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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Flying on a jet plane....

Sorry I haven't updated the blog for a while.

These last few weeks have been hectic to say the least i.e. work, xmas parties and meeting up with my peeps.

I've been away in Colchester this week for work. Based on what my client told me Colchester is one of the oldest towns in UK and was built up by the Romans all those years ago.

Unfortunately due to job deadlines I didn't really have much time to tour around the town.

On our first night in Colchester my colleague and I went out for Christmas dinner at an Italian restaurant. It was one of those random nights.

First of all, my colleague and I got lost walking to the restaurant. I am really bad at directions except if I can remember landmark buildings. So if you ask me to read an orientation map...sorrylah there is a high probability I will get u lost! hehehe...

Eventually (after a lot of walking around going in circles).. we reached the restaurant and sat down for a Xmas dinner. Suddenly this waiter comes up to me and asked where I came from. I said I was Malaysian and it turned out the waiter was Malaysian too but he had not been back for 35 years!!!!! A rare coincidence to meet another fellow Malaysian in a small town like Colchester.

Throughout the night he would come up to our table for a little chat and we discovered a lot about this interesting guy. His dad was in the Air Force and later brought the whole family to settle down in UK 35 years ago. He attended school in the UK and left school to train as a waiter in one of the top hotels : Dorchester Hotel. He then continued to work in cruise liner ships and moved to Florida to work in the restaurants in Disneyland. He now owns a house in Florida and planned to settle there but had to come back to UK in order to send his son to college here due to some family problems. I asked him whether he would ever settle down in Malaysia again.

He said at this moment in time..the answer is no because he felt that he was Westernized and couldn't adjust back into the culture and life in Malaysia. I felt sad for him because he no longer feels Malaysia is his home anymore.

For me...my heart will always be in Malaysia and I consider it my home. It's strange because if I look back at my life ...12 years of my life has been in UK yet I still feel closer to life in Malaysia. Maybe it's because of the way I have been brought up. Despite all the negative things we often complain about Malaysia i.e. mentality of some people in Malaysia, the non existent work-life balance I feel more at ease settling into the culture and life in Malaysia than in UK. At this moment in time..I still see myself settling back home in maybe three or four year's time.

Who knows...only time will tell.

Anyways, this time tomorrow I will be flying off on a jet plane back home to KL to see my beloved ones for three weeks....So those of you in KL, insya-Allah we will meet up sooon!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brighton Trip

I've been planning to visit my good friend Anisa in Brighton for a long time. Finally, after a hectic few weeks I've managed to arrange my visit to go down to see her.

By the time I arrived in Brighton, it was already pitch black. This is one thing I hate about winter ...the days are shorter!! Also, it was damn cold!!!! I regretted not bringing a thicker coat.


We went back to Anisa's hall campus at Sussex Uni. It is soo different and more scenic than LSE. I've never experienced campus life because LSE was in the middle of Central London. Living in London, I have done my fair share of walking but in Brighton we walked practically everywhere. You can really become fit because there are a lot of hills and steep slopes everywhere.

After leaving our bags at her halls. we went out to see the nightlife in Brighton. We walked down to Brighton Pier and had dinner at Harry Ramsden's...the fish & chips was damn sedap because the fish was soo fresh!

Then we went to Brighton Marina and took pictures at the Royal Pavilion. The Royal Pavilion was my fav building in Brighton because the architecture is different from any other building I've seen in UK so far. The dome and the way it was built had an Eastern feel to it.
We came back about 11pm and I was pretty knackered by then and went straight to bed since I didn't get much sleep the night before.

The next day Anisa wanted to bring me to a place called Seven Sisters Country Park which was a 50 min bus ride from Brighton on the way to Eastbourne. We woke up early to catch the bus but it was a worthwhile trip. As soon as we stepped out of the bus I felt like I was no longer in the city. The air was so fresh and there was green scenery everywhere.



We followed the path trail set out by the National Trust. A word of warning to any of you who decide to go hiking or walking in any of these country parks..make sure you bring a warm coat, a pair of good boots and be prepared to get muddy!

The path trail led us to Seven Sisters Beach...it isn't one of those beaches you can sunbathe in but the scenery leading to the beach was breathtaking.

We were lucky the weather was kind to us..I can't imagine walking up the path if it had been raining.



After we reached the end of the trail we lepak and had some snacks on the pebble beach. To be honest , pebble beaches aren't the best place to walk on cuz there are stones everywhere but it was actually not too bad to sit on.

After the trail walk we headed back into Brighton city centre. I slept on the bus most of the way back but once we reached the city centre I was ready to do some shopping. Shopping in Brighton was great, there were loads to choose from and there was a soo much variety. I think it was because the city is tailored towards tourists.

After that it was time for me to head back to Slough. It was a lovely weekend to catch up with Anisa. Brighton is a lovely place and next summer I will be going again to check out Brighton Beach.

Alright, I have to do more packing as I'm going to Leeds tomorrow for work. Another hectic week ahead......................

Make Poverty History-Is it really possible?

Many of you may remember the slogan " Make Poverty History " wear everyone was encouraged to wear the white bands, Live 8 concert and attending the march in Edinburgh during the same week as when the G8 summit was held in Gleneagles in Scotland. There are some of you who may wear the white band as a fashion accessory but I hope that most people wore it because of what the white band stands for.

So...Make Poverty History..is it really possible?? I went to a talk by the Director of Oxfam in UK (Barbara Stocking) earlier this week who is one of many people that believe it is possible.

Make Poverty History has been a long campaign but 2005 is a special year as many charities, NGOs and various organisations came together to make the world leaders listen and actually start taking action in eradicating poverty.

Ok, we know that we will never be able to eradicate poverty altogether but there are many children dying of hunger because of extreme poverty and we all need to do something about it before it's too late.

What is Make Poverty History campaigning for?

It's fighting for three main things: More aid, Fair Trade and eradicate debt of third world countries.

Currently, we need GBP 50billion a year of aid money. It may seem a lot but if we put it in perspective GBP1 trilion is being spent on arms a year. I'm not against the armed forces (my dad is in the navy) equipping themselves with arms and security equipment in order to protect the interests of the people of the country. But if we can spend a significant amount of money on arms..surely we can spare some cash for aid too.

So how successful has the campaign been?

Debt relief: world leaders have accepted that multilateral debt should be written off but no action has yet been finalised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Aid Money: by 2010 it was decided that GBP48 billion aid will be given. It isn't the best outcome as 2010 is five years away...how many more innocent people will die by that time???

Trade justice: this is the most difficult part of the deal. We shouldn't get confused with free trade and trade justice. Trade justice stands for:

• ending export subsidies
• opening trade borders
• enforcing laws to stop big multinational companies profiting at the expense of local people and the environment

Even before the G8 summit took place, world leaders had decided to get rid of export subsidies and this was reaffirmed again in 2005. Unfortunately, no set timetable was set. This isn't an easy thing to solve because eradicating export subsidies would mean farmers and similar people working in agricultural industries may suffer. e.g. agriculture industry in Scotland, cotton farm industry in America.

The WTO 2005 summit will start on 13 December in Hong Kong and we hope that these issues will be discussed and we can make progress and move forward.

What difference can we make?

Well, eradicating extreme poverty won't be something that can be solved overnight. I do agree that Making Poverty History is possible. It will not be easy but it we put enough pressure and keep the public engaged and interested in the campaign we may have a chance in making a difference.

Somerset House Ice Skating

Ice skating has always been one of the things I wanted to try out and today my wish was fulfilled. I've watched the world ice skating ice championships on tv before and always been amazed at the moves and choreography on ice from people like Torvill & Dean ( former British champions)


Well, I'm a LONG way off from doing those moves but I wanted to try a bit of ice skating for myself. So..I dragged my sister along to join me for a skating session at Somerset House.
We arrived at Somerset House in time to get our skates and take in the views and music at Somerset House courtyard.

Finally the moment came where we were allowed out on the rink. The ice rink was not as big as I thought but nevertheless it was a lovely setting. Ice skating is a bit like learning to ride a bike for the first time. When you first set off on the rink, you feel that you have no control on what you're doing and feel a little bit scared. During the first few rounds, there were a few times where I fell over and I was holding on the bar as if my life depended on it! hehe...

Then I started to get my balance and actually started enjoying myself. Liani and I even managed to skate in the middle of the rink but we were moving at a slower pace than everyone else on the rink so got in the way of a few people..oops!

The hour session flew by and before we knew it, it was time to return the skates. I really had a good time and it will definitely be something I will try again. If I ever get the chance I would also love to go ice skating at Central Park, NY :) Until then.........

There's always a first for everything.........

First album I bought: Aishah's first album....bought it cuz I liked the song "Camar Yang Pulang" at the time..I still listen to it occasionally.

First crush: In Sitiawan,Perak... I was nine and fancied one of my bro's mate at the time...my friends and I would often cycle pass his house to check him out.. he must have thought we were stalkers or something...hehe(sounds so embarassing now when I think of it now..)

First job: Worked part time at Greggs Bakery in Bayswater for a year. Felt a sense of independence earning my own money, met some cool people too plus dapat discounts on the savouries & muffins...yummy!!!

First food disaster: At school , we had Home Economics class and I had to bake scones. The class is abt 45 mins so we had to prepare the dough and bake the scones within the timelimit. I had prepared my scones and was quite proud that it looked pretty good when I took it out from the oven. Gave it to my friends to try out my scones during lunch but it didn't get the response I was expecting. I had put salt instead of sugar in the dough when I was preparing the scones. I haven't baked anything ever since that day! hehe...

First car:I didn't actually sit for my Malaysian driving test until I graduated from uni. My first car would be my little grey Perodua Kelisa...lovely car...my pride and joy. Felt really sad when I had to sell the car earlier this year. Hopefully I'll be able to get another one soon.

First memory of holiday with the family: When I was 7, we went to Disneyland Florida & Universal Studios ..had the best time. Love the rollercoaster rides...would love to go back there again someday.

First holiday with friends: Went to Brussels in winter of 1999 with Giac & Suz...it was absolutely freezing but had a good time nevertheless..chocs & Belgian waffles. Returning to london, we had missed our scheduled flight back to so we had to spend a night at Brussels Airport. We didn't really get much sleep since the airport didn't have the most comfortable benches to sleep on. We kept ourselves amused by playing with the airport trolleys and running around the airport like maniacs...! hehe...those were the days....

First music gig: When I was fourteen or fifteen, I went to an Innuendo concert held at the Hippodrome, London with my bro & gf at the time. Innuendo were one of the first malay R&B groups who can sing..."Belaian Jiwa"-classic song..one of my fav songs. :)

First music festival: Party In the Park organised by Prince's Trust. It was the first Party in the Park...heard so many acts perform live..Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilera, Destiny's Child and many more but my highlight was listening to Bon Jovi singing live.
I would love to go to other festivals i.e. Glastonbury & V festival.

Smarter without Violence

"Smarter without Violence"- This was the slogan which was being promoted by the charity Middle East Non Violence & Democracy (MEND UK).

I attended a talk organised by LSE on " Children & Women in Palestine " which marked the launch of MEND UK. The main aim of the charity to tackle the problems in the Middle East via non violence measures.

There were five people speaking on the panel:
1) Robin Kealy( Chair Panel ) : Consulate General for Jerusalem in 1998-2001
2)Hind Khoudy: Minister of State of the Palestinian Authority
3)Lucy Nusseibeh : Director of MEND
4)Dana Abdul Fattah: a 15yr old Palestinian girl who participated in the MEND program

The talk touched on four main themes:
a) The current situation in the West Bank and Gaza
b) The cultural background/history behind non violence campaigning
c) Origins of MEND
d) the difference MEND has made on the people who have participated in the MEND programs

It was interesting to hear the various speakers:

a) Hind Khoudy gave us an account of the difficulties Palestinian children and women are faced living in occupied territory. Nearly half the population are children and women. In this long suffering conflict it has been the women and chldren who have suffered the most.
Jerusalem is the worst affected area where Israeli troops have tightened restrictions thus making it difficult for people to travel from the West Bank into East Jerusalem.
Doctors and teachers who live in the West Bank will need permits to go to work in East Jerusalem.

The education sector has also suffered where children who live in West Bank are facing difficulties travelling into East Jerusalem to attend school. My 2 hour journey commuting into work doesn't seem so bad compared to what these people have to face in their everyday lives.

Due to limited resources there are also not enough classrooms to accomodate these children. As a result families don't send their kids to school.
Children are not getting their education and are resorting to drugs and violence. This is a growing problem as children are feeling confused, unwanted and have no sense of belonging.
This aggravates dissatisfaction and can lead to hatred which has been linked to terrorism acts.

b) Jonathan Benthall (Member of MEND, NGO member,anthropologist expert) touched on the issues that it is possible to make a difference in the world through non violence campaigning.
Islam is a peaceful religion which is evidenced in the way we greet each other with Assalamualaikum which means " Peace be upon you ". Due to recent events like 9/11 and the 7/7 London Bombings, Islam is being portrayed as one which promotes violence. By having programs like MEND and educating people on Islam we hope to change that. There have been successful non violent campaigns such as those led by Mahatman Gandhi and Martin Luther King.

c) Lucy Nusseibeh ( Director of MEND ) believes that we can make a difference in changing the situation in the Middle East. Women & children living in the current conflict are facing fear and anxiety every single day. Through MEND, Lucy believes we can offer hope to these people.
Currently, MEND are devoting projects to benfit children and youth in East Jerusalem & West Bank.
Workshops are set up on projects such as conflict resolution, summer camps and participatory videos.

d) Dana Abdul Fattah was one of the children who participated in the projects. She shared her experience with the audience on the activities MEND provided for them. One which Dana particularly enjoyed was the drama workshop where they would perform in front of an audience a drama portraying issues which they are concerned about e.g.domestic violence in the family.
After the drama, they would discuss on possible solutions to the issues.
There is also a radio "soap opera " which has proved popular where youth & children can listen and discuss on issues which affect them most. By having these issues out in the open they can work together in finding the best way to resolve the conflict.

I think this is a great idea. If the children learn from a young age on way to resolve conflicts in a non violent manner, they will be better at controlling the anger and hatred which we see in many of the youths today. This can possibly be linked to the increase in terrorism acts which we see in the news every so often e.g. suicide bombers.

After the talk, I felt inspired that there are people out there who feel that there is still hope for peace and are doing something about it instead of merely talking about it.
I wish MEND the best of luck in their causes and goals! :)

A to Z of friendship

The A - Z of Friendship


A Friend ...

Accepts you as you are.

Believes in you.

Calls you just to say "hi."

Doesn't give up on you.

Envisions the whole of you (even the unfinished parts).

Forgives your mistakes.

Gives unconditionally.

Helps you.

Invites you over.

Just likes being with you.

Keeps you close at heart.

Loves you for who you are.

Makes a difference in your life.

Never judges you.

Offers support.

Picks you up.

Quiets your fears.

Raises your spirits.

Says nice things about you.

Tells you the truth when you need to hear it.

Understands you.

Values you.

Walks beside you.

X-plains things you don't understand.

Yells when you won't listen.

Zaps you back to reality.

Raya di London

As I am writing this, I have just come back from attending the takbir raya at Malaysian Hall, London. By reciting takbir raya, I started feeling sad and homesick. This has to be my 4th raya away from the family....

But then, I felt lucky that at least my sis ade di sini and I have friends here who are also spending raya away from home so at least we have each other.

I will be spending my first day of raya at work...I was not lucky enough to get a day off.
It's sad that I won't be able to celebrate raya but then again I take it as just one of the challenges of life.."dugaan hidup"...

I spoke to my loved ones earlier to wish them Selamat Hari Raya and to ask for forgiveness...missing them terribly but insya-allah I will see them soon.

I would like to wish everyone Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri & Maaf Zahir Batin..minta maaf kalau ade tersilap cakap atau buat ye.... :)

2005: Year of Natural Disasters

The year 2005 will be remembered as the "Year of Natural Disasters".

The year started with the Boxing day tsunami which affected the SE regions. The worst affected areas were Sri Lanka, Thailand and Bandar Aceh.
I can still remember seeing the aerial views of Bandar Aceh before and after the disaster.
It was heartbreaking to see how these people lost everything and had to start and build their lives again.


Then, we had Hurricane Katrina which affected New Orleans and the Gulf coast.
It is ironic that during the G8 summit ( before Hurricane Katrina happened) President Bush did not put global warming as its No 1 priority. We can only hope that recent events may change his way of thinking ( well...we can only hope right??!
At the present time, Hurricane Wilma is sweeping across Florida. ( have u guys ever wondered why all these hurricanes are named after woman's names??? )
Could all this be a result of global warming??

We also had the South Asian Earthquake..which had devastating effects on Kashmiri and nearby rural, mountainous regions. Relief aid is still trying to reach these people. Winter is approaching and because of difficulties in distributing aid some of these people may die of cold and hunger.

There have been many discussions on global warming and what we can do about it. World leaders and normal people like you and me should try to understand why these disasters are occuring more often than ever. I think only through understanding the causes of these disasters will we able to tackle and find ways to prevent it. And possibly save lives.

Let us all try to do our bit to save our planet in any small way we can.

Va Va Voom!

Finally, I have decided to get my dream car...the MINI COOPER.
Some people think that I should get another car..especialy if I'm thinking of bringing it back to KL.

"Kalau nak bawak kereta balik Malaysia bawaklah kereta besar sikit...AP tu sekali je..."

Maybe they're right.. but I have wanted this car since it first came out....and at the end of the day it is my choice...

I love the car and what it represents.....stylish, petite yet powerful...(macam moi??!!! )hehehe...

My first ever car was a Perodua Kelisa...miss that little car.
I remember driving it for the first time in KL.. and coping with crazy drivers,motorists and also pedestrians who decide to step on the road at the very last minute!...

When we moved to Sg Buloh, I had to cope driving behind massive lorries and avoiding those horrible potholes. Poor little Kelisa, it did go through a lot in its short life span with me...partly due to the driving conditions and maybe partly due to my driving skills...hehe...

So now the hunt begins for a car...luckily I have someone to help me...

But if anyone knows any good contacts/dealers who are interested in selling used Mini Coopers..do let me know...
It would be greatly appreciated...!

Va Va Voom..........! :)

Blessed Month of Ramadhan

As a little girl, I never really appreciated the spiritual side of Ramadhan..at the time I thought of it as just a month without food and drink during the day. At the end of the month we would all raya sakan and get lots of duit raya and good food.

It has only been in the last few years I've started to appreciate more of the spiritual sense of this holy month we call Ramadhan.
My most memorable Ramadhan to date was after graduation when I went back home for a year before starting work in UK.

It was my first time spending raya & puasa with the family after a LONG while...
How I miss it..my mom would wake up everyone and make hot drinks for everyone but it was usually just me & my dad who would have something to eat for sahur. In the evenings, we would berbuka bersama and go for tarawih prayers as a family.


When I was back home in Malaysia, throughout the whole month a new English show was being aired on Al-Jazeera for the first time called "Parables of Qur'an ". It was hosted by a guy called Moez Masoud. The idea of the show was simple...every day Moez would discuss a parable from the Qur'an with a group of young men & women.

What made this show interesting was that Moez was not a preacher or ulamak of any kind. He is a normal guy like you and me who have made mistakes in life and may have been on the wrong path at some point of our lives but with Allah's guidance managed to get back to the straight path.

The guests on his shows are open minded & intellectual modern people and in each parable Moez gets each guests to relate the parable from the Qur'an to their own experiences. Audience of the show (myself included) would be able to relate to the experiences shared by the guests in one way or another.

In the modern society that we live in today, there are many young Muslims out there who are lost, feel out of place and do not feel the Qur'an has any relevance to the world we live in today. But Moez's show was able to highlight the fact that the Qur'an and its beautiful verses are as relevant today as it was when it was brought down to us all those thousands of years ago.

The show had an impact on the way I looked at my life and Moez is a true inspiration to all young Muslims. I wish there would be more shows like this . In Malaysia there are many religious shows but I don't know whether their traditional approach is able to inspire young Muslims like Moez's shows can. There should be more shows like his.

Keep up the good work Moez!

Happy Ramadhan Al -Mubarak to all Muslims around the world!

The idea of success...

"Success is the ability to go from one failure from another with no loss of enthusiasm".-Sir Winston Churchill.

Isn't it a great quote? I found it on a famous quotes website.

When I was growing up failure has never been an option..I set myself certain goals and hope to achieve them.

But as I grew older, life isn't as smooth sailing as we hoped it would be and I had to learn how to deal with failures in my life....

Life is full of sacrifices and having to make the best out of the opportunities given to us.

I have gone through some low points in my life where I have felt lost and at times thought I was a failure. During these times I'm blessed to find out who my real friends are and get support from people who are closest to me.

There have also been high points in my life where I feel like I'm on cloud nine. I guess we have to cherish these moments as it makes all that bitter pain beforehand all worthwhile.

I'm sure there will be more high and low points in my life but I guess it all depends on how we handle them.