Scotland

Some pictures of Scotland.

Our first stop, Edinburgh -- Edinburgh Castle during the day.



Next, Stirling Castle, at dusk. I like the pictures because of the colours. The castle itself is nothing special.



One of the many stops during our drive to Inverness. We were actually cursing the engineers/planners of the road because all the stops before this had no clear view of the beautiful scenery LOL



Look, hairy cows! Highland cows, to be exact :D



The ruins of Urquhart Castle, overlooking Loch Ness. Shame the monster didn't come out :D



Another stop, this time on the way back from Inverness, on a different road. I think there's supposed to be Ben Navis in the picture - the tallest mountain in the UK.



I really like this picture!



A view from Aonach Mor. We took a mountain gondola up there. Lots of kids going up to ski and snowboard.



A waterfall beside the highway. One family even climbed down to play in the water LOL



We were lucky to have 2 DSLR cameras with us during the trip, Nikon D40 and Canon (which I don't remember the model). Those two are the main reason the pictures turn out great :D

Oh, March has ended. So Alifah, how did I fare with the emo entries challenge? :P

Finally back in London. Guh I think my travelling bug is somehow still there. I'm itching to travel somewhere else. I don't know, maybe it's the daunting prospect of sitting alone in my room for the next 3-4 weeks? I don't have the mood to hit the books, even though I really should. I have no idea what I've been learning for the past two semesters D:

First, Scotland. Beautiful. Truly beautiful. I think I'd like to go to the Highlands again, if I have the chance. The natural scenery there was so breath-taking. The pictures we took turned up great because we had two amateur photographers with us. I really enjoyed the trip. My travelmates even had their own favourite theme for taking photos:

Arfah - jumping pictures (a couple turned up really great, bug her if you guys want to see)
Azrin - pictures of her taking pictures at almost every place we stopped!
Izi - Emo pics, suitable for those Salam Perantau sections haha

Me? Of course I had none LOL. I'm just happy and too lazy to move to just stand there and smile hahaha.

We were relatively lucky, because we had sunny days when we actually went sightseeing/cruising. It did rain though, but it only affected our tour of Glasgow.

Then, Prague. Another beautiful city. Actually, if I were to list down the top 3 beautiful places I recommend people to visit, they would be:

1. Salzburg
2. Prague
3. Scottish Highlands

Prague is a small town, but full of historic buildings. I guess that's the plus side of not being bombed during the two World Wars.

Berlin on the other hand, did not have that luxury. Most of their buildings were bombed during WWII. So most buildings are relatively new, except for a few. If you're going there, I recommend going for the free walking tour. It was really informative.

The weather in Prague and Berlin was really wacky. It alternated between sun, snow and rain in Prague, while it hailed in Berlin. Such a shock to us both (Ufah & I) because we thought it was normal rain when in fact, it was hail the size of marbles LOL.

Enough about my vacation. I don't think I'll be posting up pictures here unless people really want to see which I don't think so. To those who know me, you know I rarely watch Malay movies/dramas except for ghost stories, right? Well, finally I did watch a Malay drama hahaha. In fact, I watched 7 episodes back to back while in Azrin's room. Unsurprisingly, the title of the series is Ghost LOL. Hey, what did you expect? I won't start watching Sindarela or Spa Q or whatever series that people are watching nowadays. The story is interesting (not that original, the idea has been seen before) but it's done with a Malaysian flavour. In fact, I love the fact that the actors switched between BM/BI so naturally throughout the drama. It's something that I can relate to. Also, like Arfah said, all the dialogues were 'selamba' LOL. The style leans toward Japanese dramas, with only 10 episodes; the earlier episodes were funny and it got darker and more serious as it progressed. Actually, I can't wait to watch the finale next week LOL.

Heh I should stop here. I think this is the first time in a long while since I wrote quite a long entry.

手にした物は少なくない
のに　　いつも何かが足りない

The things I have in my hands are not few
But somehow, it's always not enough

These lines sum up humans nicely, don't you think?

I envy people who can express themselves eloquently, whether on paper or while talking. Especially while talking. I could never bring myself to talk a lot, except on certain things that really caught my interest. As a result, I think people have called me snobbish, or are scared of me haha. Even in writing, I find it hard to express my thoughts so that it flows well.

In conclusion, I fail at communication :P

Iryu: Team Medical Dragon

Status: Seasons 1-2, both 11 episodes each, complete & subbed

Synopsis: This is a medical drama about a genius surgeon in cardiology, Asada Ryutaro and his quest to complete a team for performing outstanding surgeries. The first season revolves around Asada's return to Meishin Hospital and creating Team Dragon to perform a Batista surgery. The second season saw Asada being transferred to another hospital and his team broken up. He needed to create a new team almost from scratch, with the final goal being a heart transplant surgery. This drama is adapted from the manga, Team Medical Dragon which I believe is currently translated into Malay as well? Both dramas enjoyed high ratings and a few awards.

Eye-candies: Sakaguchi Kenji as Asada Ryutaro (not the usual 'pretty boy' type, if you know what I mean), Koike Teppei as his assistant, Ijyuuin Noboru, and Uchida Yuki as Kataoka Kazumi. Kanata Hongo and Yamamoto Yusuke also appeared as guests in Season 2.

Why you should watch: Here I'm primarily talking about Season 2. I've watched Season 1 a long time ago and can't recall that much haha. The story is brilliantly engaging, and the surgeries performed in this series were so dramatic, I guess to emphasize on the genius ability of Asada and his team. Among the surgeries done was one on an elderly patient during a total blackout where the surgeon had to perform under flashlights and the medical technician had to pump the heart and lung machine manually. Another one was on a patient with a very rare blood disease and there wasn't enough blood for transfusion. This time around, there were even diagrams and explanation for the surgeries, making it easier for people with non-medical background like me to understand the action.

Each new character was also pretty well-developed, getting enough background story to explain their characteristics and reluctance to join the team. Even Noguchi the antagonist's background was explained and he was made to appear as a human who buried his conscience a long time ago in his quest to rise to the top. 

To sum it up, I like this drama because of the story and the casts. If you have a liking for medical dramas, then this certainly should be on your to-watch list.

I just realized 2008 is a leap year...

So I'm a month late, but still, happy new year, everyone! This picture was our failed attempt (touched up by PS CS2 :P) during New Year. One of the best New Year I've ever had. Hmm I don't think people still visit this blog? Or do they? I've kinda lost the motivation to post here, mainly concentrating on lj. Even that is also sporadic haha.

Oh well, so what have I been up to for the past few months? Sat for exams, graduated, came back as a student again, stuck without net for 2 months... basically that's about it. Pretty much nothing interesting I guess. I didn't even go anywhere for the winter holidays, holing up at home, with my laptop and the internet as company. Pathetic ain't it? Shows how much of a mouse potato I am haha. Don't worry though, I have my Easter break planned out, plus a lot of extra time to spare as well.

I watched 2 interesting movies recently. One is Sweeney Todd, and the other is Juno. First up, Sweeney Todd. I love this movie to bits. Tim Burton managed to capture the greyness and grime that is London. Johnny Depp is wonderful as Sweeney Todd. I was surprised that he could sing quite well. Helena Bonham Carter was good too. One thing that had me laughing was not a scene from the movie though. It's the fact that Snape and Wormtail was in the movie, and they sang ahaha.

Now, Juno. This movie has some of the wittiest lines ever. Seriously. I haven't had such fun watching a teen movie. Even the soundtrack fits the movie so well. So quirky! The opening song keeps playing in my head. Juno actually manage to treat a heavy topic like teenage pregnancy and adoption lightly (not lightly lightly, but lightly funny? Ah, whatever...)

Darn, I think I haven't been writing for so long that I lost my skills at writing a decent entry. Not that I had that much to begin with...