maybe.memories

Good memories worth remembering with family and friends

cloud 8 and a half ~

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there are some things which i can freely tell the world but there are also some others which i just can’t bring myself to type it out here. no matter how good a news is. maybe because i tend to take these special things as really precious that only the closest would know. or that if i tell the whole world about it, it’ll lose its ‘preciousness’…but that’s just my thinking anyway.

tomorrow marks the day..my first day at the new mosque. watch Detik @Suria sometime next week 😉 they’re going to talk about the mosque….full force at the mosque starting tomorrow and i mean it. i’m imagining i might have to work overtime even to settle the things there. there’s humonguous amount of work to be done before it’s opening day, say, in 11 more days! please pray for me peeps and if you guys have the time…come down to the mosque…i’ll be there~ 🙂

and i think i’ve been to too many places in these few months than i’d had in the years i’ve been alive…having the opportunity to look at the ‘world’…ok, ok, it’s just Singapore, from many different angles…i’ve appreciated the sky and the trees, even buildings! so much for a small island~ although, if it’s me, i appreciate the company more 😉

and today marks the day…of which…i’ve only heard so much but now i’m going through it myself. happy faces and dear feelings..can’t believe its really happening but it’s true. and ur true and i’m true.

built to last

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super business. it almost felt like my Uni days, when i had to rush from one meeting to another, went to classes back to back and attended discussions and hands practically full of assignments, readings and tests. one difference though. back then, somehow, we still had time to spend with friends!

mosque nearby is up and ready soon. very soon. went to have a look with the board last sunday. with the heavy rain and constructions here and there, the board managed to point out defects and whatnots. my only concern was the classrooms. as soon as i saw the rooms, my head was reeling with which level this class should be, how many students can fit in, where’s to put the whiteboard, shelves, table and chairs. the rooms look big enough but can’t say for now because it was bare. once furnitures’ in, it’s going to be a different story and somehow i’m worried. :/
although, i’m loving the place!! get ready to lost your way in the mosque, there’s so many doors and corridors!

and there’s still loads of things to prepare, my goodness!!! as soon as i stepped into the office, apart from the morning messages 😉 i’ll be turning on the pc, check mails and always, list down things to accomplish within the next 8 hours. and people, bear in mind, we’re not really allowed to surf at other leisure sites like blogs and facebook for instance. yes, we’re cautious on those, but really, i don’t even have the time to surf these sites now. my window tabs will include three different email accounts, dictionary.com, and googlesearch for when i need to research for my teens curriculum’s articles. i used to have headaches reading articles from the screen, but i’m really getting the hang of it by now.

also catching up on reading. i refuse to deny my right to read! haha.

slumdog millionaire is a million bucks richer now. it’s worth a watch. a child growing up in hardship and getting through it with, surprisingly fluent english (of course, it’s just a movie, film- no need to get critical about this, aright). and that every question in ‘who wants to be a millionaire’ has an answer in Jamal’s memories and experience, that’s pretty smart, to me. but i couldn’t understand why Anil the host had to call the cops. jamal and his brother salim were portrayed as muslims, although confused by circumstances and life hardship – i won’t dwell on that now.

mono: castles are built to last, aren’t they? even the rain form a memory and flowers non-wither last longer, although, dried roses will always remain fragrant in my box of heart 😉

all nice in blue

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hectic week has left me exhausted with a sweet ‘i-can’t-describe-what-it is’ feeling. 😉

to ma*hir, my closest friend since primary school years. the thing about closest friends is that you don’t know how and why you end up together, why our friendships maintained till this day, and between you could be two stark different people. and of all friends who’s been married for now, ma*hir’s wedding seemed unbelievable. for one thing, it’s become a common anticipation among our classmates, since ma*hir and aa.shiq had been together for the longest time, since sec 2? sec 3? albeit the hiccups now and then in relationships, they got through it all. i’m so proud of you la babe!! :)) (and i’m so glad i had a heart to heart talk with you last monday night).

it’s a beautiful wedding, purple dais and bride n groom in white and gold, mahir’s dress looked like galadriel’s dress(!) during the nikah, and nice pastel colours, an English country theme on Sunday with a touch of bhangra! it was definitely something to be remembered! instead of the normal kompangs accompanying the groom, they had the bhangra!! i’m so happy for you la ma*hir & aa.shiq!


and somehow i got smitten by these handsome boys~

squeezed in some time on thursday night with the zharif babes at a non-zharif fullerton starbucks albeit with a sun sunny boy serving free crunchy and warm blueberry muffin and melt in your mouth choc cake. had the best laughters over jokes and facebook. thank you babes!

blue petals a sweet lullaby for as long as it can, but the memory of it stays. it seems like being with you, everything is a first for me.

happy eclipse

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sumptuous lunch at seoul garden @ Taka meant alot to me, although i stayed with them for about 2 hours? i have never left them halfway, i’ve always managed to stay throughout in any outings we had. but yesterday was an exception. both meets are important to me. i couldn’t choose. i know the girls would understand, right??

2 hours of laughters and sharings were more than enough. happy colours II in my thoughts and memories.

and then i got to catch a glimpse of the eclipse. amazing and priceless for two reasons.

i’m catching up on a new ‘batch’ of articles, so my mode of writing is more on that, not the bloggering type, pardon me.

-truly blissful-

waiting game

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i feel like this is the longest january i’ve ever gone through.
seriously, i’ve been through so much in the span of 18 days!! it’s still january~

i’ve had good days…
i’ve had busy busy days which is good because it preoccupied my mind from glancing at my ericko-san too many times a day…;)
i’ve written a number of articles…
i’ve even got angry at a head of a strategic unit and practically showed it…
i’ve taught a total of 4 classes so far and enjoyed them much…
Lord, it’s been days fulfilled.

although
i’ve not understand, still, why tears and blood must be shed. only donations and Al-Fath read with hopes and thoughts that this will give them the strength.
i’ve not understand, still, at this age, you have to have sore feelings to your friends over a small misunderstanding…i thought we’ve grown out of those? the rare times i mass-messaged, there never was a reply from a particular friend. so tell me, who forgets who?
and, heh, i still hate taking buses 🙂

on repeat mode: waiting game by yellowcard.
no particular reason.

and then, i’m happy. you know why.:))

home is here

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my first class starts today! will be teaching teens year 4 at the mosque and somehow i was prepared for it. excited and ready to roll!! haha. i think sitting in the office doing paperworks and brainstorming has taken its toll that for once, i’m moving around and talking and sharing and whatnots!!

have i told you that i love what i’m doing?? that the sacrifice is almost worth it sometimes. tomorrow will be another day of teaching. although not exactly something which i looked forward to at the start of this year, but somehow i was able to comfort myself and have a shift of thinking. i’m the few people who can do this. so let’s do it seri! hehe

anyway, last friday, went to see my youngest sibs Nuri and Khidhir performed at their school’s CCA Openhouse. they represented their cca-NPCC. and their big sister here is just so proud of them!! they used to be little babies and now they’re up there all uniformed and holding mark-four rifles, aka, fake rifles doing some precision drill squad. truly happy to be there and you of course. for sharing one of the most important part of my life.

and when their teacher praised them for their commitment and being active participation in their cca, commenting that it must be because of the family’s good upbringing, i had a split thought of doing su*jud Syu*kur right there and then! hehe. it’s just that, truly, we are a simple family, unrich and not exactly born of academics nor having some blueblood or whatever it is. and we’ve had our hardtimes, i’ve witnessed it all. and somehow, i’ve realised those hard times have shaped us- me and sibs to be more grateful of what has been laid before us and to do the best in everything we do, and i know it has been God’s work all the way, i just feel we’re blessed and protected. that’s all i can say.

i won’t trade for anything. despite the flaws each of us have, i don’t know how i’d live without them. without my nuri’s adorable teasings and my siti’s wittiness and how she could talk sense straight to the point, and my haliffi’s concern in ignorance, and my khidhir the apple of the eye, still a baby although he has grown so tall. of course, ratu and romo. his silence and her chatter.

oklaa, no need to be so mellow right??? haha. i’m contented at the moment. truly.
please remind me to get down to earth, because i’ve been up high in the sky for quite awhile there. There’s so many things to do Seri!! let’s get moving~

the way to start the new year

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pretty much sweet rush.

after a whole month preparing a proposal of sorts for a mosque last year, i presented them out in front of the board of committee and thank fully, unthreatening faces and supportive questions gave me more motivation and the knowledge, i Just might have to do this! their agreement for me to move forward and proceed to carry out the operational part was all i need. “and so it begins” 😉 i’m turly glad the presentation’s done with only with one concern: things got to start moving and i have to do them right. please help me Lord.

and apart from that, my name was in the organizational chart in the current mosque i’m working at, which was, WHAT?? (that’s my initial response in my head anyway). although something more impactful was the fact that the GM himself introduced me to the mosque staff last saturday during an ac*tion plan meeting. i didn’t think he would notice i was even there~ this small thing done by a leader surely brings up the motivation i tell you!! :)) good pressure but also nerve wrecking because it means “they’re watching~”

however, all this hype just makes me want to work. haha~

ps: gracie the dugong is adorable, seriously she is. and that a sea angel is a tiny winy swimming snail. amazing.

yes man the movie is worth a laugh and thoughtful outlook on life.
only the third day of the year and it’s a pretty good start!;)
a nice surprise and is maybe a good enough answer for now?

on repeat mode: Songs Collection the CD. i’m totally loving it!!

pps: i know my post is pretty much disorganized and i’m just blabbering really. but dat’s how my mind is at the moment.

tribute to 2008

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before the day ends, let me welcome 2009 with an embrace. after welcoming 1430, 2009 seems like any other day, to me, at least.

i received so many messages last night that it almost got me irritated, because it somehow disturbed my sleep :0 but don’t worry, i don’t start the new year with grudges, haha.
thank you for the messages of hopes and prayers for 2009 for all of us. may all the best, and only the best for yourselves. :))

my 2008 has been a good year. truly. and it’s december ender is even better.
first half of the year was hectic for i took up a number of projects which pretty much revolved around Alive education, coming up with lessons and articles, some serious reviewing on Alive and had the opportunity to share my amateur experiences with new teachers. it’s what i’ve always wanted!

being a trainer myself teaches me a lot about education. simply put: i love what i’m doing! i’m determined to gain more knowledge on anything education: teaching/training/curriculum/planning/etc etc. there’s so much to learn from more experienced educationists!

one of the best achievement i had: DRIVING LICENCE! it’s almost like a ticket to freedom~ haha. and being able to drive my family around is such a good feeling really. this year, i want to drive more!! :))

and then i got a whole bookshelf for myself, i mean, my books! after so long stashing them away in the closet, they look so nice on the shelf! ok, i know it may sounds weird being excited about a bookshelf and books, but i can’t help it. :))
buy more books and read more!!

after a year and a half being a *TEMP, i can say i have a proper job now~ although still quite vague of my status, for i’m working AT one mosque, but really, am working FOR another mosque. neither here nor there, but at least, it feels like i’m having a real job now. when you’re a *temp, you tend to take things for granted. but now, i can’t afford to make mistakes. do pray for me. 2009 definitely sounds exciting and hectic already!!

and please let’s not forget the Bali trip!! what more can i say?? most friends might already know how we have been feeling about it, what’s with the countdown-ing to the trip and the many many post-bali pictures all over facebook and multiply and whatnots.

2008 is truly memorable. i’ve gained so much. so many people have made a mark in my life, especially on my knowledge and spiritual quest. and ender december was not only about getting a permanent job or bali trip but also something to do with what i used to termed ‘blue knight'(?) 😉

2009, here i come~~

To bali and back…with love

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i guess i have been postponing this bali experience for faaarrrr tooooo looonnngg. but typing them now will relive those exciting and beautiful memories.
an overseas trip, just the four of us girls, i’m telling you it can be addictive. haha!

the pics in here are very random from 4 different cameras. the nicer ones might have been taken by shasha-suli-mary, coz in the end, i totally relied on the girls to take pics. 🙂

12th Dec 2008
5am and i’ve reached the airport! extra early and excited. :)) Mam accompanied me, with nuri and edid. turned out only my family members sent us off, the rest of the girls came to the airport alone. so at least there’s some family figure. tapi takdelah nak rasa sedih sangat kan….we’re just smiling and laughing all the way..come on we’re going to bali ok!!

first time stepping into the transit area! takdelah jakun kan~ but i was thinking "so this is how it looks like, feels like, to be in this area~"

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2 hours flight was enough for me to be so awed and mesmerized of what’s up there. i almost wished i could see an angel or something but of course there isn’t. watching the white fluffy clouds, (although at some point, it’s all pure grey there’s absolute nothingness!) i’m just devouring the sights. beautiful.

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the first thing we did when we arrived? you guessed it, the cam-whoring starts!!

 

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we’re welcomed by our tour guide, Rudy and it was drizzling. almost thought it’s too bad if it started to rain, but the weather is on our side by the time we reached our hotel-cum-resort, the Grand Istana Rama. Everything was W-O-W there. the streets are definitely clean albeit the occasional rubbish, now and then. we arrived rather early, so we couldn’t checked in yet. so we left our luggage at the hotel, did some touch-ups and we’re so ready to go and explore!

The Kuta beach is the place to go! the ocean as far as the eye can see. and surfers. and cool sand. except there’s no sun. the sand felt somewhat sticky and cikgu mary 😉 gave some general knowledge info, it had something to do with volcanoes? right mary? we had lunch at mcdonalds, at this point, it’s more of "good old ronald! there’s Mcdonalds" instead of "jalan jauh2 makan mcd je?" we were hungry, we’re not up to go for a food hunt or whatever, and nice M welcomed us just fine~ laugh out now.

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and then we saw heaven. i mean, shopping heaven, haha. and suli striked first, buying beaded slippers which her aunt kirim-ed, and the shopkeepers were warm and friendly and i bought my first ever pair of shades~ 😉

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later at about 2 pm, we got to check in our rooms and ready for the next trip. to Uluwatu! and that place is amazing!! it was one of the oldest Bali temple Pura Luhur, and from the entrance, it looked just like being in any other park, except the many, and i repeat, many monkeys which inhabited the place. the real deal is at the back of the temple. i was in awe when i saw we are actually on a cliff, overseeing the vast Indian Ocean. i was caught speechless really. it was a real pity we didn’t get to see sunset as the day was pretty much grey.

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i guess no picture could capture the beauty as much as the eyes could imprint in memory. i’m saying you have to be there to experience God’s nature’s beauty. we got to catch a Kecak performance. of rama and sita, of garuda and hanuman, of good and evil. it was a hindu epic and i have the impression that the hindus in bali revered Rama as the god to turn to and worship of all the Hindu gods. the dancers were perfect, the male chorus amazing for having to go on and on singing the rhythm for close to two hours! i thought it was supposed to be something spiritual but they managed to make it comedic and from the chorus singers, you know they’re doing it purely for entertainment.

well, a personal appreciation on the kecak performance is that the young and old are involved, the male chorus are made up of all generations, white hairs, spiky hairs, curly hairs, you name it. even tattooed young men are not excluded. it somehow bonded the young and old, which, i find a very wholesome effort. all in all, i enjoyed the performance very much, more so because it’s like knowledge hands-on for a religions student like me. i would have like to see the prayers they performed, but tourists are not allowed to the prayer halls, but shasha managed to get a glimpse of it with her camera. we took pics with the performers….and move over to aili’s blog for something ‘accidentally’ funny 😉

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had dinner at Sederhana restaurant for Padang delicacies. which is superb! i don’t know whether it’s because we were practically starving that anything you gave us would be gobbled up in minutes, or it’s really the food which are finger licking good~ haha. and i have a fave drink to add to the list! it’s teh sosro aka teh botol!

and we reached back at Kuta around 8 pm and our shopping spree began at this mall called Matahari, so many souvenir items to choose from!! i couldn’t make up my mind exactly what to buy for every person on the souvenir list, haha!! the place is a surfer’s heaven, with all the surfer brands boutiques lining the streets all the way. Billabong, roxy, quiksilver, etc etc.

back in our comfy comfy rooms, i had a very nice shower, settled our stuffs, and me and roomie mary went over to shasha’ and aili’s for a game of pictionary! that got us laughing all the way, never know pictionary was THAT fun! :))

looks like we didn’t waste any time on our first day at Bali. well spent, literally. 😉

13th Dec 2008

a new morning at Bali and it was a fine day. had our breakfast. delicious even though it’s just scrambled eggs and three pieces of croissants + some baked beans. (oh no, i’m hungry just thinking about it).

we’re headed to tanjung benoa, for some watersports, and of all the activities there, we chose SCUBA DIVING! we all have the same thought that we should at least try something new and which might be a once in a lifetime chance of doing it. scuba dive was the best choice, my own secret wish anyway.

it was great, although i was caught the panic attack, almost gave up at the last minute! i had no idea why i was that scared~ it took me quite some time to pull up courage and get on with it. one of the instructors guided me down under and he was my pillar of life, like seriously. all kinds of thought moving through my mind those minutes under the sea: what if i got lost, what if i couldn’t breathe, what if i lost my sense of sight, and believe it or not, i thought of Duyung the Movie!

we were ‘parked’ at a coral reef and watching and feeding the fishes somehow calmed me truly. it was an amazing view. masya Allah. there are pictures of us under the sea with the fishes 😉 thanks you girls for being sporting enough and all out for this. i wish i wasn’t feeling scaredy or i might be really enjoying the whole thing! 😛

fresh faced (yeah you don’t feel ‘sticky humid’ or even  ‘dirty’ after the swim, must have something to do with the seawater) next destination was another finger licking minang lunch/dinner at natrabu. oh yeah, must not forget our successful attempts of dolling up on the bumpy van on the way to natrabu! wearing contact lens and putting on eyeliners. lady survival indeed!! lol. went to Ubud for a short visit at one of its souvenir store. again, too many to choose from!

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back at the resort, camwhoring and make ‘full use’ of the resort.we visited Matahari the mall again that night. bought some dresses and a billabong bag for myself. we’re already feeling dread that it is our last night already at bali. we don’t want this trip to end! ;))

14th Dec 2008

a lazy morning for it is…our last day at Bali! packed up and surprisingly, my luggage fits all + the newly bought items!! good for me. haha!!

still, not to lose any precious time, we went for some last minute shopping at the nearby shops. and  last walk by the Kuta beach.

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by noon we’re off already  😦 with thoughts and promises of coming back again next year!

definitely the best holiday trip, with girlfriends nonetheless, for a first timer. and if only we had known how great it’s going to be, we might choose to stay longer. we have not covered many other places, so a comeback might be a sure thing, right, girls??

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