Biarkan Roti Kacang Merah Dengan Labu Labi nya

Testing tengok

2011-08-16T19:43:00.000+08:00

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Testing tengok

2011-08-16T19:36:00.001+08:00

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Test Labi

2011-08-16T18:51:00.001+08:00

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Of An Idjeeotic Morning

2010-02-24T18:24:00.010+08:00

I had a bad start today. Really idjeeotic morning, making me feel like a total idjeet.

First, I had to drive to work 'coz Dear Husband has an event in Kuala Selangor tonight. Driving to work means I'd have to go out earlier than usual in order to have a nice parking space which is quite a distance away from the office. Alah, jauh tak jauh la... around 5mins walk. But driving to work also means that after parking, I'd have to spend a bit in the car to put on my make-up first instead of putting them on while Dear Husband is doing the driving. Ya, aku tak cantik like that, have to smack something on to nampak macam mandi pagi, ok.

Ok, tak pe lah tu. Man-man oni, mah. Smoh matter.

Upon entering the car while still at home, the nose detected some unbearably familiar stench that could only belong to one of the anak bujang warna oren tiga ekoq kat dalam rumah nu.

Eh, bila masa depa masuk keta ni and wiwi? Orrrr, would it be possible that some stray cats climbed up into the engine and pee to mark their territory, hence the smell seems to be coming out from the aircond vent? Ish. Some effort by them, ey?

Ok, tak pa lah kan. I need to punch my card at 8.30am, no time to investigate. I drove like mad, beating the morning rush hour, while wrinkling my nose over the stench. I thought I’ll just deal with it later lah. This noon maybe, at lunch time. I have a meeting at 10am in Ampang. I can’t be late coz am going with the office car at 9.30am. And when I started the journey from home, it was already a quarter to 8.

Darn, tangki aku almost empty. Padanla Abang tinggaikan duit. Dia pinjam guna keta hari Ahad aritu, dia terlupa nak isi.

Ok, tak pa. Since I was late and didn’t have time to singgah mana-mana petrol station on the way to the office, I’ll just park the car by the kerb right infront of the office nanti, rush in to punch my card, then rush off to get the tank filled.

I did just that. Managed to punch at 8.26am, and rushed back to the nearest petrol station so that balik karang aku tak panic if caught in the after-hours traffic snarl. And I thought I could just grab a bite on the way back to the office as my breakfast.

At the petrol station, apart from paying for the petrol, I also bought a car freshener (for very obvious reason) and a packet of Oreos (melayan nafsu). As I was about to pay at the counter, I could STILL smell the stench right there and then. Pelik. I thought my nose was playing tricks on me. But when I bent down over to smell my skirt, HOLY COW! It was my skirt!!!

DARN THE CATS!!!

One of them definitely peed in my bakul baju gosok!!! SIUUUUUTTTTTTTTT!!!

Rasa nak sumpah dorang jadi, jadi, errr, oh I dunno, jadi kucing yang tak kencing dalam bakul baju I suppose? Padahal I have neutered them all, so there's NO REASON to be territorial apart from the fact that one them has a fetish over freshly washed laundry in an ironing basket, obviously!!!!

Aiyohhhh.

SIUT SIUT SIUT SIUT!

Apa lagi ahkak had to drive all the way back home to change my clothes, lah!

Fortunately enough, the road on the way back home was pretty clear since it was against the tidal rush into the city. I was grateful at that, until, in the midst of calling and texting everyone – my consultants, my building team, the office driver and The Husband who was still at home – I missed the exit down from Mahameru onto Syed Putra highway leading to Kerinchi, and had to do a u-turn at Hang Tuah which was clogged-up like mad! ARGGGGGHHHH! And I was SO running out of time!

That was the 3rd idjeeotic incident within one short span of just 1 hour! First, the empty tank. Second, the cat-pee-laden clothes. Third, the missed exit.

"Ok, this has GOT to be the last, Ya Allah…" I asked God. Help me, please. Grant me the world’s patience for more mad things you’re about to put me through today!

Finally, reached home at 9.05am, Dear Husband was out having breakfast at the nearby restaurant, so I rushed up into the room, tossed out the entire pile of MY clothes from the ironing basket, and true enough, there were hints of yellowish sticky dried-up liquid at the bottom of the basket.

ARGGGGGHHHH! All clothes need to be washed again!

Apa lagi, makcik pun turun bawah and jerit to ALL THREE CATS (not sure which did the deed, but all deserved to be screamed at, haha), “NI SAPA KENCING DALAM BAKUL BAJU KAK LIN, NI??? HA?? HA?? HA??”, managed to jentik telinga Labi while Labu and Adi, upon seeing me kena rasuk hantu, scurried off helter skelter tah pi mana. HMPH!!!

Done with that, I hurried back up, gosok baju kurung, turun bawah, gulped down a warm mug of coffee for my usual morning boost, sempat jumpa Abang baru balik dari breakfast, salam Abang and ciao.

This time I took Syed Putra (rather than the usual Jln Bangsar in the morning) heading towards my office at the fringe of Jln Sultan Ismail. God indeed listened to my prayers ~ the road was smooth sailing, allowing me to play dare-devil on the road, serious kiasu cilok-ing biatch in the workings. Also, I managed to gobble down some Orios that I bought from the petrol station earlier on as my breakfast.

Alhamdulillah, it took me 30mins instead of the usual 45 to reach office, and terus lompat masuk dalam kereta ofis. Driver dah muram-muram even though I’ve texted him about my circumstances. Mujur aku kamcing dengan dia, aku minta maaf, terus dia ok.

I asked him to use the elevated highway and I’d pay the toll using my touch n’ go card. Dah lewat, and I wanted him to beat the jam on Jalan Ampang towards the meeting place at Dataran Palma.

I gave him the card, last used 2 days ago, and guess what happened ~ the machine decided to say “Kad Tamat Tempoh”. WTF??? There’s enough balance to go up and down the elevated highway 30 more times, and how could ANYBODY have guessed that TnG card has a time limit???

So there we were, being idiots, having to reverse our car and onto the Cash Lane. Mujur tak da kereta kat belakang masa tu. But malu lah akak dengan driver akak, kan? So, the lady behind the cash counter asked me to just drop-by at the TnG office nearby and let them resolve the problem.

So, off I went traipsing down to the nearby maintenance office, rushing for time mind you, coz it was already 5mins to 10am, and have my card checked.

“Kad ni dah tamat tempoh, sebab dah 10 tahun. Tamat tempoh semalam,” the officer told.

“What? Semalam??? Naper tak pernah ada warning ke apa? Kan dah menyusahkan orang!” I replied, in a pretty much higher tone than usual. Frustrated, really.

I mean, it HAD to be SEMALAM la kan. Not ESOK ka, PETANG KARANG ka, for it to Tamat Tempoh. Aiyoh.

“Tak pa, Cik isi aje borang, saya ganti baru,” she said again.

“That’s not the bleeding point!” I screamed, though that stayed just in my head and never got out of my mouth. Haha

I diligently filled in the form tah untuk hapa, and got my new card. Terlupa nak minta balik the old one – my first TnG card that I purchased when I started working after graduating. Imagine how old and seasoned the card was… memang patut tamat tempoh, but you know, why would they make the card like a credit card, siap nak ada tamat tempoh segala? Nyusahkan aje.

So I walked back up to the car, and continued the journey. Alhamdulillah, I was only less than 10 minutes late, and the meeting only started at half 10am for other late comers.

Phew.

FOUR incidents in one morning, I tell ya.

After the meeting and upon reaching the office, there was a blood drive down at the lobby and I decided to donate my blood since it’s already been 12 weeks from the last I did.

When it was over and I was taking the 5 minutes rest before you’re allowed to get up, the organiser came up to me and asked me how many times I’ve donated. When I told him how many, he asked for my book. Jokingly I prodded, “Kenapa? Nak kasi hadiah ke? Hehehehehe”. And he said, apparently so, yes. “Nanti datang jumpa kita bila akak dah minum, ya?” he said. Waaaaaah!

After the light refreshment they provided you at the end of every donation, I went over to them organiser of which they asked me nak hadiah apa. Waaaah got many hadiah kaa? I asked.

“Ada water filter, kipas kotak, dengan DVD player,” they said.

Seriously??? I asked them back.

“Iyyyaaaa, tapi nak habis dah. Kami pakai pilih aje penderma, tapi ada minimum berapa kali dah menderma. Kebetulan akak layak,” they told me.

Aku pun pilih lah DVD player, and took a snapshot with the pegawai yang organize. Hehehehe

Yippppaaaaaa! Ritaaaaaddd!!!

OHHHHHH wot a GREAT END to a horrible morning, ey? That TOTALLY expunged (ceh ceh guna bahasa mahkamah plak kan) the ENTIRE hot episodes in the morning.

That said, by then it was already 1+ pm, and I didn’t have time to have lunch. Naik atas solat Dzuhur, and rushed down again by 1.45pm to join my ex-boss for a brief 2pm meeting at the HQ nearby with the Big Boss No.3.

Balik at 2.40pm, baru boleh makan proper.

Pant pant pant pant.

Tapi, taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak jugak kurus-kurus! Darn it.

f~

Virus M4L45

2009-12-02T21:47:00.002+08:00

Ada ubatnya tak, ya?

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY, AMIR!

2009-11-03T15:19:00.004+08:00

Mummy doakan agar Amir senantiasa diberkati dan dirahmati Allah, semoga dikurnia kesihatan yang bagus-bagus, kebijaksanaan dan keupayaan seorang pemimpin, dan sentiasa disayangi & menyayangi.

You may not be living with me at the moment, for whatever is being arranged right now, I believe, is the best for you. Mummy will always, always love you. Always.

Happy Birthday, Sayang. And here's to many more years to come, insyaAllah.

Love you much,
Mummy~
3-Nov-2009

Of the Blame Game

2009-10-12T23:51:00.008+08:00

I can't remember my style of writing in my blog anymore. I haven't peeked through it for occasional house-cleaning, let alone updating it.

I blame the new office. Things can get so unpredictably hectic that spending time even to draft an entry seemed like a guilt-trip, nor attempting work can make the load a lot less. It’s a neither here nor there situation. At times, going to work makes me feel useless – nothing’s achieved total completion. More bureaucracies, more red tapes. Even a slight decision (but a very important and urgent one, nevertheless) needs to go through processes that reading JR Tolkien’s trilogy would seem a breeze. Oh ya, logging-in the blogger page would also make me surf my blogrolls till no end. Hence to abstain myself from such sinful indulgence one must not indulge oneself in things one know one can lose out. Kira macam blog-celibacy jugak lah ni kan.

I blame the new house. I love it so much, that updating blog seems like a blegh activity to do once I’m home.

I blame my in-anonymity (‘sthere a word?). I’ve so many things to let off my chest, and when I do, I get asked, questioned, probed, interrogated and pressed for things I prefer not to dwell into or answer. This is my space, I am what and who I am, yet I’m made to feel guilty of the things I decide to fill this space with. That, made me just bored & tired & frustrated to death. I’m just not free to be me, The Roti Kacang Merah, the alter-ego I’m known for. I used to enjoy readership, but over a period of time I start to feel so rimas. Maaaaaaaaaaaacam la celebrity sangat, karn. But yeah, that gave me a wee bit of insight to the kerimasan of being a celebrity *muntahijo*

I blame the blardy BukuMuka. The trend of what it is today. And how, using my brick-fone (instead of the ‘Berries, iPhones or the likes), accessing FB from just about any corners I am at at that particular mo be it the mamak stall, the car on the way to work or the throne for some gut-cleansing rituals, posting comments and updating status is a hell lot easier, faster and cheaper on FB. My FB status-es warrants a blog of its own and kind -- they are long and ‘historical’ to me, equally recording events like my blog does. So, anybody knows how to automatically update my blog entry everytime I update my FB status, by the way? Tak yah ajar aku tang kalau aku update blog automatic masuk ke FB… tu aku tahu. Aku nak tang kalau aku update FB status, automatic it’ll update my blog entry.

Apa lagi nak blame. Lemme see….

That’s it, I suppose… for the time being that is.

Yes, EVERYTHING else I should be blaming for, but my own kemalasan. And, God I pray that dear husband would not seek my assistance should he decide to register a blog one day since these days dia sangat rajin put up entries on his FB. Aaaaaaaaaaamiiiiiiiiin. haha

Oh ya I am SO GLAD that I'm yet to be addicted to the FB's quizzes, farmstuff, petstuff, barnstuff, restaurant stuff, mafiastuff and all the jadahstuff in there... EXCEPT updating my status and checking out other people. Alhamdulillah, hope it stays that way, la kan.

Good gawd, I actually planned to write the time I accidentally locked Labu in the bedroom for 3 days and 3 nights, but now it’s getting late. Hence tah bila lagi aku akan update. Haha

f~

Of Ramadhan Moon

2009-09-04T20:36:00.002+08:00

Kalaulah dapat aku pinjam barang sekejap dari petala langitNya, akanku masukkan dikau dalam botol untuk ku nikmati kecantikanmu kala dalam dakapan tersayang.

14 Ramadhan 1430H.

f¤

Of Redang: The Journey Home

2009-08-21T18:09:00.001+08:00

We're now on the hi-way dah masuk sempadan Temerloh.

Strange how it feels like it's still 4.30pm, when it's already 6p (I tell you this Sani Ekspress Executive Coach driver is SO berhemah on the road, we highly recommend you the co.)... where as back on the island, it felt like it was already 5.30pm when it was only 4.30pm.

Welcome home to reality, ey.

Driver said we'd reach KL by 9pm. With 'kesopanan atas jalanraya' like this, I'm not surprised if it'll be at 10+pm instead!

Sian Adi, Labu and Labi.

f¤

Of Redang: Goodbye

2009-08-21T09:48:00.001+08:00

Aiyoh.

Heartbreaking.

f¤

Of Redang: The Deep Blue Life

2009-08-19T16:29:00.002+08:00

Isn't this the life.

It's only 4.30pm, felt like it should've been 5.30pm.

Depa tak dak PBT ka on the island. Kot aku buleh apply ke. Macam tak nak balik, arr.

Will write more. I hope!

f¤

Of Redang: Arrival @ KT

2009-08-19T06:38:00.002+08:00

Alhamdulillah, safely arrived at KT an hour ago, around 5.20am. Baru lepas Subuh di surau stesen bas. Our resort minibus to jetty is at 7.30.

Man it just feels great to just be out of West Coast. I'm so tired of the fast-pace in West Coast.

In fact, masa dalam bas while dozing off, I took pains trying to decipher the conversations between the driver and his co below, so thick with 'Ganuan accent (and i SO failed in it). To me just the sound of them was lullaby to my ear, lulling me to La La land. We were still not out of KL back then, but they already made me feel like I was about to arrive 'Ganu. Rather blissful feeling I'd say.

(You know, macam budak yang kadang hanya boleh tidur bila dengar suara orang. I dig those babies. The distant voices definitely made you feel secure somewhat.)

Some of you may wonder what happen to the 3 orange-furred boys while we're away? Well, this is our 1st time leaving them all alone at home rather than sending them for boarding. I've cleaned their trays and put the sand quite full, and we managed to get food and water dispenser for them. So we'll see how they fare nanti. If they succeed, then masa away for Raya pun we'll just resort to methods as such. Saves us boarding fees of rm20/cat/day.

Ok, nak cari breakfast. Will periodically update both FB status (which is a lohhh-hot easier) and blog.

Rindukan the furkids di pagi hari. Hope they're well. Kalau boleh call diorang, kan best.

f¤

Of Being Thankful for Not Giving Up

2009-08-11T22:15:00.002+08:00

Adi dah discharged, and Alhamdulillah he seems way so much better -- when he heard my voice, from his treatment cage, dia terus keluarkan his paw to reach me so that I would belai-belai him (which he NEVER does, the paw-reaching gesture), and he behaved to his treatment far better than before. Alhamdulillah.

I also met Dr. Jonathan, now managing the vet's Ampang branch, who was there visiting. DocJon was the 1st vet who treated Adi's colon problem two years ago, and when he saw Adi he recalled treating Adi before. DocJon highly recommended surgery on Adi 'coz he said he's done loads of colonic surgery on cats, including on a 12-year old cat who had colon problems the past 5 years and the surgery was successful in putting away the problem for good.

Unlike Adi who has to keep coming back to the vet every 2,3 months for troubleshooting, with his owner teary-eyed, torn between decisions.

We'll see lah kan?

In the meantime, malam ni Adi akan tidur dengan Kak Lin, Abg Zul, Labu & Labi... full-house again, yeay!!

Syukur Alhamdulillah that I didn't play God on him.

f¤
Note to self:
Told to get PROPULSID for Adi from pharmacy. It should contain 10mg of 'cisapride', in tablet form, to be given 1/4 tablet twice a day after food. It helps to give Adi's colon some motility. BUT, if Adi tak beyak for two days, then must stop give the medicine or else will rupture colon 'coz colon tersumbat with faeces tapi colon still nak do the teran action. Enema to still be administered 3xs a week.

Of Making Life or Death Decisions

2009-08-09T12:50:00.001+08:00

Adi sakit lagi. Last dia uk-uk pepejal was friday 24th july (and so banyak. Like, the entire length of his colon). I've been administering enema every night the past week, tapi keluar liquid je. Yesterday, upon vet's consultation via phone, I administered enema using half a bottle of contact lense's saline solution and urut-urut bahagian usus dia so that taik dia jadi lembut... but he vomitted gastric juice instead, a couple of times. The day before, he had tummy cramps. Aiyoh, kesian sangat kat dia. Terlepek dah 2 hari sebab tak boleh makan. Kesian sangat.

Tadi the vet told me, with his current sufferings, she gave me an option -- to go ahead with treatment, or put him to sleep.

I told her I'm not ready to let him go just yet.

Please pray for ease of his suffering. He will not be better, but if he dies, let it be due to natural causes.

Oh, I don't know. Which one would make him easier to go...? :"-(

f¤

Of KoncoZunar's 1st T-shirt

2009-08-05T13:32:00.001+08:00

Abang's company's first t-shirt. I wore it to the clinic last Thursday morning, and made the lady doctor smiled widely. Hehe

Go to koncozunar.blogspot.com for more info!

f¤

Of Being Ill

2009-08-05T12:06:00.002+08:00

Bulan chantik malam tadi.

(dust dust the sawang in the blog)

Dah lama sangat tak update blog. Have been updating the FB status instead, coz it's easier (and cheaper) to check and reply comments through the handphone.

Office these days? Ya Rabbi. Kadang tak sempat to even have lunch. Kena pula ramai yang bersilih-ganti sakit. Now, my immediate boss i.e TP, tengah on his 2nd-week m.c, still hospitalised in Serdang Hospital. No, not due to H1N1, alhamdulillah he's been cleared of that. But due to his fluctuating blood pressure and sugar level sejak demam last week. Kan bahaya tu.

Last week pun, aku demam dari Isnin petang til Khamis. Jangkit dari TP la. Hari Selasa malam Rabu was the worst -- I still had to go to work on Tuesday coz macam-macam meeting plus nak kena siapkan organize a Green Building Forum on Wednesday which I was also the emcee.

Balik keja petang tu, aku dah tak larat. By Maghrib, all possible cavities on me felt like they were spitting fire. Abang tolong basahkan tuala to lower down my temp, tapi aku rasa tak cukup. My sendi-sendi rasa terbakar panas nak tercabut, I was coughing like mad. Abang quickly took me to the nearby clinic to have me checked. Alhamdulillah, doc kata I was clear, but my temp was on a high side -- 39.2 deg. Since I could not find a replacement for the emcee part, I requested to be given a really strong antibiotic that could help me kebah cepat.

The doc gave me what I asked for, plus an m.c just in case I wasn't getting any better. Balik bila tidur, by midnite aku terjaga sangat dahaga and in need to pee. Aku terkejut bila bangun macam ada orang bilas air atas aku. Rupanya aku kebah sampai lencun baju tidur and cadar katil. Alhamdulillah, by then temp aku banyak kurang.

At 4am, I woke up to prepare my script. In English la, since all five papers for the day will be presented in English, including one by a Dane. So, standard arr kan, emcee in English. Nevertheless, I reminded myself to ask the head organiser about the language of emceeing later on.

Which, of course, as God would've planned it, it was supposed to be in BM... which I only knew 15mins before the event started.

Orang semua gabra terbeliak bijik mata ternganga mulut untuk aku. Aku, dengan on m.c nya tapi still kena emcee, kata rilekkkkkk. I'll just translate bit by bit whenever there's a break... Like when there's a speech, or presentation, or tea break. Rilekkkkk. Kalau tak rilek, nanti aku pengsan kat situ karang.

And that was what I did -- rilek, translate bila dapat ruang masa, and it went on smooth-sailing Alhamdulillah.

Balik tu aku terus koma and ambil m.c lagi untuk total rest esoknya tu.

Petang aku habis emcee tu, my dear granduncle, Aki, who was once the longest reigning Imam Besar Masjid Negara, passed away mengejut in KB. Anak-anak pun tak sempat jumpa. Umi took the 1st flight back to KB that Thursday morning to send Aki at 11am.

Kat sana, Umi pula demam teruk, and when she came back midnite Friday (malam Sabtu), she was burning like fire sampai Ayah tak tidur malam jaga dia.

After breakfast on Saturday, I went back to Bangi and took Umi to the clinic, where the doc referred Umi to Serdang Hospital for lung screening just to be safe. Panjaaaang lagi cerita kat hospital tu, we were there from 12.00pm til 8.30pm. X-ray, ecg, blood tests all managed to be carried out, and Alhamdulillah Umi was cleared of H1N1 or any symptoms related to it.

By the way, the male nurse told my mom just after the doc cleared us at half 8, that there were 900 patients at the emergency from 7am till 8.30pm that day. No wonder lah the emergency staffs had been so apologetic and kind to everybody. They were under-handed rupanya.

Ok gotta go. I'm still coughing phlegm. Tired of it really.

f¤

Of Umi Ayah Melepak

2009-07-28T17:49:00.001+08:00

Yesterday. Umi, Ayah and I reached Pt.Dalam at around 4.30pm after the berubat appointment in Kuang at 2.30pm. After what was supposed to be a brief minum-minum petang and short evening nap, Umi Ayah ended up having dinner of nasi kukus ayam goreng berempah with us and continued lepak-lepak till quarter past 10pm.

In normal circumstances, jangan harap Ayah nak melepak till past maghrib. "Air mandi angsa tak tukar, pokok tak siram, makanan kucing-kucing mendatang and burung-burung tak kasi..." Ayah would say.

So kiranya aku bertuah semalam that Ayah agreed to stay back. Aku seronok tengok Umi rilek-rilek macam ni, and Ayah main-main dengan Adi. Seronok sangat. Aku yang tengah demam pun, terus rasa sihat sikit.

I asked them to stay for the night. "Nanti Kak Lin buatkan breakfast," I said. But alas they had to go home 'coz noone's around to set the house alarm.

Esok I will be the emcee for the whole-day GBI conference, with 5 speakers presenting their paper from morning till evening. I hope I will be better tonight. Skrip pun tak wat lagi. Yet my temp is escalating, bila batuk rasa nak pensan.

Helep.

f¤

Al-Fatihah: Yasmin Ahmad

2009-07-26T11:35:00.013+08:00

"The world is multi-racial. That is a great blessing from God, and I don’t understand why some people treat it like a curse."

I didn't know she was gone until I read Kak Dinz's (DinaZaman) comment on FB this morning.

She's been my favourite director (though not Abang's), apart from Khabir Batia. Though her films evoke controversies, but, let's face it -- compared to, say, Remp-It or yang seangkatan dengannya, I'd say her films have way higher moral values, hands down. Let's not forget her much awaited commercials every Hari Perayaan. No more of those after this, I reckon...

I was such an avid fan of hers, that aku pernah pujuk Abang to run an interview with her for one of Suara Keadilan's 'Seni' Column. Unfortunately, she politely refused the interview. I think that was when Abang's indifference towards her escalated than ever, haha.

Nevertheless, it was a real pleasure to have bumped into her at KLPAC two years ago.

From left: Ahy, Kak Min, RKM, Abg Yuz

25th June: the passing of King of Pop, at age 2 months shy of being 51.
25th July: the passing of Queen of Film-making, at age 51.
Gone too soon.

My deepest condolences to Kak Min's family and friends.

May you rest in peace, Kak Min. Thank you, for the wonderful wonderful experience you've shared with us.

Love & Misses.

Al-Faatihah.

f~

Reads:

1 - DSAI's tribute and "Bila Anwar Tengok Gubra"
2 - her anak angkat's tribute
3 - jeff ooi's tribute
4 - Malaysian Insider's Yasmin Ahmad Dies
5 - Tributes for Yasmin Ahmad
6 - Yasmin Ahmad in Wiki
7 - my entry of Kak Min's colour-blind adverts
8 - Kak Min's personal comment at the end of my entry here

Watch:

1 - Singapore MCYS' Think Family Campaign: "Funeral", directed by Yasmin Ahmad

ps: I could almost swear the lady at 2:40 looks like me without my specs!

2 - Here In My Home, directed by Yasmin Ahmad

3 - Pergi, by Aizat, an OST on Yasmin Ahmad's Talentime

A&W Drive-in

2009-07-25T18:04:00.001+08:00

A vewy late lunch/vewy early dinner of A&W mozza burger and float, with Jackson 5 on air.

Last I had a A&W drive-in was 31 years ago, with Umi, for dinner, and the A&W Bear greeted us by the car window. Ayah tengah buat Masters di Manila masa tu. Umi drove me all the way from Taman Mesra Kajang up to PJ Old Town. She was 29 back then. I was Umi's best friend.

Nostalgia.

And with my mozza, root-beer float, fries, and Abang, I'm a vewy happy woman wight now.

Jemput makan semua.

f¤

Of Fatwa Pegang Lilin in Vigils

2009-07-23T11:55:00.003+08:00

From Sinar Harian dated 23rd July, Tok Guru Datuk Nik Aziz commented on Nizar pegang lilin in the memorial vigil of Teoh Beng Hock:

"Zambry (MB Perak) orang politik, bukan orang kaji Islam. Apa kena-mengena dengan fatwa agama, fatwa demokrasi pun (beliau) tak pakai, itu pandangan saya. Dia orang politik, saya jawab cara politik lah".

HAHAHAHAHA, classic betul. Best!

DUSYUM BESAR satu kepada Zambry!

Anyhoos. Jangan lupa,

Sinar Harian 23 Julai,
muka S32-Seni Sinar,
'Kartunis Anjur Kursus Melukis'.

f¤

Of Feeling ANGRY and also Blessed

2009-07-20T08:24:00.008+08:00

1. On an angry note. VERY angry note.

This is probably a reminder to us all.

If, by any chance, you have or once had people putting their world on hold and on the line, sacrificing their time, energy, mental, physical apart from monetary just to save your a$$es from the troubles and problems you've put yourself and your family into... then let it be known that you have NO bloody rights to act your shitty, crappy and foul mood & temper to these people. You better pray that before you or these people go meet The Maker, you're able to apologize and minta halalkan segala-galanya yang dah mengalir dan jadi darah daging dalam tubuh badan you. If you think that by hurting these people, you feel your life would be more blessed, happier and more fulfilled... then, go ahead, and try to live. All the best to you then, 'coz in all honesty? People like you should never given a second (let alone third, fourth and so on) chance at life at all.

I just never learnt my lessons. I don't understand why my husband&I or anybody else for that matter have ever cared to care about you, blood ties or no blood ties. Seriously fedap dengan kekurangan hajaran engkau yang tahap cemerlang.

Aku setuju cakap Abang ~ orang-orang macam engkau sepatutnya TAK DA HAK PUN nak be selfish tentang hidup engkau when other people's lives and worlds pernah crumble hanya kerana engkau.

2. On a happier and more blissful note.

Now that my anger is out of my system, the pics below show my most favourite part of the previous weekend.

Catching a breather from the house chores, I stole some moments watching my husband at his drawing table while Labi accompanying him, chirping alongside with the birds perching on the trees just outside the study-room window.

Abang: Labiiiiii tolong kasi AbgZul ideaaaaaa, kalau tak AbgZul cucuk dengan pensel ni kanggggg
Labi: Kak Lin, Kak Lin, tolong Labi, Kak Liiiiiin!

Of My Birthday This Year

2009-07-12T21:45:00.010+08:00

The eleven of us - Umi, Ayah, Abang, Celi, Nazim, Ahy, Hasrul, Udi, Qia, Amir and I - went for a dinner at Bangi's Yankee's Hut last night for my 36th Year yesterday and Ayah's 62nd today.

To me, a get together like this with the immediate family memang sangat best. Lepas makan, makan cheese cake yg Ahy beli pula, and buka hadiah.

We bought Ayah a watch a la Rolex cut (of course sans Rolex price!) and Umi a handbag yang dia boleh bawa kulu kiler macam casual handbag.

Oh ya we didn't get Umi anything for her 60th birthday last month the 12th coz sangat sibuk preparing for CeliNazim's reception on the 13th, so kiranya ni delayed prezzie la.

Me the birthday girl? I got my Perfume Tetek dua botol, a pair of beauuutiful copper-tooled 'Allah' and 'Muhammad' from Umi Ayah, cards and cake and dinner from adik-adik... lebih dari cukup dah tu Alhamdulillaaaah!

It was, however, my most peaceful birthday in what seems like ages for me. Why? 'Coz it fell on a Saturday, which means I don't have to work on my birthday; Abang is around unlike last year when he had to go to Manila; and there's this unexplained contentment and blessed feeling for surviving one hell of a turbulent year, Alhamdulillah.

At one point just before my birthday, as I was reflecting on the past one year I've survived, I swear that if my ajal dah tiba, aku redha pergi. I was feeling that contented.

I may not have the life that I dreamed of or fantasized way back when I was younger and naive, but I thank Allah nevertheless that He has been very kind to me for protecting me against the things I have feared for my entire life, and given me just the right amount of strength and resources whenever I need some... in fact, everytime, without fail, walaupun I have failed Him way too many times... *hangs head down in shame*. Semoga lindunganMu terhadap hamba-hambaMu yang hina-dina ini kekal berpanjangan Ya Allah... Aaaaamiiiin...

My life may not be as perfect as a lot of people my age out there, with things they have achieved even before they reach 36 -- money, houses, cars, kids, travels. But I know, in my own lacking life, I've achieved substantial amount of success, albeit small and unsubstantial to some -- a husband who loves me unconditionally, a car, a house, my cats, my job, my family albeit in its imperfection... so, I'm thankful for all those nevertheless, Alhamdulillah.

Oh ya, not forgetting, this year Celi and I have managed to give a lil boy a lease of a far better life than he's probably destined to have. Our lil Amir Mu'az, our lil sunshine. We're certainly blessed with his presence in our lives.

I'll certainly remember these feelings, the day I turned 36. Semoga perasaan ini berpanjangan, Aaaamiiin.

And I thank you all, the well-wishers, through Facebook and smses. God bless.

Of Being Caricatured

2009-07-10T16:47:00.002+08:00

RKM to the eyes of Mr. SS Hew.

I may be married to a cartoonist, but never had a caricature done by him.

Coz it's FOC, that's why. Haha

The pic, however, is a sketch by one of my six Timbalan Pengarahs while I was presenting my ISO Procedure to the room. He is a Structural Engineer by profession, by the way. Not an architect. This is only the 3rd done in my lifetime -- a paid Vietnamese caricaturist in Paris, my EO at my old office, and now him.

My 1st memorable event as I'm turning 36, heh.

Abang lagi best -- one of his caricaturists was DSAI himself, who did the lil sketch on a lil square note when he was still in detention, which Abang had been looking around for it for ages yet it was I who accidently found it lying right on the topmost step of the new house last May, jatuh tah dari mana, like as if sengaja making a grand appearance for me to pick it up and almost mistook it as rubbish! Phew. Kalau tak da duit esok, leh auction tu, sebab siap ada sign woh. Haha

On a side note, two of my TPs have the same birthdate as Ayah's, which is this Sunday. That's a rather nice coincidence, kan.

Hadiah apa nak beli untuk Ayah, tah. All I know is, I was perhaps his best birthday present ever, entering the world at less than three hours before his 26th birthday. Like, how can anyone top THAT, kan? Haha

Of Babies on Rollies

2009-07-08T23:36:00.002+08:00

I wasn't sure whether this advert should freak the bajeeziz outta me or should I just laugh of their cuteness...

...until I saw the making...

...hehehe sangat lah tiyut, otey...

f~

Of NTV7 Breakfast Show

2009-07-06T08:00:00.002+08:00

Can somebody please explain, what telah happen to the daily 7a.m NTV7 Breakfast Show since last week??!

It's been axed, is it?? For being a bit vocal and intelligent on their commentaries (yang tak semestinya opposing, by the way) and no kipas buntut or mengarut-ngarut macam M@zidul on TV3 Breakfast Show next door??

Oh please lahhhh. For once lah Those At The Helm -- grow blooming up will ya???

It's with this attitude that you get interviews done with questions like "So, how do you find Malaysia?", expecting answers like "Ohhh, I like it. The people are nice and friendly" when the truth is far from it... or "Jadi, apa pendapat awak tentang demo yang diadakan?", with stupid answers like "Tak patut arr kan. Kita patut guna saluran yang betul, bukan demo". Bodoh. Buat malu kita punya education system je, kan Awin?

Aieee pagi-pagi akak dah ngamukmak.

f¤

Of Being Infected by A Virus

2009-07-05T00:28:00.001+08:00

Aku tengah diserang virus.

Virus M(4)L(45). Otherwise known as MALAS.

Malas nak update blog or FB or Twitter, even check my main email inbox (though Lyana, I have read your comment through my blog-email inbox from my hpcekai about my award at your blog that I've to go pick up!! Ohhh tenchewww! Nanti I go pick otey??)

BeeTeeDoubleyou, gambar reception Celi&Nazim dah siap. That calls for an entry on the Do actually. In the meantime, do have a peak at nazreyphotography.wordpress (I think), now that I'm typing this from the hp cekai and I can't link up the site here. I just LOVE that last photo of Celi & Nazim dalam kelambu. Teaser tu. Ngeee.

Pagi tadi lepas breakfast, Abang&I went to the Pet Exhibition in Midvalley, and bought Adi Labu Labi a food&water dispenser that we reckon can be used should we need to go for traveling and leave them at home instead of at the vet, a playing furniture as pictured, and pasir litter yang wangi that will clump their pee and poo nicely on the surface of the pasir for our easy scooping, rather than mendap ke bottom of the tray like the typical clumping sand would. Things you would and get for your love ones, ey ;-).

On the MJ front, Abang&I have finally fallen into the trap of mengayakan lagi Sony. Yes we bought his two-CDs Essential Collection which was RM29 before his death but now costs almost RM50.

Abang's new favourites are Rockin' Robin and Man In The Mirror apart from Billie Jean and Thriller. I, of course hafal the songs (if not the lyrics) in the collection, which in some ways amazed Abang yang tengah baru nak suka his songs. "Macam mana baru dengar tapi dah boleh hafal semua?" Abang tanya. Lerrr, I have his cassettes ler, and I grew up recording his music videos on the VCR and watched them over and over till the tali jadi lunyai... I told him. Tah mana tah pi semua-semua tu, the cassetes and the music videos.

We both would now like to try find his video performances zaman-zaman Jackson 5 and The Jacksons. I'd prolly just download them from YouTube, when I can find the time ofcourse.

Tapi, ye la, dia dah mati baru orang tahu how fantabulous he really is, and how he had actually really suffered in his life, ey... Dah mati baru tahu the real MJ. Baru tahu how irreplaceable he is. Baru faham why he was how he was.

Esok-esok kalau kita mati, macam mana la pula, kan.

Oh, by the way, korang pernah tak tertengok Lil Champs -- the kids singing competition from India on Astro Zee ch.108? On Saturdays, it'll be 7.30pm til 9. Best woh. Say babai je la kat bebudak AF. Walaupun the program takdak translation, which is just too bad coz the two kids yang jadi pengacara are just way effing adorable and cute that you don't even need to know what they're talking about, Abang and I are hooked nevertheless!

Gaaah. Ngantuk la pulaaak.

f¤

Al-Fatihah: King of Pop, II

2009-06-27T13:12:00.005+08:00

I would like to think that I was only a small speck among million others staying up really late last night trying to catch up on Michael Jackson's life & death as much as possible from the media.

I surprised myself (and Abang) for still remembering the lyrics to much of his songs from zaman Jackson 5, The Jacksons down to his solo albums. Ye la, since married to Abang, he never sees me with any MJ albums but yet hafal hampir semua lagu MJ. That's because I had them in cassette tapes rather than in CDs, and they're all somewhere in Bangi.

Abang, too, is now mesmerized by him -- his politeness and humbleness off stage (amid his extravagant and eccentric lifestyle), yet his energetic and creative alter ego on stage. Abang even plans to get MJ's compilation of music videos. Yeay! Hehe

Dah mati baru orang nampak his legacies, kan? For someone who was the loneliest being when alive, yet is mourned by the entire universe in death... he definitely has done and achieved a loo-ot of good things in his lifetime. One would not want to live life like his, but leaving life like that would be nice, no?

As Uri Geller rightly put it, MJ's now in a much better and happier place, insyaAllah. And can now smile at the amount of love he actually has and realise that he has never been alone.

I better stop now. I think I'm beginning to sound like a die-hard fan, which I am not.

May he now gets his much deserved rest and finally at peace with himself.

Al-Fatihah.

Of Tetek Sale Separuh Harga

2009-06-26T14:30:00.010+08:00

I have been wanting to get this the past decade.

Yup. TEN years. My present one dated way back from summer of 1999. Aku guna sikiiiiit la sikit. Perhaps, like, two stingy squirts every 3 months ke apa. Gila jimat.

Entah la, the price has been too bloody expensive for my liking, though I've bought more expensive stuff for other people la kan. Aku rasa macam tak berbaloi nak spend RM300 for a perfume untuk diri aku sendiri.

And so I been eyeing and eyeing and eyeing. Traipsing to the counter everytime I find one in the malls, with Abang beside me of course. Bleter bleter bleter about how I just LOVE this perfume and yang botoi kecik pekat sket and kuat sket bau dan yang botoi besaq cayaq sket and lembut sket bau and every summer depa keluaq Summer Collection and yada yada yada yada. And then ciao from the counter, much to the kemeluatan of the promoter. Tau pasal perfume cek men terra ka pompuan ni (aku la tu), belinya tidak.

Bukan, bukan untuk aku hint ke Abang yang aku nak dia belikan aku perfume tu, tapi saja nak tengok kot rega dia ada jatuh ke tak.

Also, aku ajar Abang to call it "jay pee jee" coz dia dok tergeliat lidah nak sebut nama panjang dia. Dia dok sebut John Pol Gletir. Haha

Last-last dia panggil the "JayPeeJee For Pompuan" as "Perfume Tetek". Mudah crita.

Atunya, last night, we singgah Sogo nak carik barang sket. Amboi kak, sale kat Sogo semalam sampai 5hb ni cekmen kaaaa. It just proves how bad the economy really is, and that they would like to make customers spend more.

Anyhoos, up on the level yang jual barang-barang letrik & office tu, ada sale handbags, accessories and perfumery -- which I just assumed were perfumes yang cekai yang guna 6 jam teruih tak dak bau tu.

So tak pa lah, aku pun pi la tengok bahagian accessories -- tiga anting-anting for RM10, with pilihan yang agak banyak juga.

Tiba-tiba, among the din of the background music, I heard Abang shouted my name : "Alin! Alin!"

I looked up, almost across half the floor. I gestured to Abang with my mouth miming, "Ander?"

He shouted back: "Cepat mai sini! Perfume half price! Cepat!"

Aku teruih buat muka makna "Tak mboh ah!"

He kept shouting, "Eiiii copekkkk, ah! Perfume tetek separuh harga wohhh! ", siap dengan tangan buat dua bonggol depan dada dia okay! Boleh tak??! My God.

Semua orang truih pandang ke aku... Akak sungguh malu, ok!

Aku terus angguk-angguk tanda ok ok Alin datang, to save myself from further embarrassment. Eager sangat dia ni sampai tak sedar termelucah macam tu, mesti perfume ori ni!

And yup, rupanya, perfume betul bukan 6 jam bau punya, coz depa nak clear-out stock from last year's Summer a.k.a outdated corset design on the bottle, dari RM300 turun jadi RM90!

[Errk, that's more than 50% discount, innit??]

So there, setelah sedekad aku mengushar harga kot kalau harga jatuh, akhirnya harga jatuh juga, terlentang-bongkang jatuhnya!

Abang terus decided that that should be my birthday present, and so dia offer nak bayarkan. heheheheheheheheee.

Dia kata hari ni dia nak singgah pi beli lagi satu untuk aku, supaya aku tak perlu puasa sedekad lagi for the same perfume. Aku buleh pakai 4,5 squirts everyday now if I want to.

Yes altogether now... Awwwwwww. Cheapskate kan kami ni? haha

Sampai rumah, aku suruh Abang simpan dulu perfume tu. Aku suruh dia tunggu aje tiga Sabtu lagi, beri ke aku ala-ala surprise gitu -- two bottles of JayPeeJee 2008 Summer Edition for my 36th Birthday. Nanti aku pun buat-buatlah terkejut surprise sama, kan. Of course la he's more than happy to do it.

Senang aje nak satisfy aku ni, bukannya susah. haha

Tapi... 'Perfume Tetek', hahahaha. Klasik.

f~

Al-Fatihah: King of Pop

2009-06-26T08:27:00.010+08:00

This morning at 7am, the first news I heard from my daily NTV7 Breakfast Show was Zaini's announcement -- "Michael Jackson is dead".

Confirmed dead at 6.50am 26th June Malaysian Time, 2.21pm 25th June LA Time.

Innaaalillaaahi wa innaaailaihi raaaji 'uun...

The King of Pop is a mortal being after all. At one point, really, I never thought he would ever be dead.

As an 80s-baby, I grew up with his songs, mesmerised by his aura, bought his collections, looking forward for his music videos. Like, who could forget Michael Jackson's dance moves?

The ironic is that, he claimed he's never had his childhood -- having to grow up performing with his brothers and 'mature' before his time. At 50, I don't think he's ever fully grown older and mature even. One never hears him swear, or raised voice at taunting comments thrown at him. It was like he refused to grow old, like Peter Pan (and his sold-estate, Neverland), so as to make up to the childhood he never had. Yet he was part of my childhood, and, I bet my bottom dollars, a million other's too.

Farah Fawcett's death seems to be over-shadowed by Michael's.

I think this is the biggest death ever after Princess Di's on 31st August 1997.

To Michael "Mikaeel" Jackson... semoga Allah mencucuri rahmat ke atas roh beliau dan memberi keampunan, dan segala kebajikan yang beliau telah lakukan di dunia ini akan membantu beliau di alam sana.

Al-Faatihah.

f~

Adam Lambert's Iron Lungs: II

2009-06-24T08:29:00.001+08:00

Those who followed Adam on American Idol would know how delicious the performances of this young man's were.

I've to say, after the deteriorating performances of Anoop Dogg Desai, I have become one of Adam's mature No.1 fans (harus sebut itu, 'mature'. Sebab aku sedar diri aku ni dah pakat tua dah nak minat orang muda nyanyi, kan. haha).

Silap-silap kalau dia mai buat performance kat Sunway macam David Archuletta aritu, ada jugak orang tua buang tebiat (tua tak tua sangat laaaa... lagi 4 tahun menjelang 40 jaaa) pi attend concert dia! Akan ku henghet orang tua hat satu lagi yakni suami aku untuk jadi my chaperone. Akan ku tipu dia kata Iwan Fals mai ka, some penyanyi Indon punya concert ka, just so dia boleh teman aku. haha.

(Shhh, jangan bagitau laki aku plan aku ni. Dia pun bukannya baca blog aku pun. haha)

And so, I came across this on youtube of his Studio Recorded "No Boundaries" (the one that I blogged about here), that final song he sang on AI.

Meeeeowwwwwww sangat, kan?

Despite the fact, as Simon Cowell had rightly commented also, that the song reeks cheesiness with all that mountains and bridges and hurricanes (lyrics here), his voice and charisma on stage masih sangat melazatkan, even Kara the co-writer/composer of the song pun pakat nak nangih jugak la dengaq Adam nyanyi lagu dia. Yummy, kau.

Oh, his live performance here.

Imagine kalau dia masuk musabaqah Al-Quran with that kind of lungs.... fuhhh. Pengsan.

f~

Of Adi and Of Being Late

2009-06-21T22:12:00.003+08:00

1.
My niece, Amira, whom I've a couple of occasions written about her in my blog (please search for Rosmaria Razak, who is her late Umi) asked me yesterday when I met her at her Nenek's house: Cik Lin, naper dah lama tak update blog???

I never knew my 13-year old niece is a follower of my blog.... Ohhhhh *one back of hand on dahi, another hand on chest, ala drama*

So sayang, ni Cik Lin waves at you *hai Miraaaa!!!*

2.
I have been administering enema to Adi every other day.

The 1st time I did on him, he wasn't that cooperative. I mean, would YOU be cooperative if someone shoves a tube and squirts liquid up into your a$$?? (Kepada pembaca perverts, SILA JANGAN JAWAB soalan ittew, ta a bunch)

Tapi aku perasan, 3 saat lepas aku berjaya masuk sedos ubat enema dalam buntbunt dia, dia terus pi teran teran teran sampai keluar taik koreh (keras) dua tiga ketul -- I assume tang dah tercompress 2,3 hari punya.

Aku pulak yang rasa lega bila tengok Adi yayak.

After a while, administering enema to Adi becomes less struggling. I think maybe he knows that the thing I'm squirting up in his ass every other day now is doing him a hiyyyuge favour.

Tapi harini, the enema did him too much favour -- dia ada sedikit ceret-tak-sempat-naik-atas-to-his-litter-pan, so dia pi pelepas kat lantai bawah sekali and atas tilam bilik bawah dua kali. Mengamuk mak jadinya akak. Apa lagi, akak hangkat dia, pi sua muka dia kat taik-taik dia and jentik jentik jentik tinger dia to let him know that those were not the places for him to poopoo!

He listened to that awrite, coz the next pulasan perut attack, dia lari naik atas tapi pi terpelepas luar tray dia in the toilet sebab tak sempat nak cakar cakar the pasir.

Eiii sabar je la. Nak marah, dia dah beyak kat tempat betul, cuma tak sempat masuk je.

Satni aku pakaikan pampers Amir ke Adi, baru taw.

Tapi Alhamdulillah lah dia yayak... Kat mana-mana pun, asalkan dia yayak, aku dah lega banyak sebenarnya.

3.
I hate it when my period is very very late like now. Like, almost two weeks late. And I'm never late. Not like this late at least.

(Oh ya if I'm late b'coz I think I'm pregnant, I'll definitely share, ta a bunch. But no, I'm not preggers, much to my disappointment ok.)

I get weepy. Like, REALLY weepy.

Laki tak peluk masa tido, aku nangis. Teringat Amir dah makin besar, aku nangis. Laki tak boleh anta aku pi keja sebab ada hal, aku nangis. Laki tak dapat temankan aku pi cari barang kat kedai, aku nangis. Apatah lagi kalau fikir laki tak ambil berat yang aku nak sangat a baby of my own, LAAAAAGI aku nangis.

Not just that, my lower back just kills me with pain, kaki aku bengkak, peha kiri aku sakit habitey, kepala aku denyut-denyut.... apart from rasa nak nangis je and rasa nak majuk lama-lama dengan abang.

Tadi I wanted to see the doctor at the clinic behind our house, kot dia ada ubat to keluarkan and percepatkan apa-apa yang patut. Tapi, dia tutup la pulak, dalam banyak-banyak hari.

Any ideas to help my P? Of course, non evasive and not as painful as makan nenas or minum ais banyak-banyak please. Tak larat, siut.

4.
I wanted to write about CeliNazim's wedding reception last week, tapi gambar nor slideshow tak dapat-dapat lagi. Wanted to do a Picasa album on my Amir, tak terbuat-buat lagi.

So, tunggu je lah ya. Malas betul nak buka laptop bila kat rumah. Bila kat ofis pula, tak cukup masa to even check my personal emails. So, tunggu je lah ya.

Of Amir,BIL,Tak Sihat & A Bit On The Do

2009-06-16T23:42:00.001+08:00

1.
I told Umi the other day that when I see Amir biting his lower lip, I know I've drawn/sketched Amir somewhere before.

And I was right. I found a copy of my trial sketch of a baby biting his lower lip that I did prior to the annual Art Exhibition during my 1st year 'A's. The sketch dated way back in 20-Jan-93. 16 1/2 years ago that I first had a glimpse of Amir.

Jodoh, no?

2.
A week before the Do, my BIL asked Umi, " Mi, Umi rasa tak pa ke Nazim kawin dengan Celi?"

That question took my mom aback.

Ah sudah, my mom thot. Dah nikah dah, ada 2nd thots ke?

Umi put down whatever she was doing, and slowly asked Nazim back, "Kenapa Nazim tanya macam tu...?"

"Ya lah..." Nazim began to explain, "Celi kata masa dia kecik-kecik dulu Umi kasi dia minum susu SMA. Nazim pun minum susu SMA. Boleh ke kawin macam tu, Nazim + Celi sama susuan? ngee"

Hehehe. That's my BIL. He's so quietly funny and witty like that.

3.
Prior to the wedding, tak sudah-sudah aku doa -- if ada apa-apa negatif nak berlaku pada aku, let it be AFTER the Do, Dear Allah. Please protect me and keep me healthy coz my Umi and family need me for The Do, Aaaamiiin.

Malam habis The Do tu jugak my throat became unbearably sore, dry cough + kahak aching to be let out but won't, my voice slowly diminishing to almost non-audible... up til today. Perit.

Oh ya, dalam dada gatal-gatal macam tickled by feathers. Ugh.

I took an m.c yesterday to rest my voice and rest me. But masa tu la jugak calls kept pouring in for project infos apa bagai, kepala aku terus sakit lepas bercakap coz had to exert extra extra effort to give air to my sentences. Plus the dry cough, my oh my.

At 3am last night, the tickling cough got worse. So I took the ubat cair kahak, plus my last sleeping pill, put lozenges at the side of my tongue and continued sleeping.

I woke up this morning at 6am with the sleeping pill still hasn't worn off. Groggy gila.

I even slept the entire study-trip bus journey from my office in Kg.Baru to Les' Copaque Production House in Shah Alam this morning. Huiii syioook. Both the nap in the bus and the Les' Copaque visit, that is.

4.
You must be wondering how The Do went by last Saturday.

Overall, it was alright -- great food and all. Also a GREAT but TIRING experience for me at least -- coz 1st time buat kat Hall (and a HUGE BUILDING at that, too) AND a joint event PLUS Amir yang tak nak orang lain except for Celi+Nazim, Umi+Ayah, and me.

Akibatnya, I ended up running around like mad with Amir in my arms eventhough my gramps dengan baik hati lent me their maid to help me jaga Amir.

THANK GOD for the creation of walkie talkies too that made it a whole lot easier orchestrating and delegating jobs among my six brothers (Ahy, Udi and four of Ahy's friends yang dah macam anak-anak UmiAyah). I tell you, without the walkietalkies aku maybe dah lebih pancit dari sekarang ni.

Aku tak ambil sekeping piang gambar pun that day, but am trying to collect some for a dedicated entry on The 13th June Do.

So, nite nite everyone.

Of Abang, My Pengarah, Adi, Mak and Djin

2009-06-10T21:15:00.004+08:00

1.
Last week's Suara Keadilan was Abang's last. This week's is under different entity.

I am so so glad that Abang rejected the offer to continue under the different management and get out of the political scene. Aku siap sujud syukur berapa kali last weekend. I finally get to see Abang to concentrate doing his art stuff - his no.1 passion. And most of all, I finally get to have a husband (and a happier one at that, insyaAllah) on weekends.

Thank you, dear political backstabbers dan tamak kuasa. You guys are real Godsent to me, really. Thank you.

2.
My current Pengarah has this magnificent attitude that he has made himself promise to be.

He says, he has promised himself that in whatever negative situation he's in, he will try to be eagerly positive about it. He says, negativity (which what he was quite known for before being a Pengarah) attracts negativity, hence, to attract positivity one must always try be positive even in the most trying position.

For example, once we caught him saying, "Eiii I tak sabar nak pegi presentation dengan Big Boss ni and listen to what he has to say. Tak sabar nak see the kind of challenge he will put us into. Mesti kita dapat belajar banyak nanti, ni!", when all of us know clearly that he would be grilled way overcooked in his meeting with The-Big-Boss-Who-Had-My-Unit-Closed-Down.

Or when we (my ex-Ketua, ex-Timbalan Ketua and I) went to pay him a courtesy visit after we were abolished just to brief him on the number of staffs from the Unit that'll be joining his department and also the number of projects that he has to take over from us, his reply was "Masya-Allaaaaah, syukur, syukur. Dapat rezeki staff, dapat rezeki project. Apa lah lagi rezeki yang I akan dapat lepas ni! Terima kasih terima kasih!" when in truth he has to think of reshuffling of his Architecture Section just to fit us in apart from the 'taik-taik' projek that he has to clean up from us.

I just think my Pengarah reads the book 'Secret' by Rhonda Byrnes.

I kinda like the attitude though, and I think I'd like to try improve myself with that.

3.
I checked Adi in into the Vet Hospital two Saturdays ago after he tak beyak for a week. Kesiaaaaaaaaaaan sangat kat Adi, kau.

At the vet, he got really agitated and garang when surrounded with unfamilliar sound and smell, hissing even to me and all. I had to apologize to the vet, for having to make her attend Adi untuk kesekian kalinya.

When I finally had to leave Adi, I told the orderly to be patient with Adi and try his best to treat Adi gently amid Adi's garangness. Soon after I said that, aku terus termenangis depan orderly tu. Hehe. Drama, kan.

And the tears kept flowing sampai ke kaunter outside where I had to pay the usual downpayment. I think the vet saw me crying from inside through the one-way glass door, coz the next day when she called to report on Adi, she was super gentle and super concern with me, hehe.

Talking to the vet on the phone the nex day, I confided in her about other alternatives than having to put Adi down - at which I cried again dengan tak malunya. I was grateful that she understood me, and she asked me if I'd like to try do enema on Adi myself as the next alternative. She said she would teach me how to do it when I come by to get Adi, and I was just so glad to hear that I could finally do something else other than having to put Adi to sleep. That made me felt so much relieved, really.

Adi was finally discharged 5 days later -- the longest he's ever been warded. Doc said this time Adi memang parah -- he's suffering from obstipation. His colon's not working at all, he needs to eat in small amount 3xs a day, he needs to eat only wet food with fibre (and costly,too!! But Adi didn't like it - he hardly touch the food. Buat bazir je), he needs to increase his 'pelawas berak' i.e laxative intake from 2-3ml twice daily to 5ml twice daily (which would make him throw up) and I need to do enema on him 2-3 times a week.

Aku sanggup buat semua tu InsyaAllah, rather than giving up on him easily.

Adi now lives with us at Pantai Dalam. Mudah nak observe him, rather than having to drive all the way back to Bangi and then to the vet in Cheras. Tidak lah aku perlu lagi susah-susahkan Umi Ayah tolong jaga Adi, though they have been fantastically great and supportive in that department.

Cumanya, with Labu Labi around, susah nak tahu if Adi beyak ke tak, coz the three of them now use each other's litter boxes, boleh? Though Adi and Labu Labi are not really chummy chummy, but they could live under the same roof same room just fine, Alhamdulillah.

Well, things one could do for a cat ey.

4.
Mak and Bibik Bani came from Pendang last two Fridays the 30th May and went back last Sunday 7th June.

I just love hanging out with Mak and listening to her stories. This time round, she shared tales of orang-orang kampung yang bela hantu and jin, of the cat 'Putih' who died in labour with the babies still inside her, and other chats and talks while I did the buah tangan VIPs in the living room till it was time for her to retire.

With Kak Bani around to assist Mak, it's nice to come home from work all beaten-up and stressed-out at the new office, to find your porch swept off dried leaves, your plants watered, your laundry done up from the line, your kitchen cleaned-up.... and home-cooked meals, the way Mak likes it, terhidang atas meja. Best, kan?

When Kak Bani first arrived with Mak, I was quite peeved with her audacity to loudly sympathize my so-called condition of not having kids (she has a total of 7 in Acheh, mind you. With a set of twins to boot). Her eyes kept looking at me with this "oh you poor, poor thing. The things you are missing in life" look. Ugh. I resented and hated the look, and back then how I wished she could just go away.

When I finally told her, "Kak Bani, jangan dipersoal dan disimpati apa yang Allah tak kurnia pada Alin. Mungkin Allah mahu Alin kecapi kebahagiaan yang lain dulu, seperti pekerjaan, wang, kereta, rumah...baru ada anak. Lain orang lain bahagiannya, Kak Bani," barulah dia terasa and stopped looking at me with that sorry eyes! Gahhh. And there she was, 5 years older than I am tapi berfikiran cetek. Tension gak aku.

Nevertheless, Mak and Kak Bani managed to meet Amir for the first time, and they were head over heels with Amir! Alhamdulillah.

I wished Mak and Kak Bani could come a-visit after the 13th June instead. For both weekends, I had to leave Mak and Kak Bani at home with Abang while I had to attend the preparation of Celi's do. Mak was supposed to go back (or rather, Abang send her halfway to Ipoh and another ipar would then take over from thereon) yesterday, but something cropped up into Abang's schedule that he had to send Mak on Sunday morning instead. Berlari-lari aku balik dari Bangi pagi tu just to send them off at the gate at Pantai Dalam. Mak requested that I should join them to Ipoh, but dengan berat hati I had to resist coz there were still so many things yet to be done in Bangi. Mujur she accepted my reasons. Lagipun, Umi bekalkan Mak with nasi lemak bungkus, and I included a few buah tangan for her, Bibik and those kat kampung. I think that somehow lembutkan hati Mak in some ways, hehe.

Mak & Kak Bani

5.
I'm on leave starting today till Friday for Celi's Do on Saturday.

This morning though, I went for berubat at a perubatan islam in Kuala Selangor. It was supposed to be for Abang, but I decided to join in, kot aku buleh 'cleanse' mana-mana yang patut.

It was a really interesting and intriguing experience for me. I can't really tell why I arranged for the appointment or what telah happened, but if you don't believe in Perubatan Islam yang boleh communicate with the djins, then you better start believing now, 'coz Abang & I just been through that this morning!

I felt 'lighter' somewhat, but very very exhausted and badan sakit-sakit macam seolah-olah kena urut 2,3 jam padahal ustaz tu tak usik aku apa pun. Afterwards, I slept from after Zuhur till 6, the longest I've ever had my nap for in such a long time! The ustaz (who apparently also holds a doctorate in atomic nuclear) departed quite a bit of ilmu with us after the sessions. He told us to observe between 7-10 days, and if masih terasa macam ada 'gangguan', we would have to do a follow-up. So we'll just see what happens in 7-10 days' time.

Okay I'm off to do the dzikir 100x that the Ustadz had requested to do before retiring. Esok pagi nak balik Bangi dengan Adi.

La'ers.

f~

Hadiah Pintu

2009-06-06T15:38:00.001+08:00

On the right, is the VIP gift. 80 done, 20 more to go.

On the left, is the typical doorgift, 3000 of them. Apparently, perhaps 800 done, 1200 more to go, insyaAllah. Said and Azhar, both are Ahy's friends, datang tolong harini di Bangi, bless 'em both. Ahy pula bawa 1000 of the gift + gula-gula + plastik + stapler + tags + dawai to be done in Muar di rumah Hasrul.

Oh ya ada 100 kuntum bunga telur tak pasang tag lagi.

So, InsyaAllah sempat suma, kot...?

Oh, by the way, the day before the sanding will be Umi's Six-Zero Birthday...ada idea nak wat kejutan apa tak...? Hmm *garu-garu dagu*

Adam Lambert's Iron Lungs

2009-06-06T11:33:00.002+08:00

Just heard Adam Lambert's 'cleaned-up' rendition of that final American Idol song, No Boundaries from MixFM.

Goodness gracious that boy, where does he hide his lungs ah??? Must be damn big i'd say! Suara dia deeleecious pulak tu!yumyum.

Could someone google the vid of him singing that song and link it up in here please?? Aku malas nak cari, la...or rather, takdak masa! Tapi aku naaaaak sangat4 tengok dia nyanyi!

Ni kat parking depan PKNS Bangi nak cari riben and plastik untuk gula-gula.

Help Needed

2009-06-05T19:04:00.001+08:00

Acclimatising myself administratively in a department that controls 225 staffs with five Timbalan Pengarahs and the clericals are two levels above mine, as opposed to a Unit that had 32 staffs with 1 Timbalan and the clericals only 20ft from my room, exhausts me like hell.

That, coupled with the prep for Celi's sanding next Saturday with 3000 numbers of buah tangan that Celi is currently doing all by herself during the weekdays. Last weekend we (Celi, Nazim, Udi and I) managed to complete maybe 200+ of them, with me also in-charge of the 100 VIP items that I've only completed 60 thus far. Kesian betul kat adik aku. I really really hope that someone would PHYSICALLY come forward to help in Bangi. And that's not a hint.

Man I feel so burnt and bummed out. And I'm typing this whilst trapped in the usual Friday evening crawl on Syed Putra. Yes, while driving too. So sue me.

Malam ni nak bawa Mak and Bibik for dinner at Umi's in Bangi. Can't wait! Mak pun tak sabar nak jumpa Amir!

Amir at 7 months

2009-06-03T17:57:00.002+08:00

My lil bunny is 7-mths old today.

Kejap betul masa berlalu.

He's been crawling the past 2 weeks, and now hoisting himself up on his feet! I anticipate that he'll prolly be walking in a month's time. So so proud of him. Owe it to Umi and Celi for looking after him so so well.

We all love you loads, honeybun.

A Room With A View

2009-05-29T13:53:00.001+08:00

The view from my room -- the clear segregation between the new village and the city center. That's the elevated highway in the middle.

Did I mention about my internet connection at the new office is WAY SUCKER than at the old office? Checking my project emails and reading malaysiakini seem like daunting tasks these days, what more reading my own blog.

Last night was the last of the removals of furniture. Am so glad. I just need to hibernate for re-energising, which could only happen in july the earliest. That said, looking at the weather looming over Abang's office, there might be some huge adjustments in line, and I foresee another 'penghijrahan' coming. Adai. I pray it'll be a good hijrah though. A better one for both Abg's and my lives to say the least.

I went back to Bangi last night to see both my babies -- Amir and Adi.

Amir has this bad rashes on his front and back due to the heat... Sian anak Mummy.

Meanwhile, my 5 1/2 yr-old boy Adi hasn't been better even since discharged from the vet early this month. He was moaning and moaning while his back arched in like his perut so sakit. He hasn't beyak proper stool, tak makan...he's getting thinner, less active...and I'm getting sadder 'coz deep down I know he's not getting any better.

Umi and Ayah keep suggesting to put him to sleep since I've spent quite a bit on his treatment (like, close to rm5k since the past 3 yrs), but, how could I? He was there when I was lonely and sad. He filled up my void when I felt empty. He was my first love -- feline wise. I keep shedding tears everytime I think of putting Adi to sleep. I've even shamlessly cried infront of Abang a couple of times. Putting him to sleep feels like an act of betrayal, like I'm giving up on him so easy.

Like, do you know what or when the limit is like to let your pet go?

Sometimes I pray that if Adi were to go, let him go when I'm not there. Asalkan Umi Ayah ada masa tu, ok lah.
Aiyoh wot a silly entry about a cat, ey. Adi's JUST A CAT. A stray cat at that, too. But he's no ordinary cat to me. He's my first cat, and he was the one who really taught me unconditional love and forgiveness.
*sniff*

internet kat m'sia memang sucks

2009-05-27T16:50:00.005+08:00

i think la karn.

streamyx and haier read my blog.

streamyx called me yesterday morning, apologizing for the delay and explained the reason. but by evening around 5pm, everything's solved.

haier called abang yesterday too, and made appointment with abang to see what's wrong with our ac unit. by this afternoon, haier contractor came and found out that a couple of the refrigerant cooler (or whatchamacallit. heck am an architect, not a mechanical engineer) didn't work 'coz the aircond's being 'over-gassed' by the previous contractor who installed the aircond. ala what ever la kan sebab musababnya yang penting aircond ni dah agak sejuk sekarang, hanya kena test malam karang aje. my next door neighbour also uses haier 1hp aircond for the master bedroom, and told me that theirs is not brand-new and yet they only use a minimum of 20 degrees every night instead of 16 like us. and by 3am they would switch their aircond off. so we'll see if we would be doing the same tonight.

since today's abang's second day off of the week, i took a pre-planned leave to settle quite a bit of things from the condo, and to 'kutip perabot' from bangi and amanputra tonight in conjunction to my sis&bro in-law coming on friday for their daughter's touch-down from Jersey on Saturday morning, and another sis&bro in-law dropping-by with Mak&Bibik on Saturday evening i presume before the sis&bro in-law continued down to Malacca for a wedding or something.

i'm glad i've practically completed my tasks for Mak's arrival -- tikar getah personally laid in her room, langsir dah lama dipasang, stand fan dah dibeli, selipar untuk pakai dalam rumah dah dibeli, tong gas baru beli tadi, bilik air dah dicuci, also got her a bidet-chair so that she could go while sitting instead of squatting on the pan, cermin muka and sidai tuala in the bathroom dah dipasang, abang dah beli tilam queen size baru. just need to get the towel rack aje.

rangka katil will arrive tonight insyaAllah -- umi insist of giving it to us coz tak tahu nak letak kat mana dah kat rumah di bangi tu. along with the dining table and two sofas that we've temporarily placed both in bangi and amanputra.

esok, pi beli barang-barang dapur pulak.

i just wished mak could come after celi's sanding do on the 13th of june so that my time could be focused on her better. have told abang about it. but mak still insists on coming down with my in-laws. aku tak kisah, as long as she'd understand that i'll have my weekends full to help umi ayah and celi on the preparation towards the sanding do. as it is we are pretty much panicking. alhamdulillah aku sempat belikan celi bunga telur and beg kertas buah tangan just last monday. weekend ni nak kena isi gula-gula and tags. for 3000 guests, i was told. tu dia.

oh i've also 'melapor diri' at the new office yesterday (Tuesday). i've no complains about the new port, which was also my old office where i was placed for 6 months when i first worked in the organisation before being instructed to assist two other seniors to open up the unit yang kena bubar baru-baru ni. so, it's like, 'sireh pulang ke gagang' la -- familliar faces, familliar jokes, familliar surroundings. i'm lucky in such a way that it was from this same office some 4 years ago that i brought the laughter and easy-going atmosphere along with me, and managed to set the atmosphere at the bubared office in such manner. then, fresh new staff came pouring in to fill in the posts, and the atmosphere was what they knew -- easy-going, happy, no boundary, no age-gap. ada la yang ambil kesempatan on the lenient ways, but can still be whipped to toe the line.

so, i'm kinda lucky that my two assistants and i are still in the same 'atmosphere', albeit back to the bureaucratic ways. i do feel rather guilty and sorry that the rest of the upht staff yang tercampak pi merata-rata departments told us that tempat baru diorang dah la membosankan, keja banyak, meja tak cantik, ada gap between higher and lower rank staff, also the age-gap pulak tu.

aku simpati sangat-sangat.

tapi ada juga yang aku simpati by saying, "iya....???? ala kesian dia, tapi.................... HAHAHAHAHAHA PADAN MUKA DIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!". ini for those yang selalu degil cakap boss masing-masing and tuang keja masa kat upht la. hahahaha, baru diorang tau langit tinggi rendah.

ah well.

oh ya.

my net connection in the new office sucks like nobody's biz. hence i couldn't be bothered to check my blog or reply comments.

but i do read the comments through the email on the handphone cekai, though!!! so keep 'em coming! eceh ceh ceh....

just an hour ago, i tested thy streamyx. ughhhhhhhhh sucks like mad, too.

we've also just registered maxis broadband instead of celcom. well, we actually HAVE registered celcom3g with the usb modem and all that jazz last Friday, until we found out 2,3 days later that both of us are blacklisted for some phonebill yang dah bengkrap pun companynya some 10 years ago, hence celcom3g department decided to reject our application without even checking our other payment performances between then and now! blardy 'ell. bodoh punya celcom. kan dah hilang customers.

so, with the new usb modem harga rm299 that we couldn't return (but we were compensated back with our RM68/month advanced bill payment), we went to maxis and voilah, they had this new product just launched 3 days earlier to cater cases like ours -- registration kena reject tapi modem dah dibeli and tak boleh pulang balik.

talk about lady luck smiling on us or what.

so here i am, guna maxis bband. BUT, with the new product, we have surfing limit of 2Gb per month and they'll slow our speed down once we've reached our limit, like, whadahunk kan.

but at least it's way better streamyx, man. WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY BETTER!

you may ask ngaper tak guna wimax P1 and segala mala yang baru tu. laju gila-gila babas and all that.

well, thing is, kalau boleh kami bukan nak pakai kat KL/S'ngor aje. kot bila travel, say, ke p.d macam hari tu ke, or balik pendang, pi penang, or pi holiday memana, we want connections. and all those new wimax haven't covered as far as celcom3g or maxis just yet.

satgi bila dah cover 1 malaysia, DAH PASTI kami akan tukar!

ok i download pics of my moving-office last saturday samabil tunggu abang balik from his meeting in kelana jaya at 3pm tadi. malam karang nak pi pungut perabot pulak, kan.

have a good hump day y'all.

f~

Haiiiyaaa

2009-05-24T20:13:00.001+08:00

Aku tak faham kenapa line streamyx masih tak ditransfer lagi ke rumah baru aku, padahal line telefon dah masuk seminggu dah. Aku dah bagitau saing dengan minta line telefon.

Kalau part kita terlupa bayar, dan-dan tu jugak dia gantung. Kalau part dia lambat, tak da apa-apa extra pun dia nak bagi kita tanda sorry. Padahal kita bayar fixed unlimited, bukan as per connected macam tmnet. Seriously baghal punya sistem Streamyx.

Habis aje contract jun-july ni, memang aku tak sambung. Pakai usb-mobile broadband macam Celcom lagi bagus.

***

Apart from streamyx, jangaaaanla beli aircond jenama Haier. Aku rasa kalau aku hembus bilik aku tu pun lagi sejuk dari hembusan aircond jenama Haier. Pasang SIXTEEN DEGREES all through out the night pun, kami rilek je tak pakai selimut! Konon nak beli murah sikit, now terus rasa rugi banyak. Haram jadah punya Sen Heng Permaisuri. Pikir komisyen je. We were so ill-advised about the product. Bila Abang bagitau member-member kat Fomca about aircond Haier, semua kasi reaction "haiyaaaa a/c haier memang tak guna laaa". Bila komplen kat Haier Hq, no one call us back, tak macam Panasonic...sehari lepas komplen, terus call.

Seriously, DO NOT EVER BOTHER TO SAVE $ BY BUYING HAIER. Really worthless punya jenama.

Aku tengah tunggu dalam keta ni, depan Merak Kayangan Felda, sementara Abang catch his 40 winks before masuk for a wedding dinner. Semalam dah pindah ofis. ALHAMDULILLAAAAAH Allah permudahkan segala-galanya bagi aku semalam. Save for one architect-character yang sangat poyo yang sangat memfedapkan aku. Aku nak cerita tapi kuku aku dah sakit dok menekan butang hp. Lagipun, ada gambar nak ditunjuk.

Ok Abang dah bangun. Aku sangat sangat sangat letih. Just when I thought I'd like to have next weekend to myself while helping out Umi with Celi's sanding do on the 13th, Mak pula nak datang berholiday di KL for a week. Mujur Mak bawa Bibik, boleh aku guna-gunakan sikit untuk tolong aku kemas-kemas rumah....hehehehe.

Ok, da.

Sewel

2009-05-18T17:23:00.002+08:00

Apparently, my blog is not so secret anymore.

Duhhh.

No lah. I mean, I never thought there are quite a few (like, loads jugak smenanya) in the organization who followed my blog. Like, should I feel scared? Logically, I should lah. Looking at how leftist and opposing (towards the ruling party) the blog is. But then again, I know I shouldn't be scared of my colleagues (including those in Bahagian Tataterib, Bahagian Perkhidmatan, Bahagian Pentadbiran atasan, etc) reading my blog, because I know I've done my work professionally... Alhamdulillah. I've struggled keeping lopsided instructions to be fulfilled, but Alhamdulillah, so far, Allah masih pelihara aku lagi in keeping my path as 'clean' as possible. I pray that it will stay 'clean' and manageable sehingga ke akhir hayat aku serve this Organization.

Aaaaaaaaaanyhoo.

Letih, siut. Letih letih letih. I'm taking a hell lot of 'burden' with me back to my old Department in the form of boxes of project files (perhaps, 40 of them), drawings, presentations, documents, models (2 huge ones and 4 small ones), assets (huge plotter, scrolls and drawings folders of all sizes), material/product brochures&catalogues library, among others. Ni tak termasuk my own personal boxes, almost 15 of them. And my two assistants haven't gotten a place at the new office, so I'll have to think of dismantling two cubicles here (a combined size of 2.4m x 4.8m) to be chucked in in the middle of somewhere in that office yang tengah senak penuh. And I've to arrange for transportation and a few Pembantu Rendah Awam (AGAIN!) for the full transfer next Monday.

Orang lain pindah bawak kotak and bontot masing-masing ke tempat baru. Aku dan 3 orang lagi kena bawa sekapal penuh barang.

Adai.

I'm sorry. Really, forgive me. But please allow me to say F*CK THE 'MELAYU BERLAGAK' for not even coming down to see the chaos he has put us all in in his hasty decision membubar kami! GRRRRrrrr!!!!

Up till now, masih ada lagi department yang tak tahu kami dibubarkan. Imagine that? Even the HR didn't even have time to c-c our 'surat pembubaran' to the respective departments that our staff are now being placed at (a minimum of nine departments).

I made a joke to my new neighbours (who are my colleagues, by the way) last Friday. I told them, make sure your respective departments tak perform as well as ours -- two years ago, we were at the bottom 3 of least performing from 27 departments. Last year, we were #1 Top Performing Department with 92% spending to our allocated budget (which my Boss had diligently cut to almost half at the end of the 1st Quarter of 2008). And look where we are now. Ceased to exist.

Hahahahahahaha *gelak sewel*.

A bitter joke it was, mind you.

Oh ya. Talk about being bitter.

I know some people in the organization who are eyeing for this office read my blog.

So, to you people eyeing the office -- Do you know that this office is haunted?

Hahahahahahaha *gelak sewel*.

Ini aku tak tipu.

Alhamdulillah, so far, aku tak pernah kena ganggu lagi lah, walaupun masa tunggu Abang sampai pukul 8 malam tu, boleh rasa remang-remang bulu tengkuk. Budak-budak lain, ada yang dah kena -- tapak kaki budak-budak berlari-lari, lady in white apparition at the back area of the office, bunyi ketuk-ketuk dinding in our one-and-only oval meeting room in the organisation, etc.

In fact, mak si Intan yang boleh 'rasa' benda-benda ni, told me that memang ada 'orang tunggu' pejabat ni, especially at the back office where it was once a Cold Room for refrigeration. The Cold Room had long being demolished during the renovation of this office back in early 2006 and there stand two praying rooms at its place.

Aku pernah sekali aje kena gurau-gurau -- satu hari ni sebelum aku balik (I'd always be the last one out anyways), I'll check to switch off all the lights, including the toilets'. The lights to the gents' were on, so I switched it off. Then aku balik semula ke bilik aku to get my stuff. On my way out, I passed by the gents'... and I saw the lights were back on again.

Aku biarkan aje.

Takut? Masa tu, tak terasa lagi. Aku cuma terdetik, "Haiiii 'korang' ni, nak gurau ya...", and terus keluar and locked the main door. But while on the escalator on the way down, baru terasa takut.

Hahahahahahaha *gelak sewel*.

Ok, aku dah ternyata jadi sewel. I just can't stand these pindah-pindah anymore. I'm just glad the unpacking in the new house is mostly done, save Abang's stuff in his Study Room that he's supposed to do (eh takkan SEMUA aku nak buat, kan ;-p).

f~

Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah

2009-05-15T12:03:00.004+08:00

Hari ini Hari Lahir Abang.

SELAMAT HARI LAHIR, ABANGGGG!!!! *mwaks mwaks*

Pagi tadi aku hanya sempat selit kad birthday dalam laptop dia aje. Aku tak sempat lagi nak belikan dia hadiah. Mungkin belanja dia makan malam ni. Mungkin di mana-mana kedai Melayu, sebab dia tak suka makanan fastfood atau italian atau japanese atau western atau cuisine. Untung aku, haha.

Hari ini juga Hari Lahir Boss aku (or rather, 'ex-Boss' aku?) yang setahun tua dari Abang.

Abang dan ex-Boss hanya punyai satu persamaan -- 'hyper'. Satu hyper pengemas, satu hyper tak pengemas. Satu hyper organised, satu hyper disorganised. Satu hyper logik, satu hyper artistic. Satu hyper active bersukan, satu hyper tak active bersukan.

Tapi dua-dua hyper baik hati.

Semoga Allah memberikan mereka umur yang panjang, rezki halal yang berlipat-ganda, memelihara mereka dan keluarga mereka, serta dikelilingi kasih-sayang senantiasa.

Hari ini juga hari terakhir kami di Unit ini.

Aku rasa sangat stress. Kami semua berasa sangat stress. Kami tak mahu berpecah. Kami masih menyimpan harapan agar ada keputusan terakhir yang menyatukan kami semula. Kalau tak hari ini, mungkin minggu depan, mungkin bulan depan, mungkin tahun depan. Mungkin di satu hari nanti.

Atau mungkin tidak sekali-kali.

Sigh.

So stressed-out I am, that I'm 'late' almost a week.

No, I'm not pregnant. I know I'm not, so don't ask me how I know ok.

Semoga Allah berikan kami semua kekuatan, dan keberkatan dalam melaksanakan tugasan seterusnya di tempat yang baharu.

Aku rasa macam nak pi sorok menangis kejap sebelum habiskan kertas-kertas kerja dan sambung packing barang.

My 7 boxes out of, possibly, 15 in total.

Pindah pindah; Mu'az here Mu'az there

2009-05-11T13:46:00.006+08:00

final morning in Permaisuri, Saturday, 9th May 2009.
View from Master Bedroom.

Alhamdulillah, lega dah pindah.

Masya-Allah, kalau buleh, dah tak moh pindah sampai pencen...

Masa jabatan organisasi yang bekalkan lori tanya aku, "Puan, kami kasi Puan lori 5 tan, cukup tak? Ke, kena ulang-alik?", cepat aje aku balas "Huiiishhhh cukup lah tuuu! Barang kami tak banyak mana aih!!!"

Sungguh chapoi mulut ini. Tak muat, kau. Bukannya banyak barang besar, pun. Yang barang cenongeh-cenongeh ni yang banyak.

I tell you, it was chaos from the morning.

It was Wesak Day, hence public holiday, hence Management Office of the condo tak buka, hence tak dapat bayar deposit pindah RM150, hence lori tak boleh masuk ke dalam compound condo.

Adui la, ngaper la buat last minute, kan.

Deal punya deal with the condo-Management people via handphone, depa kasi dengan syarat. Still can put the deposit, get receipt from Guard House, turun-turunkan barang habis, baru lori boleh masuk. Coz masa hari cuti, orang semua ada kat rumah, so, tak nak ganggu the condo neighborhood.

We said ok lah. Cemana caranya nanti, later kita fikir.

The lorry, driver and 3 helpers were supposed to arrive by 11.30am. By 11-ish, the driver, A, called, telling me that the 3 Pekerja Am Rendah who were supposed to be helping us move the things were nowhere to be seen. In fact he even wasn't told about any helpers joining.

Aku punya la bengang. Semalam, orang kat Bahagian Pengangkutan (nama T) tu dah janji dengan aku yang dia dah carikan 3 orang helper and they will join the driver to my house. My mistake was that I did not take T's hp number, and instead only took the driver's phone number. Dah aku menggagau. Aku call Boss si T, Boss dia pun tak da no. hp orang tu (Bahagian dia besar, woh). I was alone at home; Abang at work. When I called Abang, Abang dah bising-bising. Barang dapur tak habis pack lagi. Rasa macam nak pitam.

Mujur A sanggup nak carikan. After a while, A called back saying that he managed to get help dari his two friends bukan orang organisasi, tapi kena bayar lebih sikit. Like, what choice do we have, kan? Rembat aje la.

So, at quarter to 12, depa pun mai. Sorang si Driver A, sorang adik baju itam yang agak kurus (macam tak caya aje dia ni boleh angkat barang), and sorang adik seluar bermuda. Adik seluar bermuda ni nampak macam malas tak ikhlas sikit lah. Hidung pun dah srut-srat-srut-srat -- tak leh habuk agaknya. By 12, Abang dah sampai rumah. He took half-day that day.

Lat 20 minit, adik seluar bermuda was nowhere to be seen. Siulan betul. Mujur tak bayar dulu ke apa, kan?

Bro A pun call lagi kawan-kawan dia. Ada sorang kawan dia, rupanya jiran aku kat blok sebelah. Botak bersubang emas dua-dua telinga. Punk gila woh. Muka & badan macam bouncer pun ada. Tapi hati baik la kan, sanggup tolong aku. Dia pun call sorang adik dia. Dua-dua agak berisi. Ada confident la sket dorang dapat tolong, kan.

Bila banyak barang dah dibawa turun, Bro A pun bawa masuk lori. Ada jiran aku ingat aku kena sita sebab ada lori organisasi nak rampas barang lagaknya.... hahahahaha. Anyway, mujur juga sorang kakak ni (my neighbour) was away in JB, so aku pun call dia untuk pinjam carpark space dia yang betul-betul depan tangga. Dia kata ok sangat-sangat. Fuh, lega kau.

So, depa pun masukkan barang-barang -- tak muat!!! Ahhh sudah. Adik bouncer ni pun bukak baju blenggeng, terus tolong re-organize barang-barang dalam tu sampai muat-muat melimpah-ruah macam budak gemuk pakai baju ketat, know whot I mean! FUH! Respect lah dengan dia.

Itupun ada lagi barang-barang dapur and study room yang masih kena tinggal tak muat nak letak dalam lori.

By then, Udi dah hantar separuh barang-barang kecik dengan MyVi ke Pantai Dalam, and Umi Ayah Ahy Hasrul dah tunggu kat sana.

By 4 something, the lorry and I made our way to Pantai Dalam, while Abang waited for Hasrul and Ahy to come over to help transfer barang-barang selebih into Hasrul's Stream. ITU pun masih tak muat...aiyyyyooyoooo....

But Alhamdulillah, by 6.30, semua selesai memunggah ke Pantai Dalam. And Alhamdulillah, dalam keributan and ujian Allah turunkan untuk duga, it was THAT DAY that Allah decided for the matahari tak keluar. Reduuuuuuuup dari tengahari. Sampai kami ingat macam nak hujan. Tapi tak hujan hujan. Maha Besar Allah, kan? Alhamdulillah.

My bros have been of GREAT HELP despite their busy schedules. Udi balik dari Melaka just to help me. Later on, Celi came to help a bit. Umi Ayah pun tolong-tolong.

And that Bro A and his friends??? W'pun duit aku berterbangan dua kali ganda bayar upah diorang, tak pa lah. Aku nampak diorang bersungguh buat kerja.

On the confirmation slip that the driver asked me to sign that he's done and delivered his job, I wrote "Pemandu ini telah melaksanakan tugas beliau dengan SANGAT cemerlang! Terima kasih!", hoping that could help recommend him for a quarters he's just applied, so I was told by him previously.

***

Rupanya, duduk rumah bawah ni, panas, kan? Tingkat atas rumah aku, bahangya mak datuk. Pasang aircond kat bilik 16 degree all through out the nite pun, temperature bilik only goes down till 28 the lowest!

Nampak gaya kena pasang insulation sheet right on top of the ceiling, lah. Abang dok ngamuk-ngamuk yang bilik panas. Dia dah la tak suka guna kipas. Hmmm.

***

Intan & rakan-rakan bujang, 2 days before due

Nama baby baru Intan (my Matchmake No.2) is Khairul Mu'az bin Khairul Hamadi. Berat: 3.6 kg, kussemangat. Despite saiz Intan and Chot yang renek-renek kecik chomey.

Aku terus gelak-gelak masa aku dapat tahu dari Intan about the new baby's name when I called her last Friday night.

"Naper Kak Lin gelak?" Intan tanya.

First baby Matchmake No.1 Kak Lin dulu pun, nama nya Mu'az.

Baby Kak Lin yang Matchmake No.4 Kak Lin tengah jaga ni (Celi la tu), nama Mu'az juga.

Let's hope Matchmake No.3 Kak Lin bila kawin and dapat anak esok, letak nama Mu'az juga! hehehehe

Really nice coincidence, ey??? Ngeeeeee.

Amir Mu'az, 10th May 2009

***

Kotak kami baru beli tadi di kilang off Jalan Kuari. 100 buah, free 10. RM2.50 per box. Saiz 1.5 of the yellow photostate-paper box. Esok gotong-royong kemas ofis. Semua orang tengah sedih. Kami dapat tahu, satu organisasi terkejut yang kami dibubarkan, knowing how agressively hardworking we have been with our projects. Such is life.

***

Dah berapa lama aku tak enjoy the fullmoon. Pagi tadi pukul 6.45am, Celi mms bulan terang dari Bangi. Subhanallah. Banyaknya fullmoon aku miss, rasanya. Sampaikan aku perasan, aku kadang lupa nak tengok the sun shining every morning, or whatever silver lining there is behind every cloud.

f~

The Unit, My Last Night in KL Queenstown, New Baby from Project No.2

2009-05-08T17:11:00.005+08:00

I suppose, I should still be thankful that I still have my job, although it feels well damn TIRING to be thinking the 200% effort from all of us from the first inception of the instruction to set-up the Unit back in June 2005 to finally making the Unit as the No.1 Performing Department/Unit in 2008.

Such is the irony of life, ey.

And the letter said "...telah BERSETUJU membubarkan...", like as if KAMI yang pi mohon untuk Unit dibubarkan. They should've word it as "...telah MENGAMBIL KEPUTUSAN UNTUK membubarkan...", no? Well, that just proves it all how hasty their decision is. Without even calling us to discuss nor visit our office and see the load of work that is still running on the ground pula tu. Pfffft.

Ahhh, panjang lagi cerita. Nanti-nanti lah.

I still haven't got the time to elaborate on the matter -- hampir tiap-tiap hari lepas kerja this week I been up to the new place that we'll be moving in this Saturday i.e tomorrow.

So it seems, May 2009 will be my "Bulan Penghijrahan" after all. Esok pagi at 10am, the lorry will arrive at the condo. By end of next week, us in the Unit are expected to clear off most of our work and finish packing, and start working at our new placs. Yes, PLACES, bukan bawah satu jabatan anymore. Macam "divide & rule", kan?

Aaaaaaanyhoo.

Tonight's our final night at the condo. Susahnya aku rasa nak tinggalkan tempat ni. It's the first place Abang & I started building our new lives. The place that has seen so many facets of Abang & I. The place that have grown me -- both physically (haha) and mentally.

So, okay, aku agak kurang masa nak cerita panjang. Jadi, buat slideshow lagi mudah. hehe. Enjoy.

Masa cuci rumah last 12.04.2009:

Ruang dalam rumah:

What Abang and I will miss the most about our place in Queenstown, among others:

Wish me luck esok. I'm very thankful that my family would be around to keep an eye on the stuff at both places with the lorry driver and three Pekerja Rendah Am from the organisation to be helping me out while Abang settle his work half of the day.

***

On another not-so-sombre mode, CONGRATULATIONS to Intan and Chot, my Project Matchmaking No.2, for their new 3++kg baby boy this noon at 3.40pm setelah 8 hari lewat!!! Alhamdulillaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!! Bertambah lagi anak sedara aku....

f~

Hari Keluarga Unit

2009-05-04T21:19:00.007+08:00

My office had a 2nd Family Day last 17th and 18th April, done at Kayns Resort PD.

I been there once, during the AR Family Day (my dad's side, which was organized by my very much grown-up cousins).

For some reason, aku memang SUKA sangat Family Day organized by my family belah Negeri Sembilan or organized by my office... 'coz ada games. Not so much of the games 'coz kadang-kadang aku tak main pun, tapi because masa ni lah boleh jadi gila-gila tanpa rasa segan silu, atau perlu jaga tertib. Tak perlu melawa-melawa macam nak keluar berjalan, boleh pakai pakaian sukan aje and tak perlu berbedak bermekap segala, dapat mix dengan semua orang tak kira umur and boleh gelak ketawa, make fun of people and make fun of myself, boleh buat lawak bodoh, boleh berlagak macam bodoh... basically, have pure fun.

Walaupun ada lebih kurang 9 orang in the office yang tak dapat join, 23 yang lain dapat hadir sama, Alhamdulillah. Best sangat. Kami konvoi 11 kereta.

And Alhamdulillah, aku berjaya tarik muka & bagi ultimatum and buat Abang ikut sama on weekends that he's supposed to be working. This, was in fact, Abang's first time joining the four Family Days in my book. Aku siap pinjam my officemate's USB Modem just so Abang could easily get connected to his office, daripada nanti dia terpaksa keluar cari cyber cafe 'coz I know he may have to do just that. Apa nak buat, kan. Daripada dia tak ikut and untuk kesekian-kesekian kalinya aku akan hadir lagi di Family Day macam orang bujang, baiklah aku 'bekalkan' apa yang dia perlu untuk dia stay connected to his office.

This time, the Family Day is a special one. 'Coz deep down every one of us know that this may be the last of us, The Unit...

Aku masih sedih sebenarnya. We came in to work this week this morning with a very upsetting and demoralising news about The Unit. Nanti lah aku cerita. Aku tak tahan, nak kena luahkan juga. Lantak lah nak jadi rahsia kerajaan ke rahsia pejabat ke. Tapi aku nak luahkan juga pandangan and pendapat aku. Aku tahu ada colleagues aku yang baca; ada enemies to The Unit yang baca. Lantak lah.

No wonder orang-orang yang lama kerja kerajaan mudah jadi demoralized. Ini lah dia sebabnya.

Anyway, I put the best of 80+ photos into a self-narrated slideshow. Total photos were 300-400+, kot. Ada juga gambar yang tertinggal-tinggal... antaranya seperti gambar akak karaoke nyanyi lagu Saloma's "Jangan la Jeling-jeling, bung" and Abba's "Thank You For the Music". Ni dua SENGAJA tidak dimasukkan, actually. haha

Oh ya... for cabutan nombor bertuah -- aku nak kipas berdiri, tapi dapat seterika. Bengang ni. Kot sapa kawin pastu dapat seterika dari aku, maka tahu-tahu aje la aku dapat dari mana seterika tu. haha

Clutterings

2009-05-03T21:45:00.002+08:00

Smenggu dua ni aku telah dilanda penyakit Pak Lah Syndrome -- mengantuk senantiasa, haha.

Agaknya sebab my mind's a lil too cluttered the past month. Hal nak pindah (and you know lah proses nak pindah ni -- cuci, book lori, pasang astro aircond streamyx grill roof, cari furniture... Tu la, duk nyewa lagi kat rumah semi-furnished. Skali nak pindah, banyak yang tak ada), all other on-going personal projects yang macam tak jalan-jalan, also macam-macam hal lain yang personal.

Ada one morning ni, I had to go see a doctor, and asked for an m.c and ubat tidur. Terdesak gila. Aku letih, aku ngantuk, tapi kepala aku tak nak switch-off.

Tak sabar aku nak pindah habis. By next Sunday, Abang and I will be waking up to a new surrounding. Hopefully, a healthy 'penghijrahan' for both of us and the rest of the family.... InsyaAllah.

Tadi Udi dalam demam-demam tolong aku pasang plastic netting at all the grills. Apa lagi, untuk anak-anak bujang aku yang tiga ekor tu la -- Adi, Labu and Labi. By next Sunday, Adi will be staying with us for good, insyaAllah.

On the other front, Umi Ayah have been quite occupied with guests from Saudi this one week. Umi's aunty (adik my atuk) who married Tok Kenali's youngest son called Tok Wi and have long resided in Saudi and have grownup children and grandchildren, come a-visiting to M'sia with her two daughters (my aunt Zu and aunt Sa) and a relative-helper to settle hal harta-harta dia di Kelantan. Banyak woh harta-harta dia. Ye la, anak dia pun ramai. Anak dia sendiri ada 8. Anak madu dia (2nd wife) ada 11. So, anak Tok Wi ada 19, woh...scattering about in Saudi, M'sia and other parts of the world!

My mom's aunt ni, kami cucu-cucu panggil Tok Ngoh Aji. Dia ni sangat kelakar, sangat witty, observant, and sangat suka berlucah cara lawak, hahaha. Imagine la, everytime aku jumpa dia, dia suka cuit dada aku, grab my bontbont....or tempat-tempat lain yang equally 'sihat'! Nanti dia kekek-kekek gelak kalau aku jerit, "Tok Ngoooohhhh! Geli laaaar!".

Tapi kali ni jumpa dia, aku terus hulur je apa dia nak cuit / picit... Hahaha.

They'll be flying back to Saudi next Sunday. Tak tau lepas ni Tok Ngoh larat lagi ke tak balik ke Malaysia lagi...

Alamak nak sampai rumah dah. Ni on the way balik dari Bangi. I have a couple of interesting stories about Tok Ngoh...nanti lah aku sambung, otey. Gawd no wonder my mind's cluttered -- so many procrastination!

f¤

Ku Pungut Rahangku Dari Atas Lantai

2009-04-24T23:42:00.008+08:00

[updated at 12.20am]

I set Yahoo!News as my front-page of both my Firefox and Explorer.

And when I saw this title right at the bottom of the page tonight, "Scottish singing sensation gets dye job, makeover", it certainly piqued my curiosity and made me clicked the link.

And boy was I up for more surprise.

I googled further, and read about her here, and then YouTubed her and found her here [the embed is being disabled by the author, too bad ey].

See if you dropped your jaw to the floor at minute 2:00.

Like Amanda said, that "...it was the biggest wake-up call ever...", having this certain initial presumption of first-impressions, know what I mean.

Humbled, no end.

Why can't Malaysia have this kind of program, teaching the citizens that looks are only superficial?

***

With that note, wait for our travel-video dated 19-04-2009 (last Sunday) pula, ok? Graced by two not-so-beautiful people walking on this Earth. haha. But we had fun, as it always does.

I managed to upload it on the FB by shrinking the size of the video which in turn made the lyrics go pretty illegible...much to my chagrin. Ni tengah upload the original size on the YouTube for the umpteenth time. Watch this space, haha.

[updated at 12.20am]

Hawwwpbatin

2009-04-23T07:15:00.001+08:00

Yeah, yeah, I know.

This recording of my Amir pushing himself up on his way to merangkak is so banal. Nothing special.

Still, it's still a milestone moment for me and Celi.... sigh.

And also the video is for those kind people (you know who you are *hugs*) who follow Amir on my blog.

This was taken during Amir's visit to Mummy's office yesterday.

He's just so adorable, isn't he.

Last night, some of my colleagues texted me and told me how adorable and beautiful he is... they can't seem to take him off their minds. One even had his sis&bro-in-law asking me about taking in an 'unfortunate baby' from shelters... Alhamdulillah.

I pray that Amir will be ours and with us till the end, dan membesar menjadi manusia yang paaaaaaaling cantik, baik, beriman dan bertaqwa sentiasa. Aaaaamiiin...

Aren't We The Lucky Ones

2009-04-22T18:38:00.000+08:00

This such a GREAT reading, from Malaysiakini. I hope they don't mind me sharing this to the entire world.

[note to M'siakini Editorial: as always, tak payah link balik to your webby, ya? Tenchu!]

f~

***

Apik's love of learning
Keruah Usit | Apr 22, 09 7:14am

Apik can survive in the rainforest, completely alone, with a parang and some salt. He hunts, dives for fish and makes a bed for himself under the forest canopy.

He climbs trees to harvest honey from wild hives. He picks ferns and bamboo shoots to cook, and finds edible fruit and roots. He collects herbs to heal, and uses ipoh, a tree bark, to prepare poison for blowpipe darts.

He travels to neighbouring villages in a wooden longboat, with an engine modified from a grass-cutting machine. He manoeuvres the longboat through rapids strewn with giant boulders, as expertly as KL folk weave through rush-hour traffic.

If he finds snakes on jungle trails, he picks up them up with twigs and branches, moving them away from the paths, and from other travelers. He makes fishing nets, and mends them, with a dexterity associated with more delicate, less muscle-bound, maidens.

He can remain underwater for an astounding length of time, looking for fish or a missing propeller. He rears puppies, teaching them to hunt for barking deer and wild boar. He can carry a wild boar heavier than himself, on his shoulders, through the forest, for hours.

His real passion, though, is teaching. He teaches pre-school and primary school, in his small, remote Orang Ulu village in Sarawak. His students adore him, trailing after him after classes, pestering him to go swimming with them.

He takes them down to the river, to cool off and indulge in some horseplay. The children mob him, climbing all over him. They beg him to push them around in their makeshift dinghies, made from truck tyres. They perform somersaults, shrieking and splashing into the water, to impress him.

“I like watching the children grow up, watching them grow in knowledge and understanding,” he says. “It’s a wonderful feeling - hard to explain.”

He says kampung students are far easier to teach than urban children. He endured a nightmare, during his training, teaching in an urban school, trying to get students to listen.

When asked why, he ventures, “Maybe it’s because the kampung children get more attention. When the children go to their neighbours, they’re made welcome and cared for, as if they were their neighbours’ children.

“Parents in the ulu talk to their children all the time, even when they are bathing the small children. And then, of course, there’s not much television,” he smiles.

No IC until he was 25

Apik came to his calling late in life, graduating when he was nearly 30. He could not attend teacher training school when he completed secondary school, he says, because he had no identity card until he was 25.

“I didn’t think I could ever get to teachers’ training college,” he remembers. “To tell the truth, I was lucky to get to Form Six. The headmaster in my boarding school encouraged me to stay on, and he turned a blind eye to the fact that I didn’t have an IC.”

Apik was born to farming parents, in a quiet Orang Ulu village. His parents had been born and bred Sarawakians. Apik’s father even had a shotgun licence given him by the British colonial rulers, dating from the 1950s. But they could not obtain ICs for many years.

“My father served as a border scout during the Konfrontasi with Indonesia in 1963,” Apik says.

“He helped keep Sarawak part of Malaysia. Yet he couldn’t get an IC. My parents went to the towns to apply for ICs, many times. The journeys would take a week by boat, down fierce rapids, to the Registration Department.”

Many times, Apik’s parents were told the decision to confirm their Malaysian citizenship and ICs had to come from KL, and the decision took time. When Apik’s parents asked when they should return, they were bestowed the time-honoured advice of the bureaucracy – “just wait”. They waited for the letters from the Registration Department, but the correspondence never came.

Apik’s parents obtained ICs eventually, in the 1990s. The Registration Department had established “mobile units”, traveling to remote communities. Apik says the villagers appreciated these visits, because they could not afford the cost of travel to town. But the visits were rare.

He walked four days to school

“My parents were highly respected in the village,” he says. “They were always good to their neighbours, including the Penan communities who were beginning to settle down near our village.

“They spoke Penan fluently, they helped the Penan with farming techniques, and helped make relationships easier with the rest of the village – many of the people in my village looked down at the Penan.”

Most of Apik’s fellow villagers grew to accept the Penan, thanks to Apik’s family.

Apik went to primary school in the next village, where Penan children formed the majority.

“I learnt a lot from them,” he remembers.

“I learnt to be gentle, to respect my neighbours, and respect the forest. I learnt to value the trees and animals in the forest. The Penan are the best trackers around. They can walk for hours. They share what they have, so I always knew I wouldn’t go hungry when I went hunting with them.

“And they never waste. If they hunt a bear, and the dead animal’s young is left behind, they take the cub in and care for it.”

Apik went on countless hunting trips with Penan friends.

“Every time I went into the forest, the first few days were hard. I was tired all the time. But when my body settled into the routine of walking, I began to appreciate the beauty of the forest. The streams, the waterfalls, the animals, the trees, the wildflowers… he stillness.”

rain forest rainforest jungle 010708 01After primary school, Apik moved on to the nearest secondary school. Children in Apik’s part of Malaysia often walk for several days to reach school.

“I walked to the Sekolah Menengah, Form One to Three, when I was 13 until I was 15. Twenty of us, schoolchildren, walked four days, carrying our food rations, sleeping in the jungle.

“Some parents asked me to look after their young daughters, so I ended up carrying their books, food, clothes, even packets of sanitary pads… I ended up carrying 30 kilos,” he laughs.

Teachers ‘parachuted’ into rural schools

Many rural children suffer far worse than walking for days to get to school. Children are bullied by fellow boarders and even by teachers.

Penan children, especially, are shy and unfamiliar with shouting and aggression. They often leave school because of bullying and loneliness, and sometimes because their parents take them away to help in the harvest.

But Penan children do well if they stay on, according to Apik. Many become top students, both in the classroom and on the sports field.

Apik gives chilling accounts of teachers beating and bullying rural children.

“Children from my home village tell me how one teacher in their secondary school lost control of himself, and chased them with a parang.

“Another teacher threatened them with a shotgun. The headmaster knew, but took no action. The school has received many complaints from parents, but nothing has improved,” Apik says bitterly.

Few teachers volunteer to work in rural schools, and there are few trained local teachers. Apik himself has been posted to an urban school in the past, even after he had requested to teach in a rural school near his village.

Teachers “parachuted” into the rural schools experience culture shock. Many of them are poorly motivated and ignorant. They receive little support from the education authorities in the towns.

Apik likes to tell the story of a teacher from Peninsular Malaysia, posted to a remote primary school. The young teacher had never heard of the place, and did not know the school is nine hours’ drive and three hours’ boat ride from the nearest large town.

The teacher arrived at the airport, climbed into a taxi, and asked the taxi driver to take him to the school, Apik relates with a smile.

Contractors profit, children suffer

The schools Apik teaches in are dilapidated, without adequate electricity supply, treated water or clean dormitories.

The children bathe in the nearby river, downstream from the rest of the village. Scabies, head lice and worms are routine (left).

One rural primary school had toilets installed and closed down the same day, because of the contractor’s sub-standard work. The children used the bushes for months, until the toilets were repaired.

During lunch hour in another school, the children’s usual meal is rice, tinned food and cabbage. The schoolteachers say the food supply contracts are determined and awarded “centrally” by the Education Department.

Vegetables and fish supplied from the towns are often rotting, so that well-connected urban food suppliers can make their hefty profits. The teachers would prefer to buy chickens and fresh vegetables for the children from the villagers, but are not allowed to.

Many children in these schools have no shoes. Their families struggle to buy them stationery and uniforms. Poor rural children are meant to have an allocation for these items, and are exempted from paying school fees.

Yet many children are still forced to pay fees in rural schools, according to headmen and parents in remote villages. Why? the parents ask. Incompetence, overzealous bureaucracy, or most likely, corruption.

One headmaster in a rural school provides an analogy: “The allocation provided by the Education Department starts out in the towns, loaded onto the transport.

“But the amount gets smaller and smaller as it makes its way upriver. By the time it arrives, it’s a tiny amount. Most of it has fallen off the transport, on the way to the ulu.”

Long walk, with a helping hand

Poor rural children throughout Malaysia face the same hardship. Some overcome astonishing obstacles in getting to school.

A rural indigenous girl used to walk for days to school in Sabah. She left school after Form Three, to work as a domestic helper for an urban Chinese family. Her employers knew about her family’s poverty, and decided to pay for her to complete her schooling, while she was helping in the employers’ household.

Her results were good enough to go to medical school. Her employers helped her through university, for five lonely, trying years in Peninsular Malaysia. She works as a doctor now, and supports her family and community.

Some rural folk, doctors like this young Sabahan, and teachers like Apik, seek education, so that they can contribute to their poor communities. They support their neglected communities as best they can, in their labour of love.

How many of us, the other Malaysians – educated Malaysians – do the same?

KERUAH USIT is a human rights activist - anak Sarawak, bangsa Malaysia. His ‘The Antidote’ column, which will appear in Malaysiakini every Wednesday, is an attempt to allow the voices of marginalised people to be heard all over Malaysia. The writer can be contacted at keruah_usit@yahoo.com.

Terubat Rindu

2009-04-22T13:25:00.008+08:00

Celi was kind enough to drive Amir and gave Mummy a visit late this morning. BEST SANGAT!!!

Amir came to see Mummy at around quarter to 11am, and went back 2 hours later.

Before Amir arrived, Mummy dah siap kaypoh-kaypoh kat ofis that Amir's coming. So, by the time Mummy brought Amir in, Mummy's officemates datang berkerumun, all ladies and gents alike, and gasped at the sight of Amir.

"...ish, lawanya budaknyaaaa.... cantiknya dia, Kak Lin...", they gasped in awe.

Mummy cepat-cepat creditted Ibu and Tok Mi for taking care and feeding Amir real well. Ibu hanya senyum-senyum dari jauh.

Amir pulak, dah makin curious. He studied all aunties and uncles from Mummy's arms. Amir behaved REALLY well this morning. He didn't cry at the sight of strangers, and even accepted any aunty's or uncle's offer to walk him around the office, play jump and even peekaboos.

Mummy sempat feed Amir his daily nestum at 11am, burped him, played with Amir, saw him doing 'push-ups', tickled him to bits, took photos and videos.... how time flies.

Look Mummy, Look!

Amir dah leh buat push-ups, Mummy!

Soon, it was time for Amir to go. Mummy belum puas lagi, tapi Mummy bersyukur for that short period of time Mummy gets to spend with Amir, Alhamdulillah.

Terubat sikit rindu Mummy...

Is This Real Love?

2009-04-20T16:39:00.004+08:00

I've so many happenings to share.

Bukan la aku ni happening sangat. Tapi sekadar nak record kat dalam blog ni -- the stress-test week eons ago, the house-cleaning two Sundays ago, and the Family Day last weekend.

How time flies, ey.

Now with Amir, lagi aku terasa betapa laju masa berjalan. Minggu ni nak masuk minggu ke-2 aku tak jumpa Amir. Umi and Celi hanya update through mms. Jadilah, nak mengubat rindu Mummy.

Just last two weekends, at less than 5 1/2 months, Amir dah pandai meniarap.

Saturday 11.04.2009, with Mummy.
Click at picture for larger view of his saliva dropping in awe, heh heh.

Yesterday Umi mms tunjuk Amir dah boleh berlagak macam dia boleh duduk.

MMS from TokMi

Hari ni Mummy dapat MMS-video yang dia dah pandai pegang botol.

Umi expects within this week or next, he could prolly merangkak! And he's turning 6 months on this coming 3rd of May. He's doing pretty well, no?

My oh my. He's turning 6 months! That's half a year. Then it's going to be 1, then 6, then 16, then 26.... sigh. How do you parents deal with the time passing by so quickly like that ah...? I don't know how to deal with it lah. I get all sentimental and teary-eyed, crying myself to sleep for the lost time. Thinking of Amir -- in the car, at the shops, in the shower, just about anywhere -- never fails to bring tears to my eyes. In between I will find myself going through all his photos and videos on my handphone.

How do you parents handle this eh? Is this what you call Real Love?

Excuse me while I go hide somewhere to cry....

end note:
will be putting Amir's photos on Picasa and videos of his membebel soon.

f~

Me Ol' Self

2009-04-17T18:56:00.004+08:00

Actually, I just don't get it.

Why is it when the so-called National Press did a fiery racial-loaded sentiments as their front-page last Wednesday, they don't get the "spanking" they rightly deserve?

Phoarrrr.

Aku pun Melayu tulin jugak, beb. Bangga dengan asal-usul aku juga, dengan adat-resam aku, dengan keturunan aku. Tapi, apa cerita beb, sampai tak hormat orang lain, ni??? Ni adat-resam dan cara hidup kita orang Melayu ke ni? Cara Islam ke ni?

Macam zionis, ada la.

But I actually wanted to share what telah happened that morning at the office.

As usual, I would have my breakfast at the newspaper table along with the other boys (other ladies would read the paper during lunchtime. Aku pula like my news-reading the first thing in the morning). A junior officer joined me, took Utusan Meloya, saw the title, and practically screamed the front page out loud, saying "Waaaah, baru la respect, akhirnya ada juga orang berani cakap benda ni, front page pula tu!".

I was like, wtf?

I told him directly to his face:

Number one, that was not what the new PM said in the news nor reported on other papers. I showed him The Sun that I was reading, and dia terdiam.

Number two, a front-page like this on a NATIONAL PRESS is such a malice and spiteful to the unity of the country yang berbilang kaum, bangsa, keturunan dan agama, that I think the editors should be shot to death or buang negara.

Number three, he's not even PURE MELAYU (his dad is. But his mom is, let's just say, from a neighbouring country yang sedang huru-hara sekarang ni, and even the entire family currently resides there and has citizenship of that country at the mo) and he has lived the early part of his childhood in his mother's country. Has HE REALLY got the right to agree and shout "bersatu hadapi tuntutan kaum lain yang semakin keterlaluan"??? HAH, I don't think so.

Aiyoh. I tell you lah. DON'T EVER BUY or READ the junk, unless you really need some papers to use as paper-towel or bungkus sanitary pads.

I guess I'm now back to my ol' self, ey?

heh heh.

***

By the by, Abang and I are off to my office's Family Day in P.D, esok and lusa. I know Abang's not free, he works on the weekends kan? But if he doesn't join this time, then this will be the fourth Family Day (and countless, countless other family gatherings) that he cannot be around. So, apa lagi. Aku pun kasi satu das tembakan sikit lah -- peluru getah aje. Aku cakap, kalau setiap Family Day aku datang tak da suami, baik aku pasang orang lain jadi suami aku, kan. Adik-adik aku pun ada kehidupan diorang jugak, asyik nak kena chaperone aku aje keja diorang.

So, hehe, esok dia akan ikut, insyaAllah...

Aku tak pasti how 'focused' he will be towards the outing; I bet he won't. Aku ada juga rasa macam nak simpan sorok handphone dia so that FOR ONCE he will concentrate on life and me and not work work work... I wish I could.

Or if his comrades and friends or officemates read this -- boleh kasi peluang I enjoy my husband kejap tak? And call him back, maybe, Sunday evening? Please? Ta a bunch!

Huh. Tough wish, ey.

Itupun aku pesan ke sorang officemate aku to bring her USB broadband modem so that Abang could do his editing work up in the room while the rest of us play games downstairs.

I hope and pray he could change his work, SOON.

f~

Di Bawah Cuaca

2009-04-16T08:34:00.005+08:00

I have been neglecting this second 'house' of mine, haven't I.

I have been feeling under the weather, apart of being disillusioned with life. Not that this is the first time (feeling disillusioned), but this time it has hit me rather hard.

So the past week have seen me pathetically wallowing in self-pity, disappointments and frustrations in the trappings of life, on top of the physical muscular pain due to house-cleaning last Sunday. Feel like I been lied to, and wasted. Like this is what a person like me is destined to, and that I should be grateful.

I certainly feel like drowning, suffocating in my own depression.

But I'm ever so grateful to be alive, nevertheless.

I don't know what or how else can I make Abang 'hear' me and take my take on things seriously. In my book, this has been the longest wait ever. The old me would have just walked away a loooo-ong time ago. I don't know what has happened to that old me. Scared, maybe? Turning dependant, maybe? Afraid of growing old alone, maybe?

I pray that patience would not run out of me, yet at the same time it won't get tested and turn me into someone I would not want to be.

I wish time could just stand still, and not rob me out of my youth and sanity.

That aside, this is RKM, feeling somewhat better, over and out for now.

La'ers.

f~

Post-By-Election Ramblings

2009-04-08T12:14:00.002+08:00

Malam tadi aku tunggu Abang sampai pukul 2.30 pagi. Masa tu dah passed my bedtime dah, mata dah degil tak nak pejam. Lagipun, the time tends to whizzes by unnoticed when you're infront of the Net, kan?

Masa pukul 6 petang semalam, Abang beritahu the team ada 8 muka lagi to complete. That's a loooo-hot of pages to be completed in a night, mind you.

When I sms-ed him at 2.30am, I asked him lama lagi ka. Ya la, bantal peluk aku malam-malam tak dak orang lain lagi dah, dia aje. Mana boleh tidur camni kan. Ngada.

He replied ada 5 page lagi. Dia soh aku tidur dulu.

Whaaa? Dari 6pm till 2.30am, baru buat 3 page? Hmm nampak gayanya memang tak balik la malam ni. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmph. Aku pun parked myself atas tilam depan TV kat ruang tamu. Aku ni pengecut, kalau nak tau. Takut tidur dalam bilik sorang-sorang kalau aku sorang aje ada kat rumah.

Pukul 6+ pagi, aku terjaga. Aku pasang telinga. Kot lah Abang dah balik, senyap-senyap buka pintu, sekarang tengah mandi, atau dah tidur berdengkur dalam bilik (which is unlikely 'coz I know he will join me kat ruang tamu ni).

Tapi tak da. Biar betul.

Aku sms Abang, tak balik lagi? Abang terus call. Suara dia segar-bugar lagi. Maklum, dah menang landslide, kan? Haha. Dia kata tinggal front-page je lagi.

Setahu aku front-page tu selalunya page yang paling berat dan tugasan paling besar untuk the team. Setahu aku lah.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmph. Ni memang tak pergi kerja la aku nih.

Betul pun. Pukul 9 pagi baru Abang dapat keluar dari ofis. 9 suku kami breakfast sama-sama. Lepas he eagerly shared with me some stories of Batang Ai, dia terlentok tidur sambil duduk kat atas sofa. Pukul 10 dia terus koma atas tilam depan TV kat ruang tamu.

Kesian kat dia. Demi perjuangan, kan?

Awal-awal pagi lagi aku sms ofis yang aku terpaksa ambil cuti. Aku boleh tumpang assistant aku who live nearby laki bini ke ofis, tapi aku tak nak serabutkan laki aku dengan nak mengambil aku balik dari kerja karang. Aku boleh drive to the station, park and get the LRT to the office, but he told me he may need the car takut ada post-by election meetings or Press Conference later in the evening. So, aku ambil cuti aje la. Lagipun aku nak dia tidur banyak sikit. Kalau dia sakit sebab tak cukup rehat (which he always does), aku yang susah, bukan orang lain. I hope there won't be any meetings or PCs that he needs to attend. Aku lebih rela tengok dia tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiduuuuuuuuuuur berehat supaya tak sakit, daripada dia tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiduuuuuuuuuuur berehat sebab dia sakit.

***

Apa Abang cerita tadi?

Abang cerita, antaranya yang aku ingat:

-- kat Batang Ai (BA), people at the long houses minta RM1k, and BN happily gave them;

-- ada bot bawa pengundi terbalik;

-- that one of BN's campaign tactic was to confuse the people in the long houses pertaining the calon. Yang ni kena baca sendiri dalam Suara Keadilan keluaran esok 9 April. Takut aku sendiri terconfuse kalau cerita balik in this post.

-- that 'diorang' nak buat satu Suruhanjaya untuk kaji kenapa rakyat makin tolak BN. YA ALLAH, you imagine the THICK SKULLS these people have, tak faham-faham lagi kenapa rakyat tolak depa? Aku rasa air liur rakyat dah naik kering dok bagitau apa salah depa. Ni baru betul BODOH SOMBONG namanya. Betul-betul macam si Cecille dalam the reality show Beauty & The Geek tu (pagi tadi first time aku tonton. I never knew the show ever existed pun). That bikini model yang hyper-gedik yang tak faham kenapa orang tak suka dia tu. Gahhhh *tarik rambut*.

Yang lain-lain cerita, kena baca sendiri dalam SK esok. Aku sendiri pun kena baca. Banyak sangat yang Abang cerita ke aku, sampai tak boleh nak digest.

Imaginela, taktik 'diorang' buat by-elections on a TUESDAY. Tengah-tengah minggu, masa hari kerja, when voters may find it a hassle to go back to cast votes. Apa kes, yob, kan? ITU PUN kalah jugak.

Korang bayangkan kalau buat the by-elections on the weekends when out-station voters would be streaming in.... mahu teruk 'diorang' kena pijak. ITU PUN tak reti-reti bahasa jugak.

f~

The Hills itu, Rakyat Yang Punya

2009-04-07T21:23:00.007+08:00

Alhamdulillah, terbukti, suara rakyat suara keramat.

from M'siakini 'live' update

Aku sedih juga 'Rakyat tewas di Batang Air... but I wouldn't blame the rakyat over there. Aku banyak baca yang diorang banyak kena ugut -- kalau tak pilih BN, they will stop dispersing money to the long-houses, and they will cut off the allowances given to the Chiefs.

Also, the ballot boxes were transferred to the pusat culaan without the company of wakil parti or pemerhati. Tah-tah on the way tu depa tukar kotak. Bukti? Memang la tak da bukti nak disembah, sebab itu korang tak takut buat dan tak kisah.

Tak pa, itu antara korang dan TUHAN, ok? See if your conscience as honest servants to God still prevails.

Like, apa kes Yob, main kotor macam tu kan. Jantanman la sket. Nama aje kempen kat Batang Air, tapi no balls.

***

S'wak PKR cries foul over two incidents
Joseph Tawie and Tony Thien | Apr 7, 09 9:44pm

Barisan National has won the Batang Ai by-election, but the polling was marred by two alleged incidents according to the PKR. One incident supposedly involved phantom voters and the other was about padlocks on ballot boxes being tampered with.

In the first incident, two 40-seater buses and a van, said to have been used for ferrying voters from various parts of the state, stopped near one polling station, SRK Lubok Antu, where they were allegedly carrying voters there to cast their votes before the polling station closed at 5pm.

According to a PKR leader, Dominique Ng, he received a telephone call from a party member telling him that the vehicles were used for ferrying what he believed to be phantom voters.

By the time, the PKR leader and his supporters arrived at the scene, one of the buses had taken off with its passengers while the other was waiting for its passengers to come out from the polling station.

Ensuring a clean electoral process

Ng, who is the Batang Ai PKR coordinator, lodged a complaint with the local police chief and also a senior election officer.

Later, Ng and other PKR people went to a nearby police station and also had a discussion with officials for about 20 minutes inside the SMK Lubok Antu polling station.

Emerging from the meeting, Ng said that he had a list of 50 of those who boarded the bus and managed to check 15 identity cards. They came from Kuching, Mukah and Kanowit.

The rest did not furnish their identity cards and no one could ascertain whether they were genuine voters or not.

However, these people informed Ng that they were employees of Kemas.

PKR then lodged a complaint that they were suspicious that these people were either phantom voters or they used some other people’s identity cards.

They took action to ensure a clean electoral process especially when the party had complained earlier about the security during the transportation of ballot boxes from 14 polling stations.

The complaint on the ballot boxes was not entertained so PKR decided to purchase separate padlocks to ensure the integrity of these boxes were not compromised.

Ng said that when the boxes were about to be opened later it was found only one original padlock was intact.

Meanwhile, PKR leaders and supporters said they were in state of shock and disbelief at the initial results of the counting involving 15 out of 26 polling districts with a total electorate of 8,129 voters.

Counting started at 3pm after the ballot boxes from the 14 polling stations arrived either by road or helicopter at the tallying centre at Lubok Antu.

***

Ya memang betul, patut BN ni pindah aje dok Sabah Sarawak. Kat Semenanjung ni, korang dah MINORITY tau tak (sorry, aku masih iktiraf Nizar as MB Perak, and Zambry is The Pendatang Haram). Rakyat dah tak sudi dengan korang. Sila tahu malu sikit, boleh???

Apa-apa pun... SYABAS RAKYAT, dan TAHNIAH, kerana BERSATU-PADU menentang ZIONIS bertopeng Islam.

Syukur Alhamdulillaaaah...

f~

Dug Dag Dug Jantung

2009-04-07T18:20:00.005+08:00

Aduh heart-attack sey, dok ikut perkembangan the three by-elections 'live' from M'siakini, Bro Anil and Lina Soo.

Nampaknya maybe 2-1. PR gets the two Bukits, BN gets the Batang.

Laaaaaaaa. Siut. Aku baru perasan nama-nama tempat by-elections ni semua mula dengan perkataan yang boleh di double-meaning kan.

That just proves how 'clean' up in the head I have been, kan. Ngeeeee.

Abang's deadline is at 5am today. Eh, tomorrow. Ya, LIMA PAGI KARANG. Abang baru call minta jasa baik aku untuk balik dengan Star LRT dan teksi. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmph, aku kata.

Lat 2 saat lepas tu, dia call balik. Ni mesti nak pujuk aku ni, aku fikir.

Helo. Aku kata. Flat tone. Kira macam merajuk la ni kan.

Silence.

Eh! Laaaaaa. Abang nak call ANIL, pi dial ALIN pulak. Jauh tu. Hahahahaha. Abang kata.

Eiiiiiiiiiiii nyampah tauuuu. Aku balas. Ingatkan nak tukar fikiran, suruh Alin tunggu, Abang nak mai ambik sekarang. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmph!

Hahahahaha. Abang gelak sebelum letak gagang.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmph!

***

Ok, nak catch-up dari rumah pula. Kita tengok nanti berita kat TV tunjuk apa. Mesti diorang melebih-lebihkan tunjuk kat Batang Ai, macam GE8 last year -- 5 negeri dah jatuh ke PR pun masih lagi in denial, dok menayang pengiraan kat Sabah dan Sarawak sampai ke pagi. Kesian.

f~

Habaq Dah

2009-04-07T13:35:00.010+08:00

Mak called this morning, wanting to ask whether Umi Ayah jadi mai tumpang bermalam di Pendang after a 'nughi kawen di Penang this weekend.

And then Mak report kat aku pasal berita kat RTM on Sunday about the penarikan balik penggantungan SK & Harakah.

[Sorry but Berita TV1, TV2 and TV3 adalah diharamkan ditonton in my household in Cheras, so, we never know whatever rubbish being aired - nor we care what the shallow-minded RACISTS think. And note also that in this post I don't use any abbreviations like 'AreTeeEm' anymore. Like, why the fug would ANYONE care if they know about this posting, kan.]

As expected, even with the media statement, them at RTM commented negatively.

First, they complimented Bro Lutfi for berterima-kasih ke the new PM. I don't know why la Bro Lutfi did that, really. It's a really stupid thing being done in the 1st place (the banning, not Bro Lutfi's appreciation). I'm sure Bro Lutfi has his reasons to be doing the berterima-kasih thingy. I dunno. I'm just glad that Abang and his team did not take the same stance, and held their heads higher.

Mak cerita, RTM kata something like ooo-Harakah-berterimakasih-ke-PM-Najis-tapi-lain-pula-dengan-SK-yang-sudahlah-tak-berterimakasih-pastu-minta-Akta Mesin Cetak & Penerbitan 1984-dihapuskan-pulak-tu-chaih-sudah-diberi-betis-nak-peha-pula.

See? Memang betul dah sangkaan Abang, kan? They will definitely putar-belit punya.

Itu pun Abang layan that journalist who called him tu dengan kata-kata penuh hormat, tau. Both times when the lady-journalist called, I was by his side. I would expect he'd go something along the way of "HAH??? You calling from RTM? BWAHAHAHAHAHA! What, you REALLY expect me to agree to talk and being interveiwed by your organisatiom and expect that you would quote me verbatim and not manipulate my words and intention, izit??? Ihhhyyyyyeaaaaaaaaaa, riiiiiiiiight", but he didn't. He treated the fellow journalist with equal respect, siap minta maaf that he cannot participate in the personal interviewing from RTM and ask her to discuss with her Boss about what he said.

Tu la aku dah habaq kat korang.... BOIKOT Utusan Malaysia, Berita Harian, NST, Berita-berita dan forum-forum RTM and TV3. In what name of Unity these medias are running pun, hell I know. Tak mencerminkan sikap keislaman langsung.

So, korang suma orang-orang pandai bijaksana kan? Cari sendiri informasi untuk berita, then analisa sendiri. Jangan biasa-biasa kena sumbat maklumat membuta-tuli. Cukup lah kita diperbodohkan masa zaman sekolah and Uni by all the spoon-feedings. Takkan sampai dah tua bangka pun nak jadi bodoh lagu tu jugak.

Now, go read these piece of news, Srikandi PKR dicabul and Hantu Syaitan Naik Bas. I bet you these news, along with plenty others, never get to see the light in the above-mentioned medias, for obvious reasons.

Terang-terang macam main catur, kan. "Look, you KDN go ban and rampas these two suratkhabars, then when once I'm declared the new PM, let me lift the ban for good first impression to the rakyat, kapische??? Good."

***

Two evenings ago, trapped in a post-heavyrain traffic snarl after fetching me from work, Abang & I were taking jibes at the new First Lady. Tak ingat isu apa.

Then I asked Abang, now that the R-A-H-M-A-N theory is completed, what theory would he think be after this?

"The same theory," Abang said. "The first 'R' being Rosmah," slamber kodok dia sambung jawab.

HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA! Kami gelak besar dalam kereta.

Hence the idea as below:

Aku cakap ke Abang, then he better tell his Big Boss that he's still got a looo-ooong way to go -- his initial 'A' only comes after Rosmah! Die la he laidis! Haha!

f~

The Results

2009-04-06T15:35:00.002+08:00

Alhamdulillaaaah, this letter that I just received an hour ago is exactly the much needed balm I need for today.

I've finally gotten my Aras 4 Keseluruhan for PTK1 after 3 sittings! Sangat meletih dan merendahkan morale aku, aku hampir nak give-up.

HE listens to my sincere intention of the much-awaited substantial pay-raise, indeed. Alhamdulillaaaah...

f¤

Feeling The Heat

2009-04-05T11:36:00.007+08:00

I felt really proud with Abang and his jinggeng at SK (and Bro Lutfi's Harakah).

Having them being 'mentioned' in the new PM's first live-on-air speech [...dan akan menarik balik penggantungan dua suratkhabar...] on all channels of the national TV while we were having dinner at Pusat Penjaja Masjid India last Friday made me wonder, wow, these two 'suratkhabars' must be of a really big important issue to him (and a big influence to the rakyat), ey?

Bangga, siut.

Tapi, dia sebut "menarik balik penggantungan dua suratkhabar" -- tak sebut pun nama suratkhabar apa. Jijik dan malu sangat ke? Macam nak sebut nama Altantuya?

The announcements came a lil bit too late though. Just 5 hours prior to his announcement, the KDN enforcers raided their printer and both offices, and rampas the plates at the printer. Like, wot the fug, roite?

[read more about the raid and rampasan here]

Later on that night, guess who called to interview Abang...? AreTeeEm!!!

Like, maybe they think that on behalf of the entire organisation, Abang would be appreciative and thank the new PM for his kind gesture???

Bahhh!

Abang gelak-gelak aje when the lady kenalkan diri that she's from AreTeeEm, and told her something like "you know, if you expect me to berterima-kasih to Najib, then I'll tell you right now that you will not be getting any of that from me. That is our right in this country and he shouldn't have been doing the banning in the 1st place. So, go discuss with your Boss first, ok. I don't want to be telling you what I think, and find out that you'll be manipulating whatever I say in your report tomorrow."

Abang certainly did the right thing. 10 minutes after hanging up and after a brief deliberation, he confided that he didn't think that it was a good idea anyway for him to be 'talking' to the gomen-controlled media, else he'd be in trouble if they manipulate whatever he says.

So the next morning at 8am, when the same lady called, Abang told her that he was sorry he cannot be giving any personal statement but the organisation will issue one to all media later on that day.

The statement is here.

I don't think this statement has made it through to ANY AreTeeEm or TiVi3 or Bernama or the papers... or did it???

No? Huh, I thought so.

***

Abang had planned to drive up to Bukit Selambau yesterday after Asar for the 'big announcement' by DSAI , and asked me to accompany him.

Aiyohhhhhhhh bila fikirkan aje pun dah letih -- driving long hours up-north, long jam and queues at Selambau itself, redah hujan lebat (kalau hujan lebat) redah lumpur redah banjir redah crowd [though I really don't mind meeting up Abang's friends, women and men alike. Their fire within is just inspirational!]. And then balik Pendang very late at night for a sleep-over, and head back to Cheras the next morning. Tapi oleh kerana I don't like the idea of Abang driving all alone after a very long day (he works on Saturdays and Sundays, remember), aku terpaksa la bersetuju.

[Like, this is the reason everytime kawan-kawan Abang kata "kenapa you tak suruh Zunar bertanding untuk GE last Mac?", I'd just answer them "No way jose baybeh, but tenchu vewy mush for the encouragement nevertheless." I need that certain degree of normalcy in my life. Kalau aku nak kawin dengan MP or yang tergolong daripadanya, I would've just done that dari dulu lagi kan.]

Fortunately (for me, that is), Abang had to attend meetings after meetings, from Brickfields to Shah Alam, and could only get back home at 8pm. So, tak jadi lah kami drive ke utara. Fuh, lega siut.

But this morning, reading Anil's live commenting on last night's ceramahs happening all over Perak and Kedah buat aku rasa macam rugi pula tak pi. Mesti meriah gila! I would've done a live update on the blog myself, ey?

Ah well. It's not like I've never been to the likes of any of these. At least, aku dah pernah merasa quite a few number of times, kan?

***

Darn it the mornings have been so hamid (Abang's and my combo-word for hangat+humid) these days, hasn't it? So tak tahan, like, cannot bernafas lo.

Glad it rains in the evenings.

f~

Penipu-penipu Bangsa & Agama

2009-04-03T17:55:00.005+08:00

Aritu dalam berita dan suratkhabar si Zambry sibuk putar-belit cerita tuduh Nizar guna masjid untuk berkempen politik, kan??? (cari sendiri dalam cyber, cerita yang sebenarnya berlaku. Aku tak sempat nak google, Abang dah nak mai)

Naaaaaah, baca sini.... surat dari Ameno Bhgn. Bukit Gantang untuk SEMUA tok imam di Perak, khutbah for TODAY'S Friday prayers. Let's see siapa yang terang-terangan guna masjid untuk berpolitik!

And if you guys baca kat sini, you'll be surprised and terus mengucap -- tak sangka they would even go as munafiq as this!:

"Kita tidak boleh menerima hujjah dari Quran seperti itu kerana ini akan menjauhkan sokongan rakyat kepada Umno. Kita menolak hukum Quran kerana ianya bersesuaian dengan semangat Barisan Nasional bagi mengekalkan kuasa dalam negara ini. Kejahilan masyarakat dalam agama bererti keuntungan kepada perjuangan kita."

Fuwalllauuuuu wehhhhh.... so much about pembela agama dan bangsa???

Meh aku join Bro Mat Saman Kati .... Khaaaaaak ptuih!

f~

Soalan Yang Tak Perlu Dijawab

2009-04-03T15:50:00.004+08:00

1. Kalau aku hentak monitor and CPU ni, Maybank2u akan jadi laju tak? [dari 10.28 pagi tadi sampai 3.30 petang ni, aku baru boleh buat SATU payment aje, with two more to go. Dua aje lagi, tapi rasa macam nak bayar 275 payments lagaknya. Givap aku.]

2. Theoretically, kalau aku tengok documentaries secara marathon on the ASTRO, I'd prolly be more intelligent. So, kalau aku tengok The Biggest Loser secara marathon on the ASTRO [like last weekend], do you think I could lose more pounds? Then perhaps I should watch the Health Shows i.e the exercise programs. I could lose bountiful of calories, mate. Just by watchin. Damn kool.

Oh yez. I just found out last night that Labi also enjoys:
1. playing with the cursor on my lappy screen;
2. the Google Earth zooming in, zooming out, zooming in, zooming out. I bet dia rasa ketaq lutut masa tu. haha. Tomey tangat.

f~

FUMING over MAYBANK2U

2009-04-03T12:51:00.004+08:00

Dear MAYBANK who OPERATES the MAYBANK2U ONLINE.

BUCK-UP YOUR FUGGING SERVERS WILL YA!

EVERY FUGGING MONTH I'D HAVE TO WAIT FOR HOURS ON END (USUALLY DARI PAGI SAMPAI PETANG, OK???? KORANG INGAT AKU TAK DAK KERJA LAIN KA?!!!), LOGGING-IN & RE-LOGGING-IN 'coz YOUR SERVERS JUST SUCKS BIG TIME!!!!

Kalau tak kerana I been your customer since God-knows-when, TAK KLAPAQ TAK HENGEN aku nak keep using this service!!!

Aiyoh. Memang PADANLA PUN ramai kawan-kawan aku cabut dari Maybank. So Fugged Up. Just, go DIE will ya. Berangan lagi pulak tu nak buy over some foreign banks when server sendiri pun tak leh nak upgrade. PORAH.

I really hope when people googled MAYBANK2U, this blog will come up, and customers banyak lari. 'Cos they SO FUGGIN DO NOT DESERVE CUSTOMERS la laidis.

[sorry, with the appointment of the new PM, aku habih ilang mood, dan memang dah hilang hope dah kat negara ni. Tapi aku sayang gila-gila ke Agung & Permaisuri for the suspense and drama for not announcing right away after the meeting with Najib. Padan muka Najis & orang-orangnya, pandai-pandai lompat protocol -- announce sana sini sebelum Agung perkenan, jemput sana sini macam majlis tu majlis dia. Tu dah terang-terang derhaka patutnya tu. But do the 'penyokong' see that? No sirreee.]

*tengok kalender*

Padanla pun aku dok ngamuk-ngamuk. Almost that time of the month.

And why do I admire His Majesty Tuanku Mizan and Her Majesty Tuanku Zahirah? Like, why wouldn't anyone? They're just the loveliest of couple, and oh, I dunno, eversince His Majesty ditabalkan, I just have really good vibes about them both.

Or maybe perhaps both of them are the same age as Abang's and mine, hence, there's this certain level of similarities I'd like about them. Heh heh.

f~

Celi's Do: Pictorial

2009-03-30T13:17:00.017+08:00

[a continuation from Celi's Do: Teaser?]

Zis iz going to bee a veghy veghy long pictorial entry surrounding the 15th March Pertunangan & Akad Nikah Do.

Akak tengah tak dak mood nak celoteh panjang. Tengah rasa agak down&out, hence in the mood to withdraw into my shell... just like a crab. I'm a Cancerian, and am crabby like that. Ngeee

Click on the photos for larger viewing, 'aiight.

***
He, my amusement and diversion from everything else chaotic and messy in this world, especially prior to the Do itself.

***
His favourite 'squeeze', Tok Umi.

***
Testing thy colours on camera.

This is what I've learnt through my very brief two-time stints of hantaran-making (my engagement and wedding) -- test your masterpiece on camera. It better looks good on camera, 'coz that is what people would see sampai ke akhir hayat. My wedding hantarans back in Xmas 2005 were quite pleasing to the eye, but very unkind to the camera -- too pale and unexciting-looking. I learnt my lessons thereon.

This time round, Celi's hantarans to Nazim were a bit more exciting than mine in terms of colours and personal design and touches. And what was more important is that aku puas hati with the results through the lenses.

***
My chaotic room during the hantaran making.

***
Ahy with his FaemesAhy cookies for 200 guests (4 pieces of cookies/guest), while Hasrul (continuing from Celi's work) tolong bubuh dalam tupperware and glue the ribbons and flowers on each of the bekas.

While the two boys were at work...

...ini boboy (Adi) sedap aje tidur in the background.

***
Ahy & Hasrul at work for the pelantar kelamin i.e pelamin. Udi saja aje pose malas-malas macam tu; he's been the extra handy-man for ALL works done.

A very tired Ketua Mandur (Umi) over-seeing the two boys at work.

The Pelantar Kelamin during the day of the Do. All four light fixtures were Hasrul's; Ayah contributed the flowers and plants from his own garden.

Pelantar Kelamin at the night of the Do.

One of anak angkat perempuan Umi Ayah -- Huda (in green baju kurung) and the kakak, Angah. In the middle is Angah's son. Both Angah and Huda were graduates of Hotel Management / Food and Catering. Huda is now a lecturer in MIFT, and Angah is doing her Masters in Human Resource.

They dropped-by 'coz they couldn't make it at night -- Angah's 2nd son was not well at home, and she has assignments for Huda to help her complete, heh heh.

This was what Angah and Huda came up with.

The sirihs were from Ayah's own garden. 'Sirih Melayu', Ayah kata. Bau wangi dia lebih kuat dari Sirih India yang biasa orang guna tu, rasa lebih manis, saiz lebih kecik.

The so-called 'orange berries' tu... rasa macam nak makan, kan? They are made of polistyrene-balls that was formed in stems. Kebetulan aku ada beli, tapi tak tahu nak guna untuk apa. Rupanya, bila guna untuk Tepak Sirih nampak jadi macam 'delicious' pulak.

***Click for larger viewing

These were all the hantarans from Celi to Nazim. Simple aje, I know. Tapi aku suka how they look on camera. Alhamdulillah.

***
VERY VERY rare moments of Ahy smiling widely beside Abang Zul dia.

This was taken masa diorang tengah tunggu 'tetamu alik sana' nak sampai.

***
The Food Station No. 1, at the porch.

The Food Station No. 2, at the side-garden.

These tea-lights outside, apparently, was Udi's ideas. Kasi sedikit ambience, katanya. The kids love this bit of the garden. They took whatever plants in sight and see how they burn. Haha

***
Upacara pertunangan bermula.

On the left-most: Jurucakap bagi pihak lelaki. Middle: Uncle Abah, Nazim's daddy. Right-most: Mutual friend of Nazim's parents and my parents.

Ayah and jurucakap lelaki having a light moment after the sesi pertunangan. Sorry, gambar Aunty Mami sarung cincin ke Celi tak da, sebab aku kena iring Celi dari bilik ke ruang depan untuk sarung cincin.

***
Acara Akad Nikah nak bermula.

Ba (Umi's dad) and Umi, listening contently to the Tok Kadi.

Ayah Wae (Wan) (in white), Umi's younger brother came all the way from KB, as wakil belah Umi.

Pak Mail, Ayah's younger brother from Subang Jaya, as wakil belah Ayah.

The Fuzuri Photographers (in this picture is Fazli) capturing the moment.

EMPAT KALI Tok Kadi (the one with white kopiah and terbongkok-bongkok as if reading something) tersasul-sasul. Hadirin sampai mengeluh-ngeluh. My Ayah Wae sampai offer pegang the paper that has Celi & Nazim's names. Aku sampai let a huge chuckle, just to piss the Tok Kadi off. haha

Bila tiba Nazim menjawab --- fuh, SEKALI AJE. Smooth pulak tu. Macam tak gabra langsung! Khalaz at sekali lafaz! At 9.51pm, Celi and Nazim jadi suami isteri yang sah.

Nazim kata maybe gabra dia mengalir masuk dalam badan Tok Kadi masa Tok Kadi pegang tangan dia, haha.

I shed a tear or two masa berdoa. I felt like a wave of relief gushing down from me. I felt warmth all over, like a really big 'tugasan' selesai sudah. Like a life-long dream has finally come true.

During the make-up session, I reminded Celi not to cry after the akad, like I did during my time. Nanti glue bulu mata palsu cair, bulu mata palsu tercabut. She certainly listened to my advice. I saw here gulping air liur to avoid herself from crying. hehe.

That said, glue bulu mata palsu Celi pun macam tak banyak; bulu mata still macam nak tercabut. The Mak Andam nama Hasni (her own ex-schoolmate) terus balik lepas solekkan Celi pula tu, tak menunggu langsung. I called her up and told her the predicament; ada ke dia soh datang rumah dia ambik glue, masa orang tengah dok sibuk menunggu Tok Kadi datang untuk Akad Nikah session. Tak puas hati aku masa tu! Tapi dia soh aku guna something to gently tekan bulu mata tu ke Celi's eyelids so that melekat semula, and that was just what I did. Mujur ada improvement la.

Anyhow, maaaaaan, the khutbah after the akad was a wee bit too long... more than THIRTY MINUTES! Dah la masa tu dah pukul 10 lebih, orang belum dinner. Doesn't he think that the couples had enough of the same talks during the two-day course??? Guests dah keluh kesah -- dengan lapar lagi, dengan esoknya (Isnin) nak keja lagi.

Aiyohhhhhh. Must cut the crap out la, these things, kan.

Last-last masa Tok Kadi tu cakap, "Baik lah, saya rasa, saya pun dah ambil masa terlalu lama ni...", aku yang masa tu near to the pelamin terus sampuk rather audibly, "Hak ah memang pun" which made some of the guests smiled approvingly.

The guests finally had dinner close to 11pm!

Too much la weh.

***
One of the hantara Nazim to Celi -- manggis jelly. Cantik giler! Terkesuma aku.

The 'jungle-themed' hantaran from Nazim to Celi.

With both parents.

With Umi.

With Amir. Eiiiiiiiiiiiiii comel sangat tu, anak Mummy ni.........

My favourite shot of the night by Hasrul -- Mummy and Amir. Although tak terang, tapi I love I love I love.

The boys without whom tak terlarat nak run the event that night kalau dorang tak da. Dari kiri, Hasrul, Said, Hafiz Ngah (all three kawan baik Ahy and dah jadi macam anak Umi Ayah dah), Ahy and Udi.

There were almost 200 guests that night, and kalau tak kerana these boys and a couple of my aunties yang menolong to oversee the plates and catered food, fuh, memang tak larat.

My mom siap kata it was the most tiring ever. We bought chickens, beef and sayur berbondong-bondong on Saturday morning, thinking that relatives will be coming over on Sunday morning as they did mine. But since they were told that it was only akad nikah, they clearly thought that we didn't need much help in entertaining the guests, and in turn, became the guests-to-be-entertained themselves.

Letih juga. Tapi, Alhamdulillah, dalam banyak hal kelam kalibut, semua berakhir in good faith jua...

***
The Pelantar Kelamin Makers, Hasrul and Ahy.

Budak kecik ni, dah pukul 11 lebih malam dia boleh terjaga dari tidur and got really excited to see the crowd. People just went googoo gaga all over him! Pukul 2 stengah pagi baru tidur semula!

Alhamdulillah Amir got to be introduced to relatives that night. An aunt (Umi's younger sister) siap menangis bila dapat tahu Amir's story from Umi...

Mummy misses you so much, big guy...

***
But of course, apa lah malam itu tanpa kegedikan Ahkak, karn....

Thy siblings... Said (and Amir), Hafiz, Hasrul, Udi, Nazim + Celi, Ahy, Ahkak and Ahbang.

[Fuzuri Design Photography here. Dorang gerek woh... very polite lot!]

Ok, dah letih dah. Nak puasa post entry (ye la tu). And nak lunch.

f~

RKM's Earth Hour: Part 2

2009-03-28T23:40:00.000+08:00

From RKM's bedroom:

During Earth Hour

After Earth Hour -
KL Tower & KLCC in the distance

Labi, and the
KL Tower & KLCC in the distance

From Level 14 of RKM's block:

During Earth Hour

After Earth Hour -
KL Tower & KLCC in the distance

In RKM's living room:

Chief Ed working on editing work in darkness

KLCC, from Earth Hour slideshow

Yahoo! News: Antartica to Pyramids - lights dim for Earth Hour

f~

RKM's Earth Hour: Part 1

2009-03-28T21:12:00.003+08:00

Just like TV8, Abang and I are observing and participating the Earth Hour at this particular moment.

(Well, save from the fridge, liv.room a/c, laptop and tv. Kalau dak, my non-conformist husband would not participate.)

Some neighbours in my block pun participate. I heard them yelled -- earth hour! Tutup lampu!

KL sedang gelap gulita. I went up the block to the topmost floor tadi at the beginning of the Earth Hour and took some photos of the KL Skyline. Telekom Rebung, Dataran, DBKL-HQ, KL Tower, buildings in KL Triangle, KLCC Tower, and even the faraway Genting Highlands... all observe and join in the cause, shutting off their lights.

Aku rasa bangga. This, this moment, is when you can see that despite whatever political, race and belief you are in, here is when everyone seems to be uniting for the love of the Mother Earth.

And I sure am proud to be part of this, albeit not in its entirety.

Apart from other lil small things we should be doing our part in saving our Earth, I think we should also observe this mass Earth Hour every last Saturday of the month, kan?

Imagine the Earth going dark for 1 hour EVERY HOUR FOR 24 HOURS starting from Fiji and ending in Hawaii for at least once a month. Now that is so unifying, innit...

Will post photos of during and after Earth Hour in KL, after this.

f¤

Di Pagi Rabu

2009-03-25T08:18:00.000+08:00

Haa, tu dia. Gambaq besaq2 dalam Sun harini. Abang sendiri pun terkejut, haha.

Ye la, his name may be famous, but his face not as much, apatah lagi nama i.c dia.

Lawan tetap lawan!

***

Aku dijemput oleh my ex-classmate who is an assoc.prof untuk jadi external examiner to the 2nd year students kat Uni Gombak arini. Perut belah kiri aku sakit nyucuk-nyucuk la pulak dari bangun tidur tadi... awat tah.

Kali ni aku bawa tudung. Last time aku dijemput datang, kawan aku terlupa nak bagitau kat uni dia kena cover kepala. Daaah aku jenjalan dalam kampus tu rasa macam bogel pakai bikini padahal aku pakai baju kurung batik lagi.

***

Petang semalam aku pi lawat rumah baru aku. Dalam deret 8 rumah kuarters tu, hanya ada sorang aje yang baru masuk. Jiran sebelah aku. Young couple, with two kids.

Depa bawa kami tour the house. Alhamdulillah, luasnya. Ni tak tau nak isi macam mana, dari rumah saiz 920kp nak masuk 1500kp. Seronok gaban la Labu Labi nanti main kejar-kejar. Alhamdulillah.

Oh ya, betul-betul belakang rumah kami is pejabat YB Izzah... hehehehehehehe. Syiok ar Abang, anak Big Bos belakang rumah je.

Ok, nak sampai ofis, muka tak mekap lagi. Da.

f¤

All In A Night

2009-03-24T13:50:00.012+08:00

[to Malaysiakini moderators: appreciate it if you do not link my blog onto your website with the link of your news in this entry, very many thanks, folks. What? My husband owes you cartoons? Ok I'll let him know. haha ;-) ]

I'd like to thank a number of you out there who have called to express their concerns and dissatisfaction over the banning of Abang's paper (well, not his paper la, but he leads the running of it).

And while Abang was so busy last night entertaining calls from journalists of the non-BN-controlled medias (and also entertaining emails pertaining the issue, hence, aku tak dapat tatap internet langsung, hmph), he also received a 'live' report of what happened in the Bukit Selambau ceramah last night. FRU fired tear gas canisters and chemical-laced water among the crowds. Only a 5,000 crowd, mind you.

Have you been and seen how big a 5,000 crowd is? I've been to ceramahs with crowds of 10,000, 14,000, 30,000.... so, 5,000 is not at all big and harmful. In these crowds, usually bukan hanya orang lelaki tegap perkasa aje, tau. There will be pakcik-pakcik & makcik-makcik who feel that they need to 'reform' and contribute in the last years of their lives, and parents with kids who feel like the kids need introduction to erti perjuangan untuk Bangsa Malaysia Yang Bersatu yang sebenarnya.

So, you imagine, oh i dunno, like, your mom and dad? or aunts and uncles? or atuk nenek? or anak-anak menakan hat kecik-kecik tu?... being fired tear gas canisters and chemical-laced water without warning. Apa yang diorang dah buat sampai kena macam tu, sekadar duduk nak dengar ceramah aje?

I've seen rowdy crowds of BN supporters before, like, really rowdy macam samseng. Aku tak tipu, dan aku tak exaggerate. Sampai aku naik malu sebab tengok budak-budak Melayu macam tak da pelajaran dan ugama berlagak samseng macam monyet kat Taman Botanical Pulau Pinang tu.

I've also been, quite a few times, mingling around in Pakatan Rakyat crowds. Yes, they can be a wee bit rowdy, but there will always be someone or somebody or the jawatankuasa keselamatan (like the Unit Amal) who would keep reminding the crowd to stay as level-headed as possible and not to provoke anything. Ni pun aku tak tipu, sebab aku dah saksikan sendiri kala selalu ikut Abang join these crowds. Respek dan keyakinan aku bertambah dengan PR. Bulu roma aku naik kalau berada di tengah-tengah rakyat dalam crowd Pakatan Rakyat. Semua orang sama taraf, sama level, sama manusia, sama berdisiplin. Semua ramah tak kira umur, bangsa dan agama. Semua akan tolong each other tak kira umur, bangsa dan agama. Hmm, masa menaip ni pun, bulu roma aku naik. Aku boleh terbayang-bayang lagi how I felt. Semangat patriotik aku untuk Negara Malaysia akan meluap-luap kalau ada di kalangan rakyat in PR.

And this, coming from someone who was once a Ketua Biro UMNO UK&Eire Cawangan Edinburgh. Yes, me.

In Suratkhabar Bintang today, this is the only reporting about the FRU in Bukit Selambau that they manage to add (I want to bersangka-baik that it was a last minute addition before they started printing for Tuesday's distribution):

But this was what happened:

From Malaysiakini --
Bkt Selambau: Tear gas fired at Anwar's ceramah

Mar 23, 09 11:36pm

Volleys of tear gas were fired into the crowd minutes after Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim took the podium in a ceramah tonight at Bukit Selambau, Kedah.

According to eyewitnesses, the police fired tear gas and unleashed chemical-laced water on about 5,000 people who had gathered in an open field opposite the PKR election operation centre for the ceramah.

The ceramah, which kicked off at 9.30pm, was to feature a number speeches by top Pakatan Rakyat leaders including Anwar.

“After a 10-minute introduction, Anwar went up on stage and in less than a minute after he started speaking, the police fired tear gas and doused the people with water,” said Saiful Izham, who is Bukit Selambau PKR election director and party’s supreme council member.

Saiful said that no warning was given by the police. The crowd began to disperse soon after but at least 19 people were arrested.

“I saw 19 people held in one truck alone,” said Saiful. He estimated there were more than 200 riot police deployed, backed by two water cannon vehicles as well as five police trucks.

Anwar ushered into operation room

Soon after pandemonium erupted as a result of the tear gas, Anwar was quickly ushered into the PKR operation room where aides sealed the door.

Saiful said that the police tried to “break down the door” but decided not to proceed. Anwar later emerged from the office at about 11pm apparently unscathed.

“The police shot 20 or 30 rounds of tear gas,” lamented Saiful, adding that the police continued to chase remants of the crowd into the Sungai Petani's Taman Ria Jaya neighbourhood for more than an hour later.

He said that those arrested were brought to the police headquarters in Kuala Muda. According to party members, more than 50 could have been detained.

Among those held are Kedah senator Zamri Yusuf from PKR and aides to Pakatan leaders, including those working for Kedah Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak, PKR's Bukit Selambau candidate S Manikumar and Anwar.

Kuala Muda OCPD ACP Hashim Ali said police had no choice but to act tough against the crowd.

"We cannot allow them to assemble unlawfully due to the security factor [bullshit, that I can tell you] and moreover the ceramah did not have a police permit [oh pray tell which ceramah Pakatan Rakyat yang pernah dapat permit, even though dah submit permohonan 2 weeks prior, hmm? BAGHAL]," he told Bernama.

According to the police, the crowd had repeatedly defied orders to disperse.

Tensions are high in Bukit Selambau, a state constituency where a crucial by-election will be held on April 7.

PKR is fielding greenhorn Manikumar against Kedah MIC deputy chairman S Ganesan in the contest.

Two other by-elections will also be held on the same day - in the Bukit Gantang parliamentary seat in Perak and Batang Ai state seat in Sarawak.

The opposition Pakatan Rakyat has today named ousted Perak menteri besar Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin as the PAS candidate for Bukit Gantang while Jawah Gerang is the PKR candidate for Batang Ai.

***

I don't know what sort of kerajaan yang mentadbir kita ni, really. Pengecut, kot?

I once asked Abang -- what sort of guarantee should the Pakatan Rakyat take over the country one day, that all these fiascos of FRUs, police beatings, almost non-existence press freedom and corrupt judiciary systems will not occur as now?

Abang's answer was simple indeed -- these things only happen when a government knows how weak it is. If a government is strong, you goncang lah macam mana pun, it will still remain strong.

What I know is, I don't want my children and great-great grandchildren to be living in the present government if they are not willing to properly reform and unite, and become more transparent in their dealings.

That, I know.

***

updated at 3.20pm:[after a Press Conference at the Parliament]
Suara Keadilan to defy suspension order
[free B.M version here]

...The ministry's decision to suspend the two party newspapers also invoked the anger of former minister Zaid Ibrahim, reports K Pragalath.

"There is no respect for people who voted for opposition. No respect for democracy and law. It looks bad internationally," he told reporters at a book launch event in Kuala Lumpur today.

"They (the government) talk about being first world but behave like the third world.

"Which country in Asia has so much control over the press? Practically all BN parties own the newspapers. Is that not enough?" he asked.

Saiiiiyaaaaaaang Zaid Ibrahim.

f~

Tag 'Facts About Tok Laki'

2009-03-23T18:31:00.004+08:00

Kena tag dari Amygosh.

Kalau aku tak buat sekarang, akan bertangguh-tangguh. Pasni aku nak concentrate update entries pertaining my sis' akad nikah night last Sunday March the 15th, and also the stress test yang dah basi ittew.

1) He’s sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen?
Kalau bukan bola (even if it's bola review programme), it will be channel-channel yang ada cerita Indon or Melayu. Cerita Indon or Melayu kelakar bodoh maut pianggg pun tak pa. Dia kata if after work, he prefers to watch something yang sangat bodoh yang dia tak payah guna otak dia. Fair enough, I guess.

2) You’re out to eat, what kind of dressing does he get on his salad?
Mayonnaise.

3) What’s one food he doesn’t like?
Two: Italian and Japanese. Both of which I love, apparently.

4) You go out to eat and have a drink. What does he order?
Breakfast: Roti telur or kuih-muih, and teh tarik.

Minum petang: Bubur kacang. Teh tarik.

Lunch or Dinner: Nasi campur -- kari ikan, telur asin, ikan asin, ikan goreng, telur dadar, gulai ikan masin/pekasam -- whichever yang ada. Sayur, especially sayur kulat (cendawan kayu). Air suam.

5) Where did he go to high school?
Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pendang masa Form 4 and 5.

6) What size shoes does he wear?
One size larger than mine. So, kot nak beli selipar or kasut untuk dia, aku pakai dulu, pastu mintak satu saiz lebih besar dari aku. haha [tapi dia punya cerewet beli kasut adalah lebih cerewet dari akak ni haa yang memang cerewet beli kasut.]

7) If he was to collect anything, what would it be?
Music albums, of various artists, from John Denver, Bonnie Tyler, Hetty Koes Endang, Iwan Fals, Franky and Jane, Ebiet G. Ade, Gombloh, and tahapahapanamalagi. Which he has, like, I dunno... 400 of them? Satu hari kallllau la dia buat jahat dengan aku, senang aje -- aku ambik semua CD/cassettes/VCD tu, and masak dalam microwave. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA

8) What is his favorite type of sandwich?
Egg-banjo considered sandwich ka, eh? Or frankfurter rolled in roti, dipped in egg and then goreng.

9) What would this person eat every day if he could?
Gulai ikan masin/pekasam.

10) What is his favorite cereal?
I don't think he likes them at all.

11) What would he never wear?
Other than baju-baju pompuan, you will never catch him wearing baju melayu complete with sampin and songkok. Except masa menikah and bersanding -- itu lah kali pertama dan terakhir aku pernah tengok dia pakai as such. Gorjes giler dia masa tu, but he doesn't care about what I think of him in full baju melayu attire now does he, haha. Also, t-shirt ketat-ketat ala metrosexual-look tu -- for very obvious reasons *usha peyut Abang*. Any seluar panjang yang berpoket cetek. Any seluar panjang yang bukan carrot cut. Baju kemeja yang cutting bawah macam V shape -- it has to have a flat cut, coz he doesn't tuck-in his shirts -- for that same very obvious reasons too. Fuh, cerewet macang happa dia ni ek.

12) What is his favorite sports team?
Pasti-pastinya lah ze Red Devil, ManU.

13) Who did he vote for?
Pasti-pastinya bukan BN. Dia kata sejak dia kenal apa erti mengundi lagi.

14) Who is his best friend?
Best friends -- Kak Arfa, Abg Zul Noordin, Abg Din Nasution, Abg Fudzail. And me jugak kot. Ngeee.

15) What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn’t do?
Sulk and memendam rasa without him knowing what his fault is.

16) What is his heritage?
His arwah Abah was from Northern India (who was an on-board cook before coming to M'sia) and Mak is Kedahan.

17) What is his favourite colour?
He has all colours in the world in his wardrobe. He says, depends on the material.

18) What is his habit?
Aiyoh this can be a 16 Dalil of Zunar in itself. But the one most intriguing to me is that he needs to have a cloth (t-shirt, selimut, etc) kat leher dia bila tidur. Dia kata dia tak suka kalau leher dia berpeluh. Like, huh??? Tidur dalam aircond some more okay. Dia takut ada orang cekik dia masa tidur, kot. haha

19) What is he proud of?
When people appreciate and acknowledge him and his cartoons.

20) Lastly, do you think he will read this?
Entah. Unless he gets curious why I called to ask him about No.17 and No.19.

Hmm. Malas la pulak nak tag orang lain, kan... Buat 'ndiri la okeh? ;-p

f~

Celi's Do: Teaser?

2009-03-23T13:47:00.004+08:00

"....eiiii tantik (cantik) tak Kak Lin, Ahy & Asrul wat ni Miii...??? Tantik kan???"

Umi, dengan muncung anak itik:
"Hk-mmmm, 'arrrnnnteeekkkk, 'antik tangatttt...."

Pelamin:
The builders: Ahy & Asrul.
Shot taken by Udi.
Flowers by Ayah, from Ayah's own garden.

Hantaran:
Black-gold-cream theme.
Similar themed cupcakes
by my younger cousin, Kak Eeda.

Langkawi in 24 Hours

2009-03-21T23:21:00.028+08:00

At the Kuala Kedah Jetty

Abang's weary look

On Thursday, upon reaching Langkawi at about 2pm, from afar we saw stormy weather ahead.

But when we arrived, the rain had subsided, and it was sunny all round.

We had lunch at the restoran mamak in the jetty mall itself. Ikan keli goreng dia fuwallauuuu sedap mak datuk! Selalunya, kalau saiz besar mesti tak berapa sedap -- tawar la, hanyir la. Tapi yang di restoran mamak ni, ikannya besar DAN sedap!

We took a cab ride from this really friendly cabby... a Rantau Panjangist turned Langkawian by the name of Osman Ismail. He married a local islander some 17 years ago, settled down in Langkawi, and through sheer hardwork and honesty, he now owns his cab and sometimes chauffeurs tourists - local and foreign - around Langkawi. His English was quite impeccable... kalau kat KL, dia lebih sesuai jadi limo driver. Rupa-rupanya before he decided to become a cab driver, he WAS a limo driver at one of the hotels in Langkawi. The long drive didn't feel like it was one 'coz he shared so many stories about his experience with his passengers and also a thing or two about the island itself.

We reached the hotel, Nadia's Inn Comfort (NIC) in Pantai Chenang, sometime around half 3. A 10-minute walking distance away from the almost-dead Aquaria. I asked the cabbie about the fishes yang ada orang sabotaj mati last year... he just laughed at my question. He said, alah, biasa la, ikan dah tua, insurance pun dah nak habis. And he stopped at that. So, faham-faham aje lah kan.

Don't ask us how or why they think by putting the word 'comfort' in the name could prolly make it sound anymore grander or 'comforting', when it really wasn't. The reason why we were there was because the hotel where the rest of Abang's staffs were in, Best Star Hotel, which was just across the road from us (and mengadap laut, too) was fully booked.

We were definitely fooled by the tourist agent in Kola Kedah, the Peak Link Agency (last counter at the ticket counter), when they told us NIC has better rooms than Best Star and has a pool. Ya betul ada pool, tapi kera pun segan nak mandi dalam pool tu sebab kangkang dorang pun lagi besor (hence the word 'sekangkang kera' comes in mind).

[Also, the same Agency told us that it would take us RM40 or R35 at least by cab to get to the resort, so, it was highly recommended that we should just rent a car -- RM70/day and buleh pusing satu pulau. Abang berdegil tak nak rent a car. RM40 one way pun, RM40 lah, Abang kata. Rupa-rupanya, it was only a flat rate of RM24 dari jetty ke Pantai Chenang. Hamlak betul. Mujur Abang berdegil tak nak rent a car. Sorry la kan... kau buat pianggg dengan akak yang ada blog ni kan. Terang-terang nama agency kau keluar... Peak Link Agency.]

Our room, 236, was a loooo-ong walk in the corridoor, aircond lambat nak sejuk giler barbie, bathroom no water heater, tuala kepam semacam (yet again), bilik no telephone and TV no remote control. Wait, TV no remote control tu, akak boleh lagi tahan la.... cik abang aje yang tak tahan. Tapi, takat TIGA aje channel, tu yang tak tahan tu. TV1, 2 and 3. Not even TV8, 7 nor 9. Apatah lagi channel-channel lain (like the usual Vision 4 that you get in hotels), kan.

Ok lah, tak pe lah. Kami pun letih semacam. So, benda-benda macam ni seolah-olah secondary aje. All we needed back then was a place to tidur.

And so we did that evening. From 4 till 6.... ZZZzzzzzzz. Koma terus, kau.

And then, at 6pm, aku gerak Abang.... Bang, bangun. Jom ar pi pantai. This is our 1st and last evening in Langkawi, tau. Esok nak balik dah.

Ya, noks. Esoknya nak kena balik dah. Dok Langkawi less than 24 hours je, datang jauh-jauh gitu. And to top it, this is the FIRST TIME cik abang Zunar kita yang orang Pendang dan pernah dok kat Kuala Kedah ni menapak ke bumi Langkawi. Boleh? Aiyoh, aku HARUS paksarelakan suamiku ini berjalan melihat dunia Malaysia at least, lah. Bukan takat turun Jakarta untuk beli rare albums aje.

And so we put on our swimming gears. Well, me la, at least. Kot aku traser gatal nak lompat masuk dalam laut ke.

But by the time we siap-siap, crossed the road and reached the beach, it was almost 7pm. The sun was still up, though.

But the sea looked a bit murky by then, as it always does in the evenings (through my observation of the west-coastal seas lah kan).

They say my Umi looks like arwah Rafeah Buang,
Ayah looks uncanny like Latiff Ibrahim,
Abang like hero Tamil... and I, look like Fauziah Nawi. Ada ka.

For the life of me, I been wanting to do this eversince my Pangkor Trip in May 2000...

...but not only that the service was almost close for the day, I also saw terror in Abang's eyes. Not wanting to worry him, I scouted for the next best thing to do on the island at least for the next day... and I saw that 'island hopping' only cost RM40/person. In fact, we were offered RM35/peson if we were to register our names on the spot. Abang was quite berat hati to do the 'island hopping' bit -- to Pulau Dayang Bunting, Eagle feeding in Pulau Singa Besar, and swimming on another island -- , 'coz I think he prefers to have his sleep. Aku cakap, datang jauh-jauh gini, dah la duduk tak sampai 24 jam, tapi tak buat hapa. Mula la muncung aku nak start panjang sampai boleh gantung sauh kapal, kan. Abang said we'll just confirm about the trip tomorrow morning, and the guy manning the booth gave us a card of his friend, Ismail Kayak, just in case we're interested to go.

That night, we had dinner at Best Star where the rest of SK staffs were. And the SK had a 'mini gathering' of introducing one another from four departments (admin, main editorial, chinese section and tamil section), and a word or two from the Chief i.e Abang and the Chief Chief i.e YB Tian. They were supposed to check-out at 11am the next day and catch the 3pm flight out to LCCT.

Tian sharing his thoughts,
Abang pakai 'tudung' sebab hujan serintik-dua

That only, finished around 11 something. And while I was hoping to walk around the joints by the roadside after that with Abang, Abang pula sibuk nak bercakap hal pejabat dengan one of his new staff.

Hmph.

Datang jauh-jauh gini, dah la duduk tak sampai 24 jam, masih nak bercakap hal pejabat.

Akak bengang la jugak, kan.

Abang suruh aku tunggu kat lobi Best Star. Tapi oleh kerana hangatnya malam tu (macam nak hujan) campur dengan hangat hati, aku terus balik bilik kat seberang jalan without telling Abang. Half and hour later, Abang called me and I told him I've gone back to the room 'coz kat luar nu sangat panas, I wouldn't want to be walking around alone and I've changed into baju tidur hence malas nak keluar balik. Dah la bilik kami jauh terperuk giler.

When Abang came back, aku rasa, out of guilt, he called that Ismail Kayak at around midnight and booked for a island hopping trip the next day.

Hehehehehe. Ada la jugak hikmahnya dia pi bercakap hal pejabat -- dapat le aku tarik muncung, and terus dapat pi island hopping, hehehe.

Esoknya, we had breakfast at the inn's diner. They only served nasi lemak yang hampir tak dak lauk (only sambal and telur), and two types of cereals. First time aku pi resort yang tak serve roti bakar, at least. Aku kesian ke foreign tourists yang dok inn tu -- ada breakfast tapi practically macam tak dak apa-apa served, unless they can makan nasik lemak, or order something else that they'd have to pay separately for.

Tapi oleh kerana aku tahu akan ada aktiviti swimming pagi tu, aku makan cereals and minum air kosong aje. Takut nak terbuang-buang. Dah le pakai swim-suit overalls yang seluar sampai takat peha tu, mau kenaya nak kena buka segala kalau rasa nak terkucil, kan.

At 9am, Ismail Kayak waited for us across the road with his scooter. A well-built young(er) man, with sun-kissed hair and skin... nampak la ke-Kayakan and Life-saving character nya. And the very the peramah, with very thick islander accent. Tak da orang yang lalu yang dia tak tegoq (tegur). Kebetulan pula malamnya tu was going to be an opening for Beach Soccer, so, ramai la orang-orang kampung turun menolong.

Soon, at around 9.25am, a van came to pick us both to the Awana Malai which is just across the Pulau Dayang Bunting. We were not alone in the van -- there were another young couple with 3 small kids that the van had picked from Pelangi Beach.

Eh, tetiba aku dah letih nak bercerita, lah.

Let the pics do much of the talking la pulak ya.

Behind Abang -- the islands that we were about to hop

To my surprise, this is also Abang's first time to go on a speed boat and visit small islands.
Macam bawak anak 'teruna' berjalan gitew, kan... hehe

The profile of the Dayang Bunting -- head on far-right, bosom, and bulging tummy.
Macam profile aku yang sedia ada, aje?

The penduduk tetap

The Tasik Dayang Bunting

Average depth -- 15m

Dugong dalam Tasik Duyong.
Pardon the cik avang seksa bercelana merah kat belakang tu. 18SX betul.

The air tasik is very 'berat' for my liking, ok. Masa nak climb back onto the floating platform, mak-laa-tokkkk, macam ada 10 kilo tarik aku ke bawah. And quite deep too... average is 14meters deep. Urat-urat betis aku baru nak terasa sakit hari ni sebab vigorously mengapung diri dalam air tawar yang berat. Tapi aku tengok matminah saleh lepaaaaak aje pi swim and apung lelama ke tengah tasik. Termasuk yang pakcik makcik tua-tua bangka, tau. Malu, siut. Tapi, aku memang ada sedikit cuak kalau masuk dalam air yang dalam-dalam dan tak nampak hujung pangkal, ni... aku cepat panik. Macam ada benda menunggu nak tarik kaki aku. So, aku hanya masuk terjun 2 kali aje. Memang elok la Abang tak masuk langsung. I don't think he could handle the depth, with him not having rested well.

Ikan keli therapy

Gila babi besar ikan-ikan keli ni, siut! Dah la makanan favourite aku, kan. Aku pun masukkan kaki gak -- idak le sesakit kena 'ratah' macam therapy ikan-ikan kecik tu. More like if you have berbelas-belas ekor anak kucing menggesel-gesel betis and tapak kaki.... lama-lama jadi geli!!!

Ler, bila Nazim, Celi and Amir datang ni? Tak bagitau kami, pun! haha

The jetty at Pulau Dayang Bunting. Ada sajaaaaaa orang yang spoilkan gambar

I didn't take any photos of the Eagles at Pulau Singa Besar, 'coz my handphone camera couldn't cope with their speed. Had the videos, though. It's really 'meghalikkan' watching them soaring and swooping down to the chicken skin that the boaters threw into the water for the eagles to feed on. Abang said, this was his best part of the island-hopping trip. He wished he could stay there longer.

On the way to the last island in the trip

And Abang didn't take photos of the beach that was part of the island hopping that we were brought to. Clear waters, fishes, corals, but very many sea urchins too. Swimming in that secluded beach was fantastic, though not as fantastic in clear waters of the east-coastal islands, but fantastic enough nevertheless -- the sea-bed melandai dan tak lah tiba-tiba aje jadi dalam, and the sand was so fine. Best.

Abang tak turun merasa mandi juga kat sini. Rugi kan? Dia takut gelap kot, hehe.

We went back around 12.20pm, and reached land around 12.30. We rushed back to the motel, 'coz they called to say that there will be a late charge of RM10/hour. Punya la kedekut, kan.

So, macam halilintar aku kemas barang. By 1.30pm we were out of the door, late charge was charged, and flagged a cab yang drivernya tak pi solat Jumaat... haha kantoi. Standard rate to jetty was RM24, and we asked if he could stop by at the Duty-Free Mall beside the Aquaria for us to buy some chocolates as buah tangan. He did, without extra charge, since we told him it's gonna be less than 15 minutes sebab nak beli coklat aje. Fuh macam ribut taupan aku dalam kedai duty-free tu -- packets of Dime chocolates, hershey's, choc bars, Cloud 9, etc. RM160.00 keluar macam air.

By the time we reached the jetty, I was so eager to have the mamak's ikan keli. Malangnya, habis!!! Siut betul. Kempunan aku. Kalau aku tau, aku terus tangkap aje sekor dua ikan keli kat Dayang Bunting tadi, kasi mamak tu masak jap.

We boarded the ferry at 3. Abang booked seats paaaaaaling depan. Best gila!

As we were leaving, we saw the clouds coming in onto Langkawi on the horizon.

Apparently the sun followed us wherever we go, ey...? Alhamdulillah.

Kononnya Abang nak tidur dalam ferry... but since they put on Forbidden Kingdom on the video, he ended up watching the movie the entire ride while I took a snooze.

We reached mainland at 4.45pm, Alhamdulillah. And straight away bertolak balik ke KL.

On the way down, we made another music video (the original melalak version here and overlay version with lyrics here. The first music video, done early last year while driving up to Perlis, was Iwan Fals' Dongeng Sebelum Tidur -- melalak version here and overlay version here), to the song of 'Lepen' (Lelucon Pendek) by Gombloh. One of our favourite traveling songs, sampai aku pun dah hafal. Aku bagitau Abang, if this is not enough proof that aku sayang dia by memorising lagu-lagu pelik kesukaan dia, I don't know what else is. Haha.

We stopped twice -- to rest at Tikam Batu stop, and to have dinner at Tapah R&R. We reached Sri Permaisuri at 11.20pm, Alhamdulillah.

Bloody 'ell. That was a loooo-ong 24 hours, ey....

But yeah, I missed the island, lah. The locals are quite unassuming and very friendly, and time just passes by slower -- you could do so many things in a day, that the slower days pass you by a wee bit too fast for your liking, know what I mean.

At least now I've made Abang promise to go on more holidays to other islands. Man does he really need to go and see places more often!

Perhaps I should tarik muncung sauh kapal more often too? hehe

f~

Baby Fea

2009-03-19T13:57:00.003+08:00

I'm typing this from my cekai hp while on the ferry from Kola Kedah to Langkawi.

Above is a picture of Kak Roih holding Baby Fea, while Aesyah plays peekaboo with Fea from behind bantal peluk Pooh Bear that Pak Ngah bought for Fea.

Kak Roih, Aesyah, Abang and I visited Baby Fea yesterday evening at the Gleneagles Medical Center's Paeds Ward in Penang.

For a 5 1/2 mth old baby (turning 6 mths this 22nd), Fea certainly looked so fragile for her age. She had her op last Thursday -- tutup lubang, luaskan artery yang sempit, and tutup dua saluran yang terbuka. She had a long incision from her breast-bone down to top of her navel, and then across from her rib area to the back, including a few stitched-up small holes that were probably where scopes had been inserted.

When we came, she only recognised her Mak Anjang (Kak Rose) who had taken care of Fea a couple of times at the hospital (bless you, Mak Anjang). Fea cried when she saw unfamilliar faces. No, more like, whimpered. You know, like a lil kitty in pain, her voice barely audible, but her tears streamed down her cute face. You just knew she's got all emotions bundled up into one -- the stitches that still hurt her, she was hungry (yet the doc wanted to measure her intake and her output, so she was put into very strict feeding measures) and she was scared that strangers would take her away and prod her endlessly.

My heart bleeds. She's just too tiny to be taking in all the pain... Bila compare dengan Amir, subhanallah, bersyukurnya Mummy that Amir dikurniakan kesihatan yang bagus, Alhamdulillah...

We also got to meet Fea's surgeon when he came in to inform that Fea's echo looked great and that Fea could go back tomorrow i.e today, Thursday.

We were ecstatic with the news. Means that she could go back to a more 'secure' place - no more strangers in white jackets to take her away, and she could eat to her heart's content - no more measuring of her urine or faecal matters.

One thing tho, Fea loved the liquid medications! When the time came to give her the ubat (3 types), she willingly sucked the syringe while the mom, Ipah, pushed the ubat gently onto her tongue.

She's such a fighter, that wee girl. While the other babies who were operated almost the same time as she did, contracted infections or even had to go back into the CCU, she faired really well and considered fit to be discharged within a week of her major op, Alhamdulillah...

Semoga Allah kurniakan kekuatan dan kesihatan buat Fea and family...Aaaamiiin.

f¤

Baby Fea II

2009-03-19T13:55:00.004+08:00

Don't cry Baby Fea... Kak Aesyah is here... I won't hurt you...

*Fea holding on to Aesyah's finger*

Baby Fea III

2009-03-19T13:55:00.003+08:00

Fea having light moments with Mak Anjang

Post Do

2009-03-18T12:56:00.003+08:00

Tengok anak Mummy blenggeng dengan hand-puppet Garfield, menunggu nak tukar pampers penuh dengan masak lemak kuning.

Belum apa-apa Mummy dah windu ke dia, dah... *sniff*

***

We're now on our way up to Penang to visit Baby Fea who had her heart op last Thursday. Malam ni tidur di Pendang, esok pagi ke Langkawi to join Abang's office Family Day (they've all flewn up this morning) and drive back to KL this Friday morning.

CeliNazim's wedding went quite well, despite the last minute changes to quite a bit of things and there were only the 13 of us managing 200 guests that nite (6 of us in the family and 3 of ahy's friends tolong macam-macam, 2 of celi's friends tolong jaga my Amir and 2 aunties jaga buffet table during dinner). Wanted to update with photos of my hantarans and Ahy+Hasrul's pelamin, but my maxis simkad konked-out on me since Saturday for me to post entries and I certainly did not have time to mengadap komputer since balik Bangi last Thursday. Pagi ni lepas hantar Labu Labi for boarding baru ada masa nak pi tukar simkad baru.

Alhamdulillah, by semalam i.e Tuesday, semua dah siap kemas di Bangi (whilst it took us almost two weeks during my Do in 2005), and Abang came to fetch me back to Cheras last night.

Letih woh. I still need, maybe, a week's worth of total rest, 'coz that's just me -- I work and toil damn hard, and then I need to rest equally hard right after.

Terasa sangat dah tua, woh. Tah bila nak dapek rest tah. I plan to sleep in the car after I post this entry. Bersorang le Abang, menyanyi-nyanyi lagu Indon dia.

Oh, nanti aku update la gambar-gambar sekitar persiapan and the Do itself. I've got all the points (including cerita stress test aku aritu, tu) all written down so that I won't forget.

Hey, it's not everyday one would get what she dreamt of to come true. Oh didn't I mention before that sometime back in January 2007, I dreamt that Celi and Nazim got back together since their break in Dec '05, and that I woke up that morning with tears 'coz deep down I knew that was what I wanted to see -- to have my baby sis and Nazim to live happily ever after together? Well, I did. I even texted Umi and Celi when I woke up that morning in January.

It was only in October last year that I had the guts to muster my courage to approach Nazim about this, knowing that Celi masih lagi sayang dia. So, you know, I wouldn't want to miss out on details of my preparation for the most anticipated union in my life thus far.

And I know if Allah were to take my life after this union, I'd die a happy soul 'coz it's not just MY much awaited union, but my parents' and Nazim's parents' too *waves to Umi, Ayah, 'Aunty Mami' and 'Uncle Abah', haha*

Ok, akak nak lelap jap, noks...

f¤

Si Kentut dan Si Bontot

2009-03-11T13:16:00.002+08:00

Oi Kentut, Selamat Hari Lahir ke-18 x 2, haaa.

Mana aku boleh lupa birthday kau. Tepat 4 bulan sebelum birthday aku apa.

Kau aje yang tak pernah ingat birthday aku. Haha

Love ya, mate. Gajah-hugs to your dotty.

Love,
Bonts~

Oh Bulan Mana Bintang, Atas Pucuk Kayu Ara

2009-03-11T08:48:00.004+08:00

Not the greatest photo. Took it whilst in the car, on the way back home from Alpha Angle. Once at home, was too knackered to even enjoy its silvery rays sneaking into the bedroom through the curtains.

Knackered beyond words. My best mate these days is the hot-water bottle I use to 'tuam' my back muscle every night before I retire.

(Oh that reminds me I've to document on my visit to the physiotherapist last Friday and manage to learn a thing or two about my bad lower-back)

Tis been a very long week since the last two Saturdays. After Celi's Do this Sunday, it's another long week of mengemas rumah Bangi and then to travel up north to either visit Fea in Penang who'd by then has had her heart op done, or join Abang's Office Family Day in Langkawi for 3 days from Wednesday til Friday.

Of course the latter is way tempting la kan, 'coz Abang and I definitely need the much-needed getaway and rest. We'll see how.

I pray that I would stay healthy rather than the usual bouts of post-stress fatigue and asthma I'd usually acquire for weeks after all the chaos. Na 'udzubillaaaah...

Oh yea I still owe my blog some 'documentation' on my stress test ordeal last week. Alhamdulillaaaah, results ok! Will divulge on it later.

f¤

Sedap Woh Jari Pak Ngah

2009-03-04T16:20:00.004+08:00

Berkobar-kobar Amir pulun jari Pak Ngah. Sedap sangat ke tu, 'Yang? Ni mesti gusi dah gatal-gatal ni.

Sesuai pula pekena dengan lagu Seniwati Saloma, "Chikebum Bunyi Lagu"!

f~

My Lil Man At 4 Months

2009-03-03T22:03:00.012+08:00

My lil man turns four months old today.

this evening, lepak dengan Tok Mi tengok tv

He's getting really attached to Tok Mi. Nak tidur, cari Tok Mi. Nak minum susu, cari Tok Mi. Nak makan nestum, cari Tok Mi.

He gets inquisitive whenever a camera's being shoved at his face.

He loves being in Ibu and Cu Di's company [dia takut sket dengan Ayah Ahy dia, haha].

We thought he loves Garfield...

... but we think, him liking bright colours is more apt.

And oh how he loves sucking fingers! No, not his, though... but Che's...

...Ibu's...

...and Pak Ngah's, apart from Mummy's and Cu Di's.

Mummy tak sabar nak balik Bangi lagi this weekend. And it's going to be a longer weekend than usual 'coz Maulidur-Rasul. Yeayyyy.

f~

Namaku di Udara U.K

2009-03-03T14:26:00.005+08:00

Two weekends ago when I went back to Bangi, I kept having this Chik Chikebum song in my head and asyikla nyanyi ke Amir dan Abang. Lagipun, karaoke material lagu ni, nih!

So, bila balik Cheras, I YouTubed the song and found it (though the embedded htmls have been disabled it seems). Hip gila, kan? Macam nak bangun joget macam Saloma aje!

Coincidently, that same week I came across Kak Teh's entry about her coming back to the radio arena through www.nusoundradio.com and she welcomes any dedication. Aku pung apa lagi lah, saja menggatai dedicated the Chikebum Song to her, Abang AG and pokcik-pokcik sailors yang lamaaaaa berada di Perantauan, kan.

And guess what, Kak Teh really did put the dedication through!!! R E T A A A A A A R D ! ! ! (for those yang nak tahu - or terlupa - the origin of this exclamation word "retard!" in this blog, please go here :-p)

Go here and listen to my dedication at 11:59. Hehehehehe, retard ong. Macam tak percaya namaku buleh lagi berkemundang di udara ex-kampung terchentaa, ohhhh!

Minggu ni?

Minggu ni (well, since Monday morning actually) aku tengah retard dengan Abba's Thank You For The Music pulak, more so with Amanda Seyfried's version of the song from the movie Mama Mia! . Nah, ni dia, her version. Sedap sora dia.

f~

De-stressing Over A Stress Test

2009-03-03T10:30:00.003+08:00

Catching up with GUIT that I bought, err, I wrote here "12 April '08, MPH 1-Utama", while sitting in the middle of the corridor on the floor of the Level 6 CCU@HUKM, waiting for my turn for the stress-test.

I'm nervous. If I were to do some running in the test, this will be, what, 17 years since the last I did some running, like, REALLY running.

Last was in 92's Kolej Banting marathon. I wouldn't even bother to participate if it were not for my then athletic ex-bf's coaxing and challenge to get at least a 'Markah' for the Rumah Kuning. I managed to get a two, which was a proud moment juga la considering that people thot I may just get a 1 or 0.

Ok, nak sambung baca. Bila lah agaknya GUIT ni nak dijadikan film, ek? Macam Kite Runner tu. Or at least, comes with audio CD ka, macam Pok Ku has been doing for his blog entries since early Feb. Baru la best dengar the Ganuspeak real life. Aku ni dah la lembam kalau nak perabiskan membaca. I've 3 others at home that I've started reading since 2007, sampai la ni tak abih-abih. Kalau ada audio CD, boleh la pasang sambil menjait beads ka, edit photos ka, do drawings ka, vacuum rumah ka, long-distance driving ka, cooking ka. Multi-tasking gitew, kan.

f¤

Holter, Puji, Timba dan Perigi

2009-03-02T23:50:00.008+08:00

1 - The Stress Test

Thank you for the well-wishers!!!

I hope my results for my blood test taken last Friday, my holter test today and stress test tomorrow will be on the positive side (results for all 3 will be out on Wednesday 4th March). Or at least, 'conclusive'. 'Coz if it's 'inconclusive', then eiii malasnya nak lalu benda-benda setting-up appointments and all that. Ye lah, beggars can't be choosers, kan... if you (as in, me in this case) want free medical attention, have to bear with the hassles la kan...

Actually, I had a really bad case of palpitations last year July. You can read here -- go straight to the 'Ahad 6 Julai' and just skip and ignore that much angst on the earlier part of the entry (...ngeeee). Due to circumstances, I decided to skip my appointment in late October (here and here). Tapi atas nasihat rakan taulan, I still went to see the doctor in HUKM as arranged, and was given another appointment date for a stress test, which is going to be tomorrow.

The palpitations have subsided a great big deal, Alhamdulillah! Macam dah non-existing pun. But palpitations aside, the doc said I need to check on my thyroid too (hence, the blood test) because of the horrible and almost non-existence metabolism despite not being a huge eater (nor am i a huge fan on the sports front or exercising, too! Nyeeeh).

So, gitu lah ceritanya.

Though I pray that the outcome won't be anywhere near or worse than the-man-with-the-back-pain-on-the-Oprah region...

Aaaaamiiin...

2 - Pujidiri

I went back to my folks' in Bangi last weekend, both Saturday and Sunday, and had a blast spending time with Darling Amir, my folks and my siblings (all us 4 siblings + Hasrul were there) while trying to complete as much hantaran work as possible, with the help of the future bride herself.

Bila aku buat apa-apa kerja kraf (eg: beadings, hantarans, artwork, etc) aku ada satu perangai buruk yang, Alhamdulillah, my family and Abang sabaaaaarr nak melayan.

Every now and then, I would stop to admire my work and then say:
"....eiiii tantik (cantik) tak Kak Lin wat ni Miii... (or insert other family member)...??? Tantik kan???"

[Ye la, mengada bunyinya. Tapi kalau aku cakap style serious, kang orang-orang yang aku tanya tu menyampah la pulak nak menjawab, kan].

Ayah would answer, dengan muncung panjang sauh kapal:
"Uuuuuiiii, cantiknyaaaa!!! Terrorist anak Ayah ni!!! Terrorist!!!"

Umi would answer, pun dengan muncung anak itik:
" 'Annntikkkk, 'antik tangatttt...."

Celi would answer:
" 'Antik! Tenchew Ak Linnnn!"

Ahy would answer:
" 'Antik! 'Antik!" sambil angguk-angguk tanpa approving

Udi would answer:
"Hak ah, cantik..." --> boring kan jawapan budak bongsu nih??

Abang would answer:
"Charnteeeeekkkkk...." (the 'charn' rhymes with 'john')

Layan, beb. Haha. Weols togeder memang ngader laidat.

Ada dua minggu aje lagi ni nak ke Akad Day (i.e 15th March). Aku sama-sama tumpang panik -- langsir tak beli lagi, buah tangan untuk 200 orang tak pikiaq lagi, photographer pun tak book lagi (eh, macam AKU pulak yang nak kawin, yek).

Hopefully by this weekend, aku leh habis menggubah -- tinggal hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan fruit, food or plant (Sirih) aje. Nanti lepas akad, aku post gambar eh? Kalau everything turned out "tantik" ah kan.

Also, nanti aku post gambar or video Amir the Thumbsucker... that is, other people's thumbs' sucker. Kiut habitey.

My God. Lama gila aku tak guna perkataan tu... "habitey". Haha!

3 - Perigi and Timba Story: II

Aiyoh, aku ada sedikit nak muntah ijo la bila masuk part ni. Aku kesian kat budak tu... tapi apakan daya. Aku perlu juga luahkan perasaanku inniew.

Umi told me, for the past 4,5 days before I came back, the girl had been calling my mom on the hp at 11pm! Well, maybe not at 11pm, but close. 10.51pm, 10.43pm...kira-kira 11pm lah tu kan, lest you think aku sengaja nak exaggerate.

Kau tau mak aku tak pernah-pernah put the hp on silent even at night, but this time she did for the past week! Sedih, tau. Kot la kalau kami anak-anak ada kecemasan ke apa and need to call our Umi, yet her hp would be on silent. Kan tak best, tu?

The girl even sent two mugshots of her to my mom: one before she cut her hair, and one after. And then asked Umi how she looked before and after the haircut.

Oh. My. Good. Goat. kan.

Umi even showed me her photos, much to my chagrin lah kan. I told Umi I wouldn't want to see how she looks like. Mana la tau masa akad or wedding Celi nanti dia mai, aku tak moh lah ter-laser mulut terlepas cakap apa-apa yang boleh memerahkan muka dia, kan? Tapi, Umi nak tunjuk jugak. Terpaksa la akak tengok -- arrrrghhh.

Umi also read me one sms that said something like: Aunty, my mom told me Aunty ni penyayaaaaaang sangat, and suka budak-budak...

Ok I can not in my puberty life make out what that supposed to mean, ok.

Also: Aunty, macam mana yang dikatakan jodoh tu ya... nak tanya my mom, rasa kekok lah....

For eff's sake. We the siblings don't even talk about this with our parents, let alone you!!! Oi, go get your own mother, can or not????

And the last straw was when Umi read me the last sms she received the night before I came back, something along the line as such: Sorry tadi call aunty and ganggu aunty. Aunty tak angkat, mesti aunty dah tidur. Saja nak wish Aunty 'Good Night', I miss you and I love you.

aaaaaaaccccck *muntah ijo muntah ijo*

Horror mkaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyysssss!

Too much romen and mushy-mushy with my Mom, can or not???

In fact, the night when I was home (Saturday night), she tried calling my mom and my mom noticed a missed call on her phone when we were about to go to bed at 1am and showed the missed call to me. Ish, sangat tegar, ok, call orang tua at 11pm! Dia ingat call Mak Orang yang umur 60 tahun ni macam call boffren ke apa -- tak de limit masa?

Ok la, ok. Let's bersangka baik, can? *inhaaaaale, exhaaaaale*

Perhaps, those were distant cries for help. Perhaps, my bro was just her 'figure of conversation' with my mom. Perhaps, she's in need of talking. Or perhaps, she never knows how to handle infatuations.

But come on laaaar, no need to 'stalk' my mother 2,3 kali sehari, tiap-tiap hari sampai my mom had to silent the fone, wohhh. Just go get to the whatever blardy point, can or noooot. Aiyohhhh, too mush ah you sistah... whas wrong wif yewwww...

So, iktibarnya pada semua?

Kalau nak urat lelaki, go 'ejah derek' (adjust direct) lar. Tak yah la stalk the mother dulu. Contrary to what you may believe, it's so not impressive lah to 'over-over' with the guy's mom or dad at this much early stage.

If she reads this? Let her read lah. At least she would now know how to re-adjust her position, and 'berpada-pada' sikit bila 'berkasih-kasih' dengan mak orang. Occay.

Sekian sahaja, timokacih.

f~

Our Dating Anniversary

2009-03-02T14:17:00.009+08:00

This morning I had the holter monitor hooked up from HUKM. Must wear this 24hours. Obviously, mandi tidak dibenarkan. Esok 8.30am kena pi cabut the monitor, and then do stress test pula. So am taking leave tomorrow.

In the meantime, Happy 8th Anniversary to Ilush & Serigala Manchester! Twas exactly 8 years ago too that Abang and I went on our first (and only) date...that's right, Abang was my chaperone to their akad night. Hahaha, some 1st date, ey. Second date only followed suit 4 years later -- in January 2005. Why the 4-year gap?? Saja la, akak kau kan pemalew orangnyia. Haha.

Aku ada cerita terbaru lagi pasal that 24-yr lady yang nak tackle adik aku but urat mak aku instead. Lagi cringe cringe punya story. Bukan aku nak cakap buruk pasal dia, tapi nak suma orang ambil iktibar. Umi dah baca my last entry, and Umi takut je if the girl baca sama. I said, well, good if dia baca so that dia boleh tukar tactic, kan? Some more, let it be a lesson for other girls not to be too forward as such! Kan?

Nanti aku cerita. Ni nak pi meeting. Sakit leher bawak natey holter monitor ni. So la inconvenient.

Da.

f¤

Perigi and Timba Story

2009-02-26T17:33:00.002+08:00

I may be one of the most extroverted, loud-mouthed, expressive and annoying biatch known, but when it comes to girls chasing the guys, I've to admit that I'm a lil bit more on the conservative side.

Maybe sebab personally I've never had that much of an esteem to tell any guy I fancy on how I feel.

Don't get me wrong though... I don't have anything against ladies who do the 1st move [and I know of some guys who are so shy, shy enough that they wish the world revolves around such concept instead], in fact aku respect gila-gila to these ladies yang sangat berani 'coz I know I will never be able to muster courage like they do. Tapi, still, bagi aku, sebagai perempuan, haruslah kena berpada-pada la kan.

'Coz men ni, I find la kan, still need that 'chasing' factor. I think it's what God made them for in the first place -- to hunt, and to 'layan' and belai their ego. You nak urat the guy, urat la. Tapi dalam proses tu, kena jual mahal sikit la kan... kasi 'test' sikit sama ego dia. Kalau dia tak kejar you balik... baik tak payah noks. Angkat kaki aje, pi urat orang lain pulak. Gitu.

Anyhoos, I've a point to convey actually.

When I was told by Umi that a 24-year old girl seems to have an eye on my baby bro the past week or two (don't know if my bro sedar ke tak that the girl sudah jatocinnnnta ke dia) tapi dok urat my mom on the phone instead, like, 2,3 kali sehari padahal dah berbelas-belas tahun dah tak jumpa my mom, well, I've a few things to say to the girl:

1. Weh, hallo, aku pun tak tipun mak aku sampai 2,3 kali sehari, ok;

2. Go talk 2,3 kali sehari to you own mother that you still live with, boleh tak (yes I'm that possessive of my mother ok. I mean, who doesn't? And aku also kenal her very lovely mother);

3. My mom is also very conservative, so if you think by talking to my mom 2,3 kali sari can curi hati dia en-route to curi hati my baby bro, then you're such on the wrong channel and wrong track, young lady;

4. Go deal with my baby brother head-on instead, boleh tak. Akak ni pun dah nak bertunang baru mula berborak dengan my Mak Mertua, tau. Atas arahan my own mom, tu. That's how our family works. Conservative? Very. Period.

I hope she reads my bro's blog, and eventually mine.

'Coz seriously? In all honesty? I really do not know how to react lah to such honesty. Hey mesti la aku retard ada orang nak urat adik aku. Tapi, man-man [coolly] la kan... tak yah la sampai nak urat mak aku sampai memalam masa mak aku nak tido pun hangpa tipun or sms, or masa time mak aku nak mandi, or nak memasak. Amboih.

'Coz you know, we're just conservative like that. Tak perlu sampai gitu mkay.

Esok-esok bila dah dapat adik aku pun, tak tentu lagi kau nak tipun mak aku sampai 2,3 kali sari. Habis madu, sepah dibuang gitu. Itu lagi buat akak marrrrrah kalau hangpa nak taw.

Sekian sahaja.

f~

Sajak Zunar II: Potret (Memori di Bulan Februari)

2009-02-24T13:17:00.003+08:00

lolongan anjing
memecah kesunyian malam
aku termangu di atas kerusi kayu tua
lembaran-lembaran palpa berserakan
di antara slogan-slogan perjuangan
terisi lakaran-lakaran potret mu
yang tak mampu ku siapkan
pena mata tembaga masih erat ku genggam
mengalirlah selaksa persoalan
genre apakah yang harus ku pakai
untuk terus mengukir garis-garis wajah mu
yang menyimpan seribu misteri
haruskah ia berupa
abstrak
surrealisma
realiti
atau hanya sebuah fantasi
yang pasti aku tidak pasti
ternyata kita tidak saling mengenali
manakah hampa datang merisik khabar
sepi pun berlegar di sudut-sudut kamar
mimpi-mimpi lebur di jamah api
aku gagal lagi untuk kesekian kali
laungan reformasi
kejutkan aku dari lamunan
tersentak aku terbangun
bergegas menghadapi realiti
aku kejar mantan yang fana
aku kehilangan sesuatu yang tiada
jeriji-jeriji besi dan rantai-rantai gari
dinding lokap batu jelas terbayang
wajah nakal mu semakin pudar
senyum manja mu semakin hambar
faz, bilakah kita akan berbicara lagi
seperti memori di bulan februari?

~Zunar
malam rembulan emas
6 Mei 2001

[* originally taken from here]

Mak Aih

2009-02-24T00:07:00.004+08:00

Lerr.

Mana la akak nak tau link Anoop Dogg kat entry akak ni will automatically membuatkan entry akak muncul sama atas webpage dorang, kan...

klik untuk gambaq lebih besaq

[in hopes that Kelas Melayu kat Uni/Kolej sana tak ajar cakap Kedah, mkay]

Agak-agak dorang faham tak apa maksud "...bodoh punya US voters..."?

[oi oi orang-orang pandai kecek Malayu kat U.S tu, jangan la buat dajal kat akak and pi translate page tu, eh. Malewwwwwww gitew.]

f~

Sajak Zunar I: Lafaz Cinta Untuk Faz

2009-02-23T13:30:00.003+08:00

Faz…
Lihatlah betapa aku terluka
Bila cinta ku kau remehkan
Hati ku kau sayat sayat
Jantungku kau siat siat
Robek…
seperti ditusuk dawai karatan
yang memagari kem tahan Kemunting
yang siap untuk membelenggu para reformis
…sadis

Faz…
Seperti ombak yang setia
menyapa karang walaupun gelombang
makin pudar getarannya
Begitulah
aku akan setia menangis bersama mu
Aku bukan seperti Mokhzani
yang menjual akuiti
ketika indeks komposit BSKL
merudum ke paras 600 mata
Aku bukanlah Daim
yang menghilang ketika
nilai ringgit merosot di pasaran
mata wang antarabangsa
Aku bukan mereka
Aku penjaja cinta di lorong sepi

Faz…
Wajar saja aku mengeluh hampa
bila kehadiranku
tak pernah kau ambil kira
Kadang kadang aku ingin jadi Mahathir
kemudian akan ku fitnah teman lelaki mu itu
dengan tuduhan liar
Kononnya dia memiliki pelancar roket
dan merancang menjatuhkan kerajaan
melalui demonstrasi jalanan
Lalu dengan rakus dia ku tangkap
mengikut Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri
Biar aku bolot cinta mu
Tapi tak mungkin aku lakukan itu
kerana cinta sarat dengan nilai kemanusiaan
Sedangkan Mahathir tidak

Faz…
Aku sedar melalui isyarat
yang saban waktu kau kirimkan
Bahawa kau bukanlah untuk ku
Justeru
Biar ku layari angan-angan ku
Untuk menghibur kesepian ini

Suatu saat suatu masa
Ketika menyemak suratkhabar pagi
di meja sarapan
Alangkah bangga membaca berita
Mokhzani diseret ke Sungai Buloh
Daim disumbat ke Penjara Kajang
Mahathir dihumban ke Kamunting
Manakala…
Kau dan aku ke jinjang pelamin…

~ Zunar
Maya Server
11 April 2001

[* originally taken from here]

[** also compiled in this book]

Sajak Zunar: Intro

2009-02-23T13:13:00.004+08:00

Ye la ye la. Aku tahu. Yang banyak singgah blog aku ni, bukan sebab nak sangat baca pasal aku [sebab aku ni pun bukannya happening sangat orangnya], tapi sebab minatkan Abang instead, so, nak tahu serba sedikit pasal hidup Abang.

[...dan aku juga tahu ada yang nak tahu pasal hidup Abang sebab nak guna sebagai senjata nak jatuhkan Abang... itupun aku tahu, jangan ingat aku tak tahu, aku mungkin bodoh tapi tidak le lughuih yang disangka].

Selepas entry ini are two poetries yang aku korek balik dari my now defunct [and almost non-existence in the 1st place] Friendster blog. I remembered that I should've long transfered Abang's poetries in there into here, this being my main hang-out place.

Aku keluarkan dulu dua sajak Abang, hari ni dan esok. Ye la takkan la nak keluarkan dua-dua arini, ammmboiii. Bila-bila masa, in due time, akan ku ceritakan jua disebalik dua sajak tu.

Ini dua aje lah sajak yang Abang pernah tulis untuk aku. Lepas-lepas ni, mungkin kalau aku mati lebih dahulu dari dia kot [Choiiiiii, choi choiiiii], lest you think that he's always this romantic. My answer is, a big kahuna Enn-Oh -- NO. But! He's very, very thoughful, oh yes he is. So, that quite compensates it, really. Though, being romantic can certainly do no wrong in bigmomma's book, kan. Ngeeee.

f~

Will You Be My Pet-bro?

2009-02-23T08:20:00.003+08:00

I saw the American Idol elimination to Top 12 last Thursday night.

And my favourite adik, Anoop Desai aka Noop Dogg, kena eliminate.

Bodoh punya US voters, or voters dia hanya student miskin? Entah.

Tapi aku terus paling muka, and tidur, while mumbling to Abang, "Arrrrghhh, I hope he gets the wildcard though, macam Mawi in AF dulu....zzzzzz...".

Kalau tengok YouTube dia nyanyi live sini, mesti rasa dia patut jadi Top 3 at least. Suara dia meruntun-runtun -- membuat hatiey inniey, bergelowchak (a la Doktor Labu in Labu Labi). Fun-loving likeable guy pulak tu.

Watch out for 1:27 and 1:50, comelz aje adik akak ittew

Dan banyak lah lagi video-video nyanyian runtun-jiwa dia di You Tube.

Let's see if Republic of India (or any country where the parents came from) would bestow him or the father 'Datukship' for his talent. 'Coz Dik Noop, if your family came from Malaysia, you'd definitely get one you know!

Be my pet-bro, will ya Anoop? So sapa-sapa yang agak-agak nak urat dia, sila lalu ahkak dulu, yeh. Dan siapa-siapa sayang ahkak... sayangi lah juga adik saya, Anoop. Support him here! Timokacih.

pet-sis Anoop~

My Brief Saturday With Amir, and other thoughts

2009-02-22T19:06:00.002+08:00

Budak tak mandi lagi and tengah lapar

Mummy had a brief Saturday with Darling Amir yesterday in Bangi.

Cu Di was in Bangi too, arriving home from Melaka the night before at 1am.

Amir holding Cu Di's pinky.
Look how gebu and healthy you are!

Apart from spending time with you, Mummy also took the chance to start doing Ibu's hantaran. Tok Mi taught Mummy how to use the 'mesin jahit tepi', Mummy was indeed ecstatic! Gila senang! Naper la Mummy tak pernah guna the machine before this, ntah. Mummy managed to cut and sew all 11 alas, Alhamdulillah, while feeding you, talking to you, dance and sing with you, ganti your nappies and baju, and dodoi you to sleep.

Ahhh, such bliss, ey Sayang.

Unfortunately, belum puas Mummy spend time with you, Pak Ngah texted Mummy at 4.35pm to pick him up at 5 instead of the usual 8pm on the weekends. Hmph. However, Mummy told Pak Ngah that Mummy would like to start the journey at 5pm, just to spend that 20 odd minutes more with Amir. Pak Ngah said ok.

This is Amir this morning. Tok Mi mms-ed Mummy. You were all geared-up to go for a drive back to your 'rumah'. Your 'Nek and other sisters there are missing you, eventhough your Mak has long gone up-north for her nursing course. Look at you, so happy handsome-handsome gitu early in the morning, with a blue cap that Ibu found at the 'rumah', and a pair of dainty shoes that Mummy bought you some time back. You've grown up so fast, Mummy thinks the shoes look rather tight by now. Note to Mummy: get Amir new pairs.

***

Mummy saw these, and remind me of Amir. Amir besar esok, nyanyi sesama dengan Mummy, eh? Semoga Amir membesar menjadi orang yang berbakat, dan laksanakan bakat Amir di jalan Allah s.w.t...

***

On a sadder note, your cousin, Sofea Zahra (Pak Ngah's youngest sister's youngest baby. Also Pak Ngah & Mummy's god-daughter, bestowed upon by Tok Pendang), who is only a few months older than you are, is not well. She's just been diagnosed as having a hole in her heart. Aunty Rose wrote about Baby Fea here, and so did Aunty Rose's lovely daughter Aesyah here. Mummy and Pak Ngah are planning to visit Fea this very near future, God Willing. Mummy sedih sebab her surgery costs RM40k. If only Fea's my baby, Mummy could use Mummy's insurance (or EPF, maybe?) to help Fea... Allahu a'lam.

Semoga Amir membesar sihat walafiat, Ya Rabbal Aaaa lamiiin...

This is Mummy's dedication to Baby Fea...

.... semoga dipermudahkan kesihatan Fea oleh Allah s.w.t, aaamiiiin.

Amir tolong doakan Kak Fea sihat juga, ya...?

Mummy f~