Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Back to Work

Today’s my first day after such a long break.

I particularly liked this year’s raya break because it was less hectic than usual. We didn’t get to visit that many relatives cause the house was receiving guests after guests till the 4th day of raya. It was fun to meet those that you only get to see once a year. The kids had fun with my largest stack of sparklers ever and keeping Baby Cat and Kechik entertained.

Yup, I brought those 2 to Johor. Was surprised to see Baby Cat so well-behaved in the car. He slept through the whole journey. Kechik on the other hand, tried his best to escape from the car every time we stopped for breaks along the highway.

Cats will always be cats.

My family are busy with my brother’s wedding preparation and all. A lot of loose ends still but I think we’ll do okay.

Well apart from that, my heart goes to my cousin who’s fighting breast cancer. She couldn’t move both her legs anymore but still had the energy to weave the ketupat cases for her family. She cried when she saw me. We were very close – she lived with my family and took care of us until I was almost 14. She moved out when she got married and is now happy with 2 lovely kids.

Anyways, she was transported to Malacca for some treatment and has no idea when she will be back with her family. It’s just sad. Our family never had a history of cancer. She’s the first and it's not hard to understand the pain she's going through. She looked so skinny and sick. Breaks my heart to see her suffer like that.

If only I could do something to help her.

We always thought bad things/disease are things we only read or hear about. Never thought that it could happen to someone so close. Shows that we are all the same.

We are not that invincible after all.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Eid Mubarak


Selamat Hari Raya to all Serilangkat readers.
Be safe, be good and be back in one piece.. :)

Latest news: The pict above was on TA's Editor's Pick!!


P/s: It's been made official. I was assigned the Functional Lead role in the project. I'll worry about this later.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Here's to Thursday!

Been busy today.

My boss is on emergency leave – his daughter had some bad allergy to something and is in the hospital. I had to tie some loose ends for him. It got me running up and down the floors, conveying the message personally to the Executive Director of Finance and taking care of some ORM papers for a project.

Adding to that, I had to sit in a 2-hours meeting to finalize a project timeline. Tomorrow is the Project Board meeting and we need to get this done for the Project Board members to sign on the project document.

One thing that has been bugging me is the fact that the Project Advisor is recommending me to become the Functional Lead for this project. I was actually called in to help with the User Requirement Studies but now that it’s completed and signed, I had to raise the issue of my existence in the project. I can’t be involved in a project without having any role. I was meaning to step out of the project myself since I have delivered what I was supposed to.

Turned out they wanted me to stay on till the project go live.

My boss said that I need to make this decision – if I’m able to handle it.

The Project Manager will propose this to the Project Board tomorrow. I don’t know if they will accept it or not. After all, it’s very uncommon to have someone outside of the business unit as the Functional Lead. Especially someone from the department that does project audit on them!

Let’s leave it to fate.

On a lighter note, I’ve got my order of sparklers!! Yey!!

Just hope that I won’t get caught blogging about it. Hehehe.

Went to the bank to change some money for my mum to give out to kids during raya. It was a long queue! Changed some for my stack as well. I’m just disappointed that I didn’t manage to get some I*G packets. Apparently they were delivered to our department while my boss and I were in a meeting. Given that our department is very small and new, people might have thought that we didn’t really exist and the packets were given out to those who wanted extras. Dang!

So this year, no I*G packet or raya cards for us. It’s just sad!

Oh yey – my afternoon meeting’s cancelled!!

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

All About Monday

Have made plans for iftar at Giggsy’s place since last week.

Carefully planned my Monday and made sure that everything was done and settled before going off to a meeting at 3pm. When I got to my cubicle an hour later, there were a couple of documents that needed immediate attention and to make it worse, my boss want them completed before I leave the office.

Arghh!!

So I slaved till 6pm and emailed everything to him before practically running to the car park. The road was packed!

Oh no!! I won’t make it on time!!

Reached home before iftar – thank God, despite the bad traffic. As if knowing I won’t make it to the glorious party on time, the highway toll attendant handed 2 boxes of mineral water and dates. The kids were excited to see such fancy boxes and didn’t waste any time to gobble it all up. Thank God (again) that nobody choked!



So we quickly bathe and headed straight to KFC to buy the biggest value meal on the menu.

Reached Giggsy’s pad at 7.30pm and started the feast. We talked and talked and talked till it was late. Picked up the pineapple tarts I ordered from Reena’s aunt and headed home soon after. Kakak was pouting – refusing to leave her aunties. What can I say, my kids love the company of their aunties.

So.. that was Monday.

Oh, I received more picts from Deli.

Enjoying the weekend in Tokyo

We really missed him but looking at the picts made me missed him even more.

I had this unexplainable ache in me – the same feeling I had when he left me for his first overseas trip..

Monday, October 16, 2006

One Dull Weekend

So. Weekend wasn’t much fun without my favorite guy around.

Spent Saturday at home doing laundry and the sort. I am blessed with such great kids. They did their chores without much hesitance. Kakak didn’t even whine when asked to deal with her school shoes, like she normally would.

Adik was as helpful as always. He’s more attentive towards us these days. He’s such a darling.

Anyways, I was bored to the skull by 7pm. Called up VF and asked if she’s free to catch a movie with us. I wanted to see The Devil Wears Prada but would think the kids will fidget non-stop throughout the movie, so I booked tickets to see Zoom instead.

We left before 8pm and did a bit of window shopping. Spent some time in Times bookshop while waiting for the royal highness to make an appearance.

Movie started at 9ish and it wasn’t that interesting. I say so because kakak was bored at some point and started bombarding VF with questions like ‘did you drive to get here’ and ‘where’s your car’. Adik on the other hand, almost dozed off with popcorn still clutched in his hands.

To add more to it, some idiots decided to share their not-so-interesting life stories with the audience by conversing loudly. Not to mention, making and receiving calls with the same shrill voice. Annoying indeed!!

Sunday was no different.

Went to Carrefour for groceries. I wanted to dine at Chicken Rice Shop but it was full to the brim with people for iftar. Got tired of waiting, drove back to Setiawangsa and bought chicken rice from a mamak stall instead.

Had dinner (coz I was on mid-Ramadhan raya) and prepared the essentials for the coming week.

Dang. That was one boring weekend!

Friday, October 13, 2006

Epidemic

Was out of the office yesterday. Wasn’t feeling well. So did adik.

We sent kakak to school for her last day of final exam before heading to the clinic. Yes, you read right. Kakak sat for 3 days of final exam and yes, she is in kindergarten. I can’t even recall if I had to sit for any exams while I was in kindergarten. The price of being a kid in the new millennium.

My poor baby.

The clinic was quiet. Not that many people queuing to see the doctor.

Adik was not wheezing anymore so that’s a relief. On the other hand, my tonsils were not doing well. A bit of swelling but some home remedy of yummy ice-cream should do the trick. The best medicine you could ask for!

Headed to the workshop to send my car for service. We spent 2 hours in the workshop. Adik brought Tin Tin books with him while I had my eyes glued on Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. I can’t remember how many times I’ve read the book. It’s the only series that I am willing to read over and over.

We picked up kakak with the newly serviced car and since kakak was done with her final exams, she requested for a trip to the mall. So off we went, kakak still clad in her uniform and adik feeling all well and merry that very instant.

I wasn’t planning on getting anything but ended up with a spanking new watch! My watch went kaput a few weeks back but I have 2 other watches to rely on so I didn’t bother to get a new one.

My baby that went kaput on me



Somehow or rather, all of my watches were attacked by some sort of an outbreak and they all went dead 2 weeks ago. Still, I didn’t think I needed another watch that urgently so I borrowed kakak’s watch.

Kakak's Baby-G



As you can imagine, kakak Baby-G was a magnet for cruel criticism and endless kutukan from fellow colleagues.

One can only take so much of such behavior. *Excuses, excuses*

Acting on that ground, I surrendered to the evil desire to purchase a new baby.

My new baby



I love you baby, I love my watch yup, yup. I love my watch.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Ramadhan in Kisarazu

I know I have to write in here more frequently.

I always wanted to but every time, something came up and I forgot all about updating my blog.

Pathetic excuse, I know.

First thing first, Deli is in Japan. Again. He’ll be back 2 days before Raya itself. He didn't really complain about iftar and sahur in Kisarazu. Judging by the picts he sent me, he's doing okay.


Iftar at a local restaurant.



Some wierd looking food. Erkk!



I’ve spent a couple of nights being the only adult in the house and frankly, I wasn’t as paranoid as I was before. Maybe because it’s Ramadhan and at the very far corner of my mind, I have this theory that bad people tend to be less evil during the holy month. The devils are safely tucked way below the grounds and thieves and robbers doesn’t have much of the hasutan syaitan, so to speak.

Then again, I might be wrong.

The thing is, I like my theory better. Helps me to sleep better at night.

Apart from that, I am celebrating mid-Ramadhan Raya since last Sunday. That being the case, I didn’t have to rush home and cook. For the past few days, I just bought desserts and kuih to last me to dinner. Depending what the kids want to want to eat, I’ll whip something up just for the three of us.

By the way, Happy Birthday to two lovely ladies - Syeri & Ana.

Also to Bossy Boss who's celebrating his 30++ birthday yesterday.