After christmas 2007 stories

There have been warnings after warnings, carnage after carnage took place as a result of some wacko-emotive driven suicide bombers and finally, Madam Benazir Bhutto was laid to rest, RIP last Thursday 27 December, that was 1 day after the Boxing Day (26 Dec) in the UK, 2 months since her return to her birth country, Pakistan. Almost a year before that, Saddam Hussein, the Iraq former president was hanged to death on the gallows.


The death of Benazir Bhutto left me sitting on my chair in front of my pc for a good 10mins or more, terribly shocked by the news.


It happened to her predecessor and father, Mr.Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, but he was hanged to death instead of dying amidst an earth shattering bomb blast. Indira Ghandi and Mahatma Ghandi (former India PM and the second one, independence leader) were shot dead. Rajiv Ghandi (former india PM) died along with his suicide bomber, a Tamil Lady of LTTE movement. Zia ul Haq (former Pakistan President) died in a plane explosion. Tragic indeed those life and death of the reknown Indian and Pakistani Leaders.



26 December marked the third anniversary of the Tsunami catastrophe and the fourth anniversary of the Bam earthquake. All that disasters that have occurred on the 26 December in the first decade of the new millenia seemed to have outweighed the Friday the 13th bad luck myth (i.e. the date where it is believed there would be some unfortunate event will take place).


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Yesterday (saturday afternoon), I attended the Reading Session at Seksan's Bangsar, organized by Sharon Bakar for the 1st time ever. I got to meet the right honourable Tan Sri A Samad Said and his wife and had a little chitchat with him. I called him Pak Samad initially when i shook his hand and introduced myself. And then after like 5 mins into the conservation with him, I looked at both him and his wife and innocently, with apologetic tones asked them what should I really address them. Tan Sri Samad insisted on being called Pak Samad as thats what he most comfortable with and i called his wife, Kak Shidah instead. This lovely couple was the salt of the earth, very humble and friendly and that made me regain my composure while continuing our chat.


Not only that I got what I came for: an autograph by Awang Goneng (Wan Ahmad Hulaimi) on his latest and debut non-fiction book: Growing Up in Trengganu, I managed to get Pak Samad and Kak Teh (Mrs Awang Goneng) signed my GUIT book as well! Pak Adib was there too, amongst the many guests who turned up at this event. I missed Dina Zaman's reading session as I came there after 4.00pm due to KTM commuter train delay (in the beginning i thought of driving to bangsar but since i havent been on the train for ages, i took my chance only to get stranded at Serdang station for nearly 40mins. I got off at Midvalley station and took a cab to Seksan's at Jalan Tempinis 1, Lucky Garden, Bangsar).

I went to shop a bit at Midvalley Megamall before i left home by the commuter train all the way to UKM station where i parked my car there.

Yuletide Laugh: Is He Prime Minister?

SALAM AIDIL ADHA, HAJJI MABROOR TO ALL THE HUJJAJ, MUSLIMEEN AND MUSLIMAAT, AND A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO THOSE WHO CELEBRATES CHRISTMAS (mainly christians of course).

Christmas tree in Whiteleys, Bayswater, London

A well-lit christmas tree at Trafalgar Square, London

I am a muslim but I love the sight of a well-lit christmas tree....I have taken a few photos of it myself with or without me posing next to it. I dunno why but it just brings me smile and cheerful feelings amidst the gloomy, sometimes wet, sometimes snowy, frosty December.


For those who are familiar with Catherine Tate's work, here's a videoclip that will surely send u rocking on your chair laughing your ass off. This British comedienne had me in stitches with many of her quintessential british satires on her "Catherine Tate Show". We Malaysians may still able to catch her show on BBCE Astro channel rated for evening shows mostly.


I reckon you gonna like the former UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair's sense of humour after watching this:




The second videoclips taken from the Little Britain sketch: Dafydd Thomas (Matt Lucas), the only gay in the village doing interview with Elton John with a special appearance by David Walliam, Matt's sidekick in Little Britain:

khob khun ka, thailand

A traveller, yes I am.....A citizen of the world, indeed I am.


And I had my aidil adha doing training course in the middle of bangkok last 20th Dec 2007 (Thursday). My fellow 4 lecturer colleagues and I did not miss our solat sunnat eid adha as we all performed it at 8.00am on our own in each of our hotel room (Century Park Hotel, Pratunam, Bangkok). Takbeer raya pon sendiri-sendiri laa....



That was my first time ever to see bangkok with my own eyes. I had a long transit in the old airport, Don Muang almost 3 decades ago and this time, we landed at the new, more trendy yet looked like some sort of a massive concert stage roof layout structure Suvarnabhumi Airport. Bangkok is a huge capital city and we prolly need like a week or more to cover many parts of it. So we settled with what was nearer, more reachable from our hotel. We were there for the membrane technology course on water treatment and so we tried to manage the little time we had left to get to know the city. Some of us shopped more items in MBK, Pratunam market and Suan Lum night bazaar and had to buy another bag to fill up those merchandises/souvenirs. Alas, I didnt get to be at Patpong, wherein lies the hot spot in bangkok (easily reachable by Sky Train , a public transport that uses a light rapid transit train on the high railway above the busy roads), as no one really wanna accompany me there. It's ok, I'll do that trip if I am in bangkok again in the future. Does tiger show ring any bell?




ON the last day (Friday), we headed to menam chao phraya riverbank and just taking some photos of the views and a very short sightseeing of the Grand Palace. Prior to that, we did our solat jama' qasr at the Bangkok Central Mosque, located a wee bit out of the heart of the city yet on the same highway to Suvarnabhumi (pronounced as Su-wanna-bhoom). We had the pleasure of rental car service driven by a local muslim Thai by the name of Maleekee or better known in his Thai name: Adisak Mamu on Tuesday and Friday, where he picked us up from the airport on our arrival and sending us back there for our return journey while assisting us on some little detouring (pusing2 that is) around the city.



La gon, Bangkok, may we see each other again soon. Even though you are packed with 10s of millions of people there doing whatever job possible just to earn enough baht for the day, you are still an enigma to me. And I have always intrigued by anything enigmatic. And so is you. And nice ladyboys too!

That Microsoft Dude: Bill Gates

An open letter written by Bill Gates himself, the chairman and co-founder of Microsoft Corp. This computer geek literally rules the cyberworld being the richest or perhaps one of the richest men in the world and has recently received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Harvard University.

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Bill Gates: The skills you need to succeed

By Bill Gates Chairman, Microsoft

One of the most important changes of the last 30 years is that digital technology has transformed almost everyone into an information worker.

In almost every job now, people use software and work with information to enable their organisation to operate more effectively.

That's true for everyone from the retail store worker who uses a handheld scanner to track inventory to the chief executive who uses business intelligence software to analyse critical market trends.

So if you look at how progress is made and where competitive advantage is created, there's no doubt that the ability to use software tools effectively is critical to succeeding in today's global knowledge economy.

A solid working knowledge of productivity software and other IT tools has become a basic foundation for success in virtually any career.

Beyond that, however, I don't think you can overemphasise the importance of having a good background in maths and science.

If you look at the most interesting things that have emerged in the last decade - whether it is cool things like portable music devices and video games or more practical things like smart phones and medical technology - they all come from the realm of science and engineering.

The power of software

Today and in the future, many of the jobs with the greatest impact will be related to software, whether it is developing software working for a company like Microsoft or helping other organisations use information technology tools to be successful.

Communication skills and the ability to work well with different types of people are very important too.

A lot of people assume that creating software is purely a solitary activity where you sit in an office with the door closed all day and write lots of code.

This isn't true at all.

Software innovation, like almost every other kind of innovation, requires the ability to collaborate and share ideas with other people, and to sit down and talk with customers and get their feedback and understand their needs.

I also place a high value on having a passion for ongoing learning. When I was pretty young, I picked up the habit of reading lots of books.

It's great to read widely about a broad range of subjects. Of course today, it's far easier to go online and find information about any topic that interests you.

Having that kind of curiosity about the world helps anyone succeed, no matter what kind of work they decide to pursue.

Bill Gates is chairman, chief software architect and one of the founders of Microsoft, the world's largest software company. From July 2008 he will end his day-to-day involvement in the company and focus on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and its global health and education work.

Source: BBC

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When will I ever be a Billionaire too?

Melayan sebarang pertanyaan

Its been a while since i have been tagged. But to be honest with u, i have some few more tags undone, KIV so to speak.

To ryzah, thanks for tagging me. It looked like some simple enough questions that made me hesitated no further and just belasah with some "plausible" answers.

Here they go:


1) Name of a person who made you laugh last night

MJ....it was his birthday. And i ended up having some mood swings, and in tears. Mixed of happiness, gratitudes, and melancholia all jumbled up.


2) What were you doing at 0800?

Ummmm...believe it or not, after fajar prayers, i took my usual quick sleep but it terlajak till 10.00am! good thing takde important meetings and so on. Blame it on the rainy day. It's been raining since yesterday, almost the whole day, and it continued to wet the bangi-kajang ground today.


3) What were you doing 30mnts ago?

I had my dinner.


4) What happened to you in 2006?

Where do i begin? mostly on the adjusting period....lotsa things i need to learn and catch up regarding the job, university systems and so on. And yeah, bought my first ever car and a house which i have yet to call it habitable till now. Need to apply another loan for renovations and refurbishment.


5) What was the last thing you said out loud?

Congratulations to my first ever Masters student for completing his course successfully.


6) How many beverages did you have today?

Let me see....not that much. Today i didnt drink that much water/beverages and it was rather cold in my office. Yesterday I had 3-in-1 hot choc and coke among other things.


7) What colour is your hairbrush?

A silver vidal sasoon.


8) What was the last thing you paid for?

Online PC instalment to citibank.



9) Where were you last night?

Somewhere between Cheras and Kajang.


10) What colour is your front door?

Dark mahogany brown.


11) Where do you keep your change?

In my wallet, and some few in the car. I used to keep them in a tabung for laundry uses back in the UK.


12) What's the weather like today?

Wet, wet , wet.....gloomy....pretty much reminded me of UK typical weather.


13) What's the best ice-cream flavour?

The best?? how about letting me settle with Pralines and Cream(haagen dazs or baskin robbins), Strawberry and cream (haagen dazs), Choc Fudge Brownie (ben n jerry)


14) What excites you?

In what way? Need me to spell them out? it could be of physical matter as i ni cepat geli, or it could have been like travelling to a new place, or meeting him, getting what i wanted after i've worked hard on it, animals , cool car, the ocean view or lake view or clean river view, lotsa flowers around in the garden, beefed up gorgeous looking men passing by for cuci mata, fitting dress and shoes that i like while doing my shopping now and then, lovely cool weather, cruising down the road at a higher speed.....


15) Do you want to cut your hair?

More like trimming them, yeah...i have not done more than a year now, so maybe i should do some sort of a hair treatment all together at the local hair salon.

16) Are you over the age of 25?

On the birth certificate, yeah....but it changes with the mood and the way i dress.


17) Do you talk a lot?

With the good company of people, yeah.


18) Do you watch the O.C?

Sometimes. It's not that bad.


19) Do you know anyone named Steven?

Come to think of it....i usually call them steve.


20) Do you make up your own words?

Hmmm....i create gelaran for people....


21) Are you a jealous person?

A little bit...and sometimes over the board unconsciously. But usually just mild ones so far.


22) Name a friend whose name starts with the letter 'A'

Azizah.


23) Name a friend whose name starts with the letter 'K'

hmmmm....karina


24) Who's the first person on your received call list?

Dr. S R S A


25) What does the last text message you received say?

It was an offer from Citibank.....

26) Do you chew on your straw?

Nope.


27) Do you have curly hair?

Not really....more like slighlty wavy hair...



28) Where's the next place you're going to?

It could be around PD inshallah.


29) Who's the rudest person in your life?

I cant say who, more like people in general...the rude ones usually can be found on the road and at the cashier counter.



30) What was the last thing you ate?

Nasi goreng.


31) Will you get married in the future?

Inshallah.


32) What's the best movie you've seen in the past 2 weeks?

Hmm.....almost takde.


33) Is there anyone you like right now?

However inarticulately as i may wanna put it, yes there is one.


34) When was the last time you did the dishes?

Right after my dinner.

35) Are you currently depressed?

Mood swingssss....but it is disappearing gradually.....

36) Did you cry today?

More like shedding quite a few tears last night. Mood swings stimulated it!


37) Why did you answer and post this?

Beats the crap out of me.


38) Tag 5 people who would do this survey.

Makji Esah, Typhoon Sue, Hazlinda Kim, Ruby Ahmad, Abang Idham, and saper2 la yg nak volunteer do the tag....

Kid at heart: Genting Highlands

18 years ago, I went to Genting Highlands on a , guess what: a school trip! We were clad in those white baju kurung, blue skirt, white shoes, sling or knapsack, and white tudung and we had a good time even though none of us took the rollercoaster ride. We got on bumper cars, ferris wheel, revolving cup and rides that didnt involve blowing our skirts up!

Yesterday, I went there again, for the second time of my life. This time, I had more fun, with great and loving company, great atmosphere and yea, i was gambolling around like a little girl. I had icecream, and sometimes i jumped, skipped to my delight. And I also sat on the steel railing while waiting for my turn to get on the ride, took the high-flying, merry go round swing called the spinner with much, much younger kids, went around sometimes in circle on that pedalo boat and had lotsa laughs. I remembered kak ruby wrote on the young at heart article (read here) and i must say that if there would be any of my students saw me like that in genting, they would either be telling themselves that our lecturer is one cool woman or maybe: hey, she is like no other lecturer we knew.


Even though genting highlands was pretty much normal to me, as i've been to bigger, more exciting rollercoasters like the one in Blackpool, UK, it was the cool weather and the ambiance that really makes me wanna stay there longer.


And to my guy, thank you babe for spending time with me. Kisses and hugs.