Mega yang indah

Hi!

Hari ni I jalan kaki pegi uni macam biasa. Sampai separuh jalan, I bertembung dengan sorang pakcik tua yang masih gagah sedang berjalan tengok-tengok alam. He looks like an Indonesian. His accent assured me that he really is. Sambil senyum pakcik tu tegur, "Mega mendung berarak pantas hari ni ya?". I smiled back and nodded before we went passed each other.

Mega. It has been a while since I last heard that word. My father sometimes calls me with that name. Some of my cousins also did. Kenapa dan macam mana nama mega ni terhasil? I have no idea how and I couldn't even recall since when they started calling me with that name.

Mega bermaksud besar atau sangat besar. Mega mall, mega sale, mega project etc... Kalau sebut semua ni mesti orang dah boleh bayang how gigantic they are. However, I don't see any relation between me and this description. Rasanya I ni takdela besar sangat sampai kena panggil mega pun kan. huhu. Mega Mira =  Mira yang sangat besar. kahkahkah.

Mega jugak bermaksud awan. Ha, maksud ni senonoh la sikit berbanding yang sangat besar tadi tu. Cuba tengok awan masa hari cerah. They look like pure white cotton clots in various shapes. Kadang-kadang nampak macam cotton candy tergantung berketul-ketul dekat langit. Rasa nak petik je. Cantik kan? 

Pebbly's beach, 2010.
See how beautiful the clouds are.

Ha, macam mana pulak dengan mega mendung? Awan ketika hari mendung? They are dark, nearly black, and they normally bring rainstorms. Menakutkan tak? hehe. Serius rasa macam garang gila. Tapi!! Biasanya mega mendung ni sarat dengan air. Bawak hujan yang membasahkan kekeringan bumi. So, walaupun mega itu mendung, dia tetap membawa kebaikan lah kan? =))

Somewhere before Carrington Falls, 2011.
Gloomy dark clouds.

So anyway, tak kira la mega cerah ke, mega mendung ke, I harap I mampu jadi selembut awan. Yang indah. Yang meneduhkan. And may I have the strength to bring smiles to everybody. Just like the clouds on a beautiful sunny day. InsyaAllah.

My summer holiday will be in Malaysia yay!!

Dear diary,

It is that time of the month again. And I had my stomach cramped very badly. Even if I pretended not to care, the pain decides not to leave just yet. Okay, ignore. Please ignore. Tak sakit tu bukan perempuan la namanya kan. :)

Anyway, have I told you about my holiday back to Malaysia? No? Guess what? I have finally got my ticket purchased. Yahuuu!! However, the price is insanely expensive I tell you. T__T Ohh come on, holiday season it is, what do you expect? So jangan banyak bunyik lah. 

I will be going back on 7th of December until 16th of January. 5 weeks. Longest for the record. Dah setahun tak balik, so kali ni nak cuti puas-puas. I miss home like very badly already. Jap, dah lupa macam mana arrangement perabot dalam rumah. haha. Dasar! :p

I think I am lucky this year because I'm going to get escaped from the hot summer breeze here. Kepanasan yang boleh cecah 40degree sape boleh tahan beb? Hopefully by the time I balik cuaca dah kembali normal. Kalau tak, masak kulit ni berjemur.huhu.

Tapi tapi tapi! I know I'm really gonna miss this place. This is somewhere I would call home apart from Malaysia. I love the warm people, the fresh air, the weather, the cleanliness and lots more. And most importantly the beautiful beach. Wollongong beach has it's own speciality that you need to treasure yourself. Do come here, you might fall in love.

Sound of waves. Very much relaxing.

p/s: misteri mimpi syakila, talking to the moon, the scientist, part of the list, bintang di syurga, wonderwall. They eased my pain away. 

Hydrangeas bloom in my room

Dear diary,

I went to work at Susan's crib just like usual today. All the chores were completed earlier than expected so I decided to spend some time cleaning her driveway.

While I was busy sweeping all the dried leaves and petals on the ground, I was amazed upon seeing a little touch of bright purple colour at one corner of her garden. They are Hydrangeas. I think they are beautiful old-fashioned type of flowers.

According to Susan, Hydrangeas really love sunlight. They will keep blooming until the end of summer and produce a large bushes of round flower heads. So dalam satu pokok tu akan ada banyak tompok-tompok bunga yang besar-besar. Cantik.

Large bushes and round flowerheads

These bushes come in a variety of colours with shades of cream, white, pink, blue, mauve and purple. The colour will depend on the acidity of your soil. Yang dekat garden Susan warna putih, baby blue and purple.

Close up. Purple, white and blue petals in one bunch.

Lepas dah belek-belek hydrangeas tu, tiba-tiba Susan masuk amik gunting and cut a few bushes for me to bring home. Ohhh, I'm flattered. She knew that I love flowers. Now I have a large bouquet of hydrangeas arranged in my room. Bangun tadi tengok kanan nampak bunga segar, indah sungguh perasaan tu..=))

Lovely hydrangeas bouquet in my room

Sea Games 2011 : Malaysia VS Indonesia

Hai hai!

Final Sea Games 2011 match between Malaysia and Indonesia now starts. Thousands of football maniac fans be it Malaysian or Indonesian will get together in order to watch this important game in our football history and rip each other's head out of it.

Walaupun berada jauh dari tanah air, semangat untuk menyokong skuad Harimau Muda tetap utuh. Kitorang kat sini tengok online aje pun tapi nervous dia sama macam tengok kat stadium, paling tidak pun macam tengok ramai-ramai dekat big screen mamak.hehe.

Once upon a time in Melbourne.
Nama Malaysia terukir di bumi Australia.

As for the 1st half, the performance is not too bad. Beza sungguh dengan game Malaysia VS Australia dekat Canberra yang I pegi tengok dulu. They improve a lot better and I'm proud to see how the young tigers perform in the 2011 SEA Games.

When it comes to watching games, I have laser focus. Really. So, in command not to become so poignant throughout the whole match, I need to distract myself and what I think interesting to do now is to write. So, here comes this entry. hehe.

Orait. Game makin rancak. Sambil tulis, sambil terjenguk-jenguk skrin TV gedabak Kash tu. Tak tenang hati dibuatnye. haihh. I better stop now. Not gonna wait till the end. May luck be on our side this time. 

Proud to be Malaysian
Canberra Stadium, October 7th, 2011

Perlawanan klasik dua negara

Jalur Gemilang berkibar megah

Ternyata Garuda patah sayapnya

Tatkala Harimau mengaum gagah

Six mathematician of all areas in a room

Assalamualaikum,

Hari ni rasa macam nak cerita pasal officemates sebab semalam ada farewell lunch dengan diorang semua. I am placed in quite a spacious room with another five amazing ladies inside. All of us are doing PhD in Mathematics but of course with different majoring.

In front of our building, Austin Keane.
From left: Preeya, Rebecca, Pearl, Me, Dianne & Bothaina

Preeya and Pearl are two petite and polite ladies from Thailand. Rebecca is originally from Philipines but she has been living in Australia since like forever. Bothaina si cantik tinggi lampai dari Libya. And Dianne a super woman from Australia.

Pearl is leaving us soon. And Dianne is going to start her work at UNSW next week. Rebecca is also approaching her finishing. Maknanya tinggal la lagi 3 orang. Hopefully yang masuk nanti semua perempuan yang best-best jugak.huhu.

We have been in the same room since we first registered, and we never had any complaint about each other. Seronok duduk satu bilik dengan semua perempuan. Sebab tak terbatas sangat. Kalau nak stayback sampai midnight pun rasa selesa.

One more thing, all of them are very understanding. Masa mula-mula sampai, I tanya baik-baik dengan diorang if I could pray inside the room, and amazingly, they are all happy about that. So, sekarang ni, bentang je sejadah kat tepi meja and solat kat situ. Easy peasy!

Me and my uni. Yes, hijau macam hutan kan.

Random thoughts on my PhD journey

Dear diary,

I just got back from a short meeting with Tim after a month of not having any eye-to-eye discussion. You know what, tiap-tiap kali buat preparation nak jumpe supervisor mesti gelabah nak mati. Rasa macam serba-serbi tak cukup. Malu tau kalau takde progress tiap-tiap kali nak meeting.

Tapi sebenarnya, tiap-tiap kali lepas keluar dari bilik supervisor, hati rasa tenang gila. Kebanyakan masalah yang I tangguh konon nak solve sendiri biasanya terjawab dengan mudah. Paling kurang pun nampak jalan macam mana nak selesaikan and I jadi lagi bersemangat nak siapkan task yang berikutnya. 

Sesiapa yang buat research mesti penah rasa situation yang kadang-kadang kita rasa ada masalah yang kita boleh selesaikan sendiri. So ambik masa berminggu-minggu cuba solve that tiny little thing. Padahal kalau buang sikit ego, banyak bertanya pendapat orang, benda simple tu dapat solve dalam masa yang singkat.

I had sleepless nights thinking of this

That situation always happen to me. Konon nak cuba buat dulu, sampai 2-3 minggu buat benda alah yang sama, last-last jammed otak tak bole nak proceed buat apa. Lepas tu bila pergi jumpa Tim, senang je sebenarnya nak buat, but with little experience that I have, that small problem became damn hard. Last-last menyesal kenape la tak pergi tanya awal-awal. haihhh.

After meeting.  Comelkan tulisan Tim.hehe.

I once had a chat with my colleague who is under the same supervision with Tim. He is an Arabic friend also doing his PhD in different area. He said, "If our supervisor is a Muslim, he will be the nicest and sincerest person in this world. Let us pray one day he will be given the light from Allah swt and end his life with Imaan."

Yes, his statement is very true indeed. I never had any complaint about my supervisor. Never! Baik atau buruknya perjalanan research ni, they are all from my own fault. Lalai, malas, mudah putus asa, buang masa, and a lot more, all the blames are on myself. Muhasabah.

Beautiful girls around me

Dear girlfriends,

This might be our last dine out together before the the friendship will literally dismiss. But dismiss here means just in Wollongong. Not at any other part of the world especially the hearts.

Girlfriends. The memories will cherish.

Aimi. Astounding and Admirable.

Fatin. Fun and Faithful.

Mala. Mannerly Mellifluos.

Girls are like apples on trees. The best ones are at the top of the tree. The boys don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt. Instead, they just get the rotten apples from the ground that are not as good, but within grasp. 

So the apples at the top think something is wrong with them, when in reality, they're just amazing. They just have to wait for the right boy to come along, the one who's brave enough to climb all the way to the top of the tree and win that amazing apples.

-anonymous-

So let us all be the top most apples!!

Wish and hope

Dear diary,

Without any appropriate arrangement, this date is somehow becoming very much significant to me and some wonderful people around me. Why? Hmm, I think I will not say it here. Let it be remarkable yet confidentially privacy at the same time. 

So, ada apa dengan tarikh ini? 11 November 2011. For me, hari ini istimewa bukan kerana angkanya yang seperti binary number. Well, mungkin bagi mathematician, tu je yang istimewa.haha. 11.11.11. Triple eleven. Yeah, mungkin cantik dari segi pandangan, but to me, hari ni lebih istimewa kerana hari ni hari Jumaat.

Tak ada gandaan pahala kalau ditunggu tarikh ini, tapi insyaAllah ada pahala kalau digandakan amalan sempena penghulu segala hari ni. Jumu'ah mubarakah ya mulimin muslimat. A note to myself yang selalu sangat lupa dan lalai.

Ok, that's all for today. Hoping for the best. Amin.

And the surprise just didn't stop there

Hi!

Okay, firstly, rasa over pulak nak update pasal birthday sendiri banyak kali. Maaf ye. But I couldn't stop myself from writing about it so that the unforgettable memories will be nicely engraved inside this personal record of mine.

I wrote here about the small but meaningful celebration on the night before I actually turned 26. But then, as I mentioned above, the surprise just didn't stop there. Ada lagi satu yang lagi menarik yang buat air mata terharu I keluar.hahaha. You're such a girl lah Amirah.

It was organized by the same group of people but this time Zaki and Kak Fish's family were also in the team. Well guys, you really made me feel overjoyed and grateful for the whole experience. Saaayang korang lebih (pinjam tagline Ikey). 

I was told that there were a lot of dramas happening in order to make things went all smooth as planned. I might not understand the situation as I was not there but all efforts are highly appreciated. Guess what? With all the surprises and presents, I felt like I'm 16 rather than 26. haha.

To Ungku, Kerul, Rem, Kash, Ikey:

Terima kasih banyak-banyak. Tak pasal-pasal korang kene involve in this whole party thingy. I know this is not you guys punya cup of tea. Ritual tu baru lah korang kan?? hahaha. 

To Aimy, Fatin, and Mala:

Girlfriends always know how to make the best for each other kan? Sangat-sangat terharu dengan semua benda yang korang buat. The cake, the foods, the presents and everything else, thank you so much lovelies. Hugs and kisses.

To Kak Fish (and family):

You made me cried. I really can't thank you enough. The moment when I stepped in, everything was completely surprised. Especially bila tengok cake, and upon finding out what's on top of that, I was thrilled. 

The birthday cake and the present on top
Read here to find out on what is so special about that.

Beautiful 26th birthday abroad

Dear diary,

It seems like I have completed my 25 years of life, and today becomes the beginning of another year as a humble servant in this world. Hmm, look at how time flies~~

Well, this is my third birthday abroad. And you know what? I do feel good about that. The first was the loneliest as I barely knew anybody at that time to share the happiness with. Then, last year was something memorable having almost all close friend celebrating it with me.

And this year, another beautiful celebration has been marked. A great BIG THANK YOU to everybody who has involved. Aimi, Mala, Fatin, Ungku, Kerul, Rem and Kash. I heart you guys so much!!=))

Birthday Cake
Look at the colorful smileys. They are super cute aren't they?

Pardon my big fat and wide smile
I just can't control the happiness. ehehe.. =))

Lovelies, you guys really made my day..=))

Prezzies

Many many thanks for all the wishes and doas. Not forgotten the private birthday song sung for me, I appreciate that one so much. Will definitely request more after this..=))

Foods to include in your diet

Assalamualaikum,

Happy 1st November everyone! Today remarks another beautiful date in our calendar, 1/11/11. Yeah, it does look good, doesn't it? But I have nothing significant related to this number. To me, numbers will only be numbers. Nothing big to be fussed about.

Ohh, I found one interesting video posted by my friend on her FB wall yesterday. So I think it is good to share it here with others and for my future reference as well. You have a look yourself and I believe you will agree on how amazingly true it is. 

"Dia menumbuhkan bagi kamu dengan air hujan itu tanam-tanaman: zaitun, kurma, anggur dan segala macam buah-buahan. Sesungguhnya pada masa yang demikian itu benar-benar ada tanda (kekuasaan Allah) bagi kaum yang memikirkan."

"With it (the rain), He causes to grow for you the crops, the olives, the date-palms, the grapes, and every kind of fruits. Verily, this is indeed an evident proof and a manifest sign for people who give thought."

Surah An-Nahli (11)

Now rasa macam nak pergi cari semua sumber makanan kat atas and jadikan rutin makanan harian. Especially walnuts supaya membantu bagi otak berfungsi lebih lancar untuk belajar. I need you very badly dear walnuts!!

Ohh to all females out there, eat more avocadoes, pears and eggplant from now on okay. And to you gentlemen, consume more figs (buah tin) if possible. With His will, zuriat yang sihat kuat dan cerdas akan dilahirkan. InsyaAllah. :)