Employee of the month

That would be me for the month of March!

There would be 8 public holidays - fridays and sundays - for the month of March and believe it or not, I would be working 5 of those public holidays!! 5 out of 8 days, ain't that just great?

And oh yea, that doesn't include my on-call in the final week of March where I can be paged 24/7 for 1-whole-freaking-week!

Good luck to me!

Brothers

A sister and 5 brothers
From left: Andy, Wadi, Faiz, iantie, Adi and Muiz

The sister would be me and although I have 5 brothers, let's just say that I'm most closest with 3 of them. Don't get me wrong. M close with all my brothers but these 3 brothers are the ones who went out watching movies with me, lunching out with me...well, basically hang out with their elder sister.

My eldest brother, Wadi, is married with 3 girls - Wadi's angels as I called them so we rarely hang out. Only once in a while we went out for pool, eating out and watching TVs. M the 2nd, Andy the 3rd, Adi the 4th, Faiz the 5th and Muiz the 6th. M closest with the 3rd, 5th and 6th!

Adi, well, he's engaged so most of his time is with his fiance. Between me and Andy, there are 5 years difference between us hence he annoyed me the most. He always picked on me but as the big sister, I always win! Hahaha! *evil laugh*

Anyway, whenever we went out, me, Andy, Faiz and Muiz, I always ended up driving for them eventhough both Andy and Faiz got their driving liscence. Gosh! These boys, when they are around their sister, they are very ungentlemenly! *tsk*tsk*tsk*

And everytime we were in the car and we passed any car with the young ladies driving it, all 3 of them would go, "waaaaahhhh! cewek (girls!)" and started to look/stare at those poor girls. In other word, they were flirting with the young ladies in the next car. This happened a lot and I started to get embarrassed by their behaviors. I told them so but boys would always be boys.

So to all the poor young ladies outthere who had become 'the victims' of my brothers' flirting, on behalf of them, do forgive them. They mean no harm, as my colleague always said, "barking dogs never bite" well, in my brothers' case, make that, "meowing cats never scratch" coz my brothers, they are the most wonderful brothers a sister (like myself) proud to have and to call them, "my brothers".

Buzy! Buzy! Buzy!

I guess that's the only excuse I managed to come up with for not regularly updating my blog.

What kept occupied lately? Hmmm...let's see!

1. Always the paperworks! Oh yes! The never ending paperworks!
2. Physically and mentally drained!
3. The Amazing Race and American Idol
4. Frequent visits to the hospital
5. Household chores

Well, I won't list the other stuffs (reading ebooks, playing games bla bla bla) coz well, that's just another excuse for not updating my blog.

Work getting more hectic! More paperworks and somehow, the manpower problems are getting more and more complicated. I don't want to dwell into it considering that it's not my position to think about it. It's not that I don't care but let's just say that I'm minding my own business before minding others.

My popo (grandma), my mum's mum, was warded into the hospital last week. She had blood transfusion 1 day after being warded. And yesterday, she had a surgery - a gastro surgery. Honestly, m not really a good granddaughter. Consumed with works and all, I only managed to visit popo less than expected. Me and my brothers visited her before her surgery and this afternoon, afterwork, I visited her again. She is weak and can't do much, so I just sat there and accompany her while my cousin, Amoy, who had been her sitter for all these past days, dozed her.

Tomorrow, my cousin is getting married, so tomorrow started to get real buzy! Morning, I have to go and help my colleagues to shift clinics, then in the afternoon, for my cousin's nikah. Saturday, I need to catchup with my laundry and ironing while at night, have to attend my cousin's berbedak. Sunday, my cousin's sanding and I would be working till 11pm.

Monday, back to work, no off for me coz I need the off for Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon to accompany my mum for her appointments at the hospital. I know I had been a buzy daughter but that gave me no excuse to neglect my family especially my mum. Hence m sacrificing my much needed off to accompany my mum. Love her to bits!

Here we go again....

After so long I didn't take any antihistamine and no series of running nose and sneezing , I thought my sinusitis has 'mellow down' but today, m wrong. Ever since this morning I can't stop sneezing and my nose hurts!

Oh well, time for my medication....

The Many Faces of.....

... of my family, aunts, uncles and cousins from my mother's side. As usual we went back to Temburong - 45 minutes by boat via the Brunei river or about 1hr 30min - 2 hours by car via the neighbouring country, Limbang - for the Chinese New Year.

Here are some pictures I managed to take and upload here. The rest of the pictures are posted in my facebook.

Reading Before Sleeping

I know most of us read a book before we go to bed but the question is - why? Does it help us to fall asleep? If that's the case, what's the use of reading a book if your intention is to fall asleep? Don't you want to finish the book? Don't you want to know the ending?

Being an enthusiastic reader, I can't stop reading when I started so reading before I go to sleep is really really a bad idea. It happened so many times. When I started to read before I go to bed, I would either end up sleeping late in order to finish the book or sleep for awhile but I would wake up few hours later to finish reading it which both would result in lack of sleep!

I think what I need is a self control which I think m lacking these days. I don't know how other readers managed it? Any pointers??

Half-Human Half-God Vs. Half-Man Half-Wolf

M talking about 2 movies I watched recently - Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief and The Wolfman!

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is a story of a boy named Percy Jackson who is (as I mentioned in my blog title) half-human and half-god! He is the son of Poseidon, the Greek God of water played by Kevin McKidd! Percy was accused of stealing the lightning bolt owned by Zeus, God of the Sky (I think) and in order to stop the Gods from fighting each other, Percy was forced to know his true identity and save the world.

The Wolfman - I guess no need for me elaborate. Everyone knows what wolfman means, right? I think there are so many of these movies that somehow we all know how it's gonna end. Anyway, apart from Robert De Niro, I have no idea who are the rest of the cast. The main character, Lawrence came back to his home, Talbot Hall when his brother's fiance wrote to him to inform the death of his brother. One thing led to another and eventually Lawrence is the werewolf, beaten by his own father, also a werewolf.

If any of you haven't watch these movies, oh well, m not gonna spill out the ending here. Just watch it for yourself. But if you ask me, I would prefer to watch the Percy Jackson rather than the Wolfman coz with wolfman, I guess we all know how it's gonna end....

...and The Amazing Race is Back!

The Amazing Race Season 16 is back!

And once again, my blog enteries would be filled with all the race details. Those I like and those not so. This season 11 teams are competing for the $1 million - Brent and Caite (dating models), Carol and Brandy (dating), Adrian and Dana (married), Jet and Cord (brothers/cowboys), Jody and Shannon (grandmother/granddaughter), Joseph and Heidi (married), Jordan and Daniel (brothers), Jeff and Jordan (newly dating), Louie and Michael (detectives), Monique and Shawne (moms/attorneys) and Steve and Allison (father/daughter).



Caite, who is a model who used to be a beauty pageant (or something) somehow made a mistake in her speech (in the beauty pageant) and somehow that's become the joke among the participants. Carol and Brandy are both women - no further comment! Adriana and Dana are high school sweethearts who eventually got married; Jet and Cord - I got nothing to say about them except how can they be racing around the world with their cowboy hats and jeans?. Jody, the 'nana' is 70+ years old lady who had participated in tri-athelons, so do not underestimate her! Joseph and Heidi, well, I kindda don't like Joseph...don't ask me why! Jordan and Daniel - one of these brother is gay, I can't remember which; and the rest, I got nothing to say.

From LA to Santiago, Chile! What a very unique country. The task was one team member had to walk on a rope suspended HIGH up in the air to get across to the other side. The length? The length of a football field. YIKES! I could crumble doing the task if you ask me coz m basically afraid of height!

Sadly to say, Adrian and Dana were eliminated at the end of the race when Adrian couldn't finish the task after trying it twice! Brent and Caite were given 30 minutes penalty when they missed out on one of the route while Steve and Allison painted the wrong house - that part was funny! Hehe!

My Selected Favourite Idol

I'm not used to be a big fan of American Idol and all these while I don't know - and don't want to know - what the fusses were all about. Oh! I know what is American Idol, World Idol, Malaysian Idol, Indonesian Idol and Singaporean Idol. Infact I was staying in Singapore when they started the first Singaporean Idol and I managed to watch few of the shows.

But this year is different. M basically hooked on American Idol. I watched all the audition shows up till they announced the 24 finalists and m ecstatic that all my favourites are in the top 24! Yay!

Yup, I did picked my favourites - 3 of them - Michael Lynch, Didi Benami and Crystal Bowersox! Each one of them has the superb voices I had ever heard and not once in their performances that they disappoint me. Of course there are lot more potential idols but well let's just say that m sticking up with these 3.

Each of them has their own life story. Michael Lynch was torn between his dream to sing and to be his wife who gave birth to their baby girl on the group day. I forgot what's the name of his baby girl but it sure is a beautiful name. Didi Benami went to the audition for the sake of her bestfriend, Rachael who passed away. Rachael was the one who encouraged her to follow her dream and who said that Didi is a great singer - which she is. Crystal Bowe rsox - I like her! She is so spunky (if there is such a word!). She is a young mother who carried her son's picture in her back pocket...everywhere, all the time!

Anyway, I can't hardly wait for their next week performances ;)

To Roadtrip Fanatics - Worth Checking Out!

To the Bruneians out there, I think I don't have to introduce to you who are Norhayati and Harun but for some of you who don't know who are these 2 people, well, let's just say that I would call these people the most adventerous people in Brunei. Forgive me if I miss others but Norhayati and Harun are by far the most outstanding adventerous people that I am proud to call my fellow country men.

Norhayati and his husband, Harun had travel the world, figure of speech. They went to roadtrips after roadtrips with their Toyota 4 by 4 SUV named Jambo. Norhayati's first achievement - that was well-known to me - was when he climbed the Mount Kilamanjaro in the Africa. Then she went from 1 expedition to another and the way I see it, there is no stopping this couple.

They just completed their Trans Russia and Europe and their next journey would be Africa, North and South America before going to Australia with their Jambo. The sole purpose of this expedition is to 'introduce' Brunei to others, which is an applaudable cause, I must say.

Expenditure, well, it doesn't come cheap and it is well explained in their website, overthehorizon.net (click on the link to go to their website). They support themselves from the sponsorships, donations and contributions from companies and individuals. And I'm sorry to say that I have not the money nor the sponsorship for them. All I can do is to promote and support them via my blog.

Wishing them all the best on their journey. I sure am jealous as hell on their roadtrips but well, what to do? I need to work in order to get the money to embark on those adventures.

The continents they're visiting

The European countries they had visited

Their upcoming journey

It's Gonna Be a Long, Hectic Holidays

February in Brunei this year would be filled with public holidays.

This Sunday, 14th February, it would be the Chinese New Year and considering that Sunday is our official public holiday, hence it would be substitute to the following day, Monday. For me, no relaxing! As every year for the past 28 years of my life, as always, we, the whole family would go back to Temburong for the Chinese New Year! Eventhough my mum is a Chinese convert to Muslim, we still celebrate Chinese New Year with the rest of my mum's siblings and families. Unfortunately this year, the bosses couldn't spare any leave for me ;( so I have to make do with the public holidays.

Then on 23rd February, Tuesday, it would be Brunei's 26th National Day! I know we
are still 'young' but we had some satisfactory achievements throughout the year. So that would be another public holiday.

3 days after our National Day, it would be Propeth Mohammad SAW's (PUH) birthday and considering that it falls on Friday (our official public holiday) so Saturday is the substitute. So we would have long weekend - Friday to Sunday!

Unfortunately for me, I won't be having any fun for the long weekend. My cousin is getting married that weekend. Friday would be his nikah, Saturday night would be his berbedak and Sunday would be his sanding. That's family commitment. Work commitment - Saturday morning have to go to Muara Health Centre to help them move their stuffs - they are shifting to the new health centre, finally! - then Sunday I would be working from 2pm till 11pm. With the hectic time management, I don't think I can make it for my cousin's sanding considering that I have to be in the office before 2pm.

So, you see, I won't be having any fun. I think by the end of the month, I would crack down! And not to mention, March events! And April! And don't start on May, June and the rest of the months.....But the hectiest would be October *wink*wink*. Thinking about it makes me jittery...haha!

The Opposite of PMS

No need for me to clarify what is PMS. I think most of us know what it is but if you don't, please don't hesitate to ask...hehe! But I think the image is self-explanatory ^_^

Anyway, (I know I shouldn't put this on my blog - about my body system and all but what the heck) I think I'm due to have my monthly 'vacation' (as I like to call it) soon and all the symptoms are showing. I won't go into the symptoms in here coz frankly, it's too personal. I don't think I can share my PM symptoms to others apart from my family and my bff.

But 2 things off the chart are the grumpiness and the emotional breakdown! I know how men don't like ladies when we are PMS-ing. Been there, suffered a lot (not me though!). Hahaha! But then, I think PMS-ing or not, I'm always grumpy! But not this time! Believe it or not, this week I'm super duper nice to people especially the patients. I can even forgive them for irritate me! My smile is always present on my face and I even care about these people more than I admit.

Am I getting soft? Uuuhhh! I hope not! Then, the true ME would be gone. Grumpy is one of my 'signatures' among other things, of course!

Any ladies out there who suffer the same symptoms as mine? Totally the opposite of PMS-ing!

I hope it doesn't last long. I mean, being nice to people can be so dangerous. People tend to take advantages of nice people, don't you think?

Monday Madness

I don't like to blame Monday for being so blues and all. I mean, so many people hate Mondays as it is and I don't want to be as 1 of those people. For me, as I mentioned before, any day is just a day, not any blues or anything.

But last Monday, I would call it the Monday madness. We were working non-stop and by mid-morning, I was drop dead exhausted! My colleague was having his off coz he worked the day before, so it's just me and my boss. Luckily I have 2 assistants. 1 was helping us with the patients and the other, covering the other's work which is what I call a good team's work!

Some friends asked me how I can handle all the stresses - with patients, drug stocks, paperworks and others. Honestly, I don't know how I handle it. Or am I becoming a workaholic that I don't mind the stresses? That can't be good! My only answer is that I'm having a super-active adrenaline rush nowdays! Dunno what happened!

Safe Toilet Syndrome

Ever heard of this syndrome? Well, for those of you that haven't, no worries, it's not that big thing. No worries, you are not left behind in this fast moving world and truth to be told, it's nothing to fear about...unless you are really that 'kind' of sufferers.

Safe toilet syndrome is basically you choose the toilet / bowl that you 'like' before you do what's necessary aka pee, poo and all those sort of things. What I meant by choosing your own toilet is not that you bring your own toilet bowl everywhere you go - haha! that would be eccentric!. But basically your body system would only pass out when the toilet bowl is the 'right one'.

Sounds crazy? Yea, I know. From my personal experience, I can be considered as the safe toilet syndrome sufferer but not that drastic. No matter how bad I want to go but if I see the toilet is 'not right', somehow and sometimes my system would shut down and refuse to do the neccesities until the next urge comes. Sounds drastic but as I said, I'm not. If I suffered from a very very bad tummy problems, gosh, I don't care which toilet bowl I would sit, I would definitly sit on it. So, I'm not that severe sufferer!

Initially I don't know how to express this syndrome to anyone coz I don't know the right word for it so people just mainly told me to my face that I'm a choosy person but I'm glad to know that I'm not the only 1 suffering! I got the phrase 'Safe Toilet Syndrome' while I was watching Oprah years back when she interviewed this doctor (couldn't remember the name) and suprisingly, there are a lot of people like me out there....so, in conclusion, I'm not a weirdo just because I choose the toilet bowl I want to sit upon.

Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z feat Alicia Keys

Can't get this song out of my head....

Soulmate - Natasha Bedingfield

Will You Wait For Me - Kavana

Too Tired? Too Lazy??

I was supposed to do some pending paper works but somehow m just not in the mood hence here I am, spending my time, my very best to update my blog.

Tired? Gosh, I do! Morning, caught in the traffic. At work, hectic with the paper works and patients, after work, caught in another traffic and by the time I came home, m too tired to do anything else.....well, apart from gaming and watching E!.

Okay...that's it! I think m just plain lazy. I mean, if I have the time to play games and watch E! and NOT doing my work, then of course m lazy, right?

Well, let me ponder upon that and I get back to you!

Night peeps!

Random Stuffs About Me

1. As my bff said, she is just another victim for this blog-tagging. Oh! Surprise surprise...M on top of her blog-tagging list hence M her victim of this blog-tagging..haha!

2. 25 things? Geezzz! That's a lot. Writing / typing facts about myself is ot my habit! M not that good in stating myself. It's always, "You ask, I answer."

3. What?? No questions?! Gosh, this would be endless....

4. Hmmmm...let's see....

5. *still hummmmm-ing*

6. I started to wear glasses when I was 13 years old and believe me, my eyesight is not getting any better as my age grows! I started to wear contact lenses back in 2003 and been a regular user for quiet a while now.

7. Bookworm - Nobody every said this to my face but I think they want to. And truth to be told, I never admit myself being a bookworm. I always rephrase myself as 'an avid reader'.

8. I used to be a tomboy! Hahaha! Seriously! Up till I was 11 years old. Then I started to wear dresses more often and behaved like a girl I was supposed to be but I think I still have some tomboy-ness inside of me.

9. I can't leave the house without all my underwears (whahaha!), proper clothing, watch, money and my driving liscence.

10. I used to wear my watch on my right hand but due to active and 'heavy' workload, I now wear it on my left hand (to minimize the scratching on my watches) and m a right handed person.

11. M a control-freak! Yup! That I admit!

12. M a perfectionist! Although it's hard to do all the time but m trying.

13. I always wanted to become an archeologist. History + adventure = total heaven!

14. M a shopaholic! But not that severe yet! Well, I try to think rationally before buying stuffs aka I love to shop but I don't intend to be covered in debt.

15. What? Only 15 sooo far! M tired!

16. I got over 50 pairs of shoes, sandles, sneakers, slippers bla bla bla in my cabinet as of this moment.

17. I got 20+ handbags, totes and such in my cabinet.

18. I got over 300+ books scattered around my room.

19. I can't sleep without my smelly (yes!), favourite bloster! I even have a name for him. It's a him coz I don't fancy hugging a 'her' when m sleeping. Haha!

20. I LOVE day/night dreaming! I can dream about anything and anywhere! I even nightdreaming before I go to bed!

21. Every morning, I woke up and said to myself, "try not to be nice today" but it always failed!

22. M searching which millionaire or billionaire in this whole wide world who is willing to lend me $1 million. I promise to pay him/her back after a year with the exact same amount. Anyone?

23. I can't believe my bff is getting married this year! Wow! *somehow in shock* Can't believe that I would end up being the last singles. Yikes! Now m freakin' out!

24. M totally addicted to E!, games and ebooks presently.

25. Yay! My suffering over.

26. Oh yea! I got no one to tag to. But if anyone interested, feel free to continue this 'blog-tagging'

Far Away - Nickelback

Few years old but I still love this song....