50 unread books challenge October 16, 2010

I came across this challenge in one of the blog while I did my weekly blog hopping yesterday. It’s about challenging yourself to read 50 books this year. Well, I used to read a lot but now, I am not… and I blame it all on my work! No, just kidding. My work requires me to do lots of reading though it mainly involves academic reading but it really left me with little or no time to do pleasure reading at all (where it involves novels and good magazines). I also got distracted a lot with tv shows. They are so many interesting shows on tv that I can’t resist like The Vampire Diaries (though I’m not really a fan of vampire books etc), Gossip Girl, Fast Forward, CSI Miami, CSI Vegas, Bones, Fringe, V, Grey’s Anatomy… well the list would be endless.
I really feel bad that from January to October, I just managed to finish 4 books. What a lousy reader I am. I am in my fifth book now. I just have another 2 and a half month to catch before the challenge ends. Two years ago, I managed to finish 26 books and last year the number decreased to only 8! Can I really finish 50 books before the deadline? I don’t think so but let give it a try… besides, why should I call it a challenge if I can’t challenge myself, right?

Look Great Feel Great July 19, 2010

I’ve finished reading the book last night. Well, I would say that it’s quite an easy read. There are a lot of tips that can be used to be a better ‘you’. Oh yeah, just like any other motivation or self- help books written by Westerners, this book also included quotes from the bible, but just a few. I think it’s quite tolerable compared to other books I’ve read before. There’s nothing to worry about you changing your faith here.

A prey or a predator? July 10, 2010

I’m bored, tired and I don’t feel like writing but I have been thinking about this topic since a while ago, well, nearly two months ago and I have to get it going or else, it will go nowhere.
Well, yes, my topic may sound like a Hollywood film, ‘Alien and Predator’. But I’m not going to talk about the film as I, myself am still confuse over the characters. I am still not so sure of which one is the alien and which one is the predator… and most importantly, which one is the saviour there. Confusing!
Anyway, back to my topic. Nobody wants to be portrayed as a ‘bad’ person, well, not even the most notorious among us all wants to be portrayed as a ‘bad’ person. But they do exist.
I’m not going to talk about the characteristics of both types as I believe you might know better than me. What interests me most is the ‘role changing’ of both characters. It is a fact universally known that the predator with its dominantly aggressive character will slash his victim leaving no mercy behind while the pitiful prey will accept all humiliation, not being able to hold his head straight again, ever again…..
Oh oh.. not as easy as that. In this 20th century age, the role of a prey and predator also changing. We always heard of a prey, not the submissive prey as we would always think but a more vocal prey who knows how to voice his opinion and more importantly knows his right and knows his stand. Emm, when this happened, the predator seems like be in a lost end (well, serve them right!)… but hey, the predator (as a predator always be) always have a little bit of something cunning inside their heads. Well, when a prey spoke up, when a prey stands for his right then, the predator will play his other role in life… be a fragile little predator… huh… yeah.
This is the time when you’ll see a predator, the once so brave and sturdy will change into a soft, well, as I mentioned before fragile little creature. This is when the change of role takes place. Suddenly, the prey will be the victim (well, once again) of a crime not intended by them.
And I guess the cycle never ends until one of them will be declared a winner…
By the way, I noticed one trait of the cunning predator which I find admirable and I think that pitiful prey can learn, which is, well, even if they fall, even if the whole world knew of their bad intention, these predators still manage to hold their head high… I think they were created that way, thick skin…hehehe or “muka tembok’.
Anyway, there’s a saying that say ‘the leopard cannot change its spot’ so you should know with whom you’re dealing with. I would also like to share here a quote from Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) that said “Merit and good breeding will make their way everywhere”… So peeps, you may choose your own stand now

Andersen’s Fairy Tales June 30, 2010

I’ve finished reading Andersen’s Fairy Tales last night… well, after spending a year and a half (I think so) forcing myself to finish it! Phew! Now I’ve said that, it’s up to you to judge what kind of reader I am. Well, I must confess, I’m not a very good one.
Anyway, let me tell you about my ‘history’ with the book before I get on with my review. I bought the book back in 2002 and it’s not the only book that I’ve bought. I’ve bought dozen of other books… with limited time to read. If ever I got any time left for reading, I will read other books first and keep on delaying to read this one. I just… well not interested to pick it up from the box. Not until last year when I said to myself that if I haven’t started with this one then, I shouldn’t read the other new books bought recently. It felt very wrong to start on a new one when you have an old one untouched! Well, at least that’s what I think at that time.
So, I began my journey last year… and it was such a depressing one! Oh my! Oh my! How was I supposed to know that fairy tales supposed to be that depressing! So many deaths and miseries everywhere! The saddest story I must say is ‘The Little Match Girl’. It was so sad and I was so heart broken that I had the idea of not keeping the book after finishing it! (Well, I have a habit that once I finished reading and I am sure I won’t read the story again, I will definitely donate the book or give it to someone who will appreciate it more than me). Well, I do have that in mind until I discussed it in a pen pal forum when my pen pal Rhinoa gave good review on fairy tales that I gave second thought of it and surprise! Surprise! I find myself enjoying every second of my reading! Well, that’s the power of a book forum especially when you’re surrounded with people who likes reading, who can finish more than 3 books in a month! Mmm, now I feel so left behind in my reading.

What do you write? May 5, 2010

I haven’t written or better said ‘update’ anything for quite some time. I just lost the interest to write. I have nothing to share… nothing to brag… nothing to declare… nothing… NADA emm I hope my Spanish is right
I just don’t feel like writing (well, for your information, that statement only applies here, for this blog… because well, for your information again, I’m very active in some other blogs.. read that clearly ok, blogs.. plural not singular, hehehe).
Anyway, let’s not drift from our topic here. Well, yes, suddenly I’m in my BLANK mode of writing. I just hate writing because I have nothing to write! But at the same time, I’m very, very much impress with those who can clearly write and say what they want to say. I envy them, VERY VERY much actually… because I just can’t do it. I can’t be like them. Try me if you want but I can’t be like them.
And I do not wish to be like them. This is me. This is what you get by reading my blog. I am what I am and I do hope people will respect me for what I am as I respect each and every person’s individuality. And I do admire those who are different from me!
I just write and publish things that I feel comfortable. Well, you never know who’s going to read your blog. That person might be your parents, your best friends, your neighbour next door (provided he or she knows that you have a blog), your colleagues, your boss… your mother in law (ouch hehehe) or worst, your all-time enemies. And when that thing happened, you just don’t want your words to get back to you.
That’s why I stick to ‘comfortable’. Doesn’t matter whether what I wrote is good or bad, as long as I feel comfortable with it then I’ll publish it here. By doing so, I know my stand if, well, let say that my all-time enemy comes to get me hahaha.
Well, having wrote that I really wonder about my blog. Well, as I told earlier in this entry, I had nothing updated lately and still the statistic of this ‘New Space’ rocketed from 0 to 20 readers a day! That makes me really wonder. Who actually reads my blog? Well, of course wordpress does give me clues of those visitors… but still curiosity gets in the way. And up until now, there are 85 spam comments in my akismet (which I can’t read or reach at all). I’m very, very and terribly sorry if your not-a-spam-comment falls into that spam category comments. I just don’t know how to undo it (read it- I’m not a techie savvy person). I’m really, really sorry about that.
Anyway, I just want to say that I’m happy to have YOU visiting and reading my blog (or perhaps criticising every details of it, hahaha.. emm don’t YOU dare!). Well, I don’t know for whatever reasons you came here but thank you and that comes from the very bottom of my heart.

Earth Hour 2010 March 28, 2010

To tell you the truth, I have totally forgotten about Earth Hour Day until I was reminded by my husband (and that was just about 20 minutes before all lights should be off). Immediately, off I went to our ‘storage’ (hehehe) and get myself a box of unused candles, busy lighting away the candles to light my kitchen as I’m going to be there during the ‘hour’, preparing dinner (yeah, we had late dinner that day). And while I was chopping away some pepper, well, some of you might call it capsicum but I find it too ‘geek’ (don’t ask me why) to call it that, when suddenly an idea popped into my mind to take a picture of my Earth Hour moment. I haven’t used the camera for nearly a month, or perhaps two and the picture came out blurry… but hey, I don’t care. The picture marks my support for a better world (yeah, you can imagine me feeling so environmentalist while chopping some veggies for our dinner teehehe).

Happy Earth Hour peeps…

of F.B … February 19, 2010

Well, if you think the acronym I used up there is for Facebook, then you’re rightly… WRONG! I’m not going to talk about Facebook. Let’s just leave that to google or perhaps even our 6 years old neighbour knows what Facebook is. No explanation needed there
F.B that I used here stands for Friendship Book. It’s a small booklet made by people, fill by people and send by people all around the world. As far as I know it has started 20 years ago or more than that (to get better information, you can google up the Wikipedia). Well, I don’t know about you but I’ve received my first F.B 20 years ago. I believe it has been around more than that.
Those who are into the world of pen friendship surely know what an F.B. is. For those who are not, maybe wondering what it is.
Actually, F.B started as a game, as a medium used for finding more friends. Sounds boring and childish yeah? But I always find it interesting. I can spend hours and hours looking and filling or even making one. My husband always tease me saying “Honey and her hobby” whenever he saw me engrossed in making an F.B.
Well, that’s my love for F.B. I don’t think that it’s childish enough to make new friends regardless or our age because we just don’t know what awaiting us around the corner. Oh yeah! You can make your own advertisement too of what you want, be it for friendship or just merely swapping… emm, and just like blog nowadays, sometimes I also come across business advertisement, well, “it’s a world without border, baby”. As for me, my ad for the moment is ‘NPW especially those who are into culture and lifestyle’ ‘cause I love making friends.

Breakfast in Kampung Baru February 1, 2010

Born and raised in the Western part of West Malaysia, my husband is so used to ‘Nasi Lemak’ for breakfast… well, compared to me (I’m more accustomed to ‘Nasi Kerabu’ but I have left this habit coz’ I found it so hard to get good ‘Nasi Kerabu’ in KL). He will make it a point, for at least once or twice… or even thrice to eat ‘Nasi Lemak’ at his favourite ‘Nasi Lemak’ stalls, all around KL (well, so far he just have two- one in Wangsa Melawati and the other is in Kampung Baru). Mmmm… Does it make me a not-so-good-‘Nasi Lemak’-cook… well, maybe, maybe. Anyway, I’m happy coz’ it also means that I don’t have to cook that early morning… muahahahaha *evil laugh*.
So off we went to Kampung Baru (Kg. Baru) in search for ‘Nasi Lemak’ and no, we did not headed to the famous-Kg. Baru-Born ‘Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa’ but to the normal, ‘warung’ well, ‘mamak’ styled stall for our weekly dose of ‘Nasi Lemak’. And while my husband was so engrossed in his ‘Nasi Lemak’ with ‘bergedil’ and ‘telur mata’, I… on the other hand will observe the life in the early morning of Kg Baru. Well, the place is always packed with people from different walk of life. Almost, everybody from all around KL will flock around Kg. Baru for good food (at least that’s what I heard). In the morning, they’ll have many choices of ‘Nasi Lemak’, ‘Lontong’, ‘Roti Canai’ and lots and lots of ‘kuih’ to choose from. And in the evening they have lost and lots more choices of ‘kuih’ to choose from… well, you just name it, they’ll surely have it. Kg. Baru is indeed a true heaven for food lovers, especially Malay food.
At least, you can still find Malay food over there coz’ from what I can see, they are more Indonesian workers there than our local Malaysians. From the time we walked down the lane to reach the line of stalls, all that we could hear was “Nasi Lemak, Bang… Nasi Lemak, Bang” uttered in Indonesian slang welcoming us to their stalls. (Mmm… if they use ‘Pak’ instead of ‘Bang’ then I’ll be in total shock!) Still, I was a bit sceptical, well, what if it’s not Malaysian ‘Nasi Lemak’ anymore??? But then, I noticed the owner of our chosen stall is the same old Malay Lady that my husband used to know (well, he’s a regular customer there during his bachelor years) and aahhh, I’ve no doubt that it will taste the same as before, good old Malaysian food. Anyway, I just hope that these foreign workers show a little bit of politeness when dealing with the customers as I noticed and experienced it myself that they are a bit on a rough side.
Well, back to Kg.Baru, I guess it’s not just a heaven for food lovers but also for other food lovers like cats and sometimes, if you are not careful about your choice of stalls, then you might also meet the uninvited guests of rats… yeah rats. No kidding. Not the small-cute-white-nice-looking lab mice but something as big as your pet cat! Yes! I did experience it once… hahaha. Shocking indeed!
But… that was years ago before the authority provided new well- planned lanes and new road. I can see that Kg. Baru is a much nicer place to look at and dine in nowadays. Although, given choices I would rather someone to drive me there than me myself coz’ of the packed parking spaces… yes, the place is still packed with cars despite the effort made by the authority to upgrade the place because, well, after all Kg. Baru is truly a ‘Heaven’ for Malay food lovers. A food heaven it should and will always be and sure, you’ll have to hustle to get a parking space

Best Picture of 2009 January 23, 2010

I was inspired by this entry that I decided to choose one favourite photo of mine to be the best photo of 2009.
The photo that I chose isn’t actually ‘high’ in the standard of a professional photographer, because it is actually not. But, so far, it’s my favourite photo of all.
The photo shows a picture of my grandmother kissing her great granddaughter (my brother’s daughter). It was the first time ever that I managed to capture a picture of my grandma without her looking back at the lens. Being traditional and conventional, she never fails to look my way whenever I tried to capture her picture (in a co-operative way a person showed when someone is taking their picture) when I, on the other hand tried my very best to take pictures- of- spontaneous-actions- unnoticed- by- my- subject- of –interest, hahaha. Anyway, this is my best picture of 2009.

It’s not a narrow road January 21, 2010

It’s not a narrow road,
But the sight of cars parked on each side of the road makes it looks narrow.
It’s not a narrow road,
But it gets narrower when a big black Mercedes, with a huge driver, clad in black business suit, one hand on the steering, the other holding a hand phone, talking while driving, dangerously manoeuvring the car, looking like “I’m the one that matters, the rest can wait”… and yes, they do wait, a long tail of cars after his.
It’s not a narrow road.
But a narrow minded attitude makes it narrower and narrower.
It’s not a narrow road actually.