Oh... now I know..

Aku tau kenapa aku kena chronicle my weekends.

We were in Bidor. We were parked at the side of the road. Kamil and his mom were buying pulasan. Me and the kiddies and Kamil’s dad were waiting inside the car.

While waiting I told my children, “I am expecting a karangan of what we do today, as usual. So please tengok keliling and observe the place. You have to learn to make your karangan longer and more interesting…”

“Tengok kat luar tu, what do you see ?”

“A rusty car…” Answered Abang.

“Exactly, so you can put that in your karangan, ‘While waiting for my grandma buy pulasan, we saw a rusty car lying by the road. Hmmm…. I wonder, what had happened to it to be left alone like that, far away from his family …’. Macam tu lah baru orang boleh bangun dari tidoq… Ini tak habis-habis ‘I went to a kenduri. I ate nasi with ayam goreng. And then we went home....’...”

And then, I could hear my FATHER’s voice saying, “Sambil baca pun orang boleh tidur….” while I repeated what he said, and I saw him slumped on his chair, pura-pura tidur, MY karangan paper flapping from the wind in his hand. But I restrained from emulating my father. Malu Pak Mentua aku ada dalam kereta.

Ah yeah, the classic “I am so like my dad/mom” situation where as you speak, you realized how much you sounded like your parents.

When I was small, urrghh….we kids had to the same. Most outings must be paid with a karangan afterwards. I remember going to Kamil’s parents’ 50th birthday party. My baby brother Ijat wrote, “There was cake for Mr. Os (not Os le mangkuk, 50… baca terbalik….) and there was Coke….” or something of that effect. Ijat was like 7. Ha ha…

I so love my daddy and I so wanted to please him so I always tried to impress him. My stories got more elaborate as time went by under his encouragements. And when my siblings started ignoring his orders, I was the only one who remained faithful, obediently submitting my writings.

So that is why, now I know, why I needed to chronicle my weekends. Practise does make perfect and eventhough there was like, I dunno, 15-20 years hiatus (I have only started my blog like 3 years ago), it was just like riding a bike, something that you would always know no matter how long ago you stopped.

And now, I am continuing the tradition.

Errr…. is this good or bad ?

My weekend

Another 3 day weekend for us. Bliss.

Friday morning we went to watch Sherlock Holmes. I enjoyed it immensely. It was a good movie, so good that Adik paid attention, and obsessed about Lord Blackwood for days. Before the movie, we had breakfast at Ani Sup Utara, Cili Merah tutup, eating loads of nasi lemak bungkus. I love nasik lemak like that, bungkus kecik-kecik. Nak kenyang kena tibai 10. Ha ha….

We had lunch at home. Well the kids did, Kamil and I didn’t sebab kenyang nasi lemak. Tapi pukul 6 petang Kamil bukak periuk, 10 seconds earlier than me. Keh keh… We didn’t have dinner of course, well except for the kids, then pukul 11 malam kami keluar pergi beli burger Otai depan 7-11. Aku nak tanya, apa maksud Otai ? Nama orang ke ? Although I have heard people using it like a verb or maybe a noun. I dunno.

In between Kamil bukak periuk and beli burger Otai, we watched Shinjuku Incident which was very disturbing and we took the kids and my nieces to fun fair kat Stadium Shah Alam. We visited the animals first, ada horses and anak kuda yang looked like Shetland ponies. We saw goats (and smelled them), deers and the icing on the cake, the rabbits. RM3 sorang nak masuk and bila anak2 ku dilepaskan, mereka berlari macam orang gila, not knowing which rabbit to peluk, or gomoi or bagi makan…

Esya took such a loooong time to feed the rabbits sampai yang lain-lain dah boring and aku paksa dia campak je the food to the milling and overfed rabbits. Makcik tu rupanya dok bagi sebutir seekor okay… Hai… bila nak habih ?

Dancing happily as soon as they got in.

Feeding the rabbits.

Beleking the rabbits. Didn't take pictures of the kids on their rides though. Bawak Ana pi toilet lah, apalah... Ha ha

And then of course we tackled the rides. When I went to pick up the girls at my mom’s house, Ana pesan dengan aku, “Mummy kena kokong Ana tau….” I sighed dramatically, thinking about Kamil’s arms which are gonna be sore indeed. Kesian Kamil…. Kah kah…

Yang lain berebut-rebut nak naik macam train ni, dia tak nak. She wants to naik this ride yang pusing keliling tapi naik atas bawah, heran gak aku. “Ana tak takut ke ?” I asked. “Sebab tu Mummy kena pegang Ana kuat-kuat …”

What ? This is the first time I heard I was gonna ride in it. Cess ! While waiting for the abang and kakaks to finish their ride, dia nak pi toilet pulak… WAAA ! At the deers just now, we passed by 2 outdoor latrines. Babah said, “Kids, look to your right and witness your mother’s worst nightmare ….”

Cess… kureng sungguh. But then, masa tu pulak le ada orang bukak pintu nak keluaq dari toilet tu and I saw the inside and it was revolting. Plus, orang yang bukak pintu tu keluar dengan anak dia, and masa tu pulak lah dia pakaikan seluar kat anak dia while the little boy pegang the pintu for balance. I felt faint when I saw that. Kalau aku tu, dah puas aku menjerit, “Don’t touch anything ! Don’t touch anything or I will cut your fingers !!” macam perempuan gila. Yes, aku akan jadi gila kalau aku kena pi public toilet. Outdoor ones, lagi le. That is why, I never went to Glastonbury. Tak teringin pun.

Plus, kalau anak aku tu, selepas aku cuci tangan depa dengan wipes, balik rumah akan ku rebus ayaq and bila dah suam, aku suruh depa rendam jari lama-lama. Oh, before that it is vital that I cut (or their Babah) their nails first.

Anyway, aku dah nak nangis and to me the safest was to do dalam longkang. Puas aku keliling tempat tu dalam gelap (hantu jembalang, perampok dah tak ingat dah) and finally jumpa satu yang tak dak grill and a bit terlindung. Lepas tu aku wipe budak tu sampai berkilat…

Went back to the kids, Babah sengih happy sebab aku kena buat benda yang boleh mendatangkan trauma, we trooped to the ride yang Ana nak naik. He he… dengan Babahnya sekali kena naik… Dah nak sampai, Ana who was holding my hand let out a cry and when I looked, and … I was presented with dugaan yang paling berat sekali. Her kaki cerluih masuk grill longkang, and selipar dah masuk dan bergaul dengan ayaq longkang. I cried with Ana, while my hands reached in and fished out her crocs. I looked up and saw Kamil smiled with mirth at me. “Malam ni dahsyat betul untuk ya ?”

Setan ! Bukannya nak tolong aku. Dahlah wipes tinggal berapa keping saja. I wiped her crocs then wiped her small, cute foot then wiped the blood that weeped out from quite a long gash.

Aiseh…. Mesti ada drama ni sebab ada darah. Habih lah aku.

I have no choice but to swoop her up in my arms, kissing her tears. “Wawawa… Mummy salah….” She said, pointing at me. Terbeliak jap mata. Apasal lak ? “Sebab kalau Mummy kokong Ana, measti Ana tak jatuh ! Ana kan dah cakap Mummy kena kokong Ana…Wa wawawawa !” Dalam aku dok menangis terkenangkan my poor jari-jemari yang telah terkena air longkang, aku tergelak kejap. Ko ni kan Ana…..

Babahnya ? Gelak besar. EEEEEEIIIIII !

The ride was terrible though. It shook and made creaking noises and aku punyalah dok mengaji, memohon perlindungan dari Allah SWT. Dahlah sempit. Babah naik ngan Esya and Adik. Aku lak naik ngan Abang and Ana. Pandai Babah.. dia buat geng kurus ngan geng debab. Rasa macam nak tercabut je the car yang bawak geng debab.

We went home straight afterwards sebab Ana was of course, cranky. “Ha ? Dah nak balik dah ?” Esya asked. Sorrylah Esya, dah adik meragam. My fault pun… ha ha…. I had the shock of my life when Abang yang super duper penakut said, “Saya baru nak masuk rumah hantu….” Rugi. I will take Abang for that sole purpose later this week.

Nak masuk dalam kereta, dia bagi arahan, “Mummy letak shaya dulu, pastu Mummy duduk, pastu baru Mummy angkat shaya okay ? Angkat shaya pelan-pelan sebab kaki shaya shakit…”. Eeeeeiiiii….. pok kang… Nasib baik comei… We went to Shah Alam Mall to buy dinner for the kids (Mummy and Babah makan pukul 6 petang kan…) and a box of Princess Handiplast for Ana. Babah kokong the whole way. Ha ha…

Saturday sent the kids to tennis class (aku baru tau yang kelas tennis sebenaqnya Sabtu AND Ahad and not Sabtu or Ahad… ha ha….) and then aku pergi cuba mencantikkan muka aku dengan berfacial bersama DR. Since this is kali pertama kami berfacial together-gother, aku tak tau apakah preference minah ini…. Samada mau lena ka atau mau bersembang ka atau mau bertafakur ka… So berkali-kali ku tanya, ‘Hang lena ka ?’. Of course kalau dia dah terlena, pasti akan dia terjaga mendengar sora ku yang lantang berani ini.

For RM 50 is very cheap, so I was happy. As always, sebab kerja-kerja mengorek white heads and black heads dilakukan, aku keluaq spa dengan muka yang berbintik-bintik macam kena chicken pox. Ku khabarkan kepada DR, “Kalau aku tau, aku awai2 pakai Biore black head stripper tu….”

Arriving home, seperti biasa Kamil chom. Pantang sungguh bini keluaq. Dia tak pa. “You pegi lama sangat !” Sungguh tak comei muncung panjang sedepa. Lagi tak comei ialah dia muncung sambil mengperabihkan my Satay Ikan. Cess….

Pegi ambik my Mom and off we went to Restoran Puteri yang kat atas bukit tu untuk survey tempat. Susah rupanya bawak mamat yang chom. Aku memang lah tak specify nak makan lunch tang tu, tapi dah sampai at a restaurant at 2 pm, takkan lah tengok pastu belah ? Makan lah sekali. Beria cari alasan tak nak makan kat situ. So, chom pertama sebab aku tak habaq nak makan tang tu. Eh, dak, itu chom kedua. Chom pertama sebab aku pi facial lama sangat.

Pastu ropa-ropanya buffet saja. Pusing tengok makanan, banyak yang dah habih. “Nak makan apa macam ni ?” Tanya laki aku. Dah mai chom ketiga. When I asked if they will be refilling, the waitress said only some of it. The rest will be replaced with another dish. Abang pulak dah teruja tengok ayam goreng dia, terpaksalah kami..eh.. kami okay, dia tu.., makan.

Chom ke-empat, makanan tak sedap. Sampai mak aku pun bagi “Ha ?” bila Kamil start complain. Kami makan okay aje. My mom and I kept exchanging looks. He then took some watermelons for Adik. Itu pun complain. “Panas.” Katanya. I was so fed up, I asked him, nicely of course because mom was present, “You ada masalah ngan Rubiah Suparman ke ? What had she done to you ?” Yelah tak nak makan kat situ, muncung makanan dah habih, pastu tak sedap pulak. Apa ke halnya ?

Ada hati nak sengih and jawab, “I baru bangun tidur masa you balik tadi…..” Mak aku bantai gelak berdekah-dekah. Oh… si Kamil ni terbawak-bawak perangai masa kecik, dah tua-tua pun masih cranky bila terjaga dari tiduq… Nasib baik Mummy ada, kalau dak tang tu jugak aku karate sebijik….

Pastu dibuatnya hantu ni, dia pi ambik lompat tikam (the name is correct, right ?), tapi dia ingat kuih talam so dia makan bogel je without the kuah gula merah. Tawaqlah. Aku tunjuk kat dia jug gula merah tu, dia insist itu untuk sago gula melaka. Sedang aku dok tunjuk-tunjuk, Rubiah Suparman lalu and ingat aku tunjuk kat dia so dia mai.

Bila aku sengih and geleng kepala (buat malu aku je si Kamil ni…), Cik Rubiah ni ternampaklah pinggan dessert Kamil ni and tegur, “Eh.. ini kena makan dengan kuah gula… tawar tu….”. Pandai lak si Kamil tu sengih-sengih and terus mangkit ambik kuah. Tadi dengan aku sikit punya bergaduh… Kalau aku tau, aku jadi superstar awai2 sebab ropanya hanya superstar sahaja yang boleh mengawal si Kamil ni.

Eeeee…. Geram.

Balik and of course bergelimpangan depan tv. Sebab it is December, we have our own winter… which we call the monsoon season… he heh…. Kamil brought down the extra quilt lepas aku hentak kaki. Jangan ingat dia aje ada perangai budak-budak, aku lagilah. Of course kami lena, sebab sejuk-sejuk, and cosy and comfy.

Kamil ajak pi Uptown, and when we passed Darabif and remembered Shazmi’s glowing praises we stopped to try. Seriously, the beef patty was good. It was thick and juicy. You can take a pass at the fish fillet, but the lamb burger was rather good too. Oh, refrain from having cheeseburger because the sliced cheese sucks.

Yang best, the dessert menu includes pisang goreng. Perfect. I who hate McDonald’s (Adik too share my dislike of the food the stupid clown serves) was happy. No late night sojourn to buy burgers. Lega.

Kamil went out with Anu Ane for teh tarik afterwards and Abang, Adik and I settled down, all cosied up with a duvet covering us, watching two episodes of The Most Daring. Dia balik aku tak chom pun. Please remember that Kamil oiii….

Sunday because there was no tennis as some of the bigger kids had a tournament, we went swimming. Esya was all ready but as usual Ana refused to go. Minah ni memang susah nak start. Bila dah start tu okay, tapi nak start tu payah. Aku gertak sedikit sebanyak, she agreed and off we went.

Oh, before that we went to pasar Kelang pukul 5.30 pagi, boleh ? I thougt Kamil was just joking when he suggested it, tapi when he woke me up, it was really 5.30 am ! I who didn’t believe him earlier didn’t mention to anybody that we were going, fully thinking that I could sms and call people (especially my mother) in the morning. Tapi since it was 5.30 am, I just went without taking any orders. “Don’t you dare tell my mother we went…” Itulah amanah ku pagi-pagi.

Anyway, my Ana is a girl of few words but many, many songeh. She hasn’t found her fish tails yet, but pelampung is a no-no. Yang yes-yes ialah Mummy kokong dia and ikut je mana dia nak pegi… Boring tau. So Babah singgah rumah PIL to get Adik’s old sit-in pelampung. Of course dia tak nak. Aku tau bukannya apa tu, dia ni penyegan. Dia malu kalau orang tengok.

Babah tak kira. He floated the pelampung, pressed the honk on the pelampung’s toy steering wheel for good measure, lifted her up and put her in. Pastu Babah quickly pulled her. Suka pun. “Besht, Mummy….” Ha…. Tu lah ngko.

We swam until tangan semua kecut. And tummies growling. Babah said, “Boleh tak you masak, I tak nak makan luar….” Alahai… kalau aku masak, lama lah lagi. Pastu banyak songeh pulak tu. Nasik tak mo. “If you want pasta, we have to singgah supermarket for ingredients..” pun tak mo. Nak chicken chop ke, fish and chips ke apa ke semua kena singgah supermarket. Nasi je buleh sebab dah pi pasar. Muncung pun muncui….

“Oh, I ada keaw tiaw… Keaw tiaw (I really do not know how to spell this…) Cantonese boleh lah….”

The answer ? “Apa-apa yang senang untuk you….” Iya ? Kalau senang pi makan kat kedai, wokey.

Balik aku masak. Sebab ramai, I had to Cantonese some Yee Mee, too. Habis semuanya. Sian… the kids had to wait with rumbling tummies for Mummy to cook. Babah, Ana and I watched the telly after lunch and the rest of the kids played Wii upstairs.

Fed Ana homemade chocolate cake which she loves. Masalahnya teringat pulak benda lain. “Mummy tak buat cookies, ke ?” Alahai kau ni Ana. So Mummy dengan berat pungkoknya pi check ingredients. She found all the ingredients except for the butter. “Sorry Ana…..” But then about 5.30 when their Ayah called with orders to mandi and siapkan his girls by 6.30, masa tulah rasa kesian sangat kat Ana.

“I ni kan Kamil macam tak tau bawak kereta yek… Apa salahnya I pegi kedai beli butter ?” Herot mulut Kamil while throwing his wife a disdained look. “Namanya malas…” Pastu gelak macam dia buat kelakar paling best abad ini.

Ini yang nak kena ni…. Homemade chocolate cake ada dalam fridge. Tadi aku masak Keaw tiaw Cantonese…. Semalam masak spaghetti Bolognese… malas lagi ? Aku hempuk kang.

Waved the kids goodbye and we went up to mandi and pray. Went to Cili Merah for Naan and Tandoori (please remind me next time to just share with Kamil….), and then settled down to watch Dark Knight.

Woke Kamil up for bed but he wanted to watch a football match. Went down many times to check up on him, waking him up everytime and hearing his “I tak tidurlah… I tengah tengok bola ni….” Yeah right. Suka hati hang lah, Labu….

Hmm… so long….. Sorry…

Sesi melepak

I was busy these past few nights.

Tuesday Shazmi asked if we would like to lepak, suggesting visiting his new home. He and Nadia picked us up with pizzas and lovely, lovely homemade currypuffs.

Can you see the gorgeous karipaps disebalik pizza box itu ? Sedap giler, okeh..

Their house was lovely. Spacious with en-suite bathrooms for all bedrooms, 2 storerooms (something that I can only dream of) with plenty of lights. We had a tour of the house, had dinner at their new dining table and resumed the night on their new sofas.The concept was very minimalist, no clutter, very nice.

Cermin all around the house...well the ground floor only. Made the house looked bigger and buat aku a bit tension. I kept thinking that there are more rooms that I can go, but I actually can't.

Plus the karipap was superb. He he… Kamil had 3 helpings of the cheesecake which was very good too. Cuma aku sibuk ngan karipap kan….dah tak buleh nengok benda lain. I didn’t even eat the pizza. Concentration kat karipap…

Before Shazmi picked us up, aku sempat buat chicken pie and freeze them. For my guests on Wednesday night. After work Wednesday afternoon, I quickly baked a cake and baked the pie and pukul 8.30 dia orang sampai.

Lina… my best friend when we were in form1. Me, her and Ela were inseparable until we were 15. After SRP, her parents sent her to Assunta. She is now residing in Australia and I haven’t seen her.. well, boy in years !

She came with Fid and her sister Liza and we had a grand time talking and be merry.

We moved to the living room to talk and as we baring-baring and golek-golek and gelak-gelak, I was transported back ages ago when were 13 and we used to lepak-lepak and golek-golek at her parent’s living room. Her parents’ home is very near to the school so after school or before school we will definitely singgah her house and kacau her sister, who had become our friend too.

How I miss those days !

Nak cerita benda bodoh kita orang buat memang banyak. Nantilah. For now, just putting an entry in my blog that Lina is home and she visited me last night.

Thanks, Lina. And Kak Liza and Fid, of course.

They went home almost 1 am. Bliss….

Ini cake tak jadi. Biasanya I make strawberry cake with vanilla sponge. Tapi hari tu aku gatal lak nak guna chocolate sponge. Tapi tidak ku ketahui the cake is a bit too light for me to cut into half and sandwich it with cream and strawberries topping it with strawberry icing. Fearing the cake would break, I slathered the cake with cream on top instead and tabur the strawberries, omitting the icing altogether. Looked much nicer actually. Sayangnya, Kamil threw away the strawberry icing... I can use for next time le... Ishh...

Lina and Fid. I was happy that my reunion with Lina wasn't awkward after so long not seeing each other. We got on like we last saw each other just yesterday !

Kak Liza... He he.... She is precious this one.

Si Kamil menyorok kat atas when they came. Macam tak dak hidung. Aku naik atas tengok dah tiduq. Tapi aku gerak suruh dia tangkap gambaq... He he



This is how we looked like when we were 15. The same pose after all these years, bergolek-golek kat living room. We never change.

Christmas and Movie Reviews

About 2 weeks ago we went to Subang Parade sebab Dan wanted to buy new futsal shoes. Christmas is just around the corner kan so the mall was suitably decorated. Got in the car and I had my Mariah Carey cd on and suddenly one of my favourite songs by her, All I Want For Christmas came on.

I love that song. Because it is catchy. Sure I don’t celebrate Christmas but I can’t help liking the song.

Anyway, apart from its catchiness, I love that song because it was in one of my favourite movies of all time, Love Actually.

Now, I love that movie. I find that it hit me at all the right places. The romance inspires me and made me went awww….. Plus it has Colin Firth and Hugh Grant in it, both whom I absolutely adore. Especially Firth… I find him so endearing…

Aside from that, that movie potrayed love at all levels and all kinds. Love for your brother, and love that transcends class and language, love for your cheating husband, love for your dead wife’s son, so on and so forth. The movie made you feel warm and fuzzy and for that 2 hours yeah, you feel that actually, everything is gonna be all right.

You lose yourself in the stories because the actors were excellent, and the direction superb, and the script was amazing.

Cinta came out after that, a Malay version of Love Actually. And for me who had always been very critical of Malay movies, loved it. Sure there were corny moments but all in all, it was a very good effort.

So… Christmas made me think of Love Actually and Cinta and for a moment, made me warm and my heart glowed.

Oh yes… I promised movie reviews yeah ?

New Moon

Since I have read the book, there are no surprises there but it helped to see everything that you read translated on the big screen. I somehow do not think that Kirsten Stewart is a good actress. I got quite menyampah tengok dia pulak. Edward Cullen looked like a ponce this time around. He looked so much better in Twilight but this time around, his lips were redder, his lashes suddenly got very long and his face, well…. the new director must have decided that he in Twilight was not pasty enough, so for New Moon, please double the bedak. He looked horrible.

But Jacob was dreamy. And Bella was right, he is beautiful

It is a good movie, and for those we have read the book, please go see it. Kalau tak rugi. And all those nice things he said, when you read it you tak rasa sangat, but when you actually see Edward Cullen said it, you go like, “Damn it, this hantu is romantic !”

“You breathing is a gift to me ….” Or something like that.

And then he said, “I do not want to be in a world that you are not in…” or something of that effect.

Sigh…. Bless him.

Ninja Assasin

Oh, oh , oh… Ini cerita banyak sedih. It was said that ninjas kidnaps children to be trained as assassins. Apparently it is a common practice for governments or companies to use ninjas as hired assassins. So that is why kidnapping children is a must.

Rain was one of them, trained under a grueling and cruel regime. Part ni sedih lah bila depa tunjuk how little boys kena belasah, berdarah-darah sebab sensei depa strict Na’uzubillah.

And it is very, very gory. Scenes of severed limbs and torsos and heads are common. Blood splashed out generously all over, sampai aku rasa sayangnya darah-darah ni… jamu buang kat the Cullens pun tak pa.

Aku suka cerita ni. Banyak persoalan yang timbul, so aku ada sedikit tak puas hati but still it is very good.

Avatar

Tak payah lah aku cakap banyak. Hangpi pi sajalah tengok. The CGI is excellent, the imagination the best I have ever seen so far. Umar tak berkelip mata tengok. Habis aje he said, “Awesome !”

But it was too long and aku yang dua kali pi toilet. Aku tarik jugak Elsa ikut but she was upset. Dalam toilet she told me, “Cepatlah Mummy ! I don’t want to miss anything !!”

He he..

So if you are like me, needing the toilet all the time, please watch Avatar at the CineLeisure because the toilet is damn clean !

Not our usual Sunday

I know I have chronicled my weekend but today, I want to go in depth at what happened on Sunday.

I was getting ready for a jog. Babah and the kiddies were downstairs already, for a light breakfast. When I went down, I found my family at the back, talking. Babah was sweeping the floor and the kids crowding him, voice rather distressed.

“Hamsters lari !” said Babah as soon as he saw me.

“What ?”

“Yeah… I think kucing kot…” Said Babah in a lowered voice.

“Hah ? Kena makan ?” Asked I, voice raised.

Babah widened his eyes at me and at the same time, Abang and Adik looked at me in aghast.

“Tak ! Babah kata dia orang lari !” Said Abang.

“Dia kena makan ke Bah ?” Tanya Adik pulak.

Aiseh… Lupo ada budak kat depan mata…

“Oh…. Yeah… dia orang lari….” Said I, still much shocked, so my voice was low and my speech slow.

“The cat helped them to escape, Mummy !” Said Adik.

Aku diam. Rasa bersalah gila bab punya sebab semalamnya… hmm… aku ada terpikir, how can I get rid of these hamsters ? Dengan Gizmo memboyot-boyot and hamsters rajin beranak, I do not fancy myself operating a menagerie. Okay, maybe a menagerie is a bit much… but you know what I mean kan ?

Dok aku terkedu tang tu sat, Abang looked at me with pleading eyes said, “Mummy… hamsters suka makan, so when they are hungry they will find their way back home…”

Err…. Okaylah. Anything to make you guys happy.

In the car on the way to class, Babah told them, “Kalau Aunty Tia tanya, kata we gave the hamsters away kay ? Tell her kita dah bagi kat orang…” I then heard what sounded like a very horrifed silence at the back then Abang asking incredulously, “You want us to LIE to Aunty Tia ?”

Errrkkk ! Silap strategy. Now I think it’s the kids turn to hear our horrified silence. Macamana buleh aku lupa my goody-2-shoes sermons selama ni, especially since the perils of lying is my favourite subject.

Brain whirred and started spinning and I came out with, “We are lying to her to spare her feelings. Ini namanya bohong sunat (Aku dah lupa outcome debate bohong sunat ni… masih relevan ke bohong sunat ?). We lie to take care of her feelings, so that she won’t feel sad. Lying yang saja suka-suka can cause a lot of problems, Allah pun marah….Allah potong lidah masa kat neraka.. But sometimes for the greater good, we can lie to save the situation…..”

I sighed, feeling wretched because my explaination wasn’t very good. Karang dia tipu exam result dia supaya aku tak sedih pulak, payah lak…. Tolong lah aku ni, wei… ! I have to come up with a better explaination.

Anyway, all of us felt uneasy. I know the children were painting quite a few different scenarios on the fate of the hamsters. But for me and Dan who knew what had happened (alas, what else can happen ? The cage dah terbalik and the outside tube was wrenched opened. Mesti kerja kucing. Unless the 3 hamsters planned to simultaneously threw their body to one side of the cage to topple it over, to loosen the tube…? Naaaahhhh….), we felt remorse and guilty and sickened.

Anyway, while we were watching the kids played, three little boys in orange uniforms walked past by. I ignored them until I saw from the corner of my eyes, one pulling a tennis ball that stuck in the wire fence hole and dengan selamba badaknya terus belah.

Terkejut aku dengan Kamil tengok. The little ruffian then showed his 2 other friends a small side door so both of them went in and each took one. Then they ran.

Both of us were left dumbfounded. Those boys knew they were stealing because they ran away after that. The youngest among the three, a boy about 7, was scared when he noticed us looking but he still went by the side entrance to take one and scarpered.

Aku bangun, wanting to give chase but Kamil stopped me. He pointed to the court and I saw coach chasing 2 other boys in the same orange uniform out of the court. “Dia cukup garang, Myra….Lagi garang daripada you…” Yeah sure, but what about the 3 boys that got away. Biasakan lah… If we don’t do anything, mana tahu lagi 10 tahun, he will be the one pick-poketing your wallet ?

I was on the lookout for their leader after that, or their teacher… Surely they couldn’t enter this well guarded place without an adult ? Tapi takde. I only saw older teen boys but no one of authority.

Who the hell are these boys in orange anyway ? And why do they have quite a few rapscallions, and scallywags, plus whippersnappers in their midst ?

My 3 day weekend

Hmmm…. aku boleh macam ada lupa pulak apa aku buat…

Thursday night we had dinner with Ian. Makan Thai food kat Shah Alam Mall. Or that was Wednesday and Thursday we went to buy Adik’s baju sekolah. Either one lah. Nope. Kamil had a wedding on Thursday night. Oh yes, I took the kids to Sushi King after singgah office sat. Pukui 7.30 malam aku sampai office. Boss aku suruh mai jugak so aku angkut anak-anak aku. Lantak le… No maid kan…

Anyway, the 3 of us makan set me back almost RM 90. Budak-budak ni dah tak main dah makan Kanikama aje… which is like RM 2 per plate. They grabbed the Prawn Tempura Sushis which was like RM 6 per plate and Adik snatched a plate of Scallops Sushi. The purple plate. Kopak mak… Next time, kita pegi ngan Babah kay…

What happened Friday ? Err… breakfast at Cili Merah after I sms’ed them tanya bukak ke tidak Maal-Hijrah ni. Err… balik I suppose. Kamil bawak Umar sembahyang Jumaat.

Then we went to see Avatar at The Curve. It was such a hassle to go there because of the jam so Babah parked at his Mutiara Damansara branch and we walked there. Movie review nanti, na. It was good by the way. Totally recommend it.

We didn’t have our dinner there sebab keluaq wayang dah lambat sangat. Babah took us to Popeye’s instead which was a dissapointment. Don’t know if you guys ever eaten Popeye’s before.. about 15 years ago ? Last time it was at that building selari dengan KLCC tu… And that time, it was amazing. Kamil kata maybe my memory was clouded but Mummy remembered Popeye was good. I remember sinking my teeth in their very hot, buttery corn on cobs. I remember the fried chicken.

This time around no corns. Just mashed potatoes yang pelik and a very hefty bill. So not going there anymore.

Saturday was the usual line up of classes. Lunch at home. Then malam… buat apa yek ? Entahlah… Apalah dah tua-tua ni, buat apa kelmarin pun boleh lupa.

Then Sunday was busy. After leaving the kids with their coach, Kamil and I jogged around tasik sampai kaki aku nak tercabut dah. Usually we only take like 3 rounds around the lake at the mosque but this time around, we did 5 laps. 5 !

He didn’t say anything tapi aku lak yang terasa hati. “Si Nigella tu gemuk awak suka aje… Tang saya awak suruh kuruskan badan yek….” And aku muncung. Si Kamil tak tercakap apa tengok aku. He he…

After breakfast watched the children trained sekejap before taking them home to prepare for kenduri at Kamil’s kampong.

And therefore now I remember what happened Saturday night. Kamil balik kampong bawak Abah dia. Because Sunday ada 2 kenduris to attend, one MIL’s sister’s wedding and two PIL’s nephew’s wedding. So I stayed at home and goreng nasi and nasi aku sedap gamaknya sebab anak-anak perabih buang. Bila Kamil balik, dapoq dah kosong and dia berlagak macho tak yah makan. Tengah syok-syok tiduq depan tv (seperti kebiasaannya dia) dia tetiba mangkit kata lapaq. Teruih keluaq pi beli burger depan 7-11. Ha ha…

Anyway, we went to MIL’s other kampong first then to PIL’s kampong. We were surprised that it was a double wedding dekat kampong PIL. Further terkejut sebabnya it was suppose to be a triple wedding but disebabkan atas kesilapan teknikal, tak jadi. Dekat kampong MIL, Kamil and I took turns dukung his niece. Best rasa pegang baby… Tetapi… yeah… well….

Balik rumah dah lewat jugak. I watched the love of my life dok berdengkuq and entah macamana, aku pun boleh terbuai mimpi sekali. Ishh… bukan sahaja yawnings saja yang contagious. Sleeping pun..

Lepas Maghrib keluaq balik pi beli tudung sekolah for Adik. Monday is her school orientation. Dah besar anak Mak… Felt a bit sad when she modeled the full uniform in front of us last night. Hai lah… now I know why my father mourned everytime we reach a milestone. “Hmm… tak dak dah toy ayah….” He would sigh.

Dalam kereta, aku cakap ngan Kamil. “Lega you tahun ni tak payah bayaq school fees Adik…”

He looked at me with a horrified face. “Financially lega lah… Benda lain ? Dah besar-besar ni problem lain pulak… Boyfriend lah… apa lah… Mumble Mumble Mumble…”

Ha ha….

Melalut-lalut aku

Hari tu, I read an entry in one of my favourite blogs about how she spent her cuti sekolah as a child. The way she described it sounded so idyllic, so nice, involving tree climbing and belut and a hoard of other stuffs I never experienced because none of my grandparents lived in a kampong.

My paternal grandparents lived in Bagan Datok Kecil, Butterworth in a terrace house. My maternal ones lived in a TNB quarters because my grandpa is their engineer. After retirement then they moved to the current house. Sure it is called Kampung Tersusun but a normal kampong it is not.

Well…. anyway when I was a little girl, come cuti sekolah we would always go to Penang. Either my dad would drive us there or my Grandma would come pick us up and together we would go by train. There was nothing much to do in Penang I must admit, except stayed at home watching the telly and just accompany my Tok. Tok Wan passed away when I was 7 and eversince that, Tok had lived alone. Thas was why we were always sent there, teman kan Tok.

My other cousins will come once in awhile but not staying long like we did. Usually arwah Aunty Nun who lived in JB would make an appearance. Bab and Mami Ela at that time were overseas. Since Pak Mat lived in Jitra, Pak Ngah in Alor Setaq and Paksu in Kulim, and considered to live near, always visited but never stayed for more than 1 night.

So it was usually up to my eldest brother and me to amuse ourselves and wait for our relatives to come and take us out. Kalau naik lanca lagi best ! Or wait for UMNO people to come or we ourselves attend UMNO meetings. Bo-ring !!! Dah besar-besar ni barulah perasan laa…dulu depa ni selalu pi rumah Tok or selalu jumpa masa meeting UMNO !

Or acara favourite is when Tok suruh pi kedai. We will take this opportunity to check out the off license (I tak tau apa nama dalam Bahasa Melayu… Tok panggei kedai todi… ha ha) and studied the drunks slumped on the table. Budak-budak punya entertainment.

Anyway, talking about school holiday, I was reminded of one of my train journeys with Tok. Being a reader, I usually would pack some books and because of my age, at that point my books were still filled with pictures.

I remember Tok taking out one of my books during the chug-chugging of the train and flipped through it. Suddenly I heard her sniffling and when I looked, I saw tears streaming from her eyes, ruining her mascara. She was gazing at a page in my book.

I had always been very close to Tok so I asked her, “Awatnya, Tok ?” She answered with, “Tak dak apa-apa…” while wiping her eyes with her tudung. I looked at the book she was holding and saw a huge family posing for a family portrait.

Even though I was young, I understood her tears. I think she was missing my Tok Wan who at that time had passed for maybe 2-3 years. I also suspected that she missed her family, missed being surrounded by her children, and missed being the centre of love. But of course it wasn’t something that I could describe at that time, but I understood anyway.

Dah besar-besar ni I think well ada anak banyak pun no point if all of them live far a way from you.

Anyway, a few years after that incident, my Aunty Nun passed away with her family in a horrific car accident. Tinggal my cousin Jimmy aje who was not with them at that time. It was terrible. My parents left in a hurry to inform my cousin who was staying in Subang Jaya at that time. Nak dijadikan cerita, while they were gone, my cousin came to the house as somebody had beated my parents to it and informed him by phone. By phone !! Kebetulan, I was crying at the balcony and lo behold suddenly there was her son, on a motorcycle.

I remember this so vividly, his face crumpled when he saw me. And I knew then that he came to get confirmation from my parents about his family. And he sort of got it from my stupid wailing at the balcony.

Anyway, he took off his helmet and asked, “Mak dengan abah abang Jimmy dah mati yek ?”

And aku sambung meraung yang tadi terhenti sebab terkejut tengok dia. I managed though to say “Mummy pergi rumah abang Jimmy ! Pergi balik and tunggu Mummy kat situ !” Bodoh kan ? But I was 13 and what do you expect from a 13 year old ? Anyway, that was that and I never got to see my aunt and my uncle and my cousins’ grave until today as they were buried in Batu Pahat.

Anyway, for years we as a family were haunted by the death of 4 members of our family just like that. To tell you the truth, I am still haunted by it. I miss my aunt, and my cousins. And my uncle. Before he died, my uncle Amin called home, wanting to speak to my mother. I answered his call and we spent some time talking. Bodohnya aku, all the while I was thinking it was my arwah Pak Ngah, my favourite uncle for some reason.

At the end of the conversation, uncle Amin said something to the effect of “Why is Pak Ngah your favourite uncle and not me ? I am very hurt to know that….” He was just joking of course but I was frantically trying to tell him that I changed my mind, that he is my favourite one now…

Then he died. With his 2 kids, his menantu and my beloved aunt.

You see, my aunt is special. She has this face that can make people happy. She is a nurse by the way and where she worked, some patients joked that they didn’t come to see the doctor at all, just to have Misi Zainun smile at them and they will be fine.

She is the glue to our family, the one that held the family together. The one that people ran to with their problems. My dad was her favourite brother. She used to reminisce about how she would play teng-teng with my dad on her hips. In fact, I had the impression that she took care of my dad more than my Grandma did ! That was how devoted she was to my dad.

So it was a bit sad when the police called our house to announce her death. My mom picked up the phone and was screaming so loud, we woke up with a start. I remember rushing to her and seeing her screaming on the phone and my dad slumped to the wall. It was chaotic.

My arwah Tok Chu and arwah Opah Cho, who were my mum’s aunt and uncle came over to the house early morning and the 4 of them drove to Johor for the funeral, which happened to be 6 months after my Kak Dedek’s wedding. She died together with the baby in her womb.

Astarghfirullahaladzim… Why am I thinking about all this ? Melalut-lalut lah pulak. What I wanted to say was, when Aunty Nun passed away, I pitied Tok even more and always think about her. She was her only daughter and that must have been a real blow. And although she had lived alone for some years by then, I always pictured her getting lonelier with Aunty Nun gone.

Sigh.

Of Neti

Iya…. Kenapa Neti dah balik kampong ? Sebab dia nak kawin.

Hmmm…. nak kata apa ?

Last 2 weeks, Kamil bawak dia pi FOMEMA for work visa renewal purpose. Dalam kereta she asked my husband, “buat medical ni untuk menyambung ya, Abah ?”

Udah.

Kamil quickly sms-ed me and when I got home, I have no choice but to ask her. She was in the Blue Room, tidying it up. Seeing her tidying an unused room already confirmed my worst fears that she was running away from a confrontation with me. Which means, she is going home.

With a heavy heart, aku tanya and dia jawab, “Iya kak, say kan nak married….”

Memang lah… aku ajar ko buat cream puffs lah, buat tarts lah, buat cupcakes lah because you did say you wanted to make them as your hantaran, as your bunga telur.

Aku paham she wants to get married. I want her to get married because she is only 1 younger than me. She wants children and as a mother and a woman (aku segan kekadang panggil diri aku yang masih tak mature ini woman… Ha ha…), I understand and respect that.

But…. “Awak kata kawinnya lambat lagi… Tahun 2011….”

“Iya… tapi ‘kawan’ saya itu mahu cepatkan… Bulan 5 ini dia mahu langsung…..”

I sighed. Pandai-pandai aje mamat ni, yek.

Nasib baik aku ni tak cepat melenting. I explained the 2 year contract and the money I spent getting her here, never deducting some of the cost from her salaries. Most people do kan, tak bayar gaji 3 bulan as a way of sama-sama bayar the enormous amount of money to get the the maid to work here. I didn’t because aku kesian nak potong gaji… Plus, I didn’t pay that much in terms of agent’s fees. So nak potong rasa macam kedekut al-berkira lah pulak…

But still, RM 3500 is a lot of money for her to just work for 1 year ! Maids usually work for minimum of 2.

Aku pujuk dia. Since the ‘kawan’ is a Red IC holder and working in Kajang, I told her to get married but continue working for me. Especially since I give her EVERY weekends off anyway, she can see her husband then. “Hari Jumaat saya pulang awak terus pergi pun tak apa Neti….” Plus she will only be doing this for 7 months, from May till December, then she can go.

Muka dia serba salah. And aku tahu, mesti laki tu tak setuju kan ? After awhile, she said, “Okaylah kak… Saya tak apa-apa…Cuma kalau boleh saya mahu pulang bulan 1 kerna mahu kenalkan dia sama mamak saya….”

“Neti… sejak Hari Raya saya suruh awak balik Neti, beraya di kampong… Raya Haji pun saya suruh balik… Setakat nak balik bulan 1 itu tak ada masalah…” Itu kata aku.

Ada aku lega ? Oh, tidak sekali-kali. Budaknya baik, kan. Dia ikut je cakap orang. Tapi betul ke dia okay ? Menangis ke dia tidur malam nanti ?

Oleh kerana itu sah-sah, malam aku yang tak boleh tidur. Pikir macam-macam.

Dibuatnya mamat tu tak mo tunggu and then cabut lari ngan cewek lain ? Alahai, kesian dia. Aku tak sampai hati pikir hal tu. I could also see that her heart is not in it anymore. And aku kesian. Siapa yang tak nak kawin ? Siapa yang tak nak berpasang-pasangan ? Ada family ?

Kesudahannya, aku rasa nak ketuk kepala cowok nya tu. Senang-senang aje cepatkan tarikh kawin… Aku belasah gak karang.

The next morning, she was her usual self. I expected gloomy silence but dia gelak-gelak dengan aku, cerita hal budak-budak. However I could see a shadow of unhappiness in her and her trying to be happy made me feel wretched.

I sat down with her after work and told her to go home. She was not shocked. She was sad in fact and termenung dia kejap. Then she apologized. But what can I say ? She did say though that her ‘kawan’ said kalau contract 2 tahun, ngak apa-apa…teruskan aja… Tapi well… she loves him and he loves her… what right do I have to stop them from being together ?

Other than that, aku takut gak kalau depa buat maksiat karang…. Hmm… aku idak le menuduh tapi ada ketakutan kalau ia berlaku, aku yang bertanggungjawab.

So she went home. Pokai aku bulan ni sebab aku bayar gaji kira 2 kali lah bulan ni. Gaji November and gaji December. Kamil bagi his share for half month only. Aku lak tak sampai hati pikir dia nak kawin, aku bagi my share in full plus tampung Kamil’s share so that she got full month, plus a small bonus because she had been good, this girl. She took really good care of the kids and the plants.

Ha ha…

Matilah pokok aku minah ni tak de.

Kamil predictably was quite upset. But then, nak diapakan. Nanti dia tengok aku ngan Kamil berdua kang, walaupun tengok tv or bersembang-sembang aje, pilu hatinya pulak… “Aahhh…. Bilakah akan dapat aku bersama-sama Mas Jaboy (bukan nama sebenar… aku tak tau nama dia….)….” Entahlah… aku memang tak sampai hati.

Oh dear…kena bayar to get new maid lagi… bayar immigration… FOMEMA… blah, blah, blah….

The not so long weekend

Hmmmm…… Why was our 3 day weekend wasn’t long ? Well because Thursday I spent half of my day at the Immigration canceling Neti’s work visa.

Yup. My efficient helper wanted to go home and home she went on Friday morning. Why ? Well… that will be in another entry. Anyway, early Friday morning we made our way to Port Kelang. Abang was subdued. Adik was happy. I was sad. Kamil ? Angry of course. Her ? Dunno.

When I hugged her and bid her goodbye, Abang started crying. Masa tu I think Adik baru sedar what was going on. “Bibik nanti balik seksyen 3 tak ?”

“Taaakk…” Bibik answered while smoothing Adik’s hair. Muka dia berkerut sikit and when we walked to the car, minus Bibik who stood at the port’s entrance, she started sobbing. When we passed the entrance and Bibik was still there, she wailed. And both of them sobbed all the way home.

We went for breakfast dekat seksyen 8, with puffy faced and red eyed kids. Cili Merah tutup. Ha ha… And we stayed home. The kids played Wii, Kamil and I watched the telly. The kids ate leftover meat loaf. I wasn’t feeling too well. Body felt heavy and any movements of limbs was a concerted effort.

We went to the club for a swim at 5 and had dinner at Domino’s Carrefour. I do not want to have my pizzas delivered anymore as eating them right there and then was bliss.

Balik the kids slept and Kamil teman while I made 270 pieces of tarts. And 50 cream puffs. Itulah kerja aku sekarang. Kenapa entah.

Woke up early to sambung kerja. Missing Neti the most that very minute. No chatter, no one helping to basuh pinggan. Ha ha…. Why the good ones have to go ? Issshhh….

By 9 was ready to go. In the car Abang remarked that it feels weird without Bibik in the car with us on Saturday. Yeah…. Well…..

After piano, parked my car then jumped into Amelia’s while our kids were doing their art. Pergi pasar then went to her house for a chat before returning to pick up our kids. I cooked lunch, Dan came home and I felt better somewhat. By 4.30 were at sek 6 attending a birthday party. I was woozy for some reason. Couldn’t enjoy the party much which was such a waste as I was in good company. It was Maya’s son birthday party. Maya is my eldest brother’s best friend. So his other best friend Anna was there, Anna’s sister Nadia who is one of closest friend was there but I just sat there on a stool feeling my head. Nadia was sweet enough to offer me medication and fetched a glass of orange drink for me but I was still poorly.

Balik I rested awhile. Kamil tapau-ed Subway sandwiches for the kids. Me and him went without dinner as we ate plenty at Maya’s. I slept early when Kamil forced 10 ml of Bena Expectorant down my throat. Yuck. No wonder Mary Poppins sang about a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down…

Morning Abang went to his tennis class alone as Adik pleaded a headache. Pandai lah ko. Kamil picked Abang up at 10 am and we got ready for a wedding in Seremban with the PIL. The food was home cooked so it was way better than last week. Sedap pulak makan nasi putih ngan ayam goreng. Nak ambik masak lomak tapi ada rebung. The gulai daging was a bit weird, but not unpleasant.

Kamil's dad’s cousin kawinkan anak. When we walked to the car, the mother of the bride whom I only met that very day, walked arm in arm with me. Well… not really. She had her arms on my waist and I returned her gesture. When I entered the car, Kamil asked if I know her ? Inilah satu benda yang aku tensen dengan laki aku ni.

Don’t you know me enough darling ? People are always like that with me. I dunno know why, but they just do. Even his Nenek was hugging me the first time she met me. So aku sedikit chom on the way back. Feeling so detached from my husband. How come lah he still doesn’t realize things about me ? Or maybe, losing Neti exacerbated my gloom and aku saja cari pasal nak chom.

Send the PILs home then fetched my mom and off we went to PJ to visit Tok’s family. Her son passed away Saturday night. Tok is not my own tok. Tok is my Aunty Nah’s mom. Aunty Nah is my mom’s bestfriend since their days in Sarawak. Maybe even before that, I am not sure. Uncle Kamal, Aunty Nah’s husband was my dad’s classmate is MCKK. Tati and Ina, Aunty Nah’s daughters used to play with me when we were kiddies. Till we were in our teens. And although we do not play anymore nowadays, we are still firm friends.

Basically they are family. I am well acquainted with their cousins and their uncles and aunts. So we went to visit. We didn’t see Tok though. Only Aunty Nah and Aunty Piah. And I love going to Tok’s house. Everything still looks the same. Felt different when I entered the house with my husband and children in tow. Haven’t seen Aunty Piah in a loooong time by the way. Her smiling face made me smile. She pulled me into a hug with a “Hellooo….. young lady….” He he… I am not young anymore, Aunty Piah.

Anyway, went home about 3 pm. We did housework. Mainly sweeping the floor and attacking the laundry. Kamil went to his parent’s to help them shift furniture. I stayed home with the kids, talking and watching the telly. Oh and yell at Gizmo from time to time.

Kamil came home and I was glad. Went to Kompleks PKNS for baju sekolah. Was sniffling a bit when Adik tried on hers. Dah besar anak mak. She bought kasut sekolah too. Abang miraculously didn’t put on weight this time, so we bought 2 pairs of school shirts to replace his old ones that looked like he went to battle in them.

The kids wanted Nandos but since they were full and wanted to sit us outside, we changed our minds. The night was hot and me in my batuk-batuk condition … well not a good combination is all. Went for NachosNachos instead and had a satisfying Nachos Hawaiian which included mushrooms and pineapples in the usual organised chaos of corn chips, jalapenos, cheese and tomatoes.

I was getting more poorly when we got home. But I still ironed Kamil’s shirts and trousers for work. And helped him sidai kain. Kamil didn’t force me to down cough syrups this time as I voluntarily scrambled for it after a bout of very chesty coughs.

Dreamless sleep for once. Was glad when mom came at 7.30 to watch the kids. A bit happy thinking that I will have good food waiting at home for me at the end of a day that I am sure will be very, very trying.

Hmmm…………

OOohh.... I am him after all...

When I was smaller, my father said this a lot to me;

“You are my baby girl lah Girl…”

“Even when you are 40 pun you will still be my little girl..”

“You can only take your driving license when you grow a brain…”

Or

“You can only drive when you are 40….”

“Why do you need to wear lipstick ? You are still a baby !” I was like 19.

And this is his way of greeting me

“Hello, little girl….”

Or

“Hello, my girl….”

And this will followed by a megawatt grin.

And then of course he insisted to being kissed in front of my school mates, even when I was a PENGAWAS !

I used to get very irritated when all those were said to me. How come I am still a baby at 20 ?

Especially the baby girl part. I couldn’t do anything ! No camping. Because I was still a baby. No school trip. Because ? Well… I was a bloody 12 year old baby. Nak pegi tengok concert ? “You are still a baby ! You cannot do that, balik malam-malam …”

And it is not that I am his favourite, he does this to all his girls. My youngest sister wasn’t allowed to be … errr….bagi bunga telur tu….. at Dan’s brother’s wedding.

Why ? “Sebab Ima baby…..” Hmmm… Ima was like 15.

He last gave me “You are still a baby, Girl…” about 2-3 years ago but for some reason, it didn’t raise my hackles. In fact *gasp*, I quite liked it.

Ha ha…. It made me feel like I was 8 again, with gaps in my rows of teeth. And very much loved and protected. Funny kan ? How only your dad and your mom can make you feel totally, totally safe ?

Anyway, we were in KLCC last week. The kiddies wanted to go to the playground. I had forgotten why I said it, but I said to Abang, “You must find a wife that can accept me, sayang. Cari orang yang baik and I will make sure I will be nice also. Or not, our family would be ruined. And I will lose you….. And I cannot lose you….”

My son looked up at me and said, “Because I will still be your baby even when I am 40 ? Is that why ?”

Oh tidak… I have done what my father did to me.

I should stop.

I really should.

Things that I remember...

On Sunday I had Esya and Ana with me. They played Wii and what nots but Ana got bored after awhile and soon came looking for me.

We sat together, reading the papers. She loves to read this one and will point at pictures that interest her and demanded for the story behind it.

After that we cooked rice. We washed to rice together, then siram the pokok keliling rumah with the air basuhan beras, then sat on the sofa watching the telly. Mummy took out Kacang Shee Good (as per my dad. Ngan Nyin kat orang marhain ….), cracked the shells and fed her. Tak sabar-sabar. Asal letak, dia ngap sekali and tadah tangan lagi. He he…

So she sat on my lap, Babah next to me as I kissed her intermittently. Babah kept looking at us for some reason. Anyway as we watched the telly, I remembered an ad I saw in a magazine.

“You know Kamil ? Magazine WW is doing a cute baby contest for 1-4 year olds. I ingat nak masukkan Ana….”

Kamil raised his eyebrows before saying, “Comel memang comel tapi sure kalah part gigi…”

Bulat mata Mummy tengok Babah. “No ! She is beautiful !”

“Iya… but the gigi…”

“Nope… her gigi is fine !” Mummy answered indignantly.

Babah smiled. “You marah sebab she looks like you…”

And I smiled. Of course she looks like me. Senang hati Mummy dengar. Terus sengih.

Teringat terus of an episode last raya. Tok Mi’s cousins came to the house for a visit, Mak Unggei and Mak Teh. As usual, they belek-belek my kids and said “Dua-dua anak Girl (forgive me.. I am still Girl eventhough I am like 30… and I will continue to be addressed as such even when I turn 50….) muka dia ye ?” I grinned happily, terus melekapkan diri kat my Mak Unggei.

Kebetulan Kamil passed by when they said it, stopped on his tracks.

“Takdelah… Adik muka Kamil…”

He he… big mistake. They are my aunts don’t you know, Kamil ? And therefore both of them retorted in unison, “Ek eleh… Takdelah… macam nilah muka Girl masa kecik-kecik !”

And they laughed. “Sebab kita makcik dia !” Mak Unggei said merrily. And Kamil bengang. And aku… suka ! He he…

PS :

I am reminded of something else. Another episode involving my aunts. One day yeah, after my wedding, my Mami Ela (my Bab’s wife) and Aunty Jan (she is my cousin tapi because she is of my dad’s generation, we call her Aunty… Well.. just us sebab my elder cousins call her Kak Jan) were looking at our family albums and then I heard Mami went “Mana gambaq Girl ni ? I know dalam gambaq ni ada dia… Kalau ada Tok Wan mesti ada Girl….” And then she turned to the next page and she and Aunty Jan went, “Tu dia... tu dia… ele le le le….” smiling fondly at the picture. I was embarrassed sure but couldn’t resist a look. It was a picture of me, circa 1978 ( dalam 2 tahun le tu…) running to my Tok Wan’s opened arms.

Baru nak lari sebab aku adalah segan dengan Kamil yang dok menyengih tengok kami, Mami stopped me and said, “Tok Wan sayang kat Girl tau dak…..”

Yeah Aunty but I know you love me too….My Mami Ela can be a model ipaq. She is my dad’s sister-in-law but this wonderful lady loves us anyway. Yang penting she loves my mom. One truly lovely lady. That is why I visit them whenever I can, where I am very much welcomed and therefore where I feel comfortable.

I feel warm and fuzzy now. Nak pi Bangsarlah, pi jenguk Mami and Bab this weekend.

As usual on a Monday...

So what happened this weekend ?

First, Kamil was on a romantic mode. Thursday night (aku confuse giler hari Khamis malam Jumaat thingy so Khamis to me is Khamis dari 12.01 am sampai lah 12 am) we went to watch New Moon, a deux (Mynn and Eja.. kalau hangpa tak tengok lagi sila bawak aku sebab aku nak belek si Jacob punya pecs. Masa ni tengok sekali lalu aja… tak sempat nak belek….) then on Friday pi tengok Ninja Assassin. A deux, too. Pening jugak kepala sebab both movies habih midnight.

But I had a good time, berdua-duaan. He was very attentive and did say a few things that made me went, “Awww…….”

Movie review nanti na…

No orders to fulfill but I do have somebody who placed an order of 300 cream puffs for next month, wanting to taste my tarts. I was really gearing up for that, ideas for the tarts deco forming and taking shape for weeks but sadly I had to cancel the tasting as PIL requested my hubby to drive them to Bidor for a kenduri. And Kamil refused and I mean refused to go without us. Damn !

So after cancellation of piano classes, drove to Bidor at about 10.30 and since Kamil clocked like 140 km/h, arrived there in 45 minutes. Mamat tu adalah sedikit seriau when it comes to Perak. Takut peristiwa Gerik berulang kembali gamaknya.

Awallah pulak tapi. After bincang-bincang on ways to fill the time until 12.30, which the invitation card stated is the time guests could come, FIL decided to just soldier on as where else can we go in Bidor ?

Luckily we weren’t the only early ones so we joined the small crowd.

Duduk sat then balik. I do have to make a comment though. The food sucked and the cutleries were dirty. I wouldn’t have minded if it was tuan rumah’s own effort but to think that they PAID for crap, well itu aku marah. Rugi duit and kesian customers, okay ?

Sapa-sapa yang nak buat kenduri daerah Bidor, call me and I will tell you who NOT to hire.

PIL ajak singgah his cousin’s house nearby but the chap wasn’t home so we turned back and drove home. Oh after a stint of buying pulasan. Loads of them. Hmm….. I can’t really take pulasan because I felt like I had been conned after eating one. It looks like rambutan but the taste just wasn’t there… So.. I know… crazy but I am a rambutan fan, so… well….

Moving on. Since food was abysmal, PIL requested for a stop at R&R errr…. Elmina kot for Satay Kajang. Another bummer for me as I really do not like Sate Hj S*****. What a day for my refined palette… He heh… No lah… aku kan kalau makanan tak sedap aku tak suka sebab kira macam calories bodoh. Gemuk with horrible food is rugi, okay. Kalau gemuk with good food, well at least you were compensated.

“Aaaahhhh…. My right thigh is beautifully rounded because of that delectable chocolate cake I had in Paris. And this very dimpled butt cheek ? It was the most amazing kari ayam my mother made….” You get my point ?

Kamil went out again with his parents around 4 to shop for doors, so I stayed at home with the kids and baked cookies, setelah Kamil's very not subtle, “Mana cookies ?”.

Next morning was an early one also. Swimming at the club was scheduled. Got ready, picked Esya up who came barreling down the stairs when she heard my voice and Ana of course, whom I had to pluck out of bed. The day was lovely, not hot but it made the pool unbearable. To put it bluntly, it was cold. Kamil took a long time to get in but when he did, he just stood there, grinning at us. No matter how aku tarik and lompat atas dia, he remained as he was. Kuat jugak hantu ni.

When the sun shone about half an hour after that, barulah he felt it was okay for him to take a dip. Manja sungguh !

An old Chinese lady swam to me when I was lounging with Ana at the pool side and said, “You ada ampat aa ? Bagus, bagus !” smiling benevolently. I didn’t have the time to correct her because she resumed with, “Saya punya anak ada 2 saja ooo….” Pointing at her daughter and went on a tirade why 2 is just ain’t enough.

Salah aku ke if she goes home thinking that I have 4 kids ? But then when she went, “Satu jantan 3 pelempuan aa…..” I have to admit that it was the perfect time for me to correct her but then she grabbed Esya and gave her a hug, well aku tak sampai hati. Ha ha… yelah tu. We talked for awhile, well she did most of the talking, telling me about when the Japs came (she was 8 then), about her 5 kids and what nots.

We parted ways with her congratulating me for producing a very handsome boy. “Sangat cantik aaa….you punya anak jantan…. Handsome boy aaa, handsome boy aaa……” Kamil sengih-sengih came to me saying, “Apa ? Dia kata Abang handsome macam I ?”

Huh.. Perasan. Muka aku sebijik Abang tu… He he… semua orang nak take credit….

Anyway, had lunch at the yuckiest place on earth then home. The kids played Wii and Mummy and Babah watched the telly and leraikan pergaduhan yang tercetus sekali-sekala.

By 6 Esya dah start nangis nak Ayah dia so we sent them home, picked up Neti and I made dinner. Sardine, telur goreng and sup su-un. I did my pilates and this time apart from the kids crowding me, Kamil too stayed to watch. As I huffed and puffed and contorted my body this way and that, my husband wanting to satisfy his inner bossy prig, shouted what I was doing wrong. Bengang okeh.

“Straight kan lah kaki tu !”

“Bontot you tu kenapa tinggi sangat ?”

“Why did you stop ? Buat lah !”

“I cannot lah Kamil…. I cannot lift my body like that !” Ini aku.

And bila aku dah naik hot because he started pushing my tummy and elevating my legs, I jumped up and threw him a challenge. I could see fear in his eyes eventhough he tried to hide it behind a smirking veneer. He accepted the challenge and we switched places. Abang and Adik smiled gleefully.

To his credit his body was strong and the things that I couldn’t do, he did very well… but … terkandas juga dia akhirnya sebab tak larat. Perut pun dah start sakit…

Ha ha !


After that, I did a bit more then hambat budak-budak tidur. I tried watching Step Brothers but just couldn’t. It was really sick, that movie. Aku tak tahan.

Kamil then ajak naik tengok VCD. But since he had 2012 in mind, I read in bed instead. When I got sleepy, I called him in the pretense of needing a good night kiss but sebenarnya I needed somebody to switch off the lights. I just couldn’t imagine getting up and leaving my very cosy cocoon.

“Pemalas…” he said fondly while patting my head.

What a day. To have my husband call me pemalas fondly. Superb !

Ha ha.

What I did last Wednesday

Last Wednesday I went to watch Jit Murad’s stand up comedy, at Noreen's invitation. It was okay I suppose. Well more than okay because he managed to make me laugh. And he did make Kamil who was a bit apprehensive about going, laugh uproariously.

He looked so scrawny. And geeky. And well of course familiar.

He did you know… divulge a bit of info about him. Okay, before we went in, I was studying his pic at the box office with Ian and I commented that I had heard he has mat salleh’s blood in him. “But where is it ? I can’t see any mat salleh. I can see that he is Arabic, though…”

Well they, whoever they are, were right. It just so happens that I too, was right. Apparently, his momma is half Liverpulian and half Malay and his poppa is half Yemeni and half Indian. So there you go.

I had never gone to catch a stand-up comedy show before. But I was game. Although I have never seen Jit as a comic or acting in comedies….Maybe that was more my fault than his. Anyway, I know sometimes that comediannes get heckled or worse involve the audience, so when I found myself sitting in the middle, with empty seats on the front row before me, I knew that Jit can see me clearly. And hoped that he is one of the polite ones that doesn’t deliver put downs to people who paid to see him.

Luckily he didn’t.

Anyway, as I had never ever been to see live comedy, I was rather curious to see who would be my fellow audience. I saw loads of Chinese, both the stylish ones and the selamba badak don’t care ones, I saw a few Indians and quite a lot of mat sallehs. I saw maybe a handful of Malays. And please imagine the hand of a child when I say handful.

Jit was quite political and he joked about the Malays a lot, which sorted the mystery of the almost non-existant Malays in the audience. Malays I tell you are one race who cannot tahan if people talk about them.

Jit to me, although is very rojak like most Malays are, is a Malay nonetheless and who better to know about what Malays are about than one of our own ? Sure he has all these other blood in him, but he was raised, to some extent the Malay way. His parents are Bapak and Mak. The mat salleh maternal grandmother is sometimes Opah and sometimes Gramps. The Opah’s hubby is Tok. He by his admission eats belacan. And he speaks a mixture of Malay, Utara Malay (from the sound of it) and English with his family.

So he did say a few things about the Malays. They were true observations, not fabricated. It made me laugh and it made me think, well… don’t I know it. I have always admired how the Brits can laugh about themselves. About their stiff upper-lip, about their hooliganism, even about their bad teeth ! One of my favourite shows when I was in England is or was called Goodness Gracious Me. The main actors are 4 British Indians who made a joke about being Indian. About the drama, about the need for Indian children to be pharmacists or doctors and a hoarde of other things that are decidedly Indian (according to them, of course).

I love the fact that he laughed at himself, and talked about his family. Especially about his “Ya, You” aunties (plus his mom, of course). And I adore the fact that he is a verocious reader. Make no mistake, I have always found readers, clever. A verocious one superbly so. To talk like he did, one would have to have a bloody good command of the language, any language and definitely your brain has to be whirring fast enough.

I can’t do it. I won’t do it. I am not funny. A definite pre-requisite if you want to do stand up.

So Jit Murad made me laugh. I enjoyed it. He is crude and swears quite a lot and very, very frank.

Granted that I do not agree with some of his materials, but that is his right, everybody has the right to have an opinion, and his thoughts, and everybody has a right to have those too and as he put it, he has the mike.

Would I recommend to pay almost RM 70 to see him ? Only if you have an open mind.

So there you go.