In between Ramadhan and Syawal

Ramadhan is nearing its end quite soon, and the heat of Syawal is definitely here :) Like the past years, we are going to celebrate Aidilfitri here in KL first. After that we will visit Opah in Abah's hometown, Sg. Siput, Perak. Believe it or not, Abah has not decided when to go back, either on the eve of the 1st Raya, or on the 2nd, or on the 3rd (I don't really prefer travelling without planning though..) but it's okay, cuz Abah's gonna drive, and we'll definitely sleep along the way, hehe.

Today we finally ended our series of shopping for Aidilfitri, in KL and Shah Alam. It has been a few years since we last shopped together in KL (usually we siblings do our own shopping cuz my parents were always too tired of following us around) and this year, I have no idea what made my parents braved the effort to buy the things for the house in that busy Jalan TAR.

Yes, it was busy indeed. Anyhow, the atmosphere of the shops were not the same as three years back. I was taken aback by the condition of the once-glorious Globe Silk Store, which has been taken over by another label called Sarah Hughes. I thought, hmm, cool name. So we went to the home furnishing level, cuz Mom wanted to buy new drapes and cushion covers. When we got there, we were surprised to see that there was no visitor (except for us!) and what was even worse, the cloths sold were the old stocks. I guess they lost the challenge to Gulati's and Jakel la. Feeling down, we descend the stairs, and went to Sogo instead. Ain and Aishah got their stuffs, and Ozal and Abah got themselves new shirts.

We headed for Bukit Antarabangsa after that, to get the cookies that Mom ordered from her cousin Auntie Rahmah. Our Auntie Rahmah has deep passion in baking, and she spends a lot to experiment on new recipes. She even dragged me to her fave supply shop to show me her fave items to bake cakes and cookies during my last visit to her place. Believe it or not, she is now probably 64 years old, and she's still standing strong in her kitchen!

Auntie Rahmah was checking which cookies that Mom ordered

These are just a portion of her cookies. There are more in her kitchen and on the other half of the dining table!

(Sorry if the pics are not so pretty. Phone's of VGA cam je..)

Shah Alam was our final destination for the day, as Ain, being the most unsatisfied one, wanted to find a 'glamorous' kurung moden for our cousin's upcoming wedding. We called it a day after she announced her hunt a success. Finally!

The great thing about Ramadhan (apart from being His most blessed month) is that Ramadhan is a month where rezeki is abundant. It is during this month where, we can see Ramadhan Bazaars are everywhere, the increase in charity to orphanages and old folks' home, invitation to fast-breaking, iftar at the mosques and surau, exchanging dishes among neighbors, the opportunity to get extra pocket money through selling Raya biscuits, scarfs, opening stalls at places where crowds gather.. and the list goes on. Amidst the political instability and the rise of the price of goods, we still manage to keep the Ramadhan spirit alive, though modesty in spending is still the priority.

But believe it or not, this is my first time of not visiting the Ramadhan Bazaar the whole month. Why? I dunno myself, but the drive just wasn't there.Perhaps getting home late was one of the reasons, compared to last year when my office was nearer. Or perhaps, I am getting used to curbing my spending on the extras! Well Sharifah, let's call that a good progress =)

To everybody who reads this post, I just wanna wish you Selamat Hari Raya, and maaf zahir dan batin. Do drive safely back to your hometowns ya :)

Ahhh.. esok kena kemas rumah lagi~ penatnya... (>_<) sendi-sendiku sakit semua.. lalala..~

A perfect mini reunion

It's been twelve years since we left our primary school. But yet, we never forget our childhood days.

Today is my most awaited weekday, and that it has been a while since I had a great Friday night. Thanks guys.

Well, I didn't know that I would be the only girl turning up. I thought Diba or Hazlinda would come along. Thank God Faizah and Nurul were there =)

Standing from left: Edzuan, myself, Arshad

Sitting from left: Zuhairy, Azraai, Kamil, Faizal

Arshad with his girlfriend, Nurul, and Edzuan with his wife Faizah

Me the photographer: We were about to leave the restaurant

TQ Nurul for this pic =) I was dwarfed by Kamil and Azraai.

The idea to break fast together sparked when Hazizi placed our Std 5 picture in his Facebook. Thanks to him for tagging most of us, we came up with the idea to meet up, since it has been really long since we last met.

There were twelve of us initially, including Hariz, his wife Marlina and the 3-month old Hana. But they left early. We didn't manage to take photos with the three of them. But nevermind, Raya's around the corner, we might meet up again.

Well, it's great that most of us are now employed. Faizal (or should I call you Dr. Faizal? hehe) just got back from Russia and will start his housemanship soon. Azraai will be going back to Germany for his final year in Mechatronics. Zuhairy will be a lawyer soon. Kamil just got back from Cardiff, and he's now looking for a job. Edzuan's working tomorrow (takpe, SLB kerja dua hari, cuti dua hari Edzuan..) and Arshad is progressing with his production thingy with RTM. Cool huh..

Thanks for a great fast breaking gathering guys :) I'll upload these pics in Facebook definitely!

P/S: Fadli, Zaki, Zamila and Hazlinda, you missed this!

Watch your words, boy!

When you think what you say matters the most, that is when you might be prone to making mistakes in conveying it. Due to excitement maybe, that made you too occupied to think about the impact of what you say. Yeah, you just gotta say something, don't you?

When you think that what you say can really reflect your intelligence, especially when commenting a debatable, open ended topic, that is when you will succeed in making yourself appear to be a thoughtless person. Yerp, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but of course, MINUS unintelligent opinions.


Too many slip-tongue cases happen, especially to our politicians eh.. what a pity.

Example 1 (Cerita lama): Perhaps because the Info Dude felt he was superior to the De-Facto Guy that perhaps he felt because he is one of the current Dudes, that he forgot to strategize the way to rebut the De-Facto Guy's arguments. Couldn't imagine how people bombarded his blog the day after.. with all the shameful words of not proving his credibility. That was indeed a shame..

Example 2: Datuk X must have said it wrongly.. I believe he actually wanted to address the word 'immigrants' as something else. But perhaps, because of the excitement he felt of being broadcasted, and that perhaps was the only chance for him to comment something on the newspaper before God-knows-when he gets to do it again, he used the wrong word. Well, the irony is that, the ones criticizing him are not really the politicians from other races, but mostly, it was done by the Malay politicians.

Tak kasi can langsung kan.. dapat je peluang belasah, belasah cukup-cukup. Sian Datuk X..

To join any political party, especially those that practise money politics, I think, can be analogized like this: You are a billy-goat, inspired to join the big group of tough billy-goats. You just have to be like them, follow them, not taking the lead, lead when requested only.. only then can you be pals with the rest of the group members. If you try to do something different or act smart (or even act stupid for that matter!), you'll be knocked out. As humans, not only it's painful to be kicked out, it's humiliating too! But.. hmm.. politicians ni tau malu ke eh? Entah!


Drama
"Datuk Si Polan bin Si Polan is demanded to apologize...." Mainstream newspaper reports politician X as saying.

"I'm sorry, it was not my actual intent.." and the reasons go on and on for the Datuk Polan.

-"Jatuh ego aku.. dem! Haisshh susahnya nak mintak maaf nih.." seraya berkata si Datuk dalam hati.