Discovering new spots everyday

Last Sunday morning, met up with a fren for brunch at Nahar and we took a walk afterwards through Hyde Park to High St Kensington.

It was such a lovely winter's day...the clear blue skies, the crisp winter air and the sun shining down on us...

I love the parks in London, I think the best season to go would be between autumn and winter when the colours of the leaves are changing..if only I was a good enough photographer...can capture the changing colours of the leaves from green to auburn to brown...really nice.. :)

I discovered two cool new places in High St Kensington, my fren introduced me to Ben's Cookies...sedap giler....can beat Millie's cookies any day..Thanks dude! :)
The cookies are freshly baked everyday and each cookie is different and you pay according to the weight of the cookie instead of the type of cookie so memang VFM!
Check out http://www.benscookies.com

We also checked out this cool place ideal for chocolate lovers out there- "Hotel Chocolat"
I'm not a big chocolate fan but I like looking at the chocolate designs.
They have a wide selection for all types of people...ade chocolates suitable for vegetarians and also ade selection of non alcoholic chocs which is ideal for gifts to family and friends...
I've discovered you can even buy the chocs online
If interested got to http://www.hotelchocolat.co.uk.

So even though I have been living in London for a while, it's nice that London still continues to surprise me with new places to visit and see.... ;)

The Holiday

In line with the upcoming holiday season, this movie is a "must see" for everyone.
The Holiday is about two women (Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz) who have been unlucky in love and in search for a break from their current lives. They did a house swap exchange and meet the guys (Jude Law and Jack Black) that they duly deserve during their holidays.



It is set in two different locations: Surrey, London and LA, America. It is a lovely romantic comedy movie...I will not outline the whole story for you but it's such a heartwarming , romantic comedy that will make you have that warm , fuzzy feeling. I even felt teary in a few of the scenes....The views in the Surrey location were beautiful..I just love the movie : the storyline, the locations and the acting. :)



You can tell this movie was directed by a woman director because the script and the whole essence of the movie captures what a woman's thoughts are like especially when it comes to relationships. But I'm not discouraging guys to watch it..I would recommend it to everyone..You won't regret it...heheheh

Movie week

Last week was movie week.....I don't think I've ever watched so many movies in one week......

I went to watch Jack Black's new movie Tenacious D-Pick of Destiny last Monday...if ur a fan of Jack Black and his guitar playing moves then this is the movie for u...but if u don't like rock music or Jack Black then it is probably best to leave this movie out of your "movies to see" list.

There wasn't really much of a plot to the movie but you will be entertained by Jack Black's antics and Tenacious D's music.

The movie,however, can't beat my favourite Jack Black movie which is the "School of Rock" though...the combination of Jack Black's singing and comedy combined with the cute school kids who are all talented kids.....

Tues night was our regular Prison Break night..I thought season 2 was going to end but the series is stopping for a bit for Xmas so the episode we watched was going to be our last episode for a while.
Schofield was still at his best and the episode ended up with another cliffhanger......will Schofield and his bro ever escape???!!!
can't wait for the next episode to come out in January!!!!!

On Wed I went to watch yet another movie Pans of Labyrinth...I wasn't intending to watch it but I was temaning a friend who was raving about the movie.
I didn't really know much about the movie but I was pleasantly surprised. It is a Spanish movie and was one of the movies listed in the Cannes Film Festival. It is set in post war repression and the story evolves around a little girl Ofelia who is fascinated by fairytale stories. She had to face living with her stepdad and looked after her mother who was pregnant with her stepfather's child. We see her facing up to the monsters of her daily life as well as her fantasy life and the adventures she leads in her travels.......

When you think of fairytale stories you might think lovely cute cuddly creatures but this movie was different. The creatures are more geared to reality (if there is such a thing) and the scenes reminded me of Alice in Wonderland but less of the Hollywood gimmicks. I would highly recommend people to see it..despite having to read the subtitles throughout the movie. :)

Fri night was dvd horror night at Meem's, we rented out horror dvds and watched Japanese movie "Pulse" which turned out not to be that scary (but I still shrieked at some parts). The story didn't have much logic to it...it was about these ghosts who are in a different realm. The ghosts had no more spaces in their own realm so needed to go to our realm and used the internet as their way into our world. The ending was confusing and left all of us feeling puzzled and slightly disturbed.

We continued with the horror theme by watching "Ring 2"- I've never watched Ring-(Japanese version) but I've seen the American version which scared me. I was told the Japanese version is scarier so I ended up staying over at the Macready house cuz takut sangat nak balik to my flat alone!!!

Ring 2 was more about explaining what was the history behind Sadako's past...a lot of screaming went on.....(mainly from Meem and me!) during the scene where we see Sadako's mum and Sadako in the room with the mirror( which we see in the video) as well as the scene where we see Sadako trying to catch up with the Professor's student and the little kid up the well. Definitely not for the faint hearted....

On Sunday took a break from the movies.....we went to Liverpool Street Market...did a spot of bargain shopping....got some really good deals with tops and jumpers and spent less that 20 pounds but managed to get a few outfits which was definitely good value for money.

We all then went to the driving range for a spot of golf...the last time I went was before puasa so I thought I probably would have forgotten most of the technique already. I was pleasantly surprised that I managed to hit more of the balls this time. Some of them actually went straight compared to before which I either missed, didn't travel very far or totally went off target.

We ended the day by having dinner at Dosa....tried a different menu this time..went for the mutton parotta.with the famous falouda.....! Yummy!!

But tonight I have to burn off all those calories by going to the gym....

Have a good week guys! :)

Holidays are near...

Last Sunday , I had my first "mini" Raya open house in my flat in London....

There was a different feeling this year in the open house compared to last year....
Firstly, my lil sis is not here this year and secondly we had more space in our place in Slough last year....
This year was limited in space but with Kak Rahayu interior design help we managed to accomodate everyone hehehehe....
Thanks to everyone who came..... :)

So now raya is finally over and everyone in UK are looking forward to the Xmas period...
I will be spending the Xmas hols and New Year's in Roma and visiting Naples this year...booked tickets online with Ryanair for 45GBP return...bargain!!!!

Last time I went to Italy was with my family about ten years ago when we did a Europe road trip...so it's been a while....
And this will be my first holiday for three years since holidays have been taken up by study leave and exams thse last few years....*sigh*
So I'm really looking forward to this Italy break....especially since I'm dreading my exam results coming out before Xmas so at least this is something to look forward to drown my sorrows and disappointments...(Apologies for the depressing tone guys)....

This week is pay day so Viv, K Rahayu and I are going on a shopping trip to Bicester this weekend.....
I'm hoping to get some good bargains....... :)


Laters......

Sport updates......

This week's blog has a sports theme to it...

Last Sat, I went to my first Notts Games...throughout my whole uni life I've never actually been to the Notts games. So it was a bit strange to go when most of the people there are at least 5 years younger than me...
I was supporting the Seven Kings crew from London....the weather was good and met people I haven't seen in a while......unfortunately the team didn't do so well..hard luck guys...better luck next year!



Last Wednesday I went to my first English football game. I'm a Liverpool fan but since Liverpool is too far away and difficult to get tickets......went to the Carling Cup Chelsea vs Aston Villa game at Stamford Bridge.
I left straight from work travelling from up north in Elstree so was tired but excited to see a live match....we got seats facing the middle pitch so it was a good spot to see all the players.
My fav Chelsea players are Shevchenko ( so comel! ), Lampard and Joe Cole.
Chelsea played well...Aston Villa were outclassed that night...the final score was 4-0 so Chelsea have cruised through the last 16..So have Liverpool! Yeay!!!

I would love to go to a Liverpool match so if there are any spare tickets out there contact me kay! :)

Lastly, the Ashes series is coming in a week's time...I hope English team can reproduce their performance from the Summer Ashes series last year......
I want Sky Sports so I can follow the cricket...but I think I will have to make do with Channel 5's daily cricket summary updates.

I have also updated my pics thanks to my photographer Ms Shameem ..hehehehe....click on the My Photo Albums link. :)

Waiting game

Exam is over and the waiting game starts..not feeling too confident with the final case study. People who have gone through the ICAS case study will know that the key to passing it is luck on the day, enough time off to spend time to practice case study techniques and hoping the examination marker is kind and lenient when marking your paper.
I don't think I have either of these but I can only hope now... I have another two attempts at this...but after three years of slaving away in audit work I can only wonder how long I can cope with it...
Might have to rethink a change of career but who knows.......


I have four weeks until results come out so thinking of ways to keep my mind off it. I was intending to go to Rome but I had to postpone it cuz I left booking tickets too late...might go in December instead.

I'm intending to go back home in July...my two good uni mates will be getting married..so I have two weddings to attend to....looking forward to it... :)
It's a weird feeling that friends back home are gradually settling down...I think when we're in London we're all sorta of in a time warp whereby time kinda stops...it's only when u go home that u realise people are moving on to settling down, starting a family etc etc....I'm hoping my time will come soon!!! Insya-allah.... :)

On to other things...I asked my bro to pass me his dvd prison break season 1 dvd set and started watching it last month and been addicted since.......
For those who haven't seen it....i ask u why not???!!! It's wicked....genius script and Michael Schofield is sooo cute!!!! The series is a bit of action, mystery and romance...
Season 2 is halfway through so I'm waiting for the next dvd set... yeay!!!!
If anyone dah copy let me know yah!!!!!

One week to raya..2 weeks to exam

Yeay yeay raya is near........I've just come off the phone with my family who were about to buka puasa and having the "raya blues syndrome".....:(

Ramadhan is nearly over.....this month has flown by...the first week of puasa I was on an outstation job..luckily my colleague was also fasting so we could buka puasa together.

Last weekend, went for a weekend trip with Meem and Bobby to Leeds and stayed at Abang Nas's family house. We wanted to check out Cheshire Oaks factory outlet store near Manchester.
I'm not a big shopper but I do like a good bargain when I see one. Cheshire Oaks is cool! It's one of the McArthur Glen Designer Outlet stores which you can find all over UK but Cheshire Oaks branch is one of the biggest ones I've seen. It's mostly high street shops ranging from Gap, Oasis, La Senza , Nike , Puma , TM Lewin, FCUK, NEXT and many others......
All of us managed to do some bargain shopping......as it was Sunday the shops closed early at five.. so we didn't get to cover all of the shops...may have to do a return trip...need to start saving some more shopping cash hehehe

We decided to buka puasa in Manchester. I haven't been to Manchester before so didnt really know what to expect. We decided to check out this Malaysian restaurant called Jati...it was like Malaysian hall but it turned out to be quite disappointing.....
Service was slow and food was disappointing considering the price we had to pay.......I think if they had better management the place would be a profitable place.....

It is now the third week of puasa......and my exam is in two weeks ..aaarghhh a week after raya! I have been revising for it but this case study paper is different from any other exam paper I've come across....it's not a highly technical paper so the only way u can revise is by getting ur planning technique right. I haven't been able to get time off from work before the exam but insya-allah a few days before the exam will help get me focused.

I still can't believe it will be raya end of next week...It's another raya for me in London..I wish I could be back home for raya but it's not meant to be...So those of u who are back home spare a thought for us in London who are celebrating yet another raya di rantau orang.....


Wishing all of u Selamat Hari Raya & Maaf Zahir Batin if ade tersilap cakap or any wrongdoings I may have caused u............

Bulan Ramadhan di London

Alhamdulillah....at long last I finally have internet at the flat. It's amazing how reliant we have become to technology.

It is now the second week of Ramadhan, weather in London is getting colder and it's getting gloomier each day......I hate this time of the year when the weather is gloomy like this. I would not be surprised if Oct/Nov would have the highest suicide rates in the UK.

But let's not have unhappy thoughts right......

So this year is yet another year spending ramadhan in London..I've lost count of how many times I've celebrated Ramadhan in the UK. The best part of Ramadhan is going to tarawih and this month helps us get that much closer with Allah. It's also a chance for families to buka puasa together. Nowadays, modern families don't create enough time to sit down and have a proper meal together as everyone is busy with their everyday lives. Ramadhan can help strengthen family ties by breaking iftar and going to tarawih together.

I miss being back home this time of the year but this is all dugaan kan. Only by being away from home does one realise how lucky one is.

This year, it's been fun having friends over to break iftar together. Last Saturday we went to the Indonesian embassy to break iftar and it was an experience how other countries celebrate. Once a week the Indonesian embassy buat buka puasa session and it felt like being in a kenduri. Everyone sat down and the older folks dishing out food for us..it had that 'kampung feel to it' which was nice.

This week, we went to Qatar mosque for tarawih. I could only do four raka'at and continued witir at home though because I came down with a flu and wasn't feeling too well. Nevertheless it was an interesting experience. I hope to be able to check out how other cultures experience tarawih by the end of this month.

Ok well better start preparing for iftar..........

Internetless

Hi peeps,

Haven't been updating this blog for ages!! There is a good reason behind this. I moved back into London last month and signed up for a new internet provider. For those of you who are in the UK, I signed up with the service provider Talk Talk. The offer sounded too good to be true...i sign up for the Talk talk call plan and get unlimited broadband for free.
But in the real world nothing comes for free.....due to the high demand there is a delay in getting my broadband..I signed up at the beginning of August and I'm not due to get my broadband until end of September. So no internet for me at home for a while :( aarghhhh...

Other than that, been going to body combat classes....it's such a good fun workout. I love the music and there's a different routine each month plus it's good exercise..all at the same time!
I've even tried golf..well I've been to the driving range once...unfortunately I was pretty rubbish hehehe..i think i'll need a bit more practice before I can actually hit the ball properly off the tee and actually make it go further.

The reason I'm trying to be more healthy is I've been feeling a bit lethargic recently with work so the aim is to try to be fitter so that I have more energy to study.
So let's hope it works and also I can burn off some extra calories...hehehe

Being a Londoner again

It's been a week since I became a Londoner again.

Moving was a day event in itself..Thanks to the London crew for helping me move my stuff..it's amazing what you can fit in a Mini and a little help from my friends.... ;)

What will I miss living in Slough: the neighbours who do look out for us, ASDA which is virtually two minutes from my house and the luxury of space!
What will I not miss living in Slough: the commuting journey where it practically takes me three hours every day travelling to and fro work and being away from the London crew.

I'm now living in Bayswater near Khans & Nandos...which is so convenient for me to get to work and the gym. My new resolution is to try to start going to body combat classes again which is a great stress busting workout! Since I've already written this in my blog I need to start going! :)

I liked the analogy my friend said to me...
the Bayswater crew=PJ folk whilst the Edgware road crew=Ampang folk hehehehe...

Last weekend was a busy weekend...firstly went to Somerset House open cinema to watch Jack Black's School of Rock & his new movie Nacho Libre on Friday night. It was good fun sitting outside the Somerset House courtyard watching the movie on the big screen! The weather wasn't great but that didn't dampen our spirits sitting in the rain. I think it enhanced the experience...it would have been better if it was a clear night and looking up to the stars though...that's for next time :)

On Saturday, went out with Ija & Adik and then went to Suz's Birthday Party. Suz is my old college friend from my Fettes College days in Edinburgh. It was good to catch up with her..we've both gone to do different things in life yet we can still remain close friends.....

On Sunday had the London crew over for dinner and had our usual ginrami session to finish the night off...Usually it would be a late night for me to drive back to Slough after a weekend in London but now I can actually get a decent night's sleep.

Okie dokes people.......that's it for now!

Summer Update

Apologies for not updating for so long.......busy busy busy........ Since I last wrote my blog the World Cup had finished...my prediction for France to win did not come true...never mind...have to wait for another four years for the next one....

I attended my sister's graduation..my parents, aunty & uncle came over to stay with us..It was a simple affair but the venue was lovely..everyone got dressed up and the weather was great. My sis has specifically not allowed me to post up pics from her graduation...(the vain girl that she is! :p hehe ) We will have to wait until she develops the pics and find the best ones to be posted. I can't believe my little sis has graduated..time definitely flies...I feel sooo old!!

Whilst my family were here...we went summer sale shopping more specifically in Bicester..some good bargains! Next sale to look forward to will be the winter sales if I'm still in London.

During the last few weeks I've been caught up in the longest heatwave i can remember since I've lived in London...Temperatures have been ranging on average at 30 degrees celsius on a regular basis. It's lovely during the weekends but a nightmare travelling to work...tubes,trains and even buses have been a nightmare. Public transport are struggling to cope under the sweltering heat!! When will they put AC on the public transport??!!!

I've also managed to catch up on the movies recently. I watched Superman Returns & Pirates of the Carribean....Superman was alright...there was not much plot going on but i guess it was entertaining enough. If you're a Superman fan you might want to watch it for the special effects but there isn't much of a storyline there.

I think my fav Superman would have to be Christopher Reeves and a close 2nd would be Dean Cain. He was cute in the Superman series with Teri Hatcher as Lois Lane. I remembered watching it when I was a kid and always envious of Teri Hatcher's bob haircut at the time..lol

Pirates of the carribean is my fav movie so far....I love Jack Sparrow...he's hillarious...Some people have complained the story is too long but I enjoyed it. The special effects was amazing..there is a gripping storyline and the ending left you hanging to find out more in the next sequel..Can't wait when that comes out sometime next year.

Lastly, I've been flathunting for a place in London...I'm pretty fed up of moving at the moment..I think I've moved four times in my seven years I've been here in London. I look forward to the day when I will be shipping my stuff back home and flying back to Malaysia for good....

Well wish me luck in finding a place.....until then......

World Cup Fever

For those of you who are not interested in football you might not be interested in reading this post.

I don't support any particular football team but if I had to choose one in the Premiership it would be Liverpool. I guess it is due to my bro's influence..he is a Liverpool fan and ever since I grew up :Liverpool has been the team our family would support. There have been many players in the past (well.. as far back as I can remember) and the present whom I enjoy watching i.e. McManaman, Owen to the present players like Gerrard, Carragher , Kewell. The best exciting and thrilling football game I have ever seen was the Champions League when Liverpool won!! :)

I enjoy watching the international football games especially during the World Cup but I haven't been able to watch all the games this year cuz most of the weekday games are during working hours.

There have been some exciting games i.e. Argentina games with Ivory Coast & Mexico and some very boring ones...the worst one has got to be the Switzerland vs. Ukraine game...it was like watching paint dry even when they had the penalties!!!

Another incentive for watching the World Cup this year is I've entered a fantasy football league with some friends organised by the Metro newspaper..so far I'm doing alright ..(atleast I'm not bottom of the league!) Ronaldo is my "captain" in my fantasy team so he better score some goals tomorrow against France!)

Living in London, the English folk have been caught up with the World Cup fever as England are still in it (well until tomorrow at least!)..with the quarter finals with Portugal tomorrow.It's been my first time where I've seen soo many St George's flag flying on cars, outside flats and houses all over London.

You have to respect the English folk as they hope so much from the English team just like how they had hopes for Henman in Wimbledon. Fans have even named the hill on Wimbledon "Henman Hill" although that might now change to "Murray Hill" or even "Murrayfield" . You've got to give them full credit for supporting their key players all the way!

It was a year ago when England won the thrilling Ashes series...since then the English cricket team have been faced with injuries from many of their major players but I think they'll come back in time for the Ashes series.

Let's hope their football team can prove their critics wrong and go all the way too this year...!

Moshi Moshi Kame-San

What animal would best describe yourself?

For me, I think a turtle is the best animal who can describe my character.

Like a turtle, I am someone who is not easy to come out of my shell and would only be able to really open up with only a few people whom I am close to. But once I can open up and trust someone I remain loyal to my friends.

Similar to turtles, I love the beautiful oceans and the coral reefs. Swimming in the sea is an amazing experience, it's like being in another world...so peaceful and everything seems to just flow by effortlessly.

I am slow at getting certain things and can be a bit "blur" at times..hehehe I guess we all have our weak side kan. But like a turtle although we are a bit slow we can be known as "slow & steady" and take everything in our stride.

If you remember watching Finding Nemo (one of my fav cartoon movies!) ,the turtles were all chilled out even the little turtles like" squirt". I used to be a worrier and would get stressed at every little matter but I've learnt to chill out more and not be so uptight about things. I guess we learn to appreciate the better things in life more as we get older. :)

So what about you? What animal would best describe yourself?

Updates...........

It's been a while since I've "blogged a proper post". What have I been up to?

hmmmm..let's see had my final exam last month which I'm not looking forward to getting the results which will be out soon.
The waiting game has started and I hate the sleepless nights. I see myself doing the paper again in November *sigh* To be honest I'm tired of auditing and the exams...in need of a change of career and a break. Maybe I'm just in one of these moaning moods. I hope I can get out of it.

Well, moving onto more cheerful thoughts. My mom had been staying with us for a month now..it's good to have home cooked food and someone at home waiting for u when u get back from work. A nice treat!

We went to Bicester in Oxfordshire, my mom got her usual stuff for my dad and bro and there were some amazing bargains at Monsoon! We've also been making shopping trips to Slough & London. My sis has been sweet to teman my mom to Oxford St while I attend the Sunday classes.

Last Saturday we went to my dad's friend's house Len & Marigold in Peaslake , Surrey. He lives in a lovely house in the countryside. On the way to his house the roads were winding and narrow but the views were amazing. My favourite was this long stretch road where the trees bend on both sides and create this arch effect. It reminded me of the scene in Sound of Music when the Captain comes back from his trip and sees his children climbing up the trees.

Len said the area is popular with the film studios. I can imagine the area would be great for filming period drama scenes. I love period dramas especially BBC's Pride & Prejudice, Oliver Twist and North & South are a few of my favourites.

Tonight I'm sending my mom to the airport as she will be flying back tonight. Insya-allah she'll be coming back in July with my dad for Liani's graudation in July. I will have to make a few decisions by then....hmmm I pray all will go well......

Da Vinci Code

After a long wait ...the movie is out!!!!!!!!!!! It didn't get the best of reviews at the Cannes festival...however.. for all those Dan Brown book lovers out there (myself included) will still have to watch the movie to see if the movie can live up to the book's expectations.
Siape tak gi tengok lagi...wanna watch with me????...........:)

Personality window

This is a personality window which a few of my friends had forwarded to me. I did one on me....it's quite discerning when you have to describe yourself in six words and then ask people to describe what they think of you in six words.

The personality window will then compare your perception of yourself with how others perceive you.

My results are below...unfortunately I'd like to think my self as witty but the statistics don't reflect that...hehehehehe

If any of you guys have a few mins feel free to click on the link below and tell me what you think. :)

Arena (known to self and others) cheerful, friendly, kind	Blind Spot (known only to others) able, accepting, adaptable, caring, confident, dependable, energetic, happy, intelligent, knowledgeable, loving, mature, nervous, organised, patient, relaxed, religious, sensible, sentimental, shy, trustworthy, warm, wise
Façade (known only to self) helpful, independent, witty	Unknown (known to nobody) bold, brave, calm, clever, complex, dignified, extroverted, giving, idealistic, ingenious, introverted, logical, modest, observant, powerful, proud, quiet, reflective, responsive, searching, self-assertive, self-conscious, silly, spontaneous, sympathetic, tense

All Percentages

able (16%) accepting (16%) adaptable (16%) bold (0%) brave (0%) calm (0%) caring (33%) cheerful (16%) clever (0%) complex (0%) confident (16%) dependable (50%) dignified (0%) energetic (16%) extroverted (0%) friendly (33%) giving (0%) happy (16%) helpful (0%) idealistic (0%) independent (0%) ingenious (0%) intelligent (33%) introverted (0%) kind (16%) knowledgeable (16%) logical (0%) loving (33%) mature (16%) modest (0%) nervous (16%) observant (0%) organised (16%) patient (16%) powerful (0%) proud (0%) quiet (0%) reflective (0%) relaxed (16%) religious (16%) responsive (0%) searching (0%) self-assertive (0%) self-conscious (0%) sensible (33%) sentimental (16%) shy (16%) silly (0%) spontaneous (0%) sympathetic (0%) tense (0%) trustworthy (16%) warm (33%) wise (16%) witty (0%)

Created by the Interactive Johari Window on 28.4.2006, using data from 6 respondents.
You can create your own window by

clicking here or

comment on Wati's window

25 and above club

I have officially joined the 25 and above club. No longer will I be able to fill forms and tick the age group 20-24 yr olds. I will no longer be known as someone in their early 20s but instead someone in their mid-20s..feel so old!!! Heheheheh......
My birthday was a good day...had the London gang over for dinner. We had Nando's chicken as well as Acha food and lovely desserts to follow...yummmy!

After dinner we decided to play charades...my team lost but it's not the winning but the participation that counts kan?! hehe.. :)
It was fun...we had themes ranging from movies to songs to drama series...the Malay themed ones were the hardest though.

Macam macam aksi took place...if the neighbours saw through the window they must have thought we were a right bunch of crazy maniacs..hehehe














We were laughing until our stomachs were hurting with all the laughter and jokes!
Thanks to everyone who came and the lovely pressies as well as the food & drinks! A special thanks to my 'lil sis for organising the day. :)

So what would I like to achieve in the next year:

1. Qualify and hopefully get out of audit!
2. Go travelling..since I started work my holidays have either been used to go home or for study leave.
I would love to go on a proper holiday to somewhere like Prague or Japan if I can afford it.
3.Perform Hajj or Umrah at least
4. Meet my soulmate

Easter Holiday Weekend

Last week was the much anticipated Easter bank holiday weekend. I was looking forward to have a few days off work. I managed to do some studying during the week.Exam is in two weeks??!! erk!!How time flies..Insya-allah it will be ok. On Friday, I decided to take a study break and the girls and I took a half day trip to Kew Gardens in Richmond, Surrey.


Kew Gardens is famous for the annual summer flower show and its open air concerts. The garden is huge. We were there for about four hours yet only covered about a quarter of the park. I was expecting to see flowers blooming everywhere. Unfortunately only a small part of the gardens have fully bloomed. Nevertheless that didn't stop us from taking loads of photo opportunities especially since it was a nice sunny day. :) Thanks to Kak Rahayu who took the various pic shots.

On Bank Holiday Monday, we planned a last minute day trip to county Devon. Thanks to our two drivers Bobby & Fazly :p, we headed down south to see the famous Stonehenge. Its still a mystery how people managed to get the stones and arrange it in the way it is now.

We continued to head down south towards Weymouth Beach. It was lovely to see families and little kids on the beach lepaking and enjoying the weather. It wasn't warm enough to go into the water though but we did see a few folks windsurfing and jet skiing in the water. Crazy people!!!!


We also went to Chesil Beach which was further on from the Old Harbour. We drove right up to the top in order to get the best views of the beach. It was damn windy at the top but the view was absolutely amazing. On the way back we were all pretty knackered but it was definitely worth the trip and a great day out for everyone.

To see more pics click on My Photo Albums 2006 on My Links.

Infatuation or love?

I'm not sure whether any of you can relate to the following but do you remember your first crush on someone in school or someone famous you saw on TV?

Well, I am embarassed to admit it but I was one of those girls. My first crush was the boy band group New Kids on The Block (NKOTB) . I cringe at the thought now I was one those girls that drooled over them..hehehe I think the one I liked was Joey. I was only 8??!!!

The other boy band group was Take That ..although I was not as obsessed about them as some of my schoolfriends at the time. Just in case you were wondering No I didn't cry when they split up!!! But I did collect those stupid cards and even started a swapping collection with my schoolfriends...pretty lame right??!! hehehe Oh dear....

Then there were a few high school crushes on the senior guys in school which were all harmless fun to keep us all entertained during the lunch hours in school.

But then came college, uni and work life where things start to get complicated and there were periods of happiness as well as heartbreaks. I guess it is all part and parcel of life.

This brings me to my question.. How do you know when you are in love? How do you know whether it is true love or merely that you are infatuated by that person -temporary crush?

When you have a crush on someone, you are always trying to get that person's attention in the hope the feelings are mutual.
When you have that feeling of butterflies in your stomach after seeing that person can you call it true love or maybe your heart is playing tricks on you??

I think people's worst fear is the fear of rejection. It could go both ways..He can either reject you or respond back in a positive way. I guess everyone likes feeling wanted and appreciated by someone.

If things do go well, how do you maintain that loving feeling between both of you? What if he merely liked the "thrills" of chasing you in order to go out with you but that thrill goes away after you guys go out?

hmmm...I was hoping by writing this post it would make things clearer and I would be able to get some answers but I've ended up coming up with more questions than answers....

Hibernate......

Apologies for the previous post...I've been feeling the "blues" these last few weeks hence the previous post....anyways..will try to put more upbeat posts later...

I may not be able to update the blog due to other commitments coming up in the next few weeks...but I'm sure whenever I need to de-stress or just rant about random stuff this blog is the perfect place to do that....

Alrighty guys......until the next time...ciao!

Aku Bukan Untukmu

Dahulu kau mencintaiku
Dahulu kau menginginkanku
Meskipun takkan ada jawabku

Tak berniat kau tinggalkan aku
Sekarang kau pergi menjauh
Sekarang kau tinggalkan aku
Disaat ku mulai mengharapkanmu
Dan ku mohon maafkan aku

Aku menyesal t'lah membuatmu menangis
Dan biarkan memilih yang lain
Tapi jangan pernah kau dustai takdirmu
Pasti itu terbaik untukmu
Janganlah lagi kau mengingatku kembali
Aku bukanlah untukmu
Meski ku memohon dan meminta hatimu
Jangan pernah tinggalkan dirinya untuk diriku

-Rossa-

Looking forward.........

Hey peeps,

Hope you all had a good week. This week has been another hectic week for me. I was at a charity audit this week for an organisation called British Limbless Ex Service Men Association(BLESMA).

The organisation provides aid to ex service men e.g. chiropody treatment or various other treatments and support they or their families might need. Members are mainly ex service men from WW2. I wonder if Malaysia have something similar set up back home?

I have always been interested in working in charities and I've had more exposure in seeing how charities are set up since I started work here. When I was at uni, all I wanted to do was get a good degree and get a good high flying job which earned enough money. But as I grew older our priorities change. After I qualify (eventually!) I want to try to avoid going to the obvious routes many people I know have gone into i.e. investment banking. It just doesn't interest me and I know I would be pretty crap at the job because I have no interest in stocks and shares.

This may sound corny and perhaps a naive view but I want to make a difference in the world. People see accountants as people who merely prepare accounts ..it's worse for us auditors cuz most people think we just A.U.D.I.T (i.e. All U Do Is Tick)

I want to use the skills that I have into something more useful (yes! us auditors do more than tick and bash y'know! :p ) I would love to gain experience working for Voluntary Service Organisation ( V.S.O). If you haven't heard of the organisation before, it's a charity organisation but different from any other organisation. It doesn't just provide aid but it looks for experienced professionals from all areas i.e. doctors, engineers, accountants, scientists etc. Basically you volunteer yourself and in return you can participate in various projects around the world where your expertise are needed.

For example if a village in India want to set up a clinic in one of the rural areas, but do not have sufficient resources like a management to build and run the clinic. An organisation like V.S.O could help e.g. volunteer members who are doctors who can train local people to become nurses and doctors. Volunteer members who are engineers can provide expertise in terms of the logistics in building the clinic itself. Volunteer members who are accountants can train the local people to teach them basic bookeeping and basic rules of management in running a clinic.

The best thing out of this organisation is everyone has a part to play and by passing our knowledge we can help people. Knowledge is something precious because people can learn from themselves and hence will be able to help themselves in the long term development.

I hope that I will be able to get involved in these types of projects.....at least it's an incentive for me to keep my head down and pass this last ever paper!!

If any of you are interested in finding out more about the organisation just click on the VSO link in my blog.

Springtime...What spring???!!!

We are now in March and yet it doesn't feel like spring has arrived. It was only last week we had snow flurries in London. What the hell is going on??!!

It's the audit peak season again...so I've been moving from one job to the next having to meet one deadline to another deadline ..and another ...and another...haihhh...endlesss..

But at least I have a break from that this week with college although it is scary that my final exam will be creeping up soon..erk!

The weekend was good..I'm more comfortable driving into London now although I only know one route so far hehehe..one step at a time kan...I think I need to get one of those "tom tom gadgets" -GPRS navigation system. :)

By having a car in Slough has definitely made my journey to work a lot bearable and less time consuming...there's only one thing though...gotta wash the car...

Any takers on anyone who wants to wash my car??!! hehehehehe........

for any cricket fans out there...England drew with India in their first test! yeay! It was a good result considering the big players like Michael Vaughan and the lovely Simon Jones are injured. If only I can actually watch the game on TV. Damn Sky sports for taking over the coverage from Channel 4...!!!!!

My Va Va Voom

For my peeps back home here's the latest pics of my va va voom....wish u guys were here to see it........................
Insya-allah I'll be bringing it back home soon. :)

I'm still getting used to driving in London..with a little help from www.theaa.com route planner and a little help from my friends I'm getting used to the roads and motorways here....

See u all soon!
Luv ya lots!

Finally...

Finally, after a LONG wait my va va vooom has finally arrived!

Look forward to taking it around the town......*wink*..............

Something to ponder..

"Fix You"-Coldplay

When you try your best but you don't succeed

When you get what you want but not what you need

When you feel so tired but you can't sleep

Stuck in reverse

And the tears come streaming down your face

When you lose something you can't replace

when you love some one but it goes to waste could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

And I will try to fix you

And high up above or down below

When you're too in love to let it go

But if you never try you'll never know

Just what you're worth

Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down your face

When you lose something you cannot replace

Tears stream down your face

And I

Tears stream down your face

I promise you I will learn from my mistakes

Tears stream down your face

And I

Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

And I will try to fix you.

Memoirs of a Geisha

Usually one would read a book before watching the movie but I did the opposite for Memoirs of A Geisha. So which was better?

First of all for those of you who haven't seen it( why not?!!) the basic plot is as follows. The story focuses on the life of a young girl Chiyo who came from a fishing village. Due to her parent's poor health Chiyo and her sister (Satsu) were taken to Kyoto. Chiyo was separated from her sister and was taken in by an okiya owner known as Mother.

Chiyo lived in the okiya with another girl similar to her age called Pumpkin and a Geisha called Hatsumomo. We learn of the struggles Chiyo faced as she is badly bullied by Hatsumomo. Chiyo tried to escape from the okiya to run away with her sister but was unsuccessful.

As her punishment, Chiyo had to serve as a maid to repay her debt to the okiya but a geisha called Mameha came to her rescue and Chiyo ( who later became known as Sayuri) became Mameha's apprentice. The love interest is between Sayuri & the Chairman. I won't spoil the ending for you if you haven't seen it already but I'm sure you can guess what happens.

The movie had wonderful cinematography but I felt there wasn't much chemistry between Zhang Zi Yi and Ken Watanabe( who is cute by the way! i think he was in the Last Samurai ). Fortunately, Gong Li,acted the part of Hatsumomo convincingly.I did sympathise with Hatsumomo because she was so insecure of herself and threatened by Chiyo up to the point that she was willing to make Chiyo's life as miserable as possible.

When you read the book you can "sense" the build up of the tension between the Chairman and Sayuri. I didn't feel the movie managed to recreate this tension in some of the scenes. Another example would be Sayuri's relationship with Mr Nobu.In the book, Sayuri was fond of Nobu in a platonic way but we never see the friendship developing further in the movie.

Some people may say that the book is boring at places because of the slow pace but I would have to disagree. I think this only adds to the atmosphere and mood of the story. The movie had edited many of the scenes in the book which is understandable because there's only so much you can fit in a movie. It is a shame though because personally some of the scenes especially the ones in Sayuri's later life would have added more depth to the movie.

So would I recommend the movie? Yes, even though I felt the movie wasn't as good as I thought it could be, it made me want to read the book. The book is definitely a good read (kept me entertained on my train journey from Slough to London this week!) The writing is brilliant and I felt that I saw a glimpse of the highs and lows of a geisha's life.

I would recommend you to see the movie and read the book too if you haven't already done so. Even if you have already read the book after watching the movie you will want to read it again. :)

The next movie I'm looking forward to is the adaptation of Dan Brown's book "The Da Vinci Code". I hope the director and cast can live up to the high expectations of the book. Watch this space...

Soulmates...do they really exist?

People my age are starting to think about the future and settling down...some of us have been lucky in finding " the one ". But what about those of us who are not so lucky because of relationships which didn't work out?? This reminds me of an episode in Friends when Phoebe talks about finding your "lobster" whereby each lobster has a soulmate.

Is there really such a thing as finding your soulmate?? What if we think we found our soulmate but things didn't work out ...will we ever find another soulmate??

Nowadays, there are increasingly higher rates of marriages failing...I guess there are no guarantees. A happy marriage is not something that happens automatically, it is something which both people in the marriage have to work at to make it work.

I hope that when I settle down that person is firstly a good Muslim, caring, kind, funny and someone that I see myself growing old with..... Will we ever find our "lobster"???

Part 2

Here goes for my trip back home part 2...

I celebrated Raya Haji with my bro and kak nor this year. My parents were doing their Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca..alhamdulillah they were safe and their Hajj went smoothly.
Usually during raya we would gather at Mamapam's place but this year Babah & Mamapam spent Raya at Babah's hometown in Perak. So it was a relatively quiet Raya..went to Kak Nor's relatives house and Che Kah's house.

Len ( my dad's friend) was in KL for a business trip with his partner Marigold. Since my parents weren't around my bro & i jadi wakil to meet up with them. My bro was tied up with work so I met up with Len & Marigold for dinner at Mandarin Oriental. The views from the restaurant was pretty but the food was probably a bit too posh for me...hehe I'm not used to all this fine dining stuff.

Marigold had lived in KL when she was a little girl as her father was part of the British High Commission during the critical time when Malaya (as it was called before Independence). She was reminiscing on her childhood in Malaysia.Her father was good friends with Tunku Abdul Rahman and Marigold was lucky enough to have met Tunku Abdul Rahman before he became our First Prime Minister in Malaysia. I was so impressed because she had met one of our great leaders in the country.

In my last weekend in KL, I attended one of my good friend's wedding Lini with Yana. Her akad nikah was on Friday at her home in PJ. Lini looked beautiful...berseri as a pengantin should be :) The akad nikah went well and Mizan only had to say his lafaz once which was impressive.

After Lini's place Yana decided to visit Meddy in Ampang. It was already pretty late by then.. but we decided what the heck we'll just go anyway. My sense of direction in KL is especially bad but luckily the roads were pretty much quiet late at night so we managed to get to Meddy's place with little trouble. It was good to catch up with Meddy and Shasha and we only left their place about 3am!!

Lini's wedding reception was held later on that night at Perdana Felda. Yana & I decided to go to Meddy's place and we got ready there. It was a beautiful reception and it was nice to catch up with friends there. Lini & Mizan looked lovely and they looked happy together..awwwww... :) I wish them Selamat Pengantin Baru and semoga bahagia hingga ke anak cucu......

On my last Sunday in KL, I met up with my friends for brunch..thanks guys for coming!

Then I went to Mamapam's place for Sunday lunch..Che Kah masak kerutuk daging and there were also other lovely dishes (too many to name) cooked by Che Kah & Mamapam...yummy!!! I'm definitely gonna miss all this back in UK.

Time flies when u're having fun

I arrived back in UK yesterday. I had a wonderful time as always. It would have been nice if my parents were in KL a bit longer but it's ok..I was lucky enough to meet Nuqman and spend time with him and the rest of the family. At least the little kid dapat jugak tengok muka aunty dia ni yang kat London..who knows when I'll see him next.

I also went to Melaka which was a road trip the girls and I have been planning for a long time...since we graduated all those years ago! Amanda (a.k.a. Panda)was a wonderful host...showed us her hometown and all the good eating places to eat...it was like we were doing a "Jalan Jalan cari makan show" in Melaka.

We started out by going to Amanda's place and then headed down to the centre of town for Nyonya food at Makko's. Excellent food...we thought as four girls we ordered too much food but all our plates were empty by the end of the meal. We did burn "some" of the calories by getting some cheap DVDs and walking around the old shop houses area in Melaka where there are a lot of craft shops.





Panda brought us to try fresh soya bean which was different that the usual one because it had hints of ginger in it. I wasn't sure whether I would like it with the ginger but I was pleasantly surprised.

We then took some tourist photos at the Dutch buildings ..it was weird to see a windmill in the middle of Melaka.Before dinner we stopped over to buy some putu mayam( i think that's how it's spelt) and also tried the freshest iced coffee I have ever tasted...kalah Coffe Bean and Starbucks!

The "piece de resistance" was the ikan bakar place we went to for dinner. I think the place was called Medan Ikan Bakar Sri Duyung in a really remote spot in Melaka. The food was amazing...I wanted to have some more of the fish but my stomach couldn't take anymore..and I had my kangkung belacan and sotong goreng...all time favourites!!!

Our last stop before heading back to KL was the famous Bee Bee jam tarts...one of the best places to get jam tarts in Melaka. If ur planning to get ur bulk supply of jam tarts u have to order well in advance. The Bee Bee house smells of jam tarts all day... and there are people constantly preparing fresh jam tarts pratcially 24hrs of the day. We managed to get some last minutes jam tarts to bring back. Damn sedap!

All in all a great day trip to Melaka. Since it's only abt 1.5-2 hrs from KL I'd definitely go there again.Cher-ryl and Anisa weren;t able to join us but we will definitely be making a return trip there.

I'll update the rest of my trip in my next blog...now I'm trying to get to sleep to get rid of my jetlag. Nite nite people!

2006:What lies ahead...........

Hi everyone,

Well, I've been back for nearly a week now. I spent the first few days with the family and sent my parents to Haji. I didn't expect sending them off for Haji would be so emotional but I guess I got caught up in the moment. Maybe one day we can go for umrah together as a family.

The last few days I've been going out and meeting up with frens and relatives. I went to my niece birthday party last Friday which was good fun. The food was delicious catered by one of Abg Nizam's frens. I especially loved the trifle..yummy! The kids were entertained by Kak Ina as the games organiser. I will put up pics soon.

I met up with my fren for New Year's at Hilton KL . Food was good but music could have been better. They played house music which was terrible to say the least for the first couple of hours but luckily played R&B music towards the end.

I've also been able to spend time with my adorable nephew. He loves to smile!! cute sangat!!!!! Unfortunately his health is still not good...he is still wheezing due to problems in his lungs and chest area. He may need to undergo physiotherapy in the chest area. Let us all pray that he gets well soon.

So we are now in 2006.....new year's resolutions...hmmmm well I've never really been a person who comes up with New Year's resolutions cuz I probably would not stick with it..hehe.

But if I really had to think about it my New Year's resolutions would be:

1. Be a better person e.g. patient with others and be more tolerant towards other people.

2. Be healthy and live a prosperous, happy and successful life

3. Meet someone who can love and accept me with my good and bad sides along with my background

Wishing all of you a Happy New Year 2006!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)