The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

i finished the last book over the weekend and this is now what i'm reading.  the first few pages is intriguing, i must say.

 i found myself taking that extra 5 minutes to read in bed this morning only to find the extra 5 minutes turn into an extra 30 minutes (horrors!).

my current read

i finished reading The Piano Teacher today and am now on my next book, the Chinese Whispers.

books, books and more books

i have a mountain of books that i purchased at warehouse sales that i have yet to read....not that i'm complaining really. 

it's really very comforting to know that i have a constant supply of books to read. the only problem is that i don't seem to have enough time to indulge in my book reading habits.

...sigh... if only i had more time to hang out with my books more... nothing like a lazy morning in bed curled up with a book...

my current read

i finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns last night and this is my current read...

back to the grind

it's back to work for me tomorrow  :( 

where did my 5 day break go???

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

...and this is my current read. I started reading it today.

It's by the same author as The Kite Runner. I bought both books in the same warehouse sale.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

I finally got around to reading this book. It's a sad story really. I wonder if I would want to watch the movie version of it now...

ahhh....such bliss...

the much awaited for  b r e a k  is finally here... i have looked forward to this four day stretch of a break for a long time. nothing like having some time to myself just doing the things that i want to do and not have to think of work.

why

why are some people so rude?

from now on...

... I will speak less
... I will listen to no evil
... I will leave work on time
... I will not get involved with the politics in that place
... I will keep my opinions to myself
... I will not let the paranoia get to me
... I will not let the negative vibes affect me

loving your job (even though you hate it!)

I came across this article entitled Keeping a Job You Hate which I thought made a lot of sense. It gives good old fashion advice:

Don’t quit a job until you’ve nailed down a new one.

A few self reminders:

Three things I like about the job:

1. Location, location, location
It's near my home.
It's near my favorite shopping mall.
It's in the middle of somewhere instead of being in the middle of nowhere (as was the case with my last job location).
It's convenient for me to swing by the shopping mall after work for my groceries or window shop after work.
I get to check out the warehouse sales that I love since my office is in civilization now.
I get to have Subway for lunch.

2. Work Hours
Okay, so I do put in long hours but I really don't have to be there and when I do put in long hours, it's because I want to and not because I have to --- now, that makes a lot of difference. Technically, I only need to work from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm.

3. Parking
I get to park in the basement where my car is nice a cool after a long day at work.

4. Numbers
The student numbers are small.

5. Workload
I have less student work to mark due to the low student numbers. When I do give my students homework, half of the students don't do it, thus making my workload even less!!!  :)

6. Restrooms
The restrooms in the building where I work are clean and there is a constant supply of toilet paper in the cubicles most of the time.

7. Blessed
Everyday, I wake up with a prayer --- that Allah blesses my day. I am blessed to be alive. I am blessed to have a job and a source of income. I thank Allah for giving me a source of income.

Hey, that's more than 3 things!!!

Starting my day right
Lately, I've been going to work early (at least 2 and a half hours earlier!) which enables me to put in some hours to plan my lessons over a leisurely breakfast while watching the world around me. I also get free tea refills while I take my own sweet time to read the newspaper over breakfast. Doing my work over breakfast allows me to concentrate on my work without the stress of the office environment and without the interruptions from my colleagues.

When I do make the effort to go home early, I get to get a few hours of snooze time! (I really should get back to my speed walking routine though...).

The Lost Diaries of Andrian Mole 1999- 2001

Actually, I finished reading this book a few weeks ago. It took me quite awhile to finish reading it. I guess it's just not my kind of book but hey, this is my first attempt with any of the Adrian Mole series books.

Torn Apart: A True Story of A Lost Childhood by James Patterson & Hal Friedman

I've just finished this book. It's a true story of how a boy by the name of Cory coped and overcame a little known and understood condition called Tourette's syndrome.

a happier me :)

I came across this article entitled Loving your Day Job and Your Life by Summer Pierre . Many of us are unhappy in our day jobs. What can we possibly do to make our jobs a happier occcurence in our lives?

Summer Pierre, suggests avoiding office gossip like the plague as it can be draining --- how very true. As much as it may be a way to create intimacy with the others at work, it also can drag you down as there is absolutely nothing that you can do about it, so why indulge in gossip in the first place?

This is something that I absolutely MUST work on as I have a hard time trying to distance myself away from people at work who come to me with office gossip. I really MUST leave work as soon as I am finished with my last class of the day. To hell with office gossip!! All it does is generate negative vibes.

She also says that we need to figure out what abundance means for us. I totally agree with this.

Many people associate abundance with money but is it really all about money or could abundance be interpreted on other terms? How do you define 'abundance'?

For me, it is the level of sanity that I can have in a day. The ability to have 'me time' to do the things that I love (for me that means being able to read books... and lots of it!!!). Of lately, that would also mean being able to have time to workout and not feel sooo knackered at the end of the workday that I feel like not working out at all.

early morning walks

I'm proud of myself --- I've been working out first thing in the morning after I wake up. I've been doing it for four straight days. It makes the long weekend holidays worthwhile :)

I wonder if I would be able to keep it up during the weekdays...

Lion Dance

I was in Mid Valley earlier today and saw the acrobatic lion dance. It was amazing.

It certainly has been a long time since I last saw a lion dance. The precision and coordination of the lion dancers as they performed the acrobats on the stilts was simply awesome!

The dancers really made it  look as if the lion was alive and had a personality of its own. It looked around at the crowd, blinked its eyes and shook its behind --- it was sooo cute!!!

perceptions

Strange things are happening at work. I have to look for another job. I don't like how the current place is run. I don't agree with the management's decision. They make some pretty strange decisions. 

Students have successfully removed one teacher. They seem to play favourites. You are not valued for your knowledge and what you can bring to the table. You are valued for making the students happy (never mind if all that you do is talk the whole time and no real learning takes place). 

Students seem to think that talking to a native speaker will make their speech better. Thing is, native speakers are unable to detect and correct inaccuracies in students' languages but they speak with the right accent and that is all that matters.

I doubt if the students can tell the difference between a trained teacher and an untrained one, but that is all unimportant. All that matters to them is that the teacher sounds the part.

Many of them tell me that they want to live in an inner circle country. They have no idea that inner circle countries are not interested in taking in Middle Easterners.    

the monsoon

There was drama at work. The teacher who was told that her services were no longer needed threw a fit in the teachers' room.

She was annoyed (and who could blame her for feeling that way) and probably hurt too. She has been teaching for over 30 years and this has never happened to her before. She was close to tears when I arrived at the scene. It was ackward --- I didn't know what to do. I walked in, saw the scene going on and slowly turned the other way around and left the room.

I think the students just have absolutely NO idea what they are turning away. They say that her classes are boring... but don't you learn even from boring classes??? Thing is, teacher is in her 70's and you don't expect someone that age to break into a song and dance in her classroom. She was trained in the day and age when you don't have fun in the classroom but does that make her a bad teacher by today's standards???

Should this be even allowed?

Should students be allowed to dictate which teachers should be teaching them? Should students be allowed to have a say in the termination of a teacher's services?

The students where I work have ganged up and decided that they didn't like their teacher. Over the span of just two days, they have managed to pressure the manager to terminate their teacher. On what grounds, you ask? Her crime? Her lessons were boring. Is that enough grounds for terminating a teacher?

It's bad karma and I certainly hope that what goes around comes back and hits them in their faces. There is a God out there.

footsie spa

i bought a pumice stone and foot scrub and treated feet to some pampering.  i should do this more often. bliss :)

my completed reads

I finished reading Busy Woman Seeks Wife last month and Before I Knew Him last week.

the story: the beginning

here are the characters:
siamese cat
pillsbury
material girl
runaway
scientist
craftsman
servant
peter pan
hunk

Strange sayings in the nite

Pillsbury has been saying some pretty strange things to Craftsman. There is great likelihood that Pillsbury says these things to Craftsman with the intention that Craftsman will convey the message to the commoners. These revelations are normally conveyed to Craftsman at night. Unknown to Pillsbury, Craftsman has no intentions of becoming the messenger.

The Royal court incapable of appreciating a good piece of art

The Royalty wasn't impressed with Peter Pan. It isn't Peter Pan's fault. The Royalty (as is often the case) just doesn't know how to appreciate a good artist.

Pillsbury thinks that the solution is to present the Royalty with a bouquet of lilies. Pillsbury thinks that lilies will make his shop smell good. Never mind that the lilies aren't qualified in the required area and don't know the technicalities that come with the art, nor do they know the lines to the script.

He thinks that the Royalty will be in awe of lilies which they could very well be but it isn't ethical to present someone who has no technical skills and expect the Royal family to be acquire some skills in the art of Kama Sutra in return.  

my current read

i'm reading this book at the moment.

2010

yup, another year and another list of new author reads and to start it off is this one that i just finished reading a few days ago.

this one is not really my genre of choice --- kind of harry potter-ish.  i picked this one up from the bookcrossing zone. 

what i found interesting about this book is that its characters are based on real people as well as mythology.

Cotton On

I just discovered Cotton On in 1-Utama (okay, I'm probably the last person on the planet to discover this!).  I saw loads of people in the store (there was a sale on).

I'd never heard of the brand before and went into the store to see what was going on.  I LOVED it!!!  People were going crazy and the clothes were everywhere...the last time I saw anything that resembled this was when I was in Primark in London.

The prices were affordable and there were loads of stuff that I liked (and bought!). In fact, I loved it sooo much that I went back there the next day (when the displays were more organized).

my current read

and this is what i'm reading now.  i started reading it a few days ago.  it's a series of essays.  it's almost like reading a journal filled with snippets of thoughts.  some of the essays are pretty humourous.

If You Could See Me Now by Cecilia Ahern

i finished reading this book over the last weekend.  think about falling in love with someone that nobody else can see --- your imaginary friend!!!  okay, so we all know that imaginary friends don't exist but hey, it's an idea and makes a nice story to curl up in bed and read.

anniversary

yesterday was ayah and mak's 50th anniversary. 

a birthday wish

you may not be with me, but not a day passes by when i don't think of you.  you never stopped believing in me.  i miss our chats.  i wish you were here.  there are no words to describe just how much i miss you. 

happy birthday ayah.  i love you.

31 Dream Street by Lisa Jewell

started reading this a few days ago and am just about to finish reading it today  :)  time to think about my next read!

small things, great day :)

small things, big impact. 

i was in the lift today going down.  it was a packed as  more and more people kept getting on it as we were heading down towards the ground floor.

when i got to the ground floor, i stepped out.   i meant to pick up a copy of the Sun as i normally do each morning on my way out to my car. my hands were full and i patiently stepped to the side as i waited for the others to pick up their copy on their way out of the building.

a man who was on the same lift as me saw that i was waiting and motioned asking me if i wanted a copy of the newspaper.  i smiled and nodded yes. he picked up two and handed one to me.  all this happened without any exchange of words.  i thanked him.  that was enought to put a smile on my face :)  what a great way to start a day! and yes, in case you haven't noticed, it is easy to make my day :)

Does My Head Look Big In This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah

this is my current read. picked this one up at the recent big bad wolf warehouse sale.

it's about a sixteen year old australian-palestinian-muslim girl's experience with starting to wear the hijab and at the same time, still being a teenager.

my current read

this book which i finished reading a few days ago does a good job at reminding me to be thankful for the things that do go right in my life. 

when i really think about it, there are waayyyy more things that go right in my life than those that go wrong.  we tend to focus on what is going wrong so much most times that we lose focus on the things that do go right and have been going right in our lives.

this book reminds me to be thankful to Allah for all that is happening to me... there is a bigger plan for us all though we may not know it at the time that it is happening to us.

my current read

i know this sounds sooo weird but would you believe it that i've never read dahl before?  uh huh, true... don't ask me why and so, this is my introduction to dahl.

got this one at the recent pearsons sale.

i didn't know that dahl wrote for adults as well.  i've read five of the thirteen stories in this book so far and i like them.  i guess better late than never, huh?

my current read

and this is my current read...

and yes, this is another one of my warehouse sale finds :)

25 new authors --- challenge met!!!

Hey, guess what ---  I met my challenge to read at least 25 new authors and I did it !!!  Yup, I'm pleased!

Maybe I should try to list down all the books that I've read this year... I just might surprise myself with the number!!!

For now though, I think I deserve a reward. Hmmm...I wonder how should I reward myself...no, it's not going to be another book (I've still got lots waiting to be read!!!).

1. Piece of Cake by Swati Kaushal
2. Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins
3. Weekend in Paris by Robyn Sisman
4. The Bus Stopped by Tabish Khair
5. Skin Deep by Catherine Barry
6. Turtle Nest by Chandani Lokuge
7. Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now by Gordon Livingston, MD
8. Undead and Unemployed by Mary Janice Davidson
9. Dress Rehearsal by Jennifer O'Connell
10. By the Time You Read This by Lola Jaye
11. Jemima. J by Jane Green
12. Roommates by Whitney Lyles
13. In Full Bloom by Caroline Hwang
14. Big City Eyes by Delia Ephron
15. 10 Things To Do Before You're 16 by Caroline Plaisted
16. Three Wishes by Isabelle Merlin
17. Chasing Daylight by Eugene O'Kelly
18. A Consise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo
19. Fate and Ms Fortune by Saralee Rosenberg
20. Law of Attraction by Michael J Losier
21. The Other Hand by Chris Cleave
22. The Dangerous Husband by Jane Sphiro
23. Here at the End of the World We Learn to Dance by Lloyd Jones
24. You''re Broke Because You Want to Be by Larry Winget
25. A New Earth: Awakening Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle

my current read

i finally finished reading 'here at the end of the world we learn to dance' after being distracted by all the other books.  and this, is my current read (got this one in the times warehouse sale)  :)

cookie monster on google

i found the cookie monster looking back on me on the google website today  :)  it's sesame streets 40th anniversary today.  i especially love this one.

lables

i was chatting to someone online last night.  he was Malaysian and within the first few minutes of the chat, he wanted to know if i was malay, chinese, indian or eurasian.  next, he wanted to know what i do for a living.

when asked why he was so caught up with lables, he said something about the government doing it too.  when asked what the government's interest in labling others had to do with the chat at hand, he kept saying the goverment was doing it (it made absolutely NO logical sense to me and so, i politely bid him good night (and good riddance!) and went offline).

that chat only reminded me why i shy away from chatting to fellow malaysians online.  i think they are too hung up on the lables and miss the whole point that there is a real person behind all the lables. 

me, i'm not bothered about lables.  i'm more interested in the person i am chatting to.  i guess, last night's experience only explains why i like chatting to europeans --- they aren't likely to ask me to lable myself.

what are you when stripped of the lables that you associate with yourselves??? think of it... what will you be without the lables that you hang on to so tightly?

a just completed read

I've just finished this book. It's another one of my pearson penguin warehouse sale purchases. Got this one for RM10!!

a just completed read

I completed reading this book recently. It's one of my purchases from the recent pearson warehouse sale. It presented in simple to understand language and made a lot of sense.

happy bunnny

i went to the pearson warehouse sale yesterday. thought i'd just have a browse and see if there was anything worth purchasing.

i managed to find four of the books on my wish list:

1. the kite runner
2. a thousand splendid suns
3. the memory keeper's daughter
4. a new earth

and the best part??? i got them all for rm10 each!!! i'm definitely a happy bunny!!! all those times i was holding back from purchasing them at retail price was certainly worth the wait!!!

i also bought some other books and came away rm176 lighter... not too bad considering i purchase around 15 books altogether.

lumosity

i'm hung up on the mind training games on lumosity. try it, you might find what i found out --- it's fun!!!

my current read

and so i rummaged through my stacks of unread books and looked for one that i felt like reading next (yes... i have a tendency to load up when there is a warehouse sale so that i would be assured of always having something on hand to read).

anyway... this is my next read... haven't read any of the author's books before and i hope to enjoy this one!

my next read?

i finished reading patterson's book this morning (yup, i did as soon as i woke up). so... what shall my next read be? hmmm... gotta see what else i have that i have yet to read...

Sam's Letters to Jennifer by James Patterson

just started reading this one yesterday... another tear jerker by patterson. nope, i didn't purchase this one --- this isn't the kind of book that i'd purchase. got this one from the bookcross zone in 1-utama (where else???).

my last read before this one, the dangerous husband, turned out to be kinda of a weird story --- consider a husband who turned out to be so clumsy and uncoordinated that he ends up killing all of their three pets (an albino frog, a reclusive ginger cat and a dog) and as the story goes on, two of his wives.

consider having to plot to kill your husband before he kills you... like i said, this book has a strange story line.

my current read

and this, is my current read (started reading this book about three days ago... i think!)

my current read

this is what i'm reading at the moment! i purchased this book out of curiosity because the author would not give a sypnosis of the book saying that it would give too much away while promising that it is a book that i, the reader, would most definitely enjoy.

my past reads

i finished reading these two books in the past week. i'm definitely gonna give the law of attraction a try!!! :)

my current read

Just finished reading this book --- a quirky read.

challenge: 25 new authors update

Well, as promised, this is the update of my new authors' reading list:

1. Piece of Cake by Swati Kaushal
2. Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins
3. Weekend in Paris by Robyn Sisman
4. The Bus Stopped by Tabish Khair
5. Skin Deep by Catherine Barry
6. Turtle Nest by Chandani Lokuge
7. Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now by Gordon Livingston, MD
8. Undead and Unemployed by Mary Janice Davidson
9. Dress Rehearsal by Jennifer O'Connell
10. By the Time You Read This by Lola Jaye
11. Jemima. J by Jane Green
12. Roommates by Whitney Lyles
13. In Full Bloom by Caroline Hwang
14. Big City Eyes by Delia Ephron
15. 10 Things To Do Before You're 16 by Caroline Plaisted
16. Three Wishes by Isabelle Merlin
17. Chasing Daylight by Eugene O'Kelly
18. A Consise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo

I'm getting there!!!

"No"

i finally mustered up enough courage to ask her the question and my worst fears came true --- she turned me down. said that i had said earlier that i didn't want anyone else there (did i really say that --- i don't remember; could it possibly be taken out of context?).

i said that she was there for my sister and brother, couldn't she be there for me too? who was i kidding, what was i hoping for??? the answer that i got was one that i'd feared all along --- no.

how i miss dad... this achievement of mine is for dad, for never giving up on me, for always believing that i could do it even at times when i didn't...

i truly want to share this moment with my parents, but if she doesn't want to be part of it, i can't make her.

i worked very hard for this milestone in my life. i just wish my one remaining parent could be there to share in the joy but if that is not possible, i will accept that it is my fate.

i know that dad will there for me. i know he will be proud of me and i suppose, that is all that i need.

the passing of the storyteller

it was only yesterday that my mother asked to me, "did you hear that yasmin ahmad collapsed from a stroke yesterday?". she was operated on the same day. sadly, i heard on the radio today as i was driving that yasmin ahmad passed away last night. Al-Fatihah.

her passing away is definitely a great loss. the very first malay movie that i watched and definitely fell in love with was none other than yasmin's sepet. her movies are full of messages... perhaps messages that malaysia as a whole is not yet ready for but still meaningful messages. she dares to take a step and potray the malaysian life diferently from other local movie makers.

i will definitely miss her movies and her advertisements. farewell yasmin.

the overlooked middle child

i went over to my mom's this afternoon. like always, she shifts her attention and gives her full attention to my brother the minute he woke up (never mind that it was 2 pm when he crawled out of bed and that i was in the midst of a sentence when she tunes out from me and focuses on him).

like always, even after all these years, she never fails to make me feel like the overlooked middle child that i have always been and will always be... :(

my current read

i started reading this book yesterday.

challenge: 25 new authors

here's something that i happened to stumble upon while surfing the net --- a book reading challenge. the challenge that i'm setting myself is to read 25 authors whose work i have never read before before the end of the year.

so far, i have already read the following books:

1. Piece of Cake by Swati Kaushal
2. Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins
3. Weekend in Paris by Robyn Sisman
4. The Bus Stopped by Tabish Khair
5. Skin Deep by Catherine Barry
6. Turtle Nest by Chandani Lokuge
7. Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now by Gordon Livingston, MD
8. Undead and Unemployed by Mary Janice Davidson
9. Dress Rehearsal by Jennifer O'Connell
10. By the Time You Read This by Lola Jaye
11. Jemima. J by Jane Green
12. Roommates by Whitney Lyles
13. In Full Bloom by Caroline Hwang
14. Big City Eyes by Delia Ephron
15. 10 Things To Do Before You're 16 by Caroline Plaisted

i plan to update this list as i go along --- wish me luck!!! :)

klutz marks

hey, i've reached the 100th blog post mark!!! how about that!

i came home from work today and slipped into my shorts before going down to the night market and noticed that i had blue black marks on both of my thighs --- yup, klutzy me been walking into tables again :(

my current read

yup, i've moved on to my next book.

my current read

this is what i'm reading --- another one of my book crossing finds :)

"i miss yaaaaa"

a student i taught a year ago emailed me today. she said that she missed me and was wondering if i'd be teaching her next semester. she told me that she heard that i was on holiday (i took a few months off to write my dissertation).

it is nice to know that i am loved :)

sigh... i do miss those kids but i had to make a professional move.

farewell mj (august 29, 1958 - june 25, 2009)

i'm up watching the live telecast of michael jackson's memorial to celebrate his life.

it's so sad to think that he has left us so abruptly.

i remember my very first cassette purchase --- i was 16 and the song was beat it that won many a grammy. i grew up seeing pictures of him and the jackson 5 in my teenage sisters' pop magazines. who would think that his life would end so soon?

i love his song Ben when he sang it as a child. it was only in his death that i learned that he converted to islam late last year in los angeles.

hugely misunderstood, greatly loved...there will be no other to replace you.

al-fatihah. may you rest in peace michael.

a sign of failure?

question --- why is a failed marriage often times perceived as a sign of failure in the eyes of many women??? why do women frown upon other women whose marriages have failed? why can't women be supportive of one another?

i only heard yesterday that an ex-colleague of mine is divorced. to date, she has not mentioned anything about it to anyone except to a very close friend of hers. while i do realize that it is a personal affair of hers, i just wish that she had opened up to more of her female colleagues.

it is not fair that she has to go through this alone. i know that the reason behind not telling many people is because she cannot bear the thought of the other women looking at her as if she has failed at her role as a wife.

most are quick to blame the wife... men can be equally responsible for a marriage failing too... sigh... i feel for her...

The Orange Girl by Josten Gaarder

this is my current read and in case you're wondering, no, it is not a bookcrossing find --- i purchased this :)

i've been walking around with this book in my handbag for the past two days (something i normally do so that i'd have something to read should i need to wait) and it seemed that i kept triggering off the alarm system while going into shops (i triggered the alarm in watsons, guardian and popular bookstore).

it wasn't until i triggered the alarm yet again going into popular bookstore today that it occured to me that i should study the contents of my bag. i thought that it was one of the stuff that i had bought some days earlier which i had conveniently chucked into my handbag (as an alternative to accepting plastic bags).

i opened my handbag and studied the contents only to realize that this book of mine still had an alarm tag in it and that was what that was triggering off the alarm systems in many stores... i was kinda nervous, i didn't want them to think that i was shoplifting (how do you explain having a book in your handbag that still has the alarm tag on it while you're going out of a bookstore??? would they believe you if you told them the truth --- that you normally carry a book in your handbag and because you're meticulous about the condition of your books, they look new and unread and that it so happens that this book has an alarm tag that has not been deactivated???).

anyway, i removed the alarm tag and left the store without any alarms going off --- thank God!!!

perceptions

how much of ourselves do we reveal online? what kinds of digital footprints do we leave behind?

i ask these questions as i see how people portray themselves on facebook --- is there no worry how what they have posted on facebook will be perceived by the world?

see... the question is this, it certainly isn't possible to have one "persona", if i may even use that word, to fit all occasions. the persona that you present for your friends, may not be the persona that you present to your family, and certainly is not the persona that you want your future employers to see. but for many people, they seem to not be aware that they have all sorts of audiences accessing their pages at different times and under different contexts.

it is one thing to be writing under a pseudonym, it is another when you use your real life name and post pics of yourself on your web pages. just how much about you do you really want to share with the world (many of whom you may not know).

remember, one rule of thumb is this --- do not write or post anything that you would not want to see printed on the headlines of tomorrow's newspapers (got that one from Oprah).

while silly pics of you may seem "cute" to people who know you, your future employers may not view them the same way. and remember this --- what you post today and may have forgotten about in the next few years to come, may be viewed many years later and may have an effect on how others perceive you then because you really just don't know who is going to view them.

very much like the way we dress when we go out, our web pages and what we post on them are representative of us. we are judged by what we post on our web pages.

so...how would you like the world to perceive you?

The Summons by John Grisham

just started this one today, and yes, it is yet another of my bookcrossing find!!! :)

canvas bag

a strange thing happened while i was in ikea yesterday.

there i was, looking through four huge boxes of toilet brushes (i was looking for a baby blue one --- there were lots of dark blue and green ones) and was going around it digging for a baby blue one (it has to be baby blue...).

a few people joined me in my search when i realized that a woman was kind of following me around. i was muttering to myself, "i need a baby blue one..." when i turned around and was face to face with this woman.

she then asked me where in ikea i got my shopping bag... yup, the woman had fallen in love with my canvas spanking new shopping bag and thought that i got it in ikea.

i was quite surprised by the question. okay, so it was a happening bag but would you go up to a stranger and ask them where they got it??? i told her that i had purchased it elsewhere, she apologized and went away.

it was a strange incident though. hmmm... should i have offered to sell it to her and make some money on the spot???

Big City Eyes by Delia Ephron

yup, i've finished reading the last one and started reading this one yesterday (it's also another bookcrossing find).

love to save

hey, have you heard about digi's pledge to donate RM150, 000 in 30 days to a variety of charity organizations?

all you've got to do to participate is to sign up and digi will donate RM5 for each individual donation and you even get to choose where you'd like the donation to go to (there is a list to choose from) --- an absolutely fantastic idea if you ask me.

the program's called "love to save" and to date, they have given away RM96, 650. there's still a lot more cash to give away folks! i just voted for spca --- what can i say --- i simply have a soft spot for animals.

just click here or on the banner below, do your bit for charity and be rewarded with feeling good knowing that you've helped out a charity organization of your choice :)

spelling bee

i happened to be in sunway pyramid on sunday and came across the spell-it-right challenge (sponsored by RHB and NST) that was going on there.

i saw all these school kids, all of whom looked extremely geeky (complete with the thick glasses) seated on the stage waiting for their turn.

thing is this --- so a kid can spell 'cacophony', ' coalesced' and 'pistachios', so what??? what does it all really mean??? does it mean that the child is a good user of language or really just has great memory???

to me, spelling is something that will come with time and with lots of reading --- isn't reading really what's important? once the reading habit is in place, the spelling will follow.

besides, why do we subject our young kids to such extreme stress???

blanking out from the world

a student of ours had an episode in class a few days ago --- there was a moment when she blanked out from the world.

according to her classmate, she was at one moment doing her work and in the next, her classmate heard a thud and saw that her head had hit the table. her eyes were opened but she she was checked out. when she came around, she remembered nothing of what had happened earlier.

the doctors checked her but they came back with nothing. what gives???

father's day :( :( :(

it is yet another father's day, ayah... how i miss you so... i just want you to know that not a day passes by when i don't think of you. i love you dearly... you will always be in my thoughts.

Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella

this is what i'm reading at the moment... i've been meaning to purchase this book for eons but seem to be putting it off. i happened to chance upon it at the bookcrossing zone in 1-utama earlier today i expect this book to be entertaining...

bookcrossing is in malaysia!!! :) :) :)

i am an extremely happy bunny... no make that an extremely ecstatic bunny --- i happened to come across a bookcrossing "hotspot" while in 1-utama today. MPH has sponsored a space in 1-utama called the living room where there is a bookcase filled with bookcrossing books!!! finally... after such a long wait, bookcrossing has finally made it to malaysian shores. thumbs up MPH!!! it's certainly a great way to cultivate the reading habit among malaysians.

i first came across bookcrossing when i caught a bookcrossing book in my office (it originated from the uk). i like the idea of a travelling book and the world as one big library where people can share their books freely with others.
i caught sophie kinsella's remember me? just now in the living room. the timing is great as i have just finished reading the turtle nest by chandani lokuge today (i started reading it yesterday).

The Guy Not Taken by Jennifer Weiner

my current read...it's a collection of short stories. i am proud to say that i have read all of Jennifer Weiner's books thus far.

educating malaysians

i was in the jusco supermarket last weekend to pick up a few things when i witnessed a scene at the checkout. there was this chinese woman in the next line who told the cashier off for packing all her stuff into one bag. she accused jusco of being "stingy" with their plastic bags and insisted on being given more plastic bags.

one tends to wonder where this woman has been --- in today's day and age, when people are more aware of environmental issues and are trying to do whatever they can to recycle and reuse stuff, there are still those (like this woman) who insist on getting "her money's worth" (whatever that means as she'd probably be throwing those plastic bags out the second she gets home, anyway).

me? i try to do my bit to help mother nature --- i bring my own shopping bag when i go do my shopping. do you?

klutz

i keep walking into furniture --- something to do with my lankiness and my desire to move quickly from point A to point B that i fail to see the obstacles immediately in front of me, i think. i now have a nasty bruise on my right thigh thanks to walking into the edge of a table yet again!!! :(

different worlds

my mother and i come from two different worlds. am i the result of education? is this why i see things differently from her? or am i simply the result of being part of a different generation?

my mother sees marriage as something that happens for life no matter how good or bad the marriage may be. i, on the other hand, believe in giving your best shot in your marriage and if things don't work out, at least, you know you tried to make it work before walking away from it. i don't think it is wrong to walk away from a marriage in order to become a happier person. i don't think that one should stay in a marriage "for thier children's sake" as i believe that two unhappy parents who never see eye to eye do not make ideal role models for their kids.

am i wrong in believing in seeking personal happiness? is it wrong to want to be happy? isn't happiness what we all seek in life?

just me and my book

i spent the afternoon reading a book in starbucks while sipping a mango passionfruit frappucino...ah, such bliss...

nosing around on a friday afternoon

i nosed around the curve after work today. i didn't realize just how many food outlets are now opened there. i've always been going there for the sunday market and to some of the other retail outlets. the last time i had food there was eons ago when they had only food outlets on the ground floor. now, there are food outlets on the first floor.

i had lunch in one of the food outlets on the first floor today. food was mediocre, but it was a nice change. besides, it was a friday afternoon and i wanted to do something in the afternoon.

mind set

why do some students resist learning??? i've a student from saudi arabia who seems to be resisting almost everything that is asked of him to do in class. my other students are saudis too and they are pretty good at getting things done when instructed to do so in class but not this one student.

he goes mia often and when he does turn up for class, he tends to disrupt it. you know, i sometimes cannot help but wish that he stayed in bed --- life would be a lot easier for me if he didn't turn up for class.

he is simply not motivated to learn and we're talking about a government sponsored student here. he is thinking of continuing his studies in one of the local universities but i don't see how he is going to survive with so little english proficiency which leads me to the next question --- what makes people want to leave their countries and study in another country where not only is the language completely different from their native language, but the writing system as well? if you were to ask me, learning anything at a higher level is difficult enough in a language that you know well, let alone trying to do it in a foreign language! don't get me wrong, i am aware that it is do-able but why complicate matters and make it more difficult than it already is??? the people whom you will be competing against already have one problem less --- they know and use the language well.

one must be highly motivated to master a foreign language in order to be able to pursue higher education in the foreign language. i simply don't see how this student is going to survive in university when he can barely string a sentence in my proficiency class. besides, i see his avoidance of doing work in my class as a sign that he is going to avoid doing work in any other class in his discipline of study. i don't think he is going to go far without a drastic change in mind set.

untruths

why do people tell untruths? do they not realize that the truth will eventually surface over time? i'd rather not divulge any personal information about myself rather than tell untruths that the others around me would later discover.

things are beginning to make sense now. this american woman at work said that "No man wants to get married." the strange part about it was that she also told me that she had a husband. so was i not to infer from that that at least one man married her?

today, i was told by a third party that she is not married and that the "husband" that she was referring to is really a "husband-to-be". ahhh....now things are beginning to make sense...

i was also told that she only met the man in malaysia which means that she has known her "husband-to-be" less than three months since she only arrived in malaysia in late april this year.

word gets around. people around you are listening to everything you say and do and they start to wonder if you are sending out mixed messages. it would have been better had she not mentioned anything specific about her relationship with that man (not that anyone was interested in her affairs). see how telling untruths is really a waste of time???

irony

i used to work for this organization that required that i wear black to work everyday. i have since left that organization but now when i go shopping for clothes, i tend to find myself purchasing black clothes. is it out of habit after all those years of having to wear black to work? who knows... it is a nice colour and it doesn't show any stains should i spill anything on it!

thing is, now, i have a choice of whether or not to wear black to work. it no longer is a required dress code for me now but rather a choice that i make should i decide to dress in black for the day.

choice

i choose to be positive. i choose to be pro-active. i don't want to be in the midst of lazy people who think that they are doing the company a favour. i choose to constantly improve myself. it is all a conscious choice that i make each day.

"as crazy as a bag of spiders"

i met up with someone whom i used to go out with for dinner. we were talking about his friends when he "offered" to introduce me. him introducing me to any of his friends has never happened before and he and i both knew that it wasn't about to happen anytime in the near future either. fact is, i know that he wouldn't want to "share" me. it's a concept that i cannot really explain... it's a sort of possessiveness on his part over me.

i look at him that think of what could have been, but i know, it couldn't have been...

the circus act

i'll be leaving the circus soon. yes, i have achieved much while i was there but i have mastered all the circus acts there and now look for other challenges.

of hurdles and blessings

i made it through the biggest hurdle in my academic life thus far --- syukur alhamdullilah. i cannot help but smile each and every time that i think about it. i cannot help but thank Allah over and over again for this blessing. i have reached the other end of the tunnel. now...what do i do with all this time???

what do i do with me now???

okay, i never thought that this day would come and here it is now staring at me in my face. what do i do with myself now???

a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and as much as i have been looking forward to this day, i cannot help but feel lost and alone. now, what the hell am i supposed to do with all my time??? yes, i'm one of those creatures who enjoy being occupied... i'm not used to this idleness... this is all very new and foreign to me.

where the hell did he get such an idea???

A matured foreign student of mine suggested that Malaysian women are not the sort that you'd want to get married to. When asked to elaborate, he said that Malaysian women "all have three husbands". He even went on to suggest that I could be sleeping with the owner of the school. How strange, I thought... what makes a person think such things??? Sigh... some people are not worth my time...

60 Earth Hour

March 28, 2009... we can do this...we MUST do this

let's do our bit to help mother nature. for one hour, make it about earth and not about you.

let's stand together as one and join the rest of the world. it would be nice to see the lights in KL turned off for an hour.

as we say in malaysia..."Off the light!!!"

a dragon to slay...

i have a dragon to slay... i've been working at if for years now... pray hard that i come out alive. do you have dragons of your own to slay???

a burger!!!

okay, i have a confession to make... i had a burger today!!! in my defense i have to say that it was more out of convenience rather than what i REALLY wanted to have. i'm happy to report though that i didn't find it satisfying :)

this is how unsafe our construction sites are...

i was just writing about the safety of our construction sites when a few days later, two construction workers were killed when the cable of a crane snapped. it took them almost an hour to gather the victims' bodies. isn't it high time that the authorities did something about the state of our construction sites???

risking lives

i'm sitting and watching the construction works that is going on the next lot of land. one cannot help but wonder about the safety measures that contractors observe (if there are any at all) here in malaysia. the men work on very high floors without wearing any safety harnesses --- one can very easily fall off the edge of the building especially when the walls are not up yet.

and then there is the issue of thunder and lightning and how these guys just carry on working even though one can hear the rumbling of thunder coming in their direction.

don't contractors value the lives of their workers??? isn't there a law to see to it that they do??? isn't it high time that we see to it that contractors not just make lots of bucks but also provide SAFE working environments for their workers??? isn't it high time that they value life???

a good rule of thumb

do not put anything in writing that you would not want to see on the headlines of the next day's newspapers.

in today's day and age where everybody who has access to the internet most probably has a blog, this is really a good rule of thumb... i think too many things have been said of others...what these people don't get is that this can be seen from another angle --- what does that say about you, the blogger, rather than them, whom you are writing about, the blogged???

think about how stupid you will feel when found out... uh huh... it WILL be found out... just a matter of time... Food for thought...

a poddle in shoes...

a poddle in shoes...i saw a poddle in shoes walking daintily besides its owner yesterday afternoon...WHY???

the reason why

i had a conversation with someone from the past recently. he said that he regretted what happened between us. never mind that all this talk was happening 6 YEARS after the fact!!! he said that he could have tried harder.

when asked how he could have tried harder, he said he could have slept more, spent less nights out late drinking, been more patient... is that it??? was what i was thinking. he was not about to treat me better...the guy just wanted more hours to sleep!!!

i guess there is no mystery why i moved on...

achievements

a few nites ago, i stayed up late. what was i doing, i hear you ask? well, believe it or not, i was up trying to teach myself some basic statistics. yup, am definitely kicking myself for not signing up for the paper when i should have but you know how it is, i avoided taking papers which i thought i was not going to ace in (the statistics module is not a compulsory paper for my studies) but as life should have it, i apparently REQUIRE it now. sigh... anyway, i managed to make sense of how the standard of deviation is calculated and better still, i finally made sense as to WHY i need to present the standard of deviation scores in my analysis.

here's some background history --- of all the papers that i have taken thus far, the research methodology paper made the least sense. i got almost nothing out of that class. if anything at all, i got even more muddled. there was a lot of talk in that class --- basically the instructor talked a lot about stuff that confused and confounded many of us (believe me when i tell you that i wasn't the only clueless one in the lecture hall!). she might as well have been talking german, if you know what i mean. anyway, there were a lot of concepts that went unexplained and everything seemed to be one big haze for me...until now...until i finally got around to doing some reading myself to make sense of my need for descriptive statistics. gee... i should have done this sooner!!!

anyway... the good news is that i'm not the gone case that i thought i was before i struggled with trying to make sense of descriptive statistics... i just needed to do a hell lot of reading!!! hey, who knows... i just might find that i like it....errr...maybe NOT!!! :)

2009

yup, another year has come and gone and we are now blessed with yet another year. strangely enough, i haven't got any new year's resolutions... not that i've ever been big about them. still, here we are... and for this year, i REALLY REALLY REALLY hope to complete my thesis... InsyaAllah. other than that, i guess, i wish for the same things that others around the planet wish for --- peace on the planet, a safer place, a reduction in global warming, respect for nature and the planet... love in all forms possible.

was driving home from KLCC today when there seemed to be a traffic jam at the bangsar turn. i thought to myself... funny that there should be a traffic jam here on a public holiday... then i realized that the traffic jam was because of an accident that had taken place on the other side of the road. there was a woman underneath a car... she was conscious and in great pain. i can only assume that the car had clipped her motobike... dear Allah, please save her... please let them be able to fix her...

i wish for safer malaysian drivers... is that too much to ask for???