[ desdinasi at livejournal ]

first semester results are out!

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:52:11 GMT

TOTAL CREDIT POINTS : 55.17
CUMMULATIVE GRADE POINTS : 55.17
TOTAL CREDIT HOURS : 15.5
CUMMULATIVE CREDIT HOURS : 15.5
GRADE POINT AVERAGE(GPA) : 3.559
CGPA : 3.559

STATUS : PASS

REMARKS : Dean`s List

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET.

Guess all that 'must focus on studies now that you're in university and you can't mess this up like you did A-levels' paid off. For this semester anyway =D

art dump, nov - dec 2009

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 01:08:20 GMT

I'm on holidays but there's still so much to do. For one, I'm going to help my aunt sell AFS shirts before the Jenesys kids go to Japan for their short 2 week exchange.

***

So the other day, Cate, the Australian exchange student who is staying over at my place, asked me this profound question: If you had to choose one, would you opt to be a mermaid or rather be a centaur/kentauride?

So I really put thought into it and then I ended up researching the darn mythical animals. After that, I figured I might try drawing them. My centaur drawings sucked, but my mermaids turned out decent so I'm posting them here.

Eid 2009

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 09:20:41 GMT

Wishing everyone a happy Aidilfitri / Eid-ul-fitr / 1st Syawal!

I ask for forgiveness for any wrong doings I might have done,
and I hope you guys have a good Syawal month!

Now I have to go eat and welcome visitors =D

in iium now

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:42:41 GMT

a short entry as I'm in the university lab.
classes are good, linguistics is a pain but I'll have to endure.
History classes are SO INTERESTING.
my dorm (cubicle actually) is pretty snazzy, if I do say so myself. For having limited furnishing resources and space, it turned out decent.

So busy with assignments, exams and research papers.
:(

uni stuff

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:16:39 GMT

Ok, so I didn't finish my USA entries, sorry :(

However, I've been accepted to do a BA in English Language & Literature (hon) in IIUM and hopefully I'll get it sorted so I get to finish in 3 years. Insyallah. The uni is about 30-40 minutes away and I've been given a dorm.

WILL I BE ABLE TO HANDLE ALL THAT ENGLISH ?!?!

Registration was done in quite a rush and classes start the day after tomorrow for me so yeah :(

I might get broadband there though, see how it goes.
Take care!

quick one

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:42:11 GMT

hey guys, i'll be at chris' and she uses dial up so i wont be able to make calls home, email or post properly till i get back. take care ok :)

008 : cycling

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:39:07 GMT

The siblings Caitlyn and Ryan asked if I would like to go biking with them and even though I've only learnt to ride one when I came back from the USA in 2007 and even though I only ride a small kids' bike once every few months, I enthusically agreed. This is with me not fully knowing how to use the breaks.

We cycled some 20 minutes under the hot sun to Crown Point, which is a very scenic town with lots of touristey shops and courtyards. The ride was fun, but I fell so many times and scraped my body up quite throughly. I've got scabs and sore blue spots on my limbs for souvenirs. It was worth it though, I've never biked that long or did anything of the sort before.

Today was a busy day too. Parvizsho came to pick me up and we went shopping at the mall. We also took some of those classic american photo booth pictures but I don't have a scanner with me at the moment so perhaps when I get back eh?

After hanging out a few hours with Parvizsho, Randy came to pick me up and we went to catch Transformers 2.
IT WAS WOAH.
like.
WOAH.
Can't wait to watch it again.
I feel like buying the bootleg copy as soon as I get home.
And downloading the OST.

shops in the courthouse i think

small candy store

antique store

if im not mistaken, this was the jail in which John Dillinger (there's a movie about it..no 1 public enemy or smthg.. starring johnny depp?) was held. anyway, I'm chilling on the porch.

collateral damage

007 : thrifty thrifty

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:29:31 GMT

I went thrift shopping with Bernard. He's one of the Malaysian exchange students currently staying at Chris'. The students needed more suitcases so what better place to go for cheap luggage bags?

I managed to get an amazing looking classic victorian style suitcase for USD3. It's baby blue and has buckle-like openings at the front. :D Plan to use it as a memory box when I get home to stow all the sentimental junk like cards and letters that I've kept from my exchange 2 years ago =D

We also visited our schools for a bit but since it's summer, there were not many people about.

Before sending me home the exchange students living with chris and I dropped by the mall. I needed to get a band t-shirt for my brother and the Malaysian boys wanted to go shopping at Abercrombie and so on.

Allright, this is a quick one because I have to go take a shower and out for my morning walk. Take care!

thrift shopping at goodwill

w/Bernard

lockers!

from left : Fathi from Ghana, Norman and Bernard from Malaysia and me

006 : summering around

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:35:08 GMT

The past few days went by like a whirlwind.

The Schlewins invited me over to swim in their pool and I gladly accepted. I got a good workout out of it and managed to cool down from the heat! There's just something about splashing around in a backyard pool with a whole bunch of happy people in the middle of summer that makes you feel SOOOOOOOO good. There's your antidepressants for you.

After swimming I went out with ma' bro Parvizsho and his family to a Chinese Buffet. Then walked around Hobart taking pictures. There was this nice flowery glade near the train tracks with colourful plants growing right up to your thighs but we think it was fenced off. We tried to get in anyway, but couldn't find a proper access so we just went around the edges :(.
Nice flowers tho.

brownies

they sell cookies by the load here

tomtom with a big pretzel

lj & tomtom

stayed a night over at Chris' and her camper was out because they just came back from Wisconsin Dells so the exchange kids and her family crashed in it.

With Pusho and his host sister

He was spending the whole day speaking english with a russian accent. He only realised that it's easier for him to speak with it than in the proper way because usually he has to remember not to roll his Rs and adding Ks to his Hs.

005 : go destroy dina!

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 06:35:27 GMT

the boys ruthlessly attacked me in my room ;)

that 'oh really' sounded bad :( i was a bit distracted by the computer, but anyway, ARN'T THE BOYS SO CUTE?

I blame doctor who.

------------------

in case you guys forgot, This was tom some 2 years back

004 : fly high

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 05:26:21 GMT

Today started off with a morning walk with the boys again and then made fried maggi mee for myself. Eluides tried some - it seems that he and John (my host grandfather) rather enjoyed the other packets of maggi mee that I left behind the last time I stayed over in the USA. (Maggi - ramen noodles, one of the best selling ones in Malaysia although I don't think they're originally from my country. Very spicy for many foreigners especially the Curry and Tomyam flavours).

At noon Erika, Jaime (Hi-me) and their Mum picked me up and we went to have pizza and papayas over at their place. We stopped by a few yard sales. I've never seen one in Malaysia before so this was a pretty interesting stop. It's fascinating, the amount of strange and useless items you can find in other people's garages. I also found out that Erika has a huge trampoline in her backyard so I borowwed a pair of her shorts, put them on under my skirt and bounced my way through most of the day =)

I love trampolines.
Ok I'm feeling very groggy now so I'll plop myself into bed and finish reading the Fellowship of the ring. Goodnight!

Yard sale. Erika in black on the left. Her mum is blocked though. And Jaime is blocked too. He's the one in the red sleeveless shirt.

a teapot I guess

the door is for sale too

with miss verduzco

This is me with Maria :D

super pole-climbing abilities

mexican ninjas

A clearer shot of Erika's mum, Senora Verduzco. There's a funny story behind this picture but I don't think I'll be able to do it any justice by typing it out. So I'll leave it as this ;)

Papa John's mushroom pizza

this would be a nice picture if my skirt hadn't ridden up so high. It's most definetly not going onto my facebook. Just here, because LJ is more discreet. Still, thank God for white athlethic shorts, eh?

003 : sights and sounds

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 11:46:43 GMT

Have I mentioned that the weather here is awesome? I have? Oh well. I'll just say it again. THE WEATHER IS AWESOME. It's hot enough that it's not freezing, with a light breeze so that someone can walk around in a summer dress and a shawl. Which is exactly what I did. Got a USD14 dollar black summer dress and it's super comfy (yes, I know, the colour conflicts with the season but I'm lame like that).

Woke up early morning and it was like the trees were beckoning me to trot along the dew strewn grass. How could I resist such temptation? I got my slippers on quick and went for a refreshing morning walk with LJ. Something I do miss about the suburbs is that even though I didn't know anyone, the neighbours would say hello as I walked pass and slow moving cars with their windows down would yell out 'Good Morning!' with a smile. I guess if you start off the day cheerful, everything else falls into place.

After noon, Randy invited me over to his place to hang out and since he supplied the transportation and I had my day free, I was all for it. Haven't seen him for some 2 years, but MSN messenger works wonders with keeping in touch with your friends. He tried to teach me to play Rock Band on the Xbox but my hand-eye coordination is rubbish. In the evening brought Chrystal (Randy's sister) to the nearby ice-cream parlour which was in walking distance and just chilled for a couple of hours. The whole family were amazingly welcoming and even their cat was all rubbing on my legs by the time I left.

After Randy sent me back, Parvizsho's family then were very generous in offering to pick me up to hang out at their place. (Parvizsho was the Uzbeki exchange student who was hosted with me in Indiana 2 years back. It so happened that he's here in the USA too at the same time as me and I'm extremely glad about it because he was one of the closest to me in my batch). I cannot begin to tell you how much of a freeloader I feel like now. Hitching rides here and there. Anyway, after the house we walked to the nearby pool bar to play a couple of games and chat.

And here I am. Nearly midnight and I'm typing out my daily activities. Nite guys!

power walk with lj

</center>
Tomtom draping himself in the spongbob sleeping bag, pretending to be a monster and climbing on my bed :D

Randy, who was intrigued by Malaysian scarves tries mine on. I'm sorry to say I don't think the look suits you

Parvizsho

obviously this pose was struck right before the camera flashed because it's nearly impossible to hit a ball into a pocket at that angle.

forcing Pusho to play on the guitar cause he's really good at it

P/S: My previous entry 002:flights&firstvisits for some reason doesnt appear on my flist. You can find it when u click on my name tho.

002 : flights and first visits

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:20:44 GMT

The whole getting-rid-of-jetlag plan is going surprisingly well for me. I went to bed at +/-11pm yesterday and woke up at 5am today - thanks to a call from College's Law department who wanted me to enroll I guess but then realised I was abroad. Thanks College. But on a serious note, I'm happy that I'm not nodding off at 6pm. The 13-hour time difference can be a killer.

The flights were good, especially Malaysian Airlines which I always enjoy travelling on. Sorry United Airlines, but MAS totally PWN'D you by ten million milestones. I won't be pissy about the flights though because a)they're free and b)I got here safely which is #1 priority. Syukur Alhamdulillah.

Weird dreams during the flight. One included me trying to comb a furry baby penguin but it told me to stop because the comb might get stuck in it's fur. "How 'bout a brush then?" I asked it, "A brush is OK" it replied.

view from the plane as we were coming into the USA from Paris. Isn't it beautiful? The mountains stretch out really, really wide. T'was like flying over an ice desert.

Ayam Masak Merah meal at Malaysian Airlines (MAS). Delicious!

home again :)

The boys!

My first proper meal. Cheese quesedillas at Taco Bell. mmhmmm :)

Of course I had to visit here the first day right? ;)

P/S: I wrote an entry and then my foot accidentally flipped the 'off' switch and I was so afraid it would all go away but thankfully, good net connection and Livejournal's 'restore from saved draft' application was there. Thank you!

001 : here!

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:09:11 GMT

So I'm finally back in Indiana, USA!

The flight really got to me (took me some 30 hours of travel), and I have a slight headache but things are fine. Went for dinner at Taco Bell then dropped by the local walmart. The Pagans are well and the boys, LJ and Tomtom, are as fun loving as ever :)

Weather here is perfect!

Talk to you guys once my head stops pounding.

P/S: Khello!

flight details

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:29:02 GMT

KUL - CDG
(Kuala Lumpur - Paris)

CDG - ORD
(Paris - Chicago)

//

CDG - IAD
(Chicago - Washington DC)

IAD - LHR
(Washington DC - London)

LHR - BKK
(London - Bangkok)

BKK - KUL
(Bangkok - Kuala Lumpur)

-----------------------

Dear self,
Enjoy your flights!
(it's tonight, btw)

hey gaiz

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 23:54:03 GMT

Guess what?

I received the scholarship to be a group leader for the AFS YES end-of-stay camp at Washington DC!

They're paying for my flight, accommodation and food while at the camp so it's a pretty amazing deal. I have to pay for my visa though, which is about RM530 (+/-USD150) but I guess if you look at the big picture, it isn't bad. The AFS staff were all really helpful throughout and I'm in the midst of planning my flight arrangements with Annie (Have I mentioned how happy I am to have Annie help me with this? She's a seasoned flight-booker, and a pretty darn good one at that!). I hope to be able to visit my host family and friends around Chicago a week or two prior so Insyallah, everything pulls through.

I have to arrive in Washington DC for the camp on the 29th and it extends till the 3rd when I hope to be able to catch a flight back later that day. After arriving in Malaysia it's straight off to another post-return orientation, this time hosted by the Malaysian YES (Youth Exchange and Study) alumni. NO TIME FOR JET LAG.

On to more interesting news, yesterday I accidentally kicked the huge luggage bag that was placed in my room while trying to find my way around. The bag was pretty solid. My foot not quite so. At work I managed to cut my finger while washing the blades of the blender, spill hot water on myself when getting tea for a customer and dropped a whole bunch of cutleries when clearing the tables. Go me.

But today is my last day of work! I had to ask my manager for permission to quit work earlier, the initial plan was to work till mid-June but I'd rather accept the scholarship than continue on another 2 weeks. Working there is fun despite everything, but this is a big chance for me! The next week is my having to work out my visa and everything else. I have to get things done quick if I hope to leave in 10 days :)

quickie

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 13:33:01 GMT

work. is. exhausting.

gotta go to bed early. another morning shift tomorrow.

(we're low on manpower. You'd think they'd want to put a 'help wanted' sign up or something...)

how do you like your beans?

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:05:43 GMT

Mum wants me to apply for my studies early so I plan to go to Monash University Malaysia on Thursday to settle the applications, then probably call college to ask them about my A-Levels cert without which, I won't be able to apply to the International Islamic University (UIA).

On to other news, since my old job has finally got themselves a proper full-timer, they don't need me as much but I'm still on their call list. I don't get the liberty of working a blissful 3-4 times a week anymore and my hours have been cut significantly shorter. Having a full-timer is much more financially profitable for them than to keep me under part-time I guess. I don't blame them, but I don't appreciate the lack of money and their calling at very short notices to ask if I can work the next day. It just isn't consistent enough so today I went and applied for another part-time job at Coffee Bean. We'll see how that goes.

(Btw, Ganko applied for work at Coffee Bean together with me but I just remembered a while ago that she's allergic to Coffee. This'll be a hoot!)

Has anyone watched Star Trek? Now I remember why Captain Kirk looks so familiar. He was Danny from Blind Dating! Now when I see his pictures I keep imagining the Captain as blind. That and Mr.Spock suddenly going all Sylar on me.

Take care guys.

t-shirt designs : malaysian icons

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Mon, 04 May 2009 01:58:06 GMT

Another t-shirt design that I've made. I'm still trying to get more ideas.. we need a few more shirts for the AFS World Congress.

(p/s : for the outline of the shirt, thanks goes to Farhan. He used it for the Hearing Impared AFS YES shirt and I figured it looks really snazzy and makes the design to shirt transformation so much easier to picture.)

coloured or uncoloured?

more dumbassery by me.

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Sun, 03 May 2009 08:24:11 GMT

Conversations with my Dad before he goes off for a golf tournament ::

Me : Dad, if you win anything - whatever it is, I want it.
Dad : Whatever? What if you don't need it?
Me : Whatever it is, I will need it, trust me.
Dad : Allright then.

* Dad comes back from golf tournament with a big parcel in his hands and puts it down on kitchen table *

Dad : Here you go, this is what I won. I know you've always wanted one.
Me : Ah... a hot water dispenser....
Me : ... exactly what I need.
Me : We can put it next to the other recently bought hot water dispenser. They'll go great together.

shirt design

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Fri, 01 May 2009 11:44:22 GMT

So it took me some 2 days but I've managed to finish (somewhat) a design for the AFS t-shirts that we're planning to sell later this year.

It's a bit girlish, so I'm thinking of getting another design that would appeal to both sexes. Any ideas?

Brief explanation : Malaysia is a country where many different races live. I guess it also had much to do with the British colonists bringing labour into Malaya but anywhoo.. we're a pretty diverse bunch of people so that's the idea of the shirt. This one represents the few major groups.

From top left: The Chinese Samfoo (men), the Chinese Cheongsam (women), Clothes from Sabah (Kadazan tribe - female and male), the ones in purple are the Indian Kurta (male) and Sari (female). Bottom left in green are the Malay Baju Kurung (female) and Baju Melayu (male) and bottom right are the Clothes from Sarawak (Iban tribe - female and male).

I do hope I managed to get the tribal designs right. I don't live in Borneo so I'm not as familiar with them.

hope this one doesnt get rejected D=

harlo twenteen

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:30:10 GMT

So... twenty eh?
I guess it isn't too bad, I'm enjoying myself.

My birthday weekend was rad, and made more so by my family and friends. On Friday some of the AFSers had a potluck dinner at Paul's apartment. On Saturday, schoolmates from the good old days went for a picnic to celebrate Liz and my birthdays and on my birthday itself, my family treated us to a buffet lunch at the Le Meridien hotel. One of the best buffet lunches I've had in ages. It was fantastic. There was Japanese food, Chinese food (dim sums, noodles, rice), Malay food, a good salad spread, western cuisine, various Arabic meals, Indian food, bbq etc etc and obscenely decadent dessert tables. That's tables by the way. With an 's'. There were even three different fondues for the three sorts of chocolates - dark, milk and white!

Way to rocket off the new decade.

Anyhoooo, thank you everyone who wished me, and to those who gave me fantastical stuff to commemorate this coming-of-age. I really appreciate everything. =D

If you've known me for a while or for a bit more than a while, let me say thank you. For putting up with my nonsense, may it be for a minute of for two decades.

You guys are awesome.

AFSers At Paul's condo

birthday cake. It reads, 'welcome to the quarter life crisis'. I hope I live to be more than 80 gaiz! D=

******************

Picnic with high schoolmates

with Moon

with seafolding

with seafolding and the other birthday girl, Liz.

celebrating my 16th birthday together with Liz. Ah, good times.

with Ji

Jo : Nana : Moon : Liz : Me : seafolding : nazess : Ji

tick tick tick

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 14:55:42 GMT

one more hour of being a teenager.

I AM SO SCARED.

Redang picture post 4

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 04:08:51 GMT

Today and yesterday have been good. Kakak and I washed the car and right now I'm reading recent chapters of One Piece. After that might browse through Fullmetal Alchemist.

I finally posted up a collection of my drawings on facebook (about time right?) and later today the plan is to go have dinner with a small group of friends.

I haven't felt this relaxed in awhile. I guess Redang sort of helped :)

and then the rest of the students appeared out of the blue!

Lisa : Sara

Nils

Mike

Good jump guys! Anne-Kat and Ludwig

hair everywhere

Redang picture post 3

dinaahmadmurad@hotmail.com — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:55:23 GMT

nyuk sebatang.

Pascal, who has a very strange accent. I believe he stayed for a few months in an Indian Malaysian home, then moved to a Chinese Malaysian home, add that to his German accent and it's just so weird. In a good way though.

Sea cucumber, I believe.

green corals!

Merve (left) and Maraike

I do believe that over the weekend I got around 3 shades darker! XD

Me, Merve and Judith

Urm... YEAHHHHH

Let's see if I can do this right. From back left is Nils, Sara, Guillaume. Front row from left is Merve, Claire, Maarten and Baudouin.

Doesn't Jan (front right) look a bit like what Harry potter might with light hair?

From left : Antonia, Giulia and Judith

I'm stretchy

Paula and Jenny