I'm Afraid

 You say that you love rain,

But you open your umbrella when it rains…

You say that you love the sun,

But you find a shadow spot when the sun shines…

You say that you love the wind,

But you close your windows when the wind blows…

That's why I am afraid;

You say that you love me, too…

Ps: this is a poem that I stumbled upon in Tumblr... It is not related to me in any way, just that I felt that it is too beautiful to ignore... Enjoy reading...

 

Dream Vacation at Bukit Gambang Waterpark

Last Sunday, we went to Bukit Gambang Waterpark, Kuantan... It was hot and sunny, the perfect weather to enjoy outdoor activities...

We arrive there around 11.00am and started enjoy ourselves... I played everything (except the kiddie pool) at least once... 

There are 5 water slides there, one is the longest, one is the darkest and one is the fastest water slide. Then there is a family slide (one buoy can fit 5 people) and another slide where you slide on a mat and race with your friends to reach the bottom...

I "flew" when riding the racing-mat-slide, which made me feel much much lighter, because at first they said that heavy person might not experience that... Hahaha

It was a blast, a dream vacation... As I lay afloat on buoy on the calm beach, I feel calm and relaxed...

Then we went for lunch at the cafe there... I chose nasi lemak while the others chose western food... Turns out my meal was the most cost-effective one compared to the others... Note to self (and others), don't order western food there, membazir duit jek, the food protion is small...

That is as much as I'm gonna share with all of you, other things will remain as secrets (just among us who went there together)...

Enjoy some photos which I managed to capture before the end of our trip (there is only few photos because all of us are enjoying ourselves that no one wants to sit around and take pictures)...

At the entrance

Me... gambar berseorangan sebab pemilik kamera kan... hehe

Ni gambar semua orang except Uganda (sciencess) coz dia yang tgh tangkap gambar ni...

Kaunter tiket

Dah masuk di dalam.... Berjaya seludup minuman masuk ke dalam... hehe

Ganbatte... let's enjoy ourselves... Daneng nyer tangan yang berharga Rm140 missing in action...

Me with red power ranger's watch

waiting for the big splash

piranha splashing water

stream + wave

beware: there are evil penguins down here

Just so that we won't forget the date...

Video ni menunjukkan Qayyum menang dalam perlumbaan waterslide (untuk kali ke berapa ni)... Tempat kedua helmi R n ketiga Uganda... Yang lain-lain dah berhenti main time ni sebab penat... hehe

To all who have not been to Bukit Gambang Waterpark yet, I strongly recommend you to go there... For those who have been there, let's go there again shall we.... hehehe

A birthday to remember

I had a great birthday last friday... Thank you so much to all my family and friends... 

Especially to those who stayed up until 12.00am just to wish me happy birthday, those who gave me birthday presents, those who wished me happy birthday (and happy belated birthday), those who put aside some of their time to celebrate birthday... and those who treated me to free meal on my birthday (and the few days after that)... 

Thanks a lot guys... :)

Ps: Birthday saya tahun ni bertarikh 11022011... cantik plak kan date ni, macam mirror image... Tq Amir Ibrahim, ko sorang je perasan kut... hehe

Selamat Hari Lahir Helmi Rahmat

Selamat Hari Lahir Helmi Rahmat... Thanx for yesterday... Semoga Allah membalas kemurahan hati ko dgn kemurahan rezeki...

Ni ada beberapa gambar "kenduri doa selamat" kami di Sara Thai... Orang-orang yang terlibat dah mintak banyak kali, so inilah dia...

yang diraikan

yg meraikan...

Sori r gambar x lawa, tp ni jek gambar yg ada nizam, so letak gak r gambar ni... hehe

waiter meja kami... siap jemput makan lagi kut... hehe

kailan ikan masin

colourful...

Gambar makanan xyah r letak kan, coz cam dah selalu jek promote sara thai nyer menu... hehe

Ps: Tak sabar nak tunggu birthday ko tahun depan helmi... sara thai lagi sekali k nanti... wakaka

Deciphering a secret code

People like to speak in secret codes so that other people may not know what the message is really about...

The message they send may not be private, all people can read or see the message, but only those who has the cipher (a key information to unlock the true message) will be able to read the real message behind the words/pictures/numbers (or any kind of secret codes)...

For people who read the message without the cipher, they would not understand the message at all... Thus true information is safely kept between the ones intended for it...

However, secret codes are bound to be broken when the cipher is discovered (accidentally or intentionally)...

When it happen (the cipher discovered), the hidden message can be read by the people who discovered the cipher...

And it doesn't end there... When the cipher is discovered, not only that the newest hidden message can be read, all the previous messages hidden using the same cipher can now be read... 

The secret is not a secret anymore, someone already know... 

But, if the ones who found out about the secret is your friend (who can keep secrets), the secret is still safe... for the moment...

PS: I also like to broadcast my secret messages, but sometime even the ones the messages are intended for cannot read between the lines of my secret messages...  

Maybe I had given them to many cipher that they don't know which one to use to decipher each messages... hehe

So the next time you read anything I wrote, think outside the box, you might just break my secret code... hehe... 

Or you can start now by deciphering this post, there is a hidden message in it...

something important

 

Most of the time, we like to stay in our comfort zone... Resisting the urge to do something new eventhough we want something so badly...  

Why? because we are afraid that if we take a chance to gain something more,  we might lose things/people that we already have...

If you feel that something/someone is important and worth striving for, take a chance... You might fail, but at least if you do, you know you've tried your best... no regrets... 

OR you can look at it this way,

If you are scared of losing something/someone, it means that that thing/person is important to you... So... Take a chance, do something...

Ps: I also wanna express my liking for this quote on shamelisawesome, but because I don't have a tumblr (for public), LIKE kat cni je lah boleh shamel? hehe...

Beli suratkhabar untuk bungkus nasi lemak

Post ni bukan pasal saya nak bukak business nasi lemak, tapi berkenaan rakyat Malaysia yang dah tak minat membaca akhbar "mainstream". 

Ini bukan berita yang memeranjatkan pun, dah lama dah orang tahu... cuma statistik yang rasmi ni agak baru dikeluarkan... Kebanyakan akhbar-akhbar "mainstream" dah semakin tak laku, penjualan merudum...

Utusan Malaysia, Berita Harian, NST dan The Star semuanya akhbar yang dimiliki kerajaan, dan semuanya asyik memaparkan isu-isu politik yang sering kali merupakan  benda yang remeh-temeh yang dibesar-besarkan...

Penjualan akhbar-akhbar ni dah menurun, tapi oleh kerana banyak dijual secara "bulk sales at discounted rates" kepada sekolah-sekolah, IPT (termasuk Library IIUM Kuantan) dan hotel, maka boleh survive lagi kut (for the time being)... 

Kebanyakan orang dah berhenti beli akhbar-akhbar ni sebab banyak memaparkan isu-isu remeh yang dipolitikkan je... 

Orang ramai lebih gemar akhbar tabloid seperti Kosmo dan Metro yang menceritakan pasal isu-isu sosial seperti liputan jenayah dan masalah sosial... 

Mungkin orang awam rasa isu-isu sosial dan setempat lebih relevan kepada mereka berbanding isu politik...

Bagi saya pulak, saya hanya akan beli akhbar kalau headline hari tu menarik minat saya... Hari-hari lain, saya baca berita di portal berita online saja... hehe... Anda pula bagaimana?

Di bawah adalah petikan berita yang berkenaan tajuk post...

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 31 — Newspaper circulation in the country maintained its downward slide this year as readers continue to shun hard news in government-controlled titles for more sensationalist tabloids.

Circulation of local media mainstays — The Star, New Straits Times, Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian — has fallen over the past five years, in some cases dramatically so.

Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) figures for the full year ended June 30, 2010 show: 

The Star’s circulation from 295,479 to 286,409 (-3.1 per cent drop),

the New Straits Times from 120,770 to 109,341 (-9.5 per cent drop),

Utusan Malaysia from 181,346 to 170,558 (-5.9 per cent drop),

and Berita Harian from 183,187 to 160,597 (-12.3 per cent drop).

Sales of the four newspapers have been falling these past five years, with ALL but The Star registering drops of 20 per cent or more between 2005 and 2009.

So-called “light reading” newspapers like Malay-language Harian Metro and Kosmo, on the other hand, continue to go from strength to strength, posting higher sales numbers this past year on top of already impressive circulation numbers.

Kosmo was the biggest winner with a massive 32.9 per cent jump in circulation from 129,633 last year to 172,252 this year. 

Harian Metro also managed to chalk up an impressive 11.8 per cent rise in circulation to 378,354.

Free paper The Sun recorded a 4.38 per cent boost in circulation from 287,935 to 300,512.

Bulk sales — the practice of selling bundles of copies at discounted rates for distribution in schools, airplanes and hotels — now make up a slightly higher proportion of average net sales per publishing day for mainstream papers.

Reduced rate sales for The Star went up from 8 to 10 per cent of total sales, the New Straits Times from 23 per cent to 27 per cent, Utusan Malaysia from 6 per cent to 7 per cent and Berita Harian from 13 per cent to 19 per cent.

In contrast, bulk sales for Kosmo, Harian Metro and Chinese-language dailies constituted one per cent or less of daily average sales....

Baca berita penuh di sini...

Ps: tajuk post ni memaparkan kurangnya orang membeli surat khabar untuk dibaca.. mungkin ada sesetengah orang yang tidak lagi membeli surat khabar dan hanya membeli surat khabar bila surat khabar itu datang dalam bentuk bungkusan nasi lemak saja... hehe

-The End-

I'm deleting your number from my handphone

Deleting a number from my handphone has always been a very hard thing for me to do... I thought that it was just me being sentimental, but apparently, I'm not the only one who feels this way... 

There are at least 3 more people having this same problem (Marshal, Lily and Robin)... TV can made us realize that we are not the only one facing a particular problem, and it helps a lot... For all I know now, maybe you have this problem too...

     "It's not that easy, you’re not just deleting a number… you’re deleting a part of your life…  You know all those memories, all those experiences, It’s like you’re admitting they’re gone forever…"

     "Lily, this is a number that you will never dial again,  but you keep it in your phone because it reminds you of the version of yourself that you could be, even if it is a version of yourself that you’ll never become and that’s okay..."

These are quotes from HIMYM season 6 episode 3, on deleting contact number from your cellphone...

Everytime I scrolled down my contact list with the intention of "cleaning" the people I've not contacted for a very long time from the list, I ended up reminiscing on each of the contact...

I think about the programs that I joined with them or classes I took with them or schools I went to with them or interviews that I endured with each of them... Nostalgic...

And in the end, I ended up only deleting a few of my old contacts (because I'm afraid that deleting them would make me forget them), and this is only after convincing myself that I may not contact these few contacts anymore and maybe I'll still remember them because they're on my facebook etc...

Just like what Robin said above, deleting the contact number is like deleting a part of your life... And even though I never wanted to delete part of my life, sometimes it is necessary to move on... 

And as time goes by, and as life goes on, new contacts enter into my phone, and some of the very very old ones are deleted from my phone, but not in my mind (insyaAllah)...

-The End-

Tak nak makan nasi la, nak diet...

gambar nasi yang cam best... huhu

When common people talked about dieting (the lay-man's term for weight management), one of the most common advise that they will give you is to avoid rice and substitute rice with other carbohydrate such as noodles or bread...  

Although many have given testimonials that this practice works, the question remains, is there any scientific evidence to back up this claim? 

During our clinical nutrition attachment to KK Beserah, this topic was raised and the answer provided by the dietitian was that there is no point in replacing rice with bread if you end up eating more bread to satisfy your hunger... 

There is some merit to this answer, this dietitian emphasize more on the portion of the food compared to the type of carbohydrates... This is because it is a well known fact that, there are many of us whose hunger cannot be satisfied with certain carbohydrates... For example, you might often hear something like "Eh, roti je ke, mana kenyang...". 

But still she did not answer the question...

I have read another article in newspaper which divides rice into white rice and brown rice... The article continue to bash white rice as the source of all evil (obesity etc) while promoting brown rice as the better alternative... In the end, it concludes that eating rice is the healthier option due to proteins present in rice etc but suggested people to take brown rice instead of white rice... From my opinion, this article do not give any credit to other carbohydrates, it only present one-sided arguments on rice only...

Then, there is a pamphlet on Glucerna SR formula which I read while doing community pharmacy attachment last semester... It compares different carbohydrates based on their glycemic index... Let me quote some info on glycemic index before I go on any further...     

     The glycemic index (GI) is a ranking of carbohydrates on a scale from 0 to 100 according to the extent to which they raise blood sugar levels after eating. 

     Foods with a high GI are those which are rapidly digested and absorbed and result in marked fluctuations in blood sugar levels. Low-GI foods, by virtue of their slow digestion and absorption, produce gradual rises in blood sugar and insulin levels, and have proven benefits for health. 

     Low GI diets have been shown to improve both glucose and lipid levels in people with diabetes (type 1 and type 2). They have benefits for weight control because they help control appetite and delay hunger. Low GI diets also reduce insulin levels and insulin resistance.

Now, back to the argument rice versus other carbohydrates...  The pamphlet showed that rice have a high glycemic index value compared to noodles, brown rice and some other carbohydrates... Thus, eating rice would cause the blood glucose to spike, make you feel hungry earlier and all the other disadvantages of eating high glycemic index food... 

People who want to lose weight should avoid high glycemic food and substitute them with lower glycemic index food...

Neway, I don't have that pamphlet with me anymore, that is why I stop short of providing any values of glycemic index in the paragraph above... Maybe I'll stop by at the pharmacy to take another pamphlet (someday in the distant future)...

There are a lot more reference on glycemic index of food in the internet but most of them usually contain western food (pasta) instead of Malaysian food (such as noodles etc), thus making comparison can be a bit difficult... 

Furthermore, glycemic index apply to all carbohydrates,  even food with simple sugar like glucose, thus it kinda make the list of glycemic index values into a very long list containing every fruits and products like honey, which actually defeats the purpose of having that index because the long complicated list makes it harder for common people to assess their food themselves...

Conclusion:
Yes, substituting white rice for other low glycemic index food such as brown rice, noodles and whole wheat bread is good for health, especially for those who are trying to lose weight... However, in addition to choosing the better source of carbohydrate, the meal portion should also be followed....  

-end of post-

Ps: I still eat rice.. and also other carbohydrates... Hehe

Shopping untuk Hari Raya

"Why do you shop? Because when I shop the world gets better... The world is better... And then it's not anymore... And I need to do it again..."

A marvelous quote from the movie Confession of a Shopaholic (which i watched not too long ago)... 

Why do I post this?

Because I feel like going shopping for eid tomorrow (memandangkan esok takde lecture)... I am thinking of buying a new pair of Baju Melayu and maybe something else too... Jom, lets go shopping, ada sale kut sekarang... Hehe

Pengguna yg bijak kena pilih barang berkualiti

Tahun ni nak pilih warna ape plak yer?

 Ps: the movie Confession of a shopaholic is quite an interesting movie.. banyak pengajaran dalam tuh, contohnya pasal berbelanja melebihi kemampuan etc... Sesuai untuk tontonan semua peringkat umur, terutama mereka yang suka bershopping sakan... huhu...

Bangladesh town in Malaysia

 

This is a fact quoted from The Malaysian Insider... Well now we have a statistics to prove that there really is lots of Bangadeshi in Malaysia...

Come to think of it, it is not so bad having them around... They are hardworking and they filled up positions in industry which Malaysians don't want to participate in such as labour in the construction sites... 

And compared to other foreign workers (from other countries), they are more Islamic too, they prayed often and they don't cause social problems (eg: theft, rape, drug traficking, prostitution, larikan anak perempuan orang etc) that often, in fact, they could be considered angels compared to some foreign workers from other countries... 

The one thing that i don't particularly like about them is having to communicate with a newly arrived worker who can speak very minimum English and Bahasa Malaysia... It can be frustrating... If you go to a mamak stall and the staffs there do not understand you, for me it is still acceptable.. 

But if you go to outlets such as Secret Recipe and the staffs there cannot communicate with you... Really really frustrating... I would just give up and minimize the conversation by pointing to the pictures in the menu to order the food... Same goes to supermarkets or other shops where you need to asks the staffs for assistance to find the things you are looking for...

The conclusion is that there are plenty of foreign workers in Malaysia... I hope that all of them is more civil, have work permits, don't create social problems here, and can speak in fluent English or Bahasa Malaysia... The end...