Goodbye 2010

The last day of 2010. Its been a good year, lots going on, happy and sad.  And I am looking forward to 2011 hoping the year will be full of happiness and good luck, Insya Allah.  May Allah bless us all.

I am happy to say as well I am leaving Seria for good.  Starting 3rd January 2011 I will be working full time in BSB with my new department.  It is such a relief and will be such a blessing to be nearer to home, and not having to travel to Seria every day.  And for the first time ever, I will be sending my daughter to school in a regular basis.  Not like all these years, I could only do that every saturday when I am off.  Such a relief not having to worry about whether she was being picked up, on time or not, not to mention her own safety.  Its like something has been lifted from my shoulder!  Alhamdulilah.

The move is not a promotion or anything, I am still on the same level but as far as I am concerned, its more to the time rezeki (rezeki masa) which is given to me by Allah rather than monetary rezeki.  Alhamdulilah.

My last day in Seria was on tuesday.  I left quietly, not even saying good bye to anyone.  I didnt really care, I feel I have not been treated fairly.  So I am going.  I requested not to do any farewell gathering.  My wish was fulfilled with heavy hearts by some colleagues, but I dont care.  But then they still presented me with a gift.  They told me they had to give me a gift, since everyone who is leaving deserves one, so ok.  The gift is below and now sitting in our living room.  I think its really pretty.  Anyway thanks everyone!

So unavoidable

Did I not say I wont do any shopping in Singapore?  Yes I did, but look what I bought!  Its more than I bargained for though I dont regret any thing.  Its my guilty pleasure and due to those long walks, its kind of my retail theraphy hehe.  I bought 3 pair of shoes, 2 handbags, perfume, 3 blouses, telekong, tudongs, digital photo frames (my best buy!) and other bits and pieces.

Two holiday in one go?

Its a big NO NO.

Its been so hectic or shall I call crazy?  We got back from KK yesterday and it took us almost 10hrs to reach home.  The longest drive ever and hubby was so stressed out.  We never wanted to go to KK in December again.  We were caught in long queue in 3 different places and each took 1 to 2 hrs.  First, the traffic at Kuala Lurah Immigration, then the ferry to Temburong and lastly the Kg Puni check point. 

I think its about time for Brunei to build a bridge to Temburong.  The long queue shouldnt have happened.  It took us almost 2hrs to get to the other side both coming and going.  Its simply insane!

And going to KK after the trip to Singapore really took all our energy and KK lost all its sparkles.  We already enjoyed ourselves and exhausted ourselves in Singapore and KK was just an underdog in our opinion.  Singapore simply overshadowed KK, such a pity lol.

However, our only enjoyment while in KK was on our trip to Manukan Island.  We all enjoyed the trip, so at least there was something to remember this trip by.

So we are not going to go holidays two trip in a row.  Its simply very exhausting!

Boring

I dont enjoy KK anymore, I find it very boring.  Maybe because I've been here for so many times?  My brother wanted to go out and shop just now but we dont feel like going, its the same old thing and its been raining here.  The town doesnt appeal me anymore so no mood to wonder around and I dont have anything to buy.


But earlier today its not too bad, we went to Manukan Island, though I didnt participate in any of the activities but hubby and Ayang had so much fun feeding the fish!  Nothing special about the place though, its just an island with clear water but looking at the fish was an awesome experience.  Hubby enjoyed his time there.


I have so many photos to post on my holiday blog but havent really got the time to really sit and do that.  Looks like I have to wait until we are home.  For now, we are still residing in a hotel room, a very nice one at that so I am content.

Now in KK

Back from Singapore yesterday and now we are in KK.  Really been tired but having so much fun.  The holidays seems to drag on and its been a blast.  But the travel to KK today had been very tiring due to traffic.  We were on the road for more than 9 hours!  Really long queue in 3 different places and we reached KK at around 5pm, left home at 7 this morning.

We are heading to Manukan Island tomorrow so look forward to that!

Right now I just want to chill and relax.  Its been a crazy few days.  Singapore was hectic and busy, looks like KK is not different!

More later...

Greatest disappointment of the century!

We are planning to go to Universal Studio Singapore today but all the tickets are sold out, not only for today but for the whole week!  We didnt think about booking the tickets online and that was our mistake!  Luckily hubby remembered to check online at 11.30pm last night and there it was, no more tickets!  We should have booked since its December, so Universal Studio is out for this holiday.  What a disappointment!


One thing we impressed about the whole thing was, hubby emailed them at 11.30pm last night just to confirm and they replied back at 01.30am in the morning and told us there was no more tickets.  Thats what we called efficient!


And when he called by phone at 6.30am, a lady answered and told us again there is no more tickets.  No tickets online or on site.


So people, make sure you all book online to avoid any disappointment :(


Hubby told me its ok, dont dwell on it and move on.  We still we can go next time so ok I trust him, he is so right of course.  He also said there must be a good reason why we could not go.  There must be some Hikmah or Hidayah so ok I am not gonna think of it more.


So we gonna enjoy the rest of our holiday here :)


  

Arrived in Singapore

We are in Singapore!  All 9 of us.  The first time we went together with the rest of the family.  Touched down at Changi Airport at around 8.15pm with good weather.  

The flight was packed and when we checked in at Brunei International Airport there was already a long queue.  And we only managed to get seats 3 rows from behind but it was an uneventful flight.  Had good dinner and as always I enjoyed the flight meals!  I mean I love the food served on airplanes!  I dont know why, but its been like that for  a long time lol.  I know some people really hate airlines food but not me hehe.

Anyway, our trip is just starting so I hope its gonna be a enjoyable holiday and there wont be any hussles, issues or problems with an entourage of 9, we never been in a big group like this before so thats my hope.  There were already some commotions last night when we checked into the hotel where the brother wanted to share a room where we already booked 3.  But it was ok in the end, still 3 rooms though :)

First night in Singapore we already slept late, spend an hour wandering around the place and me and my daughter didnt sleep until about 2am!

So lets the adventures begin!

Will not do the cronicles of the trip here but at my holiday blog so checked it out in the next few days!

Holiday time

Tomorrow we all will go on vacation.  Its gonna be a week of pure relaxation, (I hope!)  Gonna chill and enjoy my downtime.  Its been a while since we all went away.  And the time has come!  We will go with my parents and my brother's family so its gonna be awesome.  And I am planning not to do any shopping (again, I hope!).  And will try my best just to enjoy the sceneries and not to be too tired.  Try to slow down the pace a little bit.

What usually happened during our holidays was we spent all day out, and by the time we went back to the hotel we were so dead tired.  Its all about shopping and more shopping.  But hubby and I thought thats not what holiday was supposed to be.  Holidays are the time to relax and not to be exhausted with arching feet! lol.

The first time we tried that was during our trip to NZ.  We specifically chose NZ because shopping is not the main attraction of the place, its more to nature and the sceneries.  We were not dissapointed.

Well, Singapore is another matter.  Of course Singapore is so famous and associated most of the time with shopping but hubby and I planned not to do that as much.  We wanted to see Marina Bay Sands and Universal Studio, hehe.

Love this bag!

I want this bag!  Very appropriate especially during this time of year.  I guess most people are waiting for the year end sale, and to say yes to it, is just the way I like it! hehe

Double the blessing, double the happiness

Its a blessful day today.  Received two good news and we are very glad.

First news, got the official confirmation, ie. transfer letter for my new job. I am officially moved on.  My official transfer date is today and starting full time on new year's first working day.  At last after almost 3 months, its here.  Now I can concentrate on doing what I am supposed to do and do not have to worry about the other job anymore.

Second news, our daughter was selected to be one of the students who gained a spot in PTE Katok for her pre-U A Level studies.  This was before they knew the students' O level exam result.  The result may be out sometimes in February but today we came to know about it.  So these students were asked to collect the acceptance letters on 27th Dec and they will register themselves to PTEK on 12th January.  The criteria for selections were based on their qualifying exams and the school was confident enough that these selected students will get through with the exam and started their enrollment in Form 6 early.

Our daughter was elated!  This is her dream comes true.  She always wanted to study in PTEK.  Its a brand new school and located not too far from home, so I think its a good choice.  And whats even better, we do not have to worry about transportation anymore.  Now that I hit the jackpot of getting a job nearer to home, I could send her to school easily. 

There are some advantages of starting early, of course.  As everyone can imagine, there are thousands of students in Brunei who are taking their O level exams and when the results are out and students start to enroll to these few schools which offer A level studies, its going to be chaos.  Everyone rushes to go to their favourite schools and rushes to obtain their favourite subjects.  There may even be dissapointments when too many students selecting few favourite subjects. So by enrolling early, hopefully the enrollment and registrations and selections of subjects to study will be less nerve wrecking and less hussle.  Hopefully.

We are so happy with the turn of event.  Alhamdulilah.

This is the announcement with the list of students who were selected, and our daughter was one of the selected ones, so congrats Ayang.  Great job!

Lets talk about Robbie...

We just love our Robbie.  She is the funniest rabbit ever.  She is so cute and so awesome.  She completes us hehehe.  We play with her every day, or every night rather.  We know she looks forward to the time when my daughter let her out of her cage, and thats the time of her life, to run or linger around in the living room.  And she loves one spot in the house where she never fails to sit or lounge every day, and thats between the two carpets hahaha. 

We dont know whats the deal with that.  And what is so special of that one spot but she loves it there.  Pictures below were taken on 3 different occasions.  See that... thats her favourite spot in the house.  We wonder why she likes it.

Or if she is not on that spot, she lounges like this, hahaha... so funny.

And here is Robbie with my daughter, her best friend lol....

The weather

Its December and its that time of the year again.  I love December because the weather is a bit cool and most days it rains here.  And sometimes all the rain makes moving around a little bit hard.  Although I bet its not as bad as in Europe where there are lots of snow at the moment.  I never heard Eiffel tower is closed because of the snow!  Now thats something new.  The temperature plummetted to sub zero!  And in France it was -14!

I always enjoy snow.  I love the cold weather and I dont mind snow at all.  But I guess, like most people, you tend to like it if you dont usually get it.  But if you are actually there and experience how dangerous it is with the icy roads which make driving and even walking difficult, then I dont think I like it as much.

Chaos on the roads, airports were closed and people got stranded, people even died.  I am sure thats not a pretty sight. 

Busy

Thats all I can say about my new job.

Spend at least 8 hours in the office every day feels like 2 hours.  Thats how busy I am.  I didnt experience this in my old job.  The previous job was much more sullen and slow paced.  I looked after 3 staff and they did most of the job.  All I did was to ensure all were done to the highest degree, everything had to be in order, met the set KPI and performance oriented.  Not an easy job at that though, especially when someone from the team did not perform up to par, its hard to ensure the team kept up to expectation.

But now, I am so glad that I work on my own.  I dont have anyone working for me.  I am a one woman show, and I love it.  I just have to worry about my own job, peform to the best of my ability and thats all that matters.  Its awesome.  Although it can be very busy.  So much to do to run the business.  But I enjoy it immersely.  No regret.

I am busy but I am happy.  All I need to do is peform.  And deliver.  I got to be there and action.  I do nothing else but doing the job.  As everyone else in the department (the officers), I was  given a duty phone so I can be reached.  Now.. that is pressure!  Something definitely new for me.

1 Muharram 1432 Hijrah

To all Muslims, have a blessing and peaceful new year. 

This is the doa for the end of year. To be read before Magrib prayer.

Doa for the beginning of the new year.  To be read 3 times after Magrib Prayer.

May we all be blessed with lots of Rahmah and Hidayah from Allah Subahana Wataalla.

Amin Ya Rabbul Allamin

Lazy Sunday

After the chaos yesterday, I had the most welcoming easy and lazy sunday.  Had a late breakfast, should I called it brunch (?), at Khaz Corner with my folks.  As usual, we had a nice one and enjoyed each other's company.  My mom as everyone knows, is very talkative.  Always have something to say and to tell.  She loves to joke around and I have to say, my mom had the most contagious laugh, more than anybody I've ever met.  When she laughed, I laughed too, it has a special ring to it, when you heard it you cant help but laugh as well.  Thats what I called a gift, lol...

Next destination after the brunch we went to Petlink to purchase Robbie's items.  We are running out of her special diet and bedding so off we went.  Then heading straight back home and enjoy the rest of the day in the comfort of our humble abode!

Had a quiet and relaxing hi tea at home and it was such a pleasure to stay at home and doing absolutely nothing.  Its great although it doesnt come as often as I like since we always have something to do every weekend.  Afterall its the only time in a week where we are not confined to working.

I have absolutely no mood to wander around.  There was a DST Carnival 10 minutes away from our home in Jerudong.  But the crowds and the fact that we have to follow shuttle buses to get there put me off.  So its not in our agenda and we just let it pass. 

Breakfast with my folks at Khaz Corner, my mom's favourite place!



Robbie's diet and bedding.



Our hi tea at home.

A perfect end to my not so perfect day

I hate going to the mall!  I couldnt stand the jam.  The so many cars were driving me crazy.  The place was really awful and I dreaded myself when going there. It gave me goosebumps and nervousness.  Thats how bad the place is.

This afternoon I sent my daughter to the area and the traffic jam was so horrendous.  It was not moving at all, and in the end I had to drop her from outside the mall area since there was no way I could get in a shortest time possible.

Why did people love to go there?  I hate it.  With that kind of road I couldnt even imagine how to solve the jam issue.  It was so unrealistic to have such routes.  People got stuck all the time.  And I dont see any improvement in the near future.  We actually try never go there unless absolutely necessary.  Its just torture.

It took me hours to calm down.  And tonight when I watched the telly there was Miss Earth 2010 in Star World.  I watched it to pass the time and it was really make my day when I saw Ronan Keating on telly with his famous number, When You Say Nothing At All.  I forgot how beautiful the song was.  I calmed down right away.  Lovely lovely song.  I love it.  Its so beautiful, even the lyric is beautiful.  How true it is,  sometimes its best not to say anything at all in some situation.  Even in Islam, we were encouraged to keep our words to a minimum or say nothing at all, rather than making too much noises.

What a wise wise song.  And I copy the song here from YouTube so I could listen to it again....

Long lost friend

Ok.. this is weird.  For the past few days I've been thinking about someone.  Whom I havent met close to 20 years.  Its all started when I stumbled upon her wedding invitation card when I cleared up some space in one of the cabinets.  The wedding dated back to 10th January 1993.  And the card was posted alot earlier than that.

The card was from a girl who lived in Singapore whom I knew when I was alot younger.  She was a pen friend of a colleague at my previous post.  They wrote to each other for a while and decided to meet when we were sent for a computer course in Singapore.  He met her with all of us in tow, haha.  Then we met regularly after that, we went places and she even invited all of us to her house for dinner and met her family.  We became very close in that short period of time.  I got a feeling that she fell for this guy.  I was not sure if the guy had a mutual feeling but they did look so cute together.

We remained in contact for a few years after that although in the end, it seemed life had other plans for us.  Everyone drifted apart until one day I got her wedding invitation in Singapore and she also wrote that she was sorry she didnt keep in touch more regularly and promised to write more.  Havent heard from her since.  And I didnt attend the wedding.

Fast forward, its almost 20 years now.  And here I am thinking about her.  Wondering how is she doing, how she looks like after all these years. How many kids she had.  I wish I knew how and where to find her.  When I told hubby about her, hubby asked me to check FB, who knows she might be there somewhere.  But then again, I guess most people dont use their real names in FB so the chances are still slim.   We gave it a try nevertheless and unsuccessful.  We even went further to ask someone who had the same name as her if she knew my friend but to no avail.

We tried to look for Singapore website for long lost friend as well but no luck yet.  I know this not an easy task but wouldnt it be great if our path crossed again?  I would love to see her again.  I still can remember how she looked like.

Its even better if I knew how to contact her soon since we will be leaving for Singapore in less than 3 weeks.  Wouldnt it be great if we could meet and reminisce about the old times on this trip?

So I am looking for pointers.  Or tips on how to look for a long lost friend.  I wonder anybody out there know Hamidah Bee Abdul Wahid from Beduk North Road, Singapore.

Happy Birthday Bro!

Many happy returns!  May Allah blessed you with abundance of good health, wealth and long life!

Our daughter Khatam Al-Quran

So Congratulations Ayang, for reaching this far.  Yesterday Ayang and 66 of her schoolmates had the Khatam Al-Quran ceremony organised by her school.  It was a joyous occasion, apart from finishing their exams and hoping for flying colours, this is another important milestones in their lives.

The stage where the ceremony took place at her school.

The screen/slides at the centre of the stage, very useful to show any caption and all the Surah they recite.

The students  - all of them who took part although I didnt know where Ayang was!

Focusing on reciting the Surah

After the Khatam, they all lined up to receive their certificates.

My daughter with her school principal.

Happy faces!!!

The "menabur bunga rampai" ceremony with the students parents.



Ayang with some of her classmates who took part.



So what are we gonna do now??? LOL.

Me and my daughter

Ayang and her bestie

Enjoying the food.

Her certificate.

The ceremony wont be complete without food haha..

I am free!

Thats my daughter!  LOL...

She finishes her exam yesterday, after having it for the past month.  Her last paper was Bio, her favourite subject and she went home with a big smile on her face!

She said she and her friends screamed out loud right after the exam ended.  Such a big relief for everyone.  And she said - NOW I AM FREE!

She will be free for the next 2-3 months before the result was announced.  So for now she's gonna chill and relax.  Anticipating the result will be another matter, haha.

I will let her relax for a bit.  Afterall she deserves it, its been a long and tiring road to be at the end of this.  She has done her best to study and did what she was supposed to do.  I think she has done everything in her power to revise and answered all the papers.  Its all passed.  And the future is there and now. 

I asked her what she wanted to do to celebrate? She looked at me in the face and asked me back. What? Celebrate?  I will celebrate when I know my result! What a sensible thing to say, lol.  She said she just want to release the tension of the exam, maybe go for a movie with her friends or something.  And she said she wanted to go to the latest Harry Porter movie with me tomorrow.  Well.. not a big HP fan, but why not?  Hubby said it the movie would be ok to watch, with the affects and the wizards and all.  We'll see about that.

Still a long time before we know the result.  So for now, its a down time.  A lazy time for her and I am gonna let her do her things for a while.  Its going to be fun for her.  She's gonna be busy with lots of things I am sure.  And the first on the list is she will be doing her Khatam Al-Quran at her school next week,a and will be involved in rehersals few times.  Too bad parents were not invited, I sure want to see her khatam. 

With all these commotions behind us, I just realise again that my daughter is growing up.  She will be in Form 6 next year and will be off to Uni for the next 2 years.  She flies of the nest, eventually.  She will be on her own most of the time very soon, and I am gonna let her live her on life.  I am not looking forward to that but has to be done.  Its so sad but she is a grown up now.

(Update : We received the Khatamal Quran invitation for my daughter today for tuesday so its on!)

Salam Eid ul-Adha

I have a very low-key Eid ul-Adha this year, in fact we didnt even celebrate it, which is such a pity.  Last year, we had an open house for family.  But not this year. I went to work instead for 2hrs.  Never in my working life have done that, but this new job requires me to do so.  Its fortunate that the office is only about 20 minutes away and I have said my committment to perform my duties.

Another reason why there was no celebration was because our daughter was having her exam today.  The exam has been fixed and since Eid ul-Adha was pushed back one day later, then the exam still had to go on.  She and the rest of her friends have Physics today despite the celebration.  But I think its ok, its not really a big deal. 

Spent my afternoon browsing the internet for some pictures of Hajj this year, and came across this website with really amazing pictures!  Just look at these, there are really brilliant, make me proud to be a Muslim.  I took these pictures from this site : http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/11/hajj_2010.html?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed4.  My blog here doesnt do justice to these pictures. Go and see, you'll be amazed!