Labels: inspirational

This entry below is taken wholesale from Libby's latest entry... Gosh it really cracked me up. We had this quote book where we wrote down every funny, bimbotic, stupid, or memorable line anyone said... And every small event that meant a big deal at the time.. Although looking back, it's like what! In a good sort of way.

Miss my jc days so much... Hands down, a part of my life I will always cherish and look back on fondly. It's comforting to know that the people who I shared those memories with are still a part of my life, and hopefully always will be. In fact, I'll be meeting some of them this Saturday. =)

* * * * *

I was just looking through my own version of the mp10 quote book, which I religiously upkept for, say, 2 weeks or so =)

And I found myself giggling like a mad hyena in the middle of a lunch meeting with our editors and senior writers. So here's some to share (I've left out the really embarrassing ones, for my sake and the sake of the rest of my wonderful tj classmates) - bracketed comments are ones I've just added.

Have fun!

25 July 2005:

Had Swensen's today (not an uncommon occurence for fellow 33/04 pigs and I) with Jac and Za. Saw Royston as he would be fifty years from now in an old wobbly man at Mister Minit with an EXTREME receding hairline.

Mr Low locks half the class out of maths tutorial. Max rips up his homework.

CINDY DID NOT SIT AT THE MARQUEE, BUT THE SCOPE (yes this was in caps)

Za flirted with the Malay foodstall aunties' son when she went to buy her sausage roll, all because he was in army uniform.

28 July 2005:

Azzah: " Who is the president of the Phillipines again? Gloria Estefan?"

Makeup P.E tomorrow with Eunice Nudist: 5000 skips. =(

Cliff carried his bag hanging open this morning and said " SHIT " really loudly when he found out. Nudist thinks its really funny.

Jac hasn't eaten burgers for 2 DAYS - HOW LONG CAN SHE LAST?

1 August 2005:

John has a triangle face shape, according to Eunice and also Seventeen Magazine.

CHRIS' FACE SHAPE IS OVAL!

GP Word of the day: Recusant (supplied by Azzah), meaning " Person who does not obey authority, religion or otherwise " and a GLARINGLY personal insult against someone who doesn't do his friday prayers.

11 August 2005:

Dropped my bag and its contents in front of Cindy today. Azzah said it looked like I wanted to strip in front of him. Oh God I want to die.

Eunice is the new Camy! She forgot to wear her socks ha ha ha. Valerie and I buy her hideous toe socks instead.

Jac scribbles: " Only 2 out of 4 of McD's new sauces are nice. Lemon tango and Smoky Sizzle. They go right with twisted fries."

TWISTED FRIES?!

Today, Abelyn sings Unchained Melody in a way that would wake the dead and kill the dying.

12 August 2005:

Jac has not eaten burgers for 16 Days.

Grass: " A miracle has happened! Libby has come for maths lecture!!!"

Rajesh: " I'd like to begin every lecture with.... questions."

Labels: amusing, tjc

Breathe in.... out...

I'm currently starting a diet where I eat one real, not super-heavy but still carbo-based, meal a day and have something light in the evening, such as beancurd or popiah.

Btw whoever dares to dispute the 'lightness' of popiah is hereby banned from this blog as popiah is one thing that I cannot resist, and I do not want to spoil my enjoyment of it with cognitive dissonance cos of you! (Obviously I am taking a break from revising Psych.) (For those who want to know more about cognitive dissonance, read here.)

However, it is hard when it's late night, like now, and the snacks craving starts.. the loveletters in the tin on the table begin to look tantalisingly yummy...

Resist!

Honestly I am a hopeless case. I sign on with Amore at Eastpoint, religiously attend as many lessons as I can, lose weight, feel good, and enthusiastically sign on for a plan extension. At which point I promptly stop going as it begins to feel very far and very leceh.

Then I hit the gym at Bedok.. Rigorously at first.. With personal trainer somemore.. Lose alot of weight.. School starts and now the sessions have dwindled down to twice a week on good weeks when school load eases up. It too is beginning to feel very far and very leceh.

So I am giving myself one more chance. Come April, when school term ends, I will sign on for Pilates classes with Siglap CC. Which is AS NEAR AS IT GETS, AZZAH. So if that one also begins to feel very far.. I have no hope left, exercise-wise.

Have to settle for being as fat as my very pregnant guppy whom I have baby-sat for the past two freaking days.. Like an idiot, carrying the mini fish tank everywhere I go, checking it every once in awhile to make sure a)the mummy-to-be is alive, b) it has not given birth yet and c) it is not vigorously chomping on its newborn fish.

This stupid guppy thing is beginning to be more trouble than it's worth.. As I keep hissing at the pregnant guppy through the walls of the mini fish tank, just give birth already lah. Seriously feel like chucking the mummy back into the main fish tank and let it and the babies fend for themselves. But of course, knowing me, the moment I release it back into the main tank, that's when the babies will begin popping out.

Anyway, as a way of channeling my wishful thinking, here's a video of a mummy guppy giving birth HAHA. I find it disturbing kinda.. But I think it's just me.

Labels: amusing, diet, exercise, pets

I let Hanafi borrow my laptop for one night to do his work.

He returned it today and went home after dinner.

I just innocently switched on my laptop to watch Dharma and Greg, and was confronted with a new desktop that looked like this:

Don't worry he's just topless but I think that should be the least of your worries anyway when it comes to this pic. From the face of an angel (my nephew) to THIS.

So I go through my computer and find more try-to-be-fierce pictures of him that just made me laugh so hard tears came to my eyes. I told him the next time we're fighting all I have to do is look at these pics and everything will be okay cos I'll confirm burst out laughing.

He's soooo gg to get me to take this down but hey sweet revenge for him sneakily recording me singing Permaisuri (for my non-Malay friends, this is the title of an extremely emo Malay song that reaches endlessly high notes that I am in no way capable of reaching) and letting his colleagues hear it.

Heh.

I'm going to KL in two weeks' time!

Labels: amusing, hanafi random

Hello people of the world!

Mid-term break is finally here and gosh does it feel gooooooodd... Wriggle blistered toes in warm water kinda goooodddd...

Unfortunately, it will be proceeded by not one not two but THREE midterm tests but bring it on! I have been keeping up with the schoolwork this term so am sure that with abit of mugging, I can hopefully do well. One of the perks of taking only 4, not 5 modules, this term.

Have already completed my application for the Sydney exchange, with two kind and fantaaastic professors agreeing to be my academic referees. They rock man. Now all I have to do is wait and see. I want it, but at the same time if I don't get it, I won't be boo hoo hoo disappointed. Which is sometimes the best way to be.

Although I foresee the break to be filled with mugging, there'll be R&R too. Wanna go for movies, picnics and wacky Singapore roadtrips with Hanafi, sheesha with my friends, and hit Arab Street with my mum for baju kurung cloth shopping as well. Not to mention my constant fix of Dharma and Greg reruns, Criminal Minds new episodes (the latest one rocks) and reruns of ANTM! Yes, I'm a closet ANTM fan..

Now off to do research on guppy pregnancy.. Have not been popping by my fish tank in the past few days and this morning, I realised that one of my pregnant guppies is now back to normal size. Yet I don't see any baby fish swimming around nor do I see it guarding any eggs (research objective 1: find out if guppies lay eggs or give birth). Which irritates me cos I dunno if it had a miscarriage or the eggs/babies have been eaten by the other fishes. So I promptly isolated my other pregnant guppy in another small fish tank and will be keeping a close watch on it.

Sigh. Too many animals in my life.. Fish lah, cat lah, bird lah (another story for another time), Hanafi lah... hehe.

Ta!

Labels: pets, school, sydney

So, today. Interessstiiiinggggg.

In case y'all didn't know, my boyfriend is a rabid extremist anti-Vday kinda guy. Last year he refused to pass to me this new pen he bought because I'd think it's a Vday gift. Yeah, that kind of rabid.

Just to clarify and maybe explain for the sake of my non-Muslim-friends, there are some Muslims who do not believe in celebrating V'day as it is actually of Christian origins (read more here). So, it would be somewhat akin to Muslims celebrating Christmas.

Of course, there's the other school of thought which sees 14th feb as simply an opportunity to show appreciation to their loved ones, and who believe it is ok because we are not actually celebrating in a religious manner.

I associate myself more with the latter, as I believe it is the intention in my heart that matters - the actual reasons why I commemorate it. I do what I do on 14th feb for the same reasons I go to my friend's Christmas party on 25th feb, or wish my Indian friends Happy Deepavali, or my Chinese friends Happy Lunar New Year. Not because I share their religious beliefs, but because of reasons such as friendship, racial tolerance and diversity as well as world peace! Sorry had to add that part, feel as if I'm doing Q&A on Miss World.

Actually, I don't celebrate 14th feb as Vday. Maybe it's cos of good old TKGS days, but I always think of it as Friendship Day. And I'll probably keep on doing so.

Anyway I don't cast judgment on anyone and I accept that different people think differently, and so I don't judge my crazy boyfriend although I will always reserve the right to sulk on V'day about not getting flowers from him because I think I show incredible patience and restraint regarding this issue the other 364 days of the year.

However, today started bad, with a headache, and nostalgically thinking of tkgs and tjc days where i'd come to school bringing gifts for others and come back with tons of tokens and flowers of course, my favourite thing in the whole world.

Also, Hanafi refused to go out today ("too many mushy couples around like ants") and my excellent expert reverse psychology talk fell on deaf ears. I think it was a great attempt though, it went something like this:

"I want to go out with you simply because it's a weekend and it's your off day as well. I would do this any other weekend of the year. I'm behaving as per normal. I always want to go out with you on days we are both free. It doesn't make a difference to me that whether it's Vday or not. YOU are the one refusing to go out because it's Vday. So by changing your behaviour due to the fact that it's Vday, YOU are the one commemorating Vday! Which you don't believe in! So to NOT commemorate Vday, we have to go out!"

What you guys think? Pretty slick, if I have to say so myself. If only it had worked. Bah.

So , having failed miserable at that, I did what I did on previous 14th febs when I was single - turned it into a Self Indulgence day. Treated myself to a full body massage, a facial and a haircut. And some blessed and much-loved friends surprised me with a brief meet-up just to pass me flowers! Soo darn sweet man. So I did have flowers after all =) =) =)

And later in the night, Hanafi surprised me with his gruff "K get ready I pick you up in five minutes" which is his way of being sweet while simultaneously warning me not to show my appreciation and happiness because he won't know how to react. He's weird like that.

We went to the airport, where he pushed me into expensive perfume shops, bag shops and wallet shops (but not flower shops), wanting to get me something. Not because it's Vday lah. More like payday. I refused, because I'm nice that way (read: cos I was hoping he'd eventually get me flowers but by the time we were done with the other shops, I noticed the stupid flower shop was closed).

After which he treated me to a thoroughly non-romantic dinner at Ya Kun Kaya Toast where he dipped his toast into disgustin-looking raw egg, and I munched on toast and durian ice cream.

My thoroughly weird, emotions-phobic, romance-phobic boyfriend with his rainbow of flaws. How I love him still.

Labels: amusing, hanafi random, Outings with Hanafi, reflections, special event

This post has been removed as I sound too whiny and bratty. Hehe.

Labels: bad mood

Okay. I am trying very hard to be all zen and cool as the day got off to a good start. In the morning, Hanafi picked me up, bought me my favourite Polar cafe sugar rolls and we had a very nice enjoyable companiable drive to school. So I sort of feel obligated to keep a good mood. However, it is hard to do so when I am FUMING.

Group work. 20% of the total grade. Divided over two main projects. My group has three people. Me, another girl, and a guy.

First main project: Girl and I slogged as Guy was busy with his projects from his other modules. I prepared the whole powerpoint. We met to rehearse - Guy had to rush off. During the actual presentation, Guy went completely off-tangent, talked rubbish and used all the points Girl and I were supposed to cover.

Nevermind. We could turn one eye. Be forgiving, right?

Second main project: Brainstorming meeting - Guy didn't turn up. No notice, no reason, nothing. Girl spotted him when she went to the restroom and called out his name but apparently he didn't hear. The two of us spent about three hours finalising ideas. And since Guy wasn't there, it had to be the two of us to realise the ideas.

The second meeting was about doing - we were supposed to construct an innovative prototype of a shoe. Something to do with innovation bla bla bla. Everybody turned up for the meeting. Very good. Guy brought chocolates as a token of apology for not contributing much - which, btw, only he ate, said wasn't nice and brought home. I had already finished the skeleton of the powepoint - just a blank ppt with all the points. We delegated to Guy an idiot-proof task - print powerpoint, copy and paste the picture of the shoe on the second slide, and prettify the powerpoint.

Now, usually control freak me would have done this. But I was tired. I had too many things going on that week. And I was also thinking - why must I do everything? I already did almost everything for the first project. So, to my utmost regret, I delegated this task to him. It was a hand we held out to him saying - We accept your apology. We trust you. Here, do this, as a way of making up for your MIA-ness thus far.

Today was the presentation. Checked my email yest night. Nothing. This morning, nothing. I smsed and emailed both of them, asking if the ppt was ready. Nothing. With a feeling of foreboding, I rushed to class early. Saw Guy's bag. He wasn't there. Breathed a sigh of relief thinking he had rushed off to get the printing done.

Class starts. I'm the only one in my group who's there. Prof asks all the groups to paste our slides onto a cardboard and come to the front for presentation. I panic, wondering where the hell the other two are.

Finally, the two of them come in separately. I ask Girl, where's the slides? She looks at me blankly. I ask Guy, where's the slides? He looks at me blankly. They both move in slow motion, as if not comprehending me, as if I'm speaking in Italian or Spanish or Martian. I resist the urge to strangle them. I ask Girl, again, where's the slides? She said "with him right?". I ask Guy. He says "what slides?". I want to throttle them.

I asked Guy, did you edit the slides? He says: No. Am I supposed to? The slides are ok what.

I throw my laptop onto the table, pound at the On key and open up the presentation. Ok his freaking head. The whole of the second slide is empty. It's the ugliest, most blank, powerpoint I have ever seen. I quickly fill up the second slide with a picture of our shoe and whisper furiously to Guy: Print the powerpoint and run to the library printer to pick it up. He presses print, runs off, comes back. With the wrong version of the ppt (the very first draft). In black and white. Genius guy. Einstein couldn't hope to hold a candle to him.

I quickly paste the slides onto the cardboard and get ready to present. Guy attempts to hint he should present. I shoot him a seething glare and he shuts up. The presentation went fine. After that, Girl and I decided to call a group meeting during break.

Summary of meeting: Girl and I point out Guy's mistakes calmly. He attempts to defend himself and deflect blame, causing most of my calmness to evaporate. His laptop wasn't working, despite it being completely fine right there on the table in front of us. I didn't sms (why should I when he was sitting RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME and should have been listening when we decided he would edit the ppt?) It was Girl's responsibility to edit the ppt, not him. I was the one who said he didn't need to do anything. On and on and on.

He finally shut up when I sweetly said we had every cause to go to Prof and tell him how Guy has not been turning up for meetings and not making this module a priority, but as we were not mean people, we would not do such a thing ( all the while making it clear through my tone that if he wants to continue being a coward jackass, we'd do exactly that).

I am pissed not because I'm a bitch by nature but because I think his actions had definitely sabotaged MY grades. Everyone's shoe prototypes were nice. The only differentating factor between the groups were the slides. And our slides look like we didn't put in any effort at all. I don't want my portion of the grade that goes to groupwork to suffer because some jackass is not responsible and does not prioritise this module. I have put in 100% for this module, maybe even more, and I'll be damned if because of this guy, my grades suffer.

If there's one thing this has taught me, it's to not easily trust that other people will be as responsible or committed as I am to doing their share of the work, and to not delegate important stuff to people who have already shown they cannot be trusted. Sometime, autocracy does pay off.

Ok, calm down Azzah. Think hanafi. Think sugar puff roll. Breatheeeee....

Apologise for grammar, typos and seriously screwed up tense usage in this entry. I just need to vent. Btw, see if you can decipher the title of this entry haha.

Labels: fiascos, school

A bittersweet loss... Samantho Who (1:30-2am weekdays) and Close to Home (2-3am weekdays)... Although I'm sad at this loss, I am glad that with their loss, there goes also my dark eye circles and incredible cannot-get-up-ness in the morning. Leading to skipped classes, grumpy boyfriend whom I didn't wake up in time for work, and expensive taxi rides to school.

Until next season, adieu.




Ignore the geeky baby-struck noises I'm making in the videos.








This was when he was still in Singapore. Now it's almost four, five, months on... Big boy now. Can't wait to see him in May.

Labels: nephew

Had a great past two days.

Saturday morning was my first real session teaching English to the madrasah students. It being the first lesson and all, there were a few admin issues to be resolved and all in all had only about an hour with my students and my co-mentor, a guy called Fahmy from NIE. Despite the short session, I really found it very enjoyable and meaningful. Looks like Saturdays will be the highlight of my week. Next week Fahmy can't make it... I'm trying to think of how to rope in Hanafi to be the relief co-mentor for my group. Hmm. Uphill task (due to his laziness and packed schedule -not a good combi), but will try.

Today's my mum's birthday! The 'celebrations' were informal.. Started last night, when Hanafi bought four huge durians for her birthday present. It was really sweet as my mum had strictly warned us against buying her anything and that she would donate whatever we gave her to the mosque... so as a way of countering that, he bought durians, which he knows both my parents love. The best D24 durians. My handsome genius boyfriend. It was a really cosy (and fragrant) birthday dinner last night.

Today we had the more formal birthday lunch with my grandfather as well, at Islamic restaurant. A briyani party. I am now officially fat again.

On the way home, my mum suddenly said "let's go to the fish farm to buy fish! Hanafi, you know the way right" and he said "yes Aunty I do" and that was it. The whole family drove to the extreme corner of Chua Chu Kang to Qian Hu Fish Farm, which was amaaaazing. Not smelly at all. And sooo many interesting and cheap fishes!

If you all didn't know, fish is my new hobby. It started when Hanafi and I had a major fight a few weeks back and to cheer myself up, I suddenly told my dad I wanted my own fish tank. So we went and got that all set up (and my dad being my dad went all overboard and now my tank has a spinning wheel, a bridge, a reef and god knows what inside). Then subsequently, each time Hanafi and I had a fight, I went to buy additional fish... Which means my fish tank is CROWDED. *flashes a Dharma smile at Hanafi*

Yeah, reruns of Dharma and Greg is another new hobby of mine.

Anywaaay, at the fish farm, I couldn't go all crazy cos my fish tank is full so I just bought four new fishes - two orange thingies and two colourful thingies (as you can tell, not so good with actual names of fish breeds). It was my parents who went all crazy buying kois, and snakeskin fish (isn't the name itself a mind-twister?) and god knows what to fill the two other fish ponds in my house.

Hanafi got lost in admiration at the fish farm (I had to call him to find out where he was and found him deep in concentration staring at buckets of goldfish) and insisted that I buy a Nemo as well - yeah, he's not so good with fish breed names too. Nvm that clownfishes only survive in seawater and would die in my fish tank before you can say Nemo-is-a-fictional-fish-character-in-a-movie-and-not-the-breed-name.

So, armed with panicky fish in oxygenated plastic bags, we headed home. Showed Hanafi my two pregnant guppies and he got all excited and started talking about how he wants to breed guppies. My mum also had fun releasing all the koi and what not into the two fish ponds.

Anyway, while it was a very fishy day leading to this fishy blog entry, the whole point is, we had an enjoyable day as a family and that was probably what pleased my mum the most. Only wish my sis and bro-in-law and nephew-could be here but ah well we'll take what life gives.

Although she will never read this (and if she does, I'll be forced to immediatly close down this blog and migrate to safer domains), I wanna say that I love my mum and while she is fully capable of winning the Biggest Nag and Come Up With Nonsense Theories To Brainwash My Daughters To Do What I Want Her To Do international competitions, I know that there can be no better mother and who I am, who my sister is, and even who my dad is to a large extent, is because she is someone who has always followed her heart, which is unfailingly and constantly devoted, in love, to this family. May Allah SWT bless you always Mummy.

Ta ta all.

Labels: events, family

This week has been one of the busiest, more tiring week I've had since the year began. My imsomnia, parents being away so I have to take care of the house, my grandfather staying over so I have to take care of him as well, plus sooo many meetings and preparations for school. Plus the other stuff. The constant other stuff that life dishes out, here, there, in the macabre way it does things.

God, I'm so tired. It's not just physical - not just the strain on my eyes, or the droop of my shoulder. It's emotional too. I feel like a person running with bleeding feet, flying across the ground at rocket speed just so he doesn't have to feel. But I'm tired now, I'm slowing down, and the finish line beckons.

Life gets sooo hard sometimes. I don't know what to do. Don't know how to carry on as if I'm ok when my heart and mind are already stained with a sense of defeat.




Argh. I caved. Thought I was independent, resourceful and unafraid to show it.

Then today, when I offered my opinions in class and my prof said "Excellent Azzah! You're doing very well, and it gladdens my heart that you have done the readings", the hostility of my classmates' glares made me shrink in my seat and mumble that what I said was actually from my psychology textbook and not the reading.

Yes Azzah go shoot yourself in the foot why don't you when your class participation marks is 25% of your total grade. *mutters darkly to self*




Ergh, irritable mood right now.

Been having insomnia the past few days which entails me getting an average of about 3 hours sleep per night IF i'm lucky. The worst was Sunday, where I tossed and turned until it was time to get up and go. Today as I sit here wondering why, I realise it might have something to do with my recent habit of playing Sudoko before I sleep. Overstimulates the brain I guess. So from now on, midnight onwards, I will create a soothing environment within my room, which means I should also avoid talking to Hanafi after midnight. Hanafi and soothing don't mix.

Today got up at 6am to send my parents to the airport. They are on yet another trip, this time to Padang in Bukit Tinggi, Indonesia. Wish I could follow them as that place is baju kurung cloth heaven, but unfortunately, there's SCHOOL - imagine me saying this word as disgustedly as possible.

So I'm in charge of the house and my head spins just thinking about the list of things my mum has ordered me to do each day. Feed the fish. Clean the fish pond (any or all 3 of them) if dirty. Water plants twice each day. Make sure Mush Mush has enough food and water. Wash clothes. Hang clothes. Fold clothes. Sweep floor. Rake garden. And the list goes on and on and on and on.

It just promises to be a very blah day lah.

Plus I guess I have to either cook or buy some food as the fridge is empty sigh.

Off to be a grumpy housewife for the day before tuition later. Ta all.




New blog skin, what you guys think?

Haha just thought it was time for a change.

Anyway Hanafi is being a pain. More so than usual heh. It's an annoying trend that resurfaced in the past week or so. Most probably because his body is adjusting from shiftwork conditions to office hour conditions.

Late night. He gets hungry. He calls me and petulantly turns down every suggestion I make - toast, scrambled eggs, maggi mee, etc. He demands I go out for supper with him. I invariably can't cos of my protective parents. Two outcomes: He whinily goes out to tapao food or, more often, he stays at home and darkly hints that I am the sole reason behind his impending starvation.

This has to stop as a hungry him and an irritated me are fertile grounds for bickering, which everyone knows leads to bigger things.

Anyway I get my best ideas in dire situations like this so let's just say... he's not going to know what hit him. Tomorrow onwards. Will keep you guys updated. =P

Labels: hanafi

Whee! All my University of Sydney courses are approved! Now moving on to the next step of the application process.

I'm nervous but excited, apprehensive but increasingly sure that i GOT to do this.

Labels: exhange