Badminton passion!

Location: Kuala Lumpur
Championship: Malaysia Open 2011

What was your first topic on your first date with hubby/bf? Mine was badminton! Funny enough? We were talking about it over 4hrs. Hahaha and this is one of the things that we have a same passion for. Hubby and his family are really devoted to badminton. His sisters and brothers are very good players but very disappointed when their children not to be trained as well as them. What so waste!

After knowing my hubby, I started to know the ‘stadium’ life for the real match which I used to spent in front of TV. When the live match is on, I can’t help myself for being such a ‘I’m-a-big-fan-of-badminton’ little girl especially for Malaysian player.

I still can’t figure out on why Datuk Lee Chong Wei (DLCW) still not be able to take a winning trophy from Lin Dan. The ‘world ranking no.1’ attached to him for a few years seems not doing enough to motivate him. In Beijing Olympic Games which only awarded DLCW a silver medalist (thus becoming the first Malaysian to reach the final of the men's singles event) and again in Thomas Cup 2010, DLCW repeated the same mistakes as in Beijing all over the match.

China, as usual where the sports players are born. Lin Dan is the greatest player of his generation and will be the greatest of all time. Every year, we have seen a lot of new faces to represent China. None of them are seems to have a chance to replace Lin Dan. But for sure, they are much better than any other countries’ players.

DLCW, not to forget, is the greatest player too and is the only Malaysian shuttler to hold the 1st world ranking for more than two weeks. His achievement in Olympic has earned him the title of ‘Datuk’, and a description by Malaysian Prime Minister as national hero. Yes, he is.

For a few years, Malaysia has a same issue to debate among the Badminton fan. It’s time for us to sit and think on how to replace our old players, especially DLCW. They are too old for the world championship every year. BAM should think the way how to attract the youngsters to join and trained under them. We have almost 30mil people and there is no reason not to have at least one back-up team to represent the country in world championship. ‘Experiences make them perfect’! Yes, BAM should do something for Malaysia’s sake.

Anyway, congrats to DLCW on his personal victory and he really make all the Malaysian proud of him. Keep it up the good work! We will support you forever. When I’m writing this blog, we have 1 year ++ to go for Olympic London 2012 and DLCW is only hope for Malaysian to at least get one medal and it does not matter either bronze, silver or gold.

I’m might be a good supporter for badminton (especially when my hubby is playing) but not a good player and will never be, it’s too late for it.

Taufik Hidayat is such a handsome guy huh? Do you realize it?

Hospital Pantai Annual Dinner & Dance

I had been invited to this dinner (off course not as VIP) very last minute, so luckily i manage to find the nice dress to wear in my worbdrobe.


It was Fantasy Night theme for the night and for sure not only me who did not following the theme, almost all the employees came with normal dress and some even with normal traditional costume.

Group with full costume. I think this was not for fantasy night!

Me & Shakila.

Me & Hubby

We with Asilah

But the event went well with a lot of games and performance from the guest artists. Hubby even went on stage to play the game with the performer. All the employees for sure will be wondering who the hell this guy came from. Hehehe.



First time ever, i let my face to touch by the professional (except during my wedding). Normally i prefer to make up myself as it better look natural to me. Those who love my make up, can contact this make up artist at +6012-2767616 (Maznah Mona).


*ehem* I made this photo for my profile picture.

Note: Sorry for the face of some people in this photo. I do not know them so better keep it their privacy.

Pinky, Tommy & Quinny

My family and I, is used to grow with the cats since I small. We had so many of them and still having until now. You might be wondering, who’s three names that I’m going to talk about. They are my cats, my lovely pets. This is again, I share my passion with my hubby and we have them just about 2 weeks before our marriage. Trying to figure out on how to take care of the baby after this =)

Elizabeth Scott in her Stress Management issue in 2007 says that people always think that the ways to reduce stress in life, usually techniques like meditation; yoga and journaling come to mind. These are great techniques, to be sure. But getting a new best friend can also have many stress relieving and health benefits. Human friends provide great social support and pets can provide excellent stress relief and other health benefits—perhaps more than people (unless you’re someone who really dislikes animals or is absolutely too busy to care).

To have them in my life, I had too many impossible comments on ‘what-so-waste-on-having-one’ and many people seeing them as a burden than anything else. It just helps me to being insane every time I see them. It’s virtually impossible to stay in a bad mood when a pair of loving cat’s eyes meets yours, or when a super-soft cat rubs up against your hand.

I had miscarriage 3mths after my wedding and the sad about losing the future baby which I’m not sure either has form to be a human, has growing more with the nasty comments about my cats. I know that, long ago, doctors used to routinely advise pregnant women to avoid cats, leading many women to give up their cats as the ‘Toxoplasmosis’ can cause miscarriage.

For so many years, changes of technologies has developed such an antibody for a pregnant woman to survive and just for the info to all the pregnant lady out there, one study in 2000 of several large European studies actually found that the largest risk of Toxoplasmosis in pregnancy was from eating undercooked meat, and cat ownership was rarely a problem.

Outdoor cats tend to be exposed to Toxoplasmosis far more frequently than indoor cats; Toxoplasmosis in indoor cats is rare. Toxoplasmosis are most commonly found in rodents and raw meat, so a cat who lives only indoors is unlikely to be exposed unless the owner regularly feeds the cat raw meat.
The means of transmission from cat to owner would most likely be through exposure to cat feces and it's safe to wash the hands in between changing cat litter and touching their mouths. But just for a tip to all the pregnant ladies from Krissi Danielsson:

• Get someone else to change the cat litter if you can and if you can't, wear gloves and wash your hands carefully after changing the box.
• Change cat litter daily; Toxoplasmosis are infectious between 1 and 5 days after the cat defecates
• Do not feed your cat raw meat, and keep your cat indoors.
• Be careful around stray cats and kittens, and avoid getting a new cat while pregnant.
• Keep outdoor sandboxes covered, and wear gloves when gardening in case an outdoor cat has defecated in your garden.

Ok, back to my cat’s story. Pinky is the first cat that we adopted while Tommy and Quinny are given by my mutual friends one month after Pinky with us. We consider Tommy & Quinny as a twin cats! Three of them are not sharing the same color at all since Pinky is white, Tommy is grey and Quinny is black! They only have one color each! Good choice right?

We gave Pinky’s name when his mouth, nose and ear happen to turn to pink color when he is hot. So my friend calls him as hubby’s junior due to this pattern. My hubby will automatically change to pink when he is hot too. I think that they have bond tied relationship somewhere! =)

My cats are too playful but actually when I look at them playing, any worries whatsoever just melt away and disappear. Now they are grows to almost 1 year. Tommy is the cutest among them and his size (which is bigger than other two) makes him more special. Holding him like a holding a baby in the arm. Quinny is the cheeky one and she loves to play with the tissue roll. If by happen we forget to hide the tissue from her eyes, then we should expect the room filled the small pieces of tissue. Pinky? He is our favorite. He loves to bite, love to scratch his nail to our skin and we seem used to have his mark all over our hand. He is the only one who can understand us well, when we down… he is too and we are angry to him, he ran like a hell.

Now Pinky has changed a lot! Maybe due to ‘mengawan’ time. He loves to stand next to the window and make the ugliest sound most of the time (we got complaint from the other tenants now! So embarrass). We tried to match him with other female cat and you know what happened? He went and fought with her!

So yesterday, we had decided to let him go as he wishes and had given him many messages (which I confirmed he didn’t understand any of it =)) before he goes to ensure that he can take good care of himself and far away from the danger, don’t get starving and dehydrated. We both had a ‘drama-queen-scenes’ and of course, I cried! Finally, I open the house door, and he ran quickly to the stairs… that was the last time I saw him yesterday. *tears in the eyes*

After half an hour (on the same day too), someone knocked our door and one Malay guy came into the picture:

“Sir, is this your cat…..”


Hahahahaha, we used to have bond tied somewhere and he really meant together with us. My Pinky is back again! And again! =)

From the moment, I don’t want to lose them. I want to see them growing right in front of me. I know that this is crazy to feel that way to just a pet, but for sure I have attached to them so much. I love to see when they are playing, sleeping in my comforter and how the fight each other for a toy.

If you or your children have a pet and had attached to them so much, there is nothing wrong with the feeling. If you have a chance to look after them, take it and if they had change your life as a whole, let it. Let the process make you or your children more appreciate the life through them. Nobody said it’d easy, but they just promised it would be worth it. At least we know how to love human being than no others.

Tommy & Quinny
Pinky while sleeping
I love cats and by all means, I also want a baby in our husband-wife life. But if I can have it both, why not right?

Snow in South Korea!

Hubby kept wondering on why I so addicted to the ‘snow’ and being so ‘I-don’t-care-I-want-snow’ attitude each time we were talking about yearly getaways. To be frank, I have no good answer for it. It might be look nice in the big coat or in cute gloves or it because of the different temperature once in the year. ‘I-have-never-been’ and ‘never-experience-it’. I guess, this is the best reason for my hubby’s answer.

He doesn’t feel good when I wanted to go honeymoon in winter season. Apart of ‘can-hug-my-hubby’ romantic kind of mood, a lot of honeymoon activities can’t go as smooth as planned. He stayed in Manchester England for about 3 years, hence explains on why he is not excited enough on the snow and temperature changes.

I have been dreaming to step my foot in the snow and let the snowflakes touch my hair since I watched the first drama aired in the TV on Christmas. I was 10 on that time and how nice to watch the snow in every scenes. The dream has dragged me to Beijing on 2007 and so disappointed when I have nothing except the -8c temperatures and the artificial snow in the Ski Resort. By all means the dream still in my mind.

Either you believe it or not, we registered our name to Korea trip package, 5 days before our flights (something that not healthy to follow hehehe). We had planned to Hokkaido on the same week, but due to visa problem on the last minute *angry face* (I-don’t-want-to-remember mood), so we have not packed out our luggage and it explains on how we manage to jump on the cab to KLIA and my boss seems willingly to let me go from 27 Dec 2010 – 1 Jan 2011.

One day before out trip, the temperature in Seoul South Korea, drop drastically to -19’c, hence explained the unusually heavy snowfall and triggering traffic chaos and forcing airlines to delay all flights. We were supposed to arrive at Incheon airport by 0630 in the morning but it was closed by the time our flight just about to slowing down and landing. With just “we-can’t-landing-due-to-the-bad-weather’ and ‘oh-I’m-not-good-in-English’ kind of announcement, the flight finally landed at the Je-Ju Island, the other part of South Korea.

We use the Vietnam Airlines, in case if you are asking =).

We managed to enter Seoul only after 4hrs trapped in Jeju Island and IN THE FLIGHT!! Can you imagine? A Vietnam airline is much much far worse than Air Asia X. We can’t even straighten our leg and only being served half cup of orange juice for breakfast?? So mean!

Only when we reached the airport, we were told by the ‘weather’ that the heavy snowfalls have caused the closure of the airport. So, they need about 4hrs to clear off the track for landing. The snowflake fell to our windows seems welcoming us. I was worried before our trip if I’m not be able to catch the snowfalls. Just for your information, South Korea is occasionally has snowfalls, but it still far better than Beijing. If you are planning to Korea for snow, make sure to check the weather before your trip (opps, not easy to change the flight ticket right?) or u can stay at least more than a week. Better than sorry!

Apart of the chaos, I feel blessed to experience the snow. I seem have forgotten myself when playing, throwing and ‘guling-guling’ in the snow like a Hindi movie. Don’t ask me how many photos that I snapped, as when I reached KL, God knows how frustrated was I to have only 2 photos me and hubby together in one photo. *slap forehead*.

Tips of the day: don’t bring 2 cameras if you are husband-wife. Bring one and tripod as well.
 
I was trying hard to build a snowman. A lot of tips that I received from my friends and after so many attempts my snowman ends up still an ‘OKU’ hehehe. I surrendered! I remember scolded my hubby on why he has no skills to build one. He gave me that kind of ‘i-have-to-many-other-things-to-do-in-England-than-build-the-stupid-snowman’ looks. So not sporting! But he still together with me trying to built up the snowman. We called this as a ‘honeymoon-activity-that-we-should-have-during-winter’. Worth it.


one of the photo with both of us in one picture!

Halal food in Seoul are teribbly difficult, be ready for it if you are planning to Korea. Look at the menu and the way of cooking, i will give them full marks on how to be healthy. Most of their receipes should have vegitables and some sort of ’herb’ flavor to replace the ’Ajinomoto’ job. No wonder, all the ladies in Korea has such a nice glowing and young skin. But i’ll think thousand times to go for the meal again... not so me.

Be sure to watch again ’Winter Sonata’ or ’Dae Jang Geum’ series to raise up your interest to Seoul. Nami Island is where the background place for Winter Sonata scenes and Je-Ju Island is the location scenes for Dae Jang Geum series. But if you are Korean Singer big-big fan e.g. Wonder Girls, se7en, Super Junior (just pick some of them... my nieces are really addicted to them, all of them!), why don’t take a break and leave for Korea… it’s worth it!

Some tips during Winter: dress in layers. Get yourself some thermal wear, sweaters and winter jackets. Scarf, gloves and something to cover your ears are also essential. Koreans are very stylish, thus u might also want to consider to bring some stylish outfits. In Winter, the air is very dry. Drink plenty of water. Get a bottle of Johnson & Johnson Baby Oil for your body and Miracle Water (SKII Treatment Essence) for your face and trust me it was worked for me well.

Even a short break, but I had visited the most attraction places e.g.: Nami Island, Everland Theme Park, Safari World, Ski Resort, National Museum, Kyongbok Palace & Namdaemum market.

But after all, the snow really transforms Seoul into a winter wonderland with full of white trees, icy road, frosty wind, and I miss KOREA so much!

Happy New Year!

Speaking about New Year, I’m pretty sure that most of us has reflect on what we have achieved or still aspiring to achieve for the past 365 days and what the resolution for New Year is. Let we pray and work hard to ensure that what we want for this year are achievable. The business expanding, promotion in position, career change, salary rise, more bonuses…bla…bla…get married, have children..bla…bla

Apart of 1st January each year, as a Muslim, is a must for me to celebrate an Awal Muharram, the beginning year in Islam calendar. What’s more, starting this year onwards, Chinese New Year will be added in to my calendar too since my Hubby is converted Chinese-muslim. I had 3 New Years to celebrate each year, a little bit confuse but yet still with the same resolutions;
1. More wealth
2. Salary rise
3. Growing family

The resolution orders are always change every year and fall to 2011, ‘Growing family’ should be the first resolution for me to achieve. I wanna have a baby, and only God knows how bad I wanted to have twin babies! Not greedy, but looking at the age this year and still increasing…. Twin babies should be in the list!

When it comes to New Year, everyone started looking for calendar and diaries right? I still can’t figure out on why my diary still has a lot of empty spaces hahaha. As for me, diary is not the important items to have every year compared to the calendar. I am a bit choosy when it comes to the calendar, even its free *cough*. My calendar should be medium in size, landscape, nice color and must have a column for me to write. My calendar a.k.a diary too. 2in1. Good investment. *LOL*

This is my calendar for this year. Look at the ‘love’ sign to remind me on the appointments. Pretty full ah this month! *credit to prudential*
I don’t know that people still aiming for this calendar. My colleagues have fought each other to have one. They said it’s because of the available info makes it special. Eh, they do really go for horse racing??

Anyway, not too late to wish everyone a Happy New Year, may God keep us happy, healthy and protected. Amen.