The end

As you might have noticed, I haven’t updated this blog for a verylong while… I just don’t have any mood for it I guess :p And now, it seems that they’ve changed the Friendster’s blog a lot, and I didn’t even know! And all my pictures have disappeared! Ergghh.. how annoying. FYI, I’m probably going to delete this blog… It’s been nice while it lasts… So long… And if anyone actually reads this blog, thanks for your support.  Ja ne!

Ciao Italia!

Ciao, come stai? Hello, how are you?

I’ve just returned from a trip to Italy; my body is still aching slightly from all the travelling and walking that I had to do. *grins* But it was a really great trip! We had fun, right Hajare, Nadiah? Si, si! *smiles* We went to visit Rome, and then Florence, and then Venice.

Our flight was from Bristol to Rome. We arrived around 8pm. My first impression of Rome was that it seems a little like KL, with all the traffic jams in the highway. *grins* The next day was a very busy day for us; we walked in the city of Rome from the east to the west! My legs were nearly falling off. *laugh* We visited some famous places, like the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Castel Sant’Angelo, Vatican City, etc. I had pizza for lunch and dinner that day; I felt rather queasy after that. I’ll not be eating pizza for awhile now…

After that we travelled by train to Florence. Florence is renowned for its museums, which I didn’t enter as the queues were too long and the entrance fee too high (for me *grins*). So what did we do? We walked. And walked some more. One funny thing here is that vehicles can go basically anywhere, even public squares! Anyway, it got very cold at night, which was very unfortunate as we’re sleeping in this tent (but with beds) which didn’t have any heater! I felt like I was sleeping in a fridge, seriously. It took me four blankets to feel comfortable. The next day it rained heavily from afternoon to late at night. It was wet, wet, wet.

The day after that we were supposed to catch a train to Venice at 6.28am (so damn early!), but we missed it. *sheepish smile* Luckily we still managed to catch a slightly later train, but had to pay extra for it. As usual. Venice is a really nice place, with some really lovely views. We walked around, as usual. In this case, we had no choice as no vehicles are allowed in the road, at all. We managed to go for a trip on a vaporetti, or water bus. Nice!

After that, I had to travel by bus, fly from Venice to Bristol, take the train and bus to get home to Bath. Phewww! I had a slight headache after that, and my body is still aching, but it was worth it. *grins* It was great!! What not so great is that when I was doing my laundry, I found that I left a pair of sweatpants back in Florence. Damn!

Ciao!

BAMSA Night 2008

Yesterday, the Bath Area Malaysian & Singaporean Association (BAMSA) had their BAMSA Night - ‘The Legend of Mahsuri’. It was quite fun! Full of acting, singing and dancing. *grins* For the uninformed, ‘the Legend of Mahsuri’ is a very famous legend in Langkawi. It’s about a young woman (named Mahsuri obviously) who was accused of adultery, but was actually innocent. When they punished her by stabbing her, she cursed Langkawi to have seven generations of bad luck. Here are some photos of the night…

<<– The bad guy and his wife, being entertained by dancers

Sumazau dance –>>

<<– The heroine Mahsuri and the hero, Mat Darus

The two baduts (hahaha!!) –>>

<<– The wedding between the two lovebirds

More romantic moments *grins*   –>>

<<– Mahsuri with Deraman, the man that she will be accused of having an affair with later on

The punishment –>> 

<<– The death of Mahsuri… Sad moment *sob*

End performance, dikir barat  –>> 

<<– The end! All the participants on stage…

Articles…

I found some really interesting articles…

Supersmart Strategies: 15 Tips for Flying - this article is quite good! Especially for people who hate flying… like me. So the less hassle, the better.

The Dos and Don’ts of Regifting - I’ve never actually done it before, but maybe I should have a go too since "everybody’s doing it." *grins*

Marrying for Love … of Money - wow, I didn’t know people are being so… blatant about it these days. "…even among the workaday (or wannabe) wealthy, marrying for money has become a popular pursuit." Indeed.

5 All-Star Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes - well, this article is interesting to me since I love chocolate chip cookies. *grins*

- Hehehe.

Time to party!!

Last night the postgrads and postdocs from our department organized a Xmas party. There were lots of people there; I can’t believe that there are that many people in our department. *grins* And some of them I don’t even recognize.. *sheepish grin*

Anyway, each of us was supposed to bring some food, so I decided to introduce some Malaysian fried noodles @ bihun goreng to them. Although the recipe on the Internet said its name is supposed to be Singapore fried noodles.. heh. Whatever. A lot of people said it tasted nice, so that’s all that matters. I think. *grins*

Apart from my bihun goreng, there were a lot of food there. I mean a lot. And a lot of it I couldn’t eat too, as they contained non-halal meat. Bummer. Well, at least the dessert (lots of chocolate!) was nice. *smiles*

I had an enjoyable during the party. It was nice chatting with friends, and meeting new people. It was fun. *grins*

Guess what this is? An image of me. Somewhere. *laughs*

The ’smoking man’… I suppose he’s lucky, as smoking indoors is not allowed in the UK these days. Heh.

Of health & technology

I want to share some articles which I found interesting; some are on health:

Clean Clothes and the Toxins They Hide - er, okay, even clean stuff can be toxic these days.. Shesh…

Breast Cancer: Busting Common Myths - interesting stuff. Evidently, electronic devices, personal hygiene products and underwire bras (??) don’t cause cancer. And even more surprising, men can have breast cancer too.

Others are on technology:

How to Delete Files For Good - "When you delete a file from your computer… that file doesn’t ‘go away’, even if you empty the Recycle Bin." Oh. I didn’t know that. "There’s good and bad in this. The good is that if you accidentally delete something you have a good chance of being able to get it back. The bad: So can anyone else." That’s so NOT good…

Could You Work in a Walkstation? - "walkstation": a work station with a treadmill. Yup, a treadmill. So you can work while actually exercising via walking… Gasp! The horror of it! Perish the thought!

File Sharing Opens Users to Identity Theft - well, it’s lucky then that I’ve never used any file-sharing program before. *grins* And articles like this encourage me not to.

- Walkstation, anyone?

The list

I’ve been tagged!! This is the first time for me… (same as you, Hajare! *grins*)

List down five things you enjoy in your life right now. When you’re done, tag 6 other people.

1. Research. When it’s going well, at least. *grins* In particular, I like doing programming.
2. Watching TV. I just love watching TV (my housemates can attest to that! *grins*). Sometimes I watch TV shows (like ‘Mythbusters’, ‘ANTM’, etc), sometimes I just like watching/listening to music videos. This sort of mindless activities soothes my mind. *grins*
3. Reading. I suppose it’s no secret to anyone who knows me that my hobby is reading. I particularly like to read fanfiction (hey, there are some quite interesting fanfics out there) and manga (only online, because those are the only ones I have access to right now *sob*). 
4. Eating. I always find joy in eating. Any time. *grins* The highlight of my day (during weekdays) is going to lunch with my friends, where I can multitask i.e. eat and chat at the same time.
5. Cooking. Rather surprising, huh? But it does relate to activity #4. *grins* I find cooking can be quite rewarding, but only in small doses i.e. I enjoy it more if I don’t have to do it too often.

Yeah, I guess my favourite activities are quite self-serving, and might appear to be mundane. But hey, sometimes it’s the little things in life that can make you happy. *shrugs*

Tagging: Anniza, Mark, Zufina, Hamadah (even though I can’t read your blog! *grins*), Fidelia, and Nancy Peter.

Of open houses

The month of Syawal is (nearly) coming to the end. How’s life then, you might ask. Well, apart from the increase in workload (as usual), I spent quite a few weekends going to ‘open houses’. Yeah, even in the UK the Malaysian tradition of open houses still lives on. *grins* Anyway, whose open house did I go to last weekend? Well, it’s my own. *grins again* My housemates got the idea to do an open house, and we invited (most of) our friends to come. In different time slots actually, since our house can’t cope with 50 people all at once! Yup, that was the estimated number of people who came. It could be more, but I didn’t count exactly. *smiles* They were mostly Malays, but my housemates did invite a few of their classmates, while I invited a few of my friends from the department. My officemate Steve came, and he even ended up learning how to weave a ketupat! *big laugh*

Anyway, to cook the food for the open house we actually did the preparations a few days earlier (like buying stuff, etc), and started cooking the night before. Well, I have to admit I was only the helper (i.e. helped with chopping stuff, stirring the food, etc) while my housemates were the main chefs. Go Ada and Madah! *grins* So, what was on the menu? Well, we did nasi lemak, laksa Penang, rendang and soto for the main meal, with agar-agar, trifle and carrot cake for dessert. Yum!! You can just imagine the amount of cooking we had to do… The open house lasted nearly the whole day, and it was a very long day for me (and my housemates). What with preparing the food, and entertaining guests, and cleaning up after that. The day after that my whole body ached. But I have to admit, it was fun. It’s good to meet up with all the people. Luckily (for us) it’s a once-a-year only occasion (for me, maybe once in a blue moon). *grins* Oh yeah, thank you people for coming!!!

Yesterday, there were actually two open houses for us to attend. Yes, imagine the shock, the horror, the problem of making a choice! (Melodramatic much? *grins*) Luckily (for me, at least), one of them also put separate time slots for us to attend, so yeah, more food to eat! *evil laughter* I spent most of my time at the other open house though, since the host didn’t specify any time frame… And ended up eating a lot of food. And watched an actual live (albeit short) gig, since their son is into bands. All in all, I had fun. So this time, thanks people (Thornbanks and Kak Za) for inviting me to your open houses!

Well, I suppose it’s true that the Hari Raya celebration is for the whole month of Syawal… *grins*

Of work

It’s time for articles! This time they’re related to work:

What to Do When You Hate Your Job - apart from quitting (*grins*), there are some practical steps to help deal with some common scenarios such as being overwhelmed, having a nightmare boss, etc.

8 signs it’s time to change jobs before you get fired - "If you’ve noticed three or more of the warning signs, it’s time to update your resume and start job hunting." Yikes.

Work Friends 101 - "…it’s important to cultivate connections with the right people." "…(there are) types of colleagues to make friends with — and some to keep at a distance."

Are They Lying to You? - this article contains some subtle cues to tell whether someone is lying to you or not. "Deceptions… can be deadly to a growing business." And it could be deadly to your career too…

Eid Mubarak everyone!

I want to wish every Muslim out there Eid Mubarak; for Malaysian, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri!*grins*

We here in Bath are actually celebrating Eid today (Friday), while my family and the people back home in Malaysia are celebrating it on Saturday. It does feel a bit strange to celebrate it earlier… Anyway, after this there are also going to be chances of eating nice food! *grins* And of course, meeting people. And chatting. So I would like to thank in advance all the people who invited me to their ‘open house’ gatherings. *grins again* Thanks a lot people!

Wishing you all Eid Mubarak again! And here are some Raya cards (and wishes) just for you…