i just got back from iftar Kapasitor.net 2009. tonnes of pictures but will have to wait before i will have the strength to upload it. thanks to everyone who came. and those who can't join us, maybe later. see you peeps

Uncle is going to come back from Penang on Friday. And of course I know I’d be skinned alive for eating out on Saturday with Kapasitor family BUT I’m willing to risk that.

However, that’s not my point.

How else can I define my celebration if it does not involve multiple cleanings in a stretch of two weeks? We will be asked (shouted at actually because all of us will be appearing at the stairs when grandma first called our names and then gone with the wind once she turned around) to gather and be assigned to our roles. Me: taking out the plates, washing them (under the hot scorching sun. This is part of the un-cool part of living in a kampung-like house. And our store is located outside the house). It will include me disappearing for a half an hour sometimes since I pretended to take out the plates while I was actually sleeping. Thi hi hi.

My brothers will be assigned to tebas rumput, wipe the fan, contribute to air pollution by performing open burning while the smaller kids are in charge of running around the house, tripping all over everything while having ice-cream and showing it to our faces all day long. And then we, the older ones, get screamed at when we ‘advised’ the kids not to bother us. Well, this scenario is mostly familiar when the uncle from Penang comes back and what I’m going to share is about that.

I’d be slaving under hot sun and proceeded to carry the plates, cups, saucers and all sorts of things ( I was conned. When grandma says plates, I naively believed what she said so and believed it will be just plates. Some people will just never learn (points to meself)) to the kitchen before having to wipe them all from dripping water. By this time, usually it has reached mid day and having a bigger family now with the addition of another two families, the cooking process starts by then and the kitchen can no longer fit us. My other cousin of the same age will be running like a mad woman around the kitchen with a knife in her hand. It’s a real miracle to find that I’m still alive provided that the knife always seems to be in close contact with my skin almost yearly. God, thank you for letting my sour breath fill the atmosphere until now and allowing me to type this blog while having to wait for someone alone in the living room because that person does not have the key. Heuhfhfoh.

Oh where was I? Right.

The kitchen will be full of people while I will also be occupying a small portion of the kitchen as I have to walk up and down up and down the stairs to arrange the plates saucers bla bla bla bla. Then grandma (by this time we will call her mandur aka supervisor behind her back) and check my work. Usually, there will be something wrong with it. Like ‘the saucers should be tilted 37.5 degrees to the west and the plates should be in coordinate 43’ 00’. And I grumble. If she says nothing, then I’ll look at her in utter disbelief as if someone has really said that ‘ Honey, the world is really flat you know. Sorry for the misunderstanding’. We are so totally used to hear her grumble that failing to hear one does seem to leave a huge gap in our lives. So it didn’t matter. We HAVE to hear her correct us.

The day will seem to crawl and the worse is yet to come if we have to masak rendang or ketupat. We still cook food outside the house especially during celebrations because we are blessed with a lawn but on a hot day during ramadhan, when you have practically chase a whole school around the yard, going near a fire does not seem as the most enchanting thing to do. But someone has to do the deed and thankfully, it’s a different person every time.

We’d be so flat out on that day that every one of us will just be crawling on the floor during iftar or being abu jidar (with our backs pressed to the wall). The kids will also be doing the same thing, not because they are tired but because they are recharging for some fireworks (legal ones) after maghrib. But we’d be smiling because in the end, we will have a huge feast with every one and all the sweat, sore throats and sore bones felt worth it.

Yes, I’m still walking down the memory lane. And the time will start tomorrow. Spring cleaning everyone!

alhamdulillah, we have reached to the tenth day of ramadhan. today, not like last year, i am blessed with good health. thank God.

ramadhan might be the month where i keep reminiscing about lots of things. especially the ones related to the time of innocence and pure happiness. and this year around is no exception. with the arrival of baby imran, i might say that i just can't seem to stop walking down the memory lane.

i am the only daughter in the family. among the 15 granchildren and 2 great grandchildren, i am the oldest girl in the family (my other girl cousin was born a week after me). so you can imagine the excitement for our parents during raya, especially when i live with my grandparents. sometimes it feels weird to have four baju kurung when all you actually do is just sit at home and watch cartoons and then circus (yes, i grew up during that era) all day long. i think there was a time when i had more than that. can't remember.

the new clothes will make an appearance out of the wardrobe during this time around. and due to the understandable and almost predictable attitude of a young child, of course i will be putting it on for at least three days in a row to see how i look in it. yeah, as if there's a difference in all three days. i walked to and fro in the room, usually in front of the mirror, complete with new hairband and all. but i'm careful not to step outside the room because then grandma will know what i was doing so better be safe than sorry. well, that's for the new clothes.

shoes were even worse. i will be wearing it non stop, click-clacking through the day. i will be slipping in and out of the bedroom just to open my shoebox and wear it again. and you guessed it right. it almost became worn by the first eid-ul-fitr. well, there's so much a young child can do during her free time in ramadhan.

and the pattern has made little change during the course of several years. at least until i hit 1-2.

then i got my first handbag. oke yg ini sgt hopeless. i put it on and well...put it under my pillow. it was blue in colour and i remember falling in love with it (at least until the first week of raya) and i decided to hide it just in case someone wants it. yeah yeah typical authoritative and domineering me. one of the first things i do every morning was just to feel if it was there. most of the time i will be frantic because it will be placed at the far end of the pillow.

but now, the excitement for me has died. its replaced with the excitement of dressing others. i no longer see it as a must to have multiple brand new clothes (sbb tau setakat cuci pinggan kat dapur, tak payah la nak buat fesyen show kat situ). instead, i dragged my cousins around beginning the second week of raya to buy things for them and maybe sepasang baju kurung towards the end of ramadhan. because i want them to be happy. for me, eid-ul-fitr is for them. well, unlucky that i can't buy mercun for them BUT i still can compensate it by dressing them up.

guess what? the second week has started. and maybe i should be picking out something for baby imran right? wonder if mom will flip.


'baju die je dah satu lemari. ni nak beli lagi?'

ah. i love driving my emak crazy.

interested to know about a place to eat in amcorp mall? click my other blog dedicated for food.

new update on the said blog

The smell of kuih raya fills the house and I was immediately transported back to a time when i don't have to worry about bills to pay, make budgets every single month and have to rack my brain on what to wear on weekdays. Yes, the time when I was younger.

I remember a day when i was no more than 11, maybe 10 or 9. It was really close to iftar but seriously, I felt like I was walking in Gurun Kalahari. Back then, my auntie was still not here and I was the only person having to angkut all the food and drinks to the table for iftar. On that day, I was so thirsty and when my grandmother asked me to carry the drink from our kitchen to the hall (our house is like kampung house), I jumped at the opportunity. As I held the big plastic jug in my hands, I felt pretty insane. It's like I lost the ability to think straight. I gulped the drink down.

And I was caught. I mean, nobody walked on me when I drank the tea but once I stepped to the table, my grandma said 'ha dah tak puasa dah'. how can she know based on my looks alone? Ah..I was young and foolish.

and there was this one time when my school was having this program susu sekolah. i remembered that i ordered two. i was eleven then. my friends and i were fooling around as usual but it must have been pretty intense since it was friday. we had somewhat like a school play because i had a kain batik. oke, really can't remember what i did on that day. but the last thing i know, we were sitting outside the school and we were drinking the milk while covering our heads with kain batik. keji gile perangai. dah la buat depan pintu pagar sekolah.

i finished one of the milk and when i reached home, mestilah jadi pelakon terhebat and continued feigning tiredness. auntie looks at my face and she can instantly tell that i didn't fast on that day. how can she possibly do that?

and i remembered my younger brother and i went to the toilet and drank water. haha. tu la org suruh duduk diam-diam masa bulan puasa tanak kan? lps tu lari sana lari sini, penat lps tu batal pose. but emak said nothing though i knew she knew what we were up to.

I am excited during ramadhan because this will be the best time to main mercun. Back then when my siblings and cousins are younger, we will surely main mercun right after iftar. we will be holding those mercun in our hands right through iftar, as if somebody might take it away from us and we will never see it again. we will be rushing to gulp down our drinks and food and will be making such a racket once we finish iftar. there were only 2 girls at that time among all the boys so you can imagine how panicked the girls were when all the boys have finished eating. and of course we had to help clean up the plates and food after iftar. and we try to hurry to the point sometimes we almost bang into each other. i can still remember the smell of belerang and the excitement to play mercun.

My favorite will be the one yang keluarkan api macam-macam kaler. sumpah tak ingat ape bende. and another one willl be pasang pelita keliling rumah. but i guess we are older now so we won't be enjoying this. i actually offered my cousins money to buy mercun but they do not want it. bosan betul budak-budak ni. di manakah semangat raya mereka?

so what about you? anything that comes to mind during this time? well i do. i can't eat much kuih raya because my nostrils have been full with its smell for the whole month, thanks to dear auntie. TSK

I took this when imran was sleeping. He was laughing while he was sleeping, mostly in the early part.

God, i miss Imran so much. mom said that he can now play with the toy i gave him. play as in pull the string to the star and hence make it sing. ouh well, i will try to see that small hero in two weeks time maybe. i just can't get enough of leafing through his pictures. kentut kau leafing. ade ke kau print gambar-gambar tu. oke fine i get it. esok juga pergi print gamba. haha scary nye kau ni ckp seorg diri.

oke sudah. mau minum air sampai kembung

3rd day puasa and this is actually my first day back in KL. i spent two days in Klang where my mum has to endure the pain of waking me up. me saying 'ye..ha' when I actually spelt right through sahur. meaning, no sahur. and then i followed dear mum to shop. sikit lagi nak buat aksi terpengsan di pasar.

so, i decided that this year i am going to change. i will wake up to at least drink something, if not wat. and today it's a competition as i managed to grab something a few minutes before the call of azan subuh. here goes the dialogue:
'eh angah nak sahur?'
me (very blur): ha ye la. sempat kan?
'eh lps ni azan la?'
'hah ye ke?' and i proceeded to dip my spoon into my auntie's tall tin of planta (she was making raya cookies) and smooth it on top of my toasted bread. well, a slice. and while chomping of it, my cousin gave me words of encouragement
'ye cepat angah cepat. dah nak azan dah ni?'
and i managed to swallow it all before azan. well, only a slice but better than nothing.

that's my 3rd day of ramadhan. how's yours?

this is me when i was a baby

this is my baby nephew. tak nampak?

what about now? (wajah ebebrapa minit sebelum die muntah di atas saya T_T)

as we happen to look the same, imran and i are going to be best buddies.
darn, i miss him already
and we have the same nose!

p/s: thanks bro for the perfume!

I was out with syud today to Apun's place 9ha lps ni apun ko tak bole komplen sbb ade org siap masak ni tatahan). oke aku tau pedas tapi diam sudah.

pics will be uploaded later (read: two months from now silap-silap T_T)

btw i had a lot of fun and apart from that I got these from sya and syud. OMG tahank you so much

ok i promise i'll envy you pink box

ouh i love the smell. absolutely. dan sgt sayang nak pakai sbb super comel

tau tak syud? saye sgt suke dgn totebag ini (read: lipat dgn baik dan masukkan dlm almari untuk memuatkan barang kamera yg disayangi

ni apun kasi. eh ke aku amek tanpa perasaan malu? :D

bookmark nemo yang comel untukmenanda di mana sudah bace 'Good Man hunting'

thank you so much people. i heart this all XOXOXOXO

exactly what i think of doing on every day at five. but of course, to no avail. tsk

Life it seems, is moving in the fast lane. It was not unbearable but I seem to notice that the clock on the wall were moving at the speed of the light instead of just ticking.

The past week has been a really great week with birthdays and all. And yeah, thanks for all the well wishes and to the one who actually sang the song to me. very off pitch but who cares.

people do ask 'hari jadi ke berapa ni?'. well, they seemed very cautious to ask. i do understand why though because people; men and women, do hide our ages. in my honest opinion, why so? if we managed to celebrate our birthday every year, isn't it a blessing that we aged gracefully? that we managed to gather as much experience as we can through the years? in my honest opinion, that's how i felt. i mean it shows that we are grateful for the good health that we have or the good health that we have enjoyed.

on a second note; i have been really busy with my mind set to pursue my hobby as seriously as i've taken my work. and of course, learning photography tricks from experts in the whole world (read: rakan-rakan tercinta). that's why i found that the time to write is just fading away and i start missing all the great treats like going to movies and such.

ah, you have the resource but you don't seem to be able to enjoy it. the dilemma in adult live. i would like to write more but there are things that i have to do (read: main game, chatting, baca buku dan berangan) so i will leave here and come back later with perhaps the direction to bookexcess in amcorp mall. the one place that makes me happy because of cheap books and tons of books.

some people say 'money is everything'. some say that only poor people say that you do not need money for happiness when money is clearly everything.

this story started on a train when the writer was heading to a place to give a lecture. he was unable to sleep and the person sharing his compartment actually told a story of one night that changed the lives of six people working in a call center.

they had to assume a name that is familiar to the ears of people living in the US and answer questions regarding appliances the customers purchase from a certain shops. the money was good but where is the happiness when you have to stand racism and people screaming into your ears day after day. i totally get it, being a customer service representative takes a lot. patience, perseverance and more patience.

the people working there weren't happy. the pay is good but Vroom wants to make a change in the world,Radhika was struggling with her marriage, Military Uncle was trying to repair his relationship with his son, Priyanka needs to take control of her life, Shryam needs to improve his self-confidence while Esha is trying to be a model. they have their own problems and added to these all is the fact that the close center needs to be brought to 'rightsize' due to management problem.

it all takes one night to rectify everything; from turning their company to revenue-making entity, from Esha swimming in guilt, Priyanka having to say yes constantly to her mum, Vroom trying to make a change, Military uncle with his inflated ego, Radhika with her constant dependency on anti-depressant and Shryam to his severe case of no confidence. they somehow ended in a very tricky situation and their lives literally hangs on a thread and they received a call that was more to a call to their hearts.

that one call dug what was truly in their heart. it doesn't take much and their life was never the same again after that.

i thought this story was about a bunch of people telling their stories in one night but it was actually more to that. it tells about going for your dream, stand up for your right, believe in yourself and essentially 'money is not everything despite the fact that everything needs money'.

personally, its my favorite because it does not give a straight bookish, rule-by-rule ways to be happy. it's a story to inspire.

if you are planning to get this book for cheaper price, try bookexcess in amcorp mall

Setem…first time I asked a friend if he’s watching the film, he asked ‘Setem mane?’. Setem the film, not the one we posted on letters.

I didn’t regret watching it and I do feel relieved that I decided to watch it alone. Else, I would have to resort missing a lot of things featured on the movie. What strikes me most is the everyday language we use being replayed in the movie like:
‘ Harga dia USD 4 juta termasuk kotak sekali ke? Kotak die nampak macam mahal’

The story is based on a thing that is so simple that I never thought it will be displayed on the screen. I collected stamps when I was in primary school (I think everybody I my school did) but as I grow older, I forgot the joy getting and exchanging stamps with friends. And this one made me remember those days.

A simple thing that turned everything into chaos involving a lot of people but it did not created chaos. The storyline or rather the way it was written was beautiful. Added with great actors, it was just splendidly funny and engaging ( by the end of the movie, I was sitting cross-legged on the cinema buat macam rumah sendiri).

The dialogue was funny, the characters are unique like Piranha Lim who speaks with Kedah accent; Ariyanto (who was actually from my university); Harun Salim Bachik, an Indonesian trying to speak as Malaysians do and Sidek; a thief with one principle, never be greedy.

The nicest touch would be the end of the movie when Afdlin (or Jo) said something like ‘katakan Tak Nak kepada Rokok’ or something. And if you are a supporter of 1Malaysia, do have a look at this movie. I just love it because its multi-racial apart from funny. And it actually (and finally) features those who can act.

Need some laugh? Go watch it though I think not many cinemas are still showing it. But if you have the chance to, please do.

it was my birthday and ade brought me somewhere to eat in order to celebrate my birthday

we went here

ade was checking the menu in chilli's. me? i have no idea what to order or to say

this is me trying to look happy when actually, I have no idea what to say or pick

refillable corn chips!

ouh nyam!

this is our main course

look at her eating. cute huh?

apple juice

and a good one hour later, we are done.

thank you ade!

I sometimes talk about the hot steamy pau sold near Raja Chulan Monorail station. Yes, the pau that can make me do almost anything. The hot, steamy, fluffy white pau.



Oke tetibe terasa lapar baliks ekalipun dah mkn mcm DBKL tadi.

This is how the love of my life (morning) looks. i went through a whole phase of eating those pau every single day for a whole straight week. Life has been better since. Ouh oke mungkin tag itu salah.

Yes, look at it. Feast your eyes upon it. There are no other pau in the whole wide world that can beat pau near Raja Chulan station. Ok that was a tad exaggerated but the reason why I love this white, fluffy this is it's fluffy. It's not like other pau that feel so liat. It's easy to tear, just look at the texture. Nevermind the plastic because that's just the way pau sold near Raja Chulan station is sold.

It's fluffy so the chance of it being as hard as rock (kalau baling kat dinding, dinding pun pecah) is a bit slim.


And look at the filling. I think for the price I paid for this pau ayam, which is RM 1.60, is worth it. It's tasty and it's fluffy and I can eat it at my table in privacy while it's still hot.

Mind you, the pau is selling like hot cakes so be prepared to be disappointed if you come at close to 9 because most of them are already gone. Look at the strategic location at Raja Chulan station so imagine the number of people getting it daily.

So, this is actually how my favorite pau looks like. Want to make me happy? Feed me with this (demand nampak)

just a quick update (since i have to wake up early tomorrow. someone wants to belanja dinner)
thank you for all the well wishes and present
i'm thankful to live to this day and surrounded by great people
thank you, thank you and thank you
may God bless you people

another year; another number to the age and maybe, a whole lot wiser
nah kidding
growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional

again
you people make my day
:D

I love food, to the point that a colleague will always refer to me be it vouchers, new promotions and whether I've seen Ovaltine because he hasn't seen it for a very long time. I do feel positively like a food regulator.

So, I just want to share about the things that I love. Starting with My Toast.

Well, somehow the same concept as kopitiam and I like the small cups and decorative cawan and all. And I like the tables too. Don't ask me why.

So it was early in the morning and I decided that I want to have breakfast there (which was actually because i spent nearly one and a half hours talking to a friend on YM that I have to rush to MidValley. Serves me right)

My first experience there was having this one set of bread, sausage and egg I think (didn't snap a picture). Honestly, the said meal from My Toast was nothing to shout about. I was just attracted to the atmosphere and its ambiance.


So this time, I decided to give My Toast another try and order its special french toast
This toast from My Toast uses bread that is pretty thick as you can see from the picture. i have to admit that I actually hate butter but with this toast, it's perfect. And this filling meal is just for RM 3.80, which I consider as not bad. But maybe it's not for someone who's not into food that are too sweet. I didn't order the coffee or cham in My Toast but I bet it tastes really good with black coffee.

While I had this delicious breafast from My Toast, my friend had their Nasi Lemak. unfortunately, it was not something that we would recommend. The rice looks too lembik and the sambal is not that good.

I'm sorry but it didn't even look that appealing

So, will i go and try anything again there? I don't think so.

On the last day before we left melaka, we went back to the place where it all started (insert violin sound here). although we are not of the same batch since i'm older than the other two, we still share some good laughs over what happened during our stay as 18year old people who have just tasted freedom.

the hostel may no longer be used as hostel anymore because it was closed. omg, the days when i woke uop at 8 for 8 o'clock classes and luckily the hostel is just beside the halls. there's this place where you can lepak down the hostel and it was so cool to the point i nearly missed class T_T

zila, too excited eh?

in the bankground: taman bunga raya yg tidak pernah saye pergi. this is taken from the lecture hall. the breeze you can feel in the afternoon at this place is just superb

i always use this field to go to the computer application lab or to the food court.

the 'new' library that replaces the old library situated beside the field

the picture explains it all

jusco yang selalu sgt pegi yang sampai skang pun penuh gile tatau pasal ape

this is actually kind of our official makan place. see that restoran sajian utama(RSU)? there used to be another shop called restoran sinar ibu (RSI). my friends and i always lepak there for goreng pisang. Sadly it's now has been taken over by mamak owner (not that i'm against it. it's the memories). so we just had something to drink there and talk about things that are not important to the world but important to us.

so that's our trip. gile lame nak siapkan satu entri. haha

Yes, the third part. After finishing our walk near the museums and all 9in my case, it's more like sunbathing T_T), we head over to the river to go on a boat.

bankground: the river (do they call it Sg Melaka?)

We are actually quite tired already but still, never letting go the opportunity to camwhore!

Nice isn't it? This is Kg Morten, located along the river. There were lots of other nice houses near the bank

it may look like I'm posing for the camera. Actually, i was posing for the guy in green *blushes

Kincir angin yang tidak berfungsi

This is the fun fair site and how it looks in daylight

OMG. The bestest chicken soup ever. it is located in Jalan Bendahara beside BayView Hotel (terngiang-ngiang plis)

Zila under pokok Melaka

Azreen under pokok Melaka. I was at the room, busy watching Dodgeball. I had headache that night and I thought they were karaoke-ing like thousands of songs. sumpah jeles tanpa kompromi. they went somewhere else instead. how i wish i can follow them

Minutes before checking out. Me trying to look happy although was quite pissed since TV3 didn't show Spongebob Squarepants.

Next: Where it all begin..MMU Melaka

So, early in the morning, I woke up to the disappointment of no good cartoons in the morning. They were showing some show on Sure Heboh or Jom Heboh or something (I'm being ignorant), so wwe had to awatch BBC news again.

Sila went to see her auntie and grandma.
Azreen and I went to shopping mall.

To cut things short, here we are at Dataran Pahlawan at the Muzium Kesenian Islam. We managed to arrive before five and I kind of like it because there were no one in he Muzium. The entrance fee was only RM1 but you have to take off your shoes (ouh why do I have to mention that?) It was beside Dataran Pahlawan and located just beside A Famosa, beside the other museums.

Note that this is the entrance yah, not the other gate. Take not of the layout, make sure you know it by heart (with the tone of a struct headmistress)

This was handwritten ok? i bet I can't write as beautiful as that T_T (read: ha bole ke tulis mcm ni?)

This suits my hobby of ironing my clothes at about 10pm. Those who have talked to me will always find me telling them 'nak gosok baju jap' (I want to iron my clothee s0 because I can never iron all my clothes in one go. i might change my mind whenever I feel like it.

Wait. This is not about me. This is about the collectin in this museum located near A Famosa. So people, these are the sample of the irons back then. I think they put the coal inside them (correct me if I'm wrong. i have the tendency to re-write the history depending on my mood)

I forgot to buy my baju raya. Do you think they want to donate one to me? I like the purple one.

Focus: these are the sample of baju kurung from different places. Like people in Sri Lanka has their own, in China bla bla bla.

'Ha saye nak tgk yang ni boleh? Nak try'

Was to busy laughing to notice the name of this house. Reason for laughing, Zila tried to get into the house when it obviously was too small for us.

Done with the museum, we move to this fortress located near the museum called A Famosa, which was a fortress.

The soldier guarding the meriam was trying to locate the pirates. Of course, confidently.

Apparently, the aim was not right T_T

Can't think of a caption

What have you done Azreen that you were told to sit in the corner of the fortress?

I've been talking about this statue of St Paul since the past two weeks and now, standing beside it, I feel frightened. Don't ask why.

Masuk-masuk jgn memalu

Kamon zila. Masuk je jgn memalu

They sang I'm yours dgn sangat macho

*berlakon konon-konon di Hogwarts

Had to push the door because I forgot the password
to be continued (and what's up with the colour blue on the font?)