Chronicles of me

I know I have been silent for awhile now. It has been more then a month since my last update ya. Hm... Work kinda got in the way, especially during the month of December 2008.

Sayonara 2008
What can I say about 2008? Well, one thing is sure that I’m glad it’s gone. Well, hate to admit but it was quite an unfortunate year for me. I don’t mean to sound negative lah, but honestly, it kinda sucked. I think I don’t have ‘ong’ for year that ends with the no. ‘8’ kot? Gosh! I still remember 1998! Damn it! It was the most awful and lousiest year of my life. It was one of those years that you just wish to put behind you and not think about it anymore. Well, 2008 was not that bad though. There are some sweet and wonderful memories I have gained. What ever it is, 2008 is gone now and I am with open arms welcoming 2 0 0 9. I am looking forward to make the best out of 2009 pulak. It’s all about turning into a new leaf babe! And I am all out for it. Hehehe... I guess it’s how you make the best out of things you wish and desire. In the end, it doesn’t depend on what luck the year brings you but its more to how you make the best out of it. It’s all in you. Motive yourself to achieve greatest added value and you will be happy. Betul tak? Whoa... Aku bersemangat nie!
I have figured out a few New Year resolution for 2009. My resolution to ‘Be more focused and stay positive’ still remains. (psst.. one of them is to work on reducing my fat ass and ‘poofiness’. And blardly you Jay, poofy means fat you dongkey. And all these while I thought you said it to make me sound like I’m cute. @#%&$... Blardy fish you Jay. Poofy pun I comel ok :p

Career
December was quite a hectic month for me. It was the year end closing and everyone went nuts and koo-koo in chasing and trying to close as much sales order as possible. Hey! It’s never easy being in the sales team for a large company. And especially when it comes to year end closing, I think people kinda hate U. Hehehe… Especially folks I work with from my main office. There will be a lot of chasing, order loading, delivering, checking ETA, monitoring shipment, warehouse stock count, billing, invoicing, capturing rev and GP, calling up customers, push JCF signing, push delivery, push invoice, push engineers, push customers, push your boss out the window... Wait! Is that in my job scope? oops! hehehe... But I tell you though, I have considered it few times ;) hahaha... Sneaky Devil!
But what ever the situation maybe, I would say working here is one of the best thing that has ever happened to me in my career path. It is all in good fun and it has been quite a wonderful experience working here. Sure at times, it can be stressful and you will be disappointed and frustrated, especially now that I am working under a new (yet another lady boss), life can sometimes be very very very, I quote again “V E R Y’ stressful. People are out there man to test your patience and how long you can put up with them. Working with brainless people is never an easy job. It takes lots of endurance skills (rolling eyes... hehe). But what ever it is, in the end you will always end up learning something new and gain more knowledge. Hehehe.. I remember once when we had this event going on, one of our customer called my Sales Rep a ‘loan shark’ cos she kept calling him and trying to persuade him to attend our events. Hihi... He did show up cos he said he admired her determination. Hahaha… we all had a good laugh out of it.

~ Ehm... I really didn't want to post this picture, but I need to show you how stressful I am. Sigh!


Me and My Family
Kak Ton will be back this Feb 10. Gosh! I miss her so much. Last time when she’s around, we hardly meet or even talk on the phone. Sometimes when she comes over to the house, we will share a light chat and after awhile, she will continue on chatting with mum and I will be busy doing something else or watching TV. But nowadays when she calls, I feel like talking to her for hours and look at her all the time through the webcam. The other day when she called, I was on the phone with her for so long not realizing that it’s a long distance call, until we started talking about makcik sebelah rumah some more... Hehe :p
So, I am so looking forward for you to be back home soon sis. Hehehe.. do remember to bring some goodies :p ya. Not that I mengharap lah, but If got something-something then sure syiok lor. aiyo... hehe. And we have made plans for our sister’s get together after you’re back. It not the same without you around now. Boring sangat.
About me! I am now officially and happily single... again! I’m probably too much for him to handle kot :p hehehe. Well, I’m sure my Mr. Right is out there somewhere. I just have to pray hard and hope the best for me. I just hope I will find someone who can understand and appreciate me for who I am. Managing a cracked relationship is just too hard to handle man.
My sweet lovely nephew Farhan turned 3 last week. Gosh! He’s a little fella with a very witty mouth.. very cute and adorable fella. He's more of the playful, suka cakap banyak person while the elder brother, Naveer is the more quite and serious one. It's always fun to have them around. You can sit and listen to them for hours. Gosh! being around them will take any pain away. Here’s some pictures of my heroes, Naveer & Farhan.. aren't they cute!!





Vacation
Another family vacation, and this time we head south to Cameron Highlands. The cool breeze and the lush green surroundings were so inviting and I automatically felt in love with it. Who can ever resist being in such place. I wanna let the pictures I took do all the talking cos I really took alot of photos :p
I would love to go back there someday. Hm… Probably soon...












Well, that’s all for now. Will try to write soon.

Memories from Gunung Jerai

I was looking at some old pictures and came across these photos we took on our family trip to Gunung Jerai back in Nov 2006. Errr.. these photos was taken using my previous Sony Ericsson phone. Hm... for some reason, I was unable to post these photos back then kot. Anyway, one thing that’s still fresh in my mind is that I really enjoyed this trip. Hm... One can never avoid from falling in love with the beautiful scenery and the lush green of the forest was simply breathtaking. I was totally taken by the cool breeze and the fresh air was amazing. Though there is not much activity for you to do there, but a simple stroll by the sidewalk will make you feel completely relaxed and at ease.

It’s been a while since we had a family trip together. Now that Kak Ton is not around, we really don’t feel like going on any trips. Well, school break is coming. I’m sure we might take a trip somewhere. Who knows, we might make plans for another trip to Gunung Jerai. But what’s disappointing is that the chalets are maintained very poorly. I don’t see why they can’t make some effort to improve the chalets condition in Gunung Jerai. But I heard recently from a friend that the resort is now under renovation. Hm… let’s hope it would be better in future.

Beautiful memories from Gunung Jerai…

~ Looking down at Kedah..


~ The resort office...


~ The Chalets


~Sidewalk..


~ Lush green forest


~ Wangi tau bunga nie :p


~ hehe.. me!

Manic Monday

Here we go again. I keep thinking of this song in my head since morning.
Just another manic Monday
Wish that it was Sunday
Cos that’s my fun day
I don’t have to run day
Cos Its just another manic Monday… hu hu hu hooo..

However, I must say... my morning is starting of well actually :p tak lah hectic sangat. Besides, the day is just starting to bloom right.
Anyway, I have a lot of stories to enter in my blog here. There’s this final day of my Alor Setar vacation, my 3 days 2 nights fight for survival at the teambuilding and also a story of an unfortunate dying snake.

Alor Setar & Sg Petani ~ Day 3 (Country road… take me home)

Well, I had another unpleasant night cos I couldn’t sleep. I toss and turned and even tried to cover my head full with a blanket, but it just didn’t work out. It was too cold and I was not sleeping in a proper position that night (I slept on the couch la, what else I can expect… Sob! Sob!) Finally dawn break and I was up earlier then others. Sigh!

Well, that morning we were making plans on how to end our journey in a memorable way. Mak suggested that we go to Tanjung Dawai. For your info, Tanjung Dawai a fishing village located at the mouth of Sungai Merbok, facing the straits of Malacca. It is situated about 20km from Sungai Petani and less than 5km from the historic archeological site of Bujang Valley. If you're coming from the highway, be sure to take the Sungai Lalang north exit of Sungai petani and after the tol, you will reach a cross junction. Go straight and you should be able to see Giant hypermarket on your right (Betul ke nie?.. hehe). The best thing is to follow the signboard that says 'Tanjung Dawai". At least, that's what I did. On the way you will pass by daerah Bedong and Pekan Sembeling. Tanjung Dawai is indeed a must visit place if you want to buy seafood products. It is the best place to buy ‘Belacan’ and other local seafood products such as ikan kering (salted fish), ikan bilis, keropok, lekor… bla bla. You should go to the 2 story market and there you can find a lot of shops for you to choose from but the price and products in all shops are quite similar but reasonable. Nas said the seafood there is so good and it’s a must try whenever you visit Tanjung Dawai. So we all decided to take a drive to Tanjung Dawai on our way back. Besides, it would be great to drive down the old country road and enjoy the view of kampong houses.




Hm… poor Shasha has a little accident that morning while she was riding a cycle around the resort area. She has some deep cuts in her forehead, her elbow, her palm and her hip and my sis had to rush her to a nearby clinic. The doctor gave her some medication and a jab to prevent infection to the wounds. But that didn’t stop us from going to Tanjung Dawai jugak. Hehe… She looks fit enough la and she was excited to go as well. So we checked out from Cinta Sayang Resort at around 12.15pm and head straight to our next destination. It was raining quite heavily all the way. Not to mention the cows and goats crossing the roads like nobody’s business. Tak tengok kereta lalu cross the road suka hati dia jer. Aduh! Hm… dah asal nya lembu, hehehe… biasa la tue and we sure can’t argue on that. Well, thank god we didn’t run over them which we nearly did cos it was raining and we could hardly see the road.

It was still raining when we reached the Tanjung Dawai Market and you can imagine the muddy condition in front of the market. Blek! Still, we still manage to grab quite a lot of stuff there. Too bad it was raining cos it was indeed an inconvenience for people to walk their way in and out of that market. Aku tak sempat nk tangkap gambar la. Hm.. too bad cos it would be cool to post some photos of this place. For those who love to eat siput-siput nie, be sure to stop by the roadside at Pekan Semeling. Banyak jugak orang-orang kampong kat situ menjual pelbagai jenis siput di sepanjang jalan. There are also folks selling jackfruits, pisang goreng, steamed corns and banyak lagi. We stopped to buy some siput lokan and siput Kepah. Well, it was almost 4pm when we got back onto the highway and it was time to head home. By the time we reached our sweet home, it was nearly 5.30pm.

Overall, it was indeed a wonderful journey and a great adventure. It was sure a memorable journey and I really had a great time. I enjoyed myself and looking forward for our next family trip.

Survivor to the Fittest

“Outwit... Outplay... Outlast...”

That is my company’s teambuilding motto for this year. Shout it out loud and clear people. Ala-ala ‘Survivor” game show la pulak. Sigh! Well, I just hope they don’t make us stay in tents and go for nature calls behind the bushes. In fact, this is actually my first time going for a teambuilding after 4 years of working here. Someone ‘voiced’ it out to our top management dudes to have the teambuilding for the employees. This will help ‘motivate’ the employees and bring them closer in working together. Let me quote what I read in the training booklet “This learning processes allow you to look newly and constructively at important areas of your life and organization” Hurgh!! Betul ke? Hehe. Well, not to mention that I just had a disagreement with one of the purchasers this morning which involves one of the AM who will be attending the teambuilding together. Sigh! It’s a long story. Well, I just hope to put all the grudges and negatives thoughts behind me and just enjoy myself with my colleague and buddies. I'm sure it's going to be fun since all of us in the sales department going. Whoa! you should see the tidbits we're bring along for munching munching la... kot-kot malam kang lapar so boleh la kunyah something. hehe. I was cracking my head last night thinking about what to pack and what proper attire to wear so by the time I finish packing, it was almost 2am. Hm… nie baru 2 malam. Must make sure I bring all the stuff I need ler.

It’s going to be a 3 days 2 nights session and we will be leaving from the office at 4pm today and will only be back on Sunday liau. Teambuilding will be at this place called Nur Bukit Hijau at Kulim. Dekat jer, kentut pun boleh dengor. But this place is quite secluded and it’s near the Bukit Hijau waterfall Recreation Park. Check out the place. Link http://pangsun.com/hijau_Scene%201.swf
So, Let me see how this place fits first before I give my comments ok. 3 days 2 nights at a secluded resort... no TV, no astro, no towel pun konon so we had to bring our own towels, the rooms are not even air conditioned… Uwah!! Think positive... think positive. hehehe.

But come to look at it from the bright side, a teambuilding actually help you get to know your workmate better by participating in the activities as a team and work closer with them to resolve matters. Just like how we are doing it at work but without the grudges and in a more friendlier and fun environment. It’s considered an opportunity for us to look at our ways of working together as a team from different point of view and also a chance for us to know ourselves too. Well, I am really looking forward for it. Will tell all about it soon.

Enjoy your weekend!

Alor Setar & Sg Petani ~ Day 2

Day 2, Sunday 1st June 2008 ~ Cinta Sayang Resort

It was Ijah’s 15th Birthday, my eldest niece, my babe… I woke up early that morning cos I couldn’t sleep. It was quite cold as the air cond is set high and I was still feeling not so well. My nose was totally blocked and I was breathing like a fish gasping for air. Macam ikan tak cukup udara jer dok huhhh haa huuh haa tak abis2. Sigh! Still, I was all excited and can wait to explore what’s installed for me that day. Everyone was just lazing around that morning. Macan Din (My bro-in-law) was up early and went out to buy breakfast. I was looking forward for some local nasi lemak and kuih-muih and that was exactly what he bought. Can you believe that they still sell kuih for 30sens each here? Whoa… and it’s the same size as kuih you get in Penang. Hm… some of the advantages staying in Alor Setar la nie. Like the ice kacang we had the day before at Pekan Rabu, it was only RM2 a bowl. Cheap kan? Well, I guess it won’t be so cheap anymore now that the fuel price is up :p. hehehe. Nevertheless, breakfast was simply delicious and yummy.
The kids were still tired and they just wanted to spend the morning staying in and watching cartoon. Like la they don’t do that back in Penang. Since Macan Din volunteered to look after them, we ladies went out for well… more shopping :) Bukan nya shopping apa pun, we wanted to buy some stuff and I wanted to buy a gift for Ijah and a pair of track pants and t-shirts for me. Aku lupa nak bawak baju pakai tidur la pulak. Hehe :p. We went to the Alor Setar Mall, got nothing much to buy there for a 15th year old teenager, so I bought a polo t-shirt for Ijah. That should settle it, beautiful gift from Makcik Ilah.. less the RM50 only hehehe..
We check out at around 12pm. The kids were hungry… and so were we :p. We spotted a Nasi Melayu Restaurant on the way back and that place looked ‘happening’. Aleh! Happening in terms on nampak macam ada large variety la. And I was right, they do have a large variety of yummy dishes from grilled fish, prawns and squids to different types of kerabu, mixed veges, seafood like shellfish, crabs, curry and a lot more. I’m not sure what is this place called but it’s located by the roadside and next to an abandoned building at jalan Kanchut. Fuh! Until I don’t know what to choose and in the end I really got greedy cos my rice cost RM11.50. hehe.. We were full and everyone’s just happy, a quick look at Alor Setar town and we were off to Sungai Petani, our next destination. The girls were asleep the whole way.

We reached SP at around 2.30pm and checked into the Cinta Sayang Golf & Country Resort. The rooms were just fine. So so only la… Argh! We were so exhausted so we didn’t go out the rest of the afternoon. But my sis & Macan Din took the kids to the swimming pool. We joined later in the evening. Here are some pictures.

Chillin


My angels.. Gosh! I should have joined them


Floating Anaconda


All smile cos he's so happy


Dinner was at one of the local restaurant. Sigh! Our initial plan was to go for steamboat at Cinta Sayang restaurant. A dear friend of mine really recommended their steamboat and the way she described it… fuh! Tak try sure rugi giler cos she said their Steamboat is the best in town. She’s from Bedong ok and she goes back to her parents house ever weekend. She quite a picky person when it comes to food and when she said this place is nice, I just have to trust her words. Too bad, we didn’t get to go but we did enjoy a good meal at this medan selera and the price was reasonable too. Night was quite dull as there was nothing much to see in SP. Probably because we just stick to the outskirts of the town. So we went back early.

However, we really didn’t feel like sleeping early that night so we ended up playing a game called “sign language”. Now, I don’t know if you guys still remember this game show during the 80s. I used to watch it in TV. You have to act out a scenario provided by the other team to your teammate… without saying a word! Hehe… and guess what, everyone joined in and we really had a good laugh and enjoyed ourselves that night. Hahahaha… and the funniest act were from Macan din when he had to act out “Kassim Selamat”. Damn funny la!
We zzzz at around 2am.

Tomorrow ~ Journey back home

Alor Setar & Sg Petani ~ Day 1

3 days and 2 nights just flew by so fast and now I’m back in the office. Sigh! How I wish I was back on the road. The only way I can describe the whole trip is that it was indeed a fabulous trip. It was a great adventure with lots of wonderful memories to cherish, joyful moments and laughter shared with each other. This was 1 of the best trips we had and I really enjoyed myself.

So, I want to share my experiences here with you all. My amazing journey to Padang Besar, Alor Setar, Sungai Petani and Tanjung Dawai. And yes Ladies and gentleman, I visited all these places in just 3 days and 2 nights. Hehehe... and on the first day, I had a very terrible flu and was sneezing all the time. Not to mention, the pounding headache and sleepless nights too. The air condition is too cold and the snoring from Kak Ton and Kak Idah creates a beat the whole night. Hehehe. So I manage to wake up the next morning with a banging headache and droopy eyes. But it was fun... really fun…

Day 1, Saturday 31st May 2008 ~ Road Trip
We set off early morning at 8am and everyone met up at mum's house. Mak cooked nasi lemak with sambal ikan and packed it for breakfast in disposable containers for each of us. The weather was sunny and just nice. So off we go in 3 seperate cars. Kak Idah and the girls, Kak Ton and Shasha, Kak Shidah and her family, mak and me! hehe. Our first stop was at the Gurun R&R for breakfast. Everyone was just so hungry... Especially after we had eyes on those packets of nasi lemak mak prepared. Terliur la especially when you're really hungry wey. Kak Ton pulak brought fried chicken which she marinated in yogurt and kak Idah made roti telur. It was great as we laid the tikar on the grass and sat down to enjoy our meal. I must say, mum's nasi lemak was so heavy it lasted even for lunch. Fuhyoo! memang sedap. Some more got side dish taukua, boiled egg and some slices of cucumber. Since we packed it separately, hehe... I had the privilege of adding some 'extra' fish for me. muahahaha..

Long drive..


It's mine. See no touch! Sedap la nasi lemak mak buat..


Even he also got his own packet..

Beautiful tree… yellow flowers


Burp! Breakfast was great and once we filled our stomach we were back on the road and headed to Alor Setar. We reached Alor Setar at around 10.30am. There were still time before we can check in so we headed to 'Pekan Rabu' for some shopping.

Here’s the only picture I took of pekan Rabu. It's a picture of my poor bro-in-law carrying my sleepy nephew while my mum and sis were busy checking out the tudung inside the shopping arcade. I ran out after a while cos it was damn stuffy inside. I was already sneezing and the hot weather kinda gave me a headache.

While the ladies were busy shopping, Kak Ton, Shasha and I went to a coffee shop nearby for some cool drinks. Sorry aa.. lepas minum baru mau snap picture.


We checked into Shamila Hotel at around 12pm. The hotel was not bad but the room was quite dusty. So, you can imagine the condition I was in. Achoo! Achoo! We had a quick fresh up and head to Padang Besar. We reached Padang besar at around 2.30pm. Fuhyoo! The place was packed with people. Now, here is where I got carried away. Tudung and broaches were quite cheap there. We hardly have space to even walk our way through. I spotted this particular particular shop and stopped. My sis was right behind me at that time. I was checking out this gorgeous bling bling tudung and this makcik siam wanted to sell it for quite a reasonable price. Thinking that Kak Idah was still standing behind me, aku pun pot pet pot pet la asking for her opinion konon, “cantik tak kak? Kalu pakai dengan baju raya yang jahit tue cun tak?, you rasa colour dia sesuai tak dengan baju tue? kalu kurang sket syok la...kan kak.. kan??... Kak... kak…” I wondered la why she didn’t respond and when I turned… she was no where to be found. Aku cakap sorang rupanya. Instead, there was this makcik standing there looking at me blankly. She must be wondering who on earth am I talking to and why am I asking her if the tudung matches my baju raya. Malu betol la masa tue. I gave her a sheepish eeehhkkk… smile and walked out of that shop. I really got panicked and I was walking up and down the arcade trying to find them. Honestly, at that point I really didn’t thought that I was carrying a phone and that I could have simply called them and find out where they were. Instead, I was searching for them like a makcik who missed her bas rombongan. And I almost cried you know… Scared to my bones la wey! And I keep imagining this video Simran posted in her blog of a transsexual women dancing so exotically on a stage in the middle of a road. What made it worse was when I imagined myself on that stage pulak! Seriously damn creepy! I was sweating like a pig, I keep sneezing and the flu was really getting on to me, I felt so sticky cos of the place was stuffy and I’m LOST… separated from my family. Sob Sob! After almost 20 minutes, Kak Idah called which then only reminded me of my phone. I got only one thing to say… bodohnye! They were waiting for me outside in a coffee shop. I was quite furious la but at the same time, malu la jugak so I act cool only. Didn’t want them to know I was scared u see. But I think they knew cos just after they spotted me, they were giggling.
Well, the shopping there went well. We bought a few stuffs after that. I bought some beautiful brooches and kacang gajus bakar (sempat jugak!) hilang lagi sekali pun tak pe kot!.. hehe… It’s not funny ok! We didn’t spend much time there cos it was quite hot and the kids started to get cranky. So, we pushed out from Padang Besar at around 4pm and reached the hotel at about 5pm. We rest out sore feet for a while and fresh up. I checked with this ‘akak’ at the reception counter on where can I find good seafood . ‘Akak’ nie... well, he was quite beautiful and I almost believed he was a SHE, right until I heard his voice. Ok then, akak Emma recommended this seafood restaurant called ‘Rakok’ and it’s located on the way to Kuala Kedah. The way she explained about this place sounded so yummy and we were quite anxious to go there for dinner. The place was quite nice. Not bad for a kampong style restaurant la. And the food was not bad too but it was quite expensive.
We cleared everything cos we were damn hungry. Nothing much to see in Alor Setar town. It’s not as happening or even half as happening as Penang that’s for sure. We lepak at the menara Alor Setar for a while and head back to the hotel for some snooze.
I was so tired and jumped straight to bed. But unfortunately, I couldn’t sleep cos my nose was blocked. Cis! Panadols are like candy nowadays. No effects!

Day 2, Sunday 1st June 2008 ~ Cinta Sayang Resort ~ Esok cerita ok!

Cuti Cuti Malaysia

Today is my last day of work before I go off tomorrow on a 3 days 2 nights holiday trip with my family. It's gonna be Fun Fun Fun.. get to spend a few freaky day in hot burning sun (pantun)hehehe. So, I will only be back to work on Tuesday. It’s been quite sometime since we went on a holiday like this and since it’s the school break, we just grabbed the opportunity. Not that I have any kids ok :p but my sisters' kids are really looking forward to it. It’s going to be fun I’m sure. We’re not going anywhere great, just going to Alor Setar and SP and make a stop at padang Besar. There will be some serious eating which I am very looking forward too. Hehehe. I’ll post the pictures ok! Mum and my sis already plan for some serious shopping at Padang Besar. Things are suppose to be cheap there… I think. Well, I’m not interested to buy anything at all… No way, after the unfortunate $$ spending on my car battery and services, I don’t think I can afford any shopping. Poor me :( Still, I think I will just scout around and well, I could buy a few small tiny stuffs la for myself. Hehe... But I am looking forward to grab a few packets of kacang gajus bakar.. hmm… damn! I love it.

This will also be an opportunity for me to take my mind off all these issues and work hectic back home. I just want to relax myself and have fun. We’ll be going to the Cinta Sayang Resort at SP for a night stay and I am looking forward to try myself on archery. Excited giler la pulak.

Mei bought a new book titled ‘Love in a Torn Land’ from Jean Sasson, the author of my favourite book ‘Princess of Arabia’. There a sale at popular book store and she bought a few novels so she borrowed the book to me first and I just can’t wait to read it. I hope it will be as interesting as her first book.

Goodbye Friday… Hello Weekend =D