Random Rambles of Lotfi

I love shopping!! Have always do. I've been known among friends to be the unofficial sale directory...but over the years I have somehow sober up and would only spend when absolutely necessary as opposed to a few years back where I buy on impulse, especially during sales. It was no surprise when I gave away stuff that I didn't even wear or had only worn once or twice, recently. Shopping, really is an instant gratification. I love the feeling of using / touching/ smelling new stuff that I just acquired. Lame, I know..but that's my fact of life. As with other things,  I'd rather take this positively. It shows me for who I am, someone who seize the day, carpe diem! and for that cest la vie! Like Imran say it, "that's the way I roll"...After all, life is short..But then it also explains why I find it hard holding on to money, which comes back to bite me in the butt at the most critical of time.. Haish but that's another story.. Running, on the other ...

Looks like I have to increase the dosage of the glucosamine chondroithin supplement these few weeks. After the 10.10.10 Nike Run which was real fun to do with the sea of people and a week later, the Mizuno Wave Run where I struggled  to complete the 12km route of hills after walking for about 3km from the parking lot to the UPM stadium, November passed without any races... Well, I did sign up for the Terry Fox run but we decided to go to Penang and get fat..so that's that! The last two Sundays, I ran longer distance with TSB who took me to the Hartamas loop and last week we ran from Bukit Aman. I must say, I ran better with company. And surprisingly, the nagging discomfort on my knees before the long runs seems to have subsided. Is it the pills or the run? Either way, I'm thankful.. I have signed up for 2 races in December. The TIBI Run will be on the 11th, while Malakoff  Run is the week after that on the 19th. 7km & 12km respectively. And I'm getting butt...

I must start remembering the stuff that Zaim asked us out of the blue...sometimes I'm not sure what goes on in that lil brain of his..and sometimes we don't even know how to answer him.. Yesterday he was asking "matahari tu pergi mana??". Eh?? Apa nak jawab ek? Tak faham soklan lah..so we go all out trying to explain about how the earth moves and how nite becomes day..and he responded with "tak faham lah" And a while later, he asked while looking at the clock in the car.."kalau semua jam dalam dunia ni salah, macamana kita nak tau jam pukul berapa..??" And we went on to explain that the tv, radio and a lot of other places where we can check the time from. Aisyah started wanting to explain about telling the time using the sun but stopped mid sentence perhaps remembering that we are talking to a 7 year old here..hehehe.. Zaim...Zaim...tsk, tsk, tsk....he keeps us on our toes..

I was in that sea of  9000 plus luminescent green/yellow, panting, plodding, walking, heaving but mostly running...again just to finish the race and also to ensure the calories from the lamb mandiy rice that I had at Al Diaffah was well spent...hahaha...it was the perfect way to mark the date.. top 2 photos taken from @NikeMy twitpics

As much as I hate to admit that I am now scared shit for my son Imran who will be sitting for his PMR tomorrow, I have to say I am. I really don't know what's going on in his head and how he's feeling about the exams but I sure hope that Allah S.W.T will at least give him the mercy of not panicking in the exam hall and trying his very best to answer the papers. One person panicking for him is enough.. Imran, mama ayah trust you will try your best and we will always pray for you... Now, excuse me while I try to sleep my worries away..

Ini bukan kuih tart Mak... On this 33rd day of Ramadan, with us applying for Raya leave in the office I reminiscence my Raya of yesteryears. As a kid, Raya is always something I look forward to. Raya will mark some of the significant events for me for the year. Among others, Raya means: 1. We get new clothes...usually a pair of the traditional garb and 2 sets of the others, perhaps a dress and later when I'm older, my preferred pants and tops. 2. We shopped in Singapore for Raya...the advantage of living in JB. The whole family, all 8 of us will cramped into Abah's Peugeot and pepagi buta will cross the border and will not be back home selagi kedai tak tutup. One year we discovered a Japanese department store, Yokoso which actually opens 24-7...Parah!! Mak would buy her curtains, cushion covers, chair backs, all cheap-cheap from Sungei Road at that time...I remember traipsing CK Tang looking at dresses and pinggan mangkuk..And after all the shopping is done, we would...

Yesterday morning, hubs received a text to say that a mutual friend of ours has passed on. Allahyarham Abdul Kadir bin Daim was 33 years old and he passed away from cancer of the brain. I was there the week of the diagnose of the cancer and later before his first operation to remove the tumor. He was calm perhaps not knowing the seriousness of his illness. That was the last time we met, in his hospital room in SDMC about less than a year ago. After that he moved back to his mum's place and apparently his condition worsen after the series of chemo. Arwah, extreme right..somehow always in the background (pix courtesy of Zaid's fb) I was not that close to him. I met him through another friend and we met occasionally. Kadir was a reserved person but that doesn't stopped me from shamelessly asking him for an invitation to his home after knowing that he is a really good cook. The first time, dinner was in another friend's home, but Arwah did all the cooking. I can st...

Today is the 12th day of Ramadan. Today also marked 9 days since my maid, Ana went on MC. She was about 5 months pregnant last week, when she complained that she has been feeling very tired so she asked for her weekend break last weekend. I told her to check the condition with a doctor. Last Sunday, when she called me she was in tears saying that the foetus has somehow lost its life in her uterus and she has to go through the D&C procedure. When she first told me she was pregnant a few months earlier, I was quite surprised coz I know that they were not planning for one, after all her husband has grown up children and she herself has a son from their previous marriage. But I guess, you can't plan these things and after her decision to stop working and then deciding to give birth here, I sort of got myself psyched to welcome a baby into our home. But alas, we can only plan. So we are left to fend for ourselves. Lucky that it's Ramadan and the kids don't eat durin...

The gang, most have left while a few others remain but this constant meet up keeps the friendship fresh... Lyn opening her present Great to be meeting up with friends. We have been delaying Lynn's birthday meet up. Lynn moved to Sepang, which made arrangements to meet up a bit difficult to coordinate but today (yesterday) we finally did. My homies...these guys are almost like brothers to me.. We had good food in Madam Kwan's, great laughter and shared a lot of stories. Most of us has since left MPB and only 3 are still there, nevertheless I guess we have made a silent pact to ourselves to keep this friendship going.What better way than to celebrate each other's birthday, for a lack of better excuse... After dinner I meet up with hubs and the kids for dessert at Whisk. Their Red velvet cake and cafe latte was the perfect end to dinner. Till the next meet up...i await in anticipation.. Thanks for the friendship guys...

We were in Batu Pahat last weekend for Faizal's wedding to Diana.Hubs has known Faizal almost all his life while I myself met him about more than 20 years ago. Gosh!When I looked at it this way, I sure feel bloody ancient! Hubs was the best man at Faizal's first marriage and how ironic that last weekend he was also the bestman, though I think he made quite a hopeless one..hahaha! Ironic that as a Johorean, I have never really explored Batu Pahat..Yes, I have passed  the town when I was smaller I guess, without giving two hoots what's in Batu Pahat. And one night in BP was not enough time to really see what BP has to offer except for the very nice Fried Oyster I had for dinner at the Rex Food Junction in town. The town itself is widely spread, I think bigger than JB with one way street everywhere which made looking for places a bit crappy but I was not driving..hehehe. The couple in black and their black and silver pelamin The wedding was simple with gorgeous them...

I was at the launch of tonton ...the latest product of Alt Media (the new media company under Media Prima Berhad)today. As with everything else that an MPB company does, the launch was done wiyh much fanfare and kegempakan..hahaha. The ceo of altmedia, Izham presented the launch together with Paul Moss and MZulkifli .I am, by now already quite used to the launch presentation of an mpb company but I have to say that the opening gambit with the winner of 8tv's Showdown, which I never had the chance to watch was quite impressive. And it turned out Izham was one of the dancers. Didn't realized because all the dancers were wearing masks and bloody hell!! I wasn't concentrating! Was too busy saying hello to old friends and ex colleagues. Tonton is a new video portal where we can watch tv shows online...free!! Maybe we don't need to download after this. At the launch, Zul announced that there are going to be a wide selection of content including the latest movies, programs ...

And so….it’s over!! In an hour and 35 mins…and I was aiming for an hour 30mins, after an hr 25 mins 20 mins for 11km at the Orange Run last week…but really running at night is a different ball game altogether. The day started with brunch after I read The Malaysian Insider 's twit about D’Cengkih so we went there for brunch..and I really eat…macam nak lari marathon…macam real. Good excuses to eat their Nasi Dagang followed by their lempeng (pancake?) with sambal tumis…and a bit of Zaim’s pulut kuning and one buah Melaka, all topped with Nescafe 0 kosong…What is it about running that made me think that I can eat a horse??              Happy, full tummied people in D'Cengkih Then to help digest the food, we went to Ikano amidst the jam of the last two days of the IKEA sale…and walk around to get books in Popular, checked out the fitness equipment store and cheap shoes at Vincci. Before heading home, stopped ...

Cold feet is not something that I need tonight. I have made a crazy decision to run the 12.3km night race tomorrow..There's the 5km but nooo...as usual I didn't register on time and missed the deadline on that one. So, I'll probably walk the race...or plod like my friend TSB said. Mixed feelings of excitement and apprehension now,  but look at the bright side, I will get to see Putrajaya at nite and perhaps eat a roti telur as my gym trainer said "taste so good after a run" Will update after the run ..walk...hope I can get up to do so...Wish me luck! Amin... P.S come and join the carnival!! More info here . Join the fun!

AL FATIHAH....  always loved and fondly remembered  by family and friends....

These are the 2 TVCs directed by the late Yasmin Ahmad for ntv7 when I was working there. I had loads of  fun being at the shoot which took 2 days...a day in TTDI Rimba Park and another Ampang Puteri Specialist Hospital in Ampang. I undertook the project with much enthusiasm knowing that we would be working with Kak Min and her team.

Incidentally, i was looking at my post at about this time a year ago here and saw that it was exactly almost a year ago that I wrote that I wanted to start running and it took me ages to actually register for a run.. And as I go through my rambles then, I saw this , this and this .....reading my past posts on the events that lead to the actual passing of Kak Min and still feeling that lump in my throat, thinking of Arwah. We knew each other briefly for work... met up for a few discussion which involved a lot of laughs, smokes and teh tarik. Not a prayer escaped without me saying her name after my late husband's, my late father's, both my late mother in law's and both my grandmother in law's...in that order. She's not related to me or a close friend...she was an acquaintance who left me in awe every time we met. I was privileged to watch her creation "Muallaf" in the Leo Burnett's office, even before it was really completed. Kak Min was l...

Hello! Alamak! It's been more than 2 months since I last wrote! I was ready to to throw the towel on blogging ever since I started this new job. Contemplated writing in the last few months, feeling that it will somehow contradict with work. Excuses!! Hah! The new job has been a tremendous change not just in terms of the industry but also the job scope, the people I'm working with and the whole environment. The last 2 months has been, to be honest, quite overwhelming, nerve-wrecking and t o a certain extent.. scary. I went through the last 2 months with daily anticipation of the new things that I'm going to learn and discover. And discover I did! I won't dwell too much on work as this blog is not a work blog. Whatever I said and write here could not be used against me in the professional world ...hahaha...that sounded almost lame ! I had to make some changes to my routine with the change of jobs. Now i have to travel an extra at least, 10km from my previous w...

Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. Maria Robinson Yes, a new beginning. Monday is coming InsyaAllah..slowly but surely... My ritual for beginning something new.... 1. Change to new wallet/purse...ey...nak simpan duit banyak nih...InsyaAllah 2. New shoes - 2 pairs at least hahaha! Kopak! 3. Spring cleaning the wardrobe - which could mean new clothes...fingers crossed..insyaAllah) 4. Trip to Peekaboo done - (my hair days are numbered..hijab soon...insyaAllah) 5. New knick knacks for the new office - a painting or 2 for the wall would be great and plants to match the green wall! 6. Visit Mak - which is easier coz she's in town! A mum's blessing is uber important! 7. New phone???Hmmm...still contemplating the iphone... Have always loved 7 so let's stick to that list... The last few days have been so fulfilling...More time with the smaller ones...more time at home..I guess this is...

"don't cry because it ended, smile because it happened" dr seuss I twitted this today...I felt like it today...So many things has come to their end in my life...so many...countless. If I look back and cry for them...they will never come back. So I chose to smile and rejoice because bad things has come to an end and good things has come and will hopefully recur.. Not saying that bad things won't but there's always a silver lining behind every clouds. I strongly, truly believe that. Too many things has happened in my life to prove this. When I was growing up, I remember thinking "ek eleh...berapa kali nak cakap nih...Nih dah dengar banyak kali dah.." each time my Mak says "Dulu masa Mak umur macam awak, bla, bla, bla.. and goes on and on to tell me what silly things she didn't do. And i told myself when I have kids I'm not gonna pull the same trick, but today I found myself uttering the same exact words that she said...OMG, OMG, OMG!!...

View from our daily bechak (beca) rides The aftermath of the tremor in our room... The pool The room I reckon my life now is in between takes, from one scene to another one and I'm taking this short break between the 2. After a few days break in Medan...am now back home. Waiting for the lil ones to come home from school before my long overdue facial later. And I've not been very good at doing this, writing this. This blog was started for the selfish reason of fulfilling myself and I can't even keep to it...Must try harder.. Medan was alright..the place itself was typically Indonesian. I was looking forward to the break, which I got. I was looking forward to nasi padang, which I got, I was looking forward to the massage, which I got, I hoped I could do some running there, which I did, twice, I wanted to spend time with hubs, which we did and what else is there to it? Syukur, syukur sangat-sangat...Alhamdulillah. We went straight to Brastagi about 2 and h...