Crossed Lines

I mentioned 'The devil wears Prada' the other day and this guy looked confused. He thought I said the devil drives a Prada because he asked is it Prada the car? & it was my turn to get confused because I asked, is there Prada the car?

& I was doing my bead work the other day and out of the blue he asked me, are you putting a car on that work of yours? I said, any bead work that I do would definitely not have a car on it (I thought that goes without saying..)

But the whole thing made me wonder what is it about men and car anyway? And made me also think that men do have a lot of car thoughts mulling in their head..

*****

Young At Heart

Ustaz kata ada hadith dari Abu Hurairah ra that goes something like thus.. this is in my own words, ok?

Orang tua-tua, selalunya hati nya muda sebab 2 perkara : satu, sebab sukakan umur yang panjang & dua sebab suka harta yang banyak.

I am still thinking about the hadith dan masih tercari-cari maksud-maksud yang tersurat & yang tersirat. It also got me thinking about getting older and being molded into the "old people" label. Still wondering about it and trying to imagine the "mold" that I want to be in.

*****

The Guitar Story

Does anyone know about the Canon Rock video by JerryC or his wannabes? Yes? No?

Anyway that is the most popular music video played by the boys at home for quite some time now. I thought it is quite interesting actually. Nice to see the boys being impressed with the show of a talent (any talent, that is).

When someone asked me - can I buy a guitar so that I can play like that? - I thought the asking for permission part was sweet and the guitar part was .. well.. different but ok (I think). But since the question was asked by neither my sons nor daughter, the answer has to be no unfortunately.. (Sorry yang - it has to be a no for you.)

Do you get my story?

*****

A Sense For Style

You tend to see different management styles after a certain number of years at work.

Some bosses have it right or they are almost there and just a pleasure to work for. Unfortunately there are others who just don’t have a clue. Still there are others who are delusional about their own management style .. and makes the office such a toxic place to work in, dont you agree?

Ever met a boss with Napoleon’s I come & I conquer viewpoint? Or one who enjoys telling you what/how to think that you cant even have your own opinion about anything? What about someone who talks at length about any subject but don’t make much sense to you? & the one who’s almost nonchalance about anything & everything?

On the other hand what about the boss who appreciates you as you are and understand your limitations? And the one who looks after your professional development?

I wondered about this subject because someone lectured us like naughty little children in a meeting when we didn’t respond to the questions asked. We are mature adults with intelligent mind, pretty extensive experience and an ability to communicate efficiently. Did the person who asked the questions wondered why the questions were not answered – well, small considerations like is there something wrong with them ie ALL OF THEM or is there something wrong with me..?

Common sense and management style do go hand in hand - I thought that is a given fact..

*****

A New Venture

Well, it's nothing big - only trying to play around with photo-editing software. When he looked at my edited photos my so-called artist-to-be son said ok lah.. These are the before and after photos that I did.

Before anybody belittle my efforts, let me tell you that I am very proud of my little (tiny?) achievements here, ok?

The other day Iman said that her server in the office went down so she went to my blog. When her friends asked her what she's reading she said, my mum's blog. Her friends' responded like, your MUM has a blog?? Iman said some of her friends dont even know about blogs. So I came to think that I am quite a hip mum after all.. ha-ha.

*****

A White Jasmine In The Garden

Whenever I look at my white jasmine it reminded me of the guy who worked on the renovation that we did. He had fingered the white petals and looked at the flowers for a long time. Wondered what he was thinking of then. Arwah dah pun..

Tried to look for more info on this species, unfortunately cant find any yet.

It's A Laugh

No doubt we’ve come a long way where independence and freedom is concerned – especially so for women.

But no matter how much I would stand up for liberation and fight for my rights (please don’t equate that with equal rights between the sexes), I think through the thousands and thousands of years, women remained steadfastly the same on the inside. We are still the same sensitive creatures that Allah created (this is but my very own personal opinion and not meant to be debated..)

Someone said something today which I thought was very off-handed. I cant put my finger on that inkling exactly – but anyway it made me wonder if I was being ultra-sensitive about it or maybe it was meant to sound the way it was said - offhanded. & if the latter is the case, would anybody else be troubled over it (like I am)? Made you confused, didn’t I? Good! Women are indeed the misunderstood species anyway..

The laugh is not because the whole incident was funny; but mocking really - because despite all that strong and independent portrayal, a little brusque encounter can drag you down a long way.. (advocates for women’s lib would definitely have my head for this I suppose).

I do tend to ramble.

*****

Does Friendship Really Last Forever?

I don’t believe in that forever thing – do you? I think we become friends with others because there is a common ground that we can interact on like we were at school together or work in the same office or live in the same place.. something like that.

But as time moves on we go our separate ways and then developed different views on things and appreciate dissimilar ideas and maybe even support different political doctrines (that might be the final straw to any friendship - who knows?)

Friends that we make along the way just fade slowly away to the background till the next time you see him/her you realize that you really have grown apart from each other. You dont know how to greet each other and you dont even have that common footing anymore. Even worse, you may start thinking how you were even friends back then..

So no, I dont believe friendships last forever..

*****

People Watching

SCENE 1
Was on my way to work when I saw the Myvi in front of me has this bumper sticker that read "Cool Babe On Board". I thought that is a bold statement for a local woman to put on her car and was curious to see who that woman is. I overtook the car and looked - alamak, a middle aged pakcik was driving.. so no cool babe there..

SCENE 2
Was browsing in Marks & Spencer the other day and saw a mat salleh woman doing what looked like her Christmas shopping. Her shopping basket is full with the under-things and all seem to be in red or various shades thereof. I thought, how cliché - and then wondered what other races/religion think of the way we celebrate our own festive seasons. I also thought that man.., she's really going to have some big festive season celebration considering the items she has picked for herself.. ha-ha.

SCENE 3
There were 3 other people in the clinic while we were waiting for the prescription after Eirfan's circumcision the other day. The youngest in kain pelekat is obviously the patient-to-be. The second is the father to the boy and the third is the grandfather. I thought it was very sweet of the father to include the grandfather and of the grandfather to want to be included. I whispered to my significant other, you must do this when the time comes..

*****

A Queen And A King

No - I didnt mistype that, I really want to write a queen and king and NOT a king and queen..

I read a quote from somewhere that said there's an Indian saying that goes something like this - if you treat your wife like a queen then the only way she would treat you is like a king.

I suppose that would work the other way round too.

I think this makes a lot of sense..

*****

We Did It

What would your answer be if the following hints are given to you?
a. happens at school holidays
(weddings..? vacations..? clear traffic?)
b. involved children under 10 or so
(summer camps..? )
c. boys only

ha-ha.. yeap, you guessed it right - bersunat! Managed to get that over with last Sat despite all leave being frozen and a bunch of other uncertainties. Eirfan didnt cry or anything but was very tensed sampai doktor kena suruh dia relaks 2 - 3 kali.

But all went well. The appt was at 830 am and by 9:20 everything was over. Today makes it 5 days already since the procedure and he's recovering well. We went for a follow-up with the doctor on Tue & he said the boy seem to have some allergy to the antibiotics. He gave some more medicine & some cream to apply.

But one thing I must mention is that Eirfan took full advantage of his confinement - everytime somebody came back from somewhere and walked through the front door he would ask, ada beli apa-apa tak untuk Eirfan? The first time Iman was asked the question she looked blank and asked, like what? After that she knew. So far he already got comics and chocolate bars and icecreams and chips and all kind of drinks (the unhealthy kind - I must emphasis that). I drew the line when he asked for a game boy. I think that's pushing the matter a bit too far.

We all played a lot of Uno too just to get him occupied. He's already asking if he could get out and play - must be bored with the downtime already. Soon, I promised. I'm glad we've got that done and over with.

Sebelum.. tunggu giliran..

Starting soon..

After - he refused to look at the camera
*****