Ugliness Aside...

Ugliness of the administrators aside (which includes face of Pak Lah everywhere and anywhere you turn... Aiyyyyoohhhh!!!! Too much mengampu I tell ya!)... my mingling among the marchers and the spectators this morning and yesterday brought me goosebumps ~ I was literally teeming with pride and joy of my country.

That's right, I felt bloody patriotic sampaikan rasa macam nak nangis, tau.

cilck for larger image

This morning before going off for a site visit at 11.30am, a group of teenagers in one of the brassbands lepak-lepak depan ofis aku menunggu their bus to pick 'em up.

I saw rows of bagpipes laid down across the paved external-lobby.

I called out to them and asked whoever among them played the bagpipes, and one brave boy nearby voluntarily angkat tangan while the rest of his kawan around him pointed at him.

I requested him to show me how to play the bagpipe. I told him I was in Bonnie Scotland for 5 years but neither do I owe a bonnie bagpipe nor do I know how to play it.

(Aye, I was a stupid git for taking that for granted. I still don't even know the title of the typical Scottish notes everytime they play the bagpipes. Rasa macam nak balik semula ke Edinburgh and get all the knowledge I needed on the pipes.)

Dengan berat hati (or was that a sombong-sombong kucing) and after much persuasion from me, he showed me all.

First kena blow into the pipe and fill the bag with air.

Then only you play... and he played that Scottish tune, solo for me hallooo, for a good 2 minutes, pitching high right in the middle of the world. Jari sambil main sambil mulut blowing air into the bag.

Akak rasa special gitu, 'Dik.

I saw it pretty tough, but bloodyhell might be good for my lung exercise for my asthma, I thought. I think I'm gonna get this soon. With Tartan bag to boost. I know it's sold at some kedai mamak around here in K.L.

Funny huh ~ Scottish bagpipe jual kat kedai mamak, heh2.

And finally he gave up coz dia kata "mengah sikit kak, sakit perut nak tiup angin...".

"Eh, yang adik main and tiup sambil berjalan berbatu-batu tu, lagi banyak keja, apa?? Boleh pulak??? heh heh."

Dia pun tersengih-sengih.

But I commended him for his bravery to volunteer.

Apparently they all came from some secondary school in Klang, reached KL at 6.30am this morning (6.30am, from Klang to KL! God aku masa tu baru nak terkebil-kebil bangun tido), rehearse rehearse rehearse and then was waiting for their bus at that 11.40am to drive them back to Klang.

Rajin dan bersemangat betul budak-budak ni.... respect betul.

I thanked them profusely for melayan akak tua ni, siap main solo lagi untuk akak, and wished them luck.

And you know what? They make me want to work hard for my generations to come... to work hard and make K.L, if not M'sia, a better place to live in.

And out with the bad administrators. This, will be my perjuangan. Aaaaaamiiin.

Of course, it WILL NOT include ‘stunts’ like this ya. Very the embarrassing, rasa macam nak migrate (thanks for Zetty for the entry about this!!!). Ptuiiii punya persembahan!

Okeh I put together this clip from the photos I took using the bursting-mode, and also using the audio from the video of the jets soaring above me yang tak jadi sebab depa laju sangat tapi tinggalkan bunyi di belakang.

I need to record how dekat the jets were to the office and also how kuat the sound was.

I was not only scared if berlaku some engine failures while depa tengah showing off pusing pusing atas tu, tapi as if the sound could shatter glasses of the 'scrapers surrounding us.

Takut woh. At least for me it was.

f~

Waris Jari Hantu II

Abang ada cadangan besar untuk Suhaimi Baba for ‘Waris Jari Hantu II’.

“Since she is so keen in making sequels, Abang ada idea bagus untuk dia.”

Apa dia?

“Sequel untuk ‘Waris Jari Hantu’: dia patut buat macam ‘Waris Jari Hantu 1’ juga ~ leret-leretkan cerita pasal Ari instead of the rimau.”

Okay.

“Pastu, bila part-part nak keluar rimau saka tu, all camera shots, like, menakutkan la kan, mula-mula tu...”

Okay.

“And then, suddenly, rimau mengaum….

Awwwwwwwwwm...!!!

…ala-ala bencong (pondan) gituuuu… siap dengan kaki-kaki rimau tu patah-patah-aww. Ye la, kan Ari dah tukar jantina? HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

“Dan yang paling best, make the rimau with pink stripes… laaaaaagi ganteng! HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

* * *

Funny sequel aside, I still think the movie deserves my own “one jari hantu up” instead of “one thumbs up”. Felt so facking cheated.

But two-thumbs up for Rusdi Ramli. A really great actor indeed! Well done, he!

f~

Labu Buli Labi

Dulu, depa suka gini sama-sama...

6-Aug-06

Even kadang-kadang peluk sakan....

10-Sept-06

La ni, jangan harrrrrrap!

25-Aug-07:Click for larger image!

f~

Hovering Patriotism

Hoookay.

The nearest I get to experience cities under attacks (like, drones of planes flying above you with god knows how many Gs of speed screaming at your ears) is, like, now.

Tah berapa belas jetfighters have been speeding above us t he past 20 mins.

There are rehearsals at the Dataran Merdeka nearby, and eff-me-do, I’m getting cold sweats on my back just to the thots of… what if… their tricks and manoeuvrings went wrong and… slammed into our buildings.

Na’udzubillaaaaaahimindzaliiiiiik.

I’d rather have the jetfighters go drop bombs (or themselves?) kat Dataran Putrajaya sinun. Alang-alang you wanna cause havocs of jams kat KL ni (traffic stalled till Velodrome & Downtown kat Cheras sana, kau nak tau!), baik tak payah terus ada Dataran Putrajaya tu.

A bloody bad start for the week, I tell ya.

I am SO not feeling the patriotism at the mo.

f~

Dua Minggu Punya Cerita: Four Finale

(And finally, the last of my 'Dua Minggu Punya Cerita' series. Lega aku.)

11/11: And After All Those 10 ‘Tales’…

… I thought I had a pretty much fulfilling two-weeks despite being darn busy and ill and sick and tired. Most of ‘em good, some not so…

Cik Lin gets to teach Aesyah to make her bed and make sure her room is in complete order everyday, which, I suspect, was pretty new to her;

For once for the whole week Cik Lin had a very enjoyable company to sing with to the tunes from the boombox, and only then Pak Ngah realised that he so doesn’t know the current music at all (and he thought Cik Lin je yang syok sendiri dan sorang-sorang tahu the lagu-lagu dalam radio, hahaha);

I get to finally finish off Tunku Halim’s 44 Cemetery Road book. Anthologies of short horror stories, pretty enjoyed the tales but the narration style was a tad too distracting to my liking ~ too long-winded for me. Maybe sebab dah lepas baca other novels and Mitch Alboms’ which were very straightforward and easy, jadi bila ‘pattern’ bertukar sikit, CikLin cepat rasa ngantuk in the beginning of every chapter in the book. Part Gear 1 & Gear 2 tu agak panjang sikit for every chapter. Tapi bila dah masuk Gear 4, wawwww, seram you!!!

I’m now on James Frey’s memoir A Million Little Pieces, once recommended by Oprah and her Harpo Family, until they found out that a lot of things in the memoir are fabricated. Nevertheless, I’m still gonna read it coz narrative dia sangat berlainan. Sangat…. narrative. There’s nary a dialogue with pembuka or penutup kata. It’s just… different. And addictive too. I just loike it vewy much.

I saw “Waris Jari Hantu” on DVD yo. I’ve only one thing to say…. “Kalau nak lobam bijik mato, poie la kau tengok cito tu. Hammmmpeh.”

90% was pasal si boceng Rushdi Ramli. Padahal orang nak tahu tentang saka tu, mano dapek eh, buek apo nyimpan eh, apo kolobihan eh ada natang tu jadi sako, acano nak buang eh. Ini tidak, ditunjuk eh si Ari tu tuka jadi jantan ko botino... siap pakai baju pompuan laie. Kok cito Muallaf aritu si Amani botak an kopalo, abih kua masuk sokkabar kua hadis bagai kato haram. Yang jantan pakai baju botino, tak plak jadi isu. Tak paham boto akak. Dayus blako.

Haa, kan dah kua dah bolang den. Den lak yang jadi rimau lopeh tengok cito bodo tu. Mujur boli DVD lanun.

I got to know that my once-a-baby cousin, Zuf, who is now studying Acoustics Engineering in Oita, Japan, managed to get himself a place for his internship this September at the most infamous Nagata Acoustics in Tokyo!

Wowwww!!!

This small firm has worked with the likes of Frank Gehry (yes, THE Frank Gehry), Arata Isozaki, Kisho Kurokawa, Ateliers Jean Nouvel, Herzog & De Meuron, Kenzo Tange (ok ok those non-architects out there would say aiyoh whutttevvaaaa la kan dorang-dorang ni for all you know they could’ve been shoe peddlers kat Timbuktu ;-P), dan yang paling famous sekali they were the ones yang jadi acoustics consultant for the Walt Disney Concert Hall by the infamous deconstructivist-architect, 1989 Pritzker Prize Laureate, Frank Gehry.

Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall

Aiiiiyooooh. The kid who once kalu nak poopoo or weewee cari Kak Lin and Kak Lin tolong cebokkan, will tak lama lagi be rubbing shoulders with these experts! Bangga yo!

Cuma kalau sesapa di luar tu yang ada kenal/contacts in Acoustics Firm here in M’sia, tolong beritahu akak bleh??? Nak cuba minta for Zuf’s month-long placement in M’sia pula next March! Cheers!!!

*Pant. Pant. Pant. Pant.*

Macam bercerita Hikayat Seribu Satu Malam! Dah, akak nak rest plak.

Really hope the weekend’s gonna be great…

f~

Dua Minggu Punya Cerita: 03

(Yup, another installment that I wrote at home last night in lieu of my 'Dua Minggu Punya Cerita' series. Not quite the last one, though. Hahahahahahaaa.)

7/11: Two Moons

I got this as a forwarded email from my aunt (and also from M!xFM Radio):-

27th Aug (Monday) the Whole World is waiting for this. Planet Mars will be the brightest in the night sky starting August. It will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. This will cultivate on Aug. 27 when Mars comes within 34.65M miles of earth. Be sure to watch the sky on Aug. 27 12:30 am. It will look like the earth has 2 moons. The next time Mars may come this close is in year 2287.

Share this with your friends as NO ONE ALIVE TODAY will ever see it again.

Click for larger image!

So there.

But looking at NASA’s website on this, I would think that the above time on the email is actually Hawaiian time.

From NASA’s own timetable, I think we in M’sia could have more visual of the occurrence at Mid Eclipse at 10.47am GMT (i.e. 5.47pm M’sian time) and Total Eclipse Ends at 11:22am GMT (i.e. 6.22pm M’sian time) on the 28th August instead of 27th.

Selasa petang… boleh nampak, meh? Melainkan pi Planetarium kat Bukit Kiara dak???

Nevertheless, I’m putting a reminder on my hp… for BOTH Ahad malam Isnin at 12.30am, and Selasa petang. Unless I could grow as old as 314 years old la kan.

Hmm, padanla seminggu ni the waxing moon is soooo terang, with a really bright planet beside it some more.

So like my own taik lalat tepi bibir. Heh heh.

8/11: Friendship Is…

I received this sms from Kak Dins, and promised to put it up on my blog:

"From a mad friend who is with the Opposition:

Friendship should not be like bre@sts bcoz they get su*ked;
Not like v@gina bcoz it gets fu*ked;
It should be like p3nis bcoz it stands whenever needed. *grins*"

Heh heh.

‘You think I should forward this to Abang’s Big Boss??? Ha ha.

9/11: My Beading Attempts

Oh, I managed to finish all my 4 preliminary and elementary attempts of beading during the week last week. Of course lah tak sehebat DocYana’s or Amy’s mom’s, but so far as a beginner yang sangat bodoh, I’m quite pleased with my work thus far, heh heh.
My Attempt #01 was pretty unsightly. No, make that very and unsightly bad. Masa tu pakai taram je buat, without the book nor any tips or any beading ideas. I hate it to a tee, really. Mujur baju cheapo chekai. One end-product that would make me consequently deserve mountains of criticism from Umi.

Attempt #02 saw me sewing Aesyah’s name. Okkkkayyyy lah. As long as Aesyah herself and Kak Rose are happy, I’m equally delighted.

Attempt #03 saw me dah naik gian nak riak dengan anak sedara, so, buat pula atas belakang one of her t-shirts. That I’m quite chuffed. For someone who hasn’t graduated even to mixing labucis and crystals in the exercise, I’m pretty happy with the results, Alhamdulillah.

And since I lerve design putar-putar laidat (I, the architect cabok, call it as my fluid, organic art-nouveuish signature design, haha), I decided to make the same design on the sleeves of my baju kurung kain Indon’s MamaPapa pula on my Attempt #04. Aku rasa ada kurengggg sikit, like, kosong gitu. Mungkin nak tambah sebutir-dua embellishments lagi kot. Or another layer of the bunga ke. See lah how.

Kot I’m lucky enough, DocYana or Amy’s mom, or even Madame Ladybeads herself would drop-by and be generous enough to be my sifu(s) and give me more ideas and tips!!!

Oh I am so gonna get more bead and labucis and crystals this weekend… gatal gila jari niiiii.

10/11: That Special Doctor

I once documented Abang’s special operation with a special doctor, and how he got raided by the stoopeeed Ministry and then ultimately they (the Special Doctor) had to cease operating bcoz of that, which consequently affected soooo many other hopeful patients from far and wide, even affected many helpless conventional private doctors who have been recommending this place to their bleak patients...

And how I was so ralat that arwah ayah Zetty and also Abg Bitee tak sempat nak guna khidmat The Kind Doctor.

Alhamdulillah, last week, we managed to find out about it from Abang’s friend Kak Arfa, and eventually got the new address of The Special Doctor from my best mate Remo who lives in the neighbourhood.

Alhamdulillah…

So lepas ni, insyaAllah, tidak lah rasa ralat sangat tak boleh tolong orang or give a wee bit of more hope…

Now, talk about my best mate Remo ~ back in 2001 I think, I once watched with Remo a poignant and moving French movie in Midvalley, about a lil 4-year old girl who desperately wanting to understand about death after losing her own mother in a car crash.

Tajuk dia, Ponette. It’s also in Wiki here.

Say if anyone knows how to get a CD or DVD of this heart-warming film, sila, silalah beritahu hamba sebab hamba sangat sukaaaaaaaa dan memang mencari-cari cerita ni.

Tak kisah la kalau Abang tak rela nak watch this with me nanti. I just know that he wouldn’t.
… to be continued.

f~

Dua Minggu Punya Cerita: 02

(Yes, I wrote all these at home last night in lieu of my 'Dua Minggu Punya Cerita' series and have 'em all posted at the office.)

4/11: An Engagement

Right after Aesyah left with her parents on Sunday morning and exactly on Pah&Muddy’s first anniversary (see also their baby’s photo) was the engagement of my second matchmade couple, Hamadi@Chot & Intan, that Abang cleverly nicknamed as “ChIntan”, heh heh.

Boleh tahan jugek akak ek, dua matchmakings menjadi. Alhamdulillaaaaaaah, insyaAllah!

Boy Intan’s mom Makcik Saripah is so very happy with Chot that I volunteered to do a wee bit of makeover on Intan.

Aku pandai make-up??? WRONG. I actually had to surf the ‘net to get the latest trends and the latest do’s & don’ts for the occasion! Siap the Friday a week before the Do, we girls at the office had an experiment session on Intan’s face. I had to pretend that I was painting a face on a canvas, and Alhamdulilah in the end it turned up purdy owroite. Well thanks to the pretty lass, I would say. She’s already pretty even without the make-up, so it made the whole exercise a whole lot easier!

The big day came a day after my pinggang terpele’ot day on Saturday that I wrote about before. My back was still in pain, but the hu-ha and the high spirits at Intan’s place was a real distraction.

In the end I was very very chuffed that the make-over for the day turned out way better than I expected and everybody in the family including Intan herself was very very pleased with the results. It wasn’t too OTT but enough to stand-out in the photos… so, okaylah tu, kan???

Cuma sayang sangat I didn’t know how to tie the tudung. Kalau tahu jadi gini, dah pasti aku ajak Celi to join in that day coz she’s brilliant in the art of tudung-tying.

Click for larger image!

InsyaAllah their Big Day would be early next year, so I hope by then Intan dah kumpul cukup duit to get a real make-up artist!

5/11: M.C

And yes, of course, that evening after Intan’s do, my back rebelled and was getting more sore like hell. I remembered Yonne’s Hurix Ginseng pills that he bought me a coupla mths back, tapi takut nak makan sebab just in case ter-pregnant ke apa coz it says behind the pack that it’s not good for pregnant women.

But at that particular moment, gua dah tak kisah dah. Gua nak makan gak ginseng-pills tu, dah tak tahan sakit dah coz dah melarat ke muscle of my left butt cheek.

I thought all these while I had them pills in my handbag. But of course, fate of Abang’s life spills out on me ~ things are just not there bila diperlukan. I might’ve taken it out at the office. Sangat baghal rasanya okay.

So I turned in earlier than usual but managed to finish off Tunku Halim’s 44 Cemetery Road before dozing off to sleep.

Gawd my weekend yang aku langsung tak vacuum rumah and cuci toilets… that means dah 2 minggu aku tak cuci! Errrrrrkkk!!!! Abang’s awrite with it all, but I ain’tt!!!

Esok paginya, Isnin, you guessed it right, I so cannot tahan coz dah melarat ke kaki kiri and rusuk kanan pula, that I went to see the Doctor and she gave me a day’s rest. Jadi la. I didn’t take any painkiller-jabs this time for obvious reason ~ it’s gonna be a bleddy steroid-jab, so, no way, Jose.

But of course that night I had Abang kneading my left cheek with the muscle-ointment. Aiyoh, lega gila siot. Itu lah gunanya ada laki, kan?

I told Abang how lucky he was ~ men would before throw themselves to even grab my cheek(s), and yet he gets to knead them. Kembang kempis idung Abang. Heh.

6/11: Another TWISTED Makeover

Oh, oh, go see Farhi’s own lair i.e bedroom here. Cantekkkk! Cuma too red for my liking je ~ pretty panas for a bedroom (of course it can either translated as being panas ‘hot’ or panas ‘hawt’… get what I mean, heh heh).

Redbrick-wall notwithstanding, am still so very proud of him!

(And I think last Saturday he had a twisted make-over at his friend Bad’s place to be featured in Impiana! Will update if it’s true!!!)
… to be continued.

f~

Dua Minggu Punya Cerita: 01

1/11: Pantpantpant

Phew.

Only now do I get a breather to write loooooooooooooooooooooong entries. Paaaaadan muka aku.

Office, to me, is like warzone at the moment. Not for the other two Project Managers though coz their projects are still at snail pace.

Moi? I’ve four sites going under tender last week for Earthworks & Piling… almost all at one go. Itu yang terhiaq-hiaq akak tu. Tak alih-alih Selasa baru ni dapat written directive from ‘wahyu sana’ that all works i.e Earthworks, Piling and Superstructure/Building to be put under one tender instead and that the document must be ready for ‘pelawaan’ by September.

Our initial work program that I did for the Superstructure/Building tender could only be ready by March 2008, but they want it in, like, 1 ½ week’s time.

Yes, We. Are. So. FU*Ked. Arent. We.

Like, the whole length of seven months’ work of detailing, sourcing materials, price quotations and whatnots kena cramped into less than a bleeding week.

Welcome to the ‘organisation’ where ‘wahyu’ gets in and out ikut suka ati dorang tanpa fikir that there’s only 24 hours a day instead of 72 hours.

So my hp is practically open to the consultants to call 24-7 for confirmations and approvals. I’m running around like mad updating infos, delegating and standardizing specs and requirements and email-trotting between one consultants to the other.

So forget about catching movies, ok. Wouldn’t wanna get caught by them and then feeling guilty that they’d have to work their asses off for me while I end up in the cinema.

C’est la vie, no?

2/11: Aesyah Week

Aesyah took this shot herself using Cik Lin's phone. Very pandai, she!

Aesyah came over to stay with us for a week from 12th till 19th August. It was her month-long school break since 3rd Aug, so Pak Ngah decided to invite her for a stay despite Cik Lin’s apprehension that neither Pak Ngah nor Cik Lin would actually have decent time to entertain her.

But Pak Ngah seemed like he was confident enough that he could manage it, so Cik Lin pun relented.

Unfortunately for Aesyah, that whole week was the week where Cik Lin was so swamped at work, and Pak Ngah had his weekly cartoon deadline right after his fortnightly paper-deadline on Monday.

So Aesyah was a wee bit ‘neglected’ whereby Pak Ngah only managed to take her for daily dose of swimming downstairs or jalan-jalan di Sogo or Midvalley after fetching Cik Lin from Cik Lin’s office. Apart from that, it’s either watching DVDs for Aesyah at Pak Ngah’s office, or Cik Lin’s office, or even at home while Pak Ngah berjuang cari idea.

Of course the poor lil thing kadang-kadang merajuk and kebosanan and tarik muka, coz of course she expected to berjalan-jalan at least ke Zoo Negara or Science Center while she’s in KL but here she was all couped up in the offices or at the condo.

Tu la, Cik Lin kata kat Pak Ngah. Lengkali jangan degil cakap isteri. Ni nak jaga anak orang yang datang bercuti, bukan jaga anak sendiri. Kot kalau budak tu teenager macam kakak or cousin-cousin dia, boleh le kita lepaskan dorang rayau-rayau ke Sogo ke Pertama ke Masjid India ke,kan?

So, setiap hari lepas Cik Lin berjuang berlari-lari di pejabat, we would all lepak-lepak kat Sogo or Midvalley, hence Cik Lin jadi saaaaangat letih sehingga my lower back pain kembali terasa.

But Cik Lin's officemates just adored Aesyah's wit and charm to bits apart from being the cutie that she is. Since Aesyah only speaks English, everybody at Cik Lin's office seemed to be having fun practicing and polishing their English. And they keep asking Cik Lin to bring Aesyah back to the office the next day!

Oh, oh, masa hari Rabu when we were at Midvalley, we thot of watching a movie tapi tak de yang menarik. Or at least tak de yang menarik untuk si Sang Puteri coz semua dia tak nak tengok. But fortunate for us that keesokannya is the opening for Ratatouille, so we terus tidak berlengah-lengah bought tickets in advance so that esok tak yah rebut-rebut….

Ohhhh, we were so happy about getting the tickets, that esoknya tu bila we got to get into the cinema without queueing at the counter, Pak Ngah dengan berlagak-lagak waved the tickets to those people in the queue tanda he so bangga that we had made a reaaaaaally smart move - for once that is – by getting the tickets the day before. Hahaha.

Oh I’m so gonna get the Ratatouille DVD after this. Best banget!!!

On Saturday, before Aesyah’s mom&dad came over to hang out with us for the weekend before taking Aesyah home, Pak Ngah drove us all to Cik Lin’s parents in Bangi.

The day before, Tok Ki sms-ed Cik Lin that biskut and can food Adi dah habis, so Cik Lin had to do some Cat Food Delivery to Tok Umi& Tok Ki’s house.

There, we were greeted not only by Tok Umi and Tok Ki, but also Kak Leen (another of Tok Umi&Tok Ki’s anak angkat) with her 7-mth old baby Haraz that us all have never met yet.

Aiyoh Haraz such a cute lil big thing! Big unblinking eyes, big puffy cheeks, badan sasa, and everytime dia nak gelak, both cheeks kapit bibir dia yang mungil! Like, how cute can that be!


Puas Cik Lin dokong Haraz aritu, sampai seketika Cik Lin dapat rasa urat belakang Cik Lin terpele’ot sket. Tak, Cik Lin tak kesal sebab Cik Lin suka sangat dapat gomol-gomol Haraz. Bessssst!

And that was the starting of sakit belakang Cik Lin, sampai lah today hari Khamis.

Coming back from Bangi, just before Kak Rose & Abg Nain arrived at our place, Cik Lin decided to take a nap coz Cik Lin dah tak leh jalan dah masa tu. So Cik Lin ended up taking 3-hour nap while them all (Pak Ngah, Aesyah, Kak Rose and Abg Nain) watched DVD and makan deghian kampong kat living room nu.

When Cik Lin woke up, the place streaked of durian, like, ohmygawd. Even Labu Labi pun fenin agak eh.

Nevertheless, we headed to JJ Maloorie for dinner coz Kak Rose nak spend her birthday coupons. So Cik Lin pun jalan lah pelan-pelan macam orang baru lepas sunat+berpantang bersalin kat tengah-tengah JJ tu.

Cik Lin&Pak Ngah managed to buy two pair of sport shoes (it’s sale sale sale maaah), cheap badminton rackets and Tok Umi’s coffee dunker. So, we had our share of fun, so that was purdy awroite.
3/11: Pak Ngah’s Soup

Aesyah told Pak Ngah that her mom does The Best soup eva.

Mom would put chicken and vegetables, and I love it whenever my tummy’s not feeling well, Mom would make me the soup and I’d have the soup for lunch and dinner, yummee. Aesyah said.

Well then next time whenever Cik Lin has back-pain like this Cik Lin definitely want to go to SP and let your Mom cook Cik Lin her soup, coz Pak Ngah sooo cannot cook. Cik Lin said.

Hey Aesyah. Pak Ngah called out.

You know if Pak Ngah cooks soup, and a great soup at that, what would you think people would call Pak Ngah??? Pak Ngah asked Aesyah.

What? Aesyah asked.

They’ll call me 'Soup-er Man', you know… Pak Ngah answered, snottily.

Aaaaa Pak Ngaaaaah..!!!

...to be continued.

f~

Tebuan Sangat Sibuk!

Aiyohhhhh bila aku boleh ada masa nak update blog neiiiiiiiiiiiii. Am so swamped at the office!

I've listed down on Word, I've at least seven points to write. And gambar lagi!

*inhale dalam-dalam; exhale panjang-panjang*

Funters.

f~

Tebuan Sibuk

Busy beyond words.

Both weekends were full entertaining people despite Abang’s working weekends.

Mummy Pah & Baby Muaz came over from Seremban and hung-out at our place while Daddy Muddy went to his KL office to attend some work (them both from my first matchmaking fame). Kesian diorang, tak beritau nak datang, aku langsung tak beli barang pasar.

So we had kek pisang, kek lapis mocha and cucoq ikan bilis dari late noon till maghrib. Mujur before coming over they had lunch at their relative’s kenduri in Shah Alam.

After Maghrib bila Pah, Muddy and Baby beransur je, Kak Rose Abg Nain Qia and Aesyah pula datang. Kak Rose Abang Nain and Aesyah drove all the way down from Penang on Friday to visit Qia in Shah Alam, and they decided to stay at Pak Ngah&Cek Lin’s abode on Saturday. They stayed overnight, and oh how they loved the cids! Aesyah, having schoolbreak till early September, would be staying with us for the week.

They (Kak Rose Abg Nain and Qia) went off on Sunday petang, but before that I spent that Sunday doing Qia’s laundries and ours during the day when they went out shopping for Qia & Aesyah’s stuff, and at night aku jahit beads kat baju Aesyah… boleh tahan juga cantiknya. Abang le kata. Aku percaya je cakap dia. Heh.

Monday... wah, satu hari busy nak mam. Esoknya (arini) ada Project Coordination meetings at 9.30am, 11am, 2.30pm and 4pm, ngalahkan Sarmy Value I tell you.. Aku sebagai project manager nak kena prepare and delegate all the bloody work programme, latest status of work and payment, and whatever other dwgs and docus for the attendees.

Hell, I don’t really mind doing those sebab tu suma memang keja aku. But at the same time, we have two purdy huge tenders going at the Tender Office and my oh my 2,3 hari aje dah habis all snapped up even though both tenders require specialist Class ‘A’ contractors. So, nak kena uruskan lagi penambahan documents and drawings, all in all kena coordinate between six consultants, PLUS ada pegawai tender yang bangang kat Tender Office tu yang sangat… what’s that word yang senior QS aku guna ek…ah yes, sangat exasperating everyone, a storm in a cup. Buat orang suma lari-lari untuk layan kehendak dia.

At one point, he wasn’t even sure what he actually wanted when he called me to tell me about some questionable items in the documents. Before that, he made me make my consultants running to deliver some missing drawings (according to him) tapi bila deliver je dia kata drawings tu sebenarnya ada…. Arrrrrrghhh, sabar je la.

Last-last aku kata, “En.R, boleh tak you tolong pastikan betul-betul apa you nak sebelum you call me again sebab you telah membuatkan KITA bayar drawings yang akhirnya tak diguna AND traveling expenses consultants, you tahu tak???”

Aiyoh, kurang sabar akak.

Pastu boleh dia cakap, “Mmm, kalau macam tu, I call you balik lah sebab kerani I lebih tahu sebenarnya…I pun tak sure apa salahnya di sini…”

Pookey tak jawapan dia. Really exasperating, tau.

Bila aku mintak dia suruh kerani dia deal directly dengan aku kalau macam tu, dia kata “OK, kalau you tak kisah kerani deal / call dengan you directly, la. Takut you kisah, je.” Can ah laidat???

Dan itu baru sebijik dua butir pasir. Ada lagi sebaldi pasir lagi cerita mamat bengap ni sepanjang-panjang 2,3 minggu aku deal dengan dia. He has so make my blood go upstairs.

Aiyak, okeh okeh gotta stop. Ada docus baru sampai. La’ers.

f~

Pahlawan Hati

1-2

In The Sun today… sailor Azhar Mansor lauded as “Pahlawan Bangsa” by the AMENOE congregation.

Him, Pahlawan Bangsa??? Like, whottt, zefark???

Dorang ni ingat lagi ke tidak dengan Allahyarham Mokhtar Dahari???

And with all due respect to my husband, I’d rather have TunM as the Pahlawan Bangsa.

Honestly, right.

2-2

Went for CIDB’s Green Card one-day course yesterday. There were subjects of site handling, transportation, peralatan, hazardous stuff, site safety and health, etc. Bagi orang yang biasa masuk site, benda-benda ni macam refresher’s course je la kan. But in order to get yourself covered by the Insuras Berkumpulan Takaful provided by the CIDB, you’d still have to sit for the course. Macam, nak penuhi syarat je lah. And then baru you get the green card plus the insurance. Every two years renew RM50 je. Okay what.

Tapi sebenarnya best juga course tu sebab every 4-5 minutes the lecturer would share jokes/funny vid-clips prior to pretty graphical pics or clips on accidents on sites. Aiyoh, tak tahan lah ~ you see kulit jari tertanggal from the jari, orang mati kena hempap bongkah granit, orang hancur kena hempap kontena, rupa daging yang kena electrocuted, rupa tangan yang masuk jari pengisar, badan & daging badan yang kena stamping kereta, kaki kena tembus paku, tengkorak retak kena hempap batu bata… erk, as of now pun perut aku bergelodak bila teringat balik.

The lecturer, having already immuned to the sights, kadang-kadang siap pi zoom-in zoom-out kan the pics or even terlupa nak tukar slide during discussions. Adoi. Aku siap terpaksa suruh cikgu supaya tukar slide before dia nak tanya kami apa-apa. Tak tahan akak. Fenin kepala. Memang sah sah tak leh jadi doktor la kan.

Half-way through the day, Abang called kata dia tak sihat coz dia pergi urut semalamnya and sakit-sakitnya baru nak terasa, jadi dia tengah on the way back nak rest. Nampak gaya, aku kena balik sendiri la tu.

So, after the lecture, I walked some half a mile away to the Star Sultan Ismail. Aiyoh I’m tellin’ ya… kalau pakai 3” heels, jangan cuba la nak jalan kat sidewalk along the Jln Sultan Ismail between Medan Tuanku ke Star station ~ sidewalk dia ya Rabbi, dah la licin despite of the tiles being pavers, pastu the sidewalk all slanting at a slope towards the jalan pula tu due the akar-akar matured trees kat situ. Aduila…. Cram rasa betis ni. Dah la nak kena control ayu tak moh kasi tergelincir jatuh lagi, jalan kena senget-senget pula tu.

But the ride home was uneventful. Abang picked me up at Salak South. Cuma bila sampai rumah, Abang sambung lagi bantai tidur till maghrib. Kejut dia bangun and tanya nak makan apa, he asked only for egg-banjo. So we had egg-banjo for dinner. Before 9pm dia dah sambung tidur balik. Hmm, dah berapa hari dia asyik tidur awal. Memang la he’s tired and all that, but you know, it just makes you feel… lonely, very.

So, since there’s Gubra on Kirana 23 last night, I ended up watching it alone. Jangan harap la Abang nak tengok filem Yasmin Ahmad. For some reason, he doesn’t like her. Maybe because Ms.Yasmin pernah rejected being interviewed by his paper dulu, tak tahu la kan. But heck, it just made me missed having mutual companionship watching arty-farty movies, I really do.

And while watching Gubra, terasa macam nak rendam kaki dalam air panas, so I boiled some water and made meself a really nice feet-soak, and a really good mug of coffee… which is a BIG mistake, the coffee.

By half 11, I was still so very wide awake. And then I saw a box full of my old albums kat UK, dua tahun tak buka-buka kotak tu (sejak pack-up for my Big Day in Dec 2005), ada terperosok bawah kerusi art Abang. Tak berani buka. So many really nice memories and nostalgias. Zaman innocence and straightforwardness. And being 20kg lighter, hahaha.

Tapi sebab Abang dah bising that kotak sabun powder tu sangat buruk and hence kena buang cepat-cepat, I decided to kemas-kemas malam tadi juga.

And you guessed it right… I went all nostalgic and melancholic. I missed those days, those simple times. When reality of life hasn’t hit you (hard) just yet. It made me remembered the film “My Best Friend’s Wedding”. It made me hummed “…Someday, when I’m awfully low, when the world is cold, I would feel a glow, just thinking oooooof you, and the way you look, tonight…”… all through out the rest of the night, hingga tidur. That was “our” song, and the scene for this song in the movie was the most memorable one… still never failed to bring tears to my eyes…

I finally turned in at midnite. Tossing and turning, darn the coffee. Aku rasa aku finally lelap pukul 3am kot. And then terjaga pukul 4.40am. Sepatutnya kena bangun sahur pukul 5am, nak bayar puasa, but decided to skip this time sebab sungguh tak cukup tidur. And woke up in a daze at half 6….

Tadi before noon Abang called lagi and said he's still not feeling well and planned to go back by noon to rest. There goes another Malam Jumaat la, kan. Heh heh. But what else is new.

“…Someday, when I’m awfully low…."

f~

Family Collage

I did these today, for the hand-made frames that Me'e made for me as my wedding gift.

Ya, dah nak 2 tahun, baru aku nak kuarkan frame tu. Sebab tak da tempat nak letak! Tapi now dah ada tempat; Farhi baru pasangkan floating shelves over the weekend. Sorry, Me'e! hehe

Okeh nak kena pi ofis Abang naik teksi today coz Abang's purdy busy busy busy and kalau lewat sangat teksi tak moh pi area Brickfields nu waktu-waktu gini. Payah sungguh depa ni. Nak dapat rezeki pun, memilih.

c/wise from left: Ahigosh, Celigosh, Abanggosh & UmiAyagosh, Saegosh, Udigosh, Umigosh dgn Ahigosh masa b'day Umigosh, and the homesters of Bangi.

some of anak-anak Pak Ngah & Cek Lin belah Kedah

f~

Fullmoonless Month

1-5

Jumaat malam lepas, right after office, Abang & I hung out kat Sogo coz jalan jam teruk. We parked down in Pertama, and on the way up to Sogo aku singgah kedai buku mamak kat ground floor Pertama, and found my sulaman&manik book!!! Yyyyyyesss!!!

Aiyoh so banyak tips & techniques, I felt so bodoh for doing the manik on my baju without first learning the proper ways. Rasa nak buka je balik the maniks I’ve sewn… tapi since I did them on baju kurung cheapo, so tak pe lah, I just continued finishing the existing design, so buruk that I so malu to put the photo up here.

Next baju would be proper-proper pro-pro looking. InsyaAllah!

2-5

My colleague, a guy, sebelah bilik aku, won Second Place in the Middleweight Category for the Kejohanan Bina Badan Kebangsaan Ke-38 in KK last two weekends.

Last year, he got the 4th place. I said, eh, okay lah tuuuu… 1st place in the 2nd rank! I think my remark lifted up his spirit a bit… 1st place of the 2nd rank, okkkayyy whaaaaaat.

This time, since he gets a 2nd place (obviously, 2nd place of the 1st rank la kan), he’s so darn happy and he’s right to be. He made our organisation proud la, so to speak. Last year, rezeki 2nd baby dia yang masa tu tengah menunggu masa je nak menjengah dunia. This time, rezeki 3rd baby dia, yang tengah ada 2,3 bulan lagi kot nak enjoy being confined in the mummy’s womb.

I personally would never want to watch him bertanding, coz there was this one time when one of the guys in the office brought in a Bina Badan magazine with photos of him all berkilat and tanned and tersengih and practically naked, I went Euwwwww!!!! and terus tutup magazine tu. He’s one of the adiks in the office and to see him half naked… like, yikes!!!

But you know, having an almost a “Mr. Malaysia” in the office do feel kinda peculiar. If it’s a Miss Malaysia, then you have both guys and gals (especially guys) go gaga over the lady, which is very normal, dak? But to a “Mr.Malaysia” you practically witness men (not so much of women, tau!!!) go envious over this guy’s bod! Depa dok puji-puji, pegang-pegang muscle dia, urut-urut bahu dia…. Like, eisssh!

Kinda weird, I must say. Especially at this age and time where guys adoring other guys’ bods seems a wee bit too… queer. Not that I’m homophobic or anything, but it just ain’t feel right to be pretty public about it just yet here at home, know what I’m sayin’.

Nevertheless, just like everybody else in the unit, kami tumpang bangga juga having him around coz his winning also indirectly shines onto us, hehe.

3-5

Labi is so grown up now… without the collars or their tails, sometimes Abang & I couldn’t even tell Labu & Labi apart from far.

(Labu has long lithe tail and red collar; Labi has a shorty stump and black collar.)

4-5

It certainly is damn nice having cats like Labu & Labi around, who can sniff out your emotions and voluntarily climb onto you to comfort you whenever you feel so…….. trapped… in your own destiny.

5-5

I just realized a few days ago, I’ve had a fullmoonless month. I didn’t receive any sms on the fullmoon, and so it must’ve been very overcast at night the past week.

But somehow, I been stirred up at 2,3 o’clock in the morning the past two nights, and everytime I looked up to the window behind me, I saw the half-waning moon casting it’s light into the bedroom.

Ahh…, such blissful moment. Beyond words.

f~

Manik dan Agung

1-4

I took leave semalam upon’s Abang’s suggestion. Aiyok… lethargic like nobody’s business. I been not having dreamless sleep for quite a while dah now. How ah? Mimpi macam-macam-macam… bila bangun pagi rasa macam the whole body have been running miles. Kalau bangun pagi badan terus lost weight coz masa tidur dah run miles, tak pe le juga. Tapi, ini tidak.

So I had almost a whole day yesterday, sleeeeeeeeping on the sofa, sambil meneman Abang melukis. Abang kata aku sampai snoring lightly macam letih sangat-sangat. Aku kata dia tipu, aku mana snore. Dia kata aku snore sampai dia kesian nak kejut aku supaya tak snore.

And then petang aku sambung jahit manik kat baju grey aku.

2-4

I’m now crayyyyyyzeee over menjahit manik. Ni suma DocYana punya pasal la ni.

I been trying to jahit basic manik-sewing on one of the hujung tangan of my plain cheapo baju kurung last weekend... walaupun berteraboq, tapi seronooook!!! Sedar-sedar aku dah duduk kat meja makan for 4 straight hours, from 8pm till 12am, while Abang duk merenung laptop and TV mencari ilham katun.

At least with the new very distracting hobby, I stopped whining that Abang had to turn down the volume of the TV while trying to get ideas or do his articles, or me complaining that he’s too occupied up in his head for me menjelang his deadlines.

Besides Labu & Labi suka sangat tidur right beside me baju and beads on the table while I sew… so, I like I like I like.

Today, as I had some time to browse thro the ‘net for ideas (I managed to get some 70+ brilliant designs), I realized I also need to know the right methods. So lepas ni kena kuar pi carik buku Sulaman Benang Dan Manik Labuci by Rosita Jaafar… more so since I promised Umi I’d do her baju once I get the hang of it ~ Umi being fussy and meticulous and cermat herself, I would really love to spare myself from being scrutinized and criticized by her too much. She a really good tailor, you see. Must and have to at least come up to a certain level that kalau dia kata, “Eh, cantik! Pandai pun jahit!” pun dah kira lebih dari ok dah tu. Heh2.

3-4

Esok pagi 7 suku patutnya kami semua kena turun buat gotong-royong til 12pm around KL. Our Unit (and a few other depts.) kena bersihkan kawasan belakang Dewan Sultan Sulaiman kat Kg.Baru nun, the area yang depa dah clear for a new through-road, which was once before scattered and littered with squatters.

‘Kehadiran Diwajibkan’, the circular says. ‘Tis a good effort, kindalike the organization giving back to the community bersempena 50 Tahun Merdeka. Unfortunately it’s Abang’s free weekend esok and so he planned to balik kampong di Pendang to jenguk Mak. So… hurrah!!! Tak yah aku turun Dataran Merdeka pagi-pagi buta for registration, hehehehehehe

4-4

Aku respect sangat-sangat DYMM SPBYDP Agong kita sekarang. Aku hormat dia stepping down from being the chairman of the Equestrian Cup, though I’m sure it’s a really big loss to the organisation.

I’m sure it’s his way indirectly hinting the ‘others’ to step down. Kalau baginda as Simbol Pemerintahan Malaysia pun boleh step down from any position in sports, apatah lagi kalau mereka-mereka yang setakat Simbol Pemerintahan Negeri aje, kan?

But of course one of his reasons stated by the media was that dia nak jaga image Ahlul Kabinet kalau-kalau kelab-kelab yang mereka teraju do not do well.

Shows also the level of confidence that we have on our sports clubs, innit? Zilch.

So... GRRRRREAAAAAAAT WEEKEND, y’all!!!

f~