Another family get together

My cousin on my paternal side held a wedding reception for her daughter in Kuantan on Saturday.Dah lama tak jumpa Makcik Limah (who is from Tganu but is my aunty via her marriage to my dad's step brother, Pakcik Ahmad who passed away about two years ago.The funny thing is Pakcik Ahmad and Nik's uncle Ayah Mat were good friends and they met at our wedding in 1987)

Zul, my eldest cousin tak dtg cos' cucu dia kena virus but met Izan and of cos' Kak Edah, ibu pengantin.Both anak and menantu dia studied medicine in Russia but they met in Hospital Selayang.Makcik Limah said Haqim studied in Ireland but I saw the video clip..he was born in Massachusetts but studied Medicine in Russia..but different city from Farah.Kak Edah ni very simple and zuhud orgnya.So her anak2 pun mcm tu (all very clever, though).Haqim said he fell for Farah after seeing her cheap watch and thought how charming her simplicity was.Sweet, kan?

After the reception, we went to visit my youngest sister, now residing in Pekan.But we all slept at a homestay cos' initially ramai nak dtg but in the end, only me and Kak Ngah attended the wedding! Yg lain mcm2 hal..last min...anak sakitlah, inilah itulah but we sempat buat tahlil after lunch at my sister's - my two nieces and families, me, kak ngah and eishah's family.Best juga.

Petang tu we went to Kuala Pahang.A group of people were fishing and caught this huge sembilang laut.Umpannya udang.

Malam tu we ate seafood.A nice family get together.I wish the rest were there.
On Sunday we visited The Sultan Abu Bakar Museum.A well kept treasure indeed! World class collections and displays.Saya suka sangat. A must visit if you are in Pekan. Then we went to see the istana area.It's a nice township.I selalu imagine it's a ghost town and boring.The river could be put to more touristic use...a creative waterfront gitu.

We arrived in record time, alhamdulillah.Sempat dined out sotong kangkung and kuay teow goreng. :)

Busy weekend

My in laws left a while ago.They decided to do potluck bday celebration for me at my place.Sweet, kan? But we are travelling outstation on Sat so I suggested we'd do dinner.

I guess everyone missed berkumpul kat rumah Mama.Nik is now the oldest so naturally, kita lah orgtuanya.

Finished packing for early morn travel.Kak Edah's daughter is getting married tomorrow.The clan's meeting there.Some are already sleeping over at hotels.Kita dah booked one homestay.Looking fwd to this.Dah lama tak beroda keluar Selangor. :)

Cuti

Saya mula rimas sebab tak pergi office since last Friday (semalam singgah kejap nak keyed in marks sbb dua-dua laptop kat rumah masuk workshop).Hari ni keluar lunch.Lepas tu nak byr bil, queue panjang sangat.Pi buat facial.Sempat shopping ganti Correlle yang pecah tempoh hari (during one of the family get togethers). Nasib ada lagi design dan bentuk yang sama.Syukurlah.Bought another rice bowl and salad dryer (yg murah compared to yg harga rm200 tu.Gila! Yang ni tak sampai RM50).

Budak facial tu cerita macam2. Boleh buat novel ! She told me how one model yang sebelum ni flat chested tiba2 datang 'penuh'. She asked mana dtg buah papaya ni kak? (I tengah pakai mask terpaksa menahan ketawa). She said laki omputih dia suruh taruk silicon.Separuh nyawa terbang.And yang kesiannya she admitted laki dia je yg seronok...she felt ntg.Tapi what to do.A choice she has made, kan? Tapi kita dengar kesian juga.

Then the gal told me about one client pakai susuk.She felt it as she did the facial.Mmg even dia pun rindu the client kalau lama tak dtg.Seram yah? I pun tokok tambah cerita I dengar pasal artis tua ni yg pakai susuk.Jantan tergila-gila hingga kalu sari tak jumpa, nampak bumbung pun jadi (the story was related by the jantan victim to my husband.Nik balik cerita kat I).Na'uzubillah. But it boils down to inferiority complex dan jenis orang yang kita buat pasangan.Men who love you for who you are would see beyond the flesh.Mcm gal tu cerita another client badan gemok.A man ambik dia jadi isteri.Lakinya sikit punya hensem.Gal ni pulak nak kuruskan badannya lantas buat liposuction.Separuh nyawa sakitnya.Some women died you know.

I would just leave shallow-minded men like this but iyalah kan...nasib masing-masing.Kita doakan shj anak cucu kita tidak teraniaya mcm tu rupa.Tht they'd find men who'll love them for who they are and not how they look.

Hobby saya

...is mengumpul candles yang beranika gaya.

Today my good friend's gifts arrived from the States: five beautiful scented candles he made himself (he's an artist). Mulalah saya berangan jika Z kawin...para tetamu akan dapat sebiji candle sebegini cantik. Berapalah pulak nak mengimport candles tu semua ya? :))

More pics of Jan 12

I decided to invite my neighbours for a high tea.Promised Jai who had just turned 50 to celebrate sekali with other Jan babies but tak sempat nak arrange so I just invited her and Shef and Saba and her families and friends (who are also my friends of Matric days in Subang Jaya).

Then got an sms from Raouf inviting me to their dinner at Nelayan.I asked if he was sure it's not Dr Riza's plan B.He said not.

Nik kindly drove me to Tasik Titiwangsa...only to find out restaurant Nelayan tu dah tutup.Cheh! I tak tau they had relocated to Gombak.So off we went.Nasib En Nik kita tidak komplen mlm itu.:D

True enough...the kids beli kek and sang me a bday song.Aiyooo...saya malulah! But so sweet.So sad..some of them are done with their studies.I wish them well.

Pics of Jan 11

It was a fantastic day (and evening) although the evening almost got screwed up cos' the guy who took our reservation forgot to arrange for the cake.Lucky the hotel intern from Manila (Elma is her name) was quick to manage the situation.

Ada juga la a small cake celebration.Haha..so diva gitew.

 FB well wishes came pouring from families, friends and former students.Bagus juga my former students ni.Ingat lagi ke cikgu mrk.

Some pics.

Di dalam ihsan Allah

Syukur alhamdulillah Allah lanjutkan usia di dalam rahmahNya dan semoga kita terus bersyukur akan apa yang ada dan tidak menyesali apa yang tiada.Sesungguhnya Allah Maha Mengetahui what is best for us.

Sekiranya kita diuji dan kita bersabar sehingga kita tidak sedar bahawa kita sedang diuji...semoga damailah kita di alam yg lebih kekal di sana.

Dr.Riza and gang terkantoi yesterday cos' I told them I'd be taking leave the whole of nxt week.She went alaaa..datanglah Monday.Before that at Puan Zahrahtol's farewell lunch, Huda tiba-tiba tanya what's your favourite colour.I told her.Masa tu dah agak..bdk2 ni nak throw surprise party la ni...but I quickly forgot about it till Dr.Riza mentioned Monday.I asked kaorang nak buat surprise ya? Mrk semua ketawa.Kah2... remember I caught Hasnah and Dr.Haslina a couple of years ago? Tak boleh..I am too smart and they cannot act.Kah2.But it's the thought that counts, kan? I have been fortunate that I work with nice people even I kuat pok pek pok pek marah kalau tak kena.
Nik and I are exploring a new place this evening.The best part of bdays is this: makan!
More later.

Berakhirnya sebuah impian

I will not repeat myself where IWFF Award Ceremony is concerned.You may catch it at iwff.org.my
But syukur alhamdulillah..we started it, we ended it dgn izin Allah. I sampai demam2 after Jan 4 event.

Today cuti.Slept in.Pak Bodot and my mom flying back to JB so sibuk kejap to sort them out.Then caught up with some old friends on the phone.Besok back to work.I'll take on and off lah.I forgot to transfer cuti byk tu ke golden handshake.Looks like I have to take leave more often.Takkan sampai beratus-ratus hari tak pakai, kan? Cuti je tidur nanti. :)

Picked up Dato Shan's books which he mailed out as new year gifts.Bsk je I try baca. Macam bagus jer.Macam comel jer.

Lagi kisah Tunku Bodot

I sempat berbual dgn Tunku Bodot since dah 3 malam dia tidur at my place.Kesian, tau? I sibuk takda masa nak bwk dia jalan-jalan.Semlm je he followed me to the Curve cos' I wanted to buy some fancy envelopes from a bookshop there.Then I had to go back to the uni cos' ada meeting.Dia duduk sorang2 in my office.Today pun duduk je di rumah.My other relative tak angkat phone.Ketidak can send him over cos' Abg Abbas and Kak Tun pun suka cerita2 datuk nenek moyang ni.

Yesterday we berbual pasal makanan.I asked the stuffs my grandma suka buat: kuih koci, kuih talam dan apakah juadah raya.Semua tu sama.But what got me was when he said daging pacak and gulai rebus.Only my grandma could cook those (versi my mom dah tak berapa sedap) and suddenly I missed my grandma...who also kawin dua ke tiga orang (but sbb kematian).She liked to mengobek sirih in this gobek tembaga.Pak Bodot kata yah, biasa di sana.Oh maaannn...tak payah buat DNA ini mcm kalu...sah we are related. :)

It felt strange to introduce Pak Bodot to my colleagues at work as ini paman saya dari Sumatra.He's not rich but boleh sms di telefon. :) The night he arrived with Pak Demi (his cousin in law who lives in JB) my uncle (the only one left of my mom's siblings) came all the way from Raub and sampai mlm buta.He brought my other cousins (from another uncle who had passed on) who lived in Kg Pandan.Nuar and Halim.Masa nak ajak mrk mkn, I said jemput makan Jamil.Nuar said Jamil itu bapak aku.Adik aku namanya Halim.Haha.We only meet once a year...kadang2 tak langsung.But listening to them talk with Pak Bodot, I realised that the boys were pretty interesting.Suri (another cousin with the group) spoke of the existence of kris Nagasari from Majapahit di Dong.Then I dengar samar2 Nuar spoke of kris berhantu owned by his dad.Macam2.

They didn't leave till 1.30 am! Sakan woh.

Tahun Baru Gregorian

Meminjam kata-kata my writer friend,Helvy, di Jakarta mengenai tahun baru:

Apa yang nyata dari tahun baru yang kau tunggu selain sisa usia atau kesiasiaan dahulu?
Bergegaslah kerana waktu  telah semakin debu...

Mine starts with a long lost pak saudara sepupu Rawa, Tunku Bodot who will arrive from Johor Bahru from Sumatra petang ini.My family kan went back to menjejak kasih last year and spent about 5 days with keluarga Tunku Bodot di Padang termasuk Mek.Apparently he and my mom shared the same grandma, Tupin Eishah who eloped with a man to Tanah Melayu.She had another husband in Padang dah and that must be Tunku Bodot's clan.Tupin kawin lain and lari ke Pahang. They settled in Dong and after some children, she married someone else.Then she met Menteri Hassan (my great grandpa) who worked for the Sultan when the istana was in Kuala Lipis.Menteri Hassan ni katanya disayangi Sultan dan warak orangnya (banyak ilmu).My mom's oldest brother (also seorang alim dan was the kampong's imam) said the story went that kalau Menteri Hassan cakap, "Ahhh...terasa nak makan ikan sungai" nanti melompat-lompatlah ikan sungai naik ke atas rakit. Gitu le cerita dulu-dulu.Entah iya entah tidak.

Tak tau le sapa mengorat sapa,*Tupin Eishah married him and got my mom's clan.Apparently Tupin Eishah ni sangat cantik.Kulitnya putih kemerah-merahan.Kata Tunku Bodot, dia bukan Rawa asli.Her dad orang luar.Could be Dutch, could be Yemeni jual spices, could be peniaga Cina jual gambir yang biasa waktu itu di rantau itu yah? We will never know but seram I dengar cerita Tupin nih.Bukan main hebat dia kawin ramai gitu.I had captured part of her in one of my short stories.Maybe there will be a full fledged novel if I have enough materials.Mencari Tupin.Tajuknya sudah ada, gitu.

Tunku Bodot ini sangat halus budi bahasanya.He looks like my cousin who we fondly call Busu (his real name is Nazri).Bentuk telinga pun sama.Amazing! Mek said he had already bought bus tickets JB-KL-JB and would have turun in Pudu but after finding out I lived in PJ, he beli tickets keretapi turun kat KL Sentral sebab tak mau menyusahkan kami to pick him up.Wough.I was touched.Maklumlah dia bukan orang senang.Must have cost him quite a lot yah?

The clan will gather at my place to meet Tunku Bodot.I pun tak tau how they traced him!

*Tupin is a gelaran for a female royalist, according to my Indonesian maid.Nik isn't impressed.He said mitos.:))