My Monday night

Yesterday was busy. He he… If you know me well, I love being busy.

I was fasting. Came home, and my 5 minutes later my hubby arrived. That is definitely a rare treat. But… not 1 minute after I see him, he got a call from his boss, and off he went back to his office.

Damn.

7.20 drove to my mom’s for buka and sampai-sampai aje dah adzan. Yahoo ! Mum fried cempedak, which is my absolute favourite (not even the pisang goreng masak can compare to the cempedak’s sweetness) and we had sambal tempe, tauge goreng with tauhu and sup tulang. Oh man, feels like going home for lunch pulak… Yumm…

Sembang-sembang (have you noticed that my world revolves around sembang-sembang. Funny activity for somebody as quiet as I am….) then we were monkey-shocked when Marlin saw the time. 8.30 and none of us had prayed yet !

Pinjam telekung Marlin, and went home straight after because Noreen was coming over. She just got back from UK and I of course buat aktiviti pesan memesan… Buat batter cucoq udang, did my Isyak and waited.

Ian came too so we had a nice time talking (lagi !!) and looking at photos of her trip. Nice. Dan arrived after half an hour they were there and we settled down for a long chat.

Shazmi and Nadia (I swear she is one of the loveliest creatures I have the pleasure of knowing) came by at 15 to 11 and I was in heaven. Ramainya orang kat rumah… Suka !

The first thing Shazmi said to me ? “I can hear your voice from outside Ala !”

Well yeah, didn’t you like say that, like ALL the time ? Meaning for the ohh… past 18-19 years ? So it fails to surprise or chastise me.. Uweekkk….

So more talking and sembang-sembang, more drinks poured, chocolates shared. By 12.45 it was just me and Dan again.

I had a lovely time.

Bliss….

Apa yang Dan cerita sampai kusyuk sangat Nadia dengar ?

Noreen, what is so funny ?

Soon to be neigbours. Discussing their houses.

More talking.

And talking....

The weekend...

I had a busy weekend. Saturday we had a wedding high tea at 2.30 (very nice concept. Ada briyani and kuih muih and bubur) and a birthday party at 4.

Hmmm…. Dilemma for me really when choosing my attire. Kenduri kawin equals baju kurung but I do not want to wear baju kurung to my friend’s do. They are one of my closests friends and I know I won’t be there for an hour. I fully anticipated staying until Maghrib. And baju kurung being dry cleaned only kind of thing, I will have to be on guard all the time, well….you know lah….

Dan reasoned that since the wedding is a high tea kind of thing, maybe it is safe to be casual. Hmmm…. So I opted for trousers and kebaya top. And sucked in my tummy.

The wedding reception was for my arwah sister’s-in-law brother, Ujang. He proudly announced that he will now be known as Kawin… ! He he… Predictably, I shed a few tears while eating because I expected arwah to be there. And predictably, my mom and her mom parted teary eyed and therefore induced my eyes to water. Again.

Hmmmm……….

Went straight to Min and Farid’s and was the first to arrive. Well seksyen 11 and seksyen 9 are only separated by a road so it took us 2 minutes to get there. As predicted, we stayed until almost 8, talking and teasing and laughing.

I had always liked a small gathering of close friends where we could really sit down and talk. The food was good. They barbequed chicken and sea food and it was lovely. I was so relaxed.

Plus the kids were busy playing, so we didn’t have much to do… Keh keh…

Thank you, Min and Farid. I had a lovely time.

Sunday, Dan and I took my mom to Pasar Tani while the kids were with their coach. Dan refused to let my mom out of my sight because he observed, the women in my family all have the same tendencies. So he is very sure that my mom, like my grandma would just go off on her own and would be lost among the crowds. Yeah well, my mom does own a mobile, le….

Dan’s father asked us out for lunch. Went to Subang Parade, then had Baskin’s for afters and the kids wanted to go home with Atuk. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading and Dan watched the telly.

Picked up the kids, bathed them then went out to Shah Alam Mall for dinner with the in-law’s again. Today is Abah’s birthday, so I supposed he just wanted to be with his family although only we were there with 6 of his grandkids. The rest already had prior engagements.

So came home, the day rather filled with activities.

Hmmm…..

Who is Mrs Jones ?

I have been listening to Me and Mrs Jones for the past few weeks.

What a sexy number. Uber, uber sexy. The piano, and the sax… well, made me yearn for my own Mr Rashdan. If this song is a woman, she will be Jessica Rabbit personified. Red dress, boobs out, pouty lips, tumbling locks, the come-hither look… Errr… Not lah, that is more cheap, than sexy. Keh keh..

Moving on…

When I listen to this song, I would have the compelling need to close my eyes and my body would sway to the rhythm. The lure of the music is intoxicating. Since I can only listen at the office, I have to be careful and not get too swept with the alluring tune. Or HR will come a-calling.

But, now the question is who the bloody hell is this Jones woman ? For weeks I have envied the tremendous love bestowed upon her. What powers does she have to stir so much feeling and emotion that her lover composed such a tantalizing and soulful song for her ? A song that stabs my heart sometimes, to be honest.

Marvin Gaye, Mr Sexual Feeling himself sang for her, Michael Buble is very much worshipping her in my ears at this very moment. If Harry Connick Jr does the same, I fear I would swoon. He would jazz it up beautifully.

The thing is yeah, I don’t think the relationship is sexual because they meet everyday, at the same café, same time at 6.30. There is no indication whatsoever that he ever followed he home or she him.

They just seem to only hold hands, listen to their favourite songs on the jukebox and make plans.

What a woman she must be to be loved passionately so. Possibly by 2 men. Her husband and her lover ! Hmm…. She could be a battered wife, true. That is why she has somebody else on the side. SO run awaylah Mrs Jones, because this guy loves you. He has been singing it, begging you to be with him silently (the undertones are all over the song…)

But then again, there is his wife. So… well… Being a wife, I don’t want you to be a bitch and breakup a family, happy or otherwise.

I hate this song.

But I have to listen to it every single day.

He he…

PS : Bought the cd yesterday… Bloody sexy….

PS : Listen to the song. The widget is on your right.

Blue River

I am reading a book by Freya North at the moment, called… erm… ahh…. Well something. Sorry, the title completely eluded my memory. Just so you know, this is not my first book by her.

I have red Chloe, and Pillow Talk, and Home Truth and Fen… Love them all.

Anyway, I am only halfway through it but I can say it is rather good. Quite a different style of writing from her norm. The subject is of course love, but in a nicely different angle and totally gripping.

How to know if it is gripping ? Well if I have to read in bed, and not keep it for the on the john moments only. He he…

Anyway, nice as it was she had made one error. It is imperative that I give you a bit of a summary of the book to help you understand.

Tess took a job housesitting Joe’s house. Joe builds bridges and travels a lot so he wants somebody to housesit while he is away, to you know let the air in, feed his dog, turn on the pipe especially in winter as the pipe might get frozen if unused, blah, blah, blah.

Of course the inevitable happened and they fell in love. There is a picture of Joe that Tess found when she first moved in and had always wondered about because he looked happy. So she assumed somebody that Joe truly loves was the one behind the camera for him to smile so handsomely for. At the back of the picture, KL was scribbled.

In came Joe’s Alzheimer sufferer mom who let it slip (well she was not herself) that Joe once had a girlfriend called Kate. This revelation was made when Tess had fallen in love with Joe and therefore she was consumed with jealousy. So that who KL was. Kate L something. In a moment of madness (madness because they were still just employer and employee, skirting around does she/he like me issue), she confronted him when he got back from one his travels.

Joe smiled because he explained, KL stands for Kuala Lumpur. He had a bridge built there and apparently a Japanese guy with 3 kids was the one behind the camera.

Now here is the mistake. Mortified, Tess took a good look at the picture and wondered why she failed to notice that the colour of Sungai Klang was blue, instead of the murky milky tea colour of the River Tees, where she initially suspected the picture was taken.

Errm…. Hello sister. I have never seen the Sungai Klang to be blue. Never. It had always been milky tea to me, no matter from where I looked at the river.

Now I am asking, is there any point along the river where it is actually blue ?

Ada ke ?

Now I know why he is balding...

I was a bit merajuk semalam.

And to pujuk, my husband jumped on me and started to gomoi. Please, it was not sexual at all.

He was terrible at it when we first got married. He couldn’t understand the concept and didn’t know what to expect.

He was also very bad at main sepak-sepak. Not sepak as in tendang/kick but sepak as in slap. It was a game devised by my Ayah. It is fun really. It involved us trying our darnest to slap him and he will try his all to block our slaps.

He is very good and we took it seriously because you see, after that it is our turn. He would be the one doing the slapping and we would be working hard blocking and avoiding his rains of slaps.

Sounds bodoh but actually it was fun. SO us kids grew up fully trained in the art of slapping and protecting ourselves from the blows. A bit like Wax On/Wax Off kind of thing, I suppose.

By the way, when I first got married, I was hard at work initiating my husband to our crazy games. But it was fun too…. Keh keh.

But yesterday, I found that he is now better than his sensei a.k.a me.

He managed to pin me down and tickled me with his nose. I nearly peed in my knickers. Then as my hand swung to his face, he blocked it expertly. We were stunned and went “Whoah..” in unison.

Then I tried again and again and again, and he waxed on/waxed off expertly. Last-last aku tarik rambut dia.

Laa… patutlah mamat ni botak…. It was my fault after all.

Keh keh…

PS : To those High and Mighty people, don't you dare go 'tsk' 'tsk' 'tsk' in disapproval. Don't like, toksah kawan, habih cerita... Kan Desert Rose, kan ... Gomoi - menggomoi membawa bahagia...

An ode (odd)

Mate,

You are not a loser.

Remember that.

Stop degrading your self.

And putting your self down.

You are lovely just the way you are. Okaylah, you probably need to listen better (cheeky….) but you are you.

People make mistakes.

To err is human. Don’t be too hard on your self.

But errmm.... it doesn't mean I am saying it is all your fault, yeah ?

You will figure it out… this predicament you are in.

We will give you a helping hand if you need it.

I believe she loves you.

So be patient.

And for god’s sake please have some restrain, yeah ?

Oh, don’t be a wanker.

And a twat, too.

Ah well... you know her better, so you know what to do or when to just let go.

There.

Take care.

PS : Thank you for caring and for nosing in... I am okay with that..

Aku merepek meraban

Yesterday, I read the musings of a friend. She said, people like to talk bad about her because she doesn’t conform to the Malay ways of life, because she is different.

I know how she feels because well, I have been treated the same way, too. Little things that I took for granted as being the way of life is perceived as very menunjuk-nunjuk by other people.

I don’t know why I am never in the right crowd. You know, my last office the crowd is like this. At my first job, the crowd is different from the previous one, but among themselves, they are cut from the same cloth. Even here in my 3rd outfit, I still stood up like a sore thumb.

When will I ever get to work with people of my own kind ? What is my kind ? I dunno. I thought we are all the same and different at the same time.

“Makan sambal belacan ?”

“Makan… mestilah….”

“Samalah kita…. Bagus, bagus…”

“Pernah panjat pokok kelapa ?”

“Tak pernah lah pulak….”

“Ade ke tak pernah panjat pokok kelapa ?”

“Laa…. Salah ke ?”

“Psstt… ko tahu ? Minah tu tak pernah panjat pokok kelapa…..”

“Iye ? Ko biar benar…”

Dah jadi cerita…

The truth is, I never minded that they were different from me. I like to have my questions answered really and learning new stuffs. My questions came from watching drama Melayu where I have always puzzled at the fact that since those people on tv are Melayu, and the last time I checked my family is one too, then why do they talk like that ?

I have never heard my mom went, “Abang nak makan apa ? Saya masak yang istimeeeeewwwwa untuk abang….” Lentok-lentok.

My mom says, “Alit, I masak nasi tomato hari ni. You lapaq dak ?” Cekak pinggang.

Or a mom went, “Makan sayang, mama dah masak ni….”

My mum? “Come and get itttt……!”

So takpelah. I always blamed on the fact that we talk a mixture of Penang, Perak, English and normal BM. So when I started working and have a glimpse of their lives, I went like, “Wow… drama swasta is a reflection of real lives !!” And I sat down and learnt.

But they look at me and frown and asked why I talk funny or why am I like that. Of course, we became good friends and I ended up loving 2-3 very much, the feelings reciprocated but to get there was quite confusing and horrendous.

Paling yang depa suka cakap is about how I am with Dan.

I once heard one said, “Tengok tu Kak X. Macam tu dia cakap dengan laki dia…”

Cakap macamana ? How am I suppose to talk to my husband ?

I call him Dan. Because he is Dan. To call him abang is impossible because one, I am older by 3 weeks. Two, we met at school and there was no way I were to call him abang kalau tak nak mati kena kutuk.

Sure when there are times I bengang I will show him my fists. Show aje. Because that is what I do with my siblings … and my dad. I left one colleague with her mouth hung open when I confessed bila dan tika I bengang tahap gaban dengan my husband, if he happens to be on the bed, I will jump on him and start to gomoi.

You see, gomoi is a well loved activity in my family. Sometimes Ayah will holler from the bedroom, “Jom gomoi !!!” and we will run and jump on him and start rolling around on top of each other and went Yargh ! Yargh ! Yargh !

This was the best opportunity to throw a sneaky punch or head dunk or just plain debik sebiji with whomever we have a grudge on. Kalau sorang start “Owwww!” and we will go “Kalau tak boleh sakit sikit toksah main….” And none would be the wiser. Keh keh …. Errm… jangan terdebik Ayah dah lah.. Eleh, kalau kena pun Ayah will just laugh..

But that is me. I grew up like that. But salah ke ?

Why must you whisper behind my back just because I do things differently ? I cannot talk to my husband like you do with yours because seriously, Dan will start looking for Ustaz kat Darussyifa if I do.

“Makan bang… saya masak hari ni khas untuk abang…” Kelip-kelip mata, lentok berbagai.

Lepaih Dan terkedu sat and shudders sebab geli dan geleman, dia panggei GhostBuster Malaya. Haa… baru nak kena ….


It is okay isn’t it if I am different from you because you see you are different from me too. But I take you just the way you are. Janganlah kutuk… Tak best, Allah pun marah…

Anyway who to say who is more Malay ?

Err… you guys get what I am trying to say ?

Robot yang handsome dan oh so macho…

So Jumaat, kita pi tengok Transformers, again. I needed to fill in some gaps, Ian tak pernah pi tengok lagi and Dan just wants to watch it again.

Optimus Prime kata, “I rise and you fall….” Hai lah…Awat hang handsome, robot oii ?

We had dinner after the movie, tak sempat before so stuffed ourselves with popcorn during.

It was still as thrilling.

Megan Fox is a tad too tanned, I think. And she managed to keep her jeans still white after the inferno of fire and the amount of sand and dirty floors action. Sure it was dirty but it remained white. You can still see that the jeans are white. Don’t know why I am picking on that.

Anyway, questions. What happened to Wheelie and Mudflap and Skid ? Mati ka ? Because at the end tak nampak pun….

Well… that was Friday. Saturday we had a birthday party again. May, June and July are filled with birthday parties for my family.

Started off with Esya on May 5th, then her dad on May 28th then her arwah ibu on May 31st. Then mon anniversaire on the 9th of June. Ima the 21st, Ijat the 23rd and Marlin on the 24th. Mum’s on the 30th, Dan’s the very next day on the 1st of July then last sekali Ita on the 17th. After that, kemarau sat until December.

It is easier with pictures.

Mummy cutting the agar-agar santan gula merah. SO yummy. More popular than the cake that I bought from Concorder Hotel. By the way, the cake was good, too. I am seriously bored of Secret Recipe cakes, okay ?





The birthday boy, my baby brother Ijat and the birthday girl, Marlin. Yang enter frame tu Mail. Not his birthday as his is in January.





Mail and Marlin, our two doctors. They want to eventually open a clinic calls Klinik Mail and Marlin. I told them takde orang pi punya sebab it is as good as calling the clinic Klinik Cumi dan Ciki.






Mummy and Dan's birthday. One year Dan told my family he wants a birthday party on his own, tak nak share ngan Mummy. He said tak pernah rasa cake tu tulis nama dia sorang. Teruk kena kutuk kaw-kaw punya dengan my adik-beradik. Padan muko.

This time, Elsa enter frame sebab nak blow the candles.

Masa birthday party Mummy and Dan on Saturday, Hyrul asked Ijat, our resident photographer, what happened to the pictures during Marlin and Ijat's party. You have to wait a looooonnngggg time, Hyrul. Rasanya dia nak submit gambar2 tu kat National Geography gak, kot. Title, the natives of Sek 8, Shah Alam.

Happy birthday, people.