Farewell party at Langgak Golf

I thought I'd drop by, say farewell to NZ High Commissioner His Excellency David Kersey and his lovely wife Gillian Das, and leave.
It was hard to leave early.People at the party were nice to chat with. :) Jumpa lah duta2 negara2 yang lain.I distributed our peace and conflict studies seminar flyers.Ada duta nak datang but I said kena bayar juga. Terpaksa buat muka tebal.

Azran Osman Rani, CEO of Air Asia X was there too.This guy's wittiness could be easily passed off as arrogance.I tak suka sangat dia for this. He always makes anyone talking to him feel stupid. :) I asked him betul ke Air Asia crashed kat Kuching (I tak baca papers so when my friend said the media didn't cover the news, we all thought papers dah kena beli).Azran explained what happened.I said then their PR should have explained this to their clients who now fear flying AA..Azran kata front page in NST and ada dalam Star also.I said oh.I don't read papers anymore. I said my friend said she looked for the crash news.Azran said if she were looking for the crash news, memanglah takkan jumpa.He said (nicely though) that the plane skidded but no one was hurt.Duh! Doesn't that make you feel stupid? :) But you have got to give it to this young chap lah.He's very alert, very quick.Very sportive too.

I also met this interesting lawyer who said something flattering to me: you look very intellectual.Hahaha.I said pls have some more food (mcm party tu aku yang punya!) Kita planned nak buat some projects bersama.Ni yang syok bila network.Got so many ideas to do this and that.With Puan Sri Elizabeth Amar Leo Moggie of Badan Warisan also ...and the Lady High Commissioner from Africa pun ada projects bagus nak buat.If only I could walk faster!

Footnote on David Kersey: I think like most NZ High Commissioners before him, David is very friendly and humble.He served 4 years plus in Malaysia (it felt like a couple of years je).David has done a lot for NZ-Msia ties and I like what one of his friends said in his farewell toast to David: what do you give a man who's leaving Msia and coming back again (his wife, Gillian is of Msian origin and they do return to KL pretty often).Well, good luck to both David and Gillian and thank you both for your hospitality especially in hosting our Asia-Pac dinner 2 years ago.Your kindness will go a longggggg way.

mencari daun mengkudu

Last night I slept better.Was it Darren's healing touch? (my physiotherapist who's very attentive and kind).Was it all the doas? But I slept longer hours and less pain last night.Syukurlah.

Nik came back with some Darul Shifa' solution: goreng lada hitam dengan garam kasar and alas dgn daun mengkudu and just tunku kat tempat yang sakit.

This morning I went looking for all these stuffs.Garam and lada hitam, no prob.Daun mengkudu? Yikes...how does it look like in the first place.I thought of a spot at IIUM.Rang Nora tanya itukah daun mengkudu.Dia pun tak sure.After making enquiries, she rang back and said, itu bukan daun mengkudu.Itu pucuk kaduk yang orang selalu buat nasi ulam. Kantoi!

So at the Achehnese shop, I asked around, "Do you know where I could get daun mengkudu?" The cashier pointed to a bush across the road.But there were so many trees and scrubs.Yang mana satu? People were so busy to stop and show me.

Then I went around and started picking what I thought was mengkudu.A lady who earlier heard that I was looking for mengkudu, stopped me and said, itu pokok bunga, puan..mengkudu pokok besar tu. Still, she was pointing at a distance and there were many pokok besar.

Finally tengok I so bodoh, she came down out of her car and showed me betul2 inilah mengkudu.Hahaha.I can't believe strangers can be so kind! May God bless her!

Bibik tunku..ayoo..like a spa sedapnya...more!more! but I had to go to work.Nanti malam sambung ~ after my farewell dinner with NZ High Commissioner at Langgak Golf.David and Gilian are beautiful people.Walaupun I sakit kaki, I must go sekejap and bid them farewell (they were supportive of our Asia-Pac conference 2 years ago by hosting one of our dinners).

Azwadi's farewell lunch

With the owners of Art's Cream Gallery, Pavilion

(best local gelato you can get in Malaysia, at a very reasonable price.Go enjoy!)

So we all went to Mazidah's Art's Cream Gallery at the Pavilion to say farewell to Azwadi.Wan Helmi (the new manager)also joined us. Everyone said they loved the place.The gelatos, tiramisu cake and pastas were great.Great companions, lots of laughter.Hopefully the pics will come soon.

Was late for my chiro treatment but managed to do it, anyway.I feel it makes no difference (cos' of driving?).Sigh.
But seeing Mazidah and her husband, Affendi was good.Must bring Z and Nik to this place.They would love their durian gelato.

Slipped disc and Tanjong Malim Pau

I am still in pain despite various alternative treatments for my slipped disc.Alhamdulillah I still have my mobility and still go to work.Do not like me signed up for ridiculous package in times of need (people would always take advantage of your pain).Remember I paid almost RM50K for my spine treatment 2 years ago? It worked for a while and now the guy wanted more money if I were to continue with him.I should go to the police.But my lesson is an expensive one.A lot of wasted energy and time as well.

So now I'm seeing this South African chiropractor at Mt Kiara.Before that, a Russia-trained neurologist who's free lancing.I gave up on him cos' the treatment was so painful (but it worked for my upper body..my frozen shoulders, stiff neck etc).

Everyone's screaming Avoid surgery! Avoid surgery!
But if the pain is so extreme and I go sleepless for so long, how? Can tahan kah?

So on Saturday, I agreed to go with Nik to visit Z and we took her out to eat Tanjong Malim pau.Ayohhh..so many people and the place is so badly managed.Service so slow, place so dirty...I told Nik kalau sedap macamana pun, kalau mcm ni, I would not come again.He agreed.But then came in the pau in all flavors and the King Prawn Mee...ayo yoo...manyak sedap! It was worth the long wait!

Malam tu, I twisted and turned again.In pain.Kalau ada sapa2 tau a painless therapy centre for slipped disc, pls O pls let me know.

Power Voice workshop with Richard la Faber

Finally the workshop we had been looking forward to!

It went very well..our participants left with a big smile on their face.Richard is an angel.He's such a humble and generous person.Suara sedap giler.We all became like him at the end: resonance, deep, confident voices.The guys from Kuantan went back as macho men. :)) But as always the rest of the world failed to recognise opportunities.But it is better to look at the half filled glass than the half empty one and those who made the effort would definitely rule the world. :))

The next time you hear me speak, ahem...macam pembaca berita. Grin.

11.1.11 Surprise Party

Yes, thank you all for your best wishes on the day I turn er..24. I love all of you too.I have been blessed with so many great friends (great students/former students).

My CERDAS office planned a bday surprise but unfortunately, I found out! It was so funny.It started with Hasnah telling me Dr. H wanted to meet at 12.30 for a short discussion (kita memang byk projects this year).I said OK but I have to rush to pick my mom to send her to her dialysis centre.Sementara tu I went down to the cafeteria to have my lunch and went back to the pantry to have my health drink.On my way to the kitchen, I saw Nadira bergegas-gegas like she was up to no good (I was wondering hmm..dia buat apa pulak ni).But I let it go.At the pantry I saw Dr H tengah mengeluarkan lots of plates from the cabinet and I asked what was going on.Her answer takda apa..takda apa just meant there was something fishy going on then zap! I suspected!

Lepas tu Dr H said jom kita pi meeting room kejap.I just burst laughing and said eleh leh leh...nak kasi I surprise party ya? They all kantoi! And kita ketawa mcm nak bergolek2 lagi.
At the meeting room was a real surprise ==> I didn't expect they'd go all out to prepare stuffs for me: siap with a lovely cake which Hasnah pressured her babysitter to bake in the middle of the nite!
Guys, I am touched and thank you for your nice gesture.May Allah bless each of you.Dr Haslina: thank you so much for being such a great partner at CERDAS.I hope you'll be rewarded accordingly.I hope we'll make lots of money for CERDAS this year so that we can retire early and live in Hawaii. Haha.

To Abam: thank you for those lovely roses, hand-made carpets and I love that card (which says "you are so beautiful"). Nik just know how to please me. :))
To Z: although I love Lady Gaga and can sing her song...what do I do with the CD you bought me? Haha.I accept anyway.Thanks honey.I know you are proud of me for being able to sing "I want your ugly..I want your love!love! love!love!" Well, I can do Madonna too.Nak tengok? Wink.

Birthday dinner

We went to Top Hat on Jalan Stonor to celebrate my birthday (besok but Z is going back on Monday so kita keluar awal so that we could be together).

Top Hat has been winning Best Restaurant for 5 years berturut2 (until 2007 I think) and is very popular with corporations.They were having a group of RMCs celebrating their 50th year the nite we were there but RMCs being RMCs..so disciplined.Their party ain't noisy at all.I liked!

Go for Top Hat's Onion Soup.Sedap giler.Caesar Salad is not as nice as Mandarin O's.
The lamb ribs are not as nice as Tony Roma's but OK-lah.
The juices were great.
Environs was great but if you go upstairs mcm rumah hantu...
But I'd go again for a private function with close friends.The place is cosy.Food range tak banyak,though but banyak2 pun buat apa.You can only eat a dish at a time.It's more than twice cheaper than dining at Mandarin O

Old gals in the new block

Happy new year, everyone! I didn't stay up late to watch new year fireworks (Z did...she slept over at one of the rich apartments near KLCC and saw the bright future ~ a young teenager's perspective).

The new year started with so many unfinished/postponed businesses.DELL hosted the Foleys (from the US).Jack Foley is a well-known arts critic, poet and talk show host in San Francisco.His wife Adelle is also famous as a haiku poet.Their son Dr. Sean Foley is at ISTAC as a Fulbright scholar so when Sean offered his parents to read at the Dept, I jumped at the opportunity.And what fun it was.Jack is a genius (reads Latin, Greek, German and French).I just love listening to him.He's also very, very funny. We had Kerry (Sean's wife) in the afternoon to speak on issues surrounding women trafickking.A new world for our students.

Then Nik's mom got admitted into the hospital.Then my mom (at IJN).My spine's pain spread to my hip...I had to take leave to rest (but of cos' I had to run between 'serving' my mom and my mom in law).If this is a test from God, I'd do what my NLP friend tells me to do, "makin aku diuji, makin aku redho dan ikhlas Ya Allah." I have a new zikir, "Makin aku diuji, makin aku sayang kepadaMu dan Islam, Ya Allah" ~ just so you don't kufur with ujian! (reversed psychology).

Have you been to the new IJN block? Waaahhhh...macam hotel! Whoever designed it was a good soul.It's so people-friendly (the kind of place you don't mind being sick in).It's like being in a 5-star shopping mall! (OK I exaggerate a little but you do get that feeling).

But as I sms-ed Datin Z whose husband sits on IJN board...some nurses behave like they work in small district hospitals...tak padan dgn bangunan yang begitu indah dan canggih! HUKM nurses nampak better trained!

We are celebrating my bday early this year (cos' Z goes back to her college tomorrow).I'll tell you about this new place we have just discovered.