Happy Birthday...

Today is my father 81st birthday, but he left us in December last year.  We celebrated his birthday during Raya last year, but we could see that he was not feeling well.

In fact during Ramadan last year he complained that his stomach feel bloated, and he couldn’t eat much. The doctor diagnosed that he had a gastric, and asked him to cut on some of the spicy food and gassy drinks. But the doctor was wrong. It was not!

We going to miss him this Raya especially his famous 'Sup Tulang'. He would dragged mum to market, and buy ribs to make his special soup. He knew that his kids love his soup, and this year, we would still make it, but he won’t be there to eat it with us.

He didn’t go out much during last year Hari Raya. He only went to was my sister’s house, and my brother’s house in Bahau. I still remembered while we had fun, eating, drinking and singing, he just sat quietly in a corner watching us.

He didn’t eat much, and later he went to sit inside the car because he found it difficult to breath. We were worried with his condition. My sister, Zura, then took him back with her to KL, and sent him to see the specialist. That when we found out he didn't have a gastric, but  liver cancer. He further told her it was already at stage four.

He only lasted for four months, and during that four month whatever he wanted to eat, we tried to get it for him. At one time, he wanted to eat ‘asam katuk’.  My niece went all the way to Malacca to buy it, and later we found out it’s available in KL too.

Now he’s gone, every time we went out for dinner or lunch, we always think of him because he loved to eat. And when he was alive, my youngest sister, Zailin and Zura, would take him to all the places he wanted to go. He loved that very much,  and when he was in the hospital, my sister, Ami and Along Norlia, took care of him. This four women are angels.

Thank you to all my sisters for taking care of abah.

‘Ya Allah, ampuni dosa ayahku dan tempatkan lah dia di kalangan orang-orang yang beriman. Amin’  - Al fatihah.

Salam.

My Love Affairs with Cars

I saw a VW Scirrocco zooming past me this morning and I envy the driver. Well, I have been eyeing that baby but what can I say, it is too expensive for me. Maybe one day, hope not too long, I can own the baby.


Well, I'm not into fast cars but the first time I saw Scirrocco, wow I fell in love with the baby. It such a sexy looking baby. Heh, for now I have to make do with my current VW Golf. It still serves the purpose.


I have been driving for the past 20 plus years and the first time I drive was in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It was a totally new experience especially when driving in US. Everything is opposite. Left hand drive car, and the road system is also opposite of our road system in Malaysia. The first car that I bought was Dodge Omni and not bad, it served its purpose - to take me to campus and the surrounding area.


The next car, that I owned was a few months after I moved to KL. I need a car badly to go to work because there was no direct public transport from my house to my office in Taman Tun. So, I asked my late father, to look for a used car and told him that I wanted a Mazda Familia. He found one but the engine was not in good condition and after discussing with him, I settled for Ford Escort. Wow! That car was good and I used it for almost five years before I replaced it with Renault 19. By this time, I'm already married and with one kid.


This baby, Renault 19 and not my son, can really fly. I was sent to work in Malacca for a short period. My family was separated at three different states. My hubby was in KL, my son with my parents in Seremban and I was in Malacca. Since the distance from Seremban to Malacca not that far, I commuted from Seremban to Malacca almost every day even though I was given an apartment. Thanks to the car, I zoomed down the highway averaging, ahem 130-140km and reached the office by 8.30am.


I loved the car but as it start getting older, the engine start to give me problem and oh boy!, it was costly to keep this baby. So I decided to change my Renault 19 to Toyota Corolla. This car is still with us and it will be celebrating its 11 years with us this June. My hubby loves it very much even though I asked him to change to another car.


In 2003, I bought our second car, Hyundai Matrix. We need the second car because my hubby is travelling south whereas I have to travel towards KL. I missed the time where we were driving to work together. We can discussed a lot of thing during that short period. This car also served its purpose as a family car.  


When I was pregnant with my fourth kids, I told hubby, we need to get a bigger car, the MPV. So after scouting around we found the right car, Mitsubishi Grandis, which can carry eight people. We traded our faithful Matrix and bought the elegant and classy Grandis. This car, officially becomes our family car until today. 


In Dec 2006, when I came back from Jakarta, after being assigned there for 8 months, I decided to buy a small car. I reasoned out with hubby that it is not practical to drive a big car, when (a) I'm the only person in the car, (b) the car is petrol guzzler and (c) it is very challenging to park the car when the parking is almost full. My definition of small car was to get Kelisa or MyVi but my dear hubby has different definition. He took me to view Suzuki and VW Golf. Of course, when he brought me to see VW Golf, I told him I want that car and since he is paying, why not. I didn't feel guilty at all and this baby can fly. This baby has been with me for three years and I still haven't get tired of it. I love it very much.


Okay, enough of my rambling on my passion with cars. I hope one day that Scirocco will be mine and my hubby will changed his car to a bigger Toyota? Insyallah...Salam.