I'm moving my updates to a different blog, http://www.farah-faisal.blogspot.com, since it's an easier address to remember and spell. It's been a great ride updating this blog, hope you'll follow me on to the next chapter!

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum.....

Okay, so this big ol' pipe on Plymouth Rd managed to blow up, and now we have low pressured water all around North Campus, which basically sucks because it really puts a damper on things like, say, taking a dump. Takleh cebok. Anyway, because the watermain broke, the tap water is no longer drinkable, so now we have to boil water. It's like Malaysia all over again. What tickles me pink right now is how the Americans on NC are handling it, heheheh. This morning the water pressure is back to normal, but you still have to boil the water before drinking. Espresso Royale is closed for today, which makes me wonder how they've been making coffee all this time (I assumed they've been using boiled water all this time and they have like a big ol' boiling thingy in the back.... guess they don't). Merry somehow managed to find boiled water from somewhere, so we still have coffee in the office this morning, but since the coffee is gone, we are (apparently) not washing anything out until the tap water is drinkable again (again, assumption, but we really are not washing anything right now).

Compare that to back home where we still have to boil water for drinking but we're okay with washing out cooking utensils and clothes in normal, unboiled water. Can you see the difference? It doesn't bother me to wash out dishes right now, if I'm inclined to do so, because that's what we do back home. However, I don't wanna freak out anyone in the office by washing out the coffee pot while the water advisory is still in effect. So this brings out the question: are the Americans being too paranoid, or are we Malaysians being too lax with our health?

Angela asked me yesterday, what I want to do with my life, what kind of a job am I looking for? I said I wanted something hands-on. I'm still young, and I think that it would be a waste for me to just sit behind a desk and just sign papers and approve things. I want to get my hands dirty. I want my life and my job to be a series of learning experiences instead of being stuck in one mode and never being able to venture out. I want to be challenged... constantly. I know I've complained a lot about things being sooooo hard for me (LoL), but this summer, after being on my current job for a month now, I realize that I am bored out of my mind. Predictability is nice for a while, but after that I just get... restless. Dammit I want to learn. I wanna go out and be useful instead of just being there ..... which is kinda in direct contrast with what I want personally. For me private life, stable and safe is definitely the way to go. No more drama, please.

And talking about personal life... I'm pretty volatile right now. Not that I blow up easy, but something might bother a lot more now than it would before. I hate feeling like this, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Yesterday Wann and I went to Briarwood and shopped. Emmm... shopping: good. Bought a couple of new stuff for my collection... and realized that I may have to return one of 'em. Aiseh. Balik try kat umah tetibe tak cantik lah plak, antu betul. Kene pulang balik. So kene gie Briarwood balik... shopping balik. LoL. Tetibe rindu zaman dating (yg tak kantoi punye type... lol). Time2 camtuh kalau nak tau kalau bende tuh patut di beli ke idak... tgk je muke org seblah.

Senyum = cantik2... sile lah beli
Selambe (pastu cakap "boleh lah") = cam boleh carik better
Mate terbelalak (pastu tgk2 wallet) = mahal noh! nak bayar sendiri bleh lah
Tgk tempat lain = tak pedulik dah cantik tak cantik, penat nie, jom gie makan

Kan senang.

Monday, June 06, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum....

First of all.... just wanna say... forget about what I wrote previously. LoL. I was being waaaaaaayyyyy too optimistic. Things can feel fine one minute and the next, you're suddenly reminded why you were really miserable before. So you can either be mature and act like it doesn't bother you, or you can be human and let it go in your own time. Being human is easier, LoL. I want to be happy, and I want to feel safe. And I'm not over it yet.

Weekend was spent very relaxingly. Max's BBQ on Saturday. Birch Run and bowling on Sunday. Alisa's going home on Friday (ooppss...). Tetibe ade tulis pasal Alisa kan. Alisa's leaving on Friday to go home! I'm gonna stowaway on one of her luggages and go home too! Ahaks! Leaving here and going home early is sounding more and more (and more) appealing day by day. Maybe I should.....

Actually, I'm just trying to figure out what I wanna do for the summer. I can't really go anywhere outside of the US, so that just leaves me with ... well, the US. My best friends are all at home (which begs the question... why am I not home yet?) so that means no trips with them. Yanie wants me to go to Dublin and visit her for a bit, but there might be some I-20 issues with that and I don't know if I can risk it or not. Oh decisions decisions.... and of course there's Montreal :) .

I just realized on Saturday that I basically suck at everything. As in I'm not particularly good at anything specific. I'm average in school, average in basketball, suck at everything else resembling sports and average in cooking. My dancing is decent at best, so is my singing, and I have no other talent whatsoever. I can't even play the piano anymore, I've forgotten so much and I'm so much out of practice. Average looks, average height...... I mean, I can honestly say that I'm a nice person, but in this world nobody really cares about that. Average person ... scary. Wish I can break free of all the mediocrity and actually be really good at SOMETHING.

On Sunday, I realized that I can talk to a person, fall asleep, wake up and continue the conversation like nothing happened... even though I was asleep for about 10 minutes. Who woulda thunk.

And now it's Monday. I'm as sleepy as shit. Work started at 8.30 am this morning. After a full day yesterday, all I want to do right now is just crawl back into bed and catch some more z's. But when I came in this morning, I had to go help Merry set up a room for a CoE conference. And after that I managed to get myself talked into a few other jobs that totally required me to be awake. This morning the office is, in Angela's words, really "jumpin' ". Out of all the days, it has to be the day that I'm sleepiest for alllllllllll o' this to happen. Right now I'm just waiting for 1.30pm to come by so I can go home and sleep my mood off.

Oh God, I'm sleepy.. I'm just gonna go get some caffeine in me and walk around a bit. Ciao!

Wassalam...

Friday, May 27, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum....

Midwest weekend, and I will be here in Ann Arbor instead of galivanting in UIUC with my friends. Nobody's gonna be here, place will be almost deserted .... bliss. It's not that I don't like people in general, but sometimes you need some privacy that extends beyond your bedroom. When it's sunny, Northwood is absolutely beautiful, and I can't wait to have a day to myself this weekend when I can just lay out on my picnic blanket, bask in the sun and read a good book. Hey, when you're naturally tanned like I am, you should definitely make the most of your abilities to lie out in the sun and not look like a cooked lobster. Bliss.

My tummy is rumbling a bit, pro'lly due to the super super super HOT "sambal ikan bilis" that I cooked yesterday to eat with some coconut rice (or as we Malaysians call the dish, "nasi lemak".... literally meaning "fat rice". Go figure). I know Ayun is pro'lly suffering, too, right now, she was the recipient of my extra hot, just-came-out-of-the-blender chilli peppers. I was in the bathroom for the longest time this morning, LoL. My wristwatch was 1/2 an hour late, so I ended up half an hour late for work, too. And I thought I was making good time. Angela and Merry just laughed at my rotten luck when I came into the office, looked at the wall clock, looked at my watch and just went "Oh, man!". Angela's advice: forget the wristwatch next time, just go for your cell phone. Good advice.

I got a nice email from someone this morning. There is no greater feeling than knowing that your friendship is valued simply because it's YOUR friendship, not because of the material things that you can provide or becaue you're a doormat and people can just walk over you. It'll be hard, and I mean, I was really hurt over her choice of actions and in a lot of ways, I probably have to be a lot more careful now until I can trust her again, but friendships that you actually want to keep are hard to forge, and I'm not a mean person by nature. I saw her effort, saw that she's really trying to get me back, and mostly saw that she really CARES that I'm hurting.

That's the thing about people. I thought I'd be mad at her forever, or at least for the next few years anyway, and I thought our friendship was over and done for. However, she was earnest about mending things, and although I'm still feeling some negative emotions, I'm willing to work them out just so that I don't lose her. To be honest I didn't make things easy for her , all I wanted to do was to run away from all the things that were hurting me and protect myself from being vulnerable over and over again, so I ignored her. Her perseverance won me over though, I saw that she cares and she doesn't assume that given time I'd be okay, she actually made a huge effort to at least try and make things better. I truly and honestly appreciate that, in more ways than anyone can imagine. She extended the olive branch, and I have decided to take it.

Maybe you're wondering why I'm being so forthcoming and open about this, that I can speak about this so candidly even though this is, in all actuality, very private for me. Here's why: I don't like it when people just assume things. Assume that I'll be okay when I won't. Assume that I'll react in a certain way when I'm more intelligent than that. Assume that since nothing fazes me anymore, nothing hurts me anymore too. People make so many assumptions about things that they know nothing about. I know this because in a lot of cases I find that I'm guilty of doing it too. So no more assumptions. I'm laying the facts down bare and naked for people to read.

The fact is I'm not mean. If you show effort, I'll definitely meet you halfway. Thing is, I need to know that what I put out is not in vain. Sometimes you just need certain confirmations because maybe something happened and you just need to know.... know that it's still worth working towards, worth fighting your demons for, worth hanging on to, 'cause like I said, a good friendship is so hard to forge. Of course when you have it you don't want to let it go.

I need people to know that I never, never, never take my decisions lightly. They might not be the best course of actions, and they might be more motivated by emotions rather than thought, but these decisions are mostly made because I feel like there is no other way out. Call it a defense mechanism if you will. Sometimes I act out in certain ways as a test to someone, which in many aspects is so very not fair... 'cause I'm setting up the person to fail, since he/she doesn't know what the "test" is or that he/she is being "tested" at all.

But here's the trick: for every test, there's a sure-fire way to pass ..... I need to know that you actually care. You don't have to go all-out, all I need is a small confirmation that yes, no matter how small the feeling is, you do care that our friendship now has a rift. I need the comfort of knowing that I'm not alone, that I'm not the only one who actually care enough about the relationship. This is basically what's going through my head when I have a conflict with any of my close friends, girls or guys. The cause might be different, but ultimately the end result is always the same. That aside, I also know that if I'm wrong, that I am not afraid to say I'm sorry. My ego isn't that inflated. And in certain cases, I'll even apologize even when I feel I'm right just because I know the issue is important to the other person more than it does me.

But reciprocate, dammit, I'm selfish enough to expect certain things in return. Which is why when I read that email (refer to beginning of blog), I was relieved. The state of emergency is over, Lol... well at least this one anyway. She cares enough to try. Which is all I ever really wanted, 'cause everything else can click in place if we can at least show each other that we appreciate one another.

Couple that incident with the little "conference" that I had last night with someone else (I'm not gonna go into details 'cause I know for a fact this person reads my blog and I don't wanna embarrass the both of us by being mushy LoL, plus this one is a little more private. Suffice to say ... baby steps :) ), I have to admit that my girl friends are really going above and beyond this time, which is a nice change of pace from thinking that no one gets you. It's nice to know that people can still pleasantly surprise you with their depth... and their perseverance...... and mostly their respect.

Right now I'm truly blessed :) .

Wassalam....

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum....

Because I have no idea what to write and I am currently very bored... here's another survey for your viewing pleasure.....

AT THIS VERY MOMENT:-

Current Clothes: grey office pants, Old Navy black top, pink tudung, Nike shoes and socks.. oh, and my "smart glasses (",)~~

Current Mood: relaxed

Current Music: none, Merry doesn't have her radio on, but I was listening to The Corrs like a minutue ago

Current Taste: Folgers coffee

Current Make-up: none, except sunscreen

Current Hair: waaayy past my shoulders, still straight

Current Smell : coffee... emmm...

Current thing U ought to be doing: definitely NOT doing another survey

Current Desktop Picture: nothing, it makes everything go slow, I'm not a screensaver person

Current Favorite Artist: ooohh.. tough one .. I'd say Sarah McLachlan

Current Favorite Group: used to be Maroon 5, now I dunno.... I like Keane a lot... actually scratch that, if I'm perfectly honest, I'm a Whitesnake girls, with Def Leppard a close second

Current Book: The Secret Letters of Vincent Van Gogh

Current CD in CD Player: Mixed CD I cooked up myself

Current tape in VCR: Magnolia... it's raining frogs!

Current Color Of Toenails: not wearing nail polish at all, but my big toe is blueish 'cause I managed to kick the door to my toilet

Current Worry: how to compose a really tricky email... hmm.. oh, and my JPA letter... and the answer to my grad school application.. gosh, there's a lot to worry about

LAST PERSON...

You touched: as if I keep track, it could be some random on the bus for all I care

You Talked to: Merry

You Hugged: prolly Mbak Oliv at Mya's party

You Instant messaged: Mbak Oliv definitely, we had an sms-fest the other day

You Yelled At: no idea, I try not to yell to people so much, biting sarcasm works so much better

You Kissed: as if I keep track of this one, too, LoL.... kidding, truth be told, I just don't remember the name


CURRENT FAVORITE...-

Color: always and forever P-I-N-K.. Victoria's Secret pink to be exact

Shoes: my pink sandals I got from Payless .... c'mon summer, I need you to arrive

Candy: Nerds by Willy Wonka

Animal: cats

Show: Desperate Housewives, Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill, The Inferno, America's Next Top Model, CSI ... that's my weekly lineup right there

Movie: Have to be "Kingdom of Heaven" even tho I missed the first hour of it LoL

Song: JLo's "Get Right", Mario's "You Should Let Me Love You" and Jojo's "Leave"... yes they're pretty old... oh, and Gewn Stefani's "Hollaback Girl"

Fruit: peach and banana

Cartoon: South Park of course

ARE YOU...

Understanding: I try to be, whether I am or not only my friends can really tell

Open-minded: Yep, mostly

Arrogant: Nope, sometimes obnoxious but I have no idea how to be arrogant

Insecure: Yeah, actually, there's so many things that I want to change but can't

Interesting: if you take the time to know me, I can be (",)

Random: not really

Hungry: yeah, haven't had lunch yet

Friendly: yes, shy at first

Smart: alhamdulillah, in that department I'm blessed that I've made it as far as I have

Moody: sometimes

Childish: gosh yes

Independent: sometimes, but in certain areas I do rely heavily on my parents... but they're about the only ones that I feel comfortable relying on

Hard working: heck no

Organized: hahahaha, only when I'm really busy, mostly no

Healthy: getting there, I'm better than I was 2 weeks ago

Emotionally Stable: like right now, surprisingly yep

Shy: in big crowds, yeah, like first time meeting someone, definitely.... after being friends, I can't shut up.... but that only comes with trust

Difficult: sometimes yes, I expect a lot from myself and can sometimes transfer that feeling to other people too

Attractive: of course! hahaha kidding, I'm carrying some extra weight in my booty but hey, I'm still rocking it LoL

Bored Easily: yes, my attention span is 2 seconds flat

Messy: yep most definitely

Thirsty: no, had coffee, thanks for asking

Responsible: yes and no.... depends on if someone pissed me off or not

Obsessed: hahah with certain things, like time-consuming surveys... and reality TV shows... and babies

Angry: not at this moment, no,

Sad: a little, but I can't change that right now

Happy: let's just say I'm mellow right now

Hyper: nope

Trustworthy: I hope so, I strive to be but I'm not perfect

Talkative: with people I can trust, yeah

Loving : yep :)

Romantic : yep... a bit rusty at it, tho

Wahh.. habes jugak survey.....

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum....

Lame tak update blog ... Elly buat lawak sexy pun tak perasan.... Weekend nie Elly kawin... congrats lah ye Elly, mampu cakap from jauh2 nie je, tak mampu nak sendiri dtg, LoL. Tak sangke partner in crime dah nak jadi bini orang. Teringat lak bende2 *ehem* yg slalu pakat ngan Elly nak buat ... such as first time gie Necto ngan Elly.... dan sebagainye (kalau tulis sume skang mampus aku kene ketuk). No more Necto for you woman, hahaha. Clubbing kat umah je lah, buat anak, aku nak je jadi Auntie Farah, bleh belikan baju Osh Kosh B'Gosh. Anyway, lepas nie tulisan akan di conduct dalam Bahasa Inggeris semula in case Jen bace, die tak paham bahase.. melayu...

Anyway, these last few days have been kinda a blur for me. Sure, I had my ups and downs and some low, low points, but now everything is good and things are beginning to come together again for me. I've finally had my laundry done, folded, and safely stashed away in my closet, the big pile of dishes is gone now, I can finally see my bed again, and I finally have some space in my living room to actually play DDR again. Yay DDR!! Though now my time is limited to playing before midnight so that my neighbor Kristen doesn't get all pissed-off about it. Oh well.

Memorial Day weekend is coming up... or to some of us, Midwest Games weekend. I decided not to go, much to Rina's chagrin, but she'll be playing basketball, and all of my other UIUC friends are gonna be doing stuff , so where does that leave me? Nowhere. So I decided to stay home and catch up on other stuff... like sleep.... and save money for that trip to Montreal that I haven't had time to plan for. Besides, I've been to UIUC like almost every year now, and I still pretty much remember where everything is, LoL, so aside from the whole hanging out with friends thing, I'm not missing much. I'm sure it would've been fun, but I'm just not up to it.

Yesterday Mbak Oliv sms-ed me. I do miss her so. She was waiting for practice to start and got bored, so we messaged each other back and forth for a bit. Her cell phone contract expires today, so she was making the most of whatever sms that she had left. Her new house doesn't have cable, so I'm guessing she's extremely bored there in Minnesotta. Thinking about her is kinda bitter sweet for me, but I miss her (and dance class) like crazy.

Today, the new temp secretary, Angela, is coming in, so I've been booted off Sam's place at the front of the office to waaaaaayyy back at the building manager's spot. Now I have even LESS work than before, and if you've been a faithful reader of my blog, you now I haven't been doing much to begin with. So now I am basically just here killing time and brain cells, playing Dynomite and chatting with people. Sounds like easy money? Not when you consider the ungodly time I have to wake up every freaking day and the fact that whatever I do now revolves around work. However, I am grateful that money is coming in, so yay that.

My tummy hurts, so I'm just gonna get me some cereal drinks, maybe I'll pen in again later. Ciao! Love ya all muaakkss !

Wassalam....

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum....

Okay, so I dropped Psych 111 ... I hate being sick so many times that I just keep missing class and work, so rather than keep on taking a class that I've lost interest in and can't catch up, I dropped it. Whcih sucks, because if I was actually in my right and normal healthy mind (instead of being foggy all the time... no I'm talking about smoking pot) I would've really enjoyed learning the concepts and understanding what REALLY goes through people's heads whenever they say something ... actually all I wanna do is to figure out guys and what they really mean whenever they say something, LoL. According to Jen, I'm an "airport for moron planes", and that I am " a butt when making choices". Ouch. I miss her.

Anyway, to keep my student status, I am taking a dance class that now requires me to go to Dancer's Boutique and buy a few stuff. La dee da. There goes some more money. Since the drop-add deadline has already passed, I'm kinda stuck with it, and since I've already missed 4 classes.... it's kinda hard catching up with the terminology and stuff, but I'm getting there. LoL. The dress code is pretty ridiculous, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Anyway, the rest of tha day is gonna pretty dull... and I'm bored right now.. so I'm gonna walk around and find stuff to do. Bye!

Wassalam....

Monday, May 16, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum...

I missed work today... I haven't been sleeping well lately, or eating well either, it's a little hard to be healthy under these curcumstances. I haven't been able to exercise, my hands are shaking whenever I do anything (yesterday I dropped a mug on the floor, good thing it didn't break, just chipped), and when I called home, my mom was frantic 'cause I sounded awful. Thanks mom. Wish you're here to take care of me. My apartment is still filled with boxes 'cause I can't bring myself to do anything, my DDR pad is just sitting there waiting for someone to play with it.... It's jut a mess really. Oh, and I'm changing my Psych 111 from graded to pass/fail -- that's how "confident" I am in my performance this semester.

Yesterday I listened to my iPod and kept looping Jojo's songs... this is still my favorite one:

"Leave (Get Out)"

I've been waiting all day for ya babe
So won't cha come and sit and talk to me
And tell me how we're gonna be together always
Hope you know that when it's late at night
I Hold on to my pillow tight
And think of how you promised me forever
(I never thought that anyone)
Could make me feel this way
(Now that you're here boy all I want)
Is just a chance to say

[Chorus]
Get Out, (leave) right now,
It's the end of you and me
It's too late (now) and I can't wait for you to be gone
'Cause I know about her (who) and I wonder (why) how I bought all the lies
You said that you would treat me right but you was just a waste of time (waste of time)

Tell me why you're looking so confused
When I'm the one who didn't know the truth
How could you ever be so cold
To go behind my back and call my friend
Boy you must have gone and bumped your head
Because you left her number on your phone
(So now after all is said and done)
Maybe I'm the one to blame but
(To think that you could be the one)
Well it didn't work out that way

[Chorus]

I wanted you right here with me but I have no choice you've gotta leave
Because my heart is breakin'
With every word I'm sayin'
I gave up everything I had
On something that just wouldn't last
But I refuse to cry
No tears will fall from these ....
Eyes
Ooooh, ooooh
Get out

[Chorus x2]

Get out (leave)
You and me
It's too late (too late)
You ohh
Bout her (who, why)
You said that you would treat me right (noooo)
but it was just a waste of time (waste of time)

Ohhhh oh oh oh hoh oh

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum....

I'm just gonna say it right now that I cheated and I basically cut and paste this survey from my answer in that Friendster survey, so if you've read that one, this is the same thing. LoL... freaky survey, it asks me questions that I've been feeling a lot lartely, so I just thought I'd put this in as good measure.....


LAST PERSON WHO

x. Slept in your bed: my dad, I've been sleeping on the floor since my family left

x. Saw you cry: I think it was Afzan, but Mbak Oliv was the last one to hear me cry on the phone, LoL

x. Made you cry: can't answer this w/out being too obvious

x. You shared a drink with: Deera, I think, at Mya's party

x. You went to the movies with: Afzan -- watched The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the last 1-1/2 hour of Kingdom of Heaven

x. You went to the mall with: my family.. they tore up Briarwood real good

x. Yelled at you: would an angry SMS considered yelling? Well, either way, can't answer this one either....

x. Sent you an email: my mom

HAVE YOU EVER. . .

x. Said "I Love You" and meant it?: Of course.. why say it if you don't mean it?

x. Gotten in a fight with your pet: yes! Cat pooped on the floor

x. Been to California: Yep, freshman year.

x. Danced naked: ... well not in front of people....

x. Dreamed something really crazy and then it happened the next day: it didn't happen the next day, but it did happen a few days after

x. Wish you were the opposite sex: yeap, whenever I got my heart broken .. guys recover way faster than girls do

x. Had an imaginary friend: yep, probably a few of them

x. Do you have a crush on someone: yes and no.. one crush came to an abrupt and messy end ... another smaller one is still ongoing LoL
x. What book are you reading now: Psych 111 textbook.. exam on Friday, ugh

x. Worst feeling in the world: betrayal by someone you love ... then guilt

x. Future son's name: Don't think that far

x. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?: yeah, with Snowy my seal and a bear whom I've appropriately named Momence

x. Favorite sport to watch: ice-skating, or gymnastics ... is break-dancing a sport?

x. Siblings: 2

x. Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

x. College plans: grad school ... ntah dapat ntah tak

x. Piercings: ears only, belly piercing plans were squished during sophomore year by someone's infection.. ewww...

EXTRA STUFF

x. Do you do drugs: nope

x. Do you drink: as in alcohol? nope, never and proud of it LoL .. not a lot of people believe that but it's true!

x. What clothes do you sleep in: PJs, or t-shirt and undies

x. Where do you want to get married: anywhere where my family is.. and his family of course

x. Who do you really hate: ugh.. hate to admit this.. a few people right now... it's actually more "hurt by" than "hate", but close enough

x. Been in Love: Yes

x. Do you drive: Yes, kinda sorta

x. Do you have a job: Part-time secretary, yay me.

x. Do you like being around people: depends on the people.. so yeah and no

x. Are you for world peace: yep

STUFF

x. Have you ever liked someone you had no chance with: LoL do actors count? If no, then not really, it wouldn't start out as him being unattainable, but it would progress to him being an absolute jackass

x. Have you ever cried over something someone of the opposite sex did: of course, did it the other day in fact

x. Do you have a "type" of person you always go after: usually I go for people I connect with, looks were never that important, so yeah

x. Want someone you don't have right now: not anymore

x. Are you lonely right now: a bit

x. Song thats stuck in your head: nope

x. Do you want to get married: yes

x. Do you want kids: definitely

FAVORITE

x. Room in house: bedroom

x. Type(s) of music: it varies, pop mostly

x. Band(s): Evanescence, always

x. Color: PINK

x. Perfume or cologne: Victoria's Secret Heavenly and Very Sexy..also Issey Miyake's original perfume

x. Month: no preference

x. Stone: sapphire, ruby and diamonds

IN THE LAST WEEK, HAVE YOU...

x. Cried: yes-- friday, saturday, sunday, prolly even tomorrow...

x. Bought something: yep

x. Gotten sick: yes, was sick all week

x. Sang: every day

X. Wanted to tell someone you loved them: yes.. not anymore though

x. Met someone new: I wish

x. Hugged someone:yes.. Mbak Oliv before we left the party.

So there it goes.... that's about as honest as I can get with surveys... have a good week guys, love ya all!

Wassalam
Assalamu'alaikum......

Yesterday was pretty much wasted at home for me. I had a headache in the morning, which fortunatey got better in the afternoon. I then went to Pierpont to print out my psycho notes, which I had unwittingly write and saved in my office comp desktop. Why do I need the notes? Unlike oher "graduated" people, I still have summer class, which means I still have an exam. After printing out the notes, though, my motivation to study plummeted, my headache came back, and i just hauled ass back to my room for another round of TV and cozying under the blanket.

Right now I am so not motivated to do anything at all. I need to go buy shoes. Lotsa shoes. Maybe a couple of new handbags too. Dude, if there's a Dior store in Ann Arbor, I would be there in a flash and just waste whatever money I have on a purse (which is probably the ony thing I can afford anyway).

I gotta go take a bath and try to motivate myself to do ANYTHING. TV is getting lame. Later.

Wassalam....

Saturday, May 14, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum.....

Yesterday my mom told me that Kak Yann's Angah had just died in the hospital. Innalillah ...... It certainly puts quite a lot of things in perspective. Like how small my own problems are right now, and how helpless my sister-in-law must feel. Angah was only 34, and just had a baby who's 3 months old. Poor thing.

After work, after much debate with myself over the matter, I decided to go to Mas Wasi and Mbak Oliv's farewell party at Mya's house. Saying goodbye to Mbak Oliv later that night was so hard, it took everything I had to keep me from crying, and I have to say the fact that everyone was laughing and making jokes made the whole process easier. I cried so much earlier that day, in a way I didn't have much in me to cry again. One of the harder parts was keeping all other emotions in check, and though I slipped at times, I think I managed pretty well. Playing dodge in a party isn't so easy after all, even in a house as big as Mya's.

I couldn't sleep last night, it's just one of those nights I guess. Had a hell of a night tossing and turning and the fact that my throat was really bothering me didn't help either. The day has only started and already all I wanna do is sit under my quilt and drown my sorrows by watching reruns of any inane MTV show.

I just hate being sad.

Wassalam......

Friday, May 13, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum....

2 entries in one day... haven't done that in a long time. It can either be a good thing or a bad thing, but since I am crying my eyes out at work (Merry's short sighted, and I've been caughing a lot lately, so no one really notices anyway and I'm safe from being fired), then y'all can assume it's a bad thing then.

Know what I want? Right now I want to run away to a place where I don't have to feel any pain, be it physically, emotionally or mentally. I want to run away to a place where you can breathe everything good and all the bad thinsg are far, far away. I want to be where things are simple and simple to see, where you don't miss anything and everything is what you want it to be.

I want to be at a place where I can love and be loved in return. I want to be somewhere peaceful and quiet no one take anything for granted.. including me. I want to be at a place where saying nothing at all is equal to saying everything. I wanna be where the sun shines bright and the moon is brighter, where a smile is "Hello", a handshake is "I like you" and a kiss is "Be mine". I want to be at a place where I can have everything, only to realize that I actually need nothing.

Actually, all I want right now is to be free of everything.. free of responsibilities, free of pain, free of the expectations that as an adult, I have to act a certain way and I should feel a certain way or else I'm not mature enough or I'm not a good person .... or even worse, not good enough. Especially when I know I'm a good person and a good friend and a good daughter.

Sadness overcomes you, but what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, right? So I'm just gonna do what I have to do fuck everyone who don't like the methods.

Wassalam...
Assalamu'alaikum....

Back at work again. Yesterday was a sucky day for me. I woke up at 7.00am feeling like someone had repeatedly hit my head with a baseball hat throughout the night, and my forehead also felt really hot (sure sign of fever). So I called the office and told them I won't be coming in that morning. There goes my gocery money for the week. Oh well. Good thing I had a 10.45 am appointment with Dr. Sullivan, I was ready to just be done with the whole sore throat and cold thing (it's been a week! my voice is ruined! ruined I tell you!). Anyway, as it was only 7am, I decided to just send Merry and Michael an email, took some Advil and went back to sleep.

Anyway, I woke up at 10am. I'm not the type who can immediately get ready in half an hour, but I managed to somehow. However, the bus that I was aiming for left just when I was a good few steps away from the bus stop. I began to panic considering that if I wasn't at the specialist office by 10.45am, he's just gonna go home and I'd be stuck with a red nose for an extra one week. So I called Is and thankfully enough he was already up and willing to help me out by sending me to UHS. Phew! My hero, LoL. Seriously, if he wasn't there, I would've been dead meat. We got to the UHS in just the nick of time. The doctor took a culture of my throat and sent it to the lab, so hopefully by today I know what I'm allergic to, if I am allergic to anything. In the meantime, Sudafed (or SudaGest, which is what I got from the pharmacy) is my best friend.

That afternoon was spent at home reminiscing the days when my voice was sexy and my nose wasn't red enough to stop traffic. LoL. Actually I was supposed to go out with Deera and Alisa to the mall but since I was sick they went on without me. Noooooo!! I wanna go shop too!!! LoL, actually I could barely keep my eyes open yesterday, so I just went back to sleep. I woke up feeling better, my face was less swollen and my head didn't feel quite so stuffy. Still, it sucked to miss day of work particularly when the day before, I had chosen to go to work instead of going to Cedar Point with Wann, Nik and Putri. Hopefully they had a better time there than I did at home (in fact, I'm sure they did). Alisa came and cooked me a nice "sup ayam" for dinner. Yummmmm..... thankee Tel!! You rock babe.

So here I am today, back at work. Michael and Merry had actual jobs for me today instead of just answering the phone and sorting the mail. Oh, and I called the clinic, apprently I don't have strep throat, which is good, but they're not telling what I do have... which is bad. So Thursday, the day before my Psych exam, I have an appointment with an "allergist" (?) at 10am, which means I gotta go and miss an hour of work that morning. Sucks so bad. I hate it when things interfere with me and my money, heheh.

Okay, I gotta go, ciao!

Wassalam.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum....

Kemarin call umah, nak tgk org umah camane, sihat ke tak and all that. Kak Yann balik kampung nak tgh Angah die, sebab Angah belum sedar lagik and belum keluar from ICU. The week before die tak dapat nak balik sebab die baru start keje kat this new company, so last week was akhir bulan, and she had to dispense paychecks, kalau tak ramai je yg mengamuk. Company gabak camtuh pun sorang je accountant die. Aiyoh.

So since Kak Yann balik kampung, tinggal lah my parents ngan Abang Rizal nak jage budak-budak bertuah due orang. Mase cakap kat phone, mak komplen yg abang asyik dengan Sony PSP baru die, naik atas kunci bilik nak main game, so mak ngan bapak yg kene jage. Heheh... I'm sure my mom tgh exaggerate sket, tapi that sounds so much like my eldest bro. Plus mak jugak yg layan gie belikan abang Sony PSP tuh, which costs about sebulan my summer gaji (tak byk gaji pun keje jadi student secretary nie).

Anyway, tgh dok borak-borak ngan mak dekat phone, tetibe dgr bunyik Aishah menjerit. Rerupenye die baru kene debik dengan Ajiq pakai kayu. My immediate concern was ... camane lah Ajiq boleh dapat kayu? Oh, mak cakap, bukan kayu betul, die amek bunga matahari plastik mak, cabut die punye bunge and libas Aishah ngan part "kayu" yg tinggal tuh lah. Oooo... ok. Lepas Ajiq libas Aishah, die lari naik atas sebab takut kene marah. Aishah plak terkontang-kanting kat bawah tgh sakit.

Nak kasi pujuk si Aishah, mak letak die dekat phone soh cakap dengan "Mak Su". Dude I feel so old being called Mak Su. But she was so cute on the phone, tak reti cakap tapi kejap-kejap gelak. LoL I miss her so much. She was so cute when I left her and I just miss her so.

Next up, Ajiq plak cakap dekat phone. Tanye die tgh buat ape, die kate "Menum" (minum). Tanye tgh minum ape, die cakap "dis wan, dis wan". Pikir-pikir jap, baru sedar die cakap "this one". Aduh, dah 4 tahun pun tak reti nak form exact ayat lagik. Next year dah leh masuk pre-school dah pun pelat. I'm worried. But the whole pointing to his cup pastu cakap cam org bleh nampak cawan die is kinda cute.

Mak pesan soh belikan Ajiq kasut baru sebab kasut yg mak belikan hari tuh tak muat rupenye. Kesian Ajiq takleh pakai kasut Spiderman die. Though I'll have to check kalau betul die suke lagi Spiderman ke tak before I go out and buy, ntah2 die dah bosan. The last time budak tuh pakai a spider-suit die nampak cam tgh pakai spender merah kat muke ... eww. But hey, I'll buy them whatever they want as long as it's not with my money, LoL.

Kelakar bile pikir certain org tgh keje keras save duit sebab nak kawin, and I don't have that purpose to motivate me working. I work sebab I expect myself to work this summer. It's not really even about the money, actually, I would have gladly taken a less paying job if it meant that I would have been able to program and gain some real engineering experience. However this was the first job that came along, I was already familiar with the position, and that's that.

I just made a pot of coffee and I'm STILL sleepy. So macam nak kene try and preoccupy meself sekejap, kalau tak sure tertido atas kibod. Adoi.

Wassalam....

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum....

I have started working in the office again. Last year I think I worked about 20 hours per week, this year it's up to 25. Sam's gone, and they haven't hired a new temporary secretary yet, so here I am answering phones, sorting mails and basically just doing some light secretarial jobs, though Michael did say he might need me to type out stuff. I may be a computer science major, but I pretty much suck at typing. I can't touch type, which is a problem when I need to type fast but is a good thing in terms of me using my laptop 'cause my Vaio doesn't have a full size keyboard. If you're even a little bit of a techie you would understand the preceding sentence, LoL, and if you're not, well I guess you're just gonna have to ask someone (heheheh)

So my schedule is pretty much this:

8.30am - 10.30 am : Work
11.00am - 1.00 pm : Class on central (PSYCH 111)
1.30 pm - 4.30 pm : Back to work
5.00 pm onwards : hopefully basketball/kickboxing (whaa?)/DDR/TV and homework later

Since my days pretty much start at 8.30am except for Wednesdays, that leaves the whole staying-up-till-2am-playing-video-games thing outta the question. Well, at least I'm making money. My spending is pretty much in control these days, which is good.

Yesterday Nik and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch. The sandwiches are pretty good (for your info, if you don't know this already, we don't call it fish burger or chicken burger, it's always "sandwich" for anything none-beefy, unless it's a no-meat garden burger.... americans are weird), and the wings are divine, even though Nik basically sweated while polishing off (rather quickly) the wings like he was pumping it at the gym. Note to self: go for the sweeter sauce next time.

We had a really good waitress for lunch. I can't understand how certain people can be so stingy when tipping. Jennifer, who waitressed last summer and fall, said that her income almost solely comes from tips since they only make 2.38 an hour.... and this was at a good restaurant, not some greasy diner off of some highway. I mean, I would understand the stingy tipping if the service was bad, but certain wait-staff really went above and beyond and really deserved to be treated (and paid) better. I guess I feel a bit defensive about this simply because I've seen Jen come back from work really tired and burnt-out and a table of five managed to not leave her a tip. Sucks seeing your friend miserable like that.

Okay, it's 10am and I gotta get ready to jet and get to class. Ciao!

Wassalam....

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum....

My family has gone home, and I've moved into a new Northwood apartmement. My life officially sucked the minute my parents walked into the cab-van and then sped off to the airport. I basically went back to my room and cried like a baby for a good 5 minutes. Then I got over it and went straight back to unpacking certain stuff that I would need for school tomorrow. Dude I hate taking classes just for the sake of staying here, especially since there's a really good chance that I won't get into grad school because of funding, and I won't get a job because everything requires me to move... and I don't wanna.

My mom and dad were cool enough to buy me a ton of stuff while they were here. I have a new outfit for the office (so that I don't look like I go to work in my PJs) and I also have a new "baby" in the house, so my laptop now has some competition to the title Favorite Hardware. My mom also bought me a pair of pink-lined white K Swiss shoes, which I like, but are kinda hard right now since they're really new.

So the few days before they went back home, I took them shopping at Briarwood, Target (for chocolates), Best Buy and also a pit stop at Game Stop. Then Kirah was kind enough to drive us to Birch Run (I hate freeways, if I don't know where I'm going, I'd rather not drive), where my family made some srious dent at Liz Claiborne. We basically cleaned the store out of cute handbags. My family also bought some Nike shoes, which were surprisingly cute. Then there was the OshKosh B'Gosh store (can't forget the kiddies) and Guess.

No more mom and home cooked meals... it sucks. Privacy is good, everything else isn't. Sure I complain about stuff, and I lose my cool sometimes, but nothing is better than family.

I am so sleepy right now. School tomorrow.. me need sleep... zzzzzz......

Wassalam

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum....

Right now I am "bermastautin"-ing a bit at Afzan's house for the night. I needed some extra outlets to plug in my PocketPC to finish up my program, when lo and behold... my PocketPC malfunctioned. Dang iPaQ just up and died on me. Dude, that's not cool. Everybody else do not have to worry about finals anymore while I... I still have my presentation to make. Oh dear someone shoot me now... I'm so nervous.

Anyway, I got a 10 dollar fine for forgetting to letak duit dalam meter. Stupid. Grrr...

Semalam amek kete ngan Ijat.. mase kat State Street, nyaris ade satu kete biru nie nak langgar kitorang. Asheh... wuh. Kus smangat. Org tgh tunggu this Range Rover nak masuk parking space die, alih2 kete nie just slipped right in front of me nyaris nak langgar the front of the car. Dude, tak sabar2. Paling best... apparently terserempak ngan die kat North smalam. I gave him a dirty stare 'cause he's stupid and I can't just start to randomly yell at him.

Oh my PocketPC, thou has forsaken me. Translation: homework tak habes, and I am royally screwed... big time.

Okie doke, need to get ready jumpe Harold, ciao!

Wassalam.....

Saturday, April 23, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum....

Couldn't sleep... couldn't do much work too ... decided to blog instead. So yeah, my parents are here, along with my aunt and her daughter, who's my cousin (duh!) It feels weird . Living here for four years, I've never really associated my college life with my life at home. It's a clash right there. I mean, I love my family and all, but I'm so accustomed to my freedom that right now, things are a little stiffling for me. At the ripe ol' age of 23, there are certain things that I consider my business and my business alone. I'm not used to people just asking my whereabouts anymore especially when I don't feel like volunteering the information.

Is it just me? Am I a bad kid? I thought so, until I talked to someone just now who could totally relate. I feel bad for feeling like this on the first day, but I hate feeling guilty about having projects and presentations and essays to do while The Fam is here. My friend told me it was perfectly normal that after being apart for so long, I'm a little over-protective of my privacy. I mean, seeing them over the summer and living together in that big ol' house was tough enough, but having everyone stuffed in one crampy lil' apartment is bound to test one's sanity. I have to admit that right now, I feel really inadequate because I don't have a car so that I can drive them around, I am not free till my presentation next Friday and I honestly do not know where to bring them because I live in goddamn Michigan. My idea of having them spend a few days in Chicago (with or without me, depending on the date) was immediately shot down, which didn't make my job easier. I think my stress hormone has gone up a couple of notches since this morning.

So now I can't sleep. No surprise, sleep has eluded me these past few days. Some of my friends are not sleeping on purpose 'cause they have to study. I just can't sleep, even if I have nothing lined up the next day and nothing is due yet. Sometimes I wonder what has four years of college done to me... the heartbreak of losing everything precious to you and the pressure of doing well (some say it's the effort that matters, but that only applies in La La Land). My brain just refuses to shut down. I'm not smoking pot so why are the synapses in my brain working overtime? (my medical friends are gonna kill me for butchering up their terminology).

Usually if I can't sleep.. I read. Well, aside from the light of my laptop, everything else is shut down for the night. My apartment hasn't been this dark since I left it unoccupied during Sring Break. I'm still adjusting... I think rght now I'm just being a butt and I'm not trying hard enough. We'll see.

On another note, my program has gone thourgh significant advances since the last time I bitch about it. Hooray! Microsoft still sucks, but my GSI, Harold, totally rocks! Yippee!! On another totally unrelated note.... I wanna be a usability engineer. Anyone as any ideas on how to go about doing that?

One last rant for today: Men are scum. If we don't need you for reproduction, and if it's not against my religion... I would totally turn gay. Or be a bi... I've no problem about going both ways, especially since I now realize what scumbags the male population can be. Dude, you ain't all that fine.

Wassalam....

Monday, April 18, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum....

Wahahaha... no mo exams for me! Wooohooo!! I am done. Unfortunately I still have my computer assignment for my independant study to finish. Aiseh. So still no rest for the weary :) . How did my exam go? So and so.... as usual there's a section that I completely BSed and there's section that I know I totally aced. Heheh. Oh well.

Anyway, right after I handed my exam, I heard this song playing in the EECS building hallway. I went out of the classroom and was greeted with the sight of Prof. Teorey, Prof. Compton and other male EECS professors walking down the hall wearing white chef hats (you know the tall ones) and white aprons. I was surprised, and also glad that they didn't start playing the damn inauguration song until I was well and done with my exam. Heheh. Turns out they were giving out free lunch, curtesy of the EECS department. So lunch, for me, consisted of a roast beef and turkey sandwich, pasta salad, a piece of brownie and lemonade. Yumm.. lemonade. Hey, any lunch that doesn't involve me cooking or spending actual money, it's good enough for me.

Later at 5.30pm, Deera and I went to our last dance class for the semester and watched a video of our performance. Hahaha.. we rocked! Like seriously, LoL. The sound system sucked. the video was kinda funny, and since I was more at the begining of my dance line, certain part of me were cut off. Very sad really. But there was an awesome close-up of me when Mas Pamardi and I sang our song, ditto for Deera too when she was singing with the rest of the Pandawas. Awesome. Hopefully I'll be able to get a copy of the video soon. I was so sad taking pictures just now, realizing this is gonna be my last dance class with Mas Wasi and Mbak Oliv. Heck this is probably gonna be my last dance class ever. I said this once, and I will say this again .... I MISS DANCING!!!! AAAAA!!!! I miss wearing my samparan and my sampur and my setagen..... I'm so sad right now. Dude, I wish I can make a living out of doing Javanese dance ... well, I probably can but my mom would kill me.

And now, I'm just sittin' here, just finished watching The Inferno (why do they even bother making the show, look at the line-up, you know the Bad Asses are gonna kick the Good Guys butts) and now I have John Stewart on my TV. John Stewart is so yummy.... *sigh*.

Talking about yummy .... I'm gonna polish off the rest of my macaroni goreng. Later! :)

Be happy, be funny, and be blessed :) ...... Wassalam......

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum.....

The day starts off as being weird again. Woke up late, fell off the bed, tried calling Kate to tell her I'd be late, found out she was covered in vomit (don't ask), had people calling me up to go outside and play and I can't 'cause I have an exam tomorrow. Then I chatted with a few people that I wish I didn't, and chatted with a friend who gave me a different point of view of stuff .... and now I'm... surprisingly feeling good about myself :) .

People can always bring you down, so it's up to you to take precautions against those mothaf***ers and always remember that you ARE a good person and things ARE going to happen for you :) . I try to remind myself all of time of that fact... though sometimes events happen that just test your convictions and all you wanna do is break down and finish off a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts in the hopes that the sugar will make you forget about all the sucky stuff in your life. [Note to others: it doesn't work, what you'll end up is soggy doughnuts drenched in tears].

My parents are coming soon. Yay! :) Can't wait. My mom and my sister-in-law are the only two people that I can tell some deeply personal stuff to, my mom for the obvious reasons of her being my mom and knowing waaaaaay more than I do, and my sister-in-law 'cause she's so fun-loving and a kid at heart. So my bases are basically covered :) .

I now have an obsession with tank tops, especially those with built in bras that just just makes your God-given assets that much more ... attractive. LoL. Kidding, people. I love tank tops 'cause they're sooo comfy. Especially in this weather. I wear one under my sweatshirt, and take the sweatshirt off when I'm hanging-out at my friends' place.. Kate calls me scandalous. Of course I told her to shut up, LoL.

Played with a cat just now, called Bella. Bella is Jenny's cat, and Jenny is Kate and Erin's roommate. The cat is so CUTE. I love cats. I used to have a whole bunch of 'em. They're dead now. Boo hoo. Anyway, Bella ended up eating half of my EECS 485 notes. This is a new spin of things ... "Sorry prof I can't study 'cause the cat ate my notes". Well she really did! But she's still cute though. If I get a cat, and he's male, I'd call him Orlando. If a girl, then I'd call her Buttercup. Why? 'Cause I wanna.

People are crazy sometimes. Life is as complicated, or as easy as you make it. That's true, and I've always believe that to be true. Sure, you can't really control the crap that happens to you, but you certainly make sure that it doesn't faze you more than it should. I live in a fairly sheltered life ... if I know that it's gonna hurt me, then I don't wanna know about it. That might mean missing out on stuff, but I know me, and there are certain things that I refuse to let myself go through. It might not be the best defense mechanism, but at least I have one. One thing that I find very relaxing to do is to just talk. Like TALK, about anything. It doesn't even have to be about stuff that's bothering you. The more I talk about random stuff, the better I feel. Some of my friends might not notice, but I tend to spew out absolute nonsense whenever I'm tense and I laugh and smile like nobody's business. Tha faster I started out talking, the bigger the problem in my head. Dude, talking rocks.

Now I gotta go and have dinner, and more studying to do. To people reading this.... I love you all, have a good life filled with happiness and blessings and if you ever feel, one of these days, that no one loves you, always remember that I do :) .

Wassalam...
Assalamu'alaikum.....

I am livid. Absolutely livid. Grrrrrrr!!!!!! One crummy news after another. So I'm gonna rave and rant now here according to order. Mind you, none of you will understand this unless you're that person:

person 1:
How dare you?! How dare you trick me like this?! You lied to me you SOB! "C'mon, let's just go out to lunch for a bit, homework can wait an hour. I'll be off in Iraq soon, won't get any good american food in months... maybe even years". Yeah right! You're in fucking Tennessee!!! When the hell did Iraq move to Tennessee? That was low, like seriously low. What the hell dude?! Low low low low low. You told me you were gonna be shipped off months ago. While I'm glad that your ass is still alive..... I wish you didn't lie to me :( .

person 2:
Ahah! Was it worth it? You treated me so callously, and now... I trusted you, and you took what was mine away from me. Let me just iterate this once, and then you and I are done ... I don't share my toys, just like I don't share my boys. We... are... done!!

Aaaaaaaahhhhhh... crummy end to an unproductive day :S . I am so over it.

Wassalam

Saturday, April 16, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum....

I've been feeling strange lately .... like really strange. Can't really elaborate why. But it's definitely strange. I think it's because spring is here and all I wanna do is skip to school and sing really corny love songs. Though the fact that the only guy who showed any interest in me this semester happens to be a devout Catholic-Republican is putting a dent in my whole spring-itude. No, I'm not dating him right now 'cause ... well, why start something when it's doomed anyway. So there. I put it on the table. I, Miss I've-Seen-Everything-Nothing-Fazes-Me-Anymore, am afraid to put myself out there. Doesn't mean I'm not open to possibilities, just not with... y'know... Republicans. LoL :) .

I thought it was just me, but I talked to some other friends and they told me I'm totally not overreacting. Katie is dating a Jewish guy and she's a Christian, he's Republican and she's a Democrat. And she told me to NOT DO IT!! Run away! Her reaction scared the wits out of me. I dunno .... truth be told, I'm probably not that interested in him anyway if I'm trying to find all these excuses to say no.

The heart wants what it want when it wants .... and right now what I want, I cannot have. *Sigh* ... nak kawin balik kampung tanam jagung pun tak boleh. LoL. Adoi... hold on a sec.. brb...

Wassalam...

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum....

Have you ever had one of those days wheh the more busy you are, the more you wanna do all the stupid unimportant stuff .... like updating an online journal or something like that.

Today is Stressbuster day ... our biggest event of the year (coming from my office anyway). I've made more banners, leis and flyers last week than I've ever made during the whole semester for all other programs combined. I love the program, but I'm having banner nightmares. I went to the office this morning and didn't get to go home till about an hour ago.

But I did manage to sneak out for a bit to look at the ME students' final projects. Azwan, Sharence, Nik and Epol did a wonderful job in their respective projects. They looked so dapper in their shirts and pants, LoL. Everything looked good. Me, being very technologically challenged, had to pretend a bit that I understood everything, but the basic concept behind the projects are surprisingly easy to follow. Very cool :) .

And for tonight... can't wait!!! We're having pizza, mocktails, live performances.... comedians, art projects and even an on-call DJ :) . Yay!

Now I gotta go or Katharine's gonna be pissed that I'm late. Ciao!

Wassalam...

Saturday, April 09, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum....

Yesterday was spent at classes, then it was off to the basketball court for about half an hour to PLAY! Woo hoo! But why only have an hour? Me, being the "bright" person that I am, did not put a Band Aid on and as a result, had to go home early to.. ermm... clean up. It's kinda yucky to even think about, *brrr*, so I'm not gonna go into details.

So I'm kinda thinking about staying here another semester. I changed my CS requirement from the 2001-2003 rules to the 2004 rules so that I can graduate early, but now I have to say I'm regretting it a bit. On all of the job and internship interviews that I went to, they keep asking me about how much I know about data structures and object oriented programming. My knowledge about that can only probably fill a thimble. Apparently those are covered more extensively in EECS 381 , which I haven't taken yet, and won't have a chance to. Crap. I'm already screwed being a CS major who'll be working in Malaysia, where CS majors are about a dime a dozen. I need an edge, and just saying "I'm a US graduate" is probably not gonna cut it anymore. I'm worried about job prospects. I'm worried about being stuck in a job that doesn't pay well. I'm worried about not getting a job at all.

I'll fix this, I always do. Hopefully I'll be able to fix this soon, or else I'm gonna be worried for the rest of the semester and I'm already depressed anough as it is. *Sigh*

Okay, better get back to programming. Ciao!

Wassalam....

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum ....

This day sucked a bit for me. I was basically stuck in my room all day 'cause I hafta finish my independant study project. It sucks (really it does) when you basically do not have a lot of resource to do this. Oh well. I asked for it, didn't I? Didn't have to do independant study, but I went for it anyway. It adds bulk to my resume, but sometimes I just wanna tear my hair out. Grrr....

I watched "Ever After" just now, against my better judgement. Love that movie ... *sigh*. .. It's so romantic. I am sucker for a romantic movie, especially when it's set in the "old" days where the gowns were beautiful and the men were courteous. Granted, the pantaloons are a bit too much (if you're wondering what a pantaloon is, it's those super super tight tights that men used to wear. Think Lycra, only in pastel.), but the gown... ooohhh, the gowns .... so pretty. Empire cut gowns with a bodice that shows just enough, decorated in crystals and diamonds and pearls.... even thinking about it makes me go gooey.

I didn't get any sun today, much to my chagrin. My knee hurts extra bad today, I'm hoping it gets better soon. I have a 10-day supply of antibiotics, today's only the third day, so I still have 7 days to go. Hopefully it won't take me that long to be completely myself again. I went to study at the Dude for a bit, but then my knee hurts so I went home to put a hot compress on it. After that I didn't go out 'cause my pants were ruined (I kinda bled all over it, *blech yuck*), so I stayed home and wore short-shorts for the rest of the day. Oooohh I can't wait till it's over.

Moving on to ... House of Wax. Starring my two favorite up-and-coming actors, Chad Michael Murray and Jared Padalecki. Delicious :) . They were both in Gilmore Girls, Jared starred at Dean, Rory's boyfriends, and Chad had a more minor role as Tristan, the guy who had a crush on Rory. Since then Chad has go on to star in One Tree Hill, where everyone's hot and yummy. If I only need one reason to see the movie, it would be to see them act together again. If I need one reason to NOT see the movie, it would be this lady: Paris Hilton.

I have no problem with rich people. Their money certainly makes the world go round. But this ..... this... woman .... ugghhh. Makes me wanna scream. She has not done one thing that warrants the attention she's getting. She's only famous for her money, and that's it. No one would care if she's a party girl if she wasn't rich. No one would care about the night-vision sex tape she made if she wasn't a Hilton. She's famous for all the wrong reasons. Worse of all, now teenagers actually aspire to be her. Whaaatt?? One teen actually threw a party where the theme was "dress like Paris Hilton"..... apparently she just loves Paris Hilton. How can you aspire to be a person who wears skanky clothes that reveals rather than cover, and who acts like.... that? I don't get it. She may be a pretty fair actress (not great, but not bad either), but she shouldn't be a role model to anyone under the age of 18. Parents, watch your kids. We're living in a weird, weird society.

On a more happy note... my parents are coming on the 21st. Woo hoo. They're gonna see me graduate.... sort of. Heheh. I'm actually graduating at the end of summer, so I'm just walking in May. But I'm excited that they're gonna be here. Makcik Pi and my cousin Nani is also gonna be here. Can't wait :) .

I better get back to work, or my GSI is gonna kill me. Later!

Wassalam....

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Hello,
New song on media page, new V-clip actually. The Killer's "Mr. Brightside", penat nak download tak habes-habes, last-last kene dengar online jek. Boo hoo :( .

Farah
Assalamu'alaikum....

Disebabkan lame dah try nak mendownload lagu nie tapi tak habes-habes, I looked up the video and hanye mampu nak dgr lagu nie online saje. Boleh lah.....

Click on the media link in the nav bar to watch (and listen to) The Killer's "Mr. Brightside". I do like this song so :) ....

Wassalam
Assalamu'alaikum...

Me mind on fire -- Me soul on fire -- Feeling hot hot hot
Party people -- All around me feeling hot hot hot
It is such a beautiful day today, the weather is SO fine, it's actually HOT here in Ann Arbor, and I couldn't ask for a better weather. If it wasn't for the fact that my knee is busted, I would probably be outside right now frolicking in front of the Bell Tower like a horny bunny. As it is, I settled for sitting on a bench and eating outside while listening to Linkin Park. Ooohhh... Linkin Park. Some people say they're too "pop" to really be a true alternative band. I'd tell those people to go fuck themselves, LINKIN PARK RULES BABY!!

Cuss words coming from me usually means I'm either pissed off about something, or I'm in serious pain. Right now, it's the latter. I'm taking really good care of my knee by putting hot compress on it and cleaning up the wound with antiseptic, just like the doctor ordered. While that helps keep the wound clean, walking around is just so abso-bloody-lutely painful. Taking painkillers don't help, for some reason, and while I'm not quite so grumpy, I am so not in the running to be Miss Cheerful of the Year. Now I have to resort to walking real slow, which still hurts even though it's not so bad, but walking slow means I have to leave home extra early for class. Not my favorite thing to do especially when my eyes are glued to the TV watching hunky John Stewart interviewing yet another asinine celebrity. Ooohhhh... John Stewart. Cute, rich and funny. If he's not taking drugs or an alcoholic, then he surely is the perfect man.

Yesterday was Artsbreak, this time it was held in Bursley. Quite frankly, that was probably the worst Artsbreak I've ever held in the history of Earth. Not exaggerating. Even that time when the sewing machine broke down in the middle of the project wasn't quite as bad as this one. The people were pushy, they ask you to show how to do stuff and the don't listen, they ignore you every time you ask them to keep things relatively clean ... and to top it off, they get angry when you try and take supplies away when time is up. Bitch, you think we're doing this for free?? I do not waste time doing this just because I think it's fun. I do not exist on this Earth to serve you while you are on a quest to find the perfect ribbon to match your board. The project is a nice relaxing privilege given to you, you do not have the right to act like an ass and demand things that you didn't fuckin' pay for in the first place. You can ask, definitely, in fact please ask nicely, but you don't demand. Never demand. Now, if you wanna pay me like maybe 30 bucks an hour, I would gladly kiss your ass, but since you're not, then you can kiss mine.

To top it off, after cleaning up the tables and getting rid of the glue (some girls managed to spill glue on the table), Erin and I got yelled at by the guy who's apparently in charge of the Blue Apple Lounge. This self-appointed Holy Protector of The Blue Apple now doesn't want us to "ever do arts and crafts project in (his) lounge again". Woah there cowboy, we reserved the lounge (at least Erin did)! And we cleaned up afterwards, AND we had to clean up before that too because his precious tables were.... how shall I put this nicely ... SKANKY. Nobody should even walk by those tables, let alone eat of 'em. I was so mad, I dragged the supplies out of the lounge while poor Erin had to stand there and listen to him. Erin was steamed. We were both annoyed but Erin was doubly so because she handled all the reservations and management while I handled the artistic side of stuff (making the banner, samples, choosing ribbons and fabrics etc.) All I can say is... the guy was acting like a butt. If we didn't clean up, then fine, go ahead and yell, but we did, so don't scream at us for making you do what you're paid for to do anyway. Jerk.

Have you ever felt like the U.N trying to maintain peace among nations? For the past week, I've been trying to keep the peace between two of my friends who are best friends and housemates with each other. These are strong women with really strong opinions (ha, I almost spelled "onions" right there), and sometimes they don't gel .. at all. So they each tell me things and I try not to break anyone's confidence in the hope that no one would wanna try and break my bones.
Not exactly the easiest thing to do, especially when I don't want to butt in things that don't concern me. But everything turns out well in the end, which just shows you it's better to just be there, be understanding and maybe offer some strategically placed hints and advice rather than go on a crusade to try and fix everything. Of course now they're in another fight, but that's another different story altogether.

Gossiping about people can be fun, but I always feel really bad afterwards. My mom is a great believer of not talking about things that don't concern you, especially when it comes to friends and family. I always feel two-faced if I let myself indulge in a few inappropriate tidbits, especially if I let my emotions get the better of me (i.e whenever I'm mad at someone) and was actually happy to talk badly about another person. It doesn't feel right to say something one time and act like something else on another occasion. I guess it doesn't feel right because it's not right. I'm a big believer in loyalty, and I commend people who can actually stick to their guns and be loyal to someone else. As for me, I have a lot of patience. I used to think that I didn't, but after observing other shitheads, I definitely do. Someone can treat me like crap and I would still forgive them completely 98% and not forget 2%.

I try not to be judgemental because I hate it when people judge me and they judge me wrongly. I try to appreciate individuality because I hate to be confined in box and made fit to a mold. I try to attone for my mistakes and sometimes I try too hard, but it's better than to not have learned at all. I give as good as I get, maybe better but never worse. I love easily and completely and probably in an immature style, be it in friendship or relationship, but my loyalty is hard-earned because I would put you through a lot of crap beforehand. My family is everything for me, I would die , kill and do everything else in between for them. My mom is the light of my life, she makes me happy even when she makes me sad. My dad is the very definition of strong, unconditional, over-protective love, and for that I would never betray your love by betraying my religion and myself. My siblings.... you guys can be assholes at times, but you're the only brothers I got, LoL.

I'm ranting and rambling and not making sense right now.... adoi stupid knee needs attending to. Ciao!

Wassalam...

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum....

My knee 'urts, it 'urts so bad.... mommy!!!! I've never done a walk-in to the clinic in UHS before, but the pain was so unbearable yesterday that I just went and fuck it, if I had to wait for 2 hours, then I'd wait for 2 hours. Turns out I only had to wait 45 minutes, even though the clinic was overbooked. The doctor gave me antibiotics and I bought a pack of Band-Aids. I then proceede to down an Ibuprofen pill to keep the pain at bay. Did it help? Not much, but it's better than nothing.

Today is my busy-as-hell day... again. Yesterday was the Phi Rho scavenger hunt. Since I'm a Big Sister this semester, I had to go 'cause the object of the game is for the Littles to find their Bigs. So I made some cute clues for her and left it at various places that should be easy enough to find .. if you asked the right people. I didn't want my clues to get eaten (because they have candy with them) , so I left them with various people. Poor Chelsea, it took her the longest time to find me. But at last she didi, yay!

Today's schedule:
11.30am: Meet with Michael to send things up to Bursley (work related)
3 pm: Meet with EECS 499 GSI
5pm: Group meeting for EECS 485
6.30pm: Work, superising Artsbreak over in Bursley

This week is gonna be hell for me. Wednesday will consist of me worying half to death about my project, class, and the Phi Rho Pizza House gathering. This week is I-Week for the pledges, which is fun for them. I remember my I-Week :) . I had so much fun painting the Rock, making paddles, going on Scavenger hunts....

Can't believe I'm graduating. Oh... my .. God. What the heck am I gonna do next? No more classes, true, but it also means ... no more Greek life, no more campus activities to participate.... no more parties (aaackk!! No! ), no more Spring Break. Oh no...

I hafta get to work now. Later!

Wassalam....

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum....

I haven't updated in such a long time. It's hard to think about blogging when your life basically revolved around daily dance practice, trying to meet project deadlines, making sure you don't screw up your independant study assignment and of course, the ever-constant demands of my now-primary-source-of-money.... work. Ever since Chris quit the office, our stuff-to-do list has almost never-ending. But since I'm hardly in a position to bitch about it (I need the money), I just had to suck it up and try to make the best out of a very sticky situation.

Last weekend we had our Mahabharata concert. All the extremely hard work definitely paid off. I was a nervous wreck on stage that I could barely think about the dance movements, my brain was so bailing out on me. All I could do was listen to the music and follow my instincts. Thank goodness for the never-ending practice, or else I could never have pulled it off. Instincts like that need to be constantly honed and beaten into you, heheh :) . The singing went well, I was constantly grateful that my voice didn't break, even though I was outta breath.

The gamelan players and singers did such a great job. Kudos to them, definitely :) .No one was out of key, the playing went smoothly, which of course made the dancers' job a whole lot easier (nothing worse that trying to sing to a beat that isn't there). Since it was Easter Sunday, I didn't expect to see a lot of people there, but the auditorium was surprisingly full despite the fact that none of my sorority sisters were there, heheh (all of them went home for Easter dinner).

The one thing that annoyed me during the show would have to be the fact that after the show ended, the people who handles Hill Auditorium came up on stage and basically just chased everyone to get off the stage. And they were MEAN about it, I mean, seriously mean. That was so fucked up. Last year audiences got to take pictures with dancers and mess around with the instruments. This year they got yelled at. Way to go, Hill Auditorium. Thanks for making people feel reaaaaaaallllly welcomed.

Now that practice is over, life feels surprisingly empty. I mean, it's nice to now be able to take a nap in the afternoon and not having to rush to practice every few hours or so, but I miss the dancing, I miss the music, and I miss the people involved in then whole production. Now that it's over, the semester seems surprisingly .... bland. Of course, my best friend's advice to my predicament is "get yourself a man". Uh-huh... and do what? Spend my days cooking for him and stressing over every single pout and argument. I don't think so, I've enough stress in my life. Besides, every single guy I know right now are vain and picky, and probably none of them can handle the fabulousness of my bootylicious (translation: fat) ass.

I've uploaded photos into my Snapfish account, so if you wanna view it, click on whichever photos you wanna view:
Hopefully I didn't screw-up the links :). Oh, also there's a new song I put in. Much as I love the new single "Hollaback Girl" and Gwen's "Rich Girl", this song is definitely my favorite.. the first single off the album. Enjoy!

Wassalam

Monday, March 07, 2005

SPRING BREAK BABY!!!

Assalamu'alaikum...

I'm sad... spring break is over :( . Boo hoo. But I definitely had a blast. Afzan and I went on a 4-day cruise to Catalina, CA and then off to Ensenada, Mexico. Never in a million years did I think that I would ever see the streets of Mexico, but there I was, basking in the Mexican sun while everyone else in Michigan were freezing their butts off snow (hahah suckas! JK, no hate mails please)

Anyway, our journey started on Monday, at 7 am. We took Northwest Airlines out to LA. There a Greyhound bus took us off to Long Beach, where our ship was. I was so excited, even though I was so sleepy and out of my mind. My mom wasn't all that thrilled though, mainly because I didn't tell her beforehand about the trip and she only knew about it 'cause she called me while I was on the bus. Whoops, my bad. Conversation went something like this:

Mum : Where are you? Are you home?
Me : Actually, I'm on a bus in LA. I'm on vacation for a week.

So after going through customs, we got to our room on the ship. Afzan and I were VERY happy with the room. It's done in pink (so pretty!), way bigger than my room in New York, and we had two nice potholes so that we can look outside of the boat. We basically screamed like kids and started taking pictures. Huron Valley Travel, the travel agent that I worked with to book this trip, gave us a free camera, too, which was cool :) .

After the novelty of the room wore off, we went up on Lido deck to get lunch. We had lunch with Danica, a Wolverine we met at the airport. After lunch, we walked through all the decks to see what we had to work with for the next 4 days. It is the single biggest boat I've ever been on in my life (it's the Carnival Paradise), and it's not even the biggest boat that Carnival has. Our boat can fit in 2500 people, the biggest on fits 6000 people. That's a whole lotta people. The Paradise has 2 dining rooms, a casino (always fun), a club called the Rex (first thing that I looked for, heheh), a few bars, a sports deck, a couple of pools, 4 whirlpools/jacuzzi and numerous other stuff. Phew! A lotta activities on a single boat.

After lunch, we tried going to sleep since we didn't get any the night before... when suddenly the fire alarm went off. Apparently all patrons of the boat need to be involved in a mandatory drill so that we know what to do in case of an emergency evacuation. Afzan and I were, needless to say, pretty cranky to have our nap cut short. Nevertheless, we made the best of it by acting like giddy girls and laughing at people for the most mundane of reasons. Our lifejackets smelled like fish, and we actually had to put it over our heads and wear the damn vests for the whole duration of the drill. Ewww.. I basically went to the drill wearing my sleep attire: a yellow oversized t-shirt and my comfy monkey-patterned pants. Everyone looked really stupid wearing those orange vests... one guy particularly so 'cause he had a beer gut so the vest basically just sat on top of his belly. Not the prettiest of sights.

After that little part of our cruise was over, we went to the sushi bar to get us some sushi. It was nothing to scream about, I like the sushi here in the cafe better.
Anyway, after sushi, we went back to our room and changed for dinner. Yes, there was plenty of eating aboard the Fun Ship. Dinner was served by two Indonesian waiters. We later found out there were a whole lotta Indonesian working on the ship, who were all too happy to talk to us (happy borderline creepy). We like our waiters, though, they were very curteous and professional. Food was ho hum, even though we did have lobster. Oh, I forgot to mention that food is totally free on the ship, it's already paid for. Only additional drinks has to be paid for (of course being a girl, you can always find someone else to pay for yours... heheh. My non-alcoholic pina colada was paid for by a Mexican gentleman who was only too happy to find someone to pretend-listen to his story). At night, we watched a Vegas-type show in one of the halls.

Our first port was Catalina, a small island off the coast of California. First thing one notices on Catalina: the beach is beautiful. Second thing: every single bloody thing is expensive. Like insanely so. We wanted to go rent a golf cart.. unfortunately, one has to be over 25 to do that (insurance reasons). The island is very, very pretty, it's the perfect retirement island. We took pictures, strolled down the street, went into the stores ... and basically balked at the insane souvenir prices.

After touring Catalina, we went back to the ship and I was promptly hit with a major migraine. It took room service an hour to get aspirin to me... not good. Afzan had to get them for me 'cause I could hardly stand up. She also had to go to lunch without me. Weirdly enough, she had a huge headache that evening and couldn't make it to dinner. I was starving, so I went to the Captain's ball (it was formal night) and basically devoured the steak and cheesecake. Yummmm....

Next day, it was off to Ensenada, Mexico! Woo hoo! My favorite port. We took pictures near the Mexican flag and went on an excursion to La Bufadoro to see the blowhole. There are only 3 blowholes in the world, and we were actually seeing one of 'em! It was so awesome. We also went to the flea market to get us some virgin margaritas and fish tacos. Yummyyy!! After the excursion, we went shopping again for Mexican blankets and other stuff to bring home. After another trip to get some fish tacos, we went back to the ship for the night. Night time was spent watching a magic show and a comedy show in the hall, and afterwards I spent about an hour at the Rex enjoying the music and just dancing. Hey, it was free anyway.

Next day was spent at sea. We took over a whirlpool and basically just stewed in hot water for about an hour. The back massage was sooooo good. We slept, ate, gambled (kinda, we lost 5 bucks), took pictures and basically just relaxed. I was sad that the trip was almost over, but made the best of it.

Next day, it was off to Michigan. The time difference made us lose 3 hours of daylight, but I was only too happy to go to sleep.

Okay, I hafta go to work now. Later peeps!

Wassalam...

Friday, February 18, 2005

http://adam-de-angeli.org/jobs.html

To those living in AA, bacelah article pasal tempat makan kat Ann Arbor nie. Ewwww... seb baik tak penah beli pizza kat "tempat itu". And Good Time Charley's rocks! Sape nak ikut, besok I'm going with a couple of people nak makan kat situ, kol 8 malam (screw NCRB, I wanna my cheese sticks!)

Excerpts from the website:

Main St. Party Shoppe
201 N. Main St. Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Joey, Store Manager Pay rate: $7 /hr
From: August 2002 (734) 769-1515 Duties: Make pizza, stock store
To: October 2002 Title: Chef/Stocker Reason for leaving: health code violation (see below)

This was another menial job I took for side cash between classes. The place wanted me to show them how to make good pizza, because they couldn't do it. I soon discovered they were cooking their pizza at half the necessary heat for twice the usual time, and corrected the problem. Everything was fine until one day the owner, a cigar-puffing alcoholic, pulled old slices of pizza that I'd discarded out of the trash, took a taste, and informed me that the slices were perfectly good. He proceeded to return the pizza to the warmer, to serve to customers. Furthermore, he informed me that he would "cut my balls off" if I threw out good food again (these slices were three hours old). I told him I wouldn't put up with this abuse for 7 dollars an hour, and he was lucky I didn't call the health department immediately. And that was that.

Mr. Pizza
1200 Packard, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Mike Howard, General Manager Pay rate: $5.15 /hr + tips + mileage
From: June 2001 (734) 995-4040 Duties: Deliver pizza and place phone orders
To: September 2001 Title: Driver Reason for leaving: (see below)

Mr. Pizza was an average gig; the money wasn't great but I kept the job. Then shortly after the September 11 attacks, I caught my boss and an in-shop guy talking about somehow tampering with someone's pizza--someone whose only crime was being named Mohammed. I never found out if anything actually happened, but I decided I would have nothing more to do with the company and promptly quit.

Good Time Charley's
1140 S. University, Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Jason Yonkin, Kitchen Manager Pay rate: $9.25 /hr
From: January 2000 (734) 668-8411 Duties: Line cook (cook and clean)
To: January 2001 Title: Cook Reason for leaving: university conflicts

This was the most difficult restaurant gig I've had. Charley's ran the most efficient kitchen I've ever seen; only five cooks were ever needed for a restaurant that seats almost 200 people. We had three 15-tops on an average night. This was fine; in fact I liked the responsibility. But eventually, my course requirements became so difficult that I had to put academic priorities first. Resolving my school and work schedules was almost impossible; I wasn't able to get any shifts besides those I already had, so I could only drop shifts. Additionally, the restaurant shifted its policy of cook nationality over the course of my employment, and by the time I left, I was the only American cook in the restaurant. Today there are none. I can work with foreigners, but to be the only person (in a basement kitchen) capable of speaking with front-of-the-house employees made me feel that I was being neglected some credit. Although there was a kitchen manager, he was seldom present; hence I was managing a kitchen for the old line cook pay. This didn't seem reasonable, as kitchen supervision at a large and busy restaurant is a demanding job. I left in pursuit of a company where my talents would be better rewarded.


End of excerpt :) . Today I'm eating like a piggy 'cause I wanna (feeling slightly emotional. Just a wee bit. Heheh.) My willpower ain't that strong baybee. Girls can't live on salad and soup alone (especially sumber buat salad ngan sup dah habes. Aiseh)

Elly, ko kawen bile?

Wassalam...

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum...

Wow, has it really been a month since I've updated this blog? I guess it has.... things have been reaaalllyyy crazy around here lately. Like serious crazy. I've been so busy with stuff since the term started that I barely have time to rest, let alone blog. Lemme give you an inkling about how I've been lately.

1. Megan, the grad student who worked in my office, recently quit. Ergo, now all of us have a bunch of new stuff to do, which requires me to come in 10 to 14 hours in a week. While that doesn't sound too bad, considering all the other stuff that's in progress in right now, it's not a good time for me to take on extra shifts. The money's good though.

2. GRE. 'Nuff said (drives me nuts how I can't seem to concentrate on studying).

3. EECS 485 , my databases class. One of my groupmates happen to be one of those overachievers who take on multiple 400 level courses in a semester, which means she barely has time for the project or group meetings. While that by itself isn't quite so bad, apparently she's also the type who puts everything (and I do mean everything) above group meetings. Case point: the day before our project is due, she's out running around the career fair looking for a job. That's okay, though, 'cause we all need jobs, be it internships or full time (I was at the same career fair, too. ). However, I found out later that she hasn't started on her part of the project yet. Uh-oh. I still wasn't worried, 'cause some of the people in my class are whizzes when it comes to PHP and MySQL. Then I found out that she wasn't one of 'em (like me, LoL. I'm a novice with the whole PHP coding stuff). Uh-oh again. We ended up submitting the project with a few unresolved bugs 'cause... we didn't have time to debug 'em. It's hard to debug website when the codes for all the pages are only finished like 6 a.m. I've learned my lesson, though, and so has my other groupmate, so we're giving her "lighter" stuff to do... which means the tough stuff are divided between Emily and I. Thank goodness Emily has done a lotta PHP before, so we're messaging each other back and forth and she helps me a lot with trying to figure out which parts are working and which are not.

3. If you're still reading till this line right here, I applaud you for enduring the paragraph above (it's boring stuff, I know). Next item on the list : EECS 499, independant study. I'm writing an application called Locker for the Pocket PC. If you ever wanna do that, lemme tell you from the get go: Microsoft's .NET Compact Framework "textbook" is a pile of stinking shit if you're not familiar with the full frameowork. Aiiihhh.... I mean, usually the coding book that I like are the ones that gives you straight answers for specific questions (i.e what functions do I use if I want the button to permit secure login). The Microsoft book is NOT the book that does that. So right now I'm stuck on my project and I'm cuurently waiting for my O'Reilly "Programming in C#" to arrive. Talking about Microsoft reminds me of my....

4. Microsoft job interview (it's over now so I know I won't jinx anything by mentioning it here). I was so nervous I messed up the most simple coding question ever. Of course, me messing up might also have to do with the fact that I haven't done any heavy duty coding in C++ for about 2 years. Chalk that interview as over and done with... they're never gonna hire me now. Boo-hoo.

5. Mahabharata performance on March 27th. Deera and I have practice EVERY DAY excluding Friday. And I do mean everyday, 'cause we even have to come in for extra practice on weekends. The performance is gonna be such a big deal. To make matters worse, when we have practice with the gamelan, and I had to sing my solo stuff, my hands and feet get reaaaaaallll cold (a sign of extreme nervousness, coupled with the fact that usually I don't eat before practices on Thursdays) and my voice comes out all small and... croaky. Eyewwwww. I seriously have to get over that.

Anyway, I'll be playing the part of Kendari (or as some texts on the internet spells it, Ghandari), dear ol' mummy of the Kurawa's. ... all 100 of 'em. That's right, people, I have 100 freakin' kids. According to an online text that I looked up about Kendari, apparently I gave birth to "a ball of flesh", which someone had the brilliant idea of telling me (as Kendari of course, not in real life... ) to cut the ball of flesh up into 100 pieces, put each piece into containers filled with Indian ghee (I don't know why), and presto chango! Instant 100 kids. Kendari is married to a lord (that I can't remember what his name is) who is blind, and as if having 100 kids isn't bad enough, to show her devotion to her husband, Kendari went through life with a blindfold over her eyes to "share her husband's life in darkness". So I might have to wear a mask onstage for the performance. Ermm.. not looking forward to that, I'm having enough trouble dancing with nothing covering my eyes.

Deera is playing Kunti, the "opposing" family's matriarch with five supernatural kids. Now, Kunti's husband can't, ehem, make love to her because of a curse that was put on him by one realllllyyyy angry person. But Kunti has the power to summon any God she wants and has kids by them. Ooohh... scandalous. So Kunti gets to summon Gods and give birth to half-deities, while Kendari is married to a weak SOB and gave birth to a ball of flesh. Guess which family is on the good side. Aiseh.

However, one my sons is cute though, hehehe. I think I'm just nuts for the hair.

Moving on...

6. Rush. Thank goodness now it's over, but it was getting really hectic for a while there, with bookings of rooms and answering emails and holding office hours.... And now it's over. I applied for senior status (which means you don't have to go to every chapter, just once a month) since I've been a full fledge active sister for a semester abd that makes me eligible for it. Hopefully they'll say yes :) . Whoopee!!


7. Gym. My extremely hot friend Sophia and I are working out at the gym every Tuesdays, and I've been clocking in workout hours in whatever time I get (which isn't much, mind you, with work and exams and all... grrr... ). Working out with Sophia is motivating and at the same time, a wee bit depressing 'cause she's so damn hot. Like seriously, her hair is always perfect, her body is unbelievable, her skin is FLAWLESS (ask Ijat and Ayun, she really is pretty), and what's amazing is the fact she doesn't even have to TRY to be perfect, she just naturally IS. I mean, I've seen her get ready when we wanna go out, she barely has to do anything at all. No straightening iron or curling iron or a pound of make up. She just puts something on it'll be perfect.

That said, working out with her has been great :) . Now if I can only stop eating crap all the time... or just stop eating.

Okay, now I need to go back to studying... will try to pen in ASAP.

Wassalam...

-Farah-

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

Assalamu'alaikum....

Okay, so I haven't updated for a really long time. Sorry about that, heheh. I had finals, then it was of to New York, and after I got back, I had to repair some damage to my bank account (I am officially BROKE right now, officially poor sampai mak pun gelakkan), and of course, do some last minute changes to my schedule (I'm probably the only senior needing an override right now, which I won't if I play my cards right tomorrow). I'm excited for the new semester, and very apprehensive and scared, because I need to do well (EXTREMELY well) if I want to match this semester with what I got last semester (my mom was happy, she was so excited and that made me feel so good inside.... I love my mommy).

Anyway, I've been hibernating in my room for a while now, and I only came out today to go and buy textbooks and get some dinner (I've been eating my own meals for a few days now, and I've gotten tired of cooking..... okay I'm lying, I've actually been craving for Good Time Charley's cheese twists that I went straight there after purchasing my textbooks... now my tummy hurts 'cause cheese twists fill you up reaaaaal fast). Apparently they're out of the EECS 485 textbook, much to my chagrin. It totally puts my plan outta whack. I was gonna purchase my books at the store, order 'em online, then return the books I bought at the 'store after my real books arrive. NOW I have to survive with the book for at least until the end of the week.

I'm so scared, I really wanna do well this semester. In fact, I NEED to do well.... there's no ifs, ands and buts about it. I just have to.

At this point, I'm thinking.... "Maybe I should write about my trip to New York". But I'll leave that topic for later posts. Right now I woud like to focus your attention to the issue that has been in the news a LOT lately: the tsunami that ravaged Asia. When I saw the footage on TV while I was in NY, I was shocked. I mean, you would think that a catastrophe that big would only happen in disaster movies (think Day After Tomorrow, Dante's Peak, Inferno, Deep Impact..). Suddenly it's right here, happening, and so close to home. The number of people who died are staggering, islands were wiped out, people are missing..... I know a lot of people are sad and scared for families back home. Our prayers are with all of you. If you haven't contributed yet and have the means to do so, please do. Every little bit helps.

I read in the papers that it would take 3 to 5 years to rebuild buildings and facilities to at least working conditions. I can't imagine having to go through that. Everything about the disaster is sad, and the footage is horrifying, to say the least. I asked my mom about it, and she told me that they showed footages back home of people being pulled into the sea (some hotels had video cams positioned outside the hotel for promotional footages). What do you do when something like this happens? Will anything we do ever be enough? Sure, money helps, but what about all the lives that were lost? How does one feel about this?

I need to get ready for tomorrow. Will pen in again ASAP with updates and hopefully piccies.