Tiring but exciting

hi! i had my last day of the course today..it ended pretty well tho everyone seems a lil tired due to the comprehensive 3days activities..i've gained so much from the course and yea..it is a good start with an fantastic boast of motivation. Thanks Gill for picking me among many others who were in the waiting list. The issue of networking really counts when u've a vast contact with others around, a key element i learnt from today's session. Just like i do, i hope the rest learns and appreciates this course as a whole. To me, this is one of the best course i've ever attended. Glad that the team members worked well with each other to make up every activity and task given throughout the given 3days..bravo bravo...thank you tutors for the wonderful guidance..last but not least, all the best everyone for ur DPhils...cheers! ;)

Personal development skills course

hello hello..9:39pm, local time..i'm just finishing off my dinner..today's been a second day of the course i was telling abt yesterday..the course called personal development skills really highlight a couple of things worth looking at through out a mature student's education, tho i never actually consider myself 'mature'..so what's this course abt? well..i would say that it's a run through and a reminder of issues related to the usual things such as communication, team building, time management etc..it's a 3-day course where participants are scheduled with various activities that runs from socializing, constant time management, lots and lots of meetings and discussions, negotiation, games and a whole lot more..some are pretty exciting activities while others gives a dose pain in all parts of the body!

i find this course kinda interesting, some participants don't. the activities put up for us are unique in everyway..what happened was, there were abt 50 of participants which were all divided into 5 smaller groups called syndicate..the initial introduction was interesting by itself..instead of the normal approach of into ourselves, we had to intro the person next to us..ok..perhaps, that's not really new..well, there was an activity where we happened to be a factory producing booklets..we were intially given the materials such as papers, pens, paper clips, sample money, stapler and so on to produce our booklet products in various sized of orders that kept on coming more frequently and we had to deliver them on time in order to survive the company..it was more on time management..another activity called 'desert survival' was on communication among team members and coming to a point where everyone agrees on picking the necessary things given the scenario that a plane crash in a desert and having to select upon the listed stuffs crucial for survival..today's initial activity was on negotiation..it was a business thing where the syndicate were divided into 2 smaller groups and act as groups of representative for management and staff for an airline company that goes under a restructuring process for which they're supposed to negotiate and agree upon a win-win situation..i didn't participate much coz im never(ever will i be) good in such effort! but an activity called belbin test kinda regenerate the interest and the game that follows put all the members on strong bond of team building which surprisingly made us the winner and got ourselves awarded a box of chocolate at the end of the game worth an hour of almost 20tasks! well done all! :)

yea..today ended quite as interesting to yesterday's. what i like abt this course is that it is moduled in such a way that the participant could relate, reflex and act upon the most important issues to their area of interest. yea..though it's a lil tiring, hope that these would help in coming days..tomorrow will be the last day for this course before research re-dominates. ;)

UM to US in the UK

wow...it's been almost a month since i last posted an entry..so many..so many things flew since then..from my comfortable room at home in Malaysia, i'm now in another part of the world..surviving myself for the next couple of years..there's definitely a lot to tell about..but..it'll be a while for me to get everything told..bear with me!

well..basically..im now in the United Kingdom.yeah..im finally here..a country that i never thought i would lay my foot on..i can't believe myself that i finally made it here, after the endless(it seems) reasons that does promise me a place here..from where i used to be attached to that is the University of malaya(UM), i'm glad to be here in the University of Sussex for my hopefully highest degree of education, a phd for short, hopefully 3years..

i've been here almost 3 weeks since my arrival on 29th dec 07..yeah..i had my new year here..my first new year in another country...everything now comes as a new experience to me..the weather, food, culture, clothings, social interaction, practically all..varies very much from the usual..i've really got to say alot, but i cant seem to do it pretty well at the moment..it's becoz i'm on a course which requires my attention and early attendance fr 9am-6pm including this weekend..it'll really late now..better off to bed for a good start tomorrow..i'll make sure that i catch up with more stories..my promise! nite nite...muuaax!

Hari Raya Aidiladha & Farewell dinner

Time really flies..It’s been a week since I last updated this blog. Not that I didn’t want to, but I had been really busy catching up with things. Time didn’t permit!

The family and I went back to our hometown for the previous Hari Raya Haji on 17th December 07. We were in Kelantan for 4 days, which passed by extremely fast. Staying at my grandmother’s house had never been boring for me, every single moment would pass with new experiences. The way my grandma lives life (the traditional way that is) inspires and teaches me that life takes a full effort in all matters to make it meaningful. I’m really close to my grandmother, she was the one who took care of me for almost a year when I was left by my parents who had to study abroad 25 years ago. At that time, I was known as the kampong baby! :) How sweet of my grandma to cook my favourite dishes during my stay at kampung and I enjoyed them to the fullest. I should be gaining 3 kgs since my stay, but am wondering why the physical appearance doesn’t expand that much. This wonder is always an unsolved mystery! and yes..it is creepy…

Anyway, we had the raya haji celebration on 20th December, Thursday.. my parents and siblings including myself took part in the qurban (cow sacrifice) ceremony. My fear for blood that would usually result to fainting excused myself from witnessing the ceremony, but I managed to get through with the niat after the slauthering. My grandmother also had a kenduri doa selamat for my coming studies. I’m so touched by her kindness for such effort though she should be resting from these having her age in the 70’s. She even spent an entire day preparing serunding daging (meat floss) for me to bring with for the studies. My gosh, the preparation was extremely tedious! It took 5 continuous hours to cook the meat floss on campfire! Thank you grandma for all of these not forgetting the few hundreds that u gave me as well as the useful advices and reminders given..I will never be able to repay your kindness and love for me. and yes, the answer to your question is, I love u so so much! It was a touching moment when both of us were in tears before I left kampung for home lastnite. I pray for your health and hope to meet, hug, kiss and do the things we always do together on my return to kampung. Insya Allah..

As the usual weekends, I had the chance to meet Tomet today. We went to ou. After so long, we actually watched a movie called ‘I’m a legend’ acted by will smith and a dog. A bit horrifying I find it, but it’s not that bad after all. We then had lunch which follows by stationeries shopping spree before having a break at the kopitiam. Thanks tomet for the wonderful day!

Later at nite, once again I went to ou to meet my closest high school friends. Thanks peeps for making it for dinner. There were Alyna, Pui San and Elsa. We had dinner at the delicious, the food were mostly good but for tonite my selection wasn’t the best. But it doesn’t really matter coz I almost had everyone’s portion! I even finished half of Pui San’s quiche..heeee..I’m a total food monster! These people were really kind to get me a gift..After a quest and a firm insist of getting me a pressie, they finally present me with the lonely planet Great Britain travel guide..Guess I won’t be lonely in the flight. Thanks so much people, for this great gift! I shall make full use of it during my stay at the new coming home. Do keep in touch ya..gonna miss u guys very much! :(

Busy and busier

Pheeeeeww..lots and lots of things have been settled these past few days..Been really busy for preparation that I didn't have permissible time to touch my pc.

Just a quick run through on what's happened. I got my licensed renewed and applied myself an international driving license...hope that I could at least 'test drive' a car if I can't own one once im stable in the uk. Who knows..I might be lucky to put the latest 5 series bmw on a test drive..i wish! Alhamdulillah, after a one week of anxious wait but almost a month of documents preparation for the submission, I finally had my visa approved..it's worth of all the hard work, worries and swearing for the visa application. I also had my final teeth check yesterday which was my last dental appointment with Dr Hazmyr and Nurse Min, both were really busy when I arrived but were kind enough to attend my check up and teeth scaling. Thank you once again for the many help and kind attention given throughout the appointments!

My parents were very concern about my coming departure. How sweet of them to have a kenduri doa selamat for me. Thank you very much for the thoughtful attention! We had the kenduri last night. It was really thoughtful of my aunt, Makcik Sah to come early in the morning to do the cooking. The food was superbly delicious. Thank you also to my family members and Din's wife, Siti for the hard work of cleaning up for this event. Special thanks goes to Zati. Although having an eye infection which prohibited her to join, this close friend of mine actually came in the evening before the event starts just to see me and brought 2 boxes of my favourite egg tarts as well as a cash note! How very sweet..Thank you Zati for the endless support all this while. I really appreciate it! They were around 50-60 guests who attended, mostly families and relatives. I'm touched by the people who came for the support. Three friends, Hajar, Ajlaa, Elsa and of course my other half, Mr Tomet were also here. Thank you all for attending! Thanks also to the many ppl who were very kind to leave me with presents, apart from a few hundred of cash, I was given a sweater, a backpack, a set of bodyshop gift, a box of cute cupcakes, a homemade cheesecake and very useful advices and wishes.

I had half of my day spent with Tomet today. Poor dear who had to work tho it's saturday today. I understand that u're tired due to a hectic week of work, but thank you for spending the time with me yeah. I finally made myself spectacles, with the price of one..I managed to get another for free. Guess it's a good buy for the cost of rm168, thanks to the many cheap things u can get at Sg Wang. I've been relying on contact lenses all this while, so I consider myself facing a new experience stabilizing with wearing glasses. It's a little giddy wearing in for the first time, but I think I'm getting used to it. I also got a few other stuffs, LAN cables, a photo album and 3 cd casings for the price of 2. After having dinner of tomet's favourite dish, Kueh Teow both of us dropped by the MAS office at KL Sentral to reserve a seating for my coming flight. Thank god there were still suitable seatings and reservation were made without much problem.

It's a week full of experiences. After all formalities settled, I'm now left with packing. I'd better start soon as I'm only left with 2 weeks before departure..

Gadgets Shopping

Many things were accomplished these past few days. I’ve been quite busy running errands to get the important matters for the coming studies resolved. I finally managed to get all formalities such as submissions of the agreement documentations to the kpt and visa done within a couple of days. Thank god everything went on as planned and within time left.

As for yesterday and today, I allowed myself for two more shopping sprees, this time..it’s fully dedicated for electronic gadgets. In line with the pc fair at klcc which runs for 3 days, I initially thought of only going for a survey, but ended up shopping! I went to pc fair with my good friend, Alyna yesterday evening. Unfortunately, I started to develop fever and cough once we parked our car. But as we were already there, I didn’t bother thinking much about the developing sickness. We went for a 3-hour survey on the notebooks when both of us finally decided to each get ourselves a notebook. We had a quick dinner just before we got our stuffs and by then I was like a walking zombie! I felt really tired and started to loose my voice as it became out of tune! Got myself panadol and lozenges and had them after meals. After that, we took separate ways to the notebook booths.

I finally got myself a notebook – a model from hp – though it’s not the one I had been eyeing on, but I’m fully satisfied with the specs, after all what more can u get when there’s a RAM upgrade to 4Gb. The price is rm500 less than the one I wanted. I came to a decision where it’s not worth spending that much just for ‘looks’- thank god I made the right decision! :) And Alyna got herself the red & sexy Sony VIOR, quite tempting I find them. We were the last customers served at yesterday’s fair. Yeap, we were..that means, both of us went home quite late at nite. Glad that both of us went home feeling satisfied with our selections. : ) Thanks to Alyna for accompanying me.

I was voiceless when woke up today! I completely loose my voice! That was what I realized when Tomet called me in the morning. Geee..the line when there’s a happy moment, slight misery happens as what tomet told me happens to me quite frequently – perhaps the happiness of getting a new laptop yesterday is sort of ‘paid of’ with losing my voice today! Coincidence..Heheee! Anyway, that didn’t stop me to see my dear Tomet though I had to switch to the mute mode due to slight sore in the throat. I bit awkward I find it when we were quiet most of the time as I’m always the chatty one with endless stories to tell. I accompanied Tomet to his office for a while before we headed to klcc, yeap – to pc fair again! Parking was so difficult to get, it took both of us 40minutes or maybe more to get the car parked. Sorry Tomet for suggesting an open air car park as it rained in the evening when u had the car washed in the morning.

The initial reason to pc fair earlier today was to collect a pen drive for which the salesman at the counter promised me yesterday, and to buy a hardware my brother asked for. The salesperson was busy and asked if I could wait, so while waiting, Tomet and I went around looking at the things they have at the fair. Along our way out, I ended up buying myself a laptop casing, 50 pieces of dvds worth rm38 and a digital camera that I’ve been eyeing on – it’s cheaper by almost rm300 than the actual price. Although the camera isn’t the best of the available, I’m happy and satisfied with the functions it has..and the best part is, I managed to persuade the salesmen with lesser price for these items, thanks for being partial voiceless. I assume they felt sorry seeing me struggling to talk..so, bargaining wasn’t really tough! ;)

I am now still without voice..i sound like a squeaking kitten whenever I talk! How buruk..been laughed at by almost everyone who hears my voice..i lost count on the numbers of people..almost all salesmen at least grin when they heard me talking. It ^*@$& not to have ur normal voice. So, please appreciate the ability to be able to speak normally..regardless of how bad u think ur voice might sound…hearing ur own voice when u’ve lost ur voice is the worse of all..

The friends whom I admire

I had a few meet ups with a number of old & new friends today. Tomet & I spent almost an entire day at the Midvalley Megamall. We met Shah (one of my good & close friends during undergraduate & postgraduate studies) and Sam (my new friend who is Shah’s best friend). Shah had been my study mate during our university lives. I still remember the times during undergraduate when both of us would revise together whenever there’s a paper to sit for and would share the joy or sadness when the results appear. One thing that I really admire about Shah is that he’s an intelligent person who picks up on matters really quickly without much effort to put on. We were also lab mates during Masters. During this period, together with a few other friends we would have our lunch at the faculty’s balcony almost everyday. I can still recall our ‘marathon’ from one block to another, moving around to settle our work which at times got distracted when the faculty’s lift goes on a disturbed ‘mood’. It’s been so long since I met Shah, perhaps a year or so since Shah moved to another place to start his new job. But I’m glad to have a good contact with him; we keep each other updated with latest news once in a while.

These special friends of mine are very special in their own ways. They are indeed, unique than my other friends. I am most touched to witness the close & friendly relationship between Shah, who’s on wheelchair & Sam, who’s blind. Although disable in their own ways, that does not hinder their appreciation of each other towards friendship. I respect them even more as they’re both successful in their respective fields. Shah is now working as a researcher with the national space agency(Angkasa), the type of work which(to me) definitely demands a great degree of intellectual powers. Sam on the other hand is currently pursuing his Master’s degree at UM in the field of Counselling. I find these inspiring.

All 4 of us had lunch at Dominos and chatted all the way. It’s an enjoyable experience to share and exchange stories with these folks. Helping them shopping is also a new experience for Tomet and I, from presents to clothing to computer stuffs, we hope you guys like all the things bought today. :) The day went by quickly; we said our good byes in the evening. To Shah & Sam, keep up the enthusiasm for a greater success that awaits ahead. U guys are the best role models.

Later in the evening, Tomet and I met another friend, whom I think is also gifted with special talents for which not many people are born with. It’s is udeyismail, a humble (at times chatty but most of the time quite) yet very passionate, skilful and talented photographer. I first met Udey when he came to shoot during my previous Master’s convocation. I was really lucky as being a professional photographer, Udey’s schedules are daily fully occupied. Thanks again Udey, for the wonderful shots! I promise to one day tell this story to my future kids. :)

Udey came with a friend. The four of us had dinner at Secret Recipe. Udey’s stories reminded me of the saying that “success comes through hard work” and I’m proud this young and highly motivated friend of mine has successfully proven this right, but I believe you will someday reach the skies higher than where you have reached now. In my views, Udey has revolutionized the saying of “where there’s a will, there’s a way” to “where there’s a will, there’re many ways” to achieve the aspiration. To Udey, keep up the desire of achievements for I’m sure that better accomplishments will soon be awarded in the future.

To these peeps, thanks for coming to spend a few hours with Tomet and I. We appreciate your time & both of us look forward to meet u guys again.