A family weekend

What did you guys get up to over the long weekend? My parents and my brother came down to Kuantan and we had a really lovely time. My brother, his wife and his daughter are over in Peninsula Malaysia for a couple of weeks for a holiday (SCHOOL holidays!), so the kids got to spend time with their cute little cousin.

On Saturday, everybody headed of to the Kulliyyah of Science Auditorium. It was a big day. Yousof's Graduation Ceremony. Yup, my six year old got to get up on stage and receive a scroll before I did. It was a bit of a rush getting everyone ready and out of the door that I forgot to bring the most important thing of all, my phone. I was a bit a crushed because I was unable to tweet or instagram the event live but it was too late to go back home to get it. Thankfully, my brother brought his compact digital camera so I did manage to snap a few pictures. Unfortunately, he did not bring the cable and I do not own a memory card reader so we weren't able to transfer the pictures. So the ones I have are pictures of the official pictures the kids had taken and pictures "borrowed" from other people's FBs. InsyaAllah will post the other pics later. Of course, no trip to Kuantan is complete without a trip to Ani Ikan Bakar Petai, so that night we had a scrumptious dinner there despite the many issues with service. Not many pictures there either, I was too busy eating hehe.

On Sunday, we planned to go to Gambang water park because the weather was still nice and sunny. Unfortunately about a few thousand other people had the same idea. After being stuck in a 3 km crawl, we got there only to find people had been waiting hours just to even get a ticket. In the end we ended up in Teluk Chempedak, where the kids had a great time under the scorching sun. 

On Monday we took a trip to Pekan and had a short tour of the town, stopping at the Pekan Jeti. Not many pictures here because Hamzah decided that this was the perfect moment to fall fast asleep. So I had to babysit him while the other took a short stroll. 

All in all it was an amazing weekend because we just spent some good quality family time. Everybody has already left for KL today, so it's back to the normal routine for us. I am so very thankful for my family, even though we live apart, I hope that we are always close at heart.

Twilight Eyes by Dean Koontz

Basic plot

Slim MacKenzie may be only 17 years old but he is no ordinary teenager. For one thing, Slim MacKenzie is not even his real name. The world as seen through his twilight eyes is far different than that seen by "normal" people because Slim is not normal. Blessed with the gift of premonition, he is also cursed. Not only can he sense the gory fates of those around him, Slim can also see the evil that lies beneath. Slim can see goblins. Murderous, evil, vile creatures that to anyone else might look like his Uncle Denton, the town sheriff or that cute girl next door. What does a boy do when he seems to be the only only one who can see demons who are out to destroy the human race? Run away and join the carnival, of course, where at least, the freaks are real.

What I liked about this book

Firstly, this book is in no way related to the more famous "Twilight" series. Dean Koontz does have a vivid imagination when it comes to the macabre. The story of how evil can live and passed unnoticed was intricately developed. The second half of the book was a lot more enjoyable due to it's faster pace and had a much better sense of direction. Strangely, the quirky afterword by the author was also one of my favourite parts of the book.

What I disliked about this book

The first half of the book was a bit slow for me. It was of course necessary to tell the background story, introduce the characters and their motivations but the book did not really get into gear until the second half. I am glad that I ploughed through it. Perhaps, if he had condensed the first half into 1 or 2 chapters and quickly jumped into the second half, this would be a far more favourable review.

A quote I liked from the book

You travel light when you're wanted for murder. The only heavy things you carry are memories, fear and loneliness.

Rating: 3/5

Writing, eating and driving

I just came back from a 2 day Scientific Writing workshop held at the Grand Seasons Hotel by the Pharmacology Department, UKM. It was great to be able to see all the post-graduates again. The two days were quite eventful even though not many papers were actually submitted by the end of the workshop.

Although everybody came with their journal drafts, 2 days was not enough to get the papers publication ready. Though it was a great chance to have uninterrupted and focused time in front of the computer. Hopefully for those of us who did not manage to submit papers, we will manage to do so in the next month.

The other highlight was (of course) the food. Although, I have to say that the morning and evening tea dishes were not what I expected from such a big hotel (nuggets?). All the food was nice (especially since it was free), with the second day's lunch buffet far surpassing the first. 

It was also a time for car trouble as my Mum's Satria went beserk when the horn refused to stop blaring continuously unless I twisted the ignition key. Imagine driving with only my left hand, manouvering the 5 levels of multilevel-parking (those ramp turns were murder) and parking the car, with only one hand. My dear friend Sharlina had much bigger car trouble as sadly she met with a rough fender-bender whilst on the way to the hotel. 

One good car event did take place though, finally, my Stream is home.