Seasonal Greetings and Christmas Tree

Having been in the UK for coupla years, Christmas has been the third most significant festive day to me, the 1st two are of course the Eid Fitri and Eid Adha. I still remember those christmas parties i have attended at our college and at my 1st hall, Claypond Village in South Ealing. It doesnt mean that I am committing myself religious wise to the celebration yet the festive moods were in the air.

Anyways, during our RSCE-SOMChE 2008 conference, the Christmas spirit had already begun and they put up all those christmas decorations including one Christmas tree at Impiana KLCC Hotel & Spa. Crazy i may say as they have begun as early as 1st December 2008 but I liked the ambience. And to commemorate some of the sweet moments during the conference, I took a picture with my old friend, Siti Shawalliah and our ex-lecturer turned colleague, Nornizar Anuar aka Kak Nonie in front of the Christmas tree on Day 1, 2nd December 2008 before our lunch break.

left to right: Manal, Kak Nonie and Shawal

One of those last moment of the conference just after the closing ceremony:

1st row: Assoc. Prof Dr. Siti Masrinda Tasirin, Dr. Jamaliah Jahim, Dr. Masturah Markom, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Siti Kartom Kamarudin, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Siti Rozaimah Sheikh Abdullah (all are the conference committee members), Prof. Dr. Sal Mynt (UniMap), Prof. Ir Dr. Wan Ramli Wan Daud (the chairman), Assoc. Prof. Dr. David Shallcross (Uni Melbourne, keynote speaker),Prof Masaaki Suzuki (Tokyo Inst. of Technology), Prof. Ir. Dr. Mohd Sobri Takriff (co-chairman)
2nd row: Dr. Renata Adami (Salerno Uni, keynote speaker), Dr. Nurina Anuar (committee member), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hossein Kazemian (Tehran Uni, keynote speaker), Dr. Manal Ismail (head of secretariat), Prof. Maria Natalia Dimaano (Uni of Santo Tomas)

I do miss the sight of those magnificent Christmas trees at Trafalgar Square, Knightsbridge and Whiteleys and those bright Christmas lights across the central london especially around Knightsbridge, Regent Street, and Oxford Street. And the moment when I first saw life reindeers in Bradford back in 1998. And that I loved receiving Christmas cards from fellow friends at Imperial too.

Brief entry

So many things to say, so little time....ok, more precisely , so little mood i have to break down all that i had in mind to write them down.

In brief :

• Petrol price has to date made a total of 80 sen reduction since that horrible RM 2.70 sudden price hike. Good news? So far, it is.

• RSCE-SOMChE 2008 conference organized by most members of our department including yours truly went on VERY WELL indeed at Impiana KLCC Hotel & Spa and a few of my old friends also turned up as participants. It was rather an overwhelming experience to me that left me with a fine line (or a mix) between euphoria and repression. For some, or should I say, most consolations came from many participants across ASEAN and Asia Pacifics who offered their sincere warm gratitude to me and 2 of them, one a professor from Phillippines and another one, a research engineer from Italy (who was also one of our keynote speakers) even mentioned my name as part of their acknowledgment in front of the audience.
  

• Aidil Adha was a bit of a quiet celebration this year for me. Both my parents are performing hajj and we gathered at my eldest sister's place, which is just a 5 minutes drive away from our family house. Not much could be said. But I still did my morning solat sunat prayers, and that was my "highlight" of the day.

• I missed MJ more and more. I hope he will get his viva date soon.

• My old 2005 Fuji digicam broken as a result of major faulty at the telescopic motor that connects to the lenses. And to add to the disappointment, it occurred RIGHT before our RSCE-SOMChE 2008 conference banquet dinner, on 2 December 2008. Good thing was, many took pictures with me and our trusted technicians managed to capture many moments too. So, I gather that I need to copy those photos into my external hard drive and later to be downloaded into my pc. I am thinking on replacing it with a newer Fuji model (it's about time!) or maybe I could try Sony Cybershot or some few other digicam models/brands.
  

• I almost have never had this kind of situation where more and more people kept coming to me to request to take pictures with me than during the 2-day RSCE-SOMChE 2008 conference. Did I just shot to fame? Or it was merely another way of them expressing their joy having able to participate at the conference through some constant correspondance with their mistaken for man conference head of Secretariat,that's me. That man part was all due to my peculiar name which made it sound a bit masculine to many.
  

• I was made a Malaysian "mascot" ....ok...putting it in a nicer way, the Malaysian model gracing our TCE magazine since my international debut in 2007. That very photo of mine still graces the leaflet and registration packs across Malaysia for those interested to join the IChemE in Malaysia. I could see my smiling photo on the IChemE booth at our conference.
  

• 15 November 2008 marked our very first reunion as a career people and many are married with family too for our KISAS ex-classmates. Not everyone turned up but the turnout was encouraging. Some came with their spouses, others even brought their kids along too.

• Its the end of year Malaysia MegaSale, and so i need to buy a new digicam and perhaps and new mobile phone too (a Sony Ericsson walkman series) also over 3 years old. I have never bought any of those here in Malaysia. People have been advising me to go to Low Yatt Plaza for that reason and since I have never been there, maybe I should do my survey across that nationwide most famous "electronic gadget emporium".

• I have made many new friends through blogging and some I have actually met and befriended in real life too apart from those old friends of mine. One of them is Makji Esah, met 2 months ago and she is far demure than her blog persona.
  

I had wanted to be more emotional here but I dont think it would do good anyway writing them in anger.