Between cat, rabbit and hamster....

I was at Taman Tun Dr Ismail yesterday evening. We had dinner at Restaurant Ismail, one of our favorite restaurants. It was not crowded, but during the fasting month, you need to make a reservation; otherwise, there will be no place to sit.

They are famous for their beriyani. In fact, yesterday the beriyani was finished, and we have to order nasi Bukhara for ahem… me. Evethough, it was for me, it was shared with four others. Everybody was eyeing for it, but I have no problem to share with them.

After dinner, we went to Masjid At-Taqwa for Maghrib prayer. It is one of the richest mosque that I know of. When we reached there, the mosque is under renovation. As we looked for parking, we saw two kittens near the drain. One is gray, and one is orange. Very cute, and my kids were so excited to see the kittens.

The kittens’ mother was nearby, but the area where they were crawling was dark. We were very concerned that someone might run over them. I asked Syafiq to send the kittens and their mom to the nearby canteen, but the kids had different ideas. They wanted to take both kittens home.

I like the idea, but, unfortunately, their dad ruled it out. On the way out from the mosque, the kids kept throwing the ideas to their dad. The kids said cat, hubby proposed rabbit or hamster. For me, I like cat too, but I let them debate with their dad. The kids kept on listing the benefits of keeping a cat as the pet.

We reached 1Utama, our main destination, and we didn't reach any decision on the pet yet. During dinner tonight, they brought the subject of the cat again, but hubby was not there. Hmmm... Don't know when they will get their pet.

Oh ya! Look at this signboard that I saw at 1Utama. ‘WTF’, and whoever came out with the signboard was a genius as it caught the shoppers’ attention. Heeheehee..What were your first impression when you see that? 

Oh ya! Fasting starts tomorrow, and I would like to wish all my Muslims friends, Selamat Menyambut Ramadhan Mubarak....

Salam.

Football

It's football night, tonight. Malaysia versus Singapore at Bukit Jalil. There was a long traffic jam on Seremban-KL highway this evening. The jam started immediately after the Sg Besi toll. Huh! I wanted to watch, but the kids wanted me to help them with their homework, so no football.

Football is always no 1 sports in Malaysia. Whenever there is football on TV, whether it involves Malaysian team or the English premier league or any international games, the coffee house and the Mamak restaurants will be full of people, especially by young guys.

Last Saturday, on the way back from my niece's house, my kids were hungry. We thought of stopping at the Mamak restaurant at Seksyen 15 for dinner, but when we reached there all the restaurants were packed with people staring at the big TV. Some of the restaurant projected it on the projector. I guess it is more fun to watch with friends at the shop than watching at home. Tak oommppphhhhlahhh.......

I bet, it the same tonight for those restaurants. It will be full of people watching the games. It must be a good business. Nobody will sit for ninety minutes without ordering anything. 

By the way, we lost to Singapore. Drew 1-1 with Singapore tonight, and lost 5 - 3 in Singapore last Saturday. Anyway Harimau Malaya, you had tried your best. Good luck in your next game.

My girl wanted a bike...arrrr..big bike

Haha! My little girl wanted to buy ATV. She saw the advertisement in the catalogue and thought that was one of the toys.

She showed me the catalogue last night, but I was not feeling well and just nodded my head. She was happy because I agreed to get her the motorbike.

This morning, when I was getting her ready to school, she showed me the catalogue again. This time, I had a good looked at it. There were several pictures of Scrambler Bike and few ATVS, and the prices started at RM 2500.

“Ugh! That is not toy,” I said after realizing what she wanted. “That is a big bike, and you cannot play it in the house.”

She was not happy with my answer. “What about this one?” She pointed to the Scrambler Bike.

“That one, you have to ride on the road or dirt road,” I explained.

“What about this. Where can we ride it?” she pointed to the ATV.

“That on, in the jungle,” I said to discourage her.

I thought she would accept my explanation because she just took the catalogue and went to school without anymore questions on the ATV.

I was wrong. This afternoon while I was busy looking at the numbers, she called. She wanted to know where's the motorbike shop. I had to lie, and told her that the shop is very far away.

“When can we go and buy the bike?” she asked.

“Eh! We are not going to buy. It is not a toy. It is for big boys and girls. You are still small,” I said.
She was quiet, but I know she is plotting for her next questions.

My kids and Ramadhan

Ramadhan is coming soon. The first day of Ramadhan will be next Monday, and it means fasting for us, Muslim. This year will be the first year where everyone in my house will be fasting, including my little girl.

Zara and Zaki have been looking forward to fast this year. Last year, Zaki only made it to half day, and this year I'm challenging him to fast the whole day. I told him that it didn't have to be the whole month; a few days will be good enough as a start. 

For Zara, this is the first year she going to try fasting. Hmmm... I would ask her to try half day first, and if she can, slowly make it to full day. Her teachers, at school, have been telling her the wonderful thing about fasting. 

The teacher also reminded them that, during the fasting month, she cannot eat or drink water or milk from sunrise to sunset. She also told me that she cannot pick her nose or said dirty things or fight. 

She looked forward for sahur too. Yup! It's the early morning feast or breakfast. I'm not sure whether she can get up and eat her meals. It would be a challenge to get her to eat at five in the morning. Maybe I would just give her milk.

For the two older boys, it will be business as usual. They know what is expected of them. They need to set examples to the younger ones. No eating or drinking water behind my back.

The holy month of Ramadhan hasn't started, but people have already start selling cookies for Raya or Eid. Tailors, also didn't want to take orders anymore. Some of them stop taking orders three months before Eid. Heh! It will be a challenge to me whether I can get Zara and my Baju kurung ready for Eid. Hahaha! We haven't done any shopping yet.

But, the most important thing during this holy month of Ramadhan is to spend your precious time to pray and read the Quran. In fact, if nothing stopping you, try to finish the whole Quran in the month of Ramadhan. Insya allah, I will try to finish the Quran.

Salam.

One small step at a time.

Woo Hoo! I downloaded a Pedometer on my iPhone. Yeah! Some of you might have it for years, but this is a new discovery for me. It all started when i wanted to know how far have I walked around my housing area's playground.

I used to have a pedometer about three years ago, but it was not very good. Every single movement I made, will be counted as one step, even though I was just pointing something. I got fed up with it and threw it away.

Howeer, the apps that I downloaded was good. It only counts when I take a step. It gave me the actual number of steps taken and the distance! It also gave me my walking speed, my average speed and the calorie burned from the walk. I can also creates my own playlists, or use my existing workout playlist from my iPod. 

Since the one I have is the free version, I wonder what other features it have if I upgraded it to the paid version. It is interesting to find out, but I won't upgrade it now. I can wait until I'm convince that I need to measure other things.

On Saturday, I tested the apps. I went for my morning walk with Zara. The boys were still sleeping or else they would join me too. Since I have knee problems too, doctor has advised me to wear a good shoes whenever I walked or run.

So I wore my shape up shoes. It helped because the soles of the shape up is thick. Therefore, I didn't feeling the pain. We walked five rounds around the playground. Haha! Guess how far was it? It was only one kilometer. Ugh! I need to walk at least two to three kilometers, and it means ten to fifteen rounds of the playground. Hehe! I don't want my neighbors to think something wrong with me.

Ahhh, who cares what they think, right? The most important thing is I'm happy with what I'm doing, and of course fit and healthy. 

This morning, I also measured the distance between KL Sentral and my office building. It was about 350m. Not far enough? I guess the distance is okay. If too far, I'll be sweating by the time I get to the office.

So will I measured every step that I take by Pedometer? Nah! I don't think so. I don't want to be too obsessed with it.

High Tea at Putra Height

It’s another family gathering today. This time, it was at my niece house in Putra Height. Such a lovely neighborhood. I like her house. It’s cozy and very homey. She lives in a gated area, and we have to register at the security house before we can enter the place. 

We reached there around 3.30pm, and Emil, my grand nephew, was very excited to see us, especially my kids. My sister said that he had been checking on the clock waiting for my kids.  After the salam and kisses, he immediately took my kids to his room. “Haha!” I said. When the kids went up stair, it gave us the grown up chance to talk peacefully. No disturbance.

We started the event with a special prayer, and my father-in-law lead the prayer. The prayer was for the dead relatives and that included my dad, and also to bless the new house. After the prayer, we had a surprise birthday celebration for my sister, Along Norlia’s fifty-nine birthday, Syafiq’s 17th birthday and my niece’s maid thirty-second birthday. My sister and my son share same date. Both were born on the same date.

The birthday girls and boy were surprised. We managed to hide this, and, in fact, the cake was brought in later by my niece, Izrianna through the back door. Well thanks to my niece Syafiq got a yellow Ripcurl T-shirt for his birthday, and RM50.00 from my mom. He is very very happy.

Besides cupcake, my niece treated us to Mee Soup, Mee Hoon Goreng, Curry Puff, Pudding, Kuih Bakar, Popiah and Seri Muka. And for the drinks she served Teh Tarik and Sirap Ice Cream Soda. Oh yeah, I helped to prepare the Teh Tarik, and that’s my speciality. 

We were there until Maghrib, and after the Maghrib’s prayer, everybody said goodbye. Emil was sad because my kids were leaving. I invited him to come with me. He wanted to, but than his mom didn’t let him because he needs to do his homework.

I told him that he could come during school holiday, and when my kids heard that they were very excited to have Emil over at our place. Hehe..I can anticipate how lively my place will be then, and I think I’m going to like it.


And before I sign off, I would like to share this song with you. The song is about God's greatness, and the singer is D'lloyd from Indonesia. It was one of my sister's favorite group when she was young.

Tales of the Land of No Name - Part 3

The Queen was asked to leave earlier as her union with the Prince of Down Under has done more damage to the land.

The transfer of power was very smooth. No bloodbath between the new King and the Queen. Some of the Queen's loyal supporters followed her, while those who have been mistreated by the Queen happy to see her go.

The new King didn't waste his time. He looked around the poor land, how they had been cheated by the prince, and planned to bring back the old glory days. But he has been slow. There was no news from the king on the plans. The people of land of no name become restless.

They waited and waited for the good news, but nothing coming out from the palace. One by one gave up. They were thinking again of the nebulous future that they will have. One afternoon, in the hot summer day, the people sat under the tree in the town. 

"Oh man! I should follow Alan when he invited me to go the land in the north," said Jude. " I would have been better off now."
"Are you sure you want to follow him? Do you know that he followed the Queen," said Mark.
"Really? I thought he went to the north," said Jude scratching his head.

Gabriel who has been listening to the conversation, asked Jack, who was their unofficial leader.

"What do you think the king will do?" asked Gabriel to Jack.
"I don't know."
"Come on Jack. You always know what's going on at the palace," said Peter."
"Ughh. Not with the king. Nobody really knows what he is doing," said Jack.

They sat there wondering about their future, when suddenly they heard a sound of the horses coming. They looked up, and saw the king's soldiers riding toward the town centre.

"Hear yea! Hear yea!" said the soldier. "The king is inviting you to his palace this Saturday's afternoon for high tea. He wanted to know his people. Everyone is welcome," announced the soldier.

One of the soldiers got off from the horse and nailed the notice on the tree. Once he was up on his horse again the leader looked at the people, and nodded at them. After the soldiers had left, they crowded at the tree and looked at the notice.

Finally, it was Saturday, and everybody walked to the palace wearing his or her best clothes. When they reached the palace compound, they were surprised to see huge tents were erected in the middle of the compound with lots of food on the table. There were musicians playing music. Eventhough, everyone was there, the place was very quiet. The only sound heard was the music. Everybody stood outside the tents and whispered to each other. 

Without them realizing, the king was among them. He came out from the side door, and not from the front door where everyone was watching. When the crowds realized the king was with them, everyone started searching for the king. The king was known to be humble, and liked to interact with his people. He spoke and shook hands with them. He then invited them to eat. 

After everyone had finished eating, he walked to the front and stood on the small stage.

"Dear people, I am glad that you come today. It gives me the opportunity to meet you. As you know, I have been working with my aides and knights on the plan to improve the land. And today," he paused, " allow me to share my plan with you. Please let me know what you think of the plan," he said.

He told the people about his plan, and what he wanted to do first. The people were happy to hear his plan and gave their approval. The king well laid plans were well received by the people, but not by some of his knights. 

Before he ended his speech, he had reminded the people, "Don't be afraid to see me. You can come anytime to my palace. I would not turn you away," he promised.

Before the people dispersed, they had shouted, "Long live the King, and God bless the king."

When the King went in, the people started to go home, and they were busy discussing the plan.

"What do you think of the king plans, Jack?" asked Michael as they walked home.
"I don't know. It sounded very good, and I hope that he will do as he said," said Jack.
"Yeah. I hope he will. I like what I heard," said Peter.

They went home with a high hope that their future would change for good...

Will their future be as what the king's promised? ....

To be continued...

I haz a sad!

I'm sad because I received a bad news today. Heh! That's nothing new, right? Every day I received bad news, but this time it made me feel sad and angry. Well, what was the news? Is it about Mr. Han? Nah! He can only make me angry not sad.

Well, it was about my hard disk and my precious data. I officially received an email from my vendor saying that my hard disk is totally damaged. UNRECOVERABLE! They said they had tried everything they can, and now they have no choice, but to raise the white flag. 

I was stunned when I saw the word UNRECOVERABLE and CLOSE THE CASE. I just sat in front of the computer staring at the mail. I wanted to scream, but no voice come out. I was very frustrated. I had a high hope when I sent the hard disk that some of the data can be recovered, but, unfortunately, the disk has a different idea. 

So, what’s left with me now is just a memory on what I have in there. I hope I don’t have to dig deep into my memory bank to recall some of the information.

Some of you might be wondering why I didn't do any backup. I did, but the backup was purely on work-related files, and the last backup I did was few months before it crashed. Furthermore, I had about 60GB of data in that hard disk. It was an accumulation of 14 years of data, and the most precious among the data was my mail. All of my archive mail. Some were very ancient, and I bet some of the new generation never heard of it.

I had my MS Mail archive in there. Groupwise archive and exchange archive in there. Some of the mails were from previous bosses and staffs. Some were complimentary mails, and some, hmmmm were nasty mails. But yet, it's still precious to me.

The vendor asked me what do I want to do with the disk. Since some of the data were highly confidential, I would have to ask the vendor to return it back to me. I also have to, officially inform our IT Partner about this, so that I can get a new hard disk. Heh! It’s likes starting a new life with a new identity. 

The other sad thing is I lost quite a number of my manuscripts. I was half way through with the last manuscript. I don't think I can start writing it all again. It is best for me to start with a new story, and revisit it again when I'm ready. Yeah! Go Zai Go!

What can I say from all of this? ALWAYS. DO. BACKUP! Yeah! I learned my lesson in a painful manner, and now I have multiple backup, especially for my manuscript.

Salam.

Happy Birthday, Son!

Today is my son's 17th birthday. He is my first born, my guinea pig, my success and failure in parenting. He is everything. 

I cried when I first saw him, and when I looked up to my husband, who was standing next to me, I saw him cried too. After waiting for two years, we finally had our own kid. He was born, a healthy baby boy, weighing 3.14kg. We named him Muhammad Syafiq, which means the loving.

Is he as his name reflected? Yes, he is. He's tender and always concern about the family. When he was six months old, he stayed with my parents in Seremban. I had to leave him behind due to my project in Malacca. From there on, he is very close to my mom compared to his paternal grandma.

When he was four, he has to go for an operation for hernia. Since then, he has not had the problem anymore, but when he was eight years old, instead of motorbike ran into him, he knocked down the motorcyclist. Luckily, nothing happened to him nor to the motorcyclist; otherwise, I would not know what to say. 

But few years later, when he was thirteen, he was knocked down by a car. It really shook me up, but I was calm. I didn't get hysterical like some people. How did it happened? Well, he was on the way back from playing football with his friends. They were riding bicycles together, and while they were crossing the road, a car knocked him down. He landed on the windshield of the car.

I was at home at that time when I received the call from the guy. I rushed to the clinic where they took him. When I saw him, he looked so pale, and I wanted to cry, but I didn't. I have to be strong for him.

The impact cracked his rib, and he has to be hospitalized for an observation. After two days in hospital, doctor said everything okay. But sometimes he feel uncomfortable at his left ribs. Oh ya! There was a small scar from the accident too. 

From that day onwards, he didn't ride his bike. Before the accident, he was into motorcycle, but after that, he totally not interested in it anymore.

He is also not a sportsman. He is more into music than sports. He can dance and play guitar very well. I first bought him his first guitar on his fourteen birthday. I didn't send him to any music class, and to my surprised, after a few months, I heard him played few songs. When I asked him where he learned all those songs, he said from his friends and from computers. Oh! I have to say that he inherit this talent from my husband's father who was a musician. Definitely not from me.

Time really flies, and I dreaded they day he will leave this nest. I can't think of my first born is all grown up. To me, he is still the little boy who is very close to his mum.

Syafiq, ibu doakan supaya Syafiq berjay dalam kehidupam Syafiq dunia dan akhirat, dan semoga berjaya dalam peperiksaan SPM dengan jayanya. Amin.


And Happy BIrthday!


Salam.

Zaki and his haircut

Zaki came back from school yesterday demanding that I took him for a hair cut. He said there would be a spot check today, and those who has long hair, better watch out because the discipline teacher would be very happy to cut their hair for free.

I told him that his hair was still short and within the guideline as stated in the school’s regulation book. He still demanded that we took him for a haircut.

Since my hubby was not free, I took him to the barber myself. This is the first time I took him for a haircut at the men’s saloon. I didn’t know where the place is, so he guided me to the shop. It was an Indian shop with Indian workers. 

Before we entered the shop, he had told me that he wanted the Robbie Van Persie’s haircut. 

“Whose hair?” I asked.
“Robbie Van Persie,” he answered.
“No way,” I said. 

Actually I don’t know how is Van Persie’s hair looks like, but I know he is an Arsenal footballer. When we stepped in, the shop was empty except for few workers. Two guys approached us, and immediately Zaki was taken to sit at the chair furthest in.

Since the chair is for adults, the guy has to add additional bench for him to sit. I told the guy not to cut too short in Malay, and he nodded his head. I thought he understood what I said.

I happily read my book, and when I looked up, I saw that he had cut it very short.

“Eh! Kenapa pendek (why so short) ? ” I asked. 

He just raised his thumb, and that when I knew he didn’t understand Malay. I asked him whether he understand English, and he said, “No. Only Tamil.”

I gave up and let him continue. Luckily it was only at the back and the side that was very short. The top is still okay.

When we walked out from the shop, he asked, “Why so short?”
My respond, “Oh! Isn’t that how Van Persie’s hair looks like?”

“Noooo!” he said.

I smiled.

Silver and Bronze!

Whoa! Mr. Han is back. Everyone was worried who would be his victim. But they don't have to worry because it was me and me and me, until Mr. Long gave up waiting for me. Huh! How happy am I!!!!! Ah! Forget about Mr. Han. Let’s talk about my weekend. By the way, I hope he would terrorize someone else tomorrow. 

On Saturday, Zaki came back from school with two medals. It was his school’s sports day. I missed it because my black beauty was waiting for me at the workshop. When I reached home, he was waiting for me at the door, proudly showing off his silver and bronze medal.

His team won second place in 4x50m and bronze for a group event called 'membawa bola dengan gelung' (carry the ball using hoop). Huh! I don’t know what it was, but he said it was very tiring. 

Since I didn’t go, I asked him to describe the relay. It was cute because instead of using baton, as usual, they just tagged the receiver. It must be fun, and I hope he would continue to excel in sports, ahem..like me.

Amir didn't win anything because his team lost in tug and war during the semi-final. That's the only event he took part. I told him its okay, and he could try again next year. Being a sport lover, he was upset that he was not selected in the final. Anyway, he was happy when he was selected to represent boy scouts in the march past, and there was ASTRO crews too covering the event for one of their shows.

Talking about tug and war, I'm not sure what's so great about it. Syafiq also took part in tug and war, and another one of my kids who didn't win anything. When I asked how come his team lost? His answered, "The other team are all big size." Huh! Excuses!

Oh yeah! The sport days were held on Saturday and Sunday. The Saturday event was for those in standard 1 - standard 3 while those in standard 4 - 6, it was on Sunday. And today, the two boys were given a day off after spending their weekend at school. Luckily Zara didn’t demand to be given a day off from school too!

Sekian…salam.

Wisma Yakin, Masjid Jamek

Masjid Jamek

Phew! What a day. We spent the whole afternoon at Masjid India walking up and down the road, going from one shop to another, but at the end, only get a few items.

We didn't drive to Masjid India. Infact, I never drive to Masjid India because (a) parking will be a problem and (b) the place is always crowded. We always take train whenever we headed to Masjid India. 

We parked at KL Sentral and took Putra LRT to Masjid Jamek. Wooooo! The kids were very excited. The last time we took them on the train was two years ago, to Masjid India too. Hehe! Their behavior was hmmmmm...not embarrassing but funny. People might think that we are not local.

When we boarded the train around 3pm, it was full of Liverpool's fan, dressed in Red. When the train stopped, scores of people in the red jersey, rushed to Star LRT Station to catch another train to Bukit Jalil. Well, it's not every day you get to see Liverpool plays. I guess their fans would have filled the stadium in red. Eh! How many turned up in yellow, ah?

From Masjed Jamek, we went to Wisma Yakin. The place was not so crowded, but still, I don't like it. Actually I hate crowded places, but I have to get use to it, I have to prepare myself as the place that I'm going October would be packed with millions of people. 

I seldom go to Wisma Yakin except when we have to get the belaju melayu for the boys, and it means only once a year during Ramadhan. But this time we decided to do it earlier. 

For this trip, it was not only to shop for the boys' belaju melayu, but we were also looking for some clothing that we have to take for our trip in October. But after going from one shop to another, we only get a few items only. It means there will be more shopping for us after 'Ramadhan'.


After few hours at Wisma Yakin, the kids started to get cranky. Zara kept on saying she wanted to go home, and Zaki started asking for toys, and it also means my pressure went up with every whining and demanding.

Bazaar in front of Wisma Yakin

On top of that, I was really pissed off with the Wisma Yakin's management. The toilets on all floors were locked. Whose crazy idea was that? I don't know, but it was very inconvenience to the shoppers. I was told that the tenants do have the key to the toilets, and not one toilet in the building has been reserved for public. I don't mind if I have to pay to use the toilet as long as there is a toilet. It is better to pay than not having one at all. 

How do i know about the toilet? Because Zara wanted to use the toilet. Because of the locked toilet, we have to walked to Mydin which was 300m from Wisma Yakin. Luckily, my little girl didn't pee in her pants. 

I really hope that the Wisma Yakin management will look into this, and make one of the toilets accessible to the public. Don't drive your customer away!

Salam.

New Hunting Ground - Islamic Kitchen

I found a new restaurant yesterday. Actually the restaurant was not new. It was there for quite some time, but every time we go to that area, we would either eat at JM Beriyani, Chan Abdullah or Italees. 

But yesterday, after our training in Sg Jelok, I told hubby I wanted to take something sweet. Yeah! I have a sweet tooth.

“Teh Tarik or Coffee would be nice and, please no Kopitiam this time” I told him.

He then drove to Seksyen 9, and as we passed by few restaurants there, we decided to try the Islamic Kitchen. The one that attracted us was the word pastries.

“Aaaa! They have pastries,” said hubby.

So we went in, but there were not so many people. Maybe it was almost 5pm, and people were getting ready to go home. As usual, wherever I go, I will observe the surrounding. And the different between this restaurant and other, the workers are all guys. Young guys around early twenties. 

And the food there, hmmm….they have varieties of food. Western, Mexican, Italians, Asian and Malaysian food. 

‘Not bad,” said hubby.

I then ordered ‘teh tarik’ and French toast without honey, and chili sauce. My hubby ordered ‘Cucur Bilis’ and ‘air mata kucing’ for his drink. 

They sent the cucur bilis first and sambal, and to our surprise it was hot. They fry the cucur whenever some one order it. At some other places, they would have the 'cucur' pre-cooked, and heat it up in the microwave oven. 

Since there were only four small pieces, we ordered another plate, and when my French toast came, it was hot too. The 'teh tarik' was so good that I wanted to order another one, but I didn't. Heaven!

And tonight, we decided to take the kids to the place. Huh! At first, Zara didn’t want to eat there, but changed her mind after we promised her ice-cream.

I wanted to eat Soto Ayam, but then changed my mind when I saw their beef burger. When I ordered beef burger, the rest also decided to have burgers.

Again, we were not disappointed with the foods. The kids mini burger was good and so was ours. The kids love their burgers. Definitely, this will be our next favorite restaurant.

Not only the food is good, the price is also reasonable. For 2 beef burgers, 4 mini burgers, 3 Milo Ice, 1 Teh ‘O’ Ice, 2 mineral waters and 4 icecreams (2 scoops each), the price was only RM83.00. 


Apa lagi..cubalah….

Salam.

And the race to get fit begins.

Yay! I completed my two days intensive course with flying colors. I aced the test and scored 96%. Happy, happy me! My hubby got through it too and scored 80%. Yay to him too! Oh! The passing mark for the test was 50%.

Yesterday, the topic was more on serious stuff like on how to do it, when to do it, where to go and perform the stuff, what needs to be prepared, what to wear and for women, which parts of the body can be exposed, and which parts need to cover. It also covered what happened if we break the rules and what’s the penalties.

If yesterday were on heavy stuff, today was more on general stuff likes females problems, cleanliness, physical and mentality fitness, and in the afternoon, it was on logistics. 

I now have a clearer picture on what should we do when we have **ahem** women’s problem there. To be truthful, I was kind of panic when there were so many things that I’m not clear and in doubt. I did asked and discussed it with few friends, but I was still hazy. After the session, it helped to clear 80% of the fuzziness, and for the other 20%, I need to continue to read and ask about it.

The second session was on health. The presenter is a doctor, and he was funny too. Since there will be millions of people, the weather is different from here, and activities are physically demanding, it is very important to get fit and healthy. If not, you will get sick or flat tired, and not able to finish the task. You can, but you have to fork out your money to get someone to help carry you. Realizing how important is this, I had started my exercise a few weeks ago, and I hope that I would be able to meet the challenge. Insya Allah.

Oh yeah! On the way to the place, I had a debate with my hubby on the advantage of taking the optional vaccinations. He was reluctant, and gave me all kind of excuses why he thinks we don’t need to take it. I guess he’s afraid of the needles. But when I dragged him to the vaccination room, he didn’t complaint. Hehe… He thought we only need one jab, but I signed up for two. To me, prevention is better than cure. Don't you agree?

The afternoon session was a little bit dry. To keep me from falling asleep, I did this, and I didn’t know what I drew until the lady next to me said something about it. Hehe…. Do you think I have talent? Nah! Don’t think so.

Ugh! Tomorrow I will be back in the office. I feel the pressure already, knowingly that I have three reports to submit, and none is ready yet. It’s going to be Mad Friday tomorrow.

Salam.

And the preparation starts....

Today, I attended an intensive course for my upcoming trip in October. I was looking forward for this training since I missed the basic training early this year. The training helped to clear my muzzle thoughts and doubts, and now I had a clearer picture what to expect. However, the trip itself will be very challenging physically and mentally. So I have to be prepared.

The guy who conducted the training was really good. He was relaxed and easy going, and this made the whole sessions interesting. He cracked jokes and shared his experiences with us. It was very helpful especially after lunch when everybody was very sleepy. Eventhough, he jokes around he still managed to get the message across. 

The moment he open his mouth, I immediately knew that he came from my home state. The intonation and the word he used sound music to my ear. Hah! Some of the words he used, I have not heard for years. Beautiful, beautiful sounds. 

Because not everyone understands the words he used, so only some of us can understand his jokes. The lady on my right was kind of lost. She looked at me when I laughed and giggled. At one time, I have to translate the meaning to her.

The training also helped me realized that I had so many things that I need to learn. It reminds me of my role as a wife, mother and daughter too. Huh! All this while I have taken my role for granted. I hope that this training and my upcoming trip will change me to become a better person. Insya Allah.

There will be one more training that I have to attend, and I also have to read more books on Haj and Umrah and less on romance. Heck! I have not bought any new books since May this year.

Oh! I have one more day to go, and tomorrow morning, it would be a topic on women. It will be on the dos and don'ts during the trip, and it will be very useful tips for us, the ladies. And there will be a test too. Ughhh! I hate that.

Run! Hide! The vampire is here!

It was another crazy day at the office today, but everything was under control. Heh! As long as Mr. Han didn’t disturb me, I would be fine. I would only go crazy, if Mr. Han kept circling behind me or dragging me to his lair. Either I exploded, or I got drowned.

I left office quite late today, almost 8pm. There was something that due tomorrow, and since I will be on leave for the next two days, I have to submit it by today. I was happy to submit it at 5pm today, thinking that I got one out of my way, but then, I received an email that said I used the wrong template. Damn! I have to copy the information to the new template. Hah! The only different between the new and old was the header. Gggrrrrhhhhh!!!!! 

I have few reports that need to be submitted by 15th July. I don’t know why everybody wanted it by 15th. On top of that, Mr. Han demanded me to get some information for him. Eeeeee! Why can’t he be resourceful and get the information himself? I really hope that he wakes up one day, and realized what he has done to the us here. He sucked us dry, until some of us need the extra juice to get us going. But looking around me, most of us are already dried and wilted, and about to collapse.

But this morning, everybody was happy because Mr. Han was away. We thought that he would be away the whole day, but after lunch, we saw him sitting on his throne.

“Ahhhh!!! There goes my day,” said someone. 
But he was only at his place for a short while only. He had to go and sucked up to the Master. 
“Phew! We have 3 hours of freedom from the vampire,” said another one.

After he comes back, everybody was busy again. Busy trying to avoid Mr. Han, but for me, I have no choice. Like it or not, when Mr. Han called, I have to go. He would like for me to run and bow to him and answered him, “Yes, sir. What can I do, sir? Okay, sir.”, but what he got was, “Wait ahh, I need to finish this first,” or I walked slowly to his throne.

Ahhhhh! Mr. Han, FYI, I would not think about work for the next two days. I have better things to do.

Tahlil for Abah

On Sunday, I went back to Seremban to my mom’s house. We had a special prayer for my dad who died last December. Besides that, she also included the prayers for her three grandchildren, Syafiq, Yasmin and Syahmi who will be sitting for SPM end of this year. Hah! That’s a do or die exam for them.

The tahlil started at 11am and followed by lunch. My mom invited her Yaasin’s group to read the Yaasin. The members of the group are all females, and they are made of housewives and widows.

This group has been together for more than ten years. They would take turns to host the bacaan Yaasin. Actually, most of the time, their schedules were packed, especially during the weekend or Thursday afternoon.

Whenever they attended the prayer, they would always come in their colorful uniforms. Huh! Everybody would be wearing the same colors, same designed and same cutting. I have seen them with blue, pink, green and brown ‘baju kurung’, but on Sunday, it was the first time I saw them in black. I was curious how they decided which color to wear, so I asked my mom. Her respond was that the colors would take turn too. The next house would wear blue or whatever in their schedule.

The prayer didn’t really start at 11am as some of the members were late. They only started when three quarters of the members were presence. As per normal practice in Malay tradition, we will sit on the floor along the wall. The leader, Makcik Maznah, lead the prayer. The rest of the guest, which mainly made up of my big family members, joined the prayer too. The prayer lasted about an hour. Well, the ladies went slow and steady when they prayed.

After the prayer ends, there were ‘Salawat Nabi’ too, and this time, everybody stand up. My nieces then helped to distribute the Surah Yaasin and some cookies as a token of appreciation. The whole group than adjourned to the tent for lunch.
Did we cook the lunch? Nope. My mom ordered the lunch from the caterer nearby. It was a great lunch. The main dishes were ‘masak lemak daging salai’ and ‘sambal udang’. For the kids, there were fried chicken.


Since there was some leftovers, I took back some for dinner, but by 5pm, my kids said they were hungry, and they wanted the food that we brought home. “Okay, this will be your dinner kids,” I said. Unfortunately, they had a different idea. 


At 9.30pm, Zaki said, “Where’s dinner?” 
"Dinner?" I said. 
"Yes," said Zara, Zaki and Amir.

Ahhhh!!!! I was luckily husband was at the grocery stores; otherwise, I have to cook something simple for them. So I asked my hubby to get 2 fried Kuew Teow and one fried noodles for the kids. Selamat!!!!!

My 19th Anniversary.

Whoa! I forgot my 19th wedding anniversary. It was on 26th June, and I only remembered it this morning when I shared some stories with my kids about us. Hubby was not around as he was again fixing his beloved Toyota. The best thing is my husband forgot about it too. Well, I didn't expect him to remember anyway, but for me to forget it, it was just awful not to remember it. 

It just shows how busy I was. At the office, I was busy with work, and at home, I was busy with the kids. Sometimes I just had to hide myself in a room so that my kids would not disturb me. Have you done that? Craving time for your own self? I bet you do.

Since it was two weeks late and I didn't plan anything, we took our four kids to celebrate our 19th anniversary together. Nothing fancy except it was at Seksyen 17, Mamak's restaurant. What did we have? Roti Nan for us and maggie goreng for the kids and KFC (Kelantan Fried Chicken). 


And tonight, I would like to share with you one of my favorite song, 'Stand By Me' by Ben E. King. I love the movie too!

Zara and her green peas.

This morning, my little girl, refused to get up from bed to go to school. Well, her teacher asked everyone in the class to bring green peas, and we didn’t have any green peas at home.

Well, on Thursday evening, she did called and said that she has to bring green peas to school, but I was busy at that time. My respond to her was, “Hmmm.” 

I didn’t remember about it at all until 8.30pm when she asked me for the green peas. Oooopsss..I totally forgot about it. She didn’t say anything about it and went to bed. I thought she would be okay, but I was wrong because the first thing she said when I woke her up, “Where the green peas? I don’t to go to school if I don’t have green peas.”

“Trouble,” I mumbled to myself. 

Luckily my father-in-law was kind enough to go and buy the green peas. Haha! He has to go two times to get the green peas. But because Zara is his favorite grandchildren, he didn’t mind.

First, he headed to the Seksyen 7 near the primary school, but on the way out, there was a lot of cars in front of the primary school. The school was preparing for the visit from Ministry of Education.

There were so many guests at the school, and this caused congestion to the road in front of the school. In fact, the shops around the place were also closed and no green peas. I then suggested that he buys from the groceries stores near the surau. 

Off he went to the grocery store and brought back the green peas. I thought my girl would go with his Atuk, but she didn’t want her grandfather. She wanted her mama to send her to school. Ughh! At that time, it was 8.15am already, and I was just getting ready to work.

Thinking that she was already late, I rushed her to school, but when I reached there, her classmates were all sitting outside waiting for the Minister. Not two minutes later, they minister and his officers arrived at the primary school. Did I see him? Heh! I only saw a black car passing by.

When I reached home today, I asked my girl where are the green peas. Her responds, “We going to plant the green peas on Monday, mama. When it grows, we can cook it later.”

Huh Zara dear! You only brought a few green peas. It would not be enough to cook it.

Salam.

Hope it's going to be peaceful.

This Saturday, 7th July, KL be very quiet. If you are Malaysian, you should know what’s going to happen. There’s a planned demo to be held in KL by the organizer of BERSIH 2.0.

The organizer is calling for a clean and fair election, and I like that. But what I don't like is when the plan becomes problem to people. Oh ya! This also means election is coming soon. When it is, I don’t know. I’m not into politic, so I don’t bother to find out when is the election, and I don’t want to write about election here.

What I’m more interested is the impact of the planned demo organized by the organizer of BERSIH2.0. Since they didn’t get approval to hold the demo, it becomes illegal. When it is illegal, there will be a lot of problems. Ordinary people like me don’t like this to happen because it going to cause problems to us. Going to KL will be a nightmare. 

Luckily for the past two days, there was no roadblocks in my area, but from what I heard from my office mates, the police in their areas have already started setting up the roadblock. Ughhh! Nightmare! When it happened, everybody would be caught in a traffic jam. Gosh! I had experience it once, and I don't want to go through it again. 

Today, someone sent me an email on the most major roads closure this Saturday. O-ho! KL will be quiet because of this. Most of the traffics will be diverted to other areas, and if you are travelling to KL on the bus, be prepared to be dropped at Jalan Duta or Bandar Tasik Selatan. Pity them. These peoples have to find an alternative transport to get to KL.

The business will also be impacted by this. SInce people cannot go to KL there's definitely going to be a drop in their sales. Kesian them! I really hope that it’s going to be a peaceful gathering this Saturday, and I hope no major disaster or riots going to happen. 

Peace! Salam.

Nightmare

Yesterday, I felt like my head exploded. Too much information to search and understand. The whole day was spent looking for the numbers. Phew! By the end of the day, I never felt so much relieved.

The work would be easy if I were from accounting or finance background. Unfortunately, I was not. Never studied finance nor accounting. All this while, I was happy to leave to someone else to manage the budget. 

But since my colleague resigned, I have to stepped in temporarily. Sometimes I wonder why I always ended doing things people don’t want. Maybe, it’s my fault. I didn’t know how to say NO.

So when my boss told me that I had to assume the role temporarily, I was quite reluctant. He assured me that he would be doing part of the budget too. Heh! I was skeptical of it. True enough! Most of the dirty work I have to do it.

I was really struggling because finance is like Greek to me. The last two months were really tough on me. But no matter how tough it was, I was grateful.

Grateful because it gave me the opportunity to learn something new. I have to say that, career wise, I have developed a lot. I first started as an IT lecturer before I moved to do technical support. From technical support, I did software development, project management before I moved to IT Operation. 

In IT Operation, I managed the Helpdesk team, then I moved to Desktop Support before taking the challenge in Testing and Quality Assurance. I had a short stint in Release Management too. When I was in TQA, I had the opportunity to work in Jakarta. I was there for eight months, and upon my returned, I continued to assume my previous role before my Jakarta stint.

When the management offered me to move back to Operation again, I was glad because if I continued to stay in TQA, I would die of boredom. The IT operation was really challenging as I had to manage the environment end-to-end, which include Data Center, Service Desk, Desktop Support, Application Management, Servers, Databases and Networks. Its gave me the opportunity to work with the big vendors such as HP, DELL and Oracle.

From operation, I was then offered to be part of the outsourcing project team. The previous project manager left, and the handover was also less than a week. It was pure hell for the first 4 weeks as we were at the contract negotiation. Huge learning curve for me, but I survived.

And in the post-outsourcing, I’m currently doing contract management and governance. Since Financial Management is part of Sourcing Management and Governance, that’s how I ended up taking care of the budget until someone with a proper background comes in. Until then, I will continue to have nightmares with numbers….

Salam....

Another Engagement

Brother and sister..both engaged.

I missed my nephew's engagement ceremony yesterday.I was kind of sad because I was really looking forward for his engagement. What to do? I had another appointment that I cannot reschedule to another time and date, as it was arranged by the government agency.

It was very interesting how from ‘merisik’, it then turned to engagement. The initial plan was for my sister family to go for ‘merisik’ (asking ceremony or spying ceremony). If you are interested what is ‘merisik’, you can go here. 

They had been planning for ‘merisik’ for the past two months, and it was agreed with the girl side that we will come on the 2nd July.


My brother Zahir, was asked to be the spokesman for the merisik, and I was offered to go with them too. I wanted to go, as it going to be my first experience in this. Ahem… preparing for my own self. Who knows my oldest might decided to get married young.

However on Wednesday, my sister called, and said that  they have changed the date to Sunday. I was disappointed, but I told her that I can’t join her, but would love to be there for the engagement ceremony.

Tup…tup.. On Friday afternoon, my sister called again and said there a change of plan. My sister said, “No merisik, but it will be an engagement ceremony for Boy.” 

“What???” I said. I was speechless, but the girl’s side has requested it to be engagement instead of merisik.

“Ah!” I said. “I can’t join you, but let me see whether I can change my appointment.” 
I cannot change, so on Sunday, my family members minus my family and my sister, Zura, headed down to Tangkak, Johor. It was a simple ceremony. No outsiders during the ceremony. It was purely a family affair. 

When I called my mom this evening, she told me that everything went well. The foods that were prepared by the host was great. They also get a chance to eat 'durian'. Waa.....melepas gue.

The wedding will take place in January next year. Meantimes, Boy (my nephew) has to start plan and save for his wedding, and his sister, Iza will be the busiest lady next year. Two weddings to plan.

Congratulation to Izwan aka Boy and Ain.

Sg Besi, Nasi Ayam and Apam Balik.

Today, I went to Sungai Besi town to buy the Chicken Rice and the Apam Balik. We, my hubby and me, were on the way back from Petaling Jaya, and since it was lunch time, we decided to buy the Chicken Rice there.

Every time I went to Sungai Besi I felt like I was back in Year 2000. There was not much progress in the town itself except there are more cars now than before. The stores, the stalls and the roadside peddlers are still the same people that I knew in 2000. Maybe now instead of them selling the foods or goods, they have their children taking over.

The town itself was so crowded. The road was narrow, and it was made worse when cars parked at the roadside. I guess this is due to unlimited parking space available in the town itself. People sometimes just double parked when they cannot get parking.

The chicken rice shop, or known as Sg Besi Nasi Ayam OK, the place was slightly bigger compared to when I was there in 2004. They also have a new assistant to help them. Their son. The last time I saw the boy, he was still in primary school. How time flies. The price also increased but not so much, and the quality and the taste of the nasi ayam are still the same. That’s why they are popular with the locals.

On the way back to Bangi, we took the Bandar Tasik Selatan route. Wow! There are so many food stalls along the road. You only need to have your money ready. So many foods, so many varieties. But it was not the case ten years ago. Back then, there was only one or two stalls there. Ahhh…. Food business must be doing very well there, or there are a lot of hungry people in that area.