Just being alive is such a lovely and wonderful feeling

~Aya Kitou

Huhu. Indeed I cried 1 litre of tears watching this drama.

I just finished it today. Suddenly I’m more grateful with my life, especially my healthy body! Such simple things to us, talking, walking, eating even breathing could be really difficult for someone else. This drama is based on the true story of a girl, Aya Kitou who suffered spinocerebellar degeneration disease. It’s a rare, progressive, degenerative disease which affects the nervous system that control movement. Initially patient will experience failure of muscle controls in their arms and legs resulting in lack of balance and clumsiness. Slowly, patient will lose control of other fine motor skills such as speech and eye movements. Usually a patient with this disease will end up needing to use a wheelchair and will need assistance to perform daily tasks. The age of onset and progression of the disease varies between each patient but generally patient retains their full mental capacity as they lose control over their body. So, this disease somehow is like a prison.

Currently there is no known cure for this disease.

Aya was diagnosed with the disease when she was 15 years old. At her doctor’s suggestion, she wrote a diary of her experience with the disease, recording every day how the disease was affecting her daily life. This was a way for her doctor to monitor the progression of the disease. But later as the disease progressed, it became an outlet for her to pour out her intense feelings and her struggles in coping, adapting and trying to survive her disease. She kept writing until she could no longer hold a pen. The diary was published two years before her death and it inspired many people. It was based on this diary that the drama was made.

The published diary

Aya Ikeuchi in the drama was an active normal teenager who excels in her studies and active in sports. She was only beginning the most exciting phase of her life. It was really painful and difficult for her at first to accept the disease. To slowly lose her ability to do things she love, to let go of her social life and to become more dependent on others. The drama successfully depicts the pain Aya goes through because of the disease. It must be really frustrating to not be able to move your body as you want it to even when you've tried your very best. But she stays strong till the end and it was really heart wrenching to see her trying her best to get on with life. There is not a single episode that I do not cry. And so excessively that my eyes are swollen right now T______T

This blogger has written a review of the drama which I feel described it best. Please read here. Please watch this great drama too. Seriously, it’s good.

Working in a hospital environment also has got this effect on me. When I met those unfortunate patients especially young children with rare, incurable eye disease. Or babies with developmental delay or other syndromes that came for eye assessment. Every time I became more grateful that I may not have so many things that I want but at least I am healthy and living this beautiful live. With that I should be happy and be more appreciative towards many other things that I have. Let’s cherish this life more people!

I am so emotional right now. Huuu..

p/s: Tisu Tesco sangat fragile, tidak memuaskan. Sila gunakan jenama Kleenex atau Scott untuk lebih efektif semasa menonton drama ini=p

~Kuching revisited

OMG. Can’t believe that my vacation is over. Now I’m back to work with the usual routine. I went to Kuching for 3 days and had a blast! It’s my 3rd trip there and this time I try to focus more on sightseeing rather than shopping. But that doesn’t stop me from coming home with one extra backpack. Hee~

I went with my sister and my best friend Mar with her husband Miju. Fazrul booked the tickets (MAS) in February and it was only RM180 two ways per person. Cheap huh? We arrived on Friday noon and as we can only check in at our hotel at 2pm, we went to his house first to sit back and relax as he and Miju went for Friday prayer. It was around 3pm when we finally checked in at the Pinnacles Lodge. The rooms are very nice, comfortable enough for two pax with spacious bathroom. They smelled nice too and it was a thumbs up for RM99 per night. I seriously recommend it. The evening was spent cruising around Kuching town, buy a new pair of sandals for my sis and had a scrumptious tuna sandwich and lime lychee ice at Kaya n Toast.

Later that night, we head to dinner at a restaurant across the river of waterfront at Barok @ the Village and we went there with a ‘sampan’ just for fun. Since we were all so hungry and besides the eatery lighting is so dim and romantic, no picts of the yummy foods are available. We were busy stuffing ourselves full. To top the night, we decided to go and watch Transformers. And of course no early tickets are available. But determined as we were, we bought the 1245pm ticket! I could just imagine myself falling asleep in the cinema. Needless to say, the movie was great and I really love to see the detailed transformation phase of each robot. Really cool. My favourite is Bumblebee of course. He’s so cute especially in the beginning when he gets mad and sulky at Sam. Also because I really adore the yellow Camaro he is. And he can cry too! Haha.

On Saturday morning, we head to Serikin for a little shopping spree. We team up with Ashrul and his family who’s also here in Kuching on holiday. Ashrul is an audiologist and was in my batch in UKM. Despite the lack of sleep, we were much in the spirit. For breakfast, I had mee kolok (one of Sarawak’s famous delicacy) and they were really really delicious. After we were done in Serikin, we head back to Kuching, had yummy lunch at Serapi and stop by at his house to pray. Then we proceeded to Bako National Park. Yeay! It was almost 530pm and the jetty was already closed but luckily he knew one of the pakcik who operated the boat there. It was perfect time too as we could catch the sunset in a beautiful place.

The famous hulu keris-like stone at Bako

How lovely the wind felt on my face as we set sail. We head out to the open sea and much to our excitement, a dolphin was swimming past by! However we had the most unforgettable experience at the first stop about 10 minutes later. There was a wooden bridge crossing the mangroves and the place was full with monkeys. We the girls were just enjoying the scenic forest while Fazrul and Miju were busy taking photographs of the monkey. Out of a sudden, we heard loud screeching and lo and behold! The monkeys were screeching at us, scampering up the bridge and chasing after us furiously. We ran like mad and it was a really long way to reach our boat. I felt like I’m in a 200m sprint. I did turn around once to find that the monkeys still not giving up the chase. I remember running as fast as I can holding to Mar who’s three months pregnant all the while wondering what the hell? Turns out that while the boys were clicking away, one of the baby monkey screamed for his mom and probably the mom and dad and all of its relatives thought that they were trying to hurt the baby and that send them chasing wildly after us. They are wild animals after all. Stupid monkeys. But after that we couldn’t stop laughing especially remembering the look of terror on the boy’s face as they were the most behind, just inches from the monkey’s grasp. Haha. Even the pakcik boat laughed at us=p

Debush! Kaco monyet2 tu lagi=p

We continued the adventure at the next stop. There we had to climb up a small hill and Subhanallah, the view from up there was breathtaking. The sun is almost set and we were just enjoying the moment. But we had to leave as it was getting darker. We reached the jetty back at 730pm, exhausted but happy. Dinner was great too. I had ayam penyet at a restaurant that claimed itself as Raja Ayam Penyet. Finally I get to taste the tasty chicken that Fazrul is always bragging to me about. The chicken's sambal is just phenomenal. Hehe.

Sunset at Bako. Enjoying the view up the hill.




The great troop

Well, there you go for the first two amazing days. I'll continue later with the third day adventure. Adios! (^_^)

:: More picts will be uploaded in Facebook

I know every book of mine by its smell, and I have but to put my nose between the pages to be reminded of all sorts of things.

~George Robert Gissing

Mind you, this is a random entry. Hee~

Books

Lovely. Lovely. Lovely. No better way for me to describe them.

Love them, cherish them. But I haven't been able to catch up on my reading lately. Huaa! Feels like there's so much to do. After work *exhausted, slump on the couch catching up on fav tv series*, weekend *weddings, housechores*. I need to read! I need the escapism!

Yummy! A dreamland. To have a small library in my own house packed with books of all sort.

Facebook

Now I know why people are addicted to facebook. It is addictive! I've joined for a few months but only recently I know what to do there. Haha. Still blur with some of the applications though=p

Holiday

In need of a holiday. A relaxing, fun and joyful one. Will be away this weekend on one. I'm on leave starting tomorrow. "All my bags are packed and I'm ready to go..." sing along everyone!o(^_^)o

See ya!

Whenever we are down
And we feel that everything is going wrong
It is just Allah's way
To make our spirit strong

When I was in form four, I kept a hard cover notebook in my desk. You see, one of the coolest thing about boarding school is that we don't share classes so we don't share desk as well. Each form has their own classes. Each classes has lockers provided so we don't have to carry all the heavy textbooks every day. Plus there's prep hours every evening and night held at the class itself, dedicated to finish homeworks. So, if all homeworks are really finished in those prep hours, we get to go back to the dorm in the night and to class the next morning happily 'lenggang kangkung'. Haha. I even didn't have any backpack back then because I only carry a small sling bag which is enough for me. A complete change from the years of primary school.

Ok, back to the point. I kept a hard cover notebook in my desk which I used as a jot down book whenever I feel like I want to. (Usually during prep when I'm so bored and felt so sick with all the homeworks and latih tubi=p) I wrote down anything that comes to my mind. Drawings, favourite songs, events of the day, my feelings, wisdom words. Sometimes interesting poems or quotes that I found. All of that written not plainly but with colourful pens with doodling here and there on the pages. It was like an escapism for me, the pleasure to get engrossed in writing and creating something to clear my mind.

At first, it was only me and my notebook. Eventually, it became something shared by the whole class! My classmates also enjoyed writing and doodling in my notebook whenever they feel like doing so. So, every now and then I would get a request, 'weh,pinjam buku nota ko' or 'weh, nak conteng2 blh?' in which the 'buku nota' tak lain tak bukan refers to that special notebook of mine. Sometimes they just borrow it for the sake of reading. For me, it was great reading what they have to write and it was a nice feeling having something I can share with others.

The book continues to serve its duty until I was in form five. It is such a dear thing to me that I kept it until now. I came across the book recently. Flipping back through the pages makes me smile and remember all the memories in school with my greatest friends. That's when I decided that I would like to share what I wrote and what my friends wrote ten years ago here in this blog.

This is one of my favourite poem of all time. I found it in an english newspaper and copied it to my notebook. Unfortunately I didn't write down the author's name so I have no idea who he/she is. Should anybody know please inform me so I can give the due credit.

I've held on to this poem ever since I found it. Whenever I'm upset or disappointed on anything, I tend to be grumpy or cried miserably. But this poem never fails to remind me to always be thankful even if things didn't go the way we want to because surely everything happens for a reason and though the reason unknown to us, it is what Allah knows the best for us. Well, let the poem says the rest ^^

Allah Knows Best~

Allah knows what's best for us
So why should we complain
We always want the sunshine
But He knows there must be rain

We always want the laughter
And the merriment of cheer
But our hearts will lose their tenderness
If we never shed a tear

Allah tests us often
With suffering and with sorrow
He tests us not to punish us
But to help us meet tomorrow

For growing trees are strengthened
If they withstand the storm
And the sharp cut of the chisel
Gave the marble grace and form

Allah tests us often
And for every pain He gives to us
Provided we're patient
Is followed by rich gain

So whenever we are down
And we feel that everything is going wrong
It is just Allah's way
To make our spirit strong

:: *sigh* Isn't it true?=)

My first custom made wedding album in collaboration with Aryuel. See it here o(^_^)o

Kelip kelip disangka api

Kalau api mana puntungnya

Hilang ghaib disangka mati

Kalau mati mana kuburnya

Wah, sungguh seronok. Malam semalam saya telah terjebak ke dalam satu kembara yang tidak dirancang iaitu pergi melihat kelip-kelip di sepanjang sungai Kuala Sepetang! Saya telah menyibuk sebenarnya, diajak oleh adik saya untuk menemani dia. Aktiviti tengok kelip-kelip ini salah satu aktiviti dalam seminar penerobosan hutan Kuala Sepetang (wah, serius je bunyi=p)yang beliau hadiri semalam. Saya sudah lama teringin nak tengok kelip-kelip yang diperkatakan di situ. Kiranya bagai pucuk dicita ulam mendatang lah. Orang dah ajak, free pula, ikut saja la. Hehe.

Kami sampai di jeti Kampung Dew kira-kira jam 9 malam. Sudah ada lima buah bot menunggu. Tanpa membuang masa kami menaiki bot yang pertama. Haha. Excited terlebih sudah. Pakcik bot bawa sangat perlahan. Agaknya tidak mahu mengejutkan haiwan-haiwan malam di sepanjang sungai itu terutamanya kelip-kelip. Lampu pun tidak dipasang sebab kelip-kelip ni pemalu. Kalau kena suluh, nanti dia duduk senyap-senyap tidak memancarkan lampu hijau kuning yang cantik itu. Kelip-kelip ni nama omputihnya 'fireflies'. Baru saya tahu kelip-kelip ni suka berkumpul di pokok berembang saja. Pokok ni memang banyak la di sepanjang sungai ini selain bakau.

Setelah 10 minit perjalanan, akhirnya kami terjumpa segerombolan kelip-kelip di sebatang pokok berembang. Wah, cantik sekali. Macam pokok krismas berkelip-kelip. Mereka ni berkelip hampir serentak. Agaknya nampak begitu mungkin kerana berkelip terlalu pantas. Subhanallah, kagum saya melihatnya. Rasa 'magical' sangat. Untuk pengetahuan, kelip-kelip jantan ada dua lampu. Manakala kelip-kelip betina ada satu sahaja. Kelip-kelip jantan akan gunakan kelebihan lampu dia itu untuk mengorat. Haha. Men=p

Sepanjang perjalanan pergi selama 40 minit itu, lebih banyak pokok berembang berkelipan yang kami jumpa. Sayang sekali malam itu bulan terang. Kata pakcik bot, kalau malam gelap gelita maka lagi jelas dan lagi indah pemandangannya. Wah, tak dapat saya bayangkan. Yang ada ini pun cukup cantik. Malangnya kamera handphone kami tidak mampu menangkap gambar 'pokok krismas berkelip-kelip' itu. Memang tak nampak dalam gambar. Tidak tercapai kameraku. Isk..isk..Nak tengok sila lah pergi sendiri ye. Hehe.

Ada satu kelip-kelip terjatuh ke atas bot kami. Nampak tak dalam gambar yang atas kiri itu. Satu lagi lampu itu ialah handphone adik saya dalam cubaan menangkap gambar. Tengok adik saya sibuk nak tangkap kelip-kelip sampai julur kepala dalam pokok. Hehe.

Ha, ini terang sikit. Gambar dari handphone adik saya yang hebat sikit dari handphone saya (sebab ada flash=p) Itu la kelip-kelip, yang tunjuk dengan anak panah merah tu. Kelip-kelip ni kecil je, tak sama dengan kunang-kunang. Bawah tu gambar bila tutup flash. Cantik lampu hijau kuning dia. Cuba bayangkan banyak-banyak berkumpul dekat satu pokok. Cuuun..

Kami yang over excited.

Kami sampai ke jeti semula lebih kurang pukul 11 malam. Letih juga naik bot dua jam tapi sangat seronok. Lain kali kalau nak pergi lagi, kena bawa baju sejuk. Menggigil kesejukkan oo..Angin Selat Melaka. Hehe. Lepas ini, nak pergi tengok kelip-kelip di Kuala Selangor pula. Dengar cerita lagi meriah kelip-kelipnya. Yang jadi lokasi iklan TNB tu=p

:: Terima kasih kepada pihak berkaitan kerana membenarkan saya menyibuk. Heee~

:: Tajuk di atas ialah petikan pantun dari lagu Seribu Tahun oleh Imran Ajmain.

The day of IKEAnism

It’s our very first visit to IKEA last weekend. We were pretty much awestrucked with everything. God, they’re beautiful! Simple, clean cut and looks so organized. Everything I look at I was like ‘eh, cantiknya’, ‘wah, cantiknya’. My official chant of the day. Hehe. I want a house like this one day pleaseee=p

Lurve the stripy wallpaper

ooOOoo

Alamak, berat terlebih sudah=p

Smile!=)

IKEA is a must visit place for those in love with art and design. But please bring extra cash too. Belek-belek katalog je sambil berangan pun boleh juga. Hehe.

A thing or two I learn from IKEA:

i. Use the wall. Lots of thing can be wall mounted. This way you can save space and store more.

ii. Stack. Use boxes or furnitures that can be stack on top of one another, yet convenient to take or keep things. Another saving space tip. Ala-ala konsep Tupperware tu. Hehe.

iii. If you don't have nice pictures or paintings yet you want to hang a beautiful frame, use fabrics instead. Just frame a beautiful piece of fabric.

::Ironically::

Saya : Adik, tumpang tanya IKEA kat mana?
Adik 1: depan the Curve kak..

******************

Saya: Adik, the Curve kat mana ye?
Adik 2: oo..depan IKEA kak..

Haish. Grrr..