Student Bloopers1

30 September 2010 (21 Syawal), Thursday

Buckingham Palace

Teacher: Where is Buckingham Palace
Student: Hong Kong teacher
Teacher: ?????????

Teacher: Who stays in Buckingham Palace?
Student: Ronaldo, Teacher.
Teacher: ?????????????????

Science
Teacher: Peter, What do you call the element that we breathe in?

Peter: Oxygen, teacher

Teacher: Good, Audrey, what do you then call the element that we breathe out?

Audrey: I don't know teacher

Teacher: Who knows
(Blank faces all around.....)

Teacher: Ok, I'll give you a clue, it starts with C
(Still blank faces all around)

Teacher: Ok, another clue, it starts with Carb....

Summer: I know, I know Teacher.

Teacher: Ok, so what is it

Summer: It's CARBOHYDRATE Teacher!!!!

Teacher: ??????????????????????????????????

The sheep had returned to their pen but I had remained wide-eyed...

29 September 2010, 20 Syawal. 2.56 a.m.

Sleep had eluded me yet again, all due to a mug of Nescafe. Earlier, at about 4.30 p.m, I had a strong urge to drink caffeine-laden coffee, despite knowing how caffeine affects me.

I had been lethargic the last couple of weeks, so I wanted to be alert to work on my translation job, a PhD thesis which was commissioned to me just before the fasting month by a relative in Alor Star, Kedah. I was kind of frantic as my translation schedule is way behind time due to my hectic lifestyle.

So coffee I had consumed and I had lain awake next to my other half who is already in deep slumber and had long gone to lalaland.

I had thought that this time if I read, I may just fall asleep but, NO, to my dismay, sleep eluded me. That's how badly caffeine affected me. Hence, I had picked up a book to read, something which I had not done for a long while. Long after I had finished reading the entire book, sleep refused to descend on me. I was getting very desperate.

I was tempted to resume my translation, but didn't have the heart to disturb my husband who was fast asleep, and holding his pillow snugly to his chest.

I didn't even bother to start counting the sheep as I was certain that even after all the sheep had been counted, and had returned to their pen, I would continue to be wide awake.

So what else would a blogger do, but blog when sleep eludes her!!!

What do I do? What am I going to do? What should I do? I continued staring into the dark space, into the stillness of the night, listening to my other half's rhythmic breathing, listening to the rustling of the leaves outside my balcony, and hearing the wind chime clanging softly.

By then, I was frantic...I started praying fervently that my eyes would finally shut, they had begun to droop and I was feeling really tired, and strange images had begun to conjure in my mind..... My eyes had started playing tricks on me. 

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...................................

Sleep Walking vs Sleep Talking

SLEEPWALKING
Hours after bedtime, do you find your little one wandering the hall looking dazed and confused? If you have a sleepwalking child, you're not alone.

It can be unnerving to see, but sleepwalking is very common in kids and most sleepwalkers only do so occasionally and outgrow it by the teen years.

Despite its name, sleepwalking (also called somnambulism) actually involves more than just walking. Sleepwalking behaviors can range from harmless (sitting up), to potentially dangerous (wandering outside), to just inappropriate (kids may even open a closet door and urinate inside). No matter what kids do during sleepwalking episodes, though, it's unlikely that they'll remember ever having done it!

As we sleep, our brains pass through five stages of sleep — stages 1, 2, 3, 4, and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Together, these stages make up a sleep cycle. One complete sleep cycle lasts about 90 to 100 minutes. So a person experiences about four or five sleep cycles during an average night's sleep.

Sleepwalking most often occurs during the deeper sleep of stages 3 and 4. During these stages, it's more difficult to wake someone up, and when awakened, a person may feel groggy and disoriented for a few minutes.

Kids tend to sleepwalk within an hour or two of falling asleep and may walk around for anywhere from a few seconds to 30 minutes.

SLEEP TALKING
Have you been told that you whisper sweet nothings in your sleep -- unaware that you ever spoke a word? Or, maybe your child shouts out streams of babble late at night -- only to fall right back to sleep.

Have you been hoping your sleep-talking spouse will spill a long-time secret? Try posing a question while he or she is sleeping, and don't be surprised if you get a single syllable answer! But be warned: A sleep talker usually doesn't remember anything that's said during sleep.

Talking in your sleep can be a funny thing. Perhaps you chitchat unconsciously with unseen associates at the midnight hour. Or maybe a family member unknowingly carries on nightly conversations. It can also be violent or a sign of some other disorder.

What exactly is sleep talking?
Sleep talking, or somniloquy, is the act of speaking during sleep. It's a type of parasomnia -- an abnormal behavior that takes place during sleep. It's a very common occurrence and is not usually considered a medical problem.

The nighttime chatter may be harmless, or it could be graphic, even R rated. Sometimes, listeners find the content offensive or vulgar. Sleep talkers normally speak for no more than 30 seconds per episode, but some people sleep talk many times during a night.

The late-night diatribes may be exceptionally eloquent, or the words may be mumbled and hard to decipher. Sleep talking may involve simple sounds or long, involved speeches. Sleep talkers usually seem to be talking to themselves. But sometimes, they appear to carry on conversations with others. They may whisper, or they might shout. If you share a bedroom with someone who talks in his or her sleep, you might not be getting enough shut-eye.

Who Talks in their Sleep?
Many people talk in their sleep. Half of all kids between the ages of 3 and 10 years old carry on conversations while asleep, and a small number of adults -- about 5% -- keep chit-chatting after they go to bed.

The utterances can take place occasionally or every night. Girls talk in their sleep as much as boys. And experts think that sleep talking may run in families.

It's hard to tell if you've been talking in your own sleep. Usually, people will tell you they've heard you shout out during the night or while you were napping.

Or maybe someone might complain that your sleep talking is keeping him or her up all night, like my husband does. And I, him. Huh....that's another story.

My Family Stories on Sleepwalking and Sleep Talking 
Check out this space for my stories about sleepwalking and sleep talking among my family members, yours truly, included.  Believe me, they're really hilarious.....

Ayah paid me a visit on 10 Syawal

21 September 2010, 12 Syawal

Last Sunday, 19 September, I had a pleasant surprise. Ayah came to visit me. He drove all the way from Tanah Liat, Bukit Mertajam. When he arrived, I gave him a warm embrace and warmly welcomed him as I had missed him awfully. It's been a while since he visited me at Bandar Tun Razak.

I salam him at the door and he hugged me real tight. He almost lifted me off my feet and told me how much he had missed me.

Mak came to the door. She bent down and kissed his hand. Ayah looked so happy, despite being tired, after driving more than 400 kilometres from Penang. Mak was excited too to see Ayah. She was smiling from ear to ear. She looked so beautiful and serene. She seemed very contented.

Mak, Ayah, I was esctatically and deliriously happy to see both of you on 10 Syawal in my house. Since your passing, this is the first time I managed to capture both of you in my dream. I wish I could preserve this memory forever.

Mak, Ayah, I missed you both terribly. Please come and visit me regularly. Al-fatihah to both of you.

A housewife's job is never done!!!

18 September 2010, 9 Syawal

Before I realised it, it's already the 9th day of Syawal. Time sure flies. Despite being a housewife, I find that I do not have enough time to do all the things that I need to do in a day. I learnt that for me, 24 hours is not sufficient. I wish I have more time on my hand.

Now that I'm maidless, there's just so many things to be done. A typical day without a maid in the month of Ramadhan (fasting) begins with me getting up for sahur at 4.45 a.m to prepare meal for my family. We normally would go easy and take light food for sahur which normally would be cornflakes with milk, tuna or scrambled egg sandwich or left-over rice and dishes from iftar (breaking of fast).

And once I've performed my subuh obligations, it'll be non-stop work. There's the laundry to be done, cleaning of my bedroom and the boys' room and family hall, cleaning of the living room and dining room, and kitchen.

Once all these chores are completed, there's the ironing (one of the jobs I abhorred most, aside from peeling of the onions) and also cleaning of the garden compound area.

And what I enjoy most indulging in my garden is feeding and "talking" to my fish. In my garden compound, I have two ponds, the bigger pond house my "Koi" fish and the narrow but long pond I rear "Gapi" fish. The latter are the fish that I love most as they are very affectionate and loving.

Every morning when I go near the pond, the Gapis will quickly surface from the bottom of the pond and surround the edge of the pond with their mouth open to be fed. They remind me of hungry babies. These Gapis are really a sight to behold. They are so affectionate, unlike the Kois which are indifferent creatures.

And, boy!!! Do the Gapis multiply swiftly!!! I only bought several and today they have multiplied several folds. Twice a day, I would happily feed my little babies in both ponds.

Once all these chores are done, I'm spent!!! My spine and back would be aching awfully. I would gently lower my back and rest my failing spine until it's time for me to cook for iftar. Before cooking, I would bring in the dry clothes, fold them and separate those that need to be ironed and those that need to be distributed amongst my household members..

Cooking has always been my passion, but the preparations and the cleaning up!!! Oh boy!!! I just hate them.

And once iftar is over, it's cleaning up time. And I'm one housewife who would not be satisfied until everything in the kitchen are spotlessly clean before I retire for the day.

I used to wonder what I'd do with my time when I become a housewife, now I realised, I do not have enough time. I wish there's more than 24 hours in a day.

When I was working and when I had the luxury of a maid, I used to read one or two books a week, now I hardly have time for that. And I used to have time to indulge in my hobby, i.e arts and crafts, which includes glass painting. And I used to have plenty of time for TV. I would try to watch the movies or documentary programmes on National Geographic, but these days, I do not have time for all these.

And everyday I long to continue penning down my thoughts for my book project, my journey to my ancestral past. I've started with a couple of pages, but since then, I've not made inroads. Time is certainly not on my side.

Now that I am a housewife, I believe in the old adage that a Housewife's Job is Never Done!!!