Approaching Syawal

Ramadhan is almost over. We're 4 days away from Syawal.
Yes, I can't wait to celebrate by eating loads of food & gatherings with family. But I'm actually saddened by the fact that pretty soon the devils are gonna come out & I'll be back to my "evil" self. This Ramadhan has been awesome. Everything's more relaxed. I managed to have a slight control over my eating so I'm actually saving some money & losing a few hundred grams of weight (blerghhh).

I hope I'll live to see the next Ramadhan, InsyaAllah. I hope we all do.

Killing Boredom

Usually at the office, when we don't have anything to do... we don't have anything to do.
But when we DO have something to do... we have EVERYTHING to do.

Right now I'm the former. And you betcha I'm bored.

Oh, the best thing happened to me earlier during the day. So I'm currently obsessed with this brand of lipstick called DIDA & they announced yesterday that they were going to restock this nude lip color they called "Lust" at 12pm. So by 11am I have logged myself in to the website, have 1 additional "Fondue" colored lipstick in my shopping cart & refreshing the site every now & then. By 11.40am, I think, Lust was available. And so I added to my cart! Believe me, I contemplated to buy. Thought about it twice, then decided to just go for it.

And then sometime around 2pm I logged in to their Instagram page & saw that they announced Lust was sold out 30mins after it was launched. God that was fast! Lucky I completed my purchased before the clock even strike 12pm. Hooray! So now I have 3 colors - Posh (red), Lust (nude) & Fondue (brown). Raya 2016 is gonna have my lips all over, I tell ya!

....and then from then on it was boredom, boredom & more boredom.

Signing off now to browse some recipe for buka puasa. Oh which reminds me of another good news :
I can now cook Malay food! A lot of fuss, but I made it! Yeay ME! :)

For Them KLites In Need Of Floral Supplies

The Idea of Life

Do you sometimes think that you have no idea what you're doing?

Well, I do. I mean, I get this feeling all the time.

I actually don't know what I'm doing in my life. There are those who have this life goals & know exactly what they want to do & what they want to achieve at certain points in their lives. Obviously I'm not one of them. I envy these humans. They have their lives all figured out. They must live a happy life.

Oh it's not like I'm not happy but I'm not ecstatic either. I'm just... a blank.

A blank whom feels happy when she's with her family members & close friends. A blank whom is stressed out when facing office work. A blank whom heart is filled with sadness when she's glancing over at her love life.

I guess the most depressing part is the work part. This is where the blank goes top max BLANK. I have been stuck with this job for as long as I lived. I remember putting in "Programmer" & "System Analyst" to my secondary school application when the school was about to divide students according to different streams. This means that I have actually been where I wanted to be back then. But now that I've been here for about 14 years now, I want to get out of it.

Get out & go to what?
That's a good question. I have no idea. 

Anybody's open to give me some suggestions, btw. Thanks in advance.

A Light On A Wednesday

To Whom Do You Give Your Heart To?

I'm just gonna give out this heart o'mine for everyone.


It's Ramadhan, it's THE best month ever. It's a good month to spread the love & give sadaqah. Even if it's not Ramadhan, it's good to continue on with the love-spreading & sadaqah-giving tradition.


Loads of Love,
Scabbers.

Menanti Sebuah Jawaban - Padi

Aku tak bisa luluhkan hatimu
Seiring jejak kakiku bergetar
Aku tlah terpaku oleh cintamu
Menelusup hariku dengan harapan
Namun kau masih terdiam membisu

Sepenuhnya aku ingin memelukmu
Mendekap penuh harapan tuk mencintaimu
Setulusnya aku akan terus menunggu
Menanti sebuah jawaban tuk memilikimu

Betapa pilunya rindu menusuk jiwaku
Semoga kau tau isi hatiku
Dan seiring waktu yang terus berputar
Aku masih terhanyut dalam mimpiku

Aku tak bisa luluhkan hatimu
Dan aku tak bisa menyentuh cintamu

The Ultimate Solution To Your Printer-Toning Needs

It's June!

June is such a busy month. It's Ramadhan - Ramadhan Kareem to all Muslims, may our fast & ibadah be accepted and our prayers grated.

But of course, life goes on in this month. And so does my work schedule which is super tight. Migration & deployments. Night jobs & day jobs. Not forgetting weekend jobs.. And at the same time we all have to slot in time for ourselves & also preparation for Syawal.

So if you need me, I'll be stuck in office, glued to my laptop screen.

Dark, Gloomy Night Ahead

And moody.

And at times like these, it's best to just stay home & get cozy under the blankets. If you're up for it, make yourself a cuppa hot chocolate to go with.

Love is passion…

Love is passion, obsession, someone you can’t live without. I say fall head over heels, find someone you can love like crazy and who’ll love you the same way back. How do you find him? Well, you forget your head and you listen to your heart and I’m not hearing any heart. Because, the truth is there is no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love – well, you haven’t lived a life at all. But You have to try, because if you haven’t tried, you haven’t lived… Stay open, who knows? Lightning could strike.

Superhot morning @ Mount Bromo

View from the top of Mount Bromo. Took us quite some time to get to the top – we weren’t fit, so had to make a lot of breaks along the way. Didn’t wanna get down, but the hot sun was burning my skin. This was in 2009, I believe.

A Small Family Get-together

So we went to Tetbury again. This time, it's a complete do nothing holiday for me. For Mak & Makton, it's time to meet & have some bonding time with their elder sister, Mak Leha. And of course, her husband Uncle Tony.

More on the holiday later. Details of Makton's hospitalization @ Gloucester.

A Day Older

Happy birthday to me! I turn 34 this year.
A year older. A year wiser (I hope!)

Hectic March

March was way hectic. Between projects after projects that needed to be attended to at the office, and settling my "loss of use" claim from the 3rd party insurance (it's a ridiculously low amount of money that they're offering me, but at least I get some), and going shopping here & there to buy stuff to bring for family in UK.

Got sick for at least 2 whole weeks! I tell ya, it was helluva month! Alhamdulillah I managed to survive.

And now it's only 2 days away from my UK trip. Tomorrow's my last day of work. I am going to have myself a very quiet 2 1/2 weeks in Tetbury. My phone's gonna be turned off, so if you need me... well, better find yourself another person.

Toodles! See ya in May, after my birthday party in the UK!

Pumped Up For UK

Reminiscing March 2012, our first time in the UK. It was cold when we landed. I had a terrible jet lag. It was a short visit - 8 days. We were there to visit our family anyway.

I can't wait to be back in Spring this year. I hope to see the sun, flowers & the awesome countryside view. I plan do very little in this trip. Maybe walk into town, Tesco & taking pictures of their open fields & trees that you don't find in Malaysia.

Let's do this! :)

Of lists and whatnots

The Continuation

Yep, I've been gone for TWO whole years. I ran out of things to say because life just got more & more complicated.

So I guess I'm here again, I'll try to post as much as I can.
So, see ya!

Sunset @ Morib

Morib beach, located about 1 1/2 hour drive away from Kuala Lumpur, is a popular spot for the locals to go for a day-trip with their families.

To me it’s just an OK beach, not great. Wouldn’t know what to do if I were to spend a night there.

As I said, I enjoy getting lost – so I went lost one day, driving into nowhere & decided to drop by Morib at the very last minute. Thankfully I managed to catch a glimpse of the sun setting. And it happened to be awesome.

Bogor

I had a short trip to Indonesia (again) in November. Was planning to go alone, visiting my cousin who was stationed to work in Senayan for 2 weeks but ended up making a “fun family trip” with my Mum & uncle along.

Managed to get Pak Chechep from Bandung to drive us around. He’s a friend of my uncle’s, and a driver. A nice man who recommends good places to eat, shop & sightseeing. If you’re visiting Indonesia & wants to hire a driver, drop him a line on his Facebook account, here.

And so he brought us to Bogor, as Mum wanted to visit her friend who lives there. They served awesome local food, in which I ate all & did not manage to snap a shot of ’em and of course, forgot the name. Afterwards, we went to Kebun Raya. It was awesome for somebody who loves trees like me. There’s all sorts of trees, mostly old.. and HUGE! It’s like giving a shopaholic a gold card & shop at KLCC.

I went crazy.



So that’s a shot of me, feeling happy surrounded by trees. If I could hug all of ’em in one giant hug, I would. And below is just a sample shot of a tree among thousands others.



Here’s the link to Kebun Raya Bogor’s website. Entrance fee is at Rp 25.000 per person & Rp 30.000 per car (around USD 5 for a total of both).

It’s a nice break from the busy & hectic Jakarta, to be close to nature in Bogor.

Of Kings & Queens

Had the honor to be one of my friend's bridesmaids. Not just one, but for two weddings. One was Ely's in October of 2015 & another was Dini's in February of this year.

Apparently now, the Malays have ditched the tradition of having 1 maid at the wedding & gone with the rest of "the world" having a trail of them.

But who am I to say anything, I am happy to be selected as one of the lucky ones at these two weddings. These friends of mine mean a lot to me, and I know the feeling's mutual. Or else, I wouldn't even be invited to the wedding! ;)

Anywho, these girls, they have found themselves their life partner. InsyaAllah, I pray that their Kings will treat them as Queens until Jannah. Ameen.

My King? I think he fell of his wagon. Literally. Or maybe etymologically. Whatever.

Sunny @ Sarawak

Sarawak State Legislative Assembly building, located in Kuching, Sarawak – the capital and most populous city in Sarawak.

Went there with my family in 2009. We stayed in Harbour View Hotel, just opposite Kuching Waterfront. So finding food and a place to hang-out was no problem to us.

There’s a boat service that takes you across the river, which only takes about 5 minutes or so. On the other side, there’s a big food court where you can find great Sarawakian food like Sarawak laksa & Kolo mee.

The people of Kuching are very friendly. They are very generous when it comes to smiling. Didn’t go exploring the forest, “rumah panjang” & all the authentic features of Sarawak. Maybe we’ll go again next time.

Sightseeing @ Cape Rachado

After Portugal conquered Malacca in 1511, the Portuguese wanted to build a lighthouse to guide its ships. Tanjung Tuan was chosen and the cape was named Cape Rachado by them. Subsequently, a lighthouse was built between 1528 and 1529. As Malacca switched hands to the Dutch and later to the British in 1641 and 1824 respectively, so too did the possession of the structure.
(Source : Wikipedia)



There’s a forest reserve that surrounds the area. It was a refreshing walk for us. Calm & quiet. Not too quiet tho, you can hear the birds chirping.

It was quite a walk through the forest & up the hill. The view from up above was nice. I wouldn’t say magnificent, tho. But you’ll be staring out at the open sea, and down below you’ll see the white waves hitting the shores.

After all the sweats, the best way to end your day is to have some “air batu campur” or ABC, with a bowl of “rojak” & “pisang goreng” by the roadside, with a bunch of crazy cousins. The Malaysian culture.

Breathtaking Bukittinggi

Had an opportunity to go to Bukit Tinggi, Indonesia in March of 2013, with a very dear friend of mine. Landed as early as 8am @ Minangkabau International Airport, greeted by another dear friend of mine, Ade.

The drive from Padang to Bukittinggi took around 2 hours. Along the way, lush green trees are seen. There’s 2 mountains here – Mount Silanggang (non-active) & Mount Marapi (still active).

It was a relaxing trip, just the 3 of us friends, chilling out eating, drinking & sightseeing. Food was good, the sights are awesome.

Thanks to Ade, we had the chance to drop by a local wedding. Met a few locals, experiencing the Minangkabau culture.

KLCC

Kuala Lumpur City Center – KLCC in short, is my favorite building of all. It’s one of the tallest twin building in the world, and it’s in the city that I live in.

During weekends, the KLCC park is filled with people – the locals hanging out or bringing their children to the playground, the foreigners busy taking picture and being amazed by this majestic building.

To us KLites, the best place to meet up would be at the Suria shopping center. A bit of a high-end mall, but there are some affordable things to choose from. And of course, the store I love most – Kinokuniya.

And at night, this building looks simply magnificent!