Winter break 2012 - Ontario

Assalamualaikum! It's been a wonderful winter break. It was one hell of a car ride to Peterborough. 19 painful hours! The journey should have taken only 14 hours max but the roads were too slippery (icy like a hockey rink) due to freezing rain. So we had to maintain a speed of 60 to 90 km/h. Passing by Quebec city, our car termasuk gaung/parit kecil. Kecil je tak besar. Jangan cemas. A truck had to pull the car out while we waited outside in the cold weather. Though, I wonder what happened to our winter. It's been above (-15) degrees Celcius, which is odd. It should've dropped lower by now.

halfway out

at MySukan aka MyCanada Games with team Jangoks @ Scarborough, Ontario.

Anyways, I'm having a good time with my girlfriends. It's been ages since we last gathered like this. Like the old times, when we were all in college, so havoc I tell you. 

We spend most of our times in the kitchen like the makciks we are, watching horror movies while munching on jajan, discussing about marriages, household stuff, sometimes cakap harga pinggan mangkuk and emas lol!

Let's go through a week of my winter break briefly, shall we?

Boxing day sale was bizzare as always. No surprises there. But it was satisfying! I did my shopping at the Toronto Eaton Centre, Toronto's top tourist attraction. Located at the timesquare of the city, the place was crowded forcing people to sit and rest on the floors. Even in the food court, in stores, people had to sit on the floor - and that mall, is a huge mall.

Cannot tahan one, had to take off my boots.

inside Toronto Eaton Centre

Nathan Phillip Sq - Toronto City Hall

Christmas deco inside Toronto Eaton Centre

Christmas trees in Toronto

Went to the Riverview Park && Zoo at Peterborough, Ontario. They've got some North && South American, Himalayan and African animals such as yaks, serval cats, llamas, donkeys, barbary sheep,  and Asian ones too such as the Bactrian camels, wallabies, pythons and many more. Most of them are new to me because they definitely can't be living in our local zoos in Malaysia. To replicate their natural habitat would cost too much, methinks.

Playing Bella in the woods feeling-feeling Twilight. But really I was just in the zoo.

Huge male Bactrian camel

fresh snow!

ready to dive!

Tomorrow, we're going ice skating :)

Don't leap. Make baby steps.

Whereabout: Peterborough and Toronto (Ontario, Canada)
Weather: (-7) degrees Celcius

Bismillahirrohmanirrohim! I wish my readers a blissful day. I am delighted upon setting a new life goal. I hope this paradigm shifting goal will bring joy and barakah. Tolong aminkan? :) Also, this blog will undergo major changes again because I'm the boss of my blog! How much I like posting is how much I like deleting :)

Mass shooting in Connecticut

What did I say about rights? Rights should stay restricted.

Many are expressing their prayers and thoughts after this morning's heart wrenching news of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in, Newtown, Connecticut, USA and stabbing in Henan, China. And many are forcing the US government to revise the second amendment. The second amendment of the United States Bill of Rights: protects the right to possess and use firearms - for individual use such as self defence - and the collective right to bear arms in a militia. I won't go deep into politics because I am not even remotely credible to be talking about politics. But I still hold my ground strong. The belief of having many rights as a citizen, doesn't lead to a freer, a happier country. Sungguh jelak bila dengar diorang mencaci dan mengutuk negara-negara lain yang tak punyai hak dan kebebasan seperti yang diorang ada. Clearly, ignorance dictates their minds. I fought back several times, expressing my belief that things could've been better with regards to rights. Some value my thoughts, and some just prove that to argue with a fool proves there are two. I don't mind people disapproving my point, but to say that they are better than others is just BS.

Newtown is (or should I say was) the safest place in America. Now that the tragedy has poisoned that claim, we all know now, there isn't really a safe place in this world. Bersyukurlah kat Malaysia orang active tembak burung gagak je - that's what abah said. Funny kan but nasib baik.

My condolences to the victims and to the affected families, in Newtown and Henan, China. No child in this world deserves to be traumatized. My prayers go out to suffering children around the world, who are in wars, abused at home, abandoned, etc. I wouldn't know how to react if I was in their place. Ya rabb, jauh kan lah. Not forgetting my young muslim brothers and sisters, who don't even know what it's like to live in peace, to live without war. They are the true soldiers. “La Tahzan Innallaha Ma’ana” - Don’t be sad. Indeed, Allah is with us. [Qur’an 9:40].

Our last winter

I'll be graduating in May 2013, Insha Allah. Pray for my success!

It's my last winter. The fourth and the final. This was on day 1, Sunday. I was never really into snow, unlike the others. I never did any snow activities. Well, last year, I did sledding and snow shoeing. That's about it. I never made snowmen. This season, I think I should try skiing or snowboarding.

The weather: It stopped snowing but we're having freezing rain now. Final exams scheduled on Monday were cancelled due to that. Freezing rain means the ground is covered with ice - not just snow. It's really dangerous for pedestrians because the way UNB buildings are designed, they're located along the hill. So we have to be extra careful not to slip. I and D hold hands all the time :p I saw a car driving up the hill, struggling. The tyres were spinning fast but the car couldn't move up. I thought it was funny so I recorded a cinemagram gif of it - then the app crashed and I lost the video. Boohoo.

Still above -15 so that's good, for now.

We're a ball of tangled spaghetti

I just have something brief to say that may cause a stir to some people, especially to those firm believers of individualism, feminism and freedom of choice. Not too sure why I'm creating this entry. Maybe because I am particularly annoyed by some cultures. Cultures yang over semangat memperjuangkan sesuatu yang simple, tetapi diputarbelitkan, dikomplikasikan.

The western influence has undoubtedly brought many positive contribution to the rest of the world - not forgetting ourselves, the more 'conservative' side of the map. But like how Aristotle put it,

"the virtuous habit of action is always an intermediate state between the opposed vices of excess and deficiency: too much and too little are always wrong; the right kind of action always lies in the mean."

In simpler terms, it means that even good things, if you do them too much, become bad for you. With all these endless fights for rights, it is no wonder that even the biggest, most influential economy is in perpetual chaos.

Here are some controversial issues that I personally agree on, usually of discrimination and civil rights:

Gender gap must exist. Men and women can't be equal.

Love does not feed the stomach - it is not 'all you need' - it does not make the world go round.

Women and men were not created to be independent of each other.

Men should be the head of a household, the breadwinner, the provider, the protector. Women should know how to work the kitchen, no matter how modern you are.

People can't have too many rights. Because people are greedy by nature.

There is no absolute freedom, and there shouldn't be any. Rights should stay restricted.

-

The world today is like a ball of tangled spaghetti. Go back to basics. Don't complicate stuff.

Video of Davy

I know I've been posting a lot of photos/instagram/cinemagram of David lately but... you guys don't mind, do you? Hee!

Atas permintaan, ini dia video pendek kucing demok. You're welcome.

Davy yawns

Created with cinemagr.am

End of Fall semester 2012

Final exam starts tomorrow.
One step closer to the end!
Bismillah.