Monday, September 8, 2008

Shake Shake Shakespeare

Nik Yurni went to Stratford-upon-Avon and bought this guy for me:


Don't you think he's familiar? Well, the title to this blog entry is a dead give-away, anyway :-)

Yes, that the genius in the form of William Sheakespeare (1564 - 1616) who wrote a total of 37 plays in his lifetime and his plays are thought to be the finest ever written in any language.


William Shakespeare was born at Stratford-upon-Avon in a house in Henley Street. This is preserved intact. His mother, Mary Arden, was one of the daughters of Robert Arden, a yeoman farmer of Wilmcote: his father, John Shakespeare, was a glover and wool dealer of good standing who held the office of Bailiff of the Borough in 1568.

From the age of seven to about 14, he attended Stratford Grammar School receiving an excellent well rounded education.

.

At the age of 18 he married Anne Hathaway, who was seven years his senior and three months pregnant. She was of 'yeoman' stock - her family owned a farm one mile west of Stratford in Shottery.

.

He endured her until he could stand it no longer and fled to London to become an actor. .

He then became actor-manager and part-owner in the Blackfriars and afterwards the Globe Theatres. He was a first-rate actor, but it is as a writer of plays that he has achieved lasting world-wide fame.





.
.
.
.
.
Shakespeare's plays vary in type; historical romances, light, fantastic comedies, some are tragedies, all including the comical and the farcical.

He was a shrewd business man, amassing quite a fortune in his time. He returned to Stratford for his latter years where he died at the age of 52 and now lies at rest in his special grave at Holy Trinity Church.










This magnet is now one of my favourite. As it has dangling feet, I choose to put it at the office but I think I'll be bringing it home one of these days. I think I stare and appreciate them better at home hehe.

Where from: Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire, UK
Who: Nik Yurni
When: 2008
Where now: Office

Number: #206

Yeah, I too can't believe I have over 200 of these precious little things!

Hard Bodied Texan

This one is really cute. Its' all McConaughey and then some. Yes, yes, imagine him and his slang and imagine him saying all these:

Haha... turun saham pakcik tu, despite the 6 pack abs!! Sexy no more!

Many thanks for our neighbour Zaki for this magnet. I'm just not sure why I decide to kutuk Matthew McConaughey - maybe because he's not that good looking but bloody attractive? Yeah, now that the world has passed on Brad Pitt.

Where from : Houston, Texas

Who: Zaki

When : 2008 - pretty new, this one.

Where now: At home. resting against the hard bodied fridge.

Count me in, baby: 205.

London Landmarks

Izwan bought this magnet cum room thermometer on his way home from Ireland. And Mrs. Izwan was very very pleased.


There are several landmarks you can see from the magnet, including London Eye. When Izwan and I went to London for our honeymoon (second?) way back in 1998, the Eye was something in the distant future - but we did get to see the other places.

Where from: London, England
Who: Izwan Ismail
When: 2006 - November.
Where now: Home

Let's have the sentence that is making others jealous:
This is magnet number 204.

Starry Starry Street

Oh one more fridge magnet in celebration of the famous long street with stars all over the pedestrian's path. Yes, equals to be walked on, spitted on and some parts, unfortunately, wee-weed on.

(took this pic from the abovementioned website). Been to the place myself, the posh part is near Mann Chinese Theater, Kodak Theater and perhaps 50 meters to the buildings' left and right. If you go a bit further.... hmm.. homeless lying around, sleeping, wasted.
.
But if you do go to LA, it is definitely not complete if this place is not visited!
.
Where from: Hollywood, Los Angeles
Who: Shahrul Mazli, my husband's brother in law.
When: 2008
Where now: My office
Number: 203

That's Shahrul on the right with his son Fitri (my nephew, the boy in blue). Above picture was taken few nights ago at my house where husband's siblings + their spouses + children & my MIL came for iftar.

Winter Sonata

Hello! Here's a happy couple all the way from Korea:



They say, when you go to Korea, these are the places that one must visit:
(1) Jogyesa Temple - large and beautiful temple. If you have time do half day temple stays where you learn about the life and live it a tiny bit. "You'll never forget the four bowl lunch."
(2) Changdeokgung and Changgyeonggung - Temples surrounding the backpacker hostel are pretty good.
(3) Tapgol Park - small, peacful park containing an ancient marble pagoda, protected by a large glass case.
(4) Seoul Tower - fantastic views of the city, especially at night. You can catch a cable car up to to the base of the tower, or a bus from Chung-muro subway stop.
(5) Namdaemun/Sungnyemun - the south gate, National Treasure number 1 and stunning.
(6) Gyeongbokgung - the main palace in the centre of Seoul. Take a few hours to wander round and look at the gardens and buildings.
(7) The Hammering Man - a bizarre huge moving statue close to the museum of history.
(8) Nanta - a cooking/ taiko performance which is just insane. Most hotels have information leaflets about it.

This couple were purchased with the other pair in September 2004 when Izwan went to Busan for an assignment.
Where from: Busan, Korea
Who: Izwan
When: 2004
Where now: Home
Number: #201 + #202

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Fridge Magnet Collector

Way back on 31 March 2008, Tech N U, the IT pullout of New Straits Times newspaper, published a story about yours truly on my craze over fridge magnets. I am a collector of those cute things, especially when the magnet features the name of the country/state/town that it represents. Here is what how the story looks:




Well, way back in March, updating the blog every three or four days was a statement of fact. But after this feature was published, that blog took a backseat and I have not updated it for a long while - more than a month now. But that's not too bad, right, since I have 1501 who have visited this blog - compared to only a handful who read it when I was actively updating it - heheh

.
I'll post a pic on how my fridge looks like now; soon. In fact, I'll try to pudate this blog soon, with more pics and stories about my magnets. Oh, you may ask - why did it take me so long to blog about this '15 minutes of glamour'? Kita segan la, wak!!

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Checking Up

reader time check 3:22 am  date 24 august 2008 visitor counter states 1315 unique readers so far wow