home.....
had a hot day yesterday... it was so hot that my head started to vibrate yet again. cldnt even have enough energy to go to ntuc even tho i was already at ang mo kio yesterday. went out again just minutes after i reached home. went to orchard to just look ard for stuffs with adik and parents. bought something at blush at a very very cheap price... *winks* and mak decided to buy something for me... thanks mak!!! love u!! muacks... hehehe...
had our meal at tambuah mas, and i can say that the food is very decent, but we just cldnt finish up the ayam goreng istimewa, thanks to adik who ordered it but just had a piece of it. aarrgghhh.... after that, i made my way to meet up with yuszela while the rest went to al-falah. went over to her place to finalise the bedroom deco for her upcoming wedding in december. a small room to work with. shldnt be a lot to do, anyway. pretty much have the idea on what to do for her room. it's easy as yus has pretty much the same idea that i have.
tried on my baju raya last nite, and i simply love them.... nice nice nice... hehehe.. perasan lak aku nie... but, what the heck. i like them, esp my yellow/gold kebaya. hehehhe... and here's my pair of shoes that i got impulsively at mid valley last two wkends, to match with the kebaya... hehhe..... cheap and nice... 
the long wait.....
the flgt was suppose to depart at 2030hrs, but when i was at the check-in counter, they informed me that the flgt has been re-timed to 2230hrs. and it was only 1830hrs. what was i suppose to do there. walked ard the whole airport. it was just filled with people. mostly all the flghts are full. and delayed. arrrgghhh.. bought my meal at kfc, and sat at the lounges provided there. eating, while reading a magazine which i bought earlier on, and text-ing people at the same time. when it was just abt time, and we were all in the waiting room, the crew announced that the flgt would be futher delayed. dammit. i already had a long long day at the office and the last thing i wanna do is wait!!! the flgt finally took off at abt 2320hrs. abg and family were already there when i touched down at midnite. penat penat penat penat...... reached home only close to 2, as we gotta send the kids and along home first. finally... i just love the smell of my bed.... ehehhehe....
anyways.... i reckon, hari raya is suppose to be a happy and merry occasion, but how come most, MOST of the hari raya songs are just soooooo sad? so sayu? semua lagu sedih2.... and the almost all, have the same lyrics.... - hari raya hari bahgia....- but... the songs were just in a sad mood. apa nie??? giler ker?? have u all thought abt it??? i've been thinking abt it a few days now in between all the work in the office. hehehe... kinda disturbing tho....
so, composers, pls, pls , pls make hari raya songs happy..... no more sad hari raya songs pls.... lagu kupohon ampun by sudirman is sad enough..... we need happier songs.... plss
i know u are going through a hard time,
it sucks big time, i know.
however, please take care of yourself,
have some rest, take your meals.
i'm always here if u need to let it out.
i'll be your ears and even (like what my cousin once told me) your mouth if u need me to be one.
i wont question and i wont judge, i promise.
take care, my friend.
be strong,
trust me, u need all the strength.
*hugs*
terkenang masa lalu di bulan ramadhan......
amacam? alrite tak the title? hehehehehe.....
well, am in the office while listening to ria thru the net and dah banyak lagu raya on air.. so, while doing my work, terkenang jap masa-masa lalu time ramadhan kat rantauan... nie pon ngah puasa kat rantauan gaks nie... hehehhe..
the first ramadhan away from home was in 2002, and it was my first raya away too... my first time fasting while travelling... it did definitely save a lot of money. went to melbourne during the 2nd or 3rd day of fasting. and when i was back in brisbane, like what tasha had mentioned, we had fun even tho we were away from our loved ones. together, we managed to re-create the atmosphere of ramadhan and syawal in our apartment. that was the first ramadhan that i actually really eat for sahur and i had lots and lots of rice, thanks to sheda. hehehe.... tengok dia makan, very the menyelerakan... the first time for me to cook lots of dishes at one go rite after sholat aidilfitri. it was a time of lots of firsts, i can say. it still fresh in my mind. love u babes... *hugs*
ramadhan in 2003 was busy with assignments and exams, so whatever we can grab for our meal, we just grab. not so much of proper food, but it was yet another ramadhan that i had my sahur meals. it was nearly summer and the days are longer, and my routine would always be the same throught the 1st 2 weeks of ramadhan - i would be in bed by 2000hrs, and would wake up at nearly 3 to do my isyak and have my sahur, and while waiting for subuh, will start to revise for exams, wld get back to bed ard 5 and woke up at ard 9am to get ready to go to uni, and wld stay in the library till ard 4-5pm to get back home to start to prepare to buka and wld have the meal and did my mahgrib and sleep. almost everyday wld be like that. well, cept days that they were showing australian idol. hehhehe... flew back to spore 2 days before raya, and remembered abg ir was busy trying to get me on my australian mobile. he even emailed me just to find out where i was as he wanted to do a video call on the first day of raya. u see, it was suppose to be a surprise for everybody back home, told them that i was suppose to come back only in february, but i definitely changed my mind. hehehe.... was at home till malam raya as i broke my fast at yai's place - we always break our fast over there every malam raya. remembered idah was smacking my back when she saw me and dila was frantically shouting my name and hugging me from the back. hehhehe....
last year ramadhan was just like the years before i went to brisbane. woke up for sahur just to wake everybody up, had a glass of water and went back to sleep and only woke up to do subuh. hehhee... and then, the last two weeks before raya was busy doing berbotol-botol honey cornflakes for my regulars. last year i think i did abt 11boxes of kellogg's cornflakes. was the first raya away without idah ard too...
and this year, is yet another ramadhan away from home. went back home the first wk of ramadhan and havent been going back since, as i am going back straight for raya this friday!! yiippeee.... this ramadhan, i havent been waking up for sahur at all. well, there were a couple of nite that i woke up just to have a glass of chocolate milk and i went back to sleep. hehehe...
every year, each ramadhan leaves a different kinda feeling for me. am sure that it does for the rest of u too....
weekends....
its the weekends again.... yiiipppeeee.... received an email stating that all muslim employees will be getting pay early this month due to hari raya... yyiipppeeee.... i really hope by the time office hours end today, the money is in my bag. so that tomorrow, i can go to masjid india yet again to get some more stuffs... yiiipppeeeeeeeeeee.....
wont be back again this weekend. Walizah will be fetching both liza and i at KL sentral to buka puasa over at her place which is very very far away... hehhehe.. she lives in cheras and the journey to her place... punya lah jauh... mesti ada kereta if wanna stay at her place... kalau takde... abis lah.... she said there mite be nasi minyak, sambal udang, ayam goreng, bamia and paceri nenas.... that woman nak kasi kita makan utk buka ker nak kasi makan untuk sahur sekali... isk isk isk... hehehhe...
liza has a performance on sunday as a part of her assignment. so, gotta go and give her some moral support.
gonna catch this on the 20th Nov with liza ....
check this out for more details....
expectations
met up with ayu right after work yesterday. she picked me up over at bangsar with her little cute kancil (it really makes me want to get a kancil once i got that damn licence and if i got the money lah.... its cheap tho... rm24k for a new one... but i think i'll settle for a good second hand one which is priced just ard rm9k-rm14k..)
went over to her place at seputeh. the view is just nice and the breeze from up there... is perfect... it is a typical ayu's place tho. i felt that i was actually in her brisbane apartment. the atmosphere is almost the same, cept that the one in kl is a 2 bedroom unit while the one in brisbane was just a studio apartment. with her sofa, her entertainment set, to her kitchen and bedroom, it's just sooo ayu.
ayu is among one of my friend that i can talk anything about life. when we were in brisbane, she would just drive over to toowong, and picked me up, and we would drive aimlessly just to talk and talk and talk, and after that, we just turn back and proceed home. whenever she was stress out over her assignments and exams, she would drive to my place in her pyjamas and heels (ayu is just cute!!) and just sit at the living room and study on her own, while my hsemates and i were in the study room. when she thought she had enough for the night, she would say goodbye and drove back home. she didnt bother too much if there was complete silence in the room, or if we didnt really talk to her while she was over at our place. i guess, we have this unspoken understanding abt not to expect too much from each other.
i know i dun really expect much from my friends. well, i stop expecting too much knowing that i'll be the one who get hurt when things didnt go the way i wanted. and i hope too that my friends dont expect too much from me either. i'm just scared that i cant fulfill their expectations and it'll definitely hurt me too.
i remembered one incident that happened a few years back. i was back for abt 6weeks holiday to spore and it was just right after christmas.6 weeks back in your home country is really really a short time. there's just a lot of things to do, lots of people to meet, and lots of stuffs lah. the moment i was back, my sis in law was in the hospital for a surgery, i cldnt remember what surgery was that tho. she was warded just for a few days and she was home during new year. my late uncle was already warded at the general hospital for tumour and he was in ICU. things didnt get any better when on the second day of the new year, my aunty had a stroke at home and had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. we had to take turns to be at the hospital, and since i wasnt working and i was available, sgh saw me everyday. i was shuttling between sgh and home practically everyday. i dont even had much time to meet up with a lot of ppl. everything was just too chaotic then.
after i reached back to brisbane a few days, i received an email from a primary school friend whom i just normally chat on msn, i dont even meet him often. he said that i was a person who forget about friends, and why i didnt inform that i was back in spore as he wanted to meet up for coffee, and why i didnt inform him when i was departing for brisbane as he could send me off. there was just too much petty stuffs in the email and the tone of the email was harsh, i can say. i could ignore the email, but i replied back as i really believe that he need to be told of his pettiness. oh well, called himself a man but he just couldnt accept the facts that i stated in the email. hhmm... susah nak ambik hati orang nie, and bab about pujuk-menujuk nie semua, i tak khatam lagi. he couldnt take it, so what more can i do. biarkan jer lah...... and he got the cheek to tell people that i actually gave him a peck when we were kids. and hell, i couldnt even remember that. i normally remember about these kinda things... aarrrggghhh..
friends come and go, remember things about them, the good ones especially. treasure their friendship as along the way, they have taught u a thing or two. dont expect too much from them, as they might not be able to fulfill it.
oh well... enough said... on the last note.... to all my friends, i love u all. and if i ever expect something too much from u guys, pls tell me.
weekend splurge.....
stayed in kl for the weekend, and was out for both days... hehheehehhe... well, had the luxury of waking up late, it helped especially it rained on both days.
went to masjid india on saturday with liza and ita. liza wanted to go to mydin to get stuffs for uni. ita got some scarves and i got some accessories. mite need to go to masjid india again before i go back for raya to get more stuffs for adik, along and kak inah. will never know what to get for my brothers tho. hhahhaahha... tak yah beli kan sua.... they pon, i gerenti dah siap apa yg patut especially for raya. heahhehaha....
bought ayam madu (i really tot it was ayam percik, dah bayar baru realised!! dang!!!), and some kuihs (i am really a sucker for getas2 and kuih keria. hehhehe). liza and i tot of getting some food at the bazaar and just eat it along the way lah... but ita wasnt really keen on it, so we finally had our meal at nandos. all was decided after i bought my ayam!!! and to eat more ayam... i really felt like chicken that nite... hhahhahhaha.... 
ita grining as it was her first time having her meal at nandos... 
liza and ita happily waiting for the food to come....
liza getting bored of waiting....
well.. the food came really late as they got mixed up with our orders and gave ours to the other tables. but somehow they apologised for it, and i'm alrite with that. ita cldnt finish her 1/4 chicken, so we packed it together with the basket that came with liza's chicken wings. hehehehe.... hope they didnt realise the missing basket when they did the inventory check at the end of the day. hehehehe
**************
went to mid-valley with liza as she wanted to go carrefour, and i wanted to change some cash. and i ended up getting a new pair of shoes for raya that was on 50% discount. heehehhee.... well.. the shoes is pretty, i can say. can really match well with my kebaya that i think i'm gonna put on, on the second day of raya. hehehhee... dah plan seh...
reached home at abt 4+, take a breather and then started to get ready to go out again. this time, to concorde hotel to have our meal there..... it cost us rm66.60 per person for the
ramadhan buffet. 
we were greeted by this box of kurma...
the five hsemates before buka puasa.... 
the crabs, that liza had to grab first...
for me, i still chose to have the kuihs first... just a pity that they dont have teh -oh served at the buffet.... they have teh tarik but not teh-oh. aarrrrggghhh....
had the seafood mostly, i think i had abt 3 whole crabs, and more than 10 pieces of prawns. tinggi cholestrol aku minggu nie.... hehhehe.. oh well... the bread and butter pudding was alrite jer.. i still think crown princess served better bread pudding... idah, it was even better than cafe vienna nye tau.... *winks*
was really full by the end of it. cam nak terkeluar pon ada... it's kinda rare that i eat a lot during break fast.... kalau hari hari lain tu... jgn kata lah..... even abg ir used to call me tong sampah... semua pon aku telan... hahhaha.....
me, kak joy and kak lina after the heavy meal..... (check out the two guys at the back... sempat nak posing sama ngan kita... hehhehe.. they are a part of the nasyid group, far east, who performed while we dine.... hehhehe...)
lelong!! lelong!! lelong!!
(part 1)
Hari Raya Cakes for sale....
Chocolate cake - SGD24.00
Marble cake - SGD24.00
Walnut cake - SGD26.00
Brownies - SGD38.00
all cakes weigh approximately 3kg each.
frozen beef with rendang paste also available.
last order - 26th October 2005
place your order by sms or call for further enquiries at
7000-khirwan (7000-5447926) or +65 96577801 - look for khirwan.
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(part 2)
Kerepek ubi for sale...
kerepek ubi biasa - SGD7.00 / kg
kerepek ubi pedas - SGD8.00 / kg
kerepek ubi black pepper - SGD7.50 / kg
for more enquiries or to place orders, pls email asri or call him at +65 8124127.
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pls include my name when ordering to both parties, senang aku nak dapat commission. heheeehehehehhe...
sick...
was on mc for two days -wed & thurs - due to viral fever (whatever that is!!! hehehe). felt sick on monday afternoon that i requested to go home a lil earlier, slept for one whole hour upon reaching home, and woke up just in time to cook for buka. on tues, whole body was already aching when i was in the office. by the time we went over to shakirah's place to have her beef noodle, i was feeling really sickish (is there such a word??). cldnt even finish the noodles and i cant even remember the taste of it. by the time we reached home that nite, i was really weak. was comtemplating to go to work on wednesday morning, thought that i cld sleep a lil while and then get ready to go to work. but i just cldnt wake up. stayed in bed the whole day on wed. woke up only at ard 5pm. was suppose to buka at klcc with liza and ita, but i was so weak to even wake up. went to clinic only after buka that nite. thurs was another day i spent in bed and watching vcds.
now, it's back to work!!! the throat still sore, the body still aching, but it's definitely better than wednesday, and to make things better, it's friday!! the weekend is coming.. or is it here already? hhhmmm....
have a great one, folks!
feastful iftar...
finally, i got to eat kuih koci!!! hehhehe.... thanks abg ir and along for getting me the yummy kuih koci from aghanistan... well, it cld be better if the kuih koci is a lil moist (more santan). but, it was great. abg ir actually bought $7 worth of kuih koci. tak puas pon tak tahu apa nak cakap.
everyone came over to iftar together at my place. mak made ikan bawal black pepper, fried chicken wings, fried sawi, telur ikan bakar in banana leaf, and there was a whole big dulang of kuih that abg ir brought.abg as brought bubur masjid from al falah, cik nani brought fruits and cik mik brought pisang goreng which i didnt get to taste.... aarrrggghhhh.....
the kids were basically running ard esp akif, aniq, khalid and shafiq. aniq and akif were busy 'throwing' the plates ard while khalid and shafiq were picking trying to pick up and put the plates back to place. shasha was just looking very weak, while the boys were busy playing soccer outside.
went to geylang at abt 10pm. everyone of us stuffed inside cik aim's van and boy, it was a bumpy ride. hehehe.... there were just a lot of ppl there. heavily made-up girls with off-shouldered top and halter-neck bras (what were they thinking!!!), kids who smoke, parents looking for kids baju kurung and songkok, well, basically there were just loads of ppl.
i dunno if i'll be going to geylang again when i come back during the last week of ramadhan. it'll be surely be even more crowded than last night. i dunno if i'll be getting anything from there as i reckon, i have most of the things prepared for raya. well, we'll see.
the kids after buka puasa.... all grinning....
check out akif (the kid at the bottom left), he mite be thinking what abg khair is trying to prove. hehhehee...
shafiq and khalid - partners in crime.... 
these are taken last week at swensen's airport for an ice-cream session with the kids...
khalid in this outfit reminds me of the life-guards in goldcoast. hehhee...
"in-camp training"
was talking to nur and joey the first time i went back to spore after i got the job here. they were commenting that i was just like someone who is serving the national service - only home during the weekends.
come to think abt it, they were right actually. just that i'm home for the whole of saturday and sunday.
weekdays, i'll start my day early in the morning trying to get into the lrt, and once i reached my destination, it will be another hassle to get out from the cabin. sometimes, its just impossible to get through the exit door. the people are just everywhere. just like in the warzone. oh heck it.... what do i know abt warzones... hehehhee....
then come friday, i knocked out from the office at abt 6, will rush out to either pudu or bangsar to take the 6.30 bus back to spore. that will be another jam to beat. if i am taking the bus at pudu, the traffic, the people, the buses are just massive... the traffic will be slow all the way till sungai besi. only then the traffic will be smooth. will normally reached home just past midnite. just in time to slip into the room without adik knowing that i am already back home.
weekends, normally just spend the time at home, go out with family, meeting friends, all those sorts ah... like last week... was out with dayah on sat and was back only at 2am. was really beat out by then... hehehhee...
come sunday, it'll be back to kl by bus from larkin at midnite and will only be reaching home at abt 4 or 5 in the morning. sleep for another couple of hours, before waking up and getting ready and reached office by 9am.
life's hectic, but i've choose this path, and i like what i am doing now, and alhamdulillah, i still have the strength to do all this.
'good' old days....
was preparing some documents, and getting sleepy, when an 'old friend' msged me on msn. the last time i actually met him was actually 10 years ago. way back in dec 1995. he dropped me off at ang mo kio central after a movie at junction 8 if i am not mistaken. our last movie together, goldeneye. hehhee....
we did share happy and sad moments together, even though it was just for a short while, but it was enough for me to remember most of the things as whatever happened surely caused a very deep impact on me. and initially, it was very hard to forgive him. thank god, i had my cousins around me when all those happened. it was hard.
well, speaking of the wonderfulness of the internet. recently, he 'found' me back on friendster. and now, after a while that we had not been communicating, it's been good tho. we can even laugh to the stuffs that happened and share some jokes. still the same old him, i reckon. loves to joke ard. well, at least he claims that he is still the same. judging from the pictures that he showed me, well, still look the same.
he is currently working in balikpapan. i wish him the best with career over there. if time permits, and God's willing, insya-allah, we'll meet again for a chat.
it has always been great to 'meet' your 'old' friends again especially after so loong. i am still hoping to meet up with more friends that i know along the way, especially those in westlake primary. mail me if u were in westlake primary or if u know anyone of them, esp batch 1985-1990.
selamat berpuasa semua.....
this thing makes me drool.... hhhmmm.....
thanks idah for the pix.... eerrrrkkksss..
children, children, children.....
my lovely kids...
and to everybody out there.....
Happy Children's Day!!