GoSS Strikes Back

Before I left for home this evening, I informed my girl that I won't be around on Monday. She asked if I had meetings outside. I said, "Tak...saya cuti."

My staff in the office by now read me like a book. "Cuti" means going off somewhere, to chill out for one or two days, "Cuti" to them is the keyword indicating that I had managed to get a good online deal from AA.

I'm done packing; however not quite excited about the trip yet. Flight departs at 9.30 this morning and by 11.00am local time, I'd be walking about the the city streets of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. Intense rush of adrenaline will most probably happen during this time.

So if you happen to be in HCMC too, do look out for the "gang of serious shopaholic - GoSS" (Desert Rose, her friend M and Ms Liadevega and her two bodyguards and yours truly of course) doing their 10,000 steps walkabout around the city.

We'll be home, InshaAllah on Monday night. Well till then, ciao and have a wonderful weekend folks.

Reality Hurts

Huh?? Since when have I become a relationship counselor? Do I even look like one? And please do not expect me to make character judgments. I hate doing that!!

Someone who is very much involved in a relationship forwarded these very disturbing lines to my email. Outchhh…reality hurts; if I were to read from accepts of email keramat tu.

The great love that I have for you is gone, and I find my dislike for you grows every day. When I see you, I do not even like your face.

Our last conversation was very boring and has not made me look forward to seeing you again. You think only of yourself. I have a heart to give, but it is not something that I want to give to you.

I could only think of this as my reply to her email - “Sabar lah…..”

What else was I to say; these matters of the heart are not easy to tackle. Perhaps I should add this one liner - “Chill dear….clear your mind, go for a break and pray for the best.”

Not at all a detrimental reply, kan?

Hopefully the message gets across coz I’m so not looking forward to getting sequels of such emails over the weekend. Perhaps I should add the picture below too in order to hammer the message.

Yes….I’m going on a break myself. Tired of battling too many stormy weathers and putting off fires of blazing hearts.

Take care everyone….see you next week!!

Sue's Sufferings

It is heart wrenching every time I catch a glimpse of her. Her sadness was observable, no matter how hard she tries to hide. The always so jovial Sue, has suddenly become tight lipped, keeping very much to herself. There have been mornings when Sue walked in with bloodshot eyes; an indication that she was probably crying the entire night.

Many a times I wanted to walk to her, wrap her in a hug and let her know that she has me by her side lending the listening ears. Even a shoulder to cry on if she wanted, but I just didn’t know what muzzled me. We would pass each other along the corridor, her gloom eyes meeting mine, signaling the troubled heart. There was only exchange of glances, no words. It was as if we were total strangers, when in actual fact we are not.

It hurts me inside that I couldn’t reach out to her now. It hurts me bad knowing we have walled up the emotions between us. We used to be bosom chums; inseparable through thick or thin. But it took only one careless action to distance the closeness once shared.

Why Sue…why? Why shun me?

These were the emotions shared with me during a counseling session with a subordinate sometime back. This morning the girl came to me in tears, telling me that Sue is gone!!

Sue died over the weekend, in a motor accident apparently. The vehicle was a total wreck; a wrecked and mangled of body mass, manifesting Sue’s state of mind, I imagine. As I stood still to regain my composure, tears welled up my eyes. Visual flashes of Sue’s sufferings caused the world around me to slowly spin. I saw stars; no….correction, I think what I saw Sue’s sad, lost soul, looking for the love she never received.

Through our glazed stares, we both ponder upon the sequence of events that happened earlier with much disbelief. The lost is apparent – for both of us, even with my shriveled knowledge of Sue.

Sue – not her real name

Waka Waka

Superb sportsmanship it was at the opening game FIFA 2010 between Mexico and South Africa that ended some minutes back. Though we were putting our bets on South Africa, the Mexicans displayed great determination, showing to the host nation that they can't easily be dismissed.

So that was how the game went. It ended with a draw of one all for both teams.

I must confess I am no soccer fan. This is probably due to the much disappointment with local soccer scene and those foolish acts of the rowdy fans - main nya tak seberapa, musnah nya yang lebih.

My personal observation on the local sports scene is that there is just too much of politics. Handsome rewards await the players despite their lackadaisical performance. The much awaited sports heroes like Super Mokh, Santokh Singh and Soh Chin Aun never surfaced. *sigh* Bila lah agak nya patah tumbuh, hilang berganti......

Nissa watching the game earlier as she received quick notes on Soccer 101 from Daddy.
Game result RSA 1 : Mex 1

Let's do the Waka Waka dance with Shakira

School's Out

School is out for two weeks and we haven't the faintest plan on what to organize for the children. Nissa mentioned like four times in the last two days that three of her close friends are away overseas on holiday. One is in Sydney (and they keep in touch via FB!! Haaa...tu dia, budak-budak sekarang. Pi holiday pun still boleh ber FB!!), another close friend is in South Africa for World Cup and the third girl pi mana tah, I pun tak ingat!!

Mommy here is somewhat stressed when getting such updates. We have plans for a family holiday, but it will only come sometime towards year end. I tell you it's really tough trying to be diplomatic in providing answers to such questions - "My friend is currently on her way holidaying in bla bla bla destination. And where are we going Mom?"

My simple answer would be, "Errr...rumah Uwan in Seremban, can ah?" (as I give that "Daddy & I do not grow money on trees...yarrr!!" stare)

Looks like I have to come up with a holiday plan pronto. Now, what shall it be??

Kalau zaman I was a little girl dulu, gi Mimaland (and pedal non stop that funny boat around the lake) or the Lake Gardens and then a quick stop over at Fitzpatrick's Supermarket for ice cream and chocolates dah memadai. For kids these days, I doubt that an itinerary as simple as that would tick them. But I shall try. Perhaps this weekend, we try and click with nature ker... umppp....that would not be too bad kan?

What say you, any suggestion on a quick holiday plan?

S.E.V.E.N.T.E.E.N

Happy Birthday Farah.

Love life, bring warmth and kindness to everyone around you.
May Allah bless you with good health, happiness, success and all the good things in life.
Lots of love from Abang, Nissa, Daddy & Mama.

Happy and Sad Ending

The month of May is coming to its end in a few hours. Fuhh...time surely zooms, and before you know it, a whole six months would have gone by.

Like always, work took precedence amongst all else. I'm happy to say that I've accomplished quite a bit in this month. The curriculum that I designed was well accepted by client and I saw its successful implementation in the last two camps. The response was overwhelming, with participants asking for more in the future. I get lumps in my throat each time we bid our good byes to the children after a good 4 days at camp. Nonetheless, out of sight doesn't mean out of mind coz we meet almost everyday now online. If only these children knew how lucky they were to be the selected few to experience this different method of learning where creativity and collaboration were the essential skills used. I am all so glad to share my knowledge and expertise with to these buds. Hopefully they will benefit from the knowledge, InshaAllah.

On the home front, I'm overjoyed too as we managed to carry out our kenduri kesyukuran sometime early in the month. We feel much at peace now after that traumatic time when fire broke out in our home. I must thank all who came on that day. Thank you to fellow bloggers Zendra, Kak Ezza, Desert Rose, Aida, Madam Principal, my bffs Muni and Jupe, my immediate family members, my Haj sister - Kak Lin, my sister TM and family, neighbours, Abe's colleagues and everyone else who have been so supportive of us during those trying times. I'm sorry if I didn't extend the invite to all, faham-faham saja lah, rumah comel je, takut nak kenduri besar-besaran.

As promised the girls and I had our way of celebrating; we girls just wanna have fun and fun was at the mall. As always Nissa got her wish - stuffs from GIRLS. It was outfit buying for her too, as she made it through the High School Rock cheer leading audition and will after this compete with other students in Putrajaya. And Nissa has really, really grown!!! Other than her school uniform, most of her clothes are obscenely tight. Macam sarong nangka, serious!

Nissa said some of her friends have a collection of these tees from GIRLS - such lucky children.

Told her to go for Enid Blyton's Malory Towers. Instead, she got carried away with "Diary of A Wimpy Kid". She said this is what everyone at school reads now.

So last Friday was shop till we dropped day. When we got home, my feet ached so bad. I must now remind myself that I'm no longer that 20 sumthing girl who could go mall hopping from sun rise till sun down.

Since the PLUS highway south bound at Nilai was badly congested, we took LEKAS to Seremban. It was LEKAS all right. Faris was behind the wheels and he took like 1o mins to get to Ampangan toll on LEKAS.

On Saturday, the girls were supposed to have their usual activities at Art and music class. Just as they were getting ready a call came in for Abe. It was his brother calling to inform him that an ailing uncle had passed on early that morning.

Immediately we changed plans and got kids packing for the day trip back to Seri Menanti for the funeral. Two weeks ago Abe had gone back to visit him when we got news of his frail health.

It rained for a short while before the funeral.

Farah and Daddy walking to the mosque for the prayers.
Al-fatehah, semoga roh nya bakal ditempatkan di kalangan orang yg soleh.

Pak Ngah was the husband of my mother-in-law's sister. Abe's uncle lah kan? Of all his uncles, Pak Ngah was one of the few, that I know. If I recall well, he was the spokesperson for Abe's family during our engagement. Pak Ngah was a real nice man, I respect him for his wisdom and wit. He was 79 and I believe he must have lived his life the fullest.

Cajun seafood pasta

Salmon toast...yummsssss!!!

We ended our long weekend with more makan-makan on Sunday. I decided to try Italian and surprisingly my Cajun seafood pasta turned out a real hit with folks at home (come to think of it, don't think the kids dared say the otherwise).

Then there was the Carrot Apple Nutty cuppies for late night dessert

And Chitty wanted to take five, go chill too.....