Living with Sarah

Last night around Maghrib, we lost my Alang Manah, my aunt, my father's sister. She's been treated at the Putrajaya Hospital ICU for the past week and finally passed away... on a Friday. I can't say I'm very close to her, but still, she's the aunt you must visit on the 1st Hari Raya morning and whose kenduris you must attend. And she's the one you must seek when you attend other people's kenduris. When I was little, every weekend we would go balik kampung and my father would take me and my brother to visit her. I last met her last Hari Raya. She doesn't recognize people anymore, but she was healthy then. I was late and was the last to kiss her forehead before they close her up and performed prayers. I stood outside with my daughter watching the the action from afar. I'd rather stand outside, loss in my own thoughts and feelings, then sitting with the rest of the womenfolk in the kitchen. At least, I can hear the tahlil and prayers and amin the doas. ...

Pernah tengok tortoise mandi? Anak I ni ada potential jadi vet lah. She is so very loving to animals. Last night, lepas bersihkan bekas tortoise dia, dengarlah dia borak-borak dengan kawan-kawan dia tu. Lepas tu dengar dia kata, "Nak mandi tak? Kita mandi ye". Then I saw her take the tortoises one by one and actually bathe them, siap guna tissue lap each of them sampai kering. Then she put them back into the water. I told her tortoise tu kan memang duduk dalam air, tak payah le mandikan. She insisted saying tortoise tu mesti mandi hari-hari pasal badan diaorg terkena food pallets, kotor sikit.

This year no cake and candle blowing. No party. My house is in a mess. Maybe next year when we move to our new place. We spent the day at Alamanda. Hubby bought her the Ben 10 Omnitrix she wanted. Then lunch at the place of her choice - Sushi King. Next, ice cream. That's basically it. After that, a stop at her "wajib" place - her Pak Ngah's house. She just wanted to get a wish from both her uncle and aunty and show off her Omnitrix to her older cousins. Not much celebration as her exams starts tomorrow. I'm thinking - this Friday, after her exams I'll take her out. Maybe for a movie. And then, a cake perhaps...

Time flies. Aliyah will be 7 next Monday - 19 October. I have already bought her an early birthday present last Friday during our little outing. This Mermaid Barbie doll yang tail dia boleh tukar colour bila rendam dalam air sejuk tu. Dunno la how many Barbies she has now. My beloved daughter... I pray. May she grow up to be solehah, bijak, cerdik, hormat orang tua, berbudi-bahasa, diberi Allah kesihatan yang baik... Her many faces... Umur 11 hari... One month plus... Masa ni macam Jepun... One year 8 months... Rambut dah start curly... 2 years plus. Very naughty. Around 3 years old kot... Lupa lah... Abah dia dah start bawak pegi driving range. 4 years old... Sibuk nak menulis je. 5 years old. Dah pandai melawa. 6 years old... She's become the "boss kecik" at my office. Latest photo just after Raya... Love her so much...

I read with interest that my ex-classmate at UPM when I took my masters expressed his interest to contest for UMNO's no 2 spot. I remember he was kind of ousted at the time and took the time off to pursue his studies. Ours was a 3-semester program, but since he did it full-time he completed it in 2 semesters and we graduated together. My gang was never close to him even if we often said Hi and chat through one of my gangs - a 50+ old UMNO veteran guy who took the break from his business during the economic crisis. Meanwhile, the Datuk Seri was always surrounded by people, many of whom, I always suspect are simply vultures. Seriously... At times, I have a feeling that he too felt it. There were some occasions when he would look to the back and smile from his front seat to our gang known to be the crazy ones. We were always late especially coming back after the Maghrib break. Rushing to class after work always make our stomachs growl, so we always took time to eat knowing by then the...

My daughter is so very fond of cats, especially kittens. Macam mak dia. But we never allow her to keep any cats, sebab I know end of the day, I jugak yang kena jaga and clean up. And cats poo-poo is simply urgghh... smelly no matter how cute the cats are. When we were back in Melaka last week, Aliyah's cousins Nadhira and Najeeha brought back their little tortoises. Now Aliyah has fallen in love with the little ugly green beings. So, today, after I took her to the clinic (she's having these nasty red insect bites looking thingy on her thighs), we dropped by a pet shop and got her 2 little green tortoises. Using her duit raya, of course. Yang kat bawah bridge tu namanya Muza. On the right is Stella. All after Winx Club. Whatever... Ariel view pulak...