Syyy....

Alhamdulillah -

Glory be to Allah, All Praise is for Allah, There is No God but Allah, Allah is the Greatest!

I never thought - especially recently - that I am going to share this news: ...my baby is progressing well MasyaAllah.

Just when I thought of the feeling of despairs when I was kind of being diagnosed as infertile - with a very small probability of getting pregnant. Indeed, what I experience today was a proof of the power of believing in Allah the Most Merciful, Ar-Rahim......

I am beyond words when I saw that tiny heart beating.. it is a miracle of God! 

Please continue to pray for me & my baby...

The ones that got away...

Same old, same old stories...

Earlier in late December last year or was it earlier January this year, when my mak was around with me for 5 weeks in Penang:

1. An ustaz through another married ustaz is looking for his candidate. Age late 40-s. Reason of being single due to taking care of his mother who recently passed away -  Innalillah.....

Location: in Kedah

The matchmaker is non-willing colleague who was approached by another middle person on behalf of the married ustaz - I suspected from their joined community projects which I was involved somehow - to a limited extent. She said, here is an unmarried person looking for a wife so please contact the married ustaz - she's not interested to continue the efforts of being a go-between.

Based on the hp number, I contacted the married ustaz saying I agreed to get to know the other party. Guess what? He was shocked!!!! It took him quite sometime to respond to my message - must be he is not used to a direct female.

Fast forward, it was during intensive weeks (Jan/Feb) at work when the other party wanted to come & meet - again, the matchmaker was reluctant anyway since she planned to be away immediately after for quite some time. That was the end of it.

2. Prof that I worked with and know a lot about my stories - don't worry, we're not having an affair as per dirty mind of my colleague - we work together along with another production assistant who know a lot about my stories too. I remember, around the time I told my mak about the ustaz, Prof called me around Maghrib and said he was having tea time with his wife and somehow conversation about me being not married came out and his wife knows of one teacher in her school whose wife passed away due to sickness and how he himself taking care of the small children who are really in need of a mom.

He's very kind but shy.

Location: Perai

I said ok and on the next day, Prof called me and asked when am I ready to meet the other party? I said, I'm ok - any time subject to the other party wants to meet of course. Then Prof said, his wife said better meet up soon (aka that week) since once school reopen in January (the following week) he'll be busy as a teacher and fathering his kids.

Cut short the story, no nothing came from his side - I understood that he is not interested lah..

Fast forward to yesterday, during phone conversation, Prof mentioned that he, the widower, already got married to a PAR at his school whose husband passed away too and have children who now even call him 'Cikgu' at home. Alhamdulillah syukur.. I am happy for him.

____

Fast forward to early to mid-September this year:

My sister #5 played matchmaker - she suggested for me to get to know her coworker-at-school's husband's colleague who used to work in Seremban  but now back in AS*tar.

I was reluctant... not because he is much older (54) but I'm tired of getting to know people and my heart broken to smithereens again and again. I have K*puteh now - he's my baby - my life is complete! Even mak accepted him and referred to him as my anak. I have my family esp mak, work to take care of my basic needs, career that is demanding (was appointed as Business Coordinator from mid March) and I don't even have time to slot in my running much more to sign up for events!

Against my wishes. since I asked him to answer 4,5 questions through the middle person, my sister gave my hp no to him. So, he messaged me late Thursday evening and I just responded accordingly. Conversations were stilted - stopped by Friday morning due to me having a seminar. He only came out for air on later Satuday evening - which I replied on late Sunday evening - eve of Eidul Adha. I thought - that was it!

4. Earlier on that same Friday, I talked to my matchmaker colleague who called me earlier on  Tuesday, "Rad!!!! Jodoh you dah sampai...Dat*k Rad!!!" She was excited - I was having no feeling at all - told her I wanted to think about it. So, on Friday noon, I told her - no, I'm not interested to know this guy - coz to my mind, not fair to get to know another guy while I'm in the process of getting to know 54. Oh, this Dat*k guy is 52. 52 is a divorcee which 3 adult kids, and an future alumni of my work place but not directly under me. It seemed that he simply called her & asked her to help him find a candidate. Should I be touched that my colleague think of no other person than me? Huh!

He planned to further his study - MA & PhD. Again, at my work place. 

She asked me to pray Istikharah which I did! So, while I was at my hometown, she acted as the go-between us with me asking lots of questions including the 4Qs above. I thought I was being clever enough to filter the seedy guy: 1) What is your plan w.r.t. hajj? 2) What is your opinion, as a hubby - hypothetically of course - on the roles of a career woman and as a wife, mother, daughter too? 3) What is your hobby? During free time? 4) Anything you would like to ask me? To be fair, again...

This 52 guy answered all questions. Wow!! I was quite happy with the answer...

By Monday, after so many Q&A, my matchmaker said there are certain things which ought to be amongst the two of us only and she's not interested to know. So, i gave her the permission to give my no to him. 

Here was the craziness started:

52 first messaged me on Tuesday noon. By the end of the day, we already had a long phone conversation. Continued on Wednesday - messages & long phone conversation - we clicked together!

On Thursday, I brought my mak to Seremban through KP. He knew of my plan to drive back on Friday morning. He offered to be my driver!!! He in Perai, take a bus (Hmm.. kata Dat*k??) to KL & I'm to pick him up with lots of rambutans, duku langsat, asam gelugor, belimbing buluh, and kedondong.

However by late Thursday evening, he said - changes of plan. It was ok with me - I'm used to drive alone anyway.

By Friday, when I reach Penang - he said he still wanted to meet up but not the 3 of us as discussed earlier - he's got something to tell me.

So, we met at 5pm. 

Here, again, the short story.

He got to know late Thursday evening thru a contact that his 3 stories semi-detached unit (show off with photos on Tuesday) is going to be auctioned off to pay his business debt from long ago - 2007/2008.

Since I kept telling him before that I don't like surprises! I don't like liar & cheater too! Or people trying to take advantage of me!

So, he's playing my cards...

I said, at the end of the so-called date (went ot the GH and ended up  he spent RM8.10 at cafetaria on campus for both of us - I wanted to think about it...

By Saturday, my matchmaker colleague got help of somebody to check his old Merc plate - road tax already expired since June and not belong to him! That explained the slow drive on the middle lane.

By following Monday, checked online to prove no dat*k (istiadat.gov.my - by states), no other vehicles under his name registered at J*J, he's blacklisted (forgot PD*M or J*J list), and best of all - he's registered bankrupt under E*N & Bank Isl*m! Around the same time, he updated his newly create Fb with getting the watikah - but where is the official photos?

I told my matchmaker, I told him that I wanted time to pray Istikharah which I did - for a week! By this time, he already went against my wish for privacy & changed his tunes a couple of time - wanting to be friend only now! 

I'm just grateful to Allah for putting me in his care, insya-Allah...save me from those who want to take advantage of me.  

5. Oh...that one from 5 years ago said, "You turn me down before, onwards, sorry la, I will always turn you down." That was on July 9th. I have loss count of how many times I reach out to him but this time, I get it - I really get it! How many times should I push myself to go through the same emotional roller coaster. We did met up once, surprisingly during Ramadhan for iftar - I guess, we have lost that feeling from inside us. I wish him the best & may he finds what he's really looking for so that I can really let go & move on..

Moral of the 5 stories: I can easily love again.. 

1st...10th year of blogging or not-

I first wrote in my earlier blog in July 2006.

I was in my 3rd year of P*D study and already moved out of on-campus accommodation with both 'diploma & degree', i.e. after a  FT  6 years stay.

I moved to a shop-lot unit shared with 2 other peoples who come and go until mid 2008.
Came to Penang on 30 January 2009.

So what's new for 2016?
I've done my 1st snorkeling in Kr*bi (14-17 February ladies' trip) and gone horribly sea-sick afterwards.

I can take care of mak for 5 continuous weeks from Dec 2015- Jan 2016, all by myself. It was a daily struggle to make sure breakfast and lunch were ready before I went to office and still maintain normal office hours and only going out on weekends - girls day out - no cooking!

Now that my mak is with my siblings in N9, I really struggle to wake up early for qiam, cooking tapau lunch and reach the office early. I'm becoming lazier day by day......

I have a adopted a stray cat as my 'anak bulu'. Even my mak said, 'Anak kau tu...' (Your son..) when talking about K*Puteh.

Now that I'm appealing to go for hajj for this coming hajj season, mak is already worried over who's taking care of him. I left him at the boarding for long Xmas break (Sunday to Sunday), out station workshop (Sunday to Thursday) and Kr*bi holiday (Saturday to Wednesday). Upon reaching home, he slept next to me at nights and even licked my hair and kneaded my back/neck and whatever upon his reach. With his long claws!!

Basically, I have all that I want in life and nothing more.. I'm happy indeed!

Oh, w.r.t. power struggle at the office - I was unofficially one of the deputies for only about 1 week. I was nominated & I kindly rejected through email but still called for meeting to discuss on Thursday. I said my reasons, like do appoint others more senior academics but none of the person approached by the dean were willing to accept the position and there were others who are more than interested but not approach at all for some reasons or others.

My mistakes were in going around asking opinion of others (selected people) on whether to accept or to reject. So, one person who wasn't in the know now came to know and told me why would you want to do this petty jobs who eventually  talked to the dean to appoint another person of his choice instead.

So, by the following Wednesday, I received an urgent call for meeting from the D*an's office. Knowing that there was already a scheduled meeting later in the afternoon, it was the signal to me of what was to come...

I am ok really, I didn't want the position and I only accepted it for reasons related to the school, not personal. However, it was kinda awkward to come to meeting and people congratulated me ...sorry, you're only 15 minutes too late! Hahaha

Now, I have received another appointment letter, this time around however, no money/allowance involved so I guess nobody wants it too. Let's see whether the following 22 months is enough to prove them wrong!

Refuelling

Usually, I need to refuel somewhere along my journey North-South and vice versa. If I'm starting the journey with half-full tank, then RnR Sg P*rak will be the pit stop. Otherwise, with full tank, I can go as far as Ulu B*rnam. I did try to not-stopping with a full tank once, however upon getting into NKVE - you never know the traffic conditions - crawling at times and sometimes not moving queue - I had heart palpitations, need to switch off all radio & AC - to make sure I got to the next petrol station in time. Similarly, heading North, with half-tank I would need to refuel somewhere before Ipoh, usually Tapah, if need I to, then Rawang and with full tank, Sg P*rak again.

With my mak on board, a necessary pit stop cum toilet break at Taiping (heading north) to buy fruits and Bukit Gant*ng (heading south).

Last Wednesday, for Eid, I started my journey south at 6:50am - with less than 2 bars from full tank. I was thinking of refuelling in D*ngkil - I remember, there is a Samuri Sat* Restaurant! Given that I'm very particular (or you can say loyal) with certain brand of petrol, which is not there in Dengkil, I decided with 2 bars left to proceed to the next RnR i.e. Seremb*n at a mere 34km away. Upon exiting the RnR and joining the main highway again,  the two bars now dropped to only 1-bar and just a few km after that the indicator started blinking - O.M.G! Lucky, I remembered there is a P*tronas somewhere near KLIA/S*pang ...no time to check my GPS, Waze or Google map. Off my AC & radio again, and start praying. FYI, I always refuel by the time there is only 2 bars left so I have no idea how quickly or how far the car can go with 2 bars. BTW, my PKE is an older version, so no indicator of the distance I can go with the amount of fuel left.

So, exit KLIA, and stumbled upon a petrol signage before the roundabout heading to S*pang F1. Followed the trail and thank God, after a gamble (usually I turn left to go to Bandar Enst*k or go straight for the S*pang F1), a few km away, there it is on the opposite side of the road - what a relief!

Moral of the story, better be save than sorry, always remember that the indicator moves slower when it is a full tank and moves faster when it is half/almost empty!

Mak

Mak is 79 yo this year.
She is at that stage where she becomes like a kid again.. and I'm the adult who look after her needs and wants. Except that when I was a kid, she told me to do something and I will simply follow her advice/lead. Now, I say something and she will say something else..

I tried to fulfill whatever she wants whenever I can ..but there are times when I need make a strong stand and simply say a harsh no!

Case in point - on Saturday afternoon, we were driving from S'ban to S.A, along with my sis#3 and her youngest daughter. She kept on complaining about the  hot son biting her skin, the glare from the sun in her eyes (we were heading north, the sun is right ahead of us).. I did offer her my other sunglasses -  no, won't do! She does has her own clip-on but it was in another bag at home (next time, I need to include in my list of reminders for her: medicine, hp and charger, towel etc.). I want her to stay comfortable during the drive, with leg room and everything but all she wants is to stay seat-belt free at the back! And there was I driving with the hot son biting my skin, the glare from the sun in my eyes..

On Sunday morning, we went to visit my late dad's niece who stay in  healthcare service (convalescent - another long story) in KL. My SIL was driving us, as such mak got to sit at the back with me as the co-pilot. Upon reaching home and the many bumps typical in housing areas, we hitted one loudly! Lucky I don't get to see the underside of the PKE... I wished now her understand why I wanted her to sit  in front passenger seat.

On the way heading back to S'ban, again she wanted to sit at the back. This time, with an additional 32" LCD tv along side my sis#3 and niece, both smaller in size - simply no space!

Another point - on Saturday, our journey to S'ban was delayed since my BIL#2 came back to take the rambutan -in season now, both yellow rambutan gading and rambutan batu in red - to be served at the raya open house. He did invited mak to join the open house in S'ban at his mosque - as organizer. So, mak been saying we need to come back early from SA in order to visit the open house 10-12pm on Sunday.

Back to Sunday morning, after a short trip to KPJ KL, we reach SA and leave again about 10am. She already said, "Will we arrive in time? All the food will be gone if we arrive late..." - mind you, we already had a heavy breakfast - bihun goreng, karipap and roti jala. Somewhere along the journey, she said, ""It's ok if we didn't go to the open house, after all..." So, I drove fast and by about 10 minutes past 11am, we were already at the traffic light junction going into the housing area. She was asking, "Where are we going now?"
I guess, by now, I was lucky that I really understand that she wanted to attend the open house party even if she kept saying it's ok if we didn't go...

I drove straight to the mosque - mind you, this is not my area, I might have visited once or twice in the past 10 years or so (last Eidul Adha when ayah was still around and more recent during Ramadhan, at night). So I reach the mosque - in sight - but not the entrance. There were other tents around - I wasn't too sure which direction to go to. My sis#3 or mak weren't helping ..I was kinda lost, and after calling my sis#4, went to her house and asked them all to transfer to her car and went ahead to the party without me!

Why am I so mad at the situation?
If you read my previous post - lawak bimbo moment - I need to be everything: the planner, the driver, the navigator, the secretary, the communicator, the listener to all grouses, the ATM and everything.

During recent Eid, I already told my siblings to take mak along during raya visits - but of course, she wanted to stay home and waited for her nephews and nieces came visitings instead. By the the time everyone is gone on the third day, she had only been to a neighbour's house. I remember before Ramadhan, she said that she had no opportunity to visit her parents' graves last year - off we went before Penang trip in June and before Eid, I already brought her to visit ayah's. So, on the 4th day, I took her to visit her parents' graves again. By this time, I was already on my 3rd day of fasting (replacement) and her 1st day day (6 days of sunnah Syawal). I knew I needed to bring her around visiting her sisters in Asahan and Bukit Jalur. I targetted on Sunday, 10th Syawal - when she would be celebrating raya puasa 6 by then! But, no  - she didn't want to visit her sis in BJ due to (...long story here). Off we go to her sis in Asahan, after farmers' market on Sunday morning. First, she didn't like my attire -I was wearing t-shirt and pants and it was raya *gulp!!*! Second, why was I still fasting!!! I told her, it's ok  -I'm used to fasting and still making round, visitings during Eid like last time. But, but she said, you are not eating! I said, "Mak, not a problem lah... I can still drive and talk like normal..." She wanted me to follow her in fasting but I had a lot of things to consider myself - need to finish replacing those missing fasts before I was back in office - insert reasons here.

All in all, I am very happy to fulfill her wishes, she got to spend 2 weeks of Ramadhan in Penang with me, 1 week in S'ban staying with my sis#3, sis#4 and bro#1 and got to see sis#1 and sis#5. Visited bro#3 in between Pen-S'ban. Brought her shopping in Pen, S'ban (Fami.ly Store and Gi.ants a couple of time), Sepang for kerepeks and Nilai 3 for mats and also at hometown.

The recent weekend visit can be considered as a closure to Syawal  - met her future granddaughter-in-law *Ib.an!! Mak, she is a Muslim, her parents are Muslim!!* at my sis#3, then bro#3 in SA, backed to open house party with sis#4 and not forgetting sis#1's place for lunch. Now, she has those lovely memories to entertain her until I'm back again for Eidul Adha insya-Allah.

P/s: Another short, long story - during rinsing the rambutans (ants, lotsa them) on Saturday, mak lost her gold ring. She told me once we were on our way to S'ban. No wonder, she was getting in and out of her rooms before the journey. By Monday morning, after looking inside and outside drain, everywhere for it, she thought of searching the ground where we put all the dry leaves to rot. After only 1 poking around, there it was, shining yellow! She said, "Alhamdulillah... punca rezeki  yang halal mesti tak ke mana!" If tak jumpa, "Redha je lah, takde rezeki..." By the time I reach ukm office yesterday, I got the news that she lost her gigi palsu! Mak-mak... sabar je lah, she needs a caretaker now.

Day 5, 1436H

.. of R*madhan!

Sometimes I wonder whether I made a mistake in deciding to spend my s*bbatical leave locally. I remember asking my bro#3 for advice and he told me - in spite of my earlier intention of looking for a place in Seoul (near & cheap enough to come back home frequently) - to just stick locally for mak! In order to gain KPI mark for the school, I also have to spend some time outside my institution so I decided to spend the first 5 months internally and go back to my alma mater (just because it is nearby my hometown) for the remaining 4 months (mid-April to mid-August) where I had planned it all nicely, weekly commute (it takes 1:40 to almost 2 hours depending upon traffic & highway conditions) - going on monday mornings and coming back on Friday afternoons, just in time for a visit to the night market, and planning to spend longer time in my hometown during R*amadhan like maybe going on Tuesday and coming back on Thursdays. 

Then, I started to get the hints. During drives/conversations with my mak, she was saying things like where she would like to go during R*madhan this year: sis#3's house is ok since she stays home & not working but no shops nearby (mak rides her own bike and loves to buy kuehs or dishes outside); bro#2's house is not yet ready, maybe not even next year, he promises her that he prepared 1 room just for mak! Bro#1's place is not suitable due to no space/room for her (one room downstairs is for the sons) and squatting toilet. Sis#4's house - mak is most comfortable here but nobody is around during the day and she didn't offer even if I told her to invite mak for a visit, she still finds excuses - the siblings know that she had uttered the words - "with mak around, everybody came for visits!" - and that might cramped her busy schedules (NGOs and all). Sis#1 did not offer at all for now and when I explained the situation, she shared her intention in future to renovate the toilet downstairs $$$ and the fact that she and her son is using the only one room downstairs. And sis#5 's place is kind of cramp too with 5 kids, single story  house (no where to hide) and only 3 rooms.

During the recent school breaks, my bro#3 told me to plan for a visit to Penang since his daughter is back for summer holiday. I really want to go along with mak, since it will justify not going to Penang during R*amadhan now. Alas, planning went haywire and it was a no go! 

Then during one Sunday, I went to my neighbour's place to spend some time with her cats (Alex and co!). We talked and she basically told me that mak really wants to spend R*madan Penang! Important thing is mak just want to spend time outside the house.. and I guess (I take it a compliment) her 1 month experience with me last year is good enough for a repeat! Immediately upon getting back, I told mak about the plan for Penang (until end of June only) and all she said was, "Doesn't it cause you trouble? I told her I already arranged with my supervisor and we'll be back in time for her medical check up (bi-monthly nowadays with specialist) which she responded, " ..can actually call the hospital and reschedule you know.." And I arranged for her to spend another week or so at my sis#3's place so I can commute to Bangi.

So, here I am - back in Penang - home sweet home! I drove last Monday from TJ Seremban, at 8am. Due to heavy traffic in getting into the Seremban Tol (almost 50 minutes just to get there), we reach home around 1:20pm in time for Zuhur prayer. We did stopped by at R&R Bukit Gantang - she loves buying fruits (duku langsat and kacang putih rebus) - for lunch, around 11:35-12:20pm. 

Given that the fridge is basically empty and I was in need of cash, I had to do my groceries shopping etc. that late afternoon - after a quick mopping of floor and rest. And bought dinner (RM22 for 3 big prawns - 1 leftover, fried vege and 1 piece of lamb korma) too! 

Since she wanted rendang to celebrate the coming of Ramadhan, on Tuesday morning I went to the wet market to buy 2kg of fresh beef (RM56) - I am taking the opportunity to invite along my colleagues and neighbours for lunch/dinner, kind of early replacement for Eid celebration for this year hehehe.. I bought coconut milk, ginger, onion, lemongrass, curry powder and  spices, I planned to stir-fry French beans with squids too and that was it! Upon making the preparation, mak said, ".. and there is no kuah!" So, she suggested su'un + pucuk masak lemak. Then, she asked, "Where is the blended chillies?" But-but, you didn't mention it when I was making the list earlier... "You don't even have dried chillies?" Aiyaiyai.. mak, here in my place, you need to assume nothing is available, everything has to be bought before I can cook anything! Off I went to the grocer across the road to buy pucuk & blended chillies.

At the same time, the day before I already arranged for Che' Lan Library to deliver durians - 1,2 special ones for mak and RM20 of normal ones, he said to call him again at 10am. I called, twice and no reply - even to this day.. Lucky I already bought grapes for dessert and I also blended soursop (from R&R) for drink!

On Wednesday, I went to office to attend a whole day workshop as well as checking my letters. During lunch, arranged to meet my student for consultation on further studies (here or another place?) and met the others too. On the way back to office, I happened to come across my immediate boss when I should have tried harder to avoid meeting him for now - long story but I understand his position as my boss for now... For dinner, it was fried kangkung (no go - throw away almost untouched after sahur Day 1, put in fridge) and fried fish with chillies (my sambal not so tasty, I suspected!)

By now, I know mak's current list of dos and don'ts: No to mangoes (heavy coughing), no to karipap (muak), kue teow (lembik, memek2x.. ), and no fried yellow noodle too. Yes to huge & juicy grapes, fried chicken especially K*C. 

I stayed home on Thursday supposedly to work but ended doing mostly nothing - started R*madhan, Day 1. Brought mak to R*madhan bazaar (nearby TH) as early as 4:30pm - shouldn't go after 6pm - packed and rubbing shoulders with too many people. She choosen chicken curry (drumstick), fried vege (in egg) - both RM4.50, taufufa RM1.20 x2 (smaller), watermelon, kuih cara manis RM2 for set of 5 (ate only 3 til sahur), must-have cendol RM2 and 1 piece of fried chicken RM3 (more expensive than hometown)! Spent around RM20..

On Friday, I went to wet market again - prawns, veges, 1kg beef for dendeng (RM29 batang pinang) etc. First, I dropped by TNB counter to pay my PBA bills - all 6 months - just to avoid 90 cent agent charges. Headed to office but not doing anything much since internet was slow and everyone is busy marking final exam papers. On the way home, I dropped by the furniture shop (same row as grocer shop) to buy stool (RM45 inclusive of gst) for mak's terawih at mosque. And whole durian RM30 for two! What is for dinner/breakfast day 2? Ayam masak lemak cili api (onion & ginger for the nicer smell) and cannot remember what else.. dendeng (mak don't like much!) was ready only after maghrib. Again, another round of house cleaning in preparation for my bro#3 & family. He drove at 10:30pm and reach my parking around 1:40am. I woke up as usual by 4am to prepare sahur for mak (selection of thick black coffee Hang Tuah, 3-in-1 coffee N*scafe of one with Habbatul Sauda', even cappucino once). Fried chicken drummets and nuggets for the kids (mak loves this too) and reheated rendang. Must-have teh tarik by SIL.

So Saturday was spent lazing around the house, they read the Quran, bro and me (we had secret/silent chat too) had conversation with mak about everyone especially someone hehehe, kids with wifi & sleeping on & off...  by 10am, went to the wet market again with SIL - her menu: bihun soto with beef soup (chicken finger, balls and pegedil), daging tetel masak asam pedas, and stir-fried French bean & mushroom - selection of watermelon, mata kucing & dragon fruit/pitaya - no go for iced sugar cane juice - bad for joints. Finally,  my buah melaka or onde2 was only ready at sahur but the grated coconut was getting no good - mak said, should have mixed it with salt upon reaching home. I noticed myself are too proud to ask for help or instructions and I specially hate it if people suggest things as if I know nothing.. but turn out I know not everything!

They went back after Subuh on Sunday. By 9:15am, I already in office to meet my PhD supervisee at 10am -lasted until after 11am. What is for iftar Day 4? Fried chicken (marinated for days already), stir-fried cabbage, re-heated asam pedas and take out the chicken curry - and I made, for the first time ever, roti jala (looked more like lempeng hahaha) using just mineral bottle water with holes on the cover - remind myself to buy those pronto. Usually for iftar, I will prepare hot ear grey/apple tea with honey, I did tried lemon and honey but it was no go (blamed for upsetting mak's tummy)! Big no-no for cendol extended to day 2 - mak had diarrhoea on Friday evening.

Ikhlas.. today, I am accepting this golden opportunity to serve mak to the best of my ability - make her as comfy as possible. So, what is for iftar day 5? I plan to fried bihun - Singapore style, fried fish fillet (mak doesn't require much watery dish - I offer her fave ikan singgang) and prawn sambal insya-Allah. Alhamdulillah, thank you Allah for this much that I have now..

So many things on my mind..

..nothing new there right?

I’ll let you know some secret that I’m supposed to keep tight:

Somebody is addicted to heroine for almost as long as I’ve lived – all tender *ahem!* 34 years. All these while, everybody thought he’s smoking cigarettes only – a heavy-duty chain-smoker. *He quited point-blank*

Somebody has two teenagers who still sleep together with both parents on their king-size bed. Aren’t that worrying? *SOLVED*

Somebody finds love again, for the second time. Problem is the wife has just gave birth to their 4th child. *recalled the love*

Somebody is involved in a love-triangle & live in a make-believe world. He is deeply infatuated with the Heroine while she’s happily in love with the Hero, of course….He said that she’s fat, simply because no other things to say…

Somebody is put in a difficult situation when the wife of a being-consulted person suddenly called & they talked about the third-party, being not that somebody la!
___
I wrote the above entry some time late last year and forgot all about it..even who's who for some of the 'stories' above!
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I'm trying hard to 'change' for a better me, esp. speak less, slowly & not so loud..

It's embarrassing when people like my colleagues mentioned that they can hear my voice from the top floor when they're in ground floor, or outside my room; friend asking me to 'boleh cakap perlahan sikit tak' over the phone; those who share 'things' with me only to be followed with statement like pls-keep-it-to-yourself etc. etc.

Maybe I need to be back at blogging regularly to sort my jumble up feelings & thinkings, sorta organized everything in a nice compartment...