Nawaitu

...saumarghadin...not.

I had the hunch already this morning that something good would happen as I weighed between attending the unionist meeting at MU and the conference on Islamic Advertising at IIUM and chose IIUM conference.Could have done both but I decided to spend half a day je to write my article for En. Li kita.I went  to show support for my colleagues in Comm Dept in addition to my own interest in the subject matter..visual arts kan? tak jauh beza than what we tried to do in IWFF.Nawaitunya sama.

My hunch was if we had good intentions, the good boomerang would return to us.But what happened was beyonnnnnndddd my imagination and for that alhamdulillah.

What exciting, well- meaning speakers (and personalities...the 'guru' of advertising pernah masuk ISA! I think as we spoke, terasa ada sama wave lengthnya.Gamaknya generasi sama...the other speaker vocabnya pun very 70ish and 80ish...discotheque...kah kah..I think kids today say clubbing).

At least three things they'd do as an aftermath of the conference and I doakan menjadi.But I got invited to an Oct function and self invited me to the other function by OIC when the good old Dato said he was planning for something in Nov..only by invitation...I said pls invite me yah.Muka tak tau malu...tak tau diuntung (ahaks) but tak kisah...kita nak belajar so kita boleh ajar students kita pulak.
There are good vibes in these great minds.I'm here to learn.

Part 2 Nawaitu

As I sat to write my article, Bibik rushed upstairs to remind me that I had to pick up Seiki from KL Sentral by 8.00.There went my writing hours! Nik pulak demam so I had to drive over alone.I took Bibik along cos' after dropping Seiki off, sure dah lewat malam.

Found him on a different level..lucky I found a good parking lot and the guard was kind enough not to chase me away while I waited for an empty space.
Problems at the hotel counter...haiyo I told them..can they be more customer-friendly and let Seiki cancel one night? He booked online and was told he had to cancel online as well.Apa ke ngok sgt depa ni...benda belum berbyr.But after much persuasion, they let Seiki checked in for the length of stay he wanted.Monday their boss will sort out the one day thingy.

We went to have a drink and supper at one of the hotel restaurants.Kata Bibik kawan Ibu baik ya..dia dengar je cakap Ibu (he asked me about makanan halal and stuffs on Islam).Kata Bibik Seiki tekun mendengar.I said orang terpelajar,Bik.Mereka terbuka kpd perbedaan budaya tanpa ada rasa prejudis.That's what I like about Seiki.A real scholar.

Edgy dodgy day

I got so easily edgy today.Pekenenye? Z left in the wee hours.Tak cukup tidur kot? Pagi dah bergegas ke Sg Jerlok 3. Get that right Waze! Everything didn't work like it should...class hours was pinched ( tht set a series of membebel O membebel...the penjara officers, director, spa girls and owners semua kena menerima "aduan"....bdk tukang urut I tu mcm membelai kucing masa ngurut I.Luckily the Filipino gal took over..tunku my womb..heavens!)

But I'm grateful to good students..I asked anyone feels stressed up here? NOOOO, they screamed back in unison...exciting...jerit mrk lagi,Ha? I didn't expect that but it's good that they were motivated.I bawak my set of Dior perfumes (miniatures) to stimulate their sense of smell.Apa lagi, yang kaki laram lumur lebih dari pusat nadi mereka..they said dah lama tak bau perfume.Kesian.They like us cos' we create the sense of home/ familiarity of a life they knew so well.

Bergegas balik for a meeting.I sensed an injured tiger out to jump on me.I snarled balik ( my edgy day jgn tak tau.Ada berani?) Apa kena yg sorang ni? I suspect very stressed up.After shooting an email to my colleagues, found out that it was an old issue raised (motivenya?).Always a step ahead, I went to see my immediate superior and told him my concern of cik pollen.Rasa dia on the verge of breaking down...better inform the management to reduce her workload and get someone else to cover the 3rd office cik pollen is covering.Usually she's a beautiful person to work with.Skrg bang doors sana sini, org bagi salam tak jawab, membebel O membebel ( kami semua dan cik pollen)..I don't work in this kinda work environment, okeh? So my team and I pakat we'll sit down and sort this out.Cik Pollen must be saved.No ward 13 here, pls.

Oh too much is happening at the same time.I must blog about Cik Terbos one of these days.Tunggu sahaja, need to write an article due soon.

Pet Shop Boys

Z and I wanted to go to PSB's concert besok malam but her Dad tak kasi. :(( But betul lah juga.If we went, harga ticket is close to RM500 per head (sebahagian harga lembu korban..tak patut sangat rasanya) so I guess pasang youtube je le and imagine you are at the concert.

Z finally got her car license and every day would go for cheap thrills in my car (with me sitting next to her..holding to whatever I could cos' I seram!). I am grateful she got her license cos' it would be very difficult when she starts to work next year and yet tak tau nak drive.

Bibik had a funny conversation with our new neighbour ( a new tenant).She said she's a datuk and wishes not to mingle with anyone cos' she didn't want to pressure anyone with protocols.Mak aiii! I better not say anything.I cannot afford to quarrel with neighbours but it is so easy if we do not respect each other's space (the owner ought to repair the sewage system which is now emitting bau busuk.The earlier tenant had the same problem so I don't think it's fair to get the new tenant to repair stuffs which should be the responsibility of the house owner). Happiness at home relies a lot on who your neighbours are.

A mother of four

I took care of 4 children yesterday. But for a couple of hours only. :)))

Z said Aunty Lina had to cope with so many : career and family.She'd go, what work-life balance, what family quality time.But for us, she's simply amazing as she jets around the world on work and plays the perfect mom and wife when she returns.I could never do that.Anak sorang pun berpuluh-puluh maids tolong jaga.

Yesterday, she and Khairil agreed to let us take all three of their kids pi beli ice cream.Nabil was away playing football so can you imagine us taking Nazeer out without the maid? Nazeer, Nadra and Nayli and Z! The funny thing was I could not get up without someone picking Nazeer off my lap.He's 10.5 kilos now.We went to Baskin Robbins where Nadra went I want alloon...alloon..nasib the guy baik and gave them two alloons. Nazeer had his first taste of raspberry ice cream.Just a wee bit. He made heads turn cos' he's such a cutie.

As we drove past familiar routes, Nadra went "We go home?" Then she said the famous phrase, "Where am I?" (patutnya "where am I" dulu baru "Are we going home?" She would always have things in the wrong order.Mak dia dah warn dah, Nadra will tiba2 ask "where am I?". Z and I dah gelak berguling2 when she said that)

By the time we dropped them off, there's a sigh of relief.It sure IS a lot of work being a mom of four.

Saturday was our nasi lemak day...Bibik and I cooked and dropped off the nasi lemak at three houses.Sunday was doa selamat lunch with Sal and family since Z is going back to the UK next week.Bibik and I cooked also. Petang was mee tok wey's day cos' Puan Zaiton came to send DBP mags for the prison's lib.Rasa mcm raya la pulak with so many people coming and going.Then Ros and family came.More eating. :)

University ranking: ada aku kisah?

IIUM didn't do that great at all in both world and Asian rankings - 501-40 at world level and 145 at Asian level. While I agree branding is useful and we should also be proud of how local unis, taught mostly by locals, do better than an international uni (taught by so many nationalities), I tend to share my daughter's skepticism of the rankings.Her own uni (Uni of Sheffield) beat LSE.Can you beat that? Mabuk gila.Z said: come onlah Ibu.The rankings are for unis which are big on research.The industries will know who the real players are.

Then Quayum sent me this link, on an article written by our friend at NUS. Of cos' Prof Kamal dah lama cakap pasal benda yang serupa.http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/university-rankings-a-need-for-critical-reflection-philip-holden

So hey, the next time you go through the ranking list, boleh baca, percaya jangan - until you see graduates from that ranked unis stand out in a crowd, doing good things for their countries and communities and not planning to carpet bomb other countries or swindle rakyat's money.

Kuala Linggi beach

Faisal convinced everyone that staying at a homestay by the seaside would be fun for all.The bungalow can take all four families.

So we went hari Sabtu after we were done with our chores...I went to see a respiratory consultant and did my chest xray.Alhamdulillah semua cantik.Dr. Ronald gave me antibiotics and more cough mixtures.Z and dad pi buat fitting baju kurung.Minggu depan dah nak balik UK, takut tak sempat nak jahit balik nanti.Ramai juga org KL moving out of the city for the long weekend.We took jalan kampung ke Kuala Linggi.

The first thing I saw in the kitchen was this belangkas hidup turned upside down.I screamed cos' I sprinkled some water on it and it moved! The lembing was directed towards me.I thought I read somewhere it can shoot the ekor tajam mcm lembing tu ke arah penyerang.Sapa la punya kerja letak belangkas hidup kat sink dapor ni.I told Faisal to get the caretaker to take away the animal.Dapat ke Nadra...habis!Rupa2nya ayah empunya rumah tu yg punya.He lives next door.Dia nak rebus buat sup! Mungkin buat ubat batuk, mujarab.:))

We all jumped into the sea.It's really private.But byk batu.Where there was none, we had fun just berendam or just swam or dived.Nik jadi our seahorse (mcm beca airlah).The younger kids got free rides on this seahorse.Kelakar betul.I had Nazeer on my lap but as the waves came, dia takut.Badan je besar budak ni.Penakut kemain.

The batu spoilt it all.Otherwise it was a nice time out in the sea.

Malam we went out to eat seafood.Tom yam dia sedap gila..Seh Seafood.
At night, you hear nothing but frogs croaking..kata org memanggil hujan.Entah2 tengah berasmara dana.:)) But hujan did come by subuh besoknya.It cleared the haze and the sea looked real pretty.

We rushed to attend Dato Zuhdi's son's wedding at KGPA.I loved tapai dia..dibungkus dlm kertas hijau beralaskan plastik.Satu inovatif tu.

Going with the flow

I thought I'd just take an mc and rest on Friday cos' I was still coughing badly.But Fri is my prison day so I just braved up.Kali ni we had asked to start early 9 am...lagilah early kena bangun to catch our driver who will arrive at 7 am.

We made it in good time and I asked Dr. CN to conduct her session first so I could rest in a corner for an hour or so.Betul-betul tak larat.Batuk mcm dada pun nak tercabut!The cough mixture didn't help much. The kids were talking on topics given by Dr. CN..on bersyukur, sabar etc.Sebenarnya we learn a lot more from them about life.One student said she belajar arti sabar semasa dlm penjara..dulu sebelum masuk, dia manusia yang paling tak sabar...semua nak segera (I thought how like me!)but in penjara, she learnt.Her coping mechanism is with her psyching up herself..she'd tell herself sabar...kali ni sahaja...although setiap kali berlaku, she will say that sampai she latih diri dia jadi sabar.I thought, wow!

Student yang seorang lagi bercakap tentang bersyukur.She said she bersyukur she masuk penjara which she found more tenang than hidup di luar sana..di sini dia belajar ngaji, solat, macam2 skills dan ilmu.Allah masih sayangkan mereka, she said.Yup, they are a bunch of intelligent lot.I begitu tersentuh.

Just as we were leaving, a student came and asked me what inspired me to do this prog with them because UIA tak pernah buat prog with them except once a long time ago on undang-undang and she enjoyed that a lot.Sebenarnya ada but not with penjara wanita I think.Dr Hariyati dulu pernah buat prog dadah tak silap.Anyway, I didn't know how to answer the lady.I told her ini semua plan Allah because I actually planned to work with a group of youths from keluarga miskin and develop progs and activities to prepare them for the workforce etc.That was how I met Dr. Kham.Then divine intervention and we ended up doing this prog.Sesungguhnya Allah Maha Mengetahui.Allah tidak pernah lupa akan hamba-hambanya di mana juga mereka berada.I told my students you hv lots of raw materials to use in your writings.Get them out cos' the world needs to learn from you.

Kita doakan objektif prog ini akan tercapai and everyone will learn something to be a better person

Conference on Pahang

The event was hosted by UMP at MS Garden, Kuantan.My childhood friend now a deputy dean at the uni wrote a paper with me on education benchmarking top schools in Pahang and Selangor.Our session was at 9 am.Pukul 8.30 am Tan Sri Aziz dah signed up.Tan Sri is my Majlis member who will hear no nonsense one.I thought haiyooo...

But alhamdullilah the paper was well-received (my moderator was such a sweet person, Dato Yahya org Maran..conference tu semua orang Pahang!) Tan Sri ckp kat my Rector (who also spoke at a later session) that I did well.My moderator tanya why org Raub pandai2. Iyalah tu.He had a theory..sebab Raub dapat jalanraya dulu, we get the schools first..colonial schools.Mungkin juga but I told him ramai bangsa lain so we had to compete with them as well.Plus the fact ramai Rawas.:)

I found out that evidence Islam sampai lebih awal dari Batu Bersurat di Pahang 1028 but pakar archaelogi who was on tne same flight with me back to KL (Prof Dato Nik Hassan) said tidak dibuktikan lagi.Mesti ada evidence..setakat documentation tak jadi.I found out that Pahang was known as land of gold and that Angkor Wat was built by gold bought from Raub.Byk lagi new things I discovered from pertanian to ekonomi to kanun Pahang to sejarah Pahang.They are trying to establish Kerusi Pahang at UMP.Baguslah.

I met kawan I masa darjah 6, Rubiah..jaguh pecut.I recognised her right away.She thought I dah tak ingat.Dr. Norrihan is another std 6 friend.Kelakar meeting up after so many decades.Ruby's hubby just passed away.

2 papers down, one more to go.I hv two more conferences.Never again to over commit!

Lagi satu drama yang anda tidak hingin..

...tonton, minggu ini.

It has been over two weeks I have this cough which feels like your chest and throat are burning fire.Batuk dia akan dtg tiba2 without warning..long and painful.Now it's very dry.I minum air halia with gula merah, dia senyap seminggu.This week, it came back.

I decided to go to our panel clinic.Sejak my fav doc left the country, those who look after the clinic entah hapa2 je.The lady doc is gentle and usually nice.Two weeks ago she said I was good, bp good, chest takda wheezing, no fever, etc.She gave stg for my flu.Alhamdulillah ok.Today pun she said the same thing.Dia mcm tak nak kasi I ubat je and everything I said, dia mcm nak tunjuk she knows better (i think docs ni ada masalah ego...like they do not want patients to tell them they knw better.Dah 2 org docs I jumpa mcm ni.Years ago on my spine problem, a rude orthopedic langsong ckp dont give me your xray..i don't hv to look at it to knw what is wrong with you...amboi, sombongnya!) When I reported this doc to the hospital management, the guy admitted most docs have probs with ego.I read an article which highlighted on a doc who sang to his patients and cheered them up.Patients cepat baik!

Anyway, I told off this doc.I kata you are not helping me here...do you think I enjoy visiting the clinic every other day..if it happens to you that you can't sleep nights cos of your cough, would you not want to do stg abt it? This is not the first time I go see a doc..usually if I complain of cough, most docs would give me cough mixture, you should know better...wht is wrong with today's doctors? I dah mengamuk sakan.I said tak nak treat me, ok..I will tell my hubby and get another panel (allo..loh..loh).I think doc ni pun faham why I was so meroyan.Haha.I got my cough mixture.

Hopefully, I will have a better sleep mlm ni.

 Usually I say No to this cos' travelling 

Firefly is closer to home

 first thought: got hantu or not...

 too big for one person

 takda maknanya sebab takda orang

even this I had to give away

(called up Taufiq to pick up) Too oily for my cough

Raising a daughter

It's a catch 22 thingy especially if you only have one child. Z is a wonderful child but her years living away from us has made her too independent in her thinking.And yet she is a child in many ways.It's difficult to pass on the values we subscribe to.Hari ni punya drama was me trying to teach her that to get what you want,you have to work for it.Usually, she knows this tapi hari ni I thought she had it too easy.I basuh.She cried.Maybe I am too harsh.But this is it: when do you differentiate between being firm and harsh.I almost succumbed to guilt and sympathy.But I thought when would she ever learn?

Susah woh.Moms of my mother's generation would never compromise.I wonder where they got such staunchness, such firmness that sometimes made them seem like monsters.WW2! They lived tough.They simply had to be practical to survive.Ini kena marah sikit, dah menangis.

Let's hope Z does not turn around and say to me in my old age :you want something, you work hard for it.

Gaza Bazaar

It started yesterday and continued so today.I was too lazy to drive to Maria's so early.By the time I decided I must complete the job (kuih semua dah berbayar for two days), she was leaving home already.I belum picked the kuih muih.I had to drive over to the Publika.Brought Bibik with me to carry the kuih boxes.We were early but there were a few people setting up their tables and then Maria came.Bawak nasi lemak yang sambalnya beralaskan daun pisang.

The event was organised by Viva Palestina Malaysia.Azra and family worked hard.Pagi2 dah datang bawak ice berkotak-kotak.

Bibik and I makan dulu.Then we shopped.Charity shopping is not cheap but they had some pretty things like the selendang batik.I just had to buy a couple.One for me and another for Z.Someone called me Datin.Ahaks.Mabuk.But guards mana2 suka sgt panggil I Datin.I think it's safer than calling me Makcik.:D

Some pics from the bazaar.The photo exhibition on female prisoners was eye opening.Women suffer more in war.Men ni tau nak berperang je.So sick!

High tea with Australian PM, Tony Abbott

I think he's charming and the handsomest of all Australian (male) PMs to date.He certainly spoke convincingly of the need for Australia to learn from Asia.There's an update on the New Colombo Plan.During Oz Foreign Minister's visit in Feb this year, the students were to come over to do internships only.This time around, they are also to spend a stint at local unis.I prefer this.At least our students can learn from them.Vice versa.

Bumped into Tan Sri Salleh Mohd Nor. Then got into discussion on crazy demands by the industries of unis with Prof Ishak Aris from UPM.Eh...entah2 anak Prof Aris.Takda pulak dia declared my dad used to teach at IIUM.Then saw this elegant lady.Rupa2nya dia VC City Uni (byk sgt new unis..I tak pernah dengar hok ni).Rupa2nya dia kakak Ramli Ibrahim! Dia ni the first female Msian yg pi Imperial College buat PhD in Engineering.I was so impressed.She's as nice as the brother.Then she introduced me to Prof Dato Amin Jalaludin,VC UM.I tanya pasal kes Azmi Sharom.Interesting discussions.There were two other ladies (sorang frm medic sch frm UM and the other from UPM).Lady doc tu kata UM should support la Azmi.Dato Amin said dah drafted dah surat..belum hantar lagi.Then lady frm UPM kata academic freedom ada but accountability of wht you say, you kena la bertanggungjawab..don't harap uni to save you.Oh oh,I thought.I guess ada la betulnya.But see how Uni kat US tu supported Prof depa...6 Depts voted against the VC for not hiring Prof of Palestine-Israel studies for speaking against atrocities done by Israeli government.

But Dato Amin pun baik orangnya.He is of medical b/ground.Ramainya orang Melayu yang pandai-pandai.An honour to meet them.

The 100th day

Sal texted that today is the 100th day of our mother's demise.Irsyad's 50th day.Semakin jauh mereka.Semoga roh mereka dicucuri rahmah.Alfatihah.

It has been a hectic week.Flew to Penang for a student's viva and had the joy of being in the same panel with Dato Seri Salleh and Prof Sohaimi.The chair (tak ingat nama) looked very Acheh.Macam P.Ramlee.Prof Siti Hajar and I got better acquainted.We share the same interest: feminism of all sorts.

Dato Seri is one sharp mind.Kotak-kotak rajah student habis dia nampak kelemahannya.I think dia ni suka main puzzle or sudoku.Simply amazing.Hajar and I thought when these giants retire, there would definitely be a large gap.Over the phone,Ruzy agreed that all the unis will suffer from not having senior scholars since most of us will be retiring and the young ones are still doing their pgrad studies or struggling to get their APs and Professorships.Back at IIUM, I'm grooming as much as I can - getting my juniors the exposure they need and encouraging them to apply for their APs.Imagine Msia without Dept of Literature! Kering jiwa rakyat semua.

Our second day teaching at the prison went well,alhamdulillah.Bak kata Dr. Farizah: the students look so ordinary.And they are smart, attentive and eager to learn.We had fun.The take home exercise was write on any form of addiction but please do not give me stories of ketagihan dadah or gam.Be creative, I told them.One girl told me that she would write on ketagihan mengumpat! I just had to laugh with joy at that and told her what an excellent idea! I hope she will really write about it.I can already visualise the comic aspect of it.

Seperti biasa, after class we went for the spa (murah!).The driver was in a hurry (we thought lain kali kita drive sendiri..boleh lama sikit buat spa kita) All three of us went for shoulder massage.Phui..on the road rasanya! What a wonderful beginning to an upcoming new semester.We are ready, walau badai datang bergolek. :)

Pagi ni nak pi hantar kuih muih for Gaza Bazaar at Publika but I can't stay..ACCIN meeting and then jeng jeng jeng...I'll tell you later.