iPad Air arrived Sat, 21st Dec 2013

My first iPad

Arrived on Saturday, 21st Dec 2013 at 8.30pm via DHL. These DHL people work all week round.

The happiest person to see the iPad in my possession would be my dearest niece Hana, of course who's hooked on it since it arrived.

Well, I did purchase it with her in mind so naturally it's with her all the time.
Talk about spoiling kids... Man, I'm such a loser...

@ Lexis Port Dickson, 22- 24 Nov 2013

I was meant to share rooms with another for this workshop but somehow, I am given a single room and a water chalet no less.

When I  arrived, I was given Water Chalet 025 which was impressive in itself. 

But there was water leakage at the bathroom area which I complained about.

By the second day, the water leakage has caused this room to trip. Thank goodness it happened during the day. 

So after much waiting around and getting pretty fed-up with the slow response, I was upgraded to a much bigger and premium room - Water Chalet 148.

The idea of the place is quite cool and impressive but as usual, services are still below par for a "resort" sort of place.

@ Penang, 15-17 Nov 2013

Was there for a seminar - International Seminar On Landslide Research Malaysia-Japan, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, 16-17 November 2013

Beautiful view from my hotel room at Cititel Hotel, Penang

Training at AKEPT

Innovation Policy Development In Higher Education Towards High Income Nation

28-29 October 2013 (Mon - Tue)

Nice place and the "hostel" is more like a hotel room. It's clean and spacious; very nice.

The security of the place is rather lax. I put my comments on that in the feedback form.

Monday night dinner at Bagan Lalang with Hun. 

It's quite tricky to get there as there are no proper signage so had to stop several times to ask the local. 

The food was ok la.

my 3rd Gucci and loot from Harrods

Isn't it gorgeous??

Aaahh...

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goodbye QM

Awww... so sweet... :-)

latest read: a desirable residence

I got this book for cheap at some Popular bookstore sale! 

The author, Madeleine Wickham is in fact Sophie Kinsella, the famous writer of the Shopaholic series.

This is a pure chic-lit - simple story-line with the usuals; cheat, lies and deceit.

From the sleeve of the book:

Liz and Jonathan Chambers were stuck with two mortgages, mounting debts, and a miserable adolescent daughter, Alice, and now couldn't sell their old house. Then Marcus Witherstone, senior partner in Silchester's leading estate agency, came into their lives - and at first it seemed he would solve all their problems. He knew the perfect tenants from London who would rent their old house - glamorous PR girl Ginny and almost-famous Piers. 

But soon Marcus found himself involved with Liz in a way he'd never intended. At first he is happy with the affair but soon enough he finds himself uncomfortable and regretting the trouble he is digging himself into and his family i.e. his wife Anthea and his boys, Daniel and Andrew.  Meanwhile, Liz was lost in blissful dreams of Marcus, Jonathan was left to run the tutorial college and neither of them had time to notice that their teenage daughter was developing a passion for the tenants, in particular Piers. 

Everyone seemed to be entangled with everyone else, in the most awkward possible way. And as events closed in. they all begin to realise that some deceptions are just a bit too close to home.

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latest read: gone girl

A student of mine who received the BR1M book voucher offered to purchase some books for me. 

I got two from him. One of which is this book. It took me so long to decide on getting this book. In fact, it was once thrown out of the list. 

But after reading rave review online about it, I decided to get it.

Now that I've read it, it's no wonder it's got so much attention.

The story line of deceit, mystery, murder and the life of a sociopath is very intriguing and makes for very interesting reading. The story is narrated by the two main characters - the husband and the wife.

There really are two sides to every story and this book really plays on that fact. 

You'll start with believing that the husband really could possibly have disposed off this wife only to later be presented with the fact that all the drama was one huge elaborate plan by the wife. 

I would have wished that the ending was something else other than the two settling with each other. Just seems rather anti-climatic for me after all the buildup to the story.

The way the story was written, I cannot help wonder if there will be someone somewhere out there who would actually emulate the story. 

loot from 10th August 2012 visit to Johor Premium Outlet (JPO)

They say that if you feel deprived during childhood of certain things, it will manifest itself in your life in the future.

This is so so very true when it comes to my obsession with Evita Peroni. Many a years from my childhood where I've peered into the Peroni's store only to admire in the beautifully made hairpieces and yearn to have any of them on me.

So, I just cannot help myself when there is a chance to add on to my Peroni collection.

Here goes:

Hairband

Hair clip (black)

Hair clip (golden bow)

Bobby pins (great offer at two for the price of one)

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My 2nd Gucci & My 1st Longchamp

OMG!!

Love is the air.

Picked this up at 2.45pm and by 4.00pm, I've transferred everything from my LV bag to the Gucci handbag.

I was told the Gucci handbag is a limited quantity, available-in-Europe-boutiques-only bag. 

It cost me an arm and a leg but, you know, sometimes a girl needs to splurge  ;)

When I ordered this I did not realize that the Guccissima print is identical to my 1st Gucci wallet.
My Gucci wallet is in deep raspberry and now I have a whole Guccissima handbag in Navy.
Matchy-matchy ... =)

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Together with the Gucci was my very first Longchamp.
The Le Pliage is a very famous and popular design but I have never liked the nylon version of it.
For something near plastic quality, there was no way I'd pay good money for it.

So when I saw that they have introduced a Cuir version i.e. a leather version, my interest was peaked.
So at the first chance, I bought one in Small and in such a vibrant Paprika colour.

This would be perfect for travelling or anytime actually. =)

Woohoo!

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latest read: the fault in our stars

 A student of mine gave me this book as a gift. It is one of the books that caught my attention while browsing in the bookstore. Lucky I didn't purchase it then.

The premise is very simple: boy meets girl, boy loves girl, boy tackles girl, girl falls in love with boy. 

A typical story that happens possibly everyday with abundance. 

The twist here is that boy and girl are children with cancer.

So yeah, the story revolves around how they see the world from their perspective as children with death staring them in their face for the rest of their lives.

The writing is pretty good and there are some parts of the book that made me cry. 

I mean, to read about death and the effect on those left behind would touch me regardless if they have cancer or not. 

As far as the story goes, I don't get why this book received so much attention and accolades. It's a good book, yes, a very sad one, yes, but to me, I think the praises are just blown out of proportion. 

I think playing the cancer card was what made book receive all that attention, not what the book actually is. 

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latest read: miss peregrine's home for peculiar children

I have no idea how I found out about this book but it was one of my I-need-to-buy-it book list. 

So when I saw it at a significantly reduced price at a Popular bookstore, I grabbed it.

It took me probably quarter-way through the book that I realized that the girl on the book sleeve is actually floating. 

Gah! How is it totally missed that at first glance or several glances after that? 

I was more intrigued by the description of the book.

Well, to begin with, the book was actually fantastic. I was hooked on the writing, the humorous way the author has with description and all the old-fashion photos that came with his story. There was suspense on the sudden death of his grandfather of which his adventure began with finding the truth about his grandfather.

Finding the abandoned children home and actually discovering "the loop" was pretty interesting but it actually began to go south from that point on.

The introduction of monster and hollows and whatnot just threw me off and then the story just start to feel like some science-fiction story. Ugh. Then falling for the girl the grandfather was with during his time, another "Ugh" moment. It just got more and more off track and cliche. Boooring. 

Oh well, it had great potential to begin with but just didn't end well. 

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@ melaka for ictle'13

Tuesday, 21st May 2013
A one-day trip to Melaka for International Conference on Teaching and Learning in Education (ICTLE'13) which turns out to be more like a day of being a tourist at Melaka. 

Fun!

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