Merdeka = Free!

Xde kena mengana dgn merdeka, but since it means independence or freedom, kebetulan hari ni Aisyah did Free String Painting at nursery.


And she got her own way tido pakai baju gown. Freedom sgt la konon (I let her be sbb td sibuk entertaining guests berbuka posa, and Aisyah tertido tgh2 org ada lg - bless the child!).


Ok itu aje la entry pendek hari ni. Sbnarnya ngantuk, and penat, sbb busy giler this past few days, busy NOT working haha. Nanti la cerita.

Selamat Hari Kemerdekaan. What does it mean to you this year?

Menu Berbuka: Fried Brain

Short note aje ini hari sbb agak brain-fried.

Alangkah bagusnya kalo aku terror programming, maka tidak lah lembab begini di kala development. Malas nak hurai. Sakit kepala. Yg dicari x jumpa, yg terjumpa plak bukan yg dicari (teruk betul precision and recall hari ini). Tool simple yg dicari ada tp running on Mac sahaja plak dan yg OS compatible x bole run (atas kebengapan sendiri) dan masalahnya pjg berekor x sudah2 lps satu satu kena install / adjust. On days like this, terasa mcm betapa membazir nya masa menghadap komputer berjam2, tp in the end habuk pon tarak. Tau, tau, mana ada membazir masa, semua pon part of learning, and jd valuable experience in the future blah blah blah... tp with a SV yg expects to see the result on Monday (Monday tu, punya dia excited nak tgk result cpt boleh dia lupa this Monday is a Bank Holiday di UK. See what I mean?), it's quite suffocating. Pengsan la gua...

Dah la, end of self-pity. It's Friday night, nak balik. Ni pon dah masuk waktu berbuka (hence the title today, bkn goreng otak lembu or kambing ye, that is bordering on gross). Sian Hubs entah mkn apa kat umah.

Kalo kesian, doa2 kn la utk aku agar dipermudahkan dan setel cpt benda ni ye. It's physically and mentally draining!

Me frust menonggeng me

Seating Dilemma

Nak mintak tolong sket ni, nak minta pendapat korg la. Sebenarnya tgh men-try tempat duduk member yg dah pindah drpd lab. Tempat duduk dia nih tepi tingkap, whereas mine at the moment mengadap dinding sahaja. Itu psl la sedikit gedix di situ. Seat with a view la katakan, kononnya bole increase productivity.

Ckp pon x guna, meh bg contoh terus.


Above is my office. Yg aku tandakan pink tu my current seat. Yg aku tandakan Hijau tu seat yg aku tgh usha. Yg makhluk sorg lg tu nama dia Al, has always sat there.



This pic above shows my desk. I have made it quite homey, but it can feel boxed in a bit. Kalo org masuk drpd pintu aku la manusia paling last tahu sapa org itu, bcoz kedudukan jauh drpd pintu.





This is the desk I was talking about. Abaikan the bareness of the desk, nnt kalo aku pindah aku pandai2 adjust kasi as best as skang nya desk hehe. I cannot sit facing the window, sbb it's a bit cramped, so ngadap dinding jgk la. In a way it's worst sbb dindingnya biru tua, whereas right now punya dinding is biru muda.

But, it does have a view which should promote creative thinking and de-stressing, allowing circulation (tingkap aku yg control eh sejuk ke panas ke), and the window sill is all mine, which is extra storage space in itself. Plak tu dkt dgn door, so I can easily see who walks in (kena tangkap berFB oleh SV no more!), and the lab's phone is just within reach.

However, all that sebenarnya bole jadi distraction. Like, tiap2 kali org masuk aje mesti tertgk2, tiap2 kali ada burung terbang mesti angkat kepala tgk luar tingkap, kalo window terbukak org jerit2 kat bawah or construction noise gerenti dgr lebih kuat drpd seat skang ni, and kalo dah dkt dgn lab's phone tu, paham2 aje lah, konfem jd secretary x bertauliah la eh, expected to angkat phone whenever it rings la jawabnya.

Soal solat x menjadi masalah (qiblat is 45 degrees mengadap pintu td), altho Al akan duduk di blkg aku la lps ni kalo aku move, so my bum will kinda stick in the air in his direction time rukuk / sujud heh. Skang ni membelakangkan cabinet, so x brp segan.



Another thing, kalo pindah, Al will be able to see my screen dgn hanya berpaling ke arah kanan shj (kantoi la aku blogging), compared to kalo right now, beliau kena pusing 180 degrees baru nmpk screen aku, itu pon sbb aku chubby chub chub, half of it is blocked anyway la. Aku agak kurg senang dgn soal org tgk screen nih, but if I'm working like I should be, x payah la risau2 kan?

On top of that, aku agak malas sebenarnya nak pindah, packing and unpacking, atas alasan mengacau momentum kerja, but Al ada ckp, it's like playing tennis, mula2 main bantai je pukul sesuka hati, tp Ok la performance nya. Sekali ada pro ckp, salah tu, and ajar cara betul, so kita akan bermain tenis dgn teruknya sbb x biasa. But eventually bila kita dah biasa, kita punya performance akan jadi jauh lebih baik drpd sebelum nya. Same goes with this seat la kot. Mula2 slow la buat kerja sbb x biasa n nak kena sesuaikan diri, but lama2, mana tahu lebih increase productivity.

Al has also said that kalo aku dah made up my mind, he will be free on Monday to help me. Baik kan? Tp tu la, seat yg so far ni rasa agak comfy dah, but seat yg baru ni rasa agak inspiring and generous with light, cuma yg x tahan nya kena invest time and possibly money to make it more homier and inviting to work like now (hias2). Oh, and I need to let the tech guys know that aku dah tukar seat, so kena register my MAC number to the soket network yg baru tu (read: extra work).

Tp syg gak kalo x pindah ni. Sbb nya come October akan ada org masuk dlm lab ni, and ni last opportunity la kalo nak swap seats. Considering I have 1 year to a year and a half more of working in tha lab, which I can only expect I will be spending longer and working harder at the desk, I would like to have the best seat la kan. So how? All ideas appreciated, but kalo sudahnya aku ketegaq and buat keputusan selain drpd cadangan korg, jgn la marah aku plak. But right now mmg 50-50. Thanks guys.

PS: SV aku baru je masuk time2 tgh hapload gmbr satni. Phew, close call. Tp kalo duk seat lg satu sure x tergezut sbb leh nmpk awal2 lg. But then again, he came in sat ni and bg kerja byk ni (for the composition, not necessarily PhD work), which he expects to pick up next Monday, so maybe x dak masa nak pindah. Hmmm...

Good Books To Read (Especially On A Rainy Day Like Today)

Hari ni dpt parcel yg ditunggu2. No, bkn parcel dari Msia containing biskut raya or baju raya and whatnots (kalo nak hntr sila lah, masih lom terlambat), tp buku yg order online through Amazon.co.uk. Best2.. buku second hand aje, and I got it for just 1 p (5 sen kot Msia?), tinggal byr postage fee je, so not bad at all. Btw, buku yg dimaksudkan ialah 'How Starbucks Saved My Life' by Michael Gates Gill.



Bkn lah menyanjung Starbucks ke apa, but cerita psl how seorg yg asalnya berjaya dlm hidup tp sekelip mata hilang segalanya, and terpaksa build balik hidup from scratch, starting with waitressing at Starbucks. X baca lg, tp Sake dah promo gile, so ala2 mmg tgh membangkitkan smgt mencintai buku tu, order aje la. It should really be an interesting read, sbb aku and Hubs are kinda living life on the 'toned down' side semenjak bergelar mature student ni and working entry-level jobs ourselves to make ends meet. Can't wait to start reading it, tp nak abiskan dulu another book that I am going thro at the moment yg agak lambat aku habiskan sbb kan ceritanya sedih dan aku kalo sedih2 je x brp sanggup nak baca abis (psl mother-baby separation, zaman yg mana pregnancy out of wedlock dulu2 di Ireland adalah dipandang serong and girls were forced to put their babies up for adoption). Heavy stuff, whew.. kalo Sophie Kinsella laju je abis sbb teramat la light reading and x kacau jiwa :P

Speaking of books nak tunjuk one place that we found on Barbican yg jual buku2 lama - The Book Cupboard. Itu dia, nama pon mcm out of Never, Never Land kan? Byk gile buku dia, giler ancient semuanya. Dah la bgnan pon klasik, mcm fairy tales aje. Rows and rows of books. Ada skali tu terjumpa koleksi Enid Blytons, series Nancy Drew, cerita Mallory Towers apa semua, terus teringat zaman kanak2 and how fun it was growing up reading those books. Terasa mcm nak beli the whole shelves aje so that Aisyah (and her future siblings esok2) can enjoy them like I did when I was a young girl, tp of course la x mampu pon. Actually kedai ni x murah pon, so agak ralat la. Me and Hubs found a great book, psl Titanics and all the real documents like tickets, postcards people posted on board, receipts, pictures, disertakan dalam tu. Bukunya hard cover, and we really were tempted to buy, tp mengenangkan harga nya yg bole wat beli lauk ayam 2 minggu, em.. KIV dulu... huhu..







Anyways... hari ni x pergi lab, sbb Hubs x berapa sihat, so I stayed at home to look after Aisyah and him. Poor guy, posa2 gini mmg bertahan aje lah, sbb nak mkn ubat x leh. Dah la lama kan posanya berbanding Msia. The weather has been winter-like already here in the UK. Hujan mcm musim bah di Kelantan, turun x henti2. Mendung aje. Baru balik beli freshmilk and bread ni actually, utk Aisyah sbb stock dah habis. Masa2 ni baru la terkenang how easy breastfeeding was, x payah susah2 meredah elements utk beli susu anak. Oh well.





Jalan mmg jam penuh kereta dpn umah kitaorg. Di sini agak payah nak tgk traffic, but it seems like everybody pon naik kereta hujan2 gini, bar me yg x de kereta la kot. Di Plymouth ni especially nya, kalo hujan x payah la nak ngada2 bawak payung, sbb angin tepi lautnya kuat, it will flip your brolly inside out. Pakai baju hujan aje cukup, mcm model ni:



Ado gayo weather girl at the scene x? Ok la, tahap merepeks dah ni. Gotta go finish my 3 months report, pastu maybe start masak utk Iftar. Hubs requested Sup Kambing, and I'm waiting for the meat to thaw skang nih. Doa2kan kesihatan beliau dan kami sekeluarga ye.

First Meeting Back

Alhamdulillah, the meeting with my SV went well. Dare I say nampaknya beliau juga teruja dgn idea2 baru hamba? He was a bit surprised that aku dah changed sket direction kerja, but he was pleased to see some encouraging results (so far). Paling mendebarkan bila he wanted my help (actually my system's help) dlm recomposing a sonata for the upcoming Music Festival (next February). Aku berdebar jg, but dah nak masuk 3rd year, ni high time la utk start performing or at least co-write a piece for the festival. Prospect tersebut adalah amat exciting, tp risau jg sbb coding aku stink, but he says he doesn't care what I do with it, as long as he gets an aesthetically pleasing output. I don't know how he's going to measure that, but if the man thinks I'm capable enough to do it, I should give myself some credit too I suppose :)

I think it did a LOT of good that he went away for two months, sbb nya it gave me time to rethink a lot of things and helped reinforced my research objectives. Awal2 when he was gone aku agak lost, and to pass time, I spent a significantly long time on reviewing systems of others. Mujur lah in the end suddenly mcm nmpk a hole somewhere. I guess it's good to be independent sometimes, supaya berani mencuba bawak idea sendiri dlm research ini, dan bukanlah clingy spt selalunya (I was told yg my SV x suka diganggu with emails in the summer, so apa2 kena take heed sdn bhd).

Benda yg kitaorg diskas hari ni primarily stemmed from ideas I gathered around Barcelona, tp it really clicked masa tgh mencuci jamban tempohari. Oleh sbb tiada paper to jot it down, maka aku ingat2 gitu je la dlm kepala. It was only around 48 hours later baru teringat nak go over it semula, tiba2 blank. Alamaks! Dlm keadaan agak panic itu, I started doodling, and yes, the technique worked lah! Little by little the ideas started to resurface on paper (not all in one chunck, but bits here and there), tp finally bole ingat balik what it was all about. Alhamdulillah. So yes, if you ever needed to recover some thoughts, get doodling, coz your scribbling and doodling is a message from your subconscious mind.

Got several deadlines to meet. Hopefully I have enough time and motivation to get them all done. End of October means Year Three, in the words of Aisyah, "Scawyyyy!" (Scary). Here are some random pics of the tiddlywink herself. Rambut sudah pjg boleh ikat tocang (braid) lg.















Ok lah, it's only 5 pm, tp nak balik dah. I think Hubs is expecting a huge feast for Iftar tonight, sbb smlm kerja keras balik lab pon pkl 9 pm, and Hubs had actually cooked for all of us - Nasi Goreng Kambing. Jgn byk tanya, makan aje :P

Kalo balik awal, bole try mcm2 kuih. Lately ni mcm ada drive utk buat kuih muih tradisional plak - kuih cara manis dah, pengat keledek dah, sira pisang dah, kuih keria pon dah. Tp sbb guna sweet potato, jd agak lembik, and sbb keras tgn, buruk ya amat kalah kuih jenderam in terms of looks. Gula pon x cukup tu sebenarnya, tp rasa mcm dah guna byk. Baru aku tahu kuih keria ni pakai byk gile gula wat salut eh. Kalo x buat x tahu, sedap je melantak! At the risk of kena hina, aku beranikan tepek gak kuih keria hasil nukilan sendiri di sini. Mesti my Mom terpegun nih hehe... (x kisah la terpegun dek menengok kerajinan anak memasak, or terpegun dek kehuduhan rupa kuih tersebut).



Ok la, challo challo ... Selamat Berbuka!

Super Woman

Hari ni SV nak jumpa. Email appointmentnya dia baru hntr semlm. Kelam kelibut aku dibuatnya. Mula2 baca email tu terus rasa nak terkencing, berdebor2 sbb takut sbb dah dkt 2 bulan x jumpa (all summer). Mcm x byk progress nak cerita. Lps tu calmed down, sat at my desk and buat list of things I'd done and achieved semula, rasa OK la sket, ada la juga benda yg nak dicerita, cuma result x impressive. As of this moment pon masih men-coding, dgn harapan menjadi la jgk this something that I have been trying. Moga2 menjadik, at least sbg demo aje dulu pon ok, pakai mock dataset dulu, bg tujuan membuktikan potential method ni.

Satu lg debar ialah sbb spjg SV away ni, aku adalah me-refined sket kerja aku, but x discuss ngan dia lg this part. Pandai2 sendiri aje, but after two years, rasanya it is expected that all students jd independent with their work, at least partially. Hopefully he'll OK it, then bole terus carry on. Kalo x, hmm.. payah la, malas nak fikir lg.

Between, study, work, mommyhood and house chores, in Ramadhan more so, you would have thought that I'm a Super Woman already. Tp bukan. Aku bukan lah insan hebat. Ada ramai yg jauh lebih best, yg lebih layak lg akan gelaran itu. Meh aku kenalkan dgn Super Woman yg sebenar, kalo korg nak tahu...

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Ha tgk, seluar dalam kat luar, trademark utama SuperWomen.

Don't ask me why Aisyah dress up mcm tu. Pandai2 dia aje amik panties yg dijemur, and pakai sendiri on the outside. Look what she has for shoes.... Ye, cawan plastik. Konon high heels la tuh. Imaginative betul. Aku x sound dia masa ni sbb (a) sibuk masak, (b) it shows that she is creative, and (c) it's friggin' cute! Hehe...

Did You Manage To Catch A Glimpse of Us In Harian Metro?

On Saturday, 21 August 2010, a picture of my family and I keluar paper Harian Metro, menghiasi bahagian Salam Perantauan, dalam ruangan Variasi. Mmg x disangka2 sebenarnya, sbb nya gmbr tu dah agak lama hantar, masa baru posa hari kedua kalo x silap. Budgetnya keluar kat ruangan online je la, tp dari sehari ke sehari check, mcm x de je. So ingatkan mmg x mencukupi kriteria ke apa kan, tu yg hntr lagi sekali ke Utusan plak, and dpt la keluar online, spt yg dah terpublish kat entry ini.

Skali tu, on Saturday morning, terbaca kat my shoutbox...



X pasti sama ada yg Wan tu maksudkan versi online ke versi paper, tp check2 online, x de pon. So masa tu waktu UK baru pkl 12 tghari, Msia plak dah pkl 7 ptg, dekat waktu berbuka, tp telepon la jg family kat Msia, nak tanya kot2 ada yg beli Harian Metro hari tu. Sayang nya diorg x terbeli la plak utk hari tu. So dlm kelam kabut diorg nak berbuka posa tu, Adik bongsu aku keluar la jgk gi cari paper, ye la, lps dah berbuka kang sibuk nak teraweh apa semua, bila lg sempat nak beli paper. Tangguh2 kang, habis plak paper tu, x pon kedai tutup semua mcm mana.

Right before Maghrib, they called us back, and my Dad ckp ada pon gmbr kitaorg ni ha, eheh. So he then proceeded to scan the pic to us, utk kenang2an. Bila called kampung Hubs plak, rupanya diorg dah tahu, sbb nya Pakcik Hubs ada menelepon bgtau ada ternmpk kat paper. Glamers la kejap, biar lah publisiti murahan je pon ... hehe...

Apapon, sungguh x expect sbb kalo tgk, gmbr tu dalam rumah aje, bkn lah berlatar belakangkan pemandangan yg menarik pon mcm yg org2 lain hantar. Siap Hubs ingat gmbr kitaorg x tersiar2 kat online tu pon mungkin sbb x menarik kot. Ye la, sesapa pon bole posing pakai baju kurung and baju melayu and then main petik je la kata duk mana2 kan. Rupanya maybe diorg kept it to be printed for the paper la agaknya. Apapon, you guys kat Harian Metro, you guys rock lah :)

And the anonymous 'Wan', thank you very much for alerting me of this. There wasn't a link for me to get back to you, but if you could leave me an email, I would like to personally thank you and maybe get to know you better :)

OK that's all for tonight. Short2 entry oneee, coz nak prepare for another manic Monday tomorrow :)

Aisyah and Her Crafts

Aku rasa saat paling best dalam sesehari tu ialah saat menjemput Aisyah drpd nursery kot. Tp sayang nya, aku mmg x berpeluang nak jemput Aisyah, sbb kekangan masa. Her nursery lets out at exactly 1 pm, and aku masih at work masa tu, so x sempat nak berkejar amik Aisyah. Kalo lmbt nnt kena byr extra plak. So on days when Aisyah gi nursery, Hubs will pick her up.

So I guess the next best moment ialah bila I meet her up halfway and she shows me all she did for the day. Dia dah tahu dah rutin aku, suh dia pegang art work tu and smile for a pic. Alhamdulillah, setakat pegi nursery ni dah byk jg dia terlibat ngan aktiviti2 begini, which is very good for her. So far dah byk la art work dia, all kept nicely in a folder. Disebabkan aku skang ni tgh byk keja, let me just share a few of them with you guys here, kira pass la utk wat entry hari ni ek?























(These are all from different days. Yg terkini ni diorg tgh belajar number la gamaknya)

Have a nice weekend, all!