Taking time out...

I am at the office now. Should be doing work the Business Manager (we'll call her Ms. M) told me to do. But I've finished them. I need her to sign them before I can proceed but she's in her office with someone so I won't want to intrude. So I decided to put in a post. I know I shouldn't be doing this but what else can I do now.

Anyway, the weekend was quite fun although both Shah and I ended the weekend feeling very tired. On Saturday, Shah and I had Didi, Sya+Zul, Maya, Aryss, Izat & her sister+fren and Lisa over for iftar and dinner. We cooked mutton curry, daging kambing goreng, fried niblets and stir-fried vegetables plus tiramisu for dessert. I have to stress the 'we' in the previous sentence coz shah helped alot. We always cook together every time we invite guests over for lunch or dinner. Didi brought tuna lasagne and Izat brought a Millies Cookie cake coz she wanted to celebrate her sister's belated birthday. We all ate alot and after that we chit-chatted and they played games on the PS2. It ws real fun. It's been awhile since we had people over to the house.

On Sunday Shah and I went to town to go to the Robin Hood Pageant. The pageant is held every year in October and it is to showcase the life of people during the time Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham were alive in Nottingham. I've never been to the pageant ever since I've stayed in Nottingham and since this might just be my last year here, I decided to pester Shah to go yesterday. It was very interesting and fun and I certainly enjoyed my time there. We took lots of pictures and I need to go and send them to the shop to be developed. I forgot to rechrge the batteries for the digital camera so had to resort to the old-fashioned film camera. When I've got them developed I'll certainly scan them and post the up in my online album. We met Didi, Sya, Zul and Maya there. Anyway, after that we headed home coz we had to pray zuhur and Shah wanted to go watch the big football match between Man U and Arsenal. He went over to Syahrin's place to watch the game while I stayed at home and cooked some dessert to bring over to Syahrin's place near iftar time. We got to ate lasagne made by Syahrin. It was lovely! Well I never complain whenever I'm given lasagne coz I really love it.

I think that's all about the weekend. I've got to get back to work. See if Ms. M is done with her visitor. Bye guys!

I've got a job!!!

Yesterday was my first day at work. I have now got a part time job. Well more like temporary but who cares! At least now I'm earning money meaning I can go shopping during the coming winter sale. I just hope I don't abandon my PhD. It's abit hard coz I can only do my PhD work in the mornings until 12:30pm before starting my job at the School of Pharmacy from 1:30pm to around 5:30pm. The work is not too stressful or tiring..so far. I have to check and file the claims forms handed in by the staff and resrach students at the Pharmacy School. Next week I'll have to do work on Excel. Probably putting in figures regarding the claims. I hope the job doesn't get too heavy or else I might have to stop. However, this also means that I'll have to put in extra time at nights and during the weekend to finish up my thesis and run my simulations. I have to work extra hard now. I pray that I'll be able to handle it.

Last Sunday was Shah's birthday. It's bad of me for not putting in a special entry for him. But he knows I love him. We went out to the city looking with the hope of me getting a present for Shah but he didn't find anything he liked. There was a prepaid mobile phone which he wanted but we didn't get it coz we were afraid it was locked to the service provider so he won't be able put in his current sim card. But I'll keep looking for something for him. There is currently and offer at Currys for a Gameboy Advance with a free soccer game. I might get him that coz we've been meaning to buy one for awhile. At least if he has that he can play it whenever we're travelling on the train or bus which means that I can sleep more instead of 'layan'ing him. So bad of me, rite? But you know the train/bus movement realyy rocks me to sleep.

My birthday is coming soon. Well, not soon soon but its in 2 months time to the date (almost). I've been hinting to Shah that I want a new digital camera. Shah says he might just buy it for me coz we've found a really nice, practical and quite versatile camera. It's the Canon IXUS 430 and currently there's an offer online at Comet. I really like it and I can't wait to get it, insyaAllah.

Anyway, wnough babbling. I'm starting to feel sleepy now. Very tired...eyes closing...head throbbing...

Nite nite people...xxxOOO

Love is...

I have to confess I didn't know what to write today but I really wanted to write something. While searching thorugh Google, I thought of searching the 'Love is..' cartoon. The one with the little naked boy and girl with messages on love. I remeber when I was younger I used to love the 'Love is..' cartoon which was featured in one of the major English newspaper in Malaysia. Anyway, while I was searching in Google, I found a site about the cartoonist responsible to continue the cartoons which was orignally originally created by Kim Casali as a way of expressing her feelings for her husband. I really miss reading the cartoons and I wish I had collected them coz their messages on love were very meaningful, touching and quite true in fact. But it looks like the people who created these cartoons had also compiled them into a series of books (Love is...:For Her,For Him and Forever) available from Amazon. I hope I would be able to get at least of of those books coz I'm sure it'll make me feel better when I'm down and help me reinstate my faith in love if ever I need to.

Anyway, enjoy this 'Love is..' image I found from the site of the person chosen to continue the work of the original creator of this cartoon feature.

What a week...

Just how I'm feeling....

That picture sums up my week. It hasn't been a good one, especially today. I re-ran my code coz of the error that I found but it seems that some cases, which was able to run nicely before, couldn't be simulated with the new changes. I dunno what could have caused it to go terribly wrong. I've just got to slave some time in fornt of the PC to figure out what's caused it to go haywire. I thought it was going to run smoothly but if things like this keep happening I don't know when I'll be able to get everything done. Arghhh!!!! I'm so frustrated. Time and money is running out! I'm also looking for some part time job now but whenever I apply nothing seems to come through. Just hope I'll get to find some kind of job soon.

Well...don't feel like writing anymore. I think I'm just going to read a book I bought last week. It's a home makeover book which I bought for £1 at the Bargain Bookstore here in Nottingham. The book teaches us how to plan home makeovers and how to tackle the projects wisely. I also bought another book about home decorations for £2. The second book is very interesting coz it teaches you to do all kinds of home furnishing step-by-step. I can't wait to try them out once I've got the time and my own home. So till next time...

Finished the book....

After 1 week I've finally finished The Da Vinci Code book. It was kinda a page turner since I couldn't put down the book even to go to the toilet. Each chapter ended with a cliffhanger. But the ending was kinda disappointing. I wasn't that disappointing but I was hoping for more adventure towards the end coz all the hype kinda fizzled out towards the end without any big bang hanppening. If you get my drift...if not just ignore me. It's been a long while since I read a good adventure book so it was kinda fun and I wish I could read more books. But for now, I;ve got to be contented with writing my own 'storybook', i.e. my thesis. Once that's over, then I'll have my revenge and start reading loads of storybooks/novels.

Tomorrow marks the start of Ramadhan. One month of fasting. Once it starts, it'll be gone in a flash and Eid will be here. I'm really hoping I can do more things this Ramadhan religion wise. I want to read more of the Quran and pray Tarawih more, insyaAllah. We'll also try and have some of our friends over for iftar coz that would be great. I also want to bake Eid cookies. I just hope I have enough time to do all that. Every day, except weekends, during Ramadhan both Shah and I will have iftar at the Uni. It'll be great coz than I won't have to rush back home to cook. I'll just have to prepare something to eat for sahur when I get back from iftar. Actually, this will be my 7th year of Ramadhan and Eid in the UK, far away from my family. But it's the 3rd year I am fasting and celebrating Eid with my husband. So I'm not actually away from my family. Well, come to think of it, I was always with 'family', i.e. my friends, be it when I was in London or here in Nottingham. Ramadhan and Eid here in the UK had and always have been as happening as it was back home in Msia. I hope this coming Eid will be a great one. I'm hoping to persuade Shah to send our photo and Eid greetings to the Msian papers coz ever since I have been overseas I've never sent one. I'm always envious of those who send their Eid greetings and I'm hoping my family would get a chance to read and keep them.

Anyway, I'll have to ask Shah about it. For now, I'm going to eat dinner. Before I go, I just wanted to tell you guys about an advert that Shah and I really like. It's an add by Honda about their new diesel engine. But the graphics are so cute. There's lots of colours and cartoon animals like bunnys, flamingos, butterflies and birds. If you want to check it out, go to www.honda.co.uk and click at the 'Click Here' sign where the birds are. Then click on 'See the film Sing the song' icon on the bottom right of the new page and see the film. It's soooo lovely.

Okay guys...enjoy Ramadhan, and selamat berpuasa. May this Ramadhan bring peace and tranquility into our hectic lives. And cherish this Ramadhan by doing lots of prayer, zikir and reading lots of Quran. That's a reminder for both you and I. May Allah bless us throughout this month.

See ya!!

I am lucky to have him...

Last week when I was sick and busy with work, Shah had been my saviour. He came home early every day last week and cooked for me. When I arrived home, the food was all readily cooked and I am so grateful for all that he has done for me. I am really bad coz I never show him how much I appreciate what he's done for me. I know I should show him how I feel but it's hard to show it coz I'm not used to showing my appreciation. I don't want him to take it to heart that I don't value what he's done for me coz I really can't imagine how I would cope with my work and my responsibilities as a wife if not for his help and undertsanding.

This coming Sunday is Shah's birthday and I have to find a way to make it a memorable one. I want to show him how much I love him and how I treasure him being a part of my life. I might cook something special and make it a proper sit-down meal at home with candle light and music. But I don't know what to get him as a present. I want to get him something that he'll use daily, one that is speacial and has a sentimental value to him. I've got to start thinking now about the present. So any of you out there who's got an idea on what I should get my beloved husband, do drop me a line in the shoutbox.

OK..got to continue with my thesis write-up....

My absence....

This is my attempt at recreating my comeback post. I'll try and remember what I wrote...

While I was away quite a few things have happened. Nothing extraordinary, just mundane weekly stuff with one or two exceptions maybe. Towards the end of September, my colleague and I found some fatal errors in our program which was none of our doings (basically my supervisor who wrote the code left out some important stuff). This meant that I have to re-run most (well, almost ALL) of my simulations. This has left me p*ssed coz I'm already in the last month of my 3rd year and what a time to find an error in my program. As you can guess, I wasn't happy at all coz this has thrown my schedule way out of course. Well, not that it had been on-schedule beforehand but I am trying to catch. It's just that with this new hindrance it'll be much harder to catch up. But I guess it's good that I found out about it now. I just hope the results are not too different!

Last weekend was not a good one coz I got sick. Shah had fallen sick first and I got it from him. It was quite a terrible flu and it has been awhile since I was that sick. I'm still recovering coz I've still got an awful cough. It gets worse in the mornings and at nights. I bought a cough syrup last Friday and I've drank 3/4 of the bottle but it doesn't seem to be doing anything to my cough. If only Shah hadn't finished the 'ubat batuk cap ibu dan anak' surely I would have been cured now. Actually, we were in Hanson's today but I forgot to buy a bottle. Never mind, I'll just have to keep taking the throat lozenges and pray I'll get better soon.

Last Wednesday, Shah and I went for dinner at New Ocean City as part of his office social. It was fun to have dinner with his officemates and the food was lovely. It was a Chinese buffet and even though there were no Halal meat but there were lots of seafood and vege dishes. It was a shame though that because of the dinner we couldn't go to the Goose Fair with the Nottingham Msian Society. I really wanted to go to the Goose Fair coz I don't think we will be here for the next one. But it's OK coz Shah promised me(insyaAllah) that we'll go to Disneyland Paris and I'll just have to wait till to go on all the rides. I just hope it'll be soon though.

Time surely has passed by real fast coz by next Friday it'll be Ramadhan again. Luckily I've repaid all the days that I didn't fast during last year's Ramadhan. So roughly four weeks from now it will be Eid! Shah mentioned that he wants to cook 2 large pots of rendang as well as nasi impit and kuah kacang for the first day of Eid incase some of out friends are coming to our house. I'm thinking of making some cookies too. But I'll have to make more cookies this year coz there are more undergrads this year and it's them who are likely to come to our house. So every week, insyaAllah, I'lltry and make some cookies. I just then have to refrain Shah from finishing them all up (and I know he can easily eat them all up) coz he's always asking for something to munch while we're watching the tele.

Anyway, that was basically what I've been doing since I last put in an entry. I just hope I have the time to keep placing at least 4-5 posts a week. I've got so much to write about, with Shah's birthday coming next Sunday and on the book(The Da Vinci Code) that Shah and I just can't seem to put down. But I think it'll be quite hard to write frequently coz my workload is as high as a mountain at this very moment because of all the re-run's that I have to do aside from my current simulations plus the Christmas deadline I had set for my thesis submission. I really hope I can make that deadline coz I don't want to dissapoint Shah.

So, till next time...
Tara for now...

My comeback post..gone!!

I'm so bloody p***** coz I wrote a long comeback post to explain where I've been and what I've been doing and when I hit the 'Publish Post' button the stupid, annoying, 'I cant-believe-what-I'm seeing' page displayed the 'Cannot connect to server' error message. I'm so angry!! I wrote a really long entry and it could have just been my longest entry ever (a well deserving length since I have been MIA for more than 2 weeks). But now it's all gone gone gone!

I know! I have to rewrite it all. The story of my life these days..rewrite, re-run, re-do. I'll explain in my next post. If it gets published. Till then...
Scene right now: Anisa hitting the 'Publish Post' button while fuming in anger.
('you' as in Blogger or the network or whatever that caused my entry to not get published)