Banquet @ VIVOcity

imagine this: our morning sahur was in Damansara, Malaysia. and then our iftar is in VIVOcity, Singapore. how cool is that!! i heart the foodcourt simply because they separate the non-halal stalls from the halal ones. and obviously it is clean and well maintained. the choice of food is abundant and the crowd was not the "starving" kind although they too have been fasting for the whole day.

plain naan from the north indian stall.

raw white onions and chilli and mint sauce as a condiment, from the north indian stall.

authentically vegetarian yello dhal. me no likey. but mama says it is nice. not oily at all!

chicken curry that is very2 light as the base was not the usual coconut milk. instead, they used fresh tomatoes as base. very nice indeed.

fried oyster like the ones you can get from gourney drive uo in penang.

fried mixed noodles. i bet it is delish as the plate was clean soon after it was served.

we also had yong tau foo, fresh popiah (super super delish!!), and smoked chicken wings. and i had sugar-free, 94.9% fat-free cappucino gelato!!

really, when can we move here already??

day 1: the beginning of the journey

while most of everyone are busy for tomorrow's celebration of eid fitr, we, the FOUR mischievous ones, are busy too. busy packing and making our way to singapore. to celebrate raya and also have a long awaited holiday there.






















instead of taking the normal coach, or the train, or the flight to singapore, we decided to try something new. we took the aeroline coach that departs from one utama's new wing and go straight to singapore. the coach was superb!! didn't feel like we were travelling by coach at all!!




















this is the hidden lobby of aeroline. it is very small but accomodating.

while waiting for the departure time, nana and i was doing the usual stuffs that we do: CAMWHORRING. even the female washroom could be a place to do so!! :P




















the lounge area inside the coach. we conquered the whole area and had a good sleep there! we didn't even sit in our seats that are located in the 2nd deck of the coach. it is very comfortable to be in the lounge area.



















refreshments and lunch (chicken rice) were served but we did not take the lunch as we were all fasting on the last day of ramadhan.





















instead of bunking in the usual hotel, we checked in a beautiful B n B penthouse in spottiswoode. i will put up the details about this place later. highly recommended!! super heart this place and it is so easy to travel out from here.



















the lounge area of the B n B. simple yet very accomodating.

















the dining area. this B n B allows you to cook, do your own laundry, mingle with others. it feels like you are staying at home rather than being on a holiday. you can check in and check out to your desired time as opposed to the preset time in hotels.

Kini Tiba Masanya

today is the 29th ramadhan 1429 hijrah. i am wide awake, adrenaline on full throttle. mainly because, finally, i am going home today for eid fitri.

many have posted this. so it is only natural for me to do the same. this are my wishes for you, my loyal readers, my friends, my family.

"Selamat Hari Raya, and forgive me if i have done anything wrong that might have hurt or offended you. i apologize sincerely from deep within my heart. may we all be blessed for the coming year, with prosperity and love all around us. amin....."

i want to go home!!! T_T

the campus is almost empty today. it is soooo quiet and thank God the gym was also not that full of people who like to waste their time there by doing nothing. this means that i have the nordic all to myself. weeee!!!

but before i got on it, i was thinking: if i were to accumulate the miles that i do on this thing for the past year, i could have easily walked my way back home!! this is how bad it is, i REALLY want to go back for raya because everyone else has gone home, even the non-muslims, and i am still stuck here because of hospital duty. gawsh!!! why la i am so damn commited?? the guilt just kills me if i don't attend to my duties.....

and as i was walking to the gym, Arancione went dead on me:

i don't think i can use it anymore. but i guess if i use duct tape, ok kott?

ni guna untuk apa ni?

gila old skool dowh!

aku nampak menatang ni tadi masa tgh cari gerobok nak simpan barang dapur. punya la excited aku tgk ni, macam jakun pun ada juga la tadi.

orang tau la guna menda ni untuk lap habuk kan?

tapi sure ada guna untuk benda lain punya.

kalau aku tgk benda ni, aku ingat cekgu besar kat sekolah rendah. gerenti merah nyer la tapak tangan.

korang ingat menda ni guna untuk apa lagi?

Eid Fitri in my new home

while everyone was too bz packing their stuffs to go back to their respectives hometowns, i was packing too. but i wasn't packing to go back. i was packing to move out of the hostel.


and finally, on the 26th september 2008, i am cleared out of the hostel.


this was how i left my room. i came in with the room clean, therefore it is my responsibility to leave it in a clean state as well.

but because friday was a damn full day for me, i cleared my room, but i messed up the lounge area ("-_-).


these are the things that have accumulated for the past 1 year and 9 months. i can't figure out where did they all came from!!


as i said, i was really bz the whole day. i had my assesment, i had to do clearance, i had to go make payment for a new id, i had to be a translator, i had to move my things, i had to do so much, but i had so little time.


so finally, only late at night, that i managed to move all my things to the new house. i can't be arranging everything that night (morning actually) itself. so, i just slept in the rubble of stuffs that was waiting to be unpacked.



the next morning, i woke up and start my mission ASAP: unpacking and rearranging.


at first, i was just about to chuck everything everywhere i see possible and leave it as it is (because there were too many things and i didn't even know where to start). but as i slowly think to myself: i am making this place my HOME, i start the process, one at a time, and more systematically done.


this is my door, the letter "A" that i nabbed from home in KL and the lovely "tasbih" that i totally love looking at cause it looks so rustic and eyecatching.








remember the table that i fixed on my own? yeah, this is how it looks like now. it may be rather small for me. but it is enough to accomodate my studying (which almost never happens hehehehe).






my IKEA version of storage rack. i made this storage compartment myself by buying 2 racks and fixing a chrome bar in between them. creative no?




the curtain that ma bought for me from ikano. yes ma, it covers my window FULLY and i [heart] it very much. this morning, i was half awake, half asleep because i keep on wondering if someone will peep in through the window while i am sleeping. yes, i am paranoid. but now that i have the curtains up, i hope i'll have a good sleep tonight.





my security guard : RAKSASA API. i sleep with it all the time and now he will guard my room from any intruders. as you all know, we are going totally jap right? so, you can see that my sleeping mat is rolled up against the wall and the pillows are nicely stacked, keeping RAKSASA API company and busy.


so, there you go. while everyone is back home, i am here building a home.

i am sitting here, listening to RAYA songs and wishing that i am there with my family.....


it's ok REd, you'll be home with them soon.....


anyway, you likey my crib, no?

the time has finally come....

...........for me to write it out, when in actual fact, i should say it out. but i guess you wouldn't have time for my "whimpering". this might be trivial to you. but you are blood. you matter. so, because i still care, i just want to let you know how some things that you did, affected me, not in a good way.

pott,

it doesn't take a genius to figure out why all of a sudden i felt like writing this. it was my birthday dinner. i was thinking to myself (and still thinking), why were you so mean to me on my birthday? initially in the day, you were ok. but then, when we had a slight misunderstanding (you totally "didn't know" that we were SUPPOSED to go have lecka2) on the drive home, you went sour on me. why?

ok, maybe you had had a bad day, maybe something was bothering you that you "forgot" about the turn to hartamas, maybe, you just cannot make me a happier person on my birthday. don't lash on my birthday, i am entitled to be selfish, but i am not that kind of person, and i wasn't selfish at all.

really, to you it is just a minor thing, but to me, you broke my heart....

what happened to us? what happened to our closeness? we were so tight that people thought we were twins. remember those times when we fight endlessly over stupid matters and then everything was forgotten and we went on being the closest sibs ever. how support each other in times of need, how i'd do everything i can so that you can go for that race that you wanted to attend. how we share our stories.

but after awhile, everything just sort of disappear, slowly..... where did it all go?

instead of laughing with me, you laugh at me. i do too, to you. but sometimes you are just too mean, the things that are supposed to be a joke, is not that funny. yes, i AM sensitive, you should know that. like the day when i just arrived home from uni, and we were supposed to have dinner at your place, you called me a "stowaway", not that funny. i wanted to just get out of the car and walk back home.

yes, we can still joke. but i'd prefer if you'd stop treating me as if i am someone else.i am still marlyne. i wish you'd still see that, the little girl who is always joining you to be in trouble when we were young.

btw, i am not a CONFUSED glamour diva. i know what i want. there is no harm in multitasking. it'll market me better in the future. my charity work is sensible in so many ways. i recycle and i help the needy, best that i can. what is there that don't make sense? you tell me.

in the end, i hope you see what i am trying to tell you all these years that we have grown apart.

night of lights

alhamdulillah dah genap 23 hari kita di dalam bulan ramadhan.

hati ku berbaur sedih dan juga gembira, semua pada masa yang sama. aku pun tak tahu kenapa.

sempena 7 hari terakhir bulan yang mulia ini, aku ingin mengucapkan selamat menyambut malam tujuh likur dan moga doa2 kita dimakbulkan Allah SWT. amin....

terima kasih la kawan haizzzz.....

21-9-08: ni hari ahad ni. tapi aku ada kat campus. sebab apa? sebab aku ada klass. bangang

betul la. ni la disadvantage nya study kat utara ni,cuti depa tak sama ngan cuti wilayah. while i could have enjoyed my time with my family at home, aku kena ada kat sini. pagi2 sampai from KL, terus gi hospital. dah la aku tak berapa nak tido sangat dalam train tu, lepas hospital, aku tido dalam kereta kawan aku sementara derang gi makan lunch. then balik campus, aku mandi. after that, the 2nd half of the day started.

aku gi klass. dari 3 klass, jadi 2 klass. tapi takde beza pun cause right after that, ada presentation and as always, i was asked to present. ok la, take the op la kan sebab aku tak rugi apa, i will learn more. aku dah la first presenter. masa aku cari PP slide aku dalam aku nyer thumb yang berusia lebih tua dari aku ni, aku dah kalut.... aku tak jumpa. aku call yah, because she was responsible to save the file from her comp to my thumb. dia kata dia dah save and dia dah check, bukan salah dia aku tak jumpa file tu.

mmg bukan salah dia pun.... salah aku sebenarnya. file tu ada, aku je tak nampak. sorry yah!

lepas aku dah present, aku dok la balik kat tempat aku kan. then, aku nyer classmate, Raj panggil aku. dia ni tak pernahnyer nak serious. so aku melayan je la.

REd: "what?"

Raj: "alia, choose which one you want." sambil memegang bungkusan card raya!!

REd: "what the hell?!?! eh, no need to give me, i don't want already"

Raj: "alia choose la, i want to give you card raya"

REd: " no need, i don't want. if you want to give me, it should be sincere from your heart, not that i have to choose"

classmates yang lain pun dah start meligan Raj. dia lak tergelak2 macam kambing kat sana. aku malas dah nak melayan.

tak sampai 10min lepas tu.....

Raj: "nah alia"

aku pun amik je la. aku buka, aku pun baca la.... korang tengok la apa dia tulis and lukis. gambar dinasaur pun ada, like "apa hal?!?!"

siap ada quote from britney spears punya lagu. untuk pengetahuan umum: Raj adalah kipas-susah-mati britney spears.

kan ke 19-09-08 hari tu birthday aku?

tengok la apa dia tulis....

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY (sorry no money for two cards)"

haiz.... punya la straight forward mamat ni. siap tulis email dia lagi kat situ. macam la aku nak sangat. padahal aku mmg dah ada email dia.

lepas dia pass card tu, dia melentok lak. hmmmm....

itulah kisahnya, my first card raya this year.

terima kasih la ye.

The TAJ

everyone knows that the TAJ MAHAL was built by EMPEROR SHAH JAHAN (which actually translates to "king of the world". he was born with the name Prince Khurram), as a memorial for his eternal one and only love of his life, MUMTAZ MAHAL (which means "the exalted of the palace". she was born Arjumand Bano Begum).

MUMTAZ MAHAL borne 14 children for SHAH JAHAN, out of which only 7 survived: 4 boys and 3 girls. she died at the young age of 39, in the 17th century.

but.... not many knows that MUMTAZ MAHAL died of postpartum hemorrhage after delivering her last child.

my online pressie

this is from djambu, my blog fren, as a belated birthday present. it is my first ever blog award!!

woot! woot!

i am sure there are more to come eh?

thanks djambu!

SHABU (not the illegal one)

disclaimer: this is a LEGAL entry

I have never been IN plaza damas. so, yesterday on my birthday, i finally stepped into that place that is much talked about.

i didn't particularly know exactly where we were having my birthday dinner / iftar. at first, i tot we were going to RAKUZEN jap resto, that is also situated there and it is much reviewed by the floggers around malaysia. i saw RAKUZEN, we passed it, but we didn't stop. and then i wondered....."where would we be going?"

walked into the mall and my mind was racing like mad. partly due to the anticipation of that special dinner place, mainly wondering what i would get for my birthday hehehe..... as we were walking, i was just feasting my eyes with those little booths that were selling stuffs that you could find at any weekend bazaars. not many different things, but the difference in price was very very very evident!

and finally we stopped, at NAGOMI Shabu Shabu . Sushi Bar.

we got ourselves the one and ONLY private section that was available there. the setting was ok ok la. but i'd prefer it if they had the sitting type of area.


as it wasn't time for iftar yet, we took our seats and had a looksee of the menu. we ordered our drinks first and then only our dishes. you'll have to let the waitress know that you want your coke in the can (if you were ordering soda) upon serving. if not, they'd serve you the ones that are already opened and full of ice. so imagine, the ice melting while you are waiting for iftar. tak sedap already. i would highly recommend you order the mango juice which my sisters and brother had. it was very thick and looked more like a smoothie than juice. so i guess they actually used REAL mango flesh!

shabu shabu is a japanese type of hot pot that is related to the sukiyaki style. therefor the base of everything is the soup. there are 3 choices of soup: chicken, nagomi special, and spicy. naturally, i went for the spicy. but i think the best was the nagomi special.

they also serve dipping sauces for the meal. but be extra careful and read the ingreds of the sauces because some of them have the japanese sake in it.


the hot pot is for each individual. so, if you wanna save, share one hot pot for 2 persons if you were taking the same soup and don't mind sharing. because at RM8 a pop, clearly fluid has become really expensive!!



deep fried sake (salmon) skin. according to the ones who had this, it tastes really like keropok ikan and super umaii!!


for each meat set, you'll get a vegetable set. so, no need to order extra vegies unless you really want to. i don't really fancy meat and there weren't any seafood set. so, i ordered an extra vegetarian set, just because i LOVE greens!!




a super long row of salmon sushi. this looks too beautiful and tempting to touch in the first place. so before anyone could put their chopsticks on this piece of art, pott and i started snapping madly at it.

REd having a bite at those lovely salmon sushi. i almost had a kuroyan(for those who watch yakitate japan, you know who i am talking about) reaction when the flavours just burst in my mouth.


hand-rolled sushi: came in elegantly, devoured as swiftly as it arrived.... evidence of deliciousness.



chicken set: the strips of chicken meat were rather fatty but the chicken balls that were made from lean chicken meat were ok, and tasty.


my favourite and a MUST have everytime we go for jap cuisine: EDAMAME.



salmon sashimi that were carefully placed on a heap of shaved ice. was that an attempt to make the dish looked plenty or a sincere gesture to keep the shashimi fresh? i go for the former.


.....browsing thru....
not much choices actually....



.....and, while we were having our dinner, a ROACH was happily crawling on our table!! imagine that!! spoil betul la.... and when asked wassap with that, the answer was "owh, we just had pest control last week" ("-_-)

SMS me

some of my birthday SMSes:

nurul ain said: akum alia, happy birthday...moga panjang umur,murah rezeki,cpt2 jadi doktor n cpt2 kawin :-) take care....

fahmi: happy birthday

khairun: happy ehem .... ehem.... '19th' birthday! hehehe....smoga panjang umur n murah rezeki n cepat2 ar dapat jodoh.amin :-)

aunty nyow: happy birthday alia ain... love a.nyow, uncle raja (also sharing bday with you) & cik malissa. bila balik kampung?

saras: hey gal, u were born this day some years ago is it?then hepi beday la ye. ENJOY gal...

jashitra: no one is born happy... but all of us are born with the ability 2 create hapinez.. so 2day, make others happy...flash ur sweetest smile. hapy bday my fren!

narisha: hey hey happy 19th birthday! may all your wishes come true. :) panjang umur and murah rezeki! love!

bamin: happy ..th birthday. aku tersalah comment kat blog ko.terguna ID narisha. tolong delete. thanks :)

vinura: happy birthday dear.God bless. have fun ok :)

aquisha: kak malin! happy bday! may god bless u n smoge panjang umur :-*

0127*64*13 (sape ni?): happy b'day! enjoy there!

shadi: happy birthday to you. wish you have a great year. God bless.

rozel: happy birthday babes. hope its not too late, am in mekah now and its still sept 19th here. hope you had a great one.

...and... birthday calls from FLY FM, JO-ee and RITCHIE (the talking stuffed dog that creeps me out T_T), and aunty bah.

thanks guys!!! you all made my day!

the day i turned 19 (again....)

19-09-08: today, i "turned" 19 again (as according to narisha, but really, i am ALWAYS stuck at 19 :P ). the whole day was full of blessed things that happened to me. i am genuinely really happy and i am so glad to be surrounded by much love and happiness.....

the day started off (at about 0000hours) by getting SMSes from my friends. and then, my adrenaline was already in full throttle, i barely even sleep till sahur, during which nana wished me happy birthday. then, in the morn, i sent her to school cause mama and yah were still very sleepy. after that, i came back and continued my sleep. at around 0955hours, i was awaken by a fon call from......FLY FM!! they called me up for the SHOW STOPPER bit (which i did not request. but i did request for a wakeup call) and BEN and PHABES wished and sang the birthday song for me. to top that, they even gave a pressie which consists of a dining experience at the HALIA RESTAURANT, sime darby park!! super cool eh? http://mikeyip.com/2008/06/20/sime-darbys-halia/

then, more SMSes came in. i also got a wish from mama's friend aunty avalone. that was nice of her...

after picking nana up from school, we went to atria to hang out and shop (of course), while waiting for yah to finish her college. we were just killing time, browsing thru the place. nothing much but being an ardent shopper (myself and mama), we got some great finds. while we were at the bookstore, nana spotted some hula hoops. for the sake of fun, we had a go, and of course, i am so damn cacat as to how to hula. nana on the other hand is quite the expert!

in the evening, we went to NAGOMI shabu shabu/sushi bar for my birthday dinner and iftar. it was something new as i have never tried shabu shabu before. although, i can say that it is almost the same as having steamboat (more of this later). after iftar, i excused myself to the ladies as i was already very bloated with fluid (read: soup and coke lite). when i came back, the pressies were already waiting for me.....

terkejut tengok pressies atas meja.

as you all know, i had a wish list somewhere, somwtime ago posted in this blog, tapi ntah kemana dah menghilang. but thank God, my family had seen it before and i got some of the things that were on my list. but the epicenter of the items that i wanted was.....

a pair of MARY JANE CROCS!!! OMG!!! i was sooooooooo happy!! siap ada jibbitz lagi tu. and they are so cute. this was from SHADI. thanks man!!! this is the first item on my wish list and it was also the first pressie that i opened. so so so happy!

(peeps, gue udah dapat deh!! jadinya kamu bleh get other pressie for gue ya ;P )

this is a charm bracelet full of RED trinklets from narisha and pott. they also got me 3 super cute statement Ts that suit me oh-so-well because it is all about RECYCLING. mana la they found those Ts!!?!? love the Ts!!!

and pott also got me a U-mobile starter pack with rm10 topup (tak cukup tu....) and an entry http://aminashaari.com/2008/09/19/happy-birthday-marlyne/ for my birthday. TOUCHED!!

one of the other items on the list was books from MARIAN KEYES, which was given to me by yah. she said that she spent ALL her money to get me the book, therefore her card was just a piece of tearout paper stating exactly why she didn't get me a birthday card. takpe, it is the tot that counts can. and frankly, i don't want no cards man, the book is already making me happy like mad! hehe

nana got me some makeups from ELIANTO and a book for sisters from BLUEMOUNTAIN. that is very sweet of her but i haven't got any pictures here yet. nanti kakak lin upload k from bamin nyer sony alpha. she got the first birthday hug from me... ;)

mama got me this book, in which she wrote some notes for me. this book is all about her feelings towards me and how proud is she of me, her love for me, and obviously, how much i meant to her. i haven't read thru yet but i saw some quotes in it that were very touching. she also gave me a very heart warming card, a working blouse and pants, and of course the BIRTHDAY DINNER. thanks for everything ma... I LOVE YOU!

after dinner, i had LECKA LECKA ice cream (as that too was on my wish list). oissshhh..... that touched the button la! really, i was craving for it and finally, i got it. i was saving my calorie spare for that purpose only. heheheh

all in all, i had a GREAT birthday this year (honest!!). thanks all for the wishes and love!!

.....and..... for those yang terlambat tu.... tak la terlambat lagi kan. if you don't know what to get me, haaa.... get me some japanese stuffs so that i can decorate my japanese-themed home in SP!

hehehehehh