Eid Mubarak

We are approaching the end of Ramadhan month already. Soon, Muslims all over the world will be celebrating Eid or Adilfitri, the 1st day of Syawal month.

On this joyous occasion, I would like to wish all of you Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Maaf zahir batin.

Be safe wherever you are and hope you're having good time this festive season with family and friends.

For those who are driving back for the long holiday, be considerate and don't road-hogging (my pet peeves of Msia drivers!)

Listen : Satu hari di hari raya - M.Nasir here

September is here

Told ya it was going to be a looong weekend, right?

I went to visit my best friend and had an outrageously delicious seafood. I'll let you see the pic of the Chilli Crab - ergh! it's to die for! Then I went back to my hometown and chilled out at home with my nephews & nieces. and that was it. I'm so lazy to upload the pics now.

Anyway, I was tagged by Ms PatinPasta to answer these few questions and here goes;

1. Apakah yang bermain di minda anda sekarang? Budget Raya

2. Apakah nama samaran anda?

Chah is actually what almost all family & friends called me, and Shue - is a my nickname that I used since mIRC time and it kinda stuck.

3. Siapakah 3 orang yang paling kamu sayang?

Seriously hard to answer! if I have to limit to 3 - Mom, Dad & brother

4. Panggilan untuk si dia? Babe

5. Hadiah yang anda impikan daripada seseorang yang istimewa? love & trust

6. Blog mana yang anda selalu lawat?Uiks! Banyak! am a serious blog-hopper.

7. TAG kan kepada 15 blogger? aiyoh..so many? feel free to tag yourself! :P

Listen : Dynamite - Taio Cruz

Long weekend ahead

Hi all.

It's already wednesday. In anticipating the long weekend starting this Friday, I am inundated with so many plans and some errands to do. But then, we'll see if I have the will & strong enough to dive and join the throngs of people doing their shopping for Aidil Fitri festival this weekend.

See, this friday 27/8 is a Public Holiday for Nuzul Quran Day (17th Day of Ramadhan) and next Tuesday 31/8 will be Malaysia's 53rd Independence Day. I just applied for 1 day leave for Monday 30/8 and there, a nice 5 days weekend to enjoy. Kinda neat, eh?

No definite plan yet as of today. But I know I'll be driving back to Hometown for Iftar with family.

If weather permits, I might drive further to coastal area and hit the beach? during fasting days? hmm..not impossible and why not?

Anyway, I'll leave you with this video of lady Antebellum - need you now. This is quite sad song. But at the same time, kinda uplifting. Oh well, you can either like it or hate it, I don't mind a bit.

(Just hit 'pause' button of the mixpod playlist on the right side menu bar, if you want to play this video. thanks & enjoy it love!)

Toothache

Breath..

Feels like..

shouting as loud as possible & cursing this nagging-painful-almost killing-me lower left last molar of mine. Oii! this is truly hurt. And I'm still fasting. Can't wait to see a dentist later tonight or (gulp!) tommorow. Chances are, no dentist still open past 6 or 7 pm, so I'm already prepared with Dyfenamic 250mg - pain killer! I freaking pray it'll works.

God give me strength & patience to fulfill today's fasting until sundown. Erghhh!^&$#*&)&%&!!

www.squidoo.com/Home-Toothache-Remedy

Salt

Right, so we're well into first few days of fasting. Hope all is well with you.

I had recently went to watch the movie ' Salt' . Unless you are a die hard fan of Angelina Jolie and her kick-ass moves, you'll find this a bit of stereotype and almost similar to her previous action flicks (re: Tomb Raider, Mr& Mrs. Smith & Wanted) Having said that, in all fairness the story lines are all different, but seeing her in all too familiar moves and super cool capabilities kind of make you appreciate her more in film like Changeling. In the film, Jolie is Evelyn Salt who is CIA Agent and accused of being a KGB sleeper agent and on the run to clear her name. More can be read here

Ok. Have a great day!

Listen : Bad Romance - lady Gaga

Ramadhan

This is the month to cleanse our soul, do the good deeds as much as possible and seek for Allah's forgiveness. Selamat menjalani ibadah berpuasa di bulan Ramadhan yg mulia ini. Amin.

Listen : Love the way you lie - Eminem ft Rihanna

Slow day like this..

makes me wish that I'm at the Beach..cooling off and lazing the day away. Sipping cool drinks and reading some chick-lit novels. owh! A total bliss. Added bonus with the view like this,

Listen : According to you - Orianthi

Talented Girl

I'm currently crazy about this girl - Pixie Lott! such a talented artist. Her voice goes straight to my heart. especially when I'm listening to Cry Me Out. What an awesome track!

other songs by her are also as good. Like this Mama Do, her 1st single.



And I like this one too!

And how about this?

She's cute, right?

Monday

Hi y'all..

How was your weekend? I'll write more soon. In the mean time, enjoy this clip & song~ so sexy & sweet!

If that's the way things are..

I am so happy for my brother. He has overcome many hurdles to finally be able to marry his girlfriend. But really, am I truly happy? Yes, I am.But I’m not without any regret. Oh well, It’s something unworthy to be worried for. That was just me feeling more and more like a big loser. An elder sister who might be single for the rest of her life. Yep, that’s me. Go on, just be merry and rides into the sun with your bride. In the mean time, let me keep searching for my happiness that seems so elusive and the idea is getting farfetched by days. I am a loser, indeed. sigh.

Listen : la tortura - Shakira & Alejandro Sanz

Mad Men

The cast of Mad Men


Season 4 promo poster

What to say about this tv series. In all it's glory, most elegant, swankiest (and darkside) of 60s - I'm hooked. I know the series debut 2 summers (few years) ago, but then, the downside of living at the other end of the world is that it took some time to reach our shore. And I meant, the DVD box set, not the actual running show on TV - not sure whether Mad Men will ever be running on local channel anytime soon. Anyway, all is well and I got my fix of all 3 seasons somewhere late last year. Season 4 opened last night in US and in the mean time, I'll probably scouring whatever bits and pieces I can get online. What a pity. Did I mention about the leading star? a good looking, talented with ever-brooding expression Jon Hamm. He is delicious. If you haven't heard of Mad Men - read more here, here, here, and here. And how about some glamorous pictures? I love them all.

isn't he yummy?

Listen : The Only exception - Paramour

In-Between

This in-betweens are really getting on my nerve. Lemme clarify. It's the situation where I can't proceed on something (that I'm soo looking forward to) due to something else been pending and to make me feel even worst, it's kind of out of my control. sheesh! don't you just hate it when you're in this kinda spot? I have some faith left that cogs will clear sooner or later and wheels will roll over to the intended destination ( mucho faster indeed!) In the mean time, I want to continue dreaming of these sweet, gorgeous, elegant and some fun colourful living/sitting rooms. See if you like any. All pics from House Beautiful

Jonathan Adler

David Lawrence

Chantal Dussouchaud

Annie Selke

Jacqueline DerreySegura

Listen : Replay - Iyaz

Birthday of This Blog

Owh! I missed the 5th birthday of this blog by a month. The first post dated June 16th, 2005. And although for the next 3 years after that, post and entries were sporadic and inconsistent, I knew somehow that I'll always come back to blogspot and pour (some of) my hearts out here. This is such a special place to me, indeed. Of late, I've been actively blogging here and to tell you the truth, visitors are not totally shun out, but don't expect warm welcome either coz I write mainly just for myself. And of course, all opinions and thoughts belong to me and I don't try to make anybody happy here except myself. Anyway, this is MY feel good space and not yours. Scoff!

The Power Of One

Hello all,

I know the World Cup 2010 is over and all the hypes are now quieting down. But in actual fact, my fascination with African Continent, in particular South Africa has started about 12 years ago. It all began when I borrowed a book from my best friend (it was his brother’s book actually!). Its title is ‘The Power of One’ by Bryce Courtenay. Boy, I was hooked! I was so in love with the story and ended up reread it for like another 10 times. I even gave it to my brother to read and he also likes it so much.
The setting of the story was circa 1940-ish and apartheid is already poisoning and dividing the nation. ‘Peekay’ grew up and truly survived all the hardships he encountered along the way to achieve his dream of becoming the Welterweight Boxing Champion. He was sent as 5 yrs old to a bording school where he is the only English among the Afrikaner and was bullied by students at the hostel led by biggest boy called ‘Judge’. On Peekay’s way to East Transvaal town of Barberton to his new home, he met Hoppie Gronewald (Boxing Champion of South African Railways) on the train and learnt about boxing. He later met and befriended a German Professor whom he called ‘Doc’ who took him under his wing and nurtured and taught him so much from Latin, Botany, Mathematics, chess and also piano. He was awarded scholarship to study at Johannesburg Prince of Wales School and there Peekay met his Jewish friend, Morrie Levy and together they embarked on the interesting journey of education, boxing matches, taking bets and forming ‘the Bank’ for their fellow students at school. Both are also involved in the movement to educate Afrikans (black people) and later were instructed to stop by Police. Nevertheless, that episode left black remark on Peekay’s application for Rhodes scholarship to study in Oxford. He was frustrated and felt that he had let his mother and grandpa down. Heck, even whole Barberton town were frustrated. And that includes his boxing coach and team at the local prison where he trained. Peekay’s name also became more and more famous after he won many matches and excelled as a boxer. However, he surprised everybody when he decided to go and worked in the Copper mines at Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) to save money for his own education. Peekay has grown into a matured man of his own and never waver from his belief instilled by Hoppie that said ‘first with the head, then with the heart’.

Oh well, if you want to read much more about the story, you can check out the much longer and details on the plot at here . Bottom line, go and read the book. I have since scouted Bryce Courtenay books whenever I could. A truly gifted story teller and I love his style of writing. Awesome reads, I think. And yeah, after so many moths holding it (at that time), I finally returned the book to my friend and few years back, I borrowed it back and has since kept it under my care. I even started to read it again few days ago. Hence, this post.

Listen : Dangerous - Akon ft Kardinal Offishall

Gerhana (english : Eclipse)

I finally went to watch the Eclipse. 3rd part of Twilight Saga. And to tell you the truth; It was pretty awesome! I like the facts that they're telling background stories of some vampires in Cullen coven ( Rosalie & Jasper ). Edward (Rob Pattinson) & Bella (Kristin Stewart) are convincing enough but Jacob (Taylor Lautner).. oh wow! he is a hunk! total heart breaker and he got such amazing body. I don't understand why some critics said that 'Eclipse' kind of boring and gave quite bad review, where as I think, if you read all Twilight books and knows the storyline & characters - you will appreciate whatever effort they made to bring the story to life. I know of course that, an adapted film could never be 100% or exact blow by blow as detailed out in the book, but as a fan, you go and just enjoy the movie whole heartedly especially when the characters were saying their dialogues exactly like what was written in the book.

Honey! Bring me some tea..

Right on Dear..and then I'm off to our wonderfully made kitchen to boil some hot water for tea. While there, let me just whip-and-bake some delicious scones or pavlava to go with the piping hot tea.

Ahh..what a dream. I mean, the wonderfully made kitchen, not the whole charade of being almost a servant-like and obidient type of a wife to a husband like that. It's ok to spoil your loved one once in a while, but not to make it a custom. They'll ended up being just that - spoilt spouse. Trust me, I'd seen the prove of it. If I am to be someone's wife one day in future, he would have to take me as I am. Not perfect but continously working on it. and same goes for him. He does not have to be a superbly good looking, but I value more the good personality. Qualities like attentive, open minded, having similar wavelength of thinking and adventurous type of person. And oh! I don't mind a romantic and occasional bouquet of flowers too! Anyway..where were we? Ahh kitchen. No doubt it's an important part of any house and let's continue enjoying some very fabulous kitchen made up by these designers I came accross while browsing the House Beautiful recently.

Jonathan Berger

Gil Schafer

Susan Tully

Kay Douglass

Carol lalli

Ruthie Sommers

and i think this is the most complete and dreamiest kitchen by Joan Schindler. Awesome!

Listen : Cry Me Out - Pixie Lott

Campeones Del Mundo!

Oh My God! Spain Won the World Cup 2010!!! I told ya`..Spaniards are the best! and the match was super charged with action packed and a physical game at best, couple with most generous amount of yellow cards being thrown about. Congratulations Spaniards! Usted es el mejor! David Villa tried his best but did not scored. Xavi, Ramos, Alonso and Puyol worked their hardest. And when Fabregas & Torres were brought in, they also created lots of chance which in the end, Iniesta managed to grab the opportunity and did what he did best. Iniesta truly proved that he's one of the best player. Such a great playmaker.

And what is wrong with the Dutch lot? played like a bunch of thugs! seriously, De Jong should be red carded, no question asked for that kick to chest of Alonso! and Heitinga well deserved the red he got.

Ahh...the sweet victory to the greatest team of all!El espana fantástico!



And this is as the reminder of how ugly the dutch played. Such sore losers!



ok, now let's back to our mundane, boring life. Haha



Listen: Break Your Heart - Taio Cruz

This is It! Who Is The Champion?

Oh wow! in about 10 hours , the final match of World Cup 2010 will start. I'm pumped for Spain! Although Netherlands also not a shabby team to begin with. This is going to be a memorable match - not only for the 2 teams in the final but also a success to the organizing country - South Africa. May the best team wins. Buena Suerte Spaniards!

p/s : David Villa - You rocks! Mwaahh!

Listen : What you waiting for - Mizz Nina ft Colby O donnis

Atomic Kittens!

Hah! these are not atomic, or at least free from any nuclear particles. If that's any of your concern. My best friend found these kittens in front of her beauty spa and brought them home. Owh! so sweet. After we bathed & cleaned them up, these lot are ready to rumble and tumble. I picked one and gave the name Alex as I'm not sure whether it's a male or female YET. If it's a he, the full name will be Alexander/Allejandro or if it's a girl, then it'll be Alexandra/Alexis. Wah! so many names! I got myself confused too. The other two were named Jacob (as in Jacob Black from Twilight fame. Although I swear there is no black colouring/stripe at all on his body!) and the other one called Winda (of this one currently-running Infonesia soap drama, Benci Bilang Sayang). So far so good. They're curious little things! I love to play with them. *Melt*

And oh! Spain is in Final of World Cup! How bout that? Woot! Viva Espana~

Listen : Nothing on you - BOB ft Bruno Mars

There you go..

See, I have such high hopes & enough faith in the Spanish team to win their quarter-final match against Paraguay. And now, we're in the semi final. to go against Germany. Ouch! that's another team that I admire for their tactical and smart game everytime they outplayed their opponents.

Buena suerte to the spaniards!

Listen : Your love is my drug - Kesha