week.. but well..) I've finished by laptop sleeve! I'm so happy and proud of myself coz people in the house were doubting about my ability to finish it. Not because I don't know how to do it, but I'm famous for hangat-hangat tahi ayam. (I have an unfinished tudung that I'm supposed to sew 'labuci' which I managed to finish 1 side only - in my defend, the pattern required a lot of time and I was bored half way doing it. My mom's defend, 'who ask you to create such a troublesome pattern. I know it would be beautiful if it ever finish but now it's uglier with just one side finished'. Hehe. Buuutt... I did finish sewing the labuci at one of my kebaya - and that took almost a year to finish). Haha.

So this is my laptop sleeve. I forgot to sew something to personalize it. Well, first try after how many years abandoning sewing machine. And it's not that bad, I must say.
My mom gave me C-. What? But she requested one for her laptop. =)

So next project would be a camera case for my camera (after finishing 1 laptop sleeve for my mom) and if I have time, telengkung + sejadah bag.

Oh, IKEA has a lot of pretty and cute pattern for the project. Already bought one pattern for my camera case project.

Bonus picture: Choki playing hide and seek with us on our bed.

Summer Reading

My mission is to read books as many as I can during this summer holiday. This is the list of books I set to be read during this summer.

Starting with light reading which is of course my favourite genre, chick lit and a book that I've finished reading.

Done

1. Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella
Started reading while waiting for my flight in Charlotte Airport and I'm half way through by the time I realized I might missed my flight to KL. It used the usual Kinsella theme where the heroine would be happy at first then issues arise and finally issues resolved. Witty and funny as usual but I think I prefer 'Can You Keep a Secret' beside her Shopaholic series.






2. Austenland by Shannon Hale
Started reading in the flight from Newark to KL. The story is too predictable. The writer seems to copy the storyline of Elizabeth Bennet's love interest from Pride and Prejudice and applied it in modern world. A so-so storyline.









3. Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
This book is a graduation gift from my department to all graduates. Since I volunteered, I received one too (find out it cost RM89.90 at Borders! Thank God I got it free). Wrote by ex-PhD Duke student who is a professor at MIT now and also a visiting professor at Duke. Even though some of the human behaviour that influence decision we made mentioned are already known, he made experiments to prove it which is very interesting. He even made an experiment that involved Duke basketball obsession. Hehe. This is highly recommended book to read. I like it.

Oh, and 2 PADI open water diver manuals. Hehe


In Progress

4. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner










Coming soon

5. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Just bought it last weekend. Might read it after Zainal finish it first.








6. The Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne










If I managed to finish all of these, might read Emotional Intelligence since Mak has it but we'll see how fast I can finish all these (if I cut down my time Facebooking and playing Bejeweled at FB).

I thought I want to read the book that I got in the workshops but I felt that since I already went to the workshop, the content might be the same right. Hehe.

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!