Up is where we go from here

Last Wednesday, my office building had firedrill exercise. Kitaorg memang dah tau nak ada firedrill, just tak tau what time. Makcik dah ready pakai selipar bali pink lip lap. Once the alarm went off, kitaorg semua pun turun tangga dgn keadaan tak panic. Makcik turun 18 tingkat ok! Tak macam firedrill kat tempat one of my clients dulu..turun tangga sikit jek. Memula sampai kat assembly area tu, lutut rasa bergegar. Tadi masa turun tak terasa sangat sebab lebih kepada pening turun tangga pusing-pusing. In fact tak berpeluh sangat, terima kasih kepada odorono ku yg sungguh berkesan. Kira pada hari tu, KPI exercise makcik for this year memang exceed expectation la.

Esoknya tu dah jadik lain cerita. Bangun pagi, pergh, kaki dan peha makcik rasa macam nak tercabut. Sakit giller. Rasa nak merangkak naik tangga rumah. Sampai kat opis most people yg makcik jumpa kata tak de sakit kaki sangat. Yelah awak tu berat berapa haha. Makcik zas kan balik “kaki aku ni sakit sebab pecah lemak, dari size S kepada XS”.

Masuk hari ke-2 tak jugak okeh. Pagi tu Ya siap terperanjat tengok makcik tertonggeng atas tilam.
“Kau kenapa sujud atas tilam mcm tu?” si Ya gelak2.
“Kaki aku cramp laa..”

The third day, peha dah tak sakit sangat. Tapi betis still rasa sakit giller. Jalan lebih kengkang dari biasa ok. Makcik dah terpikir nak pegi spa, urut betis pas tuh duit spa claim kat company sebab sapa suruh buat firedrill kan. *sigh*

Semalam baru rasa better sikit. Agaknya sebab lemak yg hilang tu dah tercover over the weekend kot. Hehehe.

View from Assembly Area

Derita yang mendera kapan kan berakhir

This letter was published in Utusan Malaysia today.

Wanita ubahlah gaya, usah bawa beg tangan
Saya adalah seorang wanita, seorang isteri dan ibu. Saya bekerja sebagai doktor di sebuah hospital kerajaan dan kini dalam program sarjana. Niat di hati ingin menggenggam ijazah pakar tidak lama lagi. Saya berpuas hati dengan kehidupan saya. Biar pun sibuk tetapi saya bahagia.

Namun kebahagiaan saya hampir direntap beberapa hari lalu. Semuanya kerana lelaki durjana yang meragut beg tangan saya. Ia berlaku begitu pantas, tanpa sebarang amaran. Apa yang terlintas di hati saya semasa lelaki itu berpusing dan meragut beg ialah: ''Ya Tuhan, aku mangsa ragut.'' Tidak pernah terlintas perkara ini akan terjadi pada saya. Selama ini saya hanya tengok berita, baca surat khabar tetapi tidak terfikir ia akan terjadi pada saya. Untuk pengetahuan semua, saya diragut di tempat terbuka yang ramai orang, pada waktu siang dan ketika itu bersama suami saya. Begitu berani peragut tersebut.

Saya terjatuh, kepala terhempas ke atas jalan. Saya pitam. Apabila sedar, kepala saya berdarah dan saya ke hospital bersama suami. Sementara menunggu untuk melakukan imbasan kepala, saya menangis. Pengalaman bekerja sebagai doktor menyebabkan saya takut pada keputusan imbasan nanti. Bagaimana jika saya ada pendarahan dalam otak dan saya perlu dibedah? Jika dibedah, adakah saya akan pulih sepenuhnya seperti biasa? Atau saya akan koma untuk selama-lamanya? Bagaimana dengan keluarga saya nanti? Siapa yang akan menjaga anak saya yang masih kecil? Bagaimana dengan impian saya untuk menjadi pakar? Adakah akan terkubur begitu saja?

Saya bersyukur keputusan CT scan menunjukkan tiada pendarahan otak, tapi luka di kepala menyebabkan saya terpaksa dijahit. Saya trauma, rasa takut apabila hendak keluar rumah.

Hari ini apabila saya keluar, saya lihat perempuan mengandung membawa beg tangan. Sepasang kekasih berjalan, yang perempuan membawa beg tangan. Ibu berjalan mendukung anak bersama beg tangan. Tolonglah adik, kakak dan makcik, simpanlah beg tangan anda di rumah. Tukarlah dompet anda kepada yang lebih kecil dan masukkan saja ke dalam poket. Pedulikan fesyen. Biarlah nampak tidak anggun tanpa beg tangan.

Perbuatan membawa beg tangan mendedahkan anda kepada peragut. Peragut ini tidak akan peduli apa yang akan jadi kepada anda. Peragut ini tidak peduli pada keluarga anda, pada impian anda. Jika anda mati pun mereka tidak akan peduli

Kerajaan sekarang sedang berusaha menangani jenayah ragut. Anda juga perlu berusaha dengan menjaga diri supaya tidak menjadi mangsa ragut. Cara yang paling mudah ialah jangan membawa beg tangan.

DR. MANGSA RAGUT

Kuala Lumpur
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have all the sympathy for her, alhamdulillah dia takde cedera parah. But personally, I disagree with her writings. I find it not practical and FYI, there are lots of woman out there yg pakai handbag bukan sebab nak jadik anggun ke apa, tapi more of convenient and practicality matter. Ni satu tangan nak pegang beg grocery, satu tangan nak pegang anak, satu tangan nak pegang handphone, satu tangan nak pegang purse. Tak semua perempuan yg pakai baju/seluar berpoket. Kena pulak mcm makcik ni ha, ada ubat dalam handbag and I know there are mothers yg carry pampers anak dlm handbag. Kot tak bawak handbag bila keluar rumah, camne lak gayanya nak angkut semua tu. Memang la kot tak kena kita memang tak tau. We have to think harder to find better alternative. Nanti jadik mcm idea Abg Jem kat Sinar FM pagi tadik...tak payah pakai handbag, angkut jek beg baju tu ke hulu ke hilir hehe.

What say you?

Ku mahu kau tahu

Again, another backdated story.

Qilah and Yoyoy’s birthday is only 8 days apart, of course la tahun lain lain. So usually we celebrate their birthday in one party. This year, we celebrated their birthday at The Verandah Cyberview Lodge.

Suka benar buat tanda peace, giller 80s kan.

Kebetulan pulak, The Verandah has a special promotion for the Easter weekend. In addition to the scrumptious lunch buffet, the guests also have access to the pool (towels provided) and they have entertainment for kids. Checkout the spread:

Memang best!

Ini bukan telur pindang. For display only.

Seperti Dato' Siti, makcik juga suka makan cicah2 coklat ni. Enjoys.

Maybe it is time to ajar buat gaya lain bila ambik gambar.

Banyak lagik food dia tapi makcik malas nak snap photo. Ada udang besar, local food, western food etc. Promotion tu kira macam, duduk la makan buffet dari lunch sampai ke petang, kids boleh either pegi berendam dlm pool or participates in the kiddie programs while the adult continue to enjoy the buffet spread. So for us yg memang jenis tak nampak Stop sign when it comes to buffet, memang good deal la.

Yoyoy menang twister!

Cas nak letak as profile pic kat FB

Beria clown tu buatkan ballon head gear yg muat dgn ukur lilit kepala ku

The clown communicates in English with the kids, kesian Haikal tak faham hujung pangkal cerita. Hahaha. On that day pulak, unfortunately, hujan renyai2 the whole afternoon so we couldn’t go berendam at the pool. Takpe, next time kita datang lagik ok.

Yoyoy jadik clown helper

Tgh tunggu clown buat magic show

All in all, we really enjoyed the experience of spending the afternoon there. The staff were courteous and friendly, buffet spread was good and it was a great value for money.

High on sugar

Moving on to another story that is not related to the above, last week kan as I was driving along Jln Pinang, I saw something yg sangat memalukan bagi kita rakyat Malaysia. It was peak hour traffic, everybody was rushing home. And to those who drive along Jln Pinang everyday memang tau la kan how bad the jammed could be. So there I was together with many other drivers tersangkut in the massive traffic jam, layan radio when I approached the pedestrian walk right in front of Hotel Impiana. Semua driver yg saing2 makcik tu berhenti sebab lampu merah. The pedestrians pun jalan la to cross the street sebab lampu diaorg hijau. Then ada satu MyVi hitam ni boleh tak berenti, and mcm nak accelerate langgar lampu merah. Langgar lampu merah satu hal, while the driver did that, hampir2 terlanggar a tourist that was walking on the designated pedestrian path. The tourist tu terperanjat, nasib baik MyVi tu sempat stopped. The tourist tu pusing mengadap MyVi and hentak depan MyVi tu dengan tangan. Then dia membebel2. Driver MyVi tu buat muka tak paham (or maybe dia pun terperanjat kot). Then tourist tu blah. Giller kau, lampu merah berhenti la. Kot terlanggar tourist tu (or anybody for that matter) kan dah susah. Kata kita rakyat Malaysia yg bersopan santun, tak dapat 100% berhemah pun...cuba-cuba la kan. So to driver MyVi hitam N*V1466, try jgn buat kelakar mcm tu lagik ok.

Since makcik memang ada mood nak bercerita hari ni (actually hari2 pun ada mood, just today ada sikit extra), for mothers yg mencarik2 baju raya anak, do visit this site and checkout the selection there. Kawan makcik yg buat bisness ni.

Nak tambah cerita lagik, my cousin is getting married on 30th May ni. Dia la cucu pertama uwan yg menikah, sebab patutnya turn makcik sebagai cucu sulung. Tapi tuh la kan, hehe, belum berjaya lagik. Anyways, we had our Meeting Pembahagian Kerja last Saturday. Dah lama kitaorg tak de buat kenduri kawin in our family, so mcm agak terkial2 jugak la kan. Nasib baik kitaorg ni belah lelaki, kot belah perempuan lagik la jenuh agaknya. The next day tu, my aunties and I went to Nilai 3 to pick up barang2 yg dah di order. For the life of me, I could never imagine banyak mana 1500 bekas isi favor yg dibuat dari mengkuang. Penuh boot Goldie Hawn sampaikan makcik bawak keter, kat belakang nampak mengkuang ngan bungga manggar jek. Barang2 lain semua passenger kena pangku.

Hopefully semua nya berjalan lancer as planned, insya allah. I’m heading to Kluang this weekend to visit my auntie belah Ayah. Her daughter is getting married too. Dah nak musim cuti sekolah ni, sana sini ada wedding. Kepada yg single, marilah kita bersama2 pikir jawapan to “Kau tu bila lagik?”

Have a nice weekend all!

Ingatkah lagi waktu kau bersamaku?

Yes, it is another backdated entry. What's new la kan? Hehe.

Last March I went to Drexel University Alumni dinner at J.W Marriot. It was pretty cool to meet up with fellow friends yg sama2 berkampung kat Philadelphia dulu. It was a pleasant surprise to know that 2 of my colleagues graduated from Drexel too, tapi the earlier batch la. Makcik kira muda ni haha. It was fun to catch up with everybody, yg dah lama kenal, yg baru kenal, yg buat-buat tak kenal :P



















Personally I have always loved reunion. I attended most of the reunion be it high school ke, college ke, tempat keje lama ke…pokoknya makcik memang suka lah pegi reunion. I know there are people who see reunion as a reason to show off. I personally never think of it that way, I just love meeting old friends, I love to reminisce the good times..it is as simple as that. I have to acknowledge too that it is inevitable bila reunion kita akan jumpa individuals that we wished we would never cross path again. For me there are three ways to handle the awkward situation. First, completely ignore the individual. Or secondly, just say hi and engage in small talk then excuse myself. Or thirdly, buang yg keruh ambil yg jernih.

When I was younger, I always find myself opting for the first option – the ‘pedulik apa aku’ approach. As the years passed by, I find myself embrace the third option more. I don’t know if it was the wisdom (questionable) or the maturity (questionable too) influenced me to act that way. I thought hard about it, and I think it was fear of ‘tak dapat jumpa lagi’ that has changed the way I think and the way I act.

Look around us, berapa ramai org yg muda2 lagi tapi dah dijemput Allah? I bet all of us had known friends or colleagues who had left us unexpectedly at such a tender age. Sometimes kan,makcik terpikir, what if that small gatherings makan-makan that we had at mamak last week was the last time we are going to see our friends? Tak sempat nak mintak maaf, tak sempat nak bagitau the other person how we appreciate their friendship. I think it is very sad, should that happened.

Now several of my friends and I are working on organizing our 15 years high school reunion. I really really hope that the plan will materialize, eventhough the responds so far is pretty lukewarm. I hope more people will be able to join the reunion when we have finalized the plan nanti. I think it would be nice to meet up with everybody again and rekindle the friendship and bond that we used to have. And I think it will be a good opportunity too to buang yg keruh ambil yg jernih sebab kita pun tak tau bila masa kita pulak kan?


p/s: the lyrics that is currently published in the right hand column is from Miley Cyrus – The Climb. I don’t really like the melody nor the singer, but I love the lyrics. It perfectly described how I feel at this moment.

Ku Pinggirkan Sayu

It was back in March when Fina told me that she was busy with preparation of a major LAN party, to which I always gelak2 dubbing it as Tupperware party. Of course after she carut me a few times, then dia mcm redha jek hehe. Her busy schedule went on for weeks, calling2 memang susah nak dapat la. It was on April 11th, she called and invited me to check out the party. Lepas maghrib tu makcik pun gerak ke MMU Grand Hall to check out the LAN party.





The event was a major one – CyberFusion World Longest LAN Party. Fina pecahkan rekod dunia, yo! Like setakat buat lemang terpanjang or buat kek lapis paling tinggi…boleh ke tepi la kan. The deal was to gather close to 300 gamers from all around Malaysia to be at one place which is MMU Grand Hall and to play games non-stop for 30+ hours (if I’m not mistaken).







Tapi bukan sebarang game la, takde main tetris or Diner Dash de. They have selected games like Fifa09 and Sudden Attack. Since Fina ada ALL ACCESS pass, makcik pun tumpang sekaki la masuk kat participant area tu and checked out the gamers yg dah tak tido at least for the last 24 hours.





Gamers ni were given a 5 minutes break at the end of every hour. They were allowed to accumulate break time tu. Contohnya kot rasa2 nak berak kol 10 pagi, and berak time is estimated at 15 minutes, gamer tu kena la tak ambik break for three consecutive hours in order nak dapat 15 minutes berak break. Agak mencabar time management gamer ni kan. Food and drinks were supplied to the gamers. So bila lunch/dinner/breakfast time, the committee distributed food letak kat atas meja gamers ni.






The event was broadcasted live online, siap ada mcm commentators (which were from Australia) mengomen2 on selected ongoing games yg diprojectkan to the big screen. Giller berkobar2 commentators tu dgn Australian accents…huhu.




Gamers ni pun macam2 perangai, ada yg bawak bantal busuk, personal favorite figurine, selimut kepam dan mcm2 lagik la. Ada jugak girls yg participated, habis masyam ketiak tak mandi 2 hari haha. Parents pun ada yg datang tengok anak masing2, tu yg makcik cakap ngan Fina..”agaknya mak diaorg ni kata, haaa tu la kat umah kau main game sampai tak sedar nak makan ke, nak kemas bilik ke…ambik kau, main game 30 jam jgn berhenti sampai muntah!” Hehehe.









Looking at how big the event was, I could just imagine the sheer hardwork and stress accrued to make it work. To think that my bff is part of it, fuh, bangga ok! I am super duper proud of Fina (lebih2 lagik bila dapat guna ALL ACCESS pass dia haha).





Fast forward to last weekend, makcik sakit u ols. I got my first insulin shot sebab bila tgh sakit my glucose level jadik tak tentu arah. Ni la gambar perempuan gedik dalam ER Seremban Specialist Hospital. Senyum dalam tangisan ceh! Oh baju tu kebetulan sama lak ngan pix di atas…tak boleh buat apa, makcik suka baju tu sebab sgt comfortable.





Have a great weekend, all!

You Raise Me Up

My cousin Ziqri had his convocation last February, on Valentine’s day some more. Begitula lama nya makcik peram entry kan. He has compeleted his study at ALAM under MISC sponsorship. He did his practical study sailing around middle east countries. Sempat buat umrah lagik. Makcik tah bila la agaknya dapat pegi umrah.





So that Saturday morning, we all drove to ALAM Melaka for Ziqri’s historic day. Makcik memang teruja kan nak tengok men in uniform hehe. Kitaorg semua gerak dari Rembau. Ziqri’s parents (Ateh & Uncle Syam) gerak dulu, then makcik gerak lebih kurang half an hour after that sebab my other mak sedara – Achik, lambat sampai kat umah uwan. Sesia jek kena bebel ngan uwan haha. We arrived around 9am sebab convo tu scheduled to start at 10am. Sampai2 kat gate ALAM tu, kereta dah berderet panjang nak masuk gak. Ada dekat 12 kereta depan makcik. Memula ingatkan jem sebab parking dah penuh. So mcm saspen la sebab semuanya tak kosser nak jalan jauh2 tengah2 panas, achik kata nanti cair mekap dia. Lepas 10 minutes, mcm baru bergerak sikit. By then, the lines nak masuk dlm ALAM tu dah melimpah ke jalan besar (both sides), dah la tempat tu memang betul2 by the road side.

Anak ikan line up

Smart giller bila semua pakai camni, yg kurang comey pun jadik comey.

Come to mama!!

As we got nearer to the gate, baru la kitaorg tau apa masaalahnya. Some guards and officers dok cek kereta yg nak masuk one by one. And I noticed each car tu mcm kena berenti at least 2 minutes. Giller tu. Dah la bukak satu pintu gate jek, no wonder jem giller. Kitaorg pulak ternampak kereta2 yg depan tu semua hulur invitation card. Makcik pun terus la panic sebab invitation card ada satu jek, and Ateh yg pegang. Ateh dah lepas masuk ke dalam ALAM tu. Terus makcik called Ziqri and he gave me his details in case guards tu tanya. Sampai turn makcik kat guard tu, kompemla kena tanya.

Officer yg agak kacak: Inivitation card ada?
Makcik: Err. Maaf encik. Lupa nak bawak.
Officer yg agak kacak: Nama student?
Makcik: Qhairul Ziqri.

“Muhamad Qhairul Ziqri” Achik menyampuk.

Officer yg agak kacak: You ni kawan or family?
Sure Officer yg agak kacak tu mcm musykil kan sebab nama pun tak betul.

Makcik: Saya kakak dia. Ni (pointing at Achik) mak dia.

Officer yg agak kacak tu pun went through the list nak carik nama Ziqri. Abis di flipped nya kertas2 tu tak jumpa. Makcik pun sama belek2 list tu baru dapat jumpa nama Ziqri. Pastu baru dia bagi masuk. Tau tak kenapa lama giller process nak masuk tu? List nama tu dah la tak alphabetical order, dan bukan jugak ikut nombor student ID. Tak tau la pakai order apa kan, memang la leceh nak carik. Masuk dlm ALAM ingatkan parking dah penuh la, tapi sebenarnya banyak lagik kosong. Ateh and Uncle Syam dah dalam dewan, so Achik, Ya, Gpah (achik’s daughter) and me pun masuk la dewan jugak. Yg peliknya, tang masuk dewan takde lak org ALAM ni filter nak tgk invitation card ke apa. Boleh main masuk jek. Bukan ke better filter access nak masuk dewan dari filter kat gate depan? Kata la eh, a student is only allowed to bring two guests sebab obviously kerusi dlm dewan memang limited. Tapi sebab dia tak filter, org2 mcm makcik ni ha, satu family dapat masuk. Tak berapa betul priority org ni, yg limitednya is kerusi dlm dewan, bukan parking space.

The proud parents

Makcik beli bouquet ni dari KL. Kena double charged sebab ikut harga Valentine's walaupun makcik bukan beli utk Valentine's.

Anyways, the event started on time. Memula perarakan masuk VIP sambil diiringi band. Makcik suka giller la sebab diaorg ada bagpipes. Walaupun makcik takde darah Scottish atau berkulit cerah sepeti awek Irish, makcik memang suka bagpipes ni. Kot makcik berjaya la kawin satu hari nanti, makcik tak nak guna kompang, makcik nak guna bagpipe. Then perarakan masuk students. I had goosebumps looking at them marching into the hall. Smart ok.

Tegak habis diaorg duduk. Tak semut2 ke kaki?



Then event was quite fast paced. The ALAM Chaiman delivered a good speech. Bebudak yg nak grad ni semua duduk tegak jek sepanjang2 event tu. Siap letak tangan atas lutut pun dgn gaya yg sama. Tepuk tangan pun sama2..kata Ziqri tak boleh lebih dari 10 claps each time. Tepuk pun bertiming ok. Bagus betul discipline bebudak ni. Then, tibalah masa nak bagi diploma. The graduates marched onto the stage when their name is called. Please note eh, marched bukan jalan lenggang lenggok. I found the whole proceeding very interesting and I couldn’t help it but be very proud of the graduates. Berkobar2 makcik tepuk tangan for every single graduates.

Ini la Chairman ALAM, sempat bergambar lepas majlis. Semoga kau jugak akan jadik Chairman satu hari nanti, Ziqri.



The final part of the event was award giving for overall best students. This was what touches my heart the most. The first best student name was announced, apparently he was also the best student for few other subjects too. Dia berdiri kat tgh2 stage while the emcee read his profile. His father is a lorry driver. His mom is a housewife. He had worked so hard in ALAM and graduated at top of his class while actively involved in sports and student bodies. Then the seond best student name was called, and he too stood at the middle of the stage while the emcee read his profile. His mom is a single mother who went through hardship to raise him and the rest of his siblings. While the emcee read the rest of their profile, You Raised Me by Josh Groban was played in the background. Pergh! I looked at their faces, so earnest and so full of sheer determination, humility and filled with gratefulness. I was so proud looking at these young men, I bet the family felt even more. True to my cengeng gene, menitik beb air mata makcik.

And get this, the first fella was a Chinese and the second fella was an Indian.

Then the emcee announced more awards for students who attained 3.50 and above CGPA. More Chinese and Indian names were announced, when finally ada terselit satu nama budak Melayu. An Alam’s officer was responsible to usher the students naik stage. While he ushered the fella naik stage, I heard him saying:

“Kau la satu2 nya budak melayu wakil kita”

You see, I sat very near to the graduates and so did several Indian and Chinese family. If I could hear that remark clearly, definitely yg lain2 tu pun boleh dengar kan? And in my personal opinion, the officer didn’t utter those words in pride, you know like he is proud that this young chap did very well in his study. His words and tones more like the rest of the students of different race did not belong or deserve such award, org2 kita jek boleh terima award tu. I really donno how to explain it, but mcm tu la. Like very condescending. I was schocked beyond words bila dengar remark tu, and I could see that several Chinese and Indian family tu pun mcm terkejut.

Seriously, WTH la kan. Think about this, bebudak tu semua was accepted to the programme at the same capacity regardless of their family background. Semuanya belajar dgn cikgu yg sama, guna buku yg sama, makan dan minum benda yg sama, duduk asrama yg sama, guna facilities yg sama and were given the same opportunity to grow and shine. It was a fair game for all. Siapa yg berusaha dia la yg berjaya, tak kira la warna kulit, bangsa dan agama. The Chinese fella, dari keluarga susah and from a small kampung in Perak if I’m not mistaken, berusaha dgn bersungguh2, sebab tu la dia kat atas stage. The Indian fella, his mom is an ibu tunggal. Nak membesarkan anak yg ramai tanpa suami. Keje biasa jek. Anak dia sedar diri and worked hard untuk mak dia. Itu yg kekadang bila makcik tengok Bersamamu tu, dlm pada kesian makcik terpikir jugak sebenarnya hanya kita yg boleh mengubah nasib kita, dgn keizinan Allah of course.

Back to the convo day, I wonder, family from both of the best students ni mampu tak nak dtg convo hari tu. I hope they did coz by these two guys received such recogniction, it was like a statement of success to the family, rasa berbaloi. These two guys has shown their love to the family by getting there. I am not saying that the rest of the students tak sedar diri. My point is, kita ni as org yg menyaksikan bebudak ni grow and achieve excellence kena la be supportive and should feel very proud of them. This is beyond jenis bangsa, this is our compassion as a human.

I asked Ziqri abt these two fellas. He said both of them memang baik, bercampur dgn semua org. See, bebudak pun tau to be in a community instead of creating divides amongst them.









To Ziqri, Akak is very very proud of you. Wishing you all the great things in your journey. Muah muah!

Jatuh

Ya and I went to breakfast at kedai tepi tasik in Serdang last Sunday. It was almost 10am, so banyak kedai kat situ dah start keluarkan lauk2 lunch. Kat situ ada total of 6 kedai, tapi biasanya 4 kedai jek yg bukak. Makcik pun tak sure if kedai yg lagik dua tu are in business ke tidak. Kedai yg pertama is kedai nasi campur. Sungguhpun kedai ni mcm jual lauk2 jek, tapi the real deal is their nasi ayam. Sedap! Sama sedap ngan nasi ayam kat Maulana tepi 7-11 tu. Tak tau la kot tokey yg sama kan. Kedai nombor dua tu jual nasi campur jugak. Ini makcik tak paham org kita, suka meniaga benda yg sama ngan og lain. Kot satu jalan dlm kawasan perumahan tu sampai ada 2-3 kedai jual mende yg sama. Nak kata ada beza rasa pun, takde la sangat. Harga pun lebih kurang. Market jadik saturated tu. Tak ikut concept Blue Ocean Red Ocean nih haha.

Anyways, kedai nombor 2 ni ada product differentiation sikit. Gulai nangka dia agak masyuk jugak la. Kedai nombor 3 kosong, so does kedai nombor 4. Kedai nombor 5 tu dulu tokey dia nama Induk, menurut kata Ummi la. Induk ni memang pandai masak. Nasi lemak sambal kerang dia pergh, memang terangkat la. Makcik tak sure apa yg terangkat, because makcik quoted Ummi jek. Induk ni ada jual mihun soto yg sangat sedap jugak. Over the years, Induk ni amik Indonesian helpers dah telah menurunkan ilmu masakannya kepada Indonesian helpers ni yg eventually bought over the kedai from Induk. Ummi kata Induk ni remarried, so dia nak spend more time ngan the new husband that’s why she agreed to sell off the kedai. Untung Induk ni kan. But since then, majority has commented that quality mihun soto and nasi lemak sambal sotong kedai tu ada kureng sikit. Ntah la kan, makcik rasa mcm okeh jek.

The last kedai is kedai roti canai Usop. Murah roti canai dia, 80 sen sekeping. Roti lembut, kuah sedap, sambal mantap like what more can you ask for. Sekarang ni product line dia dah banyak, ada bakso, roti jala, nasi lemak and kuetiaw goreng. Kedai ni memang selalu penuh. Pakcik Usop si Tokey ni dulu datang kedai pakai t-shirt, seluar biasa jek, selipar dan kopiah. Selalu makcik nampak dia macam itu. Late last year, Pakcik Usop si Tokey ni tetiba jadik stylo beb! Dia datang kedai pakai polo shirt, tucked in, pakai jeans Lee, kasut and no more kopiah. Makcik suspect dia ada gf baru. Tapi semenjak duamenjak ni dia dah balik to his selipar and kopiah day back. Hmm, frust kot. Dulu ada akak ni tumpang jual laksa johor and nasi beriani kat kedai Pakcik Usop. Sedap giller laksa johor dia. Pas tuh camne tah, tetiba akak tu dah tak meniaga lagik. Dengar2 dia dah pindah ke Bangi. Makcik taknya gak kenapa akak ni dah tak meniaga situ. Pakcik Usop kata Akak tu yg decided to pindah Bangi. Tapi makcik suspect, Pakcik Usop tekan sewa kat akak ni mahal. Banyak betul suspicion makcik kepada Pakcik Usop ni.

Kes yg makcik ni cerita ni is berkaitan ngan kedai nombor 5. Bekas kedai Induk. So, Sunday tu lepas habis makan semua, makcik pun pergila kat kaunter nak bayar. Depan kaunter tu ada mcm2 jenis lauk dlm tray elok jek bersusun.

Makcik bukak purse
Keluarkan duit RM10
Hulur kat adik kaunter.
Adik kaunter bagi balance RM3
Makcik try nak masukkan duit tu dalam purse.
Lost balance of the purse..terus pelepop!!
Wallet makcik yg dah berusia 6 tahun tu terjatuh dalam tray sambal sardin betul2 kat sebelah kaunter!

Makcik terus kaut balik purse tu dari dalam tray, tapi sudah terlambat! Purse tu dah berselaput ngan sambal sardin yg sangat berminyak. Punyala banyak minyak dia sampaikan ikan sardin tu pun boleh berenang dalam minyak tu. Oh Tuhannnn!!

“Alamak! Sorry sorry!”
Muka adik kaunter dah menjadik lagik bengis (tadik bengis jek).
“Alaaa, mcm mana ni eh. Tissue ada?”
Hulur tissue.
“Sorry ye” and I walked away sambil mengesat2 purse 6 tahun ku.

Giller bengang adik kaunter tu ngan makcik kan. Well, apa yg makcik sangat2 wonder is..adakah dia terus menjual sambal sardin yg dah terendam ngan purse makcik yg berusia 6 tahun tu?

As for my purse, nampaknya makcik ada alasan yg kukuh utk beli purse baru. Yelah, takkan nak guna jugak purse tu kan...habis la henbeg bau sardin. Walapun kejadian tu dah berlaku 5 hari lepas, sampai ke hari ni makcik tak sempat lagik pegi shopping for new purse. So cash main sumbat jek kat celah2 henbeg. Mykad, credit card, ATM card, disount card terpaksa diikat dengan getah tempe and disumbat dalam henbeg jugak, much to Ya’s disapproval. Dia kata, tahapa2 la kau ni...cepat la beli purse baru.

Ya yg suka paksa makcik beli purse baru

On other note, congratulations to Izham and wifey. Semoga berbahagia selalu hingga ke akhir hayat.



Have a grandest weekend, all!!

Hold on for One more Day

It is almost end of the semester, so most of my classes dah habis. Sekarang ni just muntah darah siapkan submission for final. So two Saturdays ago, since I didn’t have any class scheduled, I decided to bring the family for brunch.

Ya couldn’t make it as she had to attend the KPLI exam.
Qilah couldn’t make it coz she was at school. Oh, have I mentioned that she is no longer in Kuantan. She was accepted to UiTM Melaka in Alor Gajah last December. Dekat sikit la nak berulang, sekarang pun makcik banyak mintak tolong Ya jek pegi hantar or ambik Qilah.
Apis couldn’t make it too sebab dia keje shift pagi.

So it was Ummi, Yoyoy, Haikal and me. Puas pikir nak brunch kata mana tapi mcm takde tempat yg best. Last last we decided to brunch picnic kat Bagan Lalang.

Muka gembira walaupun tak dibenarkan mandi laut

Makcik goreng mihun, goreng sausage, beli nasi lemak, beli air, picked up Umi and the kids and hit the road around 7.45am. Tu pun dah kira lambat coz ikut plan asal nak gerak kol 7. After tersesat sikit, we managed to arrive abt an hour plus later. Kat tepi laut tu memang ada kerusi and meja built for visitors. Bersih tempat tu and memang ada banyak tong sampah. So kita ni visitors jgn lak ngengada nak buang sampah merata2 kan. Kitaorg pun bukak bekal kat situ. Haikal and Yoyoy sampai tak selera coz they were too eager nak terjah laut tu. I think it was dah hujung2 air pasang, so makcik memang tak kasik la bebudak ni mandi. Usik air tu sikit2 jek then main pasir. Tak kasi mandi pun tengokla kan lencun satu badan, pasir naik sampai atas kepala.

Tadik suruh pakai shorts tak nak, kan dah kena lipat2 jeans tu





Ummi and I lepak atas tikar sambil baca paper and golek2. There is a warung nearby we we bentang our tikar. Sempat beb order teh tarik layan perasaan tepi laut.

Sausage yg rupa agak memusykilkan sebab tertutup dlm tupperware time panas

Ni rumah ketam ke, Tetty?

We started to pack up around 11am sebab weather mcm dah over panas and air pun dah surut. Dah jauh ke tengah airnya. Since bebudak tu dah lencun satu badan, nak la kena mandi and tukar baju. Sadly, the washroom facilities (yg agak kepam) kat situ was locked. Apa cerita Majlis Perbandaran Sepang? Nasib baik la just Haikal and Yoyoy, boleh la nak tukar baju in public area. Kot makcik yg nak kena salin baju tadik, macam mana? Pengsan pulak orang2 kampung Bagan Lalang tu kang.

Kedai Teh Tarik in the background

Gaya lari tension sebab kena paksa balik

Then from our picnic spot, we drove a bit further then we saw this.











We stopped by to check it out. Cool kan? The landscape is excellent. It kinda remind me of Bali. I heard the place is already open for public, maybe malam lagik happening kot? The chalets that stretched sampai ke laut tu tak siap lagik. I think it will be a breathtaking view once it is completed.

Chalets yg belum siap











The staff was friendly too when we asked for more information abt Sepang Goldcoast tu.









From Sepang Goldcoast, we drove further to check out apa lagik ada kat situ coz when we tgh picnic2 tadik, we saw 3-4 buses and cars drove in heading further along the shoreline stretch. Rupa2nya lepas area Sepang Goldcoast tu ialah where the party is. Kitaorg picnic kat depan sangat tadik, near to LKIM tu. Semua orang masuk a bit further and picnic kat situ. Ramai jugak org, ada yg dgn family, big groups of friends, rombongan budak sekolah pun ada. The beach was brimmed with activities, ada yg mandi laut, playing games in groups, bbq etc. Memang nice la. Then we made a stop kat kedai souvenirs kat situ. Actually Haikal yg merengek2 nak check out the kedai. Siap promise tak nak beli apa2. Kesudahannya hampes, dgn gembira dia bawak balik robot 2 bijik.











Then we patah balik and drove towards the seafood restaurant area to checkout the fish market. Sihat betul seafood kat situ. Ada mcm2 jenis ikan, udang, pepahat, ketam, kerang and this huge ikan masin.







All in all, I really enjoyed our little outing to Bagan Lalang. Haikal and Yoyoy memang sangat gembira la. The place is nearby enough to Serdang/Bangi/Kajang/Seri Kembangan area. The beach is clean and well maintained. The facilities, hmm, pun okay except for the washroom berkunci. But other than that, in my personal opinion, it is a nice place to unwind layan perasaan bawah pokok bagi mereka yg tak suka drive jauh2. Hehehe.

When You See My Face, Hope it gives You HELL!

This will be one long post, but heck, I need to put it up here.

One of the subjects that I’m taking this semester is Designing Strategic Plan and it is a mandatory subject for MBA Strategic Management. The subject is structured in 3 parts: external industry analysis, internal analysis (focus on the subject matter i.e. the company) and finally the development of strategy itself. All parts are interconnected, as findings in every part are factors of consideration throughout the study till the conclusion and recommendation stage. The key point here is, the three parts are not independent and cannot stand on its own.

My group project consisted of 3 members: F, S and me. We were given a case study about Spritzer the mineral water company as a group project. From the beginning of the semester, I have ended up be the person who has to review every input (yg takde banyak mana) from my team members and most of the time ended up re-writing the whole thing. I know F tried his best to contribute as much as he could, I really appreciated it. It was S who is the leech. Comments such as “Yeah, I agree with you”, “We do it your way”, “I don’t know” are not constructive input that the team needs. I understand that some people have weaknesses but we are in the same class. The least he could do is read the damn text book and highlight whatever that he feels can be incorporated in our project work. One time I asked him to draw a diagram, not even from scratch, just tiru from the one in a book…guess what, he couldn’t even do that and I ended up drawing it coz I don’t want my group presentation jadik keji.

We had our last session on the last week of March. I did not sleep the nite before just to finish up the slides. About 10% more work need to be done, and those input are supposed to be given by F and S. See, in the internal analysis portion we have to study the rivals of Spritzer, which in our case were Danone, Nestle and F&N. I researched on Danone, F researched on Nestle and S researched on F&N. At this level of study, the Prof doesn’t care abt the data you copy paste from the internet, everybody can google kan. What he wanted to see is our analysis and viewpoint of the data and information. And that’s what I wanted F and S to do. I have noticed that all these while, S just google things up and put it in the slides without clear understanding of what the content is all about. Almost all of the time, I have to re-read the content and rephrase them based on my understanding supported by more findings. On that day when he was put on the spot, S couldn’t even string a proper sentence that resemble any kind of analysis/viewpoint. He literally pushed the laptop to F for him to finish it. I saw it with my own eyes. He didn’t even lift his finger and use his brain to come up with anything comprehensible.

Every part (3 of them) must be presented at every meet, so the Prof could review the project progress. I ended up presenting for my group every single time except for the last one as I pushed F and S to present too. When I asked S which slide yg dia nak present, he conveniently said “nak yg paling senang”. All he did that day was read 100% of the slides, the slides that I wrote mostly plus edited version of whatever they have submitted.

I tried to hold back my anger since the beginning of the semester. I kept telling myself that everybody has their own weaknesses and maybe if I give S more time, he will step up. But I was dead wrong, sampai hari last class pun dia buat keji dia jek, keje dia tekan butang next time presentation. You don’t need an MBA to do that la mister. I am not trying to blow my own trumpet here, but the truth is that group project slides were 90% done by me. Kot kita tak buat, sapa lagik nak buat? Someone had to do it, kan?

After the final class, we were given 2 weeks to finish our individual projects. We were given the option to choose one of the rivals that we have identified earlier or worked on some other industry. Both me and F chose to work on other industry. We use our group report as the guideline. The deadline is today. As a group leader, I am responsible to compile individual submission from my team members, burn in in a CD and submit it to the University. I received submission from S on Saturday nite. I opened it and my darah terus mendidih.

S took our group project slides, replace the word Spritzer to F&N (his subject matter), changed the content at only 5 places – background of company, financial highlights and few other things, and he copied ALL of the analysis and strategy bulat bulat from our group project. He didn’t even bother nak tukar font, colors and slide design. I was really ready to mengamuk but I stopped and check one thing. During the group presentation, one of the slides that I did was a strategy map. The slides memang giller punya salah. But I didn’t tell either F or S about it. I realized I did it wrong when I referred to some books and articles. And guess what, S didn’t even know the damn thing was wrong, he copied that too! Kau punya la sengal, dah la kau copy keje aku…kau boleh berani mati pulak hantar kat aku and passed it off as your own??

I understand if the external industry analysis sama dengan the group submission sebab both Spritzer and F&N are in the same industry... actually kan, I take that back. Buat la sendiri your damn analysis ini ambik bulat2 dari slides group yg bukan kau tulis! Part yg buat I jadik meroyan was the analysis part. It is two different companies, different analysis findings, boleh dapat conclusion yg sama..VERBATIM? Word by Word! Check this out.

This is what I wrote

And this is what S submitted

This is what I wrote

This is what S submitted


Click on the pix above for larger view.

Am I gila...coz I see double. Nampak tak dia tukar nama company jek. Here is more:

This is what I wrote

This is what S submitted

There are total of 60+ slides yg diciplak in the whole presentation deck.

Those words are from my kepala otak, those analysis are my analysis. All the while when I was working and thinking hard to complete the analysis, he just duduk jek situ buat muka bodoh.

I was really angry. I knew S way before we started the MBA programme. Friends dont do this to other friend.

Masa tengah naik darah tu, I decided to leave offline YM message to him:

“interesting to see your individual submission is 90% similar to our group project which I wrote almost all of them”

He replied at FB saying that “I’ll re-do. What the hell…” to which I replied “I’m sticking to our deadline – Sunday noon”

I didn’t sleep the whole nite siapkan my project, I knew half of my classmates pun were doing the same. We are all busy with work and other commitments but we have chose to further our study, kita kena la berkorban sikitkan. He is taking an easy way out, seriously, WTF.

Sunday afternoon
F called me and said S called him earlier. S claimed that he has asked the Prof abt the individual assignment. Prof kata replace jek nama subject matter tu dlm the second part (internal analysis), meaning, since S buat subject matter (F&N) which is still in the same industry as Spritzer, S just kena tukar jek Spritzer ke F&N.

KEPALA HANGGOK KAU!

Apa dia ingat main Ctrl+F Spritzer Replace All F&N. Some of the sentences were not even jive with the whole story. Check this one out:

This is what I wrote

This is what S submitted

Explanation of the pix above: for the group project we say that Spritzer has good chance to grow as consumers are more health conscious, they buy less soft drinks (coz soft drinks have abt 10 spoonful of sugar per can). Si Sengal ni boleh copy the whole thing, just tukar nama industry without realizing that his sentences were all contradicting. “Soft drinks industry is an emerging industry propelled by the surge of healthy lifestyle-conscious consumers”???? Come on! You mean now that customers realized that soft drinks is a health threat, diaorg pegi beli lagi soft drinks??? Kau paham tak makna propel???? Bukan propel highway tu sengalllll!!!

What the Prof meant is tukar la subject matter from Spritzer to F&N, then buat the analysis on F&N pulak and develop strategy and conclusion based on the new analysis! Bukan Ctrl+F Spritzer Replace All F&N. Kau giller ke?? Kot setakat nak buat Ctrl+F Spritzer Replace All F&N, Haikal pun boleh buat. Apa yg the Prof nak measure u on? Excellent ability to copy paste? People copy paste stuff all the time, but the trick is to do it smartly. You read what you want to copy, then rephrase/summarize/list findings in your own word! Kot tiru sebijik2 sampai ayat tu pun tak masuk akal...wtf!

And if betul the Prof suruh 'replace' the name jek, kenapa tak hantar yg internal anlysis portion tu jek...kenapa kau hantar the whole deck yg dah siap berganti nama dari Spritzer jadik F&N? Kau ingat aku bodoh sangat ke or kau yg memang sangat bodoh?

Think abt it, F&N’s issue is how to sustain business once their contract with Coca Cola expired in 2010. Spritzer issue is to find ways to expand globally. Tak ke dua issue yg berbeza kat situ. It doesn’t take an MBA student to know that the same strategy cannot be executed to address both issues. Kot aku jadik kau la S, aku malu nak ngaku aku ada MBA in Strategic Management if I couldn’t even string one sentence to project my analysis. I do not claim that I am pandai, we are all here to learn. At this moment, I think all you have learned is how to copy paste people’s work.

I remember that day when S discovered one of the foreigner groups completely copied presentation from previous semester student and passed it on as their own. Kecoh ni S cakap yg org tu meniru la apa la. Now, sapa yg ada perangai yg sama. Diaorg tu foreigners, I pedulik apa. I almost expect them to do that anyways, tapi kau ni fellow local student. Seriously, WTF ok. And even worse, slides yg kau ambik tu are my slides. You are messing with wrong person here, man.

Today you submitted your individual assignments on your own. I guess you are afraid i will kantoikan u again, coz I bet you didn’t change any single letter pun from the previous submission. I am not keeping mum on this. I am going to strategize my next step on this, coz unlike you, my conscience is clear when I say I am going to be an MBA grad in Strategic Management. I tak copy strategy orang lain!

These Wounds won't seem to Heal

My neighbor’s house alarm went off around 3am yesterday. I was just about to drift into la la land when the blaring alarm sound jolted me. WTH. I was really sleepy as I have been staying up late for the last few nites in desperate attempt to finish up my assignments. I groggily got off my bed and peeked thru the window. The neighbor’s house is right across the street, I could see the alarm lights were blinking furiously. I looked on for 2 seconds longer. I noticed that my neighbor’s alarm have always went off lately at various time of the day for no apparent reason. It is annoying, really. I concluded that there was nothing amiss so I went back to my bed and dozed off.

This morning, as I was leaving my house I looked over at the neighbor’s house and everything seems to be in order. It was the case of the alarm went haywire, I guess.

But let’s reflect on this, let say last nite wasn’t a false alarm. Maybe the neighbor’s house was broken into, hence, the alarm. Maybe they have knives pointed to their chest when the alarm went off. Maybe someone was already harmed when the alarm went off. Maybe they were desperate for help when the alarm went off. And all an onlooker like me did was to dismiss the whole thing as false alarm because based on previous incidents, the alarm just simply went haywire.

Is that what we have reduced to today? We couldn’t care less. We dismissed distress signs from the house as false alarm.

We could be dismissing the distress signs from a person as a false alarm too then. We didn’t recognize those signs are pleas for help. We refused to care one step further to realize that the person who appeared to be strong is actually crumbling into pieces inside. Who knew behind all the smiles and laughter, there is a tattered heart where all the willingness and determination to live have collapsed long time ago.

It is easy to tell other people that they are strong and they should be able to weather come what may.

It is hard to convince myself the same.

You Make it Real for Me

I couldn’t recall really how did I first met Cik Pijah. Was it via blog or in person ke ek? Well it doesn’t matter la how I first got to know her, what’s important is I think she is one cool, smart and very funny woman with great smile. I remember the trip to Teluk Intan for Arip’s reception. We spent the nite at Resthouse Teluk Intan (kot). Masing2 sebelum tido pegang buku cerita ni kengkonon nak membaca la kan. We ended up terkekek2 in the dark talking about so many things, including about lelaki berbulu dada. We both share the same sentiment in that department ;) We are also kam heong buddies and during one of the kam heong sessions that she first introduced a nice chap named Rizal as ‘kawan’. Fast forward to March 2009, ‘kawan’ dah jadik ‘kawin’ hehehe. On 20th March 2009, Cik Pijah now is known as Puan Pijah.

Check out her reception pix:

Pink Pelamin

Bergambar dgn Madame yg tgh menunggu hari

Laki Fina memang ladies man haha!

Bersama orang2 kuat wedding Puan Pijah

Geng2 MRSM Puan Pijah

Fina yg lupa diri bila dapat camera. 57 keping self potraits, keji.

Lawa kan?

Bulu mata lentik

Makcik showoff hahahah!

Babe, kau memang gorjes

Masa nak ambik pix ni ada kes yg agak kelakar. The photog asked the flower girls to stand beside the pengantin. ALL of the flowergirls (and one young gentleman) berlari diri sebelah Puan Pijah. None of them pegi kat Rizal hahahaha. Semua nak berdiri sebelah pengantin cantek.

Finally ada jugak yg mengalah lepas kena pujuk

Pengantin pompuan yg suka ambik gambar

2 tetamu yg sama over

Terima kasih Puan Pijah for inviting us. Makcik makan hershey kisses tu for bfast the next day.

Semoga berbahagia ke anak cucu!

More coverage here.

In another note, congratulations to Madame for the arrival cutesy Naim Azrain. Ni Madame yg sama kat dlm pics atas tu, hehe, kira ni last wedding she managed to attend before delivery. Sorry babe, tak sempat nak pegi visit you yet. Insya allah, I sampai jugak nanti :)

Pix courtesy of Izan

To Emma Anya, get well soon budak comel!

Ku Lihat Hijau

Dear Mother Earth,
Last Saturday must be one of the most meaningful day of your existence, I guess. The whole wide world participated in Earth Hour, in effort to spread awareness to all humankind to care more for you. I was really ecstatic to know that most of world landmarks and icons would be in total darkness too for an hour starting from 2030hrs GMT+8. I decided to celebrate the earth hour by hosting a bbq at Uwan’s place. Well, since KJ won Ketua Pemuda Umno post in the recent party election. I believe we have additional reason for celebration, we dedicated the bbq party for him too. Of course we are proud of him, he has shown to us that nothing is impossible ;) Go rembau go!

Oh, speaking of nurturing the earth and being green, check out my Happy Green Fruit. It has been 3 months and Roger (that’s what I name him), is growing well.



And at every given opportunity I usually chose not to use plastic bags, I keep trash in my car/handbag/pocket rather than throwing them on the roads, and I carry my Jusco recyclable bag for groceries. So Mother Earth, you could imagine how berkobar2 I was to participate in the Earth Hour campaign.

On the bbq day, my makciks and I had prepared lots of dish. Ok la, most of the time I only helped to kopek bawang jek hehe. My makciks prepared ikan sembilang salai masak lemak cili api with pucuk ubi, laksa penang, potato salad, gulai telur itik, pepahat with soy sauce, sambal tumis ikan bilis with petai, and apple salad.



Here is my Pak Lang and my cousin Ziqri trying their best to get the bbq going. Albeit ada bau tayar getah at the beginning (they used pieces of tayar lama to start the api bbq), the chicken and the lamb turned out delicious. Everybody – Uwan, Angah and her family, Pak Lang and his family, Pakcik and his family, Pak Teh and his family, Achik, Ateh and her family, me and my adik beradik – enjoyed the food like there was not tomorrow. Then it was Earth hour time.



I went around the house and merrily switched off all lights.

“Apo tutup lampu ni” said Uwan
“Sekarang ni Earth Hour, satu dunia kena tutup lampu satu jam” I replied

I pointed to the TV that was airing footage of world landmark in total darkness.

“Tahapo bondo eh. Lomeh la uwan. Bukak la lampu ni” uwan continued
“Alaaa, tapi satu dunia ni tutup lampu. Umah Cik Apon ngan Cik Sepiah tu pun tutup lampu” I said.
“Itu ghumah yg takdo oghang eh. Uwan dah pueh bogolap maso zaman jopon dulu. Ni dah ada lampu, tak nak lak guno” Uwan merungut in the darkness.
"Kang kot org tengok dari satelite, umah kita jek dlm dunia ni yg bukak lampu. Tak cool tu haha" I said.

Well Mother Earth, in the house Uwan is the boss. Nak tak nak , I had to switch on the light.

So, I spent my earth hour in terang benderang. I am sorry mother earth. If it is any consolation, all of us who attended the bbq switched off the lights at our own home, so it was a cumulative effort la kira nya kan?

Hopefully we will do better next year. Till we meet again, Mother Earth.

Toodles!

Love,
Zetty

So, how did you guys celebrate the Earth Hour?

They paved paradise and put up a Parking lot

I have a season pass for car park inside my office building. Makcik memang malas berjalan that’s why I rather pay for a season pass than berjalan kaki from parking area nearby my building. Kot boleh nak park sampai depan pintu memang makcik buat. Since there is no designated parking spots (except for the big bosses), everybody can park at any vacant spots that they desire, first come first serve basis. Mine is usually at the end of the row P4 sebab senang nak parking and senang nak keluar nanti. Usually during lunch hour, if I don’t do my routine, I would drive out to meet friends.

That’s when I discovered Uncle Black Avanza.

The first time I saw him was two weeks ago when I was about to get into my car. He parked about 2 cars away. Makcik ingat dia panaskan engine ke apa, so, I drove off mcm takde apa la. When I got back an hour plus later, he was still in his black avanza but it seems like he was having his lunch in his avanza while reading newspaper. Musykil jugak la makcik tengok Uncle india tu kan. I parked my car and walked to the elevator.

Few days after, lunch time again, I had to run some errands. I went to P4 and there was that Uncle again in his black avanza. He was listening to some music coz I could see he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. And he was munching what appeared to be his lunch la I guess. This time around just so happened his car was parked next to mine. I kept glancing over to him (of course after I locked my door), but he seems oblivious in his own world.

The same thing happened several times this week. I am intrigued. Adakah Uncle Black Avanza takde kawan nak lunch sampai dia kena makan lunch sengsorang dalam kereta? Adakah dia sayang giller ngan kereta dia sampaikan he decided to enjoy his lunch hour with his black avanza? Adakah Uncle tu segan nak bukak bekal yg bini dia bagi dari rumah tadik so he decided to eat the bekal in seclusion? Adakah betul Uncle tu sengsorang jek dalam black avanza tu? Hehehehe. Musykil ok.

Another parking lot story.

I had lunch at Chinoz on my bday last week, it was a treat from my ex boss turned friends. Masa datang tu makcik jalan kaki ke KLCC (a great accomplishment for someone yg memang tak gemar berjalan kaki). Masa nak balik tu, perut dah penuh and then mcm over pulak nak bawak bouquet of roses berjalan all the way to the office kan. So, Sue gave me a lift, lega ok. Sue parked her car at KLCC basement carpark. Sampai kat kereta dia, we saw a girl about maybe 24 yrs old standing outside what seems to be a brand spanking new blue Toyota Rush with panic look on her face. Her car was in an awkward position. I guess she was trying to park her car in one of the parking spots there, nak masuk bontot dulu. But then mcm tak berjaya. Her Rush was blocking the way. I could see about 10 cars (not so) patiently waiting for her to park her Rush. She saw us walking towards Sue’s car and frantically jerit from far.

“Excuse me, I tak reti nak park my car. Boleh tolong tak?”
“Errr..sure” I said. Makcik siap letak henbeg kat atas lantai together with the bouquet that lari2 anak ke Rush pompuan tu. Sue kata makcik nampak macam superhero haha. Tak kosser.

So I went inside her Rush, rolled down the window and start pulas2 steering to get the vehicle in the right angle. I was expecting her to give me some indicators like ‘kiri lagik kak, kanan sikit kak, okeh kak lepas kak’...ini nan ado! She flipped her cell and start talking exasperatedly on the phone.

“I nak parking ni tapi tak dapat. OMG!! (pause) Of course I ada lesen (pause) I tak tau! I tried..!!” she repeated banyak kali.
“Dik, u boleh tak tolong tengokkkan if depan tu lepas ke tak instead of talking on the phone!” makcik sergah dari dalam Rush dia.

Hahaha, terperanjat dia kejap. Then baru dia tolong bagi instruction nak ke kiri sikit ke tak, nak ke kanan lagik ke. I managed to park her Rush in less than 30 seconds, 10 kereta yg berderet tu pun dapat jalan dgn jayanya, and the order of world is back to normal hehe. I got off her Rush and she thanked me profusely. Makcik buat muka superhero and walked towards Sue’s car. I glanced back towards her car nak check her plate number, org Perak rupanya. Part yg makcik tak paham is ( 1)dah tau kau ni novice driver, ada P besar2 tampal kat depan tu ha, jgn la buat kelakar nak parking masuk bontot dulu. Makcik pun rasanya lepas 2-3 tahun driving jugak la baru pandai nak parking my Silver Kembung masuk bontot dulu. Parking masuk bontot dulu ni memang susah for the novice-all pun intended haha!. (2) Dah 3-4 kali try masuk tak boleh then pusing la balik carik parking spot lain or ketepikan kereta tu dulu for oncoming traffic lalu. Bila dah clear nanti, u can take all the time in the world to park your car. Ni sikit takde kesedaran sivik, sanggup biar sebanyak2 kereta tunggu kau settlekan hal kau. Org semua tgh rushing nak masuk opis lepas lunch tu dik oi. (3) Dah ada org nak tolong kau parking kan kereta, boleh pulak kau bebel2 on the phone kan instead of tolong expeditekan the whole process by giving directions from outside of the car. Kot tak sure boleh park the car in 15 seconds kan.

Tahapa2 la.