Alia's 22nd - in pictures.

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. =)

6 weeks gone. Sorry.

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!!!!

Musings.

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.

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! =)