Random Thoughts. Curious Person.

Awesomeeeeeee!!!!!

2010-11-02T21:17:00.004+08:00

I was reading the latest Reader's Digest and they were talking about the simple, everyday things that can turn out to be awesome. Lol. Check it out: 1000awesomethings.com.

Among my personal favourites are:

#995 Finding money you didn’t even know you lost (YESSSSSSSS!!!! Who doesn't love this????)

#986 When you pull to a red light and the guy in front of you nudges up a bit so you can make a right turn (Fine, technically for us it's a left turn. But still, it is kinda awesome. Lol.)

#936 Perfect parallel-parking on the first try (Omg. Yes!)

#919 Hitting a bunch of green lights in a row (Oh come on, who doesn't love this one?)

#917 The moment at a concert after the lights go out and before the band comes on stage (Yes, yes, yes! This is the moment at the concert when the adrenaline starts to kick in. And your heart starts beating loudly. =D )

#913 Having a whole row by yourself on the plane (I can attest to this! I had the whole row to myself on my flight to and from Sydney last year! Awesomeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!)

#881 When someone lands on the hotel you just built in Monopoly (What can I say? I'm a bit money-minded. Lol. Suddenly I want to play Monopoly again.)

#771 Waking up before your alarm clock and realizing you’ve got lots of sleep time left

#769 When the thing you were going to buy is already on sale

#738 When you go out for lunch and come back to a way better parking spot

#699 A long hug when you really need it

#666 Giving people what they want

#656 When the plane suddenly speeds up on the runway

#574 Nudging the shower faucet a little bit hotter then a little bit hotter (I love hot showers. I can stay under the hot water until my skin turns red. No joke.)

#556 When you’re in the fastest moving lane in a traffic jam

#520 When a baby falls asleep on you (Very random, but I love this. When Zara was small she used to sleep on me all the time. And my baby cousin Aiman also sometimes sleeps on me, and it makes me relaxed. It kinda makes you feel like you're bonding with the baby, because they actually feel comfortable enough to sleep on you. =) )

#461 When you get in the car and notice someone filled up the tank

#448 The smell and feel of bedsheets that dried in the sun (I absolutely love this. It's either bedsheets that are dried in the sun, or those that has just came back from the dobi. Lovelovelove!!!)

#405 When someone pronounces your name right on the first try (Yeah. You can just imagine how difficult this is. One of my friends actually calls me "Alia Tongue-Twister". True story. Haih.)

And number 20:

#876 Taking your bra off after wearing it for hours. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Oh, talking about that particular part of the body, I saw this article:

Staring at women's breasts can lengthen a man's life expectancy

~~So basically they're implying that in order to live longer, you'll have to unleash your inner perv.~~

Found out that the article is in fact a FAKE. Oh Thank God.

UK Trip - Day 8: Holy Island, Newcastle

2010-10-22T13:46:00.001+08:00

Since I got the Monash internet connection, this is us at the Holy Island & Newcastle, in pictures and videos. 10 degrees in summer. Crazy UK weather. =/

Just Cause We're Young, Please Don't Think We're Dumb.

2010-10-17T17:09:00.012+08:00

This is where we had the survey last weekend, the PPR Seri Semarak. It was just 2 km away from my house, but it felt like I was stepping into a different world. Will get pictures of us in action at the survey from my senior and post some up later. =)

Just like the weekend before, we were lucky to have people help us organize the survey. While in Kampung Medan we had people from the mamak stall help us, here we have the manager of an old folks' home lending us the void deck (picture above) as our centre for conducting the survey. It's amazing that these people just so willingly lent us a helping hand and provided us with chairs and tables and stuff so that we would be comfortable. Small details like that can definitely make a lot of difference.

This place is definitely a step up from the Kampung Medan. The environment was better, and it doesn't feel as claustrophobic this time around.

In the span of three hours, I had to sit down with 3 people and read out each question to them and explain what some questions mean. Mind you, we had close to 90 questions, and I had to read ONE BY ONE to all of them.

Imagine reading out questions like this in Malay three times over:

"Saya percaya bahawa terdapat pernguatkuasaan undang-undang dan peraturan yang secukupnya untuk memastikan kebolehpercayaan pembekal/penjual internet"

And explaining to them what this mean, when they don't have a single clue on how the internet works.

(Oh, by the way, the English version of the question is: "I believe there is adequate enforcement of law and regulation to ensure the credibility of the Internet providers/sellers")

What I remember most was doing the survey with this one uncle, who was disabled and was walking with crutches, told me that in his household, there are 8 people and he's the only one working. He's earning around RM1,000 and he has to support his wife, kids and father-in-law.

He's interested in learning about computers and laptops, but he can't afford and he's illiterate. But he signed up his children for computer training and told me that he thinks that having a computer and internet would be very useful.

Being there, you can't help but just feel so sad for these people who are not exposed to these things that we take for granted simply because they can't afford them.

And it pissed me off even further when I read the Budget 2011 highlights and found out that they're allocating RM5 BILLION to build a 100-storey tower that's supposed to be the tallest in Malaysia.

DUDE, WE ALREADY HAVE THE BLOODY PETRONAS TOWERS.

NOT ONE, BUT TWO TOWERS OKAY!!!! (Hehe, Two Towers. Macam Lord of the Rings pulak. Lol.)

I seriously do not see the point of building another skyscraper. And RM5b = RM 50m per floor. WHY?????????????

Even if one-fifth of the money was channelled into investing in training the poor in ICT/reduce the cost of owning a computer for the poor, their quality of life would be so much better and eventually they will be able to find better jobs. It's definitely a better long-term investment.

Se-too-peed people at the top of the pyramid.

I bet they've never seen first-hand how it's like for this people, living on a meagre salary in an area where the cost of living seem to be increasing day by day.

It makes me so angry!!!!!!! GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

And then today I read THIS article on how the Government should not be ignoring the views of the young, and I think the whole article absolutely defines the mentality of my generations. This paragraph in particular I can totally relate to:

"Politics for politics sake does not interest them, but politics as a means to achieve something, usually idealistic, or to champion a cause is okay."

Politics for the sake of politics is so passe.

If I were to vote, I want to know that this person I'm voting for would be championing a cause that would benefit the society as a whole.

And as much as I hate politics, I know that it is inevitable for me to sooner or later use the voting power that I have to help change this country.

Like the title post states, just cause we're young, please don't think we're dumb.

=D

2010-10-13T11:42:00.003+08:00

I've been keeping myself updated with THIS ever since I first heard of it.

And just a few minutes ago, THIS happened.

Omg I'm so happy for them I think I'm tearing up.

These men are survivors, no doubt about it.

Miracles do happen. =)

Apologies. And a new experience.

2010-10-12T10:07:00.014+08:00

I'm so so so so so sorry for abandoning the blog. Again.

Haih.

I haven't found a job yet, but the RA work in Monash has been keeping me pretty occupied.

And the stupid internet connection in my house is so bloody annoying that I get so fed-up everytime I try to blog.

I swear that once UniFi is available in my area I will go and get it for the house and pay for it myself rather than continue using this stupid WiMax with its continuous PMSes.

Oh yes WiMax modem. I'm talking to you. I'll baling you down into the swimming pool once we get a better internet connection.

Oh, last weekend, my lecturers, my fellow RAs and I (there were 8 of us) went to gather data on our research on the usage of mobile phones, computers and internet in the rural-urban area.

We went to this area called Kampung Medan near Old Klang Road, which was just like 5 minutes away from the university.

But it was definitely a different world from the comfortable and safe environment that we have been exposed to in Sunway (and at home).

This area was the scene of the 2001 Kampung Medan clash between the Malays and Indians, and an area where gang fights can happen at anytime simply because they don't have anything better to do.

And it's only 20 minutes away from KL.

When we were in the lift of one of the apartment buildings heading towards our "Survey Centre" (which was basically just the corridor near the lifts on one of the floors of the flats), I almost vomited (having a strong gag reflex is definitely a disadvantage in this situation) because the stench of garbage lingers in the lift. The 2-minute ride up to the 5th floor felt like forever because of the overbearing stench. And to think, these people have no choice but to bear with the smell every single day. It made me so sad.

Once we got up to our survey centre, it was just as bad. The corridor was not well-lit and a bit dingy, that even on a bright Saturday morning (we were there by 9 AM), the place looked like it was 6 PM on a gloomy day. It was definitely a bit depressing for me cause I love sunlight and bright places.

We got these people to participate in the survey by giving out electric kettles to them as a gift for completing the surveys. And in the 4+ hours we were there, we managed to get 80 participants for the survey and we were definitely satisfied.

It's amazing that these people willingly sat through all 80 questions of the survey just to get a free electric kettle. I don't think I would have. But then, what I take for granted might be a necessity to these people.

Like there was this lady who I did the survey with, and she only earns RM600 a month and her husband earns RM1,000 a month and they have three kids at home, 2 of which are in primary school. It's crazy that they only have that amount of money per month to survive in KL, especially with the rising food prices.

From what we gather, a majority of these people are aware of the importance of computers and internet, but it's unfortunate for them that these things are too expensive for them to afford, and so they're losing out on the benefits of having/owning a computer and an internet connection.

It was definitely an eye-opener for all of us. Like my lecturer was telling us over lunch after the survey, "You can look at the cold data from the questionnaires and make conclusions based on the data, but unless you're down on the field, seeing what they see everyday, you can't really see what's happening." And we were quite lucky this time around because there were people who helped us organise the survey by giving us chairs and tables from their mamak stalls to set up at our centre so that everything can run smoothly and comfortably.

I actually feel a bit apprehensive to go to these sort of places again, but we still have more data to collect and I know that this experience will make me better appreciate the luxuries in life that I have taken for granted. I guess this is sort of my Peace Corps experience la. Lol.

Anyways, the boyfriend picked me up from Monash cause he wanted to study for his upcoming ACCA exams at the Monash library, so basically it was a win-win situation la for us. He got to study without any distraction, I got a ride home. Lol.

Anyways, on the ride home, we sort of had this discussion about scholarships. I personally think that some people should not get a scholarship just because they have good grades because I know some people with scholarships can actually afford to pay the university fees.

And it also pisses me off that some people see scholarships only as a ticket to go overseas (case in point: My boyfriend. I think it was a blessing in disguise that he didn't get to go overseas on his old scholarship. Lol.) and that once they earn the scholarship, they slack off and play hard. So instead of maintaining good grades and hence justifying why they received the scholarships in the first place, these people get sucky results and splurge most of their scholarship money (and the money from their parents too) on having fun.

Don't get me wrong. Some of the scholars definitely deserve their scholarships cause they work really hard for it and hence should be awarded, but these rotten few who take scholarships for granted really annoy me.

I mean, it's the taxpayers money. Some of the taxpayers are hard-working, poor people who can't afford to buy some of the stuff that these scholars own, so it's a bit ironic isn't it that these poor people are paying for the rich people's education?

Granted, I might be a bit bitter because my results were never good enough during my schooling years (not for lack of studying) to earn a scholarship, but I have worked so hard during my degree to make my parents know that their hard-earned money did not go to waste. I still had fun, but not for one second did I take my education money for granted.

The boyfriend and I both agree that the priority for scholarships should be given to those from rural areas. And that scholarships should not be awarded solely based on academic results.

Some people from the rural areas might not have gotten straight A1's because their environment is not conducive for studying. They might have to be the caretaker to their smaller siblings when their parents are working, hence affecting their study time and overall performance. But the government should give them chances, even when they only have 7 or 8 A's, instead of awarding a city kid who scored 10 A1's because they went for extra tuition and was in a boarding school with a conducive studying environment.

Oh, one more thing that pisses me off with some scholars who are overseas is their "Stick-to-their-kind" attitude. To me, one of the beauty of studying overseas is learning the local culture, lingo and basking in the new experiences that being in a new environment might give.

But it's quite sad that some people, once they are overseas, seem happier to stick their kind. In fact, these people sometimes look down on those people who dare to step out of their comfort zones and take risks and try new things and meet new people who aren't Malaysians.

What is the freaking point when you proudly say you have gone to study in UK/US/Australia for God-knows how many years and yet you can't even string one perfect sentence when speaking in English?

I'm not saying that these people have to come back with accents, but dear God, is it so difficult to polish up on your speaking English while you are living in an English-speaking nation?

It makes me, who has never had the chance to (and looking at it now, probably never will) study overseas be a bit confounded. I mean, have they never heard of the term SEIZING THE OPPORTUNITY?

Oh yes. I'm a bit pissed. I grew up here in Malaysia, got my degree in Malaysia and yet I speak better English than this people. What the hell.

But then I guess I can't fully blame them cause sometimes it boils down to the environment where you were brought up in.

I am so glad that my parents actually became friends with not just Malaysians during their time in the UK. In fact, during our trip, we stayed with my dad's Indian friends (Indians from India, not Malaysia) and went to visit one of my dad's close friend, an Irish man who got married to a Geordie. My parents were there and back when we were in the UK we went to their house every Christmas, and I can't see many scholars (Malays, especially) doing that nowadays.

Us, with Uncle Duncan and family, 2010.

Aunty Donna, Amy, myself and Anis, 1992.

I'm glad that my parents were open-minded enough to step out of their comfort zone and make friends with these people, and that they taught us that it was okay to step out of our comfort zones once in a while.

Anyhow, back to the scholarship issue, it sucks that the government are mainly giving out scholarships for the so-called "Professional" courses, i.e Medicine, Law, Engineering, Business.

They should actually look into giving out scholarships for other vocational courses because not everyone has the brain to become engineers and doctors. Plus, apparently even engineers now are finding it difficult to get jobs.

Some people are more practical-based rather than theory-based. Just because they aren't book-smart, it doesn't mean that they're stupid and don't deserve to get a scholarship. I think giving scholarships in courses like hospitality is a pretty good idea because it's an all-rounder course where you learn basic financial accounting, languages and whatnots and you actually apply everything that you learn. Which is more than I can say about some of the things that I had to learn during my degree (Accounting Theory, anyone?).

But it's so difficult for us to change the mentality of the people and basically if you don't have a scholarship for a professional course, it's either you're too stupid or you're a freaking rich kid.

Bottom line: No scholarship, no good.

Gah.

I hate our Education system and the people's third-world mentality. Thank God I'm done with my degree.

Okay, enough rants. I'm tiring my brain and tiring the people who might be reading this. Lol.

Love loads!

PS: I do feel guilty for the length of the post, but I'm not sorry. I needed to vent out. As usual. Where else can I make myself heard (other than in my boyfriend's car when we were discussing this, teehee)?

UK Trip - Day 7 - Scotland!

2010-09-22T09:34:00.000+08:00

We arrived in Scotland at the end of Day 6, and when we arrived at Duns, where we were staying, I was quite apprehensive cause it was like a freaking ghost town there. They were barely any cars, and the locals were gawking at us like we were some kind of aliens.

You know those scenes in slasher flicks where you have the ignorant fools going to some unknown, quaint town that's off the map and the locals just stare at you whenever you walk by? Oh yeah. I felt that way when we got there.

Duns, Scotland. Quaint, but scary. But makes for good adventure! Lol.

We were staying in this hostel-like place, which kinda adds up to the whole creepy-slasher-flick vibe. But the place was actually quite nice. Very homey, strangely. Lol.

Going around Edinburgh:

Zara taking a picture in front of Zara. Lol.

This is one of the highlights of the day. We found a HALAL KFC. We got so excited we started jumping outside the KFC. Yep. Jakun kids we are

Okay, that's it from Scotland. I'm so sorry this turned out to be more of a picture post. =(

UK Trip - Read before scrolling down please!

2010-08-04T22:40:00.005+08:00

~~Below, I'm compiling my UK trip based on the places we went to, so it might be a bit jumbled up.~~

I don't think I can write anymore about the UK trip. Too busy now. I'm so sorryyyyy. =( I've posted up Scotland though.

I've decided to go day-by-day. Much easier. Lol. Have fun going through the posts, and hopefully you guys won't get bored by the lengthy posts.

Oh, I'll try to post up all the posts ASAP. But I have too much photos (6 GB combined from two cameras!) to choose from to upload, and uploading takes a bit of time, so please bear with me. =)

Yep, the posts will be below this post.

Posts for Day 1 to 7 are up

Love loads,

Alia

UK Trip - Day 4, 5, 6 - Lake District

2010-08-04T17:50:00.000+08:00

Internet's really crappy. So sorry for being late with the post. =(

The whole of Day 4 was basically our travelling day. The journey from Southend to our destination in Carnforth (which was more than 200 miles away) took up almost six hours, so by the time we got to Tewitfield Marina, the aparthotel we were staying in, we were all so tired. But the place where we were staying at is awesomeeeee, considering it only costs £ 120 per night and it can fit all of us comfortably.

Mind you, there's 8 of us. Even in Malaysia sometimes it's hard to get accommodation for all of us below RM600.

In the car. We managed to hire a 9-seater van with plenty of luggage space, so we were all very comfortable. =)

Some pictures of the place:

Chilling out in front of the tv! See how small I am compared to them?

Oh, I thought taking picture wouldn't do the place much justice, so take a look at this video of my tour around the accommodation: =)

So the next day was basically our sight-seeing day. We went to a lot of places that I can't even remember the names anymore! Lol.

Before the start of the day's journey. That's our rental van!

The World of Beatrix Potter!

I'm not sure what this place is called, by I remembered this was where we got our Lebara simcards. The charges were REALLY cheap. It was 10p per minute to call UK numbers, 10p to text UK numbers AND international numbers. And it was just 5p per minute to call Malaysia. Yeap, cheaper to call Malaysia than the UK. Oh, and for Lebara-to-Lebara numbers, it's free for 100 sms and 100 minutes. So yeah. VERY cheap. I managed to call the boyfriend a few times.

Around the Lake District National Park

Around Lake District.

Being a car enthusiast who watches Top Gear all the time (and buys Motor Trader weekly), my dad decided to tackle one of the steepest roads in England, known as the Hardknott Pass. I was VERY worried because the gradient of the slope going up the hill can get up to 33% (the signs along the way say so. -___-) and not only were we NOT in a 4WD, our rental van is humongous and the road is like a small, one lane road. So yes, I was a asking my dad "ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THIS?"

But eventually, once we got pass the first few scrapes on the road, I understood why my dad wanted to go on the road. I mean, look at these pictures:

This is the road that we had to go on. It's scary, but so nice. =)

Yeah, my dad loves to go off the beaten path. And it's really interesting because the sights we saw is definitely different from what we typically see in Malaysia.

But it was sooooooo cold up there. The wind was biting!!! After every picture we took all of us would run back to the van to seek heat. Lol.

So that's basically the end of Day 5. On our way back to Tewitfield, we saw this hot-air balloon:

Yeah, a bit jakun. Sorry. Hehehe.

So on Day 6, we were leaving Tewitifield to continue our way to Duns, Scotland (which is another long journey cause it's up north). But we still managed to go around some places before we left!

Saying goodbye to our beautiful accommodation. Definitely one of my favourites ever. =)

Some of us sent postcards back to Malaysia that day. I sent one to the boyfriend at this stop. =)

Since Anis' psychology degree is affiliated with Lancaster University, we decided to go stop by Lancaster to see the Uni (just in case one day she can go there!):

I think this is the town centre. Not sure.

Funny story when she was taking this picture. We were all sitting inside the van, waiting for her and my dad to take this picture, and we actually saw this dude in a car gawking at her, like no one has ever taken a picture with the sign before. Even when he was driving off he still looked back. Hahahaha.

Ullswater Lake. =)

This couple in the picture with us saw us taking the picture above at one of the stops and they were genuinely curious about whether the six of us are really siblings. They looked so astonished when they found out that yes, we were all siblings. Lol. They were so cute we decided that we just had to take a picture with them. =)

And after a longggggggg journey, we eventually reached the border:

YAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was already around 7 when we reached the border, and it was another one and a half hours drive to Duns, so basically that was our day. Would tell you guys more about Duns & Edinburgh in the next post! =)

UK Trip - Day 3: London

2010-08-04T17:45:00.000+08:00

Day 3 we continued our tour around London. Since I know nothing about where to go, my dad became our tour guide around London.

Thorpe Bay c2c Station

Once we reached London from Thorpe Bay, we took the tube to the Embankment station and we planned to walk from the station to Trafalgar Square.

Embankment Station

We wanted to go to the toilet, but the Embankment station didn't have any, so we had to walk to the Charing Cross station nearby (which looked sort of like KL Sentral) to use the toilets there. I love the interior!

On the way to Charing Cross

Charing Cross station

Oh, by the way, on our way to the Charing Cross station, we went pass this intimidating-looking building:

And then I found out that this is actually the London PwC building.

~~I won't mind being an auditor if it means working in a pretty building like that!~~ What the hell am I talking about. I don't wanna be an auditor. -_-

So after around 15 minutes walking, we got to Trafalgar Square. See, the last time I went there I was around 2 years old (picture below), and there were loads of pigeons:

Now, 20 years down the road, this is what has happened:

Yep, a lone pigeon. There are now more people than pigeons at a square famous for pigeons. Very ironic.

My sisters made it a mission to get more pigeons to the square so they started throwing breadcrumbs around, and eventually this happened:

Yep, they managed to slightly increase the population of pigeons at the square. Lol.

Some pictures around Trafalgar Square:

Alwani. She's 14, I'm 22. -___-

We saw this pink monstrosity while we were walking away from the Square towards Buckingham Palace. Lol.

On the way to the Buckingham Palace, we went through the Admiralty Arch:

And while we saw this sculpture:

So of course my siblings had to imitate the sculpture (lol):

Description of the sculpture:

Walking through The Mall to the Buckingham Palace. The Mall is basically the road that we have to go through to get to Buckingham Palace from the Admiralty Arch:

My sisters on their Take-pictures-with-random-and-interesting-people mission. Lol.

One of the things that my siblings really wanted to see were the royal guards, so when we saw the royal guards standing near the Clarence House, Wani SQUEALED and literally jumped around cause she wanted to take a picture near the Guards.

Oh, while were near the Clarence House, the were loads of policemen near there and we found out it was because PRINCE CHARLES was going to the Clarence House from the Buckingham Palace cause the Queen was hosting a tea party at the Palace. So we waited and after like 20 minutes, we saw Prince Charles going pass us into the House compound in a car. a My dad caught Prince Charles on video nd also the subsequent changing of the Guards (we were so lucky to be able to see that!!!) but the video's too big to post on the blog. =(

So after that we continued our walk towards the Buckingham Palace:

Pretty sure these people had just came out of the Queen's tea party. Lol.

Around Buckingham Palace they erected pillars, with each pillar representing a Commonwealth country. We're standing in front of a pillar representing the Malay States.

So after looking around Buckingham Palace, we continued our journey towards the Westminster Bridge and we saw the Houses of Parliament, the Westminster Abbey, the Big Ben and the Eye of London. =)

Westminster Abbey. Didn't go in cause it was too late.

Big Ben!

House of Parliament.

The view of the House of Parliament from the Westminster Bridge.

The London Eye from the Westminster Bridge.

While we were on the Westminster Bridge, my siblings found it funny to make a group hug around me so that essentially I would be hidden from view cause they're bigger than me:

At one point, my dad actually asked them "Where's Kak Ya?" and the only thing I could do was to raise my hand so that he could see me through the barrier that the kids had set up.

Alia. Submerged under. =/

Oh, while we were on the bridge we saw this:

The English really love their pink limousines, don't they? I mean, I saw not one, but two pink limos in one afternoon! -_-

We headed back to Southend after taking pictures at the Westminster Bridge, so that's basically the end of Day 3. =)

UK Trip - Day 2: London

2010-08-04T17:40:00.000+08:00

After spending our first day in the UK in Adventure Island (with me almost vomiting as a result of the jetlag), we decided to venture out to London from Southend.

Look at the blue summer sky! =)

The best way to travel from Southend to London is by taking the c2c train from Thorpe Bay to London's Fenchurch Street. The train takes about an hour to reach London, and unlike Malaysian trains, the trains are definitely on time.

Muka budak-budak jakun first time naik train in the UK. Lol.

The Fenchurch Street Station =)

One of the things that we were anticipating to do while we were in London is to get on the London Underground (a.k.a. The Tube). I mean, I've heard of stories of how the system looks complicated, but is actually easy to navigate around, so I was pretty psyched when we got to go on the tube. The nearest tube station from the c2c Fenchurch street is the Tower Hill station, hence why our first pictures of London are near the Tower of London.

Our first glimpse of London. In the background is the Tower of London.

The sundial near the Tower Hill Station

Oh yes. We just had to take a picture in front of the station! Lol.

Pictures of us in the tube. Anis and I were busy looking at the stations, hence the look on our faces.

A picture of Anis taking this picture. Lol. Yep, we had two cameras.

My first attempt at understanding the tube map. First time I looked at it I thought I was seeing stars and rainbow-coloured squiggles. Lol. I mean, just look at it:

After a while, I did actually manage to understand the map. In fact, towards the end of the trip, I was the one analysing the best route to take to go to some places. =D

Some of the tube stations we passed by.

My dad's plan for the day was to just walk around Kensington, where we will take a break and eat lunch in the park, before heading towards the Marble Arch, where we will go shopping. So basically the plan for the day was to shop. Hahahaha.

On the way to the park.

Kensington Gardens.

Princess Diana's Memorial Fountain.

Having lunch in the park and feeding the pigeons. The younger ones were so excited that they got to feed the pigeons. And they had even more fun shooing the whole bunch of pigeons away after feeding them. Sadistic children. Lol.

So after lunch, we went on to Marble Arch, where we spent two hours shopping in Primark. I swear to God, this place is heaven! You can buy jeans for less than £10! I bought 5 pair of socks for £2.50. And I took so much stuff my hand hurts, but everything came to less than £50. Oh yeah. Primark is awesomeeeeee. Even after converting the money it's cheap!

Yes, we HAD too. Hahaha.

Marble Arch.

My sisters made it their mission in the UK to take a pic with some hot, random dude. In this case, they got a hot, random, EXTREMELY TALL dude (I'm pretty sure if I stood next to him I'll be at his rib level). The things you do on holiday. Hahaha.

So that's the end of Day 2. =)

UK Trip - Day 1: Southend

2010-08-04T17:35:00.002+08:00

Basically, this is the start of my UK trip.

We were all so excited when we were going, but we still couldn't believe that we were actually going, up until the point when we saw this view from the plane:

So once we arrived at Heathrow, one of the first things that made us realised we were actually not in Malaysia was the fact the toilet had no sprinklers, and was just equipped with toilet paper. My sisters cringed everytime they had to go to the loo. LOL.

We had to stand in line for more than an hour at the immigration counter, so we got tired, so we took some pictures. And the first thing everyone did when we got there was to check whether they could roam, and hence the picture above. Lol.

First sighting of an English taxi. Total jakun-ness. Lol.

For the first few days we were there, we stayed at my dad's friend, Uncle Navin's, place. He stays in Southend-on-Sea, which is about an hour and a half car ride from Heathrow, and it's not in London.

Uncle Navin's house is quite amazing, cause it has a view of the sea and because it had three spare bedrooms to accommodate the eight of us. Lol. We were so excited when we saw the beautiful houses all around us cause it finally sank in that we were no longer in KL. Yes, we are weird people.

In front of the house in Southend.

The view from the house. Amazing, isn't it, to be waking up to this view everyday?

So since we were tired and to curb off our jet-lag, we decided to just take it easy and stroll along the pier, just enjoying the English weather. Which, for summer, is surprisingly COLD. Especially with the strong winds. Oh, the best part about summer is that it gets bright at about 5 in the morning, and sunset is only around 9.30 pm. So yes, that's a longgggggggggg day everyday. Hahaha.

Strolling around the pier. Nice huh?

This is supposedly an "Award-Winning Beach". Huh.

So we were supposed to be going for an easy stroll, but we ended up going to the Adventure Island theme park. Yeah. A theme park. On our very first day in England.

Some of the pictures from the theme park. I got pure, unadulterated joy from going on the swing ride (hence why you see me laughing like a mad person in the picture above). I didn't go on the roller-coaster because after a few rides I felt like puking. And I never feel like that whenever we go to theme parks in Malaysia. Jetlag does funny things to your body. I wish I did go on the roller-coaster though. It looks super scary!!!!!

A halal restaurant! =D

Some random bulding shot. Pretty, no?

We left the theme park around 8.30 at night, walked back to the house and had an early night. I didn't even have dinner because I was too fatigued from the trip and from our excursion to Adevnture Island.

So yeah, that was my first day in England.

=)

2010-07-15T23:29:00.004+08:00

My last ever results from Monash.

I'M GRADUATING! =')

And I am so thankful that I managed to accumulate 10 HD over the course of the three and a half years and for passing everything the first time around.

I'll miss you Monash. And I shall miss being a full-time student.

And I'm praying for the best for the next chapter in my life.

=D

2010-07-15T11:00:00.002+08:00

YAY SPAIN FOR WINNING THE WORLD CUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =D

And yay Cesc for setting up the goal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't care if you came on as a substitute. And the fact that you actually went to talk to your Arsenal teammate instead of immediately celebrating the win is a very sporting thing to do. I knew there was a reason why I've liked you all these years!

(Asyraf Mokti, you're still number one in my heart. Don't worry k. Lol.)

I'm sorry I haven't been updating, but work's been quite hectic lately and I just couldn't find the time to update.

Sometimes I feel like I should just stop blogging, but I am DETERMINED to keep writing up in this blog, even later when I'm working permanently, just because I feel like writing on this blog is my form of catharsis.

Oh, I've actually taken the link to the blog off my fb page. One reason why I did it was because I felt like some people who rarely see me seem to think that they know so much about me because they read my blog, and I realise that I feel a bit exposed and uncomfortable for being in that situation. Yeah, I'm still very shy. Hahahaha.

Oh yeah, while we're on the subject of facebook, I realised that there have been something that has been nagging me lately when I'm on fb. One thing that really annoy me is when all these people who usually do not watch football are now suddenly the BIGGEST football fans ever just because it's the World Cup. And every status update will be on football. It's a bit irritating sometimes when I look at my News Feed cause I know half of these people won't care much about football once the World Cup is over. I think it's kinda ironic that I'm irritated by that considering I only started watching football seriously after the last World Cup. Lol.

Another pet peeve I have when it comes to fb are the friend requests that I get. I don't know why I still get friend requests from strangers, who usually are men with whom I have no mutual friends. I wonder how these people can just randomly add me up. I do not add strangers up on fb.

In fact, I don't care if I have less than 300 friends cause in the end I only talk to like less than 10% of my "friends" on fb anyways. Lol.

One other thing that pisses me off is when somebody adds me up and I see that we have a lot of mutual friends, but when I go to their profile, their profile picture is of something other than their faces.

And another thing that irritates me is when some of these people don't put up their real names and expect me to autimatically know who they are. Aiyo. Seriously la. I'm not a mind reader okay. If you don't look the same like you did last time and you don't put your real name on fb, how do you actually expect me to recognise you?

By the way, I'm leaving for the UK trip with my family in two days' time! I'm excited to go back to visit my birthplace, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and I'll be spending 4 days in Newcastle to "rediscover" my inner Geordie! (Perasan gila! Lol.)

After all these years of my parents saying "One day, when we go to the UK, we have to go do/see this and that......", we're actually going to the UK as one big family. Amazing.

I can't wait! =)

But in those two weeks I'll be gone, I'm going to be missing my boyfriend and my friends. And I can't believe that I'll be missing THREE of my closest friends' birthday while I'm in the UK. Haih. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

PS: Results coming out today! I'm a bit scared right now. But I think it'll be okay. I hope!

PPS: I actually wrote this post yesterday, but I couldn't publish it and I thought I lost most of the blog post cause I couldn't retrieve the post, but thankfully I didn't lose much of the post. Thank God.

PPPS: I just remembered that I have some picture posts that I might put up before I go off. =)

Work, work, work. =)

2010-07-01T11:55:00.000+08:00

I'm writing this post while I'm working. LOL.

I just got a pay raise for my RA work (which I've continued after the exams) last week and I'm so happy!!! I can't tell you how much though, but some people already know how much I'm getting (yes, I know you guys think it's unfair. Sorry!). Lol.

What happened was last week I went to my lecturer, and she asked me "How much are you getting paid?" And when i told her she was like "Oh, we're paying this person this and this, so you should be getting that much too."

So yes, I AM SO THRILLED because now I'm getting more than last time, even though the work load is about the same. But I've been a bit busy this past week because I had to help out with the notes and exercises for the workshop.

Oh apparently it is now very obvious to people when I'm under stress or angry. Like yesterday, I was a bit stressed because I was trying to finish off the notes and pack the notes into files and whatnot. And then I saw my senior while I was running everywhere and he looked at me and said "Your forehead gets red when you're stressed, doesn't it? Don't stress la, you'll do fine." And then he laughed and pat my back. Stupid strawberry mark on the forehead. -___-

Today and tomorrow, my job is to facilitate my lecturer for a workshop that she's conducting. I have to be here at 8 in the morning and go back around 6 (which is a bit tiring), but I'm getting free breakfast, free mid-morning snacks, free lunch and free tea break for the next two days and I'm getting paid to just sit and listen to the lecture (which I have gone through in my second year, lol).

When I told Liyana about the pay raise and the workshop, she was a bit envious because she said that I was "gonna be paid to become smarter." Which is true, I guess. Hahaha.

But I have to start finding a permanent job, and I am so not looking forward to that right now because I still do not know what I want to do in the long run. Haih.

Oh yeah. Wani is so happy about our upcoming UK trip that everyday she'll come to me and say "Kakya, 19 more days" or how many more days to our UK trip, so I know for a fact that we'll be leaving for UK in 16 days from today. LOL.

Oh yeah, while we're on the subjects of my siblings, Zara came up to me yesterday so excitedly and said "Kakya, for my Mini Sukan at school I'm gonna be picking up the trash!!!"

And I'm like, "Ermmmmmmmmm, that's good?"

Picking up trash. And she's excited. Hmmm. Oh well.

Okiedokes. Better get back to listening now. Later!

2010-06-23T18:51:00.003+08:00

I promise I'll update soon!

Just a bit lazy now. And tired.

Oh, by the way,

I'M DONE WITH MONASH. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! =D

Okay. Bye. Will write a long post later.

Exams, exams, exams.

2010-06-07T13:55:00.003+08:00

It's that time of year again, where the highlighters and colour pens are used to their full potential, and my laptop is perpetually blasting mindless pop songs.

Thank God I'm down to my last paper.

But I know soon enough I'll be missing these days of utter chaos and exams stress. Lol.

Okay, better get back to studying now.

Guys vs Girls

2010-06-05T12:04:00.008+08:00

It amazes me sometimes how different the female and male brain can be.

Like the other day, Nat was telling me about this series that she's watching called United States of Tara. The description of the series from its Wiki page:

Tara Gregson is a wife and mother of two children. Tara has dissociative identity disorder (DID). Whenever she is stressed, she transforms into one of her alternate personalities: wild and flirty teenager T; old-fashioned housewife Alice; and male, loud, beer-drinking Vietnam vet Buck.

And a trailer of the series:

So anyways, when Nat told me about the series over lunch with Chee, the first thought that came to my mind was "Imagine what would happen if she is in the middle of cooking/baling something as Alice and she switches back to Tara? What would happen to the food?"

Hey, in my defense, I like food, and we were eating at the time, so it seemed appropriate that I was thinking about food. Lol.

So later that night, I was telling the boyfriend about the series over dinner at Las Carretas (where he was totally deceived by the small-ish portion of his food and was shocked when he actually got so full. I told you so. =p), and then he said something along the lines of "Imagine what would happen if Tara and her husband were in the middle of having sex and she changes into Buck?"

-__________-

Oh yes. How differently our minds work.

Another example of how differently is when I was having another conversation with Nat on fb.

These shoes in the picture above are known as nude pumps.

I love looking at women in these shoes. It's so fascinating. And I think these Aldo ones are gorgeous. And I'd be lying if I said I don't want to own a pair because these would look good when I wear them for work later on.

But then again, knowing my luck, I might just trip over my own heels when I wear these pumps or I might end up having blisters on my feet. Or maybe both. And it's really annoying that I am allergic to the glue on plasters because it means that when I get blisters, I can't just put on a plaster cause it'll actually make things worse. Urgh.

So yeah, I was telling Nat about how I want the nude pumps and then one guy friend said this:

Don't know what a nude pump is, but I've always loved nude!

It's funny how a lot of things are interpreted sexually by men.

And it's a learning process for me to comprehend that my boyfriend's perspective on a topic might be totally different from mine because I've been surrounded almost my whole life by girls who are on similar wavelengths. Lol.

PS: I'm itching to change the blog template. Might do that after the exams. =)

Articles, articles, articles.

2010-06-01T17:11:00.008+08:00

THIS news is just too disturbing. WHAT KIND OF PARENTS LETS THEIR TWO YEAR OLD SMOKES CIGARETTES?

Oh yeah, THIS article, especially the quote below, is also interesting, since I was kinda wondering the same thing while I was watching the movie (twice) over the weekend.

Gyllenhaal is in great shape to play Dastan but you wonder why he is affecting a British accent. Do all Persians speak like the British? He does a nice job of it, but you just have to wonder why.

Yeah, why must the Persian speak with a British accent? In fact, why must they talk in English at all?

Oh yeah, I remembered talking about Mensa with Anis a long time ago and we were intrigued about the whole society. For those who don't know what Mensa is, this is the description of the society from the Mensa Malaysia website:

The Malaysian Mensa Society's only requirement for membership is an IQ score in the top 2% of the population. Malaysian Mensa is part of the larger family of Mensa worldwide.

I remembered being interested in this back when I was younger. And I was checking out the IQ testing details and it sounds something similar to the test that I took for PTS back in Standard 3 last time. Lol.

But hey, to pay RM45 to be certified as a genius sounds quite interesting to me. Maybe I will try to go for the test one day just for the fun of it. Hahaha.

Oh, look what I found. An article on Skinbook, which is apparently the Facebook for NUDISTS.

Oh yes. I'm VERY bored and just too lazy to study. Typical. Haih.

2010-05-28T08:27:00.003+08:00

I was going through some old pictures and then I found this:

Cinnamonnnnnnnnnnnnn. ='(

C'est la vie.

2010-05-26T13:18:00.004+08:00

Yesterday was my last class in Monash. Ever.

Even my lecturer was saying yesterday "Today is our last class and I would not see you anymore after this. And I think it's the best for all of us". Definitely a LOL moment.

Funny to think how for my last ever class in Monash I was falling asleep in front of the computer in the lab while I was doing the tutorial. (I was surprised that I could still do the tutorial even though I was half-asleep. Hahaha.)

Funny thing happened last weekend while I was visiting my friend at Ampang Puteri with the boyfriend and his best buddies.

Basically what happened was that when we were leaving, my friend's parents came in with some guests.

And then it turned out that the guests were my grandparents' best friends, so being a good granddaughter that I am, I went to the Auntie and introduced myself.

And then I went to greet her husband and then he asked me,

"Awak anak Aza? Kenapa awak pendek?"

T___________________________________________________T

Saya tak pendekkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk.

See, among normal girls, I'm actually considered to be average. In fact, at 158 cm, I'm slightly taller than most of my friends.

But when you are born into a family where your father, siblings, grandfather, uncles and cousins are on average taller than 170 cm and you have your mother's genes, being 158 cm is definitely like getting the short end of the stick (all puns intended).

Now that I think of it, my girl cousin who just turned 13 2 weeks ago is already taller than me.

And all of my siblings, except for Zara, are either at my height or are taller than me.

Even Zara, who's not even 9 yet, now stands at my shoulders.

FML.

Oh yeah, although I'm not an "Idol" fan anymore (I think I stopped watching after Season 5), I read this article on why Crystal Bowersox won't win American Idol and I read these lines:

Says one anonymous "Idol" insider: "I've realized lately that the 'Idol' voting fanbase is now totally dominated by 40-plus soccer moms and their tween offspring. It explains the past few years' winners and the weekly voting patterns."

And then I realised that in my house, the big "Idol" fans are my mum, Wani and Dina, all of whom fall into the said age groups. So I'm guessing whether you're in America or Malaysia, it makes no difference then. Lol.

Oh, just now I went on Nat's fb page and saw that she has Liked this page called "Born To Make You Happy".

I was such a HUGE fan of the song before it came out, and then i realised that even with the huge amount of songs that I have stored in my laptop/EHD, I don't have this song (please don't kill me Nat), so I downloaded the song and I felt like I was in Standard 6 again. Lol.

And then I found another version of the song that Britney recorded when she was younger and downloaded that one too. Sounds almost the same, just less auto-tuned.

Pop songs back then are the best. I pity the kids nowadays for the songs that they are exposed to.

Oh yeah, I was listening to the radio the other day and this song came out:

And now when I listen to these lines from the song:

Be a little bit wiser baby,
Put it on, put it on
'cause tonight is the night
When 2 become 1

I'm like Oh.My.God. I was NINE when I heard this song and I was actually listening to a song about having SAFE SEX. Wtf.

And now that I think about it, I can't believe my parents allowed me to watch Grease when I was 8 years old, what with the smoking and teenage pregnancy scares and dropping out of school. Nasib baik at 8 years old the only thing I cared about when watching the movie were the songs:

And just now when I watched this above scene on YouTube I can't believe my parents actually allowed me to watch a movie where a dude says "Oh come on, you don't wanna hear all the horny details".

OMG.

Oh well. C'est la vie. Lol.

Bored, bored, bored.

2010-05-20T17:19:00.008+08:00

I am sick of being sick.

I have been stuck in the house for the past 4 days.

I don't know how much more of Plants vs Zombies I can take. I've played until the final level already. =/

I seriously need to get out of the house for longer than two hours, even if it means infecting people with the flu.

Thank God for tutorials tomorrow.

I CAN'T WAIT TO GO FOR CLASS.

Oh yes. I am that bored.

Ever since the EPL season ended two weeks ago, everyone's been gearing up for the World Cup.

It's actually quite ironic how a lot of Malaysians are England fans considering that Malaysians used to hate them back when England was colonising us.

Last time they used to physically invade us, now they're mentally invading us. Lol.

I am supporting Spain. And Germany. And I would still be supporting my birthplace, England.

(I never said I was immune to being mentally invaded. Lol.)

Oh yeah, talking about World Cup, I want one of the Celcom's Blue Bears.

They're so adorable!!!!!! And I'm not even a fan of teddy bears.

I want the Englbear one (which my mum thinks should have been named Great Bearitain, lol), the Bearmany one, and the Esbearanyol one. Not a surprise, right? =)

Oh yeah, in addition to being on two radio stations for the World Hypertension Day, my dad was also on TV2 this morning to talk about hypertension and obesity.

It is SO WEIRD seeing my dad on tv.

My mum's first thought was, "Wah, I can see your dad's receding hairline."

And mine was, "That seat he's in sure looks uncomfortable."

Oh yes. A very supportive family we are. Lol.

I recorded all 10 minutes of my dad's appearance on tv.

Yeah, it was a short appearance. But still, couldn't have been prouder. =)

Oh yeah, the boyfriend has been taking songs from my thumbdrive and he has basically introduced his brother to the awesomeness that is Delta Goodrem.

It's so sad how a lot of people has never heard of Delta cause she is a good singer.

And I remember sitting in a cinema a few years ago and getting all excited because I saw this ad:

Oh yes, I am still a big fan of hers. I really hope one day I can go to Australia and see her in concert cause there is no way she will ever come here when only about 0.002% of the population has ever heard of her.

Haih.

PS: THIS is awesome! We actually managed to break into the top 10, in front of Germany and UK! =D

2010-05-17T16:41:00.007+08:00

I'm sick.

I haven't been this sick since I was doing my internship in January.

And it didn't help that yesterday I went to watch two movies and was freezing to death both times.

And that when I got home from the movies it was pouring cats and dogs.

Yeah, I was basically inviting the flu to come and strike me.

But it's not so bad. I guess that being a doctor's daughter has it's advantages since we have all sorts of medicine at home. Lol.

Oh, speakign of doctors, my dad was on radio today! =D

He was on BFM talking about high blood pressure and hypertension.

Not surprising, considering that my dad is the president of the Malaysia Society of Hypertension. Lol.

And I think it's appropriate that he should be talking about this on the Business station since most businesspeople in general are at risk of getting heart diseases.

It still feels weird to hear my dad on radio although he has done a couple of these interviews on radio over the years.

Oh yeah, the boyfriend told me that one of our friends has to go for surgery today cause he was horribly injured when he played football last week.

I hope everything's gonna go well for him. Surgery means it's serious. =(

I need to go and take a short nap now. The meds are kicking in.

Plants vs Zombies.

2010-05-15T10:44:00.003+08:00

I have come to the realisation that I want to have a big family just cause it's fun.

Sitting around the dinner table when there are 8 of us can be really chaotic because everyone will be trying to talk to one another at the same time. And we laugh about the silliest stuffs.

And having three sisters aged 14 and below keeps me in touch with my inner child (as if I need to be anymore childish than I already am).

Like yesterday, while waiting for the boyfriend to pick me up, I was teaching my sisters how to play the Plants vs Zombies game that Nat gave to me in the external hard drive last month.

And we were ended up screaming and jumping cause the zombies were coming up fast but the plants weren't killing them fast enough. Lol.

Yeah, if I were to try doing that with people around my age (except for Nat cause she was the one who gave me the game in the first place!), they would just look at me weirdly.

So having a big family is nice. Sometimes it's a nuisance, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Oh, I need to go prevent more zombies from coming to my house.

Bye!

Pet peeves.

2010-05-14T17:38:00.005+08:00

Alia's number one pet peeve: People showing-off.

I really don't like it when people show-off. It's really annoying.

Like there's this girl in my class who looks so snobbish and is so rude in class. It's annoying cause the way she looks at you is like she's so above everyone else.

I just realised that everytime lecture she and her friend will sit together and talk their mouths off.

Eh, hello, if you wanna spend the whole bloody hour chit-chatting, just please don't come for class. Some people are really trying to learn here.

And I realised it wasn't just me who is annoyed with her. Liyana is too.

There was even one point in tutorial last week where she couldn't concentrate cause this girl and her friend were talking so loudly it that she lost track of what our lecturer was saying.

Granted, person, you might be smart, but the truth is, the rest of us in the class are, too.

But we don't have that perpetual bitch-face that you have on because we couldn't care less how other people look at us or think about us.

So please stop looking down on us cause I'm pretty confident that my grades are as good as yours.

Yeah yeah. I can see that after the end of each class you're trying to show the rest of the class how good you are cause you go up to the lecturer and ask him some questions but please la, you can go for consultation in his room okay.

And it's not like the rest of us need to ask questions anyways. We just listen to the lecturer.

And I am your senior. Most of the subjects you're doing now, I've done last year, so take that smug look off your face and just sod it, okay?

God I feel so spiteful. It's like I'm back in high school. Gah.

=(

2010-05-09T01:08:00.003+08:00

The assignment has totally screwed my mind up cause I wanted to write a post on this before I wrote the previous post.

My cat, Cinnamon (the mother in the above picture) died on Friday cause she got hit by a car.

Wani called me in the morning while I was on my way to Monash to tall me she died.

I was devastated, but it wasn't so bad cause I was distracted in Monash.

But when I got home from Monash around 1 o'clock and I realised that she wasn't gonna be there ever again, I started ~~crying~~ bawling my eyes out. And it didn't help that my sisters were bawling too.

My eyes were swollen red. Not a pretty sight.

I felt so depressed the whole day.

She was everyone's favourite cause she was such a smart cat.

Like if she sees one of us coming back, she will run from wherever she was just to stand at the front door to get our attention.

She was so pretty with her bushy tail.

We were just thinking about spaying her so that she would grow bulat and healthy and less fierce.

And then she died. ='(

The whole house is still devastated. Everything that her kittens, Clove and Anice-Seeds (yeah, my mum thought it would be interesting to give spices as the kittens' names since the mummy was named after a spice) do now would remind us of her.

And she was so spoilt by my dad, who's been in Taipei since the day before she died. He's going to be so devastated when he comes back.

I am so sad cause losing Cinnamon definitely felt like losing a family member.

RIP, Cinnamon. We will always love you. :*

ASS-ignment.

2010-05-09T00:30:00.003+08:00

I am currently in assignment mode.

I am literally thinking about my assignment 24/7.

I think about my assignment while I'm bathing, while I'm eating, while I'm driving, and especially while I'm doing nothing.

I'm even doing the assignment simultaneously while typing out this post.

And now most days it's my first thought when I wake up in the morning and my last thoughts before I go to sleep.

Oh God, I sound so psychotic. Haih. -_____-

Programming is so hard but I would rather take this a 1000 times over than redoing the torture that is Accounting Theory. *shivers*

Told the boyfriend about that and I know he's a bit disturbed that for the next week he won't always be the first/last thought that comes to mind everyday.

Oh, a small proof that I've not forgotten about the boyfriend:

Lol.

Okay, better get back to doing those codes. I feel more like an Engineering/IT student now rather than a Business student.

PS: The results of the recent UK election was a hung parliament. So with political uncertainty, this means that the exchange rate for Pound Sterling is now lower! (I checked and apparently the exchange rate for 1 GBP is now RM 4.84. OMGGGGG!!!!)

I'm not sure whether to ask my parents to change the money now for our upcoming UK trip or to wait a bit longer before changing. Hmmmm.

PPS: I think my brain is jammed. I can't think anymore, so now I'm gonna go to sleep. Goodnite peeps. =)

PPPS: Found out recently that the boyfriend has skimmed through most of the post in this blog. What the hell.

Post No. 340. Wow.

2010-04-30T22:16:00.005+08:00

I really hate auditing right now.

It made my life a nightmare 5 months ago, and now it's still making my life a nightmare.

For two Fridays in a row now my boyfriend has had to take a raincheck because of his work.

I do understand cause I saw first-hand how the auditing world was, but understanding doesn't make it any less frustrating.

And so right now, instead of having dinner with the boyfriend, I am studying for my test next week.

Joy.

But it's not so bad. I really like my lecturer for this unit, and I find the unit really interesting. And challenging.

Anyways, during class today, my lecturer was telling us about the upcoming test and assignment.

And he had this to say about our test next week:

"You don't have to study so much on VBA for the test because it's either you know it or you don't. And the questions tested are going to be easy, so if you're expecting difficult questions you will be disappointed"

And he was saying this so earnestly that the whole class couldn't help but just laugh.

If getting easy questions means being disappointed, I would like to be disappointed all the time, thank you very much. Lol.

Oh yeah, last Wednesday my exam timetable came out:

And thus, ladies and gentleman, this means that my last day as a Monash student (pre-graduation) will fall on the 16th of June.

It's definitely bittersweet. That's all I can say. =')

But since the exam finishes on the 16th, this means that I'll be able to watch most of the World Cup matches. =D

Checked out the Group Stages timetable, and saw that I won't be missing much.

In fact, I'll be able to watch Spain's first match since it'll be on the 16th. And the match is gonna be at 10 pm, so yes, I'll definitely want to watch that match outside to celebrate my freedom. Lol.

This also means that I'll have a month of lazing around doing nothing before heading off to the UK with the family in the middle of July. YAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, Anis and I saw this on our way to Sunway this morning:

A RAINBOWWWW!!!!

We were soooo excited when we saw it.

It was definitely a nice way to start the day.

And apparently Liyana also saw the rainbow on her way to Sunway and got excited and took pictures too. Lol.

To me seeing a rainbow is one of those things that gives me unadulterated joy, and if getting excited when I see a rainbow makes me childish, then so be it.

At least it shows that I can appreciate the simple things in life. =)

Oh, this song is my current favourite song:

Yeah, so it's another Glee song. Lol.

I love this song. I've been listening to it on repeat non-stop for the past three days. And nope, still not bored of it yet.

2010-04-29T23:11:00.003+08:00

I'm a bit busy right now, with the test coming up next week and assignment due in two weeks.

Will update when I have more time.

So sorry!!!

Oh, by the way, the boyfriend wants me to write a post on how he managed to win 4-0 against me when we played another round of Gin Rummy the other day.

So yes, I am being a gracious loser and I am conceding defeat. For now.

Next time I'll win again for sure. Lol.

Just my luck.

2010-04-27T10:19:00.004+08:00

Yesterday was a day that so tested my nerves.

I got my first pay cheque after six weeks of working and I was grinning from ear-to-ear cause my pay was sooooo much more than I expected.

And I've calculated that the amount I'm getting per hour doing the RA job was MORE THAN THREE TIMES the amount per hour that I was getting in BDO.

And I've come to the realisation that I could make almost the same amount as my boyfriend is getting now if I worked full-time. Lol.

So of course when the class finished my first priority was to bank-in the cheque.

And then the stupid cheque deposit machine at the CIMB bank REJECTED my cheque.

The cheque would literally bounce back into my hand every time I tried putting it in.

My best friend, who was standing beside me, was flabbergasted because it only happened to me. Everyone else could deposit their cheques just fine.

So we had to put the cheque in this manual cheque deposit machine and I prayed so hard that the cheque would be cleared properly.

(Checked my account balance this morning and saw that the cheque was cleared. Thank God.)

After having lunch in Sunway, I had to send the car to Anis. Went into her college for a while cause I wanted to buy a cheap laptop sleeve cause I am sick of carrying my laptop in a sling-bag or backpack every time I have to lug the laptop around.

Bought the bag as quickly as possible because i wanted to catch the bus from Sunway College to Monash.

But just my luck, while I was walking towards the bus stop, THE BUS ZOOMED PAST ME.

Haih.

So I ended up walking towards Monash (which isn't so far away from Anis' college) AT 1 PM with the sun glaring above me.

Oh and did I mention that I was also wearing a black top?

And then later when Liyana's boyfriend picked both of us up, we went to have a drink at the nearby Medan in Sunway while we were waiting for some documents that Liyana's bf wanted to copy.

I've been wanting to have some peanut-butter waffles for some time, so I was happy when we ended up at Medan cause they sold those.

So i happily went to the stall to order.

And then the person said the waffles mix was finished.

WHAT THE HELL.

Oh yeah, to complete my total FML day, my doorknob has been jammed for close to a week, so I can't open my door and I've had to get in and out of my room through Anis's room everyday (Thank God our rooms are connected cause we share a toilet).

So anyways, when I got back home, saw that my door was no longer closed shut, but now I HAD NO DOORKNOB, so where last week my door was perpetually locked, now it is perpetually ajar cause it just can't be shut.

So yeah, FML.

But I found a stopper to shut my door cause I know it would be SO difficult to get some privacy if my room's door is always open.

And if it's always open I can't exactly turn on the air-cond in the room. And I need all the cool air I can get with the weather being what it is right now.

Oh, last night while I was having dinner with the boyfriend, we decided to play Gin for a while cause he was annoyed that I've beaten him last time we played.

We played 11 games, and I won 7 out of those. Mwahahahahahaha.

He said I was just lucky, but considering the crappy day I had, I felt like I deserve that luck.

Plus I'm better at Gin than he is anyways. Lol.

So it wasn't such a bitter ending to a somewhat unlucky day.

PS: I'm currently reading a book called Book of Souls by Glenn Cooper. It's totally occupying my time right now even though I'm supposed to be studying for my test next week. Lol.

2010-04-26T13:39:00.002+08:00

At this moment in time, I am trying to be a good (in no particular order) daughter, sister, girlfriend, friend, student, tutor and employee.

I wish I could split myself and please everybody.

Or maybe I should just take time out from pleasing everybody and just focus on me.

Opportunities.

2010-04-23T21:09:00.003+08:00

I'm using Anis's laptop right now to check something out (she gave me permission to use the laptop while she's out, so not using this illegally. Lol.).

Today my dad was asking me what do I want to do once I'm done with Monash.

I said, "I don't know."

And then he was asking me, "Where do you see yourself in ten years?"

And I told him what I thought, "A CEO of a company. Or to be in a job that pays me more than RM10k a month"

I have not slaved my way through Monash these past three years just to be contented with getting a measly paying job.

I KNOW what I'm capable of, and I am so capable of climbing up that corporate ladder.

So I was having this conversation with Tisha cause we're both quite lost on what we want to do once we finish our last semester in Monash, and then she told me about THIS.

And I felt like this is something that I might enjoy doing.

And if you do get chosen apparently the pay is around RM3,000, which is so much more than what I'll get if I do auditing.

And if you do really well then you can be absorbed permanently into one of the departments and get fast-tracked.

For an impatient person like me, this program is VERY attractive.

And then i read about THIS program.

Wow the HSBC one is even more attractive. I can't believe they might send the trainees to the UK for the training program. And on top of the RM3,ooo they're paying you, there's a possibility of getting RM1,000 to RM1,500 of allowance!!!

So yes, I am seriously contemplating these options right now.

But I'm scared of the presentations that we have to do to get short-listed cause I might just screw that up badly.

I HATE PRESENTATIONS. T_________________________T

Ohhhh, and I looked at the Robert Walter Salary Survey for 2010 and some CFOs can get up to RM40k per month. Wow.

I will earn that much one day. Just wait and see. =)

Small update.

2010-04-22T15:49:00.002+08:00

I had to send my laptop to the service centre yesterday, so I am laptop-less for a week.

Which means that I won't be able to update the blog much for the next week.

Oh and it doesn't help that I have a test on the 3rd of May, with my assignment due on the 12th.

And as much as it pains me to be doing them, I just realised that those would be my penultimate hurdles before my last paper in Monash, so it's quite bittersweet.

Oh yeah, while talking to Liyana just now, I've come to a realisation that I always end up getting a HD for the units that I take with my current lecturer.

So I am really hoping that the trend will continue. =D

In this lifeeeeeeeeeeeeee

2010-04-18T18:00:00.002+08:00

I think yesterday was a proof of how random I can be.

While I was driving back from breakfast with the boyfriend, I suddenly thought of this game that Tisha taught me last time called Gin Rummy. Mind you, I've not played that game in AGES.

So I asked my boyfriend whether he has played it before. He said he has heard of it, but isn't quite sure what it's about.

After sending him back, I went back home, watched the latest episode of Glee and then went on a quest to rediscover how to play Gin. I even downloaded a version of the game just to refresh my memory. Lol.

So met up with the boyfriend again later in the afternoon, and after failing to go to KLCC because the parking was full, we ended up going to the TGIF restaurant in Wangsa Walk Mall, where I taught him how to play the game.

We ended up playing for one and a half hours.

I think we've just found a new favourite card game. Lol.

Oh yeah, I read about the Icelandic volcano eruption that left so many people stranded because most of the Europe air space is affected by the ash spewed from the volcano. This means that most probably my grandparents' trip to UK this Friday would have to be postponed, which is such a pity cause they have been looking forward to this trip for a long time.

I just hope right now that my trip to the UK with my family will not be affected, because my dad said that there's a possibility that the disruption could go on for months. =(

And the other day I read this article and it was just too funny not to post:

EXPLODING BREAST IMPLANTS RECALLED

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahabananahahahahahaha.

Oh, by the way, I was testing a theory I read on MLIA a few days back where apparently if you insert the word 'banana' in the middle of a string of hahahas, no one would realise.

So did you guys see the word 'banana' first time around in that hahaha string?

I bet you didn't. Hahahahaha.

Oh, I got my assignment question for my unit a few days back and I realised that the due week is in three weeks.

So I have to start working on it soon. Might not have so many posts anymore then, or I might have more posts, depending on how I'm feeling about the assignment. Lol.

Musings.

2010-04-15T08:32:00.003+08:00

I think when my sister and I are bored we can be very dangerous.

Like how one day we started talking about how men were always the one inventing or discovering stuff.

Like how Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb.

Or how Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity.

Or Isaac Newton discovering the force of gravity.

The telephone? Invented by Alexander Graham Bell. If he didn't win the race to file in the patent for the telephone, the 'inventor' would have been another dude by the name of Elisha Gray. (I seriously thought Elisha Gray was a woman. Haih.)

The airplane? the Wright Brothers.

Windows PC? Bill Gates.

The iPod? A bunch of male engineers, headed by Steve Jobs.

The modern car? a German engineer named Karl Benz.

Even the microwave oven was invented by a man. Haih.

And let's not forget the genius Leonardo Da Vinci, who is a gay man, but still a man nonetheless.

And men did many 'firsts', too:

First person to go to space - Yuri Gagarin.

First person to set foot on the moon - Neil Armstrong.

First person to climb up Mount Everest - Sir Edmund Hillary.

And in history you have all these men like Napoleon Bonaparte, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Christopher Columbus, etc, etc.

And then it got us thinking: WHERE ARE THE WOMEN?

The only few names that we could think of were:

Hatshepsut - one of the most successful female pharaohs. Even then she's not the first.

Queen Isabella of Spain - Established the Spanish Inquisition. SCARY WOMAN.

Marie Antoinette - No idea why she's so famous, except for being the controversial Queen of France.

Amelia Earhart - First woman to fly a plane. And then she disappeared into oblivion. Literally.

Joan of Arc - led the french Army to some important victories. And then she got burned at the stake at NINETEEN YEARS OLD.

So Anis and I realised that we don't know that many famous women because most of the popular ones seem to be more infamous than famous. And the famous ones always end up having terrible luck at the end of their lives. -__-

And we have come to the conclusion that while all these men are busy inventing and conquering the world and whatnots, the women were too busy taking care of the households and raising babies for these men, hence why they did not have the time to go discovering things.

Oh how unfair this world was, once upon a time.

Fate.

2010-04-14T20:32:00.004+08:00

The weirdest thing happened to me today.

I sat in the Monash library just now while I was waiting for Anis to finish her class.

So there I was, sitting on the red couch, talking to Idris and Engku, when one of the Biotech girls came over to join us.

I usually don't talk to them not cause I'm sombong or what, but just because I don't know them and sometimes I'm not good at making conversations with strangers.

So she was chit-chatting with Engku and Idris and then out of the blue she asked me, "Alia, you duduk kat Keramat kan?"

And I was like "Yeahhhh.........."

Obviously I was a bit confused when she asked me that.

After that she asked me, "Dulu masa tadika you kat Tadika Capital kan?"

Not a lot of people knew where I went to kindergarten, so THAT was definitely a bit freaky.

And then she continued "I dulu sama tadika dengan you. You were one of my closest friends masa tu"

My jaw just dropped. I was completely rendered speechless.

I seriously for the life of me can't remember who she is (and I feel so bad for that), but here is this girl who actually remembers me from SIXTEEN YEARS AGO.

I was befuddled.

And the strangest thing is that she actually recognised me from the first day she came to Monash.

The thing is, I highly doubt I look the same as when I was six.

It's just amazing to me that this person actually recognises me, remembers my name AND remembered where I used to live at that time.

Wow.

And there you have it, just when I thought life couldn't get any stranger, fate comes and smacks me right in the face.

Cars!

2010-04-14T09:30:00.004+08:00

My boyfriend said this to me yesterday,

"You haven't blogged in three days."

So I'm dedicating this post to him just so he knows that I do have a new post.

Happy now? :p

The other day while I was in the car with Anis she told me this,

"Do you know that there's a Mercedes car that uses a joystick instead of a steering wheel for steering the car around?"

And the only thought in my head was "Heh?"

So I tried googling the car and found out that the car was a Mercedes concept car called the SCL600 .

It's a nice concept, but so impractical because the joystick is in the middle, between the ~~driver and passenger seats.~~ Oh wait. Maybe it's driver-driver seats then cause both of the people sitting in front can theoretically drive the car. Possible problems that I can foresee should this concept car come into production:

Users will probably have neck pains most of the time because they'd be craning their necks to judge how to overtake the cars in front while simultaneously trying to steer the car. Oh yeah. Utter joy.
And oh, apparently the car DOES NOT come with pedals, so I have no idea how you're supposed to brake or accelerate
side-parking, which is already somewhat torturous now even with steering wheels, is gonna be total hell using the joystick
Ironically, I think there would be no joy in driving a car using a joystick. Even back when I was playing Midtown madness on my PC last time, if the steering wheel was broken, I'd rather use the keyboard than the joystick to drive my car around because frankly, using a joystick is so difficult when it comes to driving.
And it still bugs me to no end that the controls are in the middle. I mean, even a pilot who has a joystick-looking thing in his cockpit has the controls right in front of him, NOT in the middle between him and the co-pilot (oh, slightly off-topic, I found out why a cockpit is called a cockpit HERE).

Oh, random fact of the day: apparently Beyonce can't drive. Hahaha.

Oh, and my dad was asking me the other day whether I could still drive a manual car.

And then I looked at him straight in the eyes and said,

"Papa, the last time I drove a manual car was during my JPJ test 5 years ago."

So yes, I do think that if I were to drive a manual car now, I'll be very panicky.

Plus we don't have any manual cars at home.

How I wish my dad didn't sell off his MR2.

Post 330.

2010-04-09T23:41:00.002+08:00

At the dinner table yesterday my siblings and I were randomly taking about Glee and we were talking about the songs that they sing, like this one:

And then Anis said something to the younger siblings that was like a total stab to my heart:

Kakya and I are so old that we actually know the original Thong Song. And we used to watch the video on MTV.

OUCH.

It hurtsssssss.

It's just beginning to sink in that I'm no longer 21, and Anis uttering those lines was like putting a nail on the coffin. -______-

Thanks so much Anis.

But seriously, who watches MTV anymore? Youtube's so much better. Lol.

Oh, by the way, I was looking up some journals about urban poverty in Malaysia and how it has affected the crime rate in Malaysia and whether there are data on the number of urban poor in Malaysia based on the races. I couldn't find the race-based urban poor data even though I spent the better half of three days searching for them. Haih.

BUT, I did find one journal article that I find somewhat....interesting.

I was reading through a journal article and then the first thing I saw was this:

Kuala LUMPA?

ARE YOU FREAKIN' SERIOUS?

Once I saw that I knew it was gonna be irritated by the article.

Sad to say, I was right.

I mean, the contents were good, but the grammatical and spelling errors made me cringe.

I mean, in some of the sentences there weren't even any punctuation marks. Seriously. -_-

I felt like I was re-doing my SPM and IELTS exam where they give a sentence/paragraph and you're supposed to see where the punctuation marks go or which words were spelt wrongly. It's like the Spell-Check on Microsoft Word was turned off.

Haih. I don't want to be so condascending, but when you're an academician, shouldn't you at least be concerned with where your punctuation marks are?

I mean, let me give a simple example that Wani always use to teach Zara on the importance of using punctuation marks.

See, without the right punctuation marks, the sentence "Let's eat, Grandma!" will become:

"Let's eat Grandma!!!!"

So yes, I think punctuation marks are important in scholarly journals.

But maybe not so much in text messages. Lol.

Alia's 22nd - in pictures.

2010-04-07T14:30:00.002+08:00

My birthday dinner with the family at the Victoria Station on the 3rd since my uncle was jetting off to Bintulu on my birthday:

Oh yes, I look stoned. Must have been the after-effect from the lunch i had with Yana & nat during the day. Lol.

Zara was scared of the live lobster that the waiter brought to our table to show to her. Hehe.

My 22 Arsenal-themed cupcakes that my siblings surprised me with. I was sooo happy!!!! =D

Candle-blowing-cum-cupcake-icing-war session. Lol.

My gifts: =D

Most of the gifts that i received. As corny and cliched as this will sound, I love each and every single one of them. Lol. I even love the creepy Lobster card the kids decided to give me. Hahaha.

The kids bought me a new pair of earphones, which i am currently using right now. Yay!

A necklace from the boyfriend.
Thanks baby. I love it. I love you.
Thanks for making my birthday a special one. =)

Zara gave me a handmade card and what she wrote in the card was so sweet. =')

Oh, this is a video of me blowing the candles of the cupcakes (with the help of my siblings, of course):

Yes, if we sound somewhat abnormal it's because WE ARE. LOL.

So yep, it was an awesome birthday weekend. =)

My statement.

2010-04-01T17:17:00.003+08:00

When I went to see Ms Adlina, I basically told her that I DID NOT like auditing, I'm NOT planning on going back for auditing and I am so thankful that I decided to do the internship instead of going into auditing permanently.

So she was listening to me babble on about the gripes of being an auditor (she was so friendly I couldn't help but start babbling my mouth off. Lol!) and she was saying that I should put a positive spin to the Internship Experience thing that she wanted me to do and talked about how doing the internship exposed me to all these things and made me think of other career options that I might go into once I graduated.

So this is what I've come up with that might be put up on the School of Business' Website:

Undertaking the internship program at BDO Binder has definitely been an eye-opening experience. The program has exposed me to the multi-faceted world of auditing and the working life in general, and it has also led me to ponder on the possible career paths that I might have once I leave Monash University. It has also given me the opportunity to incorporate what was taught in class into the tasks given. Overall, being an intern has been an enriching experience as it forced me to step out of my comfort zone as a student and to look at the world in a different light.

I never realised that I had it in me to come up with such a paragraph. I am so proud of myself. Lol.

And I'm not exactly lying in the paragraph, it's just that I decided to omit some facts.

That's business for you. Lol.

Oh, they might edit the paragraph to make it even more bombastic, so this paragraph might be the final product on the School's website.

I know nobody goes to the school website, but still it will be SO WEIRD having my name and this paragraph there.

Lol.

2010-03-30T13:25:00.004+08:00

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

2010-03-29T23:57:00.004+08:00

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.

2010-03-25T22:23:00.003+08:00

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.

2010-03-24T17:13:00.003+08:00

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. =)

2010-03-22T18:27:00.005+08:00

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.

2010-03-21T12:45:00.003+08:00

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.

2010-03-19T15:18:00.000+08:00

US children get Playboy, not Bugs Bunny in cable mixup

Omg. What the hell were they thinking?

Cameron

2010-03-18T22:01:00.000+08:00

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.

2010-03-14T00:16:00.002+08:00

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.

2010-03-13T16:50:00.007+08:00

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.

2010-03-12T22:11:00.006+08:00

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.

I have run out of titles for my posts. Hahahahaha.

2010-03-08T22:03:00.005+08:00

Apparently I look adorable here.

I seriously have not heard anyone calling me adorable in AGES.

I was goofing off cause I was bored and ~~Acap~~ MY BOYFRIEND (that stalker boyfriend of mine thinks that it's weird that I put "Acap" there and thinks I should be consistent when I talk about him and hence from here on forth he shall only be known as "My Boyfriend") and I had nothing to do while we were in Pavilion. So I ended up trying on these ridiculous hairbands and caps and hats and whatnots. And my boyfriend found it amusing to take pictures of me in all these ridiculous headgears. And this particular picture just had to end up on Facebook.

And so I have come to a conclusion that having a boyfriend who owns a Blackberry is very dangerous. Lol.

And it is still so amusing to me how people are so fascinated by my relationship with my boyfriend. It's like every little thing on our fb pages are being scrutinised by our friends. LOL.

Oh, by the way, I was bored yesterday, so I read up a photo essay on Time.com about Colourful Religious Festivals and then I saw this:

That, ladies and gentlemen, is a PIG. And it is so scary that they actually have a festival in Taiwan called the Pig of God Festival where they slaughter the heaviest pig they could find.

And it's even scarier that in order to make their pig heavier than normal, some people actually force-feed the pigs with SAND and METAL.

What.the.hell.

This totally takes cruelty to animals to a whole new level.

Mind you, I can't even eat pigs, so this by right shouldn't concern me.

But it does.

It's DISTURBING. Kesian the pigs.

Oh, and Anis was telling my boyfriend about how smart I am cause apparently even when I'm bored I still try to keep my mind moving. Which is true I guess, cause sometimes when I'm bored I end up doing Sudoku or Kakuro puzzles. Or read up random articles like the one above.

I like to keep my brain moving and frankly I see nothing wrong with that. Lol.

Okay, enough blabbing.

Oh wait. One more thing.

I'm starting my part-time RA job tomorrow! Wish me luck!!!!

Lol.

Nite, people. Love loads. =)

='(

2010-03-07T10:57:00.002+08:00

I read this a few days back:

Indian boy found dead near Melbourne Airport

And it made me think, no matter how much some racist people can't stand being around other races, to murder a three-year-old boy is just beyond comprehension.

What could actually possess them to kill a boy who could barely think for himself?

I hope they rot in hell.

=)

2010-03-04T17:30:00.001+08:00

I got the research assistant job!

I'll be starting next Tuesday and my lecturer said that there's a possibility that we might be going to Penang to collect data, with all expenses paid for. How awesome is that???

And the project that my lecturers are working on is about urban poverty, so should be very interesting, I hope.

And there's actually a Research Assistant room where I can do my work. With my own desktop computer. No more lugging around my laptop to do work! Hahahaha.

I really can't wait to start! Wish me luck!!!

I'm so excited now!

LOL.

2010-03-03T11:33:00.006+08:00

Yesterday I kept Liyana company while she was running some errands.

So anyways, while we were at Takaful at Menara Maybank in Bangsar, and while waiting for her to take out money, I sat and read the NST and then I caame across this article.

STUDY: SMOKERS HAVE LOWER IQs THAN NON-SMOKERS

For those who are too lazy to read the short article, basically it states that:

Young men who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day or more had IQ scores 7.5 points lower than non-smokers
The average IQ for non-smokers was about 101, while it was 94 for men who had started smoking before entering the military.
IQ steadily dropped as the number of cigarettes smoked increased, from 98 for people who smoked one to five cigarettes daily to 90 for those who smoked more than a pack a day.
IQ scores from 84 to 116 are considered to indicate average intelligence.
The researchers also compared IQs for 70 pairs of brothers in the group in which one brother smoked and the other did not. Again, average IQs for the non-smoking sibling were higher than for the smokers.

And the best bit of the article is the conclusion:

The findings suggest that lower IQ individuals are more likely to choose to smoke, rather than that smoking makes people less intelligent, Weiser and his team conclude.

No offense to smokers, but that last bit is So.Bloody.Funny. I almost laughed out loud when I read that part.

And then Liyana and I realised that we might be dating idiots. Which makes us the idiots.

Happy happy joy joy

2010-03-02T08:45:00.002+08:00

Oh My God.

I was asking my dad last week whether it was possible for him to get complimentary tickets to the Babyface concert this coming Friday, and he said "I already have 5 tickets."

I was jumping for joy obviously cause I like Babyface and free tickets are awesome. LOL.

So this morning my mom came into my room and asked me to keep the tickets for the concert cause my dad just got the tickets yesterday.

Nosy person that I am, I checked out how much these tickets would cost had they been on sale.

And I found out that each ticket caused RM453. *pengsan*

AND that these RM453 tickets are sold out.

So yes, I feel very lucky. I'm starting to like you very much, March.

Hahahaha.

Hello March. It's a pleasure to meet you. =)

2010-03-01T22:44:00.005+08:00

Today was the first day back to uni. =)

And I didn't know just how much I've missed being in Monash until I parked my car in the parking lot and stepped into the uni compound.

It amazed me how alien, yet familiar, the place felt like.

And it's amazing that I was actually really EXCITED to go back to classes.

But then again, after doing auditing, doing anything else definitely feels more exciting. Lol.

So anyways, went for my first class for the ONLY unit I'm taking this sem (it's still so weird saying that!) and when I went into the class, saw that I knew half of the people in the class, so it was like a mini-reunion for us. So happy to know that there are some people that I can go to for help should I not understand the assignment. Lol.

And when our lecturer (who I have known since I was in my first year back in '07) started talking about probabilities and optimum value in decision making and what functions to use in Excel, I seriously felt that in that one hour of lecture, I've used more of my brain capacity than when I was doing auditing for three months.

Yeah, doing Econometrics is challenging and can sometimes be a pain in the ass, and I'm pretty sure I'll start complaining soon enough, but weird person that I am, I seriously prefer doing this to auditing for the simple reason that as difficult as this unit is going to be, IT MAKES SENSE TO ME.

So yeah, totally not missing auditing.

Anyways, after my class, I went to see another lecturer of mine (who so happens to be the Deputy Head of School) to ask him about the possibility of being a Research Assistant since I have so much free time this sem.

So I think there's a BIG possibility that I'll soon be a part-time Research Assistant if nothing goes wrong.

Best part of the work? I'll only be working 20 hours a week! =D

AND I have a feeling the pay's gonna be more than my 50-hour week in BDO.

AND there's a possibility that I might be able to go for trips to rural areas to collect data by interviewing people. Which would so help my interaction skills since I suck at interacting with strangers. Lol.

This semester looks like it's starting on a bright note. Hopefully it'll stay that way. =)

Oh, on a totally different note, and just cause I can (and cause I like this picture and less people will see it here as compared to me putting it up on fb. Lol.):

This pic was taken during our trip down to PD where I totally surprised him with my knowledge of PD. Yep, those random trips I've taken down to PD has really made me an expert on the places to go to when you're in PD!

I have gone down to PD so many times that I can tell you how much the toll would cost if you took the highway.

Yes, it is scary.

And I am definitely available as a tour guide for anyone who wants to go down to PD. I charge by the hour, thank you very much. Lol.

PS: I've finally managed to import the old blog to this new one. I'm sooo happy cause the posts are all here now!!!! =D

!!!!

2010-02-24T11:41:00.000+08:00

I was cleaning up my cupboard a few days back and out of my jewelry box, these spilled out:

And I got so excited I started taking pictures. A bit jakun, but hey, these are pretty rare okay nowadays. In fact, I've completely forgotten how the old RM5 note looked like until I held it again in my hand. Lol.

I realised that I love the Ringgit's old designs! I felt like they have more character as compared to the new designs. So sad that these notes are no longer in circulation.

Does anyone else miss these notes?

PS: I realised that people couldn't comment on my posts. Fixed that already, so feel free to start commenting on the posts k people. =)

No-title post

2010-02-23T19:44:00.000+08:00

Read this in the newspaper this morning. Found this SO sad, yet so amusing at the same time:

WOMAN RETURNS SLAP FROM HUBBY WITH A STAB

Basically the husband was a bit drunk and was hitting on the neighbour or something like that. The wife saw him and they started arguing. The husband then insulted her and slapped her. The woman got so pissed off she stabbed the husband with a kitchen knife and now the hubby's in ICU.

Like they say, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. LOL.

Oh, was going through my old posts in the old blog and saw this:

Nat, Zaty, Alia circa 2008.

This was taken when Zaty was about to go off to Wellyland for the first time back in February of '08. Yep, we were all in black. LOL. I don't know why, but somehow I feel like among the three of us, I look the most different now. Zaty's jetting back to Wellington tonight and when I was saying goodbye to her, I was a bit sad la as usual cause I won't be able to see her for the next one and a half years, but she's like, "Don't worry la makcik. Sekejap je tu"

And it is true you know how time can fly by so fast.

It's been two years since that picture was taken. I can still clearly remember that day. =)

And it's so amazing to me that almost three months has gone by since the day I started my internship and that next week i'm going to be going back to classes.

And now I know why I don't want to work as an auditor. I realise that when I was working, I really looked forward to the weekends, even when it was just Monday.

All that time I was going through the motions. All because I didn't like what I was doing.

I don't want that to happen when I start working full-time. I want a job that allows me to actually enjoy my weekdays, not just the weekends. I don't want my life to just pass me by.

I don't want time to go by so fast that the next thing I know, some years have gone by and I can't remember whether I've done anything significant in those years.

I want to live, not just go through the motions.

That's not too much to ask for, right?

Oh yeah. Enough ramblings for today. Lol. Sorry if i made anyone out there depressed.

Alia's random post number God-knows-what.

2010-02-22T20:44:00.000+08:00

Like I mentioned in the previous post, these are the pictures of my siblings performing at my grandparents' 50th anniversary. Zara looked so adorable. And mischievous.

Other pictures from the night. Lol.

Wanna talk about random? This is VERY random. I was cleaning up my car and managed to salvage all these receipts from parking at the office. Yes, it's RM6 a day. And I have the majority of the receipts from the last 6 weeks at the office. It's annoying how around 20% of my measly salary went to paying for parking. Bloody hell.

Yep, I can be a bit bitter when it comes to work-related stuff. Lol.

Oh, by the way, I am SO ADDICTED TO GLEE. God, it's so addictive. I love the songs that they sing on the show.

One of the songs I love the most from the series is this one:

I seriously had tears watching this part of the episode.

Oh yes. I'm a total Gleek. So sue me. Lol.

6 weeks gone. Sorry.

2010-02-22T11:41:00.000+08:00

I haven't updated in a month.

Again.

I'm so sorry, but it was quite a hectic month, cause work basically took up most of my time and it was so bloody tiring.

Most of the days I go back from the office after Maghrib and the next day I'll be back at the office at 8.30.

And I was getting paid RM600 per month, mind you. And I actually do as much work as the other interns who are getting paid RM1000 because they have to do it for 6 months and it's compulsory for them. I was getting paid peanuts because I chose to work instead of enjoying my summer break. WTF. GOD I was annoyed. Still am, in fact.

And yes, I was actually counting down the days till I finished my internship.

I was grinning from ear to ear on that last day, and I know all the other interns were jealous of us cause we were finishing. Lol.

So now I have one more week of holidays before starting my final sem in Monash. And people are even more annoyed when they found out that I was only taking one unit with classes like one hour a day. Hey, I wanted to take Islamic Banking, but they refused to let me, so what can I do? Yes, I am enjoying this, as sadistic as that sound.

Oh yeahhhh, let me clear the air for those of you who are curious:

Yes, I am dating someone now. =)

But he doesnt like talking about it much so I've to respect that and I can just say that all the people who knew us found it a bit funny that we ended up together. Most of them still can't picture us together.

This is especially the case with our friends from high school, cause we've never talked during high school and only started talking when we were in Monash, so our mutual friends from high school really can't picture us together. LOL.

It's a really nice feeling having someone there, even though he's a staunch Manchester United supporter who is perpetually trying to convert me into a Man Utd fan.

Sorry sayang. That's the one thing you'll never be able to do. I will not convert into a Man Utd fan. EVER. My heart will forever belong to Arsenal, just like how yours belong to Man Utd. Lol.

And it's really funny to me to see so many people getting so excited that I'm in a relationship with him. Like yesterday, I've met up with Chee after not seeing her more than a year and she was just grinning at me and said "I like your Facebook." And she's not the first to say something like that.

I think they find it funny that I'm in a relationship with someone from Melawati. Oh well, things happen for a reason right?

Oh, and for the first time in my life, I actually got flowers on Valentine's Day.

Thank you so much for them. =)

Oh, talking about friends, Zaty came back from NZ for a month and i love how it doesn't matter that she hasn't been here for a year cause as soon as she stepped into my car the day after she came back, it felt like she never left. No awkward moments whatsoever. =)

And the adventurous foodies that we are (or so we'd like to think), we went to eat at Las Carretas for Mexican and later on went to Fullhouse for drinks, all in the same day. LOL. Oh, and we went to the Planetarium and National Art Gallery too that day. Yep, we are nerds. So what. It's fun. And cheap. But you might have kids looking at you funnily in the Planetarium. Especially if it was the outing day for the National Services kids. Hahahahaha.

But it's fun going to all these new places with friends. All the pics below are from Natnat's fb album:

Zaty. Always smiling. Lol.

Nat, Yana and I goofing off outside the National Art Gallery. Hahaha.

Las Carretas

Fullhouse

Oh, and these are some pictures from my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary on the 16th of January (Yeah, 50 years. I hope when I get married it'll be for that long, too!). Credit to the photographers:

www.flickr.com/hamdee72
www.flickr.com/semiclicks

I was sooooo proud of my siblings that night cause they did an acapella performance for my grandparents and everyone loved it. I was supposed to join them, but I just HAD TO FALL SICK that day, so I lost my voice and hence I couldn't join them up on stage.

Internet's a bit slow, so I'll try to upload some cute pictures of them performing later.

Okay. This post is a bit too long already. Lol.

I'll update soon, I promise!!!!

Just cause I can....

2010-01-13T12:27:00.001+08:00

From theoatmeal.com, the six types of crappy hugs. LOL:

And my absolute favourite (cause I always see guys doing this!!!):

Yes, I'm bored. Obviously. LOL.

Musings.

2010-01-13T05:07:00.000+08:00

I had soooo much fun over the weekend.

Went for the "Da Vinci - The Genius" exhibition at the Pusat Sains Negara with Natcho and Yana and I was so thoroughly amazed by how much this one man had done in his lifetime. They didn't bring in any of his arts, but there was one section of the exhibition that was dedicated to just the Mona Lisa. The number of inventions that this man made in his lifetime is astounding. He basically thought up the original parachute, the prototype of the modern car and helicopters, made war machines, set the foundations for drawing the human body and lots of other stuff.

It's amazing how one man can think of all this things. Makes me feel that we who live in this modern world are so inadequate compared to him. Yes, i am in awe. And I realised that I actually like going to museum to look at all these exhibitions. Some of them can be quite interesting. I might start making more trips to museums in the future. LOL.

After that, we went for karaoke/lunch at Red Box Plus in Pavilion. Felt like it wasn't such a bad deal to spend around RM32 per person since we haven't seen each other in ages and we got to use the room for close to three hours and we got buffet lunch at that. Food was so-so, but we had sooooooooooo much fun singing.

I felt a bit greedy though. I wanted to sing on all the songs. So basically my routine was sing one verse, eat one bite, continue singing. Repeat till end of song.

Took me forever to finish off my food! Tu la. Tamak lagi. Padan muka, Alia.

But I realise that I really love singing, but only with people that I'm comfortable enough with. So if I've started melalak-ing in front of you, whoever you may be, that means I'm comfortable enough with you. LOL.

OH, by the way, Liyana Samlan and I (I really have to start giving nicknames to my friends. It's hard when I have two really close friends by the name of Liyana!) went to Great Eastern Mall the other day for dinner after work, where she took me to Penang Village.

OMG. I absolutely FELL IN LOVE with the place.

The decor is so minimalist and it looks sooooooo pretty. The view pun quite nice. And the food is around RM10 to RM15 per dish, which is a bit pricey, but okay la for that sort of setting.

And they have the best bandung cincau cause it's so pink, but it's not sweet. Just the way I like it. =)

Will definitely tarik someone to go with me there one day. I don't care who. Lol.

Oh yeah. Let’s talk a bit about work.

I’m into Week 7 now, and I have 4 more weeks to go!!!! Omg. I can’t wait for the internship to end.

But actually right, halfway through it now, i realise that auditing might not be so bad after all. But I’m still not sure whether I want to do it as a profession later on. My mind’s still leaning towards the “DO NOT BECOME AN AUDITOR” thoughts, though. Lol.

The other day I was telling Sham that I didn’t want to be an auditor after I graduate from Monash.

And then he said something that completely surprised me and made me feel so much better.

He told me that his senior was impressed with the working paper that my senior and I have done for our interim audit cause ours looked neat and organized and thick. Yep. Not the most environmentally-friendly, but definitely hardworking twosome. Lol.

And somehow that made me feel sooooo much better, knowing that there are people who are impressed with the work that my senior and I have done. =)

Oh, and I seriously feel like I’m being spoilt by my senior cause she never lets me go home past 6.30 pm. There was one day when I had to help her and had to stay in the office until 7.30, and she was asking me “Are you sure you can stay? You don’t mind?”

So yeah, while some of the other interns sometimes only get to go back at like 8 or 9 or 10 plus, I’m usually gone by 7.45 the latest. And usually when I’m in the office, she even lets me go back at 5.30 sharp. LOL.

But I guess it also helps that I am competent when it comes to using Microsoft Excel, cause usually when she gives me a task, I can finish it off by the end of the day. Hence why sometimes I still have time to go on fb while in the office. Lol.

And she doesn’t treat me like I’m incompetent and she helps me when I don’t understand the work I’m doing. Now that I think about it, this is the second senior that I’ve had that’s been helpful. Yeah, I do feel lucky right now cause some of the interns got scary seniors that expects the intern to know everything.

So yeah, nice seniors make going to work a little bit better. Haha.

But I am so ready to go back to being a student. Joining the workforce permanently can wait for another few months. I’m in no hurry.

OH, but talking about going back to becoming a student, I can only take ONE unit next semester. 4 hours of classes out of a possible 13, so yes, I will be VERY free next semester.

And Liyana came up with the most brilliant idea.

She suggested that I try asking our Econometrics lecturer whether it's possible for me to work as a research assistant.

And I'm actually seriously thinking about it, you know.

I mean, rather than me going to Monash and wasting my time doing nothing, I might as well use this opportunity to see whether I want to workin the Econometrics field or the accounting field after I graduate.

So yeah. We'll see how things go.

Funny how I might end up doing something totally different than what I'm currently doing at work.

Okiedokes. Need to get back to work. LOL.

Using my lunch hour to write this post. Haha.

2010-01-04T21:03:00.000+08:00

I love 2010 so far!!!!!!!!

The first few days of the year has been very kind to me.

I spent my the coming of the New Year by going to McD with Miss Liyana Sarah Rizal Wong. Yeah, at midnight I was busy eating Cornetto Sundae. No fireworks or anything. Yana and I ended up getting a bit high on sugar and kinda walked like semi-retards back to the car. LOL. Yeah, we can look like drunkards even though we've never had a drop of booze in our lives. Was nice catching up since I've not seen her for a long time.

And then during the day on the 1st I went to see Ine, who I've not seen since October, and Farizah, who I've not seen since last January, when i went over to Sydney. Yep. ONE YEAR.

I was a bit scared that it was gonna be a bit awkward seeing Far again cause I haven't seen her in a year, but nope, there was no awkward moments whatsoever with them.

It's funny how we did practically nothing the whole day. Hahahahaha. So yeah. 31st December/1st January was basically my catch-up day with people that I've not seen in ages. =)

But one thing I realise about my girl friends is that they life to curse. Like all the time. My cursing is considered mild next to them. Funny how my guy friends try not to curse in front of me, but the girls curse like nobody's business.

Alia, Far, Ine. Jan 2010.

Ine, Alia, Far. Jan 2009. =)

Looking at those two pics, I don't think any one of us has changed that much. LOL.

OH, I got one of the BEST presents from Ine that day. Okay fine. I asked for it from her, but still it's nice that she got it for me. LOL.

This is what she gave me:

I am absolutely CRAZY about Delta Goodrem. Have been since 2003, when I first heard of her song "Not Me, Not I". She's definitely one of my favourite singers. Almost 60 songs out of the 979 songs in my laptop are her songs. LOL.

I really wanted to go for her concert while I was in Sydney, but the tickets were sold out, so I guess this is the closest I could get to actually watching her live.

Omg. She is soooooooooooooooo goood live. I LOVE HER.

Among my favourite songs from the concert would be these two:

And since the DVD comes with an Audio CD version of the Live concert, I have been listening to Delta Goodrem non-stop for the past three days and I love every single song that I've been listening to. <3<3<3

Oh, talking abotu songs, apparently I'm a Human I-Pod according to Dina cause I can sign practically all the songs that come on the radio without even realising it. LOL.

What can I say? I love singing. But only with a selected number of people. You know who you areeee. LOL.

2/1/10:

The annual December babies celebration for Anis (10th), my cousin Tisha (30th) and my grandfather (31st). The last picture is of the cupcakes that my aunt made for my brother cause he got 8 A's for his PMR. =)

The barbequed food was awesome that night. I had way too much food. As usual.

3/1/2010:

We were about to go out for dinner that day. And then I heard my mum calling me and asking me to go look at what's outside.

And then I saw it.

A new car.

And the number plate. 4488.

I almost DIED.

And when i asked my dad, he just handed me the keys.

I SCREAMEDDDDDDDD.

Never in my life did I think my dad was going to buy a car with the 4488 number plate for me.

Of course I'll have to take over the repayment, but oh well, anything for my 4488 number plate! Lol.

Alia with her new baby.

Wani took a lot of pictures of me during dinner just cause I was sitting across her and everyone else was sitting a bit further away. Haih. Random pics from dinner:

Anis and I were watching the Olympics replay about the weight-lifting event. We were amazed cause there was one guy who actually managed to lift 202.5 kg of weight. WTF.

Amazing things that people can do.

So yeah. 1st weekend of 2010 was definitely to my liking! =)

Hope your weekend was as good as mine! =)

I gotta go.

Love loads! =)

Bye Bloggie =)

2010-01-03T10:36:00.000+08:00

After much contemplation (fine, I contemplated for half a day!), I've decided to move this blog to another address.

So starting from today, I'll be moving to this new address:

http://alia-azani.blogspot.com

And you guys are more than welcome to join me in my transition from the old blog to the new one. =D

Don't worry. I'll export everything from this blog to the new one. =) But I just felt like it was time for a name change after more than three years.

So see you guys there! =D

Love loads!!!

1st post!

2010-01-03T09:51:00.000+08:00

WELCOMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

New year, new beginning, right?

So just cause it's 2010, and cause I have reached my 300 post benchmark in the old blog, I've decided to switch to this blog because frankly, I don't want to be remembered as "SUGAHOLIC" anymore when I'm 25. LOL.

So welcome to my new blog! =D

Don't worry. I'll be exporting everything from the old one to this one.

Maybe I'll be exporting the posts at the end of the month. Give people a one-month transitional period. LOL.

So watch this space.

I'm gonna start babbling again soon enough!

Happy New Year!!!! =)

My 2009.

2009-12-31T16:28:00.000+08:00

364 days ago, I blogged my New Year's Resolution, which was to (and I quote):

Smile more, cause I'm not that generous with smiles. LOL.
Lose weight. Enough said.
Donate blood. God, is it so hard for me to actually donate blood?
Be more active.
Stop worrying about everything.
Be friendlier.

Hahaha.

In 2009, I have managed to:

Do Number 1, 2, 4 and 6. LOL. I know I've been more generous with my smiles this year. LOL. And yes, I have lost weight. I'm quite happy with my weight now. And i think I have been more active. I THINK. As for number 6, I'm proud to say that I've made new friends this year and I've opened up to some old ones. =)
Travelled alone to Australia. First time I've ever travelled anywhere alone. And the longest I've been away from my family. Yep. 17 days is the longest to date that I've been away from my family. LOL.
Gotten a new phone. AGAIN.
Changed how I look. =) But if some people think that just because I look better now, they can approach me and think I'm gonna forget how they used to screw me over last time, they are so, so wrong. I'm still the same person I was before, except with straight hair. It's annoying how people think they can approach me now just cause I'm supposedly prettier. Eh, if you've never approached me back then, what makes you think I'm gonna talk to you now? Yeah, you know who you are.
Gotten through an interview with confidence and without sounding like a total idiot. And ending up getting the job, too! =)
Gotten through the suckiest semester I've ever had in Monash with my average marks (and dignity) still intact. =)
Lose my baby boy. I love you so much, Dimitri. ='(

Actually, being able to wake up everyday is a mini-accomplishment, isn't it? LOL.

Here's to you, 2009. I'll miss you. =)

And here's to a great 2010 for everyone. Let's hope that every coming day will be better than the days before, but less than the days after. Like they say "More than yesterday, less than tomorrow". =)

Happy New Year everyone!!!!!!!

2009-12-31T09:31:00.000+08:00

With my beloved friend and her boyfriend, both whom I know will forever have my back.

Cepat la kahwin.

LOL.