Walking Down Memory Lane.

I miss both shopping and window shopping in Drake Circus.

Entrance to Drake Circus Inside Drake Circus.

I also miss a stroll down the street to the Sundial near Dingles.

Sundial and Dingles.

A walk up to The Hoe.

Plymouth Hoe

Way down Barbican.

Plymouth Barbican Plymouth Barbican

All the way to the marina.

Marina at Barbican

Just to have a hearty meal at a Morrocan restaurant.

Chicken Couscous, Prawn Couscous and Meatball Couscous.

Saya rindu sama Plymouth.

*Pictures are taken from Google Image Search.

Stephen Gately RIP

Almost 15 years ago, I got irritated whenever my sisters mentioned Boyzone. But as soon as I heard Love Me For a Reason, I was instantly crazy over them too.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSXa9eHjaVU&feature=fvsr]

We became obsessed with them. We had every cassette, every VCR, almost all Boyzone Official Magazine ever since it was first published. Posters after posters were collected and pasted all over the four walls of our room. Articles in the newspapers were not left. Every magazine that had them featured will surely be bought. Smash Hits and Top of The Pops were still cheap at that time. And when we had the time, we would compile those articles into clear file folders.

Whichever TV shows that had them featured will surely be recorded into a VCR. When I was in Year 6, I was always down with asthma. I would then stay at home with my sister who was in the afternoon session. My sister and I would then rewatch the recorded shows or the official VCR over and over again. Our fav being Boyzone: Live at Wembley. Those VCR became our daily dose that we had actually memorized what was being said or sang by them.

Boyzone’s songs became my personal favourites and they are still my favourites. Among them are; Father and Son, Love Me for a Reason, So Good, I Love The Way You Love Me, Everyday I Love you, Key to My Life, Mystical Experience, Isn’t It A Wonder, You Needed me and many many others.

My sister sacrificed her weekly allowance in order to make sure that she got her hands on a Boyzone’s watch specially made by Swatch. The watch was actually an entrance ticket to their concert in KL back in 1998. Too bad that even though that Boyzone came to KL almost every year during that time, we never had the opportunity to see them live.

And when we doodled, we would always doodled the word Boyzone or the name of the member that we love the most. Lame, I know.

We bought Mr. Bean The Movie original VCD and OST just because Picture of You was featured in that movie.

My parents never objected our obsession towards Boyzone. My mum looked at it positively. She believed that by listening to English songs and reading English magazines, we would eventually improve our English language. I guess, she was right. We memorised each and every Boyzone’s song and from all the reading, we have actully acquire a certain amount of English language.

Last year, Boyzone made a reunion after a few years of pursuing own career path. I was back to the 12-year-old me. I rewatched the concert over and over again on Astro just to make sure that I did not miss any bits of the concert. It was also one of the ways of knowing how many songs that I still remember the lyrics to and how many that I have forgotten.

Well, most of the songs are still well remembered. Hihi.

And just today, my brother broke the news that Stephen Gately has died whilst on a holiday with his partner in Majorca, Spain. The official website stated that Ronan, Mikey, Keith and Shane have said,

We are completely devastated by the loss of our friend and brother, Stephen. We have shared such wonderful times together over the years and were all looking forward to sharing many more. Stephen was a beautiful person in both body and spirit. He lit up our lives and those of the many friends he had all over the world. Our love and sympathy go out to Andrew and Stephen’s family. We love you and will miss you forever, ‘Steo’.

The COD have not been determined and post mortem will be conducted in a few days.

Whatever the reason is, Stephen would definitely be missed by all fans out there. RIP.

Duit raya.

This is the first raya that I gave duit raya. And since I have only 42 pupils in my school, I have decided to also give to each and everyone of them.

I handed out the duit raya to all who attended yesterday. So when today came, they reminded me that their absent friends are in school and I have not given them yet.

And so, I have faces poking in front of me, smiling widely, hoping that I give them duit raya.You know how kids are lah kan.

Then later came this one girl who is in the kindergarden class. And dengan selamba berkata-kata,

‘Cikgu, adikku di rumah?’

With a tone that I know she is hoping that I’ll hand her another sampul for her little sister.

I walked away and said,

‘Adik kamu tak sekolah lagi.’

Huh. Ini sudah lebey. Berani sudah mintak untuk adik-beradik yang lain.

Syawal Rantings

I have so many thing to write about, but I had no internet connection in Muar or KL. So, here goes.

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Raya was fun. As always. Mama purposely came to KL to pick me up so that she has someone to bake all the cookies and cake. I managed to bake three types of cookies, two butter cakes and mini cupcakes in the three days I had before raya. Mama and I also managed to make some ketupat palas and she was rather amused that I could ONLY wrap the small ones using smaller leaves while she can only wrap the big ones.

First raya was first spent visiting Ayah’s pusara with my other siblings. We then had a small gathering with Uncle’s family before we went to Uncle Tamjis’s house right in front and Achik Norly’s house in Ipoh.

Gathering.

Second raya was spent lazying around. Heh heh.

We started our journey to Muar on the third raya. On the way, we stopped at Pusat Komuniti Bukit Damansara to attend an aunt’s wedding. We reached Muar at around 7pm and just managed to meet the relatives that I looked forward to meet each raya.

We headed down to Yong Peng the day after and visited my grandfather on my late Ayah’s side. He was healthy, only that he could not remember most of us now. In our case, Ayah’s name need to be mentioned before he could remember all of us.

OTW to Batu Pahat from Yong Peng.

We headed back to KL the next day and went straight to The Gardens due to my sister’s craving for shopping complex. Well, well, who’s living in Sabah now hah? I bought Starbucks’s Mooncake set which I have been wanting since I saw it in KK. They were not bad, but I guess there are other mooncakes tastier than Starbucks’s.

On the sixth raya, we visited Ayah’s second brother in Kelana Jaya. It was overwhelming to hear the funny jokes that they constantly make. They are after all a one happy funny family even though both my aunt and uncles are police officers. Chief police officers to be exact.

My mom’s brother than held a barbecue session the night after hearing endless requests for kambing bakar. We had chicken and meat too, laksa , chicken and beef sate, chicken soto, fruit salad and desserts. Yammeh. Totally yummy.

For each day where large amount of food is consumed, I made myself drink Kinohimitsu peppermint detox tea to make sure that I do not gain the weight that I lost during Ramadhan. Even that, I gained two kg from the five that I lost. Huhu.

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Ours.

Azwan and I got ourselves an iPhone 3Gs each. Hiks. I was amazed with what I can do with it until I discover that it is less effective in detecting coverage. It could not capture any Maxis coverage even though I have put it at the window frame where I normally put my previous phones, and previous phones worked just fine.

Thus, when, I’m in Bukit Besi, Beluran, I use my 3-year old SE.

Oh, I’m thinking of buying a RM100++ basic Nokia phone to be used there since the battery does not function properly now.

Sigh. After investing so much and so much for wanting to have the latest gadget, I still have to use a basic phone.

Heh.

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I went for my SPP interview yesterday and I am so glad that it went very well. I was asked about PIPP, current issues and teaching experience.

I was not nervous, not until my turn was next. I was more nervous for the fact that I’ll be riding a scooter on my own to get to the venue of the interview. Mind you, it was my first bike ride on my own after  more than six years of having a licence.

And, yes. I arrived home safe and sound.

Hehe.

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That is all for now. Bai. Daa.