twilight

I had no idea what Twilight was about, and I didn't care, at first. But my daughter, she's into it (but she's not THAT into it - phew), thanks to her peers.

So one day, just a few months back, her friend came over with the Twilight DVD and they wanted to watch together. So I thought I better sit down with them to know what they are watching. And that's
how I got... to know about it and liked it. Maybe what I liked most about it is the intriguing character of Edward Cullen and his look, ONLY in that movie. Seriously, if he is for real, and I'm
single (and I'm dreaming), I don't think I would fancy him that much because he is very temperamental. And if a guy like that hovers over you to watch you like that, in real life... most girls I know
will feel suffocated. And the fact that he is a vampire.. hmm.. I mean girls.. SERIOUSLY, you're talking about the likes of jins here.

And then I read about that Twi-mum thing on TNP, and I'm happy to report that I'm not in that group. Twi-mums are women in their 30s and 40s, who are married and with children (obviously), who are
craaaazy about the twilight series and robert pattinson (or is it edward cullen?). They, the mothers, paste posters of edward cullen or robert pattinson on their wardrobe doors (kan da kotor), have
his figurines, spend hours reading the books and watching the movies like... 9 times, and they prefer to be undisturbed by husbands or kids (girlfriends are okay), in their own fantasy world, when
watching the movie.

It's funny that it's making news like it's something trival, because it's not. It's seriously not good for their family life and mental health.

My friend and I, we were talking about what makes them go crazy like that. One of the ladies interviewed said, perhaps they fancy Edward Cullen (or Robert Pattinson?), because he has with him, what
they know they cannot get from their husbands in real life (something to that effect).

And I find this to be a real problem. This kind of movies, set unrealistic expectations in them, of their husbands or of the man they are looking for. They always forget, that most movies, are
exaggerations of real life.. or just selected scenes from whole deal in real life.

Like in a relationship, I'm sure there ARE moments with your spouses, where you feel smittened - those happy and intimate moments... and if you collect all these selected memories and put them
together, I'm sure you'll find that your husbands, are just like those leading actors in the movies you like (plus or minus a bit).

In real life, there are such intimate romantic moments, and there are normal moments, and there are the not so good moments. This is REAL life. If you're smittened 24 hours a day, I'm sure you'll
get sick of it too. It's like being fed sweet stuff (e.g. sweets and chocolates) for the whole day - you'd feel like puking. You would want to take something spicy and/or bitter too. (e.g. sambal
tumis and/or coffee). So....

I saw New Moon, and I think Twilight, as a whole movie package, is better than New Moon. I'm talking about the plots, scenes, logic (like there's much in the first place.. but still..), story line and
the ending (the ending in New Moon and one slow-mo-running-in-the-forest scene, I like.... cannot carry ah..). No, I didn't read any of those books and I don't know them from the book aspect. Okay,
okay... I admit, I find Jacob's running transformation into a werewolf cool - that was a scene that made me think that, yes, maaaybe I should watch New Moon.. you know to accompany my daughter...

Oh yes, stuff I learnt from twilight and new moon.
a. vampires can live in nice glass houses in the forest (pretty, I like).
b. vampires can climb trees and win marathons.
c. vampires are ice cold and werewolves are hot (like they are their own sun).
d. vampires and werewolves have mood swings.
e. werewolves must have short hair.
g. vampires don't sleep, werewolves do.
h. carlisle cullen is the best looking of them all.

p.s for those who wants to try to be cured of the 'robert-pattinson' craze, you may want to watch another movie he acts in, it's called 'How to Be' :p I admire him as an actor.

The green gooey stuff.

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Landing soon at a theatre near you.

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importance in finding the source

In any rulings or news, it is important to find the source of it, to determine it's authencity and correctness - and to see if the judgement with which the information or rule was derived at, is relevant and in context.

The importance was proven again just now.

I was planning to go out with my girls & Aida. Eema and Nadhrah, just came back from Aida's place.

There I was, in the room, smsing Aida to confirm what time we should meet downstairs, when suddenly Hanaa called out from outside my room, saying 'aunty aida is not going, y'know'

So, I went out of my room and I asked Hanaa, how she got that idea? She said from Eema. I asked Eema how she knew that - she said from Nadhrah.. and then I asked Nadhrah how did she find out that aunty aida is not going, and Nadhrah said,'abis dia tak siap pun...**'


** 'cause she was not getting ready...'

Friends to feed session

Who wants to be maryam's friend? She'll do d food for u!


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Malam raya @ Senja.

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the mission

So, the last two days, I was assigned to be an emcee for my company's regional IT conference. I have never been an emcee before (as far as I can remember well.. actually I can't recall if I have ever actually emceed a D&D event before, or if I had only been the organiser, and not the emcee).

When I was first informed that the director had asked me to become one, I was most surprised. And the first thing that went through my mind was that this is a chance for me to 'show' of a 'covered' Muslim woman's existence in the IT arena, and insyaAllah, the ability to communicate well - to the many country representatives from Asia & Oceania in the conference.

Alhamdulillah, these two days went well, and 2-3 of the conference participants actually came up to me to say that I did well (masyaAllah), and that it was quite professional.. aaand.... that I have a nice voice. Muahaha.. I seriously did not think so before that. :p

Seriously, it was all unexpected, and I can only say, masyaAllah and alhamdulillah. I hope my 'mission' was accomplished.

poor guys..

Today, I had the opportunity to talk to two interesting group of people, from two totally different cultures.

The first group of people I spoke to, were the guys from India. First we were talking about attractions in Singapore, then it went on to cultures in Singapore.. and then one of them mentioned about differences on the train. I thought they were going to talk about how clean and comfortable trains in Singapore are, and how dirty it is over there. But I was wrong. Luckily, I didn't say it out.

They told me that when an Indian guy goes up the train in India, and he opens up a newspaper to read, the people around him, on the train, can actually ask him for pages, that he's not reading. And so those people in the train, will be reading all the different pages of the newspaper.. it's shared. Mind you, they don't know each other. And when the guy wants to get down, he can ask for the pages back. I was like... REALLY??????????

So, when this guy first came to Singapore, and took the train for the first time, he felt awkward ignoring people, so he turned to the stranger beside him, smiled at him and said, 'Hi I'm Anand', and the guy next to him gave him a funny look and went.. 'ok..' heh.. poor guy.


Then, during the event dinner, I was seated with some people I don't know. Then one guy, he looked Japanese, he kept looking at me and suddenly he asked.. 'kamu bisa bahasa melayu?' And started speaking in Indonesian..

I told him I thought he was Japanese.. didn't know he is Indonesian Chinese.. He said, he IS Japanese. He has been in Indonesia for 2 months, and has been taking Bahasa lessons for two months now. Impressive. The other Japanese guy seated next to him, he explained, is stationed in India.. and he is suffering because there's no Japanese food, and he is still trying to adapt to the surroundings and culture and food in India. And most times, he can't understand the Indians.. especially outside the office.

To think that he will be there for another 21 months... poor guy.

Ion (pronounced ai-on)

I know why there's lesser things to blog about now. I mean to really go into detail to describe...

It's because, basically, it's all the SAME stuff repeating themselves in life. You know.. like the 'circle of life'.

I can't tell you how many times I've stared at a blank screen, trying to think of something useful to blogged about, that I haven't blog about before.

But now that I'm here, I do have something to say.

This week I went to the range to hit some golf balls. This morning, both my arms were aching, especially the right one.
I was thinking of taking up golf, so that I can spend a bit of time with my husband and son, and my husband can buy me cute and nice ladies golf stuff that he said he would get for me, if I play golf. Oh and most interesting of all, is to be able to go onto the golf course, where the scenery's beautiful, spacious and green.. to take photos. Having said all that, let's see if I will stay interested long enough, for me to get the license to play.

On fashion news, last night, when I was with Nurleen (hi!), my daughter called to say that she has 'nothing' to wear to graduation night. I told her to go find SOMETHING to wear from home. There MUST be something. A few minutes later, hubby called to ask me to give her support and bring her out to buy something to wear. It was nearly 8pm. What time was I suppose to go home, fetch her and go out again? Anyhow I listened to the husband and went back. To cut the story short, at last the husband, brought my daughter and me out, to ION Orchard, to find something there.

He said to go to Uniqlo. I like that shop. Some of the clothes look chic, and comfortable AND they are affordable - from Tokyo. The washing instructions were in Japanese, but...oh well. I have a strong feeling that I'll be back there again to shop for pants, jeans, shirt, cardigans etc.

Then, we went to Dr Cafe Coffee. Hubby wanted to try. I think the place, ambience, drink choices - are better than starbucks and coffee bean. And they also have the dates cookies, which I like. I wonder if they have an outlet in KL.

I love it, that we did not patronise or consume any western products, while out shopping last night. I mean like clothes from tokyo and drinks from arab... that's what I think is cool.

30 mins more to end of work week. Yippie.

*unplugged!*

lol

I find it funny that my daughter actually says out 'lol' (not even spelling it), when there's a funny scene from a comedy show. So, what is real now? A real laugh or chuckle.. or just a grin (:D) and saying out 'lol'. That's a funny (weird) expression. And she's not even online. Oh ok.. sometimes she is watching some comedy on youtube, so technically she is online.. but...uh.

Anyway.. it's no big deal.. just an observation.

I should start speaking in Arabic to her.. not like I KNOW how.. but just those things like.. 'look!' or 'faster!' and 'i want.. (followed by a malay or english word)'.. i can manage. still, i always forget to do it. No, this is in no relation to the above (lol).

mental disorder

So, while i was having my pedicure at a shop, 'gossip girl' was playing on their tv.

Gossip Girls is about a bunch of girls and boys who have nothing else on their mind except sex and possible flings/pointless relationships. During the start of the show.. it was already like this girl making out with that boy, that boy with another girl and another girl with the friend's boyfriend.. it's like they have some mental disorder.

And then, two girlfriends whose self and bodies have no value whatsoever, were talking after a 'summer holiday' and one of them was exasperated that her friend was not enjoying herself, having sex with any of the many boys at the beach.

My GOD!! Sick pointless show - there was no real plot or story whatsoever to the whole episode - it's like if it's minus the making out part.. it's just like a story about people walking/driving/eating.

I was almost sure then, the creator of this stupid show must be a male. And true enough it is. What more can I say.

A piece of crap. Yuck.

And i thought it's only for kids..

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Lame attempt at vegetable n fruit art.

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15 cm above the ground

Sometimes, I feel like I'm out of this real world.
But then, what IS the real world?

The real world is neither what we see in movies, nor is it what we see in our bustling cities and the adverts on radio, tv, billboards everywhere.

It's quite tricky to stay grounded. And it's quite tricky to pen your inner thoughts when your daughter is next to you humming Michael Jackson's Who Is it.

She has gone out now.

Yes, it's quite tricky to stay grounded with the real purpose of life, when you are being bombarded with all these distorted images and views about what successful life means.

When I'm watching movies or after I watch a movie, I have to keep reminding myself of what those really are. They are just exaggerated and overblown normal events that happen to everyday people. And I'm just talking about dramas.. not even the overly fictitious characters and stories like super heroes, science fictions, vampires and what-nots.

That's what drama is - exaggerated feelings and reactions to overblown normal events.

If I'm having some issues with these.. I wonder how it is for the younger ones, who don't have clear notions of what is real and what is made up.. what is purely, wastefully entertainment only and what actual life is about.

It's no wonder then, that a LOT of people have distorted expectations of life or people around them, of their spouses and their parents and their children. Poor us, always trying hopelessly to be what we will never be able to achieve in this world. In these area and in this sense, we are always.. close to the ground but not really grounded.

We need to shake ourselves into alertness every now and then.

A business trip to Hong Kong

Frankly, I have not been keen on going to anywhere other than Malaysia for holidays. Even Indonesia. My main concern is if the toilet is clean, and is the area clean.. and if I can eat there.

So anyhow, when I was told to go to Hong Kong on a business trip, I was thinking.. 'wookay.. let's see how I'll survive.. let that itself, be the interesting part of the trip'. And so I went with an open mind.

FIRST DAY
I went there with my Chinese colleague, MQ. We took the 1330hrs flight from Singapore and reached there about 5pm. The airport was huge, and the standard comparable to Changi Airport.


this is a walkway, just outside the airport, towards the taxi stand. We were to take the Urban Taxi.

And this is a bridge across the islands - they are, masyaAllah, quite a sight.


We stayed at Harbour Plaza Metropolis, in Kowloon. As soon as we checked in and put our bags, we headed to the Ladies Market at Tung Choi Street, in Tsimtsatsui area. A.K.A. to me as the Petaling Street in Hongkong, with much lesser counterfeit products.

I ended up buying a lot of stuff there, compared to MQ, who suggested it in the first place.

We walked around town a bit, while looking for the entrance to the train station that would take us back to Hung Hom where our hotel was.



See this disabled man, making a living.. I'm impressed.


The first night, we had dinner at McDonalds.. and I just had the Fillet.

SECOND DAY - THE PEAK
Today is when we're suppose to report to our HK office. Our HK colleagues said we could walk to the office from our hotel, but when we asked the front desk, he thought it would be 'difficult' for us. So we took a cab.

But after work, they explained to us how to walk, and we tried, since we were not rushing, and it turned out to be, quite an easy route.

MQ wanted to bring me to The Peak. She said I would love it there if I like to take photos. Took a ferry from Kowloon pier to Central. From there, we took bus no. 15 to The Peak. The bus was going up so fast, we decided that we'd definitely take the tram down later. Up there, it was very cooling, not so very cold.. and the view was spectacular.



THIRD DAY - DISNEYLAND
Today, we walked to the office in the morning. I like walking among the locals.
And then after work, our destination was Disneyland. It was very easy to get to. Just take the MTR to Sunny Bay - and there will be a train that takes you to Disneyland.




Since it was already a night, we didn't get much chance to take rides. Not like I want to so much anyway. It was Halloween month, so.. In most recorded public and rides & shows announcements, they spoke in English and Cantonese. So, it's ok for non-cantonese-speaking people like me.

But during one boat ride.. they had a boat where they'll speak in chinese, then another boat where the tour guide will speak in English. Of course I took the English one. Ok, I will not exaggerate and say that I may as well have taken the Chinese one.. but..you really have to pay attention, if you want to understand what the local guide was saying in English.. Throughout the whole ride, it was spoken without an punctuation marks and with a cantonese-like-pronounciation. :p

Other than that, there was the Halloween parade.. the announcement for the parade was in English/Cantonese.. then during the parade, the ghosts were 'shouting' some ghostly stuff in Cantonese throughout the whole parade :D It was cute I guess.

11pm, when the place closed, we took the train back to the hotel. We had walked SO MUCH the last three days.. that we skipped dinner that night, because we can't bear the thought of having to walk some more, to go to any restaurant at Tsimtsatsui.

FOURTH DAY - LAST MINUTE SHOPPING
Having walked and worked the last few days, this time we took our time to wake up and go down for breakfast. By the time we did go down for breakfast, it was 9plus. Checked out after breakfast and took the hotel shuttle to Tsimtsatsui, to go to Sogo. I couldn't believe myself.. I spent $2000 buying 4 wallets/purses for myself and 1 for my daughter. I'm not usually like that. Oh.. that would be in HKD. Converted to SGD.. it's about just below $400.

Right after that, we decided that we should leave the shopping area asap and go back to the hotel to go to the airport. We wanted to go on the cable car near the airport, but didn't have time.



At the airport, Popeyes was Halal certified.. i had my lunch there.. we took our time to look at some more stuff at the airport, then checked in. 4pm SIA flight from HK to SIN is the Airbus A380.



I think the flight to and fro was also enjoyable for me, because I just wanted to watch movies. On the way to HK, I got to watch My Sister's Keeper.. and then on the way back, I watched 500 Days of Summer.. which was quite good.

I think I wouldn't mind planning a holiday with my family to Hong Kong next time. I've expanded my horizon. Alhamdulillah :p