Cintalah yg Memungkinkan Segala

Entry tertangguh dari bulan June. This is one is for you Mak Yong and Uncle Kevin!

My cousin Ayin selamat melangsungkan perkahwinan dengan pilihan hatinya Linda last May. It has been years since the Rembau clan buat kenduri kahwin, so one could only imagine betapa kecohnya. The tandang side was at Seremban on 6th June, kat rumah mak bapak pengantin. We had series of meetings prior the wedding, macam project planning la lebih kurang. Heheh, macam biasa makcik jadik secretary, Ateh jadik consultant, mak bapak pengantin jadik chairman dan Uwan jadik Advisor Tahap Tertinggi.

Semua dah siap-siap plan, sekali 2 weeks before the tandang, Ziqri dapat call dari MISC suruh packing sebab nak naik kapal on the 6th June to jugak. Sadis ok. So pagi 6th June tu, makcik gerak dari Rembau lepas subuh dengan Ziqri dan Ateh (for the uninitiated, Ateh ni ibu Ziqri) diiringi linangan air mata uwan. See, the cengeng-ness runs in the family ok. Sampai Seremban, lepas peluk cium apa semua, Ziqri and his parents gerak ke KLIA for him to take the flight to Singapore where he was going to board his ship. Once Ziqri naik jek kereta ayah dia, kitaorg yg lain terus start susun-susun meja, letak alas meja apa semua. Kengkonon busy la, walhal semua tunduk jek sambil kesat air mata ok. Giller meleleh air mata ngan air hingus. Like what are the odds kan, duduk rumah tunggu deployment call berbulan-bulan…boleh pulak kena gerak hari tandang tu. Dah la masa tu mcm matahari baru nak naik, Ziqri waving goodbye...syahdu ok.

Tapi kitaorg cepat-cepat moved on sebab by then dah ramai jiran yg datang nak start masak. Hehehe. We didn’t have hire any caterer, power ni masak sendiri. Memang dah jadik kebiasaan orang kat taman tu to bergotong royong for weddings. The nite before tu pun kitaorg dah start tanak pulut kuning and buat kenduri doa selamat sikit. Ini pun kitaorg masak sendiri. Berpeluh-peluh makcik tanak pulut ok. Siap letak santan 2 kali, biar lebih lemak dan meninggikan tahap kolestrol. Actually kan, time-time macam ni la elok sedara ramai sebab nak masak, sendiri, angkat pinggan, hidang, basuh pinggan kemas-kemas..tu semua memerlukan sedara mara yg ramai. Contohnya, masa kitaorg siapkan wedding favor the day before, pergh, rasa mcm keje kilang ok. Kitaorg semua duduk in one line, orang pertama lap oren, pas tu pass kat orang kedua yg masukkan oren tu dalam bekas, then pas kat orang ketiga yg masukkan muffin, pas tu pass kat orang keempat ikat riben etc. Jenuh giller nak siapkan almost 1500 favors. Malam tu jugak kitaorg dah siap siang bawang ngan blender cili, so esoknya boleh start masak jek.

On the day itself, alhamdulillah, ramai orang yg tolong masa masak-masak. My cousins semua ada keje-keje yg dah diassignkan. Keje makcik pada hari tu ialah menguruskan pengantin. How cool is that la kan. Sebenarnya makcik tak berbakat nak buat benda-benda lain, sebab tu makcik diberi keje tu haha. Selain tu makcik ditugaskan bawak handbag ke hulu hilir sebab bila tetamu hulur angpow kat tuan rumah, duit tu dimasukkan kat dlm kotak kat pintu masuk. Setiap 10 minit makcik akan pegi ke kotak tu dan kaut angpow letak dalam handbag and kepit handbag tu tak lepaskan sekejap pun. Penuh giller handbag tu sampai tak leh nak zip, unless kot mkcik pakai Galliera GM..tak de masalah kot ;) Checkout makcik tepung tawar pengantin pun kepit handbag ok.



The photographer for the day was Izham. So lepas breakfast, makcik, Izham dan pengantin gerak pegi kedai mak andam kat Ampangan for mekap-mekap session. Lama giller kan mekap pengantin ni. Makcik siap tergolek few times baru siap. Ni la hasilnya pengantin dalam Goldie Hawn.



Then dari sana, ngam-ngam ikut schedule kitaorg gerak balik rumah pengantin. Family Linda pun dah sampai dari Bangi. Ready jek, kompang pun bunyik. Oh ni pix makcik ngan dua atok sedaraku.

Oh, baju tu sangat panas...berkuap!

Lepas berarak, pengantin terus duduk makan dulu then baru bersanding. Makcik diberikan tugas touch-up muka pengantin pompuan dengan mekap yg dibekalkan oleh mak andam. Saspen tak saspen la kan...bukan makcik yg saspen, tapi pengantin tu yg saspen.

Pengantin ngan Uwan (kenapa la baju Uwan tak matching ngan tudung?)

Pix ngan Onyang. She now refers to me as Budak Becok haha!

Oren Pelbagai Size

True to perasaan over confident yg kitaorg boleh menyanyi mcm Dato’ Siti, we all ramai-ramai menyumbangkan suara for the couple.

Pix bersama pengantin Makcik Milah Depan Rumah

Then Izham, the pengantin and their entourage went to taman tasik seremban for outdoor shoot.





Alhamdulillah, the wedding went well. Esoknya semua patah pinggang kemas periuk belanga ngan pinggan. Hehehe.

Note:
1. Linda is expecting now...punya la lama makcik peram entry ni.
2. Izham, mak pengantin punya la suka ur photography work...dia asyik membelek album tu jek haha.

Kau lah Tanda Tanya

There is a kedai runcit near my house that I frequented. The kedai runcit is usually packed with working women who buying stuff to make dinner en route home. Yesterday I went to the kedai runcit as usual. I was a bit early, the working women crowd was not there yet. The kedai runcit owner and I rarely talked, except for several exchanges “berapa semua?” “duit kecik ada?”

Until yesterday.

“Daging ada?” I asked. The plan was to make sup daging.
“Ada. Daging keras or daging lembut?” said the kedai runcit owner, dengan kening siap terangkat senyum-senyum sumbing.
“Nak daging lembut. Tak nak daging keras” I responded with muka terperanjat.
“Alaa…kenapa tak nak daging keras?” he replied with even bigger smile

Makcik tak terjawab ok. I quickly walked to the industrial size fridge at the other end of the kedai runcit buat-buat carik daun sup.

See, I don’t get chatted up that often, even when I did it was all lame. But this one is easily the geli-est.

Makcik wondering, what's next.

Pix credit to Harry Zahari

Bercanda di Pasiran Pantai Part II

Sebelum naik boat

The next day, Ain, Ida, Intan, Fina and I decided to go snorkeling while the rest was going to continue sunbathing at Long Beach. For the snorkeling trip, kitaorg naik satu bot sekali dengan Bart of Netherlands, a couple from China, a mother and daughter pair from France. Our guide for that day is Aziz. First stop was Shark Point where makcik muntah tak ingat dunia haha. Dapat shark tu makan nasi lemak that day.

Aziz tunjuk skill terjun dalam laut



Then we went to checkout turtle. Besar giller turtle tu, ini view makcik daripada dalam boat tu la. Maklumla, muntah tak berhenti-henti. Masam giller bau makcik masa tu. At one point, I asked Aziz to drop me at the nearest beach sebab makcik dah tergolek dalam bot, pening giller. I swear I lost almost 5kg alone by muntah-muntah. A gegirl from China ni pun sama pening, dia pun mintak turun. Aziz turunkan makcik and the gegirl kat a little island yg tak ingat la namanya apa. The beach was pretty deserted, ada kedai makan kecik satu and a group of divers on training. I lepak there reading my book now that the pening dah hilang. About an hour after, Aziz and the group picked me up.





We had lunch at another small island yg makcik tak ingat jugak namanya. Hey I was pening2 ok. The island was pretty developed. Ada sekolah, balai polis and I could see more development are in progress. We had lunch with the French pair, Aziz and Bart of Netherlands. That was when Aziz told us that our little drama at the Mama's Café and Shop last nite was the talk of the town. Half of the island knew the story by then. I bet the restaurant owner mesti letak status update kat FB or Twitter..pas tuh ramai orang follow haha. The word has it that there was a group of stuck-up bitch from KL yg tak reti bersabar tunggu food. Aziz heard the story before he took us on the snorkeling trip, and he was surprised that we were no stuck-up bitch. Ni Aziz yg kata ok. So we told Aziz our side of the story, beria-ia dia dengar kitaorg cerita.



After lunch, we made our way to another little island (again, I couldn't recall the name) for nice frolicking by the beach session. So there we were with reps from France, Netherlands, Klang Valley and Rembau borak-borak and lepak2 and since we had such a good time together, we made plan to berpoya-poya with Aziz and Bart of Netherlands later in the evening.



We got back to Coral Bay Beach around 6pm. Fina and I decided to hangout by the beach while the rest headed back to our dorm. Tak lama lepas tu we received phone call from Ida.

"Babe! Barang kita semua hilang!"
"What? Eh kau biar betul?!"
"Serious, satu beg pun takde ni"
"Kau dah tanya reception tu? Okeh, kitaorg tunggu sini"

By the way, mobile line and 3G memang clear kat Pulau Perhentian Kecil.

Fina hang up the phone and we looked at each other. Both of us thought of the same thing – orang pulau ni dah pedajal kitaorg balik sebab kes malam tadik. We waited till Ida, Intan and Ain arrived at the kedai yg kitaorg tengah lepak tu then we called up the rest of the girls yg tengah sun bathing kat Long Beach. Rupa-rupanya, while we went snorkeling, the rest managed to get a nicer chalet at the other end of Coral Bay Beach tu. Diaorg dah tolong angkutkan our bags ke tempat baru. Saspen makcik ok!

The girls later told us that at first, the lady yg kat reception chalet tu cakap semua chalet dah penuh. But bebudak ni buat muka degil jek diri kat situ when the manager came and told them that there is a vacant chalet that cost RM600 per nite. He asked if they would like to see the chalet. The girls went to check out the chalet, and immediately made the chalet payment. Serious ok, kenapa minah yg memula tu cakap takde yg kosong. Memang diaorg ingat kita ni tak mampu ke?



We walked to Long Beach to berpoya-poya that evening, dah janji ngan Bart of Netherlands and Aziz the Snorkeling Instructor. We habis berpoya-poya around 2am. Since Aziz the Snorkeling Instructor kinda have a crush on one of the girls, kitaorg pun menumpang tuah mintak hantar kitaorg balik ke Coral Bay Beach using his speed boat. Saspen nak meredah hutan balik ke Coral Bay Beach.

It was 2am, drizzling and there we were 5 girls in a boat with no lights on (Aziz the Snorkeling Instructor said he could see better with no lights on), with Bart of Netherlands sitting at the other end of the boat looking tipsy. The boat sped off membelah laut dalam yg gelap gelita. The dark pitch open sea looked so calm. There were two things playing in my head. (1) OMG, what we were thinking...we are in the middle of open sea at 2am with 2 guys we barely knew! (2) OMG..this is how the PATI must have felt while trying to get into the country.



The first thought was alarming and disturbing. Later I found out that all of us girls on the boat were thinking of the same thing! Tau cuak kan haha. No wonder all of us became so quiet. I found myself reciting few doa and man, that was the longest boat ride I ever took! Kids, seriously, don't ever do this. This easily was one of the stupidest things I have ever done. My heart leaped when I finally saw the chalet. At least dah nampak darat..apa-apa hal boleh terjun laut and swim to the shore! Thank God, we reached our chalet safely and we thanked Aziz the Snorkeling Instructor profusely. Back in our chalet, lepas semuaorg showered...we spent the time doing post-mortem of our little stunt. That was the moment I found out Fina and I just couldn't share the same bed as we kept on giggling tak berhenti-henti for no apparent reason, we are just cuckoo la much to other people annoyance. Haha.

We said goodbye to Pulau Perhentian Kecil the next morning. A van already waiting for us at the jetty to bring us to Kota Bharu bus terminal. Pakcik Bawak Van tu memang agak happening.

“Pakcik pasang dangdut boleh?” he asked
“BOLEH!!!” kitaorg jerit ramai-ramai.

Pakcik Bawak Van pasang lagu dangdut sekuat-kuat hati, siap ada extra speaker dalam van okay, siap bukak semua tingkap then bawak laju-laju. Dah la screw seat van tu mcm dah longgar-longgar (and most probably ada yg dah tercabut), kitaorg memang terlambung-lambung dalam van. It was so funny that we (mostly Fina and I) tak berhenti-henti gelak all the way to Kota Bharu. Extra oxygen masuk otak, gitu la hahaha. Masa datang hari tu, bas punya la laju. Nak balik bas punya la slow that we spent more than 10hours to reach KL.

The trip was most definitely one of the interesting trips I ever been to. Apa-apa pun yg terjadik, if you are around great companion semuanya memang jadik best. I lap u girls. And I lap u Fina.

Bercanda di Pasiran Pantai

(The following event happened in July 2009)

I gave 24hour notice at my previous employment around end of June 2009. I decided to stay at home for one month berlenggang kangkung before starting my new (current) employment. That was when Fina invited me to join her for a trip to Pulau Perhentian Kecil with her colleagues. Makcik on jek la. By the way Fina, bag pack merah mu ada di rumah ku hehe.

We started the journey naik bas dari Hentian Duta. Masuk bas gelak-gelak kejap, pas tuh makcik dan Fina terus terpengsan denga jayanya. Orang lain sikit punya tertekan nak tido dalam bas gegar-gegar, kitaorg nyenyak tido tak ingat dunia...orang dah biasa tido katil gegar-gegar memang macam tu. Bas tu memang speeding giller. Our pitstop was at Merapoh area. Masa tu pukul 3 pagi, boleh pulak layan laksam, dasar memang jenis yg sentiasa berselera kan.

Muka gembira naik bas

Kitaorg sampai kat jeti Kuala Besut around 6.30am. Tempat sewa boat tu bukak pukul 8 pagi. So we decided to makan-makan lagi kat a small warung near the jeti. Sambil makan-makan tu kitaorg pun dok tergelak-gelak, tapi takde la tahap mengilai when a local guy sound kitaorg "Orang nak makan ni, boleh senyap sikit tak" while menyuap masuk mihun dalam mulut. Kitaorg takde la bising mana, and kenapa ngan dia, tak leh makan kot ada bunyi orang bercakap ke? Duduk dalam gua la. Makcik dan kawan-kawan tengok jek dia makan sambil buat muka degil. Sekali member mamat ni cakap balik "Eh takpe-takpe, sambung la borak". Whatever sangat.

Cue lagu background Gila-gila Remaja

Bila tempat sewa boat tu bukak, half of us went to arrange for boat booking while yg lebihnya went to look for ladies. A pakcik told us to tumpang toilet at one of the rumah tumpangan sebab public toilet still berkunci. Toilet kat rumah tumpangan tu memang ada clear sign Ladies & Gents. Imagine our horror (and geli-geli) when a pakcik yg hanya pakai tuala masuk dlm shower with seorang makcik yg berkemban. Hahahha, score!



We left jetty kuala terengganu around 8am. Masa ni la Fina mengamuk tetiba sebab ada la passengers yg dalam speed boat tu tak berenti2 menjerit bila boat langgar ombak. The speed boat tu macam terlambung-lambung sikit, so bila terlambung orang tu pun menjerit, then fina pun akan jeling-jeling menyumpah dalam hati...terlambung, menjerit, menyumpah...tu jek la cycle nya sampai la kat Pulau Perhentian.



Pulau Perhentian Kecil ni ada dua bahagian – Coral Bay Beach and Long Beach. We stayed at Coral Bay Beach, Senja Bay Resort. Since there were 9 of us, Fina booked as a dorm. Memang literally a dorm ok with double decker beds, funky toilets sharing ngan mat saleh dorm sebelah and tilam nipis. Hahahaha. But no complaint there sebab semua dok borak-borak tergelak dari dalam bas, ke boat ke dorm. Good time, bebeh!







We went jalan-jalan kat beach depan dorm tu, true to its name memang banyak betul coral sampai sakit-sakit kaki. So we decided to check out Long Beach which is at the other side of the island. We have to redah a small trekking area for about 10 minutes. Kiri kanan hutan so agak saspen di situ. But the view at the end the journey tu memang breathtaking.





We rented two big umbrellas and mula sunbathing. Dasyat kau, orang melayu sun bathing hahaha. Majority of the tourists at the island are orang putih. Next to us was a group of young malay male. There were about 10 of them and share satu payung jek. Lagik sadis.







Long Beach area is more lively than Coral Bay Beach. There were restaurants, clubs and lots of eye candy to ogle at too if you are into non-kosher white meat haha. We tried to look for vacant rooms in the Long Beach area, only to be told that there were none available. It was kinda strange because bila orang putih tanya ada vacant room, they were told ada la pulak. It happened at several chalets sepanjang-panjang kitaorang pegi tanya. We concluded that chalet operators kat Pulau Perhentian Kecil ni memang prefer orang putih jek, agaknya dia ingat orang Malaysia tak mampu nak bayar rental kot. This was further confirmed when we asked the waiters at Panorama restaurant.

Lemme tell you about Panorama...this is the kedai you must go if you are in Pulau Perhentian Kecil. They serve one mean snickers bar shake! Tak boleh nak explain la macam mana rasanya, tapi memang sedap giller! And the food portion is huge too! Lepas penat berendam, berenang, gelak-gelak, berjemur, berenang again, we had our lunch and minum petang kat situ. The price is pretty reasonable and the staff are friendly.





We left Long Beach before sunset sebab nak kena redah hutan balik ke our dorm at Coral Bay Beach. Since semua dah penat terbakar siangnya, we decided to have dinner at one of the kedai along Coral Bay Beach tu. We decided to makan-makan at a kedai namanya Mama’s Café and Shop...BIG MISTAKE.

It took them forever to take our order, but for orang putih, baru jek letak bontot diaorg dah berkejar pegi bagi menu. When we finally managed to place our order, we had to wait for the longest time to get our food while meja-meja orang putih lain yg datang kemudian dah dapat food masing-masing. Bila kitaorg tanya baik-baik mana burger yg dah order tadik, org kedai tu boleh kata "besok la!". Then boleh pulak tengah-tengah makan, orang kedai tu datang kat meja kitaorg and tanya if kitaorg nak order apa lagik (walhal food yg awal tadik pun tak dapat), then diaorg boleh kata yg diaorg tak ambik order dah sebab diaorg dah achieve target profit untuk malam tu. One of the girls ordered nasi goreng and it was so masin. Bila ditanya kenapa food masin gilller, diaorg boleh kata yg cook diaorg tengah bad mood.

Makcik panas oooo. I didn’t even bother to wait for my food, agak-agak semua orang dah selesai makan I marched to the counter and terus complaint. Makcik takde la tengking tak tentu hala, but I was stern and make sure I was loud enough for the nearest table of tourists to hear it. Waiter tu nampak makcik menyinga pegi counter terus cabut lari ikut pintu belakang. I didn’t pay for my mineral water pun. Seriously, parah ok attitude orang-orang kat area tu.



All 9 of us continued to lepak at lounge area at Senja Bay Resort tu. Ada free karaoke weh, but it was conquered by staff resort tu yg undeniably big fans of Iwan, Amelina, Iklim and To’Ki. Orang putih yg ada kat situ semua macam boring jek tengok bebudak tu nyanyi. Uncle Resort Owner tu bagi can kitaorang menyanyi...hahaha, memang takkan lepas kan mic la kan. We purposely selected lagu-lagu evergreen so the tourists yg dah ngantuk tu boleh join. By the end of the evening, we and the tourists were singing together-gether mcm kat persidangan UN.



Ok, bersambung la pulak...macam tak biasa hehehe.

Out of Reach

Most of my weekdays now are spent in JB because I have an on-going project there. Most of my project team members fly to JB, but I prefer to drive solely for the reason that makcik rasa pening naik kapal terbang kecik. Menyampah kan haha. Seriously, I feel pening-pening and nauseated dari start boarding flight lagi. Heck, I feel nauseated just by writing about it. I seriously don’t know what causing it. The sickness started back in 1998 when makcik termuntah during a rough landing at Chicago. Jenuh makcik tekup mulut while other passengers carik vomit bag. Then it happened again during a flight to Langkawi in 2008, berpeluh makcik time flight tu nak landing. And again during a flight to Bandung this year. I don’t want to take any chances, so I opted to drive to JB every week. Plus, kot ada kereta kat sana panjang la sikit langkah kan. Sempat la makcik drive ke Pontian last month for a meeting. Dah balik JB baru tau yg ada kedai seafood yg best kat sana.

Generally, JB so far was a bit disappointing. Macam tak berapa happening la JB ni haha. Orang-orang JB, enlighten me please :)

The team and I stayed at Thistle facing the Selat Tebrau. I love the bathtub! Hahaha. Mental note: must look for a house yg ada bathtub. And no, I will not publish my pix in the bathtub here. It will only cause permanent blindness to the readers...i am not gonna be liable for it, man. Hahaha. The breakfast spread is nice, to my liking la. I have explored Danga Bay too. I think Danga Bay looks nicer in the evening compared ngan time siang terang benderang. Hari tu makcik tried the open mic evening at one of the al fresco dining kat situ. Feeling menyanyi lagu Hetty Koes Endang (sebab client tu old school haha! Okay..okay, I do too love Ibu Hetty) sambil mengadap laut. Nasib baik tak tsunami. Makcik nampak ada funfair kat Danga Bay tu jugak, confirm la kena try check it out this week.

I think I will like JB more when I frequent the place more often. They kinda grow on you. Here’s to more happening JB!

Pix taken during Stakeholders' Workshop

ps - Hi Kak Liza. Hi Mumsies sister M!

Dreams

I have submitted my last take-home exam yesterday. Alhamdulillah. So now I have 'technically' graduated, waiting for the results in December. Hopefully everything will be smooth till commencement in March.

Pix taken after the last class of my MBA journey. Penyu happy! Haha.

Super Trouper

A dear friend asked me the other day:

"Rambut yg kena shaved tu, dah tumbuh belum?"
"Dah tumbuh, babe. Berjaya!"
"Tanduk pun dah tumbuh sekali?"
"Rasa-rasanya begitulah jugak. Haha!"

The current school semester is ending in November and this is the final semester of my MBA journey (hopefully!). I foresee major kelam kabutness!

Jauh Kau Pergi

There was this quiz in FB that I took yesterday, u know, out of curiosity. Curiosity is good, it instills the learning culture in our daily life.
Okay fine. I lied. I was writing a report and I was stuck. And bored to death. And most importantly, I am a sucker for quizzes.

So I took the quiz. Anyways the quiz title is Personaliti Berasaskan Tarikh Lahir/ Ketahui Pasangan Anda. Come on, don’t tell me that you are not even a little bit intrigued to try that. There were 5 questions. All of them were the same question repeated 5 times: Bilakah tarikh lahir anda. I guess the quiz creator was bored to death too when he/she created the quiz. Anyways, here is my result:

Zetty took the Personaliti Berasaskan Tarikh Lahir/ Ketahui Pasangan Anda quiz and the result is no.1

Anda sangat cerdik, jujur, lucu, degil, rajin, terus-terang, cemburu dalam asas pertandingan, baik hati, peramah dan autoriti. Anda ingin mendahului dalam apa jua keadaan. Anda seorang yang berdikari, berkeyakinan dan tidak pernah berada di bawah pimpinan orang lain. Anda akan bercinta dalam usia yang muda tapi akan berkahwin pada usia yang matang. Anda tidak suka akan orang yang bertentangan pendapat dengan anda. Malah anda juga menyimpan dendam dengan orang yang bersalah dengan anda. Anda seorang yang kuat belanja. Pada masa hadapan anda adalah professional dalam kerjaya yang anda ceburi. Namun terdapat juga orang yang kecil hati dengan pencapaian anda. Anda mempunyai keluarga yang bahagia. Pasangan ideal anda adalah no.4, 6, 8.

The first thing that came to my mind was "anda juga menyimpan dendam dengan orang yang bersalah dengan anda". Where got la. *evil grin*

Ok, not really that one...my first thought was, hmmm, I wonder what number is he? So I re-take the test and put in his birth date. I am sick like that.

I was devastated...he is a 9.

Blah la quiz ni.

Hahaha, tetiba emo.

Unreasonably emo. For all we know he is not into me. It has been hot-and-cold signs all the way. I think it is best if I don’t over analyzed them, if he likes me he would’ve said it one way or the other kan. So it doesn’t matter if he is straight or not, what is important, does he feels the same way about me? For now macam taaaaakk jek. Hahaha.

Oh, on totally unrelated note, I was at Kak Zura’s raya open house on the 2nd Syawal. I met Kak Yong the radio host for the kiddies there. She is like Aznil of Tom Tom Bak back then ok. Check out muka excited haha.


Ok people, I’m driving off to JB in an hour, ada kerja la. Have a nice Tuesday all!

Ku akui, aku telah larut

Every year, Uwan and I would go sembahyang raya together at masjid atuk. We fondly named the masjid as masjid atuk because arwah atuk spent a lot of time there, selalu jugakla atuk jadik imam kat situ. Masjid tu dah agak uzur, tapi every year memang confirm penuh for sembahyang raya. Masa terawikh biasanya tak ramai sangat and mostly attended by makciks, pakciks, atuks and uwans. Masjid tu kira masjid orang lama la. Orang muda macam makcik ni (haha!) cuma ada sorang dua. I grew up in the kampung, spent almost every school holiday at the kampung, so memang every time lepas sembahyang raya makcik memang berpeluang salam dengan uwan-uwan yg dulu makcik rajin merayau rumah diaorg. In fact, every year makcik mesti dapat salam ngan Cikgu Saadiah cikgu tadika KEMAS makcik. Memang nostalgic. Biasanya, lepas habis sembahyang dan khutbah raya, uwan dan jemaah yg lain akan makan bersama2 kat masjid atuk tu. Sajian raya dibawak oleh para jemaah dlm mangkuk tingkat pelbagai jenis. Makcik dan orang-orang muda muda yg lain bertanggungjawab keluarkan juadah dari mangkuk tingkat dan hidangkan untuk para jemaah.

Uwan would spend about an hour duduk-duduk makan dan borak-borak dengan geng-geng seangkatannya. Makcik pulak akan ke kawasan kubur belakang masjid untuk menziarah kubur arwah Ibu dan arwah atuk. I prefer to be alone at the kubur. Weird but the truth is I took that opportunity to 'talk' to ibu. I would sat there and pour my heart out silently, usually in tears. It brought relieve to my heart. Then I would walk back to masjid and accompanied uwan to visit kubur pulak. Then only I would drive Uwan home where all her children and grandchildren waiting for salam session. I have done the same routine since 2002.

This raya, everything has changed.

Uwan's knee condition has worsened since early this year. Badan dia sihat, but her knees are too weak to support her. Uwan pakai wheelchair sekarang. So she had to skip sembahyang raya. Masjid atuk pulak tak boleh digunakan. JKR dah keluarkan notis bulan puasa hari tu declaring the building structure is unsafe. Masjid lama, macam tu la. JKR kata diaorg akan repair the building, tak tau la bila. So I went sembahyang raya without Uwan at the nearby masjid. The feel tu tak sama sebab masjid tu masjid bandar, rasa mcm superficial pulak. Yes, I know, masjid tetap masjid walau di mana pun location nya, semua berpandukan arah kiblat yg sama. Tapi tu la, makcik rasa tak berapa best. Ramai uwan-uwan yg biasa makcik jumpa kot sembahyang raya kat masjid atuk pun tak datang sembahyang raya. Agaknya semua pun rasa melancholic mcm makcik kot. Lepas habis sembahyang raya, makcik tak tunggu khutbah. Makcik terus drive ke kubur ibu. Entah kenapa, rasa sebak tu mcm melampau sangat pulak this year.

Tengah-tengah makcik baca Yassin, datang a group of young chaps. Agaknya masing-masing umur mcm around 20s la. Elok pakai baju melayu, sampin songket dan bersongkok. Masa mula diaorg melangkah dalam kawasan kubur, bukan nak bacakan al-Fatihah atau bagi salam, dibantainya buat lawak Ibu Mertuaku. Ingat tak scene yg Kassim Selamat menangis kat satu kubur yg disangkanya kubur Sabariah tu...kan lepas tu ada pakcik yg tegur Kassim Selamat "kenapa kau menangis di kubur anak pakcik?" Ha, boleh one of the punks sebut dialog tu kuat-kuat dan yg lain bantai gelak. Seriously WTF. Tak cukup dengan tu, not long after phone sorang lagik berbunyik, siap ringtone lagu raya. Beria2 angkat talipon dan borak mcm kat kedai mamak. Come on la. Langsung takde rasa hormat and sensitive dgn org keliling. Kita ni kot gi kubur patutnya ada rasa insaf sikit, satu hari nanti kita akan ke disemadikan di situ jugak. Ni buat lagak dia jek.

Masa makcik dah sudah baca Yassin, ada lak a group of girls dgn rambut blonde nya masuk kawasana kubur. Makcik pun takdelah alim sangat, tapi cover la sikit kepala tu. Ni bukan open house cik kak. The boys tu dah nampak si gegirl rambut kuning, boleh pulak borak jerit-jerit dari jauh.

Ntah la, makcik rasa kesal dan menyampah tengok perangai orang-orang (beruk!) yg mcm tu. Langsung takde sopan, takde hormat dan takde budi bahasa. Spoil mood raya makcik.

Makcik jadikan benda kat atas tu iktibar dan reminder kat diri sendiri. Kita kena pesan dan ajar the younger generation tentang adab sopan, budi bahasa dan erti hormat. Kot adik2 makcik buat mcm tu la, memang dah lama kena pelempang agaknya.

Semoga raya pertama anda tak tercemar dgn kejadian yg mcm kat atas tu. Selamat Hari Raya dari Rembau Clan!

Kat rumah Uwan

Checkout Uwan punya PA in maroon. Selamat kitaorg tak yah basuh pinggan banyak this year.

Kat rumah Onyang

Onyang punya duit raya collection this year is estimated over RM1k

Bebudak sengal kat tangga umah Onyang

Kat tangga rumah Cik Salim. Tangga aficianado.

Satu Pagi di Hari Raya

Makcik nak ambik kesempatan ni untuk memohon keampunan zahir dan batin kot ada (confirm ada la kan) salah dan silap makcik yg telah mengguriskan perasaan, membengangkan emosi, membengkakkan hati dan meningkatkan tahap tekanan darah anda. Makcik hanyalah insan biasa yg suka bertepuk tampar bergurau senda tahap tak kesian. Berhati-hati dijalan raya, ye. Jgn lupa bawak hand sanitizer masa beraya. Kot jumpa kuih dahlia yg sedap, simpankan untuk makcik, kita boleh arrange for delivery hehehe. Go easy time makan-makan tu sebab perut kita ni still terperanjat boleh makan di waktu siang pulak. Main mercun dan bunga api tu biarlah berpada-pada, susah jadik OKU kat Malaysia ni sebab facilities tak cukup dan building owners pun selalu tak prihatin untuk menyediakan kemudahan bagi org OKU. Ntah bila la mereka akan berubah.

Oh, jgn lupa bayar zakat fitrah!

pic credit to Zahid PopArt Mansor

Selamat Hari Raya, all!

Ooh..I've Got a Crush on You!

It used to be the days when a girl likes a boy, there are only two preliminary items needed to be clarified:

1. Is he married?
2. If no, does he have a girlfriend or fiancée?

Nowadays, a single girl like me has to ask one more question on top of those two – Is he straight or gay?

Personally I have nothing against gays nor do I condone their preference or even advocate their lifestyle. Well, as long as I don’t have to witness the act of PDA…I think I am cool with it. I am as neutral as one can be because I believe everybody has the right to love and to be loved. I have lots of gay friends (openly and closeted). I think they are nice friends to hang out with. Whatever their choice of life is between him and Allah. Who am I to judge them anyways?

And in term of playing fields, the ladies and gay men are “hunting” in different areas altogether hehehe.

I have a knack of sensing and identifying gay guy from miles. I could say that my gaydar is pretty sharp. Until recently, perhaps after the fall effect *haha*, my gaydar is a bit messed up. Seriously, it annoys me to the max because you see I have a crush on this guy. Major crush, that I think I actually like this guy. It's like Anuar Zain's song - mungkin kah bersama 2 jiwa ini, dlm mencari cinta sejati? Gitu kann. Hehehe. Question 1 is answered, he is not married. Question 2 seems less important now cause I am more obsessed to know if he is gay or straight metrosexual guy.

Any gaydar will always have conflict and confusion when it comes to metrosexual men. Based on my encounters so far, the metrosexual men generally smell nice, put considerably extra effort on grooming and appearance, charming, a lil arrogant at times but otherwise they are, well, straight. But too often that their flamboyance came across as very gay. They are the misunderstood creature. This guy that I have crush on, hmm, I just couldn’t decipher him really. I once blatantly asked him if he is into guys, to which he kinda deny it. I said ‘kinda' coz he didn’t exactly said vehement no. Just his answers implying that he is straight. Maybe he is a bisexual? Well, I have a multi tasker in my hand now la pulak. Haha.

To add it all up was my gutso day where I would just express my feelings tanpa berpikir panjang are long gone. Ageing does that to you, ok.

"I like you"
"But, you are not my type"

Errghh! If that ever happened, I would just pack my bags and move to Antartic..ok,over-emo. I most probably ended up in Bali.

He is just so...see, I couldn’t even conjure up any term to describe him. Perfect would be an overrating observation, but the thing is he almost is perfect.

A friend told me that if I have even little suspicion that he is gay, well, he probably is. Uwaaaaa!!!!

Perpisahan

Ketika arwah Ayah masih ada, dia tak pernah lupa beli his favorite kuih bila pegi pasar ramadhan. Ayah suka betul kuih ketayap. Kuih yg luarnya warna hijau, inti kelapa. Memang Ayah tak pernah missed beli kuih tu. Setiap kali Ramadhan jugak la, hati ni rasa sebak setiap kali nampak kuih ketayap. Teringat Ayah, terasa rindu nak berbuka dengan Ayah. Kadang-kadang rasa macam baru semalam Ayah pergi. Rasa kehilangan dan sedih tu tak pernah berkurang.

Sedar tak sedar, hari ni genap 3 tahun pemergian Ayah.

Semoga roh Ayah dicucuri rahmat. Semoga Ayah dan Ibu sejahtera di sana. Suatu hari nanti kita akan berjumpa lagi, insya allah.

Al-fatihah.

Semangatku Terus Membara

Me: Hari tu ada kawan2 datang rumah. Dekat 10 orang.
Ateh: Cukup ke pinggan rumah awak tu untuk 10 orang.
Me: Cukup la.
Ateh: Sure pinggan campur melayu, cina, india apa semua.
Me: Okeh apa, muhibbah 1Malaysia katanya.

Biarlah pinggan rumah ku bila digunakan tetamu campur brand nya, ada yg correll ada yg pyrex, ada yg arcopal. Lain rupa lain bentuk, tapi tetap berfungsi atas tujuan yg sama.

Sama la macam kita rakyat Malaysia, lain bangsa, lain agama tapi mesti bersatu untuk negara. Selamat Hari Kebangsaan yg ke-52 Malaysia!

Pinggan2 rumahku yg majmuk

And oh, the Malaysia Satu song yg makcik dok vote tu menang u ols!