MUSINGS FROM THE HEART

Find Me Here, Too

2010-11-29T13:19:00.004+08:00

Cake and cupcake decorating has been my passion for the past 2 years. I'm not doing this full time but the occasional chances to create and make some money is much welcomed. Visit me at Bakin'Goodies ......

OH, FACEBOOK

2010-06-06T03:02:00.004+08:00

Pardon me for neglecting my blog, I've been busy 'TWORKING over on Facebook.

I know I am not the first one to blame FACEBOOK for the slowdown in blogging. I have not actually blogged for months ... it has been easy to get carried away with the more interactive and immediate responses you get on Facebook.

Facebook has invaded my home. Not only my husband, all my kids are also now fully networked. So much so that when I tell them to do their chores, I have to be sure my requests are understood and not sidelined by their eagerness to keep on neTWORKING.

And when I tell them to go read their books, I have to be doubly sure they are not FaceBOOKing instead.

And finally, some words of the wise .....

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Learn Ayat Al Kursi, Ayatul kursi

2010-01-14T13:36:00.006+08:00

Click on the link below:

Learn to Recite Ayat Al Kursi, Ayatul Kursi

This should take you only a few minutes to memorise the very powerful Ayatul Kursi.

Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Raheem

Allahu la ilaha illa Huwa, Al-Haiyul-Qaiyum

La ta'khudhuhu sinatun wa la nawm,

lahu ma fis-samawati wa ma fil-'ard

Man dhal-ladhi yashfa'u 'indahu illa bi-idhnihi

Ya'lamu ma baina aidihim wa ma khalfahum,

wa la yuhituna bi shai'im-min 'ilmihi illa bima sha'a

Wasi'a kursiyuhus-samawati wal ard,

wa la ya'uduhu hifdhuhuma Wa Huwal 'Aliyul-Adheem

In the Name of Allâh, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

"Allah! There is no god but He - the Living, The Self-subsisting, Eternal. No slumber can seize Him Nor Sleep. His are all things In the heavens and on earth. Who is there can intercede In His presence except As he permitteth? He knoweth What (appeareth to His creatures As) Before or After or Behind them. Nor shall they compass Aught of his knowledge Except as He willeth. His throne doth extend Over the heavens And on earth, and He feeleth No fatigue in guarding And preserving them, For He is the Most High. The Supreme (in glory)."

(This Verse 2:255 is called Ayat al-Kursi)

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Let's Get Classical

2009-09-10T03:54:00.004+08:00

What kind of music do I like? Many ..... and one of them is classical music. Nothing complicated but easy-on-the-ears music. If I have to choose a familiar composer, one of my favourites is Johann Sebastian Bach. But I like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,too. Hahaha ... because I learned to play some of their beginner pieces before abandoning my efforts halfway. Hmmmm maybe it is not too late to pick it up again.

Meanwhile, enjoy the music .....

MISSING BLOGGING

2009-08-30T03:27:00.005+08:00

Hello everyone. (I hope there are still people dropping by here). I have not been blogging for a while and I kinda miss it. Old habits die hard, and I have been itching to update. I hope I have enough writing juices left to conjure up an entry.

I came across these photos which were taken a few months back. We drove down to Port Dickson on one of those "where to go, what to do" weekends. The intention was to visit the Armed Forces Museum. This was maybe our third attempt to visit ... previous tries were aborted because we went on days that the museum was closed.

There were a variety of things to look at and information to gather at this museum. Of course the boys were more intrigued by the extensive displays of old army vehicles and armaments, including a (Nuri?) helicopter. Whichever vehicle they could climb into, they did.

The 'highlight' for me was the walk thru the replica of the PKM (Parti Komunis Malaya) tunnel. It was quite stifling down there (luckily there was fan and air-conditioning). I can't imagine what living in the real network of tunnels must have been like. It was a complete 'city' down there ..... no wonder the communists thrived.

That visit was made when talks of reviving the PKM was in the news. What a load of unpatriotic BS, if you ask me. A visit to the museum will tell you about the struggles and the fight our people and especially the armed forces put up against the communists and other parties that got in the way of the country in achieving independence. It was indeed a sobering experience.

All gung-ho to enter the tunnel....

A few steps into the tunnel, he got scared. See that petrified look?

More pictures......

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Tomorrow the country celebrates 52 years of independence. SELAMAT HARI KEBANGSAAN.

Just thought I'd add that this year's National Day theme is 1Malaysia, Rakyat Didahulukan, Pencapaian Diutamakan.

Logo berbentuk nombor satu dan berlatarbelakangkan Jalur Gemilang serta tulisan Malaysia ini dinamakan 1 Malaysia.

Logo 1 Malaysia melambangkan visi negara iaitu untuk mewujudkan satu masyarakat yang berpadu dan mempunyai semangat cintakan negara berpandukan Perlembagaan Negara dan Rukun Negara.

Ia juga mencerminkan rakyat Malaysia yang saling bekerjasama, bermuafakat, berdikari, berfikir dan menghayati satu visi untuk membina satu Negara Bangsa.

WHAT'S COOKING ....

2009-07-21T17:03:00.005+08:00

Things have been a bit slow here on this blog ..... because a lot of energy has been going into this endeavour here ..... do come by and visit. (And join as a fan of my page if you'd like updates).

Farewell to The King Of Pop

2009-07-01T15:51:00.003+08:00

Thank you, Michael, for entertaining so many lives with your songs. And out-of-this-world dance moves.

FLORAL FANCIES

2009-05-17T02:23:00.011+08:00

It was a spontaneous decison - to get potted plants, orchids specifically, for all the mothers in the family (on KOTH's side) as we had already planned to meet up on Mother's Day (Sunday, May 10).

We hadn't counted on it being somewhat like a wildgoose chase. Didn't know orchid plants are not so easily found (at least, reasonably priced ones). On Saturday, mid-morning, we decided to drive to Sungai Buloh to look for some orchid plants, banking on Sungai Buloh's reputation as the gardening haven. We got terribly lost in Sungai Buloh, not really knowing which part of the town to head to, but fortunately had the GPS thingy in the car to help us out a bit.

No orchids in Sungai Buloh, where there were a lot of leafy plants. Someone at one of the nurseries we stopped at suggested we try the Serendah Orchid Farm. We drove towards Serendah and after going around in circles found a sign that told us that the "Serendah International Orchid Farm" is "temporarily" closed. By the look of things, it seemed permanently closed! So we drove around some more .......

Walked into a few nurseries, where there were also no orchid plants for sale. Finally, a lady told us to go to Kuala Kubu Baru, and gave us directions to an orchid farm. Easy, can't miss, as it's just by the main road.

So finally, tummy rumbling and all (we had not had lunch and it was pushing towards tea time) we walked into this vast nursery with thousands of orchid plants, in pots on racks and hanging in pots above our heads. Finally!!!

Kalai Vaney, the lady who owns the business, was just finishing her lunch and asked us if we had eaten. No, I told her, not yet because my husband said we won't stop for anything until we get the orchid plants!! Hahaha, and I thought I had a late lunch, Vaney said!

Vaney was an accountant who gave up that profession to take up her passion of growing orchids full time. She has been in the business for 18 years. No regrets, she said. I really liked that.

We ended up getting 14 plants, and we got a good price for them. Really, really good price, actually, because the same plants are being sold in the city for more than twice the price we paid.

So, everyone, next time you're looking for orchids, go to Kuala Kubu Baru!

And by the way, I baked two cakes, and one of them had orchids for decoration, to go with the 'theme'.

Enjoy the pictures!

Credits: The pictures above are photographed by the husband and the son

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ZOO STORY

2009-04-02T22:57:00.016+08:00

Kids generally love going to the zoo, and mine are no exception. A few weeks ago when I was at work, KOTH and the kids headed to the Zoo Negara. Another trip for a great excuse to practise their "shooting" - shooting pictures, that is.

Come join the tour!

Eh, cepat! Cepat! Don't be such a tortoise. The Zoo Express ain't gonna wait for you!

The Flamingo, or Phoenicopterus. Somehow their necks remind me of the pretzel, all twisted like that!

The Giraffa camelopardalis is the tallest of all land-living animal species. Do you know that male giraffes are prone to "homosexual" activities? Yes, I kid you not. A study found that at any given time one in twenty males were engaged in non-combative necking behaviour with another male, where two male giraffes caress and court each other, leading up to mounting and climax. The females are more decent, 99 percent engaging only in heterosexual coupling.

This is the Equus, better known as the zebra whose name comes from the Old Portuguese word zevra (wild ass). Is the zebra white with black stripes, or black with white stripes? The zebra's closest relatives are the horses and the donkeys, but unlike them, the zebra has never been domesticated. Zebras are highly social animals, and they live in "harems" consisting of a stallion and up to 6 mares and their foals.

Is this another Flamingo?

The one-humped Dromedary Camelus (Arabian camel), is native to the dry desert areas of Western Asia, while the two-humped Bactrian camel comes from the Central and East Asian regions. Do you know that camels have 74 chromosomes? (Humans have 22).

Mr Panthera Leo here certainly looks well-fed!! Panthera means "the yellowish animal" or "whitish-yellow".

Say, is that a new hairdo, mate? Our native Orang Utans (Pongo).

Proboscidea Elephantidae. This is the Asian, or Indian Elephant. The kids got to see the elephant's proboscis, or trunk, up close.

This guy certainly has the best view from his vantage point.

Bye for now. Come back soon!!

TOP APRIL FOOL'S HOAXES

2009-04-02T01:28:00.003+08:00

From www.museumofhoaxes.com

#1: The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest
1957: The respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied, "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

#2: Sidd Finch
1985: Sports Illustrated published a story about a new rookie pitcher who planned to play for the Mets. His name was Sidd Finch, and he could reportedly throw a baseball at 168 mph with pinpoint accuracy. This was 65 mph faster than the previous record. Surprisingly, Sidd Finch had never even played the game before. Instead, he had mastered the "art of the pitch" in a Tibetan monastery under the guidance of the "great poet-saint Lama Milaraspa." Mets fans celebrated their teams' amazing luck at having found such a gifted player, and Sports Illustrated was flooded with requests for more information. In reality this legendary player only existed in the imagination of the author of the article, George Plimpton.

#3: Instant Color TV
1962: In 1962 there was only one tv channel in Sweden, and it broadcast in black and white. The station's technical expert, Kjell Stensson, appeared on the news to announce that, thanks to a new technology, viewers could convert their existing sets to display color reception. All they had to do was pull a nylon stocking over their tv screen. Stensson proceeded to demonstrate the process. Thousands of people were taken in. Regular color broadcasts only commenced in Sweden on April 1, 1970.

#4: The Taco Liberty Bell
1996: The Taco Bell Corporation announced it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Hundreds of outraged citizens called the National Historic Park in Philadelphia where the bell was housed to express their anger. Their nerves were only calmed when Taco Bell revealed, a few hours later, that it was all a practical joke. The best line of the day came when White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale. Thinking on his feet, he responded that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold. It would now be known, he said, as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.

#5: San Serriffe
1977: The British newspaper The Guardian published a special seven-page supplement devoted to San Serriffe, a small republic said to consist of several semi-colon-shaped islands located in the Indian Ocean. A series of articles affectionately described the geography and culture of this obscure nation. Its two main islands were named Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse. Its capital was Bodoni, and its leader was General Pica. The Guardian's phones rang all day as readers sought more information about the idyllic holiday spot. Only a few noticed that everything about the island was named after printer's terminology. The success of this hoax is widely credited with launching the enthusiasm for April Foolery that gripped the British tabloids in subsequent decades.

#6: Nixon for President
1992: National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation program announced that Richard Nixon, in a surprise move, was running for President again. His new campaign slogan was, "I didn't do anything wrong, and I won't do it again." Accompanying this announcement were audio clips of Nixon delivering his candidacy speech. Listeners responded viscerally to the announcement, flooding the show with calls expressing shock and outrage. Only during the second half of the show did the host John Hockenberry reveal that the announcement was a practical joke. Nixon's voice was impersonated by comedian Rich Little.

#7: Alabama Changes the Value of Pi
1998: The April 1998 issue of the New Mexicans for Science and Reason newsletter contained an article claiming that the Alabama state legislature had voted to change the value of the mathematical constant pi from 3.14159 to the 'Biblical value' of 3.0. Soon the article made its way onto the internet, and then it rapidly spread around the world, forwarded by email. It only became apparent how far the article had spread when the Alabama legislature began receiving hundreds of calls from people protesting the legislation. The original article, which was intended as a parody of legislative attempts to circumscribe the teaching of evolution, was written by physicist Mark Boslough.

#8: The Left-Handed Whopper
1998: Burger King published a full page advertisement in USA Today announcing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a "Left-Handed Whopper" specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger patty, etc.), but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers. The following day Burger King issued a follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the new sandwich. Simultaneously, according to the press release, "many others requested their own 'right handed' version."

#9: Hotheaded Naked Ice Borers
1995: Discover Magazine reported that the highly respected wildlife biologist Dr. Aprile Pazzo had found a new species in Antarctica: the hotheaded naked ice borer. These fascinating creatures had bony plates on their heads that, fed by numerous blood vessels, could become burning hot, allowing the animals to bore through ice at high speeds. They used this ability to hunt penguins, melting the ice beneath the penguins and causing them to sink downwards into the resulting slush where the hotheads consumed them. After much research, Dr. Pazzo theorized that the hotheads might have been responsible for the mysterious disappearance of noted Antarctic explorer Philippe Poisson in 1837. "To the ice borers, he would have looked like a penguin," the article quoted her as saying. Discover received more mail in response to this article than they had received for any other article in their history.

#10: Planetary Alignment Decreases Gravity
1976: The British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on BBC Radio 2 that at 9:47 AM a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event was going to occur that listeners could experience in their very own homes. The planet Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, temporarily causing a gravitational alignment that would counteract and lessen the Earth's own gravity. Moore told his listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment that this planetary alignment occurred, they would experience a strange floating sensation. When 9:47 AM arrived, BBC2 began to receive hundreds of phone calls from listeners claiming to have felt the sensation. One woman even reported that she and her eleven friends had risen from their chairs and floated around the room.

This is What I Missed

2009-03-12T12:21:00.001+08:00

And now I have to wait three more years for the next reunion!!?????

GULAI

2009-03-05T23:29:00.001+08:00

Up north, when someone mentions "gulai", it probably means kari (curry) . Making "gulai" the right way is not for the uninitiated. It is a time-consuming effort, simply because the spices need to be really cooked through in order to achieve the right consistency and the right taste. And the right look, of course. A "gulai" that looks too pale, too thin, too thick, too "undone" runs the risk of turning off the appetite!

In some households, the gulai is a must, a requisite dish to accompany each (rice) meal. Needless to say, the cook of the house would necessarily have mastered the art of making the perfect gulai, be it gulai ikan, gulai daging, gulai ayam, gulai kambing, gulai sotong or gulai udang. And there are also other less common gulai dishes .... gulai ikan kering, gulai remunggai, gulai rebung, gulai nangka, gulai umbut pisang, ..... each one as delicious as the next!

I wasn't much of a gulai/curry person until I married my husband. For one thing, I was at boarding school in a southern state for 5 years and did not grow up on a regular diet of the gulai, Kedah-style. Not having ventured much into the kitchen pre-marriage, I also had no idea how to make a proper gulai dish. (My first attempt had the spices tasting like .. spices! All grainy and not smooth at all. The trademark of an undercooked curry).

I learnt to make 'proper' gulai from watching my mother-in-law in the kitchen. She makes a mean gulai that is unparalleled. Still, I do not cook the gulai very often .... maybe because when you cook curry, your whole body (and the whole house too) will end up smelling like curry itself!

So how do you make the gulai/curry, Kedah style? I made some 'gulai' ikan tenggiri with the fish roe last night (the fish is fresh from KOTH's weekend fishing trip), and this is how I made it:

First, the 'rempah kari" has to be fried (after you fry till brown some onions, garlic, 'biji sawi' (mustard seeds) and curry leaves), until it is 'garing'/crispy, but be careful not to scorch it. Then you add some tamarind juice and continue cooking, stirring ocassionally, until the oil rises to the surface (pecah minyak). Only then do you add the santan (coconut milk), water, and salt, and let it come to a boil until you see oil on the surface. By now your curry should have a rich red colour. Then add the fish and other ingredients. In my case, I added green chillies, tomatoes and eggplant. If I had had some okra/ladies fingers, I would have added that in, too. Let the fish cook through, adjust the taste by adding more salt if necessary, let it cook a while more ....... and that's it. Very easy, no?

Fish and roe cooking in the pot

Add these next

The gulai ikan tenggiri & telur ikan

Ready to eat!

.... (pictures from my mobile, excuse the quality) ...

BLACK FRIDAY

2009-02-28T09:32:00.004+08:00

Unfortunate things happen when you least expect them.

It took just about an hour for the rotten burglar to break into our apartment and cart away with some of our most treasured belongings. Yesterday morning, KOTH and our youngest boy sent me off to work. (The other kids were at school). On the way back they stopped at Dunkin' Donuts. When they got home, they found the front door ajar.

The place was a mess with upturned drawers and closets emptied out. Our loss was disheartening - several cameras and related equipment (including KOTH's newly acquired and much longed after Canon 40D and pricey lenses), laptop, external harddisk (with precious pictures in it), ALL my jewellery (the rascal didn't have the decency to leave even one tiny gold earring!!!), watches .... I am not sure what else is missing.

I will definitely miss the jewellery pieces inherited from my mom and grandma, and my wedding and engagement rings (even though I had not been wearing them for quite some time as they have become too tight for my fingers), for those are irreplaceable.

But on the upside, no one was hurt, alhamdulillah.

No point crying over spilt milk ... we are just going to take this as a reminder and a lesson to be learnt .....

Never be complacent about safety and security - it can be violated anytime and anywhere. We did not padlock the grille/doors when we left. It could have been a deterrent to the break-in, who knows. As it was, the culprit only had to pick the locks.

Never leave your belongings in very obvious places. Next time (when I have new gold pieces, at least), I'll just stash them in the most unlikely places. That's what I sometimes do when I leave home for extended periods, but this week, I had the urge to put everything all together in one place, neatly in a drawer. Better yet, deposit everything in a bank's safe-deposit box.

When something like this happens, there is no point asking "What if ....?" You'll feel better if you accept it as Qada' and Qadar. Redha.

We realised late last night that the spare car keys were also in the laptop bag that was stolen. So the locks have to be changed.

But first ... to de-stress after the shock. KOTH is going fishing, as planned. I'll go along and put up at my brother-in-law's. And after that ..... bake cupcakes.

* TO all my MRSM friends, I apologise for missing the Reunion. Am in no mood to celebrate today. Y'all have fun! *

INHALING A FRESH NEW START

2009-02-18T14:21:00.010+08:00

For his 48th birthday, my husband has pledged to stop smoking. He had only ever stopped smoking for any extended period of time twice before. He put on some weight, but back then, gaining those kilos was a good thing. Now, at his age, he has to be watchful that the kilos don't creep in on him.

At least I know what would be a good birthday present!

He'll still get his nicotine fix, but at least he need not pay any of that prohibitive taxes on tobacco products.

Hope it works.

Otherwise, it could end up like this. (Errrrr ... did I hear him say he'll stick a few patches all at one go ..... maybe it'll be more effective?)

One more day to go for a smoke-free environment!! Look at the difference.

And if I were to join him in the patch-wearing exercise, this is probably the best patch for me to wear. Better yet, when the instruction goes like this: Apply chocolate patch to tongue when craving urges strike. Wait a few minutes for the patch to dissolve. The craving should subside. If it doesn't, repeat. Hahahaha!!

ALLAH hanya satu; TUHAN is GOD

2009-02-06T16:03:00.005+08:00

I found something I think is really worth reading today.

It's here. http://deminegara.blogspot.com/2009/02/oh-tuhan-wont-you-buy-me-mercedes-benz.html

GO READ IT!!! What are you waiting for? Pergi lah baca!!

KITCHEN GOD, HOPPING CORPSE, AND THE STOVE MASTER

2009-01-20T11:13:00.011+08:00

Chinese New Year is just round the bend, and for no reason, I had this urge to check out some Chinese mythology. And I came across the story of THE KITCHEN GOD, ZAO JUN (literally meaning "stove master") or ZAO SHEN (translated to "stove god").

Aaaah, what a fitting discovery, considering I now have a transformed KITCHEN GOD right there in my kitchen! (More on that later).

But first, so as not to alarm anyone, let's get the HOPPING CORPSE bit out of the way before we proceed. Now, who amongst us have not had a bit of a laugh as well as a scare watching the hopping vampire corpses in Chinese horror movies? I even went to the length of imitating the hopping, bopping corpse in an attempt to scare my kids (only to be met with rib-tickling laughter from them).

(The following info is from Wikipedia)

The hopping Chinese vampires, or the zombie corpses, called "JIANG SHI" (literally meaning "stiff corpse") are reanimated corpses that hop around, killing living creatures to absorb life essence from their victims. They are said to be created when a person's soul fails to leave the deceased's body, due to improper death, suicide, or just wanting to cause trouble.

Story has it that traveling companions or family members who could not afford wagons or had very little money would hire Taoist priests to transport corpses of their friends/family members who died far away from home over long distances by teaching them to hop on their own feet back to their hometown for proper burial. Taoist priests would transport the corpses only at night and would ring bells to notify other pedestrians of their presence because it was considered bad luck for a living person to set eyes upon a jiang shi.

Back in the old days, people migrate to work in faraway places. When they died, they were transported back to their rural hometown using long bamboo rods, believing they would be homesick if buried somewhere unfamiliar. When the bamboo flexed up and down, the corpses appeared to be hopping in unison from a distance (so that explains all that semblance of hopping around!)

Anyway, back to the story of Zao Jun.

In Chinese mythology, Zao Jun is the most important of a plethora of Chinese domestic gods that protect the hearth and family. It is believed that on the twenty third day of the twelfth lunar month, just before Chinese New Year he returns to Heaven to report the activities of every household over the past year to the Jade Emperor (Yu Huang). The Jade Emperor, emperor of the heavens, either rewards or punishes a family based on Zao Jun's yearly report.

So obviously, the Kitchen God is important in every household. His report card to the Jade Emperor determines how a family is rated.

Zao Jun, initialy, was a mere living mortal by the name pf Zhang Dan. A man not without his manly faults. He was married to a virtuous woman, but strayed, falling in love with a younger woman. He left his wife and, as punishment for this adulterous act, the heavens afflicted him with ill-fortune. He became blind, and his young lover abandoned him, leaving him to resort to begging to support himself. (Hah, padan muka!)

One day, while begging for alms, he happened across the house of his former wife. Being blind, he did not recognize her. Despite his shoddy treatment of her, she took pity on him, and invited him in. She cooked him a fabulous meal and tended to him lovingly; he then related his story to her. As he shared his story, Zhang Dan became overwhelmed with self-pity and the pain of his error and began to weep. Upon hearing him apologize, Zhang's former wife told him to open his eyes and his vision was restored. Recognizing the wife he had abandoned, Zhang felt such shame that he threw himself into the kitchen hearth, not realizing that it was lit. His former wife attempted to save him, but all she managed to salvage was one of his legs.

(Uhhhh ... what to do with just one leg? And only one leg?)

The devoted woman then created a shrine to her former husband above the fireplace, which began Zao Jun's association with the stove in Chinese homes. To this day, a fire poker is sometimes referred to as "Zhang Dan's Leg".

Alternatively, there is another tale where Zao Jun was a man so poor he was forced to sell his wife. Years later he unwittingly became a servant in the house of her new husband. Taking pity on him she baked him some cakes into which she had hidden money, but he failed to notice this and sold the cakes for a pittance. When he realized what he had done he took his own life in despair. In both stories Heaven takes pity on Zhang Dan's tragic story. Instead of becoming a vampirish Hopping corpse, the usual fate of suicides, he was made the god of the Kitchen, and was reunited with his wife.

See how his fate, in both stories, was saved by the virtousness of the good wife? Nasib baik, kalau tidak, dah jadi Jiang Shi, hopping here, hopping there!

The domestic Deity "The Stove God" is seen as being in charge of watching over the home life. It has been expressed that his presence is more like that of a policeman sent from above to observe the family. This practice is known as a bureaucratization of religion in Chinese society. The Jade Emperor is in charge of an administration divided into bureaus, and each bureaucrat-god takes responsibility for a clearly defined domain or discrete function. The Kitchen God would thus serve the role of the home domain as he would overlook the daily dynamics of a family, the members and their behaviour.

Which brings us to the present. The Kitchen God in My Home.

For twenty years I had held full reign of the kitchen. I secretly wished I had a spouse who would think nothing of making himself handy in the kitchen. But luck was not much on my side. While claiming he is indeed a good cook (by experience of cooking during his bachelor days), I hardly ever got to see a demonstration of his cooking prowess.

But things in the kitchen recently underwent some changes. It started with the reorganisation of the kitchen. I am, unashamedly, a hoarder. So there I was, happily hoarding this and that and cramming our small kitchen and cramping maneuverability in the kitchen, KOTH one day, while I was at work, went on a dumping spree and got rid of all the unnecessary stuff, after failing to make me do it. I may a hoarder be, sayang nak buang ini, sayang nak buang itu, but if I have not used the thing for ages I realise that I certainly have no need for it. And what you throw when I am not looking, I won't miss.

So, after the kitchen became less cluttered and more presentable-looking, the Kitchen God in him emerged! Waaa laaah!!!

One day I went home to Tom Kha Kung .... a version of Prawn Tom Yam with coconut milk. Only one small bowl was left for me, after the kids had almost slurped it all up due to its tastiness.

And I had to endure with "Siapa masak lagi sedap?" Chorus: "Papa!!!!!" Repeated several times, too. Tahan aje laaah! Ye lah, bodeklah Papa, kids.

Another day, it was Chicken in Black Pepper Sauce.

And I started to find the kitchen stocked with all kinds of spices and sauces that I had not bought!

And now, The Asian Food Channel receives as much viewing time as Discovery Turbo, that channel where you see grown men live out their fantasies by building all kinds of souped up vehicles. Haa haa.

After all, many great chefs are men, so what's the big deal, right?

And I am not complaining, no I'm not!!

.... to be continued.

Just a Filler Post :D

2009-01-15T16:53:00.002+08:00

THE DECLINE OF CIVILISATION

IS IT POSSIBLE?

2009-01-09T14:33:00.008+08:00

BOYCOTT ISRAEL CAMPAIGN

BRANDS & LABELS TO BOYCOTT

And these brands, too, which are currently found/consumed in my home:

.......................................

DISCOVERING FAMILY TIES

2009-01-06T17:14:00.003+08:00

If you have been following some of the comments in my previous entry, you would have noticed that by some strange twist of fate, some people who were blogging or reading blogs who previously were oblivious to one another's presence have discovered that we are all somehow related through blood ties or by marriage. What a coincidence that we happened to bump into one another in blogosphere.

That is the magic of this borderless world called the Internet. It is also so much easier to track, trace and keep in touch with long-lost or unknown relatives. This quest is further assisted with the existence of online geneology programmes like Geni (which I am familiar with) and Heritage, and many more.

This is my invitation : To make life all the merrier, anyone who thinks they are/may be related to anyone else here, just drop a note. Manalah tahu, berhasil jejak kasih nanti!!

My guess is, in the next few days, I will be spending time looking at my family trees - I have three on Geni now. One on my mother's side (which I wrote about here, http://castlebukit.blogspot.com/2008/02/who-removed-my-cousin.html) one one my husband's side, and one on my father's side.

What about you?

NO MORE LAUNDRY BLUES, but ......

2008-12-22T11:20:00.009+08:00

While I was griping about my mountains of laundry, I remembered watching this programme on TV (Discovery Health/TLC documentaries) about this very big family family in Arkansas, USA that has an in-house laundromat to cater to the family's needs. Their laundry room is humongous, and seems to run almost non-stop. They go through about 63 loads of laundry a week (that evens out to 9 big loads daily). They have 4 commercial washers and 4 commercial dryers!!!! And considering they now have 18 children (all their own), I am sure that's a necessity, not a luxury. Well, I didn't bat an eyelash at the number of children this family has (after all, my own grandfather had 30 children from 3 wives, all living in close proximity) but what bowled me over is the size of their house (7,000 sq-foot), and their laundry facilities!!

4 washing machines and 4 dryers!!!

Look at this family closet next to the laundry room!!
Everything that's washed goes in here, and the kids pick up what they need from this room!

Do a search on the Duggar family if you're curious enough! The family lives an amazing debt-free lifestyle, the kids are home-schooled, each one plays both the piano and the violin (they have a family orchestra too) and their commercial kitchen is amazing!

I wish I can have the luxury of a huge laundry room and closet like that. I guarantee you'd not be hearing anymore laundry blues from me if that were to happen.

Anyway, I am a happy woman this week. I am no longer deprived of a washing machine and the laundry baskets are no longer overflowing, hurrah! Goodbye to the old (t)rusty ELBA. I went home from work on Friday to find this baby all installed and ready to run.

The SAMSUNG WA15PA - my new toy

It's not called the POSEIDON BIG for nothing!! It takes a 13-kg load and uses up to 230 litres of water per wash (I'd better get ready to pay large water bills). And I thought doing laundry is just plain washing ...... but this machine offers stuff like Silver Nano technology that sanitizes your wash and provides anti-bacterial coating with silver ions in the water.

The dashboard. Lots of buttons to push.

I am happy with its tornado-like power and Turbo Air drying which really cuts down drying time.

The old able ELBA (notice the palindrome?)

Sorry lah .... I must be crazy (and boring to boot) to enthuse about a mundane household appliance like this. But it's a distraction from more worrying matters, like how the property value in our area. post-landslide, has taken a nosedive.

Talking about that, while many residents in Bukit Antarabangsa whose homes are in the proximity of the December 6 landslide can now heave a sigh of relief after their homes are declared safe, the rejoicing should not last for too long. How to be happy when you live in apprehension of a recurring landslide. You hope that if it happens again, it will be far from your home. But whether disaster strikes again or not, you know that your property in the once "must-have" address is now in the "must-leave" locality. But for property owners here, leaving home is not as easy as packing up and moving to a new place. Would you happily leave behind your home so readily? Would you even be able to sell your property?

What you hope would be a good investment for the future may not materialise anymore now. It is most unfortunate and very distressing, but that's life.

For now, we are glad we don't have to say goodbye to our home, like we did to old ELBA.

AUSTRALIA

2008-12-17T18:56:00.005+08:00

Something I'd like to catch soon. Happy viewing.
(Please stop the music player at the right before viewing this video)

>>> ................................. <<<

SINGING THE (LAUNDRY) BLUES

How do you do your laundry? Do you toss everything in together, or are you like me, separating my laundry loads like this: His (KOTH's), mine, the boys', the girls', jeans, towels, beddings, and tablecloths/placemats/kitchen rags? And oh, whites, reds that run, and blues that run.

Time consuming it is, being manic about laundry like this. It's not that I love doing laundry. It's just a chore that needs to be done. Easier if you have domestic help.

Domestic help doesn’t necessarily mean you need a maid. I'd settle for a fully functioning washing machine. A tumble dryer would greatly help, too, thank you very much.

For the first time in my 20 years of married life, for the past three weeks I have had to send our regular everyday wear to the laundry. Not some silk baju or some suit of KOTH's for dry cleaning, not some bulky quilted comforter either. Just regular stuff like the jeans everyone in the family wears, the boys' busuk peluh t-shirts, kain pelikat, shirts etc etc.

Our 7-year-old front-loading 7kg-load Elba washing machine had decided to call it a day. The poor overworked washer is rusting at the bottom, the drum has become unbalanced that it makes loud thumping noises, and it is leaking water. It finally kept tripping and then refused to wash anymore. Maybe some extensive servicing may return it to working order, but mayyyyybe it'll be more worthwhile to just get a new one.

So meanwhile, the laundry keeps piling up and the weather is not helping either. Handwashing may be a chore, but try drying dripping wet clothes during the rainy season. What you get is not-so-fresh-smelling clothes. Besides, my old aching hands can't stand trying to twist dry those heavy jeans.

The first time around, we lugged 22 kg of unwashed laundry to this laundromat owned by a friend of KOTH's with instructions to wash and dry them, and of course, fold. Was told that the clothes would be ready the next day! Wah, ini sudah bagus .... it would have taken me three days, at least, to wash, dry and fold them all.

The clothes came back smelling of floral fabric softener. It reminded me of my days as a student in the US decades ago, when I used to slide coins in the coin-operated washers and dryers. A sheet of fabric softener like Bounce in the dryer would ensure clothes came out smelling fresh, and feeling soft and snuggly. Enough to warm up any cold winter day.

On our second trip to the cleaners, we deposited 11kg of clothes. Just 11 kg because I had taken the opportunity to unashamely wash and dry about double the load at my sister-in-law's house when we took refuge at her place after the landslide incident. Then I did another two rounds of washing at another brother-in-law's place.

This week it was another 16kg sent to the laundry. Tak boleh jadi ni ..... at RM2.20 per kg charged for the washing and drying, this is burning quite a hole in my (oh, silap ... KOTH's) pocket!

My pathetic domestic prowess is being challenged by the inability to clear the laundry baskets simply by doing handwashing. I could be bent over double by all the squatting, scrubbing and rinsing and still won't be able to wash them all without a trustworthy washer.

Needless to say, we're currently in shopping mode, in the quest to acquire a new 'domestic helper'. Acquiring one is simply no "cincai job". Gotta weigh so many things in order to get the best buy.

So now ..... what should I get? A front loader or a top loader? All these while I have been going with front loaders (oh yeah, we've gone through several washing machines in the space of 20 years). I love the hot-water capabilities of front loaders. Top loaders, for some reason, do not offer hot-water washing. But front loaders are limited by size. With my growing family (or rather, at the rate we create dirty laundry) what I need is a large-capacity machine. Maybe a 12-kg one. That's a top loader for sure.

Yes yes, I have identified a washer or two that would serve us well. But I'll reserve that for another entry after the whole brood made our way to the shops to check out our new domestic helper!

In the meantime, the laundry piles continue growing ....

Here's where I previously moaned about laundry:

http://castlebukit.blogspot.com/2006/01/my-uninteresting-typical-weekend.html

http://castlebukit.blogspot.com/2005/11/seeing-red-over-laundry-blues.html

http://castlebukit.blogspot.com/2005/11/of-hujan-monsoon-and-baju-tak-basuh.html

Sleepless in Bukit Antarabangsa : LANDSLIDE

2008-12-11T03:57:00.020+08:00

(Aerial view of the landslide. Picture from Star online).

Sleep doesn't come easy anymore these past few nights. There's the fear of a recurrance, this time who knows where it would hit. Naturally, I am hoping nowhere near my area.

And then there's the drone of heavy vehicles and machineries as work on building a new permanent bridge continues on throughout the night. The road is unusually brightly lit, and the hive of activities going on out there gives no indication that the time is 3.00 a.m.

My family sleeps, all 6 of us, in the living room. Our door is not padlocked. I have my handbag with important documents inside, standing by beside the door.

We're dressed decently, in case we need to make a hasty exit in the middle of the night.

.................................

6 December, Saturday

When I heard what I thought sounded like fireworks going off at 4 a.m. on that Saturday morning, I just didn't imagine it could be a landslide. Even when I heard someone calling out the azan moments later, I still did not associate it with the occurance of a disaster (malapetaka). Instead, I remarked to my husband "Azan apa pukul 4 pagi ni?" and he in turn even suggested that it could have been the sound of gunshots (M16 perhaps?), not fireworks that I had heard earlier.

It was dark outside, the electricity in our area had been out since about 3.30 a.m. That was why I was up, standing by the window trying to cool off. I saw some lights flickering from some roads nearby in Taman Bukit Mewah. Later on there were some slight commotion, some cars driving down the road. I thought nothing of it and tried to settle back to sleep, when I heard the honking of a carhorn and then some cries of "tanah runtuh!".

A lone police patrol car arrive shortly after, followed by a firetruck, and then an ambulance. All stopped further up the road, about 300 meters away from my apartment building. In the dark, I could see their lights flashing, sirens going off, but since it was dark (no street lights) I couldn't make out what was going on.

Then more police cars, ambulances, firetruck arrived, but all didn't seem to go beyond where the earlier vehicles had stopped. Some even turned back. What was going on????

My husband and elder son then grabbed a camera and a videocam and made their way down. They went on foot. Several minutes later when I rang my husband up on his mobile, he confirmed that it was a landslide, and that they were standing at the edge of a mound of earth.

They saw the injured being carried out and brought to the surau nearby. One female victim was badly hurt, crushed by something. She succumbed to her injuries shortly after. A boy was also brought in, his neck or spine broken.

With the light of dawn, I looked out the window and saw the mayhem outside.

By then, the usually quite hill was abuzz with the sounds of sirens blaring, a helicopter or two hovering, and all manners of search and rescue vehicles making their way to Ground Zero, the site of the landslide.

I remained in the apartment with the kids the whole day, despite the inconveniences - no electricity and no water - looking out the window and taking pictures of what was going on. We left later in the day, to put up at my sister-in-law's place in Bukit Jelutong (another bukit but not like this one, mind you). Residents in our building were not asked to evacuate, but we left anyway so that the children would feel safe. And anyway, we heard there were still some soil movements in the landslide area, and that was enough to put some fear in us, I suppose.

What's next for the people of Bukit Antarabangsa? And what's the fate of those directly affected and those who had to vacate their homes? We'll know sometime next week, whether the area in the vicinity of the landslide would be safe for dwelling.

In the meantime, let's hope for no more disasters. My heart goes out for those who lost their loved ones and their homes.

.......................................................

(Blurry picture are from my mobile, sorry about that)

6 December, 4.44 am. Nothing much could be made out in the darkness, but I started snapping pictures from outside my window when the police cars, fire trucks and ambulances started flooding in.

One of the injured victims carried out via the only access way to the affected area. The water pipes span monsoon drain between Taman Bukit Mewah and the main road. Until a temporary bridge was later built by the army, this was the only way in/out of the area. The victim was taken to the nearby surau across the road.

6 December, 8.32 am.
Ambulances standing by. Still not too many people around.

6 December, 10.51 am.

6 December, 10.56 am.

6 December, 11.05 am.

Vehicles from the police, army and fire services and other rescue operations started a congestion on the road leading to the landslide area, Ground Zero.

6 December, 11.06 am. More police personnel are trucked in.

.................................................................

Close up view of the aftermath, taken from my window.

The condo behind that house is Impian Selatan (Southern Heights). Residents have been asked to evacuate as it is dangerously close to where the landslide hit. There are possibly structural damage involved.

My husband tracked a pathway at the back of our building and reached the edge of the landslide, from which he took these shots.

....................................................................

8 December, 3.52 pm. Things are more organised with tents set up by the various authorities involved in the Search and Rescue mission. The green-roofed tents seem to be the ones with most activities. They housed the army kitchen and dining areas. Next to them is the restoran Ali Maju tent which gives out roti canai, teh tarik etc to the S&R personnel, media and residents. Clearly, food is no issue here.

The army vehicles started bringing in material to build a bridge to enable access by vehicles to/from the affected areas further up the road.

.......... more pictorial updates later.

UPDATING - The week that was

2008-11-28T23:23:00.003+08:00

Lately, I have been looking on enviously as other blogs came up with new entries. Yup, struck with blogger's block I was. Or rather, the moment I sat down to write something, I got distracted and ended up reading the various blogs on my bloglist and the blogs on their bloglists, too. Sometimes I felt like a Peeping Tom stealing glimpses of other people's life. But what interesting things I read about!

At other times, I just simply ended up surfing the Net. That's what happens when you are a gluttton for information. There's just too many things to read about, it's impossible!

Oh, talking about impossible, I'd like to share the following which I stumbled upon recently:

I Want to be Possible
by: Author Unknown, Source Unknown

The teacher asked her class what each wanted to become when they grew up. A chorus of responses came from all over the room.

"A football player," "A doctor," "An astronaut," "The president," "A fireman," "A teacher," "A race car driver."

Everyone that is, except Tommy.

The teacher noticed he was sitting there quiet and still.

So she said to him, "Tommy, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

"Possible" Tommy replied.

"Possible?" asked the teacher.

"Yes," Tommy said. "My mom is always telling me I'm impossible. So when I get to be big, I want to be possible."

Simple enough ambition, isn't it? But who knows what's possible.

And talking of growing up, the youngest of my brood is fast growing up, too. Too fast that I sometimes wish time could slow down and we can all enjoy the kids' childhood at a leisurely pace.

So today (28 November) Alif turns EIGHT. Just last night we were looking at old video clips taken when he was still very much the baby of the family. It didn't feel like much too long ago, but time has really slipped by without me realising it.

Alif's previous birthdays ...
(click on the top pic to shuffle)

And he really is no longer a little boy because as of last week, he has officially joined the Big Boys' Club! Think kain pelikat, think Ismail Clamp!

(click on thumbnail to view bigger pic)

TENJEWBERRYMUDS

2008-11-14T11:35:00.001+08:00

(Okay, lame post pre-weekend. "A Mother" is so not going to like it! Aci or tak aci, this is the way to post when you don't have time, or idea, but would still like to post an entry).

To get the full effect, this should be read aloud.

You will understand what 'tenjewberrymuds' means by the end of the conversation. This has been nominated for the best email of 2005.

The following is a telephone exchange between a hotel guest and room-service at a hotel in Asia, which was recorded and published in the Far East Economic Review:

Room Service (RS): "Morrin. Roon sirbees."

Guest (G): "Sorry, I thought I dialed room-service."

RS: "Rye..Roon sirbees..morrin! Jewish to oddor sunteen??"

G: "Uh..yes..I'd like some bacon and eggs."

RS: "Ow July den?"

G: "What??"

RS: "Ow July den?...pryed, boyud, poochd?"

G : "Oh, the eggs! How do I like them?
Sorry, scrambled please."

RS: "Ow July dee baykem? Crease?"

G: "Crisp will be fine."

RS : "Hokay. An Sahn toes?"

G: "What?"

RS:"An toes. July Sahn toes?"

G: "I don't think so."

RS: "No? Judo wan sahn toes??"

G: "I feel really bad about this, but I don't know what 'judo wan sahn toes' means."

RS: "Toes! toes!...Why jew don juan toes? Ow bow Anglish moppin we bodder?"

G: "English muffin!! I've got it! You were saying 'Toast.'
Fine. Yes, an English muffin will be fine."

RS: "We bodder?"

G: "No...just put the bodder on the side."

RS: "Wad?"

G: "I mean butter...just put it on the side."

RS: "Copy?"

G: "Excuse me?"

RS: "Copy...tea...meel?"

G: "Yes. Coffee, please, and that's all."

RS: "One Minnie. Scramah egg, crease baykem, Anglish moppin we bodder on sigh and copy....rye??"

G: "Whatever you say."

RS: "Tenjewberrymuds."

G : "You're very welcome."

Tenjewberrymuds

School Holidays Coming Up!

2008-11-10T18:07:00.004+08:00

It's ten more days from today ...... I wonder if he's ready for it!

Big Brother's story is here.
Papa's story is here.

The Little Boy's story will be told when it happens. But it's me who's feeling the jitters.

HOMONYMS 1

2008-11-04T16:21:00.006+08:00

"WORDS fascinate me. They always have. For me, browsing in a dictionary is like being turned loose in a bank". -- Eddie Cantor.

Homonyms can be considered to be the prime numbers of the English language. Like primes, they cannot be predicted by any rules of grammar or diction. In the way that you can't search the number line for primes, you cannot systematically search the dictionary for homonyms. You just have to find them, like Easter Eggs in the dictionary.

The best part about homonyms, though, is that they are the raw material for puns, a truly sublime form of humor. With a robust knowledge of and appreciation for homonyms, you will never be embarrassed when a pun-battle breaks out in public.

The following is merely to satisfy my own indulgence. Of course you're all welcome to indulge yourself too.

There will be other HOMONYMS entries following this.

A

a ... very short little insignificant English word
eh ... an interrogative utterance

acts ... things done
axe ... chopping tool

ad ... short for advertisement
add ... short for addition

adds ... performs additions
ads ... more than one advertisement
adze ... axe-like tool

ade ... fruit beverage
aid ... to assist
aide ... an assistant

aerie ... eagle's nest
airy ... breezy

aero ... of aircraft
arrow ... slender, pointed shaft

affect ... to change
effect ... result

ail ... sick
ale ... beer

air ... stuff we breathe
are ... 1/100th of a hectare
e'er ... contraction of "ever"
ere ... eventually
err ... to make a mistake
heir ... one who will inherit

aisle ... walkway
I'll ... contraction of "I will"
isle ... island

all ... everything
awl ... pointed scriber

allowed ... permitted
aloud ... spoken

altar ... raised center of worship
alter ... to change

an ... a single instance
Ann ... a woman's name

ant ... insect
aunt ... parent's sister (pronounced the American way, it sounds like ant)

ante ... preliminary bet
auntie ... sister of a parent

arc ... portion of a circle
ark ... vessel

ascent ... the climb
assent ... to agree

ate ... past tense of eat
eight ... the number base of octal

auger ... a drill
augur ... foretell

aught ... anything
ought ... should

aural ... of hearing
oral ... of the mouth

auricle ... external part of the ear
oracle ... seer

away ... distant
aweigh ... just clear of the bottom

awed ... in a state of wonder
odd ... not usual

aweful ... filled with awe
awful ... really bad
offal ... butchered entrails

aye ... naval affirmative
eye ... ocular organ
I ... oneself

GONE IS A LEGEND

2008-10-30T15:45:00.012+08:00

When I wrote the previous entry, maybe she was still alive.

This morning, I received an SMS message from one of my Convent friends:

"Just to let u all know Ms Sibert passed away yesterday -

Funeral tomorrow. She was 80."

Ms Millicent E. Sibert, rest in peace.

(1973)

(2008)

In your long illustrious career as headmistress of the St Nicholas Convent primary school in Alor Setar, you have touched the lives of many young girls who take into adulthood their memories of you. You were strict and firm, you tolerated no nonsense from us. But it is all those qualities that we learn to appreciate later on in life. You drummed into us a sense of discipline to help chart our future, all the thousands of children who were under your guidance. You have earned a reputation for being a formidable teacher but are also well remembered for lavishing love and attention on your pupils.

For my friends and I, we will always remember you as the teacher who contributed so much for the love of education and English. Perhaps many of us will remember you most for teaching us the beauty of poetry, the love of English, and correct pronounciation . We laugh now about the memories of being "shaken" by you for not remembering our poems, but it was that fear of being reprimanded by you that drove us all to excel, at least in English.

The school may no longer exist now, and our beloved headmistress whose name is synonymous with the school may be gone, but the values we were taught will always live on.

When we took this picture last Monday, instead of saying "cheeeeeese" we said "Say Miss Sibert"!!!

Yes, she had such an influence on us all.

The Fun Days

2008-10-29T16:02:00.017+08:00

...... good company,
good food
good time!

Two pics from the album of yesteryears ..... I am very glad to have been reacquainted with some of these friends again. We had a howling good time at a recent Hari Raya gathering here in KL on Deepavali day, some 15 of us ...... And, still as multi-racial as you see in the pictures below.

In this Standard 4 pic, the monitor and assistant-monitor sat flanking the class teacher (Mrs Chow), the headmistress (oh ya, the FORMIDABLE Miss M Sibert who is now an octogenarian), and the assisstant headmistress (Mrs Veerasingam). The monitor was Susan and the assistant-monitor was ahemm .... yours truly.

(THE BROWNIES - 1974)

They don't have the BROWNIES like this anymore now. We wore brown uniforms with yellow ties, and on the tie a brass pin (that forever needed to be polished with foul-smelling Brasso) in the shape of an elf, fairy or whatever 'six' (group/unit) we belonged to. Sixes are usually named after imp-like creatures; such as Sprites, Gnomes, or Leprechauns. I remember I was one of the Fairies. The leader of the 'six' was called a 'Sixer'. I was a 'Second', meaning an assistant to the 'Sixer'. Susan the monitor was the Sixer, and me the assistant-monitor was the Second.

You can tell by the above names that the Brownies was a very English influence.

And how did Brownies start??

Lord Robert Baden-Powell started the Scouts in 1908. The Scouts became so popular that many girls wanted to attend too, so the Girl Guides were formed. Many of the girls who came to Guides had younger sisters who also wanted to join, so Lord Baden-Powell's sister, Agnes, started a group called the Rosebuds.

The Rosebuds wore a blue uniform that was very much like the Guides uniform. The girls enjoyed their meetings but did not like their name the Rosebuds. Lord Baden-Powell remembered a story he had heard about some mischievous creatures called Brownies and so changed the name along with the uniform to match the name. This is how the Brownies started.

If I still remember correctly, part of the Brownie oath went like this:

I promise to do my best
To do my duty to God, and my country
To help other people
and to keep the Brownie Law

(the above is said while raising the right hand in a two-fingered salute)

If you noticed in the pic, we even had a toadstool and an owl for authenticity! What were they for?

I'll have to go surf the Internet some more to brush up on my Brownies memories ....... we did learn many good values from our activities, though.

How Forcible Are Right Words!

2008-10-24T11:49:00.007+08:00

Verbal Confusion

Wood you believe that I didn’t no
About homophones until too daze ago?
That day in hour class in groups of for,
We had to come up with won or more.

Mary new six; enough to pass,
But my ate homophones lead the class.
Then a thought ran threw my head,
“Urn a living from homophones,” it said.

I guess I just sat and staired into space.
My hole life seamed to fall into place.
Our school’s principle happened to come buy,
And asked about the look in my I.

“Sir,” said I as bowled as could bee,
“My future roll I clearly see.”
“Sun,” said he, “move write ahead,
Set sail on your coarse, Don’t be mislead.”

I herd that gnus with grate delight.
I will study homophones both day and knight.
For weaks and months, through thick oar thin,
I’ll pursue my goal. Eye no aisle win.

—George E. Coon
The Reading Teacher, April, 1976

Confusion reigns/rains with many words. No matter how limited your vocabulary is, it's big enough to let you say something you will regret later.

The finest words in the world are only vain sounds, if you cannot comprehend them, said Anatole France. And who was Anatole France? He was a French poet, journalist, and novelist, who lived from 1844 to 1924. Interestingly, he had a brain just two-thirds the normal size, but had no recorded affect in any aspect of his life.

Some of his words:

"I prefer the folly of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom."

"To accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream, not only plan but also believe."

"Nine tenths of education is encouragement."

"The people who have no weaknesses are terrible: there is no way of taking advantage of them."

"It is human nature to think wisely and act in an absurd fashion."

...... I guess I was wisely thinking I should update this blog but not knowing what to write, I absurdly copied some dead writer's words!

Have a good, productive weekend, everybody.

MAMMA MIA!

2008-10-16T16:04:00.009+08:00

Meryl Streep does ABBA's Mamma Mia :

Please stop/pause the song on the Music Player on the right (EAR CANDY) before clicking on this video clip.

For someone who was in their 20s or a teenager (like me) in the 1970's, this musical movie will be a walk down memory lane for the all-too-familiar ABBA songs. The storyline is a simple romantic comedy where old love, abandoned for a reason, was rediscovered and renewed.

It is also a story of old friends, middle-aged now, getting together after being apart for many, many years -- like the recent stories of my reunions with old friends. And when old girls meet, they become like the young girls they once were ..... laughing, screaming, hugging, shrieking, crying, jumping ...... in the words of today's youth (like my son so loves to say) ..... so gedik!!! Ya, so tak ingat diri!

Grab a DVD of the movie if you have not yet seen it in the cinema. Better yet, get some old friends of your ABBA-loving days to watch it with you, friends who would regale in singing along to the songs in the movie.

My mistake was watching it with my husband who is not partial to musicals and who expects the main female characters in movies to be lithe, nimble young women (this was my opinion lah, last night). His comment ~~~ "Apa ni? Heroine tua-tua semua!" HELLO ! ! You pun tak semuda mana tau!!! I identified with Meryl Streep, Julie Walters, and Christine Baranski more than I could with Amanda Seyfried, who played Streep's daughter in the movie, the other main character.

The much acclaimed musical of Mamma Mia will be playing at Istana Budaya throughout December. Jom tengok! and let yourself loose to the music of ABBA.

Meryl Streep leads an all-star cast in the feature-film adaptation of the beloved musical that has been seen by more than 30 million people in 160 cities and 8 languages around the world. Bringing the timeless lyrics and melodies of iconic super group ABBA to movie audiences, Summer 2008 is the season for Mamma Mia! The three women who created the worldwide smash stage hit—global producer Judy Craymer, writer Catherine Johnson and director Phyllida Lloyd—repeat their roles in bringing this joyful, musical story to the big screen. The Mamma Mia! film is produced by Judy Craymer and Gary Goetzman. Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper join Streep in this celebration of a mother, a daughter and three possible dads. An independent, single mother who owns a small hotel on an idyllic Greek island, Donna (Streep) is about to let go of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), the spirited daughter she's raised alone. For Sophie's wedding, Donna has invited her two lifelong best girlfriends—practical and no-nonsense Rosie (Julie Walters) and wealthy, multi-divorcee Tanya (Christine Baranski)—from her one-time backing band, Donna and the Dynamos. But Sophie has secretly invited three guests of her own. On a quest to find the identity of her father to walk her down the aisle, she brings back three men from Donna's past to the Mediterranean paradise they visited 20 years earlier. Over 24 chaotic, magical hours, new love will bloom and old romances will be rekindled on this lush island full of possibilities. Inspired by the storytelling magic of ABBA's songs from "Dancing Queen" and "S.O.S." to "Money, Money, Money" and "Take a Chance on Me," Mamma Mia! is a celebration of mothers and daughters, old friends and new family found.
Associated Press (AP)

POST RAYA

2008-10-09T14:16:00.017+08:00

OH, the new look? I figured it's time to upgrade to the New Blogger and start twiddling around with the widgets. Some of them are pretty amusing. The layout may be temporary, though, as I am sure I'll be tempted to tweak some more.

Anyway, Aidilfitri came and went and now some of us may be faced with the inevitable open house invitations. I have given up on hosting one, always giving the excuse that our apartment is too small for the large family. Truth is, it's too much work. The last time I held an open house, it was really exhaustive work and I ended up pregnant. Don't ask how one is connected to the other! :P

As far as Raya goes, this year's celebration was average but meaningful. I must congratulate myself for not wasting hundreds of ringgit on kuih raya (which we couldn't finish anyway). Last year, the kuih raya remained until this Ramadhan and KOTH had to force me to throw them away. This year, I resolved not to be wasteful. There were lots of kuih raya, cakes, cookies, chocolates and kurma in the Ramadhan hampers that KOTH received, enough to last through a few weeks of non-open-house post Aidilfitri period.

The only things I baked or will bake were/are cupcakes and cakes. That should be enough.

I suppose the thing to remember is, not to be wasteful. There will already be enough food wasted in the excesses of the various open-houses that will be happening during the whole of Shawal.

Remember ... all things in moderation.

Syawal 1: With not even a quarter of KOTH's side of the family

Syawal 4: My side of the family - the whole lot except for 6. Missing - KOTH and my elder son who went fishing, and one brother and his brood

*** Updated 10 October ***

That's some of the hampers. They came in all shapes, sizes and materials. The gifts-business is getting to be very creative indeed. Competitive as well, no doubt. The contents were as varied as the containers they came in, too. Like in the red box above, which contained a miniature set of Chinese teacups and teapot. Another basket had a pair of silver chopsticks in it. In another box, a 16-piece set of cutleries. Yet another box surprised us with a piece of kain sampin. Placemats, porcelain, dishes, mugs, kain pelikat ....... besides the obligatory cookies, cakes etc. (Anyone wants to go into this business??)

Anyway, the celebration continues for us in the family this month of October. There are several birthdays as well as an anniversary.

5th ..... Udin, my brother-in-law, KOTH's youngest brother

11th ..... nephew Danish

12th ..... Riza, who is Danish's mom (Riza is my sister by marriage)

12th ..... Mak, my mom-in-law

13th ..... niece Aleesya, my brother's daughter

16th ..... Nadzri, Aleesya's dad, who is my 2nd brother

18th ..... Sidqi, my youngest brother

19th ..... Qistina, my 2nd daughter

And oh, two more ...

20th ..... Akief, KOTH's grandnephew and Aziah, KOTH's niece

Wow, that'll be a lot of candle-blowing!

And also, Daddy and Mama's 20th wedding anniversary on 23rd October.

Puas makan cake bulan ni!!

SALAM AIDILFITRI

2008-09-28T08:10:00.004+08:00

Minal Aidin Wal Faidzin

Wishing all of you a joyful Aidilfitri.

SELAMAT HARI RAYA.

Saya Anak MALAYA

2008-09-16T13:34:00.009+08:00

So 16 September 1963 is somewhat like the birth day of a new nation - Malaysia. Which makes me, born in January 1963, an "anak Malaya" before I actually became an "anak Malaysia".

In Malaysia's political arena, someone somewhere also has high aspirations of giving birth to 'something' today, 16 September 2008. So okay, it's 16 September already. Now what? I wait, the nation waits. Let's see what happens.

But anyway, talking of birthdays, 2 days ago was my late mom's birthday. She would have been 71 but she didn't make it past her 69th. My children still remember, and mentioned the date so often that I had to remind them that their Tok Mummy is no longer around. I told them that yes, it was her birthday, but unfortunately we do not have a reason to celebrate. We should remember that date and sedekah al-fatihah to their dearest grandmother.

But we did celebrate my father's 71st recently, last month actually. Alhamdulillah for the opportunity. And may there be many more, Amin.

And two days from now, my other mom, Mama, will celebrate her birthday too. May she be blessed with good health and prosperity.

21st September my brother celebrates his 44th birthday, which he shares with my fifth child 'Ayn. I gave birth to 'Ayn five years ago but sadly we had to say goodbye to her 3 weeks later.

Certainly, it is so much better to celebrate or remember all these birthdays than the 16th September 2008 that could spark off a lot of 'huru-hara' for the nation ....... know what I mean?

But anyway, Happy Birthday, Malaysia ..... may there always be peace.

Family Pictures

2008-08-19T14:21:00.009+08:00

Updated 4 September 2008

Thanks to my father (for sharing these pics online) ....... I have not seen these pictures before. They were developed from slides, hence the colour pictures from a time when only black and white photos were available.

This was yours truly, having a private moment at the top of the stairs (sometime in 1963).

Visit to the Museum - with my mom (in sunglasses, woo hoo!) and two aunts.

KOTH has a rare family picture of him and all his 10 brothers and sisters together displayed on his blog. Rare as in it was and still is not easy to get everyone assembled together for a family picture. In his case then, maybe it was the age difference as some of his siblings had already left home to work or to get married while some were still schooling and living at the family home. There were eleven of them, so maybe it is understandable if it is not convenient to get everyone together.

In my case, there were only four of us, yet it was also not often that we had a picture taken with all four of us in it. Posed pictures, especially. There really weren't too many, considering my father is a photography buff. I guess sometimes the need to capture each and every member of the family in a picture just goes unnoticed.

Here's one of me and my three brothers all together. The youngest brother is no longer with us, al-fathihah. My mom and my grandmother (my mom's mother) who are in this picture are also no longer with us.

This was taken one Hari Raya in the 80's. Oh, more than half my lifetime ago.

I have not spent hari raya for the past few years together with both my brothers and their respective families. So, unfortunately, there have been no 'all together now' pictures of us for quite some time. I am usually the one who will be returning to the hometown no matter what - because conveniently for me, my spouse is also from the same hometown. Not so for my brothers.

And for them, I guess 'balik kampung' is just not the same anymore ....... with no mother's house to balik kampung to.

Well, I have the whole of Ramadan to convince them .........

** Today would have been my brother's 32nd birthday. He left us shortly after his 15th birthday.

MEMORIES RELIVED

2008-08-01T19:17:00.004+08:00

Well, I got the chance to be sweet sixteen again. This time with a group of friends with whom I spent what could be called my "formative years". What do you call the friends whom you grow up with? From turning 12 to being a blossomed 16, these were some of the girls I spent days and nights with at the hostel in MRSM Seremban decades ago.

I have not met some of them since leaving the school ..... yet the moment we met up we clicked like we did about 30 years ago. Shamelessly, we brought the roof down at the restaurant where we had our dinner. I guess we forgot, and believed we could behave like we were 16 or 17 once more.

Okay ... pictures first, words later. Thanks girls, for the lovely time.

(Click to enlarge)

Planning A Party?

2008-07-08T17:43:00.004+08:00

Hari ni nak buat sedikit advertisement ..... for my sister-in-law.

Having a party, open house, small gathering, reunion, office function or any event that requires food? Throwing a birthday party for your child and stumped for ideas? Or do you simply want to be the perfect host without having to bother about the nitty-gritties (i.e preparing FOOD and entertaining the children? ).

If you are in the Shah Alam, Subang or nearby areas, you can give a call to SWEET LAVENDER, party planner and caterer. Tell them what you want, give them your budget, then sit back and let them take care of your (party) needs. Or look at their menu and choose what you want.

One stop planning centre
Personalized consultation
Choice of delicious Western and Malay food
Imaginative presentation
Event coordinator

Sweet Lavender's website lists the extensive and mouthwatering range of goodies they can prepare for you. From Malay to Western menu, they have it all. And check out the desserts!!

Kids will enjoy the themed birthday parties that can be arranged for them.

BIRTHDAY PARTY

Party planning advice
Experienced party coordinator
Party packs
List of meals to choose from
Games and gifts
Chocolate Brownies/ Birthday cakes
Personalize Invitation cards
Gift for Birthday kid
Cheek drawing/Henna drawing
Activities according to theme
Party Mascot according to theme

Some Party Themes:

- For Girls -

Princess party
Make up and jewelry party
Cooking party
Witches party
Barbie fairytopia party

- For Boys -

Sports party
Pirate party
Wizards party
Camp out party.
Aliens birthday party

SOME SAMPLE MENU

Set Nasi Kerabu Hitam
Tumis, ulam,
Ikan tepung /telur masin
Daging goreng/ayam percik
Keropok ikan.
Sambal

Set Nasi Dagang
Gulai ikan/kerutuk ayam
Sambal kelapa
Acar timun
Sambal

Set Nasi Minyak
Ayam goreng rempah/daging kurma
Dalca
Acar
Sambal

Set Nasi Tomato
Ayam masak merah
Kurma telur
Acar kubis
Sambal

Set Nasi Biryani
Kambing/ayam/daging
Dalca
Acar masak
Sambal

WESTERN FOOD
Fish and chips
Spaghetti with meat balls
Lasagna
Lamb chop
Roast Chicken
Fettuccine alfredo
Baked macaroni

Side dish :
Corn on the cob
Mash potato
Honey chicken coleslaw
Baked beans
French fries
Garden salad.
Potato salad
Pies
Chicken pie
Meat pie
Shepherds pie
Pot pie chicken/beef

MALAY DISHES

Laksa and noodle
Laksa Penang
Laksa Johor
Laksam Kelantan
Soto Ayam
Lontong Nasi Impit
Mee hoon/mee /kuey teow goreng

Traditional Malay dessert and high tea
Karipap
Kosui
Akok
Cucur badak
Cara gula/ berlauk
Lompat tikam
Roti jala dan kari
Onde-onde
Bubur jagung/kacang hijau/ butir nangka
Tepung talam ubi/serimuka
Pulut kuning dan rendang

ENGLISH STYLE TEA

Scone with jam and cream/butter
Tea cakes - ginger/orange/poppy seed
Apple/pineapple/blueberry pie
Chocolate cake
Carrot cake with cream cheese topping
Chocolate coated doughnut
Muffins-butterfly, ice-cream design(assorted flavour
Brownies
Bread and butter pudding with vanilla sauce
Cream caramel
Chocolate cheese slice
Blueberry cheese tart
Cream puff (chocolate/durian/custard/cream vanilla)
Fruit tartlets (kiwi/peach/strawberry/mango(seasonal))
Assorted butter cookies (ginger/melting moments/chocolate etc)

For prices and other details, please visit
SWEET LAVENDER'S WEBSITE
Website (http://www.sweetlavender.350.com/)
Email sweetlavenderparty@yahoo.com

Or Call Bieha Hamid (016-3148817)

LURE OF THE EAST COAST

2008-06-30T16:00:00.002+08:00

Terengganu, which hosted the Sukma 2008 Games, had introduced

the clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) as its mascot,

replacing the turtle, which has been synonymous

with the state for decades.

(The reason? Because the turtle is too slow)

(This entry has been collecting dust in DRAFT for much too long. I have been slow like the turtle .....)

If you have been to the east coast and keep wanting to return, it is easy to see why. For me, it is sights like these that seem to beckon .... I must admit, I am totally bowled over by the white sand and the blue sea. And the sight of my kids enjoying themselves tremendously at the wide expanse of open space and fresh air. And the coconut trees swaying in the breeze. And the leisurely pace of life ......

Our destination was Kota Bharu for my cousin's wedding on Saturday, May 31. We started our "journey" on Thursday morning and took a leisurely drive along the coastal roads starting from Cherating, after exiting from the highway.

But first stop, along the Karak Highway, was at the Hutan Lipur Lentang. We have passed by this place many times but this is the first time we thought of stopping by. Nice place ..... ada sungai, ada jambatan gantung, ada picnic and camping areas .....

.... Ada tempat to "hang around", gantung-gantung ....

Kononnya nak get in touch with nature .... so I shot this common "grass flower".

The drive after that was pretty mundane until we spotted glimpses of the blue South China Sea after reaching Cherating. From then on we were compelled to stop at several beaches along the way .... just to stretch our legs, let the kids play on the beach and of course, snap some photos (like the ones above).

Last year when we were at Kuala Dungun, the bridge was just being built. Now the Laluan Pintasan is completed and already in use. Easy access to Kuala Dungun from Kampung Seberang Pintasan and the Teluk Bidara area. The same road will take you to Tanjung Jara, too.

We spotted these local boys at Pantai Teluk Bidara, three "little monkeys" on a coconut tree ......

who were blissfully singing (this song by Matta Band .... Ketahuan) in their thick Terengganu accent. So adorable. Hahaha, that really made my day!!!

Oo..Ow.. Aku ketahuang pacarang lagi
Dengang dirinya temang baikmu
Oo..Ow.. Aku ketahuang pacarang lagi
Dengang dirinya temang baikmu
Tapi tak mengapa, aku tak herang ..........

My son the city boy couldn't resist having a go at the reclining coconut tree, too.

Just as the day turned into night, we reached Kuala Terengganu (with everyone in the car gleefully singing .... Aku ketahuang, pacarang lagi .... all along the way. Ampung, orang Terengganu!!!!). Just imagine, we took almost 10 hours to drive from Ampang to KT!

Seronok, I tell you!

MY KIDS' FATHER BLOGS TOO

2008-06-15T16:22:00.005+08:00

I have not quite completed my intended entry about the lures of the east coast, but I am putting that aside to make this little announcement.

YES, KOTH now blogs on Blogspot too. So we can now sit side by side at home on weekends and compare blog entries and talk of blog templates/layouts, HTMLs, CSS and stuff. It's great to be sharing one more thing in common.

He blogs about life and none of the serious stuff that he does at work everyday. Catch his latest entry on Father's Day here.

Go knock on his door and say hello to my Mr Hard Knocks.

So, Is Keropok Lekor A Place or A Delicacy?

2008-06-04T16:29:00.005+08:00

Keropok Lekor is no doubt synonymous with Terengganu, but looking at the road sign above, you'd be forgiven if you are a foreigner and think that "Keropok Lekor" is a place, a kampong or a tourist destination. Well, it is an attraction in itself, judging by the long lines at the keropok stalls in Losong, the place famous for "Keropok Losong".

The above sign actually points you to Kampung Losong, which is near the Terengganu State Museum in Kuala Terengganu. It is supposedly THE PLACE to go to if you want to get the keropok lekor, or the keropok losong. (But Seberang Takir is also gaining fame for delicious keropok, so I heard).

So what's the difference? A young seller in Besut had enlightened me when I asked for the "keropok yang kecik-kecik". Keropok lekor is the bigger version, which contains more sago flour than fish meat. Keropok Losong is made up of more fish meat than sago flour, and is therefore denser, more tasty and can be eaten either just boiled, or fried. Keropok lekor is more chewy and tastes better fried after boiling. You cut up the keropok lekor rolls into smaller pieces before frying. Keropok lekor comes in longer rolls but keropok losong comes in short, thin rolls because it contains less flour and tends to easily break if it is rolled too long. Ooohhhhhh .... now I know.

I went to Seberang Takir and asked for Keropok Losong. I think I offended the seller, who answered with "Nak 'kepok losong, pergi ke Losong lah. Kat sini 'kepok' Seberang Takir". Duh, it makes sense, right? She could tell I was an outsider by that blunder.

Next entry ... LURE OF THE EAST COAST.

LOVE AFFAIR OF THE CHOCOLATE KIND

2008-05-22T13:11:00.010+08:00

Soft, brown and sexy ...

Yummy.

Why is it the more you are trying to deny yourself something, the more you think about it? The more you are gravitating towards it?

Then again, how many people, women especially, can deny chocolate?

A recent study indicates when men crave food, they tend to crave fat and salt. When women crave food, they tend to desire chocolate.

Not surprising, really. Many times when I think of giving myself a treat, I buy chocolate. And eat it all by myself, if I have my way. Chocolate is at the top of the list of guiltily hedonistic pleasures. You want to indulge yourself ..... you eat chocolate! You surrender to the decadence. You enjoy the moment and only feel guilty after all the evidence is gone.

And to make the experience all the more meaningful, you have to know how to really savour your chocolate. A good chocolate is nothing to be gobbled up. Slow and steady does it .... take your time to treat your olfactory senses to the intoxicating scent of chocolate ..... enjoy the anticipation of biting into your piece of chocolate ...... then take your time to feel the changes in the texture of chocolate in your mouth as it goes from firm to soft to sticky and gooey.

How do you really experience your chocolate? If you are not thinking of simply biting, chewing, and gobbling down that piece of chocolate .... here's how you do it so as to maximise the pleasure of your chocolate encounter.

Step One - Obviously, you unwrap your bar of chocolate. BUT! Don't do it too quickly, nor too slowly. Unwrapping your bar of chocolate too quickly might damage the outer texture of the bar (it may not seem to matter, but a perfect bar of chocolate honestly does make a difference). Unwrapping it too slowly will melt the chocolate, thus diminishing the enjoyment of biting into the bar.

Step Two - You can do this two ways: you can either snap your chocolate bar into smaller pieces OR you can bite it. When you snap your bar of chocolate, make sure every piece you break off is small enough to fit your mouth; break off a mouthful of chocolate at a time, because if you break up the chocolate all at once, it will melt too fast. When you bit into your chocolate, on the other hand, make sure that you don't chomp on it with your teeth; rest the bar of chocolate lightly between your upper and lower incisors and lever the bar downwards. The chocolate makes the most exquisite sounds that way.

Step Three - While it isn't completely wrong to chew your chocolate, the best way to taste a bar of chocolate is to allow it to rest on your tongue where it can melt. The effect is best if you sit in a cool, quiet spot where no one can disturb you, where the chocolate is least likely to melt, and where you can close your eyes. Remember to inhale and exhale through your nose, and to really taste the chocolate in your mouth. Concentrate on the feeling of melting chocolate, and note that the flavor and the scent becomes more pronounced as the texture changes.

Step Four - When you swallow your mouthful of chocolate, don't do it in one go. Rub your tongue against the roof of your mouth and swallow the almost-liquid chocolate slowly, little by little. This way you will not be so immediately deprived of the flavor of chocolate before the next bite (or the next bar). If the bar is not just made out of chocolate (if it has nuts, nougat, caramel and the like), make sure to chew them slowly AFTER you've finished swallowing the chocolate.

Step Five - Repeat from step two until you run out of chocolate.

Now, are you ready to indulge? Don't feel guilty, go on why don't you?

And the next American Idol is ....

2008-05-22T10:31:00.005+08:00

Will it be David Archuleta or David Cook? Find out tonight. I enjoyed this song last night, though. (It's cute how overwhelmed David A seemed to be at the judges' reviews).

And the Winner is ...... DAVID COOK!

LOS ANGELES — American Idol crowned its first real rocker Wednesday as David Cook rolled over 17-year-old balladeer David Archuleta to become Idol No. 7.

The win for Cook, 25, a bartender from Blue Springs, Mo., came as somewhat of a surprise, considering Tuesday's performances and the judges' reactions, which swung almost unanimously in Archuleta's favor.

"I started this season, much to Simon's chagrin, as the 'word nerd' — and I am absolutely at a loss for words now," Cook said.

The two-hour-plus finale show, in which the winner was announced at the 1:59 mark, paraded out not only this season's eliminated contestants but also present and past pros. ZZ Top traded Sharp Dressed Man licks with Cook, and OneRepublic dueted with Archuleta on Apologize.

The double-David duel was a study in contrasts. Archuleta was one of the many pageant kids who have made up a significant portion of Idol's rosters, entering contests at age 10 and singing on Star Search at 12.

Cook, on the other hand, said he came to the Omaha auditions to provide moral support for his brother Andrew; talked into singing, he was passed through to the Hollywood rounds while his brother wasn't. (That's not to say Cook is an amateur: He has sung in several bands and released an independent solo album, Analog Heart, in 2006.)

He became one of the first contestants to play electric guitar onstage and made a specialty of applying rock textures to softer songs such as Lionel Richie's Hello. His penchant for dramatic rearrangements marked him as a mold-breaking contestant.

The juxtaposition of the Davids represents the "old," safe Idol sensibility against an edgier breed of contestant, a contrast thrown into dramatic prominence when, for Tuesday's last song, Cook chose a medium-sized mid-'90s hit from Collective Soul that the audience had never heard him sing, while Archuleta reprised his signature song, John Lennon's Imagine.

IF I WERE A QUEEN

2008-05-15T11:30:00.016+08:00

If I were a Queen,
What would I do?
I’d make you King,
And I’d wait on you.

If I were a King,
What would I do?
I’d make you Queen,
For I’d marry you.

I was just transported back in time ... thinking about our poetry classes back in primary school. Where we had to memorise poems like the above, like CATS SLEEP ANYWHERE and also these following ones. They were a lot of fun, come to think of it, and there's no doubt that learning poetry makes a person more word-wise and more lyrical. Sometimes the poetry made no sense to our young minds but we loved the sing-song rhyming sounds of them.

To this day, I can still vaguely recall this poem, simply because of the easy rhyme:

Ferry Me Across The Water

‘Ferry me across the water,
Do, boatman, do.’
‘If you've a penny in your purse
I'll ferry you.’

‘I have a penny in my purse,
And my eyes are blue;
So ferry me across the water,
Do, boatman, do.’

‘Step into my ferry-boat,
Be they black or blue,
And for the penny in your purse
I'll ferry you.’

And another poem about Kings and queens and princesses all, which I remember learning when I was 10 (haha I seem to have a liking for these, wonder why?)

THE King of China's daughter
She never would love me,
Though I hung my cap and bells upon
Her nutmeg tree.
For oranges and lemons
The stars in bright blue air
(I stole them long ago, my dear)
Were dangling there.
The moon, she gave me silver pence;
The sun did give me gold:
And both together softly blew
And made my porridge cold.

But the King of China's daughter
Pretended not to see,
When I hung my cap and bells upon
Her nutmeg tree.

And for all these poetry-learning, Thank you Miss Sibert and Mrs Veerasingham, and also all my class teachers at SNC - Mrs Cheah, Mrs Wang, Ms Tan, Mrs Chow (whom I disputed over the pronunciation of "Anonymous" - she said it was ANOMYNOUS, and she later admitted that she was wrong, no doubt after consulting a dictionary), Mrs Nadarajah and Mrs Quah. Though we may have whined about having to memorise those lines, we really did have fun!

ANYWAY, for ex-students of the Saint Nicholas Convent School who may come across this blog entry, the following slideshow is for you. Recognise any of the teachers?

Who Has Seen The Wind?

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling
The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads
The wind is passing by.

Feeling Young Again

2008-05-02T17:54:00.009+08:00

PREVIEW .....

I have been preoccupied these past few weeks because of this:

Click on the pic to see a bigger picture.

UPDATE

THE STORY ...... REUNION 2008

Last year I wrote about finding my old friends from primary school and the subsequent FIRST EVER reunion for our batch. That was held on 31 August 2007. Hardly a few months after that very enjoyable and eventful get-together, we started planning another one for this year. This was going to be a bigger event with (hopefully) a bigger attendance and also the presence of ex-headmistresses and ex-teachers.

The St Nicholas Convent (SNC) Alor Setar school comprised of both primary and secondary schools. The two were essentially two separate schools each with its own headmistress and teachers, but shared all physical aspects of the schools, from the school office (but there were two headmistresses' rooms) and the school fields to the school tuckshop (canteen) and little bookshop under the stairs; from the school hall to the school toilets.

Anyway, back to Reunion matters ..... First, we had to find out if some of the teachers are still around. Especially "the formidable Ms Millicent Sibert", former headmistress of the Saint Nicholas Convent Alor Star primary school. It shouldn't have been a problem - Ms Sibert used to live next door to my mother-in-law's house, so I knew she was still alive then. But then, several years ago, I heard she sold the house and moved elsewhere ..... I didn't know where.

It's incredible what a bit of networking amongst 'old girls' can do. Someone mentioned a name remembered from school and someone else knew someone else who probably knew how to contact that person. We went with this last year, in addition to "googling" people up and poring over phone directories and managed to be in touch with about 50 former schoolmates. This year we expanded our efforts and managed to locate a few more people as well as many ex-teachers. Thanks to a few very resourceful, determined, persistent, relentless and persuasive friends who followed all leads, many more were tracked down. Our "jejak rakan" efforts really paid off. But most importantly, we found three ex-headmistresses and more than 20 ex-teachers.

Oh yes, all the efforts would not have been possible without the internet. In addition for using it to conduct searches, we also kept in touch and did a lot of planning through a Yahoo Group that was set up last year. It was the only feasible thing to do when we are scttered all over. And if it wasn't for the internet and blogging, I wouldn't have found my friends (or they wouldn't have found me).

I was in that school from Kindergarten to Standard 6 (even then, I left only a month into Standard Six) and had not met or kept in touch with most of my classmates/schoolmates since then. Most of them went on to attend the Convent secondary school so they spent more time together. Yet most also had not been in touch since leaving the school. After almost 30 years (more than 30, in my case) what drove us to look up these old friends?

Is it the need to relive our carefree younger years? As we grow older and have settled in our lives (family and career) did we suddenly get the urge to reminisce about old times with old friends we shared those old memories with? Whatever it is, getting back together with old friends is indeed an exciting, exhilirating event.

Of course, I had memories of great times with my friends of younger days. I had a rich, wonderful experience as a student in that school. I thrived, I excelled as much as I could and I had many good friends, if not close friends back in those days. Would it have been different if I had not really enjoyed my schooldays at SNC? If my schoolgirl memories hadn't been wonderful, would I have really wanted to attend a Reunion?

Actually, as one of the teachers said in her speech, once a Convent girl, always a Convent girl. It didn't matter that I only spent 6 years at the school while most of the others were there for eleven. There were great memories to be shared of the school, whether you were there a year or eleven years!

So back in February or March this year, it was decided that we will have the Reunion 2008 in Alor Setar on May 1 (Labour Day Holiday). To make sure I did not miss the event, I booked my flight back to Alor Setar almost immediately (and got a bargain in the process. It pays to make advanced booking whether you're flying MA*S or Ai*rAs*ia).

April 30 ...... after dropping off my Income Tax returns at the Pandan Indah IRB office (yeah, had to wait till the last minute to do it otherwise it won't be much fun) I made my way to the KL Sentral station to catch the ERL Express to KLIA. I had in my bag, clothes chosen to make me look slimmer or trimmer than I really am. We were all 'girls' and the utmost grouse we have as we add on the years is the fact that we also seem to add on the kilos! And I also had in my bag, on CDs, two copies to be safe, a montage presentation that I did, to be shown at the Reunion. And backups on a thumbdrive which I kept in my handbag.

I had put together pictures of our previous reunion, schooldays pictures, and "Then and Now" pictures of most of the friends that we managed to locate. I had sweated many days and night doing that presentation, and at almost the last minute lost everything when my external hard disk where I kept the files malfunctioned! So I had to redo everything ... oh stress!!

At KLIA, I met up with two other friends who were travelling on the same flight with me. And we were picked up upon arrival by three friends in two cars. We then went to check into the Homestay place which was to be our meeting point and sleeping quarters. Oh, "we" would be the crazy, noisy lot of us acting as the organising committee. After leaving our belongings and all other Reunion items (programme books, gifts, lucky draw prizes, and boxes of other stuff) in the rooms, we headed into town to start our 'hidden agenda' - to hit all the "makan places" for the food that can only be found in Alor Setar!

What's on the list? Mee Derga (having foregone Mee Abu), Nasi Royale, Laksa Telok Kechai, Pulut Sambal Kuala Kedah, Dadih susu kerbau, Convent Kopitiam food and a few others. I don't know where we found the space to squeeze in all those food, but we did over the period of a few days in Alor Setar. Fortunately for me .... I was there only two days. Some of my friends spent three, four or even more days there and reported that they were feted to all kinds of spreads by the 'hosts' in Alor Setar.

Okay, enough about food ..... sorry for digressing.

1 May ..... 2.00 pm. We made our way to the venue, the Alor Setar Holiday Villa, to wait for the arrivals of friends and teachers. Everything and everyone was buzzing with excitement. As friends and teachers started to arrive, the atmosphere got louder and louder with screams and laughter and all the chatting and catching up. What reunion is without these noisy commotions, anyway, right?

I finally got to see my old headmistress .... "The formidable Miss Sibert" who used to put so much fear in us. Back then, we were small and she appeared so huge and towering! She is now almost 80 years old, has osteoarthritis, and is a frail old 'mam who gets around with the aid of a walking stick and a wheelchair. As she was wheeled into the hall, we all stood up to welcome her. Of course, the other teachers too received a warm welcome. Once again, we were like schoolgirls in the presence of our former teachers.

Miss Sibert used to teach my classes throughout primary school singing, poetry and phonics. In singing classes, we would be out in the tuckshop lined up in front of the piano singing our hearts out with Miss Sibert playing the piano and tapping her foot according to rhythm. Hard luck to the anyone who sings out of tune, as Miss Sibert would give a hard tap behind the knees or at the back of your calfs if you so much as sing offkey! Oh, if you are wondering why we had a piano in the school tuckshop/canteen, that's because the tuckshop was where we 'lined up' before school started everyday, where we had our assemblies and sang whatever songs and the Negaraku, accompanied by Miss Sibert on the piano.

In phonics classes, we learnt to contort our faces this way and that so that we produced all the right pronunciation of the English words. It was a lot of fun, really!

As for the poetry classes, we would be frantically struggling to memorise the poem assigned for the day (usually told in advance during the previous poetry period). When Miss Sibert came into class, we would have to stand up one by one reciting the poem by memory! Those who cannot recite fluently will be rewarded with "the shake"...... she would hold you by the shoulders and shake you or rather, rattle you like a ragdoll!! Imagine at 9,10, or 11 years old having to memorise lines upon lines of poems, such as this one:

CATS SLEEP ANYWHERE

Cats sleep anywhere,
any table, any chair,
top of piano, window ledge,
In the middle, on the edge,
Open drawer, empty shoe,
anybody's lap will do.
Fitted in a cardboard box,
In the cupboard; with your frocks,
Anywhere...they don't care.
Cats sleep anywhere.

- by Eleanor Farjeon

That's Miss Sibert sitting in the middle, back in 1973. (Yes I am somewhere in the pic too).

And here she is, at the Reunion. It hit us all real hard, how much she has aged (and so have we!). Anyway, she was as pleased as punch that our SNC batch had made an effort to hold this Reunion and especially to invite her and the other teachers. I have not written much about the other teachers because, besides from the two ustazahs who taught me, the others were mostly secondary school teachers whom I did not know.

..... to be continued.

REACHING FOR THE STARS, A Review

2008-03-29T16:36:00.014+08:00

I have wanted to write about this book since I bought it last weekend, and today seems like just perfectly the day!

Last night I went to sleep in front of the TV, and with no one to hassle me to move to the bedroom and sleep like a 'normal person' (KOTH has gone fishing), I slept right through the night with the lights on and the TV blaring. I awoke at around 5 a.m. to see the ever-smiling face of our Angkasawan being interviewed on BERNAMA TV (Astro Channel 502) and then drifted back to sleep, dreaming that the good doctor has moved in next door and become such a welcomed neighbour. A pleasant, smiling face compared to my real life sour-faced neighbours.

In dream world, of course anything is possible. In real life though, I have such horrid next door neighbours, the ultimate neighbours from hell, a couple who either do not know how to co-exist in a community or have totally no respect for others. But I don't want to waste blog space talking about them, so back to the book and Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Al-Masrie.

Later in the day, I caught another re-run of the interview with the Angkasawan and saw the parts that I had missed earlier. Apart from his achivements and accomplishments even prior to becoming a national hero, what was most evident was the strong family ties that have spurred and supported Dr Sheikh Muszaphar all the way throughout his journey to become the nations's first Angkasawan. From this interview and also from the book, one thing was clear. Here was a family that is truly loving, caring and supportive.

Incidentally, the story about the launch of the book "Reaching For The Stars" was also in the news today. The book was launched yesterday by the Deputy Prime Minister. "Reaching For The Stars" was written by Dr Sheikh's younger brother Sheikh Mustapha (who shares the same name with their father) or "Ajil". Ajil had written the book, his perspective of his brother's journey to space, and had meant to dedicate the book as a gift to "Amus" upon his return.

Upon completing the book, he wrote, "I have been with him throughout his journey of becoming an Angkasawan. I shared his determination and passion for life. I cannot wait to surprise him with this book. I cannot wait to see his face when he reads this book. This is for Amus."

Sadly, it wasn't meant to be. Ajil passed away just as Amus was returning to earth from space. He died without regaining consciousness after surgery following a fall. Amidst the triumph for the nation, tragedy struck for the family.

As I read the book, I could feel the family's and the country's pride. Yet I also had a lump in my throat throughout, brought about by the moving accounts of the events that unfolded. There was also another thing ...... you know, when you read of something great like the love of a parent for a child, the love of a brother for another brother.

The book opened with a dedication from the family to the late Ajil. Next was a foreword from Amus the Angkasawan. He wrote about his relationship with Ajil, the life, the dreams and the aspirations that they shared. Once again, the love and the bond between the brothers was very evident here. Ajil was in awe of his older brother, his hero.

"My brother, Amus - the heartthrob - is a genius, a restaurateur, an entrepreneur, an orthopedic surgeon in the making, and a model. And now, his latest triumph - on the path to becoming the first malaysian angkasawan.

I have seen what made him to be the man he is today. He truly believes in himself. He certainly has the ingredients for success. Not only for becoming an angkasawan but for whatever he aspires to be! That is the Amus I grew up with, and love."

The Angkasawan himself had said (in the TV interview with BERNAMA) "Kekuatan saya adalah kekuatan mental". (My strength is mental strength). I wonder though, how much this strength had prepared him for the sadness that greeted him upon his return to earth after the momentous journey to space.

You can't help but share his immense loss when he wrote "I found my life in space but I lost a life upon my return".

The last part of the book was a tribute to Ajil written by his parents, his four brothers, and his wife. Again, you can't help feeling the love and strength of this closely-knit family. Their happiness and jubilation replaced by sadness and anguish.

Despite the prevailing sadness, the book is still a good read, if family values, love and commitment, and aspirations, dreams and determination are your cup of tea. My children read the book and I think the boys are inspired to strive for the kinds of accomplishments achieved by our Angkasawan. The girls are still admiring the good-looking guy in the pictures but I am sure they too will be encouraged to reach for the stars!

The five brothers - Opik, Amus, Abang, Ajil, and Arwiz.

(Imagine growing up in a household with 5 boys all close in age!)

"Everything happens for a reason. I believe in faith. I truly believe in destiny. Ajil's death ... me being the chosen Malaysian Angkasawan ... everything happens for a reason."

A much younger Amus with Ajil, in India.

LINKS to visit:
http://drsheikhmuszaphar.multiply.com/journal

http://www.angkasawan.com.my/blog/index.php

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2008/3/30/lifefocus/20771319&sec=lifefocus

p.s. FYI, the book will also be published in Malay and Chinese.

AIN'T QUITE THE RIGHT ATTITUDE

2008-03-07T12:04:00.002+08:00

My son and some of his friends are very keen to participate in this event

but sad to say, the teachers at his school had not been encouraging enough. When he produced the entry form for the headmaster's signature and school chop, the children were ridiculed by the teachers and the staff in the school office. Buat apa nak masuk? Tak boleh menang. That was the general form of comments that the boys received.

SAD, SAD, SAD. While I read that in some school the teachers have been conducting mini spelling bees to identify the best contestants, here are these boys in this urban school, a Grade A school, no less, located right smack in the middle of a rather affluent neighbourhood, being dealt with not an ounce of encouragement but rather, being discouraged instead!

Boys, maybe you shouldn't have expected too much. My son told me his ENGLISH teacher teaches the ENGLISH class in Bahasa Malaysia!!! When he spoke to the teacher in ENGLISH, the teacher asked him to speak in Malay instead. Haaaa???? No doubt the teacher is not proficient and is not capable of teaching the language. Maybe the teacher doesn't even know what a spelling bee is.

Probably the teacher doesn't even read an English newspaper, said my son. Apa-apa lah, Cikgu.

So my son asked if I could instead coach him and his friends. I couldddddd .... but I think the rules stated that they will need a TEACHER to accompany them to the contest.

Well, good luck boys. I can give you a list of words for you to practise your spelling on. But you will need to find a supportive teacher for this.

And you will need to buat muka tebal and brush off the comments from some of the other kids who are saying things like "Alah ..... kau nak masuk pertandingan ni sebab nak menunjuk, nak dapatkan ramai awek"!!

And to the many aweks who have expressed willingness to be their cheerleaders/suppporters, way to go girls!!!!

*I think the boys have managed to get a teacher to support their quest for glory by now.

WHO REMOVED MY COUSIN???

2008-02-22T11:24:00.007+08:00

I have lately been obsessing over my very, very, verrryy extensive family tree, which exists and is digging all its roots firmly on Geni.com. This is a genealogy tree on my mother's side, and it contains eight (or is it ten?) generations of my blood relatives and people connected by marriage. Only recently set up online by a fifth cousin, who is actually my great uncle's ex-wife's brother's grandson (hahaha, try to figure that out) ...... the tree is growing at an alarming rate, and it is still only about halfway done! Two days ago the tree had about 700 people in it; today it has exceeded 1000!! Thanks to all the cousins etc etc who are internet-abled and have managed to be roped in to get on the programme and help fill out all the gaps.

I found out a friend from school is actually my fourth cousin once removed. Now what kind of relationship is that!??

At last count, I have 61 first cousins (just on my mother's side, you know ........ I previously wrote that my grandfather had three wives and was very productive). I would have loved to copy the family tree and paste it here, but it is too large to fit, unless I shrink it down to micro size. In fact, I needed nine pages of A4-sized paper just to print out the astounding family-tree chart!

An outdated version of this tree exists in print - about a decade ago, a few people from the tree got together to produce a comprehensive chart of the family in a book entitled "SALASILAH KELUARGA WAN KEDAH" ...... so that all of the younger and coming generations will know who our forefathers and living relatives are.

From these charts, I can see all the way to who my fifth cousins four times removed are, I think!!

Of course I had to get a better understanding of all these confusing geneological terms ...... and so I searched the Net (so what else is new?) and succeeded in confusing myself even further.

The Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter shed some light on the meaning of these confusing terms - but then again, these are relationship terms explained the "Mat Salleh" way - I have a sneaky feeling that the Malays explain these terms differently and if I try to find out the Malay terms now, I would be even more confused.

So, let's just go with the "Mat salleh" terms.

A term often found in genealogy is "removed," specifically when referring to family relationships. Indeed, almost everyone has heard of a "second cousin once removed," but many people cannot explain that relationship. Of course, a person might be more than once removed, as in third cousin, four times removed.

In short, the definition of cousins is two people who share a common ancestor. Here are a few definitions of cousin relationships:

First Cousin: Your first cousins are the people in your family who have at least one of the same grandparents as you. In other words, they are the children of your aunts and uncles.
(SEPUPU)

Second Cousin: Your second cousins are the people in your family who share the same great-grandparent with you.
(DUA-PUPU)

Third, Fourth, and Fifth Cousins: Your third cousins share at least one great-great-grandparent, fourth cousins share a great-great-great-grandparent, and so on.
(TIGA-PUPU, EMPAT-PUPU, LIMA-PUPU)

Removed: When the word "removed" is used to describe a relationship, it indicates that the two people are from different generations. "Once removed" indicates a difference of one generation, "twice removed" indicates a difference of two generations, and so forth.

For example, the child of your first cousin is your first cousin, once removed. That is, your cousin's child would be "almost" your first cousin, except that he or she is one generation removed from that relationship.
(ANAK SAUDARA SEPUPU/ANAK SEPUPU)
(Kedah-speak: ANAK MENAKAN SEPUPU)

Likewise, the grandchild of your first cousin is your first cousin, twice removed (two generations removed from being a first cousin).
(CUCU SAUDARA SEPUPU/CUCU SEPUPU)
(Kedah-speak: CUCU MENAKAN SEPUPU)

What do you make of the Malay translation that I have added up there? Betul ke?

What's more, there are a few other terms you may encounter when determining relationships:

HALF - Means you share only one parent. Example: half-brothers may have the same father but different mothers, etc.
(But I understand in Malay, ADIK-BERADIK TIRI may be the term used for a siblings who share the same mother, but have different fathers. In Islamic terms, siblings who share the same father but have different mothers are by all means considered blood siblings, full-fledged ADIK/ABANG/KAKAK)

STEP - Not blood kin, but a close legal relationship due to re-marriage of a parent, such as step-mother, step-brother, step-son, etc.
(ADIK-BERADIK ANJING ??? i am not sure about this term)

DOUBLE FIRST COUSINS - Are first cousins twice, once on your father's side and once on your mother's side, since your father's sibling married your mother's sibling.
(Oh my gosh, I am still trying to figure out what this means!)

IN-LAW - They are not really blood kin but are treated as such because they married blood kin.
Example: Your mother-in-law is not really your mother but is treated as such because you married her daughter/son. In law, you and your spouse are considered "one". Also your brother-in-law is your brother because your parents are also his parents, in "law" (mother-in-law, father-in-law, etc.).
(IPAR-DUAI, BIRAS dan yang sewaktu dengannya)

KITH and KIN - "Kith" are friends and acquaintances whereas "Kin" are blood relatives or someone treated as such, in law.
(KENALAN for Kith, SAUDARA-MARA for kin)

AND THEN, you may also have relatives whom you just might be tempted to classify as OUT-LAWS!!!!

** updated

USELESS FACTS #1

2008-02-13T09:47:00.000+08:00

We know there are lots of useless facts bouncing around, especially in the Internet. Just type "useless facts" in a search engine and see the returns on your screen. For lack of anything better to do, I punched in "totally useless facts" in Google and got 206,000 results. What's amazing is the fact that there are people going around compiling list after list of useless facts. If they are so useless, then why bother.

Then again, maybe these gatherers of useless facts know that there are people like me who at a crazy moment would think of looking up useless facts. Trivia, as some call it. Actually, they are not so useless because many a game show had existed on the basis of these so called useless facts.

These so called useless facts can be really interesting, really. At the very least, knowing them will give you food for conversation. Or, ideas for blogging when you are at risk of blog constipation.

Or, at the very, very least .... they can be amusing.

So who wants to know that:

A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.

The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is "uncopyrightable".

When possums are playing 'possum', they are not "playing." They actually pass out from sheer terror.

Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them would burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired."

Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.

Ingrown toenails are hereditary.

Los Angeles' full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula" and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size, "L.A."

Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a belly button. It was eliminated when he was sewn up after surgery.

There is a seven letter word in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters, "therein": the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.(wonder how they figured this out?)

Emu's and kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the Australian coat of arms for that reason.

Pearls melt in vinegar.

Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a "Friday the 13th."

The dot over the lower case "i" is called a Tittle.

Every time you sneeze some of your brain cells die. (Guess some of us are in sad shape!)

A cat has 4 rows of whiskers.

If you were to spell out numbers, you would have to go to One-thousand until you would find the letter "A".

In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase "goodnight, sleep tight".

Did you know......... It is impossible to lick your elbow?
Over 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow!
(Haha, caught you!!)

Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise.

Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.

Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined (I think it's more like mo' money PER GAME, don't you?).

Richard Millhouse Nixon was the first US president whose name contains all of the letters from the word "criminal." The second was William Jefferson Clinton.

Elephants are the only animals that can't jump (and THAT is a good thing!).

Microsoft threatened 17 year old Mike Rowe with a lawsuit after the young man launched a website named MikeRoweSoft.com.

Astronauts cannot burp in space. There is no gravity to separate liquid from gas in their stomachs.

Two very popular and common objects have the same function, but one has thousands of moving parts, while the other has absolutely no moving parts - an hourglass and a sundial.

Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants.

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

Instructions: Just read the sentence straight through quickly without really thinking about it.
Acocdrnig to an elgnsih unviesitry sutdy the oredr of letetrs in a wrod dosen't mttaer, the olny thnig thta's iopmrantt is that the frsit and lsat ltteer of eevry word is in the crcreot ptoision. The rset can be jmbueld and one is stlil able to raed the txet wiohtut dclftfuiiy.Amazing, isn't it?

HAvE A GooD DaY, PeOpLe!!!

ENJOY YOUR LONG WEEKEND

2008-02-06T18:58:00.000+08:00

Four days to indulge in some reading ..... some more books to be read in the midst of doing laundry, cooking and housekeeping .... in addition to the ones in my reading list on the left. Tony Buzan's Age-Proof Your Brain should be interesting :-)

PEACEFUL PHLEGMATIC, POWERFUL CHOLERIC: OPPOSITES ATTRACT

2008-01-26T22:21:00.000+08:00

First, let me bore you a bit with some philosophy of Hippocrates.

According to Hippocratic medicine, there are four main fluids of the body: blood, black and yellow bile, and phlegm. Each of these fluids also corresponded to a temperament (or personality).

Sanguine refers to the blood, which is considered to be red, hot, moist, and sweet. It corresponds to the element of fire and intuition. The sanguine temperament is optimistic and joyful, yet prone to pride, passion, and cruelty.

A person who is sanguine is generally arrogant, cocky, indulgent, and confident. He/She can be day-dreamy and off-task to the point of not accomplishing anything and can be impulsive, possibly acting on whims in an unpredictable fashion.

Choler refers to the yellow bile. It is hot, dry, yellow and bitter in taste. Choler corresponds to the Earth element and to sensations. The choler temperament is practical and rational. They are prone to anger, irritability, and impatience.

A person who is choleric is a doer and a leader. They have a lot of ambition, energy, and passion, and try to instill it in others. They can dominate people of other temperaments, especially phlegmatic types. On the negative side, they are easily angered or bad tempered.

Phlegm refers to mucous and other thick secretions in the body. It is cold, moist, white and has a salty taste. Phlegm corresponds to the water element, and to the emotions. The phlegmatic temperament is very sensitive, peaceful, soft and considerate. They usually make strong emotional connections with their loved ones, and suffer deeply from a sense of abandonment if these relationships do not work out. They tend to be hurt emotionally and are usually sad and tearful. They are worse when exposed to too much excitement, over stimulated, and when forced to do things in a hurry.

A phlegmatic person is calm and unemotional. While phlegmatics are generally self-content and kind, their shy personality can often inhibit enthusiasm in others and make themselves lazy and resistant to change. They are very consistent, relaxed, rational, curious, and observant, making them good administrators and diplomats. Like the sanguine personality, the phlegmatic has many friends. However the phlegmatic is more reliable and compassionate; these characteristics typically make the phlegmatic a more dependable friend.

Melan cholor translates as “black bile.” It is cold, dry, and has a sour taste. Melancholy corresponds to the element Air and to nervousness. The melancholic temperament is intelligent and sophisticated and are prone to restlessness and depression. They usually have a lean body with long thin bones.

Often very kind and considerate, melancholics can be highly creative but also can become overly pre-occupied with the tragedy and cruelty in the world, thus becoming depressed. A melancholy is also often a perfectionist, being very particular about what they want and how they want it in some cases. This often results in being unsatisfied with one's own artistic or creative works and always pointing out to themselves what could and should be improved.

(I got the above from Philosophy of Health and Wellness and from Wikipedia)

Some modern personality types theories no doubt have their roots in Hippocrates' ancient theory as above. In short, certain human behaviours are caused by our body fluids, namely, blood, black bile, yellow bile and phlegm. (Hmmmmm ...... so, our temperaments are biologically based and there's not much we can do to change???)

Without going further into supporting, opposing, argumentative or extended theories (some of which I have read with much interest, some with non-understanding) ........

..... THERE ARE FOUR PERSONALITY TYPES which I first came across in the book Personality Plus by Florence Littauer ....

1. POPULAR SANGUINE - The extrovert. The talker. The optimist.
2. PERFECT MELANCHOLY - The introvert. The thinker. The pessismist.
3. POWERFUL CHOLERIC (KOTH!! KOTH!!) - The extrovert. The doer. The optimist.
4. PEACEFUL PHLEGMATIC (ME!! ME!!) - The introvert. The watcher. The pessimist.

By understanding these personality types, we can gain a better understanding of ourselves, why we behave in certain ways and react as we do. We can know our strengths and how to amplify them. And we can know our weaknesses and how to overcome them.

Once we have an understanding of the above, we are in a better position to understand other people and improve on the ways we interact with them.

Reading the book was like a lightbulb moment for me. Finally I understood all the dynamics of my life. Why I am who I am. Why my husband is my husband. Why my kids are uniquely my kids. Why my parents and all the other people I have come across are/were the way they are! It all boils down to personality traits, no kidding!

Well, anyway, what's the good of having a book and access to tons of information on the internet if I don't use them for some analytical purpose. So ....

I asked KOTH some questions along these lines. Are you/Do you think you are/have:

The firm control when others are losing theirs? Check.
The cut of decision for foggy minds? Check.
The grip of leadership to head us to the good? Check.
The willingness to take a chance in a doubtful situation? Check.
The confidence to hold true in the face of ridicule? Check.
The independence to stand alone and be counted? Check.
The road map to life when we've gone astray? Check.
The urge to "take arms against a sea of troubles by opposing them? Check.

Oh heck, so you rock.

You are a born leader, strong willed, active, dynamic, decisive, not easily discouraged, unemotional, independent, self-sufficent, confident, with a compulsive need for change & to correct wrongs, and you can run anything.
At work you are goal oriented, you see the whole picture, seek practical solutions, quickly move into action, delegate, organize well, insist on production, stimulate activity and thrive on opposition.
As a friend, you have less need for friends than other temperaments.
You'll work for group activity, lead, organize, and you excell in emergencies.
You are usually right.

But you can't be rocking all the time, so:

First of all you don't think there is anything wrong with you. You think you are always right, so you can't be wrong.
You'll probably think the following aren't even weaknesses.
You are impatient, impetuous, inflexible, unsympathetic, bossy, quick tempered, dominating, and too busy.
You can't relax, you won't let others relax, you like to argue, you won't give up when you are losing, you won't admit you are wrong, and basically you come on too strong.
In the workplace, you have little tolerance for mistakes, you don't compliment others instead you are rude and tactless, you make rash decisions by glossing over details (unless you have a melancholly edge to you), you are manipulative & demanding.
As a friend you tend to use people, dominate, decide for others, know everything, think you can do everything better than everyone else, be unapologetic, and be too independent.
But seriously, you are freaking awesome. The rest of us are just irritated that you make us wrong and don't realize that you are annoying us. We love you, we need you.
You make EVERYTHING happen and without you we just sit around doing nothing, or planning, or leaping into things and not finishing.
All we ask is that you try to understand our personality types and let us be right too. Once you learn and accept how others are different than you, you can more easily get them to do what you want ;-)

And as for me ..... (Hail you who are Phlegmatic!) I have:

The stability to stay straight on the course.
The patience to put up with provokers.
The ability to listen, while others have their say.
The gift of mediation, uniting opposing forces.
The purpose of peace at almost any price.
The compassion to comfort those hurting.
The will to live in such a way that even my enemies can't find anything bad to say about me.

Here is what's great about me:

I am easy going, easy to get along with, relaxed, consistent, patient, well-balanced, calm, cool, collected, a good listener, quiet but witty, sympathetic, kind, I keep my emotions hidden, I am happily reconciled to life, and I am an all purpose person.
At work I am competent, steady, peaceful, agreeable, I avoid conflict, mediate problems, lead by consensus, and I don't get that pressured.
As a friend I am pleasant, enjoyable, compassionate, concerned, inoffensive, a good listener with a dry sense of humor.

(Ha ha ha, not bad eh?)

And here is how I (supposedly) suck at my worst:

I am unenthusiastic, fearful, worried, indecisive, selfish, shy, reticent, self-righteous, too compromising and I avoid responsibility.
At work I am not goal oriented, lacking in self-motivation, hard to get moving, resentful of being pushed, lazy, careless, discouraging & I have a quiet will of iron.
As a friend I dampen enthusiasm, stay uninvolved, am indifferent, unexciting, judgemental, sarcastic, teasing & I resist change.
But I am still totally awesome, and everyone has their flaws. At least I am not bossy and tell everybody what to do all the time, right? Right.

KOTH and I (well, I forced him to take the 'test' and even preempted some of his answers) took the personality profile test and it was amazing that we share almost none of each other's traits!!

So it must be true that opposites attract! I can only explain it as this - I see in him what I don't have in myself. And our personalities blended, complement and make us whole.

I am calm. He is like a typhoon..
I tackle the single task at hand. He looks at the big picture.
I hesitate. He decides.
I follow. He leads.
I go for safe. He takes chances.
I am distracted. He is focused.
I am yielding. He is firm.
I am patient. He is, uhm, impatient.
I am consistent. He is dynamic. .
etc. etc. etc. (you get the picture)

Given that he is the choleric, his motto must be "Time is of the essence" While I, the phlegmatic, like to say, always, "Why sweat the small stuff?"

Take the Personality Plus Profiler Test here : Personality-Plus-Profiler Test

No Update?

2008-01-16T13:05:00.000+08:00

QOTH is probably currently experiencing BLOG CONSTIPATION

..... Need to write, but the words are not coming out. Blog constipation makes for mental hemorrhoids .....

MEET MY SON - THE LEFTHANDED ONE

2007-12-28T03:39:00.000+08:00

Hi! My brother got to "write" here in Mama's blog some few months ago ... so it's only fair that I get my chance too. Since it looks like my mother has been too busy/lazy/uninspired to update for weeks now, I thinks it's a good opportunity for me to be a ghostwriter here -- writing on my mother's behalf!

Since I am only seven, I probably will not have much to say ......

But anyway, I overheard my mother saying that she has two lefties. Does she mean that she has two left feet? She can't dance and she sometimes is a klutz. So maybe it's true!

But come to think of it, maybe she was talking about me and Papa - we are both lefthanded. Do you know that only 13 percent of all humans are lefthanded? It's not so easy sometimes for us minorities in a world made for righthanders.

Sometimes I get confused which hand is which, especially when I sit across from my mother and I see that she uses her *right* hand to eat, which appears to be on my left side. So I have to turn myself and face in the same direction, just to check whether I am eating with the right, so to speak, hand. It is easier, though, after I learned to differentiate my two hands like this : RIGHT = tangan untuk makan, LEFT = tangan untuk basuh b*nt*t!!! I have to, otherwise, I sometimes forget and will eat with my left hand. It is okay when I use the fork and spoon/knife, though. Like Papa, I feel comfortable holding the fork in the right hand and the spoon/knife in the left hand.

Lefthanded people get unfair treatment lots of time. You know, they call us Southpaws ..... North would have been better because on the compass, North is on top and South is at the bottom.

Some people chide lefthanders and try to change them. How and why would you change something that is inherent in a person, created by the Almighty? For example, I came across this question, and I like the answer :

QUESTION : I am a 12 year old student, and I am left-handed. People have often reminded me not to eat or write with my left hand, because people who do so will not go to heaven; they will go to hell. I have tried to use my right hand for eating and writing, but I always feel that my right hand is weaker. I will be grateful for your advice.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ANSWER : Let me tell you straight away that no one will go to hell for using his left hand for eating, drinking, writing or indeed for any other purpose. Any one who suggests otherwise does not know and makes a huge assumption which he cannot substantiate. Indeed such a person betrays a degree of ignorance of God, His compassion and fairness.

What we have to remember is that God knows every aspect of a person's abilities, motives and intentions. A left handed person does not choose to make his right hand the weaker hand. This is something that he is created with and cannot change just like he cannot change the color of his skin, eyes or his hair. So God will not ask anyone why he is left-handed, because it is He who has created him.

Besides, using one's right hand for eating and most other purposes is recommended, or a sunnah. This means that it is not obligatory. On the Day of Judgment, God will not ask any person why that person has not done something that is not obligatory. Nor will he punish anyone for not doing such a non-obligatory matter. He will look at what recommended practices we do in this life and reward us for them. But He will not punish us for omitting any of them.

In the question of which hand to use for eating, God will reward those of us using their right hands only if they choose to do so in response to the Prophet's recommendations or to follow his example. In other words, His reward is not for the action itself but for intention behind the action. Hence, if a left-handed person trains himself patiently to eat and drink with his right hand until this becomes quite easy for him, and he does all that in order to follow the Prophet's example, he is sure to earn more reward than a person who does the same but does not have the added difficulty of being left-handed. I know some people who have done that. Their action is certainly commendable. The habit they acquired has become natural to them to the extent that they do practically everything with their left hands but when they eat they use their right hands.

Perhaps you could do likewise and be patient until it comes naturally to you. You only need to be patient with yourself. But if you find it too difficult, then you should not bother about what people may say. You just explain that this is a natural difficulty and that it is God who created you so.

Oh, do you think it's fair that lefthanders have been linguistically abused for centuries?! There are many abusive terms for left-handers. There are a lot of sayings where "right" is good and "left" is bad ...... for example, "being in your right mind", "the divine right of kings", "it will be all right in the end" ..... all these have good meanings. But take "being left out", "having two left-feet", "a left-handed compliment" (one that is not really meant!) ..... NOT GOOD!!!

Even the word for "left-handed" in many languages, when translated, connotes something very negative:

In Greek, it's Skaios, which translates to ill-omened, awkward
In Italian it's Mancini, meaning crooked, maimed
In Spanish it's Zurdo, which means Reverse (while No Ser Zurdo means Clever)
The French say it's Gauche, which is Awkward, clumsy
In Dutch it's Linkshandig, meaning To "have two left hands" which translates to being clumsy
In German it's Links, and Linkisch means Awkward
(And how can???) In Norwegian it's Kjevhendt, Crooked-handed

But nothing beats the Australian expression of Mollie Dooker, which has something to do with having fists like a girl !!!!!

Don't they know we lefthanders are special, fascinating people?? Here are some FASCINATING LEFT-HANDED FACTS ....

Most left-handers draw figures facing to the right

There is a high tendency in twins for one to be left-handed

Stuttering and dyslexia occur more often in left-handers (particularly if they are forced to change their writing hand as a child, like King of England George VI)

Left-handers adjust more readily to seeing underwater

Left-handers excel particularly in tennis, baseball, swimming and fencing

Left-handers usually reach puberty 4 to 5 months after right-handers

4 of the 5 original designers of the Macintosh computer were left-handed

1 in 4 Apollo astronauts were left-handed - 250% more than the normal level

Left-handers are generally more intelligent, better looking, imaginative and multi-talented than right handers - based on discussions among members of the Left-Handers Club! :)

And have you ever considered that lots of things in this world are made with disregard to lefthanded people? It would be nice, for example, if there are scissors for lefties. Or vegetable peelers, can openers, kitchen/bread/craft knives, pencil sharpeners, even pens! (Many left-handers have a problem with smudging their work as the left hand brushes over the writing as you write from left to right).

There are probably many more things that can be modified to better suit lefthanders. For now, my right-brain is tired and I can't think of much more. Oh, do you know that for some reason, lefthanded people are predominantly right-brained? For once, we are RIGHT!!!!

(For a discussion on left-brain and right-brain, you'll have to wait for some other time when my mother gets the inspiration to write again. Right now, I am going to bed already ...... so, goodnight everyone!!)

HOLIDAY .... and blog holiday?

2007-12-06T03:10:00.002+08:00

Getting mouldy?

I must apologise for leaving the comments in the previous entry unanswered. I've been around, peeking into Blogger almost everyday but this being the school holidays, I am also in a kind of blogging holiday mood, I guess.

And also, blame it on Facebook ...... that time-wasting tool that is fun and addictive at the same time.

Anyway, yesterday was a fun-filled day when we went to this place ........ you can try guessing where it is. I will be back later with a more "worthy" blog entry :-)

* Taman Rekreasi Sungai Kedondong *

Batang Kali, on the route to Genting Highlands

NERD, GEEK or DORK

2007-11-19T17:01:00.000+08:00

Yet once again last week, we had to come up with some kind of explanation to differentiate the meanings of nerd, geek and dork. This one son of mine is somehow, for whatever reason, intrigued by these words. Sometimes he asks if he's a nerd, or if his father is a geek, or if any one of us in the family is a dork!

What these words really mean, and how they originated ~~ I have no clear and firm idea. I don't know if my attempt to define these words were entirely correct. So, naturally, I just check it out on the web. Am I a nerd for even trying to find out, or a geek for using the internet to find the answer to every question, or a dork for not knowing the differences?

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.

A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.

A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.

So I took the ARE YOU A NERD, GEEK OR DORK Test, (go ahead, click here and try for yourself) and har har har emerged as a PURE NERD. Uh oh .... boleh percaya ke ???

69 % Nerd, 39% Geek, 47% Dork

And compared to other people my age and my gender, supposedly, the test said I scored higher than 68% on nerdiness, higher than 65% on geekosity and higher than 85% on dork points. Which sort of puts me in the higher ends of nerdiness, geekiness and dorkiness. Amongst women my age, please remember that. I can't be compared to younger people, who may be more socially adept and technologically knowledgeable in today's world of young people.

So there.

I don't think I quite like the above results, though, which indicates that I am more nerdy than dorky than geeky. Which is the better one, I don't really know!

(From the test) : The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendencies associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful (don't I wish!)

(This entry is here just so no one thinks that I am taking time out from blogging) ....

#3 Off to 'Camp'

2007-11-03T02:17:00.002+08:00

Looks like the long-overdue Raya entry isn't going to see the light of day. Cerita raya dah basi ..... it was a very low-key Aidilfitri for the family, just for the record.

My elder son tonight is away at school, spending his first ever school-activity related overnighter. It's a Tunas Kadet Remaja Sekolah camping program/kursus kenaikan pangkat to obtain a Lance Corporal title. Son was very excited, Mama was anxious, to say the least.

He presented us with a list of things to bring along on the camping program. Off we trudged to the nearest Carre$$four and for a 2 days 1 night event, I emerged about RM200 poorer. Honestly, do the schools ever consider if such events would burn a big hole in the parents' pockets? (oh, okay, maybe we bought a few unneccessary things).

This morning after sending him off to school, KOTH came back with the report: our son seemed to have brought a heavily overloaded bag compared to some of the other boys. And I had thought he should have also brought along a blanket!!!

For the 2 days 1 night event, he has in his backpack:

6 t-shirts

5 pairs of track bottoms

3 pairs of underwear

3 pairs of socks

1 bath towel

1 pair of baju Melayu and kopiah (for solat wear)

1 pair of slippers

1 pair of sports shoes (in addition to the shoes on his feet)

1 bottle of liquid soap, 1 bottle of talcum powder, 1 tube of toothpaste (all newly bought)

Comb, toothbrush

Torchlight, nylon rope, and a few other things as required

A sleeping bag

(no tent, though)

Oh, I also managed to throw in some snacks, just in case the boys get hungry at night. He refused the drink bottle, water, packet drinks, ointments (just in case somebody gets bitten by some insect or other). And yeah, no blanket or the thick fleece jacket, just in case it rains or gets chilly.

I ironed everything nicely and packed them in the bag (after son carelessly stuffed everything in haphazardly).

Yes, I suppose it does sound like an overanxious parent at work here!

I relented and let him bring along the handphone. That was a good move .... he called a few times throughout the day, and night. Just to let me know what they were up to.

So did the teachers provide tents for you? I asked. Yes, and I got the biggest one, he said. There are 8 of them in that tent. Did everyone bring a sleeping bag each? I asked again. No, only 2 or 3 of us in the tent. So how? Furthermore, the teachers said it might rain tonight, he said. Kalau sejuk macamana?

But knowing my son, he'll probably come up with something McGyverish (eh?)

Another call later. Panaslah dalam khemah ni. We opened up the sleeping bags, so more of us can sleep on the bags, and we also have extra to make a blanket, he said.

Oh good (and to think, I wanted KOTH to stand by to deliver a blanket to the school just in case it rains heavily tonight ~~ oh how embarrassing!)

We'll see tomorrow how it turns out. And that will probably be the basis for considering whether he gets to go on anymore school 'camping' trips, I suppose.

ENJOYING AT THE MOMENT:

CONCURRENTLY ATTEMPTING TO READ:

Bought at Borders for RM 32.95

A steal at Pay Less Books, just RM 15

Costs Nothing, borrowed from the National Library

(Literature is literally just steps away from my office, joy oh joy!!)

Quick one for SIMAH

2007-10-25T16:57:00.000+08:00

Just so you can unflinchingly walk past the aisles displaying bottles of COKE and not be tempted to reach out for one ......

DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN EASILY MAKE YOUR OWN FIZZY DRINK??

And this one has so little sugar in it compared to Coca Cola that you won't be filled with guilt with each gulp you take .....

(Disclaimer ..... I have not tried it myself, yet. So I can't vouch for the taste or the "gassy effect").

To Make Your Own Fizzy Drink, you need:

A glass of water
Lemon juice
Castor sugar
Baking soda
(also known as Bicarbonate of Soda or Sodium Bicarbonate)

And how do you do it?

Squeeze some lemon juice into the glass of water and stir in a teaspoon of castor sugar.
Add a teaspoon of baking soda.
Enjoy!!!!
(You can substitute/add other acidic fruit juices as well)

The baking soda and lemon juice react to make carbon dioxide in the water (the bubbles that you see in fizzy drinks).

And by the way, here's an interesting experiment.

What happens when you add a handful of raisins to a glass of fizzy drink?
Put 5 or 6 raisins in a glass of fizzy drink and watch what happens. (A lighter coloured fizzy drink works better so you can see the raisins).

First the raisins sink because they are more dense or heavier than the drink.
Then bubbles of compressed carbon dioxide form under the raisins.
The bubbles make the raisins float, so they rise and when the bubbles reach the surface they burst.
That means the raisins are heavier than the drink again so they sink.

.... Then they rise to the top.
.... And sink again.
.... And then rise again.
.... And sink again.

Great entertainment when you're bored in the kitchen!!!!

The Fish Were Biting!!

2007-10-17T02:26:00.000+08:00

Before I make the usual Raya and post -Raya entry, here's a quick look at what our men,

and boy, who went fishing yesterday, caught.

Young fisherman setting out to sea, very early in the morning.

Casting away!

Tak mabuk ke?

Tired already?

Time to rest

Isn't this big?

The big catch that made the whole trip worthwhile.

Dear Friends and Readers ....

2007-10-09T15:39:00.000+08:00

In Fulfilling the 3 Basic Human Needs

2007-10-02T16:07:00.000+08:00

Hari Raya is fast approaching and as always, you can sense the excitement in the air as Muslims in the country start counting the days to Aidil Fitri.

The excitement felt by many is not just for the opportunity to multiply their 'pahala' during the month of Ramadan but also to celebrate the coming of Syawal as best they can.

Yet some people in their eagerness, lose sight of the real reasons for celebrating Aidil Fitri. They are lulled into a crazy buying/spending spree as shops slash prices, businesses entice with too many irresistable offers, and some lucky ones are rewarded by extra income in the form of bonuses to fuel their shopping frenzy.

Nowadays the Muslims with great pomp and show celebrate Aidil Fitri, but unfortunately its real spirit is ignored.

It is understandable to want to prepare "ala kadar" for the coming of Syawal, but does anything justify buying more jewellery/gold pieces just for Hari Raya, new furniture and new curtains if the old are still good, or even a brand new car to balik kampung with!!! ????? If some advertisements you hear on the radio are anything to go by, that is what some Malays are capable of doing. (I am so miffed by this one ad in which the wife asks for gold from the husband for raya, since they are not going to 'balik kampung' "sebab hanya P** K*** (insert a jewelry/gold shop's name here) dapat membahagiakan saya"!!!)

Just a word of reminder: If you are one of the haves, you must remember the have-nots as you go about your Raya shopping.

And oh, what does the 3 basic human needs got to do with Hari Raya, anyway?
(The 3 basic human needs being the provision of shelter, dress and food).

Nak Raya ~~ hiaslah rumah tapi jangan sampai berlebih-lebih!

Nabi Muhammad (S.A.W.) dealt with the issue of shelter by preferring to live in a simple house and expected his Companions to follow him in this respect. Once when a wealthy Companion built a palatial building, the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) disliked it to such an extent that he socially boycotted that Companion. As a result of the Holy Prophet's stern attitude in this respect, none of the Companions ever dared to outdo one another in when it comes to their living abodes. Due to this policy, even the poor in the society were able to have shelter for themselves (without too much feeling of disparity between the rich and the poor). I suppose it just makes sense to follow the Prophet's ways when it comes to Hari Raya - make your house nice and presentable but don't go overboard!

Nak Raya ~~ Beli baju baru tapi janganlah sampai berlebih-lebih!

According to one of the stories about the prophet, Nabi Muhammad (S.A.W.) used to wear a special dress to grace the occasion of Eid, but it was never a costly one and was always within the reach of everybody. Once Saidina Umar brought a costly dress for him requesting him to wear it on Eid days and other ceremonial occasions. Nabi Muhammad (S.A.W.) immediately returned the dress observing that it did not befit a believer (of Islam) to wear such a costly dress. The result was that all the Companions dressed simply on this occasion and consequently this simplicity became a symbol of the Islamic society. By dressing simply on this happiest occasion, the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) solved the issue of the second basic need of the society. So, belilah baju baru kalau mampu tapi tak perlulah berbelanja sampai beribu-ribu ringgit!

Nak Raya ~~ Buat/beli kuih raya dan sediakan juadah di hari raya, tapi janganlah sampai membazir!

The third basic need of society is food. By taking various steps, the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) ensured that nobody was deprived of this basic need in the Islamic society. But the situation on festivals is usually different. On this day, everybody tries to enjoy special dishes, which normally the poor cannot afford. The Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) held this point in view, and he made such an efficient arrangement that not only was good food guaranteed for all the poor of the society on that day, but also some of their other needs were met. For us this means that we must remember our obligations to pay the Zakat Fitrah so that those who are in need will have a chance to benefit from it and to celebrate the coming of Syawal as well. In addition, we must remember that Syawal is to celebrate the completion of Ramadhan and not an excuse to engorge ourselves on the good spread normally found on Hari Raya!

It's A Crazy World We Live In

2007-09-21T16:40:00.000+08:00

I am beyond aghast. I am truly saddened. I am scared. Aghast at the intensity of a heinous crime perpetrated against an innocent child. Saddened at the manner of her death, the circumstances surrounding the discovery of her body, and the sorrow that must be in her parents' hearts. And I am scared of what has become of the world that we live in - one in which little children are no longer safe, where parents can no longer afford to let their children enjoy a carefree life, and where criminals walk in our midst, animals in the guise of humans.

Our children are robbed of their childhood, their innocence and their freedom to grow up freely, as children, as we their parents once did. They and we their parents have to be ever watchful, ever cautious, ever fearful.

There's no guarantee that your child, who leaves the house to go to a shop just a short distance away, won't be cruelly snatched away from your lives forever.

Rest in peace, Nurin Jazlin Jazimin. The whole country grieves for you, along with your parents, and for the future safety of all children.

(Nurin's uncle has a blog on her disappearance and her eventual 'return' here. You can go there to express your condolences/salam takziah to the family).

**** If I have my way, I would want to implant a tracking device in all my children, so that I would always know of their wherebouts. It really is worth a consideration.

New 'Kid' on the Blog

2007-09-16T00:56:00.000+08:00

No, it's not my husband KOTH. He is still not over the novelty of recently discovering that his wife has been blogging for 2 years. I have been egging him on about starting his own blog but he has not got around to doing it yet. He has been enjoying reading my blog entries (I hope) and doing some bloghopping, as well as introducing my blog to a few people.

I found out that someone else in the family also has a blog on Blogspot. Let me introduce you to KOTASTAR. The writer writes about issues which interest him, in addition to dishing out quite a bit of historical nostalgia. And I guess, by virtue of being a 'senior' citizen, also dispenses some wisdom through his writings. Go read his blog and if you decide to leave a comment, let him know you got there by way of his daughter's blog. Yes, this blogger is my dad. He's known by many names and has worn many hats, but to most, he is Pak Non.

KotaStar
A progressive district in the state and being its capital KotaStar is home to many activities. It has a history dating back 200 years plus.

KotaStar
Gender: Male
Astrological Sign: Leo
Occupation: Human Relations
Location: Alor Star, Kedah, Malaysia

About Me

Malaysia celebrates its golden anniversary comes August 2007. It also heralds 'Visit Malaysia Year', with invitations thrown to the whole world to come to Malaysia. I came to this world much earlier than 'Malaysia'. It is great to be elder than your country! Because you can see its growth. How fortunate.

Interests

Reading, Connecting with Alumni and Classmates, Photography, Driving, History and Culture, Homestay Program plus issues that give peace and comfort

www.kotastar.blogspot.com/

GOT DATES?

2007-09-13T10:47:00.000+08:00

What to do when you have more dates than you can handle? I'm talking about the fruity kind of dates!

Every Ramadan we receive lots of dates (kurma). Usually we'd eat them at iftar and sahur, but you can only eat a few pieces of them. The children aren't quite keen on eating dates. By the end of Ramadan, I'd usually still have packs and containers of dates left, which I'd stick into the 'fridge and then forget about them. In fact, I still have quite an amount left from last Ramadan!

In the past, I have had to reluctantly throw them away after hoping someone in the house would eat them ... but no one did. This time around, I have prepared myself with some recipes that would allow me to make use of the dates. (Tak baik membazir, kan?)

So what do you do when you have too many dates? Make cookies!!!! Maybe I can even serve them for Raya.

Here's one recipe that looks interesting.

Date Pinwheel Cookies

Yield: Makes 6 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

1-1/4 cups dates, pitted and finely chopped
3/4cup orange juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon butter
3 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons vanilla, divided
1 cup packed brown sugar
4 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

1. Combine dates, orange juice, granulated sugar, butter and 1 tablespoon flour in medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook 10 minutes or until thick, stirring frequently; remove from heat. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla; set aside to cool.

2. Beat brown sugar, cream cheese and shortening in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed about 3 minutes or until creamy. Add eggs and remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla; beat 2 minutes longer.

3. Combine remaining 3 cups flour, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Add to shortening mixture; stir just until blended. Divide dough in half. Roll one half of dough on lightly floured surface into 12X9-inch rectangle. Spread half of date mixture evenly over dough, leaving 1/4-inch border at top short edge. Starting at short side, tightly roll up dough jelly-roll style. Wrap in plastic wrap; freeze at least 1 hour. Repeat with remaining dough and date mixture.

4. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease cookie sheets. Unwrap dough. Using heavy thread or dental floss, cut dough into 1/4-inch slices. Place slices 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheets.

5. Bake 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cookies stand on cookie sheets 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

(Recipe from Easy Home Cooking Magazine)

REUNION

2007-09-10T11:51:00.000+08:00

Dear Friends of St Nicholas Convent school,

I have not seen most of you for 32 years since I left the primary school while I was in Standard 6. I did meet up with some of you after that, but the last time was many, many years ago.

You can't blame me for being apprehensive about attending the Reunion. Would many of you have forgotten me? Most of you went on to secondary school together and have shared some more wonderful years together.

Anyway, it was so much fun being in a roomful of "young again" ladies that the reunion seemed to end way too soon. Too bad I was late and missed the official photo session ...... when I got there, I just simply followed my ears and walked towards where all the screams and laughter were coming from!!

Of course everyone looked different from what I remembered but there was no mistaking the faces (except for a very few!). The "Then and Now" slide show was fantastic. The biggest fun was when we crowned the "Ratu Awet Muda" .... I guess we were all envious of those who had managed to keep their youthful looks (and figures!).

Thanks to the friends who organised this event so efficiently. The FIRST REUNION ever! The second one will be looked forward to, but it will be hard to beat the first memorable one, for sure.

Here's to friendship .... old friends, new friends, and newly-found old friends.

Just A Small Announcement

2007-09-04T12:09:00.000+08:00

I have a new reader ...... who didn't know I have had a blog for the past two years. (I hinted many times but he didn't get it!)

He found out by accident about this blog. (Actually, I think I accidentally left a "trail" on your Blackberry, now that I think about it).

So KOTH ..... you dah habis baca all the entries ka? I couldn't believe you actually spent hours reading my blog when you first found out, hehehe!

And you were waiting for me to update the blog??

By the way, let us know when you are inspired to start your own blog.

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This is part of the catch over the weekend. Lots of fish to last for several days!

HAPPY MERDEKA WEEKEND

2007-08-30T14:39:00.000+08:00

I am excited at the prospect of meeting up with some very, very old friends, some of whom I have not seen for the 32 years since I left my primary school. Some of these friends went on to their secondary years at the same school. To them, it will be their first "high school reunion", after 27 years. For me, it will be a "primary school reunion".

Some of these friends managed to get in touch with me through this blog. Isn't that nice?

So, through a lot of hard work, internet search, e-mailing, phone calls and sms's, and not to forget reminiscing about old times, we had managed to track down many more of the old school friends.

We're all set for the reunion in the hometown tomorrow. Sadly, our old school is no longer standing where it once majestically (to little girls, at least) stood. Still, the reunion promises to be a BOMB, and we girls might just scream the roof down when we meet (imagine these 44 and 43 year-old ladies acting like little girls)!!

Sekian lama kita menghilang
Kini menunggu hari gemilang
Manakan tidak jiwa seronok
Hati yang mana tak rasa girang
Bagaikan ikan pulang ke lubuk
Seperti sirih pulang ke gagang .......

On another note, SELAMAT MENYAMBUT HARI MERDEKA to everyone!

(While I am looking forward to meeting old friends this Merdeka weekend, KOTH and his fishing kakis (brothers) will be going ..... you guessed it .... fishing!)

GOOD WISHES

2007-08-23T12:07:00.000+08:00

Today my father turns 70. What a grand age. Happy Birthday Daddy and I wish you continuous good health and happiness, always.

And by the way ....

I hope all of you who regularly/ocassionally pop by my blog have not decided to abandon this humble blog seeing that I have not been updating very often lately. It's just a transient phase, I hope. I have not lost my zest in blogging ...... it is still a very fun thing to do.

First thing on my list, as far as blogging is concerned, is to do some housecleaning. Get rid of some cobwebs and non-functioning links, and then maybe have a makeover.

I will be back soon ... please don't go away.

What Have I Been Up To Lately?

2007-08-10T16:47:00.000+08:00

Besides not blogging or bloghopping, that is ........

Rediscovering Old Friendships

I once wrote about my primary school days, a time in my life when everything was uncomplicated and childhood friendships were made with the purest intentions of becoming friends. Over the years, as each of us get on with our lives, some of those childhood friendships may have suffered the test of time …… some of us drift apart for no apparent reason, some of us take on new interests and old ones fizzled, and some of us simply lose touch with one another.

Then suddenly one resourceful person decides to do something to reconnect those old friends …….. and all of a sudden you start receiving emails from familiar names long forgotten and phone calls from old friends who sound just like they did over 20 or 30 years ago. And amazingly, you realize that childhood friendships that have been suspended in time can so easily be resumed as you start reminiscing over old times and giggling like the schoolgirls you once were.

It has been an exhilarating week …… I got to see old photos of some of these friends from primary school, and some recent photos in which I can still see shadows of the young girls I once knew. I can still recognize the little girls I knew on some of the faces, but there are also others who have changed so much that I probably wouldn’t even know who they were if we were to bump into each other.

These girls are planning to have a reunion on Merdeka Day back in the hometown (many of them are still living there). It would be great if I can meet up with them.

Getting Used to a New Place

Workwise, everything is almost back to normal. We have shifted office …… one much nearer from home than the one we were supposed to move to. It is still further away from home compared to the old office, but one advantage is that I’m almost a stone throw’s away from KOTH’s office building. If I use a a pair of binoculars, I am quite sure I can see into his office in that building! Not that we ever meet up for lunch or even keep the same office hours, but at least most of the days we come to work together and we get a chance to have some decent conversations without being interrupted by any of the kids.

And The House in Alor Setar?

Two weekends ago, I finally went home and manage to put away some of the things in the house. We returned to KL with the car loaded to the max with lots of stuff that I suppose are ‘barang pusaka’. Dinner sets, crockery, pictures, clothes ……. Yet there are so many things still in the house that will need another weekend to be properly put away. It was sad going home to my mother’s empty house. My boys, on arrival, tersasul bila beri salam ………. “Assalamualaikum..” they yelled at the door. “Tok Mummy, buka lah pintu Tok Mummy” they said. Tapi Tok Mummy tak ada …… (Imagine if Tok Mummy betul-betul yang buka pintu tu ….. tentu berterabur we all semua lari!)

MERDEKA once again!

It’s the Merdeka month …… have you got that big flag out yet? We have never failed to fly the Jalur Gemilang every year, but this year we’ve been late in putting out the flag. Gotta do it this weekend ……

In Transition ......

2007-07-24T14:11:00.000+08:00

I am in the process of moving offices, and you can imagine the state of 'tunggang-langgang' everything is, or will be soon. Worse, the new premises is not ready yet, while the present premises has to be vacated next week. So it looks like I will be working from home for a few weeks ...... and I don't know whether that is a good thing or a bad one.

The new office is further from my home, and I am sure it is going to cost me extra for transportation. I have the option of using the LRT (very convenient), though. But again, don't know if that's good or bad. I hate the crowds in public transportation (who doesn't?)

I have toyed with the idea of becoming a full-time stay-at-home-mom (again, nothing new) but I don't know too if that's good or bad for now. I mean, having kids in my hair 24/7 ......... is that good? Or crazy? I am not crazy about the loss of income, that I am sure of. But I am not too excited at the thought of commuting to work and being further from home. Right now, I can dash home, or go to the kids' schools easily if needed.

There's going to be an increased workload at the office, since the company's taking on more projects. Which definitely means a huge increase in revenues. Hmmmmmmm ....... maybe if I ask the boss for a huge raise, it'll make all the commuting worthwhile. Like maybe a 70 percent increase in salary. Hahahaha, crazy or not?

When a Child Flies the Roost

2007-07-18T15:40:00.000+08:00

Over the weekend, one of our nieces (KOTH's niece, actually; mine are still very young) got married. The bride's father, my brother-in-law, was the quintessential father-of-the-bride. Did you catch Steve Martin in the movie "Father Of The Bride"? Well, that was what my BIL was like since well before the engagement ceremony, ONLY WORSE!!! He fussed over every detail of the wedding ceremonies, and oscillated between being joyful and mournful all at the same time.

It's not difficult to understand how he feels. To see the girl who grew up before your eyes taking that leap from being a single girl to a married woman, to relinquish her to another man ....... that must have been a very touching moment for a father. The whole family had to put up with a whole gamut of emotions displayed by BIL ........ we made light of the situation by teasing him, at the same time trying to cheer him up.

The first night the daughter left the house (to spend the night at a hotel prior to the dinner reception), father-of-the-bride could not go to sleep. He paced about the house, saying it was all too quiet. He finally put on one of his daughter's t-shirts and fell asleep!!!

We all laughed at him, but while we may do so, I wonder how I would react under the same circumstances. Just thinking of the possibility of any of my kids leaving home to go to boarding school is enough to make me shed tears. Imagine that .....

Anyway, the wedding pictures are of course beautiful, but I can't put them up here without everyone's permission. So, I'll just show off what I got over the weekend ....... my first ever henna art!

Henna drying on my hand :-)

LAST WEEK .....

2007-07-10T10:43:00.000+08:00

Last week .......

Penat dok fikir pasal rumah di Alor Setar. Tak adalah sepenat mana actually; bukannya kena perah otak pun. Just emotionally draining. When you think of 'losing' something that has been a big part of your life, you get a bit emotional. Just thinking of some other people living in that house makes me sad.

There's lots of memories associated with the house and the things inside it. Like the scribbling on the wall in what used to be the boys' room (my brothers'). I had a smaller room all to myself. My three brothers shared a big room - well, two of them actually, since the oldest of them three was away in the UK and only occupied the room when he came home for holidays. One summer holiday, I came home. My two youngest brothers were 9 and 7 at that time. I was 20. The youngest one wrote on the wall ....... "Kak **** tidur di sini. Cici (what we called him) tidur di bilik e-kon" Bilik e-kon (air-cond) is the master bedroom. The writing is still there after all these years. It is all the more significant to me because my youngest brother passed away when he was 15. I look at the writing on the wall and remember him as the little boy who was just beginning to learn to spell.

And then there's the stickers and decals which my brothers plastered onto the door of their room. I had bought the stickers for them.

And the wooden shoe rack that I turned into a bookcase by repainting the whole thing. I remember laying the shelves on the grass behind the house and spraypainting them. I had miscalculated the amount of paint I needed and ran out before the job was finished. My youngest brother volunteered to go to the shops to buy some more. He was maybe 11 or 12 at the time, and cycled all the way to a hardware store and bought me the paint, and we had fun spraying paint (not just on the shelves but also on the grass).

Wonderful memories of the family.

Just small stuff that memories are made of ......

Last week .....

Tension sebab kena attend parent-teacher conference at the boys' school. Report card day, apa lagi. First I went to the youngest son's class. Semua orang except for two of them dah balik. I was the last parent there. Kena tunggu teacher, my son said the teacher pergi toilet. Apalah lama sangat teacher ni kat toilet? "Biasalah ........ perempuan". Budak kecik tu cakap. Amboi, pandainya dia.

But his result was good, dapat No.2 in the class, and my tension dissipated a little. That was considered good, said the teacher, considering at the beginning of the year he had to attend KIA, sort of a remedial class for those who have nor mastered reading yet. He is reading fine now. And rajin buat homework.

Cuma satu saja, kata cikgu. "Tulisan dia" ....... alamak memang tulisan dia tak cantik. Bukan saja tak cantik, it is really large, sampai tak muat line. KOTH kata large handwriting reflects a very confident person. It seems to run in the family .... KOTH punya writing besar, elder son punya writing pun besar (and really messy, as if he is in a hurry). Entahlah cikgu, saya dah berusaha ajar dia tulis kecik-kecik tapi dia nak juga tulis besar-besar .......

Next , to the elder son's class. There was a long queue and I was also last in line. Each parent seemed to be taking an exceedingly long time discussing his/her child's performance. Agaknya dah Tahun 4 ni, banyaklah yang perlu diberi perhatian. My turn finally came. The class teacher is an ustaz, and my son really looks up to him.

First thing he asked me, "Anak akak ni pergi tuition tak?" Oh oh, here it comes, I thought. I started to get apologetic ....... errrrr, tak, tak ada masa nak attend tuition. Balik rumah pun dah lepas maghrib selalunya, memang tak sempat nak hantar tuition. And weekends, we prefer to do family-related activities. "OH TAHNIAH!!! Kalau macam tu memang saya nak ucap tahniah" kata ustaz.

Alamak, dia ni nak perli ke apa ni? "Kenapa, apa maksud ustaz?" "Kalau tanpa tuition dia boleh dapat results macam ni, memang saya kagum" kata ustaz. Tak sangka betul, my son dapat number 7 dalam class. "Dia tak belajar langsung sebelum periksa, Ustaz. Memang dia malas nak buat homework. Kalau saya paksa, dia kata dia dah pandai, dia dah faham semuanya ............ "

Memang budak-budak ni ada macam-macam jenis. Yang pertama, dia tak tumpu perhatian semasa guru mengajar, lepas tu balik rumah baru dia nak ulangkaji. Yang kedua, dia betul-betul tumpu perhatian dalam kelas, dia fahami betul-betul apa yang cikgu mengajar. Balik rumah dia dah tak pegang buku sebab dia dah faham. Anak akak ni macam ni lah, kata ustaz. Yang ketiga, dia faham dalam kelas dan dia ulangkaji di rumah. Ini lagi bagus.

Overall, my son did well, except for Ugama. "Dia mengaku dia tak pandai jawi", kata ustaz. "Kalau boleh, beri perhatian lagi dalam hal-hal ugama", kata ustaz. "Itulah yang paling baik. Sebab anak akak ni ..... saya tengok ada kelebihan luarbiasa. Cara dia berfikir, cara dia bawa diri. Didik dia dengan betul, insyaalah besar nanti, dia tentu berjaya. Saya sayang dia ni, sebab dia memang special, dan saya senang dengan dia. Memang tak susah nak mengajar dia", kata ustaz lagi.

Wah ...... kembang mak dia dengar pujian dari ustaz. Ustaz kata otak dia ni selalu berfikir, he seems to have a solution for everything. "Macam McGyver lah dia ni" kata ustaz.

Hehehe, lepas ambil report card, lega rasa hati.

I was so pleased, in fact, I totally forgot all my woes about the house in Alor Setar.

HOUSE vs HOME

2007-07-04T16:51:00.000+08:00

I did not go back over the weekend. It looks like I am trying to delay the inevitable - something that has to be done whether I like it or not. Simah said it so succinctly in her comment in the last entry - how her sister-in-law was overcome by emotion when she was putting away their anne's belongings. That is exactly what I dread to experience.

But I will not have the chance to keep putting it off much longer.

The decision to rent out the house has been made. It was totally my father's decision. My brothers and I don't like it, but .........

And, it looks like we will not have a place to balik kampong to anymore. What does that make us? The displaced siblings?

Hand me the tissues, please.

Sifting Through ....... Things, Memories, Emotions

2007-06-26T16:06:00.000+08:00

Ever since my mother passed away on February 2nd, I have been back to the family house (we call it "Rumah Mummy") in the hometown only once - with my two brothers, and that was only for one day/one night. We stayed in the house only long enough to look through my mother's belongings to find some important documents and to pick up her valuables and my late grandma's valuables that were still in my mother's keeping.

I didn't quite know what to do with the jewellery ....... as the only daughter, some people told me that I have all rights to my mom's jewellery and I could at my discretion choose whichever pieces I want to give to my other siblings. My father had told us that we did not have to give him any of it although he did request that I keep with me certain pieces. I had also told my brothers that I wanted my mother's wedding ring.

I didn't quite agree (or felt that it is right) that I have sole rights to my mom's jewellery; these items are to be divided according to Faraid law unless those who have the rights to them agree otherwise. And I am sure that my brothers were also hoping to get some pieces as part of our mother's legacy, and as part of their memories of our mother.

Anyway, this entry is not about that. It's not actually about dividing up the "harta peninggalan".

Back to the jewellery ....... I had such a hard time about it. First, deciding who gets what and then dividing them up. I don't know how best to explain it, though. It's as if I wanted everything to be as it was ....... and dividing up our mother's gold pieces felt to me like breaking up to pieces a part of her. So, in order not to deal with it, I had given all the pieces to the elder of my two brothers (I am the eldest, Z is a year younger than me, and N is 10 years younger than Z).

I suppose along the way, we had agreed to divide the jewellery equally among the three of us. We had already had the pieces evaluated, roughly, that time we returned "home". Still, I kept putting it off, my way of not dealing with the situation. My brother, Z, in the meantime was getting uneasy keeping everything in his house ......... manalah tahu, hilang ke, apa ke.

That wasn't the only thing I kept putting off. In fact, my brothers too had deliberately procrastinated over this. We had left the house exactly as our mother left it, all her things almost exactly as she had left them. My father had requested that we go home and sort through Mummy's belongings, take whatever we want and maybe give away some as sedekah.

As long as all her things are there as she had left them, we feel that a part of her still exists in this world with us. Yes, we talked about this. That was why it has been so difficult to go back to Mummy's house, to put away all the things related to her.

The house ...... it's a big house with substantial land area around the house. Although we call it "Mummy's house" it is legally still our father's house. But with mummy gone, he does not live in the house anymore. He has another house where he lives with his second family. He had spent more time in the other house anyway, even when Mummy was still around.

Still, I am sure like us, my father too has fond memories of the house. He built it in 1979-1980. I did not grow up in that house but many years of my adulthood had been spent there. My brother N, however, did grow up in that house and I am sure he has a greater attachment to that house compared to me.

To make the story short, let me just say that ever since my mother passed away, that house has been empty. Isn't that just sad? I had not been back to the house to put anything away, and my brothers too have been just as guilty. It's only our father who now does whatever he can to maintain the house.

Some people say a house left unoccupied will begin to lose its "NUR" ..... lama-kelamaan rumah itu akan hilang serinya. And who knows "what else" may want to inhabit a big empty house.

Maybe I need some opinions to help put things in perspective ........

If you were in my shoes, how would you be feeling and what would you do about the house?

If you were my father, what would you be thinking/doing?

(I suppose this is Part 1 of this entry. This weekend I will be "going home" ........ sifting through all the stuff ... mostly old stuff ..... and dealing with the accompanying memories and emotions).

Somehow, unlike all those times when my mother was there to welcome us home and later wave us goodbye, I am really not looking forward to going home to "Mummy's house" anymore.