Friday, November 30, 2007

An evening of movie and cocktails

I just got back from a movie premier of Anthony Hopkins's movie with my mum, 'The World Fastest Indian' which was one of the movies screened in conjunction with Kuala Lumpur Film Festival. There was also a cocktail party afterwards, sponsored by New Zealand High Comission and we got to mingle around with the NZ ambassador and the people from the embassy.

And, no, the movie wasn't about the indian people. Indian, in this movie was actually a motorbike. And Anthony Hopkins's character was based on a true person, Burt Munro, a New Zealand motorcycling legend. So the movie was basically about Burt Munro's attempt to follow his dream of setting a new land speed record with his Indian bike at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

The movie was very philosophical and you could see strong determination in Burt's character when he tried hard to follow his dream of setting the record with his very modest looking bike. And the movie showed a different character of US which I rarely see in other movies.

I'm glad I went to watch the movie. And I have a Turkish language class tomorrow. My first class. Will give you the update soon!

Monday, November 26, 2007

accidents do happen

(The lil guy on the right)


So far my teaching lessons for my cousin is paying off. He can read a bit now after a week after of teaching. His mum told me that she was wearing a T-shirt that said 'Win Some, Win Some' and my cousin pronounced it perfectly without anyone asking him to. So yeah, I'm happy that he could at least read on his own now. But he still needs help with writing and counting and we're working on that.



And my other cousin, Nabil just got out of hospital after he fell off a bed (he was jumping on it like a trampoline) and his head hit the floor real hard. He was admitted to ICU for a night or so. And now he has a swelling brain. Can you imagine that? A swelling brain?FREAKY! He's only 3 years old but he still looks adorable as ever.



His accident reminded me of myself when I was around his age too. I too had a similar accident where my head knocked a cupboard hard and it bled and I couldn't stop vomiting. And I have a small scar just above my right eyebrow to remind me of that frightful accident.



I guess getting your head bruised at the age of 3 really runs in my family. LOL!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

RA, the reading teacher

School holidays is here again! What do I have to do this holidays? Teach my illiterate 7 year old cousin how to read and count. Well he isn't exactly illiterate but a bit slow when it comes to reading and counting. He has Thalassemia and been in and out of hospital for bone marrows and blood transfusions for the past 3 or 4 years so there was little time for school.

Now that he's slightly better, he needs a lot of catching up to do with his reading and counting and writing. So as the eldest granddaughter on my dad's side and as the 15 year old who has nothing to do for holidays, it is my duty to be his 'teacher' for the next one and a half month. :)

No, he doesn't call me Miss Zaf. Instead he calls me 'Ra'. Nickname I was stuck for 15 years, given by my cousins and relatives. And by the end of december, we'll see how my cousin progresses. We just started yesterday and he's doing well so far.

Anyone need a reading teacher, I'm here to help. LOL!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

what's in a name

I was away from the blogging scene for a few weeks now cause my Jaring connection was cut off cause I exceeded the credit limits. I first wrote this blog to share with people the bits and pieces of my life and also my views and opinions on certain things in life. And my blog URL was and still is victoriousgal.blogspot.com. I know some of you think that I'm a self proclaimed victorious girl with that kind of blog URL.

But let me explain to you why I chose that name. It more or less comes from my name : ZAFIRAH. It's a translation of my name. Zafirah is actually an Arabic name and it means victorious or successful. So that's where I got my blog URL. According to my name I'm victorious but am I really victorious in real life?

Hahaha. I don't think so. I'm just a girl living my life but always try to do my best in whatever I do at the same time. Everyone has a name. Name is a kind of symbolic contract between the society and the individual. By giving a name the society confirms the individual's existence and acknowledges its responsibilities toward that person. The name differentiates a person from others thus, the society will be able to treat the person as someone with needs and feelings different from those of other people.

The sense of personal identity and uniqueness that a name gives us is at the heart of why they are important to us as individuals and to our society as a whole. Although most people know very little about names and about the effects they have on everyday life. As humans with names, we have the need and right to know about the psychological, magical, religious, and ethnic aspects of our names.

Go here to find out the meanings behind your names

"> http://www.babynamescountry.com/