EVERYDAY IS A NEW DAY

NAZRAH DAH PINDAH

2005-11-19T17:25:00.000+08:00

2005-11-19T13:41:00.000+08:00

kasih ibu kepada beta
tak terhingga sepanjang masa
hanya memberi
tak harap kembali
bagai sang surya
menyinari dunia

To listen to the melody in MIDI , click here

Low Tide

2005-11-11T08:43:00.000+08:00

I wrote a tribute to DZ's Gongkapas Times some time ago and managed to put it in line for Misha Omar's next album. However just this morning, the producer cum arranger took it out of the project. My guess is that there must be some dispute going on that I don't know about. It's not like it was rejected, but withdrawn, apa agaknya masalah dia eh? I was thinking of Misha's ethereal vocal prowess when I wrote "Haruskah Terpisah". I am definitely disappointed but then that is the nature of the profession. Even if you think your work might kick an a** or two, or just a few, occupational hazards are inevitable. Maybe I should consider a new job, tutup kedai. Eh eh, buat perangai lagi hari ni...macam attention-seeking pulak eh? I think it is more of an attention-deficit problem. I must learn to focus to do one thing well rather than poking my fingers in way too many pies.

Stress.

Jom tengok apa ada dalam fridge? Courtesy of the SB Diet Success Story.

All the way from San Francisco. Awesome!

Whoopeee! Whopper's Malted Milk Balls

Please ignore the small prints

So if you think my pipi bulat, you blame my twin okay? *wink*

Bay Window Bi*ching

2005-11-10T14:14:00.000+08:00

So, have you all recovered from Eid Ul Indigestion that seems to be the commonest bug post-festivities? In all avoirdupois Boteroesque glory, the portly paunch is extra jiggly(Hallo there, my perut sayang...*wave wave*) and hey, I think the chin has doubled too. A quick once over reveals that I might have to go shopping for new pants soon. The weighing scale is dangerously tipping towards unhealthy BMI...Yikes! Okay, you can skip reading this if you're having a bad day, cuz there will be whining aplenty as the paras progress. I have been drumming over and over again about how much I would like to lose weight but not really getting down to the business of doing something about it, instead I keep buttering up the already so bountiful bulge with my makan sakan; gluttony. Not really helping eh?

Reality check, do I feel attractive? Not quite there yet lah, but then bersyukurlah. It's not like I am a waddling dugong with lipatan-lipatan melimpah ruah; overflowing, swelling folds (of fat). Okaylah, there are a few lipatan that needs to be toned up if I go to the extent of letting somebody do a pinch test on me.Some of the folds look inflated because of the accumulation of lipids under the skin. But do I want to give up my makan? It's not like I eat around the clock. But why am I disturbed when somebody notices that my face is round? Or that I always talk about food, which is, all together now, pretty much ALL THE TIME! But why am I panicky when CA lost 10 kilos post-Ramadhan without even thinking about cutting down? My recent trip to the pharmacy also a heart-pain(sic) one , I was bombarded with longwinded explication of the various products that can help me lose weight. Whatever confidence I have about being just right for a 30 year old, and a mom at that, went down the drain. And remarks about how I maintained my tembun-ness despite Aishah being an active and boisterous baby are bordering hurtful.

Some people do have the good heart of telling me, hey, people won't notice your being abnormally and unfashionably horizontally challenged, because you have an interesting personality. Yeah, thanks guys, I know that literally translates, "OYY, WHY YOU STILL FAT?!!"

Si Genit dan Si Cilik

2005-11-07T11:15:00.000+08:00

Non-Conformist

2005-11-05T11:41:00.000+08:00

I tell you, Aishah really needs to be brainwashed at some point lah! She likes to do the opposite of things. Benda lain excusable la jugak, ni dah kiblat songsang ni, abih tu tangan tarok belakang. Ish, budak-budak sekarang....

High and Low

2005-11-05T10:14:00.000+08:00

Pakwe Usop aka Tok Sidang Logo

Pakwe, the Bugis clan patriarch is visibly ecstatic to see all his anak-cucu-cicit home for Raya. It's hard to believe that a few months back he was incapacitated, in the ICU and pretty much in the woods. His appetite is good and he is back to his old jovial chaq-bei-liao self. Alhamdulillah.

Jom nyorok belakang badan orang supaya tak nampak gumuk

Bapak( my father in law) on the other hand, is not in the mood to celebrate. He even refused to put on his kurta. Kesian Bapak. His legs have been giving him a terrible time. Even the doctors could not give a proper diagnosis. My Googling efforts gathered that he is suffering for the side effects of diabetic and hypertensive cocktail. MIL is also not very happy this time around as my SIL is away in Lahore. Lin had wanted to come back but MIL encouraged her to celebrate Eid with her husband this time since Lin came back to Singapore 3 years in a row previously. Little that she knew, the Lahori family do not celebrate Eid, and engage in mournful activities(cannot gripe about it because it is their culture) in memory of Lin's mother in law who succumbed to cancer 3 years ago. So now MIL feels bad for not letting Lin come back. Nangis-nangis budak tu nak balik. Kesian.

Ayah and Mak eating my lauk, while Diana,our pastry chef ngendeng nak masuk gambar.

Recent development on my Mak is also not very encouraging. Sigh. Make du'a we shall. Can't report much because I sedih la...

Mommie, where's my cow?

Aishah kalau balik kampung, she would do an "Ian Wright" and explore every nook and cranny to find Old McDonald's Farm. We found the goats and chickens easily. But the cows were MIA. When we found one, it looked sad.

Apo kono lombu ni? Sodeh ko?

Maybe they are traumatised by the number of their peers expiring in the rendang for Eid, so they went into hiding.

Ubat Gendut

2005-11-04T12:46:00.000+08:00

So today is the 2nd day of Eid. At the last minute, we decided to make our way to Melaka yesterday after episodes of indecisiveness. Nak balik ke tak? Makwe( my step grandma) had earlier requested me to bring her some briyani. I was having quite a bit of a jam thinking about the amount of cooking that would take, as briyani MUST be complemented by other similarly tedious to prepare dishes like, dalcha and achar. On other days it would not be that harrowing lah, but for hari raya there are other staple dishes to help MIL prepare. Where got time and energy ma? So sorry lah Makwe, I could only prepare the dalcha and some 20 pieces of fluffy baguettes to distract you from your briyani fantasies. Bless Rasool(our masala supplier) for the idiot proof dalcha masala, I made a huge belanga without having to kill myself. InsyaAllah come Raya Haji, I will make you some briyani. That's what we eat for Eid Ul Adha anyway. Tak lah kelam kabut kan?

Dalcha

MIL, the executive chef, prepared her specialties, Bombay Chicken, Lontong and its condiments(kuah lodeh, sambal sotong and serunding). Missing from the table were ketupat, kuah kacang and rendang. This, my friends, is a big, big neon sign. This really means that MIL is about ready to hang her apron. Die! Die! Die la if next year I have to masak for raya.

Ayam Masak Merah aka Bombay Chicken

Naturally I ta pau-ed the Hari Raya spread for the Melaka folks to bedal. Ayah loves kambing but because of Mak's condition, it's been a while since he indulged in dishes that are essentially recipes to hypertension and cancer. He just said, "Ha? Kambing? Elok la tu!" And proceeded to kendurikan the stuff I brought from Singapore. I am reminded of the days when I used to menggigil when I was serving Ayah his meals. He used to be quite finicky, or perhaps I was such a terrible cook then. Heh.

Clockwise from T-L:

Gulai Ayam Belanda,Rendang Palembang, Rendang Minang & Sambal Bali

In exchange, I was given 4 different types of curries and a few sticks of lemang. Truth be told, I could not bring myself to eat duck, chicken and turkey in one seating. Dah le dalam perut ada kambing. No one's mentioned that Pakwo Akob( our family game hunter) caught anything this year, so I did not get my annual kijang, kancil and rusa feast. I was having a terrible headache almost the whole time I was in Melaka so I was not in the right state to really eat. Dang!

Asam Podeh Ikan Sagai

Turned out, I didn't really eat anything save for Mak's lychee jelly and Diana's cookie until much, much later when I visited Achik, my Ayah's brother. The first words Achik uttered when I arrived was a soulful tune to my head. He had just returned from the sea earlier and that there was a spread of all my favourite things waiting for me at the dinner table.

Sambal Belacan, Ikan Cencaru Bakar & Ulam Jering/Kacang Botol

Ese paling gomar yang nia la. Humang Aihh!

Achik Nuar really knows the way to my gut, eh, heart. Everything tasted just the way arwah Makwe used to cook. None too overpowering, yet refreshingly flavourful. Looks like Achik Aziah has inherited her MIL's skills. Even CA thinks, "Rumah Achik memang boleh makan". Hehe.Sorry, B. Keluarga lain macam2 pantang makan. Heh.

Makan at Achik's is truly worth the balik kampung trip!

Eid Saeed

2005-10-27T09:59:00.000+08:00

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI

Mohon dimaafkan
kejelekan and kesilapan
yang terdahulu dan kemudian
yang tersembunyi dan yang kelihatan
Semoga Aidilfitri ini dilimpahi
Barokah

Ucapan Tulus Ikhlas
Anwar Mohamed
Intan Nazrahayu Nasir
Safiyya Aishah Anwar

Four Years and Counting

2005-10-26T00:00:00.000+08:00

Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments

Selembut bicara
Sehalus sentuhanmu
Layangan pesonamu
Tak mungkin ku lupa
Jelingan pertama
Nan indah penuh makna
Akan kusahut cintamu itu
Bersama kita menuju bahagia
Takkan lagiku sendiri
Kasih yang berlabuh kini
Terasa keabadian cinta kau beri
Mungkinkah daku bermimpi
Sebahagia begini
Ini bukan (nya) ilus
Oh kasih
Seindah irama
Gemersik suaramu
Mengalun sepiku yang merindu
Tuhan merestui
Bahagia begini
Kasihmu nan suci

Ikan Di Laut Asam Di Darat

Four years ago today, for him her heart entwined with hope for eternal happiness with fairy tale fantasies. Today the both of them keep the partnership industrious and in some kind of order by making conscious efforts to be reasonable and amiable, just so that two people can live together without too much melodrama. While there are inevitable turbulent times for this hot-headed I-must-win-or-else couple , more prevalent is the tenderness and passion that keep them together.

Still early to call them old salts in the sea of marriage, yet one half thinks she falls in love with her better half everyday. The better half maintains that, "Of course I love you, B." and that sweet nothings are just that, nothing. Yet he keeps making her feel like a a hormonal teenager dumbstruck on what has she done right to deserve this man.

One thing for sure, somebody/some people remembered them in his/her/their prayers. Alhamdulillah.

Deep down inside, she thinks "Hey, I sc*ewed up waaaaaaay too many times before and now is my time to hop, skip and jump on the clouds of all things nice."

Moga Aman Selalu. Amin Ya Rahman Ya Rahim.

P.S: Of course I love you too, Ah Bee. Ready for take?

Manggis Came to Town

2005-10-22T06:40:00.000+08:00

I am trying to remain as calm as possible as everything that could possibly go wrong with a computer went fantastically wrong with almost all the computerized gizmo and gadgetry that I have in my house. You know I have been trying to resuscitate my studio back to life for nearly a month in vain. It's a bit like CA's futile attempt to get marine fishkeeping right. The moment I thought I was home free, something goes wrong. Sheesh.

I really felt incapacitated without my Thinkpad perpetually stuck between my double-double cheeseburger (read: multi-tiered tummy) and turkey drumsticks (read: supersized thunders). The Asus merajuk on me, and won't give me WiFi reception. The PC has a large poster saying "SITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION",my tech support has to sleep too you know. I was not to touch anything. The HP is broken because I had smashed it some time ago. Nevertheless, I had a good 30 minute chat with Kakteh, Ely and Anedra with only 50% battery before the Thinkpad blacked out. *winks*

To soothe the chronic withdrawal symptoms, I had a marathon tango with the mop today. Been a while since I attacked the floor with such virtuoso (angkat bakul sikit). I cleared under the bed and found hair. Lots and lots of hair. If the CSI team were here, imagine the mountains of dead skin cells and dustmites that they might have to bag. Prior to this, thanks to blogging, I have sped up cleaning time by deliberately skipping the dark recesses, dusty nooks and crannies and just mop the common traffic areas. Heh heh. Might as well clean up lah! After all, Raya is just around the corner.

Figured that I should go without wireless(double negation?) for a while until CA manages to rectify the series of hardware problems we are facing. So here I am, hooked directly to the cable connection 1 foot away from the wall griping my misfortune.

Time off from blogging gave me some time to meet real people for a change. Incidently, my former colleague and an old friend was in town. So we arranged to meet at Salero Bundo for Iftar. I was really looking forward to dinner under the stars Melayu-style until we got there only to find the place jam-packed with huge parties of hungry and loud people whose idea of buffet is to stock up on plates and plates of food makan hidang style, rather than piling up everything one one single dish.

It's been nearly 5 years since I last saw Pojee. He's my former colleague, whose office used to be a few doors away from mine. Back then I really liked what I was doing, my office was as good a working place as it was a great living quarters for me. I had everything except the kitchen sink. People in the Faculty of Creative Multimedia Building seldom go home anyway. Come to think of it, we did not get much sleep either.

While my office was like a mini museum of Budaya Benda, Pojee's office was like a psychadelic space centre. I especially remember his lava lamp, his super computers that looked like mini fridges. I remember distinctively something called Octane that could do cools real time animation. And he could really kemas. If you think Adrian Monk is kemas, wait till you check out Pojee's office. There were great many others that worked around graveyard hours like us. Nazura "Fishie" Rahime , his best friend back then, is now Pojee's wife. She just gave birth to a cute little cherub, Ilham Fannani 3 weeks ago. Congratulations!!!

My constant companion those days were Nad, oh she blogs too, and Nana. They were like sisters to me. Everytime I think about Nana, I am reminded of Dome's brownies, yang ada gold leaf tu...Yumm! I will blog about them in another entry.

So Pojee is in town to take that professional certification from from the good people at Apple. He was sweet enough to let me know he was here, it was only natural that we hooked up for makan. He was with a friend, Fikri. Both of them passed with flying colors!!! Woo hoo!

CA and I got to Salero Bundo earlier. They could not make it just in time for Iftar so we picked them up at Zam Zam Murtabak and adjourned to Sofra, a Turkish restaurant down the road.

It was great catching up with old friends. Although I must admit there were some awkward moments here and there because I was feeling a little self-conscious. You know, the bujang Nazrah and the Mak Dara are quite different from each other. It used to be very easy for me to strike up a conversation but last night my brain was mush. But I was thrilled nevertheless to see him again. Brings back memories of Bukit Bintang Nasi Ayam suppers with Nad and Wan.

Tauke Manggis

Aishah played photographer last night. She seemed pretty animated. If her parents weren't so uptight about her behaving at the dinner table, she might have enjoyed the evening even better. She kept insisting that she wanted Auntie Noreez and Kak Rocks. And Aunty Ayu, Aishah wants to play with you. She's been asking for you for days.

Anyways, the evening went by too quickly. Pojee and Fikri had the whole evening lined up for them. Almaklumlah Mafioso Dons datang Singapore.Maybe next time when they come with their families and we could spend time shopping rather than makan sakan saja.So rugi come all the way down here for one week, no time to shop.

Mafia Fikri Corleone

We dropped them off at Borders and it was adios, amigos! Until we meet again. And to Pojee's friend who reads this. HALLO, YOU!!!

P.S. : Pojee is a specialist in video productions and other high end media productions. He's done a few tv ads and music videos(Anuar Zain anyone?). He's done pretty cool upscale wedding videography too. Check them out at Manggis.

Malaysia Mourns

2005-10-20T09:02:00.000+08:00

24 December 1940-20 October 2005

Yang Amat Berbahagia Datin Paduka Seri Endon Mahmood, the wife of the Yang Amat Berhormat Dato' Seri Abdullah Hj. Ahmad Badawi, the fifth Prime Minister of Malaysia has left us at about 7.55 am this morning, after a long and hard battle against the big C. She was 64.

One of the identical twins born to Yang Berbahagia Dato' Mahmood Ambak and Yang Berbahagia Datin Mariam Abdullah, she is survived by two children, Kamaludin and Nori, and 4 grandchildren. She remains in our memories as a great woman who was HUGELY generous and loving. A motherly character who was in touch with her culture and traditional values, she will be greatly missed. May she now rest in peace. Al Fatihah.

Hole in My Pocket

2005-10-19T20:45:00.000+08:00

Ramadhan can be a breeze for some while it can be trying for a huge lot of us mere mortals. With the right upbringing and conscience, one would have no complaints about going without food and drink while keeping oneself morally and religiously in check. This communal obligation normally provides a greater motivation for some of us to increase one's level of adherence to religious responsibilities, InsyaAllah, while for some, it is just another regular month getting closer to Allah as we readily should every conscious minute of our lives.

Ramadhan may also be the time when the men, women and children get excited over the forthcoming Eid. Customarily, the ladies would get into a mad, mad shopping binge for all things serba baru, while the children pray hard that they may not be forced to wear scratchy traditional clothes and opt for stretch Levi's over muslin top from The Island Shop, to match the new Rastafarian beeswaxed dreads and the newly pierced tongue post-Phuket trip.*winks at somebody*

It is also a time when the Fathers, Brothers, Fiances, Husbands, Boyfriends, Sugar Daddies et al develop permanent frowns thinking about the impending fate of the soon to be maxed out credit cards, a fast-dwindling savings and mana lagi lobang aku nak korek duit seh... There is the big issue of ang pows or duit raya, packets of money given as celebratory token if not as charitable/filial gifts.

CA and I keep several spreadsheets of how much we would likely spend in RM and SGD for Hari Raya and try not to exceed our budget. This year, for the first time, I am taking care of the Malaysian side of things. Only now I realize how much money has to be set aside for duit raya, for salam berlapik and for general stocking up of kampung goodies like serunding, dodol, lemang, belacan and cencalok. Can't complain because I volunteered, and I have to be ikhlas. Susah juga mencari ikhlas.

I have also realized when one tries to be prudent,(read:frugal), things fall apart. My mini studio has been offline for nearly two weeks because of an inevitable power surge caused by the langsuirs and the penanggals of adapters and cables that were not equipped with a power regulator. I have set aside some money for a new set up. CA got started with a buffed up CPU( u da man, B) but not 24 hours after reviving my studio, the PC gave me a blue screen curse due to some device failure. The VGA card conked out on me. I told you I am no electrician or some tech support personnel. I was chatting with Anedra last night when the power cable of my trusty Thinkpad PUTUS?!!!! I can only conclude one thing, I am jinxed when it comes to anything electronic. Good thing, the cute little EZBuddy still works and I have hijacked the Asus for my blogging pleasure.

Sheesh. Kopak la lagi pas ni..Must forget about floorboards and soundproofing the room. Nak beli pintu pun dua puluh juta kali pikir...Scrap the idea of calling the spring cleaning team to wash my windows and sental my lantai. Overlook the fact that we need fresh paints on the walls. Third year with the same curtains is okay too.

Now I know how CA feels about Hari Raya. Why can't raya be simple and pain-free? Something tells me that this is what I get for not giving enough sedeqah. Duit habis macam air.

Wal-Asr.Innal insaana la fil khusrin.

Bendulful Meme Again

2005-10-18T18:19:00.000+08:00

7 things to do before I die:

*Settle all debts and grievances
*Visit Capri again, wakeful and sober.
*Meet Makcik Rose
*Build a mosque in Mak’s name
*Secure trust fund for Aishah
*Bring family to my birthplace Scotland
*Perform Hajj and stay there

7 things I cannot do:

*Bake. I can cook to survive, but not bake. Call 911 if you see me making an attempt.
*Sew with the machine. Sembat, jelujur, tulang belud, InsyaAllah masih boleh.
*Be in two places at the same time and remain filial.
*Keep a straight face when someone is down right rude
*Electrical wiring.Plumbing masih ok. Wayar-wayar, sorry!
*Wear the same pair of specs for more than 6 months
*Forget sordid past

7 things that attract me to CA who happens to be the opposite sex relative to my current state of being:

*Guitar skills
*His height
*Serious humour
*Genuine smile
*The fact that he won’t let me get away with unreasonable behavior
*He takes my bad dreams seriously enough to comfort me
*He feeds me well

7 things I say most often:

*Oh mak engkau!
*Siot ahh!
*Uhuh
*Omaaaaaaaak!
*Ya Rabbi, Ya Tuhan , Ya Kareem ( sebelum mula berleter...)
*Alaaaaaaa...
*Hmm..entahlah. Tapikan...

7 celebrity crushes:

*Will Smith
*Chris Rock
*Arsenio Hall (Eh sampai tiga pak itam ni)
*Ted Danson as Dr Becker
*Slash
*Nuno

7 people I want to do this:

*Nefertiti
*Nadya
*Ely
*Mak Nenek
*Uja (kau dah buat belum?)
*Noreez
*Red

I am reduced to this

2005-10-17T07:37:00.000+08:00

Warning : The UN Convention Against Torture signatories could not protect me from the peine forte et dure that Uja is capable of if I didn't write about this. So consider yourselves forewarned that this update contains explicit details about food items. Sorry I had to break my promise.

Baya, my younger sister and I used to share a room back in Subang Jaya. Hence the constant bickering and a tarik rambut relationship between us when we were younger. I used to terrorize her so much so that she has grown up a little traumatized, if I dare say so myself. But we are both much older now, she turned out to be such a sweet lady that if you have any goodness in you even if you are in your baddest, meanest moods, you can't help but be nice to her. She had better not know I said this.

Anyway, one night some 15 years ago, I was woken up by her screams, saying that a cockroach had entered one of her ears. Panicking, I quickly ran to our parents' room and knocked frantically to alert them. I remember Mak asking me if I'd like to come along to the doctor's. I would normally jump at any opportunity to get out of the house in the middle of the night. While the rest of my younger siblings were in deep slumber, under Makcik Rose's guard, the four of us drove into the night, looking for a 24 hr clinic. We found one, so Mak and Baya went inside. Ayah and I were left alone with nothing much to say to each other, so he brought me to a roadside stall where he ordered what soon became my most favourite pre-dawn meal and one of the nicest memories I have of my Ayah. A hot bowl of spicy sup kambing, or mutton soup.

I remember the yellowish broth, fragrant with the smell of some exotic spices, and that almost creamy texture of the soup sliding down my throat like a warm blanket enveloping my easophagus and settling the Symphony No 5 in my stomach like gripe water to a colicky baby , sipped in between dunks of toasted bread, under the stars while the rest of the neighbourhood slept. Soon the little squirt joined us with Mak, explaining that it was not a cockroach that had got stuck in her ear but a large boil. The throbbing made it feel like something was gnawing the insides of her ear. She was somewhat pacified, the good doc must have given her a shot. Mak ordered something other than mutton soup, she's health conscious even then. After cleaning bowlfuls of soup, as I was the designated tong sampah who finished up what others could not, we went home, back to bed happily counting kambing to sleep.

I rekindled with childhood memories of mutton soup, at Upper Boon Keng some 30 minutes from where I live. M.Razack's plays host to large cauldrons of boiling meat, innards and genitalia, also where old goats and mangkuks savour mangkuk after mangkuk of goats' coo coo birds thinking their own coo coo birds would soar to heavens above or at least rise to the occassion for the minimum required time after chewing muddled fat and protein in the soup. It must have done them a lot of good as not very many ladies stand in queue to buy this soup in fear of the gawking, hawking eyes of revitalised coo coo birds at the tables in front of this famous offal galore stall.

So in between running errands all over the city from one end to the other yesterday, I squeezed in a pitstop at Upper Boon Keng to drop off some Kopi Kacip Fatimah for Noreez and to grab a couple of packets of soup for Iftar at the inlaws'. In the span of a few weeks, this is the second time I found my way there. First to meet my long lost friend from MRSM, Mrs Omaq a few days before Ramadhan.And last night sinking my teeth into succulent meat and spicy broth was a welcomed treat for supper after a dinner of dhal lemak and sambal sotong.

So sentimental I got that I gave my Ayah a call. He sounded chirpier than his usual patriarchal, "Apa hal?". He is Bugis after all. That, my friend, was the bawang goreng and daun sup on my bowlful of heaven.

Okay, Uja. You can loosen the strappado. Medieval Inquisition style does not become you. All you needed to do was ask.

Heh. Heh.

My apologies my friends. Mohon ampun Mak Nenek Rupawan...

Of course you know I am kidding about Uja.

What? What? Whaaaaaaat?

2005-10-14T11:43:00.000+08:00

I just had to get out of the house yesterday. You know how some people are lucky to clock out at 5 pm and forget about the office. My job, on one hand, requires me to be online almost the whole time of my waking hours, and a major part of my sleeptime. On the other, I have a house to maintain in considerable, livable order while it is being continually messed up while I am actually cleaning up. In other words, my job does not leave me nor can I leave it. All that just so that I have a little dough to put aside for rainy days and shopping days. Ok, ok, it's more for shopping than the rain okay?

So I badly needed a break after a few back to back, back-breaking assignments, while trying to keep my faculties in check what with Aishah interchangably slipping into some kind of toddler nightmarish frenzy one moment and an absolute angel the next.

I decided against a soupy noodle dish called Mee Thye Mak which I thought might soothe my mental fatigue for Iftar and opted for Swensen's to lick the Yummy Raisin (with fake rum) off its cup clean.

Twas still early so the restaurant was not jam-packed yet. It's funny how a lot of mid-scale restaurants for our blue-collared budget here arrange their tables so close to each other that a mere pop of a tiny fart can be audible two tables away from you.

I chose a corner with a high partition that cordones off most part of the restaurant, you know, for little privacy. Apart from a lil din in the atmosphere it was rather cosy until a party of mother and daughter found the table immediately next to us.

I was intent on having a relaxing dinner but my plan fell flat on the floor as Aishah decided to play, let's-toss-the-salad-in-the-air game and whining obnoxiously, endlessly. She gets like that when she is self-conscious. That lady sitting next to our table kept staring at me and Aishah back and forth exchanging comments with her daughter. CA and I were already feeling hot in the head, supressing the urge to snap and throw a sarcastic remark. I even role-played in my head how I was going to poke that lady's nose with my own and then throw her against the glass wall- a scene from a retro Jackie Chan movie. I got so edgy, that the monster in me prompted me to straighten my back, drop my cutlery and stared back at the lady. I think it worked as she lifted the menu book and hid behind it. The whole time after that she cowered down behind the menu while the daughter spied on us on her behalf. Eh, tak reti-reti lagi tu...I stared back at the daughter and later she too hid behind the menu book. In the end, I managed to finish my Salmon Teriyaki without any more drama.

Sheesh, nasib baik I tak tukar jadi Incredible Hulk or Suria Perkasa Hitam. Eh, jadi Space Cop Gaban pun cool eh? Just don't mess with this frazzled, hungry, dog-tired, chocolate-deprived Mom of a toddler. Thank you very much.

Strange Meme

2005-10-13T12:59:00.000+08:00

I don't really see the point of the meme, but then I've been tagged.

I am IT.

So just like any of my bendulful impulsive acts, here it is.

For you, Nadya.

The Rules:

1. Go into your archive.

2. Find your 23rd post.

3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).

4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.

5. Tag five other people to do the same.

My 23rd post was actually my long pot-pet entry about being nice to each other. Reading it again made me shudder, as I am reminded of the ensuing repercussions of my statements. The drama and the sticky mess that occured thereafter.

Here's my fifth line...

"I have been observing passively like a spineless coward, the ruckus over nitty gritty things almost with voyueristic fascination and had kept my protests very quiet in order to avoid conflicts with other people"

YIPES.
I am tagging :
kakteh
who has just been freed from the shackles of the big D
kak tenah
who needs a little break from her Permanent Head Damage paper
iJun
just because
anuarfariz
who's been waaaaaaay too quiet
foxymophandlemama
because I miss you

Mission Accomplished

2005-10-12T09:53:00.000+08:00

I have always wanted to put my name on a book cover. You know, something to show-and-tell my anak cucu, so that one day they can say, hey, that's my Makwo's book. Heh.

Although I must warn you that I am just making baby steps into publishing, so there are definitely teething problems. Like they say, those who can't write, edit. But I am sure a lot of editors out there can and do write. I am just testing the waters. Don't get mad if it is not up to scratch.

I am just happy that a book that consists of real life accounts of nursing mothers is going to be launched this Saturday. This is a book that tells you things like it is, or at least, that's the intention. Nursing a baby isn't always a clip from a Baby Johnson's advertisement. The snags of motherhood can be really a drag and horrific. There are also tips and alternative treatments to common nursing problems.

Most importantly, this book goes to show how people who have not met each other in real life, only via an online forum, a mailing list and email can really do something big together. What makes it even more heartwarming is that this is a book for mothers by mothers. Syabas, to the contributors from Ummiku Sayang and especially Nae, for being there for me during the darkest moments.

And to Kak Teh, for keeping me company during those graveyard hours. I am especially grateful to Allah for salving my guilt of taking time off from Aishah with the birth of this book. I just hope that my intention to share inspiring nursing stories with others in hope that more people would nurse their own babies into toddlerhood justifies all that time I spent working on this at Aishah's expense. Luckily for me, I have an understanding husband who practically lets me do whatever pleases my crazy little head(as long as I let him keep his marine tank and play music. Heheh) and inlaws' who practically let me get my way and spoils me rotten. Alhamdulillah.

Oh, I have so many people to thank but I do not want to risk sounding like an acceptance speech for an imaginary Oscar. So I'll just say this, all of you who have helped me make this happen, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.

Click this to find out more.

LOST: 6% Brain Matter

2005-10-12T05:54:00.000+08:00

Brain Lateralization Test Results

Right Brain (44%) The right hemisphere is the visual, figurative, artistic, and intuitive side of the brain.
Left Brain (50%) The left hemisphere is the logical, articulate, assertive, and practical side of the brain

Are You Right or Left Brained?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Sigh....

2005-10-11T17:48:00.000+08:00

Am just back from visiting my Mom. She has been feeling a little under the weather. I have not recovered from that pang of guilt I felt when I hugged her before I left Bangi. Something on her face tells me that she did not want me to go back to Singapore yet, sort of longing for me to make what she is feeling at the time go away by some kind of magic.

I am not in the best shape to update properly just yet. You guys take care okay?

Pesanan Dari Penaja

2005-10-06T16:10:00.000+08:00

Adeh, lenguh senyum...Dah ke belum?

Mari kita main stare-stare, sapa kelip mata dia kalah eh?

P.S: That's Safa', Aishah's best friend. More ads soon!

Anak Abah

2005-10-05T20:10:00.000+08:00

Ma: Aishah, it's time to talk to Allah. C'mon, time to say Allahu Akbar.

Aishah : Okay, Mommie.
Where aaaaaaaare youuuuuu Allah?
Yoo Hooo....Where are you?

Ma: Come here and stand on your sejadah, lah nyot nyot ! C'mon, let's ask Allah to help us make Aishah a clever girl.

Aishah: Allaaaaaah...please , please make me aeroplane, please. Aaaaaamin.

And then she ran off to Abah who was busy tinkering with the fishtank chiller.

Aishah: Abah, look, look Aishah is chee yoooot. (cute)

Abah: Eh, eh anak Abaaaaaaaah.

Apa saja anak abah ni...

Mak Dara Berembun

2005-10-04T08:26:00.000+08:00

Gebangite Naz with Gebangite Raudz

Newbie

The Gebang Gang is pleased to introduce its newest addition, Tety G, elder sister to our Ely Greenfield. She managed to tear herself away from her lovely daughters for a night out with us gebang girls, after having prepared a scrumptious lunch for everyone at home. Ely tells me that Tety could use a break, so here we are.

CA was generous enough to take time off tinkering with the fish tank to mind Aishah for me. Like they say, the way to a man's heart is through his tummy. After a huge pancake breakfast and pasta marinara lunch, henceforth the only way, was my way. Heh heh heh!

So happens that Mija, CK's friend came all the way from KL to visit her, CK could not join us for the Tabung Amanah Aidilfitri Mega Warna Concert. So we arranged to meet at Secret Recipe, Plaza Singapura before which I managed to do a supermarket sweep at M&S and Body Shop with Tety. Initially, we had intended to go to Shahi Maharani, but we did not want to miss the buy one free one promotion. Alih-alih, they ran out.Sheesh! I am so disappointed with the restaurant because the ran out of a lot of things. So sorry peeps!

After dinner, we grabbed a cab straight to the Kallang Theatre. It was really a bizzare experience because the cabdriver thought it was funny to say that we were going down with the newly repaired Nicoll Highway as we were ascending the elevated highway. Alhamdulillah we got there in one piece, greeted by other mak dara and anak dara dressed to the nines with no children in tow. Wah, imagine how many babysitters and husbands gnawed their nails at home that night.

We gleefully walked hand in hand, Tety and I, giddy with excitement because this was a rare moment that we mothers get to go out without our girls, malam-malam pulak tu. As we walked towards the entrance, Noreez gestured at someone and called out my name. And there he was, my long lost friend, Nor Kamal Hazami. It was really overwhelming, I almost hyperventilated, to see that friend with whom I shared great many fond memories as struggling student artistes, 18 years old we were then, when we had great big dreams of making it in the music industry but had to get our studies out of the way.

Hazami, my vocal sifu, with whom I spent hours and hours training by roadsides, stairwells, playgrounds and over the phone during holidays before I could get over stage frights and got great big breaks at places I never thought I'd be romancing the microphone. At that time, "gospel choir" style singing was in fact very rare in Malaysia, we managed to do something out of the ordinary. Oh, the good old days. After we both completed our preparatory education, we went separate ways. It was last Sunday when old friends reconciled and connected just like old times. I must thank Allah and Noreez for orchestrating this precious Jejak Kasih moment.

The reunion was not to be brief. We carried ourselves, Noreez, Raudz, Tety and I, well enough to pass off as Hazami's entourage. Like hyperactive groupies, we cheered him on while he went through soundchecks and obediently tagged along all the way into his dressing room. Hazami was indeed still the Hazami I have in my heart. His cheeky sense of humour is ever so heartwarming. He quickly put everyone at ease with his banter. It was amazing to see Raudz's face light up everytime there was a punchline. I was sitting at one corner giggling like an airhead. There was just so much to say, so much to catch up on. It was really unbelievable. I also learnt from Hazami that Safri, the Malaysian answer to Tevin Campbell is also doing very well, singing while managing a hospital. All that singing at the carpark paid off huh?

Hazami, Mak Dara, Adik Dara, Kakak Dara and Mak Dara-Dara

When it was time for Hazami to wow the stage with his vocal prowess, the four of us mak dara and anak dara scurried off to our seats and cheered him on like obnoxiously hysterical groupie, flashing out cellphone LCD just so he could see where we were seated. Later, we learnt that he had to try hard not to break into a guffaw watching us behaving like overzealous fans. The icing on the cake was when he dedicated a song to me. God help me, I hope nobody noticed my presence in the audience, I was behaving oh-so-juicy for paparazzi, it might not look good on Melodi.

Peace to the World!

Like all working artistes, Hazami had to leave as soon as he finished his performance, rushing off for another engagement. We quickly left our seats and and went straight out to see him off. It was really like a secret rendezvous whereby we had to be ushered to the basement foyer away from public scrutiny. We sang our goodbyes in the form of a medley, while Tety hopped into their ride to show them the way out of Singapore. Incidently, prior to the show, they had got lost on their way to Kallang. Raudz wished she lived in Woodlands, just to be in the same car as her current interest, and I am not talking about Hazami.

Just as we saw them off, the three of us, adrenalized by what just happened that night, sat down on the steps in front of the Indoor Stadium under the somewhat starry skies while waiting for CA to come pick us up. We chatted a bit and suddenly it dawned to me the hikmah of all that has happened since the Gebang gang first met. There is a definite bond between us. God meant for me to be gregarious, rambunctious and fun-loving, that is why He sent me Noreez, Raudz and CK. As we excitedly talked about the birth of the KL Gebang Gang and new additions to our small group, it is just empowering to know that my blogger family is growing. Suddenly Singapore is less grey and less sterile for me.

Mak-mak dara like Tety, CK and I really do cherish all the fun-filled moments away from the monotony of our lifestyle with that dash of youthful energy that is so Raudz and Noreez. Thank you peeps!

Soon the Mak Dara are only too happy to be reunited with their own anak-anak dara. My anak dara really thought I had run away from her. After a lil pep talk, my anak dara still thinks her mommie is a star. Oh, what a night!

Back to planet Earth!

Ramadan Mubarak one and all.

Of Kebaya and Kurung

2005-10-01T16:24:00.000+08:00

You know, there is still a great number of norms and customs that I observe when I go back to my ancestral home in Melaka, one of which includes making sure that I dress up appropriately when visiting my elders. That would mean a modest baju kurung with headscarves and strictly no pants.

I learned that the Malays have this romance with the kain after having graduated from loincloths and/or whatever the people from the early age wore that is before the discovery of woven fabric. For the women, it was the kemban that was synonymous with the image of a Malay girl living on treehouses as recorded in post-colonial history books. Kemban is actually a Balinese traditional attire before kebaya came about. People from various parts of the archipelago were also big on this strapless, shoulder-baring sensual concept of beauty. In fact before the internet age, before anything electronic came into being, kemban-clad girls were the subject of interest for raging testesterone.

With the influx traders coming from all ends of the world, the Malays began to conceal most of their bodyparts with different fabrics and styles. Islamic traders who spread the word of Islam further encouraged people to cover up. The adaptation from jelabiyya and whatever the far east and west brought upon our shores was localised and soon became part and parcel with adat istiadat. After years of wearing kain batik, pelikat, dewangga or what have you, somebody adapted the style of salwar kameez and made pants out of the sarongs by cutting and sewing the middle part of the sarong creating what we know today as seluar. Of course by this time the Malays have seen the practicality of wearing pants. However it was never questioned why women at that time could not wear pants. These pants are then paired with slip on blouses that probably have Gujerati and Chinese influence. We girls got stuck with the airy and sometime clumsy kain worn with whatever that can kurung and ikat our body.

Baju kurung have many names based on its specific style namely cekak musang, teluk belanga, empat saku, pesak sebelah, gunting jubah, kancing tujuh, and belah bentan. Depending on one's social strata, during the days of our forefathers, the penghulu adat will make sure one observes adat pakai Melayu, which simply means that there is a certain way one should dress according to one's social protocol. In other cultures, dressing up a lady in the past has always been a tad bit tedious. In adat pakai melayu, dressing up a man is taxing nonetheless. Imagine, upon discovering that the seluar, before the invention of thongs and CK briefs, orang kebanyakan were only allowed to put on thin and cottony fabric, so in the hot sun, what's beneath the seluar leaves very little to the imagination. So it was ruled that the baju and seluar has to be worn with a samping. The anak raja, pembesar and orang patut-patut could wear their samping kneelength while the orang kebanyakan must wear theirs labuh. In fact, kita-kita dan awak-awak (people like you and me) were not allowed to dress flamboyantly while the upper class had to observe different ways of wearing the destar, tanjak, keris among other ceremonial gears. There were issues of color, material and susun letak to be considered when dressing up.

Another well known baju is the kebaya. Even the kebaya has an interesting history. Said to have been inspired by the abaya, or long overcoat normally worn by Arab women. The shorter and thinner version was made popular in Singalaga, Bali where the kemban girls were advised to slip on a badju and secure the front opening with pins to avoid the roving eyes of expatriate Dutch officers. Soon it became a way to identify who's who. The upper crust and Dutch officials could wear fine fabrics like silk, rich muslin, velvet and brocade, the Eurasians were only allowed to wear white kebaya trimmed with European lace, while the working class and the poor could only wear cotton. Soon the kebaya was made a national symbol for Indonesia, popularized by Ibu Kartini. So much for covering up, the traditional kebaya is worn form-fitting over somekind of body binding or corset, together with a wraparound figure hugging sarong, major hindrance for movement and breathing. One would think, hey, sensual beauty through restrictive clothing has become a thing of pride. Clothes for menfolks continued to be breathier and lighter and more comfortable(thanks to the Ozzies and other beach culture, Malay men nowadays wear bermuda shorts more often than pulicat).

There are many types of kebaya too date, for example, the kebaya pendek nyonya-style that Kak Endon is actively bringing back to life, and then there is the kebaya labuh, also a Nyonya style, where an anak baju is worn under long loose fitting blouse, with kerongsang and cucuk sanggul. In Indonesia, there are a great variety of kebaya for various occassions. The Sundanese version is the most popular, while the Kebaya Kota Baru is often associated with old peasant village women, The Javanese potongan lurus is appropriate for the more ample bodied. Remember when Megawati Sukarnoputri was sworn in, she wore the tight fitting Sundanese version which was considered a major fashion and istiadat faux pas. Rules, oh , rules....pening!

Nowadays, the possibility of improvising traditional kurung and and kebaya is endless. They have been improvised and metamorphasized to myriads of fashionable extravaganza. Some designs even goes back to zaman tak cukup kain and zaman orang tak pakai baju.

Both kebaya and baju kurung are often associated with propriety and manners. While the former became highly controversial because of its form-fitting nature, the latter is often associated with religious festivities.

Ramadhan is just around the corner, my baju kurungs are ready for Hari Raya.

Leher bertebuk bulan-bulan,
bersulam insang pari,
yang ada tulang belud,
yang itu jari lipan,
disemat kancing sebutir,
buah baju tunggal-tunggalan,
yang ada bulat menelur burung,
bertangkai menudung petai,
serba molek dibawa majlis dipakai santai
potong pesak gantung
paras lutut kelam bayang melintas anjung
kain bersusun ombak mengalun
tertib langkah sopan santun
cantik berseri baju kurung
tatarias adat pakai Melayu
pantas anggun buang yang canggung

Maka berkata orang tua-tua....

Kain Melaka dua hasta
Baju raja ke Inderagiri
Bukannya malu dipandang muka
malu hamba diri sendiri

P.S : Kak Tenah, a peek into my shiok sendiri activities.

One Last Bit

2005-09-27T18:50:00.000+08:00

I have typed and retyped yet I cannot make myself write about anything else but my romance with food. What can I do? It is not my intention to be a bad friend and entice you with graphic details of the the junk I stuff my face with, oh my dearly beloved expectant expatriate friends, nor am I trying to be cheeky parading my foodie adventures on this page much to the dismay of friends who are trying to psyche up for Ramadhan. Please be kind enough to let me blog about my recent meetup with friends and then I can breathe easier and try to blog about other things, okay.

Moving on very quickly now.

Last Friday, I made plans to meet Uja at Qi Ji, Century Square for a little tete-a-tete over Chinese snacks. I just had to see her again because the last time we met I did not have the chance to pass the kiriman hugs from all across blogsphere since it was really a wham bam thank you ma'am kinda meetup. This time around, we had only two hours before Uja had to speed off to JB for another makan sakan gig. But it was enough to expand my girth all directions like an aerated balloon. I was a little early so I decided to browse around at Exclusively Hers, the whole floor dedicated to all things girly wurly. So I tried that little black thingy in the size I am so accustomed to wearing ( and I am not going to tell you what size I wear), and found it oh so oversized!!! I had to get it in two size smaller!! Wowee...And I am proud to say, I was not in any GI or diet save for ganti puasa. And by now, you all would know what and how I eat right?? That's a morale boost indeed. Dropping dress sizes, having eaten so much at that. So I rewarded myself with that nice black thingy, and a long beaded necklace to go with it. I leave it to your imagination how I would use that necklace.

While wrestling and detangling the knotted lil black thingy out of my ample anatomy, Uja called to tell me she's reached Qi Ji. Made my purchase and ran down to my favourite place to buy goodies for my inlaws. And there she was, looking ravishingly fresh, not unlike those faces you see stepping out of spas and beauty parlors. Mind you, this lady knows where to go to have a little girly pampering for the price of a regular meal. So rather than that perfunctory so-called professional handshake we just threw our bumpers at each other and locked in a oh-so warm an embrace, I was on the verge of getting sappy not unlike a grandmama. And then just like the last time we met, Uja asked me the question that's a sure fire way into my heart,

"Apa kau nak makan?", what do you want to eat?

So we ordered giant popiah basah, with prawns and extra chilli, soon kueh and chee cheong fun. We had to stop at that before I go overboard and order mee siam, mee rebus, tauhu goreng and what nots. So like a guru besar, Uja told me to cerita-ceriti because she was in the mood to listen. That wasn't very hard. You know how I can bebel kan? And I have grown up to be quite obedient, you know?( Iza Sofia! Stop sniggering this instant!!!)

After we makan until we terbodoh, Uja suggested that we look for some chi-chi coffee and chit chat some more. She made me order low-fat latte, and I halfheartedly obediently said okay. Low fat and Nazrah don't really get along. But then Uja's gebang prowess kept me captivated. While I gulped my low fat latte to the last dregs, oh, I pimped it up with extra syrup, Uja only drank half of hers. Hey this woman on a diet or what? Yes Ayu, I know, I know, we should keep a healthy diet. Quit rolling your eyes already. I brought my besar gedegak camera but sadly, I forgot to load the battery in. So no pictures lah, Uja took some, so maybe I'll post them later.

A latte and potato chips later, it was time to go. So we did a major boink-boink hug session, one from Kakteh, one from Ely, one from Maknenek and one from me before we parted ways. Ha? Empat aje dia tanya? Well, let's just say the whole of Sentraal Station was there in my big embrace.

After that I went to the supermarket to get some groceries, and picked up some more goodies for the peeps at home where a dinner of assam pedas was waiting for me. We were all so stuffed that immediately after isya' it was lights off!!

The next day CA enticed me to follow him to this aquarium at Upper Changi Road to view this 2 foot tank, before which he had wanted me to try out this new Yong Tau Foo joint. It's called La Mian Yong Tau Foo. I must say it's a pimped up place for fish products in somekind of soup. I have pictures but blogspot won't let me upload. Bleargh! And oh, CA bought another fishtank. Please God, save my poor soul! As if 11 children was not enough! You wonder why Aishah has no adik? She has 10 tiny swimming ones...all with the same hippie freestyla temperament!

So anyways, days passed before I could blog again, yet feeling somewhat cautious about writing too much about food. Somewhere in between writing new songs, nursing migraine and PMS, I managed to arrange a reunion with a long time friend Aminah Azira. She had just found my blog recently. I got to know that we got hitched to dashing Singaporeans( kasi kembang sikit cik abang tu) around the same time and that she's been in Singapore about the same number of years I have.

I remember Minah as that cute lil girl with ponytails who really loved cats. There were so many feral cats back then at MRSM Beseri. Imagine, everytime we had a meal 2-3 cats would be waiting inches away from our trays hoping to share our nasi kawah. So some people actually decided to make it a huge project to basmi kucing from our campus. So together with a girl named Farina,who if remember correctly is a daughter of a vet, ganged up to save as many kitties as possible, while another group of kids chugged those poor unsuspecting feline into gunny sacks to be disposed off at the town market. I also remember Friday afternoons in a communal bath, well, it's actually the typical kolah air that 10 people can waddle in. So before the people of Block A washed the kolah as a weekly ritual, they were kind enough to let me bedebush in the pool with them. I was a Desa Ekhwani illegalos.

So we planned to meet after 13 years. The umpan was sup kambing Upper Boon Keng. So happens that CA was taken ill that day, the severe heat was really getting to us poor poor migraine sufferers. But then he had to pop in at the office for a while. So he drove us to Minah's house. When I got there, I got the lift system mixed up but finally found her place. The door was open but nobody was there. Aishah and I gave salaam and yoo hoo-ed but there was no answer. Maybe she was nursing. So I just made myself comfy on the steps outside her house and played pat-a-cake with Aishah, giggling and thinking about all that excitement over a few pieces of pancakes elsewhere in the world.

Aaaaanywaaay, I decided to text Aminah after 15 minutes and she called me back telling me that she's on the way home. Yeay! My soup, my soup!

So we got comfortable as soon as I was invited in. Lovely,lovely home. And lovely, lovely time I had. Gedabak Gedebuk, it was makan time, so I assembled my bruschetta and she had let me use her broiler. While waiting for the cheese to melt, I had a grand time playing with Aaqil who is such a darling. He reminds me of Aishah at that age. An Energizer adrenaline machine indeed. As usual looking at baby boys made me feel all broody again.The kids took a while to warm up but there was not that much drama. Good girl, Aishah. You did not terrorize anybody today. Minah was busy setting the table.

Soon after, I walloped lah all the kambing I could eat. Muahahaha. I am glad Minah liked my bruschetta. I had brought fudge cake too but then I thought I couldn't possibly eat anymore as I have had my fair share of cake for breakfast earlier.

Two hours went by like the speed of light. It was time to go when CA rang me to tell me that he's on the way. Little did I know, he was actually savouring tau huay downstairs from Minah's block. And by the way, Minah, the tau huay is one of the best he's ever tasted. Second to my favourite stall at Serangoon Garden. So it had to be au revoir for now....almost getting sappy again, we promised to meet again. Longer this time. I hope to introduce Minah to my Gebang Gang so we can go out and melantak sama-sama. Like Noreez says, the more the merrier!! Some Beseri friends are coming over soon, I can't wait for that too!

Okay, that's it folks. My last post about food until maybe Hari Raya. Please Allah give me strength and inspiration to write about other things. But then this weekend I am meeting my Gebang Gang again. How la dey?

Intermission

2005-09-26T10:11:00.000+08:00

You Are 20% Weird

Not enough to scare other people...But sometimes you scare yourself.

How Weird Are You?

God, how do I start blogging about what I have been up to without writing endlessly about how much food I have consumed over the past few days. I think I would spare the horridly delicious details this time, kesian rakan-rakan di benua lain, kempunan nanti...

Be back blogging later in the afternoon. Thought I should update before people get sick of the gebangite entry below.

Gabbing Gebangites

2005-09-22T00:11:00.000+08:00

Aishah, Mak Dia, Y, Raudz,Noreez, Rafthah and CK

Yesterday, I decided to give myself a treat just because. So I figured, wouldn't it be nice to see my lepak gang again. Noreez was on leave, and Raudz conveniently took time off from work to squeeze in a job interview just before joining us. CK and Y welcomed the idea enthusiastically. Rafthah finally managed to tear herself away from her hectic job. Our designated party planner suggested that we meet up at Sweet Secrets(sure or not?).Luckily Noreez arranged to meet me at the interchange, otherwise I might get lost, considering the fact that I am an incurable kancheong wreck when it comes to taking public transportation. My sense of direction is a laugh too. Good thing Aishah enjoyed the bus and MRT rides. We went straight to Secret Recipe. I do remember she had said that we were to meet at Sweet Secrets. Imagine if I were to be left to my own devices, Argentina will hear me cry while I comb the entire 3rd floor looking for a nonexistent delicatessen. CK on the other hand had to walk around blindly looking for Sweet Secrets with a kid in tow. Poor darling. Isn't it very telling how Secret Recipe in Singapore is not yet a household name? Thumbs up for the floor manager, for being very hospitable.

Mini Gebangites

While the Mak-mak Budak and Bakal Mak Budak engaged in serious schmoozing parley, the little ones had a little ngobrol moments of their own. CK brought children's activity books and pencils to amuse the girls while the olders girls share a little tete-a-tete. It is inspiring how composed, calm and collected Y remain despite Aishah terrorizing her. CK is right, I need to be firmer with Aishah. What is a mother to do? Must go and do field study, and watch CK at at home lah laidet.

Dara Pingitan bersama Mak Bonda

Everyone seemed to have a lot to tell, we were jabbering jumping topic to topic effortlessly. Halfway through, I realized Raudz and Rafthah spoke the least. Aiyo, next time must let other people talk, Nazrah. In hindsight, there were stuff that Noreez , CK and Raudz brought up that I need to follow up in an email soon.

Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice

I am wondering what is CK's secret to parenting. Y is such a darling at the table. In fact throughout the meetup, she did not give much trouble at all. Unlike my own adrenaline machine, in below picture, who demands her own way of doing things.

Sundae Slayer

I should have know that Aishah was not interested in the sundae, she just wanted the M&Ms. Sheesh. Some sticky moments occured which is normal everytime Aishah is near food. Lucky for me, supermom CK knew what to do when it happens. I maintained my shameless blurrness. So much to learn from CK.

Raudz@ Soo Nar Tee

Soo Nar Tee and her charge

Y seems to be really attached to Raudz, which is wonderful to see.Wonder what Aishah was up to?Doing sticker artwork on the restaurant chair if not hiding under the table.

Gebang goodies from Noreez, Nurul and CK (Thank you)

It is always Christmas when the gebangites meet. But I must insist, not for the lack of grace of course, that the next time we meet, no expensive gifts please.

What's next?

Great World Nasi Padang jadi ka?

My Precious Boys

2005-09-20T21:10:00.000+08:00

Some of you know that I spend a lot of time at the inlaws especially on days that I just can't deal with the Bukit Timah of laundry that needs to be folded. What do I do? Pack up an overnite bag and Tampines, here we come. You must also know that CA's parents are superbly enthusiastic when it comes to extrinsically motivating me to eat and eat and eat. Both of them are great cooks and really know how to enjoy food. That's why I absolutely love them. Another reason that keeps me going back mid-week and every weekend is this.

Abang Izz Irfan and Baby Izz Harris with Pak Long

Now, tell me, who is going to let me have their senduk? Or how does it work again? I want to make rotiBOY!!!! Getting broody again, aren't we? Must be the rainy season.

Map to Heaven

2005-09-20T12:09:00.000+08:00

Muwor Part 2 :Bandar Maharani

2005-09-19T10:29:00.001+08:00

Tauke Wah San Kopitiam, established since 1931

To top off our lavish lunch, we washed down a cup of molten orgasmic experience christened Kopi 434 by the Kopi Merchants of Muar. It was buttery, mildly sweetened, yet it has enough kao factor to set your eyeballs up to heaven. I was ooh aah-ing like nobody's business, it sounded almost inappropriate according to kopitiam etiquette. The approving look from the tauke allowed me to just let go and let the kopi take me to parallel realms.

The icing on the cake was that everything totaled up to just RM8. Tauke happy, me happy.

Mamak Cendol and Rojak

A few steps from the kopitiam is a makeshift stall that sells cendol and rojak. We were too stuffed to sample any. I later learned from Lollies that the mamak makes the best rojak and cendol. Aiyooo...rugi.

We drove around that little town, I could not help but noticed the remnants of past glory. A rundown cafe complete with a renaissance balcony, perfect setting for a Romeo and Juliet play, aptly named Paris Cafe. An old majestic hotel that might well be where uppercrusts of yesteryear had a ball. The Customs Building is a pretty sight too. Moorish accents here and there, with a little romanesque influence. It has the look of a church actually, but the dome made it look like a mosque.Save for the ugly modern windows they installed, it's magnificent.

I wonder who ordered the glass windows and the awnings?

A few rounds along Jalan Sulaiman and Jalan Abdullah, I noticed that there is a clan-ish aura about the whole place. Like it's been taken care of by a secret society whereby things are done in a certain way, administered by an authority more powerful than the local administration. I am quick at detecting all these things. Lollies happily gave me a little bit of background and I read a bit here and there.

Muar has a colorful history. During the early Hindu empire Majapahit period, Muar is one of its states. Hindu fortuneseekers traveled here in search of gold. The Ortelius map records that Muar was already significantly populated by the 14th century. Not only it was established as a fortalenza for the Portuguese against attacks fro Aceh it was a trading port. Maybe Kakteh has some info about the romantic take on Muar based on Hikayat Malim Dewa-dewa Deman, in search of the Muar princess, Puteri Bongsu. Interestingly enough, my paternal ancestors also dwelled here. Oh you know the Malay vikings from Sulawesi.

As far as the Melaka empire is concerned, Muar proves to be a favourite hideout for the royal family. After Parameswara, the founder of Melaka, murdered the Temasek Sultan, he seeked asylum in Muar and built a fort in Pagoh.

Sultan Iskandar of Temasek also exiled to Muar when he was defeated by Majapahit, building his own Kota Buruk fort at Biawak Busuk. Muar continued to be a famous getaway for the Sultans that one of them chose it as his final resting place. Sultan Alauddin Riayat Syah I's mausoleum can still be found till today. Funny story about the cause of his death, some said he was stabbed by a pin. He must have been gangrenously diabetic, due to all that cendol mamak huh? Some said he was white blooded, like Mahsuri. Dunno..

If I remember correctly, a few of the Sultans' wives were from these regions. So you can say that Muar, is home to many a fallen(in love and in war) Sultan. Even Sultan Mahmud fled to Muar when the Portuguese attacked in 1511.

The father of modern Johor, Maharaja Abu Bakar also had a wife from Muar, hence the name, Bandar Maharani. It was recorded that he planted an azimat, or talisman at Tangga Batu when he officially opened the town, if you are keen on excavating the ancient relic, dig somewhere near the makan place near Muar Bus Station. This place continued to flourish with the influx of migrant traders seeking fortune here. The polarization of races was apparent during the British reign where the Malays stayed in the kampung, leaving the Arabs, Chinese and Indians who did business in town. Naturally there were chambers of commerce, secret societies of mafioso calibre that kept the town in order. If you look closely, you will notice that even the Coffee Merchants has a serious gang going on. We are talking about the coffee cartel. Serious enough to send shivers down your spine, if you are in the commodity business that is.

You will notice that the hustle and bustle down here reminds one of Chinatown, accentuated by architecture that is typical of shophouses found in antique and rustic business districts all over Malaysia. Sadly, conservation of historical buildings here leaves much to be desired. Fortunately, you will sense that the locals are not in a hurry to modernize Muar because of its rich sense of history.

Singaporeans should checkout the upscale kopitiams here, it really puts Yakun to shame. Trust the 434 connoissuers to hypnotize you with the superb coffee, while you soak in the ambience of pseudo-Shanghai glory. The town is also dotted with Portuguese and Dutch influence here and there. And the people seems to be naturally friendly and happening. The girls also have a distinct moon-shaped features on their faces that is so serenely soothing to look at. That must be why Sultans love them huh? It is Bandar Maharani after all.

Muwor Part 1: Mee Bandung

2005-09-18T09:30:00.000+08:00

I have a confession to make.

As much as I would like to go on a serious diet (because I obviously need to lose at least 20 lbs to fit into La Perla without holding my breath and/or turning off the lights), I have a problem with compulsive overeating.

Okaylah, let's just put it this way, I am passionate about food, what to do? Or is that an understatement? As you may have noticed, my attempts to lose weight is fraudulent. My love affair with food is so out of control, any talk of going on a diet is a merely a guilt trip that follows a bingeing episode. If I fast, I'd start seeing floating desserts and the only books I would read are recipe books. But there are days like today, I'd just keep to a liquid diet, to detox the junk.

So happens that last Friday I was fasting, and in between chats and emails about jeng jeng jeng and Enigma De'grip (Atiza, check this out!!!), Anedra mentioned that she'd be in Muar for a family function.

You see, it's a bit like the Pavlovian classical conditioning, I am operationalized to react like those salivating dogs, not to bells or metronomes but to names of places and the food they are famous for. Muar reminds me of Mee Bandung Abu Bakar, the same way La Cappuccina, San Gimignano reminds me of wild mushroom and basil risotto. Kangar reminds me of Laksa Belut and the list goes on and on.

So since CA was on leave for Chu Sok, Korean Harvest Festival, I'd rather not let him tinker with the fishtank on my time. My negotiation skills won me a trip to Muar, on the quest for my mee bandung. Woo Hoo! We had Song Pyon , a Korean traditional dish normally served with other Chu Sok delicacies during Thanksgiving, but we ate them like kueh koci for breakfast. Sacrilege to a 3000 years old Korean tradition. Heh.

Rice cakes with lotus seed, mung beans and peanut paste centre

These babies are made in preparation for Chu Sok in autumn

and can be kept through winter.

I enjoyed the drive up through small kampungs, with views of lush foliage and farm animals as we took the jalan lama. Jalan Abdullah was easy to track as I remember my trips there with Pakwe when he was making his rounds collecting rents back when I was a wee one. Right there, next to Klinik Ho, is Wah San kopitiam. The place is exactly how I remembered it, lively with cheeky banter. You come in, and somebody would yell,

" Haaaa, dia dah datang!!!", as if they were really expecting you.

I find that the shop is more spacious now. The ambience is not pretentious, once you step in, you'd feel like you've just entered a place where everyone knows your name (play the tune of "Cheers" in your head please). We ordered 2 bowls of mee bandung, a mild mee mamak and 10 sticks of chicken satay. Unfortunately they ran out of beef and mutton. It was a little before noon and they ran out? I find that utterly strange. So we slurped the lip-smackingly delicious concoction of mee kuning, fresh shrimp, bits and pieces of beef and lungs, fried tau kwa,sprouts, greens, and egg in an amber colored gravy.

The stove is definitely not for the fainthearted, all that caked

reminders of mee bandung from the past cooked together

with your fresh bowl. Maybe that's the trade secret

Pakcik Mee Rebus who took the trouble to clean up his joint

before I was allowed to capture him at work

The masterpiece

But I could not get over the fact that they had not enough satay for me. Hairan bin takjub. Until a shiny, black kereta kebal double parked right in front of the shop and out came a broody character I found very charming in a rogue-ish kinda way, he then picked up packets after packets of cooked satay. That explains the shortage problem. However, he looked especially familiar. I could not place where I have seen his face, but when I peered over to scan the face of that J to the LO-esque lady in the passenger seat, my heart played an African beat. I just knew it was her. So I waved frantically like a mad woman hoping that she would recognize me. She was a bit hesitant to wind down her glass screen and before you know it, she was right there in front of me, J-Lo in kebaya moden, fragrant and bejewelled. The next thing I knew we were locked in a bear hug and she rattled on like a bullet train, telling me how late she was for that kenduri, while I stood there gawking at how beautiful she is, mersmerized and almost speechless. You can bet how spooked our husbands were at the display of such familiarity and intimacy, considering Anedra and I have never met before. Incidently, Kakteh sms-ed moments before that passing me Andera's number, I had left it at home by accident. How strangely the universe works. The Grand Design brought all of us kindred spirits reunited in the strangest of circumstances. Isn't this symptomatic of a Yaya sisterhood?

By the stroke of sheer chance, I am not sore at all about the satay. That brief encounter with the person I have learnt to love through blogs and especially at Ely's Kedai Kopi, is priceless.

P.S: Anedra, I'd be so mad if you are still going on a diet, YOU DON'T NEED TO!

Gendang gendut tali kecapi

P.S : Rotidua, bukan saja percik kat tudung, lipstick pun sengaja kita padam supaya tak bercampur perisa mee bandung.

Day Out with the Sunshine Gang

2005-09-16T12:18:00.000+08:00

Bapak had to go for a checkup at Alexandra Hospital, and I managed to persuade CA to take a half-day off yesterday. So we packed the brood for a day out. We had planned to go to Sentosa at first, but since I have arranged to meet my cousin in Woodlands in the evening, we labak-ed at the club instead. While waiting for Bapak to get his stuff done, we had lunch at the famous Everton Boneless Chicken Rice joint at Queenstown. Waaaaa...sedap sehh! I marveled at the skills of the masterchef at removing the bones out of the sharp end of the wings. The chilli sauce, sap fan hou sek wor!!! Senang cakap, New Hawa pun kalah! Rex pun tergugat! But the only snag is that the place is so jammed packed at lunch hour, you'd be served just when you are on the verge of upturning the table. What made it harder was the fact that the neighbouring stall sold really exotic Chinese fare, Peking duck, a smorgasbord of cured meatstuff, char siew and get this, live frogs! There was a big cage of those big fat slimy amphibians a few steps from our table, singing some off-key number a capella. Gosh! my mom would probably freak out and swear off Singapore altogether if she sees this. Aishah on the other hand was making conversations with them. Ewww...

After lunch, Bapak was still not done, so we headed to Ikea for the free coffee and a little dessert. Packed some Swedish ginger biscuits, toffee lollies and, whooops, truffles. Ok, ok, not for me lah, I am a GI Jane whaaaaat? I am meeting my Cape Malay foster parents, Bapak Ismail Petersen and Ibu Hawa tonight, so perhaps they might like them munchies. Depa tak nak pun takpa...Heh heh. Will blog about them soon.

Later, we picked my inlaws' up from the hospital and headed towards Seletar Air Base, my favourite place in Singapore. It kinda reminds me of Butterworth, Penang. I really love it there. Maybe someday I'd be lucky enough to live in a single storey pre-Merdeka bungalows, who knows eh? The streets there are named after various locations in London. The tiny roundabout is called the Picadilly Circus, there's Edgware Road, Baker Street etc etc. If you like period movies, you'd definitely like Seletar.

Aishah and Abah ad a great time splashing about in the pool. Mak shared with me stories of the times when she used to be an Army Sargeant, and tales of her childhood. I really treasure moments like this. Bapak kept to himself at one corner, his legs are giving him problems lately. Poor Bapak. I hope he enjoyed getting some fresh air while watching CA relive his youth. Mak says that Bapak was the one who taught everyone how to swim. Now CA is teaching our daughter. Definite Kodak moment this one.

Later we headed to(panjang story lagi ni, ni bukan atenahism dah ni, ni nazrahism) Sembawang Satay Club for dinner since my cousin is still stuck in the jam at the checkpoint. Ya ampun, saya tak rekemen makan kat sini. Nuff said.

After settling my mom's orders with my cousin, we headed home. Lepak! Penat! Flat! Kondem!Pancit! But definitely worthwhile because I was in the company of the people I love. Will do this again soon.

Oh by the way, Ayu is leaving for SF today, she will be meeting up with Ely this weekend! We'll see how that turns out. Word is ,Ayu is making Laksa Penang, she is bringing assam keping all the way from home.

Tomorrow CA's site is closed for the Moon Cake Festival. Yeay! We will go out again!

I got a box of really huge Raffles Town Club mooncakes in the kitchen yet I do not know if they are halaal. Does anybody know? Well, I don't really like eggwashed cakes anyway...and the yolky one are not so sedap pun...Sour grape!

Boisterous Blahniks

2005-09-14T04:48:00.000+08:00

A girl can dream big dreams eh?

Life is like wearing shoes. Some shoes you wear everyday, some shoes you keep for years and years waiting for the right occasion to wear them. Some shoes you are willing to forget, some shoes you refuse to throw away. Some shoes fit well, some bite you. Some shoes you buy just because. Some shoes are simply shoes that protect your feet and take you places.

I would not say my upper secondary school stint at MRSM Beseri was anything I look back with fondness except the fact that that is where I found my true calling, which was everything that did not require Additional Maths and Science subjects. I was an arty farty angsty feminist stuck in a junior science college popularly known as Serambi Mekah where heads had to be bowed 90 degrees to the floor just so that boys and girls could not main mata. Tough luck for a girl who just came out of a convent. I guess the fun bit was not what and how I did in class, where I slept through most of the classes,possibly due to low blood sugar, hey, Perlis was very HOT and the food was not all that good. Luckily for me, overzealous testestorone enjoyed leaving peanut butter jars under my desk for my snacking pleasure.

I was already actively writing chronicles of my adventures in a journal and managed to persuade an abang senior to write with me in a freewriting experiment. Ok, ok this guy thought I was the love of his life and we figured that if we were to write letters in a book and leave it under our desks, it would be inconspicuous. What do I know about love at 16. I just loved to write. Psst..psst, at the time I already had a off again-on again childhood sweetheart who wrote to me regularly from Southampton that there was always mail for me almost everytime I checked. And how I loved stamps from the UK. And he sent me chocolates too. He is now a good friend, happily married with a kid, and still a computer geek. I met the abang senior not too long ago at One Utama, he's married with kids, looking every bit like a bookish mathematician. And don't let me start on how many geeks I have dated, but decided to marry a rocker instead. But then he is a closet geek. Heh. And so am I. Perfect match upstairs. Alhamdulillah.

Oh, I digress.

Beseri had this weird MCP thing going on that girls and boys could not mingle socially without being thrashed at the surau if not under the hot sun. Suffice to say, I was royally miffed by the fact that we were treated like second class, so low that some holier-than-thou guys had to cover their faces with a book to avoid that sinful gaze when talking to you. We always got the bad seats eventhough we were called pelajar puteri, my glorious derriere! The happening tasks of deejaying, emceeing and stage performances were not privileges enjoyed by the girls.

I grabbed the opportunity to make a difference by collaborating with the English Department and organised a concert commemorating Earth Day( guess who became the lyrical Mother Earth). We had girls and boys masked and dressed androgynously just so that we would not tick the surau people. Yet I heard of mass solat hajat protesting our activities and a toilet bowl bombing when the show was going on. I didn't think, we did anything wrong , I still don't,but there were so many confused and constipated back passages then, who later became more notorious after we left school. Bah!

We also had a lil Speaker's Corner and by then I had already developed a proximity syndrome with the microphone, there were more and more girls involved. I was librarian then, in charged of newpaper clippings. And I loved it. I spent a lot of time there. Because I was anal about books and things arranged a certain way, some people nicknamed me Mama Bosan.

I had two other nicknames, P-Nut and Datin. The former is attributed to the fact that I love peanut butter(the food really sucked big time, ok? Save for the nasi lemak, after prep. Sadly, the guy who used to sell it to us suddenly expired recently) and the latter is between my larger than life attitude back then or it has to be because of the hand-me-down Datinesque baju kurung I wore. I was not very big on baju kurung back then, so I had too few and Mak let me use hers.

My father's friend, Hj Mat Din and family was my foster family with whom I spent weekends when it was inconvenient to go back to KL. They welcomed me in their massive home in Kampung Salang like one of their own, I feel that I am truly blessed.I first learnt how to make roast chicken there from Nicole Maree Mackay, a Kiwi who was an exchange student staying with my foster family. I remember rides on the maroon Jaguar which ferried me back to the place overlooking Bukit Gondol, feeling a little like a princess in the back seat.

I probably sucked academically, but it was there I professed a lifetime love for Edward de Bono and that has made me the person that I am today. The shoes I wore at MRSM Beseri were kept in the far end of my cabinet, because there were things I would like to forget. I would like to think I have moved on, but there are two teachers whose brains were in between their legs I really do not wish to meet again. Ever. And they are the very reasons why I would not send any of my children to boarding schools.

Above all, I cherish most about Beseri is the friends I gained, yet due to my own negligence, I have lost contact with them. Recently a guy from my prep (homework and revision time) gang found my blog, and that led to a visit from a long lost sister from my homeroom. Welcome to my blog Paroe and Aida. Incidently, they are the bloodline of our alumni, I look forward to reuniting with old friends again. I am glad my old shoes decided to see the light of day.

P.S: Positive blogging lagi Kakteh.

A Day at the Beach

2005-09-12T14:21:00.000+08:00

I wanna build Ma a BIG castle

And a tall tower for her to skodeng Malaysia

So after my Saturday episode of muncung, we started Sunday morning with high hopes. So much for promises of Egg Benedict at Starbucks first thing in the morning, CA just had to touch the fish tank lah. First it was a noisy pump, and then, there were air bubbles in the water and then, kaplonk!! Banjir, saltwater all over my living room. Sigh. I was posing another muncung yet again. Luckily, Ely was there to pacify my nerves via YM. A little after noon, oooh a hungry man is an angry man, CA finally got the fishtank under control.

Aishah was already throwing tantrums, insisting that she would not go out unless it's the beach. Makeup on my previously matte face was getting a bit shiny, and my tummy was playing a maniacal symphony much akin to a Slayer piece. I was resigned, mana-mana pun bolehlah, tak kuasa gua!

He would not let up, so just I told him I wanted to go somewhere I could sit down and read the book Mak gave me, Grasshopper by B.Vine, and finally succumbing to the Da Vinci's Code bandwagon. So he packed some Padang food from Selera Bundo, and we headed to the East Coast beach semasa matahari tegak di atas kepala. We found a shady spot, at one BBQ pit and hentam our tapau-ed brunch. We were soon joined by another young family who were obviously on a special diet. The parents had cabbages, carrots and tomatoes while the kids had noodles and seaweed soup. The young boy looked at our lavish spread of ayam sambal hijau, rendang daging, bergedil, lemak pucuk ubi, sambal belacan and sambal goreng and had a longing look on his face. Nak pelawa, mak dia bawak dia lari pulak. Kesian. Either they have serious allergies to food stuff, or they weren't eating real food for religous reasons. They could not be on a slimming diet as they were all skin and bones.

After lunch, we secured another shady spot under a tree to lay our mat, and chose another one where Aishah could build sandcastles. It was really sunny but luckily I had one of those F1 giant umbrellas, that worked as a parasol for my girl.Her hat was not giving her much sun protection. I am a puteri lilin wuss.

I had Super Big Gulp iced lemon tea, peanuts, Twisties and CA on my lap while I read my stuff. Sigh. Finally, some quality time for the two of us. A picture perfect afternoon.

Baru nak relax, a group of people invaded our temporary hideout by spreading a large mat 4 times the size of our tikar jerami and totally ignored the fact that they were really cramping our space. How rude.But then it is the weekend, and we have to share every bit of Singapore with everybody. I was not annoyed until they started playing out-of-tune hippy songs and making a whole lot of ruckus over the guitar player from Hell. Aiyoh!

Turned out it was some kind of a family gathering. Gathering of noisemakers and hooligans I should say. Not only the little kids were making so much noise, one of them stomped all over the castle that Aishah had built and kicked sand on CA and Aishah's face. I glared at the supervising parent, he only told that little rascal a lame, "Be careful".

To which spunky Aishah replied, "Stupid boy!"

I did not teach her that, I swear.

We left soon after, as things were getting strangely rowdier, and it did not help that we were outnumbered by this big group. I guess with limited space to lepak, one cannot main chop-chop tempat. As we approached the parking lot, the sky turned grey, we smiled conspiratorially at the clouds.

I needed to stock up dairy products for the larder so we headed to Parkway. Just outside Giant was this place, Pastamania that sells Vittoria coffee, so we singgah sekejap, java junkie that we are, and CA surprised me with a small serving of Italian Tiramisu. Belum sempat ku menjamahnya, bak seekor helang, Aishah menyambar tiramisuku tanpa segan silu. I managed to get a spoonful of it. And it was gooooood.

After Giant, we headed home and freshen up. No TV, no internet, no books, no touching the fishtank, just the 3 of us on our kingsized bed. Lights were off by 10. Woke up feeling very refreshed, and so in the mood for housework. Hope to keep this up.

So that was my Sunday. How was yours?

Tete-a-tete

2005-09-09T15:07:00.000+08:00

Today is an especially slow day for me because I simply felt like living la vida lazy. I slept late last night, hammering my merajuk away on the keyboard ; sulking, because somebody did not help me clear up, and especially for forgetting to buy me tiramisu from Hiedstand for the SECOND time. Finished the song a little after 3 am, and chatted with a definitely woozy Ayu for a while. After a small glass of water for sahur, I just collapsed into bed. Next thing I knew CA woke me up, and it was going to be terang benderang. The Gajah pun dah subuh.

Hey, maybe I'd pass the song to Anedra and see if she is in the mood to write another set of lyrics. Nak?

So today, I am a stay-in-bed mom, only not as good looking as that blonde lady on Arrested Development. I have long tidied up the bed I slept on last night, now I am typing this in the comfort of the guest room where I have placed A's toys and all the necessary stuff to keep her from peeling my eyelids should I slip into darkness.

Some good news, Ayu has updated. Ok,I admit it, I am an addict. Ely has probably dropped 3 dress size as the South Beach diet is doing her a lot of good. My puasa ganti accidently reduced 5 lbs off strategic locations, Mak and Bapak noticed, and CA noted that the back end of my torso is shaping pretty nicely. And because of that, I gave The Cocoa Tree a visit and bought a bag of Belgian Noir minibars for ME!ME! ME!, Whittaker's Almond Gold for me and MIL, ( Nad, dia jual bar besar gila, Nad, bukan kecik2 macam dulu tu, boleh gila, Nad..) and heart shaped milk chocs for my babies. Ayu says, I am hopeless, no way I can diet like this. We were imagining if Ailin lived next door to me. She with her delish bakes and I with my sinful indulgences, Ayu said she's definitely stay away from our homes. I was like, hey, Ailin and I would probably keep our front door open, just so we can check put each others' kitchens and see what's cooking. Or we would not be cooking but YMing while sitting next to each other.

Another great news, people are really making serious hot kueh these days. Elisa binte Pok Ku sudah berjaya, MakNenek may have some news soon. I suddenly have this crazy longing for babies. But then, aiya..engineer husband must lay down the hard facts before we could make kueh shamelessly, recklessly. Something in me tells me I am ready. Hmm...

Oh, and I went shopping with the inlaws' yesterday. Had that delicious Thaksin Beef Noodles. Bapak had all the gearbox offal in his soup, we all had beef alat-alat. Jalan punya jalan, while Bapak had a massage at the reflexologist, lapar la pulak. So we popped over to banquet and had rojak buah, and fried white carrot cake, washed down with frothy teh tarek.

Balik je, sedih because he did not get me the yummilicious tiramisu and truffle cake. Luckily I stocked up at The Cocoa Tree. Maybe he is deliberately controlling my chocolate intake tak? Could that be remotely possible?

And with all that chocolate, a new bottle of B*rberry and a necklace(ooooh, and I so love it!), I still merajuk because I so wanted the tiramisu and truffle cake.The goodies were just $2.40 for a small slice, and halal ones are so hard to come buy. *sulk sulk sulk*

NVM, I have all the ingredients to make tiramisu, I will get those creamed strawberries for Cold Storage down the road, and make them a part of my kiss-and-make-up repertoire, IF I get lucky. I must and I must have my cravings satiated. Wajib!

While A was having lunch, I chatted with Kak Teh. She's doing okay, albeit missing AG to bits and main chop-chop PC dekat computer lab.. I told her about my rajuk, and she shared me a little story that's supposed to help me focus on more important things. Therapy with Kakteh always cures my muncung lah. Please don't start charging ah Kakteh lahleng?

She also shared with me some sad news about the demise of two Malay sailors who are very close to her heart. Panjangkan doa untuk Allahyarham Pak Arshad and Allahyarham Pak Majid, valiant heroes of their time.

We also talked about our similar habit of eating alone at restaurants with the company of a captivating book. That's a story for another day. Meanwhile, Kakteh, I am sure AG misses you just as much.

I am fasting again today, hallucinating floating mascarpone, fluffy cream and fairy chocolate dust. Uja says there is a Halal Food fest at Expo. Aiyaaaaaaaaaaa...masalah lah Labu! I hope CA would manja me and take me to that Cuban gig tonite, and join you in your kegiatan berfoya-foya. Labak, jangan tak labak!

Early Childhood Entertainment

2005-09-09T03:36:00.000+08:00

For some kids, it's Barney, Sesame Street, Hi-5 and myriads of others. For this kid, it's Anuar Zain. Bet the mother is a great big fan.

Jangan terbegik Raudz. Sabar...sabar dik ye?

My Kapoor Crush

2005-09-06T20:24:00.000+08:00

The previous meme brought back memories of how much Hindi movie I watched when I was in primary school. Thanks to Makcik Rose who was a true blue Hindi fan. I remember falling in love for the first time with the Kapoor brothers, Shashi especially. I remember Dhamendra from Yadon Ki Barat, but I could not get over Sangaam, Junglee and Bobby. There is no Khans or Bachchans in Bollywood who can take the place of the Kapoors in my heart. Today, while surfing, I found this. All of them are grandfathers now. But then again, I refuse to erase that cherubic good looks of Raj, Daboo, Rishi, Shammi and Shashi off my long term memory bank. I also remember the babes of Bollywood, Dimple, Rekha, Sridevi, Zeenat Aman, Kajal Kiron, Shoma Anand, Bhavna, Jaya Prada, Naseem, Sonam, Divya Bharti and how amply proportioned they were. Yet still confident enough to jiggle all the way down meadows and throwing them rolly pollies on pink cushions provocatively yet still maintaining a certain degree of decency. Remember those nak cium tapi malu lah scenes?

That led to serious digging into my collection of Lata Mageshkar, Asha Bhosle, Mohd Rafi and Kishore Kumar, I got quite a few, thanks to my MIL.

My favourite is:

Kaliyon ka chaman tab banta hai

Thoda resham lagta hai

thoda shesha lagta hai

Heere moti jadte hain

thoda sona lagta hai

Thoda resham lagta hai

thoda shesha lagta hai

Heere moti jadte hain

thoda sona lagta hai

Haaaan ho ho ho..Oooooo oh ho hoooo...Haaaan ho ho ho..Oooooo oh ho hoooo...

This song by Lata, is the one song I keep hearing everywhere I went when I was pregnant with Aishah. But then, I did spend a lot of time at Mustafa Center back then.

Oh-oh. I am turning into a Makcik Rose. Luckily they don't make Hindi movies like they used to. Who is your favourite Kapoor?

Meanwhile, take a listen to an oldie by the Kapoors.

*serious rolling of bodies over hills and flowerbeds in between multiple costume changes*

Memerable Memories

2005-09-06T11:50:00.000+08:00

Lil Ms D memed me.

20 years ago, 1985 (age 10)

1.First discovered Bee Dees.
2.Won a RM30 award for best Malay student (that was a lot of money for a kid who got 40 sen a day as duit jajan)
3.Discovered that I had a knack for sports. An old friend, Norhanizam aka Yeop, trained me to run like him at 100m sprint.
4.Acquired survival kitchen skills from Makcik Rose.
5.Help make popiah and cucur udang at the school canteen after netball practice.
6.Had a small dancing team, Norzie, Aisa, Mimi and I performed at class parties. Learned zapin, inang and boria steps.
7.Sparred with boys, lost twice to Kean Jin and Khalil, discovered how painful it is to be kicked in the tummy.
8.The boys let me play soccer in the evenings.
9.Mak left for Amsterdam on a loooooooong broadcasting course at Radio Nederland, I had fun bossing my siblings around.
10.Arwah makwo was bedridden after her 3rd major stroke, she passed away a year later.

10 years ago, 1995 (age 20)

1.Probably the worst year
2.Near fatal incidences.
3.Friendships were challenged.
4.Broke up with my childhood sweetheart.
5.Discovered serial dating and how much I’ve missed out being stuck with one guy since I was 14. Which also means my heart was battered and crushed multiple times but I was always first to get out when things went wrong. Egotistical b****h!

5 years ago, 2000 (age 25)

1.Cyberjaya , teaching at Multimedia University.
2.Finalist for AIM2000 Song of the Year, spoke to M.Nasir for the first time. Starstruck.
3.Befriended a somebody, he liked me too much, I had to run like mad. No way I was going to be cawangan kedua. Despite that major crush on his S-class. Takuttttttt.
4.Seriously dated someone, but did not work out. Continued serial dating, got dumped for the first time. Ouch.
5.Murah rezeki.Alhamdulillah
6.Met Tun Daim, and discovered oh, how down to earth he is. He wears sandals to work.
7.Lost weight with the help of a celebrity doctor, relapsed and accepted the fact that I am just meant to be chunky lah.
8.My best friend taught me how to swim properly.
9.Robert T Kiyosaki changed my life.
10. Had lunch with Siti Hasmah, and discovered how soft her hands are.
11. Got a job in South Africa, and decided that I could actually survive on my own. Takmo kawin, all men suck and all.

3 years ago, 2002 (age 27)

1.Singapore, happily married.
2.Murah rezeki. Alhamdulillah
3.Almost famous.
4.Moved out of the inlaws’ and into our own place.
5.Drive-toured Europe with darling husband. Woo hoo!
6.Miscarried after 12 weeks gestation. Very sad.
7.Actively making hot hot kueh in the oven.
8.Started a home office, doing A&P, virtual assistant.

Last year, 2004 (age 29)

1.Singapore, hot kueh is one year old.
2.Developed chronic dependence on the internet.
3.CA murah rezeki. Alhamdulillah.
4.Mak’s breast cancer metastasized to the lungs and liver.
5.Home business doing pretty well. Toyed with ping pang pet pot (import export)

This year, 2005 (age 30)

1. Singapore, hot kueh is two year old.
2. Discovered blogging and made new friends.
3.Started a home studio.
4.Confirmed that I cannot bake and sew to save my life
5.Seriously writing to publish.
6.Discovered that that Bentong publisher sucks.
7.Grew up. Finally
8.Rezeki is a bit slow, but still okay. Alhamdulillah.
9.Mak relapsed.

Next year, 2006 (age 31)

1.Singapore, actively making another hot kueh?
2.Set up own music publishing house and earn more.
3.Produce own song and earn more.
4.Launch book.
5.Buy property in Malaysia?
6.Aishah weaned and toilet –trained?

10 years from now, 2015 (age 40)

1.Small island off Trengganu,financially independent, with Ely, Maknenek and Uja.
2.All 9 V2020 resolutions realized 5 years in advance. Woo hoo!
3.All hot kuehs on express route to Oxford law/Harvard Business. Unless the kuehs have other plans.
4.Perform Hajj
5.Still making hot kueh in the oven.

Next to be memed: Ely, Redkebaya, Lollies, CK, Noreez, Uja, Mak Nenek, Kakteh(only if you can tear yourself way from the big D) and everyone at Sentraal Station. That means YOU

Mak Sayang

2005-09-05T05:56:00.000+08:00

Dearest Mak,

It must have been hard for you to leave me behind back then. I now know how difficult it can get to part with the baby that you have carried for 9 gruelling months, only to be separated from you not long after you've only held her for 3 months. I can't even bear the thought of Aishah not sleeping in the same room with me for one miserable night. But you had no other choice, and it is not my place to question your decision.

I now know that you've had to do it for the sake of my survival. Life for you as a student in your early 20s was hard enough at the time, what with the challenges undergraduate studies, as newlyweds at that, being away from home and all. It was difficult even for you to have a proper meal on the table, what more provide for a baby. I am not bitter anymore, because now I know better. I wrote this for you some time ago, to tell you that I can see things better now.

Kepulanganmu

dikira boleh mengubat rindu

separuh gila berendam sendu

berjauhan dengan aku

disambut gerombolan bengis

mematikan bunga pencak langkahmu

pecah impian merangkul puteri

terbit dan menegang urat serikandi

tak dijemput masuk disua penumbuk

Kau yang tak ku kenali

mengapa kau datang sini

seolah mahu membawaku lari

jauh dari konco-koncoku ini

si comot berlari lari

dalam tempayan ia bersembunyi

setelah lama dicari-cari

disental bersih bersabun mandi

Dalam bingung ada cemas

istana aku dibungkus kemas

meronta-ronta aku yang lemas

dirangkul dipeluk ketat dan kemas

macam kambing takut terlepas

Tika itu ku duniaku berpusing-pusing

konco-konco bengis amarah makin melenting

aku kau bawa jua ke tempat asing

Menitik air mata wanita itu

yang ku kenal sebagai ratu

parah terpanah bisa lidahmu

dari itu aku tutup pintu hatiku

takkan ada ruang buatmu

menagih kasih dan simpatiku

tak terbiasa dengan gerak langkahmu

hingga kini kau sangat asing bagiku

Bila aku sendiri yang melahirkan

naluri yang aneh tapi mengasyikkan

baru terhampar cerita yang membenarkan

gagahnya serikandi bila kasih berantakan

dikala senja baru kesampaian

ampunkanlah aku si budak comot

tangan diikat kepala dipasung

diracun-racun fikiran kolot

menafikan matamu cahaya yang sulung

Baru jelas hikayat pedang dan panah

naluri aneh srikandi barirah

dari sudut pandangan nazrah

I had a vivid dream a few days ago. I dreamt that I was out with Baya (my sis), looking frantically for you, we were on a beach somewhere, suddenly the sky went so dark as if someone turned out the lights. I just remembered that we managed to round up everyone yet you were not in the picture at all. I remember running and running until I woke up sweating only to realize it was just an ugly dream. And a day after that I got a message from Baya that our mother has a greater battle to fight, with a new recurrence your lungs, reportedly progressive. We are praying hard that it won't get to your blood stream, bones and brain. I was crushed upon hearing the latest about you before I went back to see you. But quickly changed my mind, when I saw your sweet, sweet smile.

It is amazing that you were the one who had the rights words to reassure me, and how unperturbed you look, as if nothing was seriously wrong inside your body while I had to fight back tears as not to spoil the mood. It is so apparent who's the stronger person here. I guess you will be okay. I am reminded of Uja's words, that all of us ought to celebrate your life, make the best of the time we have with you and not think about losing our loved ones. That's just, plainly, not our business to poke out cute lil noses in. I could see how cancer has brought our family closer, and altered our set of beliefs that there are things we cannot change and control. But we can always make the best with what we have. Allah has big plans. Great big plans for the people that He loves.

So today, let's celebrate your life, Mak. You are positivity personified. The story of your life may not always be sugarcoated, but you've always come out valiant and triumphant. Happy Birthday, Mak sayang. May Allah bless us all with a lifetime of good things and a grander life in the Hereafter. The Grand Design is a meticulous one, but there is a light. May we all find that light. Amin.

2005-09-02T00:16:00.000+08:00

Please refresh the page if it does not load properly. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I am packing up to go and visit my mom in Bangi. There has been a relapse in her lungs, and the big C is back with a vengeance. Please help me and make special doa for my beloved mommie, Barirah Alwi. It seems that the very moment, we thought we were ahead of these cells, they pop out of no where and destroy anything wishful that ever crossed our minds. Also, remember Nefertiti's grandma who is now valiantly fighting for her life in Kota Bharu, in your solemn prayers. Also, for Kakteh's mom who is ever so strong fighting the same battle as my mom. For Mobilemom who is now recuperating. And for all sufferers and survivors , family and friends, may Allah show us the way towards love. May we all find peace in the knowing that Allah knows what is best for us. Amin.

Of Chocolates

2005-09-01T17:11:00.000+08:00

Cocoa was said to have been discovered somewhere near the Amazonian-Orinoco basin, where the ancient Olmecs and Mayans dwelled. The earliest known cocoa plantation was found in the regions of Yucatan. Cocoa wasn't just an important part of their epicurian palate, it was money. Aztec Indians are convinced that the cocoa beans were brought down straight from heaven, and those who consume chocolatl(a bitter drink made by boiling crushed cocoabeans) will acquire superpowers and great wisdom. It was well kept secret until a Spaniard named H.Cortez discovered that King Montezumo of Mexico popularized the idea of consuming molten hot chocolatl to improve virility. Naturally, he brought home some of that potent stuff.

The Spanish were the ones who started to mix the bitter South American concoction with vanilla, sweeteners and aromatics to taste like the chocolates that we so love today. And then a Spanish King married a French princess, bearing a gift of a chestful of expensive cocoa, which essentially marked the beginning of chocolate culture in France.

Chocolate continued to be the food for the upper class well into the 17th century until it was made more superbly edible by refining its taste and texture and easily affordable and available in the open market by big chocolatiers like Van Houten, Cadbury, Lindt and many more. From that bitter drink, it has evolved into scrumptious bonbons, ganache, caraibe, tendresse,fondants, royale, caraques, tablette, truffles, pralines, macarons, caramelo...oh, I can go on and on...

The theme of my dreams

Isn't it amazing to learn what was considered as sacred and divine by the ancient South Americans, a couple of thousand years ago is so readily available for us these days. Chocolates continue to be the subject of sinful fantasies, sure fire way to win your way into the hearts of mother- in -laws, and especially lately, souvenirs from overseas friends. Kakteh got me nearly 10 bars of these, I finished them all before I remembered that I should take pictures. Sorry. Temporary short term memory loss possibly due to high pheromones.

So you have read about the serious pig-out session I had with Ayu last week, yea? If not, please click here, I've put up some food pics there,just in case you need to work an appetite for lunch or something? See also our private stash of See's Candies flown in all the way from San Francisco. What you see here is the content of that gold box. As you can see, it was not very hard to eat these giant truffles. This picture was taken minutes after it was opened. What was difficult though, was to refrain from eating more than two at one seating. The trick was to leave the gold box at the inlaws' just so that I don't gobble them up on the get go.

What didn't help was the fact that Aishah is a connoissuer sampler. She eats a bit and when she gets enough of one truffle she would move on to the next one just to see what heavenly filling is next. You never know what you're gonna get, huh, Gump? I could not let the leftovers go to waste so, pop! In you go!

I have always had this mad, mad passion for chocolates. So bad that almost everyone I know would get me some of this stuff for the kick of seeing me all giddy and hyperactive. I remember an old friend who came back for summer hols and gave me huge bars of chocs. I went berserk and totally ignored him while getting orgasmically lost in chocoholic frenzy. Other than great guitar skills, chocolates can be considered as welcomed compromise, when it comes to scoring major points with me way back then. Give me a Baci and you're home free. Give me Godiva, you are my best friend. Give me See's Candies, you are my twin. Keypoint: 70% and above dark chocolate. With an assortment of nuts, if you please.

I discovered cream-filled frozen strawberries earlier this week at Cold Storage, but since I am seriously detox-ing, I had to be forcibly steered away to the salad section in the middle of my hallucination of simmering chocolate fondue, my delectable husband and them strawberries. Oh, gosh! Ayu, please stop me.

My regular trips to The Cocoa Tree does not help much either. I would always keep my purchases below $50 just so that I won't buy too much that I'll regret the extra paunch, eh, pounds. I am not kidding when I say the Japanese make great chocolates, Hironobu Tsujiguchi is one mean chocolatier, or you could just try Royce, your answer to Japanese Godiva. And if you just want to feel overly sexy with the masterpieces by bonbonnieres magnifique, send the boys to get you some knick knacks from, urm, let me see, Le Chocolat de H would be as much fun as Hevin Chocolates. Airports are great places to get your chocs, some restaurants make their own gourmet chocolates too, like Les Amis, and there are a great number of chocolate cafes and bars down here in Singapore. In KL, you could just pop over to the KL Tower and knock yourself out. Otherwise, supermarkets carry a wide range of goodies too. Or better still, order online. Wah, how easy it is to get fat nowadays huh?

Chocolate is always a good ingredient to have fun with in the kitchen. I can betcha there are probably hundreds of chocolate recipes out there.It is always a joy to google chocolatey recipes. One I would like to try is Chocolate Soup with Caramelised Bananas, pictured above. But I would not be too k*nky or brave enough to try chicken fried in chocolate though.

But it is not radically strange to put chocolate in savoury dishes, really. Mole Poblano , poultry cooked in chocolate sauce is Mexico's national dish. So there.

I remember a pen that has a chocolatey smell, which was really popular when I was in primary school. And bath products that smell of chocolates are good for cold weather, kan Ayu?.I have not mustered the courage to purchase edible chocolate flavoured massage oil, but I would someday wish to make a visit to Hershey's and go for that chocolate body mask treatment and that oh-soo-gooey chocolate long bath.

So, peeps, this is what detox-ing has done to me. I could not get chocolates of my mind. Help me God! What's your chocolate story, Charlie?

Menjelang 31 Ogos

2005-08-30T09:51:00.000+08:00

Terdetik di sudut hati yang telah sekian lama meronta-ronta untuk berasak-asak menyeberangi tambak sempit itu untuk menyatakan rasa rinduku pada tanah yang bergelar Malaysia, bisakah aku menabur budi sementelah aku terbias mengikut takdir perjalanan hidupku? Walhal memang sudah menjadi kebiasaanku meneropong dari jendela rumahku, betapa hampirnya aku kepadanya. Terlonjak-lonjak hatiku setiap kali dapat melihat sebarang pergerakan di Pasir Gudang, tidak jauh dari kediamanku. Rindu.

Bukan sahaja kepada sanak saudaraku, pada aneka selera rasa, malah kepada aroma yang sering menggeletek rongga hidungku suatu waktu dulu. Seringkali tercetus jua kenangan tempatku bermain, detik gembira dan detik hiba serta wajah-wajah yang kukasihi.Walaupun jasadku di sini, jelaslah sudah di mana duduknya jiwa ragaku. Walaupun dekat namun tak tergapai kekerapan mendakapimu semahu hatiku. Walau jauh, kau sentiasa bersemarak di hatiku. Sedang kau mengukir kegemilangan ke-48, kubingkiskan salam kasih dari anak watan kerinduan dengan doa syahdu agar kau sentiasa gah dalam kebebasan dan kemerdekaan hakiki. Syabas Malaysia! Negaraku.

Omak, den nak balik...kobau semolih lah sekor duo.

Pot Luck Picnic

2005-08-29T00:31:00.000+08:00

Geng Gebang Singapura

Oh, nyamannya suasana

So CK-F-Y, Noreez, Raudz and I agreed meet at Botanical Gardens at 3 pm yesterday, just so that CK could take a break from playing host( doing the 3Cs-cook, clean and collapse) to all of us. A picnic was amicably decided and the food was to be fuss-free. But ALL of us ended up carrying berkoyan-koyan of goodies. The event manager was Noreez of course, the ever efficient one.

For the sake of waking up your salivary glands this mundane Monday morning(or whatever time you happen to read this), let me just list down the things that are probably going through the home stretch down our digestive system, and for you to angan-angan. It IS going to be my last Sunday before I start my frantic yo-yo dieting. Again.

Yeah, right.

Noreez brought tuna sandwiches-which were superb I could easily finish them all but I tau malu, skewered sausage and sotong balls and kueh-mueh, including a very nice cake-a surprise gift commemorating F and CK's forthcoming anniversary. CK brought berlambak fruits, Chikedees (I got really hyper when I saw the packet, felt like a kid again), Royce chocolate covered whole almonds( checkout also Royce cubes) and berlambak drinks. Ely's hard candies also made an appearance but no one actually touched it, pemalu kot or I lembap tak offer. I brought nasi himpit and sambal bali for the grownups, and tomatoey pasta with basil and parmesan, cheezdippers for the kids and some drinks. We ended up with so much to eat and drink after all.

It was really hard to decide what to gobble first. So rambang was my mata, CK had to jemput me more than 3 times. Muahaha. Macam terkesima dan terblur-blur gitu. Oh the cake, oh the kueh, oh the chocs, oh no, the chocs. Die-die. The Amande (amender?) Chocolates were yummy, almonds coated with dark choc, milk choc and white choc. You would think that being as meticulous as they are in food preparation, the Japanese would somehow make it with flying colours as chocolate connoissuers huh? They were really lovely lovely morsels of heaven, I tell you.

Our designated photographer, Raudz made sure all the Kodak moments were immortalized. She is a bag of talents this wee lil lass. Janganlah malu-malu beli majalah Manja bulan ni. She even made Aishah and I bracelets out of beads. Enterprising lagi Nona Singapura ni. gambar gelang MIA

Selain dari acara makan memakan, while tha daddies took a stroll with them daughters mommies, kakak dan adik urm, mesyuarat tingkaplah, jabbered away. Muahahaha.

Alah, anak abah

Dari kiri, cepat jalan.

Chocolate Ganache Layer Cake

It was Noreez's idea to give the lovely couple, CK and F, an early celebration of their anniversary. And they were really touched with the gesture. A little monster actually hijacked the cake thinking it was her birthday and cut the cake first. Malunya aku... But the cake was delish.

Noreez and I

Notice that I am always within arm's reach to the chocs. Oh, one thing that I overlooked again and again (nyanyuk tak sedar diri) is the fact that Noreez and CK are wonderfully generous people, that I am beginning to feel really bashful for all the goodies and trinkets that they lavish me with when we meet. CK gave each of us girls bling bling with our names customized in crystals. Aishah got t-shirts from these lovely ladies. I really, really must buck up, man! Thanks, you guys...

Bling! Bling!

Hip Hot Hoochie Mama T-shirts for Aishah

We went back slightly after 6 pm. Aishah was clearly reluctant to go home, she actually asked to "picnic again". Y was obviously very tired because she had not napped before the picnic. It was getting late too. I could see on Noreez's face, so motherly was she towards Aishah and Yasmin,it occured to me, she is the most maternal of all of us put together. She was quick to notice what Aishah was up to, walhal mak dia khayal. Cepat-cepatlah kawin, Noreez.You would make a good mom.

I may have missed out other details of the picnic, and there are many more pics. Hop over to these lovely people's blog for more. We parted ways with promises to meet up again.

To CK and family, Noreez and Raudz...

Bangun pagi gosok gigi

Jangan serik, mari lah picnic lagi

Pak Lebai pakai celak

Pasni BBQ lah pulak

Work That Bah-dey!

2005-08-27T19:09:00.000+08:00

You.

Yes, YOU.

Get up offa that chair.

Hands on your hips, legs slightly apart, bend you knees and squat.

One, two, three, four....up and down and up and down, nine, ten and up and down...

Stay down! Breathe, two, three, four, five , six, seven, eight. And up, down, up and down!

Burn the l*rd a**, baby, BURRRRRRRN!

I was going through my old collection of old school hip hop and stumbled upon an old favourite. My homie (Peah, Era, Yaya, Mei-mei, Nita et al), y'all know what I'm talking about. I am psyching meself up to get ma bah-dey back into shape after years of letting go. No, scrap that. Amma try to add some cardio and resistance training just so I can still indulge in sinful gluttony without the guilt trip. I guess the best workout song would be the ones that's able to get your groove on. I am pretty sure Ayu's generation would not have heard of some of these old school gems, but trust me, they don't make it like they used to. Old school is sssssssssss....sizzling, dawg! Let's give some luuuurve to ma braddah from anotha maddah, Montell Jordan!

Ayu Was Here: UPDATED!

2005-08-24T22:11:00.000+08:00

Maybe it's the flu I am having, or it could possibly be that my short term memory has gone all askew. It seems like just now Ayu's sunny face brightened up my bluesy Monday when she showed up at the frontdoor, the house really feels empty without her infectious guffaw, the guest room looked especially dull without Ayu's eclectic sense(of decorum). The house is quieter without her calling my name when something exciting came up over the net. Oh, a little grasshopper told me that the best way to entertain a Penangite is to feed and take that person shopping. And knowing how the internet is akin to a life support system to this brainiac(in a good way), I surrendered my loyal laptop for her recreational use. So all that plan to fingerpaint, visit art galleries, museums and stuff was just a plan, lah.

So, that afternoon, she came and we sat down over Angus O'Neil Rootbeer and chatted. Aishah took some time to warm up. She practically ordered everybody to follow her to the study, and showed off how internet-savvy she is. Sapa la ajar anakku jadi eksi borak ni?

We went down to the playground to let Aishah mingle with the neighbourhood kids. Before long, CA came home, to pick us up to grab a lil din dins. We had planned to take Ayu to this Indonesian Sate place at Jalan Gelenggang, Thomson, sekali tutup. That's ok, takde rezeki. So we headed to Adam Road, to let Ayu sample the Nasi Lemak. Alas, the whole food square was closed too. Hmm, maybe Ayu was jinxed. And then it struck me, tis the season when Hungry Ghosts roam the land. So devotees were busy making offerings. Many makan holes closed early.

So we had no choice but to go to the touristy satay place at Lau Pa Sat. Ayu will post the pictures of the food we ate. One thing I can confirm though, people of the southmost regions of the peninsula, can NOT cook Paadprik. Good thing the chicken wings and Mee Pok were superb as usual. I would not say the same about the satay from Gerai No 8. It used to be fantastic, but the regular pakcik and makcik were not the ones operating the stall. What a shame.

Next we drove to Woodlands to meet Ely's parents and to pick up the goodies Ely sent me. I called Ely's kampung several times for directions, I really thought I spoke to Ely's mom, so there I was, calling Tety, Ely's sister (hallo Tety!!!) "cik" in total wonder how young Ely's mom sounded, and how exactly like Ely! We got there with the biggest tub of ice cream I could find at the store, and greeted by Ely's Bapak, Cik Ghani, Tety and two nieces. We were quickly ushered to the oh-so-cosy living room where a spread of goodies were already waiting. There were Pisang Goreng Amerika(well they were Ely's bananas from SF) and roti boyan, complete with sambal tumis. Aishah had fallen asleep right after dinner so Anwar minded her in the car. Rugi besar tak naik...Ely's mom was away at mengaji class, she must have missed her geng gebang after a month away. Cik Ghani and Ely interchangably gave me the recipe of roti boyan, and a nifty trick to make em round pastries with instant prata too. We chatted like recently reunited relatives, if I had forgotten I was married and had my husband and child waiting downstairs, I would have stayed overnite dengan penuh tak malunya dan tak sedar dirinya. I had a great time gomoy-ing Tety's girls and kissed cute lil Gegirl(the cat) before I had to leave, not without reaffirming with Cik Ghani that we were henceforth sedara (which only means I can come and makan-makan again right, Tety?). Tety and I shared a giant hug before I left. Tak dapat peluk Ely, peluk Tety pun okay, to which Cik Ghani said, bau sama. Muahaha.

We skipped downstairs with goodie bags in our hands, like two lil girls trick-or-treatin', even CA had an animated look on his face when he saw the bagfuls of See's Candies. If anybody had a digicam then you would be able to see how giddy we were. The drive home was bizzarely blase.

We started late the next day, as we chatted a little past midnite under the covers. A lil like what I would do with my own sisters when they come over. Ayu had one of the laptops with her, so she must have slept much later. I woke up feeling a little woozy and heavy, and the phone rang, Ely called reprimanding, well sorta, us for being in communicado after getting our candies. Well,that's how you keep us kids quiet right? Ely had only 6 minutes, so we chatted like 2 MRTs running concurrently, on parallel tracks, racing our I love yous and thank yous.

Ayu woke up shortly after, and I made a simple breakfast of teh tarik and chee cheong fun with sauteed chicken bits and shitake mushroom.

After that we both had our laptops on, she was supposed to book her ticket home, while multitasking of course-she's been internet deprived for days, and I checked emails. And then off to the mall nearest to my house to buy the inlaws' some butterfly kueh and curry puffs before we headed towards Tampines. Not before we gobbled some Old Chang Kee goodies ourselves, washed down with Jolli Bean Soybean Milk.

When we got there, MIL nagged me for being late. Muahahaha, notty notty me. First thing first, I opened the gold box of truffles to be kenduri-ed with the people I love. One bite and I was quickly taken to another realm which felt like having multiple org***s on a roller coaster ride.

We were at Tampines because I needed MIL to mind Aishah while Ayu and I go out gallivanting. Well, actually, to go and get Ayu her ticket home and to meet Rabi'ah for dinner. I thought we were going to manage to slip out without being forcefed by darling MIL. No such luck. And how beautiful was her kari ikan, sambal belacan, ikan selar goreng, kerisi goreng and fried baby bokchoy. Ayu will post pics. Drooool. Sungguh tak menyesal.

We then proceeded to Tampines Mall on foot, guilt conscious. Sesampainya di sana, we ooh aah's over the latest fashion-not for me though, but for our slim fashionista, lah. Too bad we were in a hurry. Ayu scored a nice sequinned clutch. I sniggered devilishly. Ely is right, I am a bad influence when it comes to shopping and eating. Off towards the interchange we went. We saw Rabi'ah from a distance and I panicked, I did not get her anything. The nearest shop was Swensen's so quickly I thought, one nice choclit coated ice cream cone would do it, lah. But then I remembered, Rabi'ah was fasting. Luckily there were nice tins of mooncakes on display so I got her the Vegetarian Lotus one. Dinner was at a Middle Eastern place called "Samar". We got seats that looked like the inside of a harem, with cushions, lanterns and carpets. The faint smell of sandalwood matches the dizzying splendour of little lights coming out of those swaying lanterns. We had flatbreads, baba ghannouj, tabouli, lamb shank, roast chicken, lamb racks between us. The drinks were equally exotic, Kamaradeen, Karkadeh and Lime granita.

Well, I am a picky foodie after all, I would say the ambience was superb but the food, let's just say, I won't go there again lah. The experience in the company of the two wonderful girls made up for the shortcomings, I also liked the idea of being able to lunjur kaki after wrestling to cut a strangely liat lamb shank which was supposed to be slow cooked. Oh please don't let me start a long restaurant review.

Balik-balik, we lepak-ed in Ayu's room before I gave up cause my old age overcame the better of me. I am pretty sure Ayu spend several hours on the net before she too succumbed to the calling of Lala-land.

The next day, we breakfasted on Kueh Teow Tom Yam and Tau Sar Pau, and chatted with each other after. Check this out, we were seating next to each other in my tv room, exchanging messages over YM. Kak Tenah and Ely soon joined us. So, aren't we confirmed internet addicts?

I had to start the last meal I was planning to sumbat Ayu before she left. So our lunch at teatime(breakfast was at lunch,kantoi la, Ayu and I share the same biological clock) was chicken roasted with apples and grapes, lemony eggplant salad, wild mushroom soup, fruity saffron rice, Ajwain flatbreads and mint dip, washed down with San Benadetto with bubbles. We were too full to wash the dishes, I simply closed the door of my kitchen, had a couple of Godivas with Ayu, chatted a wee bit while watching my anak-anak ikan.

And then it was time for Ayu to go and meet a friend, last minute before she took off. We dropped her off at Raffles City, I held back tears as I told myself that this is not going to be the last time I see her. She had promised to take Aishah on a spaceship to see the moon one day after all. Until we meet again, my dear Ayu, arrivederci!

Kiss From A Rose

2005-08-21T09:03:00.000+08:00

I don't remember exactly when she came into our lives. I remember Ayah buying a single bed, a chest of drawers, a full length mirror, a fan, a transistor radio, a small side table and a clothes hanger for that little downstairs room in our little terrace house back then. After a quick salam and perfunctory introductions, it was bedtime for me, rejoicing the fact that I didn't have to do as much housework now that we got someone to do it for us.

I woke up the next day and found a huge spread of kampung breakfast, so different from our usual bread and cereal blearghhs. And the house was operating like a factory with so much activity, whirring of the washing machine, that lovely scratchy, brushing sound of someone washing the bathroom and the permeating ambrosial smell of detergents. And oooh, even before I knew how to mop the floor properly back then, the terrazzo felt and smelt so clean, I could eat off of it. Let's not get too excited, I thought. Let's go figure that woman out before I jump to conclusions.

Turned out, this tall, fair-skinned, "curvilicious" lady is quite a character. Her husband had left her, MIA, in communicado and she had to work to support her 4 boys. She was accustomed to a comfortable life before her stroke of misfortune, fate has it that she had a role to play in our lives. She was meant to be that nurturing mother and father to all the five of us, while Mak and Ayah bend their backs to keep us alive.

I would like to share with you the things I remember about her, Puan Halus binte Jais, otherwise known as Makcik Rose, of Kampung Olak Lempit, Hulu Langat. Not far from Teluk Panglima Garang.

She usually finished all the main chores around 11 o'clock and that's when she would lay down and rest while listening to "No 5, Persiaran Satu" on the radio, I forget the title of that family radio drama. By 2 o'clock she would fold the laundry, and that's when we'd have our regular chats. There were stories about her colorful life as a Tukang Jual Obat's wife, touring throughout the country, following her notoriously philandering husband. Of days when she was poker-buddies with a certain P.Ramlee and Saloma. Of fresh fish on her doorstep when there was a big flood in Kuala Sungai Muda, Kedah. Of Tiger shows in Thailand. Of Lorong Haji Taib days, where her husband sold obat, while she looked out a certain Rumah Tumpangan and somebody thought she was offering business. She was heavily pregnant then, but the guy could not see that fact from downstairs. It was amazing how cheap it was back then, she was offered RM10 for a lil sum'in sum'in. She got scared and shut her windows and never to open them unless her husband was around.

I also remember her thundering voice calling my name from downstairs, to jemur baju in her standard French.

'Hoi, apa kau buat kat atas tu hah? Kau ingat aku ni kuli ke ha?
M*ng***k**g, mengg****l b**i ****nt** je kau ye? Turun, jemur kain!!"

I remember getting a good lecture (read:scolding) about masak lemak, when I did not stir it properly, it curdled. She also taught me many many more Malay dishes and inculcated this passion for food and the kitchen.

I remember being chased around the dining table with a broomstick for menjawab cakap orang tua. I also remember getting into trouble with my parents because I could not hide anything from Makcik Rose, the spy. She always found my cinta monyet love notes no matter how meticulously I hid my stash, she would be the one who would yell at the boys who called the house and kantoi me for all my mischief. I used to call her a "busybody", and apparently she checked the meaning of that word, and I got a mighty good one after that.

But she had never stopped me from being a kid. She let me play soccer with the boys, although Ayah has another opinion about that. She let me have my Barbie bashing parties, I wasn't very girly then. There were seriously dismembered casualties. Luckily they were rubber. She would be the one frantically knocking on Ayah's bedroom door when I was getting a good spanking. She would be the one who would watch and listen to me play the piano( when I am upset, I'd hammer my teenage angst away on the piano). She would be the one psyching me up, rationalizing for me, and never failed to remind me how much she loved me and my adik-adik.

She even brought us back to her kampung many, many times. I remember the rickety buses we took to get there, the rows after rows of pineapples, and kelapa sawit. I remember her big wooden house, with so many people in it, atok to cucu. I remember picking and eating biji kundang skins and all, fresh mangoes in santan and nasi ambang. Most importantly, I remember a wonderful family. I remember teaching her nieces songs from the city. They especially liked "Manic Monday" by The Bangles. And the boys hiding under the stilted dangau in the pineapple farm trying to sneak a peek under our skirts. They got into serious trouble after that.

I remember how Ayah and Mak helped her claim taklik and her hot, hot romance with this lawyer from Biro Bantuan Guaman. I remember her sweet voice singing Pop Yeh Yeh tunes. I remember the way she danced to Hindi songs, I remember the evening strolls. Oh, I remember a lot of things about my Makcik Rose, her sweet smell, her crisp kain batik, I remember the smoothness of her fingers when she suap-ed me my ultimate favourite, nasi kicap and ikan goreng. I remember her coiffured hair and her immaculate sense of style. I remember a very elegant lady who is not supposed to be a domestic helper.

She called me a few months before I got engaged. She told me that she's been sickly. Working in a kayu factory did not help. We had a tearful conversation. I learnt that she reconciled with her tukang jual obat husband, and he passed on shortly after. I learnt that all her boys have jobs now. And that she has grown very very old and tired. She had left me a number to keep in touch, but the last time I called, the number was no longer in service.

Makcik Rose, I have you to thank for the things I know today, and I will keep praying that life would be easier for you before your time is up. You have touched our lives in the magnitude that it is humanly impossible to return your generosity and kindness. From the bottom of my heart, thank you and I love you so much, wherever you are.

This entry is inspired by Dede's story at Anedra's

Ambitious Astronaut

2005-08-21T08:48:00.000+08:00

CLICK HERE

Bullish on Bouncing Back

2005-08-19T16:50:00.000+08:00

So I went on a break and tamed some demons, not without the help of dioramas of death squads capable of macabre morbidity and the most cold blooded killer who came out triumphant was The Istiadzah.

Ok, ok, the hyperbole is getting to my head. To put it simply, I just needed to sort this thick jam I was stuck in, and a little bit of Me and The Big Guy time did the trick. I am grateful to the people who have helped me go through the darkest hour, even those who did not know the head or tail of things, and never once pressed me to spill the details. To Nefertiti, Ely, Arwanzeefor, Kak Teh, Kak Tenah, Lady Jade, Ayu, Zana, Nadia,and everyone who dropped comments and offered encouragements and remembered me in their prayers, THANK YOU.

How can I best share with you what I have learnt without sounding,God forbids, holier-than-thou?

When there is chaos, I am forced to accept that there are more important things than fame and fortune, and all that romantic perspective of things, especially in idiotic proportions will just make me exactly that, a romantic idiot. And those important things, I gathered, can be attained by way of peace, most importantly with oneself as well as with others. Enlightenment, in this case, peace of mind, is all in my too-big-for- a-neck-to-carry head.

I am a Muslim, born and bred, although I shamelessly go astray in times of weakness much to the dismay of the people who shed crimson tears to make me an orang. Yet The Big Guy has never once turned his back on me. When I cried for help, He gave me help, embraced me dalam lingkungan Ha, which gives me much of the peace I have for the past week. I actually gave myself two weeks to wallow in my sorrow and exhaust my capacity to wail and wake the dead, before I decided to take charge of things, miraculously, I got out of the woods in less that one.

I am taking this mencari ilmu hingga ke negeri China thing a little bit seriously lately that I found the timeless wisdom of Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism, ringing alarm bells each time I feel like succumbing to my angsty spurts of self-pity. And how fascinating his principles go hand in hand with what we learn and practise in Islam, check the list of sifat mahmudah and juxtopose with that of Lao Tzu's.

Be Humble

A good man is like water, that dwells in low places. Recede first if you want to proceed. Give first if you want to take. Great oceans are kings of all rivers and streams because they do not compete for higher grounds.

Be Gentle and Compassionate

Bend in order to be straight. Be hollow in order to be full. Yield in order to be completely preserved.

Do Not Have Too Many Desires

Take less and you will have more. Desire more and you will be obsessed. No disaster is greater that insatiable desires. No vice is greater than limitless greed. He who is content is always sufficient.

Do Not Be Too Selfish

If you put yourself behind others, you will find yourself the first. He who stands on tiptoes, cannot stand firm. He who strides cannot go far. The more you do for others, the more you will have for yourself.

Do Not Be Too Sure

If you do not know, and you know you do not know, it is good.If you do not know but believe you know, it is bad.If you know others you are smart.If you know yourself, you are enlightened.

Withdraw in Good Time

If you love fame too much, you will pay a dear price.If you hold on to too much wealth, you will lose heavily one day. If you do not know where to stop, you will put yourself in danger. But if you know how to be content, you will not suffer disgrace.

Good Government

Too much taxes starve the people, too many rules make the land ungovernable.The more prohibitions, the poorer the people will become. The more laws are passed, the more thieves there will be.

From Lao Tzu I learnt to take a step back and have really good look at that big-headed basket case in the mirror. What I saw is life changing. Reason enough for another Zippy-doo-dah day!

Hiatus

2005-08-12T13:31:00.000+08:00

Until further notice EVERYDAY IS A NEW DAY is declaring a self-imposed hiatus from regular updates. Meanwhile, be nice to each other. Hop over to Sentraal Station for your regular entertainment.

Babe in the woods has gone soul searching. Mohon halaal 0-0.

Ode to GKT

2005-08-10T19:43:00.000+08:00

Di mana hilangnya
cinta membara kala lara
Diluka begini
berlagu sunyi ku sendiri
Seketika cuma mekar bersama
bergelora di jiwa
Haruskah ternoda luhurnya
kasih pertama terlerai jua
luruh seribu dalam ku terlena
Haruskah terpisah akhirnya
Di dalam sepi ku
gamit malam ku teman sendu
Diguris hati ku
terpendam sayu dalam rindu
Ku lukis senyuman di pinggir cinta
Dalam hiba di jiwa
Haruskah ternoda luhurnya
kasih pwertama terlerai jua
luruh seribu dalam ku terlena
Haruskah terpisah akhirnya

On Marriage

2005-08-10T19:30:00.000+08:00

Then Almitra spoke again and said, "And what of Marriage, master?"
And he answered saying:
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

-Khalil Gibran

Trust

2005-08-10T14:00:00.000+08:00

Henry Stimson once said, "The chief lesson I have learned in a long life is that the only way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him; and the surest way to make him untrustworthy is to distrust him and show your distrust."

To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Trust, my friends, is a decision,

A conscious one.

Oh well.

Find the seed at the bottom of your heart and bring forth a flower
-Shigenori Kameoka

The Rocker Road

2005-08-08T16:04:00.000+08:00

I started the day pretty excited about the gig, getting the mood right by listening to some of CA's collection of rock songs, and found that I could still actually appreciate Dreamtheater and Malmsteen. I won't budge in my belief that Iron Maiden, Sepultura dan rakan-rakan are major causes of migraines. Sorry.

I would say my first taste of rock came from my mother who came back from Amsterdam with recordings of MTV and Sky Trax music videos.This, mind you was waaaaaay before Astro and cable tv. Mak even had Prince's 1999 concert tape. From those tapes I was blown away by the images of good looking men with guitar skills. You remember Duran Duran? And I was like, 11 years old then. For years the way to my heart was good guitar skills. My first beau was a big GnR fan, he even picked up a few sloppy chords on the kapok, but I still think he's better off with his computer stuff lah. Before I forget, Guns n Roses are coming to town next month.

Slowly I picked up an interest in Bon Jovi, Poison, Whitesnake, Def Leppard dan rakan-rakan. Oh, we peeple who listen to those peeple, don't mingle with the U2 and the Nirvana peeple, Don't ask me why, because I don't know.And then I discovered the super coolness of Queen from this crazy mamat who taught me how to play and sing like the 4NonBlondes. It was love when I first heard Queen's "Love of My life" and how fun it is to dance in all silliness to "I Want to Ride my Bicycle". From him I was introduced to the S3xpistols, Nine Inch Nails and all the similarly, strangely named ones. I also learned that Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath and Kiss don't really play heavy stuff despite their dark and bloody persona. When hanging out with my blood sisters of PPP days (you know who you are), we banged to Metalicca, and we weren't very friendly towards the Megadeth fanatics. One of the girls was going out with the guy who was involved in bringing in foreign bands to play in Malaysia, so that was when the love for classic rock blossomed, with us drooling over music by Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and other Papa Rocks lah. I began to appreciate the works of pre-janggut Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and my ultimate favourite is "The Band" from Martin Scorcese's rockumentary, "The Last Waltz".

The alternative rock scene was mushrooming then, and many a young rocker wannabe thought rock was what Kirk Cobain lived and died for. After learning how to play a few Nirvana and Offspring materials, I decided, hey, it's the same thing played over and over again till the end of each songs. Where is the artistry in that? That's just the opinion of an angsty teenage musician in me lah that time...But that did not stop me from following the local scene back when I had backstage privileges to gigs at Atria and HRC.

And then I was introduced to the works of Steve Vai and Satriani by a dear dear friend who is also a mad,mad, death metal worshipper. With the right kind of ambience and hallucinogenic agents, one can actually learn to appreciate some of it. I tried(the music, not the hallucinogen) but err, nope, not for me, I did not want to sell my soul to mystical beings, no thank you. Vai and Satriani however, remained the titans of great guitar playing in my books for a while, until I heard Malmstein the first time with his rendition of "Dreaming". Can you tell that my taste in rock is very feminine?l

And then I watched CA perform for the very first time, some 5 years ago, it dawned to me that hey, I've got my very own rockstar, to cherish and to hold......yada yada yada. He plays thrash metal, which incidently has enough coloratura to stand side by side classical pieces, and rekindles my passion towards Metallica. Interesting to mention that the string quartet( 4 cello players actually) called Apocalyptica plays with the same virtuoso as any rock band, long hair, headbanging and all. I also like...

I have always daydreamed of a whirlwind romance with a long haired rocker with emotive guitar skills, and I got him. You know how it feels when you know he's the one you've always wanted. The puzzle fits all at the right places. Except when it comes to the music that I actually write and sing lah. You see, while circumstances puts me in situations where the interest in rock music is inevitable, my taste in music in general is pretty much very feminine and kental. Give me Lilith Fair any day. While I can only berangan to write like Stevie Wonder, I do have a dream to be able to sing like Patti La Belle, if not like the grand doyenne of soul Miss Ella Fitzgerald. Sometimes I while away my blues and pretend that I am Sheryl Crow, and improv Alanis Morissette's pieces, as if I am playing at Madison Square. That is about the extent of my dreams of being a star lah. On the other hand, CA plays the guitar with so much passion and skill that one can tell how happy a wife I have been. Heheh. You know what they say about guitar players eh?

As you can see, I have developed Atenah-ism, (ampun Kak Tenah, gurau)where my preamble is longish and I have yet to present my thesis statement. I was going to blog about CA'a gig on Saturday, and see how far I have digressed with my grandmama story.

So Saturday was the day when Fort Canning Park played host to the congregation of has-beens, would-have-beens and still-going-strong rock bands from Malaysia and Singapore. I went dressed in mostly black, save for my dark blue Per Una(70% Marks n Sparks, promo sikit ada sale cik sal...) jeans. Since I came with CA, I did not have to go through the main entrance, so that saved me from having to brush shoulders with metal studs and mohawks. It was a very sunny afternoon, CA's bandmates have saved us a shady spot under a flowering tree and it was just like having a reunion picnic. It is always wonderful to hang out with Zeotz (CA's band), because they can really crack jokes over the simplest things. Somebody described them as follows,

"Here is a band that defies the myth that "bands don't last". Members of ZeotZ have been playing together since 1991. Sources of influences include Slayer, Sepultura, Helloween, Sodom, Coroner, Iron maiden, Megadeth, Metallica, Onslaught and Rusty Blade. The main element in the sound of ZeotZ is still the fast-paced energy, excitment and raw POWER that it portrays. Something you should know about these guys... THEY NEVER GIVE UP! Yup, they're going to be around for as long as the Stones."

CA, being a man of very few words, was obviously very relaxed with these boys. They are so tight I can actually imagine them still rocking on well into their golden years like Uja's rocker uncles. Four of them Zeotz are bapak orang, and only one left bujang trang tang tang. Dan Mencari Cinta. *hint hint*.

When Zeotz came on, CA introed with a very heart wrenching ghazal sounding prelude, and I was immediately taken to another realm. There he was a collosal display of extra-terrestrial mastery of the instrument. Oh, bear with me, I am falling in love for the umpteenth time. I did not care who was behind me,I was too busy snapping almost every movement that CA was making, and a few token shots of his bandmates.Heheh. He could not stand still lah, this guitar player, it's evident where Aishah got her tak boleh duduk diam genes. Even without his rocker long hair, he could still headbang and skip all over the stage and look every bit like a rocker lah.

When Zeotz played "The Forsaken Life", every wail of the guitar licks gave me goosebumps, and I began to see how socially conscious CA's lyrics are, despite all those grunts and guttural explosions of screams. It was easy to appreciate the music when you are in love with the musicmakerman eh?

All in all, I had a lot of fun hanging out with the guys, I totally ignored the "butt cleavage" parade that was the theme of the day that day. Oh, the things girls put on these days...*Eleh awak muda2 dulu pakai apa eh?*

After hours of berkubang like dugongs on the green, green grass of Fort Canning Park, it dawned to me that I may have been sitting on somebody's grave as the whole place was a memorial park of dead people when someone who was promoting an upcoming Slipknot concert, said that they were going to wake the dead. Erk...

I only stayed behind to watch one Malaysian band play before I left. I was not going to stay till the end of the show lah. I made CA promise to record Wings in my absence. Frankly,I was feeling guilty about leaving Aishah at the inlaws' for hours, I sped home to catch her before she went to bed without our standard Mommy-daughter goodnight bonding. I spent a good half hour before putting her to bed. Ahh, bliss.

CA came back at little after 2 am, excited to tell me how much fun he had hanging out with the boys from Wings, Amuk and Metalasia. Am glad he clicks with Malaysian rockers. I had trouble sleeping because my ears were replaying the sounds that probably had woken up the dead.The dead followed me home and they were playing in my ears. My chest felt a little tight and my head was killing me. It must be all that cigarette smoke lah. I knew if I were to spend another hour there, I would die of secondary smoke inhalation. Zeotz has another gig end of this month. Maybe I'll carry an oxygen mask if I go watch them again. But then again, I would not want to leave Aishah behind for hours like that again lah. Sebak...

Sapa sanggup tinggalkan budak ni lagi?In Steve Tyler's famous words, "I don't wanna miss a thing..."

Lumpy Lipids in Limbo

2005-08-05T10:07:00.000+08:00

The GI Jane bootcamp went a wee bit silent after almost all of its members succumbed to the voracious appetite for smackalicious food naturally ingrained in their gourmet worshipping willpower. About the only people observed as taking this exercise thing seriously are our urat dawai Kak Tenah*, and Ely* who are actively doing serious circuit training and power walks respectively, while the persons whose heads are often found bobbing in and out of the fridge for snacks and quick desserts in between, and their continous talk about food with romantic passion helped little in their pursuit to manage that extra jiggle in their gait. You know who you are.

Homefront, I have lost the 5 lbs I gained this past weeks by chatting my way through meal times(a lot of ppl helped me do this, thank you), munching on fruits while watching food tv(a little bit of imagination helped) and taking omega-3 and honey propolis drops. Taking Senna seeds every other day also helps clean out my system too. That lemon and honey juice must have helped suppress my cravings. I still daydream about losing 15 more before I go shopping for sheers again.Sigh.

I tried walking, and timed myself. Whew! I remember running 100m in 16 secs back when I was so much younger and so much more in love with exercise, now I can hardly make it across the zebra crossing in 10. I guess I do have something to worry about especially when climbing the neighbourhood overhead bridge halfway left me panting and clutching my chest, it was definitely a sign of protest from my muscles(what muscles?) after being rudely woken up from sedentary slumber.

I guess after I completely heal from that Humpty Dumpty had a great fall episode, I'd bring myself to the club and run the treadmill with the Ah Sohs and Tai-tais....say, Monday?

So how low can you go lah?

*find them at Sentraal Station

Ku Izinkan Kasih

2005-08-04T17:40:00.000+08:00

The song you are listening to is copyright controlled by EMI Publishing (M) Sdn Bhd. It is written by Azlan Abu Hassan, released and recorded by Camelia. This version is a vocal guide that I recorded, part of my job as a vocal stylist/backup singer. Sometimes before recording a new song, an artiste has to learn and "feel" the song. It is from these tapes/cds that they have an idea how the song goes and figure out how they can put in their own personal style in their own recording. I know some just hentam keromo and copy the guides, but the good ones like Anuar Zain, Hazami just to name a few, create magic instead.

Cempedak Had A Great Fall

2005-08-04T10:07:00.000+08:00

Twas a serene morning for a fresh start when I woke up . A cup of instant cereal later, I was still hungry so I cut the biggest pear I had in the fridge(70 cts sebijik, pencekik punya fruitseller). I thought that if I were to slowly grind this fruit between my chompers while watching food tv, I might forget about waffles and compote. Aishah did not want anything heavy for breakfast, so she agreed to have some cheese, crackers and some of my pear.

The journey(macam la jauh bebenor eh) to the TV room was easy. With Classic 95.0 piping a little cosy ambience, CA straightened up before bed last night so the hall looked magnificent with the school of 9 flourescent blue chromi dancing to the music.We completely ignored the mini Bukit Timah of laundry and made a pit stop infront of the newly resuscitated fish tank. The oldest occupant is, Mommy Nemo, the female maroon clownfish that looked a bit nervous being outnumbered by those tiny yet hyperactive blue squadron of chromis, so we gave her a little pep talk while she was fondled by the tiny tentackles of her round-the-clock masseuse, the neon anemone.

Oh did you know that clownfish are born sexless? How they perform later in life would determine whether they are either female or male.None of that d*ke or metrosexual confusion that we as humans sometimes have. Just before they reach akil baligh, or rather puberty, in other words be old enough to have some bedroom action, they will engage in battle with each other, and the winner shall henceforth be a female. From then on, the losers(sic) are to be toyboys or sex slaves to the respective female and father more and more fries. Now, I wonder who are the lucky ones here. So how can you tell the difference? The boss-lady would develop a darker color and would gradually lose some of her stripes. It is important to note that once the sex has been determined, it is irreversible. So if you are a clownfish fry reading this, better practise your martial arts and win your womanhood. Heheh.

Poor Mommy Nemo is a loner these days. I guess all the boys we gave her weren't good enough. They did not survive Mommy Nemo's kung fu hustling. So far we have had 3 anemones, the latest being the one she seems to enjoy most.

Sorry, I digress.

So while engaging in an animated exchange of deliberate baby gibberish and tummy jabs with Aishah, we finally got to the tv room. I didn't realize there was a puddle of aircond water( alaa..kena service la pulak) on the floor, slipped and lost my footing. I could not centralize myself in time to levitate(perasan lagi), and stumbled on the upright fan and fell on our minibar/box fridge and finally the whole of my 2*.7 BMI crashed on my left knee before I rolled on the floor, grimacing in pain. My TV breakfast went flying all over the place. A sudden surge of what felt like a mini electrocution shot up my spine and stopped somewhere in my ribcage. Placed myself in a recovery position and asked Aishah to get me my wireless from the cradle. It was difficult to decide whether to laugh of to cry, with Aishah giving me a looooooooooooooog and all of a sudden articulate lecture on being careful with all that "why" questions. I could not even speak to CA over the phone because of this little pot pet machine. After the usual first aid thing, minyak angin and stuff, I was mobile again, suffering only a limp and a dull pain in my lumbar area whenever I attempt to move.

As usual, I called the inlaws' for some manja, Bapak insisted that I should teach Aishah to speed-dial their number in case I get klutzy again. I was quickly summoned to Tampines. I took the bus, Zana. Terror tak? Had a quick Old Chang Kee and Jollibean picnic at the interchange. Called CA and asked if he'd like some of those ugly looking epok-epok? I didn't even have to ta pao because he told us he'd join us in our budaya lepak activity. Alang-alang menyeluk pekasam, biar sampai ke pangkal BANQUET- the halal food court. Aishah and I had a fruit platter while CA when slurp-a-slurping the hot-hot Yong Tao Foo.

After packing a bag of Butterfly Kueh, we headed towards the inlaws' for my couple of days of manja-ing marathon.

Pengumuman

2005-08-02T22:24:00.000+08:00

Pasting this on behalf of a fellow puisi-relayist , Dzan who has initiated a Bahasa Melayu Bahasa Serantau projek. Please read the following:

WelCome to Project Cermin : Sejuta Puisi (suara pandu dan hidup serantau)
by cermin on August 2, 2005 11:10AM (MYT)
Project : Cermin – Sejuta Puisi (suara pandu dan hidup Serantau)
Salam Sejahtera,
Ini adalah surat terbuka untuk semua para pengkarya – yang mapan, mahu pun yang baru berjinak-jinak dengan dunia penulisan. Sama ada karya anda pernah atau belum pernah disiarkan dimana media cetak, anda dijemput bergabung dalam usaha ini. Yang penting anda punya kemahuan untuk menyumbang dalam usaha ini, langsung berpeluang mecetak karya anda.
Sebagaimana yang telah dimaklumkan dikesempatan yang lalu, saya bercita-cita untuk menghasil sebuah Antologi atau Himpunan Puisi bersama seorang sahabat yang merupakan Penulis dan juga Penerbit diMalaysia. Ini adalah usaha pemangkin (spring board) dalam menyemarakkan penghasilan puisi bermutu dirantau ini.
Anggaplah usaha ini sebagai USAHA BERSAMA. Jadi jangan malu-malu untuk bergabung atau bertegur tentang cacat celanya. Kita harus menghasilkan bahan yang terbaik.
Projek Cermin
Projek ini yang saya namakan Cermin - adalah sebagai judul asas siri buku-buku yang bakal diterbitkan. Walaupun ini usaha pertama, hendaknya bukan yang terakhir.
Justeru itu, usaha pertama ini saya (sepakat dengan Sdr Hasan dari Sejuta puisi) judulkan

Cermin – Sejuta Puisi (suara pandu dan hidup Serantau)
Ia akan diselengarakan bersama oleh:
a. Ramdzan Minhat (johor malaysia) selaku Penyelaras ramdzan_minhat@yahoo.com

b. Hasan Ashapani (batam Indonesia) selaku Penyunting hasanaspahani@yahoo.com
Ia bakal menjadi titik tolak untuk projek seterusnya. Di kesempatan yang pertaman ini, kita akan membukukan Kumpulan / Antologi Puisi serantau (Singapura, Indonesia dan Malaysia). Dan buku ini juga bakal memuatkan Panduan (Ringkas atau sebaliknya) dalam mengarang dan menghasilkan Puisi.

Keinginan ini terdorong sejak lama sebelum saya bergabung dengan egroup SEJUTA PUISI yg dikelolakan oleh Sdr. Hasan. Dan bila sudah bergabung, saya dapati reaksi sumbangan dari pembaca dan pengkarya di SEJUTA PUISI begitu memberangsangkan.

Adalah sia-sia jika hasil karya itu tidak dibukukan. Tambahan lagi ada banyak keinginan dari pembaca yang mahu berilmu menghasilkan puisi. Saya yakin, masih banyak karya-karya yang baik hanya tersimpan dan diselitkan dibawah bantal atau dicorong-corong BLOG. Kalaulah esok INTERNET terus mati, berkuburlah segala karya indah yg telah disumbangkan.
Matlamat Cermin

Menggalakkan penulis terus berkarya Kreatif dan Intelektual di media cetak
Memperkayakan dan memertabatkan Lingua Bahasa Serantau
Menyumbang and memangkinkan masyarakat untuk terus peka dengan kesusasteraan serantau dan tatacara yang sama tapi berbeza
Membentuk dan meyampaikan maksud sejagat yang jitu pada umum.
Menghasilkan bukan sekadar buku KREATIF, tapi juga buku ILMU untuk penyumbang dan pembaca.

Peraturan Untuk Projek Cermin :

Berbahasa Melayu / Indonesia
Terbuka kepada sesiapa saja - yg mapan mahu pun yg baru berjinak-jinak
Jangan mencarut (vulgar) atau menyalahi undang-undang.
Untuk projek ini, hanya untuk genre Puisi, Pantun, Prosa, Perumpamaan dan Bidalan yang Asli dan milik sendiri.
Karya disumbang mesti belum pernah di terbitkan di mana-mana media cetak di Malaysia, Singapura, Brunei, Indonesia atau dimana pun.
Kalau pernah diterbit di Internet, itu tidak mengapa.

Untuk maklumat lanjut sila klik disini.

Teman Terulung

2005-08-01T13:27:00.000+08:00

Lagu yang berkumandang di laman sawang blog saya hari ini ditujukan khas buat sahabat-sahabat saya di sini, baik yang baru dikenali, yang dah pun bersaudara dengan saya dan juga yang baru dijejaki kasihnya.

Paling istimewa buat aunty-aunty, pokcik-mokcik semua, kakak-kakak tersayang, abang-abang terhormat, adik-adik yang dikasihi, anak-anak angkat, diangkat dan terangkat,sedara-mara, suku-sakat, handai -taulan segala segalan yang masing-masing melimpah ruah sifat pemurah kasih dan kejujuran malah berharga ihsannya kepada saya sekeluarga, berkongsi kegirangan dan kesedihan selama kita berkenalan dan bersaudara.

Padi bukit diharap huma tidak semerah

sekam rompong hangit terbakar lalu terbelah

Budi tuan tak terbalas dik tangan yang lemah

semoga dirahmati sekeliannya dan diberkati Allah

Pinjam ayat kakteh : "I rab u"

Gear Up Your Rock Kapak Get Up

2005-08-01T09:56:00.000+08:00

The biggest and heaviest names in Rock and Metal are congregating here this weekend. Book your tickets now!

Blogger Bottoms Up

2005-07-31T23:46:00.000+08:00

Evidently, my Bahasa Melayu is kopak and pecah when I just let go huh? So back to my equally wordy equally ungrammatical English for the benefit of fellow Bahasa Melayu pecah speakers in my cohort.

So the meeting that wasn't last night is compensated by a wonderful, wonderful make up date at Raffles City this afternoon. There was no pre-date jitters on my part because I have spoken to CK several times over the phone prior to the meeting, it feels like I have known her for years.

Che Anwar could not join us as he had to finetune his band in preparation for the big rock gerek gig next week. So I made my way to Suntec City with Aishah on the MRT. Please remember that I am hopeless when it comes to public transport, but this is good training lah! The trip from Compasspoint to Dhoby Ghaut was uneventful, but the amount of time I had to carry Aishah was enough to tire me out 20 minutes into the journey. You cannot expect anyone to offer you a seat even if you make the most kesian look in this day an age. While trying to balance a 15 kg girl on one hand and holding on the pole in there for balance, I managed to terpeleot(sprain) the big toe which had been hit by a pin from the plug of the iron before I left the house earlier. Ouch.

Anyway, we alighted at Dhoby Ghaut and took the NS towards City Hall. The train was packed like sardines and Aishah got a little nervous. I was secretly nervous also, you know as a result of recent turns of events. Alhamdulillah, apart from being squashed front and back while carrying Aishah, I did not get my toes stepped on or get seriously hurt from standing in a crowded MRT.

I got there 4-ish, and went up straightaway to the 3rd floor looking for this gourmet chocolate cafe named Leonida(spelling?) and called CK to help me get there. My sense of direction is... *rolling eyes to the back of sockets*

Out of no where came an elegantly dressed petite lady, complete with a very chi-chi pashmina wrap, after a short introductory handshake and a lil muah muah, I was escorted into this equally chi-chi cafe and was greeted by two lovely ladies Sheryl and Noreez. Wah, I tell you , I felt underdressed, smelly, sweaty and clammy compared to these fragrant fashionistas. Fair enough, while waiting for me to get there, they had had a makeover at the MAC counter. All I had was a harrowing journey, huddled in a pressure cooker with similarly harrassed-looking commuters. I hope they did not mind my lack of pizzazz in the fashion department. But then again, I am an eclectic moody dresser, so you know...

First thing first, my nasi dagang was there. I have been craving for it for months, kempunan Pok Ku's Nasi Dagang party actually and CK was kind enough to offer to cook it for me someday. And it's my lucky day today. Now I remember how our paths first crossed. Thanks to Pok Ku, I found a generous and oh-so-chatty friend in CK. I had to focus really hard on our conversation as I was stealing glances and fantasizing about the promise of a gourmet surprise in that tightly sealed paper bag. There were also little goodies baked by little Yasmin, CK's gorgeous little princess who had a baking class earlier. Aishah had sarsaparilla, chocolates, mini pizzas and cheesesticks, I shuddered at the thought of the consequential sugar shock. As usual, there were clumsy spills and smears everywhere, I could almost feel every cringe of the unmarried ladies. Wait till you have one of your own. Conveniently, there were several stores that sell kids' stuff, so I got Aishah a cool black t-shirt in place of her blue stained one. Chit punya chat, chat punya chit, in between speed-smsing and toddler emergencies, we got along just fine. CK's husband the "hun", short for "honey" of course, was a natural conversationalist. It was very easy to get comfy with this lovely couple. The both of them exude all that Pantai Timur serenity about them. Those other two, hmm...are deliciously delectably ready for the picking.Yum! How do people say it these days? Mencari Cinta? So, urm, sapa-sapa nak berkenalan, sila beratur kat sini.

I feel a bit paiseh because I came almost emptyhanded,whereas CK gave me another surprise gift in a small box. It's a purple brooch embellished with crystals that looked like amethysts. When I look at it, it sorta reminds me of CK. Simple elegance, in a small packet. I am now resolved to make up for my lack of imagination. I will definitely wish to see all of them again, especially little Yasmin with whom I did not have the chance to really chat. It would be wonderful if Aishah could expand her social circle even if it means taking the MRT all the way to Jurong. Funny should CK point out that Aishah looks a bit like a boy. Yasmin on the other hand is a picture perfect living doll, demurely dressed in a floral frock complete with pony tails and stuff. My girl on the other hand, wore shorts and t-shirt and was the one who could not sit still. Just when it seemed like they were beginning to warm up to each other, we had to part ways as CK and friends had a previous engagement following our short and sweet meetup.

I, on the other hand had to deal with an emergency of some sort, I really felt clammy that I needed a bath ASAP. Aishah sent us running to the baby room for a diaper change, not before announcing to the world she's got gems in her pants. Oh, the drama.

I managed to find the MRT station and headed towards Bedok where Che Anwar was jamming. He picked me up at the interchange and in the car were the vocalist of the band with his 3 kids. What a pleasant surprise. Aishah really loves company. I have offered to babysit those kids the next time the dads jam, just so that Aishah could have some playmates and perhaps the boys can jam with uninhibited passion; i.e. without the kids around. In two weeks time Kak Ayu will come and visit( read:help me mop my house) and surely Aishah would enjoy the company of this brainy future estonot as I have thus far. I am just hoping all that pandai-ness would rub off.

P.S.Noreez and Raudz, the answer is YES

Pelesering By The Bay

2005-07-31T00:49:00.000+08:00

MIL tersayang

Amaran: Pencemaran Bahasa Melayu tahap tak sedar diri berikutnya.

Sebentar tadi, Pak Incik dan Mak Incik telah berpoya-poya bersama dengan anak dan mak mertua tersayang di anak tangga tepi bangunan durian gergasi yang diberi nama Esplanade bagi menyaksikan pesta terkinja-kinja anak-anak muda zaman dah takde mana nak pegi dah sebab semua kedai dah tutup. Kegiatan berpeleseran ini adalah kesinambungan dari budaya lepak yang berleluasa di mana mana pusat-pusat membeli belah sementelah jualan mega murah masih berlangsung.Memandangkan malam masih muda, pipit-pipit dan murai-murai ini masih belum mahu pulang lagi ke rumah burung berjenama HDB lalu melepaklah di sini.

Memandangkan kebanyakan jalan-jalan ditutup sementara raptai hari kebangsaan sedang berlangsung di kebanyakan lokasi umum, perjalanan Pak Incik, Mak Incik sekeluarga ke arah muara di mana Si Durian terjelepuk itu ada sedikit kemacetan. Kami hanya sampai disitu tepat pukul 10 sipi-sipi sebelum bermulanya permainan band gerek bernama Dancing Nancies, nama sempena lagu Dave Matthews. Gerek sebab members yang main la beb! Jadi tak lah di kira kerugian sepenuhnya. Suasana di situ semacam kenduri kawin saja gamaknya, sebab, mak oii, ramainya Melayu. Yang nampak macam baru balik kebret pun ada, baru balik mengaji pun ada. Termasuklah Mak Incik dan Pak Incik kamu nih....Walaupun kesemputan sebab terpaksa parkir dekat Marina Promenade akibat jalan Tok Raffles kamu tu tutup, dan berjalan kaki di pesisiran sampai la nun kat Esepelenade hapekebenda tu(Baca ni buat le intonasi opoh hang siket iye?) Cik Esah kita tu, apa lagi, nampak je permukaan luas terbentang, mula la dia mengelinjang ke hulu ke hilior macam tak pernah lepas kandang. Pueh le teman ngejornya, yop.

Ate sampai je kat situ, band baru nak main kan, wah rasa macam star la pulak, kita sampai baru deme buka spotlight apa kebende. Wah, Mak Incik kamu bukannya biasa sangat tengok konsert monsert orang muda-muda ni sejak dah tua ni kan. Terhenjut-henjut la jugak dengan cara tak sengaja tu. Nasib baik ingat mak mertua ada kat sebelah, kalau idak, eeeeeeeeiii...Pandai jugak Si Royhan dan kawan2 tu main eh. Cuma satu je nak komen, bebudak kat sini tengok konsert duduk..ontok yo. Nak tepuk pun macam tak makan sebulan. Kalau nak bandingkan penonton live AF jauh satay dari arang. Budak-budak sini berdisiplin agaknya, nak berseronok pun tak berani kot eh? Takut kena , fine. Bukankah Singapore ini sebuah FINE CITY?

Abih Mak Incik kamu ni kan bawak anak kecik, terpaksa la berdiri jauh-jauh, mana la tahu kuat bebenor speaker tu karang, Cik Esah kamu ni kena tympanic perforation kang cemana la pulak eh?

Abih tu kita yang duduk kat tangga tu takkan la tak bergambar ye dak? Susah betul nak synchro senyuman Cik Esah kita tu. Mak Incik kamu pulak payah nak senyum betul-betul pasal, mak oih panasnya la duduk tepi laut malam-malam buta ni.Berpeluh-peluh dibuatnya. Pandang-pandang keliling ramai jugak mak incik-mak incik macam kita bawak anak. Cari-cari jugak geng bloggers, CK yang patutnya kalau sempat nak jumpa kat situ jugak, kebetulan menghala ke durian yang sama. Apakan daya, CK dan kuncu-kuncunya dikhayalkan dik anasir-anasir halucinogenic kat Orchard Road tu. Tu mesti belek handbag dan kasut tu eh CK? Abih dah le banyak jalan tutup, teksi pun mabuk nak cari jalan yang buka ye tak? Dah puas dengar dan tengok orang main gitar keluar bunyik sitar kita pun beransur lah masuk dlam durian tu, tengok kot-kot ada apa2 yang menarik. Mak Incik kamu sekilas pandang aje nampak susunan berkilau-kilauan telur-telur kristal seakan-akan Faberge eggs, tapi bukan lah. Paling mahal pun SGD120 aje, ikutkan hati aihh aku sambar jugak labu comel tu, bentuk katak pun ada...sabar Mak Incik sabar...Nampak pulak chocolate bar, tengok-tengok menu, banyak yg berkhimar dari yang boleh makan. Gostan.

Mak Mertua tersayang tak melepaskan peluang mengambil gambar dengan ukiran ah pek menyangkung atas bangku(gambar dia atas nun)

Malam pun makin lanjut, dan Cik Esah pun dah terkuap-kuap, terpaksalah kita beransur balik. CK kita menelefon bila kita baru masuk highway. InsyaAllah ada rezeki, ada umur, ada jodoh nak jumpa, kita cuba lagi untuk bertemu esok di Jalan Dusun ya?

Nah, Pak Incik pun sudah berlayar ke Negara La-La, Cik Esah kamu dari dalam kereta dah hanyut. Mak Incik kamu ni apa halnya terkebil-kebil lagi tak ngantuk lagi ni? Nasib baik ada SI Ayu. Okaylah, Mak Incik nak berpeleseran kat blog orang lain pulak mengkala kata takmo tidoq ni kan.

Permisio...

Reverse Peristalsis

2005-07-28T23:51:00.000+08:00

Updates:

1. I am in talks with an already established forum to integrate Positivity Heals in it. So issues that could use our help that are posted in that particular forum shall be directed to me, and be delegated to members who have registered at positivityheals.forumco.com

2. GI Jane regime homefront is rather sluggish lately hindered by overzealous drive to cook and eat. No weight loss for the past 2 weeks save for the yoyo effect of that 2lbs tipping indecisively to the left and right of the weighing scale depending on bowel movements and water retention. Renewed membership at the club but have yet to pop over and really making use of the facilities. Maybe I'll check out the al fresco bistro. Heh.

3. Aishah is getting better although I am still not to happy with the consistency of ..ah, u know.

4. My mom's cancer mark has gone down to 35. Alhamdulillah. Thanks to all of you who have offered prayers and well wishes.

Ok, back to blogging (reiterating how self-absorbed I can get sometimes)

I woke up pretty early today to what sounded like a modulated and spoofed version of Jingle Bells from Che Anwar's phone. I would not have appreciated and reacted very kindly if it had been the "Tenenenet...tenenenet" of regular alarm clocks. Getting on the right side of the bed rewarded Che Anwar a little breakfast, an ironed polo tshirt and a matching pair of socks. It is not very often that I really fuss over his stuff in the mornings plainly because I think that I should get as much rest as I could before Aishah wakes up. Excuses.

As usual, I got online, hoping to see Ely. Fair enough, she IM-ed me just as soon as I dropped a comment at her blog. Talk about ESP, y'all. It's spooky how Ely and I sync. We had a great chat, you know how it is, when your schedule revolves around a speeding bullet of a little girl. Anyways, y'all know her mom is with her right now. So I grabbed the opportunity to ngendeng recipes. I got a great paes telur ikan recipe. I thought of making some and bringing the dish over to the inlaws but sadly when I ran through the menu with Che Anwar over the phone, he wanted nasik. *chop, kita ngantuk sambung besok pagi*

*ok, dah pagi...huwaaaaaaaaaarghhh*

Where was I? Ok, Lauk. I told him about telur ikan, encik tu tak suka pulak...Ish! I thought people would kill one another for fish roe. Back where I came from, telur ikan goreng kunyit pun dah best dah. Ini members nak masak paes dia takmo...Rugi! I know why, he grew up thinking fish roe would make him tak pandai Math. So we finalised the menu, I made Black pepper beef with asparagus and Enoki mushrooms serta Fried Kurau with Thai Sweet Sauce. As upah for my good efforts, he took time off from work and brought me to IKEA.

We bought few stuff we needed for the house and a lot more that we didn't really need but looked too cute to miss. For a huge plastic bag of bric n brac, we were relieved the bill totaled up to just $77. We sat down for the free coffee( and refills) and Swedish Almond Chocolate torte to keep Aishah quiet while Ma and Abah sink into each other's eyes( macam betul...)

I needed( cewah, "needed" siot) some cookies, so I went looking for some, ended up buying toffee lollies instead. At the checkout counter Che Anwar asked me if I would like to rekindle my romance with smoked salmon. At that point I went, "Nak, nak, nak, nak...". So he got us the salmon sandwich.

All the three of us gobbled the scrumptious feast in less than 5 minutes. And it was time to go home.

A few minutes down the road, before I could even begin to oggle the sexiest street in Singapore that houses gallerias upon gallerias of shiny hot, hot, hot stuff (think Malayan Motors, MG etc), I suddenly felt a rush of cold sweat, and goosebumps. Good thing one of the shopping bags was in the back seat. Nothing much came out but a bit of foamy stuff. Man, for a while there I thought I was in the "new addition to the family" way.

As soon as we got home, I tried to get comfy on my bed with the aircond on, and the laptop perched on its usual place of rest and chatted with Ayu. Before we could exchange anything much, I had to run off and barfed the brains outta meself.

That must have been a seriously, seriously non-zabihah salmon sandwich, that was.

Engineers' Wives Club

2005-07-26T20:49:00.000+08:00

I read with interest a leadership slideshow by IEEE and stumbled upon some interesting things about what spouses of engineers say about their significant others. Read letters to Ann Landers.

You probably have heard of golf widows and how some of them decided to take on the green stretch themselves. For us wives of construction or on-site engineers, our stomach are often tied in knots each time dear hubby has to go away longer than we can ordinarily cope. Especially for Malaysian and Singaporean engineers mid-career, the only way to make a lil extra is to seek jobs overseas, you know, get into the expat market and all that. A lot of families have had to uproot and squat temporarily in expat comfort(betul ke?) before the engineer moves on to another contract. Some, like me, would have to wait with bated breaths every single day that the engineer would come back in one piece and that he would always always come home to me.

I remember once, when I was heavily pregnant, Che Anwar had to spend a lot of time in Indonesia ironing out some regulatory disputes between the dredgers his company hired and the Indonesian Marine Police. The hearings were held in Karimun and Batam, two little islands south of Singapore, notorious for manly extra-curricular activities. When he had to be away for more than 4 days, I packed up my stuff and rushed to the ferry jetty, luggage, huge tummy and all, to get to him, yet I had missed the last boat out. I just sat at the station, crying and crying while I spoke to him over the phone. I just could not take another night alone. I was going to stay right there until the next day and take the first ferry out. Lucky for me, Che Anwar came back the next day. Only to leave two days later.

These days he doesn't really have to go abroad save for short meetings in China and Malaysia. That, he'd go just for the meeting and catch the flight back. Poor thing.

I am most worried when he has to go down 30m underground and walk 8km in a deep tunnel which is to be christened the passageway for crude biological waste channeled to various water treatment plants. No matter how much emphasis are put on "Safety First" campaign, I am not convinced a pulley system and basket are the way to ferry people underground and up.

Even this tunnel project is almost done. There has been talk that we might have to move to South Korea. I am oh, so not ready for that. And the possibility of that construction giant to loosen the noose around the set up here and get more locals in admin. Both ways, Che Anwar would still operate as every engineer's wife's nightmare. Extramarital affair with his job.

I emphatize with O&G widows, Middle East-bound families and the likes. My mom did not have any problems though, she was a TV person, she is more married to the station back then, but who knows, she too did not like sleeping alone.

Cinta Sejati

2005-07-26T14:24:00.000+08:00

Bila termeterainya janji
sumpah setia berkait hati
kononnya bersatu sampai mati
berbunga-bunga besar dalam hati
simpan naluri perhamba diri
cinta dipupuk hari demi hari
memadu cinta berbuah kasih
saling percaya mempercayai
rukun damai berteman serasi

Bila cinta beraja di hati
akal waras tak lagi bererti
taksub menagih kurnia pemberi
langsung lupa tugas sendiri
cinta agung pada Ilahi
yang termaktub lagi hakiki
kasih sayang tak bertepi
tak bersyarat suci murni
takkan luput di penghujung hari

Tak usah gian bila menagih
pada hamba sesama semilir
bergantung harap bersama bertatih
sampai lumpuh terus bergeser
walhal yang teguh Maha Mengasihi
yang disuruh kita memadu kasih
agar tenang meniti hari
agar iman meningkat hampir
pada sucinya cinta sejati

Kembali Ceria

2005-07-26T13:11:00.000+08:00

The latest song in the background is a duet written by Azlan Abu Hassan, an award winning songwriter who is also a Reiki Master as well as an avid exerciser. He is my sifu in many ways than one, most importantly he is a good friend who accepts me for who I am, teaches me lessons of life when I need it, in the way that works.

Saya tujukan lagu ini khas buat suami saya, Encik Anwar Mohamed dengan ucapan..."Buat apa tu?"

Poor Lil Aishah

2005-07-25T20:52:00.000+08:00

It must be some kinda bug that has caused Aishah to purge watery stools for 5 straight days. She had the flu last week and as soon as her nose had dried up, her stomach threw a tantrum. She has not shown any signs of dehydration. Her energy level is normal and she is eating very well. She has no fever and not whining about any tummy upset. But Ma is worried nevertheless. Textbooks tell me to get her electrolytes, weak 100plus or pedialyte. Ginger ale on standby for nausea. I watch her temperature and keep her off playing with potential contaminants. She is on a non-dairy diet for the time being. I hope that this is just the garden variety and not anything else. I have found this site of remedies for diarrhea, thought perhaps other mommies could bookmark it. My heart goes out to Moms who have to deal with much much more serious ilnesses in their children. It does not feel right, innit when you see young 'uns suffer eh? Kesian.

Looping in My Head is...

2005-07-23T11:33:00.000+08:00

....The Rainbow Connection Lyrics are the property and copyright of its owners.

Why are there so many songs about rainbows

And what's on the other side?

Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,

And rainbows have nothing to hide.

So we've been told and some choose to believe it

I know they're wrong, wait and see.

Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,

The lovers, the dreamers and me.

Who said that every wish would be heard and answered

When wished on the morning star?

Somebody thought of that, and someone believed it,

And look what it's done so far.

What's so amazing that keeps us stargazing

And what do we think we might see?

Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,

The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

All of us under its spell,

We know that it's probably magic......

Have you been half asleep?

And have you heard voices?

I've heard them calling my name. ...

Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors?

The voice might be one and the same

I've heard it too many times to ignore it

It's something that I'm s'posed to be...

Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,

The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

Laa, da daa dee da daa daa,

La laa la la laa dee daa doo...

A dark intrepretation of this song can be found here.

Lovelorn Lamentations

2005-07-22T15:49:00.000+08:00

To wait an Hour—is long—
If Love be just beyond—
To wait Eternity—is short—
If Love reward the end
Emily Dickinson

I keep telling myself that in this day and age, a 9-5 job is a sugarcoated fantasy. I made the decision to work from home and spend most of my time playing house, ehh... keeping house just so that Aishah would have at least one parent present most of her waking hours. And especially to keep Che Anwar's needs in check. Che Anwar on the other hand is a very busy man. My neo-Stepfordian regime to spice things up a tad is often sabotaged by last minute emergency meetings or simply by my lowered energy level immediately after Aishah's Energizer batteries run out.

But sometimes, with the help of herbal and verbal supplements that I get from the company of nocturnal friends who would listen to me ramble while waiting for the man of the manor to come back, I do stay awake long enough to earn a lil sum'in sum'in. It gets very frustrating sometimes when it is way too late, when dinner begins to disintegrate, hair gets de-coiffured, candles and moods burnt out...

Before I relive an episode of Idaman, I would just give up and sink my chakras into bed and let all the bad qi be earthed. Think happy, live strong.

Peekaboo!

2005-07-22T04:36:00.000+08:00

Cak!

Update!

2005-07-22T03:00:00.000+08:00

MIL has been under a lot of stress lately. So I thought she could use some timeout and brought her to the mall earlier today. Her blood pressure is tipping towards the higher side of things so she has been advised to lose 20 kilos and exercise 4 times a week. What better time to go shopping huh. With all that renovation sale, moving out and clearance sale going on almost all year everywhere, shopping is as natural as breathinglah. Her need to exercise also necessitate a major overhaul in wardrobe.

So as that designated shopping companion (the retail industry should start paying me lah), she is 3 track bottoms, 2 long sleeved t-shirt and a sports pouch richer. I even managed to hypnotize her into believing that Converse is comfortable and stylo even for a 50-something. Actually, I was really into that New Arrival 15% off X-training pair of Nikes but she would not budge from that budget of $70. She also did not agree to add one more t-shirt, which was a comfy Nautica grey and navy blue piece. Like all grandmas the world over, shopping for oneself would result in a serious case of after purchase guilt. So off we went to the kidstore and got all her grandchildren a few boxes of toys. I got Aishah a new hat and an el cheapo teach-your-child-how-to tell-the time toy clock. I also got my nephew a $5 army binoculars. The fad at the toy section is Batman merchandise. Aishah was fascinated by this dark brooding character and asked me if she could have a look at the Batman Bust bank. And then began, what sounded like a Cikgu Bedah lecture .

"Excuse me, (Bat)Man. Why Man fur-round(frown)? Don't fur-round.It's no good. Aishah say, don't fur-round ochey(ok)?"

She repeatedly nagged the same script, while Batman played deaf and mute the entire time. Last-last she got fed up and smacked Batman. Aishah said,

"Aishah haip Man. Aishah say don't fur-round,right?Notty Man!"

Whoops!My bad.

What did I get for myself? Hmm...a nice bag from Ren*ma 70% off. So what if I can't afford Marc Jacobs?

My lucky stars did not stop there. My FIL called to tell me that the MYR has been unpegged. So off went this kiasu entourage to the lone Money Changer at the mall and got ourselves crispy multicolored MYRs in preparation for our next trip up to good ol Malaysia. That's actually not quite an encouraging news for Singaporeans, they can't shop like rich people in KL anymore lah. I, on the other hand will gain more as royalties and payments I get are mostly in MYR .If MYR does appreciate,I would be able to spend my income guiltlessly in Singapore.

Oh, Tok Ghimau came down to Singapore a few days ago, and we met over Ribena and Teh Ais. Aishah took less than 15 minutes to warm up to him. She calls him Uncle Moo (short for Mohariz) and I thought that was just so cute. Meeting bloggers offline has been fun lah. BTW, sapa2 ada kawan2 single mingle, kenenkan lah dengan Tok Ghimau ni. Mamat ni nyer lawak, pecaaah!!! Bapak peh pecah!

2005-07-20T00:16:00.000+08:00

Luo Pan

Decor Indecorum

2005-07-19T17:35:00.000+08:00

Che Anwar sent this to me via email. Is he trying to tell me something?

QUESTION: Can you tell us some Fengshui(Mcdonaldization of an ancient Chinese science) Tips for the homes?

Mrs Tan asked Master Lynn Yap replies:Yes, here are some Fengshui Tips:

There should be no shoes or slippers lying around outside the main door of every house. Remove it if you can. Allow that space at the main door to be free and clear. Now, allow me to tell you why.

The chi (energy) rides with the wind and will collect all the smell of those shoes and slippers intoyour house causing sickness. These chi then travels about in your house looking for water to stay but if there are no water fountains or fish tanks then the chi will be disperse by wind.

There should be no television sets in your bedrooms: If you cannot get rid of that habit then after watching the television programmes, cover it with a plastic table cloth. Remember it has to be plastic and not simply cloth. Because the static from the television set will act upon you when you are sleeping causing to have a backache and still feeling tired after waking up.

There should be no mirrors opposite your bed or at the side of your bed. Mirrors opposite the bed can attract a third party to the relationship. Therefore, do not place mirrors anywhere you like and especially in your bedroom.

There should not be a dining table opposite your altar table. Some people are still not aware of this concept and still have that in their dining room. Shift the dining table. If you have a fish tank in your house, be very careful. A fish tank placed correctly can bring about greater fortune as you will tap on the "Divine Water Dragon's Den". But if you tap wrongly, it can cause you to have lawsuits, bankruptcy, work pressure, troubles and problems. If you noticed any of these after placing the fish tank for approximately four months, shift your fish tank to another location.

For more details, buy my 101 Fengshui Book. <---sempat tuh!

In your kitchen, ensure that opposite your stove there is no refrigerator, washing machine, wash basin and toilet. The fire and water crash causing family members to have disagreements. The fengshui solution? Remove one of them. If you can't then use wood to break between the fire and the water.

Try not to allow children to sleep on mattresses on the floor. Yes, this allows young children not to fall off beds but it also causes young children to fall sick frequently. The reason is: chi is not able to flow underneath the bed. Ideally, chi should circulate around the mattress where our children sleeps to allow them to be healthy.

For young children, try to have their back to the wall when they write. It is important there should be a solid wall behind a children's writing table. This allows the child to have support so that he can sit there and study longer rather than for only half an hour and then they tend to move about because there is no solid wall behind their back. Adjust your writing table. Do not allow children to sleep on double decker beds even if it means saving space. The child sleeping underneath the double decker bed will not have "fresh chi" and so his health might be weak. But if due to space constraints, then monitor your child's health if not add in a 6 metal rods windchime to break up the "stale chi" around his bed.

Your bed should always have a solid wall behind you. This is important if you wish to have a good rest. A solid wall simply means that you can go into deeper sleep and therefore enabling you to have good rest so that when you wake up in the morning, you will feel fresh and well rested.

This also allows you to be able to concentrate on your work better. There should be no beam on top of your bed, your stove, your sofa sets or the altar table. The beam above causes chi to be pressured thus enabling you to have pressures in life. Therefore, don't place furniture underneath it or alternatively level the beam. But make sure if you choose the latter,it is important that you have enough height for that space.

If you have a lot of work pressure, maybe it's the marble table that you have in your dining room that causes you to have those problems. Remove that marble table and change to a wooden one or alternatively live with that work pressure !

If your child usually falls sick in that bedroom: Then either change them to another bedroom or simply hang a six rod metal windchime as the metal element will break all the earth energies in that room. After hanging, if the wind could not do the job for you then you will have to "chime" it yourself and then watch for the good results.

Do not use a red sofa set: The colour red represent the element of fire. And for fengshui, some places simply cannot have the colour red in that sector. For example : the wealth area or some other sectors which without a fengshui check would be unable to tell you where it is. A red sofa set gives rise to heavy work pressure, troubles and obstacles. Most people simply accept that life is like that without realising that THAT is caused by the bad fengshui of that red sofa ! Fengshui Solution ? Change the colour of your sofa. Always open your bedroom windows at least once 20 minutes a day to allow fresh chi to come in - Why should we do it ? We do this so that it allows fresh new chi from outside to come into your bedroom, if not you will be sleeping with stale chi every night. And if that happens, then how can you expect your life to bring in more good fortune to come to you ? So open that window and never mind if dusts comes in ! The great good fortune that you can have will far exceeds the time you take to clean off the dust ! Trust me.
Copyright © 2001 Acadian Computer Services Pte Ltd

Pusaka Rimba

2005-07-19T15:27:00.000+08:00

Tiada kedinginan embun
melingkari ayunan daun di sini
Mentari bersembunyi
kabut mengaburi
rentak dunia berlari
Kota berdiri megah diselimuti
cita menjauhi bumi
Suara berlagu
merintih nasibku
lemah dayaku
merindu...

Kemanakan kubawa sisa
kehijauan
semakin kerdil dibayang
kemewahan
Manusia menyahut
panggilan kemajuan
mereka lupa pusaka rimba
Semakin ku cuba menghampiri
bahagia
ribut meruntuhi cinta
harapan yang agung
mengubati sendu
pusaka rimba
duniaku
Lagu/Lirik : Maknye Dak Esah

Like Kak Tenah, I have also learned to put songs on my blog on my own, with the help of Nana's idiot-proof manual. If I can do it, so can you! Thanks Si Budak Nana Jambu.

P.S. Lanun yang namanya Ayu tu...siap kau! Kalau kau rompak aku lagi aku akan letupkan almari assam ko dan mee segera kau tu!

Instanteous Comic

2005-07-19T13:56:00.000+08:00

I would like to invite you to pop over to Wanzu's blog. Very lighthearted and tongue-in-cheek. Tarbiyya berhikmah secara lawak. I think that about sums it.

Psst..psst...doakan supaya dia jadi sepupu ipar saya. Ahaks.

On Friendship

2005-07-19T09:22:00.000+08:00

"and a youth said, speak to us of friendship.and he answered, saying:

your friend is your needs answered.
he is your field which you sow with love
and reap with thanksgiving.
and he is your board and your fireside.
for you come to him with your hunger,and you seek him for peace.
when your friend speaks his mind you
fear not the "nay" in your own mind, nor
do you withhold the "ay."
and when he is silent your heart ceases
not to listen to his heart;
for without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born
and shared,
with joy that is unacclaimed.
when you part from your friend,you grieve not;
for that which you love most in him maybe clearer in his absence,
as the mountain
to the climber is clearer from the plain.
and let there be no purpose in friendship
save the deepening of spirit.
for love that seeks aught but the disclosure
of its own mystery is not love but
a net cast forth:
and only the unprofitable
is caught.
and let your best be for your friend.
if he must know the ebb of your tide,let him know its flood also.
for what is your friend that you should
seek him with hours to kill?
seek him always with hours to live.
for it is his to fill your need, but not
your emptiness.
and in the sweetness of friendship
let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
for in the dew of little things the heart
finds its morning and is refreshed.

(exerpted from: kahlil gibran, *the prophet*)

A PUBLIC APOLOGY

2005-07-16T22:00:00.000+08:00

Friends, akibat terlampau syok sendiri with our own lives, we have inadvertantly and apparently hurt the feelings of our fellow active blogger, Susan Abraham.

Dear Susan,

On behalf of this humble circle of friends, I am terribly sorry things took the wrong turn and severed whatever friendships we have established following recent events. We have never had any malicious intent against you and have not made deliberate attempts to be hurtful towards you. However, it is possible that my friends and I have miscommunicated our intentions (I must go back to school and check my English) that we have caused things to get out of hand. For that, please accept our apology.

I do not think my friends are gossip-mongering bullies.We are not blog appraisers nor are we literary people. We do not have any authority and skills to give literary and/or linguistic values to anybody's blogs/books at all. We are merely bloggers with real lives and real feelings. We happen to enjoy each other's company. It's a unfortunate that we bore you with our Women Magazine material, Susan. We would not know what's the difference between magz stuff or top ten NY Times Best Seller stuff, we are peace loving with a lot to give to each other. Thing is, we have indeed become quite rich in each other's company. I put it to you,Susan, Nazrah and friends have not meant you any harm.

Keriuk keriuk basikal berkarat

Memecah sepi pekan Sedili

Orang tak kata orang tak umpat
Ada cermin berucap sendiri.

Salam Muhibbah,

Nazrah

2005-07-16T18:34:00.000+08:00

With Cik Lin

2005-07-16T17:35:00.000+08:00

Bu...nga!

2005-07-16T17:34:00.000+08:00

Buat cam gini, nak...

Aishah Kenit

2005-07-16T11:34:00.000+08:00

You're my honey bun, sugar plum, pumpi-umpi-ump-kin, you're my sweetie pie. You're my cuppy cake, gum drops, snookums bookums you're, the apple of my eye... And I love you so, and I want you to know, that I'll always be right here. And I love to sing these songs to you, because you are so dear!"

My Adrenaline Machine

2005-07-16T09:17:00.000+08:00

I had a wonderful chat with Kak Tenah yesterday. She pointed out something that made me look back and say , "Yeah la, Aishah is not as naughty as I make her out to be". I figured that it is unfair of me not to highlight how wonderful this little bundle of heaven that this daughter of mine has been. Well, I am not kidding when I said that she is a mess-maker supremo and a bullet train personified, but if you see her, spend at least 10 minutes with her, you will give her mom a good pinch for complaining so much.

Let me just share with you how I start my day with divine sunshine on my face. She usually wakes up earlier than I. What she would normally do is sit next to me on my bed, and put her face so close to mine with a wide smile plastered on her face, waiting for me to open my eyes. Upon feeling that something is breathing down my being, I would open my eyes and see the apple of my eye, in between my eyes, so close I'd get 'em crossed. Without fail, she would greet me with,

"Mommie, it's daytime, wake up!" , to which I will say,

"Alaaa, 5 minutes".

She must have been a boarding school warden in her previous life ( figuratively lah, I don't believe in reincarnations, thank you), she would pull my blankie and literally peel open my eyelids and tell me to "Kemas, kemas, kemas...!" while lifting up heavy down pillows konon-konon nak straighten up the place.

On lazy days, she would just lift my arm and put her head on my armpit and nuzzle close and say all the right things to me and we'd just spend tender moments in bed till about 11 am before she'd send me running to the kitchen to make her makan.

She a handy help in the kitchen too. She's actually my little commis chef who would get me my onions, garlic and what nots. Yesterday we made Fried Po Chai Noodles, and she was in charged of things. While I was bordering hypertensive keeping her off the stove, she was actually quite kitchen-savvy. She liked her cooking so much, we had to make a second batch.

She speaks to her grandmother almost everyday. On days that she's been especially messy, she'd report to her nani what a headache she's been. When I hear that, I would normally tear up and punish myself for apprehending her. But at least she knows what she's not supposed to do.

I would get a taste of my own medicine when I spill things. She would come to me and nag nag nag nag nag ....

"Why Ma spill the water?",

"Why Ma make mess?",

"See, the floor is dirty",

"Apaaaa la Ma niiiiiiiiihhh...Tsk... Tsk... Tsk.."

Being the absent-minded klutz around the house, I'd always bump into things. At the sound of my "adoi" and "alamak", Aishah would come to the rescue with our standard emergency procedure, "Aishah blow, Aishah kiss, thaaaaaaat's better."Dah baik dah...When my sister discovered that she had a breastlump and freaked out not knowing what lump it was,Aishah was in tears because Ucu won't let her go inside the room to see if everything was okay. I still remember her words,

"Ucu is sick, Aishah wants to see. Aishah nak sayang Ucu"

It amazes me how much compassion she has, for such a young kid. Ntah2 nak jadi tuan loktol tak? Amin... A clown doctor maybe, since she tickles my funny bone all the time with her antics, it is so hard to stay upset.

During our lessons and play time, she pays attention to instructions and would quickly try things out herself. And then some. Bila dah try sendiri tu paham2 je lah bersepahnya macam mana. I read somewhere that if you can get a toddler to focus for a full 5 minutes, that would be super. She can sit still a little under 5 minutes before she speeds off to another activity, I just let her be.

Aishah is also very gracious host. She would be very busy when guests come over. She gives a brief tour of her domain, her toys etc. She loves to serve food and drinks to our guests. I think she likes being able to do grown up things, to be independent, have a sense of purpose and responsibility.

Abah is a bit concerned that she has not learned to read. I am already so ecstatic that she recognises some words already, no need to pressure lah. She can count to 20 and can do kindy math like 1 plus 1 etc. Tak payah lah tahu banyak-banyak sangat, or she'd get bored in school later. Like Kak Tenah ajar, let her explore the world around her, which I think is a wholesome approach. I call it, freestyla !

I am convinced Aishah is by nature exceptional in her own ways. I just hope to be able to provide her with the right kind of enrichment just so that she will breeze through life. God willing. I am glad that she has shown very high EQ, her complex thought processes are outstanding that she outsmarts me to get her way. Her IQ is not yet Stephen Hawking's material la, tapi I think she will get by okay.

Most importantly, I want Aishah to be able to love properly, and know that she is loved by her family. I want love to be a non-issue, not something she will have to seek attention to get validated. I want her to feel at home at home. InsyaAllah.

As much as I would like to collect good memories with my own mother, I'd like to give good memories to my darling Safiyya Aishah Anwar, my "kakak big girl". That special way you touch my cheeks and say, "Sayyyang, Ma" and your noisy wet kisses are gems in my heart. I love you, boot boot....

Promo Jangan Tak Promo

2005-07-15T11:36:00.000+08:00

Assalamu'alaikum,
Announcing the special mailing-list offer..for all of you who get this info through the internet....our carnival sale will start on 23 July 2005 , but the preview for the mailing list members & friends ( so forward this to your friends....) will begin Friday 15 July 2005.
What's on sale? Well....this time it is storewide ( but tudungs will not have that big 40% discount.....got a bit...but must read on....).
Discounts are from 10% - 50%.......including the jubah seluar linen, the blouses, the denim skirts, men's shirts ( up to 30% off...jadi RM66 or so....), various tudungs....and we also have baju kurungs and kebaya ( beaded & embroidered) going for 40% off.
Selendang T & Tudung T Offer ( Purchase with Purchase...)
For purchases above RM200, you get 10% off the tudung ( including the new arrivals and if your purchase is just tudungs....)
New Arrivals, Haji & Umrah Department and Accessories are not on sale, but you are still eligible for the tudung offer.
Stocks are limited, so don't wait too long.....
Ina Ali
Stylist, Marketing & PR Manager
Sri Munawwarah Design
33 Jln Tun Mohd Fuad 3
Taman Tun Dr Ismail
60000 Kuala Lumpur
Opening Hours
Monday - Saturday : 9.30 am - 6.30 pm
Sunday : 10 am - 6 pm

Little Nemo Leftover

2005-07-14T22:40:00.000+08:00

Algae Invasion

2005-07-14T22:39:00.000+08:00

2005-07-14T22:29:00.000+08:00

The Bullet That Put A Hole in our Pocket

batting eyelids, beaming

2005-07-14T14:15:00.000+08:00

I don't know whether to laugh or to cry but a Mr Jay Kahn, a marine life enthusiast has linked my mini reef mayhem entry to his blog.

I guess Che Anwar and I can be a classic example of what-not-to-do eh?

All that, and yet I can't help but feel honoured that my humble entry was highlighted, and that people might learn the lesson I've learnt oh-so-well. Thanks again Jay.

Notice of Resignation

2005-07-13T16:53:00.000+08:00

Image is originally published HERE

I was about to burst into tantrums considering the state of my house following the demise of my mini reef, I decided to ignore the mess and turned on the tv instead. I found a show that was just beginning, and how aptly was it titled to match my mood at the time, "Desperate Housewives". I know, I know, the hullabaloo about these chicas are oh-so-over but you see, I don't really watch TV these days, since I got my fix from blogging.Heheh. I wasn't really watching, since I was thinking about how pointless it has become to clean the floor of my house only to get it dirty again. Plus, the d*mnation of having lizards with poor sanitary habits squatting behind my picture frames leaving dried skid marks( Ely's term for benda2 terselet) on my lemony beige walls. And, God help me, no thanks to an open lid blender of a two year old who has turned greenfingers, de-potting my small patch of an almost dying green corner, scattering earth all over the place pretending it's winter and that she's playing with snow. Grr...

So,with my laptop comfortably perched atop God-given cushion and stealing glances at the going-ons on Wisteria Lane, I was fascinated by this character Bree Van De Kamp. I thought wow, how immaculate the Van De Kamp's home is. For a while, I was thinking, hey, that would every husband's dream come true huh, the idea of isteri solehah, domestic goddess wuteva. Until the husband asked for a divorce telling Bree that he could not take all that uptight Stepford-wife wannabe perfection. When he said, "I am tired of living like a detergent commercial", or something like that, it hit me. Oh-oh! If I am not careful, I would forget that I have other people living in my house who have every right to do what they like in a place they call their home.

Kak Teh and I had a discussion with me about housekeeping issues a few months ago when I was griping about having to pick up after people all the time, and how hard it is to keep my floor shiny and muck-free. As a result of that, I made the hijrah from the anal spasticolon to this blog which has been more positive than manic depressive eh? However, there are times when I think the old demons do get to me especially when it gets too messy that I have to go to bed with things still lying around the house.

I took a Desperate Housewives Quiz and found myself to be wee bit like a Bree without the hairspray, and that got me a wee bit worried. Hey, I don't want to be a Martha Stewart on steroids and make the people in my household feel uncomfortable in their own home. So folks, I give up. I will only use ONE magic mop and not be too uptight when things are slightly askew.See how it goes.

Hope it won't be as hard as losing this pack of jellied pastries on my multi-tiered waistline. Eww, ugly picture innit? Any success stories from other GI Janes? I, for one, gotta get back to the drawingboard. Heheh.

Makeover Magic

2005-07-12T21:36:00.000+08:00

I decided to make use of an old animated typography of my name done by an old friend, the co-founder of Manggis some 5-6 years ago, back when we were colleagues. My braddah from the same moddah did the housekeeping.Thank you both. Thank you also MakNenek for my previous banner. I will kecek from you again for my next renovation.

The new song has been put up by Nana, entitled Ku Miliki Abadi, music by Anak Pak Abu Hassan , lirik oleh Anak Pak Aji Nasir. Enjoy! It's a new day after all!

Tak kuduga belum lama cinta kita
diperdaya gelora berlalu saja

Asmara yang dalam dada
tak lagi didamba
walau pernah hadir dalam jiwa

Keluhuran kasih dicari
hadir menghiasi sepi di hati
ku jelajahi bahagia yang ku ukir sendiri
selagi kuberupaya
berkasih*
ku miliki abadi

Dicari-cari dimanakah silapnya
pesona melukai hati yang rapuh

*Gemilangkan cinta,
kepada yang sudi,
bahagia yang sebenar kini hadir
....oh kasih....
selagi ku berupaya berkasih
kumiliki abadi yang abadi

Angsty Amateur Aquarists

2005-07-12T08:59:00.000+08:00

We started off with big dreams, as colorful and lively as the animated movie Finding Nemo, a miniscule version of the Underwater World at Sentosa. We got ourselves a couple of clown fish, blue tangs, damsels, goby, gramma, firefish together with a handful of soft and hard corals, sponges and live rocks with great hope to one day become invincible aquarists. The thing with maintaining a mini reef, you gotta have a manic obsessive streak in you to have the will to constantly check the balance of an artificial ecosystem.

For three years, my house became a marine biology lab, with sticky floors and home-made raw seasalt crystallizing on various surfaces. We have a 4-foot bullet tank which is meant for tropical fish systems but because I thought it would look nice in my living room, lesser informed then about how messy marine systems can get. It was an expensive mistake, we had to correct all shortcomings with more expensive mistakes. We tried from the Smithsonian style to the Berlin-style minus the external sump to combining every equipment we could get our hands on. Just because the bullet tank was not designed to support a marine tank and we did not have the diligence to constantly keep the water quality pristine enough, corals and fish could not live happily ever after. We had a problem with high temperature, so we got a huge chiller that is so noisy, it's hard to think straight. Since the bullet tank has a covered top, it is so difficult to feed the fish manually. Some of them require thong-feeding of live food. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Everytime Che Anwar has to do something to the mini reef, he'd be so bingit I'd slip away into another room and blog, oblivious to doomsday waiting to happen.

Many a coral have died, so have sponges and most of all, our fish slowly disappeared as the hardier of the species became more territorial and predatorial. All the the non-confrontational and docile little fries were gobbled by the bigger ones. It became worse when we bought a lionfish, a grouper and a few triggerfish. It was very hard to catch up with their perakus pelahap carnivorous appetite. Even the doctor shrimps, snails, worms and hermit crabs weren't spared. When the bottom-grazing, and algae-eating critters have ceased to exist, came the most harrowing problem, high nitrates, resulting in hairy, slimy green stuff all over the place., not unlike the picture of that fish tank in "Finding Nemo" when the filter system went gazoink enabling Nemo to escape. Well, I did have clownfish and neon anemones.

The simple rule of keeping the mini reef as closely reminiscent with that of a natural ecosystem is not easy at all. The philosophy of duplicating the natural environments is a far fetched one as far as I am concerned. No series of tests based on tables after tables of parameters and obsessively monitoring the fish helped revive a decaying reef that was my fishtank. Sadly, the overzealous aquarists that Che Anwar and I aspired someday to become are throwing in the towel. Almost.

Yesterday, we gave up all of our fish for adoption save for Nemo, the surviving original fish we got when we first started. Twas indeed a sad and heartbreaking ordeal. It felt like we were bad parents, having to give up our kids to social service. Looking at the empty tank, without the graceful display of narcissism from the lion fish, nor the mafia godfather of a grouper, and piranha-like frenzy of the trigger fish, we feel so defeated yet a tad bit relieved that they are all now in the hands of professional fish people who will eventually sell them 5 times more expensive than the price we bought them for. We really fed them well but we failed at keeping house. Sigh.

With a huge eyesore in the hall, empty, lifeless and a small quarantine tank where Nemo currently resides, we are at a loss! To change to a tropical planted aquarium holds yet another future of heartbreaking meticulous watch over a similarly intricate ecosystem, minus the salt.

We have not decided on anything just yet. Che Anwar thinks the next time he wants to buy fish, it would be an Arowana, no need for rocks and plants. As if keeping those feng shui-friendly creatures is easy. Food for brilliant scales, special lightings, extra tank for live food. Aiyoh!What am I going to do with those marine equipments? I am already thinking about making a horticulture terrarium with landscapes of my kampung in the bullet tank, but I will hold that thought until Anwar is ready to give up fish-keeping altogether. He does not want the easy way out of this, which would be selling the bullet tank, buy a "double storey" system and start over a new mini reef. While lovingly supporting my husband's hobbies however half-cooked the ideas may be because Singaporean men have very little time for hobbies. I just need to make sure whatever it is, my house is kept in livable, do-able order. Asal tak macam tongkang pecah sudah.

My love affair with the mop is slowly blowing in the wind as Aishah now loves to spit on the floor and make green slimy patches of dodol or any sticky item for that matter, on the floor, and I am giving up my Monica-esque obsession. It's too tiring and so heartbreaking to find my lysol-ed and 3M-ed surfaces clean for just slightly over 5 minutes before my post-modernist expressionist artist gets to work.

Uja, let's arrange for a meeting before all that dodol end up on my floor. Please?!

Luther Vandross 1951-2005

2005-07-09T13:33:00.000+08:00

Back when I was a child, before life removed all the innocence
My father would lift me high and dance with my mother and me and then
Spin me around 'til I fell asleep
Then up the stairs he would carry me
And I knew for sure I was loved
If I could get another chance, another walk, another dance with him
I'd play a song that would never, ever end
How I'd love, love, love
To dance with my father again
When I and my mother would disagree
To get my way, I would run from her to him
He'd make me laugh just to comfort me
Then finally make me do just what my mama said
Later that night when I was asleep
He left a dollar under my sheet
Never dreamed that he would be gone from me
If I could steal one final glance, one final step, one final dance with him
I'd play a song that would never, ever end
'Cause I'd love, love, love
To dance with my father again
Sometimes I'd listen outside her door
And I'd hear how my mother cried for him
I pray for her even more than me
I pray for her even more than me
I know I'm praying for much too much
But could you send back the only man she loved
I know you don't do it usually
But dear Lord she's dying
To dance with my father again
Every night I fall asleep and this is all I ever dream

Goodbye.

Marc Jacobs

2005-07-09T02:40:00.000+08:00

Oh ,the withdrawal symptoms are just too hard to bear. Oh, isn't that a cute lil diaper bag? 50% off lagi. How do I make this look like something I need?

Ooh La La Lacroix

2005-07-09T02:39:00.000+08:00

To go with that bag, hmm, I will definitely need these....

Sigrid Olsen

2005-07-09T02:38:00.000+08:00

And these, for that complete mommie of a toddler look. Howzaboutzats?

Berangan Mat Jenin je kerja aku nih...

Auditory Halva

2005-07-09T00:49:00.000+08:00

Amacam? Okay?

Tepukan gemuruh buat adik Nana kerana berjaya meletakkan secebis dari hasil nukilan Anak Pak Aji Nasir di blog yang tidak sepertinya ini buat hiburan pengunjung-pengunjung bistari sekalian. Tuan-tuan dan puan puan...terimalah suara gemersik Anak Bujang Pak Zain dan keasyikan alunan penataan muzik berteknologi tinggi oleh Anak Bongsu Pak Abu Hassan. Psst..dua-dua ni trang tang tang lagi tau.

I had intended to put another song but the webhost was giving me problems uploading new songs. So tahan je ah dengan kejiwangan dan kekaratan tahap dewa ni eh?

Keabadian Cinta, or "Everlasting Love" is a song about how wunnerfoool it is to have found love and be loved. Last time I checked, not only has this song become a favourite at wedding banquets, it has afforded me some yippee and kachink moments at the bank too.

Amacam? Turun tak?

2005-07-08T03:01:00.000+08:00

Promo Jangan Tak Promo Beb!

Gini beb! Wa tak brani aah nak cakap lebey eh, tapi pakcik-pakcik rock kapak nak turun bulan lapan ni sia'! Rugi tak turun, wa cakap lu! Gerenti gerek sehh! Gerenti kalo organiser tak kensel la...Truth be told, the only reason why I would throw all haberdashery, drop everything and kill for a backstage pass would be because Che Anwar's band is playing too. Fort Canning is a public place, and there are a lot of trees that can camouflage me from the papparazzis. Chewah...perasan Jada Pinkett la pulak.

What most of the bands have in common is the undying passion for raw classic metal/rock reliving their youth(in denial of their maturity?) despite prosperity guts and beer bellies. Rock never die lah katakan.

The younger bands address them as Abang-name-of-band, so it's not so bad yet. Give it another 5 years, when people start calling them Uncle-name-of-band, baru nak cari kopiah kot eh?

Pandemonium Broke Loose in Londra

2005-07-08T00:26:00.000+08:00

Just received news from our beloved Kakteh who was in the middle of it when it happened. She has asked me to let y'all know that she is alright and to thank all of you for checking on her and for praying for her safety.Alhamdulillah she's okay. If you are in Malaysia stay glued to RTM news as she will be reporting live from time to time. Catch her reports in your local newspapers tomorrow. InsyaAllah.

Narcoleptic Adulthood

2005-07-07T16:25:00.000+08:00

Okay peeps. I am back from Melaka.

Pakwe, my grandfather was ICU-ed for a few days after he was found unconscious early Monday morning. He came to the day before I got there, but he woke up a different person altogether. Doctor said that it will take some time before he can be normal again. Thank you to all of you who have conveyed well wishes and offered prayers. It really helped. Jazakallah.

Today, I am feeling bedraggled from the stress, lack of sleep, travelling with a 2 year old in dire strait need of a leash, and God, do I have to start thinking about travelling light. I have always been dependent on Anwar to get around, this time I had to go on my own. It's actually fun to check into the hotel room by myself, take care of food and transportation, and most of all, I had to be a grown up and rough it out.

Good thing my Pakwe has a young wife who can run things efficiently while he is in the woods- he's 80 and has just shown some signs of senility. Nauzubillah. I hope his incoherence is due to the drug cocktails forced down into his system, or perhaps because he's just frazzled. Please, please Allah, bring my old Pakwe back.

The trip back on Transtar Executive Coach was an easygoing one. I still cannot get over how wide the seats are, the ample leg space, and get this, every seat has a 8 step massage system. Think reduced risks of deep vein thrombosis. The ride went swimmingly smooth, I don't know where the driver was trained. Heaven help you if you get those drug-induced ex-army bus drivers. On the Transtar, you have no reason to kancheong and would probably enjoy the company of fun-loving, retiring age Singaporean tourists home-bound who would make sure you are comfy. The best part was that they kept Aishah so entertained that all that stress worrying about long journeys is now a thing of the past. She didn't nap much, not with this Aunty who had an interesting Ozzy accent, testing Aishah's mathematical skills, and an grand looking uncle who could not stop swooning about how great Aishah is-how kembang that made me, and that Pak Arab who took the bus downsouth for the first time, thinking that all Malaysian buses are as posh as this. Heheh. I wasn't going to spill the beans about our transnasional drivers.

I got off at Lavender MRT station rehearsing a Hindi film reunion with darling Anwar in my head, he was no where in sight. Turned out he had waited for me at the Lavender Bus Interchange. 15 minutes after circling a red fire hydrant, we saw Abah cruising by the ICA pick up point. Got in and a quick cap mohor(pinjam istilah AuntyN), Aishah needed a diaper change-Help! She's not toilet trained yet. Thank you Huggies for good fit pull-up pants, I did not need a baby room.

And then came a brooding giant of a security officer tapping on the glass screen asking us to bugger off. Maybe we all looked like some berani mati carb*mbers, sticking around suspiciously way too long in front of the Immigration head office. Dah le I was wearing all black ala Afghans.

If not for Aishah's Puss in Boots eyes, we'd be whisked away for further questioning. Scared die or not?

And-Oh! All that room service at City Bayview Melaka and no exercise did some damage to my program. Must startover lah !!! Ely has lost some more weight, Anedra is doing well, and so is Massy Lassy so I gathered .Good job girls!!

Another thing, I will start telling people about Positivity Heals in a day or two. Hope it catches on yea?

EVERYDAY IS A NEW DAY

NAZRAH DAH PINDAH

Low Tide

Bay Window Bi*ching

Si Genit dan Si Cilik

Non-Conformist

High and Low

Ubat Gendut

Eid Saeed

Four Years and Counting

Manggis Came to Town

Malaysia Mourns

Hole in My Pocket

Bendulful Meme Again

I am reduced to this

What? What? Whaaaaaaat?

Strange Meme

Mission Accomplished

LOST: 6% Brain Matter

Sigh....

Pesanan Dari Penaja

Anak Abah

Mak Dara Berembun

Of Kebaya and Kurung

One Last Bit

Intermission

Gabbing Gebangites

My Precious Boys

Map to Heaven

Muwor Part 2 :Bandar Maharani

Muwor Part 1: Mee Bandung

Day Out with the Sunshine Gang

Boisterous Blahniks

A Day at the Beach

Tete-a-tete

Early Childhood Entertainment

My Kapoor Crush

Memerable Memories

Mak Sayang

Of Chocolates

Menjelang 31 Ogos

Pot Luck Picnic

Work That Bah-dey!

Ayu Was Here: UPDATED!

Kiss From A Rose

Ambitious Astronaut

Bullish on Bouncing Back

Hiatus

Ode to GKT

On Marriage

Trust

The Rocker Road

Lumpy Lipids in Limbo

Ku Izinkan Kasih

Cempedak Had A Great Fall

Pengumuman

Teman Terulung

Gear Up Your Rock Kapak Get Up

Blogger Bottoms Up

Pelesering By The Bay

Reverse Peristalsis

Engineers' Wives Club

Cinta Sejati

Kembali Ceria

Poor Lil Aishah

Looping in My Head is...

Lovelorn Lamentations

Peekaboo!

Update!

Decor Indecorum

Pusaka Rimba

Instanteous Comic

On Friendship

A PUBLIC APOLOGY

Aishah Kenit

My Adrenaline Machine

Promo Jangan Tak Promo

Little Nemo Leftover

Algae Invasion

*batting eyelids, beaming*

batting eyelids, beaming