Marina’s Bloggariffic

I’ll be having my examinations soon. In liew of that, Marina’s bloggariffic will be on hiatus till probably end of November.

For the moment, please feel free to visit my wonderful friends bloggariffic :)

There were a whole sea of people at the mosque when my family and I went to there for Hari Raya mass prayers in the morning.

I wanted to take the lines of cars parked by the entire stretch of roads, to and forth as well as the mountain of footwear outside of the mosque but I really didnt have the time with everyone rushing and squeezing in.

It got to the extent of the majority of us having to prostrate in an extremely cramped fashion.

Listening to the preaching after mass prayers

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My dad has a very large family. He has 12 siblings. For several years so far, every raya, a relative will host the clan meetup according to their age-rank. My dad was the eldest, so we played host some years back. This year is my aunts’ turn. She’s the youngest in the family.

Me, mum and sis all have the same noses!

Hari Raya is a day for forgiveness and past misdeeds are forgotten. It can be a rather emotional moment for family members.

I could hear the conversations from around.

“I planned alot of things with mum in law for this coming raya but its just not fated to be … we should treasure the people while they are still around”

“Lets just hope that we dont end up meeting only once a year”

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There were loads of lovely food to be eaten, including my raya favourites, Ayam Masak Merah (Chicken in savory chilli) and Ketupat! (Rice dumplings wrapped in coconut leaves)

I got to meet up with a few of my relatives.

Like this really adorable boy! He’s the son of another aunt. He’s so small and so cute I just wanted to eat him up.

And this is another relative which I find amazingly romantic after all these years. From the start when they courted till many many years after, they still have a most loving relationship. I’ve never seen them being ill tempered with each other before.

People like these are quite a rarity.

I’m such a sap. My eyes were wet after watching the petronas advertisment.

We’re almost at the end of the fasting month, and on this raya eve, I’d like to wish everyone Selamat Hari Raya!

Maaf Zahir Batin :)

I was riding to work today and stopped by the road to take some shots of the school building.

The school building was next to the hindu temple. I pass by this temple almost everyday and yet this was the first time that I ever saw it up close.

It was rather magnificient in its golden glory. And I paused to see each statue decorating the facade.

The caretaker was right next to me.

me : Hi! Can I take a picture?

caretaker : Hallo! You want to take a picture? Take the entry, its nice.

me : Thank you!

caretaker : This area where you are at, is the common hall, this is where we do functions and mass prayers.

me : Oh! Can I go in? I’m not Hindu though.

caretaker : Sure! Our temple is open to any races any religion and any beliefs. You should have come here last month. We had a fire walking ceremony.

me : Awww!

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There are so many beautiful and interesting things around us. But in this mad rush, Sometimes we miss them on our rush to our destination.

We’re going so fast that we hardly have the time to appreciate them.

Maybe its time to slow down.

On the 13th October, the IT Club members, the teachers from the school that I was working in and me visited the Singapore Expo to view the Innovation Nation Exhibition. It showcased technology from 25 years ago till the present and what we could expect in the future.

It was a very interesting exhibition. But pity that we only had an hour to spend there. I would have liked to see the exhibition at a leisurely manner :)

I was listening to 938live, the radio channel that I usually tune to in the mornings. Every hour, they had this segment called the mindbreaker, where they ask several general questions like:

What are 90 percent of motorist’s pet peeve? (Answer: tailgating)

What is the thing that you can do in 1 second that will instantly make you feel refreshed? (Answer : yawn)

What is the answer to life, the universe and everything? (Answer: 42)

Listeners can call in to make their guesses. If they got it right, they will win something nice. One of the memorable prizes was a basket full of premium chocolate.

After hearing the question from the previous hour,

Who was the person being tributed by the song “I’ll be missing you” sung by Puff Daddy.

And then hearing people answering, “Elvis Presly, Princess Diana, John Lennon” I just knew I had to make the call. The answer isnt that difficult.

So I quickly dialled the number and after a while I managed to get through! It was strange hearing the radio on the phone, it sounded softer than your usual phone calls. Plus I could hear the other callers on the phone too, making it a little confusing.

I heard the host, Michelle Martin, directing the question again. I paused for a second as I wasnt sure who she was asking to then I thought, what the heck, I’d just blurt out the answer.

“Notorious B.I.G!”

And then I heard the congratulatory sound effects complete with all the cheering! I won!

Oh my! I’m so excited!

I’m not too sure what I won. Something about a pair of tickets costing $300 dollars each, to a seminar about parenting. Hehe … I’ll be passing those to my folks! :)

How fun! I even tried to record the radio conversation but when I played back the recording, there was only static. Turns out I recorded the the wrong channel in my haste to call the radio.

Doh!

Jean, one of the students from school was selling some cookies to raise funds for the girl brigade and I chose the packaging with the kitten print.

I love cat. Aww … isnt this cute?

But take a look closer …

Pure poetry I tell you.

In fact, its so inspiring that I’ve done a little cartoon

Classic!

Apparently there are others who had the fortune of seeing this wonderful packaging too, cartcart found this link.