Aktiviti Di Hari Merdeka

Sempena cuti Hari Merdeka ni aku dan Zura mengambil kesempatan untuk membeli kain lining untuk baju raya dan menghantar kain-kain tu ke tailor. Bukannya gungho, tapi kalau hantar lambat, tailor tak terima nanti. Furthermore, sempatlah buat fittings and alterations kalau perlu. Semasa aku di cashier untuk membayar, there was this lady who was in the midst of paying her purchases. Aku tengok kain yang dibeli were several French laces heavily embroidered with beads. Mesti mahal ni!! True enough, her total purchase was more than RM1K. She flashed her gold credit card and the cashier took out several shirts wrapped in plastics for her to choose as free gift. Aku tengok label kat shirts tu Zara - a well-known brand and usually quite pricey too. Yang warna orange tu cantiklah pulak. Don't know why I am soo into orange and pink nowadays. Anyway, instead of just choose one of the shirts, I saw her looking at them in disgust. She called her daughter, "Ni hah, engko tengoklah mana-mana yang engko nak. Kut nak pakai yang celoreng-celoreng ni ke, ape ke" dengan nada yang agak sombong. Lepas membelek shirts tu, her daughter decided not to take any of them. Whilst she walked away, I overheard her say, "Elok buat lap kaki aje." What a pompous ass! Kalau tak berkenan pun, tak payahlah buat ayat-ayat macam tu. Just politely declined or just take it and give it away to somebody else. Macam-macam ragam manusia ni.....

After watching the whole drama, we headed to Semuahouse to send all the kain to the tailor. Kat kedai tailor, Zura came across kain dari fabrik songket berwarna pink lembut dengan bunga berterabur yang ditenun dengan silver thread. It was love at first sight. The salesgirl tunjuk warna lain tapi aku dah terpaut dengan warna pink lembut. Memang aku dah lama mencari kain songket macam ni tapi kainnya samada keras atau motivesnya terlalu heavy. Yang ini, kainnya lembut dan harganya berpatutan. This must be my lucky day! Aku terus letakkan kain tu ke badan dan tayang di hadapan cermin. Dah mula berimaginasi how it will look on me once made into baju kurung. It did not take me long to decide that I must have it. Told the tailor yang aku nak buat rekaan klasik - baju kurung pesak gantung. Memang aku gemar rekaan ni and I have a few baju kurung with this design. Zura also bought one but berwarna kuning air. Tak sabar nak tengok the finished work and pakai pada Hari Raya nanti. Ala-ala Perempuan Melayu Terakhir gitu, kut.

*Sigh* Esok kena kerja........

Merdekakah Kita?

Pada pagi Hari Merdeka ni, aku teringat lagu WARISAN yang sering dinyanyikan semasa di sekolah dan UiTM Di Hatiku. In the hype of Merdeka celebrations ni, kita gembur-gemburkan tentang pencapaian, tapi bagaimana dengan failures? Aku sebenarnya sedih sebab masih ramai bangsa Melayu yang lalai dan ada mentaliti yang sentiasa mengharapkan subsidi dari kerajaan, Melayu kena tolong Melayu (in spite of most of them do not deserved to be helped) instead of berusaha sendiri. Kalau dah diberi pertolongan, tak menghargainya dan mensia-siakannya sampai ada yang sanggup menggadainya pulak. Allah juga takkan tolong hambaNya kalau hambaNya sendiri tak berusaha. Adakah tanpa semua ni, kita tak boleh survive...............merdekakah kita? Mungkin jasad kita merdeka tapi minda kita? This requires major paradigm shift.....dan aku faham Mahathir's frustration.......thanks to Malay Dilemma yang banyak membuka minda and to my parents yang telah membesarkan aku dengan fikiran Melayu baru.

WARISAN

Anak kecil main api
Terbakar hatinya yang sepi
Airmata darah bercampur keringat
Bumi dipijak milik orang

Nenek moyang kaya raya
Tergadai seluruh harta benda
Akibat sengketa sesama kita
Cita lenyap di arus zaman

Indahnya bumi kita ini
Warisan berkurun lamanya
Hasil mengalir ke tangan yang lain
Pribumi merintih sendiri

Masa depan sungguh kelam
Kan lenyap peristiwa semalam
Tertutup hati terkunci mati
Maruah peribadi dah hilang

Kini kita cuma tinggal kuasa
Yang akan menentukan bangsa
Bersatulah hati bersama berbakti
Pulih kembali harga diri

Kita sudah tiada masa
Majulah dengan gagah perkasa
Janganlah terlalai teruskan usaha
Melayu kan gagah di Nusantara

Unfortunately, aku tak jumpa lagu Warisan untuk diperdengarkan dan dihayati bersama tapi diharapkan lagu UiTM Di Hatiku ini akan mengingatkan kita.

One Quiet Sunday Night

This sms texting took place between 9.05 p.m. to 9.51 p.m, started with an sms sent at 12.51 pm today about watching Actorlympics @ Actor's Studio some time in September.

Tan Sri: Cunt lah, darling
Me: Did you purposely spell cant that way?
Tan Sri: Thats how you make me spell.
Me: Ahhh...blame it on Virgin Mary. The Actorlympic thingy seems to be on hold anyway
Tan Sri: On hold?
Me: Actor's Studio said so. Called them earlier
Tan Sri: What about you? ;)
Me: What about me?
Tan Sri: You on hold too?
Me: On hold, frm wat?
Tan Sri: You are such a tease. You know, you dont fool me. You are naughtier than most girls I know! Nurul, nurul...
Me: Bcoz m not like most gurls u know. He2x
Tan Sri: I have to agree with that. But you have to agree I am right about you
Me: Only on tis 1. Most of other times on other subjects, I agree to disagree.
Tan Sri: I am not interested in being right about HR. YOU are far more fascinating subject.
Me: We'll talk just abt me then the next time we meet ;)
Tan Sri: You read my mind. Over drinks soon. If I am someone you trust, and open conversation is something I look forward to.
Me: Look forward to that 2. Will give you a buzz. Nite2x
Tan Sri: Cheers. Bye

Body Challenge

Total body weight, reduced by 2.7 kg

Body fat %, reduced by 0.7%
Total fat weight, reduced by 1.2 kg
Total lean muscle mass, reduced by 1.5 kg
Upper arm, reduced by 1 cm
Waist (Naval), reduced by 4 cm
Hip, reduced by 2 cm
Thigh, reduced by 1 cm

Last Tuesday was the D-Day to find out whether all the hardwork and weeks of enduring muscle aches paid off - the day where certain parts of my body were measured. Since returning to the gym and 6 circuit training workouts, I am deliriously happy with the result - it's progressing well although the body fat % is not reducing at the rate I hoped. Advised by Alex to change my diet if I wish to accelerate reducing my body fat % especially cutting down on oily, fried food, curry which I find hard to do. Hey, who can resist temptations from friends' invites to dinner with the initial intention to eat light but ended going on a binge and ate a huge serving of greasy sinful meal. Can't talk about Alex's advise on diet and gym workouts in Tan Sri's presence, otherwise he'll start his anti-gym speech and conspiracy theories. If mak comes over and stays with me, I tend to indulge myself in mak's cooking. The Perakians describe it as "muntahkedarah". On other days, I'll strive with a great amount of difficulty to restrict to small portion of everything, eat lots of fruits especially apples and avoid heavy dinner or no dinner at all after 8 p.m. Alex has given up trying to get me to change my diet but he 'punished' me by increasing the weights, and more strenuous routines especially around the waistline.

When I decided to sign up with FF last year, it was not to lose weight but more for health reasons. I went for my annual medical check-up last year and was informed by the specialist that my cholesterol level was high. I was taken aback because I thought that I was fit with running here and there, very much on the go and have never experienced any significant health issues. The doc said it was not that serious that I need to be on medication but I need to exercise a lot. Acknowledging the fact that my family has history of illnesses associated with cholesterol level like stroke, heart etc, I was heavily concern. I do not know whether my cholesterol level has decreased to its normal level but I will soon find out when I go for my annual check up again soon.

Yaadein

Hari ini terover rajin nak kemas rumah and re-arranging furnitures in my apartment. Whilst rummaging through some boxes terjumpalah album lama masa belajar di UiTM dulu. Gambar-gambar dalam album membuat aku mengimbau kenangan lama especially insiden yang mencuit hati sampai aku tersenyum sorang-sorang. Antara incidents yang masih lekat dalam ingatanku ialah semasa dalam mass lecture, tiba-tiba our lecturer, Encik Rozalli tanya - "Awak tahu tak suara saya ni keluar dalam tv? Awak rasa rancangan ape?". There was a moment of silence dan aku berbisik dengan kawan aku kat sebelah - "Doraemon kut". "Hah, awak kata suara Doraemon?" Encik Rozalli tiba-tiba sergah. Satu lecture hall tergelak besar. Mula-mula tu muka merah padam jugak tapi lepas tu join gelak sekali, nak cover malu. Aku tak sangka walaupun aku rasa bisikan aku perlahan, dia dengar. Nasib baik lecturer ni memang sporting. Kalau tidak nahas aku kena buat squatting ke or kena halau dari hall.

Teringat juga vividly, lecturers lain yang left deep impact in my mind. Tuan Haji Ilyas yang ajar Political Science in 1st semester yang suka mencarut masa bagi lecture, sampai a lot of us especially female students kena cultural shock mula-mula tu. A couple of years ago, aku jumpa dia di majlis kahwin my ex-colleague. Dia nampak dah berumur sangat dan macam tak sihat aje. Then there was Encik Jamali yang ajar Law subject. A very simple guy but great mind. To get the students' attention, dia akan put up notice or announcement decorated with gambar celebrities or captions yang eye-catching. Sebak juga bila aku diberitahu yang dia meninggal keseorangan dalam office dia because of heart attack. There's one lecturer named Mrs Grace who taught me Organizational Behavior. She was enthusiastic when teaching that she tend to hop from one end of the classroom to another, macam Tweety Bird. Kadang-kadang tu rasa macam tengok tennis pulak when our heads turned from left to right back and forth throughout the class.

There was also an embarassing moment yang terjadi di library. Coursemate aku, Albert kalau bab subject political science memang tak boleh lawan tapi subject that deals with numbers dia memang out. Dia minta tolong aku tutor dia and we agreed to meet at the library. There was this ridiculous rules UiTM imposed at the library that male and female students tak boleh duduk bersebelahan. In spite of me telling him about this rule, he chose to ignore it and sat next to me. Tak sampai 10 minit, the librarian came and tegur us. Of course other students sitting at nearby tables nampak and dengar. Albert tersengih aje, aku memang dah malu sampai rasa merah telinga aku and gave him that "I told you so" look. Tambahan pulak librarian yang tegur tu memang cute and ramai female students minat, termasuk aku. Bukan minat ape, minat tengok aje, buat cuci mata.

Whilst flipping through the pages of the album, aku terjumpa dua helai kertas yang dilipat rapi terselit antara mukasurat album. Bila aku buka kertas tu, I was a bit surprised, dua helai surat dari secret admirer masa kat UiTM dulu. Aku rasa aku dah lama buang surat-surat ni especially when I found out his true identity. I did not reply to the letters sebab I prefer a guy yang berterus-terang about his intention rather than send anonymous letters. Bila takde response, I received the second letter which in summary stated that he didn't really care whether I was involved with someone or not, he will not give up among other things. Aik, bunyinya marah sangat. Masa tu aku rasa flattered tapi at the same time terdetik jugak kat hati - psycho ke mamat ni! Teringat aku kisah kakak aku kat matriks, bila mamat yang suka kat dia campak kerusi and tendang almari sampai pecah sebab kakak aku tak balas cinta dia. Walau bagaimanapun, I felt if this mamat was so determined in spite of his anonymity, maybe he's worth knowing. I was not seeing anyone at that time anyway.

I kept this to myself for a while until I casually shared this with my friend, Jijie and showed her the letters, Jijie said she recognized the handwriting. Jijie told me that the sender memang satu course dengan dia. She was actually involved with that guy until a couple of weeks earlier, for no reason the guy returned all the letters, birthday cards and gifts she gave to him and dumped her just like that. I do not know whether that guy dumped her because he felt he was sure that he could 'tackle' me but what he did to Jijie was enough to turn me off. Out of curiousity, I asked Jijie to show me the guy just to be sure it's the same person. Nanti serkap jarang pulak. Kebetulan that night when we went for dinner at the cafe, the guy was there. Bila I described the guy to my coursemate yang jadi mailman including accurate information about him which I've got from Jijie, he confirmed it.

One may fall in and out of love but in both situations, aku rasa kena jujur dan berterus-terang and do it in a civilized and respectful manner especially kalau nak putuskan hubungan dengan seseorang.

Gifts From God

Two of my best friends received gifts from God recently. Sharifah gave birth to a baby boy and a couple of weeks later Sally gave birth to a baby girl. For Sharifah, this is her 3rd child and the first for Sally after 11 years of marriage, fertility treatments and a miscarriage. Sharifah wanted a baby girl made in Australia because she already have 2 boys. Why Australia, beats me. Maybe she wanted a blue-eyed baby girl.

Anyway, I am happy for both of them especially Sally. A year ago was a difficult time for her. After giving up on fertility treatment and left it in the hands of God, she finally got pregnant which ended with a miscarriage when the foetus was about 3 months old, she was devastated. In her forties, her biological clock was ticking. All we could do was gave her shoulder to cry on, comforted her and offered her our sympathy if not empathy. Told her how lucky she was to have such an understanding husband who did not put any pressure on her and stuck by her all these years. Finally her patience paid off, she conceived again, carried her baby to full term and delivered a healthy baby girl.

I have bought gifts for their little ones and am really looking foward to visit them and their babies once they returned from their confinement.

God, I am already daydeaming of having my own little ones......Amin.........

You Are The Grass-Fragrance Type

A colleague e-mail these questions in a slide presentation to me this afternoon. Took a break from work to answer the questions. I need a break anyway from stressful day at work. The questions are:-

1. Which floral scent best describe you?
Light fragrance OR Strong fragrance

2. What bouquet best describe you?
Non-red bouquet (e.g. white/blue/purple) OR Red bouquet (e.g red/pink/orange)

3. Which smell do you prefer?
Sun-dried grass OR Grass wet from rain

4. You just discovered a new shampoo you like the smell very much. What is the shape of the bottle?
Round OR Oblong

5. A new vanilla-flavored ice-cream, what's your take on it?
Rather interested OR Not really interested

6. You are watching a highly-rated drama and saw a fragrance pouch, what color is it?
Purple OR Red

7. When you are feeling blue, which smell can sooth you best?
Smell of flowers OR Smell of forest

8. If the glow of the moon has a smell, which best describe that smell?
Melancholy/Lonely/Steadfast/Quiet OR Exciting/Vibrant/Eye-catching/Fragrant

9. Which scent perks you up?
Citrus OR Menthol

10. What's your take on body odor?
Hate it! OR As long as I like it

11. Amusement parks remind you of?
Milk & grapes OR Sweet candy

12. Do you know your own smell?
Yes OR Nopes

Once I hit the answer to the last question, apa kata survey.............

You have very strong will, not dependent on others and gives an impression of being a lone-ranger. You are extremely curious and sensual, living a clear-headed modern life. At first glace, you place yourself on a pedestal, and are difficult to get along with. But once others talk to you, they know you are easygoing. And when the relationship develops, they realize you are affable. You have an androgynous charm, which makes you popular with all genders. But you don't like your weak side to be seen. You might look cool on the surface, but beneath it all, you are really passionate. Only people who know your true self can maintain a long-lasting relationship with you.

androgynous - having both male and female characteristics, hermaphrodite.

I must say there's a ring of truth in the result.

Lost & Found

It might be female instinct or pure coincidence, whatever you want to call it, I made an unplanned stop at Borders, The Curve. I walked in and asked whether by any chance they have Jibam. First he searched by book title. I saw him punching the keyboard and spelt the book title wrongly, J..I..B..E..M, definitely search result was zero. Then he searched by author's name U..J..A..N..G and he said...ooooo..Jibam. At that time, I dah berdebar-debar. When he said, yes, we have it upstairs. My eyes opened wide, my face brightened when some of my face muscles formed a wide grin. He said he will get it for me but I decided to follow him name anyway and helped him looked for it. My eyes quickly scanned the shelves and when the word JIBAM in big caps caught my eyes. I exclaimed, there it is....Eureka! The staff said, oooo...you found it and I reckon must be wondering why this women acted like a schoolgirl at a mere sight of a book called Jibam. I told him I have been looking for this book like forever.

Jibam by Ujang
Dunia yang bulat, adalah bersegi baginya. Benda yang hodoh menjadi cantik pada pandangan mata. Katak pisang dan binatang kecil adalan teman sepermainannya. Nyanyian untuknya amat pilu mengusik jiwa. Dia disambut bukan di pesta besar. Sambutan yang diterima adalah sepak terajang dan penghinaan. Air mata adalah teman, tetapi tak pernah dimengertikan. Dia terus hidup, terus bermain di dalam dunianya. Jibam terus melangkah, penuh gah, memburai rahsia kematian ayahnya. Namun dia tetap tabah.

Aku mula baca buku ni at 8.30 p.m. semasa menonton konsert AF finale at Kema's place and finished it by 11.30 p.m. It had the same effect on me when I read it for the first time years ago. Ada bahagian yang menggelikan hati sampai aku ketawa sorang-sorang tetapi ada bahagian yang menyayat hati sampai bergenang airmata especially bila Jibam kena balun and maki hamun dek Tun Ngah Sudin dan Usin Singai.

Actually, my primary itinerary for today was to look for a bed with Kema for Liza's place in Damansara Damai. Liza is in Dubai and relies on us to get fixtures and fittings for her place. She gave specific instructions the kind of bed she wants, no headboard, queen size, wood bla...bla...bla. Met with Kema for breakfast at La Cucur, KLCC at 9 a.m. and spent an hour chatting over several coffee table topics including the latest happenings in our lives. Before proceeding with our main agenda for the day, we stopped at Kinokuniya. I browsed through the bookstore and bought a few books. Need to catch up on my reading. Here are the latest addition to my book collection:-

Panic by Jeff Abbot
Things are going well for young filmmaker Evan Casher - until he receives an urgent phone call from his mother, summoning him home. He arrives to find her brutally murdered on the kitchen floor and a hitman lying in wait for him. It is then he realises his whole life has been a lie. His parents are not who he thought they were, his girlfriend is not who he thought she was, his entire existence has been an ingeniously constructed sham. And now that he knows it, he is in terrible danger. Evan's only hope for survival is to discover the truth behind his past.

The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella
Samantha is a high-powered lawyer in London. She works all hours, has no home life, and cares only about getting a partnership. She thrives on the pressure and adrenalin. Until one day....she makes a mistake. A mistake so huge, it'll wreck her career. She walks right out of the office, gets on the first trains she sees, and finds herself in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big, beautiful house, she is mistaken for the interviewee housekeeper and finds herself being offered the job. They have no idea they've hired a Cambridge-educated lawyer with an IQ of 158 - Samantha has no idea how to work the oven. Disaster ensues. It's chaos as Samantha battles with the washing machine...the ironing board....and attempts to cook a cordon bleu dinner. But gradually, she falls in love with her new life in a wholly unexpected way. Will her employers ever discover the truth? Will Samantha's old life ever catch up with her? And if it does...will she want it back?

The Guy Next Door By Meg Cabot
Melissa Fuller is late for work. She is always late but this time she has a serious excuse. She's just rescued her neighbour from a violent intruder and in the process become sole-custodian of Paco, the Great Dane - not the ideal accessory for a New York city girl. Now Mel needs help, but she won't get it from her neighbour's only relative - ice-cool womanizer Max Friedlander. Max hasn't a compassionate bone in his body and he isn't about to give up his vacation with a supermodel just to help his sick aunt's annoying neighbour. But if Max is to protect his inheritance, he needs a substitute to play the caring nephew and take over dog-walking duties from Mel. So when he calls in a favour from his old friend John, in theory, everyone's problems are taken care of. In practice, they have only just begun.

I had actually read this book some time back. Borrowed it from Kema but decided to have my own, if I would like to read it again in the future.

Follow Your Heart & Happiness Now By Andrew Matthews
These 2 books are self-enrichment or self-help books. I bought and read Follow Your Heart about 8 months ago. Lent it to si dia and he never did return it after we broke up. I halal ajekanlah. Malas nak call just to ask him to return petty things like this. This book is about doing what you love, dealing with bills and broken legs, discovering your own power, finding peace of mind, dealing with disasters and not blaming your mother.

We went to several furniture shops in Ampang, Rattan Decor, American Accent and Urban Culture. Kat Urban Culture, fell in love with one wooden bed sold at half of the price. Contemplating about buying it but kept thinking do I need a new bed. Kema was already asking me to donate my old bed to her if I seriously want to buy a new one. Still undecisive about it.

After lunch at Santai, Taman Tun, Kema ajak pergi Teakita in Glenmarie. She wants to buy a writing table. Probably there will be clearance sale since they are moving out. Unfortunately, after we had afternoon tea with kuih at my house and left at around 6.00 p.m, Teakita was already closed. Looks like have to come back next time.

At this point, still thinking whether I should get the bed.

Blessing In Disguise

I am sure everyone has had a day where you have series of unfortunate events. That's what happened to me today. As usual, woke up at 5.30 pagi, shower, perform Subuh prayers, got dressed and left for work at 7.00 a.m. Normally, between 7.30 a.m - 7.45 a.m. dah sampai office but on that day the traffic jam on Federal Highway was unusually bad (accident rupa-rupanya pagi-pagi buta ni!) and by the time sampai office building, carpark was already full. Terpaksalah park kereta at an adjacent building where the parking rate is a little higher and had to walk quite a distance. Sampai office just at the nick of time, a few minutes before 8.30 a.m. It's not that my boss mind tapi rasa guilty kalau masuk lambat. Normally I like to start my day at work early so that I do not have to stay back too late and I could clear a few things without any interruption. The day at the office is normal with the usual workload except training scheduled on that day had to be postponed. I was relieved since I had tons of things to do.

Tiba-tiba terasa pulak nak change mobile phone. I was using Nokia N70 for the last 8 months. Got my sis to buy it in Dubai since it was a few hundred cheaper than here. At first I wanted to just buy a new one and kept the N70 but then again, it's not practical to maintain 2 mobile phones. So, I traded it in and got myself a Sony Ericsson K750i. It's smaller and lighter. I was pleased with my purchase but the unfortunate thing is that I lost my sunglasses. Yang sedihnya, it was only 3 months old, Emporio Armani and bought at Harvey Nichols in Dubai. I only realized it missing when I was at my brother's place, moving my stuff from my mum's car to my car.

I have been driving mum's car to work because I had to leave my car with my brother so that he could take it for service. As I drove home at around 9.00 p.m. I called Dr Mobile Clinic where I bought my mobile phone hoping that by any chance I might left it there. I even asked the salesman to help me check at the Mastercard booth where I stopped to redeem free gifts. Negative, no sunglasses sighted. As I drove home, I was cursing myself, why did I bring it out of the car, how I could be so careless etc etc. When I got home, to my horror I realize that I left my house keys in my mum's car. Terpaksalah, drove back all the to my brother's place to collect the keys.

On the way back home, I terfikir kenapalah benda-benda ni terjadi kat I. Ditambah pulak tiba-tiba Era pasang lagu Bad Day by Daniel Powter. Kena batang hidung sendiri. Mungkin juga Tuhan nak ingatkan I yang lalai sebab these few days, ada jugak terleka dengan urusan dunia sampai terbabas sembahyang. Kat Midvalley tadi pun, sebab pentingkan buat facial appointment and beli handphone dulu sampai dah dekat 15 minutes nak masuk Maghrib, baru terhegeh-hegeh nak pergi surau sembahyang Asar.

Mungkin jugak unfortunate circumstances ni blessing in disguise supaya kita sedar apa-apa rezeki yang Tuhan bagi tu boleh diambil balik dalam sekelip mata. Kalau tidak melalui kesusahan mungkin manusia akan terus lalai dan lupa diri. Kadang-kadang, bila ditimpa malapetaka pun kita kena bersyukur sebab ia ujian ke atas kekuatan iman dan agar kita lebih tabah dan kuat menghadapi dugaan.