10 to 1 Things Tag

10 FAVORITES
Favorite Color: White and green
Favorite Food: Breads, doughnuts, pastries.
Favorite Month: October
Favorite Song: From This Moment (Shania Twain)
Favorite Movie: You've Got Mail
Favorite Actor: Jude Law
Favorite Season: Autumn
Favorite Day Of the week: Saturday
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Strawberry
Favorite Time of Day: Early mornings

9 CURRENTS
Current Mood: On the cloud 9
Current Taste: Sweet
Current Clothes: Red t-shirt, blue track bottom.
Current Location: At home
Current Desktop: Motivational words from the magic man.
Current Toenail Color: Natural
Current Time: 9.03 pm
Current Surroundings: Warm
Current Thoughts: Shouldn't I be studying?

8 FIRSTS
First Best Friend: Yat
First Kiss: By a lover? None.
First Screen Name: ilham_hanna
First Pet: Hitam
First Piercing: 4 years old
First Crush: Standard 5
First Album: I bought? Anugerah by The Zikr

7 LASTS
Last Cigarette: I don't smoke
Last Drink: Nescafe
Last Car Ride: From Sultan Ismail Petra airport to home.
Last Kiss: There's no last for something that doesn't even have its first.
Last Movie Seen: Chronicles of Narnia
Last Phone Call: The magic man
Last CD Played: Michelle Branch's The Spirit Room

6 HAVE YOU EVERS
Have You Ever Dated One Of Your Best Guy Friends: What constitutes dating?
Have You Ever Broken the Law: Yes
Have You Ever Been Arrested: No
Have You Ever Skinny Dipped: What?
Have You Ever Been on TV: Don't think so.
Have You Ever Kissed Someone You Didn't Know: Urgh.

5 THINGS
Thing You're Wearing: Again, red t-shirt, blue track bottom.
Thing You've Done Today: Watch 4 DVDs.
Thing You Can Hear Right Now: Sounds from Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire
Thing You Can't Live Without: My brain
Thing You Do When You're Bored: Read books

4 PLACES YOU'VE BEEN TODAY
1. Kitchen
2. Living room
3. Bathroom
4. Garbage area

3 PEOPLE YOU CAN TELL ANYTHING TO
1. The magic man
2. The magic man
3. The magic man

2 CHOICES
1. To hold on or to let go?
2. To listen to my heart or to my head?

1 THING YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
To live my life.

Tag - Arshana, Lutfi, Fauzan, Isma, Nurul, Mun, Ann, Sitot, Kak Sofie & Amer.

Water

I know this is long. But it caught my attention while I was about to fall asleep studying. Taken from Food Chemistry 3rd Edition edited by Owen R. Fennema under the chapter Water and Ice, Prologue: Water- The Deceptive Matter of Life and Death. Read on.

Unnoticed in the darkness of a subterranean cavern, a water droplet trickles slowly down a stalactite, following a path left by countless predecessors, imparting, as did they, a small but almost magical touch of mineral beauty. Pausing at the tip, the droplet grows slowly to full size, then plunges quickly to the cavern floor, as if anxious to perform other tasks or to assume different forms. For water, the possibilities are countless. Some droplets assume roles of quiet beauty--on a child's coat sleeve, where a snowflake of unique design and exquisite perfection lies unnoticed; on a spider's web, where dew drops burst into sudden brilliance at the first touch of the morning sun; in the countryside, where a summer shower brings refreshment; or in a city, where fog gently permeates the night air, subduing harsh sounds with a glaze of tranquillity. Others lend themselves to noise and vigour of waterfall, to the overwhelming immensity of glacier, to the ominous nature of an impending storm, or to the persuasiveness of a tear on a woman's cheek. For others the role is less obvious but far more critical. There is life--initiated and sustained by water in a myriad of subtle and poorly understood ways--or death inevitable, catalyzed under special circumstances by a few hostile crystals of ice; or decay at the forest's floor, where water works relentlessly to disassemble the past so life can begin anew. But the form of water most familiar to humans is none of these; rather it is simple, ordinary, and uninspiring, unworthy of special notice as it flows forth in cool abundance from a household tap. "Humdrum", galunks a frog in concurrence, or so it seems as he views with stony indifference the watery milieu on which his very life depends. Surely, then, water's most remarkable feature is deception, for it is in reality a substance of infinite complexity, of great and unassessable importance, and one that is endowed with a strangeness and beauty sufficient to excite and challenge anyone making its acquaintance.

Langkawi: Environmental Fellas Get Exposed!

Dear Food Friends,

As of now, I'm writing from home fresh awake after a straight 5 hours sleep. Somehow, I felt personally obliged to write the extensive report on our trip to Langkawi - read on!

Day 1 - Telaga Tujuh Excavation

We arrived at Langkawi early in the morning, our official drivers (Abg Nahar, Abg Amir & Haji) got us to INOCEM office and we had a survivor-like breakfast of roti canai and teh tarik. Then, in crampy vans all of us went to our designated house at MaliBest Resort, Pantai Chenang. The place was very nice, right in front of the beach - though the boys' view was better. We took some rest while the guys went to Solat Jumaat.

After the Friday prayer, we headed straight to Telaga Tujuh where our first task of collecting samples is waiting. We had to climb a 500 steps staircase, which turned out to be very exhausting before reaching the place for sample collection. All of us except Amer, who was placed in Eagle group; Kak Sofie, Lutfi, Fauzan and I were placed in Andaman's group. We were assigned to collect sample along the riverside as opposed to the Eagles, whom territory was terrestrial.

We catched a plenty of fish (not for the BBQ though, Arshana), few insects and some frogs.




Andaman's Group

Kak Syahida, Lutfi, and Abg Ibrahim in action.

What's Lutfi looking for?

Lecturers and Abg Nahar were getting wet too.

It was near dark by the time we finally finished. We stopped by to have laksa & cendol before heading back to the beach. The boys continued to have their 'playtime' having fun in the water while us girls got ourselves ready for Maghrib and dinner.

At night, we were treated with ala kampung dinner with delicious ABC special and crunchy ikan goreng.

At the beach later on, before getting to sleep - Kak Syahida, Kak Anna, Kak Sofie and I had a walk by the beach while the boys sometimes later played some kind of football - I didn't know the exact name, forgive me.
Day 2 - Sea Cucumber & Cable Car

Coral beach was our destination, it was an island - by right it was actually named as Pulau Kentut Besar, but eventually it was changed to Pulau Intan Besar. We departed from jetty of Awana Porto Malai resort, three boats were used to accommodate all of us and the trip took about 30 minutes to reach the island.

The island was very rocky, and slippery. It was quite a challenge as we had to get off the boat at the rocky region, where water was deeper before walking all the way to the sandy region at the other side of the island.

After a short briefing by Br. Kamarul, all of us spreaded out to find the sea cucumber and gamat. Still, the challenge didn't ends because the beach was full of rocks and corals - which made it nearly impossible for us to walk barefooted. Scratches and cuts were inevitable, and Abg Razali got his foot attacked by sea urchins.

On the boat.

Do I looked extremely sunburnt?.

After a photo session, we finished at around 11. We had nasi lemak and kuih, and some guys continued to play in the water. We headed back to jetty around 12.30, only to find out we got our pictures taken and transformed into a decorating plate which we had to buy at RM 10. It's the thing that Lutfi was holding in the picture, see?

The Fellowship of The Net - Lutfi Baggins and Fauzan Gamgee

After Zuhr, we had a free time to ourselves until night. The plan was to spend the evening on the cable car before heading to Pekan Kuah for shopping spree time. The cable car experience was indeed, splendid. We had real fun up 700m above the sea levels. The air was real fresh and the scenery was breathtaking. There were even eagles soaring above, which was amazing.

Cable car from afar.

Cable car on arrival.

Abg Ibrahim, Abg Hasbi & Lutfi on the sky

Special pose for Food Fellas!

Some fun the guys had... What were they trying to do?

See the eagles?.

We finished by Maghrib, and we then headed straight to Pekan Kuah afterwards. I bought few chocolates, but no souvenirs as I got no idea what to buy because there were too many and most of them are apparently not quite unusual - well, to say I'm quite ignorant with shopping may be true too. However, the girls were having the time of their life; and the guys too?

Finally, Abg Nahar & Abg Amir got us to Medan Selera Nelayan for dinner, which is famous for its ikan bakar and obviously was visited by the Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan crews too. I didn't get myself ikan bakar, though - as it was very late at night and very cold - I couldn't think much and opted for Nasi Padprik. And the price, was unbelieavably cheap!

Day 3 - Mangroves Area, Dataran Helang, & Group Presentation.

The final and most special task, the mud treatment! It was another boat rides and the island was Pulau Dayang Bunting. Before reaching the destination we get to watch the eagles being fed by the boat driver (part of the tourist attraction, I guess) and there were so many of them. To me, they looked quite majestic and royalty.

At Pulau Dayang Bunting, as the final year students had to collect some samples - we on the other hand had to catch mudskipper. The mud was apparently deep, as in the picture - and the movement in there was obviously not easy; but it was fun! Following Kak Anna, Kak Syahida & abg Hasbi along the way, I didn't get to catch any mudskipper though - but I was personally voted by abg Mior as 'Perempuan Terkotor', thanks to the mud all over me.

There was one experience I couldn't forget though - of getting on the boat afterwards. The water was deep, and I couldn't swim - never was in my life I felt such helpless - and Amer was my saviour at the time; thanks a zillion Amer!

Bro Faizul & Abg Mior in mud.

Kak Anna, Fauzan & Lutfi in mud, too..

Afterward, we stopped by Pulau Siput (as the others called it) to eat and get more playing-in-water time. I didn't get to get in the water too as I got a cut at my foot and the saline water couldn't make it feel better.

Oh, yes - at this time actually Prof. Torla and his family was joining us.

Then, we got back to the beach for Zuhr prayer and lunch before afterwards all of us went to INOCEM office for group discussion and presentation preparation for the night. At the same time, we were demontrated by Haji and abg Naim for some satellite software and sample filtration procedure.

Since we still have few times before the presentation, abg Nahar got us to Dataran Helang for dinner. The presentation and group performance was very brief, Eagle group had some singing performance while Andaman's group had a re-making of what's been happening of our three days visit to Langkawi.

The famous Dataran Helang.

Amer had transformed into Bob Marley - see Kak Anna and Kak Marni couldn't stop laughing.

Andaman group got the 1st place!.

Later on, we had fun. Some of us started packing, some had a walk by the beach, the guys played football, the lecturers were chatting, etc. Though, at around 2 a.m - Kak Syahida, Kak Anna, Kak Marni, Kak Sofie, Lutfi, Fauzan and I did our sample calculation until 3 a.m.

Day 4 - Finally Happy to be Home

Finally, we headed back to jetty early in the morning. The ride on the ferry was marvellous, as the guys in the picture seems to be having fun. I was downstair at the time watching some movie, though. The IIU bus was already waiting as we reached Kuala Perlis and we had a 7 hours journey until we finally reached Gombak.

Last ride on the ferry.

The eligible bachelors of Biotechnologist-to-Be.
So, all in all - Langkawi was fun! Though I missed you girls very much - it was not at all the same without lots of you - I've been messaging with Isma, Nurul & Arshana from time to time updating what we've been doing at Langkawi. Alas, friends I got there at Langkawi was very kind and supportive too, that I wouldn't deny.

Next stop - Bukit Tinggi, Taman Negara, Pulau Perhentian?

Trips Galore

The Environment people will be heading back from Langkawi to the U today. Well, from what I heard, they had quite a bit of fun. C'mon, when it's mud, it has to be fun. Heh. And the BBQ. Let's not forget that.

We, the Food people, on the other hand, were stranded in the U, with no Langkawi anywhere near for the time being. But rest assured, the Johor trip is coming up real soon, which is tentatively on 25th and 26th February. We're visiting some herbal farm, a honey processing place and whatever industries that are available there. I heard we'll be staying at a bungalow, which is located quite high above sea level. Think along the lines of Bukit Tinggi. There's even spa, sauna and the like up there. Definitely beats any "mud treatment" you guys have in Langkawi. Oh, we'll be staying there for the weekend, hence the bungalow.

Then, later on we're having another trip to MPOB with Dr. Irwandi. The Yakult one was cancelled I believe. Then there's one to Ayer Hitam in UPM right after the holidays. And that's one day after our Food Chem mid-term exam. Oh boy. I'd rather have the UPM one cancelled instead of Yakult. Forest and me, I believe, don't get along too well.

Niat asal untuk membantu, mendengar dan memahami. Tapi akhirnya terkena diri sendiri. Empunya masalah sudah lega tapi pundak sendiri terbeban. Mahu saja dizahirkan, dilaungkan, diceritakan biar semua tahu biar semua dengar. Namun janji tetap janji, rahsia tetap rahsia. Ini amanah dari hamba Tuhan yang mahu dimengerti tapi tak mahu mengerti. Kasarkah tangan ini menulis? Keraskah hati ini menafsir? Tidak. Sudah tentu tidak. Ini cuma separuh bukan semua. “Berhati2 di sepanjang perjalanan.” Pesan orang lama usah dipandang sepi dah terkena baru sedar betul pesanannya.
Tak pernah rasa menyesal menolong orang. Material, sokongan, segalanya kerana dalam hati yakin Tuhan itu mengadili dan hati rasa sakinah. Tapi kali ini, benar2 menyedarkan bahawa pertolongan itu hanya untuk kepentingan peribadi yang ditolong. Akhirnya hati sendiri yang punah. Dari situ baru tahu niat baik perlu kena tempat. Membantu perlu kena orang yang betul. Hati ini sedar juga.
Akal memberi jalan, lupakan saja masalah yang diberi oleh hamba Tuhan yang ditolong tapi ingatkan bagaimana masalah itu bermula. Ini pengajaran yang amat sempurna. Syukur kerana dilimpahi kesedihan, kematian, dikhianati, dipergunakan kerana dari situ ada kebahagian mutlak walau hadirnya sikit dan sementara.

p/s: saya belajar istilah ‘sama tapi tidak serasi’ untuk pengalaman ini.

Utter Horror!

At one morning, the below conversation took place;

Fauzan: Saya dan Lutfi study Env Biotech semalam, so pagi ni dah
longlai.

Ati: Apasal korang rakus sangat study ni?

Fauzan: What has exorcised you Yati? Kita kan ada quiz esok.

My world turned black, I felt a sting of terror at the back of my head; WHAT???

I didn't know how that happened, I didn't even get to figure out even why I didn't hear the announcement made by Bro. Faizul. I don't know what has gotten into me, seriously.

Suddenly I felt so alone - kalau sekali dengan Nurul & Isma, mesti diorang ingatkan. Kalau ada Arshana, boleh ajak bincang-bincang sekali. My fellow girlfriends, Ann, Sitot & Mun - it wouldn't have happened if I were with them.

The worst feeling of all, that was when I feel I missed the other girls most - tak tipu, cakap jujur nih.

:)

Then again, all the ifs would not change a thing - I realized. A close friend of mine had always reminded me, it's you who has to be happy - no other people can make that.

So, out of the shock - I dragged Isma to JJ Wangsa Maju, burnt my supposed-to-be-spent-at-Langkawi RM 100 buying books, and got myself a Dunkin sandwich.

The girl in heaven - Isma told me.

(Yes Fauzan, I didn't go to Secret Recipe for lunch with that somebody. I was just pulling your leg. :p)

And I stayed up the following night finishing what I didn't even started - but I figured out - Allah takes you to it, Allah brings you through it.

And well, it's not that bad - not knowing you have a quiz until only it's the following day. Seriously, it's not that bad.

:)

Sakit

Bagaimana kepedihan di dalam hati, yang tidak nampak itu; boleh jadi begitu menyakitkan sekali?

Zoo Negara Malaysia (Hadiqatul Haiwanat Malizi) : New Year Visit

Happy 1st Anniversary Dear Blog!

It's been a year!

Well, not that it's anything extraordinary but still, it's worth celebrating ain't it? Start with small successes, Andrew Matthew says.

Coincidentally, it's New Year 2006 too - it hardly makes any differences, to me that is - but to most people then I wish Happy New Year and may all the dreams and wishes come true (provided it comes with your efforts!).

All the new resolutions, may it not be just a mere excitement of moving on - but a firm determination of growing up as well.

To all; Amer, Ann, Arshana, Fauzan, Isma, Lutfi, Kak Op, Mun, Nurul, and Sitot - may the year to come offers us a bountiful promises of happiness and contentment. In sya Allah.

I'm a changed person - :)