Corporate mokcik had a bad day

At 8.00am this morning, I was ironing Amri's school uniform while participating in conference call Asia-Australia-US. The boys were singing loudly in my tiny kitchen and though the door was closed, their lemak merdu voice could still be heard all the way to Dallas.

*sigh*

Thank God everyone were pretty cool about it. Even came up with their own grandchildren singing antics tales. Huhuhuhu......

But still, the thought of meeting all these people in the flesh after today is pretty much embarrasing. Oh boy..

Anyway, it could be worse. Someone proposed to have weekly video conference instead of teleconference. Duh! Jenuh le mokcik nak melaram pepagi buta.

Baby of the family

Adam, of course. Who else could it be.

Anyway, received a distress call from a friend, Milly. She sent her eldest son to the same place Adam is currently attending. For some reason, instead of enrolling him in January, she decided to start this month. Today, to be exact. The son, whom had spent the first four years of his life in the company of only his mom and maid, understandably, was a little upset by this new arrangement. Add to that, was the arrival of a baby brother that took away all the attention from him.

Dejavu

Didn't I went though the same phase? Gave birth to Adam in January then sent Amri to kindy in April, during the final week of my maternity leave. And spent one week sitting in exactly the same classroom that Milly is sitting now. Handling the same kind of tantrum and seperation anxiety of a pampered four year old. Feeling very worried even though the principal had assured me many times over that this was perfectly normal. True to her word, Amri was okay the following week.

That felt like eons ago.

Anyway, Milly's son, Mustaqim is the same age with Adam so they are in the same class. Mustaqim and Adam had met a few times during morning classes at Seribadan though very rarely. Milly asked the teacher whether Mustaqim could sit with Adam. Teacher was okay with that. But the way Adam reacted did surprised me a little bit. You see, Adam is the baby of the family and he knew it. And he enjoyed the status. Meant that, everyone has to look after him while he played the adorable little boy part. He could be independant and look after himself once in a while but never, ever he is protective of other living soul. No one expected him to anyway. But then Milly said, Adam had taken Mustaqim under his wing. Tried hard to make him stop crying. Let Mustaqim followed him everywhere, even to the bathroom. Showed Mustaqim his injured knee (now just a scar) presumably to make Mustaqim feel better.

I think that is so sweet. Glad Adam is not that full of himself :)

Brought Adam to play with Mustaqim after work. Hope it will help ease his anxiety for tomorrow. But, when two boys met, the newborn baby end up crying every few minutes. Bising bagai nak roboh rumah....

Thanks dear, for dinner

It was my birthday morning and hubby announced that he would be taking the crv. So, that left me with the bloody merc to drive to work. On Monday no less. Grrrrrr.....

My day hadn't even started yet and it was already ruined. Seriously, the merc and I had never get along and I suspected, never will. Some parts of the merc simply refused to work the moment I get into the car, usually at the most unfortunate time. Its only redeeming point was that it had extremely superb sound system. One of these days, I am going to check in both cars into any workshop and had the mechanics dig out the merc sound system and transplant it into crv. Can? Those kind of stuff is simply wasted on hubby....no corporate hotshot blasted their audio system on the road, ok. Jeans clad FC can do that, no problem.

Back to my day. Sent Adam to kindy. Zig zagged the narrow street and nearly crashed into a Jazz, whom I belatedly realised was driven by a Seribadan client. Sheesh. Made it into nkve. And noticed that the sound from outside was getting louder and louder. Checked all windows, just in case Adam opened one and forget to close. Windows okay. Started thinking about tyres. But I knew hubby just replaced a new set yesterday. I was getting even more worried when I could not hear the radio properly. I considered pulling over by the emergency lane but the traffic was heavy and it was not like the car was on fire or in immediate danger of exploding. So I kept on driving all the way to Kota Damansara. Then I was stuck in a bad traffic jam. *sigh*. But then a kindly man in a motorbike honked and knocked my window. And said my door was not closed properly. And I could hear him loud and clear, not the usual muffled sound when you were inside a car. No wonder the highway sound so loud. Hmmmph!!!! For all its automative technology, the merc did not show any indicator on the dashboard when the door was not tightly shut. And, the light was off. When usually in this kind of case, it will stay on thus alerting the driver.

*sigh*

I'm not joking when I said the merc and I did not hit it off. In fact, I nearly had a panic attack when two days ago hubby asked whether I wanted to drive C class. Are you joking???? No way!

Albeit one hour late and nearly having a nervous breakdown, I safely arrived at office in one piece. Had a birthday party later at one-u where i declined to drive, thank you very much.

Spent the rest of the day slamming the merc door as hard as I dared to. One week of this, I might ended up with a toned arm. Heh!
Old photo - one of my misadventure with the merc, at LPT no less.


Hubby took us all to a buffet dinner at Concorde Shah Alam as a birthday treat. The boys made a beeline to the icecream counter as soon as we entered the dining room. On good thing about buffet meal is that, I hardly get a chance to sit down. Just as I was about to put my soup on the table, Amri announced that he needed to go to toilet. Came back from toilet, he wanted ice cream again. By the time I came back with my own food and tried to sit down, he finished ice cream and wanted some other food. Repeat every step with Adam, who by that time, just came back from his own toilet break with hubby. A few times in between that, my untouched plates were cleared off by the waiters.

Maybe if i were to have two more boys, I'd be very slim and fit from all those running around and missing plates.

Thanks hubby, for the lovely dinner. Could we chuck the boys somewhere and go eat dinner with just the two of us please, before I'd forget the civilised way of dining.

p/s: Happy birthday to my cousins, Kak Dewi (20/4) & Abg Caq (22/4) too. Kak Dewi, though just one day older, become kakak due to strict family hiearchy in my clan.

Hujung minggu

Jungle trekked Bukit Cerakah. By bus...hehehe. But we did hiked on foot at some places even though my 7 year old royal highness protested loudly. Hmmph!

Enpangan Air Kuning. Made me feel like I want to take up fishing, just in case I ran out of hobbies in the near future


BJ could be seen from on top of taman herba. Hidden behind the trees on far left are houses in eiseai street, looking down royally to other BJ houses far below


If you hiked down taman herba towards the dead end then hiked up again, you will eventually end up at Jelutong Heights...hehehe. But before you reach there, you'll come across a herd of cows first. I heard that a group of mountain bikers from Mayang Sari TTDI Jaya decided to cycle down the path from Jelutong Heights and encountered the lembus instead :)

Went to visit our new house after the hike. Sorry Nyna/Khairi, we could not drop by as we were errr... not so presentable. All very comot and masam. Next time, ok, when all four are nicely dolled up and accompanied with buah tangan to boot. Heh...adat Melayu jangan dilupa (when it suited me, that is)

Anyway, had a nice surprise at the gate of no. 11. Now that guthrie had sorted out their house numbering system, I started to worry about what kind of neighbours we were going to have. Not that we were neighbour from heaven to begin with, but I'd rather not waste all that money to have some noisy chaps with a dozen extended families as my next door friend, sharing a wall for a few years to come. So needless to say, I was super happy when I saw our current neighbour's car parked at no.13. Though at first (from a distance), I was like, gasp....my neighbour is a bmw driving mak datin...could we be friends? But then, once we parked our car, to my (and her) utter disbelieve/joy, it was this nice family in front of our house that we have known since the first year at ttdi jaya. Even Amri and her second daughter were in the same year at the same school. I think both of us were kind of relieved. She had met most of the neighbours in that street except for us, the elusive owner. Heh!

Well, thank God for this.

e-filing

There!

I've submitted my income tax return. Online. Lets see if I will get the tax refund within one month time.

If it happens before 23rd May (decided to extend one week), then I'll have to buy Kak zhan a dozen of apple besar doughnuts. Or is it jco? Well...lets buy both if it happens by or on 17th May...hihihi.

Economics 101 : Inflation rate

Economic downturn: pray for soft landing
Dr Wong Ang Peng

What? Inflation at 2%? Indeed it is, as reported in Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) – Annual Report 2007, published on March 26. Not only it is at an unbelievable low, it also declined from 3.6% in 2006.

When most countries of the world including Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, China, and the Arab countries have either reported or estimated inflation for 2007 at ranging from 4 to 8%, Malaysia’s at 2% must be among the best managed economies of the world. Deutsche Bank has estimated in November 2007 that the real inflation rate for Klang Valley is 8%.
Is our government flattering itself, or is it typically ‘government speak’?

Inflation rate is deduced from the CPI (Consumer Price Index). Taking a hypothetical case, assuming a cup of coffee is RM1. Giving it a base point of 100, if the price of coffee the following year has increased to RM1.20, which translates to 120 points, by calculation, 20 divided by 100, and then multiplied by 100 to get the percentage. Hence the cup of coffee has contributed to 20% of inflation for the year. Taking into consideration all the consumer prices (food, transport, utilities, housing, entertainment, restaurants, education, health, equipment, etc), and the disparity in prices at different geographical regions, the price index for all consumer items is tabulated for the inflation rate.

Considering that about 30% of consumer items are under price subsidy, the official reported 2% inflation rate may not raise much of an eyebrow. However, upon closer scrutiny of the BNM – Annual Report 2007, the CPI base year has been brought forward from 2000 to 2005. Hence the 2007 inflation rate of 2% was measured compared to 2005 price index. There is certainly a price difference for the cup of coffee based in 2000, 2005, and 2007. When computing the CPI of year 2007 to 2000, and the year 2007 to 2005, two different sets of figures will show.
The above may be theoretical in argument. But the more practical side, based on the following statistics, should sound the alarm bell :
Food and non-alcoholic beverages – 47.1%
Transport – 18.3%
Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels – 13.9%
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco – 7.4%
Restaurants and hotels – 5.6%
Recreation services and culture – 3.2%
Miscellaneous goods and services – 3.0%
Furnishings, household equipment and routine – 2.4%
Education – 1.7%
Health – 1.1%
Clothing and footwear – minus 2.2%
Communication – minus 3.1%
(The abovementioned items and their percentage contribution to inflation for 2007. Source : Department of Statistics, Malaysia)

The poor and the lower middle income group do not care if the price of golf clubs has declined from 2005 to 2007. It also means nothing to them if the price of a branded T-shirt or a flat-screen TV has declined. They care most when the prices of food items increase. And for 2007, inflation of food items has increased to 47.1%, up from 29.7% in 2006.

The majority of the population who make up the poor and the lower middle income group cannot escape rising price in food items, basic transportation costs and housing and utility bills. These top three components contributed the most towards the inflation rate in 2007. Inflation steals value and is considered a form of invisible tax. In proportion of their take home income to expenditure, it is the poor who have to pay more for this invisible tax.

Our government’s contention is that inflation due to external factors may not be effectively controlled by monetary policy, thus has decided to maintain interest rate at 3.5%, ever since April 2006. This is a flawed argument. External factors alone cannot raise inflation unless money supply also goes up. At a 3.5% interest rate, one of the lowest in the region, it enhances credit expansion. The well-to-do and the business class, be they local or foreign, will be favoured. Credit cards usage are encouraged, and most often people spend beyond their limit. Credit expansion and growth in money supply will bring further inflation.

If it is true that the inflation numbers have been massaged, as widely believed, and that the real inflation rate is to be 6 to 8%, then the artificial low interest rate at 3.5% will cause distortion to the economy by sending inaccurate price signals to producers. Easy credit to property developers can lead to an oversupply situation in many parts of the country. There are already signs as such.

We have now arrived at an economic crossroad. We need to have foresight and act decisively. Interest rates can still rise 50 basis points to 4.0% and will still not hurt capital investment. Credit expansion should be geared towards infrastructural development and not for businesses of a speculative nature. Easy money through credit cards usage should be curtailed immediately.
The path to take at this crossroads is the one to favour consumer protection and the socio- economic well-being of the masses who are obviously to be impacted most during the economic turbulence ahead.

And when the downturn comes, we pray for a soft landing. The other path will lead to distortion, mis-allocation of financial resources, more inflation, and possible socio-economic ruin.


Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/81238

FRIM revisited

While the majority of my cousins and mak ciks pakciks were back at Langkawi for Hanim's wedding, the four of us were jungle trekking at FRIM. Actually, it was only Amri that was supposed to go hiking with Dyslexia Association. But then, we were late in sending him to Dyslexia Centre @ USJ6 so we sent him directly to FRIM instead.

Once there, tak kan nak terus balik rumah kot. So we bought tickets for Canopy Walk. Last time we were here, Adam was too young to hike himself but too heavy for us to carry. The hike up was pretty challenging but there were plenty of things that caught his interest. Plus, he was enjoying having us all to himself since Amri was hiking with his classmates. Needless to say, he behaved like an angel.

Anyway, since this hike was unplanned (naturally), we went almost with no provision. Amri on the other hand, had a backpack fully prepared - a change of cloth, water bottle, insect repellant (sprayed by his teacher), slipper, towel, swimming trunk, kit-kat, cap, pen and notebook. The three of us had bottles of 100+ and my cute little sling bag which contains stuffs that really helpful. Like make-up bag and blackberry. And a camera. Plus some sweets. Cukup lah kan?

















Warming up - makan ice-cream dulu


















Start the hike (easy part) about 10.30am ++












First break. Couldn't believe i went hiking with that cutesy bag. Adam refused to sit on the ground so I had to offer my feet.











Adam so loved this akar berjuntai so we took a few minutes break so that he could swing around.









Reached the top of the hike almost noon but there was a long queue waiting at the entrance of Canopy Walk, mostly from various schools around klang valley. Saw amri coolly walking with his friends. Adam entertained himself by playing with a tiny stream of water and flirting with a groups of giggly girls from MGS. After a bit of waiting, the ranger allowed us and another family behind us to jump the long schoolchildren queue in front of us. Lega......











Adam took the canopy walk in slow and steady stride. Somewhere in the middle, he said to me, "balik nanti kita lalu jalan lain,ok"

View from the top. You could see Klang Valley concrete jungle down there

On the way down, we stopped at waterfall area and Adam could not stand it anymore. He needed to get into the water, pronto. Since we came without his swimming trunk, so Adam went in with his underwear albeit a bit reluctantly. Actually, I felt like I wanted to jump in myself. Next time maybe.

We collected Amri from his teacher at 4pm and went home. Thank you to the Dyslexia Association teachers, facilitators and Shell volunteers. Shell sponsored the events for the centre.

Mok cik tengah panic

*sigh*

I could no longer entertained your highness requests for cambodian maid. My globe trotting (duh!) schedule has been brought forward to mid July, instead of October, with Singapore as my first stop (thank God for that). Which meant, I needed to book the maid like, last week, in order for her to arrive at my doorstep in May at the latest. I'll need about two weeks to decide whether she is whom and where she is supposed to be. Then the rest of May and June to train her doing household chores, cooks and most importantly, the two boys schedule. And everything else that have everything to do with them. Like, who wears what on which day. Who eat what for lunch. Who is allergic to what food. Who takes which bus/van.

Thank God there are only two of them. And thankfully, one at kindy and one at school so that will make it easier to identify the uniforms. Lucky too, one goes to kindy in the morning and another goes to school in the afternoon so not that hard to monitor school vans.

Mind you, Amri does not attend religious school (my decision, so shoot me!) so should be lesser logistics to deal with. Dyslexia centre and swimming lesson? Surely hubby can handle that.

It is going to be a busy year. But I like busy. I just dont like to be away from home. What if hubby makes his own decision on the new house renovation while I was away? What if I come back only to find my head is higher than the cooker hood again?
*sob*

Singapore is okay. Melbourne is...err...not too bad, if I do not have to stay more than a week at a stretch. But US/UK feels like a universe away. Well...thank God I do not have to go to China (not yet anyway).

What I really need is not just a maid but a nanny and driver. And a clone of my important self.

Anyway, surely I can count on my parents. And parents in law, right? And Auntie Chik? Cu Nan? That's what family are for. (someone yelled 'cheap labour' at my YM...tak patut betul)

Hmm...actually, none of the candidate biodatas emailed to me meet my requirement and I am not even choosy to begin with. Except one from an independant provider. But then, I would have to deal with the paperworks myself. Paperworks is the ultimate downfall of me. Oh dear....

I'm having a splitting headache from morning. And wishing I am back at Langkawi with the rest of the family for the wedding. *sigh* I badly want to be there. Why on earth can't Pak Lang wait until the school holiday next month. Isk.