Hari Raya, one utama and the necklace....

Streamyx is down. Again. Typical. Using dial-up right now.

Raya in PD was quite fun....turned out I didn't have to drive anywhere at all! Hahahahahaha! And I'm starting to think that my memory is damn photographic because even though I haven't gone to PD in ages (last January was the last time I went there before Raya), I became like a navigator while we were on the road. Tish was like, "Hey, you should buy a house here since you know the place so much". Not a bad idea, actually...IF I HAD THE MONEY TO BUY A HOUSE! I can't wait until the day I can afford to buy a house.

You know how Raya is the time when people seek forgiveness from others? The adults in my family never fail to shed some tears everytime Raya comes. And to think that my dad's siblings are all grown men! To see them cry in the pictures that we took kinda brings tears to my eyes. And it makes me think about just how important family is to us all. I know that I cried when I was asking for forgiveness from everyone....come to think of it, the younger kids were the only people not to shed tears that day. Hmph....they don't appreciate what they have!!!! *overdramatisation*

So anyways, Ayah Su invited Anis and I to come on over to his place anytime we want because most of the time he's not there anyways. I told my dad about ayah Su's invitation, and my dad was like, "OK, you and Anis can go just the two of you to PD during the school holidays" and I was like, "YESSSS!!!!!" My dad is a bit overprotective, you see, so when he trusts me enough to go to drive to Port Dickson, of course I'm going to seize the opportunity! So anis and I are saving our duit raya for the journey to PD....if there's nothing on, we're probably going at the end of next month.

Went to One Utama with Nat and Zaty today. We went to watch The Prestige...it's a really nice movie! It's damn good. It shows how obsession will drive people to do crazy things. Hugh Jackman was hot in there! So anyways, while we were eating at Chili's after the movie, Zaty taught Nat and I a way to sort of predict how many children you're going to get and what gender the kids are going to be. It's kinda hard to explain because we use a necklace for the predictions. So apparently, if these predictions are to be believed, I will be getting two girls, Zaty's going to have three kids and Nat's going to have a little girl. The spooky thing is that no matter how many times we try, the results are the same. And weird thing is, when I tried it on my mum, the results were true. It's damn freaky. I tried it on my other siblings and my mum said, "At least I know that none of my children are barren!" Of course we can't believe all these things la, but it is kinda funny.

Going to sleep now. Lazy to post up pictures. Damn tired.....

Selamat Hari Raya!

This is gonna be my last post before Raya! So Selamat Hari Raya to all Muslims! Maaf Zahir dan Batin to all my friends....just in case I did something that made you all sakit hati!

I'll be driving down to Port Dickson tomorrow!

I'm damn lazy to write a long post, so I guess I'll see you guys after Raya!

Bye! :D

Screw it!

Oh, guess what? I got a call from Hitz.tv on Thurday saying that I've just won Paris Hilton's CD! I was like, "what? I won?" because I really couldn't remember taking part in any contest. Then I remembered taking part in an SMS contest thingy like 6 weeks ago! And I realised that I'm quite lucky when it comes to contests like this one. In the past two years, I've won a Britney Spears CD, two Il Divo CDs, Simon Webbe's CD and Ne-yo's CD! Hey, at least I'm lucky in something! And it's free so why does it matter if it sucks anyway? Can't wait till the CD comes! Let's see if the album's as good as Paris claims it to be (apparently she cried listening to it....ooookkkkkkayyyy)!

My current favourite phrase while driving right now is "SCREW YOU!!!!!!!" I would have loved to say, "F**K YOU!" but decided not to just in case the younger siblings are in the car when I'm driving. So now whenever I'm pissed at someone on the road, I'll go like, "Screw you man, screw you!!!!" Anis can definitely attest to that. It's especially bad when people cut through lines, driving on emergency lanes and giving me dirty looks when it's obvious that I was there first!

If you have had the bad luck of becoming my passengers, you know that I frequently scream and shout to the other cars while driving. Like yesterday, I was so pissed because I've been waiting in the jam for like 15 minutes, and when we had to give way for some royalty to pass, there were these cars (who were obviously not part of the entourage) taking advantage of the situation and breezed right through us. I was like, "SCREW YOU PEOPLE!!!! I HOPE YOU'LL BANG INTO SOMETHING!!!!!!!!" Since Anis and her friend were in the car with me, they were the only witnesses to my outburst. I pity them because they were stuck with a madwoman as a driver. I wanted to slap those people so badly and to wipe those stupid smirks off their faces. And do you realise that whenever people do something wrong while they're driving, they would just look straight ahead, afraid of the daggers shooting at them?

Nowadays, with the balik kampung jam, and the random flash floods, I curse like almost everytime I drive. I don't curse much, but sometimes you just can't help but curse at people on the road. I know it's puasa month and stuff, but sometimes...ARGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now that that's out, I can relax a bit. Phew!

PS: Oh yeah, now that Deepavali's here I want to wish Happy Deepavali to everyone...after buka puasa we're going out to some of my dad's friends houses. Let the feasting begin! (Raya's around the corner, too...I know soon enough when I visit my relatives there would be an assault of "Make doh?" (Kelantanese for "Makan Dah?") or "Makan dah ke?" that would be coming my way...so much for losing weight! *sighs*)

I was checking out the Friendster Bulletin Board and something that Yana posted made my laughed. In this post, you're supposed to add the phrase "during sex" to the song that you're currently listening to. Like, if I was listening to Savage Garden's To The Moon and Back, I'm supposed to write To The Moon and Back during sex (hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!)...so while trying to keep Anis awake yesterday to finish her work, we randomly chose a number of song titles and added "during sex" to it. Check out the list.

Overprotected (Britney Spears) during sex (this one is damn funny!)
Irreplaceable (Beyonce) during sex
Not Me, Not I (Delta Goodrem) during sex
Unfaithful (Rihanna) during sex
Supermassive Black Hole (Muse) during sex
Crazy (Gnarls Barkley) during sex
I Write Sins Not Tragedies (Panic! At The Disco) during sex (interesting....)
Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off (Panic! At The Disco) during sex
Too Little Too Late (Jojo) during sex
Dance, Dance (Fallout Boy) during sex
What's Left Of Me (Nick Lachey) during sex
Burn (Usher) during sex
Hurt (Christina Aguilera) during sex

Oh yeah, some really old songs
The Sound Of Silence (Simon and Garfunkel) during sex....erm, okay....
Total Eclipse of the Heart (Bonnie Tyler) [love the song!] during sex
Top Of The World (The Carpenters) during sex

It's funny how those two words can totally change the meaning of the songs! Overprotected is still my fave, haha!

Yesterday, I went to Padini in Ampang Point with Anis because she needed to buy a pair of slacks. So while she was trying on the slacks, I waited for her outside the fitting room. Next to me were a pile of boxes and my eyes wandered to the seal on the boxes.
The English warning said:
"CAUTION: Please check contents if seal is broken"
But the Malay one said:
"AWAS: Sila perisa barang jika (I forgot what "seal is broken" is in Malay)"

Instead of putting in the word periksa, the Malay word for check, the smart people there put perisa, the Malay word for TASTE! This meant that the Malay warning was actually asking people to taste the contents in the boxes instead of checking them out if the seal is broken! I do not want to be the person near the box when the seal is broken. Seriously. I can't believe no one noticed the error!

Electricity and football (players)

Our electricity was cut off for five hours today. It started at 3.28 pm or something like that because Alwani was watching her TV show called Bawang Merah Bawang Putih when suddenly the TV went blank. Of course she went berserk. I mean, she's been watching the show for the past 55 minutes, and in the last few moments of the episode, the tv decided to die on her. Wouldn't you be mad? It's like watching a football match, with only a few seconds left, and just as someone was about to shoot the ball into the goal, the tv dies on you. Sakit hati, right? I know the bill was paid because my mum sent me to pay the bill last week, so it can't be a disconnection to our service. So I pestered Iskandar into calling the neighbour and we found out that our whole neighbourhood was affected. And the weather chose to become jahat today. It was one of those cloudy days that makes you want to stay home and just stay under the blankets, so the house was pretty dark. So buka puasa was pretty much a bleak affair. But it was quite fun eating by the candlelight!




Darkness ruled during buka puasa time...

When we sat down for buka puasa, I realised that every year for the past few years there has been at least one day in the Ramadan month where the whole family would end up eating by the candlelight because the electricity was cut off. Just because Ramadan is when we have to restrain ourselves from overdoing everything, the Tenaga Nasional company think it would be a good idea to "restrain" our use of electricity is it? Thank God the electricity's back on.

On a totally different note, I was browsing through the Pink Is The New Blog site, and I came across this picture of Cristiano Ronaldo:



Erm, can I just say....GAY MUCH???????????? But he is kinda hot...in a homo sort of way. I'm not exactly one of those girls that go gaga over Cristiano, but whenever I watch any Manchester United games with my mum (since she watches almost all of the football matches), I admit I rather look at him than at Rooney. He's a good player, I guess. But I much prefer to watch Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool play...there are better looking guys in those teams! Anis and I have labelled ourselves "footie club traitors" because even though we were born in the lovely city of Newcastle (Upon Tyne), we were supporting Man Utd over Newcastle during the Newcastle-Man Utd match. Hehe. But I haven't gone back to Newcastle in like, ages, so it doesn't really matter.

Busy day!!!

So yesterday was the finale for Nat's L'Oreal thingy. She didn't win the RM10,000, though. I think the judges got scared of her "Queen Of The Damned" music video. So anyways, before I headed down to Espanda where the finale was held, I went to buka puasa with Zaty and Anis at Hard Rock Cafe first. The buka puasa buffet was ok la....nothing to shout about.


Me and Zaty at Hard Rock....you can barely see my face, though...hmph....

OK, so anyways, like all sponsored events, there would be some goodie bags at the door as you enter. The L'Oreal people are quite generous because usually when you get all this goodie bags, they'll give you puny little samples of the products. Not L'Oreal, though. They gave everyone a bottle of the Pure Zone Cleanser, just like the ones that you can buy in stores. So Anis and I each got one bottle of cleanser. Talk about perfect timing because I really needed a new cleanser for my face!!! So here's a pic of the goodie bag and the cleansers:




So well, the thing was supposed to start at 8.15, but normal Malaysia timing, it only started around 8.50 like that. The winner was announced at 11, and by then my throat was sore from shouting "Natasha!!! Natasha!!! Natasha!!!" everytime Nat went onstage. Nat's parents were there, too. Damn supportive, right? But I guess any parent would be supportive if their daughter has the chance of winning RM 10,000.

So after the winner was announced, and after bitching about how Nat deserves to win more than that guy that wants to be a rockstar, we all went back. And I got a total scare when we got back at the car. Because the car has an alarm system, the doors are unlocked using the remote control and there's a key for the ignition. Well, once we were all in the car, I found out that the ignition key was nowhere to be found. And I started panicking (like I usually do...). I was thinking, "Shit, if the key is inside the club, it would take us forever to find it". So I started searching for the key inside my bag and luckily it was in the bag!

My car keys! The big black key was the one that "almost" went missing!

Oh yeah, since I'm in a picture-posting mood, here are some pics:


My cousin's cat, Stitch...it really was winking okay! Maybe not winking la, I think he was blinking kot masa I snapped the pic...


Typical Malaysians....I snapped this picture when I stopped at the traffic light in Melawati....all those cars are stationary! Everyone parked at the U-Turn before heading to the Melawati's Pasar Juadah. Some people even parked on the curb. Madness!

KL kampungku???

Have you ever heard of the "Balik Kampung" song? If you're Malaysian, or have been living in the country for some time, this song will definitely be familiar. It's like a "must-play" song on the radio everytime Hari Raya is near. It's a song about how everyone will go back to their hometown for the Raya celebrations. And usually if I'm driving when the song is on, the people in my car, myself included, would be singing, "*mumble**mumble* BALIK KAMPUNG, OOOHHH, OOOHHHH, OOOOHHHH, BALIK KAMPUNG, HATI RIANG *mumble**mumble*" because we only know the chorus part. So the other day, when this song was on the radio, I asked my mum, "How come we never go back to Kelantan for raya?" and my mum was like, "Why bother? All of our immediate family are here". After that, I realised what my mum said is the truth. Because even though both my mum and my dad's side are from Kelantan, most of my cousins are here in KL, all my grandparents are here, some of my maternal grandma's siblings, their children and their children's children (some of the children's children already has children, by the way!) also live here and heck, even my great-grandma lives here (although she hates KL). That's like four or five generations of the family all residing in KL!

Well, I can understand why my mum thinks it's much better staying here rather than take a 6-hour drive down to Kelantan where our closest relative would be my mum's uncle. The sacrifices we make for a so-called better life where pollution of every form, haze, traffic jams and time-constraints rule our lives. Oh, the irony of the situation. It's a classic case of "the grass is greener on the other side" syndrome. But I confess, no matter how lovely Kelantan is (and it is lovely, believe me), I don't think I would pack up my things and go live there because well, KL is my home in every sense of the word.

Now that I realised that I am basically kampung-less, I'm very depressed. OK, maybe not very depressed, but still a wittle bit depressed. Sometimes I feel so isolated because almost all of my friends go back to their kampungs for the festivities (Fine, I know I'm whining). But you know what's weird? I'm not even going to be in KL for Hari Raya this year. The whole family is going to Port Dickson, to my uncle's place for Raya. So instead of going around collecting duit raya, I'll be spending time at the beach. At least I won't have people stuffing (yummy) food down my throat for the first two days of Raya.

I read in The Star a few days ago about the shortage of blood at the National Blood Bank and I realised that because my blood type is O+, I am basically a universal donor and that everyone can use my blood. My sister and I actually wanted to donate our blood to the Blood Bank, but because we're fasting, my dad said that it's unadvisable to do so because we'll be so dehydrated afterwards. The thing is, everytime there's a major festival coming, there will always, always be loads of accidents on the road and it's especially bad during the fasting month. And well, if I can help save a live, I'll do it. Too bad I can't do it right now when they need it the most. Maybe I'll go donate my blood after Hari Raya. Who knows, maybe one day we'll need a blood transfusion and we might just get our own donated blood back.

I need to go to sleep now. I'll have to wake up for sahur soon. G'nite!

Of taekwando and friends

Song of the moment: Jack's Mannequin - The Mixed Tape

You know what my dad said last Friday? He said that instead of finding work right now, I should join a Taekwando class. It only took me like 5 seconds to say "YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I think it's good to have some sort of martial arts skills, especially in Malaysia, the Land of Snatch Theft. And anyways, it would be nice to go around saying, "Guess what? I have a black belt in Taekwando! And you don't! haha!" OK, maybe I'm not that evil. But hey, it would be nice to have a blackbelt in Taekwando, what? Plus, it's a good way to lose some weight and to be more disciplined because you can skip gym, but you can't exactly go on skipping Taekwando classes! Look out Taekwando, here comes Alia!!!!!!!! (Hopefully it won't become "Look out Alia, here comes Taekwando!")

Oh yeah, I'm going to meet up with Zaty and Nat this Saturday at Club Espanda for Nat's L'Oreal Pure Zone Cash Your Dreams finale. Lucky Natasha might just win RM10,000!!! I haven't seen the both of them in ages and it's quite funny because we've been friends for more than 8 years! So this Saturday would be a sort-of mini reunion thingy for us! Can't wait!!!!

The weather's been quite funny lately. A lot of places are now flooded by the frequent downpours, but the haze has still not let up. Like I said, it's quite funny.

Pretty, pretty days?

Before the haze:




With the haze around:



And the heavy rain these past few days provided only like 5 seconds of relief from the haze. Whoopee. I hope the haze will go away soon, deeparaya's coming!

PS: I saw episodes 1 & 2 of One Tree Hill Season 4!!! Yay!!!!

A poem

OK, I haven't written a poem in like ages, so if this sucks, well, sorry....I'll try to do better next time.

Tell Me

Tell me what you see,
When you look at me,
A dreamer? A lover?
Or something different altogether?

Tell me what you hear,
Whenever I am near,
The sound of a heart beating,
Or the sound of silence screaming?

Tell me what you feel,
Do you feel something real?
Or is it just childlike lust
That would soon turn to dust?

Tell me what you sense,
When you take just one glance,
A feeling so intense,
Or a facade full of pretense?

Tell me something,
Tell me everything.
Before this affair of hearts,
Threatens to pull us apart.

Copyright Alia Azani 2006

I know it's quite short, but couldn't think of anything else to write.

As a Malaysian, it's no surprise that sometimes I think that anything Western is much more superior compared to locally-made products and I confess to dreaming of living abroad lots of time. But right now, I am thankful that I am living in Malaysia, even though we are short on sugar and chillies (I want my sambal belacan!!! :( ) because I seriously can't imagine how I would feel if I were a school-goer in the USA. I mean, 3 school-shootings in a week? Madness wei! The latest shooting really disturbed me because little girls (the eldest was 13) were shot. I got damn emo and I even cried when I heard that these innocent girls were killed by some grudge-bearing gunmen. But actually, I think I got damn emo because I'm PMS-ing. Haha. If I were living in US right now, I would be really scared to go to school. And I think, for once, parents will insist on kids staying at home rather than going to school. It's ironic right that the once safe-haven has now become a place where violence occurs?

Last week, I had the sudden urge to watch my Phantom Of The Opera VCD. Don't ask me why. It's just that the CD's been lying there for quite sometime and I really missed watching it. I like it, ok? I especially like loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee the 'The Point Of No Return' song! And anyways, the Phantom's quite hot! So anyways, while watching the movie, Anis and I actually just realised that the Phantom is a creepy paedophile because Christine is only supposed to be 16 and he's old enough to be her father. Ewwwwwwwwww. Sicko. I also watched some movies about two of the USA's presidents, JFK and Franklin Roosevelt...and I found out that Bill Clinton was not the only president to have extramarital affairs while running the country. Ouch.

While we are still on the subject of movies and the boob tube, I saw this thing on Discovery about Human Instinct and how we human release all these adrenaline when we're anticipating something. I know that feeling....it always happen to me when I go on the Space Shot in Genting Highlands:



OK, so the picture doesn't do justice on what the Space Shot ride is like. Just remembering the ride makes my heart pound like mad and gives me goosebumps. I've been on the ride 3 or 4 times already, and I don't think I would want to go on it anymore. For those who have not tried going on the Space Shot yet, it's this 12-people ride that goes up 185 feet and drops at a speed of 67 km/h (although personally, I feel like it's more around the 200 km/h speed). It creeps slowly up and when you reach the top, it will just stay stationary for a while. Once you're up there, if you're like me, it would be one of those "What the hell am I doing up here?" moments. I mean, you're so high up! As if it's not enough that the ride is already near the top of the theme park, you're going up an extra 185 feet! But one thing for sure, the view is absolutely breathtaking. Nothing can compare to it, unless, of course, you're in a helicopter la. And well, helpless as you are at the top, adrenaline starts pumping into your system in anticipation of the drop. This is when each seconds seems to go on for.e.ver. When the drop finally comes, you'll go down straight to the halfway point in like less than 2 seconds. Yep, the feeling of weightlessness starts to settle in and you'll feel as if the seatbelts are the only thing that prevents you from being thrown away from your seats. They'll take you back up, then down again, then up again and down again until you reach the bottom. Needless to say, your legs will definitely be shaking afterwards. My cousin cried because after she got off the ride and swore never to ride it ever again. This ride is definitely not for the faint-hearted and those who are height-a-phobic (forgot the correct term!). And let me tell you, even after three times riding the Space Shot, it still gives me goosebumps. Talk about an adrenaline rush!

Yesterday's weather was mad!!!!!!!!! The haze has become worse and worse as the days go by and even after the 2-hour downpour yesterday, I could still smell the haze. And it burns my throat. Geramnye.

Oh, oh, gotta go. Got some stuff to take care off. Adios!