AcE ManaL sharing her stuff

MSc or a PhD student wanted

2011-09-13T19:34:00.000+08:00

I am looking for :

ONE MSc candidate with a chemical engineering MEng or BEng student, priority for the CGPA 3.0++ student, (CGPA of 2.85-2.95 also accepted if he/she is fully committed)

OR

ONE PhD candidate with a chemical engineering MEng or BEng (CGPA 3.70++ first class degree) or with an MSc degree

to carry out a project in catalysis , design and reaction engineering at the Dept of Chemical & Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering & Built Environment, The National University of Malaysia (UKM). Kindly please send me the CV to :manal@eng.ukm.my ASAP or before 30 September 2011.

A chemistry background graduate with passion to be involved in both chemical reaction and catalysis and reactor design is also acceptable.

You will be awarded with tax-free allowance of RM1600/month for MSc candidate and RM1800/month for PhD candidate. Local or foreign (non-malaysian) students are welcome to apply.

Thank you.

DR. MANAL ISMAIL

After a long hiatus on Maulidur Rasul 1432H (15 Feb 2011)

2011-02-15T03:13:00.000+08:00

I am back to the blogworld and may be adding another new blog for the more academic use. It has been 11 months , thanks to the timing stamp on Mak Ji Esah's blog that I think it is time to begin another new chapter. That is another Maulidul Rasul 1432 H.

There has been so many things happened the last year , or since the last blog posting to be precise. One most significant thing is the meagre savings. I spent almost all my money on installing a new kitchen cabinet that I did not have much more to spend throughout the year other than paying bills, bills and bills (loans, credit cards, utilities, Astro, internet, you name it). I was dried up on the kitty bank but I did not have much problems with people around me including my family. I had to be very careful with my expenditure that I avoided going to cinemas or most of the favourite pastimes that required money including travelling. Good thing I had one opportunity to attend an overseas conference in Adelaide, Australia, played with kangaroos there, took pictures with Osmond the Koala and was thought of as someone from Sydney or Melbourne i.e. the 2 bigger, more metropolitan cities in the whole Australasia continent.

I even did not manage to do much of clothes and shoes shopping last year, and dont even ask on shoes or handbags, except necessities. My 2010 was spent more on KPI, publishing more journal papers, etc etc academic stuff, and in between, enjoyed whatever little I had. My personal life seemed to be heading to another level last year but it ended up in the last week of December with an absolute expiry date 01-01-2011. There goes the on-off 3 years relationship. Banished saved for good memories.

A minimalist I was in 2010, that did not stopped me from acting and behaving like a diva whenever necessary or naturally. Sure I didnt have that much money but it never stopped me from sashaying around with whatever that I have in the most confident manner. And the good thing about living like 10mins away from your parents meant that you can come dine there more like a guest than a permanent resident. And THAT really saved me on the grocery shopping somehow.

As we are into the 46th day of 2011, I am slowly recovering my kittybank. My mother spent nearly a month visiting my eldest sister in Birmingham who is on a short sabbatical with her husband, attaching themselves with Warwick University where both earned their PhD degrees. Hosni Mubarak, the 4th president of Egypt has just stepped down on 11-02-2011 after 18 days of demonstration by the Egyptian people mostly held at Tahrir Square in Cairo. Faculty dinner was held on 21-01-2011, Friday at DECTAR, UKM, with Arabian 1001 night as the theme.

And for the last 11 months, I became more and more redha (accepting whatever destined for me by God).

Lets all give salawat to our greatest most revered prophet Nabi Muhammad (SAW) on remembering his birth day:

A good article in conjunction with MaulidulRasul 1431H

2010-03-01T21:48:00.002+08:00

From Islamicity:

A journey of exploration, leading to Islam

I became a Muslim when it seemed I had already accepted Islam in my bones, as if beyond choice, and I only had to make a leap to embrace it formally. Outwardly I was content; inwardly I was coasting. My three year old theatre company was disbanded after a hilariously chaotic production for a Tim Leary Benefit at the Family Dog in San Francisco, circa '68 Ð naturally, the orange juice everyone had passed around was spiked, so that the chorus members were doing the final scene in the first ten minutes Ð and for six months I had been typing out poetry manuscripts in my attic in Berkeley preparatory to a big publishing push.

I considered myself a Zen Buddhist, but I was other things as well. My normal routine was to get up, sit zazen, smoke a joint, do half an hour of yoga, then read the Mathnawi of Rumi, the long mystical poem of that great Persian Sufi of the thirteenth century.

Then I met the man who was to be my guide to our teacher in Morocco, Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habib, may Allah be pleased with him. At first, the meeting was simply remarkable, and my guide a simply a remarkable man. But soon our encounter was to become extraordinary, leading to a revolution in my life from which I have never recovered, and never hope to.

The man looked like an eccentric Englishman. He too had only recently come out of the English version of the Hippie Wave. He was older, refined in his manners, spectacularly witty and intellectual, but of that kind prevalent then who had hobnobbed with the Beatles and knew the Tantric Art collection of Brian Jones firsthand. He had been on all the classic drug quests Ð peyote in the Yucatan, mescaline with Laura Huxley Ð but with the kif quest in Morocco, he had stumbled on Islam, and then the Sufis, and the game was up. A profound change had taken place in his life that when far beyond the psychedelic experience.

It is hard to put forward any kind of explanation of Islam, to try to suggest the beauty of its totality, through the medium of words. The light of Islam, since it is transformational and alchemical in nature, almost always comes via a human messenger who is a transmitter of the picture by his very being.

For the three days following our meeting, two other Americans and I listened in awe as this magnificent storyteller unfolded the picture of Islam, of the perfection of the Prophet Muhammad, and of the 100 year old plus Shaykh, sitting under a great fig tree in a garden with his disciples, singing praises of Allah. It was everything I'd always dreamed of. It was poetry come alive. It was the visionary experience made part of daily life, with the Prophet a perfectly balanced master of wisdom and simplicity, an historically accessible Buddha, with a mixture of the earthiness of Moses, the otherworldliness of Jesus, and a light all his own.

The prophetic knowledge our guide talked about was a kind of spiritual existentialism. It was a matter of how you enter a room, which foot you entered with, that you sipped water but gulped mild, that you said "bismillah" (In the name of Allah) before eating or drinking, and "alhamdulillah" (Praise be to Allah) afterwards, and so on. But rather than seeing this as a burden of hundreds of "how-to's", it was more like what the LSD experience taught us, that there is a "right" way to do things that has, if you will, a cosmic resonance. It is a constant awareness of courtesy to the Creator and His creation that in itself ensures and almost visionary intensity.

Face to face with our guide, what struck us most was his impeccable, noble behavior. He seemed to be living what he was saying. Finally, the moment came, as a surprise, when he confronted me with my life. "Well," he said one morning after three full days of rapturous agreement that what he was bringing us was the best thing we'd ever heard. "What do you think? Do you want to become a Muslim?"

I hedged. "It's the most beautiful thing I've heard about so far. After all my Zen Buddhism, all my yoga, Tibetan Buddhism and Hindu gurus, this is certainly it! But I think I would like to travel a little, see the world, go to Afghanistan (then unoccupied), maybe meet my Shaykh in a mountain village far off somewhere."

"That's not good enough. You have to decide now. Yes or no. If it's yes, then we start on a great adventure. If it's no, then no blame, I've done my duty. I'll just say goodbye and go on my way. But you have to decide now. I'll go downstairs and read a magazine and wait. Take your time."

When he had left the room I saw there was no choice. My whole being had already acquiesced. All my years up to that moment simply rolled away. I was face-to-face with worship of Allah, wholly and purely, with the Path before me well-trodden, heavily sign posted, with a guide to a Master plunk in front of me. Or I could reject all of this for a totally self-invented and uncertain future.

It was the day of my birthday, just to make it that much more dramatic. I chose Islam.

Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore was born in 1940 in Oakland, California. His first book of poems, Dawn Visions, was published by Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Lights Books, San Francisco, in 1964, and the second in 1972, Burnt Heart / An Ode to the War Dead. He became a Sufi Muslim in 1970, performed the Hajj in 1972, and has lived and traveled throughout Morocco, Spain, Algeria and Nigeria, landing in California and publishing The Desert is the Only Way Out, and Chronicles of Akhira. Living in Philadelphia since 1990, in 1996 he published The Ramadan Sonnets, and in 2002 a new book of poems with Syracuse University Press, The Blind Beekeeper. He is also widely published on the worldwide web: The American Muslim, DeenPort, and his own website: www.danielmoorepoetry.com among others

AVATARIZE YOURSELF

2010-03-01T17:17:00.001+08:00

O Fresh Milk....

2010-02-25T15:37:00.002+08:00

I MISSED downing semi-skimmed milk back in the UK!!!

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The article from DailyMail:

After the bottle of milk and the carton, now comes the bag of milk.

The new containers are being introduced to 500 Sainsbury’s stores in a move that could finally end the 130-year reign of the milk bottle and its plastic successors.

Each two-pint container will be priced at 80p, which is 6p cheaper than an average carton.

It is designed to fit easily into a reuseable jug, which contains a spike to pierce it open.

The product uses 75 per cent less packaging than a plastic carton and is easier and cheaper to produce and transport.

In fact, switching to the bags could save 1.4million kilos of packaging a year – equivalent to 700 doubledecker buses.

Sainsbury’s spokesman Emma Metcalf King said: ‘This is the biggest change to occur to the nation’s shopping habits for at least a decade.

‘The familiar clink of the glass milk bottle could finally become a thing of the past. ‘The bags will prove to be a huge hit with environmentally aware shoppers, as well as those on a tight budget.’

The new bags of milk will be 6p cheaper than a normal plastic bottle

It is not the first time bags have been used for milk packaging, however. Thirty years ago, dairies in Essex tried and failed to encourage them.

Havoc was caused by packs which leaked in transit, while shoppers found the bags were punctured by the packaging on other products.

More recently, Dairy Crest, the Co-op, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s itself have also run trials.

But today’s move by the supermarket giant, which is giving away half a million milk bags to customers in April, follows a successful 18-month trial at its stores.

After years of rigorous tests, manufacturers believe they have developed a milk bag able to withstand being bashed about in a car boot or on a crowded bus.

And consumers are more likely to take to them this time round because they are far more conscious of green issues such as the carbon footprint, supporters of the technology suggest.

A spokesman for the Government’s waste and packaging advisory body, WRAP, said: ‘What is important in any type of milk container, whether it’s a glass bottle, a pouch or a plastic bottle is increasing recycled content and making it easier to recycle.’

Bottles have been the preferred milk container in Britain since 1880 when they were introduced by the Express Dairy Company. They were dominant until the 1970s, before losing favour to Tetra Pak cardboard containers.

Britons consume around 180million pints of milk a week. Two-thirds are sold in plastic bottles, which have been the preferred container since the early 1990s.

Milk sold in bags is already a common choice for 60 per cent of consumers in Canada, Poland, South Africa and China.

What did I miss

2010-02-01T04:10:00.003+08:00

I had to lock myself in the house literally speaking today as the internal lock in my main wooden door (enter-exit) broken somehow. I can still leave the house through other exit like from the back of the kitchen or through the sliding door grilles. But it felt odd. I have called a repairman to come over my place on monday afternoon to fix it, and if it needed a new lock, then so be it, better to replace it soon then i reckon.

I was hooked on the Astro sport channel today most of the time apart from watching " Casablanca" in between on TV2 earlier. It was indeed a good movie considering that it was made during WW2 and it was actually my 1st time really got to watch most part of the movie. Bogey (Humphrey Bogart) really put that "here's looking at u kid" quote in my mind and it just kept replaying on and on. I guess i was just amazed at how good actually that movie and how funny in a wry way Bogey was. I only managed to watch him in his other movie "Sabrina" (the original make) and how deep the impact he left me. He wasnt really a looker or anything like that, not that he's all plain either. He just had this charisma of a great actor of his time. No wonder Lauren Bacall his wife never stopped swooning over him , how she can never let go of her moments with him despite his demise for nearly 5 decades.

Roger Federer won his 16th Grand Slam today too at Australian Open 2010. I had the opportunity to "wander" outside the Rod Laver stadium, Melbourne where the venue was back in sept 2007. He defeated Andy Murray in a straight set. This time he wasnt doing his all famous watershed but Andy did shed some tears. That was the 2nd time they met on a grand slam final, the 1st one was at the US Open 2008. Andy did have some advantage over Fed as in he has 6-4 winning record throughout their meeting but Fed prevailed yet again in the Grand Slam final. Not only that, he also managed to win back the AO having lost to his another famous rival, Rafael Nadal. The latter called for match retirement during his QF match against Murray. That match saw Murray already leading by 2 sets.

Serena Williams also won her 5th AO beating a former champion Justine Henin on 2-1 sets. Williams bagged another winning trophy from women's double playing side by side with her big sister Venus. That would be like a commiseration for Venus who lost during QF to Na Li, who then lost to Serena in SF. One thing for sure, once she and Fed reached the semis, i have already hoped and predicted that it would be Fed and Serena to win. And i was spot on. Double spot on!

Egypt won their African Cup Nation again too defeating Ghana by 1-0 in Angola. I was beaming with pride for my other half Nation. They deserved this win, truly, after what all that bloody commotion happened during their 1st round match with Algeria last december 2009. Good thing they trashed them algerian by 4-0 in the semi en route to final.

I just had my sahur, thats basically day 01 for the replacement fasting of Ramadhan last year. This is already into the 2nd month of the Hijriyah and the next ramadhan is like another 7 months away or so. Its ummm quite unfortunate that I had to replace a LOT of days really and so its gonna be another "big" feat to do all the missing days but I will have to no matter what. Its an obligation and its compulsory.

Blogging also has slowed down quite substantially since the last quarter of 2009. It gets so much simpler writing a few things on Facebook. I'd usually leave a few updates and my whereabouts there too. Though of course i could write more in the blog but i just cant be arsed spending time writing that much when most of my thoughts are frequently aired on FB.

I also miss London. I dunno why. When i saw movies like Bridget Jones Diary and Love Actually, everything there looked very very very familiar. Somehow there's almost not much of a "friendly" flirt here in malaysia, though I do get occassional passes and so on. I know them guys prolly think it wasnt appropriate to be that direct or so but they can be so damn stupid not taking such oppportunity to do so. Yea sure some chinese (msian and he's cute too) fella just like to stand soooo close to me while explaining about things on car at the workshop and some few other malaysian fellas dared enough to be little bit more friendly but that was it. I had a LOT more passes when i was in India, Egypt, Syria and England (to name a few countries i have visited last year) than I had in msia for the past 3 years. Are Malaysian guys so bloody slow and dimwit or what? Or that I gave them a wrong indication and wrong aura or what? I think thats prolly one of the reasons why I miss london (and other places, travelling) so much. Malaysian men and Manal Ismail prolly dont gel that well in the attraction department. Or perhaps they think i am married hence no point getting into trouble approaching me? As in there was one time when i was in sabah last year and i was almost getting interrogated on my marital status when they read in the form i wrote as single. They asked me how come a woman this beautiful like me can be single. Surely at least it was due to divorce or something or that I DO have a boyfriend, or the least would be that I am engaged.

And maybe perhaps i dont go out that much?

Just when i stop hoping but praying nonetheless for my future endeavours, one of my aunts in cairo introduced me to her office mate. He was smitten by me the 1st time he saw me. And few days before that, i went to Irbid , Jordan, visiting my 5th sister there with my mum and my old flame came over to see me there. He clearly has feelings for me still yet he needed to sort out his issues and himself too.

I think of my other old flame in london too. Saw him in my dream a couple of nights ago but he didnt really even look at me at all. He looked well, and i was happy for him. Although i think he wasnt prepared to face me. Its just too painful , too awkward to talk to someone whom u had had a very deep meaningful relationship only to end up due to some silly issues. But i think its for the best. I dont think I wanna be part of his family and he prolly deserved his own kind. Maybe he;'s married now, i dunno. Where ever he is now, I hope he's doing fine and if destiny had it, we may cross each other's path once again. I dont mind having him as friend. He is still in my FB friends list to say the least.

May this year 2010 be a much better one to me,and I wanna keep on persevere and be a better person too. And i wanna achieve more in life.

Chemically or comically atrocious?

2009-11-21T00:09:00.002+08:00

Perhaps we should switch to something more organic and pricey body care. Or perhaps, we should do some body detox/cleansing every now and then to help remove any harmful toxic that may remain longer in our body?

From Daily Mail:

Revealed... the 515 chemicals women put on their bodies every day

Women and beauty products - it's a love affair that's been going on for centuries. And no wonder. There's nothing like a new lipstick or favourite perfume to make us look and feel good. Or so we thought...

In fact, according to a new report, most of our favourite cosmetics are cocktails of industrially produced and potentially dangerous chemicals that could damage our health and, in some cases, rather than delivering on their potent 'anti-ageing' promise, are causing us to age faster.

Research by Bionsen, a natural deodorant company, found that the average woman's daily grooming and make-up routine means she 'hosts' a staggering 515 different synthetic chemicals on her body every single day.

Many of those are also used in products such as household cleaners, and have been linked to a number of health problems from allergies and skin sensitivity to more serious hormonal disturbances, fertility problems and even cancer.

Parabens, for example, which are designed to preserve the shelf-life of your cosmetics, are one of the most widely used preservatives in the world, and are found in shampoos, hair gels, shaving gels and body lotions. But their use is becoming increasingly controversial - a range of different studies has linked them to serious health problems including breast cancer, as well as fertility issues in men.

Research from the Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine suggests that some parabens we had previously presumed to be safe, such as Methylparaben, may mutate and become toxic when exposed to sunlight, causing premature skin ageing and an increased risk of skin cancer.

Methylparabens are found in more than 16,000 products, including moisturisers and toothpastes. Cosmetic producers have always defended their use of parabens on the grounds that they can't be absorbed into the body.

But many leading researchers disagree, including Dr Barbara Olioso, an independent professional chemist, who says: 'Research shows that between 20 and 60 per cent of parabens may be absorbed into the body.'

More...

There are a number of laws designed to protect us from dangerous chemicals in cosmetics, but researchers worry that they don't go far enough. For example, cosmetic manufacturers are required to list their ingredients, but they don't have to tell us about any impurities found in the raw materials or used in the manufacturing process, so long as they don't end up in the finished product.

The industry insists that our cosmetics are safe. The Cosmetic Toiletries and Perfumery Association said last night: 'Stringent laws require all cosmetics to be safe, and each product undergoes a rigorous safety assessment. The number of ingredients in a product, or whether it is natural or man-made, has no bearing on how safe it is.'

They also say that any chemicals are present in safe doses that can't harm us. While that may be true, there is some disagreement over what constitutes a 'safe' level - for young people and children, or sensitive adults, these levels may not be so safe at all.

And even if the relatively small amounts in individual products don't hurt us, there is growing concern over the number of products women use daily, and the cumulative effect of so many chemicals being used all over our bodies every day, for many years.

As Charlotte Smith, spokesperson for Bionsen, says: 'Women have never been more image-conscious and their beauty regimes have changed over the years, from a simple "wash & go" attitude, to daily fake-tan applications, regular manicures, false lashes and hair extensions.

'Lots of the high-tech, new generation cosmetics and beauty "wonder" treatments naturally contain more chemicals to achieve even better results, which, of course, means women apply more chemicals than ever before.'

If you want to protect yourself from chemical overload, reduce your overall cosmetics usage; switch to natural or organic products, and read the labels on your beauty and grooming products with care.

The Women's Environmental network has more detailed information and advice about ingredients contained in beauty products: www.wen.org. uk; The Cosmetics Database, a website which gives a 'hazard rating' for products: cosmeticsdatabase.com. Or read Skin Deep: The Essential Guide To What's In The Toiletries And Cosmetics You Use (Rodale), by Pat Thomas.

Raya Aidil Fitri 20/09/ 2009

2009-09-30T23:48:00.004+08:00

Nice date combo innit? 20 - 09 - 2009 happened to be 1 Shawal 1430H. Its Raya Aidil Fitri again!

Not so much happening, but that 1st day was really the day I really celebrated. And after that dozed off...and visited just one house the day after....and many sleep off....

Oh well....at least on that weekend I went out to KL with a buddy of mine and we went around Pavillion and Berjaya Times Square (for Krispy Kreme that was).

Another internationally famous Malaysian lady

2009-08-25T00:55:00.006+08:00

The world just love this kinda news particularly when it could be easily ridiculed and joked around by those anti-Islam people. It is a bit beguiling this case as she JUST so happened to be THE ONLY ONE caught in the act while downing her Beer in Malaysia. While alcohol drinking has become more of an open act at a certain areas in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, this lady may have then chosen the "wrong" spot by condoning her own happy hour act like nobody's business down at an east coast city, Kuantan.

So much of this brouhaha....However, she should also be given the laudable credit for sharing her own guilty conscience - a feisty chick. While drinking is forbidden in Islam, I also personally think that if she was doing it in a proper drinking vicinity then it is her own problems and not the authority. She did not ask the whole Kuantan to be merry with her on the street or in kampung thus making her an innocent in the eye of the civil law. Knowing that she has committed one of the biggest sins, she succumbed to the punishment and allowing herself to be caned as part of her repentence. Now, this is really truly brave of her to face her own peril while she is alive in this world. Lets pray that her acceptance toward such predicament will be rewarded greatly by God in the hereafter. I hope she may get excused for her first error like what Tun Det said.

The news is for your reading:

Caning of Malaysian woman who drank beer postponed

By SEAN YOONG, Associated Press Writer Sean Yoong, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 2 mins ago

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – The first woman in Muslim-majority Malaysia to face caning for drinking beer was reprieved Monday because of the holy month of Ramadan. Her family said she would rather get the thrashing with a rattan cane now and put the ordeal behind her.

Islamic officials had taken Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno (pic), a 32-year-old mother of two, into custody and were driving her to a women's prison for the caning when they abruptly turned around and sent her back to her family home in northern Malaysia.

"She feels like a football being kicked around," Kartika's father, Shukarno Abdul Muttalib, told The Associated Press. "She's so exhausted and unhappy with the delay. She would prefer to just receive the six strokes and have everything finished."

Amnesty International, Malaysian lawyers and some politicians have condemned the sentence, while other critics have warned it would tarnish Malaysia's image as a moderate country. Islamic officials have defended it as necessary to uphold Islamic values — underscoring tensions between religious conservatives and more liberal and secular elements in society.

Beer, wine and liquor is widely available at shops, bars and restaurants in Malaysia, unlike in more austere Islamic nations such as Iran and Pakistan. Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and other minorities in Malaysia are free to consume alcohol but its Shariah law forbids Muslims — who make up 60 percent of the 27 million population — from drinking, although a minority of Muslims still indulge despite the religious stricture.

Islamic morality police — enforcement officials of the Islamic Religious Department — arrested Kartika in a raid for drinking beer at a hotel lounge at a beach resort in Cherating in Pahang state in December 2007. Kartika was sentenced to six lashes of a rattan cane by the Shariah court last month in what was considered a warning to other Muslims to abide by religious rules.

Islamic law provides for a three-year prison term and caning for Muslims caught drinking. Most previous offenders were fined and no woman has ever been caned.

The morality police are not a pervasive force in Malaysia, and most citizens were surprised at the verdict against Kartika.

Mohamad Sahfri Abdul Aziz, a state legislator in charge of religious affairs, said Monday the Attorney General's office advised that Kartika's caning should be delayed for compassionate reasons until after the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which began Saturday.

"The sentence is not being canceled," Mohamad Sahfri said, without specifying exactly when it would be carried out.

In an interview with the AP last week, Kartika said she regretted drinking and was even willing to be caned in public in order to send a clear message to other Muslims to avoid alcohol. Authorities said the caning had to be done at a prison.

Government officials have remained silent on the issue even though the local media have reported on it extensively. The only prominent personality to comment has been former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

On Monday, he urged authorities to check Islamic teachings to determine whether it would be appropriate to cane Kartika for drinking.

"Is it possible that a judge may have been unfair or mistaken in his consideration? Is there no room in Islam for mercy toward those who commit an error for the first time?" Mahathir wrote on his widely read blog.

Chandra Muzaffar, president of the Malaysian think tank, International Movement for a Just World, said the international attention on Kartika's case could "provide ammunition" for some people to criticize Malaysia's capacity for religious tolerance.

"She should not be caned in the first place," Chandra said. "What we should do is advise her. This punitive psychology is a bane for Muslim societies, and we should get away from it."

Islamic officials had insisted that the caning's purpose is to educate rather than punish. They say the rattan cane supposed to be used on Kartika would be smaller and lighter than the one used for men, and that she will remain clothed.

Men convicted of crimes such as rape and bribery in Malaysia are caned on their bare buttocks, breaking the skin and leaving permanent scars.

Rattan canes used in the punishment are made from palm plants common in tropical parts of Asia. They have been used for decades for corporal punishments in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

Separately Monday, officials in the central state of Selangor near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's largest city, stepped up efforts to deter drinking by empowering mosque officials to arrest Muslims who consume liquor in public places, The Star newspaper's Web site quoted state lawmaker Hassan Ali as saying.

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On a lighter note, caning a model sounds a bit kinky innit? U have been a naughty girl aren't u? Zappp.....Naughty naughty....zaaaappps.......You want some more caning? Zaaaaappps.......You loving it doncha? Zaaapppp.....

NO, wait...this IS Ramadhan. How could I be having such an unpure thought? Naughty me!

Watching the sunset from Marina Bay hotel suite

2009-08-24T00:12:00.004+08:00

While killing my time waiting for Maghrib and then dinner at Admiral Cove, Marina Bay, Port Dickson, I took pictures of the scene just outside my hotel window by my Sony cybershot DSC-T77:

1.

2.

3.

4.

I see. You are expecting the Sun slowly setting like a half shape circle on the horizon eh? Naahh...it didnt happen like that the day I saw it. But I like the sky colours as the day turn to dusk. And whats more, I was facing the Sun. So I reckon my Sony Cybershot is quite nifty at capturing such shots.

Gucci, Levi's, Bonia, Ms.Read dan sandal Bata

2009-08-15T23:31:00.017+08:00

Sabah.....where do i begin?

As if I went anywhere further than Kota Kinabalu, the state capital.

I instantly like KK...the people, the ambience, the south china sea along the newly appointed bandaraya status .They wrote it as "Bandar Raya" instead of bandaraya on their signboard. Initially i thought, there might be a bandar raya somewhere. But the Pusat gave out the clue. And so it was. ONE of the endearing yet quirky things about KK that I love. Dont mention the cutesy kadazan fellas clad in their hotpants and cultural tribe, similar to a Red-Indian ensemble custom (and those Amazonian tribes) siap ada feathers stuck in their headband lagi for culture shows laaa dey! Ape ingat diorang berkeliaran like that ka? I dunno why but I couldnt help looking at them and how they are almost FREE of visible body hair except on their head (hell, dont ask me whatever between their thigh ok....!)

Their coconut is only RM2.5o during the daytime, sold like abundant(!) along jalan tun fuad stephen opposite warisan complex, the one where Centre point is situated just behind it. The juice? Marvellous! One fruit could easily fill up THREE 300ml plastic cups. What a joy kan?

Where the fish is Pasar Filipino? OOOoooo now it is called Pasar Handikraf. But everyone seemed to be sticking to its old name and what is it famous for? Sabah handicraft laa...what kinda question is that? Ada orang filipino ka? Takda! They all kat Pulau Gaya bah. Or perhaps creating an eye-sore somewhere in the heart of the vibrant city. No, i am no racist bah (thats bah bah sabah for u), but apparently this filipino arent really accepted well in Sabah but they survived anyway, those political asylum seekers dating as far as 3 decades or more. So if anyone wanna start hunting for some decor or pearls (harvested ones), this is your starting point. Prices are bargainable and most sellers are ladies. One thing though, it was bloody sauna inside the market. They should install air-condition la!

What a conference trip that was. I enjoyed the city more than the conference though i met many researchers across malaysia, korea and india there. Organized by UMS and held at Novotel, 1Borneo, the ICCBPE-SOMChE 2009 conference was OK but that was it. I met my old friend there too, Rachel Mansa. She was soooo into her 2 beautiful princes and she just kept going on and on telling me how great her kids were and all. I bet she must be feeling so proud now that she is a mother of 2 and how she loved them to bits. It inspired me to be a mother more n more.

And so we rented a manual Iswara for only RM60/day, drove by yours truly, the 4 ladies went out shopping for pearl brooches, ikan masin, udang kering, pearls, Swarovski brooches etc all around KK.

BY Saturday, I was all alone again, and in the morning, I went on foot all the way to Jesselton Point from Promenade, stopping only 4 times at kedai kelapa muda and taking nasi ayam for brunch at a nearby resto, then to a local mobile phone shop to top up my mobile credit and after that bought four types of hot bread rolls. It was a fine day indeed and the only thing i had in mind was an island stroll. I also rang another old friend of mine, Sakinah reminding her of our meeting in the afternoon on my way to the jetty. I had 3 choices: Sapi, Mamutik or Manukan island? After a not so long thought, Manukan made into the top. Off I went to the counter asking for the boat ticket and so on. The price was very reasonable! Only RM17 return plus another RM6 for jetty tax. Brilliant innit? Duncha just love Sabah?

There I was, a pretty voluptious damsel riding the boat that also carried another 2 passengers , i presumed a couple, and they hailed from Thailand. The boat driver was a jolly tubby fella who probably has been doing his job driving to and fro for most of his life. He nonchalantly manouver the boat that occasionally, no, more than a couple of times sending the boat into a few bumpy rides. Thank god for my ample bottom, i muttered silently. They dont call it a bumpy ride if it wasnt for inflicting your bum or is it? Otherwise, lebam ok.

What can Manukan Island offer u? Besides the clean and shallow shores, yes, they also have this one mile , make it 2 miles return jungle trail. I took the trail 1st upon arriving and didnt really make it exactly 2 miles though but enough to have taken pictures of small monitor lizards which seemed to be the main inhabitants of this island. And while trudging on my returning route, i saw this 3-feet monitor lizards with the head the size of an average lady's fist. It was so shy (of my presence kot?) that it hid between the bushes as soon as it saw me heading not far from it. As if aku nak tangkap dia kan? But i stopped to wonder in amazement how old must this lizard be looking at his relatively massive size compared to the little ones that were only slightly bigger with tails longer than the house gecko. I felt , ok, i imagined like I was a National Geographic documentary lady just doing this trail. Only that I was in my Gucci shades (bought for Rupiah-150,000), Levis' jeans, Bonia sling bag , Ms.Read top, Ariani-like tudung and a pair of comfie Bata sandal. Which doesnt qualify me as a jungle documentary lady lest i would damage the whole dressing ensemble.

I then made more strolls down the beach, passing by bikini clad ladies, some looked like a whale on the lazychair. Why la she had to bare everything? Anyways, i picked some shells too, saja to kill the time. ON my way back I met 12 of our postgraduate students who were enjoying their time there too. We took some photos together and one of them pointed to a sea-cucumber creature near us resting and curling near the rock under the sea water. At 1st i thought it was dead, so i picked it up, but guess what, the Gamat , as it is known locally (also very famous in Langkawi) actually a living breathing sea urchin, with jelly like body as I squeeze it. I then put it back to where it was and not long after that, it started to curl again. Apa la punya animal. But it was sold at high price in the market, dried and ready to be converted into local cuisine as well as a source of ointment and healthy supplements.

Those postgraduates were more adventurous as they rented an Avanza and went all the way to Ranau where they headed to Kundasang and marvelled at the Gunung Kinabalu view. And all I had was the banjaran(rocky ranges) Crocker that could well be seen as the backdrop of KK itself. I told myself , with a little jealousy already creeping inside of me, that I will come back and this time will do the driving out of KK definitely. And of course, I will have to fork out some money too so i will only select the auto-clutch car for easier and more convenient cruising around some dodgy,potholed road en route to those places like Kundasang, etc. Maybe i can plan the trip with my parents and whoever nak follow to sabah for that reason. Or maybe i can ask out kot2 ade orang nak join. Ye la most of my friends are married people hence the difficulty for them to leave their family and be my travelling company. Susah kan? Thats why I ended up a lone traveller who happened to come across many wonderful people.

What else? Perhaps to get fitter with more money (or more conferences/outstations) so I can travel more.

Short Sojourn in Penang 4-6 Aug 2009

2009-08-06T16:04:00.002+08:00

I came here for a meeting with our 3 3rd year students at MOX-Linde, Bayan Baru, Penang, and I still managed to have 2 lovely days here.

Upon arriving at a not so grand Berjaya Hotel at Jalan Burmah, Pulau Tikus, i had a quick rest before meeting an old friend, Ku-man who took me for a dinner at Chilli's , Gurney Plaza. It was our first ever meet since 2005. He got his Masters degree during that year and I was with a PhD degree from Imperial and we were friends since the end of 2004 when he began doing his Masters then.

Tuesday morning, from 9.00am to 12pm I was at MOX having discussions and presentations on visiting our students there. It was a pleasant meeting but I was tired nonetheless. Then I took a cab to Jalan Penang to shop for some pickles at Chowrasta Market. I thought of taking lunch too but the funny weather of hot-humid-rainy-hot-humid seemed to kill my appetite that I decided to just head back to the hotel for some afternoon siesta. That evening, I met more old friends at Queensbay Mall but the dinner was somewhere else. I was craving for Penang taste so I managed to coax Ku-man, the ever willing driver by the evening to go search for some awesome Char Koey Teow. So off we went near SunTech not far from bayan lepas and i ordered a small plate of Char Koey Teow. Definitely delicious! Thumbs up. Well, the dinner didnt stop there and our Jalan2 Cari Makan continued its journey to Restoran Hameediyah along Lebuh Campbell, off Jalan Penang for some biryani and some few dishes complementary to our taste bud. And what is biryani without raita salad eh? Though i didnt get to "down" mango lassi as it was already finished, it was still a fantastic meal. I got to taste turkey curry too for the 1st time ever. We ended our night by hanging out at Starbucks Cafe at Gurney Plaza before he sent me back to the hotel.

Thursday I checked out from the hotel and headed to Queensbay Mall by myself. It was a safe bet at it was the nearest mall to the bayan lepas airport. And I was also to meet Ubi, another blogger mate for the 1st time. For the 1st few hours, i went around the mall while tugging my lugagges around with me. Apparently that Mall didnt have the storage service. Oh well. I went to Borders just browsing the bookshelf and then i passed by a manicure spa. The prices were quite reasonable so i had some upper lips hair removal and pedicure - for the 1st time ever in my life!

Alrightie then, I am with Ubi at Coffee Bean over a nice warm Earl Grey tea and will then be heading to Bayan Lepas Airport.

Obituary: Michael Jackson and Yasmin Ahmad

2009-07-26T22:31:00.004+08:00

26 June 2009, one early morning at Aston Hotel, Bandung, I was shocked to receive the news that the King of Pop died. It was 25 June in LA that afternoon.

Goodbye dear Michael Jackson (1958-2009). Although we have never met in real life, I still remember vividly the dream I had with u when i was 9 years old and we were "engaged". And then u changed your face and skin colour in Bad and thats when I lost my whole admiration on u as a man but you remain one of my favourite singers/performers/artiste of all time.

I began knowing u during your Thriller golden years. U wore those huge black sunglasses, and that was how you become my idol then.

Just one month after his demise, God has called Yasmin Ahmad to leave the world and to rest in peace. I only knew her through her blog and she did response to some of my comments in her inbox. But I was also shocked and saddened nonetheless.

Almarhumah Yasmin Ahmad (1958-2009) is survived by husband Abdullah Tan Yew Long (pic), parents, siblings and her children(?). Her movie legacy though not many but almost all have stroke a chord to many. Her last movie , Talentime was my first ever Malaysian movie that I watched at a local cinema. I considered myself lucky as I won 2 free tickets to watch the preview at Cathay Cinemaplex at The Curve with one of my Masters student, Rahimah on filling an online contest in The Star Online sponsored by SilkyGirl. It was also the first movie I watch at a theatre for 2009. Transformers II: Revenge of the Fallen was the second movie I watched with my 3rd brother., Hakeem (at 1 Utama) also on a 2-free tickets winning as I entered the contest through SMS held by MIXFm. The 3rd and the 1st movie bought on my own was Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

I had actually wanted to watch another Yasmin Ahmad's movie, Mukhsin 2 years ago as I was thrilled that she picked the movie tag that I felt the most suitable one as part of her movie exercises/opinion polls from the blogreaders. But the 1st 7 months of that year was a bit turbulent for me , consequently I wasnt in the mood of going to watch movies, usually by myself.

Both Yasmin and Michael born in the same year, 1958 and she was only one month older than him. Yet they both died tragically in the same year, only one month apart too. These 2 genuises die early and become immortalized through their art works, songs, movies, controversies, etc.

I shed tears during MJ's death, and today, I shed tears again for dear Yasmin. May God rest both of you in peace with bountiful blessings.

AlFatihah to Yasmin Ahmad (and perhaps MJ too as he was announced as Muslim since November 2008).

Wot-e-va

2009-07-22T23:42:00.004+08:00

Le me see....first it was watching 1st seededRoger Federer winning his 15th Grand Slam at Wimbledon by defeating a long time underdog and one time grand slam champion Andy Roddick in 5-set "thriller". Well Fed already made a new record now as far as winning tennis grand slam is concerned. He now topped the all-time great with Peter Sampras now holding the second place winning 14 grand slams. We also seen Rafael Nadal dropping himself out of the Wimbledon tournament due to knee injury and has now become the 2nd seed. As for women's single, Serena Williams beat her sister Venus in straight set, and they both teamed up to win another winning trophy in women's double.

Last month, it was a bit of jetsetting and out and about for me. 1st week of June, i was in Pahang, stayed at Legend Hotel Cherating with parents and youngest sis, went to Pekan to see some relatives and went for the 1st time to Kemaman, well all that was my 1st ever driving trip to pekan and kemaman. Surprisingly, Kemaman was really getting better and modern and we had very nice terengganu luncheon at Warung Aziz Satta at kuala kemaman.

A week after that, I flew to South Korea attending 2nd MFC symposium at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, GIST. It is situated in Gwangju province,south west of S.Korea and it is about an hour from Gwangju City. Before we went back to malaysia, we managed to spend just a day at Seoul for some bit of shopping, well, brooches mostly. Korean people are very nice and helpful, most of them. My colleague, Puan Shahrom and I had a good time there, and I felt at home in korea in no time. There were a lot of churches everywhere and apparently christianity has become like the 1st religion there. On our way to Seoul from Jeongsan train station, Gwangju, we passed along churches after churches and even a few cathedrals too. They also have one big cathedral in Seoul city itself and just one masjid.

2 weeks later, I went to Bandung with half of the department members to attend a seminar and MOU meeting with Institut Teknologi Bandung, ITB in Bandung, Indonesia. That was my 3rd time visit to bandung and we still took time to do some few more shoppings at Pasar Baru, a 7-storey clothing and household market as well as at the factory outlets.

This month marked another turn of the year and i celebrated with my 2 other nephews also born in the same month. Whats more significant is that I received quite a number of well-wishes on my Facebook site. Thats really something. I also got treated with a birthday lunch with another colleague of mine who was also my senior in KISAS and a cousin to Pak Adib, Wan Fariza.

Else, this is already the 3rd week of Semester 1 2009-2010. Lotsa things to do.

Oh yes, we also received visit from our collaborator from Lincoln Venture Ltd, New Zealand, Dr. Neil Pasco who then gave a one day seminar on bioelectrochemistry and single culture microbial fuel cell.

Pictures of the above mentioned events will be posted later.

One Wisdom tooth gone

2009-06-03T15:38:00.004+08:00

I have just had one wisdom tooth pulled out (extracted) from the upper left hand side of the palate.

It was a less than 30 mins job to pull one mighty wisdom tooth that was already infected by caries and it was located pretty much in the back that brushing alone might not be that effective and regular gurgling with mouth wash might help. Good thing the other 3 wisdom teeth are well intact and i am planning to be more conscious when it comes to taking care of my teeth.

And today was my very 1st time ever to go through such an experience as an adult.

More on wisdom teeth, read here.

Now my left cheek looked a bit puffy coz i am biting a thick gauze to stop the bleeding and to speed up the healing process. I have also been prescribed with painkillers that will help ease the after-extraction pain once the 3 anaesthetic jabs effect i had withdraw.

Seriously, it does not look good at all, that tooth as it is full of cavities but the bone structure is mighty strong. It was nearly an inch size when i saw it placed on the dentist bowl next to my seat. Gigi tu memang power, uols.

I did it FOC uols. Because it is a UKM campus clinic.

Moral of the story:

#1. Do not neglect washing our mouth with a proper mouthwash as brushing alone is not totally effective and dental flossing cannot totally remove the debris between our teeth especially when it is so far behind like wisdom teeth.

#2. Love your teeth. Take care of them more often and have it descaled at least twice a year.

#3. Marry a dentist if it helps beautify your teeth (ok pun intended)

Byebye for now, Nadal.....

2009-06-01T00:39:00.004+08:00

BYE BYE Nadal......

RAFAEL Nadal's unbeaten record at Roland Garros is officially shattered by his shocking loss to Swiss 23rd seed Robin Soderling 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 7-6 (2) on Sunday afternoon.

Another not so big upset was seeing 8th seeed Ana Ivanovic, the 2008 FO champion off too beaten by Belarusian 9th seed Victoria Azarenka.

See I told u there're gonna be a few UPSETS soon. But I did not see it coming for Nadal. Poor poor baby. This is also rather shocking as the most defeat Federer ever had so far as no.1 on a Grand Slam turf was losing in the semi. And Nadal had to bye bye us now in the FOURTH round.

Rafa, pull yourself back together soon ok, and get that Madrid loss to Fed images off your mind too. And BURN that PINK tshirt, literally speaking.

Novak Djokovic gone too, losing to Philip Kohlschreiber.

Meanwhile, Safina is doing rather excellent with successfully causing 2 bagels already for her 2 opponents. Her brother, the handsome Marat Safin already left the turf much earlier losing in the 2nd round. At least people will remember him as a two times Grand Slams champion.

Who am I rooting for FO men and women's single champions? I better not say.

Roger Federer: Will he or will he not?

2009-05-29T01:14:00.004+08:00

Its already Day 5 into the Roland Garros aka French Open, and things are heating up so does the French weather judging by the bright sunny day as I watched the games on Astro channel 816+.

Will we ever gonna see him again like what he did back in US Open 2008 , throwing punches in the air and winning the only Grand Slam of 2008:

Or will he be doing his now infamous watershed trademark just like the one at the Australian Open 2009 nearly 4 months ago? :

He was so full of tears, trembling and mumbling words. And Nadal had had to console him even though that was supposed to be his Day! What a big baby Federer was. BUT then again, all those agonies of not beating Nadal and losing another of his favourite tennis court just took its tolls. Nadal "unceremoniously" defeated him at Wimbledon 2008 at what was touted as the game of the millenia and he did that again at Rod Laver arena. People have been saying that the only way to beat Nadal is at where he is best: Rolland Garros. However, they are also mean to Nadal, as if he always needed to prove he is WORTH his skills (and those butt scratching and bottle lining routines and counting the steps along the base line stuff) and that he is seen as the Obstacle to Federer. Cant they just leave him alone and stop crucifying him for making Federer the No.2? He's such a cutie. He is. In the rugged spanish way.

A few weeks ago, Federer has just defeated Rafael Nadal at the ATP Madrid Open 2009 AND the world was seeing a newly wedded man and a soon to be daddy looking all sharp and happy., full of satisfaction, something probably not even his Missus could have provided (OK I was talking cock, but Federer probably doing better with Wawrinka. OK My bad! Oops I did it again?) That was like his 1st ever win in 2009 as opposed to his appalling 1st quarter of the year performance. Save for his marriage and the baby news. Other than that, he seemed to not accumulating much point at all but he was and still is No.2 based on his over 10000 points , just a few hundreds, sorry, a few thousand short to Nadal's. Murray and Djokovic are catching up very fast too, in the 3rd and 4th place.

What about the Women's single drama? Dinara Safina is now the world no.1 and she has YET to win any Grand slam. Ana Ivanovic, though she has yet to win any for almost a year now, seemed to be playing really hard to win back the French Open title just like what she did last year. Safina has been winnning a few WTP tournaments already and she sure is on fire trying to prove the critics that she too is a grand slam champion material. Nevertheless we cannot sideline people like Serena, Venus, Jelena, and even Maria Sharapova is back with her revolting grunts (but kinda erotic too in a SnM way).

We will be seeing some few upsets soon too. And some new players making their first impact on the leading board. Its a whole "ball in the court" thingy. And some luck of course. Who will be doing more unforced errors and who will be capitalizing on it too.

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This is another ball game altogether.

We can call so many names, and curse many crude words when it comes to slamming a man. But if its a woman, either they are dumb or they are told off as the bitch (or cow). As in stupid cow, smart bitch, or just "bitch". Men are prolly so used to getting so many curses thrown at them that it prolly becomes like music to their ears except if they are told to eff their sister or mother or SOB. That would prolly set them off the hook and end up in a massive brawl.

Can we think of what else would send men berserk? They said those with a challenging something ( feel free to guess whatever u like) might have a shorter temper too but they arent necessarily the scariest.

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Am I intimidating? Or just assertive and gutsy? They say its in my eyes. They can turn from a humble loving glare to a fierce, fiery glare. I can make a baby love me or prolly scared of me. I can chase more than 20 monkeys away from our faculty porch and I can make a cat come purring and rubbing its head around my ankle. I could even make a cockroach creeping away to hide from me only to end up dead as I spray them with Shieldtox for roaches.

It prolly affect men too. It either lure them to me or scare the shit outta them. OK I was exaggerating but there were some truth in that too. My mother always told me (so as some of my friends) to not be garang sangat /little bit aggresive/ taunting with men (this she meant when I see a prospect). BUT I am not. OK sometimes a little bit and that remind me of Bree Van Der Kemp/Hodge (Desperate Housewives) doing her best "queen" look and talk, it either turn them on or repress them. Well, sometimes its hard to suffer a fool gladly so to speak.

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Oh well, lets leave a few more later. Nonetheless, I would like to remember ITEX 2009 that was held on 15- 17 May 2009 as a sweet memory winning a gold and bronze for two product inventions.

Of happier times and thoughtful exes

2009-05-03T02:41:00.005+08:00

To be frank, I do not feel like posting an entry just to elaborate the subject above.

What is more, it could also bring tears to my eyes.

Despite whatever remorseful feelings and how I kept getting in and out of a relationship, I am grateful never the least. Consequently I cannot hate them or bear very ugly thoughts or murderous ones even. Sure such a relationship would led to two souls or just one feeling sad and blue, hurt and jilted. But come to think of it, would I want a divorce or a broken engagement? I certainly would not want that. Perhaps it is another reason and another challenge before I will get into another better level, meeting another better man and getting a better outcomes rather than facing yet another predicament.

What I have yet to achieve, I made it like a "volunteer" job to help uniting other people. Which gives me some sort of an inner satisfaction seeing them tying the knots. Which I know they are meant to be together. But my situation has it that I rather carry things on my own. That "on my own" are the very 3 words that could describe my actions, behaviour, decision, etc. That too made me a good observer and a well, I should say, have a knack in good character/personality judgment. But it does take time and patience while I am carrying out the observation part. Apparently,that observer skill does help instigate my self-control too. You see, I didnt fall in love right away and managed to do it so that I will bounce back into my usual momentum in a shorter period of time after one unsuccessful relationship. It keeps me grounded and wanting to be a better person having learnt more things in life.

And tomorrow I will be rekindling an old friendship with a girl mate after nearly 6 years of moving apart. We had a fall out in 2003 and then 5 years later, we reconnected through Facebook. She's now happily married to her long time boyfriend and they have a 7 months old baby girl. What pulled us closer again is perhaps the fact that we somehow share similarities in thinking and personality having born on the same birth date and year. One was born in Sri Lanka and yours truly was born in Malaysia. During the separation, we sort of keep in touch now and then through our mutual friends. I went asking about her, and I found out that she too did the same. WE did miss so many things during that 5 years. BUT i dont know why, probably it is a cosmic thing that I actually saw her wedding reception back in 2007 March in my dream. While I did not know that she got married that time, I kept that in my heart as it was too real.

Then some time in early 2008, well, almost a year after that, we added each other in the Facebook. I collected all the courage I had and began writing her an email telling her of my dream. I told her how surprised and amazed I was when I found out that she and her husband looked exactly the same in the dream as their wedding photos. That was how we gradually revive our old friendship. She would update me with the news on her 3 months pregnancy and 6 months later bearing the news of her 1st born baby. She emailed me photos of her baby girl too, from the few days of birth to a few months old.

As we spoke on the phone, it felt like we have never been apart. I know deep down that I was and still a bit nervous of such meeting, but I am liking the fact that no matter what , we feel for each other. Whatever anger, resentment, disappointment I had is slowly dissolving. Nevertheless, I must always remind myself to not repeat the same mistake again and be more matured and sensible. The fact that she is willing to see me again is something I really appreciate. We can forgive and we can never forget.

And to my exes, thanks for still being nice and thoughtful to me even if we are no longer a couple. It is awkward and can be very awkward at times talking/meeting with an ex, but their ability to charm their way in and to put me on a pedestal is somewhat a relief and a personal victory that I know I am appreciated and will always be, which makes me a very special person. Walaupun I juga sangat mengharapkan that bakal bini diorg will suffer but tu la kan, nak marah lama2 pun ape guna. Dia akan jadi milik orang lain seperti juga saya.

Dreams are like my signs and premonitions

2009-04-21T01:33:00.008+08:00

It may be like a miracle bestowed upon me based on my truest and deepest faith to God (albeit can be a bit mischievous and stubborn of a lady), but dreams are and have been like an almost a true source of premonition, of things that would be predicted to happen, things that are actually going on and so on, a link between 2 souls who loved each other so much, or a sort of a demonstration of how much i was disappointed with a person, a good or bad omen, etc. Well,some are just forgettable, meaningless dreams, faceless, shambled and disarrayed. Quite a few times i became some friends to some big names in Hollywood too. That include having a dream with Brad Pitt (3 times but not in a row but not that far ahead the gap of the sequence either, and I am not a big fan of his ) who befriended me and told me he was having problems with one of his former girlfriends, Gwyneth Parltrow (now the wife of Chris Martin of Coldplay). Not long after that i read in the news and saw on the tv on their breakup.

Alhamdulillah i very seldom getting nightmares but I can never forget the last one I had back in October 2005 after my viva. In it I saw a ghostly lady figure who had tormented a family in malaysia while i was still in London. Boy, did I relay that message to them and how thankful they were for having foretold such premonition despite receiving such warning that it may well be an act of a sihr (voodoo and all those black magic evil things). Scary siotttt I tell thee. No, nothing of a vampire or that sort. But that lady "tried" to fight with me in the dream that ended with the victory on my side. She appeared to be of a half woman, half serpent apparition and I sort of "killed" her. And in that dream too, her "father" came to me so furious that he got so balistic that I was his daughter's "brutal" killer. I can actually still remember him shouting at me :"Pembunuh! Kau pembunuh! Kau bunuh anak aku!" (Murderer! You are a murderer! You killed my daughter!) . Truth be told, such sihr did try to disturb the family's peace and what I have seen in the dream were actually real evil people who tried to do black magic to them. And that was actually my first ever experience that I really wish I wont have to go through it again, ever!

No, i didnt end up having a Harry Potter scar either.

Dreams like these have helped me to go through so many odds and obstacles when it comes to having a relationship with the opposite sex. How i prayed and wished silently what would be the outcome as my instincts began telling me we were not meant for each other, that it was merely infatuati0n or gap filler or that we have crossed our lines from being just ordinary mates to something else and it didnt feel right or as matter of fact, didnt go that well.

Dreams have also been a likely indication and an almost real connection between myself and maybe my mum, or my exes, and so on. I one time woken in my dream to see my dad "appeared" in my old en suite room in Vellacott House, Du Cane Road (west london). He was asking for my health and was like looking at me hoping i am doing well and all. It was so very real that in that dream i was like just awaken , lifting up my duvet upon hearing the sound of my dad in the room. That was just an example of the many true premonition or indication of the feelings that reconnect two close souls.

I dreamt how one of my exes,of whom i had the closest most intimate relationship thus far, the east london fella, about how much he loved me and how much he had wanted to be with me, and the part where we were both in his mother's homeland and so on. Amazingly, he did go there after like 6 months or so of those dreams, recurring ones even but at a different spot. And strangely enough, even though i have never been there, i actually saw things as if i was there. And those places are real.

I dreamt one time i met that ex through a newly found friend of mine and it so happened that she was his new girl. It was about 3 months or so since our last fallout and in that dream he didnt even wanna look at me. That "girl" seemed so nice, that she prepared snacks, food and all for me as her guest. And by the time i was about to leave, i asked her which bus would take me to central london. Coz once i am there i will be just fine on finding my way around. She and that ex discussed in front of me, his eyes never really met mine, and they settled on either bus route 53 or 26. Strange enough, once i woke up (in my parents house in Bangi, Malaysia), I quickly went through the bus map and found out that both routes indeed came from east london and their last terminal would be around trafalgar sq and somewhere near The Strand.

And those were only dreams.

I also dreamt how much that ex kept coming towards me, from the end of last year trying to woo me again and so on, and i kept pushing him away, ignoring him and the whole shebang.

And I also dreamt that my soon to be ex was not really that bloody serious with me. A coward and a self absorbed man he can be, but a caring one too. OK I am a bit of a self-absorbed person too but with more sensibility and in a positive way. We both have yet to really fall in love and now we are already growing apart. All because his family opposed my existence in his life and he had had the audacity to tell me that he just could not love me to fight for both of us to be together. Boohooo....what a fucking retard. Good thing i never really bow down and surrendered my feelings to him too. I am just too posh and an ice queen . I need reassurance and he failed to do so almost miserably. I didnt even shed one tear, ok i lied, just one tear drop and its all sunshine again.

In that dream, both of us visited a girl mate at another country (the scene was supposed to be somewhere in Spain). I was about to tell them the fact that many Greek people can be a bit too into their own kind when I saw him kissing her cheek fondly and held up the tip of her chin and looking at each other's eyes lovingly. That dream ended there. I woke up with some feelings that something aint going fine soon and I am ready to accept the outcome. Not that I dont sense that things were getting more obvious that we were slowly drifted in the different current direction....

It is never a full stop "quest" and "an adventure" to find the one who will truly loves me and ask for my hand and so on and he is in the rightful mind, stable, likeminded and shares many similar thingssssss (that many ssss is meant for soooooo many things i am not bothered to spell out further ). Even though the east londoner ex was so deep into me, he was still struggling to make ends meet and that he has issues with his family. Somehow i also dreamt that I saw him as a successful entrepeneur that he had always wished for and I would not mind extending a friendship with him knowing that he can never get me out of his head....I am like a force of nature or so it is.

Honestly, I am happy that my guardian angels and God love me so much. And i have never stopped believing that He has the best laid plan for me.

And my mum is trying her luck again to try to match me up with some fella known to be a friend of a member of our family. Sabar jer laa....heck who knows, her persistence may soon hit the jackpot, wallahu a'lam (And Allah knows more).

No matter how awkward it can be at times, I did stay as friends with those exes.....(many that have remained friends)

Octuplets and Federer got Hitched

2009-04-14T18:12:00.002+08:00

For reading pleasure:

News #1 :

An army of nannies and a frenzy of feeding... as the last of the octuplets comes home from hospital, life in the Suleman home

Source of news, click here.

Having six children to care for would give any mother sleepless nights.

But that was before Nadya Suleman gave birth to octuplets in January - bringing the total number of her brood up to 14.

The last of the octuplets, Jonah, was released from hospital last night. Jonah weighed just 1 pound, 8 ounces (0.67 kilograms). Hospital officials say he now weighs 4 pounds, 10 ounces (2.09 kilograms), and is able to bottle feed.

In residence: Nadya Suleman and the six babies that have come home so far. Josiah joined his brothers and sisters shortly after this picture was taken, Jonah is yet to come home from hospital

News #2:

Source of news, click here. They have their own blog too, click here:

Roger Federer marries long-term girlfriend in intimate ceremony

Tennis star Roger Federer tied the knot with his long-term girlfriend over the Easter weekend.

The 13-times Grand Slam winner married Mirka Vavrinec in an intimate ceremony in his home town of Basel, Switzerland.

He broke the news on his official website.

Married: Roger Federer and Mirka Vavrinec tied the knot in Basel, Switzerland

On Saturday, Federer, 27, wrote: 'Earlier today, in my hometown of Basel, surrounded by a small group of close friends and family, Mirka and I got married.

'It was a beautiful spring day and an incredibly joyous occasion. Mr and Mrs Roger Federer wish all of you a Happy Easter weekend.'

Dynamic Duo?

2009-04-09T19:40:00.006+08:00

We read 3 different kinda news today but they are all shocking and surprising (some are exciting ones) nonetheless:

1. The new Malaysian PM, Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak (made and swore as the 6th PM last week) had lined up his new cabinet, some of which managed to remain in their Pak Lah's position since PR12.

Najib also retains his hold as the Minister of Finance and made Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin his DPM. The latter also acts as the Minister of Education.

But are they really the NEW dynamic duo? A force to be reckon with? A partnership sealed for the betterment of rakyat? I have yet to see anything as dynamic not since the pairing of Anwar and Mahathir when these two veteran politicians held the topmost positions. But they ended up being a volatile duo as the then DPM was sacked by his premier during his service nearly 11 years ago. And THAT was the beginning of the whole new Malaysia Boleh that led to political reformations and debacles, people doing public demonstrations and the dramas just kept going on and on, more twisting plots , wives with bigger hairdos and their men getting naughtier too.

Muhyiddin (right) shook hands with Najib

We will see how it goes.

2. The hooliganisms in Kota Bahru, Kelantan and a goalkeeper who was charged with an assault as he went berserk by punching in the face and stamped his foot over an opponent team player.

WTF?

3. The UNCLEAR reasons of why Sirul and Azilah were sentenced to be hanged to death over the Altantuya murder case. They may or may not be the one who shot her and explode the body using a C4. But who knows kan who is/are THE real criminal(s) here. Altaltuya has her motives so as her killers. May Allah have mercy on Sirul and Azilah's souls and He Knows Best.

It is pretty much a Tamil Movie scene, this whole high profile case. If only someone or whoever or i dunno, if ever, took that Rajnikanth or Kamalhassan role (Raja Petra Kamarudin probably not yet a suitable candidate or a likely hero here but at least he made his point clearly that has risked his life) , hopefully the good will win (in style!).

May Allah continues to shower his bountiful blessings on Malaysia soil. Ameen.

JAI HO!!!!

2009-04-08T14:34:00.004+08:00

AR Rahman did it again in this masterpiece which has already won an oscar for The Best Song in the recent 81st Annual Academy Award from the best movie "Slumdog Millionaire":

They could've done it better using other more soulful singer but Pussycat Dolls seemed like the best they can settle for some commercial value, IMHO.

But I like it anyway.

Here is the original one in Sanskrit-hindi-urdu with some Spanish Rap:

Enjoy.

Weeeeeee!!!! Aztech Wireless Adaptor

2009-04-07T11:53:00.008+08:00

Awesomeness....

Exciting innit when your desktop can be connected sans cable to the internet modem? To me it is, and for that, I thank thee AZTECH (and other few companies) who has come up with this Wireless Adaptor model WL851USB. Its so simple to install on the USB port and voila, I can now use my mobile and my laptop simultaneously via wireless connection.

Whats more awesome? I can use this adaptor for my laptop as well to increase the wifi reception strength. Quite handy this gadget.

Price I paid: Rm95.00 from a local PC shop at Jalan Reko.

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

I happened to observe a little gecko lizard of perhaps 1 week old or less trying to defend itself against 5-6 red ant armies at my car porch this morning. A full grown-up lizard would just happily catching those red ants with its long sticky tongue and swallow them in one big gulp to its heart content one after another without much worry as it is far bigger than them. But for poor young lizard, it struggled to keep those ants away from it no matter how feeble it was. Those ants seemed like they wouldnt let their "prey" get away that easily and so they made attacks left right and center and even managed to crawl over its tiny tail. Little Liz fought hard, really really hard. It managed to keep those predators away at bay for a while with all its might, till one TM (telekom malaysia) guy came to my house this morning and accidentally stepped on those ants and lizard mercilessly . He probably never really care whatever small things lying on the cement car porch. But there it was, little Liz, all squashed up head to tail! Soon there will be more and more ants coming forward to clean up the carnage and ultimately succeeded to secure a food supply for the day in the form of baby lizard flesh. Who knows what sort of a delicacies it might offer those ants, but being natural hardworking creatures , I presumed they are more than grateful to whatever type of food as long as its edible. Heck, they have also done some good thing to the environment by removing those bits of carcass off my place.

PS: I have been watching Animal Planet on Astro 556 and one time, the image of a bigger lizard (biawak -monitor lizard) swallowing a baby crocodile is still fresh in my mind. I guess no matter how ugly and gruesome an adult crocodile might be, its babies are practically meek and susceptible to being a prey for any hungry carnivor lurking near the river bank/swamp etc crocodile habitat. I have also seen on huge gecko lizard at my parents place some few weeks ago and it was like 10 inches or so long. One would wonder how it has survived all these while eating smaller insects off the wall and growing larger than its average 4-5 inches lizard mates.

That TM fella came with his other 2 technician mates came to check on my wifi modem as I lodged a report 2 days earlier having lost the internet connection. After a few tinkering and troubleshooting here and there, they somehow found the source of the problem (and that too after i talked over with them and all that fella said was he knew his job and he'd get it done) and went locating a Streamyx Main Port near a playground about 200 meters from my house. I asked them if thats TM way to help their customer solve their problem by keep sending in their contract technicians and all? They said thats how it works in TM and if one external Streamyx port got hit by the lightning, chances are other users may be affected the same. They replaced the faulty port with a new one (or whatever they claimed they did), and I got my connection back on.

Commiseration? Its FOC. Not complaining.

Aku seekor nyamuk terhebat

2009-03-18T10:17:00.005+08:00

Aaahhhh.......aku tak takut laaaaa Shieldtox tu??? ape sangat sembur2, ingat aku dah tak reti bina kekebalan dalaman ka??? bodo itu pompuan...! Oooooiii kawan2....mari la kita joli sakan and sambil2 tu hirup darah dia kan? dah la sorg2 dok dalam office, banyak kerja sangat la tuh konon!

Maka berterbangan laa 5-6 ekor nyamuk keliling office yang seluas 14 kaki x 14 kaki bersamaan 196 kaki persegi itewww. Maknanya, 14 kuasa dua la tuh.

Kawan2!!!! Dia still sembur2 lagi laa Shieldtox kat kita!!!! jom kita hover2 around office dia sampai dia naik bosan. Cheehhhh dia pon tengah on alert tu, kemut taknak derma barang 1-2 ml darah. Kemoooooooooooottttt!

Eiishhhh sembur laaaaa sembur laaaa......aku pedulik hapaaaaaaaaaaa!

Seketika dia berpusar2 di udara mencari kawan2nya yang lain. Ke manakah mereka pergi? takkan dah mamposssss kot benak hatinya berkata2.

Tak pe....Tak Pe, ko dengan Shieldtox ko menang ini kali. Aku nak sembunyi kat ventilation atas bilik ko and tunggu sampai dah segala bau2 harum Shieldtox hilang. Kan ku serang ko once ko masuk jer office ko balik! Ko dengar tak! U hear me???! eh ape bangang aku ni, mana dia dengar, tengok ajer la size badan aku yang agak2nya kalau di scale down kan adalah serupa nisbah 1: 10,000, yakni pompuan tu 10,000 kali lebih bagak dari aku!

Pagi keesokannya.

Cissss.....dia main sembur lagi????? dah la aku lapaaaaaarrrr gilaaaaa vaviiii ok....vavi pon tak laparrrr macam haku, how? I need blood, u stingy old hag! Naaaahhh aku serang ko dari tepi.....eh eh fuhhhh selamat dari kena pelepaaapppp tengah kedua2 tapak tangan gergasi dia.....

Dan nyamuk itu masih belum dapat habuannya.

halaaaammaaaakkkkk, dia pi sembur baik punya kena daaahhh!!!!!!! Nampak nya aku mati kekempisan perut juga laaa....

Lalu menghembuskan nafasnya yang terakhir di atas sebuah black planner-diary.

Sekian karangan saya pada pagi ini.

Adam Sandler or Ben Stiller?

2009-03-16T01:09:00.009+08:00

It's not a new topic to debate on, but if u were to chose between the two Jewish American Comedians, which one would u go for, or which movie would u prefer, Sandler's or Stiller's?

Ben Stiller

I like Ben Stiller in Dodgeball, Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers, There's something about Mary, Night at the Museum, and as a memorable bad Old People's (retirement home) nursing home Male Nurse, Hal Orderly in Sandler's Happy Gilmore, whose appearance apparently was not credited. His wife, Chistine Taylor acted in Sandler's Wedding Singer movie. I have yet to see the more recent movie, Tropical Thunder and that's why it is yet included in my favourite Stiller's movies. Along Came Polly was not that bad either.

Adam Sandler

ON the other hand, I have more Sandler's movies that I do enjoy and they are:

Happy Gilmore
The Wedding Singer
The Waterboy
50 first date
Click
Anger Management
The longest yard
Mr.Deeds
You dont mess with the Zohan

And even if they arent that funny, i'd still watch them: Little Nicky, Big Daddy, bulletproof, I now pronounce u chuck and larry. Somehow I have yet to watch the movie that has first propelled him as a mainstream comedian : Billy Madison, but I am sure I would like it as well. Sandler's movies did not just made Stiller uncredited in "Happy Gilmore," Courteney Cox, or more famously known as Monica Gellar in "Friends" also did not appear in the casting list rendering her (victim?) uncredited in "The Longest Yard". I am not too sure why that happens when we know both actor and actress did play a certain important supporting role in that 2 movies although they only appeared no more than 10 minutes and the fact that they are already a big name or a rising name in the movie industry at the time they were in those movies.

Stiller or Sandler?

Both tried to reinvent and rebrand themselves and both do have a set of actors and actresses that would frequently appear in each of their movies. They also showcased some Jewish tradition and/or culture in some of their movies and have casted themselves as a Jewish man in their movies as well. Stiller's usual cast usually comprise people who are mostly already famous like the Wilson brothers (luke and owen), Vince Vaughn, and his own wife Christine. Sandler also has a share of famous people appearing in his movies like Steve Buscemi and John Torturro alongside the usual faces we would see in almost all his movies. He also gave Henry Winkler who used to be identified as Fonzie in "Happy Days" another shot to fame when he appeared in "The Waterboy" and again in " Click".

Stiller got living legends and Academy award winners acting for him like Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Dick Van Dyke, Robert Downey Jr and Robert DeNiro while Sandler did his comic act with those like Jack Nicholson, Kathy Bates, Winona Ryders, Drew Barrymore (twice) , Harvey Keitel, Jon Lovitz,Christopher Walken and Marisa Tomei. Each also managed to make a pact with other big comedians acting in their movies like Jack Black who acted in two Stiller movies while Chris Rock, Kevin James and Dan Aykroyd added more humours to Sandler's movies.

Each also experimented with a few family comedies and in each of these movies, they have an ensemble of equally big celebrities playing the wife role: Rachel Weisz and Debra Messing for Stiller, and Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale for Sandler.

Are they really competing against each other in real life or they are mostly satisfied in complimenting each other's work and trying to work on different things just so that each will produce a movie solely based on their creativity with the help of great castings?

Many of Stiller's movies generated spoof and parodies in other people's movies including that of Mike Myers in "Austin Powers 2: The Spy who Shagged me", but not many would do spoof on Sandler's. Perhaps the one I could remember is a parody on "Click "in a (VERY DUMB) movie called "The Epic Movie".

Stiller also has his shares of appearance in both 2-D and 3-D animated features. He did one time in "The Simpsons" and lent his voice to "Madagascar "-1 and 2. Sandler has done none of these so far.

Both has wrote, co-wrote and acted as a producer to their own movies and movies they did not act. Stiller however also added director under his resume, something which Sandler has yet to achieve.

Adam Sandler composed and performed some songs in his movies using his own voice and even played guitars too, while Stiller tried to show some dance talent in "Along came polly".

Before they were movie stars , they were both a product of "Saturday Night Live" (SNL) shows, a popular weekend sitcoms on American tv. They are both New Yorkians and they made friends with some of their co-host in SNL.

Sandler is taller than Stiller and if I were to chose which one I'd snog, I'd go for Sandler. He looks athletic in "The longest yard" and "Zohan". Right, Stiller works out too, but I usually go for the taller guy.

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I like quite a few comedians apart from those 2 above: Jim Carrey, Billy Crystal, Steve Carell, Will Ferrell, Jack Black just to name a few. I do british ones too like Ricky Gervais, Catherine Tate, Jack Dee, and a few others., especially those who appears on "They think its all over" , "nevermind the buzzcocks" , "have i got news for you", and a few other sitcoms/talk shows. Lately, Jim Carrey isnt as funny as he used to be or his movies arent of my liking. I still love his older movies like Dumb and Dumber, Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty and Lemony Snicket. Billy Crystal, i dunno, prolly retiring or didnt get as many offer as he was when he was younger, but his When Harry Met Sally and City Slickers were some great oldies. Steve Carell just got funnier and funnier lately. I saw him first on Bewitched the movie and thought he was alright. But when he appeared on Get Smart and the TV series, "The Office", he is definitely another mega comedian star. Will Ferrell, well, he can be a little bit OTT, but he was funny in "Elf", Wedding Crashers, Talladega Nights and Blades of Glory. People will mostly remember Jack Black in The School of Rock and Shallow Hal and he also lent his voice to a few 3-D animated features like Ice Age , Shark Tale and the more recent one, Kung fu Panda. He does not do only the comedic act but also the more mainstream/serious roles in King Kong and The Holiday. He has actually made appearance in many movies to date and mostly are smaller roles and some are quite forgettable ones.

Nephews

2009-03-13T15:20:00.003+08:00

Just sharing some photos of 4 of my nephews (I've got 5 nephews and 1 niece altogether):

Pic #1: Dua beradik anak my 3rd sis. Boys of 6 years old and 8 months old. Picture taken when the baby was nearly 6 months old.

Pic #2: Second child of my 1st bro, just a day older than his cousin (that fair tyke) above.

Pic #3: First child of my 1st bro. He's going to turn 2 years old this May.

Penang, I'll be back

2009-03-12T17:42:00.008+08:00

It's not like it was my 1st time ever leaving a footprint on that Pulau Pinang (penang island) soil but during the Thaipusam weekend (6-9 Feb 2009), it WAS my 1st time driving all the way from Bangi to Penang and really driving around , a 360 degree mind you around the island. It took me over 5 hours to reach Penang Island from Bangi and took me another 90mins or so to make my tawaf of this Island on a sunny Sunday (and pretty hot too, prolly 35degree Celcius or so). We made one stop only at Perhentian R&R Sungai Perak and I bought a Labu Sayung there.

I had a retreat organized by our Faculty at The Northam Hotel (not the infamous E & O as has always been mentioned in Uncle Lee's blog) . See, that 60-something fella totally romanticizes that island and how can he forget it especially knowing that his wife is also a Penangite?

Anyways, I took time to drive around the city all the way to Balik Pulau, some sort of a totally 180degrees the opposite of the Georgetown and the north and north-west and north-east areas of the island. That Balik Pulau place apparently has a Malay majority population and its northern counterpart are mostly populated by the (hospitable) Chinese and Mamaks (the muslim indian descendents). Not that I wanna draw so and so comparisons between Balik Pulau (located in the south of Penang) and all the other places around the Island, but it was rather my own personal observation of how a dynamic island like Penang could actually conserve a more laid back , kampung style place like Balik Pulau. And to reach Balik Pulau, I had had to drive through winding, hilly stretch of roads passing some jungles and waterfall areas, another total opposite of the drive from Batu Feringgi all the way to Tanjung Bungah seacoast. Honestly speaking I was thinking of Monaco F1 drive and perhaps they should take this idea after all...(if ever).

I didnt manage to visit those tourist spots but me, my dad, my mum and youngest sister went borong-ing Penang Pickels instead at the Chowrasta Market not far from the island signature tower, Komtar. For a little headstart on Penang pickles, please click here (Rad's blog).

Suffice to say, I love the atmosphere and will definitely plan for more visits in the future.

Adios, Penang, till I see you again....

Photos below taken on our Ferry ride en-route to Seberang Perai, the mainland of Pulau Pinang that boarders with Kedah in the north and Perak in the south. This was actually my first time on that ferry too. We came through the longest bridge in South East Asia, the Penang Bridge and we left the island (FOC) by ferry. That tall building is Komtar.

Mt Pleasant - Tauhinu Korokio, Otautahi

2009-03-10T19:45:00.004+08:00

Ever thought of Aotearoa, the gateway to Antartic?

I'll be back uploading more and filling you up with more on the short sojourn in Christchurch, New Zealand, 3 to 7 March 2009. It was a meeting trip but I still had had the opportunity to sight-see a few places around the land under the long white clouds.

Now, I'd better watch some Haka on the Youtube.

Busy dan Malas

2009-02-27T19:05:00.006+08:00

What can i say about the subject above? Not an oxy-moron, but close to describe why the lack of updating in this blog. I have got like banyaakkk giler benda nak buat yet that wasnt the premier excuse pon.

U see I blog most of the time at home. And in the 1st week of Feb, well basically on the 1st day of February to be exact, we saw Roger Federer crying his heart out losing to to his old rival Rafael Nadal AGAIN at Australia Open 2009.

I've saved most of the piccies in my office desk top, but then again, i SELDOM blog in my office. I could do it during the weekend though but my weekends seemed rather occupied in this month. So I'll do Australia Open stories later la yea.

And in that 1st week of Feb, we had this awful heavy thunderstorm that at one point my home ADSL broke down once more after serving me for nearly two years on a peace-of-mind operation as it was connected to the phone power-surge. But it gave up finally and went RIP. Supposed that I would go buy a replacement for it, but heck i didnt coz i dengan rasminya gave my Jaring broadband account to my 3rd brother while I installed Streamyx Combo at my new humble abode in Bukit Mahkota.

Yes, I got my own home wifi, woohooo!!! However, I have NOT fully moved into that house yet. I spent like a few days a week there and had sleep overs on weekends too and that was the only time I got hooked on the wifi. Hence the slow update. Hence the malasness.

AS a regular Facebooker, I would usually write an update note on meself there. Its quite convenient and I dont need to make it wordy pun....just scribble few things and voila, i am in contact with the world so to speak. I even advised a few friends already to join FB if they wanna keep in touch on a more regular basis pasai apa, i pon malas nak email2 orang dah (except for official reasons).............

Sekian kisah orang busy yang juga suka bermalas2.

Oh and by the way, my 3rd bro, he bought a wifi router for our home a couple of days ago and managed to get us connected again esp if we are on our laptop. Come to think of it, I should then think of getting a USB wifi adapter or something to that effect so i dont need to connect my desktop to a LAN (ethernet) cable. I just googled it just now and D-Link has that sort of item. That way I can do jobs on my lappie and desktop while both are simultaneously connected to the wifi. Save the hassle of having cables winding around your desk and floor innit?

I was also wondering how many ladies out there who knows what an Allen key is aka hex key? I just bought a set of wrenches (aka spanners) and an adjustable one n liking it. In a few months time, i would like to own a Bosch drill but I need to learn to handle and use it correctly soon, and i might just gonna ask my contractors to give a demo and short lesson on it. A natural engineer as I am, there's just something about learning DIY that made me wanna try doing it.

dinara vs serena

2009-01-29T21:02:00.005+08:00

Interesting women's singles finale set up: Dinara playing Serena. Both are giant ladies and both have an older sibling who is also pretty much successful. Dinara Safina is Marat Safin's sister, and Serena shares her many winning trophies at home with Venus Williams, who apparently will be playing together side by side in the women's doubles final match. Quite a consolation for Venus and rather kind of Serena to ensure that both sisters will be coming home loaded with trophies in their cargo luggage. They did it before too in Wimbledon 2008 and that time it was Venus who marched on to become the women's singles champion and took her sister along in the doubles to score another winning trophy.

Dinara has yet to play a mixed doubles with her older bro , the handsome man Marat but that could be arranged as one of the ways for Marat to lift up a trophy once more. His sister has been a finalist in Roland Garros 2008 and a semi-finalist in 2 grand slams of late and Marat has not been seen bagging one since his last win at Australian Open 2005. And recently, he was ousted by Federer in the 3rd round match in a straight set.

We will see who will be facing Federer in the final soon: Fernando Verdasco or Rafael Nadal. Both Spaniards were team mates winning the Davis cup last year. One prefers a Serbian lady over his own kind (thus sharing the same fascination as Fed) and defeated the runner up of the Australian Open 2008 in 3 sets to 1 while the other has been crowned the 2008 men's world champion winning two grand slams out of four and a semi-finalist in the remaining two grand slams. The latter has been noted as the only man so far who has outwitted Federer with a record of 12 winnings over 18 matches to date.

They say its a mind game. Federer probably has sent a very important message and a warning to Nadal the day he beat Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro in the quarter final in a straight set 6-3, 6-0, 6-0, thats 2 bagels already. He's older but he aint gonna give it up that easily just to meet Nadal once again (if Nadal wins in the semi of course), repraising their infamous rivalry on tennis court in hopefully another mindblowing match come Sunday February 1st, 2009. Whoever will the opponent be, Federer sure is hungry to snatch the first place again and perhaps redeeming himself from his dismal achievement in 2008.

And I am actually glad Djoker could not make it to the final despite his presumably initial target to repeat the same success he had in the same grand slam last year. He chose to retire at the 4th set having lost 2 sets to his new "bitter" rival, Andy Roddick in the quarter final complaining of insufficient rest and trouble to get used to the hot weather (yadiyadiyada). He is a great player no doubt but his presence can be a bit dull. He should learn a trick or two from Andy Murray on how not to bore the audience in the stadium and in front of the tv screen.

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Thanks to Sales09 who has informed me that Dinara did play a mixed doubles with her bro at Hyundai Hopman Cup Perth prior to the Australian Open tournament what was touted as the most volatile pairings. They took the runner up place in the final.

Australian open 2009 season

2009-01-26T22:32:00.004+08:00

Is it that Nadal is what Federer was? Is Federer gradually becoming a has been (probably due to age factor) and will soon join the tennis legends playing as veterans and invited as a regular for a friendly match world tour? He might start thinking of fatherhood and that would mean ~~inflating~~ impregnating his lady mirka and do family picnic with Agassi-Graf Clan.

First seeded Jelena Jankovic had to bow down to Marion Bartoli who has beaten her in straight set. Andy Murray gone too, overpowered by Fernando Verdasco, the Ana Ivanovic's squeeze. Ana herself was sent out in the 3rd round having lost to Alisa Kleybanova in 2 set to 1. Federer has to play 5 sets against Tomas Berdych to qualify himself into the quarter finals and chances for him to win the 1st grand slam of the year is lessening but it aint over till its over. We still have people like Jo-W Tsonga, Djoker, Nadal , Roddick and Del Potro who are all advancing rather well relative to Fed's achievement so far had it not be the full support from the audience. We have also said goodbye to Venus Williams who lost her battle against a ~~plainer than plainjane~~ new comer from Spain, Carla Suarez Navarro. Kudos to the latter who was not fazed or faltered against a giant (she's a six footer lady) like Venus.

Whats new then? Me watching from me own home theatre set that is...It sure gives another dimension when it comes to s0und system and projected through a 32 inches LCD screen.

To those especially my Chinese friends,

GONG XI GONG XI GONG XI NI, GONG XI FA CAI

and to the rest of us malaysians, happy holidays.

2009 begins with a smile

2009-01-01T17:50:00.006+08:00

May we all have a wonderful and fruitful new year 2009 and 1430H filled with so many good things and that many sincere prayers and wishes will be granted by Him. Lets all join in our prayers to ask God for his blessings and protection from all evil doings and harms. And may we be better than the previous year and continue to do good for the mankind and the earth itself.

And I shall also be praying so that all my angers and jealousies that I felt to be channeled to improving myself and as the main drive to achieve what I desired for the betterment of myself and will continue to be inspired by so many successful people I have come across.

Photo taken on an annual dinner invitation at the Legend Hotel grand ballroom, KL, 13 December 2008

We had makan2 at my first brother's place on the new year's eve. And we waited for the countdown 10 minutes before 12 midnite in front of the telly.

In 2008:

1. I managed to complete my 6 days Shawal sunnah fasting - for the first time in my life.

2. Lost a few kg of my weight but I put them all back by November....

3. Started liking the aerobic regime, took a break from it on Ramadhan, thats the whole September and by October till early December too busy to spare time to go back to the usual regime causing the weight gain.

4. Learned so many things on becoming the head of an international conference secretariat and met and befriended with so many esteemed ademicians across the Asia Pasific

5. Broke up the relationship and resuming it again on my birthday.

6. Managed to initiate the house project in December

7. Relationship with the Mother went on better but did not talk much to another two members of the family

8. Received 2 new nephews last July

9. Co-supervise 2 PhD students and 2 Masters students and as the main supervisor to another Masters student

10. Publication number increases mainly on international proceeding papers but yet to produce a journal paper.

11. Made new baju kebaya and kurungs from 2 different tailors and their shops are just stone throw away from each other. Before that, has been loyal to the another tailor who has been making clothes for us since my primary school years. Unfortunately , her health began deteriorating by the end of 2007.

12. Had my first ever facial in July and have since continued having it on a few occassions and so far liking the results

13. Managed a subject on my own for 2 programs for the first time.

14. Had my first laptop

15. Bought a digicam and a mobile phone for the first time in Malaysia

I hope to do better especially on:

1. Losing weight and keeping myself healthier and more energetic

2. Producing journal papers

3. Expanding the research network

4. Supervision skills

5. Time management

6. Money management

7. Work management

8. Research management

I also would like to:

1. Complete my first round of the house project with the help of the personal loan. The house will be equipped with the most necessary items only so as to make it habitable.

2. Move into the new house

3. Get back to the fitness regime and thinking whether to stick to the old fitness centre or moving to another place.

4. Assist him to secure a job in a nearby university by the time he finishes his viva so we could take things to another level

5. Learn how to swim in a proper swimming lesson session after 3 -4 months of fitness regime to improve on my stamina level

6. Taking a short break across west and east malaysia every other month or so be it on my own or with family /friends. Basically travel more!

7. Go to Cairo to meet my maternal relatives by the end of the year. I have not seen them for 27 years.

8. Read more journal papers, and finish reading those books on my shelf before I start to find or buy new reading materials

9. Read more.....quran, and many more books!!

10. Try not to go to sleep again after subuh except if I am very tired or could not sleep well at night.

Wishing that:

My silent wishes will also come true. Ameen

Demise of one of the favourite shops in UK: Woolworths

2008-12-28T01:56:00.005+08:00

Earlier this afternoon, we were shocked by the news of the dearly departed AlMarhum Yang DiPertuan Besar Negri Sembilan , Tuanku Jaafar Tuanku Abdul Rahman, (1922-2008) who passed away at 11.45 am Malaysia time at the Tuanku Jaafar Hospital, Seremban. He was our university's Chancellor, having served this post for over 32 years. May Allah rests him in peace.

And although I have heard this news for the past few weeks, I could not help but to attach here an article from BBC of the soon to be defunct Woolworth:

Woolworths store closures begin

Woolworths has had a presence on the UK High Street for almost a century

More than 200 Woolworths stores across the UK are about to close their doors, signalling the chain's final days on the High Street after 99 years.

Barring any last-minute rescue, the remaining 600 stores will follow suit by 5 January and 27,000 permanent and temporary staff will lose their jobs.

Branches in Prestwick, Liverpool, Llandudno and Gateshead's Metrocentre were those due to shot on Saturday.

The chain called in administrators last month amid mounting debts of £385m.

The rest of the branch closures will be staggered, with another 200 stores shutting on 30 December, 200 on 2 January and the remaining ones on January 5.

Closure countdown

Shop windows are displaying a countdown showing how many days are left before stores close.

In the meantime, shoppers are snapping up the last of the bargains from the closing down sales.

The shelves at the chain's Ipswich branch were virtually cleared as the store opened for its final day.

Teresa Stewart, 38, from Stowmarket, Suffolk, left with a box full of discounted stock.

"I've got so much stuff - there are so many bargains.

"I've got some school clothes for my children and various other bits and pieces. It's sad to see Woolworths go," she said.

The situation was the same at the branch in Chorlton, Manchester as goods were sold for up to 90% of the normal retail price.

One member of staff, who did not want to be named, said: "We started trading this morning at 70% off everything, then in the afternoon it went to 80% and now it is 90%.

"We have been told the more we get in the till the better it reduces the risk of us not being paid."

They said they would be open until 1730 GMT but if shoppers cleared out the shelves, they would close early.

At some stores fixtures and staff lockers were even put up for sale.

At the Notting Hill branch in west London, small posters advertised sections of staff lockers for £30 each, while a "very large safe" cost £300.

People could even take home the metal shopping baskets they were filling up with goods for an extra £1.

Shopper Debbie Anderson, 49, stocked up on pens, envelopes and a shower curtain.

She said she was planning to lay flowers to mark the branch's demise.

Staff will be entitled to compensation under the statutory redundancy payment scheme and will be retained for a few days following store closures.

Staff at this store in New Malden, London said goodbye to customers

However, it is expected some stores in prime High Street locations will be reopened by other retailers who have expressed an interest in buying their leases, which could offer job opportunities to redundant Woolworths staff.

Last week Woolworths' administrators Deloitte said there was still interest in parts of the business but added it had "not come close" to finding a buyer for the firm.

However, it said a range of food, clothes and "value retailers" had made offers to take over the leases at about 300 stores.

Efforts would be made to put Woolworths staff who were losing their jobs in contact with these potential employers, Deloitte said.

The first round of Woolworths closures comes nearly 100 years after American F W Woolworth opened his first UK store in Liverpool.

Woolworths ran into trouble this year after struggling under the weight of its debt.

Its problems were compounded when it was forced to pay cash while buying goods from suppliers because trade credit insurers were no longer prepared to cover its suppliers.

Gloomy forecasts

The chain is the most high-profile UK High Street casualty of the economic downturn so far.

A number of other retailers have hit trouble in recent weeks, with the most recent being music and games chain Zavvi, which collapsed into administration on Christmas Eve, and the fear is that more could follow in 2009.

Earlier this week, official figures confirmed the UK economy is sliding towards recession faster than was first thought.

Revised data showed a 0.6% decrease in output between July and September - the worst since 1990 and bigger than the 0.5% fall first estimated by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

And on Friday, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) - an independent group of economists - predicted the economy would shrink by 2.9% in 2009 - more than at any time since 1946.

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One of my most frequent Woolies stops (famously known locally) is at Edgware Road, London. If I was looking for Pyrex pot (glass cookware range) or some on-sale chocolates or even discounted DVDs and Videotapes, I would definitely look for them in Woolies and compare them with other shops's prices (HMV, ASDA, Tesco, etc). I even bought some baby clothes for my nephews and niece there too. It is just so SAD to see it go knowing that it has been around for nearly 100 years since its first opening in Liverpool. London will not feel the same without Woolworths. I even one time bought a brolly in a rush there too. Some of their stainless steel , non-stick especially cookingware products are a bit crappy but if you are living on a modest budget, one would be thankful that they are affordable.

Adios, Woolies, you will be missed. You are now officially a history...

Seasonal Greetings and Christmas Tree

2008-12-26T01:07:00.006+08:00

Having been in the UK for coupla years, Christmas has been the third most significant festive day to me, the 1st two are of course the Eid Fitri and Eid Adha. I still remember those christmas parties i have attended at our college and at my 1st hall, Claypond Village in South Ealing. It doesnt mean that I am committing myself religious wise to the celebration yet the festive moods were in the air.

Anyways, during our RSCE-SOMChE 2008 conference, the Christmas spirit had already begun and they put up all those christmas decorations including one Christmas tree at Impiana KLCC Hotel & Spa. Crazy i may say as they have begun as early as 1st December 2008 but I liked the ambience. And to commemorate some of the sweet moments during the conference, I took a picture with my old friend, Siti Shawalliah and our ex-lecturer turned colleague, Nornizar Anuar aka Kak Nonie in front of the Christmas tree on Day 1, 2nd December 2008 before our lunch break.

left to right: Manal, Kak Nonie and Shawal

One of those last moment of the conference just after the closing ceremony:

1st row: Assoc. Prof Dr. Siti Masrinda Tasirin, Dr. Jamaliah Jahim, Dr. Masturah Markom, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Siti Kartom Kamarudin, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Siti Rozaimah Sheikh Abdullah (all are the conference committee members), Prof. Dr. Sal Mynt (UniMap), Prof. Ir Dr. Wan Ramli Wan Daud (the chairman), Assoc. Prof. Dr. David Shallcross (Uni Melbourne, keynote speaker),Prof Masaaki Suzuki (Tokyo Inst. of Technology), Prof. Ir. Dr. Mohd Sobri Takriff (co-chairman)
2nd row: Dr. Renata Adami (Salerno Uni, keynote speaker), Dr. Nurina Anuar (committee member), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hossein Kazemian (Tehran Uni, keynote speaker), Dr. Manal Ismail (head of secretariat), Prof. Maria Natalia Dimaano (Uni of Santo Tomas)

I do miss the sight of those magnificent Christmas trees at Trafalgar Square, Knightsbridge and Whiteleys and those bright Christmas lights across the central london especially around Knightsbridge, Regent Street, and Oxford Street. And the moment when I first saw life reindeers in Bradford back in 1998. And that I loved receiving Christmas cards from fellow friends at Imperial too.

R&D powerhouse and Singapore flyer

2008-12-24T15:00:00.004+08:00

This news article from Bernama is a good knock on Malaysia's thinking cap of the many MNC and GLC on the importance of the R&D and a good reminder to all the universities and research institutions in this country:

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December 23, 2008 15:06 PM

Singapore Closer To Becoming R&D Powerhouse

SINGAPORE, Dec 23 (Bernama) -- Singapore spent S$6.3 billion on research and development (R&D) last year, putting the republic closer to establishing itself as an R&D powerhouse.

The republic's overall expenditure on R&D last year increased by 26.5 percent compared to the 2006 spending of S$5.01 billion, announced the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) that conducts the annual national survey of R&D in Singapore.

The agency said the unprecedented year-on-year increase by 26.5 percent was a significant jump from the 9.3 percent year-on-year increase in 2006.

As a percentage of GDP, the gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) rose from 2.31 percent in 2006 to 2.61 percent last year.

A*STAR said with GERD at 2.61 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), Singapore's R&D intensity was above the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) average (2.26 percent in 2006) and Germany (2.53 percent in 2006), and was approaching that of the United States (2.68 percent in 2007).

However, the agency said Singapore still lagged behind R&D intensive economies such as Finland (3.41 percent in 2008), Sweden (3.63 percent in 2007), Japan (3.39 percent in 2006) and South Korea (3.22 percent in 2006).

The agency also said the private sector spent more than the public sector in R&D last year when it spent S$4.23 billion compared to the latter's expenditure of S$2.1 billion.

A*STAR said the manufacturing sector, particularly the electronic industry continued to drive the growth in private sector R&D, accounting for S$2.98 billion or 70.5 percent of total private sector R&D expenditure.

Singapore's research talent base also expanded last year when the total number of researchers grew by nine percent from 25,033 in 2006 to 27,301 last year, with the private sector employing 59 percent of all researchers, the agency added.

It also said the number of reported patent applications had shown steady increase with a compound annual growth rate of 11.8 percent from 2000, adding that there were 1,739 patent applications last year.

-- BERNAMA

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This also happens in Singapore as reported in The Star. Mind you, this entry is not on Singapore bashing but to share with you that no matter how canggih the country can be, a few but rather significant glitches may still occur:

Tuesday December 23, 2008

Trapped passengers evacuate Singapore ferris wheel

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - More than 100 passengers stranded for six hours on the world's largest ferris wheel were being evacuated and given medical treatment in Singapore after the attraction ground to a halt on Tuesday.

The Singapore Flyer stopped working after a short circuit in one of the wheel's motor drivers cut its power supply, a company spokeswoman said.

The Singapore Flyer observation wheel seen in this November 30, 2008 file photo. (REUTERS/Tim Chong)

There were 173 people, including many tourists, trapped inside the huge tourist attraction.

The wheel started turning again more than six hours later and passengers were ushered into ambulances, a Reuters witness said.

The spokeswoman for the Flyer said the stranded passengers were given water and food throughout their ordeal.

Standing at a height of 165 metres (541 feet), the Flyer started operations in the city state in February and is 30 metres (98 feet) taller than the London Eye.

It has 28 bus-sized capsules attached to a circular frame 150 metres (492 feet) in diameter. Each capsule can accommodate 28 people.

The Flyer is part of Singapore's drive to boost tourism revenues.

Of cuteness and a World Leader

2008-12-15T13:40:00.004+08:00

Does one's good looking trait help boost his potential to be the country's next leader?

Bemused? Have a look at some of these examples:

From left to right:

Pic 1: Tony Blair, former Britain PM, pic 2: Michael Howard, former Britain Shadow PM during Blair's tenure,

pic 3: US President elect for 2009 term Barack Obama, pic 4: Senator John McCain, Republican candidate for presidency who lost to Obama,

pic 5: Ousted Thai PM Somchai Wongsawat , and pic 6: Newly elected Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva.

There are many other examples which inludes Bill Clinton era and so on. It is debatable of course whether looks could actually influence the voting numbers but it may be one of the reasons they became a leader. What say you?

Mereka adalah queen yang telah dotdotdot

2008-12-11T01:25:00.001+08:00

Strange isnt it when one man would feel totally offensive when someone likening him to a queen in a joking manner? No wonder la these people made us think they are one CLOSET poof. Like i give a 3825 innit? So they are muslims and some closet fairies, so what? They chose to be one, and they should be damn proud to stand out and be counted and not thinking just because we usik2 them here and there just a weeeeetle bit, dah melenting mak datin ala2 azwana issit? Dah la closet, sensittttippppp yaaamaaatttttzzzzz....! Grow up and rationalized. Some people memang suka mengusik and it takes like a LOTTA courage and sensibility to handle some naughty or sarcastic remarks.

(photo 1 from this website:http://www.atqm.com/index_noflash.html)

I guess these species are like that.

I dont mind you being whatever (batting on the other side and what not) as long as you dont mess with me. And i actually think its fun hanging out fag-hag like and that sort. They are MEN and although they are harmless to me they are damn well a good protector too just like any hetero men put it that way.

I have like quite a few gay friends meself , flamboyant ones, fairies, manly gaymen, queen-like ones and one bisexual who is now a hetero again. Do the math and that makes me a NON-homophobic person. Totally a no-brainer.

(Photo 2: Flamboyant man-doll in Georgian outfit, thats a bit of a queen fella)

(Photo 3: David Beckham, the flamboyant icon and he loves wearing his missus knickers)

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And lagi satu species, budak2 awal 20an yang perasan COOL abiss laa by wearing all sort of terbukaksanasini style of clothes. Heelllloooo budak, stop being soooo bloody judgmental just because we people arent wearing the same clothes like u lot that we aint cool. Some budak2 melayu free hair memang la suka bagi this weird glare to those tudung people typecasting each and every one of them save for those who wears tudung and a lowcut jeans that shows off their butt crack no matter how unsexy their asses are. DOES ONE NEED TO PROVE WHO ONE IS ALL THE TIME? Learn this word budak2 ^&&^&^&^%@@: DISCREET. This is one of the reasons I took almost 2 years to feel at home and getting accustomed to the surrounding. And thats also why they have clubs in London that caters for different groups and then there is the 20 and below club too. Unfortunately there aint much around KL except for maybe those lounges at the hotels and tu pun kena careful otherwise one might think we are the makcik karaoke.

That is probably one of the reasons I missed out most of the KL nightlife (the after midnite ones).

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On a lighter note, I am now narrowing down my choices on digicam and mobile phones. As I have been quite satisfied with Sony Ericsson mobile phone performance for the last 3 years, I am most probably will opt to replace my old Sony E to a new one. I was actually contemplating on Samsung models too but I dunno, I feel like inclined towards Sony E more. Digicam, I am still juggling between choosing Sony Cybershot series or the latest Fuji cameras. I had 2 fujis before , one the older zoom camera and the other one the 2005 digicam E550x and they are not that bad really. Like my PC choice where I have been sticking to Dell PC since 2002, I probably would like to renew my mobile under the same brand that I am currently using based on the satisfactory level. But for digicam, let see how it goes. I will of course be bringing my XD Fuji smart media card with me to learn if I could upload the pictures directly into my laptop using the card or I may have to ask the photoshop to save them in a CD.

But I seriously need a digicam now especially that I have one wedding reception in the afternoon and one annual dinner (by invitation, FOC) this Saturday. Being the "on my own" person, I'd like to get myself equipped with the necessaries and this include my own digicam. Simple as that. Cant really rely on other people to do the job and later on asking them to send those pictures by email or perhaps saving them directly into my thumb drive/external hard drive.

Some motivation needed here

2008-12-10T00:24:00.000+08:00

Some quotes to bounce myself back on track and to gain the momentum and encouragement I need:

"One day in retrospect the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful" -Sigmund Freud

"Great hopes make great men" -- Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) English Historian

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence." -- Helen Keller (1880-1968) American Writer

"Right actions for the future are the best apologies for wrong ones in the past."-- Tyron Edwards

"Man has never made any material as resilient as the human spirit."-- Bernard Williams (1929-) English Philosopher

"The three great essentials to achieving anything worthwhile are:first, hard work, second, stick-to-it-iveness, and third, common sense."-- Thomas A. Edison (1847-1931) American Inventor

"He who has health has hope; and he who has hope, has everything."-- Arabian Proverb

"It is a glorious achievement to master one's own temper."-- Anonymous

"When we accept tough jobs as a challenge to our ability and wade into them with joy and enthusiasm, miracles can happen."-- Arland Gilbert

"The person who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."-- Chinese proverb

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires."-- William Arthur Ward

"We need a renaissance of wonder. We need to renew, in our hearts and in our souls, the deathless dream, the eternal poetry, the perennial sense that life is miracle and magic. " -- E. Merrill Root (1895-1973) American Writer

"Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve."--Mary Kay Ash

"He who has persevered (through hard works, determinations and efforts), wins" (man jadda wajada) -- Arabic proverb

Those quotes are just those few I found in my email inbox and Google. Care to share some of your favourite quotes here too?

Brief entry

2008-12-08T23:53:00.003+08:00

So many things to say, so little time....ok, more precisely , so little mood i have to break down all that i had in mind to write them down.

In brief :

Petrol price has to date made a total of 80 sen reduction since that horrible RM 2.70 sudden price hike. Good news? So far, it is.

RSCE-SOMChE 2008 conference organized by most members of our department including yours truly went on VERY WELL indeed at Impiana KLCC Hotel & Spa and a few of my old friends also turned up as participants. It was rather an overwhelming experience to me that left me with a fine line (or a mix) between euphoria and repression. For some, or should I say, most consolations came from many participants across ASEAN and Asia Pacifics who offered their sincere warm gratitude to me and 2 of them, one a professor from Phillippines and another one, a research engineer from Italy (who was also one of our keynote speakers) even mentioned my name as part of their acknowledgment in front of the audience.

Aidil Adha was a bit of a quiet celebration this year for me. Both my parents are performing hajj and we gathered at my eldest sister's place, which is just a 5 minutes drive away from our family house. Not much could be said. But I still did my morning solat sunat prayers, and that was my "highlight" of the day.

I missed MJ more and more. I hope he will get his viva date soon.

My old 2005 Fuji digicam broken as a result of major faulty at the telescopic motor that connects to the lenses. And to add to the disappointment, it occurred RIGHT before our RSCE-SOMChE 2008 conference banquet dinner, on 2 December 2008. Good thing was, many took pictures with me and our trusted technicians managed to capture many moments too. So, I gather that I need to copy those photos into my external hard drive and later to be downloaded into my pc. I am thinking on replacing it with a newer Fuji model (it's about time!) or maybe I could try Sony Cybershot or some few other digicam models/brands.

I almost have never had this kind of situation where more and more people kept coming to me to request to take pictures with me than during the 2-day RSCE-SOMChE 2008 conference. Did I just shot to fame? Or it was merely another way of them expressing their joy having able to participate at the conference through some constant correspondance with their mistaken for man conference head of Secretariat,that's me. That man part was all due to my peculiar name which made it sound a bit masculine to many.

I was made a Malaysian "mascot" ....ok...putting it in a nicer way, the Malaysian model gracing our TCE magazine since my international debut in 2007. That very photo of mine still graces the leaflet and registration packs across Malaysia for those interested to join the IChemE in Malaysia. I could see my smiling photo on the IChemE booth at our conference.

15 November 2008 marked our very first reunion as a career people and many are married with family too for our KISAS ex-classmates. Not everyone turned up but the turnout was encouraging. Some came with their spouses, others even brought their kids along too.

Its the end of year Malaysia MegaSale, and so i need to buy a new digicam and perhaps and new mobile phone too (a Sony Ericsson walkman series) also over 3 years old. I have never bought any of those here in Malaysia. People have been advising me to go to Low Yatt Plaza for that reason and since I have never been there, maybe I should do my survey across that nationwide most famous "electronic gadget emporium".

I have made many new friends through blogging and some I have actually met and befriended in real life too apart from those old friends of mine. One of them is Makji Esah, met 2 months ago and she is far demure than her blog persona.

I had wanted to be more emotional here but I dont think it would do good anyway writing them in anger.

Barack Obama the new 44th USA president!

2008-11-05T14:10:00.010+08:00

Barack Obama (pic,left) won by 349 votes over 159 (as of 15.48pm Malaysian time) by John McCain of Republican, a landslide majority indeed. The Blue states swept across the nation except for the typical conventional central and southern part of the country. Even so, the voting counts in most of the Red states are narrowing by 10 %.

More news, go read them everywhere!

In his winning speech, Obama has uttered these strong words: "Change has come to America!"

And McCain responded by saying: " The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly". Macam ala2 Survivors the series jer...harosss la the tribe has spoken thingy.

Poor Sarah Palin (pic, below), she gotta stay perked up and wait for another 10 years to run the presidential campaign...if ever she is still popular....

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One wonders how long will it take for some progressive reformation with the right paradigm shift among our politicians...

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One of the things malaysians soo hyped about on this o-ba-ma elect is his middle name Hussein. 1st of all, they prolly shud hate his daddy who didnt practise his grandparents religion and dont the malaysian muslim against any "apostate" or "agnostic" sort of people? Secondly, he has declared himself a Christian and his middle name shudve been Steve or something (refer to his speeches in youtube). The Times Onlines reported on this too:

Barack Obama was directly confronted on prime time television last night over allegations swirling around the internet that he is a secret Muslim who worships the Koran (note: We Muslims DO NOT worship the Koran but we try as much as we could to adhere to the teachings and we are required to read and study those words of God to understand Islam more with the right guidance from the learned people), during a Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas.

Mr Obama, who was raised as a Christian by his white mother despite his Kenyan father being Muslim, has been dogged by smears and innuendo for months that he is in fact an Islamist trying to enter the Oval office by stealth.

"Let's make clear what the facts are: I am a Christian. I have been sworn in with a Bible. I pledge allegiance [to the American flag] and lead the pledge of allegiance sometimes in the United States Senate when I'm presiding."

Mr Obama is a member of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ and is an actively practising Christian. But opponents, particularly on the Republican side, delight in reminding people that his middle name is Hussein, taken from his father, a Harvard educated economist who left the family when Mr Obama was two.

In spite of all that, to me, he brought this "fresh hope" so to speak. But then, Collin Powell and CondoleezaRice preceded him in terms of world power with those Secretary General post for UN and US respectively. And Obama is practising what any(most) US president would do: electing some Jewish fellas as their right people. IN short, he is a typical American but with different upbringing experiences.

All I hope is that he aint just some "fresh prince of bel-air" but a reformed man who brings positive impacts throughout the world. And that he wont get assassinated because of his skin colour. Coz all i care now is to see him doing the "Change", practising what he preaches.Otherwise, he's just another democrat president-elect to me (but also as someone i'd like to meet given the chance).

6 Days of Shawal 1429 H

2008-10-06T11:32:00.004+08:00

SALAM AIDIL FITRI 1429H, MAAF ZAHIR & BATIN

Yeah...bummer....back to work and all. Dragged meself off my bed to come to work today after like 1 week holiday. But once I am seated at my working desk, I am all geared up to do what I needed to do, checking on things, emails from the RSCE-SOMChE 2008 conference participants and many more. I guess it all came naturally to me, being diligent and committed to my job (have to innit??!!!)

Baru 6 October 2008, and I have effectively used up all my monthly salary plus the half month bonus. Over Rm3000 (raya bonus + a portion of my salary) were gone to pay off a third of my Natwest overdraft debt (as they have been pestering me to do so, sob sob sob), more than RM1200 gone to the TAX (inevitable kan?), and the rest went to house loan, car loan, credit card, food and some simple raya shopping (beli 2 helai tudung jer ok?) and DUIT RAYA. Am I whinging and moaning now about it? NOOOOOOOOO !!! That Duit Raya is a must and I have given to those deserving members of my family, especially to my father and mother. What makes me a bit put off is that, the country only deducted another 10 sen off the petrol per liter value when they know that the current petrol price per barrel kept going down! And dah la last year langsung takde bonus, this year pon sama kadakoootttt bagi half half konon. Siap la I tunggu another half this December so I can pay my Natwest debt.

Nevertheless, alhamdulillah, I am also OVER the MOON (macam la over sangat happy nya , but ok la happy la jugak kan) that I have successfully made 3 kuih raya: Chocolate Muffin (just the right muffin feeling that melts in your mouth, so soft and moist, abso-****ing-lutely lovely), Choc Chip Cookies ( Famous Amos Who??? Move over brother, Ini Manal Ismail punya cookies enak berkhasiat, rangup, spanking gorgeous) and honeyed cornflakes with raisin (yang everytime i check the balang, it kept getting less and less even though i thought it wasnt that great but others think it is perfect?). Baru buat 3 kuih dah berlagak la yea....No la, I was just sharing my happiness as they were a success. I am my own critique when it comes to my own cooking and when I say it is GOOD, it is GOOD. Similarly, when it is BAD, I would be unashamed to declare it a FAILURE. Next time, cuba lagi.

I have also managed to do a full 30 days fasting. No menstruation during Ramadhan means I have successfully avoided doing Qadha puasa.

What else? Oh yea, although I didnt do my Taraweeh prayers every single night save for some few days a week, I managed to do the 1st night and the final night of Ramadhan. I also got 2 new baju raya tempah (tailor made, another one will be completed after raya) and a new shock absorber for my front left tyre FOC as the car is still within the 3 year warranty. On top of that, they also patched a teeny, tiny hole in my back right tyre and a duly aknowledgeable car wash both for free too! Thank you Toyota Sales and Service Centre Cheras (near Taman Midah).

On that pagi raya, I felt glorious celebrating this victorious Aidil Fitri day. I woke up early in the morning, took my sunat bath, and clad in my new baju raya and new telekung, off I went to Masjid UKM with my family to perform the solat sunat aidilfitri. That day memang melantak saja...sampai ke dinner the same dishes: rendang daging, rendang ayam, kuah kacang eaten with nasi himpit. Sampai sendawa pun bau rendang. In the evening, I went with my mum to Desa Pandan to visit a family friend, and they came the next day beraya to our house. We also had a few guests on the 2nd day of raya and we served them with masak lodeh, sambal tumis udang and the remaining rendang ayam and daging as side dishes to our nasi himpit.

Nothing extravagant, just the family reunion, photo taking, duit raya giving, solat raya and rehat2 were all we did on the 1st day, but it was certainly a good feelings for me.

The next personal challenge is to do the 6-days puasa sunat Shawal. I tried to wake up for sahur this morning but felt too sleepy.

Ramadhan and US Open 2008 Champs

2008-09-25T21:53:00.003+08:00

YES, Roger Federer redeemed his shameful losses in the past 3 grand slams to win the final 2008 grand slam: US Open. He defeated British player (a Scotsman) Andy Murray on a straight set 6-2, 7-5, 6-2. Andy also created his own history by reaching final in the grand slam for the first time in his career. He stole Rafael Nadal's thunder in the Men's semi-final before facing Federer. Not only that, he has shown a great length of maturity and polished attitude on the court displaying a brilliant , notwithstanding having some dull moments match leaving the world no. 1 Nadal confused and dazed. Federer, on the other hand, has managed to tame the US Open 2007 runner up and Australian Open 2008 champion Novak Djokovic to set the final match against Murray.

I watched the game during sahur all the way to around 7.30-ish am in the morning, before going to work on Monday 8 September 2008. I have been wanting to blog on this on that day itself but was caught with loadsa works to do, practically inundated with academic and conference works.

Serena Williams won her US open champion back too! The other three grand slam winners for Women's Singles are: Maria Sharapova -Australian Open, Ana Ivanovic -French Open, and Venus Williams -Wimbledon. Serena took a straight set win from Jelena Jonkovic 6-4, 7-5 in a thrilling match that saw her in a ferocious mood with her powerful tennis skills. She's definitely in it to win it and she did.

Only Rafael Nadal managed to win double grand slams this year: French Open and Wimbledon. Novak "Djoker" Djokovic won the Australian Open and he beat Roger Federer at the semi final en route to winning the Men's Single. And in the US Open 2008, the table has turned and it was Federer who has outwitted Djoker.

I guess RED is the Winning theme for the US Open 2008 or perhaps the lucky colour? Both Serena and Roger were clad in red gears on clinching their number one spot. Photos are taken from AP news.

Oh well, I leave you with this illusion image:

So, did you get the joke or you get watery eyes as a result of squinting really hard?

Obsessing over Manal

2008-09-16T12:35:00.000+08:00

I am serious ok...some fella out there (in the Facebook) is soooooo obsessed with this name:MANAL. He kept adding more and more ladies named Manal into his Facebook list?!

Apparently there are quite a few Manal Ismail too listed in the Facebook search engine.

When the Malaysians are still "in the dark" on this pretty peculiar yet beautifully crafted name Manal , those especially in Egypt and many Arab league countries have long been enchanted by it.

I have also had a request from a middle-east lady to add me as her friend through Facebook just because I reminded her of her nieces, and friends and some people dearer to her. And she made acquaintance with me through Scramble.

As of today, there are about 1, 030, 000 Google hits on Google for the search word: Manal.

Ask God

2008-09-15T01:35:00.000+08:00

In the spirit of Ramadhan, I would like to share a very interesting article from Islamicity on the importance of having strong and consistent faith in asking God what we want and be patient for it:

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Does God Hear me?

By: Hesham A. Hassaballa

In the Quran, God clearly says that He will answer the prayers of those who pray to Him: "When My servants ask thee [O Muhammad] concerning Me, [tell them] I am indeed close: I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calls on Me: Let them also, with a will, Listen to My call, and believe in Me: That they may walk in the right way" (Quran 2:186)

In another verse: "Your Lord says: 'Call on me, I will answer [your prayer]" (Quran 40:60). Consequently, I pray to God for everything in my life, big or small. If one notices closely, my lips are frequently fluttering away in silent prayer to God throughout the day. Most of the time, the Lord answers my prayers. Sometimes, He does not.

Recently, I asked God for something very, very important to me. I prayed to Him night and day. I got up in the early morning to pray extra devotional prayers before sunrise to make that supplication to Him. I prayed to God at times when the Prophet said God will answer those who pray to Him. I prayed almost constantly for this particular thing. It did not come.

Needless to say, I was sad and disappointed. In the midst of my sadness, a barrage of thoughts and questions raced through my head: "What went wrong? Was it something I did or said? Is God angry with me?" In fact, I almost wanted to say, "Why?" Furthermore, my sadness gave way to momentary spiritual weakness in that I had transient thoughts of rebellion against God. I said to myself, "All this prayer, and it was not answered. Did God not hear me?"

No, God indeed did hear me, but He chose not to give me what I asked of Him at this particular moment in my life. The above exchange in my head was born out of the fact that I am a human being, subject to all of the weaknesses and hypocrisies of the human condition. The Quran told me that this is in my nature: "Now, as for man, when his Lord tries him, giving him honor and gifts, then said he, 'My Lord hath honored me.' But when He tries him, restricting his subsistence for him, then said he (in despair), 'My Lord hath humiliated me!'" (Quran 89:15-16).

Now, thank God I did not say God has humiliated me. Also, thank God, I did not point an angry finger at the Lord and proceed to disobey His commands. To do so would be horribly ungrateful. How many blessings has the Lord bestowed upon me? They are innumerable. I do not want to be among those who "worship God, as it were, on the verge," as the Quran says, "if good befalls them, they are, therewith, well content; but if a trial comes to them, they turn on their faces" (Quran 22:11). When the answer to my prayer eluded me, I simply put my head down in acceptance, still sad, and said, "All praise is due to God. God has decreed thus, and He does what He wills."

The truth is, the Lord neither abandoned nor humiliated me. According to the Prophet, when someone calls on God, one of three things happen:

(1) it is immediately answered (and I do not have a shortage of those prayers, thank God);

(2) the answer to the prayer is deferred to Judgment Day, when the supplicant will be handsomely rewarded;

(3) the prayer will block a calamity that is to befall that person.

Thus, in my case, either something bad was going to happen to me, but my unanswered prayer blocked it, or the Lord is saving the answer to that prayer for Judgment Day. Either way, I win.

The thing is, I frequently can't see that; I do not have Divine Vision. This is another trait of the human condition. I do not understand God's wisdom in not answering that prayer right here, right now. Hence, my sadness and disappointment. Yet, my role is to be patient with the will of God and continue to be a humble, devout servant. God will answer other prayers. Perhaps God will one day let me see the wisdom of His decision. He has done so already once before.

When I was a senior in high school, I applied for an honors program in medicine in which I would be guaranteed a spot in medical school after three years of college. My application was very competitive: a 4.0 GPA and a whole host of extracurricular activities, honors, and awards. I prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed. I was not accepted, and I felt the same sadness and disappointment then as I do now. Yet, I did not despair or become rebellious against God. Three years later, I was accepted to medical school without a bachelor's degree. In fact, I was the only one in my medical school class to be accepted right out of college.

I reminded myself of this during my recent sadness. While I do not understand God's wisdom, I have to trust that He has my best interest in mind, and that He will not do me harm. This is what God wants, and I have to be patient.

Even though this prayer was not answered immediately, I will continue to pray. I will continue to try and get up before sunrise and pray those extra devotional prayers. I will, in fact, pray more to God now than I have done so in the past. God always hears those who call on Him, and I will live my life making sure He constantly hears my voice. And the most beautiful thing is, He never gets tired of hearing that voice. That is why nothing else in this world except He deserves to be worshipped.

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It resonates well with my life too. I remembered back in 1996 when i just finished my A-Level that I had wanted to pursue my first degree in Petroleum Engineering at Imperial College. But fate has it that it did not work out for me just yet and I was instead accepted at the University of Bradford, UK where I obtained my BEng (Hons) in Chemical Engineering. But I never lost my faith that one day I will be in Imperial to pursue my tertiary degree. I stood up in front of the main entrance one fine summer 1999 and made a pledge that one day I will be here.

And on Spring 2001, I finally made it to Imperial College London as a PhD student. Four and a half year later, I secured my PhD degree during Ramadhan.

Another case is when I had wanted a best friend, a close friend who would share so many common interests that he/she will stick by me for better or worse, through thick and thin and that we will put up with each other's weaknesses. I wished and wished for it, prayed to God too that I will find someone who would click well with me. I have been asking it since I was in primary school. Over a decade later, I found her at NCUK Shah Alam, and we have been buddies ever since. And 12 years on since we started getting to know each other, we are still going strong even though she is now married with 2 kids. And not only her, I kept making close relationship, lasting ones even if we had to go through ups and downs and so on with quite a few people: Malaysians as well as people from around the world, males and females, of different backgrounds, races and creeds.

I still have a lot more wishes that were made for a certain reasons like the wish to settle down and have my own family. I was not that very serious on tying the knots before I was 30, and now, after achieving a few more successes in my life, I think I am more than ready to be some lucky man's other half. I have been there, done that, and now I would not mind sharing my life with him thus completing half of my religion (implying that one who marries has taken another step further or perhaps figuratively speaking a giant leap in his/her life for future procreation, more responsibilities, and so on). On top of that, I reckon it is about time I go for the halal relationship, something that God will offer more blessings as I would further honouring my oath to keep myself firmly on the rightful path (siraatul mustaqeem). I can just hope and pray and I let Him decide what is best for me and for my future life companion as well. I dont know how to explain this but I think my body too gave me an inkling that she had had all that she had wanted to experience and experiment and now she is ready for another Big decision.

Is this like saying that I finally succumb to the idea of sharing? Or was it more of a consolidation of two human beings and not just a natural union? It was never easy for me to accept another man into my life without skepticisms.

Cinta monyet membawa ke jinjang pelamin kisahnya

2008-09-05T17:21:00.002+08:00

Feeling lesu after a long day work and fasting at the same time? Have a little bit of laugh with this article from Daily Mail:

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'I now pronounce you monkey and wife': Animals are married in controversial Chinese zoo stunt

By Hugo Daniel

Maybe the dress wasn't the right size, or perhaps it was the grey and gloomy weather - but these two monkeys don't seem over-the-moon after being married in China.

The downcast-looking pair tied the knot in a special wedding ceremony at their zoo.

The monkeys - who live in Wenling, Zhejiang province - are seven-year-old male monkey Wukong and a six-year-old female named Xiaoya.

The widlife park organised the wedding in the hope of attracting more visitors, local media reported.

But the controversial stunt is bound to upset animal rights groups in a country famed for being cruel to animals.

Back in 2006 a Shanghai zoo cancelled a show dubbed the 'Animal Olympics' following accusations of cruelty from animal welfare groups.

The show had featured animals in athletic-type situations, such as boxing matches between kangaroos and their keepers, bears fighting and riding bicycles, and an elephant tug-of-war.

And in 2007 a bear was forced to ride a bicycle and be chased by his trainer during an animal performance for the Chinese May Day holidays at the Shanghai Wild Animal Park.

Happily married? Wukong the monkey and his bride Xiaoya

Hitched: The monkeys at the ceremony organised by a Chinese zoo

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It's kinda cute doncha think? Does it make u wanna get hitched too?

Now compare Wukong with Rafael Nadal (pic below). An evolution from the planet of the ape??

Photo source: Tennis Planet

He's a good looking Spaniard, but I can't stand his voice though.....its as if he has like a large lump of saliva in his throat, phlegm and all. But perhaps thats how a typical Mallorcan sounds like when they speak english? All the best in the US Open and keep scratching your arse if it would help compose yourself.

What is wrong with you, Roger Federer?

2008-09-04T13:56:00.003+08:00

He had to go into 5 sets before he could clinch a place into the quarter final at US Open?

Dey thambi, ape masalah lu haa?? Could it be that you need some changes like:

New girlfriend
New coach
New attitude
New hair style
New spirit
ETC....

And yeah, even John McEnroe thought that it wasnt you, it could've been an impostor playing you. Perhaps the new title: World No.2 made you somewhat "incoherent" with your game? 2008 definitely isnt a great year for u innit? bagus jugak kan, dari asek menang jer since 2003 to 2007 except that 2005 Australian open and not even once in French Open. Am i lamenting your inconsistencies here? Naahh....u have just proven yourself a normal human being and that you are aging? They said that 21 is the middle age for tennis though i doubt Martina Navratilova and Andre Agassi would even want to hear about it....Such a gleeful (or horrible?) remark from some people who thinks that since you are now one of the tua species on the tennis court, u aint got the glam and that youthful power anymore kot?

If you are asking me who's the favourite to win, I'd say like i give a tiny rat ass. I love watching the Game and if its meant to be another fella's or another lady's winning trophy, then so be it. Serena Williams just beat her sister Venus, and now aiming for her trophy too having lost her Wimbledon trophy to Venus. OK la, apa2 pon balik2 Williams sisters jugak dapat nama whether its Miss S.Williams or Miss V.Williams.

And what the hell happened to the one time Australian Runner up Jo Wilfried-Tsonga? He's funny on court though. Prolly you need to go down under more often to keep your cool?

Dinara Safina although she aint as gorgeous as her brother Marat Safin has proven to be quite entertaining on court too with those "come on" screams.....eh, whats "come on" in Russian ha? I better ask MJ for it.

Elena Dementieva is such a girly-girl on court but she's one tough bird. I just find her grunts sounds like some happy orgasmic shriek: ooommmwahhhhh...oooopphhwahhh....I almost didnt notice her earlier days but lately she just got better and better. One thing for sure, her more famous Russian compatriot, Maria Sharapova is no where near the court la...sebok modeling kot or pouting somewhere nursing her bruises/injuries/poor performance? She will do a comeback for sure, upping her game but with the same loud grunts that are so synonymous to her .

Aaahhhh this middle to upper class or should I say those with middle to high income kinda sport that is Tennis. I just LOVE it!

Countdown to ramadhan 1429H

2008-08-28T13:00:00.008+08:00

Muslims will begin observing Ramadhan inshallah on the 1st September 2008.

While I am on my countdown to 1 Ramadhan 1429, here's a short recap for a brief read:

Olympic Beijing came to an END last 24 August 2008 after entertaining moi for like 2 weeks on Astro channels 816-823. Congratulations to all the winners especially those who broke the Olympic and World records like Usain Bolt (sprinter from Jamaica), Michael Phelps (US swimmer) and Yelena Isinbayeva (Russian pole vault athlete).

US OPEN the final Grand Slam leg for this year is ON from 25 August (and I just found out about it today....cheh! Takpe, as long as no shocking results just yet!) to 7 September. Could it be the final holy grail search this year for a grand slam champion for Roger Federer having lost 3 previous grand slam tournaments? At least he won Gold in Olympic Beijing for Men's double teaming up with his fellow countryman, Stanislas Wawrinka. And man, how they hugged each other that would definitely send some ~~kinky~~chilling signal to his woman, the blonde-turned-brunnet Serbian M*rka.

Hillary Rodham Clinton shouted : "Obama must be our President! " and told the world that her hubby Bill would do whatever he could to campaign for Obama's presidency. The man then pledged for a ~~deep~~full-throated endorsement to Obama's bid for the White House.

Tun Det said and I quote that his former Deputy Premier (who was once his protege pre-September 1998) who is also the PKR defacto leader could “convince even the devil to follow him”. How romantic is he? Such words coming from someone who should be acknowledging on "better the devil you know" or was it some sort of a reverse psychology? His MP son has never stopped calling the current PM to step down and he kept going on and on about it. Is this really bapak borek anak rintik routine or the sort of the black sheep of the family proverbial status?

Anwar Ibrahim (pic below) is BACK in the House of Common aka Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara in the Parliament as he took his oath today. Lim Kit Siang, the DAP leader made his welcoming comment telling the press, "with the success of the second political tsunami in Permatang Pauh and the coming of the 'Titanic' next time ...". The PM, Datuk Seri Pak Lah however made a point that such a comeback will not affect BN position as the ruling party. The "bubbly-mouth" Information Minister also made a statement that the by-election in Permatang Pauh was nothing much but a shelf-life key decision point of PKR party itself suggesting that it was merely another 5-year hold by another PKR leader after Datuk Wan Azizah (PKR president and wife of Anwar) resignation as its MP there.

Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim swearing (not pun intended, seriously!) in Dewan Rakyat
photo source: Berita Harian

A Dewan Rakyat assistant secretary placing Anwar's nameplate on the front row opposition bloc facing the PM. I honestly think Anwar should carry with him enough painkiller supply throughout his dewan rakyat appearance. Or perhaps the PM (and some few loyal BN MPs) should install Ogawa's mobile back-massager seat cushion while he is at it. Photo source: The Star

I better fill up my car at a 15 sen cheaper petrol/litre or should I keep my fingers crossed for another 50 sen plunge?

Ramadhan Al-Mubarak wishes to everyone who reads or stumbles upon this humble blog.

Lighten your head up during Olympic Beijing

2008-08-19T14:18:00.000+08:00

Can't help sharing this funny joke found from TennisPlanet. If you feel offended, chow ngan ba cha!

Hmmm...why is this sudden cravings for nasi ayam hainan ha?

Busy happening months July-August

2008-08-16T18:17:00.002+08:00

First it was my birthday last month: celebrated nearly 4 times..... One with family, second with close friend Hana, third with MJ and fourth a more of combination of birthdays, leaving do and thanksgiving for our clerk's promotion kinda party that was organized by our tutor Darman who is now on study leave doing his PhD in Newcastle University, England and Hidayat the department clerk.

Then I was hooked on Wimbledon which saw a new champion, Rafael Nadal who outwittted and outshone Roger Federer twice on two Grand Slam tournament this year: Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

It was followed by my hectic days at work, addicted to Scramble! in Facebook, and weekenders with MJ and his cousin.

Now the once in four year summer Olympic in Beijing. We saw world class athletes breaking records after records like Michael Phelps in swimming competitions who made 6 so far.... With a cool theme: One world One dream, i dunno whether it sends chills to America with that one powerful theme signal from China. Right at the moment, China is dominating the medal standings and they just keep on getting better and better.

Some of the pictures which captures the essence of July-August:

1. It is a Macademia white chocolate cake. First time trying it and it should be the last. I'd say stick with those chocolate ones from Secret Recipe

2. The traditional candle lights...

3. One weekend sojourn in Cherating beautiful beach

4. View nearby our room in cherating

5. A friend of mine on her nikah day.

6. Wimbledon 2008 champions: Rafael Nadal and Venus Williams

Latest news is Malaysian own Lee Chong Wei will go to final in Badminton Men Single and Malaysia will surely be adding either silver or gold to our zero so far medal standing. And Rafael Nadal will play against Fernando Gonzales in the Tennis Men Single Final.

Sodomy....is it a political thing now?

Masih Ada Yang Sayang Padaku....

2008-07-03T13:58:00.001+08:00

And so the day has come....

Mama and Baba

Big Smile on a Morning Cruise down Musi River, Palembang

This is the time of the year where the number of my age changes. Obviously it is increasing but I am very grateful to God nonetheless for all His blessings and that I am still alive and kicking.

I made a new change today. I woke up rather early and had an early breakfast, a sahur really. I intended to make a puasa sunat (optional fasting) today while observing Rajab. I have never fasted on a day like this before. I reckon I want to try something new and at the same time it gives me some sort of peace and serenity in a spiritual way. It was not a good day in 2006 and in 2007 it didn't fare much either anyhow. And so I hope my luck will get better this year. One thing for sure, my little but took a year rift with my mother has gone into patching up mode and we are rekindling the mother-daughter relationship steadily. Yet, I went from cheerful to less friendly with a certain people in my family too that includes sisters and inlaws. But I am very much at peace this year so far (inshallah, by God's will) than the previous (sometimes rocky, sometimes stifling, sometimes boring) 2 years.

I pray that I will keep on getting better and better, fitter, smarter and wiser each year.

And for this day, I pray that my wishes will come true. Ameen.

Baba's prediction on Euro2008

2008-06-30T11:55:00.003+08:00

Faces of extreme joy and happiness....

Fernando Torres: the goal scorer

Fernando Torres again

Iker Casillas: the goalkeeper

Photo source: Euro2008

Baba was SPOT ON with his early prediction telling us that Spain will win 1-0 over Germany.

And I was....ummm...had one correct prediction too, even though i was 50-50 on which team will win but i had the gut feelings that Fernando Torres will score.

Felicitacion to them Spaniards for winning the coveted Henri Delaunay UEFA Euro2008 Cup hence the European Football Champion!!!

Terbang sang helang bebas

2008-06-24T19:01:00.000+08:00

What to do when the flight is so full, and people, mostly males in their midlife crisis ages sleeping and snoring and making all sort of gurgling the frog-in-the-throat sounds......? Not feeling like reading, I resorted to taking photos of clouds as the plane cruised by. I couldnt help but wondering with great amazement the beautiful panoramic views of clouds in variety of shapes and forms.

Aren't they awesome those clouds? One of God's greatest wonder, these clouds looked as if they just float around the earth and soon they will be carrying massive amount of fluid to be released as rain showers. Whether they are released in massive amounts or just drizzles of water from the sky, the clouds provide some sort of a shield from direct sun rays hence the natural UV protector.

Sometimes I wish I can fly like an eagle (helang) flying and soaring across the boundary-less skies looking with razor sharp eyes for some wonderful destinations to land and still look majestic (and fit) as ever.

Photoblog Labuan II

2008-06-23T16:48:00.001+08:00

Fancy devouring fresh succulent crab the Labuan, Borneo way? I am already drooling just thinking of it again....those mouthwatering tender crab flesh cooked in 3 flavours: butter, sweet&sour and black pepper sauce. It's been a while since I claw deep inside the crab shell to scour those sweet, white flesh and cracking their legs to suck those extra sweet juicy fleshes.....I can still taste them in my mouth....hmmmm.....spanking gorgeous....simply delicious....

Feast your eyes on these photos:

The moment we set eyes on the dishes laid before us on a one-day in advance order. Otherwise, nangessss la tak mmmerassaa....It is so much in demand this Anjung Ketam restaurant by the sea, even the seating pun kena booking in advance.

Three hungry ladies, well, the one on the left was probably the hungriest one, just look at her hands on the table, couldnt wait to grab those yummy looking crabs. Table manners? fugeddaboutit.

That lady had to control ayu while her tummy already berkeroncong and she had to swallow those drrrrooooling saliva. Picture taken on the night mode hence the slightly fuzzy result. Nevertheless it added the AYU-ness on her.

Where are the other 3 people??!!!! Kitorang dah lapar gilerrrrrrrr.....

Just before we began our dinner. Bye bye crabbie, kami mahu melantak!

Photoblog Labuan I

2008-06-23T16:29:00.000+08:00

Alang-alang dah upload photos into the PC I pun nak share those photos I took in Labuan recently:

The view from the Labuan Square. That white building is Grand Dorset hotel where i stayed.

Another view from the Labuan Square, this time we can see a rooftop grand stand facing the main road.

Flags of Malaysia encompassing 13 states and one federation state.Apparently Labuan is also a Federal state besides Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya

Some history lesson during the WW2

Australia involvement in the WW2 history.

What can you find in Jakarta

2008-06-22T19:12:00.004+08:00

Jakarta, either you love it or you just had to be there for a meeting somewhere in the capital of Indonesia.

I found these in Jakarta:

If you have just landed in Jakarta and waiting for your baggages to arrive on the conveyor belt, you will be greeted by a "komodo dragon".

A view of Istora Senayan, where the infamous Thomas Cup is held, from Hotel Mulia Senayan

Wonder why they got that red hot stiletto stuck under an escalator...

If you are not sleeping on your way to Bandung from Jakarta, you can see this beautiful aquaduct shape of a railway track.

You will see loadsa these handsome and artistic wooden doll carvings in a souvenir shop. Very Javanese.

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It's gonna be 10 years since I made my 1 month backpacking with my close mate Yana around Europe and one of the things that I will never forget is the day I met my friend , Feco (Ference Szekeres) (his latest pic below )on the train en route to Budapest in Hungary.

Our friendship is as strong as ever as it was on the day we met. We still keep in touch now and then and we miss each other the same. A simple fella, he "transmorphes" from a hetero turned homo turned bisexual and now back to hetero again. Quite a psychedelic sex life he had but he is very much monogamous.

We share each other's intimate stories including who we date and all. We have never judged each other from the sexual orientation to the religion beliefs as well as what we profess. We only met again once in 2003 during those few months he turned gay. He came to visit me in London with his former boyfriend.

2003 Bognor Regis trip with Feco, his former boyfriend Dolphy and me

We never stop hoping to see each other again. The day we met and the day we bid our farewells in London, we continuously sealing our friendship with a feeling so sincere sans any sexual tension between us - very much like brother-sister or very close friends feelings.

Shopping udang in Labuan

2008-06-18T19:16:00.000+08:00

Greetings from Labuan. This is my first ever visit to Labuan on a working trip.

What can I say about Labuan? I will do this later but at least, and i think so too, and unashamed to say so that I am fortunate to stay at their "bestest" hotel: Grand Dorset Hotel (formerly known as Sheraton Hotel Labuan).

Thank you Halliburton and Schlumberger Labuan site plants for their warm welcome.

Tak lupa a special thanks to Suriati, Petronas process engineer, one of the main ladies at Petronas Methanol Labuan. A 1st class student of UKM breed, cepat laaa tackle minah nih (hurry on, go and get to know her)....! She's one cool and sporty lady i tell ya.

OK laa , I am off to dinner at Anjung Ketam......

THE BLOODY FUEL PRICE HIKE

2008-06-04T19:32:00.001+08:00

I dont care who broke what record, or Mawi's pure intentions to get engaged and wed in one 7-day 7 night ceremony....

BUT THE OIL PRICE IS NOW RM 2.70!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHAT A FUCKING CUT-THROAT THIS IS

All they care is to rise the oil price hence all the other consumable products.....and then other goods will increase in tandem as all are related to oil and transportation and energy.

BUT what do they care about the public facility upgrades???????

ASSHOLES.....the whole lots...tak kisa laa sapa2 pon....pakatan ka barisan kaa.....u are all well off and we the RAKYAT are getting poorer, and totally stressed out!!!!!!!!!

Before those people decided on the oil price hike (bloody american assholes for creating all those wars and global destruction, yeah blame it on the muslims they say, but they are forcing the saudis to pump million gallons of oil for them, so who the fucked up one?)

OK, before they decided on increasing the petrol price by 40% (78 sen higher than the current price of RM1.92/litre ....ok litre not per gallon you assholesssssssss), they should:

Provide very efficient public transport system! I heard loadsa buses tersadai unused, why is that so??? bloody idiots dont know that there are places outside KL , or what????? Improve the public transportation across the whole nation just like UK. OK sorry i cant compare with many other more efficient countries like germany and japan because I have lived in the UK for quite some time (nearly 8 years). Once u have upgraded the public transportation system, you will see that I will be one of the frequent users to go to UKM on bus this time. INI TIDAK, ada ka same shabby crappy old bus minis u provide in BBBangi?????? ade la a few intrakota /rapid kl around but that was it.....no bus schedules, no proper bus route map.....mangkok ayon sialanssssss........I am not ashamed to take commute on bus to work but please provide much better vehicles up the global standard with better bus passes and so on!
Build loads and loads of car parks for us to park and ride so we can leave our cars and take the train/bus/etc whichever viable to our workplace.
Increase our SALARY first, before thinking of the price hike!
If u wanna increase the oil price, do so by at least adding 10 sen for another 3-5 months or so
Dont bullshit us with all the crappy subsidy thingies.....and dont compare with those in singapore (they dont have their own oil reservoir) and thailand too...compare with Brunei and the better countries like Saudi Arabia and so on....and yes, please , stop exporting our oil, rice and so on....tka reti bahasa ke, kita sini menderita, OK...
Stop asking people to send SMS to all those shitty AF and what nots....and if u insist, it must be of the same local SMS value i.e. 10 sen per sms or so....
REduce the mentris allowances....
Why hike the price when at the end of the day, it's the oil company who will get more and more net profit per year???????? what the fuck is this? some bloody ironic?
AND SO MUCH MORE...I AM BLOODY EMOTIONAL RIGHT NOW, SO I THINK I BETTER GO COOK FOR DINNER OR SOMETHING.

Having said that, I now should:

Drive at slower speed and try not to go higher than 100kmh unless emergency case. I will drive like i am so bloody in love and delusional and high....from 60kmh to 80kmh to work....
Thats about it

I shudder at the thought of how many idiots we have in the government seats who are not visionary but materialistic to the last core.

I see hundreds ok!!! hundreds of cars queuing at the nearby petrol stations to fill up their tank so that they wont suffer the next day price hike.

I am so bloody angry everytime i think of how shitty is the commuter train service...getting stranded for no apparent reason just because the innercity commuter trains share railtracks with the national trains and carrier trains.....where has all the money gone per year if not upgrading the nation's public amenities??????

Apologies if u read this but I am so pissed off!

Malaysian Men Selfish in Bed Part Deux

2008-06-01T22:32:00.005+08:00

I have just came back from a trip to Sungai Petani, Kedah attending a close friend's wedding. They say there is always a first time for everything, and so let me list down a few things i did/ experienced for the first time during the weekend sojorn:

It was my 1st time using MAS local flight from KLIA to Alor Setar. My first local travel par avion was on AirAsia KL LCCT-Langkawi in 2006
I witnessed for the very first time three nikah ceremonies held at one session in a local masjid in Sungai Petani. The kadhi took turn to conduct the nikah for 3 couples and my friend was the last one to be wedded.
I did my first bridesmaid job to a friend. The first one i did was during my 3rd sister's wedding at the inlaw greeting ceremony (majlis menyambut menantu) at her husband's place.
I bumped into that angkasawan negara, SMS and he was NOT ALL THAT. I was never really one of his hoard of admirers across the nation but I admired his guts on accepting the challenges and national aspiration to see a Malaysian son making his debut trip to the International Space Station on Soyuz space shuttle from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. Although he has the good boyish looks, he was far from a manly man....I could go on and on dissing about this fella yang a'la macam bagus as if the whole nation must idolize him for the rest of his life. I used to minat2 actors, singers and all that when i was much2 younger. These days, I no longer felt THAT urge to really meet just any celebrity, but I dont mind seeing them and communicating with them, and I would most probably select who I feel like talking to. And this SMS, dah la dalam TV cakap hafal script which was SO BLOODY boring, he managed to keep his oh-i-am-so-important look no matter how hard he tried to wear a humility face. Or maybe he only saves it during majlis dgn budak2 sekolah, universities and during meetings with VVVIPs, VVIPs and VIPs...
The day before my outward journey to Sungai Petani (i.e. Thursday), I saw Ustaz Farid Ravi at KLIA . Now, he is one man I could feel the charismatic aura. Standing much taller than SMS and I personally think he is one goodlooking indian muslim man, I found myself humbled at his presence. Had i not busy sending my parents to the UK to attend my second brother's graduation in Dublin, I would go and greet that man myself.
I asked one MAS pilot on my way to the KLIA arrival hall on who's responsible for the flight mechanical checking prior to taking off as well as passenger on-board. He told me that both the pilot and the aeronautics engineers would do a 20-minute routine check-up on the external aeroplane body to ensure that there is no faulty on the body as well as the engines. The reason to my curiosity was that while waiting to board the plane, it only took like 20 minutes between passengers getting off and those who are boarding in. It felt like a coach trip for me as I began to wonder about the (mechanical) safety aspect of the flight. As i listened to the pilot's very brief explanation, it amazed me knowing that by using all those special illumination based equipment (infra red, gamma-ray,that sort) and some other gadgets, they could save plenty of time. Our short conversation ended as soon as i saw SMS walking ahead of me on the passenger conveyor belt.
I left my car parked at the airport roofed parking lot for more than 24 hours for the first time ever. The day before the journey, and knowing that it was a 2-day-1-night journey, I was estimating which one would be more economical: to book a KLIA Limo return journey which would cost me around RM110 or to leave my car at the parking lot where the first 24 hour charge is Rm 43.00 followed by RM3.5o for the 1st hour, and reduced to Rm2.00 or so the following hour. After a quick mental calculation, I decided that for this particular journey, I chose to park the car at the airport itself. The next day, upon my arrival, i went to pay my parking charges at the slot machine and I was right on the money-saving part as I only had to pay RM66.00.

I will add the wedding pictures soon.

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Here are a list of excerpts of the comments on Malaysian Men being selfish in bed:

Typhoon Sue:

diaorg (Durex) interview saper selama nih? how could they use the word "so-and-so percentage of Malaysians" when so few of us actually take part in the surveys? I know for a fact i'm not accounted for in the 25%,.. errr... 75%... , err... whatever...

Ruby Ahmad:

I agree with Typhoon Sue...he he. I pun belum pernah kena interview...aper daa? LOL!

Ms Istanbul:

Well said Manal. But u know this stats, since it covers just above 1k of the population, we wouldnt know whether it is exactly representative. Well, unless they interviewed the urbanites and if they clearly are not satisfied,surely something must be done by the men.

But I pun tak pernah kena interview. Could be more biased. *LOL* We women love to compare what. As I mentioned to U.Lee some time ago, men and women are like wine. The older they get, the finer they become (and hence it applies to my taste of men). *winks*

Uncle Lee:

However, I do agree the fact that work, children, financial worries, in-laws or out-laws next room can be a put off....and this applies to Hong Kong where most of the population stay in two room apartments or stay with parents.
Also applies to Japan, Tokyo where homes are expensive and whole families live together. I have good friends, of both species who keeps me informed, ha ha.
From my point of view and strictly my personal opinion and experiences...I will add or point to some of the many reasons why sexual fulfillment is or not often achieved....
Apart from what I mentioned above,....
Not in sequence:
1/ self hygiene can contribute to a certain extent to bedroom failures. Applicable both species.
2/Unless its a relationship in beginning stages, its all moonlight and roses, but after one kid, things go on cruise control.
3/ There is no real bed room chats, I mean real intimate chats between him and her. HE must initiate it.
4/ Where sex is concerned, most couples, married or otherwise tend to have fun and in less than 15 minutes, game over, with or without fireworks with one partner.
5/ Before marriage, both parties are at their best. 4 months into a relationship, both parties are relaxed in dressing, and things slow down. This applies very strongly when after marriage, first kid arrives.
6/ Wife or husband tired from work or kids, and do 'it' as a kind of duty.
I can go one with more, but will potong to one of THE MAIN contributions of sexual failure to a man, as well to a woman. In this matter, I first blame the man, and then the woman.
To me personally, it is a sin to have everything over and done with in less than 20 minutes!
Every man, every woman at some time or other will have or have sexual fantasies. Either with neighbours wife, daughter or Salma Hayek. She? With Ken Watanabe or Sean Connery or Daniel Craig, new 007.
I have not met or know a woman who has not had sexual fantasies, at one time or another or daily.
But one of THE BIGGEST sexual failure contributor is, bedroom intimate chats.
Most men, believe it or not are shy. 85% of my male friend are (according to their wives).
And most women CAN be conservative especially if strong mother influence, she who lives in the past before there were footsteps on the moon.
This is where the man MUST TAKE the initiative.
Seduction techniques must come into play here.
Teasing before, light touches, compliments to her to begin with.
Being adventurous.
AND! Once she is in the mood, never ever slam bang, thank you ma'am should be executed.
I believe that applies to Hollywood movies only.
Tease and enquire, ask, find out what she likes, enjoys most? Quite a lot of women will be too shy to expose herself to saying what SHE REALLY LIKES OR ENJOYS. Thus..HE should first tell her by complimenting her first, that he loves her very much and her beauty makes HIM want to do things to her. That only by engaging in certain activities he WILL enjoy her beauty.
Encourage, motivate, tittilate her till she confesses or confides.
However, there are women who are very conservative will not, dare not, do not want to be adventurous, thus the man has to apply some Ninjalogy here, ha ha.
Sex is just not a slam bang, thank you ma'am exercise....it should involve A LOT OF foreplay, and I mean the kind of foreplay that leaves a woman gasping till she puts up a white flag...
And by that knowing the fact a man is different to a woman, where she is capable of having multiple orgasms, HE a one time only....thus, he MUST ensure she achieves hers, and not once but several times if he knows she is a multiple person.
Not all women are multiples...a lot are singles, *wink*. Somehow I find Libra persons are more often than not, *wink*.
And, the only way HE CAN make her achieve the above is by being VERY adventurous, treating the final act of sex as THE gran finale...but the first hour or so as 'coming attraction' like in movies showing what is coming next.
There are many ways of making a woman achieve VERY EXPLOSIVE orgasms, leaving her breathless and even semi conscious.
A true lover, the man I mean must take the fact that if she does not cry out for the US Marines or imitate the mating call of a Canadian Timber wolf, he has failed.
Get a woman to achieve an explosive orgasm where the earth stops moving, birds start to sing, the bed does a rock and roll and maybe the neighbours wondering who getting choked, and if he is a bachelor, his reputation MIGHT spread, if a married man. he sure going to get those sly, sexy looks from the wife next morning, plus a good, hefty breakfast too.
To me, it all boils down to foreplay and being VERY ADVENTUROUS, a real Indiana Jones or a 007 in bed. And to take a woman's explosive cry when she arrives at Nirvana as the ultimate gold medal in sex.
Where I am concerned, my young days I mean, I start the teasing on the 3rd date. Never on 1st date, she'll think I only want her for sex. (sure I do, but I never rush things. A gentleman never does.)
The moment an opportunity arises, I will tell her teasingly that her beauty, her figure makes me have ALL KINDS of fantasies.
I will ensure what I say to her will gurantee a respond with a flirtatios hand brush on her hair, a cheeky or sexy look and her response, "tell me".
And that as incik Sherlock said once, "elementary, my dear Watson".

Sweet jasmine:

wow...manal...what a hot topic here....but i guess I had not much to add here....with all the advise given by the 'love doctor'lee here....on the making of a true lover.......

So to all husbands, lovers, boyfriends....get some sex education

Madam Curi:

wow.......hot this is hot. I wonder who are the people being interviewed. No one ever interviews me.

KC:

since when married couples have orgasm...hahahahaha!

The Pisces Man:

You know Durex's survey always tend to create some controversy over their findings.

Anywya, they have a factory at my hometown. I once answered and submitted their questionnaire, with an expectation that my contribution would appreciated by them giving me a free gift. But the gift never arrived.

So, if they can't fulfill a simple promise to a customer, can we rely on them on such small-scale surveys? Hehheee..

Hmmmm..... orgasm...orgasm.. hard to say, hard to get, sometimes easy to get but most of the times, too tired or hard to find the time to get one! Ahak ahakkk... (not saying this represents me ok ;ppp)

Sir Cipan:

I found that one of the best foreplay scenario is to start on your woman when she's yakking away happily on the phone ...

And the reason why some couples fail to hit the moon is because they're rushing/anxious to get there.

Rule No 1 to Good Sex - relax
Rule No 2 - be playful
Rule No 3 - use your imagination.

Mel Ija:

I LOVE the topic. Even before you brought it up, I read it in the paper already. Kind a sad isn't it? That it just had to be applied to the Eastern people.

Now orgasm.. hhmm.. I tend to agree to what your friend U.Lee seems to say. To me, Asian men just wants to get it over and done very quickly. It's ok if their partners do not achieve orgasm, but they MUST achieve orgasms. To me, not fair lah kan. You have to make your partner happy too. It can't be one-sided. I have a friend (married for abour 5 months now), and she has NEVER achieved orgasm. And she really wants to know how it feels. Kesian dia. To her, sex is just about pleasing the men, in this case, her husband. When she does it, she can't wait for the thing to end. She sometimes count the minutes. To her, that thing is especially designed for the men. I pity her for feeling that way. And she just got married, some more. And NO kids. Pity kan..

Zewt:

think malaysian men are too busy working... till late at night... where got power to go all the way?

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Are Malaysian Men Getting more Selfish in Bed?

2008-05-02T14:19:00.002+08:00

The Star today has one most viewed article that (how obvious) has made me itchy to copy-paste (how normal these days considering I am like chock-a-block, almost totally inundated with piles of work to do!!) it to my blog.

It says a LOT on Malaysian men as well as the oriental and those in the far east. Although it could be taken out of perspective as, and I reckon so, those fellas might have been blushing to the reddest, bluest or even palest maybe when "interrogated"....or was it actually the ladies that have been willingly participating in the survey that has led to a rather dismal percentage on the account of failing to reach their orgasm, hence the grouses....I dunno....But I dont think men here (and anywhere on earth in general including those who are dwelling somewhere in the north pole and in the midst of the desert unless they are bed-ridden, dying, or handicapped that rendered them powerless) really have problem getting it off with or without their partners. Therefore, this 44% result was presumably obtained based on the ladies' opinions implying rather implicitly their disappointments.

Have a go at the article below to get more details:

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Plenty of sex but for many, it’s not all the way

PETALING JAYA: Malaysians are having lots of sex but they just do not seem to be enjoying it all that much.

While last year’s Durex Sexual Wellbeing Global Survey said four in five Malaysians were having sex on a weekly basis – this year’s results reveals that only 44% of Malaysians managed to achieve orgasm every time they have sex.

However, Singaporeans fare worse. Only 36% usually manage to feel the earth move, according to the survey’s latest report entitled “The Big O”.

Gender-wise, 62% of Malaysian males almost always reach climax during sex while women get a raw deal – only 25% almost always achieving orgasm.

The survey also found that 86% of Malaysians who frequently had orgasm feel sexually at ease with themselves while 60% of those who regularly came to a climax also enjoyed good psychological health.

Globally, the leaders are the Italians, Spaniards, Mexicans and South Africans who are most likely to climax every time with 66% usually managing to hit the spot.

Least likely to achieve an orgasm are the Chinese and people from Hong Kong (both 24%), followed closely by the Japanese (27%).

Reproductive and sexual health specialist, Dr Mohd Ismail Mohd Tambi, said that while orgasms are not the be all and end all of sex, regularly achieving orgasms improves emotional and overall well-being.

“If you want to have an orgasm, it is important that you surrender yourself to the good feelings you are experiencing. Relaxation is crucial.”

Dr Mohd Ismail said work worries should also be left outside the bedroom as couples needed to have protected and uninterrupted time.

Globally, eight in 10 people who frequently have orgasm felt close to their partner during sex.

The survey was conducted among 26,000 people in 26 countries of which 1,026 were Malaysians.

They were questioned on key aspects of their sex lives such as health, education, beliefs, attitudes to sex and social circumstances.

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What would that say about the Malaysian males? Any particular thought you have in mind?

I shall leave it at this point coz i am sooooo tied up with works, preparing presentation for weekend workshop, and etc.

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By the way, the former Malaysia premier, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has created his own blog too : www.chedet.com. His daughter already has one: Rantings by Marina Mahathir and it has already reached over one million hits. With over 75% of this country's population enjoying the direct internet access and the recent political tsunami that has spread across the nation, it is without a doubt that blogging in Malaysia has become a powerful media tool in conveying messages and news (not to mention some propaganda as well). More and more politicians have started their own blog including the former Selangor menteri besar, Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo (click here).

30-something single women: independence, and endearing integrity

2008-04-26T16:31:00.000+08:00

I have got like A LOT to say about 30 something single women especially in malaysia and asia but right now, let me share with you an article from The Star:

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The mindset of modern Muslimah

Weekender talks to four Muslim women who challenge the preconceptions about their religion.

By ROSE YASMIN KARIM

Countless films and literary works have been made to unveil the Muslim woman – but no, you don’t get many happy stories. More often than not, the women are relegated to the role of damsel under duress.

Muslim women aren’t homogenous, though. Some devoutly observe the pillars of Islam, others observe as many as they can and there are those who don’t at all.

Some leave nothing but their eyes uncovered, others wear brightly patterned pashminas, jeans, cropped jackets and tank tops. Some are still in shackles, others are done being rescued.

Four thirtysomething women share their views on being Muslim:

Sara Takieddin, 32
Freelance audio engineer/sound designer/musician
(www.mp3.com.au/sara)
Annual income: RM29,540
Damascus, Syria

A talented musician and devout Muslimah (Muslim woman), Sara is one woman who seems to have it all. Her music has been played at a church service in the US, an occasion she proudly cites as one of her highest accomplishments.

“It’s the most amazing thing because it shows that Muslims and Christians can coexist,” says Sara who dabbles in a fusion of different genres like rock and New Age.

“Lately, I’ve been into Islamic themes, with a twist of the New Age. My musical creations are inspired by Thikr (remembrance of Allah). I am also influenced by music from Evanescence, Carol King, Loreena McKennitt, Toshihiko Sahashi, Dawud Wharnsby Ali and Zara, just to name a few,” adds the musician who plays the keyboard and guitar.

Sara works from home, and her day begins in the wee hours while most are still tucked under their bed covers. Music is not her sole passion, though.

“Whenever I get the chance, I work with Palestinian refugees. Other than that, when there is war, I’d aid the refugees, for instance, in the Israeli war against Lebanon. I also volunteered to help the environment and plant trees. I sometimes offer my audio engineering skills if it is for the benefit of Islam,” says Sara.

Sara obtained her diploma in audio engineering from SAE Institute Malaysia.

“One thing I appreciate is variety, and Malaysia has a lot of that,” says Sara, who’s planning to spend her honeymoon here.

On what’s it’s like to be a woman in Syria, Sara says women, regardless of religion, have the freedom to do whatever they want as long it does not contradict social norms.

“However, this only applies when she’s single. The moment a women gets hitched, she loses a big chunk of her freedom and individuality, although I notice there seems to be an awakening within the newer generation. Women are treated equally – roughly. Salary-wise, it’s comparable.

“In Syria, I don’t think women are given all her Islamic rights, because the male-dominant culture is repackaged and labelled as Islam. In Islam, women enjoy certain privileges which men are deprived of. The man is responsible for the complete maintenance of his wife and family. All financial burdens are borne by him alone.

“In contrast, women have no financial responsibilities whatsoever, except for her personal expenses – for instance, should she wish to own luxurious things. She is also free to retain whatever she possesses before marriage,” Sara states.

Sara’s love life also mirrors her faith in Islam.

“I wouldn’t get involved in a relationship where I’m uncertain marriage is the aim. I’d rather have my family enquire about the man to determine whether he is a good person,” she says

If she is attracted to someone, Sara’s modus operandi is to get a third person to talk to the guy. This was how Sara and her fiance met.

“I told a friend to find a potential husband for me, and he did. Both of us already knew each other but had no idea the other was looking. Now we’re in love and soon to be married,” she reveals.

“After my partner and I tie the knot this June, we will be relocating to Los Angeles, California.”

In April 2005, Sara began to wear the hijab (head scarf).

“When I totally grasped the wisdom behind Islam’s command of wearing the hijab, I knew I couldn’t bear myself not wearing it,” she says.

When Sara needs to unwind, she enjoys soaking in her Jacuzzi.

“If I badly need to unwind, I read the Qur’an,” says this plucky lass who enjoys globe-trotting solo.

“I’ve been to Canada, Egypt, Lebanon, Switzerland, the UK and US. Next on my travel list is Turkey. I’ve been wanting to go there for a long time.”

Elham Gholami, 30
Customer Service Executive
Annual income: RM31,417
Tehran, Iran

Today, very few Muslim countries adhere to the Islamic ideal in their treatment of women and place restrictions on women, something that has no grounds in the Quran, or the hadith, the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad,” says Elham.

“Women are accorded different rights and privileges depending on the government and customs in the area,” she opines.

“Pakistani women have political rights but are often exploited by men. Saudi women have no public role, yet they are extremely protected by their families and government and are offered dowries, often very high ones, and are entitled to keep their own wealth,” says Elham.

“In Iran, it’s somewhere in the middle.

“Not everything Muslims do is based on religious principles. In its original state, Islam gave women privileges and didn’t impose double standards upon them.

“Muslim women are entitled to inheritance, and allowed to choose or refuse prospective husbands. But in some Muslim countries, their rights have been taken away.

“In Iran, we are free to educate ourselves and seek jobs, but we have to cover up, and this is a strict ruling especially in offices and universities. Still, to me, it is bearable,” she shrugs.

The Quran, says Elham, teaches that men and women are equal.

“The only thing that makes one person better than the other is his or her character. Islamic legislation has given women unprecedented status, even if some don’t always live up to these standards,” says Elham, who is optimistic about the future for women in Iran.

“It’s improving and I’m certain that conditions will get much better.”

When she’s not working, Elham paints and does yoga.

“A big portion of my salary goes towards fees for these classes. I attend yoga lessons twice a week and painting class once a week. I’ve been staying in the same house with my family for over 20 years, but I don’t know my neighbours very well.

“Before a girl marries, she must also obtain her father’s approval,” says Elham who is still single.

“I’m lucky my father allows me to do what I like, and I’m free to marry the man of my choice, as long as he is Muslim.”

Dating in Iran is frowned upon.

“A man and woman who date are punished, but a lot of young people do it although it is forbidden.”

Amina Jamal, 36
Sales manager
Annual income: RM 14,767
Lahore, Pakistan

What is it like to be the only female in a multinational company?

“It’s not easy but it’s interesting,” says Amina.

“At times, my male colleagues don’t take me seriously, which is exasperating. I lead a team of 14, and some of the men under me have problems taking orders from a lady boss.”

Her colleagues are like an extended family to her.

“Half the time we are arguing about one thing or another, but it’s normally all in good spirit. I enter the workplace on my own terms and I am grateful to Allah and my family for it. If it wasn’t for my mother’s support, I would not have been able to work nights or at odd hours,” she explains.

Amina’s previous employment was with an American company, and her hours were from 5pm to 3am.

“The company’s clients are in New Zealand and Australia, thus the late shift. I didn’t get to see much of my family then. Now my hours are more reasonable. I start work at 2pm and leave the office by 10pm,” she says.

Amina’s family is used to not having her around when breaking fast during Ramadhan and celebrating Eid.

“They’re accustomed to it as it has been that way for the past seven years,” she says.

Amina says she enjoys dining out and trying new eateries.

“I have been to all the restaurants in Lahore and whenever a new one opens, I make a beeline for it with my friends. A highly recommended place for good food is at Mirchi on M M Alam Road. In the old city of Lahore, Cuku’s Cafe is worth a visit.

“If you eat on the topmost floor in the evening, you will get a breathtaking view of Badshahi Mosque across the road. The food is brought from neighbouring roadside restaurants and pulled up using a pulley system.”

Pakistan, Amina argues, has surpassed even the US in gender equality, in that it has had a female head of state.

“Women are allowed to drive, vote, attend co-educational universities and hold paying jobs,” she adds. However, there are areas where Pakistan’s treatment of women isn’t very Islamic.

“Women have no control over their own property and are usually accorded minimal dowries. The norm is that the bride’s family has to provide all sorts of gifts to the husband and his family,” she says. Because of this, a large number of girls aren’t married.

“Men in Pakistan prefer prospective brides to be well-off in order to get high dowries. These women are the ones more likely to get married.

“In Islam, the man is supposed to be the provider of his family. Women are not obliged to go out and earn. If she wants to, she can do so, provided the job does not jeopardise her sanctity, honour and grace. Around 20% of the labour force is female.

“Women are also employed in the armed forces, are members of National and Provincial assemblies and are made ministers. In very traditional areas though, women are dominated by men because of ignorance and illiteracy.

So what does Amina look for in a guy?

“He has to be educated, open-minded and financially strong,” says the holder of a master’s degree in English.

“I like reading books on contemporary religion, Islam, philosophy, history, biographies, comics and poetry. For ear candy, I enjoy bhangra, rock and roll, disco, Latin, and folk music.

“I like Red Earth products. My make-up staples are lipstick and eyeliner. When I go out, I put on brightly coloured shalwar kameez, the national dress of Pakistan.”

Amina has heard so much about Malaysia through her friends.

“They like it and say it is a modern country. I’m eager to visit it one day."

Nour Farouk Lambaz, 30
Archivist
Annual income: RM48,705
Amman, Jordan

Jordanian Nour has accumulated quite a number of stamps on her passport.

“I’ve travelled to Egypt, France, Germany, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, UK and US,” she says.

“Next on my travel list are Brazil, Croatia, Czech Republic, Iran, Italy, Lebanon and Mauritius.”

For the last 26 years Nour has been living with her family in a housing complex for Royal Jordanian Airlines employees in Amman. Her father is an artist and mother a teacher.

“When my family and I first moved here, the location seemed so far out. Now, Amman is growing rapidly and it no longer feels inaccessible. I like the area because it feels safe,” says Nour whose mother is Turkish and father Jordanian.

“My parents are practising Muslims. Both pray, fast, give zakat (alms) and perform the Haj. I try my best to pray five times a day, but I give out zakat, fast and hope that I too, God willing, will get to go to Mecca and fulfil the Haj one day.”

An archivist in a pan-Arab company, Nour is a stickler for detail.

“Because of the amount of sorting and listing I do, I’m trained to be organised and logical,” says Nour.

When she’s not busy cataloguing records and doing research, Nour treats herself to massages, facials, horseback riding, going on hikes and driving her car with some good music on.

“Horse riding classes are expensive, but it's worth every penny! I love the feeling when you're one with the horse. It makes me feel strong and able to go anywhere”

Nour has also been practising yoga for the past eight years.

“Yoga makes me stretch muscles I never knew existed,” says Nour who graduated from the University of Jordan with a Bachelor's degree in English Language and Literature.

In May this year, Nour will be getting married and she will be coming to Kuala Lumpur for her honeymoon.

“My family has given their consent. Although I make the final decision as to whom I marry, their opinion matters to me,” she says.

Speaking on the position of Muslim women, she says, “In most cases, when Muslim women are oppressed, it is by their men who are not very good Muslims. So it’s not Islam. Islam is a very fair and beautiful religion. It is the reason pagan Arabs became scholars at one point. It is the reason girls stopped being buried alive.

“In Jordan, we are moderate Muslims. But Muslim women, as well as Christian women, play a secondary role. Women are usually busy bringing up children. Men are the providers,” she explains.

Nour feels motherhood is one of the most important roles in society.

“Competent mothers who can run a warm and welcoming home and raise a family of happy, confident and well-disciplined children are becoming increasingly hard to come by.”

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Where 30-something single men failed, the women are just on the uprising. Single men in their 30s especially in Malaysia, and more specifically, Malays, seem likely to lose their self-esteem when it comes to thinking of settling down. Although there are still many typical 30-something ladies who have also given up on the whole marriage and family idea, I have met more and more of them who have liberated themselves from conforming to the society and become what they should be. Many of them are still hoping that they will be having their own family and so on, but they have gained so much, experience and what nots that the Malay men are getting intimidated by the uprising power and prowess displayed by the women.

I find it strange too, judging from my own experience how low one 30 plus man's confidence compared to when they reach their so-called peak between 22 to 29. They (and so those typical malaysian ladies) have been setting in their mind that marriage and having family begin only when one is in their 20s. And if these 30plus malay men decided to marry, they will only look for those much, much younger girls and their female peers no longer in their quest list. So stupid some of them to think that women can only bear child when they are 29 and younger. A woman who has never given birth before would start to have some difficulties to conceive when they reach 40. However, with modern hi-tech medical and bio-engineering technologies, the impossibilities of the yesteryears can be denied or at least, much have been improved and so, such impossibility has reduced to almost nothing.

I am so glad to have known many 30-something single ladies in the malaysian blogosphere scene and they are still way cool and youthful, one would only imagine the gregarious Sex and The city girl or better to capture the idea of what they have become into. Mostly,it is about their exposure to the more wider horizon , being western educated and all that. Nevertheless, the local university graduates are also doing so much better in terms of embracing life as a single woman in their 30s.

When the western men and many women, especially in the US and UK and some rich European countries see the age 30 and above as the right marrying age, I hope Malaysians would do the same and not be embarrassed to grace the earth as a single person, having to tick single status box on the form and declaring themselves singleton without much regrets.

And I also hope that once I marry, it will be mostly on fulfilling the other half of the sunnah nabi and with all the experience i have, marriage will be like a merge of two enterprises/empire or some sort of a consolidation. Sex is important and I am looking forward to doing it the halal way. I think I had enough of adding sins into my book.

Identical TRIPLETS?

2008-04-25T20:07:00.003+08:00

I know this is definitely a miracle case with a probability of 1 in 200, 000, 000 chances but I also think it is a bit freaky. I mean, I am already a bit freaked out seeing grownup lookalikes, as in identical twins especially men, but I dont think i can fathom the idea of having THREE identical triplets. It can be a nightmare to me just to recognize which one is which and all three of them can play TRIPLE pranks.

Read more of the news from Daily Mail here.

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Parents celebrate their 200 million-to-one miracle - identical triplet girls

By JAYA NARAIN -

With their bright blue eyes and cherubic smiles, Gabriella, Alessia and Olivia are a picture of cuteness.

But as well as being adorable, they are also quite extraordinary.

For they are naturally-conceived identical triplets.

Scroll down for more ...

Three of a kind: Identical triplets (from left) Olivia, Gabriella and Alessia

Medical experts say the chances of such births are around 200million to one.

Their delighted parents are Richard Rees, 22, and his 23-year-old fiance Carmela Testa, who is a midwife.

She gave birth in January surrounded by colleagues at the maternity unit in Peterborough where she normally works.

The sisters were born seven weeks prematurely via Caesarean section.

They weighed between 3lb 4oz and 3lb 10oz and spent three weeks in an incubator until they were strong enough to go home.

Scroll down for more ...

Triple trouble: The girls are proving a handful for their parents

Miss Testa said: "I found out at my 12-week scan I was having triplets.

"I knew they would be identical because there was just one placenta, so they were from the same egg.

"I was very shocked. They weren't planned. I'm quite small - only 5ft tall - so at the unit they joked that out of all the midwives it would have to be me that gave birth to triplets."

She added: "Everything is fine now and the girls are all putting on weight. I'm so overwhelmed when I see them. I can't believe they are mine and that they are perfect."

Telling the triplets apart is not proving too difficult.

"Olivia has a strawberry birthmark on her neck, Gabriella is a little bit smaller and Alessia has a sharper cry," explained Mr Rees, a vocational coach.

Identical triplets occur when one fertilised egg splits to create three embryos which grow separately but normally in the womb.

Non-identical triplets occur after three separate eggs are fertilised. This is increasingly common during IVF treatment.

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Kuuuurrrr semangat innit? They sure look very adorable and all, and I congratulate Richard and Carmela on their naturally conceived identical triplet girls. But seriously, I dont think i can tolerate having identical twins. Non-identical is fine by me. Seeing the identical ones are like looking at some clones or some Children of the corn, or Village of the Damned or The Wicker Man or something horror like that. They may look cute when they are younger but as they become matured and all grown up, and wearing the same dresses, acting similarly, and even walk together doing many things together, that sort of imagination really send some chills down my spine.

Of course, I wouldnt mind if they become two separate individuals even if they possess the same visible physical traits and shapes. In some cases, and I mean some men are having a fetish on going threesome (menage a trois) with twins though I am not exactly sure whether it applies to women on identical male twins too. Imagine some identical twin males marrying another identical twin females and only they know how to identify one another. Would a wife and husband swap occur among them? No need to tempt them on that, i reckon. Definitely will drive some people nuts seeing such couples around. Despite the odds surrounding them, they are still one of God's miracles.

There was one time, during the dusk at my old college in london that I received a visit from a 30 something male twins wearing almost similar tartan motive shirt with peculiarly matching trousers , similar hairstyles, similar height and both were wearing glasses. Somehow, they embodied the geekish look. I was in my old lab that time when one man appeared at the door step asking me how to find this Professor. As it was rather a usual, harmless even kinda query, I told him what he needed to know. Shortly after that another man appeared next to him, standing in front of me looking exactly the same, totally identical. Right at that moment, i squealed a bit, yet trying as much under my breath to refrain meself from being over dramatic.

"There are two of u?"

"Yeah, we are twins, identical ones," said the 1st guy appearing ever so nonchalant yet amused with my sudden act. Coz it was a bit of a suspense to me. How could I not? Not especially during that wee hour when the building was mostly empty as many have gone away.

"OK then. But u seriously scared the living daylight out of me being alone and late in the lab and all that. This is my 1st time ever seeing two identical men in some sort of similar clothes. "

"Sorry about that (giggles)". His brother seemed so unperturbed at all. I wondered why. Must be too accustomed by such a reaction demonstrated by yours truly.

"Alright then, thanks for the info."

"No problem". And they left together side by side. Creepish, i tell ya, reminded me of that dorky looking identical twin who loved to dance and hang out at a club in Ally Macbeal.

See, I am not one who is so fond of identical twins even though I used to think that they r so lucky to be born like that.

Lingzhi-misai kucing herbal tea wonder

2008-04-24T14:32:00.001+08:00

Sebab dah lama tak update this blog, i insert an excerpt on Lingzhi, a type of mushroom that has been proven to have a certain substantial medicinal effects on five organs: Heart, Lung, Kidney , Pancreas and Liver.

I have began consuming Lingzhi-Misai Kucing (Orthosiphon stamineus benth) herbal tea for a few days now without taking my usual one betablocker per day pill to stabilize the blood pressure. I find it quite effective on controlling my heart palpitations to a normal beat at a normal systolic and diastolic measurements. Alhamdulillah, i feel so much better now, although i do experience a little dizziness , but that is a normal effect and more on this , you may read below. On top of that, those regular visits (at least 3 times per week) to the gym doing aerobic workouts and all helps increase my stamina and wellbeing.

Now i know my own health threshold point when it comes to avoiding getting hypertension. I just have to keep losing those extra pounds off in order to balance those hormones in my body and to reduce the hypertensive symptoms.

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Excerpt on Lingzhi from this website: Best Reishi:

Ganoderma Lucidim (also known as Lingzhi in China; Reishi in Japan and Youngchi in Korea) . For centuries, Ganoderma is claimed as "King of Herbs" by herbal practitioners in China and Japan for its efficacy in the maintenance or improvement of general well-being. Lingzhi has been listed as a Chinese herb and classified as a superior herb dating back to 2800 BC.

This is one of the treasures of traditional Chinese medicine. Being named as the "fairy herb", it is proven by pharmaceutical studies and clinical research that Lingzhi help to prevent from and cure diseases, and prolong life. In the famous ancient Chinese medical publications, "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" and "Pen-ts'ao Kan-mu" (Compendium of Materia Medica) written respectively in the Han and Ming Dynasties, there are detailed descriptions of the Lingzhi effects. Contemporary studies further proved its medicinal effects, and confirmed that Lingzhi polysaccharide is the key ingredient to maintain physiological balance and prolong life. Today, Lingzhi has been formally recognized as a medicine listed in the China state pharmacopoeia. At the same time, Lingzhi has been sanctified by the State as a new food resource, and it is proven to be safe without any toxicity. Lingzhi can be served both as food and medicine.
Scientific studies find that Lingzhi is rich in effective pharmaceutical ingredients. They can be divided into 10 categories: Lingzhi polysaccharide, polypeptides, 16 types of amino acids (7 of which are indispensable to human), protein, steriod, triterpene, mannitol, coumarin, alkaloids, organic acids (mainly fumarate), and micro-elements, such as Ge, P, Fe, Ca, Mn, Zn, etc. Lingzhi can help to maintain the balance within the body. It cures diseases related to cardiac and brain vessels, digestive system, neural system, endocrine system, respiratory system, and locomotory system. Its effect is particular prominent to tumor, hepatic diseases, and preventing aging.

Lingzhi Key Effects
Lingzhi is used very widely. According to the concept of Chinese medicine, Ganoderma lucidum can penetrate into and work on the five key human organs, so it can be served for impairment of the heart, lung, liver, pancreas, and kidney. Ganoderma lucidum can cure the sickness of various human systems including respiratory, circulatory, digestive, neural, endocrine, locomotory, etc, involving medical, surgical, gynecological, paediatric, and ENT. All these are because of its fundamental effect of "supporting the vital essence and securing the root", thus to improve the immune system. It differs from any other medicines that are used to cure specific disease, or supplementary nutrients that only address particular body requirements. Ganoderma lucidum helps regulate entire body mechanism and metabolism to ensure that all organs function properly. Some specific effects of Ganoderma lucidum are as following:

1. Effect on Tumor
Main cause to the development of tumor is the disorder of or poor performing immune system. Ganoderma lucidum can best regulate and activate the immune system. It prominently enhances the body immune function and increase self defense capability against tumor. Ganoderma lucidum enhances the function of monocytic macrophage via activating synthesis of interleukin H. It also enhances blood synthesis capacity, particularly white blood cells level. Combining with the inhibitory effect on cancer cells provided by certain ingredients in Ganoderma lucidum, it becomes one of the most effective medicines for anti-tumor, prevent cancer, and supplement to cancer treatment. Ganoderma lucidum possesses hardly any toxic to human body. This unique feature of enhancing immunity without toxigenicity is the definite advantage of Ganoderma lucidum over any other immune system intensifier.

2. Liver Protection & Detoxification
Ganoderma lucidum is able to protect the liver from damaged by various physiological and biological factors. Moreover, effect can be obtained either pre-or post-damage. Ganoderma lucidum speeds up metabolism of both medicine and toxic substances in liver, leading to curing of toxicated hepatitis. Ganoderma lucidum is also suitable for treating chronic hepatitis, effectively eliminating the related symptoms as dizzy, fatigue, and so on. Ganoderma lucidum can be used to treat chronic toxicosis, the various kinds of chronic hepatitis, and other hepatic diseases.

3. Effect on Cardiovascular
Clinical studies and experiments with animals confirm that Ganoderma lucidum can effectively dilate coronary artery, increase coronary vessel blood flow, and improve circulation in cardiac muscle capillaries, thus increase the supply of oxygen and energy to cardiac muscle. Therefore Ganoderma lucidum helps to protect the heart from shortage of blood supply, and it is ideal for both curing and preventing heart diseases like nausea. Ganoderma lucidum can obviously reduce the level of blood cholesterol, liporotein and triglycerides in hypertensive patienst. It prevents the formation of arterial atheromatous patches. If patches are already formed, Ganoderma lucidum will reduce cholesterol in arterial wall and soften the blood vessel to avoid further damage. It also partially improves blood circulation, and inhibits platelet aggregation. All these effects contribute to preventing various kinds of stroke.

4. Aging Prevention
The polysaccharides and polypeptides found in Ganoderma lucidum can effectively delay aging by the following mechanisms.
1. To enhance and regulate immune function. Such enhancement and regulation can effectively delay aging in adult and aged people. For the youngster, the immune system will be optimized to ensure healthy growth.
2. To regulate metabolism and enhance synthesis of nucleic acids and proteins. Research works have shown that Ganoderma lucidum enhances synthesis of nucleic acids and proteins in blood plasma, liver, and bone marrow, hence effectively prevent aging. It is observed that the use of Ganoderma lucidum to prevent aging benefits not only the aged, but also the young, since growth and development process will ultimately lead to aging.
3. Effect on Free Radicals. One cause of aging is the reduction of self-originated antioxidant or antioxidant-like material (such as SOD)in the body. These antioxidants are essential for encountering damage to the body by free radicals. Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides possess the properties that are very similar to SOD which can remove the free radicals and prevent its damage to the body by stopping over-oxidation of lipid. Such action protects the cells and delays their aging.
4. Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides prominently enhance DNA synthesis in cell nucleus, and increase the number of cell divisions, which results in delayed aging.

5. Effect on Neurasthenia
In Chinese medication, Ganoderma lucidum has been used to treat neurasthenia and insomnia since it works on the central nervous system. Extract from Ganoderma lucidum can inhibit and reduce the level of body activity. This inhibitory effect is quantitative and is helpful for resuming the order of activity level. The fact that Ganoderma lucidum can delay the death as the result of over-dosage of a central stimulant such as caffeine demonstrates shows that Ganoderma lucidum works on the central nervous system by applying an inhibitory effect.
In ancient Chinese medical publications, Ganoderma lucidum can serve to "stabilize emotion", "increase wisdom", and "enhance memory power". Recently, it is reported that Ganoderma lucidum has prominent effect on insomnia caused by neurasthenia: Effectiveness is 87.14% to 100%.In general, effect becomes obvious after a period of 10 to 15 days, when sleep improved, appetite increased, and body weight gained. Related headache and dizzy will be reduced or stopped. Ganoderma lucidum has a relatively strong effect on the central nervous system that makes Ganoderma lucidum an effective substance for treatment of neurasthenia and insomnia. Ganoderma lucidum is becoming more and more indispensable to the sufferers of neurasthenia and insomnia. To date, the effect of Ganoderma lucidum on neurasthenia and insomnia has been clearly described and stated in the China State pharmacopoeia.

6. Effect on Hypertension
Ganoderma lucidum can effectively reduce blood pressure of an anesthetized rabbit: systolic and diastolic pressure lowered by 15% and 25% respectively. Related neural activity is also inhibited: inhibition is 20% and 40% respectively. According to a report of a hospital, there had been 18 cases of high blood pressure successfully cured by Ganoderma lucidum extract, effectiveness up to 88.9%. It was stated that the effect of reducing blood pressure by Ganoderma lucidum was mainly the result of inhibition to the sympathetic nervous system. From another report, among 30 cases using Ganoderma lucidum products to cure high blood pressure, effectiveness was 88.3%. Moreover, it was found that Ganoderma lucidum also extends and stabilizes the effect of reducing blood pressure of other medicine.

7. Treament of Diabetes
The constitutes in Ganoderma lucidum that reduce blood glucose are Ganoderma B and C. The principle is by enhancing utilization of blood glucose by body tossues. Ganoderma lucidum serves as a substitute to insulin to inhibit release of fatty acids. It thus improves symptoms in high blood glucose and high urine glucose patients. Blood glucose will be reduced from 173 to 116, cholesterol from 233 to 179, beat-protein from 580 to 465. Water-solubility polysaccharides in Ganoderma lucidum suppresse insulin-independent diabetes. The health food products manufactured by Japan Numata Kenji, has been widely used for the treatment of diabetes.

8. Effect on Chronic Bronchitis & Bronchus Asthma
Ganoderma lucidum can stop coughing, clear sputum, and suppress asthma. It also relieves the symptoms of the related illnesses. Since Ganoderma lucidum can activate the immune system, it can prevent from flu, and thus above syndromes. Ganoderma lucidum is particularly suitable for the treatment of the patients categorized as "cold and wet" by Chinese medicine, while for the "hot and dry" patients would be relatively less effective. The average effectiveness is 80%.

9. Effect on Hyper Susceptibility
When the body is invaded by an antigen that ellicits an immunological reactions and results the various abnormality and immuno-pathological symptoms, Ganoderma lucidum can be used to suppress the reactions and resume the body order. The experiment shows that Ganoderma lucidum can stop the release of hyper susceptible factors and prevent the development of allergic reactions. Therefore, Ganoderma lucidum is relatively more effective over other current medicines when treating the illnesses caused by abnormal hyper-reactivity or autoimmunity such as allergic asthma, erythematous lupus vulgaris, rheumatoic arthritis, rheumatoic heart diseases, allergic rhinitis, skin diseases, etc. Ganoderma lucidum can also help to cure the toxification patients as the result of pro-longed usage of hormones.

10. Effect on Beauty Care
Ganoderma lucidum has been named the "Medicine of Eternal Life". It is mainly contributed to the effect on skin protection, and delaying aging. Ganoderma lucidum can retain and regulate the water in skin and thus can keep the skin elasticity, hydrated and smooth. It also inhibits the formation and deposition of melanin in skin. Today, the beauty care products made from Ganoderma lucidum are becoming the new stars in the industry. Taking Ganoderma lucidum food products will obtain synergistic effect. To add Ganoderma lucidum into the bath will not only keep the skin smooth and lustrous, but also prevent it from bacterial infection.

In addition to the above effects, Ganoderma lucidum stimulates blood synthesis in bone marrow and increase WBC level, which make it suitable for the treatment of low WBC symptom caused by over dosage of radiation and blood diseases, etc. By enhancing the body immune system, Ganoderma lucidum can defend the body from viral infections like AIDS virus. Ganoderma lucidum also promotes tolerance of the body to adverse environment. It suppresses over contraction of smooth muscle in uterus to remedy the functional uterine bleeding. Ganoderma lucidum is also effective for the pigment denaturation in retina, the underdeveloped brain, as well as abnormal muscular development. Ganoderma lucidum is also an effective pain reliever for headache, neural pain, cancer pain, etc.

Reaction After Serving Lingzhi
Serving Lingzhi should follow the concept of Chinese food treatment: "No dizzy, no recovery". At the beginning, some people may feel dizzy, pelvic fatigue, itching, thirsty, or even the increase of defaecation and urination. However, these reactions demonstrate the effectiveness of Lingzhi to the body. The toxicity is dissolved, mobilized, and excreted. Therefore, these reactions are normal.

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You may also want to do some research on Misai Kucing herb that complement well with Lingzhi to boost the goodness effect on our body.

Small World Indeed

2008-04-08T12:09:00.002+08:00

Picture taken during the launching of the new Malaysia Hall and Malaysia Student Department in Queensborough Terrace, Bayswater, London, August 2004:

Thanks Kamarul for the photo. I pon tak hengat that someone took a picture of me and Kak Puteri Zakiah and it was you, kamarul! Small world indeed. We have actually met in london and yet we didnt speak to each other except to pose with your nenek saudara that u fondly call her "Opah Chu".

Isnt she a pretty lady or what? This I mean Kak Puteri laaa , but feel free to think that I looked like a hot babe there, sexaaayyyyy. Behind us, the man with the blue collar, is the infamous Pak Syed. He's been working at Malaysia hall since 1960s and he is still healthy well into his golden age (70 something). He was also known as "Yoda" by the undergraduate students across London and the UK itself.

Ooo...by the way, I first knew Kamarul, a Sapura Holdings engineer in person through a PDA-moleskin meeting organized by Pak Adib, the veteran blogger at KL Sentral 2 years ago. And apparently it was 2 years after our 1st unspoken meeting in london. He and his family live in BBBangi like myself but in the different section.

Yesterday, I met an old primary schoolmate who didnt recognize me 1st but she somehow knew me from somewhere. It took her quite a while to guess who I was, and she thought i was some Sharifah (a lady with arabic blood). Quite close enough, I thought. And when i told her my name, she could not quite put the name and myself together but of course she remembered the name very well. I think i am blessed having such a unique name like Manal as a Malaysian. Not many of us in Malaysia although that name "Manal" (pronounced as Ma-naal , sounds like Chanel) is very much common in Egypt, and many other Arab League countries.

And not long after that, I received an SMS from Kamarul telling me that he found an old picture of me with his Opah Chu.

What do I really, really, really want?

2008-04-03T00:10:00.000+08:00

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the book "Eat, Pray, Love", shared her own enlightenment stories on one episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show and below are what caught me most:

Excerpt from Oprah Winfrey's website (click here for more stories):

You can take your own spiritual journey every, single day. Liz has three daily rituals that anyone can do anywhere.

Start a journal and answer this question every morning: What do I really, really, really want? "You have to say really, really, really three times or else you don't believe it. And answer it truthfully and do it again the next day and the next and the next," she says. "Because you can't set your journey if you don't know what you're for."

Write down the happiest moment of every day in a happiness journal. "It's a way of reminding myself what really makes me happy and what doesn't," she says, "and learn and study and look back and see what is it consistently."

Refine your mantra. "I say refine, not choose, because we all actually already have a mantra. We just might not realize that we do. Whatever you repeat constantly in your head is your mantra whether you know it or not, and that is leading you on your way," she says. "So if you're repeating, 'I'm a moron, I'm an idiot, I'm a failure, I'm a jerk, I'm a loser,' it's your mantra. So decide whether that's working for you. … Maybe it's not and then maybe you might want to choose a different thing to try to say whenever you remember that you're thinking what you're always doing."

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The third one: Refine Your Mantra, does strike a chord with me. In my own personal take on this, I would also add not just that "What do I really, really, really want" mantra, but even in Islam, any du'a (solemn prayers) repeated three times will add weight to the significance of our wishes and what we would ask from God. Once you have said your prayers and repeat the things you really, really, really want three times, you will then have to tawakkal (put the trust) to God. Somehow, the power of believing and keeping in faith could actually work in some sort of a cosmic way whichever religion one believes in. It's this natural bond to our Creator and He is Oft-forgiving and Most Merciful and Ever Knowing.

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I am working my way towards reaching my ideal weight based on the healthy Body Mass Index, BMI range of 18-24. Fat is easily linked to many diseases including cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, and etc and it strikes the overweight and obese person higher than those who are keeping themselves within the healthy BMI range. Not only that, excess fat can cause hormone imbalance that will lead to irregular menstruation cycle as what two O&G specialists informed me.

It's been the second week since i have begun to take gym and some aerobic lessons seriously and for ONCE, i did not experience "breathless" or short of breath after like 2 years. I have started eating a smaller portion of rice everyday since the end of last year, looked after my food consumption and all and yet, nothing beats the much accelerated effect of burning those fats by doing the aerobic exercises per week. And although i tried to do that on my own at home and did brisk walking down the local lake park since a year ago, it wasnt as fun as joining a group of ladies flexing our muscles and sweating together as we tried (even struggled) to follow our instructor's orders and steps. It combines both aerobic and resistance routines and amazingly, our body is literally our very own number one resistance and not those added weights/ dumb bells.

But then, after each session, my poor left knee begins making some cracking sound especially whenever i climb up the stairs. For that i had to resort to applying Minyak Kayu Putih (100% sans methyl salicylate, click here for more info) to remedy the patella joints.

Minyak Kayu Putih Cap Lang, bagus!!

201st post: On Wasted Prodigy and New Mattress

2008-03-31T18:43:00.006+08:00

Warning: This first entry rated 18 SX
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Wasted Prodigy, read here (source: News of the World)

Maths prodigy who won an Oxford place at 13 is now a £130-an-hour HOOKER

By Keith Gladdis

SHE was a child maths genius who won a place at Oxford University aged just 13—but now the only sums Sufiah Yusof is interested in are the ones she earns as a HOOKER.

For sad Sufiah the daily equation she has to solve is simply sex equals £130 as she sells her body to punters over the internet.

The gifted girl with the winning smile had the world at her feet ten years ago and should be a rich woman by now—but last week she was busy subtracting her underwear for our undercover reporter in her dingy back street flat.

"Would you like to start your half hour now?" said Sufiah, 23, as she danced on the bed, displaying her body for examination.

Then she listed all the sleazy plus points she would throw in for our man if he took up her offer.

Calling herself Shilpa Lee, the former child prodigy still juggles with figures on a hookers' website, describing herself as a "very pretty size 8, 32D bust and 5'5" tall—available for booking every day from 11am to 8pm."

She says she is a "sexy, smart student" who prefers "older gentlemen"— but a former pal who has witnessed her downfall told us: "It is all desperately heartbreaking.

"With her amazing brain she should be able to make money any way she wants. But instead her life has spiralled completely out of control."

Life has never quite added up for Sufiah. Her descent into prostitution in Salford, Manchester, is the latest in a long line of tragedies to have engulfed her since the sunny day when she posed with her university mortar board for the world's press outside prestigious St Hilda's College.

Our shock revelations today come in the week her domineering dad Farooq was jailed for sexually assaulting two 15-year-old girls as he home-tutored them in maths.

And he was always at the root of all her troubles— even as she passed the further maths A-Level she needed for entry to Oxford at the age of 12. In those days Sufia was a strict Muslim child who prayed five times a day and was subjected to her father's famous Accelerated Learning Technique.

Her days involved stretching and breathing exercises in freezing rooms to keep her brain attentive.

Sufiah would then study hard and be forced to play tennis with just as much intensity as fanatical Farooq drove her on. The routine was so effective Sufiah was seeded number eight in the country for under 21s.

But three years into Oxford, the 15-year-old sparked a massive police hunt after running away.

Abuse

At the time her father bizarrely claimed Sufiah had been kidnapped and brainwashed by an organisation seeking the key to her intelligence.

But Sufiah sent an email to her family describing her life under her father as a "living hell".

One message to her sister read: "I've finally had enough of 15 years of physical and emotional abuse. You know what I am talking about."

Sufiah was missing for two weeks before being found in an internet café in Bournemouth where she had been working as a hotel waitress.

She refused to go back to her parents and instead was taken into the care of social services.

It was then revealed that Farooq had been jailed for three years in 1992 for his part in a £1.5m mortgage swindle. Before that—at the age of 19—he had been sent to borstal for his role in a conspiracy involving £100,000.

Free from the spell of her father, Sufiah returned to Oxford to complete the final year of her Masters in Maths.

But she was now more concerned with enjoying herself—and failed to finish the course after meeting trainee lawyer Jonathan Marshall.

They were married in 2004 when Sufiah was just 19 and Jonathan 24. But the strains with her family were still there.

Despite being invited, Sufiah's parents and four brothers and sisters failed to turn up to the wedding.

Her dreams of a happy life with Jonathan were shattered when the couple divorced just a year later.

Now, in her sad little flat, she uses her body to pay the rent. Sufiah met our man, posing as a punter, at the entrance to her building wearing a tiny skirt, leather boots and a tight t-shirt. She was carrying three mobile phones.

She laughed and joked as she led him to her small apartment where a bed was already set out in the lounge.

She told him it was £130 an hour and offered him a glass of water before putting some music on to a cheap portable stereo and nervously stripping down to her red lace bra and knickers.

Sufiah then peeled off her underwear and danced on the bed. She told him she did full sex with a condom and oral sex without protection.

After our man had made his excuses, Sufiah kept him talking by telling him how she was studying for a Masters degree in Economics on a part-time two year course in London.

The former prodigy added: "I've got exams coming up and I'm thinking ‘Oh my God!'"

Once described by her parents as "naïve and unstreetwise", she works alone from her flat without any obvious physical security or protection.

She even admitted to our reporter: "It's always a surprise who you are going to meet."

Cheerful Sufiah gave no indication of any sadness at the jailing of her father the previous day. On Wednesday Farooq, 50, was sentenced to 18 months at Coventry Crown Court for touching two 15-year-old girls when he was home tutoring them at maths.

The court heard how in May last year Farooq arrived at one of the victim's home for a maths lesson.

He started whispering in her ear and kissing her hair and cheek. He also touched her breast and told her she was a genius and pretty before putting her hand on his upper thigh.

Destroyed

Farooq's defence lawyer Tim Hannam said: "He's been back in prison for over five months and knows there'll be no more teaching and any hope he had of gaining an income from the teaching method he had developed to a high degree of success is lost to him. His reputation is destroyed."

Now it's clear the daughter who fled his strict regime has almost been destroyed too.

Her friend said last night: "Sufiah has suffered so many knocks in her life. I just hope she can drag herself out this life she has got herself into.

"She is a good person and deserves a much better life than this. Her gift really has been a curse."

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Second Entry: New Mattress

Model : Golden Age

• Bonnel Spring system
• Imported Damask Ticking
• 10 Years Warranty

I bought a new set of Goodnite mattress last night from a local furniture shop to replace that old, lumpy mattress that I have been using since I came back for good. It costs me RM 360 and so far, I had a good sleep all the way to the morning and felt like i wanna continue lazying meself in bed longer had it not be Monday morning. Good thing, I didnt suffer any Monday blues as I had a rather good restful sleep on that piece of mattress.

I was actually looking around for some idea on what to get for the new house when I decided on getting myself that mattress. I tested it first by lying on it for some good 1 minute or so and felt good. The thing was I only had like RM 50 in my wallet and so I told the salesperson if I could just pay RM 50 deposit now and tomorrow I will pay the balance RM 310. She said OK and they even delivered to my house (parents one) free of charge. Baik kan?

I honestly have never heard of a Goodnite mattress product before. Names like Vono and dunlopillo and also Slumberland do ring a bell . This Goodnite product is pretty much a Made in Malaysia brand and it is made of highly resilient poly-urethane foam , extra sponge padding to add to the comfort and it is equipped with individual pocket spring for better spinal care and body load distribution.

Not only that, to show that they really mean business on providing good quality mattress, Goodnite also provides 10 tips for better sleep:

1. Maintain a regular bed and wake time schedule, including weekends.

2. Establish a regular, relaxing bedtime routine such as soaking in a hot bath or hot tub and then reading a book or listening to soothing music.

3. Create a sleep-conductive environment that is dark, quiet, comfortable and cool.

4. Sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillows.

5. Use your bedroom only for sleep and sex. It is best to take work materials, computers and televisions out of the sleeping environment. (Unfortunately, my bedroom is also where i would love to watch movies on a dvd player and TV as well, and i do need my computer nearby, and yes, I kinda bring my work in the same vicinity as the bedroom though not necessarily on the bed itself! I am planning to have a special study area in my new house but i would also be carrying things to and from the bedroom, therefore #5 tip is a bit beyond my liking apart from totally concurring to the sleep and sex idea.)

6. Finish eating at least two to three hours before your regular bedtime. (Good weight management tip too!)

7. Exercise regularly. It is best to complete your workout at least a few hours before bedtime. (Sexercise included, no?)

8. Avoid nicotine (e.g. cigarettes, tobacco products). Used close to bedtime, it can lead to poor sleep.

9. Avoid caffeine (e.g. coffee, tea, soft drinks, chocolate) close to bedtime. It can keep you awake. (But hot chocolate/ginger tea with milk calm me down, sorta? I should get some pack of chamomile tea too,mix it with honey, that'll help me sleep if ever...)

10. Avoid alcohol close to bedtime. It can lead to disrupted sleep later in the night. (I am a teetotal, therefore this part is not that relevant to me)

This morning, and walking with a cheerful mood, i was stopped by Prof. KS asking me about my sciencefund. Without even feeling wee bit embarrassed, I told him that my application was rejected with a capital R and that it was solely on the basis that my proposed product was of non-commercial value. Betapa bangangnya la panel2 itu....nama pon research, of course laa belum lagi ade commercial value until it is fully viable and hence, to turn it into industrial scale. Prof. KS then adviced me to write a letter defending my proposal just like what he and few other professors did including Prof. WRWD. So nice of them to educate me on what I should do and how to find some solution to it especially that I am a junior lecturer.

Must be that very good night sleep i had sampai tak mimpi apa2 pon...hmmm.....(dream lover, where art thou?)

It just gets more interesting than ever

2008-03-27T10:41:00.004+08:00

What a month it has been so far! Admittedly not yet fully recovered and still following the malaysian political drama that is so much better than 70% malaysian TV drama (of which the remaining 30% are what i could still stomach without fidgetting or happily choosing to switch channels or go read a novel or surf the net or just go out). Speaking of the Malaysian TV drama, the latest one that I could actually watch is Sindarella, starring Sharifah Amani (of Sepet, Gubra fame), Bront Palarae, Norkhiriah (just found out how brilliant she can be, and 1st seen her in Gubra) and some few other newcomers including that ex-dangdut gedik woman, Iffa Raziah.

This month also saw meself registering (albeit a 3-month base) at a local gym centre. What an achievement eh, considering that I have left myself with no excuse any more but I just had to do something in order to rectify my uric acid level in the blood and that I NEED a place (close and safe and motivating) to destress myself. Jobloads ever increasing, responsibilities and what nots even though i am yet a married woman with husband and kids to add to the number of burdens.

My house project is now practically on the move and I shall soon be visiting some local banks to survey and subsequently apply a personal loan to proceed with renovations, refurbishment and all that matter for the new house (my own first casa). I need to learn more on the win-win investment, and then thinking on maybe investing a bit into the public mutual trust fund. Bit by bit, i need to understand and learn SOOOO many things apart from the working environment. I kinda feel old yet somehow there is some sense of fulfilment even if it's only the beginning. I went asking a few friends to get some tips and ideas on how to manage the bank loans without drying up my own savings (which is so much easier to do and me ending up a skint but with a posh desire like always, yeah whatever).

I also found out that a fren of a fren has installed security system at her new house but at the expense of higher electricity bill. Hmmm...juggling between safety and money....Safety is numero uno come what may. Therefore, I may also consider asking her some info on that alarm system.

Never knew that I had to pay a cagaran (deposit) of RM 1000 for electricity usage in a Semi-D house? Mahal nak mampossss.....Doesnt matter if the semi-d house is small, they still charge the same for that house type. I am beginning to contemplate on becoming more and more frugal on saving the energy and cutting the electricity bill in the future. I have been paying my own electricity and gas bills in London before and it was based on peak-off peak rate. IN malaysia, not sure whether that kinda rate applies or not. I seem to see my family bills all the same regardless of night and day. Damn!

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2 weeks ago, my old colleague, OKM, a young professor from Imperial College London came over for an official visit under british sterling group to our university and delivered a talk at my faculty. We knew each other before he got married. I still remember at one time, a fren of mine tried to match us up but of course it did not work that way as we didnt have any chemistry between each other apart from as mates. There was also one time , a year after he got married that he came to join us in a club down Shaftersbury Avenue in london. With quite a few fond memories we shared, it was of little wonder that the moment we were face to face, he happily acknowledged my presence in front of my superiors during our first meeting at the Chancellory building.

He and his colleague, Dr. RS were then ushered to the banquet hall and he naturally chose a seat next to me. We started with a quick chat catching up on each other before he partook in a more serious discussion concerning university collaboration, research and so on. The next agenda, my head of dept (HoD) asked me to be the unofficial tour guide for OKM and RS to see our campus and that was the moment he became more of himself and started to get a bit cheeky in their chauffeured MPV. I felt like it was only days since I left the college? And of course, from the beginning till the end, we only addressed each other on the first name basis.

GOD i missed london, and UK, and a pint of fresh milk, and Greek yoghurt with dollop of honey and pizza in Bradford, and that familiar surroundings, be it smelly or enchanting that is London.

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Our department is organizing an international Chemical Engineering conference: RSCE-SOMChE 2008 (regional south-east chemical engineering - symposium of malaysia chemical engineering) and I am the Secretary 1. Those who are interested to participate, please click here for the conference website. It is still in progress, so please apologize for some lack of material there.

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This morning, I spent like 20 minutes glued on the sofa watching the original version of "Sabrina", starring the lovely Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey "Bogey" Bogart on Astro channel cinemax 412. I have never seen it before though i have watched the newer version of the movie starring Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond and Greg Kinnear. Why ooo why must the oldies be shown during the ungodly hour (8.30am on a weekday???? fucking out). That reminded me of that one Friday morning earlier this month that I took a day off and continued watching "Roman Holiday" starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. I didnt feel like going to work that day and since I didnt have much to do in the office after like Four very hectic Monday-Thursday, I thought I deserve my own break and decided to watch that movie for the first time ever. Alas, I only spent 20 minutes in the morning to watch "Sabrina" but I hope i can still get to watch it if Astro would kindly play it again on a weekend morning instead!

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BACK to WORK!

Tuhan sayang

2008-03-11T23:19:00.003+08:00

I am yet to fully recover from the Election results. And this song: Wind of Change by Scorpions came to mind:

BY the way, I managed to visit the Berlin Wall remains 10 years ago.

That ZAM dude ( one of the losers in the recent election) said something like and I quote:

-Tuhan masih sayangkan PM dan TPM kita -

in response to the lesser BN majority and that the PM and TPM still gained a reasonable win on ballot count result enabling them to resume their power on the TV1 8 o'clock news.

You can say: Tuhan masih sayangkan dia (God still have mercy upon him/her) if he/she were still alive or basically survived a near-fatal accident or any sort of incident that would have caused death. But by observing them sworn again as the nation's leaders doesn't deserve that "Tuhan masih sayangkan dia" statement, not a bit. I found it so lame that I had to switch to another channel immediately for fear of having another nausea as I have just had my dinner that time.

He should have said: "Kita bersyukur pada Tuhan kerana disebalik kekalahan kita di Kedah, Perak, Selangor dan Pulau Pinang dan kegagalan kita untuk menawan Kelantan daripada genggaman PAS, kita masih lagi mampu untuk menjadi gagasan parti pemerintah walaupun kekurangan majoriti 2/3".

("We are very grateful to God that despite our defeat in Kedah, Perak, Selangor and Pulau Pinang and our failure to win back Kelantan from PAS grip, we are still able to be the main ruling party coalition even at lower than the 2/3 majority")

He has not learnt how to be a wise, diplomatic and visionary leader or is he? Perhaps, he should not talk when he is very angry lest he keep on making himself look even more ridiculous.

And who can forget those inarticulate statements he gave to the Al-Jazeera reporter in regards to the Bersih rally last year? A reminder of that here:

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Like many of us across the country, (my mother and) I too applaude and in support of Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon's wise act on the way he accepted his loss, acknowledging his opponent's win and welcoming the new Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng son of Lim Kit Siang of DAP.

Picture from The Star: Koh , left shaking hands with Dr.P.Ramasamy of DAP, who has defeated him in the recent electi0n for Batu Kawan seat in Pulau Pinang

To those who have won, STOP gloating.
To those who are entrusted upon by the rakyat to govern, stand and deliver.
To those who are still in denial and still want to secure their own positions, wake up and smell the coffee.
To the leaders be it the BN or BA, we the rakyat will always remind u of your duty to us for the sake of the nation. You are given the power by us and we will decide whether u r any good to us or not.

Latest news: I have received an email on how Tok Guru Nik Aziz led a massive solat hajat (prayer of hope) congregation in Kota Bharu few days before the Election day with high hopes that Allah will help those who seeks His mercy and pleasures and His blessings on the coming election day.

PRU12 results

2008-03-09T20:43:00.000+08:00

Poll results taken from The Star.

Winds of Change in Malaysia

2008-03-09T15:30:00.001+08:00

The world has seen the impossible turned to reality as Turkiye, which was once a secularist stronghold nation has received a more pro-islamic government and the relaxing of the headscarf banning in the government schools, offices and universities throughout the country.

And now, Malaysia is experiencing a new dawn, a new era. Read them here:

Malaysia wakes to new political landscape

by Jalil Hamid 2 hours, 30 minutes ago

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysians awoke on Sunday to the biggest sea-change in politics in almost 40 years, with opposition Islamists and reformists winning control of five states and giving the government a humiliating wake-up call.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's multi-racial National Front coalition won just a simple majority in parliament, and his future as leader is in doubt after he watched a record majority collapse to the weakest level ever.

His predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad, urged him to quit. "He should accept responsibility," said Mahathir who now says he made a mistake in picking Abdullah as his successor and that the current deputy premier, Najib Razak, should have taken over.

The streets were unusually quiet on Sunday, with many older Malaysians fearful of trouble. The last time the coalition suffered a heavy setback, in 1969, race riots erupted. Barisan has effectively ruled since independence from Britain in 1957.

"I am shocked. It feels Malaysia is a whole new country. It feels like it has been reborn," Daniel Sia, a 27-year-old civil engineer, said as he did some Sunday shopping in the capital.

Lai Yee Fei, 28, who works at a coffee bar beneath Kuala Lumpur's soaring twin towers, said she was glad that Malaysia now had a strong opposition to press the government.

"It's good to give some pressure for Barisan Nasional," she said. "If the opposition parties can stand up for us, on behalf of us, I think it's good."

Abdullah, who only four years ago led the coalition to a record election victory on a wave of hope for change, faced a bleak political future on Sunday, his aides stunned but not willing to concede that he must step down.

"Frankly, this is not really the time because a lot of component parties (of Barisan) have been decimated," one close aide said, declining to be identified. "We have lost a few people and I think it's time to consolidate."

Abdullah's humbling performance nationally -- the coalition ended up with 62 percent of federal seats, down from 90 percent previously -- was compounded by the fact that his own home state, the industrial heartland of Penang, fell to the opposition.

ISLAMISTS ON THE RISE

The leftist Chinese-backed Democratic Action Party (DAP) won Penang, the hub for Malaysia's electronics industry, which accounts for about half of exports.

The opposition Islamist party PAS scored shock victories in the northern heartland states of Kedah and Perak and easily retained power in its stronghold in northeastern Kelantan state.

DAP and PAS also joined the People's Justice Party, or Parti Keadilan, to take control of the industrial state of Selangor and almost all the seats in capital Kuala Lumpur.

Political experts and economists wondered aloud whether the Barisan government could now pursue its agenda, including plans for $325 billion in development zones across the country.

Without a two-thirds parliamentary majority, Barisan can no longer change the constitution or make some key appointments and could struggle to alter electoral boundaries, powers that the opposition have long maintained were abused by Barisan.

"This is probably not good news for the equity market or the ringgit," said Tim Condon, Singapore-based head of Asia research for investment bank ING.

The pro-government media, Abdullah's cheer-leader during the campaign, changed tack on Sunday, urging Barisan to ensure better job and education opportunities in this multi-racial nation.

Malaysia is largely a mix of ethnic Malays, which make up about 55 percent of the population, and ethnic Chinese and Indians, who account for about a third.

A protest vote from Chinese and Indians, upset over what they saw as racial inequality in terms of business, job and education opportunities, had been expected. The Indians were merciless, voting out the leader of the coalition's Indian component party and handing a seat to an Indian activist currently in detention.

But Malays, who are all Muslims and traditionally support Barisan in good times and bad, completed a perfect storm for the government, handing the opposition Islamists a record vote in what was perceived as a protest against rising prices.

"Tomorrow we will start building a brighter future," said opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim, de facto leader of Parti Keadilan, which emerged as the biggest opposition party in federal parliament with 31 seats. "This is a new dawn for Malaysia."

Anwar, a Malay and former deputy premier, is widely seen as the only politician who could unify the ideologically divided opposition into a coherent and credible political force, though many political experts see this an almost possible task.

Anwar was banned from standing in the elections because of a criminal record -- he spent six years in jail until 2004 on what he called trumped-up charges -- but is expected to take over his old seat from his wife, who has held it since his 1998 jailing.

Results from the elections commission as of 0320 GMT showed the National Front with 137 seats in the 222-seat parliament versus 82 for the opposition, with 3 seats still being tallied.

(Writing and additional reporting by Mark Bendeich; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

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Another one from The Star:

People have voted for change, says Anwar

KUALA LUMPUR: People have voted for change and they do not want the same type of representatives, said PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

He said he was touched by the support by Malaysians regardless of race.

In the next few weeks, the Opposition will have to ensure that state governments are formed and its members of parliament and state assemblymen are well versed in the issues that they have committed to resolve, said Anwar.

“Politics in Malaysia is not going to be the same any more,” he said, adding that people were expecting new clean faces to manage the states.

There were enough people of various races fighting corruption and poor governance, he said.

Anwar said the victory was not unexpected.

“On nomination day, we were aiming beyond the one-third but that was insurmountable to many people,” he said.

“I thank my fellow Malaysians for their support.

“Today at the ballot box, you listened to your heart with firm conviction that the time for change has arrived,” he said.

“This is a defining moment, unprecedented in our nation’s history,” he said, adding that the people had voted decisively for a new era where the Government must be truly inclusive and recognise all Malaysians, regardless of race, culture and religion.

Due to the shock to Umno and Barisan, Anwar said he had advised his supporters as well as PAS and DAP to remain calm.

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The end of the 3 decades in power era of Datuk Seri S.Samy Vellu:

MIC in shambles with no leader in the wings

COMMENT BY BARADAN KUPPUSAMY

KUALA LUMPUR: Saturday’s Tamil Nesan had a massive pullout for birthday boy Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu with back-to-back coverage and full-page live-size photographs of him taken out by all 28 MIC candidates, hailing their chief as the greatest man ever born.

The surreal coverage was in stark contrast to the ugly mood among Indians who had already 'told' Samy Vellu that his time was up – through the Nov 25 protest and the boycott of Batu Caves during Thaipusam – and were waiting to say it again through the ballot box.

It was Samy Vellu’s final swan song. Except for Dr S. Subramaniam , S. Saravanan and K. Devamani, the other MIC candidates were all wiped out in an unprecedented wave of anger, opening up a new era in politics for Indians.

With most of the MIC bigwigs wiped out, the internal power equation in the party has gone haywire and only time will tell how it is going to unravel.

After such a beating it is also inconceivable that Samy Vellu should continue as party president. Sadly, he does not have a winner in a number two or three to hand over the party to.

The vice-presidents, until press time, appear to have been defeated as well, leaving the MIC leadership in shambles. It will take a long time for the mess to be sorted out.

The MIC representation in the Cabinet and the administration is also in question now that Samy Vellu, the sole Indian minister for 29 years, has been defeated. Who is the winner or loser? Who will to take his place in the Cabinet?

Indian voters form significant numbers in at least 67 parliamentary and 141 state assembly seats where they comprise between 9% and 46% of the electorate.

The results across the country indicate they had used their numbers to vote Opposition and helped change the direction of politics in the country.

They were the deciding factor in constituencies where Malay and Chinese votes divided. Indians who traditionally backed the Government made their small numbers count.

Twenty-two Indians contested in 18 parliamentary seats and 53 Indians contested in 40 seats. They comprised about 8% of contestants.

MIC fielded nine for Parliament and 19 for the state assemblies. The DAP had seven Indians for Parliament and 17 for state while PKR fielded 19 Indians.

In Parliament and the state assemblies, there will be about 20 Indians from the DAP and PKR and all will be sitting on the opposition bench. Previously, in the entire country there were only two Indian MPs – Karpal Singh and M. Kulasegaran – holding the fort.

It is going to be a lively Parliament and Opposition Indian MPs are going to fall over each other to voice Indian woes.

The results are a victory for Makkal Shakti, the force unleashed by Hindraf leader P. Uthayakumar on Nov 25, which ballooned into a formidable Indian movement to carry away so many MIC leaders.

The larger question is of course Indian representation in the government, which would be lesser with so many casualties. The government will have to find new ways to fill the vacancies and not just promote losers into senators and then ministers.

Because of the defeat in some states, Indian representation is nil, making it a challenging task for the Barisan Nasional power-sharing formula to work.

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Tu la... sebok nak rampas kelantan, 4 negeri lain pon terlepas. Selangor, Perak, Kedah, Pulau Pinang and Kelantan are now officially under opposition rule comprising PKR, DAP and PAS.

I personally think the PM should step down as his state is no longer under the BN rule. Another shocking news, Johor, which was once noted for its strong BN fort, has succumbed to the political tsunami when the opposition coalition took over 1 parliamentary seat and 6 state seats.

Massive majority votes achieved by these following opposition candidates:

Fong Po Kuan (DAP), Jeff Ooi (DAP), Tan Seng Giaw (DAP), Chua Tian Chang (PKR), Fong Kui Lun (DAP), Teresa Kok (DAP), Tan Kok Wai (DAP), N.Gobalakrishnan (PKR), Mohd Razhi Salleh (PKR), Abdul Halim Abd Rahman (PAS), Wan Abdul Rahim Wan Abdullah (PAS), Salahudin Ayub (PAS), Lim Guan Eng (DAP), Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR), Liew Chin Tong (DAP), Chow Kon Yeow (DAP), Karpal Singh Ram Singh (DAP), Zahrain Mohd Hashim (PKR), Yeoh Soon Hin (DAP), Nga Kor Ming (DAP), Lim Kit Siang (DAP), M.Kulasegaran (DAP), Teo Nie Ching (DAP), Gobind Singh Deo (DAP), Tony Pua (DAP), S.Manikavasagam (PKR), Charles Anthony Santiago (DAP), Siti Mariah Mahmud (PAS), Yeoh Tseow Suan (DAP), Cheah Wing Yin (DAP), Xavier Arulanandam (PKR).

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's daughter, Nurul Izzah won the Lembah Pantai seat , which was once belongs to Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil. His wife, Datin Dr.Wan Azizah Wan Ismail continues her dominance over Permatang Pauh for the third term since 1999.

While Kelantan remains under PAS rule, Pulau Pinang saw a major clean sweep by DAP and PKR for both Parliamentary and state seats.

They thought it was over for PKR , calling that party as irrelevant. Unfortunately, PKR proved them wrong and is probably having the last laugh now.

Never did it ever cross my mind that I am now living under the new opposition rule in Selangor, the state i've been dwelling in for 3 decades. Though my area has been under PAS wings for the third term, knowing that the whole state is governed by the PAS-PKR coalition is a whole new experience for me and probably for every Selangorean.

For a better governance, justice for all and make corruption a history.

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