A Little Bit of This and That

2nd semester is over :)

2010-12-01T00:28:00.000+10:00

Now that the results are finally out via sms (it's a trial run..), I can now officially say, my second semester is OVER. I have one semester left and I hope that I will do well for that too.. My results are similar as last semester. To be precise, the exact same grades. LOL. I'm glad that the course that I was worried the most - Quantitative Business Research Methods (statistics) got the highest out of the two courses that I enjoyed learning throughout the semester. Which is very weird.. but nevermind! Woohoo! I mean.. Alhamduillah :)

My cousin is coming over for 10 days starting this Saturday now I can't wait to plan great things with her! It's going to be fantastic! And of course, can't wait to go back home, have the Thailand getaway with Farhana ;), show Malaysia to my two Chilean friends and of course, head back here for the final semester..

I was supposed to sleep awhile ago but the text 'shocked' me.. Not in a bad way actually.. I expected it to be sent at 6am but thrilled that they sent it early cause now I can doze off like a baby :)

Goodnight people!

Trying to kill time

2010-11-28T20:48:00.000+10:00

It's the time of the month again where your heart beats rapidly, you get anxious and sweaty palms and that time moves extremely slowly despite keeping your schedule as full as possible. Yes, it's the time that you're on a holiday after the exams (for students that is) and that as much as you want to enjoy it, you just can't due to the 'judgment day' which is creeping up on you very closely...

I couldn't sleep well for the past two nights. I kept waking up every hour.. 2am.. 3am.. then 4am.. while in Islam, normally people would get up and perform their prayers (sunat) but, I couldn't do so cause you know, it's the time of the month for us women. Sometimes I wish that I hadn't become a student.. cause of this constant feeling drives me insane. But at the same time, I love being a student. Learning new things that I probably won't gain when I work.. I remembered someone telling me that "you don't need to have a background in journalism education if you want to become a journalist. It's all about the passion in writing." Yes I admit that is true but at the same time, one of my great lecturers in UQ mentioned that the education/knowledge comes from practice. For instance, how does one discover the 5Ws and 1H (who, what, where, when, why and how) in news reporting? Practice of course! From that, whoever that discovered it turned it into knowledge where future journalism students can learn and put it in good use in their career. Well of course it's not just in the journalism field.

Anyhoo, yesterday I did a bunch of things that I would not normally do (in one day that is). Woke up, did two washings, ironed them, cooked, went to the gym then went swimming (10 laps), went back to my place then watched Babar, Arthur and Thomas & Friends (it was the only thing that was good on telly), surfed the internet, cooked again, borrowed How I Met Your Mother (the whole season 5) and it was still early! And today, I woke up, went to the Direct Factory Outlet and despite the huge sign of 'SALE's, I went out of the outlet an hour-ish later without any shopping bags! Then I went to the city, and ended up buying two bubble teas, sushi and butter chicken+rice (take away). By the time I arrived home, it was about 5pm. Tomorrow I haven't got a clue what I want to do.. the judgment day is Wednesday by the way.. so I have two more days to kill.. Maybe I'll go to the halal butcher and stock up some chicken and sausages cause my cousin is coming here for 10 days. I'm out of supplies.. She's coming over this Saturday. I want to be excited about it but right now I need to mellow the excitement down until my result comes out.. it determines what I would and can do next. Well actually it determines everything.. whether I can go back home.. whether I can go for a bestfriend getaway in Thailand (I repeat, getaway not runaway.. she's a girl and I'm engaged.. lol).. whether I can show my Chilean friends how beautiful Malaysia is.. whether I can discuss my future step with my fiance.. whether I can do my thesis next semester... EVERYTHING!

To end this rather boring entry, I would like to say...

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim..

The summer vacay officially begins!

2010-11-15T18:36:00.000+10:00

Just as the clock struck 10am this morning, it marked my long summer vacation! Alhamdulillah the last paper which I assumed to be the toughest and wasn't looking forward to it the whole semester (Quantitative Business Research Methods), it turned out to be alright :) Well I wouldn't say that I managed to answer the whole questions cause some were tough but again it wasn't as tough as I had pictured during the first class of learning the course. I remembered how every Thursday morning after my class I would text my fiance saying "Surviveee!!" And I would yawn every now in the class and even check my watch every half past! Yes, I was struggling to comprehend what the lecturer was teaching.. And felt a huge pressure when a large percentage of the students enrolled in the course have a statistics (or equivalent) background. So imagine them bombarding questions to the lecturer while I silently nodded pretending that I understood but in reality, I was day dreaming. The lecture notes for the course were very thick and it was extremely painful when I had to print them out. I used up a lot of paper and ink to print those. Ok I admit they were helpful for the exam however, I feel guilty of killing the trees.

Anyway, after the exam, one of my classmates invited me to take a picture with her and the other classmates. I think this morning was the only time that all of us spoke to each other outside of the class. We chatted about the exams, course, the lecturer, thesis, summer vacation plans.. it was nice :) After that I went back home to perform my prayers and went out to cut my hair. I've been hopping from one salon to another and seeking for different hair stylists' help in cutting my hair into this specific hairstyle. None seemed to get it right up till today.. I was and still am ecstatic with my current hairdo! Ok ok I know that without picturing it, you wouldn't know what it looks like but before I give some brief descriptions, mind you, this is solely for self-satisfaction. Nothing more, nothing less. :) Ok about the hairdo.. I shaved my hair.. on the side like a lot and parted it sideways so you can see very much the shaved area on the right side of my hair. I've always wanted to have the same hairdo as Rihanna (but I wanted it long before she cut it that way) and finally I'm satisfied with the outcome! :D

Right after, I did a bit of grocery shopping.. bought a tray of sliced mushrooms, smoked salmon, teddy bear pastas (yeah they are shaped bear!) and cheesy cream. I'm making carbonara tonight but with bears! Teehee! Then I bought some sushi - tamago and raw salmon for lunch. Yum! That was practically it! On my way home, popped into the video store (Video Ezy) and rented Desperate Housewives. :D I'll be watching the whole season 6 (I missed a lot) tonight.. or ok.. maybe some tomorrow but, just wanted to announce that movie marathon is ON!

What other plans will I be doing during this holiday?

Tomorrow - Movie marathon?

Wednesday - City or Direct Factory Outlet (DFO)

May be following Aaina to the City or DFO. She wants to accompany one of her classmates to buy a gift for his girlfriend.

Thursday - Climb Brisbane's Story Bridge

Me and two of my friends will be climbing up the bridge (which is said to take us 2 1/2 hours) during twilight where we will be experiencing "the transition between day and night and be able to admire the city skyline as the sun sets and the city lights up."

Friday - Celebrate Eid at the Dreamworld Themepark. (Yes themepark!)

One of the Muslim clubs/organisation in Australia organised for all of the Muslims in Queensland to celebrate Eid at the themepark from 6pm to 10pm at a price of $15 where we will be able to enter the themepark at that low price (Dreamworld would cost you about $69 per entry), eat free halal food and of course, perform our prayers! Hoorahh!

Saturday - Dinner at Ahmet's restaurant (Lebanese I think)

Two of my bestfriends will be leaving for Malaysia for good - Aaina and Rurry. This semester are their final semester.. so in conjunction to that, all of us have decided to have a nice dinner at the restaurant with the people that we are close with here and at the same time, every Saturday nights are - Belly Dancing night! Haha! Well obviously I won't be shaking my belly.. My whole body is stiff! :-P

Sunday - Rurry's Birthday Celebration at the University of Queensland

Rurry decided to organise a birthday party for herself at one of the mini gardens in the Uni. Well actually it's called something amphitheater.. open amphitheater I think.. Her theme is "hat and tie". So everyone has to dress up with a hat and/or tie. I haven't bought a hat nor a tie yet so will hunt for it soon! :)

The following whole week will involve me tidying up my room, probably go skating, eat, sleep, watch tv, watch DVDs, drink bubble tea... hmm... that's practically it.

But 4th until 14th I'll be having a special guest at my home! :) My dear cousin Liyana! Can't wait! :D

Ok that's it for now.. it's already Maghrib. Going to pray, cook my carbonara and watch DVD. Oh I forgot.. the West Side Story Broadway was really nice!

They set up this stage outside QPAC. This isn't the stage that I watched the show.

Did I mentioned that I actually watched it alone? Hehehe! It was fun though!

Exams

2010-11-03T21:41:00.000+10:00

I decided to delete the previous post cause it sounded ridiculous. I shouldn't be thinking about anything other than my final assignment and two exams which starts next week. At the moment, I'm studying Chapter 5 of my Cross Cultural Management text book which means that I have 7 more chapters to read. But of course, I have this big book of journals that compliments with the text book. 1 chapter, 1 journal. My mission for today is to study till Chapter 6. One day, 2 chapters.. Monday - Chapter 1 & 2, Tuesday - Chapter 3 & 4.. and so forth. It'll take me six days altogether so after, I'll still have time to go through it very briefly again. Just to refresh what I had studied in the previous days.

I genuinely like this course cause it teaches you the different cultures across the world, how to measure the differences e.g. through Hofstede's cultural dimensions (small vs. large power distance, masculinity vs. femininity, uncertainty avoidance and so forth) and Hall's communication theory (low context vs. high context communication) as well as it teaches you how to interact with them. The dos and don'ts..

My following exam would be Quantitative Business Research Methods.. it's probably the most mind boggling course I've ever encountered. It's a combination of advanced statistics and quantitative research. While I did previously studied statistics in my local uni back in Malaysia and did get a good result however, right after, I completely erased my memory on that particular course due to my lack of interest in it. Now....... I have to do it again except that it's more of an advanced level. Out of all of the classes (12 or 13 I think), I think I only managed to understand what the lecturer was talking about probably - 35%? Yeah.. I'm basically doomed..
But I promised myself that I'll study for the course starting this weekend just to get a head start.

Wish me luck!

West Side Story (musical)

2010-11-02T23:52:00.000+10:00

Ok I looooove musicals. My late mum exposed me to theaters (hence my short debut in Teater Kanak-Kanak: Lagenda) and such since I was little so I grew up being fond of these kind of things. So far I've watched:

1. FAME
2. Chicago
3. P. Ramlee the musical
4. Puteri Gunung Ledang
5. Mahsuri
6. Impak Maksima
7. Cuci the musical
8. The Merchants of Bollywood

Ok I think there's another one.. can't remember..

Anyway, on Thursday night I'll be watching West Side Story. I missed Mamma Mia! not too long ago. :-/ I know that my exam is coming up but taking a break for a couple of hours wouldn't be a harm right? Wicked is coming to Brisbane as well but in January. I'll be in Malaysia for the holidays during the time. Hurmpphh.. :(

What a day!

2010-11-02T17:22:00.000+10:00

Ok today kicked off pretty bad.. I woke up today (without showering) and switched on my laptop to check my emails and daily deals from my favourite online store websites. It was 10-ish at the time and I figured that I would pop in the shower after I read a chapter of my text book and later head out to submit my assignment which I assumed it was due in the afternoon like other assignments. Then at 11.30am, I had this sudden urgency of checking my UQ email to re-check where I had to submit my assignment. I knew that it was at the BEL Collaborative Learning Centre but just wanted to make sure. When suddenly...... I saw my lecturer's previous email stating that it was due at 12 noon. HOLY S**T! A direct bus from my apartment to my uni is every one hour e.g. 11.40 then 12.40 and so forth.. the other method is to hop on the train in front of my apartment, stop at Toowong which is just a stop away and hop on the regular bus to uni from there. But I figured that would take me quite some time especially I wasn't sure what time was the next train and bus (no time to check the schedule!).
So I dashed into the showers (I did shampoo you know!), brushed my teeth and immediately got ready. I wore last night's clothes (the one I wore to the advanced preview but with a different cardigan). I called the cab. Without any cash on, I asked my apartment's office whether all taxis would accept my debit card and she said Yes. Phew! Thank goodness the taxi came about five minutes later. I hopped on and 10 minutes later, I was at uni. Exactly 12 noon sharp. But the time I ran (for a bit..) and walked to the BEL faculty, it was almost 12.10. Slipped in my assignment in the assignment box and prayed that there wouldn't be any time penalty.
What a day!
Of course with the whole stressfulness, I had to treat myself with a dose of bubble tea. Mr. bubble tea never fail to make me happy! The chewy pearls.. mmmmmm!
So now it's 5.20pm.. I did a bit of reading.. finished one chapter and now moving on to another chapter. Hoping that by Saturday I'm all done reading this whole textbook. Exam starts on the 11th Nov and the next paper is on the 15th Nov. I have one final assignment due on the 15th but I'm hoping that I can finish that one soon and oh of course, make sure that I check the due date and time properly!

The Loved Ones review

2010-11-01T22:53:00.000+10:00

I just got back from Event Cinemas, Indooroopilly. Watched The Loved Ones - directed by Sean Byrne. I saw the poster on the back of the public bus two weeks ago and looked pretty interesting. Then a few days ago I received an email from Event Cinemas asking whether I would like to watch the movie for free. Who wouldn't? So I filled up my details and got two pair of tickets - Mia, her boyfriend Zaf, me and my housemate Nana :)

The night kicked off with a bit of opening speech by the director and actress - Robin who played as Lola. Followed by a quick lucky draw. I didn't win those pile of DVDs. Drats! I'm a sucker for DVDs hence, my membership (free) at the local video store at the back of my apartment - Video Ezy.

Ok about the movie. The first 15-20 minutes was a tad slow.. I thought it would be a boring movie cause normally you would know if the movie is going to be great or not during the first few minutes. But I was wrong. I waited a bit longer and that was when the whole suspense and thrills came along. I won't describe the scenes to you cause it'll be a spoiler.. (not sure if Malaysia will be showing it due to some sexual scenes). The movie is more of a mixture of Prom Night and Saw. But not as gory as Saw but there are some disturbing scenes. Ok I'll just describe one scene - a guy's skull got drilled by a lunatic woman. And the guy is alive.

Normally I don't got "eeww" or "urghh" when I watch these kind of movies cause I love Saw. I watch all of them. I've yet to watch Saw 3D though. But I guess sometimes when you're surrounded with people who closes their eyes during those kind of scenes, you tend to follow them too. So yeah, there were some parts I had to hold my breath and naturally I went "urghhh and eeww". Hehe.

The leading actor and actress acted really well. Robin's role as Lola was very convincing. She played as a disturbed/lunatic woman really well. Xavier is a hotty by the way. He's one of the actors in Twilight Eclipse I think. Can't remember which one cause I keep eyeing on Jacob. :P

But anyway, I know this review isn't helpful at all cause I don't want to dish out anything but what I can say is that I'll give it a 6.5 out of 10. :)

LtoR: Director Sean Byrne, (not sure) and Robin

LtoR: Mia (standing), Nana my housemate, Zaf and me :)

The Loved Ones movie

2010-11-01T14:44:00.000+10:00

Tonight with three of my friends, we'll be watching 'The Loved Ones' for free. Yeap.. I got four free tickets to watch this and heard that there will be a Q&A session with the director and one of the actresses. I hope that the audience can participate!
I'm not sure if this movie is any good but I did read a couple of reviews and they did say that it's quite intriguing. It even got 6.9/10 from imdb. Well it's more than half anyway.. so it must be ok! Well I'll let you know the outcome of it probably tonight or tomorrow.. :)

The pile of books

2010-11-01T01:03:00.000+10:00

Call me crazy but the last time I borrowed books from the library was probably during primary school when I was a librarian.

The six books from the top are borrowed books from yours truly the Social Sciences & Humanities as well as Law library @ UQ. Yeah I ended up borrowing a bunch of books. Not to read.. but to refer for my two final assignments which one I've already completed. :)

Statistics, Cross cultural and Law

How I met you after them.

2010-11-01T00:35:00.000+10:00

People say that there are "plenty of fish in the sea" and there's always a "perfect someone for each individual".
They are right.

Before I met my fiance, I've been with quite a number of guys. No I'm not proud of it. I'm just saying that sometimes, there are a few obstacles that you have to face in life to get what you want to achieve.

Anyway, honestly, the people that I had been with were all nice in their own way. But majority of the relationship, I ended it. Why? At times, you have this feeling that you are no longer compatible with that person and that it's better for things to end immediately than snowballing the feelings. Am I right? Or am I right? ;)

Before the whole dating, I remembered that my first crush was with a white guy back in my old school in Hong Kong. He had the hair like Nick Carter (middle parted hair) minus the colour. He was more of a brunette than a blonde. Unfortunately, due to my nerdy looks (with Harry Potter glasses) and baggy clothes (hey, it was it hit in the 90s!), he didn't notice me in the 'other way'. We were just ordinary classmates and occasionally we would play dodgeball during recess with our other classmates. I think he's a model now. Cause I spotted his friendster page (when it was still a cool social networking tool) years back but never added him. Rats!

After my mother passed away and we had to move back to Malaysia for good, I got to know a boy who lived near my home. Same age, curly hair, fair skin and clever too. We got to know each other for awhile. Went dating at the playground. Hey we were still young y'know! Then we declared as a couple but.... it lasted just for a day. Yeah, a day. He broke up with me due to my family background. Long story. Did I tell you that I was 12 at the time? Haha.

Then when I entered high school, I was still into Backstreet Boys and the whole guys with middle parted hair. I eyed on one of my classmates who had the hair style. He was into the same music as me (2Pac, Cypress Hill, Bone Thugs & Harmony), he also supports Man Utd and on top of it all, we both love skateboarding. It was.. let's just say a "match-made in heaven" at the time. We were both shy by the way so when we wanted to communicate in class, we would give each other letters through my bestfriend and 'middle man'. It was hilarious coming to think about it but cute! We would have these drawings with little hearts. Puppy love. :P I think I probably still have the letters in one of the boxes. Been moving houses. Not sure.. Anyhoo, the relationship only lasted a few months. I broke up with him cause he was a smoker. I'm pretty much an anti smoker (minus my dad of course!). I just don't find cigarettes attractive. Well apparently my bestfriend (the middle man guy) had a crush on me too. I remembered he once asked in Malay but I'll translate for you here "If I had middle parted hair, would you fancy me?" I never took it seriously so I just laughed about it. Afterall at the time, I was still with the guy whom I nicknamed him sk8erboy. And me, sk8erchick. Hence my old hotmail address - sk8erchick something something.. :P (Oh God I hope he doesn't read this).

Ok moving on, I lost my bestfriend after he asked me to be his girlfriend when we were in Form 3. Never heard from him until recently. He added me on facebook but we hardly talk. He's really kind to me back in high school. We basically went everywhere together. We both had a BMX bike where we went to school together, skated together, went shopping - for skate stuff together. But I never fancied him in that kind of way. And of course even now. Oh don't worry.. my fiance knows about this. We (me and my fiance) even went to pass his old house hoping that he still lives there. But nope.. He bought me Valentines gift despite not celebrating it. He bought me a beanie teddy bear and oh a necklace too. I still have it cause I'm the type who doesn't throw gifts away. Actually, I don't throw anything away.. just like my mother. So that one day I could look back at the old things and remember the good ol' days.

Right.. again, moving on. After Form 1, I didn't have any boyfriend up until Form 5. I wasn't interested in having any at the time. Not that I wanted to focus on my studies or anything, I guess I was pretty much occupied with my Police Cadet life. Yeah, I was in the Police Cadet club - a sergeant to be exact. :) Together with my bestfriend Azira, we managed the whole club. It was such an exciting feeling. :) In Form 5, I dated someone briefly but he dumped me right before the SPM exam claiming that he was going to study abroad after the exam. While I thought he was telling the truth, apparently not! I was surprised to see him in the same campus where I studied. I think he was studying Nursing. LOL. Not sure.. Anyway, while he wanted to be closed to me again, I was in a relationship with a guy who I had my sights on since the first day of class during diploma. I remembered me and one of my bestfriends targeted those who were good looking. Out of the few, I managed to hook up with one of them and boy, was I happy at the time! HaHa. The relationship like the previous, ended several months later. I ended it due to allegations by people on him. I won't give out details but whether it is true or not, I have no idea. But then we got back together the following semester and suddenly... he broke up with me. I guess what goes around comes around or in simpler words, Karma. Three days after the break up, I saw him holding hands with another girl. It got me so devastated that even my friends ignored me. Probably cause I cried too much. Coming to think about it, it was pretty hilarious yet humiliating! To end the whole misery, me and my bestfriend Azira went out to meet our old schoolmates. That was when I hooked up with one of my ex classmates back in school. It probably lasted three months which I called it off. Can't remember the exact reason! But he was nice by the way. Rebound guy? Nah.. It was just not meant to be.

Then I dated another of my coursemates in my uni. This time it was quite serious. He met my family (but never the other way around). We dated for several months.. actually 3 months. Most of my relationships lasted for 3 months. Again, I broke up with him. The reason? It's best not to dish out everything :) After that I promised myself not to fall in love again for a year at least. And yes, it was a success. Right after, I met my current fiance through two of my friends. Let's just say, they were my matchmakers. He studied in the same course as me but not in the same class but during degree, we both majored in different areas. He studied broadcasting and I did journalism. :) How he popped the question? I was visiting my grandma (late mom's side) in Kedah for several days and he brought me to Penang one day. We were watching The Omen in one of the cinemas and that was when he popped the question nervously (during the commercial) and not wanting to look eager and desperate, I hesitated for a bit and said YES! D'uh.. Afterall, I've been waiting for him to pop the question for quite some time. We dated for quite some time. But anyway, it was worthwhile. Afterall, we are now happily engaged! :)

When's the big day? We have a rough idea when we want it but I must say Insha Allah soon.. :)

Moral of this post: Sometimes, you have to 'jump' from one relationship to another to find the perfect someone. Maybe you just got out of a relationship and you are hurt inside but remember there's always someone for you.. :)

Boy the review

2010-08-16T21:27:00.000+10:00

BOY one of the latest New Zealand movies set in the 80s, focuses on the life of an 11-year-old fan of Michael Jackson called Boy (James Rolleston). Ever since his mother had passed away after giving birth to his little brother named Rocky (Te Aho Aho Eketone-Whitu), his father, Alamein (Taika Waititi) left them and made him the leader of the household at a young age to take care of his brother and cousins together with the help of his grandmother.
   Several years later, his father reappeared in front of his home and introduced himself as his father. Being excited having a father as a role model once again, he welcomed him with open arms and tried everything he could just to please him including helping his father find his 'treasure' and stealing marijuana plants without knowing that his father's presence is just short.
   Directed by Taika Waititi, Boy is a very unique movie located in the beautiful Waihau Bay that will captivate anyone who watches it as it showcases the ups and downs of life of an ordinary boy who in desperation seeks for the attention of his father. The movie also beautifully mashes up with humour that will make you laugh out loud and at the same time, silently cry during the sentimental scenes.
   Released in New Zealand in March this year, Boy is set to be released this month in Australia and is definitely a must see movie. The movie consists some foul words and scenes such as smoking marijuana which would not be suitable for children but other than that, the movie deserves a two thumbs up and inviting friends to watch the movie is highly recommended.

- Elena Tengku

I can breathe again..

2010-07-07T07:28:00.000+10:00

I haven't updated my blog for quite some time.. Not that I didn't want to.. it's just that I wasn't in the mood to express anything. And now, I do..

This morning I woke up at 5am ish to perform my Subuh prayers and recite the Yaasin. At 6am, it was time to log on the computer and check my result.. I was scared.. Well actually I've been scared for the past few weeks.. my holiday was no fun without knowing my results in prior. I got myself the new Xbox 360 on the 1st of July but it didn't make me happy too..
Now that I've checked my results, one word, Alhamdulillah...
My biggest fear was failing one of the courses. Some of you may or may not know the whole story behind it.. how the individual assignment was not marked fairly and not by the lecturer himself. It carried the highest percentage which diminished my aim of getting a high grade. I passed that course.. that's all what counts right now. The other three, Alhamdulillah all are well :-D The different thing about UQ is that they grade you on a scale of 1 to 7. 3 = fail, 4 = pass and of course 7 would be high distinction. Now that I understand how the whole system works, I have two more semesters to go.. I'm ready to face another round of studying!

Say hello to my new XBOX 360!

The past two days in a nutshell..

2010-06-26T13:54:00.000+10:00

It has been a very relaxing day for me for the past two days.. Went out with my girlfriends on Thursday for a breakfast session at Aroma's Cafe (or something like that), accompanied Aaina to do some shopping for her family and friends (she's heading back to Malaysian on Tuesday for the holidays), lunch session at Satay Club and a nice movie session - Toy Story.
How's Toy Story? It was absolutely hilarious! And at the same time, I kinda cried.. it had some emotional element this time. Ok not kinda.. I did cry! Even Aaina who was sitting beside me.. And I think Mia and Rurry too!

Anyway, right after we had a nice pancake session at Pancake Manor. Well, to be honest, the place kinda gives me a creepy vibe.. The building was actually an old church. When I went in, I could see the high ceiling.. the church-like windows.. Pancake Manor is probably one of the recommended places if you go to the city (and for those who love pancakes) and it opens 24/7. Oh and it's one of the haunted places in Brisbane according to the Brisbane Ghost Tour website. Or probably it was cause I did wonder if it's 24/7, when can the ghostly figures emerge? Probably I should interview one of the old workers for a story ;-P Back to the creepy vibe, well, you know when sometimes you can feel something is not right? I had that feeling when I was in the place.. Nothing to do with it being an ex-church.. I guess it's due to the fact that the building was a very old building and probably had a lot of history along the way.. you know what I mean? I had to go back home alone right after cause the rest lives near the Uni and I kinda had the same feeling on the way back but thankfully I slept peacefully that night :-)

Anyway, the following day me and Aaina met two of our Canadian friends to give some inside tips and interesting places to visit in Malaysia. They are heading there on the 11th and on the 14th heading to Perhentian Island. It was a nice coffee session.. had a really nice cup of mocha at The Coffee Club in the city. The whole session lasted probably almost two hours (didn't look at the time) and after they left, me and Aaina walked around in the city and headed for Satay Club for a nice lunch session. Right after, walked around again.. Aaina bought some additional items for her family.. I bought some stuff too.. then during the evening, Rurry joined us for another round of coffee session.. right after, went around the malls again.. and went back home right after.

So let's just say I had two normal but fun days :)

Today I'll be making sure that I don't go out to avoid spending unnecessary things.. Tomorrow would be the same thing.. As for Monday, all of us (the usual fun bunch :) ) are heading to Seaworld.. some of the girls are staying over at my place cause it would be easier for us to hop on the train which is just situated in front of my apartment.

That's it! :-D

Breakfast session on Thursday (my cup is on the right side, below) Looks like a flower doesn't it? :)

My Egg Benedict with Salmon..

Yummy pancake at Pancake Manor but the place gave me the creeps..

A relaxing day :)

2010-06-23T17:42:00.001+10:00

Today I decided not to go for another round of 'solo traveling'. My size 4 (or 5) feet is kind of tired and needs a short break.. Yep I have a tiny feet. Well not really tiny.. at times (if I'm lucky) I can fit in size 6 shoes (my current Lacoste shoes). :-P

Anyhoo, today I just went out to Indooroopilly shopping mall which is about 15 minutes away (by foot) but decided to hop on the bus instead. Went for a bit of grocery shopping.. bought some prawns, my fave smoke salmon, mineral water, juice, 2 for $4 croissant, olive grove spread, cabbage, barramundi, vegetable oil and a dozen of eggs. Oh speaking of eggs.. not that I just noticed or anything, but just a delayed reaction - HOLY COW! There are a huge range of eggs.. cage eggs (caged chickens), cage-free eggs.. eggs where the chickens eat only vegetables, organic eggs, XL eggs, cholesterol free eggs (this I know and noticed ages ago) and I haven't talked about the colour of the trays yet - Pink (for a foundation for Breast Cancer), Black, Yellow (bought that one! And it's the one where the chickens only eat veges. Haha!) and the normal grey..

After that, headed to the food court to eat my fave lamb+beef kebab.. but before that, I spotted Cotton On having a huge sale! They had a huge sign "UNDER $10". So what did I do? I went in, grabbed four items (3 of them was $10 and the other $7.50) paid for it.. then zoomed to Grab a Kebab. Bought green apple bubble tea with pearls to compliment the yummy meal and right after, headed home..

At first I wanted to watch one of the DVDs that I had rented.. I rented four of them yesterday - Win a Date with Tad Hamilton (wish it was Lewis Hamilton), Fighting, Elvis and Anabelle and Sunshine Cleaning. Instead, I decided to iron every single tshirt in my closet.. yeap.. I did.. Haha.
Anyway, my housemate is leaving for Malaysia for the one month break with her close friend.. right now she's doing a bit of packing and I reckon she'll be leaving in a bit.

Well that's basically it.. going to cook something nice tonight.. :)

Day 6: A trip to Ipswich :)

2010-06-22T18:53:00.001+10:00

It's 6.10pm and I arrived home about an hour ago.. I had an exciting day today. Another day of solo traveling this time, Ipswich! To be honest, I intended to go to Toowoomba but there was a slight glitch..

7.15am - I woke up.. all pumped up to go for another round of solo 'discovery' and photo hunting.

Approx. 8.40am - Hopped on the train to Ipswich

Approx. 9.30am - Arrived Ipswich and decided to browse around the area before hopping on the bus to Toowoomba as according to the translink transport website.

About 10am, I went on the 516 bus.. wasn't sure where to stop but I had a bus map which showed the traveling route. As it went around the suburb, I couldn't find a single garden. Yes, my initial plan was to take pictures of the beautiful gardens in Toowoomba (the city dubbed as "The Garden City"). As the bus went around and almost returned to the same place that I hopped on, I decided to get off and walked around.. There wasn't a single garden around but it had a lot of old buildings with unique architectures..

Several minutes later, I decided to hop on the cab instead but before I did so, I asked the cab driver whether he could take me to any interesting gardens in Toowoomba. He had this very puzzled look when I asked him that.. At first I thought that I asked him wrongly.. perhaps the structure of my sentence was unclear. So again I repeated it in a different way.
Here's what happened next:

Taxi driver: "Do you know how far Toowoomba is?" (in a polite tone)
Elena: "Is it far?"
Taxi driver: "Do you know that this is Ipswich?"
Elena: "Yes I do.."
Taxi driver: "Toowoomba is 280 miles away from here.. It will cost you about 260 dollars..."

The moment he said the word 260 dollars, seriously I thought he was joking. I waited for a moment for him to say "Just kidding" or laugh.. unfortunately he didn't. I was puzzled at that moment.. thinking how can Toowoomba be so far away.. then it struck me that the website didn't detect Toowoomba as in Toowoomba itself... instead, a street called "Old Toowoomba Road" in Ipswich. Damn! Didn't want my trip to go to waste, I kindly asked the driver to take me to any interesting places or gardens that I could take pictures in Ispwich and he drove me to a nearby garden/park which had a nice Nature Centre which had Dingos, Red Legged Pademelons, birds, Kangaroos, pigs and such.. and to make things more exciting that it was FREE! After the whole admiration of the animals, I headed to the Japanese garden.. trust me it didn't look all Japanese at all.. but it is nice by the way :-)

After taking some pictures, I walked back to the area that I had hopped on the taxi.. walked around the area.. and I spotted this really neat antique store. It had so many old items.. from cameras to sports memorabilia.. And also, a second hand store which had guitars, bicycles, golf sets, xbox, psps, ps 2 and ps 3, cameras, video cameras, cell phones and so much more! I went insane in the store.. I wish I had a lot of money so that I could bring back a guitar, a mountain board and a mini dirt bike. After walking for about an hour plus around the town, I noticed that the place is essential for bargain hunters.. Basically the shops that I had encountered are either second hand stores or discount stores. Would I recommend people to go there? Yes, most definitely.. but that's if you have a lot of time to kill. :-)

Anyway, here are some pictures from the short trip:

Ipswich Post Office built in 1900

Red Legged Pademelon

It was actually yawning..

More pictures available but not uploaded..

Day 5

2010-06-21T17:09:00.000+10:00

It's 5.02pm right now and my day has been going on well.. At first I wanted to go out and explore other undiscovered areas but cause I felt rather tired, I woke up at almost 1pm today.
I paid my rent at 2pm, grabbed my fave salmon teriyaki and until now, I'm watching the other DVD - Drop Dead Diva. Did I type Drop Dead Gorgeous in the previous entry? Can't remember.. I finished watching the L word - sixth season (final) by the way. It was ok.. I mean I'm quite devastated that one of the characters died in the end.. I don't want to spill the beans incase any of you decided to watch it. Oh if you do, don't skip your way through season 4. No doubt you can follow the whole storyline well.. who's with who and all that.. except that some characters may no longer be in that season and new characters are brought in.. and it tends to be confusing whenever the ones remaining talk about the old characters. For instance, who's Jesse?

Anyway, I'm thinking of going for another round of solo traveling tomorrow. Not sure where yet.. but I guess I should sleep early tonight and go with the flow :-)

Day 4: Traveling wherever I please

2010-06-20T18:04:00.000+10:00

7.15am - I was awaken by my alarm clock. At first I didn't feel like jumping off the bed and heading to the showers. But thinking about how the past few days I've been wanting to go out and discover new areas that nobody has mentioned to me and also take pictures of the place, I managed to pull myself out the bed and have a nice hot shower.

8.15am - I dropped off the three DVDs that I had borrowed through a small hole at Video Ezy where you can easily return the rented items during after hours. Video Ezy opens at 9.30am by the way.. no way I wanted to wait that long.

8.26am - The bus to Cultural Centre bus station located at the city arrives and I arrive safely at the city around 8.40ish..

9.06am - Exactly 9.06am, the bus to Redland Bay arrives (it runs every one hour on weekends) and I zoom off to my destination..

It was a rather long but exciting journey to be honest. According to the translink.com.au (Queensland public transport website), the journey would take me about 1 hour 40mins to my destination. Along the way, I spotted Stones Corner where I did google up for duty free stores in Brisbane and a few said that the area was one of the must-go places for bargain hunters however, most of the stores are no longer in operation. Now people go to DFO at the Brisbane Airport and Jindalee as well as Harbourtown. Anyway, at Stones Corner, I spotted a Triumph factory outlet store! For the ladies who wear Triumph undergarments (I used to but not anymore), I guess you should check out the store. I didn't stop to check it out but I did see some 50% off signs so I reckon the store may offer a neat deal :-) Yes, the area kind of look dead/empty from my seat view.. but you never know there might be an interesting shop hidden in the area!

So off I go passing a lot of stores, schools, churches and even forest.. while I had Victoria Point Lakeside in mind, I passed Cleveland which I noticed had a nice view of the marina, several interesting shops and also a market! I was hoping that the Victoria Point was side by side with Cleveland but apparently it was further up. As I arrived Victoria Point, I was quite devastated that it looked dead. Yes it is definitely a mall beside a lake however, it didn't have any view of the river. Apparently most of the shops are closed on Sundays so imagine only a few shops that were open! But of course I didn't have any regrets checking out the place.. at least I know how it looks like. :-)

After a couple of minutes strolling around the place, I decided to catch a cab to Cleveland. As I arrived, eureka! I hit the jackpot. It had a stunning view of the river.. well I was hoping that the 'trip' involved me seeing Moreton Island from Victoria Point but apparently it's further up. I guess some other time :-) I walked around the marina, checked out the local market, had a scrumptious Calamari & Chips for lunch, listened to a boy singing "Down" by Jay Sean feat. Lil Wayne. Oh my goodness.... he was sooooooooo good! I gave him $4 and he was absolutely thrilled. I'm not sure what's the minimum of giving money to buskers but what the heck..

Pictures are worth a thousand words so I'll let the below pictures do the rest of the 'talking'.. :-D

1.35pm - I left Cleveland..

2.00pm something... - Arrived at Cultural Centre and headed to Queens Street for a dose of Chocolate Milk Tea with Pearls. Slrrrppp..... Then went to HMV just to kill the time. Went into MARCS, FCUK and a bookstore that I can't remember what it's called then headed back..

Before heading home I went to Video Ezy for another round of DVD marathon. Picked up the L word (final season) for the sake of finishing it and a new TV series entitled Drop Dead Diva.

At Victoria Point Lakeside

Welcome to Cleveland..

Petrol station :)

Nice market.. :) But didn't get anything though..

Love these ornaments.. :)

Entertainment of the day :)

Looks like a Tiki..

Fish on Fire!

Calamari & Chips :)

Day 3 (delayed entry)

2010-06-20T16:55:00.000+10:00

I just got back from a little outing but before I blog about it, here's what I did yesterday:

Yesterday was a rather relaxing day for me.. I promised myself to get up early and go to Victoria Point but instead, I woke up at almost 1pm. What did I do? I decided to have a nice lunch - Salmon Teriyaki from the Japanese restaurant opposite my apartment and watch the rest of the DVDs that I had borrowed. The DVD marathon lasted until about 11pm.. Watched the whole the L word (fifth season) and La Vie En Rose.

Apparently I've watched Desperate Housewives (fifth season) so yes, my $7.95 of rental went bye bye. But nevertheless, La Vie En Rose made the rest of my 'expenditure' worthy.. I've always wanted to watch it.. For years I've been searching for the movie but couldn't find it in Malaysia (or I didn't look at the right place). Thank goodness I spotted it at the video store :-) It makes me want to be fluent in French even more! I have the basics but yeah, just the basics.

Day 2 of my one month break

2010-06-18T15:04:00.000+10:00

Welcome day 2.. I know I had a lot in mind to fill you in however, due to the fact that I woke up slightly late and that I was so curious to know what I got for my video assignment and report, I decided to cancel the plan which was - to hop on the train to wherever and take pictures! So I went to uni and with my heart thumping so fast curious what I was about to get for the assignment, I lifted up my paper which was in the box in front of my lecturer's office, went straight to the back page where he write our marks together with some comments, syukur Alhamdulillah, I got a "6-6+" over 7. :-D That's how they grade things here. It's on a scale of 1 to 7. Four is a pass.. 5 a distinction.. and 6 and 7 is excellent. I was so thrilled upon receiving the marks cause I knew that I worked so hard to produce the video and the report. I even went to see my lecturer twice before submitting the work.. just so that I was heading the right direction. It has definitely covered up my gloomy mood due to the exam that I knew I worked hard but I just couldn't do it.

Upon returning home, I decided to check out the video store behind my apartment. Since I have nothing better to do today, I grabbed the complete fifth season of Desperate Housewives, the complete fifth season of the L word (for the sake of continuing what I left out and it has nothing to do with Alice that people claim that I look like her but I will still deny that) and the movie that I've been wanting to watch for quite some time, La Vie En Rose featuring Marion Cotillard and Gerard Depardieu. Since I only have 3 days to rent for Desperate Housewives and it has seven discs, I'll definitely start watching that in a bit and watch the rest before the 7 days hire expire.

Depending on what time I wake up tomorrow, I may be taking those pictures. Just maybe... Off to become a desperate housewife!

Day 1 of my one month holiday

2010-06-18T01:02:00.001+10:00

It's 12.45am right now and I promised myself that I would go to bed early. I had such a relaxing day with two of my friends - Mia and Aaina. Both me and Mia are done with our exams leaving Aaina (last exam on Wed) and the others - Nabila, Rurry and Zafri (last exam some time next week).

The day kicked off at 12pm where the three of us had a nice meal at Satay Club. I had Indo Fried Mee while Aaina had Peking Duck Rice or something and Mia had Chicken Rice. Yes, it was a satisfying meal.. Of course it's not the best if you compare with the dishes in Malaysia but for goodness sake, you can't compare! And don't ever convert the price AUD$10 for a dish into Malaysian ringgit otherwise you would feel turned off. Think of it as 10 ringgit.. (it's still pricey but whatever) :-D

We then went shopping for a few items.. well they did. I just went window shopping cause I didn't feel like splurging any money just yet. I have my eyes on the new Xbox 360 which comes out on the 1st of July. But, I can't promise that I would buy it nor I wouldn't! :-P After a couple of hours of browsing and purchasing (referring to them), we then decided to have a nice hot drink and some desserts. Mmm... love the fruit flan! After the session, Aaina decided to takeaway some food at Satay Club for dinner but all of us then diverted our plan and decided to walk around South Bank :-D We found a nice spot for us to lie on the grass and had a nice chat about random things. It got a tad chilly after awhile then we then shifted our way back to the city.. it's just about 5minutes walking distance by the way.

All of us not wanting to go back home early claiming that "the night is still young..". Well it was actually! We then decided to have a nice dinner at a Korean restaurant called Madtongsan II. Can't remember what the dish was called but it had this weird but funny name consisting the word "dub" and "bub". We had a bowl of rice and spicy squids. Mmm....!

Right after, we went to the Asian grocery store below the restaurant then 7-eleven - Aaina wanted to buy some stuff. Then went back home :-D

Despite the day sounding as though it was just like an ordinary outing.. nothing special but truthfully, I had a wonderful time. It was such a highlight of the week! Of course, in addition, I managed to relax my thoughts and forget about the exam yesterday... :-)

Feeding my soul with good food, music and DVDs.

2010-06-16T16:50:00.001+10:00

I'm back home.. well my exam ended at 1.30pm but decided to go buy some groceries to feed my soul. Truthfully I wanted to go to the city but I hopped on the wrong bus.. Well actually I was aware that the bus I was about to enter was not the right bus (it only goes to Toowong which is where I usually stop and hop on another bus straight home). But I don't know why.. my body just went straight in. Idiot. What did I do then? I diverted my plan and decided to go grocery shopping at Toowong mall and have a nice kebab alone..

Another insane thing happened was that after buying groceries and having the scrumptious kebab, I hopped on the bus back home.. While normally I would hop on any bus that stops at the bus stop near a pub cause one of my friends once told me that all of the buses that stops there passes through my apartment. So I blindly hopped on the "Fig Tree via Taringa" bus. Normally I would hop on the others such as "Kenmore", "Moggil" or "Chapel Hill". Suddenly... instead of passing through my apartment, it went to another direction further away from my apartment! So yes, I walked back home.. down and up a hill.. thank goodness it wasn't very far but still, what a day....!

How did my exam go? I wish I could curse.. but I know that it wouldn't change a thing. I am positive that I studied hard for this exam. I studied day and night for the past week or more. I must say, it's the best record that I've ever accomplished! I read the whole 548 pages of text book. Went through the online quiz.. even repeated some of the chapters (both quiz and textbook). Extracted some important information that I felt that I need to memorise.. Basically, I was glued to my table. What an accomplishment. So I thought.. I had to answer 50 multiple choice questions, 2 short answers out of 5 and another essay on our group performance. I must say that out of the three sections, the only one that I think I did well is the essay question. Which only weighs 20%. I'm pretty worried with Part B (short answer) as out of 5 questions, I only knew one! So yes, the other question that I had selected, I blindly answered it. And yes, I answered it wrongly. I just checked it.

Anyway, I don't want to say anything further in regards to the exam. At this moment, I'm just hoping that I do pass and as for the other three courses, I do hope that I excelled in it. I told my dad about this.. and he told me to not worry and now to pray to God that everything will be fine. It's a nice feeling to receive such message..

I'm going to go watch my DVD now.. it's the only thing I can do to calm my mind.

One month break here I come!

Tomorrow's my exam

2010-06-15T11:54:00.000+10:00

Tomorrow's my exam and all I have to say for today is:

"Ya Allah, kuatkan lah ingatanku, lapangkanlah dadaku dan tenangkan fikiranku ketika menjawab peperiksaan esok. Amin."

EPF MEN

2010-06-14T20:24:00.000+10:00

When was the last time that I had to understand and memorize vital informations for an exam? When was my last exam again? Degree... degree.. Ah, yes.. May last year! Now it's a whole month now, I'm kinda getting a bit rusty!
Like during diploma and degree, my method of studying for exams is by reading the whole text book. Yep you heard me right. I tend to read the whole textbook due to the fact that I don't believe in short notes. While some people tend to write mini notes and fold an A4 paper into small sections, I just can't do that. Ok actually I can but I just don't and won't..
As mentioned before, this Wed is my exam and I managed to read the whole 548 pages of textbook. Whether I managed to understand or memorize the content, is a different story. I'm reading certain chapters another round to make sure I do memorize vital information such as EPF MEN.
What's that?

How to deal with resistance to change:

1. Education and communication
2. Participation and involvement
3. Facilitation and support
4. Manipulation and cooptation
5. Explicit or implicit coercion
6. Negotiation and agreement.

Haha!

My lunch :)

2010-06-14T12:22:00.005+10:00

I just got back from the mall.. Just a quickie cause I have an exam on Wed - Managing Organisational Behaviour. It's a pretty interesting course to be honest. It's very new to me.. Previously I did my diploma in Mass Communication and as for degree, I majored in Journalism. I'm studying a lot of new courses for my MA (Organisational Communication). Despite it has "Communication" in its title, however, most of them are relatively new to me and it's more of a management thing. As mentioned, this semester I'm studying Managing Organisational Behaviour and three others which are Communication & Organisation, Issues & Crisis Management (love it!) and lastly Business Negotiation. What's in store for the upcoming semester? So far I've enrolled for the Cross Cultural Management, Communication Management, Quantitative Business Research Methods and Marketing Communication Management. Yes management, management, management. Teehee. But nevertheless I look forward what's in store for the new semester.

Was thinking of having kebab for lunch but figured, I wanted something for a change. Voila! A bunch of Tamagos (egg rolls) and Salmon! Yes both are my fave! And of course, two pens for Wed. :)

Lewis Hamilton wins the Montreal F1 race!

2010-06-14T10:18:00.004+10:00

It's 10.30am right now and I was hoping that I woke up an hour in prior. I lost an hour due to me day dreaming. What I have in store for today is to hop on the bus to Indooroopilly shopping mall and go buy a pen for Wednesday. Of course it doesn't involve just that. I'll buy my scrumptious kebab (lamb+beef) and a cup of Bubble Tea. Bloop bloop bloop...

Got up and went straight to my laptop just to see the results for last night's F1 race in Montreal.Yep I had a huge feeling that Hamilton would win! And yes, I've always been routing for him since he entered F1! He's such a great driver.. young but highly professional. It doesn't matter what people say about his attitude (if he does truly have one) cause in the end, he always wins the race! Ok maybe I exaggerated with the always. If there aren't any crashes or any problems with his car during race or pit stop, I often see him up on the podium :) Last week he won the race in Turkey. I do hope he wins for the upcoming races cause I do want to see him clinch the title this year. :)

Anyway, I'm going to go head for the showers and go buy myself the pen and the dose of kebab. It's yummy you know.. it's unlike the ones you get in Pasar Malam in Malaysia. The vegetables are very fresh and crunchy and the meat... MashaAllah.. indescribable! Haha. Ok I exaggerated on that one too. But it's nice..

Before I sign off for just a couple of hours, here's a picture of Lewis Hamilton and his girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger from Pussy Cat Dolls. Nah... I'm not jealous. I'm already engaged for goodness sake! If I want a racer from the start, I would've dated a kart-racer and hope that he goes into F1! Cause it would be highly impossible to skip my way through to F1 right? :)

Photo taken from: telegraph.co.uk

Do I look like.... a lesbian?

2010-06-13T23:09:00.003+10:00

Hello again.. to whoever's reading this. Farhana? haha. Here's a weird entry from me.. well actually it's something that has been ongoing in my life which is.... people think that I look like Alice from "the L word". Yes, that lesbian tv series. At first one of my close friends mentioned about it but since I never watched it and didn't intend to, I just googled up the person and had forgotten about it. That was two years ago I think.. Oh and she also said that I walk, talk and make jokes like her.

End of last year one of the BTN participants told me the same thing. At first I thought she said "El Wood".. Or "Elle Woods" as in the character played by Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde. Then the next day, I remembered that my friend mentioned about "the L word" and when I asked the person, and she said "yes..".

There were also a few people here said the same thing... so weird lah.. what did I do next? A couple of weeks ago I went to Video Ezy situated behind my apartment to accompany my housemate to rent some dvds when I spotted the TV Series. Curious what the series is about, I rented it.. and skipped my way through the fourth season. The final season is the sixth season by the way. So yep I watched it.. monitoring closely at Alice.. I guess what's similar is our forehead.. our wide forehead.. the rest I'm not too sure.. What do you think?

Oh just a little bit of review on the L word, well, it's an interesting tv series. I mean for those who are homophobic, don't watch! Of course there are scenes of you know what but other than that, the storyline is pretty intriguing.. the ups and down of their life. Not all of them are young by the way.. you'll have a lecturer, a hairstylist, a rich chick, a journalist, a chauffeur...etc.. semua perempuan lah!

This is Alice... do I look like her?

Alice is not her real name.. can't remember what's her real name.. but she also has a band (a real life band) called Uh Huh Her.

The state of my desk

2010-06-13T20:05:00.004+10:00

Exam is coming up.. Wednesday to be precise and I have a whole lot of junk on my table. I have a tin of cream wafers, two box of cereals (Milo and Crispix), two bottles of mineral water, a stack of postcards that I've yet to send to whoever, my only music album - Glee (I've left the others in Malaysia), books, papers, stationaries all over the desk... you name it!

Oh and currently it's freeeeeeezing! Hence, the purple fleece blanket on the chair.

Well it's not as freezing as London. It's Brisbane!

April 25, 2010.. The day I turned 24

2010-06-13T19:57:00.002+10:00

Is it too late to post a picture of my birthday celebration? I organised a small BBQ poolside party in conjunction to my 24th birthday. Invited very close friends.. we had steak, lamb, sausages, cake, some snacks, potato salad and kuehs. Oh and after the whole eating, I was thrown into the pool and my housemate even threw flour all over my head.. sweet!

2010-06-12T18:13:00.006+10:00

What else happened?

In May 2010, I was featured in a teen magazine in Malaysia called REMAJA.

2010-06-12T15:31:00.003+10:00

For the past few months since my last update, I'm now in Brisbane, Australia doing my Masters Degree in The University of Queensland

It's been awhile since I last updated my blog. I have this tendency of posting one or two posts then attempt to try a new blog site. If you google up my name, I'm pretty sure you'll come across some of my old blogs. I've tried wordpress, something diary.. friendster's blog.. a lot to be honest. But only this particular site, I've been a bit more loyal. :)

Anyway, pictures are worth a thousand words so below are pictures of my university and some of my classmates:

Is the world coming to an end?

2009-11-11T01:28:00.002+10:00

I watched the preview of 2012 today and boy, was I scared to death throughout the whole movie! Why? My mind was thinking about whether the myth is TRUE. And whether the Mayan's calculations are in fact accurate. Well, obviously the movie did captivate and moved me. The whole visuals (despite the over-reliance on CGI) were pretty realistic and it showed the impacts such as building collapsing, tidal waves, volcano eruptions...etc. It was mind-blowing!

As I was working on my real review of the movie, I came across a website http://www.december212012.com/ and, it was a website on the prediction! It did give me goosebumps especially when there's a countdown timer stating how many days, hours, minutes and seconds we have left for 21.12.2012. And since it's 11.35pm right now, well, we have exactly 1136 days, 18 hours and 35 minutes left! Great.. does that mean I won't be able to get married and have kids? I would only be 26 by then.. But, one thing I'm curious about the countdown.. would it imply to my time zone or another? Cause Malaysia is about 12 hours ahead of the States you know. And since we all know that the end of days = Earth destroyed into little pieces at once, then would I gain a few more hours if I flew to the States?

But don't you worry about me.. I'm not a whole believer on that. I do trust that the end of days will occur on a Friday.. like what Islam states. Yes, I know 21.12.2012 is on a Friday but, nobody knows when exactly the world will come to an end. It could be this coming Friday, probably the next.. It's a secret that God has kept from us. He only gives hints - like wars, global warming...

Back to the movie, I think 2012 is probably the best disaster movie that Roland Emmerich has ever directed. Yes, I've watched his previous directions including Stargate, Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow and Indepedence Day.. why? Cause I think it scared the shit of all of those who watched it just now. What does bother me in this movie is that, it showed on how rich and powerful people are the ones that will survive. If you don't have any money to buy a seat in the Ark (the ship that will save those in it from the disaster), then goodbye! Oh, and you need a plane as well.. to fly to China where the Ark is being built.

Senario The Movie Ep. 2: The Beach Boys

2009-11-10T01:44:00.002+10:00

Yes, I watched Senario's latest flick recently during its preview. It's coming to you next Thursday (Nov 19) incase if you're wondering..

Senario has been in this industry for ages.... I can't remember when I first saw them but I think it was during my primary school years. At the time, they were new.. still fresh, funny.. and whatever silly jokes that they made, I would laugh out loud. I even went to see their performance at one of the hotels in Terengganu when we went back to my dad's hometown. And yes, I enjoyed it...

The first two movies that enjoyed was the one where they worked at a funfair and the other was the one with the roti canai scene.. I can't recall what the titles were. But they were both hilarious back then.. Next they acted in other Senario movies including Lang Buana which until now I have yet to watch.. or not.. donno...

In this latest flick, it's the continuation of the first episode and probably the rest.. where this time the boys have partners! Yes, the ladies! In all of their movies, they are always single.. So I guess that's one interesting point in this movie. Another would probably be the Kelantanese/Thai speaking girl whom falls in love with Wahid. Most of the time she speaks of the language which I hardly understood (I had to read the subtitles!) and one ok-lah kelakar lah jugak part was when she spoke in Thai and Wahid had to remind her that Senario is a Malay movie.

In addition, Lan Pet Pet as an aerobic instructor was funny as well.. but the scene was so short that I didn't get the chance to giggle.

What was bothering me in the movie was Azlee's ability to cross his eyes... Well, everyone knows that he could do that.. and that he has been doing that probably in all of his movies (correction, the Senario movies that I watched). It was too excessive and it was no longer funny.. And as for Lan Pet Pet, I am fascinated with his ability to create so many sounds with his lips but this time it was very excessive as well and probably in all scenes, he would do it! From the usual trumpet sound to plane crash..

The story telling was interesting.. the whole situation where the boys wanted to go for holiday but ended up helping the resort owner attract guests.. but the dialogs were a bit dull.. and not so funny.. throughout the movie I could count how many times I made a small giggle because it was truly funny - five times?

Anyway, overall, I would give it a 5 over 10.. It wasn't that intriguing compared to the first two Senario movies. I guess I am no longer their target audience.. it's time for the new kids to enjoy..

A little insight on the upcoming movie, Planet 51

2009-11-10T01:16:00.003+10:00

So, Planet 51 is coming out soon... Malaysia: Nov 19..

Well, it's an animated alien action comedy that revolves around an astronaut named Captain Charles "Chuck" Baker (voice by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) who lands on Planet 51 from Earth thinking that he is the first person to step foot on it.
To his surprise, he finds a planet that is inhabited by little green aliens and whose only fear is that it will be invaded by aliens such as Chuck!
Now that the aliens are panicking, with the help of his robot companion "Rover" and his new friend Lem (voice by Justin Long) Chuck has to go back to his ship in less than 72 hours before it flies back to Earth without him.
The problem is, the alien armies has surrounded the ship! This is where the action begins....

What do I think about it?
To compare with Pixar and DreamWorks production, Planet 51 produced by Ilion Animations Studios did a great job in terms of visuals and the characters created are interesting. The colours and details shown in the movie are breathtaking as well!
But personally, it's a tad draggy for an animation.. and the story telling was a bit boring... Halfway I wanted to doze off (which never happened)! Not to be rude or anything but it was too typical..
As for those who lended their voice in the movie, The Rock as Chuck, well, since I'm so used to watching him as a black-haired-guy, this time, seeing him as an animation character with blonde hair, didn't feel right.. The rest was alright.. Justin Long, Jessica Biel..
I think it's actually Ilion Animations Studios' first creation. They are from Spain by the way... but if it is their first creation, then I definitely salute them eventhough the story telling part was quite dull. This is due to the beautiful visuals and due to me thinking that it was another Pixar/DreamWorks creation. Because I've been fooled, I would like to give this movie a 6.5 over 10.

I know I have a sucky review.. I can't comment much as this movie is yet to be released next week and my real review in the papers won't be out until next Thursday!

The All American Rejects concert

2009-11-10T00:43:00.004+10:00

THE ALL AMERICAN REJECTS

Voila! The signatures by yours truly, The All American Rejects when they came down to Malaysia for the DiGi Live concert. Tyson drew the AAR logo in the middle by the way. Pretty sweet of him!

I managed to do a one-on-one interview with Tyson and Nick hours before the concert. Nick was definitely the talkative and bubbly one compared to Tyson.. but Tyson definitely knows how to communicate with his fans when he's on stage.

Altogether the bands sang 14 songs that night.. it was amazing.. I think way better than Good Charlotte's concert when DiGi brought them as well. The hilarious thing about the concert that night was seeing the 15k crowd sardined at the Car Park A, Bukit Jalil for hours! Imagine the pamphlet stating the concert starts at 6pm but instead, the American rock band showed up at 9.30pm! That's like 3 1/2 hours! Thank God for the very-minimal-people at the Media & VIP platform. Or else, I would probably be squeezed to death!

This is what I meant by 'sardined'...

God sent me two angels..

2009-08-27T00:42:00.002+10:00

On Monday, after I went for an interview - somewhere.. not a job interview.. something else. I decided to go back home after the Assistant Editor of Entertainment Desk at New Straits Times gave me the permission to take a day off. Afterall, it was already almost 2pm and I only had 3 hours left to work so I guess it was no point to drive all the way to Bangsar which would take about 30minutes or less. Depending on the traffic and which route I decided to take..

Anyway, as I reached home, I decided to take a short nap. Well, not really a short nap.. I set my alarm - 5.30pm. As I closed my eyes for less than an hour, someone called. I wanted to ignore at first but it could be an important call so I decided to pick it up.

The dialog below are not the exact words. I couldn't remember wholly what I said:
"Hello?" I said.
"Hello? Elena? This is ----- from -----. I was at ----- just now." she said.
"Oh, hi!" I replied.
Then she introduced herself as my late mother's bestfriend.
I became silent....
.....
She said that she was my late mother's housemate back in the 80s. Before my mother got married. She was very close to my mother..
As she started to explain how she knew my mother, my tears started to drop..

Imagine not meeting someone 'new' that knows your mother well for quite some time? Imagine not listening to new things about your mum for quite some time?

I don't know if she'd notice the change of my voice but seriously, I cried a lot till my nose became blocked.
She told me that my mother's other friend was there (the place I went earlier that day). She said she felt like she wanted to hug me but didn't want people to think that something was going on between us..
I didn't recognize her.. I'm not sure whether I've met her before. But she surely knew my mother well.. And I'm so blessed that God gave me the opportunity to get to know her and my mother's other friend even if it wasn't official.
I texted her yesterday.. confirming her sirname as I spotted her name in my mother's old phone book.. for those who don't know, my mother passed away 11 years ago due to brain haemorrhage when my family and I was living in Hong Kong. I was only 12 at the time.
She replied, "yes, that's my name." And her text continued with: "I felt so blessed that Allah gave me the chance to see you from a distance. And that smile really reminds me of your mum. Dia memang murah senyum and cepat mesra. Hati dia baik, suka tolong orang and sabar ..... and a few other things... and she ended with Nanti kita jumpa ya!"
I havent' stopped reading the text eversince.. the words are beautiful..

This afternoon, she called again.. and talked about my late mother and her work.. And again, I wanted to cry but I was about to enter the NST building so I decided to contain it. About an hour later, the other lady called.. and we spoke about my mother, the tragic incident.. a bit of my current life.. seriously, it was wonderful despite me trying to hold my tears. By then I was at my desk working on a story but I had to leave the table as I knew that I would shed some tears.

So far this week, I've never felt so happy in my entire life.. God has awarded me two beautiful people in my life and I will definitely appreciate them and be in contact at all times.. They are part of my life.. my history.. my mother's life.. her history.. Every single details they know are valuable at this point.

I can't wait to meet them both.. They want to see me after Raya as they want to invite me for lunch.. I can't wait for that.. I'm definitely looking forward to meet them and share stories about my mother..

Thank you Allah..

My first weird job interview

2009-05-19T00:09:00.002+10:00

The clock indicated '9:00am' and it was time for me to go for my first job interview at Karisma Publications. One of the local publishing company here in Malaysia. I only applied for the job - Editorial Assitant just for the sake of applying. I think I've heard about the company but never have encountered any books published by the company. So yeah, I did some research prior to the interview.

So I was there at 9am sharp. I pressed the door bell and a lady opened the door. I sat there at the waiting room dressed sharply with a folder with my transcripts and certificates in one hand. I was prepared to answer questions and ask them questions on the salary and benefits. A lady came up to me and asked me to sit in a meeting room. She was the editor dressed in a baju kurung and wearing a tudung. I salam-ed her to show respect and she asked me to sit down and handed me a paper.

When I looked at the paper, it said ujian = test. The editor said that 'ada ujian sahaja. dah habis buat, boleh balik.' In my heart I was like 'ohh....okayyyy......'

The first question asked me to edit a rather long text using the copyediting symbols. I couldn't remember the whole symbols as the last time I studied copyediting was in part 3.. or was it part 4? And now I just finished my part 6. Two semesters = a year. Anyway, the text was in Malay and everything looked right. Like the word di dalam, di antara... Are they supposed to be a word or two? Yes, the Malay language is my weakest link.. Since I couldn't remember all of the words and the text was tough (it was on history) I just did a few slashes on words that I thought was not needed and did a double underline on letters that was supposed to be in small or big capital... i guess that's about it.. If I'm not mistaken, the marks for this is over 10. And I think I probably scored 3 or 4 tops. I bet my former copyediting lecturer would be devastated if she knew about this. lol.

So the next section was the translation section. The second text of the exam was in english and I had to translate it in Malay. And yes it was tough indeed! It was on Islamic history with words like Ikhwan al-Muslimin (of course you don't need to translate that) but trust me.. history words are mind-boggling. I was too shocked that I had to do the test to the extent my brain could not function properly. I was like.. 'what am I doing?' I wrote and scribbled whatever I could think of and proceeded to the third section.

The third section - translation from Malay to English. I think I did okay with this part. Yes, just okay. There were some Malay words that I didn't understand so I just wrote whatever my head could interpret. Again, if my translation lecturer knows about this, she'll be devastated as well. I could score as I've learnt this before but, I wasn't prepared to face any tests. Especially during a job interview.

Here comes the worst section of all.... translation from Malay to............. Jawi! Yes Jawi. The last time I wrote in Jawi was probably during high school... I think. I think the text was so tough! It talked about Malaysia and it's 50th celebration I think... How do you write 50 in jawi? At that moment I only remembered number 1, 2 and 3.. and I assumed 5 was the shape of an onion and I couldn't remember how to write '0' so I did the onion shape on the right and 0 on the left. I bet if the editor marks the paper, she'll be shaking her head. Not that I am buta jawi. I can read it but not write it in one sentence. Only alphabet by alphabet.

The next section asked me why I wanted to be an editor and what contributions can the editors make... in Malay.

Oh by the way, the editor did come and see me during the third section and asked 'dah habis ke?' I really thought that I could take my own sweet time. But then I realized that in the first page it said that I had to do the test under 1 1/2 hours and I think I did way over the time. lol.

It was bad.... I'm not surprised if I don't get the job. But I don't really intend to work there anyway cause my dad wants me to work elsewhere like Petronas. Somewhere that gives you many benefits. And yes, he is right..

Oh my dear head..

2009-03-22T20:57:00.002+10:00

I've been waking up with a throbbing head lately... probably due to the heavy load of thinking the past couple of weeks. I have so many things to think of and due to this, I can't seem to keep everything on track.. I just finished my Asian Politics test which was a very scare for me due to me knowing very little on politics and general knowledge. Thank goodness it's over and whether I did well, not to the extent that I am very pleased as others had higher marks. But anyway, what's done, is done..

Next is my very huge task which is making the 20th colloquium happen. It's this coming Saturday by the way.. and I have yet to think and conduct so many things. Thank goodness for the people around me who are busy helping me out.. I was rather afraid when no one started doing anything two weeks ago.. but, everything is in order.. the team managed to get 3 speakers, the banners and posters are up, the invitation letters has been distributed and the goodies for the goodie bag is in process of purchase and searching for sponsorships. So what am I worried to the extent that my head is throbbing really hard? The fact that I am the project manager and I've never actually had the opportunity to organize a somewhat big event in my faculty, that's the reason! This is something new.. of course that I am grateful and pleased that I was chosen to lead the team but I'm curious what others think of me? I hope they don't think I'm pushy nor too relax?

I wanted to keep things cool as we are all grown up and we are university students so our brains are well developed. I hope my interpretations are true..well, so far, yes :-)

Once that's done, I have so many other big projects for other subjects like the French dialogue video for my French class, the investigative video for my investigative reporting subject, 3 articles on economic crisis, a research for my mass media and society class... oh and the report and presentation on interpersonal relationships for my interpersonal communication class.. The list goes on and on but the ones that I have mentioned are the critical ones..

It's 7.30pm right now and I have to now baby sit my little brother Eshan while my parents has gone to a tahlil just infront of our house.. he wants pizza so I'll probably bring him to the one in Tesco in a short while..

it's already March!! @#$%

2009-03-02T01:17:00.002+10:00

Uh Oh.. It's already March and that means..... the Colloquium is just around the corner! (28th March) and the worst part is that, my team and I are just about to start searching for the place and speakers for the event. I was appointed as the director for the talk but of course, having the designation means nothing as everyone must work together and equally as this is part of our Magazine Production subject. I've already made my 0wn checklist last week.. every little detail I've typed them down.. (i hope!). Just so that I would not forget.. (double I hope!). Farhana, the secretary for the talk has been helping me out with the letters and also following me to FTMSK, APB and Engineering faculty to book three different 'halls' to do the event. Thank you Farhana as things would be in slight delay if you weren't around..

Right now I'm just checking out the upcoming assignments that I have to get done. A lot.. but I am not in the mood to do any of them at the moment as this upcoming talk is making my heart beat really fast. I'm nervous that things would not go as smooth as I am expecting it to be.. I'm afraid that there wouldn't be any speakers that would want to be one of the speakers.. (3 in total).

I vow to myself that I would get everything done this week.. the most important thing is - the place and speakers.

3 years :)

2009-02-22T23:48:00.002+10:00

25th of February is one of the dates that I must not forget. It's the date that Azmin (or better known as Min) and I got to know each other. We've been course mates for almost 5 years now but it was 3 years ago that we got to know each other more in-depth. It's not the date that we became an item. That's on the 10th of June.

On this very date onwards, I got to know him more.. his character.. what he enjoys.. what he dislikes.. Of course I only knew his existence during my 2nd semester and he said he already spotted me during the 1st semester but, I'm thankful that I did.

Min has been so nice to me for the past years. I've been depending on him ever since and for some, I know they would advice not to but in this case, I'll take any chances. He fits perfectly in my life. The great quality I like about him is that he is very patient with me especially if I forget things especially the roads! ;)

Of course, he is definitely loving and caring. It seems that my family is comfortable with him around as well which is a plus. The best part of course is that he never says "no" when I invite him for a movie date. I'm a movie-o-holic so every now and then I feel that watching a movie is a must do thing. I've once dragged him to watch High School Musical 3. I know it wasn't his cup of tea but like I said, he never says no.

I don't know how things will be in the next few years.. whether we'll end up getting married or not. But I do hope and pray that we do as he's the best thing that has ever happened to me..

This is a picture during the early days we got to know each other. Min looks very different compared to now. I look very much the same. Haha.

This is him (present). Hehe. He's a very good guy if you're interpreting this picture wrongly. ;) I was just fooling around with his dslr camera while waiting for Joanne Kam at a gym. I had to interview her for the Staying Fit & Fabulous section for NST – Life & Times paper.

Oh, boy...

2009-02-21T18:36:00.001+10:00

I've got a lot of negative assumptions on me lately.. Although I've never actually heard any of them but the body language of a person can reflect what the person thinks of another. Yes.. I've tried to act normally this term. Be kind, nice, friendly and helpful.. not because I have to.. but because I want to. But I guess back stabbing is in some people's system?

Oh Gosh..

2009-02-21T15:44:00.002+10:00

Gosh.. I have so many work to get done this term and everything is in project form! Colloquium and the Sasaran Magazine for Magazine Production subject, the community project and research for Mass Media & Society, the French dialogue video, the broadcast reporting for Investigative Reporting... a lot more actually! Oh crap...

Just one wish..

2008-11-12T22:20:00.002+10:00

There's one thing in my life that I want to achieve.. I would give up my car, my laptop and even my cats just to earn it...
What do I want?
I want to go to Hong Kong.. Badly.. One might say that Hong Kong is a boring city if they went there for holiday. Try living there for 2 years.. then you'll know how lovely it is. Of course the person that adds the sugar on top of all is, my late mum.
I don't want any money.. I am willing to spend all of my savings to go there. I just need a green light and I know that it won't be now..
Rezeki tak ada lagi...

Hamilton wins F1!

2008-11-03T05:15:00.002+10:00

Today's race was probably the most crazy race I've ever watched. Massa was in the first pole position while Hamilton started off in the fourth. Massa had to win first position + Hamilton above the fifth position (sixth position and up) in order to win the driver's championship. Instead, Massa won first and Hamilton, fifth. It was scary enough as Hamilton dropped to the sixth position in the very last lap! But weirdly enough, Timo Glock slowed down and led to Hamilton going back to the fifth position. Star Sports showed a slight delay of the race thank goodness RTM1 showed a live broadcast of the race so during the few last laps, I changed the channel. And that's when Vettel was so close to Hamilton. He passed him... and just made my heart shatter... damn I thought... I really don't want to know the whole explanation of Glock slowing down cause I just want Hamilton to win!

Congrats to Hamilton. He deserves to win.. even last year's race. 2 Nov 2008 marks the first black driver to win Formula 1.

Pixie.. me!

2008-10-27T18:13:00.003+10:00

Yesss! I finally got my hair cut just the way I wanted. Pixie cut. Very short but not boyish-like.
The last time I got my hair cut (supposedly the pixie cut) was less than a month a go. I wanted the pixie cut.. I even brought a picture of one of the models with the type of style. But, the hair stylist didn't know how to cut it that way although she looked as though she knew how to. So instead, I got just a normal short hair. Hrmmphh...

I went out with one of my best friends, Liyana (penang) not cousin. I have two Liyanas in my life. Both means the world to me. Anyhoo, we planned to have breakfast together but instead, we extended the day by going to Sunway Pyramid. That was when I decided to get my hair cut by a professional from A Cut Above. The whole cut, wash and blow costs me RM110. Definitely worth every ringgit. Yes, I spent that amount of money for a hair cut. But the end satisfaction is worth it!

Later Liyana bought a pair of sandals. Pretty indeed. :) And my usual cat food also, we bought us Takos. She bought the octopus and I bought chicken and cheese. Definitely a delicacy!

It does feel a huge relief when you see people seldomly and get to talk a lot of what had been happening since we last met.

Anyway, I love my hair. I know that some may ask "what's the point of styling your hair when in the end you cover it back?" The self satisfaction is more important than trying to satisfy others..

:-)

something

2008-10-26T22:23:00.002+10:00

I wish you had a clue;

what I am going through..

The pain, the sufferings and the highs and lows;

I think of you everyday with my eyes closed.

I wish that you would appear in my thoughts;

but instead, it is filled with haunts..

When will it dissappear?

How long will my eyes remain in tears?

Even the direct questions remains unanswered

as nobody but God has the knowledge of the dead..

- Tengku Elena

glad it's over.. :-)

2008-10-26T21:36:00.002+10:00

Phew today was a very tiring and hectic day for my family and I. All were very busy helping around to prepare our subsequent Raya openhouse.

Millions of apologies to those who were not invited but heard about it from someone before the event or just heard about it from this blog. As this year, we catered for 300 people and my dad's guests reached 200 people and my brother wanted to invite 50 people so the remaining balance were split into two - me and my sister's friends. So you know, having to pick 25 people from my high school, university (diploma & degree), cousins (semestinya ada) and old friends from other places was very tough! So yeah... it took me quite some time to hand pick those people and yes, I did have some sleepless nights. If you know me well, I think too much.
(This is for those who weren't invited.. If ada orang baca lah... but I doubt that. My regular and only reader is probably you, Min. Hehe) I didn't mean to not tell you.. but I just had to do so.

Well thank goodness this year my stepmum decided that we should call the caterers instead. But of course, my maid and the other neighbours' maid were around to give a hand. I think they worked double as hard as the waiter and waitress given by the caterer. The caterers were an hour late because they got lost. I think they were from Damansara or KL.. Can't remember. Thank goodness though the food was good.
Menu of the day was: Nasi briyani, ayam goreng, rendang Tok, ABC, home made laksa and nasi dagang as well as 2 lambs.

Thank you to Min, Kak Fatimah, Liyana, Kak Ida, Mai, Qila, Shera, Pudean, Nana, Een, Nik, Nol, Bada, Mirul, Zulmajd, Min's brother+wife+Rayyan for coming.. Only 18 came out of 25 (actually I invited a bit more than that cause I'm pretty sure some people have their own agendas - for instance, Life & Times editor Suraya Al-Attas <- she did say that she had other openhouse but she'll try to make it through.. I didn't expect her to really come cause I know that she has a very hectic schedule).

I am a bit upset who couldn't come.. Who did text me that they had other plans, thank you for the prior notice.. but those who didn't say a word, gosh... not to blame the person or anything but, the limited invitation could've been given to someone else.. I did have a split decision whether to invite my old friends from high school. Instead, I dropped them and invited my uni friends.. Hmmm....

But all and all, everything went well. My relatives and dad's friends were also present.. Even the guy who sells my dad golf sticks! Yes, my dad invited probably all of the people inside his phone memory. Including the guy who sells his glasses.. hehe. Yeah, that's my dad.. he's totally generous and kind.

Well, that's about it... I'm happy everything went well and that my cats were the center of attention as well. Haha.

I've watched it!

2008-10-24T19:34:00.002+10:00

Yes, like I mentioned in the previous post, I wanted to watch HSM 3: Senior Year on the 24th. And, today is the 24th. I did exagerate when I said I wanted to be the first in line to watch the movie today.. BUT I was one of the first who watched it at Cineleisure. The first show was at 12.50pm and I was there with Min (haha) at 12pm. Woohoo!

I know for those who enjoy serious movies, they wouldn't accept the movie probably at all. It's more for those 'young in heart' type of adults. For children, of course they would love the movie. I watched HSM 1 and 2 so therefore, being able to see the very end of the 'story' really made me happy and of course sad and touched. Cause, I won't have any movies to look forward to anymore! (Apart from Harry Potter of course). I felt the same way when Lord of the Rings ended. No more Orlando Bloom... damn..

I won't dish out what the story is about.. what happened and all that.. But to keep you from not going to watch it is that the choreography, songs and plots are superb! I love it! Zac of course, looks adorable. And Vanessa as well. Sharpay was still Sharpay... Pinky, bossy.. There are new characters as well. But not main ones of course.

I love their props when they rehearsed for their last theatre. Very classy indeed. The songs, like the previous movies, are catchy and some slow... it just makes your heart melt when Troy (Zac) and Gabriella (Vanessa) sings together... It makes me think 'Gosh I wish I had the talent. And wish that Min was Troy and I was Gabriella.' Haha.

To be honest, I did wanted to weep a bit. I know, I know it sounds silly but, trust me.. You really have to focus the movie and let the story carry your heart.. Then you'll get all emotional about it.

Oh speaking of Min, I'm not totally sure if he enjoyed it but, he did hum some of the previous HSM songs on the way back. So I guess he did enjoy it quite a bit. Hehe. When he turned the radio on on our way back, they played one of the latest HSM song! I shrieked a bit. Yes, I am very young in heart.

What to expect from the movie? Just watch it... It's their very last movie... they've graduated... No more wildcats... Gabriella goes to Uni... Troy had a hard decision where to study.. his dad wanted him to go to UA, but his theatre teacher wanted him to go to Julliard.. It was their last theatre together.... and all that... Everything ends...

I'll definitely give it 8.5 over 10. The reason I deducted 1.5 is because there won't be anymore HSM!! Noooooooooooooooooooo

:)

can u feel it?

2008-10-24T01:23:00.003+10:00

Have you ever lost someone that you cherish the most? Your mother or father? Any of your siblings? Your grandma or grandpa? Or perhaps any of your partners or friends?

If no, how sure are you that God woudn't take them away from you in a minute... an hour.. or later on today? Think about it...

I've witnessed three deaths in my life... yes, three... My mother passed away in 1998 due to brain haemorrhage while we were living in Hong Kong.. followed by my stepmum who passed away in 2002 due to black magic (long story.. let's just say, someone casted a spell on her. Someone that her brother knows well).. then in 2005, my little brother Emir passed away after undergoing a surgery to repair his arteries.

None of us predicted this.

All of them were well.. healthy.. despite my little brother having the problems, he didn't have any obvious problems. The doctor said that he would have to go for the surgery sooner or later as it may affect his growth. After undergoing the surgery, the surgeons were so happy as they had 'successfully' repaired it. So they thought..... Then Emir had a fever and he had never woke up right after the surgery for approximately 3 months.. Yes that long.. Everyday we would pray for his health. I guess God loves him more so then he passed away.. He was only 2.

Imagine going around... anywhere... seeing mothers holding their toddlers.. mothers saying 'I love you' to their children.. All happy... But, you could never get the love anymore as you no longer have a mother... That's me.. I go around thinking about her everyday... Even the word 'mama' kills me... I used to call her that. I miss saying the word.. God I miss her so bad.. It also devastates me seeing how people would lie to their mothers... they would ignore them.. send them to the retired homes.. I wish my mother was still alive so that I could take care and love her everyday. She has done so much for me.. giving birth to me is already priceless! How does a 6th grader think? Would they fully comprehend the meaning of love? How to not be a rascal? I was only 12 when she passed away. I got my period a few days later and well, she never got to see me 'mature'. The last food that she cooked was ayam kicap... I will never forget that... Eating the food already made me shed to tears.. thinking that..... it was the end. Although it has already been 10 years but I still can't go over the fact that she is gone.. I saw her old recipe book yesterday while I was tidying up my room. Seeing her handwriting almost made me cry.. My high school years was a mess! I went to a local school here in Shah Alam after failing to plead my dad to send me to ISKL. The 5 years of high school... I've never gotten more than an A. I only got an A for English and my Malay language was quite poor. Don't even ask history. So yeah, you can picture how many A's I got for SPM. My mother was the one who would discipline me in studies. But she knew how to balance my studies and extra curricular activities. Without her, I wouldn't see the world... I wouldn't learn new things.. I wouldn't be reminiscing good ol' memories.. That's mama... never mess with your mama... what's life without her? Are you sure that you can survive?

My stepmum on the other hand was a very loving stepmum. I didn't get to be with her long... but all I could say that she's the people's princess. Definitely loving like Princess Diana. Her death was very tragic.. From that point onwards, I do believe in black magic. How bad it can affect someone.. I hope that the person responsible will be punished the day the world ends...

So can you feel it? The impact? Just imagine if your loved ones passed away... would you go cuckoo or would you be strong to prove to them that you're doing alright? I took the second path despite having a bit of struggle adjusting life without a mother. I cannot say that I am wholly proud of who I am now but I'm glad that I am doing well in university...
My achievements is for you mama... God bless you, Emir and mama Farah (my late stepmum)

my fate

2008-10-24T00:26:00.002+10:00

... my fate on my academic report.

I passed up my academic report at 10.30am today. I printed all 72 pages the day before as well as sent it for binding that morning.. I was scared that my supervisor (En Norsham) would reject it completely as I hadn't showed him the report eversince I submitted my proposal. Although he knew what I was going to do but of course, I'm sure it wasn't completely what was on his mind.

So I saw him for probably 30 minutes. He flipped through each pages.. but I'm pretty sure he didn't read it word by word, instead, he scanned through. I thought I had checked the report wholly but the first few seconds he flipped through the pages, he saw that I labeled one of the sub topics wrongly. Strike one.. The other thing that was wrong was my abstract. It hadn't occured to me that to write an abstract, you only need one paragraph. Instead, I did a few paragraphs. Strike two.. Another, he wasn't sure what style of literature review I was using. I wasn't sure either but I followed the previous style my friends and I used for our old report and I did refer to some dissertations. I wrote the name of the author, followed by the title (italic) then when and where I retrieved it <- if the source was from the web. So, strike three.. I'm out!

He did promise me that he would call me once he read the whole thing. He didn't look through everything this morning which explained why he asked me to put what is stratified sampling. I did insert the definition so, yes, he didn't spot that.. So I will have to wait for him to check everything.. he is really eager for me to have - zero errors in order to get good grades. He said, "You have to do well for this cause time interview for masters, they will want to see it." Well, he did something like that.. I can't remember the exact words.

Now I can put my thoughts away from the report for a bit so that later I can focus on it 100 per cent once he has checked everything.

High School Musical 3: Senior Year

2008-10-23T03:39:00.003+10:00

Hooray! The most anticipated movie, HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 (besides Harry Potter) is showing in the cinema on the 24th October. Yes, call me childish or whatever, but I thnink HSM is a pretty decent movie. I love the songs.. the plots.. And I definitely think Zac Efron is good looking. HSM 2 was on a couple of hours ago. I made my bf sit and watch it a bit as he had never seen the whole movie.. both HSM 1 and 2.

Of course I totally understand why he wouldn't enjoy it.. It's more for girls! :-) He did survive for an hour or so but after looking at his facial expression, I knew that he was forcing himself to watch it. Haha. Poor him. I didn't mind changing the channel as I've watched it a dozen of times.. But I still haven't managed to remember any of the lyrics from HSM 1 and 2 fully. I could hum to the melody.. sing a few bits during the corus.. That's about it.

I went to Subang Parade recently with one of my buddies, Shera. I invited her to go eat RM2 sushi. Sushi King had a sushi bonanza for 3 days specially for the members. My brother was the one who told me about it.. I haven't been a member for over a year now so since I kept craving for sushi, I decided to go there and become a member on the very spot. Anyway, I'm not going to talk about the sushi.. I want to talk about my new crocs! Hehe. Well, when we were heading to the parking lot, I spotted a pink crocs that was hanging new the window. It was definitely eye catching with the little designs so I had to go check it out. It's very pretty from afar but if you look closely, you'll see that it's actually HSM's crocs. It didn't have large prints of HSM but the only one that was obvious (that's if you look closely) is at the .... ok I'm not sure what to call that thingy.. the one that you can bring down or up.. depending on how you want to wear the crocs.. ok i'll just call it 'latch'. Well on the latch, there's a mini picture of Zac Efron. Although I do adore him but I don't go goo-goo ga-ga on celebs. I wanted to buy the shoes so badly because of the colour and the nice design but the picture just turned me off.. Shera told me to just buy it as it looked good... so after trying it on for a couple of minutes,..... I bought it! So it's now my second favourite slipper. My first favourite is definitely the pink grendha. No doubt..

Anyway, I'm definitely going to be the first in line on the 24th. If you're reading this Min, you must accompany me. Try to set your mind that HSM is an entertaining movie.. I love musicals.. e.g. hairspray.. so please bare with me :-) Hehe.

Finally!

2008-10-23T03:16:00.002+10:00

Hurrah! Finally I've finished my academic report. Although my supervisor, Encik Norsham kept telling me that I could pass it up next semester, I decided not to do so as it may affect my studies. Since I'm in a long holiday and I have nothing better to do, why not use this free time and finish the report before end of October.

And that's what I had been doing the past few weeks..
Working my ass off trying to finish the report and make it silky smooth. One of the supervisors had asked for only 20 pages (from a trusted source). But if I was meant to do so, that means I did slightly more than 3 times the required pages... I did 72. But of course it includes the cover page, the 2nd cover page, 2 pages of table content, several pages of the example of the questionnaires given to the journalists and students, a page typed APPENDIXES and 9 samples of the answered questionnaires. So if you calculate all that and minus the total, you'll get a very small content. :-)

I haven't shown the real report eversince I worked on it. I wanted to show bit by bit but then I thought it would disrupt my mood. So I was like, what the heck.. Just proceed and do everything. He did see my proposal and understood what I wanted to do, so I guess that's what's important.

Tomorrow I'm seeing my supervisor. I'm going to show the complete report. Binding and all.. I don't mind having to change some minor things but if he rejected the whole thing, I would definitely be devastated as I have next week left to get things done again. I pray that he would not reject it..

I slept really late last night.. At 5am to be precise. I promised En Norsham to show him the report that morning.. (didn't set the time though). But I had to sort out some old papers and books to be sent to the recycling centre at Pasar section 6. So I texted him and asked him whether I could meet him in the afternoon instead and since he has class till night, he asked me to meet him today instead.. It's 1.30am on a Wednesday so I should be sleeping soon as I am thinking of seeing him between 9.30am to 10.30am.

Gosh I do hope he does approve the work.. Sleepless nights.. the struggles to find the right words.. I even bought a new printer just so that I could use it for this laptop. It's on windows vista so my old printer is only compatible with windows xp. Of course even to save the work to a thumbdrive and transfer it to my old laptop, would be a waste of time plus the microsoft word is different. I think I'm falling in love with windows vista's. Oh and another reason for the new printer is that if I buy the original ink for my old printer, it costs around RM80+ for colour and around RM60+ for black. That's about RM140+.. And the new printer only costs RM120. RM20+ cheaper than the new inks plus it's more faster and the model looks nice! :-)

So yeah.. in a few hours is my judgement day.. what will happen to my report.. will all the money used and the time sacrificed worthwhile?

To be cont'd....

stomach ache...

2008-10-14T23:20:00.002+10:00

Yesterday I was hit with this HUGE stomach ache.. Very huge that it made me incapable of doing my daily routines (currently, playing Command & Conquer). I was lying on my bed all day... Hardly consuming anything. I craved for Coke (not coke as in cocaine.. coke as in coca cola :) ) Without eating a thing, Min bought be the Coke but forced me to drink this nasty drink that my maid suggested - teh pahit. After constantly forcing me to drink it, I agreed at last. Once I took a sip, it tasted alright but after a few seconds, I could taste the bitterness. Damn... I took a sip of Coke just to clear the taste and forced the rest down my throught and hurriedly sipped a bit more of Coke.. yes Coke does give you wonders...
Of course I didn't instantly recover. I was still incapable of doing a thing. I promised Min that we would do our academic report together but after typing a bit, I had to go to the loo.. The description of my poo? Well, let's say, it was an easy task as it went down like a stream... smoothly indeed... Yes, my poo wasn't solid and even as now. I did force myself to eat a few slices of apples and papaya and drink a bit of water just to help rehydrate my body. Rehydrate? Yeah right... I couldn't eat a thing. Just by looking at my favourite sambal fish, ayam goreng and vegetables made me wanted to vomit. I couldn't imagine consuming anything.
I didn't sleep well last night.. My stomache was making weird sounds.. I slept at 9pm I think.. then woke up at 1am then another time.. and lastly 6.30am.. I had to head to the toilet. I couldn't stand holding it. Especially when it isn't solid.. Cause with a bit of press, it'll come out easily... Gross isn't it?
This morning, I didn't feel weak as I was yesterday. I could go up the stairs without hesitating. But the feel of going to the toilet is still around.. Min brought me to pay my car loan and then to the pharmacist in seciton 9. I asked for the best medicine for cirit birit and the pharmacist gave me this very tiny medicine that gave me doubts of healing my stomach easily. She said "ubat ni kasi berhenti cirit birit." I wanted to hear the word "berhenti" so I payed RM2 for a couple of mini tablets and went to the car. Oh before that, I did eat a couple of cocktail cheese sausages. According to my bf, he said that my maid told him that I only ate a little. I think I ate at least 5. With cheese in it, I think it would be very much enough. So right after going to the pharmacy, we went to Pelita. Min wanted to eat rojak and I promised that I would accompany him. I ate 2 of the tablets. And the pharmacist reminded me to eat another 1 every 5 hours. So I ate the first 2 at 3.45pm then 8.45pm and another 1 at 1.45am? Alright...
Right now if you're wondering how the heck I'm typing this blog with the condition, well, I just went to the toilet so the next time it hits me would probably be in one or two hours.
I hope it stops soon cause I really want to finish up my incomplete academic report.. I've only done a bit.. The intro part.. I haven't started the findings yet! And having to pass up by end of this month would be impossible with the condition I am in.. If it gets worst tomorrow, I'll head to the clinic.
Oh well...

game time..

2008-10-11T02:29:00.003+10:00

I'm supposed to stay up late and do my academic report.. It's already 12.20am and I've only done the introduction but that was taken from my proposal so let's just say, I haven't done anything yet. CTRL+C and CTRL+V doesn't mean a thing.
My bf just passed me the Command & Conquer game through his external. Damn.. I love that game! I used to get so hooked up. I love any games that requires building.. You name it.. The classic Sim Town, Theme Hospital, Sim Farm, The Sims, Age of Empires, Dungeon Keeper <- can't remember the exact name.. the one that you are the 'Satan' I think and you have slaves that can become your army and gold miner. And of course, Red Alert and sewaktu dengannya.. Gosh.. I can play that for hours! And tsk.. not such a good idea to accept the game. I used to have the cd for my old ps1 and I would play for hours.. Be reminded that I would restart the game everytime I'm about to lose. Yes, I hate losing. So that explains the long hours..
I haven't bought any for ps2.. I wonder whether they have it for ps3?
Nah... not such a good idea..
Game time! Yippee.....

just blabbings..

2008-10-11T02:19:00.003+10:00

It's already October 11 and I haven't even done 50 per cent of my academic report. When do I have to pass it up? Soon... End of October to be precise. I've been trying to set my head straight since like.. let me see... June? But due to this very long break and the internship as well, it has 'blocked' me from doing any work. I was once a very hardworking person. Not to brag or anything.. but the environment at class does make me thrive to work harder. Since class does not start till end of December, I have to find a way fast to help me get the report done.
I've started typing a bit yesterday.. But the word a bit does mean a bit unlike some people who think that when I say "I haven't done anything" or "I haven't studied a thing" means the opposite. Gosh I hate that! They always think that I lie just because my results are alright. How da heck do I make them believe? They will only believe when I say "the exam was not bad.." or "it was easy." Trust me, it's better off not saying a word. It's either you say, you're not sure or you don't know.
Brain come on... think!

this is my tool to express my own feelings

2008-10-11T02:16:00.002+10:00

The subject above indicates my feelings towards this blog. This is my tool of expression and I could not care less if no one ever reads this. I do not seek for any pityness nor do I seek any attention whatsoever..
:)

Learning my roots from the museum

2008-10-04T03:49:00.002+10:00

I hardly visit the museum.. especially the one in Kuala Terengganu. I've been there once but that was about... lemme see.. 6 or 7 years ago? When my sister and I went to Terengganu by plane for Raya, my parents and grandma went to pick us up and we then went around KT as the distance from KT to Dungun is about 2 hours drive. Which means, we rarely go there unless we were to visit our relatives there. So, we went to see the new 'Crystal Mosque' and the mini historical buildings (great wall of China, the Taj Mahal, Kaabah..) and also the museum. We didn't get to see the mosque and the mini buildings upclose as it was close till the 3rd.

My grandma was excited when we went to the museum as it was filled of memorial items of the late Sultans of Terengganu. Yes, I am somewhere in the family tree of the rulers.. not sure how directly but according to my grandma, we were related to Sultan Sulaiman III and more closely to his son, Tengku Ali. Tengku Ali then became the Sultan when Sultan Sulaiman got poisoned and after the British took over the country from the Japanese, the British didn't recognize Sultan Ali as the Sultan as he had close relations with the Japanese and that he didn't want to sign the Malayan Union treaty or something.. can't remember. So the throne was then given to Sultan Ismail and passed to his son Sultan Mahmud and then to the recent Agong, Tuanku Mizan :)

My grandma told me, "dulu Tengku Ali jahat.. dia cukur rambut hamba dia.." Occay the quote may not be throughly accurate but she said something like that. Not too sure about the exact words. Sorry.. I wanted to ask my grandpa about Tengku Ali.. how we were related to him but totally had forgotten as we were all busy celebrating the much anticipated celebration, Hari Raya. But I did ask my grandma again the same question who Tengku Ali was.. and she said that he always came to our house..

So the next time I go back to Terengganu, I'm going to ask my grandpa.. i'm sure he has loads to tell.. the only thing I know about my family background is that we are from Acheh, Bugis, Chinese, Arab, Indian.. to be honest, my grandpa once explained about it which was so many that I think I have the blood of all race :)

twit

2008-09-19T16:26:00.000+10:00

I have been a jealous and self-minded twit lately.. I do realize it but I just can't help it

wasn't up for it..

2008-09-18T16:08:00.005+10:00

Yesterday something big happened to me.. I woun't reveal what it was but let's say, I blew things out of proportion.. How my hate to just one particular person can affect others.. Yes, I know, how shallow minded I was when it happened however, I couldn't see the point of being nice to the person if the person is just pretending. I did respect the person but then I was stupid for trusting the person. Ok, there's so many 'the person'. Let's just name ... = ABC. I've heard quite a lot about ABC although we're far away. As I mentioned, we haven't seen each other for quite sometime. The thing that bugs me most is that how others can accept ABC when ABC talks about them too? Good PR perhaps? Or spin-doctor?
I admit that it's childish to be like this, however, we never gotten into a fight. And I'm positive that ABC doesn't know that I know what ABC did. Since it is the holy month of Ramadhan, I forgive ABC for all the wrongdoings that ABC did to me. But, I will pretend if I have to just to keep things harmony since someone around me is close to ABC and I'll make sure that it won't get detected by others!

kill kill kill

2008-09-18T16:08:00.004+10:00

I hardly browse people's page at facebook cause I just couldn't care less.. but my guts told me to just click a few pages and see a particular thing that is going on..
And BINGO! A comment from someone that grrrr I can't stand! Of course not in my page.. another person..
I really wish I could reveal the person's name.. and what I'm going bonkers about.. but just to give you a bit of a clue, I haven't seen that person for months but only have heard of the name, constantly from someone... Over, and over... It's driving me nuts!
Why am I feeling this way? Well, let's just say that the person is a two-face. Although it's typical for anybody to be that way especially when they want their popularity rank to go up. For instance, some people will just blurt out their friend's secret to another just so that they would be the first person to tell the rest about it. Of course, I'm not talking about my real situation. My situation is - the person acts as a good friend infront but at the back kill, kill kill... die, die die...
If you know me well... really-really well, you know who I'm talking about...

Tammy and Fluffy dies..

2008-09-15T19:11:00.003+10:00

My cute and adorable eating-machines died today..
Tammy and Fluffy..

The guinea pigs bought by my boyfriend and my auntie died today at the same time.. The cause? I'm pretty sure due to the poisonous vegetable that I bought at the pasar pagi yesterday. I would normally buy their food at Cold Storage or Tesco.. and for almost 5 month they have been munching on foods that comes from the supermarket. Not to blame the pasar, but I'm pretty sure that they died because of the cabbage I fed them the night before (they died in the morning).
To say that I did not treat them right, I think I gave them a rather high-class treatment as I often buy apple scented wood 'thingies' for their bed.. I even upgraded their house from a medium size house that my boyfriend bought me for my birthday. At times I would buy expensive cabbage for them.. I was thinking of buying them a larger house too.. :-(

I did not see this coming..

I will miss them both dearly..

just isn't the same

2008-09-04T15:22:00.001+10:00

I've mentioned this before, and I'm going to mention it again... that I, miss my mama so badly..
Ramadhan is here and Raya is just around the corner and without her, things doesn't feel right.. Eversince she passed away 10 years ago, Raya has never been the same. Not because of my maturing age.. it's just that with her present, at least I can salam her on that very special day.. hug her and kiss her.. Oh I long my mother's touch.. If only people knew.. I feel very sad for those who disrespect their mother and lie to them for instance, they say they're going somewhere but instead, they are heading elsewhere. They do wrong things behind their back.. they scold or curse at their mother.. I would sell my soul just to see her for one more time..
Having a stepmother isn't the same.. her love is different. She has her own child (my little brother) to love and care. I don't long for love from anyone else besides her.
This Ramadhan I'm trying my best not to miss the tarawikh prayers.. it is said that sembahyang berjemaah is better than praying alone. I no longer want to miss a single prayer.. I want to recite the Quran everyday.. I no longer want to do bad deeds.. even little ones.. InshaAllah.. I want to pray for my mother to be in heaven everyday.. That is the least that I can do to say I love you..
If only I had the ability to make everyone realize that they need to change before its too late.. That the world can end on any Friday.. maybe this Friday.. or next? No human knows.. Only God knows..
When someone you love is taken a way from you.. then you realize how precious the person is in your life.. then you realize how you wish you could turn back the time and say "I'm sorry for everything I have done to you.. I love you so much." But, I was only 12 at the time.. immature little rascal.. Of course, I always cling onto mama wherever I go.. I would go out with her and help her with things.. Let's just say that I was mama's little girl. Mama was a very loving, active and supporting mum.. She would enroll my siblings and I in various extra curricular activities. You name it.. I've tried taekwando, ballet, piano, gamelan, traditional dance, singing, acting, swimming... She would send us to the places and wait for us.. My family were not as fortunate compared to now.. in financial wise. Our satisfactions were filled with her love. We use to go to various places by bus, tram (HK), and taxi.. or sometimes we would walk.. For instance, we would walk from section 8 to the gymnastic gymnasium at section 6 while others would go by car.. The distance may not be very far but it is far enough to say that a lot of energy has been used. Mama would save up her money to buy things that we wanted.. we hardly get things on the very spot. Presents are always given during birthdays or when we get good grades. That's probably why I was always in top ten in the class during primary school. If you ask me about high school, to tell you the truth, I've never gotten more than one A in class. Yes never. The only A is from English. Period. My malay subject would be around B or C.. don't ask about history..
Just to make it clear, I wasn't as hard working as I was during primary school as mama would always support me with my studies. She would help me out when I'm stuck.. she would bring me to tuitions.. So when we moved back to Malaysia form HK because of mama's tragic death in 1998, I just couldn't study like I used to. I quit most of my activities. Gymnastic was still my fave until form 3 and later I felt it was never the same.. mama would watch me train everyday.. when I forgot to point my toe, she would go "Elena, point your toe." or "Elena, chin up." Mama was perfect... just perfect.. I never realized that.. I would say things in my heart when she scolds me.. but that was because I was very young.. I was so immature. I wish I could think and feel the way I am now back in those years..
Hmm...
God loves her more than I do..

Oh my dear lap....top

2008-09-01T16:42:00.002+10:00

My laptop....
What can I say about it? Basically, I got it from my dad about..let me see.. during my diploma.. that was like... almost 5 years ago? I've been dying to change it for 2 years now but well, since my dad bought me a car which is worth so much, I decided to wait... and wait... and wait..
Back in the first 2 years that I got the laptop, I didn't feel any shame of bringing it around. Because it was in PERFECT condition. It still looked brand new.. no scratches.. no nothing..

Fast forward to the present, I can't shut my laptop properly cause I accidently knocked the side of my laptop at my friend's bed so the 'lock' thingy broke.. and the 'paint' or whatever you call it is disappearing and at times it sticks on my hand.. so that sucks.. Another, it's quite heavy compared to the hi-tech laptops these days. And, the sound of the fan is, at times, annoying.. That's why i'm actually dying to change this laptop..

BUT
and I repeat, BUT, the reason I'm stalling my wish to replace the laptop is because it has done so much for me.. I've been using this laptop to edit some of the videos that my group and I did back in diploma, I used it to write lecture notes, to do my assignments... well let's say everything. And to tell you the truth, this laptop has played a huge part in my achievements during diploma and currently, degree.. So yes, it does have a sentimental value to me or whatever the right word is..

This laptop isn't broken.. I'm using it right now.. but because of the 'outer' condition makes me want to replace it.. I know that some might say that I can afford to buy a new laptop. I won't deny that but the reasons include, 1) This laptop is still running perfectly 2) a new laptop costs either almost RM2k or more and I don't want to burden my dad afterall, he's currently paying for the car until I work 3) this laptop has never died on me. it's just the outer condition that prevents me from bringing it out from my house.. so it just lies in my room and services me when I need to use it

If I had the opportunity to buy a new laptop.. probably when I work? Well, I really would like to own a Sony Vaio.. My sister has it.. the first time she showed it to me through the internet when she studied in UK, I was really jealous. But at the time, this laptop was still perfect so the jealousy didn't last long.. :)
But right now there are so many pretty colours to choose from.. i'm eyeing on pink or gold.. but preferably gold.. it looks luxurious. MAC was on top of my list.. I craved for the apple. But then, I've been using windows for many years and getting used to something new would probably muddle my head. Plus some of the softwares aren't the same..
but of course, MAC is still powerful and lovely.
I did eye on Dell as I constantly kept receiving ads through the Star on its latest colourful laptops. I love yellow. But my brother said the spare parts are hard to find if anything happens to it.. so, i've crossed that out.
So yeah.. vaio... i would really love to have that.. but according to the brochure, for a black or white coloured laptop, it costs about RM3448 i think.. and if you want other colours (gold) you have to add another RM1k but of course the specs is different. I think just the ram. Can't remember.. rm4448 for a laptop... hrmm... i could buy 4 hi-tech handphones.. or use that to go back to Hong Kong. If I had a choice between laptop and Hong Kong, I would definitely choose HK. Or if between a car (if i didn't have a car) and HK, i still would choose HK. Trust me, i miss the country.
Can i stay there permanently? Get married and have babies there? With Min of course. Hehe.

Dream on..

Impak Maksima The Musical

2008-08-29T19:33:00.002+10:00

Yes, that's right.. Impak Maksima - the movie/tv series is turning to... a MUSICAL THEATRE! I attended the launch yesterday at Istana Budaya and since the theatre is set to be staged on Nov 11 to 22, the scenes are still under discussion.. so I have no insights on it.

If you've watched the movie/tv series, the first thing you would think of, "How the heck do you drift on stage?" I personally have never watched the movie nor the series but I know from the title and poster itself, it's about racing. Like The Fast & The Furious. Am I right?
So Ahmad Idham (director) said that Istana Budaya will be sponsoring the special floor that will be suitable for the drifting. And if you're wondering whether the stage is big enough to drive a car around and not a mock truck or train like in Ibu Zain and P.Ramlee, the answer is, "yes, it's big." According to him, you can even do one of the stunts that you do an 8 around two boards. I have no idea what it is called.. but you know.. the 8... one loop around a board and the other loop around another - forming the number 8. You get the drift..
Don't worry about the safety of the audience though cause he said that he's still discussing on the safety measures and he promised that everything will be safe.
Who are the actors? Since it's a musical theatre and it involves in music and singing especially, who are the lucky ones that are selected? Well, they are still the main characters in the movie/tv series - Awal, Jue Aziz and Dynaz.
You may think "What?? They are not singers!"
Idham answered that they don't need to have a good voice for the theatre as long as their voices are good enough to listen, then all will be good.
The songs are specially made by the talented musician, Cat Farish. According to Cat, 70 per cent of the musics are finished.

If the theatre becomes a success, Ahmad Idham will be the first to bring such theatre on stage. I have no doubts of him.. I'm sure his young and fresh ideas will definitely be a success. I know that it'll be a huge task for him to think about how he wants to create the drifting scenes, the dancing and singing altogether but whatever it is, we have to wait till November.
The tickets are priced at RM30 to RM100 by the way.
I'm not here to promote the theatre but I think this rather wild idea is something that everyone should come and see. Imagine racing cars on stage... drifting away... wow! I wonder if they have any crash scenes.. how do they create that? Do they cut the car into half?
A lot of questions are yet to be answered.. but it will when the theatre starts..

So go on, support our local theatres. :)

working on a MILLION ringgit watch

2008-08-29T12:42:00.002+10:00

NST's compaq computer indicates it's 11.05am right now and the other journalists are busy typing away their assignments. I'm supposed to work on the latest Dior watches that they had 'previewed' to me and the rest who attended the Dior Luncheon at Modesto's recently but, I'm having a hard time to give it a good lead.
To use quotes or no quotes...
This is probably by far one of the hardest task I've ever encountered because it involves a RM1million limited edition watch. Yes one bloody million ringgit.... holy cow!
And there are only 25 of them available throughout the world. I wonder whether bringing a few of them to Malaysia this coming October is a great idea?
Well, according to one of the CD PR, she said that a man in Singapore recently popped in CD's boutique there and asked for a watch to buy for his wife's birthday. The salesgirl then showed the Dior Christal watch and the guy actually immediately loved it and bought it right a way! WOW! Lucky woman!
So one sold... does that mean there's 24 left?

I did get to touch the watch.. very heavy indeed.. An evil part of me told me, "Elena, run away with the watch! Go on.. there's a staircase outside."
Haha.. yeah right!
If I was one of the millionaires in Malaysia.. no wait.. scribble millionaire.. If I was one of the billionaires in Malaysia, would I actually go for the watch? With all the claims.. shock-proof, scratch-proof, water-proof... the watch went through 300 tests..(normal watch are only tested 80 times.. and when I say normal, it means other watches like Tag Heuer, Rolex.. <- normal huh?) and the list goes on and on.. I think I may splurge a million ringgit on just a single watch that tells us just the TIME. Afterall, I am a billionaire.. I still have loads of money left. I wish!
So what would I do when I have it? Of course like any other overly rich and high class people out there, - show it off to your girl friends..
Minutes after purchasing it.. I would speed dial all of my friends and go "Hey girl, let's go out for coffee. Let's chit-chat!"

Even if I just saw them yesterday.

I would purposely come a few minutes late so that everyone would be at the table.. And try to get the coffeehouse's lights to help flash the luxurious watch..

*flash...flash..* or *sparkle..sparkle*

Like any other supportive and jealous friends, they would go:
"Oh my God! You bought the new Dior watch! It must be expensive!"
"I've been dying to get the watch!"
"My hubby only bought me this Chopard watch"

And trying to pretend that you have forgotten all about the watch cause afterall, you're there to chitchat so I'll go:
"Oh yeah! I just bought it not too long ago (today actually). Nah, it's nothing.."

So voila, the agenda and topic of the day at the coffee house would be the Dior Christal watch. They'll try it on.. inspect it.. and come back home and bug their husbands to buy them one too. Even if it only lasts a couple of hours, afterall, that IS my intention. To show it off.

Wow what a bi*ch!

Of course, I'm nothing like that. Har har.

FRIENDS... Time for me to hit the RESET button

2008-08-29T01:00:00.002+10:00

I've been thinking about the people around me for quite some time.. whether they are loyal to me because they are comfortable being friends with me or are they sticking around so that they can dig in the negative stuff that I say or do and spread the news to others? I wonder...

Just give me a small piece of paper to list down the names that I trust and cherish as a friend, and voila! You get the whole lot in.

Yes, they are not many.

I remember back in the school days, in my old high school in section 2 Shah Alam.. I had a couple of friends that I hung out during recess. I was a prefect at the time so all the prefects would go for lunch at a different time (we had the whole canteen for ourselves). At times a few of them would go to me and say "Elena boleh tak pinjam (a certain amount of money)?" At times it would be RM1 or RM2... or a few cents.. I was cool with people borrowing things. But then it got over the line.. The word pinjam.. never meant = to borrow and to return back. I never got the money back and I'm not sure what is the total..
Ok I don't want to go pointing fingers cause i'm not sure whether they don't remember that they borrowed the money or... worse, whether they 'pow-ed' me. I'm not familiar with the 'pow' term. But people once told me that it was a trend for these so called hot shots to take money from another and not returning it back. It was part of their satisfaction as though they were bigger than the rest.

After being a complete dunce, I decided to become stingy.. and selective.

So that's the type of friends who are just with me for the sake of borrowing my money..

Next type is the ones that only text me when they have an important question to ask.. Oh trust me.. I'm famous during exams or when there are projects to pass up. I'm cool with the ones that I do strike conversations now and then.. but for the ones that I hardly even talk to then suddenly they come knocking on my door for help, is really weird.. Of course, I do help them and yes, dengan tulus ikhlas.. But it's just weird that they appear and then disappear.. and when the season comes again, they'll reappear and *poof* vanish.

I'm tired of being the one who text people and go "hey, how are you? I haven't heard from you for quite some time." How much does friendships worth? Spending 15cents or 20cents just to keep the knot isn't that much right? Even a litre of petrol costs us RM2.55. That's like equivalent to let me see.. 17 texts? That's a lot you know..and a lot of information gained. Trust me... I hardly get those kind of texts..

I wonder if I hit the reset button, how many people will still be loyal to me?

Stop fighting and vote ME to become the next Prime Minister

2008-08-28T15:39:00.001+10:00

Like I previously mentioned in my post, "Politics, Schmolitics"

Stop fighting and start acting. Malaysia is no where near Canada, Japan, US, UK or other big hot shot countries. But of course, we are ahead of other countries like Indonesia, Iraq, Afghanistan and all that.
Why should we compare?

If I was to become the next PM (dream on Elena... dream on..)
What would the changes be?

1) Immediately I would give all the poor people 10k to help them build a better life
2) I would build apartments for these people so that they too can live a modern life
3) Next to the apartment are shoplots and offices so that they can work and earn money to have a stable life
4) I want to build more shelter for the poor stray animals. Free weekly grooming and yearly vaccinating available
5) More local schools will be built and a few more International schools to diversify the young generations' choice
6) Higher payment for teachers, lecturers..
7) Petrol prices shall remain RM2. Period.
8) More cheap vacation packages to Malaysia shall be available
9) Rebuild the hotels that are in poor condition
10) Fill the pot-holes on the road
11) More broadway theatres shall be available
12) Only top artists, singers, bands..whatever can come to Malaysia. The rest are a waste of money. So try harder for the rest..
13) More sports centres shall be available to the public.. yachting, skateboarding, jet skiing.. wow..
14) The price of text book shall be lowered by 20%
15) No demonstration allowed.. please leave your comments or queries in the comment box or hotline.
16) No drinking, no clubbing, smoking in public (like Australia.. bravo Australia!) and other negative stuff.. Too bad. I'm the PM!

17) What else does Malaysia want?

an interesting event

2008-08-27T17:36:00.006+10:00

It's 3.30pm right now and I just got back from the Dior luncheon event at Modesto's at Tao. The foods served were scrumptious! I had lamb shank for the main course and they served tiramisu for dessert... I wonder whether they made it with alcohol? Cause I do feel a bit weird... Does alcohol consumption give you a headache?
Ok I'm not going to talk about the foods and the lunch. The interesting part about the event was that there were only a few people invited.. and well, i was very excited that of all people in NST, the PR invited me instead!
Of course, I felt like an outcast at first cause everyone was either an editor of a magazine or, a journalist over 10 years.. But nevertheless, they all included me in all of their conversations.

So here I'm going to talk about the interesting conversation that they all brought up..
The highlight of the day was about politics! How Anwar won double than Arif Shah. So they talked about how high his votes were than his wife and all that... Then the editor of Magazine World, Margaret, turned her head towards me and asked,
"Elena, since you're younger, what do you think about politics?"

Hah! Politics schmolitics! I wish I had said...

But I said, "I'm actually confused"

She agreed, and said "I'm confused too. I don't know who is telling the truth."
So the people who were following the conversation, gave a little nod to agree with it.

Just to do a bit of a rewind on other topics that were brought up, Margaret asked me why I chose to do a degree in Journalism.. "Do you like writing?"
I replied, "yes." I paused. "I did a diploma in Mass Communication and decided to do journalism right after." Then one of the PR for Christian Dior said "I did a degree in Journalism abroad as well."
Then they started to talk about the pay.. How journalist gets paid very little. (True *shrugs*)
And the PR said "My lecturer used to tell me that! If you're thinking of getting a high pay. Leave now."
When they mentioned about that, I didn't say a word. Cause I'm not even done with my degree yet.. But they don't know that... I kind of told them that I've just graduated. I had to do that to certain events cause I don't want them to feel that NST sent someone who's merely a journalist. So yeah, I'm going to have to repent for this sin.

Oh Margaret gave me her card and told me to ask my friends who wants to work with her. Not as a journalist though. Managing the company and all that... Sounds interesting... I wonder how much will they pay?

Becoming a journalist is all about passion for writing and not to expect high pay. Remember Elena! Remember! D'oh!

The BIG day is here

2008-08-26T19:21:00.002+10:00

Aug 26 marks a big day for BN and their opposition, PKR. The voting session in Permatang Pauh is scheduled to commence at 8am and end at 5pm. Now it's 5.30pm, I'm sure those who are in charge of counting the votes, are busy doing what they have to do..
Who will win? I ask myself.
To be honest, I don't support anyone. Should I? Indeed I should but since the mainstream newspaper and the opposition newspaper are disseminating their side of a certain story, I refuse to choose sides.
It's confusing for goodness sake!
I read Harakah during the weekend. Yes Harakah. My dad is the type of person who buys all sorts of newspaper when he doesn't play golf during the weekend. For the first time, I managed to flip through the whole paper. What is published in Berita Harian and New Straits Times, is written oppositely in the paper. For instance, the swearing on the Quran. I was first convinced that the sodomy thingy is true because of Saiful taking an oath in the mosque. A mufti (or was it Imam?) said that the swearing was wrong... then another said it was right. Harakah published articles on the event and said that it was wrong. Another article, on the claim who wins during the election. BN and PKR candidates are both confident in winning. You know what? I think that PKR wins... I mean.. actually I'm comfortable with BN ruling the country and all.. but the claims on the guy becoming the PM on Sept 16, I think is true.....
Well actually, I like thinking negatively so that if it turns out that way, I wouldn't get too upset.

I hate politics to be honest.

So the result will be out at 9.30 or so... i wonder.... i wonder.... i have a couple of friends who are fanatics of PKR. I wonder why they believe that they can bring changes? I don't know anything.. if PKR wins and does change Malaysia into a better country, then Alhamdulillah... otherwise, keep it as it is. Malaysia has improved a lot compared to previous years and other countries. We are just a little land but this little land has developed more than countries twice the size.

All the best to whoever who wins. Hope it does give great changes to our country and not otherwise.

a month to go

2008-08-22T19:17:00.002+10:00

Today is August 27... In a month I'll be leaving the NST - Life & Times desk. The past 3 month has been a wonderful experience for me. I had a negative perception towards it before I started. I always thought that internship - honestly, sucks. That was BEFORE. Before I stepped into the L&T world. Now I'm loving it so much that I'm wishing that I can ask for an extend... I want to work... I want to write... I just love it! It's rather unfair for the 'old syllabus' students have to do their practical training during the 5th semester while the new ones get to do during their last semester. I often hear that they get to work there permenantly right after the internship. How about me and the rest 'oldies'? We have to study for another semester and reapply for work. By then, would the newspaper industry remember us? Yes, maybe... but then again, we have to reapply again. Darn..

The positive thing about this though is that I can think thoroughly what I want to be. I wanted to be SO MANY things eversince I was little. Perhaps everything! I'll list down just a few top ones..
1) archaeologist 2) scientist 3) gymnastic coach (yeah..) 4) even wanita UMNO (i don't know how that came up) 5) english teacher 6) kindergarten teacher 7) businesswoman.... and the list goes on and on up to university. The latest are : 1) Diplomat/Ambassador 2) Lecturer 3) Journalist (specifically: Life & Times). No wonder my dad used to call me "hangat-hangat tahi ayam"..

The clock indicates that it is 5.30pm. In half an hour, I can leave back home. My editor has been very busy this whole week. The other journalists are working their head's off on the Merdeka section. I was asked to give out ideas as well.. but I couldn't think of any during the meeting. But of course, interns didn't have to be involve in it so I chose not to and gave some space to the experts. I definitely admire my editor. She's.... actually it's hard to describe her character but she's kind. If I do minor screw-ups in my writings such as not elaborating enough on a particular thing, she would call me very nicely and speak to me in a low and soft tone. She's not the kind of editor who yells and embarrasses you in front of the others. Sometimes, you can't even hear her speak to other journalists when she calls them for correction although she sits just behind me. She's gone for a meeting by the way, that explains me babbling nonsense in this blog.

Oh wait... the other L&T journalists are all gone. I think they've gone off home. Hmm...shall I make a move? Besides, I've finished writing the 2 articles that I was supposed to pass up next week. Maybe in another 10 minutes...

Oh, the airconditioning is off by the way. For the first time, it went off just a few minutes ago. There was a fire alarm (not a loud one though) and me and a new journalist from 3 rows in front of me exchanged glances and quizzed on the alarm. Kindly, Santha - the editor for the political features, explained to me that after the alarm, there will be a large sound (like the sound of a fan) and followed by the off-ing of the aircond.

I'm going to go read dailymail.co.uk a bit more and go back home.. I was asked to enterntain a step cousin of mine from London. I promised her yesterday over BBQ that I would bring her out tonight.. she hasn't watched batman so maybe i'll just bring her for that. The only show that is available though is at 12.30am... damn. But nevermind... :-)

High School Musical: Ice Tour

2008-08-17T03:01:00.002+10:00

What can I say about the HSM: Ice Tour besides SPECTACULAR?

I managed to go watch the show as I was asked by the entertainment editor to cover the event. It wasn't my job at first. She gave it to my friend, Umie who was more under her during our internship but due to Umie receiving 2 free tickets to watch the show when she covered the pre-publicity for the tour, she told the editor that she already has the tickets and told her to give it to me. Of course I was DYING to watch the show at the time. When I saw the editor holding the fax which had the logo of the ice tour, i kind of made an obvious shriek. I was so excited! I wanted to watch it so bad but my sister didn't purchase the tickets early so the CIMB offer ended so we end up not buying any.

So as I reached there, I had to register early for the media pass. It got me all pumped up even more when they gave me this musical programme book. If you flip the first page, you'll hear one of the HSM song and of course they have wonderful pictures of the movie and the skaters as well. The price of the book is actually RM45 but they gave it for free! Lucky! And another, I got the HSM media tag. Of course it is just printed out and laminated. But the main thing is that it showed that I was there! Teehee. Gosh I sound so pathetic and childish (but who cares!).
After I registered, I went into the stadium and the organizer opened quite a number of stalls selling HSM merchandises. "Crap! I only have RM50" I told myself. I looked at the stuff from afar.. scanning through them to see the cheapest prices. Then I saw the lanyard which cost RM20. "Hmm.. shall I or shall I not buy it?" my heart whispered again. They had this rather funky diary which cost RM40. I wanted it but I would be left with RM10 to go back home and who knows what would happen on the way back? So I backed away.

The show went on for 90minutes. Of course there was one break to change the scene from HSM 1 to HSM 2. All of the skaters were world-class skaters and I must say, they were good actors/actesses as well! They perfectly 'sang' and acted in every scene of the HSM and of course, they skated away gracefully that wowed the crowd.

During every song, you could here children and of course some adults singing-a-long to the songs. I definitely sang some of the songs. I was craving to sing all of them but since i was there alone, i felt like a fool singing alone. Of course there were other medias who sat a seat away from me. Some were in front.. some were at the back.. they weren't singing. They were busy snapping pictures.

Ok ok about the show, i will give you just some insights as the show ends on the August 20 so you have much time to go purchase the tickets.. So the show featured songs such as "Breaking Free", "Stick to the status quo", "You're the music in me" (my fave! *Shriek!*), "We're all in this together" and the list goes on and on.. The show is no different than the movie itself. It features similar scenes.. such as for the HSM 1, you still can witness the Wild Cats in action in the basketball court, the audition scene.. for HSM 2, you have the Evan's club scene, the kitchen.. of course there are cool surprises that awaits for the audience! I love their wardrobe.. similar! :-D

Right after the show ended, I headed to the stall to purchase the lanyard that i was eyeing earlier.. there were so many kids and mothers trying to purchase the goodies. I did wait for a few minutes but since the crowd grew bigger (although they have many stalls that sell the same thing), I decided to leave and give the kiddies a chance to buy them.

P/S: High School Musical is not just for kids. Disney rocks!

whatever

2008-08-14T14:05:00.002+10:00

It's 12.05pm right now and i'm at work. I have quite a number of articles to write but my mood is not supporting me to finish them up. So what do I want to do instead? Blab in this blog. I'm quite surprised that I've already posted 3 blogs. Yes they are gibberish but heck, i managed to keep them flowing as i have a history of posting a few blogs in numerous blog accounts and leaving them to collect the dust. The blogs are (to name a few) diaryland, blog (i think), friendster's blog, myspace's blog, wordpress...etc. I love writing by the way, hence my degree in Journalism and internship at New Straits Times but it's just that writing features must be under a good and 'flowery' mood. Why flowery? Cause you need to write it to really grab the reader's attention. They are not like the other news where you have to attract them with the 5 w's & 1 h. Features are something different.. you can start up with quotes.. or questions.. Before i decided to post this blog, i was writing an article on lacquered butterfly clips by Van Cleef & Arpels. The assignment was a week ago (or perhaps was it more?) but due to my piled assignments that i decided to delay, i ended up having tons! I listed them down and gosh I have 10.
Luckily features are not needed pronto! The first few months I did everything in fast pace. I was still fresh in ideas but now it's my 3rd month, my brain is not functioning well.. it's going about 10km/h. Crap..

Ok Min is scheduled to fly off to Sabah at 3pm. I think he'll be going to the airport anytime soon. The positive thing that i like that he's going is that it'll be his first time going on the plane. I'm happy for him. If we get married (inshaAllah..), i'm going to invite him to go to Hong Kong. Why Hong Kong? I've been living there for 2 years ('96-'98) and besides finding the place very fascinating, it was the place my mother passed away. So i've been itching and dying to go back there just to walk around and see the old places that my late mother brought me. My old school, shopping malls, apartment.. everything and anything to remind me back of my mother. :) And of course, i didn't get the chance to go to Hong Kong's disneyland. When I was there, i think they were just about to plan it.. damn.

Uh oh.. my stomach is growling and i'm fasting. Steady stomach...steady... i had a stomach ache and a very bad wind this morning. I almost didn't want to go to work and wanted to break fast but since Ramadhan is just around the corner and i have a couple of days to 'make up' the puasa that i missed, i have to put down my feet and say "No to break fast. Not until 7.30pm."

Occay, back to work before i get caught doing something else! Hehe.

anything

2008-08-13T19:21:00.003+10:00

Another half an hour i'm leaving back home.. my stomach is growling badly but i have to ignore it.. as i am fasting. I'm 'making up' for the several days that i did not fast during Ramadhan (it's a girl thing). I did make up yesterday.. but since i only ate during the break fast the previous day, i couldn't stand but to break fast at 1pm. I should've stood firm and ignore my hungerness but the growling was bad so i ate char kuey teow. One of my friends were surprised that i ate and said (translated) "you have to fast an additional day to make up for it". I didn't know that I had to do extra.. but oh well, i am going to fast another 10 days just to make up any other days that i missed.

Tomorrow Min (my bf) will be flying off to Sabah under his production house. He's helping out with the tv programme called Mistik. A true ghostly event where they go and shoot people who are being treated Islamically to remove ghosts and under black magic stuff. When I was young, I believed the existance of ghosts but never realised that someone close to me would die of black magic years later. Eversince, I grew interest on the topic.. When people say that they don't believe that ghosts exists, I would always talk about the tragedy that occurred to a member of my family years back that caused her death. (May she rest in peace and placed among all the good people).
Anyway, he's going there for 10 days.. yes 10 days.. some may think 10 days may not be long but if you're in my place, then you'll realize that it feels like a lifetime. Everyday my agenda is always with him. It's either we go out for dinner.. or to the movies.. shopping.. sometimes he comes over to my house and play with my little brother Eshan. The 4 year old boy is very cheeky! And he definitely loves Min. Yesterday my sister and I asked him who he loves... and he answered "abang min". My sister narrowed down the question and said "just girls". It did took him quite sometime to choose either me or my sister. First he said me then my sister.. Haha. But after being shy about the question, he then replied "dua dua.." (both). Good boy. Oh by the way, Eshan is hooked up with his new playstation. Yes a 4 year old boy who already has his own playstation. It's ps2 by the way. My dad didn't buy him ps3 as my brother already has it but in my own opinion, ps2 is much 'friendlier' to use for kids like him. Eversince he got the playstation, he's been playing the Indiana Jones and Star Wars lego game. I did enjoy playing Indiana Jones but just during the first week.. after that I grew bored. Star Wars is much boring as I hardly follow star wars. I'm not so into sci-fi movies. Most of his time is spent playing playstation. He refuses to go to school or even shops (except toys r us) the first few weeks. Then gradually he went back to school and followed us out. But of course, he still wails if nobody wants to play the game with him. Both games needs 2 players. So yeah, almost everyday he cries..
My little cute baby brother :-)

I wish someone would understand..

2008-08-12T01:13:00.002+10:00

I wish that someone can read my mind.. and hold me tight and tell me that "I know what you're going through...".
It's not easy to live a life knowing that you cannot turn back the clock and hug and kiss your mum and tell her that you love her. Slowly I'm forgetting what it feels like holding her hand when crossing the road in Hong Kong.. I can't remember how it feels like touching her cheeks..
Every night I pray to God to grant me just one wish. Just one. That I can dream about her. Not those lousy dreams that you go for a holiday with your mum or anything. One that she really comes to visit me and tell me to be strong.
I miss her touch.. I miss her cook.. I miss her advices... I miss her love... I miss a mother's love...
I am jealous for those who gets to hug and kiss their mother...
I am disgusted for those who treats their mother like shit..

I wish I could sell my soul to bring back my mother. Just anything to have a glimpse of her... Anything...

The haunting past

2008-08-12T00:38:00.002+10:00

It has been 10 years since I last saw her.. yes 10 years..
10 years of not seeing my mama...
10 years of trying to accept the fact that she passed away..
10 years of trying to stop thinking about her when I'm alone..
10 years of trying to move on..
10 years of trying to be the best daughter although she is not here to see me..

It's insane that everyday feels like 'yesterday'.
No one knows how hard i'm trying to cope with this..