Updates for Jan 2009

Nothing much to write about. So I just summarize whatever I was thinking about these past few days:

1. Writing Project
Am now helping Fezin with his travelogue project by rallying round some friends from UIA, as he needs more articles to [ut inside. To date, he already received 10 articles from various writers and non-writers. Famous people like Faisal Tehrani and Saharil have contributed in the travelogue. I told Fezin that the others, including yours truly, are virtually unknown in the writing world, and he said "hey, it's the experience that counts!". If he doesn't have enough articles, this project may be canned. What a shame!

2. Movies
We, as in hubby and me, haven't been to the cinema in a long, long time. I can't even remember what was the last movie we saw together, but I think it may be sometime in August 2008. I been entertaining myself with DVDs. There are lots of interesting movies around like "The Twilight" (maybe just catch the DVD), "The Spirit" (my colleagues said it's stupid, but Ash seemed to like it!), "Australia" (I love Nicole Kidman, but her British accent in the movie sounds more Australian than British).

3. Exercise
After reading "He Loves Lucy", about an advertising exec who gets to slim down in reality tv, I was inspired to do a bit of exercise myself. Haven't exercised in ages. I promised myslef that once I bought my car, I would be able to exercise by going back early and go jogging in a nearby park around my housing. Never got round to it. So last night I did some yoga, just the basic breathing exercise plus some yoga movements like cobra stretch, sun pose, seated sun pose, baby pose, etc. None of that hanky panky chantings. Seemed that I did sweat quite a lot during yoga, means I'm burning calorie. But yoga is more warm up for me, I still need to do some cardio exercise. Didn't have my Kathy Smith Kickboxing DVD, instead I ended up dancing to JLo's videoclip!!

4. Work
Still doing that report which is due by end of this week, then it's going to be presented to a focus group and finally the Management for approval. If everything goes well, by March 2009 we will start with a new study on tourists dispersion throughout Malaysia. That means visiting some tourists attractions around Malaysia. Yay! Can't wait. Other news on office, my Director's been changed again. It's been 3 Directors changed within 4 months of me working there. When will this stop??

5. Going away
First going away project of the year is during CNY, which is about 4 days, and we are going back to Rompin. I know it's my kampung but it's been ages since last I went back. Can't wait to go back for nasi dagang for breakfast, singgang fior lunch, keropok lekor for tea and eating out for dinner! Other projects in the pipeline: possible going to Paka for Ms Fantaghiro's birthday late March, Taman Negara trip in May and Taiping Zoo's Night Safari by end of the year.

That's all for updates today...

My Favourite Views of Kuching

Managed to upload some photos from my last trip to Kuching sometime late November. Pictures taken on my last day in Kuching when I took a walk around Kuching from Holiday Inn, pass by the Main Bazaar, to Bangunan Yayasan Sarawak and the carpark behind for a mee kolok. Walk again till Satok and turn around back to hotel before catching my flight in the afternoon.

Bangunan Yayasan Sarawak on the left hand side of the pic, with the foodcourt behind in yellow building. Also, Masjid Jamek on top of a little hill at the end of the road.

Bot penambang and the Sarawak river

Rajah Brooke monument in front of the Waterfront

The Indian Mosque Lane or Jalan Masjid India.
I met Anita Sarawak once in 1995 browsing inside one of the textile shops, with her then husband the guy from the Commodore group. She still had long black hair, Cleopatra style, complete with heavy bangs in front. She had on a smart suit with a very short skirt and long legs....still young and beautiful at that time...

Used to be my favourite shopping haunts, and still it hadn't changed. As if time stood still in Kuching, all the things same like 13 years ago.

I cannot believe that this bus service still exists!! The bus I took from home in Petra Jaya to go to tuition center behind Hilton Hotel and I'd walk quite a bit from the bus terminal.

And voila! Hopoh Shooping center still exist! My mum hated this shopping centre back then because it's so lousy...this pic is for u mum!

My tuition are behind Hilton Hotel...love this view as it is normally very peaceful and serene...not many cars around..

And my tuition centre, which has now been transformed to the Pinnacle Kuching Lodge. Last time, there used to be a bar instead of 7 Eleven beneath my tuition. There still exist the big wooden door which served as the entrance to the bar from the side of the building by the stairs...was shocked to see this changed coz I always tell my friends that my tuition centre is on top of a bar hehe

WELCOME 2009!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL AND MAY GOD GIVE US THE STRENGTH AND RESOURCES TO FULFILL OUR NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS!!

My new year's resolution: To enjoy life to the fullest and execute my travel plans as best as I can...

Happy Birthday, Master G!

Today's his 28th birthday. He's my neighbour in the next cubicle. A monkey who likes to play pranks on me i.e. lower my seat down while I'm sitting on it, throwing a toy lizard around. Always pretending that he wanted to ask me a question but in reality he just wanted to pull that prank on me! Thank God I'm unpreturbed at the lizard thingy.

Anyway, happy birthday, Monkey!

Played the Hookey

Today woke up late. Reason being I couldn't get up on time as last night slept quite late around 2.30pm because we reached home at 1.30am last nite travelling from Batu Pahat.

Arrived at office 7 minutes to 10am. My Immediate Boss was not around, she's on leave to get PMR result for her son. Went to breakfast with Aza de Kaza at the 32nd floor pantry. After breakfast, both Aza and I mengadap another boss for comments on our study report. By the time we finished our short discussion, it was already 12pm. Our brains were jammed. We went out aound 12.30pm to get a bite to eat at the delicious nasi ayam hailam at Ampang Point area with Aza. She's the food expert, knows a lot of good places to eat. After lunch we ambled on to Habib Jewela, looking for the pearl earrings which were on promotion priced at RM49 per pair. Out of stock, too bad. Went to Ampang Point across the street, spent RM167 at AJ's textile, bought some materials for blouse, baju kurung and hubby's baju melayu for hari raya. Time: 2.00pm. Continued our journey to Mei Yin, the tailor to pickup my baju kurung batik. Had to endure her lecture on MLM, Aza fell asleep on her couch. Paid for the baju - RM190 for two pairs of baju kurung batik sutera with lining. Head back to office. Time reached the office: 4.30pm. Continue to read thru my emails. Zaidi from Frankfurt office buzzed me. We started to chat online with some other colleagues on the internal communicator. Catch up on office gossip, today's hot story are some colleague's posting to overseas. More news on the grapevine than anything concrete, really. More speculation on the posting with other colleagues in the office. They tell their version of the gossip, and we speculate some more. Time: 5.30pm. Oh hey, it's time to go home already. I haven't done anything productive today, apart from this morning's discussion. But as Aza always say at the end of a working day, "Ini semua duniawi"....so I pack up my bags to leave and flashed out of the office.

And that's how I played the hookey today......Tomorrow is another day, maybe I'll behave tomorrow!!

Parenting 101: Discipline

What is it with parents nowadays?

They give in to their children so easily, which resulted in spoiled and/or rotten behaviour. They whine for hours or throw tantrum at their own disposal when their wants (not needs) are not fullfilled. This is my observation based on some people's kids that I knew. I've nothing against them but sometimes I've just had enough of them, and in my mind, I'd find ways to torture them i.e. tempeleng sampai bodo (slap 'em silly, get it?!!), bang their heads on the wall and/or bind them with cellophane tape. These are just results of an over-imaginative mind plus sakit hati and jiwa at having to bear with screaming kids, at which their parents do nothing about to shush them. I think that fact makes me more sakit hati than the screaming kids themselves. I mean, kids are kids. The parents have to teach them what's right or wrong, the can or can't do, all the right stuff, etc.

My mum always said: I'm your mother, not your friend. Thus, it implies that you need to treat your parents with respect and there should be some boundary as to which a person should behave towards their parents. Don't treat them like your friend - when you don't feel like talking, you just ignore them.

It is said in Islam that when a child is born, his/her heart is pure like a white cloth. Then it is up to the parents to shape/color it any way that they see fit. The problem is that when a child is not properly disciplined then they would behave or do something inappropriate and get away with it because their parents have gone "soft" on the child and would not be able to punish them accordingly. Discipline must start from a young age, it is impossible to instill it once your child have grown up. Children have to learn conditional learning (this is Intro to Psychology), when they do something bad, then the parents reproach or scold them accordingly. In time they will learn that the particular behaviour is unaccaptable or bad. Makes me think hard about rearing kids if I can't do it properly, if they should end up being a nuisance to other people. Being parents, normally they would be oblivious to their child's fault and would only think that their child is the more angelic than others.

Maybe we should make parenting class compulsory to all parents.....

Oh well, what do I know......I'm not a parent yet. I just pray to God that my child doesn't turn out to be a brat and that I wouldn't be so oblivious to his/her fault and that I would have the strength to discipline them. Amin.

Trip down memory lane: Kedah

Last trip to Kedah with the in laws brought back nostalgia, especially when passing thru the paddy fields. Its amazing to see that paddy grows everywhere - by the highway, the roadside, between houses, in front of the new Kedah stadium where there's a bit of land, there's a patch of paddy field. I didn't think that I'd missed the paddy field scenery with all the greens, so soothing and calming to the eyes and mind, but I did. It's like you don't know what you got till its gone, same like the paddy field scenery that I always took for granted when I was living in Kedah back in 1991-1993.

Paddy field taken in the Gunung Keriang area


A lone house in the middle of paddy field

Other trees flourish at the paddy field

Cows by the roadside, they moved when we honked

Discovery: Jamban zaman P.Ramlee teehehe

Lagi...kalau dengar lagu bola penyokong hijau kuning mesti bersemangat jer....

Yakinkanlah diri sendiri

Berjuanglah sejiwa murni

Tekun berani sesungguh hati

Demi sukan mengharung negeri
Biar jasa jadi kenangan

Hijau Kuning lambang kemegahan

Jelapang Padi tempat sanjungan

Negeri Kedah Darul Aman
Kedah, Kedah pantang kalah

Walau sakit jatuh dan rebah

Bangun lantas semula gagah

Bajur lalu melintang patah
Hijau Kuning tanahku

Darul Aman negeriku

Hijau kuning darahku

Negeri Kedah negeriku
Kedah, Kedah pantang kalah

Walau sakit jatuh dan rebah

Bangun lantas semula gagah

Bajur lalu melintang patah
Hijau Kuning tanahku

Darul Aman negeriku

Hijau Kuning darahku

Negeri Kedah negeriku

Negeri Kedah negeriku

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6bz2gjD8Wk

Ahlan wa sahlan 1430H..

Muharam merupakan bulan pertama dalam Sistem Kalendar Islam (Hijriah) yang membawa makna 'diharamkan' dimana Allah swt melarang umat Islam melakukan keganasan dan peperangan serta pertumpahan darah. Menurut Ibnu Abbas r.anhuma, sejak zaman nabi Ibrahim a.s telah diharamkan peperangan dan pertumpahan darah dalam bulan-bulan haram iaitu bulan DzulHijjah, Dzul Qaedah, Rejab dan bagi bulan Muharam pula sebab nya adalah didalam bulan tersebut umat Islam yang mengerjakan ibadat haji akan kembali ketempat masing-masing dan larangan itu bertujuan supaya jemaah haji yang mengerjakan haji akan merasa aman terhadap keselamatan diri masing-masing dari mula mereka meninggalkan rumah sehinggalah mereka kembali semula selepas menunaikan ibadat haji tersebut. Namun demikian larangan tersebut telah ditamatkan setelah pembukaan Makkah (Al-Baqarah: 91).

Rasulullah saw telah menamakan bulan Muharam sebagai bulan ALLAH (shahrullahi), dinamakan bulan ALLAH lantaran kemulian dan kelebihan bulan ini. Daripada Al-Hassan Al-Basry rahimullah "sesungguhnya Allah telah membuka lembaran Tahun baru didalam takwim Islam dengan bulan Muharam. Tidaklah kedapatan bulan yang lebih mulia didalam takwim Islam disisi Allah selepas bulan Ramadhan melainkan Muharram yang terkhas disebabkan kehormatannya".

Doa Awal Tahun & Doa Akhir Tahun

Barangsiapa yang membaca doa awal tahun ini, insya Allah dirinya akan terpelihara daripada gangguan dan godaan syaitan di sepanjang tahun tersebut.

Doa Awal Tahun:

Maksudnya:

Allah SWT berselawat ke atas penghulu kami Muhammad SAW, ahli keluarga dan sahabat-sahabat baginda dan kesejahteraan ke atas mereka.

Wahai Tuhan, Engkaulah yang kekal abadi, yang qadim. yang awal dan ke atas kelebihanMu yang besar dan kemurahanMu yang melimpah dan ini adalah tahun baru yang telah muncul di hadapan kami. Kami memohon pemeliharaan dariMu di sepanjang tahun ini dari syaitan dan pembantu-pembantunya dan tentera-tenteranya dan juga pertolongan terhadap diri yang diperintahkan melakukan kejahatan dan usaha yang mendekatkanku kepadaMu Wahai Tuhan Yang Maha Agung dan Maha Mulia.

Wahai Tuhan Yang Maha pengasih dari mereka yang mengasihi dan Allah berselawat ke atas penghulu kami Muhammad. Nabi yang ummi dan ke atas ahli keluarga dan sahabat-sahabatnya dan kesejahteraan ke atas mereka.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Barangsiapa yang membaca doa akhir tahun ini, maka syaitan akan berkata:
"Hampalah kami di sepanjang tahun ini".

Doa Akhir Tahun:Maksudnya:

Allah SWT berselawat ke atas penghulu kami Muhammad SAW, ahli keluarga dan sahabat-sahabat baginda dan kesejahteraan ke atas mereka.

Wahai Tuhan, apa yang telah aku lakukan dalam tahun ini daripada perkara-perkara yang Engkau tegah daripada aku melakukannya dan aku belum bertaubat daripadanya. Sedangkan Engkau tidak redha dan tidak melupakannya. Dan aku telah melakukannya di dalam keadaan di mana Engkau berupaya untuk menghukumku, tetapi Engkau mengilhamkanku dengan taubat selepas keberanianku melakukan dosa-dosa itu semuanya. Sesungguhnya aku memohon keampunanMu, maka ampunilah aku. Dan tidaklah aku melakukan yang demikian daripada apa yang Engkau redhainya dan Engkau menjanjikanku dengan pahala atas yang sedemikian itu. Maka aku memohon kepadaMu.

Wahai Tuhan! Wahai yang Maha Pemurah! Wahai Yang Maha Agung dan wahai Yang Maha Mulia agar Engkau menerima taubat itu dariku dan janganlah Engkau menghampakan harapanku kepadaMu Wahai Yang Maha Pemurah. Dan Allah berselawat ke atas penghulu kami Muhammad, ke atas ahli keluarga dan sahabat-sahabatnya dan mengurniakan kesejahteraan ke atas mereka.

Doa akhir tahun dibaca 3 kali pada akhir waktu Asar atau sebelum masuk waktu Maghrib pada akhir bulan Zulhijjah.

Sesiapa yang membaca doa ini, syaitan berkata:
"Kesusahan bagiku dan sia-sialah pekerjaanku menggoda anak Adam pada setahun ini dan Allah binasakan aku satu saat jua. Dengan sebab membaca doa ini, Allah ampunkan dosanya setahun."

Peristiwa-peristiwa penting:
1 Muharam - Khalifah Umar Al-Khattab mula membuat penetapan kiraan bulan dalam Hijrah.
10 Muharam - Dinamakan juga hari 'Asyura'. Pada hari itu banyak terjadi peristiwa penting yang mencerminkan kegemilangan bagi perjuangan yang gigih dan tabah bagi menegakkan keadilah dan kebenaran.

Pada 10 Muharam juga telah berlaku:
Nabi Adam bertaubat kepada Allah.
Nabi Idris diangkat oleh Allah ke langit.
Nabi Nuh diselamatkan Allah keluar dari perahunya sesudah bumi ditenggelamkan selama enam bulan.
Nabi Ibrahim diselamatkan Allah dari pembakaran Raja Namrud.
Allah menurunkan kitab Taurat kepada Nabi Musa.
Nabi Yusuf dibebaskan dari penjara.
Penglihatan Nabi Yaakob yang kabur dipulihkkan Allah.
Nabi Ayub dipulihkan Allah dari penyakit kulit yang dideritainya.
Nabi Yunus selamat keluar dari perut ikan paus setelah berada di dalamnya selama 40 hari 40 malam.
Laut Merah terbelah dua untuk menyelamatkan Nabi Musa dan pengikutnya dari tentera Firaun.
Kesalahan Nabi Daud diampuni Allah.
Nabi Sulaiman dikurniakan Allah kerajaan yang besar.
Hari pertama Allah menciptakan alam.
Hari Pertama Allah menurunkan rahmat.
Hari pertama Allah menurunkan hujan.
Allah menjadikan 'Arasy.
Allah menjadikan Luh Mahfuz.
Allah menjadikan alam.
Allah menjadikan Malaikat Jibril.
Nabi Isa diangkat ke langit.

source:http://idanatrah.fotopages.com/?entry=1403803

Surprising Singapore

I was in Changi Airport on Christmas day to fetch my brother in law who was flying in from Narita Aiport. Our journey started from Gombak at 9.30am on Christmas morning yesterday. Hubby drove and we reached Batu Pahat at 1pm and we stopped for lunch and a bit of rest at his parents home. Then we continued the journey to Johor Bharu to fetch my sister in law and her daughter for the journey. It was our first time to travel into Singapore by car. The new Malaysia CIQ at Causeway was very modern and quite systematic. A bit of traffic, but I suspect that it was not as bad as normal days, everybody still in Christmas mood.

Cars queuing up at the Woodlands checkpoint

We had to go thru two Custom & Immigration checks- Causeway in Johor Bharu Malaysia and Woodlands Checkpoint in Singapore. At Woodlands, we had to fill in immigration departure card or whar they called the "white card". Then we had to purchase Autopass in order for our car to enter Singapore and our car was given 10 days free entrance excluding Saturday, Sunday & public holiday. If not, each car would be charged SGD20 apart from toll of about SGD4 (depending on which area you go in Singapore).

More cars in Woodlands checkpoint

Once we have gone thru the checkpoint, we continued our journey to Jurong to visit hubby's grandma who lives there with her son. The directions were simple enough, we just have to take the BKE highway, then turn into PIE highway, find Corporation RFd, and find block 404. All the highways are short-formed i.e. Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE) and the road signs are clear which makes driving in Singapore quite easy. Plus the road is not congested and speed limit on the highwy are mostly 90 miles per hour. So a half hour drive is quite long especially when you are trying to keep within the limit as they will automatically impose fine once you check out at Woodlands.

From Jurong, we continued on to Orchard Road area which houses Mustafa Centre for a bit of shopping. I was told by my colleague that original branded perfumes are cheap there as the owner buys evrything in cash and bulk. So for original Elizabeth Arden's 5th Avenue of 125ml bottle will set you back only SGD 59 or roughly RM145, whereas in Malaysia it will cost almost RM300. Of course yours truly borong perfumes like there's no tomorrow. Sampai terlupa yang mak saya pesan belikan perfume Cinema by Yves Saint Laurent....takperlah mak...nanti saya gantikan dengan yang lain heh heh mak pilih jer mana satu yang nak daripada

bawah nih....

L to R: Hot by Benetton (EDT), 100ml -SGD13.00; 5th Avenue by Elizabeth Arden (EDP), 75ml - SGD35.00; Guess by Guess (EDP), 50ml - SGD45.00; Love in Paris by Nina Ricci (EDP), 50ml - SGD69.00; Hugo by Hugo Boss (EDT), 30ml - SGD39.00.

TOTAL = SGD201 =RM484 - - - -> Value for money!!!

Ho...Ho...Ho

Belated Christmas greetings to my friends who are celebrating it: Ms Karen Pereira, who's working in Qatar but spends the Christmas in Alor Gajah, Ms Agnes who is in the Philippines and Geoffrey who didn't go back to Kuching this year.

Merry Christmas and may it be a joyful one...

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Read the book, seen the movie.

I must say that the movie did follow the book closely, up to quoting direct words from the book. For instance, when Dr Juvenal Urbino was about to die, he uttered the words to his wife, Fermina Daza "only God knows how much I loved you". But to understand the movie, one must read the book. There are too many things left unexplained in the movie. Whoever thought that it is a good idea to translate the book into a movie, must have thought that the sexual contents in this book would make into a great movie. Not.

For one, there are too many things happening in the lives of the characters which I think is better left to the imagination of the readers. For example, the many carnal relationship of Florentino Ariza, the antagonist in this book. All his illicit affairs conducted in silence and from women who took pity on him. Even so, not all of his relationship was explained, or even featured in the movie - the precious friendship between him and Leona Cassiani, his employee whom he did love but never had any sexual relationship. Or his sexual relationship with a 14-year old charge, America Vicuna, when he is already 76 years old, and broke her heart, which ultimately resulted in her suicide. Also, not featured in the movie.

The heroine, Fermina Daza, was played by an actor, which to me did not captured the essence of Fermina's character. In the book, the author painted her as someone rigid, beautiful and quite regal in the way she carries herself, from the time she was a young girl till the time she is widowed at the age of 70+. The actor did not potray the haughtiness that her character is suppose to be, and she is giddy with emotions and not restrained as according to the book. It is contrary to Fermina's character. The actor was also not beautiful in the conventional way, which Fermina is supposed to be, she looked older when she is supposed to be in her teens and she looked young when she is supposed to be in her 70s. Oh well, blame it on the makeup...

Benjamin Bratt potrayed Dr Juvenal Urbino quite charmingly in the movie. But then, it is a shame that the movie did not feature his relationship with Jeremiah de Saint-Amour as in the beginning of the novel as it would have been quite interesting to see the differences in both characters. Or that it didn't focus on their marital problems or Dr Urbino's diificulties on growing old and how Fermina helped her husband get through the day.

In the end, the movie that wanted to capture the love Florention Ariza felt for Fermina Daza for more than 50 years, failed to bring a credible emotion. I think it is better to leave it to the book and the imagination of the readers....

That is my humble opinion on the movie adaptation of the "Love in the time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Nobel prize winning author.

Trivia: this book was also featured in the movie Serendipity, played by Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack, on which it was written Kate's phone number and was later lost to John but he managed to find it again.

Indecent Exposure

Yesterday evening, on my way back home from work, there was a bit of a jam from Condo Bestari out to Jalan Ipoh. It's a shortcut way I used from PWTC to get to Jalan Pekeliling instead of using the main Jalan Ipoh. While my car was stuck in traffic in between a chinese restaurant and a mamak shop, I saw one chinese lady with her two girls, one aged around 4 years old, the other around 10 years old in front of the Chinese restaurant. Then I saw that the younger girl was taking a leak (pissing) over a small drainage sewer while her mother was watching. This incedent was by the sidewalk, and her bum was exposed for all to see. Her mother then coolly wiped her bum with tissue and carelessly tossed the tissue into the sewer.

Euuwwww! As if the incident was not enough to convince me that Chinese people are indeed pengotor and tak malu , the girl then continued to play with her sister, all the while leaving her bum bare, again for all us motorists stuck in the traffic to see. Not that I derived any pleasure from it, more of disgust and disbelieve. I was waiting what would happen next. She continued to play for several minutes in that condition, then did she pull up her pants. Unbelieveably, her mother did not say anything to the child about her indecent exposure. Right in front of that restaurant was a junction with Kolej Bestari situated at the front. There were a bunch of Nepalese guard loitering in front of the building. Maybe some of them were looking at the little girl or not, I wasn't entirely sure.

In my mind I was wondering if the mother's lack of security and protection on the decency of her child might cause harm to the child later on. I mean, if your child's bum is hanging out for all to see, isn't that like some kind of invitation to perverts and paedophile to do something to the child, harming, sexually abusing and worse, killing her when he is done with her. Look at what happened to Nurin. I wouldn't be surprised if something did happen to that girl. It is clearly the negligence on the parent's part to supervise the actions and decency of their child which resulted in an open invitation to bad things.

Criminal Minds Season 3 Marathon

Spent the weekend with marathon of Criminal Minds Season 3 - 6 DVDs in total of 20 episodes. I love Criminal Minds, I think the team is awesome and their cases are mind-blowing. Result after watching the complete 3rd season: so many insane people in this world, especially in America. Its not safe to go to America lest you become a victim of some psychopatch killer *shudder*


Criminal Minds the series is based on a team of profilers at the FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit (BAU) in Quantico. Their core job is to profile serial killers behaviour and help the local PD to solve the cases, so there's extensive travelling in their ultra-cool jet by looking at the crime scene and basically try to be in the killer's shoes. They look at little details, "nothing is too small". It is mind boggling on how they can arrive at such deductions, but then, if I paid more attention to Introduction to Psychology back then, I would've understand it better haha


Anyway, season 3 started with the introduction of Joe Mantegna as the replacement to Mandy Patikin. One of the reasons that I loved to watch Criminal Minds initially was because Mandy Patinkin was brilliant as Jason Gideon, the head of FBI's BAU. He was also brilliant as the tortured doctor who sang and played the piano in "Chicago Hope" in 1994. I was a bit down when he left the show, and convinced that other actor couldn't play his part well. Enter Joe Mantegna as David Rossi, the original creator of BAU, who have left the unit for the past ten years. He is street smart and he also knows his psychology.

The strength of Criminal Minds is that the team of BAU are all powerful with the brooding Thomas Gibson (best known as "Greg" in the comedy "Dharma & Greg"), smokin' hot Shemar Moore, AJ Cook, Paget Brewster, Matthew Grey Gubler (as the bumbling Dr Spencer Reid) and Kirsten Vangsness (as Penelope, the tech savvy analyst chick).

Ending of season 3 was a cliffhanger with the serie titled "Lo-Fi", about a suspected group of terrorists who have been going around in New York, wearing dark hooded clothes and killing people at point blank range in the middle of the day on the streets and subways. The serie ended with an SUV carrying one of the agents to blow up, and thus the question, which agent was hurt/killed? I sneaked a peak at Criminal Minds Fanatic website last night to find out the answer, which was already commented in website sometime in June 2008. USA viewers are already watching season 4. Couldn't wait for the season 4 DVD to come out, I'm going to watch everything in one seating. Not generally patient with waiting for the series to play on air, which is now mid season 3 and air on 8tv at 10.30pm every Monday night. By the time which I may have accidentally slept or watched another DVD...

My Tea Adventure

I've discovered lately that I have developed a penchant for tea...yes, tea, the drinking kind...I don't like coffee because it leaves a horrible after taste in my mouth and tongue, which I would have to use my tongue scraper to get rid off. But I absolutely love the smell of coffee, it is so tantalizing and sensuos....but not to drink...just smell.

Maybe tea is my caffeine drive instead of coffee. But I treat tea like drinking hot plain water because tea doesn't have an after taste, unless you drink the really bitter and thick tea. I take my tea hot and sugarless. In the office, I've started the habit to drink tea in my 1.5 liter water bottle, made from just one satchet of tea, steeped in hot water for a few minutes then pour in cold water. Result: wonderful, watery but drinkable tea. Just the way I like them!

Best tea I tasted was in Krispy Kreme in Jakarta, with accompaniment of sweet donuts . It was Rosebud with lemongrass, and the taste is so magnificent. I have not been able to find the brand of tea again....the satchet is also quite unique as it was triangular in shape and the material holding the rosebuds and lemongrass is like soft plastic.

I would have to say that the second best tea that I've ever tasted is the Red Berries tea from the Ronnefeld brand. It has the sour taste of Red Berries and the color is so bright, not sure if it is au naturel or just coloring. I still have some satchets left from which I collected during tea breaks in Shangri-La Tanjung Aru, KK last year when I attended a meeting there. Maybe they have it in stores...I haven't been to the cold storage in ages..

A mouthful to pronounce: Superoxide Dismutase Lemon Tea Essence from Life Compact brand. I bought this together with Ms Autumn Lilies when we went to Watson at the Mall. They were having a demonstration at the store and were saying that among the benefits is to reduce cough, which I was suffering at that time. It did alleviate the cough, but not to eradicate it. This is what started my tea drinking to this point. I wouldn't say my tea drinking is an obsession but it is an alternative to iced water or coffee.

Fourth is the most excellent lemongrass shot from Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre's welcome drink. I would categorize this as tea although it is presented in a small shot glass with one lemongrass for taste and effect. It is also served cold and sweet. You could hardly call a lemongrass shot juice, not popular with the mass taste bud. It is in the same line with ginger tea...more used for zen treatment after spa.

So there you have it...my tea adventure. Sorry no pics....

Original Trivia from Hynhar

Originally I received this trivia first from Endless Love but because I was on leave the whole of last week and couldn't get access to my favourite pic, I decided to put it on hold. Finally was back in the office and able to upload my picture and consequently, answer this trivia. So Hynhar, here goes:

1. Do you think you are hot?
Yes...it's a state of mind...I don't care if other people don't think I'm hot, I know I'm Hot!!!

2. Upload your favourite picture of you.

3. Why do you like that picture?
Because I look cheery and fresh and kurus (sikit)...this picture was taken on my wedding day 2 years ago, around 4 pm in my mum's backyard garden. I was actually dog-tired from all the picture taking and excitement. But, damn! I do look good and Hot! (even with all the teeth) If I may say so...hehehe

4. When was the last time you ate pizza?
Last two weeks, a few colleagues in the office wanted to have some mid-afternoon snack, and we ordered 2 Domino's regular, one seafood and one meat mania. But I love Domino's New York crust pizza with the awesome foursome flavour!

5. The last song you listened to?
"Mengapa Kasih" by Double Take

6. What are you doing right now besides this?
Doing report...neverending...*sigh*

7. What name would you prefer besides this?
Fadhilah...that's my other name, which is hardly ever use...

Now, I would like to tag new victims to do it...hehehe
1. La Signora
2. Noreez Azlan
3. Silent Scribbler
4. Ms Fantaghiro
5. Ziahlicious

8. Who is no. 1?
She is a very weird lady who lives in Adelaide with her other half and pet cat Pancho and happens to be my friend since Uni days..

9. No. 3 is having relationship with?
With her other half, Sad, who works together with her in the same institution. Not sure if she is a cat person, though....what say u, Ash?

10. Say something about no. 5?
She is my Uni mate, and we were friends with La Signora and the Silent Scribbler. Lost touch for a while but thru the hands of fate, reunited in the cyber world thru our love of blogging:) she is a wonderful mother to baby K and is also expecting her no.2 baby. Loves cats especially orange ones...

11. How about no. 4?
Is my confidante, best friend and was there for me thru the years. We knew each other since Matrix and main camp but got very close till now. But she doesn't blog. She just encourages me to blog for her entertainment....what a selfish woman!! Hmph!! But she does loves black cats...

12. Who is no. 2?

A long lost friend from school and reunited again when both of us lived in KL. Currently a homemaker and mother to her Princess, and pet owner of Binky, the cat who was attacked by ants recently.

So there you have it!!