Congratulation To A Special Someone - Part II - Full Entry

AMARAN - ENTRYNYA PANJANG...

Sambungan dari sini.

Kami bertolak dari KL tengahari 23032007 dengan perut yang berkeroncong dan kereta yang sarat dengan hadiah telematch. Masing-masing senyap. Masing-masing melayan ingatan sendiri, tentunya pada Kakak dan Iman (yang pada ketika itu tak tak berapa nak ingat kami dan lagi syok tengok musang yang mati kena tembak kat kampung). Ralit sangat berangan, terlepas R&R Seremban, tempat yang kami angan-angankan nak makan lunch. Maka menonong lah ke R&R seterusnya – Ayer Keroh. Sampai kat Ayer Keroh, tanpa banyak soal dan usulperiksa, terus aje menyerbu KFC. Snack-plate sorang satu. Makan senyap-senyap sebab lapar amat. Dah habis baru boleh sembang. Lepas tu kami solat jamak Zuhr+Asar. Perjalanan ke Skudai was fine. Cuaca pun menyebelahi kami, tak panas dan tak hujan. Just nice. Cuma banyak sangat area di highway yang jadi satu lane. Kena pulak lori kat depan… bawak-bawak bersabar. Akhirnya at around 6p.m. kami pun sampai di Pulai Springs Resort (selepas hampir tersesat ke bandaraya JB sebab simpang ditutup – cehh… dahlah takde signboard kata nak U-turn kat mana). 5 jam perjalanan yang serba aman. Sempatlah dengar koleksi lagu-lagu rock leleh zaman 80-an. Sambil makan sotong kering yang beli kat Ayer Keroh. Syokk ooo.



Pulai Springs Resort lived up to my expectation (except for the buffet breakfast, I must say). Nestled in lush greeneries that I thought I wouldn’t mind rolling myself on the golf course, very pristine and calming. Very serene. Our arrival was greeted by trees lining both sides of the road before we checked-in at Cinta Ayu suites. We were located at 317. I’d rate the room at no 2 after The Magellan at Sutera Harbour Kota Kinabalu. The first hotel room I went to, with timber flooring and frill-less deco. That was so us. (Nevertheless we later found a cockroach roaming freely in our room, much to our wild-imagination, it later died. I hope it had eaten death baits rather than killing itself at the sight of us. And the aircond wasn’t working properly. We were relocated to room 311. Btw, room 317 has problems with its door that I would not mind at all, to tear it down myself. We were locked out most of the time) Nevertheless, Its surrounding area was breathtaking. At least to my standard lah. Bunches of mdh’s friends arrived later. Makan dinner at one of those kedai we found somewhere there. Namanya Student Corner. Dishes came in such a commendable portion that we didn’t really mind to forego their tasteless being. After dinner, we literally dragged ourselves into bed. Too tired to do anything other than sleeping. Before I knew it, I was in ohlaalaaa land.

lobby area. i like the sandstone carving

our room

at 'Social Center'. where the wives chatted away

Next day started early. The MBA holders would need to attend their rehearsal, which (should) started at 7.30a.m. I doubted that it would start that early and indeed my intuition was correct. It started much later but the guys had fun there. Sampaikan lupa alkisah para isteri di hotel yang belum makan lunch lagi. While they were there, I decided to a spa-thingy at noon. Hajat tak kesampaian when a friend called and I jumped at their invitation for some juicy gossips, perkongsian pengalaman hidup dengan anak-anak and whatnots – sampai tengahari. There goes my spa treatment. Which I realized I didn’t mind giving up for some chatting. Petang lepas rehearsal and lunch, ada telematch lagi gitu! Mdh and me took part in belon air (which we lost), mummia (which, we, again lost). Nevertheless mdh’s 'amatur' stroke in ‘bowling buah nyor’ won him a prize. We’d planned to stroll around afterwards but it rained so we just stayed indoor planning what to eat for dinner. After much thought, we had BBQ Seafood Buffet at Gleneagles *something*.

the hall. their 38th convocation.

nak tayang hanfon samsung ku sebenarnya.. he.. he..
hadiah hari raya dari mdh.

The convocation day itself started much earlier. We had to be there by 7.30a.m. With puffy eyes, had quick breakfast. On our way to the hall, met a friend. We later went in together into the hall and hit the jackpot when we managed to secure seats nearest to the walkways, through which the graduated would be walking after receiving their scroll.

Like any other convocation in Malaysia, it was an elaborated one. Funny, I couldn’t even remember how it was during my own convocation. Godness-sake, I don’t even remember who handed our scrolls! And I can’t remember where I’d put my Buku Cenderahati, in which my name was printed. As for mdh, he attended a very much lesser frill convocation for his 1st Degree in Manchester. So, he was tortured, sort of. The waiting. The standing up, sitting down, standing up again so forth and so on.. And the way that mamat sang Radja’s Jujur and Aku Pencinta Wanita (he should’ve sang that with more ‘sengau’) to kill time while we waited, was killing me. Agak ‘sumbangsih’ but I applauded for his confidence tho.

YM Zarith Sofia, Pro-Chancellor arrived early. All chatty and friendly. Sultanah Johor was a bit late. To add to that, they went to out on robes and whatnots, the ceremony started about 30-40 minutes later than in the agenda distributed. As they walked on the red carpet (led by a serious man holding a big keris on his shoulder), they were all smiles and sungguh semerbak sekali perfumenya! Once the speeches part were done, the scroll-giving was fast. As for mdh and the gang, their past was the last one. Funny thing was that, how different their sizes were from Bachelor to MBA. Memula semua nipis-nipis aje, sampai tang MBA tu, mak-mak budak, pak-pak budak, bulat-bulat belaka. Or let’s call it horizontally-challenged. Anyway, it was the first convocation I attended other than mine. The feeling while watching your loved one on stage is indescribable. Terharu, sedih, gembira. I shed a tear or two. For him, for me and the kids as well. And for the susah senang we went through for 2 ½ years.

Lepas ceremony over, they had photo taking session outside. All sweaty from the hot weather but tahan sajalah pakai suit dan robe itu kan. Demi bergambar punya pasal. We rushed to Taman Universiti untuk ambik gambar dalam studio. Wahh.. finally we have a photo yang sesuai untuk ditayang-tayang dalam rumah. Ala-ala ‘teman dan terlebih mesra’ gitu. (read – tanpa ‘pelakon2 tambahan’. ‘pelakon2 tambahan’ akan disuperimpose kemudian). In a month time, we’ll be receiving the photos. Can’t wait. Memandangkan esoknya kami nak berkejar-kejaran balik KL and then to Temerloh to fetch the kids, segala pemulangan jubah, urusan administrative kena selesaikan hari tu jugak. Ke sana sini lah kami, macam rusa masuk kampung. Ye lah, walaupun MBA nya cap UTM, kelasnya semua dibuat di KL. In short, when it all finished, we were too tired to even melawat-lawat tapak ekspo. Balik hotel and tidoqqq.

It was a bit frustrating later that day. We’d intended to go out jogging but my sneakers were still soaking wet from the ‘belon air’ game the day before. I just watch mdh having fun with the treadmill from the kiddy pool. Nampak jugaklah mak-mak budak pakai swimming suit. (Conclusion, I am not alone in this motherhood land… nyeh nyeh nyeh) A little bit later mdh joined and adjourned into the kiddy-pool. I didn’t. I had my P that time and I didn’t want to contaminate the pool. Nanti ada yang jadi drakula pulak.

It was like a 2nd honeymoon to us (the first being our trip to Korea last September). I was having my menses btw. But marriage isn’t just about s*x, isn’t it? At one point, it’s spending time alone with your loved one, doing nothing, say nothing. Just close proximity without having to worry about Jabatan Agama lah kot! Don’t get ideas. Our relationship before marriage was decent.

Anyway, on Sunday, lepas breakfast, cecepat memulakan journey balik pulak. After about ½ hour exiting toll Skudai, I fell asleep and when I woke up, I was in KL already. In just 2 to 2 ½ hours from JB to KL. Mdh kata nak test kereta. Sukahatilah.. I just hope he won’t earn any ‘scroll’ from saman ekor pulok nanti.

Mak aihh… berjela-jela lah pulak… Warned you, didn’t I?