Weeks of Excitements

For the past few weeks after I landed back from KL, I spent a lot of time with my friends and family. I even started using my roller skates to chill. Sadly, haven’t explore where I could roll with it except at a shopping complex with multi-storey parking. That would be a good place to roll down! Anyway,Wednesday 15th July is where the people of Brunei celebrates their monarchy’s birthday, HM Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah is 62 years old this year. I have missed his celebration last year and now I’ve came to embrace it. I went out with Wafi on the following Friday to the stalls on the hunt for sotong tutuk (Hammered Squid) and toy handcuff. Handcuff? That’s a story for the future. *Winxs*

This year, there weren’t that many stalls and I kept bumping into relatives. All assume that Wafi is my boyfriend which I kept assuring them he’s only my friend. This is what relatives always assume everytime they see a friend of the opposite sex. The purpose of this is so that they can tease you. So I have to always lay out the facts correctly. Hahaha!

I managed to get my sotong tutuk and fruits. Wafi was hungry so we went off to Batu Bersurat to eat satay for dinner but before we went there we looked at the cucul (decorated light ornaments) around bandar and at the Istana (palace). Just by looking at all the decorations and feeling the festive vibe, I felt like I was back in my youth enjoying it though the weather was a light drizzle.

After dinner, took a tour to Giant. MY FIRST TIME EVER! Well, only from the outside. Then we went out of rimba and headed back home. Wafi thanks for giving me a tour around my home country *LOL*.

The following day I went out with Dina to have my hairwash and Dina wanted to try out a facial voucher. So we venture through Gadong and went all the way to the back of the building. I got my hair wash and cut then decided to go for a massage which I find it unsatisfying as I’m still feeling achy. Leaving the salon, we went upstairs to check Dina’s facial shop.

It didn’t take us that long to stay as the voucher was only to use if Dina use their product and services at a certain amount. Talk about unexpected disappointment. So, we went for lunch at Misato because I was craving for sushi. I even insisted her to watch The Dark Knight with me. Overall, we loved the movie! I couldn’t stop covering my mouth when Joker puts a knife in his victim’s mouth every time he goes “Do you want to know how I got these scars?”- Sorry for the spoiler.

After the movie head on to Rody’s office. Then Rody insisted that we go shopping for the cocktail pudding ingredients at Hua Ho. When we were done with the shopping, it down poured and windy for us to walk back to Rody’s office and had to wait for the rain to stop which was like never. Our first plan was to have Rody’s workmate to pick us up but we end up scampering back in the rain with the help of Dina’s umbrella and Rody covered his head with his bag.

Soon as we arrived back, I told Rody, that Dina and I decided to dine in at Singapore Chicken rice for dinner which was just a two doors next to Rody’s office. Rody join us for dinner and it was such a giggle for us because Dina kept on whining that she was hungry but Rody was the first one to finish his chicken rice. Shows that he was hungrier than Dina. After dinner, sat for a few minutes at Rody’s office and surfed the internet as always my internet connection sucks big time! Soon, I sent Dina back to her crib and off I went back home to Tutong.

Sunday, the last day of the week went outside my crib rollerblading with my new skates! Had the cats following me and someone accompanied for 5 minutes. Haha. Dymn got beaten by rubber Adidas shoes *LoL* Soon, had sweats coming out and I decided to stop rolling and played with my cats on the swing. Haha. The cats acted weird as if an earthquake had hit as I push them on the swing.

The Following week 21^st July.

Monday was always a blue day but had the ball rolling for preparing my Malay Interview for the Scholarship. I didn’t do much but was able to get a lot knowledge with the help of family and friends. Thanks everyone for helping out! Knowledge is essential! Always remember that.

That night, went to Excapade to have dinner with Rody. He treated! Thanks buddy! The road to Qlap was awfully jammed because of the festive celebration going on at Bandar (City). We both had bentos for dinner but Rody had beef and I had chicken. I ordered the enoki butter and salmon sashimi for add ons. We talked about local fruits (because its the season now in Brunei), Rahimah’s admission to UBD (University of Brunei Darussalam), my trip to KL and other stuff which we paused when we heard the fireworks being played outside at 8.30pm.

When I was done with my bento, we ended dinner and head back to our cars and it started to drizzle. Took his tray for the cocktail and off I went to avoid the jam which was still there! Gosh, from the time that I arrived around 7.30pmish to 9pm. Well, even before I arrived there, the jam was already there! As soon as I return, I started on Rody’s cocktail pudding and went to bed after putting it into the freezer.

Tuesday. Went out on a lunch date with my bestfriends; Yulz, Masz and Ekin. It’s been years since I’ve met Ekin. She’s happily married and she still the Ekin we love back in highschool. We had lunch at Ideal at Gadong Properties. We were LoLing non-stop, one story to the other. Masz was over-LoLing because she was laughing with her head on the table *LOL*

Got on Yulz’s car and went off to Le’Apple to book a cake under Masz and then sent Ekin back to work. Soon I was drop off to my car and I headed to Tutong town to buy some cocktail ingredients at Hua Ho with a companion. Haha. I’m sooo putting this person in the unknown position. Return home and took an afternoon nap. Later that night after dinner, I started to make three batches of cocktail pudding for my aunts and my family.

Wednesday was the day my little sis, Rahimah came back from Bangkok. I had to wait for 30 minutes for her plane to land but there were a small commotion earlier on where this Dr.Sheikh a famous Malaysian Astronaut and doctor and I don’t know what else his specialties are which I heard from my best friends who seriously adores him. So for my readers you can read his biodata here.

I was like “who the heck is that dude? Never seen him before” and ignored the commotion while I was dreading to wait for my sister to land. Finally the announcement of my sister’s flight made me ease a litte unfortunately, it took my sister a litte while to exit. Must be that she sat at the back of the plane, or her bags came a little late at the belt. However, I was glad that she arrived safely.

We then went over to Rody’s office for a while just to send his cocktail pudding *finally* and he seems happy to see it and waiting to dive into it. Haha. We left to head back home and Rahimah wanted to make her uniform that very night. Saf was around and wanted to join us. We made a pitstop to my Angah and Uwa’s house. I gave them the cocktail pudding and my treats from Melbourne for them. We had a long conversation with Angah.

It was getting a bit late to go to our tailor. When we arrived at my tailor, they were open for the whole night because they have a lot of clothes to tailor for the upcoming festive season- Hari Raya. Thankfully, they were kind enough to make my sister’s uniform. I saw my clothes already done for my bestfriend’s, Sur, wedding.

Alas, I finally get my rest! Hence, hoped that Thursday I could sleep in! Which I did! Ahaha! So I’ll continue my next post with Friday regarding Sur’s nikah (wedding). Hopefully this will keep u for the next post.

P.S I miss posting pictures on my blog...so I tried one with this awful connection and zilch, connection error. Sigh! Pictures will be available once I return to Melbourne.

A week in KL

Kuala Lumpur. Arrived on 7^th July 2008, ALONE! This was because my best friend MaseZ had to attend a briefing which was compulsory and hence she joined my nephew’s flight which was the next day. KLIA wasn’t that tough to go through but I was confused with the Aerotrain. Took the Airport Taxi to go to my hotel; Pearl International Hotel at Klang Lama. I spoke a few conversations with the driver and he was astonished that I came to KL alone as this is the city that is known to NEVER COME ALONE!

Well, to me, you have to be brave and know where to be at. Don’t expect me to go to dark places and visit some pimp houses. Not only that, I have my Malaysian friends who I can call for help; Ben, Jason and Ivan. They are the ones who play with me online- Guild Wars. It’s good to have friends all over the place which tends to be the reason to fly overseas and visit them (and other secret intention *winxs*). *LOL*

On the way to my hotel, I kept texting with Ben as he informed me that he is already waiting for me at Pearl International Hotel. I was excited to meet them and heck, I didn’t even have negative feelings about it (as in being cautious in meeting strangers). As soon as I reached my hotel, I had to pay deposit of my room and Ben was so eager to see me that he came to the reception WITH JASON!!! I thought it was just Ben but Jason was there also as I recognised him from our webcam conversation.

So, settled my payment and went up to the room where they tagged along. Ben insisted to show me around the place and we headed off to MidValley. A shopping Mall that was too big for me to digest! I got confused of going from one end to the other. All I remember is the top floor which had sports items and Cinema. I also had the chance to send Jason over to his Grandma’s house as he had tuition there. Sadly, Jason was scolded by his mum for not being on time at his Grandma’s. Hence my chances of seeing Jason were a rare chance.

Returned back to hotel and watched some television. I called in for Masez and texted Muntui. I was so bored at the hotel, I thought to go out at that night and meet up. Funny how people asked me not to go out at night alone in KL, which I kind of break the rules. So we won’t go into details of where I mysterious went that night. *LOL*

Next day, woke up early and found out that the rain had just stop. I called Masez to see if she’s at the airport (in Brunei) ready to leave which she was STILL at home at 9am. When she reached to KL, she was blurred and lost until she met up with me at the Hotel. She told me she was like feeling unease starting from Brunei till the hotel.

I guess it’s the feeling of being alone (when she’s not as she had Muntui to accompany her) mentally. So, I decided to take her shopping for her first day in KL at KLCC as I had to meet up with Ivan for dinner. Everything was going fine and as we soon meet with Ivan, Masez was finally at ease! Even Muntui had notice Masez’s expression throughout his journey sending her to me because he sent me a message if she was alright which I assured him she’s fine and I’m letting her shop.

Back in Brunei, I told Masez that I’ll be having a different image in KL which I dress up in shorts and t-shirt when I waited for her at the entrance of the hotel. She wasn’t even surprised instead Muntui was! Fine, that didn’t work but the following day, I decided to put on my skirt, again she wasn’t even amazed and yes Muntui was surprised again when we coincidentally bump into him at Jalan Tungku Abdul Rahman where I thought he would be in class and the chances of bumping into him was ZILCH!*LOL*

I had fun in KL that I managed to see Ben and Jason’s cribs as well as Jason’s school. It all happened on a nice sunny Friday. Ben came to take us to Skateline for me to get my K2 Skate Athena and we got to meet a few of Ben’s work colleague but the one that entertained me the most was Nixon. We drool for his good customer service. Right Masez? *winxs*

I was eager to see Jason’s school that Ben agreed to help me out. So I dumped my skates at Ben’s house and we walked to Jason’s school. We waited for more than 30 minutes for Jason to come out. It was like us being a paparazzi waiting to snapshoot a superstar. You wish Jason! Coincidently, Jason’s dad was also there waiting.

When Jason came out he was surprised to see us there and he was so polite to offer us a ride to Parkson. We hitch a ride there and I couldn’t believe it that my chances of seeing Jason again were possible! Not only that, Muntui had his chance of seeing Jason (this is between Muntui@Nephew and I@Aunty joke) *LOL*. We dined there for late lunch which you can take a look at the video section when I’m able to post it up SOON, if not wait till I’m back in Melbourne.

After that, Jason had to return and I kept on insisting to go to his crib which we had to use a different taxi after we had to get Masez’s glasses and a short rest in the room. When we arrived Jason’s crib, I was like “OOOOO” as it was a calm place to live in and we entered his room. The sense of trying to ‘lepak’.

We didn’t hang out there for long as Ben kept on wanting to eat at this Mamak place nearby Jason’s area. I ordered ABC special which Masez had the same thing. We hang out till it was already dark and thank god we found a taxi around Jason’s area as it was very hard to get one. After that we headed off to MidValley to catch Hellboy 2 but the tickets were sold out and so decided to watch Wars of the Dragon.

Wars of the Dragon had a good storyline but they need to polish the scene up. I gave it 6.5 out of 10. After the movie we all headed separate ways as the next day we were going to head off to Genting Highland.

Saturday. Woke up early but still feeling tired, got ready and waited for Ben to pick us up. We then went to KL Sentral to use the bus which we changed to using the LRT. We actually wanted to use a taxi but the guy cancelled on us and Ivan jinxed us to use the public transport. It was Ben, Ivan, Masez, Muntui and I on this trip.

The hilarious moments was when we found out that Ivan is afraid of heights and kept on screaming when he looked down at the cable car. Another incident was when we were playing snowball fights, I slip and did a half split while throwing to Ben. Sadly, I didn’t really play much on the ride as the fog and rain came in to ruin my day except I was cheered up by someone playing peekaboo with me that day *LOL* thanks!

The ride back home was using the bus and it was fun to like talk in the bus but Masez was about to hurl as the bus ride wasn’t comfortable for her. I saw a few places that looked interesting to tour especially the carnival and the Batu Caves area. Ivan kept on saying ‘Puchong’ as he found out what it meant in Brunei Malay when we were in Puchong area. We all laughed.

That was a fun moment and I hope to see them again anytime soon but for now I have to prepare myself for next semester. Ivan joined to sleep with us at our hotel as he was having fun to be with us. I had to excuse myself to make a phone call and going down at the hotel. After that I went up to join them and we had much to say especially regarding C-dude.

KL has been a great experience for me except I just don’t like some Malaysian attitude when it comes to customer service and when they become racist to the extend they disapprove of us hanging with Chinese. So, the only reason that I will go back to KL is because of them! Shopping in KL is not my jell-o.

Quotes that I’ll always remember:

“Dah masuk ke belum?”

“Sabar aje le”

“Yang pakcik-pakcik dan makcik-makcik yang dah nak masuk kubur tu”

“Typical Malaysians”

“Malas nak layan budak ni”

“Puchong”-> Ivan’s all time favourite *LOL*

For pictures, I’ll post it up once I’m back in Melbourne.

KL POSTED!

Holiday in Bangkok with Family

Bangkok. You may have seen the pictures I’ve posted while I was in Bangkok with my cousins and their family. I left for Bangkok on the 13^th June (sadly arrived 14^th June) and on Sunday, my sister and my cousin arrived, followed on Monday, my older brother and my other cousin arrived. So practically, it was a full house by that Monday! My parent’s apartment consists of 3 bedrooms including a Master bedroom. So each family had each room, hence I (and my siblings) had to sleep at my parent’s room.

My cousin, who came with my sister, took us out every day! She and her husband are very active to go out. She’s humorous and loves bowling that she wanted to buy a bowling ball but then it was cancelled because the saleslady offered her a good price but once my cousin wanted to collect her ball, they charge additional cost. Bad business!

Almost every day going out with them, we ate at KFC and sometimes Swenson. The only place we went to eat proper meal was at home. My parent’s apartment had never been noisier until they came. I was overwhelmed that there were children to make the apartment cheery as my mum always stayed indoors most of the time when my dad is out for work or golf.

At Bangkok, we went shopping at MBK, Platinum, Sampeng, Sport’s building, street stalls and Sunday Market. I also accompanied to the Zoo (Safari World) and Dream World which was a fun trip for me as I like to go sight-seeing and theme parks! Dream World was the best for me to have fun in Bangkok. We even had time to go bowling.

If you want to find the cheapest prices or wholesale deal that would have to be at Sampeng but it’s a bit crowded and you’d have to be there early as it closes by 4pm-6pm depending on your luck. I bought brooches there and there are even accessories that you could get it cheaper than the ones in Platinum.

Unfortunately, after munching on fruits in Bangkok, I caught a sore throat and had to stay in for a day. Heck, never like that feeling of itchy and aching vibe in the throat. Actually, my sister caught it first, and then my brother and I had it on the same day. I had to go buy Redoxin when I felt the incoming pain.

I stayed in Bangkok till 25^th June as my cousins were returning on that date. I was supposed to return to Brunei on the 22^nd June but I felt pity for my dad to send me off early and then send my cousins off three days later. So, I agreed to return on the same day as they were returning.

I thought I would dread Bangkok alone but thank god my siblings and my cousins came along to spend the holiday at my parent. If not, I would have stayed indoors and wait for the weekend when my dad has his off days.

For more Bangkok pictures please visit my cousin’s hubby’s site

Bangkok POSTED!

Blogging back for you :D

Well, so we meet again after one long hiatus from me. Was I lazy to post? No I wasn’t. I knew I didn’t have the time to post until I knew I would find myself posting again and the fact that I was trying to recover my lost of Danny. So, I will be posting of my first semester this year and my holidays spent in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. Now, I’m back home in Brunei and its HM Sultan’s birthday (15^th July 2008). The weather at this point is critically wet (raining)!

How first semester has been like to me? Well, I must say it’s a bit laid back and I love the subjects I’ve done but I did struggle on Organisation Design and Technology but overall I got a distinction for that subject and got a pass for Contemporary in HRM which for me I thought it was easier. I’m thankful that my result came out well and I passed all four subjects. 3 distinctions and 1 pass. Not bad!

Throughout my studies, I was bonding with a lecturer who used to work in Malaysia. He’s very helpful and thoughtful. I would miss him dearly if he left Swinburne although I may at times tend to be speechless through some of our conversation. I would like to thank him, Dr. Harch Thandi, for all his guidance and faith in me. He’s the first lecturer to make me feel at ease in Uni. Dr. Harch taught me Strategic HRM. If anyone who will be his student I will guarantee you that he’s the best lecturer to teach you!

Then there’s Bryan Kidd. He’s such a funny lecturer and understanding. In his class, it was more of psychology kind of study because the subject is called Organisational Behaviour. I also struggled on understanding some of the theories but I managed once I did the assignment. He gave us many examples which made me understood the situation. Not only that, I made quite a couple of friends in this class since we were a small class and did a group work together.

John Annakiss. He keeps pulling my strings by saying how I could get away because my country is rich of oil and gas. John, you’re one hilarious lecturer but mumbles a lot. He’s taught me Organisation Design and Technology. This subject might get you thinking that it has to do with design and technology (in other words something to do with computers) but in actual fact it’s all about how to manage the organisation chart when external and internal factors are affecting the organisation.

Lastly, Viknesh. He’s a Singaporean born but PR in Australia. His class is really laid back and as if we were in the 5^th grade doing our work. Seriously, felt like a kid back there but still had fun. Too bad I didn’t participate much in his class and well, most of my class. *LoL*

Throughout the weeks, working with groups has been up and downs. The worst experience was working with someone who always does their work last minute but they are actually smart people. Procrastinating is fine with me as long as they don’t procrastinate till submission! I was so annoyed about that especially when I’m the one to compile the work.

Anyhow, love life on campus? Well, I’m not sure if I did mention in my previous post regarding a guy “c-dude” that I bumped everyday (as in lecture classes) in my 2^nd semester of 2007. This semester, I didn’t bump into him till the final week of class! Everything happened at the library AND NO! I didn’t go to the library because of him but I had to finish up my assignment by getting references.

So, there I was talking on my cell phone with my dad outside the library entrance, and BOOM! He came out with his friend. He took one glimpse of me and then took a longer one when he noticed it was me. I’m not exaggerating. Seriously, not at all. The reason why I went to the library that day was to meet up with Nee and Huile for Huile’s radio interview assignment.

As we went down the library steps to go to Huile’s building for recording, coincidently, C-dude and his friends were at the bottom of the steps talking but paused when they saw us coming down the steps. This made me freaked out that I watched every step so that I don’t trip over and fall. Oh gosh! They make it so obvious when they look at people. Another weird vibe was #10 (known as C-dude’s best friend or probably close friend), who has some sort of thing for Nee (don’t worry Nee doesn’t even have any affectionate feeling for this poor dude).*ROFL*

Today I got off the phone with Nee and she told me that she saw them last week at the Atrium sitting. When they saw her, they kept quiet and look at Nee as she went in the Library. How freaky is that? I mean so obvious that there’s something going on with their bunch. Anyway, enough about that. I don’t really expect to have c-dude to be mine but it’s fun to have the motivation for expecting something to happen in University. Just to lighten up the stressness *LOL*

Speaking of which; the happy minds lies in the secret lives. Meaning to say; when there’s that specific someone for me, let my happiness shine to myself. Sorry for being greedy but that’s how I live my life. *LOL* Peekaboo!!

So that’s done about life at Swinburne University and waiting for next semester to reopen which is on 10^th August 2008. I’ll be returning to Hawthorn on the 8^th August 2008. I checked up on my Allocation+ site and this time I can’t cram it up for two days but to 3 days unless the actual timetable will give a good time for my subjects to be laid out. My next semester will consist of two exams. I keep having a feeling that I’ll dread semester two compared to semester one. Oh well! May I continue to be hard working and gain another good result.

Swinburne Life POSTED!