Oh! Life...!

Last Friday when I sent my car to a workshop for some routine maintenance, the foreman told me his schedules were tight, so I have to leave the car overnight and come back Monday morning to pick it up. Reluctantly, I gave him the car keys and left the place, walking towards the main road. I made a quick call to my husband to fetch me, told him I’ll be waiting by the road side at an open area that resembles a mini park.

I waited about 45 minutes for him to come and rescue me. Well, you know, this waiting game could really test your mental stability and tire you out, especially when you've had a hard day at work.

So I was thinking....How nice it is to be able to relax under the trees, with gentle breeze stirring the air and the sound of birds chirping from the tree tops (apart from the sound of the engines roaring on the road...)

I sat on the grass and my brain tricked me for sitting on a thick, soft rug...Ahh... so calm and peaceful...

As I was about to doze off to the music of the nature suddenly this naughty baby porcupine (did I tell you earlier I was not alone?) poked my eyes with her fingers! Yes, you read that right, she poked my eyes!

“Ouch!!! What do you think you’re doing?!”

“Don’t sleep, mum!”

“Why not?”

“What if we get lost while you’re sleeping?”

Oh dear!

*sigh*

Valid reason

 

I love IKEA. The idea of a modern and organised lifestyle promoted by IKEA wins my heart. Specifically, I like best it's storing solutions for small spaces.

I have been persuading my husband to allow me go "window shopping" at IKEA. He did not say anything about not letting me go, but at the same time he also did not show any sign of approval either. So I waited, and waited, and waited patiently. And when he is in good mood, I reminded him again about my intention to "check new stock" at IKEA.

Still no respond from him, until today, when frying some eggs for breakfast, I accidentally burnt the turner. I told him I need to get a new one and that I ‘must’ have the usual IKEA brand.

Finally, he said yes.

Yay! IKEA here I come!

But when? Yet to confirm. I am a busy mommy! And going to IKEA means I’ll be spending 4 to 5 hours checking in detail everything on offer even though I have no intention to buy anything…

Going there just to buy a set of turner? Hmm… I’ll think about it later.

So what’s the point of trying hard to get the permission from dear hubby?

Naughty!!!

*giggle*

Wordless Wednesday: The superhero wannabe and her reluctant sidekick

Welcome to Gigapedia

A visiting professor from Indonesia gives us a web address where we can download e-books at no cost at all. He understands that books for higher learning are very expensive to buy, what more if we student need not only one but perhaps two or more books for our reference.

The e-book website, http://www.gigapedia.org/ contains various type of books that covers on almost everything you would ever imagine in your mind. Politics, social sciences, business management, engineering, information technology, history, movies, religions, hobbies and crafts, home improvements, gardening, automobile, fashion or even a simple novel for you to read.... you name it, you got it. If you asked my opinion, I would say this is the best virtual library I've ever found so far.


 If compared to other e-books website, Gigapedia is still the best because downloading  is free of charge.



It's even better than the biggest bookshop in Kuala Lumpur, the Kinokuniya KLCC.
Kinokuniya might have complete title of everything, but the books there are way
tooooooo expensive!


I am eager to try to get hold of a book that specifically discusses on the application of SPSS (a statistics textbook) for my data analysis. The book costs around MYR128.00 (about USD39.00) and need to be ordered from the University Bookshop and will take about a month to wait before it is available for collection. I try search Gigapedia for the first time and to my surprise, it's there!!! Yabedabedoo!

Since then, I download more e-books from Gigapedia. All I have to do is become a member by registering my details (once only), then I am free to search for the books I need whenever I wanted. As a member, apart from downloading some reading materials from the site, I am also encouraged to contribute by either posting (uploading) new reading materials to the site or by donating some amount of money (as small as 10 Euro) to keep it running. Of course, I am bound to some rules and regulation. 10 simple rules, to be exact. The rules are the normal ones you would usually come across as an online member of a site: some stuff on privacy of members, spam, respect, accuracy of information, sensitivity, but the last one that really interest me is on LEECHING!

Rule no 10 says:

"No leeching! If you are one of the heaviest users and show no intent of helping out by posting/reporting etc. and just leech then your account maybe removed, we expect users to help out and get involved"

Owh! Everytime I read this last rule, I feel like someone is slapping my face. So far I have downloaded  dozens of e-books from the site but never contribute anything in return. My book collection at home are dusty and outdated. And 10 Euro equals USD1,000 to me....(Oh! what a bad reasoning!!)

Another thing that attracts me so much is 'the staff' that run this website.  Even though I do not know who they are and where they come from, I do sense that they are hard working people who try to satisfy the needs of every member: members with 1001 behaviour! Well, if not, then can you tell me why they put up this message on site?

"This site only has 10 short rules. Read them, understand and follow them, or else...."

and when you click on the 10 short rules,  the last paragraph indicates that they are really serious in their business:

"if you have an issue with any of the rules, contact us (contact link at bottom of all pages)



Staff might contact you from time to time and/or leave feedback, you are expected to listen to staff and follow any advice/warnings given. Ignoring staff is not a good idea and will lead to a voodoo doll being created in your image and poked with needles."

So, out of curiosity I check my account, in case 'the staff' left a message for me. There's this general  message that says:

"staff have left no feedback on your account, you have been a good boy/girl."

Phew!  That's a relief!!!

And so I happily read the newly downloaded statistics e-book, until I come to this paragraph at page two of the book where the author writes this...

"You're probably wondering why you have bought this book. Maybe you liked the pictures, maybe you fancied doing some weight training (it is heavy), or perhaps you need to reach something in a high place (it is thick). The chances are, though, that given the choice of spending your hard-earned cash on a statistics book or something  more entertaining (a nice novel, a trip to the cinema, etc.) you'd choose the latter. So why have you bought the book (or downloaded an illegal pdf of it from someone who has way too much time on their hands if they can scan an 800-page textbook)?"

Ahak! That statement choked me!!! Does this means the author knows that I am reading from the downloaded version of his book? Is he aware of Gigapedia existence? Is he actually referring to Gigapedia when he writes this? And he is labelling it ILLEGAL? If Gigapedia IS illegal, then how does it obtain consent to continue operation till this very day? These questions puzzle me. Anyway, eventually, I still buy the statistics book from the University Bookshop. Whether the action of buying it has anything to do with the statement by the author, wallahu'alam. I dont know.

I still visit Gigapedia once in a while when there's some information I need to get hold of really fast and there's not enough time to spend on a journey to the bookstore and searching for the real book to refer to. But the best I can, I will always make sure there's no doll being made that replicate myself and poked with needles... Ouch!

My pre-school most embarrasing moment

While watching tv last night my nine years old daughter saw a Play-Doh advertisement and was so amazed with how the children moulded and turned the colourful plasticine into ice-creams and cakes for their doll houses. She started to beg and later went extreme to bug me to buy that Play-Doh set for her.

"No way. I am not going to buy you that toy. You are too old for such a thing. End of story." I had to raise my voice a wee bit higher just to indicate my seriousness. With a sour face, she went to her grandmother and sat beside her at the sofa. My mother, who has been observing us from the beginning, patted her head and said,

"You know what, Aliya? Your mom had a bad experience related to plasticine when she was very young. I think she doesn't want the same thing to happen to you. I suppose that's why she refused to buy one for you."

"What kind of experience?" Aliya seemed to be interested to know.

I scratched my cheek. Bad experience? Me? When? How come I don't remember anything about it? I am interested to know, too!

"When your mom was only six, I sent her to a kindergarten not so far away from home. She was so happy to go to the kindergarten and meet lots and lots of friends there."  My mother paused, as if trying to remember something.

"Your mom used to have beautiful long hair with nice fringe. I normally tied her hair with a white ribbon and she was the loveliest girl in class. All the teachers loved her. But having said that, I must tell you that she is also a very, very naughty girl. She loved to show off her beautiful hair to other pupils. She thought she was a princess."

"One day, the teacher gave the pupils some plasticines to play with. Wanna know what your mom did with her plasticine?" Mom asked Aliya.


"What did she do?" Aliya asked eargerly, now already sat on her granny's lap without realising it.

Mom smiled at me. Oh yeah! Now I remember that incident! The most embarrasing moment in my childhood life! Oh mom! Please stop! Don't tell my daughter about it.... pleaseeeee........

But she continued....




The wonders of plasticine....Formula towards a trendy hair style... hahaha!



"Your mom pasted the whole bunch of those plasticine on her fringe and forehead, pretending that they were colourful hair pins. The she danced in the class, trying to attract the teachers' attention."

Another pause. Aliya waited patiently for her grandmother to continue.

"Of course she managed to get the teachers' attention. But they were not amused. Instead, they gasped to see the plasticine hanging on her fringe. Your mom was really in a sticky situation when she could not take off the plasticine from her hair. At the end of the day, she was pretty covered up with colourful, dirty plasticine on the forehead."

Aliya grinned.

"So at the end of the session, she hid herself in the locker. She was afraid I would scold her for what she has done. The teacher persuaded her to come out but she refused. They have to call me to fetch her"

"By the time I arrived at the kindergarten, all but the teachers had gone home. Finally she came out of the locker, but, masya-Allah!" mom raised her eyebrows towards Aliya.

"What happened, granny?"

"While she was in the locker, she found a scissors and cut her fringe short, so as to eliminate the plasticine evidence. But she cut it too short, her scalp was widely exposed!!"

"Hahahahaha....." Aliya rolled on the sofa, laughing hysterically. Argh! Like father like daughter!

"What happened then, granny?"

"I took her home, of course. But that was the last time she went to the kindergarten. She refused to continue school afterwards. She quit. Your mom's pre-school session lasted only for five days."

I can't blame my daughter for enjoying the story. I smiled myself. Come to think of the incident, I was so silly to have cut my fringe like that. Owh! Really, really silly! As a consequence, I have to hide myself in the house, always made sure that none of my friends saw me in this condition. Mom always encouraged me to come out, but I told her,

"I'll only come out of the house when my fringe grows back to normal"

Of course that took ages to happen......

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By the way, I'll be away (offline) till the end of this month to settle some errands. Insya-Allah, will be back in February. Till then, take care and don't be naughty (like me!). Smiles!