Dry sip

So many things are happening in Malaysia and elsewhere around the World. From the smallest of things to big issues like human massacre in Al-Houlah, Syria. I can only pray for all these to stop 'cause I simply cannot keep up with 'em all.

:(

They killed mostly children in the Al-Houlah massacre and now I wonder how the future will be. Simply atrocious!

p/s: While I am interesting in what is going on around the Globe, I should not overlook Malaysia. Something is "brewing" here, if you know what I mean. I do not feel all that comfortable.

Cheers to love

My quick reality check tells me I like being pampered, in all kinds. Kindness, gifts, treats and all, they are among the many things girls love. For me, I discovered that pretty late. Nevertheless, better late than never. For the past a year or so, this exactly happens. Above all, I just want to be grateful that I'm with someone who pampers me :) I sure hope I pamper him as much as well. Hehe.

Saw Blair Waldorf wanted some Laduree macaroons in Gossip Girl.
Can't resist myself from finding where I can get them. There are available only in a few cities in the world
and Dubai being one of them. Of course, I had to request it from my certain someone. What can I say?
I'm very lucky *head over heels* BTW, these macaroons are delicious! The green one on the left-most
is pistachio-flavoured and oh dear, I cannot even describe how my taste bud felt when I took
that first bite! My favourite! Sure hope to get more in Paris and London later :) Thanks love.
I really appreciate you went all the way to Dubai Mall just to get it for me *hugs*

My birthday gift this year, very well-fitting for a 25 year old lady *cough cough*.
Just smiles whenever I wear the charm bracelet :) One happy girl.

Now on the loser side. I never ever received a flower bouquet in my life. Somehow, I received this
beautiful roses bouquet when I touched down KLIA from Vietnam. So appropriate and I definitely felt
 loved. Thankss! There you go! My first ever bouquet! Although it was not a total surprise cause somebody
 posted my facebook "how do I like the flowers?" when I donn't have a clue I was receiving any.
Haha. Spoil giler!

Cupcakes & coffee at Wondermilk! Among the little things that I can do to ever deserve such a guy.
BTW, this is one of the many coupons I drew for his birthday gift. Maybe it is not all that equivalent to
Tiffany & Co, but I sure hope he likes it. Well, he is yet to claim any of his coupons despite claiming
"I look at them every night sampai dah lunyai dah coupon book tu". LOL.

Cheers to love :)

No free land

I'm no where near land right now >.<

Anyways, eversince I arrived here on Friday I never had proper rest at all. Don't get me wrong, I did get some sleep but I kept waking up (on purpose) to check the operations up on the rigfloor. After 3 days of all that, I finally bring myself to a proper, uninterrupted rest last night. Nevertheless, work is still on. I still have tons of paper work to do haha.

At the end of the day, despite the crazy workload I do here, there are only two things that matter to keep my mind sane: the sunset and great people. Sure work is stressful. Almost all would agree, but if the people you work with are amazing, you'd not say a word about stress. Agree? :) 

Beautiful sunset. A few other platforms afar.

I simply love clouds; and their simply many forms and shapes

Helideck and sunset. At times, the best place to enjoy the sunset is from the helideck. 

Barbeque on Sunday. Good food.
I had lamb, chicken, sausage, mashed potato and a bit of rice.
Yeah, I ate a lot yesterday cause I missed lunch and my tummy was grumbling!
Well, on top of that, the sunset was gorgeous and so I ate even more. LOL

In the wireline doghouse with great people working hand-in-hand.

p/s: Ok, ok. I will watch what I eat. My dad pon dah pesan.

England + 2

In two months time, I'm off to England for le sister's convocation ceremony. I took 2 weeks off for this occasion and mind you that is very rare for my job. Nevertheless, I know 1 week is all bout London-Bristol-York, but I have 1 week reserve for "other European countries". If possible I might hit 2 countries! Well, I am yet to decide which two countries I should set my foot on. Perhaps France cause it is just next door to England. And my second country is either Switzerland or Italy. What do you think? 

The thing is, I always dream of going to Santorini in Greece. Back when I had this "must go places" list, Greece was the first and Peru was second. I somehow went to Peru first. Nevermind, I will go to Santorini one of these days and I already imagine how that trip will be hehe. I sure fantasize a lot bout trips and "Mamma Mia" sure has something to do with it :) 

Getting back to what I was saying earlier, this time around lets keep it bout le family trip to (parts of) Europe. I think my mom will love Switzerland and I love the Swiss Alps. What is not to love about mountains? I'm more of mountain person than beach. What's more I might even buy myself a Swiss watch there (le me has no watch!). And, what about Italy? I'm eyeing Capri here. Remember "The Lotus Eater"? That story got me jumping bout Capri. In the opening line...

"In 1913, I visited a friend who lived on the island of Capri. Capri is a most beautiful island in the Bay of Naples. From the island, you can see across the water to Mount Vesuvius on the mainland of Italy"

                (by  William Somerset Maugham)

Even that first two sentences got me to say, Capri is a must go place. Ever since then, I read even more stories on how beautiful it is. Anyways, perhaps Rome and Venice are more mommy-appropriate. I remember I took her to many many places in NYC; just so she sees New York City the way I do but after all is done I felt bad cause I made her go to these places at my pace. Ish ish ish. And I know she loves shopping, so maybe I can add more of that this time around.  

Then, London Olympics 2012 is also around the corner. I bet prices of about everything are due to be sky rocket! Sigh. The only best part is I get to buy some kind of Olympics merchandise! And if you know me, some shot glass would be nice :)  

p/s: reserving Santorini for a trip with my-certain-someone *blush*

High Five

May 2012.
Note to self:
Look at the beautiful colours in front of you and put your hands in the pocket, then say, "Hey Gorgeous!" (...whatever gorgeous is to you). Ahhh, content life!

Gerber daisies by my bed. Who knew I have a thing for flowers these days. Oh pretty flowers, what have you done to me?

Almost artificial! I took it to the grill and om nom nom! 

p/s: was listening to Alanis Morissette "Hand in My Pocket"; hence the pocket reference.

"I'm broke but I'm happy; 

I'm poor but I'm kind"

Ahhh, she's content too!!

A tree pose, you say?

It is true. I haven't been updating my blog in ages. Even that one post earlier this month does not count and it almost certainly reflecting how terribly busy and lazy I am. There is no excuse, of course. 

Well, I am still doing the same job. 

But I've picked up something new that I enjoy so much. That is yoga.

I have always wanted to do yoga since I read Ninie Ahmad's blog back in university days. Somehow, I could not bring myself to just go and do it. See, saying and wanting in one thing, but physically doing it is another! While all preps are done, i.e yoga mat and clothes (hehe), I was still looking for a studio nearby to attend the classes. I sure am happy that I finally have a chance at it and yes, I enjoy it very much.

I am still pretty much out and about, but I make myself free to at least attend once a week, if not more. So far after three weeks, I can say I am more aware bout my body, especially my posture. Sit up straight everyone! I always knew I have stiff muscle (errr, is this the correct way to describe it? any medical students around?), meaning to say I am not flexible. Just to prove my point, I cannot bend down and touch my toes. Sigh. I am not flexible at all! Even back in my days of doing Taekwondo I cannot do the split. Embarassing, I know. 

Being the beginner in a bunch of flexible-and-a-bit-more-season-at-this people, I was pretty intimidated at first, but when I see these people are also wobbling like me, I do not feel too bad bout myself. Haha. And if you think you do not sweat while doing yoga 'cause the studio is air conditioned, please come and try for yourself. You do sweat! At times, I would go during lunch hours on weekdays and I find myself awesomely refreshed for the remaining few more hours. Lunch can wait! Nah, I would have a very light lunch afterwards while doing work LOL

Anyways, my point is, I just want my muscle to be stronger and toned! Now, I'm thinking of doing yoga and go jogging on alternate days! Wow! Sure sounds like a plan to me. Now to the execution part....... (warghhh!)

If you are skeptical 'cause it may be spiritual, fret not...no incantation is involved. It is just you stretching your muscle out loud! Maybe one day I can do a headstand, who knows! 

To those yet to try yoga, have it a go! I can bet you will love it as well :)  

p/s: Among my wish list, I'm yet to run a marathon and do wall climbing! 

Hansel & Gretel

They say patience is a virtue.

But if we cannot bring ourself grounded to a certain poise and manner, we are nothing near patience. And the thing about patience is it is not in everybody. Just that I believe it will be in everybody if we choose to have it.

Then, take goodness.

Goodness at times is masked by that one mistake one made. You repent from it. You live your life away from it. It does not defines you. Not at all. But one choose to close one's eyes to what is more important. And that very mistake seems to be more obvious than others.

Then, take knowledge.

They say knowledge is power. With knowledge, everything is possible. But knowledge is power. People lost sight at what it means. They think having knowledge to themselves is power. That is where one lost the track. Share the knowledge because that is the power one holds, the ability to be knowledgeable.

Then, take me.

I choose to be patient, I choose to see the good in people and I choose to be knowledgeable.

I am not lost, but maybe I need some bread crumbs to remind me where the right paths are.

That end of the year post

My calendar stats for 2011:

Offshore Malaysia & living abroad (Vietnam & Oman): 171 days

On land (in Malaysia that is): 194 days

Judging from this, one may think I have no life. There is a little truth to that because I missed out on a lot of birthdays, Eid celebration, weddings, vacations with family, friends gathering etc. But truth been told, I would not miss any chance at all to go to places even when it is a hostile environment. If I were to put aside the fancy perks from all this, I'd say it is worthwhile to be away for awhile from all the madness in a big city. It's different when I'm out there in a middle of the ocean or desert. One may say, what can you do other than staring the sky for some stars or watching the beautiful sunset/sunrise, but let me tell you it is more than meets the eye. It's just more relaxing in a way because I get to escape the city. Maybe because I come from Kuantan, a rather small town in Malaysia and I went to London, Ontario to study...again, a small town in Canada. Escaping the frenzied and overpriced city for awhile is a blessing.

I'm still young (25 years old in 2012!!) with minimal responsibilities. I believe here is the chance for all this. Having said that, my thoughts are heading towards keeping myself grounded, be more independent and take more responsibilities. I feel it's time, for responsibilities, I mean.

Trust me, I think the future is scary!

p/s: le me is bored. le me is at Dubai Airport waiting for my flight to KL

No joke! I am getting chubbier!

Teasing with Dubai

So far, I have nothing big to write. I'm still compiling my Middle Eastern stories, so that's coming up in January. My work (been working in the desert for few weeks now) has just gotten a bit intense for the past couple of weeks with lack of sleep and all. Until now my head is still throbbing from irregular sleeping pattern. Well, there is always panadol for that!

Anyways, some teaser photos. You know by now I'm addicted to editing photos; so here are a few of Dubai pictures. Somehow, of all the great and amazing architecture in Dubai, I'm very deeply amazed by Burj al-Arab. There is something bout this building that captivates me. Maybe it's the luxury feeling, I don't know.

I spent a few hours by the Umm Suqeim beach, reading "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac and just enjoying the view. From this beach, you get an excellent view of the 7-star hotel. I was a loner in Dubai, so photos of me were all from-my-extended-arm-with-the-help-of-my-flip-about-screen. Whats more, I wanted to enjoy the sunset with Burj al-Arab as the background.

Just so you know, some people find it hard to take that I am 24 years old. In my attempt to look more mature, I decided to try this fancy mancy hijab style people are wearing these days. I actually spent some time watching tutorials on how to get it right! Moving from simple & easy tudung bawal to this? It wasn't that life changing, though. I ended up making a complete "OMG" of myself. Sigh. First take, don't wear this style to the beach cause there is this thing called "wind". They like to sweep things out of order.

First of all, I don't think I got it right. Anyways, it looks all good to go back in the hotel. Snap snap a few pics to prove I got it! Well, that's picture bottom right and middle right. At the beach, the wind blew my tudung and it got so messy. I tried to fix it, but com'on the wind WAS blowing WHILE I was fixing my tudung. Go figure! I ended up taking a brooch and pinned the loose end somewhere over my shoulder...The last picture on the top right was the final result. BIG SIGH.

Other than that mishap, I enjoyed my afternoon at the beach :)

(I was hoping there is a ice cream place nearby. boohoo)

Burj al-Arab thru my perspective.

p/s: I used Picasa to edit my photos. Simple software! I love it

Moon eclipse :)

Moon eclipsee! I feel fortunate that I get to see it without any restrictions! Subhanallah!

Aaaaa...the many many happy things bout being in a desert :) My camera is no DSLR (Canon G12 jerr), but I tried my best.

You sure can see the Sun partially covering the Moon.

My favourite shot of the night! I played with the aperture and I got this :)

A sense of what I do here. A drilling rig...

The crew :)

And this is a shot of the Moon that I took back when I was in Canada.

I was using my dad's camera with super awesome lens...I wish I have it now :)

:) Yeayy desert!