Author Archives: Alin

Panjang ye, sebab lama tak update.

Posted on by under Daily Scribbles

I’ve been on hiatus for more than a month now. I have been wanting to write but it seems to be one of those things that I purposely put off to the next day.

This is a list of what I have been up to since my last entry.

1. I came home for the school holiday. What’s really cool about it is that when people asked when will I go back to Sabah, I answered, ‘Next year.’

2. I stayed for almost a week in KL upon touched down. In that duration, I went out with Azwan three days in a row. Bayar hutang dating.

3. In those three days, I shopped till I dropped. A lipstick from Benefit, a purse from Fossil, an  iPhone cover from Speck in pink, Arsenal jersey (Azwan’s belated birthday pressie), a duvet cover set from Ikea,  a lamp for my room from Ikea, two tops from Kitchen and Debenhams, a 320GB external hard drive in pink, a 1GBb RAM for my laptop, a new pair of spectacles and had rounds of food treats.

4. After those three days, I came home just in time for Hari Raya Haji. Mama cooked nasi beriyani while I baked two cakes.

5. On the second day of raya, my siblings and I went to a furniture shop. I got myself a bedroom set consist of a bed, a dressing table, a side table and a wardrobe. I added another shoe rack to the list.

6. Mama held a makan-makan two days in a row. First day was for family and friends and on the second day was for her school staffs. I met my BM tuition teacher when I was in Form Three. A meeting after almost ten years. It turned out she used to teach in Sabah too.

7. Both my sister and I cleaned our rooms for the new furniture to come in. My sister’s furniture came on Thursday while mine on Friday. While taking my sister’s mattress to her room, the delivery guy accidentally hit a plate that was up on a wall. So when he delivered my furniture on the next day, he requested for the wall and staircase to be empty. As his assistance was unwrapping my mattress on the staircase (I didn’t know why he unwrapped it there), the mattress dropped and hit a vase that I had put aside earlier.

8. Both my sister and I spent days putting things back in our room. She is done with hers and I have not. Up till today. I’m just too lazy to empty the drawers.

9. Mama had a few days off, so off we went mobile hunting. Initial plan was to go to Perodua, Proton, Toyota and Honda.  We went to the first three and went for lunch. We discussed and decided to opt for the second one, thus, we didn’t go to Honda.

10. I sew curtains for my room on my own. White curtains, white duvet cover and white furniture in a room with green walls. I love.

10. My sister and I went to KL again to attend Chakbon’s wedding. It was a simple yet grand garden-themed wedding, put up by Jovian Mandagie and team.

11. I stayed in KL for a week, for I wanted to go out with Azwan on payday. So while waiting for Thursday to come, I went out to watch New Moon with my sister. I bought a purple eyeshadow and a few facial masks from The Skin Food and another lipstick and a lipliner from Clinique because I don’t really like the colour of the Benefit lipstick.

12. Initial plan was only to go out with Azwan on Thursday, but he has a theory class untuk ambik lesen motor. So we went out on Wednesday instead. As I have not received my pay, the day was spent strolling around The Gardens and Mid Valley, watched Zombieland and The Frog Princess and had a foot massage. Azwan gave me a cupcake set too. Thank you, yank!

13. I received my pay on Thursday, alongside with some tunggakan. Azwan’s theory class was cancelled kot so we both decided to go out again and this time to Pavillion. I bought a two-way compact powder from MAC, some bras and panties and another iPhone cover. We watched Avatar and I felt asleep halfway through the movie. Not because I find the movie boring, but because it was too comfortable (it was Gold Class) and it was around my afternoon nap time. I was excited as we both took the ERL home ( he to Putrajaya and I to Bandar Tasik Selatan) because it was my first ERL ride hahaha. Jakun.

14. I have three iPhone covers up till today. The one I bought in Pavillion is my fav and I’m thinking of buying to other ten to have all colours thus having a complete collection of Colors. The first one made my iPhone even bulkier and the second one already has hairline scratches.

15. I did my Dokumen Terhad Perjalanan because my international passport is coming to its expiry date. I found out that sometimes, people working behind the counters are friendly and nice, like the immigration officer that I had.

16. Just last Saturday, the memories of my late father came to mind. I was chatting with Azwan online when flashes of images came to mind. I was at the airport, just touched down from London when both my aunts hugged me and told that Ayah was no longer with us. At the same moment, talkin was being read to him. I took the news calmly and regained control of myself. Looking at how strong I was, both my aunts cried and that was when I started crying too. Remembering those moments brought tears to my eyes but I managed not to cry. I guess I really miss him.

17. I made peach cheese cake in the form of cupcakes. Mama gave a 10/10 point for them being delicious. I was not fully satisfied because the cheese layer was so thin.

18. So, today I made another batch and this time I made blueberry cheese cake. Managed to make the cheese layer even thicker. I still prefer the peach ones though because I don’t really favor berries being cooked.

19. I have finally received my credit card today. I’m still hoping to get the one from HSBC.

20. I will sign the loan agreement tomorrow. A commitment that will last for ten years for I took a full loan. Can’t wait. Teruja. Key chain for the key pon sudah beli okey.

That’s all then. Maybe I’ll post another entry to reveal my new baby. Don’t put your hope up high though. I did say maybe. Haha.

Daa. Toodles.

All in a day.

Posted on by under Daily Scribbles, Love

Hari ini hari bahagia. Hik hik. Masih lagi bahagia hik hik hik. Tapi hari bahagia hari ini telah dicemari oleh beberapa perkara. All happened today.

Tilam bocor lagi. Tilam satu hari tu bocor sebab salah sendiri. Ok fine. Sapa suruh bukak brooch tanggal tudung tinggal brooch atas tilam. Bila jarum tajam cucuk tilam memang lah tilam akan bocor. Ok fine. Salah sendiri. Tapi hari ni tilam yang baru beli seminggu, yang harga dah naik RM8  jadi RM 42.99 tapi lagi kecik dari tilam yang first, bocor. Tatau apa punca tapi bocor. Lubang yang bocor tu lagi besar dari lubang tercucuk jarum. Plus, tempat bocor adalah di bahagian bawah yang tatau macam mana boleh bocor. Adeh la hai.

Sebelum balik cuti raya, I ordered my contact lense. Ok, I ada silau pada mata kanan. So kene order toric punya lense. Belah kiri ok, boleh pakai biasa punya soflens. Disebabkan ada silau pada mata kanan, tak silau kat mata kiri, kene beli two different sets of lense. Lense untuk mata kiri satu kotak harganya RM50. Tapi lense untuk mata kanan satu kotak tu harganya RM150. Mahal RM60 dari kedai optikal kat Sitiawan tu. Tapi sebab terpaksa order jugak bayar lah jugak. Bile beli two sets, dapat another pair free. So all in all RM200 for 7 pairs. Equals 7 months. Tapi untuk the past 4 weeks, I dah pakai dua pairs. Sebab it turn out they only last for two weeks. After two weeks, the toric lens easily get dried, or terlipat sendiri dalam mata. And then when I blink, lense tu ikut kelopak mata and the lense akan stay inside the kelopak instead of on top of mata hitam. I was trying my best untuk bertahan sepanjang perjalanan dari Sandakan ke Beluran. Sampai jeti, I took my lense off there and then. Huhu. Bila this kind of things jadik, I have no choice but to use a new pair of lense. Third pair in the second month? I felt cheated.

Then for dinner, ada budak kampung bagi about a kilo of fresh prawn. Fresh sangat sangat sebab udang-udang tu masih hidup waktu nak siang. Dah pegang badan pon boleh menggeletik sampai terlepas. Dah cabut kepala otak udang terkeluar pon kaki masih gerak-gerak. At one point tu sampai jari manis kene kepit dengan sepit udang tu. Sakit, tapi bile dah masak sedap sebab udang fresh so padan muka udang tu sebab kena masak and makan. Bajet ganas je bile kepit jari orang.

And yang ni, I hope is the last one for today. While writing this entry, I had to stop for about ten to fifteen minutes because I was sneezing non stop. And bile sneeze non stop, hingus mesti ada darah, hidung akan sakit and tersumbat, dan telinga akan sakit and gatal kat dalam. Adeh.

And for now, sangat berharap pencemaran-pencemaran di hari bahagia ni akan berakhir sebentar lagi dengan perbualan yang bahagia on the phone. Hik hik hik gedik.

p/: Hari ini hari bahagia sebab sudah satu tahun. Selamat satu tahun.

Atap yang bocor…

Posted on by under World of Teaching

… bukan orang. Ha ha ha.

The Year 1s in my school are still a lil bit slow in reading, but they love to sit in the library to look at different books available. I was rather busy last week, so I ask some Year 6 pupils to read aloud a story and the Year 1 pupils would then repeat after.

They were all reading nicely when one of the Year 6 pupils read aloud a sentence too long for the Year 1s to follow. This was what the Year 6 pupils said,

‘…banyak atap rumah orang kampung yang bocor.’

The Year 1s could not capture the sentence so they kept quiet except for this one boy. Proudly and loudly, he said,

‘…banyak orang kampung yang bocor.’

Ha ha ha.

Well, orang bocor can mean a lot of things, can’t they?

Walking Down Memory Lane.

Posted on by under Travel Discoveries

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

Posted on by under Music to the Ears

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.