My Not-So Graceful Week

i don't update regularly nowadays, don't you think? i won't be until all these BP thing is over. that is something that you need to face when working for a giant. to be finally able to have your BP approved at the highest level, you need to go through many stages. each one comes with its own comments, re-calculations, amendments and whatnots. as if all those are not enough, i was called for a workshop next week. plus, the management wants to see how we performed half-year last year on something we did not consider as KPI back then. that means, i will have do all the calculations right up from Dec05 until June 2006. that's 7 bl**dy months, mind you. i hate backtracking. especially that far.

to be frank, my house is out of order. i have mountains of laundry to wash, fold and put away. kitchen sink is full of pinggan mangkuk yang dah cuci. i woke up one day to an empty drawer of undies. sib baik ada yang tak lipat lagi. i've been coming back late for quite a number of days. please don't nag me and do not ask me why i didn't do the things after coming back. you see, first 1/2 hr was spent entertaining the kids then i took my shower and had little dinner. by then it was like 11p.m already. i deserve some rest too.

i need a maid.

anyway.

me and tebby did some provision during one of the lunch breaks last week. the usual titbits for the kids as bekal to kindy, frozen food for one of those balik lambat dinner, loads of small cartons of choc-milk for Iman. when the cash-register 'khcing', they all amounted to RM44.44. yes, coincidently. today i rushed to Tabung Haji to deposit some of the ESOS money (before they end up as shoe, bags, blouses and God-Knows what) and some balance from the bonus. yes, i can be that strict with myself. especially now that my usual net-income is being deducted for that little fella. i left office at 11.20, hoping to catch the counter open. they say TH closes counter at 12.00 on Friday. there was me walking like one mad lady from Ampang Park LRT to TH building. and guess what, I got the number 2222. btw, TH closes at 12.15 on Friday. sib baik baju kurung mak tak koyak kat tepi sbb jalan laju cam apa jek. what else after this, start our 3rd child mission when Iman celebrates his 3rd birthday in November? *tebby still says no to this*. what the he**, they're just numbers.

oh, Kakak will be celebrating her 6th birthday this August. she insists that we prepare party-packs for her kindy friends and have some cakes with some candles to blow. i have ordered 2 moist-choc cake from Farra Smiley. i need 2 more cakes. i need 4-5 cakes in order for all kakak's kindy-mates to have decent portion each. as for party-pack, tebby and i are going to take a day leave to buy things and do the packing.

Iman is in ohlala land already (ops I forgot to administer his combivent and inflamide.. be prepared for coughing nanti kang ni). Kakak is still watching ch62, her favourite. Tebby is away in the office doing recon for his div's BP. and i need to finish my ISO9001 online learning..

so,

ta ta for now.

Driving Lesson - Part 2

If you see this mokcik driving her little fella, please

(1) keep your distance

(2) give way when she signals

(3) don’t stay behind her, she’s slow

It’s been quite a while since the little fella came home but I’ve driven it only twice. 1st time during the weekend to Suadamai Area where the kids’ kindy is, then to Mines area, then turned back to BTHO. 2nd time was yesterday. Back home to BTHO from my office in Bangsar. That was my 1st time driving a medium-range journey. Oh, btw, the little fella needs servicing this weekend. The meter almost touching 1000km already.

I swear people were looking. Even Tebby commented so. A few guys on bikes ‘senyum-senyum kambing’ when we stop at one traffic light. They must have seen me swerving left and right. My God, my hands were not steady and I was jiggling all over. So did the car I think. There was a big slow lorry right in front of me and I had no choice but to overtake it. And I signaled like 2-3 minutes before eventually had the courage to change lane. By then the slow lorry was way ahead! Ha.. ha.. ha.. I fumbled at the toll-booth. The TNG has no cradle in the little fella. It is fixed is the other car. Tebby said he would not help and acted as if he wasn’t there. So I had to manually hold the thing and aimed until it gave out the sound. Thank God it’s an auto car. I have lesser things to mind.

I met my first obstacle right after I took the exit to Kuchai Lama where I had to cross 2 lanes to get to the other side to go south. The distance was barely 20 meters. The traffic was heavy. I inched sideways while trying so hard not to bump into the car in-front. However, I miscalculated the speed of cars coming from behind. And I was not sure of my orientation as well. I looked into the side mirror but I could not tell whether the cars I saw coming from behind were from really behind me or actually at the lane next to mine. I braked. A jeep honked. And honked. And honked. In fact he was still honking even after I managed to get to my exit. *grin* sorilah Uncle. I am drawing a plan to just drive forward and make some rounds to get to that da** exit next time. If I can’t get in that way, I still can do it some other ways right. It may seems stup** and unnecessarily inefficient but for now let’s just call it ‘safety round’. Janji mokcik and the car sampai rumah in one piece. To that Jeep Uncle, waitlahh a few months, you’ll be waving me with respect. (eh, abang ipar aku ada pakai keta Jeep tu. Hijau jugak.. tah tah dia…)

I had a fairly good drive from the point where I gained popularity from the honking event in Kuchai Lama right up to the toll-booth in BESRAYA. Like any other amateur driver, I decided to join the long Q to get myself to Mines exit. Much to Tebby’s disappointment as he always jumps it.

We stopped over at Petronas for gas. Even for that, I was still trembling. Oh… angkat… cucuk… tekan… sangkut… Jangan tak tau, mokcik ni nak buka penutup tempat minyak pon tak pandai! Acara mengisi angin tayar ditangguh dulu as it was getting late. We proceeded to BTHO. First to Suadamai to fetch the kids. They were perplexed seeing Tebby getting out of the car. They got overly excited when the saw me at the driver’s seat. Iman even decided to join me there. Nevertheless, the three of them sat at the back seat. Susah rupanya nak menjawab soalan-soalan anak-anak while trying to focus on the road.

For yesterday, Tebby gave me 70 points (with 100 as full marks).
Aik.. 70 marks aje?
Ye lah. Considering that you could not tell your orientation and miscalculated the speed.
Well, you can’t expect me to be so terer overnight
Well, then don’t expect high marks from me as well.
*b grin*

I’m sure we all know about those ‘baby on board’ stickers. I should get one. ‘Amateur Mokcik Driver On Board’ would do I think. don't you?

Alhamdulillah, after almost an hour, we got back home unscratched. I thought I was going to have a nightmare but I did not. Maybe that Jeep Uncle did. Maybe..

More Oxygen Please - Part 2

PB, sebetulnya saya sangat sibuk. CT, sibuk ini ada kaitan dengan pangkat baru tapi takde kaitan dengan kereta baru si ViVa saya tu! Matasipit, adehlah, I guess there’s always give and take. Grade, maybe? At times saya rasa macam nak kibarkan bendera putih tanda surrender. Walau bagaimanapun, saya cuba sebaik mungkin menangani all that is in my plate now. Kata orang, jangan mengalah sebelum berjuang. Sampaikan saya terfikir nak tutup aje blog ni. I can’t update as much as I used to and as much as I want to.

Sedikit updates kenduri kawin kawan saya semalam. Katil pengantin dah roboh. Jangan senyum-senyum dulu. Katil tu roboh even before majlis akad nikah. Kawan-kawan berposing sakan punya pasal, ‘krakkk’ katil tu. He.. he.. Bila jumpa kawan-kawan lama, masing-masing mulakan terkenang semasa dulu, termasuklah berat badan dulu. Lupa agaknya masing-masing dah makin membulat dan membesar. Posing lak nak ramai-ramai atas katil. Kesian kau Daisy. Habislah orang senyum-senyum kat kau lepas ni. Sapa nak percaya katil pengantin baru dah patah sebab orang lain yang buat?

Saya dah dapat duit ESOS! Walaupun tak lebat mana, cukuplah nak bagi figure dalam bank account tu cantik sikit. Saya dah nekad nak beli oven kali ni. (Jangan tak tau, Tebby dah beli pun buku pasal bakar membakar ni last weekend). Can anyone suggest to me apa brand yang tahan lama without draining my bank account. Just for domestic uses, must fit a whole chicken. If possible it comes with a skewer to bolehlah membakar golek ayam dalam tu. I’m looking for a table-top oven only. Budget, RM1k boleh? Ke ciput sangat? Okaylah, maksima RM1.5k. Uihh, tak sabar nak bakar lamb-leg nih! Atau mungkinkah saya akan berjaya membuat kek kiut-miut seperti di bawah ini. Best betul angan-angan kan. They say, setiap perjalanan beribu batu di mulakan dengan langkah pertama...

Anak-anak saya doing fine. Dari observation saya Iman cukup suka smack-down si Kakak. Each time sure Kakak jatuh tergolek. Kesahihan tergolek tu tak dapat nak dipastikan sebab Kakak herself is a drama queen. Kemungkinan dia over-acting tu ada jugak. Diam-diam dia cuba jugak smack-down balik Iman, tapi Iman sikit pun takde effect. Mungkin sebab Iman banyak minum susu Anlene saya yang ada kat dalam peti sejuk tu. I’d call that blessing in disguise. Saya kata Kakak tergolek sebab tak cukup makan. Memang dia kurus. Makan tak berapa banyak. Langsung semalam dengan gigihnya dia dok perabih nasi lemak masa makan malam. Iman pulak time makan bukannya nak dok diam. Orang lain kalau lepas makan sapu area meja makan saja, saya pulak sah kena sapu satu rumah. Ho ho ho. Teringat masa saya mengandung, saya tengok ada orang ikut anak merayap sambil bagi makan. Dalam hati saya terdetik, awatlah mak dia tak disiplinkan anak makan kat meja. Nah… sekarang, ambik kau. Sapa-sapa in the same boat, don’t worry. I won’t be judgmental.

Menjawab soalan Syikin, anak teruna saya tu dah nak masuk 3 tahun November ni. 2 tahun 9 bulan. He’s picking-up walaupun vocab tak banyak lagi. Basy (bas), wowi (lori), bakikay (basikal), boto (moto), bakang (makan… anak orang terengganu lah katakan..), ayerr (air), biyak (b***k). Just to name a few. Kakak pulak dah banyak boleh baca. Alhamdulillah. Makbul jugak doa saya.

Have a good week ahead everyone! Saya pun harap minggu ni dapat ‘bernafas’ lebih sikit…

Selamat Pengantin Baru Dazira & Adhha

a gift for the newly-weds. hope it comes handy.

when she broke the news of her upcoming wedding in our egroup, i was happy for her. i've known daisy for a long long time. since we were 13, to be precise. that makes 20 years, isn't it. she was my dormate during our secondary schooling in STF. she was smart, she was a nice girl. in fact i bet she still is!

I went to her wedding today. that was my first time to Rawang. a little bit far but easy to locate. it was raining and the area was packed. the food was nice. when we first arrived, the groom was already there so we just proceeded to eat. i only met her after that. dressed in dark-red (or was it deep-mangosteen?), she was all smile. but we did not stay long. we need to give way to other guests that were still coming. plus it was raining. i tought of combing the area in search of other school friends but the idea had to be scrapped off as well.

coincidently, the invitation card was designed by one cyber-friend - safurah. nice job girl. the card came with a matching small-bag for door-gift as well. i like.

to daisy and adhha, Selamat Pengantin Baru. Semoga Berbahagia Ke Akhir Hayat.


the door-gift. in nice paper-bag with mathing design with the invitation card.

a pack of cookies, a small pouch of tapioca-crisp, bunga telur with simple but nice small flower and potpourri in a heart-shaped glass container.
thanks.

Tale of Work & Kids

the kids are off to Atfal again. (my parent went back this morning via 9am bus) iman, threw his famous morning tantrum again. dah 3 hari sedap tidur sampai matahari naik, tup2 hari ni gelap2 lagi dah kena angkut naik keta.. membara beb! last night went to Yankees Hut in Bangi with my parents. the 2 goneks were wildly running around. that's what make me love Yankees Hut. to me the food so-so but they have big compound where the kids can vent out their energy in. and it's a bit far from jalan besar so i worry less about the traffic. suffice to say, when we were ready to leave, their pyjamas were soaking wet from sweat.

finally i can breath a bit. submitted our BP (not blood-pressure, this one is Business Plan. but true.. it can raise your blood pressure). plus, i sold another 2 lots of ESOS at 10.60. after a few days, i think 10.80 was just too ambitious (i q-ed them at 10.80 before). lega. kchhingggg... finally, my silent cash register will be sounding next week he he.

kakak can finally read! i am so happy. even words with sukukata like 'lang, cing, kat'. (i know.. i know.. your kids can read at barely 4yo.. this one is my baby. i can brag about her as i wish ain't i..) it took her quite long (that even i thought was too long) to grasp the concept of reading. when she finally got it, there you go. as for english, it took her quite sometime to master Peter & Jane 1a. After that, she sped from 2a to 3a quite impressively.

as for Iman, he speaks more but still too little comprehendable conversation. it's not like he's not trying but all that came out are all babbling sound with a word or two that sound fimiliar to our adult ears. these few days, he took interest in book as well. that, i like. i hope tak lama lagi i can have him sit still for a while and share a book or two with me.

oh, by-the-way. Tebby is on leave today. i thought he was seeing Dr Mazlam as he missed (again) his appointment. rupanya he wanted to see TRANSFORMERS. i am concerned about him not seeing Dr Mazlam about his gastritis and he took a leave to watch that movie. i told him if his gastritis strike again, i'm gonna call TRANSFORMERS to help him. that, sent him running to the clinic *grin*.

okie dokie. i want to doze off for a few minutes before starting work again.

More Oxygen Please...

i'm up to my nose. was supposed to stay-back until 10 last night but somehow, due to minor understanding, we did the things we were supposed to do yesterday, 3 days earlier. blessing in disguise huh. after the presentation just now (nope, not me, one of the AGMs), we need to do minor adjustments. hey, i like the new SGM. he shed some light in logical manner. very soft spoken. but convey his directions firmly. i wish i can be as knowlegable and amiable as he is. and firm. all the opposites of me.

sempat lagi nak memblog tu. need to vent out at times kan.

my parents are here in KL. i begged them to look after my kids for these few days. Tebby is busy as well. some years ago, i read about 'advertising orphan' - the term they used to address the kids of advertising people. setahu saya, diorang ni bekerja around the clock. i remember when i was with sales group, if we told them at 9.00p.m to come over at 8.30 tomorrow morning, they'd be there with all the adjustments and what nots that you want them to do. kakak is more than happy when my parents come over. they had good time bullying the two and had good lunch and good dinner. i'll be busy until we finally submit the final draft (final draft ok, bukan final document), which maybe next week. after that, Tebby pulok sibuk.

oh, i drove my ViVa last weekend. (just now someone asked what the plat no is, eh eh.. baru saya sedar saya tak ingat pun apakah nombornya. yang pasti it begins with WFQ) since i have driven before, i think i had minimal problem manoevouring the little fella. but with traffic at my left and right, i panicked from time to time. suffice to say, i started at 60kmph and later after i gained composure, i accelerate at more than 90kmph. Tebby said that was too fast for a beginner. bukanlah yang, i am not a beginner. i am a begin-againer! anyhow, when i finally pulled the handbrake, everybody gave out 'nafas lega' and hurriedly got out. they were sure to be so thankful to be able to get out and stand on mother-earth again. he he *grin*

okie dokie. back to work.

it's true what Sikulat has commented in my recent entry. i have many things to be thankful about. i mean really really thankful. by writing this down, please do not perceive me as boasting or anything to that effect. i am merely sharing bits of my life, like any other things that happened in my life.

one thing to be thankful about - i finally could fetch my car from the dealer's compound. that little fella (maybe i should name her. it's a 'she' according to Kakak, btw) has been stranded there for a little less than 2-weeks. our system that was supposed to automatically generate the cheque, went kaput and restoration took place about 4-5 days later. you see, no cheque no car. system problem was one thing, the people was another. i do not want to dwell on the negative part of it but i am so so indebted to Kak Normah from HR who helped me a lot through the whole process. finally last Wednesday, 4th July, the fella was taken out and brought back home to where she should have been week earlier.

another thing to also be thankful about - i've sold my ESOS. 6 of them in fact. i have another 2 lots to go. since i do not have mountains of cash, i used financing to disburse my ESOS from T*. somehow, the process was longer than the other 2 times before. the first time, i used TA Credit. second time with Alliance Finance and this time around, Kenanga. somehow, the third time, it took so long to be listed. in fact too long that it really irritated me. there was anger. there was frustration. I wonder how Zarid could remain calm and collected! eventually mine were listed on Tuesday 3rd July. on the same day, 2 lots were sold at 10.50. Another 2 on Thursday at 10.60. i have another two listed at 10.80. usually i just give 3-4 days. if they can't make it, i'll list them at lower price.

well, grand finale of things i am thankful about - i am promoted! Mr GM himself called me and informed (during the same teleconversation, he has listed the things i need to do within that 2 days before the week ends). naturally the promotion comes with added responsibilities. i am trying hard coping, emotionally (been balik lewat and kids complaining) and physically (take-home work and staying up late to finish). it's BP time now. a very 'good' time to be promoted, huh.


okie dokie, need to hang the washed laundry.

Look Who's Finally Home!

don't ask me how i feel driving it because i haven't even sat on the driver's seat, so to speak. and when i do, don't ask me about the performance of this little fella. i last drive 6 years ago, a wira-aeroback 1.3 manual bearing the plat of TY 113. i am so so not in place to comment. so far Tebby is satisfied with the car. he said, this fella picks-up and doesn't drag when it shifts between gears. the interior finishing looks a bit plastic in many ways but at least every piece is fitted nicely where it should be. no a little too less or a little to much.

kakak was ecstatic when she saw this fella in our compound yesterday. she said, finally Tebby's car has a girl-car to marry. she always says Tebby's car is a boy for some reason only she knows. when we brought this fella for a little joyride last night, she said all other 'boys' (male car that is) were looking with interest. yes, she can get a bit carried away at times.

Iman, by nature is one curious little guy. he refused to walk on his own when we pass this little fella. he peeked and looked. and closed his eyes, resting his face on my shoulder. exactly how he reacts when meeting strangers. when we were finally inside the house, he was still peeking outside from the window. as if inspecting this little stranger.

but they both love the cars nonetheless. Iman, unlike other times when we need to use other than Tebby's car, willingly climbed up and behaved himself. kakak helped Tebby to remove all the plactic coverings and commented the different between this and Tebby's car.

maybe i'll start driving next week. i sure have a lot to learn. i don't know how to fill the gas even!

Iman

hai. my name is Iman... Muhammad Sulaiman...

(full story later)

Indulgence Part 1: Self-Pity

saya masih tak gembira. in addition to what happened recently, i still have to do the tasks from my previous post, on top of the new ones. that is so rubbing salt to wound. and i am getting mails with instruction, even from the previous boss.

i've been having problem with the cheque for my ViVa. alhamdulillah, finally, i got it today. insyaAllah, i'll fetch the car tomorrow from the dealer. funny, i am not even excited about this. donno lah, maybe at seeing it real-life will change my mind. we'll see about that tomorrow.

they say, don't indulge in self-pity. when you fall, you must get up. i think i'll just lie down awhile staring at the stars. i haven't done that for a long long time...