Random Rambles of Lotfi

I wrote about my sister in law, Liz and her fight for cancer last year in August. Since then Liz has gone through chemo, mastectomy and a lot of other stuff that we didn't know about. But what's amazing about her is that she has never shown, at least to us that she's unwell or whether she was feeling uncomfortable. To our eyes, she's fine and really full of life. After one year, a few day's back she sent us an email of her story which I'm sharing here so that we can learn from it. My mantra has always been " Life is good" and I'm glad that she shares the same outlook on life as well. Avon Cosmetics (M) Sdn Bhd is a company that always organizes breast checks at the office for their associates. I am lucky to be part of this organization that really cares and is passionate against eradicating breast cancer. I’ve never missed any check-up sessions that they’ve held, and no abnormality was ever found. Over the years, I have had difficulty in ...

Note to self : 3/8/2009 30 mins - 2.79km Been missing gym for 3 days..feeling bloated now, which does not help.....Been bz at work..but having fun at work at the same time...or at least trying to have fun..Been lazy as well..which is the reason why the blog has been neglected... Was at One Utama for Indie Fest last Sunday...which was cool and the band that Aisyah like 'Oh Chentaku' was quite aight.. Sunday morning, we were at the kids@fgw school visit again..SRK Sri Kelana KJ...My sis and BIL came on Saturday to visit and to top it all up dinner at Delicious with the kids was the right choice to end the weekend . Nothing like a cup of the perfect latte to complete the weekend. And this week, some of us were in Saujana, which was a nicer retreat than expected as I was foreseeing the normal drying brainstorming and it turned out to be fun with all of us doing the Michael Jackson tribute with most of the biggie bosses doing the Thriller steps. And Saujana has the bes...

Hi, the clock shows that it's 12.02am. I just got home from arwah Kak Min's office. Malam ni ada tahlil untuk arwah. It was attended by a small group of friends and family. Mak Inom and Pak Atan was also there, together with Datin Orkid and Datuk Dr Zahari, arwah's sister and brother in law plus a few more family members. Leo Burnett was as nice as I remembered it. Soothing incandescent lighting combined with wood old school furniture was a good combination that makes an office just like home. And somehow we can feel semangat arwah in the office, after all it has only been less than 10 days since she was last there. We reached LB just before maghrib but not without missing a turn, going through maze of back lanes and making an illegal U-turn. Nasib baik Azmin ada to show me through the roads...(Azmin - expert lorong-lorong belakang mati hahahaha :-). Betul lah orang kata, kalau nak buat benda elok tu...ada jer sangkaknya. The Ustaz gave a short tazkirah after the mag...

Hari ni pepagi lagi, walau pun kaki dan badan agak sakit akibat berjuang di gym semalam and insomnia tak habis, I made my way to SRK Seksyen 9 Shah Alam for our kids brand, kids@feelgoodworld school visit. We enjoyed ourselves, did what we came to do and wrapped everything up by 1.30pm. Next stop, SRK Seri Kelana, Kelana Jaya this coming Sunday... After lunch with the colleagues at SACC Mall, I met hubby in Shah Alam's EPF office. After thing's settled, he headed back to the office, while I, walau pun deep down inside terasa nak balik cover balik tidur, banished those thoughts and head to the gym. And I'm glad I took half the day off work today. Managed a run on the treadmill for 30 mins, stationary bike while reading The Star for 10 mins, 4 sets on the hip adductor and 4 sets on the abductor...phew!!! and later at 6pm joined Mr Veera's yoga class till 7pm...Sekarang terasa agak sengal big time and can't help asking myself.....boleh ke aku tidur malam n...

28/7/09 2.63km - 30 mins

This is the Yasmin Ahmad that I want to remember. All jovial and smiling. I was supposed to visit arwah in DSH on Saturday, just as a moral support to Mr Tan Yew Leong but alas Allah has other plans for her. Even writing this entry is a struggle...and that's the reason I waited till today to. A friend from arwah's office called today...still in tears...I don't know how they can even stand to walk into Leo Burnett and face her now empty office. I was told that they are going to keep the office as is, for as long as possible. I can still recall how entertaining she was when we came to her room. It's like home to her, with her movie posters, her books, her picture frames, her numerous accolades. I had hopes of her recovering....resurrected...just like the commercial that she did for us...Like my boss said, hoping that life will imitate art...but again Allah has His plans for her. The last few days since she fell into a coma...I made a silent prayer after each so...

Mengikut cerita corridor talk hari ini, Kak Min jatuh pengsan at the 5th floor while making a presentation to the boss...our panel doctor rushed to attend to her but alas there was no pulse on her... Less than a while later, kecoh satu office, satu facebook, manusia- manusia cakap Kak Min dah tak ada...Berderau darah aku, ternaik bulu roma.... Lepas tu I got an sms from Kak Min's colleague to say that she's still in ICU. Bengang aku dengan manusia-manusia yang cepat jer jadi doctor tak bertauliah, announce Kak Min dah tak ada...dalam facebook lagi... Ya Allah, please if you can grant me one thing now, please let her be well again...2 losses within 2 weeks is more than I can handle...

I woke up one day a few months back and told myself " I WANT TO START RUNNING"...Bukan lari dari rumah yer...lari, lari anak...kata orang Melayu kalau orang Melayu Baru dia kata...jogging...hehehe... From that first realization of wanting to start running approximately 5 months back....yes, I ran on treadmills at the gym and that's it...After a while I avoided running prefering to surrender to the ellipticals every time I go to the gym..Yes, compared to when I was younger I can now run for longer hours at each session but somehow bila tengok treadmill, aku TAKUTTTTTT!!!!! Tapi bila a family friend of mine TSB yang kalau nak dibandingkan dengan akak, agak "horizontally challenged" - this is how he described himself ok??? pun dah sebuk berlari siap masuk triathlon, duathlon and Stand Chart Marathon lagi , aku terus teruja dan berazam nak jugak lari....nak!nak!nak!!! I will start soon........so watch out world!!! heeheehehe.......

I'm having problems sleeping....This has been going on for quite some time...I'm losing sleep over not getting enough sleep....huhuhu ....

We were at Zan Azlee and Jasmin's wedding yesterday night. I missed Jasmine's side of the wedding last week as I didn't want to travel with Mummy's condition and I'm glad I stayed around. This weekend Aisyah had to give the MU vs M'sia match and Shout Awards a miss. She had tickets for both events, wanted to go but I guess in the end her conscience got the better of her. Instead, both kids spent the weekend with their atuk in PJ. Allah bless them, insyallah... Back to the wedding; it was simply beautiful, in its own wacky way just like the couple. I simply, simply love it...from the centerpiece flowers, to the musicians, to Zan's cape, to the people who actually took the trouble to dress up in the Mexican theme. Ah...I also love the wedding cake and the fact that they had 3 or 4 pinatas that the bride and groom had the pleasure of hitting! TTDI Taman Rimba never looke so good, with lighted walkway and the beautiful canopies. I simply, sim...

I was at one of the Petronas station in Kota Damansara yesterday, when I saw this quote on one of the items sold there "What may appear as an end, is really a new beginning". How ironic, I thought...at this time where a little comfort even as simple as a quote in a petrol kiosk, is all I needed. Mummy finally succumbed to her illness after almost 2 1/2 weeks in hospital. I received the news after missing a few calls from Dad, while I was at a function. Harith was on stage doing his stand-up comedy act. How ironic that I was laughing at his jokes at the same time mummy was facing her end. I was calm when I received the news from Dad. Yes, we have spoken about it, prepared for it , taking out the kain batik lepas, to prepare for the funeral and Dad has made arrangements for the funeral. But somehow, as I was driving to the hospital, the reality of it all hit me and I cried my heart out there in the car on Jalan Kuching missing the turns into Federal Highway....bodoh....

Lady Gaga sudah mari.. . The head daisy honcho We are so yellowwww The yellow fever cake The party in full swing The crazy daisies Donut oh donut... Yea..that's the day the company officially turned 11. I have been here for a good 8 years of my life..Kalau budak kecik dah masuk darjah 2 dah! Some people think it's odd that I've stayed here for this long. Things has not always been good. I've been through management changes, boss changes, work load changes, role changes ntah amende lar lagi lepas ni...But through all those changes, I see myself growing not just physically (hahaha...I have gained almost 7kgs since I first came...not counting the times when I was preggy huhuhuhu) but more importantly I've grown mentally (walaupun kadang-kadang aku rasa retard pun ada...) I've come to understand the culture, the brand, the ups and downs throug the company that I faced on a daily basis. The current economic downturn gave us enough reason to celebrate ...

I went for one of the most inspiring talks John C. Maxwell, who spoke about leadership last week. Habis duit aku beli buku John Maxwell lepas tu terkedek-kedek suruh orang tua tu sign buku...Kalau lepas ni tak inspired jugak, sendiri mau ingat!!!Will add them books in my book list. Anyway, the title of the talk was "Leadership Resilience : Winning in Challenging Times" Some of the stuff that I could remember from the talk was as a leader we got to : 1. Face reality 2. See the big picture 3. Make good choices 4. Learn from bad experience 5. Value teamwork during difficult times Well, I guess the above don't just apply for the work place but also for life, in general..I especially like his quote " Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn; if you don't learn, you'll lose". So true...kalau dah situation turned bad...the least we could do is learn from them...Kalau tak memang bebal lar..... John C. Maxwell...you rock!!!

Dear Kadir, Terima kasih lar sebab susah-susah masak untuk kita. Sedap betul awak punya ikan duri masak asam pedas. Kita tak pernah makan ikan duri...rupanya sedap ek?? Pas tu cencaluk tu uishhhh...tak tahan...sehingga menjilat jari. Ikan yang goreng sambal tu pun syok... Seronok betul kita makan sampai tambah nasik walaupun selalunya kita kalau makan nasik memang tak tambah...tapi disebabkan awak masak sedap gils kita TERpaksa tambah tau...Habis diet kita. Zaid, cupcakes yang Zaid bawak untuk Kadir tu pun boleh tahan. Terasa butter dia. Yang chocolate tu pun very rich the chocolate..Kita TERpaksa makan sampai 3.Kesian kita. Terima kasih lar sebab layan kita dengan syuben kita makan kat rumah. Kalau pergi rumah Kadir memang very the meriahs sebab ramai kengkawan yang suka buat jokes mulut laserina yang tak hengat punyer. Pecah perut ketawa. PAs tu senoroks dapat jumpa Azam yang semakin gebu setelah lama tak jumpa...hehehe Lain kali kalau masak lagi panggil lah kita...

It was 2010 content pitch time again!! We went our own different way of presenting the content with sketches and enactment of the programs that we were pitching. I was 'Master Props Woman" with a team of highly competent "Props Masters". Hari Isnin, satu hari bershopping for props. We went from the serbaneka shop near my house to Mydin in Subang Jaya to Subang Parade to The Curve, which includes IKEA and Ikano....cari-cari props. And the results are what you see in the pictures here. We had fun and the pitch went really, really well. Thanks to a great team work!!

Dia orang kata budak berdua ni couple...betul ker?? The lamb, the lamb... Uncle Jatt The kids after free food... Studio Cafe...ala-ala...HRC yang ada memorabilia Malaysian Stars...nice... Kan akak cakap ramai... Last weekend we went to Zahid AF's latest venture - STUDIO CAFE in Wangsa Maju for its official launch. Thank goodness for the new DUKE Highway - my first time on it- reaching Wangsa Maju was a breeze. We went in 3 cars - my brother in law, my FIL and family, hubby's uncle and cousins as well as the kids...rombongan akak ke Studio Cafe ler gamaknyer... Sampai-sampai jer orang dah ramai...Abang Ramli MS ada, Abang Jatt BDB ada dan yang penting Nita pun ada...wah!!! Dah macam blog gossip lah plak..Anyway, seats were reserved for us up front near the small stage, the advantage of being family , I guess.. The suasana very the meriahs...Siap dengan mc bagai.Aisyah said the mc is a talent from ASTRO tapi sebab akak tengok Astro pun jarang...jadi akak tak k...

Pengkritik-pengkritik makanan yang agak serius The 6 hopefuls.....Imran!!! Mama nak Imran jadi chef lar!!! Worth mentioning...Trevor's Black Sesame Oreo Cheesecake Nice food on display Jeff said " I only use very ripe bananas" for his Banana Choc Slice I was in Zen at Sooka Sentral where the 2 stage of the sea rch for the "star chef"culinary talent just took place. I have never been to Sooka so this was a good opportunity to check it out. I was one of the ‘mystery’ judge s for this r ound where the 6 contestants were judged base d on the food they have prepared plu s their s ta r qualities. What exactly are these star qualities, you say? I supposed it’s their personalities, the way they handled themselves when questions were asked about the food they have prepared, their characters e tc, etc, etc.. The 6 contestants are all students from the vario us culinary schools in the country. Today they presented the food that they have prepared. The be...