IT'S A PANDAN LIFE ...!

L ive your life and forget about age. ~ Norman Vincent Peale 1. Life is not fair, but not all the time. 2. When in doubt, ask. Or discuss. 3. Facebook has become an avenue for vanity. 4. Revealing your feelings to the person you adore can be daunting especially when you’ve never done it before but hey, if you don’t, you’ll never know. 5. Paying your bills online might not be such a good idea. They are processed slower than those paid at the counter. 6. You don't have to win every argument. Sometimes you just have to stop arguing. 7. It’s OK to tell people you like them. But not vice-versa. 8. Work hard, spend hard, save hard. 9. When it comes to Open Houses , saying no is difficult. 10. You can’t undo your past. But you can do your tomorrow. 11. Don't compare your life to others more fortunate. Compare with those less fortunate. 12. The joy of festive seasons can be marred by unfortunate incidents that befell the people you care about. 13. Getting rid of things or people that ...

It is easy to be brave from a safe distance. ~Aesop Tomorrow I'll take the road less traveled And see if it leads to your heart.

Love can consign us to hell or to paradise, but it always takes us somewhere. ~ Paul Coelho After reading Ben Okri’s In Arcadia , I kept on thinking about the writer’s vision of Arcadia. It’s true that the place did exist (as history has proven), and people from all walks of life since antiquity have discussed, imagined, explored, debated, and interpreted this entity called ‘Arcadia’ but ideally, it can only exist in one’s heart. All six characters in this novel have different ideas of what is Arcadia and in the end, the only similarity between these conflicting notions is, Arcadia is just an imaginary idyllic paradise. On earth. You either see it or you don’t. You either feel it or you don’t. Hmm. Nice paradoxes. The minute I finished reading this novel, I began to question: “What is my Arcadia?” I don’t think my definition of Arcadia is any different from Jute’s definition (Jute is one of the characters). Jute thinks that her work is Arcadia. To have work to do, work that you like ...

If you can read this, thank a teacher. ~ Anonymous Now that the new semester has started, I can’t help but think about those notes that my kids will surely leave on my door. As it is, I’ve already got two. If I were to keep every single note I received throughout the 13 years I have been here, I would have bundles and bundles of them and there would be no way that these bundles would not be obstructing the already limited space in my office. There are actually many reasons why kids leave notes. I've identified four. 1. To ask for class schedule and venue and which group they’re supposed to sign up for. I got lots and lots of these in the past when I taught those English proficiency courses. A common content would be: Puan, saya pelajar dari Fakulti XXX, ingin tahu bila dan dimanakah kelas XXX akan diadakan. Yeah, right. When everything is already in the time table book that has been given to you and the schedule is already pasted on my notice board. At one time, after about 10 or...

Oblivious – Not aware of something especially what is happening around you. Ignorant – Not having enough knowledge, understanding or information about something. I don’t know which word best describes me where my neighbourhood is concerned. I am well aware of the developments that have taken place and are taking place in this neighbourhood. Compared to when I first moved in 7 years ago, Bandar Seri Putra has evolved into an almost complete township. It now has, among others, a post office, a police station, a 7E, and rows and rows of all kinds of shops and schools. A government-funded medical centre is also being built. The primary school, which is located very, very near to my house, is now complete and will be open in no time. The sekolah agama is also complete, waiting to be open. The secondary school is probably gonna be complete next year. The developer has also demarcated the site for a mosque. Amen. I am therefore not oblivious where developments in BSP is concerned. Nor am I i...

Driving is a spectacular form of amnesia. Everything is to be discovered, everything to be obliterated. ~ Jean Baudrillard In this strange car We're driving slow I want to get out of this driving seat And take the passenger's Will you let me? When we reach there We won' t be able to run Or walk Or stand still We'll lose our footings But we won't fall We'll fly high.

The living are just the dead on holiday. ~ Anonymous Note: This entry is my attempt to resume writing again after a long hiatus. The long semester break is going to end soon. How time flies. One would think that this 2 ½ month break is LONG and we teachers would be shaking legs in the office or at home but it wasn’t the case where I was concerned. I WORKED throughout the break. The only time I really, really, really didn’t work was when I went for a 10D8N vacay in the States. That was it. You can check my leave record: the only leave I took was for the States trip. The break started at the end of April. For the first two weeks I was busy with marking papers, keying in the marks and going to schools to evaluate those trainee teachers under my supervision. Other than these, I would be in the office, mostly working on writing articles. All in all I worked on one journal article, which I had to revise a few times, and two conference articles. These took up a lot of my time and were very t...

Wit is cultured insolence. ~ Aristotle I think I’ve become a Facebook addict. Well, maybe not a full-blown one but a considerably-adddicted one. The reason I’m saying this is because I log in to FB as often as I check my work email. Embarassing, but true. FB is fun due to so many reasons, of course, but to me, the reason it is fun is I get to stay connected with my friends, keep up with their antics, and, like a blog, I could actually express how I feel without going through the hassle of writing long-winded paragraphs. It doesn’t matter whether I get a response or not, the fact that I’m able to actually express what I feel is already therapeutic. Lately, I find myself logging in to FB (as usual) and doing all (well, maybe not all, but most of) those quizzes that have been uploaded. Yup, reality-checks and what not can actually be fun (depending on what you mean by fun). Engaging in soliloquy, laughing out loud, cursing the smart alecs who came up with the wisecracking quizzes can be ...

Heirlooms we don't have in our family. But stories we've got. ~ Rose Cherin. I have always been interested in the genealogy of my family but since this has never been divulged by my immediate antecedents, I kept quiet and sort of forgot about it until recently, when my kids and I discussed a Malaysian play. In the past, occassionally, I would hear my Dad telling guests who came to our house that my GrandDad was originally from Bandung. Occassionally, too, I heard my Dad telling people that my GrandDad came from Surabaya. Well, to put it simply, let's just say my GrandDad came from Indonesia. I am not sure whether I heard wrongly or my Dad heard wrongly. I am also not sure whether he's a Javanese or Sundanese. My Dad's family said that he was a Javanese but then this cannot be ascertained since the Malaysian concept of a Javanese has been: anyone who comes from Indonesia. Whereas to Indonesians, a Javanese is anyone who comes from the Java Island. Indonesia does n...

The dreamer can know no truth, not even about his dream, except by awaking out of it. ~ George Santayana I’m the curious dreamer Dissecting this dream A feeling of closeness? A replay of wasted time? A call to divulge secrets? A plea to communicate? A dry heart? I wish I could feed you this dream So it infects yours And our dreams become one.

Solitude is a condition of peace that stands in direct opposition to loneliness. Loneliness is like sitting in an empty room and being aware of the space around you. It is a condition of seperateness. Solitude is becoming one with the space around you. It is a condition of union. Loneliness is small, solitude is large. Loneliness closes in around you; solitude expands toward the infinite ~ Kent Nerburn Spending the weekend alone at home can be painful and tremendously boring, but after weeks of juggling so many things at the office, I welcomed it. I didn’t welcome the flu bug that accompanied me, though. I had wished for this solitude. Long hours at the office coupled with heavy downpours every evening, had made me wished I was at home, under the blankie, cuddling with a good book, a cup of hot Milo on hand. And I got my wish. Only, I’ve got other things accompanying the cup of hot Milo: a stack of pills to get rid of the flu. Well, as the saying goes: Be careful of what you wish for! ...

The person you were last year does not exist. Personality is a flowing, changing complex of interrelated factors. You are not the same person you were yesterday. ~Rosemary Dennis Personality tests are fun. It’s a quick reality check that doesn’t hurt, does it? Sometimes we just get too busy with our lives, or too busy serving other people that we just become reality impaired. I took one recently, as recommended by Iman, and here are the results. I guess I would have agreed with some of the results here if I had been younger, but now that I’m wiser (euphemism for older, mind you), I do have to differ on certain things :-) Your view on yourself: Other people find you very interesting, but you are really hiding your true self. Your friends love you because you are a good listener. They'll probably still love you if you learn to be yourself with them. Izzy: Crap. I might have a strong personality but I don’t think I have an interesting one. I’m not sure I’m a good listener but I thi...

1. My age, next birthday Oops, i mean... hehehe...gotcha! 2. Places I'd like to travel to Bath, UK Portugal Korea 3. My favourite place Vienna 4. My favourite food Cupcakes. Yum! Yum! 5. Nicknames I've had Pijat Pammie (for obvious reasons) Anak keling. My dad would call me this whenever he wanted to tease me. I hated it! 6. My favourite colours Black, Red and White 7. College Major B. Ed. (TESL) Hons. 8. Name of my love He'll probably faint if he sees his name here. The thing is, he doesn't know that I adore him. 9. My hobbies Reading Watching performing arts Traveling Blogging Hanging out with friends Facebooking 10. My bad habits Leaving dirty dishes in the sink Leaving piles of clean clothes on the bed (too lazy to fold) 11. My wishlist Josh Holloway *please slap me a zillion times* Settling down with someone I love A house on the sea

According to a local historian, Hassan bin Muhammad, the area used to be known as Rantau Panjang. Circa 1511, a Bendahara (Prime Minister) of Melaka (Malacca), Bendahara Tepok and his troops were retreating to Johor after the fall of Melaka to the invading Portuguese forces led by Alfonso de Albuquerque. The Bendahara and his troops stopped and rested by a river in the area and drank water from the river. After the drink, the Bendahara exclaimed, "Segar amat!", or "Very refreshing!" in Malay , and named the river Segar Amat, which over time evolved into Segamat. However, initially the name Segamat only applied to the river. The settlement which later became Segamat was originally called Rantau Panjang. The town assumed the river's name only at the turn of the 20th century. ~ http://en.wikipedia.org/ I was born in Johor but raised in KL. Therefore, ‘home’ is not really a definite concept for me. I can’t really call myself a KL-girl since Johor is my birthplace. ...

Okay, Iman, another tag. Because it came from you, I'll happily oblige. I just hope I don't sound too narcissistic and lame. 1. I can doodle...quite well. 2. I have been teaching for 13 years now. 1 year at scondary level, and 12 years at tertiary level. 3. I'm a loyal friend...but I can't say the same for some of my friends who think they are my friends. 4. I enjoyed my years in uni. I discovered a lot about myself when I was in uni. 5. I was born in Johor but raised in KL. I guess 'home' is not a definite concept for me. 6. I had wanted to go to boarding school when I was a teen but am so glad that I didn't. I would have been deprived of a lot of fun! 7. I am currently at the office, cracking my head for a quiz I plan to give to my kids next week. As you can see, I am easily distracted. Hehehe. 8. I miss a certain someone very much and I wish that certain someone knows it and I hope that this craziness is reciprocal. The best song to represent me at the mo...

I wasn't tagged this time around :-) 1. The 80's were a decade of... shoulder pads. 2. I wouldn't mind being stuck in a closet with... Josh Holloway . 3. Who do you take after? Mom or Dad? Both. 4. If I could control my dreams, I'd dream about... my dad and what he's doing in heaven. 5. Use the following words in a sentence: pink, dirigible, luckily, phonics. Luckily, I wasn't so stupid to waste time figuring out what dirigible pink phonics are! 6. Quick! Make up a number (example: eleventy seven) Seventeenee seven 7. Batman or Superman? Ironman. 8. When I want to be alone, I... just stay at home. 9. I wish I could change... certain parts of my past. 10. I feel most powerful when... people trust me. 11. Bury me with my... handphone and books I haven't read. 12. Quick! Make up an academic discipline (example: Kleptonics) Retailogy. 13. Everything is negotiable in a relationship, except... betrayal. 14. Quick! Make up a new name for a country: Pandan usia. ...

Makassar a.k.a Ujong Pandang Destination: Makassar, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Date: 26/12/08- 29/12/08 Pre-trip The trip to Makassar was Aida’s idea. Initially, during one of our meetups, Aida had suggested we both go for a holiday together sometime in November or December. I didn’t think she was serious at first since we have never traveled together, but she was. We thought of a few destinations: Krabi, Hanoi,Kota Kinabalu and Kundasang. One night, Aida called me and told about her friends’ plan to go scuba diving in Makassar, Sulawesi. She suggested that we go together with her friends; they can do their stuff and we can do our stuff, which will not include scuba diving, of course. I instantly agreed, thinking that where there is scuba diving, there’d surely be white sandy beaches I can leave my footprints on. I’m a sucker for beaches, anyway. Aida quickly assigned me to do the flight and hotel bookings. But due to clashes in schedule, we were not able to follow Aida’s friends’ actual de...