Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

I finished it in one day!!

Thanks to Jue for lending it to me.

No thanks to my brother for being a snort and taking forever to read his copy.

I'm going to do like Krissy and not reveal any spoilers in my post but I welcome all debates/questions/reviews about the book in my comments section.

CAUTION!! COMMENTS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. DON'T GO THERE IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO READ THE BOOK.

I don't believe I have to wait another 2 (maybe three?!!) more years to read the next book. It better be worth it! My heart can't take all the suspense.

Can't wait for the 4th movie to come out though. The trailer looks spectacular.

Reasons Why I Go Home on Time

Why should I suffer any longer at the office than I have to when I can go home and play with my gals?

Hurry ibu, take the picture. Can't you see I'm raring to go?

Ibu, my horn won't make any sound

You can say we're like Thelma and Louise..on bikes!

I'm sorry officer, I didn't realise I was speeding.

The Genting Trip

Good grief! I need to take a breather. I started a post last Tuesday but lost it. I think I wrote “The Genting Trip was anything but relaxing” and then stopped there.

So to continue my great story about our trip to Genting. As I mentioned, it was anything but relaxing. Imagine, 12 adults and 4 kids (plus one infant) running around the theme park, bundled up in winter clothes, getting knocked around on the roller coasters and stopping to eat/drink/shop/pee/poo every 20 minutes.

We arrived at Genting around 5pm, Friday evening. I had booked two units of the two-room apartments at Ria Apartments, so after unloading the 30 odd bags, sleeping bags, bath tub (Dina), loaves and loaves of bread (my mom) from the cars, we all huddled at the receptionist counter to check in. We huddle because a) It was pouring outside plus the high altitude made it Freaking Cold, so body heat from a relative was, surprisingly and uncommonly, most welcome and b) Everyone was still giddy from the winding ride up the hill so body support from a relative was, again, most welcome.

As it rained the whole day, Friday night was spent indoors, watching TV and playing cards. Sorry Joe, I must have ridden that elevator alone 4 times, but alas, no ghosts made their appearance. Either I wasn’t projecting the right aura or the ghosts themselves were also on holiday.

The next morning, everyone woke up extra early and scrambled for the toilet. Did I mention that each unit only had one toilet? It reminded me a bit of my dorm days, where we had to book the toilet in advance from the person already in there..pstt, after you, me ah? Don’t let anyone else go in!! Many promises, negotiations and threats were made out during this loooong process of getting everybody ready. I believe, in one desperate case, money even exchanged hands. THAT’S how lovey dovey we are in my family.

This is the view from my bedroom window. Kind of nice, huh? I didn’t realize that the cable cars went by outside until I was semi naked, getting dressed. I think I may have flashed some people. Unintentionally, of course. I hope I didn’t; I didn’t actually bring my supermodel bod with me that day.


The view that greeted me in the morning.


The cable car outside my bedroom window.

Lining up to buy tickets was an event of itself. Of course, I HAD to volunteer. How many of you want to go on the rides? How many of you just want to walk around? Yes mom, you still have to pay even if you’re not going on rides. Dania’s a little over 3 but I guess we can say she’s still two and get her in for free. No dad, you do not qualify for senior citizen rates. Not even if you rent out one of their wheelchairs.

I think we spent nearly RM500 on tickets alone.

Below are pictures of us going on the rides/lining up to go on rides. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves.


Dania and Aqilah taking a Jumbo ride


The kids on the Merry go Round


The next F1 driver in the making.


Dania taking a donkey ride.


Hubby giving milk to Dina during our ride on the cable car.


During one of the many toilet breaks.

I want to take a moment to thank my mom, for being who she is, and for obsessively overpacking her bag and making everyone else overpack too. It was Freezing!!! Pictures of everyone bundled up as below.


Dina, all snug and warm.


Everyone bundled up. How cute is Dania?


Jackets were a must!

Lunch was also an adventure. It rained a little bit in the afternoon, so we went to the indoor theme park and had KFC for lunch. Again, my nobleness got the better of me and AGAIN I volunteered to line up to buy food. It took 4 trays to carry over all the food. Surprisingly, it all disappeared in matter of 20 minutes.


Mom and dad stuffing themselves with KFC.


Dina and ibu at KFC. Dina, after finishing a whole tub of mashed potatoes.

The rides were fab. Well, not as great as Disneyland but still if you have a chance to go to Genting, make sure you try out the Flying Coaster. Even my mom, who’s a MAJOR scaredy cat when it comes to roller coasters, gave it a try. In fact, she rode it twice. Hahahaha...hooraa for my mom!!


My mom, suddenly regretting her impulsive decision to get on the roller coaster.


At the end of the Flying Coaster ride. Notice how much my mom enjoyed herself. :D

We had purchased tickets for two days, so the next day was pretty much the same thing. We checked out of the apartment around 11.30am and decided to walk up the hill to the theme park. It didn’t look that far but at an angle of 30 degrees, walking up that hill gave my inner thighs the workout they so desperately needed. The weather was nicer and it didn’t rain so we went on all the rides until we couldn’t take it anymore. Even Dina went on some rides, like the Ferris wheel and the merry go round. I love that child; she was on super good behavior the whole time we were there.


Dania, Aqilah, Dina and myself taking a ride on the Ferris Wheel.


Taking a breather.

All in all, except for some minor stuff (people cutting in line, poor prayer room situations, horrible signage system), we had a glorious time. Mom has already decided that Langkawi would be the destination for our next family trip. I just need to remind myself NOT to volunteer for anything this time.

And my Mom is Ensuring that the Kids will be Bundled up Like Eskimos

Sorry for the rather long silence. Has it been a week since my last post?

Not that there hasn't been anything going in my life. Far from it. It's just that I have three huge projects to handle CONCURRENTLY and it's taking up all my time.

*Crack* Whipped employee of the year!

No. Time. To. Write. More. Or. Breathe

Have a nice weekend, folks. I'm taking tomorrow off to go to Genting with the family and my parents (and my wicked brothers...blehh). I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

Only When I'm Dead Buddy..Only When I'm Dead.

All this Hoo-Ha about Ayah Pin has gotten me uneasy because:

A. This fella has convinced many people that he is God and has the power to cause people harm or even death just by starring at them (just one of his many wild claims).
B. He has 4 wives, who he claims and I quote “were not his choice but were chosen for him.”

I guess what he wanted to say was that he’s not an itching, old b@#$%*d like one would think but actually it was the wives who wanted to marry him. Because of course, he’s God and he’s Almighty and he’s the greatest...blah, blah, blah.

It pisses me off that this kind of person exists. It pisses me off even more that the wives are so willing to resign themselves to this arrangement. According to the reports, the second wife was chosen by the first wife coz she wanted someone to take care of her husband when she grew old. The third and fourth wives were chosen for the very same reason.

My question is does this fella REALLY need 4 wives to take care of him? What happened to the notion that the Man was supposed to take care of the Wife? If the first wife grows old, doesn’t it mean that Ayah Pin would be older still? Who takes care of the first wife when she’s old...or the second, third and fourth wife for that matter?

I asked hubby a few times if he had ever thought of having more than one wife. His answer: Satu pun dah pening, lagi mau kawin banyak. (You alone give me a headache sometimes, why should I want more.)

Ok, so not the romantic answer I was looking.

So I told him, “If you ever..EVER, think about other women or want to marry another, you better let me know. We can file for divorce coz there’s no way in hell I want to share you.”

Yes, rather drastic some of you might think. But seriously, when you think about it, can you really...REALLY go on kissing and sleeping with your husband when you know other women are kissing and sleeping with him too?

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I think I need to step back a bit and define polygamy for my foreign readers. In Islam, the husband is allowed to take on as many as 4 wives at one time WITH A CONDITION that all wives (and children) are treated equally and everyone is cared for, financially, spiritually and emotionally. So you see, actually polygamy in Islam is not a luxury, as some men think it is, but rather a very HUGE responsibility. Unfortunately there are only few men out there that are truly able to bear this responsibility yet so many of them take on wives as if they were taking up magazine subscriptions.
********************************************************

Back to my discussion with hubby. After I told him that, he assured me that (for now(!)), he has no intention of marrying another woman, so can I just stop bugging him about it coz he really wants to watch CSI in peace.

Of course, I have to drag the subject on and on. So I tell him, “ But if (touch wood!!) I die first, then you have my permission to marry another. In fact, get married straight away coz I really can’t see you handling the kids by yourself and I don’t want them to be raised by their grandparents. I want you to marry a nice woman who loves children and is kind to you and you don’t have to wait until I’m dead for a year or so.”

At this point, hubby rolls his eyes and says, “Stop talking about dying coz you’re making me uneasy and furthermore it’s not like I can tackle and marry Laetitia Casta, who I’m really GAGA over.”

Dush!! One big punch on the shoulder for hubby.

So in conclusion, hubby can only marry another IF AND ONLY IF:
a. I’m dead
b. I’m infertile, which I’m not, so really it’s only option a.

Subject closed.

Random Stuff You May Not Want To Know..But I'm Gonna Tell You Anyway

Items I have on my nightstand: My 7 books of Narnia, a box of tissue that has been empty for a month, a plastic container with the girls’ baby mittens and socks, a foldable calendar and a candle I got as a wedding gift.

Items I have under my bed: The jigsaw puzzle with the missing piece, last months’ newspaper.

I lost my anniversary ring for the second time last week. This time I found it in the car after 40 minutes of frantic searching.

Hubby was playing around with my handphone and accidentally deleted my entire phonebook. Instead of getting mad, I gave him a wet French kiss. I’m weird, like that.
Ps: I am SOOO going to use this incident against him for a long time.

Last evening, I refused to bring the kids to the playground coz I was afraid of what I would do/say if I saw that little Miss B there. So hubby took them instead while I curled up on the swing with a tub of ice cream and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle.

After putting Dina to bed last night, I spent 10 minutes just watching her sleep and hearing her breathing. The last thought on my mind was how nice her thigh would taste deep fried and dipped in chili sauce.

Last night I woke up at 3am and realized I had forgotten to take a shower that evening.

I spent an extra 10 minutes in the shower this morning.

I Just Want Her to be Happy and Safe...and Popular, God Damn It!

So yesterday Hubby and I took the day off. We hadn’t taken the Agong’s Birthday Holiday yet and yesterday was the last day to take it before it expired. Isn’t it funny how now we have holidays that expire?

Anyhow, we intended to spend the day movie watching; either Batman Begins, Madagascar or War of the Worlds. Instead we spent it lazing around in the house and sleeping in a heap with the girls in front of the TV, which if you ask me was a much nicer choice anyway.

Around 6pm, I took the kids out for our evening stroll to the playground. There were a few girls there playing together, so Dania, being her usual curious and friendly self, walked up to them and said hi.

While the other girls said hi back and genuinely wanted to include her in their play, there was one little B***H who looked at Dania and said out loud “Kita tak nak kawan awak!!” (I don’t want to friend you!!).

Dania, thinking this was all in jest, just continued playing with the other girls. This was until they all decided to play Catch. Guess who was IT? Of course, as I curiously watched the girls playing, I soon realized the reason they picked that game was so they could run away from my child...my beautiful, friendly child, who would never harm anyone and just really wants to be friends with everyone she meets.

So there was my child, running, trying to catch up with the other girls. Whenever she got close, the girls would run away again and Dania would try to keep up. And of course, the little Miss B kept on shouting “Tak nak kawan awak!! Tak nak kawan awak!!”.

It was heartbreaking, as a mother, to see my little girl in that situation. Finally I went up to her and invited her to play on the swings with her sister. She pointed to the other girls and said, “Kak Long nak main ngan kawan.” (I want to play with these girls).

So of course, being the hard headed person I am, I said in a very loud voice, which I’m sure the mother of the other girls heard, “Tak bestlah kawan tu. Kawan tu semua busuk!!” (Those friends are not nice. They smell).

I don’t know why I was so pissing mad at the girls, especially that little Miss B. I guess, I’m so used to people loving having Dania around. She gets on incredibly well with her teachers and friends at her Tumble Tots classes and even during her weekly swimming sessions, she makes lots of friends easily. I just wanted to grab hold of those girls at the playground and yell at them, “What's wrong with you?!! Play with my daughter!! Don’t you see, she just wants to be friends?” But of course, that would be taking the matter too far and I’m pretty sure the other mothers there wouldn’t approve.

I told hubby about what had happened at the playground.

“I’m just scared that, you know, what if at school, she doesn’t find any friends. I’m not asking for her to be the most popular girl, but I DO want her to have friends.”

By this time, I’m hyperventilating and imagining my precious daughter going around school in braids, and knee-high multicolored socks with braces on her teeth, and having no...exactly NADA friends to call her own!!

Hubby calmly looks and me and says, “You’re getting all riled up because of what one stupid 5 year old kid said to our daughter at the playground?”

How my hubby can put things in perspective for me is amazing. I just love this guy.