Preparations to Makkah

I'm at the hotel restaurant attending a majlis ilmu on our preparations for our umrah tomorrow.

Sad, so sad. In less than 24hrs we will leave beautiful Madinah. Am trying to do one last ziarah tonight. Ya ALLAH....permudahkan lah...permudahkanlah usaha hamba-hamba mu yang kerdil ini,

Salam from Madinah Al-Munawarah

Alhamdulillah...syukur kehadrat Nya. We are currently in Madinah. Everything is fine. It was ziarah to Makam Rasullullah s.a.w earlier today. Bersolat di Raudah with Farah & Mom. Percubaan yang dilakukan bersungguh-sungguh as there were throngs of others who were much bigger than us wanting to share that little space - Raudah. Penuh syahdu...doas leading to tears and tears. No words could express my feelings of how at peace I am in this Holy city.

It was extremely hot at noon today. Think it was arnd 46C at its high today. It takes a toll on all of us. Ya ALLAH, berilah hamba mu ini kekuatan, ketabahan dalam menempuh segala dugaan di perjalanan ini...amin.

Till we meet again, take care everyone.

~kay~ signing off from Dallah Taibah, Madinah Al-Munawarah

The Journey Begins

Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatuallahi wa Barakatuh!

My late father once said this to me, “When the calling comes, just go. Clear your mind, your heart and soul, think of nothing else.”

That was his two liner to me when he told me that we - him, mom and I, would be off to perform our Umrah. I remember that conversation well. I was with him in our house in Seremban and he broke the news to me that he wanted to take me along to perform Umrah. I was neither excited nor downhearthed. The only thing that was playing on my mind, “I’m not ready!!!”

But God is Great. He helped me, he guided me, he made my jitters go away, and that Ramadhan, I was blessed to be invited to His house.

That was then way back in 1998.

Sometime last April when I expressed my intentions of going to the Holy Land, I was again unsure what lies ahead come May. Many questions came to mind, obviously work was top most on the worrisome list. As I contemplated and negotiated with myself, the wise words of my late father came back to me.

Obviously the clue had all along been there. It was just me who wasn’t listening.

And Alhamdullilah, here I am today, survived the trying times both at work and home. Alhamdullillah, the invitation to be in His house has come again.

The day has finally arrived. In just hours from now, the three of us, Mom, Farah and yours truly will embark on an important journey in performing our Umrah. I’ll be away for almost 2 weeks and InshaAllah will be back on 7th June (corrected).

To all friends and readers of Sembang at Kay’s, I seek your forgiveness from the very bottom of my heart if there have been a little comment too harsh, a joke too much. After all, to err it's only human. Yang baik datang dari Nya, dan yang buruk dari diri saya sendiri.

InshaAllah, panjang umur, murah rezeki, we’ll meet again after my return. Take care everyone….

Makan-Makan@Sg Siput

It wasn't just all work and no play in Sg Siput the last two days I was there. The heat, the mounting stress were all defused by our makan-makan arrangements.

Not only the food was yummylicious, it was c-h-e-a-p too!!!!

Allow these pics to speak for themselves.

Makan-Makan at last night's dinner

The tomyam....

Someone had this chicken soup

My Hong Kong kwaytiau

and...this one really was mind blowing!!! Puyuh goreng chilli........


Makan-Makan at tea this morning

Agar-agar jagung

Bubur Cha-Cha


pulut kuning...so lemak
and we gave it a touch of sensuousness..heh..heh...

Here at Sammy's Kampung

Greetings folks. I'm posting this from a small hotel in Sg Siput. Errr... where is this place?? Yess...it's THE Sg Siput in Perak. THE parliment constituency which for umpteen number of years was kept so close at heart to dear Mr Sammy V***u.

Our program was at this Felda Settlement. Well, the place is so modern now. Not like how Felda when they first started.

Sg Siput town, well, not too bad, actually. The roads are wide. It's dual way all the way from the Jelapang exit. To get to Sg Siput one has to pass the famous Chenor town. If I recall well, there was one very catchy Raya advert where the family went home by bus and the little boy repeatedly mentioned that he was from Chenor. Something like that lah...I think. The advert was way, way back.

Our ICT program with the kids....fun, fun..loads of fun :)

Anyway, I'm here on work. One day down and another to go tomorrow. My initial plan was to do a day trip. Do what needed to be done and by evening, I'd drive back to KL. However, when the program ended around 6pm just now, I was extremely beat. The heat, my lack of sleep the night before seemed to be taking a toll out of me.

I'm putting up one night here. Hope to wrap things up by 3pm tomorrow and race back to KL as fast as I can. There are so many things I need to complete in so little time. I have some documents which are critical for me to review and not forgetting the office move. I only have till Sunday night to get all these done. Hope I will pull through these tough times in one piece as I have a bigger task to embark on come 12 noon Monday 25th May. InshaAllah...InshaAllah...

Tonsilitis Again

She's been coughing since Sunday. Very light cough, nothing of those phlegmy ones. During our quick trip back to Mom's, she slept all the way in the car. I guessed that she could be tired from her busy school week. Monday was school as usual, in fact it was Teacher's Day celebration in her school. She asked if she could get flowers for her teacher. I said yes and gave her RM5.00. She gave me one very pretty smile.

My schedule is really crazy these past few days. I knew Nissa was coming down with something when she was rather restless about going to bed. She said she couldn't close her eyes and she didn't know why. Last night because both Mother and Daughter had sleeping problems, we ended up snacking the chocolate chip cookies I got from M&S earlier. Yummmsss......happiness!!

But today's story was the total opposite. I came home from work late this evening and saw her still in her school uniform, fast asleep on the sofa. I felt her body and it was fiery. Both Bibik and Farah were sponging her and at the same time trying to get her to take in some porridge. She's been to see the doctor and the culprit is her tonsils again. It's infected and that's causing her high fever. Ayeyeaya....Nissa, the "thing" of yours has been time and time again giving you all the discomfort.

To make things worst, it's exam week this week. Tomorrow's papers are English and Jawi papers. She wanted to do her revision but the medication has put her into deep slumber. Ahhh you poor baby.....looks like you'll have to rely on what was learnt in class in order to answer questions in the exam.

The Toy

A friend texted me after reading my rant on the new toy. He asked, “Apa ke bende nya new toy tu?”

My reply was, “Tungggguuuuuu….I’ll blog about it.”

So what is it exactly? This “thing” that has been ruling my life for the past one month or so. The gadget that had me tossing and flipping away – adjusting to it’s dual display choice, landscape or portrait. The supposedly smarty instrument that suddenly stormed my life.

Now give it a grand entrance shall we?? Thadaaa…here it is – the Blackberry Storm. Yup, this is the thing that has been ruling me like crazy. At times making me look like a fool, trying to figure out how the heck to make it work according to my whims and fancies.


Ohhh…this touch screen, so called "cuting edge smart alec" surely has a mind of it’s own, this I discovered during my early get-to- know-you days with the tool. It had the guts to disallow Bluetooth transfer of contacts from the old N96!! Can you imagine how frantic I was?? And there were more than 500 contact numbers and details to be expeditiously transferred. Refusing to be defeated, I googled ways on contact transfers from a non BB to a BB. Wasn’t easy, but managed to get it done in the end (hangin satu badan di buat nya that day!!!).

Snapped this Ipoh rainy day pic using BB...pic quality = 5/10

(cik NokiaH gives better quality pic..)

One thing great (errr…am beginning to have second thoughts now) about the BB is that the Internet is just a touch away. Just like the other smart phones of its kind, it connects me to the Internet anywhere and time, subject to the availability of telco’s 3G. Where the signal is strong, it gives superb connectivity. Otherwise, errr…don’t bother, switch to another application je lah.

And because I am connected 24/7, there is no reason what so ever not to reply emails or even dare leave them unopened. On top of the work related emails, the project helpdesk enquiry emails are also cced to me. Hence, even at 3 in the morning, I get to read desperate helpdesk sos from my comfy bed. Uhhh….what a life. I must remember to inform MIS to stop directing these emails to me. Not worth losing my beauty sleep over them!!!

I can blog with it, accessing FB is great. Google and YM are splendid. One down side to heavy browsing is that the battery is fast exhausted.

Apparently BB Storm is new in the country, even M*x** has not launched it yet (err that’s what the guy at the counter told me lah). Last weekend when I struggled as I dug into my handbag, trying to get hold of it, when it rang as I queued at the cashier counter at the Isetan members sale (gezzz…they just know when to ring kan, wrong place, wrong time!!!), I saw another lady fumbling with the same exact tool. I just smiled, must be a new user, thus I’m not alone.

So, what’s my overall verdict? Biasa-biasa je lah. Oh well, it’s a cool tool lah. And what makes it ever cooler?? It was a gift from Abe. Thank you…thank you…kecil tapak tangan, stesyen janakuasa I tadahkan..heh…heh.

To Abe...haa next year if you are still on this "smart thingy" pursuance, can you give this other smarty a thought pulak???

Yeaaa but...

Yeah, success!! But it somehow doesn't have the attach image function...grrr. Looks like there won't be pics if i blog from this toy. And the typing on this touch pad is a real test to my patience. Ohh...I miss my cik NokiaH :(

First Test

I'm trying to test this new toy to see if it's able to access blogspot to do mobile blogging. If it works, yea!! If it doesn't...grrr!!

Stress Buster

Just me ranting away here. It's blazing hot out there. But panas lagi hati ku ini. Suffice to say that there's tonnes to do in such a short time. I have a big proposal due on Friday. Actually come to think of it, why did I do this onto myself?? I could have negotiated for a better deadline. Ni takkk...dengan selamba nya, set a date which I know will sprout more grays in the hair.

And the stress led me towards these heavenly Rocky Road Nutty Chip Cookies just now at tea break!!! So if lepas ni jika membesar lagi waist line, I'd consider the act as "self inflicted". Only had four pieces, so kira boleh ampun tak???

Happy Mother's Day

Wishing all mothers out there
all the love
and happiness
you so richly deserve!

And this special wish goes to my Mom - Hajjah Fatimah bte Yusof....

May all the love
you give to others
come back to you
on this special day.

Thank you Mak!!!

From Shah Alam "Oh Bulan..."

"Oh really? Got full moon? Will go out to have a look ;)"

That was my reply to dear Mamasita's earlier text message on the full lunar spotting tonight. Popped the last bit of choc chip cookies into my mouth, I quickly grabbed my camera from my bag and went out to take a look. Wallah....indeed there's a beauty up there shinning so bright in the sky.

Dear Mamasita...these two pics are especially for you :))

This was my best shot. Too bad, didn't get to do justice to this beauty.

Ahhh bila lah nak upgrade to DSLR agak nya...hmmmpppp

Aizat's PERGI

This young man's melodious vocals has persistently haunt me since the first time I heard him sing at an event in Penang. He was a little weighty at that time, definitely no head turner, unlike others who are in the industry that he's in. He may not have the “package” but talent, he sure has loads.

Aizat is a product of the reality show Akademi Fantasia. Can't remember which season he was from. Unfortunately, this cherub face didn't gather enough sms votes to keep him long in the program. Well, that's how it works with these reality shows. The odds are in the hands of the sms senders. Never mind if you cringe audience with your croak. But if you have die hard fans by the throngs who are crazy about you and with the help of some luck, you could be driving home the up for grabs, new set of wheels or the key to that brand new apartment. Anyway, I’m not going to dwell much about these reality shows. It’s Aizat’s new song entitled PERGI that I want to share here.

First time I heard Aizat’s PERGI, it gave me the same the goose bumps I had that very moment I heard George Michael’s “Careless Whisper”. I sound so ancient now, don’t I? Anyway back to Aizat’s song. PERGI is climbing the pop charts and many radio stations are faithfully spinning this number, so much so that I now have the tune constantly playing on my mind. I learnt later that it is also the sound track of Yasmin Ahmad’s movie TALENTIME. PERGI was compose by Pete Teo, who’s known for his independently produced zero-budget, non-partisan, non-profit, multi-artists recording of his anti-racism - 'Here In My Home'.

I present you Aizat’s PERGI found on YouTube. Sit back relax and enjoy its brilliant assemblage of melodious acoustic guitar and melancholic softness of the Chinese erhu.

Hujan lebat mencurah kini
Bagaikan tiada henti
Kau lah lagu ku…kau irama terindah
Tak lagi ku dengari

Kau pergi…..pergi…

Sepi tanpa kata
Terdiam dan kaku tak daya kau ku lupa
Apa pun kata mereka
biarkan kenangan berbunga di ranting usia

So kepada sesiapa yang nak layan perasaan…..silakan…. this song is for you.

Pure Carelessness

Ohhhh…it was purely my carelessness. If only I hadn’t left it laying on the bed. If only I had placed it back into its case. If only I hadn’t rushed to have my bath this evening. If only….if only…if only….but it’s too late now.

I feel so down in the dumps. How could I not be?? My jade bangle….I innocently dropped it and it is now broken. I was white in the face when it went fell flat on the floor and broke. I could have kicked myself for not being focused. My mind was far, far away. Issues in the office, my upcoming trip and my preparations…ahhh all these have been creating so much distractions to my otherwise calm evening.

The light green stone was a purchase during my RT trip to Chaingmai two years ago. Obviously, it has quite a sentimental value attached to it. Nissa says it’s bad luck when one’s jade is broken. Ohhh….I really hope, it’s just a superstition and I’ll be spared any ill fates and ruinous mishaps. I’m non believer on superstition, for I believe it is in Allah we should place out fate. He gives and he takes. So who are we to deny something that was destined to happen.

Perhaps I should take it to the jeweller and see if it could be fixed. From Google, I read that broken jades could be cured using special cement. Ooohhh…..I really hope this could be done. Otherwise, I’ll have to go look for a replacement….and I hate so much doing this.

I feel rotten already just thinking about it. Can someone help me? What should I do????

Labour Rewards

The morning was unusually quiet. Sound from busy school buses was not heard from the road next to our home. In fact the neighbourhood's daily hustle and bustle was absent this morning. No one was rushing out to beat the jam to get to work and neither were parents seen eager packing kids to school before the final bell rings.

Yippyy...it's a public holiday today!! 1st of May is Labour Day. Well, in this part of the world at least. When I was studying in the States, I discovered that folks in the land of Uncle Sam celebrate Labour Day on the first Monday in September. I read somewhere that the form for the celebration of Labour Day is to exhibit the "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations". Whatever it is, the long holiday is very much appreciated by all.

Glad I'm not doing this today....

As with other long holidays, many have made travel plans. I have none what so ever in mind yet. Nissa wants to go have Japanese food for lunch today. We'll probably do that. It is however, not going to help much on Mommy's vain efforts of trying to shed the extra kilos. But upon seeing her all ready to dig into the shashimi and shushi spread, I guess Mommy's trimmed waist line will have to wait a while (if it ever does happen...).

The weather is gonna be hot the next few days I bet. So stay cool folks and enjoy the long weekend :)