Its almost here!

I am talking about the result of October/ November 2010 IGCSE, BC-GCE O, AS & /A/Level!

We have registered ourselves to the SMS facilities (with heavy heart!).  As everyone else, we do not fully agree with this concept of getting the result via SMS and pay $3.00 for it.  But its the only way to go, so we have to give it a go.  Gone are the days when we get to have the result for free and we even could see other people's result but not anymore.  I wonder what the reason behind all these.  Well, got to let it pass though, if thats the way its going to be.

I am nervous, our daughter is nervous.  We dont know when it will come out but according to Ayang, her heart flipped every time she receives a text these days, lol

The registration for the SMS was last saturday and we are not really sure when is the big day.  For now we could only wait.

News on the SMS registration is here!

Arrow Heads

And it tastes better than potato chips.

Below is what I meant!

The arrow heads

This is delicious.  A Chinese friend of hubby introduced this plant to him and when we went to Grand Utama at the Mall we came across them and bought a tray.  His friend told him, its good and taste better than fried potato chips.  So we gave it a try. And true to her words, it was really very nice.  I agree its better than potato chips.

We never seen this plant before.  It looks like a chestnut but not really.  So with open mind, we took them home and I deep fried them, and wallla.... so very very good.

We searched the internet for some info and found some descriptions of it. 

This perennial marsh plant is a member of the water-plantain family, named for the shape of its leaves, but valued for its starchy, tuberous roots. The potato-like tubers resemble an enlarged, ivory, water chestnut; but taste like a sunchoke-potato mix but more bitter. It plays a small role in Chinese dishes, but a larger one in Japanese cuisine. A distinction was formerly made between S. sagittifolia and what were regarded as two other species: S. s inensis of China and Japan and the North American wild versions, S. latifolia and S. cuneata. Today, all are classified as one species.

The tubers are roundish and enclosed in a sheath which has to be removed. They can then be cooked like new potatoes. The flavour is more pronounced than the potato and tastes best when roasted. Cooking also destroys the bitter and possibly toxic substances and removes the acrid flavour they have in the raw state. This tuber can be unpredictable when it comes to degrees of bitterness; otherwise, it could be cooked like a Jerusalem artichoke. Therefore, it is best used in soups where there is plenty of liquid to mellow out the flavour, but should be cooked only to the point of still having a slight crunch. Any more, and it turns bland and starchy.

What the arrowheads look like after I chopped them thinly.

After chopping, I fried them in a medium heat, I added a bit of salt to taste.

The fried arrowheads.  This is delicious.

ggrrr...

What a mishap!  Our car got knocked off, though accidents do happen but I wish people could be more careful and alert of their surroundings.  This happened infront of our house, the car was parked outside and someone (not a resident of this area) parked his car behind our car, reversed and bam!  What the heck!  The car was stationary, at least looked first before hitting the accelerator.

We came home the other day and saw this.  Luckily that person informed our Amah about the mishap and willing to pay for the damage.  Hubby was furious and I dont blame him.  He said he didnt need the hussle of looking for a workshop and all the added work that need to be done.  So we asked the person to look for workshop nearby and we just sent the car.  So yesterday we took the car to the workshop to get it fixed, and as agreed the charges will be paid by the person responsible.  The repair work will be finished probably on friday so we will see what happen then.

  

Look at that damage.  Our car arrived at the workshop

This may cost him a fortune.  The backlight was broken and look at that dent!

Full of anticipations

Calling for all mothers....

Why is it that when our children go for exam and wait for results, the parents are the one who feel so nervous and panic? lol.  Thats how I feel.  Rumours has it, the result will be out within this or next week.  Where did all the time go?  Time sure fly by so fast.  It felt like it was yesterday our daughter attended her exam and now its almost time for the result.  What will she get?  Will it be a good result?  Or so so?

The anticipation is killing me!  I want the best for our daughter.  I want her to do well and I know she did.  So there is nothing to do except wait for the best.

The Movie - Khurafat

Hubby took me to watch this movie.  He said he saw the review and felt like he wanted to watch it.  I was sceptical.  It is a malay horror movie.  As usual, not my first choice, although I've seen some good reviews from the internet, but still I was a bit sceptical.  And we had some bad malay movie experience in the past.  Things like most movies were so tense,  so dark and the ghosts looked so fake hehe.  The music were so loud and the suspense were too much too bear.  On one ocassion, I felt so breathless with all the tense, I didnt feel like seeing any malay horror movies ever again!

Not a big fan actually.  And when was the last time we watched a malay movie?  Almost 2 years ago, hehehehe.  We were very selective on what malay movie to watch, and we only went if it has a good review from the public.  The last movie was Papadom which I loved so much....

And now this?  Ok.. we got to go and see it and hoped we will not be dissapointed.  Only hubby and I this time since we knew Ayang would not be interested to watch.  We arrived at Qlap Mall at around 10.30am (the only cinema that showed the movie) and we opted for 11am time slot.  We thought we were the only people there but there were about 15 others?  So that looked promising enough.

Now the review, the bad points first!  As any typical malay horror movies we watched so far, the whole length of the movie were very tense with pounded sounds and music every time the paranormal appeared.  Not for the faint hearted or those having heart problem.  They may drop dead right there and then with all the suspense!  There seemed to be no light moments, well.. maybe a little but I wish there could be more to give some breathers to the audience.  So what I suggest to the movie director/producer - Syamsul Yusof. Do more homework and research.  While its good to add any element of suspense in the movie, you should give the audience a break!  There should be more light moments added.  More humour or light hearted conversation or sceneries should be added so the audience would be able to enjoy the movie  more.

But I just love the story line!  You need to watch and focus on the movie right to the end. You wouldnt want to miss the plot otherwise you wont understand whats going on.  The movie started off rather shaky, its not straight forward and seemed complicated.  It was hard to link one scene to the other.  But your questions will be answered at the end of the movie and you will be able to piece together and finish the puzzles.  Thats what the movie is all about.  Interesting.  Its about this young man named Johan who left his social girlfriend and married a good girl.  He was a social and a party freak before too but he wanted to change and be a good person. He left the girlfriend and marry another but then their lives were disturbed by mysterious appearance of some ghosts. And at the same time the ex-girlfriend couldnt him go and bothered him all the time, day and night.  At this moment, you will feel the hate for the girl, and wish she just let him go.  And at this moment also, you just thought Johan was a good person but how wrong you were when you came to the end of the story.  It was so twisted..

Then the ex-girlfriend committed suicide and this was when the revelation came about.  You will know that Johan made a pact with a devil before.  During the flashback, we came to know that Johan had practice a black magic trying to win the dead girlfriend who didnt like him at all at first.  When he performed the black magic on her, the girlfriend was hooked and went crazy for him but he he left her and marry his wife instead.  No wonder she was so crazy for him!  In the pact with the devil (and a bomoh), the agreement was he shouldnt left her and he must looked after her, otherwise the whole pact will become his worst enemy and he would be in great danger.  And this is where all it came together.  He had dishonour his agreement with the devil and his happy life was disrupted.

And I just love the end of the movie!  Interesting way of ending the story.  Its like you thought of one thing but it was another thing.  Again, twisted and I didnt expect to see that in a malay movie.  So well done!

A good try by the new director.  I dont mind recommend this movie to anyone.  Its like a breath of fresh air to the malay movie.  Its just more improvements could be done on the presentation and make it more smooth and not too tense.

My score - 6/10

"Jam shocked"

Is that even a word? lol...

The traffic jam in Brunei is really getting into my nerve.  Especially during peak hours.  No matter how much I tried to avoid it, its always hits me right on in the face.  Literally. Its very stressful and I have just been working in Bandar full time for about 3 weeks but how I miss the road in Seria.  I am really having a nervous breakdown with all these jams.  So not used to it, although me and hubby know about the kind of jam in Brunei, from the news, friends, relatives and on our saturday morning breakfasts, but still, its kind of a wake up call that I think the government need to do something about it.  The police has done their part every day controlling the flow but its just simply not enough.  What we really need is a good wide road!  Especially around our area where it hit the worst.  Brunei roads just couldnt cope with the number of vehicles using the roads every single minutes and seconds. 

So I am kind of getting "jam shocked" as opposed to cultural shock (thats where I derived the words from though, not sure its even recognised in the Oxford dictionary, hehe).  I was working in Seria for 20 years.  Apart from the mild (?) jam in Sungai Liang, its very smooth flow.  There was no jam in Seria or KB town so I am not used to this just yet.  Well.. maybe a little, around the school area maybe?  I keep on telling myself I will get used to this in a while and I really hope I will.  Not that I am complaining, as I said its been a blessing to be working near to home, and its been so good so far.  But the traffic jam is just killing me!  So I guess 2011 hasnt started as smooth as I expect.  But nothing I couldnt handle so thats good.

Why I feel this way.

I had a good talk with hubby today. 

I informed him I've been thinking alot about my friend who died on thursday.  I remember so much about her.  I told him we have known each other for a very long time.  Well.. I knew he knew that but it was good to say that again.  I told him how generous she was, she used to bring lots of food to the office to share with everyone.  She was a happy person, never talked bad about anybody.  Thats just her.  Then I confided to hubby that I never lost a friend before, and joked with him that when my friend and I were on the other world (alam akhirat), I would meet her and she will mention that hey.. I was the first one who died amongst our friends! hahaa..  Hubby said he had lost so many of his friends that it didnt feel weird anymore.  Which is true of course.  Its just what life is all about.  I will be ok, its just I need a few days to digest all this.

Then hubby said something that clicked.  He said the reason why I kept on thinking about my friend was because we didnt get to meet when we were supposed to meet.  We met her and her husband during the Photography competition at the Empire in August of last year.  I so wanted to talk to her but I didnt.  We greeted each other from afar and that was it.  It was a busy time, and when I tried to look for her, she was no longer around.  We talked online a few days after that.  I said I was sorry I didnt get the chance to speak to her on the day, she said it was ok, she was in a hurry too.  Time just flew by, although we didnt talk again, I always think of her and checked her online profile in the office.  I knew she was getting sicker when she was always offline but I just didnt have the guts to call her office mates and found out how she was doing.  I also thought I should give her the space and not to disturb her too much but I guess thats not the right thing to do.  And now its too late.  She was gone.  I think hubby was right.  I felt there was something hanging in me that I cant exactly pinpoint.  So my friend, please forgive me for not keeping in touch.  But I am hoping you will have a better life in the afterlife.  May you not suffer anymore.  I want to let you go now but I will always keep you in my memory. 

Al-Fatihah

I lost a friend today. She passed away because of cancer. I am speechless. I cant find words to say. I am feeling so sad and thinking of her kids. I blogged about her a few months ago and now this is the end.  May Allah bless her soul.

The last time we spoke was a few months ago. She sounded so excited. She was about to move back to Bandar. To their newly finished house. I wonder if they did move.

Mega.. I know we haven’t been in touch but I do think about you often. May your soul rest in peace, my dear friend. And this is for you.



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Doa Rasulullah (saw) untuk yang telah meninggal dunia

Inilah doa Baginda Nabi Muhammad saw ketika meninggalnya sahabat Abu Salamah r.a:

Wahai Allah, ampunilah Mega, naikkanlah darjatnya diantara orang-orang yang mendapat hidayah, dan lindungilah keluarga dan keturunannya yang masih hidup. Ampunilah dia dan kami, wahai Tuhan sekelian alam, luaskanlah kubur baginya dan berikanlah cahaya didalamnya.

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First day at PTEK

Today is Ayang first day at PTEK.  I was a bit worried about traffic to get there at first.  Since I knew the traffic was horrendous at this part of Brunei every peak hours.  So we woke up early and ready by 6.30am and hit the road.  We picked up the pace and when we reached the Jangsak Junction, the road was already jammed with cars.  But to my surprise, although there were jams but we did manage to reach the school in 20 minutes time!  The journey was uneventful, it was smooth, the movement was not that slow and we reached the school at 6.50am, way too early for the required time for her to attend the gathering at 7.30am.  Alhamdulilah.

I waited with her in the car for about 10minutes at the carpark, there were already lots of students around.  But she didn see any of her friends and that made her more nervous.  I think she didnt like that feeling very much, I knew she was overwhelmed with the whole thing, which is understandable of course.  I encouraged her to go and mingled, I am sure there was someone she knew amongst all those crowd.  So off she went to start her first day.  And I went off my way to work and arrived later than usual!

Picked up Ayang from school at around 3.45pm, hoping she had a good day and good lunch.  As a parent, thats the most important thing for me, that she was fed well, safe and sound and had a good day.  I left work early to go to her school actually because my office network system was down since the morning.  Meaning we couldnt do any work since most of our work are in the computer system so we had lots of free time in the office today.  Then I found out, there was a black out at the whole of Seria and KB and power hasnt been restored as we speak, thus making the network down!  So it was really serious.  I just hope things will go back to normal tomorrow otherwise I wouldnt know what I would do with all that time in the office.  I wonder whats going on in KB?

Anyway, Ayang told me her day which was rather special (except for lunch, she said the food was tasteless!).  They had two weeks programme lined up.  For the first week, it was all about motivation, encouragement and lesson on how to managed their time, how to study and use the library and so on.  Then on the 2nd week, it will be about department briefings and tourings of classes.  Which I think will be the most enjoyable since they will get to know the classes, the rooms, galleries, conference rooms, science labs and so on.  They were all divided into 4 groups and she was in Group 1.  She noticed also most of the students are from her school which made up may be about 60%?  I could tell it was true from the programme book and list of names in the groups.  So bravo to Ayang school for doing a good job!  I wonder when the result will be off.  I've heard rumours that it may come out in the next couple of days.  Even Ayang told me, of the teachers mentioned it will come out on the 24th January.  Well.. thats like next week.  No wonder Ayang is a nervous wreck!

So tomorrow will be another day.  We'll see if we get lucky again and able to reach the school on time.

The traffic as usual at Jalan Jangsak  Although it was a long queue it didnt slow us down very much and we were able to reach the school early.

But look at the road leading up to PTEK - empty!

Students drop off point.

This will be the place I drop Ayang off every day from now on.

Why I like my new office..

We have Astro in the office, although we dont watch movies or AXN, or Bio, etc, well.. if the boss is not around, these colleagues here do watch that mind you, most days it is either Bloomberg and CNBC due to the nature of this department, but still its a tv, with adverts and songs and so on.  And some interesting programmes on these channels as well. 

The radio is on.  My colleague favourite channel is Pilihan Channel.  Although I am not quite familiar with this channel, but I get to know that is really an enjoyable channel to listen to.  Most songs being played are old but nice songs.  My old and favourite songs from my younger days which are so nice to hear and evergreen.  Songs from such singers like Nassir Wahab, Ibnor Riza, Sudirman, Black Dog Bone, Carefree, Alleycats wow... love those old songs.

So far I enjoy my stay here.  Although work is non-stop but with these added entertainments, work is bearable.  Although I was not used to this at first, now I am getting the hang of it.  In my previous job, office is so quite and people didnt even talk sometimes, its totally different here. 

So I should say its a very relaxed atmosphere. 

Breakfast at the Empire

Breakfast at the Empire is always a feast.  The free gift extended for free breakfast as well.  I always love the breakfast with its full list of choices, and since its free, its even more fulfilling lol..

2 Days and 1 night at the Empire

It seems our holiday streak hasnt finished!  Another enjoyable weekend, sort of holiday like hehe...

Hubby won a 2 days and 1 night stay at the Empire during the Amateur Photography competition last year, and only now we redeemed the prize and stayed at the hotel.  We checked in around 2pm and we were given a superior room at the Seaview building.  I never been to this part of the hotel.  All this time we stayed at the main west or east wing which I prefer due to the near proximity to all the amenities like swimming pool, the atrium and so on. 

But since it was free, I didnt want to argue about it and just went with the flow.  And I am so happy to report that the room was not too bad at all.  The building was even nicer, its quieter and very spacious.  And its a good time for us to explore the whole place as well since we never done this before. 

The gift certificate hubby won.

During checking in at the reception.

On our way to the Seaview Building, its located right the opposite of the main building, just a very short distance away.

The sign of the Seaview Building.  There were 2 other building at the same area, called Lagoon and Waterfall buildings.  Seaview is the nearest to the main building.

Us outside our room.

The room!  Empire rooms never failed to impress me.

Me and my daughter

Hubby and me in our room for the day.

We were happy with the room hehe, except maybe for the TV.  Its about time Empire replaces them with the flat screen hehe.

Hubby and Ayang at the balcony.

Nice and comfy couch.

Our room from a different angle.

One thing I love about the Empire is their spacious washroom and toilet.  Its huge.

Us again at the balcony



Hubby checking if there was a free WI-FI.  Nope, no have!  It cost B$30 per day.



With a cup of complimentary coffee!

After settling in our room, and happy that everything was in order, we decided to venture outside the premises, something we havent done before even we have stayed here for so many times already. It was a lovely day, windy and cool so its so nice to have a leisure stroll. 



Me and my daughter having a stroll along the cool pathway.



The signs around the hotel premises

Us

Hubby outside the Li Gong restaurant.

A swimming pool especially for hotel guests who stayed at the Lagoon or Waterfall buildings.

We could see the beach from the pathway.

This area was from the 2nd floor of Seaview building.  I just love all the chairs which came in different designs.

Another area of the Seaview building.

This picture was from the main building called the Atrium Arcade, we use this route to go to the Seaview building.

After the stroll, hubby and Ayang decided to swim, it was a nice and cool day so its gonna be good to have a dip in the pool. 

Thats Ayang and hubby.

Hubby enjoying the swim.

We stayed at the pool until about 6pm and the surrounding was getting dark.

At the Empire Atrium, a very nice sight indeed.

Another scene from the Seaview Building, isnt it nice and luxurious?