A New Blog

Do you feel like sometimes you just dont have anything interesting to talk about, think about, write about or maybe even harp about..? I think that's because life is so dull that there is just nothing to mention. Or maybe life is at a plateau, going off in a straight line.. - no peaks or dips.

So I thought of coming up with a new blog & it is going to be about dieting or weight loss or eating right and things like that.. I think that should be fun.

I just hope this will not come to another plateau too..

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To Be Ruled By Emotions

Met any emotional individuals lately?

I have. At least two of them. And put people's lives into misery they have. Things that are supposed to be done via planning, logic and sensibilities are suddenly achieved through fancy whims - like dragging and dropping objects on your desktop at free will.

Like a friend said, it is like playing chess - you are just a pond. But then again, maybe playing chess is even better - at least it is a competitive strategy type of board game - and you cant win on emotions.

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The Delusioned & Disillusioned

Do you have false or fanciful belief about anything? Or anyone? (Of yourself, maybe?) A cynic that I am, I think people who support Umno are delusioned – well, most probably – depending on their reasons for the support. Some people say they join the party to try injecting some of the old semangat back into it.. I am not delusioned about that reason either...

And I suppose some Umno supporters are disillusioned by the party, that’s why they leave and join other political groups.

Anyway politics is of no interest to me.

But lately have you noticed anyone being delusional and thus disillusioned you about them?

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Of Colors ~ Part 2

Thank you for telling me the previous color scheme sucks.. Appreciate your honesty. I tweaked the color a bit - tuned it down but I am still partial to the green..

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Of Colors

I changed the colors. I was desperate to have some colors on the blog. But I dont know if I really like what I have chosen. I wanted to have greens/russet - it's like the colors of end of summer and autumn...

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Overwhelmed!

The phone went crazy for a while - ringing, sms coming in and me calling everywhere. Got news that one of my (many, many) nephews had an accident while praticing basketball at school.

But he's ok. What a relief.. I think I'll give it another morning or so before visiting him.

The thing is we tend to overwhelm the hospital ward and waiting area and the doctors and nurses and the workers in the ward whenever anyone in the family goes down. There would be my mum and aunts and uncles and my sisters and brothers and nieces and nephews - not to mention cousins visiting the patient. In fact, I think we even overwhelm the patient!

When my mother was in the CCU we had to apologize to the doctors and nurses for extending the visiting hours - there's just not enough time for all of us to visit her within the time slot given. I mean mak pulak kan? Takkan lah pergi sekali lepas tu tak pergi-pergi dah.. It came to a point that my mum had to tell us tak payah lah datang selalu - mak dah sihat pun. Actually dia takut doktor marah. he-he. Orang tua-tua kan?

We respected her peace of mind - we waited for her to leave the hospital before we swarm to my sister's house to visit her. Kesian. She looks so tired and so old when she was recovering from the surgery.

Anyway ~ yeah I'll give it another 20 hours or so before I visit the young man. Maybe the rush would be over and the people at the hospital wont be so uh, yeah - overwhelmed.

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Got Stuck

Things are ever changing - as fast as wheels are turning.

I'm lamenting my woes here because I recently upgraded my blog to the latest version and now I cant do things that I do when I used the previous version..

No doubt some new features are great (I updated my template a bit if you noticed..) but other things got changed and I need to relearn the new codes they put in. Nothing lasts forever. Things got changed, upgraded, renovated etc etc...

... and yeah, I am stuck with this layout for now. I really wanted to make changes to the blog.

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A Romantic. Are You?

The DJ on radio recently asked who is more romantic – the man or the woman?

A woman caller said women are born romantic. When asked when was the last time she gave any presents to her significant other she said not in a long time - because he himself never gave her any. Anyway, romantic is not just about giving presents said the DJ – maybe the way you touched his chin in the morning after you awake – to which the caller promptly responded – that only happens in the Nescafe ad (she does have a point there). I had a good laugh that morning.

Nevertheless it made me re-think the meaning of romantic. I doubt giving presents – no matter what the occasion is (even on wedding anniversaries if all you can say is nah ni hadiah awak) - is romantic. But then again does having expensive dinner with candles at a swanky restaurant can necessarily be called romantic?

I thought I am the maestro on romance and all that the romantic word entails. But I guess I am not after all. I cant even put to word what my idea of romantic is. I suppose I will mull over this topic some more these few days.

Anyway, tell me my friends, what is your idea of romantic? And uh, by the way, when was the last time you let that romantic streak in you run wild?

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Should I Or Shouldnt I?

I found out for some time now that Il Divo is coming to KL Philharmonic Center for a one night only performance. I've been wondering and wondering if I should get tickets.

Actually I already checked where to get tickets but didnt get any info on that. But then again maybe I didnt try real hard - otherwise I would have known. But then yet again, maybe I dont really want to go that's why I didnt go try get the info on how to get the tickets.

Confused? Yeah, so am I about if I want or not want to go. Should I or shouldnt I?

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My Another Raya Haji Story

I wanted to write about this but had totally forgotten all about it..

Among the people we invited to our qurban the other day were some anak yatim piatu. The idea is to let these children be involved in the hari raya haji activities.

There was a girl about 4 years old who looked so sweet in her kurung and frilled tudung who caught my attention. I am susceptible to little girls (having multiple sons will do that to anybody I suppose..) The warden said the girl’s father dah tak de, mak pun dah tak datang jenguk dia pun (whatever that means). The little darling looked happy enough, too young and innocent to worry about anything, let alone a daunting future..

When they were ready to leave I cuddled the girl. Only then did I notice a small boy maybe the same age as the girl eyeing me and my actions. He looked directly into my eye. I thought he might have looked sad? envious? – I don’t know.

We waved to the children as the Pajero started to leave. The smaller children stood and waved back. Again the small little boy looked at me and as he waved he said, bye ibu (that’s what they were taught to call us). It was a poignant moment and it brought tears to my eyes. Kesian kan budak-budak tu. I thought maybe I would pay those two children a visit one day.

Till today I could still remember the boy’s eloquent look.

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The Quiet Frontier ~ Part 2

This is going to be like a re-run of the earlier posting with the same title.. but then we do watch some re-runs like Friends series or maybe Desperate Housewives..

Anyway yes ~ the boys are back in college after the end of the year break. And while my bones may take a long sigh of relief, it is very quiet around the house. Till the next semester break/the next time they come home then..

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My Raya Haji

Went for prayers. Came back for breakfast.

Spent the rest of the morning visiting mum at Bangi. She was bored sitting alone in the big house. Mummi & Daddy were watering the plants outside. Alia was somewhere inside doing her own stuff. Mummi said she was already thinking about calling us to her house to at least sembang-sembang dengan mak pagi raya tu. (We plan to have the raya do the next day as many are busy with the qurban on the first raya anyway.) We left mummi's house quite early. Iman had to go to work. I had to go to work. Too bad actually.

The next day we did the qurban. This is the only picture I have of the whole activity. I know ~ totally irrelevant (harapkan Ilyas tangkap gambar..) But I was in charge of the soup (buat kerja ramai.. tapi susah tau in charge ni - you have to be accountable sedap ke dak .. he-he .. ). Needless to say it was very good (I got a lot of advice and there were many willing help).

Lunch was a huge success. Lepas tu balik tidor.. letih.

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A New Resolution?

I would be the first person to agree that it is such a cliché to make new year resolutions.

Last year I promised myself I would finish a book each month and mind you, that book cant be any of the trash I usually pick up. It has got to be educational or mind inspiring or spiritually rejuvenating or something significant like that.

Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on your view on whether the glass is half empty or half full) I manage to complete about 6 of those books. That’s not too bad when compared to no achievement or even worse, no goals set at all..

So this year I am setting new goals for myself (and even for the others too if I can ‘manipulate’ them to..) and hopefully I can fare better with my achievements at the end of this year. I have yet to ‘finalize’ my 2007 targets. Yuck - sounds like the GLC KPIs..

But yes ~ cliché or not, set them targets I will. I don’t think it’s too late for that yet.

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My Mum aka The Cikgu

Went to celebrate raya haji with my mum in Bangi last weekend. Mak seem to be in a talkative mood (sometimes she just listens to our conversation without much participation).

Anyway mak said when she was a teacher that many, many years ago she only ever had 6 pieces of kurung to wear to work. & she would wear them again and again until any of the piece need to be replaced.

& she also had only 2 other kurung to wear to any other occasions like kenduri etc.

The story brought some tears to my eyes & I ask mum why she tells such tales on raya? She said dah teringat. (Nasib baik dia cerita kalau tak I pun tak tau cerita tu.)

So tell me my dear girl friends (and you guys also), how many baju do you have that you can wear to work? (At this point of time let’s not include your faded jeans and cut-offs or capris or glittery dinner attires or even your sleek business suits that you just cant wear to the office on normal days - just to make a point that there is a lot of clothes in the wardrobe).

Do your clothes fit tightly into the wardrobe that you cant even see clearly what you have in there and yet you stand in front of the clothes most mornings and bemoaned the fact (or fallacy?) that you just don’t have anything to wear.. ?

ps - I do have a lot to feel guilty about after listening mum’s tale..

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Back To School

Last Sat afternoon I suddenly remembered that I haven’t gotten Eirfan’s exercise books for the new school semester. It was already 4:00 pm. I scrambled to find the bookstore number only to be told later that the bookstore had closed at 2:00 that afternoon and will only re-open on the first day of school itself.

Never before in my entire life have I forgotten to get any books for any of the kids going to school. But this new year I did. Usually I would be ready with the optional books and dictionaries and atlases and anything else that was mentioned on the booklist (well, most of them anyway) - and anything else beyond the list also like the water bottle and kapur kasut.

So yesterday Eirfan went to school with one exercise book that he hadn’t used from last year. & last night he said he submitted his exercise on a sheet of paper sebab cikgu kata hantar je lah kertas tu kalau tak ada buku (kesian anak tu pun..)

I totally blame the the working hours yang tak menentu for this negligence..

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