5th yr anniversary ......

Hooray, Bahija made it - solid 5 years of service with In-kei :) June 17, 2002 was the 1st day at In-Kei @ PG, never thought that I could survived this long, it's amazing how time flies ....geeeeee , 5 years are long time leh. I had 6 yrs with I-Kei, learned a lot of things, went thru a lot of various stages, met many many people and friends .... now 5 yrs here at In-kei - is very different, I've met a couple good buddies, worked with folks from various regions, on biz trips to a few places, trained in a few new areas ...I'm so blessed, so lucky to have the chance to experience the differences .... Today, I also celebrated this special day with a colleague of mine, who came all the way from FM :) , we did our toss @ chinatown , learned the mexican way of drinking beer - pour beer into a glass full of ice, and add some salt and lemon juices - not a bad idea

it's time to go home ....

Sayonara .... it's been a really really really busy wonderful trip. Every trip is special. Someone once told me, a place , a trip is memorable because it is surrounded with friends, people - that make the whole thing special ... this trip I met most of my friends, and spent a lot of time with Dockers' Pant, plus her family too :) Dockers' Pant is like a guardian angel , out of a sudden, she would said something - and those were exactly the things i needed to do , or places i needed to go ....We both gave thanks many times - as we truly 'received the blessings' ... one thing i failed to do , was to call my friends ....hmmm, bad bad girl. Tonight my team went to this nice japanese restaurant - Mikuni's - yummy - check out the sushi boat :)

it's time ....

The news asked consumers to mark calenders and get out the sleeping bags ....for what leh ? for camping ker ? June 29 - US start selling iphone ...no pre-order allowed, and expecting sales to be super laku, hot cake ..my kawan-kawan kat US already made plans, hit talk in the market , guess the scenario like Msians camping at developer office during the launch of a good housing project, will happen here on June 29 at 1800 AT&T and nearly 200 Apple stores , first come first served...usd499 and usd599, consumers must commit 2-yrs contract with AT&T , with mthly charges. Asia region - we kena tunggu lagi. Hope it's worth the wait eh :)

hello ...

Howdeee, Bahija been MIA for a while :) , very very busy at this moment .....currently, Bahija is enjoying her cruises around town with this 2007 TC sweety - leather seats, sun-roof - good enough to keep me happy ...my other sweety ( the one which has been serving me > 11 yrs old - got a new facelift - bodyworks and repainted, plus interior wash ), I'll see her when I get back pretty soon .....

fake guava-apple ....

During my teambuilding session at Cameron Highland ( CH) , we visited the market near hotel EQ ...Bahija and friends saw bags of big bright red or bright green color apples, the skin looks smooth too, all of them pre-packed in plastic bags ....we were very curious of this kind of fruits. One of the stall owner happily opened a bag and cut out some for us to test, it's RM9 per bag for 2 pieces ...the minute I tasted it , I quickly told my friends that it's not genuine, tasted like the fruits been soaked in sugar - it's artifical - tipu punya .... The owner somemore told us that a lot of foreigners came back and bought many bags from her ..... aiyuh, today Star newspaper , there is an article on ' fake guava-apple ' - BINGO - that's the one - take a read la ... it's really true lor - tourists or visitors will think that CH produces this special hybrids , padahal - kena tipu nia ..

Last weekend, went to Chinatown, I also saw these fruits there - so beware friends, JANGAN MAKAN , JANGAN BELI ... however, no harm do a sample testing - see if you can differentiate the artificial taste tak ?

a wonderful person....

Sometimes people asked Bahija 'what's your favourite food ?' - hmmm, Bahija sometimes pun tak tahu , sometimes also need to think hard , think high , think low to come out with an answer .... last thursday - someone came to my house - this person brought along a few dishes...when I reached home and open the containers - WOW - amazing lor - all the 4 dishes were my favourite food. At that moment, I felt so great, so blessed , and also guilty for what I've done ....there is this someone who knows me so well , and so caring to me - she's none other than my dearest mummy lor - Bahija really need to control her tongue and should appreciate her :) thanks , mummy - for all the yummy food , most important - for all the loves .....Happy Mother's Day

all done in (30+ 5) mins

Here is a blog by Patrick Teoh on the Jabatan Imigresen, Cawangan Wangsa Maju which started operation since Jan 2007, the pertama complex punya sudah tutup kedai , so kawan-kawan, don't go there liow yea... Today , Bahija brought mum to another cawangan, it's the Shah Alam , Komplex PKNS branch. We arrived at 10:30 , photocopied IC , took photos - 5 mins. Went to queue for number, surprisingly super duper fast. By 11 am, application form, thumb print and payment completed , wow - Bahija impressed. Then officer asked me to go back collect the passport at 3:30 pm same day .... so we went home, balik at 3:30 , spent 5 mins to collect the new passport. Those officers I met were polite & friendly too. One happy customer here. A wish list - it would be wonderful if can collect passport within 2 hours ...macam tu , we go lepak , minum teh tarik, sembang sikit - 2 jams easy to kill :)

5/5 - 6/5 team building

Last weekend, Bahija attended a team building at Cameron Highland. My last visit to CH was when I was at Form Five .....it's been a while :) . I enjoyed this trip very much, we stayed in an isolated hostel in the middle of the huge tea plantation , nice green view , quiet , we had the whole complex by ourselves. It's a wonderful neat super cheap place , only RM 10 per head nia. Why I enjoyed this trip ? well, in the office - everyone busy, focused on their own jobs or tasks, we hardly have time to cross-chat....in this offsite event, each of us just got to spend time and we got to know the personal side of the others .... well done to the organizer committee who did this donkey jobs - bravo !!

This is the view from the hostel ..... surrounded with tea !

Spent RM5 on these whole thing ....cheap eh :) ...The crystal vase was a precious gift from my last manager in i-kei. It's a good quality heavy-duty crystal vase :)

April 30 and May 1

April 30 - Bahija was tested on my integrity , my tongue , my obedient and my dicipline ...... all the 3 personal events happened on this date ......

May 1 - Reading the book of James - the 3 events I encoutered the day before was brought up ....plus a few more points too

If Bahija doesn't cleanse her heart, control her tongue , gain wisdom - disaster will come ... choice is on my hand

sweets sweets sweets .....

Heeeeee - a few of my friends will be smiling at me when they see these , thanks to all the angels who brought them over here .... enjoy !!!

one of my fav ....

For unknown reason, Bahija likes batik :) , i like the hand drawn nice creative drawings or patterns...today, visited a Batik factory, and ternampak batik table cloth - wow - can't resist the temptation, and bought a batik hand-drawn 100% cotton table cloth - which was told will not fade in color when washed, and the patterns are available on both sides. Bahija visited Yunnan Province last year, I almost spent the same amount of money on one similar table cloth, luckily I didn't - as that one the color will fade , plus it's from China... today, I'm happy to put on this piece of batik cloth on my dining table ...when I host foreign visitors for meals at my home sweet home, they'll be able to see the beautiful handicrafts from my country .... plus this piece of cloth shall be passed over to the next generation ( provided it can last long la - hee ) , so to me, it's money well spent :) , it's an inheritage item in my dictionary

snack ...

A relative of Fish enjoys this 'great' snack from gurney drive .... only available at night --> take a look .... do u know what is it ???? ...... crispy fried chicken skin wor. She bought me this whole pack - and I only tasted 2 pieces .... the rest buang - haaaa. it's crispy like eating KFC chicken lah, but hor - this one only skins and the fats , plus lots of bulu ... i can see the bulu bulu everywhere - so tak ada selera liow
Folks like to eat this with beer ....those who like this, try kat PG Gurney drive la

Good Friday @ BM MCC

Rushed to cross the PG bridge, heavy traffic after office hours , late for Good Friday service, no dinner .... Bahija visited Bkt Mertajam chinese church last year December...it's a very neat, nice small community chinese methodist church. (I like the red color long big cross ). BM is a small town, yet when Bahija walked into this church, I'm amazed with the crowd, the community that this church has :) - it's a family church, active with a lot of good activities for various groups. Tonight - i was invited to listen to a choir from Taiwan. They sang very well & shared great testimonies - and one of the singer is called 'black pearl' as she's an african lady who speaks some chinese ... at 52 yrs old, she's looking great , young and sings well, I like to imagine her as Whitney Houston (WH) .... is it wonderful that a small town like BM, the community can enjoy one peaceful evening listening to WH look and sound alike songs ? To the believers, it's time to reflect what we've done, how we should move forward daily, remembering Him, His sacrificies, His commandments, be humble, be thankful, be loving, to share love, to have faith ..... and to the non-believers - they can take this time to remind themselves that material world is not that important, learn to reset the priorities in life, or simply just sit and relax, just unwind and listen to songs :)

TQ ...

Bahija had a request with Him, if I get more than a certain amount in increment, I shall give that as offering to my church Dialysis Center building fund ( the fund drive has been setup for years, until today , we still haven't collected enough fund to build the center to serve the community)...My wish was granted, I'm glad and thankful, pleased that I'm able to contribute. I think I will also sponsor a child this year (guilty as I spent on a luxury anniversary gift). Perhaps sponsor a Cambodian child , as I can get AA ticket easily and fly to meet him/her in future - heee

Swap topic , a friend of mine adopted 6 cats , 9 cats died earlier termakan by her 5 dogs , whenever she saw any abandoned cats or dogs, she'll adopt them....she just has the passion for the animals, her mthly expenses on the animals are high too, includes medication, food, cleanliness care, dog care when she's out of town....I like the animals, some are cute adorable, some can be bodyguard eg dogs for the blind..nothing against them. But given a choice, I'll rather help a human being than animal - it's just me , my style ...SPCA is not the place Bahija will visit

April 1 .....

Last year this time, Bahija treated herself a trip to Cambodia...This year, Bahija rewarded herself an expensive item, something that YaYa already did years back with her first paycheck ....it's my 11th yr anniversary gift, I think I'll treasure this little gift ... April 3 - meeting boss to receive my performance evaluation, hope to get good news lah , most important hope I can perform the promise I made with Him la .... will see :)

March 23 ...

2 of my friends celebrate birthday today .... Wau Bulan and Big Brother A. Both of them have left in-kei liow. Now, added baby N into today's list, he's born around 2 pm i think, I'll be seeing him and his proud parent in 2 weeks time. hippieeeee

comfort ...

Ever wonder how Great is our Lord ? I was slightly upset over the weekend, one was related to family matters, one was related to Teddy Bear - he fell and knocked his head, received 6 stitches. Hmm, I wasn't happy and didn't share with anyone. Sunday went for altar call - prayed for Miracle on teddy bear, I wish I could or able to do something extra-ordinary for him. Today , my angel Ringgit sent me an email which talked about the things in my heart, and he also ended our chat with this word 'victorious' - Haaa, that's how Great is my Lord - He sent his angel to drop hints onto me, to comfort me, to uphold me, to raise me up :)

a wiser decision

Bahija thought for the whole night , and made the decision - spent approximately $700+ on just one thing....aiiii , temptation - I'm a failure ! Here this link brings you to World Vision - a christian organization dedicated to help the poor in the world regardless of religion , ethnicity or gender. For RM600 , $50 mthly - one can sponsor a child, and help the child to have a better future. Bahija would be happier if I channel my $700++ to sponsor a child ... To my readers, if you have the heart to help the needing folks, please check out this site ...

a visit to DPC

Years ago, Bahija and Ringgit visited SPK Dmansara show house - my air liur mengalir-alir - the 2 1/2 storey house is spacious and well designed and built, equipped with 2 master bedrooms - which make sense, as many couples stay with their parents - so couple one master bedroom, their parent also have one master bedroom, the location is good and strategic. Aiii - we only get to dream about it. The other big impressive project is Desa Park City. Tonight, I drove past the area - saw the shops, the houses and condominiums - wow .....niceeeeeeeeee. This whole area indeed has developed well, and sure benefited one of my friend who stay nearby. He shld be laughing out loud, smart investment - can dream dream to upgrade to bigger house later ....

The other high class area is call Sierramas and Valencia. Sierramas project should be started may be 10 years ago - back then, out of no where , situated at Sg Buluh, facing a lot of rumah setinggan, and not so nice neighboorhood - the developer Tan & Tan which initiated this project was very smart. Knowing that BU, Dsara, PJ area already quite fully developed - thus developed this area to be super high end - catering to the rich and famous group.... I am just curious how did T&T manage to promote this area to the rich folks - getting them to purchase and move to a not so happening place back then, plus only one exit via Sg Buluh NKVE exit .... what was the magic ? Now, most people know where are Sierramas and Valencia , there are many i-kei fellows staying there too - hmmm, can someone invite Bahija to these 2 housing areas , plssssss - i want to go there and dream dream ,mengalirkan air liur ....

Next, one of my relative bought a condominium under T&T for > RM 350K. During CNY , T&T sent her a very nice new year prosperity plant - delivered all the way to her house....pandai nya to buat customer happy eh ... kan baik if can give ang pow - less a few thousand on the sales price eh, heeee

speed limit

Tonight , Bahija drove along NKVE from Shah Alam to Sg Buluh - i think the distance is about 30 KM. I wanted to check the speed limit. I paid attention to all the road signs along the way .... 'out of sight, out of mind' is a very valid statement. During my whole destination - I only managed to see one pethatic speed limit sign 110 km/j - which is located North bound after Damansara toll exit, before Kota Damansara exit. Only one speed limit sign ....hmm, when i was driving in CA - I was constantly reminded on the speed limit , as there were plenty of signs along the road - some on the left , some on the middle of the road - so the driver usually cannot NOT see the speed limit lor .... hmm, just wondering, is it better to have more reminder on the speed limit ?

saman

Today, after church service, Bahija rushed back to mum's house. I took Jln Damansara - then the link road to Hartamas, Mont Kiara - passed by Science center. On highway, my usual driving speed is 110 km/hr, as usual, I cruised along nicely on this scenic full of greens link road lah, then cars started to slow down - hmm, saw the road block, of course Bahija kena la ...parked next to whole bunch of BMWs, Mertz, SUVs, nice nice cars ...my the most low-yah one - heee

My last stop was about 8 years ago at Hartamas too - for not using handphone hands-free kit. that time - my wallet only had RM5 , he pun took my last piece of cash ....

Anyway, today - when i kena stopped , I was prepared to get my saman - not worried at all ( geee - didn't know what have I eaten or done la, I calmly accepted my saman nia ) , the truth is I did speed - so I salah lah. He told me the speed limit is 80 km/hr and i was goin at 110, asked for my license - i passed to him, then turned my head away from him and listened to radio....then he shouted very loud 'cik - nak i tolong or nak saman' - I turned and stared at him - then said very calmly 'i want saman, please' .... wow - geee - what happened to me liow ? heeee. Again, i turned my head and listened to song waiting for him to capture details and pass me the saman slip la , at the same time, my brain reminded me to observe his ID & name - as I want to report this ( to support my PM punya vision mah - berhentikan or mengkurangkan corruption ) ... after a while , he knocked on my window, returned my license and said 'i let you go' .... another geeee - i supposed that was a surprise to me, that i took my license and then drove away - without saying anything to him , not even a 'terima kasih' .... not sure TQ was appropriate

My key learning is that it's a sign sent to me - reminded me to drive safely & obey speed limit - it's a good reminder - TQ

funny 'taste'

Hmm, I may be a bit kuku liow - photos on toilet bowls ???? heee - First one taken in Japan - very high end - with sound system, seat has heater feature, it has flush, washing & drying buttons. Second picture taken in Brunei - my mum stared at them for a while , thinking how to use 2 of them. I gave it a try. First - use the right one, when done, move the butt over to the left , and push the button - wow - cold water flushed out - so cooling - butt butt felt so good , and whole body in 'shock' ( that's how I felt la , keli actually) . In Doha, Qatar, I sat on the toilet seat - and felt my butt terbakar - the weather is way too hot - until the toilet seat also super panas .... Then in China, in some ulu kampung area - their washroom is super duper dirty, smelly and open, no doors - as showned here. In Italy, the washrooms come with various types of faucets and gadgets - I need to spent time figured out how to get them to function..... Bahija just find this interesting as I get to taste the different scenarios :)

part 2 about country B

I heard 2 free medical testimonies - first one - father sick, no specialist in country B, thus government sent him on first class to UK for treatment, all expenses paid by government, and 3 family members were allowed to follow him to take care of him. The second one - friend sakit - government paid for all his treatment in Sgp ( multiple trips )

Some friends asked me if msian can migrate to Country B ? hmmm - after asking some friends. I have some updates. Msian needs to stay in Country B for min 25 years - baru can consider to apply for citizenship wor. 25 yrs - this is a huge number.... so the fastest and direct way is still via marriage eh.

Next interesting info - msian who worked in B country for 180 days, he /she does not have to pay income tax to our irb .... wow , too good to be true hor. One who stays less than 180 days in Msia - is consider non-resident for that year, B country is tax free, so need to check the Double Taxation Agreement ( DTA ) between B and Msia .... if this is true - hmm - Bahija may want to explore this option liow, since my nature of work is support and my boss is flexible that so long I can be contactable and work at the same timezone - it doesn't matter where I am physically ... so I'll get myself to work from country B for 180 days lah tiap-tiap tahun, to avoid my taxes - hmm, does this make sense ??? geee - go dreaming lah

buah tangan ...

Western Dragon invited Bahija and friends to her house. This is her first time / first year giving ang pows - she's excited about this event, giving out 2 packets to the singles - heeee untung. Thesedays, Bahija memang lazy , i just went to my friends' houses empty handed, coz i think there is this tradition that only the married folks need to bring barang2 when they visit others. Being single, I just need to enjoy the flexibililty lah :) Anyway, tonight, Bahija was surprised to see Chinese Dragon brought a bag of buah tangan to her house lor ( as far as I could remember, ini kali pertama leh ). Chinese Dragon is obviously getting lots of 'preparation' or training for the next promotion - another new chapter of life - heeee :P

my 07 CNY vacation ....

Bahija went to this neighbour country which is on the east side, the country is 6 alphabets , starts with a B, end with a I. It's a small rich country. They don't have politicians, simple and ruled by the Sultan. The Sultan is 61 yrs old, thin and quite good looking actually ... the rakyat like their sultan very much ....I figured out why liow. Education ( from kindergarden to university) and medical ( I mean ALL the medical fees ) are FREE. Petrol is subsidized, and cost B$ 0.35 per litre. Rice supply is not enought, thus imports from Thailand, and Sultan subsidized 50%. This country is tax-free , meaning no sales tax, income tax, property tax semua tak ada - just delete the word 'tax' in the dictionary. The people also proudly told me that there is no poor people in their country, Bahija had to repeat the question 3 times to triple confirmed...the definition of poor is under poverty line. On average, people here change car every 2 years.....When I walked around the town, the town is clean, buildings, houses are well maintained and painted nicely, no grills - that means security is good. I also asked them, they said there is hardly any rompakan, theft or crime cases - wow - nice hor. The main bus terminal is clean, bus engines are off when they are parked at the terminal. My mum and I are very impressed with the locals, people from all races are very friendly, they smiled at us, offered help, and they stopped at zebra crossing, patiently waited for us to cross .... wow - never expect this to happen in an Asia country lor .... This B country is celebrating its 23th National Day today - for the rakyat there, hope all of them continue to enjoy the peace, work hard to enjoy the benefits, and not taking things for granted and be malas eh .... The not so cool thing here - no alcohol, no night life such as pub, bars, karaoke, massage centers - all those are NO NO, their newspaper nothing much to read, very nipis - every day hanya read about the royal families .... u see - country is peaceful and small, not much crime to report lah...so report the rich and famous lor, heee.... Generally people is quite rich, surprisingly their malls really really really hmmm no syok lor. This was the first trip Bahija didn't spend a single cent on shopping as there is really nothing worth to buy - haaaaa....It's a short exciting discovery trip for me and mum, we simply picked this place, because it's a new country my mum hasn't visited, it's nearby and affordable for me - I'm very 'pok kai' at this moment. My mum is excellent - this trip, we visited a national park, she walked 1226 steps up to a mountain, sat on long boat and speed boat, walked on river and made it to the waterfall - very KENG. Mat Sallehs also puji my little mummy leh

新 年 快 乐 .....

It's the time where food , more food and food :) Bahija have managed to shed some kilos for the past 2 mths. Hope I don't gain back those 'hardwork' easily.... I'll be out of town for a few days, when I'm back, Feb will be ending soon - so fast, Jan & Feb just zoom past - too fast that I don't think I've done anything significant yet ....wishing all my readers - Happy Chinese New Year !!

p/s : those who have IM-ed me and left me a message - TQ - sorry I didn't get the chance to chat with u guys :) - take care to all of you wherever u r .....

an insult ....

Weeks ago, Bahija and sister relaxed at home while listening to TV3 news, suddenly - we saw the annoucement 'Le Tua Langkawi' bla bla bla - I told sis - that was a typo error - hmm, then later on, we realized that it's not typo - itu memang 'Le Tua' - the Malay version of Le Tour ( in French ) which means The Tour .... alamak - Le Tua pula - what a joke ... yesterday - a comment on Star - a real insult to the Malay Language - which is so true lor - I second the writer. Now in Malay , to discuss and to be flexible , you can say like this - 'untuk di-diskusi' and 'fleksibel' - what do you think ? siow or not ... bincang and mudah berubah will still be my choice of words as compared to using the 'CC' words - sound so weird ... yeeeee

The Holidays ...

Bahija needs to get some fresh air :) , went for mid-nite movie.... wish this movie 'The Holidays' screened last year during christmas and before NY lah .... perfect timing. Anyway, this movie is quite good :) , hmmm, Bahija like this guy Jude Law aka Graham ....so cute ...oh, he was born on Dec 29, 1972 kat London... okie doot - i sign off and go sweet dream - heee

wake service

This week has been quite taxing for some friends. ML's dad is having very serious health issues - kidneys failure, diabetic , blood clogged, couldn't urine, and now latest problem - rectum bleeding .... Uncle has to put up a strong fight to get thru this critical stage..

Thursday morning - received a sms - the daughter of my ex-cell member passed away. She had leukemia since she was 9 yr olds, she fought this disease for 6 years, died at 15 yrs old. Tonight, Bahija attended her wake service, it's my first experience attended a christian wake service. It's simple (which makes perfect sense ) - we sang her fav songs .. of course we grieved over her death, but indeed we are glad that she is now with the Lord in the promised land.

This reminds me again - that I shall complete my will writing ( first draft started 2 yrs ago - still have not seal the deal yet .... ) - must get this into my personal imbo - haaaaa

what a day ....

In summary

morning - a friend told me her sister and brother in law are having marriage issue - they may end up getting a divorce , they have 2 young children

afternoon - a colleague have 2 slipped discs - she undergone surgery to fix them ( I urged her to try a chinese sifu to urut - hope that didn't create more problems for her - so sorry )

nite - a friend is granted with a special gift - yet she isn't prepared for that - so it's a syok and a huge decision to decide on next action plan

Here I am - feeling very tired already .... hearing all the stories, but I do pray for all of them, Sincerely hope they get out of their trouble. It's common - when one is single - you wish to get married , but after that - tends to forget how to grow each other, how to appreciate each other .... or another scenario - when our body signal maintenance needed, we ignore and don't care - until the chronic issues turned sour ... or when you wish for something badly yet don't seem to have the luck to have it , likewise something you never thought would happened, it just materialized, just like that .... life lor i guess

big hole

last time, renovated and moved to new house - bought 4 air-conds, installed alarm, autogates, bought new appliances ....I forgot about the 'maintenance' part :( Now, each one of them started to merajuk and gave problems. Last week - my autogate not working, not even with manual key - thus i had to climb over the gate and use the master autogate keypad inside my house to open the gate .... called for support, Uncle teased me - he said i never service my autogate - alamak , i ter-realized about 'maintenance' then. So spent > $500 fixed autogate motor (left hand side), receiver, and alarm battery. Last month , my 2.5 HP air-cond merajuk pula, called for service, baru realized 2.5 HP, the service charge is $250 - geee, expensive nya - i also spent close to $500 to service all the air-conds... in short, it's so costly to own a house lor ...next is the termite treatment liow - aiyuhhhhhh

Fun time babysitting ....

Today , for the first time Bahija gets to spend quality time with 2 lovely kiddoes - Andrew ( 7 yrs old) and Adel ( 4 yrs old) .... their grandfather admitted to hospital - kidney failure and a few other problems ... daddy and mummy stressed and tired taking care of things. Thus - Bahija offer a simple help - these kids truly blessed my Sunday, they amazed me with things they do :) Bahija pandai ambil hati kanak-kanak, bought them playsets, chips, ice cream, vitagen, brought them to 3 playgrounds .... until both of them so reluctant to go home - heee, Adel was crying at home and refused to go to bed...opsss. At 4 yrs old, Adel is such a strong minded girl, once she made up her mind, she doesn't change her mind. I gave them cups of water, and container to eat their chips - surprisingly , when they finished, Adel automatically took the empty cups and container, walked to my kitchen and put those dirty items in my sink, she also helped me bring my rubbish bag to the main rubbish bin outside my house ( without me asking, i was thinking to ask Andrew ). Her good behaviour truly melted my heart - okie - i shall reward her with barbie doll dresses liow ......oh, her manglish also super duper cute

happy ......

Bahija had a super duper busy business trip. Got so tired until I slept 16 hours out of the 18 hrs flight, amazing. Enjoyed the whole trip, the business meetings, the fun sightseeings, meeting the people, meeting friends, the chit chats, the food etc etc. Awesome. On my personal agenda, the most important thing was able to visit my favourite church, enjoyed every moment, it's my birthday gift from Father. HeeHee. Right now back home, again, pick up the usual busy life - there are just so many things to do eh, I don't have time to complete so many tasks ...hee, however, I'm indulging myself with some lovely songs, they helped calm me down ... i love this CD - one of my fav christmas present - Thanks to 'you' for sending this wonderful companion over :)

2 yrs old ....

Today I'm 2 yrs old :) ... Praise God - He fulfilled my wishlist , given me a good gift - a sudden business trip, thus I'm able to visit my favourate church in FM - Lakeside church :) hoo hoo - so wonderful. I'm looking forward to this coming Sunday. On my first year, I learned fruit of spirit from my own church, and 7 deadly sins from Lakeside church. I'm so thrilled for this golden opportunity ....heeeeeeeee

better medical report .....

HaHaHa - good news again , my post dated Feb 13, 2005 - my cholesterol LDL was 4.2. I was so malu to visit my family doctor then .... Today, received my Dec 2006 blood test result - LDL is at 3.7 ( acceptable range is 2.0 - 3.9 ), uric acid also dropped to normal :) - HaHaHa ....

I'm still a lazy girl - still not active in exercise. The changes I made is to take oatmeal for breakfast, and eat simple meals - more on vegetables.

Teddy Bear goin to school ......

Good news .... this center provides various training for the mentally challenged kids. Teddy Bear doesn't belong to those 'smart' mentally challenged category , thus he can only attend the severe catrgory, which is once a week on Wednesday 1:30 - 5pm. Bahija tried to get him into this class 3 yrs ago, back then, my request was rejected, as lack of teachers. Today, is the first Saturday of the year, when I walked into the center ( I've been MIA for many months last year ) ... i saw many smiling faces, everyone welcomed me back. Person in charged invited my mum and Teddy Bear to try out the wednesday class - hahaha. Viola, there are some adjustment or sacrifices needed to be done among the family members, arranging transportations for mum and TB, including myself - I will have to ask for permission to work from home on Wednesday, so that I can send them to the center during my lunch time. We hope TB can get to socialize and learn something useful in 2007 ....

Jan 1, 2007

Howdeeeee, it's new year, it's Jan 1 ..... I tipu :) told everyone not going for countdown. Hahaha. padahal baru reached home. Had a great sumptuos dinner at Dragon-I restaurant, I like the 'siew long pow' and the honey fried eel. Most important, I enjoyed the small company ( Sanguine, Ms IM, Yuriko and Silverman ). We started dinner at 7:30, finished at 10:30. Then, walked past Baskin Robbin, suddenly had the urge to sample some icy cold ice cream, walked in to the super crowded store , luck was with us ....there was long queue, queue number was at 541. When I asked people where to get the number, a pakcik turned around and gave us a number - it was 538 , wow - haha. Within a few mins, we got to place our orders :) Bahija wasn't suppose to stay back for countdown, but since the night started out well, been having fun learning so much from the conversations, I decided to join the crowd, and drove back to Yuriko's nice home. Reached her house at 11:55, just in time for countdown and fireworks. Tonight I met 2 gentlemen who shared their overseas experiences or observation, it's fun listening to their talks, allowing me to hear things from another perspective. i got to zzzz, got to attend sunrise service at 6:30 am sooooonnnnn... cioa ....

my 2006 ...

Jan

• Gave a big blessing - which was a sacrifice to my bank account, however, giving with the right mind - is truly different :)
• Bahija was 1 year old
• Mum did her right eye cataract procedure, Bahija's boss is very supportive, he allowed me to work from home 7 days to take care of mum
• received a very special blessing :)

Feb

• Celebrated CNY quietly and peacefully in KL
• was a house-maid - cooked, cleaned - did everything that mum was doing ( she's on MC ) - tiring job

March

• Went up north - my whole department was here for meeting, met folks from Costa Rica & US
• Received my focal at a hotel conference room - the experience was scary - the room was way too huge, and toooooo cold , too quiet - luckily not a bad review , didn't get into the IR thingy ......ouuiii

April

• Celebrated my 10th yr anniversary :) - rewarded myself with Cambodia trip
• Received key and busy getting the rest of the things done

May

• Dad's 10th yr anniversary
• Attended Monica's wedding - my dinner table was no 8, very close to her VIP table and in front of the i-kei's CEO and senior managers - that shows that she treasure her friendship :)
• Watched Grease musical at KL Convention Center

June

• Learned and made dumpling ( 'bak-chang') - my hands very sakit
• Mini vacation at Datai Langkawi
• First time diving - intro fun dive
• 06-06-06 , 6 am - knocked my sweety car at the carpark poles ( at that time - the whole carpark was empty - too many choices screw up my eye-sight and judgement )
• Vacation with mummy - visited Hong Kong, China Yunnan Province ( Kunming, Dali, LiJiang, Shangri-La ) , hiked to the highest Snow mountain peak with mum - she's really amazing

July

• Completed patching up my house with all the little things , a project dragged for 3 yrs
• In-kei - redeploymnet news started , sad to say 'good bye'

August

• Emily & Benji home for 2 weeks - we had good quality family time together
• Family vacation in Bangkok
• Mum did her second eye cataract surgery - Bahija again turned into housemaid.

September

• Irrational purchase - extremely expensive, burned a big hole in my pocket - bought a dopod pda phone :(
• Accident - a big truck hit my sweety - shocking experience, but glad that 'we' were ok

October

• At work - redeployment news again ....
• Family vacation at Frasier Hill
• A work request which was pending for > 1 yr, finally saw some lights , approval granted to purchase additional SAN spaces for database backup
• Mum vacationed in India Golden Triangle - again, Bahija had the privilege to work from home babysitting Teddy Bear

November

• Bid farewell to friends and colleagues who received separation packages
• My niece Jennifer got all As in her UPSR
• Makan Toni Roma's , spent a very special night helping Ringgit to source for diamond ring
• Tinted my sweety car - I loved it so much
• Busy with children church - helped to transition the 12 yrs old kids to Youth cells
• Teddy Bear admitted to hospital for 3 days - horrible experience to sleep overnight at the hospital

December

• Participated in Vacation Bible School - helped to take care 6 - 9 years old kiddos. Cannot tahan the 'noise pollution'
• Hosted boss during his PG and KL trip. Attended Fish's wedding
• Visited KM plant ( 1st time) - Bahija like the surrounding green environment, the buildings are nicer and neat
• Vacation at Hanoi, Vietnam - 'forced' mum to experience her first kayaking - Bahija sakit tangan kayaking her :) - she only sat and enjoyed the view and breeze , while I worked extremely hard to kayak
• Celebrated my special day - Bahija is so joyful and blessed for all the wishes and gifts and kind thoughts - from all around the regions
• Christmas - this year was different than other years - Christmas to me is more meaningful - with 'isi'
• Dec 28 - my eldest niece Josephine got 8As in her PMR
• Dec 31 morning - good message from Pastor - I was nodding my head from the beginning to the end --> 'The Secret of Blessed Life' - walk the path 'intentionally' :)
• Dec 31 evening - going dinner with Sanguine and gang .... but I'll skip countdown this year - got to come back and prepare my personal mission statements :)

It's been a busy year for me, learning and growing my spiritual life, juggling between work & family commitment, plus taking slightly more vacations this year. It's wonderful to have a supportive manager - I'm just glad I'll end 2006 with a big SMILE. I'm very grateful for all the 'sweet and sour' moments .... may I be better next year

To my readers, Happy Blessed 2007 .....

Merry Christmas ....

Ringgit reminded me that this is my 2nd Christmas - the one which I don't celebrate commercially, but with faith....Christmas is not about buying and getting gifts, it's not about party, food or countdown.....it's Jesus birthday, Christmas is all about Him... what can we do to please Him ... Gift of Praise, Gift of You, Gift of Forgiveness, Gift of Giving, Gift of Commitment, Gift of Faith. Happy Birthday Father. Bahija is so happy. Tonight everyone gathered at my house, we had turkey with cranberry sauce & brown sauce, mashed potatoes, salads, steamed vegetables, organic brown rice fried meehun, non sweet longan drinks - very healthy, ice cream, and cheesecake made by my little 14 yrs old niece ( she's good). We played games and exchange gifts. Tonight was special , coz I invited everyone to stand still while I said my grace and prayers :) - things fell into place beautifully. During gift exchange, we played a game to rotate the gifts .... magically, most of the gifts landed on the right hands , meant for the right owners :) HeHeHe - wonderful evening ......... May all my readers have a blessed Christmas, and welcoming the fruitful new year :)

Today.....

Today was another busy day, accomplished many things. Plus today is special, Bahija received many many many wishes from friends all over the world , some were truly a surprise for me loh - hehe..... those who are reading this - TQ So Much , from the bottom of my heart .... the youngest call I received was from a 3 years old Little Barbie , it's so sweet, so cute listened to her talking to me. My buddies bought me a good dinner at TGIF, had a great fun time with them. I'm so fortunate, and so blessed with everything, everyone around me. On top of this , yesterday - one of my prayer was answered ( after mths of praying ) - I want to think that it's a gift from Father .....hoo hoo

some of the precious tangible gifts received so far ......

a promotion ....

Mid Sept - I was invited or asked to spend some time or help in the children church. I did. Started as a guest, then a helper. Tonight - i was asked to attend a planning meeting. So went lar - entah during the meeting, Bahija realized that she was promoted from a helper to an assistant teacher liow lah - dahsyat nya ...... how I feel ? hmmm, 'commitment' , 'dicipline', 'dedication' .... It's positive to be given more responsibilities, but then - I seriously don't qualify for this , as I'm not an obediant servant lah .... 左右为难

I'm back .....

Hi , Bahija is back again :) .... been away for a while ...Dec 4 -5 - volunteered as assistant teacher in my church Vacation Bible School ( VBS ). Wow - super duper tired to jaga 100 plus 6 to 12 yrs old kids , from 9 am to 5 pm.... by 2 pm - I had severe headacne , reached home by 5:30 - took panadol and zzzzzzzz - what an experience to taste the noise pollution :) - nightmare actually - hahaha

Then I'm off to Penang with Dee - spent quality time with Docker's Pant and Dee, visited Kulim too ( not bad wor - buildings surrounded with lots of greens ) ... Then following week - took my 2006 last vacation in Vietnam. I'll find some time to blog or post some photos.

26 vs 33

26 ..

• have dreams - always talk about owning a business or doing something
• working hard building the career empire, hardworking
• can OT till wee hours, can work > 15 hrs a day, still awake the next day & energetic
• start building wealth slowly
• loves shopping and shop often
• will follow fashion, try to dress well , looking good
• active in social life, good in networking
• indulging nice food at nice restaurants - trying out food at various places
• go discotheque, can party, dance all night till 5 am - and still looking fresh the next day
• metabolism high - can eat more food , yet not putting on weigh easily
• lots of freedom

33 ....

• treating job as 'just a job' , prefer stable 9 - 5 job
• can't OT too much , can't sleep late - else sorethroat next day
• metabolism dropping drastically - eat less, still put on extra pound
• slowing down in lifestyle - no dreams to own businesses anymore
• stop spending $$ on clothes , don't shop often anymore
• wear jeans and Tshirt to work , dressing is simple or 'ching chai'
• homely
• not willing to dine at expensive restaurants
• dislike discotheque - too noisy - too smoky - too crowded
• own assets ( but they are liabilities at this moment )
• feel like time passes extremely fast , as commitment keep increasing ....
• more mature in life

26 vs 33 - that's a huge difference ..... will 'something' work ? i already have doubt ..hehe

human relationship

Sometimes , we hear so and so not a good daughter-in-law , so and so not a good son-in-law bla bla bla ....Some cases, we do have very difficult people (eg parent, in-laws, siblings, colleagues) to live with or to work with. But generally , I think it takes 2 hands to clap. Both parties have to work on a relationship.

Eg , Ms World is a caring daughter. She puts herself in the elders' shoes, and look at things from their end. She knew 'the parents era' - they watched the famous James Bond movie. So now, as she's deeply in loved and dating this guy. She's planning to bring her own parent, as well as her BF's parent to enjoy the movie separately - treat it as family outings....

The point here is that - when a boy meets a girl, falls in love - have their own cycle of life - the boy's or girl's parent suddenly feel left out - they may feel that they are losing one child, as the child is no longer spending time, focusing on them. If there is more of this Ms World, who is thoughful and also include the loved ones into her new relationship - everyone feel loved, feel appreciated - and that's the best strategy to win the hearts. It's a form of respect to the elders too ..... we live in a society consist of 'human beings' - like it or not - human relationship is important - a good positive relationship will cultivate positive energy, 'chi', brings joys and good support along the way ...........

funding expenses

One of my friend is planning on his wedding. During the conversation - he mentioned that he won't left Bahija and Wau Bulan out , as he needs us, our angpow to fund his expenses ..... hmm, Bahija is against this statement, that's wrong.

Wau Bulan replied to me :
That’s why my dad always against big wedding ceremonies for his kids (THANK GOD!!) coz for us - and I think generally any religions & races – the ceremony is to mark the occasion and sharing the joy, happiness, food etc. If u had big weddings, u grumbled coz u spent a lot of $$ and also expect people to give u $$. So it defeats all the good purposes & intentions of the ceremonies. U don’t get the ‘merit points’ for giving people the food etc, coz it wasn’t really ‘sincere’ – it was done to show off ur wealth & u expect something ($) in return

I'm same wavelength as Wau Bulan ...

getting sun tan ...

For this past 2 days and today, I purposely parked my sweety outside - so that she could get some sun tan :) .... I tinted my car ( finally - after so many many years ). Now , when friends heard about the tinted car, orang ingat I ada kereta baru ..... aiyuh, pai sek. She's still the same old car , which has been serving me faithfully for > 10 yrs. Oh, i love the tinted effect, betul2 dumb for not using this earlier. The weather is getting so hot , i beh tahan driving under the hot sun ... now it's much better, I'm so happy.....

TAR Asia repeats

Hi Hi - some readers asking when is the repeat .... TW show time is different eh :)
For Mal, first run is on AXN - Thursday 9 pm, repeats on :-

Friday 12:30 am
Friday 12 noon
Saturday 10 am
Sunday 8 pm
Tuesday 8 pm
Wednesday 5 pm
Thursday 12 am

prayer meeting ....

Lately, Bahija is slightly 'upset' with the things happening in the country .... this morning, read the article about 'Mal Bodoh' instead of 'Mal Boleh'. Tonight, I was suppose to meet a new friend from Vietnam, be her tour guide. But last minute, she decided to fly home earlier - thus my friday night was free. After stucked in the jam for 1.5 hours - I decided to drag my tired body and mind to the prayer meeting .....surprised loh, rupa-rupanya pastor also read the same article, he also brought up some points and shared with us. This week UM is hving general meeting - some of the leaders are getting slightly arrogant liow (as the group is growing), this may not do us any good. Anyway, I feel much better after prayer meeting .... hey, stood for 1.5 hours prayed prayed prayed and sang this -

Heal the nation / Mal
Heal the nation / Mal
Heal the nation / Mal
Pour out your spirit onto this land

Mal

Docker's pant passed this link to me ... to my fellow 'kakis' who care or who are still stepping on this soil - this is a good article to read , to me, makes real sense :( The global market is so competitive, yet we are rocking our own boats internally - cari pasal. I felt like Mal is losing control, I dun feel happy with the annoucement on bigger newer palace and other things too. I wish to be happy reading some of the annoucements which will benefit majority of the normal citizens ...

Last sunday - pastor preached on 'prayer for nation' - he also commented there are many nonsense folks doing nonsense things ....eg mat salleh couple caught 'kawat' , Datuk Z and a few more cases, stupid comments from various folks... and triggered people to initiate migration plans :) [ sound familiar, my readers ?? ] We ended the service with a song 'Oh Lord, bless us' - pastor changed it to 'Oh Lord, bless Mal' - may we , as a nation , has the wisdom, intelligence , strength to do the right things for all ...

TAR Asia

Hey Hey Hey ...remember to watch TAR Asia this Thursday 9 pm on AXN ....
The teams will be flagged off at our Dataran Merdeka lah . So wonderful , this thursday, I hv no cell meeting , so I get to stay at home and enjoy the first episode :) hehehehe

fun evening at TR and shopping ...

Ross, Chandler, Monica and Phoebe went to Tony Roma's tonight .... it's been a very long time since we last met for dinner ( it's hard to get full attendance - missing Joey and Racheal ). We ordered the signature appetizer TR full onion loaf, beef ribs, TR's salad , caesar salad with salmon - yum yum - dinner was great , too much for 4 of us. Our waiter was good & polite , managed to win our hearts to tip her. One thing dissappointed - this TR is halal one - no pork served , Bahija not a beef-kaki, aiiii - that means still need to go overseas to sample the juicy tender succulent pork ribs lah ....
Tonight was meaningful - it will be 'Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah' - glad to be there :) - I'll blog about this later .....

baby sitting ..

Mum and little sis are visiting India Golden Triangle now ....my boss allowed me to work from home so that I can babysit Teddy Bear. Nice eh - I reckon it's very hard to find a boss like him , so supportive and understanding. Today, Bahija very bad ...after lunch, I was suppose to give medication to Teddy Bear, yet when I received escalation on the db issues, I ditched him alone, and focus only on my work ....so much so that I totally forgot about his medication ....aiyuh. I only realized at 5 pm ( when I've settled my issues ). At 7 pm, he should be taking the dinner medication lah - so sorry T.B, for screwing up , bad bear sitter :P

Then, mum in India ... she sms-ed beh tahan the smell, hotel, water , food all ada smell, couldn't sleep at night because of the smell...aiyuh, Anti-Ringgit - that bad ker ? I'm afraid that mummy will belasah me for recommending India to her la , hmmmm .... God - please please give them some peace of mind, peace of heart , that they could enjoy their visit there lah

2nd important thing ...

I can't live without my sweety ( first on my list ) ... 2nd on my list should be internet broadband access :) - banking, concert tickets, online chats, online shopping, goggling to solve work related issues, vpn to work from home or anywhere ....

tinted glass

on my personal belonging list, the most important thing that I can't live without - is my sweety car. Just the other day - in the morning, when my sweety broke down - I was in chaotic, couldn't go anywhere nor do anything ..... felt so helpless. I can't locked myself at home for 1 day lah, lunch and dinner also ada masalah if I dun hv car :) hehehe

See la, how important is my sweety to me ...hmm, so I should have given her a good treat by installing the tinted glass la .... aiyuh , my mind entah brain apa , I could spend hundreds on make-up, on perfumes - but neglecting this little important thing , protecting me from UV and sun tan wor .... my to do list , to give 'her' a treat pretty soon ( can u imagine, sudah 11 yrs , still belum tinted - aiyuh )

Asian T.A.R episode 10

howdeeee....my readers who like TAR, we've watched many episodes, the coming one is the Asian version, premier is on Nov 9 evening on AXN. Those tak ada , sorry eh - tunggu 8tv nanti. Let's get ready and check out the Asian teams :)

Iceberg ...

The Titanic received five iceberg warnings just before it went down. When the sixth message came during the wee hours of the morning: "Look out for icebergs," the operator wired back "Shut-up! I'm busy!" Thirty minutes later the great 'unsinkable' vessel was sinking fast. What happened? They forgot the truth about icebergs. What they saw above the water couldn't have sunk the great ship. But unfortunately most of an iceberg is below the water. Do you know what? That iceberg represents your life! The 10% above the water is your reputation; the 90% below is your character. And it's what's below the surface that sinks your ship.

What is character?
(a) Self-discipline - the ability to do what's right, even when you don't feel like it.
(b) Core values - principles you live by in spite of the pressures around you.
(c) Sense of identity - a self-image based on who God, not others, says you are.
(d) Emotional security - the capacity to be emotionally stable and consistent. Your life's greatest impact doesn't come from what you own, but from what you are....The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart"

Whatever's happening today on the outside of your life comes from what's happening on the inside. God puts "being" before "doing." He prioritises taking care of the inside (your heart) because that will determine what takes place on the outside (your behaviour).

----
A few things that I hate to read about, how we wish there are more people out there have better characters :-
a) U Kay area always have landslides , we hv had very serious cases whereby many people lost their lives ... yet this landslides continue to happe, and projects are being approved , new properties are being built - wonder Y ? when bad things happen - the popular statement like tis ' a committee is setup to study and prepare the report' - aiyuh , after so many tragedies - we are still doing study and preparing report - then dissappeared ...

b) Klang Z cases, today we found out 2 more cases .... isn't it obvious that those folks within their group knows about all this 'no approval' thingy - just a matter of covering and you watch my back, i watch your back , not a surprise to me ....sakit hati-nya my tax money

c) Unethincal pig farmers - talking short cut , greed, feeding pigs with drugs - we eat - bad for us ...

c) the topic of marginalization - aiiii , 9MP and so on

I've been trying to keep myself positive - to continue to have some 'hope' on this land that i am staying .... my lunch kakies now asking this Q 'shld we migrate ?' ... I am telling them tat everywhere is the same, there is some pros and cons no matter where we are - I'm not sure how long I can keep this statement

kopi talk .....

For the past few weeks, this friend of mine, kept saying 'ageing and no caffeine' .... aiiii, Bahija took 1 cup of rose coffee yesterday at 3:45 pm, it is now 1:44 am the next day - i think the caffeine still going strong inside me, sien. Since I can't sleep , here we go - I'm goin to 'kopi-talk'. Last time, we frequent mamak stalls for teh tarik, kopi-O, kopi, milo etc etc.
Then mid 90's , came the foreign's franchising and started the era of Coffee Bean, Starbucks, San Francisco Coffee, Gloria Jean, Austin Chase ( so far I have not seen Seatle Best Coffee yet ).
Now , the trend is back to the old time kopitiam ( K ) .... everywhere in the corner, we can easily find some sort of K , eg Old Town K, Kluang K, Uncle's Lim, Uncle Kheng K , Uncle 'whatever' K ( there are many of them ) ....today , my friend recommended Winter's Warmer - another 'in' place in town to taste some interesting flavored coffee or tea, the setting is on English style and the coffee looks nice to drink. I had the rose coffee with rose bud, tasted rossy... For me, I still like the original coffee taste. With so many coffee shops around , it's just 'sad' that I couldn't smell those nice coffee aroma while I was wandering around. Could it be my nose is not sensitive anymore ?? In CA, NY , OR , my nose could tell me there was a coffee shop nearby .... in a cold weather - it's so 'ummph' to be able to hold on to a cup of hot coffee - yum yum

ribsssssss

15 years ago while I was in States, my elder sister brought me to a rib restaurant. I tasted the tender ribs in various signature sauces - which suit my taste....since then, I've tried to make it a point to visit Tony Roma's. Over in this region, the only TR nearby is in Sgp. Whenever I stopover in Sgp - i would made a point to visit TR, that place is usually long queue leh. Last year July - Docker's Pant, Fish and I had a sumptous dinner at TR, Sacramento .... Hehe, today , TR opens its first outlet at S. Pyramid mall liow - nearby my house , hahaha - I'll check it out during this long holiday ...hoo hoo ! To all my readers from up north, here is another eating place to go while u r here in town, S. Pyramid mall is newly renovated and extended - a new look with lots of new shops, and many parkings too !

quiet day ....

Bahija is enjoying the work day now .... work queue is quiet, no one IM me for issues or requests, no netmeetings, no phone calls. I switch on my itunes listening to my fav songs, catching up with my over-dued assignments and chats with friends - hooooo .... so peace of mind , wish more of this 'today' ... wish all of us a safe and pleasant holiday !!!

updates fr Janice ....

Hey hey hey .... to all my readers who know Janice - she's back online ( FINALLY) ... She has finished reading my blogs, already know things happening around me :) tested & proven, she knew i am pretending to like my pda phone, she read about TaiPoh 'wtc' with me. Brief info on her - she has gained her trust at her workplace, she's being appreciated by her students and the parents. Her sense of accomplishments - very high now...seem happy staying, eating, working, playing in TW. She's a bit nervous now as she's driving alone to a big city tomorrow, afraid of getting confused with the road signs and various exits. Hey, 1st time is always slightly challenging - the subsequent ones will be OK - enjoy the journey and the detours which come along the way. Stay tuned , finally she agrees to blog .... hoo hooo , Bahija welcomed Janice to my blog on March 22, 2005 - looking forward to reading her bits and pieces especially her new life in TW :)

birthday gift for mum .....

Tonight, brought mum to a 'dinner and dance'. We enjoyed it so much, as it's a real dinner and dance. Dinner was served first, then we were entertained by various dances such as samba, cha-cha, tango, waltz, quickstep, rumba, swing, rock & roll, foxtrot, hip hop, jive ..... the professional or rather seniors danced so well, body so soft , sexy and nice body movements .... During the open floor sessions, Bahija was so tempted to step onto the dance floor, unfortunately I don't remember the steps , and dare not try ..

When mum was young, before she got married - during her era - the 'in' thing was ballroom dances. She learned some basic waltz and tango, but she let go of this hobby for > 50 + years, as she's busy taking care of her children, being a great mum :) . So Bahija thought this will make a very special birthday gift for her. I think she truly enjoyed watching the performances - could see the smiles on her face .....

Tonight my colleague - Fin did jive dance - super-duper fast and energetic ...she completed 2nd levels , and working on her Gold level latin dances now, great job

Another colleague - nicknamed him Samseng , my first impression of him was that he seem fierce and talked very samseng , rude :) , after knowing him, he's actually ok. It's nice to see the 'un-samseng' side of him, being so 'manly' leading the female partners ....

Oh boy - we are inspired ... no kidding - at the age of 71 , mum said she wants to enroll in the ballroom class .....isn't she 'keng' ? Entah-entah next year - she may be able to perform on the dance floor eh :)

from a friend

我很感动, 朋友对我说 : "Not only coz of those help..but you did change my way of looking at life at times, Thanks a bunch from my heart! Hehehe" --- this makes my day :)

'left hand'

Interesting blog about Feng Shui in Sgp ... This dude earns $$ from blogging, quite interesting... check it out

I like the way he says "It's a pretty impressive concept having Suntec City resemble a left hand. If it were up to me, I would have built a similar "left hand" in Kuching. Except it'll have four short buildings and one tall building in the middle, pointing towards Indonesia saying "OI! Thanks A LOT for giving us the haze, buddy!"

'wtc' with Taipoh ....

Last week Bahija msn-ed with yaya ....then Bahija mentioned that she spent more time keeping in touch with her friends overseas. Suddenly Bahija realized that TaiPoh had left SF and been home for > 1 yr, yet Bahija seldom meet her or talk to her ... and never go movie with her too ....so sad huh, we are so close, yet so far, 'busy' with own life individually. Tonight, I invited her for movie 'World Trade Center' ... it was a good decision. We had great short time catching up with each other ....the movie was about Sept 11, 2001. My first visit to NY was with TaiPoh. We walked to the Ground Zero....I bet TaiPoh misses her life back in States ..she enjoyed the movie. To my readers who know her, she is still the super rajin designer , working late and rushing for projects most of the time :)

40th bday

It's Teddy Bear's 40th birthday ..... may he be 'kuay-kuay'

synchronicity again ......

Bahija spent 3 hours in the gym with Sanguine ....good workout ! so tired now. The funny things were -

a) Was rushing to the gym, simply picked a T-Shirt, turned out to be the T-Shirt I bought from Egypt
b) Attended belly dancing class
c) It's the Ramadhan fasting time
d) One of the song played during the class kept mentiong 'habibi'

Hah, all these brought me back to my Egyptian night and the party I attended 2 yrs ago. We were dressed in the Egyptian costumes, enjoyed a tradition Egyptian dinner and danced all night ... didn't manage to watch a real sexy belly dance performance, as it was Ramadhan , the culture there was not to reveal the sexy skins :P ( so wasted ). But we were entertained with a covered belly dance ...hahaha ....Bahija went to the dance floor and tried once .....si Habibi commented that I wasn't too bad leh. He was so 'hak hei' - in reality, it's not easy to do belly dancing lah, because Bahija danced so horrible today :(

thinking of me ....

1. Deboss and Docker's Pant read an article about imposing fine on people who speaks manglish - they read that, straight away thought of me :( , aiyuh - i m that bad hur ?

2. Mama Louisa called me all the way from Winsconsin, she said she baked an apple pie - she remembered me , she went to gym and saw naked women - laughing and thought of me too ....

HAHAHAHA , I am happy to be remembered :) ciao , nite2

confession

Tonight - a special guest attended my cell. Regardless, I memang sudah plan to share my 'pain' or 'shame' with my cell group and ask for prayer too....so siap shared. And special guest was Pastor GS , she came to me and passed me this verse :

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer .... Psalm 19:14

Let me go medidate harder :)

Control Your Emotions

Control Your Emotions - Cain, Why are you angry? - Genesis 4:6
Unless you learn to discipline your emotions you'll lose credibility, alienate others, and miss great opportunities. Your emotions are like a car: properly understood and directed it can take you places; out of control it can destroy you. When God asked Cain, "Why are you angry with your brother?" He was saying: "Listen up, Cain! Your emotions are sending you a message. If you don't get a handle on this you'll create a mess you won't be able to live with. Yes, you'll repent and regret it, but you won't be able to undo it." But Cain wouldn't listen. The situation seemed unfair; he felt unappreciated. He thought his brother's blessing had come at his expense. What emotions were at work here? Jealousy. Resentment. Competitiveness. A sense of victimhood. These unchecked forces caused him to murder his brother Abel and cross a line he couldn't come back from.

Most of us have an inner response mechanism that isn't necessarily controlled by the rational side of our brain. It reacts to people and events, and like a sudden storm rises with strength from within, sometimes overwhelming us. Gordon McDonald writes: "I used to pride myself on the fact that I kept my emotions to myself. I never saw myself as an angry person...Then I got married and my wife informed me that I had plenty of anger after all. While it rarely came out in words it showed itself in full colour in facial expressions (the gift of glare, we called it) I never knew I had. I had work to do. I had emotions that needed to be disciplined." How about you?

Bahija definitely need to work on this :) .....

babies mth ....

This month, I've have a few friends who have promoted to parents or soon to be ... Pakman was a surprise to me , didn't know and suddenly received SMS that he added 1 more family member. Kim Possible is expecting hers , any time now :) HT and JT already welcomed their second baby boy ....remember the little Elmo I adore ( hope he still remember me )

Here is his latest photo - so so leng chai - wanted to pinch him. Little Elmo macam takut carrying his little baby brother eh :P

a positive news ....

Just a while ago, Sanguine told me a great news .... I'm so so so happy for her. As I get to know her , as we spend time together .....as I get to know her heart desire - it's truly a joy to hear the positive news. Wish she get the chance to step on the soil pretty soon ....... geee, that means I am losing another buddy again , oh well - that's life

fasting ...

The muslim community started their Ramadhan , fasting for 1 month. I believe most religion practise some sort of fasting. It's not an easy task.. The muslim folks have the dicipline to fast for 1 month, fasting close to 12 hours a day ( well, sun rise and set ) . This year, I did try to fast and prayed for my country during the month of August. Mine come with flexibility , eg skip one meal or skip one food or drinks that I couldn't live with... save the meal money and donate them Aiii, tat also Bahija couldn't last for 1 mth la ....hahaha. So, fasting in my dictionary - need strong desire, dicipline and not easy at all :)

My shocking friday morning ....

It happened like this .....

1. At 9:35 am, on the way to work , slowed down and took an exit ...
2. Suddenly felt car 'floating' , lost control - swayed left and right ( no 'bang' sound leh )
3. Bahija calmly tried to turn the wheel - to stay straight
4. Timing was so Great - it was red light. So I stopped, put on hand break, walked out from car to see what happened. The 'thing' which hit me from the back and side - was a huge truck - 12 wheelers fully covered truck ( seem like it came from Port Klang )
5. Bahija couldn't see the driver, the truck was huge, he was sitting high up - couldn't see him. Knocked on the door - he didn't reply ...
6. Witnesses around me - showed hand sign languages - asked me to note down the truck information
7. Bahija walked back to the car, written down the licence plate no , and the 1-800 adu number
8. When light turned green, I followed him at the back , wasn't sure what to do , to follow him, or to give up ...
9. After the right turn, suddenly saw a traffic police just finished summoned one motorcylist. ( To me, it was like God sent me an angel - hehe )
10. Bahija quickly parked her car by the road side, reported to the traffic officer
11. Traffic officer quickly jumped onto his bike, turned back and re-confirmed the license plate no , and zzzzooommm - he went
12. Bahija then locked and waited inside her car while waiting for the traffic policeman. During that quiet moment, Bahija baru in shocked. Heart beat pumping fast, hand shaking, gementar feeling. I calmed down and had a prayer - Thank God that I was safe, no one was hurt.
13. After 15 mins, traffic police came back, passed me a small piece of paper with the driver's details, including the company name and address. He asked me to go make a police report - very well mannered - responsible policeman - TQ Kapl Kamar :)
14. At 5:30 pm, I made the report. Quite impressed with the police officers and the quick process. Tak ada result yet - have to wait for the other party to report within 24 hrs

Today, I found out the impact of being 'knocked softly' by a huge truck running at 20 km/hr ...it wasn't a real 'bang' hit , my little car already out of control , like a boat floating in wavy sea. I truly Give Thanks for the protection. If there were a wall or motorcyclist or car or someone next to me, I would have hit the object or got myself killed, thing just happened in sub-seconds and i wasn't in control, very dangerous. I suspected the driver could be using handphone or day dreaming or sleepy or something ... a small little move could have brought injuries to others. Like my case, I was obediant, driving on my lane, slowing down as I aproached exit and traffic lights junction , suddenly 'monster' came from back - how la to predict .....isn't life so fragile ?

I went to make a report, in my mind - I wanted the guy to realize his mistake and not to repeat this careless mistake. However, the 'siasat' session with the sarjan - I just felt that the reasonable doubt wasn't on my side....Msia traffic rules in favor of hitting from back, plus I felt a little bit of prejudice on lady driver ( my own judgment, I dun think I'm in those typical 'dumb lady driver club' ) - I could sensed that Sarjan thought I was on the middle lane and suddenly drove to right lane, then kena hit by the truck which was coming straight on the right lane :( , plus Sarjan said I didn't have witnesses - alamak ...

I was perfectly 100% on my lane - didn't do wrong .... May the truth speaks for itself. I'm truly blessed for being able to return home safely lah :) - tu yang most important .......

something i bought and dunno why i did it .....

One super fine day , for some weird reason, out of nowhere, Bahija walked into a store kat Low Yat - suddenly bought this ..... My heart so sore from the minute I charged it to my credit card. It's a pda phone.... I guess I'm still too loyal to my butterly blue screen nokia phone ( i still like tis phone very much). My experience as a PDA user is so so nia. This baby hang ofte, in times where i need to make calls, it hang ....terrrrr. Weekly need a reboot ( the screen showing IPL - haha, in my MF world , it means Initial Program Load). The speed dial '1' as voicemail - never worked since the day I bought it. I didn't get to retrieve my voice massages for mths. 2 weeks ago - it finally KONG, totally died. Sent it to repair center I.C.U - just got a call that it has recovered, changed a new motherboard - aiyuh. This Saturday - i will go pick it up - let's see how it will behave then , please please please .... funny - i need to 'encourage' myself to like this cutie ....

Filial Duty

An article on Filial Duty --- being Bahija , I'm a strong supporter on this topic :) ...very simple rule, my parents sacrified a lot for me , for my siblings, and they love us so much. When we were young, my mom selalu makan ubi keledek for lunch, makan white porridge with soy sauce nia. I've lost one, if I don't bother to spend time , shower love to my mom, I'll be a damm fool.

My youngest sis - lalalililatappong works in a publishing company, she always get free movie tickets. Bahija and some of her friends got to enjoy the freebies :) . One of the free movie was 'Click' - the morale of the story is simple - priorities in life , and opportunity costs which come with them , i suppose ...

Speaking of movies - I'm quite dissappointed, there are no good movies this year, even Dec also blank nia - aiyuh, what happen ???

such a low pay ....

Today's star - this police officer ( lans korporal ) , 34 yrs old, a degree holder in HR Development...been servicing in the police workforce for 10 yrs and his salary ONLY RM 1,050 nia.... aiyuh, down below the poverty line. Geee, now we wonder why they have to cari makan via other ways eh. Hope those who deserve the salary increment shall get one soon ...

special visit .....

Tonight my cell leader visited me at my house....they posted a question to me, asked me to 'lead' the special kid ministry during Sunday morning at Children's church - WOW. This is something new ! scary-nya. To be a helper - i suppose Bahija is ok ...to be the 'leader' - that is such a huge role for me at this moment ....don't think I can handle that. My mind a bit 'luan' after they left :)

a) went online prepared for meeting, then immediately a far far away old friend whom i have not chatted for long time, popped up and chatted with me ....he encouraged me to take the challenge, even agreed to give me ideas and willing to meet with me frequently ( virtually ) to work this out ....talking about 'kiew' - this happened at the right time eh !

b) many moons ago , Bahija indeed had the thought of setting up a special kid care center ...but it was more on 'NATO' No Action Talk Only kind of thingy, have 'bin-ed' that idea for long time ..... now this request come , it is a real one wor - i kelam-kabut liow ... aiiiii

Landed in Tmn R ....

About 34 yrs ago, my parent had 2 choices, either bought a house in Bangsar or Tmn R. They decided Tmn R for 3 reasons ( how i wished they chose Bangsar eh ) ..... the reasons were :
1. Nearby a bus stop - public transportation easier ( back then , cars tak laku yet )
2. Primary and secondary school were nearby too - easier for kids to walk to schools
3. There was a special kid school run by NGO in Tmn R

When Teddy Bear was kicked out by the Sentul primary school's headmaster, mum had no choice to put him in Tmn R Special Kid school. Which was a good decision. Teddy Bear learned a lot of things, he could speak a few Bahasa Msia words or sentences, he knew what's mata, telinga, kaki, tangan, mulut, cikgu, mandi etc etc .... the power of education - works just great on mentally retarded kids. The school was run by a great woman, we called her Ms Tan. She's an angel to the kids. She truly gloried God - a person who practised fruit of spirit well. The kids loved & respected her, she scarificed a lot for the school & society for her NGO works.

Back then, when Teddy Bear sicked and ponteng school, his classmates would came knocked on our house & checked on him leh, so 'kam dong eh'. They had their own special world with their own body languages & laughs. I was very young then, I remembered they called each other by names, so sweet. Teddy Bear was so much happier then...Aiiii, the regulation stated that special kids over 18 yrs old had to leave the school and enrolled in Wisma H kat Brickfields. It was bad timing then, those teachers there weren't that caring, or lack of patience. Teddy Bear came back home with bruises on hand or legs, sometimes with bleeding mouth. We also heard other parents filed similar complaints. Soon or later, mum decided not to send him to Wisma H. That concluded his fun time at school .... from the age of 19 yrs old until now 40 yrs old. He stays at home all the times ( mum and dad had to work hard to provide for the family, and we the siblings were all busy growing up with our own world ) , so Teddy Bear just sit at home 24 hours do nothing - it's boring and his brain stopped working, now he forgot the Bahasa Malaysia words too ....

One thing I've always question myself ? Am I doing anything for him ? have I done enough ? No doubt he's mentally retarded, but he's alive, a human with feeling. He understands 'sad' , 'happy' .... my exposure with other special kids - I find that Teddy Bear is quite 'kuay' and adorable.

early dream

Last night while sleeping , my conscious mind wandering - this year christmas - how and where and what ...... got to go to Dragon's hse, also my own ...then how ? conflict bla bla bla

This morning, when I came to office. I quickly checked the calender - so happy. Christmas day is on Monday. Perfect for me. Sunday - i shall have my own turkey dinner at my house. Then Monday - i can attend Dragon's christmas party :) - didn't realized my presence last year was so meaningful to Dragon ...this time , i don't have to ask who's going, who's not - I'll just be there. Also will prepare gifts for her family members too ....

nowhere to turn to .....

This article 'Nowhere to turn to' by Chong Sheau Ching, published on star sept 11....some of the stories mentioned related to the experiences I have with Teddy Bear.... sometimes betul-betul geram one ...aiii , I asked income tax officer back in 1997 - told them that the Law Act need to be amended - to give tax break for the care taker of the unwell dependant .....They acknowledged this issue for years , yet never bother to do anything, and guess what - they asked me to go adopt Teddy Bear as my child - then I'm his 'mum' and then can claim handicapped relief and allowances , nonsense !

YAH !! Wah!! Aaaah !!! Loud screams rang eerily through the neighbourhood. It was past midnight. I went up to the window to see what was going on. A few other neighbours were also standing by their window sills. Another loud scream came from the house opposite mine.

It was her. She's a mentally ill young woman. Over the years, i have see her throwing dishes into her neighbour's compound, hurling her brother's toys onto the street and screaming at passers-by. An ambulance was rushed in once because she had cut herself. The family's maid jumped over the fence on several occasions, screaming for help.

Once, she walked into my house and tried to push me to join a multi-level marketing scheme. when I politely refused, she was so angry that I thought she would hit me.

I can avoid her screams and throws things. But not her family. They often look tired and harassed. When I walk past and say 'hi', they would lower their heads and pretend not to see me. In a society filled with prejudice against people with chronic illnesses, I can understand how they feel - embarassed and ashamed - about the havoc the young woman causes in the neighbourhood.

In contrast, my Down Syndrome brother is much easier to take care of. He occupies himself with his drawing and piano-playing. He rarely gets angry. If he does, he lets out a few loud mumbles. He's only difficult to handle when he can't walk due to swollen legs caused by his weak heart. Two people are needed to lift and carry him. We are all families with dependants who need constant medical care. Expenses are high because our dependants do not have health insurance, or rather, no health insurance company will insure them. Taking them to government hospitals is not an option when one has to work and have no time to queue for hours. Once, my brother accidentally drank some chemical. The emergency unit in the hospital took a blood test and asked us to wait for the result next day. He was suffering but he couldn't tell us what was bothering him.

The next morning, the hospital told my family that his blood test was lost so a new test had to be done. Another time, the dental department didn't want to take care of his toothache because of his heart condition. That left us no other choice but to take him to private hospitals. My brother who can't talk also needs rehabilitation. so that he will know how to communicate his suffering when his health deteriorates. There is no Down Syndrome centre for people over 40. I have to pay for a private practioner and there is no insurance scheme. And no tax-break either. i am his sister. My 75-year-old parents can get a tax break but they can't take care of him.

When I read about how rich businessmen avoid paying taxes and top-notch company directors driving luxury cars bought under company expenses, I find myself asking, "how does this happen?' The rich get the tax breaks but not all those who need it!' A friend once said to me, "life is never fair. What are you complaining about? You have more than many people!"

I know. So does every middle-class family who have chronically unwell dependants. I know of families who have sold their houses, cars, jewellery to treat illness. Often, the house is their only asset.
They don't sell it because they don't want to uproot the elderly parents. Every month, they live hand-to-mouth.

One family has two adults children with a degenerateive nerve disease. The elderly parents' savings have been drained, over the past 10 years, by medical expenses. The only source of income is the parents' odd jobs. They can't afford to send the siblings for the operations and rehabilitation they need.

As a result, their condition has deteriotated over the last few years. It is sad to see them go blind, and their speech slurring with each passing year. They can't get any assistance because they are not disabled. If they do not get the required medical help, in a few years they will depend on ageing mother to feed, bathe and change them. Their brother blames them for the hard life their parents go through. He has a good job but feels that he has enough of helping his siblings. He needs money for his own young family. There is no tax break to motivate him to help. Can we really blame him for being so heartless ?

Some essential drugs have gone up 300% in price lately. Who is going to take care of them when their parents pass away ? They are not the only ones who need help, there are also others, trapped in helpless cycle of illness. And there is no end in sight. A group of us has been trying to raise funds for them. Sometimes we feel discouraged but remind ourselves of what Mother Teresa once said 'We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop' ........

motivator .....

Deboss lost 12 kg in 2 mths ....this was a great achievement. I saw his Sipadan video - he looks so good , and so light. He's so happy now ....who wouldn't eh. I hope Sanguine and I have the dicipline to embark on our exercise program soon .... Deboss is my inspirator :) hehehe

sleepless nite

Aiiiiii, Bahija got to be EXTRA careful , have to avoid caffeine after 6 pm :( , so torturing .......it's 4:35 am , and I'm still awake , aiyuh. Have an early meeting with my manager - geee - wonder how am I goin to have a fresh discussion with him .... Deboss suggested I drink some alcoholic drinks...viola - i took vodka ribena without lime , now kepala pusing, hope i can have 3 hrs of good sleep lah - geeeee - this wed will be a horrible day for me

a sweet visit to I-kei

I-Kei relocated to a new building , tonight my fellow buddies gave me a tour , indeed - it was so great to see the familiar things , and the nice 'ais teh tarik' caused me sleepless night , at 3 am now - I finally have time to blog - aiiiii ..... At the new building, there is a perfect 'F.r.i.e.n.d.s' corner , but missing 2 players liow , hmmm, not sure if I would rejoin .... lots of people asking me why am i still with In-kei - what's so great about doing support work .... I guess I treasured the flexibility and a reasonable boss :)

my old friend

I met SY when I was standard 4 , counting the years, we've known each other for 24 yrs ..... we were the girl scout group leaders, had many wonderful camping nights together. After graduated from high school, i went overseas , and she took some diploma classes locally. She's a very helpful, friendly person, always comes with smiley faces. Unfortunately, a year ago, she got a weird problem, some virus infection that destroyed her bones. Some part of her chest bones were missing now .... and worst case, the doctors were not sure of the root cause , couldn't diagnozed well, and she has to hop from one doctor to the others ....thus a lot of guessing , and this truly put her into frustration, and lots of $$$ involved....from a cheerful young lady, now she turns into an old lady who walk slowly, speak slowly , no strength , and suffer chest pain all the times, also breathing problems sometimes. She has no mood to SMS, to be on the phone or to meet with friends ....she's just too weak, too moodless to do anything. I felt sad for her , visited her - Bahija didn't know what to do , what to say , aiiiii - wish that she could recover lah