Commissioned Artwork: Krafty Kat

Stella asked me a while ago to draw a cat mascot/logo for her art website, Krafty Katz, which is currently under construction. I basically did one incorporating a bit of my manga-style drawing, and the outcome: a very artistic looking cat! XD Anyway, she seemed pleased with the drawing. You can view them via the following links: black & white and coloured. Comments are welcome! XD Thanks and enjoy!

Quick update!

So last Friday, I flew to Dublin and now it's my second last day here - as the saying goes, time flies when you're having fun! ;D It was hectic, though. On the day I arrived, I went to Clonmel with Stella and Gemma for the weekend - I know, more travelling! O.o We had hair and makeup trials to do for Stella's wedding in March. The trip was fun, but I was wrecked! Back in Dublin, it was still busy, busy, busy - lots of things to do, lots of friends to see! I managed to meet up with all my friends, bar one - I really have to make it up to her, will hopefully meet her in February when I'm back in Dublin again for Stella's hen night - should be fun!!! :D Right, I think I'll stop here - sooo tired!!! I need to catch up on my beauty sleep - NOT, haha! Later! xxx

First day of Hari Raya!

Okay, as promised, here are the photos from the first day of Syawal! It's all about stuffing oneself after a month of "starvation", haha! Just joking, but it's true there's a lot of food being served, hehe. ;D Anyway, Hari Raya in Berlin this year was really fun. Meela's cousin (long2) and his friend, Maarten (yeah, he's wearing the traditional baju melayu even though he's German!) came over for a few days to celebrate with us! Anyway, the day started off with the Bruneian guys going for sembahyang Hari Raya at the Malaysian embassy, then back to our apartment for the first meal of the day. At lunch time, we all went back to the Malaysian embassy for "open house" and at 3 pm, we had our "open house" as well. Ate lots and sang lots of karaoke! In the second last photo, you can see me, long2 and Maarten being the last ppl singing karaoke, I think it was past midnight, haha! Yes, Hari Raya was brilliant! One thing that would have made it even better was if my brother, Haslann, was there to celebrate it with us! We miss you, aniki!!!

"Ask Dr Rin!"

Haha, that's the title of a shoujo manga I've read about a girl named Kanzaki Meilin who possesses fengshui powers which she uses to help others through fortune telling under the name of Dr Rin. The Japanese title is "Dr Rin ni Kiitemite!".

Anyway, I decided to rename my blog as "dr.rin" for a while, since Rin is my name when written in Japanese and as of Monday (June 18, 2007), I now have Dr as my title, haha!I'm really happy, because for a year or so, I was starting to lose hope that I'd ever get through it! All I can say after Monday is Syukur Alhamdulilah!!! And many thanks to everyone, especially my family and friends, who supported me and kept me sane throughout the torturous postgraduate years!!!

So that's it for my first post after taking a break to study for my Ph.D. viva. I have some photos from the Monday going-ons that I want to put up but I'll do that another time since I have to get cracking at my corrections (Uh-huh, I have them, but then, it's the usual thing! Though I wished I didn't have to do them, haha!). Tschus!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!!!

Hehe, even though I'm not Irish, I've been living in Ireland long enough, so while I'm in Dublin at the mo, I'd like to wish all my Irish friends "HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY"!!! :D Unfortunately, while everyone is enjoying the festivities, I'm stuck at my computer working! :( So decided to blog for a few minutes as a treat for being so "hardworking", haha! Right, so back to the grindstone I go! Lalalalalalalala...

Brunei's 23rd National Day Celebration in Berlin (23.2.07)

This is the first national day celebrated by my parents and I in Berlin. The venue was very snazzy, I have to say - the Ritz Carlton, no less! The food was quite well done, and all the Bruneian diplomats' wives made at least one kind of Bruneian dessert - let's see, kuih bom, bingka susu and pandan, kuih lapis, etc.

They are not that many Bruneians living in Berlin itself, the others are in other German cities far from Berlin such as Mannheim, Bonn, etc. Unfortunately, only one was able to attend the celebration - Meela's cousin, Long-Long, who's studying in Bonn (Oi, Long, kenapa inda pakai baju melayu???). The other Bruneians who attended were my friends from Ireland. My goddaughter, Erika, was a bit of handful, in a good way, but she was a hit for everyone who attended. Cuteness always wins, haha!

And finally, some photos taken at the end of the evening. Overall, it was an enjoyable evening. Hopefully, next year, the other Bruneian students will be able to make it to the event. After all, when one is far from home, it's always nice to get together every so often. :) Anyway, even if this is belated:

- HAPPY 23rd NATIONAL DAY -

The Gelato Experience

I scream, you scream, everybody wants ICE CREAM!!! ;D In Berlin, our apartment is so close to the Arkaden Shopping Centre that you can actually SMELL the gelato (Italian ice cream) served by the famous Italian ice cream parlour it houses! Yummy! :9 Here you can the see the variety of flavours you can get - my current favourite is pistazien (i.e. pistachio), but if you're allergic to nuts, stay well clear and just get vanilla (my other favourite!)!

Here are some classical types of ice cream servings you can order... ... but then, since it's an Italian establishment, you can also order pizza and spagetti made from ice cream, fruits, chocolate, etc. The spagetti actually looks like it has real pasta, haha! Man, it makes me want to immediately jump on a plane back to Berlin just to have my pistazien ice cream! :(

Sightseeing in Berlin (Part IV) - Park Sanssouci

On the last day of my friends' visit, we decided to head out to Park Sanssouci. This is actually located in Potsdam, which is the capital of the state of Brandenburg, but since it's not too far from Berlin, why not take the opportunity to visit it, right. Anyway, Photo 1 was taken in the van we were travelling in, with Junaidi who was kind enough to drive us there! Hmmm, he should really be looking at the road! :P
Sansoucci was originally the summer palace of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. Photo 2 shows the south facing garden facade, while Photo 3 is of the central bow of the garden facade, which is decorated with carved figures of Atlas and Caryatids.

If you take the route right of the garden facade, you'll come across a stream shown in Photo 4. You can see the so-called Chinese House in the distance. Photo 5 is a close-up of this building.
Photo 6 is just a bit of messing around. Justina's idea. So which shadow is mine, hehe? ;)

Photo 7 is one taken with almost everyone who went on the trip, people missing from the photo are Adek (Auntie Zaiton's son) who's taking the photo, and Junaidi and Danny, who drove us to Park Sansoucci. (Left to right: Justina, Maresa, Auntie Zaiton, Liana, my mum, Erika (in buggy), Christinah, my dad, Long-Long, me, Andy)

So there you have it, the last photo for this series. For those thinking of coming over to visit Berlin (hinting at Liza, Siti, June and Meela!), hope these photos give you something to look forward to!!! :)

Sightseeing in Berlin (Part II) - The Pergamon Museum

The Pergamon Museum - this has got to be, in my opinion, the best museum I've been to thus far. I love it even more than The Louvre Museum in Paris and The Uffizi in Florence (to name a few)! Anyway, this museum is located on what is called the Museum Island (an island on the Spree River) on which at least four other museums may also be found. Photo 1 is of the entrance taken at night (recognise the person on the right? Hehe!).

Since visitors are not allowed to take photos using a flash, the quality of the photos are not as good as we'd like them to be. Therefore, I'm only going to show you the photos of the first amazing piece of history you see in this museum - the Pergamon Altar! It is an original-size reconstruction using parts transported from the original excavation sites - Photos 2-4. Thanks to Long-Long (a.k.a. Nazim) for POSING in the photos! POSER!!!Hahaha! ;P

[to be continued in Part III]