Along's Blog

All Down For The Count

2012-02-03T18:21:00.000+08:00

All three of my babies are sick. Boohoo! It started actually with Daria, we suspect she got food poisoning from the drink we bought at the night market. Actually it was more of the ice cubes that she chewed on, must have been made from unfiltered water.

So anyway, this was actually last week and for almost a week, she was vomiting and had diarrhea. Then as Daria was getting better, Dania got sick and started getting the same symptoms. She came back from school on Tuesday, complaining about a stomach ache. That night, she started vomiting and having the runs. So far, she's missed 4 days of school.

Last Wednesday night, Dina started vomiting. I was getting really worried, especially since Daria was just getting better. So on Thursday morning, both En Rashid and myself took the girls to the hospital.

Both Dania and Dina had to be put on a drip because they were vomiting excessively. They cried a bit when the nurse placed in the needle but only because their veins were so shrunk from the dehydration. But after a bottle of saline, they both felt better. Fortunately the doctor said that they could be released and stay at home, instead of being admitted into the wards.

As of today, Dania about 90% better. She still has the runs but she hasn't vomited since yesterday. Dina vomited twice today but I think it's due to the powder medication she has to take. So I've stopped that for now and tried to get her to drink chocolate milk instead.

Here's hoping my babies get well soon.

Dania's School Clay Project

2012-02-01T16:08:00.000+08:00

The other day, Dania mentioned about her Kajian Tempatan project she had to do during CNY. Apparently, she had to create a cave out of plasticine, following the instructions in her text book.

I tried googling some videos on how to make a cave; most of the videos I found used paper mache and were too complicated for my limited creativeness. So I called my brother to help.

This is what they finally came up with.

It cost me approximately RM60 to buy all the stuff for her cave but looking at the final result, was so worth it. My brother helped a lot, in terms of the design and layout.

The frame of the cave was made out of polystyrene and then covered with balls of plasticine. Dania helped roll bits of plasticine into balls while I helped my brother cover up the polystyrene. The bushes were actually leaves from the trees in my mom's garden, taken with permission of course. The grass was fake grass, bought at the art shop for RM7 per piece. Initially we wanted to create the grass using plasticine, but figured that would just take up too much time.

Dania also created the "boulders" using grey plasticine and the stalactites and stalagmites using orange plasticine. My brother helped arrange them around the stream and pond.

En Rashid complained that the cave looked too "boxy" but actually we ran out of plasticine. My brother wanted to use something to create a roundish shape for the top of the cave but we were worried that the polystyrene might not be able to hold the weight. So a "boxy" cave it is.

Which was just fine, because Dania got A+ for her project!!

Go Dania!!

Lost in Translation

2012-01-24T06:53:00.006+08:00

My staff gave me this recipe booklet the other day, apparently from a restaurant of a famous Malaysian chef. I laughed until I cried when I read the recipe instructions, translated in Malay (in italics).

For example, step #2.
Place paper cases in muffin tins.
Kertas tempat kes-kes dalam muffin mengetinkan.

And step #6.
Spoon the mixture into the paper cases and bake for 25 min or so until well risen and just firm.
Mengaut campuran kepada kes-kes kertas dan membakar untuk 25 min atau supaya sehingga telaga naik dan sungguh tegas.
(well risen = telaga naik? Just firm = sungguh tegas? OMG!!)

Step #2.
Add the prawns, stir fry for 2 minutes and then add in the vegetables. Stir fry till cooked.
Menambah udang itu, goreng selama 2 minit dan kemudian campur semua sayur-sayuran itu. Mesin daftar tunai goreng dimasak.
(I had to rack my brain a bit but I finally figured out "till" = mesin daftar tunai. Sigh.)

And step #4.
Serve immediately garnished with the chives and chili strips.
Berkhidmat lantas dihias dengan kucai dan jalur-jalur cili.

Step #4.
Thread a few chicken pieces into the wooden skewers.
Benang kepingan-kepingan takut beberapa kepada pencucuk kayu itu.
(OMG...chicken = takut? Are you chicken??)

Step #6.
Alternatively, deep fry the satay and drain on absorbent paper.
Secara altenatif, anak ikan dalam sate dan parit pada kertas serap.
(Drain = parit...oh, the humanity!!)

Step #2.
Pound the first 9 ingredients and smear on the fish slices.
Menghentam dahulu 9 bahan-bahan dan mencemarkan pada ikan memotong.
(OK, by the time I was reading this part, I was laughing too hard and just trying to breathe.)

Step #2.
Add in the drained basmati rice and stir fry for 1 minute.
Ditambah masuk beras basmati sangat lemah dan goreng untuk 1 minit.
(Drained basmati rice = beras basmati sangat lemah. Mengapakahhhhhh!!!!)

Step #3.
Transfer to rice cooker, add water, milk, salt and colouring. Stir to combine well. Switch on rice cooker.
Pindah ke periuk nasi, menambah air, susu, garam dan pewarna. Kacau untuk bergabung baik. Memasang periuk nasi.

Ok..ok..I can't type anymore. I feel kind of bad for the chef who's name is associated with this recipe booklet, especially since his face is plastered on each page. This should serve as a lesson to all celebrities; please vet through everything that goes on in your business.

Taking Responsibility

2012-01-23T18:23:00.000+08:00

Aritu aku ada baca blog sorang blogger terkenal ni. Dia cite pasal alkisahnya dia termengandung and terpaksa buat D&C sebab dia takmo lalui process mengandung tu lagi. Sebenarnya, dari entri2 dia yang lepas, memang aku dapat bayangkan agak seksa time dia ngandung...lama kena tahan kat hospital semua, sebab complication and everything. So aku tak salahkan dia kalau dia taknak lagi go through the experience anymore.

Yang aku tak berapa paham ialah kenapa lepas dah termengandung, dia takmo ambik apa2 precaution untuk tak mengandung lagi. Contohnya, diri aku sendiri la. Aku dah memang declare dah...lepas Daria aritu, aku dah stop production. I know my own mind and body, aku tau aku takkan dapat lalui process mengandung lagi without severe consequences. Lepas one month check up, aku soh doctor pasangkan IUD. Memang itu kaedah yang serasi ngan aku. Nak makan pil, En Rashid tak bagi. Nak pakai yang cucuk dalam tangan tu pun, En Rashid tak bagi. Semua benda2 chemical ni En Rashid gerun sket, walaupun bukan badan dia yang kena. OKla, aku anggap itu tanda dia prihatin ngan aku. Hehehe. Since condom pun is not an option (3 out 6 pregnancies aku berlaku even with condom in play!!), the only option left was to put in an IUD.

Memula aku cuak jugak, nak letak besi dalam anu. Ye ah...baca lak kat internet, memacam cerita pengalaman orang pakai IUD ni. Tapi lepas berbicang ngan doctor aku, dia pun suggest pakai IUD. Safe, easy to manage and I only need to come by one a year for check ups...just to make sure it stays in place. Alhamdullillah, so far, this methond has worked best for me. Aku tak pernah alami cramps ke, bleeding ke...time "bersama" tu pun, orait je..hehe.

So back to my question again. Kalau dah sure sangat2 taknak mengandung lagi, kenapa taknak cuba segala kaedah supaya perkara tu tak berlaku? Ini tak..bila dah termengandung, salahkan laki...padahal it takes two to make a baby. Plus, it's your body...should be your own responsibility. Kalau ko dah takmo ambik apa2 cara untuk mengelakkan dari ko mengandung, jangan la salahkan laki or takdir..and then go for D&C. Pada aku, itu sangat tak betul. Anak dalam perut tu rezeki...payah perit kita membawa, kalau mati, mati syahid. Bukan la aku nak menggalakkan si blogger tu ngandung just for the sake nak mati syahid...tapi perlu tengok dari kontex agama dengan lebih mendalam. Jangan ikut perasaan hati hanya berdasarkan pengalaman lepas. Kalau betul dah takmo mengandung lagi, then take proactive precautions to make sure it doesn't happen.

Aku bukan nak bang sesapa, tapi ini sebagai peringatan kepada semua orang, termasuk la diri aku sendiri. Banyak kali perkara yang tak diingini berlaku pada diri kita tapi kita cepat sangat nak salahkan orang lain, salahkan keadaan, salahkan takdir. Padahal, diri kita berkemampuan untuk mengelakkan perkara tak diingini itu berlaku.

Renung2kan...dan selamat beramal!

Life Reminders

2012-01-22T12:07:00.000+08:00

A few things happened this week that made me stop and give a long hard look at my life.

1. One of En Rashid's office mates passed away due to lung cancer on Wednesday. She was 38 years old; still young and had her whole life ahead of her. The sad part is that no one really knew she had cancer. The office found out only when she was hospitalized on Monday. They had planned for a doa selamat on that Wednesday but later found out she had passed on that morning.

I feel bad because I've been to En Rashid's office many times and I just can't place this person anywhere. En Rashid said I may not have noticed her since she was always on MC or had a doctor's checkup. Still I feel bad because apparently her seat is just opposite En Rashid's cubicle.

One thing I noticed though, in the workplace, the grieving period only lasts a day. If there are urgent matters at hand, then half a day. Then people go on with their lives and you become part of their distant memories. I'm pretty sure that's what would happen when it comes for me to go. So why do we spend so much time in a place that would forget us so easily than being with the ones that really care?

2. A friend of mine told me about her aunt who had passed away recently due to illness. The sad part was, throughout her hard life, she raised 9 children and her sick mom, only to be neglected in her own time of need. 9 children and not one took her in when she got sick! Even when she was hospitalized, the children did not come to visit her or help take her home when it was time to check out. When she passed away, she was alone. When she was found, it was not immediate.

The "best" part is that most, if not all, of her children are very religious. Some of them live abroad, learning and teaching about Islam. Youw ould think people who are so pious would know about the basic stuff, like taking care of your parents. According to my friend, apparently some people get to pick and choose which part of religion they want to follow. Selective memory.

I was so sad when I heard the news about my friend's aunts' passing. In a way, relieved because she no longer suffering but extremely angry at the way she had been treated by her children. I shudder at the thought that I may turn out like that if it comes to my own parents or PIL. I cry at the thought that my own children may toss me aside when I'm old.

Reminders of how short our life is. And how we should always strive to make the best of it.

1st Day of Class

2012-01-17T21:55:00.000+08:00

Had my 1st day of class tonight. Since today was the day I had clash schedules, I first went to my electives class to see if the lecturer would agree to change days. Not only did he refuse but he did so in such a kerek way. His statement "I can't please everyone so I might as well just please myself."

Bloody hell!! Who's paying who right now?? Aren't we the customer? Why are we suppose to follow your schedule? Plus what genius puts an elective class on the same day as a core class?

Pissed off, I left the classroom in a huff. Pi mampos la. And went to my core class. Which looks to be fun coz it's a lot of self study. Very the lepark. And most importantly...NO EXAMS!! Hahahhaha...I like. Oya, plus we ended class tonight at 8pm...muahahahha....nice, nice!

I have another elective class tomorrow. Hope this one goes better.

Cacat!!!

2012-01-15T21:22:00.001+08:00

I knew I messed up my SM finals the day I stepped out of the exam hall. I was already NOT expecting an A, due to my pathetic marks for my weekly assignments.

However, I wasn't ready to see this.

Oh Em Jiiiii!!!

B+???

Uwaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!

My first non-A grade and it's a B+. I was at least hoping for an A-.

But seriously, that was the toughest class yet. The professor was very strict and challenged us throughout the trimester. Granted though I learned a lot but it wasn't fun.

I'm suppose to have only one more trimester of classes then it's a case study as my dissertation. However, the Uni has totally messed up on the class schedules; all of the classes that I pre-registered for clash on the same day. Like WTH? Emails I've written to the dean and the lecturer have not been replied to. Yet.

Totally whack!!

We start classes next week so the bloody administrator better sort this out quick.

Hari Blunder Sedunia

2012-01-14T23:30:00.000+08:00

Itu la dia camne hari Rabu yang lepas untuk En Rashid. Aku nak ingatkan balik pun macam kesian tapi nak tulis jugak sebagai peringatan untuk dia...lain kali, dengar cakap bini!!

Aritu (lama dah...around a month ago), En Rashid ada bagi gesel pintu tank belah kanan. Ni semua gara2 sibuk dok betulkan aircon time tengah naik ramp parking. Berapa kali dah aku cakap, lain kali...masuk je kereta, tengok dulu apa yang patut betulkan...cermin ke, aircon ke, seat ke..pakai seatbelt, lepas tu baru start kete. Takmo dengar kan..selalu je aku sound dia, dah sampai hiway baru terkial2 nak pasang seatbelt time bawak kete 110km/hr. Tensen aku dibuatnya. Time dah berlaku pergeselan tu, aku diam je. Bebel pun no use. En Rashid tak berani nak cakap apa, kecuali "stupid, stupid" kat diri sendiri. Last2 aku cakap, takyah nak cakap diri tu stupid...lain kali, dengar je cakap bini. Heee.

So, last Wednesday, kitaorang bawak tank pi workshop time lunch. Takde le jauh pun, dekat2 airport subang tu. Sekali ada accident kat federal...nak 45 minutes jugak la baru sampai. Lepas drop offkan tank, kitaorang pun hala balik ke ofis. Sekali dah sampai tempat parking, En Rashid tanya aku..."mana orangnya laptop?"

Laaaaa...laptop tertinggal dalam tank plak!! Dah la lewat untuk meeting. Lepas habis meeting, En Rashid patah balik ke workhop naik myvi. 20 minit lepas tu, aku dapat BBM.

"Kete tersadai tepi hiway"
"Minyak habis"
"Hari blunder sedunia"

If the Universe wants to screw with us, it does it in a big way!

Actually, aku dah cakap dah ngan dia...isi minyak tu dulu, dah agak lama blinking. Sib baik la dapat call tow truck, dapat kena tow sampai petrol station.

Hmmm...itula, lain kali cuba dengar cakap bini!

Another Milestone...

2012-01-10T16:49:00.000+08:00

I should have blogged about this when it happened but I guess I was still in some kind of denial.

Dania...has entered the realm of womenhood.

Auww, shucks!!

OK, Dania came her first period last week. She announced it very "matter of fact"ly and with no crying on her part. Unlike her mother, who felt like throwing herself on the floor, screaming "Why...why....why is my baby growing up so fast?!!"

She's nine. Nine, ok!!

Isn't this too soon?

*Sob.

Nostalgia

2012-01-05T08:25:00.004+08:00

I overheard this song on the radio the other day. Blame it on my period but suddenly I felt so emotional, I ended up stopping the car at the side of the road because I couldn't stop crying.

It's been a long time but I guess some things stay with you forever. And eventhough it was never meant to be, some part of me is grateful to know that a long, long, long time ago....some one felt strongly enough about me to give me this song.

Angel - Jon Secada

I, I can't read the future

But I still want to hold you close

Right now, is all I want from you

So give me the morning

Sharing another day

With you, is all I want to know

And baby I, I've tried to forget you

But the light of your eyes still shine

You shine like an angel

A spirit that won't let me go

I, I didn't want to tell you

Things I didn't want to know myself

I was afraid to show

But you gave me a reason

A reason to face the truth

To face the truth, face the truth, face the truth

And baby I, I've tried to forget you

But the light of your eyes still shine

You shine like an angel

A spirit that won't let me go
Won't let me go

Let go of my heart

1st Day of School

2012-01-04T21:36:00.000+08:00

Today I took leave since it was Dania's and Dina's first day of school. Normally, I wouldn't be too worried but since Dania was now in Standard 4 and Dina in Standard 2, that meant they had different schedules and wouldn't be going to the same school at the same time anymore.

I had booked the van for them since early December but I was still worried that there would be hiccups in terms of getting the kids to and from school on time. Fortunately the van lady, whom we had used last year, was rather efficient. She admitted that the first day was a matter of getting used to the routes of picking and sending back the kids. But in the end, the girls got to both schools on time and were back home when they were suppose to be.

I asked Dina if she missed seeing her sister at school and she laughed. Hah!! I guess it's true, distance does make the heart fonder.

Very the Berry Berry

2012-01-04T17:48:00.000+08:00

So at last, I decided to buy a new BB. Despite some people bugging me to buy an iPhone. It's not that the iPhone isn't great, it's just that I'm not a big fan of touchscreens. Especially for typing. I still prefer using a keypad. Call me old fashion or what, using a keypad feels more solid.

So, after work, me and En Rashid (don't scold me on my grammar) went to MV to check out what deals they had on the latest BB. Initially I wanted the cheap Curve model, since I still have that big ass fridge to buy. However, in the end, I ended up buying this.

The new White BlackBerry Bold 9900.

I love this one because it had both the functionality of a touchscreen and keypad. Plus the dude at the shop threw in a privacy screen protector and a discount on the overall price. How much was it? Let's say...I can afford it since I'm paying for it in 12 months. Heeee...

Oya, the best thing was that my old BB suddenly became "alive" when I had bought the new one. Like, WTH?? So, En Rashid will be using that one until it dies again.

Berry Berry

2012-01-03T13:58:00.000+08:00

Lupakan la dulu hajat nak beli fridge ke, GPS ke…ni ada benda lagi penting aku nak kena spend duit kat ni. Phone aku dah kaput. Tetiba je. Semalam nak balas BBM bos pun tak dapat, fon asyik hang. Bila cabut bateri, masukkan balik, terus takmo on. Sampai la arini..caj pun x guna.

Isy, saja je kan. Aku dok sebut2 nak beli benda lain, benda lain yang buat hal. Aritu dah kena RM200 betulkan sink dapur. Tapi fon ni pun aku dapat free. So aku nak bising bebanyak pun tak guna. Cuma tensen sbb tak dapat nak berBBM or Watsapp ngan sesapa.

Cadang nak pi beli fon baru lepas keje nanti. Bukan takde fon lain kat rumah tu, tapi aku nak BB jugak. Dah addicted to BBM, nak2 lepas aku tukar from postpaid jadi prepaid. Sangat la berkiranya credit aku sekarang ni…hehehe.

Adik aku mesti bising soh aku beli iPhone. Isy…takpela..keeee..nak terus beli Galaxy Note? Aik..dah dilemma plak..

Let's Bring on 2012 Now!!

2011-12-30T23:49:00.000+08:00

Seriously, how sick am I about my exams. I had my 2nd paper tonite...horrendous!! Only one case study which was 21 PAGES LONG...took me 1.5 hours to read and understand the damn thing, then I got totally lost at how to start answering. Ended up rambling and drawing numerous tables for 6 pages, while sitting for 3 hours on the most uncomfortable folding desk chair in the history of exam taking!!!!

The "best" part is...for most of my classmates, tonite was their last exam. Me? Nooooo...I have to have my last paper tomorrow, on a Saturday no doubt. In the afternoon. When everyone is taking their mid-day nap, I will be scribbling yet again nonsense on sheets of paper, in hopes of at least humoring my lecturer into giving me pity marks.

Bahhh!!!

The lecturers should understand. Classes that required a research paper, should not have final exams. The research paper took up so much time to conduct and analyze. Grrrr...plus, seriously, 14 chapters to read for tomorrow?!! Hah...I laugh in the face of the impossible!

You know what I"m gonna do? I'm gonna celebrate my FREEDOM (say it like Braveheart!) by buying a big ass fridge tomorrow. That's right...I'm gonna swipe my credit card (or En Rashid's) and bring me home a double door fridge that would allow me to sleep in there if I wanted to. Hahahhaa...

Until then, I'm going to bed. There's no point trying to read tonight, I might as well call it a night and skim through my notes tomorrow.

Anyway, if I don't blog tomorrow coz I'm too busy hauling my big ass fridge...here's wishing everyone HAPPY NEW YEAR...may 2012 not suck!!

What I Want For Christmas....

2011-12-29T10:34:00.000+08:00

...eh, Christmas dah lepas ye? Dah takleh mintak hadiah lagi ke? Tak pedulik!! En Santa, silalah penuhkan balik sledge anada dan hantar barang2 berikut ke rumah saya.

1. Fridge baru.
Waaaaa...fridge aku yang ada sekarang ni, beli since kawin ok! Since kawin!! Ni, dia dah start leaking, dah berapa kali panggil orang betulkan..kejap je la ok, then start leaking balik. Lepas tu, ntah mana satu hulubalang aku yang hempas pintu dia, dia punya compartment satu dah pecah. Plus (banyaknya alasan nak dapatkan fridge baru ni), kecik la fridge aku tu!! Asyik terkemik2 je sayur2 kalau aku beli. Nak letak botol2 air pun takde tempat kekadang. Walaupun orang2 rumah aku ni jenis tak minum air sejuk, tapi air sejuk kena ada get ready untuk tetamu. Aku teringin nak fridge yang pintu dia bukak 2 tu, macam gah je. Lepas tu nak jugak yang pintu dia bleh jadi cermin sekali...hahahah...bleh aku posing tiap kali masuk dapur.

2. Garmin GSP
Benda'alah ni la yang jadi penyelamat kitaorang time pi Singapore aritu (eh, post Singapore tak buat lagi!). Best plak ada suara pompuan manja dok bagi tau...turn right...turn left...keep to your right...you have arrive at your destination. Hahahaha...tapi aku rasa memang perlu ada GPS ni. Aritu member ofis tunjuk dia beli, siap ada car camera lagi...fuh, nampak semua kete2 yang mana mencicit2 potong keta dia.

3. Galaxy Note
Serious, aku ni bukan jenis yang kagum gadget2 ni semua. Itu semua penangan En Rashid. Apa jenis phone yang dia takde...semua ada, memenuhkan laci dresser aku je. iPhone je takde..apasal ntah. Maybe sebab dah ada iPad. Anyway, back to akunya obsession ngan Galaxy Note. Ni semua dok layan youtube la ni, dok tengok iklan2 kat situ. Padahalkan, kalau ada benda tu, aku rasa aku akan utlizekan 10% je. Yang lagi 90% tu, for show only. Tapi tak kisah! Nak jugak! Baru la gempak pi meeting, orang lain pakai iPad2 ambik note..aku pakai Galaxy Note. Nama pun untuk ambik notes!!

Itu je la kot wishlist aku for Christmas. Ada sapa2 nak jadi secret santa aku?? Huhuhuhu..nampaknya, aku kena save duit sendiri je la beli. Eh, tapi fridge tu, aku rasa En Rashid yang patut beli. Hehehe..also GPS tu, sebab dia je yang manjang sesat. Dah alang2, belikan Note sekali untuk aku. Settle!!

Finals!!

2011-12-28T15:18:00.000+08:00

Today's the 1st paper...Marketing Research. How much do you wanna bet that I am soooooooo not ready for this paper? For my entire finals, for that matter?

En Rashid took the brood out for lunch so I could get some serious last minute studying done. I've pretty much skimmed (and I really mean skimmed!) through the slides. Will try to go through the discussed case studies later on.

As much as a pain it was to have to take MR, I'm kind of glad I did (it was a core elective, so I kind of had to anyway). It lead me to understand better the world of marketing research and look at problems faced at work with a much universal approach. Also, doing marketing research can be fun or tedious, depending on what topic you're doing.Part of me wants to do a MR for my dissertation; I already have a topic but part of me knows that it will be a LOT OF WORK. Definitely not something I could whip up in the last 2 weeks before submission.

Well, back to studying I guess. The finals is at 8pm and will be 3 hours. 3 hours of panicking is such a long time! I'll totally be drained by the end of today.

Ice Cream Cure

2011-12-17T22:29:00.000+08:00

Aku dah naik tahap muntah dah ngan assignment MBA aku ni. Serious! Tiap2 hari aku ngadu kat En Rashid, ngadu kat Min, ngadu kat boss...padahal, bukan depa bleh tolong pun. Paling tidak buat muka simpati. Padan muka aku. Dulu kata buhsan kan? Konon nak challenge la ye? Hambik ko...challenge sangat la ni!! Sampai tido kul 3 pagi, bangun muka macam zombie, semua dah tak kena dah.

Semester aku ni tinggal 2 minggu je lagi tapi 2 minggu ni la yang sangaaaatttt hectic. Ngan research papers due, assignment, finals lagi....uwaaaaaa!! Kenapa la aku pi seksa diri camni??

Takpe, takpe...lepas ni, tinggal 1 more trimester, then no more classes. Yeaaahhh!! Cuma tinggal research paper or case study. Yang mana senang nak buat...research paper ke, case study? Sekarang ni main pikir yang mana senang je...dah tak kesah dah hal ilmu yang nak ditimba..huhuhuhu...

Aritu, aku punya la tensen...dah tahap dewa punya tensen. Ngan assignment, ngan hal keje, ngan hal perang dunia ke3 ngan En Rashid. Dok borak2 ngan Liza kat whatsapp, dia dok cite hal Tutti Frutti lak. Terus aku kempunan!!

Jam2 tu jugak la, aku pi berbaik ngan En Rashid. Frozen yogurt punya pasal!! And also sebab aku nak gak cium bau syurga...betul tak? Hahaha...time2 tu la teringat peranan sebagi isteri mithali kan? Dah berbaik tu (kejap je, aku nyendeng2 sket kat dia...kira dah berbaik la tu), aku ajak dia pi makan TF. Bebudak semua dah tido, dengan konfident kitaorang tinggalkan depa and cabut pi makan aiskrim.

Sekali TF tutup ko!! Alahai, padahal baru kul 11pm. So aku ngajak En Rashid pi cuba kedai aiskrim lagi satu, Ice Room. Selalu gak lalu depan kedai tu tapi tak pernah nak masuk. 1st, sebab selalu ngan bebudak, so malas nak layan depa makan aiskrim. 2nd, setakat makan aiskrim je, takyah nak kluarkan duit bebanyak. Beli je aiskrim singgit kat 7-E tu. Takpun aiskrim tub kat giant...bleh makan berhari2.

Time kitaorang masuk IR tu, still ada orang lagi. Tapi muka bebudak yang jaga kedai tu macam pasrah je bagi kitaorang masuk. Hehehehe, agaknya dah nak tutup kot. Tapi aku tak pedulik...aku dah tensen ni, the only cure is ice cream!

Tempat dia menarik jugak la, green theme. Sebabkan aku ngan En Rashid baru je berbaik, so masing2 terasa romantik sket la. Terus pilih duduk kat booth kat belakang, konon nak privacy. Dah duduk tu, dah order semua baru aku paling ke kanan...laaa, sebelah toilet rupanya. Romantik sangat la tu!

Bila tengok menu, rupanya bukan setakat aiskrim je yang jual kat situ. Nasi ada, mee ada, pasta ada...tapi dia promo aiskrim upfront. OK gak la harga dia...pasta macam RM8.90. Murah la dari Secret, cuma aku tak bleh nak komen about the taste since tak cuba.

Sebabkan aku je yang kempunan aiskrim, kitaorang order satu je. Banyak gak choice aiskrim yang dia ada. Tapi antara bebanyak tu, aku tak paham yang ni dua....

Green tea and yam??? Sungguh la yuck nya!! Dulu aku pernah cuba donut Big Apple yang green tea tu...uwekk...tak sesuai! Dah nama pun aiskrim, takyah la nak pikir health conscious. Yam tu pun satu...dulu aku rasa aku pernah cuba masa kawin Akish dulu kot. Betul tak kish, ko kawin dulu ada asikrim yam?! Sori la, tapi aku la antara yang kutuk choice of dessert ko. Hehehehe.

Ni aiskrim yang aku pilih...tropikal mixed fruit snow ice. Sib baik gak la order satu, banyak giller dia bagi. Sedap gak la, no complaints.

Ni En Rashid yang order, avocado mini bun. Tapiiiii...takde rasa avocado pun. Rasa macam kaya pandan je.Mahal gak la, aku rasa 3 ketul ni dalam RM6 kot. Padahal ko bleh je ngap satu tu sekali gus. Aku dah ngap separuh baru teringat nak ambik gambar. Hehehehe..

Ni pun En Rashid orderkan, konon untuk aku. Tiramisu cake. Ok la, not bad. Light and fluffy...cuma aku dah kenyang dek aiskrim so bila time makan kek, mual sket dah.

Masa kitaorang tengah makan tu, budak kedai tu mai tunjuk bil. Hehehhe, depa nak tutup cashier rupanya. Sian...sib baik aku ngan En Rashid jenis makan cepat. And takde nak tunjuk2 ngada main suap2 kat situ. Takpe dik, lain kali akak datang ngan anak2 sekali. Baru ko tau camne havoc nak melayan bebudak makan aiskrim ni.

Verdict: Not bad. Reasonable price and food portion. Dah cadang nak bawak bebudak pi makan sana sometime next weekend. Insya'allah....

So Much to Write About, Just No Time!!

2011-12-12T00:00:00.000+08:00

I have so much to tell you, Internet but I also have 2 article critics, 2 research papers, 1 weekly assignment and presentation to complete plus finals to study for. I hardly have time to breathe!!

I promise, once all the havoc has died down (in January?), I'll write more. Maybe even before then if I"m in the mood.

Just a quick recap on what I intend to write about (regardless of the level of staleness)
1. That bloody war game camp I had to go for my SM class - I finally found a reason to dump my sport shoes from 13 years back!!

2. Our family trip to Singapore - rain, diarrhea, bloody expensive food but at least I got to ride on the Battlestar Galactica!!

I'm pretty sure there are other things I intend to write about but I'm currently freaking out with my article critique. Later, internet!!

Stop All The Rumors!!

2011-12-07T14:38:00.000+08:00

Alahai...tolong la korang. Stop all the rumors please. Especially those concerning me. Mana korang dengar ni? Aku takde dengar apa2 pun. Aku takde dapat apa2 surat pun. No little bird has spoken into my ear about anything. Which is not surprising, since I'm always the last to be in the loop anyway but still. As far as I'm concerned, the rumors are NOT TRUE! So stop asking or repeating them to others coz they come to me for verification and I can't give any. And I look like a fool for not knowing anything.

If it turns out to be true, I dunno what to do. My heart....needs change. So even it the rumors were true (which I highly doubt!!), there's no guarentee I'm gonna go for it.

More rezeki for the rest of you!!

So in the meantime...stop the rumors!!

So What Else is New?

2011-11-29T12:54:00.000+08:00

I'm fed up. Fed up of people just using me for work purposes. Fed up of people looking at me as the person to solve all their shit. But when it comes to the good parts...am I included? Nada...

Biasa la kan...hal keje, carik la aku. Hal best2, lupakan aku.

Fine.

Perkara biasa.

ps: Note to self: Jangan merengek Along. You want changes, you have to make the changes yourself.

They're back!!

2011-11-18T16:35:00.000+08:00

Yoohoo!! Ibu and ayah coming back from Mekah tonight.

Bak kata Min...ketiak!!!

Will be taking Monday and Tuesday off to manja2 with them. Plus it's school holidays so can dump the kids with them if En Rashid and me want to go on a romatika di amoi trip. Hehehe...

Just For Angah...

2011-11-09T00:11:00.000+08:00

A gay couple had a wedding in UK and the marriage officer found it weird to call them husband and wife since they were both male. So after much thought, he decided on the following after the vows were read;

"I now pronounce you MAN-UNITED."

True Blood Vs. Twilight...Not Even a Fair Fight!

2011-11-08T14:34:00.000+08:00

I know there's a lot of Twilight fans out there and that all of you are eagerly awaiting the "wedding of the year" (commence excessive eye rolling). But seriously, I just can't understand what's the big deal with Bella and Edward and Jacob.

Yes, just because I know their names, doesn't mean I secretly watch the movies. Or read the books. I would rather sit through a root canal. Hahaha..ok, exaggerating but just shows how much of a fan I am not.

Not that I didn't try to watch the movies. I did. I don't remember which one it was but all I can remember was...OH MY GOD!! Stop whining!! Stop yearning!! Stop frowning!!

Whine, whine, whine...look into distance...sit around in the dark, slouching...mumble, mumble, mumble..ignore parents...ignore friends...ignore food...whine some more..

God!!

Obviously I'm talking about that chick, Bella. Don't get me started on the vampires. Since when do vampires shimmer? How..ehem, metrosexual is that?

You wanna know what real vampire look like? Wanna know how real vampires should act and behave? Watch True Blood!

*Be warned..True Blood is 18SX rated..but then, vampires do always have all the fun anyway.

Here's a great article on why TB would totally kick Twilight ass.

http://tv.ign.com/articles/109/1094901p1.html

Sorry Twilight fans. Bill would totally have Edward for dinner. And Sookie would probably be the one cooking.

Picture credits: from Here and Here.

Salam Aidiladha

2011-11-06T20:48:00.000+08:00

We're at my in-laws. I'm taking a breather from all that eating because 1) I've ate enough to feed a small country 2) I have tons of homework/reading up to do, so while En Rashid has taken the kids to his aunt's house for more food (seriously?), I'm taking advantage of the peace and quiet to update my blog and hopefully get a bit of studying in.

Oya, mid terms was last week. How was it? Hah!! Monday was supposed to be mid terms for CB. I even took leave because, again, thanks to my excellent time management skills, I hadn't done much studying before the day of the exam. As it turned out, we were told that the exam was postponed to another date 4 HOURS BEFORE THE EXAM WAS SCHEDULED TO TAKE PLACE!! Grrrrr!! I was so frustrated, a huge pimple immediately appeared on my chin.

On Wednesday, we had Marketing Research. I was kind of nervous about this subject because the lecturer had hardly given any hints on what to read, except for which chapters would be in (6 chapters). The exam was 2 hours, where by we had to answer 4 out of 6 questions. Sounds ok, right? Hah!! Turned out each question had a Part A and Part B and each part had subsets of a) - e). Mengigil tangan aku nak menulis!! I don't know what I wrote about but I hope I get marks for it.

For SM, the prof decided not to give a typical mid term exam. Instead, one of our weekly assignments was taken as the mid term and given 20 marks, instead of 10. Of course, that assignment would be the one my group had to present. And of course, it would be the assignment were I messed up all my calculations and theories. Sheesh! Lantak la...I only intend to pass that class anyway.

Oya, our CB mid term is suppose to be tomorrow. BUT!! We received an email yesterday saying that the exam might be postponed again, however class was on as usual. What the hell??!!

Well, at least 2/3 mid terms are over. Plenty of assignments are still pending though. So, until then, I just wanna wish everyone SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILADHA.

After Watching Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon, I Realized....

2011-10-31T00:30:00.000+08:00

...the actual hero (or rather heroin) of the story is not Sam Witwicky or Optimus Prime or BumbleBee. It's Carly.

After all that happened, it turns out that in order to win the war, it doesn't depend on what technology you have, or what type of guns you have, or what type of car you drive.

It depends on whether you can bitch-talk two "friends" into fighting and killing each other.

''You'll be nothing, but Sentinel's bitch!''

Hah!!

<p>&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;BTW</p>

ps: Dania watched the movie with us and right after Carly delivered that line, she turned and looked at me and asked "What's a bitch?"

Thanks a lot, Michael Bay!!

Quick Getaway

2011-10-29T18:44:00.000+08:00

The clan is back from a quick getaway on PD. It was a last minute decision to go. I was basically having it up to here with work (pointing to my delicate nose) and the kids were getting restless with one week of holiday and nowhere to go.

My boss had been talking about the Legend Waterhomes ever since she took her kids there. So in the end, I decided to try it out and booked their 3 days 2 nights package. I booked the hotel that had the private swimming pool in the room because knowing En Rashid and myself, we would be taichi'ing each other to go take the kids to the public swimming pool.

Since PD is only 1 hours drive from BBB, we had lunch at home first. I had some errands to do that morning so it was after 3pm when we finally set off for PD. We arrived around 415pm, a bit late because someone was going the wrong way. And had a faulty GPS. And wouldn't let me call the hotel for directions.

Once we had arrived, check-in was a breeze. We had one of the rooms that was overlooking the seabed. The girls immediately noticed the floor "window" as we walked into the room.

Daria was a bit comprehensive of the window. She refused to step on it at first since she thought she might fall through it. She even yelled if any of us stepped on the window accidentally. Hahaha, so cute.

But the main attraction was of course, the in-room swimming pool. The girls shrieked (I use the word appropriately) with joy when they say it. Immediately, they changed into their swimming gear and plunged in.

The 3 of them practically became mermaids in the pool and would have stayed in there for hours. We finally dragged them all out when it was time to get ready for dinner.

Since the package only included one dinner meal and we were still rather full from lunch, we decided to head out instead. It was drizzling but luckily the hotel provided each room with a mighty big umbrella so we didn't get that wet as we walked to the hotel lobby.

We took our chance with the first OK looking restaurant we saw. It turned out not be such a bad choice. The kids had fried mee, which they didn't finish because according to them, it was too spicy. And I had specifically requested for it not to be spicy. However, hubby and I had a good meal; white rice with mixed tomyam, siakap cooked 3 rasa and kangkung masak belacan. Adding in all the drinks and what not, it came to about RM44.

Eventhough it had stopped raining, the kids were too tired out to do anymore swimming. So after watching a bit of TV, they fell asleep pretty quickly.

Look at who conquered most of the bed (it was a King bed). Ambik ko, terkangkang terus!!

The next day, the kids were raring to go swimming again. However, En Rashid and I wanted to go get breakfast first, so we made some sandwiches for Dania and Dina and took Daria for breakfast at the hotel. OK, before you ask, the package only included breakfast for two. Kids (ages 4-12) cost RM37.75 per head for breakfast. And knowing Dina, she would only eat one bowl of cereal and a glass of juice and that would be it. It would have chapped my ass if I were to pay that amount for a bowl of cereal!!

So we left the room for breakfast but took the fat crapper with us (Min, I can't stop calling her that!). I must say the breakfast spread was quite disappointing. For starters, no nasi lemak. They only had porridge which is basically hospital food, so yucks! They had a good salad bar though and made a mean omelet. I liked the omelet!

Good omelet!

Daria had some sausages and potato wedges. here she is thoroughly enjoying her cold, cup of guava juice.

They had special plates and cups for children, which I though was pretty smart.

One of the two buffet counters. Daria kept on asking me to bring back the big boat on display.

Hah, no longer afraid!!

Low tide in the morning. Where's all the water, ibu? And the fishies??

Nevermind, while waiting for the fishies to come back, I'll just do some painting over here. An elephant is purple, right ibu?

It rained mostly during the day so we didn't do much. Watched TV, played games, slept. Since it was a Friday, En Rashid went out for prayers and brought back lunch. This was also Dania and Dina's dinner later in the evening. Don't judge!! They were fine with it.

The dinner buffet was slightly better. They had sate, curry mee and white rice with various dishes. I liked the peanut sauce that came with the sate. Also the curry mee was no bad. En Rashid became a fan of chocolate covered fruits, thanks to thw\e chocolate fountain they had. Oya, the chocolate they used was dark chocolate, so yummy!!!

Someone sure is enjoying her ice cream!!

It took 10 shots before I finally got one of her licking her ice cream. Hahaha, thank god for digital cameras.

En Rashid, full and NOT thinking about work. I hope.

The next day was check-out day. The girls woke up extra early so they could squeeze in as much swimming time as possible. We took them to the outdoor pool, so that they could swim while we had breakfast at the pool cafe.

The hotel had 2 pools; one for the kids with slides and all that and another for adults.I must say the hotel took great pride in their facilities, everything was kept nice and clean.

A reluctant look given when asked to leave the pool. Nevermind adik, we'll come back again soon.

Here's the room we stayed in. Ignore the mess. The beds were super comfy and the pillow super plushy.

From the bedroom, you go through the kitchen to the bathrooms. The kitchen had a microwave and plates and utensils. The bathroom was split between the toilet and shower room. The sliding door you see opens up to the in-door swimming pool.

The buggies that took hotel guests to and from the hotel lobby to their rooms. Mighty useful especially if its raining or when you want to check-out with your bags of crap.

Tired but happy. The girls really enjoyed themselves so I would say the quick getaway was just what we all needed.

Now, it's back to the real world. Next week is mid terms!! Argghhhh...plus finals for the kid's kafa school.

This is Where I Get All Mysterious and S@*t

2011-10-24T23:06:00.000+08:00

So I finally made the appointment for this coming Saturday. Until then, I'm gonna try to keep my mind off it. Hopefully. I'll try.

It Doesn't Really Take That Long Anyway...

2011-10-22T00:26:00.000+08:00

This piece of news caught my eye today.

Hertz fires 26 Muslim drivers in dispute

More than two dozen Somali Muslim drivers for Hertz at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport are being fired after refusing to clock out for daily breaks during which they normally pray, according to media reports.
The 26 workers drive the company's rental cars to and from the airport for cleaning and refueling. They are among 34 Hertz employees suspended Sept. 30 for failing to clock out before breaks.
Eight of the 34 signed the clock-out agreement and have returned to their jobs, company spokesman Rich Broome told The Associated Press Friday in an email. Termination letters have been sent to the rest.
The company made it clear the suspended workers needed to agree to the clock-out conditions by the end of the day Thursday if they wanted to be reinstated, Broome told The Seattle Times.
The firings were first reported by KOMO-TV.
Broome told the AP earlier this month "It's not about prayer, it's not about religion; it's about reasonable requirements."
Observant Muslims pray several times a day.
Hertz said the suspended workers were violating provisions of a collective bargaining agreement and a settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reached two years ago.
Teamsters Local 117, which represents the workers, said the two sides were unable to negotiate an agreement that would have allowed the workers to return to their pre-suspension status, under which they wouldn't have to clock out to pray.
Union spokesman Paul Zilly said the workers were given an ultimatum to sign the clock-out document.

If Hertz felt some employees were abusing the break policies, it should have dealt with them individually, Zilly said.
The union said the break clock-out requirement is not in the contract and Hertz had agreed during negotiations last year that it would not require it.
The union has filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board. The union also said it is filing religious discrimination charges with the EEOC.
The union represents nearly 80 Hertz drivers who earn between $9.15 and $9.95 an hour. About 70 percent are Muslims.
Here's the link to the story. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44985725/ns/us_news/#.TqGWM1Zr6So

OK, here's my take on the story. I don't know exactly how long these workers are taking to perform their prayers but in actual fact, it does not take more than 10 minutes for each prayer. Shorter if the person is a guy because for ladies, we need to take off our head covering, take off our make up, take care of our prayer attire, etc, etc. But for guys, the just need to take ablution, make sure their attire covers down to their knees and start praying. Unless the workers were also taking a cigarette break, their absence would only be for 10 minutes, at most for each prayer time.

Plus, if they were working 9-5, then there's only 2 prayer times that they need to perform during working hours; Zohor and Asar. Just 20 minutes out of the 8 hours they're working.

Again, the article didn't say how long these workers were taking off to perform their prayers and I can't claim to know the policies for clocking in and clocking out as we don't implement those in our company (Thank god!). However, I really feel that the company could have handled the situation in a much better way.If a few of the employees were taking longer than 20 minutes for each prayer break, then the company should have handled them individually.

Whatever the outcome, I hope it ends positively for both the workers and the company. And most of all, I hope this doesn't deter other companies from hiring Muslims as their employees.

Peace!

Yer, Tolong Jangan Menyemakkan Bangi!

2011-10-21T14:00:00.000+08:00

I saw this in the paper today.

I totally support the ban!! I love the fact that Bangi has nothing. Hahahha...except for a few small hypermarkets, we only have a defunct bowling alley. Which is fine!!! We don't need those stuff to mess up Bangi. I don't want Bangi to become a choked up town like Bangsar or Puchong. I'm fine without the traffic and the chaos. I'm fine with driving 18kn to Putrajaya to see a movie. I'm fine with going to Mines to play bowling.

Just keep them out of Bangi. Buat semak je!!

Kenapa Tak Reti Guna Kepala Otak?

2011-10-18T06:27:00.000+08:00

Ni gambar aku ambik masa kat surau ofis semalam. Korang nampak minah tudung purple tu tak? Serious aku terasa nak bagi panampar je kat dia semalam. Dok surau, memekak je dok gosip ngan kekawan dia. Padahal bukan tak nampak orang lain dok solat kat situ. Bleh tak..ko dah sudah solat tu, ko cepat2 bersiap lepas tu belah. Jangan dok lepak lagi kat surau tu, gosip hal orang lain ngan lorat Kelantan ko tu, sampai orang lain nak solat pun terganggu. Yang aku geram, dia bleh merengek kuat2 kat kawan dia sebab pakai eyeliner tak cantik.

Ala. Siannya. Eyeliner pakai tak cantik yer? Meh sini, aku cucuk mata hang ngan eyeliner tu!!

Dari aku start solat, sampai dah bagi doa, dia dok merengek kat tepi tu. Masa aku tengah bersiap pakai tudung, aku toleh, tengok dia dok makan plak!

Banyak hudus muka ko!! Sapa ajar makan dalam surau ni?? Sah2, banyak poster2 kat situ dok ingatkan...jangan bercakap atau makan dalam surau. Ko tak reti baca ke apa?

Sori la, tapi aku memang pantang orang macam ni. Jenis tak hormat orang lain. Nak kata mak ayah tak ajar...aku rasa mak ayah dia ada ajar, ustaz/ustazah kat sekolah ada ajar. Dia je yang tak reti makan saman!!

Dina's 7th Birthday Bash

2011-10-16T22:10:00.000+08:00

I better write about this before it becomes stale. We had the birthday bash last Saturday at home. It was a small occasion, we invited only a few of Dina's friends and classmates. After much deliberation, we decided on a theme...

ANGRY BIRDS!!!!

Did you make the bird sound when you read that? Hahaha..

We set the party to start at around 11am and end at 2pm. I figured 3 hours of having a house full of hyper kids was enough.

The first activity lined up was a coloring activity. I had printed out several pictures of the angry birds (and some pigs) and pasted them onto manila card boards. I also had several small angry bird pictures the kids could paste onto their finished product. I made sure there were enough crayons and color pencils to go around. This activity was great because it kept the kids in one section of the living room, relatively quiet. Heee.

Then it was cake time. We had to wait for my brother and SIL to arrive as I had asked Aida to pass the cake to them.

The cake was a hit with the kids! And Dina was so happy. Everyone ooohh'ed and ahhh'ed at the small birds and pigs, complete with slings and tiny bird eggs to go.

A picture together before everyone sang Happy Birthday. That dude on the far left is my 3 month old nephew. How cute is he?? Oya, those angry bird t-shirts the girls are wearing was bought that morning. Hahahha..last minute purchase from the shop across the road. Sib baik ada.

This picture was taken and edited by my brother using his iPhone. I love it coz it looks like a sketch. Also Daria looks extra chubby in this photo..haha.

Daria the Destroyer messed up the cake before we could stop her. Luckily she only messed up the letters and not the cake itself.

The kids were all trying to "book" a bird to eat. Hahaha..I told them to share, the birds were made out of pure sugar!! The last thing I need is more hyper kids in the house.

Everyone have cake!!

Here's Min with her 2 nieces (pink dresses). She was only one of the two adults who stayed throughout the party. The rest just dropped off their kids at the gate. She was suppose to come as General Pig but her pig snout paper mache project became an epic fail. Reluctantly, I let her stay for cake. :P

After cake, was a game I called "Kill the Water Bottle Pigs". Basically I had printed out pictures of the free pig and taped them to a few empty water bottles. The kids had to try to knock all of the "pigs" down using the angry bird plush toys I had bought for the party.

A simple game but the kids had a blast! It looked easy but was a bit tough for the smaller kids. In the end, we lumped all the water bottles close together, to make sure everyone had a chance to "kill" all of the pigs. I gave out angry bird erasers as prizes for those who succeeded.

The games were only meant for the kids but apparently someone didn't get the memo. Siap tak bagi budak potong line tu..sabar je la. Hahhaha..

Early signs of too much sugar in her system. Huaarrggghhhhhh!!!

Once everyone had succeeded in winning an eraser, we moved on to opening the presents. Dina got a lot of really cool stuff. Lots of stationary and color pencils to last her a lifetime. Hahaha.

Around 1.30pm, the party started to wind down. I gave each kid a helium balloon to take back home.

Together with a party pack. Each kid got an angry bird stationary set, an angry bird notebook and a lollipop.

While waiting for the parents to come, Dina and her friends took some pictures outside, with the plush toys.

My girls. Sigh...they're growing up way too fast.

Menu-wise, I kept it simple. Bihun with egss, nuggets, egg sandwiches, multicolored jellies and cake. For drinks, I made punch. I bought some colorful plastic cups (red and yellow) to tie in the angry bird theme.

We played a few more games since some parents were a bit late in picking up their kids. We played "Put the Birds Back in their Nest". Basically I took the box the cake came in and asked the kids to try and throw the plush toys into it. Anyone who could get at least 2 birds into the box got an extra lollipop. After that, we played "Bomber Angry Bird" which was a varied version of Pass the Ball. I used my iPad to play the Angry Bird theme song as the music for the game.

All in all, the party was a success. The kids had fun, the adults got to eat in peace and Dina was very, very happy. Here's to another birthday party next year..well, maybe.

ANGRY BIRDS!!!!

Apparently I'm An Uptown Girl...

2011-10-14T23:46:00.001+08:00

..because that was the only song I knew in full during the Westlife concert last week. Muahahaha...nampak sangat dah tua, lagu Billy Joel jugak yang ingat.

So, like I mentioned in my previous entry, Noresh and I went to the Westlife concert last Friday. I think for both of us, it wasn't a die-hard-fan kind of decision but more of a "I need a change of pace" kind of thing.

I had a 3-5pm meeting that day but was determine to leave office early. Noresh had suggested I arrive at her house before 6pm and she would drive us both to the stadium. Luckily, my EVP wasn't feeling all that well that day so the meeting ended just on time. In fact, thanks to my expert driving skills, I reached Noresh's house before she was even ready to go.

The drive to the stadium was rather smooth and lucky for us, we got a good parking space, not too far from the entrance. Dah tua maa, must save energy for the concert! Haha. We had to queue for like 20 minutes before we were allowed in. Oya, have to add that the people handling the gates wouldn't allow stuff like cameras, umbrellas, even those colorful, glow sticks in. Which is fine except there were people selling those glow sticks not 5 meters away from the gates. If they were not allowed into the concert hall, then the people handling the gates should have not allowed people to sell them either!! Imagine, fishing out RM10 (I think that was the price) for a glow stick, then having it confiscated at the gate. Sheeeshhh!!

Being the non-fans that we were, we had bought the cheapest tickets available. Itu pun nak RM100 gak!! Nevermind..once in a while. Can't believe the last concert I went to was when I was still studying in the US.

Since we arrived rather early, we had a lot of time to kill before the concert started (8.30pm). This is where our seats were from the stage.

Giller jauh, but at least they had those two jumbo screens at the side of the stage. Those seats in front (blue section) costs RM599 or something like that! Crazy!! And it was rather packed when the concert started. Some people apparently have money to burn.

Camwhore moment. Actually we were getting anxious for the concert to start. The boys were late!! In the end, the concert started at 9.15pm. Both Noresh and I were already yawning at that time.

Anyway, the showmanship was good. The boys really knew how to interact with the crowd. There was one part of the show where they invited this dude and his girlfriend up on stage. Before they sang the next song, the dude gave a short speech then got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend!! So sweet!!! everyone was cheering them on. I think the gf started crying or something. Oya, and she said yes! Hahahhaa...

I must say, Nicky looks super cute in real life. And Mark and Shane sound exactly like in their albums. Super voices. And Kian had everyone say hi to his unborn child on videotape. "Hi Twinkle". Too cute!

All in all, it was good fun eventhough I only knew 3 out of 10 or so of their songs. Haha. Now, if only NKOTB would get their fine butts to Malaysia, that's one concert not to be missed!!

ps: I have some videos from the concert, taken using my handphone but won't upload them coz you can hear me singing in the background. And Adele I am not, so I'll spare you guys the torture. Hahahhaa!

Belum Masuk Gear...

2011-10-13T00:52:00.000+08:00

I think we're already in week 4 of the trimester and I'm still trying to find my bearing. For this trimester, I have Consumer Behavior (CB), Marketing Research (MR) and Strategic Management (SM). So far, classes have been ok, just the workload is gonna kill me soon. I particularly hate (maybe hate is too strong a word)..ok, dislike SM. For one thing, the prof likes to "terjah" people, making us all on our toes throughout the class session. That is soooo not good for my internal systems. Second, he gives us weekly assignments, that take forever to complete. OK, maybe not forever, but when you're stuck in gear 1 like I am, it seems like forever.

I rather enjoy CB class coz it's a lot of discussions and I get to talk a lot. Hahaha. For MR, it's interesting but damn, there's so much to read and remember. Plus it's a research class so the assignments are all research-heavy. Drag!!

It's nearly 1am right now and I'm stuck on my 3rd SM assignment. Really, it's not like I wanted to do it last minute. What with work and the kids, I hardly have time for anything else. Sigh...ok, back to hitting the grindstone. Happy sleeping everyone else.

Last Weekend...

2011-10-10T16:26:00.000+08:00

Well, the Westlife concert was fun. Despite the fact I knew and could sing along to only 3 of their songs. They have a new album?! Sigh...so not up to date. Anyway, thanks to Noresh for dragging me there. Was a nice change of pace for me.

On Saturday, we had Dina's birthday party. And I'm happy to report that everything went fine!! In fact, the kids had so much fun, doing the coloring activity, playing the "kill the pigs" game, the "send the birds home" game and the "bomber bird" game. Oh, and they lorrvvveeeed the cake!! Thanks to Aida for all her hard work. And thanks to all those that came. Dina was grinning ear to ear the whole time, she was very happy to say the least.

I have pictures and videos for all of the above but will have to wait until later to upload. Work-a-calling!!

RIP Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T14:17:00.000+08:00

Heard the news from Min this morning that Steve Jobs had passed away.

For us who's lives revolve around gadgets and technology, it is indeed a sad moment. An icon of our generation is gone.

RIP Steve Jobs. Thanks for all the iGadgets.

Dimsum Dinner Date

2011-10-06T03:09:00.000+08:00

Last Tuesday, En Rashid took me out for a dimsum buffet dinner at Holiday Villa, SJ. He found the deal on Groupon and since he's a dimsum freak, he bought 2 coupons and dragged me to follow him.

Our dinner reservation was at 730pm but we only left the office at around 7pm, thanks to En Rashid getting stuck in a meeting that started at 630pm!! Grrrr...

However, thanks to his great driving skills, we arrived at the hotel with 30 seconds to spare. Phew! Though I seriously doubt the restaurant would have denied us access just because we were a few minutes late.

There was quite a crowd when we arrived and LOL, most of them were there thanks to the Groupon deal. En Rashid and I were ushered to a table smack in the middle of the room where the servers then started laying down dozens of dimsum containers.

This was only from the 1st cart. I think there were 3 carts altogether. yang aku tau, banyak giller dimsum dia letak atas meja. Terkuzat kejap tengok.

Sukanya dia!!! He had been looking forward to the dinner for so long....layan je la.

I dunno the names of any of the dimsum but I took pictures of those that looked interesting. I particularly liked the one that had seaweed wrapped around it but it was all gone before I could snap a photo.

This cheeky monkey was not invited for the dimsum dinner but she's featured here because Heather requested so. Heeee...hope you like the flowers, Heather!

A Full Week..

2011-10-04T13:35:00.000+08:00

Yesterday: Sent off my parents for Haj. Uwwaaaa....they'll be gone for 45 days. I miss them already!! My mom was showing me where she kept all her jewelry and stuff, in case they don't come back and I was like "I don't care about your jewelry!! Wadda ya mean you might not come back??!!!"
UWWWAAAAA!!!!

Today: Dimsum dinner date with hubby. We bought the coupon via Groupon since FOREVER but only now have the time to redeem it. I hope it's worth it. Hubby's a dimsum freak so he's looking forward to the meal. I'll reserve my opinion until later.

Tomorrow: I have class and tons to read up on still.

Thursday: Assignment #2 due! Haven't started a thing yet but they say procrastinators always churn out the best work when they're stressed. Muahahahhaa,..

Friday: I'm going to see Westlife!! Wuuhuuu!! I haven't been to a cencert since FOREVER. Must brush up on my Westlife lyrics...nanti dapat nyanyi setakat chorus je.

Saturday: Dina's birthday party!! Have bought some stuff for decorations and goody bags but still need to do the invitation cards and other stuff.

Sunday: Really need to concentrate on studying!! 1st SM exam is the following week. Mati la, satu haprak pun tak prepare lagi!!

Time To Start Planning

2011-10-03T01:03:00.001+08:00

We've decided on a theme for Dina's birthday party. Since we intend to keep it small (just invite her friends selected classmates), I intend to make it a bit more memorable in terms of decorations, games and party gifts. Thing is.....do I have the time?!!

I've been surfing sites all day collecting ideas. I would really love to have (make?) a pinata but I seriously doubt my creative talent in that area. I'm keeping the food simple because kids do not come to parties to eat. Hahhaha...but I'll have something for the adults, just in case the parents would like to stop by.

Dina's been looking forward to her party for months so I really hope everything goes as planned and that she'll have a great time celebrating with family and friends.

Because It's Been Such A Sucky Week...

2011-09-30T14:34:00.003+08:00

...here you go!!

Ahhhhh...now don't you feel all warm and cuddly? I only wish I could take one home...they're so cute!!

Bukan..Bukan..

2011-09-29T11:26:00.000+08:00

Bukan sebab semua cadangan hal birthday party tu. Isy..itu Along nak ucap terima kasih la sebab sudi bagi idea. Sampai Dina pun dah tak tau nak pilih mana satu. Hehehehe...

Hal benda lain...takyah nak explain di sini la..simpan je dalam hati...

Thanks again ya to all that gave their ideas for the birthday party. Kalau menjadi (besar betul kalau dia...huhuhu), nanti Along akan update di sini.

Aku Aje la Kan...

2011-09-26T13:06:00.000+08:00

...yang asyik pikirkan hati perasaan orang.

...yang make time untuk orang lain, eventhough menyusahkan aku kekadang.

...yang kena pendam perasaan sedih..nanti kena cop drama queen plak. Itu pun nak merajuk ke?? Dah tua sangat ke sampai cepat terasa hati?

Aku je la kan.

Sampai kesudah.....

2011-09-25T01:40:00.000+08:00

....sorang pun takde.

Takpela.

Kita paham kita ni sapa.

Thanks for confirming what I figured all along.

Banished to a Lifetime of Stupidity??

2011-09-22T10:12:00.000+08:00

I think everyone’s heard or read about the school in Sarawak that refused 3 of its students to take the UPSR exams, just because it wanted to keep its percentage rate up.

As a mother, I feel outraged that the teachers and the school even thought of such notion. Their excuse that the students were C-average students is not valid whatsoever! If the students are poor in their studies, I’m pretty sure the teachers also are partly responsible.

Plus, without taking the exam, what would happen to these students? Forever be labeled as “stupid” for the rest of their lives? Without a Standard 6 cert, they would not be able to continue to secondary school…and then what? Become a dropout and do what?

Kesian bebdudak tu. Dah la humiliated in front of all their friends, this must have a huge effect on their self esteem and sense of self worth. I hope someone steps in and gives these kids free counseling and tuition. Not every kid has the same learning capability. Some, who excel in primary school, may find secondary school a challenge. Some only start to develop in secondary school. Some may only start to excel in University. Some may never be good at academic level but excel when it comes to application of the knowledge.

Whatever it is, the school is totally in the wrong and I hope the Government will take strict action against the teachers and principal who allowed this to happen.

Ideas for Dina's Birthday Party

2011-09-20T13:09:00.002+08:00

I’m trying to find ideas for Dina’s 7^th birthday party. I promised her one if she fasted full this year and boy, am I regretting that now. A few reasons: my parents will be going for Haj again this year so I need to do the party either this weekend (too short of a notice) or next weekend. Dina wants a themed birthday party but she hasn’t decided on a theme yet. Actually she did but she came up with a mermaid concept and I was like “I am NOT going to put a swimming pool in front of the house for you and your friends to flop around in.” She doesn’t want a Princess Party just because we already did that for Dania’s birthday 3 years back.

So, I’ve been surfing around and bugging Min for ideas. So far, I have the following options: 1) A Pirate Party 2) A Sports Party 3) A Magic Party (ala Harry Potter). Other ideas that were thrown out were 1) Superheroes Party coz surprisingly there aren’t as many female superheroes as much as male ones, plus the ones I thought of were way too sexy (Catwoman / Wonderwoman) 2)Avatar/Smurfs party because eventhough I love blue, I don’t to have my guests paint themselves blue! Plus Avatar sucks!! That’s right, I went there!! I don’t care if some people think that there are real Navi people out there or that Pandora is real…Avatar is all graphics and no storyline. Eat that, James Cameron!!

OK, anyway, back to the party. So yeah, I have 3 choices which are relatively easy for the guest to dress up for and for me to arrange some simple games and prizes for the kids. I intend to make it small, just have Dina invite her classmates. I have school, people!! Weekends are for catching up on sleep.

I’m still open for ideas on the party though..so if anyone has any, please share!

Last Weekend...

2011-09-19T13:13:00.000+08:00

Harini berjaya bangun untuk sahur. Wuuhuu!! Walaupun badan letih sebab aktiviti hujung minggu still ada kesan, tapi digagahkan jugak. Lama aku dok tenung benda dalam food cabinet, last2 capai roti ngan jem jugak. Pelahap 3 keping. Tambah ngan secawan milo, harap2 dapat la bertahan sampai maghrib. Disebabkan hati sukaria sebab berjaya sahur, maka aku pun terus la mandi dan solat subuh dengan niat nak terus pi keje pepagi buta.

Memang pepagi buta aku sampai kat office, takde manusia lagi. Sebab arini aku ada kelas, jadi aku ngan En Rashid naik kete asing2. Aku dah sampai parking, dpt WhatsApp dari En Rashid…paskad dia tertinggal dalam kete aku. Eke ele..terpaksa la aku jadi mak tonggok kejap kat tempat parking, nak tunggu mamat ni sampai. Sib baik kejap je. En Rashid cuba menjadi suami mithali dengan mengajak aku pi breakfast. Malangnya, itu hanya menyerlahkan ketidakprihatinan dia kerana dah 10 kali aku bagitau dia aku posa arini. Yishhh!!

Last weekend, we all went back to my in laws. En Rashid’s cousin was getting married. Ni cousin yang ke126 agaknya. Manjang ada cousin dia yang kawin. Anyway, since Friday was also a holiday (Happy Malaysia Day everyone!), we first went to visit my parents to see my dad who had just had a hernia operation. Ouch!! Good to announce that he’s doing better though slightly sore.

Pi wedding pening kepala aku. Ari Sabtu pi ikut rombongan bertandang kat Merlimau. Cuaca..pergh, bahang!! Aku yang dah punya lama tak migraine terus migraine. Sib baik En Rashid prihatin, pi kedai belikan Actifast untuk aku.

On Sunday was the wedding on our side plak. Pi makan je, then terus cabut balik Bangi. On the way, we saw 6 accidents. Dasat!! Semua accident bangsa 4-5 kereta sekali involved. Agak merangkak sket la nak balik tu, so we stopped at Seremban R&R for prayers. Sampai rumah, sambung tido kejap then pi Econsave beli groceries.

1st Day of Class

2011-09-13T07:38:00.000+08:00

So yesterday was my 1st day back to class, after a loooonnnngggg break. Eventhough part of me was dreading the work and sleepless nights up ahead, part of me was still excited to come back to school, to see those familiar faces and find out whether my lecturer was an ogre or not.

I was a bit late arriving but since it was the 1st day, a lot of students were still jumping here and there, looking for their classrooms. Some were still contemplating which electives to take.

Unfortunately, the books for my electives had not yet arrived so it was basically just an introductory lecture for the first day. Oya, my lecturer is NOT an ogre (phew!!) but she seems strict. She does seem somewhat organized, which I feel is a trend among the lady lecturers (and the lady ones only!). I have a few friends from last trimester with me in this class, though the majority of my classmates are full-time students. I don't know why we part-timers just dread the full-time students, but it was a hot topic during dinner. Hahahaha. All in all, my class is rather small (only 16 of us), with a few hot Iranian gals thrown into the mix.

Min, you and I would have totally drooled over those gals together!!

I have classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays which seems fine to me. I will find ways to have afternoon meetings in Cyberjaya during those days..hehe. Thank god I don't have classes on Friday (sucks to be you, Min !).

Oya, fasting again today. Only my 2nd day but getting back into gear. Yesterday was "penuh dugaan"...hmmm. But since I woke up for sahur today, hopefully I won't turn into an ogre half way through the day.

ps: Got to work at 7.15am today!! Felt mighty smug but no one else is here yet to hear me brag.

A Review of the Weekend

2011-09-12T14:04:00.002+08:00

Sorry guys for not updating my blog as much. The internet at home as been like WT%^$#*(@!%. Grrrr..

En Rashid and I finally took last Friday off to “celebrate” our anniversary. In the end, we spent it at the Immigration Office because we realized that our maid’s visa had expired!! Delightful!

On Saturday, we spent the day lounging around the house. Such a luxury nowadays. On Sunday, we took the girls to watch Cars 2. Daria, who was an angel the last time we took her to the movies, turned into the Tasmanian Devil this time. She refused to sit down in her chair and proceeded to turn around and “talk” to the people behind her. Horrors!! In the end, I took her outside and as it turned out, she had peed through her diaper. Great!!

I start classes today. After 9 weeks of break, the thought of staying up until 3am to complete assignments just doesn’t feel right. Hahaha. Plus, this trimester, we start our electives so most of my classmates will be scattered as some of us will be taking Marketing, Finance, HR, IB or General Management.

Min, we won’t be able to gossip and share titty jokes in class anymore!!! L

Really feeling the Monday Blues today. Plus I’m fasting so can’t use food as my refuge. *Sigh*

Happy 10th Anniversary

2011-09-08T10:09:00.000+08:00

YEAH, WHATEVER!!

*Mood bengang sebab dah apply cuti tapi En Rashid kena masuk office. So aku pun masuk office. Apa kes sambut anniversary sorang2?

1st Raya...

2011-09-06T08:50:00.000+08:00

Dah start keje dah arini. Tapi malasnya nauzubillah. Nak kata mood raya lagi, dah takde mood raya dah. Raya ke3 aku dah buhsan ngan raya. Bleh? Sedih betul…betul orang kata, raya ni untuk bebudak sebenarnya. Aku rasa kalau family aku jenis yang dok jejauh tu maybe terasa sket feel raya tu kot. Ni tiap2 bulan ngadap muka family aku ngan En Rashid, time raya macam..ek eleh, muka ko lagi?

Niat aku nak soh bebudak buat show sebelum dapat duit raya fail. Aku bukan soh buat benda susah pun, nyanyi la sket…takpun joget cakpung ke. Ni depa bleh stare aku balik, macam..apahal ni, bagi je la angpow tu bleh tak? Epic fail.

Hari Raya 1^st, kat rumah parents aku. 1^st time buat camtu. Selalu kalau raya 1^st day kat KL, mesti pi rumah wan aku kat keramat. Tahun ni, ayah aku dah declare, pagi raya kat rumah dia. Lagipun, dia pun dah bercucu 4 dah. Aku ok je..yang penting adik beradik aku semua ada la. Yang cousin mousin tu petang2 sket jumpa pun takpe.

So pagi raya kat rumah parents aku. Terasa gak kelainan dia sket. More intimate. Time sessi salam2, for the first time, semua orang dok sebut semua kesalahan kesilapan yang pernah buat kat orang lain. An honest and tearful event. Part aku salam ayah, aku takleh nak cakap bebanyak. Aku tengok muka ayah aku pun, dah terasa lump in my throat. Time salam ibu lak, aku membebel selama 5 minit. Semua benda aku minta maaf, cakap thank you sebab jaga aku, tolong jaga anak2 aku, banyak lagi la. Time tu airmata dah berderai. Ibu aku pun dah berair macam baru lepas tengok cite Hindustan. Terus minta kotak tisu soh letak tepi dia. Time salam adik2 aku pun sama….semua aku doakan berjaya, menjadi anak soleh, rajin solat, jangan lupakan ibu ayah. Emotional beb!

Dah habis salam2 tu, kitaorang bergambar sat. Kali ni, anak buah aku si Shayen Iman menjadi tumpuan. Daria agak jeles. Bukan agak…tersangat!! Aku dukung si Iman tu kejap pun, dia dah tarik2 tangan aku soh letak bawah balik. Lepas tu soh dukung dia plak. Kot berat tak macam seguni beras takpe la gak kan. Ni naik patah tangan aku nak dukung dia.

Agak2 lepas zohor, baru kitaorg pi rumah wan aku. Cousin mousin aku semua dah ada. Sessi salam menyalam lagi, Cuma kali ni takde nangis2 ke apa. Gelak2 lagi ada la. Lepas tu sessi melahap. Berapa round aku makan, aku takmo ingat. Kita andaikan 2 pinggan je la yer. Disebabkan asyik melantak, lupa nak ambik gambar bebanyak gan wan aku. Isy..nyesal lak.

Petang tu, balik semula ke rumah parents aku. Sessi tido kejap, lepas tu get ready cousin mousin aku nak mai plak. En Rashid dah gelisah…bila nak start jalan pi rumah mak dia plak ni? Tapi sebab dah janji ngan anak2 aku nak tunggu cousin2 aku mai sebab nak main bunga api sekali, terpaksa la dia pasrah. Akhirnya, kul 930pm baru kitaorg bertolak ke Melaka. Takpela, asalakan 1^st raya still dapat kat rumah mak dia. Walaupun tinggal 20 minit lagi nak masuk 2^nd raya. Heeee…

*post ni patut ada gambar...tapi internet rumah aku macam cilabeng je..payah nak update...nantila...*

Last Day Working Before Raya...

2011-08-26T13:45:00.000+08:00

Ofis dah start kosong. Memang patu kosong la kan..sebab yang jantan pi solat Jumaat, yang pompuan pi buat last minute shopping kat level LG ofis. Aku? Tak sanggup nak jejak kaki kat situ. Bak kata boss, tempat tu macam Bermuda Triangle..tau2 je, duit dah lesap dari dompet. Beli ntah apa2 benda.

Cakap pasal boss aku, sian dia. Arini dapat MC sebab kena chicken pox. Alahai..beraya la ngan muka bintik2. Mulut mengunyah lemang sambil tangan merayap menggaru belakang. Nak buat camne, dah nak kena...sapu je la calamine lotion bebanyak.

Harini ramai yang ambik half day, especially those yang nak drive balik kampung jejauh. Aku? Takde feel nak beraya sangat sebab 1) keje banayk tak settle 2) aku beraya kat Shah Alam dulu so feel nak kena drive jejauh takde pun. Bagus jugak...tak sanggup aku nak dok dalam kete sampai 10 jam. Aku balik Melaka tiap2 bulan (kena stresskan tu!) dok dalam kete sejam setengah tu pun dah panas bontot. Aku suka travelling...tapi part kena travel tu yang tak suka. Hmm, camne ayat tu? Suka pi melawat tempat2 orang...tapi kalau bleh, pejam celik mata je terus dah ada kat tempat tu. Eevnthough orang kata...it's not the destination but the journey that counts...pada aku, journey tu la yang bleh buat aku muntah kelanyah bagai. Please la, someone invent the teleporter soon. Bleh aku travel macam orang2 Star Trek tu je.

Anyway, tujuan aku tulis entri ni nak ucapkan Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir Batin kepada semua orang yang singgah di blog ni. Walaupun bilangannya tak ramai, tapi at least u all bagi komen2 tu..hehehe..terhibur gak la. Aku nak ambik kesempatan untuk meminta maaf bebanyak andainya ada entri2 blog aku yang membuat kamu semua marah ke, sedih ke, terasa hati ke....sememangnya apa yang aku tulis kat sini, hanya untuk kenangan diri sendiri dan bukan berniat nak menyakitkan hati sesiapa. Kepada yang nak balik kampung tu, please drive carefully and arrive at your destination safe and sound. Biar lambat asal selamat.

Sekali lagi, SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI!!!

What Made Me Believe In Humanity Again...

2011-08-25T10:44:00.000+08:00

The Japanese are well known for many things. Many admirable things. I wanted to blog about this last week but was too poofed out after terawih.

********************
The earthquake and tsunami that walloped Japan left much of its coastline ravaged, but left one thing intact: the Japanese reputation for honesty.

In the five months since the disaster struck, people have turned in thousands of wallets found in the debris, containing $48 million in cash.

More than 5,700 safes that washed ashore along Japan's tsunami-ravaged coast have also been hauled to police centers by volunteers and search and rescue crews. Inside those safes officials found $30 million in cash. One safe alone, contained the equivalent of $1 million.

The National Police Agency says nearly all the valuables found in the three hardest hit prefectures, have been returned to their owners.

"In most cases, the keyholes on these safes were filled with mud," said Koetsu Saiki with the Miyagi Prefectural Police. "We had to start by cutting apart the metal doors with grinders and other tools."

Determining who the safes belonged to, proved to be the easy part. Saiki says most kept bankbooks or land rights documents inside the boxes, containing their names and address. Tracking the owners down, was much more challenging.

Total of $78 Million Was Returned to Owners in Wake of Japan Catastrophe

"The fact that these safes were washed away, meant the homes were washed away too," he said. "We had to first determine if the owners were alive, then find where they had evacuated to."

Saiki says Miyagi police fanned out across the region, searching for names of residents posted at evacuation centers, digging through missing person reports at town halls, sorting through change of address forms at the post office, to see if the owner had moved away. When they couldn't find the documents, police called listed cell phone numbers, met with mayors or village leaders to see if they recognized the names.

The number of safes continued to increase as the clearing of tsunami debris led to more discoveries. Police stations struggling to find space for them housed the valuables in parking garages and meeting rooms.

Saiki says 20 percent of the 2,450 safes found in Miyagi turned out to be empty. But, the remaining 250 boxes contained much more than cash. Some included bars of gold, antiques, even crafted boxes containing a child's umbilical cord, a common memento of child birth. Police had to delicately comb through the keepsakes, since many of the items were damaged, after being soaked in seawater and mud for days or weeks.

The stashing of cash in safes isn't a unique problem in Japan, where many people prefer to keep their money at home, but Saiki says the number of boxes is especially high in the coastal region where fishermen make up a large part of the population. Fisheries companies prefer cash transactions, and keep employee salaries in safes, he said.

The number of lost items recovered has declined with every month, but Saiki says his department continues to receive a handful of safes a week.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/honest-japanese-return-78-million-cash-found-quake/story?id=14322940

***************************

Can you imagine? I mean the people who found the safes and valuables would also have been victims of the earthquake and tsunami. Not for one minute did they even think about keeping the money and using it for their own purposes. There's no Finder's Keepers mentality there. If it's not yours, then you need to return it to its rightful owner.

Again, I just can't express how impressed I am with the Japanese. Maybe to them, this is not a big issue. But to me, who have seen on a daily basis, the selfishness of mankind...it made me stop and think. And continue to be impressed.

China Trip - Day 2

2011-08-20T23:44:00.000+08:00

Okla, we continue my China Trip. I just need to jot this down for memories sake.

We started off Day 2 with a visit to the Host Company's exhibition center. It was an interesting visit, if not very technical. I guess I understood 50% of what was being discussed. I'm more of a visual person anyway, all these technical solutions never really catch my interest anyway.

The rest of the team, apparently understanding what was being presented. Heee.

Me, trying to understand. Hmmm....

The staff going out for lunch. Despite going out in the hundreds, it was so organized and efficient. Like clockwork.

The luxury coach from the side. Giller best!!

This is where we went for lunch, a Chinese Muslim restaurant. It has really good food. Best of all, it had....

....roasted lamb!!! It was so good...

...we gobbled the whole thing up!! Like the carnivores we are.
After lunch, it was back to the hotel for prayers and a quick rest. Then we headed back to the Host Company's offices for more presentations.

Video conferencing demo, among other things.
We spent another 3 hours or so at the demo center, then it was back to the hotel for a quick bath, prayers and getting ready for dinner.
We were taken to an Indonesian Seafood restaurant for dinner.

Being seafood, the food was rather interesting. We ate squid, prawns, fish and jellyfish. Yum yum!

After dinner, we were taken for a treat....super foot massages!

We all took the specialty, ginger foot massage. I didn't take any pictures during my massage because I fell asleep half way through. It was that good. I woke up when they placed the ginger strips on my calves because it was super hot!! After a while you could feel the ginger seeping into your skin. Within an hour, our feet were revitalized and ready for more the next day.

Day 3 later!

Matta...

2011-08-15T23:20:00.000+08:00

Hilang mood lak aku nak sambung cite China. Nantila...kot2 semangat aku datang, aku sambung story. Time tu sure dah basi 2-3 bulan. Nasib la kan.

Last weekend patut kitaorg balik rumah in laws aku. Tapi tak jadi sebab MIL aku nak mai plak ke sini tengok akak ipar aku masuk hospital. Sian SIL aku, kena admitted sebab low placenta. Dah tu senang sangat bleeding. Doctor tahan sampai nak bersalin. Kalau bersalin minggu depan takpe la kan...ni lagi 2 bulan!! Dok la bed rest kat hospital tu sampai muntah kebosanan. Aritu aku ngan En Rashid pi melawat, memang giller bohsan. Dah la TV jenis siaran hujan. Setakat ada TV1, TV2, TV3 dan siaran hujan..hehehe. Aku cadangkan dia beli iPad..paling tidak dapat la main Angry Bird sampai terror.

Ni aku tengah sayu dengar suara anak kucing menangis atas bumbung jiran belakang rumah aku. Anak kucing tu kena culik ngan monyet aritu. Oya, aku tak cite lagi hal monyet bangang yang dah start terrorize area rumah aku ni. Dah 2 kali dia masuk rumah aku...sekali tu dia ranapkan bilik air aku yang kat tingkat 2 tu!! Habis semua towel2 aku hitam kena tapak tangan dia semua. Sib baik aku tutup pintu bilik air tu, kalau tak, mesti dia dah masuk bilik aku. Satu keje aku nak ngejar dia kluar bilik aku lak.

Aku dah pernah panggil dah Animal Control mai tangkap monyet tu. Takut la wei...aku ada anak kecik yang comel gebu. Kot monyet tu berkenan nak buat kawan, dia gigitnya nanti...tak comel gebu la anak aku lagi!! Tapi time orang2 tu datang, monyet tu lesap lak. Cam tau2 je ada orang nak mai tangkap dia. Dua hari lepas dia colek anak Terra bawak naik aras bumbung. Menjerit2 Terra tengok anak dia kena kidnap dek monyet lahanat tu. Dah tu, monyet tu biar je si anak kucing tu kat atas bumbung. Aku rasa dia ada kat salur air tu, tapi tak nampak. Dengar suara dia dok nangis panggil mak dia je. Siannya...si Terra lak tak tau camne nak panjat ke atas tu. Dia pun dok tiak2 panggil anak dia. Isy...agak2 kalau aku panggil bomba selamatkan si anak kucing tu, melampau ke? Aku ni mudah sensitif la plak...aku rasa esok lusa mesti dah tak dengar suara anak kucing tu dah. Mau mati kelaparan dia kat atas tu. Isy..takleh pikir....*sob*.

Oya, tajuk entry aku konon nak cite hal aku pi Matta Fair ngan En Rashid tapi dah malas plak. Sebabnya, aku dah dengar suara anak kucing tu makin sayup. Isy...aku nak pi suruh En Rashid pujuk aku kejap. Sedih plak!

I'll Never Let You Go Jack!!

2011-08-11T16:27:00.000+08:00

I don't know whether to cry or laugh my t*ts off!!

Sigh...Jack! Wake Up! There's a boat! There's a boat!!

China Trip - Day 1 Continue

2011-08-08T23:13:00.000+08:00

So we continue my trip to China. After resting a while at the hotel (I almost fell asleep, the bed was divine!), we headed out for dinner. The Host Company had prepared a luxury coach for us, to take us around the city.

My colleague and me camwhoring in the coach. Maybe the bosses who were used to such VIP treatment were unfazed but I was impressed. The seats were heaven and they could even be rotated to face each other, so practically you could have a meeting in the coach. Like Air Force One! Hahaha...

Korang pernah tengok lampu kalimantang dalam kereta? Pernah? Complete with mini bar and a huge TV screen. Each window had its own remote controlled blinds.

On the way to the restaurant, we saw a lot of interesting buildings. I have to applaud Shenzen for being so architecturally amazing.

The entrance to our dinner tent. The Host Company took us to this Middle East restaurant. Already from the outside, it looked impressive.

The table setting. I think the tent could accommodate 10 - 12 people for a private lunch/dinner.

Among the food that was ordered. Everything was so yummy. I really liked the coconut palm drink. Everyone else thought it was too creamy..hehehe...more for me then.

This is the view outside of the tents. I don't know what a castle has to do with the Middle East but it was rather impressive, nonetheless. This is were the public can sit down for their lunch/dinner. We didn't have time to explore the castle though as we were suppose to go see a cultural show (which we were already late for!)

The entrance and map to the cultural show. I think the place was called Shenzen - Window of the World or something like that. Since we arrive at night, most of the park had closed except for the cultural show. From the reviews in tripadvisor, the place is a wonderland so it was a pity we couldn't visit it during the day (kompeni hantar pi keje la wei...bukan bercuti pun!! Heheheh..)

Some pictures from the show. I took quite a few but I didn't want to miss out on the action so there was a lot I didn't record. The show was amazing!! The stage was multilevel and even had a fountain come out of it at one time. The dancers were amazing and had spectacular costumes on. Eventhough everything was in Chinese, they had a big screen TV to one side with English translations so you could follow the storyline.

Our VIP seats were smack center!! Best seats there.

Live horses!!

The props were amazing!

The Water Lily Queen arises from below...complete with fountain!

Cool laser effect!

The finale!

After the show. The place cleared our pretty quickly so we all stayed back for a while to take pictures. Our tour guide told us the Chinese characters above said "Amazing China". After seeing the show, I couldn't agree more.

Final group photo before heading back to the hotel. You could purchase a DVD of the show from one of the vendors there. The price was OK, about CNY40 each (they had DVDs for the day show and the night show).

More on Day 2 next time.

The Author Totally Gets It!!

2011-08-05T17:09:00.000+08:00

Found this article while I was site surfing during lunch.

Hands raised if you've ever suffered through #1!!

Which is why....no thank you, not ever again.

http://www.cracked.com/article_19298_7-terrifying-things-they-dont-tell-you-about-pregnancy.html

China Trip - Day 1

2011-08-04T00:55:00.000+08:00

OK, so I was suppose to bring the girls for Terawih tonight but it started raining. Plus, En Rashid is outstation so it didn't feel right going without him, eventhough he had already given permission. Nevermind, hopefully tomorrow the weather will be better and we can go then.

So since the girls are asleep, I have some time to update about my work trip to China. There were 7 of us in a group heading there, plus one from the Host Company who was from the Malaysian office. We took the flight to Hong Kong then were shuttled into Shenzen, China. The trip to HK was uneventful but I finally got to see the movie Sucker Punch. Loved it!! Emily Browning was fabulous in that movie, I don't care what the critics think. I also got to see a little bit of Never Let Me Go but was only halfway through it when we touched down in HK.

Once we landed in HK, everyone made a mad rush for the toilets. I don't know why that is...it's always the toilets that become the first place of attraction. Hehehe. After everyone had relieved themselves, we headed out to search for our rides into China.

The Host Company had prepared 2 Alphards for us. Giller perak!! I've never been in an Alphard before so excuse the photo sharing.

Sebagai mem, kita harus la conquer seat belakang. Muahahahhaa!!

Getting out of Hong Kong was a breeze. Getting into China however, was horrendous. We were stuck at the immigration for nearly an hour!

Apparently, they had like 20 lanes there but most of them were just for show. All the Alphards had to line up at 2-3 lanes and open their boots and make sure everyone's faces could be seen by the immigration officer. A bit of a nightmare. I can't imagine how those people who work in HK but live in Shenzen (and vice versa) do it everyday.

Once we had cleared immigration, we headed straight for the hotel. We stayed at the Pavilion Hotel, Shenzen. It was a very nice hotel, strategically situated right next to the Digital Mall. The guys were already salivating, thinking about all the gadgets they were going to buy.

The check in counter. I don't understand what the background motive had to do with Shenzen, or China for that matter, but I liked it!!

The big ass chandelier. They put fresh flowers in the lobby everyday. It smelt so nice walking by them every morning.
When we got to our room, it was surprise to see the following.

Prayer mat, complete with compass and a welcome gift (China silk scarf).

The bed was huge...and I had it all to myself!! Bliss....

The bathroom was nice and cozy and had all the items required.

Nice big closet to hang all my clothes and place my shoes. Love the robes, they were so soft.

The room was rather big, I could easily fit another bed in it. Sigh...at that time, all I could think of were my babies at home. If only I could have brought them with me....

The view form my room. Even with all the construction going on, Shenzen was still a very green city. The tall one in the background is still under construction but will be the tallest building in Shenzen once its finished.

After taking a breather, we headed out for dinner. Which I'll write about more in my next post. Time for sleep!!

Sakit Tekak!

2011-08-03T12:49:00.000+08:00

Masa kat China, sihat giller. Balik je, terus sakit tekak, perit giller sampai nak telan air liur pun pedih. Pi jumpa doctor, dia bagi ubat hisap, tapi makan time malam je. Sayang la nak tinggal puasa sebab tekak ni je. Lagipun tekak tengah tak best, bukan bleh makan hebat2 pun.

Letih sebenarnya pi outstation ni. Semalam aku MC sebab dah tak mampu nak paksa diri nak pi kerje. Last2 aku bantai qada' tido sampai kul 12. Kepala berdenyut, terasa denyut dia sampai ke tekak. Bleh ke? Parah betul. Ntah apa pekenan orang China tu dah kena kat aku. Yang tak bestnya, dah 2 malam aku tertinggal terawih. Dapat pi malam pertama tu je. Isy, malam ni kena usaha pi. Sian, Kaklong ngan Kakngah dah excited nak pi masjid.

Arini dah ok sket, cuma tekak still perit. Cakap pun takleh paksa2...so main bisik2 je. Boring betul, dah la ada meeting. Jarang aku diam je time meeting. Ada aku dok belakang main soduko kat handphone je kang.

I'm Back...

2011-08-01T09:23:00.002+08:00

...from Shenzen, China. Went there for a business trip. Had a very nice time as the vendor treated us all like VIPs. Hehehe...however, it was rather tiring and since today is also the 1st day of fasting.....YAAWWWNNNNN...I'm so tired.

But work must continue. Hopefully I'll be able to blog about what happened there. Synopsis: We ate a lot, we met a lot of people and we shopped like crazy. Muahahahhaa....

Later...

oya: SELAMAT BERPUASA to all my Muslim friends and family members. Terawih jangan tinggal!!

Sports Day

2011-07-23T14:03:00.001+08:00

Last weekend, Dania and Dina had their school's Sports Day. Unfortunately for them, they both were unable to qualify for any individual events.

"Memula Kakngah masuk 70m, dapat #4, lepas tu 100m, dapat #5."

"Berapa orang lari sesama?"

"Lima."

Alahai...nevermind la my girls. I was never much of a runner myself (still not!). I was more into team sports like netball, basketball, badminton and volleyball (though I sucked at that...heehe).

The Sports Day was held on a Saturday for those in Std. 1 - 3 and on Sunday for those in Std. 4 -6. I think it made sense to break up the classes like that because, really none of the parents wanted to stay beyond 12pm.

Initially, I had planned to just drop off the girls at school then head back to catch up on my sleep. In the end, I ended up staying until the whole thing finished, which was around 1130am.

I missed seeing Dina participate in her event because the teachers had initially set up the games near the student tents, instead of the parents' tents. Plus, Dina had told me she was in the beanbag event, when actually she was in the drag-the-ball-using-hulahoop event. I had only realized she had finished when later on she came up to me, showing the medal she got.

"Wah, you got a medal! For what place?"

"Fourth!"

Alahai...nevermind. At least you had fun.

Dania participated in the "big shoes" event (terompah besar). Luckily I was able to spot her out from among the crowd. She was just about to start when I saw her and sprinted across the field to take her picture.

Her team was the first to go. I think there were like 3 teams of 3 and the last person had to run to the finish line with the ball. Dania's team showed great teamwork and they were the first team to reach the 1st checkpoint.

Excuse the excited voice in the foreground. Just another mom being in the moment for her child.

Unfortunately, they fumbled on the transition part and fell behind. In the end, they got fourth by a slight margin.

Eventhough they didn't get first place (or second or third..hehe), the important thing is they learned the concept of teamwork and had fun in the process.

Introducing Shayen Iman

2011-07-22T23:01:00.001+08:00

At my in-laws right now (2nd time this month!). What better reason than to use the time to update my blog...hehehe.

My brother is a father!! Wuuhuu!! The fact that I still see my brothers as the irritating, little snots they were when they were younger, just ads to the wowness of the situation.

I remember I was in Melaka for a briefing session when my SIL called with updates. She had gone for her checkup and the doctor had told her, she had opened 4cm.

"Long, camne yer? Nak buat apa?"

Buat apa? Heheehe...get ready je laa.

I asked her whether her water had broke or she had started spotted. Both negative. So I said, go home first, get your hospital bags ready and go eat whatever you're craving.

"Ya...we're on our way to Star.bucks now."

Early the next morning, my brother sms'ed me. "Alhamdullilah Zaiti dah selamat melahirkan anak lelaki jam 419am. Berat 3kg. Mother sedang rehat. Father layan baby main blinking blinking."

I immediately called my mom. Of course, she was already in the know and mighty ecstatic. Initially I wanted to go see the little dude in the hospital but time did not permit. So the whole family went to see them after my SIL had been discharged and was resting at home.

Here's the picture of the little dude that was mms'ed to me by my brother. Mata sepet!!

And here he is, sleeping in his crib at home.

Dania posing with Shayen.

Dina and Daria posing with Shayen. My mom was standing by behind them because Daria kept shaking the crib, trying to wake the little dude! Anguuunnn...anguunn...baby sleep je!

Mohawk style!

7th July 2011, welcome to the family, baby Shayen!! We love you so much!!

A Lot To Write About

2011-07-19T11:11:00.002+08:00

1. My new nephew, Shayen Iman.
2. The girls' sports day.
3. Outing to i-City.

I shall find the time....soon.

AlFatihah Untuk Keluarga Arwah Dr. Lo' Lo'

2011-07-18T13:45:00.000+08:00

Rasanya semua mungkin dah dengar berita. Dr. Lo' Lo' meninggal dunia malam semalam akibat kanser. Berita yang sedih, bukan sahaja bagi penyokong politik beliau tapi juga saudara mara dan sahabat handai.

Aku kenal arwah sebab rumah dia betul2 sebelah rumah arwah atok aku kat Keramat. Selama kitaorang kena dia, memang beliau seorang yang baik hati dan peramah. Tak kedekut dengan senyuman. Masa atok aku sakit dulu, dia selalu datang menjenguk, bagi ubat, bagi nasihat. Memang baik orangnya.

Aku tak tau pun dia sakit. Maybe dia tak bagitau orang kot. Or maybe aku je yang tak tau. Apa2 pun, aku harap dia pergi dengan aman. Harap keluarganya pun dapat hadapi dugaan ini dengan tabah.

Semoga roh Arwah Dr. Lo' Lo' ditempatkan disisi mereka yang diredhai oleh Allah.

Terlanjur perahu boleh undurkan....

2011-07-12T17:59:00.000+08:00

Kata2 diluahkan dalam keadaan badan tengah mengelegak.

Yang mendengar tidak mengerti.

Yang mengadu terasa diabaikan.

End result, hearts are hurting...tears are being shed.

If only people would listen and try to understand.

Report Cards

2011-07-09T21:01:00.000+08:00

Today En Rashid and I went to pick up the girls' report cards at the Kafa school. Luckily Dania reminded me, if not we would have both forgotten.

We headed there around 1030am. In the newsletter, it said to be at the school from 800 - 1100. Hmm..as always, last minute.

We met up with Dina's teacher first. Alhamdulillah, my not-so-little girl is doing well. She got 100 for a few subjects while the rest were over 90. Overall, she got #3 in class. Her teacher said her quran recital was fine, just needed to practise more.

It was, unfortunately, a different story with Dania. If during her 1st semester, she got #1, this time she got #6. The worst part is, her marks for all her subjects had declined dramatically. Some from 100 to 75! Even her teacher mentioned, that Dania liked to play around in class nowadays and at times failed to pay attention.

I'm disappointed. Only because I know my daughter can do better. Even her Sek. Keb. results had declined (from #3 to #11).

I don't blame her 100% though. As a parent, I know I can play a bigger role when it comes to my children's education. It's not just enough sending them to school and making sure they do their homework. I should take advantage of the fact I have no classes until September and sit down with them as they do their work. Make sure they really understand. Make sure they do enough exercises.

I know some moms out there will tell me to chill out. Getting a B is not the end of the work. That's not the point. If I know Dania had worked really hard but still got a B, I would have been proud of her. The fact of the matter is, she hasn't been studying much and it has shown. She's been watching way too much TV, spending way too much time reading story books instead revision.

Their next exams are in August. I hope Dania works harder (and I hope I can be there for her more) and gets better results.

Results Are Out!

2011-07-07T16:16:00.001+08:00

Ok..ok..Noresh especially, don't roll your eyes.

What?

Yes..thank you..thank you. Hehehee. But seriously, Law was unexpected. The best grade I was hoping for was an A-. But of course I'll settle for an A too...:D.

Not Guilty?

2011-07-06T14:58:00.000+08:00

Like everyone else who has been following the case closely, I must say...I'm speechless.

Casey Anthony has been found NOT GUILTY of first-degree murder, child abuse and manslaughter of her 2 year old daughter, Caylee Anthony.

http://news.yahoo.com/anthony-trial-lack-evidence-good-defense-000636253.html
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43636855/ns/today-today_news/t/casey-anthony-found-not-guilty-murdering-daughter/

Apparently the prosecution team did not do a good enough job of proving that Casey was the one who placed the duct tape over Caylee's mouth and nose or was the one that buried her.

Wow.

I'm sad.

Sad for Caylee. That precious little angel. That innocent, beautiful little girl.

Where's the justice for her? This little girl was missing for over a month before her "mother" (I use the term very loosely) reported her gone. Even then, all the lies...all the manipulations....all the "stories"...

I can tell you this. If any of my girls went missing for even a MINUTE, I would be screaming in the streets, calling their name, calling up the police, fire department, the newspapers, the TV stations, the Prime Minister....everyone, and have them out looking for my child.

I would NOT be getting a tattoo, going to parties, blaming stuff on my so-call abusive father, laughing and smiling like there's no worry in the world.

But maybe that's just me.

Biyacth of The Year

2011-07-05T17:25:00.000+08:00

Oh please bitch! Stop acting so high and mighty in the meetings. No one thinks you're great except you. There's no need to put people down as if we're stupid.

And don't tell me I'm emotional. You haven't seen me emotional. You WILL KNOW when I'm emotional.

Sick!!

2011-06-30T12:20:00.002+08:00

I'm sick. Who do I get to thank for this? I'm eyeing on of my staff...she's been having the sniffles for days. I must have got the germs from her. Hmmm...

It's been a while since I've been sick. In fact I can't remember my last flu. I was just talking to my girlfriends the other day and commenting how I haven't been sick in quite a while. Cakap besar lagi kan?

It started yesterday. I was sniffling and sneezing and my nose was running but only through one nostril. I hate it when that happens. My eyes were getting all watery and I started to feel a fever coming. I stuck it out until the end of the day but right after dinner, I took a pill and then slept at 10pm.

I woke up this morning with my nose all blocked up and a pounding headache. It felt like all the snot had gotten frozen inside my forehead. I went downstairs, had some milk and took another pill. Then went back to bed. When I woke up again, I saw 6 messages and 5 missed calls on my mobile. Ah bein!

I hope I don't get sick during the weekend. My cousin is getting married and we're planning to go back to my in-laws to see hubby's new niece. It would suck if I couldn't hold the baby due to a flu.

Oh well, time for another nap. I feel a bit better so hopefully I'll be ok for work tomorrow. And here's hoping I don't spread my germs to the girls cause that would REALLY suck then.

Some Things You Just Have to See To Believe...

2011-06-29T15:04:00.000+08:00

Trying to picture it..trying...trying.

Nope..seriously, I just can't wrap my mind around this. Like she sprayed breastmilk...like an elephant would spray water out its trunk?

Too funny.

Finals Are Over!!

2011-06-26T14:33:00.000+08:00

Finally, I'm done with my finals. Last night was my final paper for MIS. I guess I did ok but the fact we had to answer 5 out of 8 questions, really put a strain on my brain and hand. And that was only Section B! Section A had like 4 more questions which we had to answer all. Brutal.

But as brutal MIS was, it was nothing compared to Law. God, I'm still so pissed about that exam. The fact they asked us to memorize cases is one thing, then to give us a list of 2000 cases to choose from as references is another. I felt like quoting The Good Wife or Law & Order, just for the sake of answering.

Fortunately Marketing was predictable, thus I was able to answer the questions. Plus we were only required to answer 2, so it wasn't a huge headache. I'm still a little bit upset that I forgot to put in more examples (I lost marks during mid terms for not doing that), but since it's all over and done with, no use crying over it anymore.

We're on holiday until after raya, meaning no more classes for 14 weeks! While it is exciting and refreshing no having to stay up until 3am to do assignments, I fear that when classes start again in September, I would have lost my momentum to study.

Sigh...whatever it is, 1 year down, just 1 more to go.

When The Big Cat's Away....

2011-06-24T14:22:00.001+08:00

..the little mice conquer the bed!!

Sabar je la...ibu nak tido mana? Haiii...sleep tight, my sleeping princesses.

Apa Yang Berlaku Time Award Nite...

2011-06-21T23:15:00.002+08:00

Aku sebenarnya nak kena study ni. Khamis ni aku final paper untuk Law. Law ok, yang sangat susah tapi lecturer sadis tak bagi bawak notes masuk kali ni. Lepas tu kena hafal kes2 yang berkaitan ngan Act2 tu semua. Giller la...lawyer pun takyah hafal kes. Depa ada sejuta buku nak refer.

Tapi sebab ramai yang dok tanya aku outcome malam award tu (ceh, ramai ke? sorang dua je...hehehe.), aku cerita kejap kat sini.

Aku tak menang.

Huahahaha. Sungguh anti klimax. Tapi takpe...there's always next time. And macam aku cakap dalam post yang lepas, dah kena calonkan pun dah bersyukur dah.

So anyway, Malam Award tu diadakan di dewan sebuah Uni tempatan. Of course la tempatan kan, takkan kat overseas plak...agak melampau di situ. Kira gempak jugak la, organizers tu bikin tema untuk malam tu. Tema dia F1. Jenuh aku ngan En Rashid pikir, apa benda nak pakai ikut tema F1 ni. Baju F1 yang kitaorang ada, punya la dah lama...team tu pun dah takde dah dalam F1 lagi. Last2 pakai sedondon shirt Kompeni je. Memang takde harapan la nak menang Best Dressed. Takpe...janji masih ada can nak menang lucky draw.

Kitaorang sampai dalam kul 8pm sebab En Rashid nak solat maghrib dulu kat rumah. Itu kira aku dah lambat dah tu sebab patut ada kat dewan kul 7pm. Apahal nak soh aku terjenguk kat dewan tu awal2, aku pun tak sure. Masa sampai tu, kitaorang nampak banyak kereta2 sports kat luar dewan. Fuyooo, kereta Ferrari pun ada. Lepas tu tengok manusia2 yang berdress up..memang hebat la. Ramai gak yang pakai ala Umbrella Girl. Terus aku cuit En Rashid, tengok...kalau aku pakai ala Umbrella Girl, mesti aku dah bleh fit in. En Rashid kata setakat umbrella Avon je, baik takyah. Cet!

Yang tak best sket is aku ngan En Rashid tak dapat duduk semeja. Semua nominees kena duduk satu tempat. Tapi yang best, meja aku depan sekali. So puas la tengok persembahan2 semua. And agak gempak jugak la persembahan2 malam tu. Most of them menyanyi...ada satu je group yang buat tarian. Paling gempak mamat yang menang tu la...rock kapak habis!! Time dia dok nyanyi tu, aku sms En Rashid "Tu dia!! Rock Kapak habis...sesuai ngan jiwa abang."

Ni gambar ngan sorang dari group yang dapat #3, Fingerprint. Ok gak performance depa. Lain dari yang lain. Bila MC tanya apasal pakai mask, depa dok bebel pasal werewolf la...apa kebenda. Aku pun terkonfuse di situ...apa kena mengena pakai mask ngan jadi werewolf? Jangan komen kenapa aku tersengih macam kerang busuk dalam gambar ni...memang aku dah terlebih stimulate malam tu. Muahahaa...

Ni gambar aku ngan mamat rock kapak tu. Makeup celak kalah aku. Aku pun tepek bedak je, lipstick pun tak pakai. Sib baik mamat ni takde bulu dada, kalau tak aku dah soh butangkan baju. Auuwww...tak rela you!! Hahaha. En Rashid tak puas hati, camne aku bleh dapat bergambar ngan mamat2 ni. Dah meja aku depan sekali...depa lalu time beratur nak ambik hadiah. Aku main cuit je, ajak bergambar.

Lepas dah habis semua persembahan, depa start umumkan semua pemenang kategori best manager, best executive, best customer support, etc, etc. Dalam kategori aku Best Manager of The Year ada 5 calon. Aku sorang je wanita. Hehehehe...rose among the thorns. Time dia umumkan tu, dia tunjuk muka2 calon kat screen besar...muka aku kluar last. Yang agak lawak sket, time muka aku kluar, ada sedikit technical error...screen terblank kejap. Dalam hati aku dah berkata "petanda awal tak menang tu!"

Memang pun...hahahha...yang terpilih, sorang manager dari Perak. Memang dapat tepukan gemuruh la sebab team dari Perak turun berduyun2. Siap ngan war cry "Ipoh Mali, Tadak Sombong!" Lawak je.

Masa depa umumkan pemenang, En Rashid terus sms aku, "alahai...tipu la. takpe, nasib baik ada rock kapak tadi."

Takpe la cik abang, rezeki takde kali ni. We try harder next time, kay. Cuma melepas la hadiah untuk yang terpilih tu...RM4K. Banyak tu!!

Agak lama jugak part nak bagi award tu. Aku rasa ada dalam 10 ke 11 kategori. Yang best bila time award untuk team, satu team naik ke pentas. Padahal MC dah cakap, wakil sila datang ambik hadiah. Wakil ke benda...depa naik sekali ngan umbrella girl, ngan ahli team yang pakai full face helmet semua. Hahaha..tapi best la, meriah dibuatnya.

Dah habis bagi award, bagi lak award untuk persembahan terbaik. Semua orang dah agak mamat rock kapak tu akan menang. Dia punya showmanship power, jerit kalah Amy Search, sampai terbaring2 atas stage. Pergh!! Memang layak la untuk menang. Tepukan gemuruh untuk dia.

Dah habis bagi semua award tu, depa announce lucky draw plak. Top 3 prizes gempak gak...flight and accommodations to Singapore, Shanghai and Melbourne. Semua tempat2 yang ada F1. Malangnya, aku ngan En Rashid tak terpilih untuk menang apa2 pun...isy, isy, isy. Memang kitaorang jenis tak pernah menang lucky draw.

Habis lucky draw, persembahan dari artis jemputan lak...Faizal Tahir. Time tu En Rashid dah call aku ajak balik. So kitaorang pun balik...tapi singgah kejap ambik gambar ngan kereta2 hebat kat luar dewan tu. Hehehe...

Sorila, gambar agak gelap. Dah nama pun pakai camera phone. Saja je kan, padahal aku dah charge dah camera kat rumah. Lepas tu, sebab aku sibuk nak bawak clutch je pi dinner, lupa nak ambik camera. Takpe, janji dapat tayangkan clutch baru aku.

So itu la dia cite Award Nite hari Sabtu lepas. Walaupun tak terpilih, tapi tak mematahkan semangat untuk berusaha lebih bersungguh2 lepas ni. Nak2 ada yang sms and YM ucap tahniah dan bagitau how proud they were of me. Sob...sungguh menyentuh hati.

Anyway, ada gak yang tanya...kalau aku terpilih malam tu, apa speech aku nak bagi. Hahahaha...ada la gak rehearse bagi speech sket...kot2 la terpilih kan (wishful thinking). Speech aku lebih kurang macam ni...

"Wow. Thank you. This is such an honor. 2 people are my inspiration when it comes to my work ethics; first and foremost, my father, who was a loyal Company employee until he retired. Secondly, my husband, who never fails to amaze and inspire me everyday. My sincerest thanks to my bosses; Boss 1, Boss 2 and Boss 3, for nominating me. And last but not least, thanks to my team, for without you guys, I would not be here. This award belongs to all of you. Thank you."

Amacam...ada gaya menang Academy Award tak? Muahahahahaa.....

Terasa Macam Menang Oscar!

2011-06-18T13:00:00.000+08:00

Today was kind of special. I was asked to attend a award ceremony where I was selected as one of the finalists for Manager of the Year.

27,000 employees.
Over 600 nominations.
63 people selected as finalist.

And I'm one of them.

To say I'm honored is an understatement. This goes way beyond anything I ever imagined in my years of service to The Company. It's always nice to be appreciated for your hard work and sacrifice and to get such a public acknowledgement make me want to shout at the top of my lungs, THANK YOU!!!

The actual winner will be announced tonight at the main ceremony. I'm dragging En. Rashid to come as part of my support team. As cheesy as this sounds, it really doesn't matter if I win or not. Just being nominated is already a big deal for me.

I hope I win the lucky draw though. Grand prize is a trip to Melbourne....sweet!!

New Baby Girl in the House!

2011-06-17T12:47:00.000+08:00

No..not my house!!

My SIL gave birth last Wednesday to a beautiful, healthy baby girl. Keisha Fatnin. When I asked her what the name meant, she replied "glamer dalam iman".

Ngada!

Anyway, we have yet to meet the chubby gal in person. Hopefully we'll be going back to Melaka in July, so the girls will get to meet their newest cousin soon.

All Things Indian

2011-06-15T23:02:00.000+08:00

Went out with a few colleagues for lunch today. They wanted to try out one of our vendor's restaurant (reading between the lines: a free lunch!). I was a bit reluctant to go at first because 1) I have shitloads of paperwork to do 2) It was an Indian restaurant...and I don't do Indian food. CORRECTION: I don't do mamak food. Like seriously, how can you eat all that thick curry and stuff? Just looking at it gives me diarrhea.

Anyway, in the end I went since apparently it wasn't a Mamak restaurant but a northern Indian restaurant. Got difference, meh? I guess you got to try it to know.

The place wasn't that far from our office; behind the Bangsar Victoria Station outlet. It was kind of small and cozy. The owners were nice and apparently were waiting for our arrival with anticipation.

We didn't know what to order (like the menu was all Indian food names), so the owners ordered for us. What I can tell you, the nan bread was heavenly. I must have eaten at least 6 slices of those; so soft and tasty. The other items they ordered were also surprisingly good, especially the grilled prawns. The dessert was too sweet for my taste though but it was interesting to try.

We talked throughout the meal and somehow I got talking about En. Rashid's supposedly romantic idea to go see the Taj Mahal for our anniversary. Turns out the vendor also has a hotel in Agra...or maybe it was his friend who had a hotel. Anyhow, he got talking about the places I should see if I ever went to India and told me to let him know when I was going. Muahahaha...maybe next year but it was a nice gesture. Maybe next time I can get a sponsored holiday in India instead of just lunch...:D.

A Quicky

2011-06-14T15:58:00.000+08:00

It's not that I don't have much to update. I have LOTS!! Just that time is not on my side. Usually suspects; work, assignments, family. I feel like the Energizer Bunny. Can’t wait for July for my 10th anniversary romantic trip..hehe.

Yep, it will be 10 years being married to En. Rashid, come this September. Sometimes it feels like a lifetime, sometimes it feels like…what? 10 years with the same guy? God, I’m so faithful! Whatever it is, I couldn’t ask for a better husband. Except maybe Edward Norton but that’s wishful thinking. Heee…so to my cuddly hubby, I love you so much…may we have all happiness life can give us.

This week is our last week of classes, then its final exams next week. Finals…eeekkkk!! The best part is our MIS final is on a Saturday. Urgh. But after the finals, it’s 3 months of holiday from school. Waaahhh…nikmatnya. However I have a feeling that once classes start back in September, it’s going to take me at least 4-5 weeks to get back into the groove. For sure!

The past school holidays was rather mundane for the family. En. Rashid and I only took 2 days off during the 1st week of holidays. We took the kids to see Kungfu Panda 2 and back to my parents home. Fortunately my aunt had booked some chalets over in PD, so she invited my mom to bring the kids there for a swim. As it turned out, they ended up staying for one night because the kids were having too much fun with all my cousins.

OK, got to go. Work a-calling. Till later.

Dinos Alive @ Pusat Sains Negara

2011-06-03T13:49:00.000+08:00

I had read about the exhibition at various blogs so this was a must-do in my list. We finally decided to go last Tuesday, on Dania's 9th Birthday (I still owe her Birthday Note!).

The kids were excited because they love dinosaurs. Don't ask me how many times we've seen Jurassic Park on TV...everytime it's on, we have to see it.

We set out from home around 10am and while we got a bit lost heading there (the signboards were confusing), we reached there at about 1045am. As it was and still is the school holidays, there were several school buses there, all taking school children for a field trip.

If there's one thing to make this trip worthwhile, is getting crushed by screaming, smelling school children.

Tickets were reasonably priced, RM25 for a family ticket which allowed for 2 adults and 2 children. Daria, being only 2, got in for free. Sigh, at the rate she's growing, this free stuff won't be for long.

Before we walked into the exhibition, we had to pass the aquarium with the overhead tunnel. It was awesome...the fishes were as big as En Rashid! Heee...There was one Arapaima that I swear could swallow me whole. Daria was mesmerized with all the fishes and it took quite some persuasion to get her to move to the next phase.

Once we entered the exhibition hall, we were greeted by 2 massive dinosuars. I know one of them was a T-Rex, I've forgotten the name of the other one. I think it started with A.

The dinosuars were kind of cool coz they could move and make sounds. The T-Rex could really roar.

On the ground floor were various science-related activities for kids to try out. They also had 3 types of playgrounds, segregated according to age groups. I took Daria to the one for 4 years and below while En Rashid braved the ones for the older kids with Dania and Dina.

The hall had several levels. More dinosaurs can be found on the 1st floor. I think they had like 10-12 more dinosaurs but in my opinion, the show was a bit lame. I was expecting for the setting to be more spectacular...but it was basically dinosaurs placed in one corner after another. Sure, some of them moved and growled but nothing spectacular happened. A bit dissapointing.

So we spent the rest of the morning trying out the other activities and looking at the other children become monkeys in the playground. Around 1pm, I was starving so En Rashid took us to Ikano for lunch.

So is it worth the admission ticket? Well, the ticket wasn't that expensive and the girls did have fun playing with all the science activities. However, the dinosaur exhibition itself was a disappointment, if you ask me. OK for kids but I think the adults would not be impressed. You'll have a better time in the aquarium tunnel looking at all the fishes.

Because Pandas Are Awesome!!

2011-06-02T22:52:00.000+08:00

En Rashid and I took leave today, which was a good thing because I finished the Law assignment at 4am. Padan muka, tunggu last minute lagi. Dah la Law, nak paham soklan dah setengah jam...nak carik fakta sejam lagi...nak tulis ayat berjam2. Bagus...dah nak subuh baru kepala cecah bantal. Uwaaa...

Anyway, we had promised to take the girls to see the Kungfu Panda 2: The Kaboom of Doom (I love the title!!). I checked our usual haunting grounds but most of them were sold out. Luckily En Rashid found some good seats in Mines. So we decided to take the 1st morning show and then have lunch there.

Initially we didn;t want to take Daria since she might not like being in a movie theater, dark and cold, with loud sounds. But En Rashid took pity on her and promised me that if Daria started crying, he would bring her out of the cinema hall and stay with her. OK, good...promise!

In the end, I was worried for nothing. Daria fell asleep in the car on the way to the mall so for the 1st half hour of the show, she was asleep on En Rashid's shoulder. I can't recall when she woke up but it did take a few minutes for her to adjust to the loud sounds and the big screen. She was scared initially but she relaxed seeing us all beside her. In the end, she actually enjoyed herself.

So how was the movie? Awesome!! Funnier than the 1st one, if I remember correctly. The stunts and animation effects were so smooth and I love how Mantis and Snake got to show more of their kungfu skills in this movie. The chemistry between Po and the Furious Five, especially Tigress is touching. The bad guy is also awesome. Who knew a peacock could be such a badass! I love the way the movie utilized the strength and uniqueness of each animal. And though I wish master Shifu got more screen time, whenever he's on, he commands the screen.

Inner peace....hehehe...

What more can I say...GO SEE THIS MOVIE!! You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll gasp when you see all the kungfu warriors jump up in the air together in slo-mo (seriously, eveyone in the cinema went....Wahhhhhh!!!).

Plus, if you think Po as the Dragon Warrior is cute, wait till you see him as a baby panda. Too Cute!!

Procrastination..As Usual

2011-06-02T00:39:00.000+08:00

Staying up to do our Law take home test. Did I mention that a majority of the class flunked the mid term, thus the reason for the additional test? Major crap!! The best part is, the lecturer mentioned that one person got 18 marks (out of 20), a few more got over 10 marks but majority got less than 10 marks. But she wouldn't say who got what!!

Sadistic!!

I HAVE to complete this take home test, if I wanna continue my winning streak. I have no confidence that I am among those who did well in the mid terms.

But, as usual, I left it until the last minute to do the test. It's due tomorrow, ya all.

Or rather, seeing how I'm typing this at 12.38am...it's due in 18 hours!

Hohoho!!

Along Pi Tengok Wayang Cite Melayu?

2011-05-28T22:43:00.000+08:00

Yer...akhirnya. Walaupun aku memang pernah keluarkan statement "ko bayar aku pun, aku tak hingin tengok wayang cite melayu"...tapi akhirnya aku pasrah.

Demi ibu tersayang. Dah berapa kali orang tua tu dok call aku bagi hint "agak2 kat mana yer cite Nur Kasih tu tunjuk?" " agak2 arini ada ke cite wayang Nur Kasih tu?"

Alaa..cakap je la direct nak aku belikan tiket wayang tu, nak bawakkan pi tengok cite tu. Buat statement agak2 plak.

So in the end, aku belikan ibu aku tiket wayang cite Nur Kasih. Aku tanya, "ibu nak pi tengok ngan sapa?"

"Ntah yer..sapa nak ikut ibu ni?"

Sekali lagi dia bagi hint. Ok la, aku beli satu tiket jugak...follow sekali.Sekali ibu aku bagitau, eh Ayah pun nak ikut la.

Aaaa...kalau dah kluar dating, takyah la heret aku. Tapi aku nak jugak aku ikut. Dia kata, ayah tak paham cite tu..nanti penat dia nak explainkan backstory cite tu kat ayah aku.

OK, fine..kita bertiga pi tengok wayang (tak pernah buat keje macam ni). Tapi sebab nak heret aku, maka wajib datang ambik aku kat rumah and pergi tengok kat wayang dekat. Al.am.an.da la, mana lagi.

Kali ni, takmo ambik changes. Beli siap2 tiket online. Dulu dah kena masa nak pi tengok cite Rio...sampai kaunter, tiket tinggal sekeping. Muncung sedepa muka si Kaklong sebab tak dapat tengok wayang. Kakngah ok, dengan syarat popcorn tetap beli. Heee..

Sampai mall, around 4pm..cite start 510pm. Sempat ibu aku nak pi pekena bihun sup kejap kat food court dia. Saja je kan, padahal kat rumah aku ada makanan. Bihun sup jugak aku masak tadi. Takpe..layan.

Camne cite dia? OK la...pada aku cite dia 10% bercakap, 90% menangis. Itu je le keje pelakon dia...menangis..syahdu..menangis lagi. Tapi serious ko, memang ramai yang menangis dalam panggung tu...termasuk la ibu tersayang aku tu. Sok sek sok sek kat sebelah. Nak je aku gelakkan tapi aku tertido kejap. Heee. Awal cite dia macam melompat2 sket, sampai aku pun blur...ni future ke, current status ke, flashback ke. Isy. Aku bleh puji dia punya special effects sket la..kira takde la nampak cheap. Quite ok. Ending dia unexpected. Yang aku suka...ending dia menghilangkan sebarang kemungkinan ada Nur Kasih 2. Hehehehe...

Updates on The Tank

2011-05-24T11:43:00.002+08:00

So remember I told you I had scraped the side of the Tank a few weeks back? It was hideous, what with the plastic border also gone and all the nuts and bolts showing. Urgh...tak menyelerakan nak bawak Tank lepas tu (banyak cantik muka ko, padahal ko yang pi cium tiang sapa suruh!!).

So last weekend, En Rashid finally took the Tank to the repair shop. After negotiating with the apek, he gave us a reasonable price of a few hundred to fix the door and the missing border.

Today, En Rashid took me to the repair shop because 1) He left one set of the house keys in the glove compartment 2) He wanted me to pick a new color for the Tank.

Walawei, macam banyak duit nak cat Tank la plak. Nevermind, let's pick a color first then negotiate with the apek again.

First I picked this color, Voltage Blue Metallic.

En Rashid said it looked too light. It might look funny on a big vehicle like the Tank.

So then I picked this color, New Bright Blue Met.

See how I'm sticking to my favorite color, blue. Since I'm paying for the repairs, I figured it might as well reflect my personal choices (padahal dah pandai punahkan, pandai la betulkan balik, ye tak?). The amoi at the shop was not of much help. When she found out I wanted blue,s he pulled out all her color schemes and showed them to me..."Ini biru banyak cantik, ini jugak, ini pun ok jugak, yang ni pun lawa...blah, blah, blah." Hello amoi, you think I have 10 cars to paint, is it? Buat pening kepala aku je.

En Rashid was ok with my final color choice so we called the apek to negotiate. Whole car, around RM2000+. With the repairs and all, around RM3180.

Uwaaaaa...lepas ni gua asyik makan roti aje lorrrr.

A Birthday Note to Daria Syazmin - Two Years Old

2011-05-23T17:36:00.001+08:00

My Dearest Daria,

Last week you turned two years old. Two!! Where has all the time gone? How is it possible that I can still remember the day you came into our lives in vivid color and yet here you are in front of me, no longer a baby.

What can I say about you turning two? The fact that you still speak baby talk is one thing. I love the fact you can ramble off long sentences, assuming people actually understand you. The animated look on your face as you describe what you did during the day never fails to lift my spirits. Your hand gestures, and funny laugh at the end of the story amuses me to no end.

You use the fact that you're the baby of the family to your full advantage. But seriously, who can stay mad at you long when you make that funny face with your hands over your eyes and then laugh and hug us tight.

You're still mad about Upin Ipin and Mickey Mouse, you're constantly chanting "betul, betul, betul" or "Ishka, ushka, iki oush!!" You've learned to use the TV remote like a pro, changing channels and looking at the TV guide menu, as if you understand. Ever since you learned how to maneuver the Tablet, no one else has been able to use it. You play Angry Birds with that constant frown on your face, looking cutely serious at the pigs that wouldn't die. Utube is your permanent website to go to, with abundances of Upin Ipin videos and princess songs.

My little baby elephant,

As much as I'm amazed at the rate you are growing, it also fills me with fret. What I wouldn't give to keep you like this for just a little while longer. You're already so independent; climbing the stairs like a pro, rummaging through the kitchen drawers looking for items to "cook" with, sitting down with your books beside your sisters as they do their homework. You still want to sit on my lap when we watch TV together, you still want me to carry you when we enter an elevator, you still want me to hold you tight whenever there's a thunderstorm; I fear those days will not be around for long.

My beautiful Syazmin,

Everytime I look at you, I think of all the suffering and frustrations your father and I went through before you came along. I look at you and I see a miracle baby. Someone who came along when hope for another baby was lost. Someone who came along when we least expected. Someone who came along when we needed it the most.

And for that, I am eternally grateful and blessed.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Comel.

Love, Ibu.

POTC: On Stranger Tides Review

2011-05-22T11:09:00.000+08:00

Last Friday, I got free tickets to see the fourth installment of the Pirates: On Stranger Tides. 3D some more. Heee. Initially I only got 1 ticket but as things worked out, some of my office mates were unable to go, so I managed to snag an extra ticket for En Rashid.

Tengok, aku nak enjoy, mesti nak ingat kat dia punya. Isteri mithali sungguh!

Anyway, the movie was at MV and started at 9pm, so while waiting for the cinema attendees to let us in, En Rashid took me for dinner at Burger King. Dah lama tak pekena mushroom grill burger. Initially we wanted to eat at Carl's Jr but the place was packed. 2nd choice BK also can la.

Anyway, back to the movie. Seeing it in 3D was a new experience for me. Sadly, it also made it a bit difficult for me since I already wear glasses, so my 3D glasses kept sliding off my face. An excuse to get contacts again?

The storyline was kind of cool. Not to spoil it too much for those who have yet to see the movie, here are some keywords:

Jack, funnier than ever
Barbossa in a wig
Evil Blackbeard with voodoo magic
Zombies (eeekkk!!)
Mermaids (double eekkk...you have to watch to know why)
Hot priest
Fountain of Youth

Overall, we really enjoyed ourselves. The scenes were amazing, the stunts and special effects too. Plus did you know, Blackbearda.k.a Edward Teach and his ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge actually existed?

To Update

2011-05-20T13:33:00.000+08:00

Lots!

Daria's 2nd birthday note. I can't believe my baby is two already!! Where has the time gone? She's so talkative and so bossy..typical 2 year old. Her terrible-two tantrum can be oscar-worthy sometimes but I wouldn't exchange that for anything. Sayaaaaaaannnnggg sangat adik!!

My brother and my SIL moved from their apartment into my parent's house in Subang recently. We went by last weekend so the kids could have a last swimming session in the pool; alas it rained so we had to cancel that, much to the disappointment of the girls. In the end, we helped (a bit!) with the packing as my brother has so much junk to haul over to the SJ house.

My parents came back from a week long golf vacation in Perth. I have yet to see any of the chocolate my mom so called bulk purchased there. Hmmm...

Oya, received my results for MM and MIS mid term. MM did ok...62/75. I lost marks for not putting in enough examples to support my theories. Peh, cakap la nak soh merepek panjang lebar. For MIS, I got highest marks!! Yeah. But only for the MCQ, for the essay questions, we have yet to get our marks. We have yet to receive our law papers back..urgh..so not looking forward to that. I need to start cracking on my final projects thought...only 5 weeks until finals. Eekkkk!!

Birthday Surprise...

2011-05-16T22:54:00.002+08:00

..indeed it was. Everyone has been so busy lately at work, that even I didn't think much about my birthday. Plus since it actually fell on a Sunday, by the time Monday came about, the thought of celebrating had passed.

I had a meeting in Cyber in the morning. My staff sms'ed me to ask when I would be coming back to the office; the ruse was to have a preliminary discussion before our 230pm meeting. Hah...rupanya nak tau bila bleh makan?! My boss and my staff bought tons of pizza and a BIG cake as a surprise. Alahai...terharu beta!

Picture time!

See? Siap tulis jawi tu. I don't know what the hidden message behind that is...that I'm so old that I read in jawi. Hehehehe..Plus, initially there was one additional candle on the cake. Uwaaaa...tapi takpe..janji cake sodap...ko letak la 100 candle pun takpe. Hee.

My staff, Asrol, presenting me with the cake.

Gigih memotong kek. Sebelah tu plastic beg penuh ngan pizza. Wuuhuu!!

*note: pix courtesy from Hajar a.k.a Ofis Diva. Heee...tq dik.

Happy 35th Birthday....

2011-05-15T22:56:00.000+08:00

...to me.

ps: Also happy birthday to my friends Rina and Amani who share the month of May with me. Babes, we may be getter older, but it doesn't mean we're getting any less hotter. Hahahahaha...!! Also happy birthday to all May babies...may Allah bless all of you.

I Could Blame Everything From Work to Studies to Pippa

2011-05-14T02:17:00.000+08:00

It's been slow in Along's Blog world. I know, sorry for that. It's not that things have not been happening, it's just that too many things have been happening that I haven't been able to catch a breather to write it all down.

First, there was my mid terms which was kind of ok and kind of not ok. MIS was a mess. Thank god for the MCQ questions which was somewhat like the questions we studied before. I have no idea what crap I wrote for the essay questions. Plus the fact the lecturer came up to and asked my line of work and then frowned when I told him I was in the telecommunications line, like he was thinking "then you should know this already". Law was...hahahaha...like WTH? OK, I would really love it if the papers just got lost or destroyed somehow. Marketing was better, in the sense the hints that the prof gave really helped. Eventhough I forgot some points and just gave random examples in the end, at least I'm 80% sure most of what I wrote made sense.

OK, enough about my exams. After that whole fiesta, I was still away from the office to attend a two-day forum in K.L.C.C. It was really interesting and I'm glad I got to do some networking with big shots from local and regional companies. Too bad I didn't think ahead to print out my resume and pass that around, instead of just my name card...haha. It was amazing to find out that even with the many years I've been doing this product, there's just so much I still don't know and have yet to learn.

Some opportunities at a big change has also come about. Now I'm undergoing some soul searching exercises to figure out if I should take that leap of faith.

I've been so busy that I haven't even had time to read the news. Now I find out about Arnie Governator separating, Pippa Middleton's indecent photos and that really bad local case of bullying that got uploaded on Utube. Urghh...maybe I should continue to be ignorant of the news, life seems so much simpler.

Sidenote: talking about Pippa Middleton, did you guys catch the royal wedding 2 weeks back? I know, I know, old news now...but I just have to state how much I LOVE Catherine's wedding gown and how the whole shenanigan was classy, simple (in royal terms) and just marvelous. William looks handsome despite the bald spot (heh!) and both Best Man and Maid of Honor looked divine. Even the Queen looked chippy!!

It's Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T23:55:00.003+08:00

And I received a homemade card and lots of hugs and kisses from the girls. Because really, do I need anything more than that?

OK, I could ask for smaller thighs or smoother skin or a more defined tummy...but I choose to wear those "defects" proudly because they are my "mommy" scars.

The card Dina gave me. Apparently she can't like me too much because it isn't my birthday yet. Heeee.

I sms'ed my mom to wish her since she's in Perth with my dad right now. She replied back with a fierce "I love you forever too". I called up my MIL, which delighted her coz I never call (isy..bad DIL!) and then sms'ed my SILs to wish also.

All in all, it was a quite Mother's Day celebration but hey, who says you can only celebrate mother's once a year. Here's until my exams are over then it's time to parrrrtttyyyy!!

ps: Happy Mother's Day to all moms, and moms-to-be out there!!

Ye La..Ye La....

2011-05-06T14:12:00.000+08:00

.....aku bukak balik blog aku. Dah, jangan marah aku lagi. Joe, sori, takde gambar bogel. Nanti aku carik gambar mana2 playboy bunny letak sini untuk ko. Takpun..ala, ko belek je la majalah2 yang dulu ko dok langgan kat US tu. Muahahahaha.

Tengok, aku tak update pun apa2...hehehe...takde masa la...bz..tengah giller mid terms. Semalam aku ada paper Law...mampos aku nak jawab. Nak sangat open book, open internet kan? Hambik ko..sekali kluar soklan, mamat Law & Order tu pun blum tentu bleh jawab!

Ari Selasa lepas, paper MIS. Itu lagi satu palat. Apa aku baca, takde pun kluar. Cet! Seperti biasa, sessi menggoreng bermula. Dok angkat tangan tanya explanation from lecturer berapa kali dah....sampai prof pun cakap, takde betul or salah...you bagi justification for answer je. Hmm..bleh ke camtu?

Monday depan paper Marketing lak. 14 chapters nak kena baca? Bila nak start tu?!! Uwaaaa....sekali lagi, padan muka aku, sapa soh gatal pi buat MBA.

Pengumuman: Blog ini hanya untuk tatapan mereka yang sudi terima seadanya sahaja. Yang tak sudi, sila jangan tatap. Besar dunia Internet ni, banyak lagi website yang berfaedah untuk dilayari. Sekian.

Ya Kerajaan, Sila Kembalikan Duitku...

2011-04-27T23:26:00.001+08:00

...yang terlebih bayar. Banyak tu...seribu lebih!! Bleh aku shopping macam2 lagi. Isy...tak..bukan, nak simpan. Kredit kad bill agak tinggi bulan ni. Belanja dinner En Rashid la..beli kasut baru la. Oya, aku blum cite lagi pasal kasut baru aku kan? Kejap...nak pi carik gambar dulu...

OK, so Sabtu yang lepas, aku kluar ngan girlfrens2 aku. Ni dah plan beberapa bulan dah, in the end ada jugak sorang tercicir sebab anak dia sakit and warded. Takpe, ada alasan bleh kluar ngan depa in the near future, sebab haritu tak cukup korum. Heee.

Anyways, kitaorg dok pikir mana shopping mall nak pi attack. Mid Valley dah muak sampai nak muntah darah. In the end, kitaorang agree nak pi Empire Subang Jaya. Reason: semua tak pernah pi kecuali aku. Itu pun aku pi tak meronda mana pun, setakat pi makan je. So ok, dah set tempat, dah janji kul berapa nak jumpa semua...so kira mencarik aktiviti.

Yang sorang dok cadang cabut bulu, sorang cadang buat manicure, sorang cadang makan 3x....macam2 aktiviti la dicadangkan. In the end, kitaorang spend time dok pusing satu mall, shopping sakan and makan berkali2. Oh ya, and of course bergossip. Heee. Takpe...the activity doesn't matter, but the company you're with does. So, everyone had fun especially aku sebab aku berjaya membelanjakan duit aku membeli ntah apa barang ntah!! Yeahh!! Selalunya aku la yang paling payah nak beli barang. Belek 20 kali, sarung cuba, minta saiz kat salegirl, last2 letak balik kat atas rak. Putih mata salesgirl tu dengar aku cakap "nevermind, thanks ya!"

Ni actually aku nak salahkan Noresh sebab hasut aku beli kasut ni. And also the salesgirls. Pandai berkata2 pada naluri hatiku yang teringin barang branded tapi tak pernah beli sebab tak reti nak memakai pun. Tapi, aku memang suka kasut ni. Masa memula masuk kedai tu, mata aku terus terzoom kat kasut tu. Memang lain dari yang lain. See for yourself.

Actually cameraphone aku ni tak bring justice to the shoes sebab color dia tak nampak naik. In real life, color dia striking, nak2 part yang emas2 tu. Hmmm, heels dia...yer, memang 5 inci. Giller betul aku ni pi beli kasut tinggi macam tu. Dah la En Rashid, how to say, "vertically challenged"...pi beli lak kasut tinggi menggung ni. Takpe..bukan aku nak pakai time berjalan sebelah dia pun. Hehehehe...

Masa aku memula tunjuk kat En Rashid tu, dia tergelak. Tapi sebab aku tayang kasut dengan cara memberahikan, so agak positive jugak end reactionnya. Muahahaha...dah pi spend duit beli memacam, cara confession mesti pandai la kan?

Harga? Jangan tanya bleh? Nak kata ridiculous tak la...for the brand and the craftmanship, memang berpatutan. Tapi untuk aku yang selama ni dok pakai kasut Scholl je...agak dramatic la jugak. Tapi ni nak lawan ngan adik ipar aku yang ada kasut Jimmy Choo tu. KakNgah, amacam kasut Along? Lagi lawa tak dari kamu pun JC? Oya, ni brand Pedro tau. Hehehehe...teruk aku ni, ngan adik ipar pun nak jaki.

Dah la beli kasut tinggi, beli plak cincin 2 bijik yang besar gedabak. Ni semua aku salahkan Mia Michael, judge yang dalam show So You Think You Can Dance tu! Dek dia la, aku tetiba tergillerkan cincin2 besar ni. Tapi aku rasa good investment sebab aku pakai kat tempat keje ngan kelas, semua memuji cantik. Yang pompuan la, yang lelaki dok tanya muka sapa aku nak tumbuk bagi lebam ngan cincin tu. Setakat ni ada dua color je cincin tu, red and black. Nanti aku nak kumpul biar ada semua color of the rainbow...yellow, blue, indigo, hijau taik...semua la!

Oleh itu, aku akan berasa sangatlah berbesar hati sekiranya kerajaan memulangkan semula duit tax aku yang dah terlebih bayar dengan kadar segera. Banyak benda nak beli, nak contribute to the country's economy (yer sangat la tu!!!)

Sibling Rivalry

2011-04-27T00:34:00.000+08:00

Dania and Dina usually get along fine. They play and study together and they have their "secret" meetings in their rooms (usually it's to decide which Disney princess to imitate for the week). However lately I've noticed that they've been fighting more then usual. I think it's because Dania is entering the "tween" age group while Dina is still in the kids segment. I think I can relate; I remember hating my brother when we were that age. Urgh, everything he did annoyed me.We would fight a lot but my guess is that fighting with a brother is totally different than fighting with a sister. I wouldn't know for sure, I have no sisters to call my own.

A few days back, I found this note lying on my study table. Apparently, the girls had been fighting again. My eyes welled up with tears when I read the note.

"I am sorry kaklong but when you don't like me I don't no (know) you say what to me. [heart] Dina."

I asked Dania about the note and she just sighed. I asked her what had Dina done but all I got was the usual *grumble..grumble..grumble*. I asked her if she still loved her sister and if they had made up yet. Fortunately she gave a positive answer to both questions; not that I was doubting it anyway.

My dear girls. I know you won't understand now but I sincerely hope you both grow up to be the best of friends. I hope you continue to love each other and support each other, no matter what. I hope you both know you can come to me whenever you have problems or just need to talk. I hope you both know how much I love you.

Now stop fighting already!!

Another One Done!

2011-04-22T22:32:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, my team did our presentation for Law. Yeah..over and done with! Despite the usual last minute preparations, we did ok. We kind of winged it through but participation from the class helped liven up the session. In the end, we took over an hour to present all the slides. Hahaha..seriously, sometimes our ability to "menggoreng" amazes me. :D

Initially we wanted to go "wild" and wear robes and fake wigs like judges, seeing how it is a law class. But we couldn't find any in such short notice. So we decided to just wear the usual coats. Min, being the pervert she is, suggested we jazz up our dress code further.

Apparently, pants were optional!!

Kita Bakor Je!!

2011-04-22T11:51:00.000+08:00

Bleh tak aku nak bakar manusia2 ni? Marah betul aku baca artikel2 ni kat Metro hari ni.

Budak 19 bulan ko nak carik gaduh?! Apa, ko sedih sebab punai budak tu lagi panjang dari ko ke? Sadis betul orang macam ni, camne la bleh jadi tak berhati perut langsung. What I wish for is 10 minutes alone in a room with this guy. Give me some boiling hot water, a baseball bat and stacks of needles and I’ll teach him a lesson he won’t soon forget.

Ni lagi satu kes laki tak guna. Dah la ko biarkan bini ko beranak sorang2 kat kampong. Ko langsung tak datang jenguk anak2 ko. Lepas tu, ko bleh pi kawin ngan minah lain! And then marah2 bini ko sebab tunjuk muka ko yang tak guna tu kat suratkhabar?? And ugut nak cerai!! Helloooooo…useless S.O.B!! Kenapa la ko idup lagi? Ko tak kesisan ke ngan anak2 ko? Ko tak kesian ke ngan bini ko yang terpaksa minta simpati keluarga dan orang ramai?

Kucing

2011-04-19T22:22:00.000+08:00

Rumah aku ada kucing. Eh silap...beberapa kucing. Bukan kitaorang bela pun, kucing sesat mana ntah, suka datang rumah kitaorang sebab anak2 aku suka sangat layan. Nak2 si kenit. Bangun pepagi dah tanya khabar cat. Ibu dia nak gomol, cium2 pun tak pedulik.

Kucing2 ni dah beberapa generasi dah dok tengek belakang rumah aku. Yang bestnya, yang semangat dok beli makanan khas kucing2 sesat ni.....En. Rashid! Siap masuk weekly grocery list tu. Alahai...sometimes he really makes me smile. You wouldn't think it looking at him tapi penyayang bebenor la laki aku ni kat binatang2 sesat.

Ni gambar kucing2 tu tengah makan breakfast. Bekas makanan tu bekas aku potong2 sayur, selamba je En. Rashid buat bekas makan kucing. Padahal ada tergolek kat situ bekas plastic yang pernah pakai...tak boleh, bekas tu dah kotor. Hek eleh, basuh la...bersih la balik. Ini dah habis dah semua bekas2 potong sayur dijadikan bekas makan kucing2 sesat dia. Sabar je la.

Kucing2 ni semua ada nama. Yang atas sekali tu, Terra. Ni bibik gemuk aku yang lari dulu la bagi nama, lekat sampai sekarang. Kitaorang "bela" Terra tu since dia baby lagi. Ni dia plak yang dah beranak pinak. Yang 3 ekor baby cat tu, anak2 dia la. Apa ntah nama...yang tompok hitam putih tu MooMoo rasanya. Dina la bagi nama, sebab dia kata rupa kitten tu macam lembu. So nama MooMoo. Ok la, justified! Yang hitam tu rasanya Manis. Yang terselit antara dua cat dewasa tu, Comel.

Kucing2 ni memang bertuah. Pepagi dah siap beratur kat belakang rumah tunggu breakfast. Lepas tu massage session, dikendalikan oleh Daria. Kang petang kang makan dinner lak. Susu segar aku yang beli sekotak RM5 pun, En Rashid gigih panaskan dulu nak bagi minum.

Memang bertuah!!

Duit, Duit...Ke Mana Kau Duit?

2011-04-18T02:06:00.000+08:00

Kekadang ada orang tanya aku, “ko, kereta dah habis bayar, apartment dah habis bayar, hutang rumah takde…apa ko buat ngan duit ko?”

Walaupun ada orang maybe pikir, apa punya soklan tu…sibuk je nak tau apa orang lain buat ngan duit dia, sedikit sebanyak soalan macam tu buat aku berpikir gak….apa yek aku buat ngan duit gaji aku bulan2?

Nak kata aku joli beli baju baru tiap bulan, takde. Beli kasut pun takde. Make up jauh sekali la. Nak kata aku pamper diri aku pi spa ke, set rambut ke selalu, pun takde gak. Manjang takde masa. Jadi duit aku pi mana yek?

Aku bleh namakan 3 kategori ke mana most of duit aku pi.

1^st, anak2 aku. Anak2 aku ni kan semua girls, aku ni plak jenis pantang lalu tepi kedai yang jual gown2 comel…mesti nak singgah. Gown2 plak jual, bukan harga singgit dua…berpuluh2 ringgit. Kekadang aku sanggup pakai bra and spentot koyak, asalkan anak2 aku bergown comel sentiasa. Parah! Hahaha…Kalau hal sekolah anak2 aku pun, mostly aku yang bayar semua benda. Duit yuran, hal buku, hal stationary, duit van….itu semua masuk bawah expenses aku. Sebab tu En Rashid takde la bising sangat kalau aku nak bawak anak2 aku pi kelas music ke, kelas social budak2 ke…sebab dia tau, aku takde nak minta duit kat dia punya.

2nd, aku rasa duit aku banyak pi ke part makan. Aku ni, kalau part makan, mesti nak sedap dan satisfying. Selalunya kalau nak makanan ciri2 camtu, mesti la mahal. Kekadang aku set jugak la, duit untuk lunch takleh lebih RM5 sehari. Itu kalau aku dah plan untuk beli something yang mahal, so kena save up. Time tu la aku dok kulu kilir bwk botol air kosong, nak isi air suam free manjang. Tapi kalau part makan ngan family, aku memang tak piker hal duit. Janji bleh swipe CC. Selalu once a month, aku ngan En Rashid akan ajak family aku pi makan luar reramai. Family En Rashid payah sket, sebab MIL aku jenis suka masak kat rumah. Kalau ajak makan luar, dia teramat la liat….and then kalau pi pun, dia akan ngomel tanya berapa harga itu, berapa harga ini. Lain benar ngan ibu aku, pantang ajak keluar makan, dia dah siap sarung tudung dah. Hehehehe…

3^rd, duit aku banyak habis kalau kitaorg pi travelling. Aku ni jenis, kalau pi travel tu, mesti nak duduk hotel selesa, makan tempat yang best, pi melawat semua tempat2 yang patut. Semua tu pakai duit kan? Last year yang kitaorang pi HK, ada dalam 5 bulan jugak aku save up duit…just for a week of holiday. Tapi aku tak rasa galat. Sebab pada aku, semua tu menjadi memories and life experience yang best untuk anak2 aku. Sampai sekarang pun, dia orang dok bercerita pasal trip ke HK.

So, itu la dia...cara2 aku menghabiskan duit aku. Takde la happenning sangat pun...asalkan takde hutang keliling pinggang dan tak menyusahkan orang lain, ok la kan....

Updates on the Random

2011-04-12T16:42:00.000+08:00

I found my watch!! It was in a drawer where both Wati and myself had looked a thousand times yesterday. Toyol pulangkan balik ke? Doesn’t matter, ahh…I’m just so happy I found it. I had already started surfing the Guess website, looking at the latest designs. Heeee, now I can put away my money or maybe put it to use by pimping up the Tank.

Oya, talking about the Tank, I forgot to inform that I have officially succeeded in mangling its left side by scrapping it along the wall as I was entering the parking lot beside the office. Like…WTH?! Luckily the damage is somewhat minor (NOT!) and the door can still be opened and closed. En. Rashid was surprisingly very calm when I told him what I had did. He even took me out for lunch!! Uwaaaa, lagila rasa guilty!! We’ve decided to paint the Tank a different color. I’m moving towards something like blue-ish grey, while En. Rashid thinks maroon would be nicer. We’ll see how it goes…abih dah duit bonus eden!

I’m taking this Thursday off! Agenda for the day….sleep! And maybe sleep some more. And then continue to sleep.

I’m still at a lost on what to get En. Rashid for his birthday. Yeah, the dinner was somewhat of a given, but now I need something physical. And NOT a motorcycle. Because I love En. Rashid too much to let him ride around on a bike. It’s not that I don’t trust him to ride safely…I don’t trust the other idiots on the road not to run him over.

Ramdon...Or Random.

2011-04-11T11:47:00.000+08:00

I’ve misplaced my watch. I know I had it on Saturday when I came back from work (yes, working on Saturday!) but on Sunday, I couldn’t find it. I turned the whole house upside down looking for it. The good thing is, I KNOW it’s somewhere in the house. Usually I either put it in my wristlet or place it on the cabinet in the living room. The worst that could have happened is that Daria could have gotten a hold of it (she likes to wear it sometimes) and thrown it in the dustbin. That would be like CRAAAAPPPP!! I hope Wati or the girls find it soon because I feel naked without it.

How long can I watch and be mesmerized by a baby polar bear playing with a blue bucket? More than 10 minutes apparently, I played the video again and again. Too cute!! I [Heart] polar bears.

I found RM300.45 in my handbag, in one of the secret inner zippers thingy.

I need a break. Very Soon. I feel burnout already.

Yesterday was En Rashid's birthday. I took the whole family plus my parents and brothers out for dinner at Chilies. Urgh, Steak at Chilies is not good. Will stick to VS after this.

Takpela...

2011-04-08T12:41:00.001+08:00

Ye ah...kalau benda yang x best, benda x jalan, keje2 yang nak kena buat tu...carik la aku kan.

Kalau benda best...aktiviti best..kecoh2....sket tak involvekan aku.

Takpela...aku pun tak lama kat sini pun....

Done!!

2011-04-04T23:36:00.000+08:00

My team is done with our MM presentation!! Wuuhuu!! Benefits of being the 1st team to present. Now we get to sit back...and criticize the other teams. Hehehehe...

I can't believe I actually baked muffins for the class to give away as prizes for the Q&A session. Granted, we ran out of time...but spreading all that homemade "love" around...made it all that special.

Today was a good day. Free and delicious lunch. Great group presentation. En Rashid surprised me with a brand new tudung when I got back. Heeee....best, best, alhamdulillah.