Song of the moment:

Bubble Toes by Jack Johnson

It's as simple as something that nobody knows that her eyes are as big as her bubbly toes
on the feet of a queen of the hearts of the cards and her feet are all covered with tar balls and scars

It's as common as something that nobody knows that her beauty will follow wherever she goes
up the hill in the back of her house in the woods she love me forever, I know she could

I remember when you and me
mmm how we used to be just good friends
Wouldn't give me none
But all I wanted was some

She's got a whole lot of reasons
She cant think of a single one
That can justify leaving
and he got none but he thinks he got so many problems
Man he got, too much time to waste

His dreams are like commercials
But her dreams are picture perfect and
Our dreams are so related though they're often underestimated

It's as simple as something that nobody knows that
Her eyes are as big as her bubbly toes
On the feet of the queen of the hearts of the cards
And her feet are infested with tar balls and

(La da da da da da) x 2

Well I was eating lunch at the D. L. G.
When this little girl came and she sat next to me
I never seen nobody move the way she did
Well she did and she does and she'll do it again

When you move like a jellyfish
Rhythm don't mean nothing
You go with the flow
You don't stop

Move like a jellyfish
Rhythm is nothing
You go with the flow
You don't stop

It's as common as something that nobody knows it
Her beauty will follow wherever she goes
Up the hill in the back of her house in the wood
She'll love me forever, I know she

(La da da da da da) x 2

If you would only listen
You might just realize what you're missing
You're missing me

If you would only listen
You might just realize what you're missing
You're missing me

It's as simple as something that nobody knows that
Her eyes are as big as her bubbly toes
On the feet of the queen of the hearts of the cards
And her feet are infested with tar balls and

(La da da da da da) x 2


*************************************************************************

Outside, the night claims his territory by marking the surroundings with his infamous darkness. Tonight he is accopanied by rain. Occasionally, flashes of lightning alternates with the sound of thunderas they perform their midnight play of two beings with an inseparable natural connection.

Inside, the sound of the dishwasher is faded by the repeated acoustic music of Jack Johnson's Bubble Toes song as my fingers type on the keyboard, trying to finish off yet another submission for my Independent & Distant Learning class which was initially due last February. Occasionally, my fingers would take short indecisive stops and snaps to the beats of the catchy tune. Nothing else really matters at this point, life is so carefree. The laundry had just been washed and folded, the fishes are nice and fed. The trash are emptied and the dishes are being cleaned and the bills are all paid on time. I just need to wait for the new monthly scholarship to flow into the cash box and I'll start sorting things out for this summer trip a fortnight from today. All is well.

Sleep was neglected last night, but he catched up with me today. So I left for work two hours early today and took a trip to dreamland for a few hours. Usually I wouldn't be able to sleep during the day but today was an exception. Fortunately, Sarah was sleepy at work too. We both went for a walk to the Bursar's office to pick up some change for the cashier's. The main purpose of the trip was to get some sunshine which would hopefully refresh us
both. But it was so hot this morning that the humid just made us want to crawl back to our cool office. At the end of the walk we just wanted to sleep even more. Shawn came to take Sarah out for lunch, and since Chad is there I decided to just call it a day. It was around noon and I was already on my way home heading for the comfort of my soft bed. Last night, I went to drop off something for Weilin at Nad's place and ended up staying here 'til 3 talking to our guests from USC (Hemy, Azman and Hemy's mum). It was already late when I stopped by but I kinda langkah kanan cause they were getting ready to eat dinner. So we ate, and talked and talked and talked.. They're really friendly. I got back and the 'sandman' must have already left cause I wasn't at all sleepy. So I stayed up reading and took a shower at 5 am. I even got out at 7 this morning cause I don't know what else to do at home.

After 2.5 years, I've finally decided to change my contact lense color today. My friends seems to like it, some can't tell the difference..
"It's as simple as something that nobody knows that her eyes are as big as her bubbly toes ....."

Went to play rollerblade again this evening, didn't go to lab at all today. Tomorrow our Prof will be away for something at home.. so he'll be gone and I won't be able to discuss our new synthesis with him. so I'll have another day off again. Need to go to downtown.. someone's birthday is coming up very soon..

Back at work again right now.. everythings all mellow and slow, this Friday would mark my three year service at the University Sports and Recreational Center.. though I might not be working here next semester cause I was offered a job with the Chemistry Dept. next semester. I'm not quite sure yet if I will quit this job entirely or just have short shifts cause I like the fact that I don't have to bring any ID whenever I come here cause everyone already knows me [as well as the fact that anyone who comes with me can come in for free if they don't have a membership].. but the pay at the other job will be bigger.. so I'll definitely work over there more than here.

So.. I skipped the walk around Calhoun Lake with Amanda and went out for dinner at an Italian restaurant [Buca's] to celebrate Zaki's birthday last night. So when Sarah asked me to go out for brunch with her, Chad and Matt again today, I'd have to say No cause I'm feeling 'mighty' full right now.. One thing though, I found out yesterday that one of the beans that Chipotle uses in their Fajita and Burito's are cooked with bacon to add the meat taste to it.. so if you ever order anything from Chipotle, take the black bean instead of the other one cause the black one is suppose to be for vegetarians and isn't cooked with the bacon.

I want to workout today to compensate yesterday's lack of exercise but I have some serious studying to do today, such that I might have to just glue myself to all these texts and journals.

Time's ticking..... Better get going.
Later alligator

First and foremost, I just wanna wish mrzackamir, Happy Birthday!! I wanted to greet him on the stroke of midnight but I accidentally doozed off.. That's what happens when you read a book while you're ready in bed.[highly unadvisable for pre-exam studying, though highly comfortable]

Anyway, guess what I did today.. actually let me call someone first, then I'll write it down.. ehehehe.
I drove my supervisor's truck today!! I know it's nothing big but I have never drove a truck before.. I drove from the parking lot from behind one of the frat houses and all the way to Rainbows at the Quarry... then we went to PetSmart cause I needed to buy some fish food for my pets.

Yeah, work today was nothing like work at all.. sure, I'd answer the phone, fill in for people and do the usual money-handling cashier stuff... but I've spent most of today being out n about; I got to work half an hour early today, punch in and sat reading my book [for my literature class], went out for lunch with our supervisor n Amanda [for an hour], then went driving [for another hour], came back and started chatting and reading a book for the next few hours, Jena called yesterday to leave a message for Liz that she won't be coming to work today, then Liz called today and say that I need to leave a message for Jena that she'll be coming in late for work.. but Jena's not coming, so I have to stay for an extra hour.. which is fine.. More money in my pocket!! :)


Anyway, yesterday.. I went to the see the soccer match.. Unfortunately I came rather late [sometime in the middle of the second half] cause they started early this week and I had to stay at work at the usual time.. our soccer team didn't do as well [ not related to my absence I'm pretty sure, hehhe ] We didn't have the full troupe with us this time.. We lost, the final score was 5-2. Maybe with the whole team present, next week we'll do better..

This evening after lab, I'm gonna be going to Lake Calhoun with Amanda again.. We're gonna be going to walk around.. If it's not so hot I might run.. but Amanda can't run [due to her bad knee] so we'll see...

p/s: I've finally seen myself dance yesterday in the video of our Midwest 2003 Grand Dinner Performance.. everyone looked wonderful, too bad that the Chinese dancers didn't get to perform.. Otherwise it would have been perfect.. nonetheless, good job everyone!

Got this from Fazdlee,

Being "Twenty-Something"

They call it the "Quarter-life Crisis." It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realising that there are many things about yourself that you didn't know and may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now.

You start realising that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met, and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you don't recognise is that they are realising that too, and aren't really cold, catty, mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.

You look at your job...and it is not even close to what you thought you would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job and realising that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares you. Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realise that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn't.

One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly, change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realise that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward.

You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you. Or you lay in bed and wonder why you can't meet
anyone decent enough that you want to get to know better. Or maybe you love someone but love someone else too and cannot figure out why you are doing this because you know that you aren't a bad person.

One night stands and random hook ups start to look cheap. Getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic. You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision.

You worry about loans, money, the future and making a life for yourself...and while winning the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender!

What you may not realise is that everyone reading this relates to it. We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we
can to figure this whole thing out.

Current most listened song: Gekkou by Chihiro Onizuka

Lately I haven't taken the time to update the blog as often as I used to before.. I actually forgot that I had a guestbook, and yesterday I checked to see if I had some and there it was.. sorry for the late approval. Sometimes I forget that I have an audience..

Here's my reply to ano-ny-mouse: No, that isn't me. I've never dressed up in costumes. In all my life, whether it's the 12 years in Malaysia, 7 years (2 as a toddler and 5 as a teenager) in UK or 4 years in the US.. I've never celebrated Halloween [not even walk around in the neigbourhood for 'trick or treat'] and the only time I've ever worn anything other than normal clothes is during plays/drama/performances that I was involved in. True, I once acted as a divine being called Iris in our high school performance of Shakepeare's The Tempest , but that was before I even wore my tudung and I was dressed in a light green Greek goddesss dress [plus, I went barefoot, no heels involved :) ]. Maybe someone should ask Lalat who's the girl in question.

To Aernie: I'd be glad to cook for you, but unfortunately I'm not sure if I can cook as often as I like by the time you move in to UV because I won't have the apartment all to myself again in the Fall semester.. Balik la cepat sikit, kalau sempat nanti Noris masakkan untuk rumah korang sekali..

To Hafiz: Ja wohl! Ich muß erlernen, besseres Deutsches zu sprechen.
" Buah cempedak di luar pagar, Ambilkan galah tolong jolokkan, Saya budak baru belajar, Kalau salah tolong tunjukkan." hehehh... kan dah ternyanyi, nasib baik takde sesiapa dengar..




Anyway, did I tell you that I hurt my 'tush'? On Wednesday evening, I went rollerblading with Nad, Emira, Haz, Aliff, Macho, Pieja and, with Siti and Elyn (on bikes).. we were blading from RBC, St. Anthony, downtown and back through the west bank. The trip was a little bit challenging this time and I fell 3 times; once on someone, once as I tried to turn, and the major one was when we were moving downhill and making a right turn at full speed. I was actually trying to avoid bumping into someone but then I lost the rythm of my steps and ended up loosing control of my wheels and I did the forward split and banged my butt with a loud thud on the hard pavement. It hurts so bad but I could still get up.. It's not anybody's fault I guess; we were playing, and falling is part of the game. Sometimes you have to learn things the hard way.. at least I wasn't bleeding badly [Pieja scraped his knee and elbow as he fell a few times].. Nad also fell on her tush cause she couldn't make right turns as good as left turns.. so as she moves at high speed, she lost control and fell.. she tried to lessen the impact of the fall but ended up scraping her hands as she was dragged on.. From Coffmann Union, we both took the bus home.. As soon as we got to our 3rd floor apartment we both took the cushion and laid on the floor, Nad on her side and me on my front, unable to move due to pain.. I'm constantly reminded of the fall all through last night and every time I'm sitting down today. I even walked to work with my left hand sandwiched between the top of my butt and my bag which seems to be bouncing on my back with every step I take.. This is going to hurt for a while..

I saw the new petronas Hari Kebangsaan iklan today through this link.. Just want to share it with the others..

On my way to my research lab in the bus this evening, there was a lady who had an asthma attack. I think she almost stopped breathing, but the people who sat nearby was really helpful.. I didn't know exactly what was happening as the drama had already began to unfold in fornt of me even before I stepped into the bus. At first someone offered to take her to the fairview hospital but she would have to walk a bit before getting to the hospital from the bus stop.. so instead someone told the bus driver and he dialed for the ambulance right away. So then he stopped the bus and we waited for the ambulance. About a minute later we could hear the ambulance wailing towards us and soon the paramedic was running into the bus. A few minutes later another Ambulance from HCMH (Hennepin County Medical Hospital) arrived to take her away. The woman had to wear oxygen mask for breathing . It was quite scary, poor lady. Hope she's ok now.

Though I might not be able to participate in next year's Midwest games. I am happy to announce that the host of Midwest Games 2004 will be the members of the Malaysian Student association of University of Minnesota. Looks like next year will be Tahun Melawat Minnesota. With everyone's cooperation, I'm sure it's going to be great.

Anyway, I'm gonna try to get some shut-eyes for now.. good night.. don't let the bed-bugs bite..

Ich bin glücklich

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything ? - VINCENT VAN GOGH

Ich fühle wie auf Deutsch heute schreiben. Es gibt wirklich keinen Grund insbesondere. Es ist ein langfristiges gewesen, seit I zuletzt Deutsches sprach. Ich bin sicher, daß ich Menge von den Fehlern bilde. Our Fußballmannschaft bilde, die heute gewonnen wird. Die Kerbe war 3-1. Hoorah.. hooray!!

Oh! Wo ist meine Auge Gläser ? Sowieso muß ich mit meinen Studien fortfahren.

Later alligator...
Tschüs!

ITSU NO HI NI KA

Now, I'm home and I don't know what to do.. in my nice and cool bedroom.. No longer would I need to have the fan 12 inches away from my face.

I should do something productive today, maybe I'll continue with my IDL class assignment.. Yesterday was a complete waste. the only thing I did was went to the movies last night. Finally I get a chance to see Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Carribean. Why do I say finally? Well on friday night, Amanda needed a little cheering up after she had just received some bad news. So I invited her to join us to see the movie.. After work, we both walked over to her apartment and we started talking about things.. when we finally realised that it was 15 minutes before the movie would start. So we rushed into her car and picked up Nad, Dya and Wei lin.. By the time we got to downtown, we realised that there was a huge traffic jam cause they had the "Rock The mike" concert or something and some of the roads were blocked. So we ended up spending almost a 45 minutes on the road before we got to the parking lot and then it was too late cause we would've missed most of the movie already. We thought that since we're in a car we could just go to the mall instead but the only midnight movie at the mall is the one we wouldn't want to see... so we got back in the car and spend the next 30 minutes trying to get home. Thank god it was a good movie. I loved it, highly recommend it as a great summer viewing.. but if you haven't seen NEMO yet, go see that one first. [Yes, I'm talking to you Mister no-NEMO!]

Anyway, I was feeding my fish a couple of days ago and I realised that there's some new baby fishes. Hooray..!! It's gonna be sad when I have to move and give these pets away. I already promised Phauline (Adam's sister) that I'll give it to her to put in her new house when I leave. Actually I think I'll sell it to her. Anybody wants my Beta fish? I have 3 up for grab. Wish I could take it home.

Later today I'm planning to go to the soccer game again. I think our team is really good, hope we win this time.

The air-conditioner for the whole Rec & Sports Center is down at the moment. The front desk is basically rejecting anyone who wants to enter cause it's really hot in here [Plus it will be warmer once you are working out and drenched in sweat]. Personally I think it might have been smarter to just put up a sign on the main entrance door that says that's the whole facility is closed instead of repeating the same script line every time a person enters, BUT that would mean that he has nothing to do today. Infact, why am I here? I have no reason to be at work if nobody is allowed into the facility..

Alhamdullilah, Friday has arrived...

The events of this week seems like an episode from a soap opera or something, where everyone gets a part in events which seems a bit of a drama.
On Wednesday evening, we were planning to go rollerblading once as usual once again. Some of us had just finished their midterms earlier that day so it was a fun thing to do to wind out after such a studious start of the weekTo top it off we also had a visitor from Arizona rollerblading with us that day and one of the guys rollerblading with us has just recently bought a new pair of rollerblades so that we could go blading in these summer evenings. So the three of us set out from UV, one of us had just started playing and so we took great care to make sure that she wouldn't fall or anything throughout our journey to RBC to meet the others. We would hold her hands whenever we're crossing the street and even make sure that she's Ok.. so then we met the other rollerbladers and some cyclists and we were planning to just take a leisurely trip around the campus, through the east bank and maybe later on the west bank and beyond.

So everyone was moving along and as we got into the Northrop mall area I was looking for a place to hide my shoes cause I don't want to have to carry it where ever I go, as I turned to ask one of the Malay boys who were playing soccer there, I saw that one of the girls had fallen down and people were moving towards her to see if she's ok.. so I turned back as they started calling for me to see.. I got there and I saw her face covered in blood and everyone was trying to calm her.. she was crying in pain as she covers her nose trying to stop the blood from coming out even more. Someone asked where we could get ice.. since the chemistry building is close by and I have the key to my research lab with me I thought of going there but as I took my rolllerblade off someone else suggested that we should take her to the hospital as soon as possible just in case if anything is broken cause she kept saying that it really hurts and we could see that there a line on her nose indicating that there's some internal bleeding inside. The others started taking her rollerblade off and since I already had mine off I carried mine on one hand while I helped her up with the other.. Everyone followed us towards the emergency room of Fairview Hospital (we noticed that Boynton Health Center was already closed as we passed it earlier on our way down the hill to RBC)..
We stayed at the ER from 7.30 until midnight that day, mostly just waiting. After a few hours the others started to leave until there was just the three UV girls left. She had her x-ray done on her face and her leg.. it turns out that her nose was fractured but not dislocated.. so thanksfully it's not as bad as we thought.


On the side line;

If anyone is intrested in getting an extra 5% off any purchase of already discounted contact lense (>$75), leave me a message and I'll tell you the coupon codes* [*offers valid from participating lensmart.com dealers] and "No", I'm not paid for that informal commercial.. just though I could help out a bit once in a while. You can order with your friends to make it >$75, which is what the 4 of us are doing right now.. Also if anyone wants $10 off any 4 boxes of discounted contact lenses and free shipping, I also have the coupon codes for that, so just lemme a message and I'll get back to you as soon possible. :)

It's monday already and the summer session is speeding to its end at a speed which felt faster than the summers before [to me anyway]..
Next month I'm gonna be taking a trip to the east coast (Washington DC, Pennsylvania, etc), Ohio and also possibly Dallas. My cousin from Switzerland is in the States with her husband and kids, and her brother (Rezal from Ohio) is taking his family to visit next month which coincides with the time that I'm visiting them.. so he's gonna take me with them (Free plane flight- hooray!)

Last night I watched the boy's soccer intramurals game and this time we lost by a slim 3-2 which is quite sad compared to last weeks victory of 5-0. However, we still have a chance to get to the semi-final since there's another 3 games in the next couple of weeks. The main thing is to play well and have a good sportmanship rating cause even if we keep winning but we have a bad sportsmanship of C or worst, then we still can't move forward to the semi-finals. The players from the opposing team were bigger this time and they used that as an advantage for heading the balls that were kicked high. There was one point in the game when the ball was headed more than kicked..

Anyway, I woke up this morning feeling really sleepy.. I even felt like going back to sleep at 9am.. So as soon as I got to my office, I went to get some coffee from Starbucks.. now it's all gloomy and raining outside and I really feel like running on the threadmill. Actually I have to read a few chapters of some chemistry jargon for my summer course, but my concentration level is really low.

Today for the first time I saw the 2003 ALABAMA quarter coin. I'm not really collecting the state coins, so it might have been out a long time ago but I just noticed it today.

Anyway, as you can see I don't really have anything interesting to talk about, I'm just babbling aimlessly cause I'm bored and wanted to do something else rather than reading as I work. I still have another 2 hours left before Jena comes for her shift.

WORKING HARD OR HARDLY WORKING

When you come to think of it, it's amazing how some things happen as by coincidence.. in the past, coincidences are taken as signs and is later used for supersticious beliefs.

For example, an 'engaged' girl is preparing to cook in the kitchen and she lost grip on her lesung as she's transfering the grinded garlic to the pan and the lesung fell and broke. After a while, her fiancee who she's having some trivial problems with decides to call the wedding off, so she gave up on love and ends up as an old spinster. The neighbours starts to talk and they would tell their young daughters to be careful when cooking cause they belief that whoever breaks the lesung will also loose their jodoh.. then this supersticious beliefs are passed down by mouth from generation to generation and people like me would hear things like "jangan nyanyi dalam dapur, nanti dapat suami tua", "jangan pindah tempat bila tengah makan nanti kena kahwin banyak kali",and "jangan berehat depan pintu, nanti jadi anak dara tua" and many many more...

In truth, there are reasons why people make these superstitions up and to some it is quite obvious why..
For example, there's a superstition about whyhouses in south east asian countries are built on stilts. The most obvious answer lies in practicality- to prevent flooding of houses when rivers overflow or tides rise higher than normal. Last summer, I came across another possible reason while in Muzium Negara in Malaysia. According to a special exhibit there about ghosts, another reason traditional houses in the Malay-Indonesian region were built on stilts lay in superstition, which is to keep the house above the ground where the 'hantu tanah' reside. The exhibit claims there is anthropological evidence to support this theory but doesn't go into further detail. But I'm sure the flooding was a much more powerful incentive to raise the house above stilts :)

emmm.. I've lost track of why I'm talking about superstitions.. Actually I was going to talk about how it was a coincidence that sometimes the music on the radio reflects exactly how you are feeling [I really got drifted from the main point there, if I was writing an essay for my BI SPM exam or something, I'm sure I'll get an automatic F for talking about something that's out of the topic..heheh...]

Anyway, yesterday I was chatting with my friend who's in Japan right now, and we were exchanging audio files cause I was gonna create some CD's and he gave me this song (below) and it just reminded me of the time when I was begging my dad to let me go to boarding school far away up north in Beseri and he didn't want to let me go cause he thinks that the family should stick together no matter what..[This is exactly the same reason why I didn't stay back one year to complete my 0-level at 16years old in West Leeds High School, and went back to Malaysia just to find out that I have to drop down a year to take the PMR with my sister, which made everyone think that I was born in January(which I am) and my sister was born in December(which she's not) [cause we're not exactly identical twins], and end up completing high school at 18 instead :(, when my friends back in England have just completed A-level. ]

Anyway, it was almost 1 Syawal over half a decade ago and we were all in the car on our way back to Mersing. My brother was teasing me about how I should just forget about going to boarding school, dad was still toying with the thought of letting me go and persuading me to stay while my mother was sitting there in guilt at the thought of being the one who encouraged me to fill out an application form to go to MRSM just to test my luck. When we arrived at Mersing, everyone (who cared) were politely making conversation with me and asked me what I'm going to do now that the PMR results are out. I told them that I'm going to Beseri right in front of dad.. everyone complemented the school for it's good reputation academically and religious activities. Dad would listen and smile uncomfortably, not revealing that he is against the idea of me going there. We found out later that my one of my cousin's daughter (who is the same age as me) is also going to MRSM, and her dad was telling my dad how good this is..

Days later on our way back from a wedding, once again in the car, my dad asked me again. At this point I was already tired of listening to the 'rejection speech' that comes after I'd ask him if I could go previously. My brother was getting ready to laugh at me again, smirking his why-do-you-bother smile. I didn't bother to answer, surprisingly he just said "Kalau camtuh lepas nih, abah nak habiskan duit abah kat anak abah yang mana?" which is really a family joke cause when I was little my brother used be to jealous of me for getting expensive birthday presents (cause my birthday is at the end of the month when our parents just got paid from work) and my other siblings' birthday is in the middle of the month.. all of a sudden [just like in movies], this song came up and my dad dedicated it to me..


'Wild World' by Cat Stevens


Now that I've lost everything to you
You say you wanna start something new
And it's breakin' my heart you're leavin'
Baby, I'm grievin'
But if you wanna leave, take good care
I hope you have a lot of nice things to wear
But then a lot of nice things turn bad out there

Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world
It's hard to get by just upon a smile
Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world
I'll always remember you like a child, girl

You know I've seen a lot of what the world can do
And it's breakin' my heart in two
Because I never wanna see you a sad girl
Don't be a bad girl
But if you wanna leave, take good care
I hope you make a lot of nice friends out there
But just remember there's a lot of bad and beware

Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world
It's hard to get by just upon a smile
Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world
I'll always remember you like a child, girl

Baby, I love you
But if you wanna leave, take good care
I hope you make a lot of nice friends out there
But just remember there's a lot of bad and beware

Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world
It's hard to get by just upon a smile
Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world
I'll always remember you like a child, girl


I promised my self that I'd work really hard at whatever I do, two years later I was choosen as the best student while my dad was invited as the "Tokoh Kehormat" at our graduation ceremony.

Now my parents are trying to persuade my youngest sister to go to boarding school too.. Ironically, [though she is somewhat of a whiz kid] she wants to stay at home.

I got this from my friend Monina (citing my source) and I can't resist to share it with everyone.. it's so cool...

Try this soon, before Google fixes its site:

1) Go to Google.com

2) type in (but don't hit return): "weapons of mass destruction";

3) Hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button, instead of the normal "Google search" button

4) Read the Error Message Carefully.

I love summer, I can't deny it.. It just reminds me so much of home [well the weather at least].. and then there's this sense of care-free freedom.. inevitably arising from the light workload..

and there's just so much sunshine as Subuh is as early as 3.40 am and fajar arrives at around 5.30am, and Maghrib dusks at about 9pm. The day is longer and so much could be done in that time.

So how come I'm not updating as often, you'd ask.. well I suppose I have no excuse, can't say I'm busy [every time I wanted to say that I'm busy I'd always remember Cikgu KZ's memorable line " sibuk ker buat2 sibuk?"] .. well my days are usually just filled with work in the morning from 9.30am -2pm, and then straight to the research lab from about 2.30pm until whenever I feel like leaving. Usually I'd leave around 6 or 7pm after performing a couple of experiments.. Then I'd go roller blading on campus with the Malay students or walk around the lake Calhoun with Amanda until about 9pm..

Since this project is currently a pioneer in its research category, the experiments could lead us to something that has never been discovered before and Prof. Buhlmann is especially excited to hear about the results of my experiments. I must admit there are times this week that I got carried away in lab that I don't even realise what time it is. On Wednesday I ended up staying in the lab for more than 6 hours straight cause I wanted to check if what I had predicted was actually true.. I guess what makes this field of study really exciting is the prospect that if we do find what we want we could actually publish a journal/report at the end of this summer and my name would be printed as a coauthor along with our research professor and the previous co-researchers..

OK, I know I sound really geeky for admitting that I enjoy staying in the research lab doing experiments 30 hours a week in the summer but I guess this experience is starting to make me realize what I want to do in the future..

I talked to my mum this morning in our usual weekly chat and she's telling me about my cousin's grand wedding celebration that she had just went to yesterday.. the hot topic on everyone's mind, undoubtedly, is about who's wedding is next in line.. everyone is suspecting that one of Auntie Na's children will be next cause 3 of her 6 kids are already 25++.. I guess I'm just glad that I wasn't there.. Otherwise I'd be one of the many victims of my aunts' and uncles' many prying questions. Nora came down to Ipoh for NurHamie's wedding from UUM, and became an innocent victim of the ever growing forest of questions from our relatives. It's not enough that she has to answer to questions of her love life, she also has to answer to questions of mine.. My aunts kept teasing my mum by making assumptions on my status. I'm just grateful that I'm not there.

Last summer, I went to buy groceries with my mum and we met one of our neighbours on the sidewalk and she looked at me smiling..
"Oh, nih la anak perempuan Haji Yusoff yang baru balik bercuti dari Amerika"
knowing that her children are mainly boys who grew up playing with my older brother, it couldn't help but feel a little uneasy as she seems to scan her eyes all over me.. Don't you just hate it when your parents try to match you up with their friend's kids..

Anyway, after catching up on local news and family affairs for a while with mum, she offered if I wanted to talk to dad.. judging from the topic of the last few conversations with him, I felt that he'd start rabbling on my career choices.. so I politely skipped on that option.. only to hear that my dad had seen my graduation pictures and is planning to come to visit sometime at the end of the year.. :) They're planning to come in October... but it's still tentative.. I'm happy nevertheless..

This week we had another surprise birthday party.. this time it was at Fakhrul's house for Fatin's birthday.. it's starting to seem like a casual weekly gathering for the UV and Stadium Village Malaysians.. [along with Zack and Kuceng too] This time we cooked Nasi Ayam, with the same DQ Ice cream Birthday Cake and desserts from some of the guests.. Just wanna take this opportunity to wish Happy Belated Birthday to Sarah, Adam (both on the 2nd) and Aernie (on the 4th of July). May there be many more to come.

On the night of the 4th of July, we went out to see the fireworks at the Taste Of Minnesota in Harriet Island Park in St. Paul.. There was more than 30 of us going out that night, we arrived just in time for the fireworks. Initially the plan was to leave earlier but since everyone returned late from soccer practice (both girls and boys), we got there 30 minits later than initially planned.. everyone was hungry cause we didn't get a chance to eat before coming out that night, so we ate out that night.. finally got back to bed at about 2am.. Then I spent yesterday shopping at the mall with Nad, Dya, WeiLin and a few of the boys.. we also met some other Malaysians there... On our way back rom the Bloomington, we stopped downtown and watched "Legally Blond 2". It was ok, but I liked the first one better..