Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

Selamat Hari Kemerdekaan kepada semua rakyat Malaysia especially those in overseas; be it in US, Singapore, New Zealand, Chile, Africa or Arab. Did you guys celebrate Merdeka? Sesungguhnya, we appreciate/ celebrate Merdeka dgn meriah sekali bila di perantauan. I still remember when I was a student in Washington DC.... We woke up early in the morning, the girls wore baju kurung or kebaya and the guys wore baju Melayu. We rented cars a day before so that we could celebrate Merdeka at the Ambassador's. Masa tu lah nak makan satay ker, nak makan ABC ker, nasi tomato, nasi himpit, rendang and etc. Some of us even wore baju kurung to class just to make sure our classmates knew that 31st August is our Independence Day. Tapi, bila di Malaysia, we didn't do anything. Setakat kibar bendera kat atas kereta. This year, I saw only a few cars put up the flag. My company used to give out flags to the employees a few years back. Sekarang nih nak save cost kut. This morning, I watched (on tv) the Merdeka Parade with my family. Ammar and Umaira punya lah excited sebab ada bendera and lagu jalur gemilang and kereta berhias. Tapi, rasanya crowd kat concert KLCC semalam berganda ramai compared to today's parade.
Hmmmm.. and now.. at 11am on the 31st August I have to come to work. We have projects came in and the engineers need to finished them by today. Okay, they pay me tripple tapi hari nih Merdeka.. Reluctant jugak nak datang tapi nxt week I'm gonna take leave for two days...
Hehehe.. banyaknya TAPI.. Merdeka kah namanya nih?... Think....

"Spray Attack" victim

source of pictures: KMU and Jeff Ooi

Was it pepper spray or teargas?.. Tak baik tau buat kat orang tua macam nih.
Anyway, sekarang nih kena berhati hati kalau nak ber-blog...
hahaha tak pasal pasal kena tangkap nanti..

Sad.. Sad.. Sad

I googled the word "Qana" this morning and a lot of links came out. Unfortunately, most of the links had been blocked by the IT department. What do you expect when you're working the American company?. May be it's an intergrity issue to find the truth using company's propoerties. Well.. I'm really sad with all the bombings and killings. I cried whenever I read/ watched the news. I'm not sure whether my hormones is effecting my emotions or what, but I'm really upset. Ooops! what's wrong with my hormones? I need a new entry to talk about this. It's a long, long story. To cut the story short; I'm expecting again. Yes! I'm not ready at first, but I'm okay now. I did great all the while. I managed all the pressures calmly. We are the one who created the unpleasant feelings, surely, we have ways to handle them.
Back to Qana and Israel thingy, we need to do something to show our sympathy. To show that we're angry and we're against the zionist regime. We could boycott the products; Sara Lee, Johnson & Johnson, Coke, Huggies, Carrefour, Maybelline, Nestle and etc are all in the list. I used most of the products in the track record that supporting Israel but I'll try to minimize them - setakat yang mampu lah. Yang obviously TAK mampunya - berhenti kerja. Hahaha, although my company did not listed in the track record, but people were saying I'm working with Jewish company because the owner is a Jew. However, not all Jews are bad. Some of them are against the zinoist as well (hmmm.. am I defensive??.. hahaha). Btw, the pictures attached were taken in 1996 and recently. Teringat kat Umaira bila tengok budak tembam on the second picture.


I think I'm going to collect donations from my colleagues and friends who are keen to contribute but didn't know where to go or what to do. I'll bank- in the money to Mercy Malaysia ( www.mercy.org.my/). I did the same thing before for Afghanistan victims. I managed to collect 400 plus in two days. Berapa kerat sangatlah Melayu kat office nih. Seronok tau when we know there are so many people who are aware and care for the religion and humanity. Hopefully, I have the time and courage to execute my plan. So friends, sesapa yang nak sedekah, you may pass the money to me. Kalau nak suruh guna my money first, the you'll pay later also can lah. Furthermore, nih bulan Rejab.. banyak banyak kan lah sedekah.
Btw, my mom's persatuan tengah kutip duit untuk bawa anak anak yatim miskin berjalan. Nak bagi rasa seronok macam orang yg ada parents lah jugak. Rasanya, melawat KL kut.

River of Tears

Down by the river of tears
she the mother kneeled
and grasped the dirt between her hands
Then planted a flag of peace
Her heart wrenched with fear
when remembering her indelible dreams

She the mother grasped
Frantically her last child

...Rocks... gunfire...bloodshed
Tombs filled with children...

She looked up to the sky
and wished to be with her children...

Then remembering her last child
Gazed desperately into the Horizon
and shouted a piercing sentence

Stop killing our children
stop killing our children

by Laila Yaghi 2001

Bonding

Ibubapa sentiasa berdoa agar dikurniakan anak anak yang soleh dan solehah..
Anak anak yang beriman dan yang akan mendoakan kebahagiaan ibubapa di akhirat kelak..

Birthday Gala???!!

I didn't have a chance to write something on this blog yesterday. However, I've sent you an email to show that I always remember your birthday.
I just wanna let you know that I really appreciate our frienship. Through my good times and bad, when I'm happy or sad, you're always there to listen and to talk to. Kalau nak list, tak cukup satu hari. We had so much fun when we're still studying. Ye lah, free from responsibility. All we knew was fun, fun, fun. Just like slinky. Remember the roller- blading, the skiing, the camping, the Thai Kingdom, the tower records, the Macy's, the Pentagon city, the Potomac river, the Potomac Mills, the reflecting pool (esp on the independence day), most of all, the 1st snow storm and etc. Now, we have tons of responsibilities. We have new families to take care off, jobs to secure our lives and debts to pay (hahaha). However, we're still friend.. best friend... although we seldom talk, hardly meet. Hmm, luckily, there's e-mail.. Alamak!! ada appointment lah.. I need to go..
Betul tak what I've said just now. We have too much responsibilities.

Achtung!

"When parents made a mistake, it's a new generation"

Do Something Silly Everyday...

On the way back from lunch today, we heard ERA (the radio station) announced; “Skuad Era Avanza berada di Petronas Taman Pauh berdekatan dgn Politeknik. Byk hadiah- hadiah menarik.. bla.. bla..”. Both of us were like “What??!! Nak singgah ker?” . Sebab Petronas Taman Pauh is near by; it’s on our way back to office. I was the one who drove the car. So, apa lagi.. I went straight to the Petronas. We were among the first 15 people to arrive. At first, our respond were like “Aikkk.. semua bebudak sekolah jer.. nak singgah ker?” Then, we saw 3 ladies (naik Wish lagi) waited near by. Oh! Ada lah jugak adults. We went straight to the crew and asked for the CD (we heard they are giving away KRU’s CDs). The crew asked us to relax and gave us the door gift first; a can of strawberry soda, antibax soap and minyak yuh yi cap limau. Rupa rupanya, we need to wait and answered questions in order to get all the exclusive souvenirs like caps, CDs, T-shirt or even ERA’s paper back and folder. “Dah pukul 2pm nih, kita nak tunggu ker?” “Jom balik lah” “Tak pe, I’ve informed my boss saying that I need to pay the house loan” “I tak pe, I’d finished my projects”. These were the conversation we had before we decided to stay. At first the questions were very easy but we did not answer the question. We aimed for the bigger souvenir. Orang dah makin ramai, I guess more than 30 dah time tuh.
Bila sampai time CDs, they were asking question on XPDC and we didn’t know the answer. Btw, 2 persons from XPDC came along with the squads. I think, the singer and the guitarist. I’m not sure. I like XPDC’s song esp. Apa Nak Dikata (nostalgia nih) but I didn’t recognize the team members. I knew Search and Wings and Lefthanded very well. Wait! I just knew Nash and Man Kidal from Lefthanded. But, I didn’t know anyone from XPDC.
For caps pulak, they were asking “sapa supporting kat sini?” We definitely won’t embarrass/ humiliate ourselves. So, we need to let go the caps.
Finally, the battle for the grand souvenir; the T-shirt. The crews were looking for people who had RM5 notes.There were about 7-8 people had it including me (actually, my friend pass the money to me since she thought I'm luckier than her). Then, they eliminate people by tossing coins. I manage to be the final two. Seperti yg dijangkakan, setelah seri (tie) for 3 times, I lost!!!! Buang masa!! Ingatkan dapat lah jugak cap or CD. Tapi, hampeh!!. Ada ka patut nak bagi 5 lagi sabun antibax tuh. Although we didn’t get the exclusive souvenirs, we had fun. Terasa muda 10 tahun. It was really fun. Tapi, ada orang yang lagi tua and lagi bersemangat. Kami pun terkejut tengok makcik tuh beriya- iya gila. At least, she won 2 movie tickets.Tak de lah pulang tangan kosong. Sayang sekali, I don’t have camera phone. I really wanna share the thrill with you guys. Next time, kalau ada opportunities to do something stupid like this, I will definitely go. Masa kat situ dok teringat kat Ammar jer. Kalau bawa Ammar nih boleh dah dpt cap Akedemi Fantasia sebab depa suruh nyanyi and menari the theme song. Ammar expert nih.

Everything happened for a reason???

Someone forwarded this to me...


Zidane Explains
France captain Zinedine Zidane was sent off in Sunday's World Cup final defeat for headbutting defender Marco Materazzi in the chest.
The midfield star, who has now retired from football, appeared on French television on Wednesday to explain his actions.
Here is a translation of what he told the TV channel Canal Plus about the Materazzi incident.

Interviewer: You know the Italian players well because you played in Italy for five years. Did you have any problem with any of them beforehand?
Zinedine Zidane: Not at all. You always have friction with certain players...that is the game, it has always been like that. But I never had any clashes with anyone.

Interviewer: Nor Materazzi?
Zinedine Zidane: No, never. There was nothing beforehand and nothing in the match until he started pulling my jersey.
He grabbed my shirt and I told him to stop. I told him if he wanted I'd swap it with him at the end of the match.
That is when he said some very hard words, which were harder than gestures. He repeated them several times. It all happened very quickly and he spoke about things which hurt me deep down.

Interviewer: Everyone wants to know exactly what he said...
Zinedine Zidane: They were very serious things, very personal things.

Interviewer: About your mother and your sister?
Zinedine Zidane: Yes. They were very hard words. You hear them once and you try to move away.
But then you hear them twice, and then a third time... I am a man and some words are harder to hear than actions. I would rather have taken a blow to the face than hear that.

Interviewer: He said these things about your mother and sister two or three times?
Zinedine Zidane: Yes. I reacted and of course it is not a gesture you should do. I must say that strongly.
It was seen by two or three billion people watching on television and millions and millions of children.
It was an inexcusable gesture and to them, and the people in education whose job it is to show children what they should and shouldn't do, I want to apologise.

Interviewer: You apologise to them but do you really regret having done it?
Zinedine Zidane: I can't regret it because if I do it would be like admitting that he was right to say all that. And above all, it was not right.
We always talk about the reaction, and inevitably it must be punished. But if there is no provocation, there is no reaction.
First of all you have to say there is provocation, and the guilty one is the one who does the provoking. The response is to always punish the reaction, but if I react, something has happened.
Do you imagine that in a World Cup final like that, with just 10 minutes to go to the end of my career, I am going to do something like that because it gives me pleasure?

Interviewer: No of course not. But at the moment you exploded...
Zinedine Zidane: There was provocation, and it was very serious, that is all. My action was inexcusable but you have to punish the real culprit, and the real culprit is the one who provoked it. Voila.

The Result

We came back from KL on Sunday nite at about 11pm and reach Penang at about 4am Monday morning. Sempatlah tengok Zidane headbutt dada Materazzi. And most people said Zidane ended his career in disgrace. Tak pe lah Minah, he’s stil a HERO to France fans. Italy won the world cup for the fourth time kan?..

Pak Lah still keeps quite although Nazri, Najib and Hamid Alba had tried to back him up. Come on…People wanna hear something from you.

I’ve read Harian Metro on Sunday bought by my brother in law. FYI, I seldom buy newspapers since I can read them online. Tapi, nih tgh gila SUDOKU lak. Sesapa yg tak reti, don't try.. addicted oiii!!!. I might buy The Stars or NST after this. Ooops! I’ve found Sudoku Website. Print dari sini saja lah. To my dear husband, don’t worry dapur tetap berasap (hahahaha). Okay… Mawi had said something in the Harian Metro. A thorough explanations in the interviews and on his column. Mawi has his own column in the Metro?.. Wow!!.

My FIL is doing great. He’s recovering. He improved a lot on the day we left compare to the first day we arrived. Alhamdulillah. This family has a strong relationship. I really adore my MIL. I can see that she’s very patient. She takes an excellent care of her husband. She can still smile and talk sweetly although I knew she’s tired. Hopefully we can be as patience as she is when trial comes. Insya- Allah…

Jumble Mumble

World cup finals, Italy vs France. Everybody is talking about this today. My colleagues keep on reviewing all the teams again. This player is rough, that player is good, this team should not lose, that team wins because of luck and etc. Since I’m the only female here (in this lab, the place that I work now), I just kept quite. However, these people keep on asking my opinion. May be they want me to get involved. They asked me once on the semi-finals prediction, I told them Italy and France will make to the finals but I preferred Italy and Portugal. Mungkin jawapan tuh nampak cam professional kut. That’s why they keep including me in their conversation. Anyway, I choose Italy for this year champion.

Past few weeks, people were busy talking about Mahathir vs Pak Lah. I really like this topics and almost everybody knows aku SOKONG sapa. Apa nama… . I didn’t want to elaborate more on this issue as it might hurt someone’s feeling.

This week, Mawi putus tunang is the hot subject that has been whined. Berhari hari jadi front page on a few newspapers. Malaysians must like this guy very much. Kesian Hamid Alba, tolong jawab bagi pihak PM pun tak leh make on the front page. Whatever happened, I still don’t blam Mawi. This guy should be respected as he didn’t make any comment bluntly.

Okay.. back to my story. A few days ago, me and my mom were discussing about dinner vs hi-tea. I have quarterly group dinner (seafood buffet at Evergreen Laurel) tomorrow’s night while my mom have hi-tea with her persatuan at Grand Continental, Alor Setar. Bincang punya bincang, we decided that I will go to the dinner with my prince and my mom will bring my princess to the hi- tea. Ok.. everybody is happy. Tiba tiba, this morning, my husband told me that my FIL is not feeling well. So, I decided to take leave tomorrow and follow my husband to KL. My two children will follow us to KL. So, tak jadi lah dinner (may be my boss bg voucher kut.. yehaaa!! I can go with my husband and bring both kids.. lagi seronok!!). Itu lah dikatakan “kita hanya merancang, Tuhan yg menentukan”. The same thing happened to Mawi, jodoh pertemuan ditangan Tuhan, tapi, you can pray for it. As for Mahathir, ajal maut di tangan Tuhan, selagi hayat dikandung badan, selagi itulah kita perlu berbakti.

Me Again??!!

Most of us still think of Slinkys as toys. But they have their serious side, too. The springy steel spirals have been used to build everything from radio antennas to light fixtures and pecan pickers. Physics teachers use them in class to demonstrate cool stuff like – wave properties – forces – and – energy states.
The Slinky has even made it to the big screen, in the “Toy Story” movie series.
Time’s up. It’s time for us to slink away.

SALUTE

Tidak sedihkan anda melihat wajah ini..
Wajah yg banyak berjasa kepada kita..
Wajah yang cuba sedaya upaya menaikkan mertabat kita...
Wajah yang kini dicemuh, dikatakan pengkhianat..
Hanya kerana ingin membela bangsa dan negara...

P/S: We Lost our Pride the Day this Man Retired

Mee Udang Revelation

I believe everybody knows Mee Udang Penang or Mee Udang Sg 2 to be specific. Ok.. Let me show you the pictures (taken by me, myself.. so, it’s real… no super-impose what so ever). Terliur tak?... The close-up picture gelaplah pulak. Tapi, ada PC yg boleh view cantik kut. The expensive one.

Back to the mee udang story.. After one of our friends visited Penang and had mee udang as a treat, mee udang become more famos. The reviews and the pictures make Penang as one of the "must visit" destination. Woi! korang datang Penang just for mee udang ker? Sedih tau!!..

My officemates often have mee udang for lunch but they go to Juru. It's nearer, besides that, we don't know mee udang Sg 2 opens during lunch time or not. Hmmm.. kenapalah tak de initiative nak bertanya nih. The different between Juru's Mee udang and Sg 2's are the udangs /prawns and the kuah/gravy. Hehehe.. of course all mee/ noodles taste the same. Sg 2's udangs are bigger and tastier.. may be fresher. The gravy… I think Sg 2's has more tomato taste (I love tomatoes) and Juru's has the MSG taste (alamak! kena saman lak nanti). Apa apa pun, come to Penang and we definitely bring you there.

Oh! lupa lak.. Sg 2 has 2 restaurants, the original one (the one that Jalan Jalan Cari Makan visited) and the other one with the attractive lighting effect. I think the original one taste better although it doesn't serve (with money paid) Ketam/ crabs, fresh fish, rice and etc. Hello!! It's original; it has to maintain the uniqueness.

Is blogging good??

Actually my husband didn’t like the idea of me having a blog. He assumed that I’m going to upload all of our photos here. Alahai sayang… I’m not gonna upload ALL. I just wanna upload a few J. Here goes the first one; the picture of our lovely prince and princess.

Finally, I have a blog!!!

I've started to read blog since past few years. I always like politics , I like to read mother’s blog, I love to hear updates from my friends, I go through the recipes (although I seldom try them). Hmm… I suppose I read a lot..
But now... I'm sitting here, staring at this page for almost 1 hour. I just don't have any idea how to start writing. I don't know what to write. Well… I guess I don’t have talent in writing. But I wanna write..I really wanna write. I wanna write about anything that came across my mind.. “caca marba”…

OK.. let's start with SLINKY.. Why do I choose SLINKY as my nick name?. I don’t know!!! I started to love slinky when I was studying in George Washington University. I got free SLINKY after signed up for a credit card. I think it’s Discovery card. I’ve a few slinky at home. Unfortunately, some of them had been straightened by my dear prince.
Commercials for the Slinky featured the memorable jingle "It's Slinky, it's Slinky, for fun it's a wonderful toy. It's Slinky, it's Slinky, it's fun for a girl and a boy."
Well.. everybody likes fun thing.