Something rather strange happened to me today, well feelings that is. A couple of hours ago, I went out to withdraw some money out at the cash machine initially hoping to God that I still have tens of Gs in my account. Unfortunately since last month we have been running a bit short on the cash flow so of course my bank balance wouldn't be that much. My normal self until today would be dreading the ATM trip to see my bank balance as I hate to see it at the 5G level which means 'danger' but of late thats how it has been. So imagine my surprise (of myself) when I walked up to the ATM, saw my dangerously low bank balance (honestly dangerous I tell you) withdrew 100 and said to myself, hey why do I still feel GOOD ?
I guess what actually happened is the events that unfolded in the past couple of weeks in my life and that of my loved ones have made me realize that life for me is not just about money. Its made me realize that there comes a point in life that there are more enjoyable things to do than count to see if the next K that you bank into your account can make your bank balance to 100Gs. Sure I still have to chase one or two people still who owe me the green bills but then at the end of the day thats all they are. Green bills.
In a weeks time I will be spending my 10th year anniversary with the one man I love most in my life along with my two boys, mum and brother and of course my soon to be slave oldest Kak Long..haha..
In the far horizon over in KL I have my two other sisters whom I cherish and alhamdulillah unlike many people am still in very close contact with.
Money. Why does people who have so much of it still don't have enough?
Right now I am pretty darn excited about our one night getaway to the Magellan Sutera for our 10th anniversary where me and Endy plan to go for a full Thai massage at this joint in Penampang, (hotel compliments from Globalprivelege thank you!) then do things we used to do when we were dating : watch movies, go to Reject Shop ( in KK ada F.O.S only la) and then do lots of married things ( go figure). We are going to spend one whole day with each other : all 24 hours of it and I cannot wait ( Kids to be babysat by my wonderful family thank you!). I am so glad I have this wonderful man for my husband. Sure we did have our ups and downs when we were in Sheffield but thank God we weathered through it because no matter how hard it was, we never gave up on each other. And now it seems that he really is going up the career ladder and I am so proud and happy for him. I truly cherish the 18 years we have together, 10 of which as husband and wife.
Then there is my mum. She is a really wonderful mum to have who understands all my mood swings and never kecil hati with me. She is always happy to help out even in her condition and I cannot be more blessed having a mum like her.
My siblings: What else can I say but SPECTACULAR! well, this is one reason I feel sometimes having 10 ringgit in your purse is not as bad as compared to one quarrel with your sis. My youngest sis came to KK last week and instead of enjoying ourselves I managed to pick an argument with her after which I felt really crap about. It was only after we made up that I felt a huge burden off my shoulders and it felt way better than having 15Gs to spend six months ago.
My kids: So proud to be their mums. They are both ever so clever. truthfully I can see even now that I think I know what each of them are going to end up to be: Arian : Lawyer as he likes to pick arguments as make a fuss when he feels 'victimised' . Gagi will probably be a sound engineer when he grows up as he likes to do stuff on youtube pertaining sound and then godek my Laptop. I now press a key and its a shortcut for something, courtesy of Eizaqeel Hakim Sazmal Effendi. Can't even key in my password for anything.
Friends and other family : another gem in my life: Aree, Syirin,Tun, ABalong ( I miss himla), and not forgetting my my brilliant mum and dad in law.
I think my life is truly blessed.
So what if I haven't money in the bank?
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Its Oh SO Quiet
Well well it HAS been ages since I last put pen to paper on this blog. Not for the lack things that have happened but for lack of time. Before you know it it is now April and soon the semester's going to end and all I want to say to that is Thank GOD for that! I can't believe I have been too busy to even jot down the happenings between end 2008 and early 2009. But then again, that is pretty much our lot in life as teachers as many of them will say.
I must say 2008 has been a pretty good year for us. Well for starters Arian has been doing pretty well in Std 1 at his school St Agnes and finished off at second place in 1 Tekun ( which is second best class) and is now in the best class 2 Cekal next year, thus completely alleviating my concern that kids who come back from schools abroad have problems adapting. He has since been showered with rewards which included a Nerf toy gun from Amon, a pair of trainers, a watch and other stuff from us and his Nenek Mama. Good news is he is presently maintaining his grades at 95% average.
Then Aqeel is growing up to be such much more placcid which is great. I was initially concerned that he was going to be sort of hyperactive but thank God things with him are back to normal just like the times when Arian was a toddler. The thing I notice now is that he is much more responsive to his surroundings but know his limitations. He is also like his brother reading books which is according to my mum rare for a three year old but then well..they are after all MY kids...full stop (haha proud parent) not to mention his playground's my laptop. Last week his teacher at the Chung Hwa Kindergarten which he attends tells me that he has somehow managed to memorize and learn all the chinese words and characters that has been taught. According to Teacher Chung (thats her name) he is presently the only one able to do it; not even his Chinese classmates can at the moment. well syukur alhamdulillah. I have one thing less to worry about.
In two months time it will be our tenth wedding anniversary. We have booked flights to go back to KL for a week where we hope to spend it with Mak and Abah at Gombak. Perhaps we may go to Malacca for a short trip.
Careerwise things seem to be looking up for us.I will soon be needing to look at ptential places for my PhD studies. I have decided that since Harvard is too far for me to go, I will settle for Australia. I have not decided if its going to be Melbourne or Sydney but I am sure it ain't going to be Perth. Andy has been rumored to assume an important position in the university soon, so fingers crossed for him.We had a bit of a scare last February when he went for an ultrasound scan and a kidney lesion showed up which necessitated a trip to the consultant nephrologist, but luckily it wasn't anything serious.
With a bit of luck we will be moving into our new house next year. So now we have to watch our pockets and try to save as much as possible as we need to do stuff for the new house like installing the grill and electric gate , etc etc..money ..money..
I must say 2008 has been a pretty good year for us. Well for starters Arian has been doing pretty well in Std 1 at his school St Agnes and finished off at second place in 1 Tekun ( which is second best class) and is now in the best class 2 Cekal next year, thus completely alleviating my concern that kids who come back from schools abroad have problems adapting. He has since been showered with rewards which included a Nerf toy gun from Amon, a pair of trainers, a watch and other stuff from us and his Nenek Mama. Good news is he is presently maintaining his grades at 95% average.
Then Aqeel is growing up to be such much more placcid which is great. I was initially concerned that he was going to be sort of hyperactive but thank God things with him are back to normal just like the times when Arian was a toddler. The thing I notice now is that he is much more responsive to his surroundings but know his limitations. He is also like his brother reading books which is according to my mum rare for a three year old but then well..they are after all MY kids...full stop (haha proud parent) not to mention his playground's my laptop. Last week his teacher at the Chung Hwa Kindergarten which he attends tells me that he has somehow managed to memorize and learn all the chinese words and characters that has been taught. According to Teacher Chung (thats her name) he is presently the only one able to do it; not even his Chinese classmates can at the moment. well syukur alhamdulillah. I have one thing less to worry about.
In two months time it will be our tenth wedding anniversary. We have booked flights to go back to KL for a week where we hope to spend it with Mak and Abah at Gombak. Perhaps we may go to Malacca for a short trip.
Careerwise things seem to be looking up for us.I will soon be needing to look at ptential places for my PhD studies. I have decided that since Harvard is too far for me to go, I will settle for Australia. I have not decided if its going to be Melbourne or Sydney but I am sure it ain't going to be Perth. Andy has been rumored to assume an important position in the university soon, so fingers crossed for him.We had a bit of a scare last February when he went for an ultrasound scan and a kidney lesion showed up which necessitated a trip to the consultant nephrologist, but luckily it wasn't anything serious.
With a bit of luck we will be moving into our new house next year. So now we have to watch our pockets and try to save as much as possible as we need to do stuff for the new house like installing the grill and electric gate , etc etc..money ..money..
I have so much more to write but I will go to sleep now as I am just knackered. Its Saturday night but I can't be bothered watching the telly, so i will just go to bed.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Muslim Massacre Video Game
Extracts from SKY news @ 11/09/08
UuA computer game that encourages its users to slaughter Muslims has been condemned by a leading Muslim youth organisation.
The condemned game, 'Muslim Massacre'
The Ramadhan Foundation expressed its "deep anger" at the release of the game 'Muslim Massacre' on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
It glorifies the killing of Muslims in the Middle East, added the Foundation.
The website incites users to download the game by falsely claiming the United States is at war with Islam.
"The United States of America has declared war on Islam! Take control of the American hero and wipe out the Muslim race with an arsenal of the world's most destructive weapons," it reads.
The game encourages its users to fire a variety of weapons at characters in traditional Islamic dress.
Mr Mohammed Shafiq, Chief Executive of the Foundation said: "Encouraging children and young people in a game to kill Muslims is unacceptable, tasteless and deeply offensive."
He added that video games encourage violence, especially among children. "When kids spend six hours a day on violent games they are more likely to go outside and commit violence."
In respone, the game's designer who calls himself 'Sigvatr', told Sky News:
"To Mr. Mohammed Shafiq I would like to say that if a kid spends six hours a day on violent games, I think that they aren't likely to go outside at all, so he should not be worried."
The 22-year-old, who says he was born "a military hospital to two loving military grunts", now lives in Australia.
His website says he works part time "as a service station attendant serving potato chips, cigarettes and soda to drunken bar hoppers and stoners at three in the morning."
The Ramadhan Foundation has urged internet service providers to take action against websites such as this that incite racial hatred, saying there can be no justification for these games.
"I hope the person who made this game thinks again," added their chief executive.
When I read this in the wee hours of today just before my Fajr prayers, I felt as if I was being stabbed with a dagger piercing through my heart. What is happening? We are supposed to be an exemplary Muslim country but why arent we responding to this? I am sad to see that the moment all we are besotted about is will Anwar Ibrahim make or break Sept 16? Here we are with all these political turmoils going off in our country, it is all mundane compared to this. THIS to me is the real issue we should all be dealing with. THIS is the real threat to our being, our children and most all of most importantly our religion. Please leaders, we have an imminent threat to the freedom of our souls that was promised in Islam by our Rasulullah s.a.w (pbuh) . Please do something.
Ya Allah, I pray to You to protect Islam from destruction. Amin, Amin Ya Rabbal alamin.
UuA computer game that encourages its users to slaughter Muslims has been condemned by a leading Muslim youth organisation.
The condemned game, 'Muslim Massacre'
The Ramadhan Foundation expressed its "deep anger" at the release of the game 'Muslim Massacre' on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
It glorifies the killing of Muslims in the Middle East, added the Foundation.
The website incites users to download the game by falsely claiming the United States is at war with Islam.
"The United States of America has declared war on Islam! Take control of the American hero and wipe out the Muslim race with an arsenal of the world's most destructive weapons," it reads.
The game encourages its users to fire a variety of weapons at characters in traditional Islamic dress.
Mr Mohammed Shafiq, Chief Executive of the Foundation said: "Encouraging children and young people in a game to kill Muslims is unacceptable, tasteless and deeply offensive."
He added that video games encourage violence, especially among children. "When kids spend six hours a day on violent games they are more likely to go outside and commit violence."
In respone, the game's designer who calls himself 'Sigvatr', told Sky News:
"To Mr. Mohammed Shafiq I would like to say that if a kid spends six hours a day on violent games, I think that they aren't likely to go outside at all, so he should not be worried."
The 22-year-old, who says he was born "a military hospital to two loving military grunts", now lives in Australia.
His website says he works part time "as a service station attendant serving potato chips, cigarettes and soda to drunken bar hoppers and stoners at three in the morning."
The Ramadhan Foundation has urged internet service providers to take action against websites such as this that incite racial hatred, saying there can be no justification for these games.
"I hope the person who made this game thinks again," added their chief executive.
When I read this in the wee hours of today just before my Fajr prayers, I felt as if I was being stabbed with a dagger piercing through my heart. What is happening? We are supposed to be an exemplary Muslim country but why arent we responding to this? I am sad to see that the moment all we are besotted about is will Anwar Ibrahim make or break Sept 16? Here we are with all these political turmoils going off in our country, it is all mundane compared to this. THIS to me is the real issue we should all be dealing with. THIS is the real threat to our being, our children and most all of most importantly our religion. Please leaders, we have an imminent threat to the freedom of our souls that was promised in Islam by our Rasulullah s.a.w (pbuh) . Please do something.
Ya Allah, I pray to You to protect Islam from destruction. Amin, Amin Ya Rabbal alamin.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Logged on to my facebook account today and what did I find?
All my lovely friends and family ( last piece of puzzle is adding Syirin)- here in Malaysia and there in the UK all in one place - all within reach. Aree,Jo,Chloe,Tun,Geneen, Fairin, even Gary Wood!
I am content.
All my lovely friends and family ( last piece of puzzle is adding Syirin)- here in Malaysia and there in the UK all in one place - all within reach. Aree,Jo,Chloe,Tun,Geneen, Fairin, even Gary Wood!
I am content.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
The I-am-not-making-any-headway kind of day which turned out to be good in the end
Quick jot to just get off my chest. Frustrated .I really felt that yesterday And all because of tiny minute little living things in this world called bacteria. I know I am not supposed to overreact but there you go for I did. I have been for the umpteenth time trying to get my research project off the ground and for the umpteenth time have been faced with challenges. For one, the RM10 grand that is parked for me in IPB for me to use has hit some snags in the form of red-tape. Then my seed-fund project of another measly RM10 grand is also somewhere between the sea and the sky, likewise with my FRGS of RM130 grand (small money, small research only la). I have two MSc students constantly wanting to know when they can start their projects. Finally after so,so,so much patience the initial 10 grand is released.Hurray.
Then the unthinkable happened.
The bacterial strains that I have been asking from Korea for weeks on end: Got an e-mail from Prof Hae-Yong Kim that oh sorry Zarina, we have loads of it here but we are prohibited from sending them across to you. Bummer. The same not two minutes after with Prof.Williams from Nottingham who was symphatetic but could not help either. I think this has got to do with post 9-11.They are scared we were going to make terrorist weapons from these little tiny things.
Fair enough- it is after all a Class 2 pathogen.
So I decided to contact ATCC and HPA in UK to see if they can help. Initially it looked hopeful as they requested for an institution profile to verify my intentions as legitimate for research purposes only. I quickly prepared one..and then..oopss..sorry, we cannot send it to you because...?? no reasons given. I think its probably of laboratory facilities and access policies they are a bit sceptical about.
I could have torn all of my hair out yeterday out of frustration as I took SUCH a long time to prepare the profile. Then I decided to go for a bit of God-searching to try and calm myself down.Truthfully my life these past three weeks is entirely dominated by anxiety due to these darned bugs. And then somehow or rather after the calm, En.Aziz'z face came into my mind. En Aziz is SJMC's Senior MLT and an expert in microbiology.We have been friends since I was in ITM. I rang him up to ask whether it would be possible for him to maintain such a strain in his collection. It really was my last shot and was already expecting him to say..sorrylah Zarina,tak adalah...
But what did I hear?? "Oh..yang purple tu ke? Saya rasa adalah, saya check dulu nanti call saya next week?"
If not for the fact that he was not in front of me I would have hugged him ...regardless of the fact he is alim..hhm..now that I mention it, I might probably never see my bacterial strain if I did that..so good job he wasn't.
Thank God for little things. The thing I want to say is sometimes we are so awed by the strains other depositors have in their respective countries we miss our very own collections right here in ours.
No Post 9-11 problems, no money required. ATCC charges 300USD per ampoule of bacterial strain.En Aziz: Free. But of course when I eventually take it from him I will belanja him makanlah kat someplace nice in Subang, then debit it from my grant. Yes!
Like last week, this week is NOW good. And did I tell you why last week was good? Because my life is surrounded by the people and the things I love and without the people that I don't.
Have managed to do most things this week esp with my Science Fund application. The only thing I need to do is ring Aree as I really owe him a phone call. Aree when you read this know you r on my mind and I WILL ring you okay then we chat ?
Another good week . Syukur alhamdulillah for that.
Then the unthinkable happened.
The bacterial strains that I have been asking from Korea for weeks on end: Got an e-mail from Prof Hae-Yong Kim that oh sorry Zarina, we have loads of it here but we are prohibited from sending them across to you. Bummer. The same not two minutes after with Prof.Williams from Nottingham who was symphatetic but could not help either. I think this has got to do with post 9-11.They are scared we were going to make terrorist weapons from these little tiny things.
Fair enough- it is after all a Class 2 pathogen.
So I decided to contact ATCC and HPA in UK to see if they can help. Initially it looked hopeful as they requested for an institution profile to verify my intentions as legitimate for research purposes only. I quickly prepared one..and then..oopss..sorry, we cannot send it to you because...?? no reasons given. I think its probably of laboratory facilities and access policies they are a bit sceptical about.
I could have torn all of my hair out yeterday out of frustration as I took SUCH a long time to prepare the profile. Then I decided to go for a bit of God-searching to try and calm myself down.Truthfully my life these past three weeks is entirely dominated by anxiety due to these darned bugs. And then somehow or rather after the calm, En.Aziz'z face came into my mind. En Aziz is SJMC's Senior MLT and an expert in microbiology.We have been friends since I was in ITM. I rang him up to ask whether it would be possible for him to maintain such a strain in his collection. It really was my last shot and was already expecting him to say..sorrylah Zarina,tak adalah...
But what did I hear?? "Oh..yang purple tu ke? Saya rasa adalah, saya check dulu nanti call saya next week?"
If not for the fact that he was not in front of me I would have hugged him ...regardless of the fact he is alim..hhm..now that I mention it, I might probably never see my bacterial strain if I did that..so good job he wasn't.
Thank God for little things. The thing I want to say is sometimes we are so awed by the strains other depositors have in their respective countries we miss our very own collections right here in ours.
No Post 9-11 problems, no money required. ATCC charges 300USD per ampoule of bacterial strain.En Aziz: Free. But of course when I eventually take it from him I will belanja him makanlah kat someplace nice in Subang, then debit it from my grant. Yes!
Like last week, this week is NOW good. And did I tell you why last week was good? Because my life is surrounded by the people and the things I love and without the people that I don't.
Have managed to do most things this week esp with my Science Fund application. The only thing I need to do is ring Aree as I really owe him a phone call. Aree when you read this know you r on my mind and I WILL ring you okay then we chat ?
Another good week . Syukur alhamdulillah for that.
Monday, August 25, 2008
What an event!!
Last Thursday 21/08/08 Jun my PPT @ IPB rang me at the office to tell me not to forget to pick up the robe for the UMS' 10th Convocation . I have been invited to attend the 'first sidang' on Saturday 23rd August at 8 am.
When Saturday came, my colleagues and I had such a good time chatting about things ( of course when it is us, our so-called good chats were about the Geneva Innovation competition,IENA, and other boring stuff like that). It was quite a sight to see,us fully clothed in our academic robes making jokes and having fun like schoolchildren!
Now, I have always had it in the back of my mind that we were going to sit somewhere in the front rows just slightly behind the parents.When we were eventually called for the academic procession we all lined up and started walking down the dewan. There were about 50 - 70 of us as we kept on walking down towards the stage and that was when I decided to ask AP Dr Mike the clever question - when are we going to take our seats here ? (referring of course to the very front seats between the stage which was already the very front'est'. Then he casually said..no we are sitting on the stage.Huh?And that was my knees started wobbling.
It was really a nervewrecking experience.Throughout the time I was climbing up the stage witnessed by the whole Dewan I was hoping I was not going to stumble over my robe which was very long.All the same it was a wonderful celebration as we celebrated the success of the students.This was really my first experience attending the convocation.At one point I even asked myself..how did I get here?
The week was good.
When Saturday came, my colleagues and I had such a good time chatting about things ( of course when it is us, our so-called good chats were about the Geneva Innovation competition,IENA, and other boring stuff like that). It was quite a sight to see,us fully clothed in our academic robes making jokes and having fun like schoolchildren!
Now, I have always had it in the back of my mind that we were going to sit somewhere in the front rows just slightly behind the parents.When we were eventually called for the academic procession we all lined up and started walking down the dewan. There were about 50 - 70 of us as we kept on walking down towards the stage and that was when I decided to ask AP Dr Mike the clever question - when are we going to take our seats here ? (referring of course to the very front seats between the stage which was already the very front'est'. Then he casually said..no we are sitting on the stage.Huh?And that was my knees started wobbling.
It was really a nervewrecking experience.Throughout the time I was climbing up the stage witnessed by the whole Dewan I was hoping I was not going to stumble over my robe which was very long.All the same it was a wonderful celebration as we celebrated the success of the students.This was really my first experience attending the convocation.At one point I even asked myself..how did I get here?
The week was good.
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