The cycle begins again

Classes commmence next Tuesday and to tell you the truth I haven't been doing much preperation. Luckily I'm not teaching a new subject so basically I have all the notes prepared. I just need to do some modifications and prepare a teaching repository website so that I can just ask my students to get the notes from there. Basically, I've decided that I wont have much time running back and forth from the printing department to get their notes printed. Hence, the creation of the website where the students will have to download the notes and bring them to class. If they don't do so, then too bad. They'll have to copy it all down. Howevevr, I'm having some problems uploading things up on the site. I just hope I'll be able to get it all ready by next week.

I started off wanting to write more. But a movie has just started on TV and it's quite rare that As*ro shows a movie that I've never watched and interesting at the same time. So I'll write again soon. Bye!

And the wait begins

picture taken from stock.xchng

Last Tuesday 21 November 2006, exactly one month to the day from my birthday, I was presented with a letter from my husband. According to the letter, a fund aptly named the "B-day Fund" has been setup for me and a portion from this fund has been allocated for my upcoming 27th birthday (well, no more secrets here!! 3 years to the big three-oh). To claim this portion, I am required to return the letter with a list of FIVE (and no less mind you or the allocated fund will be revoked) most desired birthday presents to my husband by 5pm Friday 24 November 2006. The terms and conditions are as follows:

1. EACH item must be worth between RM300 and RMxxxx.
2. EACH item must be an actual product. Meals, holiday trips, hotel stays and items of similar nature are not allowed. But, these items may be granted to me as complementary presents, subject to my husbands discretion.
3. In order to claim the birthday presents on 21 December 2006, I am required to keep a copy of the letter.

According to the letter, my husband will choose a maximum of three and a minimum of two items from the five items I've listed.

As soon as I received the letter, immediately 3 items came to mind. But listing the last two items was very hard indeed. You must understand my predicament here. If I only submitted 3 items, I will get nothing at all. So by hook or by crook, I had to think up two more items.

Come last Friday I was still short of 2 items. So I had to request for an extension to the dateline. Luckily, I was given till 10 pm yesterday 27 November 2006 to finish up the list. However, I was only able to submit the letter today because I forgot to make a copy of the letter (as per TOC 3 above) yesterday. Lucky for me, the husband wasn't very strict on the deadline part of the deal.

So, as the title of this post says...the wait begins!

Eid in Kangar and Retreat in Bukit Tinggi

Gosh it's been ages since I played with sparklers..

Aidilfitri was fun and we certainly enjoyed the trip back to Kangar. We arrived 4 days before Eid and had a whale of a time breaking fast each and every day in Kangar as we ate lots and lots of seafood. You name it, talapia fish, king prawns, squid and crab. We had it all thanks to Shah's Dad who bought RM250 worth of them all. It was enough to fill a small freazer. Shah's Mum made grilled talapia for dinner on 6 out of the 7 nights we we're in Kangar. Anyway, needless to say 1 week in Kangar oblterated my Ramadhan diet. I swear fasting for one month made me lose weight (although I did not officially weigh myself) but I put them all on again during that trip to Kangar. Now I have to start a over again (although I don't see the start ever materialising up to this very moment).

Anyway, once we got back to PJ on the 4th day of Eid I did go visit some relatives and my grandma in KL. Then went back to work the following Monday as Uni**n started exams that very day and the final exams for my subject was that afternoon. So from then onwards it was grading, grading, grading all the way. I'm not going to waste my energy talking (or should i say typing) about the results of grading. I'll just keep that to myself.
Now, amidst all the grading, Shah and I were asked to facilitate at a workshop for top-level management staff of our uni at Bukit Tinggi. So we jumped at the chance of having an all expence paid work-cum-weekend holiday. Even though it was tiring on the first day at Bukit Tinggi last Friday, the next day we spent there was quite fun. The whole Saturday was filled with brainstorming sessions but that night we had a wonderful barbeque dinner. Shah said it was the best barbeque he had ever. We were definitely spoilt for choice and at the end of the night our stomach was partically on the verge of bursting. Most of you from Malaysia would surely know that Bukit Tinggi is also called 'The French Village Resort' since it is designed to mimic a typical French Village. I must say a visit to Bukit Tinggi is definitely unique and different from all other highland tpurist attractions in Malaysia. I liked the way the resort has a main street with food shops just like the high street in a european village. But the shops are pricey and I am fairly sure the management are capitalising on the fact that the nearest town/shops is almost half an hour drive away. Luckily our meals were included in the seminar package.





Well, I guess that's enough of rambling. Suffice to say I enjoyed our stay at Kangar and Bukit Tinggi. The next time Shah and I go to Bukit Tinggi will be a day trip to the Japanese Garden and Rabbit Farm as we did not have time to go there this time around.

Balik Kampung...

Raya will be here in no time at all and every one is starting to head back to their kampung(hometowns). Shah and I are too. Tis year we'll be celebrating Raya at Shah's parents place in Kangar. InsyaAllah, we'll be departing KL early Friday morning, approx. 3am to be exact according to Shah. So tomorrow will be our last day at work and then we'll be off for slightly more than a week. I've never spent the first day of Raya with Shah's family so this will be a new experience for me. I'm not sure how namy people will come visiting to their house or whether we'll be going visiting to many places. But I hope it will be an enjoyable experience. I'm also hoping Shah and I will be able to go to Padang Besar (bordering Thailand) so that I can do some shopping...hehehhe...

Well, I guess that's all for now. Selamat Hari Raya..Maaf Zahir Batin.

Ramadhan..it came & it's almost going...how sad..

* picture courtesy of nas and taken from stock.xchng

It has been 16 days since the start of Ramadhan. This year will be our 2nd Ramadhan and eid in Malaysia since 1998. Plus it's my first Ramadhan while giving lectures and I must tell you it's not an easy feat. After each lecture I'm left feeling so very thirsty particularly when the lectures are late in the afternoon. Coincidentally this is the first semester where I have a two-hour lecture every Wednesday afternoon, 4 to 6 pm mind you. By the end of the lecture I'm almost too tired to think. I do pity the students too as I know they too can't concentrate the full 2 hours. So I usually end the class by 5:30 pm. I just hope whatever I've taught them is subconciously absorbed by their tired minds.

It's almost the end of the semester and I've got a couple more lectures before the syllabus is finished. But I've still got a stack of test papers which I haven't even started marking. I hope I'll be able to get through half of them by this weekend. And I'm hoping it'll all be done before the festivities start. the students are given 1 week holiday starting from Deepavali day until 29 October. Then the semester exams will start and we'll all start to get busy again. Anyway, I just hope I'll get thorugh all the exam script marking speedily and with very little problems.

Gosh.. I can't believe that we're almost half way thorugh Ramadhan. I didn't even realise it whiz by. Before we know it Ramadhan will be gone. I feel as though I haven't even gotten the most or done my best to make full use of this month. I've been too caught up with work and too tired by the end of the day to even do anything else. I feel so ashamed of myself. I hope I'm not too late and will be able to do my best and get the most out of the last half of this month. InsyaAllah.

Anyway, in preparation for Eid, my sister and i have baked 3 types of cookies. I don't think I'll be able to bake more of them in the coming weekends as I've got to work this Saturday and next weekend shah and i will be heading back to Kangar for Eid. This year we'll be spending eid with shah's family. Shah is very excited to go home and I am too as it'll be nice break from work.

Well, I guess that's all for this time. Hopefully all of us will make full use of this blessed month of Ramadhan and pray that we'll be able to meet it again next year. And to all of you, Selamat Berpuasa and Selamat Menyambut Aidilfitri.