Convo Zimah

The Company : Khair and Wothen

Pick-up Point : God-Knows-Where-Do-We-Meet-in-UiTM??

Yes, since neither one of us studied there, we had a hard time locating the darned Hall and where to park? So we practised something we learnt while we were all in Uni, that is Illegal Parking. Larikkk~!!

The Crowned One : Azimah

The Other Half : Mozac

Long story short, we were all in the same high school. SMSTJ. Sekian. How small is this world again??

The Crowd : Most of my 'groupie' in high school with an addition, Alia who is Zimah's UiTM friend.

I have no idea what we said to one another, it was so hot and obviously we were all pretty melted by the time we had all gathered.

The Blooming One : Siyes aku tatau nak tarok caption ape. Wothen ko mmg comel sejak dlu lagi.


The Camwhores : Love you guys to pieces!! And thanks for bearing with the heat, getting lost and surely found!

The Family Picture : And towards the end, Yatimontok arrived on location. Its as if she lived hundreds of miles away lah from UiTM. Silly girl.

Congrats to Zimah..!!

Bolt et Nino!

Do you remember her? El-Nino's back!! For good. Her parents have finished their term in Geneva, and are most likely to be posting out in a few years' time. I wanted to take her out for a movie, its been a while. And I wanted to make sure by lil' bro was there to enjoy the event as well.

But little princess here didn't feel like it in the morning when I called her up. However though, later in the day she was calling my mom up telling us how badly she wanted to go catch a movie like, now.

The Mix : Jengga came all the way to join us, she was on a day off I think on that day. We had to catch a 3D version of Bolt. Tickets, check. Popcorn, check. 5-year old with a grown-up attitude, check.

"I can't see anything!! Ckin, I can't see..!!" (with a God-forbid Brit accent, like who are you again?)

"Put the glasses on, and then you can see clearer"

"Oh wow, I can touch it. Ckinnn I can touch it!! These glasses are..SUPER DUPPPERRR~!!"

Holy popcorn. Super duper? What does she feed off? TV series? Haha. What a charming charming 5 year old you are. I hope you will be able to read this when you grow older.

Cutesy baby-girl striked a pose for me. How charming can she get?

"So tell me, what time do you go to sleep at night?" (I asked since its been a while since I chaperoned any body shorter than 2 feet tall)

"I sleep, and then I wake up when the chicken Cockle-Doodle-Doos. And then I get up after the chicken Cockle-Doodle-Doos..."

Like seriously, how old are youuuu??!!

Batu Caves

One of the blissful vacation days I took in my hometown of KL. Well actually I have always made a promise to myself that I shall visit the Batu Caves one of the days. I always travel up to Ulu Yam to send Ashwan off to school. And usually, Batu Caves was just a 'jam' spot. The place always went by in a blur.

Much to our suprise, the parking area was big and spacious. No jams or confusion going on. What were we expecting? After all this was a place of prayers. Ohm.. I do yoga, but not to the point that a simple cat's pose would 'deflour' me of my Islamic beliefs. Seriously.



The stairs were a plenty and steep, but we endured them one by one. Carefully avoiding the monkeys who were out to play. And at times we'd pause and read the numbers on the stairs. Mama told me that long before there were no numbers on the stairs..Ah well, just so you know, there were about 300 something stairs up that temple.




Then there was a monkey who strayed away on top of the lorry. But that was after we posed and enjoyed the stalactite and stalagmite in the caves.

After that we passed by KLPAC and took some more pictures lah. So tired of typing so formal. Ok ni je la update kali ni. I have tonnes of pic but not enough patience to share all of them.

Jian's Big Day

Happy Birthday to Baby Shafiq Adam!! I hope I got the spelling right. Cutesy baby boy.. got up bright and early so that when I visited the newly born, he would not be dozing off as he has always been doing inside his mum's tummy. Haha. Clever =) Actually, I wanted to visit the new facility at Prince Court Medical Center. Its pretty impressive. Aside from the fact that one of the nurses practically bumped the baby cart right into the door while pushing the baby cart towards the mother's room. Bertuah. Why I didn't go all mommy and scolded the silly nurse on the spot pon tatau. Buduh. I should do that next time I am there.

Welcome to the world, Shafiq Adam!

***

Then I headed off to Putrajaya, Menara PJH to be exact for my buddy Jian's wedding with her SLB hubby lover dude man. Haha. We were pretty early and had to wait for Hana + KK + KK's sister to arrive. Pastu nasik pon abes. Best kan? Haha..lamat sgt sampai. We fooled around and took pictures with the wedding cake while Jian was busy posing mosing for the photographer.

The interior of the hall was pretty, with fresh white roses and candle lit tables. Here is Hana with the flower near her head. Haha.

And here is me and KK with the dress that she wore to Lhene's wedding. OK, I think I told you that I remeber these thingsss.. And hana juge pkai baju y aku pernah nampak somewhere. I think it was both at Lhene's wedding. Ciskek. Lhene is now expecting. So fast the time flies. So broken my english.



Last and not least. Jian and her hubby boify lover man. Nizam. I hope that's his name. I always confuse it with Nazir. And Nazim. Hee hee.. May your marriage be blessed and full of happiness.. InsyaAllah =)

M.A.C.- Up your mind!!

It was a beautiful day to make yourself even more prettier. Nak gune perkataan beautiful, but felt it to be redundant. Hehe. Throughout my vacation of ONE month at home, I found myself to frequent KLCC like on a daily basis. Apart from the fact that the Twin Tower Fitness Center is free for all SLB employees, I found it irritating yet fun all at the same time. Penyakit tak?

There was a FREE make-up touch-up done by MAC for their Chrismas promotion, with the yummy theme color RED being the main feature. I didn't have anyone to drag along - especially on a weekdays since everyone else was working. Sweet Jengalina took a half-day off to accompany me!! Wuu yea.. best best. Freebies? Sape tak nak!!

In the hot seat!! Oh dan top itu I got it for her when I was away in the UK. Yes, I remember everything.


Jengga BEFORE/DURING la kot eh lg tepat? She had her face done by one of the make-up artists, and before he could get any further with the painting, we told him we would want her to have dramatic eyes and super duper nude lippies. Yumm.




And I had Miss Rachel, so sweet and friendly. Usually the ladies at MAC are like ice-queen and kinda mortifiyingly snobbish. Haha, such mean generalization, am I in trouble? Anyways, Rachel was asking me all sorts of questions, what I do, why I need to look good. Mind you - we went for the sit in right after zohor prayers so all I had on was my moisturizer.

"You should at least put on compact powder and lipstick, eventhough you are an engineer.." Cam. Oh rili. Hahahhaa.. but I just nodded in agreement.

So on went the spritzer refresher thing, the pearl effect moisturizer and then the base+primer lotion before she added on layers and layers of pretty strokes. Hehe. Suke ok.

Ini mata Jengga yang cantik. Her eyes were always the pretty almond type, so serine like kucen.

Ini pule mata aku y sepet. So sepet like cine. Oh well actually come to think of it we both look chinese like lah. Just depends on when you catch a glimpse of us. Pictures were taken in the pretty lighting of the Apartment, KLCC.

Where we had yummy prawn fettucini in tomato basil sauce. The ambience was nice and fresh, the decor picture perfect. But the service - sucked. For a classy place like that, to put in foreign labor who joked at your order was not my idea of a good place to pay a lot of money. Sabar je la.

Oh and relating to the topic that was put at the top of this entry, we dwelled over lunch..and later decided on which items we personally were going to splurge on. Hehe. Jengga got the basic brush set and the Warm eye pallette. Whilst I chickened out and got the eye brush set. But - later during the month I purchased the Warm eye pallette as well. Hehehehehe..

This entry is to remind me that I spent my money - more than my usual swipes - how and where. And most importantly, WHO influenced me most!! Jengs, sorry to break it to you honey, this would be the last time I bring you out on any spree. I kidd I kiddd~

Kak Iju Sudah Kawen

My most prettiest kakak sepupu, Iju is now married!! Me and mum helped out a lot with the preparation..holyyy. So much to do so little time. But we did our best and in the end everything went well. Nothing in life can be so perfect, so we are happy with the outcome. All I can say is that it’s a shame the pictures all revolve around this one main character – the humidifier~!! Haha. We should have positioned the bride and groom closer to the stage. But little did we know when the Ustaz called upon the bride, he wanted to do the ‘serious’ stuff nearby the humidifier. Hapekahh.

Oleh sebab aku tak suke himidifier itu, aku post gamba ni je la..

I tested the new member of my loved ones, a 2nd hand dslr we got for a fraction of the price here in Kemaman. Our own nikon d80! The couple hired a guy from FINAS, and the outcome was pretty good. He even lets the couple choose which pictures they want to explode to a bigger size. Nice haa.

Pictures to fill in the blanks!!

Mama and Kak Iju in her room.. simple and pink.

This picture is the true-est picture of the whole bunch. Us hogging like no tomorrow!! Lapa siottss.

The reception was held the next day at Dewan Risda, since both my aunt and uncle worked there before. I wasn't in the mood for picture taking so I want to only share this one where I looked like I was working so hard. Haha..

Sorry for the late reporting. But the net was down when I was blissfully making myself and the couch at home as one.. hahaha.. later lah.

Nervousness

All this talk about oil prices on the brink of its minimum allowances is just driving me nuts. For the first time in history, it is the money that is causing the oil prices to drop, and not the other way around.

It felt like I just walked out of my safe place and into the real world did I know how serious this issue is. Termination and recession? Those two are a mouthful, let alone causing my shopping binges overboard with regret.

They are going to cut people. The list is out. Holy smokes.

Hedonism

I am writing as I am thinking. I wanted to write about how the real world struck me hard as I made my way into the first few days of my vacation. I forgot how nice the pillow felt when I didn't have to throw it far away in the morning. Best gile siot dapat tido lame.

I came across this word in the papers one day. I thought it had something to do with the banning of my favourite challenging sport. But it actually was about the obsession of worldly delights. I am one of those people who would get caught up in spending too much or splurging once too often and when the piggy bank runs dry, I will be left to sit on my sorry arse alone on the sofa. Haha. It has always been like this for me though, regardless of whether it was when I lived on rm 1,500 during uni years or the more lavish amount I am getting now on a monthly payroll.

Some things just won't change. Like the fact that he always flirts with the girl across the counter and even plays with his speedlite-800 on her face or that he thinks that the girl who walked  by simply must have noticed how good-looking he was..or like the fact that he'd rather test his camera settings on a static ash tray and the fact that he has openly confessed that he wants to start smoking again..is somehow related to the fact that money will never be enough.

Huh, they are so related right?

Aku Pulang~

I am back. From Brunei and spent 4 days chasing around town like crazy. I did some favourable things, but most of them had to be postponed in my To-Do list.

I am now back in Kemaman, again.

Random knick-knacks. Or is it nick-nacks? Haha. All the hotels were full when I was back in Seria for my review with the boss in Brunei so they wanted to put me in then men’s staff house (again!) but luckily, I had Rina (she is the lab technician who mixes cement and tests slurries and mud push all week through) who kind heartedly offered me to stay with her at her cozy house in Tutong district.

But earlier that day, I had my review with the boss. He is super cool ok. He was like, “When are you planning to head back to KL?”
“ASAP” I said that sheepishly. Gile tak saba nak balik.
“Good, then we do the review today and you can book your flight for tomorrow or whenever you like.” Uber cool or what?

So we had the review, and it was just brimming over the operations side, I can understand why he didn’t get all in depth and asked me the settings of the safety valves or why we used formic acid instead of HCL. It was pretty much over in 15 minutes. Best kan? Review in 15 minutes je. I knew it was over when he shook my hands and went,
“Congratulations, I fully support you continuing your career advancement with the company.”

Geez. Overwhelmed? I don’t know, sometimes the company does this to you. It makes you believe that you are really not that clever and that everybody is/was blind to have let you go and get your promotion. Haha. Rase nak gelak pon ade ok. Alhamdulillah..Syukur pada yang Maha Esa.

Aku girang hari itu.Half the battle won!

So later that nite, me and Rina wanted an eventful evening, but I was pretty poofed from hacking my brain with the review session I had in the afternoon, and was craving mee bakso. We had some in Hua Ho, and later went to Kedai Communist. Kejam kan nama kedai mcm tu? But it was like its name!! Its just a pretty big joint where they sell pirated cds. Hahahaha. Nice one lah.

The next day, we headed out from home and I even borrowed a sweater from Rina. Little did I know that Rina didn’t wear that sweater much and now, it belongs to me!

Ade berite mengembirakan. Tapi saya fikir nak bagi rakan2 hadam entry yang ini dulu lah =) henjoice. Such a crime to type that word!

Hari Itu

Why does it always feel like happiness and reality have to be so far apart? I know the answer. And you are damned right to say that this job is the main cause. Jadi macam mana? Quit now?

How can I quit now and still expect myself to be the role model to my one and only younger brother. Haih, banyak yang kakak sudah korbankan, tahu? Goodluck and do your best in the exams. Hugs and more rewards when you get home after the exams. Hehe. Bribery never fails. Hiok hiok. Tiru ayu gelak cam setan.

Almost all of Bandar

We finished our operation on well SWA-160L and most of the crew were bored of the job. Or maybe it was just me and the girls. All day everyday we would be wishful-thinking-away about good food they didn’t have on the vessel and salivate on it.

Then, the weather started to pick-up. And right after pumping out all the treatment chemicals, we had to prepare to longline or move the vessel away from the platform.

“Kan ke mana?” (Where are we headed off to?)

“Ndak ke mana-mana, cuma longline aja” (Not off to anywhere, maintain this longline position) This meant we were just parking or idling in the middle of the sea, in safe distance away from the platform. Later we heard the news that the weather forecast reported bad weather for Brunei waters and alerted all vessels to go back to the anchorage for safety.

“Kan ke Muara..” (We’re off to Muara – aka LAND!!)

Oh goody. But boy, the journey to Muara was 6 damned hours of rolling and rolling on my top deck bed. The only thing that was preventing me from falling was the metal rod that was put in place on the sides.

Once we reached Muara, we went rebellious! The SV mumbled something about not letting too many people off to land, but we decided the night was ours to seize. And off we went.

We first went to Kampung Kapok, my babe’s house. To get the car, purse and perfume. Hehe. We hussled then to Hot Pot Steamboat in Gadong, near the big HSBC for a 10BND per head steamboat buffet that we did justice to! Syiokk~ The tomyam was heavenly and I ate so much!



And Haya had to get her caffeine fix from Fun Donat in Kiulap where the store was almost closing.




Then there was the R8 that was just waving at me in River View Hotel, Gadong. Actually the car wasn’t waving at me, but we had this thing for the apple pie that I never got and all Haya did was talk about the apple pie during Ramadan. Apple pie, 5BND each. We got 2 servings.



Since I knew I was leaving soon, I had had had haddd toget my hands on some more tudungs! We went to Plaza Atirah and I wasted some cash. Forgot to take pics of the place.

Being Cinderellas, we had time for one last stop to the Mamih’s (macam Mapley’s la..cume nama die Mamih. Cute kan?) before exceeding the curfew. The boys wanted some Nasi Katok at 1BND each and Mister MJ wanted some satay for supper.

That night, we all slept well fed and I was proclaimed to have seen 70% of all the hotspots of Bandar.



Terime kaseh my babes Chelowee and Haya!

Steel Frames and Permanent Things

November, December.

Every weekend is an event weekend.
I just hope I get to have them so I can paint the city red with the traditional dresses that I had painstakingly decide to get the fabrics all the way from KT. Puhshaww~ Oh and ‘em heels too. Been a while, shoes!

I hope I am not rude for doing this. Haha. Too much sun and not enough human interaction does this to people.

Early November would be my cousin’s wedding. We are a tight lot, we’re pretty close and all the sudden we are now all big people. BIG people. I am just plain happy that she is getting married, didn’t matter much to me who she chose, as long as she finally did choose. The dress I am supposed to wear to the reception is ready, a deep brown ladden with beads sponsored by my aunt. I just hope that event wont tire my mother out too much. She was way too involved with the engagement reception earlier this year. You need to rest, mama.

The following week would be an acquaintance’s wedding. He’s a friend of a friend. I’d rather opt not to go, but I’ll be damned if I will get off that easy for not wanting to go. I mean what is the point? I actually dig the groom. He kind of looks like a better version of Fahri from Ayat-ayat Cinta. I mean, seriously. I’d rather really not go, please God. I would probably sit through the whole reception wishing I was skinnier like a bark-rather than plywood wannabe. But my mental aneroxia aside, I wont know anybody. Plus I don’t smoke. So how hot will my seat get??

Then the next week that follows is also another wedding. Only this time he is a colleague. But this one depends on whether I am on holiday or not. If I am, then chances of me going are slim, but if I am (gasps!) at work or at the base, then I will see to it that I go. Musti musti.

Then theres that wedding in December that I am way more than happy to go to. But dread the side-dishing that you’d get from attending an event that includes re-union cum gossip girl version 2.0. But its probably the only event where people would go home satisfied, to see the bride in her dress, to steal the idea of the setting, and better yet, to get a full coverage on the latest updates on peoples’ lives. Is it just me, that is being vain? No, right?? I’ve decided to bring my beloved Jengs to acompany me. Enough of grand entrances for me, thanks.

Gangways

October was a good month for me. I learnt that I was no longer 12 and my father could no longer look after everything that caused me trouble. I could say that I took his existence for granted. How ungrateful of me.

It struck me rather shockingly when I was hundreds of miles away from shore, on a boat pretty much begging for mercy for this promotion that has gotten me up against a wall – that I needed to talk to my father.

Ever since I took up this job, all I saw was that not everyone is as nice as you hoped them to be. Like, who are you kidding? The best advice ever is, “you being too nice is not going to get you anywhere” and then came the best comment about me, “you’re too nice for this business” haha.. what kind of fucking joke do these people take me as?

I always had thought myself to be outspoken, or at least verbally strong in laying out the facts and setting things straight. But alas, my venture for the more “Wanita Melayu Terakhir” of me has only pushed me into the opposite direction of my goals. I needed to take the damned bull by the horns, for Pete’s sake! Who is this Pete by the way?

After 10 weeks being away from home, I decided it was all I needed to make myself more humble and more humane. I fought fire with fire, but am not proud of it. This is just not me. I like to reason, not be reasonably rude. Haha.

I thougt that I already had difficult people to deal with in my life, especially at work. But I was wrong. This trip has only proven that the world is full of shitbags waiting for you to clean up their mess for them.

So cliché, but I am ready to face the world! Haha. Its been a almost a month I had last set foot on mother earth. Damn damn.

Milk in your voice

That night I listened to Jason.

I missed him so much. I imagined myself getting ready for class and as I made my way to pocket C, I would tread on the gravel pavement under the pounding sun. And most of the time, almost all the time in my life, I would wish that I was someone else.

Prettier like someone else, Happier like someone else, Richer like someone else. But never want to be me. An absolute zero.

I realized that Details in the Fabric was a duet. The coarse voice was not Jason’s. His was smoother like thick cream.

I then dreamed about having lunch at this italian place I really enjoy but never had the chance to do so in the past year. A year. Damn. I imagined myself all dolled up to suit the summery scene of the city and sit myself next to my best buddies. What would I talk about? I had never been the center of attraction ever. Let alone be the one on the know of anything current. Always a step behind, while other people were busy getting ready for the most hip and upbeat unravelling of something great, I was doing..what?

The playlist went on to the next track. This time it was Alanis.

One of my friends is getting married in December. I am wondering what that would feel like, getting yourself nailed onto one person for the rest of your life. I’m sure they are going to make if through fine.

I’m very scared of that absolute final gesture. Before the deal is sealed and can never be broken. Everyone seems to have things in place.

How I wish I was that everyone else.

The Great Raya Escape!

This time, me and me girls prepped ourselves realll good. We brought like tonnes and tonnes of junk food. Chloe even made us cheesecake. Siyok wa. So the first few days the trash can outside our rooms had tell-tales signs of continuous pigging out occuring. Haha. Beh Beh.

The weather was good, not too strong wind or rainshower. Mama was like, " Kau tak tgk berita ke dik. Satu dunia tgh ribut2 korang lak lg nakg tgh2 laut.." Haha. Entah la ma, ni je cara nak cepat balik. Betahan ok!

Oh forgot to mention, Chloe even brought 2 jars of deliciously spicy sambal ikan bilis ok. Indonesia style! Oh me lovey dovey. Don't over do it or else I will feel the afternoon heat in my tummy! Damn. So today after sungkai for the last time this year, we decided to hunt down the Capitan. Or vessel Master as they call it.

Master John Koh. He's funny and cheerful, but I guess staying so long in the seas does that to a man.

We packed our bags once the vessel reached Muara. Apparently, there were some equipment on board Ajang that had already expired. Luckily for us, it was on the eve of Raya. Rezeki.. So dapat la balik =)

Walked our way out of the jetty/anchorage with our beloved laptop bags and other knick-knacks. So girang! The sea made me sick like crazy lah. Mati wo.

Nama pon jetty kan. So this one is for you. Selamat Hari Raya Maaf Zahir Batin!!

Dapat jugak aku dgr takbir raya..ingtkan malam raye aku sorang2 je takbir dlm hati. Syukur!! Esok beraya di rumah nenek Haya. And this time, Chloe is spending the night over as well!!

Twelv with MJ's

Haya's Dad (Mat Jaya) birthday was on the 29th of September, but we were pretty much due for the boat departure by then. So Haya booked a place for us to sungkai as well as celebrate her dad's birthday.

Nenek and Atok Laut Haya was there, so she had to don on something more sopan. Harks harks. This is some of her family members. Her pretty sister Pijah, Elmo y aku rase suke kat aku tp tape, her mum, MJ himself , Haya and Mel. Haya has another sister Titin and brother Adul.


Kan aku cakap Elmo ni suke aku. Haha. Jgn tak cayee =P He is so cute ok! And of course I already took the liberty of piggy-backing him mase kat rumah. Berat siots.

The other guests, Elmo, Me, Nadia (Haya's friend), Titin, Maid haya, Nenek and Atok Haya.

Later MJ got himself a nice pressie. A brand spanking new handphone. And he like immediately took out the sim card and had one of the daughters put it in for him. Haha. Mmg kewl la ayah die.

After that, I dragged Haya and Mell to take me to the Mall for another round of tudung borong-ing. Nanti turun kapal da bukan raye lg. Sure da tade da soldes ni. Met up with Tina and Jas at the food court upstairs. Balik. Tido cam org gile. The next morning we had to board Ajang Hormat. Again.