this heart of mine

#WordlessWednesday #11

2012-01-25T11:11:00.002+08:00

(Pasar Chow Rasta, Penang, 22 October 2011)

Please tell me caffeine has more advantages than disadvantages

2012-01-19T09:52:00.001+08:00

I needed to hear that because apparently, I think (or I just realized) that my caffeine intake per day is ~~way too~~ quite high.

Lets see... what is caffeine?

Caffeine chemical structure

Caffeine is a biochemical that is produced exclusively in plant leaves, nuts and fruits of over 60 plants, including common tea (Camellia sinensis) leaves, coffee (Coffea arabica) and cocoa (Theobroma cacao) beans and kola (Cola acuminata) nuts and assorted berries. Caffeine also can be produced synthetically, and is commonly added to commercial drinks such as cola, sodas (pop), selected foods and diet products. This simple compound has significant biochemical and physiological effects, many beneficial and some, potentially, harmful (Reinhardt, 2009).

Cehhh macam tulis journal ngan thesis pulak dah kan. Rindu nak menulis la tu konon :P

So anyway, this is approximately what I take everyday:

Morning (at home) - 1 mug of Nescafe-O

Morning (at the office) - 1 tumbler (approx. 2 cups) of instant Nescafe/Hazelnut White Coffee/Black Coffee

Evening (around 4.30pm) - 1 tumbler (approx. 2 cups) of instant Nescafe/Hazelnut White Coffee/Black Coffee

Night - 1 big mug of Nescafe-O

Hmm... what do u think? Ok lagi tak?

"It's generally agreed that consuming up to 300 mg of caffeine per day is safe. That's roughly the amount of caffeine you would get from three cups (not mugs or big paper cups) of coffee. Women who are pregnant or may become pregnant may want to decrease that amount or skip the caffeine altogether."

(source: http://nutrition.about.com/)

Differentiate: cup and mug

I am not going to calculate how much caffeine I take every day. I think it will be scary. -____-"

Positive Side Effects of Caffeine

Alertness - Caffeine makes our brains active and alert for an hour or two. Regular intake has shown to increase brain power.

Anti-oxidant - Caffeine can prevent heart diseases. For as long as you do not have a heart disease to begin with, caffeine can help prevent serious heart diseases and even some forms of cancer.

Stamina - Taking caffeine before exercising and working out slows down production of adenosine which

causes muscle fatigue.

Negative Side Effects of Caffeine

Addiction - When you start out the habit of drinking coffee every day, you will notice that in the long run, your body will be craving for it every day too. This is because caffeine is addictive. When we skip it, we become irritable, tired or depressed or even have headaches.

Dehydration - Caffeine in coffee has diuretic properties which can cause dehydration.

Panic attacks – Heavy doses of caffeine in our body for a long period of time can cause the fight-or-flight instinct and panic attacks. A person begins to have shaky hands, sweaty skin, and the state of always thinking that something bad might happen.

Please list more and more advantages of caffeine pleaseeee.....

Can't get enough of it!

2012-01-17T13:56:00.003+08:00

Yuna singing Terukir di Bintang (source: Budiey's Youtube)

"Sayangku
Jangan kau persoalkan siapa dihatiku
Terukir di bintang tak mungkin hilang cintaku padamu"

Bad experience with Sajian Enak, Kenanga Wholesale City

2012-01-15T14:30:00.001+08:00

I don't normally blog about any shop that I went and had bad experience with. But I really really want to blog about this particular restaurant that I had a very very bad service I've ever received.

Went to Kenanga Wholesale City with mum, cousin, aunty and niece last Saturday. Was very hungry and looked for a place to eat. We saw this one Malay restaurant, Sajian Enak, located at floor 3A. They had promotions such as Nasi Minyak dengan Dalca Daging and Nasi Kerabu. Mum felt like eating Nasi kerabu so we decided to have our lunch there.

And let me tell you our experience there.

Situation 1 - around 1.35pm

Mum: Nasi Kerabu (RM6.00) satu.
Waiter: Ok. nak lauk tak, nasi tu tak datang dengan lauk.
Mum: Oh.. bagi ikan goreng tepung satu.

*Nasi kerabu RM6.00 is just nasi yang takde warna pun, ulam2 kacang botol/kacang panjang/taugeh dan sedikit kuah dicurah atas nasi.

Me: Nak Nasi Dagang satu.
Waiter:Nasi Dagang takde.
Cousin: Bagi Laksam ye.
Waiter: Laksam pun takde.
Me: Hmm.. Nasi lemak lah.
Waiter: Rendang ayam ke daging?
Me: Ayam.
Waiter: Ok

So we ordered:
Nurin - Nasi kerabu
Mum - Nasi kerabu + Ikan goreng tepung
Me - Nasi lemak rendang ayam
Cousin - Mee Rebus
Aunty - Keuy Teow Goreng

Nurin's Nasi kerabu came after about 20 minutes we ordered. I thought it would take such a long time since it is just putting things together on the plate, without any cooking necessary. Btw, they only send one nasi kerabu, mum's ikan goreng tepung was not ready yet, we guessed.

Situation 2 - around 2.15pm

Waitress: ada order nasi lemak kan? *looking at a receipt*
Me: Yes.
Waitress: Err..

Waitress went away.

Waitress came back to the table.

Waitress: Nasi lemak tadi order rendang ayam kan?
Me: Yes.
Waitress: Ayam takde la kak. Dah habis.
Me: *started to naik angin and all* Masa order tadi kenapa tak cakap takde ayam? Kenapa tanya nak ayam ke daging? Ni baru bgtau dah berapa lama tunggu dari tadi.
Waitress: Hmm.. tak tau kak..
Me: @$$^%&(*&(!%^&#
Mum: Nasi kerabu tadi order dua, lagi satu kenapa tak sampai2 lagi?
Waitress: Nasi kerabu dapat buat satu je kak, dah habis.
Mum: Kenapa masa hantar yang satu tadi tak cakap dah habis?
Waitress: *tunduk and walked away*

Kalau nak cakap bangang boleh tak? Why the hell did you guys take order for things that was actually finished or sold out or whatever. And don't bother to let us know if we didn't ask? For about 45 minutes we've waited??!!!!

Dah la tengah lapar. Lagi bertambah nak mengamuk lah kan.

Kiranya the only food sampai kat meja besides the drinks was Nurin's Nasi Kerabu. Mee rebus and Kuey Teow pun ntah apa cerita tak tahu, malas nak tanya.

Dah memang lapar dan bengang tak terkata, suruh mak rasa Nasi Kerabu Nurin sebab mak dah teringin tadi and ajak pergi tempat lain makan.

Went to the counter, ada the waiter yang ambil order and tanya kenapa tak bagitau makanan semua habis, he just said "Oh..ye ke.." and pergi dapur buat-buat nak check. Waitress lain yang uruskan the bill dengan muka tunduk je. The first guy never came back to us. I wonder if he was the owner or manager because he was the one yang panggil orang bagi arahan masa we first came in.

Oh, and the worst thing is.. NO ONE APOLOGISE...!! I honestly wouldn't have write this if at least one of them come to us and sincerely apologise!

Booooo!!!

Kalau nak berniaga, buat lah cara nak berniaga.

Oh look. We were caught on camera! Say cheese!

Taken from their FB.

Ok dah lepaskan kemarahan dan kebengangan. Sekian, terima kasih.

********************

Update at 10.16pm, 15 January 2012

They removed the picture above from their FB and deleted my comment.

Bravo!

IMU Open Day 150112

2012-01-13T09:26:00.000+08:00

Date: 15 January 2012 (Sunday)

Time: 10 am to 4 pm

Venue: IMU Bukit Jalil Campus

Theme: Pathways to Family Wellness

FACT-FINDING & COUNSELLING
• Discover more about IMU’s proven track records, its clinical schools and Partner Universities
• View student activities in the IMU and community and student research projects
• Obtain personal counselling on the IMU undergraduate and postgraduate programmes,career prospects and admission procedures
• Gather information on financial aids including the IMU Scholarships,High Achiever Awards, Merit Awards, PTPTN loan and bank loans

EXCITING HAPPENINGS
• Optical Illusions
• Medical Museum exhibits
• Tablet manufacturing process
• Display of cadaveric parts (plastinated) and pathological specimen
• Demonstrations on magic writing using inorganic chemical solutions
• And many more not-to-be-missed activities!

MUST-SEE CAMPUS FACILITIES
Exploring educational and support facilities - Skills Centre, Laboratories, Dental Laboratories, Nutrition & Dietetics Laboratories, E-learning Laboratories, Learning Resources, Medical Museum, Research Laboratories, Instrument Room with Tableting Machine, IMU Healthcare Centre, etc.

Processing Fee Waived for on-the-spot Application on Open Day *

* Except Medicine, Dentistry & Pharmacy

Talk Schedule

She is Super Something!

2012-01-12T12:58:00.000+08:00

I don't know where my passion to blog went, but I honestly don't feel like blogging at the moment even though I have so much to tell. I hope the passion will come back to me sooner or later. -___-"

Anyway, went to the fabulous singer, Yuna's Terukir di Bintang showcase at DBKL last Saturday with Baiti, Kak Harim and Hanie. I knew I wanted to watch her again after I first went to her concert in DFP months ago. And there she was... as awesome as always. Going to her show is worth every penny spent.

She performed few of her old, famous songs such and some of her new songs which are included in her new album such as Fears and Frustration and Terukir di Bintang.

Yuna & Dina of Era fm

Era-Yuna contest winner

Bumped into an old friend who is now an mStar reporter, Feride. She was covering the Yuna showcase while B, who is also a The Star journalist, on the hand went to the show to just sit, relx and enjoy.

Feride, me, Baiti and Hanie

Sister sister

The Random Awesome Super Something Yunalis Zarai.

Yuna : Terukir di Bintang Showcase

2011-12-22T08:49:00.000+08:00

Have you got yours?

Ticketing Instructions

1. Seats are VERY limited.

2. Please view the seating layout to determine your desired seatings arrangement.

3. After confirming your desired seatings arrangement based on the venue's seatings layout, please call (NO SMSES PLEASE) 010-2872925 STRICTLY from 1PM-4PM ONLY any day from Monday - Sunday to book your preferred seatings arrangement.

4. If your desired initial seatings arrangement is already unavailable, please have the venue's seatings available in front of you so we could immediately proceed to book the next best seatings arrangement for you.

5. ONLY when the seating arrangement is agreed upon, proceed to SMS your FULL NAME, IC NUMBER, E-MAIL ADDRESS and PRIMARY MOBILE CONTACT NUMBER to 010-2872925. An e-mail will be immediately sent to you with further instructions regarding the payment of your booked tickets.

6. Bookings will be CLOSED ON THE 6TH OF JANUARY 2012 and there will be NO TICKETS ON SALE AT THE VENUE as per instruction from Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur.

(Source: Yuna Room Records Showcase FB page)

#WordlessWednesday #10

2011-12-14T14:12:00.001+08:00

Where exactly are we?

The end of another journey

2011-12-06T15:58:00.001+08:00

I finished my Bachelor degree somewhere in 2008 and were conferred the degree of Bachelor of Engineering (Polymer Engineering) during the Universiti Sains Malaysia 38^th Convocation in August 2011. I’ve started to happily going into the lab and doing experiments, and reading journals looking for information and keep updated with the current trends of polymer field since the industrial training period and during my final year of Bachelor where we needed to submit a dissertation on research as a fulfillment to our Bachelor degree. Hence I decided to pursue my Master’s degree and registered in December 2008.

I’ve always be thankful that I have one of the most impressive researcher as the supervisor, Prof Hanafi Ismail. He had assisted me in many ways. Always know where to lead me when I was off track. I blame myself for not giving enough determination to finish up with the thesis writing when I had the advantage of completed the lab work in quite fast. I had issues withmyself and so on and so forth. Prof Hanafi always asked when I would submit the thesis and there were always reasons to give.

I then moved back to KL for good and finished my thesis writing while I’ve started my part time basis in IMU. After another dramatic experience, I managed to submit the draft copies to Institute of Postgraduate Studies (IPS), USM in January 2011. Another challenge that I had to go through was when I needed to wait for 5 months to be finally called for viva voce while most students were called for their viva on the 3^rd or 4^th month after submission.

When I submitted my thesis back in January, I targeted that I’d be graduating in September 2011. So when I didn’t manage to submit the final copies of thesis to IPS by 31^st August 2011, I was already down. In addition of the another internal crisis I had with myself during the proses of finalizing the thesis, one after another issues came out that I needed to face, and that I was almost giving up on my Master. But thank God for the strength, and I thank everyone around me that never give up on supporting me as well.

And finally, there I was in the IPS (again after other dramatic incident *sigh*), I handed over the three final copies of hard bound theses, a CD, a form signed by the supervisor and dean and a graduation information form.

A week later, a letter came in.

Alhamdulillah.

Cuti cuti Medan - Part 2

2011-11-20T14:27:00.000+08:00

Woke up very early in the morning. The day started earlier than in Kuala Lumpur. It was such a nice and calm feeling to woke up and went to the window and looked at the sun rise. Breakfast served at 0700 and as told, the tour guide came to pick us up at 0730. We check out from the hotel as we were going to stay in Berastagi on the second night. Picked up the family of four (from Melaka) at another hotel and went to a jetty where we took a boat to Samosir Island.

Saujana mata memandang

View from the hotel room

Breakfast

Samosir Island is an island off Danau Toba. The Lake Toba and Samosir Island were formed after the eruption of a super volcano some75,000 years ago. Subhanallah…

The boat ride to Kampung Ambarita in Samosir Island took around 45 minutes. On our way, the tour guide told us stories about the lake,the island, the Batak Toba people and lots more. When we reached Kampung Ambarita, we were brought to the Stone Chairs of King Siallagan. The Stone Chairs is where the King and other village chiefs sat together to discuss and execute criminals.

On the boat

The execution demo

The house of the Bataks

We were told about the Batak Toba people – how they are still left behind in the world of modernization. Their only source of income is by selling souvenirs to the tourist. Which we know how competitive it could before them when all of them selling the same stuff, to the little amount of visitors on the island. If it’s not because of the crooked roads and long hours journey to reach Danau Toba from Medan town, I think more tourist would be visiting this place. Even ones who had went there would want to come again and again. Too bad… due to lack of awareness of the government to upgrade the road,and tourism facilities, the Batak Toba still live like we were 10 years ago.

Then we took the boat ride again to Kampung Tomok. No, I don’t think Tomok (New Boyz or OIM) comes from this village. We did not do anything much besides shopping there. I just spend time taking photograph at the jetty since I was pretty much done with souvenir shopping in Kampung Ambarita.

The youngsters making money by singing to the tourist on the boat

Beautiful chalets on Samosir Island

We went back to the Parapat mainland by boat and went to have lunch at Restoran Istana Minang in Parapat. We tried the ikan pora pora, which is also known locally as ikan Megawati .

The 4 hours journey to Berastagi started at around 1430hrs.We made two stops on our way there. First was at Simarjarunjung. We had a nice and warm famous local ginger tea and pisang goreng. Simarjarunjung is a bit colder than Parapat. We were told that it would be colder in Berastagi since it is in a high land.

Next stop was at the Sipiso Piso waterfall. The 120 meters height waterfall drops from an opening on the rock face to the bottom. Beside the beautiful view of the waterfall, we could also see the Lake Toba from the northern.

Sipiso Piso waterfall

The Lake Toba view from northern

It was time to say goodbye to the huge lake as that was the last stop where it could still be viewed. I’ll be back someday.

It was a drizzly journey so the driver had to be extra careful and thus longer time to reach Berastagi. We bumped into a lot of incident that showed us how the local people live, deal with accident etc. We finally reached the hotel in Berastagi at about 1945. Along the journey, I asked the tour guide’s help to get me a birthday cake for Mum’s 57th birthday. We managed to keep it secret and successfully surprised her after dinner.

Happy Birthday, Mummy!

Off for the night and another long day waiting.

To be continued.

Cuti cuti Medan - Part I

2011-11-18T11:23:00.001+08:00

It was kinda a sudden decision to go on a trip to Medan. Mytarget for travelling this year was actually achieved with the Kota Kinabalutrip with Mum (day 1 and day 2) and the second Singapore visit with the family (which I realise Ihaven’t post anything on it, yet! USS babyyy!! Will do soon!!). Penang tripsdon’t count as travel, ok. :P

I was thinking about Bandung, Jakarta and Medan. Thoughpeople keep telling me how nice shopping in Bandung would be, I remembered howI used to love looking at Lake Toba’s picture and how I wished I would see thescenery with my own eyes. So I decided to ask mum on a trip to Medan and LakeToba. I extended the invitation to my aunt, uncle & cousins too. And theywe were last week – on our trip to Medan.

Web and mobile checked in made easy

We took an early flight to Medan. The journey took more orless one hour and we arrived at about 0845 local time (one hour late thanMalaysia). The tour guide was already there waiting for us. There were also onefamily of four and a honeymoon couple that join us in the tour.

We were told that we’re waiting for another group of fourthat would arrive at 1100 so we were brought to have breakfast first, then to batikand sarongs shop. We did a little shopping while waiting for the other group. Ididn’t really shop since we were just arrived and I gotta be careful not tospend much on the first day.

Later when the group of four Penangite guys arrived, we wentto have our lunch at a Minang restaurant before precede our journey to Parapatto witness the beautiful Lake Toba. The Rumah Makan ACC or Restoran ACC at Jalan Sisingamangaraja, Medan serves Minang food. The food was nice. Spicy but really nice. Even the place was nice - air-conditioned, clean restrooms and musholla was available too.

The journey to Parapat is like going to Kuala Pilah usingthe old road Bukit Putus or the very crooked road of Balik Pulau. If wouldunderstand me if you’ve used either one of these roads.

Hence, NOTE: The Parapat-Berastagi-Medan tour is notsuitable for kids especially for kids aged 10 and below. They’ll get bored andtired.

On our way, we made a stop at a shop which sells local foodproducts mostly nut based. The names of the food are unique i.e Ting Ting, TangTang, Teng Teng, Pang Pang, Pong Pong. Yes, I’m not kidding. Unique, isn’t it? Haha.

The bottled teh-O ais.

We then continued our journey to Parapat. After more or less 4 hours, we finally reached thehotel at late evening and checked in to the hotel. Got off the bus and the Lake Toba was right before my eyes. I was awing the scenery, like every second till I got into the hotel and the lake was not in my view anymore.

NOTE 2: If you’re not fussy about hotel rooms, don’t go forthe expensive 5 stars hotel. Tour for Medan-Lake Toba from most agencies’itineraries is almost the same – check in late evening, check out early nextmorning. It’ll be such a waste, unless if you spend more than a night in everyplace i.e Parapat, Berastagi, Medan.

I kept on thinking how I really wanted to see the Lake Tobaand the day finally came. And my hotel room faced the lake itself. I can’t getaway from the window. It was just… breathtaking!

View from my room.

As far as the eyes can see.. Subhanallah...

We had dinner at the hotel and went to bed quite early. Wehad another long day the next day.

To be continued.

#WordlessWednesday #9

2011-11-16T12:52:00.004+08:00

(Medan, November 2011)

Recipe searching made easy with Google

2011-11-07T11:57:00.004+08:00

I was looking for some recipe on the internet via Google when I came across one thing that I've never realise before. Maybe some of you might have seen this, but this was the first time for me. And I think I'm loving Google a little bit more for this cause it helps make my recipe hunting easier. :D

Ok first of all, if any of you have known this for quite a while, please don't brag at me. Saya tahu saya selalu agak ketinggalan zaman dalam hal sebegini -___-"

So anyways....

Can you spot the thing that I said made my searching easier?

Yes, it's that thing on the left of the searching - wit boxes to tick and list to choose.

In example, if I were to find a Chicken Tikka recipe, it'll come out like this.

Which we can choose if we want to exclude any of the ingredients and then Google will refine the search according to our selection.

We can also choose preferable cooking time i.e. less than 15 minutes. Most recipe sites on the internet will state the cooking time took to prepare each recipe.

Easier, isn't it?

Now let's do some more recipe hunting, Juls!

Susah juga kalau pemikiran terlalu sempit

2011-11-03T01:16:00.000+08:00

Semalam ternampak satu screen shot Google Translate yang dikongsi oleh satu group yang agak banyak yang 'Like' kat Facebook. Gambar yang dikongsi tu pun tak kurang banyak jugak la yang 'like' dan komen.

Panas, kan?

And check this out. Some of the comments.

Ok, as much as I'm hurt and angry to see the word 'myQuran' which is supposed to be translated as 'Al-Quran ku' or 'Kitab ku', and instead Google Tranlate translated it as 'Syaithan', I just do not agree with some people who keep on blaming Google for this.

Memang sebagai seorang Muslim, marah tu ada. Geram, sakit hati semua pun ada lah. Tapi tak perlu kot nak emo lebih lebih atas fakta yang korang pun tak tau betul ke tak. Nak marah, biar marah pada orang/organisasi/tempat yang betul.

Kenapa salah kan Google seratus-peratus sebab Google tu Yahudi yang punya. Yakin ke memang Google buat translation macam tu? Cuba pikir, kalau betul Google nak translate kan macam tu, kenapa tak buat dekat semua bahasa? Kenapa buat kat Bahasa Malaysia/Bahasa Melayu je? Dah cuba check perkataan MyQuran tu kalau translate pada bahasa lain? Spanish? French? Arabic? Chinese? Korean? Indonesian? Orang Yahudi, kalau betul betul nak jatuhkan or hina Islam, tak kan guna cara paling bodoh setakat tukar Google Translate tu la. Terrrrlalu banyak cara lain diorang boleh buat secara halus. Pemikiran bagi luas sikit, boleh?

Dan yang paling penting, korang tau tak yang perkataan kat Google Translate tu boleh ditukar kalau kita rasa tak sesuai. Contohnya kalau kita type sesuatu dalam English, tapi bila dia bagi translate kita rasa tak sesuai, so kita bukak kamus, jumpa perkataan yang lebih sesuai, kita boleh tukar supaya orang lain yang nak guna perkataan tu akan dapat terjemahan yang lebih baik. Ok, paham dah?

Berbalik pada gambar dan amukan mereka2 di komen tersebut, mungkin juga itu bukan kerja Google. Mungkin juga itu kerja mereka yang tak bertanggungjawab. Benda ni bukan baru, sebelum ni pun dah kecoh kat facebook and twitter pasal perkataan/nama lain yang dah di set-kan pelik2 je oleh mereka2 yang tak bertanggungjawab ni. Sebagai contoh...

Pastu nak contoh lain, ni lagi satu.

Tak cukup lagi contoh? Ni macam mana perkataan tu boleh ditukar.

Ok, now, are we clear adik-adik?

Good.

Ok tapikan, dalam yang komen tu, tak semua salahkan Google. Cuba tengok bawah ni.

Komen yang 1st dari Cik F. Komen kedua dari admin page. Komen dari korang pulak?

So, anyways, terima kasih atas perhatian yang diberikan. Saya hanya memberikan pendapat.

Portable charger - the birthday present from IMU

2011-10-31T22:48:00.004+08:00

I was away to Penang exactly the day after my birthday, when I got an email from my Manager.

"Need you to tell me what you want for your b'day. Each staff dapat budget RM150. This way you get something you want rather benda you tak minat."

I then remember that she once told me that all staff are eligable for a RM150 worth present for their birthday from IMU. I told my manager to get me a portable charger or anything she think might be practical for me i.e for travelling purpose. But later she told to just get anything by myself, then claim. Yeah.. she being herself memang lambat la kalau nak pergi beli. (hehe sorry bos :p )

So yeahh I got myself a portable battery charger, the Energizer XP2001 :D

I've always wanted to buy a portable charger due to some certain reason. My smart phone battery tend to drained so fast (but not so much since updated to Symbian Anna, bravo!). And I kinda need this portable charger when I'm out for the whole day, better still for my travelling purpose. I'm known as a person who go out from the hotel after breakfast and come back after dinner during travelling.

I might not be able to fully charge my phone or camera or mp3 player, but at least it would be very useful during the time of emergency when my things are totally out of battery.

The package - with multipurpose tips

Anyway, if certain phone charger tips is not included in the package, no worries. Nowadays, most phone comes with the USB cable, right? It can be used too to charge the phone using this power pack.

This is how it should be charge - via the USB port on the PC or laptop.

But for travelling purpose when no PC or laptop is available, this can also be the solution:

Yeah, that's my iPad charger.

But the USB port charger (I dont know what's the geeky name for it) is also available in most IT store.

I am happy with my the present-for-myself-but-paid-by-IMU. Rezeki nak dapat hadiah walaupun baru berapa bulan je kat situ. Hehehe.

On the other hand, the Yuha girls got me a 500GB Adata external HDD. And it's blue in colour. I love it!

Too much geeky stuff for my 26th birthday eh? :p

Girlfriend, B got me a really nice dress from The Pop Look. But no picture of me wearing it yet. Will post the picture of the dress once I go on a date with her wearing that dress! Hehe.

Meeting the Buttercup and Blossom juniors

2011-10-27T21:45:00.001+08:00

Besides went for food hunting in Penang last weekend, I also went to Kulim to visit my lovely, very own Buttercup and Blossom - Zydah and Nurul and their princess. Zydah and Nurul had been a very close friend to me since my first year in USM, back in 2004.

Zydah, Nurul & me. 2005.

Nurul was one of the earliest person I knew during the orientation week since we were both in the same course and same hostel building. She was very kind to me, brought me around the campus and helped me with my late registration as I was away to umrah during the orientation/registration week. Yes, I skipped campus and hostel orientation weeks. By the time I was back in campus it was already the third week and classes had already started. She is the reason why I always back-up Kelantanese when people say they are racist. Nurul certainly is not. She knew I was a KLite all the way from the start but she still helped me with everything tho.

Zydah, on the other hand was a Material Engineering student. Different course but in the same school. The similarity between us was that she also came late (skipped few days of orientation) as she was away for her umrah as well. I knew her through Nurul, of course. The three of us were always together, tho Zyd somehow became a bit far from us by day, because our schedules did not really sync.

Zydah, Nurul and Ikhwan. Megamall.

Weeks and months and years passed by. We had issues - this and that. Things happened and I blame myself that I got drew away from them especially Nurul. If I could turn back time, I wanted to make things better again. I would make sure we wouldn't get into the fight on my 21st birthday. :(

I'm glad that we managed to make up and the friendship we built was back like how it started again before we end our undergraduate year, before we all graduated in 2008. I'm glad I have them with me through my ups and downs while I was away from my home.

Genting Highland, with Penick. 2008

Oh, that is just the introduction. My actual post is supposed to be about me meeting their daughters. I just got carried away telling stories... Yeahh... that's me...

So anyways, both of them are happily married, with kid and both are staying in Kulim now. So during my visit to campus last weekend, I managed to see my lovely girls in Kulim. I wanted to see Nurul's daughter. I've met Zyd's daughter when I came for viva in June. We gather at Nurul's house. Thanks, Uyu and sorry awak lambat pegi keje. Hehe.

Introducing...

Wan Nur Aisyah

24 May 2011

Nur Ain Adlina

24 July 2011

My very own Buttercup and Blossom with their daughters

Happy for them :')

P/s: No question starts with 'when' is allowed in the comments box. Kthxbye. -___-"

Yang dirindui di Penang

2011-10-26T02:13:00.000+08:00

Last weekend I was requested by my supervisor to come and see him due to my unfinished thesis problem. As much as I was worried to go and think about my thesis, I looked forward to come to Penang for some reasons too. One of them was for its food. Yes, I am so much in love with Penang food and I've missed some of them since my very short trip to Penang like 3 months ago. So I decided to full fill my crave for Penang food and I made sure to check in Foursquare and counted the 'Yang dirindui di Penang #'. :P

Cheese Naan + Tandoori Set (Kapitan)

First night in Penang, went to Kapitan Perda to hang out with some friends. I was actually craving for the Mutton Briyani, sadly not my luck the mutton was already finished that night *cries* Second choice was the cheese naan set with chicken tandoori.

Nasi + Daging + Telur Dadar + Bendi + Kuah Campur (Nasi Kandar Line Clear)

Second day started late due to tired of driving the day before and went back after hang out at Kapitan quite late. Skipped breakfast and started the food hunting with luch at Nasi Kandar Line Clear. This is always my favourite combination of nasi kandar dishes there. I just love the beef so much. I wish I know how to cook that. Somebody go steal me their secret recipe pls?

Ais Tingkap / Sherbat (Ais Tingkap Taufiq)

After the marvellous nasi kandar lunch, walked around Penang Road and went to Chow Rasta. Later straight away headed to the Ais Tingkap stall to have this drink. Very refreshing to have it during the very hot weather.

Pasembor + Coconut Shake (Medan Selera Padang Kota)

The pasembor mix of paru, cucur, telur rebus, fish cakes and the gravy also made my day. I wish my stomach could be a bit emptier so that I grab Sotong Kangkung as well.. but I honestly couldn't make it. Haishhh now I miss sotong kangkung alreadyy :(

Sup Kambing + Roti Benggali (Sup Hamid)

One of the many reasons why whenever mum came to visit me, we always choose a hotel in Penang Road to stay. THIS. The super delicious and the famous soup in town yawww! I just can't resist the sup kambing.

Serabai (Astaka Taman Tun Sardon)

Started my next day with breakfast at Astaka Taman Tun Sardon. I have always been looking forward to have serabai for breakfast when I'm in Penang since I was introduced to the local Penang breakfast by my grandmother years ago. I've tried serabai that I bought else where, but honestly nothing can beat the serabai here. And I had a nice cappati too for breakfast.

That was the end of my 'Yang dirindui di Penang' food hunting mission. Got to go back to Seberang Prai to find some thing and to Kulim later to see some friends.

Oh. If you see me after this, DO NOT ever ask why I look even fatter than last week.

p/s:

I STILL WANT THE BRIYANI KAMBING AARRGGHHH!!!!!!!

#WordlessWednesday #8

2011-10-19T10:28:00.001+08:00

Sikit-sikit lama-lama jadi bukit.

Bubbles' new patchwork sling bag

2011-10-17T23:39:00.001+08:00

When I go travel, I always need another bag beside the backpack to bring my stuff (camera, purse, handphones, tissues etc) here and there. I don't prefer ladies handbag because it won't look nice with my shoes. I normally wear sneakers or just sandals, with exception to flats once in a while. And I prefer sling bag than a tote. I just feel more comfortable and secure as and when I need to move fast.

The border of Wang Kelian (Perlis) and Satun (Thailand)

In memory, Tanjung Pagar Railway Station, Singapore

Since mum won't allow me to buy another new bag (yes, I'm turning 26 and still ask mum's opnion and sometimes permission to buy thing -__-" ), I've decided to apply my *ehem ehem* skill to make patchwork stuff to make a new sling bag for myself. So there was how my day went last Sunday. And well..... here we go.....

Altogether now.... WAAAHHHHHH!!!!! :p

Ok please don't compare my handmade patchwork sling bag with the one sold in internet or at the shops in the malls. They've been doing it for yearsss kot. And this is only my third patchwork item. Well at least mum said it's cantik (after I harassed her to say so ppffftt!)

The bag in detail....

Laying flat

The inside pocket

My sling bag, iPad pouch and small stationery bag.

(Click here to see the iPad pouch details)

I am a happy happy girl!!! :D

By the way, cik bajet model yang tukang peraga beg kat atas tu later ask me tu make her a handphone pouch. So, using the balance of the stitched patchwork material, I made her one. And a cute small coin purse for my aunt. Hehe.

I think I'm starting to love sewing and making patchworks.

Syawal's Jejak Tanah ceremony

2011-10-14T11:58:00.000+08:00

Last week, cousin Angah invited me to attend her son, Syawal's Jejak Tanah ceremony. Angah has the Rawa (Rao) bloodline on his father's side. Syawal is my third nephew who did this jejak tanah thing according to the Rawa tradition after cousin Along's sons, Harris and Hadief.

And no, I don't have the Rawa blood in me. I just have the interest in people tradition and culture. Another ceremony that I wish to attend and watch is the Lenggang Perut. You know... the ceremony for the 7-months pregnant mother-to-be, er.. well I don't really know what they do. But I do mean Lenggang Perut, ok. Not that oh-so-modern baby shower thing. So if you or any of your family/friend is having your/her Lenggang Perut, please invite me ok. *buat muka tak malu sikit*

Anyway, you can read about the detail flow of the Jejak Tanah ceremony on my previous post I wrote for Hadief's jejak tanah (click here). Yes, I'm that lazy to write everything up again. Huhu.

Enjoy the simple video here, follows by the not-so-many pictures took during the ceremony.

Mama posing before the ceremony start

Awwww Syawal buat muka kesian.

He must be very uncomfortable... Sian Syawal...

But now, sitting on his father's lap with food in hand he looks very comfortable kan? Isk isk.

One happy family at home!

Harris Zikri

Mark your date - the Sushi Bonanza is back!

2011-09-29T21:09:00.000+08:00

Yes you heard is right! Mark your calendar, organizer, diary, smartphones, tablet, Outlook calendar, Google calendar whatever it is - the Sushi King Card RM2 Bonanza is back in town this October!!

When?

Sabah & Sarawak : 3 - 6 October 2011

Selangor & KL : 17 - 20 October 2011

Penang, Perak, Kedah, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Johor & Pahang : 31 October - 3 November 2011

But of course, there are always terms and conditions applied. Click on image above to read them.

Anyway, looking at the dates for KL outlets... anyone wants to treat me for birthday? :P

#WordlessWednesday #7

2011-09-28T21:42:00.000+08:00

(Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign, IMU, 2011)

Yunalis Zarai gave me goosebumps!

2011-09-15T17:25:00.003+08:00

I am not a good reviewer. I don't write well-written review on anything - music, theater, movie, book, travel places. I know I didn't even write nice review on Nokia N8 for the Maxis10 programme. But anyhow, I still want to write something about the show I went to last Tuesday. It was the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas Spotlight - Yuna show.

When B first asked me to join her watching Yuna, I wasn't really excited about it. Guess I'm more to a theater person than a concert person, except Hindi concerts cause they are more like musicals. :P But I said yes anyway and bought us the tickets. Her original show was planned only for 12 September but tickets were sold out fast and they decided to make an additional show on 13 September, and we got our tickets for the second day.

To cut the story short, there we were in the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, KLCC for Yuna. The show started right on time at 830pm. I didn't put any expectation on the show as I've never seen her singing live (on TV doesn't count, ok). But mannnn, SHE GAVE ME GOOSE BUMPS!!! One song after another. Concentrate habis lah dengar dia nyanyi.

And I thank Yuna for singing my favourite Cinta Sempurna perrrrrrectly! I felt like crying. And the Come As You Are (by Nirvana) cover... fuhhh... meremang bulu roma I tell yoouuu! She also sang Random Awesome, Rocket, Fears and Frustration, Coffee, Gelora Jiwa (P.Ramlee), Gadis Semasa, Memo, Penakut, Let Love Come Through, Raya Oh Yeah and the song that brought her to most of us, Dan Sebenarnya. And I kinda like the song she made for Libresse, the *ehem ehem* for girl :p It's called Super Something.

Honestly, she doesn't need back up singers or dancers to make her show remarkable and memorable. She, herself and the band are enough. Nice voice, nice music arrangement equals to worth watching performance.

All in all, I thanked B for inviting me to see this amazing show. I'd pay hundreds to watch another performance like this! Standing ovation to the one and only, Yuna.

Yuna in a gorgeous pink dress by Syomir Izwa

B talking to Yuna

By the way. Yuna might be the spotlight of Petronas Philharmonic Hall but... somebody else was my very own spotlight of the night. Wanna know whoooo??

Oh wait. You know what. Besides being a good journalist, B is also good in being a paparazzi. Check this out. She's spying on my *ehem* my old love. Hahaha.

Guess who?

*buat muka gediks*

Familiar?

Tadaaaaaaaa....

Introducing my old flame.. former OAG drummer, current TV actor/host.. Qushairi a.k.a Qi a.k.a Yuna's boyfriend :(

I got so excited about him that the first sentences I said to my mum when I reached home that night was "Kite jumpe Qiiiiiiii~!!" (knowing my mum mesti belum check FB as I've uploaded the picta) Hehee. Yeah he had a quite not-so-good records, gossips and addicts issues. But I hope he's a better person now, since well, he's with Yuna, the girl who inspires us, girls out here. Good luck to both of them anyway!

*sambung berangan pasal Qi*

Hehehe.

And well, listen Apple fangirls and fanboys. Yuna's Decorate is in iTunes too yawww!! Go buy her songs, support her ok!

Thank you, Yunalis Zarai, for the great awesome and superb performance!

#WordlessWednesday #6

2011-09-14T12:52:00.001+08:00

missing...

Saya pun nak cium katak kalau dia tukar jadi camni.....

2011-09-13T17:12:00.002+08:00

Syawal tolong jangan nak senyum menggoda sangat boleh tak?

Tergugat iman tauuu~

By the way..

Happy belated 1st birthday dear Syawal.

Stay cute.

Semoga membesar menjadi anak yang soleh. Aminn...

(p/s: gambar curik kat fesbuk mama syawal. hehe. thanks Angah!)

#WordlessWednesday #5

2011-09-07T13:50:00.001+08:00

(SRK (P) Dato' Abu Bakar 2, Jalan Davis, KL, 1997)

What I found during my massive spring cleaning

2011-09-06T17:16:00.000+08:00

Weeks before raya, mum and I did a spring cleaning and yes, it was a massive one!
Well as you know, when you did a spring cleaning, you will surely find things you might never even remember having at all. Or is it just me? :|

Anyway I did found so many things that I didn't even know I still have them in my closet. Heee~ :D and sadly, there are also many things I need to let go..to give away.. If I don't, I think I can open up a museum - Bubbles Museum.

Btw, #random - do you know mum still keep my milk bottle that I used 25 years ago?

Lets see what are some of the things I found during the spring cleaning. jeng jeng jeng....

Ala ala alaaaaaaa...... comey nye laaaaaa kan kan? Hahaha

This is the second Pusat Tuition Martin folder file I had. The first one ada slot plastik yang budak2 koyakkan guna pisau, keluarkan kertas PTM tu pastu masukkan gambar artis pujaan masing2. Mine was Kavana. Tapi fail tu dah buang kot.

SPICE WORLD THE MOVIE YAWWWWWWW!!!!

Glory glory Man Unitedddddddd!!

Manchester United magazine - back in the 2000!!

I remember bringing this to primary school in the 90s. Bawak sandwich. Hehe.

After the spring cleaning, I only keep1/4 of the total paper bag that I kept for yearsss.

By the way, these are only half of it.

I gave away like... 3/4 of my soft toys.... :(

Only keep the big ones, and few of the small ones.

This. Is. Sad.

Ex roomate in Kolej Matrikulasi Negeri Sembilan (2003/2004) made this for me. She is sangat the kreatif one, you knowww...

My (once) favourite little creature. That I did not remember I still have them. Huhu

Ok. When I found this, I honestly went like...."Why in the world do I still keep this?" =.=

Ehemmmmm! My used-to-be bestfriend.Hehehe

These are just SOME of the surprising things I've found.

You wouldn't want to know what other 'rubbish' I found in my room.

Oh, btw, I had also previously posted about childhood/teenage years things I found. Check Tiang atau lembaga? and Ok. I do feel old now.

So, agak-agak kalau bukak muzium laku tak? -___-"

#dearfuturehusband

2011-09-02T14:55:00.002+08:00

Aku mencintaimu

(Karya Ayatul Husna - Ketika Cinta Bertasbih)

Aku mencintaimu kerna kau seumpama bintang

Meski jauh kau tetap terlihat

Meski kekadang hilang

Kau tetap bercahaya

Jauh di lubuk jiwa

Aku mencintaimu kerna kau seperti nian

Yang menyala-nyala di dalam dada

Menghangatkan jiwa

Terus hidup dalam segala rasa

Aku mencintaimu kerna aku harus mencintaimu

Rukuk dan sujudmu membuatku mencintaimu

Ya...aku mencintaimu

Kau dengarkan itu?

Aku mencintaimu kerna rukuk dan sujudmu pada TuhanMu

Aku mencintaimu kerna kita satu jiwa yang padu

Sweet kan.. puisi karya Ayatul Husna dihafal dan dibaca oleh lelaki yang dicintainya, Ustaz Ilyas sendiri.. :')

p/s: if you're not on twitter, you might not understand why i use the hashtag #dearfuturehusband. hehe.

Village in the city for Aidilfitri

2011-08-16T16:25:00.000+08:00

Most of the shopping malls had started to decorate their mall especially the lobby area to bring the raya mood to their customers in accordance to the coming hari raya Aidilfitri. Well, logically when the mood is there, the more they will spend on raya stuff, right. So I went to three different shopping malls in Bukit Bintang area last Saturday and found that all three have similar theme for hari raya decorations in the main lobby area – the Malay village.

Bukit Bintang Plaza

I know that majority of the people who live in Kuala Lumpur city will go back to their hometown to celebrate the Eid Mubarak hence the rumah kampong Melayu everywhere as he decorations. But heyyyy… we KLites celebrates raya too!! This is not fair. I don’t go back kampung for raya. This is bias T___T Should’ve show the suasana at Jalan TAR or Chow Kit during malam raya also… kan fellow KLites, kannnnn? Huhuhuu

Berjaya Times Square

Sungei Wang Plaza

Anyhow, the decorations are nice tho. With some places with the caklempong playing and traditional songs dance performance, it even lighten up the mood.

p/s: Thank you for Saturday :)

Ramadhan, so far...

2011-08-10T14:12:00.002+08:00

It had been 10 days we’ve fast in the holy month of Ramadhan 1432H.

If last year, I spent my first day of Ramadhan at the hostel, this year I had my first sahur and iftar at home. And if last year I only get to go perform Tarawih together with family on the 4^th day, this year I went to the mosque on the first night of Tarawih with family.

One the very first day of Ramadhan, I went to find my ‘kuih wajib’ for break fasting – Kuih Tepung Pelita.

Found one of the best I’ve ever tasted in Pasar Ramadhan Kompleks Muhibah, Taman Nirwana. It's from the "Tepung Pelita Istimewa - Paya Jaras" stall. Go give it a try! And got my favourite cempedak goreng days later. Yummmsss! Thank you mum for the cempedak, and for frying it for me. Hehe.

Yesterday, I was craving for nasi dagang the whole day. Thought of just go home and eat whatever mum bought, but instead, I went to another bazar in Desa Pandan to look for Nasi Dagang. And luckily there’s a stall selling Nasi Kerabu and Nasi Dagang. Weeee~~ :D

I’m sooo not going to put off weight this fasting month, but gaining more instead. Ppfffttt! -__-"

Nonetheless I had a blessed opening Ramadhan for myself indeed, Alhamdulillah…

Regardless of being happily at home, enjoying 10 fasting days with mum and family, I know deep inside I do miss spending Ramadhan in campus. I miss waking up for sahur, illegally cook nasi goreng or Maggi during the last three Ramadhan I spend in campus (though I had issues with my foreign roommate during last year Ramadhan -__-" ). I miss going to the bazar Ramadhan in Bandar Baru dan Parit Buntar. I miss the famous kuih talam in Parit Buntar. I miss hanging out, eating kerang rebus after Tarawih – the most well-known activity after Tarawih in Parit Buntar. I miss break-fasting with the bestfriend. :(

Oh, on the other hand...

jeng jeng jeng.....

Tadaaaaa!!

New sewing machine yawwwww. Rezeki Ramadhan. :P Small and compact. And cute, just like me. :p Thank mummy for the sewing machine! Now I can start sewing and make more and more of thissssssssss!! Hehehe.

p/s: Should I talk about Aidilfitri preparation already? :P

Now playing in repeat mode over and over again

2011-07-22T15:33:00.001+08:00

Ku Cinta Kau Apa Adanya - Once

Kau boleh mengacuhkan diriku

Dan menganggap ku tak ada

Tapi takkan mengubah perasaanku kepadamu

Ku yakin pasti suatu saat

Semua kan terjadi

Kau kan mencintaiku

Dan tak akan pernah melepasku

Aku mau mendampingi dirimu

Aku mau cintai kekuranganmu

Selalu bersedia bahagiakanmu

Apapun terjadi ku janjikan aku ada

Kau boleh jauhi diriku

Namun kupercaya

Kau kan mencintaiku

Dan tak akan pernah melepasku

Aku mau mendampingi dirimu

Aku mau cintai kekuranganmu

Aku yang rela terluka

Untuk masa lalu…

:'(

My handsom boy's birthday

2011-07-20T13:53:00.000+08:00

Last 2 years, on 20th July, a cute baby boy was born in Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. He's the second son of the happily married couple, cousin Along and Zuraidy.
After the arguement between the husband and wife, they finally came to the decision to name their newly born son Hadief Zayed.

The over-excited Aunty Bubbles went to see the baby hours after he was born. She was so excited and happy as she loves kids so much. She looked at the lovely baby and kissed the baby on the left cheek.

And guess what???

After more or less one year, the lipstick mark from the kiss was still there on his left cheek!!!

Hahaha ok tipu jer.

Ok fine tak lawak. -__-"

By the way, it's exactly 2 years after the boy was born. So... Happy happy birthday handsome boy!!

Semoga membesar jadi anak yang soleh dan berjaya dalam hidup. Dengar kata Ayah dan Umi. Dengar kata Aunty Bubbles jugak, ok. Hehehe. Sayang Hadief banyak banyak. Muaaahhh!

p/s: I just realize I don't have recent photos of him.. Haishhh....

"Luck never gives, it only lends."

2011-07-18T16:56:00.002+08:00

After I get a hold of my precious Bachelor of Engineering (Polymer Engineering), I did not really look for job because I’ve made the decision to pursue with my Master Degree. I wanted to hold a Master scroll, or even a Doctorate if that’s possible. I’ve always wanted to be a researcher or a lecturer.

Years went by, and I came to almost the end of my Master study. I started looking for jobs - academic institution, research centre, industry - no luck. I sent out resumes (with the big S!!) – with only degree qualification, with my master in progress stated, high expected salary, low expected salary – still no luck. When I was about to come home for good after submitting the first draft of thesis, cousin Along asked if I wanted to do part time job in her office. I said yes. When you have mouth to feed, bills to pay, car payment to settle, least you would think of how good or glamour the job is.

Ex-registrar, Puan Noraidah's last day

I started working as a part timer with a daily basis salary. Not too high, but enough to be used to pay my bills. After a month or so, the Manager suggested that I sign to work as a contract basis staff; at least the pay is higher. I almost refused, thinking this is not “the” job for me. I am a Polymer Engineering graduate. Documentation, office and admin job is not my cup of tea anyway. But who I am to say no when there’s no other job offer for me? So I signed for a 6 months contract here.

I worked in an air-conditioned office, no machines no chemicals no rubber or plastics smell around me. It felt weird at first. Little did I know I started to like the environment. Despite the office politics, I have a kind hearted manager, friendly colleagues, 20 to 30 minutes drive to work in normal traffic, in KL some more. I can hang out with my friends without the need to make a week in advance appointment. I can happily come home, arrived early enough to take my bath and cook for dinner, then have dinner with mum right after Maghrib. I have my weekends free for hang outs at home or with friends. I was able to make time for most friends’ wedding receptions.

Bowling get-together with the colleagues

Colleagues started to ask, will I become a permanent staff here? I didn’t say yes or no, I only answered, “You know… I’ve always wanted to work in my own field…” or “I don’t know… I want to be a researcher or lecturer badly...”. Yes, I am still looking for other jobs.

Maybe Allah is testing me, maybe He thinks it is still not my time yet, or maybe it is just not my luck yet, I still haven’t got any job offer. Yes, till today. And today, regardless of what my lecturers might say, even more my supervisor, or other people around me might think, I gotta make the decision if I wanna sign as a permanent staff – at a work place that has nothing to do with Polymer Engineering.

If I choose not to and just renew my contract, it’ll be my loss since the salary difference is quite high.

If I choose to sign, it’ll affect my resume big time, and the possibility for me to go back to my degree field job will be very very low.

Well, decision has to be made.

Oh, please don’t question why I don’t want to pursue my PhD for now. Put yourself in my shoes, then you’ll know why.

#WordlessWednesday #4

2011-07-13T15:15:00.000+08:00

Happy birthday!

(Bukit Tinggi, July 2009)

Tiang atau lembaga?

2011-07-09T16:40:00.002+08:00

Setelah pesta itu tamat, saya pun balik. Jam menunjukkan pukul 11 malam. Jalan ke rumah saya itu lengang dan semak pula. Tiba-tiba saya ternampak tiang yang tinggi dan besar di tepi jalan dengan banyaknya. Saya merasa hairan, bila orang kampung memacak tiang yang sebegitu besar ini.

Lebih 20 tiang saya lihat, saya ternampak satu tiang yang lebih besar dan tinggi dari yang lain. Warnanya juga berwarna lain dari yang lain. Saya mendongak. Alangkah terkejutnya saya apabila melihat tiang itubermata, hidung dan yang mengerikan lagi ialah taring dan kukunya yang begitu tajam dan panjang. Rupanya ia satu lembaga.

Saya cuba melarikan diri, tetapi lembaga itu cuba mengejar saya. Dia cuba menangkap saya namun tidak berjaya. Tiba-tiba saya terjatuh, badan saya sakit. Bahuku digoyangkan. Saya membuka mata dan ibu di hadapanku. Rupanya aku hanya bermimpi.

Semenjak itu saya tidak lupa untuk membaca ayat suci al-Quran apabila hendak tidur.

**************************************************************************

Ok. Jom gelak.... Hahahahahahahahahahahaha! Sumpah gelang guling-guling baca ni balik. Si sepupu, Adiba lagi macam ape gelak jahat gila. Ok tapi memang kelakar kan baca balik. Hahahahaha!

Anyway, tu lah karangan hasil tulisan yours truly bubbles182 zaman dulu2.. :p

*malu*

#WordlessWednesday #3

2011-06-29T22:04:00.000+08:00

:')

Pesta Chow Kit Kita Fasa 2

2011-06-23T10:03:00.000+08:00

"Di tengah bandaraya orang merata rata
Dari segala bangsa tua atau muda
Ada yang berkereta ada yang jalan saja
Ada yang cuci mata ha ha ha ha ha ha"

For a true KLites, that famous song by Allahyarham Sudirman had always stuck in my head since like forever. Chow Kit, generally, was one of the place where I used to spend my time at. Grocery shopping at Gedung Harian or Batu Road Supermarket, early Sunday morning at Pasar Chow Kit, lunch at the food stalls near "Bangunan UMNO lama", buying bakery stuff at Bake With Yen, Lorong Haji Taib and other places.

Chow Kit (including Chow Kit Road, Jln TAR, Jln Raja Laut) had always be me and mum's place to go even until today when no other KLites are going there anymore with the reason of too many unwelcomed 'foreigner' there. With so much interest and love towards Chow Kit Road, I am so happy to know that KL teenages get together with lots of volunteer and the KL Krash Pad to held the Pesta Chow Kit Kita.

Have you heard about the festival?

"Chow Kit Kita is a community mapping project by teens and for teens of Chow Kit. The map intends to show what they think and how they feel about Chow Kit and the community. Using the arts, it will incorporate their perspectives on information relevant to their surroundings and lifestyle. In other words, Chow Kit Kita is the young voice of Chow Kit.

Chow Kit Kita is the brainchild of Lew Pik-Svonn and Fahmi Reza."

(from http://www.chowkitkita.com/)

Mencuba menunjukkan ke-kreaviti-an ngehngeh

Yours truly ;)

T-shirt printing

The Chow Kit faces wall of fame

I enjoyed the festival - food tasting, the show, the friendly and cheerful faces - it was happening. Too bad it was raining half way we were there. So not much of photos captured as we gotta go back.

Anyway, to the Pesta Chow Kit Kita Fasa 2 teenage volunteers, you guys rock!

To Fahmi Reza and Lew Pik-Svonn, the volunteers, the teenages, KL Krash Pad and whoever involved, congratulations! *standing ovation*

P/s: If only I am still in my teenage years... sigh...

#WordlessWednesday #2

2011-06-15T19:52:00.000+08:00

(Orchard Road, Singapore, 15th May 2011)

Nokia Angry Bird Biggest Playground

2011-06-12T23:03:00.002+08:00

Remember my blog post titled Are You an Angry Bird Freak? Well, big news to those who are. On Saturday, 11th June 2011, the Nokia Malaysia had broke the record of most people playing mobile game with the record of 2030 people. And I can proudly say I am one of them who helped breaking the record. :D

Nokia Malaysia had turned the Low Yat Boulevard into a big Angry Bird playground. With lots of the birds posters, pictures etc, it looked so fun to be at. There were lots of computers attached to Nokia handphones for people Who come to play the fun game.

We got ourselves registered, and were ready to help breaking the record!! And while waiting in the line for the game, the event crew showed and let us practice the Angry Birds game using the *ehem ehem* Nokia N8. :p

The stage where 2030 Malaysians break the world record!

Yesss! The real life Angry Birds game!!

And we got this!

Congratulations Nokia Malaysia for such a successful record breaking event. And congratulation, Angry Birds freak!!! Hahaha! It was awesommeeee!!

s/s: The last photo is taken with Samsung Galaxy S II, thanks to Roslan Nazri. Read his review of the phone here.

The first patchwork attempt

2011-06-06T09:25:00.001+08:00

I've been meaning to try patchwork for quite some time now. But due to the laziness to collect and gather the pieces of clothes, it's been delayed from time to time. But few days back, I've decided to push myself to start working on it. I asked mum for some pieces, and looking for old clothes that can't be used anymore.

Variety of materials

Underlay sponge

The tools .

After the hard work of selecting, cutting and sewing, here is the one piece of the pieces sewed together.

Mum said not bad for a first timer. ;D

Then proceed with cutting, fitting, sewing, add the sponge and underlay clothes, and few other step...and tadaaaa!!!

My very own handmade patchwork iPad 2 pouch weeee!!!

Tell me it looks good or else I'll be very devastated T____T

Anyway, I made something else with the extra patchwork piece. I made another case with strap instead of button for iPad, for my stationery, cables and stuff.

It may look a bit messy with flaws here and there. But I am satisfied with it. My first time making my own patchwork, and a padded pouch. I'm proud of myself! ;p

So...

ehem..

Kalau buat bisnes agak-agak laku tak? ;p

#WordlessWednesday #1

2011-06-01T10:57:00.000+08:00

Are you an Angry Birds freak?

2011-05-28T11:34:00.005+08:00

Have you ever feel like throwing away your smartphones or crash your lcd monitor screen when the pigs just don't wanna die?

Do you spend lots of time playing the Angry Birds than reading school books?

Are you ones with lots of golden eggs?

If the answers are yes, yes, yes... than you really should be at Low Yat Plaza, KL this coming 11 June 2011 from 11am to 9pm, because Nokia Malaysia is bringing you the most awesome World's Biggest Angry Birds Playground!! How big could it be? It is an attempt for the Guinness World Record - Most People Playing in a Mobile Phone Game Relay. Yes people. THATTT BIG!!

Register here to participate. Admission free, fun and prizes await!! So, do I see you there? ^_^

By the way, for you angry birds freak, watch this!

LMAO!

*edited on 29 May 2011*

Was walking along Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman with mummy, in front of the old Odeon cinema, suddenly saw very familiar figures walking towards us. OMG OMG OMG! IT'S THE ANGRY BIRDS!!!!! I was so excited, jumping while shouting "Ma, Angry Birds!!" #fail Nasib baik la mum knows about the Angry Birds game and how I'm so attached to the game since downloaded in on phone and desktop. Hehe.

The red and yellow Angry Birds, together with their team go around town promoting the mentioned Nokia - World's Biggest Angry Birds Playground.

Picture with them is a must!

Cute, aren't they?

The the red Angry Bird ask mum, "Aunty tak nak ambik gambar jugak ker?" Haha.

So mum said, "Boleh jugak." Hehe.

Then they said, "Nanti gambar masuk Facebook tau. 11 haribulan jangan lupa datang Lowyat."

One after another

2011-05-25T00:32:00.000+08:00

Last week I got an mms from cousin Along, a picture of nephew Hadief Zayed with burnt right arm. Not sure how exactly did the hot water spilt onto his right arm. Due to the over-concerned, I went to visit him at his grandma’s place on Friday night together with mum, cousin Alice, her mum, and Nurin.

Eventhough Hadief’s skin looked red, burnt and even I can feel the pain, he looked so energetic. I mean, overly energetic. Running here and there, playing balls with Harris and Nurin. Pity my 2 years old nephew.. Hope the burnt skin recovers in no time.

On the other hand, on the same day, my 9 years old nephew Hilman had food poisoning. He wen’t to see the doctor and the doctor told him that he had “keracunan makanan”. So went he went to his grandma’s (who he call Mak) house, he had a conversation with his granny sounds more or less like this.

Grandma : Doktor cakap apa tadi?

Hilman : Doktor kata kita kena keracunan makanan.

Grandma : Hilman makan apa yang kena keracunan makanan.

Hilman : (listing down what he had at school before) Lepas tu, kita datang rumah Mak, kita makan nasi goreng. Hmm.. tak mungkin lah Mak yang letak racun dalam nasi goreng tu… *dengan muka serius*

#fail

#epicfail

This morning when I woke up at 6-ish in the morning, I checked my phone and there were 2 mms-es from cousin Kak Lina. The mms were pictures of Nurin laying on hospital bed and the other was Nurin’s hand with tubes.

Call Kak Lina, just to found out that Nurin had been admitted to HUKM Cheras at around 2am. I was shocked that the last time I saw her on Saturday, she was doing just fine. Kak Lina said that she was admitted because she had high amount white blood cell pellet and due to germ/virus found in her blood. I don’t know how to put it in words scientifically.

Went to see my dear Nurin during my lunch hour and again after work.

Forced smile

Left arm

Get well soon, sayang!

Somewhere in the evening, I received a sms for the day from Abang Wan, my bestie Zydah’s husband.

“Assalamualaikum, Siti Noorzidah selamat melahirkan baby pompuan pukul 2.30ptg di Hospital Kulim. Alhamdulillah.”

I am sooooo happy for my one and only Buttercup!! Congrats, Zyd!!! :D

Later, she mms-ed this.

How adorable is she…… awwww~

Another one picture of their first princess, from Abang Wan’s Facebook.

Can’t wait to see you, little pwincess!

Anyway, while one could be as happy as a clam, other could be in great hurt or pain.

My biggest condolences to colleague, Kak Anum who just lost her baby Arya (29 April 2011 – 22 May 2011). May you rest in peace, sweetheart. Al-fatihah.

A reminder. For me and for you.

Firman Allah SWT, surah al- Nahl ayat 70:
Maksudnya: “Dan Allah yang menciptakan kamu; kemudian Ia mewafatkan kamu; dan ada pula di antara kamu yang dikembalikannya kepada peringkat umur yang lemah sehingga menjadilah ia lupa akan sesuatu yang telah diketahuinya; sesungguhnya Allah Maha Mengetahui, lagi Maha Kuasa.”

As bad as I am...

2011-05-20T13:24:00.001+08:00

These few weeks, I’ve came across a lot of incident which involve things that would hurt one’s mum’s feeling. Not that I’m such a good daughter that never hurt my mum’s feeling, but there are some things that happen around me that I know, I wouldn’t do when it comes to involve a mother.

Weeks ago, I tweeted that I overheard a high school girl talking about how she feels ashamed if she has to go out with her mum, just the two of them.

Penang, 1990

“Malu la jalan dengan mak aku berdua, kelakar ah jalan dengan orang tua.” *laugh*

“Kalau jalan dengan ramai2 (dgn adik-beradik) tak pe jugak. Ni kalau shopping ke dengan mak berdua, tak ke kelakar.” *laugh again, out loud*

What would the mother feel if she hears it?

I’m not sure if any of my blog reader has the same thought as that girl. If any of you do, please just reset your stupid effing mind! Why would you feel ashamed walking with your own mother? You think it’s so cool to hang around, shopping with your oh-so-cool friends? Think again where you get the money to hang out and shopping from.

It has always been me and my mother. We shop together. We dine together. We travel together. Watch theater together. Instead of being ashamed, I feel proud to be walking with my mother. Even during my teenage years, I spend time shopping with mum more than with friends. Up till today, I'm proud to say I still hold my mum's hand when walking together.

I honestly felt like slapping that girl, if she was my sister.

Come to think of it, there are also people who publicly tell the world how upset or how angry they were with their mums, in serious notes. I did tweet about how I was upset when mum when to Singapore without me and few others, but in joking mode. If I hurt mum feeling and felt very guilty, yes I might’ve tweeted about it. But if I really wanted to express how upset I felt with mum, I’d go to my best friend, or my diary.

The last thing you should do is to update your Facebook status that you had fight with your mother and feel proud about it. Or tell your un-private Twitter followers openly how your mother neglects you or compare you to your other siblings, and let the whole world think that your mother is the worst mother alive!

I have nothing to hide from my mother. She knows what I do, who I am friend with, where I go (ok, honestly not EVERYwhere… sorry mummy T__T ). Even when I put my relationship with a girl – my best friend Baiti - and mum is on Facebook, she would know that it meant nothing. I wasn’t afraid if aunties and uncles or any other older relatives see that relationship status and started to make assumptions, cause mum knows me better and I know I don’t have to do any explanation.

I know that I haven't reach the stage where mum would say "I'm so proud of my daugther," and I'm not that little Goody-Two-Shoes daughter who never hurt her mum's feeling. But all I wanted is for the whole world to know that I'm proud be be my mum's daughter.

Too much doodle to handle

2011-05-09T14:34:00.003+08:00

Arrived at the office like the usual this morning, switched on the computer, opened the Internet Explorer and went to Google.com to google on something. Saw a doodle and I thought it was cute. Clicked on the doodle to find out about it. Today Google doodle is dedicated to Roger Hargreaves for his 76th birthday. Wikipedia says that he was a British author and illustrator of children's books, notably the Mr. Men and Little Miss series, intended for very young readers.

I might not know this Mr Hagreaves, but what catched my attention was, when I opened the Google.com for the second time today, it showed different doodle from the previous one. Then I clicked refresh. Another one. Me likey! So much doodle for this guy! Here are some of them;

Mr Rush

Mr Tickle

Mr Funny

Mr Slow

Little Miss Tiny

Little Miss Suhshine

Mr Bump

Mr Happy

Little Miss Chatterbox

Little Miss Shy

Little Miss Naughty

Little Miss Curious

Mr Dizzy

Little Miss Magic

Mr Messy

Mr Forgetful

Fun, isn't it? ;D

*continue hitting F5 button on Google* :P

Malaysian Today Secret Phrase

2011-05-03T23:44:00.001+08:00

Have you ever heard of the Malaysian Today fortnight newspaper? I started to read Malaysian Today after I started working in IMU as the paper can be found at colleges, universities, and popular eateries for free on Thursdays, fortnightly. Malaysian Today is not like the average tabloid you boring-ly read everyday. It is a magazine-style newspaper which gives you facts, information, so colorful and it is fun to read. Really suits their slogan: No 1 Youth Weekly. Plus,they give gift-away too!

And yours truly is one of the winner of the Malaysian Today secret phrase gift-away. Yayyy! It is as simple as ABC.

One of the covers which I twitpic-ed before.

So how to win the gift-away?

First, like the Malaysian Today Facebook page.

Every Thursday, once in two weeks, get the Malaysian Today newspaper. Read line by line carefully. Look out for the ‘Secret Phrase’ which could be ANYWHERE in the pages. Then post the secret phrase on the Malaysian Today wall. Like this;

And who knows you might be lucky

So anyhow, when I posted the “Live like you’re dying” phrase on the wall, the Malaysia Today team commented with something else like they have no clue about what did I posted. Few days later I found out they got a winner. Yeah I was a bit frustrated as I was the first to post it. But after a few days they commented again on the post.

Hehe!

But days went by, I was busy with the accreditation visits and all.. I hadn’t had the chance to go pick the movie ticket.

And I, shamelessly, tried again for the secret phrase for the other week.

Hahahaha. Ok fine sangat tak malu kan?

But still, busy busy busy! Up till two days before the movie ticket due date, which was on the 29th of April, I had no choice but to ask cousin Effa to help picked the gift up at their office in Petaling Jaya. And look what I’ve got!!

And since I had things planned with Mum on the 30th itself, I gave the movie ticket to cousin Effa as a token of appreciation to help me getting my gift. She went to the cinema on the 30th April, but not sure what movie did she watch. Should’ve ask her. Hmm..

Anyways, thank you, Malaysian Today!!! Love ‘em much!

The first social activity with the IMU colleagues

2011-04-25T16:51:00.000+08:00

Some of you might have known that I am currently working on a contract basis in Chancellery, IMU doing what is not really my cup of tea - office job. I've been going into labs for years that I feel a bit bored doing things like sitting in front of the computer for 7 to 8 hours straight. Well, I wouldn't be if I'm sitting in front of my laptop doing things I love - blogging, tweeting, blogwalking and stuff. Hehe. Well, anyhow, it's been more or less 4 months since I first started working here, and only last Friday I went out socializing with my other colleagues.

Kak Yang, on behalf of the organizer who organized the unofficial bowling tournament had been kind enough to asked me to join them too. I didn't really plan to join cause I have the part time tuition. But I had cough and sore throat, started to lose my voice so I cancelled the class. Cousin Effa who excitedly came to join the bowling get together asked me to tag along so I thought I might just go with them as the class had already been cancelled. So there were we, playing bowling at the Bukit Jalil Golf Resorts.

the bowling went on, been talking to some, get to know some (as in the people I've already knew) and yes I needed to ask Along some of the colleagues' name as I have never talked to some of them. And even some who I've never saw. -____-"
At the end of the unofficial tournament, we've got our winners! The presents were sponsored by the some of the colleague themselves.

Male Highest Scorer & Overall Highest Scorer - Abg Zuraidy

Female Highest Scorer - Kak Bib (e-learning)

Winner - Team 2

En Shah (Kak Ju's husband), Kak Ros (PG), Azhan (FMA), Abg Sharif (FMA)

And the other who were there to support the Bowling Get Together!

It was fun hanging out with the colleagues once in a while. So glad to be joining them.

Oh, no. I didn't play. I suck at bowling. Ok all together, *Booooo Julia!!!* -__-"

Mugs and cups

2011-04-20T00:28:00.001+08:00

Beside collecting postcard and keychain, I also like to collect mugs and cups. But due to limited space available to keep those at home, I can't really buy just all mugs and cups I see pretty and catchy. I like to collect mugs and cups from different size and design. I took out some of the mugs and cups from the collection cupboard and took some photos.

Different size and design.

Well of course one of my favourite… well….

…the Secret Recipe’s PowerPuff Girls mug. It is just a simple mug, but the picture printed of it make it more special than the others. Hehe. I got this mug some where in 2005, when I did my part-time job in McDonalds. There were two boys, Fizi and Kimi who happened to had friends working in Secret Recipe. Both got one PPG mug each. Fizi kept his while Kimi gave him to mine, just because he knew how much I love the PPG. Thank you, Kimi!! *hugssss*

One of the oldest mug in my collection is the Gila-Gila’s Lat’s From Taiping With Love. Do you still remember the comic? Well this is actually mother’s mug which is also added in the mugs and cups collection.

This crocodile mug was bought at Zoo Taiping. I just love the crocodile’s head and tail. Cute kan kan kan?

This beautiful blue cup is a souvenir from my cousin, the Yuha sisters. Blue is my colour. That’s what makes the cup more awesome!

Lets party with the lazy Garfield! This special cup had been in my cupboard since the 1997. I got this cup for an achievement for scoring the highest mark for a subject (I can’t remember which subject) in SRA Al-Watan in standard 6, together with some other present. I was a good student, I tell you. Yeahh I WAS. >.< Hmmm… such a memory!

The mug and cup from two of my favourite coffee places. What more can I say. Thanks to mummy cos she’s the one who got me both of these. Love love love!

This special Mickey Mouse plastic mug was a present, given by a friend in SRK Dato’ Abu Bakar, pretty Cheong Ee Wan for my 12th birthday.

Ehem ehem! Need I say more? Lalala~

Got these Sushi King green tea cups when I registered for a year membership for Sushi King card (can’t remember for which year).

And say hi to the three new members of the mugs and cups collection. All are in small size (like the Mr Bean cup in first picture). Love the wording ‘Coffeeholics’. It’s just who I am.

Well, you are most welcome to help me collect more and more mugs and cups. *evil grin* hehe

For your eyes only - Part 2

2011-04-19T13:12:00.001+08:00

As of today, 19th April 2011, it had been approximately 12 days since i realized that my left eye became reddish and scared me, and others too. In my previous blog entry, I've posted a picture of my red left eye captured on the 14th April 2011, means on the 7th day since I spotted the reddish on the eye. That was like 3 4 days after I went to the clinic which the doctor told me I got pterygium blablabla whatsoever.

Day 7

Well after few more days, the reddish spot was still there. Some friends got more worried than me and told me to go to the eye specialist to do further check up. I was actually scared too but I was more afraid of what the specialist might say if I go to do the check up. -__-"

But due to all the worriness, and command from Mum, I decided to see an eye specialist. I took my day off yesterday and went to an eye specialist centre in Jalan Ipoh.

That was my first ever experience seeing an eye specialist. Oh my there was too many procedure. Ok not THAT many, but yeah, few procedures before I could actually see the specialist. Registered, then did the vision test. then there was a machine where it blew air into the eyes. Then need to see one of the nurses to tell her what's wrong with my eyes etc. Then only can see the specialist.

So told the problem, he checked this and that and he came out with the result. No, it isn't the pterygium. Fuhhh! Alhamdulillah there is no foreign particle or tissues in my eyes. But the red spot at the left eyes was because of, quoted from the specialist "...ada tisu kat mata tu yang meradang, kat mata ada bahgaian yang tebal sikit, tisu kat situ.. bla bla bla.. which normally is not known what's the cause bla bla bla..." (Julia being Julia, was not really listening kthanxbye =.= ) So, there we came again to the term UNKNOWN.

Well, anyway at least it is confirmed that no tissues were formed, no pterygium. Got some eye drop medicine, and was told to come back again after a week if the red spot is still there.

And another picture of my beautiful red scary left eye for the sake of memory pfft....

Day 12

Not much different ey?

Get well soon, Juls. Uhuk2... :'(

For your eyes only

2011-04-14T22:20:00.001+08:00

Last Friday my left eye suddenly turned a little red. I realized it some time in the evening when I was still in the office. I thought it was just because of my eyes are tired or because they were dried due to contact lens usage. On Saturday I didn't really check on the eyes. Same goes on Sunday when we were busy at home for Khaleef's majlis cukur jambul. Later that evening I went out and like always, wearing my contact lenses, and I found out that my left eye started to turn red again. Maybe it was obvious because I see my eyes at the mirror without my glasses on.

It doesn't really look serious eh?

Well, at first I thought it was just an the normal infection. Ok not 'just'. But yeah, i thought it was like the conjunctivitis or 'sakit mata' where your eyes turn all red. So I didn't really give it too much attention. EyeMo would be enough, I thought. I even told my cousins to stay away, cause the conjunctivitis is contagious. But then only I realize that conjunctivitis will normally comes with discharges from the eyes. But my eyes are clean, no tears, no discharge. And my eyes were not itchy.

Then, only on Monday morning it hit me that I should go to the clinic. So I took off and went to the common clinic where I used to go since I was a kid. Guess I feel comfortable with the doctor so I didn't think of seeing any other doctor.

The doctor told me that it was not a conjunctivitis, it's caused by pterygium instead. And when I heard of that I was like "What the hell is that?" Yes it was a new term for me. I asked the doctor again what the name of that thing and he answered, "Pterygium, with the P T E" Ok fine, doctor... Asked doctor if it had anything do to with contact lens usage, he said no. Doctor gave me MC, i went back home few minutes later and I forgot about the name already. –____-" So I kind of just let it go. Huhu.

Last night, I looked into the mirror and saw my left eye was still reddish. I snapped some pictures and posted in on Twitter and Facebook. I even sms-ed a few friends.

Today, in the office, my manager said it could be worse. She recommended that I go to eyes specialist to do further check up. She is kind of a person who gives much attention on healthcare. Another colleague told me story on how her friend bleed in the eyes caused of hit on the head. Add up with few more eyes stories and it made me scares that I Googled all possible eye infection diseases etc. and then I found things on pterygium.

What is Pterygium?

A pterygium is a non-cancerous growth of the clear, thin tissue (conjunctiva) that lays over the white part of the eye (sclera).

To keep it short, few websites give me the not-so-convincing answer about the cause of pterygium.

“The cause is unknown, but it is more common in people with excess outdoor exposure to sunlight and wind, such as those who work outdoors.”

“The exact cause is unknown, but it is associated with excessive exposure to wind, sunlight, or sand.”

“The exact cause is not well understood.”

Yeah.. WHAT? Unknown??

So anyway, Google shows that pterygium looks like this.

I think my left eye doesn't look like this. I don't see any tissue growth. Don't you think so? Ok ok I know I should stop acting like an eye specialist and stop making my own theory bla bla bla…

I promised myself that if my left eye still look red by the end of the week, I’ll go to see the eye specialist. Furthermore when mum commented on Facebook asking me to go to one of the eye clinic. Huhu…

Let’s make it 5 a day

2011-04-08T12:36:00.005+08:00

No, I’m not gonna talk about the five times solah a day as a must for a muslim.

I actually wanna talk on a healthy diet that we all should practice. I didn’t notice that the 5-a-day is actually known worldwide, until the Nutrition team of IMU organizes the Nutrition Week with the slogan of “5 colours a day”.

We all know that we need vegetable and fruit every day in our balance and healthy diet. But we don’t really give attention on how much of a fruit and vegetable portion should we take. So, as a way to practice healthy diet, I forced myself to take the 5-a-day challenge.

What Colour is Your Food?

Red fruits and vegetables

coloured by natural plant pigments called "lycopene" or "anthocyanins"
contain nutrients such as lycopene, ellagic acid, Quercetin, and Hesperidin
reduce the risk of prostate cancer, lower blood pressure, reduce tumor growth and LDL cholesterol levels, scavenge harmful free-radicals, and support join tissue in arthritis cases
i.e. red apples , beets red cabbage, cherries, cranberries, pink grapefruit, red grapes, red peppers, pomegranates, red potatoes, radishes, raspberries, strawberries, tomatoes, watermelon

Orange and yellow fruits and vegetables

coloured by natural plant pigments called "carotenoids"
contain beta-carotene, zeaxanthin, flavonoids, lycopene, potassium, and vitamin C
reduce age-related macula degeneration and the risk of prostate cancer, lower LDL cholesterol and blood pressure, promote collagen formation and healthy joints, fight harmful free radicals, encourage alkaline balance, and work with magnesium and calcium to build healthy bones
i.e yellow apples, apricots, butternut squash, cantaloupe, carrots, grapefruit, lemons, mangoes, nectarines, oranges, papayas, peaches, pears. Yellow peppers, pineapple, pumpkin, sweet corn, sweet potatoes, tangerines, yellow watermelon

Green vegetables and fruit

coloured by natural plant pigment called "chlorophyll”
contain chlorophyll, fiber, lutein, zeaxanthin, calcium, folate, vitamin C, calcium, and Beta-carotene
reduce cancer risks, lower blood pressure and LDL cholesterol levels, normalize digestion time, support retinal health and vision, fight harmful free-radicals, and boost immune system activity
i.e green apple, asparagus, avocados, green beans, broccoli, cucumbers, green grapes, honeydew meloin, kiwi, lettuce, limes, peas, green pepper, spinach

Blue and purple fruits and vegetables

coloured by natural plant pigments called "anthocyanins”
contain nutrients which include lutein, zeaxanthin, resveratrol, vitamin C, fiber, flavonoids, ellagic acid, and quercetin.
support retinal health, lower LDL cholesterol, boost immune system activity, support healthy digestion, improve calcium and other mineral absorption, fight inflammation, reduce tumor growth, act as an anticarcinogens in the digestive tract, and limit the activity of cancer cells
i.e. blackberries, blueberries, eggplant, figs, juneberries, plums, prunes, raisins, purple grapes

White fruits and vegetables

coloured by pigments called "anthoxanthins”
contain nutrients such as beta-glucans, EGCG, SDG, and lignans that provide powerful immune boosting activity
activate natural killer B and T cells, reduce the risk of colon, breast, and prostate cancers, and balance hormone levels, reducing the risk of hormone-related cancers
i.e. bananas, cauliflower, garlic, ginger, jicama, mushrooms, onions, potatoes, turnips, parsnips

So far, how are you doing? Do you take 5 colours a day?

Anyway, here is the calculator you can use to calculate how many fruits and vegetables do you need according to sex, age and everyday activity. Try it! Also check this 5 a day section in UK NHS website.

Sharmi’s Bollywood style reception

2011-04-04T23:04:00.001+08:00

I didn’t really blog about friends’ weddings lately (except for KNizam’s) since there were too much wedding one after another – Sharifah, Eda, Ashraf, Salmi, Sharmi etc. But I gotta blog about Sharmi’s Bollywood reception. Sharmi’s father is a Pakistani, she had this Bollywood style reception in honor to her paternal bloodline.

Went there with Baiti, Eda and her husband. Sharmi, Eda and I are known as Bollywood fans not Baiti. During high school, Sharmi, Eda and I used to sing and dance to Hindi songs a lot. And if you know me well, you would know that Bollywood is sooo my thing!

Ain’t she pretty?

She was so nervous just like the moment before her solemnization.

“Macho le pulak” – Baiti, 2011

Saajan ji ghar aaye… Saajan ji ghar aaye…

Dulhan kyon sharmaaye… Saajan ji ghar aaye…

The faces of two ladies who went out for work early morning, straight to Puchong after work and danced Bhangra. Tired.

The bride and the groom on the dance floor yawww! Untuk tontonan anak cucu. ;p

Baiti said this is her favorite candid of the day. Mine too. Sharmi and I looked so happy. But the double chin doesn’t make me happy tho –__-“

I wanted to upload the videos but due to no laptop at the moment, I haven’t got the chance to transfer and upload them. Will do so later.

Anyway, few days after the beautiful event, when I was WhatsApp-ing with Baiti, out of nowhere she said;

“Teringat-ingat wedding Sharmi. U kawin buat camtu la. Reason for me to dance bhangra. U tak tarik pun I sendiri volunteer gi depan.”

LOL.

Somebody has been YouTube-ing Hindi songs now. Lalalala~ Welcome to the dark side, girlfriend! Hahaha.

(Photos credit to Baiti.)

God Doesn’t Make Mistakes

2011-04-01T19:42:00.004+08:00

My manager asked me if I’ve heard of a song written by a father who has a down syndrome daughter. She said it is a beautiful and very touching. I search upon the song on YouTube. Indeed, it touched my heart.

Steve Moser wrote the amazing song about the birth of his daughter, Anna who was born with down syndrome.

God Doesn’t Make Mistake

Lying in the dark, staring at the ultrasound.
The doctor shakes his head, says

"I'm sorry but this baby has Down syndrome.
And I know it's hard to decide,
But she's so fragile that she'll probably die,
And it might be a blessing if she did"

Little did he know we're all the more blessed 'cause she lived.
And no, she's never gonna look like the other kids
And she may not learn to talk like the other ones did
And I guess she's always gonna walk just a little behind, But I don't mind.

'Cause she lives her whole life without one trace of guile

And she lights up the world with that crooked little smile
and she loves you with a love so pure it just makes you heart break.

And I'd like to tell that doctor,
God Doesn't Make Mistakes.

Sitting in the park, watching all the children play.
My daugher walks up, they get quiet and little afraid.
But pretty soon the smiles come over their face
And they slow their game down just a pace
And I watch as a spirit of kindness abounds
And thank God for that girl
who showed me what life's really about

And she helped me to discover
God Doesn't Make Mistakes

They said something went wrong
But I think something went right

And I'll fight for my baby with all of my might.
'Cause I love her with a love so pure
it just makes my heart break

And I want to tell the world,
God Doesn't Make Mistakes

Indeed, God doesn’t make mistakes. Be thankful of what you are and what you have. :)

Sunway Pyramid lights off for the Earth Hour 2011

2011-03-27T23:00:00.001+08:00

It is an annual campaign on conserving the earth through the Earth Hour program. Every year in end of March, we are called to switch off the lights as a support to the Earth Hour awareness campaign. This year, the Sunway Pyramid mall together with the Malaysian WWF celebrating the Earth Hour 2011 at the main entrance of Sunway Pyramid.

I wished to go, but didn’t have proper plan. Not until the afternoon on the 26th March itself that me, Khairil, Een and Andy decided to hang out at Empire Subang, which turned out to be a bit bored so we headed to Sunway instead to spend the evening. Since we were already there, we stayed for the Earth Hour countdown as well.

Too bad with no plan, no camera was brought, so all pictures are captured only by our phones.

We came out from the mall to join the crowd at the Sunway Pyramid main entrance at around 8.10pm. First thing first, grabbed the marker pens to sign off our pledge to support the Earth Hour 2011.

Ehem! :P

They gave away Sunway Earth Hour keychain to the crowd. And candles to be lit during the lights off moment. We sat while waiting for the countdown and listen to some celebrities and WWF representative giving out their words.

The Sunway Pyramid trademark – Leo the lion head before the lights were turned off.

And then the countdown started… (well not exactly countdown cos countdown supposed to be from 10 to 1, but they counted 1 to 10. That’s count-up –__-“ )

… and then the lights were off!!

The candles were lit. I love the candles. Weeee!!! Happy to take lots of pictures with the candles. Hehe.

Throughout the ‘dark’ moment, there were performances – singing, dancing, shuffle and even wayang kulit. The flash mob dance was kind of cool. With one of the songs Lion Sleeps Tonight, the crowd cheered for the dancers and the flash mob-ers.

I don’t know why, but I was actually waiting for Hijau by Zainal Abidin to be played. I think it’s the best song to show the support towards green earth by Malaysian. But there wasn’t. I saw some tweets said the song was played on HitzFM instead during the Earth Hour.

The crowd

Me, Khairil, Een and Andy

What not-so-earth about the Earth Hour celebration?

This.

I don’t understand why it is so hard for some people to find a dustbin and throw the rubbish. Sad! So much about saving the earth, but can’t even help to keep the earth clean.

And look at what the brothers took back as a souvenir from the Earth Hour celebration:

#fail!

“…Dalam Botol”: Controversial much?

2011-03-25T15:57:00.001+08:00

Yesterday, B asked me out for a movie. Well if you have known her for years, you would know that she didn’t really watch Malay movie. But she had been watching few lately – Adnan Sempit in example – in cinema! Yes, that didn’t sound like her at all last few years.

Anyway, she asked me out to watch …Dalam Botol. I was like “Are you sureeeee??” Then she said it was because she wanted to see what the fuss was all about and what’s good about it till it caught the Library of Congress, Washington DC attention. I had no plan and had no protestation towards gay movie, gay character or maybe *cough* gay actor *cough*, plus I am being supporting to a USM student, Arja Lee (like I was biased-ly supported Mamu in Raja Lawak :p), so I said why not?

And there we were watching the controversial movie, “…Dalam Botol”.

Storyline?

“Boy meets boy. Boy falls in love with boy. Boy has a sex-change procedure in a misguided attempt to please his lover. Boy regrets his decision, moves back to hometown and falls in love with a girl.”

-guardian.co.uk

What makes the movie famous before it hit the cinema was because of the dare statement of the lead actor, Arja Lee regarding his fully naked part, which unfortunately had been cut off. What do you expect? It’s Malaysia.

The word ‘anu’ from the original movie title “Anu Dalam Botol” had been dropped to “…Dalam Botol”, to make it way to the cinema. This is not the first time in Malaysia movie industry. In the 90s, the movie “Perempuan, Isteri dan …” also was forced to drop the word ‘jalang’ from the original title “Perempuan, Isteri dan Jalang”.

In fact there were a lot other Malay movie in the past that were quite controversial. To name a few – Cinta Kita (the tomboyish Sofea Jane who was in love with a girl, then being dumped, fall in love with Arman Graseka, the waterfall scene..), Lenjan (the story of the serial rapist), and do you remember the Ahmad Fauzi-Sharmaine Farouk version of Panggilan Pulau? The movie airing stopped suddenly after several days without any explanation given. Well there were kissing scenes between the lead actor and actress.

So, what’s the fuss about the …Dalam Botol anyway?

We had Sofea Jane berkemban in Perempuan, Isteri & … , we had rape scenes in Lenjan, we had politic and social escorts issues in Ringgit Kasorrga, we had kissing scenes in Panggilan Pulau and Gelora Cinta… again, what’s wrong with the additional gay scenes, right? Hahaha!

p/s: if you’re going to watch this movie at the cinema, please do expect the kind of crowd who’ll be watching with you. :P

Nicknames

2011-03-22T12:59:00.002+08:00

Everyone has their own unique nicknames called by family members, friends, clique etc. I, myself have a lots. Different circle of people call me with different nicknames. Even though my full name is already short enough, it appears that a lot of nickname could be created by that.

I remember few years back, in Facebook there was an application where friends can submit the nicknames they call you. I tried looking for it but it isn’t there anymore (or I couldn’t find it). I tried remembering all the nicknames I’ve been called with.

Lets's do this!

The very earliest nicknames, the very oldest nickname, of course the one used at home. Nonoi. Ok fine laugh all you want. But hey, that’s my name! Maternal family members call me that since 25years ago. Don’t ever ask me where that came from because I don’t know. Should ask mum to answer that on behalf, I think. Anyway, besides family members, my closest friends call me by that name too. My primary schoolmates – Azura, Sharifah, Rahayu. This is due to having cousins in the same school; hence they tend to call me with that too. Secondary schoolmates – Sharmi, Anwar, Naqi – also call me that and I feel so close to them – just like family. :)

And the most famous nickname – Julia. Well, do I need to elaborate? Of course this is the simplest nickname can come out from my full name automatically. And some call me with even simpler - Ju / Jue.

Juls made famous by Baiti the girlfriend. And Mia used to call me Kak Julsy. Juls are called mostly by my online friends.

And they are people who call me Bubbles or Babels. And I love it! Even when I was thinking of changing my twitter-handle from @bubbles182 to @juliamahir (well I reserved the twitter-handle anyway), some of them said that I shouldn’t because most people know me as Bubbles. Somehow Bubbles is my alter ego. :P

There is a name which so far, will remind me of 3 persons. This 3 person never fail to call me by that name. There are others who call me with this name once in a while, but these 3 persons call me this almost every time. These 3 person are from different circle. So if I got an anonymous text message addressing me with this name, I should be able to guess it’s from one of them. They are Mieza (ex-classmate in SAB), Kulert (ex-course mate in USM) and my very own Abang. They call me Juju.

Anyway, the picture of me above has been posted in my Facebook around last year. Mum made some comments that touched my heart. If you're on my Facebook, check how mum's word that almost made me shed a tear.

Ok. That is all I can recall. Is there any of you who call me with other name?

Sentimental value vs technology

2011-03-12T00:49:00.001+08:00

I still remember how excited I was to send and receive Hari Raya Aidilfitri cards from classmate which was mailed to my home, and received birthday cards from friends and family members during my school years. In secondary school, I made most of the birthday cards for my mum, family members and friends. When exam was around the corner, I made my friends good luck cards. Once in a while, I would make cards for anyone for no reason. Not that I make beautiful cards just that I think the sentimental value added to the hand-made cards are priceless compare to the ready-made cards.

Well, I was not the only who feel that way. I have also friends who prefer to make cards then buy them. And as I received those, it really touched the hearts. For years. That’s why I still have them with me till today. I appreciate the ready-made cards received, but you know, it is just different.

Birthday, 1999 from Sis Marhani

1999, from Sis Marhani

2001, from Fadilah

Before SPM, 2002, from Ezaroyani

Our Pengarah in KMNS made the effort to send handmade postcards to the students

Before final exam in matriculation college, 2004 from Mum

But today, you’ll be lucky enough to receive a ready-made card as the technology has now conquered the world. How many Hari Raya card or birthday card do you received last year compare to 10 years ago? It started with the e-cards and sms, then photo tagging in Facebook and now wishing through Twitter.

I made effort to give away Hari Raya card to some of my friends who I still keep their address, and even asked in Twitter for those who wish to receive one from me. And I was glad there are also some Twitteratis who made the same effort like @aidasue, @acapawn7, @farafauzi, @syazaliyana and @reena_onn. And the only birthday card I received from a Twitteratis last year was from @fazlitaufek.

Well, i don’t have picture of the cards I made for the other during my high school years. Back then, I didn’t know technology will take all of ‘this’ from me. But Fadilah (my so-called-twin) uploaded one of the many cards I gave her during our high school years on Facebook.

For her birthday, 24th September 2002.

Oh, yes I have a picture of one of the cards I made last year.

Specially made for mum, Mother’s Day, 2010

Blogger and Twitteratis trip to Malacca for #knizamkawen

2011-02-21T17:21:00.003+08:00

The plan to Malacca had been done since last month when the famous live blogger, @knizam94 send out his invitation card to us - the blogger and twitteratis through @azmanishak. We were so excited for the trip since most of us are going, and it would be our very first official road trip together. So, there we were on 19th February 2011, off to Malacca the Historic State. They who gathered at Ali Maju, Setiawangsa earlier that morning came pick me up at home, since I've decided last minute not to drive for the convoy. The journey started from Kuala Lumpur after the we went to Cheras to pick @piratz up.

Oh, before the journey started... we did what we do best... camwhoring!! :P

We stopped at RnR Ayer Keroh to join the other 5 cars of 10 people (yes, bad citizens who don't practice carpool :p ) who have been waiting for us there. Some of them are from Shah Alam, some from Puchong and some from Seremban.

To cut the story short, we reached @knizam94's house at Jasin. Photography session. Eat. Chit chatting.

The Twitterjaya clan with the bride and groom! (Credit : @shamhardy)

Later, they decided to go to the Dataran Pahlawan. Innocently and naively, I thought we were just going to hang out IN the Dataran Pahlawan, maybe grab some coffee or something. So I've decided not to change to the t-shirt and pants that I brought along. Little that I knew... they proceeded to go OUT of the building. Hanging out Bandar Hilir in baju kurung. Yessss memang terbaik lah! Never in my life I go around town in baju kurung for no reason -__-"

So anyhow we then went to the Menara TamingSari. These people are overexcited. Yes, more excited than the kids I think.

Look at our owls. Like sister, like sister :D

When I say we went out of the Dataran Pahlawan, no we didn't just stop at The Stadthuys area. We actually walked for I don't know long to find our dinner - the famous Malacca asam pedas. Being geeky, all these guys brought out their marvelous smart phones to check on the Google Maps and GPS to find the diner.

Believe me when I say technology doesn't necceserily make your life easier. The interactive maps actually made us walk farther than we should. Aarrrgghhh! I was in baju kurung, remember? #fail

So, anyways we reached the place, had our dinner and went back home.

Big hugs to the convoy crew...

@sickchild72, @ayongqiela, @fzren, @khairilafzal, @amanfirdaus, @roslan_nazri, @andyhowtt, @piratz, @azmanishak (the organizer) with wife and son @amirulamin, @cuak_team @shamhardy with wife @zawizainal and son @hailakid, @tekong and wife @neth3ad, @icednyoir, @azri83, @noktahhitam and fiance @aisyahrodzi, @mrkaymy and wife @holocoustine

Did I miss anyone?

Oh, and some twitteratis came on their own to the wedding i.e @zara_syed and @loqoe. Nice meeting you, new people that I've never met before :)

I enjoyed my trip very much.

*edited*

kepada adik @zelo55, orang terlupa ah nak bawak balik serpihan batu AFamosa tu.. dah ingat dah hari tu tp pastu leka leka pastu terlupa...sorryyyy.. nanti kita gi sesama kutip batu sesama k2.. ;D

Mini family gathering

2011-02-10T01:20:00.003+08:00

I don't really blog much. One post per week is more than enough for this blog. But I don't know why I feel like I haven't been blogging for ages. I haven't really spend my time with my laptop much these days. There was a period of 11 days of not switching on my laptop, then on for one night, abandoned again for three nights. I guess I love being at home so much - hanging out, watching TV, chatting with cousins and so on and so forth, that days without laptop seems normal compare to when I was in hostel - boring nights.

Anyway, last few weeks, my maternal family members had a little gathering, thanks to cousin Sis Alice who initiated the idea of the gathering. It had been a while since we had our last gathering like this. And when I say gathering, I mean the 'bakar-bakar' gathering! Yes, 'bakar-bakar' refers to BBQ style gathering. And we went by theme like always. This time it was BLACK!

Atuk's granddaughters

Simple steamboat prepared.

Syawal!

The happy us!

Buah hati pengarang jantung

And my favourite candid picture of the day...

The second-cousins - Nurin Adrianna and Harris Zikri. Sweet, isn't it? :')

I'm not sure when will we have this 'bakar-bakar' thing again, but I miss to gather like this again already! Any birthday celebration coming up that we can gather and celebrate? March, maybe? For those who are concerned : ehem ehem. ;p

By the way, found this old photo on facebook during our last 'bakar-bakar' gathering. It was in October 2008, gathering for Raya open house together with my birthday celebration.

Red!