Thursday, July 9, 2009

Dear Clients.....



I've been bogged down by work.





My key staff is leaving. She is embarking on a new venture of her own. (jadi supplier kerepek dan kuih, Raya dah dekat ni!)





My table is overflowing with files. Two piles are drafts, to be checked. Two piles are letters and notices, to be signed. A pile of files that needs drafting and submission prepared. All of these have their datelines.





And I had a hectic week too. The water tank in my house leaked and needed to be changed. Took time off from office to go see the work in progress from time to time. Had my roof opened up to facilitate the installation of the big huge poly tank! Was on beck and call for IKIP as they were in a midst of trouble with their landlord. Been at Yayasan's status report for weeks, only to have them cancel the status report meeting this morning! Had a false alarm about a last minute submission that I and Safiza prepared in about 2 hours, only to be informed by court that they do not want to hear it out today and gave us another date in August!






Those are only few of the reasons why my table look like a place where files go to die.




I know, my post is titled "Dear Clients", but I so hope that none of my clients reads my blog!





I would get notice of discharge in tons I guess, if they do.






"Wahhhh... my lawyer! Never check my draft, but got time to blog arrr?"







"Mana wasiat saya Puan Jehan? Saya nak mati dah pada ................... (masukkan tarikh di sini)"




Muahahaha..... I'd better go do some work erk?

Monday, July 6, 2009

Mari Karaoke Sama Gua.... Hotel Kerala-fornia


The Hotel California in Kerala Style with Lyrics - For more funny videos, click here

On the road to Trivandrum
Coconut oil in my hair
Warm smell of avial
Rising up through the air

Up ahead in the distance I saw a bright pink tube-light
My tummy rumbled, I felt weak and thin
I had to stop for a bite

There he stood in the doorway
Flicked his mundu in style
And I was thinking to myself
I don't like the look of his sinister smile

Then he lit up a petromax
Muttering "No power today"
More Mallus down the corridor
I thought I heard them say

Welcome to the Hotel Kerala-fonia
Such a lousy place,
Such a lousy place (background)
Such a sad disgrace,
Plenty of bugs at the Hotel Kerala-fonia
Any time of year
Any time of year (background)
It's infested here
It's infested here

His finger's stuck up his nostril
He's got a big, thick mustache
He makes an ugly, ugly noise
But that's just his laugh

Buxom girls clad in pavada
Eating banana chips
Some roll their eyes, and
Some roll their hips I said to the manager
My room's full of mice
He said,
Don't worry, saar,
I sending you meen karri, brandy and ice

And still those voices were crying from far away
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them pray
Save us from the Hotel Kerala-fonia
Such a lousy place,
Such a lousy place (background)
Such a sad disgrace

Trying to live at the Hotel Kerala-fonia
It is no surprise
It is no surprise (background)
That it swarms with flies

The blind man was pouring
Stale sambar on rice
And he said We are all just actors here
In Silk Smitha-disguise

And in the dining chamber
We gathered for the feast
We stab it with our steely knives
But we just can't cut that beef

Last thing I remember I was writhing on the floor
That cockroach in my appam-stew was the culprit,
I am sure

Relax, said the watchman
This enema will make you well
And his friends laughed as they held me
Down God's Own Country?
Oh, Hell!

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Weekend Birthday Celebration....

Saturday nite, we celebrated Long's 30th birthday at Xanax Family Karaoke Centre. Hers was actually on the 29th of June, but due to the numbers of weddings and clothes order, Abby, Teck and Long could not get away from the shop till Saturday.


Corum was, Abby, Teck, Ery, me, Husna and of course birthday girl, Long (Rahimah). Absentees are KC the Nyah who has gone back to Sungai Lembing for good and Mel who had to attend a meeting at Cameron Highlands.


This party was organised by Abby and she smsed us the time and venue, plus the dress code for the nit - RED!



Sampai-sampai, terus nyanyi dulu..... that was like 8:45pm




Ery and Long, the birthday girl, rendering a song....

Ery came in black because she said she looked like a bungkus nangka in red. But she wore a tudung with a red awning instead!



then, a duet with me singing Tragedi Buah Epal by Anita Sarwak. Check out Ery's move..... gelek!


Husna, joining in the merriment....



Long and Teck, posing maut......




in celebration of our feminism, the cake was shaped as a thong wearing bum! This was Abby's idea.... and Long simply loved it!



candles were affixed on the 'fleshy part of the bum!'




Ery, Long and Teck....



Ery, Long, Teck and Abby......



MC for that nite was Husna Juliani.

She cued us on when to sing "Happy Birthday", when to clap and who to stand/sit where.

Little Miss Bossy was in action, I tell you....


Potong kek.

Strategic location, I say...




more of the cake cutting action...



and some picture taking action....



Long and her Beyonce Bum cake...


bum to bum pose....



Little Miss Bossy inspecting the makan scene...

note the microphone yang tak lepas dari tangan dia...



posing with birthday girl and Teck.....

we all had a piece of cake each, washed down with lotsa iced lemon tea and Milo and side orders like fries and cut fruits (health concious lah konon!)




then the party started, when I donned the Satan's horns....



Teck, sepenuh jiwa menyanyikan lagi Kamelia.....


I did the song selections and they all complained sebab kena nyanyi lagu orang tua!


group pose...


best friends forever, Ery and Long....



meja makan....



Long, singing Biarlah Bulan Bicara.

Me, with imaginary lighter in hand, swaying to the music.....



Husna and Teck singing Ayat-Ayat Cinta.
Husna punya lagu wajib bila ke karaoke ialah: Tenda Biru (Desy Ratnasari), Matahari Ku (Agnes Monica), Ayat-Ayat Cinta (Rossa) dan Viva Forever (Spice Girls)!

Long, di riba Teck....

birthday girl pakai baju Zang Toi! There's only about 10 of those in circulation as Zang Toi's t-shirt are considered exclusive design.

me and my precious little imp...

goyang gerudi ala Inul


our royal wave, ala the British monarchs, as we sang to the Dancing Queen...

and Husna hid her head in my handbag when she saw us acting silly....



Long and Ery, belting out a number. Teck there as backup singer...

Hahhhh.... amik ngko! Kalau tahun depan tak buat konsert jelajah Malaysia, tak tahu lah ye?

aksi-aksi gelek

dan lagi.... hehehe!


letih, lenguh dengan kasut tinggi.... berkaki ayam pula!

Husna tertidur kejap at 11pm....

prompting the rest to sing horizontally too...

layan nyanyi sampai tergolek dan terlentok...

then I and Ery decided to spice it up a bit...
we did some alteration to our selections


lagu-lagu rock yang panassss.... sang by Abby and Teck!
Husna pun terbangun!


ada aksi dancing sekali... boleh?


and Husna sang again... while we all made fun of her!

Long and Ery, full of emotions....


and actions...


Husna pun tergedik sekali....


menyanyi dan menari bersama...


masa ni all of us dah berpeluh-peluh dek workout di Karaoke lounge
ada rasanya 1000kCal kita bakar malam tu

tanda pemberitahuan bila waktu solat dah masuk up there yang warna hijau tu! It blinks whenever prayer's time.
This is a family concept kinda karaoke. Ada small children playground, bilik sembahyang, tempat wudhuk dan juga restoran.
No liquor or GROs are available here!


around 1am. Starting to slow down a bit.....


Long pun pening kepala, sebab dia ni low blood pressure...
But, a cup of hot Milo later, she's up and about already!

Husna slept back again...

nyanyi lagi jiwang karat by Ahmad Jais ....

Our private party ended at about 2:30am, and we all went back home. As I tucked Husna in next to me, she was still humming Viva Forever under her breath.
Sunday afternoon, Husna and me, we went to get this pics from Abby and Long at Rifai's shop and Long confessed that she really enjoyed herself last nite. Hey, who didn't erk? Good siblings, good friends, good relatives, good songs, lousy singing and eccentric dancing can only spell happiness!
Happy Birthday to you again Long. May you have many more birthdays in the future for us to celebrate together. May you find your happiness in what you seek of and may you always be surrounded by those who loves you!

Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit.....

Friday, July 3, 2009

Me, The Cranky Mom....




Last nite, my seven year old Husna donned the mantle of Freud when she drew a picture of me.


She started with the usual round head figure with spiky, short, stumpy hair: hands and legs twiglike and with branches ant the end of it denoting fingers and toes. A torso, with two boobs and a belly button.


But this time, she added a new dimension to the drawing by penning in a downward arched mouth and a pair of angry looking, beady eyes on the orang lidi.


I asked her to explain.


"You are cranky because I left my water bottle in school again," she said.


Yes, for the past few months Husna has been losing her water bottles quite regularly. Sometimes she leaves them in school and forgot to bring them back. Sometimes she breaks them, rendering them unuseable any longer. Last count, I've already purchased 5 water bottles this year for this little imp of mine.


I was taken aback because it had actually affected her that way, my reaction to her losing her water bottles. I teared a bit in my eyes, laughed it away and hugged her close to me and insisted that I wasn't cranky. I merely wished that she wouldn't lose them so often.


"Mak is always cranky ye? Always mad and frowning yek?" I asked her amidst a big hug.


She shrugged against my hug. Then she pushed me away. I could see that she wanted to keep drawing and not yakkety-yakking with me. A form of punishment for me?


And then it dawned on me that my moods are affecting my daughter. That I need to be more communicative with her.


Its true, I get angry with her over small issues, like her losing her water bottles. I have to yell many many times to get her to go take a bath, coz she gets distracted with JoJo and Jenny, or with Little Miss Bossy's books. I always have to hurry her in the morning coz she takes such a long time to put on her shoes when I am already waiting in the car. Its no wonder that she drew me that way.


I sometimes come back from office, tired, and shouts at her for not finishing her homework yet. For spilling Milo on my work table. For putting on my make up like a little Chinese opera actor, all tepung gomak like and a cross between KISS and Dita Von Teese.


I think the Bitch in me has made its debut when I decided to give birth to my two kids. My theory is, if you avoid motherhood, you avoid activating the Bitch erk?


I know that I have my minor little outbursts, I get cranky and irritable. But now I vow, I'll explain and tell her why. The time and cost that is involved in getting a new water bottle every forthnight will be explained in full instead of pented up and stewed inwardly in me to be reflected on my demenour.


I will tell her that not ally my crankiness are originated from her. Sometimes its a bad day at work, sometimes it just friends. And yes, sometimes its her. When she's being careless or indifferent. When on days that I am tired of picking up after her, I'll tell her that too, to her face.


I know it will not kill her to hear it from me. I know that sometimes I piss her off to, but that I hope, is the worst of it. I know for sure that she doesn't feel sorry for me or find me sad. And I thinks she's okay being exposed to my honest feelings as long as I make it clear to her that a bad day does not make a bad or sad life.


I've learned that with motherhood comes a lot of those bad days but never a bad life. And who taught me that? Why my own mother, of course!

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

More...... Redang pics!

Went to court this morning. Had a matter with Ong in front of Tuan Irwan. Matter cannot go on coz my client cannot be contacted for further instructions. Sheeeesh..... got another date to file in application to discharge ourselves as solicitors.

Went to the Bar Room. Looked around for gang to go for breakfast. Called Am. She was upstairs at High Court with Rafidah. Went up there, they were exchanging thumbdrives of pics at Redang. I passed mine to Fidah too.

Now got more pics. Posting it here. Ngkorang tengok lah sampai cike ye (cike tu orang Lipis jer yang tau apa bende nya!)




ni gerai nasi dagang kat Batu Buruk, tempat kita makan sarapan.

ni kita semua, tengah tunggu nasi dagang



ni nasi dagang kita....


Fidah and me at the stalls, nearby the Merang jetty, before leaving for Redang



at Redang Bay, waiting to be checked in...




after check in, briefing on equipment introduction. Sifu Adee in green there....





Sifu teaching us how to read the gadgets attached to the regulator...



Am, muka puzzled habis tengok equipment

Sifu Adee teaching us how to inflate BCD...


trying on our flippers. No high heels one this type.....


getting ready for our first entry into the sea with equipments


the cousins.... Fidah and and Adda!

after 40 minutes in the sea.... we came up for tea!


then back in again, for 2nd round of exercise....


Adda and Aalima....


Fidah and Ca'in, resurfacing after the exercises...


Sifu and his darling, Sue.... so cute!

tuan punya blog ini....


before our first boat dive. Adda checking the underwater camera we rented from dive shop


preparing for first boat dive...

briefing by Joe and Chak, the local divemaster

and off we go...


Berjaya Redang Resort, from the boat.....

after 1st boat dive. Resting before 2nd dive....

makan junk food untuk tambah tenaga.... boleh?


map of island.... 2nd briefing!

off to the boat agai. Sempat clowning lagi Adda and Sue....


before panjat masuk masuk bot....

dalam bot. Yang pakai singlet putih tu, Bab, our boat driver yang super efficient and multitasker!



victory signs are soooo contagious erk?



Bab took this picture of us...


Sifu, getting Aalima ready to fall back into the water...

me, inflating my BCD before entering water...

Angah.... by Bab


I surfaced first and came up to the boat coz I was low on air already. 30 bar left. Gi tengok FB Sifu tadi, he described me as "kuat makan hangen" because of me track record of finishing my supply of air before everybody else. Maybe I've just got big lungs erk, Sifu?


Bab took this while I waited for the rest to resurface...

and there they were, in a group....


happy and carefree.....

while the rest climbed up, we posed first. Bab was pulling them up, taking flippers from them, moving weight belts around and took this picture with his free hand. Kagum betul dengan Bab! You rock Bab!!

and the whole big, happy group....

after the dive, gotta study for the exam...


and eat too. Sifu soooo obsessed with teaching, we eat, he hold RDP to teach! Hehehe....

I left my small RDP at home. For exams, I used that big one to do my calculations...

Fidah, last one to hand in her answer paper....


Am, the best student.....

us... with our dive license and log, after we all passed the exams!

The same pics are also at Adda's blog with her own version. Go check it out!

The Redang Experience....

Muahahaha.....



The Wicked Witch of the West is back! Yezzzzzzaaa...... its me!



I'm still recovering from my fatigue and lethargy of all the activities over these four days.



Went up to Terengganu on Thursday. We left Kuantan at 2am coz Angah (Am's brother) arrived from KL at 12am and Zarina arrived from Melaka at 1:30am. They picked me and Hilman up at home and we headed towards Kuala Terengganu to meet up with our dive instructor at Jeti Syahbandar at 8am. Took Hilman along as Zarina insisted that Am and I provide company for her as she didn't want to dive, but just snorkel instead. Am dragged her 13 year old cousin for this purpose.



Headcount then was : Hilman, me, Rafidah and her cousins Aalima and Adda in one car. Am, Angah, Zarina and Am's cousin Atek in another car. We stopped at McDonald Kerteh at about 4 am for some nibbles and drinks before heading back on the road to KT.



Break for Subuh prayers at Masjid Terapung in KT. After prayers, we all try to get some sleep in the car only to wake up to see Zarina jogging around the mosque's lake in an Energizer Bunny-like frenzy, while stopping to do some stretching and yelling at the top of her lungs, "The air is soooo fresh, lets exercise!" Okay, setttt..... makcik-makcik yang keluar dari masjid tu dengan kain telekung masih terlekat di badan memandang ke arah Zarina dengan pandangan yang boler menterbalikkan biji mata.



Aalima woke up to ask for nasi dagang, while Hilman and Atek was playing Ultraman and raksaksa outside the car, jolting us from our sleep from time to time when they bumped into the two cars. I got out of the car to menggeliat and Am laughed at me coz Zarina who was stretching next to me made me look like a lazy loafer!



Fidah and Adda who went into the mosque to sleep, overslept and had to be woken by Hilman and Atek who yelled at them from the windows. Adda came back to car and described how good it was to sleep bergulung dalam kain sembahyang without any guilt at all.



So, you can tell what kinda crowd we had here erk? A fruity and nutty mix, if we were a bar of chocolate!



Proceeded to Batu Buruk to have our nasi dagang breakfast. Best gila!



8am, we were at Jeti Syahbandar. Met up with our dive instructor Adee, his dive assistant and our dive guide, Sue and another diving student from up north, Ca'in. We then proceeded in three cars now, to Merang jetty to board our ferry to Pulau Redang at 9:30am.



It was a 40 minutes drive from KT to Merang and we made it in good time. Boarded the ferry, and our adventure begins......





Am and me on board ferry! Note the huge keropok ubi we bought at the jetty!

Ferry journey took about 40 minutes, and boy was the ferry driven fast and furiously!

Terlambung-lambung kitaorang semua!




Upon reaching the island.

Beautiful, azure, green waters and white fine sand greeted us.
That's Zarina in the centre there, Miss Energizer Bunny, and me slightly behind her!



Beach view from our place, Redang Bay.

Cantik kan?
Pictures are not in any order. My camera kaputed on the second day there coz I took it a bit too deep than the recommended depth. But courtesy of the gang, I have these to share with you readers here!


The cove at the end of Redang Bay, where Hilman and Atek snorkel in the evenings.



Hilman by the swimming pool!



Another view of the island's beach.



and some more. Can't get enough of it....




Hilman by the beach.......



Zarina and me, clowning around. Zarina was not very happy with this pose, as you can obviously see! Hehehe......


Me with Mr. Scuba Fish...



Zarina out for a jog, early in the morning.....



Hilman, in one of his outings with Zarina.....


Sunset, courtesy of Zarina, who woke up to snap this.

Me, I was too tired after the dive activities and exercises plus the studying that we had to do, always missed out on this.



Another sunrise pic by Zarina as she does her morning routine jog!




Thursday and Friday saw us diving from the beach in the house reef, as we were underwater doing our safety exercises. We started at 5 metres and gradually worked our way up to 9 metres by Friday. Students were in buddy pairs: Aalima and Adda, Rafidah and Ca'in, Am and me. Angah has already got his license and was along for fun dives only. Zarina, Hilman and Atek were fellow snorkellers!


Besides learning to familiarise ourselves with the equipments, we also had to simulate emergency situations that could happen while diving like our dive mask being kicked or ripped off our faces, how to retrieve the mask and put it on again underwater. How to clear your dive mask of water, and to prevent fogging. Techniques to equalize our ear, nose and throat cavities as we go deeper into water. Out of air exercises, with or without buddy. Breathing from a faulty regulator which was on purge mode. Learning to achieve neutral buoyancy as opposed to positive and negative buoyancy by pivoting on your fins. Swimming underwater for 200 yards on one breath as you yell AHHHHHHH!!!! from your lung to simulate emergency ascend when out of air. Taking off our buoyancy control device, together with your oxygen cylinder and putting it back on again, underwater, in case of entanglement situations! (I think this one was the hardest to do!)


During these exercises, lots of funny and frightening thing happened. Am nearly drowned when she couldn't find her regulator during the exercise simulating losing it behind her. Luckily our instructor quickly inflated her buoyancy control device, sending her to the surface. I gulped down a few gallons of salty seawater during the buddy share breathing exercise. Adda couldn't control her buoyancy, falling like a lump of lead to the ocean floor. Aalima had a flu and couldn't equalize properly, hurting her nasal and ear passage. Am also swallowed in her own vomit coz she was too scared to take the regulator out of her mouth. I had to swim around like a blind bat when my mask was off coz I didn't want to lose my contact lenses. Rafidah managed to kick, knee and butt everybody all through those exercises earning her the nickname "Hazard"!


Besides the practical exercises we had to do underwater, we also had to study five chapters of literature related to open water diving. We had to learn about alternate air source, communications and procedures, dive environment, decompression sickness, nitrogen narcosis (this one is scary!), reading the Recreational Diver Plan (RDP), calculating total bottom time and nitrogen residual time, interval time and bottom allowed time. Got to know our equipments and identify them : O-ring, DIN valve, yoke valve, K-valve, J-valve, are just a few of them that we were exposed to, and boy, were we confused, big time!


Classes via tutorial style was held over the three days, besides us being down underwater doing the exercises. Quizzes was an everyday routine to ready us for the 50 questions exam that we had to sit for at the end of this course.


Frankly, we were all physically and mentally challenged through out those four days. I kid you not! Aalima even fell sick on Friday and had to rest up in the room the whole morning.


Finally, Saturday came! We were going to dive off a boat at last! Something that we have been looking forward to and yet dread too at the same time. I told you, we were a confused lot of people. It was a bright and sunny morning.



...like this


the three legal divers posing.......



boarding the boat..... Ca'in and Aalima there!


me and Adda.....

Boat reached the vicinity of Pulau Paku Kecil and anchored there. We were told to fall backwards into the 18 metre deep sea!


Am and our sifu, Adee....



right hand on mask and regulator, left hand holding in other apparatus, bakwards into the sea, she went!....


We all fell one by one that way, resurfaced and regrouped around our instructor to get his instructions on how to descend into the sea.


With our left hands deflating our buoyancy device and right hand on our noses to start equalizing, we slowly descended into the depth of the sea.



this is how we looked, going down. Disoriented!

Yellow lycra sleeve, that's me!




Rafidah, equalizing herself....



me, with OK sign to sifu, once I reached neutral buoyancy



Aalima.... not sure whether that's a peace or an OK sign. Told you, we were very confused!



Angah, the confident and relax diver. Always vying with me to 'enter frame'!



Am, being tugged up by sifu coz she couldn't control her buoyancy yet. I lost my buddy to the instructor and had to pair up with Angah instead!


victory sign.... mesti ada, tak kira di mana!


Sue, our dive guide and instructor's assistant! Terer perempuan ni!



Instructor giving us signal instructions to pose for group photo!



Group photo of all of us, with instructor hovering on the side! Damn! I'm so proud of this!




Group photo of us, with Sue, hovering at the back!



Berterabur lepas amik gambar!

You can see Fidah equalising, me gesturing my victory sign and Angah trying to enter frame again back there!



Everybody had their feet off the ground ad we were 'floating', except for Adda who could still stand upright. Minah ni memang tak ada buoyancy langsung! Hehehe..... and you can also see Angah trying to enter frame again, back there!


I berjaya enter frame, victory sign too!


...till Angah came and stole my thunder! Note me shoving Angah away! So kiasu!



Angah won.... obviously!



Am and Fidah.... hovering!



the group of us, drifting with the current....


sifu, with a species of coral....


alive and writhing, like Medusa's hair.....


Adda, like a ballerina in the air.....



After 42 minutes of being underwater, we finally resurfaced, but not before making a safety stop at 5 metres for 3 minutes. That's the safety procedure to ensure we do not get lung damage and decompression sickness from all that pressure down there.

Adda and Ca'in at the surface....


Am, happy like a porpoise.....



Sue and her pink flippers! Cute!



me, Am and Rafidah...


on the boat, me and Angah conceded to share a frame....




And now for the wonders that we saw at the bottom of the oceans. If this does not motivate you readers to take up diving, I don't know what will.....



ugly stone fish.....



dunno what fish. But got legs and hands like frog...


coral. there are lots of them under the sea!



bad coral.... the Fire Crown coral. It eats up other corals. Naturalist divers dive to remove this species to avoid extinction of other species of corals...



looks like brain coral to me, but I could be wrong!



fishes swimming among corals....



semi translucent jelly fish....


I dunno what the hell this is... but its beautiful!

more fishes.....



and hiding sea creatures.....


spongelike coral.....


and turtle.....



After the dive, we headed back to the resort and studied chapter 4 and 5 of our dive syllabus.


We took our exam at roughly around 8ish and when the results came back, Am was the best student, scoring 86%. Adda came in second at 84% and I got a mere 82%.


At the end, we all made it through and received our temporary diving certification that is valid for 90 days pending the permanent one being issued by PADI in Australia.


The next day, before leaving the island, sifu and Sue took us trekking to the other side of the island to go see a friend of theirs. The Gypsy Divers' place is also a mini conservation habitat for some little baby turtles. They managed to hatch and look after nearly a hundred of baby turtles to be released later back into sea.


baby turtles of Hawksbill species




baby turles, but I dun know what species! Google it up okay?



Semua orang nak tumpang glamer baby turtle. Maka terjadi lah macam ni.....

baby turtle and me....


baby turtle and Zarina....


baby turtle and Adda.....


baby turtle and Aalima.....


group photo.... sans baby turtle!


and a last group photo before we left the island....


Penat lah taip panjang-panjang. So post ni tak ada kesimpulan. Ngkorang buat lah sendiri ye?


Ciaoooo......

Sunday, June 28, 2009

I Am A Certified Open Water Diver!!!!!!




Pics to be posted later erk, coz I just arrived back home from Redang Island.


Good news is, I passed the practical and written exams to enable me to become a certified open water diver by PADI.


Bad news is, I busted my camera by taking it too deep down into the sea!


But the full story will be updated in 24 hours time, okay?