Michael Jackson Dies

RIP Michael Jackson
1958 - 2009

June

A few days before i leave UK for Malaysia- home sweet home.
Missing family and friends badly thats for sure.

Currently just waiting for books that i ordered from Amazon.co.uk to arrive, I just hope that they arrive in time before my flight back to Msia. I plan to read those over the holidays.

When i finish reading 'The Hour I First Believed' later on, there will only be one more book by Wally Lamb that is left to read and to buy! which is 'I'll Fly Away, Testimonies of Women from York Prison.' For some reason, this book seems to be low in print or unavailable in most online and walk-in bookstores. Maybe because he didnt write the stories himself, he just rewrote the accounts of the women who are in prison like why are they serving jail time and all that. Must be an interesting read.

'I Know This Much is True' by Wally Lamb is still the best book ever written for me. Even Khaled Hosseini's 'Kite Runner' can't beat that. I thought that the book was awesome at first before I stumbled upon this discussion forum and after reading coutless posts made me realise that the book seems to be an american propaganda.

BTW, there's an insect on my wall which looks like a huge mosquito. It was trying to find its way out but isnt smart enough to just fly out the window. Another reason should be because it is attracted to light and I have my lights on in my room whereas its pitch dark outside. It stopped flying around my room five minutes ago and is just stationary on the wall.

Hooray

Now, all of the first year Malaysian undergraduates at Lancaster have posts! Yippieee. Congrats to all

Danny Yap - Treasurer for Malaysian Society

Muhammad Syakir Na'im - Vice-President for Lancaster & Morecambe UMNO Club

(from left to right)
Nurmarziana Madhi - Secretary for Malaysian Society
Nadia Nawi (thats me!!) - Teasurer for Lancaster & Morecambe UMNO Club
Raja Nor Soraya - Secretary for Umno Lancaster & Morecambe UMNO Club

(from left to right)
Luqman Zainal Abidin - Vice-President of Malaysian Society
Wan Syazwan - President of Malaysian Society

The Malaysian Society and UMNO Club will work closely aka hand in hand so, all should be good This will be the best comittee ever!!!

On an unrelated note, I am gaining so much weight here. I haven't done a SINGLE form of exercise since my stay here in UK. I might have even forgotten how to run! haha my weight gain does not look that apparent on the outside but yeah, i am packing on the pounds. i'll deal with that later, much much later


btw, pink lemonade from Sainsburys taste so good! no wonder its called taste the difference! haha

Happy

Yay! I just got back my Management Science coursework and I got a 75%. I am so so happy since I nearly FAILED my previous coursework. I am starting to get some faith and confidence in coursework back.

Last night, I went to Kak Ayu's house to wrap the presents for the Lancaster Family Fun Day on Saturday. I had a 750 word essay to hand in the following day, but I felt obliged to help out so I went anyway. I dont like it when I participate less than other people, the guilt will sink in. It was fun though because she had her son,Umar and Apple brought her son, Branson to her house and they were running around all over... SO SO CUTE. Before going back, I told Kak Nita I had an essay to be handed in, she immediately told me and Syakir that we should not have come and we should be writing our essays. hahaha. She showed us a sample of her Self Reflection Essay to me as a guideline for me to write mine.

The essay was not so bad mainly because it is just my account of my life in Lancaster and my ability to cope with studies and personal goals, that sort of thing. I spent around 30 mins writing it.....2 hours watching music videos and another 30 mins completing it..haha

Today, I was 15 mins late for my FIRST Accounting tutorial today. I woke up at 8.43am, dashed for the toilet to brush my teeth (hell, i didnt bathe...hehehe) and washed my face. On the way to class I met Nick, havent met him for so long, and we talked while walking ..and when i reached the fylde building, the classroom was empty but there was a note on it which says 'bowland north'. After that, i went back downstairs and met dave and i brought him to the wrong class(oops) and while in a state of panic and confusion, smsed soraya and she said that our class is supposed to be upstairs!! this sort of thing always happens to me haih....and i entered class at 9.15am... we had a new tutor, his name is Jie Zhou, i think, and he looks really friendly which is good!

I have this picture on my desktop right now!! Swoonssss...Anderson Cooper, hottest and smartest CNN anchor everrrr!

Updates!

I haven't updated in ages, i mean AGES. Do excuse me if my writing quality has deteriorated.

Its EASTER HOLIDAYS, a time of year when every store I go is selling the easter bunny candy and chocolate eggs

My parents came down to UK or shall I say, headed up north 2 weeks ago. Pure joy and fun for me and my sister, who now has been offered 3 jobs from the 4 job interviews that she attended. Awesome gile! Firstly, we met up with parents in London then we headed to Bicester for mum to buy some designer stuff ( *envy* *envy*). Anyhow, I got a juicy couture bag in Mancs for myself! Its bluee. I have never had a bag with a different color than brown, off-white, or black so this is actually a huge step for me, oh how dramatic!!

In Manchester, the daily activities was basically shopping and walking around Manchester with my mum with my dad joining in occasionally. My dad had work to do and my sis had classes. I bought a lot of clothes from Primark. Then, headed off to Selfridges where I bought my bag (yippee), mum bought stuff for herself.

As much as I hate to admit it, I have gained a lot of weight, I feel like a twinky roll. I don't really have a weighing scale here but I can feel the accumulated fat at my stomach and my back fat seems to be more distinct than usual.

Went to town the other day and bought muffins! One was apple maple and one was mocha. The mocha one tasted define.The sugar icing on top had a rich taste of coffee which I liked. Its obvious which is which! Just look at the colour

I also got red thights! But once i tried it on when i got home it made me go hmmmm.. dont know if it looks chic or cheap. I am leaning more towards the latter. At a second glance i feel like a circus act or something.


last but not least...a pic of me where I really do look fat. my sister is next to me in the pic. had to crop her out, shes not wearing tudung. oh god! better cut down on the carbs!! my cheeks look so round like apples or something. Btw, my skin is horrible in real life!

Protective Atmosphere

Thanks to Laulennn....honestly, I forgot for awhile that I had a blog!

I just dont know where to start...hmmm...well, I had a muscle tear at my back, the second week I was here. The pain was excrutiating, I even considered skipping class the next day (which I didnt). To get out of bed was such a struggle, because when I put my body in an upright position, that was when the pain hit home. Just had to roll around on the bed before getting up (its quite funny when you think about it). To make it much worse, I have a double bed, so you have to do double of the rolling part. I hate huge beds! So I put the extra pillow against the wall, so that the matress space becomes smaller.

After Accounts on Friday, around 1o.am ,I went to Baillrigg Health Centre, free clinic- and the ONLY clinic, which is on campus. During accounts, Soraya asked Syakir to accompany me to the clinic because she had classes. He made a face!!! but he still went anyways. The receptionist asked if I had an appointment, and I said no. And then she said 'you have to come back at 3pm'. I dont mean to sound bratty, but I felt so pissed and because I was treated this way. I went back and forced myself to sleep.

At 3pm I went back to the clinic with Soraya!! and, you know what, it was Raining!! Anyway, I finally got to see the doctor, a very very happy one. I was nodding listening to everything he said until he told me that I have to buy my own medicine outside!! I was like ' What? you dont have any meds here?" Thank god I only had to buy ibuprofen & paracetamol, those painkillers which are available at Spar. Did I mention that I had to walk in the rain to get my medicine? Having an extremely sore back slows down the journey.

That night, my left eye turned huge. I was allergic to the medicine.
That same week, my microwave broke down 3 times, which blew a fuse in my room. My fridge and stove was affected 3 times and I had to call the porter's lodge 3 times and then they called an electrician so its now fixed!

Studies have been going ok so far. I have a strong dislike for the Management Science lecturer because he is very moody and explains statistics like its brain surgery. Its only the stem & leaf diagram!
Econs lecturer is sort of cute but he is old.
Accounts lecturer is fab at teaching!! However, he gives the lamest jokes. One of it goes like this ' Debit is on the left hand side of accounts. People in general dont know what debit is. So, if u are on a bus and says to the bus driver "debit" he wont know that he has to go left and he will crash'. No one laughed, kesian gile.

I have some pictures to post.

Haagen Dazs ice cream...yummy its only $3.39. (sorry for the dollar sign, its suppossed to be pounds)My very empty timetable, I have stuff, I just dont pin it up on the board.


2 Radiohead Cds..I wanted the new one, but it is charged at full price, so I bought the older albums instead which were on discount!

These two edible babies are the ones contributing to my increase in weight. Yea people! muh jeans are getting tight

A part of my mini fridge. Notice the pepsis(another contributing factor to my increasing weight)

I bought 3 second handbooks at the market. Angelas Ashes (read a copy of this from Taylors library-AWESOME book) was 75p, Memory Keepers Daughter was $2, My Best Friend's Girl was $1. Dirt cheap for awesome book titles. There were more but I have to read these first. I was so so excited when I was rummaging through the books, my friends were abit weirded out.

This Indonesian dude in my Economics class looks abit like deer, similar facial features. He is so enthusiastic about his studies. I asked my guy friends 'handsome tak that dude?' They were like 'no comment'. What the hell...
My girl friends say that he is cute though.
Anyways, I have already lost interest.

Tripping On Ice

OMG OMG OMG I got a Radiohead poster and its been plastered on my wall, at the back of my bed! It a modified copy of the OK Computer album. Yayyyy

.....anyway, it has been freezing cold in Lancaster and it has been raining almost everyday.
I didn't get to meet alot of my housemates because we are pretty much isolated from each other since we have our own studio rooms (equipped with our own toilet and kitchen). During the house meeting with the senior tutor only a handful of people turned up. If I am not mistaken there where people from India, Cyprus, German and England (ohh what a shock! lol)

Icky bicky...The rubbish outside the house were piling up like mad, because the new students do not know that there is a huge garbage disposal bin just 10 feet in front of the house!!! so being the 'kepoh' person, I reported it to the senior tutor. She replied via email saying thanks!! The following day, a notice was put up in front of the house. I hope they clean it up ASAP, errkk I saw tulang ayam on the pavement, that is so disgusting.

On thursday, I attended freshers fair with Soraya & Nana to join clubs & societes. Hmm there were more clubs/pubs doing promotion rather than the societes itself. Someone gave me the 'I Got Shagg-ed ' badge and 'I Love Vodka' balloon when I was there. There is also a glow in the dark stick that I got. In the end, I decided to join this environmental club, Erasmus, LUVU, Islamic Society and Malaysian Society.

To be honest, I was abit shocked that people PARTAYY here everynight, since Lancaster is a pretty secluded area. I just walked past the bars (yup! its ON campus, just few feet away from my house) without going in and guess what, my college had the live-liest bar, it was just discolights, noise, dancing and people drinking non-stop, i repeat NON-STOP. They start drinking at 6-ishpm. Someone threw up by the sidewalk, i guess its normal. They had different themed nights. Tonight is country-style, before that was beach party, and before that was witch night.

During the week I also attended raya gatherings at postgraduate houses to do some networking and to eat for free. On Thurday & Friday I went to Manchester with my parents because sis had her ACCA class and dad had to give a talk at Salford University. So me and mum went shopping! Ka-ching! Later during the evening, we cooked prawns, just the 3 of us, while dad took a nap.

My parents will be leaving tomorrow for KL, huhu, I am missing everyone back home *hugs* hugs*
Term starts next week..bleaaakkk I have 4 classes on Monday oh man

Edit = My initial password given by the library was CARD14DEER before I was supposed to change it. What are the odds, rite *winks*

Thankful

Alhamdullilah....i am so blessed, i am nearly reduced to tears

I got an email from the visa application centre, that I will only be able to collect my visa 3 days later which is on Thursday, the day of my flight. Which means that I will not be able to take the plane on that day. What shitty luck. Nothing else to do, but to change flight date pronto!

We checked with ALL airlines possible and all were fully booked until early October or so. Panic and frustration seeps in.

Suddenly dad got a call and we were informed that there were fligths available on the 27th. Booked and confirmed the flight in a heartbeat. No doubt its gonna cost a bomb, since its extremely last minute but its my last resort.

Thank god for the time delay between UK and Malaysia, I can enroll in Uni on time, but with a slight jetlag of course. Hoping to doze off in the plane throughout the flight so I can conserve some energy or whats left of it when I arrive there.

edit: alamak, touchdown dekat heathrow, not in manchester.how to bring spices/anchovies semua tu, the security control there is unbelievably strict...

EDIT : received notification that my visa is ready for collection. So, back to the original plan.
i'll be leaving tomorrow!!

Dawn's Light

wow, my IQ must be around 80 something
do you know when people finish shooting for a music vid or movie
and the crew will say 'its a WRAP'
i actually thought that it is spelt as RAP
i should consider attending some language classes...ditzz

jsut now, me and mum unwrapped the huge parcel that arrived from UK- all my sis's stuff.
Stashed somewhere in there is a bear, its very limp, so i can bob its head up and down and move its paws in the air
i also found gwen stefani's fragrance, new and packaged....its now mine!! hehehehehe
there is also an abundance of bubblewrap which was used to pack all the fragile stuff like bowls and cups
as a result, i have been popping the bubbles frantically ever since , i bet everyone's addicted to it

bubblewrap makes you possessed

still waiting for my visa...everyone else is having the same problem so I guess its alrite *half-sigh*
3 zits appeared on my face *sigh*
i gained weight, hmmm very peculiar coz i didnt eat alot *prays that weighing scale is cacat*
get to see my husband at 10.am on CNN *yay yay*
people say that he is gay but who cares.

Better Days

Reasons why I am not so perky these couple of days

1. Where is my visa?? apasal tak approve lagi........waiting pisses me off, i have to rebook my flight twice because they wanted the damn visa, what if they cancel my flight?

2. Why hasnt the uni sent letter regarding the fees yet?its too too slow. how are my parents going to write up a bank draft..seriously, dont u want money?

3. Syeera just smsed me, havent seen her and wan for over a year and may NOT see them due to transport problems..............sedih gile gile, have to think of something....

4. I saw the drains filled, i mean FILLED with plastic bags at the bazaar ramadhan. Hate people who have zero concern for the environment. If the karipap/laksa/kuih lapis werent so nice, i would stop buying from there.

5. may have to cancel outing with sara, pj, yoke

6. watched An American Crime, a true story about child abuse which resulted in death, i hope gertrude or whatever-her-name is and her daughters and sons and neighbour who were involved rot in hell.

Pam organized a mini class reunion last week. It was kinda fun, but I had to leave early....

Forces In Motion

Just came back from submitting my Visa application. When I was there I saw people of all ages applying for visa, but mostly people my age because unis in UK are starting soon. Saw Arthur aswell 'coughs' as usual clad in his tee and skinny jeans.

A brief explanation about the procedure for those who want to know(based on my experience). The applicants has to take a number and wait for their turn. Then the officer will call out your number and he will check your passport/s and supporting documents. After this, you will be directed to the 19th floor where there will be a security check performed on you, just like in the airport. While inside the room, you will submit all your documents and pay for your visa- bapak mahal RM664. Then, you will have to do your biometrics which involves putting your hands on the scanner and having your photograph taken. You can check your visa status online using the reference number stated in your receipt. Visa is usually ready for collection in 5 days. Ok thats it..please dont yawn..
useful info here ;)

When i was scanning all of my fingers the lady had to tell me to PRESS HARDER for about 4 times. I cant because my fingers are not straight especially the pinky finger. The lady said 'ok, use your other hand to press your fingers, press really hard!' There is only one person so far who has short fingers like me but hers is not so senget. huhu...nevermind, at least I have all 5 on each hand.

Its already the 8th day of puasa. Gandakan pahala di bulan Ramadhan dengan berselawat dan membaca ayat-ayat suci Al-Quran. :)

Between Lines

My sister went back to Manchester on Tuesday
Haihh...quite boring at home
cant even drive around
I plan to tidy my room (again!!) before I leave for UK
see you in 3 weeks sis! study hard

First Day Of Puasa

4.50 am - Woke up for sahur. Had a plateful of rice with : -
- gulai udang nenas
- ikan bilis kicap
- i cant remember what vege
- half a bottle of pepsi (in confidence) and 2 glasses of water

6.20 am - performed subuh prayers then snoozed zzzZZZZzzzz

11.00am - FINALLY woke up!!

12.10pm - filled in Visa application while watching tennis US Open

2.00 pm - went to Damansara to a car showroom because parents were interested in a car. it was CLOSED!! eventhough it stated in the website that they are open on public hols. Drove back home, it was raining cats & dogs.

3.15pm - arrived home and continued with visa application.

4.45pm - rain finally stopped. So, we headed off to bazaar ramadhan. YAY

5.40pm - the only time that I felt hungry throughout the day. lol

7.20pm - Open fast! Had rice (again) with :-
- ayam berempah
- some vege with yellowish soup
- ikan masin
- curry puff
- cempedak goreng
- sirap bandung

8.15pm - went to the mosque to perform isya' and terawih prayers ( 8 raqaat only)
after the terawih ended one of the imams gave a speech telling the mu'mins ( those who come to pray) to dont complain if they recite the surah slowly. lol of course not

10.00pm - headed back home after terawih.
Midnight snack :-
- fried kuay teow
- bubur pulut hitam

11.30pm - completed visa application (finally), just waiting for accomodation letter from uni.

I'll be going to bed in awhile, after I end this post. Goodnite everyone!

State Of Grace

Last Friday nite went out with mom and sis to have a buffet dinner at Concorde Hotel, dad couldn't make it cause he had a meeting that nite. It was 3 days before Ramadhan so we wanted to eat nice foooddd

The appetizer. Yummy! There were others like oyster eww...why would anyone eat that..


Just a random picture with my sister. I only managed to take one pic of the food coz was too busy eating. The grilled selection was the best.


Nadz = Satay, how ironic ;) After indulging in all kinds of food, I headed to the dessert area to take ice kacang and the apricots/strawberries dipped in chocolate - there was a chocolate fondue. There were other weird looking desserts which were too decorative I found it annoying.

Hehe. Rongak! Decided to play around with the excess chocolate on my plate. I know its gross but its kinda funny rite ;) If its disgusting, i'll take it down. Towards the end of the buffet Papa arrived and joined us but he just ordered a cup of coffee since he has eaten already.

Before leaving, I saw this pondok-inspired arch at the main entrance which says 'Citra Ramadhan' . I just had to take a pic. The pondok stretched out to the sides which is not visible here. It was actually kinda huge. After this, we headed home in two seperate cars.

Hey, hope I dont look sick anymore *winks*

Ordinary Day

Took my results from college on Tuesday, they even wrote my name on the hugee brown envelope.


Wanted to see J, smsed her the day before. I contemplated whether to contact J during college hours. What if she were having lectures?It was 10a.m surely she had classes. So I didnt call her...bummer. So we text each other at night, caught up with each other. I might not see her until the next three years. huhu...shud have called


Since I was at Taylor's I might aswell buy myself nasi lemak from makcik!!One for me and one for my sis. Oh gosh it was so delicious eventhough it was cold by the time I reached home. Everyone I know enjoys nasi lemak..hmmm i sort of remember Sara saying that eating nasi lemak is torture!!Don't know what was her true meaning Grrr :0

Makcik asked about Puijing when I was at her stall.
Makcik : Mana kawan awak tu?
Me : Dia kat Sarawak lagi
Makcik : Dia duduk Sarawak kat mana?
Me : Dekat Miri
Makcik : Dia tu suka sangat makan nasi lemak ni. Tiap-tiap kali balik mesti beli.
Me : Saya pun suka gak! :)

Nasi lemak sotong....yummy

A few retarded pics before I go. By the end of the month most of the hair will be chopped off. My hair cannot take the cold weather :( :(
Having a camera makes you take pics like crazy. Yay, more pics for blog

Outing With Ama & Dhiah

Have not seen these people for quite awhile, so, was super duper excited when I met them. Dhiah arrived first (obviously), she is never ever late for anything. If there is an award for punctuality it will be given to her! So we did soem catching up first before Ama came.

Had our lunch at MyNews. Everyone ordered nasi goreng. Honestly, all this traditional food beats all kinds of food anyday. Thats Dhiah. She looks skinny
Dhiah and Me, ama took the picture. Yay, we were both wearing red.
Amalina! stunning.. She is so kurus aswell. Gosh everyone is really kurus lately. They have been kurus since highschool so amybe its genetics...hmmm
Me & Ama. We chatted about school, our lives, UITM, and suddenly I got lost when they were talking about their course & subjects. Diorang dua dua buat accounting and dua dua buat kat UITM Shah Alam. bestnyer!
We went to find a birthday card for Dhiah's friend. Controlnye...

The stunning beauties saying goodbye to me! Huhu....sedihlaaa
After that we had ice cream and walked around and I told them that to stop for awhile coz my feet were hurting and I felt tired! This is why we should not bum around the house all day.
So we sad down on the bench and took some pics. Check out that minah in green posing in the background.
Ama & Dhiah.. sorry korang kena wait for me
Me & Ama. I showed some teeth here. That rarely happens...
We went to the rainforest after that. Took some more pics. Ama had to go home after that. So, me and Dhiah dropped her off where her family was waiting. I gave Ama a hug. Gonna missss her
Me & Dhiah walked around some more to browse for shoes then the both of us had to go back. Hugged Dhiah also before she went back. This is the last pic of the day.

These people are great friends. They are nice, compassionate, kind, modest and just fun to be around. ;)

The only missing person was WAN!!!!huhuhu I miss you.....

Pre-Merdeka Post

9 days to Merdeka day and I have only seen ONE vehicle ( its a bus) adorned with a Malaysian flag. It was attached at the rear, not being sarcastic here :)

Its weird given the fact that I normally see people decorating their cars like mad pre-merdeka.


Some possible theories :-
a) People are spending money on necessities instead like rice, meat, vegetable, PETROL
b) For the muslims, the hype of ramadhan is overshadowing merdeka celebrations. We start fasting on 1st of Sept. Muslims are more focused on planning mosque programmes, kuih raya, rendang, baju raya, so on so forth.
c) The sad political state of the country.
d) All of the above

I choose D, to be fair....reliving exams....lol

Outing with Specky

Went out with Ho ho on Sunday,the only day that she is not swamped with work. Stopped by Paddington place to have lunch first. It is located at the other end of the mall, quite away from other shops.

Gosh! Huge arms. Drank iced lemon tea, which was nice.

I ordered this. It doesn't look appetizing but it was! except the omelette was a little bland.

This is Ho (duh). She kinda looks like a music teacher with the new curls in her hair. She is wearing 'easy' shirt. Just pull the ribbon at the side of her shirt and it will 'easily' fall off.

Sara ordered this. It was soo nice! Check out the cheese. Cheese & Sara = inseperable. Then we headed off to Watson's. Sara is so fickle-minded and particular about prices! so she ended up not buying any eyeshadow, although she practically browsed through all the eyeshadow.

Stopped by at Toys R Us to buy a Magic 8 ball for meeself. We saw masks lying all over the place and tried on some. Thats me as the purple dinasour.

This is Ho as a uhm bird, haha.

Stopped at Starbucks for the frappuccinos. I had my usual caramel frap, the only thing that i drink whenever i go starbucks, how adventurous! Me and Ho's slurping pictures. Muh oily face ;)

Sara drinking a pomegranate frap, one of the juice ones. She soo looks like a music teacher!

Me, this is a weird pic.

Sara talking about her writing career.

Tried to take a pic of both of us. This is the best out of three attempts. Taaa