Remember THIS post where I talked about how Ms Adlina sent me that email asking me about the internship?

Well I totally forgotten to reply her back.

And I thought that would be the end of it.

AND then Ms Adlina called me and asked me so cheerfully whether I'd still be interested in having a say about my internship.

And I just couldn't say no to her.

But I told her I might not want to have my picture on the school website and she said she'll arrange something.

So I'm meeting her tomorrow.

Haih. It's so hard to say no when people are being so nice to you.

Oh, by the way, I came across this picture:


This was my birthday present from my siblings two years ago.

Shows how much they love me.

LOL.

Alia's Things-to-do in April

List of things I want to buy this month:

1. Ipanema flip-flops (pictures from Ipanema Malaysia Facebook page):

Yeah. I'm pretty undecided on which one to buy. LOL. I need new comfy flip-flops and since it's my birthday month, I was thinking why not get one of these? Plus I've been eyeing them for quite some time too. Lol.

2. New earphones cause my current one's reaching the end of its life already. Lol.

3. Monash polo shirt for my lazy days to uni. I know loads of those days will be coming in the near future.

4. New storybooks. I saw storybooks like Lolita and The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Volume 1, 2 and 3 (which begs the question, how can it be COMPLETE when you need three books for them? Shouldn't it all be compiled into one huge book? Lol.) in Popular the other day and my hands got itchy. I really wannna buy a new book. Especially with my mid-sem break coming around the corner.

5. And I just wanna go shopping. (Miss A**** Latisha Udani, that's a MAJOR hint. Lol. It is sooooo overdue. =P)

And no, I do not know what I want for my birthday this year because there really is nothing that I am dying to have anymore. I don't need a new phone, I already got my Arsenal jersey and I want an iPod but not particularly crazy about it. Plus it's too expensive for me to demand an iPod from anyone. Lol.

Plus no one ever gets me what I want anyway, so I've given up hope of even trying to make a wishlist this year. I just want to be pleasantly surprised this year. =)

Oooohhhh, waitttt, now I realise that I might want Arsenal-themed cupcakes for my birthday. BUT I also realised that themed-cupcakes usually need to be ordered at least a week in advance. Dammit. Too late to pester anyone to get me those in time for Sunday. Lol.


Oh, this video is sooooooo adorable:

Awww.

Rant, rant, rant.

That's a screenshot of my first VBA code!

Suddenly felt so semangat to do the tute cause the problem was quite easy. It said:

Write a function that takes the price of an item and its discount rate (in percentage) and returns the discounted price of the item.

So I did write a function. And then I got excited when it actually worked. HAHAHA.

Omg I'm such a nerd.

And then I was like, "Huh, this isn't so bad." So decided to move on to the other questions.

And then I looked at Problem 2:

Write a function subroutine called FullName that takes the given name and surname (in that order) of a subject and returnd the name of the subject with the surname (in capitals) followed by the given name and with a comma seperating the two names (for example, FullName(Wayne, Rooney) = "ROONEY, Wayne").

And I got lazy because:

1) The question was too long.
2) I wasn't in the mood to think.
3) WHY must the example be WAYNE ROONEY?

Yeah. So much for being enthusiastic. Lol.

Anyways, I realised that nowadays I tend to talk a lot about articles that I read online or in the newspaper instead of talking about my life. I realise it's because I have too much time on my hand and there is nothing particularly interesting about my life because:

1) I don't see much of my boyfriend cause I only see him on weekends and the occasional random dates on weekdays since he's a working man. But then again I did manage to kidnap him from his office for lunch yesterday. LOL.

2) I haven't seen my crazy girls for quite some time now, so I can't talk about them.

3) I don't have much to talk about my work because I only have work when John drops me an email that sounds something like this:

"Hey Alia, you can come in tomorrow cause I just received new data that I need your help in compiling. Cheeros, John"

So yeah, for two and a half months I was doing a 10-hour day at work, now I'm doing a 10-hour WEEK at work. Lol.

Basically I'm leading a pretty mundane life so there's nothing much to talk about, hence why I feel like dissecting articles would be much more interesting. Lol.

Oooh, talking about articles, I read this one today:

WHY ARE VAMPIRES RICH?

Basically it's an article where the dad was trying to explain some financial concepts like the compound interest concept and he uses Edward Cullen (and vampires in general) as an example. LOL.

Oooohhhh, while we're on the subject on finance, one of my best friends, Liyana, won ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED RINGGIT today on the Hitz.fm Chicken Game.

Liyana called me just after dinner just now and she was like "Dengar Hitz.fm SEKARANG!" And she was so excited when she said that so I got curious, obviously.

So I was like "Kenapa? Kenapa? Kenapa?"

And she was like "Dengar je la. BYEEEE" and she hung up on me. On the hindsight, I should've been a bit annoyed that she hung up on me, but I was too intrigued to be annoyed. Lol.

So since the nearest radio was the Astro, I changed the Astro channel to the Hitz station and sat there listening to some song that I didn't want to listen to (with my mum and siblings breathing down my neck wondering why I changed the channel to Hitz.fm from American Idol. LOL).

So anyways, we got to the part where Liyana was playing the game and when we were like sitting there quietly praying that she'll win.

And when we heard she won RM1,800, my siblings and I started jumping for joy and screaming our ears off. Omg, the way we were screaming in the living room it was like one of us has won the money! Hahahahaha.

But yes, I am so happy that she won. =)

And yes, I have asked her to belanja me with that money. Teeheehee.

Okiedokes. Enough ranting. I think I talk too much about nonsensical stuff.

Lol.

Have a good weekend everybody! =)

Oh, Earth Hour's this Saturday! Can't wait!!!! Hopefully there won't be any burglars breaking into houses during Earth Hour. Lol.

Sick.

One day when I was actually paying attention to the newscaster on the radio (yes, I can be a mindless zombie while driving), I heard about the Irish Catholic Priests Sex Abuse. I got a bit intrigued cause apparently there was a major cover-up about the abuse by the Irish Catholic Church and I ended up reading THIS article about it.

And here's the really "interesting" (and sick, IMHO) part in the article:

In recent weeks, however, the scandal has reached the very top of the Irish Church hierarchy. Cardinal Sean Brady — Ireland's most senior Catholic — has faced calls to resign over his handling of the case of one of Ireland's most infamous pedophile priests. That's because in 1975, Brady had met with young people who had been abused by Father Brendan Smyth. The victims were asked to sign an oath of secrecy, promising not to reveal details of an investigation into Smyth's actions. Brady did not contact the police after the meetings, and Smyth went on to abuse dozens more Irish children before being convicted of 90 offenses against children some 20 years later. Some of those abused by Smyth claim other victims committed suicide because of the abuse.

What the hell is wrong with these people I don't even know.

Oh yes, the world is becoming very twisted.

Like how Anis's orthodontist, Dr. Shafeeq said the other day "If you want to read depressing news, just buy a newspaper".

How true is that. And sad to think that these things always happen to children. ='(

Is it so hard to ask for a safe world for children?

Monday blues. NOT. =)

WEEK 4 IN MONASH ALREADY.

OMG. Time flew so fast. =/

Oh, today was a funny day in class and at work.

And now I realised now why I absolutely adore my lecturer for this semester. it's because he's so genuine.

Like last week, we're learning VBA for Microsoft Excel. Basically we'll be learning how to do programming with codes like this:


(Yeah, as much as it scares me, I can actually understand that. Psycho. Lol.)

So anyways, like I was saying, while we were learning about how to go about using the VBA for our programming, my lecturer said that we won't be doing stuff that are too complicated simply because (and I quote): "I don't know how to do it".

It's nice when the lecturer admits that they don't know stuff. Makes them more human.

Plus, if something's too hard for the lecturer means it's too hard for us students, right? Hehehe.

And in lecture this morning, he was saying something along the lines of "Sometimes people like to overthink when there's always an easy solution to a problem."

How true.

Oh, and at work today, my senior, John was telling me about a conversation he had with our supervisor, Dr. Santha (who has taught me a couple of time these past three years). [We also have another supervisor, Prof Mahendhiran, who used to teach me too].

So anyways, John was telling Dr. Santha that I'm quite efficient at the work that he has given me these past two weeks. He also told Dr. Santha that he was having problems in doing prediction and forecasting for some data. And then Dr. Santha told him "Alia's one of our best students. Ask for her assistance. I'm sure she'll figure something out" or something along that line la.

OMG. Total hidung kembang moment for a while okay that my lecturer has so much faith in me. I was just grinning like an idiot for like two minutes.

And then when John gave me the data to work on, I realised that I had to look at my last year's notes, which just so happen to be at home, so I basically didn't have any references to help me manipulate the data.

Oh yeah. Not so brilliant now are you, Alia?

But I'm still happy with the fact that I get along with most of my lecturers and that they remember me. Makes my studying environment so much more conducive.

What a nice way to start a week, knowing that people think positively of you. =)

Come to bed? Lol.

Interesting article I found in The Star today:

SLEEPING POSITIONS

IF you want to know a little bit about your partner’s true personality, look at the way they sleep:

> Foetus position

More women than men adopt this position, and are most likely to appear tough on the outside but are sensitive deep in their hearts.

> Log

Lying on the side with both arms down tells you that the sleeper is an extrovert who trusts people easily, but could be naive in nature.

> Yearner

Sleepers with both arms out in front are believed to have an open personality but could be indecisive.

> Soldier

Lying with both arms or hands pinned to the sides are people who are quiet and reserved, but tend to be loyal to their friends and partners.

> Freefall

Lying on the front with hands around the pillow, head turned to one side, reveals that the sleeper is loud, brash and does not take to criticism.

> Starfish

Lying on the back with both hands around the pillow are usually people with good listening skills and they attract many friends who seek genuine advice.

I realise that most of the time I tend to sleep in a Foetus position. So does that mean I look tough on the outside?

But then again sometimes I end up waking in a Freefall position. Or a Starfish position. Does that mean I'm bipolar? Lol.

OMG.

US children get Playboy, not Bugs Bunny in cable mixup

Omg. What the hell were they thinking?

Cameron

We came back from Cameron two days ago.

And it was soooo nice up there cause the weather is so cool as compared to KL.

To put it into perspective, I was reading the newspaper today and I saw the weather forecast for Kl and Cameron. The minimum temperature for Cameron was 16C and the maximum was 24C, but in KL the MINIMUM was 24C and the temperature peaks at 33C.

So yeah, you can imagine how cold it is up there as compared to KL.

I miss Cameron already. =(

We stayed at this hotel called Hotel De La Ferns. Basically our room is one huge room that has a door seperating the two sides of the room.

Our hotel room.

It was nice and spacious enough for the eight of us. Slight problem we had was that there was only ONE TOILET.

Can you just imagine? EIGHT of us sharing ONE toilet? Now that's an adventure. Lol.

The first night there we had steamboat at the hotel and it was soooo good. I love eating steamboat in Cameron because you tend not to sweat while eating. Lol.

At the steamboat dinner

The hotel at night. Quite nice right? =)

And we also did the typical Rose Valley, Butterfly Farm, tea plantation and Strawberry Park routine while we were there.

This is apparently a Black Rose. I see nothing black about it. Lol.

Apparently when I smile you can't see my eyes. It's quite obvious isn't it from the picture above that it's a family trait!

At the tea plantation:

Other random scenery pics:

Too lazy to write descriptions for the pictures. LOL.

Oh, one of the best things that I did when I was there was going for a walk with my dad and Anis to the Tanah Rata town, which was 2 km away from the hotel. We went there for breakfast and to catch the sunrise.

The walk was soooo nice cause it was so cold that when I exhale, I could see my breath forming a mist. Lol.

And I seriously thought that I was gonna DIE when we walked back up to the hotel cause basically it was a mostly uphill climb for 2 km.

But surprisingly it was okay. Took us twenty minutes to walk back up to the hotel.

And we still had some energy, so we decided to continued walking past the hotel and go around the nearby golf course.

So all in all, I walked around EIGHT KILOMETRES that morning.

That will never happen in KL. I would pass out of dehydration before I can complete 5 km because I'll be sweating too much.

I hope I can go up Cameron again in the near future so that I could do some more walking!

I can't believe I just stated that line. Lol.

Pretty sunrise. =)

The row of (closed) shops at Tanah Rata. Lol. It was early in the morning, so no surprise the shops were closed.

Anis and I during breakfast at the mamak in Tanah Rata. Apparently Anis said I looked very Japanese in the picture. I don't see it though. Nampak bulat ada la.

The trek back up to the hotel. It does look somewhat scary, doesn't it?

We met this dog with her pups when we were near our hotel. The babies were soooo adorable. I wished I could hold the dogs. And they actually trailed us all the way back to the hotel and we were so sad cause we couldn't do/give anything to them. =(

So that pretty much wraps up the Cameron post.

Oh yeah, I saw this billboard quite a few times already:


And it was so strange to me to see a billboard with the Monash logo on it that on our way back I told my siblings to look out for the billboard and when we spotted it, my dad actually stopped by the side of the road just so I could take a picture of the billboard.

Having a picture proof of the billboard doesn't make it any less stranger though. It's still weird seeing this on a highway. Lol.

Okay. I've ran out of things to say. Hahahaha.

Nite everyone! =)

Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

Dear all,

I'm going off to Cameron Highlands with the family tomorrow.

Will be back in KL on Tuesday, so there'll be no updates till then.

Yep, I'll be missing one day of classes and one day of work. LOL.

Can't wait to go and see whether it is as cold as Anis claimed it was when she came back just now.

Don't miss me too much! Lol.

Love loads! =)

Run away. Run far, far away.

I got this email from my Internship Coordinator, Ms Adlina, sometime earlier this week:

Hi Alia,

It’s Ms Adlina here, from the Internship and Volunteerism Program, how are you doing? I would like to invite you to share with us your experience of your internship with BDO Binder which we would like to publish in our School website. Basically, it’s just to write a very brief description –in your own words - on how your internship helped/assisted/added value to your learning at Monash University. We also want to take a snapshot photo of you.

I was absolutely petrified because:

a) I don't think I have anything nice to say about my internship other than maybe something along the lines of "Doing an internship in BDO Binder or any other audit firm is highly recommended for students before they decide to pursue auditing in the long-term as they would be able to gain first-hand experience on the torture of being an auditor."

When I told Liyana about the email, she told me "You, me and Sham should go see Ms. Adlina and bombard her with reasons on why we don't have any positive experience in BDO".

I totally agree with her plan because frankly I don't think being at BDO taught me anything that's worth remembering other than that should I have my own company or become CFO/CEO /some other Senior Management position of some company (oh yes, I dream big. And I set these ridiculous benchmarks for myself. Lol.), I'll make sure that whenever a transaction is done, proper documentation would be there and proper authorisation is given so that it'll make my life easier and the auditor's life easier.

Oh, BDO also taught me that Monash is the place where I belong and that I was right when I said auditing's not for me.

b) I don't want my face to be on the school's website. I don't look good in pictures. -_-

So yes, I am seriously considering politely declining Ms Adlina's offer of being on the school website.

Don't Tell Me That It's Over.

Credit to Idris' Fb page

My boyfriend graduated on Wednesday. And I am so proud that he has graduated. =)

And as much as he wished that I graduated with him, I still think that I made the right decision when I decided to extend. Lol.

And I was properly introduced to his parents at the ceremony and surprisingly, he was more scared about me meeting his parents than I was.

Actually it was quite strange that I didn't feel scared about meeting his parents.

And what's funnier is that the parents decided to ask him questions about me rather than asking me themselves, so it's nice that he was interrogated on my behalf. Lol. (But you do know I would have gladly answered those questions myself right sayang?)

=)

Oh, SPM results came out yesterday and my siblings came home all excited and said that two girls from Melawati managed to get into the Top 10 list. So I was reading The Star online and I saw this list below:


And I am so proud that these two girls are on the list. Shows that Melawati is a good school after all. =)

But so sad that we're not yet in the Top 10 schools of the country.

Oh well. One step at a time.

Oh, I've started my RA work and basically right now I'm doing a lot of data entry because we're still at the stage of preparation stage. But I don't mind cause at least I can take my own sweet time doing the data entry and it keeps me occupied. Plus I'm getting paid more than I was in BDO. And I can go back anytime I want. So yeah, I really don't mind doing this. =)

Seeing how I need to perpetually keep my mind occupied, I've transferred some songs from my laptop into my pendrive so that I can listen to some songs while I'm keying the data in.

And I am so obsessed with these songs right now:

Lifehouse - Sick Cycle Carousel



I know it's an old song, but I've just discovered this song last week. Yeahhhh, a bit too late. But better late than never right? The chorus to this song has been playing in my head these past few days. I swear to God I think I listen to this song like every 30 minutes.

Amy MacDonald - Don't Tell Me That It's Over



This is another song I'm obsessed with. I've listened to her first album and liked it, so I was pleasantly surprised when she had a new song out. I absolutely love this one.

By the way, even though I love these songs, I'm still not sure what they're singing about. Hahaha.

I think that's about all I wanted to say in this post. I think.

Love laods. =)

PS: While I was typing out this post, I was listening to songs on my Winamp randomly and out of the 1053 possible songs to be played, this song came on:



How appropriate. Hahahaha.

PPS: I had no idea what title to give for this post, so I decided on the title of the Amy MacDonald's song as the post title. Yes, I am that lazy.

Maybe I should do that more often. Putting up song titles as my post titles.

Hmmmmmm.