15 minutes to midnight, I'm not in London with Fol. I'm back in Loughborough instead, trying to get my head around studying while he spends some time with his family before they go back to Brunei. Love Actually (with Hugh Grant!) is on tv, it's just gotten to the part where Keira Knightly discovers that her new husband's best friend is actually in love with her. I think it's a sweet movie, in fact, it's a beautiful movie. I like, I like.

In a way, I'm relieved that Fol's finally here with me. It was a little bit annoying that we haven't been spending as much time together as we should have, but sometimes things just can't be helped. I missed mornings where we'd go out and have breakfast at some cafe, or we'd stay in and make breakfast together. I make us sound like an old married couple, but it's just so comforting most of the time when he's around. I've got a downside to it though, he seems to add the already messy clutter in my room.

I think we're beautiful together though. He's my light, my rock.

love,
yasmin.x

Paris
Originally uploaded by unangelic

My trip to Paris was fantastic. Four days and three nights in the beautiful capital, we managed to see sights on the tour bus, along with the Effiel tower and Louve. I had a fantastic time with my friends, namely, Fol, Aimi, Afwi, Syer, Lina, Alin, Wana, Aimi and Dhirah.

On our second last day, we went to Disneyland. Fol and I took a photo with Pluto as seen in the photo above :) I initially wanted to take a photo with Goofy because I've got one with him when I was a little girl visiting the Disneyland in Tokyo.

Fol took me to a french restaurant on our last day, didn't enjoy my food as much as I should have but I ended up eating up his food instead. I took loads of photos since Fol's got a new Nikon D40x, the photos came out great. There's plenty more on my flickr if you'd like to see more: http://flickr.com/photos/unangelic/sets/72157603504443032/

love

love
Originally uploaded by unangelic

Housemates are people you'll live with for a litle while, maybe for a long while. You can get tired of them, but if you've got the best of, then even those tiring nights when you don't feel like facing the world, you know they're gonna be there to help you lift your head up and clean that mess you made after throwing up.

lol.
i love my housemates :)
xx

He's finally hereeeeee.
yay.
merry christmas.
happy holidays.
eid.
du du du.
he's here!!!!!!!
and we're going to paris tomorrow.
less than a dozen people going.
we are going to rock france.

love,
yasmin

I wish you could take me away, where it'd be just you and me. We'd live together, away from all the problems and complications we'd face if we weren't alone. Sometimes we make choices at the spur of the moment because we think that's what's best. We wouldn't want to hurt those we care about most, so that decision we made was probably for the best.

Did you know my heart broke when you said no? Sometimes in the middle of the night, I'd wake and wonder how things would be if circumstances we different. That's just useless thinking because right now, that's how things aren't.

I thought maybe we could live in our world of secrets, and we could hide it under the blankets where only you and I would know what it contains. Wouldn't that be great?

But no.

You said no.

And I'm still regretting how it turned out.

I overslept this morning and missed my only Wednesday tutorial. It's cheery and bright outside, and because of that, I thought I'd just stay in my room. The weather's getting worse, I'm hoping it might snow or something soon.

I've been working on my essay over the weekend, while spending play time with the boys; watching them play football and us playing netball. I threw around handballs with Naw, and stalked a girl who works at Sainsbury's with Taufiq and the boys.

Peko and me in Fahmi's room

The boys played in the CSSA tournament (Chinese Students & Scholars Association, I think) and came 3rd, unfortunately they didn't give out medals for that. The funny thing is that this tournament prepared them for worse case scenarios, come BSU Winter Games.

I've never seen such dirty and rough playing but the boys did all in all did well with 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. There were a group of students representing Japan, I've never really thought about Japanese boys and the image I have of them in my head is nothing like the ones I met over the weekend. Thanks to Gwen Stephanie, I also have a (mis)represented view of Japanese girls too. lol But yes, the Jap boys I saw this weekend were yum..

Cat, Ain, Syer, me and Azwan during the CSSA tournament

After the football tournament, we went to watch the Loughborough Lightning netball team versus Leeds Met. It was an awesome match and I'm totally inspired by the players. The game just after an hour ended with Loughborough Lighting 72 - Leeds Met 36. It was worth the £5 I had to pay.

Anyway, lack of posting was due to lack of time. I'm busy every day, seems like there's always something for me to do. Work never feels like it's done. Exams are in a month and ten days, I'm excited because as usual, I just want to get it done and over with.

One last photo. Above is us in Manchester,
from left; Dk Fil, Naw, Fil, Aimi, Lina, me, ka Fizah and Ella :)

love,
yasmin
XXXX

Here comes the holidays in full speed.
I think it's going to hurt.
Like the shows you watch on tv,
it's never enough without drama.

welcome to week 11, semester 1.
enjoy it while it lasts.

love,
yasmin.

thursday; three hour lectures
musics playing on the background.
looking forward to friday because i've got netball in the evening.
god i'm so bored.

It's week 10 in Loughborough, meaning in just two weeks time it's the winter break :-) My last day of class would be on Thursday morning (no tutorial that afternoon, yay!!), meaning I get a day off earlier than most people and my Saturday will be spent at the BSU Winter Games playing netball in the morning and cheering on my favourite boys in the afternoon.

I'm trying to think of a weekend when I didn't have anything to do with stepping out of the house. Being who I am keeps me busy, I'm glad for the distraction though because it keeps that feeling of loneliness at bay. I wouldn't recommend long distance relationships to anyone but then again, if you're determined to see it work, what's the harm in trying? I haven't seen my boyfriend for just over two months now, not a photo nor a glimpse. I have no idea what he's suppose to look like now that he claims he's been hitting the gym. I don't know what to expect and we've made a £500 bet that I hope I lose to because I do want him to win the bet.

I miss my Sunday mornings with him when we'd eat out or take a walk to town and just take the view in. My second year was beautiful because he was around for all of it. Now third year, I just have to live with the fact that phone calls to him cost me £0.05 per minute and will be expensive if I did it every day. So I don't.

I know the photos I've been posting up have been of crap-quality but it's because my camera is unfunctional at the moment... because I can't find the charger. It's in my room somewhere, I know it is because I've used it before, except now I can't find it and I haven't a clue of where I left it. My room is a disaster area, especially my study desk. It's this huge mess with papers, make up and what not. Hopefully I'll be able to get this room sorted out after my exams, I can't wait. 59 days til exams are over.

Sometimes I think I'm a bit too blunt and I end up hurting people's feelings but I think sometimes they know I don't mean to hurt their feelings it's just how I am? But then again, maybe it's me who's being over sensitive?

random things;

1. I ordered a pizza from pizza hut today. My craving for pizza has been satisfied.
   
2. On Wednesday, my housemates, some friends and I should be having lunch at EHB. yay, first one this term.
   
3. I have a burn on each wrists from my cake baking and I wear them like they're my medals.
   
4. I have too much faith in people but that's because sometimes people just don't have enough faith in themselves that I end up making up for it :-)
   
5. Today I learnt about encryptions in Number Theory. That was a cool topic. I can encrypt and decrypt messages by using a math theorm. How awesome is that?

love,
yasmin.

The Hand Bag man, originally uploaded by unangelic.

We spent yesterday in London, for the junjung ziarah with His Majesty, Sultan of Brunei.

And from a special request back home (i.e. my mother!) I sported a headscarf for most of the day. Funnily enough, only one guy throughout the whole bus matched my outfit: Fahmi, the hand bag man.

So, while HM mingled with the crowd, I got mangled. He was literately just between me and another person and of all days, every person from every corner of me decided to rush towards him, while stepping on my feet. I gave up and pushed myself out of the crowd and sat on a table. So no, I didn't get to greet him.. but Syaheir did, twice.. and so did most of the boys I think.

Other than that, it was a good day. I have a mental list in my head of what kind of new shoes to buy. :-D

More photos are available on my flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/unangelic

I spent my Saturday in Nottingham, captain-ing the Loughborough Malaysia netball team and refereeing whenever possible. It was a terrible morning with terrible referees, I was well annoyed and ended up raising my voice at some of the organisers and so-called referees (who sadly admitted they have never before refereed), so my slight-yelling might be justified for outlandish whistle (or none) blows.

In the end we lost against two teams, won against three and since only the top team of every group could qualify for the semi-finals (there were no quarter finals), we didn't get in. Losing against Nottingham and Manchester was a low-blow for me, because the girls and I could've done much better. But nevermind, they always have next year :-) Congratulations to the Warwick netball team (mich, yung hui in particular) for winning over all :-)

love,
yasmin
XXX

EXAM TIMETABLE FOR IZY PATERA
Monday 21st January 2008
07MAC147 Number Theory (Maths)
09:00 - 11:00

Tuesday 22nd January 2008
07MAB142 Vector Spaces (Maths)
13:00 - 15:00

Wednesday 30th January 2008
07BSC040 Sources of Funds/Financial Packages (Finance)
09:00-12:00

Thursday 31st January 2008 (Maths)
07MAB141 Analysis
13:00 - 15:00

n590471367_699813_7961, originally uploaded by unangelic.

I should really admit to the world that I'm actually a netball junkie. This is a photo of us at the Leicester sports hall after a game of netball.

We played in Manchester over the weekend against BruManch. I had fun catching up with my cousin, sister and my bestfriend. It was good fun :) Will post a photo on that soon.

BruManch vs. LufBru results

netball: LufBru 19 - 18 BruManch
football: LufBru 5 - 2 BruManch
badminton: I don't know how the score system works :p

love,
yasmin.

n565956099_204546_6809, originally uploaded by unangelic.

I thought it's time I posted a photo :)

This is me and some of the first years and college students in Loughborough plus Sabri, a second year just after the LufBru X Games.

love,
yasmin.

The original article sent out by the International office:

Good Luck with your A-level exams from Loughborough University

Loughborough University in the UK has a longstanding and close relationship with the students of Brunei. In addition to regular Brunei visits by University staff, Loughborough has one of the most exciting and largest Brunei student societies (LufBru) in the UK. Yasmin Patera, Chair of LufBru, says, “…nearly all the Brunei students at Loughborough took their A-level exams within the last 3 years so we know what all the A-level students back home are going through right now. We wish
you GOOD LUCK and hopefully many of you will come to join us at Loughborough next year!”

LufBru has had an exciting 12 months. The Brunei Society means that Brunei students are assured of representation in the Loughborough University Student’s Union. Of equal importance, it organises many weekly social and sporting events for its members. LufBru committee members also accompany the University international office staff to collect scholarship students from the Brunei Students Unit in London. This is a free service which Loughborough University operates just before the beginning of the academic year.

LufBru also organises major events such as the very successful LufBru Summer Games 2007 in Bandar Seri Begawan. The aim of this event was to foster closer relations among all (UK-based) Brunei students and promote the spirit of sportsmanship between participants. The games saw a trio of sports (football, netball and badminton) and was held at the University of Brunei Darussalam. With over 150 participants from 49 UK Universities and various colleges, and a venue filled with spectators, it was a fantastic competition. LufBru would like to thank all participants, sponsors and volunteers for making the event a success.

In addition to the summer games, LufBru also organises a pre-departure meeting in Bandar Seri Begawan for all new students to Loughborough University (at the beginning of September). This is an invaluable opportunity for new students to make friends and contacts before you travel to the UK. This was very popular this year as 43 new Brunei students came to Loughborough in October 2007.

Loughborough University is currently one of the highest-ranking and most popular Universities in the UK. It is one of the few UK Universities which can say it is ranked in the Top 15 of every major UK University Guide (Times Good University Guide 2008, Sunday Times University Guide 2008, Guardian University Guide 2008 and Good University Guide 2008). Loughborough has been rated in the top 5 for student satisfaction every year since surveys began and is the current holder of the “Best Student Experience” award from Times Higher Educational Supplement.

In addition to a reputation for quality, there are other factors which draw Brunei students to Loughborough University. These include the large safe campus, its location in a quiet market town, plentiful accommodation, extensive modern facilities which include an on-campus Prayer room. Loughborough University is also a founder member of the British Universities in Brunei Association (BUBA).

Yasmin Patera, Chair of LufBru, continues, “there are so many reasons for choosing Loughborough and that is why we now have such a large number of scholarship students from Brunei. We really hope that all the current A-level students work hard to get the grades they want, because we would really like to welcome them to the UK and, hopefully, Loughborough University, in the future. Best wishes to all of those back home, semoga berjaya”.

Charlie Carter, International Officer at Loughborough University, will be visiting Brunei in February and March 2008 to give presentations, attend exhibitions and bring engineering staff to Bandar Seri Begawan. If you would like to meet with Mr Carter, please find further information at www.lboro.ac.uk/international/country/brunei/ or contact Loughborough University’s local representative, HRD Services at:
[insert contact details here]

NYEH. Versus the article published at: http://www.brunei-online.com/weekend/news/nov17h20.htm. *pouts*

Nothing "I" said came out :(

I stole a newspaper today, it was piled up to open these doors at James France (an exhibition/lectures area). So I bent down and picked up a copy of the Financial Times. Ha. Worth £1.30 :-) It was probably being given out for free because the AISEC careers fair was going on there. Woopah.

With the LufBru netball team in Leicester

Damn, the weather's getting colder here. Pretty soon I won't be able to go out without looking like a giant marshmellow. This week was tests week, i.e. everyone on campus is being bombarded with in-class tests, and in a couple of weeks, coursework deadlines.. and more specifically to me, a 2000 word essay on Enron, the mistakes they made and how it's shaped up accounting regulations and framework.

Phew.

I get headaches just thinking about it, I've been meaning to start on it.. I should. But I've also got a group coursework due in for January (and that hasn't even been looked at, let alone thought about) and my group mates are trying to tie me down to a date to meet up (and with success, I'm meeting them this Thursday to discuss the work on Balace Sheet Scorecards).

The girls and I went to Leicester to have a few friendly matches against the Leicester Malaysian team there. It went pretty well and I think the girls had fun :-) I had expected us to use a train to go to Leicester from Loughborough, it turned out that it was just bus services that morning. So it took half an hour to arrive at Leicester train station.

From there, there was just one taxi in sight. It took another 10 minutes for the second and third one to arrive to take us to Leicester University (which was pointless considering we could've walked it within 15 minutes, but we were late.. and a taxi is much quicker!). Warmed up and played center for two games, and the goal attacker at times.

I spent the night before in a movie marathon, resulting in only two hours of sleep. Fahmi, Taufiq, Syer and I watched the LOTR trilogy, all in one sitting. We played twister half way, got bored and ended up sitting back on the couch while eating crisps. :-) The next day, I was up at dawn and out the door by 7:30am, walking 45 minutes to the train station with Syer.

love,
yasmin.

I'm down to my last £100 this month and just found out that I need to pay gas bills and whatnot. Siiiiiigh. I. have. no. money. :-(

Finally went down to tesco's last night, thanks to an impromptu call from Mus. I was at a tahlil in uni, LufBru's been having tahlil and yasin readings regularly every fortnight. I've never really listened in to people until last night, and I duno, I found it quite melodious :-)

cindy, hao and me at warwick uni.

Called Fol about 2am last night, he's catering for my mum tomorrow. I miss home. I miss lounging around on my couch. I hate the couch in my living room, it's dirty and disgusting. We cover it up with a throw that isn't big enough.. must remind myself to go to Ikea one of these days.

Coursework is starting to pile up, along with numberous tests. I've got two math tests next week: analysis & vector spaces. No coursework due in for this month but I think I better start cracking soon because the group coursework is going to bash my head in if I don't know my way around it. An essay on Enron and it's mistakes is due in for December, on the last day of term. Ella leaves for Brunei the next day, and I'm going to Paris with my housemates and friends :) We just bought our train tickets, I'm guessing that's where all my money went. There's a certain amount of money in my bank I'm not allowed to touch because it's for emergencies. Feh. i.e. for my sister, when she needs it, never for me. Ya right. She probably has more money than me as we speak.

Bought a notice board to hang up on my wall, and finally took out all the photos I've had since first year and put them up. My room has a better feel now, like it's mine. But there's still this pile of mess I've got on the left side of my table. I've gotten rid of the single wardrobe and bought a small book case to put all my books on top of my chest of drawers.. so you know, I'm organised on that sense. Except, whenever I don't know where to put something, e.g. stacks of paper, folders, I place it on the floor near the drawers.... so I've got a pile of mess on the floor on the left side of my table. And I hate looking at it.

The good side to this room is that it smells nice :-) Apparently, it smells like me. Hahaha

Another pointless rambling :)

love,
yasmin

Two years in, living around Loughborough and it's residents.. studying at it's very own university, what have I learnt through those days I've spent here?

Syer, Syaheir and me

Lets see.

1. When the sky is dark enough, check it again in about 30 minutes, those clouds are just messing with your head but if you're in doubt, don't wear your nice coat out. Instead, grab one of the Loughborough Uni hoodies, the one everyone wears when they really can't be shit bothered of how they look. I own 3 Loughborough uni hoodies, and will be adding probably 2 more to my collection :-)
   
2. Couples come and go, friends stick around until you're sick of them and then some. People walk in and out of your life. Accept it. I watched A fall in love with B, C stop talking to D, myself completely ignore E and so on. I'm in the middle of it, so perhaps it's okay to say that I feel *involved* in people's lives :-) We have such silly reasons for break ups and mess ups too.
   
3. There's no such thing as a free lunch. Someone somewhere will pay for whatever it is that "freebie" you're eating. Lunch, on the other hand, can be anyone's treat, provided they're willing to pay for it :-) And in Loughborough, the Lincoln (i.e. a restaurant in uni where people don't usually eat) is only open from noon to 2pm, hence why our lufbru lunch times & get togethers are always within that time span. But unfortunately, I haven't had time to bring people in together this semester.. should look into that soon.
   
4. Dying your hair a dark colour will always result in it becoming dark for maybe a month and then back to a lighter shade after that. I think it's the water here? That or the shampoo I use is unsuitable. I've dyed my hair, probably 5 times over the past 2 years I've been here..and everytime I go for a dark colour, it'll turn lighter in a matter of weeks.

What will I miss once I've graduated?

The life style. Life here is probably divided into three S's: sports, study and I'll let you work out the last bit. I guess once this is done and over with, I'm more likely to be back home, twiddling my thumbs trying to decide which career path to take. To say I listen isn't even half of what really goes on in my life.

Who decides what I do?

It's certainly not me entirely because there's always someone nudging me on.

The thing about being here is that I'm independent (minus the phone calls telling me what I can or cannot do), no one watches over me and I can make decisions based on what I think. But sigh, whatever anyone else says is probably right anyway, shame I can't make my own mistakes though.

Bed for me now.

love,
yasmin.
xxx

The LufBru Rampage Tour to Warwick (Coventry) began at 8am, where we waited for one more person to show up to make our numbers a hefty 40. We discovered that it took just 45 minutes to get ourselves to Warwick Uni, when we initially thought we'd arrive in over 90 minutes (and we were late leaving Loughborough anyway so yippeee! for arriving on a better time!)

I've got a lot of photos I've uploaded today. You can look at all the ones I've compiled from everyone else's cameras on my flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/unangelic. I didn't bring my camera with me on the day because I've lost my charger somewhere in my room and the batteries have died.

LufBru & BruWick Group Photo

That's me in all black, coaching the girls through the game. I think the girls did well over all :-) It's good to expose them to people they're not familiar with, that way they learn quicker of what's right and wrong in the choices they make while playing. It also gave me the oppourtunity of pointing out their basic and usual mistakes, of which I think they took in very well.

As everyone might know, my usual position in netball is a shooter/attacker. I don't like defense, it's just one of those things I don't enjoy. One of the things the LufBru netball team lacks is defence but yesterday was pulled off very well by the girls who've never played those positions :-) They woke up and realised they had to do something or else they'll allow the other team to score. In the photo below, I'm a center (and I played center for 2 games out of 3). LufBru has a lot of shooters this time around, and I guess maybe it's time to hang my shooting shoes up. At the end of it all, the Bruneians somehow gathered underneath a yellow leaf tree.. and massive cam whoring was done :-)


LufBru Rampage Tour to Warwick (Coventry) Group

I'd like to thank BruWick for their never ending hospitality and friendliness :-) Thank you for hosting LufBru and introuducing us to your city of Coventry. We had a great time and I hope that this will turn out to be an annual event amongst both.

love,
yasmin.
xxx

Bought myself 4 more books today at Waterstone, I ought to put out a list of the books I've bought so far this year since I've arrived in UK. Think I'll do that when I've got the time in the next few weeks. It's just past midnight, we're going to Coventry in the morning in a 53 seater bus.

Fridays are my day off, i.e. no classes. I'm lucky enough to have my schedule looking the way it is, except for the 7 hour back to back classes I've got on Tuesday which makes me go nuts. I think I'll be complaining about it for the rest of the team, awesomeness. I hate the fact that I wake up at 10am in the morning and classes end at 6pm. I end up skipping class (one tutorial~!) but I make up for it (honest!) once I get back from my Analysis lecture.

I spent last night looking at my old photos in my external hard drive, lol. I don't think I've changed much physically since then, but everywhere I go people I see can't seem to agree with another. It's either "wow, you've gone thinner" or "sehat ah!". So what's true? I'm not really sure myself. I avoid weighing myself on the scale.. I get by just by looking in my mirror. hehe

anyway, bed now for me.

love,
yasmin.

xx

Last week I've been receiving books (like 6 books so far) in the mail, and the one I've been looking forward to for about a week and a half finally arrived. All it took was a trip to the post office because my two housemates conviently didn't hear the postman knocking on the door to deliver my package :-P

Nizam of Stupidlogic has nicely sent me a holga cam as a late birthday present (since his first attempt at sending me a polaroid camera failed miserably with the post). I haven't had time to use it yet, nor do I have any idea of what's going to develop around it. The camera is theoritically like a toy, hell it looks like one. It's light and has no batteries for the flash yet..I haven't even bought any film for it.

Going to Warwick this weekend on a LufBru Rampage tour. Am looking forward to it because we'll be playing netball against BruWick :-) I've opened up a new world for the girls here in Lboro that haven't played netball before, hehe I didn't think they knew how fun it'd be. I feel a bit guilty sometimes with pointing out mistakes etc, but I hope they know it's all for their own good and benefit ;)

Anyway, will update soon.

xxxx

17092007163, originally uploaded by unangelic.

Kinda late by ten days, but heck. Selamat Hari Raya everyone :)

Here's a rare photo of me as a present for the internet world. Me as a green packet!!!

love,
yasmin.

Over the past 4 days, I've made myself busy by firing up the kitchen. Using delicious magazine as my recipe provider, I've successfully made 4 different dinners: fish pie with leek mash, pumpkin soup, beef stew with pumpkin cubes and pot-roast chicken with potatoes.

the roses :)

Anyway, I mentioned in the last post that I bought myself roses. I trimmed the stems so that they'd fit my glass container so they're really short now.. but still pretty. So the conversation went like this (remember, I'm calling him from UK to Brunei):

yasmin: hi! I'm at Sainsbury's and I'm going to buy roses and they're going to be from you.
fol: Okay, I'll pay for them!
y: so which colour would you pick? yellow, pink and red or white, pink and red?
f: yellllooooww. you know why.

yes, my boyfriend and I have the cutest conversations :)

Lamb chops, fried tomatoes, nasi goreng and pumpkin soup & ciabatta bread! ps. the wine glasses were a gift from a friend, it would've been a shame not to use them. hehehe

Funnily enough, I'm the one who does all the food preparation and the cooking. Usually I get one of my housemates to help out but these days it's like a one-woman show.. except I don't do the cleaning. It's one of the jobs I try to avoid at all costs. I don't mind cooking.. it's like, I get to do the mess and everyone else can clean up :p

Pot-roast Chicken with Potatoes.

I think all this cooking is a result of missing my boyfriend too much. We usually spent our day cooking in the kitchen, now it's just me. I miss his cooking. I can't wait til I get to see him again, first thing I'm gonna order is a roast lamb leg! Haha.

At some point this week I'm gonna try and get on par with all my work.. hu

Do you like my cooking so far chef? =) I love you.

love,
yasmin.
xxxx

Eid.

LufBru 2007/2008, originally uploaded by unangelic.

Over the weekend, 14th October 2007, LufBru celebrated Eid at the Loughborough Students' Union's Council Chambers. A total of 38 members and 22 non-members came along to the event and I'm proud to announce that as of this morning, LufBru has a total of 54 members joining the LSU Brunei Society.

With Cheung, Lina and Syer outside the Students Union.

Just to clarify to Jo's comment on my previous post, I haven't given up blogging babes..haha I simply just don't have enough time. I'm part of 3 societies and will probably involve myself in more activities than I did last year.. so I'm very very busy. Workload with uni has doubled so I'm doing my best to cope with that, whilst maintaining composure and keeping sane. I do that through sports: basketball, netball, the occasional football and badminton.

The Blacks vs. Mr White

You know, since I've taken the position of being LufBru's president.. I've grown white hair. Two strands in fact, both of which Syer has nicely pulled out for me because I can't bring myself to look. I'm stressed out and I set too high standards which are sometimes met, and sometimes drive me crazy. But I love the job because it's something I'm passionate about. God knows how much money I've sunk into this.. not that I'm bribing anyone.

Feelah and I sitting on Mariam's lap. Look at her cringe!

I made fish pie today, it just needs to be popped into the grill before its ready. I was just trying out this receipe I found in delicious magazine (it's a mag I subscribe to for Fol which comes every month). I'm tempted to make cakes and try other things but I think one new receipe a week should be good enough for now?

With Yusri and Jor.

I've got days when I'm craving chocolate, days when I'm craving Sensations Thai Chilli.. just cravings :p I think I've got at least three half eaten candy-bars lying around in my room. I bought myself roses on behalf of Fol, they're yellow, pink and red. He picked them out while on the phone with me :) I can't wait to see him again, but god knows when that's going to be? Nyeh!

With Naw. Hi War! hahaha

It's just less than eight weeks until the holidays, I really can't wait. The days I dread most are Mondays and Tuesdays, Mondays because they're before Tuesdays..and Tuesdays because I've got classes from 10am to 6pm and only one break from 4 to 5pm, which is a total turn off for the day, but at least I've got Friday off and only one class on Wednesday, and 3 hours on Thursday. It's just the Mondays and Tuesdays I dread so much :-S I guess I really want days where I can just stay in (not saying that it's likely to happen but I like the idea?) or lie down and read a book just for fun. I go to bed thinking of ideas or solutions to something one of the LufBru committee has brought up and I wake up trying to figure out another member's problem. Phew! My mind goes into overload. I think the only time when I'm not thinking about society stuff is when my head is buried in my lecture notes or when I'm actually studying. haha

Either way I don't think it's a very healthy relationship.

Hepl. :P

love,
yasmin.
xxxx

Badminton

DSC08971, originally uploaded by unangelic.

There are many sports I enjoy, but badminton isn't one of them. I think it's because I'm not good (seriously) at it. Nonetheless, I went to the latest badminton session LufBru had and invited my new friend, B, to join us. She's the girl on my left in the photo above.

I didn't start playing badminton on a regular basis until this summer, I still suck but at least I'm trying it out... and still being bad at it.

Eid mubarak everyone. My days are long, my nights are long. I just can't wait for the holidays to come along. It feels darker everyday.

love,
yasmin.
x

On the 13th of October falls Saifol's birthday. Another year older, another year I'm not with him to celebrate it. I was lucky enough to celebrate his birthday with him last year when he spent the year studying in UK :) but I guess I still can't help but feel sad that I can't be with him on his day. Nyeh.

Uni has been on for 2 weeks now, come Monday it'll be week 3. Meaning there's eight more weeks until Christmas holidays. Meaning in less than six weeks I'll get to see fol again :) UK celebrated Hari Raya today, whereas Brunei's celebrating on Saturday. We had a takbir raya at my house with a few people and friends, and the LSU Brunei Society will be celebrating our official raya on Sunday at the Loughborough Students' Union. Woopah.

There are a total of 35 freshers in Loughborough. All from Brunei. The Bruneian community here has grown considerably, compared to the mere 5 freshers my batch and I were back in 2005. Anyway.. Tuesday was Lina's birthday, Asri and I woke up at 4am during sahur to make the cake mix, and that afternoon Syer and I made icing to go with it. See photo below!!!

truut truut. It was a green themed party, everyone was expected to wear green! Which everyone did.. I think it was quite cool because we blew up green and white balloons, stuck streamers up on the walls and managed to make dinner (the food was mostly green). I love organising parties, it's just something I really enjoy, be it parties or events. I like them both.

The weekend before uni started, Charlie (who's Loughborough's international officer), myself, Cheung, Syer and Taufiq went down to London to pick up 17 new students and take them to Loughborough. Some of them are still house hunting up to now, some are still bunking at their seniors' home.

That's a photo of me with Taufiq and Syer. We're wearing the new LufBru shirts that I designed over the summer :-P It's got a lot of prints but I think it's really cool. Not because I made it but because it's a refreshing design. Hopefully within the next few days I can find a better photo of people wearing the shirts :)

Okay it's late. Sorry for the lack of updates. We only managed to get internet yesterday!

love,
yasmin
xxxx

A week off.

my sister, ida.

I spent the whole week slacking off after LufBru games. I never mind work, but I am entitled to a week off after spending a few months planning with the committee and going back and forth from places. The planning and playing has left me exhausted :-) Nonetheless, I had fun. More fun that I would have just attending it like any other player.

LufBru Comittee and Volunteers, originally uploaded by SoulJah.
2nd Back row: Qasmal, Shafiq, Wadud, Sabri, Minul, Yusri, Maziri, Hazwani, Mas and Jor.
1st Back row: Mustanir (the guy sleeping) , Cheung, Sek Hao, Lina, Yas, Syer and Fahmi.
Front: Wira.

Today, the DG girls and I are attending the Sunday Splash. I don't have our group photo from the Summer Games because Nizam hasn't passed them on to me yet :-P The netball games were fun, we lost two games but won three and that was enough to keep us running in the semi-finals. I lost the plot during our first two games but luckily Fizah managed to remind me and the girls of the importance of having fun so I just played like I would in a tournament while pretending that the people I was playing with were just like the ones I usually play with on Tuesdays at UBD. So yes, I had plenty of fun.

I didn't go to any netball sessions this week because of the injury I had last Sunday :-S I fell down (or landed wrongly.. huhu) during DG's first game against Crazy Pandas, but we won anyway! 3-0 to DG. But anyway, after that it was a painful to walk on so I rubbed cold gel and took some pain killers. I played during second-halves of our next two games (that we lost :-S, against BruWick, 3-2 and Cardiff Angelz, 4-1) and then we took off for lunch :-D

After that I felt much better so everyone let me play the next three games full time as a GS or a GA. I practically ran around the court (don't know how or why I forgot about the pain because I was limping everytime we were OFF the court..haha), flying left and right. I'm just thankful the girls were at their best performances. I don't think we expected to win, as much as we worked hard to get it. But heck, I'm happy we won! :-) I hope next year will be just as successful.

DG v. 4 at BruNotts Games

DG v.5 at Brunei Leicester Games


DG v.5 at BruNotts Games

Congratulations DangGanazz girls! Suzie, Fizah, Meezah, Icham, Mariam, Azan, Shuv and Kiki, it's been a great pleasure playing with all of you this year. Suzie, Fizah, Icham, Kiki, Masnur, Amal, iLi, Yulia, Fetty and Ajrina, thank you for letting me play with you for the past two years. Thank you for recruiting me into DG when I first came to UK, Masnur. :-) I love you girls. xxxx

DG v. 5 at LufBru Summer Games.

WinnaaaRRs!

love,
yasmin.
xxx

16th August, today is Yazid's birthday and tomorrow is the LufBru Summer Games 2007, day 1. I've been busy with organising it with the committee, printing certificates, vouchers, getting the banners done. I'm even suppose to pick up some furniture off UBD's Multi-purpose hall for tomorrow. Huhu.

Mum and dad bought a new car for my sister and I to use, they've also confirmed our tickets to UK for the 24th of September. My sister isn't sure where she's going yet, but let's hope she doesn't go too far away from where I live. The UK exhibition is next Wednesday, the LufBru gang and I have volunteered to help Tony Westaway at the Loughborough Uni booth. I'm really looking forward to it.

My trip to Singapore/KL did me good because I didn't have to worry about things going on in Brunei but I came back lazy :-P My flight got delayed twice and I was just thankful my last basketball match with BBB was the next day because I only got back to Brunei at 9pm. Crazy. But I had a great time with Mus and Fol who both shopped more than me. I only bought books in Singapore, nothing in KL. We did manage to find the jasmine tea pearls shaped like kettles. They cost £1 each in UK and we bought a bag for RM$18 :-)

Took Ayie and Ulfi out for a late lunch the next day before my basketball match at Fratini's near Manggis with my sister. I really can't figure out how we managed to end up eating $65 worth of food :-S As for our last basketball match, we won by 40 points with me scoring NIL baskets :P Mum and dad came to watch me play for the first time ever :-)

with War and Boon.

I met up with my ex-classmates from JIS that weekend, I picked Aimi up and we waited for an hour plus for everyone else to show up. That late thing is just pushing it, especially if you're from JIS :P Lunch was at fratini's, I couldn't help but feel out of place as usual because that's how it's always been.. I've never been close to any of my classmates except for my bestfriends, so in a way it's my own fault. It was nice to see Bilal again though, he's the only one that keeps in real contact with me by flooding my msn. Haha

Sharon took this photo :p

The next week was full of LufBru stuff. I threw a barbeque at my place and invited all the Loughborough Bruneians. The food wasn't ready til late but everyone had fun playing pictionary and ping-pong. The committee and I had a meeting in my room which resulted in us not being included in the fun that was going on downstairs but we had managed to get a ton of stuff done.

My cousin, Abang Awang, got married to his long-term girlfriend, Sharon, now known as Nadirah. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of these events happening because I was having too much fun. But I did take photos of the days on-going towards the wedding.. like the photo of my sister singing to a live band made of my soon-to-be-married cousin and the rest of his brothers. At the end of the wedding, I found out his brother is getting married this November, and I won't be here to see it :-(

My sister and my uncle

Yesterday was a full day for me, Mus finally came back from KL after three attempts to fly back to Brunei. He intentionally missed his first flight, got sick on the second one and finally got on board the plane at the third. I took him to Menglait to say hi to LufBruneians who were playing badminton there, then we drove off to Lina's and had lunch at Emperor's court. Met up with Cheung (who the day before that managed to hit his head on my car's door and now has 3 stitches) and did more errands.

At the end of that, we went to all Hua Ho's in the Brunei district to purchase all the towels they had for our Summer Games..and I managed to make my car tyre burst by going over a curb, thank god we were all okay. I was sore at the end of it and couldn't wait to go home. We had dinner at UBD and went to Hua Ho yayasan to find more towels.. haha

that. is what i've been up to so far.

XX

I should've known people are flaky :-P Two days ago, I mentioned that a bunch of us were joining fitness zone. About 10 minutes after I published that, everyone decided not to join Fitness Zone anymore on the grounds that JPMC was cheaper by one quarter of the price they were going to pay to join Fitness Zone. Annnnnnnnnd now, they don't know if they want to go to a gym anymore? lol. Like I said, flaky.

So anyway, we won our last game by 40 points. My parents came along to watch for the first time ever in my entire life to watch me play. I guess I'm not used to seeing them in the benches, but it was cool. I got nervous hence the reason why I didn't score any baskets but managed to redeem myself by defending as best as I could possibly could that night.

Tonight will be my first netball session in two weeks. I've missed playing with the girls and I'm pretty sure they're glad to see me whenever I show up. Two of the family cars are in the shop, leaving just the pick-up truck which I use on a daily basis..meaning I've got to send and pick everyone up. huhu. Aku SUPIR!

love,
yas.

About an hour ago, Fahmi, Taufiq and I went to Fitness Zone in Kiulap to check the place out. After much negotiating (and nagging :p), we've decided to join the gym as part of our effort to keep in shape and tone up. We've also managed to talk Syaheir and Mariam to join in the "cause" and we might talk the other LufBru people in to joining with us as well. So yes, Fitness Zone is going to be full of LufBruneians. Wahey :P

I woke up this morning about 7am, I feel kinda sad because it's our last basketball match tonight, I suppose it'll be okay to do some friendlies every now and then.. that is, if I still have a team to play with. I can't find the word to describe it, but sometimes I feel down because I've been playing basketball and netball for a few years now, you'd think I'd actually be part of a team instead of floating around and being recruited only when needed.

I think being in a team would be good for me and for anyone else really, because you learn how your team mates play and it's like you know what to expect from them so you're both in sync with one anothers actions. Does that make sense? I'm hoping berabis that DangGanazz will form a team on a permanent basis in Brunei. Ideally I'd like all the ex and current DG girls to get together and form into one or two teams, but I haven't really had time to sit and talk to the others about this. I've said a few things, but maybe it's time for more action than talk?

love,

yasmin.

xxxx

I get annoyed when people I've been playing with for the past year forget my name. I made a point to state my name today, "I'm refereeing. Nama ku Yas", in a don't-bloody-forget-it tone. So today, everyone learnt my name.

I hate being called GA/GS by people who SHOULD know my name by now considering I play netball with them every week. I don't mind people who just arrived on the court, sure even I do the whole position calling, but seriously, I hate it when people forget my name. What's so hard to remember about it anyway? Y-A-S. Easy right?

Also today, I brought in the ball that we'll be using for the LufBru Summer Games. Had a few complaints like the ball's too heavy, too hard, etc. It's a ball. A real netball player shouldn't have problems regardless how different the ball is to the one they're used to using. The one we've been using looks and feels like a volleyball, it's even as light as one. So I don't know, correct me if I'm wrong about the ball.

What annoyed me today was that they playing was rubbish and they blamed it on the ball. I get annoyed. Couldn't help myself. If they carried on, I think I would have hit someone but I'm glad they stopped and said they were fooling around.

I just get annoyed. a lot. But I tend not to show it, but I think PMS and harmones somehow got involved so everyone could see how pissed off I actually was.

Yesterday was.. hm, how to say, okay? We were doing quite well in the first half and it was seriously a close game because every time we scored, they threw in a basket too and vise versa. Things didn't heat up until the third quarter where I think all our tiredness began to sink in and shots were just flying every where. Final score was 40-33. I feel robbed.

Fol was nice enough to follow me in his car home. Sometimes I feel like I'm tiring myself out, but really I'm just doing it to pass the time. Sports keep me happy, because you don't need anyone to be close to you or next to you. People are willing to just play, and they don't care who you are on the court as long as you can freaking play. You're involved in to the world that's on the court. Maybe that's over-thinking it but that's how it feels to me.

I haven't hung out with many people since I got back, except for the Loughborough Bruneians and they're a nice bunch :-) We went bowling just on Saturday and my whole body was in pain from carrying the bowling ball. I think I was just tired. I bowled way below my average but I didn't want to show any one up :-P Anyway, BTT, I can't seem to hold on to the friendships I had or maybe both sides are just not bothered. We move on, carry on. It's life isn't it? People come and go and it's okay. We're fine.

On Saturday evening, I managed to catch up with Randy who called me up and said it was an emergency that we meet up. I'm glad he still values my opinion and looks up for me for advice. It's been over a year since I last saw him, he's grown taller and bulkier and he claims I've lost weight. Nice try but no dice ranz :p

Anyway, to amuse myself with Shuv's tagging :p

5 things found in my bag:
1) referee whistle
2) underwear
3) ponytail holders
4) wet tissue
5) extra shirt

5 things found in my wallet:
1) credit card(s)
2) bank card(s)
3) pictures of me :p
4) 5 durhams (that's like, UAE money)
5) cash

5 favorite things in my room:
1) the L sofa, it's brown, it's suede, it's ultra ultra soft.
2) my red and cream cushions
3) my blanket
4) the bed is the most comfy thing you'll ever lie on next to my sofa. Damn nice.
5) my fridge (it contains my favourite cookies from Australia. wuu, Arnott's!)

5 things I've always wanted to do:
1) snowboard :D
2) be my own boss
3) be able to run a big distance (okay, 4km for now is good enough for me. I should start on that. Hee)
4)
5)

5 things I'm currently into:
1) Basketball!
2) Netball! (these are for obvious reasons)
3) CSI
4) Archie comics
5) I'm going to be lame and put Fol this list.

love,
yas.
xxxx

On the court.

034_DSC_0092_processed, originally uploaded by SoulJah.

i'm lovin' it. :)

third match tomorrow versus ranoadidas.com

Mus!

DSC08802, originally uploaded by unangelic.

That's a photo of Mus on the hill of Ministy of Culture, Youth and Sports. We went there to accompany my sister, Ella and her friend, Hanif to their music audition.

Anyway, Mus arrived in Brunei on Sunday evening, i.e. the night of the Sultan's birthday. I drove. He was scared. Like very scared. My car was parallel parked, and as soon as he got in, I was like, "oh darn. how do I get the car out?" and he said, "Pleeeeeaase don't say that, I'm already as nervous as it already is". There's a story behind that nervousness. One that can wait.

Yesterday, me and Fol dropped Mus off at the airport (he was going to spend 2 weeks in KL and when he gets back, he'll be spending another 2 weeks in Brunei) but we didn't watch him go in to the gates because I actually had a basketball match to attend.

Regarding the basketball game, we lost 69-32 but I think we played a great game. We didn't have substitutes, but we had lots of breaks :-P so I'm guessing that's probably why I managed to survive a 40 minute game. During the last 3 minutes of the game, Yvonne had a cramp, leaving us one down. But she played a great game :-)

We'll be seeing you in a couple of days Mus! :)

love,
yas.
xxx

Lufbra Bruneians at Syer's party

Lufbra Bruneians at Syer's party, originally uploaded by mustanir.

Happy belated Birthday Syer! :-) Mus arrived in Brunei on Sunday.. me, Fol and Amzar picked him up at the airport. His flight was shared with Lina, Taufiq, Fets and her two friends, Syma and Mima, who were also visiting Brunei and KL.

Monday was spent doing errands and going to Syer's birthday party at her house, where we took Syer away from her own party (by we, I mean the LufBru people) and drove to Mariam's house. There we took a group photo on my pick-up.. haha, I'm not in it because I'm the one taking the photo.

Mus and I even stopped by the Handball tournament at the MPH at the Stadium to watch Masnur and Wardah play, congratulations to both your teams for qualifying into the semi-finals, insyallah I'll be there to watch your games.

It's been a while since I saw Ina (well, I saw her last week so maybe that doesn't count), Mameng, DJ Hani and etcerta, the last time I saw most of them was last year during Summer. They're all more into handball now, sometimes I wish I had started playing as well but the days clash with my netball days and basketball so I duno? But I'm guessing someone's going to end up taking me there one way or another :-P I already have a handball ball anyway? Mas gave her ball to me before she left for Brunei :-D

Aimi's back from her two week trip to the US. Ella called her up on my behalf but I guess she was too tired to see me. 36 hours and 4 flight changes is a bit much so I don't blame her. There are new photos uploaded on Mustanir's flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mustanir and I've got a few new photos uploaded on mine: http://www.flickr.com/photos/unangelic so if you do check them out, enjoy. :-)

Okay, cheerios.

love,
yasmin.

About three weeks ago, Luke Richie, Managing Editor of Schmap Guides invited me to submit this photo Mona took of me when we were shopping at Dorothy Perkins to their Schmap London Guide. It was a silly photo, I was grinning like an idiot..nonetheless, almost everything I had on me was from DP, except maybe my bracelet and my denim sling bag. Anyways, it got published and I'm the only one who submitted a photo that wasn't a building for the "Stores & Arcades" section (at least that's as far as I can tell anyway?). Et viola my photo is up!

link: http://www.schmap.com/london/shopping_stores/p=66337/i=66337.jpg

The wedding I went to over the weekend was a Malaysian one, or at least it was for the Bride and her family.. except it was done Bruneian style, i.e. you eat at a set time. haha. Tutong traditions were also thrown in, like the adat basuh kaki where anyone in line can get a bowl of water and "wash" the bride and groom's feet by pouring water over their feet. Usually just for jokes (especially among my own cousins), they grab a bottle of kikapoo or pepsi and pour THAT over their feet. lol.

With abang Fauzan. It was noon and damn hot. He's all sweatyyy.. :p

I had a very busy day yesterday. I went out at about 10am and picked up Yusri and Jor from Yus' house. Apparently, my driving is very similar to Syaheir or so Yus claims. Haha, so basically I drove from my place to Beribi and then to Jerudong where we got quotations for our volunteer shirts, and then back to Gadong to get more quotations because the other shop in Jerudong where Yus usually goes to had shut down.

We walked around in the Mall and I gave proposals out to certain shops, who hopefully will get back to me soon. Then the three of us went off to UBD's male hostel and had lunch. The rest of the LufBru Committee members were late, showing up at 2:30pm instead of the 2pm I set. :P Typical. We only met up for an hour because we had just a few things to discuss, and we'll be having another meeting next week once Lina and Mus are in Brunei. Hao's car had a flat, somehow a screw ended up in his tyre. The rest of us, except Zaed and Fahmi who went home, went to check out the UBD Gym.

Once the meeting was over, Yus, Jor and I went back to Jerudong to confirm our order. I rushed home to change, dragging them along with me. Theeen.. I got dropped off at Fol's. Saidon (Fol's little brother) and I went to play basketball with BBB and Wira's team, JC at the UBD Gym.

With Syikin and abang Faizal.

Today, I'm going to tutor Saidon about Maths and later in the afternoon I'm going to go play netball with team Kirana, team Jade and some LufBru girls at (again) UBD Gym. I should actually shower soon, I woke up about half an hour ago.. I'm just hoping I could stay home and chill.

My second year results will be published at the end of this week, I am slightly worried because they didn't go as well as they should have. Plus, my exams were a bit of a bitch, so maybe they'll put that in to consideration? Hah.

Being sardines in Fahmi's car. With Syer, Azan, Fathin and Wani.

We had our first basketball match on Sunday against Teik GoldSmiths. We were doing okay in the first quarter and then went into shambles in the next. By the time we pulled ourselves together it was the final quarter and we were lagging behind by a lot of points. It was a good game nonetheless. I had a great time even though all of us had only met two more of our BBB members on that day. Yesterday's practice was an improvement or so Boon says. I don't know, I haven't played in a long time and my mind seems to be set on netball. I suppose I ought to be table to distinguish between the two but aahh, should be okay lah.

Anyway, shower now.

lots of love,
yasmin.

ps. will bring my camera today at netball for photos..haha :P