bali break

my housemates mawa, east and i went to bali 2 weeks ago.

it was a much needed break. tho it was really too short a time (only 4 days), we enjoyed ourselves very much.

we spent 2 days in kuta and 2 in ubud.

in kuta it was mainly walking around town and shopping. went to the beach but didnt swim or anything since we didnt have much time. we also went to tanahlot to see the famous temple in the sea, which is only accessible during low tide.

then we went to ubud, which is a lot quieter. stayed at this hotel - artini 3- smack in the middle of a padi field, it was really quiet and nice, we really liked it there. the price is really reasonable too.

in ubud, we spent half a day cycling, then off to a real relaxing time at a nice spa (bali ratu). for about rm170, i got a head/shoulder/back massage for an hour and a pedicure after. we also tried out one of the cheaper salons earlier the 1st day we were in ubud, and altho they did a real crappy job on my nails, we enjoyed chatting with the salon ladies, who are mostly from java. east especially enjoyed her time there very much coz they actually commented that she looked like agnes monica (well known pop artist in indonesia). we had to endure with her "grandiosity" for a few days after that.. well actually, she still brings it up till now.

all 3 of us jugak extra seronok cuz people evrywhere thought we were still in school .."mbak masih kuliahan ya?". i get that all the time in malaysia anyway, but i guess now i can say it's an "international" fact that i still look like a kid. muahahaha.

we only managed to see one traditional dance when we were in ubud-the kecak dance-and it was nice. hopefully i'll catch other dances/shows the next time i go there.

on the way back to the airport on the last day, we managed to drop by sukawati to get a few more souvenirs, then back into kuta for more last minute shopping. one of the most interesting finding while shopping there is that pirated cds are being sold openly in the malls in these really proper looking shops with uniform wearing salespersons, we initially didnt even realize they were selling pirated cds/dvds! and at about rm3.20/dvd.. it's a steal!! literally.. rompak maut punye! but another interesting point is that you wont find a pirated indonesian cd anywhere in the shop, be it music/movie, if it's local (indon) then it's gotta be original. and um.. we didnt find any malaysian movie or music cd there at all-not even a pirated one, original lagi la takde. sad.

and altho quite a number of locals seem to know (and like) siti nurhaliza, the only time we saw her face on a shelf is on those oil of olay beauty products.

going back to shopping there.. my other personal favourite thing to browse is the silver jewellery, esp in ubud, altho i was told that the best are in celuk. such a wide variety of choices, and by bargaining, you can get them at really reasonable prices (which to me translates into affordable-guilt-free prices..cuz i do already own quite a number of silver rings).

food was not really a problem in kuta. we arrived in bali at nite, and were too hungry to look around too much so we just got us some fast food-which is halal in indonesia. the next day we got lucky cuz we met a few muslim locals who told us about this halal eating place just off jalan singgahsari, aboout 5-7mins walk from the beach, called warung nikmat, which had quite a variety of tasty local dishes, at a good price. there's also a musholla (surau) just behind the warung, which was very convenient.

oh..and the toilets in bali are quite clean compared to malaysia.. this warung nikmat with the surau for example..actually has the "jamban curah" kind, you know,not the pull-to-flush kind.. and what amazed me was that they were still very clean!

actually, that was the other thing about bali.. it was really quite clean there..the streets, the beach, the air, the toilets, all clean. tak paham betul..jamban2 diorang pakai air jugak macam kita, takde kena bayar pun, macamana bole jugak dijaga bersih? satu yang malaysia patut belajar and contohi la i thought. if only.

takpe, i still love malaysia for other reasons, but as for bali... no doubt it's a real nice place to visit. with airasia, it cost us about rm400 each for a return ticket, inclusive of taxes. really hoping to go there again insyaAllah, obviously a lot more places to see and things to do there that we didnt get to in the 4 days.

hp and the dh-spoiler alert!(just a lil teeny bit)

finally.. finished reading harry potter and the deathly hallows. my brother got the book the day it was released, as an early bday present. my sis texted from bintulu the next day and warned me not to read the sunday paper, or at least the review in the paper about the book cuz apparently they mentioned evrything including who died and didnt..all without a spoiler alert! and so i managed to stay away from any kind of spoiler while i was finishing the book (altho one friend did blurt out-harry didnt die la, when she saw me reading at work-ugh!). took me awhile to finish the book, what with work and studying and all. erm..ahh..ok, so i did skip the studying part, but hush, dont tell.
the ending was predictable, but the story leading to it really werent, so i loved that!
and i was right about snape!-and altho i'd usually hate that, but the events leading to the truth about him were still great that it was totally okay. hehe.
overall i thought it was a good book. being the last book in the series, it sorta wrapped up evrything quite nicely, and there were quite a number of times when references were made to the other earlier books, as flashbacks, or when explaining a clue, or a place was mentioned that was visited in a previous book, etc. i noticed there were very few new characters/magical creatures/spells. and since most arent new, often times they werent described further in detail-cuz they've all been described in the previous books. great for already-fans i guess, but not to those who're just joining and starting with this book (but i guess that's one great way to get people reading (and buying) the rest of the books. $ker-ching$).
i think one of the main things that made me stick with the series is the magic. it just intrigues me that jk rowling can come up with such a variety of characters, creatures, spells, etc. (of course i love tolkien..but i gotta admit, i dont really care much about the lengthy poems). so i guess because there's not much "introduction" in this book (as in to new magic/spells/characters), my favs in the series would still have to be the 4th and 5th books(goblet of fire and order of phoenix) which had tons. the first 2 books were also full of them, but they were more "kiddish" than the rest. so ok, this 7th book definitely gets 3rd place then.


n.b: simpsons the movie is out too!-another excuse to skip studying then.heh.

bundles of joy

aliff fahmi - my nephew, at 3 months old, weighs 7.4kg.
wow.
i mean, look at him. his cheeks probably weigh 500g each!
he's still breastfeeding exclusively, so nuthin needs to be done yet about his weight gain.
one thing IS unfortunate though, the lil' blubber is now across the sea away from us, so i havent been able to pinch his pinch-able cheeks.

aliff & amirah in dreamland-this was when he was a day old. he looked so different!


god, i miss them!

press my benign buttons, baby

no, it aint a rap song.
my fren mawa and i came across this cheaper version of a barbie doll being sold in a store recently. the name of the doll was weird enuff -benign girl- but look at the description beneath the name: beautiful girl. press any button.
you can see that she comes with batteries and other accessories as well.
um..ok..
a benign, beautiful, battery operated, barbie-lookalike doll with buttons you can press. o what joy it is to have such a doll (?).
mawa n me laughed sooo hard.
where to start?
how and why is she "benign"? what defines a benign girl? in cancer world, benign is usually good. malignant is bad. so which category am i?
mebbe they're not really targeting little girls as major customers then? (we looked around and reconfirmed that we're indeed at the toy section of a family oriented shopping place, and not in an "i need" shop)
button? what button? i can think of a button that till now remains a major mystery to some men (and even women) but i'm not in the mood for a sex education now. besides, physically, she's so anatomically incorrect and disproportionate that i'm sure what i think they mean by button is not what they mean by button.heh.

of course, after the tears from laughing so hard dried in our eyes and we can see properly again, we realized that the batteries must be for the phone that comes with the doll. i mean, the doll's so skinny there's no way she can fit any batteries in her. and the mystery button? i'm sure they mean press any button on the phone. d-uh!

woe is me..mebbe?

women's final at the french open. henin vs ivanovic. evrybody wants (and believes) henin's gonna win again this year. but i kinda like ivanovic. it'd be great if she wins. she's very pretty too. hee.

ok, so the results are out. i'm out. so that's it. i'm giving up for sure. not trying for it again-ever again! "never give up" you say?.. no.. you should never say never. i believe there are times when it's okay to give up. i should have given up earlier actually. think of all that money i could've saved if i hadnt sat for the exam again and again and again.. i'm talking thousands of ringgit u know. the shoes, the clothes, that car cd player i've been ogling at, that car of mine that seriously needs a makeover... i couldve used all that money to get all that, with extra for savings too! ;)
i'm still disappointed of course, but interestingly, there are no tears this time. bawled like a baby evrytime i found out i failed last time.
so passing exam's not my thing.. i'll just sit for the "free" ones then. at least the "loss" wont feel like a huge one.

looks like ivanovic's losing too. o well. i'll get to go to bed earlier tonite then.

two movies, two books, and good tennis in between

am watching nadal vs djokovic at the french open. going to be nadal's game i'm sure. but that djokovic's so cute sometimes. he kept making these gestures as if saying "wow, nadal's real good on clay, what can i do?" and smirks.
will be missing the men's finals tho. am working sunday.

went to um for the masters orientation last week.
what the hell have i gotten myself into?
i was having palpitations each time one of the profs/lecturers there gave us a pep talk about what lays ahead for us in the coming 4 years.
o boy o boy o boy... soo looking fwd to evrything..NOT!

anyway, so i was back in kl for the orientation, and i went to midavalley 5 times in 4 days! movie, lunch,shopping alone, movie, shopping with mom, and dinner with the gals.
blades of glory was a riot. there were quite a number of laugh-out-loud moments. i enjoyed it.
waris jari hantu was a nice surprise. it wasnt scary at all, but that's not the surprising part, and shuhaimi baba probably didnt intend it to be anyway. it's sorta obviously a shuhaimi baba's movie, but neater and much better than pontianak harum. azean's character was quite funny while rusdi ramli showed his breakthru performance.

and it IS nadal's game!
he's so cute when he smiles.
btw, a great thing to watch in between the main players' matches is the wheelchair tennis. the players are just super awesome.

the only things i got from all those visits to midvalley were books. am still "banning" myself from buying any clothes and shoes. havent bought any new ones since december. am quite proud of myself for that. didnt think i have that sort of discipline in me. anyway, back to the books- i love "running with scissors" by augusten burroughs. i actually saw the movie 1st, and wasnt that impressed by it. but the book's excellent. burrough's a really funny guy with a really messed up, weird, messed up (didnt i just say that?) childhood. you keep forgetting that you're actually reading a memoir.
i'm in the midst of "i am muslim" by local author dina zaman. its a collection of columns that she wrote for malaysiakini.com, and she describes it as a selfish series of articles while she explores her religion (islam) and people. few of her observations become "eye-openers" for me, while others i have observed myself, at home here in malaysia,and abroad. her opinions are her opinions, but her book made me look at my own self in the mirror, and my own views of islam and muslims. other than the religious views, her experience and mostly funny points about being a 30-sth single malay muslim woman hit home quite often ;)

i also got a another non-fiction-ollie-but havent started on it yet.

it's almost 4am now. still not sleepy, but that's no surprise lah, considering i was so tired coming back from work today and slept from 6 to 10pm just now! hee. but gotta wake up early tomorrow so should still force my butt to bed.

update's up

well, it has been awhile.
had my ups and downs.

my uncle passed away 2 weeks ago. it was totally unexpected. he was only 44 y.o. collapsed at work. died about an hour later. it was really sad seeing his wife and 2 young kids. and my grandma. he was the man of the house. we could count on having him around to look after her. i couldnt help crying when they left with his body to the cemetery.

my sis gave birth to her 2nd child. amirah is now a big sister. i now have a nephew- aliff.

been accepted for masters. scary scary. 4 scary years ahead of me there. god, give me strength.

caught f1. one funny thing my fren lo said: i'm getting too old for this.
and yet, apart from taking pictures of the cars during the race, we also took a few pictures of these cute guys we saw there (and literally chased after, like a pair of boy-crazy teenage girls-hee).

went down to desaru for a short weekend getaway.
courses, cpr, courses..

umm..what else, what else?

gosh...felt like i've been very busy in the past few months, but cant seem to recall evrything.
o well.
that's about it for now.

a cold, a new year, a wedding, a reunion, and a valentine

i'm sick.
a cold.
greenish goo is coming out of my nose. was oncall yesterday. will be again a day after tomorrow. hopefully i'm better by then.

it's chinese new year today. gong xi gong xi.

my roomies and i also attended a friend's wedding today. became sorta like a mini reunion between us and a few of the guys we used to hangout with few years back. they're mostly married and having babies now. made me feel like such a big sister today. i mean, we were there to see their transformation from university boys to working men. we're that close that we got to know their families, went travelling together .... we even saw them through their troubled lovelives, met their lady friends.. we went to their graduation, and to their weddings, and now they're fathers. sigh. i'm glad we still went today, despite being sick, post-call and all. btw, congrats to the lovely couple-an & epi.

then there was valentine's day.
last year i got a virtual flower from this guy i was sorta seeing, who i thought i kinda liked, but well... i dunnolah what was going on with this guy-sometimes i felt i was a girlfriend (like when i got the valentine flower-even if it was only virtual), sometimes i felt like i was just a "convenient" friend, sometimes just someone to give medical advice... anyway, i digress. basically, we're no longer in touch.
this year, being single and not really seeing anybody, valentine was supposed to just come and go for me.
but surprise-oh-mother-of-all-surprises.. i got a dozen red roses delivered to me at work! red roses. a dozen of them. with a tiny bear holding a heart that says "i love you" on it. and a card that says "happy valentine day" (grammatical error included), but no sender name.
of course, 1st thing that came to mind was: they got the name wrong.
but i checked (cuz i had to sign the delivery papers right) - name, workplace..all correct.
2nd thing: this is a trick. somebody's playing a prank on me.
asked my so-called friends. 'course evryone denies it and juz continued going waahh-soromantic-solucky-ugotasecreatadmirer-wah-wah on me. sheesh.
3rd thing: somebody out there trying to 'bomoh' me. um. yeah. good luck to them.

4th thing: mebbe i won a prize, or a lucky draw thingy, or this could be a promotional thing. from some insurance company.. or even the flower shop itself?
5th thing that came to mind: mebbe...in a state of utter despair and desperation (singletons-nearing-valentine syndrome) or perhaps under the influence of certain substance(s), i sent them flowers to myself? hmm.. but i havent been intoxicated recently. i got the cold only after. and please, even if i did get myself under the influence, i'd definitely get myself sth totally crazier or more extravagant than just a bunch of flowers-like a diamond ring, or a tattoo, or a new car. hehe.

and so the last thing that came to mind was: someone actually sent me the flowers? it's so....freaky.. freakier than the bomoh thing. really. i'm not one of those people who's used to getting "secret admirers" sending me anonymous gifts or flowers or whatever you know. not when i was in school. not in university. and now at work, at 32? yeah, freaky.

my friends (and staff at my workplace who were witnesses to the whole-delivery girl whisking her way into the nursery, flowers and all asking where i was-thing..sheesh) kept bugging me to findout who it's from. please, as if i'm gonna send phone texts to all the guys i know and say : how's it goin? did u by any chance spend more than a hundred ringgit for a dozen flowers for me on valentine?. i mean, what if it was a girl that sent me the flowers? ;)

o well, v-day came and went, and the sender (or senders? a group of people pulling up a prank is still possible) remains a mystery. if he/she/they prefer to remain anonymous, then let it be. the flowers are nice, and i'd like to keep them for now. no guilt attached.

bye bye birdie

a colleague of mine found a lil baby bird in her garden 2 days ago. she couldnt find a nest anywhere nearby so she took it in. yesterday after work she gave it to me cuz she had to work today. the plan was for me to look after it today and tomorro (since i have to work), she'll take it to the spca.
it was a cute lil bird and i was tempted to keep it, but i really dont believe in taking in flying birds as pets so even if i was gonna care for it for a few days, i'd let it fly away when it can (i remember as a kid, my dad used to buy these colorful lil birds to keep as pets, but i would always release them from their cages-without my father knowing of course).
anyway, i looked up the internet last night on how to look after baby birds and apparently the best thing to do is to leave them alone. even if we have to take them in, we're not supposed to feed them anything (i already gave the bird water and a bit of rice-oops!), keep them in a box in dark quiet place and then bring them to an animal shelter.
so that was my plan today-to bring the birdie to the spca, but alas... it died sometime during the night.
sigh.

now i just gotta persuade my roomates to lemme keep a cat. got too much love to give ;)

roasted baby anyone?

true story:
18 day-old baby admitted with what looked like severe skin infection over his face and neck. it was all red and angry looking, with a few areas peeling off. his eyes were shut closed with gooey purulent discharge, and he's got crusts all around his mouth as well. the parents initially claimed they too have no idea how their baby got that bad. then later they offered us this little info: their lil one was crying non-stop, driving evryone crazy.. so they took him to a 'bomoh' hoping he can help them stop the baby's crying. the bomoh then gave them a mixture of coconut oil + onions + black pepper, and told them to smear the mixture onto the baby. and so the 4-time parents did. all over his face, esp around his eyes, and mouth (cuz u know-crying..mostly involves the eyes and mouth? the tears and the wailing? i dunno-this my theory) and never washed it off, in fact, kept on reapplying it daily onto the poor sucker's face (sucker-get it?cuz he still breastfeeds?harhar)-one coat of seasoned oil after another.
we're talking about a pair or parental unit here, who's had 4 children- basically 'marinating' their lil one cuz he cries a lot, and cuz the bomoh tells them too.
why cant people follow doctors' orders like that-no questions asked.
i mean these parents, after finally letting us know this important piece of information, actually asked us afterwards: u think this might be related to whatever is happening to our baby?
um..yee-ah!
why dont you try smearing the same ingredients all over your thirty-sth-yr-old skin and see what happens. i mean, the kid was just past a week old at the time.
sheesh..
course, i didnt say that to the parents. i'm just a doctor, not a bomoh. i cant just tell people what i want.
instead, we washed the poor baby's face off - start him on antibiotics, and he got better after a few days.

sigh.breathe in.out.sigh.snort.blah.sigh again.

just finished all 6 seasons of sex and the city (again).

just discovered that i really luv 24! (only seen 1st 2 seasons so far-yeah,yeah, long way to go) but i'm stuck now.

and am so in luv with kiefer sutherland. he seems cool.

missed the SAG awards yesterday. lupa. was so engrossed with 24 season 2. saw the last 12 episodes back-to-back. slept at 3am.

work is as work sometimes, unfortunately, is.

another desperate mother left her newborn baby in a drain.

poor lil one a real fighter tho.

alive and kicking.

well not exactly kicking-was lethargic by time he got to us.

but still ok, considering.

he got bruises all over.

must be bruised emotionally too. left unwanted by own mom.

world oh world.

sigh.

bed beckons.

the weakness in me

i hate myself.
why is it i always end up the one apologizing?
even when it isnt my fault?

like when i found out that i've been lied to.
and i confronted the person about it,
the person feels bad about it.
and didnt wanna talk to me afterwards.
but then i feel bad about it.
and i end up saying sorry.

i fuckin hate it when that happens!

kawin=kebal???

ok.. ini cerita pasal pencurik bedebah yang masuk rumah aku tempoh hari. aku tulis dalam full bm ni sbb nanti "i sound stupid if i write in english"..muahaha..(yelah... tu cerita lama.. no offence ha.. btw.. i like sharifah amani..... and i got what she was trying to say at the time, but the response from the ministry and the public didnt really come as a surprise to me.. dah agak mesti ramai org akan misinterpret, melenting and melatah punye..)
what i mean to say is i may not sound as angry if i write in english.
kadang2 tu lagi puas hati bila mengutuk dgn bahasa ibunda.
(hmm... that probably sound worse. kena gam la pulak nanti..hee)
ahhhh...lantaklah lah. digress pulak.

berbalik pada cerita pencurik bangsat yang pecah masuk rumah aku 2 bulan lepas. masuk siang2 terang tau.. time kitorg tgh keje.. my housemate balik tengok pintu depan ternganga luas.... dia (atau diorang, mungkin pencurik tu ada geng gak kan) kebak tiga2 laptop kitorg.. cilanat betul la.

anyway...pencurik dah mmg dasar pencurik la kan.. diorang mencurik mmg sah diorang yang bersalah la kan. mana2 bangsa, mana2 agama pun kat dunia ni will tell you that mencurik is wrong. tapi special case kat malaysia ni, orang yang kena curik tu kerapkali jugak dipersalahkan.
""ooo.. rumah korang ni takde grill..patutla masuk pencurik.."
""ooo..korang letak komputer tu atas meja ye?..patutla kena curik..."
dan statement yang paling best sekali.....
"ooo..tak kawin lagi... tu susah sket tu..."

O-kaayyyy...
so, correct me if i'm wrong... selama2 ni rumah orang yang ada pasang grill tak penah dimasuki pencurik ke?
pastu... pompuan2 yang dah kawin sume tak penah kena ragut ke? tak penah rumah diorang kena masuk pencurik?
persatuan pencurik2 dan pemecah2 rumah di malaysia ni ada syarat dan peraturan ke... kalau pompuan tu dah kawin, kita tak leh kacau ha... kita kacau yang tak kawin jek.
um...hello?

yang lagi cacat tu.. statement2 tu sume bukan datang dari orang yang tak penah sekolah atau pun dok dalam hutan tak penah2 keluar...
tu datang dari mulut polis tu. (and in my houemate's case:her big boss-who's male and konon2 concerned, and cuba nak carik reason kenapa agaknye rumah kitorg dimasuki pencurik-also felt that it must be due to our 'single' status)
*roll eyes here*

i tell you.. dealing with the police that night was quite an eye opening experience (literally and metaphorically)...
dahlah kitorang ni dah cukup terkujat dah.. dgn rasa marah kat pencurik.. pastu ditambah pulak sakit hati kat polis.
masa buat repot kat balai tu dah dibo-layan dek polis wanita kat situ.. siap kena herdik lagi "ni ramai2 ni sapa yg nak buat repot? sorang je yg kena repot!"
so i did the formal reporting, using my name.
yang menariknya, suara polis tu, yang pada awalnye ada sedikit high pitch la jugak, tetiba jadik lebih friendly pulak lepas dia tanye aku - keje ke belajar?
and aku jawab: -keje-
keje apa?
- doktor-
terus jek dia jadik ramah tamah lepas tu!
at one point masa dia contact officer dia on the phone, we overheard her saying"..tapi tuan, diorang ni doktor.."
????????
pastu dengan penuh mesranya memperkenal dan mempromosi "rakan cop" kat kitorang.
what the hell??????????????????????

then she told us to go home to meet the investigating team. "balik sekarang la ye..diorang dah on the way.. terima kaseh datang repot!" (sweet smile and all)
and that was at 7 pm. we waited. 2 hrs went by.
called them: on the way.
2hrs later called again:on the way.
finally they came ....after 1 am.
takde cakap sorry pun. when we asked kenapa lambat sangat: "you marah ye..kalau cerita pun you kata kita buat alasan..kitorang terkejar2 dari pukul 8 tadi... ada kes jumpa body kat sawah .." konon2 hebat la.. keje berjam2, settle kes org mati lagi.
so apa lagi ..aku yang kebetulan masa tu lepas oncall kat spital, been working since 8am the day before that, and 40hrs later still unable to sleep because told to wait for them..sound la diorg balik...cakap la tgh settle kes lain, lambat datang..jgn dok cakap on the way, on the way...pokpekpokpek..saya ni keje dari pagi semalam tau, sampai sekrg tak rehat2 lagi..pokpekpokpek... kitorg pun faham dgn kes emergency...korang jumpe org dah mmg mati pun..kitorg jumpe org dah nak mati kena revive pulak tak mau bagi mati!
(that was me with red eyes, flaring nostrils and all)
"... oo you all ni keje hospital ye..doktor ye.."
?????????????????
lepas tu masa amik statement about the event, sempat la buat komen2 takde makna yang i mentioned earlier.
mengancam kesabaran betul.
by then my brain was already needing a revival of its own that i couldnt pokpekpokpek anymo.

dah settle malam tu, esok hari tu kena lagi gi jumpe the inspector. sempat lagi sekali dia komen..."tulah.. susah sket la kalau tak kawen ni"
apa masalah diorang ni????
hampeh tahap maksimum betul.

back with a new lap friend

....as in a new laptop that is ;)
sigh....... i missed blogging!!!
my ol trusty laptop was stolen about 2 months ago. someone (damn u-or u guys- to hell!!) broke into our house and stole each of our laptop-mine and my 2 housemates'.
i'll blog more about this later.

so much has happened since then. i wrote about them in yahoo360 already so malas nak ulang.

oh...and it's now the 2nd week already in the new year. cepat betul.
which makes me 32 years and 2 weeks old. sigh. time flies.
i got this new laptop exactly a week after my bday.. borrowed the money from me dad. sigh. dont think i'll have enuff funds for the trip to melbourne this march. been planning to go since a friend went there for her masters. she's now doing her phd.
gosh.. that's another thing about being in the thirties. you get frens completing their post grads, doing their phds, doctor frens becoming specialists,..
and you dont get much wedding inivitations anymore too, unless it's your close fren's brother/sister getting married, while your already married frens are either expanding their families with a 3rd or 4th child coming soon, or getting divorced.. in which case you may then get invitations to your fren's wedding-for the 2nd time. heee...