Living with Sarah

By now, Calvin & Hobbes can be categorised as "classic". Until now, the strip continued to appear in The Star. I am a die-hard fan. I just think the strip is simply brillant. Calvin & Hobbes are more than just comic characters. Those two are like your friends. When the cartoonist Bill Watterson announced his retirement, I was like - "noooooo...". What's the use of buying The Star anymore! I dreaded his last strip. And when it finally appeared, I felt like I lost my best friends. This week, a painting of (possibly how he would look like) an adult Calving holding Hobbes was published. Looking at it just bring tears to my eyes. Imagine that - what would the adult Calvin think when he took Hobbes from his old box of toys. I can only imagine - all the times they spent together on their numerous adventures :). Sedih tau tengok gambar ni... I have four C&H books. At times, reading the comic feels like reading a motivational book. I must read thes...

Aliyah and I - we both love cats. Our favourite celebrity cat is Maru yang sangatlah awesome. Sometimes bila penat kat office, take 5 tengok Maru. It doesn't matter what he does, sentiasa adorable. Here's one of my favourites - when he tries to get into small boxes. He is so crazy over boxes! (10 milion views! Double crazy!)

Huh? Third day already? Rasa macam nak extend our stay. Such a nice place. But reality check - must go back today as Aliyah's extra classes have started. The hotel was fully-booked anyway. How do we know? Because there was a long queue outside the cafe for breakfast. Still, the spread was delicious. Got nasi lemak this time around. I rolled my eyes. But then, it's accompanied by chicken rendang, so I took it! Very nice. After that - straight to the pool. But not me. Got to pack. And just need some time to myself - reading and watching movies. It was drizzling the whole morning the weather was great. No rain can stop Aliyah from enjoying the pool though. On the way back we saw the South-bound highway jammed with cars from Seremban up to our exit at Putra-Mahkota. Ok peeps, enjoy the stress. We have had our vacation :)  Wet morning...  Drizzling. I took in the breath of fresh air and wished we don't have to go back! The small children's pool was full of k...

Still considered low season and not many people were around so breakfast was a breeze. Hefty spread of buffet. No nasi lemak! Yeay! (Don't you just hate hotel nasi lemak?) Right after, we took Hubby to the beach (since he missed the sunlight the day before!). Then, spent most of our time at the pool. Aliyah (as usual) got her swimming lesson from Hubby and this time around improved a lot. Must consider putting her into swimming class. The day was spent - by the pool, eating out at PD town, getting a few little souvenirs, hitting the pool again... I started to re-read " Sophie's Bakery for the Broken Hearted " last week - to kill time in the train - a nice book to read by the pool. By late afternoon, people have started to check in. Pool started to swell with more people but still OK. Dinner - I suggested the tomyam place we went the night before where we had quite nice "sotong goreng tepung" and tomyam. (It's right smack at the traffic light if you a...

We planned our holiday to start on Thursday - yup, when people are still working and kids are still schooling. I really looked forward to the short holiday. The day before - a presentation to a GLC for our proposed English training with the most amazing girls - Enida and Anita - went quite well but I had to revise the proposal and costing. So, Thursday morning was spent doing just that. And such a stressful revision. I finished it at 12 noon on the dot and emailed with prayers - semoga inilah rezeki buat kami ya Allah... Hubby, who was supposed to get a leave had to attend a meeting 3-5pm, which made me really pissed off. I mean, this was planned 2 weeks ago so what's the use of booking the hotel if we were to reach there what - at night? Picked up Aliyah from school and she sulked. I felt so sorry for her. She was so excited for the past few days. With the bags all packed, we had to wait. Alhamdulillah Hubby managed to get hold of my nephews - Along Iwan and Izzat - and they hap...

Such a quiet weekend without Aliyah around. I am so used of taking care of her, I didn't know what to do when she's not around. I worked from home on Friday, the day she started her camp. In between working and waiting for emails to be replied, I managed to watch 2 movies on HBO! I seldom can sit throughout a movie at home - lots of things to do - Aliyah nak makan lah, laundry lah, lipat kain lah, etc. Saturday - spent half day with Hubby waiting for car to be serviced. It was so hot sampai sakit kepala. Next stop, visiting my father at Serdang Hospital. Am so glad he's getting better. Spent 1 hour listening to his stories :). Then, off to Alamanda to (try) buy myself a new pair of walking shoes. My old one still in very good condition. But because I seldom wear them, the shoes have gotten "hard". I get bruises if I wear them. I need a new comfy pair for my long walks to meetings and going up and down trains. By end of the day - the ones I like tak ada size. I g...

Aliyah is on a weekend school camp programme starting today till Sunday at KK Hotel, Kajang. She was so excited to spend the 2 nights with her friends. It's a camp on how to answer exam questions. I pray she will focus, learn and understand. And have fun at the same time. Packing her stuff last night. Mommy misses you...

I found something interesting today while browsing on FB - you know when you hop from one profile to another and eventually found some people you actually know. What interest me was that I found posting about "doa orang yang dianiaya dimakbulkan oleh Allah". Well, I'm not saying that I am directly related to that post - which means I menganiaya orang (even though tengah fikir jugak ni sama ada orang tu refer to me!). What I'm trying to say is - we might say yang kita ni kena aniaya oleh certain people. However, that is what we think. Orang yang kita tuduh aniaya kita tu pulak kata - dia kena aniaya dengan kita dan say the same thing - "doa orang dianiaya dimakbulkan oleh Allah". Betul tak? It interests me to realise that there is a fine line between "rasa dianiaya" and "menganiaya". It depends on the person's perception. Because sometimes kita rasa kita kena aniaya, tapi sebenarnya kita yang aniaya orang. Tapi kita tak sedar. My c...

My father is now warded in Serdang Hospital for possibly lung infection. Ya Allah, jauhkanlah dia dari kesakitan, wahai Tuhan sekalian manusia, sembuhkanlah dia, dan engkaulah maha penyembuh yang tidak akan datang kesembuhan kecuali datang dariMu, kesembuhan dari jenis yang tidak akan kembali penyakitnya. Aminn...

There actually shouldn't even exist a "Mother's Day" because every single day should be a mother's day. Under certain circumstances, one might not be able to see one's mother. Tapi paling penting, doa sentiasa dihantar. Anyway, the usuals were back last weekend. Agenda pertama - ukur Alamanda. Then, nak surprisekan Zura as her birthday will be on Wednesday. Aliyah bought me this... So sweet of her. Pakat dengan Abg Ijam dan Kak Zura dia. A big box of flowers and other small gifts for the most special mother. Macam potong kek pengantin pulak. Hehehe... Surprise birthday cake for Zura.

Boring lah kan baca posting pasal politik je kat FB. Bila lah nak surut agaknya? Menang sudah, kerjanya belum mula. I just don't get it. Even if tak dapat form new Govt, but you have won your seats. So, get to work peeps. That's why people chose you in the first place. Kalau dok protes tak habis-habis, by the time you come to your senses (if ever), dah separuh penggal habis weh. Lagipun, kalau betul-betul protes, mesti protes semua. Ni tak. Seats yang kalah dia protes, seats yang menang elok je pulak terima dan angkat sumpah. Mana boleh macam tu beb. "Demokrasi Terpimpin" namanya tu. Anyway, baik cerita pasal kucing kan. Sebab kucing kalau grumpy ke, happy ke, mengantuk ke, lapar ke - tetap comel dan adorable. Here's Fabian - our cat yang dah jadi "teenager". Dia ni yang paling manja dan mulut paling bising. Semalam Izzat came to our house and we talked late into the night at the patio, semua cats sangat lah sukanya especially Fabian. So, tunjuklah per...

5th of May 2013 - a significant day in history. I went out to vote, with the rest of the 80% who came out, the highest number of voters since 1964. The last election, I took my mother. This time around, I tumpang my Angah. We decided to go at noon - hopefully by then the crowd has lessened. I was the only lucky one. My saluran, surprisingly, after my huff and puff climbing up three floors, had the shortest queue - just 5 people. The ballot boxes were almost full to the brim. So I guess, most have already voted. Angah had 30 people in front of him, while Kak Ros took the longest time - almost 45 minutes. Tanggungjawab terhadap negara... Mine didn't rub off that easily although the ink got really smudged due to my sweat under the hot sun.  Went home to find my Kak Long already arrived. She was advised by her husband to stay with us since she'll be alone. All those rumours of demonstrations and riots and what-nots have been circulating. But then, we went out anyway for lun...

The election day is just around the corner. Maka makin hebatlah kempen dan comments di media sosial. Video pun banyak yang timbul. Entah doctored atau tidak, Allah sahaja maha mengetahui. Know what, I still am not decided. By now I should. But I have not. Why? On one side - masa ni semua kerakusan keluar yang tak boleh dinafikan. A long list of salah guna duit rakyat that amounted to billions are being released. The kind that made you think - aku kerja teruk-teruk untuk sara keluarga, bayar cukai macam-macam tapi the powers that be senang-senang spend money macam tu. End of the day nak bawak Aliyah pergi holiday kat PD pun rasa tak mampu, tapi orang yang reaped the benefits from my money boleh pergi vacation and buy properties overseas. On the other side - playing on sentiments especially religion. Kalau ada yang "berhijrah" to the other side, dapat hidayah katanya. Last I checked, kita ni agama Islam kan bukan agama certain political party. And too many speculations yang...