Let us do our part

I am getting oh so annoyed with questions and remarks like :
" banyaknya free time awak volunteer for mangsa tsunami..."
" apsal awak susah susah ni....kan ramai dah yang volunteer"
" why are u so concerned anyway...its not like your family being affected anyway"
" dah nasib diaorang...kita nak buat macam mana, tu kifarah dan ujian Allah kat depa"

Oh puhleeeaasee....just how insensitive can people be. Just because my family is safe and sound and my kids are happily rolling on the floor in front of me, does not mean the rest of the world is contented as well.

I do not have much free time, I am practically juggling many, many things at once...thanks to my multitasking skill. But I can spare the time. It is just a matter of prioritising. And thanks to my big boss, for supporting my cause and allowing the job flexibility during this week and not forgetting the big buck from him to get the ball rolling :)
At the very least, I have contributed a small portion of my time, which is on loan by Allah, doing what I think would be approved.

Yes, so many out there volunteering. But still many more are needed. At MRCS, volunteers are like..speaking to three person at a time, while doing some other thing..as told by a friend. Same goes at Mercy and a few more charitable group. The least you can do is help them to answer phone calls....preferably three calls simultinously. I am doing my part, utilising resources and skill that have been bestowed by Allah, in the hope it will make peoples life out there somewhat easier.

True, my families, friends and relatives are all safe and sound...at least for now. But out there, there are someone's family, friend and relative who were dead, in the most tragic way. If I could, I would have been there to give a word of comfort, to lend my shoulder for any mom to weep, to hug any kids that has become orphans within seconds but I could not. The least I can do is coordinate the material comfort from my table...with a hope that time will heal all wound, physically and emotionally.

Agreed with Qada and Qadar Allah, who am I to question it. But I'm not questioning it. I am not questioning anybody's imaan. I am not questioning whether they have been spending their life doing big sin or whether they are pious, God fearing people. It is between them and their Creator. Who am I to punish and judge my fellow people too. I do not have the right to. I do not even have the right to draw conclusion on whatever geographic disaster that can happen everyday. But if I can do something to help these people...then I will. It is simply not me to goggle over tsunami photos in my inbox and not doing anything about it other than forwarding it to the next unsuspecting soul. This is part of my contribution to my society, because I cant live in this world alone. Money is not something I have in abundance, but whatever I can spare, I will give.

If money is not available, then give your old stuffs because even battered pillows are welcomed. If old stuffs are not available then give your time to lend a helping hand, to comfort, to hug, to cuddle and to make a difference. If time is not available then give your blood. Surely we have that in abundance!

Last but not least, many thanks to dear hubby who always supported me and also for the supply of tents. I think people in Banda Aceh badly need it, apart from body bag.

Life little luxuries

One of the many things I considered as luxury is having a lunch date with dear hubby. With dear hubby having weird schedule, or in other word, no fixed schedule at all, having a meal together is a rare occasion. And when we do, it was usually unplanned, short and sweet. And same goes to today's lunch, even though I had to drive through two LDP u-turn to fetch him, then another u-turn to the eatery and a few more turn to find parking. And it is more filling then the usual plate of chicken rice, coz it fed my soul too. It was short, coz I'd have to allocate time for another one LDP u-turn and one Kelana Square u-turn. Oh well....

On another note, we had the misfortune of being attended by waitress from twilight zone. The kind of waitress that wear a glazed look on her face, and neither smile nor scowle. And no matter what language you speak to her, she'll end up with everything wrong.

List of Tsunami Relief Fund

LIST OF TSUNAMI RELIEF FUND

1. http://www.mercyrelief.org/contribute.html

2. Send a crossed cheque to MRCS Relief Fund, with "Tidal Wave Appeal" written at the back, to the following address: The Secretary General Malaysian Red Crescent Society National Headquarters JKR 32 Jalan Nipah, Off Jalan Ampang, 55000 Kuala Lumpur (603) 42578122

3. http://www.ifrc.org/helpnow/donate/donate_response.asp

4. Pertubuhan Kebajikan Al-Nidaa' Malaysia
BIMB no: 12047010029801

5. MNI Branches

6. The Star Earthquake/Tsunami Relief Fund

7. NST/Berita Harian Tsunami Disaster Fund

8. Clothes for Tsunami Victims @ Utara Malaysia,
Collection Centre : Parking Lot, next to Dataran Maybank, Bangsar
4:00 pm to 6:30 pm Friday 31-12-2004

9. MERCY Humanitarian Fund
MERCY Malaysia
No 45B Jalan Mamanda 9,
Ampang Point,
68000 Ampang
Tel : 603-42569999 / 42565724
Fax : 603-42518435/ 42577451
MBB Bank/Account no.5621-7950-4126

10.House of Wardina's parents @ Kg Tungku.
Address: 8, Lrg SS1/11A, Kg Tungku, P.Jaya. She said preferably clothes, medicine, blankets, dry food - to be sent over to Acheh

11. NAFAS Collection Centre
a)KUALA LUMPUR: Pertubuhan Peladang Kebangsaan (NAFAS) Lot 9, Jalan 241, Seksyen 51A, 46100 Petaling Jaya Selangor. Tel: 03-78766622 (Puan Rohana Ramli)

b)JOHOR Ladang Urus Sdn Bhd, Pertubuhan Peladang Negeri Johor, No 15, Jln Persiaran Tanjung Susur 1, Taman Bukit Alif, JB. Tel: 07-2374100 (Haji Abd Rahim Said) or 012-7030161 (Hj Arif Kasim)

c)IPOH, PENANG, KEDAH Tuan Hj Sobree Bin Che Soh, Restoren AACS, Padang Serai. Kedah. Tel: 012-4126864

12. Badan Kebajikan & Khairat Kematian Saujana Impian.
Collection will begin from 5pm to 10 pm at Pusat Pengumpulan Bantuan, Masjid Kajang on 31st December 2004.

New Year Parenting Resolution

I already have one, but since it will be published by a parenting magazine, then it will be their copyright. So, I have to make up new resolution list to be published here. Fortunately for me, ParentCentre sent me a ready made resolution list for 2005.

Here we go.....
1. Not yell so much
2. Stop using threats to keep your kindergartner in line
3. Be more loving — and find other ways to help your 5-year-old feel good about himself
4. Slow down and really listen to your child
5. Give each of your children the one-on-one time he deserves
6. Find more family time
7. Plan fun outings more often
8. Read more with your child — whether he's a beginning, intermediate, or advanced reader
9. Watch less TV
10. Make healthier meals
11. Encourage your child's relationship with grandparents — and God
12. Nurture yourself so that you can better nurture your child

And here are my remarks (oh yeah..naturally...if it is done by other people, i would have something to say about it) :
1. I've never yelled to my kids, in fact i have never ever yelled to anybody in my life. I'm a good girl, remember? Take this item off my list!
2. Threat??? Umm..okay..I'm guilty. I've been threating my kids with various threat that I can think of (or borrowed from other moms), but none work so far. My kids are threatproof. Take out this item too.
3. Be more loving....ummm...how much more loving can I be. Find other ways to help my kid feel good about himself? Don't bother....my kids are always feeling good about about themselves, thanks to my superb parenting. And both of them certainly do not hesitate to break rules because they know, and extremely confident aboout it, that I would still love them unconditionally no matter what.
4. Slow down.....yes, i agree! I have to. I can't be living in a whilrwind kinda life forever. Listen to my child.....oh yeah...all the gibberish of the universe. But perhaps I should do that, so that I would know what their ayah did behind my back....hehehe.
5. This item stay too...I need to give Amri one to one time he so deserve. Otherwise, I'd have to listen to more Barney songs being twisted around.
6. Family time....we already have a lot of family time. Any more of it then dear hubby and I might as well become stay at home parents.
7. Fun outing...refer to my earlier post of Petrosains. I'm not going to plan, I'll just round up everybody and go.
8. Read more...my Amri can read, though not necessarily correctly. So, I have to contend myself to hear him read to me instead and pray hard that his teacher will put in more effort for 2005.
9. TV...the idiot box is there just to prove that we are indeed true blue Malaysian. Malaysian has to watch tv from sunset to sundown. My kids are well equipped with the skill to operate tv and dvd independantly, just in case they need it in the near future. Somehow, we manage to use tv time as hide and seek time or simply chasing around each other time.
10. Healthier meal.....is mee goreng healthy? Because that was what I feed my family twice a week. I heard it is full of boric acid. Oh well....put this in my resolution list. I'll teach bibik to cook porridge or scrambled egg for breakfast next year.
11. Hmm...this is the part that I have done a good job, even though nobody bother to give me a pat on the back. I managed to foster long distance relationship (Shah Alam-Kedah-Terengganu) by using photograph and beautiful stories as well as expensive phone calls. But put the relationship with God on my list, for I have not done anything satisfactory about it.
12. How do I nurture myself....hahaha...for a while, image of indulging in retail theraphy cross my mind. But the next second, the image was replaced by savoury chocolate cake and the logo of HaagenDazz. Yes...this part certainly stay on my list.

Welcome 2005

Article by Mohd Sidki Hasan (taken from Utusan Malaysia)

Tragedi ombak tsunami suatu pengajaran agar kita beringat

Saudara Pengarang,SAYA merujuk tulisan Penonton TV, Petaling Jaya serta Shamsul Anwar dari Gombak dalam akhbar ini mengenai dua kekurangan ketara berkaitan bencana tsunami Ahad lepas iaitu kegagalan media elektronik membuat liputan secukupnya serta ketiadaan amaran awal oleh agensi-agensi terbabit.
Seawal 9.00 pagi Ahad lepas, ramai pendengar menghubungi radio interaktif Radio Malaysia Kuala Lumpur (RMKL) mengenai gegaran yang dirasai oleh para penghuni bangunan tinggi di Lembah Klang.
Pengacara bertugas ketika itu segera mengumumkan mereka sedang cuba untuk menghubungi pihak yang berkenaan iaitu Jabatan Kaji Cuaca untuk mengetahui punca dan keadaan sebenar yang berlaku.
Rupanya dalam masa yang sama beberapa hospital besar termasuk di luar Lembah Klang telah mengambil langkah berjaga-jaga dengan memindahkan para pesakit ke luar bangunan hospital.
Malangnya pihak stesen TV termasuk milik kerajaan gagal mempamerkan kepekaan yang sama.
RTM masih meneruskan seperti biasa rancangan-rancangan hiburan seperti temu ramah penyanyi 60-an pada pagi Ahad.
Rancangan senamrobik diteruskan pada hari Ahad, Isnin sehinggalah hari ini (Selasa).
Jika tidak kerana laporan oleh akhbar-akhbar serta stesen televisyen asing dan swasta, tidak ramai penduduk Malaysia mengetahui bahawa negara sedang dilanda bencana paling buruk dalam sejarah negara.
Sepatutnya sebagai stesen infotainmen, informasi masih harus mendahului hiburan, bukan sebaliknya.
Amatlah malang jika maklumat ini tidak sampai ke agensi-agensi keselamatan berkaitan.
Adakah mungkin kerana bencana tersebut terjadi pada hari minggu di penghujung tahun, maka ramai kakitangan bercuti termasuk ketua-ketua jabatan hingga mengetepikan hakikat bahawa RTM dan agensi-agensi terbabit termasuk Jabatan Kaji Cuaca merupakan agensi strategik negara? Kalau benar, bermakna kita telah memandang remeh isu keselamatan negara.
Kepada semua rakat Malaysia, bersimpatilah. Cubalah fahami peritnya penderitaan serta trauma kaum keluarga mangsa yang kehilangan sehingga lima orang anak di depan mata kepala sendiri.
Pagi ini pun ada pemanggil TV3 menyatakan ombak tsunami ini mungkin bala dan balasan Tuhan atas kita. Apakah singkat sungguh pemikiran orang kita?
Adakah kita cadangkan bahawa membawa keluarga berkelah ke tepi pantai satu dosa? Bagaimana dengan seorang nenek yang dihanyutkan ombak ketika sedang menunaikan solat Zuhur?
Mudah sungguh menjatuhkan hukum ke atas penderitaan orang lain dari hadapan kaca televisyen. Tidakkah kita terharu melihat sukarelawan bukan Islam begitu prihatin memeluk dan memberikan kata-kata perangsang dan motivasi. Itulah yang mereka perlukan pada waktu-waktu sukar sebegini.
Tragedi seperti ombak besar tsunami memang sukar dijangka, tetapi langkah proaktif boleh mengurangkan risiko tragedi serta jumlah kerosakan harta benda dan kehilangan nyawa.
Jika pihak luar hendak menceroboh negara kita, adakah mereka hendak memberi amaran terlebih dahulu? Tentulah tidak.
Agensi-agensi bertanggungjawablah yang mesti mengambil inisiatif memantau kemungkinan-kemungkinan tragedi sedemikian akan berlaku.
Itulah yang gagal dilaksanakan oleh Jabatan Kaji Cuaca serta agensi-agensi lain seperti SMART dalam tragedi tsunami ini.
Semoga pengajaran ini akan menukar pemikiran kita supaya lebih beringat. -

MOHD SIDKI HASAN, Shah Alam, Selangor.

Published by Utusan Malaysia 29 Dec 2004

Aftermath of Tsunami

Najib and Rosnah consoling Zulkifli at his home in Kampung Paya, Simpang Empat in Balik Pulau yesterday. With them are Ong and Dr Hilmi (Picture from The Star 28-12-2004 )

Tsunami early warning system being planned
Early warning: As Asia reels in shock, and the death toll continues to climb, forward-thinking measures are being contemplated. In Malaysia, the Government has proposed to establish a tsunami early warning system. Meanwhile, The Star Earthquake/Tsunami Relief Fund has been launched to help victims region-wide * The Star 28 Dec 2004*

Good time for plan. Lets just hope that the plan will materialised in near future.


Pictures from The Star

Allah, the Most High, says concerning the past nations: (So We punished each (of them) for his sins, of them were some on whom We sent Hasib (a violent wind with showers of stones), and of them were some who were overtaken by As-Saihah (torment — extremely loud noise ), and of them were some whom We caused the earth to swallow, and of them were some whom We drowned. It was not Allah, Who wronged them, but they wronged themselves.) (Al-`Ankabut 29: 40)


Allah says: (And We sent not the signs except to warn.) (Al-Isra’ 17: 59) (We will show them Our Signs in the universe, and in their own selves, until it becomes manifest to them that this (the Qur’an) is the truth. Is it not sufficient in regard to your Lord that He is a Witness over all things?) (Fussilat 41: 53) (Say: He has power to send torment on you from above or from under your feet, or to cover you with confusion in party strife, and make you to taste the violence of one another.( (Al-An`am 6: 65)

Allah says: (And whatever of misfortune befalls you, it is because of what your hands have earned. And He pardons much.) (Ash-Shura 42: 30) and, (Whatever of good reaches you, is from Allah, but whatever of evil befalls you, is from yourself.) (An-Nisa’ 4: 79)



Excerpted, with slight modifications, from: www.islam-qa.com

Tsunami

I was being an ignorant idiot yesterday. I did not realise there was a tsunami at Penang and Kedah until much later in the evening. The news hit me hard. The first thing I did was sms to my sister, cousins, aunties, uncles and all relatives and friends staying there. 80% of my whole clan was based in Langkawi. I was worried sick and the paranoid me was starting to imagine the worst.

Up till this hours I was still trying to reach every family members that I could think of. And constantly on the line with a cousin who kept me updated, which actually adding to my worries. What with her story about Penang Bridge and Jetty was supposed to be evacuated by 4pm but state government announcing otherwise. It was creating another panic to the public, especially with the announcement of another giant tidal wave around 7.00pm and media feeding contradicting message from state government.

Al Fatihah to the deceased and condolence to their family members.

Kids day out @ Petrosains

Since Amri's little cousins were here for the week, my hubby and I decided to bring all of them to Petrosains, KLCC. No easy feat by all means, organising three preschoolers, one baby and parents in law and to further proved that I were indeed superwoman , I planned to make the trip via LRT. Anticipating Christmast crowd ahead, I took the trouble to do ticket reservation beforehand on Friday, booking 10.00am tickets. Told dear hubby about rsvp details and he went something like" Um..uhhh.... so we have to go out at 8.00am tomorrow morning?" Gee .... it did escape me though....the technicalities of rounding up four kids in the morning.

Morning were a breeze, all kids were too exited to argue about what to wear or who goes to which bathroom first. We took LRT from Kelana Jaya and arrived at KLCC sometime after 9 and went straight to Petrosains. Bought a combo ticket and were the first to enter Funzone. It was indeed fun! The staff were friendly, the decor was cheerful and the kids were having a big time fun. Dunno whether the kids managed to learn a thing or two there...Amri was so interested in 'pumping petrol into a motorbike' thing that I had to practically drag him outta there so that we could move on and other kids could have a go at the pump. Hubby got a kick out of having his head chopped off...cool stuff!!! Syawani would do anything that Amri did and Alif would see first the outcome of the first duo. If all went well with the daredevils two, then he'd have a go.

Out from Funzone then into Petrosains itself. A wee bit dissappointed at first because there were no more dinotrek. Turned out, it was better off that way coz we just found out that Syawani was terrified of dinasour, big time at that.

Unfortunately, it was a long queue into Petrosains, mostly because people has to wait for the car ride (or whatever was its name) My Adam, was suddenly hungry and sleepy. There was a breastfeeding room inside Petrosains but then we'd still have to wait for our turn. Lucky for me, once Adam started to wail loud enough, people quickly gave way to us and Adam and I were pushed to the front. Unlucky for me, I could not immediately get inside because, the rest of the clan were still at the end of the queue and Amri was nowhere in sight. The helpful staff however, offered me his seat behind the counter for me to breastfeed comfortably. Thanks to them....Adam went on feeding happily at our small corner, and soon fell asleep. I noticed glances from passersby but nobody actually stared or goggled. I kept on thinking, if anybody dare to make a remark, I'd summon my three little stooges to give that person a good kick. Since each of the stooges is an equivalent of a Dennis the Menace, then three of them could have achieve satisfactory damage. Somehow, Malaysian has gotten use to see breastfeeding mom in public, so nothing is new to them. And kudos to Petrosains staff too for being so ever helpful.

Adam, blessed his little heart, slept through the multimedia ride and did not even wake up when we transfered him into a pram at Arif Station. The pram was comfy though, better than anything that Amri or Adam own...hehe. We went on exploring Petrosains but decided to skip helicopter ride since Adam and Amri were below age.

We made a pit stop afterwards Xplorasi Gift Shop to buy something for the kids. Being me, of course, an activity book for each one of them plus dinosours for the boys and glow in the dark animals for Syawani.

Amri slept on the LRT ride home then continued on the car ride home.

Life is great indeed

It can't get any better than this. My kids has grandparents and cousins to keep them occupied, hubby just promised to shop (or take me to shop) my 2005 top to toe attire, my brand new maid can cook reasonably well and I am allowed to dissappear alone tomorrow without resorting to leave kids dearie with bibik. These are all indeed, very, very great. All in my wish list were met even before Santa Clause arrived :)

I shouldn't be wishing for anything else, I guess. It would be too damn greedy of me. But heck...I can't help it. I've just create in a new wish list for 2005 perhaps. That is, I want a proper family picture. Family, as in myself, hubby dearest, Amri and Adam. All four of use in one picture. Not 3, not 2, not 1 and not 2 and a half. I want, and really want...all four of us. And to achieve that...will probably cost dear hubby a bomb. First, of course, we'll need to engage a professional photographer who can work with lightning speed, i.e before the kids clothes change colour. Come to think of it, before everything else associated with us change colour. Second, we will have to rope in the service of ummmm...child phychologist to help put the kids into some sort of trance so that they would sit down (or stand up) and look at the camera. Next, perhaps a clown so that the kids would smile at the camera, at least once. Finally either insurance or plenty of cash because I am pretty sure at least one of the photography equipments will break into pieces.

Let see how soon can I get this wish.

Tok Mi, Tok Ki, Syawani & Alif

This must have been too good to be true.... Parents in law are here for a visit (hopefully a long one) and a pair of my favourite niece and nephew tag along too. The most important person are that niece and nephew for they provide endless entertainment to Amri. Needless to say, hubby and I are able to sit down side by side and conduct a decent conversation (only to realise that we have forgotten how to converse 2 ways) without having a commercial break every few seconds.

Adam, on the other hand, has doting grandparents to fuss all over him plus he was too fascinated by the commotion coming from Amri, Alif and Syawani to notice that ibu and ayah were around. For a change, I managed to last for hours without my hair getting into tangled mess, my shirt turning into something not unlike kitchen rag and been able to read pages of mag without getting it torn apart mercilessly.

Hoorayyy for grandparents (and niece and nephew)!!!!!!

Food Strike

Adam was on food strike! For somebody that is labeled eating machine...this strike is starting to unnerve me. For the first two days of strike, it was sort of touching on my ego...afterall I am always the know-it-all mom. I have wide range of knowledge starting from what to put in Adam's porridge to the phsycological impact if I were, say, to change his bedsheet too frequent.

When the strike went on for a few more day, I was half convinced that my little daredevil was suffering from some terminal sickness. The symptoms were not to be realised until it was much too late, by which yours truly would be at guillt for not putting enough effort to research about every sickness in this world. Hubby wasn't much help either...he simply brushed the strike aside and promptly went back to applying International Corporate Finance methodology to all companies on earth. For all he care, the issue here was just about adding a few more milk bottles to the equation left blank by my now horrible porridge.

It was not until much later that I noticed Adam was devouring Amri's macaroni soup with gusto. So that was it! Either my porriddge was horrible beyond consumption or Adam has somehow acquired non Asian palate. Hmmmm.....so what do I cook that is not porridge.? Macaroni soup was top of the list. Or in other word, the only item on the list. But worry not.... an email to a food connosioure left me with enough recipe for every day of the week for two weeks, all in one paragraph.Thank you Intan for all the recipes. And thank you Bill Gates for internet and emails.

A cut of the chip

I am all geared up to revamp the whole MIS function of this place. I've done my extensive research, talked to each users, compiled an award winning proposal, work out the budget down to the tiniest item, presented it to the board and get the fastest approval in my working life history. So far so good.

Or..I could have said it was tooo good to be true.

Back from year end meeting, fresh with motivation to meet company objective of 2005, the BOD firmly informed your truly, as the project leader, that the approved budget was cut by 20%. Reason being....to finance company expansion into unknown territory. Duh!!!!

I was dreaming a complete package of ERP, CRM and of course, web based accounting and financial reporting. And a cut in budget will necessitate cutting corners, the first that will usually be gone is CRM. But now we are in global market. The market simply does not have boundaries. And sales force has to be well equipped to fight on the front line. That is the reason why I am here. To put in new ideas. To execute the ideas. And I am going ahead, making do with whatever resources available.

My new mantra will be ...improvise, improvise, improvise.......

Amri's 4th Birthday Party

For some, birthday party is no big deal. For us, or at least for me, Amri's 4th birthday party was BIG deal for three solid reason. First of all, this is the first time Amri get to celebrate his birthday. Reason being, he was born on the first day of Ramadhan so naturally his first and second birthday fall in Ramadhan as well. His third birthday was during raya, so everybody were too busy doing raya stuff..you know..the usual fanfare...visiting and feasting all day long. Who got time to throw a birthday party ????? His fourth birthday however, fall conveniently on weekend after raya holiday.

Second reason for the big hu ha I created...mainly because it was also our wedding anniversary. It was sort of a mark on how far we have gotten, through up and down, and we are still together. Thus, while Amri happily blow his birthday candles, we silently thanked Allah for seeing us through five happy years and praying hard that we'll always be together.

Third reason..........very simple! I simply need to see friends and families. All the people I cared about but do not have the chance to go visiting as and when I like. Birthday party cum raya open house was good enough reason for me to summon all these people in my life all the way to Shah Alam, through traffic jam and flood, and feed them birthday cake plus cream puff !

Al-Fatihah to nuun

An online friend, also a blogspotmate passed away on 16 Dec 2004 due to car accident (Puchong-Kajang Highway). Al-Fatihah to arwah NurAsyiqin Mohd Ali who left us at then tender age of 25. The hardest part was knowing that she had 7 month old baby, little Amir, who is still breastfeeding. I cant help but thinking about my little Adam, also breastfeeding and what would happen if I were to die tomorrow. May Allah gave the strength to her hubby to cope with the loss. No amount of condolence will take away the pain to the husband and baby. I can only recite Al-Fatihah, over an over again...in the hope it will reach arwah and lessen the pain to the family.

Here is the link to nuun's blog though I cant bear to even look at it now coz I know she had been counting down to her baby's first birthday.

Christmas Party

Okay, first of all...I am a Muslim but I do not think going to Christmas Party will make me any less a Muslim. I had a blast of time anyway, mostly because I had the day off. After one month living in a flurry of complete chaos....no maid, new maid, cranky kids, birthday party, raya open houses, year end management meeting bla bla bla... I was so extremely happy to have the day to myself. And to complete the happiness the Malaysian way, I went shopping for new clothes...knowing full well that I can barely afford it plus the wardrobe in my bedroom is brimming with 2004 collection that has been kindly sponsored by dear hubby. And to complement the new silver gray blouse, I need a matching pant and a matching tudung. Finally after hunting down nearly all the boutiques in section 9, I managed to get all that in Women to Women at a bargain price...hehehe. I think this place worth subsequent visits (if they have a bargain price again...........)

There I was that Friday nite, dressed in my new blouse, new pants, new tudung and of course...new (and matching) handbag strutting my stuff into Armada hotel carrying a small christmas present (I was already broke, remember...so couldn't afford big, expensive present) and had a time of my life. The food was lousy but I am beyond caring about food nowadays, plus the less I eat the better *wink*

Kids Attack

I had a day off today, so after I was done with my shopping (more so because I was already out of cash) I went straight home where I found out that my 4 year old Amri has invited his little friends for a little splashing off session in his wading pool. And by 'little friends' I meant, big fat friends, the youngest is going to be 7 year old. Shouldn't he be playing with 4 year olds? There can't be any shortage of 4 year olds in my area, can it? Come to think of it, these big kids must have been bored out of their skull that playing with a four year old sound like a lot of fun.

And...by 'little splashing session' I meant, big, fat wave of splash that flooded my porch, drowned my little plants and sent my water bill soaring high to the moon this month. But they had a blast of time. Do I get annoyed? 10 years ago, I would have run amok if I were to see kids splashing at my front porch. Today, however, I provided the kids with refreshment, snap their pictures and told 2 of them to dry up first before going home unless thay want their granma to run amok instead :D I would have even lend them swimming trunks if I have their sizes.

Oh boy... did i change a lot over the years... The kids really did a lot of mess but my house was built with kids in mind, not art gallery. Thus, i live worry free from kids attack.

Perhaps I should conduct commercial school holiday activities...ideas..ideas.... ;)

Report Again............

Ever since I start working at this place, it seems that I am forever writing reports. A completed report, more often than note will trigger another report requirement or a detailed proposals and so forth. I wrote management report, financial report, consolidated report, MIS report, operation report...bla bla bla.....

And now, staring at me from my inbox is another message from one of the bosses ".... please compile your findings into a report fomat to be presented......................on 22 Dec" . Yes...report again......... Who could have thought that they are living mortals out there that get a kick out of reading reports :D

Perhaps I should start a business of writing reports .....

Officially a Blogger

After months of procrastinating, here I am....finally a blogger officially. I just can hear the collective sigh of relief from hubby, sis, sis in law and brother in law of not having to hear another "I think I want to start blogging...."