Living with Sarah

Nowadays, life is much easier for me that Aliyah can do simple cooking - masak burger, maggi and goreng fries or "ice cream goreng". Cuma kadang-kadang je manja-manja sikit mintak I buatkan sandwich and stuff. She's still awkward in the kitchen but slowly have started to get comfortable. But I still cringe when I see her handle a knife! Her kitchen exploration did lead to some mishaps though :) 1) Once she made cheese sandwich express style. I showed her how to do it using a frying pan. But she thought she was really smart and used the toaster instead. Very innovative. The cheese melted. I still can't get the rest of the melted cheese sticking at the bottom of the toaster till now.  2) She told me she wanted to fry "ice cream goreng". Since I just used the wok she normally use for that to fry fish, I told her to get a new wok and put fresh oil. My daughter, at times, tend to not focus on what I said. (Typical teenager!) There was this smell of fried f...

After almost a year of "retirement" from IT projects - except for that small VO for that intranet system we developed - tomorrow we'll be going for a meeting to listen to a potential. Yup, listen first, then will see how it goes. The only reason for me agreeing to meet is because the potential repeatedly said he trusts his cousin - who is our ex-boss - and his cousin recommended us. I guess there's no harm in meeting. I have been thinking of getting a new project after we completed the iBook.

Stumbled upon this and I have been watching this hundreds of times a day. Not a sing-a-long song of course but sometimes feel like letting it out of my lungs like them. Kalau suara sedap la kan... Ni macam katak puru tak payah la berangan. Anyway, superb performance. Took the audience totally by surprise.

Pagi ni Mysa Bike Hub sekali lagi menyumbang tenaga kepada Kelab Basikal SMKBSP. Kali ni Kayuhan (Road) dari sekolah ke Nilai Impian dan patah balik. That was around 22km. Berhari-hari plan dengan Hubby nak reki route tapi asyik tak jadi. Akhirnya, semalam gi reki dengan kereta saja. Yang menariknya, cikgu kelab kata ahli kelab semakin bertambah. Last activity rasanya 20+ students joined. Pagi tadi I kira dekat 30 orang. Yang bukan ahli pun ada yang ikut. Marshal from Mysa - Hubby, Archot and I. Cikgu ada 4, sorang marshal kereta. Despite two girls having to stop due to cramps, the ride was good. Lama betul tak kayuh. Masa ni memang sangat bersyukur lah my bike yang dicustom-made oleh Hubby dengan parts yang bagus terasa sangat ringan. So, kayuh tak lah mengah sangat. Bila tengok Merida 2-3 biji kat kedai rasa geram je. But then, my bike is only 11kg. Ringan...  Menunggu yang lain-lain sampai. Last-last 8.30am jugak start kayuh.  Chief Fairuz bagi briefing. ...

I always believe cooking should be stress free and adventurous. Sebab tu I suka tengok Jamie Oliver dan Nigella kat AFC. Theirs are my style of cooking i.e. cook whatever there are in the fridge and cooking without strict rules. Hari ni puan-puan, I nak share nasi yang I panggil Nasi Arab Suka Hati. Sebab I masak ni sesuka hati saja. Hari ni I masak sebab rumah catuan air. I ni kalau catuan air, I mesti masak (or try to). Sebab tekak rasa tak lalu nak makan kedai yang kita tak tau dia masak bersih ke tak at this "challenging" times. Anyway, here's how. Since I tak ada rempah kabsa or mandy or any Arabic spices for that matter, I just use whatever I have. 2 tin beras - basuh, toskan. Daun pandan, garam Basic spices - kayu manis, buah pelaga, star anise Rempah masala 1 teaspoon, rempah kurma 1 tablespoon, a bit of turmeric (saffron pun tak da!) Sliced shallots, garlic, ginger Some sliced/cubed carrots, raisins 1/4 chicken Kita masak dalam rice cooker ya puan-pua...

I thought by now people have matured in using FB. But nope. Idiots still roam FB. 1) Someone posted photos of food. An idiot commented: "Sedapnya... nak sikit!". 2) Someone posted photos of him/her at some nice location. An idiot commented: "Pergi tak ajak pun!'. 3) Someone checked in at emergency wing of a hospital (with no additional info whatsoever). Concerned friends started to ask what's wrong. After an hour, the idiot replied: "Visiting auntie who just gave birth".

Mesti hati rasa hairan kan? Mesti rasa nak tahu kenapa kan? Mesti dalam kepala dah buat berbagai-bagai andaian kan? Mesti dah bagitahu satu kampung kan? Ingin tahu kenapa? Cari jawapan dalam diri sendiri. Tak perlu reka cerita. Tak perlu cuba lindung diri sendiri dengan kain perca. Tak perlu letakkan alasan kukuh agar diri rasa perkasa. Bak kata seseorang yang baru saya kenali - "naluri hati tak pernah menipu". Teruskanlah rentak tari yang sumbang itu.

I had a week of rest. I sent off batches of translation work to a few regulars. And shop wise, I took the weekend off. And a few nights off too last week. The back and neck pain has subsided. But then, just when I'm about to start working on stuff today, it came back! Now my neck is having trouble holding my head. Feels like I need neck braces. Ya Allah... sembuhkanlah...

We are having sale at our shop. Just thought that after 3 months of operating, we should just give some huge discounts for selected items. So, hop over :). Check out: https://www.facebook.com/mysabikehub

I have been working like crazy to finish up M2 for the past 2 weeks that I developed very bad and painful shoulder and back pain. The shoulder pain shoots right up to my neck. Banyak kali Hubby suruh pergi klinik but I was determined to finish up the work first and worry about everything else later. The day after submitting M2, I realised the pain is really bad. At one point, I feel like I can't hold my head because of the neck pain. So, I resorted to get a massage. Traditional one. Specific for nerves. Apparently, my shoulder is a bit dislocated and my "urat belikat" dah bengkak. Terrible. And what's even more terrible is that I got to know that I have much more than those pains. And I have been suffering for years. No wonder my coughs were really bad. Now that M2 is out of the way, we are starting work on M3. Insyaallah next week we'll start having meetings for the next phase. Meanwhile, I have this 65 pages of annual report to translate. I have distributed ...

We submitted the 2nd milestone deliverables this morning. Yesterday berhempas-pulas compile, finish up dan print. Setelah berminggu-minggu mengadap manuskrip buku, hari ni nak take a break. Bahu pun dah stiff lain macam. Takut tulang lari je! Hari ni back to doing stuff for the shop. Tengah nak rearrange inventory. We have more suppliers now that we have signed up as dealer with a few distributors. Dulu satu excel file cukup with several worksheets based on item categorisation. Tapi barang dah semakin banyak, supplier pun dan bertingkek. I've now created files based on supplier. Back to basic macam selalu tengok kedai tayar cina buat kan? Filing system dia orang semua guna nama supplier je. Proven concept. After nearly 4 months of operating, we have now started to think about concept, branding and marketing strategies. A meet with our friend from uni who is now our project advisor for mysa, we now have access to resources to assist if we were to organise events. Nice. It's ...

This morning, at around 1.00am, the first draft of the ibook is finally completed. Alhamdulillah... terus rasa one huge chunk of granite being taken away from my shoulders. Well, still stiff though.  Now, it'll be revising the book, mostly on language, grammar, sentence structure or choice of words. Then the fun part begins - video shoot and animation work. I pray we get the 2nd milestone payment fast so that I can pay our partners, so that they in turn can do their work smoothly.  In the meantime, I can think about the 2nd iBook.