My first time answering a tag. :D

1. Bekas kekasih saya adalah:

Salah seorang yang mungkin baca blog saya. Hehehehe...

2. Saya sedang mendengar:

Lagu My Best Friend oleh Tim McGraw. Hari ni hari ke3 berturut2 saya dgr lagu ni tak henti2. Saya jatuh hati kat lagu ni.

3. Mungkin saya patut:

Sambung kerja yang saya buat tadi. Tapi penat lah! Take 5 kejap. :)

4. Saya suka:

Warna biru. Dari dulu sampai skrg. And smiley face. Sgt comel!

5. Sahabat-sahabat baik saya:

Jarang2 saya jumpa atau telefon, tapi bila jumpa boleh aje continue where we left off.

6. Saya tak faham:

Kenapa ada seorang manusia ni boleh memandu 40km/j di pagi hari Isnin untuk pegi kerja di jalan yang tak sesibuk mana.  Mungkin kah dia keluar rumah pukul 6 pagi untuk sampai ke pejabat pukul 8.30 pagi sebab dia sukaaaaaaaa memandu tersangatlah perlahannya mcm tu? Hari ni hari Selasa, tapi saya masih marah kepada orang yang memandu perlahan itu semalam!

7. Saya kehilangan:

Cincin pertunangan & cincin perkahwinan saya baru2 ni. Sedih sangat2 sebenarnya. Perempuan yang curi barang2 tu mmg keji.

8. Ramai yang berkata:

Kulit muka saya makin smooth sejak saya mengandung. Saya rasa itu tanda2 yang it's going to be a boy! Sebab masa saya mengandungkan Afiq pun ramai yang kata mcm tu... tapi masa saya mengandungkan Mariessa kulit muka saya tersgtla kasarnya. Kita tunggguuuuuuuu.....

9. Makna nama saya:

Kalau ainil tu diambil dari ainun (in arabic).. maksudnya mata. Sufreena pulak, kalau diambil dari root word nya Safaro maksudnya perjalanan. Mungkin mata saya suka berjalan2. Ahaks. I'd like to think of it as the journey of my eyes. Whatever that means.

10. Cinta itu adalah:

Bila saya tengok perkataan cinta... saya teringat lagu C.I.N.T.A. K.I.T.A.... sampai bilaaaaaaa.....? Nasib baik dia tak eja seluruh lagu tu... mesti penat!

11. Di suatu tempat, seseorang sedang:

Meraikan hari jadinya. Masa zaman2 menulis surat dulu, saya pernah tulis surat sepanjang 24 mukasurat (saiz A4) kepada dia. Kesiannnn dia kena baca surat saya. Tapi dia pun balas panjang juga. Lagi kesian kat saya kena baca surat dia... sebab tulisan dia berbelit2.! Happy Birthday Doc!!!

12. Saya akan cuba:

Untuk menguruskan badan selepas bersalin nanti. Itu lah azam saya sejak 10 tahun yg lepas (and 3 pregnancies). Tapi takpe... ada masa2 nya it's the thought that counts. Saya takkan putus asa. :)

13. Ayat SELAMANYA membawa maksud

Lama jugak lah patutnya kan?.

14. Telefon bimbit saya:

Tak pernah dari jenama lain kecuali Nokia. Oh, ada sekali saya beli telefon LG sebab masa tu nak cari telefon yang paling murah. Lepas tu saya beli Nokia juga. Telefon LG tu saya simpan untuk emergency. Tapi dicuri juga oleh perempuan keji itu akhirnya!

15. Bila saya terjaga dari tidur:

Selalunya Mariessa ada di tepi katil saya... dengan  muka sedih.. sambil berkata " Mama... nak ng ng" (ng ng dalam kamus Mariessa = susu. Ntah kenapa anak2 saya sgt kreatif when it comes to nicknaming susu. Ng ng for Mariessa, nini  for Afiq).

16. Saya paling meluat apabila:

Bila seseorang dalam ofis ni sukaaaaaaaaa bercakap kuat2 dalam ofis yang senyap sunyi. Cakap pulak dengan bahasa inggeris yang accentnya sukar saya tentukan dari mana asalnya. Kejap2 american accent, kejap british accent. Ada masa australian accent pun terselit. Saya jadi kesian atas kekeliruan dia. Tapi bila dia asyik selitkan perkataan 'fucking' dalam ayatnya.. saya bertambah meluat pula. It's not fucking easy konon... cakap je lah it's not easy... or it's hard.. or it's difficult... apa yang susah sgt?

17. Pesta/Parti adalah:

Masa untuk berhoyeh2 dengan keluarga & rakan2. Tapi saya tak suka sgt party2 ni.

18. Haiwan yang paling comel yang saya pernah temui ialah:

Ducky... anak patung itik saya. Kakak saya belikan untuk saya masa saya di TKC. Saya simpan sampai saya habis belajar dia UIA. Tapi lepas tu, saya tak ingat apa dah jadi pada Ducky. Kalau saya jumpa lagi itik mcm tu, saya pasti akan beli!

19. Peringkat umur yang paling menyeronokkan bagi saya ialah:

Saya rasa, masa saya di TKC (12-17). Macam2 saya dapat buat masa tu... menyanyi on stage... menari sampai ke Jepun (orang lain belajar sampai negeri china... saya lain sikit).... berkawad sampai hitam legam... panjat gunung tanpa rasa semput ya amat... main hoki walaupun saya tak sebagus mana...

20. Hari ini:

Kawan2 saya di ofis akan makan durian beramai ramai pada pukul 5. Mereka tersangatlah teruja menunggu pukul 5. Saya tak makan durian jadi saya cuma teruja untuk tunggu pukul 6, nak balik rumah. :D

21. Malam ini saya akan:

Makan ikan tongsan masak tempoyak. Ye, saya tak makan durian, tapi saya suka tempoyak! Salah satu keajaiban dunia.

22. Esok pula saya akan:

Datang ofis dengan harapan takkan ada bau durian di kawasan ofis saya. Oh tidak!

23. Saya betul-betul inginkan:

Kamera digital yang baru. Kamera digital kesayangan saya telah dicuri oleh perempuan keji sama yang mencuri cincin2 saya. Kalau kita ni boleh menyumpah orang... dah lama saya sumpah dia jadi.... entahla... takde apa yang sekeji dia! Ada sapa2 nak belikan saya digital kamera? Birthday saya lambat lagi.. tapi advanced gifts sgt dialu2kan.

24. Ketika saya lihat wajah saya di hadapan cermin pagi ini:

saya terfikir... siapakah wanita yang berkulit cantik ini? Muahahahaaaaa.. tak lah! saya tak sempat nak fikir apa2... sebab dah lambat. :D

25. Pusat membeli-belah atau arked permainan:

Pusat membeli belah lah pilihan saya.. sebab  kalau arked permainan, saya pandang sebelah mata pun tak minat.

26. Makanan Barat atau Jepun:

Dua2 pun saya suka. Tapi sekarang ni saya sgt teringin nak makan unagi. Oh yummsss!

27. Bilik yang terang atau gelap:

Terang, boleh baca buku!

28. Makanan segera adalah:

Maggi mee, cepat dimasak, sedap dimakan. Dulu saya suka IndoMie. Tapi sekarang saya dah tak jumpa IndoMie di pasar raya. Ada yang packaging serupa.. tapi IbuMie. Kenapa Indo jadi Ibu? Saya pun tak berani nak cuba.

29. Ayat terakhir yang anda katakan pada seseorang?

"tak makan durian lah". - Kawan2 saya ajak pegi makan durian dan ramai yang tak percaya wujud juga orang yang betul2 tak makan durian macam saya.

30. Siapa yang anda mahu tag?

Hmm.. momster, ziah, sandra dan juga sapa2 yang rajin nak buat!

Thanks Ngah for tagging!

My Best Friend - Tim McGraw

I never had no one
I could count on
I've been let down so many times
I was tired of hurtin
So tired of searchin
til you walked into my life
It was a feelin
Id never known
And for the first time
I didnt feel alone

Youre more than a lover
There could never be another
To make me feel the way you do
Oh we just get closer
I fall in love all over
Everytime I look at you
I don't know where I'd be
Without you here with me
Life with you makes perfect sense
Youre my best friend
Youre my best friend, oh yeah

You stand by me
And you believe in me
Like nobody ever has
When my world goes crazy
You're right there to save me
You make me see how much I have
And I still tremble
When we touch
And oh the look in your eyes
When we make love

You're more than a lover
There could never be another
To make me feel the way you do
Oh we just get closer
I fall in love all over
Everytime I look at you
And I don't know where I'd be
Without you here with me
Life with you makes perfect sense
You're my best friend
You're my best friend

You're more than a lover
There could never be another
To make me feel the way you do
Oh we just get closer
I fall in love all over
Everytime I look at you
And I don't know where Id be
Without you here with me
Life with you makes perfect sense
You're my best friend
You're my best friend (my best friend)
Youre my best friend (my best friend)

I accidentally found this song in my playlist while I was at the office today. I don't remember how it got there. I don't know how long I've had it, but the moment I listened to this song, I was hooked! The whole day I was listening to this song. Only this song.

Such a simple song, but boy... I can never say it better.

Kebetulannya, I have not been feeling well. Penat tak tentu pasal. Perut rasa sebu, pening kepala, loya, penat... semua lah. When we got home from work tadi, I straight away went to the kitchen to prepare us dinner. I thought, ayam masak kicap will do for the night. Easy peasy. But then he said, "let me make dinner tonight".

He then cooked his signature dish... Ayam masak lomak cili api. :).  It has been a longggg time since he cooked. It was really good. Takes a true Nogori-an to make a mean ayam masak lomak I guess.

And after dinner, when I said, I'd like to rest for a while sambil tengok TV.. he volunteered to put the kids to bed.. and let me watch TV in peace. Bila naik atas, tengok2 all 3 of them are fast asleep.

And suddenly teringat balik kat lagu ni. So I thought, while I'm feeling lovey dovey ni, I might as well write about this.. and him. My best friend.

"life with you makes perfect sense"

It's only Thursday I know, a little too early still to summarize the week, but really...

1. The thing with Mariessa...
We went to JB on Saturday for lil' Aqilah Musfeerah's (my new niece and she's literally very little) cukur jambul and came back to Kajang on Sunday. On our way back, Mariessa refused to talk, eat or drink. It didn't bother us in the beginning, thinking maybe she's just a little too overtired from the trip. It was hot, the drive was long etc. And we thought, once we're home, she'll be herself again. She is usually like that, does not adapt to changes as quickly as everyone else. Always need the comfort of our home.

So when she continued not talking on Sunday night, first we thought she was just teething. The only clue we had was that she was drooling. Monday morning, brought her to the clinic, and was told that she has a FEW ulcers in her mouth!!! Kesiannnn dia.

Took the day off yesterday to stay home with her. She still refused to eat. Only surviving on her susu. So, akibatnya... kena pulakkkkk cirit birit. :(. Today, she's doing much better alhamdulillah. Was told by the nursery owner that she has asked for roti for breakfast. What a relief!

I need to ask, is it normal though, for mothers to be so paranoid like I am? I say mothers because, well, Shahril is always so cool and calm. Like, when Mariessa refuses to talk... on the 2nd day I got so paranoid thinking, what if she doesn't want to talk anymore, even after her ulcers are gone? Because she seemed sooooo content expressing herself by pointing her finger, and nodding and shaking her head. Then of course I started to try my best to make her talk, just to prove myself wrong. And of course she refused even more. Then I get more paranoid. Get what I mean?

Please somebody tell me, this is normal. Kan? Tak ke?

2. The thing with Harry Potter
I watched Harry Potter on Monday (after sending the kids to clinic and to the nursery later). It was good, tapi rasa macam tak puas tengok. I feel like there's a lot more in the book (of course). And Ziah, you said it's 180 minutes kan.. how come it's only 150 minutes eh when I watched? Pleaseeeeeee don't tell me they have a longer version of it! Huarghhh... I was counting on 180 minutes you see... so when they opened the door at 2pm (movie started at 11.30), I was surprised and annoyed! Dah la bukak pintu tu masa movie tak habis pun lagi, sakit tak hati?? Anti climax tau!!

Rasa macam nak tengok lagi. Maybe I should just buy the DVD. For the next few days after watching the movie.. I still terbayang2 the movie. Re-read the 7th book over and over again at night before going to bed. Macam angau apa je. Hahaha..

3. The thing about our 2nd car.
Yesterday, masa Shahril nak pegi kerja, Savvy tak boleh nak start. Nasib baik I've decided to stay at home with Mariessa anyway.. so Shahril took Waja to work. Mechanics came to fix it, managed to start the engine after 30 minutes.. and brought it back to their workshop to fix. Caused a BIG hole in our pocket and a BIGGER sakit hati when this morning, bila nak pegi kerja, eh stillllllll tak boleh nak start???!!!

Terpaksa la ambik half day off pulak. Panggil mechanics lagi... and this time it took them TWO hours to just start the engine. Shahril asked them to keep Savvy in their workshop until Saturday. Fix whatever they need to.

Why is it (through my experience lah kan).. as bizarre as it might sound... when we start talking about getting a new car, your (current) car will start giving problems? Have you guys experienced this? A few years back, when we wanted to change our old car to Waja, suddenly the car started rosak sana sini. Fix ribu2 only to sell it later. Now, when we've only started talking about getting a new car (and it's not even serious talk pun, baru masuk phase angan2).. dahhhhh Savvy buat hal pulak! Am i the only one? Or do I happen to own funny cars?

4. The thing about 'mean' boss/company.
Not my boss, let me stress that. Not the company I'm working for either. This is even more bizarre and mind-boggling than my Savvy story. Have you ever heard of a company whose owner can choose siapa yang dia nak bayar.. and siapa yang dia tak nak! I'm talking about salary tau. Bukan bonus.. bukan increment! GAAAAAJIIIII!!!!! The company isn't so small either. Not 10, not 100... but at least 1000 employees tau! And he can single-handedly choose a FEW yang dia tak nak bayar. I can understand if those chosen are high-ranking people like.. CEO ke.. SGM ke.. kan... but executives??? The worst thing is, he expects these 'chosen' people to come mengadap dia and THEN baru dia bagi cheque! He thinks he's god. He's thinks rezeki comes from him! I'll wait for the day when after all these people yang teraniaya leave the company... kita tengok 'rezeki' datang ke tak kat dia! We'll see. Oh, I will wait for the day!

"Wahai tuhan kami berilah kami kenikmatan pendengaran, penglihatan dan kekuatan tubuh badan selama hidup kami dan jadikanlah dia mewarisi kami dan berilah pembalasan kepada orang yang menzalimi kami. Dan tolonglah kami terhadap orang yang memusuhi kami.Dan janganlah engkau jadikan bencana bagi kami dalam ugama kami dan janganlah jadikan keduniaan sebesar-besar cita-citanya kami dan tidak sampai batasan ilmu kami. Dan janganlah Engkau biarkan orang yang tidak menaruh kasihan balas terhadap kami, dapat menguasai ke atas kami.”

Amin...

First of all, do we still use the sengkang (-) for words like macam-macam or sama-sama?

The day started redup weather-wise, but I cannot express how bright my world becomes when a meeting (in which I am supposed to present on the study I've done on the thing I don't like doing) has to be cancelled due to clashing schedules. Yeyyyyyy!! Terus rasa semangat berkobar-kobar (again, patut ada sengkang ke?) nak bekerja hari ni (on different task, obviously).

I finally get to eat Crab Salted Egg yesterday at Cheng Ho with Ngah. Yey me. If Akak could join us yesterday, it would have been perfectly perfect. I heard so much about it (Cheng Ho and it's Crab Salted Egg) that I got to a point yang mengidam. Ada ke orang mengidam nak makan benda yang dia tak pernah rasa pun? But anyway... semalam, puas hati!!

(Jaja & I-dee if you guys are reading this, the taste of the Crab Salted Egg is very much similar to the Butter Milk Crab I-dee bought us in Labuan, except that kat Cheng Ho, dia tambah Salted Egg into the sauce making it more pekat... other wise, samaaaaa sedap dengan kat Labuan punya. :D)

Ngah is leaving tonight for Moscow. And I must say (although it really goes without saying), that nothing, nothing can brighten my spirit on that. We'll miss you Ngah, you know we will. Let's pray I get to save enough for 5 of us to go to Moscow next year k?

Here are some pictures of my little ones, especially dedicated to their Aunty Nid, cousin 'kakak Kitina (Kitreena) and cousin 'Edwik" (Edrick) and also Unker Karl Concen (Johnson).

Pictures are taken with my phone (to justify on the quality) last Saturday as we were getting ready for a kenduri (at which I had sambal daun tempoyak (it's that what it's called??)) a specialty of them Nogori lots.

[caption id="attachment_99" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Gaya2 model baju kebangsaan"][/caption]

Believe it or not, I bought the baju kurung Mariessa is wearing for Raya back in 2007 when she was only... hmmm 6-7 months old.

[caption id="attachment_100" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Same person, same baju. 20 months different."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_101" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Thank you Aunty Nid, for the baju!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_95" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Mariessa came back from 'school' with 5 'toncets'... and she's very happy with it!"][/caption]

Today, 2 of my colleagues are confirmed with H1N1. I don't know Guy No.1 since he's from the Accounts Department. But Guy No. 2 is from the QRM (Quality Risk Management) Department, and he's from the same floor.

Guy No. 2 came back from Jakarta last week. He came to the office until Wednesday when the symptoms appeared. He had a lengthy discussion with Girl A on on Tuesday. On Thursday, I had a lengthy discussion pulak dengan Girl A. Guy No.2 was supposed to be there too, but he was already on quarantine. Today Guy No.2 is a confirmed case of H1N1 and Girl A is complaining of sore throats.

And I am freaking out!

The company has provided everyone with a mask, and now everyone in the office is wearing it. It's a scary sight. And no one dares to sneeze or cough, sebab nanti the whole office would want to know, siapa yang batuk/bersin tuh. Hehe. The mask is  extremely uncomfortable though, my glasses asyik2 berkabusssss je.

Let's keep on praying k?

I really have to jot this down.

Last week I felt so helpless, and lost. I was asked to complete something at work, which was difficult because 1. I'm new in this 'project' and this work is of 'higher' level. 2. The task was supposedly done by another team, but since nothing seem to come out of it, I am to 'take over' the task. So, in one way or another, I feel like I'm invading someone's territory. 3. The people who are supposed to be the 'expert' on this thing, are not co-operative lot, making my task way tedious than it should be.

Naturally (at least to me), when everyone i 'turned' to does not seem to be able to help me, I turned to God. Sometimes it's funny (not in a funny way) how I can forget the essential of things, really.

Today, my superior called me for a brief discussion. He told me that due to the urgency of another task, instead of pursuing on this matter, I am to complete my findings and come out with a report on it this week. After that, this task will be handed back to the 'original' team since they were the ones who should be working on this, in the first place. And I'll be given that other task to work on, one which I've been looking forward to.

Never had I thought the answer to my prayers would come so quickly and so brilliantly. . Miracles do happen, kan?

Alhamdulillah...

After a week of training away from the office, totally away from work (except reading & replying one or two 'urgent' emails during break), I am a little surprised to find out that I actually missed coming to work. Didn't even know that I LIKED coming to work, what more to miss it. Hehe. Absence makes hearts grow fonder eh?

Ok, so maybe training sucks a little. Ok, not so little if I want to be honest. First day was OK. 2nd day was Oookay-lah. On the 5th day of training, every other sentence was: "It should have worked, by the way. This is the problem with Microsoft bla bla bla" Yeah right, when you can't get it right, blame Microsoft. To think that he has like 5 or 6 certifications from Microsoft? MCT konon!  (That's Microsoft Certified Trainer by the way).

It didn't help that he sometimes writes A and says B. Seriously. Like one time he said the number was three thousand eighty FOUR but he wrote 3082! Or the other time, after doing some calculation he said the answer was thirteen. I spent 2 minutes scratching my head trying to figure out why I had calculated differently, and I was very sure I got the right answer. (Best pulak buat Maths masa tu, haha... nothing complicated, hence explains why I enjoyed it).  So I asked, how did he get his answers, and you know what... apparently THIRTEEN = 30!!! Betula la my calculation. Penat garu kepala 2 minit tau!

Or the other time... he said press TAPE bla bla bla...  I wondered, bila pulak guna TAPE ni? Even if it's for backing up purpose (which was not included in the syllabus), bila pulak masuk topic ni ni? It turns out, he meant press TAB as in the TAB key on your keyboard. Aiyo maaaaa. Somebody in my class actually said.. Press TAB?? Stressing on the TAB word. The trainer answered.. "Yes, yes.. press TAPE!" Tak makan dek ajar betul lah!

At the end of the training, after distributing the evaluation forms, he shamelessly insisted that we should rate him 'excellent' . I gave him Fair. I was tempted to give him Poor actually. But the first 2 days were OK... so Fair lah. Nangis pulak dia nanti, kesiannnnn.

Now I'm faced with a lil problem though. My boss now expects me to be an expert of the subject, which I can't say I am yet. I should probably go get one of those "For Dummy" books eh?

MCT... Not.... (yet).

I'm sure many others agree with her. Our sentiment is obviously the same. Just that I am apparently more pissed off than her right now, or so it sounds. Maybe she's just being polite since it's a published article. Maybe the editor had made her sound polite.  Hehe.

Haaaa.. baru je semalam (in my comment in the previous entry) I said this:

Tu la kan, mmg very double standard. Just because majikan tak kena dera curah2 air panas segala, it does not mean diorg tu baik sgt.

Dahhhh today ada maid bergusti dah! See? See? Bak kata my  mom.. 'tak patah tiat!" (Baruuu sebut je, dah jadi - something like that).

Okay, first the govt wants to impose a 'mandatory day off in a week for maids, then last night on Berita TV3, I heard that employers must return the passport at maid's request.

Isn't that just AWESOME?? I mean, first they're saying, "Go and socialise and mix around, and find yourselves boyfriends and do whatever you want (God knows what people can do in 24 hours, seriously)"

Then, nak lagi syok, they say, "If you want to run away, ask for your passport and larilah! Lariiiii, tak de sapaaaaaa nak marah!!!! Lari dengan pak guard kat depan rumah tu yang dah kawin tu pun ok apa? Haaa Nah passport, gi Siam, kawin kat sana!"

And where does that leave us, the employers? When the maid doesn't return, you go to police station and will be charged RM2 for filing report. (Hey, RM2 is still money). Then you go to immigration department and Walla!! Another RM250 fine. Why? Because the maid  ran off and YOU are guilty, proven or not. Isn't that great? Tu belum masuk barang2 dia curi lagi tu. Ye lah, I don't have 4 Million, kalau bawak lari dengan rumah2 sekali pun, tak sampai 4M, but still! kalau 4-5 ribu pun, duit jugak tu. Ada sesapa nak bagi free??

And what the heck is I-Kad for then? For those yang tak tau, I-Kad is a similar version to our MyKad for foreign workers. Dah sah sah it's for identification purpose kan, so if they ask for their passports before going out, tak ke tu dah terang lagi bersuluh menunjukkan diorg tu nak lari? And how are we supposed to react? Buat2 bodoh, bagiii je la passport tu.. kot2 la maid tu nak balik negara dia for one day and come back the next day kan. (Tak bersyak wasangka, podachit!)

And then, dah la bagi cuti sehari dalam seminggu, that totals up to 52x2 = 104 days in 2 years, bila contract diorg dah habis, who's going to pay for the tickets for them to go back to their country? Diorang bayar sendiri? Haha. Sangat kelakar kalau ada maid yang bayar sendiri.

Let's see nanti statistics maid lari dari rumah naik mcm mana hebatnya. Lepas tu nanti, baru terhegeh hegeh nak amend law sana sini. Usik sikit, melatah. Ni lah dia!

Who's going to protect OUR rights?

Yes, I am bitter. Not without reason though, kan? Sakit hati tau bila dah terkena!

Sangat marah!

Someone commented that ever since I moved to wordpress, I have not uploaded any pictures. So, just so I can say I have pictures on my blog, here they are. Nothing too recent though, since my camera kan dah kena curi oleh orang yang keji itu, maka nya recent pictures are gone with it.

[caption id="attachment_60" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Taken at MidValley Komuter Station sometime in January 09. It was a practice session in our preparation for our trip to Labuan & KK later that month. :D"][/caption]

Nothing much has changed since January actually. Except that maybe Afiq has gotten even thinner and a few inches taller (obviously that's Shahril's gene, hehe) and Mariessa's hair is now shorter and somehow a LOT curlier! I honestly don't know who she gets that from, but since her hair is sooooo much similar to Kitreena's, we (Ngah and myself) are forced to assume that it's from our side of the family. Although I don't know how that is possible, since our hair is as straight as.... errrrr... lidi? Hehe


[caption id="attachment_57" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="My life, my heart, my soul."][/caption]
This is the most recent picture that I have. Probably 2-3 weeks ago. We took the children jalan2 @ Putrajaya. Note how curly Mariessa's hair has become (especially time berpeluh - they had a great time lompat sana sini at the playground)

[caption id="attachment_62" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The reason Shahril had to hold them like that is because 1. They were afraid of the fountain kat belakang tu. :) 2. They wanted to run around some more."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_65" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Kitreena back in 2006. See the similarity of the hair to Mariessa\'s?"][/caption]

While there are sad stories like what happened to this maid, let me assure you there are also stories of the total opposite. A story I can now say I have experienced. An experience I hope never, ever have to go through again.

Tri- my maid fled last Friday.

The whole week last week, I felt uneasy. I could not put my finger on anything, but I constantly felt fear whenever I called home to speak to Mariessa and nobody picked up the phone. I do this a few times a day. And whenever the phone is not picked up, it's always because Mariessa (and Tri) are at my neighbour's house playing with the neighbour's children. I'm ok with that.

But last Friday, when I called at 3 pm and the phone was not picked up, I felt instant fear. I called the maid's handphone, it went to voicemail. Adikki (my brother who's currently staying with me) had gone out to sent Alang (also my brother) to Pekeliling. So I had no one else to call. I kept on calling non-stop until 5 pm. I stopped for a few minutes for solat Zuhur and a few more minutes for Solat Asar. I prayed hard that whatever happens, pls God,  protect my children.

At 5pm, I called Adik asking him to please go home and check. I was starting to feel anxious. Adikki said, he was already almost home anyway. 5.15- still no calls from Adik. 5.30 I called home, and Thank God, Mariessa picked it up.

The story? Well, Adik went home to find the house are all locked! Only Ummi was home. Adik kata, roti berterabur atas lantai, a sign that Ummi was probably hungry and tried to eat. It breaks my heart just imagining it. Adik then went to my neighbour's house. The neighbour's maid (Teti) said No, Mariessa's not there.

Then some kids told Adik that maybeTri and Mariessa were at Afiq's school to pick Afiq up, since they saw Tri and Mariessa walking there earlier. Adik then went to Afiq's school and found Mariessa there, with Afiq. Tri is nowhere in sight. Adik took them home.

When I reached home, I found that tri has taken some of her clothes with her, and had apparently found out where I had kept her passport and took that too. My wedding ring, my engagement ring (I took them off since my jari dah bengkak now due to pregnancy) and Mariessa's gold anklet (that we bought when she was born) were missing as well.

Talked to the nursery's owner on Monday and found out that tri told her she was going to get married in Thailand. The best part is, she is marrying one of the security guards at my area. He's Malaysian, and he's married. His wife is now frantically looking for her husband too, who had disappeared as well. (Of course!)

Talked to the Teti who claims that she doesn't know of Tri's plan to flee (betul ke tak, is irrelevant in my opinion - i'm doubting everybody now though), and she told me so many heartbreaking stories. Like how once Mariessa was left at home when she was asleep and tri pegi entah ke mana! Mariessa woke up crying, opened the sliding door and that was why Teti heard her crying. (Mariessa tak boleh keluar since ada grille). Teti & Aida (neighbour's 10 yr old kid) ended up consoling Mariessa from the other side of the grille for hours before tri came home! - Malas nak cerita detail lagi, sakit hati! Patah hati mengenangkan Mariessa. Makes me feel guilty, makes me feel that I failed, as a mother. Makes me want to quit my job. Makes me want to strangle someone's neck (someone on particular, of course). Makes me angry. Makes me sad. Makes me fuming mad.

Another time, Mariessa was left at Teti's house from 9 am to 4pm. Teti had to give 'air sirap' to Mariessa when she asked for milk. - Pun malas nak cerita detail.

Teti apologized for not 'reporting' tri's behavior to me earlier. I don't blame her. Things we do for our 'friends'.

We found out on Saturday that tri had also taken our Sony Handicam and our digital camera.

We filed a police report on Saturday. Filed a report to the immigration on Monday. (Kena bayar RM250 ok to immigration, kalau maid lari! chis! - but the lady said we only have to pay the fine when we're taking another maid next time. I told her, there will be NO next time for us. So we didn't pay. Ntah apa lah rasionalnya kita pulak yang kena bayar.).

I was on a roller coaster of emotions since Friday, to say the least.

First it was intense fear. Then anger. After that, it was sadness. Then I felt angry again. Then macam2, i don't even bother sorting my feelings out anymore.

You would think that after 2.5 years you can trust someone. I did and I was proven wrong. You would think that after 2.5 years of being nice to someone (I had never, never, even raised my voice at her. Always tegur baik2. Close an eye on how imperfect her work is, as long as the children are taken care of - which I now find out tak jugak lah kan?), the person would be as nice to you. Well, apparently not.

But I still believe that buat baik dibalas baik. Buat jahat, kita tengok nanti balasannya mcm mana. I won't play god to balas jahat to orang jahat, no that's not who I am. I don't even want to see if one day, her jahat dibalas jahat yang macam mana. She's out of my life, and she'd better stay out.

Took leave for 2 days to sort things out. Adik brought Ummi back to Temerloh. Spent 3 hours ironing on Monday. Spent more hours with Shahril cleaning the room tri used to occupy. Habuknya, MasyaAllah. What the heck I paid RM500 for all this while, I dont know lah! Got rid of all her things. Puas hati.

All in all, good riddance!

At the end of the day, I am grateful that my children are OK. I am thankful that this is happening now, than later. Bersyukur dengan hikmah di sebalik musibah. It's a lesson. And we've learned.

Thankful,

Need to get this out of my system.

Ummi was discharged from HUKM yesterday, which came to me as a surprised because I don't think she was well enough to be discharged. Her health will never be OK again, I've accepted that. But it was obvious to me that she was way from being fit to be discharged. But hey, I'm not the one to decide.

So my brother took her home petang semalam. She was weak (jalan pun terketar2). And her mind was wandering God knows where to. Tri (my maid) cerita, as soon as she was home, she went straight to her room. When asked, she said she wanted some water to drink. She then took one of the pillows, yes pillows, and hold it like it was a water bottle and pretended she was drinking from it. :(

During dinner, I asked her to join us. She did. One suap.. and then she said, dah takde selera.

This morning, I woke up and found out that she had peed on the floor in her room. And the thing is, she was wearing a diaper! She must have taken it off, and thought that after one or two steps she was already at the bathroom, and peed there, at the door (of the room). That's what happened (a few times) before.

And just a few minutes ago, Tri said Mariessa had announced to her that Opah had peed again. This time at the living hall, in front of the TV. And this was only after 10 minutes Tri had betulkan her diaper and went to the back to sidai baju.

Oh before that, she had gone to the front door and said she wanted to go to the airport. I have no idea why. Maybe because she remembers that Akak is coming back from her Europe trip today?

Doctors kata, it's her liver yang buat dia macam ni. it's called "hepatic encephalopathy", if anyone is interested to find out. And the severity has 4 'grades':

* Grade 1 - Trivial lack of awareness; Euphoria or anxiety; Shortened attention span; Impaired performance of addition. 67% of cirrhotic patients may have 'minimal hepatic encephalopathy'.
* Grade 2 - Lethargy or apathy; Minimal disorientation for time or place; Subtle personality change; Inappropriate behavior; Impaired performance of subtraction
* Grade 3 - Somnolence to semistupor, but responsive to verbal stimuli; Confusion; Gross disorientation
* Grade 4 - Coma (unresponsive to verbal or noxious stimuli)

If I'm not mistaken, a doctor mentioned that Ummi's at Grade 3.

I don't know why it's affecting me (emotionally) badly this time. All these had happened before. I lost count of how many times, really. Not that I should be keeping count pun kan?

Entahla. As I said, I just need to get this out of my system. For now.

Last 2 nights, after watching a late night movie on TV with Shahril, we woke Afiq up for his nightly pee pee. He hates this routine though, so it's not always easy to wake him up. That night, Shahril had to carry him to the bathroom.

I waited for him at the bathroom door for him to finish. While toweling his legs after that, in his grogginess, he suddenly gave me a hug.. and said, "Afiq rinduuuuuuuu kat mama".

I went to bed that night feeling sooooo loved, so contented, and sooooo syahdu.

1. I can foresee lots of randomness postings coming.

2. Why is it I only feel like writing when I'm swamped with work, I have no idea.

3. For the first time in my life, I got lucky while shoe shopping. Bought from the first shop I went to, and the 1st design I tried on. Tukar size sekali je. Whole process took 15 minutes! Foresee Dr. Cardin becoming my best friend from now on.

4. On my way out from surau, i bumped into a lady who was in the same training class with me last week. She is this typical lady yang suara lembut2 gitu. She apparently found out that I am pregnant. In her haste (I'm assuming) of making small talk, she said Hi..and then said.. "eh you tak nampak pregnant pun... gemuk je!" I pun terkulat2 lah nak jawab kan. I mean, have u ever had someone who goes right up to you and said, eh you gemuklah? How do i respond to that? Pastu while I'm still terkulat2 fikir how to respond, she gave another remark.. "tapi u dah nak due dah kan?"

I foresee her NEVER becoming my best friend. Ever.

5. Looking forward to go to Seremban 3, to meet with a dear friend and learn about cloth diapers from her.

6. It's 9 minutes to freedom. I love Fridays!

1. Work is drowning me like never before.

2. In every office that I've worked in, there MUST be at least one person who would call me Ainul. Why, is beyond me.

3. I very much think this could be my worst 'morning' sickness ever. For all 3 pregnancies so far, my morning sickness comes in the form of batuk2, always. No loya2, no muntah2. Just batuk. Really bad batuk. I remember it went on for weeks, just like this time. But the 'intensity' was never this bad. For the last 20 days or so.. during the day I'll be relatively OK. Malam, the moment nak tidur je I'll start coughing. And it won't stop until 3a.m. Seriously. After 3a.m. batuk will magically just disappear. And I'll get to sleep only to wake up at 6 for work. I tried tidur duduk, switching off the aircond, minum gallons of warm water, nothing works. Last night, for the first time in this pregnancy, lepas dinner, batuk batuk batuk - muntah! Tapi, surprisingly, I went to bed at 10... and didn't wake up til 6! It was almost unbelievable. What's more unbelievable is, I'm more tired today than I usually am when I get only 3 hours of sleep at night. I am so tired, I wish I can just lie down under my table right now.

4. Mali's Corner's Char Kuey Teow is still the best CKT for me.

5. St. Ives' Apricot Scrub is still the best facial scrub for me. Pregnancy this time brings along some irritating small small jerawat on my face, and my face feels extra oily and comot. (Fact: Anything and everything (good or bad, especially bad) that happens during pregnancy will always be blamed on pregnancy hormones. It helps to have something to blame on, trust me). After just one wash with the facial scrub, my face feels oh so clean! I can now breathe again.

Now that I'm breathing again, maybe I should get back to work. Maybe not.

Afiq turned 4 last Thursday (April 16th). Shahril and I took the day off, first to see the gynae for the baby's 1st checkup and later went to the bank, and later to celebrate Afiq's birthday at his 'school'.

Checkup went fine, alhamdulillah. Baby's then 8 weeks old (now 9 weeks). Bak kata my gynae: "Ok, semua nampak OK. Sorang je". Heheheheh... Ye la, mana la tau kan.. kot2 twins ke kan. Pastu tutup kilang terus. Hehe. Due date is 22nd November 2009 InsyaAllah. :)

Bought a Ben-10 cake for Afiq. Sampai kat sekolah dia je, berkerumun kawan2nya. (Gambar later la ye?). The principal told us, that Afiq is very competitive when learning, and is very quick. Kembang2 hidung mama & ayah dia dengar. Hehe. But somehow he is faster in learning Jawi than Rumi. Memang betul pun. Iqra' dia dah halfway on 2nd book pun. But Bacalah Anakku tu, 1st book tak habis2 lagi. :) But then again, that's my whole point of sending him to that particular school. I want him to learn the Islamic/Quranic basics first. Alhamdulillah, my expectation was fulfilled. He can now recite some doa's completely: doa makan, doa tidur, doa penerang hati. And some verses and bacaan dalam solat 'pelat'ly: Al-Fatihah, Doa Iftitah, bacaan ruku' and sujud (sekuat2 hati baca while sujud... Sub laaaa nak rob bi yal... - when I corrected him, it's Subha, not Subla... he said.. bukannnn.. Umi (the principal) kata, Sublaaa. Heheh. Kids.. Teachers always know better than parents, ek?) O well.. :)

As a whole, I think ( and I am heavily biased, of course), Afiq is turning into a very fine young man. :) He is very mature for his age. (Depending on his moods), he can be very protective (of me, and Mariessa especially). He has accepted the fact that we have another baby coming soon too,which is great. (His first reaction when I told him about the baby, was.... "tak nakkkkk lah!). Now he gives an extra kiss to my tummy, meant for the baby whenever he's giving me a kiss, which is of course very soothing. And he screams at Mariessa whenever she climbs over me, fearing she will press 'baby dalam perut mama' :).

Sometimes, out of the blue, he'll ask for a kiss, saying.. "ehhhh, mama tak sayang afiq lagi hari ni, ohhh mama lupa ye?" (not that I ever forget, his definition of 'hari ni' can actually be a few hours).

He's still wearing diapers at night. Last night I had a long talk with him on how he's a big boy and that he doesn't need diapers at night anymore etc (he's the one insisting to wear diapers, every night). This morning, when he called me before going to school (he was still asleep when I left for work), he proudly told me, "Mama, Afiq good boy. Afiq tak chin (that's his term for pee pee) pun dalam diapers malam tadi, Afiq chin kat toilet pagi tadi!!". A big boy he is, indeed.

Happy 4th Birthday, sayang Mama. Mama & Ayah doakan Afiq panjang umur, murah rezeki selalu. May you be blessed with lots and lots of love and affection, not to forget lots and lots of toys, Ultramans (Max, Dina, Nexus, Gaia and names I cannot remember), Ben-10's thingies (his latest craze), Ferrari's (his collection) and Hot Wheels. :)

All the love in the world,
Mama & Ayah..

It's Mariessa's 2nd birthday today. And what a joy she has been to us!

• When either of us (me or Shahril) sit on the sofa in front of the TV, she will always climb on our knees, adjust herself so that her tummy is right on the knee, and balance herself on her tummy. And she can go on doing that for hours! Once, she even fell asleep on my knee, like that!


• She pouts all the time! Especially when she's sulking. And she sulks all the time!


• When she sulks, she won't ever come to me. She will cry and cry and cry until I go to her. :) Very keras hati.


• She says 'MMMMMaaaahhh" (instead of mmmuuahh) when giving a kiss.


• She teases Afiq all the time. Afiq lets her win 50% of the time. :)


• She LOVES nasik. She can eat nasi kosong and bertambah some more!


• She refers to herself as 'kita'.


• Once, I told her she's Mariessa and not 'adik' (we're slowly taking the title adik off her), she said, "kita bukan ma-ie-cha, kita adik" and then she pouts.


• Her favourite song right now is 'Cinta Adam Dan Hawa' by Misha Omar. She can sing that single line for 15 minutes non stop. And her tunes remain the same. Cinta adam dan awaaa Cinta adam dan awaaaa Cinta adam dan awaaaa....

Can't wait to go back and receive lots and lots of Mmmmmaaahhh from the birthday girl. :)

My Celcom line was barred at about 9pm last night. At least that was when I tried making a call and realized that it was barred! Dah la bar pasal 3 ringgit, tak ikut timing pulak tuh! The sms specifially said that I have to pay within 1 day to avoid barring, and that sms was sent to me at 10.43 AM... aik... 9PM dah bar? Sehari tu.. ada 12 jam je in CelcomLand?

I actually made my payment dah pun at 4PM semalam through RHB online banking. But that will take some time to reach Celcom system lah kan, so i thought, lantak lah. Malas nak bising2. Buang masa & tenaga. It's their loss anyway.

Sampai ofis this morning, baruuuu je plan nak call their Helpless-line tu, tengok2 dah boleh make calls out. Nasib baikkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk! Kalau tak, entahkan adaaaa yang kena sembur pagi2 ni.

Anyway.. switching to a much better mood and skies, I'd like to say... It's a beauuuuutiful day! Hehe. tak semena2 dak?

Happy 34th Birthday to my husband dearest. Semoga panjang umur, murahhhhh rezeki. InsyaAllah. It feels soooo wonderful to be able to give him a birthday present much, much more precious than anything money can buy. I love you!

Situation:

My celcom bill last month was 103.30. Since I made my payment at the Celcom Kiosk (my first time, unlike online payment I usually do previously), I only paid RM100. Machine doesn't accept anything lower than RM10 notes kan, so logic lah. Fine and dandy.

My celcom bill for this month arrived yesterday. Amount RM101.95. No tunggakan. (I myself forgot about that 3.30 i owed Celcom). Tup tup, pagi ni dapat sms from Celcom, saying that if I don't pay that 101.95 by TODAY, my line will be barred. What the hell????

So I called Celcom, to ask them what's going on here. It turns out, they are going to bar me for that THREE ringgit and THIRTY cents tunggakan since last month! Like what???? (Tak kira lah berapa ringgit cik, asalkan melebihi 35 hari, kami akan bar!)

So I asked the Celcom guy, whyyyyy lah didn't you guys put the tunggakan in my current bill, so I would be reminded that I have a tunggakan??

The answer? : Ohhhh, sebab itu tunggakan dari bulan lepas Cik. Bill yang Cik terima tu, untuk bill bulan ni.

SO I naturally asked lah. So, you nak masukkan tunggakan tu bila? Tahun depan?

Tell me what kind of common sense Celcom people are using? They must be from outer space!

I then, told the guy not-so-nicely-anymore, that they should (by common sense used by people on this Earth) state whatever tunggakan of last month(s) in the current bill, so that the customer will be aware and NOT wasting the customer's time calling Celcom Helpline yang sgt lah tak helpful nya, just to find out that the customer owes them THREE *&^%$#@% RINGGIT ++!!!

He had the nerves to tell me (when I asked to speak to his supervisor, apparently he IS the supervisor), to just go to Celcom Branch to complain. I said, "Oh, and waste MORE of my time? No thank you!"