25 December, 2008

Missing them badly

Just about 28 hours ago my family went back to Malaysia after spending 3 weeks here in Australia. It was the best 3 weeks of my life spending time with them here, being their tourist guide and host. To them its a holiday but for me, it was the perfect birthday gift even though I still got birthday presents from both mak and abah. Well, they are now settling back at home, unpacking and resting before the work and school period starts again in a week time.

Lots of things happen in the last 3 weeks. First time celebrating raya haji in Aussie and with my family by my side except abah who celebrated in alone in Malaysia. After raya, we went to Sydney (again without abah as he was still in Malaysia due to work commitments) for 5 days. Thanks to Hanafi who helped us with the accom or else we would have been homeless..hehehe. Went to many places and shopping gile2..seriously byk gile shopping especially as the souvenirs were very cheap at Paddy's market. After that, they went back to Brisbane which abah arrived 2 days later. From here, their holiday started to get hectic as we want to maximise the time. We went to Sunshine Coast, masuk Wet n Wild and MovieWorld and the last day here, we went to city. Finally, yesterday they went back leaving me all alone again in Brisbane.

Spending time with them made me realised the things that I miss when I'm far away from home. Sometimes I do regret studying oversea as I miss most of the excitement at home. But looking on the bright side of it, i get to travel to many places which I can't achieve if I study at local uni. The point is I missed them dearly and wish that I was back home with them. If I didn't get the summer scholarship, I think I would have bought myself a ticket back home. Well, that is not the case and I have to face the fact that I will be here for the rest of the summer..

Till then~

03 December, 2008

Trio NZ Trip

It’s been three days since I got back from NZ and as promised, I will update on the details of my 13 days of holiday. Bear with me as this s going to be a very long post.


16/11

Supposed to be on the plane to Christchurch at 7.45 am but arrived at the airport an hour on the dot which the check in counter has already closed. Too bad, so I and ciktie had to reschedule our flight for the next day.

17/11

Board the flight to Christchurch in the afternoon. Luckily everything went well and we arrived at Christchurch at 11 at night. The flight doesn’t take that long it’s just the time difference between Australia and New Zealand that made us arrived so late. Actually the flight only took 3 and a half hour. Haizum picked us up from the airport and we called it a day.


18/11

We were supposed to get out at 8.30am but we ended up waking at 8.30am. So settled the car renting and all and we head out to city. Walked around Christchurch city, Cathedral Square and Garden city (I think that’s what the place was called as it was a garden in the middle of the city). Nothing much to see except for the architecture of the building which Diana enjoyed (well, being an architecture student she would enjoyed it). Then we head to Rick mall. It’s just like normal shopping mall with nothing new. Nobody feels like walking as everybody seems dreadfully sleepy. We thought of going back to Haizum’s place but decided to stop at the Botanical Garden on the way back. There was this beautiful rose garden at the botanical garden. It’s nearly the end of spring but the flowers are still blooming. After what seems ages, we head home and doze off..hehe..We woke up at 6.30pm and pick up our rental car and jln2 kat area around Uni of Canterburry as it was our last day in Christchurch. Took some photos, went back home, cook dinner and off the bed for we want an early start tomorrow.



19/11

Today is the first day of our road trip around NZ. We drove to Lake Takepo which was breathtakingly beautiful. Subhanallah..indahnya ciptaan Tuhan. Even though the sun was shining brightly, it was still cold due to the wind. Unfortunately, I didn’t expect the cold weather so I only brought my thin sweater which did me little good. We are heading south to Queenstown today but there was a couple of pit stop on the way. After Lake Takepo, we stopped at Lake Pukaki which was similar to Lake Takepo but we took photos still. After a couple of hours drive, we stopped at Wanaka and went to the Puzzling world which gives me dizziness and slight headache in the illusion room. Before really heading to Queenstown, we had another stop which was the cute ‘pekan’ of Arrowtown. The shops were soo cute but not cute enough to make us stay for the night. It was already 6.30pm but the sky was still bright and there was still daylight. So, as our backpacker was close to the city, we walked to the city and check out the city.



20/11

Nothing much was on the schedule today but everybody woke up late and we went out at noon and check out the activities they offered here at the information centre. We booked for the rafting and jetboat for tomorrow went to the skyline gondola. The gondola was like the one in Langkawi except that it was lower and has a luge on the top. So, we got on the gondola and we can see the whole Queenstown from up here and Lake Wakatipu (seriously, they have a lot of lakes down here). The scenery again was breathtaking. Well, New Zealand is all about the scenery besides the xtreme activities. Then all of us had two rides down the luge and took more photos. After all that, we had nothing to do so we took the car and drove up to Glenorchy. There’s nothing much here except again for the scenery which was basically mountains and water.



21/11

We booked the noon session for the jetboat and rafting so ended going out around 11.30 or so. The jetboat was a 60kmph ride between the canyons on the Shotover River. The famous thing about this jetboat ride was the 360 degree turn that all of us enjoyed so much. Later on, I and ciktie get change for rafting while Diana went back to city for shopping. The journey to the starting point for rafting was gruesome, a very narrow road with high cliffs on the side. Seriously scary, I don’t think anybody will survive that fall. Once the arrived at the starting point we got into groups of 8 and the journey starts. We had to follow orders from our guide and there was this rapid called mother section that we had to lookout for as there were 6 rapids in a row. When we were at the mother section, the raft nearly flipped upside down on the 4th rapid called ‘the toilet’. Luckily, everybody acted as fast as lightning and it didn’t happen and everything after that went smoothly until we reached

the end of the journey. That night my hand ached so much due to all of the rowing.



22/11

Today is the last day in Queenstown, and again we woke up late. (We always seemed to wake up late here and I don’t know why). Diana and I are doing the canyon swing today. It’s like bungee except that after the fr

ee fall we will swing across the canyon. On the way to the place we were watching videos of people that did the swing and there is this one girl that keeps on laughing at the people on the vids. Well, that girl went on first and I came second after her. I actually want Diana to do first but the insisted that she wants to do after so I end up doing it first. My jump was buruk hell, you guys can watch it on the video. Takut?? I was scared but then I think this is once in a lifetime experience so I just went on with it. Then, back to Queenstown and shopping!!!hehehehe..


23/11

We are heading the west coast today to Franz Joseph. The weather was fine on the way but it started to rain as we were approaching Franz Joseph. We booked the 3pm slot for Glacier hiking but due to the heavy rain and the conditions were dangerous they had to cancel it which left us stuck in this small town with nothing to do. In the end, we just went around the place and went back to our backpacker and watch dvd there.


24/11

Today was another early morning as we had to drive up all the way to Picton to catch the ferry to Wellingon. We were supposed to stop at an old city but due to the heavy rain we just keep on with the journey. Nothing done today just a travelling day as nearly the whole day we were in the car. We arrived at Picton at 4pm and waited to get on the ferry which departed at 7pm. Arrived in Welly at 11pm, had dinner and another day gone.



25/11

The itinerary for today was jln2 kat welly which has nothing much to see just another city. But, we went to Te Papa museum which was quite a large museum with many things in and jln2 around the city. Later that afternoon we went to Oriental bay which was very windy there which make the area very cold and Lastly, we went on their cable car whch cost only $1 one way and only had 4 stops. That’s all for Wellington.



26/11

We started our journey up north today to Rotorua but stops at Taupo on the way to see the Hukka Falls. The Hukka Falls is like another rapid on a stream which is so fast that it is a source of energy to the area around it. Arriving at Rotorua around 6pm, we walked around the place to the Government Garden, Lake Rotorua and the sulfur smelling thermal spring. The thing was so smelly at first we thought that it was the wastewater treatment plant as we saw the sign board a bit outskirt but then we realized it was the thermal spring/geyser as they call it.



27/11

First stop for today was a Kiwi orchard called Kiwi 360 about 35min drive from Rotorua. We went tour around the orchard wth the tour guide explaining the process from growing the plant to harvest and market. We were given some samples of kiwi fruit which has 2 varieties; the gold kiwi and green kiwi. The gold kiwi is sweeter than the green kiwi that we usually ate. But I still prefer the green kiwi. After that we drove back to Rotorua to Te Puai; a Mouri cultural village where we watched their cultural performan

ces and have an insight of what their daily lives look like. Here I got to see a real life kiwi animal but as they are scared of light and noise no picture ca be taken. Last thing for the day, we went to the zorbing area but we didn’t do it as we didn’t bring xtra clothes. All of us didn’t know that we were going to get wet in tha ball so decded to do it the next day.



28/11

We were due to go to Auckland today with some stops on the way. Firstly we stopped at the zorbing place with our swim clothes and zorb. It was fun as we were tumbling in the ball as we go down hill. Then, we drove up to Coromandel hoping to have a swim at the beach unfortunately we can’t swim and ended up going to the Hot water beach where we can dug up sand near the beach and hot water will come out. As we arrived nearly high tide, we didn’t do the digging but went into the pools that have been dug up by somebody else and been left behind. So, we did get to feel the hot water. Once we had lunch we went to Cathedral Cove. This was a 45 min hiking from the parking lot which was worth it as the scenery was fabulous. For your information, the cove was the entrance to Narnia in the Prince Caspian film. Stayed there to play with the wave and then drove up to Auckland.


29/11

It was already nearly the end of our trip. We went up Auckland sky tower and get to see whole Auckland from up here. They even have glass floors that we can see the ground from. Seriously scary..hehe..Nothing much, Auckland is just another big city like Sydney. Which is very serabut and was glad that we didn’t stayed long. At 12 we drop off our rental car at the office and went to airport to catch the plane back to Christchurch. That evening, we had dinner at Mum’s with Ami and Hazel. Mum’s is a Japanese and Korean restaurant and the food there was fabulous and cheap. I want to go and dine there again. To finish off the day, we watched the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.



30/11

The last day of holiday, we went shopping for souvenirs in the morning and head to airport at noon to fly back to Brisbane. Back to reality..hehe


Overall, the trip was tiring but I enjoyed it a lot as I did some crazy stuff there and it was lots of fun. I would recommend people to go there and do some of the crazy activities that they provide.

17 November, 2008

Away

Just to inform you guys that I will be away to New Zealand from the 17th to 30th of November. So, I will not be updating my blog till then. I'll update with the details from NZ when I get back.
Till then~

Looking for that someone

I just finished watching a movie with my friends which was Ayat-ayat cinta. An Indonesian film that really touched me. I am sooo falling in love with Fahri. His character is so pure. I wish I could find someone like him..hehehe


For those yang tak tahu, ayat-ayat cinta is a tale of a virtuous Muslim protagonist who overcomes all obstacles of life maintaining pure ideals. Fahri bin Abdillah is a poor, intelligent student who wins a scholarship to complete his graduate degree at Egypt's esteemed Al Azhar University. Very disciplined and dedicated by nature, Fahri embraces his life in Cairo, completing his studies and translation of religious books with full enthusiasm, exactly according to pre-determined targets. Only one goal is left unattempted: the pursuit of marriage.

For Fahri is innocent and pure, and doesn't believe in the concept of relationships prior to marriage. He is inarticulate and shy around women. All his life, only two women have been close to him ? his mother and grandmother. Life changes drastically in Egypt for he suddenly finds himself surrounded by four beautiful, distinctly different women.

Maria Girgis, a shy, open-minded Coptic-Christian neighbor who is attracted to the teachings of the Holy Al Quran, finds herself falling in love with Fahri (a fact she only reveals to her diary). Nurul, a student at Al Azhar like Fahri, is the Muslim daughter of a renowned Indonesian cleric. Fahri feels unworthy of her and thus ignores his feelings for her, leaving her confused and guessing. Noura, an abused Egyptian neighbor, develops strong romantic feelings for Fahri, who in turn simply sympathizes with her situation. His romantic rejection destroys her and eventually leads to a false accusation of rape. Aisha, a German Turkish student in Cairo haunts Fahri with her beautiful eyes. Following an incident on the metro where Fahri defends her against narrow minded bigoted Muslims, both immediately develop feelings for each other.

As the story unravels, Fahri face daunting decisions and forces us to marvel at his undying loyalty to the true ideals of Islam as he ultimately makes the choice of a lifetime.

This movie really touched me deep and its like a reminder to remind me of the things that I sometimes neglected in my daily live. Living far from home surrounded by non Muslims with less guidance can sometimes made me forget the purpose of life. For those who haven't watched this movie, i really recommend you to watch it and hopefully it has the same impact on you as it had on me.

~If there's no Nile, there would be no Egypt~
Hopefully one day, I will find my 'Fahri'

12 November, 2008

Freedom: but why am I not feeling it?

FREEDOM, HAPPY, ENJOY!!!

This is what I should be feeling after I finished my exam this morning but that is not the case. I was having a hard time studying for my two last papers which was Organic Chem and Pharmacology. Not only that there was such a lot of information to digest but there was also a lot of memorizing. Since school I know that reading and memorizing subjects are my weakness. I just can't find my way around it and it still seems to be the case.

Besides the studying and all I still find the exam hard, I just can't recall the information from the back of my brain. I don't know if its due to the lack of sleep or I just haven't study hard enough. Maybe both. Well last night I had the chemistry paper which ended at 8pm and in 12 hours which was 8am this morning I had my pharmaco paper. I just don't like the way they set our exam timetables. But I guess I should be thankful as some of my friends who took both the papers that I took and still got immunology tonight. Life sucks I know, the world is never fair. I'm just thankful that I don't have to face the same things as them.

Now that its all over, I just hope that everything went well and hope that I pass both the papers so that I don't have to retake it or worst case scenario repeat the course again next year. I wouldn't want that to happen. For the time being I just need to get back to reality and carry on with life. Come on it's 4 moths of holiday might as well enjoy it. Pen's off. nite~

05 November, 2008

Alhamdulillah

I'm really thankful for what I have achieved in lfe so far. Eventhough sometimes I get drifted apart from Him, He still gave me chances to obtain/achieve meaningful things in life.

Yesterday I received an email saying that I got the UQ Summer Research Scholarship. At last..I really2 hope that I got this scholarship. At least it will cover my living expenses after I am broke coming back from New Zealand. So once again I will be in the lab this summer holiday at the School of Pharmacy doing research on mangoes..(yes people the mango as in the fruit that most of us like to eat.). Who would have thought that mangoes wll have anything interesting in it besides of its good taste(well I didnt).


This summer will be my second research project after the one that I did in IMB. I'm really looking forward to it. I just love working in the lab. Eventhough the real life working environment is not as what I though it was but I'm prepared for it and hopefully I will not regret it later on.

People outside the science community will think that people in white coats working in the lab do not have a life and are loners but they are wrong. I meet lots of people from all around the world by working in the lab. They also have many activities that they do together its just up to us if we want to join them or not. But its a good place to mingle with people if you know how to.

Seriously I am grateful for the opportunity given to me so far. UQ is the best place as it has various research institutes that I can apply to do research. Now I just want to find the field that I like working in and hopefully I can do my honours in that field. I'm still trying out various field and I really hope I'll find the one that sutes my interest. Now, I'm really having a taste of what my future career will be like and I'm loving it to bits..hehe


(bunyi nerd giler k post nie..hehe)

02 November, 2008

Just another one

I know its been quite a while since i last updated this blog. Truthfully, I've been busy with uni stuff. Class dah abes since 24th of October and before that there was tonnes and really mean tonnes of assignmnets to be submitted. Due to my raya holiday back to Malaysia everything seems delayed. Well, i'll update with the recent ongoings..

We had the Asean Uni Games on the same weekend as my conference. It was a sporting event with the countries from asean namely Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. We were competing in Netball, Basketball and Soccer. I played netball and we came second after Singapore. Wish we had gold but Singaporeans were tough competitors. Overall Malaysia came first as we got gold for basketball and soccer.


The weekend after classes ended we had this Kursus Integrasi and Perpaduan thingy..not really exciting but the discussion during that event was really informative. On Saturday night I went to Bond Uni at Gold Coast with apek, joe, hajar and dan as they have this Deeparaya festival. The food was fabulous..(ok free food mmg sentiasa fabulous pn..hehe). Met some new friends and menari pocho2..hehe..Overall it was fun.

Then its Monday again which I was supposed to start studying for my finals as it was officially the start of swot vac. But couldnt get much done due to exhaustion from the weekend and the feeling of malas nak mati nk study. But last Thursday went out to city (kuar lg..i know x sepatutnye keluar). Nie bukan kuar for saje2 nk shopping but it was Maya's last day in Brissy and die nak balik Malaysia the next day. So me, ciktie n diana pn had lunch with her and teman die shopping baju2 baby..(jealousnye kwn aku sorg nie dh nk jd mak). Eventhough die dh 4 months pregnant tp perut masih x nmpk lg. Maya: have a safe journey back and nnt dh bersalin jgn lupe bgtau..

And the final event was last night pergi concert Chris Brown and Rihanna whch was super duper fabulous. Memule mcm dh nk give up cari ticket as kat ticketek dh sold out seat2 yg best. At last me n hajar got the tix from ebay..Seriously it was the best concert that I've been to. Chris Brown went on stage first opening with the song 'Wall to Wall'. I sung and dance my heart out. By the time Chris Brown stepped off the stage i was soo exhausted and have a severe sore throat. The half an hour interval between the show made us tired of waiting but as Rihanna's performance was extra magnificent, it was worth the wait. Rihanna was so gorgeous, I was mesmerized by her look. She is soooo beautiful..With the dancing and singing, she definitely brought the house down. Seriously, if she's doing another concert in the future i'll be going again.

Well, now its back to reality. I have finals coming around the corner which I need to nerd myself into. So, Just a reminder:

5/11-Biot2002

11/11-Chem2041

12/11-Biom2041

Pray for me and hopefully i will do well in my exams. Cant wait to get over it as I have my NZ trip to look forward to after my exams..YEAY!!!!

12 October, 2008

It's over

Relieved..that the only thing that I can say right now.

I just finish my poster presentation for the ASP undergraduate conference. Alhamdulillah it went smoothly. Finally, my 6 months of lab work is officially finished. I don't need to go to lab dealing with all sorts of chemicals and assaying anymore. However, I am a bit sad that it had come to and end. You are already used to the daily routines for the past 6 months and now it's going to change.
above: my hard work for 6 months
below: ASP conference booklet
with my poster
As for today, its the big day for ASPinS students as it was the day that all of us presents our work. There was a lot of good presentations given out. I like the one about caveolins. (Besides of the interesting topic, the guy was cute..hehe ;> ). Despite of all the good talks given, I was a bit tired today. I guess all of us are, who thought doing poster could be that tiring and time consuming. Well the poster session (which was my session) was the last session of the day. It didnt take that long, about 45minutes standing by the poster waiting for people to come and ask questions about it. Well, as my poster was at ceruk pedalaman..hehe (seriously it was), i didnt get many visitors. So basically just 2 people come and talk to me about my poster. It was quite frustrating actually as you put a lot of effort into it but on the bright side people didnt ask wierd questions that I cant answer. So it was good.

Lastly, now that its over. I can now focus on my finals but only after I got all of the assignments done which is a bit left behind from the actual schedule. Now I want to get over with it quickly and looking forward to summer holiday (YEAY!!).

Till next time

07 October, 2008

Perginya seorang sahabat

Betul kata org, ajal maut ditangan tuhan. Tidak semestinya orang tua sahaja yang meninggal dunia, golongan muda juga tidak terkecuali. Dunia ini hanya sementara yang dipinjamkan ke kita. Bila-bila masa kita akan dipanggil ke pangkuan Ilahi. Ini telah menyedarkan kita supaya tidal alpa dengan keseronokan dunia.

Di kala semua org masih bergembira dengan bulan syawal yg baru beberapa hari berlalu aku dikejutkan dengan berita yg amat menyedihkan. Sahabatku Nurizan Harun baru menniggal dunia semalam pada jam 4ptg Malaysia. Oleh itu, sama2 kita sedekahkan Al-Fatihah ke arwah Izan. Semoga rohnya ditempatkan dikalangan orang2 yg beriman.

26 September, 2008

Home Sweet Home

It's been 24 hours since I arrived home..It is such a good feeling to be with my family. God, how I missed them so much. I know I'm only back for a short period of time. Therefore, Im gonna make the most out of it. A lot of things have happen for the last 7 months that I was away.

Hasif-ape kes??hehe
Hajar-ape jd ngan ur face??stress sgt ker??
Hafiz-wow..slim giler and makin meninggi
Husna-apsal makin gelap..haha..sorry na..but its the truth
Fawwaz-makin besar n bising since dh pandai cakap
Ejul-nie sorg lg yg makin gelap
Ellyn-apsal makin keding je..hehe

These are the people that I've met so far..More surprises to come I heard.. Cant wait nak balik kampung..hehe

Finally,

SELAMAT HARI RAYA..MAAF ZAHIR BATIN

12 September, 2008

Lantern Festival

Today for the first time I went to a lantern festival and first time holding my own tanglong..hehe..well, it was quite boring at first and I even thought of going home but then some people I know started to show up and things were ok then. The organizers even organize a tresure hunt in coincide with this lantern festival in which we didnt won but it was ok. It's just for fun. Nothing much to tell actually.

Nak terpesong sket..hehe..

Things to keep in mind: stop playing around and start some serious work.need to get things done b4 the midsem break

Countdown: 12 days till the big day. seriously cant wait.

01 September, 2008

Welcome Ramadhan

Today is the first day of the fasting month Ramadhan. To be honest I'm not mentally and physically prepare and I don't even know why. To make things worst, I have class today until 6pm which mean that I have to break my fast in class. Well hopefully I get the most out of this Ramadhan aiming to khatam the quran which I haven't done for the past 2 years.

A rewind of the last weekend, we had our merdeka celebration. It was not the best merdeka celebration I did enjoy myself. We had this netball merdeka cup tournament and the players we placed in teams according to their place of birth. I was in the red team, the terengganu and penang team and guess what, we came first eventhough we had to import players for every game as there was only 6 of us. But yeay..we did it and as a result my whole body is in pain for not stretching and cooling down properly plus for not doing any sports since NCG. Thanks to the imported players that played so hard for us and to teammates you all did a good job. After that, we had bbq luch at UQ Lake and the food was FABULOUS. There's no denial about that, I ate until I cannot take it anymore.hehe

l
left: the 6 of us, right: with our winning hamper

The merdeka celebration was on the same day as the Brisbane annual Riverfire. Last year I watched the fireworks while walking to the city as the last citycat was so full that it didn't take any passengers from Guyatt Park. So, I thought of better luck this year. But it turned out that I was so exhausted from all the game in the morning, I doze off without realising and woke up only to hear the F1-11 over my house indicating that it was 7pm and the Riverfire has started. In the end, I just watched it on tv.Geram giler k.Hopefully better luck next year.

28 August, 2008

counting down..less than a month to go

I just cant wait for 25th September to come..Cepatla, seriously tak sabar..
Sorry cant say it out loud what it is or i'll ruin the surprise. Hopefully whatever I have planned will go on smoothly.

For the time being need to get things done before that date and it will be a busy month this September. Come on Huda. you can do this just need to stop fooling aroung and wasting time.

23 August, 2008

twas a long time ago

I was browsing through the internet when I come across this website called amp. Its a place where people discover new music throughout asia. New bands that want people to recognize their music posted their music up on this website. I was looking at the Malaysia's list of music when I come across this band that somehow sounds so famliar.

SIARRA!!

These guys are from the first season of Hitz.tv Blast Off program and if I'm not mistaken they got second place losing to K-Town Clan. I watched them performing live at Sunway Lagoon in 2006 during Merdeka celebration and they was only 1 word to describe them, AWESOME.


Siarra at Sunway Lagoon (Merdeka 2006)


aftershow:us with 2 of their members shah and syed.

Pity they still haven't come out with an album but I heard that its on the way. They are in the process of making it. Cant wait for t to come out. So far they only have one song and that is Take You Home. I cant find any source that I can download t from so I cant share it with you.

But here is the link to the video from one of their performance, Higher Deeper. Enjoy!!

http://amp.channelv.com/amp/artistVideo.html?artistId=3006&videoId=4028d8b71612f9990116287256100016