Moment to Moment

First attempt

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 07:09:00 +0000

I tried to cook today and it was my first attempt without the guidance of my mum. The name of the dish is Chicken Sambal and I ate it with white rice and omelette. The taste is not so bad but I believe it could be tastier after a few times.

Finally...

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 13:54:00 +0000

Some pictures of my new flat in its proper state two weeks after renovation completed.

Saying goodbye...

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 12:29:00 +0000

We finally did the final clearing up of our former flat earlier today and it was hard work clearing all the remaining stuff. Took a few pictures to keep the memories of the past 12 years or so intact and to remind me of some of what happened in the past in this flat.
I can’t say that I grew up in this flat because we moved to this flat when I was in my 20s. But lots happened in this flat for the past few years.
It was a good place to stay because of the location situated near a big shopping centre, the train and bus station, the library, community club and a medical centre, which are all within a few minutes walking distance. I enjoyed four years of walking to my former workplace, which was only 2 minutes walk from my home.
Anyway, all good things have to come to an end sooner or later and I hope for a better home and future.

In the midst of renovation

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:19:00 +0000

We officially moved in to the new flat today though the renovation is not 100% complete. We moved in today because my grandfather said it is the auspicious date and he said we have to move out from the former flat before the sun rises. He said we have to sleep for a night in the new flat.
My mum and I decided that since we already moved in might as well we settle ourselves in the new flat and start to clear the stuff in our former flat. This is a way to pressure the renovation workers to finish their work quickly.
Renovation started on 20 July and up till now it is not complete. The main person told us that we need to wait for another 2 weeks for the kitchen to be 100% complete. So, that means no cooking for the next 2 weeks and fasting month starts tomorrow! We have to buy food from the foodstall for our break fast and for our meals to start the fast for the day...sigh...
Anyway, some pictures below to show the flat during renovation.

Taking over

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 13:40:00 +0000

Finally, I have the keys to the flat in my hand. Some pictures below to show the flat before renovation starts on 20 July 2010.

Old new flat

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 13:00:00 +0000

We went to visit my new flat earlier this evening before the final appointment with HDB to finalize the sale. A few days later, this flat will officially be mine.
If it is up to me, I will renovate the whole flat to make it more comfortable to live in.
Let us wait and see how the flat is going to look like after the renovation.
Expecting to move in to this flat by mid-August 2010.

Staycation at Fairmont Hotel

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:36:00 +0000

Staycation at Fairmont Hotel over the Christmas holidays.

Happy Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to me ...
Happy Birthday to me

The Moon Represents My Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 08:00:00 +0000

Heard this song played at a Malay wedding and felt nostalgic.

Since Apr 08, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:41:00 +0000

As usual, I didn’t update the blog for a few months. Since my last post, I was busy with a few things.

First, I had to study for my exams which were around end of May and I really studied for 2 weeks morning till night and I was so glad that I passed the exams. Second, a couple of days after the exams, I fell sick…nothing serious…just flu, cold and cough but I really had a hard time with the coughing. I was serving my notice with the library and I had to take medical leave because I was really sick. Oh, I didn’t mention in any earlier post that I applied for another job in late Feb 09, went for interview in late Mar 09 and was accepted in late Apr 09 and I joined my new job late Jun 09.

Wow…the whole process took 4 months. I am an educator now and that means teaching!! So far so good and I find the job is to my liking and I am not missing working at the library. It feels so good to go to the library and not workJ.

I am into my 3rd week of work now and in another 2 months; I’ll be on 3 months full-time course at NIE to teach me how to teach.

When I left library, my ex-colleagues gave me a few gifts. I especially like the pendant watch and the wallet. I told one of my colleague I want a wallet with many pockets and she really got it for me hahaha and I love it.

One more thing…I bought a netbook!!!! It is Acer Aspire One D250 and I bought it at Challenger for S$688. No reason to buy it but I felt like having a netbook so I bought one. Basically the specs for all netbooks are the same and below are pictures and the specs for my netbook. Info retrieved from www.acer.com.sg.

Genuine Windows^® XP Home Edition , Intel® Atom™ processor N280 (1.66 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 512 KB L2 cache) , Mobile Intel® 945GSE Express Chipset , Acer InviLink™ 802.11b/g Wi-Fi Certified® network connection, supporting Acer SignalUp™ wireless technology , 1GB RAM , 160GB HDD , Multi-in-1 card reader , 10.1" WSVGA high-brightness Acer CrystalBrite™ TFT LCD (1024 X 600 pixel resolution) , Integrated Acer CrystalEye webcam , Two built-in stereo speakers , 1.27kg with 6-cell battery

List Price: $899
Promotional Price: $688

Operating System	Genuine Windows^® XP Home Edition
Platform	Intel® Atom™ processor N280 (1.66 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 512 KB L2 cache) Mobile Intel® 945GSE Express Chipset
System memory	Single channel with one soDIMM slot DDR2 SDRAM memory interface design soDIMM slot: 1GB DDR2 RAM Supports 512 MB / 1 GB / 2 GB soDIMMs for total system memory of up to 2 GB
Display	10.1" SD 1024 x 600 (WSVGA) pixel resolution, high-brightness Acer CrystalBrite™ LED-backlit TFT LCD
Storage	2.5" 9.5 mm 160 GB hard disk drive Multi-in-1 card reader
Audio	High-definition audio support Two built-in stereo speakers MS-Sound compatible Built-in digital microphone
Communication	Integrated Acer Crystal Eye webcam, supporting 0.3 megapixel resolution WLAN: Acer InviLink™ 802.11b/g Wi-Fi CERTIFIED® network connection, supporting Acer SignalUp™ wireless technology LAN: 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet WPAN: Bluetooth® 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
Dimensions and weight	258.5 (W) x 184 (D) x 25.4 (H) mm (10.17 x 7.24 x 1 inches) 1.27 kg with 6-cell battery pack
Color choices	Sapphire Blue Seashell White Diamond Black Ruby Red
Power	30 W adapter with power cord Product Safety Electric Appliance and Materials (PSE) certified for battery pack 48.8 W 4400 mAh 6-cell Li-ion battery pack • up to 6-hour battery life
Special keys and controls	84-/85-/88-key keyboard, 89% of standard-size keyboard, , 1.6 mm (minimum) key travel Multi-gesture touchpad pointing device with two buttons, supporting: • Circular-motion scrolling • Pinch-action zoom • Page flip 12 function keys, four cursor keys, one Windows® key for Windows® XP Home, hotkey controls, embedded numeric keypad, international language support Power button with LED Easy-access WLAN switch with LED Easy-launch Bluetooth® key
I/O ports	Three USB 2.0 ports External display (VGA) port Headphone/speaker/line-out jack Microphone-in jack Ethernet (RJ-45) port DC-in jack for AC adapter
Software	Productivity applications: • Acer Recovery Management • Microsoft® Works Work SE 9 with Office Home and Student 2007 Trial • Google Toolbar™ • Google Desktop™ • Google™ Setup • Adobe® Reader® 9 • Adobe® Flash® Player 10 • Microsoft®.NET Framework 2.0 • Customized Internet Explorer® 7.0 • eSobi • Carbonite online backup McAfee® Internet Security Suite (60-day trial) Acer Game Zone Communication/ISP applications: • Acer Video Conference Manager 4.0 • Windows Live™ Essentials — Wave 3 (Mail, Photo Gallery, Live™ Messenger, Writer)
Warranty	One-year International Travelers Warranty (ITW)

Look what I bought!

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 08:02:00 +0000

Sony Ericsson Xperia!!!

Remember my post http://nurturingmoments.blogspot.com/2008/07/blog-post.html I was deciding which one to get and finally after a long while I decided on Sony Ericsson Xperia. It is only a few days old so too soon for me to tell how it is but in the meantime I can say that I am really enjoying it :).
Uh Izryn, D60 has to wait another year I guess :).

2 months and busy

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 07:40:00 +0000

I didn’t realize that it is almost 2 months since I last updated this blog. What was I busy with over these 2 months? A couple of weeks ago, I asked a friend whether was I really busy and I don’t know what the answer to that is.

Besides working, I am also studying and this semester really took up a lot of my time because there were more group projects than previous semester. The projects were quite tough too so during my free time I spent on doing the projects. My group finally finished all the projects and assignments a week ago so that is something good but somehow now I am busy at work. I don’t understand why also and I think I need to look into this. Maybe it has got something to do with me not managing my time properly or I’m doing tasks others supposed to do.

Anyway, I will try to post more often but I have to prepare for my exams, which is on end of May so I will be busy again. This word ‘busy’ is really taking over my life and I really have to do something to minimize its presence.

Oh, I bought a new stuff and I am really loving it. I’ll show it in my next post soon.

Decisions in life

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:00:00 +0000

It has been almost 3 weeks since I last posted anything on here. I went through a few ups and downs but I am still surviving. Life can be really difficult at times but most of the time for my case, I don’t make life difficult for myself but others did good jobs in this. Well, of course to quote Eleanor Roosevelt “Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent” but for some people they do have ways to somehow make others feel inferior with their words.

Anyway, something happened about a week ago to make me so upset and because of this incident I made a decision that will change the course of my life. It may take effect in a couple of years and honestly, if I followed my heart, I’ll probably embark on the decision now. I wish I could do that but I have commitment to my studies and my job here and it is simply not possible for me to do it now.

As of now, I’m living my life daily counting to the days towards end of 2010. Whatever decision I made, I believe in my heart that it is for good and I hope that it will go through smoothly for my happiness.

Cruise

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:29:00 +0000

Went on 2 nights cruise to Kuala Lumpur on Star Cruise Libra on 23 - 25 Jan 09.
Below are some pictures.

Re-awakening our creative minds

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 09:01:00 +0000

I attended a course last week titled “Re-awakening our creative minds”. It was a 3-day course and I learned a lot from the course and enjoyed myself.

The main objectives of the course are for us to acknowledge that the seed of creativity is in everyone, helps us to grasps and overcomes personal blockages to creative thinking, how to apply creative thinking to generate new ideas and solutions at the workplace and in our daily lives and, the course helps us to enhance our thinking skills and develops our flexibility in approaching a problem.

On the first day of the course, slightly before lunch, the course instructor asked us to paint each other’s face using face paint. We innocently drew on our partner’s face and after we were done, the course instructor told us to go to lunch and not wash our faces! We were surprised and were reluctant to go out for lunch but we had to and it was a great experience for us all. Only 8 of us were brave enough to go for lunch at a crowded food centre and people looked at us probably asking among each other what we were up to. There were stares; whispers and one of my course mates even heard one lady said we were crazy.

An old lady at one of the food stalls asked me what we were up to, a man at the drink stall looked twice at me when he was pouring tea, another stall owner approached our table and asked what game we were playing. I noticed that the older people have the courage to ask us and whereas the younger generations rather speculate among themselves. This experience has taught me to overcome my fear of embarrassment and also to believe in myself and not to worry so much what people going to think of my actions.

During the course, we were shown a video titled “ Everyday Creativity” featuring Dewitt Jones, a National Geographic photographer. Points learned from the video:

Creativity is a moment where we look at the ordinary and see the extraordinary
Creativity feels like falling in love with the world
Try to add value to what we do
Re-frame problem into opportunity
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes – keep finding the right answer and don’t just stop at the first right answer, find the second right answer and third right answer.
Look at things at different perspective to find creative solution
How do we make use of creativity to make our lives extraordinary?
Have the right mindset for creativity
Learn the right techniques and train ourselves.
Break the pattern.
Take challenges positively and,
Have the PASSION and VISION.

After 3 days of the course, do I feel my creativity seeping out of my mind? Guess, have to wait and find out :)

Tips for better life

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 15:40:00 +0000

A friend shared this on facebook.

Tips for Better Life

1. Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day. And while you walk, smile.
2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
3. Sleep for 7 hours.
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
5. Play more games.
6. Read more books than you did the previous year.
7. Make time to practice meditation, yoga, and prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.
8. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
9. Dream more while you are awake.
10. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
11. Drink plenty of water.
12. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
13. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
14. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
15. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
16. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
17. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
18. Smile and laugh more.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
21. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
22. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
23. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about. Don't compare your partner with others.
24. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
25. Forgive everyone for everything.
26. What other people think of you is none of your business.
27. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
28. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
29. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
30. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
31. The best is yet to come.
32. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
33. Do the right thing!
34. Call your family often.
35. Your inner most is always happy. So be happy.
36. Each day give something good to others.
37. Don't over do. Keep your limits.
38. Share this with someone you care about

For more on wonderful happiness ideas, please join the group "The Happiest Day of Your Life"
http://groups.to/happiness

Marina Barrage

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:49:00 +0000

Made an unplanned visit to Marina Barrage last night with Izryn and took a few pictures with my Nokia 6500s handphone.
Just some random pictures to capture the moments.

Welcome 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:00:00 +0000

Looking back...

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:59:00 +0000

Last day of 2008 and I thought it is appropriate for me to look back at what I went through in 2008, what happened to me or people close to me and what I have achieved for this year.

End of 2008 does not end very well with me and my family. One of my maternal aunt passed away unexpectedly on 31 Dec 08 at around 3:45 am. Cause of her death was cardio respiratory failure. She passed away at the age of 44 leaving behind her husband. We didn’t expect death to take her away from us too soon but this is what GOD has arranged for her. My late aunt looked after me and my other 2 siblings when we were little. She was very young then and that was over 20 years ago. Over the years, I began to drift apart from her and also the rest of my relatives. We met over special occasions or gatherings and the last time I saw my late aunt was during the last EID, which was on 1 Oct 08. She looked healthy then and 3 months later she is gone. She will always be remembered and be missed by us.

Year 2008 saw me taking up another diploma course to upgrade myself to remain relevant in this ever changing world. So far, I am glad that I made the decision and I successfully passed the first semester.

My relationship with someone whom I used to be constantly in touch with started to dwindle beginning of June and for the past few months I hardly received any email from him. He claimed that he was busy but I just find it impossible not to be able to find time to send me a short email or sms at least once a week.

Jan 2008 was when my first godson, Muhammad Aiman Anaqi was born and now he is already 11 months and learning how to walk. Hardly get to meet him because of my busy schedule and for 2009 I hope to spend more time visiting him. In fact, this year I didn’t spend much time meeting friends and one even said I am beginning to be anti-social. I hope to do better in spending time with friends in 2009 and years ahead.

Unfortunately, I can’t remember much of what happened to me in the first half of 2008. I’ll make better effort for 2009 to remember each and everyday of it. I think I spent most of my free time on the net either chatting or surfing and because of that I didn’t have time for anything else except work.

What have I achieved this year? I don’t think I achieved anything of significance but having gone through 2008 without any major difficulties is a good enough achievement. Oh, I watched the whole 10 seasons of FRIENDS, the American sitcom broadcast on TV from 1994 – 2004. I enjoyed each and every episode of the series :).

What is my resolution for 2009? I have none actually and I never thought to have one. I just hope to go through each and every moment in 2009 peacefully and with full of happiness.

Goodbye 2008 and welcome 2009.

Morning, afternoon blah

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 04:48:00 +0000

11: 58 am on a Tuesday
The phone rang and I answered.

Me: “Hello, good afternoon”
Caller: “Afternoon? Good morning to you”
Me: “Hmm ok”

What is wrong with me? I can’t differentiate between evening and afternoon and now I also can’t differentiate between morning and afternoon.

Exams result

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 09:55:00 +0000

Exams result was released on 16 Dec 08 after 5 pm. At around 5.05 pm, I went into the website to check my result. I didn’t expect to be so nervous but I was nervous. I was so worried that I might fail one of the subjects. I clicked on relevant link to see my result and YIPEE!!!! I passed my exams and I got A for the subject I thought I didn’t do well. The paper is Managing People and Organizations so passing it and getting A means I can manage people and organizations now hehe.

I scored B+ for the other two subjects - Business English and Business Mathematics. I was very surprised that I got B+ for Maths because I didn’t answer the last question at all…not because I ran out of time but I forgot how to solve the problems. I had tuition lessons one month before the exams and my tutor said for someone who didn't have Additional Maths background, I did well in my exams :)

I thought I would get better marks for English but the lecturer already said that it is not easy to get A and above for English in the exams so I am not so disappointed.

So, I am going to the second semester, which starts mid-Jan. This time I said to myself to start studying from the beginning of semester so that I don’t have to go through the stress like the last time I went through.
Wish me luck in my journey :)

Afternoon or evening?

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 10:47:00 +0000

Something has been puzzling me for a while now. What time does evening starts? When does an afternoon end? This started when I answered phonecalls between 5 pm – 6.30 pm. When I said “good afternoon”, the caller responded “good evening”. When I said “good evening”, the caller responded “good afternoon”. It happened a few times and I told myself that I have to find an answer to this. I don’t have any problem knowing when afternoon starts or when morning starts even though morning starts in the middle of the night.

Anyway, I googled to find the answer and found a few and one of them is this “6:pm starts evening. 6:pm until 12:am is evening. 12:am until 6:am is morning. 6:am until 12:pm is mid morning. 12:pm until 6:pm is afternoon. That's probably the official rule but theres no law against making it up to what suits you:)” from http://qna.live.com/ShowQuestion.aspx?qid=78127D0300574F85B437DA1358B6A724

But if I were to greet someone around 6 am to 12 pm, do I have to say “Good mid-morning”?
I just want to know whether I should greet someone “good afternoon” or “good evening” between 5 pm – 6.30 pm.

Exams over!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:38:00 +0000

Exams finally over and it is time for me to take a break from all the studying. I spent more than 12 hours daily for the 2 weeks before the exams studying and I really hope to pass the papers.

The first paper didn’t turn out so well. I looked through the MCQs and the questions were easy. (I found after the paper that I did one mistake.)Then I read the second question of the paper and my mind froze. I understood the question and I know the key terms but I can’t remember how to explain the key terms. Argghh!!! It was a 20 marks question and I wonder how many marks I scored from my answer. I don’t think I did well in this paper and I’m hoping for a passing mark.

Second paper is Business English and it was easy but I did a couple of careless mistakes in the MCQs. The rest of the paper was a breeze though I don’t think I can score good marks for it.

Third paper…Business Mathematics that really stressed out the life of me for the past 6 months. I managed to answer all the MCQs and the questions on Maths of Finance so at least I know 40% of the marks are guaranteed for me.

I’m waiting for result to be out and it will be out on 16 Dec after 5 pm. I really hope to pass the exams to proceed to second semester. The thought of repeating another semester is not sitting well in my mind right now so I am really hoping for the best.

Accentuate the positive

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:16:00 +0000

Words on the card given to me as a gift from a lecturer.

Blue Bayou

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Faizah) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:56:00 +0000

I watched the movie Man on Fire (starring Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning) for the second or third time a couple of weeks ago and heard this song, Blue Bayou...lovely song. Enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOnqFA8ipEs