Funeral

Azah text-ed me early in the morn to say her mil passed away last night.I had thought of calling her up and asked about her mom semalam actually.

Mula2 nak pi dgn Nik lunch hours but after exchanging sms-es, found out that I could be of some use to Azah and her family if I helped buat bunga rampai.Daun pandan I habis dibunuh Bibik..so had to get some from Mama's place (pun habis nak mati..took home some anak pokok to tanam lagi..nanti Z nak bertunang, senang) Pi kat kubur nak cari air mawar (usually they sell there but takda..I guess musim raya je ada jual).Pi kedai bunga nak beli some colourful roses...petals dia layu mcm hapa je..so I got fresh flowers.

Drove to Jalan Gurney soonest Azah text-ed me the add.Mak oii...ramainya orang and parking was crazy..berapa kali I tawaf (I tawaf sampai Nik pun dah sampai but I nak balik pun Nik tawaf lagi! I told him to park where I parked).

I have not met Rauf's mom in person but nengok Rauf yang tinggi budi bahasanya..I guess she did a great job with the children esp the sons.So my yassin and fatihah were to thank her for helping this world be a better place through akhlaq mulia anak-anak dia (tak tau nak sakitkan hati orang, sentiasa menolong orang, tidak kedekut etc).It got me thinking...when I die, ada tak org tak kenal nak sedekahkan I fatihah dan yassin hanya kerana I telah lahirkan anak yang berbudi bahasa berakhlaq mulia? Seram I memikirkannya but I doa Z akan menjadi manusia yang disayangi ramai kerana akhlaqnya..Kita ini adalah siapa ibubapa kita.Bagaimana mereka mendidik kita.

Jika tidak mahu dihakimi, jadilah manusia mulia agar anak-anak kita juga disayangi orang.Jika orang sayang, apatah lagi Tuhan yang menjadikan.

Seremban 2013

We arrived almost midnite in Seremban

Masjid Negeri from my hotel room

 A welcoming dance called Bongai

I spoke infront of almost 450 people: penulis Persatuan Penulis Negeri Sembilan,

teacher trainees at Melewar, lecturers, etc

 Prof Muhammad Haji Salleh, sasterawan negara.

Also an old and dear friend.

Flowers for the ladies

Exotic dish

Like this: mahal macam bedil

Our host: Hajjah Mahaya Yassin

I was invited to discuss books by Nisah Haron (travelogue) and Mahaya Yassin (memoir) at Institute Perguruan Raja Melewar (a teaching institute older than UPSI, I was told and now waiting for the approval to convert it or upgrade it to university status)

The other discussant was National Laureate Prof Emeritus Muhammad Haji Salleh.We had fun cos' there were many questions.I stayed at the Royal Bintang.Nik drove me over and had to miss his investment power meeting at Putrajaya.We had planned to stay over at Marriott while he attend the conference meeting.Nasib I tak kena marah sbb the event at Melewar habis lewat. :)

Then we had lunch at this exotic place yang jual makanan kampong etc which included porcupine meat, daging rusa, ikan and daging salai etc.I had a bit of this and that..my assessment : worth RM27. nope...the bill was RM67! Terkejut den.Then saw the price label daging landak sekali makan RM18, rusa RM 12.Hadoi...they should all be protected animals, kan? Tobat!

Knowing and loving Ismail Faruqi

Two solid days listening to his friends and students from all over the world.You'd think you knew him but after two days reflecting and deliberating on his personality and thought...you'd walk away wishing that you had the opportunity of being his student.

He was an atheist before he became enlightened by Islamic thought and civilisation and started to pull his acts together after seeing that there ought to be more to address current problems.Hence, began an intellectual movement and his school of thought.His students who are still alive spoke of how humble he was.He'd look after his students well...waiting for them at airports and embassies, cooked them welcoming dinners...would not eat unless they were done, etc etc.Prof Anis Ahmad who was closest to him said his father told him (Faruqi) that he wanted his son to be a scholar and a syahid.Faruqi said I am now a scholar but I do not know how to syahid.One Ramadan, Allah gave him syahid.Jews broke into their home and brutally murdered him and his wife.He was becoming too strong an influence to the Islamic world, grooming leaders in his bright students at Temple University.May Allah reward him and his wife jannah.Al fatihah.

I met in person my fb friend Prof Imtiyaz.I loved his presentation but kwn2 dari sub-continent think he's too 'westernised'.Kesianlah juga.Isham's paper pun bagus.First time I heard him.Pandai rupanya Isham ni.Haha...Uni of Chicago mah.Philosophy some more.

Faruqi said ummah tu bkn org Islam je.Ia termasuk semua.So kita kena berbaik2 sesama sendiri.
Submitted my paper.Had favorable comments.Syukur.

Musim kahwin

vadey: sedap giler

the gravies to go with vadey: sedap giler

 Thosay: sedap giler

 kari ikan and dal: sedap giler

prince and pauper sama sahaja di sini

We did two weddings yesterday and another one today (and two kenduris with the family). How to follow the dietitian's advice macam ni but I was good yesterday...low protein and all.But ice cream mesti. :)

Off to have tosay at Raju's in PJ.Kari ikan dia sedap.

School visit, spa and NZ dinner

Nama je cuti...I got up before Subuh and soon after collected Dr. Saodah and I had to drive bck to Gombak to pick up materials for the sch visit.Geram betul..terlupa nak bwk balik rumah before Raya.

Then we took Duke to Rawang.Selva came early but we were earlier.:) What a welcoming team from SMK Seri Gareng (yup..gareng) from Principal dia to students.We collected our data.We had bright kids.Promised Puan Ho we'd help out with the problematic kids.Rang a couple of friends to help out.Harap2 menjadi.After dropping off Saodah, went to collect my baju and then spa...while I was dozing off during facial time, tiba2 I mimpi mengarut and could not breathe.Ada syaitan ke hapa bilik ni.Screamed for Nikki who left me in the semi dark room.Cheh!I asked her ada hantu ke bilik ni.She thought I merepek ke hapa.

Malam: trapped in jam but had time to do Maghrib at the dinner meant to welcome MBA students from Uni. of Waikato at NZ High Comm's place.I thought Helmy would be there..takda.Met Datuk Meriam of DeLoitte. Tan Sri Halim Saad pun ada.Kurus  benor dia kini.Leo Moggie pun ada.

Told Datuk Meriam, lain kali kalu dinner weekday, malas nak dtg lagi..jam gila.Then we thought we could tompang each other if we decide to go. Set! ;)

A joyous day

Turun padang mengembeling tenaga

Yang tolong susun macam ini ialah siapa? :)

21 ekor lembu dibuat bersama di belakang rumah 

orang kaya Gali

Sangat redho (our lembu)

Blue eyes

Equipment semua cukup

Easy job...di bawah khemah menjamu sup daging korban 

dan makan tengahari daging korban yang sangat sweet

We started our day trip back to Raub pretty late and I was worried that we might not be able to witness lembu kami (my family and I) disembelih cos' ustaz said sunat melihatnya dan boleh minta doa apa2.... amat makbul.

Mula2  my kid sister text-ed kata dah selamat disembelih..lembu no. 4. I was so kecewa.Then she text-ed bck kata silap..ours is no. 8 (of 21 ekor).Lega. No. 4 was Sal's and she mmg tak dpt balik and says to give away all.

This year, our lembu so baik.No tantrum like every year we do (one year, dia lepas lari..terpaksa pulak cari ganti.Haha...gamaknya that year dosa byk sgt sampai binatang pun tak sudi). Syukurlah...badan I felt so light after the qurban was done.Semoga diterima Allah amalan yg tak seberapanya ini.The place was new...kawasan this tycoon guy...dia sponsored 21 lembu tu sampai we only had to pay rm250 satu bahagian.I didn't know...we were wondering why so murah..mcm kat Kemboja je.Dah sampai baru tau.Oh well...the lembu's not so bad.And they had good food and drinks.No ruang for us to bersedekah cos' semua ditanggung beres.Semoga murah lagi lah rezeki dia.Nik and I tolong potong2 towards the end cos' byk sgt to do.Adalah barang 10 minit di situ. :))

Next year panjang umur, we want to do in Kuang with our surau people.This will enhance our ukhwah.Sure seronok doing it with people you know.

Selamat Hariraya Eidul Adha

We tak masak pun...last nite bought satay and read yassin with my in-laws.Pagi ni pi kubur then had nasi dagang at my aruah mil's then went off to visit Irshad at HUKM and mama's friend's husband kena stroke.

My mom lives in JB now.Sal's kids and Kak Ngah raya with Mek and mom.We keep in touch through  our chat group.Meriah juga.

Happy eid.

All set for a busy year end

I went to collect my blood test results yesterday.Syukur alhamdullilah no cervical or breast cancer indicators.Past 50 kena chk twice a year (mammo) and every year pap.But my fren yg buat mammo every two years in the end dpt breast cancer.Some say the radiation from the mammo can cause it.Nauzubillah.Just live and eat right lah.Exercise, mesti.

I dah berhenti lama my olive oil routine.Last accupuncture was in June.Apa lagi...flared up lah segala readings yg tak patut tu.Now nekad to stay off lamb chops and red meats.Mkn ala kadar je.But musim korban ni entahlah lah how well I can bertahan.

Nik and Z and I are on daily contact.Nik changed his flight early.I'm happy to know this cos' I pun dah mati kutu tinggal with two maids now (the luxury of them all...they just helped dye my hair for raya sebentar tadi.Then one prepare my aura bath yakni air garam from Pakistan.Betullah rasa segar after mandi air garam ni.Maybe all the negative energy was washed away.I also did my accupuncture today.Sampai terlelap.Syukurlah.Must be all those stresses doing two film events).

Last night I joined my Mahmud Sch seniors meraikan our teacher who is still alive.Cikgu Abbas is almost everyone's favourite.A first class honours from UM, his way of teaching mmg lekat punyalah.So I was invited to join my seniors (Nik's batch) and dined at The Saddle,Bukit Kiara.Rosman and Rostam are twin brothers.Nik's friends (Nik spent two years at the same sch I went to but we didn't meet there.I masuk form 4, his family dah pindah ke KL) are now my friends.I only know the twins from my fb.We had a nice time talking about our High School.Apparently Cikgu Abbas and his good friend Cikgu Yusoff took two buses to Rantau Abang and got the kids from Raub (mostly Chinese yg tak pernah pi kg Melayu) to see penyu bertelor.I missed that.My class went to Langkawi with other teachers.The heartthrob waktu tu..Wai Keong kena sengat with jellyfish and dikejarkan ke emergency room.And the chalet we slept in by the sea, atapnya bocor ke hapa.It rained that night and we all tidur kesejukan.Looking bck, I wonder how or why my parents let me go on this trip.:))

Empty Nest Syndrome

Haiya...am feeling it now that I'm left with Bibik for the next ten days.I have many book projects and had been working on them (one of them) today and nunggu CERDAS cos' Allam is in the hospital for the next couple of weeks.Yesterday nasib the lecturer was smart enough not to cancel the class when the classroom was locked.Allam sms-ed on Fri to tell me to replace him tom and after tom.I was reading quickly and thought Tom tu kawan dia who would replace him and after Tom, ada org lain. Haha..I am so spoilt...ingat ada org nak clean my mess all the time. I pun sakan la with my family...tengok orang kawin...hantar my mom kat airport...rupa2nya tom tu tomorrow...I were to find his replacement for Saturday and Sunday (after tom).Aii..byklah cantik kasi I message mcm tu.Short notice pulak.Dr. Haris said tak pyh dtg on Sunday..he'd take care of his own class and would inform Dr. Nor Harun.

Lucky I went juga pagi ni after pasar.Mcm2 takda.The students were good (from the industry semuanya...senior positions).This prog needs proper caringlah.So much potential.Besok Haris and Alizi and I will meet up to see how we can menggerudi to make it better and friendlier.

I miss Nik.He's in Ho Chi Minh City with other top notch orgs...kononnya leadership training but I hope he'd help do some silk and linen shopping for me. :))

I guess I should finish up reading this autobiography by a woman writer.Will update on this soon.

My first meeting as IIUM Lower Education BoD

Macam biasa, I got lost ke Kg Sg Pusu.Baca surat tu betul2 la cek...Jalan Sg Pusu.Bukan Kg Sungai Pusu.

So the Chairperson, Group CEO semua tunggu saya (but I was still a min or two before the stipulated meeting time...OKlah tu).If only I could run CERDAS like this...ahaks.Very tersusun but issues pun byk juga.Tougher woh.But with Prof Rosnani as Chair, insyaAllah, we'll do this together.

Mak ooii...the sch culture is so different.Possibly tougher to handle than IIUM itself but let us try.Berkat nawaitu yang betul and hardwork, we must be on par with some of the best private schools in town.


Found out this: KJ and I share same zodiac: Capricorn. :)) Dia Jan 10.I Jan 11.Saja nak usik Z. :)
Suddenly I'm so wanted.So many dinners and luncheons which clash.Haiyo.Dah la I lupa dinner with Tun Mahathir last Saturday (thinking it's this Sat).Nov macam penuh jugak.

Oh well, it's all about time management and which is to prioritise.