Living with Sarah

Akak rasa senak perut lagi ni. Tadi petang akak gi tengok movie Mr Bean's Holiday. Aliyah tu suka sangat Mr Bean, so, since akak dah kerja keras for the last 3 days, hari ni akak rest and bawak anak akak gi tengok wayang. Akak punya expectation - sure movie ni sama macam movie yang satu lagi tu - alah, yang dia gi US art gallery tu. Akak benci gila movie tu. Typical Hollywood style, nak buat orang ketawa dengan lawak bodoh yang tak kelakar. Akak irritated gila tengok cerita tu. So, yang ni walaupun Rowan Atkinson kata it's very European kind of humour, kira pegi pon pasal suka nak dengar anak akak ni ketawa je. Dia tu kalau ketawa riuh katanya. Serious. Akak rasa dia turun temurun dapat dari sorang niece akak tu si Titin. Kalau ketawa satu taman perumahan dengar. Anyway, berbalik pada cerita Mr Bean terbaru ni - sekali tu bila tengok kelakar gila. Of course la irritated kan pasal dia tu kan selfish, lurus bendul, berlagak dan menyakitkan hati, but at the same time dia innocent ...

We just finished our 3-day workshop. I've been driving up to KL every day for the past 3 days joining the thousands of lunatics who work in the city. Yes, lunatics. Who in their right mind would want to find a job in the heart of KL, having to drive through Jln Tun Razak every morning and evenings? Ok la, don't get me wrong. When one has to work, one has to work, even if that means waking up before dawn and spending hours in the car. I ni baru 3 hari join the unbeatable traffic jam dah tak tahan. I really can't imagine how other people do it. Thank God, the workshop is over, and I'll be back going to my office just 10 minutes away from home.

Many many years ago, when I was in my 20s, single with not much responsibilities on my shoulders, and still very much adventurous, I had this dream. That I wanted to just leave everything behind, go to one of the islands at the East Coast and find myself a simple job at one of the many resorts. So that I can spend my early mornings and evenings by the beach just sitting under a tree enjoying the sea and the salty air or walking along the beach with the waves rushing over my feet. And I would bring along a small plastic bag and pick up the rubbish or debris I chance upon at the beach, my little contribution to make the beach nice and clean. And I would go snorkeling, get a PADI license and go diving every chance I get. And I would help out at one of the marine conservation centres - I dunno, save the turtles, save the corals, save the dugong, whatever. If only I had pursued the dream...

I'm finally back from Trengganu. From a well-deserved, long, enjoyable and extended vacation. We stayed at Awana Kijal and what an amazing place that is. Beautiful place, warm staff, excellent service, good food (most of the times, ada jugak yang tak berapa best), our little family had fun. We were there from Monday till Thursday, but seeing how Aliyah enjoyed her stay, and also how I wasted 1 day being depressed (seriously, dunno why), hubby decided to extend 1 day. We came back late Friday armed with loads of keropok and face all red from the sun. Let the pictures speak for themselves... Aliyah swam in the pool for hours - mornings & afternoons. She's really dark now. We were regulars at the pool, the lifeguards loaned us swimming board for free. Playing frisbee by the beach. She just learned how to throw and she caught up pretty fast. She invented a new game - frisbee + beach football. We threw frisbee into the goal posts where one of us man the goal. Fun game :). Dah pe...

Tomorrow is the International Women's Day. I hope tomorrow each of us, men and women, can spare just 1 minute to think about the women who make an impact in our lives and if not verbally, just whisper a quiet thank you. The women can be our mothers, sisters, grandmothers, aunts, teachers, friends, someone whom we look up to, etc. For men, please don't forget your wives. If I close my eyes now and just type away some names, they are: my beloved mother; my eldest sister and best friend Kak Long; my second sister whom I've not seen in months Kak Lang; my 2 sister-in-laws; my staff and friend Linda; my daughter Aliyah Maisarah; my girlfriends Yatt, Eza, Aida, Angah Shikin, Eda, etc most of whom I've not seen in ages; my colleague Aimy; my sister-in-laws; my mother-in-law (ehem); that Bibik who's now back in Jakarta who was so nice to my daughter; my teachers; Oprah Winfrey; that German actress who played Martha... They have all made an impact, be it big or small or tiny...

I got email about AirAsia's grand sale yesterday morning. I ignored it at first because of my last experience with their "promotions". At that time, tickets were at RM9.99 and I checked out their website at exactly 12 midnight at the start of the promotion to book tickets for Trengganu. But then, for obvious reasons, the price didn't apply for school holidays. Anyway, out of curiosity I checked out tickets for August school holidays, mana lah tau kan rezeki Sarah... And surprise, surprise, the 30 sen tickets actually exist! During school holidays some more! Terus booked return trip for the 3 of us to Langkawi which amounts to RM241.80. RM1.80 for our flight tickets! I just check today, most of the 30 sen tickets have been snapped up. There are now only RM89.99 tickets.

I was one of those many people who actually tuned to Academy Awards red carpet just to see Linda Onn. Yes, I was curious on how she fares. But she didn't appear, only that Dominic guy making a fool of himself. Serious. Did he actually sat down with people from Star Movies and brainstormed what kind of questions to ask? I know he was so very excited being on the red carpet seeing all those stars pass by, but hello, those stars go down the Academy Awards red carpet every year. So, the question: how does it feel to be on the red carpet is really amateur. (And this guy actually had the cheek to say Linda missed the once in the life time opportunity that other people only dream of. Well, better than looking so stupid on TV being made fun by those sarcastic Hollywood celebrities.) Anyway, I then checked out this one particular gossip website and people there were bashing up Linda like nobody's business. I really don't why I actually subscribed to that website. But I know that my ...

Last week, while we were in the car, Sarah told me not to call her "Sarah" anymore. She wants to be called "Aliyah". Dia kata nama Aliyah tu lagi sedap dari Sarah. At first I thought she was just joking, but then from that day onwards, whenever I call her Sarah, she would say - Aliyah lah!. She's been telling everybody now. But then she sometimes forget. Many times when I call her Aliyah, dia buat don't know je. See, she herself is not familiar with that name! Let's see whether the name stays. Call me Aliyah OK!