Ximar

happy harry potter

i was in harvard book store and heard someone said that to her friend. i thought it was funny. since i felt like i had to say it too, i called d and wished her, happy harry potter.

wordsworth in harvard sq was crazy. the line actually went around the block and beyond. anand was like, ok... so what do you wanna do now? and i was like, lets just walk around, i'll get the book tomorrow. and so we walked. passed by harvard book store and noticed, hmm... there's not that many people here, why don't we go in? in less than ten minutes, i had a copy of harry potter and the order of the phoenix in my hand. yeay! we were about to leave when i noticed that hmm... lets see what's going on back there in the kid's section. oh hooo... a lady painting faces and arms. as that seaturtle said, sweeeet duuuude. i asked the lady for a really mean dragon, and she gave me... the horntail! sweeeeet. mine was her last piece for the night. i just couldn't believe my luck. including the bad one.

anand and i went to a cafe earlier. i ordered mokka frappe and he mocca and chocolate mousse. he claimed that they made the best mousse and that i simply have to try it. so it came and try it i did. he went, "what do you think?" and i went, "err... it tastes kinda... weird..." and he had a spoonful and went, "i think it has alcohol in it" and i went, "great!" and ran for the bathroom which did't exist and ended up hacking and spitting by the bush. what a luck.

it's such a pity that it's so late at night. i wish i can show my dragon to everyone, it is simply awesome. as it is, only anand, people at the bookstore and my housemates have seen it. i'm crossing my fingers it'll still be on my arm and not on my bedspread when i wake up tomorrow.

it really is funny. before, i complained about not having internet in the house. but now that it's finally here, i find myself kicked out of my room two third of the time. since the port is in my room and we haven't worked out the networking just yet, my room has to be open for public use.

this house reeks of booze... eeyuuuuwww...

all this vibes about harry potter is making me really excited and huma extremely disgusted. to quote her,
all this for a book?!
hehehe... yup, hunny bunny, all for a book.
shakir and usman continue to make fun of me. i made this comment once,
it's almost like a real world.
but i stand by what i said. i really think that rowling has managed to create a world of stories you can escape to but still be able to relate to real life. she doesn't simplify everything into black and white but acknowledges that there are greys. some people are evil, but at times they are also kind. one cannot immediately decide whether a decision is good or bad, but simply have faith that it's for the best.
i cannot for the life of me say that i can identify myself with a particular character. what i can say is this, that the characters are humanly common and the issues in the stories are far from ancient.

AAAARRGGHHH!!! i received a bill from the ambulance service today. for the love of god, how could it be a FREAKING $1100?!?!?! i didn't even call them in the first place. an advice to everyone out there, don't think you're doing someone a favour when you call an ambulance for him/her. you could be doing that person a HUGE injustice. try taking the poor thing to the hospital yourself, calling a cab might be even better. leave the ambulance for last, will you?

went to see chalte chalte with usman at the regent theatre. the experience was interesting, the movie was disappointing. but i think that'd be the first and only time i'd ever watch a hindi movie at a cinema. i'll stick to dvds and videos from now on.

do you know that instead of the usual "and they lived happily ever after...", german fairytales tend to end with, "and if they hadn't died, they would still be alive today...". that's what paul said. kinda cool, i think. serves to remind you not only that the stories happened a long time, but also of your own mortality. speaking of which, for father's day, stacy and sigrid took shawn (bumped into them in davis) to the cemetery in harvard sq. very original stace.

p/s: mt. auburn cemetery is really beautiful, with all the sculptures and stuff. it's the resting place for the old cambridge rich folks.

today's been a wonderful day. we all went to the bramono's for their annual barbeque and it was awesome. a lot of food and good company. and after that, the also-annual water fight. that was madness. there were six waterguns and one hose (which i managed to grab hold of, hahah!) and ten crazy adults acting like kids. it was so much fun, although i was the first one to get fully drenched. amir was so funny, he kept running off into the house or outside of the yard to get away from the water. but we managed to get him anyway in the end. plus, he got a free carwash. he's so funny. usman went totally crazy. he had the best gun and he just had to get everyone. afsan was just as bad. and manal was so cute! she actually went under the house to hide. by the end, everyone was so wet that there's no point in shooting water at each other anymore. good stuff.

i had the weirdest dream last night - i went home and saw my mom sleeping with a baby by her side. granted, i miss having the small thing around. for 15 years of my life, the house was never empty of baby-cries.

i've always wondered why purple is putih star in loghat kelate. to my thinking, the bright star is more blue than purple. isn't it? i can't claim to be a kelantanese sejati. i don't even know that apples are called topoh until my 12-year-old cousin ( born and raised in kl ) informed me. for 17 years of my life, i said nyanyi instead of nganyi ( kinda means, making fun of ). my mom and my brother cracked up like crazy when they found out and oh-so-delightfully corrected me. the only real trait in me that gives me away is my addiction to sugar. you go to a kedai mamak for breakfast and if you see someone reaches for sugar to put in their dal or curry, i bet you 95% of the time that person is of kelantanese descent. that's what i do, pour sugar into everything i consume.

i love keith urban's somebody like you. also another interesting song to listen to, bally sagoo's remix of choli ke peeche.

choli ke peeche kya hai, choli ke peeche
chunari ke neeche kya hai, chunari ke neeche

tak de internet connection kan, so lama lah tak dapat nak mencoret apa2 kat sini. minggu lepas ada rythms and arts of malaysia borneo, so i went to see that down in copley theatre with d, salem and marina. jumpa ramai orang kat situ, and dia punya show pun macam seronok lah jugak. best. yg kelakar nyer tuh, diorang kan buat benda yg draw2 number untuk lucky winners tuh. nak dijadikan cerita, i was the second name to be called. tak pernah jadik lagi sebelum nih seumur hidup. nak kata lucky tak jugak, dapat pon buku jek, pasal traditional costumes of malaysia, bagi library lagi bagus tak. kalu menang yg hadiah last tuh, dapat tickets for two pergi malaysia buleh tahan jugak. anyways, lepas tuh gi harvard sq lepak2 ngan salem, seronok lah jugak. ada this street performer yg nyanyi in haitian, tangkap lentok punya. sangat sedap, kalu sedap mata memandang, rasa nak makan pon buleh ada. nasib baik tak sedap sangat mata memandang. tapi sedap telinga mendengar. jadi la tuh. lepas tuh last saturday, kami2 di malaysianboston buat picnic kat natick, kat tepi tasik. nak dijadikan cerita, hari tuh hujan la plak. nasib baik abg nazlen camper yg sejati, lengkap prepared dgn kanvas utk dijadikan tempat kami2 berteduh sambil makan. makan pon sodap. nasi lemak kak laila, siap bungkus ngan daun pisang lagi, cayalah. lepas tuh ada sapa ntah bawak serawa durian, mak ai, kecur liur melihat. kak noriah pulak bawak chicken wings, macam tahu2 je kita nih dah lama mengidam. hari nih, kami2 yg tadi nyer malas nak start bekerja, pergi tengok finding nemo. nasib baik tak bawak kaum yg lagi satu tuh sekali, ada yg tak nak buat bini karang. nak terjatuh kerusi dok tergelak2. sangat la comel cerita nyer. hari jumaat lepas dah pergi tengok cerita apa tuh, 2 fast 2 furious. bahaya lah tengok cerita tuh, give you rush satu macam. rasa macam nak sesama menjerit ngan racers tuh. woooooooohoooo!!! nasib baik usman ikut sekali, so terjaga lah jugak ketatasusilaan.

dr. krishna called about labwork results

june 2 : met dr. krishna
june 3 : started prescription
june 4 : labwork and chest x-ray done

abby, carrie, julia, eli and paul - i've met all of them my housemates except carrie. julia just told me that the comcast people won't come with the new cable thing until the 17th. baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad news. it means i have to continue be a halligan visitor for the next two weeks. no fun.

some of camping pics

Tak ada pun kad Birthday dari kakak tahun ini - ayah

i feel like the biggest jerk in the whole world. like the lowest of the lowest creature. like someone had just punched me in my gut. thousand apologies to my dad. i did send him the card, but much later than i should have. and i forgot to call him on his birthday. and everytime i tried calling him after that, he's always not home. i'm so sorry, i really am.

this past week had been hell without an internet connection in the house. i downloaded netzero, so i could use internet when i absolutely had to. it's still not up yet, i guess i just have to survive another week without it. i woke up this morning and my whole body ached. from paddling the raft yesterday. yup, me went whitewater rafting yesterday. we left friday evening, around four o'clock for maine. me, the bramono sisters, haruna, manal, shakir and usman. we had rented a tent for the night (except for haruna and dewi who stayed at a motel because of haruna's allergy) and were expecting... well, a tent. but the 'tent' turned out to be a medium-sized cabin with complete bunk beds built into the walls. it was a pretty nice place. we made a campfire, had dinner and had usman read our palms (mine read; not a typical girl, a lot of heart-mind conflict, just so-and-so self-confidence, learnt to think independently from a very young age, two strong emotional attachments before marriage, one marriage, start to like someone else while married, have one person who's always looking out for me and has a lot of influence on me). after midnight, dewi left to join haruna at the motel and the rest of us went inside with the intention of getting some rest before the big day. that didn't happen. manal was the only one who slept. diah, shaq, usman and i played cards until about four before we climbed into our sleeping beds. even then we still didn't sleep. i was donkey (read, i lost the game) and they were trying to make me sing. we ended up talking about (yes, what else but) marriage. manal woke up and joined us in our conversation. talked and talked until five, when i told people to shut up so i could sleep. i slept (or tried to sleep) for an hour. then i woke up because i was too cold to continue sleeping. we got ready and had breakfast. dewi and haruna had already joined us again by this time. we left the camping ground and went to the main building. we were told that we couldn't wear our own clothes because the water temperature was too cold. so we had to rent wetsuits and change into them. they were nasty. damp and smelly. we then got into the bus and had a half an hour ride to the river. saw huge baby moose on the way. our guide was called flash and he was fun. he had us in the lead raft because the rest of the group were high school kids from a camp. so our whitewater expedition began. usman and dewi sat on the far front of the raft, shaq and diah came next, then haruna and manal, and i sat at the back with flash. it was a fourteen-mile trip down the river. only one-third of it was the real stuff, the next one-third was just waves and the rest really was calm water. that was a bit disappointing. but the view on the kennebeck river was spectacular. we could swim in the river and just got back on the raft whenever we wanted to. of course i didn't (and still don't) know how to swim. so while everyone else was swimming i just sat on the raft with my feet in the water. after some convincing, i decided to get into the water (chanting "stay close to me" and holding usman's hand for the first several minutes). the water was cold, but it felt nice getting wet (definitely made wearing a wetsuit much more comfortable). eventually, i was floating by myself (and of course, the lifejacket helped :P) but flash made sure he kept the raft close to me so he could have easily grabbed me if i needed help. when we got back into the raft, we just sat there and talked and enjoyed the view, no more paddling. it took about three and a half hours before we had our feet back on solid ground. once back at the base, we rushed to the showers. felt much more like human after the shower. lunch was served (a barbeque) in the middle of a field. we had expected rain, but the weather couldn't have been better. it stayed cloudy all the time we were on the river and sunny after we got back to the base. then they showed slides of pictures of us paddling like crazy. after that, it was bye bye maine and welcome back to boston. the drive back was really nice, sunny and breezy. we got back at tufts around seven-thirty. i was really tired, but the trip was really nice. it was a much needed getaway, even if it's just for twenty four hours.