Observation Exercise

There was no class on Tuesday last week sebab Dr T went somewhere for work. Tapi sempat dia assigned us with an "observation exercise" for the week yg takde class tu and to come out with our findings during the next class this week.

The task was simple, we have to watched a movie - Deja Vu (2006) at least twice. Every time lepas tengok movie tu, we have to come out with our findings based on apa yg kami observed. Meaning that, during the 2nd viewing, we are expected to observe apa yg kami missed during the 1st viewing. We need to observe the scenes from an intelligent analyst point of view.













Casting:
ATF Agent Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington)
FBI Agent Paul Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer)
FBI Agent Jack McCready (Bruce Greenwood)
Heroine Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton)
Scientist Prof Alexander Denny (Adam Goldberg)
Terrorist Carroll Oerstadt (James Caviezel)

In a nutshell, Deja Vu is about a domestic terrorism bombing of a ferry loaded with 543 people consisted of US Navy crew and civilians in New Orleans, Louisiana on Fat Tuesday. The FBI took over the case from the ATF after learning that there is a possibility the bombing maybe related to an act of terrorism.

FBI Agent Paul Pryzwarra decided to recruit ATF Agent Doug Carlin to assist the investigation due to the fact of his background being local having a link to a victim of the event. The investigation utilizing a tool called Snow White enabled the FBI to "travel" back 4 days and 6 hours in past to trace the event. Agent Carlin believes that a lady victim, Claire Kuchever who was found at the shore nearby the bombing area 6 minutes prior to the bombing may have a link to the event. The rest of the story was another FBI kinda movie. They get the bad guy, Agent Carlin travel back through time to save Claire Kuchever.

I guess the reason why Dr T wanted us to observed this movie is the movie was designed to create complexity by traveling back and forth through time. Apart from the fact he was a former Bureau. I think, it is a good movie to train your observation and analytic skills. Since we were asked to view the movie at least twice, hence we are expected to observed the details in the movie.

But from a movie viewer point of view, it is only rated fairly since the storyline is pretty basic. It is just another FBI movie.

Yayyy!!! Dapat kad raya!!!

Terima kasih atas kiriman kad raya. Kad raya pertama (mungkin juga the one and only) yg kami terima pd tahun ini :) Terima kasih atuk, nenek, cik nah, angah, auntie ixo, and uncle E. Nak kirim kad gak, tapi tak tau ader ke jual kad raya kat sini??? Tak pernah jumpa plak! Season greetings ader la ;) Kreatif!!! Idea saper lah agaknyer nie yek tampal2 pics dlm kad tu?

Teringat maser zaman2 asrama dulu, setiap dorm akan bertukar2 kad raya buatan dorm masing2. Normally setiap kad tu sure ader gambar2 kartun yg akan wakilkan setiap ahli dorm. Dorm maner yg ader org terer melukis... cantik ler kartun2nyer... Kad2 tu plak biasernyer akan digantung dlm dorm, hias utk dorm terbuka sempena sambutan hari raya kat sekolah. Dorm terbuka mmg ditunggu2 oleh semua pelajar coz boleh bebas kuar masuk asrama lelaki or pompuan ;)

Kalau kat sekolah mr ayah lak, hostel boys, jgn harap lak nak ada kad raya mcm ni. Abis pun, before cuti raya berarak la ramai2 dari satu bilik ke satu bilik. Bersalam2 raya sambil mintak maaf. Balik dari cuti raya baru la nak meriah, all the company line mula buat "open house". Tapi takde la nak ada ketupat, rendang ni. Takat kuih raya dgn air oren je la.

hmmm... means mrs mama's school lagi meriah la! ;) On our last day before balik cuti raya, we would have all the students and teachers berbaris for salam raya. The most juniors will start first, bersalam raya with the seniors and teachers. Kira last day tu mcm dah tak belajar la. Ramai yg sibuk bertukar2 kad raya. Ader gak yg main selit2 bawah meja ;) Lepas balik dr cuti raya, ader hari terbuka. Selain dr dorm terbuka tu, earlier we would have jamuan makan for all students. The food lengkap la mcm kat maner2 raya gathering. Siap bakar2 lemang segala. Then ader persembahan from the students, normally from each dorm. Or sometimes wakil tingkatan je. Ala... rindu la!!!

So, korang dah dpt kad raya ke??? Soalan nie ditujukan terutamanyer pd kengkawan yg berada di perantauan juga. Yg kat m'sia tak aci la nak tanya... sure dah berlambak kan ;)

Anyway, since tinggal lagi lebih kurang 10-11 hari je nak puasa... kami together-gather ingin mengucapkan Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri pd kawan2 semua... minta maaf kalau pernah buat silap. Biler beraya tu ingat2lah pd kengkawan di perantauan juga... :)

Bahang Hari Raya

Pejam celik dah half way through kita lalui bulan Ramadhan ni. Terasa cepat pulak masa berlalu tahun ni. Probably due to the daily routine and the weather here yg dah mula sejuk, sampaikan takde la terasa sangat berpuasa masa siang hari.

Kalau kat Malaysia sure orang dah mula sibuk nak beraya, especially shopping baju raya and order kuih raya. Jalan TAR / Masjid India sure sibuk tak ingat punya, lebih2 lagi over the weekends. Kami punya style, kami suka ambik cuti sehari in the mid week to go for shopping. Senang sikit, orang pun tak ramai and nak parking pun senang. Kami ni sebenarnya tak berapa gemar nak bersesak2 and berebut dgn orang. Rasa mcm berserabut je.

Kuih raya pulak, normally kami beli je. Bila je masanya nak buat kuih pun. Rasanya zaman sekarang ni orang ramai beli je kuih instead of buat sendiri. Teringat arwah nenek prepare kuih2 traditional kat kampung, especially her signature bahulu ikan. It was done in a very traditional way. Bakar kuih bahulu atas dapur kayu api, mana ada pakai oven ni. Kuih2 traditional lain yg arwah nenek buat dulu termasuk la agar2 kering, halwa maskat, kuih bakar and kuih putu kacang. Rasanya tak pernah jumpa orang jual kuih2 traditional ni except for kuih bakar and putu kacang.

Kalau kat radio sure dah start keluar lagu2 raya. Kami pun dah mula download lagu2 raya ni since awal puasa lagi. Saja je nak kasi mood tu datang. Hehehe. So far rasanya lagu2 raya lama gak la yg rasa sedap didengar and ada feel bila dengar. Normally kalau orang yg merantau ni cukup sensitif bila dengar lagi Dendang Perantau, tapi mr ayah rasa lagu Kepulangan Yang Dinanti by Aman Shah lagi touching. Well, it depends to the individual taste anyway.

Dalam sibuk nak beraya ni, jangan lupa pulak tunaikan Rukun Islam yg ke-4. Sekarang ni dah mudah since kat shopping complex dah ada kaunter utk bayaran zakat fitrah ni. Tahun ni kami punya zakat fitrah kat New Haven Islamic Center. The approach is a bit awkward, since kita cuma masukkan duit ($10 per person) dlm envelop yg disediakan and masukkan dlm peti yg disiapkan. Takde la wakil NHICCT yg tunggu utk terima zakat kita tu. Masa kat Guinea dulu lagi kelakar, dtg jumpa Imam masjid lepas sembahyang, bagitau yg kita nak bayar zakat fitrah. Dgn French yg berterabur, ntah dia faham ke tak apa yg kita cakap. Main angguk je... :D

Pada yg sibuk dgn persiapan raya tu, berbelanja la dgn berhemah dan berjimat cermat. Gunakan la duit bonus tu dgn bijak. *wink

Tepung pelita

Semalam, mrs mama try buat tepung pelita since nak buatnyer amat senang, and mmg menjadi kegemaran mr ayah di bulan ramadhan. Tapi mrs mama nyer version of tepung pelita ader pelbagai size. Sebabnyer, takde daun pisang and maser pi shoprite earlier that day, luper nak beli bekas kecik2 tu. Tapi sib baik gak la kat umah mmg ader tupperware kecik2 ikea tu, so guna yg tu je lah!

Resepi, cam biaser mmg selalu rujuk dgn resepi.mesra.net. Normally sbb nak tgk bahan2 je la, the portion needed and cara masak tak ikut. Mesti nak ikut suka hati sendiri jugak! Part nak kukus tepung pelita nie yg mencabar kesabaran sket. Psl kami takdak periuk kukus tu. Maleh la nak beli, coz mmg dah ader kat m'sia. Make do je la dgn periuk2 yg ader, janji bleh kukus gak. Due to the small pot, sekali kukus leh letak 2 bekas jek! Punyer la lama baru nak abis kukus semua! Tapi sempat gak la siap before waktu berbuka.

At last, merasa gak la mr ayah nak makan tepung pelita di bulan puasa :D

Pizza Hut jugak...

Sejak duduk kat US of A nie, dah pelbagai pizza kami makan. Abih tu dah pizza tu la yg paling senang nak makan kalau kat luar, and kena lak mmg kegemaran littleman... ikut kan aje. Janji dier nak makan. Subway, sbarro, mr. P (beli, microwave sendiri), pizza yg atuk atas kasik, and few others semua dah raser.

Tapi littleman nie tetap gak setia dgn Pizza Hut dier. For us, pizza yg atuk kasik tu paling sedap so far (luper la nama kedai tu, tak pernah beli sendiri). Tapi nasib baik jugak la pizza hut dkt dgn rumah. Littleman hari2 mintak nak makan pizza je kerjanyer. Selalu kami beli personal pan je, utk dier sorang. Sekali makan 3 slices habis. Baki bawak ke esoknyer. Kalau tak cukup, siap pesan tu... esok beli... morning... means pagi2 la dier suruh pi beli. Takpun hari pi sekolah dier dah pesan siap2 balik nak makan pizza hut. Kalau tak nak makan pizza, baru dier mintak nasik and chicken.

- picture taken from pizzahut.com

Regular tak regular nyer mr ayah kat pizza hut outlet tu, semua staffs kat situ dah kenal, the guy with the red bike :D bangga giler mr ayah semua org notice red shadow dier tu :P Since dah jadi regular customer, the pizza we ordered pun sometimes dpt yg medium size eventhough kat internet we order personal pan jek! hehehe... murah rezeki littleman nie... pernah sekali psl diaorg luper buat. Yg 2 kali lagi tu mmg diaorg sajer bagi medium size... :D Pdhal we start beli pizza kat outlet tu baru last month jek!

Pengalaman berpuasa

Salam Ramadhan... Sekarang baru masuk minggu ke-2 kita berpuasa. Masih belum terlambat kalau hendak mengucapkan selamat berpuasa pd semua. Starting next week mesti org dah mula wish selamat hari raya pulak. Kalau di M'sia dah mula terima/hantar kad raya. Takde saper ke nak kirim kad raya pd kami di sini??? ;)

Bercerita ttg berpuasa, ini adalah kali ke-2 kami berpuasa di rantauan. Pengalaman pertama adalah semasa berada di Guinea, dan ke-2 di US of A nielah...

Kalau di Guinea dulu (year 2000), both of us bekerja... jadi tugas2 memasak utk berbuka mmg dilakukan oleh our cook. Waktu berbuka puasa adalah lebih kurang sama seperti di M'sia. Mula2 makan je la aper yg cook masak. Tapi makin hari makin tak lalu... Since balik kerja diawalkan, dlm pukul 4.30pm... and atas persetujuan tekak2 yg lain, mrs mama decided to cook (that time mrs mama sorang je pompuan yg keje dgn company tu di guinea). Bahan2 masakan mintak cook sediakan awal2. Tapi ader gak one dish yg cook tu sediakan mmg sgt sedap, ayam bakar... Teringat that time ader la few days tu menu kami samer jek sbb semua org setuju nak makan ayam bakar tu. So mrs mama just sediakan nasi goreng and sup. Sesekali kalau jumpa tauge, buat gak la mee bandung. Kuih-muih mmg takde sgt la... Kalau ader pun yg goreng2 je... cook yg buat.


Now in US of A... kami treat buka puasa samer mcm we eat our dinner. Makanan buka puasa mcm biaser... nasi, lauk and sayur. Tambahan, ader la serunding (from Taiping with love, mom's best serunding), telur masin Mydin (thanks to uncle who brought it over 3 weeks ago, hand carry lagi... lepas!!!). For manis2, buat la jelly and beli tembikai, nie dah terbiasa, kat umah keramat tiap2 hari buka puasa mesti ader tembikai sirap. Sesekali buat gak la mee kari and will surely akan buat gak bihun goreng, mee goreng, and nasi ayam...


Walau bagaimanapun the best buka puasa will still be in M'sia. With all the kuih-muih varieties... mmg rambang mata! time nie la nak tgk kuih-muih yg tak pernah tgk, tak pernah dgr... mcm2 ada, mcm2 ruper, mcm2 nama :D Selalunyer kami berbuka di luar. Village view, bangi antara tempat faveret... kdg tu kat food court alamanda je (kalau nasib dpt tempat). Sesekali buffet hotel... weekend, kat umah Keramat.

PARAM kat Putrajaya, last year tak jengah langsung... bukan sedap pun! teringat last 2 yrs pernah nak try beli satu lauk daging kat sorang pakcik kelate nie... mrs mama mintak for rm1 je (nak rasa dulu kot2 tak sedap lak)... pakcik tu siap perli kalau rm1 tak rasa aper la... tapi mrs mama tetap beli rm1 walaupun dpt seciput jek. Waktu berbuka, lauk daging tu la yg tak habis coz teramat masin!!! kalah telur masin!!! teraser mcm nak je bungkus, esok pi pulangkan balik!!! Tapi tak sampai hati walaupun dok terbayang2 je muka pakcik tu perli depan2 semua org!

Anyways, selamat berpuasa to all... walau di mana anda berada. Pada yg PARAM hopping, selamat menjamu mata :)

Littleman in school

*Update!

Hari nie dgn bangganyer littleman shows his behavior chart... ada improvement!!! He got 5 fair smileys... and a Perfect sticker for his school work. Good enough for us. At least now he understand that the behavior chart is used to evaluate him in school. He knows if he gets poor smiley, we will lecture him right after he gets back from the school... tak kasi chance langsung! hahaha!!!


September 3, 2008
Masuk hari nie, dah 4 hari littleman pi school. Dier pergi/balik sekolah naik bus.

So far, without fail, ader je komplen dr teacher psl littleman. His 2nd day in school, mr ayah and mrs mama kena panggil to the principal office. Tiba2 terasa mcm parents Malcolm in the Middle plak! Actually mmg agak obvious pun dlm kelas littleman tu, dier je yg nampak terlebih active... susah nak control.





Skrg nie hari2 mrs mama and mr ayah dok remind littleman about dos and don'ts. Don't do that to your friend... don't do this... listen to your teacher... etc... Littleman angguk2 je la... and says, OK! We can see that he's trying to understand what we said to him... tapi sometimes dier nampak mcm blurrr je... He is 5 yrs old. But the immaturity in him is quite obvious. Cakap pun belum betul2 lepas lagi... sometimes keluar jugak baby talk tu.





Littleman has been given a behavior chart everyday. In that chart the teacher will give 3 types of smileys; excellent (happy), fair and poor (sad). Dah 2 hari dpt chart, takde lagi excellent. 1st day, out of 5, 3 poor and 2 fair. 2nd day ader improvement sket, 2 poor and 3 fair. At least now he stayed in his seat. Ops! ader satu excellent smiley, but not in the chart... tapi for his school work, Circle the pictures that rhyme with hat. Good job, littleman!!! :D




We believe littleman won't have much problem in doing his school work. We have been practicing with him almost every night. Of coz we have difficult time to make him sit and learn. Tapi kena la paksa jugak. Dalam duduk tak diam tu, at least dier pickup jugak aper yg kami ajar.

We shall see for few more weeks. Hope ader improvement in his behavior... Together-gather we pray and hope for littleman to be a better boy.

They are back!!!

*Update!!! series in red are to response to mr. anonymous... ;)

The long awaited series are coming back starting Sept 1^st...

Gossip Girl	Sept 1st 8pm CWTV
One Tree Hill	Sept 1st 9pm CWTV
Prison Break	Sept 1st 8pm FOX
90210	Sept 2nd 8pm CWTV
Entourage	Sept 7th 10pm HBO
House	Sept 16th 8pm FOX
Supernatural	Sept 18th 9pm CWTV
Heroes	Sept 22nd 9pm NBC
Lipstick Jungle	Sept 24th 10pm NBC
Grey's Anatomy	Sept 25th 9pm ABC
Ugly Betty	Sept 25th 8pm ABC
Desperate Housewives	Sept 28th 9pm ABC
Brothers and Sisters	Sept 28th 10pm ABC
Pushing Daisies	Oct 1st 8pm ABC
Private Practice	Oct 1st 9pm ABC
Dirty Sexy Money	Oct 1st 10pm ABC
Friday Night Lights	Oct 1st DIRECTV

This is a reminder for us and frens out there who share the same interest (on some of the series, if not all). Prison Break airtime is clash with Gossip Girl. Nevermind... most of the series will be downloaded anyways.

Kena pulak tgh bulan puasa nie kan. Mr ayah pun ader kelas, Tuesday-Thurdays from 6pm-9pm. Ada org buka puasa dlm kelas je la ;) and mrs mama buka puasa sorang2 :( sib baik 3 hari seminggu jek!

So frens... start to clear ur hdisk... hehehe ;)