HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ♥!

Took my second exam today, two hours and woo. Finito. I'm happy. Three more papers and all of them are pure mathematics so, come Tuesday 14;30pm.. I be dancing!

love,

yasmin.
xxx

In all honesty, I'm a big fan of chocolates. I absolutely love cookies, muffins.. especially when they're chocolate and contain a huge portion of chocolate chips. Triple chocolate cookies from Tesco Finest, and Sainsbury's American Chocolate chip cookies are my favourites when it comes to stores. I used to love cookies from Safeway, but they're gone now..or bought up by some large chain. But heck, I had those cookies ten years ago when I was visiting my mum in UK. Now that I'm here, I can eat as much as I'd like.. in moderation of course :-P

I'm the type of person who finds comfort in cooking and baking. It's my de-stress method and my family knows this. When I'm upset or need to think or just want something to keep my minds of off things, I'll do something in the kitchen. During the Summer, I spent most of it making and exprimenting by attempting to make malay cakes and biscuits that daddy loves like the peanut butter cookies I made. But really, I always find myself making more things with chocolate and cocoa than anything else. Anyway, the picture you're looking at are the bite-size muffins I made yesterday (72 tiny ones in fact). I made bigger versions of that the day before, but there was only a dozen.. and we ate it all up o:-) Anyway, receipes for that.. comment and leave your email or something. Trust me, they are delicious just as when they're hot or cold. YUMMY

XX

So I got upset this morning and resorted to making muffins as my stress buster. So my critique of the day was Fol who said that I used too much chocolate chips. Nyah. Who doesn't like chocolate chips? But anyway, they turned out great even though I only made one dozen. I didn't get to take any photos because *cough* I ate them all... but I have a feeling I might end up making more tomorrow because they were really really really nice, but this time with less salt ah. Two-thirds of a tea spoon of salt is enough to make the whole thing taste more salty than it should. So since my boyfriend's got his own food blog and there's this explosion of food/recipie blogs, maybe I should jump in the bandwagon or avoid it all together. What's everyone else doing?

I went to town today with Fol and Mus, I don't remember what I bought.. but I do vaguely recall that I couldn't take money out of my atm. I forgot to transfer money yet again, haha.. but I'm just grateful that allowance day is just a mere six days away. Meaning that my exams will be done and over with in just a week and a half! Waa-hey!

The anniversary of the first time we met is coming up. It'll be two years since we first saw each other at Taurean, and unfortunately for me, I will be sitting for my managerial economics exam on that day. A week after that will be the official Loughborough Brunei Society elections. I'm hopeful. Maybe I'll get elected president "officially" this time round. Haha! :-)

Bruneians seem to be very busy during the academic's second term, with all these Brunei Games and MADpaintball. I'll be playing for DangGanazz again this year for netball and I might end up representing Loughborough for the paintball, but we'll have to see if I have enough money or not... I'd really like to save up to go to USA this year. I'd love to visit the Disneyworld in Orlando or just stay at a beach resort and hang out.. and the closest (and probably cheapest) alternative to that is just to stay at Empire hotel for a week :-) Awu, I just want to stay in a resort and keep away from the world.

Anyway, it's late. I ought to go to bed.

XX

Since we're actually close to St. Valentine's day and my harmone's are driving me nuts, I decided to change my layout. It's very bright, pink.. and I quote Mus, "so not you". My studying isn't going so well today. My head is in a spin and I've got a flu.. and I sneeze every few minutes, followed by a cough. The bad news is my first exam is only two days away. Argh.

Timetable?
Fri 26th Jan - Intermediate Financial Accounting 16:00 - 18:00
Wed 31st Jan - Managerial Economics 16:00-18:00
Fri 2nd Feb - Probability Theory 09:00-11:00
Mon 5th Feb - Geometry, Vectors & Complex Numbers 16:00-17:30
Tues 6th Feb - Introduction to Applied Mathematics 13:00-14:30

I got rid of the archives because they looked a bit too long and annoyed me. They actually start from 2001 but I'm not going to get started on that. Anyway, I hope you like the new look. Photo on the side is taken by Mus when we were in Birmingham.

XX

I was going to write a letter to myself last night but I ended up writing it to Fol instead. My throat doesn't feel so great, and I've been coughing since yesterday's early evening. It says ten am on my clock, and yet I still feel like I should climb back into bed. I wanted to think about me and my life.. but the thing is, depression only hits me when it's close to exam time. Maybe it's because I'm procrassinating, I really just want exams to be done and over with. But you never feel like you've studied enough, something is bound to come out and you really don't know how to answer it or where to begin.

I hate exams that happen in the middle of the school year, it's not fun. You have December holidays and then you're back in Uni for exams. Fuh. I shouldn't hate, I know. It's just not my idea of an "ideal" exam situtation, especially when they happen right after Christmas "holidays". Blah. I'm whining when I should be studying.

XX

Lufbru B!

Lufbru!, originally uploaded by mustanir.

The boys at the BSU Winter Games in December. They lost every game but it was worth all the fun we had in the freezing cold. Fol even scored a goal. lol.

So the four boys standing in pink stripes are: Fadu, Amzar, Wira (the goalie) and Yusri. The other men *cough* sitting down are Zaed, Taufiq and Sabri. And that bloke in the blue sweater is Fol :-P

I kind of regret not going back home to Brunei. One reason is because I miss my parents and sister, but she's coming to UK next month to watch a play (or something like that) for a week. So I'll see her then. I'm eating a chocolate pudding as we speak. So far, we have a melted plastic container (compliments from the microwave) and about six dosses of chocolate pudding that melts inside of it. And I know what you're thinking, wouldn't it be nice to have a guy hanging around cooking/baking all these delicious things I've been having? :-P For more of his stuff, you click here.

Jurassic's Park is on tv right now, I feel like I'm on the edge of my seat whenever I watch this. It's a stupid movie (but this is probably because I'm such a wimp and scream at the scary bits), where Mustanir says that "only the bad guys die because it's a family movie". Anyway, since it's now past midnight and the boys have football in the morning, I should go now and let Mus use my laptop.

xx

For the past few days the site has been down due to it's expiry. This also means that unangelic.org is now in it's 7th year running for my own pleasure. It was my mistake that the site wasn't renewed because most of the emails I received got filtered through into my other mailbox. Yeshu, my mistake. I sent out apology emails to my hostees and if you're reading this now then ua.org is now back to normal. Plug outs to my hostees: /rachy, /exotic, /nayt .. and the rest I'm very tempted to delete. So happy 6th birthday to unangelic.org :-)

The site is in need of a revamp and I think I might move back to the main page instead of just staying /fall .. but I think most people have linked me through here. So if any of those that have linked me, could you please just link me through unangelic.org and not unangelic.org/fall? :-) Thank you xxox

One of the things I've been assigned to for my Management Accounting project is to research on the standards of living in Birmingham. I suppose just typing it out here is another method of promotion for this city. I've never been to the outskirts (which is where most of the Bruneians live) and whenever I come here, I stay just a five minute walk from the city's BullRing. I love shopping here though, Selfridges is right next to Fcuk, and in the next building is Karen Millen, Topshop and there's always China town a couple of blocks away. So this place is my little wonderland. However, my spending account (in my eyes anyway) is at an unhealthy £9.87 for the rest of the month eventhough I know fol will beg to differ. I tend to shop when I'm upset and I guess having small amounts in my spending account is good because I'm much more careful.

My next rent is due in March, that's £910 I have to save until then. Money is always going to be an issue for everyone, there's a rumour floating around about an increase in the scholarship allowance. There's even a survey on the BSU website to be filled in. Who knows? Maybe it'll happen, but think about it. In different places, the standards of living are completely different to ours, mine and yours. You know what I hate? When I started telling people about how much goes to my rent, I always hear "you should be grateful that you're even getting an allowance". Please lah. Then there's also the people who try to tell you that when their friends went there, utilities only cost this much. That stuff is okay to listen to, but to take in? Hello? Where did your friends live? How long ago was that? Ever heard of inflation? Anyway, enough ranting about that. I live in a comfortable home, inclusive of bills. And the rest of my allowance goes to the household food and my shopping desires. Not that I'm complaining.

My plug for the day is to Memoirs of a Poklen for giving me something to laugh, bitch, and terasa about. You guys are so worth a plug. In fact, I put on those oversized Ralph Lauren logo shirts today and Fol said to me, "Eh! Baju poklen!". So I thank you guys for that.. It gives us something to laugh about when we're bored.


boyfriend ku poklen.

xxxx

I remember back in the days when I would get into fights or just stupid arguments with people. As a result of that, I end up bottling up a lot of hate for a number of others I just really really don't like. My mum always reminds me that I shouldn't let it get to me, so I always manage to scrape up a smile on my face, whether I like (those ahead or in front of me) them or not. It's more of a political thing really, you don't really know who's going to be in your future or how they are going to influence it. Your best bet is just to be so nice to everyone. Eh, don't take my word for it because I might be wrong, but this is one way that I approach life.

There's a number of people that don't like me, and I know it. I find it amusing how when in a very crowded room and you only know one person in it (be it someone you like or dislike) you'd approach them and act like you've known one another forever. I guess that's just human intuition, to approach those you're more comfortable with, especially if they're the only ones you know. For example, there was once during a gathering there's this girl who I know wouldn't talk to me in front of her friends, in fact that was proven just three weeks ago, and yet when I was the only one she knew in the bloody crowd, she sought me out. Typical.

I suppose its okay not to like people, but hating them is a different matter. I suppose if you hate someone it's usually either because of jealousy (you can deny this but it's true) or because they've just done something you don't like. My dad always tells me that it's always easy to remember the bad things people do, but it's hard to remember the good.. but if we can, we should try and recall the better things other's have done. Anyway, never mind that, back to talking about hate. I remember once I said to my best friend, "I don't know why, but I hate her". She turned to me and said, "Maybe you hate her because she reminds you of you." Obviously my first reaction would be something like 'are you nuts?' but she's right. Luckily, I got over that drama and worked things out. I thought about what she said for a while, it did shut me up and it stayed in my head for a while. I didn't talk to her about it so much anymore, it didn't spew out of me so much. So I admit, I didn't like her because she did remind me of me. There was so much about me I didn't like back then and now I've realised all of this. I accept that people can change and that hating them in the first place wasn't worth all the anger I put inside of me.

Then there's the topic of not liking people. For myself, I'd like to think that I'm a particularly likable person. I'd say I'm the type of person you should actually meet (or get to know, which ever you fancy) and then decide what you think. It's really easy to judge a book by it's cover, I admit that I do that a lot when I meet someone. First impressions usually count. I know someone who picks her friends by their looks, but I'm not like that. My "friends" are in different shapes, colours and sizes. Anyhow, I know I take a while to warm up to someone, anyone, despite how friendly I seem (lol), I only let people scratch the surface first. It doesn't go any further. I have an issue with keeping friends, I've been very bad at it. I guess that's due to a scar inside (yeah I know, it's all in my head) that happened a few years back. I'm always close to someone for a while and then after that I let it drift away (like Ko J, Kev, Ken, Randy, etc). The only ones I know who have clawed their way back in (over and over) are my best of friends that I barely see. Maybe it'll work out again in the distant future, who knows?

I know I'm talking a lot about me, but I guess some things need to be let out for others to read. So how come I'm actually venting out this morning? I saw a photo of some girls who once threatened me. They always light up a fire in my eyes (and I don't mean a burning lust). Bullies are what I'd call them. I've got a few years to go to prove myself and until I do, maybe then I'd be able to get over all those years.

You know what's annoying? Watching people make misinterpretations of what others really mean. Bleh. I'm just reading up on what Fol said on one person's blog and I'm watching it spiral. I don't like getting involved in these things, but seriously? Can you please read what he said properly before you start jabbering on and making whole posts, comments and attacking in gangs. What? You don't have your own ground to stand on that you have to involve others? Yich.

It's my second post of the new year, and I'm already annoyed as hell with the days dragging by. Staying home doesn't do very much to me, it leaves me lazy, cranky.. like a mad woman who has nothing to do. I've got exams to study for, five papers to be exact. Charmed is on TV, it's supposed last season.. I missed ten days of it so I'm just guessing to fill in the blanks.

Rain's been pouring non-stop. It's dark and gloomy out. I've been eating non-stop, it's like I'm always hungry. Maybe it's the cold, making the body want food for heat. I can't say that I've gained much weight because I haven't (yet), but from the way I've been eating (and scaring the beloved boyfriend) I won't be surprised if I did by the end of the exam period.

My papers aren't scheduled too badly, my first two papers will be business based then it's just three math papers all the way. Sigh, accounting is still the most of my worries. I don't know why I'm thinking about it too much. It's just so.. different from what I've been learning for the past 5 years and now I have to know more and more of it's theories, how it originated and why it's become this and that. I suppose I have to open my mind a bit more but thankfully this is just a one semester course. Next semester (which is in three weeks :-D) I've got Company Law instead and more new Math courses :-)

My holiday to Milan was good, but I think ten days was a bit too long for us. Overall, Fol and I spent more than we should have but we saved a lot of money in terms of accommodation and living costs. So I guess if we didn't have a place to stay, we'd be spending a LOT more than we did. The sights were amazing. Annd..then again, you'd be surprised at the number of Filipinos there, all speaking Italian. I was.

I bought Mus a birthday present in London. One of those cups from Jamie Oliver's collections.. Party Animal it said :-P Daddy's birthday was on Saturday, he's half a century now. I tried calling him but I think he was either playing golf or at work. Hehe It was Rano's birthday too.. I haven't seen him online so I haven't wished him yet, lol. But if he reads this, Happy Birthday babe :-)

Anyway, I'm going to drag myself back to bed. :-)

Happy new year. My resoulutions are to study harder, get that camera I wanted, learn how to ski, challenge my boyfriend to more cooking competitions, eat less, exercise more, make sure I play netball once I get back to Brunei (or basketball) and I think that's enough resolutions.

xxxoxoxx

The first few words you hear just when you get off the Ryanair plane is "Welcome to Milano". You take a bus because you find out that you really aren't in in Milan, but in the outskirts. It's a 45 minute ride and I slept through most of it. Heck, I slept in the plane, in the bus.. I even slept on the couch as soon as we got to our host's house. Fol and I are staying with a Malaysian family here in Milan, and they are such fantastic hosts. :-)

Fol and I with Rahim eating in the snow. lol

We visited the mountains on our first day, and I managed to put on a pair of skis (and get my bottom bruised up from all the falling). I didn't do any bobsledding with the rest of the kids, just took lots of photos of the view. I've posted most of it up on my flickr.

On our second day, we took a three hour ride to Venice. Unfortunately Fol and I didn't take any rides on the gondola, we said that if we ever took on another trip to Italy, we'd do just that. It's a shame though, I think riding the gondola might've been romantic or is that just another cliche I've made my mind to think? lol :-)

I've put down ice skating on my list of things to do while in Europe. Guess what I did yesterday?

Me, Aisha, Mira & Fol at the ice rink.

In this ten day holiday we've taken, I've done a number of things I've always wanted to do (sampai hajat lah tu..), like ice skating, skiing, playing in the snow. All these wonderful winter things that you can do during this time of year. Fantastic. :-D Originally we were only suppose to stay here until the 31st but Uncle and Aunty convince Fol's Uncle and Aunt to stay longer and we could only manage to find a ticket on the 5th. There weren't any earlier tickets.. so instead of a 3 nights, 4 days holiday.. it turned to 8 nights, 9 days.

Anyway, I'm off now. Will post once I get back to Loughborough.

xxxx