Semalam

Made this yesterday, Italian Meatloaf on a bed of pasta. Somebody ordered from me an Italian dish to jamu her family. Dah tak larat makan ajinomoto katanya. To that nice lady who ordered, hope you like what I chose to make and hope it was enough for 4.

I of course made the same thing for dinner so this was Abang's plate. Adik's plate with less meat but more pasta.

I arrived home about 6.15 pm and started cooking immediately. Minced was already nicely thawed. Bibik took them out around 5 pm.

By 7.45 everything was ready.

Nasib baik.

To my fb friends yang baca my status, cerita penuh about Abang and his crush is at their blog, www.aladans-angels.blogspot.com

Ha ha.

Disneyland !!!!

Before visiting Disneyland, fortified ourselves with delicious, delicious croissants and cereal and Kamil's firm favourite, cinnamon bun. I love this diner because it is bright and sunny and ada computer kat tepi with free internet access.

Dah sampai !! We took the shuttle bus to the park and sampai-sampai dah dengar lagu. Excited tak terkira ni tapi control ... malu eh.... This is also where the MTR station is located at. So very convenient, okay ?

Disneyland is soooo cantik. Rasa macam tak nak balik. There were music 24/7, live ones too and I dunno, the atmosphere was just so happy ! Walaupun actually aku adalah nervous because there were stuffs that I expect to wait for me at home, but I forgot about it as soon as I was there. Allah is truly great. Disneyland yang buatan manusia ni pun (of course atas izin and ilham Dia) pun macam dah habis best dah, I just can't imagine how great Jannah will be.

You look at my boy ! This was our second day and second time watching the High School Musical parade. First time we sat down on the cold floor and took off our shoes so tak sempat lah Mamat ni nak join menari. The second day, he was prepared. Berdiri siap-siap and when they invited people to dance, berlari ke tengah. Kamil and I tak terkata apa...

The parade. Best giler... There were songs and dancers and people were smiling and happy. Rasa macam nak keje sini... Dancing-dancing gak... But not like this lah... Segan aku... Nampak tali bra... Keh keh....

Macam ni okay lah.. Comelkan ? I did notice one thing though, the performers there smiled all the time !! Sengih aje... Tak penat ke ? Aku nengok penat ..... Sian.... I don't suppose you are allowed to have a bad day. The workers and performers were always talking in cheerful tones, always waving at people.... Always cooing at babies and kiddies. I suppose they have cuti mood kot... Mood tak best tak yah datang keje.... Therapist sign cuti....

On the raft the Tarzan's tree house. Nice.... I love this.

To migraine sufferers, please do not attempt to ride this. Aku pening okay. Teringat kisah seram masa naik tea cup bangang ni kat Goose Fair, Nottingham.

Adik's favourite ride. He he.....

Piirah Mabuk a.k.a Adik was even scared to take pictures with the princesses ! Sebab dah beratur, Kamil and I went on aje. Sambil-sambil tu dok pujuk-pujuk Adik to join us. I wanted to see them closely. Very pretty ok. We managed to persuade Adik and Abang at the end. These two very elegant ladies bercakap pun macam princesses betul, I was falling in love with them as they talked to my kids. After the pictures, Piirah Mabuk cakap, "That was not sooo bad...." Memanglah.. Princess mana yang makan orang ? Princess pun takut ke ?

While waiting for his parents queuing up to take pictures with the princesses. "I am not taking pictures with THEM !" Ewaaahhh.... Anyway, this pic was taken before a couple took pictures with HIM ! Berpeluk bagai ngan Abang siap shake hands. Terkejut beruk and tergolek dog and tercengang kucing lah Kamil and I wondering Disney movie mana anak kami berlakon ?

This was the most dangerous ride ever !! Abang and Adik drove the cars and mak bapak yang teman kan dia org macam nak nangis sebab budak-budak dua ekor ni tak tahu steer. Kenapalah Disneyland tak mintak driver's license sebelum bagi depa duduk kat driver's seat ? Why ? Why ? Why ?

This was Abang's favourite ride. We went like 5 times. It was a good move going after the school holidays as we didn't have to queue for long. Not like when we went to EuroDisney. Nak nangis beratur.

This was our first ride in Disneyland, at Tomorrow Land.

Ha.... dengan Pooh dia tak takut. Siap sembang-sembang and lambai-lambai. She said because Pooh only eats honey and he is very soft. Pooh doesn't eat people. After Pooh we went to take pics with Mickey. Dengan Mickey dia menjerit. I didn't know Mickey eat little girls for lunch ! Apa ra.....



At the shops. There were plenty of shops but all sold the same stuffs. So tak payah lah susah-susah check out all the stores. Sama aje and seriously a bit boring. Although I have to say they do a have a different shop for jewellery and blow-glass products.



He he.... thanking Kamil who paid for the trip.

This was our second day, waiting for the fireworks. Second day was very, very cold. Rasa macam fall going to winter punya sejuk. Luckily they sold hot chocolate by the road sides.




Sleeping Beauty castle at night. Nice, huh ? Whatever it is, my camera could not capture the magic and true beauty of Disneyland.

Emot at the airport, on the way home. Casualties of our forgetfulness was my expensive Decleour face wash that Kamil left in the bathroom, the Mickey bottle stopper Abang left at Popeye's (Popeye's at the airport is halal ye. Adik who was relieved that we finally get to eat meat, asked me, "How do you know about this place ? How come you know everything ?" Ha.... tulah... Mummy knows about everything), and Kitty, Adik's companion for many years tertinggal kat airport Malaysia. Mummy je tak lupa apa-apa.

Tipu... I did. I left the camera at the Disney shop at the hotel. Luckily I remembered almost immediately and ran back to the shop. And luckily, I left it on the counter and the very honest cashier kept it for me. Jangan marah sebab aku peluk dia walaupun dia adalah lelaki. It was reflexes.

Nothing happened during the weekend unless you want me to tell about my frequent toilet trips...

Tak payah lah cerita pasal weekend dak ?

Bosan okay sebab it was filled with images of me in the loo.

Biasalah aku. Pantang tinggalkan Tanah Malaya… perut mesti meragam. Pi lah tang mana pun, bila balik sure well… you know lah.

Balik dari England je aku okay. Maybe because the tummy is used to the food or the air there. Sah lah aku ni dah morphed to half English half Malay walaupun pungkok ku tetap hitam.

Keh keh… berapa ramailah yang muntah …

Anyway, Hong Kong is … hmmm….. okaylah. That statement doesn’t include Disneyland okay, Just Hong Kong in general is… well okay. Would I come back ? No..

I dunno whether these episodes what made me feel a bit cold towards Hong Kong but it started as soon as I arrived at the airport. I approached the tourist information counter and asked the best way to go to the hotel. The lady said, take taxi.

Okay, I hear you but from my children’s laushe (aku tak tau macam mana nak eja, but laushe is their Mandarin teacher lah), there is an MTR that stops at Disneyland, where our hotel is. So Kamil and I studied the map, the MTR route and I approached her again.

Muka dia kali ni memang saja nak mintak kena lempang. “No…” she said, giving me this disbelieved look because I dared asked her again and muka tak nak layan aku dah.

Okay, takpe… minus 1 point for Hong Kong which is really not my lost.

Kamil bought yummy Meiji chocolate to pecahkan duit and we walked to the taxi stand. The lady manning the taxi info counter was courteous and helpful.

We approached the rows of taxis and one guy asked me the destination. I mentioned Disneyland and he gestured to a taxi at the front row. Looking at the taxi driver, my heart sank. Mamat tu muka macam nak kena sepak, okay. Bukan dengan tangan, but dengan kaki.

Tanya nak pegi mana macam tanya “ko curik wallet aku yek ?”.

Aku terpinga-pinga jawab Disneyland. Apa hal Mamat ni ? Lepas tu dia start. Mengomel sorang-sorang cakap Kam Cha berulang-ulang kali. Dah lah tu, bawak sikit punya laju we were thrown about in the car until Kamil barked us to wear seat belts. 4 orang kat belakang with 2 seat belts available only.

The journey was horrendous. I kept thinking that we are never gonna see daylight again and that was truly our end. Especially when I looked in the rearview mirror and caught him looking at me with such hate and contempt, it sent shivers down my spine.

Is it my tudung ?

Or you have a wedgie and you are blaming me for it somehow ?

-
I prayed to Allah SWT for help and when I saw him taking the lanes to Disneyland I started breathing easy. It was terrifying. Even the kids could sense the hostility and kept quiet.

What a waste because we were suppose to feel excited about coming to Hong Kong and enjoying the sights. Instead, we had a ride so terrifying I almost cried when I saw the hotel.

Kamil dengan bangangnya bagi dia tip.

Boleh ?

Kamil said it was my tudung. Yeah sure but why aren’t you angry with Kamil gak ? If I am a Muslim, then my hubby is one too lah, you bloody wanker. Pandai lak ko cakap Thank You dengan dia... Lempang kang ! WAAAAA !!!!

I seriously cannot think of any other reason for his shameful behavior because I didn’t say anything to him except to say Disneyland.

Is Disneyland a swear word in Hong Kong ? Then they shouldn’t have built one there !

Twat ! Tosser ! Mangkuk ayun !

So maybe that was why I don’t feel like going back to Hong Kong. I dunno.

Look at the pics, okay. It is easier with pics.

Baru sampai... excited tahap gaban.... Please notice Kitty in her hand.

Sejurus sebelum jumpa the cabbie from hell... Hidup ku sungguh ceria ketika ini...

Times Square, Hong Kong. Munching on excellent breads. Abang was very understanding about halal issue but Adik was not very receptive. She kept insisting to have pepperoni pizza lah, chicken chop lah and mee... Sorry darling, mee tak halal. "What ?" She asked, face all berkerut-kerut with irritation, tak paham and tak happy.

Nathan Road, where the masjid is and halal food in abundance. But all Arab and Indian food. Nak halal dim sum dalam masjid. Sayang, kita orang tak sempat rasa.

Adik super duper penat. Walaupun we took the MTR but the walk underground from the station to the outside world was horrendously long. We spent an inordinately large amount of time walking underground, not seeing the hustle and bustle of the real world above.

In the MTR back to Disneyland. Nice kan ? Adik tanya, "Mummy why all Mickey ? Where is Donald's face or Pluto's face ?" Entah.... teruk kan ? But I told her because it is easier to draw Mickey's face. One large circle and 2 small ones.

Disneyland MTR station. Nice...

Dining at the hotel's restaurant. Nice..... Ada jual nasi goreng, which they put as nasi goreng but got pork one. Char Keaw Tiaw also got, no pork but got chicken. We ordered everything sea food. Gout le kami.




Best tau.... depa bagi sofa as kerusi makan... Aku apa lagi, teruslah landing.... sambil tengok movie (Disney one of course) as per the picture above.




Melampau kan ? Sauce pun squirted the Mickey Mouse way. Itulah Adik, macam mana nak buat sauce muka Donald Duck ?




Shrimp pizza, sea food carbonara and veggie burger.




Play room. Very nice, so many activities for the kids.





The pemandangan kat luar.



Masa kami dok syok-syok makan, tiba-tiba Adik stood up and shouted, "GOOFY !!" Ya Rabbi. All the diners looked at her, okay. Mak Bapak budak ni punya malu, terus tak naik-naik muka. So we quickly ate and looked for Goofy. Tangkap gambar.

Tengok, kesian Goofy pening kepala. Adik lah. Menjerit berbagai bila Goofy nak peluk dia. Abang pulak tak mau lepas and dakap Goofy kuat2 after the picture was taken. "What is your problem ?" I asked Adik. "I thought he wanted to eat me..." What ? Dan bermula dari saat itu, I called my daughter by a new pet name, "Piirah mabuk ..." Menjerit excited panggil Goofy pandai, tangkap gambaq ketaq pulak. Piirah mabuk..

Weekend yang boring

Ya… this is the story of my unremarkable weekend.

Friday sampai rumah aje terus bersiap. Nak pi 1U kata Kamil. Jarang Kamil ni merelakan diri penat-penat keluar balik right after sampai rumah, so kami bertiga pun apa terus lah bersiap.Takut he changed his mind. Mana nak tau. It happened before, okay ? We left right after Maghrib around 7.50, sampai dalam 8.20, walked to the cinema dalam 8.30 beli tiket pukul untuk 9.20 mlm and terkejut beruk tengok lagi 15 minit nak masuk wayang.

Aku nengok wayang pukul 9.20 on the dashboard tapi bila beli 9 pulak. Bila depa tukaq, na ?

Budak-budak merengek sebab lapar. Aku tau perangai depa ni, nak makan kat a proper restaurant padahal makan cinonet je. They just want the novelty of sitting in a restaurant je tuh. Luckily nampak kedai kebab so kat situlah kami tala for a quick bite.

Masuk-masuk aje adalah dalam 1 minit before si Alice pun keluaq.

It was a good movie. But Adik was a bit spooked so she wasn’t happy. It is a bit dark lah. So dark in fact Kamil terlelap dalam panggung. Hmmm…. ingat Ian je boleh terlelap masa orang dok hingaq bingaq…

Saturday Kamil worked and we were left to our own flurry of activities. Made meehoon hailam and re-heated Thursday night’s meatloaf. Put the meat on a bed of pasta in tomato sauce. Kamil loved the sight of it and polished it off. Takde sapa makan meehoon hailam ku.

After Maghrib, we drove to Mid Valley. Ramainya orang tok sah ceritalah. I was adamant not to eat at any western food joints so I steered my family to Little Penang Café. Susah jugak pegi tempat2 macam ni sebab takde kids’ sized plate. So I let Adik ordered and finished off her leftovers. Sian mak, kan ?

Susahnya nak cari kasut untuk Abang. We had to find tennis shoes for him therefore Babah was determined that we buy him proper tennis shoes. Jogging ka, cross country ka hapa ka tak mo. Pastu dibuatnya pulak anak dah besar and therefore cannot buy kids’ size already… Ha ha….. Kena pegi adults.

Oh, aku adalah naik angin kat Metrojaya. Kamil who saw the tell tale signs of my angin coming out of me ears ran away before I blew my top. How I know ? Sebab sebelum aku nak angin, aku pandang dia dulu, dan tatkala aku selesai dalam 2 minit lepas itu, kalih-kalih tengok dia dah AWOL.

Sungguh cannot count on him to support me.

Sunday morning Kamil again pegi kursus haji. Nasib baik tak pakai baju Melayu dah, kan Kak Kay ? I made cookies and by 11.30 we went to Subang Parade pulak for lunch with the ILs. Atuk belanja makan Baskin after that and seperti biasa mummy le kena habiskan Adik punya. Pilih Chocolate Chip pulak tu. Yuck. Gemuk dengan makanan tak sedap is soooo pantang for me okay ? Tak de makna nya….

Kamil took his parents to visit a sick relative at the Selayang Hospital so the 3 of us tengok tv. Takde buat apa-apa pun. Kamil brought home briyani for dinner but it was so podeh, budak-budak pushed their plates away.

Terpaksalah we went out to buy sliced cheese for me to make grilled cheese sarnies. Abang melampau tau. He had 2 sets. Hmmmm……….

Oh… got diarrhea for some reason. Since about 5 pm. Mula-mula it was just the rumblings of the tummy then it started to create havoc.

Risau gak. Tomorrow I will be on the plane.

My sleep was interrupted with my frequent sojourns to the loo. So am soooo sleepy right now. Sakit badan pulak sekarang. Di harap peristiwa di Bandung tidak berulang kembali. Rugi tau !!! Kali ni betul2 rugi !!!

Funny thing, Kamil watched football semalam so I went up with the kids and baring2 with them while waiting for them to sleep. Plus the toilet is nearer… ha ha.

“Mummy sakit perut lah…….” I said, sitting up after a very inpleasent attack of spasm.

“Sakit ke Mummy ?” Asked Adik…

“Yalah… I cannot tahan already….”

“Awww…. Come here…” she said, pulling my body to lie down, patting my tummy while she murmured nonsense.

As I was enjoying the TLC, I heard her whisper to her brother, “Is she gonna die ?”

“Noo………..” Came the bored reply.

He he….

Dah orang tepuk-tepuk tu, no matter lah how small the hands are, of course le aku terlelap until I was awaken by a hand shaking my body.

I opened my eyes to see Adik looking intently at me then she patted me back to sleep. Aku katup je mata walaupun dah kira mission impossible nak lena balik dah.

“Fuuhh.,… Abang…. I thought she was dead…..” Kata Adik.

He he …..

OOHHHH ! Ada cerita keji yang berlaku kat aku selepas balik dari rumah SIL (rumah kami internet yilek.. I will explain why...) and sebelum we berangkat to Mid Valley. Can;t write about it now.... nanti-nanti aku tulih. Aku dah 2 hari sakit hati ni !!

Aku kona baik punya

I broke his watch hari tu.. Well bukanlah pecah kan.. just the fastener went a bit wonky after I dropped it. He got upset because that was his last one. His usual leather strap one battery dah kong. His black getah strap one, the getah strap putus… And now with this one also rosak at the strap, he has to use what he calls his orang tua watch.. a present from his dad.

So dia chom when he went to work. Luckily when he returned, he was trying very hard to stop smiling so I knew he has gotten over it. I have never been so glad to see a pair of nose (huge one at that) kembang kempis tahan senyum.

“I kena pegi Parade ni nak repair jam…..” Cakap buat-buat merajuk.

Hai lah Kamil. Aku tak tau lah hang ni spesis apa. Kalau hati dah sejuk tu, sudahlah… Why you want to pretend to be angry one ? Aku tak paham betullah… Apa hang ingat aku tak tau ka hang dah tak marah ? Dah 17 tahun yang oiii… 17 !!!!!

I made roast beef for the kids and when ustaz came, we prepared to leave. But then he still maintained his purak-purak marah, buat muka sombong. Eeeiii…. !

“You senyum dulu baru I ikut…. Kalau tak, I don’t want to go….” I threatened.

He rolled his eyes and handed me my tudung. “Smile !!!” I ordered. Bibik yang gelak. He just stuck out his tongue. I sighed and followed him out.

In the lift, he sighed and geleng2 kepala. Saja kan nak provoke aku. Me being me said, “I know you saja nak sabotage I….” He perked up at that and looked at me with a disbelief face.

“Can’t you just apologise for something you did ?” He demanded pulak.

“I did that already but you saja je nak prolong this thing… So bila pikir-pikir… now I know… you saja nak sabotage I… I honestly thought that it was my watch (I really did) that is why I picked it up. You let the watch pretended to be mine. I picked it up and then tiba-tiba je jatuh because you dah letak minyak sikit bagi dia licin…..You purposely nak bagi I jatuhkan jam you. I know you did that !”

His face was more than incredulous. He he….. “Why would I want to do that ?” He asked with a surprised face.

I inhaled and started, “Because I have been perfectly without any mistakes these past weeks so you tak puas hati. Therefore you saja je nak cari bahan nak gaduh so you hitched up that plan… You are itching to get angry at me but you can’t because I have done nothing wrong. I have been like an angel so you dah fed up tunggu I buat silap. So now …. you dapatlah alasan nak marah I. You kan suka marah I ?”

Terkebil-kebil mamat tu tak nak jawab. He he…. Barulah dia tak berani nak buat muka ‘aku orang teraniaya’ lagi.

Then dia gelak.

And he shook his head with amusement.

“Kenapa you nak kena menang ?”

It was my turn to be surprised. It was not about winning, darling. It is about you marah-marah I lah. You know at work, I was really susah hati because I was afraid you would be stewing with anger the whole day ? And keep on being angry when you come home ?

Boringlah kalau you balik marah-marah. Kita nak seronok-seronok… tak mau dok masam muka.

You know, I think about 2-3 days ago the kids were watching Percy Jackson (Adik is sooo in love with Percy) upstairs and we were watching the telly downstairs. Suddenly we heard thunderous footsteps coming down where Abang bravely showed his father the tv remote, now very much broken.

I was shocked because I didn’t think he was brave enough to show it to his father. Macam menyerah diri okay ?
Abang’s face showed no emotion.
Adik menyorok belakang Abang.
Kamil did the expected and started membebel. “See, dah rosak dah. Tak boleh guna dah…”

Hearing that I interjected. “Dah Kamil… sudah lah… They didn’t mean it. It was an accident. You guys pegi tidur now….” Kamil paling pantang kalau barang rosak. So better aku selamatkan anak-anak aku dulu.

When they were gone, I tried to soothe my husband. “Please take into account that your son was honest enough to show it to you. Kalau I… seriously… I akan campak dalam tong sampah and tak mengaku sampai mati…. But he didn’t… Please remember that…”

Kamil had in it in him to laugh. He is not a bad person but then he gets angry if things get broken (dia kelentong je pun nak takut kan budak-budak tu… Remote tu tak rosak pun… Dia siap sambung tengok Percy Jackson where the kids let off).Unnecessarily angry. And this guy can really membebel okay. Punya lah dahsyat sampai aku dah terbantut nak membebel.. Aku dah tak reti sebab aku tak pernah ada peluang.. Dah tak pernah practice kan ? Asyik dia je.

Like yesterday, he he… that was funny. Setelah aku menjatuhkan jam si Kamil boleh lagi I dropped my handphone as I got out of the car.

My children who were waiting for me gasped.

I too gasped.

And wailed.

“Oh dear, Mummy… Is it all right ?” Asked Abang.

I tried a few buttons and was relieved when it seemed to work. So I nodded.

“Huuu… nasib baik… Kalau tak Babah mesti marah….”

I looked at him and smiled.

“Babah kan… he gets very angry if technology got broken kan ?”

Apa dia ? Technology got broken ?

He hehehehehheheh heheheheheh hehehehehhe !

Kah kahkahkahkahkahkahkahkahkah kahkahakah.. !

Darling, sebab Babah gets upset if a technology he owns got broken lah Mummy kena kona tang lain bila jam Babah rosak. Bagi dia terkedu sikit so that he was too shocked to get angry….

Aduhai lah….

Weekend ala-ala Nigella

Salam…..

My Monday routine so here we go.

I had an order of shepard’s pie and tarts from one customer. One other customer requested for 100 pieces of cream puffs. Yikes !

I can’t panic sebab nanti kerja tak siap. Due to my bursting to the seams fridge, I hunted for strawberries on Thursday. Plus you can’t buy strawberries early on because of its delicate and easily bruised nature. Went to my favourite hotspots but can’t find any of those lovely Korean ones. I stopped buying New Zealand lah, Cameron lah because they are not as sweet as the ones from Korea. As usual, luck is not on my side since I couldn’t find them anywhere in my town.

The fruit specialty shop siap habaq they refused to receive anymore Korean strawberries because they get bad easy and he went on and on how he opened 3 boxes of them and only could sell half a box worth.

Opppsss..

Tried again on Friday but again nada. Not even in Subang Parade so when I found some cut up ones at RM2.50 a pack, I snapped them all up. Tak kisah lah mai dari mana pun, ambik aje. Takut den kalau tak dak langsung.

Made the pies. And learnt my lesson. Will not cook for customers while Bibik is around because how she fretted ! Banyak nya garam, she told me once. Then when I added flour, she went tsk tsk when I throw in more salt. Banyaknya… takut Bibik… she said again.

So aku macam got confused and seriously doubted my ability to produce lovely pies. I found myself sneaking a few spoonfuls of garam while she was not looking…

I just laughed when she nagged because if I don’t laugh I might snap. And I hate losing my patience. Plus she has been good this one. Like when I asked her to peel the potatoes and boil them for me. Then I unexpectedly had to go out (Adik suddenly developed a fever and stomach ache therefore to the hospital we must go) so I told her never mind lah Bik, just dice them and then soak in salt water. When I return I will rebus. It is hard to mash cold potatoes okay ?

However when I came home, I found the potatoes boiling in a vat of water anyway, on a small fire for it to cook slowly while waiting for me. In addition to that she peeled the onions and the garlic siap-siap, without me telling her to so how can I marah kan ? She definitely saved my time and made things easier for me.

She then wrestled them masher from me so I was reduced to standing by, watching her and flavoring the tatters. She ignored my “Pergilah tidur Bik, udah malam…” So definitely cannot marah so terima jelah kritikan-kritikan dia.

Sigh…….

I froze the pies, made custard and chocolate creams then sleep. Oh.. this guy is a repeat customer. Last time he ordered, I filled 2.5 kg worth of minced in 2 rectangular disposable aluminium pans. Saja nak buat buat aku sasau, the shop was out of the said pans. Boleh ? Hari tu masa tak mau guna berlambak. Bila time aku nak guna saja habih. Saja tau !

.

So I filled them up in 4 round ones instead. Cukup-cukup aje but doesn't look as much as when they were in the rectangular ones. Hope he believed me when I said it has the same amount of ingredients as last time.

Heard Adik waking up her Babah in the middle of the night, heard them went down but I just continued sleeping because while I cooked just now, Babah slept on the sofa. So he had his fill of sleep already. By the way, Adik gerak Babah not me… so nasib le.

It turned out she got hungry as we only had rolled roti canai (like the ones we had masa kat LCCT itu hari Ya and DR) for dinner so Kamil made his daughter kaya toasts. Sayang Babah, kan ?

Since Adik was ill, no piano lessons which was really a blessing in disguise as I can cook at a more sedate pace. Picked up Abang from his tennis class though and bought breakfast.

Tart shells were ready since Monday so while the choux pastry were in the oven, filled them up. The custard ones turned out as expected with the blueberries but my chocolate creams got all watery from the sliced strawberries !!!

I saw the berries sank and I despaired because it wasn’t suppose to be like that !!!!!!! Strawberries are unpredictable okay and therefore WAAAAAAAAAAAA !!!!!

The cream puff lady came first. She was happy and she kept popping them in her mouth as we talked. Err….. okay. This lady is a regular customer and her cream puff is a bit special because she likes them a bit hard so that, as she puts it, “My teeth has something substantial to chew….”. Okaylah, whatever that works for ya.

Everything was ready by the time the second customer came for his food. I knocked RM 10 from the bill because of the wrteched berries. Hope everything, including the tarts are okay. Gave him some of the cream puffs because there were extras.

Since we had a late breakfast, we skipped lunch. Babah had a huge breakfast so he skipped lunch too. Babah felt like going out so after Maghrib we went to the Curve for wayang. I knew we wouldn’t get any ticks tapi layan jelah.

I was right of course. We jalan-jalan a bit where I bought cheap but extra comfy shoes and as I was membebel where can I get leggings for my daughter, stumbled upon a stall selling children’s pantyhose. Okaylah. Bolehlah… pantyhose pun pantyhose lah but they are very, very pretty with flowers and heart shapes all over.

We had Tony Roma’s for dinner. We shared a sandwich, Babah and I. They serve gargantuan proportions those people and we learnt our lesson so we shared a sandwich and it was good.

I watched Percy Jackson again with my daughter, whom I suspect is in love with the said Percy. I dozed off after like 10 minutes of the movie but woke up when she got up to switched off the telly after it was over.

Such a responsible girl. And tahan mata kau yek nengok movie sampai habis ?

I woke up with her by my side and Abang next to her. Kamil was walking around the room, banging the cabinet doors as he bustled about, preparing for kursus haji with his parents at the mosque.

I opened my eyes and he was looking at me as he passed me by.

“What ?”

“Nothing…”

Huh ! Yeah right.

“What ?”

“I tidur sorang-sorang kat atas tilam…….”

Hai… tengok bola lagi. Katil kena hijack, don’t blame me. You should have claimed your place awal-awal, okay ?

Then……

“Butang baju Melayu I mana, yang ?”

WAAAARRRRGGHHHHH !!

Pantang wei laki aku tanya soalan ni. Plus this is the second time he asked me okay in a span of one year.

I showed him where it is and told him to not come home if a kadi is involved.

Luckily he came back 15 minutes after he left. “Abah pun tak pakai baju Melayu so buat apa I pakai ?” he said as he tore his t-shirt off.

“Laa… dah habis akad nikah terus kawin koboi ke ?” I asked his retreating, khaki-ed back.

His smiles made me wanna scream. Padan muka aku.

I had breakfast with just my kids again. Bibik seperti biasa tak nak ikut. Suka hati lah Bik. Went to the market and bought groceries. Bumped into my mom who fretted when she saw her grandchildren weighted down with plastic bags on both arms.

Cucu buat taktik kotor by buat muka kesian. Jaga hangpa.

I got a call for an order for my chocolate cake. The customer wanted to black forest it instead of putting fresh strawberries. Lega gak aku as I cannot vouch for strawberries anymore. She had earlier ordered chocolate tarts with peaches to be picked up today, so this is an added request. She then called again to add 100 cream puffs to her order.

Aku macam panik-panik and told her I do not have the kotak to house all her orders. She begged so I told her I’d go and look for the boxes but if I failed, she had better make her own arrangements.

Kamil got home all smiles and that was all I needed to get him to take me to Jaya 1. As soon as we entered Federal Highway, his mom called and invited us to lunch. Kamil made a hasty turn off the highway to collect the kids and made our way to Sari Ratu.

We were full us, the kids and I so we didn’t eat much. After thanking their grandparents, we straight away went to Jaya 1 but unfortunately, the shop was closed.

“You dah pegi sek 13 belum ?”

“Tutup….” Said I confidently.

Kamil shook his head but drove to sek 13 anyway. Yeah… well…. it was opened. Macamana aku yang pelanggan tetap tak tau ?

I so wanted to golek-golek with my husband but since my customer said she is coming at 4, and it was already 2 pm, I started my work. I love cooking so I was happy because Bibik was busy with the ironing and can’t help. I had a lovely time tinkering and padding around my kitchen, mixing and measuring (I hate measuring actually), berangan jadi Nigella…. But smaller version sure…Ha ha… gelak aku. Again with the kelakar bangsat.

I was like so very teringin makan mee kari so I asked Bibik to boil some chicken in the afternoon. But after I had blended all my spices, I found the soup with an extra ingredient, a dead fly floating about.

Again, want to marah aaa ? She is an old lady plus … she had been good otherwise. The only way I could unnerve her was by asking her to throw away the now septic soup.

“Sayangnya….”

“Nak buat macam mana… tak tutup betul-betul …..”

Hope she learnt her lesson.

Kamil ajak dinner at this kopitiam that I do not want to go before because they have no halal logo. They have acquired one now though so I had no choice but to honour his request. And it was a horrible experience. I am defintely not going back.

More on that next entry, okay ?

Sleep after that. Well actually after watching Max Payne. Halfway that is because I couldn’t, just couldn’t keep my eyes opened. Sleep, snored a bit I suppose in between and woke up !

And kena marah ngan Kamil because I dropped his watch. The damn watch now refused to fasten on his wrist.

Swinging bowl lah ! I had a wonderful day with Kamil yesterday. He was being attentive, he was being sweet and now this.

Ada aje…

Hmmm……………….

Do they never learn ?

I have always been a fan of Biggest Loser so when Biggest Loser Asia began, I became even more a kipas.

I don’t know why I love it so much. I just do. It is amazing kan seeing all those weight lost, isn’t it ? The determination and the actual sweat generated, dripping from the noses and the foreheads… Amazing… Okay and a bit yucky too.

Another reason why I like it is because I sort of got sedar diri a bit when I see them exercising, sort of motivates me and made me more aware the existance of my stepper, lurking in a very dark corner of my kitchen. And my bulges and stretch marks hidden behind my clothes. You try to ignore it but macam ada beacon that went Bip ! Bip ! Bip ! no matter how hard you tried to stifle it. Therefore I was forced to take it out (the stepper yeah, not the bulges…) and use it.

So it’s good. It's good.

Anyway, I of course was waiting for the finals in trepidation. Apart from wanting Aaron or Carlo to win, I really want to see how they turned out. Plus I was willing for Aaron to be as slim as Carlo because seriously, he still looked tubby when they left the villa for good.

But then those who crowded their telly at 9 pm was dissapointed because Astro made us wait an hour, forcing us to watch the repeat of last week’s episode.

Then when it finally was on air… oh…kecewanya daku !! Sebab nampak macam cheap production mana ntah !

The sound system was bad.
The picture quality was terrible. Terkenang MuzikMuzik 83 terus. That kind of quality.
The stage set up was also at its minimal best. Macam nak tak nak buat aje. Hot hot chicken shit, okay.

The show was missing the WOW factor.
Not enough music.
Not enough pomp and finery.
It was neither ostentious nor magnicent enough for a programme of that stature. It is an international programme but it looked so cheaply made.

We even almost missed the announcement for the winner of the do it at home contestants, okay. Like it was nothing special, nothing to be celebrated about. Sangat-sangat hambar. Drumrolls ka, or flashing lights ka, confetti rain ka or bunga api ka was not in the picture. Macam takdak budget.

The one that I was most embarrassed about was the lack of cheers when Jill and that gorgeous hunk of a trainer… which I have forgotten his name… (ha ha… tak gorgeous sangatlah tu kalau boleh lupa nama) from the original Biggest Loser in the States appeared on screen.

People should be screaming. There should be some noise. It should be a happy occasion but instead it was a very sedate one, like watching Forum Perdana.

-

I thought technology is cheaper now and so much more advanced so we are spoilt for choice. Or maybe if you lack the idea of how to add grandeur, you can always pilfer ideas from other programmes right ? I mean don't tell me you can't even think of drumrolls ? Actually when I think of it, it looked more like they didn't have enough time to plan it properly, like the work of procrastinators.

To say that I was disappointed.. well sure… that was that… but I am more embarrassed than anything else because it was done in Malaysia okay. We got the honour of hosting the first Biggest Loser Asia in our country and we failed to properly celebrate that. Jaga hampa if Thailand or Singapore or the Philippines made more effort and spent more money and a lot of thoughts when they host it next.

I hate being paled in comparison with anybody. Whatever it is, they failed to excite me, when I am easily excitable. Ask my husband... Ha ha !

Talking about that, I watched ‘Did You Hear About The Morgans’ last week. Let me tell you, don’t waste your time because it was awful.

It was very, very predictable, and just like the Biggest Loser Asia's finale, the movie looked like a half-hearted effort. Jalan cerita sangat hambar. And there was no chemistry what-so-ever between hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker.

All the good lines were taken by Hugh so SPJ looked like a humourless cow. Hugh was witty and funny but the scripwriter and director forgot to add in appropriate responses from her. So it was all wasted away for us to laugh and cringe with embarrassment from the lack of reaction.

But the non-existant chemistry between those two was most excruciating to watch. Their kiss was so ntah hapa-hapa, I pitied both of them and us the audience.

Sangat mengarut.

I am embarrassed of me....

Couple kat Subway.

The husband was still handsome. Very handsome in fact.

But the wife was so selekeh, I thought she was his mother until I heard the children addressed her as Mummy.

Kamil insisted she was his mom, I many, many times assured Kamil she is definitely not because of what I heard. They have like 3 boys and 2 girls. The eldest boy looked 15 and the youngest girl looked about 3 or 4.

Maybe it was wrong for us to do this. I mean to discuss them and all but we were so compelled to do so. Why ? Entah… Melayu kot… ha ha…

Anyway (please put your disbelief aside when you read the subsequent sentence okay ?) I asked my husband, “You ingat Mamat ni ada affair tak ?”

Why do I think that, I don’t know. But I rasa macam kesian sangat because she is letting herself go. Her hair was messy, her clothes were ill-fitting, her feet were shorned with ugly flip-flops and her face… I dunno… She looked so old okay ? The husband looked like he is in his early forties while she looked like she has gone well beyond 50. Serious.

Maybe she is ill. Orang sakit usually looked disarray.

But the fact remains I wondered if the husband is faithful. Probably because they didn't seem to acknowledge each other's presence.

We always think lowly of the male species kan ? We always question about their ability to be faithful, we think they are always lusting about other younger women. We think they only think with their dicks. There I said it. And eventhough we are enraged about that fact, but we grudgingly accepted that it is what men do.

Because sometimes we blame the wife, especially if she is letting go of herself. I just did. Hell I don’t know him but I still question if he was being faithful on account of his wife’s appearance. Like it is okay for a man to stray if his spouse is less than vogue-y.

I think probably I was reeling from my discussion with Kamil about darling Kak Yatt’s entry. Kak Yatt wrote about an acquaintance who wanted to take another wife because his current wife is uninterested in sex. He claimed there is no love involved with this other woman, it is just about his needs (Kak Yatt, I hope I am telling this right ?)

Biasalah aku, bila ada lelaki yang buat perangai, Kamil yang kena bambu. I told Kamil the story, and asked, “Is sex that important to men ? Can men have sex without love involved ?”

To my utter shock and despair my husband answered, “Well if you keep having sex, you might fall in love with her….”

And aku naik angin. Because he once remarked he can’t understand men sleeping around and renting (he he) prostitutes because he claimed he can’t do ‘it’without love in the picture.

And a few gazillion years later, he changed his mind. Now apparently he can do it without any feelings and horrors upon horrors, if he does it with the same women enough times, he might develop some tendre for her.

To say I am dissapointed, well it just doesn’t cut it right. I became enraged. Me … benda yang ntah hapa2 pun boleh jadi gaduh. That is why Kamil gets a bit wary everytime I come home from any outing with my girlfriends as I might come home hating men from my girly conversations. My happy self could get corrupted when I hear a friend's mother's sister's mother-in-law's aunty's friend got heart broken because of a the male species. When that happens, I will usually take it out on the only man I come home to, him.

Why is it important for us women to look pleasing for our husbands ? Even if our husbands are sporting girths wider than the wheel of a 16 tyre-wheelers, we women who walk by his side must look impeccable. Lelaki, laku aje. Perempuan ni ha yang cepat past sell by date, I am told often times enough. Cess. Why ?

Why is it that we never looked twice at the sight of a perempuan lawa yang pegang tangan mamat selekeh ? But wondered if the opposite happened ? So are we thinking lowly of men or women here ?

Aku yang .. (well I cannot claim I am a feminist because feminism confuses me) kononnya without prejudice (well… I would like to think that I am) pun can think like that.

So when I see her, I evilly thought, who would want to sleep with that ?

Haru kan aku ?

Because when I stood in front of the mirror not 2-3 hours after that, noticing the stretch marks and the bulges, I thought, “Who in the right mind would sleep with this ?”

Macam aku lawa, kan ? Macam aku vogue.

Ha ha….

Dah…. Toksah tengok-tengok orang bila makan. Concentrate on your food and train your eyes downwards.

Dah lah panas

Yeah… I will have to save my discussions at Subway’s entry for another time.

I had a more pressing story to share.

Semalam, di zaman-zaman moden with teknologi yang canggih ini, kami dok dalam gelap malam semalam.

When I saw the gate opened oh so slowly dengan lemah gemalainya, I figured that the electric was off. It happened sometimes when it rained. Old house and not 3-phased yet but I had taught Bibik how to deal with it if the main switch ever kicked.

But it turned out the whole jalan was experiencing power cut. Called TNB or whatever they are called currently, and lodged my complaint. I am one of many I was told. Okay that was about 6.30 right ?

Then saw a fire truck passed by. Complete with the little Bomba van. My anak-anak (plus maknya sekali) was macam beruk mak ye, excited giler nengok fire truck. We nosily looked at where they go but didn’t see any fire.

Hmmm………

Kamil came home with candles. Since it was nearing Maghrib, saw that Aunty kat depan ada lampu although just one source which is quite funny. Neighbour sebelah kiri pun pasang satu lampu aje. Sebelah kanan the whole of his ground floor is lit up but their second floor remained shrouded in darkness. Kami punya ? Gelap ataih bawah kiri kanan.

Aunty kat depan kata luckily she has one socket that worked so she depended on that. Hearing that I quickly tried our sockets but none worked. Cess.

Called TNB again after 1 hour. The hour they promised that things will go back to normal, the hour that they claimed we would be catapult back to civilization. But the answer remained, “Dalam tindakan, ya puan.”

“But… neighbours saya semua ada lampu… Saya aje tak de….”

“Puan… puan dah check main switch tak ?”

Haram. Have you been talking to my husband ? Was he the one who told you I am such a ninny ? I am a bloody engineer tau dak ?

Hmmmm…..

Went out to have dinner, leaving my freshly bought dory melting in the sink. Before that bathed in candle light with very, very low pressured water because no electricity means no water pump. Damn ! Kids were crowding me. I was bloody rimas because of the heat.

Balik and the house still gelap. WAAAA !! Sat lagi Mark Harmon nak mai !!!!! Plus it was too hot. I don’t mind not having light but I really need my fan at least.

Called TNB again and I was informed that one tiang letrik caught fire on our street so that was why we were experiencing this madness. “Kerja-kerja pembaikan sedang dilakukan, ya Puan..”

“Tipu !” I answered.

“Saya tahu ada kebakaran, tadi bomba dah mai… Tapi kalau awak kata kerja pembaikan sedang dilakukan… tak ada pun. Saya baru aje round satu jalan ni… check neighbour mana yang ada lampu tapi tak nampak pun orang korang. Lori takdak, motor pun tak dak… Jadi macam mana awak kata kerja pembaikan sedang dilakukan sebab saya tak nampak pun !”

Terkedu jap mamat tu. Sian dia. Bukannya dia yang doing the repairing kan ? But it was almost 10 and it was very hot and sticky. Badan rasa belangaih semacam. Kamil sat outside to try and grasp any kind of wind that passes by, no matter how little but I cannot tahan bau taik Gizmo ! Menusuk hidung dan kalbu ! Dengan gelap nya, dengan panaih pastu bau taik kucing pulak. Sapa yang tak angin ? Sapa yang tak sasau ?

I started my tirade on TNB and aku bising kat Kamil sebab tak reti train kucing dia. Adalah sekali dalam gelap-gelap tu aku tersepak Gizmo. Tak nampak kan…? Last time I checked, I cannot see in the dark. Gizmo menjerit aku menjerit. Si Kamil boleh dia panggil kucing dia, pesan jangan kacau aku sebab satgi aku sepak dia lagi ?

Wei, tak sengaja lah !

I sort of slept on the cold floor. No, I didn’t achieve REM because although my eyes were closed and I thought I was sleeping, I could hear the going ons around me. And I heard the TNB lorry came. About time to ! Kata satu jam. Dari pukul 6.30 tadi janji 1 jam.. ni dah pukui 10 dah… 1 jam hapa ? Dekat pukui 10 baru nak mai repair ?

Aku punya lah dok berguling ataih lantai when suddenly the light came on ! Yeay ! Kamil kejut budak2 but tak sempat sampai ataih, we were in darkness again.

Apara.

It went 2-3 times. Sekejap terang sekejap gelap. Aku punya tension tok sah cerita lah. I called again TNB and told them about my neighbour yang dok rumah sensorang. Sian Aunty. She was so glad when she heard my voice. She didn’t know how to call TNB and she was hoping her neighbours did the calling. Nasib baik I teringat to check up on her.

And then finally, finally at 11.30 pm, the lights went on, the fan whirred and the air-cond blasted the very much needed cool air.

So I made my complaints at 6.30 and precisely one hour after that, at 11.30, the problem was fixed. Please say you noticed my sharp sarcasm.

As I lay on my bed, I suddenly felt grateful towards modern life and a bit sad that we are depending too much on everything to work out perfectly. It takes only one element to fail and we suddenly couldn’t function.

So thank you Allah for channeling your wisdom to .. err… whoever founded electricity. Benjamin Franklin probably. Or maybe Michael Faraday…. Thomas Edison I think invented the first generator. Or perhaps this Italian who guy invented the first battery, Volt something… that is why we measured the force that drives the electric current in Volt.. in honour of him… Not sure.

Maybe a combination of these great minds that we are so comfortable right now. We cannot live without energy… Well at least I can’t and therefore, right now I am very humbled by kuasa Allah.

And let there be no more power cuts on Mondays because I have to see Mark Harmon at 9.30.

The weekend where I spent it with little amount of clothing

Because it was hot okay....

Okay, not hot as in Kamil and his Cik Puan in hot embrace… but hot as in why the hell is the weather this sweltering ? And oven baking ?

Ya… itu dia.

Masih kat dunia and belum masuk neraka lagi dah panaih… Insaf le….

I made something for dinner on Friday. Don’t remember what it was but I am sure I cooked. Maybe…..

Okay maybe sat-sat lagi I will remember.

Oh yeah, made chicken roulade which went well with the kids. Abang loved it. I though feel like I have the stirrings of hate for chicken. Abang loves chicken and I do not know why when I cook, I tend to cook for him. I really don’t know why especially since he doesn’t need nourishment as much as his sister does. So sekarang a bit fed up of chicken. Nak pi beli ikan lah for dinner tonight. Although truthfully, I do not know how to make fish apart from fried it in breadcrumbs and serves it with chips. Maybe I can make fish pie… Nak ke budak-budak… and Kamil for that matter ?

Oh no we didn’t. Chicken roulade was Thursday. We went to Subway for dinner. Oh yeah….. nanti aku cerita pasal Subway. What happened there that is. Well not what happened there more to what we, Kamil and I, discussed when we were there.

We woke up to the heavenly sound and smell of rain on Saturday. Kamil loathed the thought of preparing for work while I was happy because rain means no tennis class so I can golek-golek in bed some more. So the duvet went further up while I went further in. Bliss………

Finally sent Bibik to Kak M’s house. Dunno why she declined my offer to go 3 weekends past. Gaduh le tu. Susah depa ni. I love having the house to myself. So I watched the telly a bit before I rendam udang and sotong and then of course terlelap. Woke up with a start and terkejut beruk because I have to pick up the kids like now.

Nasib baik dekat.

Anyway, Kamil called to say that he has a customer coming at 1.30 so he would be late. Apa ke jadah nak jumpa manager, customer ni pun… sales exec berlambak-lambak so go see them. Plus, if you decide to buy pun, he would still assign a sales rep to you pun. He can’t be doing their job sebab jenuh le dia. He is busy enough as it is and besides by 12, he belongs to me already and therefore he must come home !

Paham tak ?

I made mee hoon hailam. Without the kuah because the meehoon drank all the kuah. And remained slim. Meehoon is a thing of wonder for me because they can hirup kuahs like nobody’s business but still keep their figure. Tak kembang pun. So pi mana kuah-kuah tu semua ?

Yeah, don’t mind me. Just one of life mysteries that I must ponder about. Must, okay ? Yeah, nampak macam aku semi-meroyan kan ? Well… adalah something happened but I can’t divulge the details here. Berapa banyak my friends yang baca ni…

I am thinking now that I should have written anonymously… Hmmm…. maybe I should open a new blog kan ? A new one under a pseoudonym of course and I can write about absolutely anything that I want. Hmmmm………. Nobody will be any wiser and nobody boleh buat kerja report-mereport.

It is exam week this week so I chased the kids to the library to do revision. I sat in the kitchen watching the telly and looking at the clock (no tipu … I ain’t got no clock in my house. I checked the Astro one…) until finally he is home.

What a sight for sore eyes, him… my Kamil. I hugged him tight, happy to have him home. By the way, Saturday telly is boring Ya Rabbi okay ? Not everybody keluaq berhuha huha hari Sabtu lah Astro. Ada banyak yang dok rumah trying to unwind, malaih nak keluaq.

The day was too hot so I went to my room, took off some of my clothes (Abang was long walking around in his undies already) and watched Star Trek. Oh yeah, locked the door first because takut budak-budak and Kamil trauma. Ha ha…

Had dinner at Orchid Thai. Kamil’s family do. The food was okay and the service also so-so lah. Banyak salah menu sampai FIL angin gak. I couldn’t resist the customary Malaysian hors d’oeuvres or amuse bouche (I don’t really know the difference between these two) which is the peanuts. I shouldn’t really on account of my bouts of coughing. To make things worse FIL ordered sotong fried in batter so my meal ended before everyone else’s because I was busy hacking my throat.

We went to get CDs afterwards so when we returned home, air-cond was in full blast (it was too darn hot), the kids tarik tilam to our room and the four of us watched Aliens In The Attic which was fun. I was laughing because it was really a good movie.

We woke up late again because there was no tennis class. I had wanted to scramble some eggs for breakfast but Kamil tak bagi. “Dah lama the kita semua tak makan kat Cili Merah for breakfast sama-sama….” Sian Babah ni… Okaylah… Had a very good tosei and a satisfying limau barli suam.

Balik we watched The Lovely Bones pulak. Kamil was surprised that I wanted to watch movies like that because he knew how affected I can get. It was sad, but it was a good movie nonetheless. Although geram sikit because.. well… adalah, don’t want to give away the story to those yang belum tengok, but then the fact remains that it was a masterpiece. Rachel Weisz is amazing. Really, really amazing. Stanley Tucci too was good. So was Marky Mark without his Funky Bunch… And his Calvins visible for all to see.. ha ha….

We went to BSC for lunch. It was a huge one so Kamil predicted no dinner afterwards. Gila wei makan macam tu sekali. Balik singgah rumah PIL because they have been renovating the house and found some of our stuffs still there.

It was fun because I found books that I thought I had lost, I found an essay for my English teacher (in my Uni all foreign students kena attend English class… tak kira betapa terernya hang speaking, you still have to go….. which was good) that I got an A+ for and ….became a subject of discussion between Gillian and I.

You see, zaman sebelum ada blog, aku meluahkan perasaan on my essays. And that particular essay was masa aku bengang dengan Kamil so proh preh proh preh I wrote with so much emotion and anger … which turned contrite at the end, that Gillian got concerned and asked me about it. We had a nice heart to heart that afternoon. I remember it so well. It was a nice sunny day even for winter and we were in the library facing a huge window overlooking the carpark. The room was nice and bright and a bit warm, perfect to discuss matters of the heart in.

Darling Gillian. I tried to find her in fb tapi takdak…. I so love that woman.

Anyway, apart form that we found a few pictures, more books and a few other knick knacks. In the car, Kamil groaned because all the lovely junk was destined for the library and I tell you, the library is not something that I am very proud of at the moment. Books are piled on top of one another on the table. Toys are stacked everywhere. I mean these 2 children of mine right ada port in every room in the house. Dalam kitchen ada, in their room toksah ceritalah, the living room pun house a few of their stuffs and then the library. I dunno know why there are toys in the library.

It boggles the mind that.

So we need the clear all that up…. err…. before we put more junk in. Ha ha….

Kamil and I worked steadily. Aircond was on, curtains tied back to let the lovely sun in. We cleared up the mess and threw quite a few stuffs out. Abang had declared that he needed some ME time. Babah relented after a few jaw drops so he predictably spent it by watching cartoons while Adik bugged us.

We went to pick up Bibik, then I cooked a light dinner of soup for the kids. We went out again to throw away the stuffs we accumulated and deemed not important. After sending the kids to bed, I was feeling the heat so much and seeked to relieve myself of it by staying in the bedroom where I can get away with wearing less clothes. After a few arguments, Kamil put on Wolverine and we settled to be fetched to dream world.

Hati tak senang kan, so I had quite a restless night. By 5 am I was already fully awake. And therefore right now, my eyes are demanding for the 1 hour that was denied.

So… bila baca balik, I had a bloody boring weekend.

Ha ha.

Hmmm.......

Taipei was hit by an earthquake yesterday.

When Chile is still in chaos.

And Haiti is still recovering.

Allah marah ke ?

I don’t remember ada this quite rapid succession of quakes. If there are any, please enlighten me.

Anyway, actually I am bit perplexed with the very senseless death of darling Syafia.

Sure her dad is in jail. But her mom is not alone in the world. Apparently she just visited her grandparents the week before her very, very painful death. Plus there are the neighbours flanking their house left and right. Probably front and back too.

So how come they allow her mother to live in sin with her arse**** of a boyfriend ? Mana Joyah-joyah pembawa mulut, a must have in every kawasan perumahan in Malaysia, respectable or not ?

And Tok Wan is in the dark about his daughter’s living arrangement ? The whole taman seems to know and nobody took the liberty of informing him ? What about her adik-beradik ? If you dah tak larat nak berletiaq, nak marah sekali pun, surely you can call JAIS ?

I know of a couple yang sometimes… you know… indulge. When her sister told me, aku trauma sebab adakah maksudnya aku bersubahat sekarang ? Bermalam-malam aku tak tiduq, meyesai gila awatlah aku pi keluaq dengan orang ini dan kemudian memberitahu aku cerita-cerita begini pulak.

At the end, I called ustaz but ustaz said because aku dengar dari pihak ketiga, tak menjadi tanggungjawab aku sebab mungkin ini adalah cerita fitnah. Lain lah if the person itself cerita kat aku then itu memang sudah menjadi tanggungjawab aku untuk put a stop to it.

Lega…..

Why ? Entah.

Well… maybe it is not so easy to tell on somebody jugak eh ?

I don’t know but if it something that you see, that you know is happening surely you must do something. I was shocked when I read today that there were 20 witnesses to Syafia’s ordeal. 20 ? There were 20 people who didn’t do anything and just let her be his punching bag ? 20 people yang sanggup tengok dia kena pijak ? Not once but many times, you know. There were 20 of you for crying out loud and there is only 1 of him ! Surely hangpa boleh pakat-pakat tangkap dia ? Surely ?

Mana belas ikhsan kita ? Mana tanggungjawab kita ? Yeah, mungkin nanti ada orang cakap, until it happened to us, we wouldn’t know if we can actually do something. But surely, if you see a little girl was beaten to the very ounce of her life, you would intervene ?

Surely ?

Maybe Allah nak bagi warning that we are living in such a sorry state right now ? Maybe Allah nak buat macam dia buat dekat umat Luth, umat Nuh, umat Hood ?

Today the headline on the front page Harian Metro screamed a girl was stabbed by her lesbian lover. The girl is dead and the orang jahat is in a coma in ICU.

Mana Allah tak murka.

Could you believe after what happened to Syafia, yesterday a man stepped his neighbour’s son to death ? Allegedly because he is jealous he is without children but his neighbour dared to have 2 ? So he took his jealousy to the boy ? By stepping him to death ? Did Syafia’s killer gave him an idea how to kill a baby ?

I fear that Allah might want to smite us soon.

My sister baru-baru ni kena fitnah. Why I am sure it is fitnah ? Because the story of the fitnahter ( ha ha) doesn’t gel with my memory of the event. Or my sis’, or my other sis’ or my brothers’. Berani kan ?

Aku juga last year kena fitnah. And ada orang yang tak tahu apa-apa tolong sebarkan. The pain, the sting I can feel until now… even it has been a year but I can still feel it.

My mom said ada 2 jenis dosa yang Allah balas kat dunia. One of it is orang yang menganiaya orang lain. So aku tunggu. I am just waiting to see what will happen to her.

But mom also said we should forgive and best if we forget. But I can’t because it still hurts. There are still a few set of people yang aku malu nak jumpa sebab I know dia orang termakan cakap-cakap perempuan ini. I sometimes could feel their stares judging and condemning me and I hate that.

So I told my mom, since I could still feel the sting, I can’t forgive. Plus, aku nak dia masuk neraka !!!!! If I forgive her, then there is no neraka for her. Right ?

Jahat kah aku ? But then ada ustaz ni cakap pengampunan adalah hak kita. But, and here is another but, there is another ustaz yang cakap orang yang berdendam tak akan masuk syurga.

Ye ke ?

So maybe, I too am the source of Allah’s anger.

What happened to me yesterday.

While at work, I felt my chest tightened and then felt heavy. Breathing took an effort. Okay, not lah huge effort but still, it shouldn’t be that way, ain’t it ? I shouldn’t be concentrating on breathing.

Sms-ed my boss, packed my stuffs and drove to the hospital.

People who share the same town as me know that sek 9 is a mistake. It shouldn’t be in our town. Too darn busy for us. I hate going there for whatever reason because seksyen-seksyen yang lain is not like this, macam Taipan. Urggh..

Anyway the small hospital is there so venture into it I must. Just to paint a picture of this particular jalan, it is one of the busiest in this particular seksyen because there are like 4-5 banks (plus the small hospital at the very end of the road) in that stretch, so parking before 8 pm is a no-no lah. And therefore expect double parked cars lining up both sides of the road. What a bloody nuisance.

As I was driving slowly, trying to drive through what now is already a very narrow road enough for 1 car only, when suddenly I saw the door of a white car parked to my right opened and the inevitable happened, it crashed into mine. I was so shocked. Dah lah tengah sakit dada plus my heart beating like there is no tomorrow. I was already dizzy when I got out to inspect the damage.

The guy who did it was smiling sheepishly at me. The side mirror housing was still there but the mirror itself was already lying on the road. I picked it up, yelling at the culprit to come and put it back on for me. It was quite a hassle to do so okay. Bukannya senang, bukannya ada butang nak terus lekat but after a few tries it looked okay.

I am not the type to nag so aku banyak diam and was just shooting daggers at him. With my eyes le, not the real daggers. I took his car registration number (he was the passenger) and his phone number and left.

While waiting for the doctor, I felt the tell tale of a migraine coming. Great. Just great.

I have to say my consultation with the doctor was shocking as he prescribed this to me;

Urrrghhhh…. Now I know why my son doesn’t really like doing this. It tasted horrible okay. Macam pahit-pahit. Plus I was trembling afterwards. Doc said it is the normal effect after having a dose of the nebulizer. Sian Abang. He never complained about the tremors. Maybe he didn’t know how to.

Came out of the hospital with a lot of repeat medications (I should have asked the doctor what he was giving me) and baru teringat nak check my car. And subsequently found this;

Double urrghhh ! Now, I have to tell Kamil. I wasn’t planning to because well Kamil pantang benda-benda macam ni. Before that called that guy to complain and berani dia persoalkan boleh ke calar ? Itu aku naik angin. Luckily he backed down and agreed to meet me at the surau near my house.

Picked up Abang first before arriving at the rendevous point. He came with his friend and nasib baik he acknowledged it was his fault although him questioning again if it was possible for the car to be scratched there made aku angin balik.

I explained that I dah kena marah dengan my husband (I told Kamil while I was waiting for Abang) and how much I do not appreciate that fact since I did not do anything wrong. He agreed to pay for the damage nevertheless, although he warned that if it is above RM 300 we would have to report to the police as he wouldn’t have the cash to pay me. He would need to claim from his insurance.

Went home, head throbbing like mad and not amused. Not amused at all.

Makan ubat and tried to sleep. I can’t. I was too anxious. Felt like nothing in my life is going right at this moment. Work issues lah, pastu sakit and now this. Can’t do much but converse with Allah and asked for guidance.

Alhamdullilah, Kamil polished the car and all looked good. That guy do not have to pay a single sen, although if the side mirror suddenly tercabut again, I would have to ask him to bear the costs of repair.

Makan ubat the doctor gave me at about 10 pm and immediately the body was trembling somewhat. Got a bit spooked because it felt weird. Kamil advised that I’d better turn in for the night and get a rest.

Feels a bit better this morning although the chest still feels heavy.

Benci !

Sometimes aku rasa aku suka cari pasal.

Not just suka, more my favourite past time if I want to be honest.

Anyway, one day dulu-dulu I asked Kamil if pernah tak orang mengorat dia kaw-kaw punya, like out in the open ? I remember giving him an example dia masuk dalam lift and ada perempuan mana ntah main-main mata dengan dia. His pengakuan berani is, “Tak de lah….”. I dunno lah whether that is true or he was fibbing takut aku apply kerja kat company dia or paling koman pun in the same building.

He he…

Anyway, I didn’t know what kind of answer or reaction he was expecting from me because when I said, “Laa….. kesiannya you. Tak hensem rupanya you ni……” his face was murderous.

After that of course lah he said something like, “Alah mana you tahu I tak tipu…… I ni malas je nak cerita….”

And untuk tambah sakitkan hati dia, aku gelak berdekah-dekah over punya, konon macam tak percaya. He he…. Only Allah SWT knows I was eyeing the knives in the kitchen while I was rolling about, pretending to laugh.

Jaga ko Kamil.

Anyway, usually when we send the kids to their class, Kamil and I go jogging. But since I was sick last week, he sent the kids alone and he jogged alone. Dalam dok demam-demam tu aku sempat lagi pesan, “Be careful… kang ada orang mengorat you karang….” before succumbing to my drug induced sleep again.

When he returned, and I was already very much wide awake, I asked him,”Ada aksi mengorat tak ? Jogging sorang-sorang …..”

This time around he looked at me from the corner of his eyes and said, “Tak …..”

I of course fell into my old tricks, exclaimed “La… tak hensem jugak you ni ya…. Sian you…..”

He gave me a mischievous smile and said, “Huh… I malas nak layan aje…… Berapa ramai yang tanya I, “Boleh berkenalan ? Boleh berkenalan ?” and I tepis….. Malas lah…..”

Cess…..

Benci aku.

Warning ! Ini entry merepek orang sakit dada

So I had a mega movie marathon while I was resting at home. And you know some of the movies that I watched really made me wonder about many, many things.

He Is Just Not That Into You

Or something along that line, you know which movie I am talking about right ?

Anyway, it was my second time watching it and the same question crept up in me head, “Is dating really that hard ?”

Okay, I am the one to ask because I didn’t really date in my youth. So all the rules and the waiting and the what nots…. is that all true ? Do the rules and the games transcends borders too ? I mean does saying “I will call you..” but didn’t after a date is done by the Malaysian males also ? O

Is that how things really work ?

That sucks, okay. Hawau nya orang jantan ni.

Hawau jugak Bradley Cooper yang kawin ngan college sweetheart pastu syok pulak kat Scarlett Johansson. Itu hawau sebab macam boleh kena batang hidung sendiri. So it got me to thinking, hmmm….. how did we, Kamil and I, get married ? Did Kamil felt trapped into it and just played along ?

Ha ? Ha ?

I so hate this movie. Although I like what Jennifer Aniston and Ben Affleck have. Not married but the love is real. And for him to give her what she wants eventhough he strongly, strongly doesn’t believe in, is like the truest gift of love.

So now aku wonder pulak…. Hmmm…. have Kamil ever done that for me ?

Yeah, actually this movie berupaya membawa keruntuhan rumahtangga gak sebenarnya. So I had better move on.

Bridget Jones’ Diary

I love this movie. I really do o-o. Anyway, I didn’t wonder about anything about this movie because I just enjoyed it. Although I do wonder, pakay baju see-through pi kerja sampai nampak bra sesungguh hati (no more outlining of the bra okay) is allowed ?

Well… namanya fiction.

Harry Potter

Alahai Harry. I really pity this boy. His life sucks, okay. Major sucks. Mak bapak mati, mentor mati, surrogate father mati, kawan-kawan pun satgi mati, apa tau dengan dia ni. And the burden on his shoulders ! Urrghhh ! I would not be able to do it. Even Atlas (the man who has to carry the world on his shoulders) doesn’t have it as bad as him.

You know, on the 6th film when yet another bad thing happened, and Professor McGonagal rounded up the 3 of them and asked, “Why is it when bad things happened, you three is in the middle of it ?” and Ron answered with, “I have been asking that question myself for the past 6 years” was so fitting I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

I am not ashamed to say that I shed a few tears watching all 6 of them (and have started reading the 7th one just to refresh my memory, and it doesn’t look good people… !) but I have to say his determination and bravery is outstanding. The love he found outside his non-existant family circle (mak and pak menakan hawau semacam… sian dia ni….) is truly inspiring.

I wonder if I can ever be as generous as the Weasleys or even as generous as Hermionie ? Ikut aje, sanggup aje. This is truly the BFFFFF lah. Putting your life at risk (when you know our own life is so precious to us kan. Who in the right mind would sua tangan kat api ? We value our own life !) for a friend, slumming it for a friend, is so bloody moving. I wonder if it is it only in the books.

And so I wonder about the author when she wrote her books. What was she thinking and feeling when she wrote it ? I am sure the books mirrors her life somewhat, expresses her wishes somewhat and putting a voice to her desperation somewhat.

Okay, I understand the plagiarism. I have seen the similiarities as I have read Tolkien and Ibbotsson (Ibbotsson's is platform 10 and ¾ as oppose to Rowlings 9 and ¾) but, the story is hers.

How she weaved the plot is more than amazing. It is magical. Maybe she used them as a based, Tolkien and Ibbotsson and others who have also put in their claims (I heard quite a lot ! Even the Dahls ! Ye ke ?). Sometimes when we read something or see something, it sticks to our brain and became a part of us. I am sure my style of writing could be influenced by all the books I have read or even is like my favaourite author, I don’t know but it is not plagiarism because my experiences is a part of me already. It formed what is me today and I will continue to evolve with my surrounding.

You know when I was growing up, this one girl that I know out of the blue talked like she has a blocked nose. Suddenly so sengau. When I saw her again, years after that, sengau gone, I asked her about it. She sheepishly admitted that she was probably copying Fran Drescher in The Nanny.

He he…

But she said, she didn’t realize it was happening until her parents got fed up with it and nagged the impression away. So probably Ms Rowling read Platform 10 and ¾ and read Lord of the Rings and these books gave her the idea and she based it on her readings. Loosely based it on her readings.

I have to say though that reading the 7th book, it showed that she was doing it in a hurry or probably she was writing in a state of boredom because to me somehow the book lacked enthusiasm. Like it was rushed, I dunno. Probably she couldn’t cram everything into a 300 - 400 pager so she skipped parts about what Harry was thinking or feeling. Or maybe since Harry is a boy, well boys don’t like to dwell on their feelings much. Again I don’t know but I enjoyed it all the same. She is not the best of writers but, she had a very good storyline. Probably if she teamed up with Eva Ibbotsson (I love Eva…..), Harry Potter series would have become a literary genius. More than it is now.

Probably.

Is that even possible ? To be more successful than it is now ?

Legion

Now, it is a bit hard to thread on this subject because of religious sensitivity. As well as because of the crucial 5 minutes that became German… ha ha…

Anyway, earlier on the movie I was thinking why is the Catholic Church not pissed off with this, portraying their God as a cruel being, wanting to destroy his subjects because he is tired of their behaviour.

Then Archangel Michael said, “God used to send floods, now they send us…” or something like that. Then I understand.

Well.. if you put it that way, then I get it. Even in our own religion, bila Allah murka Allah turun kan bala. Umat Nabi Nuh, umat Luth dan umat Nabi Hood diturunkan bala kerana ingkar.

So now….when I look around me, in the papers, in the tv, in the net…. I am very sure Allah is kind of angry right now if not very angry….

Hmmmm………

Which brings up another point of discussion for next entry, fitnah and forgiveness.

Weekend yang sakit

Salam friends….

My weekend entry sangat lah boring okay. On account of my demam, of course.

Friday was a rugi day for me since I demam on a public holiday. Sian budak-budak. Kamil set up his new telly in the room, so I watched dvds. One after another. It wasn’t that nice though because head was super woozy and I was racked with coughs. Plus, cough syrups are known to induce sleep so I drifted between sleep and awakeness. Somehow it didn’t give me a full, restive sleep.

Saturday Kamil had to work and I was still quite ill so the kids stayed home. No classes for them whatsoever. Ada orang order Carbonara for 10 from me but luckily her gathering was canceled as I really do not know how to do it while being sick. Was planning to direct Bibik from afar aje.

Anyway was glad when Kamil came home. The kids didn’t disturb me much as they know I get sensitive if I sleep and the bed moved (on account of them climbing on the said bed) so kalau masa sakit lagi le super-sensitive. Sian Abang and Adik. But they checked up on me once in a while. Once I opened my eyes to see Adik looking intently at me. Seeing my opened eyes, she said, “Abang… she is still alive !!!” to be answered by Abang’s “Fuuuhhh…..okay…..”

Kureng asam punya budak-budak.

Kamil was very adamant about me bathing while being sick. “Segar sikit ….” Said he so I dutifully bathed and he was right. After I downed my cough syrup and clarinese, started watching the first Harry Potter and by 6 pm, the bed had a firm mould of my body and I was through to the fifth installment.

I was feeling a bit better so Kamil asked whether I felt like going out for a bit of fresh air. We went to Uptown because I wanted to get Harry’s 6th dvd plus Uptown is out in the open air. Had a surprisingly nice chicken congee. It was super delicious and decidedly Thai. One spoonful and it tasted like Thai food. I love it.

Bought Legion plus Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. By midnight really, really had a nice lesson of why not to buy DVD-R (purple disc) and only buy the Gold Disc, because dah nak habis movie, suddenly Archangel Michael (Paul Bettany) and Archangel Gabriel (ntah sapa-sapa aku tak kenai…) cakap Jerman. Sungguh tak tipu. Masa-masa yang crucial tulah depa pi bantai cakap Jerman, and not the P.Ramlee kind either. Kamil and I howled in frustration because now, we do not get the conclusion and therefore langsung tak paham cerita.

Apa ra……

Kamil woke up at 5 am to go to Pasar Kelang to stock up on fish. Aku tak sedaq pun. He came back and then hantaq budak2 pi kelas tennis, aku haram tak sedaq jugak. Aku sedaq bila Mom came and suddenly heard him calling from downstairs panggil aku makan breakfast.

I bathed then sambung tengok Harry Potter dalam batuk and penin then heard the kids came home. Adik came to baring next to me. I slept until 3 after taking a stronger cough syrup, waking up to see Kamil snoring next to me. Tengok pulak New Moon and naik satu macam menyampah dengan Bella. Sian Jacob. Hensem-hensem pun orang buleh buat lagu tu kat hang na…..

Kamil ajak pi Subang Parade for dinner. Before that beli light jackets for the kids for our trip later this month. Dinner then bila samai rumah barulah aku duduk kat dapoq tengok tv. Dapat jugak tengok new CSI. Laurence Fisburn can really ganti Grissom okay…. So hopefully the series will go on. I miss Grissom though.

Halfway CSI aku dah start penin balik…. This time my chest became a bit heavy too so as soon as CSI habih, aku naik ataih makan ubat but this time, tiduq tak lena langsung. Dok dengaq macam-macam. Neigbour bersembang kat luaq lah, dengaq macam barang jatuh gedebuk lah… And my quite laboured breathing didn’t help either.

Okay… nan la pun rasa macam nak berguling saja…. Nak sms boss… nak balik kot….

Esok-esok if I am well enough, I will tell you guys what I got from my dvds marathon.