Living with Sarah

I was driving back from KL to Bangi just now after our seminar and took the Sg Besi to Seremban highway. It was after 5.30pm and the jam is... as usual. Know that furniture expo beside the highway? I've always noticed the gigantic orange chair at the front, but only today I noticed there is a note there that said something like - Malaysian Guinness Book of Records for the Biggest Chair. I'm actually so sick of all these attempts to be the biggest, longest, highest, etc. Waste of money, effort and most importantly, not well thought of that in the end the attempts look really stupid. (Let's see how the jump at the artic/antartic - which one I don't remember - by the Putera UMNO fares. And while I'm at it, please lah don't waste my hard-earned money I pay for my taxes. Macam nak mati aku kerja pas tu bayar income tax, ko senang2 je spend juta2 buat benda2 tak berfaedah macam tu!) Anyway, back to the huge chair. The definition of chair is: a piece of furniture used ...

My last "visit" to the cinema was last year's Pirates of the Caribbean: A Dead Man's Chest . Didn't have time to go and also didn't find any movie worth to watch. Hubby downloaded The Devil Wear's Prada and with Sarah watching Tom & Jerry, Spongebob Squarepants and Dragon Booster all day, I watched the movie on the notebook. I'm not really into this kind of story actually. High fashion and too-good-looking-women wearing clothes that costs my whole year's salary is not my cup of tea. But surprisingly, amidst the scary Cruella de Ville kinda boss, lame foursome friendship and loads of beautiful clothes, I actually like the movie. I love the part when Andy managed to get the Harry Potter manuscript, got it photocopied (2 copies and nicely bounded for her boss' twin daughters), couriered to the copies to them (the twins were shown reading the manuscripts on a train) and threw one copy on Miranda's table along with a cup of coffee just in t...

I caught one show last Tuesday. It's the O magazine's 5th anniversary show. It's a re-run, so I'm not really sure how old the magazine is now. But for the hundredth time, I'd like to salute this amazing woman. She's so honest, approachable, warm, funny, brilliant, etc, etc... I was feeling a little bit down that day. Woke up from sleep and saw that I have this deep wrinkle on my forehead and my eyes are like a Panda's - there're dark circles around my eyes. Rasa so very unattractive. Biasa lah - women kan. But then watching Oprah just lift up my spirits. Know how we women always envy the covergirls on magazines? They always look so beautiful and flawless. Now, you can still continue being envy, but know now that you too can actually be that beautiful and flawless with help. Oprah, being her honest self, brought the viewers to behind "the scenes" of her photo shoot. So, I watched how she came over to the set without her make-up on (oh my!), how ...

We finally went for a short family vacation - to Federal Hotel, KL. That's the only hotel I managed to book using my FHI membership. Surprisingly, the hotel is very nice, despite the rooms being a bit smaller. Location is excellent, right next to Low Yatt and a short walk to Berjaya Times Square. We had a wonderful time taking Sarah around. We hit the pool first. The days were quite cool due to the drizzle. Sarah swam with hubby, I read my book - in peace. I even managed to take a nap. After that dinner and then the rides at Times Square. It was great because there were not many people. Best lah jalan masa Chinese New Year ni... We were there until 10pm - just before it closed! Then a nice drink at Coffee Bean before settling down for the night. Next morning, breakfast at the coffee house. Then, a lion dance troupe came over doing an ear-deafening dance. But Sarah was so thrilled. She loved the lions dancing and them grabbing the hanging salad, pretending to eat it and spitting it ...

Insyaallah from this week onwards, I solemnly promise to myself that I will work from home at least one day in a week. I promise that on that particular day, I will wait for Aliyah Maisarah in front of her school at exactly 11.45am. I promise that I will watch her come out from the main door with her pink Princess schoolbag on her back, taking her school shoes from the shoe rack. I promise I will watch her wear her shoes meticulously while brushing off specks of dirt on her shoes. I promise I will observe her getting into line along with the other kids while waiting for the school van to arrive. I promise I will watch her joyful facial expression when her teacher takes her hand and lead her to me at the gate. I promise I will give her a big hug and kiss before taking her to the car. I promise, if she has the appetite, to take her right after for a snack of roti canai empat segi at the Mamak restaurant nearby. I promise I will cook lunch, help her with her homework, get her to take her ...

Akak kat office ni stress je minggu ni. Bukan stress kerja, stress pasal orang lain. Sebabkan dah berbulan-bulan orang-orang tu buat perangai, minggu ni we all buat official complain. Dia ingat apa, company we all kecik sesuka hati nak pijak-pijak kepala we all ya. We all ni orang baik-baik tau, tapi sekali melenting siap kau. First one, our country's main telco provider, sapa lagi kalau bukan Telekom Malaysia. Haa, akak siap tulis nama lagi, ingat we all suka dipermain-mainkan? Macam ni, since October last year akak notice bil telefon office ni ada charge TMNET 1515 padahal we all pakai Streamyx. Buat apa buat kerja bodoh gi dial-up pulak. Akak ingat si Casfian or Eza tapi diaorg memang tak pakai. Jadiknya we all complain la kat call center no 100 tu. Mati-mati budak tu kata we all yg pakai siap tau ID & password lagi. We all kata tak pakai la mangkuk, nombor tu pun we all pakai utk fax je. We all tanya boleh tak bagi history of usage that ID, si mangkuk tu kata - login je la....

Believe it or not this photo was taken in 1950. This bunch of 15 or so year olds have just finished school and applying to become teachers. My father is the one standing 2nd from left. This is the earliest known photo of my father. A friend of his came over to the house and gave him a photocopy of the photo. Azah said he looked at the photo with tears in his eyes. My father is 72 this year. Still healthy with amazing memory. He's a walking history book. Ask him anything about the country's history and he can tell you in detail. He used to be a Bahasa Melayu and History teacher. He's a true teacher right till this moment. In this photo he looks a bit like my 2nd brother (Hello Abang Ben! Hehehehe...). My father wanted me to become a teacher. None of my siblings became one, so he thought I could be the best candidate. He was so proud when I enrolled in the TESL program. But I officially taught for 2.5 months. I didn't like it. He was angry. We didn't speak for months....