Dress to kill

I have made a pact that I will dress to kill going to the office this new year – starting either Jan. 8 or 9. There are clothes I have purchased and baju kurung from rayas. The shoes I have bought in Switzerland (Bally) and those purchased during sales. Oh yes – I need to buy one that is like a mary janes – I so love the style. It is about time that I show them off and hopefully to attract some attractions (well, maybe just one but who knows). But the best part is, my fashion ‘guru’ is joining me in that godforsaken place I call my office.

And there is still two/three(?) days to go before the end of the year-end sale to buy that mary jane.

Nine days to go

I am so missing all my books. I am not going into the office until Jan 8/9, 2007 (have not decided yet) but am not able to read anything except for my upcoming exams. But behold, I have gone fashion crazy. All I’m thinking of is how to put together an outfit for the office, going out all thanks to dear Taty and Project Runway.

The first book I will be reading once I’m free will be The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón.

After the rush

It has been a most beautiful Christmas Eve and Day.
Yesterday, we had Anuar’s reception luncheon at Restaurant Seri Melayu. The décor and the pelamin were beautiful – all decked in blue (as per dad’s request). The place was packed full with friends and relatives. The first to arrive were my two dear officemates who managed to find her way. I was being pulled to pieces to see old family friends during the time we stayed in Madison. The highlight was dad gave us (Marina, her husband and I) the honor to seat at the high table.

Today, some friends and relatives dropped by. The bride and groom came to open up their presents and filled our homes with the air of Christmas morning. To our delights, the bride’s parents and sister’s family dropped by before heading off to their Kajang satay dinner.

Red Stage Weather Warning

I have received this warning from my intranet at work. It is funny how these kind of information I get from the intranet. But knowing the Norwegian way of life, we are fortunate that it is working here.

Unfortunately, our country's authorities are not doing it. Or is it because I have not been watching the tv or listening the radio all the time.

The Meteorological Department has issued a Red Stage warning and warned
people to brace for emergencies. Heavy rain is expected to hit the east coast
states in the peninsula as well as the Klang Valley.Red Stage denotes heavy
monsoon rain, and the warning has gone out to Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang,
Negri Sembilan, Malacca, as well as southern Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

Spoiling myself

I have really outdone myself this year after living life like a scrooge for the past decade.

After my mum did her renovation to the house, bought myself a chest of drawers, writing table and a good study chair. In addition, I kecek from my brother (who has great contacts with computer suppliers) for a 3-in-one printer/scanner/photocopier.

I got myself a digital camera - Canon IXUS 750.

For the wedding, mum and me got ourselves selendangs/tudung to match with the dresses we bought earlier on. I have never spent on a dress/kebaya labuh over RM200 (luckily tailoring was cheap - tailor from long time) or a selendang for RM89.

Dad mentioned early this week to splurge ourself by going for a facial. So I made myself an appointment for one today - a simple want since I have a sensitive skin.

Plus, I have been spoilt rotten by someone to get a great party shoes. I enticed a girlfriend to go 'Christmas shopping' at KLCC. Took the yesterday afternoon off and search for the perfect shoes and along the way anything else (me a pair of white slacks). I will take a photo using the new camera of the shoes and uploaded later (most likely after the wedding). Tat - it looks similar like yours but I do so love your shoes.

Learning as a journey

Quoted from one of my text book Communication Theories Perspectives, processes, and contexts by Katherine Miller (2005). It is a spotlight on John Greene, a communication theorist:

..., he advises that neophyte scholars read widely in many fields. He suggests that students should go where your interests lead you, regardless of how many disciplinary boundaries you have to cross. Greene believes that such a journey will be both fascinating and rewarding.

Taking the IQ test

I just took an IQ test from Tickle and here is the result:

Your Intellectual Type Is:

You are gifted with the natural fluency of a writer and the visual and spatial strengths of an artist. Those skills contribute to your creative and expressive mind. Insightful linguists can take complex concepts and articulate them to just about anyone. You have a gift with words and insight into processes and the way people think. These talents enable you to explain things clearly to people.

Helen Keller is a great example of an Insightful Linguist. Blind, deaf and mute, she was still able to put things together in her mind and to understand complex ideas. She could do that because she was able to conceptualize ideas internally. Though she could not literally see, she had the visual and spatial skills necessary to understand patterns on an abstract level. She learned to read, write and ultimately became a writer on issues of social justice. You have an uncanny ability to work your way out of sticky situations using your talent with words. Crossword puzzles, debates — you're particularly well equipped to come out on top since you can read people well. Like Charles Dickens, your verbal skills go far beyond having a good vocabulary. Dickens' genius was in the artful and descriptive way he crafted sentences. Also Dickensian, is your keen eye for detail and your adeptness for identifying the best way to express an idea based on your given surroundings and circumstances. Your ability to communicate your vision clearly will take you far. So enjoy being perceptive, and make the most of your abilities as an insightful linguist.

Great Jobs For You
Because of the way you process information, these are just some of the many careers in which you could excel:
Publicist
Translator
Graphic
designer
Teacher
Broadcaster
Public speaker
Attorney
Politician

Some of Your Greatest Talents
You've got tons of strengths. It wouldn't surprise us if you:
Can clarify complex issues
Can bring new insight to ideas through their fresh perspective
Are good at leading teams


Your Four Intelligence Scales
Now let's look at the factors that contribute to you being an Insightful Linguist with a 131 IQ score. Based on the results of your test, Tickle divided your scores into four distinguishable dimensions — mathematical intelligence, visual-spatial intelligence, linguistic intelligence and logic intelligence. Here's how each of your intelligence scores break down:

Mathematical Percentile - 80th percentile
Your mathematical intelligence score represents your combined ability to reason and calculate. You scored relatively high, which means you're probably the one your friends look to when splitting the lunch bill or calculating your waitresses' tip. You may or may not be known as a math whiz, but number crunching might come a little easier to you than it does others.

Visual-Spatial Intelligence - 100th percentile
The visual-spatial component of intelligence measures your ability to extract a visual pattern and from that envision what should come next in a sequence. Your score was relatively high, which could mean that you're the one navigating the map when you're on an outing with friends. You have, in some capacity, an ability to think in pictures. Maybe this strength comes out in subtle ways, like how you play chess or form metaphors.

Linguistic Intelligence - 90th percentile
Linguistic
abilities include reading, writing and communicating with words. Tickle's test
measures knowledge of vocabulary, ease in completing word analogies and the
ability to think critically about a statement based on its semantic structure.
Your score was relatively high, which could mean you know your way around a
bookstore and maybe like to bandy about the occasional 25-cent word to impress
friends.

Logical Intelligence - 80th percentile
Your Logical PercentileTickle's logical intelligence questions assess your ability to think things through. The questions determine the extent to which you use reasoning and logic to determine the best solution to a problem. Your logic score was relatively high, which could mean that when the car breaks down, your friends look to you to help figure out not only what's wrong, but how to fix it and how you're going to get to the next gas station.

The kids at the mosque

When Imran was small, we brought him to the Putrajaya mosque. When the call for prayer came on, he was entranced. From that day till now, he will point out any mosque that we come by. Hasnah has also learned that.

Last Saturday for the akad nikah, both of them could not wait to enter. Unfortunately, we came in too early. The mosque has not been opened up yet.

Allah bless these two souls.

My brother's wedding in Penang

This is the reason why I could not attent the BookCrossing meet up last Sunday.

My younger brother, Anuar had his nikah and persandingan for the bride's side last Saturday in Penang. Here are some photos of the day:


The night before the nikah - preparing the hantaran.


At the mosque for akad nikah.


The first kiss.


The bride and groom with the hantaran.



The bride and groom with their parents.

A tribute to Walt Disney

I took this directly from a newsletter I subscribed to. (Looking Back ... with Ken Tate, Dec. 13, 2006: Remembering Walt Disney)

Trivia Questions:
1: Where did the EPCOT Center at Disney World in Florida get its name?

2: What was Mickey Mouse's original name?

See the answers at the end of this e-letter.

Got a trivia question? See the link at the end of this e-letter to ask Ken. You might see your question in the next issue of Looking Back.

Don McLean wrote a song, American Pie, released in 1971 in which he mourned "the day the music died" (referring to the death of Buddy Holly in a plane crash on Feb. 3, 1959). I suppose, therefore, that this Friday would mark the 40th anniversary of "the day the magic died." Or perhaps it was "the day the laughter died." Yet again, maybe it was "the day the fantasy died."

Call it what you will, Dec. 15, 1966, was the day Walter Elias Disney died of lung cancer at the much-too-young age of 65.

Walt Disney was an American icon who went from hardscrabble days during his childhood to heading one of the greatest entertainment empires of all time. His films, cartoons, documentaries and short subjects carried positive messages to audiences of all ages. But his greatest accomplishment was to put fairy dust into the minds of millions of children all over the world.

Walt was born on Dec. 5, 1901, in Chicago, one of five children of Elias and Flora Disney. Elias moved the family to Marceline, Mo., when Walt was about 5 years old. That north-central Missouri farming community was Walt's haven until the family moved to Kansas City in 1910. In later years he wrote: "Everything connected with Marceline was a thrill to us... To tell the truth, more things of importance happened to me in Marceline than have ever happened since -- or are likely to in the future."

By the time he entered high school, Walt's family was back in Chicago and he was already honing his natural talent as an artist in night classes at the Chicago Art Institute.

Disney dropped out of school to join the Army and serve in World War I, but, at the age of 16, he was too young. After his mother forged a change in his birth certificate to say he was born in 1900, Walt was accepted into the Red Cross. For the next year he drove a Red Cross ambulance in France (see photograph), and adorned its canvas walls with Disney characters.

After the war, Walt and a friend opened a commercial art business in Kansas City, but it quickly failed. Walt moved to Hollywood with $40 in his wallet and an unfinished cartoon in his suitcase. Enlisting his brother Roy, who had earlier moved to Los Angeles, as moral support and financial backer, the two formed Disney Studios.

After several successes and failures, Walt conceived the idea of a new character -- a mouse named Mickey. After two silent cartoons featuring the whimsical rodent, Mickey Mouse was featured in the first animated talkie, Steamboat Willie, which debuted on Nov. 18, 1928.

The growing success of Disney Studios brought an unforeseen change in Walt's life: On July 13, 1925, he married Lillian Bounds, one of the studio's first employees. Walt and Lillian had a daughter, Diane, born in 1933. They then adopted a second daughter, Sharon, a year later.

Walt was known as the consummate father and family man. He wasn't a Hollywood socialite, preferring dinner at home with his wife and daughters to cocktail parties. His daughter Diane once said about him: "Daddy never missed a father's function no matter how I discounted it. I'd say, 'Oh, Daddy, you don't need to come. It's just some stupid thing.' But he'd always be there, on time."

Perhaps Walt's biggest gamble was when the studio spent nearly $1.5 million in the depths of the Great Depression to produce the world's first full-length animated musical movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. When the feature premiered on Dec. 21, 1937, it was hailed as one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of motion pictures. The film brought in over $8 million -- the equivalent of nearly $100 million today.

The success of Snow White birthed other animated full-length features like Pinocchio, Fantasia, Bambi and Dumbo, not to mention cartoon-short characters like Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto, but it also brought about one of the great tragedies of Walt's life. In 1938, buoyed by the movie's income, Walt and Roy bought their parents a new home close to the studios. In less than a month, their mother Flora Disney was dead due to asphyxiation caused by a faulty furnace. Flora had been one of Walt's chief cheerleaders during the tough years. In Walt's mind, his success had become a contributing factor to her death, and the guilt stayed with him for the rest of his life.

In 1950, a weekly television program, Disneyland, premiered on ABC. Walt used the new medium to familiarize the public with his new venture, a theme park in Anaheim, Calif., by the same name. Disneyland opened in 1955, the first of what would become a growing empire of amusement parks around the world. The same year the studio debuted The Mickey Mouse Club, a daily children's show that became wildly popular with Baby Boomers.

The television show changed its name to Walt Disney Presents after 1955. It then became Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color in 1961 with the advent of color TV technology. The show took its last name, The Wonderful World of Disney, and aired under that name until 2005.

Trivia answers:
#1: EPCOT is an acronym for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Walt envisioned EPCOT to improve conditions in American cities, but his ideas never came to fruition in his lifetime. Walt Disney World began development shortly before Walt's death. The resort and the Magic Kingdom Park opened in 1971; the EPCOT Center at Walt Disney World opened in 1982.

#2: The mouse's original name was Mortimer, but Lillian Disney, Walt's wife, disliked the name and convinced Walt to rename him Mickey. Some have claimed that Mickey Mouse was named after Mickey Rooney, who was in those days a very popular child actor, but it is difficult to verify that claim.

Here are some helpful links if you would like to read more about Walt Disney:

Just Disney
Walt Disney

Photo credits

Adam's Family - the movie

Everybody has seen the movie. They have this old shack instead of the corner. If you recalled, they torture the person stuck in there with music and one of them is the Sound of Music.

I have nothing against Sound of Music - actually it is one of my favourite movies. But imagine yourself watching and seeing the puppet show hundreds of time within one night.

That was what happened last night when the kids came by. Their grandfather wanted to test if Imran remember the movie. We played that when he was smaller. At first, Imran would whisper to me 'Hasnah pun ada movie nie' (he proclaimed that the movie is his). He did remember very well because years ago, we had to rewind to the puppet show.

Goethe says

How true this is. I guess this is one reason why I try so many new things and never stick to one.

"We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden"....Goethe

My colleague - how can I stay alive in DiGi without him

The first day into the office this week was so hectic. This morning we had a group meeting. Before our manager stepped out for another discussion, he wants us to reflect on year 2006 by listing our strenghts and weaknesses. By the end of one hour, and before he came back in we listed so many weaknesses. We had to put in some strengths but nothing we can scream about.

Later in the afternoon, I had to sort out with Reach Hong Kong about some information of new bearers. It was so embrassing because they received termination order from DiGi but I was not aware of it.

The structure is for any bearers to internation carriers using submarine cables, both myself and the colleague I was talking about in Deja Vu the Movie. Unfortunately that person did not follow the procedure and I had to find out from external parties. Anyway it was all settled.

The colleague from Deja Vu the Movie is a pain in the ass. He could not find the cabling for the bearer chosen, so I had to call back Reach Hong Kong to change the bearer.

On Sunday, I got a call from him. He was asking if I was in Berjaya Times Square for a treasure hunt. I told him no - I did not know anything about it.

That guy is so charming and yet so unaccessible. He does not even answer my phone calls. So now the main channel is using Yahoo Messenger (which I had a part of him signing up for this).

DiGi take DTAC to court

That was the headline in yesterday’s intranet. Uuuh – taking your own ‘sister’ to court??

Reading on – oh, the VOLLEYBALL court. That is one of my favourite sports but it’s so painful. Anyone, the team was made up of DiGi’s top people including our CEO, CMO, and some other mat salleh bosses. The DTAC team were not bad. The first two sets were quite close. The last set, we swept past them. And the game point was actually a gift – the empire awarded to DiGi.

Going on about sports, the Gunners are through to the Champions League knock-out round. Liverpool is there but we are facing off with them in the coming FA match. There will be no happy feeling since one of them has to go.

For the love of puzzle

We are so happy that we have successfully inoculated the love for puzzles (jigsaw) puzzles in both Imran and Hasnah.

Just now, we visited Hasnah and sent Imran to stay with his father for the night. For the first few moments, Hasnah would not let Imran play with her jigsaw. But that change when both finished it together. Then for that one final piece, both wanted to finish it but none gave way. It ended in a big crying scene.

Found out that the food tasting has been postponed to next Saturday. And I was so looking toward it – even had the clothes I want to wear (which I bought at The Mall last weekend).

Well, need to finish one last part for my Advanced Communication Theory assignment. I should be able to complete it within two hours – I hope.

Extraction of five teeth

That is what occurred in this morning's surgery on Hasnah. Finally, they manage to slot in her this morning at 10:30. Before one I called up asking for updates. She has woken up from her anaesthetic all groggy and clingy to her mummy.I can imagine how it feels. So young and yet have to endure such pain and experience.

Her brother, Imran was quite good this morning. He woke up just as I was about to go down. After finishing one bottle of milk, we had a small conversation about my work. Is it the same as papa? Besar ke ofis? It was so enduring when I was stepping out, he said, 'mak long saya tak ikut'. I felt turning back and stayin just to be with him. Unfortunately, I need to go to the office so I can continue with my long neglected assignments and print it out so I can study it this weekend (hopefully).

But am looking forward to this weekend. Tomorrow we have the food tasting at Restoran Seri Melayu for Anuar's wedding reception for Christmas eve. Then Sunday morning a replacement class, S I G H. Its going to be a long weekend...