Update

I have spoken to si Kamilnya about having a casual look at the old house but he said dia baruuuu saja lalu 2 weeks ago. And the house remained the same, still tak cantik.

Hmmm....... I just wish he would just tell me the truth i.e. Malaslah nak pegi !! Takyah lah nak buat citer baru lalu lah, hapa lah.

Anyway, we love Ginger Ales in this house. I drink it because I... ermm.... have trouble dispensing wind from my body... heheh... A can of ginger ale left opened until the gas dissipates is a very good way to help them out.

Anyway Kamil bought 5 cans the day before and by today there were none in the fridge.

Sapa minum ? he asked with a very garang voice.

He wish.

Because his daughter without fear answered,

"Saya minum.

Sedap.

When I take a sip, I feel so cosy.

So I drink the whole thing.

I cannot help myself."

The guy who still feels he is to be feared roared, "5 cans ! You drank all five !"

Abang didn't say anything. Adik again answered, "Next time buy 10 !"

I can't help but sniggered because Kamil just could not give a witty comeback.

Hehhehe...

Anyway... just now Kamil dengan confidentnya asked me, "Kat mana nak beli baja lalang ?"

Hmmm......... Patut le cannot win argument with his daughter.

Misteri rumah buruk

Last night we passed by a fast food restaurant and saw a not-so-young lady sitting alone. She looked a bit despondent, a bit sad so probably that was why Kamil asked, “Apalah dia buat sorang-sorang tu…”.

For me, the sight of her reminded me of someone that used to intrigue me.

A long, long time ago in land, not that far away from where I work now but can take such a long time to get to due to hell on earth traffic called KL, I earned my keep at a place called ISB. It is situated in a huge house, so very near to Pavilion that I used to walk there in search of sustenance. Anyway, the office was flanked with lived-in houses left, right and at the front.

It is a nice area, where only the rich can afford to live but the house right in front of our office was rundown. It boasts the biggest land on that road but the land was unkempt, the house looked like it is going to crumble any minute… er… well, from what we can see lah. We can’t really see the whole house because it is obscured by this huge spanking tree buuutt…. what we can see (the right side of the house) definitely looked crumbly. Trust me.

I am a very curious person. Not nosy. I am just curious. Who wouldn’t if rumah cantik keliling but tetiba ada lak satu nak runtuh macam rumah nenek kebayan (btw my Tok Cik mengaku dia nenek kebayan… So….. ) ? I hardly ever see cars go in and out and the only vehicle I can see from my point of view is a dilapidated small truck.

I had always thought that since the house could have fetched at least RM20 million, considering where it is, so why can’t the occupants just buy a nicer house somewhere cheaper and a darn car ? And maybe a broom to sweep the lawn of the dried leaves ? So of course that question begets another question which is, who lives there ? Someone who used to be rich ? Why are they still staying there ? Why ? Why ? Why ?

Nak dijadikan cerita one day as I was about to get into Kamil’s car for lunch, I saw a Chinese lady walking from the house towards the gate. Oohh… finally.. proof of life ! From far she looked very nice and tall and slim, with leggings and huge celeb sunnies, holding a brolly.

I asked Kamil to wait as I seriously want to get a good look at her but the full frontal view was disappointing. Ghastly even… Ish.,.. tak baiknya. My apologies if some of you are offended but that was what I truly felt when I saw her. The lady sported a flower tucked behind her ear and she was smiling shyly but the ghastly bit was the shocking pink lipstick and rouge which looked like it was applied roughly, in the dark.. while riding a roller-coaster. She walked past by us and from behind we could see the sway of her walk which was really cute and girly. Memang tak matching.

Kamil and I were rather disturbed what with the house and then her looking like that and we talked the whole way to a shopping complex. We went to the food court and lo and behold there she was. She was sitting alone, sipping drinks and still with the shy smile on her face.

We dragged our meal because she looked like she was waiting for someone and we just wanted to see who it was (okay, okay, maybe this part is more nosy than curious) but he or she didn’t materialize. So we left.

I didn’t see her again until one day I walked to the shopping complex on my own and while I ate, she sat near my table. No flower, but celeb sunnies remained there and the shy smile still plastered on her face. Again she was alone and I waited almost 1 and a half hours just to see if she was really meeting someone.

No. I didn’t see anyone.

After that I see her sometimes, at the food court sipping a drink. Always. Once I saw her returned to the house, on foot again, faithful brolly never leaving her ..err…. head. It was about 3pm so no wonder she never left before me.

I tried to ask about her but nobody seems to know. Well… memandangkan we don’t mix with the neighbours, I could only ask my fellow office mates and unless they have lived there for some time, of course they wouldn’t know about her. I remember showing her to my good friend Sue once but Sue yang merangkap secretary Chairman, yakni owner of the premise pun tak tahu.

But … I am sooo disturbed with the image of her day in and day out alone, waiting there at the food court, never eating from 1 to 3, living in a house of that condition. I just wonder what is her life about, who lives with her and who was she waiting for at the foodcourt ? What is her story ?

And what is the deal with the sunnies ?

And… if she was not working, and nobody seemed to leave the house for work, what did she do for food ?

Why is she always alone ? Why at the food court everyday ?

I never saw her again after I left the company. Admittedly I only ever went to the shopping complex… err…. never… since I left.. Hhehehe….

Hmm….. since my err... curiosity (I don't think intriguity is a word)is refreshed anew, rasa macam nak ajak Kamil pegi aje Sabtu ni… Swing by the old office and see if the house is still there…..

Hmmm……..

Should I ?

Okay, if we really go I am still being curious yeah, not nosy. Definitely not.

Berita terkini hari ini

I know, I know... Two updates in a day ! Shocker ! But I really, really have to write about this.

You guys just wouldn't believe what happened just now.

We went to Seksyen 2 to get our vaccination for Mecca trip. Nothing unusual there. I went in first then Kamil and while Kamil was in, the staffs there said all of us could go in. So I ushered my children in, in the middle of Kamil getting his shot and that is when the unusual happened. My kids went berserk.

Okay berserk is a bit too much, they went nuts.

The gasps and the horrified looks and the realisation of why we were there sort of fleeted before me before the tears started coming. I thought I mentioned many, many times we have to get jabs before we go. Maybe they don't understand what it means. Jabs that is. But knowing my children, they always ask if they don't understand what I say. Always.

So to me I have done my part. I have made the proper announcement and kalau dia orang tak paham... well.... tough. Fuuhh... garang. Heheheh.... No lah. Seriously, I know I have told them.

Anyway both of them started crying. Yang besaq, gemuk gedempoi siap kena tarik pi duduk sebelah the good doctor. He was unconsolable so much so Kamil had to put him on his lap to appease him somehow.

Doctor angkat tangan saja he started wailing and dok suruh doctor tu tunggu sat. Lama-lama aku kata. "I think my penampaq is going to hurt much more than the injection. You want to try for comparison ?" barulah dia sengap.

Yang the little clown girl, the one with so much bravado in her pun sama saja, dua kali lima. Meronta-ronta siap. Drama sungguh !

Aku rasa macam mimpi saja nengok budak-budak tu macam tu. They even went as far as saying that they wouldn't mind not going.

Hampeh betui.

Lake Garden

Happy Chinese New Year !!!!!

I don't celebrate sebab nobody invited my to their house buuuutt... I am happy with 2 extra weekends though.

We didn't go anywhere much due to the timbunan of work that I have to clear before February. I am going to Mecca next month and Bangkok the week before Mecca so you can imagine how devastatingly busy I am.

Tu dia, na ? Hehhehe....

We did go to Lake Garden, though. Kamil is bored of walking around our own lake agaknya. Anyway yesterday morning off we went and we arrived in mere 10 minutes. Sooo luxurious to be able to go to KL without being stuck somewhere for a length of time.

Anyway I haven't been in a looong time and I must say it is lovely. It is well kept and there are sooo many things to see. The animals that we can gawk and went Awww... at.. The avian ones, the deers and mousedeer and the kambing... Oh so cute kambings ! And we learned the names of a few familiar trees and we saw Waterlilies ! So pretty.

Plus it is connected to the museum and the Planetarium and the Bird Park and the Butterfly Park, you cannot get bored. There are just sooo many things to do.

That was why we went again this morning.

We found new routes, and quaint park themes and.. well.... I am truly sorry it took me such a long time to return.

When we were small, it had always been Bapak's favourite destination. The last time I went was during Mother's Day where we had a picnic and my siblings surprised mummy and I with a cake. Abang was about 2 at that time.

It sure does bring a lot of memories and if you know me, some old ones would come knocking soon.

Anyway, I do wish they could make our own lake at least half as interesting as Lake Garden. You know, return the ducks, clean it up (needs major work, I know...)and maybe a small petting zoo ?

Ta-ra for now.

PS : Pictures later yeah ? As usual Kamil simpan segala gadget2 kat office.

How your father met me

If I remember my childhood well, it looked like we were forever sitting with Bapak, listening to his stories. Either all of us were on the bed with him (I could never say in bed as it made me feel suffocated sangat… In tang mana ? Dalam tilam ? I don’t get it….), or he is on a chair and all of us scattered on the floor, heads up looking at him or all of us on the sejadahs with him yapping (kelentonging) away.

Sometimes he would voluntarily tell us a story. And some of the times, it would be us who generate the stories with our questions. Anyway, one of our most FAQs was how did he meet our mom ?

Ceritanya sangat pelbagai, which is maybe why we always ask. Whatever it is, it always involve him walking somewhere (Lake Garden, hutan, kampong etc depending on his mood) and a lady in distress shouting for help (mak aku le tuh) due to whatever calamity she was facing that day (buaya, perompak, huge spanking ulau… my mother is sooo prone to danger) and he ended up being the hero who saved her and later fell in love and the rest, as they always say, is history.

Bosan.

I don't remember if my own kids ever asked. And if they did, what was my version of the story. Whatever it is, they asked last week after months and months of watching How I Met Your Mother DVDs.

So….. you can guess how my story went.

I was a prefect in my school and one day whilst I was doing my rounds, I heard a call of distress coming from near the school pond. I ran there as fast I could and the sight that greeted me was troubling indeed. The resident alligator/crocodile of the pond had cornered a boy and was snapping his huge jaws away. Being a prefect and a good Samaritan/heroine that I am, I grabbed a cangkul which just happened to lie about nearby and with precision that defies logic, cangkul-ed the eyes of the said crocodile/alligator (whichever is the biggest lah).

I then jumped over the writhing in agony alligator (I just googled. Gators are bigger) and swept the cowering boy off his feet and took him to safety. He of course fell in love with me and me being a nice person agreed to be his girlfriend even though he showed signs of thinning hair.

Kamil’s face could not be described as his flared nostrils, crinkled forehead and screwed eyes gave me mixed signals. My children liked it though because they giggled the night away.

Not interesting entry...

Say that I am a baker. And I am like one of many, many bakers in the company that employs me, spread between a few divisions, i.e. pudding div, french pastry div, cake div and err.... kuih-kuih melayu div. Each div has its own Head Baker who reports to the Ultimate Baker.

And yesterday was the perjumpaan of all these bakers, across all these various divisions. And boy a lot of thing happened during this meeting, so much so that I pounced on Kamil as soon as I saw him because all the news were already at my throat ready to spew at a very, very fast rate.

Anyway, just to warn you, whatever I wrote down below is not interesting. Just me merakamkan my day as usual...

The chronology of event goes as follows;

Morning coffee : Ultimate Baker came to sit with SS (from Pudding Division) and me at our table. We swallowed our shock quickly, had a brief chat with him before leaving him off to his presentation notes. I wished him luck and for him to have fun and he went, “Break a leg ?”, face full of mischief. I looked at him for awhile with a straight face and said, “Yeah, break a leg…” followed by a megawatt grin and left him in a cloud of waves. I can safely say that I was lucky I remembered to grin.

I am a bit funny when I am around him. I dunno why. With other people, I would have laughed merrily when he said that but with this guy, he somehow brought out the solemn-ness in me.

I was invited for tea with him about 2 months ago and aku being aku instead of saying, “Okay, I am leaving now…” or “So… I am going back now ..” or whatever cool and collected people are wont to do, I said, “J.. I take my leave… Thank you..” as I shook his hand.

He smiled and went, “Ooo…. I take my leave….” comically. I just looked at him, smiled again and left. It is sooo weird. Usually I would have laughed and crack some jokes. But I didn’t. And he is a nice man. He is funny and always joking around so I do not know why I am like that with him. He must think me rude or a one humourless baker.

Sigh…….

Lunch time : Since this is the perjumpaan besar baker-baker company, two of my staffs from PG pun turun sekali. And because it is December and our mid-year review is due, I arranged for them to have ‘talks’ with me and our boss. Elok aku nak panggil K, the no.2 guy for Kuih Melayu Division, Haji called me and said, “Nak pegi dah ke ? I nak introduce you to my team….” This guy is seriously a nice guy but I have been introduced to his team twice already. But just to humour him, I said okay.
He went to look for them while I proceed to my boss and K. Sembang-sembang sekejap and tetiba Haji joined us. I have forgotten why the conversation turned like this as all I can remember is my boss said to Haji, “All my staffs are experienced, so boleh saja kalau Haji nak any of my team….”

Haji grinned widely but before he could say anything, my boss said, “Tapi Cik Puan Kamil tak boleh..” Aku terkejut and aku tengok K pun terkejut. Haji then went to explain that he was the one who wanted to hire me but Mr. L who used to be our Head Baker chop aku first before dia sempat bukak mulut.

My boss geleng-geleng kepala and then mimed a tarik tali at me and….

Tak payah lah aku cerita kan semuanya but man it was awkward.

During our 5 minute break, I was talking to fellow bakers and suddenly he called my name. He has assembled his team and all were grinning at me. He left us to it with “Tak kenal maka tak cinta….”.

A friend came up to me and said, “So… I saw that you were introduced to your new team…..”

Groan.

Seriously, I like Haji. And I like his team. And most importantly I like their err…. subject matter. Kuih Melayu is my favourite. But… seriously, he has to tell me straight. I cannot act with hints.

So last night, I couldn't sleep. Worrying that Ultimate Baker thinks I am a humourless ninny and contemplating why I want Haji to really ask me so much. No more hints..

Hmm...

Balanced reporting

So… a reader complained that I do not know how to take care of my husband.

Hmm…. Saying it in English has no impact what-so-ever.

Cakap Melayunya ialah aku tak pandai jaga laki. Haaa………. Baru terasa impaknya.

Zrrruppp ! naik ke dada and translated to my face by considerably pinkening it.

The reason is katanya aku suka nar ngumpat laki aku. That I failed to recognize the nice things he did for me and I chose to concentrate on the ‘trivial’ mistakes he made.

Hmmm..

First question that popped to mind, si Kamil ke tulih ni ?

Naaah… he doesn’t read my blog. I think he doesn’t even remember that I have one. Oppps ! Does that statement constitute as mengumpat laki aku ?

Second thing that came to mind is that how does this person know that he did nice things for me ? He/She mentioned a few things that were true. So… by my power of deduction, I can either say that this person

a) is a friend or an acquaintance
b) got to know about it by reading from my blog

or….

c) Is Kamil. Again… naaahhh……

If you gleaned the information from my blog, dear sir/madam it means that I do say nice things about him. If not how else would you know about the car that he bought me and how much he loves my family ? I cannot only write about his nice stuffs and keep shtoom about his not-so nice stuffs. Ini balanced reporting namanya. I have to be fair.

Plus, if I memuji dia menggunung kang, ada lak yang muntah. Korang jugak tak larat nak baca. Kang ada lak yang comment macam aku sorang aje ada laki baik. Kang ada lak yang start to get defensive and say, “Eleh, laki aku pun macam tu gak… Ingat laki ko sorang aje ke ?”

I know that will be the public outcry because people have grumbled about updates on FB yang ala-ala promote laki sendiri. A fellow blogger once wrote about a friend yang forever complimenting her husband with updates like merdunya suara laki dia bila baca quran etc. Hehhehe….. Teringat pun boleh tergelak. Aku rasa kelakar sangat, selepas feeling nak muntah subsided of course.

And she is not alone. My own FB pun is inundated with updates of kegagahan suami, ke-terer-an suami, betapa indahnya perkahwinan mereka tak seperti orang lain yang huru-hara and the likes. Mula-mula aku okay aje, but lelama when comments like that came from the same person aje, aku pun naik bosan. Macam adik aku kata, dia ni nak bagi orang jealous ke atau nak encourage orang ambik laki dia ?

Hehhehe….

To be honest, I too can write something like, “Terangnya kepala si Kamil seperti Nur yang turun dari syurga ditemani bintang kejora beranak 8”. Boleh…. Tak jadi masalah. Tapi kang korang nak lagi ke kawan ngan aku kalau everytime you guys see me you can’t help but shudder or vomit blood ? Tak pun kalau korang bila nampak Kamil aje dah tak nengok muka dia tapi sibuk nengok sumber Nur itu ?

And tomorrow pulak I write, “Bahagianya makan bersuap ngan Kamil….” Pastu esok-esoknya “Besarnya berlian Kamil beli untuk isteri tersayang (iaitu aku le tuh)”. Korang tak bosan ke ? Tak ? Bosan kan…?

So to me, balanced reporting is best. Dia buat baik aku tulih, and dia buat tak berapa baik pun aku tulih. Tapi semuanya yang I have vetted and decided is okay for public consumption. I definitely did not write about all.

Besides, I like to be honest. And I remember mentioning before that I treat this as my memory keeper. Seriously when we fight, I sometime trawl my blog to get evidence.

Heheh.

Me, control freak ? Really ?

You wouldn't believe what happened to me today. We stopped for gas in PJ, on our way to a very late lunch. Before we could leave, 3 ladies approached us asking for directions to UM.

We explained and explained but they didn't seem to grasp the general whereabouts. Asia Jaya tak tau, Bangsar pun tak tau. Upon questioning we found out that they were from Johor. So, mau tak mau Kamil offered to show them the way.

Kamil stopped at a bus stop in front of UH and got out of the car. I saw him talking to them and then the ladies came to our car and salam-ed my hand. As soon as they left Kamil exclaimed, "You salah dengar. Dia orang bukan nak pegi UM. Nak pegi to a place near UM !"

Can you guys believe it ?

How can he blamed me, saying that I misheard them when they talked to us both at the same time ? I looked at him with this extremely shocked face and he acted like it was nothing. Like he and I actually lived in different dimensions and when those ladies spoke to us, he was really in an alternate universe and was not actually there, sitting beside me in the damn car.

Korang percaya tak laki aku ?

Aku of course naik angin and barulah dia gelak and said, "Habis tu I nak salah kan siapa lagi ?"

Banyak lah muka kau. Why do you need to put blame on situation like this ? There is nothing to blame anything of and it was not a big deal. They failed to mention it, so what ? There was no fight, no bloodshed, no difficulty pun.

I am still reeeling from this episode, seriously. Berapa banyak pergaduhan yang aku kalah sebab benda merepek macam ni lah. Nevermind, I can definitely use this episode in future fights. Heheh.

Anyway, we woke up early this morning. Hantar MJ to the airport to catch his flight to New Zealand. He is taking the year off, to travel and work and hopefully when he comes back, he is refreshed and ready to continue his studies.

Budak-budak sekarang ni seriously mengada.

I am definitely against the idea. I am naturally worried for his safety and the prospect of him actually returning home after 6 months. But then, I have to learn to let go. I learnt from this episode that I am a control freak. I have the need to control the movements of people around me as I think I know best.

Sigh.

Typical huh.

Because we woke up at 5 am and only returned home about 10, Kamil and I fell asleep by 1 pm after trips to the market, and shops and what-nots.

Yawn.

Still sleepy. Night ....

Masalah bila umur dah lanjut

Yesterday I had training.

Apparently my boss thought that I needed the be trained to present. It is apparent that he did not read my CV. Not that I think it is his fault that he didn't read it but.. if he had read them he would know that I gave presentations all the time.

During my first job, I had to conduct product presentations to all the major oil and gas companies, apart from managing and completing projects. Plus, he was the one who said that he likes the way I handle my meetings with clients because at the end of it, I always remained in good terms with them. During all our meetings, we have to present to our clients. Always.

So...Aku tak paham. But... it is ok. Pegi ajelah.

Of course all of us had to present. Very much expected. We were given each a topic to talk about and the trainer and the participants will give their comments.

I was stopped halfway during my presentation because I lacked eye contact with my audience. In fact my eyes went around the room. Why ?

Err... because I was looking for inspiration is why. I had to stand there and talk with minimal preparation so mestilah kepala dok berpusing apo ko bondo eh nak cakap ni ? And I can't help if my eyes whirred like my brain when I think.

Heheh.

All in all, the participants liked it. They didn't comment much apart from how they enjoyed my presentation. Cuma... well... the trainer said I present like a story-teller.

Eh ?

Hmmm........ Is that good or bad ?

Anyway, dah alang-alang kat KL tu, Kamil and I went out on a date. Went to KLCC where I forced Kamil to gaze at charm bracelets. Well I did all the gazing while Kamil nengok guna sebelah mata aje...

I love charm bracelets. Dari aku kecik aku naaaakkkk sangat satu. Jealousy is when I saw most of my friends wear one. I remember my friend Z with an Eiffel Tower and a oh-so-cute wrapped present charms dangling from her wrist.

Dah besar nak beli duit tarak.

And dah makin lama rasa macam too old for one.

So semalam ku gagahkan jugak. And Kamil.

Verdict, nak taruh banyak-banyak memang tak cun. One charm is enough.

But... I think I looked too old for one.

Nampak macam bodoh sangat.

Kamil seperti biasa no comment.

Tapi so cute. Cuma tak cute on my wrist.

But I want it. Badly.

Sigh.