rest sejenak

* s t r e s s s s s s * arrrrrrghhhh.

tapi.... *tarik nafas sejenak*

...aku bersyukur aku punya lagi pekerjaan.... alhamdulillah, syukran ya Allah...

***

semalam tengahari dengan umi, di tingkat 2 sebuah bank di jalan ipoh untuk urusan selesaikan pembayaran kereta umi.

kala dalam lif menuju ke tingkat bawah, umi sempat bercerita:

ada satu kali ni, umi kat hotel mana tah. umi nak naik tingkat 12. tah hapa umi bengong sangat masa tu, umi pi tekan butang 10 dengan butang 2, hahahahahaha

hahahahahahahahaha, kami gelak dekah-dekah dalam lif. seorang staf bank dalam tu menggigil-gigil hujung bibirnya tahan gelak.

umi terperasan umi tekan butang 10 & 2 sebab lif berenti kat tingkat 2, and umi pelik kenapa lif berenti kat tingkat 2 padahal tak da orang nak naik. bila umi tengok balik kat button panels, baru umi terperasan butang no.10 pun menyala. tah kenapa tah umi bengong sangat masa tu, hahahahahaha!

hahahahahahahahaha, aku masih lagi dekah-dekah dalam lif, and kakak staf masih menggigil-gigil hujung bibirnya tahan gelak.

umi ingat remote control tv ke apa, tekan butang 10 & 2 untuk naik ke tingkat 12? aku kata.

hahahahahahahahaha! kami masih lagi gelak dekah-dekah dalam lif sampai la keluar bangunan bank.

hahahahahahahahaha!

***

malam tadi sebelum tidur, i had a wee bit too much of a drink. akibatnya, aku bermimpi nak wiwi.

dalam mimpi tu, aku cari toilet tak jumpa-jumpa, tapi ada selonggok laundry yang umi nak cuci di tepi washing yard.

aku pi cangkung, and wiwi kat timbunan laundry tu. coz i thought, hell, laundry ni akhirnya nak dicuci jugak apa???

euwwww! apa laaa faedahnya, kan??!!

bangun pagi tadi, mujur aku tak wiwi atas katil. tapi aku teringat mimpi tu. aku pasti sangat itu bukan aku dalam mimpi tu, suka-suka nak cangkung wiwi atas laundry kotor! euwwww!

mungkin dalam mimpi tu, aku seekor kucing tak?

f~

Memori Zunar: Nostalgia di Sekolah Menengah Pendang (I)

"DALAM kesempatan balik ke Kedah, saya dan isteri singgah sebaik melewati Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pendang. Saya ada sekelumit memori ketika belajar di sini dalam tingkatan 4 dan 5 kira-kira 30 tahun lalu (dulu dikenali Sekolah Menengah Pendang).

Saya lihat struktur bangunannya masih tak banyak berubah, padang bola masih di tempatnya, bangunan sains dan sastera era saya dulu juga kekal, cuma mungkin sudah bernama lain. Cuma Dewan Marbawi tu yang baru.

Banyak sekali nostalgia di sini, walau tak semuanya diingati. Paling awal terlintas dalam ingatan ialah seorang insan bernama Cikgu Jamil Wahid, cikgu tingkatan kami, yang juga mengajar kimia. Cikgu Jamil ini sangat garang dan bengis, sehingga semua murid takut dan benci. Saya malah pernah berhasrat untuk membalas dendam kepada Cikgu Jamil bila dewasa kelak lantaran dia memukul tangan saya dengan rotan kerana di dagu saya disimpan 3 helai janggut! Tak patut betul.

Dua tiga tahun lepas, saya terjumpa Cikgu Jamil yang kini telah bersara. Setelah perkenal diri, saya mengucapkan terima kasih kepada Cikgu Jamil dan mengakui dengan ikhlas, tanpa dendam, bahawa kerana kegarangannyalah saya dapat jadi seperti hari ini. Terima kasih sekali lagi cikgu.

Selain itu nama dan wajah kawan-kawan dari 4 Sains dan 5 Sains juga mula terbayang.

Yang asal dari Sungai Tiang seperti Maimunah Said (kawan rapat ni tapi sekarang entah di mana), Md Isa Ramli (dengar khabar dah jadi Guru Besar di Padang Durian), Subri Ghazali, Sukimi Saman (Chan), Nadri (dah arwah, Al-fatihah) dan Adnan Saidin (last dengan masuk askar), dll.

Dari Pendang pula, Mariah Mohamad (diva masa kat sekolah ni), Roaini, Jamil Hashim (dari Paya Kerchut), Shukree Jali (dah jadi Sheikh haji besar khabarnya), Jamil Razif (sejak keluar sekolah terus dipenjara sehingga ke hari ini---maksudnya berkerja di penjara), Zulkifli Kadir (jadi dresser khabarnya), Fauzi yang duduk dekat pejabat pos dan lain-lain yang tak sempat nak rewind buat masa ini.

Entah di mana lah kebayakan mereka sekarang. Kalau terbaca artikel ni, Munah Said, hubungilah kita kat zunar49@gmail.com.

Habis sekolah selalu makan ais kacang di dekat stesen bas lama (berdekatan kedai kain borong sekarang ini). Kedai ini amat istimewa, kami gelar 'Kedai Hamid Pernah Menabur Jasa'. Sebenarnya tuan kedai ni nama Hamid, entah macam mana ada satu keratan surat khabar mengenai cerita orang lain yang bertajuk Hamid Pernah Menabur Jasa.

Mamat ni kerat dan tampal keratan surat khabar tu kat dinding kedai dia, sebab tu lah kami gelar 'Kedai Hamid Pernah Menabur Jasa'. Ha, ha, ha. Tapi dia memang berjasa juga kerana menjual ais kacang ketika kami dahaga dan panas terik.

Jumpa lagi,
Zunar~"

The Pendang Trip Last Week

Wah wah kejap aje rasanya aku dah cuti tujuh hari starting last Wednesday the 21st.

Had to. Abang's break was on Wednesday and Thursday. So, had to follow jadual dia when he told me he wanted to go back to Pendang to help settle looking for a maid for Mak. Aku sebagai isteri mithali haruslah ikut suami, kan. We were supposed to go back from Wednesday til Friday.

Alhamdulillah, Celi agreed to babysit Labu Labi and the house for us. So, untunglah kami tak yah spend RM120 in total for the kids' boarding. But we stock up the house with food and ice-cream especialynya, since Celi memang antu aiskwim.

We started our journey on Wednesday at 11am, and reached at 6pm. There wasn't any jam or anything on the road, just Abang yang drive slow giler... taking our own sweet time.

We reached Mak's house and Mak terus tunjuk bilik air baru dia, which is en-suite, and also the beautified and tiled bathroom. All paid for by her eight children. Untung Mak ada anak ramai.

Bilik air asal rumah Mak is outside, a typical squatting WC. But since a couple of months ago when Mak's walking becoming more unbearable due to her ailing knees and going to the toilet is such a long and torturous walk, her children decided to help Mak build an en-suite sitting WC to ease her.

Aku dah pastinya antara yang paling gumbira, kan. Aku paling cemuih kalau malam-malam sebelum tidur nak kena pi keluaq rumah untuk wiwi. Suruh Abang teman, memang la dia teman. Tapi sampai pintu dapur aje. Pastu dia masuk bilik balik just as aku tutup pintu bilik air. Dah le tak de lampu. Tak hangin ke bila dia ngelat camtu, tak tunggu aku sampai aku keluar. Dah le Mak and Abang selalu cerita pasal kisah orang-orang kampung yang suka bela hantu kat area tu. Penaya ja.

Aaaaanyway. Fuh cekmain kelesss ke tiles yang Mak pilih untuk each toilet and bathroom! Cuma, kurang perkakas untuk letak sabun, sidai tuala, tempat letak berus gigi and such. I personally did a mental note on the items so that esok lusa boleh pi cari kat pekan.

Mak, macam biasa la. Kalau anak sulung lelaki dia balik dari KL, macam-macam Mak nak masak untuk Abang. Dalam tak larat dia, dia instruct Yaya (the eldest cucu yang dia pelihara) apa nak potong apa nak boh segala. She also planned to buat lunch for all anak-anak on Saturday since Abang's back -- nak buat nasi daging, daging rebuih cicah ayaq asam, kari ikan, ikan-ikan pekasam & acar. Fuh dengaq Mak sebut ja, dah terlioq.

I tell you, I think Abang and I easily pile on kilos everytime we're back in Pendang -- pagi breakfast nasi minyak, tengahari nasi, petang nasi, malam lagi la nasi. Adaiii.

On Thursday, Abang, Mak and I went out to Aloq Staq to pay a visit to three maid agencies that Abang's gotten hold of from KL.

The first agency was rather professional. The lady who entertained us, Doris, showed a file full of varied array of information of the maids that the agency dealt with, perhaps 30plus of them in total, for our choosing. Fuh, borang-borang dia cukup lengkap -- gambar, info tentang berat, tinggi, nama mak bapak and suami, umur dorang, pekerjaan dorang, berapa anak, and preferences in the works they like to do. Puas hati la.

Yang muuuuuulaaaa sekali Mak tolak were the pretty young thangs.

"Aku tak moh hat yang muda-muda dan lawa-lawa, satgi jadi paiyah."

Ok, that narrowed down the search a bit. Everytime we came across the pages with the young and pretty, we just skipped.

"Aku tak moh jugak hat yang gemuk-gemuk macam aku, satgi paiyah nak bangun buat keja."

Kami pakat gelak, la kan. Aku gemuk, Doris gemuk, Abang gemuk. Terasa woooo, kalau nak jadik maid, sah-sah kena reject. Hahahahaha. Kelaaaat, kelat.

And then we narrowed down to those who put preferences of taking care the elderly as their priority. At long last we managed to narrow down to three choices -- a really small woman, age 36, who had some experiences in Saudi ("Makna kata Mak, dia ni besa [biasa] kemaih ghumah hat besaq-besaq, jadinya, dok kat rumah Mak ni, enteng aja bagi dia", I gave my two sen to Mak); one, a lady of my height, but a third of my weight, and had some experiences in M'sia ("Awat ghopa dia menakutkan la Alin... ghambut menghebang semacam," Mak quipped, obviously having a negative vibe towards the lady); and the last looked rather normal but with mata yang agak besar macam anak pompuan Addams Family tu ("Ni ghopa macam Cupah bila tua esok", Mak, referring to her lovely youngest daughter. hahahahaha).

Doris made us copies of the 3 choices for us to go back and think it over, and also provided us with the calculations yang kena dibayar -- berapa, when and how. Agak mahal la gak, tapi from a rather professional dealings la, kan.

Stepping out of the first agency, I realized I had left my SE phone still charged in the car. Alah, rilek la kan. Keta dalam compound ofis (which was a house converted into an office, macam rumah-rumah sepanjang Jalan Maarof kat Bangsar tu), handphone pun tak le semahal mana. Tak semenggah le nak dicuri ke apa, kan.

Once in the car, I unplugged the phone out of the charging socket. Ok je.

Ada symbol Java kat handphone. Terasa macam nak padamkan.

So I switched it off for a while.

And yup, it died on me there and then. Teruih tak leh bukak balikkkkkkk! Setan betul.

After meeting another two agencies (not worth mentioning, tak dak yang menarik sangat, though much cheaper than Doris' office), we went to a few handphone shops. Semua kata I shouldn't have charged my handphone in the car due to the power fluctuation (tapi sebelum ni aku charge handphone kat myVi, okaaaaay aje? Entah la), and semua beritahu the bad news -- that my software prolly suda kaput, hence say goodbye to the infos inside it.

Arrrrrrggggggggggh!

Dah le aku padam semua nombor kat simkad aku (sebab boleh muat 250 aje) and semua number aku store dalam handphone aje (boleh muat 1000). Pastu dah memang gatal dan degil, aku dok procrastinate updating my back-ups on my lappy since last year August! So, there goes all the numbers, infos, calender, notes, etc.

Mujur gambar-gambar and memorable ringtones ada dalam memory card.... syukuuuuuur!

Hmph kelantak pi la my bosses, consultants and friends ada call hari tu (which was still a working day) tapi cannot get through. Esoknya dah le hari Jumaat, which is a weekend in Kedah. Tapi since the hp is still under warranty, nak le hantar balik ke kedai di Cheras, kan... tapi plan nak balik Cheras dah ditukar from Friday to Saturday after lunch instead... high possibility that Saturday would be a half-day to most Chinese-run shops in KL. Adaiiiiiii.

Hmph there goes my camera that I'd use to document my travels, and also for my mobile blogging. Rasa tempang, siut!

So, esoknya, Friday, was supposed to be Abang's working day. We went out looking for cybercafes in the Pendang town. Ada la 2,3 yang buka... but mostly rosak kena virus. Can ah laidat??? But we end up using the cybercafe on the older part of Pendang Town... yang I sent the entry from, tu.

After a quick use at the cafe, we went out looking for stuff for Mak -- perkakas barang bilik air, also barang-barang untuk jamuan tengahari esoknya. After which we passed by Abang's old school, which got Abang pretty sentimental that he planned to blog something down about his old school and his old teachers Cikgu An, Cikgu Yahya Yassin, Cikgu Jamil, his old friends, his hang-out place and all. Well we'll see about that (him blogging), won't we? haha

Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pendang

That evening, Abang and I paid a visit to Qia's mom, Kak Roih (Kedah for Rose. Abang's 1st lovely younger sister, by a year --> kena sebut ni, haha) in Laguna Merbok @ SP to discuss further about the maids. As usual, trips to her lovely home is always always filled with good chats, good jokes and hearty laughs.

Okay fast forward till Saturday, we cooked lunch soon after breakfast. I love sitting down with Mak at the kitchen table. She will never fail to share bermacam-macam cerita and petua. You'll be amazed at how sharp her mind still is remembering the olden days. One would easily forget details, but not her. Aku pernah beritahu Abang that he and adik-beradik should perhaps one day compile her stories -- some funny, some scary, some informative. Rugi tak kumpul.

Eventually there were only us two, family Abang Badrun (Abang's 1st younger brother), family Mohamad (Abang's 2nd younger brother), Mohamad's in-laws and Kak Long (Yaya's mom) yang mai makan tengahari. Lima adik-beradik lain tak dapat mai. Tapi okay jugak -- makanan ada cukup-cukup aja! Dagin rebuih licin, ayaq asam licin, pekasam licin, nasi dagin licin -- tinggal kari and acar aje! Gila barbie fantastic, that lunch was!

After kemas-kemas and mandi, we started off our journey at 3pm, leaving Mak alone with Yaya. But not without so many buah tangan yang Mak, Abang Badrun & Kak Sa'da and Kak Long bekalkan ke Umi Ayah!

I'm always amazed that Mak never show us if she's feeling sad and lonely to see us leave... unlike Ma and Umi who will visibly shed tears whenever the kids start to leave. I know deep down mesti Mak rasa kosong tiba-tiba, like a huge void bila anak-anak beransur balik. As usual, I'd salam and kiss her just like I would to my Umi -- salam cium tangan, peluk and cium pipi. You would want to wish that moments like that would linger longer, and our mothers would stop aging, you know...

On the way back, these were what we saw... (taken using Abang's phone)

...very long crawl towards the Penang Bridge

...very long crawl towards the Jelapang Toll [woops, no pic plak]

...cars rushing off up North after Maghrib

...and we were like, nyeeee nye-nye-nyeeee nyeh *jelir lidah ke opposite cars*, paaaaaaadan muka kawuuuuuuuuuuuu. HAHAHAHAHAA! *evil laugh*

We reached at 8.30pm, not before first taking our chances going around looking for any mobile shops that might be open. Nada. For obvious reasons la, esok ada Makan Besar. Sigh.

Sedang elok that Udi came back from Malacca and was at home with Celi since the afternoon, and was waiting for me to come home first before heading back to Bangi. So I handed him Umi Ayah's buah tangan dari Pendang. Mesti Umi Ayah suka gila.

Oh by the way, sampai aje di rumah, Abang korek handphone lama kesayangan dia yang umur paling kurang 4 tahun -- the last of Ericsson before jadi Sony Ericsson.


Belakang badan dia berskru, kau. Abang kata, kalau buka, warranty void (macaaaaaaaaaaam la ada warranty lagi, kan). Nak letak simkad, kena tarik satu small tray out from the kepala, and put the simkad on the wee tray and push it back inside.


Fuh cemuih gila guna phone ni. Tapi, apa leh buat... beggars can't be choosers.

So, itu aje lah cerita kami balik Pendang kali ni... bukan untuk bersuka ria atau bercuti, tapi untuk tolong cari kan maid untuk Mak.

Hari Ahad, aku bantai kemas barang balik dari Pendang and caught up with some sleep while the husband went out to work. Hari Isnin dan Selasa -- hari blog layout. Hari ni dah hari kerja.

Sekejaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap aje 7 hari aku cuti. Bawak balik kerja ke rumah pun, tak jadi apa.

f~

Biarkan Roti Kacang Merah dengan Layoutnya

I think I'm gettin' a lil bit ambitious here.

I been wanting to change the layout of my blog since the beginning of the year, even had some sketches inspired from the many samples I obtained from the 'net. What I know is, the new layout has to be a 3-column layout, with circles and/or vines as theme, earthy colour, with tabs on top for "Home", "Adi", "Labu", "Labi" & "Other Labels". I've even designed the buttons and *.gifs that I'd like to have on my blog. Yup, I'm that ambitious to memperindahkan and inject a wee bit more life to my blog.

But I'm a Building Architect, not a Systems Architect. I looked at some of the layout samples, uploaded the xmls and tried tweaking their htmls... and my head just goes topsy-turvy. Hell. Unless I pay someone to design the sketches I have, kan.

Arrrrrgh. Buat hilang mood akak aje, dek non.

Eventually, from the hundreds of sites and templates, I came to fancy this:

...and this:


Unfortunately the template's not for free. That's how the world works, innit. What you like just don't come for free.

However, yesterday evening, I came across this Retro Orange:


Macam... my taste lah gitu, kan. Dot-dot ada, vine ada. Earthy coloured la jugak -- earthy terracotta. So, aku pun upload la the template. Needed a wee bit of tweaking, of course. Celi pun siap tolong aku lagi pilih font segala. She likes the layout 'coz it reflects my "kacang-merah" katanya, heh heh. No wonder la site ni 'gitu-gitu' dengan jiwa aku. Macam sehati gitew. Kacang Retro gitew, kan.

When Abang came home from work last night, I showed the new layout to Abang. Dah agak dah -- Abang tak suka. He prefers if it were to be 'cleaner'. But I argued -- but, but, what difference would that make to the existing dotted blog I'm using? Boring giler dah, seh.

Nevertheless, I showed Abang my next best choice, the Dilectio. He likes it better. I do too actually.


So aku pun reuploaded the Dilectio's xml for Blogger Template, and practically toiled my way to customize it further, until 4.45am last night, kau! Dah orang bodoh, kan.

Kau nak tahu kenapa sampai lewat? Sebab the comment box just cannot work! Harrae betul. By 4.45am I just gave up, tak tahan kepala akak.

Pagi tadi aku bangun dengan satu misi: I need to come up with one layout by today since esok dah kerja. I am adamant that I would try and learn to understand a wee bit of the scripts.

I decided to go ahead with the Kacang Retro layout. Abang ada commented that the background was a wee bit too bright and distracting. So I'll try learn to do something about that. And I also planned to tambah gambar Adi Labu Labi to the header. I will try to baggle memana patut dengan seto'et ilmu aku yang sesungguhnya tak sebanyak mana ni.

Ihhh gila rasa macam orang bodoh, kan. Memang bodoh pun, heh heh.

Maka, jadilah ini... RKM Test page. Ok la kot? Aku still belum baggle perabih lagi, belum tambah the tabs I wanted, to be put on top of the middle column [hence the middle column tu will be pulled down a bit].

Siapa-siapa yang boleh tolong aku perkemaskinikan lagi the layout and also tolong ajar aku cemaner nak tambahkan [or buatkan, haha] the tabs like how/where I want them to be... alaaaa bestnyaaaaaaaaa. Aku akan sayang korang dengan leeeeeeebih lagi! Ngeeeee....

f~

Dari Pekan Lama Pendang

As of yesterday noon, gone are the days that I could document and blog my way through the handphone, though cekai, but very very useful. Will tell about this later. Suffice to say, I'm currently feeling so... disabled and disconnected! Huak! I even lost the 16 trivias about me that Zetty tagged me to do on Monday which I have them saved in the handphone whilst on our way to Pendang yesterday. Hmph.

Am now at a cybercafe in some really shanty old shop rows at the original side of the Pendang town... or rather, Pendang old town.

Can't write much. Been catching up with the blogs I follow while Abang sorted out a hell lot of complications at the office through the Net. He's now on the phone outside the cafe. There are currently ELEVEN computers being used for games by kids seeking refuge at the cafe to ponteng solat Jumaat I presume, with speakers all blasted to full volume. Gila. Pening kepala akak in this din!

Tadi when asked whether we could have the volume toned down a bit -- "Tak dak earphone ka, dik??? Hingaq sangat nih!" -- the girl behind the counter just shook her head and continued chatting on her computer.

Woops Abang said we're off now. Laters.

f~

Tahun Gaji Buta?

Study model, development @ Kolam Air

Since the new Boss took over the helm of the organisation, keja kami asyik sediakan bajet aje w'pun bajet dah terang-terang ada dalam buku bajet the past 3 years.

Elok tu, elok la. He intends to scrutinize every sen spent. But spare us in the Unit la kan. Dah la projek tak sebanyak jabatan lain.

That said, jabatan lain ada beratus-ratus projek, ranging from rm30k to juta-juta. Kami? We only have less than 20, but not less than rm10j each.

Like my project above, obviously it'll be in millions. But helo, with lokasi tanah seberang jalan dengan pwtc and orang berebut-rebut tanya bila nak siap, they the Super Admins still think the project cannot sell, hence, plan to k.i.v it. And we're talking about earthworks and piling job dah 100% completed on site dah, tau! The french-u-connection-k, kan. Ibarat nak buang air besar kena tahan -- ta*k dari perut dah suku keluar, yang lain dipaksa tahan tak kasi keluar.

Anyway, The New Big Boss and all Pengarah jabatan are going for a budget retreat this beginning of Feb. My Ketua says we'll see how it goes.

I've four housing projects like this on my plate, all waiting to be built supposedly by March this year. If from the retreat, it's decided that budget for my projects kena cut and put to k.i.v...? Well, aku datang keja untuk menjait manik or buat alas-alas hantaran adik aku le gamaknya.

And while we're at that, I'd prolly hide under my desk so that all 21 of my Building Consultants Team couldn't find me.

f~

The Cik-Ponty In Me

A continuation of series from fellow Moonlovers and kind contributors to this lunatic passion of mine.

Cerita Retard #16
Nuni, 14-Dec-2008
Location: Puchong

Simply heart-stopping!

Taken during the biggest moon of the year. She and her daddy Mr.Naim are certainly champs here. Gorgeous gorgeous moon pics. Siiiiigh.

Cerita Retard #17
Mr.Naim, 14-Dec-2008
Location: Chiengmai


From one of Mr.Naim's extensive travels. Best arrrr....

Cerita Retard #18
Ummi Lina, 16-Dec-2008
Location: AUH


Ummi said, taken masa anak-anak berlari-lari bermain berkejar-kejaran. And I'm guessing that Ummi dok dating kat bawah pokok, pegang-pegang tangan & peluk-peluk dengan Che'Abang, kan? hehe

Tenchu Ummi, kerana ingatkan Alin di bumi M'sia ni...

Cerita Retard #19
Mak Sedara, Dek Na 22-Dec-2008
Location: Turkey

At the Blue Mosque!

Ini kucin Turki.

Caiiiiiiyang Dek Na!

Cerita Retard #20
Abe Tommy, 26-Dec-2008 (photos dated 15-nov)
Location: Sungai Langat


Abg Tommy asked me to edit this on the photoshop... but I thought leaving it original like this pun ok juga apa... kinda like eerie looking, innit... Macam ada aje 'something' will jump out from any corners of the photos, hehe. Maybe it was due to the 'bulan sakit', i.e the orangy colour of the moon.

Thanks Abg Tommyyyyyyyyy!!!

Cerita Retard #21
Mr.Naim, 13-Jan-2009
Location: Khobar

Eiii jeles lagi niiii.... Best arrrr....

Cerita Retard #22
Dory, 13-Jan-2009
Location: Sentul Park

Rupanya ada jugak orang kat Kolam Air nu yang gilakan bulan yeaaa... hehehe. *hugs Dory*

Cerita Retard #23
DocYana, 13-Jan-2009
Location: Kelantan


Ni mesti beromantic dengan Che'Abe nih... tenchu Doc!!! *hugs Doc*

***

Shucks, I didn't realize I been procrastinating on the moon photos this many...!

I think by now I'd die a happy pontianak woman!

Hungry for more photos... including from benua America, Australia, Europe (eg. Czech, Germany, France, etc), the vast land of Africa, Mediterranean (Spain, Greece, Italy), the deserts, Indonesia, the islands Fiji, Mauritius, Hawaii, etc. Scottish moon, Irish moon, Welsh moon, English moon, Ampang moon, Penang moon, Pendang moon. Moon, moon, moon. Can't get enough of it! Ahwoooooooooo......!

Non-editted ones, and tell me what you were doing masa tu, and let me imagine how beautiful it must've been at that moment.

SaiyaaaaAAAAaaang korang.

f~

saiyaaaaAAAAaaang korang

[I hope the "Mkini In Blogs" editors read this: tak payah include my blog in your page, please? Thank you, appreciate that.]

Okay. I'm glad that this article came up. I been advocating the use against this to my family and mates for quite a while now.

Kalau ada pembalut kertas (yang warna coklat tu) or even plastic makanan yang boleh digunakan to tapau your food, please ask your vendors to use that instead. Not that the plastic is any better itself, but at least in my book it's way better than using the polystyrene containers.

Imagine lah kan, banyak tempat guna the poly-containers to put hot food like telur dadar, nasi goreng, tauhu bakar, nasi panas and other really and fresh-from-the-wok piping hot stuff directly onto the polystyrene containers! If you notice, the foam under the food would change colour and mengecut lain macam.

I also notice that rice from polystyrene containers would end up keras lain macam. Like as if a thin layer of foam is formed on top of the rice while being in the containers.

So you know, try, as much as possible, to avoid using this stuff. Either bawak your own tupperware, macam Cik Zetty kita (1 million points for her for being Green!!! tepuk tepuk tepuk!), or insist of using other than polystyrene container. Usually these vendors ada plastics for food. Hangpa letak nasik and lauk-lauk dalam tu pun, apa salahnya. Balik ofis, rajin-rajin la sikit tuang dalam pinggan ke apa. Sila jangan malas, eh. Bukan sahaja untuk kesejahteraan kesihatan anda, tapi juga untuk kesihatan Ibu Bumi (read: Mother Earth?).

Lagipun, sebab aku saiyaaaaAAAAaaang korang suma, tauuuu....

f~

Public should impose ban on polystyrene containers
Athi Veeranggan | Jan 16, 09 1:57pm


The public should refrain from using polystyrene-made containers which have been discovered to be a cancer causing agent, the Consumer Association of Penang (CAP) said today.

Besides being a health risk, CAP president S M Mohamed Idris said polystyrene was also detrimental to the environment since its disposal generates huge amount of garbage.

"Research reveals that polystyrene takes about 500 years to degrade in the environment," he told a press conference in George Town.

He said since the government would not institute a ban, the public must self regulate themselves.

Like cigarettes, alcohol, gambling and gaming machines, Mohamed Idris said, the government had shown a lukewarm attitude in banning polystyrene products even though the World Health Organisation (WHO) has classified styrene as a cancer agent.

"The government will not ban polystyrene products because of the all powerful business lobby. Therefore it is up to the people to ban it themselves," he said.
Authorities must assist

Referring to the coming Thaipusam and Chinese New Year festivals, he called on the relevant communities to avert using the polystyrene containers to serve food and drinks.

He also urged the relevant authorities should assist the public by banning the use of polystyrene containers at religious functions.

WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified styrene as a Group 2B carcinogen or cancer causing agent, possibly a human carcinogen.

Styrene is also a mutagen (that causes genetic changes). Mutagens in turn may have a cancer risk and may also potentially cause reproductive damage.

Studies have shown that exposure to small quantities of styrene can cause low red blood cells count.

Women exposed to low concentrations of styrene vapours in the workplace have a variety of menstrual disorders.

Polystyrene packaging can sometimes be identified by the number '6' surrounded by chasing arrows or letters 'PS' usually moulded in the bottom of a food container.

Polystyrene packaging normally contains some residual styrene because the manufacturing process is not 100% efficient.

Chemicals from polystyrene can migrate into food when it is new (because they have not fully polymerised or become part of the plastic) and when it is old because it breaks down from heat, sun or wear.

"The styrene migrated into food will end up in the body and eventually affect our health," said Mohamed Idris.

In Malaysia, cancer is the second biggest killer after road accidents, with some 40,000 new cases detected annually.

According to the National Cancer Registry, one in four Malaysians is at risk to contract cancer in his or her lifetime.

"Cancer has become like an epidemic now. Eliminating styrene in the diet would help reduce cancer risks among Malaysians," said Mohamed Idris. end.

Dedication

Wolf Moon from Level 5

The fullmoon is dedicated to...

1.
... the people of Gaza. The beautiful Arabian moon certainly doesn't mean anything to them right now, with bombs and shells showering their sky every moment of the day.

2.
... my 79-year old Ma (Umi's mom) in Kubang Kerian, who's been really ill the past 4,5 weeks. Ma has not been eating, nor sleeping. Badan dia lenguh-lenguh and sakit-sakit. Umi's siblings have been taking turns taking care of her. Umi herself has been there since last Friday on the 9th, and will be coming back to Bangi with Ayah on Thursday the 15th. And I know, I have not been a great grand-daughter -- the first grand-daughter at that, too. Abang has been kind with kind and soothing words whenever I cried with guilt for not being able to go visit my Ma. Abang kept reminding me that my family in KL needs me to take care of gazillion of things, while Ma has a lot of other family members taking care of her... which is, in a way, is true. I just hope Ma knows that I think of her every second of my life here, and that I love her so much...

3.
... Abg Tommy, Nuni, Nuni's daddy En. Naim, Kak Lina Ummi and Dik Na for the lovely fullmoon pics which they've sent me in my email a fullmoon month ago!!! Eiii retaaaaard! Nanti I upload in here, haaa? :-)

Also to Amy for alerting me about the moon tonight! Mwaks! [see her own photo here!]. Amy also alerted me last Saturday that the moon was the biggest in 2009! Alas it was quite cloudy, I didn't manage to get lunatic that night.

4.
... you guys out there yang pastinya teringat akan diriku inniew di waktu bulan ngambang! ohhh, makaseh! retard, ni.

In the meantime, go visit Miss Ubi Stella here for her magnificent fullmoon photos! Gila jeles rabak akewwww.

Ada kenal anybody in Alaska dak... rasa macam nak tengok gambar fullmoon in the Alaskan landscape lah...!

f~

LabUpin & LabIpin

Ni suma si Celi yang mengajar aku tadi, tengok Upin&Ipin by Les' Copaque. Educational betul. Dah la tiyut!!!

Season 1 (2007) -- 6 episodes

Season 2: Setahun Kemudian (2008) -- 12 videos

Catch their movie on the 12-02-2009.

Betulbetulbetulll... hehe. Cute.

My LabUpin

My LabIpin

f~

Bulan Penuh Yang Tiada Erti

If blog ni kekasih buah hati aku, dah pasti aku kena dump. Kesian blog aku, kena neglect betul! hehe

Truth is,...it's this Gaza thing. Really made me tak da mood nak blog. It just felt... wrong, to be happy, or celebrative, or even just plain funny, when that part of the world has only fear, sadness and anger.

Even to enjoy the fullmoon pun rasa macam just not right when that part of the world may not have even the time of their lives at this particular moment to be thinking other than their own fate of even seeing the next day's sun.

Feel like I need to do something, but tak tahu nak buat apa, apart from doa dari kejauhan.

Aku pelik... Islam & Yahudi ni, bukan asalnya "agama kitab", ka? Awat yang kena gaduh teruk-teruk sangat, ni???

Both religions pray to one and only God. Like us Muslims we have the Surah Al-Ikhlas, and the Yahudi also have an ayat of almost the same stature.

Sebagai nak menghormati Allah, kita tak bawa barang-barang ada tulisan Allah ke tempat yang tak suci dan bersih. Contohnya, bilik air. Yahudi pun sama macam tu.

Islam ada daging halal; and dia ada daging kosher.

Perempuan Islam perlu mandi hadas lepas habis datang bulan/nifas. Ajaran Yahudi pun amalkan yang sama.

So, see??? Both religions have so many things in common if compared to others, yet dua agama ni lah yang bergaduh paling dahsyat.

Also, aku yakin sangat, tak semua Jew jahat. Ibarat tak semua Moslems or Hindus or Protestants itu terrorists. I mean, if we don't like the 'outside world' i.e non-Muslims to 'generalise' the Muslims as being irrational, emotional and violent lot, I for one think that it's only fair that we should not be doing the same to others.

Hence I tried doing some homework.

I learned, that those fightings for the "Israel" are called Zionist. And Zionist is actually "an international political movement" rather than, say, a sect, or belief!

In fact, there are so many websites that explain tak semua Jew sokong this movement. Like this Jews Not Zionists, The anti-Zionist Jew, Jews Against Zionism to name a few.

You should also read If Americans Knew, a " non-profit organization that focuses on the Arab-Israeli conflict and United States foreign policy regarding the Middle East", plagiarising directly from Wiki [mati la mak karang masuk piahzadora! ya ampun!]. Tengok the graphs and studies, you'd be surprised and astonished to learn the size of the US Government's part in the conflicts in the Mid-East... HUGE!

And to learn that most of the pemimpin Arab izinkan the kezaliman terhadap rakyat Palestin to happen because they need the Hamas to be rid off once and for all [go read Suara Keadilan Bil. 163, dated 7-14 Jan 2009, DSAI sharing his story from his trip to Turkey]... Masya-Allah. Apa nak jadi dengan dunia Islam???

Abang's take on the mid-east conflict

If they can buy Manchester City, Arsenal and Fulham Football Clubs, they sure as hell can buy the world, practically!!!

Apa-apa pun, if you feel like contributing directly [monetory or physical-wise], you can contribute to Aman Palestin which my uncle and aunt help running with their friends, and also the Islamic Relief Malaysia, which DocBubbs is actively being part of.

Semoga Allah memberi kekuatan & kemenangan akhirnya kepada rakyat Palestin di bumi Palestin, tidak kira apa agama. Dan semoga Allah melaknat pejuang dan penyokong kekejaman rejim Yahudi Zionis, juga tidak kira apa agama dan bangsa.

These people kan, these zionists... depa tak rasa segan or gerun kah that the entire world is rallying against them, eh?

Allahu a'lam.

f~

Bomb Sana, Block Sini

Kita mula entry ini dengan doa untuk rakyat Palestin against the Zionist Laknatullah... [here]

***

Since end of year 2008, I noticed the IT Dept in the organization sudah block itu YouTube page. Even aku dah cuba guna a discreet site to get to the webbie pung, tak leh jugak, 'coz they also block the Flash player.

Yeah, perhaps it's needed. But that sucks, ok. Coz my entries yang ada attachments of YouTube semua jadi berlubang if viewed from the office, like so:


Last night I chanced upon this one brilliant wedding planner @ Maya Puri (who apparently became Mawi and Ekin's gubahan designer too). And since her design touchbase with my taste, I thot I wanted to see the page again. Maklum, adik aku nak kawin. Pastinya aku nak jadi penggubah hantaran dia, kan?

Unfortunately, tadi, I just found out that Flickr pun dia block jugak.

Siut.

Not too sure if they block FB too. Meh aku check sat.

......

Yups. They block that too. Aku tak kisah sangat... aku memang tak suka surf FB sangat kat ofis pun.

Kalau dorang block YM pun aku tak kisah. Memang aku terrrrrsangat jarang buka YM di ofis. Memberatkan my comp
[oh, wait. My colleagues told me that YM still tak block lagi].

BUT, jangan lepas ni depa block blogspot or Malaysiakini or yahoo.mail or google.map, udah la dek non. The 4 main items I have to have on my daily screen.

Blogspot and Malaysiakini, for very obvious reasons ;-p.

Yahoo.mail coz I register my official e-mail address on this. Tak suka guna organisation punya. So kedekut capacity. 2Mb aje m'kay!

Google.map coz korang tau la projek kami merata-rata dalam KL. Jangan harap nak suruh aku beli buku peta KL la weh. By 6 months, it will be obsolete dengan tambah highways/roads or tukar arah jalan! Membazir aje.

***

God I am so bored through my teeth with my current blog layout.

I want to retain the theme colour and the dots (coz it's now becoming rather synonymous with Kak Lin -- "Baju orang tu macam blog Kak Lin, lah", "Eh pandainya Ahy buat framing ni, macam blog Kak Lin!", etc). And my cats to be on it. In picture, or caricature, or sketch.

Any ideas/site that I can tiru-tiru from? Dah le aku ni kekura html.

So, there. Another project for the year.

***

Celi kata dia nak kasi gubahan hantaran kaler hitam to Nazim untuk akad 15-Mac nanti, 'coz Nazim suka kaler hitam.

Man I can't wait what I can do about it!!!! Black-themed hantaran, yeay!!! *rubbing hands and grins with eager glint in eyes*

Aku jumpa a couple of contoh here and here. Not too bad, ey?

Jom letak barang-barang Nightmare Before Christmas, nak? hehehehehe


Jangan Celi minta buat pelamin itam untuk dorang bersanding bulan 6 nanti, udah le kan.


f~

Old Long Since...

I'm sorry for the long absence.

Tis been a rather full weekend for me. I took leave last Friday, and invited my parents and Udi to stay over at my condo for the weekend and just enjoy doing absolutely nothing. And they really did. Absolutely nothing. Seronok sangat aku!

Anyhoos. My New Year Day was spent reminiscing, feeling melancholic, sinking-in some bitter realities, thinking of deaths, thinking of newborns, reflecting all the good ones along the way, and yet being thankful all the same.

Also, YouTubing Edinburgh's Hogmanay, looking for the 2009 fireworks by the castle; Robert Burn's Auld Lang Syne for the much-missed New Year tune; and Billy Connolly for that old taste of scottish vulgar jokes. He's indeed my all-time favourite stand-up comedian [sila dengar joke dia tentang the Wildebeest, the Old Woman On The Bus, the Scrotum, the Prostate, among others. F*kn Hillarious!].

I'm rather okay now. Pretty optimistics that 2009 will bring hope on things that I yearn for, or who I am lacking to be, or who I hope to become. The much improved me, I guess. Spiritually, emotionally, physically.

Rasa macam tak sabar nak masuk kerja esok and start off my life at work on a cleaner slate.

Not that the slate's been all dirty, but I'd like to do things at work I have been neglecting the past year. Initiate new projects, you know. Like, a new dedicated website for the department [which kena get all the other g'ment departments involved. nak bukak official dedicated department website bukan macam bukak blog, kau. Banyak akta and pekeliling kena adhere to. Especially if it's going to be the first department out of the 27 in the organisation to do as such]. Monthly half-day technical site visits/study trips for the technical staff. Yada yada yada. Apart from the quarterly monthly trips to the Pusat Derma Darah.

And as of last Saturday after a half-day Green Building Forum in KL Convention Center, I think I'd like to add a couple of paperworks this coming year to visit the BCA Singapore and/or City of Melbourne Council's Council House 2 (like, their new DBKL Building gitu la) and apply the knowledge to my current projects.

Semoga aku dapat melaksanakan yang terbaik buat semua.

In the mean time, maybe I'd want to go back for a bit and read Abang's old jokes as the start of my first working day in 2009.

And for you lot, these YouTube vids. Auld Lang Syne.

Auld Lang Syne at Scottish Parliament

Andre Rieu - Auld Lang Syne 2006

click for larger image of lyrics

Selamat Tahun Baru 2009

semua. Semoga persahabatan dan persaudaraan yang terjalin akan kekal selamanya.

Love and thoughts,
f~