Random Rambles of Lotfi

Today, it finally dawned on me that my colleagues, Zaidah and Faiz is really leaving us. We had our farewell lunch at Chilli's at OU and gave them our pressies. The only consolation is that they will still be in the same building as we are, which doesn't cross out the possibilities of seeing each other for breakfast, lunch etc...All the best guys. Mokhtar left for the Phillipines last week. That was sad as well. But, we are making plans to go and visit him there before the year ends. Today, I finally get to take back my 'new' car, after my bank loan was finally approved this week. Hubby came to pick up the car from the office basement, after jump starting the car...and I just received an sms saying that " keta u skang ada kat Shell (nearby my office), tak leh start!! Hafiz (his friend) bau terbakar, pas tu matikan enjin, tu yang sampai skang tak leh start"...what the fudge?? I better go off now!!

Aiyoh!!! I forgot to adjust the photo. Don't care lah...Happy birthday Amir !!! Hope your life is not as 'senget' as this pic!! The cake was delish!!! Thanks to the party planners, Anuar and Shikin!

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday....I was in Penang with the rest of the office people for our mall tour. I have always liked Penang. The old charm of the state and the friendliness of the Penangites...at least the ones I met during this trip lessen my homesickness. With almost half of our friends missing from the action of the mall tour due to a smaller team, people leaving for other places, I found myself in my own company most of the time. I miss you guys!!! The response from the Penangites to the programs was overwhelming, especially for the Chinese programs. Mall tour aside, I managed to get stuff from the nearby Chow Rasta, the usual Penang staples of nutmeg lah, jeuk lah, pistachios, buah salak...nyum, nyum..., also had dinner in Gurney Drive which was a bit of dissapointment sebab macam dah tak sedap la...hmmm.. I was glad to be home to be with my babies on Monday... Nanti kita pergi Penang sama-sama ok?

Change whether big or small, is inevitable in life. With each change comes challenges. It doesn't matter...What matters is how we deal with these changes. At the end of the day, we always have a choice. Whether we want to run away because we can't cope with these changes, running away because your comfort zone is taken away from you, running away because you don't feel safe anymore or simply moving on to better and greener pastures. Our natural defence mechanism will spring into action to react to whatever 'threat' that comes our way. But what appears as threat may not be so...Look at it differently as it may be a blessing in disguise. It's Allah's way of tellling us to slow down and to take things one day at a time. And enjoy the calmness before the storm. And pray that you'll be ready when the time comes. T o my friends who are embracing changes, I wish all of you all the best... Zaida,Faiz and Mokhtar.. I will miss all of you..Keep the feel go...

Chatuchak Market was...hot, wet, warm....tiring...Sounds good?? Hahaha... For all it's worth, the market is interesting with all the goods that you can think of. And I only walked through, I think less than a quarter of the market area. If you are looking for household, home decor items, this is the place to go. But also think of how you intend to ship back all the items. Jumpa Eric Leong kat sana. Bila akak tegur dia, muka Eric cuak seh..."ish, ish ada plak orang Malaysia nampak aku kat sini..pecah lobang beli barang murah kat Chatuchak"...hehehe Also clothing, accessories, food, fruits, knick knacks...mak dengan bapak jer tak der ok! Bought Anuar's his silver bangle siap engrave nama tau...ear-rings, t-shirts, hubby bought original (katanya) Levis's, table runners and memacam lagi lah. Bila muka semua dah layu letih semacam barulah gerak balik. Took the MRT from Chatuchak Park straight to Sala Daeng station, and then a cab back to Silom. Black...

Salam. Tak sempat nak sambung blogging kat Bangkok... Busy tau..On the third day in Bangkok, our day started with our quest for breakfast. We took a cab from Silom to Pratunam Center. Were told that there's a Muslim restaurant somewhre in the area. A check on hubby's blackberry revealed that the restaurant called Mak Yah's Restaurant, is right infront of this hotel called Samran Place hotel. When we asked around a few people they told us to walk straight ahead, not far katanya.. Mak Yah Restaurant We ended up walking for more than 2 km before we reached the place. Phew...matilah orang Bangkok kata tak jauh jalan 2 km.. Macam nak pengsan seh..peluh-peluh macam work out hebat!! Brunch was not bad...worth the walk. We lepak there for almost 1 hour before taking a cab back to Pratunam Center, where we walked around aimlessly. Shopping mall macam a sorry version of Shah Alam Mall. Itu pun, Abang Jamal tetap juga gigih shopping for these army stripe pants and all things army ...

Eee...cannot sleep ahhh...yesterday..something about being in a strange bed or was too tired after all the walking. This morning by 7.15am was already terkebil-kebil. We were out of the hotel quite early. Wanted to head to Siam Square. Hailed a cab. The cabbie told us that all the malls in Siam Square will only be opened at 1pm today bacause of some religious rites..whateva... So he took us to this place, some Gem Centre in Petchaburi area (way out of the way from Siam Square) where a lot of tourist flocked too. After getting off the cab, something told me that we've been had, but nevertheless, we walked around in the Gem Centre. Bought souvenirs and stuff. Breakfast tak lagi nih...Perut sudah lain macam angin. Jamal remembered this restaurant in Sukumvhit area called Usman. Lucky the Gem Center provided us with transfer to the nearest BTS station near this monument.In Sukumvhit we walked a bit a reached the restaurant. Saw some fellow Malaysian from AMP radio at the restaurant....

View from the boat You know you are in Bangkok, when you see this... Wat Arun Another freaking Wat....What!!!! View from our hotel room Chao Phraya Tour counter Salam. I'm blogging from Silom Village Inn in Silom area, Bangkok. We arrived in Bangkok at around 12pm local time today. Just came back from window shopping at Patpong Night market. Confuse akak...tatau apa nak beli.. Too many stuff, too foreign a language, too many half naked bodies seen from outside the pubs, too many offers of "show, show, good show, girls show..." .We gave up and took the cab back to the hotel. This afternoon, we took the boat for the Chao Phraya River tour. Tour sepatutnya sampai the 13th pier tapi we ended up going till pier no 22..We made a turn back to the central pier where we first started. Was freakin warm! Today, I think I saw the most number of wat (temples) that anyone could see in a day!! We plan to go to Siam Square tommorrow. Wanna see what else Bangkok has to offe...

Hurrrraaayyyyy!!!! I finally submitted my final year thesis yesterday evening after the gruelling pain of having to complete it. Time to hope for the best. Judging by my effort I should think I deserve at least a B. Well, actually, I'll be overjoy if I can get away with a C. Hehe...abis lah record A & B selama 10 semesters will be broken.. The heat these days is making freaking sick...Semalam macam nak demam...after a few days of ear-ache. Please get well, please get well... Off to Bangkok for a short break tomorrow, people. This is a long awaited one. So before I turned myself into a slave, more than what I already am..I better go for some much needed R & R. Bangkok, here we come!!!

Before During After, handsome kan? Zaim lah...bukan barber tu... I was almost in tears, I think even the barber was near tears because he asked three times whether we are sure we want to proceed. What needs to be done, has to be done. And Khairin finally realised that her brother has ears, after all. Tok Mak will be very happy.

Weekend lepas hari Sabtu kita pergi Kajang rumah adik kita, jumpa Mak kita. Adik kita sekarang duduk kat dalam kawasan Penjara Kajang sebab adik ipar kita kerja kat situ. Rumah dia boleh tahan lah, rumah kerajaan lama tahun 70an. Rindu betul dengan mak kita. Kita masak-masak. Lepas maghrib baru kita balik Shah Alam. Nanti sebelum Mak balik JB, kita datang lagi ye mak..

I spent Mother's day, putting finishing touches to my final year thesis...Pening!!!! I comforted myself with our coming holiday to Bangkok this week... Orang tua kata "hard-hard first, easy-easy later"...hahaha Aisyah made a card and served me with chocolate coated apples and bananas yang dia tengah test for her school teacher's day canteen day or something...So sweet...both the chocolate coated stuff and my daughter. They actually think that I rock their world...How cool is that..I think it's quite cool.

We explored the all new Sunway Pyramid with the ambassador, Xandria yang buat Sunway Pyramid lebih kurang macam rumah dia lah... The event of the year...well at least for us...came and gone amidst a lot of laughter, a bit of head ache and lots of hard work. Reviews that I read and heard about the event at least made me proud as our hard work was all worth it. "One of the best AIM ever staged", a lot people that matters said. This is what the people in PWTC and the TV audience did not get to see. The production people at work. I am so proud of my colleagues who pulled this big event together. Kudos to each and every one of them. This is indeed the best production team in Malaysia! Because mama was so busy when Zaim's birthday arrived on the 2nd of May we celebrated his birthday a bit later at Amir and Fizah's house. He had FUN! Walaupun masa dia tiup lilin kat birthday cake tu, his long curly hair caught fire...hahaha..

As crazy as April has been so far I love it...have always love April...sad things have happened in my life in the month of April, but like what I wrote earlier, always something good in store after anything 'not so good' happened to you.. Caya lah cakap mak...there's always a silver lining.. April, with our mall tour on the 12th, my class project on the same day and also the feel good reunion on the 11th and to top it all my birthday on the 12th as well, mak pengsan, salmah....And not forgetting, Imran's birthday on the 5th..My boy's voice is a croak now. At 13, he is growing up pretty fast. We went bowling till wee hours of the morn complete with birthday cake and sing song. The kids had a blast on abang's birthday. Our class final year project took place on my birthday. After months of preparation, the event finally took place. And the famous Angkasawan was there...The way he arrived, would scare off any terrorist, or whatever threat his bodyguards thin...

For each bad stuff that has happened in my life, I could think of at least 7 good ones...not bad eh?! 1. Me and hubby watched the "Then & Now" Concert in Genting, which we enjoyed immensely coz after almost 2 decades of waiting, Howard Jones, Limahl, Paul Young and Bananarama came to our shore to perform. Pedulik lah dia orang dah tua... Paul Young can still do a body slamming slide, Limahl as he said it still has nice butts and Howard Jones still sound as good as he did yonks ago....Wooohoooooo!!!! and Bananarama probably had face lifts (jealous!!!) 2. Boss announced our bonuses and I managed a 4.68 months. Yay!!! Akak kayo!! Thanks boss!!! 3. I bought new stuff which includes lots and lots of CDs, handbag, jewellery...call me lame...but these are motivating factors for hard work.. 4. I managed at least once a week yoga the past few weeks 5. I'll be back in JB this 19th for SIGS, JB alumni get together 6. Old bosses parted ways for green...