Dos and Don'ts

One thing that I have to admit, asians are rich in cultures and tradition. Being a Malay, living in Malaysia I was brought up knowing the 'pantang' i.e: taboo that we should do and not do. Chinese have this sorts of pantang too and its not that much of different from Malays as I talked to my studio pals during our neverending field trip all over the country. Logically some of it makes sense and some doesn't. Its more of a mix up between being superstitious and just telling the kids not to do because its impolite. Though these are those pantang that I will always remember and of course the reason behind it - through my observation and making it more believable why people in the old time say it:-

1. Don't sit on a pillow or you're going to get a huge bisul/pimple on your butt cheek : I actually believed this pantang when I was a kid that when one day my brother had this bisul on his butt cheek and was having a heck of a time doing simple everyday work, all I said was, "See, told you not to sit on the pillow". In the Malay culture, we were brought up being very sensitive about anything that has to do with our head. Its where everything is, our brain, our thoughts, our mind. Don't you ever dare to push the head of a Malay or you're in for a fight. Pillow is used for sleeping and of course, for our head. It is improper to put the butt i.e: sit on the pillow which is used for the head. Thats my logic, and of course my mak's when I asked about it as I grew older - make that grew to be 12 year old.
2. Don't sing when you're cooking or you'll be getting a very old man for your husband (applies for single women of course): This one is kind of illogical that it never fail to make me smile. One of the reason probably because girls back then tend to get really distracted if they sing while they cook that would lead to the result of burnt rice, overcooked dishes and definitely not so tasty food. Anyway I have a radio in the kitchen and I found it really hard not to sing along to the songs. When my mom starts singing to old songs I would always kid her about ths pantang and all she said, "I don't care, I already got myself a husband," and we would laugh about it. My abah is 10 years older than her. Age is not a factor, hehehehe. My baby's 2 years older than me, not bad *wink.
3. Don't get out of the house during dusk or the 'Hantu Kopet' will snatch you away: Hantu kopet is actually one of the malay ghosts - the tit ghost that is believed to kidnap the kids away and hide it in its... erm... breast. I have been hearing ghost stories throughout my life, though I don't believe in ghost but I do believe in invisible beings and the fact that we're sharing the world with them. As my boss said, Buddhist believe this too and as long as we don't interfere their world, they won't interfere us. Its going to be lenghty if we discuss more about this beings. My brother and I would always try to get back home from our daily games before dusk, afraid that we would be abducted by the so called hantu. Logical side, dusk is when everyone is coming home and its time for family dinners and activities. Of course fathers and mothers would want to be home and see their kids at about that time. That sums it up.
4. Don't peep or you will get a bisul/pimple on your eyelid: Don't have to think that hard for this one. Peeping is highly improper and illegal - you can be sued for that. That line causes me trouble quite a number of time as I kept on having huge pimple on my eyelid in primary school and it was torturing. Kids start kidding on me having peeping someone bathing and doing private stuff. I don't peep mind you. Then again, when I was in my second year degree course I took aspirin before a 3 hours public speaking class because of the bad toothache I got due to the growing wisdom tooth. I didn't know that I'm actually allergic to aspirin as I always took paracetamol instead of that. At the end of the class, my eye was swelling so bad that my friends was totally surprised. It was normal few hours ago and then I look like a have a tennis ball imbedded to my eyelid. Again they start making jokes that maybe I peeped at someone in the bathroom before class started. Beautiful.
5. Don't change your seat while you're eating or you will get more than 1 spouse: Hurrah for males who wants to be a polygamist and nightmare for all female - joking. Its improper to keep on bringing your plate here and there while you're eating and not forgetting - messy. Hmm... that reminds me of buffet tables and social functions where people mingle with their plate, hehehe.

There are more I know but these are the main pantang that I would always remember. Old people have this saying - they ate salt much more earlier than younger kids. Its a way of saying that they have faced a lot before and more experienced. As I say before we are rich with traditions which maybe the future generations are not aware of. Maybe some say its backdated and so 'ulu' to hang on to it and that is one of the cause that makes these tradition to go to extinction. Some may not be applicable but with the ones that are, hang on to it. We don't know what we got until its gone. I'm just an ordinary village girl and I am proud of where I come from. Our legendary hero Hang Tuah once said - Tak Melayu Hilang Dunia - Malay won't be lost from the face of the earth. Amin.

Sunday Morning With a Cat

Sunday morning is the coolest of all day - just because its the only day off for me. Washed my car in the morning as my baby would be online a little bit later because he gets off work at 12.00am (Ohio time). So there I went washing my car inside out with my brother's pesky cat named B-bo (as my brother summed it up once that it meant B for 'bodoh' because of some of the basic necessity that the cat doesn't know to do. Thats my bro) pleasingly went into my back seat and sat there looking oh-so-comfortable on the newly brushed off seat. I was dusting off the front side, didn't realized that B-bo was licking his paws and looks like he's settling there forever until I was done. The cat is cute but there's a fine line between letting a cat into my car and letting its fur went all over the place. So I start my yelling and scared him away. Not long after he returned, began to climb on the hood of my car and start licking his paws again when I was wiping the back side of the car - and I had just done wiping my front side of the car dry! Had to start yelling again and he went to the other place looking a bit bewildered. Sometimes I feel like killing that cat, but then he's the one who usually accompany me when I went put and went stargazing - maybe he was pestering for food again but wht the heck, he's okay and adapting really well to the village cat life.

B-bo the cat


Left turn


Right turn

So anyway I woke up this early morning at about 12 midnight to get quite a hefty sms from my friends. It was weird because its not a special occasion day until I read every single one of it. Apparently my sister was being interviewed by the local documentary show - Majalah 3 last night about her visit along with the UKM delegation to aid the tsunami hit state of Kedah. Knowing my family the phone was ringing consistently and we got calls from my aunts and uncles all over the place and even some neighbours. My sister is always laying a low profile about what she do be we do know that she went to Kedah to help the tsunami victims. Thats my sister, doing us proud. And where was I when Majalah 3 was aired? in my bed, snoozing. And I missed the whole episode, AAAAAARRRGGGHHHHHH!!!!!

3 Down, Hundreds More To Go

Finally, submitted the much awaited 3 showhouses design for the client which is (*gulp) 17 days overdue. Yeah I know its unprofessional to keep the client waiting but the delay was because of the crashed down pc at the office and the delay of getting the softcopy plan from the architect. Now I could actually get rid of my temporary phobia on any pastel orange Toyota Camry with KL license plate - sorry Mr Yan, I know I'm late (and know that u don't read this). The trip to the client office this time was kind of harrowing. My boss is still busy at the other site so I have to act as representative. The project manager asked about the delayed maintenance and the dead trees, the clerk of work ask about the dead trees too so I have to try my best to cover up for my boss. Gladly Mr Yan was not anywhere when I submitted the plan although his car was there. I actually groaned when I saw his car and prepared for the worse.

Last time I had this feeling was whenever I feel burnt out on assignment. I would not look forward to meet up with my project paper supervisor because of lack of ideas and sometimes skip the discussion altogether. All changed when I get myself a well reputed laser-tongued lecturer who had just returned from Scotland for his masters degree as my supervisor because my former supervisor went for a very long maternity leave. Well he's not as vicious as I remembered him in my first year so it got me going, but sometimes still give a very sharp comment. It kept me going. Sometimes I just need a negative force to obtain positive results, hehehe. Conclusion - I was a lazy bum who needs a lot of pushing - back then.

As for now, unavoidable reason makes it all late. Small company, very small staff at the office- and I mean really small staff consist of me - alone with a part time accountant, while the rest is at the site, the labourers - very hardworking and friendly workers from Indonesia who made my supervision works at the site pleasant. I wonder how my boss gets so lucky as before this, I heard stories about other workers elsewhere. Boss went out, I'm all alone to face up the clients. Right now I believe that I am developing a phobia for another site in Kangkar, Pulai. YIKES!!!!

Ring of Power

Four rings for the foolish women under the sky,
One ring to rule them all, One ring to find them,
One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them,
In the Land of Johor where the Shadows lie.

Yeah yeah, well the ring is not actually the fabled ring of Sauron. Its the friendship ring that 4 of us bought one day when we met up during the semester break. Its not always that we get the chance to meet up - Eena in JB, Nor/Along (pronunced as ah-long to signify the first child in the family) in Kedah, Harlin in Bangi while I was in Serdang, so when we do we were thinking of buying something as a momento. As a result we bought rings. I haven't wore it for ages due to my faulty memory of where I put it and out of luck, I found it back few days ago. Though, I can't wear it anymore. It only fits my thumb now when back then when I bought it, it fit perfectly on my ring finger. Eena still has it with her, Along lost it and I haven't heard anything from Harlin for years now. My ring now is in the safekeeping of my closet.

A Day After Eid

Happenings after eid:-

1. The worst sleeping session I've ever had - my cousin apparently was having a nightmare and her legs couldn't stop kicking and boy, does that hurt. Got bruises on my back and I had to leave my bed and look for another spot, leaving dayah to face the kicks, literally.
2. Just realized that my 8 year old cousin had shaved half of his right eyebrow during an experimentation of his dad's razor. Erm... might look cool if he does that in strips or a line but definitely not half off. Wonder how he would get through school with brows like that.
3. Do not update your windows if you have pirated programs installed. Well I did and the technician didn't even bother to notify me when I picked up the pc. What do I get? I was locked away from the windows. Might as well do the formatting myself.
4. Bloated tummy for the whole day. Maybe because of the variety of food during eid. Have to feed on ginger tea the whole day and now, still too bloaty to even go to sleep.
5. The only day available for me to spend time with Jeff until he starts his night shift. I was late for our meetings because I was helping my boss sorting through the invoices and D.O. Going to be tough but we'll make it through. I love you sayang, take care.
6. The marathon for the Japanese drama with my fav actor Takuya Kimura - Good Luck started.

Wrong Turns Part 2

Its been 2 days since the pc at the office went out of order. I don't know wht did Ms O, our part time accountant did last time she logged into my pc as she was searching for a client's phone number in one of the CAD files as I was out on an appointment with my old collegues at the JB City Hall (more of fun than business as I did my internship there) but when I tried to turn it on the next morning, the configuration file was missing and the PC was toast. Sent it off to the shop and I have been on the road ever since.
I was instructed by my boss to go to the site to do some supervision works since I am practically crippled in the office without my pc. Going to the site was easy, going back wasn't. At 3pm I volunteered myself to my boss to pick up a payment recommendation from the client's management office. I was bored because both bosses are around and we do have our supervisor at the site so everything is under control. I thought going to their office was easy - I was wrong. I took the wrong turn to Johor Jaya, my old school area but hey, I was in boarding school and I know nothing about the road all around there save for The Store supermarket and the golf range that acts as the benchmark whenever I took a bus. Took me 3 phonecalls in an hour and a half to get to the office.
The first call was to Eena's boyfriend as I could not reach her at that time. His direction took me to Permas Jaya... after I did a slight detour that ended me up in Plentong. Called up the clients office and ask for direction - they told me to look for Jusco (as if I know where that is). After the joyride and 30 minutes, I swore I could not find Eena's home after 6 years of not visiting but I did and I know I would have trouble finding her house again because wrong turns made me found it. Called up Eena and asked her direction to Jusco, and thank god I did. Reached there at 5 and went to the clients office to hand it out. Good thing no wrong turn this time.
As for today, same thing happen when I was going to another client's office. I know with that amount of being lost in JB, I could be the master of shortcuts. I doubt that. I would be more lost. Everytime I go to the site that we work on - JP Perdana, I never use the same road to get back just because I missed a junction and a turn and I know I was caught on camera while I was running over a red light in Larkin today (I can feel the traffic summon coming). Don't ask me how I got there, you don't need to go through Larkin from JP Perdana to Skudai - I missed a turn and was lost. I only realized the camera when I was caught in a jam after the traffic light. Went back to the site, sat on the stump at the shelter just to realize, the white paint was still wet. It was white and my jeans was dark blue. Bummer.

My baby starts on his work today and I hope that he is in a much much better condition than I was. I love you sayang.

7 months...

Of loving you

Of being loved by you

Of laughter and smiles

Of hopes, dreams and wishes
Of teases and joy
Of shared thoughts and emotions
Of happiness

There's still more to come
Forever and beyond

I love you, sayang
Happy 7th month anniversary

p.s: Happy belated 4th b-day to my other baby (my cousin) check out dayah's blogpage

A Day With My Boss

My bosses are seldom at the office nor do we have enough time to discuss about the happenings outside work, though at some time she (my woman boss, the wife) would always ask me when will Jeff come over town so that she could at least make it possible to spend time with him. I know she sometimes have this very inconsistent 'angin' due to the hard time that the consultant was giving us or the sub clients that act 'macam bagus' (I actually ended up yelling at one of the client's Clerk of Work through the phone for giving us such a hard time and acted so darn cocky. Like I say, macam bagus).

So one day we went out to check out on the custom made pots that the client require. Well that is also one of the reason I stayed when my predecessor fled weeks or days after they start working - my boss train me so that one day I could start on my own. On our way back we have this long talk about life and suddenly my cellphone howls. Actually Jeff called at about 5.40pm, and the custom ringing made my boss shrieked out in surprise - even jokingly said that she would cut off my salary if I don't change the ringtone after being surprised again in the office for the same reason. Even my other boss, her husband said the same thing. I didn't change the tone, I only turned the volume down, hehehe.

She asked what was the time there, and so I told her its 4.40am. Thats when she told me about her problem being an insomniac. She couldn't sleep at night when she was in school no matter how hard she try but she made through it when she was taking master degree. She was too busy to even bother about her sleeping time. One thing led to another, but I will always remember what she say .

No matter how much you love someone, you can never eat for them, drink for them or even sleep for them. You can never actually do anything for them unless they do it for themselves. As the 'other half' we could only give them full support, help them in anyway possible and be there when they need us. Just be positive even when everything seems to be going against us. Yes, everything seems easier to say than done but like the stock market, when you hit the lowest point, you can't hit any lower and when you hit the highest point, there's no more afterwards. So when you're down, just remember there will be time you can get up again and when you're up, don't get too comfortable because there's always down.

Thats the word of wisdom from my boss. I love you baby, I really really miss you

Wrong Turns

Today must be one of the many days when I get so absent minded that I don't know what I do or where I was heading. I take that back. I know what I do but I don't know where I am heading to. This week has been really hectic (I don't know when will it be un-hectic for me) as my boss only drop by at the office in the morning getting my feedback of what had happen the day before, like calls/complain from clients and then going off to the site again. The good part of that is I get to do my job without any pressure, the bad part, I have to do most of the thing that she always do and the phonecalls will never end.

So today my boss assigned me to meet up a client to do a presentation. This project is the very first one that I got when I started work and all the late nights paid off, we got the job. And so, since we are assigned to do this project, my boss kind of let me do the handling while she's paying attention at the other project. Kinda like taking for grantedlah. Drove away from the office at 1.50pm after wishing Jeff goodnight, 2.30 on the dot met up with the client, ends at 3.10pm (very short presentation with briefing) and honestly, I have been driving the car non stop afterwards. I was supposed to drop by at the other client's office to pick up the colour pallete and I kept on making wrong turn. Don't get me wrong, I know all the roads in JB (well not all but more than half) its just that my brain was elsewhere.

After missing the road that I was supposed to use, I kept going on trying to look for a place to make a u-turn and boy, you sure don't want to miss a u-turn spot because the other spot would be really far away. so I missed one, and then missed again, and then missed again, found one, made a turn and I don't know wht possess me to make a wrong turn, and then try finding a turn again, miss, miss, miss, wrong.... u get the idea. I only reached the client's office at 5. Can you believe that? 5pm. the JOTIC building and Metropolis Tower is NOT that far.

It doesn't end there. The same thing happen when I was on my way home, and reached there at 7. My mind is elsewhere.

Miss Me?

I admit, I haven't had that much time to blog for nearly half a month already. Yikes! its 2005 already - the year where people from half century ago predicted that we would be driving a floating car (apparently that is still a long shot). So here I am, checking my blog for any drop off comments that rarely comes in and i got 3 messages urging me to update, calling me pemalas, hahaha. I was touched. I have fans after all (LMAO). Okay reasons (or excuses) for the blog update delay. You pick which one is fact and which one is fiction. Multiple choices is allowed:-

1. Too tired - morning at the office, daytime at the site til abt 9pm, went home just in time to crash in my bed. I can't write while sleeping though i did dream writing off my blog once. Then again its a dream, so no blog update, hahaha.
2. My head was still shook up by the earthquake in Sumatra and the idea to write was being washed off the shore. Honestly the news that we got is getting worse everyday, more people were killed if its not because of the wave, its because of the disease that comes after. It is heartwarming to hear that kids as young as 7 were trying to help. Have you done your part for the tsunami victims?
3. I was abducted and brainwashed by aliens while i was working late at the site. I had only regain my memory and ability to type properly yesterday (Gosh, this is lame)
4. My PC was fried off, it was doing a crazy loop thingy and i can't even get into windows. Had it reformatted and it has been going berserk ever since. That means, no long hours to crack my head to write into the blog.
5. My mind is way too occupied with the thoughts of Jeff (*wink wink)
6. Plotting up plan on how to delete the files in my big bro's e-mail inbox that contained some secret information (guess not that secret anymore). Hmmm.... baby, the account lock program does work, right? *devilish laugh.

Anyway, Happy belated New Year everyone. May this year be better than before and would bring lots of prosperity (prosperity?... reminds me of McD's prosperity burger though i hate black pepper hahaha).