This is exactly how I envision it. Alhamdulillah, my dreams have come true.

For the first time in my life,I did not wake up for sahur in a zombie state. Usually, my mom will wake me up 10 minutes before Subuh and I will eat with half closed eyes. No more chance. Now I wake up at 4.30 and prepare the food. But I do it with a smile on my face. It makes it all the more worth it when my dearest Don wakes up with good humour and we eat Sahur with a joy I have never known could exist after waking up from deep sleep just to push morsels of food into your mouth so that you won't faint during the day.

On the first night of terawih, my Don even decided not to go to Ba'alwie mosque like he does every night of every Ramadhan and for the first time, we performed terawih together. I've always imagined what it will be like but I didn't expect it to feel this wonderful. Subhana'Allah. If I could describe it in words I would but no word does justice.

To more Ramadhans ahead. Insya'allah.

SEVEN HEAVEN

Se7en things that scares me
1. Losing the 2 most important people to me - Umi & Hubby
2. Steep staircases (overhead bridges are a No-No for me) refer to my earlier entry here
3. the dark outdoors (no overnight camping for me!!!)
4. road accidents (possibly due to the fact that I lost a loved one in a road accident)
5. Creepy crawlies (eeuuww!!)
6. That I will be a grumpy, nyanyok, old woman in my old age.
7. That I should die before I am fully prepared to face my Maker

Se7en things I like most
1. SHOPPING (enough said!)
2. Being treated like a Queen by The Don
3. Staying in bed on a rainy day reading a book (with a mug of Monbana Hot Chocolate)
4. Chocolates
5. Long car rides
6. Being around my Malaysian side of the family
7. Payday!!!!

Se7en most important things in my room
1. my King-sized Sealy bed
2. my satin quilt
3. my alarm clock (w/o which I'd reach the office even later than I usually am)
4. my built-in 12-foot long wardrobe (Which I am already running out of space in)
5. that box of tissue + Vicks Vaporub for my never-ending flu
6. My drawer of treasures - knick knacks from childhood, birthday cards collected over the years and love letters from my Don
7. the books by my bedside that keeps me company before The Don comes to bed

Se7en random facts about me
1. I don't eat taugeh. the smell makes me nauseous.
2. I dun like mushrooms
3. I dun need a pillow to lie my head on to sleep. All I need is The Don's arm to sleep. Suddenly I know the meaning of "berbantal lengan"
4. My hands are itchy. I can't spy on a price tag w/o feelin the itch to remove them. Or a tissue paper w/o tearing it into pieces. My frens have been known to grab away anything I hold for fear of destruction. hehehe
5. Despite being a section leader in BT Band and the one to give marching commands, I have problems defferentiating left and right. When someone tells me "Right" I take 2 seconds to think where is my right. hehehehee
6. If I were a non-believer, I would have thought I was reborn into the body of a Queen from long ago. I can't wear costume jewellery or I'll get rashes. Even my brooches cannot come into contact with my skin. Not even gold plated stuff, only REAL gold/white gold/diamonds. Can't wash dishes using liquid detergent other than GLO or else my hands gets all reddish n itchy. Can't be without aircon/fan for long or else I get inflammation of the skin.
7. I dun ever look at price tags and/or receipts. If I bought 3 things from a shop, dun ever ask me how much each one costs. I won't know. I once queued at the cashier to pay for my Cosmopoloitan magazine at KLIA. I got a shock when the cashier said "RM37.50, please". What to do? Just pay lah.

Se7en things I plan to do before I die
1. Go for Hajj with my Don
2. Be a better Muslim
3. Go to Paris and retrace all our wonderful honeymoon memories this time with kids in tow.
4. Make enough money to shop to my heart's contents
5. Learn to drive (finally??)
6. Write a book
7. Leave a legacy, something my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will know me by.

Se7en things I can do
1. I am a fully functional wife - ie. I cook for my husband daily, clean the house, do the laundry, iron etc etc despite holding down a job. No eating at Mom's or In-law's for my family.
2. I can speed read. I can finish a novel in 2 days max. I once finished Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy in 10 days, all of its 1500 pages. (I didn't skip pages, really!!)
3. I have great instincts. Proven yet and yet again. In the 9 years together, my Don has learnt the hard way by not listening to my instincts. Now when I tell him I feel something, he listens w/o arguments. (mcm psychic plak)
4. I can stay awake for 48 hours straight. Tried and tested. Actually I dun really need that much sleep.
5. I can tahan not going to the toilet for one whole day. No. not a case of holding it in. I just don't feel the urge but the moment the car enters the MSCP everyday, I will tell The Don "Quick..I need the bathroom" The urge just comes naturally. I guess nothing like ur own potty huh?
6. I can memorise well. Birthdates, phone numbers ... its like I have a special compartment in my brain for these things. I still can remember The Don's first handphone number (and he has had many) and all 18 nieces and nephews birthdates.

Se7en things I can't do
1. I can't do maths. Not even simple ones. My mind just goes blank when I see numbers. I suppose I could if I tried, seeing how I aced my maths at O levels but I ain't gonna do it.
2. I can't say NO nicely. Either I am nice and say YES or I say NO in such a way that the other person backs off instantly. Very useful when dealing with persistent salespeople but tricky when it comes to elders and relatives.
3. I can't pretend. Can't lie even if I will myself to do it with all my heart. Not even for courtesy's or propriety's sake Eg, Say I go to someone's new house and that person shows me around eagerly, showing her best buys and asks expectantly "cantik tak?" ("Nice right?")If i dun think so, I can't make myself say Yes even though I know it will mean so much to him/her. At most I'll smile or give a non-committal nod.
4. I can't hang out the bamboo pole for my laundry outside my kitchen window. I dun noe if its bcoz I'm vertically challenged or just that I have no strength or that I am manja (hehe) But my Don hangs out the laundry for me. If he's not around then I'll just hang them indoors in the kitchen.
5. I cannot sleep early. The earliest I can sleep on a normal night is eleven even if I have to wake up at 4.30am the next day. I envy those people who can sleep at 9 or 10.
6. I can't stand people who are calculative. People who count every single cent and how mny satay sticks one should eat. (u noe what I mean) And I keep far far far away from such people. (Uurrgghh!!!)
7. I have no sense of direction. Totally zero. The Don drives me to work everyday and you would think I know the location by hard but if you ask me to guide someone else I will surely lead them astray. (I once led my Malaysian uncle to Jurong West instead of Eunos Crescent. Dun ask me how!)

Se7en words I say most
1. "Dar..."
2. "I love you"
3. "OK lah"
4. "Umi"
5. "what?" (when somebody interrupts me)
6. "Giller ke aperrrr?"
7. "hello" (manyak calls mah)

Se7en celeb crushes
1. Jason Priestly (of BH90210 fame)
2. Fandi Ahmad (oh how I went crazy for this guy)
3. Tom Cruise (I still have the hots for this guy although I dun like his cradle snatching ways)
4. The voice of Ustadz Asri (lead singer of Rabbani) (I dun think he went into singing so that young girls will have crushes on him or his voice but really he sounds really really good)
5. Aamir Khan (Go watch "Dil")
6. George Michael (ooohhhh)
7. Jon Bon Jovi

Se7en people I'll love to see doing this
alamak... I'm gonna get brickbats for these
Oklah no obligation if u wanna do it, do it ok otherwise 4get it.
1. Lisa
2. Naniz
3. Maya
4. Naz
5. Musang
6. Ridz
7. Adam

And we will rise again........

The Don and I haven't been very well off late. A result of too much travelling and too many late nights. I have a perpetual flu and today I have an onset of headaches. Taking leave from work is out of the question as we are moving office this week. The Don too is exhausted. Worse, he has reservist for three days this week so there simply won't be time for a break.

Even the Lancerlot has suffered. Yesterday while The Don was on the way to reservist camp, the Lancerlot started having an instantaneous fever, his temperature rising to a dangerous level. The Don who was with two of his friends, stopped by the side of the expressway and found that the water had dried up. That was a rarity as The Don is the type who makes sure his Lancerlot is "well-nourished". In any case, he found out later that there was some problem with the radiator and it has to be replaced.

The Don and I have been through the whole spectrum of emotions these two months. We were at our peak and just as suddenly the tide ebb and flowed and we were at rock bottom, although none of it was any fault of ours. (other than bad judgement, I guess) Still our spirits remain high and will soar even higher in time, just you wait and see.

We are not bitter coz we are not the kind of people who chooses to wallow in sorrow. Instead we choose to look on the bright side and see how lucky we are coz even at times such as these, we have wonderful friends who stayed by our side, their support unwavering. And family members worth their weight in gold who didn't just lent their ears but their physical energy, opened their houses to us and pulled all stops to help us. For that we are eternally grateful.

We realise no team is better than a husband and wife team who trusts each other implicitly and complements each other's strengths and weaknesses. Especially when we have experimented and found a winning formula. All it takes is just some fine-tuning and we'll be on our way up again. Insya'allah. And we will rise again, like a phoenix rising from the ashes.

Just you wait and see.......

Lesson Learnt

'Tis a lesson you should heed,
Try, try again;
If at first you don't succeed,
Try, try again;

Then your courage should appear,
For, if you will perservere,
You will conquer, never fear;
Try, try again.

Once or twice though you should fail,
Try, try again;
If you would at last prevail,
Try, try again;

If we strive, 'tis no disgrace
Though we do not win the race;
What should you do in the case?
Try, try again.

If you find your task is hard,
Try, try again;
Time will bring you your reward,
Try, try again.

All that other folks can do.
Why, with patience, should not you?
Only keep this rule in view:
Try, try again.

Tagged....I'm IT!!!!...but u're NEXT!!!!

I was readin the entry on this mommy's blog and silently thanking my stars she had not tagged me. Then suddenly came this nyonya hehe who tagged me anyway. I've had to think really hard for this because as far as I know I am normal and do not have any weird habits, unlike my other blogger frens. (hehe) But after much thought ok.. maybe I do have that one or two idiosynscracies .... here's 3 things I'd never tell you if she had not tagged me.

Its something about me and hair. I just love playing with my hair. When I watch TV or whenever my hands are not occupied, I'd be playing with my hair. No NOT the mentel mentel sort of playing with my hair. I'd feel each strand of my hair and whenever I come across any frizzy hair, or a hair of different texture, I'd pull it out. It's a bad habit I can't seem to shake off since I was 7. My dad and mom would "jentik" my hand in the past whenever my hand is on my head. Despite that, I still havn't kicked the habit. I'd pull out my Mom's uban (white hair) too although she vehemently prevents me from doing it. Now that I'm married I have one extra head full of hair to play with. My Don loves his hair being toussled by me. But he doesn't like me pulling out his abnormal hair so I can only pull them out when he is asleep. (if he grumbles in his sleep I'll just take my hand away and pretend I didn't do it hehe)

When I sleep at night I must have a pillow to cover my face. The room may be pitch dark but I will still need a pillow to cover my face. Dun ask me why. Its just a silly habit I have. There is no specific pillow not like bantal busok (eeuuww!!!)any pillow will do. Now that I have someone's chest to burrow my face into when I sleep, occasionally I will forget the pillow and it ends up on the floor but I must have the pillow on standby before I sleep. There have been times in Pahang esp during Hari Raya when there were too many people and everyone can only have one pillow. I will look around for whoever who has fallen asleep with his/her head off their pillow and I will steal their pillow to cover my face. Hehehe.

I've blogged about this before. I am fiercely protective about my things. Paranoidically so. My best frens both claim I'm the only person they know who has this weird habit. I do not like people entering my room, opening my drawer, using my things without permission, assuming ownership of my things etc etc. As I gather, many people do not like it too but it is merely an annoyance to them. To me it's a cardinal sin.

So there you have it. My 3 quirky habits. I just hope they are not hereditary.
So.... (rubs hands in glee) who shall I finger for this skeleton-in-the-closet meme.

MAYA

ACID RAIN

MUSANG
Let's see the size of the skeletons in their closet. Hehehehe.

ADDENDUM: I've been told I need to finger 5 ppl not 3 so here goes ...

KIMMY

MISS JAYZ

Its ok girls, no need for the thank yous. Its compliment enough for me to know that you are grateful to me for mentioning your names. hehehehheheheheheheeheeheeheehehhehehehehehehe

A Night of Celebration

To mark the flight of freedom of our best friend, Lisa and I organised a girl's night out for M. We soo wanted to do it last week but as usual my jetsetting schedule made it impossible.

The place was ideal. Quiet, away from the bustling crowd and the ambience perfect. Just what we needed. The food was in very generous proportions. Despite not eating lunch, M and I couldn't finish our plates. And it tasted great too. We were the only ones in the restaurant, it being a weekday night and all, but judging from the laughters and the squeals from our table, you wouldn't have guessed it. I pity the waiter who came to our table three times wanting to take our orders. We couldn't stop talking long enough to even look at the menu and decide what to eat.



As always we completely forgot about taking photos so here are all we managed to take. Seeing there was still time before the shops closed, M and I dragged Lisa to Orhard for some whatever-we-can-grab-before-they-close shopping at Taka. I managed to get some cutesy stuff for my nephew and niece. I'd love to put the pics up here but they are known to have visited my blog. I dun want them finding out too soon. After all I could, of course, change my mind. hehhee KIDDING!!!!

Anywhow, my knight in shining Lancer came n fetched us all from Orchard and as usual send them home. I thought the celebration was over as soon as I reached home but apparently my Don had something else in store for me.
>

Aren't they just lovely ??????? It was totally unexpected. Especially since all I have been doing of late is complain, complain and complain. Now suddenly I am softer than melted cheese. Hehehhee

Herbie Fully Loaded

When our legs just couldn't take it anymore after a bout of shopping, we looked for something to pass the time before The Don came to fetch us. So my Umi and I hailed a cab and found ourselves at Orchard Cineleisure and bought tickets for the show that was starting next - Herbie Fully Loaded. Apparently it was opening day.

Memories of late night tv watching with my late father came to mind immediately. We just loved such shows. I remember RTM2 used to play the Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo/ The Love Bug and other Herbie instalments on the night of a major festival. Those were the classics. I was mentally prepared to be dissapointed with this new remake. Remakes seldom even match a fraction of the original. But surprisingly this one was quite passable. Quite good actually. And hilarious too. I just love the way the car winks. Sooo cute. And Lindsay Lohan looks sooo good.

If you have ever seen the old Herbie movies, you've just got to see this one. You'll be smitten with Herbie. Just like Umi and I were.

One Step Forward And I'll Bite

Perhaps it is because I grew up as an only child. Perhaps it's because I don't give two hoots about the value of other people's opinion and see no necessity to give them a chance to comment. Whatever. But I detest people taking for granted my things and treating them like their own. I absolutely HATE! HATE! HATE! it and I will not apologise for it. Nor would I feign acceptance and spew sweet "never minds" and "oh, it's ok. I dun mind" for the sake of propriety. because I DO MIND!!! The way I see it, propriety itself starts from not overstepping your boundaries.

I've had this problem since as long as I remember. My sisters rummaging through my pencil case looking for that pencil (I was the only one still in school so I was the default stationery girl), Friends looking into my folder for test papers. Cousins sifting through my wallet for a look-see (looking for a boyfriend photo, I think). On every ocassion it happened, I blew my top and made the person understand what is MINE is definitely MINE AND MINE ALONE. And now it's happening again.

It may seem like a privacy issue. But it's not just that. It goes waaay deeper. I personally think it is about respect. Respecting someone's rights. Respecting someone's basic right of ownership and tailoring your actions to display it. It doesn't matter if that person is your child, your sibling or a friend.

I know for a fact some parents (mothers mostly) go through their teenage children (daughters mostly) drawers and even skim through their diaries. They think they have a right to do so by virtue of being the ones who brought them into this world. I sooo dun buy that crap. Thank god my mother is not a freaking, kay-poh mom. I know when I have children I won't do that. And I won't let The Don do it too. If I have reasons to suspect anything amiss, perhaps I'd rummage through their things but only in their presence. I don't believe in snooping.

Sometimes out of necessity, you place an item of importance in someone's care with the words, "In case of emergencies". Apparently emergencies comes in many a varied form. Some thinly disguised as so. The way I see it despite having the item, since it is not an emergency (not in the dictionary sense of it anyway, self-definations don't count) permission still needs to be sought. Just because you have been entrusted with something, it doesn't give you blanket permission to use it whenever you want.

Even my Don thinks I am being trivial. Well different strokes for different folks. Maybe most people do not view this invasion of personal rights so severely. Unfortunately I do. This is important to me. Non-negotiably so. People around me will know how fiercely I guard my personal rights. Those who don't know just yet will find out soon. Very soon.

BACK TO SCHOOL - partie une Yesterday was the day my Don gave his speech to the graduating students of his alma mater. The plan was such that My Don, being the main speaker, was supposed to address the whole batch of graduting class. Afterwhich they will all break up into their own classes and other motivators (ex-students who are a success in life in one way or another) will take on one class and mingle with them. Allowing them to get up-close & personal and ask any questions they wanted.We arrived at his old school a few minutes after 6 and from below we could hear the teacher addressing the students. The other motivators had not arrived so The Don was quite pleased, thinking he will have a few more minutes to compose himself and try to recall his speech (He forgot to bring his prepared speech so he had to rely 100% on memory)But alas, the moment we came into view of the teacher on stage, Mr Raja, told the students Ok Everybody, turn around and look behind you. The man you see walking towards you now is an ex-student. He is now a very successful man. He has his own I.T company and even has a company in Malaysia. He has very kindly made time to come to speak to you today. Please clap your hands and welcome Mr *DON* on stage" So much for time to compose himself. Before he himself knew it, he was holding the mike on stage and some 300 students were looking up at him, open-eyed and eager to hear his speech. Thank god my Don did great. He did manage to recall most of the speech I wrote for him although the order was a bit jumbled. And boy, did I beam with pride !!! They then broke up into their own classes and while two of the other motivators were assigned one class, The Don was given one to himself. All this while I was busy chatting with one of the teachers Mrs Jaya. I was just about to excuse myself and take the opportunity to roam around the school when one of the teachers, Ms Vena, approached me and asked if I were willing to talk to the girls in her class. She said she thought I could just give them words of encouragement and perhaps offer an advice or two. To say I was shell-shocked would be an understatement. I wasn't from this school and I was completely at a blank on what to say to them. To refuse her would have been ungracious so I (very) hesitantly said I'd try my best. I was there to give emotional support to my hubby but ended up being a motivator as well. She got the girls together, and introduced me as "The Don's wife". (what a great start!) The girls were a sweet lot. They look so naive and innocent I was half afraid I'd corrupt their minds instead of motivate them. But I did the best I could anyway. I told them a little bit about myself and asked about them. Before long, they had opened up to me and the questions started coming. The part that intrigued them the most was how I met The Don. (ok we met in The Don's old school) but I managed to steer them away from a potential BGR talk to their studies. (Thank God!) I had a great time and I hoped the girls did too. The girls warmed up enough to ask if they could contact me directly. For fear of non-stop ringing of my handphone I gave them my email instead. There will be another session on Thursday. This time I will make sure The Don comes prepared and this time I will make sure I stay in the shadows. Still I was glad The Don had this opportunity to contribute to his school and I sure hope the kids were inspired in one way or another.

Yesterday was the day my Don gave his speech to the graduating students of his alma mater. The plan was such that My Don, being the main speaker, was supposed to address the whole batch of graduting class. Afterwhich they will all break up into their own classes and other motivators (ex-students who are a success in life in one way or another) will take on one class and mingle with them. Allowing them to get up-close & personal and ask any questions they wanted.

We arrived at his old school a few minutes after 6 and from below we could hear the teacher addressing the students. The other motivators had not arrived so The Don was quite pleased, thinking he will have a few more minutes to compose himself and try to recall his speech (He forgot to bring his prepared speech so he had to rely 100% on memory)But alas, the moment we came into view of the teacher on stage, Mr Raja, told the students
Ok Everybody, turn around and look behind you. The man you see walking towards you now is an ex-student. He is now a very successful man. He has his own I.T company and even has a company in Malaysia. He has very kindly made time to come to speak to you today. Please clap your hands and welcome Mr *DON* on stage"

So much for time to compose himself. Before he himself knew it, he was holding the mike on stage and some 300 students were looking up at him, open-eyed and eager to hear his speech. Thank god my Don did great. He did manage to recall most of the speech I wrote for him although the order was a bit jumbled. And boy, did I beam with pride !!!

They then broke up into their own classes and while two of the other motivators were assigned one class, The Don was given one to himself. All this while I was busy chatting with one of the teachers Mrs Jaya. I was just about to excuse myself and take the opportunity to roam around the school when one of the teachers, Ms Vena, approached me and asked if I were willing to talk to the girls in her class. She said she thought I could just give them words of encouragement and perhaps offer an advice or two. To say I was shell-shocked would be an understatement. I wasn't from this school and I was completely at a blank on what to say to them. To refuse her would have been ungracious so I (very) hesitantly said I'd try my best. I was there to give emotional support to my hubby but ended up being a motivator as well.

She got the girls together, and introduced me as "The Don's wife". (what a great start!) The girls were a sweet lot. They look so naive and innocent I was half afraid I'd corrupt their minds instead of motivate them. But I did the best I could anyway. I told them a little bit about myself and asked about them. Before long, they had opened up to me and the questions started coming. The part that intrigued them the most was how I met The Don. (ok we met in The Don's old school) but I managed to steer them away from a potential BGR talk to their studies. (Thank God!)

I had a great time and I hoped the girls did too. The girls warmed up enough to ask if they could contact me directly. For fear of non-stop ringing of my handphone I gave them my email instead.

There will be another session on Thursday. This time I will make sure The Don comes prepared and this time I will make sure I stay in the shadows. Still I was glad The Don had this opportunity to contribute to his school and I sure hope the kids were inspired in one way or another.

Stop, Gawk & Drool

Last Friday en route to KL, we stopped by Danga Bay for an early dinner. We were still trying to get over our shock at the apparent inverse proportional logic they practise over there (RM5 for HALF PLATE of chicken rice + RM4 for QUARTER plate of hot plate noodles) when we spotted one Japanese guy + one Mat Salleh with some heavy-weight photography equipment. They were in these luminous orange tee with the words RALLY emblazoned on them. Slowly in came streaming a few more similiarly neon clad men. We had a feeling something was going on around there. At that instant, our ears picked up the rip-roaring sound of turbo engines - way before our eyes feasted on the brighly coloured cars cruising passed us. You could literally hear gasps of breath from everyone as the cars rolled by us. Apparently the MALAYSIAN RALLY starting point was in Danga Bay and we happened to be there just at the right time.





My dearest Don was obviously mesmerized, as was I. A good thing we had to be on our way so we wiped the drool off each other's chin and zoomed off. Otherwise I had no guarantee the Don will not start getting ideas on how to modify the Lancerlot.