winds of change

no. this is not a political post.

it has been a year since my last entry here, you think i would waste in on politics?
but since we mentioned it, i would just like to mention here that it was my 3rd time voting (made me feel like a veteran) and somehow, this time around, the election day and the days going to it felt really ""festive".
maybe because there were way more voters this time.. with many having to "balik kampung" to vote, plans were made to book leaves or change calls (for those of us having to do oncalls), travel plans (to avoid traffic jams etc).
maybe the indelible ink has got something to do with it too, with evryone making a fuss about how truly/falsely indelible it actually is.. and all the blue (or red) finger tips u see posted by voters on FB and Instagram etc.
(i have to insert this story here too, just heard it from a friend --> apparently quite a number of voters marked the X on the voting papers using the ink on the fingers thinking that was what the ink was for!!!! aha-ha-ha..!!)
i know of some non-voters who actually felt "left behind" this time around because of their blue-less bare fingers on that day.
plus i think the fact that we have FB and Twitter etc now(we had them on the last elections too but they werent utilized as widely and openly as they are today) which makes even the most ignorant and disinterested people (like moi)more aware of what is going on. the atmosphere that day was simply.. i dont know.."electric:? i guess..(no pun intended ;)) with evryone waiting anxiously for the results.. and it did take a ridiculously long time for the results to come out too!

but hey. like i mentioned earlier, this is not a political post.

i mentioned somewhere in my last few postings that 2011 was a blur for me what with the final exams and my mom getting breast cancer and then being transferred back to mlka.

then 2012 came and went.
i  completed my masters (finally!) and have now been transferred further south in JB to serve.
work-wise is the same.. cant expect to not be busy when you are in the medical field, but the are some differences of course. different colleagues, different bosses, different staff, different hospital. different city.

my mom completed her chemo and radiotherapy mid last year and was well for awhile but unfortunately now has a recurrence and needs to do chemo again before we proceed for a mastectomy. we are obviously all bummed about that but she is otherwise still up and about around the house so we are still very thankful.

i got married (yea, okay, you can perhaps say "finally!" here too.. to others it may seem that way but to me i think the word "actually" is probably more befitting...as in "i actually got married!".. yes i couldnt believe it myself!)
no. it wasnt an arranged marriage.
no. i wasnt drugged/comatose/hypnotized/held at gunpoint.
no. it wasnt the sultan of a certain state as i planned.
yes. i fell in love with another commoner.
yes. i was in love.
and yes. i am still in love.

now, with the change of title to my name (i'm still amused by the realization that i am an actual Puan now when the salespeople address me randomly as that..heee), it is interesting to note the change to people's  reaction to anything that i do or say as well.
when i was single, the feedbacks i get to almost anything is "dah kawen belum" or "bila u nak kawen ni?"
eg. (Me vs P (people))
  1.  Me: Hi.. lamanya tak jumpa!!
          P: Yelah..u nampak sama macam dulu...dah kawen belum? Belum? Bila u nak kawen ni?
  2.  Me: Hi..lama tak jumpa!!
          P: Yelah..u nampak lain sekarang.. still belum kawen? Bila u nak kawen ni?
  3.  P: Happy birthday!
       Me: Thank you!!
       P: Bila u nak kawen ni?
  4. Me: Selamat hari raya!
       P: Selamat hari raya. Bila u nak kawen ni?
  5.  Me: Nice wedding.
       P: Yelah.. bila u punya wedding pulak?"
  6.  P: Hey, the 47 yo singer is finally getting married! Bila u pulak nak kawen ni?
  7.  P: Hey, so&so is getting married-the 3rd time alrdy! Bila u pulak nak kawen ni?
  8.  P: Congrats dah jadi pakar... bila nak kawen pulak ni?"
  9.  P: Wahhh.. dah beli kereta baru... bila nak kawen pulak ni?"
10.  P: Your mom has cancer? So sorry to hear that..bila u nak kawen ni?

you get the picture.
well, now that i am married.. things change.......... or have they?
eg.

 1. Me: Lamanya tak jumpa!
     P:   Yelah.. dah ada anak? bila nak pregnant?
 2. P: Happy birthday! Bila nak pregnant?
     Me: Ha-lo..i got married 3 days ago (it's true.. i got married 3 days before my bday)
3.  P: U transferred to JB alrdy? Dah pregnant belum?
4.  P: U look like u've gained weight. Dah pregnant ke?
5.  P: Sedapnya tengok food u makan (posted in FB). Dah pregnant ke?
5.  P: U still drink that much coffee? When u get pregnant u cannot drink anymore haaa..
6.  P: U demam? Pregnant kot...
7.  P: Hey, nice new baju. Are u pregnant?
8.  P: U coming back to KL to vote? Good for u. Dah pregnant belum?
9.  P: U drive JB-KL-JB by yourself? Careful.. mana tau pregnant ke..
10. Your mom's cancer is back? so sorry to hear that.....so, are you pregnant yet?

..........................................................................................................................................................

shoutout to all family & friends: belated thanks for coming to the wedding, thanks for all the well wishes, here's a prayer for all of us to always love and be loved, to respect each other, to remain united, to be safe and for happiness always. ameen.

ouch! crushes hurt too.

i had this huge crush on this guy for the past 2 years. but a crush is a crush.. nuthin serious, not to the point that i wanted to do anything about anyway. friends who knew about him did "layan" me for fun, teased me, asked me to kirim salam (sheeshh.. the more i write this the more high-school it sounds..so embarassing!!)
so anyway, like i said, it was fun while it lasted, it felt "light" and harmless..another eye-candy for me, or so i thought until i found out that he is now engaged and soon to be married (dont ask me how i know or found out, because it is sooooooo high school tween stalker stuff, it'll make me look even more pathetic). i was shocked, because i thought he was still single, like, dont-even-have-a-gf-single, and now he's soon to be married!! and boy was i crushed. i surprised myself even, cuz i didnt think i actually cared so much :(
sorry heart, i let u down.

jodoh, jodoh, where art thou, jodoh?

someone said this to me a few weeks back:

you know, God make jodoh for each person in this world. there is no such thing as "tak ada jodoh". there is only lambat or cepat. so you know, dont give up on your jodoh, emie. he is out there for you. you just have to keep your eyes open, and you must always..believe.

sheesh. i felt like i was reading a "poyo" script in a malay tv drama.

i already know all that. why did this person feel like i need to be told of this again? am i giving the impression that i've given up? or that i dont think that i have a jodoh?

although i've to admit that i am lazy about keeping my eyes open.. coz whenever i have the chance, id like to catchup on my precious sleep.

but i digress.

yes, ok, so i know my jodoh is out there somewhere. he's just not here yet because:

1) he lives in another continent, and still has no idea where malaysia is

2) he's lost in his 4x4 in a remote jungle somewhere on his way to finding me

3) he's still too busy with his humanitarian work

4) he's still too busy governing his country

5) he's still too busy with his duties as sultan of his state (or country!)

6) he's a race car driver, who got into an MVA on his way to see me

7) he's dead (see you in the afterlife, baby!)

8) he got cold feet

9) he decided to turn gay instead

10) he hasnt turn 21 yet

11) he's not of legal-driving age yet

12) he's not baligh yet

13) he's just plain lazy (now THERE's a match made in heaven!)

huh. so i guess these can also double up as comebacks whenever people also ask "how come you're not married?" (see previous blog a few entries back)

ini ada satu cerita..

once upon a time, there's this girl, err..let's call her rana.
rana works as a..umm...professional..err.. something-lah, doesnt really matter what, let's just say, she's a working professional. when she's not working, she hangs out with her friends, she drives around in her little fiat, she travels whenever she can, and she is for most of the time, fairly happy.
of course, people dont think that rana's happy because, well, rana is single, so how can she be?! she is unmarried, and for the most part of the past year, she has been unattached. she is not seeing anyone special, not even a shrink, so, yeah, she must be sad and depressed as hell.
norom, is one of the many people who thinks this of rana. so norom sets out to find rana a man. she told rana all about her friend, lucky. apparently lucky is a nice man, tall, dark and handsome. he owns a business, which was doing quite well. she told rana that she thinks rana and lucky will definitely make a lovely couple. so rana agreed to meet and get to know this lucky guy. true enough, he seemed nice (rana didnt wanna comment about the "tall, dark, handsome" part when i asked her about that), they mostly talked on the phone, but met only once, due to lucky's busy work schedule.
then one day, about 2 months after she introduced the two, norom pulled rana aside and giddily asked rana about her and lucky. so rana told her that things are going well, and yes, he seems like a nice guy.
norom then asked: so do you like him?
rana: (laughing) well, if i dont, then i wouldnt layan him on the phone until now lah!
norom: dia dah ajak kawin tak?
rana: weh.. no-lah! we're just starting to get to know each other!
norom: ehhh.. kan dah 2 bulan dah, takkan tak cukup kenal kot? kata selalu borak telefon?
rana: no-lah.. we're still friends only la..
norom: hmm..oklah. but you do like him dont you?
rana: (malu2) oklah..*smiles*
norom: oh.. good! i'm so glad. coz i was worried you know, that you would reject him,what with him still being married and all...
rana: *turned to stone for what felt like, an hour maybe, and just stared in disbelief at norom*
in her mind, the question she wanted to scream out to norom at the time was: holysh*tcr*p!!WTF??$$*^%#youthinking>>>;?::#*&F**sh**crazy??!!!.

but somehow, she recovered from her near-seizure, and tried as calmly as she could to ask instead: yeah. about that. why did you introduce us again? coz, you know, knowing he's married and all that.
and norom, being the moron that she is, said: well, he's not happy lah in his marriage. his wife doesnt treat him well, she really doesnt deserve him. he needs somebody that can make him happy. somebody like you, rana!
rana: ...............

-the end-

ps: should we laugh? or cry?

dedicated to other fellow single ladies out there!

these are some of the answers you can give people who ask you the inevitable question.. "bila nak kawin ni?", or better yet.."apsal tak kawin2 lagi ni?".
they are in no particular order, and are not copyrighted. feel free to use them as needed.

1) "oo.. dah set date hari tu tapi busy sangat, susah dapat cuti, so i actually missed my own wedding!!"
2) "banyak sangat calon ajak kawin, so dah suruh isi borang.. tapi still tak habis2 tapis lagi ni"
3) "banyak sangat calon, dah isi borang, dah tapis the top 10, tapi tunggu boss approve pulak"
4) "actually, dah kawin hari tu, tapi senyap2 aje.. shhh.. dont tell anyone ok?rahsia!!"
5) "umm.. dah set date, but i cant tell you.. you're not invited!"
6) "jomlah.. now also can!!*wink*" -->if it's a man asking.
7) "jomlah.. now also can!why not??*winkwink*" --> if it's a woman asking.
8) "13.13.2013"
9) "malas!"
10) dont say anything, but quiver your lips, force those bloody tears out of your eyes, nasal secretions too if you can (a bonus!), and bawl like a baby right there in front of them!
11) if #10 is too hard for you, then dont say anything, but make a fist with your dominant hand, and punch the person in the face (aim for the nose.. so the bloody tears come out of their eyes instead!)

i've been using them myself, but my favourites are #5, 6, and 9.

ah..you're still single? must be coz the men cant afford the maskawin!

Saturday December 12, 2009

MB: Higher mas kahwin will cause more ‘old maids’

KOTA BARU: Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat is against raising the mas kahwin for Muslim women for fear that many of them may end up as old maids.

“We do not propose to raise the mas kahwin in Kelantan and will retain the existing regulation,” he told reporters when asked to comment on the Selangor govenment’s decision to raise the mas kahwin in the state from RM80 to RM300 effective Jan 1 next year.

Nik Abdul Aziz said he did not care much for mas kahwin, including for his children when they got married.

“I set not more than RM1,000 (including gifts) for the mas kahwin for each of my children,” he said after delivering the Friday sermon here yesterday, adding that demanding very high mas kahwin and gifts was just to show off. — Bernama

ah.. you're single, so you must not have a life.

scene 1:
me joining the department one month ago, and reporting to the boss on the 1st day.
boss: do you have a family?
me: umm.. yes.
boss: how many kids?
me: oh no.. not married. no kids. i mean i do have a family..like my parents and sibs and such.
boss: ha.. good, then you have a lot of time in your hands, can study. nothing to distract you.
me: err..ok.
boss: you must be smart, you're in the masters now, cannot just study from the books. must read journals, go on the internet, attend conferences. haa, and you're single, night time you dont have anything to do, go attend drug talks, sometime they have these talks that they can sponsor you for. you just go-lah, get educated, also get free dinner.
me: err..(nod my head)

scene 2:
a new junior boss joins the department. senior boss overheard talking to her PA about him.
senior boss: is he married?
PA: yes, he's got 2 kids i think.
senior boss: aiyah. susah la.

now, the senior boss has no intention to ngorat the junior boss, trust me, although it's easy to misunderstand the conversation. she just prefers people with no kids so they can commit 110% to their work. for some reason, they think that if you're married, and especially if you have kids, you get "distracted" more.

i was talking to a couple of colleagues about this. seems like the generation gap is quite huge in the department. the senior bosses are the type who goes to the hospital any time of day, even on the weekends, even though they dont have to. the junior bosses are around to look after the rest of us and the patients of course. apparently few of the seniors, even when they are away on vacation, will have people text or call them to inform about the patients!
the commitment is admirable of course, but i think it is more about trust than anything. they just couldnt trust the junior people.
they also dont get it that these people take leave to see their kids off on their 1st day of school.
they dont get it that they must oversee the kids doing their homework at night (let the teachers worry about that).
they dont get it that we need at least a couple of weekends off a month to be with the family and friends.
they say things like "my daughter is 13 years old now. i never actually get to see her grow up as a kid .. i cant believe she's a teenager now".
these people breathe, think, talk, eat, drink, live and die of hospital and medicine. it's their life.
it's admirable.
but not really desirable.
not for me anyway.
i'm single yes, but i still have a family, friends, and a life i want to enjoy and spend time on, other than just my career.
hmph.
i dont think they will get that.

why am i not a teacher when i really look like one, and why am i still not married

my friend lote came down to melaka over the weekend and made me go with her to a career talk at our old school. i had to sacrifice my saturday morning sleep-in for that (lote, u owe me beb!;))
we did this last year, but we were really2 late then so we didnt get to participate much.
this year, well, we were late again.. but they changed the format a bit this year, so we managed to sneak in later and sorta "contribute" and shared our experiences with the kids.
i guess the whole objective of the program, organized by the school alumni, is to help the kids from the graduating class decide on their future career paths and motivate them towards reaching the goals by excelling in their exams (spm) first.

so lote and me joined the "medicine" room, where the ex-students who have now become doctors, talk about the hows, whats and whys of being a doctor. like i said, we were late, so it was already towards the end of the 1st session, and no one knew who we were, which was fine by me, but imagine our surprise when one of the speakers said something and then turned directly to us and asked "right, cikgu?".
lote and me just looked at each other, and turned back at the speaker, sheepishly said "err..bukan.." and just sank into our seats.
this aint the 1st time people mistook us as teachers.. people seem to think we are, no matter where we are or what we do (by we, i mean me, lote and few of my other female doctor friends).. be it buying groceries, buying cake, having a facial, having a haircut, trying on shoes, EVEN when we're actually IN the hospital, and this happened to another friend,mawar, when she was explaining to a patient about a certain procedure in order to get the consent, the patient still referred to her as "cikgu"!!
there were exceptions of course, like when people mistake us for college students instead, or in my case, "so when are you taking your spm?", but then i guess i should be flattered huh?
seems like we're never able to get that "doctor-look" right.
;)

back to the sessions,  we did get to introduce ourselves properly in the 2nd session, and talk to them about what the real hu-hah is about doctors (i was pretty sure we actually scared them off doing medicine than anything..heh).
a funny thing happened when i was introducing myself. as i was telling them i'm a medical officer, not yet a specialist, one of the girls asked "how old are you?".
so i answered "34" , and i could immediately hear one or two gasps from the audience.
then someone else asked "are you married?"
and when i answered "no", there was a much louder synchronous gasp from all of them!

i did all i could to compose myself (lote was taken aback by their reaction too, and almost fell out of her chair!) and then found myself actually explaining "err..it's got nuthin to do with becoming a doctor you know, it's just a matter of personal choice.."
and although i could see a few heads nodding, i'm not too sure they looked too convinced. o well..

later in the afternoon, they had a motivational talk, then a brief photo session, and lote and me left after that to watch a movie (fast & furious) where i fell heads over heels all over again for vin diesel.

'tis the day i become 33..

goodbye 2007..
hello 2008..


let's see.. looking back at 2007, the one thing that sorta made it "standout" compared to other years, is that.. it was sorta "digital year" for me. my old laptop was stolen towards the end of 2006, so i got a new one earlier last year. then, with the new laptop came new gadgets that i added one by one thruout the year-cooling fan,speaker,external hdd,pendrive,etc.
i got a portable mp3 player-ipod nano ripoff-and it ripped me off! now it's totally useless.
then, my motorola mobile rosak..after the many falls that it took, the fact that it lasted more than 2 years already made me very fond of it, but alas, it totally gave up on me 2 weeks ago, so i had to go and get myself a new one. and i really didnt need to spend more than 1K to get me a reasonably good mobile nowadays, i know that, but the new sony ericsson just sorta took my breath away, and so that was how a good 1299 myr was taken away from me ;)
then, mother or all digital disasters-my precious digital camera pulak rosak... right after coming back from bali..!! sth wrong with the lens.. it's now at the shop waiting to be fixed..or rather, waiting to see whether it's worth fixing. i'm still waiting for the quotation to see which is gonna be more cost-effective: fixing it, or buying a new one.

travel-wise, i only made 3 trips this year: genting, JB and outer areas, and bali (thank goodness!). i want more!!


family-wise: blessed with amirah's brother aliff.
my parents are becoming typical grandparents, my youngest brother is quite cute as the uncle, and i'm the self proclaimed favourite aunt of amirah (aliff only comes to me when no one else is available to pick him up-hmph!)

mom's side of family: unexpected loss of an uncle.
dad's side: he comes fom a big family, and evry year something big always happen, but last year was just FULL of hot stuff, from one thing to another-some juicy, some good, and some are just plain bad bad bad. it's real life soap (i'd tell ya,but i shouldnt).


eenie, mynie & mo-with their mom at day 3 of life.
o yeah.. i had the chance to start my own lil family too. a 1st time queen actually gave birth to 3 lil cute kittens right inside my washing machine.. and later abandoned them! so i had to adopt them, and fed them, and they were just newborns, their eyes were not even opened yet. so i tried my best to bottle feed them (i never knew there's such things as kitty milk till then), and kept them warm....and it wasnt easy.. so one by one they succumbed. and i think i got attached to them too early too soon..it was really sad and depressing to see them die. so even if i get myself any cat(s) in the future, i dont think i can take in little newborns.


work-wise: i started my masters. the exam's in 41/2 months. yikes!
work was also full of hot gossip last year i think. and we had people leaving the dept, and coming back, and passing exams >i still failed, but then that happened in previous years as well :( .. and more people left. there were things that happened that reminded me that doctors are so very human, not that i dont already know or think so, but some people do have unrealistic expectations of us sometimes, while some doctors themselves forget their place, and think themselves higher than others.
anyway i cant elaborate any further, but somehow it's kinda shocking..and scary, to find out the truth about a person sometimes, and the things they would and could do, even though they shouldnt ... all in the name of position or power.
o well.

in between, there's always my friends: few more got married this year, one or two got divorced, some expanded their families, while some are still soul(mate) searching.

my housemate mawa, was radiant during her engagement day.

as for my own love-life, which never fails to be an "issue" these past few years with my relatives and friends..(it is interesting getting all the bday wishes today.. usually it's "happy bday, happy new year", or some people would tease me with "you're older than me nyah nyah nyah"... but this year, more than half of the messages have things like "may 2008 bring you love"..or some even as blunt as "may you get married this year" (!!!)
sheeesshh.
anyway, 2007 has been "barren". no crushes, no flirtations, no dates, nuthin. either it's because i didnt meet anyone interesting enuff, or i'm just losing interest altogether... most probably both.
i do have this to say tho: men can be so confusing, and i dont need confusion in my life right now (one guy who forgets my bday all the time we were seeing each other, now that we're not anymore, wishes me right after the countdown, 2 years in a row now)
oh, and of course, there's that "valentine horror" too(see few blogs back).. the sender still remains a mystery, which, if it was indeed a man-reiterate my point above.

ok, so resolution for 2008. oh.. same ol' same ol'..
be better person, lose weight, more active, save money, travel more, pass exams, blablabla

happy new year.
happy birthday to me.. 33, and (who's)counting..

a cold, a new year, a wedding, a reunion, and a valentine

i'm sick.
a cold.
greenish goo is coming out of my nose. was oncall yesterday. will be again a day after tomorrow. hopefully i'm better by then.

it's chinese new year today. gong xi gong xi.

my roomies and i also attended a friend's wedding today. became sorta like a mini reunion between us and a few of the guys we used to hangout with few years back. they're mostly married and having babies now. made me feel like such a big sister today. i mean, we were there to see their transformation from university boys to working men. we're that close that we got to know their families, went travelling together .... we even saw them through their troubled lovelives, met their lady friends.. we went to their graduation, and to their weddings, and now they're fathers. sigh. i'm glad we still went today, despite being sick, post-call and all. btw, congrats to the lovely couple-an & epi.

then there was valentine's day.
last year i got a virtual flower from this guy i was sorta seeing, who i thought i kinda liked, but well... i dunnolah what was going on with this guy-sometimes i felt i was a girlfriend (like when i got the valentine flower-even if it was only virtual), sometimes i felt like i was just a "convenient" friend, sometimes just someone to give medical advice... anyway, i digress. basically, we're no longer in touch.
this year, being single and not really seeing anybody, valentine was supposed to just come and go for me.
but surprise-oh-mother-of-all-surprises.. i got a dozen red roses delivered to me at work! red roses. a dozen of them. with a tiny bear holding a heart that says "i love you" on it. and a card that says "happy valentine day" (grammatical error included), but no sender name.
of course, 1st thing that came to mind was: they got the name wrong.
but i checked (cuz i had to sign the delivery papers right) - name, workplace..all correct.
2nd thing: this is a trick. somebody's playing a prank on me.
asked my so-called friends. 'course evryone denies it and juz continued going waahh-soromantic-solucky-ugotasecreatadmirer-wah-wah on me. sheesh.
3rd thing: somebody out there trying to 'bomoh' me. um. yeah. good luck to them.

4th thing: mebbe i won a prize, or a lucky draw thingy, or this could be a promotional thing. from some insurance company.. or even the flower shop itself?
5th thing that came to mind: mebbe...in a state of utter despair and desperation (singletons-nearing-valentine syndrome) or perhaps under the influence of certain substance(s), i sent them flowers to myself? hmm.. but i havent been intoxicated recently. i got the cold only after. and please, even if i did get myself under the influence, i'd definitely get myself sth totally crazier or more extravagant than just a bunch of flowers-like a diamond ring, or a tattoo, or a new car. hehe.

and so the last thing that came to mind was: someone actually sent me the flowers? it's so....freaky.. freakier than the bomoh thing. really. i'm not one of those people who's used to getting "secret admirers" sending me anonymous gifts or flowers or whatever you know. not when i was in school. not in university. and now at work, at 32? yeah, freaky.

my friends (and staff at my workplace who were witnesses to the whole-delivery girl whisking her way into the nursery, flowers and all asking where i was-thing..sheesh) kept bugging me to findout who it's from. please, as if i'm gonna send phone texts to all the guys i know and say : how's it goin? did u by any chance spend more than a hundred ringgit for a dozen flowers for me on valentine?. i mean, what if it was a girl that sent me the flowers? ;)

o well, v-day came and went, and the sender (or senders? a group of people pulling up a prank is still possible) remains a mystery. if he/she/they prefer to remain anonymous, then let it be. the flowers are nice, and i'd like to keep them for now. no guilt attached.

kawin=kebal???

ok.. ini cerita pasal pencurik bedebah yang masuk rumah aku tempoh hari. aku tulis dalam full bm ni sbb nanti "i sound stupid if i write in english"..muahaha..(yelah... tu cerita lama.. no offence ha.. btw.. i like sharifah amani..... and i got what she was trying to say at the time, but the response from the ministry and the public didnt really come as a surprise to me.. dah agak mesti ramai org akan misinterpret, melenting and melatah punye..)
what i mean to say is i may not sound as angry if i write in english.
kadang2 tu lagi puas hati bila mengutuk dgn bahasa ibunda.
(hmm... that probably sound worse. kena gam la pulak nanti..hee)
ahhhh...lantaklah lah. digress pulak.

berbalik pada cerita pencurik bangsat yang pecah masuk rumah aku 2 bulan lepas. masuk siang2 terang tau.. time kitorg tgh keje.. my housemate balik tengok pintu depan ternganga luas.... dia (atau diorang, mungkin pencurik tu ada geng gak kan) kebak tiga2 laptop kitorg.. cilanat betul la.

anyway...pencurik dah mmg dasar pencurik la kan.. diorang mencurik mmg sah diorang yang bersalah la kan. mana2 bangsa, mana2 agama pun kat dunia ni will tell you that mencurik is wrong. tapi special case kat malaysia ni, orang yang kena curik tu kerapkali jugak dipersalahkan.
""ooo.. rumah korang ni takde grill..patutla masuk pencurik.."
""ooo..korang letak komputer tu atas meja ye?..patutla kena curik..."
dan statement yang paling best sekali.....
"ooo..tak kawin lagi... tu susah sket tu..."

O-kaayyyy...
so, correct me if i'm wrong... selama2 ni rumah orang yang ada pasang grill tak penah dimasuki pencurik ke?
pastu... pompuan2 yang dah kawin sume tak penah kena ragut ke? tak penah rumah diorang kena masuk pencurik?
persatuan pencurik2 dan pemecah2 rumah di malaysia ni ada syarat dan peraturan ke... kalau pompuan tu dah kawin, kita tak leh kacau ha... kita kacau yang tak kawin jek.
um...hello?

yang lagi cacat tu.. statement2 tu sume bukan datang dari orang yang tak penah sekolah atau pun dok dalam hutan tak penah2 keluar...
tu datang dari mulut polis tu. (and in my houemate's case:her big boss-who's male and konon2 concerned, and cuba nak carik reason kenapa agaknye rumah kitorg dimasuki pencurik-also felt that it must be due to our 'single' status)
*roll eyes here*

i tell you.. dealing with the police that night was quite an eye opening experience (literally and metaphorically)...
dahlah kitorang ni dah cukup terkujat dah.. dgn rasa marah kat pencurik.. pastu ditambah pulak sakit hati kat polis.
masa buat repot kat balai tu dah dibo-layan dek polis wanita kat situ.. siap kena herdik lagi "ni ramai2 ni sapa yg nak buat repot? sorang je yg kena repot!"
so i did the formal reporting, using my name.
yang menariknya, suara polis tu, yang pada awalnye ada sedikit high pitch la jugak, tetiba jadik lebih friendly pulak lepas dia tanye aku - keje ke belajar?
and aku jawab: -keje-
keje apa?
- doktor-
terus jek dia jadik ramah tamah lepas tu!
at one point masa dia contact officer dia on the phone, we overheard her saying"..tapi tuan, diorang ni doktor.."
????????
pastu dengan penuh mesranya memperkenal dan mempromosi "rakan cop" kat kitorang.
what the hell??????????????????????

then she told us to go home to meet the investigating team. "balik sekarang la ye..diorang dah on the way.. terima kaseh datang repot!" (sweet smile and all)
and that was at 7 pm. we waited. 2 hrs went by.
called them: on the way.
2hrs later called again:on the way.
finally they came ....after 1 am.
takde cakap sorry pun. when we asked kenapa lambat sangat: "you marah ye..kalau cerita pun you kata kita buat alasan..kitorang terkejar2 dari pukul 8 tadi... ada kes jumpa body kat sawah .." konon2 hebat la.. keje berjam2, settle kes org mati lagi.
so apa lagi ..aku yang kebetulan masa tu lepas oncall kat spital, been working since 8am the day before that, and 40hrs later still unable to sleep because told to wait for them..sound la diorg balik...cakap la tgh settle kes lain, lambat datang..jgn dok cakap on the way, on the way...pokpekpokpek..saya ni keje dari pagi semalam tau, sampai sekrg tak rehat2 lagi..pokpekpokpek... kitorg pun faham dgn kes emergency...korang jumpe org dah mmg mati pun..kitorg jumpe org dah nak mati kena revive pulak tak mau bagi mati!
(that was me with red eyes, flaring nostrils and all)
"... oo you all ni keje hospital ye..doktor ye.."
?????????????????
lepas tu masa amik statement about the event, sempat la buat komen2 takde makna yang i mentioned earlier.
mengancam kesabaran betul.
by then my brain was already needing a revival of its own that i couldnt pokpekpokpek anymo.

dah settle malam tu, esok hari tu kena lagi gi jumpe the inspector. sempat lagi sekali dia komen..."tulah.. susah sket la kalau tak kawen ni"
apa masalah diorang ni????
hampeh tahap maksimum betul.

an update

view from my mom's hospital room. kl traffic at 5 pm.

2 weeks ago my mom was admitted to the hospital for dengue. she rarely gets sick. the last time she was ever admitted was when she delivered my youngest brother, 26 yrs ago. my father-being the chronic chain smoker that he was, is the opposite. he had been in & out of hospital quite a few times in the past 10-15 yrs. from stuff as mild as gastritis, to major surgeries for necrotizing pancreatitis, and a quad bypass just 2 yrs ago. it was a scary moment for everyone then. esp because of his smoking, doctors warned us that he might not get off the ventilator easily post-op. thank God that he did ok, but that finally got him off the cigs. so far.

anyway, back to my mom, she’s better now. it was just mild dengue, not hemorrhagic but because she was too dehydrated and had a urine infection on top of that, she was kept in the hospital for a few days. i caught up with my reading masa jaga dia tu and also caught 'bawang putih bawang merah' - people been talking about this indon soap - finally dapat tengok, and seronok dok kutuk the show and teased my mom camne la dia boleh suka tengok..hehe.

syawal is still on. but after the 1st week, raya sorta mellowed down for me. I only managed to go to 1 open house this year and that was it. macam malas je. and always penat too for some reason.

then I attended this bereavement course over the weekend (blog coming later). managed to "squeeze time" (ie sneaked out of) to see some friends. even tho evryone was also busy with their own plans for the weekend, and evryone was saying that they each cant stay for long, but we did anyway. friday nite - jo, al and me actually stayed up till 4am even tho the plan was to be back home by 1-me cuz i had to be at the course by 8 the next day, jo was the maid of honor at a wedding the next day, and al had to make agar2 (hehe). same thing happened on sunday-me, i was supposed to teman my sis get groceries at 5pm, and g was suposed to go jogging - both plans were cancelled and we all stayed an hour later than planned ;)

did the usual lah:eat, drink, catch up on things, complain about work, whine about life, talk about the men in our lives-the very few we adore, and the many more whom we just love to hate. indeed, we’re picky-but we have to be, in this day and age, with the kinda weirdos out there, failed relationships don’t just give you a broken heart or at least a hate mail anymore.. you can actually get killed/chopped/bombed to pieces for all you know!
speaking of which.. I thought our conversations are now a bit mature too (er—about time? hehe) .. we even chatted about politics, and religion, etc. and i didnt even get bored! but then how can i? there is never a dull moment with these people.

drove back to melaka early this morning - left kl at 530am. cuz there was this huge thunderstorm around 7pm just as i was planning to leave, and there was no way i was gonna waste it on driving - i mean, it's the best time for naps, so i did, and i "napped" for about an hour or so. then amirah was being all noisy, and cute and playful and stuff that i felt like rugi pulak to nap when i can actually play with her. so i did. and so tak jadi balik malam tu.

then tadi kerja as usual-busy morning, then petang i was like a zombie already.

habis. i'm hitting the sack now.

these are not their real names..

these are stories of real relationships of real people that i know. they're some good ones, and some bad ones. however, their names have been changed to obviously protect their privacy :) if u ask me whether these stories affect my own views on relationships..umm.. yeah.. cant help that they do actually.

1) john & leyla
they met at university and fell in love. they were evrywhere together. evryone knew about them. got married after graduation. got 2 kids. became working parents. one day, he told her he wants her to know that he's getting close to a woman at work..BUT she's more like a little sister than anything, AND yes, they hangout quite a bit at work, BUT nothing's going on..she was having some serious personal problems with her family, AND has no one to turn to, SO he's just helping her out. he was telling her because he didnt want her to get any wrong ideas if she were to hear about it from other people first. leyla didn't completely swallow evrything though. but she accepted his explaination. she did remind him that they both should remember that particular conversation that day(and by they she meant him).
then about a few months after that, he broke down in front of her that he's in love with the other woman (yeah, the one he was treating "like a little sister") and he felt really guilty cuz he really loves leyla too. they both cried and he promised her he will leave the woman because he didnt think he could live with the guilt. and he couldnt imagine leaving the kids. leyla accepted his apology, and his promise.
a year later.. john & leyla divorced. he broke his promise (apparently he couldnt stop loving the other woman no matter how hard he tried) and married the woman. leyla got custody of the kids, john gets to visit them once a week. according to leyla, he just visits them twice a month now, at the most.

2) yana & bob
yana studied in the east. bob in the west. first time they met, yana fell in love with bob. she travelled to visit him any time she could. they kept in touch. she told bob how she felt. bob said he felt the same way. he graduated earlier and started working. she continued on with her studies. they talked about getting married after she's done. by the time she graduated, they had gone out for 5 years.
then he told her that all these years they were together, he never actually "loved" her. he went along with the relationship cuz she was such a nice person and he didnt want to hurt her. most importantly, he didnt want her studies to be affected if he told her earlier.
yeah. he's such a saint.
they broke up. not long after, bob got another girlfriend. he's now married i think. yana is successful and still single.

3) wan & elly
the couple was introduced to each other by a mutual friend. he was studying overseas, she locally. they kept in touch, saw each other whenever he was back home. fell in love. got married after graduation. they're now expecting their 1st child.
the cool thing was that, when they each told their parents about the other, they found out that their parents were actually friends way back when wan & elly were little. the 2 families used to have meals together, and wan & elly were actually playmates. they had lost contact with each other after evryone moved away, and the kids were just too young to remember each other. wan's mom found a yellowing photo of the two families together with the 2 kids sitting right beside each other. she cut the part out, enlarged it, framed it, and they had it displayed on their wedding day.

4) aidan & shasha
they were colleagues, became friends, became lovers. problem was, they were of different religions. shasha has strong faith in her beliefs, and aidan was willing to convert and marry her. shasha's family were accepting. aidan's father had a heart attack when he told the family about her. aidan couldnt take seeing his father so ill and so disappointed. shasha couldnt take continuing the relationship in secret, not knowing if they will ever have a future together. but they were still so deeply in love that they ended up still seeing each other anyway. but when they bumped into aidan's parents one day, it was obvious that his parents were still very upset and were not giving in. it was then that aidan said he couldnt choose between his family and shasha, he loves them both. shasha said he would have to.
he chose his family.

5) deedee & russell & anne
russell and deedee knew each other from the internet. he was open from the beginning about being a married man. deedee was in a long-distance relationship. they became friends. she broke up with her boyfriend, but didnt tell russell right away. she felt that the friendship is "safe" as long as they know that each were not available.
he then confessed he was falling in love with her. she refused to accept. he's married to anne. they have 5 kids. he claimed he's never experienced true love with anne. they were just neighbourhood friends. anne was actually marrying another guy, but just a few days before the wedding, the guy broke off the engagement. russell's mom then told him to be a man and save his dear friend from embarassment. and he did, "replacing" the groom on the fixed wedding date. 5 kids later, he told deedee the above, and proposed.
at first she didnt fall for it. but he was such a "wise, mature gentleman" and he loves her so much ..and you know what they say, (apparently) it's best to be with a man who loves you more than you love him..hmm.. and so she later accepted his proposal, and became his 2nd wife.

6) norma & aaron
norma was working in a tin factory after high school when she had an unfortunate accident. the tips of her right 4 fingers had to be amputated. after marrying aaron, she became a housewife. he was only a laborer, working hard to make ends meet. after the amputation, norma had phantom pain in her fingers, made worse evrytime she does manual laundry (the bristles of the brush gave her chilling pain to the bones). when aaron found out, he worked harder than ever and made enough to buy her a washing machine. norma nagged him about it of course. he just shrugged it off.
aaron's father's health was ailing, and his mother hated norma. did evrything to make him leave her. aaron stuck by his wife, ignored his mother..but instead of leaving his old parents though, he actually built a house right beside theirs so he can still keep an eye on them. norma had a terrible time but never left his side, never returned the attack and abuse (mostly verbal but they were a few physical ones too!)from her mother in law. their strong patience paid off though. the mother in-law actually repented and now they have a healthy relationship.
then, during norma's 3 rd pregnancy, she developed really bad hypertension that persisted post-delivery. aaron was so concerned that he called me frequently throughout the pregnancy and after to ask about medical things, how to help his wife, what her blood tests meant, etc. he would take days off work when she was ill, even if it meant being fired from his job, to help cook and take care of norma and the kids.
he moved from one job to another, all the while with his wife supporting him no matter how difficult things got. now they have 4 healthy sons, he's running his own business, they paid off all their debts, are doing very well .. and still the humble and loving couple i've always known them to be.

the wedding

went down south to a cousin's wedding. she's 19, married now to a 25yr old. they're in love.
and it was a fun reunion, aunts, uncles, cousins, kids, babies.
'course, it was just a few days ago that the nation 'celebrated' the ultimate wedding of the year. u must be living under..well, not living, if u live in msia, and not heard about this singer's wedding. people talk about it many weeks before the actual date, and of course, will still talk about it weeks after. so what do i have to say about it?
well i honestly dont give a damn about who this pretty girl marries (i didnt even watch the thing actually).what would have shocked me is if she actually announced to everyone that she's NOT the marrying kind..haha.
they call her the pop princess, and her wedding was supposedly a girl's dream wedding of royal proportions. but people definitely have different opinions about her 47 yr-old price charming though.. i already said i dont give a damn, but i wanna just share here what my cousin's lil'
4-yr old had to say..
she saw the wedding on tv, and when the groom kissed the bride on the cheek, she innocently pointed out to her parents: "look, her dad's kissing her!".
then when the couple were cutting the cake together, the kid asked: "why is she cutting the cake with her dad? where's her husband?"
and when it was pointed to her that the man she thought was the singer's dad is actually the husband, she refused to believe her parents!
kids are the cutest things arent they? honestly!