High Rope, High Road

Alhamdulillah, I was out the whole evening yesterday shooting for Santai Selebriti segment of Remaja magazine with Zain Saidin! The shooting was done at Skytrex Adventure in Taman Botani Negara Shah Alam (previously known as Taman Pertanian Malaysia Bukit Cahaya Seri Alam) and I totally had fun swinging from one tree to another, "flying fox" and enjoyed all of the "Tarzan and Jane's Game" in the forest! Seriously I can't wait for the two pages spread of our activities in Remaja magazine this July 15 edition insyaallah. 

The platforms are 17 metres up from the ground, so gayat much? I did not get the chance to take any photos while doing the activity at all, but insyaallah you guys and girls can view them in the magazine later. 

Zain Saidin, a new-comer in Malaysia's entertainment scene and is doing well so far! He is a humble man and my perception on him was clearly wrong; he is very down to earth and speaks fluent Malay! Also seen in the photo above is Mia, the writer for the section from Karangkraf.

These are the other 4 girls who joined the thrilling activities with us. Yes, they are so courageous since they are not afraid of height at all! Wow, I truly adore their spirit!

We had the chance to ride the back part of this 4 wheel drive vehicle with Zain as well. He is so sempoi for me; no need to put up the image as snob celebrity at all. Unlike me, that is something I need to learn from him ;)

I seriously want to get serious in this kind of "high rope" activity so Allah has answered my prayer and I am thankful for that. Life is sweet; no wonder I was lost in Shah Alam last week when I was on my way back from Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara Putrajaya. Allah wants me to get to know Shah Alam so that it would be an easy travel for me from Serdang to Taman Botani Negara yesterday. I took the high road to get to this stage of life so thank you Allah for letting me achieve another dream of mine ;)

United Mistakes

Spent most of my teenage years in United Mistakes crushing on some people who have never loved me back; I took the chill pill and they send me to a rehab out of no apparent reason.

United Mistakes-the country of all sins and wrongdoings; the place where I was involved with all of the wrongest person. I fall in love to the idea of "falling in love" even when I do not know the real meaning of LOVE at all; such a peer pressure from my friends who are dating and a friend who is married with a cute kid. 


Some of my friends do not know why they are dating; they do it because the society seems to like the idea of having a partner. Some of them have gone to the extend of cohabiting like a real married couple but when the baby is out...it is out in a stinky toilet and the father runs away like a typical Malay drama.


Another friend plans to get married but she does not get the approval from the society; she is still young and should focus on her studies as they say. The society define what is right and what is wrong based on their judgment without considering the feelings of the people involved. That is United Mistakes by the way...the slum, the sludge and the slur of the people committing mistakes and more mistakes ;)

Mouth-Watering Documentary

It all started in this blog post :)

Alhamdulillah, this "Malaysian Food" documentary by Anak-anak Edmund Production Sdn. Bhd. won 4 awards for Malam Anugerah Video Dokumentari Kebudayaan (MAVeK) UPM 2012. The awards are "Best Sound/Music", "Best Videography", "Best Director" and "The Best Video" of all 5 competing documentaries. Based on juries comments, our video managed to capture the essence of culture very vividly in the video, together with a smooth video and clear sound editing. To top it all, we won 4 out of 6 awards altogether, syukur alhamdulillah! 

This documentary was filmed mostly in Mid Valley Megamall and our plus point was when we bumped into Dato' Chef Ismail there; he really helped us in our short interview with him. Together with the excellent and dedicated production crews, we managed to get this video done in time and the result is SUPER AWESOME! Enjoy the mouth-watering documentary people!

P/S: Allah is great...He gave me TWO passes to watch Men in Black III at GSC One Utama tomorrow and my only problem is to find a date to watch the movie with me. 

Teddy Vsvc

Like a desperate Hollywood celebrity I adopted this bear from a third world country; his name is Teddy Vsvc and I am ready to be his daddy ;)

This is the best Teachers' Day gift so far; such a sweet God-given baby to cure a sorrow mood. Perhaps I could walk him out on the park in the evening, spoil him with the best of life and pray that one day he will not leave me in the old folks home like those people in Malay TV series. This is actually a sign that I am ready to fall in love with a girl who is soon to be my wife; just a small love-knitted family. Let me start by dating someone tall with a long hair and a great sense of humor...wish me luck.

P/S: This all started from the birth of our first TESL Baby ;)

Announcer/Broadcast Journalist

Just feeling so somber on this special Teachers' Day celebration...I totally ruined the chance to pursue my dream job as an Announcer/Broadcast Journalist at Putra FM (Universiti Putra Malaysia's very own radio station). This has been one of my dream so I dressed up for the part in order to portray a pleasant worker's appearance; went there early and put up a brave face even though I was not.

My nervousness clearly cloud up my language so I stuttered, stammered and swallowed my words that the other non-TESL candidate did a better broadcast for the audition; I knew it because I heard and peeped his audition session. Such a shame for an English language teacher-to-be who is supposed to have a flawless language acquisition, I need to practice, practice and practice!

 This is just so sad, I should only use English in my daily conversation since I am not proficient in my speaking skills; this is high time to reflect on my effort to brushing up my language. Seriously, I will stop talking in my native language starting from now for the best of my future. This is firm even though it may sound so arrogant to some people; I have to do the right thing in my life. 

Nevertheless, it was still worthy of an experience! I managed to step into Putra FM's studio and get the feeling of a radio announcer. Even if I were not chosen as one of the announcer, I promise that I will not fret at all. There are stuff in life that you are totally good at, and some part are just not meant for you. In fact, I have tried my best so now it is up to the management team. Insyaallah, rezeki ada di mana-mana ;)

P/S: If I were not fated to be sitting on the Announcer seat, perhaps I could still join Putra FM as a writer for English programs or any odd jobs right?

TESL Baby

Refer to this blog post for more information :)

Alhamdulillah, big fat of congratulations to my TESL classmate Imran and wife for the birth of their cute unnamed prince (yet!). It was a long journey way back to 2010 when both of them decided to get married at 19 years old, such a major shock to all of us! There were wild accusations about them too which were never bothered; even some of our lecturers in IPG really protested his decision but he went on! Now fate does step in; nearly two years later this cute baby made such a sweet slow motion entrance to clear up social misjudgments on how the society used to hate the idea of early marriages. 

Proud TESL Grandpa and Grandma ;)

This is the first TESL baby in our TESL community; the Grandpa and Grandma are both TESLians and I am his proud uncle. I have waited for too long to call myself an "uncle" so I am going to brag about it forever. I promise that I would be the best and handsomest uncle to this baby; insyaallah be a good son to your parents and the pious one to Allah okay?

Just a gentle reminder to my first "anak saudara"...life is going to be so difficult; sometimes you wish that you were never born at all. Your childhood is precious so embrace that because 24 hours never seem to be enough for a day. When you grow older...you are going to fall in love with someone just like your parents and most of the time you are just going to hurt yourself. Keep your head up boy; I am your uncle, still single and the best part of my life...I survived!

And when you are an adult dear, you are going to be busy growing up that you forgot your parents are growing older. Please be reminded to visit or call them more often...I have a thousand reason to tell you that. I know the hurdles that your parents have gone through even though most of the time I play-pretend to never give a damn but somehow I cared.

So sorry dear...this is just an emotional blog post and surely not a great welcoming note for you to the world. I am just grooming you because the best part of your life is yet to come...I am your uncle and I know better ;)

Homec Restaurant Part 2

Homec Restaurant Part 1

Yesterday was another food testing session for all of us at Homec Restaurant, Faculty of Educational Studies in UPM. It was time for Western cuisines and you guys and girls can see the menu lists in the image above. 

Let us start with the appetizer, Carrot soup with Crouton which is truly delicious! I am not a big fan of soups actually but this is definitely something to try! Even though it is made up of carrot but it tastes like mushroom soup with a bit of cheese, I am not an expert in cooking but my taste buds will never lie ;)

Next, we tried Soda Lemon Calamansi which really quenches our thirst! Calamansi is actually "limau kasturi" but it has a fancy English name that made it sound so classy haha ;)

Here is our main course for the day, Lambada Chicken! I love the texture of the chicken, it was really easy cutting the meat and the gravy is tantalizing! However, I would prefer the chicken to be warm-heated and the gravy to be a bit spicy hehe. I love the decoration of the food that actually arouses my appetite plus it adds colors complete with nutrients in a plate! I do not have the image of Prawn Aglio Olio (main course for Set A) because my friends and I at the same table ordered Set B.

This is the desert, Choco Mania Layer Pudding! I love this desert because I am a big fan of chocolate but my friends did not quite like it. It is okay, different people will have different opinions on a particular flavor. For closure, we had a cup of tea /coffee and settled the bill LIKE A BOSS! Alhamdulillah, another worth-paying meals at Homec Restaurant and a truly exclusive 5 STARS service for only RM 12.90 per pax! Next week would be a different menu on Western cuisines so tag along your friends okay ;)


P/S: Homec Restaurant in only open every Thursday, located at Block B, Faculty of Educational Studies, University of Malaysian Prince.

Public Bath House

The Public Bath House of UPM; it's sexy, wet and wild plus tanning my skin although I'm already coloured!

Finally a sport that I am into it; I try my best to be in the SWIM TEAM with my SWIM MATES but sometimes duty calls. Just my dear lecturers calling for more tests and assignments and tests and another assignment which literally left me with no more quality time for some workout. Frustrating isn't it? When we are finally good with something but so little time to enjoy it; perhaps it is my time management skills that need a serious "rescheduling"? And I am up on it, this is the price I have to pay to stay tall, dark and handsome ;)

P/S: This Public Bath House...it is for UPM students only so it is not so public ;)

#Wordless Wednesday: Talking to the Moon

Homec Restaurant

Alhamdulillah, finally the weekend is here and I am going to enjoy the moment until it is time to finally deal face to face with 5 pending assignments, scary right? Alright, put my workloads aside and now it is time to blog about Homec Restaurant, yummy!

This is a truly exclusive fine dining restaurant in the University of Malaysian Prince (UPM) and it is open only on Thursday from 10.30 AM until 2.30 PM. Homec Restaurant is located at the ground floor level of Block B, Faculty of Educational Studies (Fakulti Pengajian Pendidikan, my faculty!) and is operated by the students of Bacelor Pendidikan Sains Rumah Tangga. These are the students who will be teaching Ekonomi Rumah Tangga (ERT) for secondary schools in Malaysia so I presume that Homec Restaurant is a part of their coursework for this semester.

The theme for last week was Modern Malay cuisines and the set up of the restaurant was fantastic! I can truly experience FIVE STARS service in an intimate setting accompanied by traditional Malay music which actually levitated my desire to taste the food. The appetizer was "tauhu sumbat" and I must admit that it was kind of awkward for me to "attack" the appetizer without knowing which forks and spoons to begin with, funny!

This is the drink for the day, Orange Sunquick juice with Nata de Coco. You can choose two sets of the cuisines;

Set A which comprises of Nasi Keju with Ayam Masak Merah, Dalca Sayur and Papadom or

Set B with Nasi Keju, Ayam Masak Hitam, Dalca Sayur and Papadom. No worries of humiliating yourself once you have accidentally break the rules of table manners! The chicken has already been nicely sliced for our comfort but mind you that "Ayam Masak Merah" is quite spicy for me ;)

These are the Food Critics for the session, Rina, Qing Yi, Yong Cun and me. 

Right after the main course was digested, we were served with puding sagu gula Melaka for the desert, super scrumptious! 

Then last but not least, we were served with either coffee or tea for closure. Please guess how much was the total cost per set for a person? Well, believe it or not...it is RM 11.90 only for a true fine dining experience right in this campus! The price is truly reasonable for students like us so I urge all of you to try this restaurant next Thursday. 

The theme would change every week and next time would be special for Western dishes. My friends and I are seriously going there dressed up for the function and who knows that there will be somebody playing violin right next to our table right? And please reserve your table by calling the number stated above because the seat is selling fast...unless you want to queue up outside, seriously ;0

Glossary

Deal              : menghadapi

Pending           : tertangguh

Workloads         : beban kerja

Aside             : ketepi

Truly             : sangat

Fine dining       : santapan mewah

Located           : terletak

Operated          : dikendalikan

Presume           : menganggap

Coursework        : kerja kursus

Cuisines          : masakan

Intimate          : intim

Accompanied by    : ditemani oleh

Levitated         : membangkitkan

Appetizer         : pembuka selera

Admit             : mengaku

Awkward           : kekok

Comprises         : merangkumi

Humiliating       : memalukan 

Accidentally      : tidak sengaja

Table manners     : adab di meja makan

Sliced            : dihiris/dipotong

Food critics      : pengkritik makanan

Digested          : dihadamkan

Desert            : pencuci mulut

Scrumptious       : enak/sedap

Urge              : menyeru/mengajak

Reserve           : tempah

Extra, SuperSTAR

This is connected to this blog post ;)

Alhamdulillah, the official music video for Najwa Latif's third single is out and fresh on YouTube today! Thanks to my old friend Anam Khazali who tagged the video on my timeline; he managed to make my hands shake while the MV was buffering! I must admit that I am a bit frustrated when I viewed this music video because I made such a major fuss to all of you about my first nationwide debut on screen. It turned out that I cannot even spot myself in the video until I paused it at 2:47; you know how it feels like? 

Well, what a blogger to do? I am just an EXTRA while Najwa Latif is the STAR! Maybe next time I should aim higher though, to becoming a real TALENT in my own TV show right? It was still worthy of an experience, thanks to the production team that actually made me feel like a part of the STARS. At least I am involved in a music video of a hit song; to telling the truth each time I hear this song being played on the radio I giggled deep inside me. You know why? Because I am a part of the music video no matter I am barely recognizable or not :)

These are the video of what happened behind the scenes, at least some part of me is visible.

And please, I am not complaining okay. I am very thankful for whatever Allah has planned for me. At least I managed to achieve another dream right?

Blogger Interview: Jue & Hanie

Hey guys and girls! This is story of an interesting event when my editor, Azham Vsvc assigned me to set up an interview session with TWO best friends + allied blog writers Jue and Hanie from Jue & Hanie's Blog! The meeting point was at Nando's Restaurant KLCC right after these career ladies clocked out from their offices nearby, so busy they were and still are!





Our main agenda was to hang out in real life since the three of us have only seen each other "on line" but somehow it ended up like an interview session. The truth is I was nervous to finally confronting Jue and Hanie for the first time so I sounded very much like a reporter. 

My questions were not steaming hot as these Peri-Peri sauces; it was just a dire curiosity to know how they started blogging and the gist of our interview session has already been concluded by Jue and Hanie in their blog post here. We had fun in getting to know each other and exchange ideas on how we operate and manage our blogs. 

Jue and Hanie are so sweet; no hesitation in sharing their unique ways of "blog walking" and replying bloggers' comments to me at all. To trace back on how our "blogging-relationship" began...wow it would take a while! One thing that caught my attention back then was the fact that both of them run the blog as TWO AUTHORS and they told me that they will not FOLLOW any blog unnecessarily. They prefer "mutual visit" rather than the "I FOLLOW YOU, FOLLOW ME BACK" basis, which I later adopted and applied the idea. 





It was indeed a productive meeting but too bad that another close blogger mate of mine Saiazuan did not have the chance to join us. It is okay, I will try to organize a proper Blogger Meeting and gather other blogging mates in a near future hopefully. Thank you once again Jue and Hanie for the special Nando's treat, I will return the favor one day okay hehe. I really hope that our "blogging-relationship" would last and needless to say...the two of you are AWESOME! Until we meet again, take care and God bless.


:Glossary: 

Assigned          : menugaskan

Set up            : menetapkan

Allied            : bersekutu

Meeting point     : tempat pertemuan

Career ladies     : wanita bekerjaya

Clocked out       : habis kerja

Confronting       : berhadapan

Sounded           : berbunyi

Reporter          : wartawan

Steaming hot      : tersangat panas

Dire              : teramat sangat

Curiosity         : perasaan ingin tahu

Gist              : inti sari

Concluded         : telah disimpulkan

Operate           : beroperasi

Manage            : menguruskan

Hesitation        : teragak-agak

Sharing           : berkongsi

Trace back        : menjejak kembali

Began             : bermula

Back then         : pada masa itu

Run               : menguruskan

Mutual visit      : saling kunjung-mengunjung

Adopted           : mengambil

Applied           : menggunakan

Indeed            : sangat

Productive        : membuahkan hasil

Close             : rapat

Organize          : menguruskan

Mates             : rakan-rakan

Near future       : masa terdekat

Treat             : belanja

Return the favor  : membalas budi

Needless          : tidak perlu