I Need A Moment To Deliberate

Last Friday (the Friday before Raya), to get into the mood of Syawal and in the excitement to try out my 4 months old oven, I decided to bake home-made cookies for Hari Raya (on top of the kuih that I bought!). We broke fast at Dadima’s that night and came back home at about 9 p.m. Rafiq helped put Faiq to sleep while I went downstairs to start working on my chocolate chip cookies. He came down to help after Faiq went to sleep.

Alas, jadi jugak kuih yang aku buat!! Rafiq thought it wasn’t sweet enough but Jan told me that Imran loved it (dia amik kuih tuh segenggam!!) so I guess it’s a success and I have a fan :o) I slept at about 2 a.m. after cleaning up.

The next day, Jan came over to bake Biskut Mazola. She had to go to the tailor first so I started to work on my Walnut Butterball cookies. Rafiq helped me out until Faiq got up. Then, after baking them, I started to do the adunan for Cheese Cookies. Then it was all Rafiq’s masterpiece (terap adunan dengan acuan bentuk bintang) as I took over taking care of Faiq.

We had so much fun with the oven..can’t wait to do some roasting and some more baking :o)

My left leg is aching but I forced myself to work because I had to attend a meeting. Not my meeting pun, I am attending on behalf of my boss. After waiting for two hours, I was informed that the meeting was postponed. MARAH KE TAK??

But in utmost spirit to welcome the month of Syawal, I shall forgive and forget (yeah, rite!!). As usual Ramadhan came and went but this time around I feel like it’s the shortest Ramadhan ever.

Wishing everyone Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Maaf dipinta sekiranya terdapat salah silap atau terkasar bahasa. Enjoy the holidays and be safe!!

Suasana di Hari Raya - Anuar & Ellina

Berlalulah sudah ramadan sebulan berpuasa
Tiba syawal kita rayakan dengan rasa gembira
Anak muda di rantauan semuanya pulang ke desa
Ibu dan ayah keriangan bersyukur tak terkira

Bertukar senyuman dan salam ziarah-menziarahi
Tutur dan kata yang sopan saling memaafi
Suasana hari raya walau di mana pun jua
Memberikan ketenangan dan mententeramkan jiwa

Kuih dan muih beranika macam
Makanlah jangan hanya di pandang
Ketupat rendang sila nikmati kawan
Penat memasak malam ke pagi

Wajik dan dodol jangan lupakan
Peninggalan nenek zaman berzaman
Asyik bersembang pakcik dan makcik
Hai duit raya lupa nak di beri

My friend Jashirita emailed me this and although I’ve heard/read it before, it never fail to put a smile on my face. Enjoy!!

As the plane prepared to descend, he came swishing down the aisle and told us "Captain Marvey has asked me to announce that he’ll be landing this big scary plane shortly, so lovely people, if you could just put your trays up, that would be super."

On his trip back up the aisle, he noticed this well-dressed and rather Arabic looking woman hadn’t moved a muscle.

"Perhaps you didn’t hear me over those big brute engines, but I asked you to raise your trazy-poo, so the main man can pitty-pat us on the ground."

She calmly turned her head and said, "In my country, I am called a Princess and I take orders from no one."

To which (I swear) the flight attendant replied, without missing a beat, "Well, sweet-cheeks, in my country I’m called a Queen, so I outrank you.

Tray-up, Bitch.

Danielle’s blog entry entitled One Day in Your Life prompted me to wonder if she would download some of my many favourite tv series from my chilhood :o)

Out of This World

Celebrating her 13th birthday, Evie Garland makes three shattering discoveries:
her father is not dead, as presumed; he is not human but an alien from the planet Anterias (he and Evie’s mother had married and ‘blended life forms’ when he was on an extended interplanetary visit); and that, being half-alien, she has the power to perform humanly impossible deeds.

These include freezing motionless people around her, simply by placing together her two index fingers, ‘gleeping’ - making things materialise by the power of thought - and teletransportation. From this point on, Evie’s life is never the same again, and she and her mother Donna, who runs a school for gifted children of rich ‘Californny’ parents, have to adjust to the change as best they can. Meanwhile, Evie’s alien father, Troy, communicates with his daughter by voice (belonging to none other than Burt Reynolds),
his words issuing from a blue crystal on Evie’s bedside cabinet.

I Dream of Jeannie

Stranded on a desert island after his spacecraft malfunctioned, NASA astronaut Tony Nelson comes upon a strange bottle and releases a beautiful girl genie. "Jeannie" as she is called, is more than two thousand years old, is from ancient Babylon, and can materialize objects or control any situation with the blink of an eye. Overly eager to please her new master, Jeannie gets Tony into improbable dilemmas when he takes her back to Florida.

V

The main cities of Earth are surprisingly visited by fifty-one huge alien spacecrafts, and their leader introduces themselves as a friend people looking for cooperation with earthlings. Sooner, they blame the scientists of sabotage and uprising against the visitors. The journalist Mike Donovan (Marc Singer) discloses the real intentions and the reptile appearance of the aliens, while groups of people organize resistance against the invaders.

MacGyver

Angus Macgyver is a secret agent with a difference. He is quiet, mild mannered, deeply principled and refuses to carry a gun on his missions. Fortunately, the last detail is unimportant when compared to his astounding mind. Drawing on a vast practical knowledge of science, Macgyver is able to make use of any mundane materials around him to create unorthodox solutions to any problem he faces. The enemies of world peace and justice continually learn that underestimating this man is a fatal mistake for their plans.

21 Jump Street

21 Jump Street is the headquarters for a squad of police officers who specialize in investigations relating to young people. Each of the Jump St. personnel was selected for their ability to pass for high school or college students, allowing them to operate undercover in areas where it is difficult for regular police officers to blend in unnoticed.

Small Wonder

A light-hearted sitcom about a family whose father was a robotics engineer. Ted Lawson (Dick Christie) brought his work home one day, much to his family’s surprise. Vicki (Tiffany Brissette), an android who really speaks like a robot, and stays in her cabinet when she is not in use. The cabinet is in Jamie Lawson’s (Jerry Supiran) room. Jamie is the Lawsons’ human son. Joan Lawson, the mother (Marla Pennington), cannot stop thinking of Vicki as a real child.

Vicki’s features include superhuman strength and speed, an AC outlet under her right arm, a parallel port under her left arm, an access panel in her back, and the fact that she does things literally.

Growing Pains

This half-hour family sitcom starred Alan Thicke as a hip psychiatrist who moves his practice into his home to keep an eye on the kids after wife Joanna Kerns returns to work. Kirk Cameron played the fun-loving son, Tracey Gold played his brainy younger sister and Jeremy Miller played their precocious little brother.

Full House

When Danny Tanner’s wife dies unexpectantly, he is left with three young daughters, D.J., Stephanie, and Michelle, and no one to help him raise them into young women. In steps Jesse Katsopolis and Joey Gladstone, friend of Danny and caring guardians to the girls. Jesse, a rock-’n-roll biker, and Joey, a fun-loving comedian, prove to be terrific role models and parental figures to the girls. In addition to the three men, Rebecca Donaldson, Jesse’s girlfriend and later wife is always there for the girls as they are growing up.

My Two Dads

When Marcy Bradford dies, she leaves her teen-age daughter Nicole in the custody of a father she has never met; or rather, two fathers - Michael, a straight and formal man; and Joey, a wild artist. Both were Marcy’s former boyfriends, and together, they provide a unique balance of parenting skills for young Nicole.

Doogie Howser, M.D.

Doogie is no ordinary teenager, he is a doctor. As smart as they come, he has been a doctor since the age of fourteen. But it’s not because you are highly intelligent that you don’t have the same feelings toward life. He is constantly torn between a life of teenage fun with his buddy Vinny, and a more serious and quiet life practicing medicine.

Faiq had his first haircut yesterday. I was nervous as to how he’d behave. We brought him at a saloon near our house.

I was surprised when he didn’t protest to the placing of the infamous good morning towel on his neck and that plastic thingy covering his body. He was fine until he heard the shaver. Not that he cried or anything but he was curious of the sound and kept looking back. After five minutes when some of his hair stuck on his face, he became restless and started crying. He kept moving his head..mainly because he wanted to see the shaver and the scissors. And he was also crying because we held his head so that he’d stop moving but that apparently made it worse. The whole process probably took about 15-20 minutes. But I’m glad it’s not as bad as I think it would be. Check out his new Hari Raya look (new hairdo an naughty cheeky face!) :o)

I was supposed to write this on Faiq’s birthday but I must’ve been really busy then. Since today is his 14th month birthday, I dedicate this to Faiq Khan, my li’l Munchkin :o) Mama loves you!!

On this day 425 days ago..

I first and foremost seeked forgiveness from Rafiq and my parents should anything happen to me;

I felt every bit of emotions ranging from joy to terrified to delight to panic to elation;

I felt the most excruciating pain which was more than I could handle;

I was fighting this battle alone save for Allah’s assistance and guidance;

I prayed for my life and another;

Allah answered my prayers and sent me an angel whom we called Faiq Khan;

I have a family of my own and our lives changed forever.

Am writing this for NURUL SHIMA BT MISLAN who celebrated her 29th birthday on 8 October 2006

Shima: 1. the girl from Seremban;

2. a friend I met in MSMKL;

3. she whom we called Shimastikeli (because ikan keli would be her lunch most of the time);

4. she who is nuts about Mickey Mouse (she had this huge Mickey Mouse doll and even have a Mickey Mouse umbrella!);

5. she who menginsafkan me by saying, "ORANG YANG PERGI BERPERANG PUN SEMBAHYANG TAU!!"  when it was already 3.30 p.m. and I was still sleeping and had not performed Zuhur prayers (I was pissed but got up anyway and have not forgotten that statement eversince);  

6. she who kena marah by Dina sebab jerit-jerit to wake Dina up;

7. she whose ex-boyfriend vommited outside Pizza Hut after stuffing 8 slices of pizza during the Bigga-Better-Buffet deal way back then;

8. she who kept in touch with a pen friend she got to know through Bambino;

9. she whom I usually follow to Taman Maluri post office to buy stamps for letters to be sent to Jordan;

10. she whom I made a side trip to Jaya Jusco Taman Maluri’s McDonald’s with after the post office trip;

11. she whose birthday we celebrated at Plaza Phoenix and played bumper car afterwards;

12. she who was part of the gang who’d go all the way to Sogo to have lunch/berbuka just because the STAR LRT was nearby; 

13. she who had a crush on a man in RED shoes;

14. she whom I had a blast with on our trip to JB-Singapore;

15. she whom I visited during Hari Raya Aidilfitri and had dengue after that;

16. she whose list of ex I lost track of; 

17. she who made the effort to come over to my house all the way from UPM;

18. she who was the first of my MSM friends to get married;

19. she who is the mother of Batrisyia, Adam Ukail and expecting another baby next year;

20. she who gets excited of Disney on Ice more than her children; and

21. she who is my forever friend :o)  

This was our last day in Gold Coast and after much thought, Rafiq and I decided to go to Harbour Town again coz someone couldn’t stop thinking about a jersey he did not purchased the day before. We were there for a short while because we were rushing to get back to find out if our whale watch cruise was on. We were really excited upon being informed that it was. We walked to Surfers paradise Boulevard to see the beach one last time and bought pizza for lunch. We ate our pizza at a park near the dock where we were to board the boat at 1.30 p.m.. 

The sky was cloudy and the journey to the deep sea was bumpy. Several people on the boat were starting to experience motion/sea sickness so the toilet was always occupied. We arrived at the sighting place at about 3.45 p.m. and my excitement grew. The crew asked us to look around and Rafiq said he saw something like when a whale hembus air through the hole on top of its head. We waited and waited and waited for about 1/2 hour but still no humpback whales were sighted. I had a feeling that we will not be seeing any and the crew said that it was unusual that we didn’t see any whales. We waited for another 15 minutes before leaving. We were so dissapointed beyond words..I mean where and when else can we get a chance like this right? It was so close yet so far but then I thot, mesti ada hikmah di sebaliknya. Allah knows best. But sighting a whale would be the perfect ending to our already great vacation. But then again, bukan rezeki kami.  

It was almost 6 p.m. by the time we got to the dock and we went straight to the hotel to wait for our coach to take us to the airport. We arrived at the airport at about 8.30 p.m., checked in, performed our prayers, ate dinner (which was chips and chocolate milk) and waited before boarding on the plane at 11.50 p.m.

Farewell Gold Coast! It was such great pleasure being on your soil and we enjoyed every moment of it!!

Today we woke up early to catch the 9 a.m. cruise back to the wharf. We were supposed to board the cruise at 4 p.m. but since the whale watching cruise was cancelled, we decided to take the earlier cruise so that we could spend the day at Harbour Town, one of Gold Coast’s shopping paradise. After breakfast, we hung out at the jetty to wait for the researchers to feed the pelicans. There were other birds too who were waiting for the opportunity to snatch the fish before the pelicans and the researchers were also pissed with the fish-snatching birds. Besides the pelicans, there was this particular eagle/hawk which the researcher fed.

The journey back was less bumpy and we were still sulking at the cancellation of the whale watching cruise. When we reached the wharf, our coach was already waiting for us and we requested that he dropped us at Harbour Town. Harbour Town is this huge shopping paradise with factory autlets of many famous brands namely Nike, Adidas, Canterbury, Lonsdale, Esprit to name a few. The whole place was on sale and there were many household items that I wish I could purchase. We spent about 3 hours there and went back to our hotel by bus. Terasa macam local jap..hehehe. We checked in at Vibe again and was happy to get a room at a higher level with a different view. Since we have a whole day to ourselves tomorrow (our flight is at midnight), we tried booking another whale watching cruise which boat boards just next to our hotel and they asked us to call again to see if the afternoon cruise is available. That night, we had dinner at Surfer’s Paradise and bought more souvenirs. We went back to the hotel at about 9 p.m.

Today we started our day early as our coach will be picking us up at 7.30 a.m for our trip to Tangalooma. We reached the wharf at about 10 a.m. and was so dissapointed upon being informed that our whale watching cruise was cancelled due to bad weather :o( Terus takde mood even though there’s loads of activities that we could do at Tangalooma Resort like a safari tour, sand tobbogan, bingo games etc. Maybe we weren’t interested coz we have to pay for those activities. Anyway, the journey toTangalooma was rocky and bumpy (no wonder they cancelled the whale watching cruise) and it was raining heavily when we got there. We lepaked at our room for about 2 hours watching tv, munching chips and eating maggi mee.

After a short nap, we got out to check out the resort (since we’re already there, might as well do something!). If you are willing to pay, there are loads of outdoor activities that you participate in. But since the activities ranged from AUD48-AUD58, we shall just look at the option of cashless activities. We went to the research centre, registered for dolphin feeding and did some reading whilst waiting for the Kookabura feeding which starts at 4.30 p.m. The food was prepared and we waited but the kookaburas was nowhere in sight. So we walked back to our room and waited till it was time to feed the dolphins.

After putting on our wetsuit, we went down to the dolphin feeding area. On the way, we attemped to get creative with our digital camera. The dolphin feeding program started because the researchers noticed one particular dolphin was always coming to that area. When they fed the dolphin, it keep coming back. So now, there are about 10 dolphins participating in this program and they, without fail, will come at the feeding area at the designated time to have their meal. These are wild dolphins from the deep blue sea so before the feeding began, we were briefed on what to do, the dos and dont’s (Don’t touch the dolphins!! These are wild dolphins and this is not Sea World!). Rafiq went first so I could take photos. It was indeed an unforgettable experience. First things first..adapting to the cold weather. Well, thank God for wetsuits!! The dolphins just stayed on and waited for everyone to feed them. We each held a fish on both hands and fed two dolphins at a time. The dolphins I fed are called Freddie and Tinkerbell. Freddie a 40 year old dolphin. They are really huge, weighing over 200 pounds.

It was almost 8.00 p.m. by the time I fed them. Since we had nothing else to do, we went back to our room, eat maggi me (again!), watched CSI and slept!!