H1N1 scare

We were just informed that 4 students were suspected of having H1N1 as of this morning - they are to be quarantined for a week in one of the residential colleges. Last week, we had two confirmed cases of H1N1. I guess with the large number of students in an institution like this, the virus (if it is confirmed to be H1N1) would be hard to contain. Coz of the nature of the institutions and the ensuing interactions among us (i.e. lectures involving groups of students/lecturers) .

We were advised to take up vitamins - my friend Ita - the pharmacist at DEMC (hehehehe) - told me to take 500mg of Vitamic C a day, and to up that dosage if i am not feeling well...

Andway, just to share, according to the email sent to us, the symptoms include

1)Demam melebihi 38C
2) Sakit Tekak
3) Selsema
4) Letih dan lesu
5) Sakit-sakit badan
6) Batuk, tidak berkahak pada peringkat awal


I hope everyone is extra careful now - and those who are quarantined - please do so. Don't be selfish and ignore the quarantine order coz that selfish act might endanger other people.

Messy Office!

I am so busy lately - too much thing on my plate and i don't have time to do anything else but to reduce that pile! Swamped with research - still owe Dr M a report for our SCORE project (thank God we have Rabiah as our RA who is super-duper efficient), still owe SDI some info for the new Ketua Kaum & ICT research, and working my butt off for this Gedong paper - we were given one month to overhaul our paper - but that one month is gone - we only have 24 hours left before submission to Akademika (a social science journal).. me and haslina are overjoyed that our paper was selected to be published ...we knew then that we have to work really hard to improve the paper - but the time is so limited. Plus the host of other jobs and tasks to do - everything is on the urgent list!


Hence, my desk looks like this:


Even the floor is messy - these are the manila cards from Lecture 3 - haven't had time to store it someplace hidden from view ....


But, as busy as i am right now - am still taking my vitamin C - Ita told me to take 50mg a day -to beef up my immune system .....


so, back to work!!!!

Sleeping styles!

The various sleeping styles:

(1) The "i'm surrounded" style - surrounded by pillows!



(ii) The "sleeping in the hammock" style - taken when he is not feeling well :-(



(iii) The " i'm so busy i felt asleep in front of the computer" style - so much like mama bank and mama matun!


(iv) The frog style


(v) The "prisoners" style

old letter ...

I found this document among the pile of letters and documents that my dad had saved over the years. It is a copy of a letter written by my dad regarding my admission to the kindergarten ...hahahah it is an old document indeed! one of the few personal letters related to my "life journey" kept by my dad ....

Trip to Zoo Negara, Kuala Lumpur

Last month, dad and my sister took Al to the Zoo Negara...the three of them were supposed to go to renew my sister's road tax, instead they went to the zoo!!

It was his first zoo trip! the highlight of the trip was him feeding the cows! of all the animals in the zoo, he loves the tortises and the cows ...these two species attracted the most of his attention ....dad said it is probably because they can get so much closer to the cows and the tortises, compared to the likes of tiger, girrafes and so on ...and it also seems tha Al is scared of the monkeys! for a very simple reason - the monkeys are a noisy bunch!!!!

Notice the different shirts? Well Al spilled his Milo and they have to change his shirt hehehehe

Shopping @ sunday market .... al's experience

This picture was taken last Sunday - when me and my mom took Al to the market to buy fish and vegetables. Dad stayed at home tasked with babysitting duties. Al was fascinated with the things there - which I am sure he seldom encountered when he was in KL. He loves to see the different types of fish ...and the river snails also gain his attentions! But he is not keen to see so many people in the market, especially when we are jostling for space ...he is a timid kid and i ended up taking him to a secluded spot behind one of the spot where a Bidayuh lady was selling her jungle products..and we just stood there observing the people around us, while mom went on her own to get our vegetables and stuffs.


The funny thing happened when my mom bought some okras (ladies' fingers)..upon seeing my mom and myself holding plastic bags of the various things that we bought that day, Al insisted on holding that plastic bag containing the okras to the car! hehehe such a sweet boy - but the way he carried the plastic bag was as if it weighted like he was carrying a huge pumpkin instead! Berat wooooooo ......

Power Lunch @ Starbucks

Now that the new students are in and the semester is already in full swing, we are without a doubt back in our busy element. Moi Lina's room is always full of students requesting info for their Pi/PTA, the same goes to Dr. Wong ....myself and Moi Elena are also busy with our own batches of students...we haven't really have time to go for lunch together in a while due to our busy schedules ...so today we took the opportunity to go for lunch at Starbucks, Jalan Song - the nearest Starbucks from our office..once there was a lull in students' presence outside our rooms, we immediately took off ...




Moi Elena treated us to Starbuck's power lunch today - she had just submitted her phd thesis and as promised, she decided to share the joy with us! Well done Moi ...you deserve it!!!! Back to our lunch - i had a delicious chicken & mushroom sandwich, with foccacia bread - and iced- black coffee with vanilla flaovours - yummy!! thanks moi .....


As usual, I took my camera with me and took a few snaps in and outside Starbucks!

Al's first haircut

Al had his first haircut last saturday - 9 days after his 2nd birthday. We have been waiting for this moment like FOREVER! When he was born, he has very very little hair - and some people even said it can be considered as hairless! As he grew older, the hair remained the same till a few months ago ...

last saturday, his daddy did the honour and cut his hair, while dad entertained Al to keep him firmly seated throughout the 5 minutes process! It just took a few snips and it is done! Goes to show how little hair he has hahahaha ....but then again, like my father always says "grass never grow on busy streets" ...and that nowadays people are queuing up at the barbers to get their hair shave off! emmmm i like to think that both my nephews are so trendy by nature that they have the trendy hairstyle from births! Good job boys ....

Al - when he was 5 months ....barely any hair on top of his head!

Airell - when he was 6 months. Perhaps he will get his first haircut earlier than abang...

Al's 2nd Birthday

my nephew, Al turned two last thursday ... they had a family celebration with cake and kfc - but i only joinned the celebration virtually. The wonders of today's technology - I switched on my MSN messenger to video chat with them ..so, there they were waiting for me to switch on my laptop before Al blowed the candles! It is kind of wierd ...i was singing in my own living room alone, and there were in KL eating the cakes! If my grandma was still alive, am sure that she would say something along the lines of "dulu2 mana ada benda nie!"

This is the second time i missed his birthday parties! Last year they had the parties at Kenny Rogers - i only get to see the photos as i was the only one left in Kuching when all of them were in KL. But at least this year I get to join in, albeit via video chat...

happy birthday A-al...mama bank loves you, and i will have a present waiting for you here in Kuching. May God bless you always, and grants you all the love, the joy, the happiness, the lucks, the prosperity, good health and all the ggod things in life ...always....love you sayang!

Shiny Car

I was very upset this morning coz I was following a huge lorry carrying soil on my way to work....and it was raining. My windscreen was splattered with those horrible mud! So, i took my car to the car wash before I even go to the office ...It's the Ginmas Jaya Car Wash located along Jalan Muara Tuang (if i am not mistaken) ...it was early and there wasn't any other car there - so my car was washed & vacummed ...all done in 30 minutes!

But the good thing is that they (the carwash boys) also sorted my tyre. Well, I noticed a few days ago that my left rear type looked a bit flat but me being me thought it can wait till my father gets home this weekend hehehe ....anyway, one of them said "kak, tayar kurang angin lah..."...so, i ask whether they can sort it out ...and they did...plus they check all the other tyres as well!!! nice ...great service ...and the car wash only cost me RM9 ...my car is sparkling now, and all the tyres are checked ...what more can you ask for ...just hope it won't rain today and tomorrow ....

Iris's Birthday bash

I was invited to another birthday bash for the cutest baby girl in Samarahan last week ...this time it was held on the 25th June 2009, which is was Iris's actual birthday.The reason I said that was because Iris had an earlier birthday party the week before ..and I declined Moi's invitation coz of my cough...

Miss Gorgeous - Amber Ann

I had a great time ...the host was gracious, the birthday girl was entertaining and very friendly, the other guests were great companies...and little amber ann was gorgeous! Lots of foods, lots of laugthers, lots of fun ....A perfect ingredient for a wonderful party ...thanks Moi for the hospitality ...and wishing Iris all the happiness in the world and many haapy returns of the day ...the first of many birthdays ....ohhh, and aunty Gina still owe you a tolo car Iris :-))

Old picture ...

Please note that my other blog: Life in Sarawak is officially close. I find it hard to maintain 3 blogs ...so, decided to put this favourite posting of mine here instead. This was posted a few months ago.

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My dad found an old photo (and i think this is the only one he has that is still in good condition) of him and my grandparents. It was in one of his briecases containing his personal documents. He has been looking high and low for this pictures and thank god he found it …it is actually a group picture, taken on my dad’s very first visit to Kuching (known as Sarawak at that time coz it is located near the Sarawak River). And he said this might be the his first picture ever…and that time (i think around late 1940s or early 1950s) people didn’t venture out of their longhouses to other areas very often. And it is very costly to go to Kuching too. Dad also told me, unlike the present time, there were no road linking our village in Bukit Begunan to Kuching. They have to take a sampan, from Mawang (I honestly don’t know where this place it and I couldn’t imagine going to Kuching using a boat!) and it took them a few days to get there. Since this was their first ever trip to Kuching, they took this picture as soveniour…


When asked as to why my grandmother and my dad were not wearing any shoes, dad’s respond was simple “at that time, people don’t wear shoes…and going to Kuching is actually a new experience, and not many people wore shoes”…i guess i am judging the picture based on my own experience…But, I can sincerely say that I am proud of my grandparents, they ventured out of their “shell” and have the opportunity to experience travelling to far away places – yes, we can consider Kuching in 1940s as a far away places..coz it took ages just to get there…using sampan, and i cannot imagine what the conditions were like…imagine how hard the owner of the sampan have to paddle in order to reach the destination…paddling for a couple of days sure is no fun!