A rubbish week for lab work

Today out of many days is one day I have been looking forward to with regards to working in the lab. Today was supposedly the culmination of all my work these past few months via the results I should be getting .
But I was dead shit wrong :-(

Kuasa Allah yang dirasakan bila kita mendekatiNya

Hello all,
It's only me today with my usual rants. Today is the 1st Zulhijjah and insyaAllah I am fasting. It will be only 15 mins before buka puasa so I decided to jot down a few words before Iftar.
Its really Allah's grand plan that I am allright to be fasting today. I had actually planned to do this 1-9 day fasting in the month of Zulhijjah which is considered sunat for us to puasa on these days. But as luck would have it I kena diarrhoea yesterday with stomach cramps.. so I thought : Oh No..looks like I cannot fast tomorrow.
When I woke up, I deliberated about fasting because although my tummy felt better but because I did not bersahur yesterday I was afraid I was going to get gastric pains. Then  I thought : Zarina : Bulatkan hati..mudah-mudahan Allah permudahkan puasa engkau macam minggu lepas masa engkau tak sahur ..
The moment I decided ...lo and behold my hunger went away..just like that..! And I only startted feeling hungry about 3pm just now.

This is what I want to share with you : More so today I truly believe that if you want to do some good in the eyes of Allah and asked Him to give you a hand with it..he will help you..

Syukur alhamdulillah..I am so blessed and happy to be a Muslim.. :-)
Semoga Allah membantuku untuk menjadi dan mati seorang muslimah yang cintakan Allah dan agamaNya..amin  :-)

Loved today..realised that being alone allows me more time with Allah and to know my self better..maybe thats what He wants me to do..

On the bus going home, I met a Kak Ros who runs the Rumah Hassan canteen..she says there are many food there..wanna go one day

All in all it has been one blessed day for me...started it off by talking to Arian and Gagi and got to talk to my husband that I miss and love so much Baba... then petang masak untuk buka puasa and now waiting..

Syukur alhamdulillah...I feel so small and blessed :-)

A day which was a bit blah for me..thank God for old Malay songs..!

Hello everyone,
I am not sure if its to do with my previous trips back to Malaysia and the US but this week I feel as if I am not arsed to do anything although I have tonnes to do. Whats made it worse was that today's weather was also slightly yucky so for some strange reason I felt a bit overwhelmed with the experiements that I had to do today. Especially when I got the Chiquititta song from Mak Long ;-)
Anyways, I did as much as I could then I headed home asap..
Before that though..nasib I went to the surau and got to do jumaah prayers so that made me feel better.
Went home I looked up all te old songs that I used to listen to on YouTube and thank God they made me feel way better..
C Ya..!

Photos from recent conference trip to the US of A..

Hello all...
Again as promised here are some photos of my recent trip to Miami with my dear darling supervisor Dr.Claudia Trappetti and her lovely other half Luca Amorricchio..!!
I must say what an absolute privelege it was for me to be able to be funded by my Principal supervisor Prof. James Paton to attend this 6th ASM Conference on Biofilms which ran from the 29th Sept 2012 to 5th October 2012..The conference was a very good and educational experience for me as well as getting the chance to meet the pneumococcal biofilm group..nice..

Enjoy..!

Put down deposit for what is insyaAllah our home in Peninsula Malaysia -Senawang to be exact

Hello all!!
Promised to post some photos of recent happenings ..first up..Andy my dearest other half has somehow decided to buy another house for us for when we grow old in Seremban area..haha..it was a surprise for me at first but after seeing what he had in mind I must say I liked it..!!

Arian in front of the showhouse-its a semi-D :-)

Like the spacious front area..there is also 30' tanah at the side for our lot insyaAllah.

Nice kan? Amin..

Living room : 2 bedrooms downstairs and 3 more upstairs

Another view of the very spacious living area

here are some photos :


Enjoy..! and doakan ok :-)

Life after Eid holidays in Malaysia

MI CASA...love it!!!

Assalamualaikum and hello everyone..!!
My, my it has been a really long while since I put pen to paper on this blog. So many things have happened since my last entry in June..but the biggest would have to be my holidays back home for Eid for a bit. I had such a fantastic time seeing and being with my family especially Baba, Arian and Gagi..here are some photos :

Gagi and Arian tired after collecting 'duit raya'

Tutti-Frutti time with kids and Uncle B while Baba goes for golf practice at the driving range

Mama and my gorgeous Arian yang dah 'big'

Glorious food for me when I arrived home from the airport..thanks Mak Long..!

I suppose I must say how very lucky and thankful I am, firstly to Allah for having afforded me this opportunity in monetary terms as well as opportunity. HE knows of all how much these past six months I have been struggling with my challenges being without my family who have been my solid rock support for the past 12 years.. for the very first time. And boy was it hard..so hard that I could not actually describe it and do not ever wish it to anyone -friends family that I love even my enemies. I know now that all that has happened- the tears I have shed is all Tarbiyyah for me..a process of learning and preparation for bigger things to come.. I hope I have not and will never ever let Him down..Thank you Allah .. for being there for me when my times were so dark I could hardly see..being my friend to speak to in the dead of the night with tears streaming down my face every time I did Tahajjud to speak to you. I owe YOU everything :-)

Then there's my family who in my most trying of times was always there no matter how hard it was also for them. My ever-loving and understanding husband  Baba Dr. Sazmal Arshad who listened to all my sorrows and sadness and pouring of stress, worries and homesickness all the time even when he was neck-deep in work and stress as the Asasi  'IT' guy  :-) as well as sorting out all the stuff required for home and kids as a dad and a mom at the very same time..his lectures, life, me, everything.

Thank you so much Baba .. This is for you : May our love always be Abadi like this song :-)

Then there are my kids who were always strong for me and tried to cheer me up : Arian and Gagi you guys don't know how much you have strengthened Mama in ways I never thought possible. Love you both with all my heart and soul..

Also..there were my sisters who were constantly there including all those who were friends in name but truly sisters in heart..you know who you are..thank you so much.

Lastly..my lab mates who are most understanding and nice to me..and my grand supervisors Claudia and James..brilliant folks..

Well well what do I know its the 12th October today and before I know it I am already due for my Major Review for my one year candidature..

Life has been great so far syukur alhamdulillah.. even more now that I have had my holidays in Malaysia and been with my family. Such a recharging much needed boost to my future life in Adelaide. I suppose the first few months when I was here I did not only miss the kids but also worried to death about how they were all faring without me. But when I went home I saw it for myself that they were allright. Baba their dad has done such an excellent job making sure of that.

Thank you Baba :-)

Now that I am back into the lab from the holidays and oh-the conference  ..! haha..in Miami..I am now all charged up and raring to go. Before I left I had loads of uncertainties whether I could do this.

Now insyaAllah I think I can ...!!

Although I miss my family loads still I now feel a lot lot better being away from them..its still hard especially at times when work sucked but unlike before I know now I can manage it. I am out of the darkest pits I hope, of missing my family to the point of insanity :-)

The conference was educational and the trip was good. Will post some photos later ok..

Yesterday James and I caught up on my progress and I am so thankful and happy to have such a brilliant supervisor like him and Claudia.. When I came back my project was still questionable in many areas but in one meeting he ironed all that out for me..

After I came out of his room..I wanted to write something like this in my FB :

" How can a person remove the sick-to-the stomach feeling of a student's dread of project methodologies going wrong all the time and change it to that of a rainbow ? "

"I'd say that will have to be a damn good supervisor and I have one...Thank God for that !"

Its true. Thats exactly how I feel about James. Claudia and the rest of my wonderful friends in the lab. Every single one of them brilliant.. Charlie, Mel, Layla, David, Richard, Lauren, Hui, Adrienne, Austen, Adam, Brock and everyone else..!

Syukur alhamdulillah..

Now I am looking forward to going home to my unit in Kent Town and lepak with Nani and Zira..another two people in my life here that has helped me weather through these trying times.. I also made some nice new friends - Umi, Niza, etc....

This evening I will be doing some lit review that I have not done in ages since James said yesterday he will try to hold off the review until I could get a better hold on my methodologies and the results will be consistent :-)

InsyaAllah things for me..from where I am standing at the moment is defintely looking much brighter than when I saw it here a few months ago. I know things will get tough in my studies and work plus everything else but with what I know now and everyone's support I think, really think it will be allright ;-)

Thank you Allah , everyone..!

Ciao-ciao..!

Why doesn't it feel any better?

Today is the weekend..and like any other previous ones since Feb 2012 something I dread going through. It will be a longer weekend than usual as it will be a Bank Holiday Monday tomorrow. On Friday I honestly thought that I was going to look forward to this long weekend what with so much work to do but as Sat progressed to Sunday I felt even more homesick than I did before. When will this get better?
I have tonnes to do for work but somehow just do not feel bothered. JID paper introduction is a task assigned for me by Claudia but for some reason I am leaving it at the backburner. All that is on my mind is HOME...
I know I am lucky to be given this opportunity to better myself but these few months without family has been so hard. Dont know what else to say. Its a good thing my lab and housemates have been a gem but somehow it cannot cover this void that I have that I feel gets bigger and bigger with each passing day.
Help..

I so miss these lot in my life