127 Hours

I watched 127 Hours movie in our flight back home from Beijing (I hope I’ll be able to document my opinion about the trip later…) and I love it so much!. It was my kind of movie.

I always have a bias towards actual events movies and epics. Those fictions the like, Lord of The Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter and such could make me sleep in the cinema.
I knowwwww… I am boring! But what to do, I just can’t take it I’d rather watch “the makings of them” or just pure cartoons.

So, may be many of you know about this movie, but I really don’t.
It is about Aron Ralston, a mountaineer whom got his right hand pinned by a boulder against canyon wall due to an accident drop. After being trapped for 127 hours, he got himself freed by the only way he got, that was to amputate his own hand.
He did so by breaking the bones and cutting the flesh and nerves using a blunt kit knife. Isn’t that really something extra ordinary? To top it up, he had to descend a 65ft canyon wall with one useable hand all by himself using whatever tools he had and further walked until he could reach for help.
I thought this man is amazing I couldn’t resist myself but to google more about him once I reached home. There were so many articles about him since the incident happened back in 2003, that he is now a motivational speaker, still an avid mountaineer, appeared in many life talk shows, cast in survival reality shows and even being a host to tv programs...

Where have I been for these 8 years that I know nothing about this man?

Aron describes whatever he did in the canyon as “Not losing his hand, but gaining his life back”. I salute him for being so positive towards LIFE.

I believe the strong will he has to live makes him sees things differently. And I also believe, the exposures, the opportunities his parents given him nurtured him in a way. There was a scene in the movie while Aron was trapped, he had a hallucination of him as a boy sleeping at the back of a car. His father then woke him up, carried him while he was still blurry, walked towards an edge of a Grand Canyon wall to watch the sun rises. The father’s line was something like “Hey buddy, wake up.. watch this…..”
When there were many of my favorite and heart pounding scenes in the movie, this one made me shed tears and the most significant to me. (Yeah.. I watch movies that I like with all my heart…)

Parents guidance is so important in shaping a person, I’ve long realized. Most people that are successful or outstanding in whatever field sure thanked their parents the most.
Richard Branson of Virgin always associates his parents in daring him to do the impossible.
The late Prof. Randy Pausch remembered his parents in always giving him opportunities, the simplest thing of letting him to paint his room wall.If you haven't listen to 'The Last Lecture', I strongly recommend for you to google and do so. It's worth it.
The late Steve Jobs of APPLE, though never acknowledge his biological father, sees his adopted parents as creating a path for him.

I so hope I am giving my best to always open up opportunities to my own girl either with my direct or indirect actions. The ways things should be seen in a broad picture. Knowledge is not just pen and papers. World and universe are to be own and shared.

My aunt, Cik Jah is lucky to have 8 children. She wishes all of her children to be around her, live near to her. Do things around her. Some people that I know, have the idea of their children to be schooling near home all the time.

But me, I don’t mind my girl to fly. To fly free as high as she wants, while it is my duty to once a while remind her that ground is still the place she stands.

And so Mommy asked her : “Nada, do you like Beijing?”
She answered : “No, don’t like Beijing, I like hotel..”
Mommy : “Why ?”
Nada : “Beijing (she meant outdoor) got whiuh-whiuh-whiuh (both hands showing wind blowing vigorously to her face). Beijing so cold, Mommy.”

Mommy likes that she has her own opinion.

Brrrrr........

o.. so cold!

We have..

In the yard... some old ones, some new ones...

In the box... new Boots!.. extreme cuteness

.. in packing for hols trip mood

Diaper bag and Make-up kit

Dinosour vs mankind on Mount Fuji

I meant to blog about this for many weeks, however only now it happen. Better late than never, eh?

My friend from school, Sabine who is now raising her family somewhere in Oz requested me to make her daughter a make-up kit and a diaper bag for herself on commission.

Gosh! It was a big request. I’d never make a make up kit or a diaper bag before.

So, with basic of my own on-the-go sewing kit organizer, I whip up the make-up kit. I'm so cincai.. i don't even have proper full make up set to compliment the kit for photo sake !... It has three slots zippered pockets at lower part for small items.

wrap around ribbon tie.

As for the diaper bag, I made reference to this tutorial, this blog and my self figured comforter bag that I made sometime back.

Results turned out to be like this :

FRONT Rear zippered pocket

Side pockets......one with elastic grip, one with velcro closure. I told Sabine she may want to replace the measuring tape with a stethoscope since she is a doctor.

tiny pocket on the strap for small items.. thumb drive, mp3, earphone... stuffs like that.

inside bag..

This diaper bag was the second item in my handmade list that I made following step by step tutorial after the booties. Oh! Frankly, I'm not comfortable to follow tutorials. It kinda make me nervous if I miss a step or do not understand the steps.

I didn’t exactly follow the measurement given in the tutorial because my friend has two babies of about to be 1yo and 2yo, hence I figured she needed bigger bag than the given measurement to put diapers and stuffs of use by double!

I also added the stroller hang referring to Aida’s blog and changed one outer side pocket to elastic grip rather than Velcro closure provided in the tutorial.

It took me one weekend to finish up the bag, with all the interval breaks… the like entertaining the princess cum ultraman, house chores, eating out and brought-home office works (blerggh)!

All in all, I gave myself 3 marks out of 10 with reasons :

1. 5 marks out of 10 is given to the person who came out with the tutorial and the blog that I made reference to for I was be able to sew this bag. So I was only left with 5 marks.
2. 2 marks out of 5 due to me was minus upon my mistake in putting the magnetic snap, that I had to re-do.

Simple arithmetic, 10-5-2 equals 3 marks which were valued for me.

On another note, I gave myself full 10 marks for making Sabine happy. She was very satisfied with her bag and asked me to make two more make-up kit because her daughter’s grooming stuff couldn’t fit into one. (booo to me... a 9 year old has more make-up than me !)

Both make up kit and diaper bag were sent to Sabine through a school friend, Aida whom is also living Oz that came back for Aidilfitri holidays.

Aida and me. I almost terjun longkang looking at this mother of two still slim figure!

Sabine paid me some RM 400 (about.. can't remember the exact figure already la) for both… Good? That covers our two weekend visits to The Butcher Steak House. Okay what…..

I have another request from school friend for the bag which I had been procrastinating. She wants to use it for her frequent travels. So I’ve figured it would be something to have :

1. Zippered pocket in the inside for passport, wallet & hand phone

2. Padded slot for I-pad or compact laptop

3. Elastic grip pocket at side for water bottle

4. Small pockets at outside with Velcro closure for card tickets like Octopus card, whatever necessary according to that particular country.

5. Slots for pens

6. The strap should be long enough that she could have it cross her shoulder.

How I want to make for her, but my time is so limited.

Arghhhhh… I love to create things………