Aging gracefully

How many people around you that you know looks way younger than their real age? Well I know one and he looks young because he got the young genetic. Well, okay, he's my older brother who since I was in secondary school friends kept thinking him as my younger brother :P

All that aside,

I LOVE WATCHING OPRAH!!!

Before this, I did think anyone is turning old when and if they enjoy watching Oprah just proven how ignorant could I be. I learnt lots of thing watching Oprah, other than reading of course. Today, Oprah galore on Hallmark. If Starworld kept having Heroes marathon - which I found kind of tiring due to the outcome of the second season, a dose of Dr. Oz on Oprah opened my eyes.

Of course the show is about health, life, entertainment, information, books and many more. Do you know that you can do something for kids with autism? Or do you know that having a nose bidet using a neti pot could help you with sinus problems? Or doing a 'stamp test' could help in detecting E.D. problems? Or that swimming in the Amazon river could cause a type of fish swim into you and then grow in you and the only way to get it out is by surgery? I wouldn't know that.

Well most of the show today were about ageing. How you live your life would reflect how well you may age. The main reason people does not age gracefully is because of stress (who doesn't have them?), too much sugar in the diet, no exercising, smoking, drinking and lack of sleep. Well those are the points that I managed to catch up on. No problem for me in the smoking and drinking sector since I don't do any of them.

I know everyone wants to age gracefully and look younger than their calendar age. I know I want to be healthy when I am old so... I will try my best to:

1. Manage stress wisely - who says working with kids is easy?
   
2. Keep doing my exercise daily - The Swiss ball workout, weights, crunches (thanks to my fitness instructor cousin who kept on yapping me to do workout).
   
3. Eat healthily - Less red meat in my diet and less oil except olive oil, more vegetables and enough rice.
   
4. Get enough sleep - which is mostly from 9pm to 5am (that's 8 hours)

Since March this year, I'm starting this routine and still doing it, but as my cousin said, it's not getting slender being the goal. From researches that I read in the papers and online, being thin doesn't always mean being healthy and being fat doesn't always mean being unhealthy. The key here is being healthy and that's what I am trying to be.

p.s: Do you know that lifting weights could help you to prevent osteoporosis? More the reason for me to love my dumbbells, hehehe.

Triple Post

Hah, ambik tu, bertubi-tubi post, since god knows when will be the next time I post another one, hahaha. Anyway, just currently stuck with my current earworm - a song by both my favourite singers - Yuna Ito and Celine Dion - Anata ga iru kagiri. Since it's next to impossible to go to Celine Dion's concert in KL this April, watching youtube would be enough, huhuhu. Enjoy.

Tag superhero

1- Apa superpower idaman anda? Choose only one.
Telekinesis/psychokinesis.

2- Siapa superhero/watak yang mempengaruhi pilihan itu?
Jean Grey dalam X-men (although die ade power telekinesis & telepathy) Prue Halliwell dalam Charmed.

3- Kenapa superpower yang itu?
Sebab tengok macam cool aje power diorang. Senang nak ambil barang n manipulate form (and sometimes rasa nak lepuk aje mat rempit and driver-driver kereta yang cilok macam bagus kat tengah jalan tu, ngiahahaha)

4- Apakah kelemahan kamu? We're never b perfect right?
Forgetfulness, hehehehe.

5- Apakah nama superhero kamu?
Sebab Jean Grey guna nama sendiri (nama Marvel Girl takle popular sangat), guna nama sendiri ah. Time die kena rasuk aje baru jadi Phoenix. So kalau kena rasuk... versi Melayu, jadi 'Garuda' (mythical creature la tu kan?)

6- Motto superhero kamu pula?
"Orang baik selalu menang, walaupun orang jahat power macam mana pun"
-berkat dari tengok Ultraman zaman dulu. Time dah nak kalah tetibe datang pulak adik beradik otromen nak nolong, hihihihi.

survey SUPERHERO ni akan ditag kpd :
1-CurX- sebab kejap jadi betmen, kejap jadi zombie
2-Sue Mail - sebab baru sambung master (tak releven pun padahal, hahaha)
3-Za - alasan untuk update blog die, hahaha.

Manic Week

It had been a very hectic time since school started nearly 2 weeks ago and honestly this is the first time I could ever manage to sit still and not falling back to sleep like I did the past days. And of course the first time I went on reading blogs since the time I updated mine. Along with other English teachers at school, we were busy preparing our pupils for the Zone level English Carnival. On Friday, we had 'solat hajat' event from 6.30pm to 11.00 pm, and on Saturday I was given opportunity to become a judge for the Storytelling competition level 1 for Bandar Zone. Sunday, again, trained my pupil who represents the school for the storytelling competition level 2 in the Pekan Nenas Zone English Carnival.

This is her, the pupil that I trained for months with the aid of her mother who also happened to be a teacher in my school and other English teachers. And this was taken before the competition in the teacher's common room.

Many thanks also to my mom who helped me sewing the kain sampin and show me how to make the tengkolok. We got number 1 for Public Speaking Level 2 and Storytelling Level 2. I found myself enjoying the task of sewing the beads at the sleeve and pocket, making a fake beard and bedazzling a plain sandal to this:-

Yeah, yeah so I have to stick some more of that stuff before the district level competition this Saturday. Hope we can make it this district level since there's another round for the competition that calls for an impromptu storytelling. For an English non-speaker at home, that is going to be tough. Wish us luck!

Ta Ta Holiday

It was like the whole one week went through in a blink of an eye and tomorrow, school will start. Out of 10 days, 2 days was spent for year five night tuition which I changed to daytime, 2 days to train the 'girl-who-socked-the-boy-in-the-eye' for next week's storytelling competition (hope that she will win), 2 days for sewing the clothes for her (and it's still unfinished *gulp*), 1 day spent with my siblings and sister in law in JB, 1 day for Yus', my friend from school wedding along with lots of catching up with one of my best buddies Eena, 1 day visiting my friend, Ujai for her second child birth in Kulai with Yan and Qis and 1 day for doing the 1000 pieces jigsaw puzzle that I bought in a whim.

Wow, I really filled up my holiday.

Other than that, I managed to glue myself in front of the TV watching Oprah and on my colleague's recommendation I started watching 'Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader'. It was fun, since the game format was testing if the adult could answer questions from 1st grade to fifth grade subject and seemed like all the contestants used up all their cheats in the early round. Of course, the American syllabus is way up front than Malaysian and I couldn't help but sit back and say that I only learnt some of those lessons in secondary school when they already did in elementary school. And the question on the Dewey System? Heck I only learnt them in Resource Management class in the institute.

Well, here was the episode aired for this week in Star World. I can't help but grin when the guy kept on saying 'the' when clearly 'pledge of allegiance' did not have 'the' in it.



Now... if Malaysia have this version here, I'm sure the contestants would have a jolly time answering questions for 'kajian tempatan' and 'kemahiran hidup' since we only have those in the syllabus very recently, hehehe.

Socked!

The watcher strikes again.
This time, it happened in my classroom.

I was teaching in the lab and was checking on the kid's note-writing progress at the back. Suddenly a prefect tapped me and said someone had been punched. Of course la, I pivoted back up front the science lab and there I saw a boy, also a prefect crying silently, covering his right eye with his left hand and writing his notes with his right.

I asked him, who did the punching?
He was just silent and kept writing and more tears fell.
Some good friends on his lab table said a name and I was shocked.

It is the name of a girl, also a prefect but a head shorter than he is. I looked at the other table next to his and saw the girl shooting daggers at him. The girl was also tight lipped. She did not answer why she punched him but of course la, her friends was saying that the boy was jeering at her. Still water runs deep, wahahaha.

It was so comical that I was trying so hard at not laughing while reprimanding those two kids.

Yeehaa!!

Finally I finished downloading last week's music station. Both of my favourite bands were on it
Who?

Arashi and Backstreet Boys!!!!!!
*excited uchiwa movement*
Hahaha, my fangirl metre is running amok.
too bad, I only found Arashi's part on that MS episode. The only BSB clip on show on youtube was from their perf in Music Fighter.



*Runs back and plays the MS again*

Tag! again, huhuhu

Comment: tak boleh tak ada tag yang panjang ke nih? uwahhhhh

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?
A'an

2. What were you doing at 0800?
Teaching

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
updating blog -_-'

4. What happened to you in 2006?
had an early life crisis, wahahaha

5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
tepung jagung (a'an was asking how to cook)

6. How many beverages did you have today?
didn't count

7. What color is your hairbrush?
brown

8.What was the last thing you paid for?
Photostate bill

9. Where were you last night?
home

10. What color is your front door?
light orange

11. Where do you keep your change?
here and there in my bag

12. What's the weather like today?
hot and clousy

13. What's the best ice-cream flavor?
cookies and cream!!! yummyyyyyyyyy

14. What excites you?
;)

15. Do you want to cut your hair?
not yet. ask me again in 4 months, hehehe

16. Are you over the age of 25?
dang, I always like being 25, hahaha

17. Do you talk a lot?
if i'm not in deep concentration, yes

18. Do you watch the O.C.?
no

19. Do you know anyone named Steven?
Did. and he's a jerk

20. Do you make up your own words?
sometimes

21. Are you a jealous person?
ask my sayang, hehehehe

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter 'A'.
azreena

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter 'K'.
khuwailid (friend and everything ;$)

24. Who's the first person on your received call list?
aza

25. What does the last text message you received say?
its from my sayang and no way i would put it here

26. Do you chew on your straw?
what for?

27. Do you have curly hair?
yes

28. Where's the next place you're going to?
school. i got night class

29. Who's the rudest person in your life?
obviously not in my life anymore

30. What was the last thing you ate?
broccoli

31. Will you get married in the future?
in a few months time. ^_^

32. What's the best movie you've seen in the past 2 weeks?
flyboys

33. Is there anyone you like right now?
duh :p hahahaha. love most likely

34. When was the last time you did the dishes?
just now

35. Are you currently depressed?
nope

36. Did you cry today?
nope

37. Why did you answer and post this?
because my sayang tagged me for retribution :p

38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey.
my bro, and the four, so lazylaa to pick who

Brotherly Love

The school watcher strikes again. This time, its not the weird things that the pupils did. It was heart warming. To me that is.

It is common for pupils to have siblings in the school whether they are younger or older. Not forgetting those who have cousins too. For the first week, usually parents for year 1 pupils would wait outside the classroom and eventually when their children were able to adapt with school life, the parents crowd would dissipate. It is different for those with brothers and sisters ahead of them though. Mostly, sisters would wait for their younger siblings during recess. Brothers would only wait for their kid sister and brother when the last bell rings. Maybe having younger siblings tagging along during recess would cramp their style, hehe.

That certainly brought me to this entry.

There are a pair of twin boys in year six. I have to say that they are among the popular crowd since both of them are in the leading year 6 class, one of them is a prefect and both of them are the school champion in shot put and javelin. They're both in the different sport houses of course and they have their own personality.

What made me aware of them?

They happened to be the only boys who would wait for their sister in year one for recess and I often saw them bringing their sister behind the school building to share food. I teach their sister's class and I never fail to notice them outside the classroom as the recess bell rang. Of course they escorted their sister alternately. When the prefect was on his canteen duty his brother would take her. One day as I was about to go home on a Friday, I saw them cycling. At that time the prefect was carrying their sister on his bike and the his brother was cycling in front. Their sister sat on the carrier wrongly. What made me pause was, the prefect stopped at the roadside and lifted his sister behind to properly positioned her on the carrier comfortably. The other twin noticed his brother's act and waited patiently in front. When that was done, they cycled home together.

Wasn't that just sweet?
And they're still the coolest kids in year 6.

Tag lagi

With the questions are as long as this one... uwahhhhhh, so lazyyyyy

I

This linky love trail rules:-
When you got tagged, you have to add your name to people who had done the tag and and let the list grow!

Those Who Dunnit
Limadang.com
RamblingMoo.com
blogginginmypyjamas
StylewithPassion
Chinneeq
Dora-zooropazoo
Babyshern
Farah (me)
Bani gundu
Frankensteina
Diyanazman
Najmy
hana ni mo nai
LindoshSlebet
cepoter
hUmmY
dayana
ELLE LIZA
Scarlet Kiss
Nabil
Diah


II
First Name - Nadiah
Nickname - Diah, Nad, Ned and I won't tell you what my sister calls me
Name you wish you had - Err... never thought of that but when I was in school I wish I was a Fantaghiro, bwahahaha
What do people normally mistake your name as - well, not all but one guessed me as 'Saadiah' *cringe* and nearly all thought my name's Nadia without the 'h'
Birthday - 12 September
Birthplace - Pontian
Time of Birth - 4.45 a.m on the dot
Single or taken - Taken la
Zodiac sign - Virgo

Your Appearance

How tall are you - 157cm
Wish you were taller - nope
Eye color - Dark brown
Eye color you want - Acheron's eye (yang baca dark-hunter series aje tau)
Natural Hair color - Black
Current Hair color - Black
Short or long hair - long
Ever dye your hair a bizarre color - purple but doesn't stick
Curly,Straight,Wavy - curly + wavy
Last time you did something dramatic with your hair - none but once I had the afro hair in primary school - totally hate it
Glasses or contacts - none
Do you wear make-up - yes
Ever had hair extensions - nope
Paint your nails - just when I'm having fun at my uncle's house with my cousin - but clean it after putting it on. Typical girl's slumber party, wahahaha

In the opposite gender

What color eyes - anything goes
What color hair - anything goes
Shy or Outgoing - both
Looks or personality - personality
Sexy or Cute - both
Serious or Fun - both
Older or Younger than you - never an issue
A turn on - can't be revealed ^_~
A turn off - bad b.o

This or that

Flowers or Chocolate - both
Pepsi or Coke - coke
Rap or Rock - rock
Relationship or One night stand - Relationship
School or Work - well, my job is at school so both
Love or Money - practicality + emotion (hehehe)
Movies or Music - music
Country or City - Country
Sunny or Rainy days - Rainy
Friends or Family - both

Have you ever

Lied - yes
Stole something - yes, ngehehe
Smoked - rokok daun consider tak? but that was ages ago
Hurt someone close to you - hehe, unintentionally laaa
Broke someones heart - yes
Had you heart broken - yes
Wondered what was wrong with you - nope
Wish you were a prince/princess - with no privacy? Heck no!
Liked someone who was taken - nope
Shaved your head - I'm no Britney Spears, hehehe
Been in love - Still am
Used chopsticks - Duh
Sang in the mirror to yourself - hehehe, no but in the car, definitely yes

Favorites

Flower - Cuphea ignea and rose
Candy - Fox's
Song - so many but I dig in for songs from 80s and 90s
Scent - Avon's Celebre
Color - black and red
Movie - Last tengok: National Treasure 2
Singer - So many but Josh Groban tops my list
Word - dang I have so much
Junk food - cheezels
Website - this site
Lotion - Banana Boat's Faces
Animal - cat

Ever cried over someone - yes
Is there anything you wish you could change about yourself - hehehe, loaded question
Do you think you're attractive - hmmmm, dunno
If you had to choose a fairytale as your life what would you choose - (edit) The Cave of the Golden Rose consider fairy tale tak?
Do you play any sports - err... does catching misbehaved kids who ran counts?

III

The rules:-
Link to your tagger and post these rules.- List (8) random facts about yourself and tag (8) people.
You have got to be kidding me *groans*

1. Can't go out with an un-ironed head scarf.
2. Like to do spontaneous things.
3. Sometimes a notorious procrastinator.
4. A bookworm
5. Go nuts without any storybook nearby.
6. I like to scan for pupil's behaviour in the crowd - anything that is amusing and heart warming. You can never guess what they will do and will not do, hehehe.
7. Would go to a distance for something
8. Uwahh... dunno what else... err... likes sushi?
   

8 people I'm tagging:

1. Curx
2. Sue
3. Intan
4. Nizar
5. Areng
6. Elly
7. Za
8. Ridzuan

Blast from the past

Does it make you an ancient if all that you want to hear are songs from the 80s and 90s?
*Cringe*

The song that I play over and over again on my player is Meat Loaf's I'd lie for you (and that's the truth). Well, one reason I love that song was that the music video was kinda like Indiana Jones-ish. Well of course, doesn't make you think far when the 'mask' was shown over and over again. Then the 7 minutes long music video. Of course If you're familiar with Celine Dion's music video 'It's all coming back to me now', its more or less like that since the song was originally intended for Meat Loaf. Well he did the song in 2006 as a duet with Marion Raven. I dug on to this song with my best buddy Eena back in school. Well other than the fact that I like the contradiction of the title. And then the song 'I would do anything for love (but I won't do that)'. Such a contradictory.

o.0

I swore that I was completely blank and absent-minded when I drove back home. Well make that today. In the morning I nearly gone to school with my headscarf inside out. Luckily a look in the mirror as I went out saved me from the embarrassing predicament. Definitely have to blame it on the text for the storytelling competition that I spent the whole night writing and editing.

Then I called out the wrong name in the class when a kid started to act up. Instead of bellowing his name which was Aziz, I bellowed for another pupil's name which was Akashah who was stunned as he was busy doing his work. Well, he was sitting balancing on the back half of his chair and way too focused I might say and it came as no surprise that my voice made him lost his footing and fell from his chair. Erk, poor kid.

Then after I got home, my phone was ringing. Had 3 missed call from a colleague. When she finally caught me on phone the question was;

"Oy! class!"
"Huh?What class?"
"Buddy support* class laaaaaaa"
"Uwahhhh seriously forgot!"
"Eh, you're usually go back at 3 what?"

Seriously I don't even know why I'm home early today other than the fact that I really have to get back to my laptop and continue my story to submit for the competition. I seriously don't want to think any possibility for any error for tonight's night class, huhuhu.

Buddy support class: Class designated for teachers who teaches science and mathematics by English teachers as one of the ways to improve teachers' command in English.

Drabble drabble

Lunar new year had just passed and for us, school starts today. The road this morning was completely free flowing and since my daily route included 5 other schools, that was really something. For the 5 days holiday, managed to make my way to Serdang. There's the fact that my siblings are there and there's also the fact that my sayang is there so of course, that would be my main destination. My future-sister-in-laws's wedding was during the school sport's day and last weekend was the reception at the groom's place so yeah, it was one of the reasons too. Then the much long due visit to my uncle's house at the village in Sijangkang was also one of the top agenda. So little time so much place to go.

And then the much expected addiction.

I just so know it that once I get my hands playing Phoenix Wright on my brother's DS that I would be hooked. I am and too bad my laptop can't save the game *WARGHH!!!!*

*Sniff sniff*

Back to school and my schedule is getting busier since the schedule was changed according to new teacher's major and minor subject in the institute. And I wonder what possessed me to volunteer for the story writing contest for teacher's entry this morning. It's due next week, aiyoyoooo. And I haven't even checked my pupil for the zone level story telling contest. And then there's the sports meeting this Wednesday, afternoon class, night class *faint*. And I haven't even start the stock for the resource centre...

Whoever said that teaching job is the easiest is definitely a bystander who have no idea at all.

Anyway, I love it and it's worth it ^_^

*Tuneless whistle*

Yeah, been so long since I've written and too many things happened in between.

Well there was Heath Ledger's demise, a demise of an unfortunate monkey who managed to get to the Parit Selangor's power generator, got electrocuted and managed to keep my home area without electricity from 4.30pm to 1am. That was just fine and dandy *snickers*.

It was this early February when our school held the yearly sports day since the zone level tournament was due at the end of the month or early march. This is the first time ever, and I mean EVER that I was placed in green house. Before this in primary and secondary school I was in yellow house. Of course, during primary school yellow house was the weakest but good thing that in secondary school yellow house was one of the leaders. So anyway as for the school's green house, they always say that green house is the closest to the grass. Meaning - always the last and the bottom.

For this year, since the new school building is constructed, the field is off limits so we have to make do with whatever we have. The green house held their training - by borrowing another school's field and we do get some 'good-natured' ribbing for our enthusiasm since we're the only team who did. The rest did theirs around and outside the school compound, along the road and wherever that may be.

Brought 3 pupils back home since we held the event at a secondary school nearby home, and it was way much convenient than having to go back and forth to school and fetch those kids. With the electricity off and my eyelids nearly shut, I was running out of ideas to keep the girls entertained. I asked them multiplication questions throughout the hours and finally I caved in as I was waiting for their answers. My mom was thoroughly delighted with the girls' presence and *gasp* told me that she would so like to have them back home >_>

So anyway, the next day. Green house went off for a good start. We got the first gold. Had to take the picture while we were still leading, hehehe.

Then our star long jumper was injured -_-* who also happened to be one of our relay runners. My hope went downhill from that point during the relay when we were the slowest for the 1st runner but perked up again as our 3rd and 4th runner managed to catch up with everyone. We won!!! For the relay la. I promised the girls for a treat at Skudai's McD if they got the first place. 2 did and 1 didn't. Treat time!!!




For all it's worth, we managed to climb a step to the 3rd placing which was great. There's always a next time ^_^

Amusing Division

This happened during today's recess time when I was having a meal at the school canteen with other fellow teachers. We saw an incident that involved 2 pupils regarding dividing their share of fruit. So this was the situation:-

Pupil A was holding 2 pieces of honeydew melon that was cut in half at the middle to his friend pupil B. Piece 1 was slightly longer than piece 2.


Okay, so what do you think happened afterwards?


If you think that pupil A took the longer piece 1 and gave piece 2 to pupil B - you are wrong.


This was what happened.


After a few seconds of deliberation pupil A held out piece 1 to pupil B, not to give it to his friend, mind you, but apparently he asked pupil B to take a bite out of piece 1. Pupil A deliberated again and compared the length of piece 1 melon and piece 2 melon.

Obviously after the bite off from pupil B, piece 1 became shorter. Now the amusing part - he gave piece 1 to pupil B which was shorter then and took piece 2 that at that moment was longer, looking way too smug thinking that he got the better deal of the 2.

The other teachers and I, who were watching the incident was like, "Huh?!"

Moral of the story: Learn your maths

Okay, I'm going back to the television and continue watching Braveheart ^_^
Have a good weekend!

First Contact

So today's the first day that I interact with my pupils. I have to say that I kept on going up and down the stairs to my classroom which are situated quite far from each other. Being assigned to the second class of the year, it sure brings out the challenge in me.

Did my usual proficiency test for year 4 pupils that my friends and I made during our session in School Based Experience session and it comes as no surprise when all of the pupils did not manage to answer it correctly. The good thing for that test, seems to me that the pupils have problems in their handwriting and spelling. Good, at least I get to identify some of that. Even though their vocabulary are limited, they understand simple instructions better.

For year 2, I have to say that it is going to be tough, but it's okay. As long as they are able to identify the numbers in numeral and word form, it's fine. Though I managed to stumble upon the word two-ty and ten-ty (which in their opinion stood for one hundred). Need to do lots of drilling.

And the ever sweet year 1. I bet you remember our primary school time when we were taught to say "Please teacher, may I go out?" before going to the loo, hehe. Well that was what I taught them today, other than the proper greetings for teachers and alphabets. Sure brought out the smile out of the passer-by outside the class. But one thing that I feared most for the year 1 pupils that they kept on leaking like a faucet. I mean in an hour there were more than a handful of pupils who had to go to the loo with a strangled face trying to remember the request in English. I'm sure that none of the teachers would want to have a leaking tank or a trail of... junk during their class *shivers*

Tomorrow is just another day.

Report to the base A.S.A.P!

It's my first day reporting at the school. So far, so good. The size of the school is more or less like my school during internship, only that the area is way congested. The area is limited and currently the school lost its field to make way for the construction of a new school building. From what I have learned, there are not much outdoor physical education activity for the pupils and the parking lot is always full that they have to double park the cars to accommodate the teachers.

It was school registration and fee collecting day. They prepared food for the teachers and staff today and I was quite surprised when suddenly someone was looking at me weird and asked:-

"Adik Kak Nadiah ke ni?"

I guffawed with laughter since I don't even have a kid sister, my name is definitely that and the question was so out of the blue that I choked on the cendol that I was consuming. The person who asked that was my junior from my secondary school days, much to my delight and we caught up with each other.

Got my schedule, took the respective textbooks and I was off back home by noon. Later in the evening, went out with my childhood buddy, Yan to the local mamak restaurant and filling in each other with details on our new schools - hers being our past rival primary school. Her sister happened to get a very remote school with only 9 teachers and the co-op happened to situated in the cupboard at the common room.

It's good to be back home with familiar faces and surrounding.

Anyway, I went back listening to Leona Lewis's song and due to my curiousity went on youtubing and I was blasted away by the sight of the judges of UK's X-factor and the audience kept on giving her a standing ovation after the performance and the cheer went on for so long after each and every performances. I mean, hey, how many times did you see Simon Cowell and all the judges kept on ovationing in the American Idols? Surely not as much as he did for Leona. The girl got talent and as the judges said which I totally agreed - she 'Leona-fied' all the songs that she sang, making it her own. And dang they didn't air X-Factor here.

Seems that I'm totally hooked up with X-Factor winners, hehehehe.

Ode to 2007

It's the eve of the new year.

Farewell to the past and welcome the future.

I have to say that 2007 brought a lot of experience to me. My change of profession to being a teacher for a subject that I am always fond of since my younger years. A passion? Maybe. An interest? Definitely, even though sometimes I still make grammatical errors. Back to being a student and who would have guessed that my time in Besut went by so swiftly.

The year when new friends were made which led me to my fiance, new opponent were identified, new experience were obtained. Even though I did say once that the 3 months internship dragged on like forever, when it ended, it was almost unreal that I survived. New challenges were found in the form of pupils, smart, cute and most of the time mischievous. I get to understand the true meaning of the phrase "Don't judge a book by it's cover".

The year I managed not to watch TV that much, and depend on the not so good wireless reception at the hostel. The year I learnt that no matter where we go there are always some people who tend to be envious, devious of other people no matter how minuscule the item or subject of their envy. The mirror has 2 faces and it comes as no surprise when people have tons of them.

Life is not a bed of roses. Whatever that I have gone through for this year makes me the person I am. No regrets and wallowing into it would only make me a lesser person. Adapt and improve on whatever we can.

Happy new year everyone!

Soundtracks of My Life

Surprise surprise, 2 posts in a night. So what? I'm fresh with ideas so while I'm in the mood and have the time to write, here I am with the second post. We grew up listening to songs and I bet there are songs that remind you a lot of those years - growing up, teenage, adult. I knew I grew up surrounded with songs. My mom loves songs from the 60s, my dad loves arabic songs, my late grandma loved songs during P. Ramlee era and those classic Hindi songs from the movie Sanggam being her favourite. Well here's the list of the songs that reminded me strongly of those stages.

6 years old and lower - 10 Little Indians
My mom bought me a nursery rhyme cassette and I bet I drove my brother and sister crazy when I kept playing '10 Little Indians' over and over again. Those days nursery rhymes rules, though I have this bits and pieces of memory of someone kept playing Noor Kumalasari & Sudirman's song repeatedly, hmmm.
Favourite Line: 1 little, 2 little, 3 little Indian

7 to 12 years old - Roxette's Fading Like Flower
The time when my elder siblings preference for music tend to influence a bit on what I like. My sister with her New Kids On The Block and my bro's preference on local pop, Guns n Roses and Scorpions. That was the time when I came across Roxette and Joyride being the first album I ever bought marked my younger years.
Favourite Line: In a time, When the suns descends alone, I ran a long long way from home...
p.s: I did ran away one time, not from home but from kelas mengaji on foot because I want to catch Moero Attack on TV :P sure drove my mom nuts at that time, hehehe, sorry mak.

13 to 15 years old - Backstreet Boy's We've Got It Goin' On
Those years, boy band rules and BSB was famous. Of course I had to smuggle my walkman to school and reserve my nights listening to their album even as PMR was closing in. Believe it or not, the poor people of FORM records was my constant victims for the guy's info. Lights off and 11.15 pm meant my time with my walkman started, hehehe.
Favourite Line: Jam on coz Backstreet's got it!

16 to 17 years old - Goo Goo Doll's Iris
Changes at school when it became a co-ed school. Okay make that my old all-girls school was cease to exist and the new school brought a lot of differences. The difference? Why, boys of course. I knew I had some squabbles with some of the boys in my class because of Green Day and BSB. Iris' chorus meant a lot for me at that time. Okay I rephrase that. For someone at that time la. Not forgetting that Nicholas Cage was absolutely superb in the City of Angels ^_^
Favourite Line: I just want you to know who I am

18 to 19 years old - Jann Arden's Insensitive
I lived at the hostel that time and during Valentine's Day for that year the TV aired 'Untamed Hearts' that starred Christian Slater which led me to 'Bed of Roses'. The song was the movie's soundtrack and it stroke a chord at that time to the thing that happened.
Favourite Line: I fell too fast, I feel too much

20 to 24 years old - Daniel Bedingfield's If You're Not The One
I have to say that that was my experimental years with relationships - online, blind dates, not so quite dates and all that. Experience taught me not to trust that much with online relationships but I managed to be hooked with a couple of it which turned out disastrous. But I managed to come across really good friends from other continent and met up face to face with them - Kak Nana, Abang Steve, granny Musica, Lee, Kikki - you guys are rare. Enough said but this song managed to make me cry in the middle of Midvalley Megamall - not anymore though. The song is way too beautiful for me to bawl over anymore.
Favourite Line: I miss you, body and soul so strong that it takes my breath away

25 to 26 years old - Arashi's Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi
My workaholic years - I worked late and through the weekend. This is where the term overworked and underpaid comes into the picture. Even with only 10 days annual leave, I managed to have extra 3 days for both years. Surprising isn't it? Well anyway Arashi's song kept me sane with their upbeat tempo and positive lyric. It was no surprise when rumour spread that some girls didn't commit suicide because of this song. It meant - thanks and gratitude to rain and storm.
Favourite Line: 生まれてきた僕たちは たぶんピンチに強い
Romaji: umaretekita bokutachi wa tabun pinchi ni tsuyoi
Translation: We were born, maybe the trials in life will make us stronger

Our Song - Nickelback's Far Away
Well I have to admit my sayang gave me a lot of songs but I have to say this one is my favourite, hehehe.


School is starting soon. Let me laze away................. while I can -_-;

You leave me.... Breathless

New year.

New profession.

New school.

Yes, I got posted to my hometown. To be precise, at my mom's old school in the 50s and 60s. With a school that lasted so long, of course there must be a tradition or rules to adhere to, wise and experienced teachers to work with and not forgetting the ever mischief/cute/smart kids who are the main occupant of the school to work 'on'.

This year, lots of new teachers are posted to this state, whether they applied it or not. Some of my friends are still recovering from the shock of the school that they are posted to, some are excited - of course, not all of us gets what we asked for.

My holiday is nearing to it's end.

Clock is ticking.

Days are passing by.

It seems that my goal during the holiday was to see how many books that I managed to read daily. Of course, its not those 1000 pages e-books, just the short 350+ pages ones. So far 4 were my highest count but heck, the not so good thing about that was I tend to mix the plot and the characters altogether. What the heck, no one will start marking me based on what I read. But yet again... I still haven't read Dean Koontz's Brother Odd that Dayah gave me for my last birthday, even if that was the book that I had been pestering her since January '07. Save the best for last, hehehe.

Have to say that my most-heard-to songs during the hols was Shayne Ward's If That's Okay With You, Timbaland's Apologize and *drumroll* Backstreet Boys past singles, hahahaha. Yeah, even though I did say previously that their break up songs were kind of spineless (depend on what kind of break up that you gone through that is) but those are good for groveling, muahahaha. Heck, I had gone through my teenage years listening to those songs, it's in me - just like old Feminin's songs for my brother *devilish grin*.

I'm leaving the page with Breathless. The song never cease to raise my temperature - just like Daniel Bedingfield's If You're Not The One. The lyrics are just so... *shivers*. This one is for you sayang.