do you believe in horoscopes?

Aquarius: Jan. 20 – Feb.18
You're going through a lot of career changes, thanks to innovative Jupiter. Along the way you could be considering going back to school, moving to a new location, or heading into a new field. Remember to talk things over with your sweetheart.

Got this from http://clovetwo.com/articles/lipstory.asp?file=/2009/12/15/lipstickmystic/20091215174142&sec=lipstickmystic

d-uh.. memang macam kena. what the? Career changes..memang la betul.. moving to a new location..probably in April or early May 2010. But all is very difficult right now. What to do and where to go? What does my heart tell me? Na-da.. bunyi perut adalah menandakan it's time for lunchie munchie..haha..

By the way, yang going back to school tu macam syok je especially seeing hunny registering for his classes and all. He said that those with First Class Degree can apply for Phd straight, they do not have to do Masters (of the Universe..hehe).. tak kisah jurusan ape. Hmm.. that sounds interesting. Aackk! biar betul, beranikah saya ni?.. tak tau la cik abang ni baca dengan betul ke tak. Sometimes he does speedreading and misses important points or agaknya ada clause clause penting yang dia tak nampak. :)

Donna Chang Bodymist vs Flora by Gucci

Never, ever buy perfumes based on the prettiness of the bottle. That’s what I did. Big mistake. I ended up not liking the smell of Flora by Gucci (FG). I do not like strong smelling perfumes, and this one is kind of strong for my sensitive nose. My sister said,”Don't tell me you bought it because of the bottle?” Well, of course I didn’t! I mean, the big bad bottle helped in brainwashing me brains into buying the perfume (that was on 45% discount so when it is converted to RM it was RM150 for the 50ml bottle). So I though it was a good buy..and I thought I liked the smell...initially. Heck,Gucci did a pretty darn good ad that mesmerized me and made me buy FG! (blame it on Gucci's ad agency!)

However, all is not lost because my sister likes it so I am giving it to her, furthermore she can save her moolahs for something else. Lama tahan perfume tu I rasa, pakai sikit je dah bau kuat.

On a more positive note, the last time I was in Bangkok ( eh, macam pernah pergi banyak kali je padahal baru je sekali), I bought this body mist from Donna Chang. I think it is a local Thai brand. I love the smell very very much and my sis agrees with me as well.
It is not super long lasting like how a perfume is but you can always spray them again probably after lunch or something. The smell is very refreshing and … NICE! Can’t really describe how it is but it is very nice.

I bought a 140ml bottle for RM75 (after 15% discount). And I smell so goooooood! Hehe… darn! Come to think of it, I could have bought another 2 bottles of DC from the RM150 that I spent on FG. Issokay, at least FG is now going to another person..tak membazir.
Here is DC’s website. I don’t think it's avail in Msia though..i have not really surfed their site. http://www.donna-chang.com/

Moral of the story :
1. sometimes cheaper stuff is better than those expensive branded ones.
2. don’t buy perfumes based on the beauty of the bottles. Looks can be deceiving :). Okay, maybe this point only applies to me. I think people out there buy perfumes based on the smell that they like.
3. Elakkan pembaziran, sharing is caring. I was lucky that my sis is in need of a new perfume and that she likes the FG. So she will take it home with her.

Note: must order from Yune 2 or 3 more bottles when she comes to HK.. or bring them home with her when she goes back to Msia.

RM50 for every credit card?what say you?

http://www.mstar.com.my/berita/cerita.asp?file=/2009/12/29/mstar_berita/20091228211748&sec=mstar_berita

Read in the news that beginning next year service tax will be charged to all credit card holders. RM50 for those with the principal cards and and RM25 to all supplementary cards. I missed out the earlier articles about this topic and the rationale behind charging GSTs on the CCs. Mental note : just google them up later to read and know more about it.

Told hunny about it and apparently he has cards that have been zerorised (and no more in use) but still active. I am now his PA to remind him things..hehe.. he said he needs to remind himself to cancel the card. :)

I cannot make any comments on the news because I have not done enough research on the topic. So no argument(s) on the subject matter for now.

As for me, I have hunny’s supplementary card because last time when I tried to apply from H*B* (hehe, not so subtle now is it?), they rejected my application because they could not find any debt info on me. What the hey? At time of application I only had my car loan under my name and no credit cards.. so I was a CC virgin. And, by doing simple maths, both hunny and I knew that I was eligible for the card. What made me a bit angry was because I was in a rush at the time to fly to Amsterdam for a 3-week course. Manala tau kena pakai duit sendiri in case of emergency ke, bolehla pakai card tu.

In the end, no CC but I survived. Nasib I didn’t need to have extra cash/ credit during the course. Phew!

Story #1 on the GST on CCs memang not so relevant with story #2 on my rejected CC application experience. :)

whoppeedeedoodaaaah

gibberish entry for today since I am so not in the mood to really work this week. Furthermore with this kind of weather, how can you not wish that you were on leave and tucked cosily in bed???
I am on a happy note this week probably because I'll be heading back to Msia on Thursday night. Yippie! But I am dreading the flight.. I wonder why is that every time I go on flight to just about anywhere, I end up getting a pretty bad migraine once I reach the destination.

Same case as when I reached Bangkok, Yune had to give me Panadols that night because of the headache. It takes at least one day to recover, so if i sampai Msia on Thursday night kenala cepat cepat makan ubat so that Friday I am all fresh and good to go. Go where? takde mana mana.. pergi hang out dengan my mum and sisters je. My mum promised to cook me curry crabs when I go home. Yummmm....

I think I have 2 wedding invites on Saturday. One is right smack in KL while the other is in Bangi.. one, two, jus! Which one should I prioritise? I think maybe the one in Bangi since my very old school friend is getting married though I have not seen her since we finished high school. Punya la lama! I think I should go there a little bit later if we want to take pictures with the pengantin. Datang awal nanti kena balik awal to make way for others who will want to makan2 at the hall.

At night, I have a makan-makan invite at my uncle's place. My auntie and her family flew back from the US and they are here to introduce (i think) Azlina's hubby. Azlina is my auntie's daughter which makes her my cousin. (It would have been easier to just say that Azlina is my cousin but I wanted to create this puzzle-effect).

So basically to sum it all up. My trip this month is just for MAKAN aje!.. oh no.. no wonder I am so puffy now. :)

By the way, please wish me a safe journey home because saya tidak pernah travel home on Xmas Eve which as I have read the papers, ramai orang will be at the airport in HK.. as in reallly ramai! :p

It's that time of the year

Where people get together with their loves ones, spend quality time, EAT and Be MERRY!

As for me.. huaaaa.. I feel so menyesal not applying for 2 weeks leave sampai end of year. Kalau tak, I would have 2 weeks of pure cuti at home.. L darn, how silly can I get??
I still have 8 more annual leave days in my pocket.. (while knocking my head on the table)..why o why did I not take my leave?

What can I do to make myself feel better? Well, it’s not going to be that bad actually.
Hunny will be coming tomorrow (Friday 18th) and he will fly back on Monday 21st. Funny arrangement we did.. And I, on the other hand, will fly to Malaysia on Xmas Eve (erk!mesti ramai orang kat aiport… gritting teeth). But I won’t be there for long, I will be coming back on Monday 28th, lugging along my kakak yang takut nak datang HK sorang-sorang so dia nak jugak naik flight same as me to come to HK. Hehe..

So I will be working from the 29th to 31st of December..tak tau la kakak ku nak buat apa while I am at work. Takkan dia nak duduk rumah aje kot and play Farmville? Bluek, I think not! Membazir je bayar ticket kapal terbang kalau nak main Farmville.. :)

By the way, ticket MAS is amazingly much cheaper than Air Asia (for the date that my sister booked). And I also compared and contrasted how much more expensive if one way AA and one way MAS would be than just taking AA return or MAS return alone.
So the conclusion is taking AA to KL and then return via MAS to HK is a better deal for me. Cheaper than AA or MAS return.. trust me! RM1000 in total.. okayla, especially during festive seasons prices just go wayyyyy over the top.

C U later alligator: to the unpretty sight of numbers in my CC statement

for now that is.. yahoo! I am debt free! I am not a big fan of credit cards but I appreciate the existence very much now since I can only book and pay for my flight tickets via my CC. The debt was not much but I would always like to zerorise it every month, cuma it has increased quite a bit due to the travelling. Next target.. my PTPTN diploma loan.. :)

I am one happy lad-eyh! By the way, I forgot that ASB has closed shop for the time being until January 4th for dividend calculation..tsk tsk..January la macam ni. I also make it a must to put aside a percentage and place it in ASB walaupun tak banyak every month.. sediakan payung sebelum it rains.

Erk, that reminds me that my car insurance due next Jan 17th! I should remind myself to remind hunny to help renew the insurance for me.

Note to myself : make a mental note of the reminder to remind hunny. Okeih?

Bangkok in a few snapshots

Mirror-happy-people!

Yune and..err..I forgot the name. Sorry adik!

Dinner at some local restaurant. See the musician (?) behind me. Nice entertainment for the night.

Cha and moi

This is Cha's creative masterpiece

Bangkok Express

see the title? Yup, fly in,fly out. That was how fast my holiday ended.. Reached Bkk at about 2am. My host was already asleep at the time. Super tired I tell you. Friday morning we woke up around 10am and went straight to the Platinum shopping mall. My o my, they have so many things there..and so many pretty and cheap dresses. My eyes were so bulat looking at the choices available. And Yune kept on updating me with the latest info..'we are just on the x floor, we have another y floor to go' was what she said to me at every floor.

I think we went back to her place at about 9ish.. which was all right. I just could not believe that we spent a good 6 hours or so at just 1 shopping mall. I did not buy that many clothes, it's just that I got so engrossed with the things they had to offer there. Really nice and cool stuff..

On Saturday, we woke up late.. i was ready to laze around when Yune said,'Get up! You're in Bkk, you should go out girl!' .. and so lazily I dragged myself out of bed and into the bathroom to take a shower.

Our first stop was Emporium where we had a quick lunch (why do we always have quick lunches? I was on a holiday for goodness sakes!). But that's okay, we had to meet the rest of the volunteers to go to someplace (like a kampung area) to teach a few Thai kids English. Simple English words to be exact.

It is just so funny for me.. I don't know the language but I managed to teach Cha ( the thai kid) some English words. She could not remember all but it was all right. Yang susah for her to remember are words like fingers, window, cloud.. maybe because they are difficult to pronounce.

After the class, both Yune and me went to Siam Paragon to look at a few stuff.. (read: identifying what to buy next) before we headed towards the nail parlour. The price was quite all right. RM100 for foot and hand spa, including mani and pedi.. we wanted to go to the cheaper one but it was full and we didn't want to wait..oh well, probably next time :)

With nails nicely done, we went to have dinner at a place called Fish Cafe (sebijik like Manhattan Fish Shop only yummier) and ordered some nice food. I don't really dig Manhattan Fish Market but this Fish Cafe served quite nice seafood.

We reached home at about 9ish and I packed my stuff for my flight. Woke up around 8am on Sunday and then went for a quick breakie at a nearby coffee place (named Coffee Alley) before making my way to the airport.

Good holiday..also good on the purse. (psstt.. I did not spend all my money! I am sooooo good!)

What's your plan for 2010?

I know, I know. It's only 28 November and I'm already talking about 2010? Me, I don't have new year's resolution..never had any as far as I can remember. I have goals and ambition but the plan is always subject to change. I follow where the heart leads me. Most of the time I make decisions using my gut instinct and so far, they've been quite all right.

Next year, what's going to happen is:

1. Hunny's going for his e-MBA class which I think will start in January. Go hunny Go!
   That means he won't be able to travel to come and see me. And I may not be able to take off from work that often to go and see him as well.
2. My move to the second rotation. I want to go to somewhere that is closer to home. Due to reason number one.

If you ask me, what will I do and stuff like that.. I am never sure. I just don't know. Sometimes, it's easier not to worry so much about all the IFs in life.. just have to go along with the flow.

I still have doubts about the path that I have chosen here and I always tell hunny that I feel that way. Who knows, one day I decide to leave the programme and head back to be with my family OR I stick with it to the very end.. Kita tunggu dan lihat!

Meanwhile, to those who draft their new year's resolution.. cepat get your pen and paper out. Ada lagi sebulan je to pen them down :) Good luck!

Update: am about to flip the first page of the book i bought 10 minutes ago and I see this quote on my bookmark - Think BIG. The future of success is yours to create...

hmm..raya haji already?

heeeee... raya dah rupenya :) I lost track of time as here, mane ade orang celebrate Raya Aji kan? Only when I chatted with hunny last Tuesday barula teringat. Tak sedih sangat sebab at least raya haritu I got to be at home with my family for a whole week.

But this raya, my relatives are at my cousin's place as she and her children (my niece and nephew) are leaving for the UK today at 3p.m. Haiyaa.. mesti menangis la semua tu, especially my aunts who are very close with my niece and nephew. I'm gonna miss those kids too. Mia is super cute.. and she loves drinking fresh milk so much, it's like drinking plain water :) Mesti gigi dia kuat nanti.

Kak sue, I wish you all the best. Take a good care of yourself and of course the kids. You're our PhD holder..InsyaAllah.

My first thick coat..err,or is it a long jacket?

I love the collar..

The top paired with a pair of tights..

Note the collar. I don't normally wear this style but there is always a first to everything :)

I also love the big buttons

Ta-daa! (lengan tu ada bump because i had another baju inside the the sleeve bergulung2 lupa nak betulkan)

Kakiku bagaikan nak tercabut because my friend and I went to nearly every shop in Mongkok. And no I did not take any pictures because we had too many stuff to carry around and with the volume of people there, it was just not practical to do so. Nanti karang ada bag yang jalan sendiri tanpa tuannya..kekeke..

Kedai baju dia banyak .. too many in fact. But a few of them sell the same stuff.. and jackets or coats dia untuk orang yang tidak mempunyai top and bottom like mine. Like my friend said, your ***** are not Hongkie size..hahahahaha..luckily I found at least ONE long coat. Tapi kena beli lagi satu sebab takkan pakai yang satu ni je for two months. I have to send it to the laundry for sure and I need just one more. A black coat. Which due to my size, was a wee bit hard to find. Yang adapun cost about RM 800 to RM1000 plus which was way beyond my budget. Somemore I'll only wear them probably just this once in my life :)

I also bought a black dress that can be used to go out for dinner as well as for the office. And also a top that goes well with a pair of black tights. All in all I spent RM250..iatu sangat berbaloi berbanding barang2 that are available near my place.

I might go again next week..Yippie! But of course with someone because so many people go there and A) i might get lost or B) I won't be able to find my way to the row of shops again. :) amazingly we walked for a good 4 hours..in and out, in and out..No, no,No..normally,you won't ever get that from me. I get tired so easily from walking too long but just now I sort of got hypnotised by the many choices of clothes there. And of course because my friend had so much energy to walk and walk and walk. I think she's using the Energizer battery..hehe..

All in all.. it's been a great day. Ended it with my legs up on the sofa and a large cup of bubble tea. Pheww.. :)

introducing Sam - short for Syamsul

hehehe.. me thinks that name is so not him.. SAM, SAM, SAM.. suddenly this reminds me of the Deepavali advert when the granny said 'what SAM, SAM, SAM? What is your real name' (dialogue may have been changed due to my lack of memory).
And the boy answered,'Muthusamy Karuppiah'.. or something like that.

Well since it is quite difficult for people here to pronounce my hunny's name.. he decided to introduce himself as Sam..kekekeke.. nak terguling-guling when I heard him say his new name. :) This is for the sake of making things easier for my friends :) Takdela terbelit-belit lidah they all nak say his name.

That also brings me to this subject of - nama yang panjang. I was trying to book a flight ticket only via Emirates, but since their system tak biasa terima nama panjang2 agaknya, it is making my life difficult to even book one. They say to follow passport but the system does not allow for space.. abis tu takkan jadi TunkuFaradiana kot? pulak tu when I finished entering me daddy's name, it prompt to say that the characters cannot be more than 28.

so then it will become TFaradiana (first name) TZainalAbidin (last name). Aiyoo.. lagi la salah macam ni? how la, how???

And the funny thing is - this is linked to the tab where we have to put our name that is displayed on the credit card .. suka ati diorang je. In the end on the credit card tab for name jadi TFaradiana. Dah salah jugak ni. I tell you.. i so pening kepala la.. I can't cut short my name simply because I'll have so much trouble when checking in nanti. I don't want to take AA because it is more expensive (weird eh?) and then MAS pulak takde flight on the dates that I want.

Kesimpulan of the story.. I have decided to give simple names to my children nanti sebab cik Sam punya nama is also panjang already. Kasihan they all nanti..
For instance, for girls it would be Melissa (initially wanted to have Melissa Airiss tapi dah panjang sangat la pulak), or Airiss or Eleyna.. haaa. senang cerita and senang they all nak buat passport segala bagai..kekeke.. for boys it would be something like .. Aiman, Rayyan, Izhan (took this from my cuzzy's name)..

What say you? I've been through a lot of problems due the length of my name and I do hope that my children will not have to go through the same thing.
Note: Nama di atas dipilih sendiri tanpa persetujuan Sam..hehehe.. and no, I'm not expecting yet.

lampu lampi

owh i sangat suka dengan lampu depan that hunny chose for to place at the front gate. The contractors have installed all lighting stuff that he bought. Hunny's taste for the house boleh tahan jugak..even without me around. Kudos to you darl!

takde gambar sebab tak ambil, nanti tak surprise.. tak surprise untuk diri sendiri jugak sebenarnya sebab all those lightings are chosen by hunny. so I only know how they look like when I go back.

Tapi lampu neighbour selang dua buah rumah sama sebijik like ours. Siapa beli dulu?kekeke... Macam la the factory only produced one pair of those lamps..tapi yang kelakar tu memang sama sangat. Keciknya dunia.. :)

I also love the bathroom's lighting.. nice choice hunny! And also the lights that hunny chose to be installed (install ke?) into the ceiling.. (is it into the ceiling or inside?). It's square with engravings around it. Hard to imagine? Yeah, even harder for me to desribe how it looks like..hehe.. even tried googling the images but i can't seem to find it. either that or i am googling the wrong things.

A friend of mine has also seen the house with all the lightings done and with the plaster ceiling all ready. He said the house looks really nice. Thanks babe, nanti bila everything dah siap kita buat kenduri and makan2 kat rumah tu okay.

Okay, this makes me even more determined to work hard and not spend so much on things I want but don't need. hehehe.. yeah, lagi sikit je lagi. We can do it. Tinggal the kitchen, master bedroom and living room's furniture and MOT.

Erm, sikit lagi ke tu? tak jugak kan? it's okay.. where there is a will, there is a jalan.. where there is a jalan there is traffic jam.. hehe.. adeke?

IOUs

saja je nak bagi title catchy sikit.. i've been reading so many newspaper articles talking about PTPTN and orang yang tak bayar the loan eventhough they can afford to do so. Well, I am one of them..(wait for it, wait for it....) yang menerima the loan when I took my diploma and degree. And no I am not in the blacklisted list of names.

What I would like to share is that I started paying my back the loan after I started working with ING. During that time, I have not yet bought a car, not yet married and a whole lot of other not-yets. I paid because I am the type who does not like to be in debt (sekarang hutang rumah yang berrrrrrbukit tu lain cerita la ..hehe..). I didn't even own a credit card until early 2008.

Back to the PT story, I mean hey, who likes to be forking out money to pay something that we can put off till the cow comes home right? Wrong! I always think the scroll (s) that we have is because of the monetary help that we received. No $ help = no scroll(s); simple as that. In a way itu tanggungjawab kita, dah pinjam kena bayar balik.

Reminds me of some people yang berkobar-kobar preaching out loud especially masa time mengundi, kata itu hak kitalah, kena mengundi la, tanggungjawab negaralah.. belakang pusing, submit income tax return pun tak, bayar study loan pun tak. So where is the sense of tanggungjawab there?

The way I see it, it is as simple as this. The more we don't pay, the more we are limiting the chance of future generations (or even the current young ones) to have this assistance to continue their studies. Kalau kena kat anak-anak sendiri one fine day nanti macam mana? Masa tu jangan nak salahkan kerajaan ok?

As for me, I started paying in small amounts when I first started working. Bila gaji naik, I increased my monthly payments and when I receive bonuses, I paid extra. Dulu I thought I'd be 40 by the time I finish paying all my PT debt.. tapi now I think I'd be able to finish it off in 2 1/2 years' time. InsyaAllah.

I am grateful that I received the exemption of repayment for my degree PT loan. This exemption offer (no repayment required for those who achieve First Class honours or 3.7 CGPA) was then retracted for those who signed the agreement after year 2005 if I am not mistaken.

random rants..

mummy was busy chatting with wan achik..us like little kids started to play around with the camera..

my friend gave this to me, a big piece of chocolat from Paris :)

I managed to change my tiny handbag that i bought dulu. Cannot isi a lot of stuff with the first bag ( my bad, i didn't check the size). Thank you My Closet for letting me change the bag :)

i miss him..

i feel like i want to buy this dress.. should i or should i not?

oh yea, this is how it looks like when i opened the wrapper :)

this is the street in front of my apartment

again, should i or should i not? what makes it a bit off is the lengan of the dress, kembang sangat macam butterfly..

and the slight renovation on the house starts..

not really a renovation, but I don't know the exact term for this :

• additional tiles to the backyard, outside the kitchen
• awning at the backyard as well ( hunny wanted the skylight or whatever it is called.. but because that will make the kitchen panas dengan humidity yang terkumpul , we decided on a normal plain awning..lagipun kurang sikit cost)
• plaster ceiling for the living room and dining hall.. hunny wanted that circular thing with engravings to place a chandelier.. tapi macam tak sesuai je, so we opted for normal plaster ceiling and lights yang tenggelam dalam ceiling tu. dunno what that is called.
• grille for the whole house..

all in all, it initially costed (ada ke such a word as costed? ) us RM7.3k.. which I think is quite all right memandangkan banyak jugak benda that we asked the contractor to do. Tapi masa tu i was being so chatty that I usik usik the guy to give me discount and make it RM6.5k.

hmm, he didnt give me that.. tapi he punched the calculator and showed me RM6.7 k.. okayla tu kan? berjaya ! Berjaya! I just sat there without moving a muscle after i mintak kurang.. lepas tu lama sikit baru dia kasi.. yeahay! boleh tahan..

hunny during that time buat buat jalan jauh nak cari cheque book. rupanya after that meeting, he told me , he gave me space to get the guy to reduce the price. tak sangka mr hubby percaya that I could do that..hehehe..

Lepas ni banyak lagi to do..kena kerja keras kumpul duit. To do list :

1. kicthen cabinet - which may cost around 5 to 6k depending on the style. I just want a simple one that would not injure me in any way. I ni kan clutz, asyik nak langgar aje any bucu that comes across.
2. fridge - ini nak kena tengok pintu bukak arah mana, nak sesuaikan dengan the kitchen cabinet layout. budget dalam 1.5k
3. sofa, katil for master bedroom, furniture lain lain - malas nak fikir dulu. Bujang jela yea..
4. pest control for anai-anai.. this shd be the first thing in the list sebab rumah baru memang sepatutnya we make sure that we call the pest control people. somemore our place used to be a ladang if i'm not mistaken
5. etc..
6. oh yea, MOT belum bayar lagi..that's going to cost us about RM3k.. macam mana ni?

It's okay, we shall start slow. Alhamdulillah yang basic macam grille tu semua dah dapat bayar. Yang lain lain we still have about 2 years to complete.

So peeps, our homecoming , eh bukan, housewarming will be when all of those items have been completed. Lama lagi la nampaknya, memang betul kena tunggu i balik.

Tapi macam mana couples lain yang beli rumah kat situ boleh buat reno habis habis? Macam mana they all kumpul duit cepat sangat? Amazing!

I was rushed to the hospital at 12.30am

Thank goodness my friends di tingkat atas my apartment were not asleep yet. (this happened on Monday night, lepas sehari bekerja). I was suffering from (what i think was) high fever. I was shivering like nobody's business and didn't stop even when I was at the hospital A & E. Was placed on a bed yang boleh bergerak tu while all of us (my 2+1 friends, one from India, one from Korea with his GF).. what a way to be introduced to a new friend right.

Funnily enough, I cried because I was afraid that I had the swine flu. All the 3 friends came to my rescue had to wear the mask, and me too.

Finally the scary experience ended with me having a 3-day medical leave, medicines and migraine and high fever to counter alone (and thank goodness, no swine flu). My hunny panicked because i called him crying.. you see, I changed my phone and gave him my not-so-old nokia where i forgot to save all my HK friends numbers into the new phone. Lepas tu kelam kabut la telefon hunny yang panic dengar suara i macam nak pengsan je hari tu.. got the number and terus called y friends, my upstairs neighbours.

phew, I'm lucky they were there to help.. memang tak larat. Ini ke challenge duduk jauh jauh ni?.. erk, sini ok lagi, if dah pegi negara lain yang tak de orang who are in the same programme like me, how la?

Btw, Jaewoo's GF cooked rice porridge for me and she explained that everything was vegetables and vegetable based cooking.. how sweet! I really do not know how to repay their kindness.. (furthermore i dont cook, so I can't treat them to my own cooking kan? ).. takkan nak bagi gula macam orang dulu2?? (i have to return the tupperware when she made the porridge for me) any suggestions????

raya and so many other stuff

Just an update of what went on during my 7 days of raya leave (termasuk weekends) back in Malaysia :

Day before Raya :

Spent half a day (from 9.30am to 3.30pm) doing my hair at the salon. Imij Hair salon is the only place that my sisters and I go to to do our hair. This is especially after Thomas and Guys at SACC ruined my hair.

Around 4pm - went to search for baju raya at Kompleks and SACC - tak dapat.

So went back to my in laws and siap siap untuk hunt for baju kurung at Subang Parade while berbuka sekali at DOME. Finally I got ONE baju kurung at 50% off from Sireh Pinang. Okay la dapat satu. :)

Lepas tu rushed to Shah Alam Mall starbucks to meet up with Mizzy and kids :) Pics are with Hunny, tak download lagi :)

Raya Morning :

4.30am - bertolak balik N9 because I wanted to celebrate my 1st raya kat kampung. Yeahoo!

First day of Raya:

Melawat saudara mara sampaila ke petang.. nasib tak pengsan sebab makan banyak sangat. Actually takla banyak but maybe our perut terkejut because of the variety of food that went in.

Melawat pusara atuk, wan, pak teh.. but I didnt go because...

And my family melawat makam daddy at Makam at Seri Menanti.. and followed by visiting daddy's sister who stayed nearby.

Second day of Raya, Monday :

Visited 2 more houses, my nenek saudara.. and then off we went back to Shah Alam. We reached Shah Alam at about 2pm. Dead tired and slept until 6pm..boleh tak?

I think we went out for dinner malam tu if I'm not mistaken.. tak ingat dah.. oo, we went melawat nenek hunny whose house is also in Sek 17.

3rd day of Raya, Tuesday :

Somehow I don't remember what happened on Tuesday. I remember that hunny and I went to see our house at Denai Alam tapi lepas tu macam blank. But I know it was a busy day..

4th day of Raya , Wednesday :

Ikut PIL balik Melaka to visit their relatives.. from 8 am to about 5pm (5pm was when we reached shah alam). Hunny said there were many more houses to go to but the PIL macam tak larat.

Note : next time we're doing that, let's rent a room for an overnight, tak larat babe. Lagipun the drivers (FIL and hunny) were sleepy while driving. Me? I dah selamat terlentok at the back seat. Siapa suruh tak kejut, I could have driven as well :)

5th day of Raya, Thursday:

Pegi ING Malaysia office - buat keje sikit sikit , accessing my Asia pac email from there. Met my darling colleagues/ friends tapi tak sempat nak minum2 pun.. rushing sangat!

After that I went shopping for a new pair of office pants (kat HK punya dah longgar , me likes! ), got myself a new dress and of course MOST IMPORTANTE! - a new pair of office shoes.

NOTE : in HK, is so damn hard to find shoes that are free from pig-skinned lining.. sangat susah!

6th day, Friday :

Naz and Net came to my PIL's place to beraya :) Pics not with me yet. Thank you guys, i memang tak sempat nak berjalan jumpa kawan :(

Petang nya we went to Denai Alam to choose the designs for some stuff for the house. This is interesting to blog about - will tell you soon. Spent a good 2 hours or so just doing this. Penat!

7th day, Saturday :

masa ni dah takde mood nak buat ape ape because I know I have to go back on Sunday. Sheesh! Went to my mum's place and after that brought her to kak ita's place and we just lepakked there until 6pm.

Lepas tu tak payah cerita because I was in a sad mood that nite.. boo hoo hoo..

Sunday - 4.ooam was sent to LCCT. Bye bye hunnny.. bye bye Malaysia :(

dah tak best dah..

sebab kena balik HK. Time really goes by when you're having fun. And the flight back was super-terrible, sikit lagi nak muntah. I was super scared.. some lady pun dah siap terjerit ketakutan. Is it AirAsia's plane? Or is the the route itself? Masa naik MAS tak teruk sangat.. maybe it was just our luck that turbulence was soooo bad that day.

i told syamsul about the flight and he said, ooo, biasala tu, i lupa nak cakap. Apparently everytime he comes here memang flight macam tu.. huhu, kesian the hubby..tsk tsk..

I enjoyed my raya this year very much! maybe sebab duduk jauh kot pasal tu la rasa best sangat :) have so many pictures dari camera hunny, ke kamera nadia, to my camera..haha.. posing je. But Nadia and hunny were papparazi berjaya! :) Thanks to them we have so many raya pics this year :)

Pics sekarang tidak ada.. only in FB. Too lazy to download from hunny's camera.

By the way, my laptop is on medical leave back in Malaysia. Terpaksa carry hunny's lappy yang 2.5kg ni.. He'll bring back my bonnie to me when he comes here next month. My laptop asyik tutup sendiri every 2 hours or so, memang dah demam la tu.. Hope she's ok now. Till then, toodles.

Don't you miss your hubby?

If you ask me how do you feel being apart from your family especially your hubby for a long period of time?
On the forefront I would say ‘I’m fine’ or ‘I’m hanging in there’ or ‘It’s hard but I guess it’s a sacrifice that both of us decided to take’.Well, it is not easy peasy. Sometimes , (well most of the time when I’m stressed at work) I wish I was home and could seek comfort from dear hunny.
Susah, bukan senang. Sometimes bila heartache tu meluap luap, rasa nak give up pun ada.
Imagine, we have a new house now, dah dapat kunci. And he is all alone to look after the house and check if things are in order. I so heartache! Orang lain dah start moving in, and he has to wait for me to come back so that we can do it together.Lagi 1 tahun 8 bulan (if betul betul nak ikut exact duration) that I will be away from my loved ones.
Is this what I really want? Seriously, up till now, I am not sure of the answer. It still is at an experimental stage for me.Can I still endure another fasting month without my family? Can HE still endure another round of fasting month and maybe raya (next year) without me? I don't know.
But I am glad and happy that he has been very supportive, and he surely will be in future.

Nak raya ni mula la nak emo.. tapi nanti if kena campak negara lagi jauh, macam mana? How now brown cow? Nak bawak hunny sekali, expenses management would be an issue (currently we’re splitting the expenses for the house and other investments.. taknak kata debts, investment ok..hehe). I should think of it when I get there..

P.S. to myself : I can’t believe I’m here! From someone who grew up without a dad and had to endure so many challenges in her life.. I think I’m doing all right. Guilty of telling people my sob stories or not, I think that is one of the ways that I managed to reduce my stress and be the sane person that I am today.

Can't wait to fly back to Malaysia!

Source : Google

Can't wait to go back home because :

1. I MISS my hunny, my sisters, my family, my friends..my , my ,my
2. Dah 3 bulan tak balik rumah, and this 1 week leave may help to ease my homesickness level
3. to get my hands on my handphone raya..yeahay! (ps : at time of entry, i have yet to buy baju raya). Ok, so takde baju raya pun takpe kot tahun ni.. i still have the jubah from mekah/madinah that my in law bought for me. pakai je tshirt and jeans lepas tu sarung jubah, boleh tak agak-agak. The jubah is very jarang.
   This is the first time i have ever, ever, spent on a handphone because i am not into tech and/ or gadgets. I am more of a clothes and handbags person. Tapi hunny kata ini tengah offer, so ok, i shall give it a try.
   The last time i bought a new phone was 2 years' back.
4. ada lagi satu benda that is waiting for my return ...

Source : My Closet (online shopping haven)

fruit hand for people back home

the purses and perfume - not for me

earrings - for me! me , me!

the purse that i bought for kak ita

I really don't know what to buy for the family back home. They sell a lot of souvenirs / trinkets here tapi dari segi kualiti tak dijamin la. I bought a few coin purses for my aunties (but can already see that the zipper they use is flimsy), one perfume for Nadia's bday, a purse for Kak Ita's bday.. tshirts with HK logo infront ada banyak, but somehow the size is a little bit funny. The bigger the size, the longer it gets. Bukan patut lagi besar sideways ke? So, no tshirts. Just small purses.

and maybe a few things for me as well. Have decided that those earrings will be mine..muahahaha..

packed my bags and ready to go

well,okay. Not 100% ready, i still have a few this and that to place inside the luggage. Initially I didn't want to check in my luggage, but after buying the perfume for nadia, it has to be checked in. Oh well..

It's raining quite heavily at the moment accompanied by thunder and lightning. Sca-ry.

Today is 15 Sept - Tuesday. Two major happenings :

Typhoon signal number 8

I think this is the second or third time since I'm got here. Tapi last night macam susah sikit nak lelap mata maybe because I was a little bit scared of the rain.

Level 8 signal / warning was still on until 10am on Tuesday so masuk kerja lambat sikit. This is because whenever the level is at 8, you're suppose to stay indoors. Kadang kadang if the signal is hoisted while we're at work, depending on HR's info, we get to go home early.

Patrtick Swazey's passing

I think he died on the 14th but I only knew about it today. Funnily enough, I have never watched Dirty Dancing in full. Always a little bit here and there..

I am not a fan of PS but still, he is a famous actor who lost his battle with cancer. What made it more touching (i think) was that his wife was with him till the end. Lama kawin tu, mana nak dapat artis hollywood (or even Malaysia for that matter) yang kawin lama macam tu?

eh, this entry is not so relevant to the title.

My favourite things

at the moment (in random order) are :

1. sparkling ribena - dulu takdela minat sangat but I guess after seeing how expensive Esprit drinks are, I settled for Ribena. Sini Esprit is about ..hmm.. RM 15 per bottle. In Malaysia baru RM 7..
2. Eating at an Indian restaurant - especially the masala dossa (where it is famously known as tosai in Malaysia). It is very yummy and crunchy with potatos on the inside of the folded dossa. Nice!
3. Wasabi nuts - after eating so much cakes and brownies and ice cream and all the sorts, I am bored with those desserts and tekak saya nak makan dessert melayu (which of course mana nak dapat kat sini kan? ) . So in the end, I bought a very last packet of wasabi nuts! tak relevant sangat but I need some excitement .. hehehe
4. Going to Sasa to try the nice perfumes they have there and refraining myself from buying any of them since I do not need a new one.

The list is endless actually. And it changes, maybe all the time..hehe.. by the way, I am looking forward to have my hands on a present that i bought for myself at home. Yeahay! Nak balik , nak balik!

i am not a drinker

and i do not consume alco. Saya baru saja membuat seorang colleague merajuk sebab I actually bailed out on him as he wanted to have drinks with me and another friend (apparently kawan I yang sorang tu pun cancel la pulak). Thing is :

1 - rugi je i pergi minum with them because i only drink juice (not so much into soda nowadays sebab dah biasa tak minum dah) and ice blended perisa buah buahan. nak mintak hot choc or iced choc macam mengarutla pulak kat bar/ pub macam tu kan. And normally I don't enjoy drinking fruit juice sangat. Alang alang minum fresh orange baik I beli je yang in those boxes and minum kat rumah kan..

2 - puasa puasa ni i am super tired after buka.. susahla nak buat orang faham. Bukan nak menolak invitation or not that I am anti-social, tapi penat la wei puasa berejam pastu nak membuka mata melayan borak kosong sambil minum minum. tapi they all tak faham.. takpela, I am an anti-social for the time being. that's fine with me.

3 - bukan nak berkira pasal duit, but instead of me spending on minum air juice yang berpuluh ringgit and overpriced tu, baikla i save my ka-ching for my commitments back home. I have things to pay/ save for and most of them here tak ada.. jadi tak boleh la kata I terlalu jimat.. i just have more commitments.. kereta, rumah, study loan. not showing off but these are the things that I have to prioritise berbanding nak keluar pegi minum minum. If ada teh tarik ke, you all nak pegi minum starbucks ke, tu I tak kisah la, because me likey those things.

I am not super pious, tapi lebih elok mengelak dari terjebak. Betul tak kawan-kawan semua?

Say AYE!!!

The pictures.. as per someone's request

grey dress..yeah, am turning colourless

grey top with a dash of purple

again, a grey top which hunny bought for me..thanks hun!

finally, the maroon dress that I was talking about

the lil black dress, tak lil sangat, knee length

Okay, and here it is. The collection of dresses and tops that I purchased in the past few weeks. Bukan apa, all the while in Msia office, I am so selamba, sometimes a mix of casual tops with office pants. But here, it is a wee bit different. All are very corporate, so nak tak nak I have to jump into the bandwagon.. chewah. Point to note, they are not the super expensive type, and the maroon dress, I had my CR Head from Amsterdam who came last week, she has the same dress design as mine only in black so luckily I wore mine on Thursday and she wore hers on Friday. So, it is so easy to bump into someone at work, or while going to work who would have/ (or even worse) wear the same dress on the same day.. wahaha..tak kisah la, I'm no fashion addict , asalkan I have enough and proper clothes for work.

I want to add more colour to the collection tapi agak segan because most people wear black/ grey here, so if tiba tiba I wear a purple dress, I may stick out like a sore thumb.. and yes, there is this purple dress that I like, same cutting as the maroon dress. And I also saw a very red dress (same cutting as the black dress) which I think looks nice as well.. but like I said; am not sure if it is proper for office.. but me likey likey..

Anyway, the whole purpose of having these pics in the blog is because 1; i dont want to place them in FB and 2; Yune has been bugging me to see the maroon dress. So yune dearie, I hope you're happy :-)

berpuasa di perantauan

dah seminggu dah kita puasa and it has been a challenging week for me. Penatla especially when it is very humid and hot here.

Anyway, there is this one newspaper girl, one of the first few strangers in HK I think who actually smile at me since the first day I started working in this country.

She has the nicest and friendliest smile and she has the extra effort to take a few steps towards me everyday so that she can pass the paper to me, which I always end up using it as a fan because of the heat. To the newspaper girl, thank you for giving me the warm smile every morning :) She's my friendly newspaper girl. I think, if ever i fall ill , she would be the first one to notice sebab pagi tak dapat pass the paper to me .. hehe.

Anyhoo, my dear liaison in Malaysia office has resigned. I feel sad because she and her other colleague have really helped me a lot. Aih, why do we lose all the nice and good people? just when you think that you have found one (or two) person (s) that you can count on, tiba tiba GONE! I should not be selfish right. She's going because her future is better elsewhere. I wish you all the luck dear!

okay back to my title up there, rasanya i've lost some weight partly due to the fasting period and also due to the lack of variety of food that is suitable kepada tekakku yang sangat la malaysian ini.

Then again, that's good right? Although, I am currently investing on a new set of wardrobe. What I brought from home dah tak boleh pakai, so currently since I am in between sizes, I buy more dresses compared to pants. Seluar agak confuse sikit, either it's too loose or a bit too tight at certain areas..haha..

As I have promised yune, i shall put a few pictures of my (mostly black) dresses soon. I have 2 black dress, 1 black blouse, 1 grey dress and 1 grey blouse.. what's happening to me man? I used to be so colourful, tapi sini kurang berani sikit..

datang lagi yea..

want some mangoes?

smile! sempat aje..

Hunny came to visit last week and we had a blast! Could not help ourselves and we bought a few clothes ; a shirt for him and a few of this and that for me . Baju kerja, betul tak tipu..huhuhu..

Went to browse for N97, tapi semua lebih kurang the same price. They are not into price war? ish, ish... tak boleh jadi ni. Look see, look see only, not really planning on buying a new one at the moment. (maybe soon, or maybe when a certain someone wants to sponsor 50% of the cost? hehehe..........)

I however have changed my mine.. not into N97.. tapi i'm looking at a yet-to-be marketed SE Hp in Asia. I guess it's way over the top, the price I mean, because it looks super canggih. I don't think it'll be affordable. Let's see the selling price when it comes to us, hopefully soon

Banyak sangat ni..konon nak save duit for my wet kitchen and my plaster ceiling ni.. how now brown cow? Discipline dear, discipline!