Raya and family reminiscence time!!

Raya this year is great as ever.To me there is no definition of a bad Raya.Though after my grandfather,Sheikh Haji Jamaluddin passed away, the mood was quite somber. Every year my family spend our Raya in Shah Alam except for 1 year where my grandma wanted to spend Raya at Alor Setar with her relatives, where all of us followed suit.Because my father’s mother and father has passed away and so does my mum’s father, I only have my nenek during Raya. Every year,on the eve of Raya my family will sleep at my mum’s parents house in Sect 11.We’ll visit the kubur after Raya prayers and breakfast and then we go back to change clothes,upacara bersalam-salaman & bermaaf-maafan & picture taking!Both of my late grandparents on my dad’s side, my late grandpa and great grandma on my mum’s side,all of them resides at the kubur in Sect.21.So every Raya we buy many flowers to put at the 4 respective kubur. And then, back when my tok ayah and wan was still alive,after berayaing with my mum’s side, my family will head to Sect.19 to beraya with my dad’s side of the family. Actually we still do that even to this year because my dad’s siblings all ‘berkumpul’ at their late parents house in Sect.19 where my Mak Lang serve a great Raya spread every year! And I always anticipate her ayam masak merah and pudding laici every Raya..yummm!!Yup,everybody is in Shah Alam except for some of my relatives who’s in Klang & Alor Setar.I’m born and bred here, I still keep in touch with my primary and high schoolmates due to the convenience of Friendster.

On the day before Raya, after my mum got back from the market with my dad,I helped her make the beef and chicken rending.Cut this and that.Blend this and that.And then my mum let me off so that she can finish cooking.heheheh.And then after my mum have finish cooking, we will head to my grandma’s house in Sect.11.Since the house is big(it has 5 rooms) and only my 2 single aunts and my grandma live in it, the other empty room will always be filled with her grandchildren who comes during weekends and it is especially ‘riuh’ during Raya. This year, just like every year, after bukak puasa on the eve of Raya, my parents,me,my cousins &my aunts will go to PKNS for some last minute Raya shopping. It is so much fun because the place is packed with people buying last minute baju raya and cookies, serunding and such.This year I even manage to snag a beautiful baju kurung which cost RM150 but because every vendor is competing with each other,he marked it down to RM50 to finish his stock .And my shopping savvy mum manage to mark it down further to RM45!That adds to my 2 other baju kurung for Raya!!hehehe.

We also bought some beef serunding and kerepek.No cookies as dad got a lot of cookies from the hampers given to him and the ones my aunt made. My cousin Kak Hani bought tudung to match her baju kurung and then we went home. I have already planned what I’m going to wear tomorrow and which baju kurung I should wear for going to kubur.I learned it from my cousin.You wear a not so flashy baju kurung for the kubur and the flashy one for Raya.^_^ Since I have 3 baju, I wore the most not flashy one for kubur and the other 2 I save Raya.I ironed all of my clothes, even 2 casual ones because I don’t know what I’ll be wearing tomorrow.We went to bed a bit late because of borak-borak sessions.I woke up at 6.30, after subuh prayers, Kak Hani,Adila & me arrange the cookies.This is a tradition every year for me and Kak Hani.Every Raya morning we have to wash the container for the cookies,wipe them clean and arrange all of the cookies.Every year there will be 10 type of cookies altogether. This year Adila helped out too.

I have about 26 cousins on my mum’s side but they are scattered around Malaysia at the moment.I have 5 cousins in Alor Setar,3 in KL,5 in Klang,3 who goes back to Taiping(their father’s side)every Raya although they live in Shah Alam.Every year only my 4 cousins are the main faces.Kak Hani,Firdaus,Syazni and Adila. My cousins who are in Alor Setar and the ones who go back to Taiping are rarely present during Raya.My other cousins comes around lunch tine on the first day of Raya.

My siblings and I are very close to Kak Hani,Firdaus,Syazni and Adila.All 4 of them are brothers and sisters.We grew up together and have many memories with each other.We have many homevideos to prove it.We’ve been close ever since we were in diapers! Eventhough Kak Hani is busy with her studies & I rarely see her during weekdays eventhough both of us study at UiTM Shah Alam (though my faculty is in Sect 17), we try to catch up with each other whenever we can through sleepovers .hehehe.Firdaus is studying in UiTM Segamat and he comes back whenever he can because he gets bored there since its in the middle of a jungle .Syazni and Adila lives with their parents back in Bandar Baru Bangi.

This year after taking pictures and beraya(Syazni is not in the pictures because she got sick and slept throughout the whole day!), my family and I went to Sect 19 and beraya with my dad’s side.I stuff myself silly because I only get to eat Mak Lang’s cooking during 1st day of Raya.I have about 15 cousins on my dad’s side but all of them are small as in not my age group so we don’t keep in touch.hahaha.After that, Kak Hani msg me saying if I want to go to Jusco Klang because she wants to buy sushi for lunch .So I followed suit because I want to buy the right straightening/curling iron.But there wasn’t any that I like at Shins. When we arrived at my grandma’s house, my 2 uncles and their family came. Uncle Affendy and Uncle Fauzi. Oh I forgot to mention that I am an aunty (it makes me feel so old!) because Uncle Fauzi’s daughter, Sameerah, my cousin, got married 2 years ago to Hafiziand now her baby,whom we call Fasha is about 1 year old. And then Kak Hani and her family left to visit their father’s sister (their grandparents on their father’s side have passed away just like my dad). In the evening my late grandpa’s relative came .My cousins Tariq & Zul who are stewardess in Dubai( they came back for Raya) came with their parents. I haven’t seen them in ages because they don’t live here .It was good to see that they’re doing well.I always love their sister Lubna but since she got married and live in Dubai, I haven’t seen her in years!

The next day,after breakfast I went shopping with my family and cousins. Manage to buy Philips Geometricks and it was worth the RM150 spent. After that went back to Puncak Alam & Firdaus stayed over at our house up until Tuesday whereby we’ll go to his house because Umi(his mother,my aunt who eventhough is not our mother, my siblings all call her Umi because we are used to calling her that ever since we were lil kids!)invites the whole family for lunch.Kak Hani stayed at grandma’s house cos’ she has a study group thing.

Fashionista in me

I’m a big fan of fashion. Judging by my ever expanding wardrobe, this rings true. I have been buying In Style magazine since I was 15 years old. And I never miss even one issue each month in each year.I love reading about fashions .I even have a big hardcover book on handbags, the brands and all .I just love fashion .And of course, I love watching designers collection for each season particularly the New York Fashion week. Thanks heaven for Style.com podcasts on iTunes, as I am able to see the collection before they go out to the mass market ,not that I can afford to buy any of them but it gives me ideas on what might look good on me and really, I just love looking at all the beautiful clothes! Plus, we know that Malaysia is waaay late on keeping up with fashion trends…sigh. Watching the Spring 2008 collection of designers such as Vera Wang, Proenza Schouler,Marc Jacobs,Lanvin,Derek Lam,Carolina Herrera, Diane Von Furstenberg, Matthew Williamson,Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani and Zac Posen, from the New York fashion week, I can see a few key trends that will hit the stores(usually Topshop or MNG will copy the designs).

From all the collection that I watched, I really love Carolina Herrera’s dresses with beaded flowers on them( one of them was pale red and was studded with many beaded flowers that looked like posies and was paired with a gray striped cardigan…how utterly gorgeous!),and funnily,the high heeled shoes with a strand of metallic chain on the front ,that are being worn by the models on the runway,resembles the ones I saw at Vincci,only at Vincci it is a flat sandal and the chain is plastic.Props for Vincci for being way advance than Carolina Herrera(her collection just came out & it’s for Spring 2008!) herself.She said that her collection this time is an explosion of color and I love it, being a fan of color( I only have 3 black tops in my entire wardrobe).There were gorgeous beaded halter dresses,and I would be happy to have the entire collection to myself..hehehe.Diane Von Furstenberg Spring 2008 collection had some of their models wearing an orchid tucked behind one side of their ear,hats and scarf tied to their hair. And the clothes were flowy, airy and feminine. I love the dress that Alex Wek wore down the runway which had prints of the Birds of Paradise flower allover and the combination of green,orange and yellow color actually works and it looked so beautiful.There were many tunic tops, gorgeous flowy and flowery dresses.Ralph Lauren collection was all black and white at first and then there were a few jeweled tone dresses.The collection had an equestrian, a black and white ball and victorian theme to it.

Derek Lam on the other hand, had a lot of animal prints, cheetah prints to be precise. And I can see from all of the collection that there are ruffles everywhere from Zac Posen to DerekLam to Ralph Lauren.There were feathers.And there were African inspired clothes from Matthew Williamson and Proenza Schouler had a military theme with all the gorgeous vest and brass buttons.Lanvin’s collection had no prints but there were glittery dresses, primary colors,and jewel toned dresses with ruffles on top.Vera Wang was all about volume but it was controlled and there were bejeweled necklines. But I was not a fan of Marc Jacobs Spring 2008 collection. To me it was not wearable compared to other designers’ collection and some of it was just too weird.

The smell of frangipanis

Gossip Girl is here!

The first time I bought the book Gossip Girl by Cecily Von Ziegesar was on the 6th of September 2003.I jot the date and place I bought the book in the book.It was during the Inter School National Jr.Scrabble Competition at Subang Parade because I along with my 2 teammates were representing the state of N.Sembilan as the 1st champion for the state(a little bragging here).

The book actually came out during 2002.But after that, I kept buying the book so fast, the 2nd,the 3rd and the 4th that as time goes, I had to wait for the next book to come out because I was reading them as fast as I could.It was just juicy and so bad, in a good way.The storyline fascinated me.About a group of privileged high school students living in the upper east side of New York.I love the fashion aspect of the book as well,how the authors describe the expensive clothes that they wear.Plus the outrageous behavior and the fact that they can get away with a lot of things as long as they look good to the society.

I heard a few years ago that they were going to do a movie base on the book but up until this year there were no news.But a few months ago, I saw on the CW website which I frequent to get updates on television show there so that I can download them on Ares(yup it’s illegal but who cares?If I wait for Malaysian television broadcast, ‘berjanggut lah jawabnya’.I was excited when I saw the advert for Gossip Girl on the website and plus the fact that Josh Schwartz(the man behind the now defunct The OC) is one of the executive producers( I think the show has 3 exec producer), I’m sure that the show will be good and give justice to the book.I watch the video for the trailer of the show on the CW website and was getting excited.

And finally, after I manage to get my hands on the episodes, by downloading them and now I have watch all 3 episodes( I think right now they’re showing the 4th episode in the US & I’ll get that episode next week) I can safely say that it’s good!Though the story has many twist here and there and doesn’t really follow everything in the book because I was kinda shock when I watch the 1st episode and realize that it was on the 1st book,everything from start to finish is what is in the 1st book.I wondered where will the show go now, wondering if each episode will be based on each book in numerical order. But as I watched the 2nd and 3rd episode, I realize that things will be just fine! And I can’t wait for the upcoming episodes!

Here I list the differences between the book and the series:
1. Blair’s mother doesn’t have a boyfriend and soon to be her stepfather like in the book, named Cyrus and he’s suppose to have a son named Aaron.

2. Blair’s younger brother Tyler is nowhere to be seen.Does she even have a brother in the show?

3.Dan’s Humphrey best friend named Vanessa Abrams is not in the show.In the 1st book,she’s suppose to find a lead actress in her film with the lead actor being Dan.

4 . Jenny Humphrey is not as stacked as what is described in the book. She was supposed to have really big boobs and brown hair.

5. Serena’s brother ,Eric is supposed to be older than her,a player and is studying at Brown but in the show, he’ younger and have dark issues.

6. Serena is far more serious in the show than she was portrayed in the book.She was far more aloof and all about fun in the book.

7. Serena has both parents in the book but in the show , somehow Serena’s mom is a single parent and has a history with Dan’s dad.

I totally recommend you guys to download the series from Ares!!!Go and watch it now.

Raya is here!!!

I can’t wait for Raya the day.Hopefully it’ll be a good one.Unlike last year whereby some mishap happen to our family.This year my parents have been very generous with Raya shopping.So far I have bought 4 tops, a pair of slinky black pants( my current one is getting burok), 3 pairs of shoes and 2 baju kurung plus one kebaya.^_^ Yup that’s a lot!I love my shoes!!!!Can’t wait to wear em’.

I’ve been cleaning the clutter in my room and reorganizing my wardrobe.God knows I have too many clothes.My room is strictly off limits for my family members except my mum.She opened my closet once last week and was like, I can’t believe you have this many clothes and goes on to tell me about the time when she was in the university that she did not have as much clothes to wear.hehehe.But she bought it for me but she herself forgot about it.But I guess I do have too many clothes because I have quite a few tops that I have yet to be worn and an armful of dresses that I have not worn too!Sigh..so I decided to put everything that I will not be wearing anymore into a big garbage bag( I have no big boxes) and give them to charity.

The fact that I only go back to my parent’s house during weekends and recently I only go back twice a month due to assignments, my room is a mess.I live with my housemates in a rented apartment and even there I have trouble in keeping it clean, let alone my own room in my own house.I can’t wait to help my mum cook Raya food. We’re going to the market this Friday morning and I’m going to attempt at making Masak Lodeh and lontong this year .Since my family does not have those dishes every Raya except when we go to my aunts house .Raya also mean getting many gift hampers and I love opening them with my cousins. We have many home videos on my mother’s side and as I watch them back when we were little kids, our late grandpa Sheikh Haji Jamaluddin will trick my cousin to believe that there’s money in empty Raya money packets. And me and my cousins will divide the things in the hamper between us.Watching all those tapes brings laughter and joy.My dad just got some hampers and raya biscuit from his workers and friends.Sigh, can’t wait for Raya!!!!!!!!!!1

Such a late post!!!

This entry should have been posted days ago but due to the fact that I somehow can't open the blogger webiste,this took a lot more time than it should have...huhuhu

So here's my updates over what I have been doing over the last couple of weeks....^_^

So much on looking on the bright side of things and all that I have neglect my blog in the pursuit of searching for the perfect template for it.Phew!This is the new template and if I get bored with it again I’ll change it again.hehehe.Okay,what have I been up to this past couple of weeks?The Ramadhan month is about to end and I can’t wait for Raya but then again after Raya is finals so I’m not exactly thrilled with that side of things. Sigh.On a more cheery note,my life has been great this past few weeks.

1. Adjudicated INTEC Battle of Minds Debate comp

It was a good competition.I enjoyed adjudicating my friends juniors.It got me missing being an adjudicator so much and just a hint of wanting to debate again.But commitment is an issue and I would rather not commit to something that I know I won’t be able to keep at it. But all in all although it is a small competition and it was their 1st comp, it was fun to listen to the ideas that the students have and some of the motions were hilarious.I.E, THW Ban Cock Fighting.Thought there some kids who just plain gave me a headache with their points but I had to remind myself that they are novices and to give them a chance.But the final debate was quite a letdown.All 5 adjudicators that included me,Izza,2 INTEC lecturers & Hafiedz the debate maestro himself,had a hard time deliberating who should win the debate.But the decision was made and I have to give props for the students for being able to single handedly organize their own debate competition!!Long live bright young minds!!

2. Had buka puasa with the kids at Rumah Aman

My housemates and I,some of our classmates and the guys from Safa’s house joined together and pooled our money to have berbuka puasa with the kids at Rumah Aman in Sek 2.It was a humbling experience.The house is filled with young boys from the age of 4-8 and all of them are orphans.But they were so well behaved and they can even recite the doa makan in English.My friends catered the food which was tomato rice with some dishes, using the money that we collected from each other,plus some donation from our parents and even my aunts chipped in by sponsoring food stuff. Our guy friends fried some nuggets, sausages for the kids and my housemate,Mak made onde-onde from her own recipe which me,Hanna,Napisah,Hani & Emmy helped in preparing it.It was a great night.We ate with the little boys,we talked to them.There was this one boy named Firdaus who were very unfriendly because he didn’t want to talk to any of us.Turns out he had stomachache but he still didn’t budge even after my other friends tried to make him laugh or talk to any of them.But I was not going to give up.I talked to him,took some pictures and he finally relented and laugh showing his toothless grin.I uploaded our pic on my friendster account.After that all of us performed terawih prayes together and then the founder of Rumah Aman showed us around the place.The place is spotless!From the big kitchen to the classroom(all of the kids goes to school at SK Raja Muda, but the lil ones are educated there.)They are so well taken care off.And looking at their activity board, even Hot.FM will be having buka puasa with them, MC Donalds in Seksyen 3 too!

3.Dinner Kesatria(okay, this is not really a positive post but who cares!)

It was not quite a disaster but it almost was.My friends and I looked our best that night with great outfits,adhering to the theme which was Modern Traditional I think, we did our hair and make up too.We even spent weeks before deciding on what to wear,doing a mini fashion show at my house with my housemates.So we were really anticipating it.But when the time comes, it was such a dissapoinment.It was held at a venue that should remain nameless.The worse part was we had to queue for food because they did not put the food on the table like civilize people should.So you can imagine what happened.It was a stampede!It was stuffy and hot due to the fact that they did not even put rotating fans around the tents and it was so not worth it spending the RM 30!We could have gone to Mcd, and have a feast per person and still stay cool.Oh yeah,the worst part of it was that there were not enough seating!I wonder how in the world did they organize this thing?My friend and I had to circle the place 3 times in order to find a place to sit and when there were none, we found to chairs stacked on top of each other and had to squeeze in to our friends table. It was sooo frustrasting.An d to think that we missed the Malam Nostalgia at our faculty for it!It made me so mad to even think of it.Because by the time we got back to our faculty after the dinner, the event has ended and we missed our friends performances. Haih!And when I rant about the dinner to my seniors,they told us that previously their Kesatria dinner was not at the same venue as we got.Theirs had waiters giving them food and it was held at an air conditioned place!F*^#!

4.Malam Anugerah Dekan Fakulti Pendidikan

Although I am on the committee of the event, I didn’t really think I contributed that much although I supposedly am the head of the Jemputan committee, due to the fact that assignments and quizzes are rolling in like thunder.But the night was a success and the food was gooooddd.Much, much better than the sucky Kesatria Dinner.sigh.The event also was very appropriate, at Klang Executive Club which of course meant air conditioning unlike Kesatria Dinner(there I go again!).Lets not remember that night anymore kay?And I was surprised when my junior,also named Liyana gave 2 performances that night, singing nasyid songs with another friend of hers.I never know that she had the singing talent in her.Congrats to all my friends who made it to the dean’s list and the Malam Anugerah committee for making the whole event a success.
More updates to come later this week!
SELAMAT HARI RAYA EVERYONE!

Hello hello!

In the spirit of the month of Ramadhan, I want to start anew by creating a brand new blog.Time to be more positive(hence the title of the blog) and basically I want to start with a clean slate.Maybe I just felt that from my previous blog entries, some of them were just too soppy and sometimes a wee bit depressing so I wanted to just start to have a more positive outlook in life.Recent happenings in my life made me realize that being alive and the ability to even walk and talk is thankful enough for me.I want to stop worrying about stupid things like will I ever met the right guy, what others think of me and so forth.I just want to be happy.But I know that life is full of ups and downs.So,although I'll try to keep this blog filled with happy thoughts and all, I'll have another not so happy blog whereby I'll be able to let out my negativity and anger there.But I won't put the link here because it will not be pretty if some people manage to read it.ahah.So lets start anew and start to think about things that really matters in life.After all, I will be turning 21 next year.Need to change my outlook, my goals, be more focus and less superficial.