Poetic lameness

Fever on the new year....

2012-01-03T21:11:00.000-08:00

Been wanting to write this post....well actually I came back to work yesterday and as you can expect there are tons of work and emails and stuff waiting for me to do. But I still want to write this new years entry. So here we go:

I woke up on the new year with a fever and the work: bitterness in my mouth, runny nose, cough you name it. We didn't really have a celebration, just staying home but since I was with my two beautiful daughters, the new year still meant a lot.

Earlier, we went for a year-end vacation to Damai laut with my sisters family. We had a nice time and even visited Pangkor Island for sight seeing. Other than that, its eat eat and more eating......which I love to do as you know heheh. Which also reminds me that I need to get back to my evening walk routine pretty soon. Like this evening!

Some photos from that holidays for you:

Qia took this nice shot of me.

Me and my sister.

Earlier than Damai Laut, Qia's friend from Perth Jessie was with us for a couple of days. We took her around Penang and it was a nice time too. She bought me an expensive perfume as gift. So far I have a collections of 3 expensive perfumes as gifts. One from Qia on my birthday, one from Dr Safaa and another from Jessie. All I keep with nice memories attached to them. (expensive for my standard that is, perhaps just normal price for all of you hehe)

Enjoying awesome Penang food in Gurney Drive with Jessie.

Qia will be going to her uni today and soon starting final exams. Princess started her school, term 2 yesterday. And I started work yesterday too.

Other than that, I havent been feeling well. I guess for the past 2, 3 months? I have trouble sleeping and also other menopausal symptoms like hot flashes. Sometimes I sweat profusely middle of the night in an air conditioned room. Its been hard. A friend of mine said I should see a doctor and get supplements. Qia and princess said the same. I don't know. Isn't this a natural process? Anyway yeah this kind of bother me....

Half a century old.....here I come!

Take care all, love always.

Merry Christmas and Happy New year 2012!

2011-12-24T22:50:00.000-08:00

It is Christmas today so I would like to wish my readers a merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I woke up feeling nostalgic this morning and my heart soften a little........Yeah overly dramatic that's who I am heheh. Holiday seasons always do this to me. Also new year is coming soon. I'm not sure whether or not I'm ready to say goodbye to 2011. So much had happened this year. Am I set to move on?

Qia is at home for a study week. I had to attend a friend's wedding dinner when she arrived. She let herself in. For the past two days, we spent time quietly watching movies. One after another. We eat, drink and just bonded. Our favorite meal of the day, breakfast is always special and we make sure to have it together......This morning while having breakfast we took turn talking about all the happenings in our lives for 2011. None of us are really prepared to welcome 2012 yet. Not just yet. We have a lot of unfinished business to deal with.

The morning's breakfast.

Tonight we went to the Penang carnival. Third time around for me and princess but first for Qia. The first 2 times I went with a few close friends. We had a really fun time. Qia took some photos, her new hobby and she is good at it too...then we came home with lots of food. Ohh, I eat so much these days you wont believe it hehehe. Well since I'm single now I guess me eating a lot wont do anyone else much harm.

At the carnival.

The week before, I was in Kuantan with Princess, visiting a good friend. After

spending 2 days together we went to Seremban for a few more days, then back home.

Qia will be with us for about 10 days. I have taken leave for whole of next week. We plan to visit Damai Laut again end of next week, to celebrate the new year. Drinking at the beach. Not sure whether it will be just the 3 of us, or I will invite some friends. Qia wants quiet time, to catch up with her studies. Also her birthday is coming soon. I'm still deciding whether or not we should celebrate it earlier, since she wont be with us on the particular day. Qia will turn 21, a big number for both her and me.

I will leave 2011 with lots and lots of bittersweet memories. There's the bond that fall apart, then there's new bonds made. There's the visits all over the world. The friends I made during those trips and also family vacations we took, the highlight being our visit to India is something I will never forget. I'm very lucky to have such wonderful children and dear dear friends that always look after me. I cant say that enough.

Not forgetting Chowder came in our lives in 2011......We love him dearly.

I hope to be able to find closure on some events, find my peace. I wonder what 2012 has in store for me!

Take care all...love always. .

Random photos...

2011-12-06T05:25:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd put some random photos today. Nothing better to do? Haha no, just that recently Qia took a photo of her and she commented to me that she looks like me, in that photo. So I dug out me when I was about her age. I think we do look alike heheh! Also I looked so thin back then. WHEN did I start to gain weight, one wonder :P

24 years old I think

What do you think?

And here is Chowder last night, holding on to princess. Isn't he a darling? ♥ ♥

On another note, princess is on a one month school holiday. This holiday ain't gonna be boring that's for sure. I have a lot planned for a fun time. To begin with: movie night with some friends! We had good food that night and the company was wonderful..

This will be followed by other outings and vacations. Will keep you updated.

Take care all, love always :)

Karnataka Beach, NITK Mangalore..

2011-11-28T17:30:00.000-08:00

11 Nov 2011. Not sure whether I'm doing this right. Can you see the video?

Turn your volume up :)

Family trip....

2011-11-19T21:18:00.000-08:00

I called yesterdays trip a family trip because I consider Dr Safaa and Yasmin family. I love Yasmin so much; like a sister. A loving caring sister. When I came back from India recently, Yasmin made breakfast for us. Similarly in the evening that I came back from Kuala Lumpur, she prepared dinner. Of course not just the food, every moment spent at her house is a happy time for me.

Since Yasmin is leaving to Iraq next week (Wednesday), yesterday I took Dr Safaa and her along with princess to a day trip in Bukit Merah Lake town. It was a memorable trip for us. We took a boat ride to the orangutan island and joined in the "community" for a fun day activities. I just simply love the orang utans. They share 99 percent of human genes and actually behave similar to human. I mean that shouldnt be surprising right hehe.

The jetty where we took a boat to orang utan island.

I forgot his name, but he loves to post for a photograph :)

Baby Sarah.

After orangutan island, we went to another island "the ecopark" that houses various interesting animals and reptiles. Here are some:

Then we took a 'chairlift" ride back to the lake park.

And ended the day with a delicious dinner at the lakeview restaurant.

It was really a nice trip. We came back and entered Penang island at night. From the bridge, the island is a painting of various colors reflected in the water. Penang is like a sparkling diamond and stars. I commented to Dr Safaa that this is similar to Juhu Beach we visited earlier in Mumbai. Reminiscence of the "queens necklace" road.

I guess the world is so full of colors and lights! I wonder what God is seeing looking down at earth from up there. Maybe he said opps I made the earth too small, now its all crowded with people and too many bright sparkles hehe.

I will miss these happy moments with Yasmin and Safaa. It will be sad when they leave. This is my life story I guess. I dont have that many people I'm fond of where I am. Okay thats the honest truth. I have a couple of friends that I really like but thats about it. All my good friends, really good friends are outside the country. They come to my life, then leave. Or I go to theirs, then leave.....

I wished I had them all here. My life will be complete.

I promise to meet Yasmin and Safaa again, maybe I will visit them in Iraq. Or we will meet in Turkey. Who knows. Meanwhile life goes on......

Take care all, love always.

India..

2011-11-11T18:29:00.000-08:00

It is my last day in India today...so I'm writing this entry with a little sadness. Yesterday evening we spent time at the beach and took some videos of us, for memories. When we got back to our hotel, Qia edited those videos and put a background sound of "the way we were". Princess commented that... someday when we look back at these videos..... we might have bittersweet feeling of the way we were. We dont ever want to part. I cried.

My children and I will leave for home in the afternoon, (Mangalore to Mumbai then Mumbai to Kuala lumpur and Penang) expected to arrive on Sunday morning then afternoon on the same day I'm leaving to Kuala Lumpur for a week. What a life hehe.

India has been such an experience! I enjoyed every moment of my stay. Mumbai is an interesting place of historical (Victorian) buildings, nice beach and markets, friendly people and not forgetting the chaotic traffic on the road hehe. It is an experience like non other. We couldnt get enough of the mouth watering south Indian food especially their sweets so our daily activities besides sight seeings is eating nonstop :p

We did some shopping too and got ourselves nice sarees plus awesome Indian jeweleries.

London? Think again :)

Gateway of India, Colaba Mumbai

The usual hum of the streets of Mumbai

Mahatma Gandhi's untouched room.

After 3 days in Mumbai we took a flight to Mangalore and pleasantly surprise to be greeted by lush greenery and a calm quiet place. A total contrast of Mumbai. We are given a VIP suite at the NITK University I'm visiting. The suite is literally 2 mins from the beach! We woke up everyday to the sound of Mangalore peacocks and the waves, and went to sleep in a cradle of big golden Mangalore moon......

This university has its own private, clean and really nice sandy beach. The beach is only open to students and staff of the university. Probably one of its kind in the world! I gave a talk at the university and also at a pharmaceutical company nearby. We were also taken to visit their mountains, historical houses, herbal factory, the place where the river meets the sea (awesome) etc. At every meal time our host took us to different places to sample varieties of food and of course seafood since this place is known for its fresh seafood.

Thank you India for an experience of a lifetime. Thanks to NITK and The Nayak family for your kind welcome to your home. We will miss all of you so much. Thanks for the memories and the good time. You will be in our heart.

We shall come to you again India, someday.

Take care all, love always....and enjoy the photos.

The many beautiful fishing villages in Mangalore

Qia's captioning this: <3 <3

Trip to India...

2011-11-04T01:35:00.000-07:00

The trip to India is finally here! I leave tomorrow to Mumbai, then Mangalore. Both Qia and princess are coming with me so I think we should expect a fun-filled vacation heheh.

Guess we will be spending eid ul adha in Mumbai!

I'm scheduled to give some talks , and going to the IIT Mumbai plus a Technical Institute in Mangalore.

Aside from that, holiday holiday holiday.

Oh also my sabbatical leave has been approved for next year to the university of Manchester. That is something to look forward to. new experience....still single ha ha.

Well, cant write long :( As you'd expect crazy busy schedules lately. Trips and meetings. Just yesterday I was in Seremban for a one day meeting. When India ends I will head straight to Kuala Lumpur for another one week meeting. Then Pangkor and back to Seremban after that.

Keeping busy makes me happy. Of course I hate leaving princess....and Chowder. Speaking of which, he will be left home. Home alone cat you might want to call that. I have arranged to have someone come in daily to clean, feed and play with him a bit. He is so attached to us now it is sad to leave him alone. But there is not much choice. Unless they have pet planes.

Meanwhile, Dr Safaa, Yasmin and us continue to see each other. Recently we had a nice dinner at this syrian restaurant at the beachside. Excellent food, bbq and beryani. Very nice restaurant.

Well, I leave you with some photos...

Take care all and to my muslim friends selamat hari raya.

Love always.

Tarbush restaurant:

The sleeping boy hehe

Chowder loves to play with bubbles. Can you see one?

Have you ever....

2011-10-16T04:00:00.001-07:00

Have you ever been so busy that you cannot even update your blog? Assuming you have a blog that is hehe. Well welcome to my world! (how overly dramatic Rose :).

Life is so busy, chaotic really. I had wanted to update but seriously time is so limited. I put some photos in this blog like 2 weeks ago, with a promise (to myself) that I will add the text later but somehow never got around to do it :(.

I was going to tell you about

1. The wonderful dinner I had with Dr Safaa and his beautiful wife Yasmin 2 weeks ago (photos below)

2. Qia's graduation

3. Our recent weekend outing to Damai Laut.

4. My coming trip to India

5. My sabbatical next year, which I have been accepted to go to Germany, Turkey and the UK (which one would I choose?)

6. The invitation to visit Mauritius again.

7. My beautiful new friendship with Yasmin who is now like a sister to me.

And I had wanted to tell you about all the other happenings, my feeling, Chowder......etc

But its 7 pm now, I had just finish a whole day of long meetings. I'm tired and I need to go home.

So I guess I'll just leave you with some photos of my dinner at Yasmin's recently.

We will just have to make do.

Yasmin and us and her delicious cooking.

Take care all, love always.

Just some news...

2011-09-26T06:48:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd post something longer than what I had been writing lately....for the benefit of you readers (I am imagining people missed my writings heheh) Some of you do right? I know Qia does :P

I visited mom last night, around 8 pm. It was meant to be only a short visit, just to deliver the monthly groceries I do for her. I hadn't planned to go that late too because of my not so good night driving skill (or the lack of it). The plan was to attend my student's evening party and go to mom's after that. But searching for the house took longer than expected resulting in my arriving late at the party. Rather than cancelling mom's I thought I went ahead anyway. Hence the 8 pm visit (moms place is 2 hours away from mine).

She made laksa for the three of us (Dinie and princess came along, thank god for that at least I had company). Anyway at around 8.30 I was ready to go home......but the car wouldn't start. We had to call a mechanic and long story short we arrived home at midnight. Safe and sound nevertheless.

I had an early class this morning but last night commotion and the lack of sleep makes me a little tired today. Whats more a lot of work is really piling up in the office.

On the bright side, my trip to India is confirmed! I will be leaving this November along with princess and Qia. It will be an awesome trip. I just knew it!

On a sweet yet a little weird note, last night mom was telling me about a guy who came to look for me, after 30 years. I was supposedly his "first love" a million years ago when I was a teenager hehe well anyway, 30 years later he decided to come look for me again. Mom kind of told him she doesn't have my phone number (I guess she doesnt want me to be disturbed) but the guy (lost love?) said he will look for me anyway.

The gesture, its sweet if you think about it :P To have someone who apparently still very much in love with you look for you, after a long absence like that. Not that I want to pursue it though. I enjoy my freedom very much at this point to want to have anything at all. Also he must have a family. And why come looking after all these while? Does he know that I'm now back to being single?

Well so yeah that's the story hehehe. I will leave you in this post with a couple of my favorite photos.....

With a famous singer Ersin Faikzade in Erzurum. Oh his voice makes me want to fly.

My gorgeous Qia :)

Last but not least of course my baby (who now sleeps in my bed every night).

Take care all, love always.

Happy birthday Princess..

2011-09-21T05:47:00.000-07:00

Princess's birthday was on the 9th of September (as usual meaning to update this blog but keep putting it off).

Qia came back from Verona on Sept 6th and left for her uni to continue with the llb program September 8. (oh she came back with souviniers and lots of other goodies hehe)

On the 7th, we had a party at my house to celebrate princess's birthday, to welcome Qia home and also to toast Dinie's and Qia's graduation. Good food and fun. I will let the pictures tell you the story.

Happy 14th birthday my princess and many happy returns of the day. It is still quite hard for me to believe that my youngest is 14 years old now. Where did my baby go?

To readers of this blog sorry that this is just a short entry:) Enjoy the photos. I promise to write a lil longer next time.

Different rice from Pakistan and Iraq, prepared by my students. Yummilicious beyond your imagination.

Desert prepared by Yasmeen, Dr Safwaa's wife, also from Iraq.

Birthday girl blowing the candles and making a wish.

Qia in Venice

My girls, all grown up now.

Last but not least, Chowder spending a night with princess. He just loves the bed and the comfortable blanket!

Take care all, love always.

Eid Mubarak to all muslims..

2011-08-27T21:22:00.000-07:00

Tuesday will mark the end of Ramadhan and once again the yearly celebration of eid-ul Fitr. I would like to take this opportunity to wish my muslim friends "selamat Hariraya Aidil Fitri". Hope you will enjoy the break with family and friends.

I will be spending the holidays with my family, as usual. We have some programs lined up starting tomorrow, all involving good food of course hehe. I love the holidays....large gatherings, food, laughter and good times. Almost everyone from my family will be together this year well save for Qia and Dinie. Qia wont be back until Sept 6th and Dinie chose to stay home with Chowder, he wants to work on his research paper. On the 7th I'm having a party in my house to welcome Qia home.

Meanwhile, Chowder is very happy with us and so active hehe. The latest of his victim is my potted plant, which soon I will have to say goodbye to :)

Take care everyone, have a blessed eid and love always.

The birthday letters..

2011-08-16T02:36:00.000-07:00

The birthday letters from Dinie and Princess....thought I'd put them here, for memories (I know, I keep talking about my birthday hehe). Being a drama queen, I cried reading them of course :) The letters are scanned, so no colors. This one is from princess:

And this one is from Dinie:

Now can you get a better birthday tributes than that? :)

Take care all, love always.

Welcome Chowder.

2011-08-14T03:29:00.000-07:00

Its the mid of Ramadhan now. Eid is just around the corner. You can already feel the festive atmosphere everywhere in Malaysia (by festive I mean people go shopping hehe). Yesterday I took princess to the mall. Not that I was planning to buy clothes for eid really, we seldom do that but just to "join in" the festival spirit.

There were big sales everywhere we looked. Princess and me were just mucking around but ended up doing quite a bit of shopping hehe. We actually are very happy with our "unplanned" purchase. Finally the phrase shop till you drop carries meanings for us.

We also watched a movie called "the zookeeper" at the malls cinema. It was quite an enjoyable movie really.

Qia took our camera on her trip so we are left without one. I had wanted to put a photo of my birthday roses from the special friend but did not have a camera for it. Princess and Dinie wrote me a nice birthday "letter" that definitely worth putting here to share but yeah cant do photos yet. Perhaps when the camera is back (together with the person ha ha) I can put the letter and the roses too in here.

Well, we got ourselves a new member to the family. Chowder, a 2 months old kitten came to our family on August 9. He is so cute and he really adds love and joy to our family. He is a smart cat, very disciplined and also adorable. I will let his photos (taken using the laptop's webcam) speak for him :)

Chowder's favorite pillow: Dinies hand.

We gave him a bath and he didnt enjoy it, ran to Dinie to sulk :P

Chowder likes to hug us. This time is princess's leg and this is while we were watching tv. He also hugs his toys and his favorite "toy" is the laptop. He would jump on the keyboard, hugs it and pushes us away so he can have it all to himself :)

So welcome to our family Chowder, hope you will enjoy your stay with us.

Take care all, love always.

Remember me?

2011-07-25T19:26:00.000-07:00

I hope you my readers still remember me hehe been too long since I wrote in here last. I was planning to write after coming back from Turkey but I have been too busy with work and everything else that piled up on my plate. Right after Turkey I actually left immediately to Langkawi and when I got back, things pile up even more.

Life has been tight but quite exciting actually. I had the most wonderful time in Istanbul and Erzurum. Met many interesting people (and men too ha ha) In Istanbul I met someone who took me to the most memorable experience one could have…...or a woman for that matter.

Erzurum is a historical city surrounded by breathtaking mountains. I stayed at a ski resort called Dedeman. Visited so many places and sample different types of sweets and food. All in all it was the best trip of my life so far (I know I say that every time I come back from somewhere).

The people, the food, the history and culture, the parties with beautiful songs, ski lifts up the highest peak covered in snow, firework and cruise.......brilliant, really a brilliant trip. I cannot have asked for anything more. The higher up must be really looking after me.

The Turkish people are very friendly and accommodating to their guests. I definitely would like to go there again.

(I have hundreds of photos but I guess I will put only 2 here for you hehe. Some videos too actually)

Dinner in Erzurum house

The people at the conference.

Right after Turkey, there was a Langkawi trip. Langkawi is an island off Kedah in the west coast. I stayed in a hotel facing the beach with sounds of the wave accompanying my sleep. The food was very nice, shopping too which can’t be avoided in this "duty free" island. In addition to work, we took time to visit various places in the island. A couple of photos for you :)

Langkawi waterworld

In "Mahsuri's house"

Steamboat dinner

The beach at our hotels doorstep.

In the vain department, I have gained back all the weight I lost before the trip hehe and now back in my evening walk routine, although this time without Qia .

Qia left to Verona about a month ago (how time flies) and is having a wonderful time over there. The city of Romeo and Juliet also gives her a taste of romance. (She will have to tell you that herself).

We communicate daily on facebook and chat. I miss her a lot but am so happy that she is having a time of her life. In September before coming home she will be visiting Turkey too...and Venice, Rome, Greece...among other cities.
How lucky is that, to get to do all those at 20?I contacted the hotel I stayed at during my visit in Istanbul. The owner is kind enough to accommodate her at almost nothing! We are just very fortunate I guess.

Dinie is home for a uni break before continuing his education. He did so well for his practicals and his supervisor is already recommending him for further studies. In fact she is taking him to a conference in Brunei this October.

Princess is having a one month school holiday this month. She is visiting Thailand at the moment on school excursion.

I meanwhile will be celebrating my birthday tomorrow....and this year I will celebrate it as a single woman, a single mom. All is good, it’s finally over. To start with, today I received red roses in my office from a special friend many thousand miles away......As a married woman before, I did not receive flowers for my birthday. Thank you so much to my dear friend. The roses indeed made my day.

At the moment, if you asked me how I am, my answer would be I'm happy.

Recently I redecorated my house and make it mine. Start over.

Well, that’s all for the updates....hehe a long one for such a long absence.

Have a bless Ramadhan my muslim readers. Take care all, love always...

Back for a while..

2011-06-12T02:43:00.000-07:00

I'm in the office today although its a Sunday, sorting out office mails. Right after Kota Bharu I traveled to Shah Alam to attend a one week workshop. This time only with Qia since princess had school.

It is worth mentioning that the drive home from Kota Bharu was an 8 hour horrible experience. We got really sick throughout the journey. I vowed never to drive to Kota Bharu again heheh.

I attended the workshop in Shah Alam while Qia lazed at the hotel pool, like in Kota Bharu. We did spent time together sometimes at the sauna and pool and had a girls day out one day to watch a movie.

Qia in her new dress.

Playing "congkak" at the pool (yes, strange place to play congkak hehe)

We also had pizza in bed plus the headache drink....

Now I'm back at home only for a week before I leave for Turkey. Feeling a bit tired and actually quite stressed out. Too much travelings I guess.

At the home front, I must say things get somehow messy...depending on how you want to view it. I view it with numbness.

In response to that, with heavy heart I would like to announce that this blog will be made private.

I need to know who reads this blog. I feel that some matters will probably be too private from now on to share with others.

I will leave this announcement for a while before fiddling in the setting. To dear friends, you will be provided a password to access my blog (should you want to). If you are a regular reader and would like access, do email me at: rose_haque@yahoo.com.au. I will be happy to provide you with the password. (including followers, Sari I don't have your email, please let me know if you still want to follow okay, I will provide access)

Till then take care all, love always.

Good times....

2011-06-02T23:10:00.000-07:00

I'm in Kota Bharu Kelantan at the moment with my girls Qia and princess. We are staying at the Reinassance Hotel. I came here for a bit of work at the Kubang Kerian campus actually but decided to make the visit a vacation as well. We drove from Penang for about 6 hours, checked in the Reinassance and was told our room got upgraded to a suite! Pleasant surprise. Since we are at the club floor, we get to use their lounge and club with exclusive breakfast, hi tea and supper as well as unlimited 24 hours drinks and coffee. Talk about the good life!

We have been spending most of our days lazing at their heated pool, white robe and a book in hands.

Here is my girls in their new bathers (I got myself a new bathers too and actually look quite good in it ha ha, but I suppose the photos wont make it in here).

Pastries sent to our room.

The weekend before, we followed office visit to Perlis a small state in the north, the girls and me that is. It was a day trip and fun-filled as usual. Among others, visited the reptiles and herbal gardens, went to the famous Padang Besar and also to the mango farm to get Perlis famous "harum manis".

Here are some photos to share with you.

I prepared the mango with sticky rice in coconut milk and discovered that I can be a good cook if I wanted to :) Qia, princess and me had second, third heheh and the mangoes were so sweet I swear they must have fertilized it with sugar during planting.

Oh, last but not least.....me post daily evening walks body heheh dont you think I look so good now? :P

Well, thats all for this time. We are going out for lunch.

love always.

Pics and curls and the homemade chocs!

2011-05-21T04:36:00.001-07:00

Dinie left last Sunday for Kota Bharu. He reports that his training (which is research basically) is really going well. I in fact received an email from his supervisor yesterday telling me how articulate and interested Dinie is in the research. One with potentials she says. Of course news like this makes me happy. Dinie will continue on with his masters study soon in the same field insyaAllah.

Qia came back from her Perhentian Island vacation the same day. She enjoyed Perhentian tremendously snorkeling and enjoying the beach.

In addition to Shanghai, Perhentian Island is now added in the "must visit with kids" places on my list.

When my children come home, our favorite time of the day is breakfast. Normally we will have a long leisure breakfast together where we talk about anything and everything under the sun. Its not so much the food, its the company. This is one family time we enjoy doing very much. On the first day Qia arrived, we had pita bread stuffed with cheese and meat:

Can you also see the chocs? They are homemade. The night Qia arrived home, we decided to try making homemade chocolates from the internet recipe. They turned out quite good actually. Thank you internet (whoever lives there) heheh.

Besides homemade chocs, someday I would like to try making homemade wine. Juice from local fruits, rambutan perhaps.

Meanwhile, princess is bored with her hairstyle. She said she is having an image crisis of ponytails all her life heheh. Although we felt sad to say goodbye to her long beautiful hair, we decided to give a permanent curl a try. Here is the results:

What do you think? She looks so grown up now (or maybe she is grown just I haven't noticed).

The same day princess had her permanent curl, later in the evening we went out with a favorite who is returning to his country soon. A goodbye dinner. I had to say the night was memorable...in more ways than one.......

Well, I guess thats all for now...

Take care all, love always.

Officially College-grandma.

2011-05-12T03:24:00.000-07:00

It was raining heavily today since morning. A delightful and most welcome change from the hot weather we have had for the past 2 weeks. The sound of raindrops gives a refreshing feeling reminding me of simple pleasures in life that sometimes I take for granted. Alone in my office I made coffee and just stared out the window most of the morning. I pictured green grass and blooming flowers of many colours…..which oh by the way, one was sent to me recently for mothers day. Fresh from the garden.

Incidently someone revealed some very interesting facts about me, to me yesterday. "Have you known it all along, I asked". I had thought that I was a good actor as far as my life is concerned or rather my "pretend"? life but it turns out some things are too obvious for people not to notice. Heheh, it is funny like that. Amazing even. The words that was said (very well and accurate) echo-ed in my mind. Am I that predictable? Its in the eyes I was told. Eyes that apparently held many many secrets that once told will make a perfect world shattered. Or whatever.

Qia and Dinie officially finished their degree studies this week. Qia will receive a law degree with honours and Dinie will recieve a degree in social science specializing in neurology. They both graduated, which makes me officially a "college-grandma" heheh. Qia is not home yet, celebrating in a perhentian island, Terengganu with some friends. Dinie is home but going off soon for a practical training in Kelantan....this coming Sunday.

All in all I did good, despite the odds. Despite as the person says its in my eyes....today I'm a proud mom and a proud woman. I'm complete.

I have grown to be close with some students, that I called now my favorite people. They are like my family. The week before, we spent time bbq-ing at the beach....and last week we spent a weekend at a villa in Damai Laut resort, Perak. Just us. Most of favorite people are going back to their home country soon. We reckoned that was the only chance for us to create sweet memories of our brief time together.

We had a wonderful time sharing and getting to know everything about each other. And our plans of meeting again someday, sometimes in the future. The gathering was bitter sweet for we have grown to love each other like family, yet none of us are certain when we can meet again. A favorite left yesterday....the other will leave next week and some in weeks to come.

I have never met people that I hold so close to my heart in just brief encounters like this. There is a strong bond between us, something hard for me to explain. Even talking about this makes me so emotional....or perhaps they came into my life at a time when I feel so vulnerable. When I feel I needed someone to talk to.

(Think I'm getting emotional heheh). Okay, to end as usual some photos to share with you. Good times with my favorite people.

Princess.........

Taiping Zoo.

At the resort.

The boys they made sand-mermaid...

Kayaking at sea..

In the car....princess with a special friend :)

At the jetty..

Swimming at sunset.

Peaceful beach..

Well, thats about it.....so long my favorite. I hope to meet again soon someday.

Take care all, love always..

The last week and a half...

2011-05-02T08:11:00.000-07:00

So much happened the last week and a half and I had wanted to write about it...but somehow didnt get around to do it. Part of the reasons was I have been feeling tired. Must be the stress or something. I couldnt sleep most nights, well I couldnt sleep well and in the day time I feel sleepy. I also experience confusions.....about a lot of stuffs. Anyway, oh so thats why this blog was not updated. Totally unrelated I guess.

Previously I was in Kuala Lumpur for a week for my usual work. The trip was quite a tiring one. Meetings went on until late at night, coupled with the fact that I was also away before and barely had time to rest. Shanghai then Terengganu and then KL.

Last Saturday right after KL I was invited to a private night bbq with a few of my favorite students. We had it at the beach. That was one of the best moment I would say, utterly enjoyable. I was very relax and happy.

We ate, talked, listened to the music, sang and danced the night away. It was awesome. The food and the company. We are planning another get together this weekend. This time a place quite far away. I will tell you about it when we come back.

Some photos f for you.

Princess came along and this photo was taken at the national park, before we reach the beach.

Getting ready for the bbq:

Almost sunset.

The kebabs:
Fish and the most amazing salad.

The students also cooked some Palestinians rice. Really really good.

We came back at midnight.

Meanwhile on the homefront Dinie is coming back tomorrow; only for a week before heading off again for a practical training. Qia will finish her final exams next week then she too will come home.

I think Qia poked herself again. Last week out of the blue she called me and asked me if she could borrow 100 ringgit. "I will pay you back once I start working, I will pay you with interest, 150 ringgit. Dont worry this is not alcohol or drug related". Wow I thought this is good opportunity for me to make money so of course I gave. Wouldnt you?

Then the next day she asked me what type of food cant she eat, for a sensitive skin.....

So I think she poked herself again, I just dont know where. She had wanted a second piercing on her ears and I let her. This time god knows what she did heheh.

Take care all, love always.

The red stone..

2011-04-20T04:31:00.001-07:00

Mom's wedding ring is probably about 50 years old. That's how long she was married to dad, I mean up to today. Dad passed away quite sometimes ago.

I remember growing up seeing the ring on her finger..oval shape with bright red stone....dad had one too, both with the same red stone except dad's was square. Since I didn't see the ring on mom's finger for quite some times, recently I mentioned it. Mom told me she still have the ring but had lost the red stone....the very essence of mom's ring in my memory.

I asked mom if I could have it....I like her ring a lot. It had been part of mom for as long as I remember....and I want to keep that as memory. To my delight, she said yes!

The ring is officially mine.

Of course I needed to get it fixed. When cleaning auntie went to visit India, I asked her to look for the stone. Unfortunately she could not find red stone with an oval shape like that. People don't make it anymore. Apparently the design had gone out of fashion.

I continued looking and in the end when I had almost given up, we found a shop that can cut a stone like that.

So mom's ring is fixed....with the same red bright oval shape stone she used to have. Here it is, tell me isn't that not the most beautiful art work you have seen? Right?

The ring is for Qia, on occasion of her graduation this July. A symbol of my love for her to remember me by someday. A family heirloom.

Ohh, Dinie will also graduate this July. (He had taken an early present of a Europe trip last year) not that I'm counting but I love Dinie, Qia and princess all just the same.

On a side note, I cant believe two of my children will finish college soon. Time just passed me by so fast. But I'm a proud mom that's for sure. Dinie will continue to do a masters degree and Qia will go on to do an llb (I know I keep saying llb but to be honest, I don't know what that means hehe) I suppose some kind of class that make you a lawyer of some sort.

God willing of course.

Meanwhile, this is the pearl set Qia received and the next one is the jade set that belongs to me. Both from my recent Shanghai trip. Aren't they pretty?

Princess also received a set of pearl. Hers is not shown here.

Precious stones are definitely one of the reasons to be happy........besides love and money which if you think about it can also translate to nice things heheh.

Take care friends...love always.

The Terengganu trip..

2011-04-16T08:15:00.000-07:00

Right after China, I went to Terengganu (a state located in East Coast of Malaysia) with the International Postgraduate Students; for a 4 day 3 night Malaysian Cultural Tour. (Yes you guessed it, this is one of those "I left I came back post" heheh).

We had so much fun on the trip. This is one trip I organized that I'm so proud of. It was a huge success. My students learned a lot about Malaysian culture and way of life and they had such a wonderful time. I did too.

I had organized that each student stayed with a Malaysian family in Terengganu. We made a deal with a "Teluk Ketapang homestay" where students get a foster family and stayed with them for 4 days.

Among the activities, we visited interesting places such as the Islamic Civilization Center, the museum, the batik industry, cruise along Terengganu river, cruise in the Kenyir Lake, visits to the herbal garden, the waterfall, family picnics, traditional games and food and other fun activities.

It was 4 days of food, laughter and good times. These moments of togetherness is priceless. Its yet another page of memories I will never forget.

Lets see some photos shall we :)

We started a journey from USM at about 9 am. Along the way we stopped at Banding lake resort for lunch. Arrival:

Lunch (a 4 course western):

After lunch my students took a boat ride along the Temenggor Lake. They loved it.

At around 4 pm we left for Teluk Ketapang, Terengganu and arrived around 9 pm. The people at the village were waiting for us and we had a small welcoming ceremony.

The group:

I gave a speech:

Each student gets a family:

The good times (random):

Picnic with the families at the beach:

Telematch following the picnic.

Trying their skills on traditional games of "batu selambut"

Making "roti jala" a traditional food.

Planting a "USM tree" on the last day

Queen of the jungle ha ha.

Another one....at the islamic civilization park:

Princess tried the henna on her hand.

At the bridge, nightlife in Terengganu.

The breathtaking Kenyir Lake:

The last day (the white cloth is batik we painted ourselves):

It is hard to say goodbye....

Well, hope you had enjoyed the photos. They say a picture paints a thousand words and indeed these one did.

Take care all, love always.

I'm back...

2011-04-10T03:51:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm back! The trip was a "once in a lifetime". I had so much fun and I was the happiest. Even if there are no more trips like this in the future, I think God had given me more than what I had hoped for...

Shanghai is a brilliant city. So much character, a mixed of the East and West..... of history and civilization. I visited the gardens and many interesting places. The floating village in Suzhou is like an enchanted land with its many lanterns and vibrant activities.........pearls and jades and all that glitters.

I took a romantic walk along the bund decorated with rainbow of colors reflecting in the water. It was magnificant and breathtaking. One of the nights I stood in the middle of the city and breathe in the awesomeness around me. I have never seen anything like it, nor have I felt any emotion like it.

Shanghai is something not to be forgotten.....and it will never be.

The Yuyuan garden..

Romancing the locals....

Take care all, love always.

Parting is such sweet sorrow...

2011-03-31T03:25:00.000-07:00

Well.....this is a goodbye post, not for long though.....just one those "I left I come back" kind of thing.

I'm leaving on a jet plane again tomorrow for a much awaited trip. Mega excited is an understatement this time!

As usual I have a mixed feeling when I go away. Excited for I do love traveling so much but at the same time I feel a tremendous guilt that comes alongside motherhood......... The feeling that I'm abandoning my children for a "me" time.

Its going to be a busy April for me. When I come back on the 8th, there is another trip, this time to Terengganu with students and back from that, I leave for Kuala Lumpur.

Well, I guess I'm all set.....

So adios amigos friends and loved ones. I shall miss you.

Juliet:

'Tis almost morning, I would have thee gone—
And yet no farther than a wan-ton's bird,
That lets it hop a little from his hand,
Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves,
And with a silken thread plucks it back again,
So loving-jealous of his liberty.

Romeo:
I would I were thy bird.

Juliet:
Sweet, so would I,
Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.
Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.

Sadistic nature?

2011-03-23T04:09:00.000-07:00

Sadistic nature

That's what Qia said to me today, although I doubt the girl even know the meaning of that word! I mean oh come-onn. Just because you can spell the word doesn't mean you know how to use it. Sadistic my my hehe.

It all started this afternoon when she messaged me to say she had just finished taking a horrible test. In loving response, I said, what a coincident, I'm invigilating a test myself and enjoying watching the poor souls answering my questions......and then I added that life is not fair. You know to explain why she had to take a test while I had to reluctantly give one.......

Then she started to be amazed that I don't even hide my sadistic nature ha ha what sadistic?

I like to appreciate the little things in life....like people have to take a test whereas I don't...or I listen to the traffic report in my car about the huge traffic jam on the Penang bridge and smile widely that I'm in a smooth going traffic...

And for that the girl said I have a sadistic nature? What, not like I go physically harm anyone. In fact I would be considered a model person for knowing how to appreciate whatever life has to offer me, and not others.....No?

Well, anyway.....I will let her read this and apologize to me.....god knows I deserve the apology.

On a different yet still "me" note, my overseas trip is next Friday. hehe God I'm so excited! (this is not being sadistic right?)

And Ohh the blue dress is coming with me! I finally fit nicely in it. I must be losing quite a bit of weight I think. This is a happy news, in fact I'm planning to celebrate the losing weight this weekend with princess. Perhaps with a pizza or cake you know and chocolate....and one of those smooth creamy doughnuts.....

Funny usually after I lost weight and celebrate, the weight would come back...there must be a flaw in my way of celebrating although I cant pinpoint where.

Any ideas?

Love always....take care friends :)

Rainy days are here to stay...

2011-03-21T07:51:00.000-07:00

The rain comes every evening lately..... I look forward to the sound of water hitting the roof, washing the green leaves, drops on the window and the overall feeling of "clean and fresh". It is raining now at the moment I'm writing this update..the night seems warm and cosy from inside the bedroom. Nostalgic even.

I started work today after spending a weekend following students community activities in a village up north. Princess came with me. We spent a night in this little wooden hut and the next day joined the villagers for one whole day. We set up a computer center and a mini library at the village, among other projects.

The village was scenic with an air of serenity to it. The villagers are either fishermen or padi planter (rice). They treated us to some fresh fish straight from the ocean....and local homemade wine (nira) and salted fish. We sipped juice from young coconuts that tasted like wine.

The little wooden hut we stayed in faces the sea. It had lots of big old trees and had a swing in the garden. Princess and me shared a hut. Another 2 friends stayed in the other huts. I love the place. I didnt being a camera but my friend took some photos of us. Hopefully I will be able to show you some later.

We came back late saturday night, tired but with fond memories. It had occured to me that, no matter how sometimes life treats you bad, you can be sure that something nice will come up that makes it all worthwhile.

Ohh meanwhile, Qia colored her hair. The color looks nice on her I think. I had wanted to put a photo of her new hair color here but the photo is in the office. Maybe next entry?

Auntie that cleans our house came back from her visit to India. She bought me some clothes materials and for Qia she bought her a saree...heheh Qia always wanted one.

She hasnt seen it yet but I'm showing it here for you.

Look at the color and the embroderies. Isnt that amazing?

Well, I'm getting sleepy so going to bed....

Take care friends and welcome back to Sari....(I was looking for your blog and realized it was deleted, but nice to have you back :)

Love always.

li'l snow....

2011-03-16T04:05:00.000-07:00

Princess has a new name "little snow"

Who gave her that name? That one you have to ask li'l snow herself :)

What I know is the name suits her very well.....she is pure, powerful, pretty and precious just what little snow should be.

Little snow....little snow
Come tonight on the front door
Bring me precious and grand power
You know you are not like any other...

Losing it....

2011-03-15T04:04:00.000-07:00

Figure this out with me people......I think I'm losing my mind.

Remember previously I told you guys somehow my clothes didn't fit but instead of gaining weight, I think I have gained volumes?

Yeah that's right. That explained a lot of the things at that time.

Which lead to me doing daily evening walk....

Which led to me telling you guys proudly that I have lost 5 kgs....member?

Well, now I have a bigger issue. Yesterday princess was commenting that something looked funny. I said what? She told me something is not right, "you look shorter" Huh?

Then today while wearing my skirt, I noticed somehow the skirt feels longer than before. I mean seriously.

When I weighted myself on Saturday I lost 5 kg. Now could it be possible that instead of losing weight, I lost height instead?

Have I lost height?

Seriously?

I mean height can be 5 kgs right? Heights are made of bone to hold the flesh together that makes you taller. So if the bone kind of, I dont know dissapear? That along with some skeleton can come up to 5 kgs, No?

Right?

Qia how does the law look at this?

Officially sprautumn....

2011-03-13T04:08:00.000-07:00

I drove princess for some shopping today. Along the way we noticed the flowers are blooming pink and purple and the leaves are falling......making the street looked amazingly beautiful. I wished I had taken some photos for you. I commented to princess that somehow the feeling is like we are in some seasons now and princess agreed. Its sprautum she said, spring and autumn. I guess it's officially sprautum now indeed.

Rain comes everyday lately. The weather is gloomy but nice for a cup of coffee and looking out the window feeling depressed heheh. I like gloomy weather. I prefer grey anytime to a bright cheery day......

Yesterday we (princess and me) visited my sister along with my other sister plus her kids. Mom was at sis's too. She came for a family wedding which will happen day after.

We ate delicious mango with sticky rice...and I enjoyed every bite of the many many bites I took :) You know how food can make me so weak......

I weighed myself in her bathroom and discovered that I have lost 5 kgs!! Yes can you believe that? One and a half month of 40 minutes brisk walk and I lost that much. It just feels so good to know.

Today at Mckers, while having our quarter pounder each, princess asked me if she could have a puppy. I told her maybe someday "when I got myself a boyfriend" Then she said "that means I'm never gonna have a puppy!" Hehe that girl can be mean sometimes. What is she trying to imply?

Ohh, on the homefront, we are having our first guest at our homestay!

http://sungaipetanihomestays.blogspot.com/

They come in tomorrow for 2 nights. Our "bussiness" is moving forward now. I hope in future we will receive more guests.

Meanwhile, let me enjoy the gloomy weather over coffee and gloat to myself that I have lost some weight..

Take care friends, Lets pray for the people of Japan.

Love always.

Get well soon....

2011-03-09T22:42:00.001-08:00

Last Tuesday while playing with her friends, princess was pushed down quite from a high ground by a boy at the school. She landed on her arms and her back hit a parked car nearby.

The teachers did not think she needed an X-ray. You go figure.....

I was upset when I picked her up and told of the incident. I took her to a clinic for an X-ray. From X-ray picture, the doctor couldn't tell whether or not she suffered any fractures on her arm so she sent us to the general hospital for confirmation.

We spent a few hours at the hospital. Luckily the doctors concluded that she sprained the ligaments, but no bone fracture.

She was put on a sling.

Things happened but when it was not handled properly, temper can flare.

The boy's parent didn't even apologize to princess or to me. Proved that money cannot buy manners. Or intelligence. Or common sense.

For now what matters is princess get well soon...

Hang in there honey.

Love, mom :)

The good job cake for princess.

2011-03-06T02:08:00.003-08:00

It was a seriously romantic afternoon. Light rain.....soft music (okay, I added the soft music part heheh). The flowers were blooming and the grass couldnt be greener...

She had been wanting to talk to her crush for quite sometimes already but didnt have enough courage......coupled with not the right time.

That afternoon, the opportunity presented itself. They were at the same place and at the same time and the atmosphere was just right..... Other people were there too but they were close enough for a conversation. At the time, in her mind it was just him and her. Their world.

So she did it. She talked to him! A real conversation not just a hi. And he looked in her eyes while they talked. Talked as in a real conversation, not just saying hi to each other I have said that right. He has soft smiling eyes and he looked directly at her when he talked. He is this tall cute guy but when they talked, he didnt seem that much taller than her, not as she had expected.....And she wasnt nervous. Her heart beat faster but she was able to stay calm and said all the right things.

The after school afternoon they had a real conversation. Not so brief, not so long, but real and sweet and memorable.....

For that I'm proud of my girl. Thats how it should be in life. If you want something, you go for it.......

That evening we bought a cake to celebrate a real conversation.. On it I had good job written.

Indeed she did a good job.

The other day she said to me, if people are close to each other, when they sit together on a grass they will pull grass....heheh I dont know where the logic comes from but thats her theory. In this case, they havent pulled the grass together yet but one day they will....

Meanwhile, she was asking me how does she look like when she sleep? So I took these photos:

So thats how you looked like when you sleep princess.

Good night and good job :)

Love from mom.

The blue dress is not going......

2011-03-06T02:08:00.001-08:00

Its final, the blue dress is not going on the trip. I have tried. I walk every evening, cut down on essential nutrients, even attemped a hunger strike....... Oh I lost weight. Like a bit but not enough to look good in the blue dress. Unless I want people to think that I dont wish to breathe anymore while in the dress...... which is a misconception for I in fact do plan to breathe throughout the trip....

I have 3 more weeks and I dont think I can reach the blue dress target so I have decided the blue dress is not going and thats that. Wait, maybe not! What if I alter the dress so its a little bigger? Ahah thats a thought. Instead of I go to the dress, it comes to me. Brilliant Rose. *pat myself*

I do think that was a brilliant idea, dont you? :)

The other day Qia said this to me in our ym conversation:

Nur Zulkernain: yea but you're on a different level than me. As in I suck...
Nur Zulkernain: you're really a ridiculously brilliant mother. I dont even...I cant even imagine what god was thinking when he made you
rose_haque: ok dont tell anyone about this, just get it done, tomorrow I will look also then we sent
rose_haque: hehehe naaah
Nur Zulkernain: yea okay
Nur Zulkernain: no seriously, too much kindness, compassion etc;
Nur Zulkernain: jesus christ...

Hehehe thats the nicest thing anyone could ever said to me and I was smiling from ear to ear. I consider myself an okay mother you know not that bad or good I mean I didnt boil the kids in hot water or anything but I did yell sometimes etc but for a daugther to say that to you....wow that means a lot!

Thank you Qia.

Meanwhile last night I attended a dinner at this hotel and the food was good so I ate a lot although I was reminding myself about the walking and the trip and the blue dress.......the cheesecake was cheesy and soft which automatically made me weaker as the night went. Thats normal right? Right? In the end I ate and ate and comforted myself with the once in while kind of reasoning and also as Qia said if its a hotel buffet we are supposed to eat.

When I came back, I called Qia and told her what I did. I said I think my body reduced to just 2 parts that night. A blob of an upper part and then my thighs...

The hotel.

I also won a lucky draw during dinner:

Well, I guess thats all for tonight readers....(I wonder who reads my blog by the way) Maybe you guys could identify yourself. For all you know, I might have a lot of fans out there hehehe.....right? right?....

Hope to talk again soon. Take care friends, love always.

Hairy issue....

2011-02-28T01:58:00.000-08:00

Princess's hair is very long. She's been keeping it for a couple of years now. Well mine is long too but that's another story heheh. Last night princess asked me to braid her hair so "tomorrow morning it will be curly".

And I did. Here's how her hair looked like last night.

She slept in it and this morning before school I removed the plaits:

Look at how fluffy it is.....

Unfortunately, for school she still needs to tie her hair.

My princess has a very nice long hair don't you think? Well if you do, you'd like my hair too...and everything else that comes with me hehehe.

Take care all, love always.

I wrote this song about you...

2011-02-27T02:11:00.000-08:00

Today is Sunday and I'm in the office. Yes I was in the office yesterday too that makes the whole week just spent in the office. No life? Well I had some work and things to do and programs that I needed to attend on the weekend. So that is considered life right? No?

Next week will be a busy week. Workshop, dinner, meetings you name it. Meanwhile things are going a bit according to plans. Gosh I get scared even saying that...both you and I know the universe seems to always have a way of spoiling things....especially if you brag about having things going your way in blogs.....heheh.

Oh ya, just to let you know my overseas trip is confirmed! Confirmed as in the ticket has been bought. It is planned on the 1st to the 8th of April. My first overseas trip this year. The thought of it excites my heart although kind of more like a dream. A reality yet seems surreal...... Am I actually doing this?

Makes me wonder whether or not the script of one's life has been written in advance or we make our own script? Whatever it is this time just this once I refuse to analyze. I plan to enjoy. Period.

We make up our own script? Now isn't that a funny statement. To even consider that sort of an idea! I don't think I'd be writing the last 48 years script of my life the way it is if it was up to me. I would have had a bit more mercy.

Tomorrow the passport needs to be renewed and after that the visa application. After visa the plan is to finish off all work that I need to get done before the trip. Lots!! That will take care of the whole of March. Note to self: start writing down the "must-finished" task pronto.

April is all about trips. At least 3 is in the list.

In the body-department, I want to continue with my evening walks and dieting before April. The idea is to fit in nicely back into my blue dress. One month. Perhaps in addition food intake will also be cut down? I must look good.

Take care friends, love always.

It's almost a year.....

2011-02-23T20:56:00.000-08:00

A friend asked me recently, has it been a year that we reconnected? I went back to the day and realized, yes it has been almost a year. We met again on the 25th of March last year...and life has changed a lot, for the better.

Thanks for being there for me my friend, through it all....I'm not sure what I would have done without you.

Love always...

Updates...

2011-02-23T19:38:00.000-08:00

I feel like writing today, just to relax. So much had happened this last couple weeks, I badly need some times to just take a deep breath and smell the roses...somehow bad events like to occur in groups of one after another, misery loves company kind of thing :)

I have been going on an evening walk for 3 weeks already and have seen some amazing results body-wise! I can feel I started to lose some weights, lighter, more energetic and I begin to fit in my old clothes again. Its a good feeling I can tell you that :) In fact I'm contemplating taking a recent photo of me (including and especially body) to flaunt it here for you ha ha. Maybe I will. Give it one more week?

Had a chat with Qia on the phone just then. She told me although she knows she is not supposed to go shopping on her allowance, she went anyway and spent 10 ringgit on something she needs, not want. When asked, it turns out that she bought a "bell kind of thing". To quote her "so whenever I walk, or enter a class, I make noise". Yes she said that.

I didn't think she was that invisible that she needed to buy bell so people can notice her when she walks. Then again....she has always look at things her way so I have given up trying to reason a long time ago, when she was 5 hehe.

On the home front, auntie that cleans our house weekly wont be coming for 3 weeks. She went to visit India yesterday and will be there for a while. She is in India to pray in a temple there.

The sweet story is before she left she asked me what would I like her to bring back for me from India...Her question touches my heart in a completely new level. I mean this is a woman who barely makes enough for a decent living and there she was, asking me what she could buy me. I didnt expect that from her and I was really touched. Would we have done the same if we were in her shoe?

Honestly perhaps I wouldn't but I hope this is one life lesson I'm learning.

On to another good news before I stop, there should be a trip to Shanghai early April. I'm counting on that and so looking forward to it. Walk down memory lane of a different sort.....not necessarily the origin. Other than that, I'm organizing a trip for my postgraduate students and also hopefully a bbq soon. So we will see.

Till we meet again, take care friends, love always.

Princess's First Valentines.....

2011-02-14T21:00:00.000-08:00

Well, she had a pretty interesting valentine's day celebration yesterday. Her first hehe and reading her blog today made me smile. She actually received chocolates from a boy! A guy in year 9.

I will let you read what she wrote in her blog (pretty cute):

Happy Valentines day to all

Hello peeps,

First of all I'd like to wish everyone a happy Valentines day to all those lovebirds that's celebrating.

To those that are single and has no valentines well make this day an independent day and to try and be happy to be single because you're too sexy for everyone that's what my friends and i always say he he. Well another thing to ruin such a ''magical'' day is that it's placed on Monday. Yup, what a great way to kick off romance don't you think?

Anyway moving on, my school did something nice for this occasion, the broadcasting club (in which I am in) had an idea to give chocolate dedications to whoever they please which is Ferraro Roche chocolates might i add.

My friend and I shared chocolates with each other (which he paid entirely for,thanks)So there were three balls of chocolate, i had one he had one and i had half a bite of the last one and he ate the rest ha ha. Sounds weird and looks weird but we're close friends so we don't mind.

Now another thing that's a little different that happened to me on valentines this year is (brace yourself, joking). My friend was jokingly asking me to be his valentine which was sweet of him but since i know how he is I did not take it seriously.

Anyway so he asked me to be his valentine so I replied back to him by saying so ''where's my chocolate then?'' and he was willing to pay RM4(cost of the chocolates) and give it on Monday. Bad news was that the deadline for buying the chocolates was already over.

So I dropped the subject already and was already forgetting about it as I knew he wouldn't buy me it after all (being nervous of what people think) Also because lately we've been rumoured to be a couple so I did not want to make this a huge issue. As I was saying, I did not expect him to buy me any chocolates at all.

So before break time, my friend and I had to distribute the chocolates to everyone in the school (had to, due to broadcasting jobs being assigned) so there I was, entering his class and called his name so that I could give him his chocolates with the messages by his husband (yes,most of the people in my school are married)and he was making a joke to his class saying that it was from his girlfriend (me) and I was just standing there like a lost lunatic.

So after giving him the message and chocolate, it was recess. My friends and I wanted to play badminton (as it is one of my favourite sports of all time) the problem was that there was no shuttle cock.

So my friend made me ask my other friend (in which she has a crush on) to ask him. As I was looking for him, I ran into my friend who asked me to be his valentines. Tried to not go in the same direction because well I just don't know (long story+complicated.

As i had not intended to I ran into him.( Not expecting anything but a simple ''hi'') He gave me Ferraro Roche's. I was quite shock at that moment due to thinking where he had gotten it since he was too late to order or too lazy to buy from the store. So I kind of just stood in front of him and froze! I said thanks of course but I wasn't really sure of what was going on (lame and pathetic,I know).

After I said thanks, I was looking for the guy for the shuttle cock and just forgot about the chocolates. When I had finished talking about the shuttle cock, I had just realised that he gave me chocolates.

Yes I'm very slow at catching up with what is going on around me. As we lined up to get back to class, I saw him again and said thanks once more. So that was basically it. Since recess, my Friend ( mostly the idiotic guys in my class,Love you though) friends kept on like whining on how unfair it was which isn't my fault actually!

So that was what happened today, You might be thinking that's sweet but trust me, we're just friends. I'm serious with cherries on top ha ha, but the thought and gesture was still sweet and nice though he he.

Anyway so happy Valentines day again and at least I got chocolates from my friend in my class and my other friend that's 2 years older than me ha ha. Anyway I might be going to the cinema with my friends tomorrow (no not with him) and it'll be fun because 1. There's no school, 2. Haven't had much time to see movies lately. Hope you had a nice Valentines day as I did.

Sweetheart's day...

2011-02-13T00:46:00.000-08:00

Sweetheart day is tomorrow February 14. Not that I celebrate it. Normally I dont even notice when the day comes....just that this year princess's school is doing valentines dedication, chocolates day. She talks about it a lot since her club is selling the chocs, so I know the day is coming.

I guess for lovers its a good day heheh. They can exchange gifts, do something romantic together, renew their vows etc.

Does love really last? Maybe for some lucky few. For the rest, I think we all know how that goes hehe. People take the second chance in love, third chance although I dont know whether they actually found what they are looking for the second time around, the third time. And if numerous attempts dont work, do they still believe in love?

Gosh I'm sounding like a hindi movie heheh I better stop. No offence to hindi movies.

I write this while watching a Glee episode talking about God and songs to that effect. One of the characters said he didnt believe in God. Sometimes I too wonder. Lately God doesnt answer my prayers, not any of them. Is God really listening. Or maybe suffering is more the theme of this world when He created it....one cannot steer away from the theme you know, you have to follow the script....

This was supposed to be a happy post hehe for all lovers out there. The theme. I must get back on track.

Happy sweetheart day to all friends.....hope your life is full of love, always and happy sweetheart day to my loves: Dinie, Qia and princess. I wish you love as much as your heart desire :)

Take care.

The ads version.....

2011-02-04T23:59:00.000-08:00

Its been a week of Chinese New Year break. Princess is at home, back to school next week. Dinie is at uni and Qia spent the holidays at her uncle's in Kuala Lumpur.

Princess and me along with my younger sister's family visited mom yesterday. We slept over.

Meanwhile, I have finally put up a blog for my "homestay":

http://sungaipetanihomestays.blogspot.com/

Do check it out okay.

A short entry this time :) I have a lot on my mind.......

Take care friends, love always.

Happy "Twenteen" birthday Qia.

2011-01-23T20:16:00.000-08:00

This entry is dedicated to my beautiful daughter, Qia on occasion of her 20th birthday today January 24th.

Happy 20th birthday Qia. I hope this day brings you much happiness, success, love and all the best things that you deserve. I'm happy to celebrate this day with you and I hope there will be many many more happy occasions like this we celebrate together. No words can describe how much I love you! You have grown up to be such a beautiful person inside out. I know I cannot ask for a better daughter and because of you (and your sis and brother), I'm proud to be a mother.

Happy birthday again honey....keep smiling and show the world that cute dimples of yours :)

Here's a poem that I think suits you and this occassion very well :)

When Your Birthday Rolls Around

Because you mean so much to me,
I celebrate your birth.
Sharing time and space with you,
Rings my bell for all it’s worth.

Whenever your birthday rolls around,
I contemplate once more,
How happy I am that you were born;
The thought makes my heart soar.

I wish your birthdays happened more,
So I could let you know,
How very much you mean to me,
And so I could tell you so!

By Karl Fuchs

Dear Qia, Happy Birthday!

Thoughts and feelings...

2011-01-14T22:58:00.000-08:00

I think I'm supposed to write about my thoughts and feelings now, a lot more than the "I left, I came back posts" that seems to fill up most of last years entries.....well thats what Qia decided that I should do heheh.

Today is Saturday, I'm at home with princess. We went out briefly to take lunch and now just lazing around, in every sense of that word. Auntie that comes to do weekly cleaning had just left. Its quiet in the house...except for the tv which no one is watching actually.

Lately I have been having constant mood swings. I feel angry a lot, even rage. And at times depressed, for no apparent reasons. I think I'm entering a pre-menopousal stage. How else can I explain all that I'm experiencing. A friend remarked that I'm too young for menopouse but I'm turning 48 this year so I think that it is quite possible.

(Yeah, talk about something that personal in here..way to go Rose heheh. Why dont you tell people how much you weigh also?).

Dinie celebrated his birthday yesterday, turning 22 and on the 24th next week Qia will turn 20. Where did time fly? The kids are growing so fast. Princess (the littlest) is so grown up now. Yesterday she went to her friends birthday party wearing a top and new shorts I bought her. Gosh she looks like a teenager already. If anything about my life's decisions, the one to have kids was something I'm proud of. No regrets there. My children turn out so fine. It makes everything else worthwhile.

I continue to walk to work whenever I can. Some people have remarked that I have lost a tiny amount of weight. Its good news although I'm not sure how that works. Most of my clothes are a bit tight now, hows that for "losing" weight. I think perhaps I may have lost weight but I gained "volume". Yeah that must be it. So, although I give the appearance of losing weight, I actually hide some of the weight in the form of "volumes". Make what you want of it heheh.

I have a few travelling plans for this year and some plans also workwise. I would like to go to Egypt end of this year. I'm looking also to visit indonesia again. Other plans I'm still weighing a few options. For work, there are a few developments also. Hopefully all good.

House decoration is going well. I have added some flowers, rugs and picture frames for the living room and the bedrooms. Things look pretty bright and cheerful. I find comfort in having plants and flowers around me. So, let it be known that for this year, if anyone wants to give me presents, you cant go wrong if you decided on flowers, plants or perfume hehe (children take notes) and oh chocolates (Grace take notes :)))

I guess that all for a saturday afternoon. Wanna go make myself a cup of coffee.

Happy belated birthday Dinie. Hope the world is yours and all that you want.

Take care everyone, love always...

Goodbye 2010, Welcome 2011

2010-12-31T22:31:00.000-08:00

So we say goodbye to 2010 and welcome the new year. I felt a bit sad today, looking back at 2010 and all the things I (we) have been through.

For one thing, a chapter closes and another chapter opens I think....

There was so much love around me from family and friends, for that I'm grateful and I'm hoping things will remain like that in the years ahead. Love comes, love goes. That's part of life and 2010 saw that too.

Work-wise I did good. I also did a lot of travelings starting with Ubon, Thailand, to Beijing, UK, Austria, Mauritius, Yogjakarta and closer to home with recent family holidays.

It was a great year, 2010 all in all.

So, welcome 2011 and have a great year friends.

Love always.

Some photos from sweet memories of 2010:

Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand January.

The summer palace, Beijing March.

Austria, Jun

Mauritius July.

Baby Haque was born, September 2010.

Yogjakarta, October 2010.

Melaka, Nov.

Family vacation, Melaka Dec.

Family day Dec.
In a game of "Win, Lose or Draw (in which my team won) my sister was trying to draw "dead end" all we could guess was "water" heheh.

Family day dinner

My other sister did a solo. She used to be a good singer in high school.
Qia and me was about to dance to my sister's song. My niece actually taped a video of me dancing in which she said to be used for blackmail later should the needs arise hehehe.

The Haque Annual Family Gathering....

2010-12-28T04:36:00.001-08:00

Yes you guessed it, this is another one of those I left I returned post in trending here lately hehehe. Well, I returned yesterday from the Haque Annual Family Gathering that took place in one of the resorts up North. Most members of the family were there. We had such a brilliant time swimming, karaokeing, fun-sports and lots of food. Its moments like this that I wished I had more children, like my mom: 8 children and god knows how many grandchildren :) When we gather, we are one huge family.

Note to own children: 3 is fine too...hehe just promise me grandchildren size of a football team at least okay?

The resort we stayed in was awesome with landscape and nature and beautiful waterfall.Here are some photos to share with you. You might wonder why we only have photos of the swim which happened on the evening of the first day. Well, wonder no more heheh. Qia dropped our camera in the water so we couldn't take any more photos for the rest of the gathering. Fortunately it dried up yesterday so its salvation nevertheless.....

Take care all, love always and as princess said in her blog: Bring it on 2011!!

On the way..

Good time..

Okay, she either didnt like Qia or the water hehehe...your guess?

Crystal clear water.

Nature by Qia.

Banding...

2010-12-25T00:28:00.000-08:00

I had just came back from a 3 day students activity in Banding where we stayed at Banding lake resort, a resort surrounded by the "Temenggor" Lake and "Belum" forest. I'll tell you more about it in a minute.

Qia said lately my blog consists of only, "I leave, then I came back" posts hehe. Why don't I write on my thoughts, or my feeling or something else she asked. I tell you that girl asks a lot :) I guess this blog has turned into a log book of my whereabouts eh. I cant help that can I?

Write about my thoughts? Well, I haven't had a chance to think of anything in between these travellings and activities. Perhaps next year I can have some thoughts to put in here. What do you guys want to know? How I feel about teenagers these days? Or the economic downturn...(has it passed?) or what? heheh.

My feeling? Oh you don't want to know trust me. Once I start on that you'd wished this blog was never created! So for now, lets just stick to I leave I come back theme okay. :P

On a different note, Qia will turn "twenteen" soon (she insisted on remaining a teenager and refused to be in the "ties" group). For her birthday this year, I got her a second piercing on her ears (after she begged and blackmailed me repeatedly :)) and also this antique hand-held mirror we found in a shop in Melaka. This is an early birthday present since she will be going back to college next week and I wont be with her to celebrate her birthday on the actual day.

The antique mirror.

And I promised you photos of sunset and sunrise from our PD apartment during last holiday right? Well, here's one.

Sunrise view from the balcony of the Port Dickson apartment.

Okay now the Banding story (in line with I leave I come back concept of this blog) hehe. Actually we went there for students leadership camp activities (I also brought princess and Qia along with me) The Banding resort hotel has breathtaking view of the surrounding lake and the Belum forest which is believed to be the oldest tropical forest in the world, aging about 140 million years old. The forest is home to many species of flora, fauna and lots of animals.

View of the lake, pristine water. This lake is huge and about 300 feet deep. Also heaven for fishing.

The first day there, after some programs we head off on a boat to an ingenious people (orang asli) village. The boat ride took us about one hour passing through many small villages and islands.

People getting ready for the boat ride :)

Spotted a man water rafting while on the boat.

Beautiful bamboo houses by the lake greeted us as we arrived at the orang asli village in the evening.

The house on the left is where we girls slept and the guys slept at the other house further up.

Since we were guests the friendly orang asli prepared dinner for us and served us rice cooked in bamboo stick and fresh water fish they caught from the lake. Delicious food.

After dinner they entertained us with some traditional music and dance.

The next morning we head off to another island for breakfast before the students were divided into groups for kayaking and water rafting race back to the hotel.

Breakfast at a restaurant here.

Back at the hotel we had some more activities and talks. I gave a talk too.

I received a bouquet of flowers.

On the last night there was a barbecue near the lake.

Although not a participant, Qia joined in all the activities throughout the camp and actually won the best female participant where she received handmade orang asli jewelries.

Qia's prize.

We arrived home tired but with very good memories. I plan to visit the place again. ps: thank you to Mr Suhaimi and Mr Zain for their warm hospitality while we were there.

Tomorrow I will leave for "the Haque" family gathering. See how that goes and of course I will come back here with more I leave I come back posts heheh.

Take care friends, love always.

Home awhile..

2010-12-19T06:53:00.000-08:00

I'm back at home for a while, before leaving again tomorrow to join some students activities in Banding Resort and then a family gathering. I will be back at work after Christmas.

Our holiday was awesome. We started off staying in a villa in Damai Laut for 3 days where my brother and his wife also joined us, then we drove to Port Dickson (just me and kids) and stayed over there for another 4 days. Our villa in Damai laut was on top a hill facing the sea and the apartment we rented in Port Dickson is by the sea. Both offer spectacular view. From Port Dickson we visited Melaka for a day trip for 2 days. Melaka is splendid, like being in another country altogether.

I enjoyed myself immensely. I day dreamed, watched the sun set, had breakfast at the balcony while listening to the waves, sipping drinks under the stars and watched the days go by.

This is the first time I drive really long distance all by myself and I'm proud that I could do that (and delivered my kids and me safely home :))

When we were in Damai Laut, we took a ferry to Pangkor Island and then chartered a boat for some island hopping. We had fun swimming (well, kind of floating) and Qia also tried the jet ski.

Eatingwise...well, lots and lots of those heheh I think I say hello to new year with a totally new figure to be "unproud" of. Detox time again?

I guess I might not be blogging before new year so I would like to wish all my friends Merry Christmas and Happy new year 2011! May the new year bring us all love and success and good health. Merry Christmas Grace, party as usual this year?

Here's some vacation photos to share with all of you. Photos are random, and also we have breathtaking sun rise and sun set photos but we havent uploaded them so I cant put them here for you. Perhaps next entry okay.

View of one of the islands in Pangkor, from the boat.

Melaka

Melaka

On the boat in Pangkor "island hopping"

Tea and a book (Qia's) from the balcony of our PD apartment.

Picnic view in Damai Laut.

Pangkor

At A Farmosa Port in Melaka.

Take care friends, Love always.

Super busy week..

2010-12-09T06:39:00.000-08:00

Its been a super busy week for me, well actually since I last wrote in here.

I still cant write long, just want to update friends and readers that I will be leaving for our family vacation this Saturday until next. Then back at home for one day and going again 20th until 24th for some students camp.

So there you go. I guess I will write again when I got back, hopefully I can have an entry before new year.

Gosh, time flies so fast.

Meanwhile, renovation of the house is underway, we redecorated our home and light the candles in the new reading room. Exciting time.

Take care everyone, merry Christmas and have a good end of the year break.

Love always.

Homestay in Sungai Petani, Kedah, Malaysia.

2010-11-28T23:03:00.000-08:00

Well, this is an announcement I guess. First to my readers, then later I will make a website for this.

We have moved to our present house for a year now and by the look of it, we might stay here for a lot more number of years.

My house in Sungai Petani, Kedah has been sitting empty. I had reluctant to put it up for rent since we have nice things there. You know......sometimes having a tenant can be a hassle.

Once in a while we go and clean the house.

Now after careful thought, I think I want to convert the house for homestay. So this is the announcement.

A Three bedroom, 3 bathroom double story house in Bandar Laguna Merbok is opened for rental of short stay. Anyone that needs a homestay in Sungai Petani can contact me.

The house is newly renovated, very comfortable and clean with air-condition in all the bedrooms and in the living room. It is fully and tastefully furnished. Large kitchen, dry bathrooms. Its in a resort town "Bandar Laguna Merbok", close to all amneties. The complex has 24 hours security.

I will open a website for it soon, for now if anyone of you needs a homestay, you can email me. You can find my email at the profile page. Do spread the words around.

I went to the house yesterday to take some photos to put here but the camera ran out of battery. We forgot to charge it. However, we were able to take a couple photos of the living room. I will show the bedroom and bathroom in the website later.

I can tell you it is a very nice house. In fact that is the reason I didnt rent it to anyone before. But now I think it doesnt make sense for the house to just be empty indefinitely. Others should be able to enjoy it.

Here are the photos I took yesterday:

The living room.

Dining area (we didnt have light yesterday so the photo is a bit dark)

From old album: princess celebrating her birthday at the house last year.

Take care readers, love always :)

Haiku..

2010-11-20T07:34:00.000-08:00

Today Qia, princess and me decided to go on a picnic. Qia said she was bored and I thought we'd pack some food and go have lunch outside. We are staying in an island anyway so it is not difficult to see ocean nearby. We drove a bit and found this spot. Cool breeze greeted us as we got off our car. It had been raining a lot lately and the weather is actually unusually cool.

The first place we spotted, we parked here:

Then we walked a bit and laid our picnic mat. This is the view where we were sitting:

After lunch, we had some chocolates and talked. Qia brought along a sketch pad and pencils. We did some sketching.

This one is princess's:

This is Qia's:
Then we got into talking about books, about art, about writing. Princess suggested that we each write a haiku, within about 10 minutes. Haiku is a form of poetry that was developed in Japan I think. It has 3 stanzas, each has an arrangement of 5,7,5 syllables.

This is what we came up with:

Qia's:

The grass billowing
Rush of wind strong yet gentle
A calmness it brings

The smell of the sea
Its abundance brings me peace
Beautiful day

The company three
Brings joy and serenity
My world is right again.

Mine:

Tittle: This moment

At this very moment
Precious and sweet times we share
Memories written

From daughters to friends
To strength and life beyond
To hopes and to pride

At this very moment
History once again is written
At its best.

Princess's:

A girl sat outdoor
She wanted to be alone
She looked very sad

All her friends left her
No one could understand her
She needed some space

What will she to do
She couldn't trust anyone
She withered alone.

So what do you guys think? Are we poets or are we poets? :)

Melaka and Kuala Selangor trips....

2010-11-15T23:56:00.000-08:00

Qia came back from Melaka with lots of nice photos and exciting stories. I think she had fallen in love with the place. In fact she is planning to have a yearly pilgrimage to Melaka once she starts working.

Melaka is a small state middle of Malaysia and it is an awesome place! It is made UNESCO world heritage site and have a well preserved baba-nyonya culture. The state is populated by nice friendly people and they are also well known for good food. Well, I haven't been there but will visit soon with the kids on our upcoming vacation this December.

Qia brought home delicious Melaka dodol and also some cute souvenirs. The dodol is chewy and very very good hehe.

Here's some photos of hers, just for samples:

Old port?

Qia and her friends that went along.

Not sure what this pose is about, selling skirt?

I think she pretended to be one of those Melaka nyonya

Beautiful street.

Re enactment of the folklore Si Tanggang.

Today we are only working half day, in conjunction with eid celebration tomorrow. Happy holidays everyone. Qia and me will be going to mom's tomorrow morning. I cant wait to have ketupat and lemang and other food hehe, as usual food makes me weak.

Meanwhile tomorrow morning princess is going on school excursion to Kuala Selangor to see fireflies, 3D/2N. Its a bus trip about 6 hours from here. Well, they have other science projects there, not that they are going to watch firefly show all 3 days 2 nights :)

This is her first trip away from home just with teachers and friends. I'm sure she will have a good time, she is so looking forward to this trip. Will help her pack tonight.

So there you go, my update :)

Take care everyone. To my muslim readers, have a good holiday.

About today...

2010-11-11T07:10:00.000-08:00

Today was a stressful day, I thought I'd say that in here. Actually yesterday too. So perhaps a stressful week then. The stress is mostly caused by people around me.

I think I dont want to go to work tomorrow. Well, actually I have to. I mean I cant declare that here, that would be wrong. Besides I have a seminar to attend at 3.

So as far as we are concerned I will be going to work. You might not see me around but if you look in my office, I will be there. Of course at that particular time I could be at the cafe or library or you know, even the ladies.

Bottomline: oh who cares, no bottom line.

Qia finished her last exam paper on Wednesday (good job honey). Then she was off to Johor with her friends. Today they went to Melaka. I hate to admit it, but I worry so much when she travels with friends. I do hope they will enjoy themselves....just that until she comes home, I worry.

She will be home this Saturday. Dinie comes a little later, on the 26th. We shall have our annual family vacation starting on the 11 of December until the 18. This year its Perak, Port Dickson and Melaka. Should be fun :)

I guess thats all for tonight. Take care everyone.

Ps: Qia said she will bring crayons to Melaka and draw "melaka" on the key chain I gave her from Austria, and bring it back to me as a gift. That way she saves money on souvenirs.

The great green grass..

2010-11-09T08:10:00.000-08:00

It was a history of necessity
The walk was through the same path
Not the memories
But the moon, the stars and the great green grass
There was a chapter

Dreams take me once more
And hope
This time, it is a starting point
You may say
I want to walk the path
The great green grass
By fate, towards the memories.

~Saya 12 midnight, Nov 10.

KL visit and updates

2010-11-04T02:20:00.001-07:00

Today is a public holiday, in conjunction with Deepavali celebration. To all my readers especially Pat and Sarita if you are celebrating, happy deepavali. May the light brings us all joy, happiness and love all around. Thank you for being my friends.

I'm at home today, been meaning to update this blog since coming back from KL but as usual didn't have the time or energy to do it.

The KL visit was so good, I had an unexpected reunion with my juniors from the US college days. Zaidi, Najmi and Helmi along with their families came to meet at the hotel I was staying. We had really wonderful time and non stop laughter reminiscing about the good old college days. Three hours went by with us barely noticing.

It was 25 year ago that I met them last, in the US. They havent changed, still the same friends that I shared so much good times with; of course except now more established, successful and all financially stable.

I couldnt be more proud and I hope there will be many meetings like this in future.

Other than that, I think I'm fat hehehe. I ate so much in KL (what else is new) the food at the hotel was good and my mind was weak (never strong to begin with) so I gave in to the temptation.

Now I have to lose some weight and have been walking to work ( I doubt the little walking I do lost me any milligrams of weight heheh but got to give it to Rose for trying). I have also been skipping lunch and by night time I got so hungry I eat dinner like there's no tomorrow :) Yes I know you guys are going to say thats not the right way to diet but this is my body okay heheh I do what I want. Somehow this makes sense to me.

Anyway, yesterday during lunch Qia mis-called me (meaning she called and quickly put down the phone so I have to call her back, in her mind this is the definiton of a missed-call). I called her back and she said well I dont know why I dialed your number nothing is the matter. I said, am I on your speed dial? She said no. Am I the only person in your phone address? She said no. Then why did you accidentally pressed my number?

Then I asked why am I not on speed dial? She asked do you want to? Well, no. I told her I'm hungry, I'm shaking I havent been eating lunch and I'm about to kill someone. I dont appreciate a missed-call which wasnt really a missed-call to begin with and I dont appreciate me or the police not on her speed dial.

I started to talk loudly and wasnt making any sense. Qia told me to go buy lunch for god sake!! Stop yelling at people and go eat. She said mom go buy lunch, eat and then weep.

So that's what I did heheh.

Take care readers. Love you as always.

Ps: first of November I received a small promotion, so I will be moving to a bigger university house soon (comes with the promotion).

Backyard photos..

2010-11-04T02:19:00.001-07:00

My friend sent me these photos. In his backyard, they have deer roaming around. I think they stay in paradise hehe. I'm not sure whether or not you can see a deer behind the tree, well you have to enlarge the photo.

Here's another one of the surrounding. Isnt that nice? This is in the US. I hope to visit him next year....

Interesting day...

2010-10-23T00:27:00.000-07:00

I had a very interesting day today (as the title of this post suggests :) I mean you can guess that much right heheh. Well, we (a group of us) visited this place....although I 'm not sure how detail I can talk about the visit.

Here's one photo taken at the place:

We spent half a day there. had a picnic and a meeting. We will go again for the second round soon.

Other than that, this week had been busy for me. I don't really mind though. Doing work makes me feel important and have a purpose in life heheh of course without work also I have a purpose like "calling Qia back when she calls me" or "giving the kids money" or dusting :)

While I was at the site (that we went which I cant talk about yet) today, I was thinking to myself and came up with the conclusion that Malaysia is actually a very beautiful country. We have a lot of treasures still unexplored. And I think if we really take good care of the country, it can emerge someday as a good tourist destination....

Well, not that tourists are not coming now....what I'm saying is, we don't appreciate our country well enough....or maybe I don't appreciate it enough? hehe. Definitely more can be done.

Anyway, was looking at some photos we took at Pantai Keracut (Keracut Beach) last year on family camping trip. Here's some examples of how scenic this country is.

This rock is called crocodile rock, you can see this on the way to Pantai Keracut. Isn't that interesting?

Here's view of the sea and surrounding in Keracut beach (for the benefit of my Aussie's and US friends)

Qia, Princess and a cousin that camping night at the jetty.

I hope we can go camping again this year.

Oh ya, next week Wednesday I leave for Kuala Lumpur, 4 days. I guess I will see you guys when I get back.

Take care.

I'm a millionaire, finally!

2010-10-20T02:31:00.000-07:00

Here's how much money I had (last week):

Can you see the 100 thousands? Well I had lots of those, in fact at a time on shopping I could spend that much without blinking an eye....thats how rich I am, you do the math.

Okay hehehe I had just came back from Yogjakarta, Java Island Indonesia. I was there last week, hence the million Rupiah :) I think this joke is so lame but I have always wanted to say that so there you go.

The visit to Yogja was so nice. Initially I had expected similar weather to Malaysia but I was wrong. Their weather was not that hot, just pleasant. Like spring or autumn. Nice.

And they have such good food. Very tasty, not to mention affordable. Here are 2 of my favourites:

I forgot what this soup is called. It has some meat and meat balls plus chili and also coconut milk. Very tasty. We had this on dinner night hosted by the dean of the Gadjah Mada University.

Here's an interesting one:

I had seen similar dish in Thailand but dared not try. I thought its crazy to eat chilly raw like that. However, I decided to try this one in Yogja. The potato cakes come with raw chili as a set. The cake is filled with potatoes plus some vegies. Here's the interesting part: to eat it what you do is first you bite the potato cake and then bite the small green chilli, alternate. Because the chili is fresh and young, you can really feel the "kick" after taste. Really good, I couldnt stop eating hehehe.

I also like the people there. There are very polite, they have good manners and also they seemed very happy. They dont have much but you can see how they enjoy life and appreciate little things. I used to think that good manners belong to the western world (generally) but after I visited Thailand I was impressed by how polite they can be....and now Yogja's people are very polite too, as polite as their western counterparts.

So I guess that leaves........Malaysian! Well, lets not get me started.

We visited the Broubodor temple, went up the mountain to watch the Merapi volcano, cruise on a trishaw to the old castle "Taman Sari", visited the batik and craft centres and tried the good food Yogja has to offer.

All in all, it was a visit to remember. Good times.

I love Yogjakarta so much and hope someday I can visit again. I know I wont forget the nice people I met there. If you are reading, thank you guys.

Some photos to share with you:

The traditional dancer, dinner night.

The way up Ketep Pass to see Merapi the volcano.

View from up the Ketep Pass.

Broubodor temple view from the garden.

Restoration was done 3 times, latest.

The many domes.

We went all the way up.

Although she gained so much weight, she didn't miss the opportunity to pose in front of the temple. (Ohh the umbrella was not for decoration hehehe it was raining heavily actually)

Take care everyone, love always.

Qia's Nuu Haircut.

2010-10-03T02:52:00.000-07:00

Qia got herself a new haircut. She showed me some photos today:

I think she looks so good, like a lawyer already! There is no way this girl could have been mine heheh. When I was her age, I neither have the look nor the intelligence :) Perhaps she was switched during birth?

Let me think.....during her birth, well I was alone, no other babies were born at the same time. I remember the doctor on duty was this young, still a bachelor handsome guy :) I had to stay in the hospital some times before she was due because of a breach pregnancy, which turned out later to be an extremely easy affair due to Qia's persistence nature since birth.

The young doctor was very friendly and we became close almost immediately since admitted to the hospital. He would come by the room sometimes just to chat about lots of stuff. I could tell you those stuff but I think I will not heheh.

Since we became close I remember praying oh god oh god please let him not be on duty when I give birth (there were two doctors tending to me, I was hoping it will be the other doctor)..but Lo and behold, I gave birth the night he was on call........talk about the odds!

Well, I'm glad we don't keep in touch anymore :) Lets just say there are some miraculous events you wished you didnt have to share with too many people ha ha.

Anyway, well I think going back down painful memory lane that morning I was in labor, yes she is mine :))

Meanwhile, I'm in the office. Its a Sunday. I should go home soon. I received news that my application to go to Yogjakarta middle of October has been approved. It will be interesting. Wished I could bring Qia or princess with me but by the look of things, perhaps I have to go alone. Princess has already missed school and Qia is busy with classes.

First preparation....of course to lose weight hehehe I think I have gained so much weight from eating the last couple weeks!! I need to lose some...and it has to be fast!

Help!!

Qia and princess 2 years ago. They have grown so much!

Kl trip and photos of good times...

2010-10-02T02:33:00.000-07:00

I was in Kuala Lumpur early this week, Petaling Jaya to be exact. Stayed for four days. We drove there and came back late last night. I'm still feeling very tired. Princess came along due to babysitting issue :) and missed a few days of school. She brought her books with her in anticipation of doing her homework during the days I was away for the course. I also planned to help her catch up with missing lessons at night...

But surprisingly...(or not!) this is all she did at the hotel heheh.

Facebooking all day...and night I think.

Our friends from Aussie were also in KL. We met in my hotel, share good times and precious moment. We promised to see each other again, either in Malaysia end of this year or perhaps I can visit them in Australia.

The girls at my house before we left for Kuala Lumpur.

Although this was supposed to be a working trip, we really enjoyed ourselves...the hotel facilities, the friendly staff and the food all add up to an amazing getaway.

Princess swimming at the hotel pool. I think this is supposed to be her "crocodile pose".

The hotel bathroom has a scale that both princess and me stepped on everyday hehe. I like it because somehow I lost some weight (mysteriously, according to the readings which I will not contest)

Princess weighs that much :)

It was raining the last day we were there. I was talking to a friend and I said its raining outside. He wanted to know about the rain. So I grabbed a camera and took this:

You can't really see the rain but that's the view from hotel window looking out at the rain from the 16th floor.

I guess this is it for now....see you again next time. Take care all, love always.....

Coffee with Grace....

2010-09-27T02:41:00.000-07:00

I guess this blog is due for an update? :) Just a short one. I have been so busy. In between Eid and now, we had several dinners and lunches at our house with different guests including friends from the US college days, we visited the Penang war museum, I had lower backpain, we celebrated my nieces (and princess') birthday dinner (cut caramel pudding instead of birthday cake heheh)...and several other events.

The lower backpain was nothing to celebrate about :) just to let you know on the anatomical front news.

All didn't make it in the blog due to my busy schedule.

I have lots of interesting photos, especially on the war museum but I guess they wont make it in here.

A friend of mine, well family friend visited us from Aussie yesterday and today. They are on a holiday to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta. We had them over for lunch and some catching up at the hotel they are staying.

We have a mutual friend, my dear Grace.

Grace didn't come along but sent a box of chocolates for me, Feraro roche my favorite.

She also attached a card. Look at what the card says. I smile reading it. What can be sweeter than that, to bring back memories of our coffee sessions together. Good old time.

Grace if you are reading, thank you so much love. I made myself a cup of coffee and really enjoyed the chocs. I'm touched by your sweet gesture and I do miss you so much too. I hope we can meet again soon.

Well, I cant write long, tomorrow I'm leaving to Kuala Lumpur for a few days. Work trip. I have to go home and pack. I also have a meeting to attend tonight. Yes, night meeting hehehe.

Will talk to you friends when I get back. The rest of this post are just some of my favorite photos from Eid.

Princess with a cousin.

Baby......he is so cute, dont you think so? One day old and already looking like he is thinking of some tricks!

Qia with baby....I miss having babies around the house. Doesn't she look just right holding the baby? hehehe. Perhaps someday I will get grandchildren. Someday okay Qia...not now :)

Take care all

Love always.

Eid celebration...

2010-09-13T08:26:00.000-07:00

We had a marvellous family time on recent eid celebration and I would like to share some photos with everyone. We celebrated at mom's, my sister's and my brother's and today, at my place for lunch before heading out to the beach and then dinner. It was 3 days of nonstop good food and good company. I'm the 4th of 8 children and all of us are married with children. Imagine how big the family is everytime we have a gathering...

The photos are random...

Enjoy.

Hariraya eve and the first day, I was at moms. This photo is in front of mom's house, a village up north.

Another view in front of mom's.

Dinner on raya eve. There were too many of us so meals were laid on a mat, on the floor.

My favorite...lemang. Its a malay traditional food made of sticky rice and cooked with coconut milk in bamboo.

Chicken at my sisters. We had a large feast all day at her place..she cooked so much food.

Princess at my sisters...I think she looked good in baju kurung, the malay's traditional dress.

Qia waitressing at my sister's...making cocktail drinks malaysian style for everyone.

Mine.

Princess at mom's....first day of eid.

Qia with cousin.

The cousins.....dara pingitan hehe.

An addition to the Haque family, day 1. Baby Haque, my brother's third baby was born on the second day of eid.

Qia just got out of bed and saw baby :))

Mom...

My eldest brother and wife in the kitchen cooking lunch...well mostly sister cooking lunch and my brother pretended to help hehe.

An unknown old lady :))

Ohh you might be wondering where are the guys. Guys dont like posing for pictures :)) The world would be a better place if guys pose too you know hehehe please tell them that.

Happy birthday princess!!!

2010-09-08T21:36:00.000-07:00

Today Sept 9th my princess turned 13! So this photo entry is dedicated to you my princess with wishes of happy birthday and lots of love from your mommy! Hope we can make your birthday wonderful and hoping for many many more happy returns of the day! You are a teenager now.....(that makes me older than 29):))... although I wished for you to remain a baby forever (so I can always cuddle and tickle you), I'm proud of who you are and I feel so blessed that God gave you to me, instead of to other mothers hehehe.

This morning we decided to bake a cake for princess. Please enjoy the photos of cake preparations, mostly by Qia and the birthday girl herself. The cake is still in the oven and depending on how it turns out, you might be able to see it in here later heheh. Ohh, on a side note, we are leaving to mom's soon.

Presenting for the first time, Princess-Zul-Haque, 13. Birthday morning.

Birthday cookies.

The ingredients.

Birthday girl, helping (by sitting on the kitchen counter).

Sexy chef....melting the chocolate.

Birthday girl pounding the hazelnut for cake. Most cooking utensils are at the other house so we make do with whatever we have here for cooking.

Mixing them all up....

Nothing is too good for my princess.

Cake is still in the oven...so we shall wait patiently.

Happy birthday my princess! We love you heaps...bigger than the universe and infinity plus one with cherry on top!

A happy post...

2010-09-03T02:29:00.000-07:00

I'm out of the closet :)) been out for a while actually, just not much time to update you.

I feel happy today. Dinie came home last night and Qia will be coming back tomorrow for a semester break and also eid celebration. The house will be full again and I know we are going to have so much fun together.

We will celebrate eid in a few days. Qia mentioned to me the other day that for the celebration, people normally have themes.....like the whole family wearing purple or something. So whats our theme this year mom she asked.

I told her our theme is assortment of some sort heheh meaning wear whatever we have..or maybe our theme can be a "christian wedding" something new something old something borrowed (she plans to borrow my dress). Something new would be what I bought at shopping last week. Something old would be me hehehe.

A friend of mine, long lost friend (almost 30 years) sent me a cake as gift. The gesture touched my heart. He found me recently on facebook and got to know that Dinie is staying in his town. So he came to meet Dinie at the airport last night and gave him the cake for me. That was touching. Sometimes good friendship finds its way back in our lives, one way or the other. It is nice to be appreciated like that.

The layered cake, I received 3 types.

Well, cant wait for eid...cant wait to enjoy all the delicious food!

To all my muslim readers, Selamat Hariraya Aidilfitri, Maaf Zahir batin. Do enjoy the celebration with your family and loved ones.

Love always.

From the closet.....

2010-08-20T00:41:00.000-07:00

It is Friday the end of the week already. It was Monday just yesterday. Time flies too fast don't you think? I mean we hardly had a chance to be productive (speak for yourself Rose). Heheh.

I don't feel like doing any work. I came to the office this morning....there are notes and exam papers to prepare, bills to pay, next weeks planner to update and mark, emails to reply......etc but I'm just staring at them. Not doing anything.

I feel like hiding in the closet today. You guys ever felt like that? I just want to hide in a dark closet, put my hands over my face and stay there. Maybe for days until I'm ready to come out.

Why aren't we allowed to do that? We should be allowed, right? Allowed as in nobody will try to look, contact or ask what's wrong. Just accept the fact that this person would like to be in the closet for a few days (or indefinitely) before coming out again to face the world.

Maybe everyone should be born with a closet, like sort of a birth-right you know. Because everyone needs one. It is necessary for survival like the air we breathe in. Babies should appear to the world in the order of: baby, placenta, inflatable closet.

Our world has too many rules I don't know why. We should cross out some of them and have more freedom to do as we wish. For example, why cant we slap someone's face if we feel like it?

There's this girl that whenever I look at her, she looks like she is mocking me. (Which I strongly suspect that she is, in her private thoughts).

So why can't I slap her to satisfy my suspicious mind? Why do I have to be mature, all grown up and reasonable all the time? Okay I'm getting violent now that's not good hehe. How would you like for someone to slap you huh Rose, based on bad thoughts alone, you may asked :) Well I would not like that thank you hehehe.

I don't know what else to write.

I should go.

Have a good weekend everyone. Love you.

"From the closet" See you when I get out.

Shopping....

2010-08-15T02:14:00.000-07:00

My resolution today is to update this blog, so here we go...

First off, I have been having sore throat and not feeling very well lately. Maybe its the weather, been raining almost every day here. Ohh not that I'm complaining though, rain is good. At least it is not so hot.

Just came back from a "girls day out" with princess. We went shopping (window and doors hehe). Its been ages since I bought any new clothes for me. For one, I hate the whole process of trying new clothes. You know....taking off what you have, putting on what you are trying, finding out they dont fit, then put your clothes back on....the work. I dont like that so I absolutely dont think of buying new clothes. Hence, you see very familar photos of me at different places around the world wearing same outfits heheh. Now you know.

Anyway, princess and me got ourselves some new tops today. I got one to be exact and she got a few. We wanted to also buy baju kurung for hariraya, but we didnt like any of the ones that we saw.

Yesterday princess and me decided that we wanted to eat cake. Then we remembered we were on a diet so maybe we should not get any. After a while we decided that we should....then should not again hehe. During this ordeal, we were already at the bakery. Before going in, I called Qia, hoping she would talk me into NOT buying a cake. She didnt pick up the call. So I had no choice but to buy you see...

Add another problem to that, this bakery I'm a member of. As a member, throughout August, which is my birthday month, if I bought a cake, I get 50% off the actual price. It has to be a 1 kg cake though. I wanted to buy the half kg cake, but it woud mean paying more than what I would have paid buying a 1 kg cake, because of the discount deal....so, calculating back and forth, I ended up buying the 1 kg cake! hehe. Now we have soooo much cake in the fridge and I dont know how we are going to finish it, its just me and princess......

So, thats todays and yesterdays story....resolution fulfilled.

And oh, a friend I met in Mauritius sent me this photo (it was coloured, I made it black and white for no logical explanation):

I think I looked pretty fat hehe. I was on the way to attend a dinner and he walked past the place I was staying. He liked the dress I wore and asked if he could take my photo. So there it is.

Well, I'm tired and I want to take a nap...Take care everyone.

Honours day...

2010-08-11T01:57:00.000-07:00

Princess on honours day this year.

She didnt like her costumes and the hairdo. So she made a face like that hehe. I missed honours day because I was away. They did malay dance. Princess said she looked like a malay bride and her corset was so tight she couldnt breathe. The costume guy said to her"beauty is painful" hehe.

Flowery post....tribute to a friend...

2010-08-11T01:34:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine went around the globe recently...well, part of the globe anyway. Knowing my birthday was coming and knowing how I like flowers, my friend took photos of flowers at different places...then sent them to me for my birthday. How sweet is that?

Here they are, colourful, pretty and nice just like a rose, which is me hehe. Okay I guess I went too far with self appreciation. You cant blame me, lately my readers keep giving me good comments and saying how young I look etc...so you know it gets to my head hehe.

Anyway, the photos and thanks to my friend for a wonderful gift!

Paris, I love this one the best.

Madrid

Paris flower shop.

In the office on a Saturday...

2010-08-07T01:51:00.000-07:00

Yes, like its a big deal..... I bet many people come to the office on Saturday, right? So I don't need to shout to the whole world about it heheh. But its my blog, me do what me like (somehow this doesn't sound cute coming from "mature" chick). LOL

Heading off home soon. I did some work today, then searched for recipes online. I'm having friends over for dinner tomorrow night and practically freaking out. I know how to cook Malaysian food but I think they are not into Malaysian food much so I thought better cook something else. Found some recipes that I think they might like. Well and if they dont, I think they will still be my friends :)

Received a homemade birthday card last night from princess (yes, I'm still talking about my birthday, if you need to vomit, don't do it in my blog please :)). Anyway, will post that in here once I take a photo of it. It is a very nice card. I already have few collections of homemade cards from princess and it makes me happy to keep them....for memories.

Grace also said happy birthday. Love you Grace.

And yesterday, my students surprised me with a birthday celebration in my office. Ohh so sweet and I was touched. Heres the 'whats left of the cake' and pressie..

Still deciding whether to go home straight after this or head off to KFC...I feel like having chicken tonight.

Have a good weekend everyone. Love you all heaps.

2 more photos of Mauritius. One is the temple by a beautiful lake and another one is me at the national park, river something I forgot :)

Birthday...

2010-08-05T00:03:00.000-07:00

Every year I write in here about my birthday. Today I celebrate another one. I turned...."after 40" hehe. How many after? Well, I can tell you its "many many many" after 40. If you want to count the after you will have to use both hands! And perhaps toes :)

Here's a candid photo of me taken last week in Mauritius. I think for someone who is "many after 40" years old, I'm still doing pretty good. No wrinkles hehehe.

Its been a good year. This year I celebrate my birthday with good friends and lots of love from people around me. I cant complain, life has given me more than I could hope for. You cant get all, but what I have is enough to make me appreciate my life.

Had a birthday breakfast with princess this morning. She hugged me and wished me happy birthday. I cried a bit hehe you know I'm sometimes a drama queen and I can become overly dramatic. Oh well, age maybe. Qia and Dinie also sent me their wishes from far. So, everything is good, everything makes sense.

Heres one more of me in Mauritius. On the hammok in front of my room in la Plantation resort, Mauritius. The hammok is facing a lake. Breathtaking views. Enjoy.

I'm back....

2010-08-02T23:14:00.000-07:00

Just a quick one to let you know I'm back from Mauritius. It was a trip to remember and I had a time of my life! I will post some photos soon, haven't uploaded them. I returned to work on Monday, arrived home Sunday evening.

Everything falls in its place. And I think I'm a happy person.

I cant write long yet, there are too many matters to take care of but will write more some other times.

Meanwhile, my birthday is coming in 2 days!! Excited somehow this year......and I know why :)

Take care everyone.

Fun trip....

2010-07-22T23:04:00.000-07:00

I leave for Mauritius tomorrow. I am excited of course. Reading a bit about the island now. The people there are supposed to be one of the friendliest in the world. Cant wait to explore the beautiful island, sample their food and see places. This will be a fun trip no doubt.

I will miss my children very much, especially princess. The funny thing is, even though as of now Qia and Dinie are not with me and I'm okay with that....now that I'm leaving, I feel that I will miss them too. Or something is not right here heheh.

My dear friend said I contradict myself sometimes...

Further, he said we should be thankful for good life, good health (us and our loved ones) and the wonderful things we are enjoying in our lives. That is so true. If we lower our expectations and focus on things to be thankful about, we will have less complaints and we will be happier.

(Some people I'm thankful for in my life hehehe)

Well, adios friends......wish me a pleasant journey and I will see you when I get back. Take care and love always.

Cute children..

2010-07-19T22:36:00.001-07:00

Saw this in princess's facebook. Arent they cute? :)

Good morning....

2010-07-19T18:59:00.000-07:00

Its a nice morning and I decided to start my day with updating this blog. Good morning to all of you. I got up this morning feeling good and happy. Not sure why, nothing has changed much but somehow I feel that life is moving forward in the right direction. I want enjoy every moment of my life...

I walked....the weather was cloudy, just nice for a morning walk. The birds were singing...(err....I think, people always say the birds are singing or I could have imagined it heheh).....the university garden looks healthy and green. I passed by the lake and stood there a moment to soak in the view.

I could't be in a more cheerful mood!

So, good morning all, lets enjoy our lives like we are supposed to. It is too short to waste it feeling any other way.

First outing..

2010-07-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

Its Saturday so happy weekend everyone. I'm staying home. The plan is to relax, watch tv, read a book and just have some me time. I cant bear the sight of my office anymore, too much work is waiting hehe so I thought today I'd take a break. Tomorrow I might go though, at least work on my presentation for Mauritus.

Today princess went out with her friends. They planned a movie, after that kareoke and end with a buffet dinner. And its a "no parent" day hehe. Well, I would have gone with them if no other parents supervise but one of the parents said she would go along and make sure the kids go where they are supposed to, so I didnt tag along. I think they are about 8 of them, from the same class. I know all her friends, they are nice and well mannered kids.

Princess asked me if she could bring 100 ringgit for the outing. "You know mom, kareoke is expensive". I said okay, go for it. She got up very early this morning, all excited.

Princess this morning. Stylish much?

Auntie that cleans our house had just arrived. Normally I go out during cleaning. I feel bad sitting with my legs up when someone is "cleaning up after me". But as I said I just want to rest.......I hope she doesnt mind.

So much has happened at work......hopefully everything will work out well. I'm hopeful.

Been meaning to write a poem but ideas havent hit me yet hehehe.

Take care all...love. Have a good weekend.

Layout....

2010-07-14T03:05:00.000-07:00

photo from my friends recent visit to Copenhagen.

Its been a stressful day today, with work nonstop and millions of other things to take care of. Besides that, the Cameron Highland vacation that I planned for end of the year is off too, because the hotel is full on the dates that we wanted. I'm not sure I want to go anywhere else. The plan this year was to go somewhere cool (weather-wise) and just relax, read a book, spend time together as family...but that's not going to happen now, in Cameron Highland that is. We are still family heheh.

So I thought I'd cheer myself up by changing the layout of the blog. Although..........I'm not sure I like this design. I'm used to a clear white sheet of paper to write on. But I will give it a shot anyway. Who knows.....and besides you guys must be tired of the old design too, right?

The ads are off. They have too many requirements and they asked me to appeal but decided not to bother with it. For small amount of money, they expect too much. Then again who gives free money these days hehe.

End of next week, I travel to Mauritius, haven't prepared for that but will :). Then next two months, I might have a trip too, yet to be confirmed....

Well, been a long day today, I think I want to leave quite early.

Take care everyone....love always.

New phone.....

2010-07-11T04:55:00.000-07:00

Okay, I want to show you my new phone.....I know you guys have much better phones than mine but I want to show mine anyway. For my standard, this is new :) Princess said "this is embarrassing mom, dont put your phone in the blog, its just a Nokia". Heheh but relative to my previous phone, this is state of the art technology!

The phone is a gift.

I'm the type of person who gets really attached to stuffs and resistant to changes. I was happy with my old phone, which can do calls and messaging. Thats all I need anyway. So I do not want to change phone. No siree.

But Dinie said his phone doesnt work so he wants mine and can I please just use the new phone. "You never have good stuffs anyway" says he. All my kids say that. I think they imagine their lives are much more fun and meaningful than my dull life. I dont know, maybe they have exciting nightlife, they have fans all over the world, they juggle, they wear branded clothes........who knows.... one thing for sure, they feel sorry about my life heheh.

So, I had no choice, I changed the phone. Here's what it looks like:

Thats when the trouble starts. This phone has so much functions, apparently to make our lives better, that I got so confused.

Last night I set up the alarm but it didnt go off. Look closer, the alarm sign is still on for some reasons. And I think my phone is on silent now, for no apparent reasons. I didnt disturb any of its buttons I swear. I'm scared of the buttons. Now how am I going to wake princess up for school tomorrow? And how come the phone is on silent? This is to protect me from..........what?

Told you I dont want fancy stuff! I'm very worried as of this moment.

Well...besides that phone story, at the homefront Dinie is going back to Uni tomorrow :( First Qia left, now Dinie. The house is going to feel so empty. This holidays was one of the best we had. I'm going to miss the children so much. Luckily I still have princess with me. Newly weds, if you are reading, take notes. Do it like me, have one or two kids further in years interval from the older ones. At least when the older ones leave, you still have one or two at home. Princess is 6 years younger than Qia. I cannot imagine not having the kids with me.

Take care all...good night.

The poem...

2010-07-10T00:46:00.001-07:00

I would like to share with you one poem written by Dinie. It's amazing the way he writes......

Thy absence a curse on me
In sadness is my state
Bleak is my day without thee

Soft mercy pray have on me
May solitary not be my fate
Thy absence a curse on me

Unavailing goes my plea
Take my heart and stab with hate
Bleak is my day without thee

Can thine heart see
Thou art my rose, I wait
Thy absence a curse on me

I that way worship thee
My want for thee have not abate
Bleak is my day without thee

Sway thy heart and forgive me
Let us start with a blank slate
Thy absence a curse on me
Bleak is my day without thee

Down memory lane....

2010-07-09T03:23:00.000-07:00

Qia said "mom update your blog more...and put more photos" (I think she said that, or maybe I dreamt it?)

Well, as a good mother (wipe that smile Qia!), whatever my children want, they get it...well, especially if the request doesnt involve money heheh. If it does, for small amount of money, I will go "sure honey". If the financial implication is big (for my standard) say....around 1 thousand ringgit, then I might still response to the request, perhaps later in my will. If it involves more than 1 thousand ringgit, I will buy them paper replica. Bottom line is, I respond :)

So Qia requested for photos.....heheh.

I realized most photos are at home, in the laptop. Most recent ones at least. I searched in my d-drive and found folders of old photos. I thought I'd put some here and do "down memory lane".

Here goes (the photos are from different folders, at random:

Cherry....Qia and me had a lot of this in Lake district, our Europe vacation last year. This was at the resort we stayed.

I found this in one of the old photo folders, princess when she was 7 years old. Cute much!!!

Street performers in Cape Town, I visited a few years back.

Me trying to do a mermaid post, up table mountain Cape Town. Yes, you heard me, I thought I could do a mermaid.

View in front of the swimming pool, Damai Laut vacation, a couple years ago.

Qia and me, Damai Laut.

Princess's birthday last year.

Enjoy :)

First born....

2010-07-07T07:34:00.000-07:00

While looking at old photos, I came across a photo of Dinie, during prom night a few years back. He looked so handsome. I cant help but put the photo here (after I begged him repeatedly hehe).

Dinie is my first born. 21 years later he is much taller and bigger than me now...and will graduate from uni soon. He is a good boy, very polite, smart and sensible. He is also a writer and a good dancer. The first time I read his poem, I was so impressed. Actually all my children like writing. They write very well. Dinie dance also, both princess and him are natural dancers.

Someday a girl will be lucky to have him. I hope his sisters and I can depend on him too, to always put our family together...

Well, I know I'm so blessed with wonderful children, and I cant thank God enough for that...

The mountain behind you.....

2010-07-06T08:08:00.000-07:00

Its a public holiday in Penang tomorrow. No schools for princess meaning I dont have to get up so early. (I'm always excited at the prospect of getting up a bit later than usual :)) Well, I'm still going to work tomorrow but at least I can sleep late!

Tonight I started reading a book "The last Empress" by Anchee Min. It is such a good book I can hardly put it down. The story takes place in the nineteenth century, about Empress Orchid who struggled to keep the chinese empire alive after the death of her husband. Beautiful first person account on history of love, heartbreaks, determination (well, I had just started reading it, later I might say a different story hehe). It is fascinating and since I have visited the forbidden city and the imperial palace in Beijing, I can picture the places described in it and can actually see the story.

The story begins with describing the death of the empress's mother:

"I am the mountain behind you. Mother's voice came to my mind:

Like a singing river
You break out to flow freely.
Happily I watch you,
The memory of us
Full and sweet"

Isnt that beautiful? This story is narrated in such poetic language. It makes me all dreamy reading it...

Well, goodnight all. I'm going back to my reading. Take care, till we meet again.