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..