Launching of Discovery Shuttle

Discovery Shuttle has landed yesterday, 9^th March 2011 at 11.57 am EST (12.57am Malaysia time). That would be the end of her 39^th mission (STS 133) and also the last mission before her retirement. She had racked 240 millions kilometers since she started 27 year ago and spend 365 days total in space.

Why I’m so obsessed with this space shuttle? Because I was there in Cape Canaveral, Florida to watch her 38^th mission launched. Mission Discovery STS-131 was launched on April 5 2010, at 6.21 am EST. It was a dream came true for me. Sorry Disney, NASA can make dreams come true too, you know.

I knew there were launchings and landings event in the Kennedy Space Centre (KSC) but I never thought that one day I’ll be witnessing it. We even missed visiting KSC during our Florida trip due to tight budget though it was one of my places that need to visit in US.

It so happened one of my friends in Duke told us about his experience watching the launching of space shuttle and I was hooked. He suggested why don’t we do a road trip to Orlando and watch the next launch. I immediately said yes and recruited few of my friends to join. Recruiting my friends was easy, the hard part was to convince my hubby. He wasn’t thrilled with the idea of driving 8 hours to a same place again when we just visited that place 3 months ago. I convinced him that my friend will drive and we will just pay for petrol and such. Then I excitedly explained to him why this is important to me: the fact that my childhood ambition to be an astronomer, the fact that I always wanted to have a telescope but it’s too expensive for 14 years old, the fact that I love everything about space (except Star Trek) and I can show him evidences of the number of books on astronomy at my home when we come back. Finally he gave in and I told my friend to buy us 2 tickets.

The ticket of the launching usually sold out within hours of opening. In fact in 2010, the tickets were sold out within 1 hour after it was opened to public because the announcement by Obama that the space shuttle program will be discontinued soon. NASA will have to finish up whatever missions for 2010 and they will no more space shuttle program. Besides Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour also will be retired soon. So that was another reason why I should watch this. My friend managed to get the tickets as he bought it within few minutes the online counter opened. I was so happy.

The thing about space shuttle is they really really need to emphasize on the safety of their crew. If they think the date that chose wasn’t suitable due to weather or technical problems, they will postpone. Initially the launched was planned on 18^th March 2010 but it was postponed to April 5 2010. When they postponed the date, all my friends decided they didn’t want to go. Man! I was devastated. I have two options: 1) to abandon the trip and burned my tickets or 2) just proceed with the trip with my hubby. After much deliberation (and the fact that my friends went to DC for cherry blossom also interest me at that time), we decided that we should proceed with the trip (cherry will bloom every year anyway!).

On the April 4, we drove to Orlando. Since hotel in Orlando is cheaper than Titusville (the closest town with hotel), we decided to stay there. Also the Halal food is abundant there. From Orlando to Cape Canaveral took around 30- 45 minutes only. We arrived around 6pm and after checking in, we went for dinner. Immediately after dinner, we slept for few hours coz we planned to drive there at 1 am. Crazy I know, coz the launching only at 6.21am EST. But we wanted to get a good spot & parking.

Upon arriving there, I grabbed my sweater and my orange blanket. Zainal refused to bring his sweater and even food. I forced him to bring some Gatorade, biscuits and bottled water. I know it was in Florida, The Sunshine State but this was at 1 am in the morning and the temperature can drop further. Guess who is right? Guess who has to wear my orange blanket at 3am? Huhu…

The ticket we got entitled us to enter Kennedy Space Center the next day too besides that night itself. There is another ticket, more expensive, where you actually can watch the launching nearer than anybody else. There were shuttle buses that brought these ticket bearers to a place that was closest view you can get to see the space shuttle shot up. That tickets were harder to get coz usually the agents would buy it first and sold it at higher price. Unfortunately, I didn’t buy that ticket. My ticket entitled me to watch it at KSC Visitor Center, which is the next best thing. 

At the Kennedy Space Center, you can felt the atmosphere of excitement. There was a big screen showing the current situation at the launching pad. I saw the astronauts were putting their space suits and get ready since 3am. My husband remarked when seeing that:

Husband: There’s a reason why you are not an astronaut.

Wife: why?

Husband: Coz after all the staff put you in the space suit and get you ready, suddenly you need to go to toilet.

Wife: Hahahahahah…. You are right.

Oh well, I can never be an astronaut anyway. 

We walked around the space center taking photos with the rockets, exhibitions and shopping there while waiting for the launching. The store was so cool! There’s so many stuff I wanted to buy, including the space blanket, but I ended up with a magnet and an envelope. Boring! Then we realized that more people have arrived and we need to reserve a spot for us. I was thinking of reserving a spot on the grass, but morning dew has wet the ground. So we sat at one of the picnic table. We shared that table with a Canadian family who came all the way from Canada.

At rockets garden

With one of the shuttle exhibited there

The crowd

Then the moment has come. 15 minutes before the launch, we could see International Space Station visible like a bright star over the Cape skyline. I thought it was normal practice, but it’s actually a rare occasion. Everybody was ‘oooooohhhhhh’ and ‘aaaaaahhh’ while looking up. I was thinking it was a welcome gesture by the staff in ISS to the Discovery. What a wonderful sight.

Then the countdown began.

"It's time for you to rise to orbit. Good luck and Godspeed," launch director Pete Nickolenko told the astronauts right before liftoff.

"Let's do it!" replied commander Alan Poindexter.

And off they go and the rest is history. Let’s pictures tell my story (after long introduction…hehe) :

The sky in the morning after the launching was unusual but beautiful...

We walked around to exhibitions that we missed (or too tired and sleepy) to go...

See who is wearing the orange blanket.... hehe... Inside one of the space shuttle...

Sleepy & tired & ready to go back

And guess what happened on our way back? 2 hours of not moving traffic congestion to Orlando. ARRRRGGGHHH...

Must be my lucky day

Finally, after 27 years of living, I won a lucky draw.... =)

At my friend's twin second birthday...

All the kids there must be hating me.

I don't care, I WON SECOND PLACE IN LUCKY DRAW!

Take that little kids!

Muaaahahahahahhaha (evil laugh)

What was funnier, third & second place won by Subang girls! The others might think that my friend do it on purpose, but believe me, we were just that lucky... haha... (Look how happy we were)

Ps: Dear God, please keep away adult like this at my future kids' birthday parties.... ;)

Baja di taman hatiku

Heard in the office today:

Dalam hatiku ada taman, dan kau adalah baja untuk tamanku - JHK

Sounds so romantic right? Not if you are the 'baja'. Coz 'baja' made from urmmm... Poo?

Hahahaa...

Yeah, we have crazy bunch of people.

Great and simple teambuilding tool

Every team and company would love a strong team relationship in their team and company. This is because great team bonding can creates great results. But sometimes it's hard to create one without having to spend so much money in sending the teams to courses and paying trainers to build the bridge. However, I discovered a great and simple teambuilding technique. All you need is a room and a round table. Yes, only round table, not square, rectangular pentagon or heart shape table. Force all the team members to use the round table as their work station (ask them to bring all their stuff including laptops) and make them work there for at least 1 month. After few weeks you will realize that the team will bond together and the walls between them is longer there.

I noticed this new idea when my office has to be evacuated as we are renovating it. So we have to move to our subsidary company for time being. We are given a meeting room with round table as our work place. Imagine 6-7 of us using the round table for few weeks. First few days, everybody was not comfortable and complain about the chairs, the smell of the room and even the view. Slowly after that I realized we started to talk a lot while doing our work. We discussed everything under the sky including the origin of drag queen, building our own country, celebrities gossip and even our own personal lives. Without we realized it, we started to have lunch together, buy food and share it and even have our own private joke. I noticed that a colleague that used to have lunch alone started to join us, two colleagues that weren't talking due to conflict (but only talk about works) started to have casual conversation and other teams started to motivate another team. We even have our official drink, which is Toastbox's Teh C (Starbucks & Coffee Bean are forgotten now).

You know what the effect of this changes, productivity has improved. People are no longer going home before 6.30pm and staying late doing work is not longer a burden. Everyone is having a good time while doing work. I no longer feel drag to stay at the office after 6pm when works was crazy. We even reminded each other about solat time.

This is the result of round table. It has no edges or borders to show whose area is it. We share the same space and after a while, we learn how to respect each other and also enjoy the works. So give it a try and see if it is working for your team. But unfortunately this method only work for team below 10. If more than that, it won't be easy to place everyone in a table and a room.

Football again

I grew up with a dad who loves discussing sports. It doesn't matter if you are a daughter or a son, as long as you have him as a father, you are entitled to join in the discussing and should be able to tell him what was the score of last night's match. So I grew up knowing sports news and started to read about it so that I won't be left out. But my dad attempts to get me into sport was a failure. It started with golf which failed miserably on the first day, then squash which was not so bad but was not enjoyed by many, and then there are few other sports that I halfway joined. Hey, at least I tried right. Huhu.

The first game I installed when I got a computer when I was 14 was Premier League Manager. Why? Coz Zainal played that. Haha. We were classmates and when I asked him what game was good, he said that. Apparently he didn't know much about girl at that age and I was blinded by our *ahem* friendship *ahem* and played that game. That was the most boring game ever. What you do was trying to manage a team and then watched the player played (more like tiny dots moving around) and suddenly the results came out. After few weeks I gave up. Without I knowing it, I actually learned a lot about football.

Then I have a Manchester United fanatic fan as a brother. He patiently taught me what is offside and now I can proudly yell offside without being wrong. *smile proudly*

So when I got married, it wasn't hard at all for me to understand the football needs of my husband which including converting me into supporting and knowing his favourite team. But most importantly to understand that it's ok he wanted to watch the game with his friends tonight even though he is super tired and sleepy. Coz Chelsea is against Liverpool tonight yo! And Torres just moved from Liverpool to Chelsea... like few days ago...

Another football related story: There are 3 teams in my family - Manchester United (little brother), Chelsea (hubby) and Liverpool (dad & big brother). That day, my dad bought a Liverpool jersey and my mom found it ridiculous for my dad to wear it while my dad found it embarrassing to wear it coz Liverpool kept on losing. He gave it to my big brother but he found the size was quite small for him. So dad wanted to give it to my lil bro or hubby which both of them wanted to make it kain pengelap kaki. Then dad took it back and left it in his wardrobe. Guys! -_-

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! =)

Eh?

I have tried it before and I can't update here using Blogger. But suddenly can. Why meh?

This is going second testing post with a picture.

Ok, fail to upload picture.... Hmmmmm...

Blogging on the go

I just realized that Blogger doesn't has an apps like Wordpress. What a bummer. Just I thought that I can blog anywhere now with my favourite toy right now. But Blogger has this mail to blogger thingie. Should give it a try and update blog more.

Ok, this is just testing post, but I don't know why I need to write so much. Haha

19.01.11

I'm using Penultimate Apps & using Boxwave stylus which is so awesome.

I'm really looking forward for something then......

When I'm happily waiting for something like a PUBLIC HOLIDAY.

Plan what I want to do that day with my loves one on a PUBLIC HOLIDAY.

Then suddenly last minute, people told me to work on PUBLIC HOLIDAY, without early notice.

I'm super bengang, ok.

Please tell me early so that I won't plan anything.

Tetiba mood semangat di waktu pagi hilang dan rasa sangat bengang.

On strict Datuk Kame training programme

Throughout my life, I only own 1 laptop, the one that I'm using right now. Back then in undergrad years I was a pro-desktop. Nothing in the world can convince me that laptop is more practical than desktop especially I always traveling between home and college. Actually I used that reasoning to convince that I don't need a laptop and of course, no money to buy one too. Haha. 

Then I borrowed my mom laptop for final year project, mainly to write my thesis. I found it more practical and what a life saving device especially when I was alone in my college room watching 'Desperate Housewives' back to back while lying in my bed. But the semester is almost over and I don't think it's convenient anymore to buy it since I'm moving out the college and will live at my house permanently.

My first job was at manufacturing company and I don't need a laptop. I used the desktop the company and I was happy as a bee (bee is happy creature right? I don't know, but it rhymed just nice with happy). Except during six sigma training where I have to borrow my beloved hubby's laptop (with a lot of terms & conditions, how to take care and so on). 

So when I decided to continue my study in United States, I realized, I need a laptop. Thanks to my mom scares on the tight ruling of US airports, I decided to buy one in US instead of in Malaysia. So my personal IT specialist aka husband list down what specifications that I need - latest processor, graphic card, wireless port etc. I surveyed TigerDirect, Newegg and few other websites. I finally found my laptop - have all the specifications that I need, within the price range and Lenovo. The reason I chose Lenovo because they are part of IBM and IBM known for making a durable laptop. So I thought since this is my first laptop, I need to have a strong one for me to learn how to take care a laptop. Because honestly I'm not the most delicate person in the world.

After arriving in US, I realized that my laptop of choice has sold out! I was devastated. I need a laptop ASAP and I can't waste my time by searching another model again. Thank God I have a very nice landlord. She took me around Durham finding laptop for me. Until we arrived at Circuit City (which later filed bankruptcy 2 weeks after I bought the laptop and closed down 567 their stores). I saw my dream laptop. Not the same model but a higher range of model and the price was above my range. However, the store offered me the display set with discount and they said the display set was only 1 week old, they will give full warranty and reformat the laptop before giving it to me. So I thought why not, and I bought it.

Zainal came 2 weeks later after my mom went home. The first thing he said was this laptop was heavy. I was still in honeymoon phase with my laptop immediately disagreed with him. I was in denial. Few weeks later I started to think my laptop might be a bit heavy. But few months later when I have to run across Terminal 1 in JFK Airport to Terminal 8 to catch my plane, I realized, my God, this laptop weight a tonnes. I swear I almost fainted by carrying this laptop only. I have come with full realization when I have to carry this laptop when walking to our hotel in Las Vegas and again in San Francisco. God, I wished I left this laptop and not carrying it all over west coast. I didn't care about checking my email and Facebook anymore. I. Just. Want. Not. To. Carry. This. Elephant. Anymore.

The pervert Datuk Kame or Kame Sennin with his turtle shell

Now I'm working where I have to use this laptop as my work station and brought along me whenever I go, I started to devise a mindset. I can't left my laptop anymore and it needs to be with me all the time. So whenever I have to carry this elephant, I imagined myself undergo a training programme with Datuk Kame. Haha. You know the one that he asked Goku to carry a heavy turtle shell around. I imagined that one day I can jump so high , run so fast without this heavy laptop on my back. I might even manage to do 'kame hame haaa' if I practice enough. Huhu. So there you go.

Kame Hame Haaaaa..... I know you have try before, in case there's going to be a fireball coming out, right? Huhu

So before you buy a laptop, make sure that weight is one of the main areas that you look into. If not, let's join Datuk Kame fitness programme.

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:

2010 in summary

I'm not going to act surprise that I haven't been updating this blog for almost 2 months. So many happened in this 2 months and they deserved separate posts (hopefully soon).

But not to break this blog tradition, I will review my 2010. Seriously 2010 is the most emotional year that I have so far in my life. I'm not exaggerating.

Let's recap:

1. I spend my whole 2010 with my husband. Yup, not a single day without him.
2. I spend first 6 months of the year in United States and another 6 months in Malaysia. Adil
3. I got my first paycheck in USD (even though the tax cut almost 30% of my paycheck, at least I got some extra money to travel)
4. Travel a lot.... from east coast to west coast... using all method of transportation; plane, car, train...
5. Meet a lot of new wonderful people along the way
   
6. Played paintball (I've been waiting to try this for a long time, but never had a chance)
7. Snowboarding for the first time and immediately fell in love with it. Unfortunately that might be the first and last time I'll be snowboarding. Unless Malaysia opened a place for that
8. I got a nephew, named Akeem Zarif who was born on 31st July at 3.85kg. Very big and cute baby. Hehe
   
9. Graduations! First of course, my graduation (May, happy that I finished on time and can come back home for good), then Zainal (he technically done in 2009 but the convocation only held on August 2010), my older brother (after 5 years of Master, finally he is a specialist. I noticed that almost all the Master receiver for medical, like my brother, didn't look too excited (unlike my friends and I last May). I assumed doctors lost their excitement after they have to endure 4-5 years just to get a Master) and not forgetting, my brother-in-law and my sister-in-law who graduated the same day with my brother (they were in the same faculty anyway). And my younger brother finished his study in December. It seems that everybody in my family finished their study in 2010.
10. New job. Not going to discuss on this. *mood turning to sour a bit*
11. Lastly, the most painful events: Deaths, like 6 of them.

• Early April: my uncle, Pak Ngah
• Late April: my beloved grandmother, Mek
• Couldn't remember when: my aunt (not so close to me, still)
  
• Late September: my sister-in-law, Kak Zura
• Late November: my next door neighbour, Aunty Merican
  
• Early December: my beloved uncle, Pak

What an eventful year. I hope with the ending of 2010, no more death in our family. Hopefully new addition instead. So I started this new year with a lot of hopes and dreams.

Let me cry tonight

Bertalu-talu ujian dan dugaan Allah kepadaku tahun ini. Tapi Allah janji Dia tidak membebankan hamba-Nya dengan dugaan yang tidak mampu ditanggungnya. Aku yakin dengan janji Allah cuma kekadang ingin menangis juga walaupun sedang sabar dan tabah dalam menjalani ujian ini.

Ujian yang terlalu banyak ya Allah. Berapa ramai ahli keluargaku telah kembali kepadaMu, melihat penderitaan penyakit kepada kaum keluargaku yang disayangi, dikhianati oleh orang yang dianggap rapat, kepayahanku menerima rezeki dalam bentuk zuriat, pergolakan dan konfliks dengan orang yang tersayang dan bermacam-macam lagi sejak awal tahun lagi.

Namun dengan barakah rumahtanggaku, aku bersyukur denganMu kerana Kau kurniakan suami yang tiada tolok bandingnya menemani aku dalam segala dugaanMu ini. Syukur ya Allah, Kau kurniakan seseorang yang bijak bertutur memujukku, pemurah dengan kasih sayang dan sentiasa bersampingku dalam apa jua keadaan kami.

Aku bersyukur kepadaMu ya Allah kerana walaupun sungguh perit setiap dugaan yang kulalui ini, banyak sungguh nikmat yang tanpa kusedari Kau kurniakan kepadaku. Sungguh Kau adalah Maha Pengasih lagi Maha Mengasihani.

Namun malam ini, di saat terdengar berita yang tidak baik, walaupun belum 100% yakin, tapi jiwaku terus manjadi lemah dan sedih. Aku seolah-olah tidak dapat menerima dugaan kali ini kerana aku sungguh mengharapkan satu sinar di sebalik dugaan yang tertalu-talu ini. Tapi aku yakin Kau Maha Mengetahui apa yang terbaik untukku. Semoga Kau kurniakan yang terbaik untuk ku dan seluruh ahli keluargaku.

Ya Allah, benarkan aku menangis di atas kekecewaan ini ya.

11 years ago

While waiting for my husband to come home this evening, I dig out a file that kept all my memories in the year 1999-2000. I was 16 that time and full of weird teenage hormone. I found few poems and love stories that I wrote based on my current situation but with more dramatic endings. Haha.

But best of all, I found a series of email that someone send it to me (I printed every one of it). We were separated when he changed school. So only phone calls and emails that kept us in touch. We were not in a relationship but just two friends keeping updates with each other. However I just noticed that from month to month, the tone of his email changed slowly from just a friend to somebody who cares for me.

Who has thought that the same person who religiously sending me emails and patiently answering my phone calls on every school holidays is the one that become my husband.

Who would have thought?

That's qada' and qadar.

Not that I'm complaining =)

1000 days of love

You know what day is it today? Yup, Friday. Good boy. Now take this ice cream and off you go. Hahaha..

Ok, ok, I'm in very good mood today coz I celebrated the 1000 days of my married life with my dearest husband. You might think, budak ni mesti takde keje, tiap-tiap hari kira hari ke? Unfortunately the first part of that question is true but the second part is not. It is not that I have a countdown timer in my room counting down how many days that I have been a wife. It was happened unexpectedly actually. I was counting days for other thing and then I put my anniversary date and see how many days already. At that moment, it was day 980 (plus minus). So I thought wow, we almost 1000 days. So I just put a reminder in my phone calendar.

So there you go. 1 0 0 0 d a y s . . . .

My finance professor in Duke counted his marriage days. I remember when he introduced himself, he said something like, "I have a wife and we have been married for xxxxx days." Yeah, he has OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder). You should see how he put all his money in his wallet. It's according to the serial number okay. But he's really a fun but quirky professor and I enjoyed his lectures even though I still couldn't understand finance whole-heartedly. Haha.

Anyway, celebrating how many days you have been ...... is harder than remembering a certain date. I remember by heart my anniversary date but how many days have been married, that 's more challenging. Because the date can be fall on random date and after a while you stop counting.

So to commemorate this day (which might not be remembered if I didn't accidentally count it), I have made this photo mosaic which consisted of 1000 (+18 more) photos of us from the day we tied the knot until today. Yes, that's 1000 unique photos of us only.

The main picture is Day 1 - our akad nikah

While doing this, I realized:
We have a lot of photos of us alone rather than us together. This couldn't be avoided as we always travel just the two of us. So it's always he took my photo, I took his. Even though we have X-shot Extender and a tripod to help us, sometimes we were lazy to use it. Yup, we travel with 2 kind of tripod (well, one is more like a monopod). Believe it or not, all of that can be put into my handbag. But towards to end, the laziness improved and we have more photos together.

I'm going to print it (in large print obviously) and framed it after I perfect the mosaic. Kind of neat kan...

Ps: Actually I wanted to be a surprise gift for my hubby, but I am very bad at keeping secret and spilled my plan to him. He thought it was a cool idea. I will post the final product when I finish it, print it and frame it.

After 3 years of battle

If I'm not mistaken, I first meet her in 2004. It was Zainal's UNITEN convocation. At that time, I came as a shy-shy girlfriend celebrating his boyfriend's achievement. I was invited to join their family lunch after that. I was reluctant at first (coz I was shy) but eventually I followed them.

After that I never met her again until few years later. She went to Germany pursuing her Ph.D after that. Then in 2007, Zainal showed me the email that she send informing that she would be back for good after she was diagnosed with breast cancer stage 3. At this point of life, you don't care about pencapaian duniawi anymore when your life was at stake. And that was the beginning of her battle.

In 2008 after we got married, we always visited her, at least 2-3 months once. She had mastectomy, chemotherapy and many more treatments. But the cancer cells were very stubborn. After the mastectomy, we thought that the cells were gone, but then we found out it had spread to lung before to the bones.

When I was in US, I saw the worried look of my husband whenever he called home, scared that he wasn't going to be there if anything happened to his only sister. I prayed hard that Kak Zura stays stronger and wait for our arrival first.

But Kak Zura was a strong woman and also a smart lady. Not only academically (bachelors in US, masters is Malaysia and Ph.D in Germany), but also in life. She knew not to depend on man to make her happy and started to save everything for her daughters. If you met her, you will not see her as a patient. She always smiling, never complaining and always want to do everything by herself.

Only Allah know what's best for His creation. This Raya was actually the first Raya I celebrated with her, well, I never know it would be the last Raya. She was weak already at that time but as usual I never noticed it. A week after that we went to visit her again at her house after hearing that she always had difficulty of breathing. We couldn't talk much that time as her friends were there at the same time. My mother in law told me that the doctor had told her that she had only 1 month left. The cancer cells have invaded her liver and the spinal cord. I was in shock. I couldn't imagine how she felt at that moment.

On Thursday afternoon that same week, I received a phone call from Zainal that Kak Zura was admitted to hospital. Same hospital with Pak. He rushed home and together we went there. They gave Kak Zura morphine and other pain reliever to ease her pain. Yes, the doctor said cancer is the worst pain in the world. Because of the pain killer, she was able to sleep. Zainal slept there for 2 nights and I joined him on the second night. Whenever she woke up and usually the drug has toned down, we need to call nurse so that they will give new dose of drug.

On Sunday morning, we left her sleeping and went home. Zainal's brother took care of her in daytime. We would never know that it would be her last day. We came back again around 8.30pm the same day. We saw her husband sleeping in the room (finally he arrived on SUNDAY!). We went to Kak Zura and saw that she was breathing heavily and moaning in her sleep. After updating her husband on her condition and asked him to take his dinner while we waited with Kak Zura, we went to nurse station. We asked the nurse there why she was breathing like that. It wasn't like that this morning. The nurse answered short and simple, that's is how orang nazak breathing. At this moment she asked us to start reciting Yaasin and teach her the syahadah.

After that shocking piece of news, we immediately started reciting Yaasin. Zainal's brother and his wife, Kak Ina arrived after that. Since both of them are medical doctors, they knew what's the situation and started reciting Yaasin. Kak Ina checked Kak Zura medical reports and found out that her blood pressure couldn't be determined anymore and her temperature was subnormal. Kak Zura's husband came back from his dinner looking confused and joined us in reciting Yaasin.

At 10 pm, with her husband and Zainal holding her hand, she breathed her last breathe. It was fast and almost like she was sleeping. Panic, both of them called Kak Ina and she checked her pulse and heart beat. She called nurse who came with defibrillator. Kak Ina requested not to use the defib and the nurse just used it to read her heart beat and confirmed her death. It's only straight line printed on that paper. At that time, the time of death recorded was 10.03pm on 26 September 2010.

The rest they said is history. We did what we supposed to do and she laid in her final resting area in Shah Alam. She left 2 beautiful daughters aged 8 and 5. I hope she was placed amongst the specials and hope she is peaceful in her new place.

Dari Allah kita datang, kepada Allah kita kembali jua. Al-Fatihah kepada Kak Zura....

Kak Zura with her daughters on our wedding day. At the back is Zainal's brother.

Need to live

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...

10 days of downhill

Today is the 10th day Pak in hospital. And today at 12 pm, I still at home which is unusual for the past 10 days. Supposedly I should be at hospital. But today I just couldn't take the latest nuisance from people who came to visit. Because she is my family. I expect family to understand but instead she making bunyi-bunyi yang menyakitkan hati on days like this.

Pak was admitted to the ward on 4th of September at 11.30pm. He was brought to the emergency room at 2pm the same day. Doctors took 9 hours to find out what's wrong with him but finally they admitted him despite not knowing what the problem. He showed a symptom of stroke which was slurred speech but the brain scan showed nothing. His motor on both side was in excellent condition which further confused the doctors.

Everyday I was at the hospital without fail. Sometimes I stayed for 12 hours and if other family was there I would went home to take a break. But Pak always asked for me and he felt most comfortable with me so I would tried my best to be there for him.

Pak's health deteriorated rapidly within one week. When he first came in, I can understand him and he can walk if the doctor asked him. Then his speech become unrecognizable even for me. Then they did a MRI scan and they found out that it's pontine stroke. Ya Allah! At that time Pak couldn't even talk anymore. He even needed oxygen. But he wasn't comfortable with the oxygen mask and the pulse oxymeter at his finger tip. He wanted to take it off and was restless for at least 3 days. He was at that condition and didn't feel comfortable with whatever that happen around him. Few times nurses have to tied his hands to his bed to make sure he wouldn't hurt himself. That was the saddest thing I ever seen. He would look at me with sadness in his eyes begging me to untie his hand. He couldn't talk and he is at other people's mercy. And all I can do is comfort him with holding his hand. That's all I can do. I felt useless.

Then on 9th September, he has difficulty of breathing. He was breathing heavily with the help of oxygen mask. At that time, his oxygen level was barely reached 90%. His heart rate was at the average of 120 bpm. He looked like he has to fight for his life to breathe. At that time, he can't even raised his hand. He was so weak and he just closed his eyes all the time. When people came and hold his hand, he opened his eyes and if that person meant a lot to him, tears rolled at the corner of his eyes.

Finally on the Eid night, doctor decided to put him on a ventilator. On Eid morning when I came and visited him, he was unconscious and still breathing supported by ventilator. Now on the 5th of Eid, he still unconscious.

Helpless

Finally this situation has taken a toll on me. I felt that I didn't do everything that it should be yet I felt that I'm exhausted by this whole situation.

I don't know what to do to help him and looking at his situation made me felt so helpless. His speeches has become unrecognizable, his movements have lost it's coordination and he always in pain in different part of the body. I wish I have a magic wand that can cure all his illness.

I felt really bad for not really be by his side at all time helping him with all his need - to the bathroom, fed him and just be there for him. Yet, people think I've done so many things when all I do is taking him to see various specialists since July and just check on him every hour or so. It's just that there is a hole in my heart from the 6 years absence and the feeling is not the same anymore.

I felt bad for not being the best as I should have when he was there all the time when I was small. Yet I felt I have done everything that I could and the best I could to balance between him and my own life.

I felt like there's a huge rock of responsibility that was handed to me by the people around me - the society, friends and family, that I need to carry on. Sometimes I wish the people who calling asking how he is doing would come and see him and be by his side for awhile.

Now I realized how hard it is when the time has come. Seriously I am not ready. My mind was occupied with a lot other goals that I need to achieve at least within this year. But I have to set it aside all of that first because if not who will take care of him and bring him to see the doctors? When I think about this, I started to question my sincerity.

I'm so helpless. Ya Allah, please help him...

Pening

Hish pening.

I'm not sure if he needs attention or he really needs the treatment. But he sure make everybody come and see.

But the timing couldn't be worse. Pity my hubby as he also involved in this.

Need more patience with this.

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!

Authentic

Wow.. more than 1 month without new post. There are a lot of stuff has been going on within these few weeks. I'm glad is all done and I'm moving on to the next phase of my life. I thought I would write it down here for future reading and memories, but I'm not so sure anymore. To tell the truth, I almost gave up blogging. I have so many things I wanted to share but apparently people misinterpreted me from this blog.

Ntah la, sometimes I can be clueless about human. I was betrayed over and over again sometimes by the same people (if not by different people) yet I still hold on to that relationship. Zainal who is very protective of my emotion has warned me so many times to avoid that kind of people and ignore them but me being me, still feel that there was hope in them. Until they gave me the ultimatum that shocked and stunned me, then only I realized that I should listen to Zainal earlier. Though I'm hurt like hell, but at least it gave me lessons in life.

Maybe I should put a disclaimer in this blog. What I wrote here is the real me. This is where sometimes I share my joy, happiness, anger and sadness. I don't have a separate blog with anonymity or have protected post when I wanted to bash other people or leash out my anger. I tried to have it before but I don't feel right at all. When I'm hurt, angry or dissatisfy, and need to let it go, I write it here. It's not my intention to humiliate other people coz I never give out the names but I'm human. I have feelings and feel the pain. So tipula kalau I didn't get angry at all.

Sometimes people thought some posts are about them when in reality I never thought about them at all when writing this post. But bak kata pepatah Melayu, sape makan cili, terasa la pedasnya. Hah!

So I will put my head high and will keep on being authentic to myself. If you can't accept it, please click 'x' at the top right of your browser. Thank you.

27th and 8th

Finally, he's turn to turn 27. Now we're even.

I celebrated my birthday at Niagara Falls, NY this year. Woohooo...

We celebrated our 8th year anniversary at Boston and New York City on the 7th May.

He will celebrate his birthday in Durham, NC. Don't worry sayang, I like Durham =). Kita pergi makan di Cheesecake Factory nak?

This post will be expanded into a nice long post in the future (it might be tomorrow, next week or next year.. haha).

Mek

It has been 11 days since she had gone. I waited so long to write a post about this coz I don't have the strengths to pour it out without crying my heart out. I never thought I will be missing her this much.

She just not my grandma, she's like my second mom. If you knew her, you will call her Mek. Coz no matter who you are, her daughter, friend, grandson or great-granddaughter, you will called her Mek. To me, Mek represents everything she is to me - grandma, mother and friends.

As far as I knew, she has been living with my family since I was small. She would went visiting her other children 2-3 times a year and after 1-2 weeks with them, she would always missed her room in our house. My room is next to hers and we shared bathroom together. I sometimes sneaked to her room to borrow minyak panas, air masak, spoon or knife coz she has everything in her room.

When I was small, I used to follow her everywhere, from Kelantan to Kedah visiting my uncles and aunts. Then when I got older, Mek would followed us on vacations from Perhentian Island, Genting Highland, Cameron to her favourite, Bangkok. She would always be with me every time I to Umrah. Funnily I only went to Umrah once with my parents.

Then I started my schooling years and everyday I was greeted with her home cooked lunch for 11 years. Mek was wonderful cook especially Kelantan food. She made everything from scratch and knew everyone favourite food. She would bought apam or kuih lapis whenever she went to pasar tani coz she knew I love it. She would bring back roti jala whenever she came across it in kenduri coz I crazy about it. She cooked hati goreng when I came to home after I got married coz I can't get enough of her hati goreng.

Mek has a lot of collections. From handbags, towels, brooches to crystal bracelets, she loved them all and carefully displayed them in her room. She was very particular about her stuff and she can detect if anyone came into her room when she was not there. She loves cat too and she would feed stray cat that came to our house. She's the one who taught Choki (my bunny) to eat cream crackers that became his favourite food.

I'm going to miss our gossip session when she would called me into her room and started, "Ni mek nak cerita sesuatu ni. Tapi jangan beritau mak tau." I'm going to miss our Hindustan movie session which on Saturday or whatever there are showing.

When I went home last year, I remembered she was telling me what should I do during confinement, what to eat and so on. Then I told her, "Taknak la tahu, nanti Mek buatkan la untuk adik ye." I never thought that day would never come. It's always in my plan that Mek will be there when I have children on my own. She always be with me throughout my life anyway. She was there when I was admitted to SJMC repeatedly throughout my childhood years.She was there when I first left home to matriculation, she was there when I registered at UM for for degree, she was at Dewan Tunku Canselor when I received my degree and she slept with me on the last night of my singlehood before I became a wife. When I get married, I couldn't come back home every weekend and she would persuaded me to come home, and eat at home. She would said that at least I would save the money by eating at home but I knew she just wanted me to be home. Sadly, I didn't spend much time with her during my summer vacation last year. She has started becoming sick and we rarely talked at that time.


There's so many memories I have with mek. She is not a kind of grandma that I only saw during Raya or kenduri, she's my grandma that I live with and grow up with. I couldn't believe at the last moment of her life, I wasn't there to be next to her. I can only hear her weak voice and that's it. I really wish I can hug her and kiss her goodbye for the last time.

In one month time, when I come home, tell me how do I walk pass her room to my room knowing that she is not going to be there anymore?

Mek, semoga Mek tenang di sana... InsyaAllah adik akan jumpa Mek lagi ye... Al-Fatihah..

Finishing my classes

I don't know why I'm so lazy lately. Like super lazy ok especially in typing. I have so many ideas what to write here but instead I just procrastinated and finally the ideas gone. I wrote it at my Twitter and hoping with the 140 characters, it will transform to 200 words essay. Haha.. I wish.

Tonight I just realized that in 3 days, I'll be done with my Masters. Yup, jut another 3 days! I got presentations on Tuesday and Wednesday and I'm done with classes. Eh, wait, I need to submit 2 reports after that. Well, at least I'm done with classes.

I can't believe how fast the time flies. Just last week I met an International Office staff who was so nice to me when I first arrived. Yup, I went to her crying out loud saying I missed home so much. She gave me all the list that I can do to distract myself. So when I met her last week on the way to Bryan Center, I told her that I'm going to graduate in May, she was surprised that it's already 1.5 years since I cried at her office. Hahahaah..

To tell the truth, I never thought I would finish this degree. Not because I'm not competent, but I didn't think I can survive here alone. I guess over time I learned to adapt. Yes, it wasn't easy but I managed. I adapted so well until right now I don't feel like going home. I kinda comfortable here I guess. Anyway, I'm going home anyway this June. But for me, anywhere where my love is, that is my home. =)

I'm a proud Dukie

I never thought I'm going to be so happy. Yes, this happiness is too much to handle. Who wouldn't when their school win the national championship basketball game. Yes, no 1 in the US college basketball.

DUKE UNIVERSITY IS THE CHAMPIONS OF N.C.A.A. BASKETBALL 2010

I'm so proud of my school. We excel in academic and sports. Yes, we are!

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