Flavours of the World

I had a bad morning. For once, I came early (Hahah.. its been ages since I've come early to school). I had planned to email the report to Leong, after a few modifications la, then head off to Bagan Serai to cash in my cheque and go 'out'.. but my computer had other plans for me. Thus, I was stuck with it for most of the morning, but with help from Ramadhan, Hasrul and Sham la of course.. harap kat sy, sampai ke sudah tak leh nak on pc nih..

Anyway, since my time for the 'outing' was cut short, I decided to cancel it and was moping around until I noticed this book of coupons on Ramadhan's desk. When I looked through them, I realized there was a World Food Festival held at the Pusat Bahasa.. and we didn't know about it!

Seriously, they should do some promotion for these kinda things, especially when we have so many foreigners here.

I went with Ramadhan and though the 'festival' was quite small, there was a big crowd there. There were booths for Malay food (which though should have the most diversity, the booth was deserted.. as expected la kan dah hari² jumpe Malaysian food hehe..), Japanese food (which sgt mengecewekan since I SAW the Jusco packaging of the sushi), Russian food (I only saw some potato salad which doesn't seem like Russian food since I pun tau buat as well as some jelly) that shared a booth with two more countries yang one I have forgotten but the other one had croissants (French perhaps?)

Since giler ramai punye orang, I didn't get to see everything on the table. Ramadhan yang renjong itu gelak tgk Ayu terkial² nak intai what every booth had (there was this cupcake stall jugak..) but at the end of the line of the booth was this Spanish (?) booth, manned by Dr Choong's wife whom we know IS Spanish :)

The food looked delicious..

And I tried this..

..just don't ask me the name of it, I've forgotten it already. But the taste was sooooo nice.. yummy!

They should do this more often, you know :)

Tags times three :)

I've got THREE tags here, courtesy of Ayeen and Mael hehe.. and taking a leaf outta Mael's book, I'm gonna cram all tags in one entry.. so here goes! :)

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First: Ayeen's tag :)

Do you think you're hot?

Erkkk?!?!
Hahahaha..
Hahahahahaha..
*masih gelak lagikk!*

Upload your favourite picture of you...

Why do like that picture?

This is an old photo. I just found it a couple of hours ago and thought I'd put it in this tag. It might not be my favourite photo in this PC (I have another one which isn't supposed to be my favourite coz it hurts everytime I look at it :( ), but its one of my most treasured memories. It was during a motivational camp we did for MRSM Transkerian and I was one of the invited facilitators for the program. We were doing the 'Burung Hantu' thingey and the guy beside me, Pian, was my partner-cum-mentee since it was his first time as a facilitator. I had initially thought he was one of the students due to his youthful looks haha.. we had fun that night, teasing the students and bonding with them. I really enjoyed the whole weekend spent with them :)

When is your last time you ate pizza?

Last Tuesday!! Heheh.. bought a large pizza and ate 2 slices while stowing the remaining 6 slices in the fridge for next time :)

The last song you listened to..

This is for the Girls by Martina McBride

What are you doing right now beside this?

Updating the progress report for the FRGS grant. Why am I such a slow poke?!? :(

What name do you prefer besides yours?

Hey.. there's nothing wrong with my name!

People I Tag

1. Sentot

2. Un

3. Kak Nurul

4. Kak Zarina

5. Watie

Who is number one?

One of my best buddies in the whole world. We've had our ups and downs of course.. but somehow we always pick up right were we left :) I was her maid of honour during her wedding and though I never told her, I still think she's the cutest bride I've ever seen. (DO NOT REPEAT THIS TO ME, Baizurah!)

Number three is having relationship with?

MARRIED maaa.. and I laugh whenever I think of her 'story'.. kan kak Nurul kaaaaaaannn.. sembelih kambing, right? Hehehe..

Say something about number five?

My classmate from form 1 to form 3 and dormate in form 2. I slept on the top bunk but always used her bed as 'tempat bersandar' hehe.. Have a lot of memories with her and one of these day, kite kene jumpe and reminisce about old days tau, Watie :)

How about number four?

Someone who looked after me when I was a timid girl in standard 4 even when she was a popular girl of standard 6. Also the person responsible for teaching me to trust fellow bookworms and how to take care of my books hehe.. seriously, you should see the way she takes care of her books. I personally 'witnessed' that about 19 years ago and that made me a better person towards books :)

Who is number two?

A very close friend during the Uni years. Her bed was where I cried and my bed was where she let go of her frustrations hehe.. we repeated Structural Theory 'secare berjemaah' during our final year and took Arabic class (with her scoring more than ME who had 5 years of Arabic in AlMashoor.. sheesh! Ade ke..!) Penah jugak round KCP on our bike on some afternoons.. kan Un? :)

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2nd & 3rd tag: Mael's

16 Questions

1.What have you been doing recently?

Nothing much, just the same as usual. Trying to have some good interest in my research (which I find quite hard to like :p) while teaching classes almost everyday (which I don't really have a hard time liking!)

2.Do you ever turn your cell phone off?

Yup.. when I wanna avoid people :D

3.What happened at 10am today?

Still sleeping hahahah.. :p

4.When did you last cry?

Hmm.. a few weeks ago, I think..

5.Believe in fate/destiny?

Of course :)

6.What do you want in your life now?

Hmm.. finish my PhD with pride haha.. not being worried about my finances that are tak tentu hala as long as I'm still studying, sheesh! Ntah.. just to be comfortable with my life la kot..

7.What's your favourite thing to do on the bed?

Curl up with a good book :)

8.Do you tend to make the relationship complicated?

What relationship? :p

9.Are you wearing anything borrowed from anyone?

No! I don't like borrowing clothes.

10.What was the last movie you caught?

Geng.. Pengembaraan Bermula hehe.. bes ooooo :)

11.What does the oldest text msg in your inbox say?

Okay, cunn :)

12.What was the last song you sang out loud?

Whatever It Takes by Lifehouse

13.What is the newest text msg in ur inbox?

Ni Ikram. Maaf, sy ingt cikgu ada smpn no phone saya

14.Who did you talk on the phone last night?

Amer.. almost cried with him, what with us 'mengenang nasib diri' hahah.. mampus kene gelak ngan Amer klau dia tau haha..

15. 4 people that I tag are

- Amer

- Sentot

- Watie

- Mas

Oittt Mael.. kate 16, why are there only 14 questions?! Hehe..

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Here's what we should do. It's simple:

List down 5 of the products from the list below that you are boycotting, and then list down 5 of the products that you will try your best to boycott, and finally list another 5 of the products that you find it hard to boycott, and tag 5 others.

This tag is to get everyone to read the list below carefully and identify which products affects your life and the lives of the Palestinians most! You can also compare your list with your friends and see: if they can boycott one product that you haven't been boycotting, why can't you start to boycott the product too?

For the whole list of products to boycott, please click here or here.

5 products I'm boycotting

1. McD (the 'hardest' sacrifice I've had to do)

2. Tesco (sib baik mmg takde pun kat Pt Buntar, the nearest in Png which I went dulu)

3. Procter and Gamble (There goes my Head n Shoulders)

4.

5.

(To be honest, I can't find other things I'm boycotting. Either because I find it hard to -see item 3 on this tag- or because I never used it in the first place..)

5 products I will start to boycott:

1. Johnsons

2. Nestea (Now Boh have instant tea in tin)

3. Maybelline (Yea yeaahh, so I bought ONE lipstick.. not that I wear makeup sgt pun :p)

4. Mars Inc

5.

(See same problem as above)

5 products that I find hard to boycott

1. McD (Greatest sacrifice I've even done :(.. but I'm still holding up!)

2. Clinique (I can't find any other skincare that suits me!)

3. Nescafe (Need I explain?)

4. Nokia (Coz I'm using the phone right now!)

5. Oil of Olay (The ONLY moisturizer that works for me.. I've tried others, really have but they result in outbreaks!)

I tag

1. Sentot

2. Watie

3. Jida (she's boycotting McD too..)

4. Dr Ina

5. Dr Dzul

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Aiyak! Just remembered I have another tag. The '25 Things' tag! Adehh.. len kali laaaa ek

Ayu observing :p

Have you ever observed how people hold their pens/pencils?

Guess most of you never even thought about doing something as uninterseting as that, right? I was like that too.. until I was in standard six!

Cikgu Zaharah was always shifting our sitting places around. In one of these 'shiftings', she wanted the girls and boys to sit alternately, so each boy would have to sit beside a girl and vice versa. You have to remember, this is an age where we still thought the opposite sex had a lot of germs so most of us didn't like these seating positions and were very afraid to be seated next to someone we don't like. I was lucky though, I got to be partnered with Azlan (I'm sure I wrote something about him earlier.. ahaaa, click here!) whom I have known since standard 1. We were both south paws so we didn't bother each other when writing (as opposed to whenever I sit next to someone right handed)

Well, I liked his company until this one day when I realized he was observing me while laughing his head off. When I asked him why.. he simply shook his head and continued with his work. But 5 minutes later, again he'd laugh at me and again I'd asked him but getting the same answer from him.

Finally he told me that he found the way I hold my pen highly amusing. Huh! At first I was insulted.. UNTIL I realized that, hey! I DO write in an unusual way haha.. I didn't know whether to scold him or to laugh at myself but after that, I really observed the way every else holds their pens/pencils and noticed that I've been writing the wrong way for years, but it was too late to change.. and as a result, the fingernails on my middle finger have grown in a funny shape hehe..

Anyway, last Friday I had a class with my form 1 students in Bagan Serai. And since we were in the boring topic of fractions, I left them with 5 pages of exercises while I went around the class checking on everyone. It was then that I noticed, I have a student with a funny way of writing too.. though different than mine la of course. So to while the time away, I took some pictures hehe..

Note: They DIDN'T KNOW I was taking pictures of them as I took it discreetly so pardon the picture quality. I couldn't actually sit in front of them and take the picture right in their face, could I?

The first one here is Ain, the daughter of Cikgu Rohaidzat. She holds her pen the normal 'good-student' way which most of my friends who are geniuses, write with. Tapi tak pe la kan, jari dia pun panjang², runcing².

Ini pulak Atifah. Smaller and shorter fingers but she still writes the normal way kan like most of you write jugak.. not that you guys are not geniuses laaa, that was just me saying it. Doesn't mean yang the first picture tu is the ONLY way geniuses write.

Remember my tiny student, Hamizzat? Well, the above pic is him. He holds his pen just like Atifah, right?

And THIS is Kasyful. I wish I could take a better picture. He was the one who made me laugh when I noticed the way he wrote. Four of his fingers, from the pinky right through the index finger were 'resting' on the paper, as opposed to only the pinky. It looked like his was dragging his fist around while writing and I couldn't help grining at him. Even when he kept saying, "Jangan la tengok tangan sy, cikguuuuuuuuuuu.."

In the end, he told me that people usually found it amusing and he now doesn't mind it much. So, to make him feel better, I showed him how I hold MY pen/pencil.. and he was equally 'amazed' haha.. though I have to admit, his way is better since he's fingernail growth wasn't effected.

And how DO I hold my pen?

Whats in my mail :)

Went to the office this morning and abg Joe told me there was a parcel for me. Have been expecting parcels from Wanie, Yong and An pun so I was suprised when I saw a familiar 'font 14' hand writing on the parcel.. kak Wahid!! :)

Lupe plak kak Wahid had bought something for me whilst she was on her honeymoon.. upah jadik the pengapit, bidan-terjun style hehe..

So abg Joe handed me this..

..which I opened to find this..

..and opened again to find.. jeng.. jeng.. jeng..

Yeay! A Harry Potter key chain.. siap ade robe tulis Gryffindor lagik hehe.. and he has the lightning scar as well as the glasses.. chumel! Sgt suke hehe.. THANX kak Wahid! :)

Boleh bukak robe lagik haha..

Ye.. yeee, I know I'm to old for this, but I DON'T CARE! Still love it.. muaahhhhhhsss to kak Wahid :)

Roald Dahl fever :p

I was an Enid Blyton girl. Mama introduced me to her books when I was smaller and since she has a vast collection of books, it was almost a never-ending journey for me to find her book everytime Abah treated us with a visit to the bookstore.. OR when I went to the library.. OR when I went to any of my bookworm friends when I was smaller (kak Zarina, kak Rikke and Bibbi).

Well, I also had another type of book that I collected. Remember those 'skim membaca' books sold in school book stores? The ones sold for RM1.90 each? Translated children mystery books by Enid Blyton, the Nancy Drew series and the Hardy Boys series? Those were also books I hunted down, even my brothers (whom I think really seldom read books) loved to buy those books. Giler murah and soooo many titles..

Anyway, for a while, those were the only books I looked for.. that was until Firdaus came into my class in standard 3.

I actually kinda despised him at first haha.. on our first english test, he got the highest marks, surpassing me and Soraya who were usually the top scorers for this subject. Guess it was more of jealousy then. Anyway, me and a few friends (Soraya, Adam and Alfy mostly) liked to talk about books and Firdaus somehow tried to give his piece of mind on books too but mostly I ignored him.. jelous kan haha..

Then one day, he bought The BFG to school. He sorta forced me to read it, hinting it was a 'buku budak besar' when compared to Enid Blyton. It was the first time I heard of Roald Dahl and though at first I didn't wanna listen to him, his remark on me reading childish books made me step up to the challenge of a new author..

..and I was impressed!

Not that I'm saying he's better than Enid Blyton (In fact, I still love reading Enid Blyton books every now and then hehe.. seriuosly, I love her! My very first favourite author..), but he was another great story teller in a different way than Enid Blyton.

I finished the book that very night (and read it again the next morning) and haughtily gave back the book to Firdaus the next day while pretending I didn't care much for the book. But when he asked me if I wanted to sample another of Roald Dahl's creation, I quickly agreed.. and he gave me The Witches (which was already in his bag.. adeh! He must've guessed I'd like the book)

So that started my love affair with Roald Dahl (though funnily enough, I NEVER got hold of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory!). But since Abah only allowed one book per book-shop-visit, I never chose his books and prefered collecting Enid Blyton's books (I remember me and Bibbi, on our birthdays we always knew what we'd get from each other: Enid Blyton books, of course!)

Well, I grew up and got to know other authors (I read Sidney Sheldon's The Other Side of Midnight when I was an innocent standard sixer.. and was terrified when I read the 'steamy scenes' in the book! Little did I know that was normal for adult books but I was afraid someone might say I was reading some porn material hahah..), bought other books aside from Enid Blyton and enjoyed them..

However, a few days ago while browsing in Popular for Stephen King's Rose Madder (Uwaaa, nape takde kat sini?), I came across a collection of Roald Dahl's books.. and they were at a bargain price of 3 book to the price of 2. I quickly searched for my fav 2, the two first Roald Dahl books I read. I was delighted to find Charlie and The Chocolate Factory in the set too and by the time I was queueing at the cashier, I had a total of 7 of his books..Hahah.. thats what you get when you deprive your childhood of your favourite books kot. Nice lot kan? And I'm a happy girl and don't care if anyone tells me I'm to old for these books :p

Yeaayyy.. :)

Oppss, to not let these books feel left out (as if..).. I also bought these books too :) Been wanting to own Digital Fortress for year now as I kinda like the book compared to Deception Point.. and Benjamin Button which I didn't get to watch..