From ground zero to 70

Never this high (biasanya up to Level 41 at the skybridge) but alhamdullilah, we did Phase 1 presentation. Might go for Round 2 for the expert evaluation pulak.Here's praying.

Breakfast at Dome was delicious.Rasa macam kat Nuyork.Friends at al Liqa' said they were having a good time.Ya right!

But after the presentation, we were all making jokes about Dr. Fauziah's new toy.We told her if she could design a car that could go under water for Formula 1 and we'd add an event in which all cars had to go under water, sure Msian car ni menang.Then Prof Fau and Dr Amani were talking about his new car...I said nothing great cos' it would not be able to go under water! (nada jeles cos' I could not afford to buy kereta harga ratus2 ribu..well I can but won't) Saja nak usik diaorang.Then we started talking about South Koreans and Japanese who could not handle extreme emotions..terlalu sedih or terlalu gembira.A story I read a long time ago about how a young South Korean committed suicide over the death of his pet.He could not handle the extreme pain he felt because he never felt sad before.Then Dr Fauziah related the story her hubby (now in Japan)related to her over how crazy young Japs are over anything French..LVs,Paris etc.So many would travel to Paris for their vacation.Punya happy...balik ramai yang gila...
Tak terjangka oleh imaginasi saya tetapi orang Jepun mmg pelik

Sapa curi?

Rumaizah Abu Bakar was invited to speak to my MSL class on her latest book.Aishah brought in her students so it was really lively as students posed intelligent questions.I'm truly impressed with this sem's MSL batch. I pun terkezut dengar soalan mereka. Sapa ajar? Sapa ajar? :))

Rumaizah's travelogue is really interesting.As one student queried, where does fiction begin and non-fiction ends? Ko boleh tanya soalan macam tu? Haha.

Pendeknya, we had a fun session.Her book will be launched on Saturday at Silverfish but I would be away and would have to miss.

Belah petang: Two workshops.Dua2 penuh sampai ada yg terpaksa balik cos' no seats.Yikes! Ini satu petanda baik, alhamdulillah.Just maybe, we'll get that RU status after all.Here's hoping and not hoping.Kalau dpt RU, kepala mula botak.Sekarang pun tak lekat kain terkejar2 sana sini.

It's actually seronok when we get together like that.Our guests from UM were beautiful people.Colleagues I had met pun baik2 belaka and old ones are back in my radar.Will need to work on that dumb waiter lift.Semua pucat2 sampai level 3.No lift.

As we were packing to go home, my staff semua bising two of our laptops hilang frm the meeting rooms.Someone said she saw a young woman tutup pintu and she's not from one of us.Telefon sana sini if the people on level 2 took the laptops.They said nyet.I suggested a police report were lodged (sikit2 report police...sikit2 report ke pemata).My colleagues semua kata tunggu dulu as they made more calls to ensure.Then someone said she saw Ripin our techie took the laptops.So they rang him up.Ariffin said yes, the machines are with him.Phew!

Takda sapa curi.Just smart enough to keep them safe cos' we were all busy chatting away..kalau pencuri masuk, memang tak sedar (cos' the office is spacious, pintu exit always not locked)

This country of mine

This piece is dedicated to my friend whose name is Shafie.

This country of mine

In a country full of lies
and deceits
where we fake spring, winter
and place our rustic rural villages
at the centre of our malls
and burn fake lemangs and
hang ketupat made of colourful ribbons
we serve pricey, tasteless nasi lemak
without timun
on fake banana leaves

the cityfolks breathe in this air of make believe
the kampong folks suffocate in this pollution
a day spent is a day lost

" we rather live in reality
   even if, in poverty."

Full day

Since I was not good at organising my time, I ended up squeezing too many events in a day! (akibat being too dependent on my PA and RA who keep my diary and appointments.. Heh heh..manyak eksyen).

Lunch : Grand Bluewave, Shah Alam with Azah, Waza and Shiha - my NZ girlfriends since 1981.We went Japanese.The Japanese chef sepuluh kali sekejap came to our table.Akhirnya tanya: where are husbands? I said sleeping when I left him.Rupa2nya dia masih bujang so kita ambik gambar dgn dia nak matchkan dgn one of our friends yg belum kawin. :))

Late lunch: since I could not attend the evening do, I went to the lunch do at PENA house to attend Khaled Salleh's daughter's wedding. Don't know him personally tapi my friend said every jemputan kawin wajib dipenuhi.Bumped into three people I know cos' the writers' group datang malam gamaknya.

Dinner: tahlil at Lina's place.They are renting out for the next 6 months cos' their home is being renovated.The new place a bit further from ours so susah sikit nak kacau Nadra every weekend.The guards buat rounds pakai german shepherds in addition to strict guard checks.Byk sgt ke reta depa ni nak guard berlapis2 gitu?

Sheep or goat?

It's interesting to read one of my friends' fb statuses on chinese new year...do we say Happy Chinese New Year or Happy Lunar New Year? Is it sheep or goat? A few wrote "ram" (male sheep).

It's not only the Chinese having this new year celebration..friends in Vietnam (who do not consider themselves Chinese) are also busy celebrating.For them, it's the lunar new year.

For Europeans, sheep makes more sense than goat so according to my BBC correspondent friend (now based in Bangkok) for consistency purpose, BBC has decided to use sheep instead of goat so if you see sheep images, itu European version.Chinese version is kambing gurun.

Chew invited over but I could not find his email which carried his home add and I don't have his tel no.There goes one free lunch.Haha.

Watch for CNY news later.

Misi ke 3 ASA

The 3rd mission will leave this evening.The team will be meeting a few families and giving a few stuffs as requested.

Lin will be setting up the pusat sumber at one of the schools.She managed to raise RM4K worth of books from her friends in addition to funds raised by ASA.

The mini bus departed at 6 pm with only me, Kak Ngah (I invited her to join us since she biasa buat misi bantuan and GM is like one of her playing grounds too) and Lin.The rest were still busy with correcting theses, vivas etc.Mmg ramai wanted to go initially.Dr Alias and Dr Maszlee went separately in their own cars (Dr Alias convoy with us.His Hilux pun penuh dgn buku2 Lin).Dr M and his students bertolak at 4 am.The three of us shared a nice hotel room next to MRA's gudang.Dr. Alias slept thr with MRA man, Fadhil.

Our hotel tu murah but mcm 4 star..semua ada..wifi, astro TV, iron, coffee tea biscuits, air panas system, air-con, ubat nyamuk!And it's very clean.We loved it.Syukur alhamdulillah for the comfort.

Besoknya on Saturday, we went for breakfast at the pasar.We had nasi kerabu with daging bakar.I also had nasi lemak.Then we went to buy some mosquito nets cos' tak sempat nak beli in KL.I doubt if anyone sold it in KL.Tak cukup for the no. requested by our groundman.Beli semua stock.

We first went to the primary sch to hand over Lin's books.Met a few people who mengadu pengagehan tidak adil.Pengagehan kepartian.One cleaner was almost in tears.She saw the tilam in our mini bas and asked if she could have one.We said we had allocated those for a group of wargamas.I gave her some money (tak sempat pi bank so tak dpt nak bagi banyak to ease her pain) and advised her not to despair over people's lack of assistance.I told her: minta kpd Allah sahaja kerana rezeki comes from Him. She said ya, ya.

Selepas itu, we went to the pusat banjir where the targetted recipients were already waiting.We gave what was requested.I wanted to see the wargamas who didn't turn up.So Nazli took us to a few homes in our kampung angkat Kg Limau Kasturi.A look of calm and serenity..in all of them! All of us felt good making this personal touch as we spoke with Mek Yang, Poksu Pa, Mek Wan Jah etc.We also met a lady whose 3 gen of kopitiam biz was destroyed in the flood.Teh ais limau dia the best I had ever had.The group agreed we should help her rebuild her biz.She cuma perlu RM10k modal.

Then! We met Suhaimi, jaguh paralympic negara -olahraga.His last overseas game was in Seoul in 2012 and he's still winning golds at national level for Kelantan.Ada sesiapa kisah? Not even Kementerian Sukan tampil ke hadapan tolong buat rumah dia balik! Tapi wajah dia tetap senyum.MRA tolong buatkan rumah dia to save him and a pregnant wife and a 4 year old son from staying in the tent...rumah sementara frm plywood and Suhaimi himself helps MRA to rebuild other people's homes.I felt like crying over this story.Sometimes we can be so insensitive and cruel over the needy.Masih nyenyakkah pemimpin kita tidur apabila ramai rakyat masih tidak berumah?