I'm Hollering From Over There

Dear fellow growlers,

Alhamdulillah, my blogging years have touched 5 long years and although I've changed platforms a few times and names too, from modblog to efx2, efx2blogs and wordpress and blogspot, it does not stop me from blogging.

Well, the rather sad part is that, I think I may need to just jump ship and abandon this blog and continue my blogging at blog.razzledazzlecookies.com . No particular reasons why.

Just that it gets hard to put up 2 different presences, one where I'm blogging as myself, unadulterated. And the other, the baker part of me. So, it's time I guess, I realise that why 2 blogs ?

It's the same me. I may bake, but I still pick fights with the tailgaters (in my dreamworld). I may decorate cookies but I still abashedly spill all about my misfortunes. Who can forget, the incident when I forgetfully and mistakenly left 2-year old Adani in the car under the hot afternoon sun ? And to you and you and you, who looks up to me as a benchmark of a Queen of Murphy's Law, I still am me.

So, there. If it's ain't soppy yet, I don't know what will. This is as soppy as Gartblue would ever get.

Conclusion. The layout of this blog is screwed and I'm jumping ship over to my blog. So, come with me and discover more mishaps.

Feeling Neglected Eh ?

Yikes!

Almost a month of not updating the blog. Gosh! I must have been in a daze.

*thinking of an excuse*

*thinking hard*

Ah well! No excuses, really. Just plain M-A-L-A-S !

Anyhow.

To recap the last month. Ramadhan is over quite uneventfully for us this time around. I wanted to focus on more of ibadah this Ramadhan hence the lack of anything else. Not even kuih raya or cookies.

Hari Raya was kinda muted. We spent the first Raya at my parents' in Gombak and hopped over to Seremban where the rest of the clan congregated. We had a big family meeting in view of the looming crisis in the family and insyallah things are sorted out now. Unfortunately, we did not take a single Raya photos this time around. I wonder why.

2nd Raya to the 4th, we spent it at MrGart's hometown.

Came home on Friday to a messy house and no maid and a 300 pcs of cookies to do. Alhamdulillah it workd out fine. Being without a maid means picking your battles. It's okay to step on stegosauroses every few steps but at least they're on the floor, not beneath a mound of dust. Eh ?

Anyhow.

Andes came home last Monday. Alhamdulillah. We are so blessed to have her with us for the past 7 years and although not without trials, we are better off than most. Insyallah. What I can say here is that, it's hard to get a good maid, but to maintain a good one takes effort. Seriously!

My meeting at Danang, Vietnam on Tuesday was postponed due to Typhoon Ketsana and I am just thankful that the meeting was called off at the very last minute especially when I saw a picture of Danang, flooded this morning.

The Earth was indeed angry yesterday. I pray for the peoples of Indonesia, Samoa, American Samoa and the Ketsana stricken victims. Life indeed is a test.

Kids wise .. Aliya completed a month's fasting. Ayisha missed a day for food poisoning. Adani is still thinking to fast. Ariz says Optimus Prime does not fast. And he only fasts when it's time to eat. Sigh!

Ayisha got her handphone since dia puasa penuh. Now Adani is pining for one. She has to wait till she's 9, I said. She's counting now. Adani got her left ear pierced (her right was pierced a year ago but the left's hole closed after a mishap) to prepare for her Indian dance at her concert next month.

House-wise. We got TM, the designer/consultant to knock down the porch wall separating our house and uhm our house and she spruced up the lawn, planted some weeping (Mrgart says sweeping) willows and found some kayu jambatan to be fashioned into a long bench. I thought the bench looks awesome. Love the unique look.

But sedih sekali, after 4 hari at SP, the smaller willows died on us and some annoying cats have poo-ed on the newly laid grass. The annoying cats' owners' kids have also annoyingly trespassed into our house to play and ransacked the house during the holidays. I have since warned them not to come and only to play at the park, not at our house. BTW, these are also the kid who early this year have accused my daughter of bullying her and I have not heard any apology from mother or daughter even after Ayisha was cleared and the culprit was the the kids herself, although I never expect any. But it gets to me that she and her brother just climb the walls (because they know we lock the doors) to get to our house at all hours of the day and demanded to naik atas to play with the PC and notebook. That is a major no-no to me.

Anyhow. *checks mood*

Selamat Hari Raya peeps.

One Bad Night At The Masjid

Day nearly fell off the chair, laughing when I lamented this story to her just now. Not exactly the sympathy I expected. Duh!

Anyhow.

After a cooperative 11 nights (minus 3 nights) of tarawih with the kids at our local masjid, last night was most unbearable, to the point that I rotan-ed each of them once on their palms, once we got home.

Before you dial the TeleDera line, let me just share with you what happened.

You see, our masjid is friendly to kids. In fact, it has 3 different places for muslimat to pray. The main area is upstairs, air-conditioned and within the masjid walls. The second is a large wakaf, built very close next to the masjid, open-air with fans and curtains on the walls. Most women who are not to fit to climb stairs and mothers pray here, for ease to monitor their kids and it's away from the main masjid, so if the kids run around a bit, the only people affected are the jemaah there. The third is a newly opened carpeted, open air terrace of the masjid, with a sliding door separating the men and the women. I like this as it's carpeted and Ariz and Adani can do their stuff at the back and we would not be disturbing too many people.

So, we've never prayed at the upstairs area and I thought since the kids have been exceptionally wonderful, we could give it a shot. Last night. We did.

I had a sackful of books for Ariz and Adani. And a bottle of air sirap too.

During 3rd rakaat of Isya', Ariz gleefully ran through the saf towards me. I shuddered. He's never done that downstairs. After Isya' was over, the makcik next to me screeched, "Siapa la yang bawak anak ni. Ish".

After a lot of stares and figger-wagging, Tarawih 1 and 2 went well. Tarawih 3 saw me running downstairs since Ariz needed to pass huge motion. Tarawih 4 was a little noisy, with Adani reading aloud a poem from Shel Silverstein with a friend and Ariz was in a discussion over t-rex and kamus dewan (brought to masjid by Asiah's 4yo daughter).

Since the jemaah was doing 8 Tarawih with a tazkirah, the witir was done in jamaah too. That went well too.

The last single rakaat of Witir saw me seething. Ariz was running the full length of the upstairs area in what would be best described as "mengilai and mengelekek". Sungguh menggangu konsentrasi aku and what was more annoying was that Aliya and Asha who were sitting nearby did not stop bubur-lambuk high Ariz. He was in a crazy mood and I snapped.

I stepped back, glared at Aliya and Ayisha angrily, tarik telinga Ariz and pulled him to the door and asked him in a murderous tone to stay there. I gathered our stuff and went to the door to find him NOT THERE. Geramnya. He was downstairs, tears streaming down his face, trying to find his shoes. The girls wanted to eat moreh but I said, get inside the car right now.

I gave an earful about being noisy and running at the masjid and also, the sisters, should be more responsible to stop their little brother or sister from being a nuisance like that. Excuses like, "Ariz tak nak" is simply unacceptable.

Coming home to MrGart who just got back from his bukapuasa at the office, I immediately instructed them to sit at the sofa, where I gave a lecture of how irresponsible for all of them to do what each of them did that night and how dissapointed I was last night at them.

I fetched the rotan and all of them received a lash on the palm.

Safe to say that, we will be avoiding the upstairs of the masjid till Ariz is at least 13 years old. So, we'll be at the wakaf or at the terrace, if you're looking for a mom and 4 of her kids.

It Rains Cats and Dogs

Gambar hanya hiasan. Ariz, Adani & Ayisha in their super-hyper mood.

Wet, rainy season's here, my friends.

And it rained super heavily last night, before iftar yesterday and more days before. Alhamdulillah. *must remember to make dua when it rains*

So, when it rains, you know what follows la kan. Leaks!

Gosh!

We have leaks. Inside, outside, tepi-side all sides.

We have them outside, nearly missing the shoe rack. We have them indoors too. There are 3 lines of leaks snaking down in my master bedroom's wall. There are 2 more down in the upstairs living room. And there's one near the PC. And in the girls' room too. Arghh!!

I guess I have to resign to the fact that the house is rather in need of repairs. It's 11 years old, mind you. Aliya was still toddling around when we moved in here. Now she never lets anyone touch her hair and she'll myspace-ing away most free time.

And the girls for the past week have been jumping the gun on it, demanding to rearrange the sleeping partners. Aliya wants the room she's sharing with Ayisha TO herself. Ayisha wants the same. Adani proudly declares that she's not afraid to sleep by herself. And me, I woke up last night to a sound of something drop somewhere and immediately worried where the girls are.

Now they want to sleep in their own rooms by themselves. What happens to all sleeping in my our room? Why ? Why ? Why? *overdramatic mode*

I guess kids do grow, even if I'd like them to grow a little slower now, but I have to face the facts that they'd be needing privacy soon.

BUT GIRLS! CAN"T YOU JUST WAIT A FEW MORE MONTHS?

Grrr .. We've started to plan and get people in discussion on ideas for the Gart'sAbode1 and newly acquired Gart'sAbode2. And construction works ain't starting at least after Raya.

And these girls have started shifting things around and memeningkan kepala Mummy.

Arghhh!!

Musang Oh Musang

Suffice to say, my office is a WRECK ! A sick building.

And what could be worse is that, it's infested with rodents, in all manners, flying, crawling and balancing.

Let me count them all, just to sure that we qualify for a Petting Zoo criteria and maybe we should start charging fees too.

Cockroaches. Hmmm dah beranak-pinak dah. Tak kuasa nak kira.

Rats. One died in Bobby's room next to mine and it reeked to no end. One's been ransacking the pantry and I'm sure it's like the Ratatuoille, you see one, there's a whole clan somewhere.

About 2 weeks ago, we had a swarm of langaus in the office. Not the fast-evading lalats. These are at least 3 times the size of lalats and they are heavy and rather dumb too. We spent one morning swatting these and they're mighty easy to swat. For some or another, although there were everywhere in my department, at the height of it, there seemed to me significantly more in my room. *shudder*

I freaked out. We closed the door and sprayed ridsect, by the bottle. And from the window, we all stood and watched them dropped dead. And shortly after, a band of cockcroaches came out dizzy and dead too. Sigh!

I came the next day with gloves and dettol and literally scrubbed the room down. It smelled like a hospital for the whole day.

Langaus don't appear if nothing's dead. And the last time the rat died, there werent' any. So, I said, someone must've died, maybe the AKP assesors. Heh! But there was no smell. But we secretly thought and talked aloud too about the musang's family that's been plagueing the building.

Gina thought it died somewhere. By end of the week, the mom or dad, came to Gina's place and shredded some papers under her table. Pee-Pee-A ke? Ni musti musang spy aI-Pee-Pee. Hehehe.

Anyhow, after a trip to kerteh, laden with keropok of all manners and shapes, Shabbir left his at the office, only to find the next morning, that it has been eaten by the musang. Fina spoke about her apple which cikmus ate and the pear which he left teethmarks on. Gina spoke too about seeing a long bushy tail balancing itself on the gypsum cubicles tops. *naik bulu roma*

So, this morning we were shocked to come to the office to the sight of a musang in a trap. The building maintenance guys fixed a trap, a specially ordered trap since these musangs are pretty nasty. And it's the anak that was caught since it's only about the size of agrown cat. *shudder* Apparently mak bapak dia lagi besar and cantik. Shabbir named it W.Muna since the guy said it's a girl.

It snared and it hissed and it banged its head toward the walls. It chewed the spring of the trap, trying to pry itself loose.

By this time, a small audience was already oohhing and ahhing and arghhhing. Shabbir fed it biscuits and shredded kurma only to have to it hissed and snared back with teeth and fangs, nastily displayed. Brutal giler.

Fina was pleading for the maintenance guys not to kill it. It's kind of pretty too, with stripes of grey on its black body. I thought musangs should be purplish!

Anyhow, like I said. This is a sick building.

Ramadhan Beckons

Gambar hanyala hiasan. Lil' Garties jakun tengok fountain kat Hospital Ampang, nampak sangat kat rumah tak ada. BTW, avoid hospitals at all costs, these days.

It's Day 3 today.

And suprisingly, the Gart's household stayed at home the whole of the weekend. Wow! The only places we went to were the bazaar ramadan at Bkt Jelutong to get some air or some kuihs or some rendang for sahur and of course the Pasar Tani for replenishing the depleting haiwans and dauns and the masjid for tarawih prayers.

Partly this was because I wanted to hop over to Mak's for buka puasa only to be told that my younger sis, Eni and family were at her inlaws in Tganu and that maybe next time lah. Frust giler! Kena masak sendiri.

I vow to cook something less complicated this Ramadan to free more time for me to do other things. Like I masak canggih sangat la all these Ramadans. Hehe!

And I think we can make it to masjid every night since we're not looking at many buka puasa dos elsewhere, insyallah. The kids too have been cooperative.

Aliya and Ayisha prayed with me through to 8 rakaat of Tarawih. Last night because there was a kuliah, they even did the witir jamaah. Although I kept telling Ayisha to try to keep still in solat and not sway or look around or even raising both hands to close her mouth when she sneezes or tucking in her wild hair. Haish!

We've got a good spot at the wakaf, if we get there early. A good place that Ariz can find me without disturbing too many people and I can give him my chilling stare if I find him throwing stones or talking too loudly or running around. He makes friends easily and always can be found a band of boys that short. Adani, meanwhile sticks to her girlfriends and Jehan comes up tops.

MrGart told me that on the first night, Ariz stayed through the Isya' and only disappeared just before Tarawih started. Last night, he bolted at the 2nd rakaat Isya'. Adani was obedient enough to ask me if she could be let off and play and I usually say yes. Rather than having her tergeliat-geliat and tergedik-gedik kat situ.

Anyhow.

This Ramadan like most Ramadans, the temptation is not always the food or the drink. It's always the temper. I've gone over the bridge a few times and it's only Day 3. Sigh! I can only improve, insyallah.

A little snag this year. Our office canteen will be closed for renovation for 3 months.

Good, cos we'll be having a brand, spankingly new canteen soon.

Bad because, kat mana nak beli foodie for buka puasa. I don't like the bazaar Ramadan too much since I think they're way too pricey but I don't have enough time to cook properly when I get home. So, the solution is to buy a lauk or two and a sejenis kuih or two, at a reasonable price from people whom I know and supplement with a main dish I will cook at home.

So, canteen tutup. So how now brown cow ?

You Can't Blame Me

For feeling mighty suspicious if you read this on your tall, dark and handsome, not to mention sexy hubby's phone ..

"Abg nampak sangat faham"

Dah la nombor asing, xde nama and it was sent at 3:47pm and is that word read Abg?? WTF?? Faham? Faham what? What am I missing here ?

I threw patience and understanding out the window and brewed a mighty storm. I vividly remember I threw the phone down after I shoved it to him with an ashen face. I actually must have looked like Gollem in LOTR, or better still, the Ice Queen in Narnia, when she realised Aslan has assembled his army to fight her and that spring has come and melted the winter away.

I digressed.

Well, to make matters lagi kelakar or even more suspicious, MrGart couldn't remember who it was, muttering something about a meeting and he was nodding off and that's about it, one of his colleagues.

Storms brewing still.

The next day, he called me from his office with the background buzzing of office talks and he said that he remembered what it was now.

Apparently that was a long audit session and he slept and that, that rather DAFT person sent that message sarcastically to say that, his nodding meant that he understood.

Hokeh!

I get that. But what still annoys me like mad is that what business does one have in a professional office environment to be calling anyone, let alone someone's husband Abang? I mean, it's not like that is an environment where you should be calling anyone, for that matter, Abang.

I feel like going over and ketuk that person's head for sending out that message to MrGart. I ain't KillKillDieDie but any sane person would feel exactly how I feel.

So, to you out there, for you own safety, think before you do something stupid like this because I ain't standing by watching this unfold and I will put a stop to this, even if I have to pull a lot of strings. I will.

*bunyi macam threat, tak?*

*lipat sleeve tangan, flex muscles, checks knucles, practises punching*

Sugar Cookies Recipe

This is THE recipe I use for all my cookies and also the same recipe I use in my Cookie Classes. It's taken from the Toba Garret's book which I thought is a real gem.

Although the recipe gives the Glace Icing, I never seem to have much luck with it. So I always use Royal Icing or fondant to decorate the cookies.

Makes: about 20
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Total time: 1 hour (plus chilling time)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups sifted all purpose flour

Glace Icing
3 3/4 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons milk
6 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl. Mix for another 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Beat until well combined.

In a separate bowl, sift together baking powder and flour. Add the flour mixture 1 cup at a time to the butter mixture. Blend in the last cup of flour by hand. Refrigerate the dough until slightly chilled; this will make the dough easier to roll.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

On a floured surface roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thick. Cut cookies with desired cutters. Place cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake for 7 to 9 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.

To prepare the glace, mix the confectioners’ sugar and milk with the electric mixer for 2 minutes. Add the corn syrup and flavorings and mix for 4 additional minutes. Separate the icing into several bowls for different colors.

Ice and decorate cookies as desired and allow to dry. Glace icing requires 12 hours total drying time.

From Dawn Schwanke, Berkley. Adapted from "Creative Cookies: Delicious Decorating for Any Occasion" by Toba Garrett (Sterling, $12.95).

Life Is Like That

It ends. It's been promised that way.

Dah lama pulak tak ber-blog. Dah nak bersarang dah blog ni. Bukannya apa. Mula-mula tu, M-A-L-A-S tapi lepas tu, I realised that ramai dah kawan-kawan bloggers ku yang tak update blogs diorang. So, herd mentality sikit la.

But I figured, I love to write and yesterday, Clipperseep emailed me an excerpt from the post I wrote about Adani's stitched chin, where she cried and I thought, something I write makes little dents in people's life, so I should continue to write. It's a community service, I guess.

*even if the community begs me to stop pun, I WILL write. Hehehehheheh. Evil!*

Anyways.

Too much has happened since August 3rd.

Adani's stitches have come off. She held her fort at Stitch #1. Stitch #2 saw her eyes squinted and lips pursed. Stitch #3 let out a little yelp from her pursed lips. Stitch #4 , 5 and 6 saw the whole of the ER reverberating with her high-pitched screams. Aliya told me thta everyone who waited outside the Treatment Room was shocked to hear her scream THAT loud.

I begged the doc and nurses to let us come back again tomorrow, in tears cos I felt her pain. But alhamdulillah, they were off eventually and we wiped the tears off her pretty face and we hugged for the longest time and she's back anew. Alhamdulillah.

*telinga sedikit berdengung sbb Adani jerit tepi telinga ku*

I had a telling off from Mak. Not sometthing I'd like to elaborate here. But it hurt nevertheless. I've gone passed it to see the merits of that. I shall abide.

Ariz, we realised is such a talker these days. He yaks and he growls and he grrs and he screams and he shouts. Most of the time to his Autobots and Decepticons and his batallion of lions and tigers and goats and toy soldiers. Other time for everyone else to change the channel to his fav Cartoon Network. But he's still a little pelat. Oyang (orang) and mayah (marah) are still the order of the day.

Ayisha has got me worried sick when she was feverish but she's all better now. We've stocked up on surgical masks but one day, she told me that hers was soiled when she sneezed snoot into it, and she din't bring a spare one. *sigh*

Aliya has 41 friends on her MySpace. *geleng kepala* And most of the time if she's standing still, she'd be shuffling or doing the Miley Cryus' dance steps. *pening* Now all the girls and the little boy shuffle whenever they find themselves standing up.

MrGart has been questioned by me and been given dirty, murderous look by me when I found a suspicious text on his phone. *I'm still watching you*

And me, I'm preparing myself, emotionally and mentally for Ramadhan. Lollies gave a booklet of lecture series of Ramadhan and I thought that was exactly what I needed. *muahs*

Now, going back to the title. This year has been a very sad and sorrowful year since I've received news of so many of us who lost their fathers, brothers and friends.

It started with Naimah's father, then Zul passed away, then Azizan's father and Khai's brother. Not to mention Michael Jackson, Yasmin Ahmad and the late Ustaz Asri. My mom told me of my sister-in-law's brother who collapsed and died. And last Sunday, Haiza lost her father who left so swiftly. And last Friday, I received news of Rashidi, who in 1999, started work at our office and he never failed to greet me, everytime he saw me, passed away at the age of 29, leaving behind a wife who's due to give birth to their very first child this week. And I'm sure there were so many others.

Deaths are harrowing, but they serve as a reminder to us all. A little kiamat to us, to remind us that our time is short and it's not ours to begin with. Start with the end. Death. We all will. Yang sudah pergi, kita doakan Allah permudahkan perjalanan. Kita nanti, bagaimana pula? That's what my Harfiyah Ustaz says to us, everytime he hears of a death.

Al-Fatihah.

Another Bloody Weekend

Okay. *tarik nafas panjang-panjang*

Remember this ?



And of course that was Bloody Weekend #2. We had Bloody Weekend #1 and #3, all courtesy of Ariz. I'm still trying to pick the all of the pieces of me, after those trips to the ER, bloody-ly.

Anyhow.

This was completely unexpected. It was Adani. My princess-y Adani. My Adani.

I was in the shower and I heard shouts and shrieks. I thought it was Ariz so, I continued lathering me with soap. Heh! Then MrGart knocked on the door rather urgently and I came out to the sight of a wet and bloody Adani with a towel on her mouth. Bloood was trickling down her body. Then I saw the gaping wound right under her chin.

Yikes! It was GAPING ! This was nothing like what Ariz had. This was like 3 of Ariz's combined into one. It was deeper and longer and I could see the white flesh. I thought I saw bone too.

Well. We rushed to DEMC and luckily GartRed was nearby and she came by too. That helped cos I got instant attention and went straight in and the doctor attended to her immediately. Nepotism? Sue me!

Dr Amarjit cringed and said that I had 2 options. Either stitch her up with LA or she goes under. Going under means a full GA and I was not too keen but right there, there's this boy being stitched up because he fell in a longkang and the way he screamed, the whole of Shah Alam could hear. I decided GA.

But a little later the doc came and said that maybe we should try to stitch her up there, with LA. I kinda agree since Adani has always been very calm and composed. She takes instructions well too. So, yes it was.

She was prepped up and the minute the LA needle went in, she cried and wailed but never moved. I was squirming like a jellyfish. I nearly cried too. Tears were welling. Sungguh mengharukan. I wish I could take away the pain from her. My baby!

GartRed was a jellyfish herself. too Cringing. Good thing Adani was looking up and did not see our aghast and jellyfish-ed faces. It took 2 shots to numb her chin I felt like hitting the doc when I saw the needle under her skin.

Then the stitching. This was my first time and it was the most horrendous thing to have to watch. Especially when the subject was my own.

The short curved needle looked mean. The dark blue thread looked sinister and when the needle jabbed her skin, I felt parts of me died. Adani was numb by this time and I was holding her hands and I asked her to close her eyes and she obediently did so. She was so calm through it all, I was so proud of her.

She had 6 stitches in all to close the cut and once it was all done and plastered, she hopped off the bed and reminded me that I promised her to pierce her other ear and domino's pizzas and a couple other bribes I rattled off in my unnerved state. Yikes!

Last night, when she was sleep and after my Isya', I was a puddle of tears.

The images of brave Adani and her plight came to me emotionally. I was holding my fort so well throughout the day because I wanted her to feel okay and there was enough drama without me disintegrating too . But when all's well, it came to me in a rush. I felt so blessed and thankful for all that's given to us. And I prayed for His mercy and I felt deeply in my heart that He heard my prayers. Tears streamed down my face and I felt really humbled by this.

Rabbi yassir wa la tu'assir ya karim.

p/s The stitches looked fine and dry this afternoon when we changed the dressing and the stitches looked less mean. Am dreading Thursday when the stiches are due to be off. *gulp*

The Kamachis In Our Lives

I started blogging in 2003, shortly after the birth of Adani. So, there's not much being written here about the days when Aliya and Ayisha were babies.

Anyhow, when Aliya came, we were staying with my parents but I sent her to a nursery near my office when she was about 4 months old. I could not get my mom to watch her since she was already taking care of my brother's baby. *sulk*

When there were just the four of us. Baju pun matching lagi.

Aliya around 2 months old. Hmm, abaikan itu aurat dibelakang.

With Daddy dearest.

So, the days began by dropping her off at the Kompeni's taska and often Lollies and I would chitchat and share horror stories. I knew Lollies from the UK but we didn't work together then yet. But both Haziq and Aliya, being of the same age, were in the same care until they were about 4 years old.

The thing about the Kompeni's taska is that the caregivers were so different from one another. KakTun was so caring and gentle. Nellie on the other hand scared me shitless. KakShidah was very gossipy but nevertheless very nice.

The principal KakDalilah still scares me, even when she's been relocated and works as a receptionist in my building. KakTun is now the tea lady at our eS-Vee-Pee's office and I get special treatment when I go to meetings there. Nellie, altough she knew I was scared of her, gave me special treatment at the Dispensary. Yay!

Like I said all the time, always be nice to everyone because you don't know where you'll end up and who you'll be asking for help in the future, so make friends, people!

Well, Aliya as a baby had very bad separation anxiety and I had sorrowful mornings having to tear her away from my arms into KakShidah's or KakTun's or Nellie's arms. All through the 4 years, I think I shed a lot of tears, doing this. Walking away from her, hearing her cry, just pained me to no end. I later learned that as soon as I turned away, the cries always stopped. But aku kan ada selective hearing.

So, it never got any easier. So, I'm very blessed now that the kids have Andes when Mummy's making the dosh for our living.

Aliya cried buckets and wailed and screamed. But respite came to us in the form of a small, gentle Indian lady called Kamachi. She spoke oh-so-softly and has always been super-gentle to the kids. Aliya soon got attached to her and I was told stories of how Kamachi had to put a small towel on her head for Kamachi to even go to the toilet and the mornings when Kamachi's on leave, I would cry too when Aliya cried in the not-Kamachi's arms. Mornings became easier.

Fast forward 7 years.

Last Saturday was the Kompeni's Family Day. Not personal at all as it was Kompeni wide which means that half of KL was there. I always make it a point to go, always looking forward to meet friends in the Kompeni I don't see everyday. Yes, I am that positive or sicko, some would add.

We walked and I saw Kamachi and my heart leaped cos Aliya was with us. When I greeted her and pointed to her that this was Aliya, she melted. She held Aliya's cheeks and kissed her, just like when Aliya was 6 months old. It was certainly touching.

Love has no boundaries, surely. It touches everyone and anyone and it never lets you forget.

Walaubagaimanapun, my ever so grateful daughter Aliya, looked completely tak-kenal and stood there, squirming. Well, I didn't expect her to be melting and crying buckets, but ah well. Memang dia tak ingat pun rasanya.

So, there you go. That was the Kamachi in our lives not too long ago and I'm so grateful to her for all she's done to Aliya, her love for her and her gentleness that got me to work sanely.

Thank you KAMACHI and Aliya, babe, can you at least show some emotion? Ish!

Tulis Tangan

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Hehehehehe ..

New gadget. It's called Livescribe and it's the funkiest little thing.

Hehehehe..

Well, this is what I've planned for the class I'm doing this Saturday at Cake Connection. We're doing the Wedding theme and I was blown away by the number of students who've paid up for it well in advance.

We Are the Champions

Whoohoo!!

Image via Wikipedia

Hmm .. Naib Johan is still CHAMPIONS, kan?

Anyhow, since EnScrew has retracted his doubts of me and futsal should never be in the same sentence, I feel no need to lepuk him for a bout a week or two, unless he shoots me another official letter la. He joined us for a training session on Friday and squashed his own doubts and I suprised myself and pulled a muscle or two too.

Well, leaving EnScrew topic now.

Anyhow. Sunday, we had the tourney, official Division stuff. We were short of a ladies team and Fina quickly assembled a team, inclusive of me and mosh and some other sporting gals, plus a few import players. Someone wanted to name us BELASAHAN for reasons best not to be elaborated, but someone wiser came up with Wonderpets purely their lyrics. I've never heard this song but the lyrics in BM is really cool.

Wonder Pets! Wonder Pets! kami datang,
Membantu haiwan yang dalam kesusahan!
Kami tak besar,
Dan kami tak kuat,
Bila Bekerjasama semua jadi mudah.
Yeah, Wonder Pets! Yay!
Apa yang penting??
Kerja~sama~!
Apa yang penting?
Kerja~sama~!

I, for the live of me, never thought I'd be good at futsal. Although I should add that I spent the whole of my 5 years in the UK, following all the games of Manchester United, including chasing Ryan Giggs through the Arndale Centre while he was evading the papparazzi and parading

Cover of Giggs

through the Old Trafford when they won their Treble, the day before my Final Year exams.

But I never touched the ball. Until Friday.

Image via Wikipedia

Apparently, I played a good defence and striker too, but pancitness took the best of me and I pleaded to play defend. So, all the 4 games yesterday, I played full-time at defend. And managed to not let goals through to Mosh, our goalie. Except when we played the real champion team, Naimah and the gang. Intimidated siut! And we let them scored 4 goals. Chit!

I felt like my lungs were about to burst from the sheer tiredness and pure unfitness of me. But I did hold my fort kinda well and we managed to win 2 games, drew 1 and lost 1. That gave us the 2nd place. NAIB JOHAN! Whoohooo. Moshie kecundang in his team of Perut-Jalan-Dulu. *lari*

MrGart brought his team too but the men's teams were super fast and scarily ganas. Yikes!

We came home yesterday, me with kaki lebam kena sepak dengan penat ya amat, tido sampai petang. Bangun lagi sakit! But I thought we had fun, tremendous fun!!

Whoohoo .. We Are the naib Champions!

The Aftermath of A Birthday

And yes, MrGart is walkng fine this morning. *specially directed to curious Roti*

And me too, if you're wondering still.

And no, there's not much celebration yesterday either.

Since it was a Tuesday and the girls have tuition and Ayisha needed te be picked up and 9 and Aliya at 10 so, no birthday dinner and no cutting cakes either. Maybe tonight.

Walaupun, the sidekicks of SarahFizz and Ken, brought a cake during a morning meeting. Yay!

Anyhow.

Being 36 feels .. uhmm .. the same. Although MrButterflutter clearly pointed out that 36 sucks as a number since it's rounded to 40! *what?????*

But seriously, it feels no different. No different than when I turned 24, 18 or 31. But that's life, eh?

Well, am in a very long and tiring and boring akp session the whole day today .. so wish me luck. kamarul is looking extremely bored and azlan is counting the hair on his arm. that bored!

ciao!

I Need Coffee

Today is the day. The 12th anniversary of me and GartRed's 24th birthday! Geddit?

Hahahaha ..

Ye la tu, if I were 24, I'd better not be beating round the bush. When I said so this morning at a meeting, these engineers who make and break the country mind you, added it up very intentionally wrong! Cehs!

So, there.

For you mathematically challenged folks, I'm 36 today. Yikes! But it's just a number. *gulp*

And thanks to fb, my phone has not stopped beeping since morning. Yay! Thanks for remembering today.

And to GardRed, Happy Birthday to You!

*going to get coffee, black*

Anak Jantan Sorang

Tu la orang dah kata.

I never really agree to the notion of boys are a lot of boisterous than girls are, while I was doing my rounds with the 3 girls. That's until I held Ariz in my arms.

And that was fine.

Until he turned uhmmm let's see. I guess 4 last February 14th.

Ariz now is most destructive and prone to self-inflicted injuries after naps and especially between 8 to 10pm. Remember the 3 bloody incidents. Arghhh!!

And he's a lot more talkative too. He talks back too. Sikit-sikit "Tak nak kawan dengan Mummy". "Mummy tak cantik pun". "Nanti Iz letak Mummy kat luar". Grrr !!

But he's really funny too.

These days, I make it a point to call him by his full name. Normally with a murderous tone when he's ruffled Ayisha's hair, or punched Adani at the back or ran around with Aliya's book in hand.

So, in bed, after we're done reciting the doa tidor, ayat kursi, the 3 Quls, we'd normally chat and when I asked his name, he proudly said. "Ahmad (Ar)Iz Zuhayr". *Ah well, he's still a little pelat and he still calls himself Iz, instead of Ariz. "R" is not that easy to pronounce, hokeh!

And I asked him my name, and he said "Azrina" and when it comes to Daddy. He said "Ahmad Daddy Zuhayr". What??

Eh, bukan la.

Betul! Ahmad Daddy Zuhayr! *repeat 3 times with escalating tone*

Apa-apa la labu!

Jalan Jalan Cari Gas

Ish! Dah naik bersarang dah blog aku ni. Lama eh tak update. Bukannya apa, saje je nak letak gambar Anuar Z@in kat top page. Bagi roti nyampah sikit je lagi ... hehehe

Anyhow. Am going for a overnight to Kerteh to the place where you see the gas flares on top of those structures. With a bunch of colleagues, fun ones may I add.

Yay!

Am so looking forward to this. We're doing the pool this afternoon. Mosh is planning for a skinnydipping session at midnight and I'm so locking myself in the room. Bukannya apa. Takut my innocence kena zap!

Ciao.

Fantaslistic Concert .. WhooHooo

*suara sangat serak dan hati sangat gumbira*

Let me tell you this.

Am glad that my kids didn't get to see me clapping, gasping, screaming and singing at the top of my voice and generally swooning at the very sight of Anuar Zain.

And am so glad too that they didn't get to me waving my hands up in the air and whoohoo-ing every time Anuar look at my way.

Am relieved that my kids or MrGart didn't see me with my swoon-ed expresion on my face, hands on my chin, head tilted in a dreamy kind of way, when he belted Mungkin and Terman Terulung.

Am so relieved too that they didn't see me screaming and giggling happily at the very sight of him taking him his jacket and THEN .. his tie. And they didn't hear me when I screamed "ME" when Anuar asked if anyone would help him take off his tie off.

Phew!

Where is GartRed ?

It's 5:19pm and an unusual time to find me still sitting in my room.

Normally, by 5:15pm, I would've dashed to the car headed for home.

But. Jeng jeng jeng...

Tonight is the Anuar Zain's concert. Yay! And I am going. With GartRed, since MrGart has developed a sudden allergy over the sights of MrCroon's meneran while he sings and for the life of him, he could not tolerate seeing MrCroon's whites of the eyes while he belts out his ballads. So Gartred it is.

Where is she?

Anyhow, thought I'd gloat a bit, while I wait. No?

Here's what kept me busy last night. 50 of these.


The theme was silver and white. And I am so so glad that the silver worked. Heheheheh! Serious. I've never done silver before, something about metal fear. But I did an Aztec Gold before and it was a blast.

Nah! Close-up. Obviously still swooning over my silver.

The Garties at Pulau Redang

This is turning into a photo-blog since panjangla pulak if nak tulis sebijik-sebijik.

Ariz trying his luck climbing up a coconut tree. *nasib baik tak nampak tangan MrGart propping him up*

We went in a group of 41 of MrGart's office and there were a couple of young trainees who who doing a lot of photo shoots and they were jumping and pose. So, this were the girls' attempt to emulate. Kakaka!

MrGart and his lovely model, Adani. A natural photogenic and a camera lover. She really loves to pose. *risau gak ni*


The morning. One of my favourite pictures. Looks peaceful and they're at ease. The sea looked calm, the kids looked err busyuk but they all look at ease.


Before breakfast and just after Ariz woke up, obviously pining for Mummy and not in the mood to pose.

Adani. The model. She now hates her layered hair. Sigh!

One of the snorkelling sessions. This was at the resort's jetty waiting for the boat. The kids were all wet from mandi laut at 1pm when everyone else was berehat. Tu yang berkilat semacam aje tu. Ariz especially discovered that the life jacket was a great floatation device. Duh!
At the Marine Park. All of these underwater pics were taken by Aliya. Ayisha and ALiya had a blast, snorkelling non-stop. This trip was truly theirs to own. Mummy, kena ikat dengan Ariz dok tepi je .. habis seluar aku masuk pasir.

Aliya, underwater. Enjoying it tremendously.

Ayisha, a natural swimmer.

And that my friends, were snapshots of our wonderful island holiday. We stayed at Wisana Resort, a locally run resort. And the beach was exclusive to us. Was told that the Berjaya beach was shared among 10 resorts. Tapi the sights of flesh, tattoos and beer cans, just didn't agre with me. Mrgart went for mencandat sotong and came back, exhausted from puking. Yikes ! But the huge sotongs they caught tasted super sedap, goreng tepung. Fooh and then lebih tu, buat sambal sotong for nasik lemak. Foohh!

We had fun.

Ariz's Best Friends

Being the only boy and a rather mischievous one at it has a little snag in that the sisters will soon tire of his rough games and they'll retreat from him.

So, these are his current best friends. A bunch of stegos, t-rex and triceratops. A bucketful of soldiers. Semalam aku terpijak sorang, rasa macam nak bercabut tapak kaki. Grrr!! Eh, macam cerita Toy Story la pulak.

Opps, jangan lupa, Ben10 and HeatBlast and FourArm always keep him company. Especially those nights when Mummy was catching up with missed episode of grey's at midnight.

He, by the way, talks to these friends and that never fail to amuse me. At least he doesn't do like this blogger's 5yo son. Aisey, Dilla something. Now dah lupa.

Apparently, she found his found alone, spender-less on the king-size bed with a HeatBlast in hand. Suspicious, she asked and he replied. It's like a trampoline. Referring to his test1cles. I leave it to your imagination, tuan-tuan dan puan-puan.

I, if you must know, was laughing so hard, ppl must have thought I'd gone bonkers. I guess boys are a curious lot. I've caught Ariz "experimenting" with his and quickly made a mental note to mrGart to have a little talk. MrGart has never obliged. Ceh!

Abang Micheal Dah Tak Ada

He's dead. I pray that he died a Muslim. Insyallah.

It was so shocking to hear about it in the car this morning. Not that I knew him in person. But I love his songs.

Jangan jeles ye kawan-kawan .. I was one of the thousands who were at the Stadium who rocked and swayed and shouted at his one and only concert in Malaysia. And that was in *counts* at least 12 years ago cos I wasn't married yet.

I was there with GartRed and a childhood friend, Nazli (whatever happens to him, I wonder). We were so sengkek that where we sat, he looked like a kerengga. Tiny. But the huge screens helped. That was after his Bad album and I remember getting hooked on Man In The Mirror, Black and White and who could've missed You Are Not Alone.

Suprisingly, when I was chatting with friends, somehow BigKahuna mentioned that she too went to the same concert. And since she was sitting so close to the stage (nampak sangat kitorang sengkek), she could actually see him lip-synching some songs. Yikes!

Lucky for us, I could barely make out his nose and that's supposed to be prominent, let alone his lips. Haha.

Anyhow.

I thought he was a great music influence to me. Like Madonna. Yup. I love her. And Anuar Zain. Hmm .. maybe that one I should keep a secret eh?

Saya Sedikit Sedih

Nota Kepala : Hari ni mood sangat tak bagus, so tak sempat lak nak cerita pasal the awesome Redang.

Bukannya apa.

Saya ni takde la cemerlang sangat kat ofis. Boleh la cari makan. KompeniKedekutLetrik ni, saya dah lama dah putus harapan untuk di-reward atas dasar kecemerlangan. Dah bertahun-tahun dah. Even sebelum MissKLSentral resign lagi.

Tapi sejak dua tiga menjak ni, ramai pulak kawan-kawan saya yang resign. YY for one, has finally thrown in the towel and called it quits. Years of trying to weather it, obviously not working sunny enough.

Everytime, sorang kawan resign, saya termenung sendiri,

Kenapa aku masih kat sini? Adakah aku kurang talent berbanding dengan mereka? Adakah aku ni tak marketable langsung? Terlalu niche sangat ke kerja yang aku buat selama ni?

Nagai is out there menggeleng kepala sebab dah bertahun-tahun dia suruh aku resign but aku masih disini.

Let me tell you this. *cakap mat salleh la pulak, since nak tunjuk aku ni marketable, kalau x terer, goreng jangan cabar*

The only thing that's keeping me here is my passion. I love what I do. I love doing the things I do. I love my job. I love my colleagues. I love the exposure I get from the job. I love that I get the opportunity to do what I thought I couldn't but the bosses thought I could and I found that I could. I just love it. And I love my bosses.

Bukan la nak bodek. Boss-boss aku selama ni are the out-of-the-box types. Liberal ones and I love their outlook of life. Never bureaucracti, never picky and never ones to sweat over the small stuff.

Tapi kan, lately. It doesn't feel that way anymore. Boss pun dah lain. *sigh*

In fact, aku today am in my lowest ebb that I think I've ever been in. Nak jerit pun ada. Nak nangis pun ada.

Moments like this memerlukan satu pinggan warm walnut brownies dengan vanilla ice-cream with 4 spoons to share among friends. Or Zen's little cup of tiramisu. Or Chilli's Molten Chocolate Cake. Kalau dah terdesak pun, that 5-minit chocolate cake dalam mug boleh la.

Sigh!

Nota Kaki : Takde motif langsung post ini hari. Rugi je if you're already here. Mintak maaf la.

Rants, I Have Not Done In A While

Have I?

Was doing some bloghopping and I realised that my blog has recently become boh-ring since i have not rant and I've not cuss-ed and I've not bi-atch in a while.

Hmm.

Progress?

Note: To you and you, apasal gelak guling-guling? Kelakar ke?

Whoohoo ..

I'm back! We're back from Pulau Redang. Arrived from KT at midnight and Aliya &Ayisha were up till 1am, finishing up homework and Adani was crying this morning for some unfinished coloring homework. I then had to call up Teacher Badri to warn Teacher Jeya to be "kind" to her today.

Have tonnes of pictures, some remnants of my horribly disfiguring heat rash and 4 very happy and tanned kids.

Tapinya.

Am swamped with work, right now. So will need to excite you guys later la.

Ciao.

*macam cicak kudung*

Hari Khamis Yang Mengantuk

Uwarghhh !!!

Mana tak mengantuk, tido lambat.

Waiting for my meeting to start now. Uwarghhhh !!

Note: Must take a short nap karang since balik karang nak start journey to KT. Uwarghhh !

Re-dang

*grins*

At the cost of skiving one day of school for the kids, we are leaving the haze-stricken city to this island.



and this will, insyallah what I will be looking out to on Friday morning.

Lil"Garties Up and Personal

These were taken last weekend. Tapi tak cukup sorang i.e. the Lil'Garty1, sebab she's gotten quite concious now about her pictures being taken, sbb takut x cun. *nyampah*

This was the 3rd try to snap Ariz's picture, but he kept shoving his much-begged and whined "Missing Link" toy. So, just imagine how he looks la. BTW, Ariz & Adani's pictures were taken while we waited outside Sogo, tunggu pintu bukak since it was barely 10am. Tak pernah-pernah tunggu pintu bukak, macamla nak shopping sangat.

Since Aliya & Asha were toting bags into the ESQ seminar, Adani would not wanna be left out. Posing!

Ayisha on 2nd day, before she went it. She's so skinny these days, aduhhh! Aliya ran away, refusing for her picture to be taken. Hmmpph!

Pukul Berapa Sekarang, Bapak Harimau ?

Pukul karang !

Heheheh

This morning, I thought I was late since when I glanced at my dashboard, the clock showed 7:28am (hampeh, lagi lambat from semalam by satu minit) and my fuel tank was nearning E, very very close.

So, I drove as usual, singing to Anuar Zain's (after IKIM's Ustaz Zawawi's Major Signs of Kiamat short leacture). After Subang Toll, I stopped to refuel and traffic then on seemed a little heavy. But I figured, since I was already late, I might as well enjoy the morning.

Then it hit me, eh, takkan la Ustaz Zawiwi bercerita sampai dekat 7:50am. Check phone. Heh! Sapa pulak yang menekan-nekan jam dalam kereta ku. It's actually 8 minutes cepat! Fooh, makcik terpakca mencilok sedikit sebanyak. So alhamdulillah, clocked in at 8:04am. Yay! FYI, kitorang now (atas kebaikan hati orang2 tingkat 3) ada grace period of 5 minutes before you're officially late and screwed.

Anyhow. The story of this post is that, we have many many time-showing devices in the house. From watches (MrGart and the kids aje, since I stopped wearing watches since I carried Ayisha, about 8 years ago) to wall clocks, alarm clocks that beratur atas shelf, hand phones and the latest addition is a azan clock that my mum gave us.

There's only one little snag.

MrGart is a believer in cheating time. He thinks that if he sets the clock 10 minutes early, he gains 10 minutes. I for one, NEVER subscribes to this school of thought. I in fact, have tried in vain to tell him that it doesn't work like that. But I like said, IN VAIN!

So, now, the clock upstairs is 15 minutes late (which is seriously mengabui mata). The digital clock downstairs tells the right time (according to my phone, according to the RedFM), the azan clock typically is later than the azan from the masjid (this could be due to salah baca, bulan ni bulan berapa) and the clocks in 2 cars can vary between +2 to +15 minutes.

If my kids aren't confused yet, I am so proud of them But I am confused.

Today was much worse, since ada orang fiddled with my car's time yang +2.

The immediate concern is that upstairs clock has got to be fixed, but it's so high and there's a huge TV cabinet that I need to spread my thin self over before I can blardy reach it. So MrGart's perfect for the job. It's just that he doesn't think anything is wrong with the constant confusion of what time it is now, at all times.

So, how now brown cow?

Weekend Kalut

Inspired by Roti's experience in her ESQ's training, I vowed to go myself. But since moolah's a little short, I figured I'd send in the girls first. Insyallah, kalau ada rezeki, I will go.

So, early Saturday morning, MrGart sent Aliya & Ayisha who were actually excited to go. Either the uneventful school holidays were boring them to death or they're just genuinely excited. Heh! I didn't sit through the parents' session that morning as I was teaching a Baby Shower Cookies Class at CakeConnection. I should blog about it cos it was one of my lively classes with 9 students. It was certainly fun and the cookies decorated by the students were just stupendously gorgeous.

We picked the girls up at 7pm and MrGart brought us to Al-Rawsha, Jalan Damai, Ampang for dinner for a bit of kebab and chicken madan (eh tak sure pulak la). Food was good but I was so in love with these never-seen-before bottles carbonated drinks. We ordered strawberry and pineapple and they came in unopened twist caps bottles. I twisted it and hurt my palm. Aliya then figured out that you need to press and twist. Duh! But it was good. Food's great, I love bread and kebabs. The kids didn't each much, they just wanted to play at that spin-a-round swing.

Anyhow.

On Sunday, I snuck into the hall during the parents' session and I had such an awesome experience in what short time I was there. It was lively, energetic but most importantly I felt the grace of Allah and it was certainly deep. And it was just an hour. I'm not a cry-er but the minute I went in, I felt a little sebak.

We shopped a little at Sogo, since we were at Maju Junction (my first time ever there) and Ariz conned me and made me pay RM103.80 for an Omnitrix. Grrrr!!! We then, broke and hungry left for my parent's at Gombak.

Lepak, makan nangka yang gemuk-gemuk and super-succulent, courtesy of pokok nangka yang sungguh renik yang berbuah dengan sungguh ganasnya. Foohh ... meleleh air luur.

I digress. :)

Well, we came home very late, lepas hantar nangka gemuk-gemuk kat GartRed. Lepas tu tidooo.. Penat.

He's Doing a Solo Concert

*gasps*

*despair*

*termenung sebab MrGart would never in his lifetime be seen in the same room as MrCroonAndMyHeartSkipsABeat*

*sigh*

Edited: Dang! Tickets yang murah dah habis .. uwaaaaa ! Guess today will be spent imagining how it would have felt sitting in the gallery, having him croon to me. Despite his popularity consensus or none, I love him still. The only little snag about him is the way he sings, makes it a little painful to watch but I love the mouth twitch and how his mouth just go senget sebelah and his closed eyes. Foohh .. tangkap leleh babe ..

The Haze Is Back

I hope not with a vengeance. *yikes*

But it sure was hazy when I set out for work this morning. Bkt Jelutong is quite green but I looked at the horizon and it looked awfully hazy.

Not unlike the cold fog in the frosty mornings at Crescent Park, Peterborough where I walked each morning to go to college which dissapeared when the sun warmed the air and thawed the frost. I half-expected to see the veil of fog lift before my very eyes but it just lingered on. I saw few joggers today, instead of a batallion of them usually. I did not envy them today.

Right now, Bangsar is shrouded in a thick haze. Good thing is that I don't smell the smoke like I did in BJ on Monday. Yikes!

And reading the papers this morning further dampens one's spirits too.

The haze is back.

WHO declared a pandemic on the flu.

Possible water shortages and rationing in store for us.

And the worst is that picture of the bini-pm dengan ex-president-singkapoh. That made the hairs on my back stand straight. Who's scarier? Definitely the stodgy woman. *slaps hand*

Anyways. Late last year, I had the priviledge to sit through an Energy Lecture with the man in the picture, the slitty eyed, old man. And I was in awe of him. The minute he walked in, you could feel his presence, strong and unwavering. When you hear him speak and his gestures, he's very commanding and very opinionated and very much influential. He spoke from his mind, never needing a full script like most politicians do. Even in his frail frame of an old body, his mind was ever so sharp.

But the haze is back, people. It's back. *sighs*

Gumbira

Semalam (or was it the day before), front pages of the dailies were about whether English should be made compulsory to pass for SPM. It was a poll, I read and not yet a decision. Brickbats aplenty, I should think, for the one asking.

Personally, I think it should be okay. Walaupun saya cakap English boleh tahan la, tapi saya rasa English ni senang sikit la dari bahasa ibunda saya, dari segi SPM. But to make it compulsory for all walks of life, yikes!

Let me tell you this. The minute you make a subject a MUST to pass if you wanna pass the exam, you have problems.

Bahasa Malaysia is not a hard language, seriously. If you're speaking it la. But if you're taking an exam on it, I can tell you, it's a killer. The objective questions can kill you, but the Karangan will just chew you up and spit you out. Mercilessly.

It's oh so darn hard. Did I tell you that during my trial-SPM exam, I passed with Grade 2 (which is major sin because you a pass is Grade 1) because I got a C7 or was it C8 or F9 on Bahasa Malaysia. What made that especially hard to swallow was that I scored all As for everything else, including the killer Physics and AddMaths and just the blinking BM.

And to add salt to injury, my father is a BIG BIG proponent of Bahasa Malaysia. He used to mark STPM Bahasa Malaysia papers and I once peeked through the answer sheets and gaped, susah siot! Lepas tu gelak sebab bebudak ni desperate siap tulis note note "Cikgu, saya sudah 2 kali ambik STPM, tolongla passkan saya".

Anyway, going through Aliya's BM paper pun it's quite tough. I've had to peek at the answers to confirm my guesses.

Sigh ..

And that 's why saya berazam nak blog dalam BM every now and then. Boleh ?

BTW, the title GUMBIRA is the state of me at the moment. Nak pegi Midvalley la ni. Ciao!

Saya Rasa Sungguh Tidak Rajin

Pagi tadi, masa meeting, Yus instead of saying "idiotic move", he said "tidak bijak". And I thought that was really bright.

Hence, the "tidak rajin". Positive!

Anyhow. Boss cuti semalam and hari ni, so saya sungguh kurang bermotivasi. Bukanlah sebab Boss yang memberi motivasi, tapi, dah dia takde, tak payah ler terkejar-kejar. Yes ? No? Maybe?

Eh, dah lima suku. Balik!

Slightly Hazy These Days

Not my state of mind, dear .. it's the weather!

Or rather that was Fina's excuse for not attending the official gathering 2 hours ago. The excuse I bought and made my own. Hehehe!

Right now, thunder clapped in Bangsar and Adani in her 4th phonecall to me today reported that Bubbles, the cat has just came in the house, all wet from the rain. Hmmpptt! Guess B.Jelutong rained earlier, eh? Somehow, although I feel that Bangsar and Shah Alam are not all that far apart, when it rains, it never seems to rain at the same time.

I've sat in car drenched from the rain and 20 minutes later, arrived at BJ all sunny and bright.

I've driven home, eyes squinting from the glare of the evening sun to a pouring, thunder-clapping and lightning touching the earth at BJ.

Anyhow.

We're back home now and I'm at work. We spent 4 days up north and it was hmm rather uneventful. I made 6 batches of sugar cookies for a total of 200 cookies due this weekend. And my finger is burned for holding too many hot cookie trays. *ouch*

So, while the cookies were taking shape in the freezer, we took the kids out to movie. Failing to get tickets to the NightKatMuziumBukanNegara, we managed to get 4 tickets for us, gals to watch Hannah Montana and 2 tickets for the boys for Terminator.

Hahah. MrGart gulped fearing that Ariz would look for me but I assured him that it's robots, mean robots in high tech bikes and guns and lasers, Ariz'd be okay. I also purposely did not tell him which cine we were in, fearing him come and hand Ariz over. Haha

So, us, girls, 3 popcorn buckets and fizzy drinks sat down peacefully in a hall full of teenage and tween girls. Hardly a guy around. Aliya was excited and Ayisha was trembling with excitement too. Adani was so eager to just get away from Ariz, Adani's perennial tormentor.

The movie began to a chorus of ooohhhs and ahhhhsss from crazy, fanatical girls. Everytime scenes like this came on,



I've had to roll my eyes to a bunch of comments of the girls next to ours about the guy's so cute, Hannah's really pretty and all the other girlish-ly comments on tweens can make. *uwekss*

All 3 sisters enjoyed the movie tremendously. I was only looking forward to the "climb" song. That was pretty good. All in all, storyline ain't unique at all, but it did sell well cos it's Hannah Montana!

BTW, Aliya & Ayisha have officially kicked Daddy from using their bathroom. It's off limits to Daddy now. It's theirs!

Blew That Fuse

I feel bad.
I blew my fuse.
I lost my temper.
And that's after much deep-breathing and telling myself that I would just listen and not take any position.
What how could I not?
And I lost it.

And this is what happens when you lose your temper.

First, you head spins.
Then your face feels like a massive aneurysm waiting to spurt dark red blood all around.
And then you have a out-of-body experience.
I heard my voice went sharp and deep.
Then I started to stress of every word and kept tapping my palm with my fingers. Very very firmly.

Then guilt will come swiftly, unlike anger which creeps up on you ever so softly. Guilt comes unannounced.

I feel bad.

School Is Out

Yesterday was the beginning of a 2 weeks school holidays for the kids. And I can vouch that the bickering and the restlessness set in very early, even on Saturday. Hehe

Mimi & Farah, Aliya's bestfriends slept over the night before and Adani & Ariz fought for Aliya's attention. Ayisha wanted to be included as well. In the end, I concluded that our house may not be the perfect place for sleepovers for tween girls. Too much distraction.

Did I tell you that Ayisha failed her Math paper this PKSR1 ? You see, this took me a lot of courage to write because I felt seriously like a failure myself when I saw her paper. The only consolation is that she can do the addition or subtraction or multiplication or division BUT she completely does not understand and unable to resolve the problem. So even if the calculation is right, it's all wrong since that's not what the question was asking. Sigh! *termenung kejap*

Anyways.

We are driving up north on tomorrow night as MrGart has a work engagement on Thursday and we will bunk down at my auntie's at Alor Star for a while. We should be back on Saturday. The girls have been pressuring us to take them to Genting Highland. But in light of the current non-cash-rich situation we have been for a long time now, that's a little too over the top for us.

We may just go to one of those theme parks, the top in THEIR list is Sun-way Lag-oon. Hmmm We'll see.

Apart from that, nothing much is planned. The girls are slated to attend the ESQ for Kids session on the 13th June and we're going to Pulau Redang on the 19th June. So, I hope the kids will not be too restless until the 19th JUne.

Yikes!

Tanned And Tired

The weekend was 2 real hectic days for us. Ceh ceh ceh .. macam AJK pulak bunyinya.

The Bukit Jelutong Karnival was held at the padang 2 blocks away from our house throughout the weekend. We've had a karnival almost every year but this year took the cake as it was significantly bigger with corporate sponsors particularly TM. There were many many white tents and there was a huge air-conditioned domed tent hosted by TM where there was a stage for activities.

Saturday.

We set out early. Had Mee Udang Banjir. Delicious! And wandered about. My excursion was cut short as Ariz saw a Kuntum mascot, then a Blue Hyppo and then a clown! Sigh. Even Teacher Badri couldn't calm him down. He just wanted to go home. I obliged.

Aliya, Ayisha and Adani were freely going around meeting friends and playing games and stuff. I looked around and there were a lot of boys and girls, of whom I've seen them grow and I feel somewhat contented that this was why we chose Bukit Jelutong. The camaraderie was real and the community is so alive.

Neighbours and friends were abound. This is akin to Ramadhan at the Masjid. The air os festivities and the air of familiarity. And the venue was very very suitable. Apart from dekat rumah I ler. The newly built d'Bayu has great impressive toilets, I learnt. And because it was sited at a slope of a hill, it was instantly bayu-ed i.e. banyak angin.


The padang where the football matches were held. Saturday we had the MBJ United International Football Tourney 2009 for the Under-7s to the Under 14s. BTW, MBJ stands for Masyarakat Bukit Jeluong. Apt, isnt it?

Our very own Under-11 won. yay! I'm waiting for Ariz to be mature enough to participating before calling myself a SOCCER MUM!

I saw Koreans, Brazillian Football School, Vietnam or Laos and some other international schools participating. And all manners of coaches, many of them sporting huge huge pot bellies. Hahahah.

Sunday saw the many veteran matches for residents. MrGart spent the whole day at the field, plotting his fellow neighbours how to win. Hmm, they did win 3rd place, but not without injuries.

I was in blue tudung, sitting out waiting for MrGart's tug-of-war event, with friends and beighbours. They girls have just spent a small fortune and had to sit out with us since Mummy's completely dried up (money-wise).

Saturday night, we milled about there again, for performances and fireworks display. The weather was cool and kids were running around on the field, under the moon. Parents chit-chatted as usual.

There were a few Shuffle competition and I stood gaping. Fooh .. these boys sure have such hairstyles these days. Ruffled hair, highlighted and some have red hair. Hmm. BUt they shuffled well, I thought. Ariz was all eyes. The girls too. *rolls eyes*

Ooooo .. Sheikh Muzaffar, the astronaut was here too, for a few hours and I got to ogle and drool over him in person but not close enough to shake his hands, for fear of ter-hugging him. He's really gorgoeous in person, no touchup!

Sunday morning, I was out at 7:30am with Ras for the Taichi, Line Dancing, Aerobics and Poco-poco. And I had BLAST!

Taichi was subdued and I was sweating profusely. Aerobics was great but the poco-poco was the best fun. We twirled and we whirled and we stepped and we spinned. The instructor was great and the participants were very cooperative. The Line Dancing was all over the place for us, non-line-dancers so we just danced freesstyle in the middle of the stage. It was truly fun.

BTW, I emerged from the 2 days of karnival, tanned and penniless. I had 4 new tudungs (damages best left unknown for fear of MrGart's volcanic eruptions) and I spent a small fortune on some supposedly original crocs at half the price. For me and each of the girls. A neighbour was selling off her grown children's toys and she;s known to inly buy original ones. Grab grab grab. I even got an IKEA kiddie round green table for RM45. Hahah. A steal, really!

So, to those *points to Combi & Elisa* who are still mulling over where to stay, consider BJ. Disclaimer: I welcome any commision.