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Thursday, July 31, 2008

My Last Working Day

Yeay!!!!!

Finally, after two months waiting, and after have been working for 6 years 15 days, the day has finally arrived.

The project team had arranged a farewell lunch for me yesterday. They even bought a Secret Recipe cake. I know it's a norm to have a farewell party when a colleague leaves, but I didn't expect these construction guys would take effort to arrange for a farewell party. How sweet.....

KFC....huhuhu

The yummy cake

The project team. Don't ask which one is the evil boss.
He was not around. Invited but refused to come.

Me and Herda, my only lady companion for the past 2 months.
Now that I'm leaving, she'll be the only female at the office

This could be the end of my engineering career. Yes, I've said I hate my job but at certain points, I love my job too especially when I was a designer in the HQ. I feel proud to see some of the projects that I have involved with have been in operation. I've learned a lot for the past six years ever since I started working with SMHB. I'm thinking to pay a visit to my HQ, to meet my ex-colleagues (oh, they have become ex now!) especially Mr. Meyappan, my mentor.

Anyway, though working at site has made me so miserable (I call it the dark time of my working career), with evil boss (I think you have heard enough about him, huh?), long distant daily drive, problems with works, I'm so grateful that Allah s.w.t gave me the strength to go through all these obstacles. At one time, I have thought of going back to HQ, but then I thought again, all these are just small challenges in life, I can avoid this time, but there's no guarantee that I would not face these kind of challenges in the future, would there? So just deal with it.

And I did it. Did it. Yes I did it (nyanyi mcm Dora the Explorer...hehehe).

The past 15 months I have survived driving 240km a day, 1 road accident (read here), several car break-downs and lots more. It was hard but now I feel stronger.

The car that has served me for the past15 months.
Because of its problems, I've learned a lot about car maintenance.

This is my 'baby': Bekok Raw Water Transfer Project.
Bye-bye. X dapat join masa MB potong riben nanti...kekeke


I would not be blogging for a while after this. There is no Internet at home. Besides I'd be busy with lots of things to do. Anyway since I have to return the sim card of the telephone number I'm currently using to the company, and I need to get a new telephone number, I would probably looking for prepaid type that offers broadband. Ada tak, ha? And to friends and acquittance that read my blog and keep my current number, please take note that the number is no more mine after 31/7/08. Nanti kang you all call, takut org lain yg jawab, ok!

Tomorrow is a new beginning of new career: Full time housewife!!!! How exciting!!

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Israk Mikraj

Selamat menyambut Israk Mikraj kepada muslimin dan muslimin.

Sedikit pengisian agama berkaitan Israk Mikraj yg dipetik dari blog Ustaz Abdul Halim Abdullah.
Mari kita hayati:

“Katakan (kepada mereka), ‘Kamu lihatlah apa yang terdapat di langit dan di bumi’..”(Surah Yunus:101). Dari 2 butir pasir di bumi hingga apa sahaja termasuk planet saling menarik antara satu sama lain dengan nilai tetap yang sama di mana-mana alam ini, G=6.67428×10E(-11)m3kg-1s-2 dalam formula F=Gm1m2/r(2) !! Subhanallah !! - Kenangan subjek Physics masa Matriculation 1983 di Australia. (Foto oleh NASA).

Pada hari Jumaat 4.7.2008 (1 Rejab) yang lalu, kita memasuki bulan Rejab yang didalamnya berlaku peristiwa Israk Mikraj yang bersejarah. Peristiwa tersebut bukan sahaja menunjukkan kekuasaan Allah swt di atas sekelian makhluqNya dan benarnya kenabian Muhammad saw, bahkan ianya juga membuka ufuk pemikiran dan cita-cita manusia sejagat dari hanya sekadar terhad kepada muka bumi ini semata-mata kepada cakerawala ciptaan Allah swt yang amat luas dan jauh, siap untuk diamati untuk lebih kita mengenali Tuhan Pencipta Agung, siap untuk diterokai agar manusia memperlengkap dan meninggikan kualiti ilmu pengetahuan demi memenuhi cita-cita tersebut.

Setelah kewafatan Khadijah ra, pendokong moral dan material perjuangan Baginda saw dan kewafatan Abu Talib, pelindung Baginda saw dari ancaman fisikal oleh kafir Quraisy pada Tahun Kesedihan, Dakwah Islam berada diposisi paling tenat disegi saikologi Nabi saw dan para Sahabat ra sendiri, maupun disegi tiadanya kemasukan baru ke dalam agama Islam dari kalangan penduduk Mekah. Dengan azam tidak menyerah kepada keadaan, Baginda saw mencuba nasib, mencari peluang baru untuk Dakwah ini di Taif, 80 km dari Mekah, namun harapan dan sangkaan Baginda saw meleset. Di Taif, Dakwah tidak diterima, Pendakwah dihina dengan dibaling batu oleh penduduknya. Pintu Dakwah ditahun ini hampir tertutup. Namun Allah swt melalui Surah Huud, mengarahkan Nabi saw terus beristiqamah menjalankan amal Dakwah ini meredah fasa-fasa gelap yang sedang menyelubunginya, tanpa isteri yang mendorong dan tanpa bapa saudara yang melindung. “Shayyabatni Huud” (Surah Huud telah mengubankan rambutku !!).

MasyaAllah !! Setelah 9 bulan perjalanan, Amerika menjejakkan alatnya di planet Marikh pada 25.6.2008 lalu dan hari ini menunjukkan fotonya kepada umat manusia di bumi. Tanah Marikh diambil dan dianalisa. Foto ini boleh tiba ke bumi dengan pantasnya, melalui perantaraan apa? Orang kafir sibuk meneroka alam baru sedang umat Islam pula sibuk melayan tuntutan Kuasa-kuasa Besar Dunia dan bercakaran sesama sendiri.

Allah swt tidak membiarkan Rasul Akhir Zaman berpanjangan dalam kemuraman seperti itu. Dakwah ini harus dipacu hingga berjaya bukan sahaja di Mekah, tetapi ke seluruh dunia, merangkumi sekelian jin dan manusia. Pada malam 27 Rejab ~620M, Jibril mengejutkan Rasulullah saw dari lamunan malam dan mengisyaratkan kepada Baginda saw bahawa kenderaan Buraq telah siap di luar sana untuk membawanya ke Masjidil Aqsa di Palestin, naik meredah 7 petala langit, ke Sidradul Muntaha melalui Baitul Makmur, memenuhi undangan Allah swt. Di Masjidil Aqsa Baginda bersolat mengimami kesemua para rasul, melihat bandar Baitul Maqdis, memilih susu dan menolak arak. Di langit, Baginda bertemu sebahagian para rasul, diperlihatkan gelagat penghuni-penghuni Syurga dan Neraka serta tanda-tanda kebesaran Allah swt yang lain. Di Sidratul Muntaha, Baginda diwahyukan Allah swt apa yang hendak diwahyukan olehNya, termasuk kewajipan Solat, ibadah yang paling utama.

Tidak seperti roket yang hanya dipakai buang sekali sahaja disetiap pelancaran dan operasi, “space shuttle” berjaya dicipta Amerika bertindak seperti teksi antara langit dan bumi, boleh diguna berulangkali. Setakat ini 4 buah space shuttle iaitu Columbia (dilancarkan pada 12.4.1981, tepat 20 tahun selepas Yuri Gagarin, manusia pertama ke angkasalepas), Challenger, Endeavour dan Atlantis telah dihasilkan. Tiap satu memakan belanja setahun budget seluruh negara sedang membangun di dunia.

Sekembalinya Nabi saw ke Mekah dari langit, kekuatan Baginda saw untuk berdakwah lebih kental. Segelintir orang Islam murtad kerana tidak dapat menerima hakikat boleh berlakunya peristiwa Muhammad saw pergi ke Palestin dan langit serta kembali semula dalam malam yang sama. Para Sahabat ra yang lain bertambah keyakinan dan kekaguman mereka kepada Nabi tercinta. Bagi Nabi saw pula, melihat sendiri kesudahan manusia di Syurga dan Neraka sudah cukup memberi motovasi penuh untuk menyelamatkan mereka didunia lagi, sebelum mereka menempuh alam Pengadilan dan Pembalasan, belum lagi berpeluang menerima wahyu langsung dari Allah swt di Sidratul Muntaha. Tiga tahun selepas itu, keimanan baru, lebih tinggi dan teruji inilah yang menjadi asas kepada Hijrah dan penegakkan Negara Islam di Madinah.

Ini foto bersejarah kerana kali pertama foto bumi diambil dari angkasalepas (pada ketinggian 300 kilometer). Foto ini diambil oleh Yuri Gagarin, angkasawan Rusia dan manusia ketiga ke angkasalepas pada 12.4.1961, selepas Nabi Isa as (selepas percubaan membunuhnya) dan Rasulullah saw (dalam peristiwa Israk Mikraj).

Dari sinopsis ringkas peristiwa Israk Mikraj, dapat disimpulkan sebahagian pengajaran berguna untuk umat selepasnya dan kita seperti berikut :

  1. Kehebatan dokongan isteri, kerukunan rumahtangga adalah salah satu asas kejayaan dalam diri Pendakwah dan Dakwah itu sendiri.
  2. Perlindungan seperti yang diberi oleh sesiapa contohnya Abu Talib, biar pun dia bukan seorang Islam, adalah penting dalam memastikan Islam berkembang tanpa gangguan terutamanya di fasa awalnya.
  3. Kepentingan Masjidil Aqsa dan Palestin di dalam perjuangan Uslam dan umat.
  4. Dengan Nabi saw menjadi imam semua para Rasul yang lain di Masjidil Aqsa, hari ini dan selepas ini, umat Islam mestilah menjadi imam (pemimpin dan pembimbing) kepada umat-umat yang lain, dan bukan sebaliknya seperti yang berlaku hari ini. Umat Islam mesti bekerja ke arah itu.
  5. Solat adalah ibadah terpenting dalam Islam. Di Hari Kiamat, tidak dinilai amalan-amalan lain jika solatnya dinilai sebagai gagal.
  6. Iman pendokong-pendokong perjuangan Islam, termasuk para Sahabat ra akan terus menerus melalui proses penapisan, untuk membeza dan mengasingkan permata dari kaca.
  7. Negara Islam tertegak bila ada jemaah manusia yang bersedia memikul tanggungjawab tersebut dengan keimanan yang telah teruji seperti para Sahabat ra.
  8. Umat Islam dituntut melihat cakerawala dan kehebatan penciptaannya, bukan terhad atau terkongkong kepada apa yang ada di bumi sahaja.

Masjid Kubah Batu (Pelancaran), di tengah-tengah Masjidil Aqsa, Palestin. Di sini tempat pelancaran kenderaan Buraq membawa Rasulullah saw ke Sidratul Muntaha, menembusi 7 petala langit dan Baitul Makmur. Hari ini ia ditawan oleh Yahudi yang dilaknat Allah swt. Pembebasannya sebelum Hari Kiamat dijamin Allah swt. Bila ? Siapa pembebasnya ? Apa ciri-ciri mereka ? Bagaimana mereka dididik (dihasilkan) ?

Marilah kita sama-sama merai dan memperingati peristiwa bersejarah dan besar ini, dengan mengatur atau menghadiri ceramah mengenainya. Jauh lebih itu ialah mencedok pengajaran-pengajaran darinya untuk kehidupan berkeluarga bersama anak isteri dan perjuangan bersama-sama teman-teman yang beriman. Sekian.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Handover Notes

Uh!Oh! It's time to prepare the handover notes....

But handover to whom?

Had a small talk (very short one!) with that evil boss just now. I think he's in denial stage that I'm leaving....hahaha. Bukan perasan dia suka saya tau.....I think he knows I hate him. But he needs me!!!

And why do I said he's in denial stage? Because he refuse to discuss on the works that I have and suppose to pass to somebody. I tried to discuss about it earlier in the late morning, but he shut me up by saying 'until the day you leave'. Hello!!!!! That day is in 2 days and I hate last minute things, ok! And not that he was busy...he was playing solitaire, mind you!

I know without me around, he would be helpless (not only me saying this, but the whole project team). He's the remote controller. And what is there to remote control when the human device is not available?

Client needs report? Info?

"Ros, prepare bla,bla, bla, I want it tomorrow"

Client visits site early in the morning?

"Ros, this En. A is coming tomorrow. You entertain him"

And all minutes of meeting, progress report, bla and bla....I wonder who's going to do it.

As far as I'm concerned, the HQ has not said anything about sending somebody to replace me. And looking at the condition now, I don't think they would because the works is not so much now. Resident Engineer should be able to do these works without his ARE.

I love to hear if he is in the mess later on (mmg ku tidak punya hati yg baik). It serves him right! But I know if he's miserable, he will mess up other people too. Like, probably asking the supervisor to do stuff he's not supposed to do. And this project is like my baby. I should take a good care of it though I'm not staying to see the plant commissioning.

So, handover notes is a must!

Monday, July 28, 2008

Is That So?

Ever since I put my resignation letter almost 2 months ago, I receive lots of questions, remarks and comments from people around me. When they heard that I have resigned, the question they'd ask was 'So which company you going to join?', instead of asking 'Why do you resign?'

When I told these people that I'm not going for a new job, but I will be a full time housewife (without telling that I'm going abroad), here are some remarks I got:

"Staying at home? Are you sure about this?"
"You have the cert. and experiences. Why you want to waste such things?"
"Your husband must be rich that now you can quit your job and stay at home, huh?"

Hmm....looks like being a housewife is a degrading move to these people.

Then, they heard that I quit my job because I'm to follow my dear cik HB furthering his studies and I receive these comments:

"Can't your husband go alone? Why must you sacrifice your career?"

"Since you are there and doing nothing, why don't you further study as well?"

"Try get a job or do business, don't waste your time there"

Hello! Doing nothing? Don't they think that taking care husband and kids is a job as well, though it's not a paid one (but we're paid by pahala if we are sincere about it, right?).

So is it wrong if a graduate mother leaves her job simply because she wants to give priority to her family?

My two precious girls

I too, heard these phrases number of times before (not meant for me, mind you!):

'Belajar tinggi-tinggi, akhirnya duduk dapur jugak'

or

'Penat2 mak ayah hantar belajar tinggi2, berhenti jaga anak, buat apa?'

Actually if dear cik HB doesn't further his study abroad, quitting job definitely not in my plan, at least not yet. Because other than helping in paying our daily expenses, I'm also giving monthly allowance to my parents. And now with increasing price of almost everything, of course, I would choose to be working.

But it's a married life, when one spouse gets a better chance to upgrade his career, don't you think that the other half must sacrifice? And to live separately for 2 years time......I think I would be so selfish not to follow dear cik HB and it's not fair to the children as well. Besides, there is no financial problems for the family to go along. And we have done some calculation, with the money that cik HB will receive, we can still give monthly allowance to both sides of our parents.

And my career is not at the peak too, I'm still the underpaid engineer, I hate my job, so what's the big deal about quitting my job? Of course I'm aware that if I'm not working for 2 years period of time, chances for me to get the job that I have now is very slim. Anyway, I never thought of working back as engineer. I'm thinking to further study after we come back or I would find a job that is not so demanding. My priority now is my children. I want to spend more quality time with them.

Anyway I don't intend to put aside the idea that I should be studying or working while I'm staying there. I'll see how are the things there. If the opportunity is there, why not?

Whatever it is, I am redha with the choice I make. So 'shuh-shuh' all the negative remarks!

Friday, July 25, 2008

How Sad.....

My heart sank when I read news on a father who suicided after he murdered his two small children. (For more details read here)

I don't understand. First of all, he's a Muslim and self-suicide is a big sin in Islam. Secondly, if you want to be dead, why must your kids die too? I understand this guy was miserable because of his marriage is falling apart. His family said he was a doting father and took turn taking care of the children. How could a doting father kill his own kids? Is this a way to protest to the wife that he didn't want a divorce? To make the wife suffer her whole life, thinking that she is the reason for the death of his husband and children? Like, the news of a mother who killed her kid to revenge her adulterous husband?

True enough we do not know what is it actually going on.....

But one thing for sure, we must have strong iman while going through our life. Life is very challenging, it's up to each of us how we would face it.

Semoga Allah s.w.t melindungi kita semua.......

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Flight Schedule

Yesterday cik HB showed me the flight itinerary he has received from his office to fly to Germany. Though I don't really feel that 6/9 is coming very soon but when he showed me that, then only I have realized that 'Oh! Dah dekat rupanya nak pergi sana'.

Cik HB has to book the flight by now. He's not doing the booking process of course, all will be done by his office but he needs to confirm the flight's date and time. From the itinerary, there are 4 flights to choose from but none of them is MAS and none of them a direct flight as well. Hmmm...why no MAS, eh? Shouldn't government use the national air carrier? Or is MAS expensive in comparison to others? Well, MAS or no MAS, we can't say much, it's not paid by us. It's good enough we still have few options to choose from.

The options we have:

1. Kuwait Airways : KL-Bahrain-Frankfurt
2. Gulf Air: KL-Bahrain-Frankfurt
3. Thai Airways : KL-Bangkok-Frankfurt
4. Emirates Air : KL-Dubai-Frankfurt

Thai Airways is definitely big No-No. And flight at noon also not in our consideration. So we chose Emirates Air. The departure will be at 12.55 a.m and we would be arriving there at 3.55 a.m (Dubai's local time). Then the next flight to Frankfurt will be at 8.25 a.m. I guess that's the best time to be on flight with two small kids. Hopefully they would be sleeping all the way. And it's fasting month! Gosh, it's going to be challenging...

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Plan Re-schedule

Soon obviously is pretty much soon......hahaha (in reference to the last statement of my previous post) I can't help it, I have this urge to blog, so here I am again.

Dear cik HB is supposed to go for his BTN course tomorrow. And because of that, my mum came to stay at my house to accompany me and the kids. But yesterday morning he called me, sounded pretty much disappointed, saying that he couldn't go to that BTN. Apparently the clerk who is supposed to confirm to the BTN on cik HB's participation, did not do so and because of that the place for cik HB has been taken by other people. Karenah biroksi sungguh, kan?

The thing is, we have nicely arranged our plan for August (We even typed it, printed it and pasted it on the fridge door). 9/8/08 should be the target date we move things out from our rented house in Melaka (but we intend to keep the house until mid-Sept, just in case). Other than that, we plan to go back to KB much earlier before my SIL's wedding to help out. Now that cik HB has to go for BTN course on 7/8, and to wait for the result to come out and then handling all the necessary documents, looks like we have to reschedule our plan. And how I hate reschedule...arrggg!!!

And time is running out.....late BTN's result, means late KPT's letter leading to late money to receive! Can we really fly to Germany on 6/9 as we have planned? Hmm....just wait and see lah.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Counting Days...

Only this week and next week.....yeeha!!!!

But I have to limit my time on the Net in order to finish all my outstanding works before my last working day on 31th July. Furthermore, my PC is cranky now, apparently it has some problems related to Window memory low and if I'm online, my PC keeps shutting down on error. So if I were having some works with Excel or Words, they are just gone missing. Well, Words not that bad cause the recovery system is good but Excel....huh!

So friends, if you don't see me on YM or blog has not been updated, you know why. I have to work hard, ok....

See you soon......

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Trip to Perlis

Month of July is really month of traveling. A week before the Perlis trip, we went back to KB for the wedding and since we felt it was necessary to attend the groom's wedding reception in Perlis, we went there too although it meant we have to spends lots of money on the traveling cost.

I don't travel to the northern area much. So I find that traveling to Perlis by driving is very tiring and so far away (tiring here not because I drive, but entertaining the two 'cekadak' girls). No doubt KB also is very far from the place we are staying but I get used to the route already so I don't find it that long anymore.

But thanks to PLUS that provides good facilities along the highway. R&R at Sg Perak is superb! The architecture is beautiful and the place is complete with escalator. Probably that is why we pay so much for the toll, huh?

We actually were in KL that Friday morning until noon because of the visa things. We left KL around 2.30 pm and we arrived at Alor Star at 8.30 pm. But we took the wrong exit to go to Perlis, instead of Alor Star(S), we took Alor Star (U). Cik HB called so many people to ask for direction. One person gave another idea and another person gave another thing. Of course both directions will send us to Perlis, but we wanted the most effective and shorter route.

Since we took Alor Star(U), cik HB's friend suggested we g
ot into the highway back and headed towards Changlun. So we did that. I was told by my SIL that the groom's family had reserved us a place to stay at a homestay in Kangar but then cik HB drove straight to Kuala Perlis cause he claimed his brother said we were wait for him to fetch us there (Our families from KB had arrived much earlier). It was already 9.30 pm and everybody hungry. And the girls had been so cranky for quite some time by then. But cik HB refused to stop until we reached Kuala Perlis. At Kuala Perlis we finally stopped for dinner at one food place by the road side (I refuse to call it a restaurant, you'll know why). The place was actually horrible but we were tricked by the colourful neon lights installed outside. When we got into the place then only we realized that the place was dirty. But since we had sat down and it was already late for dinner, we stayed and ordered food. Cik HB asked from the waiter boy whether he can use their toilet. I also had the urge to use the toilet too, but looking around the place, I was sure the toilet is horrible. When HB came back, he whispered to me that the toilet was extremely horrible. My HB isn't someone so fussy so when he said that, I believed him.

Waiting for the food to be served also took very long time. I think about half an hour later it came and very disappointing. My HB ordered a mix tomyam but
he only found chicken with fats in it. I ordered paprik fried rice but was given white rice with paprik. And again with chicken fats. My two SIL ordered nasi goreng kampung and another plate of nasi goreng cina for the twins to share. Both fried rice tasted the same!

Since we were hungry, we finished it off though not happy with the taste. I was aghast when we were told that the price for everything is RM26! No, I know that wasn't so much of money but it was expensive in comparison with another food places that I have b
een to. Generally, it priced at RM5.20 per person for 5 dishes. And for the drinks, my HB had teh-0, one SIL with ice-tea and another 3 drinks were only plain water. Sorry if I sound so stingy in this matter but it just doesn't make sense to me....I know goods price has gone up tremendously nowadays due to the oil price but in Kuala Perlis, could it be that much? When we ate in Bangi on the way back to Melaka, it was cheaper than that ok!

Ok, that was the story of the food. Apparently, nobody said that
we were to wait at Kuala Perlis. I don't know how cik HB got the idea about the Kuala Perlis thing but when we called my BIL back, we were supposed to go to Kangar. Ayoo!!! Luckily Kangar is not that far from Kuala Perlis. We finally there at 11 pm and met my BIL waiting for us at Putra Palace Hotel. Then he took us to the homestay where the rest of the family stayed. Since there were many of them and the house already crowded, we chose to stay at Putra Palace Hotel which offered good rate. we checked-in at the hotel at 12 midnight.

But sometime around 1.30 am, when I was about to sleep, m
y stomach suddenly felt churning. So I rushed to the toilet. Once I was done, Nabihah said she wanted to poo and she too seemed like having diarrhea. Then Nabilah. Then me...and the exercise went on several time between 3 of us until we finally slept at 2.30 am. At 3 something it was my HB then. 6.30 am, Nabihah woke up saying she had pooped in her diaper. I was wondering whether my two SIL also having the same problem and was confirmed that they too, had diarrhea when one of them called me at 8 am. I couldn't tell what had caused us the diarrhea, whether the food pack that I cooked for lunch ( we had fried chicken, prawn chilies with petai and mix vege) or that horrible food place in Kuala Perlis? My two SIL insisted that the food place is the culprit. Tapi tak baik tuduh2 kan?

Saturday (12/7/08)

It's the groom's reception day somewhere around Kangar. The foods were scrumptious, first time I ate papaya curry. Then there were grilled fish, ulam2 and matched with sambal belacan. Makan tak ingat dunia rombongan kami...hahahah.

Makan beradab

Yours truly berposing sebelum makan...hehehe

Posing with couple: from left, cikHB , FIL, K , MN and me

After the reception, we went back to the homestay. The aunts discussed where to go for sightseeing and shopping. One aunt wanted to go to Padang Besar and another aunt opted for Wang Kelian. We didn't want to be part of the rombongan cik kiah, so cik HB and I, one of his brother and the wife talked about going to Langkawi and stay there overnight.

Part of the KB clan

But when we got back to the hotel, the twins and cik HB fell asleep and plan to go to Langkawi was cancelled. It was not the right time to go. No point going there on late afternoon, then tomorrow morning has to rush back to Melaka.

But in the evening, we went to Padang Besar on our own. Rombongan cik kiah apparently had gone there much earlier so we didn't bother to join the group. Nothing much in Padang Besar. It's similar to Rantau Panjang and I think Rantau Panjang is bigger. We just went around the area and I ended up buying some jeruk and nuts for souvenir.

That night, we were invited by the K's (the groom) family for dinner. Apparently the reception held during the day was at the K's grandmother's house (ini mesti kes cucu kesayangan) and the dinner was at the K's parents' house. Again, there were a lot of foods and all kueh and deserts served.

Sunday (13/7/08)

We left Perlis at 10 am after saying goodbye to KB clan. Arrived at Melaka at 10 pm. It was very long journey and we had stopped several times and dropped my 2 SILs in KL and Bangi.

Debate

My interest on the political issues is actually very minimal. I read the newspaper, hear the TV news and get to know the latest update of our politic scenario, but that's all. But I am never obsess or excited when it comes to politic.And I can't believe it either that I'm going to write about politics now and probably having myself risked to be caught by ISA...hahahah

When Anwar Ibrahim is accused on sodomy crime AGAIN! I have the urge to read more and find out more on what is going on. 10 years ago, I didn't believe any of the crimes prosecuted on Anwar, much less now. But I always understand, politics is a dirty arena. People would do anything possible for power and money.

So when it was announced that there will be a debate between Penasihat PKR, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (DSAI)and Menteri Penerangan, Datuk Shabery Cheek (DSC)and would be broad casted on TV, I was so excited.But one thing I wondered was, why Shabery Cheek? Why not the PM himself or TPM or at least the financial minister? Oh ya, the financial minister is PM himself, isn't he?

Ok, I'm not good at summarizing on the debate itself. Go and watch it yourself from youtube or any other sources and conclude. But I find that DSAI is truly someone with caliber and charismatic. He's indeed a good debater and public speaker. And "kudos" to Shabery Cheek for having guts to challenge DSAI for this debate even though I find his speeches is very much not convincing. And if the BN Government is very transparent to give opportunity to the Opposition/PKR to publicly speaking on this oil issue as stated by Shabery, why was it not aired on RTM itself? Shabery Cheek is RTM's boss, and funny...it didn't show live in that channel? It was shown in Astro Awani only. And how many Malaysian citizen has Astro at home? What about those who live in villages and remote areas? Is it so transparent as claimed by Shabery?

Our politics scenario is getting unpredictable it seems. No doubt UMNO/BN has done a lot for the country but it's not the party to be blamed now, it's the people who manage it. Maybe whe should change those people, huh?

I want to live in peaceful Malaysia but not with corrupted leaders....

Monday, July 14, 2008

Visa

We off to Perlis on Friday (I'll write about my trip later). But we had to dropped by at the German embassy in KL. They had called cik HB few days earlier saying that now they need the financial statement to be translated into Deutsch. Our friend who is going to Aachen, Germany did not have to do this, in fact the visa for him and his family is ready for collection. And they only did it 2 weeks earlier than us! But we are aware that visa application is handled by the state (ours is Hessen) that we are going to, so the requirements may vary accordingly.

For one document to be translated means we have to spend more money.One page costs us RM70 with the translator and another RM99 for the embassy to endorse. Expensive, huh? Previously, we had spent hundreds of ringgit to translate some documents into Deutsch. And the translator must the one certified by the embassy. Meaning, even if you can write in Deutsch, you can't do the translation by yourself. Hmmm...so much for procedures..

Now we are wondering whether they are going to ask for more documents to be translated. As far as we can remember, the only document that is still not in Deutsch is my degree cert.(Oh! This is also an interesting (and weird too!) part about Germany visa application, that the accompanying spouse needs to be at least a degree holder)

I just hope that there will be no more issues with this visa application. We are running out of time now and expect that we could get the visa by mid-August.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Which One?

I am contemplating between taking a decent way of leave application (i.e fill up the form and see whether the boss will approve it) OR just take emergency leave. Tomorrow I'm off to Perlis. And I only have 1 more day annual leave to spend. Coming Saturday is my working Saturday and I have no more leave to spend. But I can substitute that Saturday with another 2 Saturdays to come before I finally leave my job. Even if he still doesn't agree to this arrangement, I'm willing to treat that half day as unpaid leave.

The thing is, I'm not sure whether that evil boss would agree, knowing how much he likes to make my life miserable.If I go and see him and konon-konon nak discuss, he would shout at me first, thus will make me feel bad the whole day and night.

So, I'm thinking the best way is just to go on emergency and then SMS him. If he wants to be angry, at least I already did it. So the hell with him!!! Besides, I'm leaving soon, so what the heck?

Monday, July 7, 2008

If Only....

I'm so bored and sleepy. So I did some works in Polyvore.com. And I came out with this:



Ah! That jacket just look marvelous and the jeans too. How I wish that I am more slimmer so that I could look fabulous with those outfit. And I want to switch to eye glasses instead of contact lenses. Now my current eyeglasses look so outdated and I look older with it so I hardly wear it in public.

If only I could lose weight.......

Diet la weh!!!!!

Monday Blues

I have just arrived at Melaka from KB this morning after a dreadful 12 hours journey by bus. And then I have to drive another 1 hour to get to work. So, it's one miserable Monday morning today. I'm still so sleepy because I couldn't sleep well in the bus. And number of times while driving this morning, I actually drifted to sleep. Oh! So dangerous....

The bus we rode on Friday night from Melaka to KB only took us 10 hours to arrive. Apparently, the bus we rode to come back which is C*pat Express bus was actually using longer route via Segamat, Bandar Muadzam Shah, Tangkak and Muar. That's why it took 12 hours to arrive. Ayoo!!! No wonder it took so long.

Luckily the twins were very good through out the journey to and fro. They slept so soundly in the bus. It was just me who couldn't sleep.

The wedding ceremony also went well. Congratulation to my sister-in-law MN and her newly- wedded-husband, K. I wish you happy marriage.


The couple posing with the dowry

The couple on the dais

This coming weekend, we'll be off to Arau, Perlis for the groom's side wedding ceremony. And this time I bet we'll be more tiring as we will travel by car.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

A Miserable Night and A Grumpy Lady Story......

When I answered one of the questions in the last tag on what do I hate about myself, I forgot to say that I hate it when I am easily become stressed up and grumpy when things are not in order or not running as planned. Last night it happened again and I still hate myself for allowing it to happen.

Two days ago cik HB told me that he got free coupons to watch movie at the newly opened GSC in Dataran Pahlawan and asked me whether I wanted to go. Of course I wanted to go, it's free and I wanted to watch Narnia: Prince Caspian so badly. So we planned to go last night. When I arrived home after work, I was already in bad mood coz I had entertained my most-impossible-boss who made me stayed back 45 minutes late just to do some editing on not-so-urgent letter.

I reached home at 7pm and as we wanted to catch the movie at 9.15 pm, and driving to Bandar Hilir will take 1/2 hour from our place, I had to rush doing everything. I hate being in rush! I asked cik HB whether is it worth to go, thinking as the movies were free, there would be a huge crowd with everybody wanting to get a ticket. He said no need to worry, there were so many movies and if Narnia is already full house, we could watch another movie.

By the time we reached Dataran Pahlawan, it was 8.40 pm and finding a parking lot was challenging. And I started being angry. Then we managed to get a parking lot but walking to the cinema was another thing. Cik HB insisted to use lift and I insisted we use the escalator. First, finding the lift is time consuming and second I was sure there would be a lot of people wanting to use the lift as well. He won, we went around looking for lift and as expected a lot of people waiting at the lift. After a while waiting (the lift didn't even stop at the floor), finally he agreed we use the escalator. And I started being grumpy and walking so fast, dragging Nabihah with me (I'm such a bad mother, huh?)

When we reached the cinema, there were a huge crowd at the floor and all digital display showed all movies were full-house. Well, it was free...what were we thinking? If it's free, means you have to fight for the ticket la, what else? It's either you go early to get the ticket or go much earlier during the day. Even the Chinese elderly crowded the place. I can tell you, these elderly were as old as 80, yet they were willing to join the crowds for free movie.

I was disappointed, not just because I couldn't watch the movie but because I was stupid enough to consider going to watch it. Didn't I know that it will be this way? Back in KL, even when I was single, when there were freebies like free movie, say for example you just have to bring the cut-out coupon from newspaper and get the free ticket, I wouldn't go. Because I knew it wasn't worth the time I had to spent on queuing up.

And I felt like blaming my dear husband for bringing up this idea and for not being able to analyze the situation (ya, the bad me for just wanting to blame him). Then I wanted to go home straight but he still wanted to do some window shopping. And I started boiling inside. Then paying for the parking lot was another story. The queue was long (cik HB queued) and some idiots had the nerves to jump queue. I could see cik HB's face changed (reddened, not green, ok! if you think of Incredible Hulk...hahaha) . When it was his turn, the machine rejected his money and he called me to ask for small change. I, with hand full holding the children's drinks, jackets and controlling the children from running around, just passed him my hand bag and asked him to look for the money himself.

And when we were in the car, he nagged me for giving the handbag, not giving the money straight. He said people at his back was making noise because he was taking time at the machine. I was really boiling up and snapped at him. And he snapped back at me. Then in the midst of tense, Nabihah who was standing at the middle of our seat, suddenly threw up, a smelly content of milo and orange juice which she drank earlier. We had no time to stop, so I shielded myself and the jackets I wanted to prevent the vomit from splashing onto the car seat. And made me more stressful, of course and felt like crying. I was so quiet then, entertaining my own anger ( I think being quite is better when I'm angry cause I don't want to say things that I would probably regret later).

Back home, I went straight to the toilet, and got a bath, washed the dirty clothes. But I was still grumpy and felt angry. The truth is, I didn't even know what was it actually that I was angry for. Was it for not getting to watch the movie? HB's nagging on the parking fee issue? Nabihah vomited on me? Or was I tired, I blamed it on everything?

One good thing about me being angry, is I would channel the anger by doing housework. So with my sulking face, I ignored cik HB, then dumped the dirty clothes into the washing machine, cleaned the kitchen (I even scrub the sink, mind you!) and folded the washed clothes that was left piling up in the spare room. I finally went to sleep at 1 a.m.

When I was drifting to sleep, cik HB came talking to me to make up. He always leaves me alone when I'm grumpy or angry, then he would make up with me. He said "kita jadi bodoh sbb wayang bodoh". I was still grumpy, so I didn't say anything.

Yes, it's true....why because of that stupid movie offer, did we put ourself in this tensed situation? Why must a married couple get into a fight because of something not worth for?

Setan2 mesti bersorak sbb satu laki-bini sudah bergaduh! Somemore because nak tgk wayang punya pasal. Sebelum tidur aku muhasabah diri dan fikir kenapa la free2 aku buat dosa ngan somi.

This morning as usual before I left to work, I kissed his hand and managed to bring myself to apologize for my attitude last night ( susah nak minta maaf sebenarnya). But after that, I felt better.

Well, what I'm sharing here is not to "buka pekung didada" thingy. I'm sure this kind of disagreement between husband and wife happens in every couple. It's just that I want myself and married couple out there to realize that to live in a happy marriage, elements like patience, loving, forgiving are important.

Married people, let's work towards happy marriage, ok!

And don't be grumpy, it's not good for health and makes you grow older faster ( a reminder for me as well!!)

Oh! By the way, any idea how I can get rid the bad smell of the vomit? I sprayed the Feebreeze already and drove this morning with opened window and no air-cond. But it still so smelly...what to do la?

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

July is Finally Here!!!

Yay!!!!

This month is the last month of my working period. And not to mention, will be a busy month as well.

We will be going back to KB this weekend for my sister-in-law's wedding. By bus. Will be my first ride to travel from Melaka to KB by bus and the first ride for the twins as well . We had not planned initially to go back to KB since we had chosen to go the groom's wedding reception in Perlis next weekend. I don't have enough annual leave to spend anymore. So it was either KB or Perlis.

We called KB last week and heard that everybody is planning to go back to KB for the wedding despite the earlier statements that those (our siblings) who stay outside Kelantan do not plan to go back due to not having enough annual leave and have dedicated their leave for the wedding in August. And suddenly we felt guilty of not being there. Then we thought about going back by bus. Cause if we take bus, it is more convenient in terms of time. We can sleep through out the journey. So we went to buy tickets. Apparently the cost of travelling by bus for the four of us is equivalent to travelling by car. But since money is not the issue here ( I mean, we can afford it), riding by bus is the best option.

HB is excited about riding the bus coz he said he has not travel to KB by bus for so many years eversince he bought his car. I just hope that the twins would not have any problems riding in the bus.

Oh! July also is the month I should start with the preparation to go to Germany. I'm going to have very long list of things-to-do.