As If My Bookcase Can Take Anymore..

I have a new favorite author; Suzanne Brockmann. Yeah, yeah, some of you might be saying "why Suz Brockmann has been writing for years and you've only discovered her now?!!"

I dunno, I think it's because when I find a new favorite author, I then try to find ALL the books that person has ever written. I have nearly all the books written by Stephen King, John Grisham, Tami Hoag and a few others.

Now I'm into Suzanne Brockmann.

I bought one of her books, "Gone Too Far" last week at a flea market for RM8. Actually it was RM8 for that book and another thriller, so essentially it was much cheaper. And damn, what a find!! I took the book to my in-laws during the CNY holidays and spent most of the time curled up on the sofa, reading and re-reading it.

Now I intend to collect all of Ms Brockmann's Troubleshooter's series. Here are the titles of the books:

THE UNSUNG HERO, Ivy, June 2000 (reissued June 2003)
THE DEFIANT HERO, Ivy, March 2001 (reissued June 2003)
OVER THE EDGE, Ivy, September 2001
OUT OF CONTROL, Ballantine, April 2002
INTO THE NIGHT, Ballantine, November 2002
GONE TOO FAR, Ballantine, July 2003 (available in paperback on March 2, 2004)
FLASHPOINT, Ballantine, March 30, 2004 (available in paperback on October 26, 2004)
HOT TARGET, Ballantine, December 28, 2004
BREAKING POINT, Ballantine, July 12, 2005
INTO THE STORM, Ballantine, August, 2006
FORCE OF NATURE, Ballantine, August 14, 2007
ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT, Ballantine, October 30, 2007
INTO THE FIRE, Ballantine, TS #13, July 29, 2008
DARK OF NIGHT, Ballantine, TS #14, January 27, 2009
HOT PURSUIT, Ballantine, TS #15, Summer 2009

I'm going to scour all the 2nd hand bookstores for these. Oya, if anyone is thinking of buying me any presents (hint, hint), you can help me by buying me any (or all) of the books above. Heeeee..

Only In Malaysia

Malaysia is well known for many things...lush forests, beautiful beaches, great food. Yeah, those are what the tourism people are all shouting about. However there are some even better, funnier things that only people in Malaysia are known for doing and doing well.

Picture 1: Showing a "don't care" attitude. Who cares if this bench is slanting and could collapse at any moment? The people in this government office sure don't and the public waiting to be served couldn't care less. Hey, I'm tired, my number is 148 and it's only showing 33, there's a free seat and I'm sitting here! If I fall to the floor, it'll be a short trip anyhow.

Picture 2: Trying to make a wet string stand, in other words "menegakkan benang yang basah". Obviously these grasscarp fish are not "alive" but they were 3 minutes ago. No, seriously, I think they are just sleeping. Or maybe these 2 fishes somehow knocked their heads together and they're just dizzy.

Picture 3: Showing artistic skills. Like you know the policemen who patrol from this police hut are just grateful for the "fine" artwork on their hut. So tastefully done, it almost takes your eyes off the crooked wooden door that's about to fall off.

Picture 4: Improvising the English and Malay language. As long as you know what they mean, who cares if they spell "car park" as "kapak". Which actually means "axe" in English. But then, does this mean if I park my car here, you're ok with it or will you cut my car into two? Now I'm confused.

Picture 5: Creative advertising. Do you know how many glass and aluminium shops there are in Johor? How are you going to make your shop stand out amongst the crowd? I know, why not be "creative" and hang the signboard upside down? People will certainly notice it then!! Whether or not they'll be able to read it and understand what the hell you're selling is another story but hey, you're being creative!! That should count for something.

Picture 6: Making every second count. Don't you just hate it when you go out to a restaurant with friends or family and you take forever to order because there's always someone who needs to use the restroom? Now you don't have to worry because those bladder-challenged friends of yours can now order there food from the comfort of the toilet!!

Picture 7: Being family-oriented. You need to buy some groceries but there's no one to look after the kids. What's a mom to do? Why, bring them along of course...and put the trolley to good use. Not only do you get your shopping done, the kids get their mid-day rest and you've done some family bonding as well. Bravo, bravo!!

What We Did During Chinese New Year

Nothing much.

Hah!!

We went back to my in-laws because of a wedding on the 26th. I finally got to meet the latest addition to the family; my SIL's baby boy, Muhammad Hasif. Sooo cute, almost made me want to have a baby boy too. Almost!! Hahhaha....

Today only Dania has school; religious classes. Her primary school is taking the entire week off for CNY. Dina starts school tomorrow. Fortunately both had finished their homework at their grandma's house. If not, bising la....homework tak siap.

Oya, Dina has a new favorite word....BORING!!! Only she says it like this....Buorieeeeennnnggg with the whole rolling-your-eye facial expression. I have no idea where she got this from. She says this whenever I ask her to do anything...anything, even to eat. Everything is Buorieeennnnggg!! Sheesh...

For Dania, it's whatever...only it's pronounced What-Evaaa...like only a valley girl would know how to pronounce.

Good grief!! My girls are 6 and 4 and are already showing typical teenager angst. God help me!

Another Small Way to Contribute

Instead of sending letters to those crazy monkeys from Playhouse, I'm thinking of having the girls send letters and artwork to children in Gaza. I want my kids to understand what's going on in the world but not freak them out with all the sad and inhumane pictures of destruction. I think this would make for a great bonding activity too.

*click on image to read what's it all about.

16 Things You May Or May Not Know About Me

Apit tagged with this a few days back and since I’m out of ideas on what to write about now, I thought I would do this blog tag instead. This may or may not bore some people, (hah!) and the stuff that I write are in no particular order what so ever.

Directions: Once you’ve been tagged, you have to write a blog/Facebook note with 16 random things, facts, habits or goals about you. At the end choose 16 people to be tagged, listing their names and why you chose them. Don’t forget to leave them a comment or tag them in your note to read this.

1. I am my parents’ only daughter and I love it. When my mom was expecting her 4th child, I prayed for it to be a boy. I never wanted a sister. I guess in my own way, I wanted to be special.

2. By a weird twist of fate, I married a man who was the only son in his family therefore I gained 3 “sisters”. Sometimes I don’t know how to communicate with them. Sister bonding is not something I’m good at.

3. Having said that I do have dear friends that I would consider sisters. We share nearly everything (except “bedroom” stuff, if you know what I mean).

4. My favorite color is blue. Most of my clothes are in this shade of color. For my wedding day, of course the color chosen was blue.

5. My left eye is smaller than my right eye which is noticeable especially in photos. Dina inherits this flaw from me.

6. I’ve done skydiving but never bungee jumping. I don’t like bungee jumping because of the down-up-down-up situation. Makes me wheezy even thinking about it. I’m ok with skydiving because you only fall once. Plus the view is so much better.

7. My favorite animal in the whole wide world are polar bears. There’s just something about them that make me want to hug them and sleep up against their fur. My least favorite animal are dogs. Even cute ones wearing cheerleader uniforms or whatever clothes their owners make them wear.

8. I drink milk but not soya milk. However I eat tau fu fa and tempe which are essentially made from soya beans.

9. When I was small, my family lived in the UK. We stayed in a very nice city called Sheffield. I still have vivid memories of the place especially the time I got to meet the late Lady Diana when she had just gotten married. I was selected to be the girl to give her flowers when she came to visit my school. Other than my mom, I thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world.

10. Eventhough I have 2 kids already with a third on the way, there are times that I still can’t believe I’m a mom. A part of me feels so insecure or maybe undeserving, I don’t know which. When I see my girls sleeping in their beds at night, sometimes I have to pinch myself to remind me that it’s not a dream.

11. I use my handphone for calls and smses only. I hardly know how to use MMS or GPRS or Bluetooth or even the MP3 player. This is coming from someone that works in the telecommunication industry. Hah! Having said that, I never have the need or urge to splurge on super expensive phones or gadgets.

12. My favorite subject in school was Maths. My least favorite was History eventhough I had a superb history teacher. It totally wasn’t her fault I almost failed the subject, I’m just really bad at remembering dates and names.

13. I love watching horror movies though I spook myself out with my insane imagination for like 3 weeks after watching. I imagine ghosts sneaking up behind me. I imagine ghosts looking at me through my mirror. I imagine ghosts clinging to the ceiling, waiting to pounce on me as I walk by. Yeah, I don’t know why I still watch horror movies.

14. Starting year end, I want our family to do more traveling. I want my kids to see the world. I don’t mind saving up and spending money on this. I think life experience is so much better than material things.

15. I used to dream of driving an MPV but after the fuel hike and other stuff, I think a small car is best when you’re living and working in the city.

16. I’m stuck on this last one…..hmmm…..ok, I love dark chocolate. The darker the better. Naturally I hate white chocolate….too sweet.

There you have it. 16 interesting or not-so-interesting facts about me. That took some serious thinking and I’m getting hungrier by the minute. I should tag 16 people but most of the people on my blogroll have already been tagged. Therefore whoever wants to do this tag, just let me know in the comments section and I’ll come by to read your much-more-interesting facts.

Callo!!!

More Random Stuff

We got letters from our HR announcing our new salaries according to the new “broadbanding” concept. I’m still a bit blur on what all that means except that my salary increased a bit from last time, so I’m happy. Hehehe. We also got a lump sum of backdated salary so everyone’s very happy for Chinese New Year. I, on the other hand, need to think of all the bills and credit card charges I need to pay end of the month. Kitchen cabinet, new bed, new curtains….bla, bla, bla. Hmmm…money, easy come, easy go.

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Hubby and I have started watching One Tree Hill again. Problem is it starts at 1030pm and ends at 1130pm. Wayyyy to late for us nowadays. So hubby decided to download the entire 5th and 6th season. Hehehehe…I guess we have an activity for weekends.

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I think Kara D rocks as the new American Idol judge. I think we can do without Randy.

Random Stuff Going Through My Head Right Now

1. I love the new house. I can't begin to describe the feeling of coming home and feeling....at home. It seems like while the whole process of moving was such a hassle, once the dust settled, everything else fell into place too. My pregnancy has progressed well (23 weeks and counting!!). I no longer have amnesia or chronic MS. Everyone has adapted nicely to the changes. Even the neighbourhood seems much nicer. The weather seems crispier. It's a great start to the new year for our family.

2. We got a new king sized bed for the master bedroom. Therefore we had to buy new sheets. Since they give 2 pillow cases in the set, why not 2 booster pillow covers as well? You can assume that 2 people will be sleeping on a king sized bed. As a result, hubby has to use the old booster pillow casings. Hehehe...

3. I am hungry...all the time. Which is so much better than no being able to eat, so I'm not going to complain.

4. Dina has shown tremendous progress at her new school. All my fears of her not wanting to go to school have been set to rest.

5. The girls go to bed at 8.30pm on a school night. Which would have resulted in more cuddling time for hubby and me if not for the fact that we go to bed at 9.30pm or 10pm. Heeee....

Kot Dah Gatal, Ngaku Je La

Ala, meluatnya aku baca kes artis2 ni semua. Nak2 kes artis pompuan sorang ni. Dah le tak glamer, famos sebab kena tangkap basah ngan laki orang. Apa lah. Ake memang takleh accept orang2 macam ni. Dah tu, minah ni bleh masuk TV konon nak mengexplainkan diri. Hoi, hang tu dah buat salah!! Dok je la kat rumah diam2, dok tayang muka lagi apehal. Lepas tu dok masuk TV, cakap x-bini boyfriend hang takmo maafkan hang. What do you expect? Peluk cium tanda terima kasih? X-wife boyfriend hang tu dah le baru je bersalin anak ke3…baru 5 bulan beb. Yang hang dok agung-agungkan boyfriend hang tu konon prihatin la, ambik berat la, gentleman la...wei, FYI, sekarang ni mamat tu blum dapat rasa hasil celah kangkang hang tu, memang la dia layan baik punya. Dah dapat nanti...hah, macam x-wife dia la ni dia buat nanti. Hang tengok la nanti...the world is round, what goes up must come down. Ko tengok je la minah artis yang lagi sorang tu…dulu dia pun ambik laki orang, sekarang ni dok nangis bengkak mata sebab rumahtangga dia pun dah celaru. Dok cakap la orang dok fitnah la, depa happy la…tapi aku rasa la, kalau takde angina, masakan pokok bergoyang, ye tak?

Earth

I saw this movie trailer on apple.com and I think it's one movie that my whole family would love. My favorite animals in the world are polar bears while hubby loves whales. The girls are into all kind of animals but they do especially love elephants.

After seeing so much of the ugliness that's been going around us, I think we need to see more movies like this to remind us of how lucky we are to have this beautiful planet to live on.

Stop War, Make Peace!

Love our Earth!!

The Girls and Their New Schools

I haven't been very good at updating my blog so much this new year. A million things have been happening all at the same time and while I'm poofed from it all, it's all been good.

Apit tagged me with a blog tag in an effort to get me to update but instead of doing the tag (I'll do it this weekend, maybe...:D), I thought I would update on what's been going on with the girls.

This year is a huge year for both girls since both of them start school. Dania's in Standard One (already!!) and Standard Two for her KAFA school while Dina goes to Smart Reader preschool. What with the moving house and me being sick, we registered the girls rather late but alhamdiulillah, everything worked out fine. We even got transportation for both the girls so no headaches there.

Dania has KAFA classes in the morning which starts at 730am. The school is just across the road from her Primary school which is still walking distance but we decided to let her use a van to school. I took her to school on the first day but she came back by van. So far, everything's been good. Her teacher was rather impressed that she could already read the Quran. Hopefully her enthusiasm will last until year end.

Dania also loves her new primary school. Fortunately for her, our next door neighbour's kid is also in the same class so she already had a good friend to sit with on her first day. I took her that first day of school to make sure everything was in order. After lining up at the school hall, the kids were taken by the class teacher to their respective classes. I lost sight of Dania at that time (do you know what 200 kids in a small area smell like? Not something you wanna too close to, that's what!). It took some searching to find her class but eventually we found it. When I poked my head around the door, I saw that Dania had "rearranged" her desk to sit near her new group of friends.

I started shouting "Dania, move your desk back! Move it! Move it back!!"

You can imagine the image; a pregnant woman, reaching through the window panes, shouting at her kid. Even the class teacher stopped what he was doing for a while to check out this crazy mom who seemed to be on steroids or something. Heeee....

So after that incident, I decided it was ok to leave Dania until school ended that day. Actually Dania begged me to leave. "Go ibu, go. I'll see you after school." Hmmm...but then, what's a mother for if not to occasionally embarrass their children.

As for Dina, it was quite the opposite. She wasn't scared of going to school but she was a bit hesitant seeing all the other kids around. After getting her to class, I stayed for a few minutes, just in case, but when I saw she had started colouring and talking to her new classmates, I took off. When I came back to pick her up 3 hours later, she was all smiles.

"Ibu, today I coloured a parrot. We sang AEIOU. I played with my friends.....bla, bla, bla...." Ok, so far, so good.

So, overall, the girls have been loving school. Everyday they have new stories to tell us on what they did at school with their friends and it's been such a joy seeing their happy faces. Yeah for Dania and Dina!!!

I Have No Face...To Book

Everyone's been bugging me to open up a facebook account. Arrghhh, as if I need more methods for people to bug me. I don't get what's with the fascination of facebook. I looked at it once and it totally turned me off. Do you really need 167 "friends" in your life? Or more importantly, who has time for 167 friends nowadays anyway.

My gal pals have been telling me facebook is the way to communicate nowadays. YM is soooo yesterday according to them. Huh, I think I'll just stick to YM. For one thing, I only have to add people I know to my contact list. Plus my profile isn't out there for the world to read.

I don't need to find people who have the same interests as me. I already know who these people are. I don't need to reconnect with people who I haven't met for 20 years. If we were such good friends, we would have stayed in touch. Yeah, maybe it would be nice to see old friends again but truth to be told, after 20 years, what would we have in common anymore other than previously sharing a crush on our Mathematics teacher?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not being anti social here. Nor am I judging those who are into facebook. Hey, whatever rocks your boat, alright? I'm content to stay here on my little island with my selected group of friends and drink pineapple juice. Heeee...

Happy 2009 Everyone!

Sorry for the long silence. Things have been very hectic these past weeks; moving to the new house and getting the girls settled at their new schools. I go back to work tomorrow after a very long holiday so the hecticness continues!!

I will update more on the new house (I love it!!) and the girls and their new schools (they love it!!) in another post so until then, just a few words to wish everyone a belated Merry Christmas (can you believe some stores are still playing Christmas songs?), Happy Awal Muharam, Happy New Year and may 2009 be prosperous and fruitful for us all.