Scrub

A few words of wisdom from the TV

"The easiest way to loose something is to want it too badly"

"Nothing good worth having comes easy"

"Don't try to re-live the past, but why not try if that was the best"

"Life is neither long or short, it's how you use it that matters"

-ennndddddd-

Counting the days

Counting the days to start my leave. 6 days to go! But nothing is confirmed just yet. These few people from another dept decided to turn my unpaid leave application to 'pekasam' and just leave it on the table. How hard is it to get one people to sign a sheet of paper? How hard is it to decide that this staff will not be paid (hence no money from company's pocket), and his post will be filled as and when needed (hence encouragement of staff movement).

Hopefully this 6 days will not suddenly turn to 36 days. If not, someboy will get really pissed off.

Oh well, things are less hectic nowadays. And i find myself thinking more clearly than usual. Maybe it's the cause of i-don't-really-care-what-happens-anymore-so-ill-just-take-my-risk attitude. Surprisingly it brings more efficient results!

I haven't felt this productive before. Especially today. Everything sap-sap-suwey!

Maybe it's the fact that i see myself getting replaced by somebody. No one to lean for me anymore for help. No one to look up to me. I'll just mind my own business.

Hey? isn't that is what students are supposed to do? study and mind their own business! Hah! i'm morphing into a student! (not morphine.. damn u F*nas for thinking that power rangers take morphine!)

Oh well, anyways, look forward to the no money but more time and friends phase that i went through in MMU last time.

No money? yeap
More time? of coz!
More friends? herm.. i just wonder...

Day wha? : Trip to Edinburgh

Malas nak keep track on the day, sorry. Hehe, i guess the semangat org puteh sikit sikit ada masuk :P. Anyhows, it was kind of last minute, but we decided to rent a car and head to edinburgh. A ford focus! Best gila bawak.

We headed off to edinburgh at about 8-ish in the morning. The sun was sunny and the skies were bright. The beauty of driving in the UK is that there are lots of ways that u can choose to get to your destination. Be it the motorway (highway) or the scenic kampung route. We chose the motorway at first, for fear of arriving late for hotel checkin, but suddenly felt adventurous to try the more scenic route.

On the way, we stopped at a place called Windermere. It's a small town surrounding a huge lake.
Went to the jetty. It was really windy and sunny.

On the way, we also went past a few picturesque mountains.

After 6 hours drive (campur sesat) we arrived in edinburgh. Nak rest banyak sangat pun tak boleh, coz rasa rugi. So we went straight to the edinburgh castle. We just passsed by the castle, and then jalan towards the royal mile. Most of the shops were closed because we came at around 6. Everything closes down by 6.

If you guys are going to edinburgh and have no idea on where to start, here's a good try. Park sumwhere near the edinburgh castle. Go to the edinburgh castle and follow one of the free tours inside the castle. Then, you walk down The Royal Mile towards Holyrood Palace. The Royal Mile is actually series of streets connecting the Edinburgh castle and Holyrood Palace. There are loads of attraction in between. Souvenir shops, Theatrical performances, juggling acts, fish & chips, and much more. It's nearly a 1 km walk. Later, you would want to visit the Holyrood Park, just behind Holyrood Castle. Arthur's seat (a hill) is just a hop away, so if you still have energy, why not try. Belakang tu is the Arthur's seat.

These activities alone should occupy one day.

OK, enuff travel agent-ing.

After the long walk, we decided to go to the beach. It was already 830p.m, but maghrib ws not for until 930p.m.

Elin bought a cup of tea and cheese sandwich. Yummy!







After a series of Lepak-ing and chatting. We decided to head back to travelodge.

Ah, what a tiring, but fruitful day

Cheers.

Day 4 : Elin's Convo Ceremony

It was a perfect day for a convocation ceremony. Not too hot, not too cold, and no rain. Just a little bit of wind, now and then. The hall was just enough for the crowd. The ceremony ran smoothly, with all the graduands readily seated according to the order of the names called. The first graduand who received the honours was a malaysian lady who had completed her Phds. She's a lecturer from UKM and have been staying in Manchester in Cheetham for the past few years. Apparently Cheetham is where all Malaysian Phd students stay. The whole lot of 'em!

Elin's name was called near to the end. It was pronounce two-and fedhlin daiyana beintei Two-and Cob (Cob as in corn on the cobs). I heard people asking between themselves,"where is this girl from?". There are lots more other weird names (weird for the english people), which i could not even imagine their origin.

But there was a heartfelt moment for everyone. The Vice Chancellor announced that one student died tragically in an accident in his second year. Looking through his record of studies, the university have decided to award the late student the degree anyway. They have called up the family and the brother went on stage on behalf. It must've been a very honorable moment for the whole family. Everybody clapped for the family. Really, it was touching. I wonder if they have these kind of thing in Malaysia. Never heard of any before. Hermm...

I respect the vice chancellor for his earlier speech. He said,"As i shake your hands, the honor is not only for yourself, but also for your family and for all those who had supported you in your journey, today is for them too".

A few pics:

Umi just can't resist the beautiful flowers

Proud Parents


Umi's Congratulation Hug!


Congrats sistah!


Pass it on to you.. bradah!


I... will... return...

Cheers

Day 3 & 4 : Car Boot Sale & Demam

The weather here changes quite drastically. I guess that's why my body had to go through an adjustment crisis. But it's not one of those minor fevers, it's one of those kepala-nak-pecah fever that i had to control my breathing just to make it go away. Slept through the whole day.

Went to a carboot sale earlier before my body broke down. Kewl place. You can get lots of kewl stuff at a cheap price. Crystal items as cheap as 5 pounds!. I tried to find some authentic english-y things but i could just find a mug. Also bought the small miniature houses that my boss pesan-ed from me, so that much is cleared.

Esah proposed that i go to Marks & spencer and get some set of toiletries as gifts. I'll go and have a look later.

Elin managed to get the tickets for convocation. But she can only get 2. So while they are attending the function, i might as well go to town and have a look-see around.

I double-confirm to what rodek has said in his earlier post. Something about if you earn UK pounds, the cost of living is really low. Seriously, it is. A loaf of bread would cost you less than 2 pounds. A family-sized kebab would only cost you 4.30 pounds. We had to practically stuff ourselves to finish the whole kebab. You can go a looong way with 50 pounds here. But of course, you'd have to earn UK pounds, coz if you convert into malaysian RM, you'd tend to starve urself to death. :P

Elin had just received her paycheck yesterday. Converted to RM, she makes more than I did when i started working as an engineer in TM. Much more compared when i was a temporary executive by far of course!.

Can't wait to work here.

Cheers

Day 2 : Manchester Town

The day started of with Elin buying us all a Magic ride ticket, which is valid for 1 week for a certain bus route. Kewl. No wonder people say public transportation in Malaysia sucks. Here, everything is efficient. Somebody should come here and bench mark he Transport system rather than Joli Katak with government's money.

Elin showed me a few buildings around Manchester university. There's an olympic sized swimming pool, a larger park, an art gallery, a gym, and lots of bars. Apparently here, Bars are equivalent to Mamaks in Malaysia.

This is main building of the University. School of business is right behind it. As i said before, the university is situated in the town vicinity, making it very accessible. We walked around for a bit. From Elin's apartment to town centre. It's not as far as i imagined it was when i came here last year. It is actually walking distance (with a bit of sore feet).

Lepaking at near the main bus station.















Muka Keletihan ..:)

There's a park right beside the station. Nice place to hang out. Lots of place to hang out in manchester actually. I have another picture of a hang out place, but mistakenly deleted it, dammit. It's called the triangle. It's a sort-of-park where they have a humongous screen with loads of sitting blocks. I can just imagine how they all got drunk there after aan England game. Winning or losing doesn't matter i guess, it is just a reason for them to get drunk.

There were stalls selling fresh farmery and also fruits. There's also a chinese food stall, but it's non-halal. Halal Chinese Food can only be found in London and Sheffield.

Nevertheless, We all enjoyed our strawberry and cream. Yummy!

I'm too tired to elaborate.. so.. till tomorrow then.. can't wait to go and see my future home.

Cheers.

1st Day in Manchester : Mari melawan Jetlag

After 14 hours of flight and 3 hours of transit time, at last, we arrived in the Manchester Airport. It was 12 noon when we arrived, which translates to 8.pm Malaysian time. It's not tha cold coz it's summer. So i guess i'll be seing more flesh this year.. hehehe (*tanduk keluar).

Anyways, i recognized a few places on the way to Elin's apartment. The locksmith near Elin's old renth0use, the Tesco near a world wide store, and other places. (World wide store is the only place that i know of that sells halal meat).

Elin's new apartment is not bad at all. It's basically situated inside the campus area, so travelling to class is not a problem. Can't wait to go visit my future apartment and get to know my future housemates. Elin says he's a bit blur, but i don't know what to make of that.

I can actually see the university building right across. Well, University of Manchester is actually a campus inside a city, much like KL university, but not as hectic.

There's also a park right across the apartment building, kewl place to hang out.

Can also see a row of shophouses. There's a pakistani shop selling yummy chicken wings below.. uu yeah!

Just got up from a 4-hour sleep. Hope i can sleep again tonite. It's now only 21:34 here in Manchester. The Prayer time is nearly the same, except for Maghrib (21:41) and isya (11:30). Have to adjust to this new time-dimension.

Hopefully mybiological clock will be well adjusted by tomorrow morning. Elin's gonna take me for an orientation on campus and i might just go to admissions to get some things taken care of.

Cheers.

Home Sweet Home

I just realized that August 2006 would probably be the last month that my siblings and I would be staying under the same roof. Wow..

After that, Nini would be in Romania.. I would be In UK, and Elin would be in Malaysia.When we do come back, at least one of us would be married, or move out of the Subang Home.

Nothing is for sure yet, but i do know that this expression will still hold :

Meyorhhh.. meyorhhhh! (scratching tummy)

O2

Arghh... siapa ada pakai O2? Nak pinjam CD buleyh? CD dulu hilang bersama laptop.. My dad's CD pon missing somewhere in the house. I need to upload pictures! Needd.... toooo... uppp loaaadd.. picturesss..

Anyways, things are now quite slow in the office, Trouble Reports are much less (In my place that is). Maybe everybody else is filtering the reports kaw-kaw! Cayalah. But there are other "extra-curricular" stuffs that I am assigned to do.. so job load is still the same (though not exactly KPI related).

One thing that i was assigned to do is a poster. Well, u just know that when you ask an engineer to do design, everything will turn out symmetrical and the colour would be boring. Argh.. no wonder my sense of dressing teruk. Colour matching Kantoi! (Sedar pon diri kan?). Furthermore, a simple thing that would take me (Photoshop illiterate) 5 hours would only cost Nini (Photoshop literate) 5 minutes! Sakit hatiii.. hahaha..

I would not dare to post the outcome here.. damn buruk weeyh!

Btw, Nini introduced me to her friend's blog, Ismail.

Go ahead, have a click. I just like the way he sees things and put it on paper. Reminds me of Rodek (somewhat).

K.. Cha chas!

P/s: Ismail, if you are reading this, 1 redirect from this blog would cost you 25 Liras. (Betul ke currency Romania ni?)

26..26..26

Now oledi 26



26?



26... and still growing.. :)