Semalam

I am so tired today. Actually I am tired all the time. I feel sluggish and unmotivated. I feel so burdened with things sometimes. Nak kata meroyan... my last baby is almost 10 so... it is probably age.

Semalam pagi-pagi lagi kami bersiap to go to the Curve and then lunch at IKEA. Dah lama dah tak makan the meatballs. We arrived there at 10am and was greeted with a very long queue. They weren't even serving the lunch menu yet ! What time did these people get here ?

We haven't had breakfast yet so while the kids waited (and guarded) at a table, we went down to get curry puffs and mineral water to tide us in until lunch, served at 11.30. By 11.25 the line got longer so we gave up. Went to Debenhams, the real reason we ventured there in the first place and then hot dogs for lunch.

Anyway, there were bouncy castles there and Adik jumped with joy at the prospect of it. Aku benda macam tu malas nak decide takut kena pangkah jugak akhirnya dengan Kamil so she turned her begging to Kamil. She clasped her hands together, made her eye bigger and said, "Please, please, please..." and Babah relented.

She whooped with happiness and Abang remarked, "Bila Adik buat macam tu, Babah selalu kalah...."

Excuse me ?

I asked him what he meant and Abang said, "Well... bila dia buat macam tu (here he clasped his hands together) Babah selalu give in ..." and he smiled ruefully.

You want to have a go at the bouncy castle ? I asked and he recoiled in horror and said , "NO !" I don't know which part I felt the saddest most for. At the possibility of him implying that Babah favours his sister or that he doesn't want to play on a bouncy castle anymore.

Dia dah pandai lock himself in the room. He could be there for hours at end, I have no idea what he was doing. He doesn't really watch cartoons anymore and the saddest part is never requests to be tucked in anymore. Usually he would just give me a peck on the cheek and forehead before he goes to bed and that was it. I guess I am lucky that I still get those, I suppose.

Once I was already asleep while watching the telly with him in my room. I was woken up when I felt him kissing me on the forehead with the softest goodnight, mummy uttered. He didn't switch-off the telly but he did lower the volume down, just the way I like it.

Sigh... I need a new play-thing... a baby....

Anyway last night my siblings gathered at my home to watch a horror movie, Mama. The aircond in the telly-room dah rosak, so is the one in my room and so Kamil bawak the telly from the kitchen and set it up with the player in the living room. I brought down loads of pillows and blankets and we had a very nice and cosy time.

Bila adik-adik aku dah balik, macam malas pulak nak naik atas, so we crashed there.

Nice.

Hotel....

So... I know I said I wanted to upload my picture ... however.... I have second thoughts. Segan pulak tetiba... hahahhaha.

Anyway, we had our teambuilding at Ancasa Hotel or Apartment in PD. We hired a consultant to teambuild us and they were great. Not so great is the hotel.

It was dirty. The toilets in the apartment were dirty. The walls were cringe-worthy and the glasses they put in the bathroom for our toothbrush were filthy. It was caked with white substance that I care not investigate its origin or nature.

The toilet in the common area was soooo dirty I almost fainted. Seriously.

Sometimes we had food outside, in the one and the lalats ate with us too. The glasses were filthy therefore I hardly ate just in case everything else was dirty.

But... whatever I did partake was delicious. That was their saving grace. The food was good. I survived on delicious, soft buttery croissants in the morning and whatever that doesn't look menacing the rest of the time.

Oh. Some of the staffs deserved my slaps. On our second night, my staff and I decided to just have a chit-chat in our room instead of joining the slumber party going on in another room. We talked into the night and suddenly around midnight there was a knock on our door. I thought it was our other housemates coming in so I cheerily invited them in.

We got the shock of our lives when the door threw open and a guy in blue coveralls came in. He just walked in without saying anything. D and I were too flabbergasted to say anything. "Kata ada air-cond rosak ?" he asked. Although with that I could really bury the fear that that will be my last night on earth, but we were still too damn rooted on the sofa to do anything especially considering our exposed aurats !

Ya Rabbi.

I stood up and told him no... we are okay with our air-conds. He looked at me, went inside our rooms and came out again. Dalam ketakutan tu, I still recognised that he is the maintenance guy, and so experience kicked-in and I immediately complained about the lights in our bedroom which failed to lit up.

And he brushed it off with "Ah... lampu..." and promptly left.

He was in and out of our apartment in 2 minutes top but he managed to stupefy, scare and miff us in that very, very short time.

So there.

Unmentionables yang melayang di tiup angin.....

So I went to my team building do. And I had Anne of Green Gables / Little House on the Prairie going on for our dinner. Well more of that after I get the pics, yeah ? I will also talk at length about the hotel that we stayed in. More on how horrifying it was, really.

Anyway on our last night there, we were pelted by heavy rain. My roommate and I didn’t realize it all for some reason so when we went down for breakfast, we were shocked to see an unmentionable lying on the floor for all and sundry to see.

“Laa… sapa punya yang tercicir ni ?” Hehheheh…. And as we moved on, I saw a single sock all wet and a few other items of clothing strewn about. So the wind must have been really great that night.

I of course suddenly remembered something that happened in the past…….

Dulu-dulu for some reason we were always going to Terengganu and whenever there we will definitely stay at Tanjong Jara. Now… we love going there because of all the chalets are so luxurious and so very different from the normal hotel concept. We love the beach, we love the pool and we love the food. We were forever ordering fish and chips whenever we went swimming.

During one trip yeah when I was 8 I think, instead of a normal one-piece swimsuit, I was given a 2-piece one. My first one ! I was soooo besotted with it for some reason and was always putting it on, underneath my clothing. Come to think of it, I had always loved wearing swimsuits under my clothes. Once I even went to a shopping complex with my friends, who all had a swimsuit on, before we actually went to a pool. It was thrilling, for some reason….. like there is a secret that we were harbouring. Bangang kan ?

Anyway I remember this 2-piece had a brown and red batik motif. Or maybe paisley. My father would always laugh when I put it on and I felt so proud whenever I jumped in the pool in it. Probably because I know I could not get away with it now kot, bila dah besar-besar, so I was savouring every moment I had with it… I was such a clever girl…

Hehehhehe…..

Moving on…. After every swim, I would carefully hang it on the balcony railing to dry and one day, one fateful morning really when I went to get my swim suit I couldn’t find the top. Jenuh aku dok terkinja-kinja jenguk from the balcony just in case it fell to the grass but tak ada. I remember my brother lowering me down to the ground and I checked underneath the chalet and still it was not there.

I remember going around the chalet to the front door feeling so dejected and sad and disappointed, wondering what happened to it. My mom was kind enough to help me look around the room, just in case I didn’t hang it outside but pun tak ada.

Ohh… rasa sedih pulak sekarang. I still could remember that incident.

SO what to do ? I can’t swim without a proper costume so I didn’t at all until we went out to town and was bought a new one… yang I could assume mesti tak cantik because I could not remember it at all.

My dad said it could have been stolen because it was so pretty. Hehehhehe… ye lah tu. A more logical explanation after looking at the clothing yang tercicir kelmarin would be, it must have been blown away by the wind….

Sad…..

Still tak kena jugak....

So I found my apron at Lovely Lace. Sangat tak cantik. Well cantiklah kalau nak masak. But for a Dutch lady to go on dates with a Dutch fella, not so. I am tempted to go with plan B i.e. cut a section of a scallopy lace curtains, however there is the Kamil factor to deal with. Semalam masa pegi Lovely Lace Kelana Jaya pun dah tension, lagi lah kalau aku ajak pegi KK Mart malam ni. Sure cuka punya. However... Hmmm... I think tonight is his badminton night... so maybe I could go back to KK Mart....

Anyway apart from the thematic dinner, we were put in groups with arahan to do a role-play. I hate this. Seriously. Lepas tu funnily enough the role-play is a bit funny role-play where we have to do a sketch and has nothing to do with role-playing. More berlakon kind of thing. I was expecting us to each take a character in the office and make a presentation of him/her but not in this case.

So mulalah kami dok kerah kepala nak buat script lah hapa lah. Sapa lah punya idea ni. Must be the event organizer. Really takes the fun out of things.

Belum habis lagi tu. We each have to prepare a present to be exchanged. That is okay so semalam dekat Lovely Lace tu jugak I bought something… a nice candle. Dah bayar berbagai barulah teringat, there are men in my team and I am sure they wouldn’t like the candle.

Sigh….

Kamil hari tu dah cakap dah, beli aje Ferrero Rocher. But aku lupa nak ajak dia pegi Giant. So malam ni lah aku kena pegi beli Ferrero Rocher, cellophane tape (rumah aku tak tahan benda ni… Adik loves it and seriously aku tak tahu apa yang dia tape….), torch light, more socks. Nak tak nak I have to do so tonight... Sebab Kamil memang main badminton malam ni. At least I will be spared his evil looks.....
 

On top of that, if I am not mistaken hotel yang kita orang akan duduk ni got ghost one. The name is soo familiar and walaupun I couldn’t positively remember the name of the hotel yang got ghost one tu, I remember how the front of the hotel looks like. So jenuh aku dok google tapi website langsung tak tunjuk gambar depan and I couldn’t find the ghost story anywhere.

Tawakal ajelah. Tidur pun ada kawan so okay lah kan ?

Kan ?

Kan ?

Errr…..

My quest to become a milkmaid

My quest for a traditional costume that is not mine (hahahha… I have to stress that) continues. I was advised that KK Mart has nice, frilly aprons so I duly went. You know for my Dutch /Portuguese lady costume ? Not 5 minutes there I started to get dizzy. “Adik, I am soooo wozzy….”

My daughter answered, “Okay… why don’t you sit down while I go over there to look at stuffs…”  and promptly left me there amidst of all manner and colour of roses there are, printed and painted on every available space and cloth. I could hear my daughter ooh-aah-ing while I felt like spinning around the millions and billions of roses around me. I think that was my trigger, the endless roses on display.

Unfortunately they do not have any aprons in stock. Singgah Lovely Lace and they too informed me that they have sold off their last frilly apron.

Okay… is everybody in Malaysia going around as milkmaids ?

In desperation, I called up Living Quarters and asked if they have any aprons in store.

Ada kak.

Warna apa tu, dik ?

Ermmm… macam-macam ada kak.

Ada tak yang ada ropol-ropol, ada lace.. ?

I could hear him swallow. I then interrupted his very long errmmm… with “Takpe lah dik.. Malam kang akak datang..”

But I didn’t because Kamil had to work late. I could I go on my own definitely but to go to places like that, I prefer to be chauffeured. I hate going round and round and round looking for parking space. Loathe it. Aku rasa kalau susah sangat, aku beli aje one scalloped lace curtains kat KK Mart tu, cut a scallop (heheheh), thread a white ribbon where curtain rails should have gone and jadi lah apron. Frilly and lacey…. Cuma dare I visit KK Mart again and risk another spell of wozziness ?

We had dinner at Shah Alam Mall last night just in case Reject Shop has something, but of course nada. While having dinner, I told Kamil of how bad Abang smelt when I picked him from school yesterday. It was bad. The pong ! Oh my, his own Mom (that is me) pun terpaksa turunkan tingkap sebab kenot tahan.

Abang was duly embarrassed and then he said he wants to keep a can of spray on deodorant in his locker, for cases such as this. Heheh..

However who would have thought that even a small thing like that kena pangkah dengan Babahnya yang over and beyond protective. He said, “Tak payah lah, Abang. You are very careless. Karang tersalah aim and spray kat mata susah…”

After all these years and after many, many examples of his protectiveness, I still have the audacity to be shocked. How dare me.

Abang argued that he had never liked the roll-on ones and blamed it for making him smellier than he actually is. HEHHEHEHEH…. Because…. When he applied it to his armpit, it is a smelly armpit so…. the smelliness of that armpit melekat on the rolling ball. Thus, when he applied it again the next day, the smelly armpit smell yang dah melekat from yesterday’s application is re-applied to his already smelly armpit and that is why he is smellier than he original is.

Paham ?

HEHEHEHHEHE…. He made sense.

My weekend

Yesterday my cousin who has been living with us packed his stuffs and moved out. He got a job near his kampung halaman. Kamil and I are quite sad because we like having him around. Admittedly he is always in his room but at least  he is around.

We went to makan nasi kenduri for lunch. My grandma's cousin kawinkan cucu. Took my mom with us and jumpa my grandma and my maksu there. The wedding was as usual with the usual food.  But what made it different from the rest was the band they hired to sing. My oh my were they good. There were 5 of them, 1 with a double bass, 2 with guitars, 1 saxophonist and the other guy... well, I have forgotten what he did. They were superb, seriously. We and the rest of the guests were enjoying them, clapping hands and all, something you don't see during a wedding. At one point I told Kamil, why don't we just take a spin on the floor because the music was soooo right.

Anyway, I was forcing Kamil to go and get their card but he totally refused. Finally, mak aku yang pegi ambik as we were saying goodbye to the host, very near to where they were stationed. Lepas tu ada ke, mak aku pi bagi kad depa tang tu jugak where they could see !! MALU !!!! I don't know why it is malu, tapi it was nonetheless.

We figured out the quickest way we could hire them... is for Abang's khatam Quran. Nobody is getting married dalam masa terdekat ni, and that is the only kenduri I could think of. I don't know what my guests would say about that though....

Waktu malam pulak, I forced Kamil to take me to MidValley. I hardly ever venture out there on account of its mass visitors and to me, there is just nowhere to eat there. Balik-balik tempat yang sama, seperti yang ada di setiap shopping complex kat Malaya ni. Their only saving grace is DeliFrance yang sejak akhir-akhir ni punyalah susah nak cari.

Anyway atas sebab-sebab I have a dinner to attend, a dinner with a theme pulak tu, which is traditional costume that is not your own, I just have to go. I remember there is small shop that sells cheongsam (all of them are short sleeved. Yang ada long sleeved pun is a shirt-like cheongsam, minus its bottom. So I have no idea whether it will be authentic enough. Furthermore, I do not want to shell out RM200 for something that I will wear only once.) and I know Metrojaya has a tenant that sells something similar (dah tak dak).

At the end, Kamil persuaded me to go as a country Englishwoman. In his head, such person wears floral long skirt and carries a basket of flowers. Oh don’t forget the floppy hat. Bought the skirt and the shirt but couldn’t find the floppy hat. I wasn’t that convinced because it is not really traditional, isn’t it. What we wear every day is their traditional costume dak ?

I have thought of going as a Portuguese lady and I know they wear long skirts with white shirts and an apron. I am okay in that department cuma I do not have the red bolero/vest to go with it. A friend suggested a Dutch Lady whose costume is almost the same, except they have this white, lacy hat on top, which I have no idea where to get. Susah jugak. Lantaklah, I will find a nice apron and tie the damn thing to my waist and that is it.

Why can’t we just stick to the initially agreed pajama party theme ? I could just drop by Marks and Spencer, choose a nice silk pjs and that is it ! Ini…. adoi… pening lah.

Sunday…. well I ensconced myself in the bedroom and watch the Mentalist, part 3. Of course, I couldn’t watch them in peace sebab I kept getting interrupted by my heavy eyes… But still, managed to watch it all.

Oh, we went to watch Star Trek, we did. I know baru nak keluar Friday ni kan but I was finally brave enough to buy tickets for its sneak peek on Friday. All this while I have this fear that sneek peek meant well… sneak peek i.e. you only get to see it for 20 minutes, like a longer version of the trailer. Could you imagine The Wrath Of Kamil (only Star Trek fans will get this pun… hehehhehe) if kita penat-penat keluar pukul 12 malam, bayar tiket berbagai and sekali 20 minit aje.

Seram aku.

But lucky me, it was the full length movie and it was amazing. Aku ternganga nengok dari start sampai habih. So that is a good testimony enough, kay ?

Aku ni dah tua so the idea of catching a midnight movie was rather daunting i.e. fear of eyelids not strong enough to remain opened. So, we went to the cinema to buy tickets during dinner time, balik rumah and aku tidur dulu.

Hehheheh… bangang kan ? Nampak sangat dah tua, kay ? Kena prepare kaw-kaw dulu sebelum tengok wayang. Nonetheless the abject kebangangan … because I was well prepared, I got through the movie without any hitch.

Nice.

I would suggest people to go and watch Star Trek. Even if you are not a Trekkie,  because it was really good. Benedict Cumberbatch is a fine, fine actor. Rugi kalau tak tengok dia in action.

Bestnya masa budak-budak dulu.....

Today I somehow was plagued by memories of my childhood.

How I once saw my Nyang holding my brother by his legs to cure his bed-wetting problem. I was

rounding  up at the stairs and suddenly there he was with his hair and arms pointing downwards, his body swayed back and forth while my Nyang determinedly shook him. I still remember she had her light blue serkup buatan sendiri on, like a house cap mat salleh dulu-dulu.

Kelakar.

Or how I used to wake up at night just to feel the breath that came out of my parents’ nose. I need reassurance that they will be around when I wake up in the morning.

Or how we used to sleep on the verandah sometimes, pretending that we were camping outside in the wilderness. That was so much fun. Kena bantai gigit dengan nyamuk pun takpa.

Or how I used to watch my mom do her yoga in a tight black leotard. She would sit crossed legged and then hoist her body up and stood on her arms, the wall protecting her from falling backwards. That was my favourite.

I also remember how I hated the smell of my Dad whenever he came home from the airport. I really could not take the perfume they used on the hot towels provided to the passengers. It is a profound dislike that I carry up until today.

I also remember going to the shops with my elder brother for my favorite lollipop, the one with a nice pumpkin shape, with blue and red stripes around it.  5 sen satu tau. My mom had a jar of 5 sens on her table. So.. you know lah where we got the money for our indulgence tu.

I also remember that we were forbidden from going to a neighbour’s house to watch videos sebab my mom doesn’t know what show they put on. She was worried that the kids in that house were watching nasty stuffs…. you know what I mean, yeah ? I believe we were the last known house to actually own a set because she totally mistrusts that piece of machinery.

I remember how we used to just call the neighbours’ kids from our verandah and they will respond from their own. I also remember I have a huge crush on Abang Eddie sebelah rumah. I see him sometimes and will always feel so malu…. Hehhehe.

What is prominent in my head right now is how we used to main perang-perang ngan mercun masa bulan posa. One bulan posa we were not allowed to join the kids outside and had to be content with waging war on our front yard with the gate closed. I remember sitting on a small, short stool when suddenly my very new jammies (my mom baru beli petang tadi) caught fire as I leaned over to get something. Stupid me, the burning candle was in front of me. Aku tergelak sangat bila teringat Abang aku kelam kabut knelt in front of me and was frantically blowing air to stop the fire while I screamed blue murder. I have no recollection how it ended funnily enough but surely it was a happy ending because I am still here.

All those memories happened when we were still living in our old house in Seksyen 6. We lived there until I was 7 before moving away to our current house.

What a nice, happy childhood. Kalau lah aku boleh jadi budak-budak balik where I have literally no worries apart from the usual stuffs involving toys, candy and how much I hate my brother.

Ini... well I worry too much. Too much about everything and anything.

Citer dulu-dulu

Sejak dua menjak ni, aku asyik teringat my bestfriend circa darjah 3 to 5. Hehehhe... macam tu lah budak-budak kan. Bestfriends kadang-kadang bertukar, usually due to the friend moving away or dah pindah kelas jumpa bestfriend baru...

Anyway, the said bestfriend's name is Mazrina. She lived near my house so we usually walk to school together and play together and well mengukur jalan together, on our bikes. Itu lah keje kami. After balik sekolah, had lunch and then kelam kabut jumpa balik on our bikes.

Anyway one day dalam kami dok naik beskal sambil sembang-sembang we chanced upon a key on the road. We stopped and saw what look like a car key with its key chain smashed. One of us suggested bawak pi balai polis, just in case somebody wants it back so kami pun berdua pun rode our bikes to Balai Polis Seksyen 6 from Seksyen 8.

On the way, we argued about what to do with the key chain. Mazrina was hell bent on just throwing it away seeing its condition tapi aku pulak beria-ia benar nak bagi sekali kat polis. Mazrina was very-very upset about my keeness sebab dia kata nanti mesti polis tu suruh buang. Tapi for some reason, I feel that is very important for the owner of the key to get the whole shebang back.

Bila kami sampai situ, we went straight to see the officer in charge manning the counter. From my 9 to 11 year old's eyes, the counter was high and the balai was rather dark. We explained our finding to the policeman and surrendered the key to him. Seriously at that moment I didn't know what to expect but I didn't expect the policeman to smile at us so kindly. You know... macam kesian punya senyuman.

Much to my chagrin, he then told us throw the key chain away and that was it. I felt deflated somehow eventhough I really have no idea what to expect. We were in and out in about 1 minute. As we took our bikes again, Mazrina said, "Takkan tak de apa-apa ? Cikgu kata kalau kita tolong orang, kalau kita buat laporan polis selalunya ada hadiah ke, atau bagitau guru besar ke. Ini dia tak tanya pun nama kita..."

Hehhehehe.... Mungkin I was expecting the same kot, itu yang deflated semacam.

Budak-budak.....

Kisah hari ini

Yesterday was a sleepy day for me. Sempat tertidur. Nasib baik aku terjaga bila dengar orang menjerit. Rupanya telly. Cerita Korea. Yang Kamil dok tengok. Entah apa kena ntah si Kamil ni dok gila melayan citer Korea. Semua gara-gara tertengok citer Korea masa dia demam dua hari last month.

Dah terjaga sempatlah aku masak lala cili padi. Masak sup suhun.

Today was a bit more active. Well active for the kids and Kamil as they sweated away at the tennis court while I.... went for a spot of spa treatment at the club. Kamil was sweet today when he asked whether it was nice. He hardly ever asked, ... in fact I can safely say that he never asked about my sojourn to spas but he did today which was nice.

I managed to catch accidental afternoon nap again. I was meaning to find out who was the murderer in that Law and Order episode I was watching but didn't manage to. Tiba-tiba kat telly dah keluar citer lain.... Hahahha...

Anyway tadi while waiting by the poolside for Kamil and the kids to mandi, I heard a commotion at the next table. A father was saying, "Stupid boy !" countless of times, interspersed words that sounded like Hindi or Urdu. Actually he didn't say the words, he barked it. Itu yang buat aku pandang tu, the way he had barked "Stupid boy !" Anyway since those are the only English words he used, I have no idea what other profanities or damaging things he said to his son when he spoke in his own mother tongue.

I looked and saw a little boy in his swimming things, dripping wet with a towel pressed to his mouth area. It looked like he bled. I looked around and the mat sallehs around us were also looking, some clucking in dissatisfaction that the father was calling the son stupid. Sian budak tu. Dah lah sakit, kena panggil bodoh berulang-ulang kali. The father should symphatise while chastising him for being careless or whatever, just don't call him stupid outright, lah. Insinuate it pun boleh kan ?

Anyway, the lifeguard came with a box of plasters and offered it to the dad. He looked with this dissatisfied expression on his face and said, "Luka kat mulut, lah. Mana boleh guna plaster....." Oh, Malaysian rupanya. However clearly without Malaysian values for being so rude to the lifeguard who was trying to help.

A few more stupid boys thrown about and he started packing. As they were leaving the lifeguard came again and offered ice. He shook head at the ice and said, "Saya tak mau ice..." and left.

Kurang ajaq sungguh. Tak boleh ke cakap baik-baik ke tangan yang menghulurkan pertolongan ? Kenapa kasar sekali ? 

He turned around and left, without imparting a single thank you to the very helpful lifeguard. Such arrogance. Menyampah giler aku tengok dia.

I looked around again and the other mat sallehs seemed to agree with me as they shook their heads at his retreating back.

My hope is that the little boy is spared from further stupids from his own father and .. that he doesn't turn that way when he has his own little boys.