packing 2

i have packed! now tinggal nak masukkan baju2 yang tengah pakai and also the ones we are going to wear till next week. everything muat and there's still room in my luggage, Alhamdullillah.

i will be bringing back 2 bags and 1 handluggage. 1 lagi bag will be left behind and collected bila i come for my viva, inshaAllah.

i have also completed my shopping list for nephews and nieces. now tinggal nak beli ground coffee, chocolates, mugs and some other souviner. pastu i should be done with shopping. if there's more space, then can bring back aaron's toys. if not, next round lah.

esok nak pergi beli coffee and chocolates and cancel my internet subscription. next week nak usha souviner, handle bank stuff and also cancel my insurance.

i called my uni tadi and they said my faculty has approved my application. however, any keputusan still depends on the meeting CB. meeting will be this friday. doakanla i dapat extend ye uols? if dapat extend, syukur sangat. Boleh la I work on more journal articles. I plan to meet my sv and suggest some future collaboration, inshaAllah.

will be heading to insbruck on wednesday awal pagi. woot woot!! cannot wait. :) belum pack lagi for the trip.will be there till friday.

pastu saturday tu, nak purchase tickets, inshaAllah. then, i have to vacuum my flat, clean the toilet and make some last minute cleaning. the new tenant will be coming on sunday (a msian phd student). now i pening...nak still stay here till end of next week atau tumpang my friend's house? i selesa duduk my house, obviously but then ada tetamu yang basically strangers kan. how ek?

i cannot believe my stay here is about to end. It has been good while it lasted. I could still remember how scared I was when I first came here. My nervousness (boleh ke beranak sini? how to buat local insurance? how to buat residence permit? where to stay? language barrier.) I will really miss Wien. :( Must buy that I love wien tshirt for me. hih hih.

kejadian di one utama

Got a text from my mom tadi.

My brother's three year old son was almost kidnapped!!! Ok...I am not sure if the word kidnapped sounds a bit rash but there was this guy who took my nephew.

It happened so quick and my brother didn't even realize it. He only realized it when he heard his son cried loudly. Bila dia cari, dia tengok his son was being carried by a total stranger (a man...tak sure what race) and my brother quickly said "hey...tu anak saya". So the man left the boy and quickly disappeared.

All this happened in 1 Utama. My brother is still bewildered macam mana boleh berlaku because he went out with his wife and bibik. Granted he has three kids but there were three adults and so, tak tahu cemana boleh jadi.

Apa pon...please..ALWAYS keep your eyes on your kids. PLEASE. Dah macam-macam kes sekarang ni. In my brother's case, nasib baik anak dia memang tak suka dengan orang. I cannot imagine if it were to happen to my no 2 cos he is soooooooooo friendly!!

haih...must remind Dr Sunshine to tell they boys to NEVER talk to strangers, follow strangers or accept things from strangers!

Apa pon, syukur sangat yang my brother dengar his son crying. Kalau tak??? tsk.

p.s: my sister's car kena langgar dengan cina mabuk today. I am not being racist or anything tapi memang yang langgar dia was cina yang mabuk. Meh, haku nak cakap sikit. Ko nak mabuk ke apa ke, ko punya pasal la kan. Yang ko pi bawa kereta tu apehal? Membahayakan orang lain ok! What if my sister was hurt? What if the good samaritan yang tumpangkan dia to hantar kereta to bengkel tu was jahat and kidnapped my sis? Memang la menyusahkan orang tau! Ergghhh...kerajaan British pon dah sedar ok keburukan minum ni. So please la...Allah pon memang dah haramkan benda ni.

Tirana Trip

Dah berminggu balik baru hari ni teringat nak write something about Tirana. hehe. Satgi tak tulis kang, takut tak ingat plaks kenangan.

ANyway, the Tirana Trip was my first trip with Aaron alone to a foreign country. Needless to say, I was a bit apprehensive. Yela. tak leh imagine how the country is like and etc.

SO, earlier on, when I booked the hotel, I booked the airport shuttle as well. SO, sesampai je, memang ada orang tunggu kat arrivals with my name on a piece of paper. Neway, I tulis point form je lah ek.

- Tirana is clean!
- The place reminded me of Kota Bharu. Its small and the main attractions are within walking distance.
- Aaron was hot stuff kat sana! Kejap2 kena gomol dan kiss by strangers.
- I heard azan berkumandang in Tirana because its major population are muslim. Ironically however, Halal stuff are not that easy to find.
- Tirana tak ada KFC atau McDonalds. Shopping complex pon macam tak de! Brands that we usually see in EU like H&M, C&A pon non ado! Its still not really opened to the outside world. And, it was soooo difficult nak cari souviner kat Tirana. Ada...tapi memang limited choices. I punya habit when travelling is to post postcard to my boys...Usually I would have a hard time to choose the postcards cos banyak cantik2. Ni, hard time to choose sebab banyak yang tak best. ihiks.
- Bas kat Tirana masig guna kondukter yang kutip tambang tu!
- I see people walking everywhere in Tirana. Orang dia banyak berjalan.
- Iskandar Zulkarnain or Alexander the Great is know as Skanderbeg in Tirana. He is a national hero!
- Tengok orang solat Jumaat sampai bentang2 tikar kat luar masjid. Rasa sayu masa tu sebab tak sangka boleh tengok keadaan macam tu di negara asing.
- Sebab tak banyak pengaruh luar, even the museum is not that tourist friendly. Most of the exhibits lack english explanations.
- Kat sana banyak kedai Italian food!! I had one of the best salmon pasta there. :)
- I saw a kid tidur kat pavement on a box. :( Kat Tirana banyak Gypsies and they are the ones yang beg for money. Kinda scary jugak cos if you are not lucky, they will tug on your shirt sleeves! I kena sekali but I buat dek ajer!
- In Albania, remember to angguk when saying no and geleng when saying yes. Ada orang tanya if I was from India and I geleng...terus dia excited and cakap..yes...you are from India. sigh
- banyak barang made in china kat its market! Banyak counterfeit products as well...ala-ala petaling street gittew!
- i bought sarung bantal trimmed with lace for about rm10 satu. Murah ok!
- Food is cheap! I bought a slice of pizza for less than 80cents (euros) and a scoop of ice cream is only about 30cents. Kat Vienna, se slice pizza is paling murah pon 2.50 and se scoop ice cream is 1 euro!


I wished I had more time dan kudrat to explore the countryside dan naik gunung. Masa kapal terbang land tu, I could see that Tirana was surrounded by mountains. Cantik. Cuaca pon best because I didnt even wear my jacket kat situ. hihi.

If not for the conference, I wouldn't have dreamt of going to Tirana. Tapi, Alhamdullillah, ada peluang and I am so grateful! It is nice to visit a country yang lain. It is soooo different from KL and jauh berbeza dari Vienna. Its probably, like I said, macam KB but tu pon, KB lagi modern sikit kot. Maybe its like KL in the 80s kot.

Would I go again if given a chance? yes, I think so. Cos like I said, I would love to explore the countryside...the castles and etc. Also, I would love to go on the Skanderbeg trail. Mesti best kan.

oh..btw, the conference presentation went well. Aaron was looked after by a Malaysian (I baru kenal masa kat conference) and one of the conferencce organisers. Alhamdullilah, he behaved himself. :)

whoah

Alhamdullillah.

As you may have read, I suddenly decided to apply for extension. I feel like I need the time to prepare for viva because to me, selagi belum dapat grade for my thesis and belum viva, phd belum dalam genggaman. Honestly, I feel so takut!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, bermula yesterday, I frantically emailed my sv and he said that he will only be back in wien mid April!!! argh..terus saya tensi okeh sebab cemana nak dapat surat sokongan kan? Then, dengan muka tak malu (yes...saya rasa saya sangat menyusahkan sv dan juga dah rsa malu gila dengan dia sebab selalu request dia tulis macam2 surat okeh!) minta dia tulis surat ittew dan email to me to which he immediatly buat. Syukur sangat.

Cuma yang ralat, I tak de progress report. But, in his letter, he has in a way stated my progress so I hope that it will be ok.

SInce this is very last minute, what I am going to do is to email the unitlatihan everything in pdf and pastu baru post. This is just to ensure that they know of my intentions and documents ada in hand lebih cepat. I hope urusan ini akan dipermudahkan. I applied for a 6 months extension dengan harapan, if tak bagi 6 bulan, 3 bulan pon, inshaAllah memadai.

Aside from that, I finished writing my paper for the conference. So, esok, lepas uruskan pasal my extension documents, I nak edit paper tu pula. Lepas tu, nak kena prepare the text for presentation, followed by the slides. Kali ni ingat nak guna prezi sebab haritu, my classmate guna and it looked so canggih and nice!!!!

After this weekend, I need to concentrate on my book chapter and 1 more paper for a journal, inshaAllah.

Oh...selain itu, I juga kena beli tiket dan rancang percutian ke Salzburg, and if everything goes well kat Tirana (read: i'm able to handle baby sorang2 on vacation), i might plan a trip to Amsterdam, to visit Kuekenhof. :) I guess Venice will have to wait masa I datang for viva or graduation (altho for my graduation, i dah berangan nak pergi Spain..heheheheh).

Itu saja laporan dari saya.

p.s: i think something is wrong with me. Now, bukan saja rasa lebam. Dapat sakit kepala pulaaakkkkkkkkkk......tapi, Alhamdullilah, bila makan ponstan, hilang.

dah upload

last night, i finally wrote my acknowledgement page. I felt that it was only right that I wrote it last. After that, I compiled my thesis.

Today, I went to uni, looked through my thesis, betulkan alingment and etc and then uploaded it on the uni database. Pastu, I sent it to the printers to get it printed and bind. Tapi tahu tak, konsep print and bind kat sini, kita isi online form, upload our data in pdf, pastu isi la kita nak cover kaler apa, tulis apa and etc, and then send in the form electronically. Pastu, kita tunggu depa call to confirm our order.

Maka, lepas I dah hantar the form tu, I rasa sangat lega dan pergi jalan2 cari makan, beli iced choc kat mcds dan naik tram nak pi ambik Aaron. Sekali, masa dah halfway nak ambik aaron tu, baru org tu call cakap there were some problems with my pdf document! dia kata, tak de page numbers, and ada satu part ni alignment dia off.

Oh...terus ai panik okeh! Terus turun tram dan naik semula tram at the other side of the road to get back to uni. Setelah mengodek2, akhirnya berjaya. Tapi kan, yang dah upload kat uni database ittew, tak leh dibetulkan lagi. takpelah..cuma tak de page numbers and 1 alignment problem. hope it would be ok.

so, it will be ready this Wednesday. it costs a BOMB! So, Wednesday ini, inshaAllah, saya akan submit uols!!!!!!! Cannot believe it. pastu, have to wait for defence. Am going to request that my defence be in April. Doakanlah boleh. I really really hope it would be possible to defend my thesis before I go back.

So now, I kena concentrate tulis paper, prepare presentation for conference AND finish up my book chapter. I can do this, right?

almost!!

i just finished compiling my thesis into one document. :)

esok nk pi uni, go through it again, check out pagination and then convert to pdf and upload it.

then, ambik print out from the upload and print thesis and send it for binding.

then, tunggu for defense!

sambil2 tu kena siapkan 2 papers & presentation, 1 book chapter n pack.

come on. yakin boleh!!!!

my baby is 3!!

Andi is 3. OMG. Time flies. Dah 3 tahun dah Andi.

He now speaks more fluently. Knows what he wants (cake 'ma-a-aus' and mr bean).

I miss him sooooooooooooooooo much. He always tanya bila mama nak datang. :(

p.s: i got the greenlight to attend conference kat tirana. :) cannot wait. tapi kan. i must tell you that the conference tu entah jadi ke tak. Sebab website dia macam tak update. Pastu, i tak tahu which slot am i in. Kan selalu dah dapat email cakap schedule, suggest where to stay and etc. ni non ado!!! Harap2 jadilah kan memandangkan dah dapat sponsor.

p.ps: i am almost done with my thesis. Semua dah buat. Am just waiting for my firend to give me the translated copy of my abstract. Sebenarnya ada orang dah translate siap. but i gave another friend pulak utk dia cantikkan sikit. ehhe. Should get it by Sunday. Pastu monday nak upload, print and bind. Binding takes 48 hours so should be able to submit by Thursday, inshaAllah.

p.p.ps: kenapa sekarang i selalu rasa macam light headed? Selalu rasa nak jatuh? mual. hmm....mungkinkah sebab tadi tak makan lunch?

destinasi belajar

i am excited!!!

sebab someone from embassy called me to cakap yang ada sorang malaysian going to pursue her phd here.

excited pasal apa tau? She's coming in April. I am leaving mid/end april. So, saya excited sebab bolehlah dia duduk rumah ai ni.

Dia memang ada suruh i carikan rumah untuk dia. For me, senang lagi if dia duduk sini. Lagipon, its not easy to cari rumah. I lost count of how many houses I viewed before settling on this particular flat.

Anyway, doakan la ye dia agree duduk sini.

Pasal hangkut barang,i have made 5 trips so far. Each time, i hanya larat bawa satu big luggage bag sahaja. I didn't want to strain myself by bringing two luggage bags at once. Sebab tram tu, bukan semua yang baru. If dapat yang lama, nak kena hangkut naik tangga tram lama tu satu hal. So, my strategy so far (dah 2 hari amalkan) is to carry aaron guna carrier tu, and seret cabin size bag filled with stuff. Letak bag and Aaron at friends house and balik rumah ambik beg beg besar pulak, one at a time. Sehari, maximum 3 trips je so far. Sebab nanti kena unpack plak at my friends house and repack masuk kotak. Memang penat.

Esok, I plan nak angkat my books and files and papers, bags and toys. I think first trip will consist of bags and some other bajus. Trips after that baru bawak toys and books. Then nak bawak benda2 kaca pulak.

PAstu the day after nak bawak bouncer, followed with car seat.

Pastu kena pi shop for other stuff like coffee capsules and milk bottles and scan pan knives and serving dishes.

then, have to tengok betul2, apa2 lagi yang mungkin tertinggal.

Hopefully, I will finish everything by the end of the week. And then, can concentrate balik on thesis. Which is, go through proof edited copy, print, bind and submit.

Wish me luck!!

p.s: sapa nak pi kuekenhof dgn i april ni?? Jom???

february is here

i met my sv yesterday. Pastu, dia finally skimmed through my thesis and asked me to add 5 or 6 pages in my chapter 1, I guess to make my argument clearer. Honestly, I think I just need to re-structure my chapter 1. Tapi tulah...maka ai akan re-work on my chapter 1.

Then, he asked me to add the page numbers for citations yang I tulis. That, my friends, would need a lot of work because I really need to korek balik buku and articles that I reffered to.

So,my list of things to do is:

1. redo chapter 1
2. write abstract and sent it to be translated
3. update reference (citations dengan page numbers)
4. Print everything
5. write cv
6. write acknowledgement
7. edit everything
8. re-edit everything
9. re-edit again
10.print
11. HANTAR!!!!

i hope to finish 1-5 by this weekend.

on top of that, I still have a journal article to write for an assignment, which, sekarang, credit hournya tak diperlukan pon sebab i am done with collecting credits since my contirbution to a book would be given 5 credits. woot woot!!! but, i would still need to write it la kan. deadline adalah 15 feb.

other than that, I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy and bersyukur yang I am done with collecting credit hours. Betul kata orang, biar terover-over ambik courses and ada extra credits in hand, dari sikit dan alih-alih tak cukup pulak!

aside from that, sv finally contacted that prof from Klagenfurt and she agreed to be the second reader of my thesis. Alhamdullillah.

So now, all is left to do adalah no 1-10, and I will be done, well, at least until VIVA.

I can do this right???

InshaAllah.

berpeluh

berpeluh di musim sejuk??? bukan secara literal, tapi metafora ajer.

Today, I finally finished writing my text for my presentation next week. Alhamdulillah. Esok nak print out and edit. Pastu, nak kena prepare powerpoint plaks. Kalau dulu, mesti buat powerpoint dulu, pastu baru pikirkan text. But now, i do my work the other way round. I find that it works better for me.

After that, I need to siapkan my final assignment (hopefully!) for my phd studies. woot woot!!! tak sabarnya nak submit, actually. Tapi tulis tak habis lagi. hehe.

Lepas tu, haritu ai pergi jumpa the lady yang uruskan pasal phd studies ni, mikusch, just to check on the borang I sent to be approved. Actually, I minta approval supaya paper yang i present last may to be acknoledged dan diberi mata ects. i ingat dapat 3, tapi depa bagi 5!!! Syukur sangat sangat. Ini bermakna, ai dah ada 2 extra credits, dan tak perlulah nak sit for the exam (that I thought i need to sit for this month). Selain itu, I submitted another borand, requesting for my contribution to a book chapter be given ects credits as well. I really hope I will get some, inshaAllah (hoping for 4ects!).

Then, I also met my SV. Ingat nak discuss what I have written so far. But he said he wants to see the completed thesis on the 31st. Maknanya, I dah kena print out, macam nak pi hantar binding already. Just for him to see. Ok boss. So, sementelah nak pi edit my presentation text esok, ingat nak edit my chapter 6 as well. I see that I need to add some more stuff for my chapter 6. So, since Dr Sunshine pon oncall esok, maka I forsee myself spending some time at Stabux with sidekick in tow. :)

I also met one of my friend who has completed her phd just recently!! She told me that she submitted her thesis in June and was called for viva in october. But another friend, yang his visa was about to expire was able to get his viva done before he left. So, I am hoping that luck will be on my side and that I sempat viva before I leave. However, if tak sempat, I akan balik dulu. :( Cuma a bit the hassle lah nak kena apply for viva from Mesia. Oh well, inshaAllah, all will be ok.

All in all, I cannot wait to perabiskan my assignment.

On my trip to paris, I plan to write my acknowledgement page.

Selain itu, other stuff I need to do for my thesis are:
1. resume
2. abstract (english and deutsch!)
3. check references
4. double check spelling
5. formating
6. check table of contents

maybe i can get nana to help me when she is here. hih hih.

Tarikh target submit thesis: 3 Feb 2012.

Doakan ye kawan-kawan.

Lepas tu, bolehlah merdeka kejap sebelum viva. huhu. :)

Oh..kawan ai kata, nanti kita akan dapat kertas yang examiner tulis review. Pastu dalam tu akan ada soalan2. Maka untuk viva, kita prepare untuk jawab soalan ittew and also prepare to explain our work. fuh.

Oh..lagi satu, katanya, convo di sini is in January and October. Maka saya sangat amat berharap akan berkonvo October 2012, inshaAllah.

Ya Allah, permudahkanlah urusan ku. Amin.

belian

- dr Sunshine bought the boy's bed!! its a double decker bed and needless to say, Dani dah chop nak the top bunk. So bawah nanti will be Aaron and Andi.

- My dad's step sis was found dead at her home. She was single and lived alone. She is a very nice lady and will be missed. :( Yang sedih, the police cakap she may have been dead since Friday but since dia tinggal sorang, no one realised. Her neighbour, today,bought her some roti canai but just left the plastic up front. Dah lama tu,dia tengok plastik tak berangkat. She was worried so she told her hubby and her hubby kata, cer pi cek. Dia pon pi la dekat rumah tu and could smell something. So she waited for her son, and son dia masuk inside and found my auntie. :( She fell down and bled kat kepala. I cannot imagine how she must have felt. Was she in pain but tak leh nak capai telefon. Or was she unconsious terus? No one knew. Yang I sedih, my Along said, entah-entah Along pon nanti macam ni. Tsk. I told her, I WILL NEVER let her live alone. If I am not around, I will make sure that Dani will take care of her, inshaAllah. And she said, even mak kata, jangan macam tu. I am sure adik (me) will jaga awak. And when I told this to Dr Sunshine, I am so glad that he told me that Along will obviously live with us, even before I suggested it to him. Syukur to have a husband like you babe!

- I have been the queen of procastination!!! I baru aje nak start buat my assignment and prepare for presentation. tsk!

oklah.

apa pon, if you live alone, please make sure you leave details or phone numbers of your family members dekat tempat yang orang senang nak jumpa.

ok. tu je.

shopping lagik!

Harini, ai pergi ke factory outlet sebab memang dah pasang niat nak shopping.

Dalam kepala, memang dah decide nak beli apa. Bagus juga bila buat macam tu because then, I only masuk kedai yang memang dah di target. Also, ramai gilaaaaaaaaaaaaa orang okeh. Makanya, tak de la nak bersesak-sesak masuk kedai tanpa arah tuju.

I bought some shirts and t-shirts for my boys, untuk buat stock hari raya. hehe. Nanti masa raya tak yah sibuk2 nak pi shopping bagai. I have been doing it for the past few years. Shop siap-siap for their bajus here. So kat Malaysia, tinggal nak beli baju melayu je. Tu pon memang dah menjadi amalan we ols to buy baju melayu before bulan puasa untuk mengurangkan possibility tu bersesak secara berjemaah dengan orang lain yang tengah buat raya preparation masa bulan posa. :)

Anyway, dalam benda yang ditarget juga adalah Le Creuset's cast iron grill pan. I toldmyself, if it is less than 70euros, I'll get it. And it was, so I got it lah. hehe. And, untuk menunjukkan betapa peghak nyer i dalam membeli le creuset ni, i baru tahu yang they have a lifetime warranty. So, SA tu sibut suruh we ols (I was with a friend) fotokopi or scan resit tu, sebab itu adalah bukti purchase dan nanti boleh digunakan untuk warranty purposes. Bestnya!!! Padanlah ada baca orang siap jadikan cast iron cookware ni harta turun temurun gittew. So, I told Aaron, nanti I will pass it on to him when he is bigger (memandangkan how he LOVEESSSSSSSSSSSs the program Masterchef!)

cer tengok betapa concentratenye dia tengok pusingan penyingkiran masterchef malaysia!!

Anyway, selain dari itu, saya juga telah menambah ahli keluarga dapur saya dengan satu stainless steel frying pan wmf, satu tiny tefal frying pan untuk goreng telur, dan satu set kaiser baking tins.

I am also planning to get the LC caserole pot but tu, I dah plan dengan my friend to rent a car to pi beli. Bendalah tu berat okeh!! Since dah rent kereta, mungkin akan beli two different sizes. *matila, tak sedar diri!!*

Other than that, I also plan to memeriahkan lagi keluarga dapur ai dengan a sautee pan, a stock pot, a milk pan, a wok.

Wok, ingat nak beli kat mesia sajer.

Sautee pan, i dah usha and nak beli in Paris, inshaAllah.

Stock pot and milk pan, sini jer kot.

Saya juga nak collect pisau. I dah decide tak nak beli set-set tu cos i dont need a carving knife, de-boning knive dan sebagainya. So, i nak beli pisau potong ayam, potong daging, potong ikan, potong sayur and potong bawang, potong roti oh..and also steak knife. I plan to buy two each. Tapi ini plan sajer uols!!! Ai plan nak beli pisau segala masa my friend datang...hehe.

ok...tu jer cerita pasal keluarga dapur ai.

Tula u ols. Dah realize nak balik ni, barula ai sibuk nak menambah ahli keluarga. :)

Alhamdullillah

I have done it!!! I finally finished writing my six chapters!! Syukur!!

Tapi, ni tak bermakna I dah siap.

Esok nak pergi print and edit my chapter six.

After that, nak print chapters 1 to 6 and re-edit, again! (I plan to do this between 20-29th, when my friend is around..hehe)

I also need to start writing my abstract, acknowledgement, update references and buat cv.

Apa pon, syukur sangat sangat sangat. Now, to edit, edit dan edit.

Oh, esok, need to start preparing my presentation. hmm....Pastu, dah kena start tulis assignment lagi satu.

Ya Allah, permudahkanlah urusan ku.

rindunye

rindunya pada Dr Sunshine.

rindunya pada Andi dan Dani.

rindunya pada Mak.

rindunya pada Daddy.

Semalam, termenangis ingatkan Daddy. I know its not good to cry bila ingatkan arwah, tapi ter. Maka,terus I minta tolong Dr Sunshine pergi visit kubur Daddy.

Hari ini, hari terakhir dalam 2011.

2011 has been the year that I think I was most productive! I attended a lot of classes (about 60 credits worth ok!! in a year!!), wrote my thesis, beranak, renovate rumah.

i hope to go back in 2012 with a phd, inshaAllah.

Dan, i nak juga berterima kasih kepada ya Allah sebab berikan i kekuatan to hadapi what I have been through. Thank you so much for giving me a supportive husband. And tadi, masa tengah jalan-jalan dengan Aaron, it dawned to me hikmah Allah berikan ai boys, cos its easier for Dr Sunshine to jagakan. betul tak?

Anyway, I am in the midst of writing my final chapter, the conlcusion. Actually, I have been lazy and putting it off for the longest time. Ni,dah nak habis tahun 2011 baru tergocoh-gocoh nak siapkan. tsk. I hope I would be able to finish it today, cos next year (which is technically just esok) i dah kena start on my other assignments. :)

here's to the new year and to getting that phd!!!

my little men

Dani

He is now soooooo into reading and spelling. Sekarang, he insists on chatting (as in typing what he wants to say) instead of talking to me on skype. Mula-mula, he started off with typing some random words like polis, up, down, insert (yes...ni dia tiru apa yang dia tengok dari keyboard computer..hehe). Then, as the week progresses, he started typing out questions (which he has prepared earlier with the help from Along, but dia tulis sendiri and Along tolong check je) like Aaron dah minum susu ke? Mama apa khabar?. And now, after about two weeks, he tries to type out his answers to the questions I throw at him like dah makan ke belum? Makan apa hari ni? I really think that this is a good spelling exercise *matila mama dia kiasu..hehe*

Other than that, Dr Sunshine bought his school bag already. :) Mula-mula he wanted the beg yang roda-roda but we (read: Dr Sunshine and me) thought that it wasn't cool (yes, mak bapak dia yang over! wakakaka) and Dr Sunshine brought him shopping the other day and he chose a non-roda bag. *phew!

Andi

Ha...apparently, this boy is getting cheekier by the day, according to my mom and Along. Katanya, he always cries to get things done his way but thank god my sis nor my mom give in to his cries!! Ada this one night ni, dia mengada and insisted nak baring on my mom's lap. And, because he had a good long nap that day, sampai pukul 1am pon dok nak baring atas lap dan tak tidur2 lagi. Nasib Along woke up and gave him a good talking to, barula dia nak tidur. Needless to say, I reported the kejadian to the Papa and he was told to not do that (bully my mom by sleeping on her lap) again.

So today, masa skype, he went on and on to tell me that he has been a very good boy today.

Andi: Mama...saya good boy tau hari ni. Good boy...
Me: Iye? Andi buat apa yang Andi good boy?
Andi: Hari ni saya tidur kat bawah.Tak tidur atas mak pon.Saya good boy
Me: Ooohh....bagus la Andi. Andi memang good boy. Anak mama memang good boy kan. Very good Andi.
Andi: *muka happy*

Tetapi, Andi is also quite lasak. Tadi dia cerita:

Andi: Mama, hari ni saya jatuh la mama.
Me: Macam mana boleh jatuh?
Andi: Sebab saya panjat grill, pastu jatuh.
Me: Errkk....(dalam hati dok kata..tadi baru je mama cakap good boy)

And, Andi bahasakan diri dia as Saya. But Dr Sunshine is trying to make him bahasakan diri as Andi. I personally think there is nothing wrong with him referring to himself as saya. hehe. its kinda cute actually. :)

Aaron
Oh, anak saya ini sekarang dah boleh membuat tour satu bilik. Masa dia belum expert mengesot, he is easily bored and slalu nak attention from me. Contohnya, he wakes up pretty early, like at 5.30am. Kadang-kadang 4.30am pon pernah. Kalau dulu, lepas dia bangun dan golek-golek kejap and main dengan his toys, sure I dengar dia o-ek. But now, he can go for a long time without crying. I can continue with my sleep (tapi kena make sure la dekat carpet tak de small items which he can put into his mouth and that the place is clean). He will usually start to bunyi-bunyi if he has done no 2 or dah ngantuk. :)

And, sekarang, he can sometimes fall asleep without susu. :) Lepas tu, you know at times babies wake up in the middle of the night? Well dulu automatically I bagi him susu. But now, he wakes up, and sometimes can fall asleep balik by himself. :) Macam tadi, I baru bagi dia susu, n he fell asleep. So I pon start la menaip kan. After a while, i heard him talking. Yes, he woke up and was moving around. I buat tak kisah. Pastu I dengar senyap je. So I turned around and saw him asleep. hehe. Alhamdulillah.

Oh, he has also started eating. I bagi dia nestum thingy. I dah try 2 flavour: pear&muesli and strawberry. He loves the srrawberry and tak suka Muesli. I rasa kan, maybe sebab yg straberry tu is also infused with milk whereas the pear-muesli tu tak. So esok, I ingat nak beli biscuit flavour pulak which was Andi's favourite dulu-dulu. :) Once, I made bubur with salmon but he does not like it!! hmm...maybe sebab salmon tu tak berapa fresh kot. Tapi I dah pesan ikan bilis from my mom. So nanti i can buat bubur ikan bilis.

p.s: after shielding my first two boys from coffee since they were babies, dr sunshine terbagi depa minum toffee nut latte. hmm...they loved it to bits. Aaron pulak dah rasa sikit-sikit kot from the milk. wakakakakak...

bila satu pintu tutup, pintu lain yg buka

uols,

i did not tell you all that i got an email last week from a reputable journal saying that my paper was not accepted for publication. :( needless to say, i was devatated. yela..ingat nak gak la kumpul2 journal articles so that bila balik nanti, cepat la sikit can baik pangkat. Namun, harapanku hancur berkecai gittew!! I was really dissapointed with myself and at one point, I even doubted my ability to write. over kan??

Tula. Siapa suruh set hopes up high sangat? Tapi orang kata, aim for the moon, if tak dapat moon, can still be among the stars.

Anyway, before this, i ada juga terima email, for a call for paper, to be published in a book. Its a joint effort by some European universities to provide a platform for post grad students to publish their work. But, I did not send in my abstract for that book because I already send that paper in for that journal kan. Maka, tak semena-mena, dua2 ai terlepas okeh!!! Tapi, you know what I did? I tebalkan je muka and send an email to the book editor tu, cakap, can I still submit my abstract even though deadline dah about 2 weeks ago. And he said yes!!!

So, I pon hantaq la abstract of my rejected journal article ittew, sebab dah kena reject kan by that journal.

And...today, I got my christmas present cos I just recieved an email saying that my abstract was among the 20 they selected. Alhamdullillah.

Sungguh pon, it would not be considered as a journal article and only a chapter in a book, I am still thankful and grateful for the opportunity. It will be a collaboration of people from all over the world, and I am pretty excited!!!

deadline for the manuscript is end of april. :)

ok..now back to editing my chapter. it is the last chapter to edit, before I start with my concluding chapter, tomorrow, inshaAllah.

Semoga semua dipermudahkan.

p.s: uwaaaaaaaa...nangis tengok bag MBMJ idaman hati on sale di neiman marcus punye website. hmm..kenapa laaa sini tak se sale macam tu? Apa pon, I am still going to try my luck and visit a local department store esok, usha2..mana tau ada sale kan!!! Plus, need to return a blouse to mng...and shop for some more. i am in a mission of collecting baju kerja as well. hehe.

plan baru

have just finished editing my chapter 1. I have decided to merge my chapter 1 and chapter 2 together...hehe. Anyway, thats done, for now.

Esok, am dropping aaron off to his nenek angkats so that I can edit my chapter 4 and 5, inshaAllah. I think this is the best way because I really need my own time to be able to fully concentrate in editing. I did that last Tuesday and managed find some flaws and things which I need to correct. So, esok will do just that.

Bila balik rumah, barula type semula segala corrections ittew.

I am waayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy over my deadline!!! Apa pon, plan to start writing my conclusion by this weekend and have it ready, inshaAllah by the new year.

New year pulak, I must start on my assignments which i kena submit on 31 jan. Tapi besfren is coming from 20-29 jan and kami akan ke Paris. So, by hook or by crook, I must finish it before 20th. Pastu nak study for exam lagi. uwaaaaa....I can do this, right???

okla...nak tidur. need to wake up early tomorrow.

Semoga kita semua berjaya geng!!!

Getting there

Saya baru sahaja selesai proses me-rekonstruk chapter 5. :)

I thought of reconstructing my chapter 6 juga tapi while doing it decided that it is best if I stick to the one I have now. Maka, dengan ini, saya officially tinggal chapter 7 and that wee bit in chapter 1! unless i change my mind, again, somewhere in between

Esok, I am going to leave budak kecik at the baby sitter and will have a group discussion for a presentation. Ingat, sambil tu nak curi masa ke uni pi print chapters 1 to 6 and pinjam buku before the xmas hols. Then, I plan to re-edit the chapters and write out the wee bit for chapter 1.

I aim to start writing my conclusion by Saturday, inshaAllah. We can do this girls!!! *hi five oyis, nat, iezma and et*

btw, hnm dah start sale katanya!!! bila zara nak sale ek??

selesai!

ok....i have finished writing my chapter 3. So uols, I only have my chapter 7 left and 1 small part of my chapter 1 (organisation of thesis punye subtopic).

Esok, I am going to print out my chapter 5 and chapter 3. Pastu, the next few days, I plan to edit and proofread the chapters (including chapter 6 yang dah print tapi tak edit lagi). Lepas tu, buat pembetulan di mana perlu.

Then, after i dah buat pembetulan, I plan to print everything out again...so that I can read it as a whole thesis. Then, corrections again and I plan to proceed writing my conclusion. I somehow think my conclusion chapter holds the important key to the whole of my thesis because it is in this chapter that i plan to carefully illustrate my contribution to knowledge. risau la jugak because I sometimes rasa tak confident if I can get my points across.

I am still wrecking my brain in thinking how to tie everything together. So hopefully, the process of editing and rereading every chapters accordingly will help me connect the dots and direct my thoughts. :)

I sound so geeky kan.

Alhamdullillah. I really really hope to finish by this month. Now, I rasa that I should not rush myself sangat. I am now thinking of using my winter holidays to re-edit, proof read, check formats and etc and submit it as soon as the semester reopens. I just want to make sure that everything is perfect, well, to me la at least kan.

Tapi, if ada rezeki for me to habis cepat this writing, I would be really really grateful.

Ok tu jer.

Other than going to uni to print out the chapters esok, I plan to rest! and maybe go to a bazaar. tengoklah cemana. :)

Alhamdullillah.

kali pertama dalam 31 tahun!!

today, i changed my first ever light bulb. i know,mungkin uols dah biasa buat tapi this is my first time and i thought i should put it in writing.

if kat rumah, sure i lembik dan akan minta dr Sunshine yang tukarkan when he gets back from work. LOL.

tapi dah duduk sendiri ni, terpaksala kan. Last time when the lights in my room blew, i had to panggil orang lain to tukarkan cos i was heavily pregnant and tak berani nak panjat2 kerusi precariously to change it.

Tapi kali ini, i beranikan diri (altho there is the fear that I will fall sampai ingat maybe i should call my friend first in case anything happen to me, ada la orang tahu kan...wakakak...tapi i tak call pon) and stood at the tip of the chair to change my light bulb. dah la vertically challenged..LOL.

anyway, cannot wait to be my lembik self kat Malaysia nanti. LOL. I miss my husband.