Decisions decisions

There are so many events that I'm interested happening this weekend. There are cherry blossom festival at Washington DC, space shuttle launch at Kennedy Space Center in Orlando and Native Indian American Pow Wow at Duke.

It's really hard to choose which one I should go. I have tickets for the space shuttle launch but last minute my friends didn't want to go as they postponed to Monday. But the 10+ hours of driving is not something I look forward to. Cherry blossom is something that I anticipated since last year and the 4 hour driving is not that bad. And lastly Pow Wow is something I wanted to witness since I missed it last year due to workshop that I have to attend.

So while contemplating which one should we go, DC or Orlando, I played around with Priceline Negotiator and unbelievably I managed to book a room that is very cheap at Orlando. The thing about Priceline Negotiator is once you clicked and there's a room that match with your bid, bam! you got the room and it immediately charged to your credit card. With that, Priceline has made decision for me.

So, another dream will come true eventually! (try not to think about 10 hours driving for now)

Figuratively speaking

Have you ever driving on full speed completely aware with your environment, with catchy songs in the full blast and enjoying every second of it until someone said 'stop!' at that moment immediately.

At this moment you have 3 options:
a) press stop pedal immediately but face the consequences which is life threatening accident
b) slowly decrease the speed and come to a stop not immediately but safely
c) just ignore that person and maintain the speed

What if I choose (a) and I never recover the spirit?

Choosing (b) is wasting time.

(c) is possible but I'm training myself to become a selfish person.

So what should I do? I don't want to stop yet. I kind of enjoying the ride and in the full spirit to get it done. You shouldn't encouraged me to get this high at the first place. Look what damage you have done. =(

Yes I can do it!

In facing your troubles you are allowed to feel pain, you are allowed to feel disappointed, you are allowed to feel angry, you are allowed to cry (I choked several times) ..BUT...YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO GIVE UP!

-Rahman Mansor

Read his story here.

I really need this motivation for job hunting in this economy. I will use all my resources and I believe I be able to find the job. InsyaAllah.

I love secret rewards!

I thought Victoria's Secret (VS) is selling all the laced kind of lingerie that would not be comfortable to be worn as everyday garment. And also the kind of lingerie that is used in seduction rather than practical everyday wear. But I was wrong. I discovered this last spring when I when shopping alone at Northgate Mall (you discovered a lot of stuff if you go shopping alone). They were having the 7 panties for $25 promotion, so I took a look and discovered my new love for this brand.

Their panties are beautiful and made with comfortable cotton fabric. I love their design and style that I had a hard time choosing only 7 pairs. Furthermore, it's cheap for a brand that have Tyra Banks, Naomi Campbell and Alessandra Ambrosio as their models. If you calculated, it cost only around $3.50 per pair. Then during the checkout I was given a secret reward card. It's a coupon that has minimum value of $10, but it might has $50, $100 or even $500. The catch is that you don't know how much you got until the promotion was on which was in a month later.

I remembered berangan-angan nak beli ape if I got $100. Soon I found out I only got the minimum value which was $10. Cess.. It's ok, sape nak kasi $10 kan. So I bought something there and got discounted $10.

This year, I was waiting eagerly for the 7 for $25 promotion. I totally forgot about the secret reward things. Last weekend I found out there's a promotion that I've been waiting for. This time the panties are from the Love Pink range. Still cute as ever. So during the checkout, the cashier told me about the secret reward and I got a reward card. Now all I have to do is to wait till April to know what's my card value. I hope I'm luckier this time.

Then when I got home I realized that if I give my feedback by calling a number that stated in the receipt, they will give a $10 off for the next purchase that more than $50. Wah, excited and I already did the feedback. Now I have $20 off for my next VS purchase! Ok, time to simpan duit for this. Hehe.

Friday morning tears

My mom told me that he has been in and out of hospital frequently these past few months. I told Zainal that I hope he's ok coz I don't want to hear any bad news while I'm here. Especially those who close to me and made an impact in my life. But Allah loves him more. On Friday morning at 10 something, he passed away. My uncle, Pak Ngah.

He's my dad's older brother with different mom. However, he was close to my dad's siblings. In fact, he was like a part of the same mother siblings. My dad has 10 brothers and a sister. It's a lot of uncles and aunties for each one of them having an impact on me. But Pak Ngah was different. I went to Umrah with him twice. He's my saksi during my akad nikah. He has an impact in my life.

He such a nice man. Always smile and always jovial. I remember people used to tease him for his smoking addiction but he just smiled and brushed it off.

The last time I saw him was during my cousin wedding last summer. Thank God I made the decision to go home that summer break.

Well, semoga rohnya diletakkan di tempat orang-orang yang beriman. Al-Fatihah to Pak Ngah.

Pak Ngah is standing on the left next to the window. This is some of my dad's brothers. Can you spot which one is my dad? People say I'm daddy's girl so it should be easy.

Ahh...

Biasa la bila seseorang tu dekat dengan kita, semua salah dia kita nampak kan. Apa yang dia cakap pun tak boleh percaya. Tegur sikit terus senyap menyepi. Siap nak block lagi orang yang dekat.

Tapi dengan orang jauh, semuanya indah. Jumpa pun setahun sekali. Kekadang jumpa pun tak pernah. Tapi puji sampai melangit. Semua dia cakap betul, siap menjadi sumber inspirasi pulak tu.

Biasa la manusia. Yang dekat dicaci, yang jauh dipuja.

Snowboarding in Beech Mountain, NC

I love going to new places.
I love to experience new things and learning new culture.
I love to get my adrenaline pumping and feel my heartbeat beating faster while enjoying the moment.
That is why I love extreme activity.

I love roller coasters.
I love scuba diving.
Now I love snow boarding.

The exhilarating moment when you go down the slope with wind slapping your face and the thought of not knowing how to stop was so unbelievable. Not forgetting the eerie feeling sitting on the ski lift that lift you high up without any handle bar to stop you from falling down while holding your snow board on your left foot.

But yesterday I let myself down. I knew I can do better than that. I was quite good at the play yard area. That area was for beginner, using just J lift to bring the skiers and boarders to higher slope. Then we decided to go higher slope using the ski lift. Once up there, I kept on falling down and after one third on the course I gave up. I couldn't even stand anymore as I was so tired to control my board sliding down before I stand up. So what I did? I walked down the slope with the board in my hands. Hahaha..

If this place is half hour or 1 hour away, I might go again. Rasa tak puas ok. I felt that I can do better than that. But then, it's 3 hours away and the season is going to be over in 1 week. Next season, I will start early and practice more. And buy a pair of good glove and bibs.

Here are some photos that we took.

Getting all excited and ready for the slopes. Bring it on!

Getting ready to down. Putting my right foot in the snow board. When you are not boarding, you unleash your right foot from the board and walk with it while the left foot still leash on the board. Oh, next time, I'm going to wear bibs for this. Jeans are not suitable for skiing/snow boarding. Habis basah lencun!

My partner that shares common interests (except roller coasters, tapi still kena paksa naik). He was quick to learn all the tricks for this. I tried to use it and failed. Haha.. The season is almost over (in 1 week time) and the snow is getting thinner and less powdery (which is quite painful when you fall down).

Me in action. I won't show you what happened after that. Let have this perfect image of me stay in your mind. Hahaha..

If my mom was here, she would said, nape la nak susahkan diri dan cari penyakit buat benda ni. Hahaha.. Yup, my butt hurts like hell and all my muscle is aching right now.

Blue Ridge Parkway closed

Currently in Asheville, North Carolina after arriving from Atlanta, Georgia 6 hours ago. The town is surrounding with beautiful mountains. Totally gorgeous. I called this our honeymoon no. 648.

Will be back soon.

3:09 am secret

I have a secret.

Though when Zainal having a fever or any sickness worried me (who doesn't, anyway), I secretly like it coz I can manja-ing him. I feel like a mommy taking take care of a baby. Hehe.

Psst... don't tell him. He might over manja and takes advantage. Haha.

Picture from: Daily Pets

Healthy body needed!

A reminder for myself.

Eat a lot of fiber.
When having a constipation, eat stool softener and increase amount of fiber ASAP!
Coz if you wait too long and cause anal fissures at your rectum, then every trip to the toilet feels like a battle.

Eat your vitamin.
At least 2-3 per week.
Not when you already get sick.
Your unhealthy diet won't protect your body against virus.

Exercise at least once a week.

Sila jangan jadi malas ye Mun!

Why so serious?

Last week while collecting my stuff from the meeting room, I saw a Duke published magazine. I decided to have a peek as the cover boasted few interesting topics. As I flipped through the magazine until I arrived at the last page, I caught one sentence that struck me: People who took themselves too seriously. I moved my eyes to the previous sentence and it read: What is it that you most dislike? Apparently it's an interview with John Barness, a visiting Duke professor.

I immediately took that magazine with me and read the whole interview. At that moment, I knew I like this guy. We have a common ground even though we never knew each other. I, like him, hate people who took themselves so serious and the worst kind of this people is that they couldn't laugh at themselves.

I knew few people who happened to be in this category. Oh, what a pain in the ass. Being around them is so stressful. Is like they have to be the most perfect person in the world and anything goes wrong even though it's something insignificant can cause drama. Furthermore, I have to be careful in whatever I say or do. Even if it's a joke, they took it seriously and assumed I was making fun of them.

Growing up with a family who jokes a lot about each other and married a person who is not afraid to criticize me has made me become cool about people saying whatever they wanted to say to me as long as it's not over the top la. Agak-agak la kan. Kalau dah super melampau tu semua orang pun marah.

Without I realized, my friends have this same attitude as mine. You know, tak kisah dengar kutukan depan-depan kind of species. This friends that are honest in friendship and those who I stay close until now. Even at workplace before this, thank God, most of my colleagues were that kind of species. Those who couldn't handle it, I found myself drifting away from them.

The kind of people who can't laugh at themselves, find that they surrounded by friends who always praise them and say all those sugary and flowery stuff all the time. This is concluded by my observation in social networking called Facebook and Friendster. Haha.. No, seriously. I matched their personality and the comments they got and boom, that's the conclusion.

Well, life is short. Why take everything too serious? I mean if we want to take every single thing too serious, best ke hidup? There are some stuff that need to take seriously and there some that can be chilled. Trust me, if we can laugh at ourselves, people will become less judgmental to us. If we took ourselves too serious, people will scrutinize every little thing we do. Because I know I do that.

I give you this situation:
You are walking with your friend in a crowded hallway. You don't realize that there's a fire extinguisher right in front of you and you knock yourself at that thing. Everybody stop walking and looks at you. What do you do?
(A) You look embarrassed, angry at the other people that stare at you, swear furiously quietly and walk away.
(B) Look shock and burst into laughter.

If you choose (B), welcome to my club. If you choose (A), obviously everything must be perfect in everywhere you go don't you?

Actually that situation happened to me before (please don't ask me where the hell was I looking when walking) and I chose (B) as my reaction. As a result, everybody around laugh with me and that whole situation become a funny incident instead of an embarrassing moment in my life.

So please learned to laugh at yourself. You don't know how good it feels like. You become less angry and people might actually like you as a friend.

Amarah

Jiwa rasa tak tenang. I felt angry, unsatisfied, sad, semua la ada.

Firstly, bengang dengan satu manusia ini yang selalu anggap dia paling pandai dan sibuk nak ajar-ajar orang pulak. Pastu nak paksa orang ikut cakap dia je. WTH? Since last semester he kept on bugging with whatever I'm doing. What's your problem man???? I drove to one direction, he said I should go to another. I put this 2 people in one group, he asked why and said his option is better. WHYYYYYY?? I can't believe I chose to work with him. My bad.

Secondly, I don't know why I'm so hang up on certain things. Like biar la dia. Why I must feel bad on everything she did. Biarkan biarkan biarkan. Tak payah nak sibuk-sibuk okess..

Thirdly, I still rasa sedih pasal some people taknak pergi Orlando lagi. I still rasa terkilan tak pergi Kennedy Space Center. That was my number 1 place that I wanted to go when I came here. Nobody now how much I wanted to be an astronomer. Since form 1 ok. Then after I realized I won't be an astronomer, I don't have a backup plan for my future. Ok, maybe my mom know as I wanted the telescope badly on my 15 (can't remember the exact age) birthday. But it was expensive and I didn't get it. I tried to go to all space exhibition that held in Malaysia. So now I'm here in US, I really really wanted to go to a Space Center. Menyesal tak pergi hari tu. Ingat boleh datang lagi.. T______________________________T

Fourth, 80% chances that my parents will not be coming to my graduation. Yup, changed of plan.

Fifth, I felt like sleeping off my anger right now and cry in my sleep. Boleh?

Same exciting old places with additional new people

I send graduation invitation letter to 3 most important people in my life - my husband, my mother & my father last Friday. Yesterday my mom called and confirmed InsyaAllah she and my dad will come. Maybe my younger brother too.

That means we need to plan the travel schedule soon. How excited. InsyaAllah I'll be able to visit New York City again! Can't wait to go to the top of Statue Liberty, Central Park without the snow, the M&M's store and the biggest department store in the world, Macy's.

Maybe we might go Washington DC too. Second time for me. InsyaAllah. I want to have a White House tour, go inside US Capitol (after reading Dan Brown's Lost Symbol, I need to find all the rooms mentioned in the book), go inside the US Memorial and visit the museums.

I need to convince my hubby and mom that Naqib would like to go to Universal Studio in Orlando. My hubby and I skipped that place in our Florida trip last December. Boy, now I am glad we did because they are going to open The Wizarding World of Harry Potter this spring. I want to go! They have the Hogwarts Castle and all the places mentioned in the books and movies. How cool is that!

The near completion of the extended Universal Studio park. Pics from: Telegraph

Because of this new plan, now our plan for spring break needs to be modified. Still couldn't afford to go to east coast, so the plan maybe still be around west coast. We'll see what we can come out with soon.

2 years and counting

Last Tuesday our legal union turned 2 years. I can't believe how fast the time has moved. I still remember last year for our 1st anniversary we went to Raleigh and met Malaysians there. This year the day itself was one of the busiest day of my week. I was out of the house at 9am and only back home at 5pm. And guess what I found on the dining table when I was back in the evening? This lovely red roses in the clear glass vase.

Oh my God, I was surprised! The flowers was shipped via Fedex from California. This was his plan in case I was at home. Literally it's hard to buy each other present secretly when you go everywhere together. Honestly, I didn't get anything for my husband. I'm such a bad wife. I forgot that I still can buy stuff online (like I always do) without having to spoil the surprise. Really disappointed with myself.

I decided we should dine out to celebrate. We went to Red Lobster as they have promotion and it's a seafood restaurant. Might as well go to straight to seafood restaurant as that's the only thing we can eat. Other restaurant might be nicer and has more romantic ambiance but when you can only choose 2 dishes from the hundreds of dishes in the menu, it's not appealing anymore. Red Lobster was good actually. We really enjoyed our meals. The service was good too, they very attentive and made our dinner enjoyable. Though I suspected Red Lobster is the place to go if you are celebrating someone's birthday as throughout our dinner, there were 3 birthday songs were sang by the waitresses.

The roses and hubby

Feeling guilty of not buying anything for my hubby, I suggested that the ski trip that we are going to take will be my treat. That's my present for him for our anniversary. That's lead to another guilt. I have to postpone the ski plan again for the second time as I decided to change course. Don't worry honey, we will ski for sure.

To tell the truth, when you are married and still hasn't got any kid, all the trip you took feel like celebration or honeymoon. The Florida trip that we had in December was supposed to be our 2nd anniversary trip. So when the exact date came, I felt like I already celebrated it. Last year we when to New York. I wonder where are we going next year? I hope by next year on our anniversary, we have our tiny clone with us or at least on the way in my uterus. Finally, my motherly instinct kicks in.

Playing badminton with a pair of boots

After hibernating in my apartment for few weeks due to arctic wind that came for a vacation in US, finally the temperature has risen again. Maybe En Arctic Wind decided to go home and let the sunshine warmth be our friend now. It feel so good to be able to not wearing my bomber jacket and wear my Nike shoes back again.

That day I had a conversation with my mom and she still has this hope that I would do PhD in US after my Master's. Sabar ye mak, satu-satu. Last night kena ceramah lagi on the procedure of PhD in US for the hundredth of time. Ok, InsyaAllah one day. Anyway, in the conversation she said that maybe after this can go to university in the Northeast or Mid West. I was like noooo.. it's freezing cold there! Then she laughed at me saying, Ha! Dulu sibuk sangat nak pergi tempat ada snow la konon, nak pakai baju tebal-tebal, sekarang baru tahu.... hihi.

So yesterday, finally we were able to use our badminton racket that was bought during the coldest day of winter. It was fun to play in front of our house again. I used to play badminton with my dad and my brother when I was small. Then I married with someone who played badminton a lot and actually very good at it. However, since we lived in apartment at level 13, we never played any badminton except at Cyberjaya's court.

I bet my neighbours never saw people play badminton at the parking lot. Hehe... It was so much fun but at the same time tiring as I was against a good player. He didn't sweat at all and I was running and jumping all over the place. And laughing while playing is not advisable at all!

The sad thing is it's going to be raining for the whole week. Baru nak semangat...

Looking back

It's Friday night and I have 2 invitations to party. But I decided that blog surfing is way more interesting (OMG, I'm so old!) and Zainal was diligently studying his security books. After bored to death surfing Amazon (after deciding online shopping is waay more interesting than reading about people who I didn't know), I started to harass my housemate to stop study. I think he's the one who should be taking this Master instead of me. Hehe. After being ignored few times and decided that I rather not knowing things that I can't afford, I decided to read my earlier posts. I wanted to see how I have grown all these years.

I started the blog in 2005. I should have started it earlier, capturing every moment of LASIK pains. But I didn't and I missed the story of the worst medical experience I ever had. Well, in 2005 I was 22 years old. I was the confused, funny and sometimes angry final year undergraduate student. When I read it, my life seemed in such a mess that it made a good blogging material. Hehe.

Funnily I think I prefer my previous writing than now. Now I'm just a boring 26 year woman who still confused, not funny anymore and always angry last semester Master's student. Where have all my sense of humour and my selamba (as in I-don't-care-what-people-think-of-me-unless-I'm-happy attitude) attitude gone? Apparently working life has changed me a little bit (more like a lot).

What I'm proud is that I still managed to continue this blog, even though I don't update it as much as before, I still keep the same URL, still using the same blogging site provider and most importantly still true to myself. I don't have to be hypocrite in my blog just because to make sure that people think I'm a nice person (come on!).

To tell the truth, it wasn't easy to be yourself without hurting people even though you are doing it unintentionally. There are few posts that caused trouble to myself but I managed to go through it. When I read it again, I realized this kind of things that happened in my life that tought me and that make me smile. It seems funny now compare to 4 years ago.

So, my new year resolution (I keep making new year resolutions konon-konon masih new year la kan.. haha): To keep on writing, not just the serious and boring stuff, but all the stuff that made me, me.

Today I promised myself

I wish I had his strength and willpower not being a hypocrite. To accept when to delete a person from his life and when to accept which people worth retained. I couldn't do that. I'm a soft-hearted person who always think that maybe that they have 'reasons' why they did that to me (I learned that people always have 'reasons'). Even though they hurt me many times. Even though I despised that person, but on the outer layer I would put a smile, act like they are my good friends and brave the hurtful feeling inside.

So this new year, I've made a pact with myself. No more self-degrading. I will not let people play with my emotions, take advantage of me and use me. I will disregard those who fall in that category. Enough of this bullshit.

I'm done being at mercy of others because I thought I need them to make me happy. I hate feeling that they do me a favor by letting me being part of their 'gang'. Clearly, I wasn't voluntarily being accepted among them. I felt like as if they were forced to accept my presence just because we share our homeland.

Allah is the Most Beneficial. At the first day on this new year, He showed me the true face of my friends. I knew where I stand know and I intend to keep this stand intact. No more trying hard to be friend with them when clearly they don't even care about me.

So as today, I told myself, I will not let people control my happiness. I am my destiny.

The road ahead might be long and uncertain, but with my family and trusted friends, I know I'll be fine, InsyaAllah.

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!

Journey to the South

Winter break. Two magical words that I had been waiting since the second week of fall semester. This semester was one crazy semester. Seriously. It was nothing extraordinary compared to last semester but the workload was tripled. Meetings on weekends and coming home at midnight at least twice a week was a norm. I thought the hectic life ended when the exam ended, but boy, how wrong I could be.

The last paper ended on Wednesday, December the 2nd, but I have 2 personal papers that need to be submitted before 7 December. The worst part was, I already booked my vacation on 6th December. Between 2 and 5 December, I have to finish 2 papers, packed for the vacation and cooked for my friends pot luck party. Lucky for me, Zainal was in-charged in planning the vacation (after uncountable nagging from me).

We planned to start driving at 7am on the 6th. At 4am that day, I decided I couldn't finished my report before we departed from Durham. This report would be continued during the journey. So I slept and got myself a good 2 hours of sleep.

Yeay! Crossed Florida border. That's means it's not far away.. Haha..

Due to the lack of sleep, I ended up sleeping half of the journey to Orlando. Pity my driver but I couldn't help it. Hehe. We checked into our hotel at 6pm and after quick rest we headed out for dinner and some shopping at outlets. I need to find a new travel handbag*.

The restaurant, Slim Orlando's Phillysteak and Gyro was not bad, with lot of choices t reasonable price. I like that restaurant as it was near to our hotel and Disney World.

After that we went to the Premium Outlet as I wanted to go to LeSportSac for my new travel handbag. The store has a lot of designs but the sales girl was so unfriendly and arrogant. If not because I really wanted that bag, I will ditch that store and go other store.s She arrogantly told me that this was the final sales and couldn't be returned. I was like WTH? It's not even a clearance item.

We walked around for awhile before headed back to our hotel. Zainal continued reading about the plans for tomorrow and I continued finishing my report. At 12 am, I submitted my report and that was the end of fall semester and the beginning my long await vacation.

*travel handbag = light, not so big when there's not so many thing inside yet big enough to put all the necessary stuff when needed including purse, camera and a small bottle of water without looking bulky, with zipper, water-resistant and most importantly, still stylish enough to go anywhere. With this description, I fell in love with LeSportSac Greta. I used to have one before, a small Elle backpack, it went anywhere with me, from Europe to Middle East. In fact it's still in good condition but my style has matured a little and I think I need a new one. Haha.

One of those days

I woke up today feeling confused, disoriented and empty about my future. I don't know what I want, what I like and what would I do. Everything seems so vague.

I was so sure yesterday.

So I'm going to climb back the bed and cuddle in his arm. At least my trouble will go away, for now.

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

I haven't updated this blog for ages and the last post wasn't a real post. Anyway, just want to share my first Thanksgiving and Black Friday experience.

My friend Yusy suggested that we should have a potluck on Thanksgiving day. So the 9 of us representing ourselves from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Korea got together at her house ate like crazy. Yusy cooked soto betawi that tasted so good, she purposely bought halal beef so that me and Zainal can eat too. How thoughtful. I brought rotisserie chicken that I bought from Al Madina. I didn't have time to cook so I just bought something. Hehe. Then that night William baked S'mores which we ate with Ben & Jerry's. Delicious!

After the dinner, two of the our friends left early as they were so concerned about exams, we started to strategise our Black Friday target. Then this Korean guy who definitely knew more outlets and brands that I do started to give crazy idea that we should go to Delaware for tax free sales. Yusy got so excited that I almost believe that they would drove there for 5 hours just for that sales. Hehe.

We went home and tried to sleep early so that we can wake up at 4 am. We woke up at 4.30am, drove to Walmart and found out it's already opened. The line at Best Buy which was opposite Walmart still long. Found Yusy and she told me that William and her boyfriend already in the store and she couldn't got in. Pity her. I brainwashed her to get herself Corelle and she bought 2 set of it. Hehe.

Walmart was crazy full of people. Since I already knew what I wanted, we proceed directly to all the items that we need. We got ourselves winter boots, which going to be perfect for skiing trip next January for only $7.

After that we went to the REI shop to be the first 200 people to get free gift card ($5, $50 or $100). We saw few people in front the store at 6.30 am and the store opened at 8 pm. We decided that we still have time to go elsewhere and find ourselves jamming Rock Band at Best Buy instead. All the blockbuster items at Best Buy was sold out and I don't find any deals that really really cheap. So we just walked around and decided that we should start lining up at REI.

There weren't a lot of people at REI so we started to line up 30 minutes before that. In all the days, this was the coldest fall morning. At last the door opened and when I looked inside the bag, I only got $5. So do Zainal and the rest of the crowd. Cisssssss. Warmed ourselves up and left the shop dissapointed.

Next stop was Southpoints. Initially we went there to get our breakfast and ended up walking around. At Macy's we found $9.99 extra large electric grill. After I cooked teriyaki roast chicken yesterday, Zainal said we should buy this. And we did. Anddd..... Zainal found a Tommy Hilfiger leather jacket for only $99, discounted from $450. There's only 2 piece left, S and XXL. He tried the S size and it was perfect! I said that he should buy this, as it was so cheap and he did. OMG, that's the best deal for today and I'm so happy coz I know he's been eyeing a leather jacket before this. This was Tommy and genuine leather at an affordable price. No wonder the whole rail was empty. Hehe.

Then, we were too tired to walk around and I felt everything didn't look good anymore. We decided to go home and sleep.

Now, wide awake, I was thinking of hitting Old Navy next. Haha.

But did you know that today is also Hari Raya Haji? I felt bad not feeling like a Raya day at all. =(

It's easier to shop now!

Do you want to buy anything from Amazon.com or ebay.com and discovered they didn't ship to Malaysia?

Well, fret not. Zainal is helping you out by ordering for you to our house in US and then send it all in one bulk to Malaysia with minimal handling fees.

All you have to do is follow this steps:

1.) Give me the link of the item that you wanted.

2.) I'll quote on the price of the item including shipping cost.

3.) Confirm the order and make full payment.

4.) I'll start ordering from Amazon or Ebay.

5.) Receive item from Amazon or Ebay.

6.) Gather all item until the final order date.

7.) Start shipping the items.

8.) Distribute the items.

Orders are now OPEN

Will be closing on 15/11/09


FAQ

1.) Orders can be done by sending email to me smallz1907@gmail.com

2.) The estimate time for the shipment is around 14 business days. 9 days for shipment of the item to my US address (to save shipping cost) and 5 days shipping to Malaysia. I will be using Fedex as my primary shipping method to Malaysia.

3.) The cost is calculated by adding the item cost, the shipping cost(international and domestic charges) and handling charges multiply by the currency rate.

4.) The currency rate will be based on Maybank exchange rate and will be quoted based on the day of trading.

5.) For item in Ebay, only select the "buy now" item as i won't bid for you.

6.) When the item arrive in Malaysia, you can COD the item at Subang Jaya only. Please confirm if you want to COD or mail to you the item before i quote the price for you.


T & C

1.) Illegal items will not be entertained.

2.) All item sold are not refundable.

3.) Once payment had been made, orders are final.

4.) If the item is being taxed by the customs, the charges will be divided among us.

5.) Any doubts or questions, please don't hesitate to PM or email me at smallz1907@gmail.com


Btw, if you want to order something from Victoria's Secret or Corelle (it's really cheap here) you can also send you link to him. And those of you who wanted to send anything to Malaysia from here, you can ask send too. Send us email to know how you can save on shipping.

We are only human, but too many errs are way too much to handle, isn't it?

Human sometimes really can test your patience. That's why we are called human at the first place, don't we? These are few things that really pissed me off about human that I've been contacted with:

1. Who thinks that coming to US for my masters degree is like going to vacation. They would said, "How wonderful you got to travel. Oh, I need vacation too." First of all, it's not a vacation. How do you feel to be living alone (these past 1.5 days I'm not alone anymore) with no family and friends yet need to struggle everything from minimal allowance, unpredictable weather to scarce Halal food. Not to mention the stress and pressure of grad school? Though I looked happy posting pictures in FB travelling around the US, that's like 5% of the days that was captured and the other 95% wasn't all sunshine and rainbow. (Got the feeling Disney holiday need to be scraped as budget is not permitting again. Oh well.)
   
2. Someone who complained that they never had enough everything yet they did stuff that surely not for someone who didn't have enough >insert whatever they complain<. For example they said that the money that they get is not enough, yet they went shopping spree like there is no tomorrow. Rasa nak tikam je orang macam ni. Menyampah ok. I don't mind if they rich and have the money to spend, but to complain about not having enough but actually have the money to spend is like what my mom always said "tak syukur nikmat".
   
3. Someone who like to exaggerate every problem that they had. Like wow, their problems were worse than every country in the world problem's combined. And when they survived that problem, they told their success story like they won a Nobel prize without any help of others. Shithead.
   
4. Someone who told the world like they are the best in everything no matter what area or they have the best thing in the world like nobody has what they have. Like when someone they know good in photography, they would be better than that guy and when other people said that he is good in landscaping, suddenly they acclaimed that they are good in landscaping too. WTH?
5. Someone that used the third people (which is someone who is related to the person that they are complaining about) to complain about the other person. For example they have problem with their friends but complained to their mom (!) about that person when they can just talk to their friends. It's their friends btw, why involved parents? That the worst thing I ever encountered at the age of 26. This is not pre-school or primary school ok. So when you have problem with your spouse, you'll complain to your mother-in-law also instead of discuss between both of you? Hah!
   

Ok, I'm in fussy mood right now. Thus this rage leashing post was written. So sometimes I rather be quiet and considered no idea rather than being annoying people that people hate. Thank you.

Ps: Ya Allah, semoga Kau jauhiku dari sikap begini jugak.

Human Bias

Two situations that I have encountered not so recently.

Situation 1

Person X: I couldn't imagine not being close to your own mother. I talked to my mom everyday and we are very close. I pitied her for not being close to her mother. *

Situation 2

Person Y: I couldn't imagine that you have to talk to your mother everyday. It must be suffocated to tell everything to your mom everything. She must felt like she's been controlled.*

Situation 3

Me (thinking): Funny how we evaluated people based on our own bias. We think people are reacting the same way as we feel without we step into their shoes to understand their position. What worse is when we have this bias and we act on trying to 'free' the supposedly 'suppressed' people. For example when the Westerners cried the movement to free the Muslim women who has to cover their body. They said that it's against human right and they should be allowed to flaunt their body which they are restricted from.

First of all, do they think that this Muslim women feel that they are being suppressed as they have to cover all their body? From my opinion, I don't feel like I'm being forced to wear what I'm wearing. I even feel freer than my peers who have to wear sexy clothes just to feel sexy. I felt like they are the victims here as they have to follow the latest fashion, suffer in those tight, short and uncomfortable clothes. You think it's pleasant to wear a tube in the cold fall weather? Now you answer me.

So the conclusion is each life experience gives different impact on different people. Knowing that, we shouldn't made judgment based on our own experiences only. Think deep.


*Not the exact words but the have the same meanings as original. Person X was talking about Person Y and Person Y was talking about Person X.

** For me, I rather have my mom calls me often. Last semester my mom called me everyday but this semester she cut it to once a week since she felt that I'm doing better now. But I love to have her calling me 2-3 times a week.

*** Writing this me made me missed my mom psychology lectures that she loved to give me. Haha. I should take minor in psychology. It's interesting.

Confused

Sometimes some feelings are best left as secrets.

But too many feeling kept inside is not good too.

So what should one do?

Raya 2009

Oh, I was 1 hour late for my 30th Syawal entry. Well, like anybody care kan. I can actually change the posted date but I'm following Duke Honor Code and will not do that. Hehe.

Anyway, I couldn't believe how fast the months go by. One day you were fasting in Ramadhan and now Raya was over.

Well, Raya was not as bad as I thought it would be. Bad by what I meant was like I would cried furiously when talking to my mom or Zainal but I found out that I shred only few tears this year. *Grinned proudly*. Maybe I was expected how it's going to be, so when things happened as what you expected, you more or less knew what to react.

Even though I promised myself not to listen to any Raya songs, but the night before the Raya, during the cooking session in Ainul's house, we opened YouTube and indulged ourselves in happy Raya songs only. At one time, when all the happy songs were done, we switched over to Sinar FM. Haha. That night I tried to call my mom for so many times but no avail which pissed me off that at that moment I feel kind of left out from the family.

The morning of Raya, I didn't go to the Raya prayer as everyone wasbusy with assignments and I thought I should do my assignments too as I have meeting at 2pm (yup, on Raya day). However, surprisingly, when I woke up that morning, the sadness of not Raya at home was actually felt tremendously. I felt so alone and started to shred few tears. I texted Zainal and as usual he replied by asking me to be strong. Immediately I went to take my shower and the sadness feeling gone. Now it was replaced with the panic feeling that I haven't prepared anything for my meeting.

So Malaysians at Raleigh had some potluck that evening and I joined them after my Skype meeting. The 2 hours at the potluck that made me felt like I actually celebrating Raya. Laughter, food and fimiliar faces is what Raya is all about.

Then Raya was forgotten all the way until 3rd October when MSD did a open house at Malaysian Embassy. It was alright. I met a lot of new people and the food was okay I guess. Nothing to shout about. That was the second moment in Syawal that I felt like Raya.

Well, that was how the Raya felt and celebrated this year. No bunga api, not ketupat made from daun kelapa, no mak & abah, no hubby, no brothers, no nieces, no uncles & aunties & cousins & grandmas, only friends and myself.

It's ok, at least I've experienced something new.

Ps: Would love to write more and post some pictures, but project management is calling me, like always.

Crap not crab

When I said this is a crazy semester, I really meant it. I have been camping out until 12am at the MEM computer cluster for 2 days straight now. And 4 days for this week (we took a break on Friday night, if not it would be 5 days straight).

I have presentation tomorrow and Wednesday. I love my groups but this is our last week together for both groups. I hope I get as good as these or better. I hope. Coz group members can make or break you.

I know my postings lately didn't make any sense to anybody except myself. I promised to write about my first raya away family on the 30th Syawal (I hope I don't forget).

When can I find some time to send my job applications ni?

Letih... but the reward after coming home at midnight is having to skype with him even though what I said didn't make any sense to any of us any more due to my brain jammed. I hope time flies faster for him but slower for my finance take home test submission.

I better stop right now because I'm crapping.

Crazy shit

The right bar counting down to the 27th October. I didn't even notice that coz in my head and my heart, I have my personal countdown counter ticking every second.

All my heart wasn't here anymore. Not in class, not at home, not in anywhere that I've been and not in anywhere I would be. It's focused on 27th October at RDU at 6.30pm. Every night before I sleep all I can picture is I'm greeting him at arrival gate. Over and over again. I never get bored and tired.

All I want is the day to come faster. I don't care that I have a mid-term paper to submit that day, I don't care my job search was in stagnant phase and my house in a mess. I want him badly.

Heart can hold the emotions to some extend and after that it just can't take it no more. It want it now and it want it badly. Not only heart but the whole body, every cells, every nerves and every thought wants him badly.

And I hate this project management course that take single hour and day of my life. For some reason I feel nak muntah dengan project management ni. That's remind me I have another meeting tonight. 4 days in the row right now. Crazy shit.

Miss them so much

I missed these 2 favourite guys of mine.

One is coming in a month I hope and the one I'm not sure when I ever gonna see him.


Cepat la datang!

Salam Aidil Fitri

Raya is approaching. First time in my life I celebrate Raya without any family member with me. What sadden me most, this is my second Raya as a wife but my husband is not with me. But nevermind, InsyaAllah next year there will be another Raya for us.

So this year no new baju raya for me. Accidently I'm planning to wear the same baju raya as last year. Well, biarlah. Since no baju raya, so I thought maybe I can buy raya shoes. I saw one last 2 weeks, Aldo has a sale and it's rare that the heel height was perfect for me. But, there's no size for me. They volunteered to order for me but I don't want that the ordered size was not right for me. So I passed. When I think about it, I could just let them ordered and bought it. If it's not ok, I can always return that shoes. Since then, I didn't see any shoes that I like. Yeah, I know, I'm very fussy in buying my shoes. That's why my collection is not as many as normal women would have. Hehe.

Oh, I'm looking forward for dadih that I'm going to cook for Raya. I love dadih and I miss dadih so much. I remember last Ramadhan, I'll buy dadih from bazaar Ramadhan everyday which drive Zainal crazy coz I would asked him to drive to pasar Ramadhan even just for dadih only. That's before I discovered how easy and cheap cooking your own dadih (which is after Raya). So when I knew it, as you can guess, 1/4 of our fridge was filled with dadih. At some point, we have to throw away coz it has turned bad. Huhu.

Lastly, I would like to wish everybody Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri. Maaf Zahir & Batin ye...

The Making of a Great Bed

When I said it's a great bed, it is because I assembled them alone. The steps of assembling it was pretty easy. But when you do it alone with heavy oak that weighs like tonnes, it become very challenging. I had to use a tissue box as a wedge to level the frame so that it would be easily screwed. A good engineer would said that it was one stupid idea as the tissue box managed to hold it for good 5 minutes before it decided that it's too much to handle. Hehe.

The second challenging aspect of this process that deserved a post on his own that I need to finish it before break fast and at that time it was already 7 pm. I managed to finish it on time but the consequences was I have to eat frozen pizza for breakfast and Maggi for sahur.

The pieces that ready to be assembled by the great engineer-not-in-practice. Haha.The finished product. A full size bed. It's a very good deal that I get from Duke librarian that wanted to get rid of this thing from her house. The mattress is still firm and comfortable. It felt like never been used. But don't worry, I'll be using it a lot.

The bed with my new 100% Egyptian cotton and 320 thread count bed sheet. I love white colour bed sheet because it looked so tempting to get on the bed and sleep. The brown comforter match the carpet accidently. Hehe. I'll find a matching duvet cover soon. =)

Credit to William for helping me carried this to my room. And driving U-Haul truck without a license. And showed me how easy to drive a truck. I wish a have a picture of myself driving it. Hehe.

Luahan

I have no time to cook for iftar or sahur. But if I don't cook, I don't eat. I don't want to eat Maggi & frozen pizza like yesterday. But assignments need to send tomorrow.

I wish I had somebody to help me out right now.

Salam Ramadhan

This is not the first time I'm not fasting in Malaysia. But this is the first time I fast alone. Like with no family members or roommates or housemates to share iftar and sahur.

The last 5 days I was strong. I took it as dinner and during sahur I too sleepy to think. But today, my heroic self cracked. I felt so lonely. I wish I was eating with someone. It's impossible to wish that I can break my fast with my husband or family at this time but having someone to eat with would be something possible. Today, even Chuck couldn't take my loneliness away. He always teman me eating my iftar.

Again, this semester, there's no Muslim Malaysian aka Malay in Duke that I knew of. After Dian went back to Malaysia (after I only knew her 2 months before Spring Semester ended), I'm the sole survivor in Duke.

Well, I know I can do this. I'm going to Raleigh tomorrow after 'Night with Industries' event. At least there are a lot of Malaysians someone to break the fast with.

Oh, I wish all my friends Salam Ramadhan Al-Mubarak. May this month bring more goodness in us and chance to us to ibadah more.

Ps: I missed going to terawih with my husband. =( And I missed Bazaar Ramadhan too... but not as much as I missed him.

I wish for this feeling again

With regulator in the mouth, trusting my whole life on this small device and heavy tank behind my back, I slowly let go myself backward into the water. For the moment, everything was very confusing. All I heard was my breathing, with small bubbles in front of me and vast of blue water surround me. I was on my head down and slowly my body turned automatically and my head up again while I resurfaced. Having said that, that's the most beautiful feeling I had.

When everything made sense again, slowly I sank again. This time I was aware of everything around me. The small creatures that I saw on the surface enlarging every few seconds. Within seconds, I was facing them face to face.

As I glided slowly, kicking my legs constantly, I was lost in this magical kingdom. Everything seems surreal; so many colours and so many species. I praised Almighty for this His creations.

Without I knew it, I lost in this beautiful moment. Every single species was my first time. encounter. I awed at their beauty and they finesse. They swam at their own pace and ignored my presence. I felt like I was one of them. At that moment, I never felt so calm in this eerie silence open space. For once I wish I could stay longer and enjoy every minutes of it.

Then the signal that my time in this heaven on earth was up was shown. While I slowly submerged to the surface, I wept sad goodbye to this place. I promised to come again and hopefully they will wait for me without changing any of these.

As I surfaced, large waves pushed me around. Suddenly this whole ocean felt overwhelming and I felt like an ant drowning in a cup of water. I saw my destination and swam with all my energy. But the waves continuously pushing me away. I worked extra hard. In the last few steps to my destination, the tank that I trust my life with has become a liability for me to achieve my destination. I realized that was the real life I was facing throughout all my life and not the magical kingdom that I just left few moments ago.

End of 2nd internship

I ended my 1.5 months internship last Tuesday. This time around was different. Back then when I was in my undergraduate years and first time doing internship, my objectives and view of working world was different. Now with 2 years experience in my pocket, my main objective was completely different.

Strangely I didn't miss anything about this internship. Except free flow of Milo and occasionally free ice-cream. I was parked in Operations department in HQ. I had experience working with production people before and all I can said that they are different species from other departments. In a good or bad way, I won't say. They have to deal with all kind and level of people, machines and expectations. So they have special capabilities to balance and survive in that condition. The capabilities that I haven't mastered yet especially when my natural personalities quite opposite of that capabilities. Maybe I wasn't meant for production.

However, having to witness two different level of manufacturing company; one is the largest pharmaceutical company in Malaysia and one is the largest food manufacturing company in the world was a priceless experience. I only toured one day of the latter's factory to find the huge gap in the management system of the production line. No wonder they are the largest in the world while the other one struggling to stay on top in Malaysia.

This is what I like about internship. You be able to find out what is like to work in a company without actually being commit to work there permanently. You'll get to learn the whole company structures from inside and experience the environment to judge whether you want to work there someday or not. But the downside of it, you'll be bullied around and will not taken seriously.

The experience from my first internship had made me reluctant to work there after I graduated even though my ex-boss asked me to send resume and come for interview on my last semester. But this second internship, I'll be glad to join the company after I end my study. The funny thing I realized while doing this second internship was that at the end of 2nd week of internship, I achieve every objectives that I set before starting it which was so different during the first internship where I wanted to learn everything which sometimes I didn't even know what I wanted to know.

However, there were few things that I really missed when this latest internship ended. I missed the daily commute with my husband, daily lunch and occasional peek from him when he came to 4th floor. I missed his unexpected visit to my desk with nasi lemak or Kit Kat to share with me. I missed the walk to nasi lemak stall every morning for breakfast while talking and sharing stories. This internship was perfect for me. I get to learn new experince at the same time I can spend more time with my husband.

I wish for more time with him but I have to fly again this Thursday.

Not ready

10 more days...

Everything still in chaos.

Still no house to stay.

Don't feel like going back again.

I'm not ready at all.

Then again, was I ever ready before?

My own camera case

Project no 2 done. My own camera case / bag. Actually I really need a camera case since the one that I got for free was terrible. Why? First of all, it has 'Konica' brand in front of it. I don't think Konica produced digital camera. All I can remember about Konica is their 35mm film. Secondly which is the worst one is the free camera case actually shredding and the tiny shredded black thing stuck at my camera. It really pissed me off.

I wanted to buy a new one but I found nothing that I like. They are either too small to fit my camera or too expensive and bulky which I don't like. So after succesfully sewing my own laptop sleeve, I thought why not sewing my own camera case.

After procrastinated about more than 1 week, on one lazy Sunday, I decided to finish up the camera case. I took me around 2 hours to finish it. Introducing my camera bag..

I really like the fabric design that I used it for outside and inside. I bought this fabric at IKEA. This time I only used fleece fabric as middle cushion without addition sponge which made my sewing life so much easier.

What I really really like about this is I can wear it to look like it's a sling bag. So I don't look like a tourist with big bulky camera bag. It's also can be keep in the handbag if I just want to carry the camera without it as it's slim yet thick enough to protect the camera.
However, I forgot to make a zip pocket at the back of the bag. I already bought the zipper and studied how to sew it. But then 1 hour after I finished this bag, then I realized, where the hell is my pocket? Damn. It's ok, I think I'll hand sew it. I want a pocket to put additional memory card and battery (not that I have it, but for future usage).

Finally, my favourite part of this bag....
Personalize with my hubby and my name!! (I put his name in front coz I found out his one is neater than my name. Ceh.)

Anyone want one?

Enjoying now

In life, you have to learn appreciate small things. Things that might not significant to the course of your life but things that complete your life. Small things that will not get mention in your resume, will not be remembered at your wedding or funeral but things that only can be appreciated by you.

These small things will never get noticed in your everyday life when your life is a routine and you take advantage of everything around you. I used to be like that. I took the advantage of used having the loved ones around me, asking for hugs and kisses whenever I want whether from my husband, my mother or my father, having the convenient of buying food anytime I want and asking for any help whenever I want.

Then I made a huge decision in my life. I went to United States of A to further my study. I left everything that I’m familiar with and deal with all new strange and hostile things. From the weather to food, everything needs extra effort. I need to wear layers to be warm, cook my own food, walked around to get to destination and smile a lot more to make friends.

At that time I realized how much I’ve been pampered. I learned to survive with self-motivation and helps of others. I learned that people can help at some extend only but only you alone can make it happened. I learned that sometimes the people who help you can also make you feel bad at yourself at certain point of time. I learned to deal with it alone.

Now, after 2 months back at home, I tried to absorb and enjoy every little thing that I would be missed in less than a month. Like having a person sleeping next to me every night (ok, I must admit this is not little thing I’ll be missed, this is considered a big thing), having some kutuking session with my siblings, enjoy laugh moment with my mom, jumping on bed session with Choki, dinner with my family every night, window shopping with hubby and many mores.

Oh, shit. I can feel that my eyes are getting watery. Please don’t get emotional right now.

I hope my second term back to the Uncle Sam will not as hard as before. I’ll be familiar with the streets, sights and sounds of Durham even though I know I’ll be missing the people in Malaysia. I just need to be strong and busy myself with works (yup, that what I said before but I ended up curling in bed crying) and don’t think so much about good memories in Malaysia (yeah right, easy said than done) while waiting my other half to come maybe in October or November (please be October, please be October, please be October).

I’ll be welcoming new apartment to live in (no more my bedroom, my world), a new car (maybe 2009 Lancer?), new 4 courses (which already regard by others to be busier than Spring semester coz of Project Management), more new friends (as most of the old ones already graduating), new weather (summer!), alone cheap shopping, online shopping and more serious in searching for jobs (ok, I didn’t try to search for jobs at all last semester). And of course, InsyaAllah, road trip at the end of the year! Oh, I want to dive there too. And if money is not a problem, I want to skydive too. So many things to do but not enough money. Haha

Good luck to me! (for my second term)
And I got another 23 days before I’m off again to the far away land.

Harry Potter & his magic

Are you are one of the millions Harry Potter books reader? Do you have this thinking-of-reading-the-book-again-after-you-watched-the-latest-Harry-Potter syndrome? If you are like me who has not so good memory, you will find that there’s so many interesting plot in the book that screenwriter didn’t include in the movie but you can’t pointed out what plot was that. Then again, every plot in the Harry Potter book series is interesting. So there uneasy feeling in heart that you want to know what is that and you started to think maybe you should read the book again.

I just watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last night. All I can remember was that in this book, Dumbledore died. I know somebody killed him but I forgot who and there’s a memorial service (the most memorable part in the book) where all magical creatures who loved him came to give him last respect. I remembered this clearly as I was reading it 4 years ago, I cried foolishly in my college room. Lucky for me my roommate was sleeping and when she woke up she was confused why my eyes were puffed out.

Sadly, the movie didn’t include that part and I really wanted to see all the various creatures in one scene. Well, it’s not important to the storyline actually but I couldn’t remember any other part that should be in it. Hehe. What I vaguely remember is that Harry used a lot of Dumbledore’s Pensieve to see the memories collected by Dumbledore. However, in this movie only few were shown.

I don’t want to give review and rate this movie. Overall it’s enjoyable and I can’t wait for another last two movies. Apparently they made 2 movies out of the last book. Wise idea especially when the book itself is thick (though not the thickest) and it’s the finale of the Harry Potter where many important events happened that need to be captured on screen. However, they have to make sure that they capture the battle scene in the Hogwarts beautifully and the revelation of Snape’s secret imaginatively. Sorry if I spoiled the storyline but who ask you not to read the books? Haha.

To tell the truth, if I don’t read the books and I just watched the movies, maybe after first or second movie, I won’t be interested of watching the next sequel. There are so many stories in the book that made the books really interesting. Unlike Lord of the Ring where you can become a fan by just watching the movies without reading the books (it takes me ages to finish those 3 books. Ok, I didn’t finish reading the last book. It consumed a lot of time when you spend most of time looking for meaning of words in dictionary. Hehe.)

Oh, maybe after the last movie, I’ll read all the 7 books back to back. That would be a total of 4224 pages. Wahhh..

For our 5th wedding anniversary

After coming back from Malaysian International Dive Exhibition (MIDE) 2009 last Sunday, I proposed next diving site to my hubby. What else than the most beautiful diving place on earth, Sipadan Island. That plan is for our 5th year wedding anniversary (just hope I’m not pregnant that time) which will be coming soon in another 3.5 years.

Beside Sipadan, Kapalai, Mabul and Si Amil Island which are situated near to each other would be in our plan. And the best part is, we plan to have liveaboard adventure, where we stay on a boat for the whole 6 days and 6 nights of the vacation. So we would go from a spot to another dive spot without leaving the boat at all. And we can maximize number of dives per day without wasting time going back to the shore and travel back to the boat (even though I doubt I can do more than 3 dives per day without shocking my unfit body).

Currently only one boat that I know that offer that services. The boat is called MV Celebes Explorer that offers that kind of diving experience in that area.

Why wait for another 3.5 years you might ask. The reasons being are

1) Our diving skill is not that good yet since we only did 9 dives. To truly enjoy the underwater world, we need to practice, practice and practice until diving become as easy as breathing without asthma. No more nausea feeling every time my throat get dry, can achieve neutral buoyancy easily, no more problems with equalizing my ears, manage to master other kicks and control how to look at the creature at the close range without having to kick them afterwards (coz trying to balance buoyancy back). Hehe.

Beside that, it would be a waste of money going somewhere that expensive and hard to get permit but end up having spend most of the time trying to perfect diving skills instead of enjoying the marvelous nature.

Do you know that you need to get permit to enter Sipadan? This is what I get from someone name Lyndiane in Lowyat.net Forum on May 8, 2009 (lazy to summarize, so I copy & paste):

“Please remember that to u need a permit to go to Sipadan, no one is excluded: divers, non divers, snorkelers, even the Sabah Parks staff themselves have to have a permit to enter Sipadan Island - (I just recently talked to a Sabah Parks staff last week and he confirmed this). Remember that Sipadan is a protected area/marine park hence the strict regulations. The quota of 120/person daily cannot be exceeded in any way. Because of the high number of divers who come all this way to dive Sipadan, PRIORITY is always given to divers instead of non divers because the demand is higher than the supply. Trust me, it is close to impossible to get a permit if you are not a diver. And obviously because of this reason, permits are NOT issued to students who are merely looking to get qualified as a diver. OW courses are ALWAYS conducted on either Mabul Island or Kapalai island. After they have succesfully completed their OWC and are certified, only then will they be allowed to go diving in Sipadan (that is, of course if they get dive permits for Sipadan by then).That is how it works.

PS: All permits to Sipadan has to go through Sabah Parks. They control (and approve) the permits in order to give everyone a fair chance to dive in Sipadan. Remember there are about 12 resorts around the area and only 120 permits available on a daily basis. That means on average one resort can only send 10 people to Sipadan everyday. If you have 30 people staying in your resort, they will have to use the rotating system in order to have everyone dive in Sipadan. Plus, even the resort have no SAY on who gets to dive Sipadan cos like I said, everything is controlled by the Sabah Parks authorities.”

Some advise to book 6 months before your trip. During our trip to Dayang that day, which was early June, my friend said that all permit already fully booked until end of August. Wahh. I book 3.5 years early, boleh?

2) I assumed in another 3.5 years, I be able to have my underwater camera. Right now I have to forget about it as I find out that underwater casing my Lumix LX-3 costs RM2500 the cheapest, which is RM1000 more expensive than the camera itself. WTH? At this moment I regret of not buying Canon G10 coz G10 underwater casing cost only RM800. Remember I was confused which one should I buy before? Now is the time to feel the regrets. Anyway, I’m happy with my LX-3 right now so I won’t complain much here.

3) The price of the 6 days liveaboard package that I checked this morning is RM5+++. So for two persons would be more than RM10k. I assume in the next 3.5 years the price would gone up to at least RM7k per person. So at least we have some time to save our money so that we can go there.

In second thought, shouldn’t we save money for Hajj? Well, that would be next plan. Since we are in this Hajj topic, I really miss going to Mecca and Medina. I promised myself to go there again only when I have a husband next to me and now that I have a husband, when can I have another chance to go with him to do Umrah? Oh no, why every plan needs so much money? =(

Well, that’s the only reasons I can think of. But in any under circumstances that might lead to expedite the plan, I would be happy to go. =)

Oh, I can’t wait for that trip.

For that, everybody please keeps protecting our environment for our future generations. I have signed my pledge to stop eating turtle’s egg (sangat sedap okay!!) at MIDE that day in front of the WWF booth and I’m happy to say I manage to keep that promise until today (even though there’s a lot of challenges I have to face at home). So when is your turn?

Finally I found the one that fit my face, well, sort of

If you know me long enough, you know that I'm not a follower in tudung trend. Some people would follow religiously with the latest tudung fashion whether how you wear it or what the tudung name and style. For me, if it's not suitable for me, then I'm not going to wear it which I end up wearing the same kind of tudung all the time.

The art of wearing tudung is depends on the individual. Most importantly, you have to know your face. Different type of face needs different style of wearing it. If you have round face like me, you might not wear the tudung closely around your face that accentuates your round face. Instead wear something that elongate your face. If your face is oval, you are lucky coz you can wear anything and still looks good.

That's why I only choose wearing the faithful tudung bawal since the day I wore tudung. Occasionally I wear chiffon scarf which I really don't how to wear it until my mom found an anak tudung that save my life. Gave me any tudung, whether chiffon, silk or whatever type of material, I can wear it easily and beautifully without being stress with that anak tudung. Thank God for that anak tudung, I even look better on my wedding reception day unlike on my nikah day where I looked so chubby and rounded face.

Now, the craze of Ekin tudung which originally popularize by Indonesian has hit our shore. I've tried before and all I can see a chubby version of me in front of the mirror. However, the thought of the ease of wearing it and the kind of material that don't need to be ironed are appealing to me. Few weeks ago, my MIL informed me that there are 2 shops that actually have tudung sizes according to your face.

Just now I went with my hubby at one of the Ariani's branch in Bandar Baru Bangi. MIL already warned me that Ariani's is the most expensive and the second expensive one is Hajaba. Since Hajaba at Bandar Baru Bangi hasn't opened, we went to Ariani. They are having a sale until end of July and the price was from RM60 and above. It was quite expensive as expected. But the material was not bad. It was light weighted and cooling too. So, finally I gave in to this new trend and got myself this....

I brought up the middle part and pinned it with a brooch at the side like the way I like it to be when I wore my tudung =)

The fabric design was not so many as I want the one where it is short at the front. Most of the tudung there are the one that has long cover at the front chest. Tried to wear for 10 minutes and it is very cooling just like my favourite bawal.

Next time, I have to bring my mom, as she already mentioned to me about this shop and obviously she'll pay for my purchase. Hehe. With hubby all I get is, "No comment" which loosely translated as "I don't really like it as I still think you look like an Indonesian no matter how expensive that tudung is."

Ps: Do I look ok? Still feel funny about it.. haha

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.