last night, i came back from our awesome duo trip to kuala lumpur, nurul and i. there were so much binging, shopping, walking and deadly bargaining (on nurul's part). the best was the wonderful companionship i had for the entire of three days two nights.

i tried to keep track of what, where and how much i had spent eating while i was there by keeping the receipts but i guess i lost track of it. among the places we hit were carls' jr, food court @ pavillion, toast box, food court @ central market, subway, pepper lunch and baskins robbins. this experience had indeed proven me that carl's jr makes the best beef burgers, ever! we even came across the biggest onion ring we ever laid our eyes on - it was at least 12cm wide!

i managed to influence nurul on her spenditure and i am proud that she managed to spend less than she did last december, seeing that we paid much more for the hotel. however, that did not stop us from shopping too! i guess the best steals i got, thanks to nurul's superb bargaining skills, were the plentiful bottles of perfume from petaling street. we submerged ourselves in so much perfume that i got high! of course there was the usual hunt for wrapping papers for me - i guess there were at least 20 pieces! the sister said that these were in fact the prettiest papers she saw.

in addition, nurul found her favourite marks and spencer line a rival. ms. read carried really awesome, quality pieces with beautiful strong colours and some crazy prints, at affordable prices. i particularly loved the ambience they created in their boutique - the plush oversized sofas, magazines, comfortable fitting rooms and helpful staff made shopping in their store a wonderful experience.

of course there were a few incidents which added to make the trip more memorable.

our first fish spa experience ..

.. was indeed unforgettable. we decided to visit the hotel spa to rejuvenate our aching feet from all the shopping. the first few minutes were torturous as we tried to withstand the tickling sensation on our feet. as the time passed, we pretty much got used to the feeling. of course, we tried not to think about it. but the best part was that we got out of the spa with notably softer, smoother feet!

nurul's first henna experience ..

.. being a henna virgin, she decided to make a rash decision to get her hand henna-painted. this lovely lady from pakistan made some beautiful elaborate drawings on nurul's hand and i got my finger henna-painted for free! the henna dried up pretty quickly but unfortunately, it did not last that long.

daylight robbery ..

.. the robbers were non other than the taxi drivers. after our trip to central market, we decided to cab back to our hotel since it was already quite late. the signs on the taxis stating that they were metered cabs and that haggling was strictly prohibited, were way unnecessary. none of them suddenly decided to use the meter to charge the cab fare. all of them decided to quote a price of rm15, thrice the rm5 we were charged by an honest cab driver who had brought us to petaling street in the morning. their excuse was the jam they had to ram through to head towards the city at that hour. we finally made up our minds to just jump into a cab after nurul caught a freaky disheveled man staring at us. and yes, the traffic was smooth.

police raid ..

.. our bus got raided by the police and sniff dogs after they caught a man on board our coach bring in two cartons of cigarettes and another group not bringing along all their belongings for the immigration check. we were delayed because of this incident but it was quite a first hand experience. the suspected man was detained for further interrogation and our bus driver and guide were clearly annoyed.

and lastly, thanks to nurul for the most wonderful companionship and having to put up with me throughout the entire 3 days 2 nights, and boy, i know that it was not easy! (:

bapak decided to pull off an adrenaline stunt by announcing that he needed us to pack for a few days short getaway later in the afternoon. thank goodness half my stuff are strewn across the bedroom floor and the others are still in my luggage. away from the cosmopolitan cities, we'll be heading to desaru this time.

hello sun, sea and sand!

3 more hours and im not even halfway done.

the clothes i have specially chosen are catered to hide those times my stomach balloons every single time after a heavy meal. im still contemplating on the footwear, though i have not much of a choice from the mere number of shoes i have. most of them still leave me with freaking blisters even though i had tried to season them for a year. i thought of backpacking this time round but the only things that i managed to fit into my backpack were the clothes. so i have decided on the cabin bag instead, leaving me plenty of room for shopping items.

i hope i would be able to catch up on my sleep during the journey and hopefully not look like a complete mess when i wake up.

see you!

when he came after me as i walked away, and he told me with tears in his eyes, that he had never bothered to come after anyone else, i knew that he loved me more than i thought he ever did.

the boyfriend got himself a new bike, with almost the exact paintwork as his previous'. he never looked happier and i couldnt be prouder.

hopefully to wonderful new beginnings, and beautiful happy endings.

alice sat at her desk in their bedroom distracted by the sounds of john racing through each of the rooms on the first floor. she needed to finish her peer review of a paper submitted to the journal of cognitive psychology before her flight, and she’d just read the same sentence three times without comprehending it. it was 7:30 according to their alarm clock, which she guessed was about ten minutes fast. she knew from the approximate time and the escalating volume of his racing that he was trying to leave, but he’d forgotten something and couldn’t find it. she tapped her red pen on her bottom lip as she watched the digital numbers on the clock and listened for what she knew was coming.

still alice, lisa genova

i managed to squeeze in some reading time while accompanying atok to the hospital just now. i must say that this was one of the best reads, ever. it felt so .. real.

anyway, i posted up a question on my tumblr and i hope that you guys can help me out. (: it is not as often that my sister is that generous, so i am planning to squeeze every cent of her $500. (i am just kidding!) if you feel uncomfortable leaving your name and email, you can always leave me a note at ask.

thanks alot!

Korean artist, Jungyun Yoon, created this Inner Message Ring, a metal band with raised text on the inside surface. After a while, the message ("Marry Me" and "Always") will be imprinted on the wearer’s finger.


i want this so much!

nurul just reminded me of the reality that would sink in this coming july.

the first 16 years of my life, i had the shortest hair ever.

when i was in kindergarten and primary school, my mother believed that girls my age should have short, neat and fuss-free hairstyles. she told me that i was not old enough to take care of my own locks. i had always envied my friends who had long hair falling past their shoulders - braided and accessorised with lovely colourful bows and rubber bands. i hated my slope hairstyle cause i felt that it made my elfish ears more apparent.

my mother told me that i was 'old' enough to care for my hair when i turned 13. however throughout my entire 4 years in secondary school, i kept my hair cropped really really short. i guess at that point of time, i wanted to portray the 'cool vibe'. i had frequent self-haircuts, haircuts by my friends and sister and there was even once, the school aunty helped correct my hair in the toilet in school! those were the days. i have to admit though, the short-do helped me out on the track. i wanted to scan those secondary school pictures but the thought of having to score for them somewhere in my cupboard made me really lazy.

and then, i, uh, grew up.

while i was in jc, my hair had grown nicely past the short stage and i had splashes of these pretty auburn in my hair thanks to makngah, who started the entire let-me-dye-your-hair during the month stay at iran.

i gave my beautiful long locks a drastic chop in 2007. for me, the decision was entirely an emotional imperative. i just got out of a two year plus relationship, screwed my As and there was just too much shit going on. i needed that boost to get on with my life - to breathe the air of a fresh start. and it helped so much - things started to fall beautifully into place and i have never looked back ever since.

through the years, i decided to grow out my hair again, this time completely jet black.

i decided to get a major haircut, but this time, its not a personal choice. i just want something different and my hair is starting to look dull. and im lucky to have such an appreciative boyfriend who thinks that i will look lovely no matter the hairstyle.

so, im bringing nurul to the hairdresser's at woodlands mart tomorrow. they have really good hairdressers there. hopefully, my new hairstyle will make me look half as good as rachel stevens. hehe!

footnote: i am really certain that if peter jackson saw my ears, he would have cast me as one of the elves in lord of the rings. i would save the costume director and makeup artist the trouble of having to fix one of those elfish ears on me. but, i love it! (:

ruben, an australian, was born an atheist. he came to a point of life where he was faced with many challenges and realised that he needed a strength, a belief, that would guide him through his darkest days. he began exploring different religions - christianity, catholicism, hinduism, buddhism, but none of them appealed to him.

one of his close friends, who was a christian, told ruben to list all the religions he had investigated. after rattling the list, his friend asked, "what about islam?" ruben looked at him appalled and said, "islam?! they are terrorists! i'm not going to investigate their religion! they are crazy! why would i even look at their religion!"

but ruben found himself walking into a mosque one day. he strode across the prayer rugs with his shoes on and walked straight in front of a guy praying, who was about to perform the sujud. he nearly stepped on that guy's head.

ruben looked over and he saw this huge guy walking towards him, with a long beard and his abaya. ruben thought he was going to die, however, abdul hamzah's first words to ruben were, "g'day mate! how you're doing?" his friendly and warm gesture took ruben by surprise. he was treated really warmly by the brothers in the mosque and they served him tea and biscuits.

so ruben found himself coming back to the mosque and exploring islam. each time he asked a question, the brothers will refer to the quran and tell him the answer. this made ruben frustrated as he perceived that these brothers had no opinions of their own. so he asked them what were their opinions on the matter. one of the brothers replied, "how can i have my own opinion when this is the word of God?" that really hit ruben.

one night, ruben decided to make his leap into the faith. at that point of time, he had explored islam for 6 months. he brought home the quran (tafsir) and decided to read it. however, he felt like he needed a sign - any sign from Allah, to show that islam is the path he should take. he hoped for a bolt of lightning, a flicker of the candles, or something- just a small sign, but absolutely nothing happened. he felt disappointed and told himself that he would give God a second chance to prove. again, nothing happened and he felt terribly disappointed.

he felt that islam was not the religion he was looking for.

ruben turned the quran to where he stopped reading, and the very next verse he read was,
"for those of you who ask for signs, have We not shown you enough already? look around you, look at the stars, look at the sun, look at water. these are the signs for the people of knowledge."

subhanAllah.

footnote:

ruben, who adopted the muslim name abu bakar, filled his speech with much humour. it was really entertaining to listen to him. check it out!

click here for the video part 1
video part 2

less than a week abandoning this space and i am already missing it. i just feel a certain emotional attachment to it just because i have poured out so much here throughout the years. i feel that i cant really express myself on tumblr and i see it as merely a space to reblog those pretty and inspirational pictures, as well as short random thoughts and notes. i can see that i am not leaving this place anytime soon.

anyway while i was eating polar's sugar roll cream cake, i got reminded of the abundant hay rolls lying on the gorgeous rolling hills of adelaide, australia. i wish that there was a holiday destination i could look forward to so that it could spur me to study for the upcoming exams. i hope i will get the green light to go for the kl trip with nurul. at least there is something to look forward to - the pigging sessions of 'non-halal' food and of course, shopping!

well, that can wait.

i feel that linguistics this semester is harder than last semester's. for this module last semester, it was more of having to grasp only one concept thoroughly and apply it to other situations. not much memory work is needed, as long as you know your fundamentals. this time, there is so much more memory work for countless of definitions and explanations.

it feels like im studying for biology, which i totally suck in. seeing that last module was easier and i managed to only scrap through a B, i should be nervous about this wednesday's paper.

hello beautiful people.

i have a tumblr now and it seems more flexible for everyday random thoughts and postings.
i feel that i do not have to write coherent and proper long sentences when i post something up there, as compared to this space.

while i see myself leaning towards tumblr, i love this space too much to leave it alone.

i guess i will still be blogging here if there is a need to rant or invoke my words.

i am afraid that i will lose my flair if i stop writing altogether.

check out my tumblr for my random thoughts, pictures, postings and all pretty things that inspire me.

or you can also ask me anything and i will try to answer your questions.

have a great night.

love, syaz.