End year award to myself.

Everybody deserves to receive awards for his/her hard work. Thats wat i keep telling myself whenever i spent to much in a particular month... and thats wat exactly happen this month... ngehehe.

Yup. i gave myself a few gifts for making it for the permanent post (cheh! alasan tak valid). Actually the things that i bought this month really necessary for me (nak sedapkan ati). These are the items:

Sony Cybershot T90

Leather Tote Bag


Wireless Laser Mouse

Justification:

Item # 1. All this while i was using my husband's company camera. I didnt have my own camera and i always need to use one since i always have to go outstation. So yup! I 'need' to have one.

Item # 2. My previous tote bag was already 'lunyai' and the strap was almost wrecked. Its dangerous to continue using an almost kaput tote bag, isnt it? So for the purpose of safety, which is vital for everybody, I 'must' buy a new tote bag. And why need it be leather? becoz it can last long.

Item # 3. My previous wireless mouse always gives me trouble and i had to change the battery for every other month. So i intended to get a new one. But my husband beat me to it. He bought the mouse for me. So I purak2 asked if i should repay the amount, he said no need. (yay!). Thank you luv.

So there goes my money. On the bright side, i spent them on the tangible items.

Aloha

This enty is about 2 outdated events.

1. SEMESTI 12th batch reunion.

Without ever noticing it, it’s been 10 years since I left the school. Sekolah Menengah Sains Teluk Intan. My used-to-be home, my used-to-be prison. And on the 5^th December 2009, we had our 10^th year’s anniversary reunion dinner. The theme was beach-wear. So everybody wore Hawaii-style including the spouse. My husband didn’t make it as he had to travel to Kedah for work. So I had to bring my maid since I already paid for 2. It was a memorable night. We had it at beach-hut, Mines wellness Hotel. A few activities conducted, but the most memorable activity was when they played the slideshow of our 5-years life in SEMESTI. God, how I miss that life so much. The life that I used to loath. How I hated it when I had to wake up at 6am every morning becoz we had to attend the daily assembly at 7am. How I hated the school uniform that I had to wear in the mornings, afternoons and nights. How I hated the prep classes on weekends. How I hated detention classes and community service. I never imagined that those times are actually one of the best times in my life. And seeing my friends again, those that I spent my 5 years of high school with, and see wat we have become after 10 years, so many things have changed. Whatever it is, my life in SEMESTI will always be the most memorable episode in my heart, be it for the happiness, even the sadness.

These are the photos:
2. New offer

On the 1st dec 2009, ive completed my 1 year contract with my company. And usually they will renew the contract for another 1 year before they consider u for the permanent post. And usually one has to do paperwork and a presentation to the management level before they hire u as a permanent staff. However, Alhamdulillah… ive been offered the permanent post after completed the 1 year contract, without having to do the paperwork nor the presentation. And this thanks to all the superiors in IRDA’s project that rated me as ‘Exceed expectation’, eventho i'm sure that i was highly over-rated and they were too kind and generous. And hence, I got an increment to my salary that also exceeded my expectation. I accepted the offer without questions. I’m happy with all the terms in the agreement. Alhamdulillah, thank you Allah. I haven’t gotten my chances to thank them (the seniors) properly. But I would like to use this channel to tell them how I feel right now.

I really2 am happy. I’m happy that they acknowledge my work, regardless how silly and immature it was. I’m happy that they recognize my effort, regardless how small it was. I did tons of mistakes, and I learnt a lot from them. I believe that there were occasions when I did mistakes and they, my superiors had to cover up for me. I admire them for giving me chances to learn and not to condemn. One day, I will also be a senior, and I will nurture the juniors just the way they did for me.

Thank you Allah.

Leisure life one can only image

Nothing much happened since my last post. Well, apart from continuous traveling from KL to JB, everything else is pretty much d same.

Now the frequency of my travels from KL to JB has become every week. I usually spend at least 2 nights in JB and the rest of the week in klang valley. I must say that it is truly tiring, n d fact that i have to leave my family more often, is not really attractive.

At this point of time, I'm in cyberjaya, assisting my superior to finish the report. I'll be flying to JB on wednesday morning n be back on friday afternoon. I might also be going to singapore next week, depending on whether my service is needed there.

So wat have I been doing in JB all this while? well, nothing fancy really, just meetings, conducting some survey and site visits. boring really.

one thing that i really look forward for these trips is the hotel that i'm staying at. the hotel has been changed from The Zon to Thistle Hotel (the building was converted from Hyatt Regency). Well, its a 5 star hotel and the facilities are just superb. While i have to work during the days, i spend the nights swimming, spending time in jucuzzi and sauna. n when i go back to my room, i continue my lazy hours bathing in the bathtub. i'm having a really leasure life in the hotel, life that i can only imagine. and i have it everyweek, thanx to this ICT Blueprint development project.

(pix are all in the camera, i'll post them in my next entry)

Travel, work and vacation

I travel a lot nowadays....

Last week i was in JB from 12th to 15th Oct for my work. I stayed in The Zon Hotel. The room was alright and easy-access to the tax-free mall. So i bought plenty of chocolates. I ended up spending almost RM300 just for chocolates, as if i dont have enough fat already under my skin. haha

Colleagues and bosses in JB

Coffee breakMy room @ The Zon

Then on 17th Oct I went to Sabah, for vacation, with friends, until 20th Oct. I brought Khaleef along with me. My husband cannot come along as he was so busy with work. Kesian dia. Next time we'll go together ok luv?

So there were 10 of us plus 2 kids. the trip was SUPER FUN! minus the exhaustion and stress that i had to put up for Khaleef being a kid with full of curiosity so he spent most of his time running around. There was one time when we stop for prayers at one of the mosque, khaleef ran with full speed towards a van just to follow some strangers. I was terrified, I was white on the face. Lucky they were just a nice family and everything was fine.

We also went for Island hopping. due to the limited time that we had, we only managed to go to 1 island, Pulau Mamutik. We spent 1 hour snorkeling.

We also conducted one of the 'must-do' activities, karaoke. Only I was too exhausted and was not feeling well so I joined for only 15 minutes and back to my room. But overall, it was super-duper fun. We will do it again someday, to somewhere else perhaps. I heard someone suggested Australia, that sounds like fun. so..... lets!

Island Hopping

On d way to Kinabalu Park

Dinner @ Nelayan Restaurant

Snorkeling @ Pulau Mamutik

Karaoke @ 1Borneo (tengah sakit pun masih boleh melalak ok)

Today, I'm back in the office....and tomorrow, i'm going to travel again, to JB... again....flight at 7am tomorrow and back on Friday afternoon. Hmph... What I hate about travellling is the hassle to pack and unpack my clothes and stuff. But wat to do.... its work.

Bye ICON, hi IRDA

Yesterday was my official last day in ICON. We even conducted some makan2. but it was not for my farewell. i dont believe in farewell when it comes to funding. ngeheee....

here are some pix

i handed over my task to my colleague idzuan. so idzuan, welcome to the endless of proposals assessment...muahahaha (gelak jahat). Actually assessing application forms can be fun sometimes. so no worries. i believe he'll find the job not bad.

so now i'm back in the office, with fast internet connection and torrent-able, with unlimited milo supply tho i'm fasting today, and the luxury of time....hehe. but not for long. i heard that IRDA is in critical need of resources. most of the team members are in Johor n will be back this friday. so until then, i'll probably sit back and relax. i'll start busy again next week.

MDeC's Open House 09

Pergh! Meriah! They conducted the open house at KL convex. Truly full house! i drove there with my sis and another 2 colleagues. But i cant believe i'm going to say this, GPS sucks! haha. I used my hubby's GPS to get there and it navigated me to the strangest route ever! well not really a stange route la, but it didnt steer me to use the MEX which i always percieve as the easiest route to KL if ure from putrajaya. And yes, i was from putrajaya since i had to pick my sis at her place. but then again, it still pointed me to the KL convex alright, just not the route i usually take. well thats my own fault, i shouldnt've used the GPS at the first place since i know exacly how to get there. haha. the moral of the story, never depend on technology so much! ok mr hubby? hehe

so... we left the house at around 3pm and reach kl convex around 4.30pm. when we entered the hall, it was difficult to find empty seats. but luckily we found a few after 'tawaf'ing the hall several times.

they served foods like nasi beriyani (very yum2), pulut with kuah durian (double yum2), deserts, and bla...bla...bla... but those were nothing ok. they invited a few artists! Faizal Ismail and Sharifah Aleya were 'MC'ing the whole evening. Aleya, lovely as evah! And a few artist performed like JayJay, Nurul, Adam and my all-time favourite....Jaclyn Victor!!!! wuhoooo! dia mmg best of the best of the best la! love u jaclyn!!!!...xoxoxox

To tired to write

I spent the 1st Syawal at my in law's. Like every 1st raya, everybody was busy selling flowers at cemetery. My husband n i even helped running the errands. i always adore my mother in law, the way she seeks for business opportunities. while most people busy 'beraya', she coordinates flower-selling business at a few cemeteries. she's a real business woman. For that, mak, I salute you.

Then we left to my hometown at around 7pm the same day. We took 1 hour plus to reach my mom's place. we spent the next 3 days in tg karang and back to puchong on wednesday.

hmm... actually there were a lot of interesting activies happened during this raya.

1. karaoke. with my sis, my bro and my MOM. My mom sang a few old-time songs like sri mersing and damak. and she sounded really good in fact. cayalah mak!
2. visits relatives in damansara
3. family gathering at my sister's in putrajaya
4. family and close friends gathering at my place (yesterday). i actually cooked, ok! no catering this time. I prepared some chicken rendang, tomyam, fish curry with rice and ketupat.

but it seems that due to the large amount of rendang n ketupat consumption throughout the first week of syawal, I cant muster my energy to elaborate further.

So here goes some photos.....
FYI, that kebaya is 11 years old.... still fit ok...hehehe

Twenties Girl

Thats the latest novel by Sophie Kinsella. I spent 4 days reading the book. Its very moving.... I think Hollywood wont take long to put its hand on this book and turn it into a movie. Just like the 'confession of the shopaholic'.

And yes... i broke my own rule. I havent finished reading 'True love...and other lies'. And not planning to continue reading it at all. Its too boring i might as well kill myself.

On a totally unrelated topic, these are the pix of me and my sweetheart while we were buka puasa in Bayou Restaurant, Putrajaya. My other sweetheart was taking the pix.

Frustration

For a couple of weeks, ive been feeling this way. Frustrated in everything i did. not everything la...but for most of things. I felt like my first attempt always fail.

Frustration #1 - The new cable for the new TV
I frustrated with the quality of the display. So wat i did? I bought the component and s-video cables that cost me 300. But the cable was broken. grrrr! all the blues became greens. for example, when i watched 'Finding Nemo', the water in the movie looked all green instead of blue. So i knew there was something wrong with the cable. We went back to the shop to change for the new one. But all the new cables have the same problem. Dem! The salesman said theres probably somethin wrong with the new stock. The only cable that didnt have that problem was the one that they used for display in the shop. S0 i have no choice but to take that cable. If not, I have to wait for another 2 weeks until the new stock arrives. No freakin way!

Frustration #2 - Paint
I painted the interior wall of the house. That was my 1st time painting a house. Berpeluh2 tau, and fasting some more! I promised my husband that he doesnt have to worry about a single thing since he was so busy with work. Let me handle everything, i told him. All he had to do was to awe after i finished with the painting and decoration. So I chose 2 colors, soft purple and apple green. but after I spent almost 5 hours working on the wall, green looked outa place. Dem! After 1 day of misery, the next day I repainted the green to soft purple. No more green. Waste of energy! urgh!

Before

AfterThis how the house looks now. Its a working progress. The cradle is not suppose to be there ok.



Frustration #3 - the curtain
Look at the first 2 pix. on the green wall, no curtain, on the purple one, got curtain. Which means i only hang the curtain recently. Guess how many nights did i try to drill the holes on the wall to place the curtain holder? 3 freakin nights, ok!! Penat gilos!! The wall was so dem hard to drill. I had to drill the holes on several places and had to patch them back. And after succeded, with glory, or so i thot... i hang the curtain. And look at it. Its 1 feet short from the floor! Dem! Dem! Dem. And even worse, the left side of the curtain is 1 inch shorter than the other side. Curse you, IKEA! How can u sell the curtain with different lengths!

Frustration #4 - Torrent
this one has nothing to do with my house. I downloaded 2 movies, ironman and x-men origins wolverine. i wanted to watch them on TV. i've waited 3 days for the 4.3 gig ironman to complete. and after completed, i tried to copy it into my 8 gig thumbdrive. TAK BOLEH! Hell, no! my husband said its becoz of the thumdrive format. FAT32 format cant support 4 gig file at one shot. So he helped me reformat the thumbdrive to NTFS format, then only i managed to transfer the movie into the thumbdrive. But when i plugged in the thumbrive to the TV, error msg came out 'unsupported device'. Hell no x 10! i think the tv only support FAT32 format. so i had to download a new one. and as of now, only 1.1% completed.

and wat happened to x-men origins? after 99.7% completed, it stopped downloading. no seed. Seriously!! its 0.3% left!!!

i downloaded a new one. 100% completed. But it was a fraud! when i played the movie, came out a msg 'Use windows media player'. when i use WMP, nothing happened. DEM to the power of infinity!!!!

Good bye.... my luxury of time

Goodbye my luxury of time... goodbye FB at office hours... goodbye bejeweled blitz (harry will then conquer the rank at my absence)... goodbye swimming sessions at 5pm (wont happen in ramadhan anyway)... goodbye the ability to torrent at office hours... goodbye pantry with unlimited milo supply... goodbye Hizkal, my officemate who sits in front of me in the office... goodbye the ability to leave the office as early as 4pm... ~sigh~

for the new project will diminish you... as it will consume my time until there's nothing left for me to contain...

iCON, u're a killer!

SCQuARE Training

We attended SCQuARE Training a couple of days ago. It was a 2-days session. SCQuARE is a methodology of doing strategic thinking.

These were the attendees.....
I'm the most colorful person in the group.

Philips 42" LCD Screen TV

Saturday....
I went to watch G.I. Joe with my husband. I personally like it. I'd rate the movie 4 out of 5. I dont mind watching it again....so maybe i'll take the kids to watch it this week....definitely before puasa.

Then....i went to kota damansara, to my bro's place. he held a housewarming and also celebrating his anniversary. I brought some puddings for them. His place is very nice....the balcony looks like one in fary tales with bunnies and cute fence. And....they have swimming pool nearby. Tak aci!

Around 6pm.... this was when i considered the best part of the day. we went to get our new 42 inch LCD screen TV. wohoooo! My husband and i spent around 1 hour to decide which brand we should go for. he obviously favored sony bravia, but i always think that sony is overated. so we asked the saleman. he spelled out some of the features for philips... dual layer, screen protector, but of all features... he got me at the feature that other LCD TVs dont have (at least thats wat he told us).... the ability to play files straight from the thumbdrive....i.e if u have mp3s, or avi or photos in your thumbdrive, u can plug it in and play them straight away on your TV screen. wow. that means i dont have to burn my movie collection into dvds. I can watch them from my harddisk. if thats not the coolest feature one can imagine....i dont know what is. yeah... i know u can always imagine of the craziest feature like the 'invisibility mode' or 'transformable into a briefcase' as the coolest features....but that can only happen in 'Harry Potter and the LCD screen TV' or 'Transformers, the rise of the LCD screen TV'.

BTW.... by comparing the features, this TV is better than SONY bravia, no offense. ngeheee
this is it... http://www.consumer.philips.com/consumer/en/sg/consumer/cc/_productid_42PFL5609_98_SG_CONSUMER/LCD-TV+42PFL5609-98

But..... i never imagine that having a good quality TV can add more frustration to myself. This tv is suitable for HD content, and as u all know, we dont have HD content here in msia. even ASTRO dont have them. so when i watch ASTRO, the display become all jagged. the salesman said that we need to use the gold plated S-video cable to improve the display...and yes we bought one of those. the quality improve by 20% and thats that. still jagged. we also bought the component cable for the dvd player, improves the quality by 25%. the cables themselves cost us almost RM300.

i guess we can only get the satisfying quality by having PS3 or blu-ray players where we can use the HDMI cable. aint gonna happen in my near future... ~sigh~

Angels & Demon

Last nite was my first nite-swimming session. It was ok...the pool was not crowded. I headed home around 10pm.

At home, my husband wanted to watch Angels & Demons with me. We missed the movie when it was aired in cinema. But he had read the book, yet he still want to watch it. So my guess was that... it must be really2 interesting. So we watched.....

We started watching around 11pm and finished at 2am. Well... it was my fault really. The movie shouldve finished around 1.30am at most. But becoz of the low quality of sound and terrible subtitles, i had to pause at most of the scenes to ask my husband to narrate the movie. hehe.....

But overall, it was an interesting movie. I like it. My husband told me that some part of the movie were not in the book, n vise versa.

I always adore those that have briliant ideas to come up with mysterious plots for movies n books. Even when i was younger, in my school days, I was so into comics that have the elements of mystery n serial killings. I even had a dream to write my own books with misterious n entwined plots that people can never guess who the serial killers were (now that i write it, it sounds so mental...haha).

Hmmm.... maybe i should start collecting Dan Brown's books.

Freestyle

Again, talking about my swimming lesson. After 4 classes, i can do 2 swimming styles...frogging n freestyle. During class 1 - 3, i learnt frogging, a little bit of diving, and water-threading (or struggling, where you can float on your standing post). The 4th class was when i started with freestyle. It was not easy, but it was not difficult either. But it was definitely tiring for me. They say freestyle is suppose to be difficult. Some people can do it after several full classes. But lucky me, i can do it after only one class. Not to brag here guys... i know freestyle is probably boring to u. I think its a pure luck. Sometimes you just can do something without so much of an effort.

Honestly, I prefer frogging as its more relaxing and more importantly it has less possibility of inhaling water thru ur nose, which i seem to frequently do while freestyling.

My sister, who is also my faithful swimming company, has moved to Putrajaya. So we found a new swimming centre in the area, and good thing it opens at nite. The overall size is smaller than the one in MMU but its deeper. The deepest area is 2m.

My plan is, i will swim mostly at nite so my skin wont be burnt to black. hehe....

Family Day Out - Zoo Negara

My husband n I took a day off on Monday and we went to Zoo negara... 4 of us, husband, me, khaleef and our maid. I prepared some finger food for the trip, egg and sardine sandwiches, mashed potatoes and drinks.

It was a sunny day. We reached the zoo around 10.30 in the morning and left around 2pm. We didnt miss a cage. The last one was the bear.

The adventurous part was when we found a snake strayed freely on the street. It was having its meal, an egg. Urgh....disgusting. when i saw the snake, my hair all stood up.

nways...it really was a happy day. eventho my husband was worried about his work and got a few work-related phone calls when we were touring the zoo, it really was fun.

Mohd. Thaqif Adham

He's my nephew. My sis's third son. He's 4 years old...and very talkative. Last weekend, he came up with all sorts of riddles.....among them are.....

1. banyak, byk, byk ikan....ikan apa yg boleh berenang?
2. byk, byk, byk spiderman.... spiderman apa yg boleh melekat kat dinding? His older brother, Syafi answered, "Cicakman!!!". He replied..."Salaaaah...... Spiderman lah!"
3. byk, byk, byk spiderman itam....spiderman itam apa yg boleh lawan spiderman?

the last one is my favourite....
4. byk byk byk ironhide....... ironhide apa yg boleh bertukar jadi ironhide? I answered "autobots?". He replied... "salaaaaah........ IRONHIDE la!"

duh....

New Hobby

Swimming. Yup..thats officially my new hobby. Now that I can swim (yes.. i know how to swim now), I'm planning to go down the pool 3 times a week. Hopefully i can burn some fat and loose some weight. My skin is tanned now... although i apply the sunblock lotion every time before i swim. I think the sun block can only last less than 2 hours and i usually swim longer than that. I'm thinking of getting a new swimsuit, a long sleeve one.

During my swimming lessons, i learn 1 new thing. There are 2 types of people. People who can float easily, and people who can sink easily. I categorize myself as 'float easily'...which makes me difficult to learn how to dive. Everytime I try to dive, my whole body will float to the surface. So I need a lot of energy to maintain my whole body in the water.

I guess thatll be my focus...to learn how to dive.

Manie Pedie and Harry Potter

Yesterday I was 27 years, 1 month and 14 days old, and that was when I had my first manicure and pedicure experience. I was fasting yesterday...and I had to go to Alamanda to buy some groceries. While waiting for Maghrib to come, I was too weak and too hungry to walk and decided to pay 'The nail parlour' a visit.
I dont want to go into the details, enuf by saying that it was a waste of 1 1/2 hours of my life, not to mention the waste of RM90.

While having my pedicure, i was thinking about 'Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince'. I read the book the day it was published. Now that the movie will be out tomorrow...do I have the heart to watch it..knowing wat exactly to happen?

Hmm....i guess its not a priority....it can wait, unlike Transformers when it was finally out. We saw the movie on the first day it was aired.

My 1st swimming lesson

Before I continue, those who are professional swimmers or at least know how to swim for the past 1 month, plis DO NOT continue reading this. It will do nothing to u, but to bore you to tears, or to embarrass me beyond control. Seriously. Stop. STOP!

Ok. I'm taking swimming lessons now, yup, in an attempt to get slimmer. Yesterday was my first class (if I exclude the lesson I took when I was 14, it was only an hour anyway, i cannot really count that). Well the truth is, there was no instructor yesterday, she was on leave. But since i was there with my sister, bringing my brand new swimming suit, I can't just ignore the pool, can I? Lucky there was a colleague of my sister's whos also taking the swimming class and yesterday was her 5th time, and she agreed to teach us the basics. Cool.

So the lesson began.... first step, breathing technique (bubbling as they called it)... I tried that a couple of times and decided that it was not important. I mean, everybody can breathe, I've been doing it since I was born. So I skipped that. The next step was to learn how to float. Well, in my experience (in my swimming lesson when I was 14), I was able to do this. So i didnt think there should be any problem doing it now. True enuf, I managed to float, (only my hands were so scared to let go of the edging). But I let go anyway, just by an inch.

The third step where I thought was the tricky part. The 'landing' technique. Its the technique to land on the base of the pool from ur floating pose, without ur hands touching the edging. I know its simple guys...yes I know. And why are u still reading this if you know how to swim? Didnt i tell u this entry is only to bore you and embarass me?

But now i can do it. After 15 minutes of self training, now I know how to land properly. and now that I know how to do it, its actually very simple, I dunno why did I have a hard time doing it the first time. Come to think of it, its not becoz its difficult to be done, its the difficulty of conquering your fear, the fear of drowning, aquaphobia or so they call it. Becoz, to be able to land using the right technique, you must let go the edge completely and use your both hands to balance your body while standing up. Once u do that, you can swim. But then again, I can't. Hua hua hua..... At least not with the right technique, unlike the Olimpic swimmers (not even close, the comparison can only embarass me even more).

Becoz now I know why I should learn the breathing technique in the first place. Its to help you to breathe while u swim. All I can do now is swimming while holding my breath. So I can only last for at most 2 minutes (i didnt really time, so maybe less), then I have to stop to catch my breath.

Lesson to learn here guys, is to never skip lessons. There are always reasons behind the sequence of every training.

True Love (and other lies)

Thats the name of the 344-pages book that i've been reading for the past few weeks. On my usual standard, I can finish a 400-pages book in 3 days (usually less). I mean...thats just normal, isn't it? For non-busy-salary-earners, they should be able to read a 400-pages book in less than a week. Well, my friend Delle can finish Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, cover to cover, overnight. Top that!

The reason for me not being able to finish the book within my standard timeline, despite the fact that I have plenty of time, is becoz its just too boring. I have 2 more books lying untouched on my desk at home but I just can't start with them yet, at least not without finishing this one. Its just the unwritten policy of mine which every book must be read cover to cover before starting the new one. This is just to ensure that every spending on books will not be wasted.

I bought this book at Street Mall in Cyberjaya where they sell stuff on corridors every Friday, and they were all cheap and discounted. It costed me only Rm18. So why is it boring? Well becoz everything was obvious. There was no sense of suspense and intense in this book. Its a straight forward story. Reading on a page can give u the idea of whats going to happen in the next 20 pages.

Ok....I'm not trying to be a spoiler or anything like that. Believe u me, if u read this book, u can tell yourself. It was about a woman named Claire that met a guy on a plane on her way to London, from New York. The guy's name was Jack. Claire was going to London on a work-related assignment and at the same time wanted to visit her bestfriend, Maddy who also lived in London. So...during her hours in the flight with Jack, they got connected, sparks was in the air, and Jack had told Claire that he was going to London to end his relationship with his girlfriend. So..... do I have to tell you who was Jack's girlfriend? Aww come on....

So on several chapters later, when Claire had spent a few days in London with Jack, Maddy was no where to be contacted. And suddenly one night, she called. She was devastated. She just broke up with her boyfriend....guess who? Aww come on.... It cannot be more obvious.

On a totally separate scene in a different chapter, a few days before thanksgiving, where Claire had informed Jack earlier on that she'll be spending it alone, while on her way back to her apartment from work, Claire had been greeted by a stranger. She didnt dare look at the guy's face as her experience had taught her that the pervert might do something more extreme if they made eye-contacts (the writer had tried to make this scene to have a suspence effect, while the actual impact was really the opposite) . So when she was about to open her apartment's door, the guy touched her hand and she reflexively assoulted him with a stun gun. Well...who do you think the guy really was? Oh please.... surely you can tell.

As conclusion, I have no interest on finishing this book, or at least I will do it in a very, very, very, very....slow way. Maybe 1 page a day.

Big Plate Restaurant

U may have heard bout this restaurant, u may even have been to this place, some of u may have no clue about it, but to me.... this restaurant is not just a regular place, it's something more.

My husband and i went to Big Plate last nite. This was the second time we went there together. The first time was way back in 2003, on our second date, which also our first dinner. So last nite, we went there once again, no particular reason, nothing to celebrate, we just wanted to have dinner and he had this crazy idea to drive all the way to Kampung Melayu Subang. So I guess since we were going to that special place of ours, I might as well wear something special. Well, it was not exactly an expensive dress or glitter pair of heels, it was just a red t-shirt with matching tudung that i wore the night we went there the first time, 6 years ago. Lucky it still fits.

So I ordered a big plate of Ayam Shah Alam, which turned out to be the roasted half chicken with mount of side dishes, and my husband ordered the set of braised lamb which turned out to be very nice. As the name implied, the meals were to big for us to handle. Just like last time, we managed to eat only half of what they served. They were impossibly large, yet the taste was delicious, and of course everything was fattening.

So thats that. Once again, my diet was ruined, and this time by a big plate of a very well taste roasted chicken.

Celcom Broadband

I did mention in my previous entry that I'm now working in Putrajaya, rite? Well, in Menara PJH to be exact. But wat I forgot to mention was the fact that the internet connection here was very limited. They block most of the sites, and all of the entertaining ones. I can't access FB, i can't use YM or Gtalk or any of the kind, I can't download songs, so my life here was practically boring.

But there's always an alternative available. Broadband. yup...it'll cost me some cash, but for the satisfaction of life, for FB and YM, and to make sure that I will not die due to boredom, i'm more than willing to commit the monthly charges.

So last sunday I went to digital mall with my husband. After spending almost 2 hours doing some surveys.... I finally settled myself with celcom broadband. There were several packages available, and there was a promotional discount for the modem. So I was OK with it and enrolled myself.

Now I can enjoy my working life with FB and YM like always. So far (today is my 1st day using this service, its too early too judge), i dont have any complaint with the connection. The connection is stable and quite fast.

Surgery completed

Hi all.... after what seemed to be a very long hours yesterday, the surgery was completed successfully. Alhamdullilah. It took around 6 hours, from 9.00am to 3.00pm. Currently, my mom is still in the hospital but her condition is stable.

But before that, before my mom can talk and relax, she was really in pain. It’s difficult to see your mom groan because of the pain she couldn’t endure. It was a very sad view. All we can do was to hold her hands and asked her to be patient. Well, of course she can't bear the pain. No one can, since the pain killer was not functioning, AT ALL! Imagine, after you have gone thru an operation, after the doctor cut you and stitched you back, you were given a machine that suppose to supply you with the pain killer, but the machine was broken. My family was practically furious. How can they (the hospital) let this happen? They should’ve checked the condition of all equipments prior to the operation. To me, this is simply the incompetency of those that in charge. I know accidents happen, I know technical difficulties sometimes occur, but at that moment, I don’t care. Regardless of their explanations, my mom was in pain; she was groaning and almost crying, and she is too old to endure the pain. I can’t watch that. Nor did my other siblings. Something must be done, and quickly. But they were not quick enuf, which make us more furious. The doctor gave her one shot of pain killer around 7.00pm before the replacement machine came around 7.20pm. Finally, mom managed to relax and we were finally able to crack some jokes among ourselves to ease the stress atmosphere.

Well, despite all the horrific things, the most important thing is that my mom is now OK and hopefully, after she can finally leave the hospital, she can be in her best level of health.

InsyaAllah.

My mom's surgery

Today, 1st Rajab, to me is not only a fasting day (since I'm not fasting today...totally slipped my mind and i just had a cup of coffee), but is also a very important day of my life. My mom is in the surgery room as I write this entry, going thru her second surgery in 4 years time. She had her first surgery back in 2006, and for the past 2 months she's having an unbearable back pain. So after the MRI, the doc advised that the surgery is the only way.

The needs of going thru this surgery is mainly due to the nerve problem. She can walk, she can lie down, but she can't sit for more than 5 minutes. According to the doc, the pain is mainly due to the nerve being caught between the joints...so the tissue within the joins has to be scrapped a bit to free the trapped nerve. (The actual terms that the doc used were far more technical.)
So I hope everything goes well. I can’t really concentrate on my work right now. All I can do is to pray hard so that the surgery will be successful and my mom can enjoy her meals while sitting on her chair like everybody else. Amin…amin… ya rabbal ‘alamin…..

New project - MSC Cybercity for Putrajaya

Hi.... this might be a bit late for introduction since the project has officially started since June first. I did actually have a lot of time to blog...since the job is so slow in pace. But I didn't update the blog anyway. Maybe because I'm not much of a writer....always have no idea what to write. (And I can assure you that this will be the most boring entry I’ve ever written).

Ok...what is this project about? Hmm...to put it simple, i would say its a data gathering exercise. And sometimes it is so boring (the word 'sometimes' is an understatement). I need to do a little bit of research, and mostly make phone calls and shoot emails to acquire information from various people (and they are usually the bosses, high rank officers). So why do i need to gather all of this info? Well, we (my company) need to identify the level of readiness of the applicant (which in this case: Putrajaya Holdings) and to make sure that they comply with the criteria set by the approval party.

Yeah I know...boring right? But thats work. Work cannot always be joyful. What matter the most is that we can always learn from what we're doing, and try to enjoy the most of it. As for this project, I learn a lot about the layout of the buildings, infrastructure and infostructure, loads of engineering and architecture terms and drawings..... and I’m grateful to learn all those.

Argh! I need to stop this boredom. I'm too bored I feel like I’m shedding tears. Ok. Stopped!

LLB - Look Like Busy

To look like busy is not as easy as it should be. The Putrajaya project is not gonna happen, well at least not until the client makes their final decision. I sure hope it will happen tomorrow during our meeting. If it does, we will begin to get busy starting on Monday. If it doesnt, I'm gonna need to buy more books.

I'm not used to be so free like this. I've read the client's profile over and over again just to kill time. I've finished the 309-pages-book that i bought 2 days ago. I've downloaded a few mobile themes for my mobile phone. I've even downloaded a few fancy ringtones. I was about to start reading the second book when i realized how dizzy I was by spending most of the hours reading thru the small texts in the book's pages. I should let my eyeballs rest for a while before turning the first page of the new book.

So today, despite of the fact that I dont actually have anything particular to do, I try my best to 'LLB' by burying my face in the book. The problem is, i finished it around 3.30pm and I have 2 1/2 hours before i can pack and go.

So....I blog.

Hi again Pre-seed

Hahaha... my good bye was not a good bye after all. After 1 week holiday (I went to Bukit Tinggi, Indonesia... I'll talk about it in my later post as I need longer idle time to share my holiday experience) I'm still in Pre-seed today. My colleague Joe is taking a two days leave so I have to replace him. But i'll be gone by tomorrow...
So today I just need to review a few drafts, send out a few comments, answer a few calls, entertain a few one to one sessions... and tomorrow I'll be off to the new project. But based on what i heard, the new project can't actually proceed as we need to wait for the client to make some decisions.
So..... Hi again Pre-seed...

Good bye....

Wow...after almost 2 years...now its time to say good by to Pre-seed. Today is my 2nd last day here in Cyberjaya. I'll be saying my actual good bye tomorrow.
Pre-seed has given me so many wonderful experiences...dealing with variety of people. Although 2 years is not really that long....but with Pre-seed, I 've actually learn a lot...need to keep up with the pace... need to cope with workloads...
I started here from the very basic tasks... learnt a few steps at a time.... took a few extra efforts... to get to where I am now.... so i guess i should be thanking these people... who have given me so many opportunities to expand my knowledge and skills..... Azman Merican and Kak Linda.... the most wonderful and sempoi bosses in the world. without them, I wouldnt even be here.
I'm not actually quiting, i just want to explore new experience. to get new exposure. I'll be joining new project in Putrajaya, which I believe will be as much fun.

So... good bye Pre-seed....

dee pumpong

i'm gonna need a reminder for this. i keep forgetting to update my blog.
ok... i'm going back to several days ago, when i went to Kedah for work purposes. My boss and I went there for the same purpose as when I went to PD.
But there was one interesting thing that i would like to share in this blog. It was the lunch i had in a restaurant named Dee Pumpong. The food was superb and cheap. There were 5 of us, we ate like there will be no tomorrow to live, and it costs us... well not really 'us'... my bos to be exact.. less than 100. the best dish was kari ikan talang..... you should try it.

temp maid

After the day of the incident where Khaleef cut his lips, i got a temp maid on the next day, an Indonesian, from Lombok (wherever that is). She's taller than me and my husband.

She has this look like she has no idea why the days are bright and the nights are dark. She's clueless. Everything needs to be instructed, slowly but loudly, and needs to be repeated at least 5 times before she actually gets it.

I dunno why she is still at our house, probably becoz we still don't have any other alernatives for the time being. She keeps getting on my nerve but I have to be really patient for the sake of my son. I hope the agent can expedite the arrangement for the new maid...and i sure hope she's better. Its really difficult to be worse than this one. Almost impossible.

stitches

after my last maid resigned, i drop khaleef at my sister's place in bangi everyday before work to ask her maid's favor to look after him.

So last tuesday, i took a day off (replacement leave for sunday@ PD). i took my mom to see an ustaz to get some water for her back pain. when i came to bangi to fetch my boy, i was informed that he fell down and cut his lips. he was sleeping in his cradle when i reach the house.

when i took a look at the cut, its not a small cut, his lips was practically cut open. i panicked and called my husband straight away.

i brought him to see a doctor nearby and the doc said stitches required. we drove to SDMC (formerly known as SJMC) and went to the ER. the general surgent suggested us to go and see the plastic surgent to ensure the cut are properly stitched and leave no scar.

but all well now. the cost of surgery will be covered by the company. but the most horrible thing happened was, the doc stitched my boy's lips while he was wide awake. i think the whole hospital can hear him screaming.

sunday.....my working day

When people go to port dickson, on sunday, 1 day after valentine's day.....usually it will be for holiday. But unlike me, i went there for work. haha.... people from Technopreneur Association Programme invited my colleague and i to review several business proposals and assess in terms of compliance and completeness of the forms.

we started reviewing at 9 in the morning and finished at 2.30. then we had our lunch at the usual place, Pak Lang restaurant (their steamed butter kaya breads are superb) and headed home.

we didnt even touch the sand. :-(

karaoke

as usual... friday is the best day of the week....reasons:

1. the next day is off day
2. 2 1/2 hours lunch period

so just now my office mates and i went for a stress relieved activity...karaoke. 3 of us went for an hour...cost me 28 bucks. but i ended up being the only one who sang my throat out and the two of them became the audience. my throat is in pain...but it was worth it.

my second post of the day- carbo diet

its a world record! its bizarre for me to be so free like this.
i wanted to start my carbo diet today. a fren of mine said we must cut off all the carbohydrate-based food in 14 days. but i just had bread for breakfast this morning... and planning to have noodle for lunch... hehehe
there goes my first attempt... maybe i'll try again next week.

its been too long

the blog has not been updated since before khaleef was born. people might actually think i am dead. the truth is....i've been too busy at the office.... studying (i'm taking masters course) and busy being a mom. well today seems to be quite ample for me to write my story of life.
can anybody share with me ur experience dealing with maid agents? this is my first time dealing with a maid agent and she just cannot be more rude. we've paid her the full amount but she kept giving me crap reasons for the delays. well...last nite...its been too much for me. so ive cancelled with her and she agreed to return the money to me today.
i mean... i can totally understand if she has problems to get the maid on time...she shouldve explained to me properly instead of shouting at me. she has taken our money.... full amount.... more than 4k... she didnt keep her promise which she's supposed to give us the maid at the end of january... and she shouted at me??? who is suppose to be mad here guys? this doesnt make any sense at all.
well enuff story about my experience with an unprofesional maid agent. back to work.... chiow.