latest reads

list of books i've read in the past month:
1) eat pray love - by elizabeth gilbert
2) fish: a memoir of a boy in a man's prison -by tj parsell
3) remember me? - by sophie kinsella
4) fables - volume 10
5) the book thief - by markus zusak
6) the graveyard book - by neil gaiman
7) my sister's keeper - by jodi piccoult

i wish i could travel (and write) like elizabeth gilbert. remember me is a typical sophie kinsella work, but the only "chick lit" i still quite enjoy. fish is another non-fiction, didnt quite like it; started out quite good and interesting, but surprisingly turnout more of a romantic story in the end.
the book thief and the graveyard book are supposed to be targeting "young adults" but i still love both of the books (hmm..guess a 30-something can still fit in this category then huh?).
my sister's keeper is somewhat a "familiar" read because it's about childhood leukemia and we see patients with the cancer everyday at work, but it's written in the perspective of the family having to deal with the disease, and the controversial issues about genetics designer babies , the moral versus ethical dilemma surrounding it. it's quite a moving story, i actually cried unexpectedly at the end!
i'm currently reading dry - by the funny augusten burroughs, but have to put it aside for awhile this weekend cuz i have a presentation to finish before wednesday.
thank God for the long weekend.

"so emie, apa cerita?"

i dont really like it when people ask me this.
the question usually comes from friends/relatives who havent seen me for a while. (it usually comes after: "hey.. u've gained weight yah?" or "hmm.. kau dah gemuk nampak?")--> but that's for another blog, another time.
why dont i like it is simply cuz i i felt like i dont really have much to cerita .. my job's the same, the place i work's still the same, my car's still the same, my health's the same, my status is the same (status quo).
so yeah.. the only thing that's changed is actually my weight, but like i said, this is the 1st thing they would notice anyway.
so i would usually say "oh, same ol same ol..u know"..and would then proceed to cerita about other things, or other people...altho when i think about it again later, i actually do have my own cerita i can cerita, but being caught off guard most of the time kan.. the cerita just got lost i guess. hee. whatever.

so here's my cerita for today..after like ?2 months of not blogging, more like a catching-up lah kot:

forfar,nelson,here i come (again)
it's back to the books again for me. sigh.boringnye......next!

wimbledon
it has been a really interesting year in tennis so far.
rafa beat fedex to the british cup this year,preventing the fed a 6-yr streak at wimbledon, and possibly sending the guy to a depth of depression (hope not!) for making him lose another grand slam title this year!
the williams sisters made it to the finals again, with venus bringing home the trophy.

the M word
quite a number of friends got busy sending off wedding invitations this year. interestingly, few are actually doing it for the 2nd time already (!) so apparently the question they pose nowadays is this: "so emie, when are you gonna get married hah? so&so already twice now..haha...ha...ha"
sheesh *eyeroll*

the D word
quite a number of people i know are/have gotten divorced as well. seems there are soooo many diverse reasons behind the divorces nowadays. i dont think there are any actual risk factors to getting them anymore. the couple could be living together/living apart, no children/got children, great in-laws/crazy in-laws/even no in-laws, age difference/no age difference, love marriage/arranged marriage, fidelity/infidelity, married young/married late, good sex/bad sex/no sex, just married/golden anniversary,...and the list goes on...
well i guess there is one definite risk factor for getting a divorce then--> getting married!

the good ol days
attended my old boarding school's 25th anniversary. was fun. very nostalgic.

work frustations
the LJ,the shameless fabricator,the stoopidos,the red tape,the pointing fingers,the illness,the deaths,the feeling of helplessness.

euro o euro
france and italy didnt make it very far. but germany got to the finals tho they didnt win. but hey, they beat portugal- muahaha.

f1
kimi, massa, & hamilton are head-to-head at the standings, with kubica running (or driving rather ;)) really close behind. now that's what i call a race!

masters
no..not another sports tournament. rather the disastrous journey i decided to embark myself in order to (kononnye) get myself "specialized". sheessh. what was i thinking? i dont think i give a damn anymore.bah! i'm too damn lazy for it all already.

happy hair
yup. new hairstyle. splurged a bit on it. but not sorry that i did ;)

current reading
other than paeds lit? the book thief and two caravans.

movies
hancock- predictable
ironman-loved it!
wanted-uuhhmmm....mixed feelings about this one
13 games (thai movie)-gross.loved it.but gross.really.
kungfu panda-fairly enjoyable. the animated kungfu moves are kung-fu-fun.heh.

travel
NONE.
arrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

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.

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.

books read this year (or still reading..)

since i gave up on exams this year, i had plenty of time to catch up with reading stuff other than medical textbooks. just felt like listing them down (sbb takde idea nak blog apa malam ni).
they are in random order..

• a short history of nearly everything-bill bryson
• memory of running-ron mclarty
• stardust - neil gaiman
• shanghai baby-wei hui
• undomestic goddess-sophie kinsella
• anansi boys - neil gaiman
• american gods-neil gaiman
• the tipping point -malcolm gladwell (not done yet-it's non fiction ;))
• daughters of arabia - jean sasson
• stories of the prophets
• marvel 1602 -neil gaiman
• strangers in paradise book 1 -terry moore
• neverwhere - neil gaiman

hmm... i think there are 2-3 more titles that should be up there as well, but i cant seem to remember. but hey, not too bad at all. compared to last year..only managed to read 4 (dan brown's famous 4). 'course, comics and graphic novels take less time (even tho they cost a lot more - sigh.. why do books here cost SO much anyway? well.. they told me why.. but.. i still think they can be cheaper dammit!!)

btw, kinda obvious that it's this year that i fell in love with neil gaiman's books aint it? i mean, i read the sandman series before, back when i was still a university student, not the whole lot cuz i was borrowing them from the library (which is another thing that needs serious help/attention here in msia) and couldnt get the whole collection..and i guess i was distracted with a whole lotta other things then too, like borrowing movies too..sigh..sometimes i miss canada.. and bagels.. and..so...um... what was i trying to get at again? o yea..so this year i've been spending a lot more time at the bookstores again so i guess i sorta rediscovered him (gaiman) and his great imagination.. and so i'm a fan once again.

oklah.. actually i was planning to comment a bit on each of the book, like/dont like/cool/boring/suck..that sorta thing (heck, i'm not a book critic pun) but anyway tak jadi cuz it's too lewat malam alrdy, so gonna go to bed instead (alrdy on the bed actually-o but u know what i mean..)

nite world..

latest love(s)

movie: pirates of the carribean-dead man's chest
movie(s) (on dvd): 1)i not stupid too
2)transamerica
3)jarhead
book(s): 1)stardust - neil gaiman ..cant wait for the movie!
2)anansi boys - neil gaiman (photo)
food:cheezels
drink:green apple juice @amigos melaka
song(s):1)celebrate the day (world cup) .. yeah i know it's over. still cant get over the song tho.
2)cobalah utk setia-kris dayanti.... i was told that this song aint really new, but i just discovered it and am impressed by kris' vocals.
3)marching bands of manhattan-deathcab by cutie
4) tom's diner-suzanne vega - rediscovered this song. used to love it and still do cuz it makes a non-singer like me seem able to sing ;)
tv show: err.. none lately.
dreamdate(s): 1)jake gyllenhal (photo)
2)wentworth miller
eyecandy: 25 yr-ol cutie i just met recently. not so much his looks,but his voice..so husky!hehe..