~Weekend~

A few days ago I read in the Yahoo! UK news that the UK is expected to face the highest temperature of the year this weekend (i.e. yesterday and today), rising up to 18-19 C. My first thought was....... 19? Tak heran kot, Malaysia's is double that, consistently. And memang pon tadi bila kluar takder ah rasa panas sangat pon, boleh tahan ah.. normal spring temperature. According to Windows weather gadget Cambridge is 12 C now, but my thermometer is indicating a temperature of 26 C. Biar betul.. I think it's because I opened the window and since the thermometer is right at the other side of my window my room temperature affected it. Seriously it's quite impossible to be 26 even though the sun is shining ever so brilliantly.. The winds from outside felt colder than that.

*kejap.. cerah sangat lak matahari nih.. my room's facing the setting sun... kena tutup langsir*

Yesterday a friend here organised a majlis do'a selamat for his first newborn son. Most of us went including me. The event also coincides with the 35th anniversary of his parents-in-law (whom were there too in Cambridge, looking after their first newborn grandchild). They were so funny and sweet x). I so want to be like them in the future inshaAllah..

Haji Zainal (the father-in-law) officiated the ceremony with a do'a before we started eating (the already prepared) lunch. Rendang ayam and bihun, hoho quite a while since I last saw them =P.

That's the baby we're celebrating at the right, Zarief Aydean, on his proud father's lap. Omg he. is. too. cute. Comel gilerrr!! Rambut bukan main lebat daripada waktu lahir.. Congratz Hakimi for such an adorable and healthy son!! I have to say I envy you =T

It's gonna be quite a long time before I'll get married.. let alone becoming a father.. InshaAllah if I have the rezeki nanti..

We also planned for bowling the next day (i.e. today), and quite a lot of us dah semangat nak main. Tup2 tadi only 4 people came (well, 5. Tapi Zetty tak main, sakit belakang [?] katanya). So in the end only Hefni, Fendi, Tee and me played three games each. Adoi teruk ah performance.. Sungguh tidak konsisten. Tee and me decided nak pegi tengok movie How to Train a Dragon 3D tadi (the cinema is at the same building as the bowling place), but only waktu nak beli tiket we realised the 4:30pm show is for 2D, 3D's over for the day.. We postponed our movie watching to tomorrow, ada pkl 3:40pm or 6:05pm. Most probably I'll have to opt for the 6:05pm, unless I can get away somehow at 3:15pm.. The thing is my supervisor wants us, his grad students (particularly me since I'm quite the new guy) to do 8 working hours at the lab, excluding breaks. So that means it should be coming in at 9am and going back after 9 hours (1 hour allocated for breaks), at 6pm. Oh well, I'll try being early tomorrow.

..now that reminded me. My sister is gonna have her C-section on the 19th.. =S Huaaa my first nephew is gonna be born and I'm here thousands of miles awayyyy =[

She's already been warded there for quite some time, and it seems that my former classmate Nihlah pon is at the same hospital, waiting for her C-section gak on the 12th. Dua anak sedara with a week gap ><..

and I'm here thousands of miles away..

I considered going back at May, just to see my nephew =/

I could also see Nihlah's baby...

..and I can even surprise my former uni classmate and one of my besties apiz and attend his wedding on the 22nd of that month..

..but I've just got here.. just started doing work.. takkan nak balik dah.. If I go back home it won't be just for a few days, of course I want to be there for 2 weeks or more.. that could really set back on my work here. PhD is nothing like undergraduate. Of course you have a bit more freedom but if I loosen up now I have a feeling I won't be able to make it. I have a first-year dissertation (CPGS) to be submitted on early December and 4 journal papers on two different fields to be written in the whole course of my PhD, and aiming to finish it in 3 years will require lotsa work.. like LOTS. I want to at least produce something by June so more than a week break is really not allowable for me.. and return tickets are more than £500. I still have funds but it will be a few more months before I'll get a consistent monthly income from Mara so I don't really want to exhaust it too quickly.

..but that can't prevent me from going for a break right? =P

I'm going to Paris on the 19th for a few days. 8D

[Yeah, only for a few days, mmg tak cukup but takper ah, first trip to Europe (selain UK)].

Informed my supervisor about me not being here for a whole week, and he seems fine about it (MK: "Oh well I won't be here that week so it should be ok"... kalo tak dia bising kot). I need some pointers on French from a friend of mine. (If you're reading this tell me bile nak buat kelas ek =P. kalo tak baca pon don't worry I'll look for you xD..)

So, kata penutup: Semoga kaklang dan Nihlah berjaya melahirkan cahaya mata masing2 dengan selamat InshaAllah. Ku di perantauan ini akan mendo'akan kesejahteraan kamu berdua...